Golwalkar’s Efforts of De-Hindusing the Hindus

The main efforts of Golwalkar’s was to bring the healthy mental transformation in the whole of the country by establishing the basic life-philosophy of universal Hinduism. Before independence, there was only one common enemy— the British. So internal differences in the society did not come to the surface perceptibly. But with the advent of independence, a political current began to flow like a flood– the current of de-Hindusing the Hindus. It was not of conversion to alien faiths alone but one of implanting an insidious inferiority complex among the Hindus, making them ashamed of being Hindus. It meant the deliberate denigration of everything Hindu, and the cultivation of the attitude of aping the West in every single aspect of life.

Superficial differences among the Hindus were blown up, and the internal thread of integral Hindutva despised and discarded. This thought current was made up of de-culturisation on the one hand and politically motivated limitless appeasement of the non-Hindu minorities on the other. This current still flows, but in those days ridiculing everything Hindu and denigrating Hinduness by Hindus themselves had become a matter of prestige. Such demeaning self denigration and self-denial came to be called ‘secularism’, ‘progressive’ etc.

Those who joined hands in this campaign to destroy Hindu identity included Christian missionaries, Communist propagandists, rabid Socialists, the so-called educated elite, and power-hungry politicians. Their individual motives were different, but their aim was common. Unfortunately, there was no leader of all-India stature who could fearlessly meet this vicious challenge four square and confidently propound the greatness of the timeless principles of Hindutva. The Sangh itself was quite a small force at that time.

It was in such adverse circumstances that Golwalkar rose like the morning star on the national firmament. He not only checked the flood of anti-nationalism but successfully invoked intense pride in their Hindu identity among the Hindu people. The three evil tendencies at work in those days were de-Hinduisation, de-nationalisation and national disintegration. Golwalkar sought successfully to convince the people that such forces would eventually destroy the country. His exposition was forceful and positive. With vigour and scholarship he propounded that projecting the Hindu view of life was nothing less than India’s eternal global mission. His speeches were not only replete with erudition and solid undisputable facts and oratory, but his words came from the depths of his heart and carried the stamp of his own life of utter purity and dedication to that Cause. This mission of national renaissance was carried out by Golwalkar infused new life into the crest fallen Hindu mind.