Ashutosh Varshney writes: The Hindutva-Ambedkar puzzle

A vigorous debate in the recently concluded Winter session of Parliament has brought into the limelight one of the most important political issues of our times.

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What is the relationship between Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of India's Constitution, and Hindutva?Two contradictory impulses appeared in the debate. The BJP’s principal claim was that it had done more than any other major party, targeting the Congress in particular, to restore the justly great status of Ambedkar in the national public realm. However, the speech of Home Minister Amit Shah seamlessly slipped into the claim that the iconisation of Ambedkar had become too much of a political fashion, and if only similar attention was paid to God, one would earn a place in heaven. The former was an attempt to embrace Ambedkar politically, the latter was barely concealed ridicule. Which of the two truly represents the core of Hindu nationalism?

Perhaps one could begin with how the original thinkers of Hindu nationalism saw the relationship, going all the way back to the 1920s and 1930s. For those early years, there is no better guide for us than V D Savarkar, the father of Hindutva.Luckily, a new book — Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva (Princeton University Press, 2024) by Janaki Bakhle, Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley — gives us novel insights into Savarkar's thinking. Ten years in the making, Bakhle’s book comprehensively examines Savarkar's voluminous writings in Marathi, including his plays, poems and essays, which are well-known in Maharashtra but not having been translated in English, little known outside. Savarkar wrote copiously about caste, religion and nationhood, and also commented on Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar.