Recently, a prominent leader of a regional political party in India called for the eradication of ‘Sanathan’. He made this statement in the elected assembly of the state which adds to the gravity of the statement. Not one of the other elected representatives registered a protest. The reaction outside in the general community too wasn’t significant.

Shockingly, this was not the first time this politician made this statement. He made the exact same statement in a political rally a couple of years ago and went to the extent of comparing ‘Sanathan’ to viruses like Dengue and Covid that deserved to be eradicated.

During the first time this statement was uttered, someone did lodge a protest in court. The court not surprisingly, ruled that this was hate speech. This clearly has had zero impact on the said politician as he now simply repeated the same statement.

What is Sanathana Dharma?

Sanathana Dharma literally translates to ‘Eternal Law’ or ‘Eternal way’ This is a set of philosophies, beliefs and way of living that has evolved over 5000 years. This is what is popularly called Hinduism which is the oldest surviving faith in human history. This system is followed by more than a billion people and its sacred geography is the Indian Subcontinent. The term hinduism is more widely used and the word ‘Santhana Dharma’ was rarely used by the people until recently.

What does eradication of Sanathana Dharma mean?

An unfiltered interpretation of the statement to eradicate Sanathan would mean converting or killing a billion people and imposing a change in the life style and customs of the remaining survivors. This is nothing short of a dog whistle for genocide.

The ambition of the goal was stupefying but the confidence that it wouldn’t have any back lash was unsettling. Does this mean Sanatanis, who constitute the majority of the voting cohort, can be threatened with extinction and genocide with zero electoral impact?

The reaction of Hindus

This hate speech uttered recently was brought up in a WhatsApp group that I was a part of. I had a chance to see the reactions to the hate speech. Barely one or two people raised the issue and expressed indignation at this statement. The majority were silent. Some said they were unaware of the speech, suggesting we needed AI to explain what this fuss was all about. A few decided to engage the person who raised the issue.

The first engagement was to lighten the statement by turning the issue into a joke. This received covering fire from others focusing on the joke rather than the issue raised. Pressed further, the jokes amplified including feigning ignorance of ‘Sanatan’ and saying they are more familiar with Santhanam (a comedian in Tamil films) or Santana (an international musician). This was followed by comments that this exchange of words was excellent morning entertainment and there was a meme on the perils of pride in identity.

The discussion took a breather only to return in less than 48 hours. This time the engagement was bit more direct sans the jokes but the willingness to address the seriousness of the statement or condemn the statement was still absent. One tried to downplay and called the senior politician and elected representatives’ statement, the ramblings of a mad guy and that it deserved to be ignored.

The general opinion was that the people who raised the issue were over reacting. The core of the arguments was that reacting to the statement showed a sense of misplaced insecurity. They suggested that a philosophy and religion that survived 5000 years should not be worried about being eradicated. This was bolstered by the argument that when Hindus were 80% of the population, the idea of eradication seemed near impossible and therefore not worthy of discussion.

At times, it was hinted the people raising the issue were creating the problem. The group admonished that faith is personal and should not be imposed on what’s app groups.

There was also a view that we all followed the tenets of hinduism without using the word ‘Sanathan’ and this statement is a not relevant for most in the South of India. It is true that ‘Santhana Dharma’ is not part of daily vocabulary. I too am guilty of only being aware of Hinduism and not ‘Santhana Dharma’.

Ignorance or lack of familiarity cannot be a defence to condone hate speech or calls for genocide. I have an analogy that I hope will help. Two young fish in a big pond were crossed by an older fish swimming in the opposite direction. The older fish asked the two young fish, ‘Are they draining the water out from where you are coming?’ The two young fish give a confused look and continue swimming on. A few seconds later, one fish asks the other, ‘What is water?’ The other fish replies ‘I don’t know, I’ve lived here all my life and I’m sure it doesn’t affect us’. We live and breathe ‘Santhana Dharma’ and we should all be concerned.

The sharpest attack vector was to use the ‘Caste problem’ to silence the people raising the hate speech issue. Equating Sanathan with caste is obfuscation at best and malicious at worst. I have seen this line being taken by other politicians to justify the indefensible statement calling for genocide. This seems to have caught the idea of many including people in this WhatsApp group. Adopting this argument implies that eradication of Sanathan and Hinduism is the acceptable and only solution to the ills of the caste system. This is akin to throwing the baby with the bath water.

The intent is never to find solution to the complex social issue of caste divide but only to exploit it. Ironically, those who point to the caste system as the oppressive reason to convert to other religions, happily accept caste identities in their newly adopted religion!

The Hindu Divided Family

This WhatsApp group is a microcosm of the society we live in. The defensive responses to an open call to a genocide of Hindus witnessed in the group could have very easily happened in any other WhatsApp group in India. Those defending or apologising for statements that are anti Hindu are almost always people who profess to be Hindus.

The real question that was raised was, how is it acceptable to insult and denigrate Hindus while the same is not acceptable to other religions? If all religions are equal, why does Hinduism alone expected to be more tolerant to insult?

I would like to cite an earlier incident in the same WhatApp group where the above discussion occurred. A while ago someone from non Hindu faith exited the group due to perceived slight to their faith. The person who exited was swiftly pacified and brought back to the group and the person responsible for the unpleasant remarks was rightly asked to be respectful. This happened effortlessly. If this is the expected norm, I ask, why do Hindus not extend the same courtesy to themselves that they extend to other faiths?

I have for long wondered on this phenomenon that is unique to Hindus. Why do Hindus accept and even defend attacks on their own religion? Some of these people speaking against Hinduism claim to be devout practicing Hindus while some are HINO (Hindus In Name Only). HINO’s are either deracinated or have overtly or covertly lost faith in Hinduism. It baffles me why the HINO’s choose to actively spout anti Hindu statement especially as Hinduism does not impose any restriction on anyone.

In a larger national context, we conflate criticism of Hinduism to freedom of speech and being respectful of other faiths as being ‘secular’.

This inexplicable behaviour of Hindus has made me ponder and I would like to share some observations and thoughts that have crossed my mind over the years on the state of Hindus and Hinduism.

Is the threat of eradication an exaggeration?

Looking at 5000 year history and the large population of Hindus it is natural for some to be confident that it is impossible for Hinduism to be eradicated.

Once upon a time, Hinduism was the dominant religion with its influence stretching from central Asia to the far east. It believed in assimilation of different gods and there was no concept of conversion. The story of the battle of ten kings is fascinating. After the war, all gods of both the vanquished and victors were given equal importance, leading to the birth of Vedic religion with multiple gods and tolerance to all. This is the essence of Sanathana Dharma.

Eventually, Sanathana Dharma had to contend with new religions especially Christianity and Islam, that were less accommodating of others views and believed in conversions even with the threat of force. Sanathana Dhamra succumbed to this new wave leading to an erosion of its dominant position. The geography of influence has steadily shrunk ceding space to other religions. Countries like Indonesia which had no muslims became fully Islamic within 300-400 years. Today, Christianity is the largest religion in the world and Islam is the second largest.

A callous view would say Hinduism still thrives in the geography of its origin. This is also not entirely true. In modern times, India was forced to give away large parts of its land to the east (Bangladesh) and west(Pakistan) to accommodate Islam. The Hindu population in these countries have been systematically under attack and the populations have shrunk to nothing compared to 70 years ago. This seems a lot like eradication. On the other hand the share of minorities have risen in India. Those who still harp on about Hindus being 80% of the population do not realise that this statistic is outdated. With unabated one way conversions, I wonder what surprise the new census will throw.

One would have hoped that the discrimination would end after the creation of the republic of India but just about 30 years ago Kashmiris Hindus were forced to flee from their own homes in independent ‘secular’ India. They became refugees in their own country. The government did nothing to protect them. They still cannot safely claim their own homes in 2026.

The story does not stop with Kashmir. In West Bengal, a corrupt and tyrannical government led by a HINO and supported by an Islamic voter base suppressed the general Hindu population. An appalling example was in the village of Sandheshkali, where Hindu women both married and unmarried had to present themselves and endure rape at the hands of local politicians who was non Hindu.

Also, it is no secret that violent attacks were planned and executed in 2021 on Hindu families that dared to vote differently in Bengal. This also included rape attacks on women sometimes in front of other family members. In 2021! A little known fact is that several lakhs of Hindus temporarily fled to Assam to protect themselves from these attacks. The state government was complicit in these attacks.

The reign of terror in Bengal was so bad that in 2026, it required stringent security measures by central police forces to conduct a peaceful election and also to get the population to vote without fear. I have never seen such exaggerated celebrations post elections anywhere in India as I did following the overthrow of this corrupt and pro islamic Bengal government in 2026.

I also want to highlight the recent violence in Manipur which had religious undercurrents. This also had foreign interference from the US. There were open whispers that the US wanted to establish an independent christian state involving regions of the north east of India.

It was not enough for the global influence of Sanathan to shrink to the subcontinent. It was not enough to convert people in the subcontinent. It was not enough to loose the geographies that were renamed Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was necessary to covet Kashmir, West Bengal and the Northeast. Once these are achieved the focus will shift elsewhere. This never ends until perhaps the eradication of Sanathan. This is the macro picture. The micro picture isn’t a secret. Most know there are ghettos, regions and even districts in India which are referred to as ‘minority areas’ where Hindus fear to tread.

Looking at the long arc of history, one has to be insane to dismiss the possibility of the eradication of Hinduism. It is ongoing action that is happening for the last 2000 years and has not stopped. Any statement or attempt to normalise this should be countered at the least.

Why do Hindus attack their own religion?

This is the hardest question to answer. Hindus are very critical of their own religion. This is something that is hard to find in any other religion. Why does the Hindu behave defensively when talking about his religion and why do some go the extra mile to actually attack it?

I wish to speculate. I suppose the answers might lie in history, including the time it was under foreign rule for 1000 years and also what happened at independence.

India was invaded, plundered and eventually ruled by Islamists from Central Asia. Will Durant the historian called it this possibly the bloodiest story in history. One can only imagine the threat of murder or conversions that the Hindu population faced. Survival would have been the aim and downplaying of one’s identity was perhaps the tool. This behaviour compounded over centuries would have undoubtedly resulted in an invisible scar in the Hindu psyche and influenced how he sees himself. The present day concern for other faiths and ability to be self critical to the point normalising calls for genocide might be the latent effect of this.

Following this, the British colonisation probably had a different and equally lasting impact. The British uprooted the traditional education system and replaced it with their education system. They perhaps came with the aura of being technologically advanced and easily convinced us to adopt their ideas. They convinced us to believe our ancient texts, practices and religion were outdated.

Following this 1000 year history, the modern republic of India could have been unabashedly Hindu. The constituent assembly recognised the roots of modern India lay in Bharat in the constituiton. They added illustrations of Lord Ram in the original constitution reflecting the undeniable Hindu connection. They debated on the idea of including secular and decided it should not be in the constitution. After all this, they erred by not committing to a Hindu republic.

Their hesitation was perhaps a reflection of their concern for communal harmony. Maybe they felt the newly independent country needed to recover from the horrors of partition. This hesitation has percolated to the Hindu population who are constantly walking on egg shells to uphold the chimera of communal harmony.

This ‘balanced’ approach in the constitution led them to give special rights to minorities including rights to operate educational institutions and follow separate civil laws. The end result – anyone not Hindu, automatically enjoyed special rights! The Hindu had to accept less for the greater good. Subsequent laws of the land continued this bias against Hindus, for example Hindu temple administration was controlled by the government while other religions managed their own properties. To add insult to injury, the person in charge of running the temples often was not even a Hindu!! Hindus were ham strung by their own constitution and laws but this time with the illusion of freedom.

Independent India also had a chance to reform education and develop a generation of confident Indians with pride in their roots. The modern republic sadly mimicked the British education system not just in format but also intent. This system of education taught that Indians were a nation of losers. It chose to highlight the wars lost and it speaks highly of the invaders. The history of the invaders became Indian history and any Indian history from before became a foot note. Even our freedom struggle is equated with Ahimsa. It ignores the efforts of the Indian National Army and the subsequent Naval mutiny of 1946 which were the real reasons why the British decided to negotiate their exit from India. The textbooks teach us to be ashamed.

The brainwashing of Hindus does not stop with the textbooks. It happens subtly through cinema propaganda. This happens so often that a twitter handle called Gems of Bollywood made it its mission to expose the many instances where Hindus and Hinduism were shown in a negative light in films.

In addition, celebrities, NGO and activists happily become mercenaries to smear Hindu festivals and customs. Common things include ‘don’t waste water on Holi’ or ‘do not use fireworks and cause pollution’. The environment is the facade but the goal is to make Hindus move away from their customs. This has been increasingly called out and the fake noise from these people has reduced in the recent past.

The end result of all the above is, Indian Hindus with no real pride in their roots, who perhaps find Hindu customs unsophisticated and who also get hyper critical on festering issues like the caste system.

India today – The Matrix

The matrix is a sci-fi movie from 20 year ago. It had a lasting impression on me. The movie is about a scenario where all humans are captured by machines, made unconscious and used as an energy source. Their consciousness is projected into a simulated reality referred to as ‘The Matrix’. The captured humans are made to believe that all is well while in fact they are slaves to the machines.

Some humans escape from the clutches of the machine and regain their freedom. They are able to see the matrix and see all the people trapped in it. They ‘enter’ the matrix in an attempt to rescue those still trapped in the Matrix. The humans trapped in the matrix inadvertently serve as tools of the machines acting against the ‘free humans’ who are trying to liberate them.

As I process all the above information, I am tempted to compare the state of the Hindus in India akin to being in a Matrix. In this case being mentally enslaved (rather than physically enslaved).

To summarise, the Hindus are not taught the historical persecution and murder they endured for 1000 years. They are not aware that the constitution is stacked against them. They are not aware of blatantly unequal laws being implemented against them. They dutifully learn selective history where they are only capable of Ahimsa. They consume social propaganda ridiculing their own religion and customs. To top this, the Hindus are given a false sense of security that Hinduism has survived 5000 years and they are unassailable.

This blissfully ignorant state of mind of all Hindus is what traps them in the ‘The Matrix’. It keeps the Hindus smug even as they are erased.

A few Hindus have escaped the Matrix. They have shaken off the rigid conditioning and brain washing and are able to see the facts of the past and also current bias in the system against the Hindus. They try and wake up other Hindus and try to get them out of the Matrix. Their attempts are ridiculed by the very Hindus they are trying to wake up.

The awake Hindus grasp the import of Hinduism being the only surviving ancient faith. All other faiths and pagan beliefs have almost disappeared. The traditional religions in Africa and South America have blended their customs with Christianity and Islam. The traditional Greek gods and goddesses are now history. Hinduism is the only religion that has survived the onslaught of Proselytisation.

Hinduism did not survive 5000 years by chance or luck. It survived because it was actively defended. A superficial dip into history reveals the cultural and kinetic efforts of various empires and kings. This includes the Marathas, the Vijayanagara empire, Sikhs, Rajputs and Ahoms in defending Hinduism. They did not believe in Ahimsa and they fought valiantly for the land, its religion and its customs. The Hindus also actively rebuilt temples destroyed by invaders including prominently the Kashi Vishwanath temple in1780, the Somnath temple in 1951 and Lord Ram temple in 2024.

In the era of the modern democratic republic, the battle for hinduism has inevitably shifted to the electoral arena. This movement has been called Hindutva by the others including by Hindus within the Matrix! Also, any person who chooses to voice support for Hinduism is labeled a ‘Sanghi’ almost as a slur. Most Hindus are bemused with these attempted insults and some actually have begun to wear it as a badge of honour. This electoral and cultural battle will continue.

The awake Hindu realises that Hinduism is now the oldest and longest resistance in human history. This resistance was not sustained with words but with countless sacrifices of Hindu lives over centuries.

The Future – Republic 2.0

Will a democracy with universal franchise be a fair battleground for Hindutva?

The current success of a pro Hindu party in elections can only be partly attributed to the Hindu awakening. Most Hindus are still in a trance in the Matrix. They may have voted for efficient governance and reliable nationalistic leadership. This electoral success is thus not permanent.

As of today, the Hindu divided family is up against people of other religions who do not hesitate to vote en masse against any party even remotely pro Hindu. It requires significant consolidation of the Hindu vote for a victory.

Looking ahead, the hindu population is reducing faster than other voting groups and religions. This will increasing make it difficult for Hindus to consolidate their vote. The position in West Bengal and Kerala is a stark indicator that demography is destiny.

Knowing now, that the current democratic rules cannot protect us forever, is it time to be proactive and refashion the governance structure to protect Hinduism and ensure this sacred geography remains our home?

Can India ensure Hinduism, Hindu customs and temples are protected for eternity and live up to being ‘Sanathana Dharma’?

Is it time to revisit the constitution and reimagine Republic 2.0?

Is it time for a Hindu Rashtra?