Of Hindutva, gyaan yoga, Tharoorism at Kasauli Lit Fest 2018
The author-politician, who donned the hat of a spiritual guru, gave an insight to his idea of Hinduism, which he said couldn’t be matched with Hindutva.
“Hindutva has nothing to do with any religion. It is purely a political ideology,” said Congress leader Shashi Tharror at the start of a discussion on his book ‘Why Am I A Hindu’ on the second day of the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in kasauli on Saturday.
The author-politician, who donned the hat of a spiritual guru, gave an insight to his idea of Hinduism, which he said couldn’t be matched with Hindutva.
Interlocutor Rajiv Mehrotra, who is a writer and TV producer, asked as to why he avoided the suffix ‘ism’ in his book title, Tharoor said, “Certain people say Hinduism is a Western construct, so I speak of Hinduism through- out the book, but not in the title. Though it is there in the book, I found it useful to speak of Hinduism in contradistinction to Hindutva,” which he said has nothing to do with the religion.”
At his session titled, ‘Tharoorism’s on Hinduism’, he added that the fundamental element that makes Hinduism a unique religion is that there are no fundamentals. “We have no single sacred book, no single religious hierarchy. There is no faith on the planet that allows such diversity of interpretation and practice as Hinduism. And that is its essence and great strength.”
On the much-debated idea of what secularism means, Tharoor said, he would prefer to use terms diversity and pluralism for the “country doesn’t even meet the definition given by Western dictionaries”.
A self-professed Vivekananda ‘bhakt’, Tharror said, he was greatly inspired by him. “Tolerance is a patronising idea. On the other hand, Vivekananda said Hinduism taught the world tolerance and acceptance. Hindutva, with its narrow bigotry, is a violent assault on the basic tenants of what every Hindu should be brought up to believe is precious about his faith,” he said. “While school taught me tolerance was a virtue, Vivekananda’s take on it taught the world not just tolerance but acceptance,” he said. He added that Hinduism has to be much more than Hindutva and said, “ You can be a religious person if you are morally and ethically on the right path.” He reiterated that righteous conduct was the real dharma.
On being on the Ram Temple, the politician said the matter was subjudice, but added that he would want a temple to be built there but not after having demolished somebody’s place of worship.”
As Mehrotra asked him on the Modi-led government, Tharoor said the Centre had failed completely quoting the failure of demonetisation, rising fuel prices and the rising intolerance.
Shifting focus on his personal life, Tharoor said he practiced gyaan yoga, to read as much as one can, to keep his mind on track. “I am utterly hopeless at yoga. I would even look worse than Modi if I tried to practice it and so took refuge in gyaan yoga,” he said which left the audience in splits.
Besides indulging in philosophical gyaan, Tharoor also gave audience a dose of his ‘Tharoorism’, when he shared the anecdote of how he announced his new book ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’ on Twitter, using the word, ‘Floccinaucinihilipilification’, leaving the audience impressed.