Shashi Tharoor shares an old post about Hinduism vs. Hindutva

Key sentence:

• According to the post, Hinduism is the union of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse roots and no founder. 
• Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the country needs to understand Rahul Gandhi’s Hindu versus Hindutva debate.

Amid controversy over Haridwar’s Dharma Sansad, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shared an old post comparing Hinduism to Hindutva on Wednesday, saying that even though he shared it two years ago, the comparison is still relevant. 

According to the post, Hinduism is the union of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse roots and no founder. In contrast, Hindutva is a homogeneous racial-territorial category propagated by Savarkar.

The post compares the origins of Hinduism and Hindutva, claiming that Hinduism dates back thousands of years, whereas Hindutva was first proposed as a political idea by Savarkar in 1923. 

Hinduism has many texts, such as the Vedas and Puranas, whereas Hindutva has only one central political pamphlet, “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?” published in 1928.

According to Tharoor, the author of Why I Am a Hindu, Hindutva, unlike Hinduism, is monolithic, more akin to Islam and Christianity. Hindutva is exclusive, and its adherents actively despise and fear other religions and oppose the traditional secular Hindu way of life.

The post comes amid the ongoing debate over Hindu versus Hindutva. Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that people who bow to PM Modi’s bad decisions are followers of the Hindutva ideology. 

“Those who believe in Hindutva ideology bow before anyone — they bow before the British, and they bow before money because there is no truth in their hearts,” Rahul Gandhi said.

On Tuesday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the country needs to understand Rahul Gandhi’s Hindu versus Hindutva debate. “Rahul Gandhi started a debate about Hindu versus Hindutva, and it is important to understand what it means… The crux was that “on the one hand, there is a Hindu whose great values have been there for centuries, whose expressions are of love and brotherhood, and on the other hand, there are forces doing politics in the name of Hindutva, their becoming Hindu is pseudo, they are fake Hindus,” Gehlot explained.