Vidya Bharati (literally: 'Voice of Knowledge') is the biggest school net-work of the Hindu nationalist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS is mostly known for its radical ideology of Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, which seeks to build a national identity based on Hindu religious traditions.
This ideology assumes the existence of a Hindu nation-a community bound together by Hindu religious traditions which worships India as both its homeland and a sacred land. The basic elements of this ideology were outlined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his Hindutva. Who Is a Hindu? Savarkar (2005: 99-100), who is thus considered the most important among the founders of this ideology, claimed that there are three basic elements of Hinduness (Hindutva): (1) Jati (jati; race, i.e. genetic connections), (2) Sanskriti (sanskrti; culture, which in fact turned out to mean mostly 'religion'), and (3) Rashtra (rastra; nation).¹ The term Hindutva, which originally denoted the sum of these core elements, in time often started to be used as a synonym for the ideology of Hindu nationalism.
Savarkar (2005: 100-101) declared that Indian Christians and Muslims can be accepted back into the fold of the Hindu nation, as they share the same blood and the same homeland with the Hindus, but had lost the element of common culture upon conversion. To be treated as Hindus, Savarkar claimed, they would not need to reconvert, but would have to accept the common Hindu culture in some form (for instance by worship-ping the Hindu gods Rama and Krishna as least as national heroes), they would also have to worship India as not only their motherland but also a holy land (which according to Savarkar they do not, as their sacred lands are located elsewhere). While at the face of it Hindu nationalism appears to be an inclusive ideology focused on assimilation of these religious minorities, it is in fact a worldview which is being used to unite the Hindus-often against Muslims and Christians-rather than assimilate the rest.
At the heart of Savarkar's project is an arranged marriage of politics and religion-a union known throughout history in various forms-that cre-ated an idea of a nation which is held together by religious culture. The Hindu nationalists reject this charge, however, and following in Savarkar's footsteps declare that they promote a wider culture, not a more narrowly defined religion, and that their nationalism is 'cultural, not 'religious.
Thus, the proponents of this ideology put forward an amalgam of national culture and religious traditions.
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