A Hindu Manifesto – Calcutta Resolution of Hindu Mahasabha

 A Hindu Manifesto – Calcutta Resolution of Hindu Mahasabha

For any Hindu who is unable to reach a conclusion about the political and civilizational priorities of Hindus in Secular India, the Calcutta Resolution of Hindu Mahasabha is a must read document. The 1949 Resolution adopted by major stalwarts who represented the Hindus in Undivided India presents the vision and mission statement for Hindus living in Partitioned India. It acts as the guiding light for any Hindu who is on the path of understanding the civilizational priorities of the majority community.

The resolution adopted in the Calcutta (December, 1949) session of the Hindu Mahasabha is as follows:

FOREWORD

In preparing this comprehensive exposition of the general ideological outlook and of the stand-point of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha on various problems, the members of the Central Parliamentary Board have tried to fit the pristine ideological sublimity of the organisation to practical possibilities. Due attention has been paid to the conciliation of diverse interests of which the organisation is at present composed with a view to bringing about more cohesion, and eliminating possibilities of disintegration. The publication is expected to serve as a guide, or a ready reference book, for those with Hindu Mahasabha political thinking. Lastly, the younger ones in the Hindu Mahasabha, who dote upon fiery words, will see good justification for the sobre and dispassionate presentation of our view point when they realise that it will be read by people throughout the World, including foreigners, whose interest in Hindu affairs is yet to be aroused. Realising as we do, that this will be the first official document issued by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha in elucidation of its ideology as well as its present-day objectives, every possible care has been taken to deal exhaustively with all relevant issues and problems.

1. THE IDEAL OF “AKHAND HINDUSTHAN”

The indivisibility of the land extending from the Himalayas down to the Southern and Eastern Seas being an article of faith with Hindudom, the Mahasabha shall strain every nerve, and try all possible methods— from peaceful negotiations on Inter-State level to utilisation of international strategies—to bring about the reunion of the States now called “Bharat” and “Pakistan,” into a consolidated one, to be called “Akhand Hindustan,” For this purpose, the Hindu Mahasabha shall mobilise popular opinion in Bharat, in foreign lands and above all, in Pakistan, so as to enlist moral and material support of all people to its cause.

2. THE IDEAL OF HINDU-RASHTRA

The Hindu Mahasabha stands for the ideal of “Hindu-Rashtra” or a “National Home for the Hindu.” The large section of human population, numbering upwards of three hundred and forty million at the present moment, who go by the name of Hindus, are a distinct ideological group, with a very broad-based ideology, possessing a characteristic outlook on life, a well-defined cultural background and historical traditions and entering world politics as clear-cut unit, easily distinguishable from all others in more respect than one. This ideological group of human beings (which is often referred to as a Nation, in the absence of a more appropriate collective term to describe them), have no land on the earth, which they may call their own and where they may give a practical shape to their great, rational ideology, protecting, developing and fashioning their native genius. Their “National Home” was forcibly captured and has been retained under wrongful possession, by non-Hindu invaders, just as the Jews’ Homeland was held up by non-Jews. In the countries, in which the Hindus are now found, viz., Bharat and Pakistan, they are allowed to exist as a community only along with a host of other communities — and enjoy a status which prevents them from building up Independent Bharat on the basis of the country’s native genius and heritage. The alleged freedom of Bharat or Pakistan is no more real to the Hindus than the independence of America was to the Red Indians. There is no Government or “power”, which may avowedly call itself a champion of Hindu cause—which may earnestly take up the Hindus’ case in the international sphere and raise an effective voice against the disabilities, humiliations, penal legislations and even inhuman atrocities, to which Hindus, as Hindus, are subjected in many countries of the world today. Islamic ideology reigns supreme in many States of the Middle East, as Christian ideology does in Europe, Africa, and Australia, and as if the area already under the Quranic law was not sufficient for the wide world to observe how ‘efficiently’ Muslims ruled, a new Muslim state—Pakistan—has been given to them at the cost of Hindus. For the working of Communistic ideology, one can look to USSR. How Christian Governments work, can be judged from the state of affairs in the various European countries. Even Jews have, at long last, regained part of their lost Homeland and are free to display their genius in their newly built state, Israel. The Hindus alone are homeless people in the modern world and the Hindu ideology alone is being denied a homeland where its sublime qualities of love, truth, peace, toleration and rationalism, which indeed is what the world needs most today, can find proper scope for self-fulfilment.

