The political project of Hindutva is nothing less than an assault on Hinduism, but where the life-affirming religion has for millennia proved its resilience to external attacks, it is now revealing its vulnerability to attack from within, says writer-politician Shashi Tharoor. But this is not the Hindutva that destroyed the Babri Masjid, nor that spewed in hate-filled diatribes by communal politicians," Tharoor writes in the book, published by Aleph. The author of 18 books notes that the Hindutva ideology is a malign distortion of Hinduism, which is a religion of astonishing breadth and of awe-inspiring tolerance. He asserts that the Hindutva politics must be resisted for presenting a view of Hinduism that is at odds with everything the eclectic religion has sought to stand for. The misuse of Hinduism for sectarian minority-bashing is especially sad since Hinduism provides the basis for a shared sense of common culture within India that has little to do with religion, Tharoor notes.

Source: The Telegraph September 29, 2019 07:07 UTC