Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon

According to the 2011 Census of India, population of Hindus stood at 966.3 million in India. As of September 2021, the Hindu population of Hindus would be approximately 1000 plus million, and Muslims at 172 million, Christians at 28 million, Sikhs at 20.8 million, Buddhists at 8.4 million and Jains at 4.5 million. As of January 2022, the Hindu population would have certainly crossed the 1200 million mark, a world record for any religion in the annals of human civilization.

The Hindu population of India would thus be, undoubtedly, the largest religious entity in the world. Even the combined population strength of many countries will not match the Hindu numerical strength of India!

The swathe of the Hindu population is enormously excessive and beyond even visualization by many nations and leaders. Harnessing such an incredibly massive population would be the stuff of dreams of many ambitious men and women around the world.

Most unfortunately, Hindu leaders of all political parties, are obnoxiously ignorant, of the kinetic energy of 1000 million plus Hindus, that could propel them to dizzying heights of glory and power. But, pathetically, the potential energy of 1000 million plus Hindus is lying simply untapped, unused and neglected for centuries.

The fracturing and rupturing of India in 1947 on the eastern and western sectors on religious lines, as demanded by the followers of a particular West Asian religion, did not hold any lessons whatsoever for the Hindu leadership of those times. Displacement of millions, death of several thousands of Hindus and Sikhs, rape and abduction of thousands of girls, illegal usurpation of property, nothing mattered to the then Hindu leadership. They were least affected by the Partition, their families were safe and sound, and they were obsessed with foisting the Prime Ministership on Jawaharlal Nehru instead of the eminently eligible Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The Hindus started paying the price from day one of Independence, for this erroneous decision.

Even before the euphoria and holocaust that engulfed Independence proclamation started waning, Muslims and Christians along with Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis were elevated to the status of a ‘National Minority’, and showered with innumerable benefits, unjustly and perversely denied to millions of Hindus. Unfortunately, this perversity and iniquity persist and during the last over 70 years the kitty of benefits has only kept increasing steadily for the ‘Minorities’ while assiduously targeting the Hindus for unfair denial and deprivement. Both the West   Asian religions enjoying ‘Minority’ status has been obsessively targeting and hunting Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists for illegal conversions by misinterpreting the Constitution and showing utter disregard for the term ‘secularism’, unfortunately undefined. Conversions by West Asian religions is fast changing the political landscape. The changing demographics and political leadership in many States, has not alerted the political parties, bureaucracy and judiciary, into taking any preventive measures. Absence of visionary leaders and statesmen in many political parties is beginning to prove detrimental for national unity and Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsees in particular. 

We should bear in mind the sagacious wisdom of Niccolo Machiavelli who counselled “Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.”

History is being forgotten in India and with it the centuries of violent massacres, destruction and subjugation by foreigners. Crafty and cunning politicians and their families, are being lured by West Asian religions, to manipulate policies, laws and rules to facilitate their expansion and eradicating Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and Parsi religions from India. In many parts of India their diabolical strategy has been successful. Hindu votes are of zero consequence in many parts of the country.      

Politicians dread the unity of the West Asian religions, and hence are immersed in fabricating new schemes and programs only to please and placate the ‘Minorities’, while sternly and stubbornly denying Hindus any benefits, including ‘Minority’ status in States where they are in clear numerical minority. Every election sees new schemes and bonanza for the West Asian religions in particular. 

How long will political parties squirm with their Minority-fixation excluding 1000 million plus Hindus? For the past over 70 years, tampering reservation percentages to keep it tilting in favour of ‘minorities’ is the predominant occupation of the politicians and bureaucrats, and, judiciary has to keep deliberating about the judiciousness of such interminable tampering. No other country is afflicted with this continuous malaise of juggling with reservation percentage. Consequently, brilliant students are flocking to Western countries determined not to return to their motherland. Even small countries like Moldovia, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine are preferred second options, yet our politicians and bureaucrats are not ashamed of their moronic policies.

Has the time not come to tap the dormant energy of 1000 million plus Hindus? Why not stop prostrating before foreign funded West Asian religious leaders for votes? Why not a tectonic shift to empower and galvanize the 1000 million plus Hindus? This would disrupt and terminate the Congress party strategy, conceived at Independence time, of lumping disparate religions under the banner of ‘Minorities’ and condemning the Hindus to be disorganized, and split into innumerable splinter groups to make their voting power inconsequential.

Clubbing of different religions under the ‘Minority’ banner has also to be dissolved as the two West Asian religions are focussed on converting, whereas the other minorities – Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism do not have any conversion agenda. Therefore, it makes eminent sense to have separate Minority organizations for each religion for their self-preservation and protection.

Among the Muslims itself there are innumerable caste denominations like Shias, Sunnis, Bohra Muslims, Jaafari Bohras, Da’udi Bohras, Sulaymani Bohras, Alavi Bohras, Ismailis, and several other castes. In fact, Islam in India has over a hundred different castes! Similarly, Christianity is divided by caste divisions like Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostals among more than a hundred! They refer to them as ‘denominations’ in order to conceal their caste-system.

Sikhism has over 10 types of castes. Buddhism is divided into three, and Jainism into two. Using what kind of logic were all these disparate and divergent religions and belief systems, grouped together as ‘Minorities’? All these different religions and their different constituents were entitled to have a separate ‘Minority’ status and independent Commission, but they were all mischievously and unscientifically clubbed together by the Congress party to be used as a bulwark against the Hindus. No doubt, this tactic paid rich dividends for the Nehru family and their loyalists. But in the scheme designed by the Congress party, many constituents of these West Asian religions are voiceless and unrepresented. For example, among the Muslims, the Sunnis have a predominant say, among the Christians, the Catholics overshadow all the other constituents. This iniquity needs correction and all sections need to be empowered to progress. Instead of calling them as ‘Minorities’, and clubbing them together, it makes eminent sense to set up separate organizations like National Muslims Commission, National Sikhs Commission, National Christians Commission, National Jain Commission, National Buddhist Commission and National Parsees Commission, and all the castes within each of these religions be given adequate representation, under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. 

For the utterly disorganized and neglected Hindus there is an urgent need to set up a Ministry of Unity, that will exclusively handle the task of upliftment and unification of Hindus across India.  This Ministry will have the mammoth task of uniting the various Hindu denominations, preserving their arts and culture, ensuring that Temples of each community are restored to them by removing all Governmental controls, and most important, protecting them from conversions by West Asian religions. This can be achieved by the Ministry of Unity, adopting and pursuing the following actions amongst others:

1. Initiate the process of Hindu unification, by holding, the first ever grand national convention of Hindus in which every denomination, sect and sub-sect, will participate, to debate and deliberate on the various challenges being faced by Hindu society, and exploring remedies.
2. Similarly, State conventions to be held to identify special issues faced by Hindus in that State and suggest remedies.
3. Seek to amend the Constitution to delete undefined terms like ‘Secularism’ ‘Minorities’ and ‘propagate’.
4. Declare ‘Sanathan Dharma’ as the national religion and incorporate it in the Constitution, as it is the religion of 1000 million plus Hindus. Nobody can complain about this. The religion of 1000 million plus Hindus cannot be relegated and brushed aside. It deserves the national status, simply because it is the religion of 1000 million plus Hindus.
5. Liberate all Temples across India from every kind of governmental control, and restore them to the Hindu community, for proper management.
6. Prepare a National Directory of Temples, their properties, and assets.
7. Set up safe vaults in every District to preserve Temple treasures.
8. Set up a Sanathan Dharma Vishwavidyalaya, at national level and in every State to preserve the Temple arts, crafts and sciences, unique to that State, and also to train priests in conducting poojas, Homas and rituals. In addition, these institutions will promote the State language and Sanskrit by instituting appropriate academic programs.
9. Establish Hindu Holocaust Memorials in places where mass massacre of Hindus has taken place during invasions by foreigners, like Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Central Asians, and Portuguese. 
10. Observe one day in a year as Hindu Holocaust Day, just as the Jewish Holocaust Day is observed. Special prayers to be arranged for the victims massacred by foreigners and during the Partition.
11. Identify iconic Temples of India and promote their pilgrimage potential.
12. Organize and conduct national chanting of Bhagawad Geeta, Vishnu Sahasranama, Lalitha Sahasranama, Hanuman Chalisa, and other scriptures, on identified days every year to create unity and brotherhood. Imagine the power of 1000 million plus Hindus chanting in unison! 
13. Pass suitable legislation to protect, patent, trademark and copyright Hindu Temple arts, sciences, customs, names, bhajans, kirtans, festivals and traditions from being copied, imitated or plagiarized by foreign religions. 
14. Ban usage of terms like ‘mythology’, ‘superstition’ to refer to Hindu scriptures. (This dubious strategy was put in place by a West Asian religion to facilitate conversions to their religion. Thus, Hindu scriptures became ‘mythology’ and superstition. Hindu Gods and Goddesses were denigrated and castigated and contemptuously called ‘idol worship’, but they were oblivious to the fact that they were also worshipping idols made of concrete, plaster of Paris, Papier-Mache and marble). 
15. Protect Hindu pilgrimage centres and adjoining geographical space from occupation by foreign religions in the guise of schools, colleges, hospitals, prayer-houses and NGO’s. This provision to be made applicable to Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsee pilgrimage centres, as they are also being systematically targeted for religious conversions.
16. All foreign currency contributions received by any school, college, hospital, organization should be centralized in one bank and in one location in the country. This will help effectively monitor and track the sender and recipient of foreign funding, which is being utilised for religious conversions.
17. Income tax to be levied on all foreign cash remittances. No exemptions to be granted. 
18. Establish a national hotline number for reporting conversion complaints.
19. Start a Temple Protection Force on the lines of CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) to safeguard iconic Hindu Temples and their wealth.
20. Many universities in India have established Chairs for studies in the West Asian religions, but there is none for Hindu studies and other indigenous faiths like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. UGC and NAAC rules need to be suitably amended to ensure that those universities aspiring for NAAC grading of ‘A’ and above, should establish a Chair of Sanathan Dharma studies.

Once the above measures are on track, the massive consolidation of 1000 million plus Hindus will be set in motion. 2024 is just around the corner, and that Statesman who can win the hearts and minds of 1000 million plus Hindus will get elevated and exalted as the ‘superman’ of this age and epoch. He will ride like a colossus on the world stage and no other leader anywhere on Planet Earth will be able to challenge him. He will be the YUGA-PURUSHA.

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The author Dr G Shreekumar Menon, IRS (Rtd) Ph. D (Narcotics), is

• Former Director General National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes and Narcotics, and Multi-Disciplinary School of Economic Intelligence India
• Fellow, James Martin Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies, USA.
• Fellow, Centre for International Trade & Security, University of Georgia, USA 
• Public Administration, Maxwell School of Public Administration, Syracuse University, U.S.A.
• AOTS Scholar, Japan

Dr G Shreekumar Menon can be contacted at shreemenon48@gmail.com