It is imperative that a “National Home” for the Hindus should be established on this sacred soil of Bharat where they may set up a Hindu Government of their own design and solve their internal and external problems—Social, political as well as economic — in their own way. The Hindu Mahasabha regards, and shall officially declare when in power, the present State of Bharat, (and after reunion with Pakistan, the entire land from the Himalayas to the Seas) to be the “National Home of the Hindus,” or “Hindu-Rashtra,” and shall take upon its shoulders the moral and legal responsibility of protecting and promoting Hindus’ cultural, economic and political interests, and of rehabilitating Hindu refugees within its territorial jurisdiction in the event of non-Hindu people turning hostile to their Hindu neighbours

For discharging its duties towards Hindudom in foreign lands, the Hindu-Rashtra Government may take whatever steps are warranted by the nature and magnitude of the emergency and obligations of our national self-respect. The Hindu Rashtra shall thus be the natural “National Home of the World Hindus,” (as Israel is of the World Jewry), and all Hindus, no matter where they reside and belong shall have full claim upon, and a share in, its assets and liabilities and shall look to Bharat—their Mother Country—for inspiration and guidance as much for the preservation of their self-interest, as for the promotion and dissemination of Hindu culture and Hindu outlook on life.

3. NON-HINDUS IN HINDU-RASHTRA

Non-Hindu Nationals in the Hindu-Rashtra shall, under normal conditions, enjoy the same rights and privileges as Hindus, and no disability whatsoever shall attach to them on that account. No distinction shall be made by the Government between Hindus and non-Hindu Nationals while making appointments to various offices and giving promotions. The non-Hindus shall be entitled to the enjoyment of equal civic rights and religious freedom with Hindus. In the event of war or some such emergency, however, the Government shall have powers to make distinction, if deemed necessary, between its Hindu and non-Hindu nationals, even as it may, at times have to distinguish between different sections of the Hindus themselves. Moreover, the Hindu-Rashtra Government shall not be duty-bound to take up the defence, in foreign lands, of the interests of such of the non-Hindus as are not its bonafide nationals. In other words, while the Hindus of the whole world shall have a legal claim upon it, the non-Hindus of the Hindu-Rashtra only, and no other, shall be legally entitled to claim help, protection and shelter from its Government. It will be thus seen that responsibilities of the Hindu-Rashtra Government shall be far more onerous, and the fields of its activity, much wider, than those of the present Government, in as much as the safeguarding of interests of the Hindus, not living within its own jurisdiction, will be an additional, thought self-imposed, duty, over and above all those, that the present Government discharges. The Hindus in Pakistan and other alien lands cannot be adequately looked after, and their miseries cannot be mitigated, except by thus radically modifying the outlook of the Bharat Government and enlarging the scope of its activities. If such “enlargement” appears to be “narrow-mindedness” and communalism to some of our misguided politicians it is because their own political vision is myopic. In the interest of Hindu Rashtra, such enlargement of its responsibility is dictated by political, not communal considerations.

4. SOLUTION OF REFUGEE PROBLEM

The Hindu Mahasabha holds that a complete and effective solution of the refugee problem demands the adoption of both preventive and curative measures. Preventive measures include the creation of such atmosphere in Pakistan — by negotiations, agreements and, if necessary, by retaliation — as may inspire sense of self-respect, security and confidence among the Hindus and put an end to their exodus from Pakistan. A stern attitude towards that State, curbing her aggressive tendencies and raising the morale of the Hindus there, are a few of the Practical steps, the Hindu Mahasabha shall take to prevent the refugees from leaving. Their native places. The Hindu Mahasabha cannot too strongly condemn the callous, but willful, indifference shown to the refugees by the present Government of Bharat which wants to stop the influx of Hindus from Pakistan — now particularly from East Bengal—by artificially imposing great hardships on them in Bharat.

