The Battle of Belonging: On Nationalism, Patriotism, And What it Means to Be Indian

by Shashi Tharoor

For me, as a Congressman and a liberal, I find it easy to claim allegiance to Hinduism—a religion that is personal and individualistic, privileges the individual, and does not subordinate one to a collectivity; a religion that grants complete freedom to the believer to find his or her own answers to the true meaning of life; a religion that offers a wide range of choice in religious practice, even in regard to the nature and form of the formless God; a religion that places great emphasis on one’s mind, and values one’s capacity for reflection, intellectual enquiry, and self-study; a religion that distances itself from dogma and holy writ, that is minimally prescriptive, and yet offers an abundance of options, spiritual and philosophical texts, and social and cultural practices to choose from. These are not the qualities admired by the advocates of Hindutva. In a world where resistance to authority is growing, Hinduism imposes no authorities; in a world of networked individuals, Hinduism proposes no institutional hierarchies; in a world of open-source information sharing, Hinduism accepts all paths as equally valid. In every case, Hindutva asserts the opposite. Given these qualities of the Hindu religion, I, and others like me, profess, I would say to the troubled liberal: don’t lose faith. Hindu Congressmen have nothing to do with the Hindutva that you rightly abhor. Our faith remains true to the tolerant, liberal heart of the religion that has made India, till recently, t...