Senior BJP leader L K Advani on indicated that the party needs to work more to explain to the people that Hindutva and Indian secularism are synonymous.
Referring to an article by his former Cabinet colleague and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani in a magazine, Advani said in his latest blog posting: "the title of this article 'Hindutva is not property of BJP' sounds provocative. Some of my party colleagues may take umbrage and presume the article is critical. It is not. It is complimentary."
The Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party quoted Jethmalani as saying "It is a pity that the BJP has not been able to explain to people that Hindutva and Indian secularism are practically synonyms."
Pointing out that "indeed, the stress is on Indian secularism having its roots in Hindutva", the BJP leader recalled that Jethmalani had argued Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi's case in the Supreme Court and secured a landmark judgement on Hindutva in which the court had observed "Hindutva is a way of life or state of mind and cannot be understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism".
Advani also mentions about a book authored by Newsweek International's editor Fareed Zakaria. "He has repeatedly emphasised that Hinduism is not a religion in the 'Abrahamic' sense of the word," he said referring to 'The Post American World'.
"Zakaria argues that it is this non-doctrinaire character that gives Hinduism its absorptive and assimilative power. I hold that it is this Hindu ethos that accounts for the success of both democracy as well as secularism in India," he said in his blog titled 'The roots of democracy and secularism'.
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