The curative measures include speedy rehabilitation of refugees, immediate and permanent allotment of tenements and lands to them and their absorption in some sort of employment, pending the final settlement, between the two Governments, regarding their deserted properties, which must be arrived at within a specified period. The Hindu Mahasabha shall collect all available data from despoiled Hindus and shall secure compensation for their losses.

The Hindu Mahasabha emphatically asserts that no Government, but Hindu-Rashtra Government, can accept the moral and legal responsibility of the rehabilitation of such a large number of refugees from frankly hostile, and anti-Hindu foreign lands. Unless Bharat is officially declared a Hindu-Rashtra in the sense clarified above Its Government cannot be bound by any, but philanthropic and charitable considerations to espouse the cause of Hindus in Pakistan, nor can it be legally bound to accommodate Hindu refugees from other lands. All pious platitudes, pledges and solemn assurances held out to Hindu refugees from Islamic States, by Congress and her saUlli e groups are all but deceiving and confusing tactics and have absolutely no ideological sanction behind them. In the eyes of these pseudo-secularists, the Hindu from Pakistan is no more entitled to shelter in Bharat, than an Arab refugee from Israel or a Muslim refugee from Sinkiang is. It is not by chance that Hindu refugees have not yet been satisfactorily rehabilitated. The problem is magnitudinous, but it has been purposely made to appear more so; their rehabilitation has been intentionally problematised. It is the natural outcome of abasic policy pursued by the present Government- a fundamental principle stands in the way of Congress Government’s recognising refugees as Nationals of Bharat-at present Bharat is not a Hindu-Rashtra and supervision of Hindu interests abroad is no concern of her Government. If they did it, is on purely altruistic and humanitarian grounds, not as a duty

Hindu Mahasabha will approach the refugee problem in a realistic and a radically different way; for, its solution will be in keeping with its ideal of Hindu-Rashtra – it regards Bharat pre-eminently as the “National Home” of the Hindus. If a hostile attitude of Pakistan towards Hindus accelerates mass migration, upsetting the economy Of Hindu-Rashtra and making rehabilitation impossible, the Hindu Mahasabha will not hesitate to force part of their Muslim nationals to migrate to Pakistan, so as to maintain parity in migration. Besides these basic principles guiding the Hindu Mahasabha’s approach to the refugee problem, the opinion of displaced persons themselves shall be obtained on specific issues affecting them, from time to time, through their accredited representatives and shall be given effect to as far as possible. The following concrete suggestions shall come up for active consideration of Mahasabha if and when in power, for affording relief to displaced Hindus(including Sikhs):

  • Imposition of a special Rehabilitation Tax on non-refugees;
  • Permanent allotment of Muslim evacuees’ lands and tenements of Hindu refugees;
  • Last possible dislocation of refugees settled in urban areas,
  • Proper utilisation of deserted Muslim places of worship for civil purposes;
    Exchange of Muslim population of certain areas of Hindu-Rashtra with the Hindu population of Pakistan, so as to bring about identical conditions in both the States in respect of minorities and density of population; and
  • Although negotiations shall be carried on with Pakistan for the recovery of Hindu assets left there, the Mahasabha shall regard property left as property lost, for all practical purposes, and shall try to compensate the refugees as adequately as possible. Pakistan shall be made to share this burden by methods to be chosen according to the exigency of the situation.

5. ECONOMIC, FISCAL AND AGRARIAN POLICY

The economic plans of the Hindu Mahasabha shall comprise the execution of immediate schemes and long-term policies.

(a) Immediate Schemes
The Hindu Mahasabha is of the definite opinion that the frequent food crisis in the post-partition Bharat results from the anti-Hindu trade policy of Pakistan, one- way traffic between the two States, unplanned settlement of refugees in Bharat and consequent set-back to agriculture industry. The present is not the opportune time for disturbing the owners and tenants of lands, which are yielding a full quota of their assessed produce, and attention should be focussed on the exploitation of thousands of acres of land, which lie barren for want of tillers or for lack of irrigation facilities. Such ambitious, though rational, schemes abolition of landlordism with or without compensation — have to be implemented in the best interest of the tillers of the soil by gradual stages. The present move of certain Provincial Governments to take direct control of the Landholders, rights and interests by the State is not calculated to improve an economic lot of the cultivators but only to arm the Provincial Governments with new powers to establish their tightening grip over the tenants for political purposes. While all energies ought to be directed, at bettering the relations between the tiller and the landlord, the great need at present, is to secure to the landless people in the rural areas as much land as available, and to this end, the uneven distribution of lands has to be drastically modified.

The Government should besides concentrate its attention on the allotment to refugees, of the culturable land deserted by Muslims, on more or less permanent basis, rather than leave it unploughed for an indefinite length of time in the fond hope of Muslims return. The uncertainty in the minds of refugee tenants as to their rights and claims on the land allotted to them and the yield thereof, has deterred many an ambitious agriculturist from taking proper interest in stepping up production. The Hindu Mahasabha shall strive to bring every inch of cultivable land under the plough and create, by advance of loans and confirmation of proprietory rights on the tenants, those psychological conditions, so necessary for accelerating agricultural production.

In the field of industry, the present situation of the world in general, and Bharat in particular, does not warrant too much official interference in industrial enterprises: and if an industrial crisis is to be averted, the ever-increasing uncertainty to the industrialist and constant danger of discriminatory legislations must give place to a sympathetic Government attitude and encouraging popular appreciation. Minimum standard of living and protection against exploitation must, of course, be guaranteed to the labourer, but while pitching his demands too high, he must be made to realise that his choice lies between his present, fairly tolerable, lot and dire unemployment. The Hindu Mahasabha believes that it is essential for industrial peace as well as for increased production to make labour part proprietors in the industry and to make him feel that the industry belongs as much to him as to the capitalist. Reformation in this direction must however be cautious and gradual and must be introduced when the State is in a position to devote full, undivided attention to them and be prepared to face the consequences

The Hindu Mahasabha shall endeavour to alleviate the general economic depression and shall try to compose the present estrangement between the labour and the capitalist on the one hand, and the tenant and the landlord in the other. Resort to far-Reaching revolutionary \ieps will be justified only when it will be confident that by so doing, it will be able to effect a marked all-round improvement in the situation. Rather than leaping in the unknown dark, the Hindu Mahasabha believes in following a planned course, whose end is predictable with a fair degree of accuracy. Having regard to our tragic experience regarding the operation of the system of control through Governmental machinery, sweeping nationalisation is bound to be attended with neat set-back to national progress.

