118 "Presenting" the Past
lated mother stares him in the face every day? Forget? No true son can
ever forget or rest till she becomes once again her complete whole."^30
To "unsettle" is to require strength. After all, "it is activity, dynamism
and heroism that rule the world. Indeed veerabhogya vasundhara (This
Earth is for the valiant) sums up the philosophy of a successful life in
this world."^31 For such heroism, "Today, more than anything else, Mother
needs such men—young, intelligent, dedicated, and more than all vir-
ile and masculine. When Narayana—eternal knowledge—and Nara—
eternal manliness—combine, victory is ensured. And such are the men
who make history—the men with capital 'M.'"^32
The Hindutva ideology, greatly influenced by the "fictitious past" and
the "threatened present," enmeshes the somaticity of the territory with
the grand oneness of the "innocent" Hindu nation, which requires more
strength to defend it at any cost. The lamentation of the present is mainly
due to the fact that the liberation from the British has not realized for them
the much-aspired Hindudom, but the Hindus have had to deal with Mus-
lims amid them and around them. This agony has only deepened and
deteriorated with the independent India's persistence with secularism
and democracy. The innocent Brahminism with its innocuous spirituality
is perceived to be in greater danger now because of a clear "multilateral
conspiracy" to divide, denude, and destabilize the Hindu somatic's socio-
economic-political reality. The civil and political rights of the religious
minorities, the conversion of oppressed Hindus to other faiths (Islam in
particular), Dalit mobilization, implementation of the Mandal Commis-
sion report for job reservation, economic competition from other groups,
and other factors of this nature are believed to be adding to this "emascu-
lation scheme." More than ever, the Hindu has to be strong, and there is a
singular need for aggression. So the "Angry Hindu" cries out:Yes, certainly I am angry. And I have every reason to be angry. And it is also right
for me to be so. Otherwise I would be no man.
Yes, for too long I have suffered affronts in silence. For ever so long I have been
at the receiving end My people have been kidnapped by the hostiles. My num-
bers have dwindled ... my adored motherland has been torn asunder....
My temples have been desecrated, destroyed. Their sacred stones are being
trampled under the aggressor's feet. My gods are crying. They are demanding of
me for reinstatement in all their original glory. When I speak out my agony, you
of the secular tribe condemn me as a threat to our "secular peace".... Why, you
cannot even tolerate the Ramayana on the TV....
You have derided me as an "Angry Hindu". On the contrary, I take it as a com-
pliment. For so long—for too long—I was lost in a deep coma. I saw nothing, I
heard nothing, felt nothing—even when my motherland was cut off. But all such
incessant blows have at last awakened me. Now I have begun to see, I have begun
to hear, I have begun to understand, and I have begun to feel—what tragedies
have overtaken me.... Hereafter I will sleep no more. I will not remain dumb; I