What is The Hindu Conservative? And why Hindu Conservative? People may understand the ‘Hindu’ part, but what about ‘Conservative’?
Since 2014, when the Narendra Modi-led BJP came to power, myriad platforms have appeared promoting the ‘Hindu’ cause. These have served to break the monopoly of the left and liberals on the discourse within the country.
However, India is a unique democracy where the word ‘Conservative’ still remains a derogatory term. In leading democracies of the world, it describes an ideological position considered perfectly legitimate in the political and social sphere. But in India, the legacy of colonialism and decades of left-domination in the intellectual ecosphere has made ‘Conservative’ a term of derision.
While ‘Right-wing’ has become a far more acceptable and even, to some extent, a respectable tag, few, if any, are willing to identify as a ‘Conservative’.
Conservatism is simply the belief that traditional systems and values need to be protected and adhered to. The intellectual journey of this ideology in the West is often traced back to Edmund Burke. Outside the Western world, even Confucius stands as a great champion of this line of thinking.
India stands proudly as a unique country that has preserved its cultural heritage from time immemorial despite many invasions and periods of foreign rule. Yet, despite being a sovereign nation, the challenge to keep its cultural identity intact is as great for India today as it has ever been.
An inferiority complex engendered by colonial rule has made Hindus contemptuous of many of the central tenets of their cultural identity. This, combined with the left and liberals’ passion for running down Hindu traditions and customs, has created an atmosphere rife for people to turn against their own timeless values.
What has made the challenge even more daunting is the growth of a new kind of Hindu right-winger who, while declaring his loyalty to the Hindu cause, seeks to twist its wisdom to promote libertarian and subversive beliefs. These people use their lucidity and eloquence to charm a large number of right-leaning Hindus, but are essentially looking to turn Hindu consciousness into a Trojan Horse for their libertarian beliefs, most of them borrowed from a culturally decrepit West.
The Hindu Conservative seeks to present a point of view that is dedicated not only to the support of Hindu political awakening but also an unapologetic and unremitting devotion to its eternal values.
Hinduism can’t be merely seen as a negation of other belief systems. At a time when poisonous ideas that are undermining the basic nature of human society are flowing in from the West, our aim is to promote steadfastness to our traditions and moral codes.
Some may sneer at this reverence of custom and point to the many practices that are plainly discriminatory and vile. They may point out several serious flaws present in the Hindu society and argue that being ‘Conservative’ is to acquiesce to the continuation of such systems. These people, though, would be failing to understand the true meaning of ‘Conservatism’.
It is not about an unthinking support of every custom and tradition that the society has acquired, but an attempt to preserve the fundamental values and mores that keep the society from degenerating into a primitive and animalistic form. Conservatives are never averse to discriminating between those traditions that are harmful and those that are noble.
Change is bound to happen in many aspects of life and society, but preserving the essence of our culture is the aim of a conservative. For Hindus, who stand alone as a civilization that has endured through the millennia while keeping its basic identity intact, conservatism is a uniquely suited ideology. Our platform will seek to bolster this ‘Sanatan’ identity.