(b) Long-term Programme
The time for introducing long-term policies will come after all the displaced persons have been rehabilitated and fresh exodus has stopped, which the Hindu Mahasabha hopes to accomplish in a maximum period of three years, and probably earlier if the situation continues to remain normal. The entire economic program of the Hindu Mahasabha centers around the principle—that besides ordinary functions, of maintaining law and administering justice, a civilised Government has a duly to provide means of livelihood to every subject. If a person dies for want of food, the Head of the State must be held legally responsible for it. The State must provide employment (capable of fetching a certain minimum income) to every citizen, failing which it must pay him a maintenance allowance. So, along with stepping-up of production, the Hindu Rashtra Government shall aim at assuring a more or less even distribution of it, and at discouraging tendencies of criminal hoarding of wealth, food-grains and other necessaries of life. Minimum monthly income which shall be sufficient to meet essential expenses of an individual shall be provided to every citizen, against some sort of. service, except in case of infirms); and to achieve this end, salaries of Senior officers, as also the resources of business magnates, landowners and industrialists, shall be subjected to compulsory cuts and taxation. In short, major sacrifices in new directions shall be required for those who have enough to spare. The Hindu Mahasabha shall give top priority to this question. Nationalisation shall be gradual and by regulated stages, and Mahasabha will aim at a healthy competition between private and State enterprise, so essential for increasing efficiency. The Mahasabha stands for nationalisation of heavy industries, as well as of all transports, communications and of credit. To start with, nationalisation in various directions shall be tried on an experimental scale, and the future policy shall be chalked out in the light of experience thus gained. In the absence of the necessary pre-requisites—scientific traditions, sense of punctuality, mechanical habits and business morality—in our newly-freed land, complete nationalisation in feverish haste, will lead to chaos and confusion. The Hindu Rashtra Government, without displaying any undue national vanity, and with all humility, shall avail of the rich experience gained in practical economics by America, Russia and other Western countries. But Hindu Mahasabha shall not blindly import in Hindu Rashtra, any foreign institutions, without thoroughly assessing their theoretical and practical implications. It is not fanatically wedded to any of the popular ‘isms’ nor is it dogmatically opposed to them. It will follow a course, which, under a given set of circumstances, promises to yield the best results, no matter, whether it is Communistic, Socialistic or Capitalistic or even a combination of all. Keeping one’s mind open, and free from bias, is the ideal Hindu course.FOREIGN POLICY
The central feature of the foreign.policy of Hindu Mahasabha shall be to win, for Bharat, a place of honour in the comity of nations, and towards that end, our foreign policy shall be so regulated as to best serve the enlightened self-interest of the Nation, and the defence requirements of the state. Special agencies shall be established to collect factual informations as to the status of Hindus in various countries, with special attention to Middle East, Australia and Africa. The States, who are inimical to nationals of Hindu Rashtra or its culture, religion and languages, shall be made to realise futility of such a policy. The Hindu Mahasabha regards it as an outrageous stigma on human civilisation, and a grave threat to peace, that thirty four crores of Hindus should be called and treated as “Kafirs,” and considered fit only for disgrace and humiliations, in about one third of the inhabited area of the earth, now under the sway of Islam. Hindu-Rashtra shall make this anti-rational, anti-social and anti-human attitude of Islamic world as well as of a number of “White” states, a major issue in the inter-national politics.
The Hindu Rashtra shall explore all possible avenues, cultural, social, political and economic to augment its relations with the neighbouring countries of China, Japan, Siam, Indo-China, Burma, Indonesia, Ceylon, Tibet and Korea, without actively taking sides in I heir internal strifes, though offering its advice or mediation when thought necessary. The maintenance of Tibet as a neutral buffer State betwee Bharat and China shall be the cardinal policy of the Mahasabha .The relationship with Nepal, shall be so integrated as to enable these two countries to march forward in intimate ties of friendship and collaboration. The consummation of Hindus’ ideal of ‘Pan-Hindu’ (or pan-Asian) bloc, independent of the existing power blocs, with a common, mutually agreed defence, economic and cultural policy, is the most ardent ambition of Hindu Mahasaba.
The Hindu Rashtra shall be friendly with peoples’ Government in China, shall support the unification of Korea and shall strongly plead the liberation of Japan and Germany, and fight for honourable and equal treatment to Bharatiya Nationals in South Africa, East Africa, Australia, and other countries, where “White” domination policy is pursued to the derogation of our national interest. Hindu-Rashtra shall, consistently with its interest, refrain from entering into the power politics of the West. It shall maintain its neutrality or align itself with one or other of the Power Blocks, as the best interests of the Nation will dictate. Adherence to any pet formula, such as active neutrality will be discarded. Intimate co-operation in international spheres will be developed between Bharat and Israel and special efforts shall be made to strengthen the ties between these two countries.The Hindu Mahasabha is appreciative of the comparatively liberal trillions policy of Iran and Afghanistan and shall always reciprocate ilini friendly gestures.

CULTURAL POLICY
The Hindu Rashtra shall aim at strengthening the common Pan-Hindu culture amongst different sections of its nationals, which shall serve eventually as a nucleus for Pan-human culture. Bharat must have a common language, a common calendar and a common system of weights and measures. But the process of shedding-off of the local colour and accepting of rational and universalised standards shall start from a voluntary urge from within and will necessarily be a question of time and shall not result from compulsion. The will to be one with humanity at large must ultimately overcome parochialism and spirit of local patriotism. But this Pan-Hindu and, later on Pan-human, consciousness will came upon the masses by degrees only and any hasty steps to root out localism by force, are bound to provoke violent reaction. The Hindu Mahasabha, therefore, while aiming at cultural unity of Bharat, shall respect the inevitable diversities. The existing diversities, viewed in their proper perspective shall strengthen the nation, as Pan-Hindu consciousness mounts. Taking things as they are, Bharat being an epitome of the world, possesses a number of regional languages and local customs, besides innumerable shades of religious thought, prevailing in different parts of the land and hugged by the people as firmly as the huge mass of common traditions and popular beliefs. The Hindu-Rashtra Government shall guarantee full protection, where people want it, to local customs, manners and dialects. Local self-governing units shall be so demarcated that even the smallest cultural group may enjoy sufficient autonomy, within its sphere, to give fullest possible unfoldment to its native genius. The necessary centripetal force, for keeping the numerous cultural units within the orbit of the Rashtra, will be provided by the common political aspirations, traditional unity, historical affinities and ideological ties.
Every educated citizen of Hindu-Rashtra shall thus be acquainted with the language, customs and manners of his own locality as well as of the Rashtra. While common cultural consciousness shall be actively fostered by making Sanskrit a compulsory subject of study, the lingua franca of the Hindu Rashtra shall be Hindi in Devnagri script, the official calendar shall be the Vikramiya calendar and similar other features of Hindu cultural life shall receive official recognition when people so desire. The Hindu Rashtra shall enjoin people to be more true to their religious persuasions and educational policy shall be so radically altered as to bring up every citizen as a God-fearing person deeply devoted to the culture and heritage of the land. It shall have power to exercise control on economic, political and other activities of secular nature, indulged in by certain people under the cloak of religion. The State shall actively participate in national celebrations such as Dussera, Dewali, Holi, Janmastami etc., and a nationwide campaing shall be inaugurated through these and other celebrations for building up national character and focussing the energies of the rising generation on true national ideals and conduct. The slaughtering of any animal belonging to the cow species, within the Hindu-Rashtra,shall be crime unless permission has been granted by the Government to do so, under exceptional circumstances.
The Hindu Rashtra Government shall besides enlist fullest possible co-operation of Dharmic and spiritual leaders of the nation in awakening the moral sense of the masses and in strengthening their character. The Hindu Mahasabha believes that absolute emphasis on secular programmes-ecomonic planning, legal reforms etc., etc., — to the neglect of moral and spiritual up-building of the masses, shall be injurious to the State. Fear of legal action only leads to tendency to seek escapement technical loopholes of legal machinery and it alone cannot go very far to check crime and to minimise misery. The anti-crime campaigns of the Executive and judiciary must be supplemented by systematic moral and spiritual education and an all-round effort to impart internal disciplenot the individual. Hindu Mahasabha, therefore, while fighting superstition and dogmatism ruthlessly with the luminous flood of scientific rationalism, shall make the best use of the religious instinct in man to fight out unruly, aggressive, sadistic and anti-social tendencies in him.

POLITICAL DIVISIONS
The Hindu Mahasabha is of the opinion that for purposes of collecting revenue and maintaining law and order, the Hindu Rashtra shall be divided into smaller administrative units, more appropriately called Provinces (prant) than ‘States,’ on more or less linguistic basis. Although acute provincial out look and such other centrifugal bents will not be encouraged, the provinces shall have their own legislative machinery and shall enjoy a large measure of autonomy. Where a linguistic province is too small to have a stable economy independently, it may be attached to another adjoining Province as a Division thereof (e.g., Konkan) or a number of small linguistic provinces may voluntarily coalesce and have a common legislature (e.g., South Kanara, were Tulu is spoken, and Kerals with Malayalam). If a single language extends over too vast an area, two or more separate provinces with the same language may be carved out of it. Since the boundaries of linguistic areas are not, and cannot be geometrical lines, linguistic provinces shall be only approximately so, and the problems of border districts shall be solved by mutual goodwill and toleration. While therefore, linguistic provinces shall be the primary policy of Hindu Mahasabha, solution on the basis of bilingual or even multilingual provinces where it may be found necessary and people themselves may desire it, shall not be ruled out.

6. DEFENCE POLICY

The Hindu-Rashtra shall have no aggressive designs or ambition of territorial expansion, except by peaceful methods. But, for its own defence, it shall militarise its civil population, as rapidly and as efficiently, as its resource will permit. Ordinance and aircraft factories shall be established and restrictions on possession of arms shall be reduced to the minimum, Particularly, in the border provinces of the Punjab and Bengal and Assam, able-bodied civilians shall be fully militarised. Recruitment to State forces shall be brought up to war¬time standards — in numbers as well as inefficiency — and the Army shall be maintained in a tip-top condition’ of preparedness for meeting any emergency. Training in modern scientific warfare shall be given to the Hindu youth in more advanced friendly States of the world. The Hindu Mahasabha aims at making the entire Hindudom military-minded.

The Hindu Mahasabha notes with regret that the members of the armed forces, on whose valor and sacrifice the safety of the State depends, are not given adequate representation in determining the policies of the country. The disregard shown to the military men in day to day administration is bound to create discontent among them, the signs of which are already visible. The Hindu Mahasabha holds that the Defence Minister’s post must be held by some person with some military antecedents and the Commander-in-Chief should be an ex-officio member of the Cabinet.

10. RADICAL DEMOCRACY

The Hindu Mahasabha recognises the importance of the individual as against the group and shall strive its utmost to uphold his liberty. It believes in reducing the restrictions on the individual to the barest minimum and shall gradually evolve a governmental machinery, in which decentralisation and delegation of maximum powers consistent with national efficiency, to the provincial units shall be effected and in winch, the Executive will have maximum responsibility and will wield minimum powers. The Government jobs will cease to attract careerists, only if premium is not put on vanity and superficiality. During the initial few years of its ascending in power, however, the Hindu Mahasabha shall retain in its hands the executive powers, which the out-going Government will relinquish.

11. EDUCATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

The Hindu Mahasabha is fully cognisant of the shortcomings of the present education and examination system and shall set up, as soon as may lie, an Education Board, consisting of eminent Hindu educationists and a few foreign experts, to prepare an education scheme more in consonance with the actual requirements and ideological aspirations of hindudom. The change-over from the present to the new system shall naturally be slow, but no hesitancy shall be allowed to stand in the way in undertaking the reformation in right earnest. A new system of education shall receive top priority since the nation can be built on new lines through proper planning of education alone.

Although the detailed scheme will be drawn up by the experts, the broad principles guiding their work shall be laid down by the party. In particular, the systematisation and expansion of Sanskritic studies, research on and popularisation of Ayurved, preparation of historical text books on national lines, revival of Hindu arts, (painting, music, dance, sculpture etc), and teaching of Hindu science and mathematics along with modern subjects, shall form an essential part of the educational program. The Hindu Mahasabha aims at making literacy a universal phenomenon in Hindu Rashtra and shall make primary education free and compulsory. It shall include the acquisition of sufficient knowledge of the mother tongue, the national language, arithmetic and geography and history, to enable the pupil to pull on decently in life. The medium of instruction throughout the primary, secondary and higher secondary stage shall be the mother-tongue Hindi being taught as a compulsory second language from the third year of the pupil’s educational career. Where Hindi is the mother-tongue, the child must take up some other advanced provincial language—Bengali, Marathi, Tamil etc. Sanskrit shall be a compulsory subject of study.

The University education—scientific, vocational professional and general — shall be restricted by rigid matriculation and graduation tests, so that none but really capable may find access to a place of higher learning. Identical technical nomenclature, symbols and notations shall be evolved and prescribed for use in all Hindu languages. The courses of study shall be so standardised that competitive examinations and admission tests to various civil and armed services may be rendered unnecessary and all graduates and post-graduates may be recruited directly to the services after passing out of the university, without having to pass further tests.

The dignity of the teaching profession shall be raised by paying the teachers handsomely and placing them above want. The Hindu Mahasabha strongly feels that indiscipline and lawlessness in educational institutions are ruinous to the nation and can be ended only by attracting better men to these lighthouses of learning, both for learning as well as teaching.

The Universities shall enjoy a large measure of autonomy but shall be properly co-ordinated to facilitate the migration of a candidate from one province to another. Technical education, higher as well as lower, shall receive special attention and theoretical instructions shall, as far as possible, be supplemented by practical training in factories. Different Universities shall be encouraged to specialise in different branches of learning, Medicine Aero-nautical Engineering, Atomic Physics, Wireless Technology etc. But the central aim of all educational pursuits shall never be lost sight of, and that is, to add to the peace, happiness and knowledge of the world.

12. CONCEPTION OF SECULARISM

Unskilled administrators and raw politicians, who do not even know the full meaning of secularism, are using this new concept, unfortunately, to cover hundreds of their sins against Hindudom. In order, therefore, that secularism, as a means of averting petty parochial disputes, may not defeat its very purpose, the Hindu Mahasabha feels it to be its primary obligation to bring home to the people its own conception of u secular state, which Hindu-Rashtra shall aspire to be.

The establishment of stable peace in the world being the ultimate goal of all political activity, the Hindu society aims at evolving an order in which even conflicting ideologies may be accommodated. Difference of opinion is inherent in man, as difference of size and shape, and cannot be removed. It is, therefore that freedom of opinion and expression has been recognised as a fundamental right. Control on thought being neither possible nor desirable, and the removal of ideological differences being an impossibility, the hope of establishing some sort of peace lies only in so educating and training the mass as to make it better conditioned for putting up with diverse patterns of opinion without falling out, and the sine qua non for the evolution of such a social order is the absolute state neutrality towards all opinions. The administration must not be wedded to, or biased in favour any positive political doctrine. It must not encourage one shade of opinion and thwart another, by violent or coercive method. As long as the unhealthy instinct to run down differing opinions remains unsublimated, world peace will remain but a dream.

The intolerant Communist fights his opponents with the fervour of a religious bigot. In fact, humanity has been sadly disappointed by professedly non-religious States of the West so violent has been the persecution of rival groups in certain so-called “secular” State, that people have almost lost faith in secularism and are looking forward to true religion, for permanent peace and progress.

Hindu Mahasabha disapproves of national strifes and class-hatred as unequivocally as it deprecates communal bitterness. For, they are all traceable to the element of hatred for a different ideology No country can consist of people with identical tastes, likes and dislikes. The individuals must be taught to be tolerant and the administration must keep aloof from political squabbles. It is this “radical secularism,” which characterises Hindus’ political thought, whose religious diversity knows no limits.

The Hindu Mahasabha wants to caution the unscrupulous zealots of Western secularism that practising secularism in statecraft is an art, which cannot be learnt over-night. For the west, it may be a discovery of modern times, but Hindus have not only known it but actually practised it with success, for centuries. Of the philosophy of toleration in political and religious matters, the Hindus have perhaps forgotten more than others will ever learn in their life. The leaders of Bharat bred in English culture, have yet to imbibe the true concept of a “Dharmic” state from the Hindu Shastras. An untrained administrator is always intolerant, nervous and touchy. He regards his own times as critical, his own circumstances as emergent and his own despotism as righteous. Like an incompetent schoolmaster, (who fails to satisfy his pupils otherwise), he takes recourse to the rod—the Preventive Detention Act and Public Safety Measures—when, in fact, there is no occasion for it. A child is naturally more dogmatic and self-assertive and it is education and experience alone, that gives him a civic sense of urbanity. A grown-up, mature mind is, therefore, more considerate accommodating and balanced.

Non-Hindu humanity, especially the ‘White-manity’ and ‘Mussalmanity,’ are still in their infancy in so far as training in toleration is concerned. They are gradually approaching, by the trial-and-error method, what is nearly the Hindu way of living and thinking. Fascistic and anti-rational ‘tying of intelligence’ in the name of religion as well as of security is steadily giving place to Freedom of thought and toleration of opposition. The whole race of man has to be disciplined, nation by nation, so as to make it fit to live peacefully even in the midst of diverse opinions—religious, social, political or economic. The art of accommodating conflicting ideas, without falling out, must be learned by all, even by Hindus, if they have forgotten it. This is the ultimate aim of secularism. Aggression is bad, whether religious or political. In unskilled hands, who do not understand the purpose of secularism, there is every danger of the administration becoming irreligious, immoral, and corrupt, rather than secular

(Source of Resolution: http://www.abhm.org.in/about.aspx#)

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