To understand who Self-Hating Hindus are, let us first understand the Self-Hating Jews. ‘Self-hating Jew’ is a fairly common phrase used to describe Jews who hate everything about themselves. Be it their religion, their history or their nation. Variously described as anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and an anti-Israeli attitude, the phenomenon of ‘Self-hating Jews’ has been prevalent for decades if not centuries.
Nazi German chroniclers noted the presence of Jews whose views towards Judaism incited extreme anti-Semitism. Many of these Jews converted to Christianity and persecuted their erstwhile co-religionists with a missionary’s zeal. The Communist deity, Karl Marx, for instance was ancestrally a Jew (his father had converted before he was born) who became infamous for his anti-Jewish harangue. His book, ‘On the Jewish Question’ essentially reduced Judaism to worship of money and identified the Modern Commercialized world as a victory of Judaism.
In Tsarist Russia, Jewish Social Revolutionaries justified pogroms against Jews as a way to create revolutionaries. Bolshevik Revolutionaries, many of whom, like Leon Trotsky, were Jewish, were at the forefront of curbing Judaism in Soviet Russia. Even Stalin, who murdered countless Jews and whose rule was rife with anti-Semitism was hailed as a Messiah by many Jews. In the modern time, there are Jews who have been seen supporting Ahmadinejad as he threatened to nuke Israel, there are Jews who criticize the existence of Israel and Jews who deplore the Israeli military’s tactics in Palestine.
In short, History is replete with examples of ‘Self-hating Jews’. Psychologically speaking, a ‘Self-Hating Jew’ is created, when cut from his roots, a Jew begins to accept the negative evaluation of Judaism by a non-Jewish majority. Such a person sees his Jewish identity as being a hindrance to his social advancement. Many psychologists consider this phenomenon as being similar to the Stockholm syndrome, where the victims begin to embrace the aggressor’s views, however bigoted or outrageous they may be.
India and Israel share many similarities. They are both oases of peace in very difficult parts of the world, both have thrived in spite of insurmountable existential challenges. Both Jews and Hindus have also suffered for millennia at the hands of invaders. If the Jews were dispersed by Roman and later Islamic invasions, Hindus have for centuries been ruled by Mlechha outsiders.
As in the case of Jews, where existence among a foreign population that derided Judaism, resulted in the emergence of a ‘Self-hating Jew’, similarly for Hindus, centuries of Dhimmitude has resulted in the coming of a Self-Hating Hindu. You will find these Self-Hating Hindus everywhere. In your homes, amongst friends and relatives, on TV channels, in Bollywood, pretty much every conceivable place. These Self-Hating Hindus claim to be Hindus but ridicule everything about Hinduism.
For these Self-Hating Hindus, touching elders’ feet is considered to be demeaning, Wearing a Bindi and Mangalsutra is considered to be undignified for women, worship of cows is superstitious, Ayurveda is unscientific and Sanskrit is ancient gibberish. They are ashamed of Hinduism with its innumerable Gods, of its multitudinous rites and rituals, of its ancient history, of its sacred texts. And yet, all this while they claim to be Hindus and maintain that they are trying to reform the religion and make it relevant to the modern time. The reality is that they are working as agents of Mullahs and Missionaries, seeking to lead gullible Sheep to a religious conversion.
The emergence of Self-Hating Hindus is not a new phenomenon, albeit it is certainly an under- researched phenomenon. There are countless tales of Hindus accepting Islam to rise up the Social ladder in Mughal times. Similarly, the advent of British rule in India persuaded many Hindu men and women to accept the faith of Jesus Christ as a way to thrive under the British.
However, most Self-hating or Self-doubting Hindus usually converted before they proceeded to demonize and disparage Hinduism. This phenomenon of Self-Hating Hindus, castigating Hinduism while remaining in the Hindu fold is a new phenomenon. Savor this, Author Pankaj Mishra claimed that the elevation of Narendra Modi to India’s Premiership was more dangerous than the rise of ISIS.
The likes of Trupti Desai have agitated for more rights for women in Hindu temples, but maintained a deafening silence for women’s rights in other religions. Barkha Dutt is renowned for lampooning Hindutva, but she drags her feet on radical Islam or evangelical Christianity. The demolition of Babri Masjid evokes tut-tutting from these Self-hating Hindus, but there not a peep out of these holy personages for the eviction of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley, for the decimation of Hindu minority in Pakistan, for the molestation of Hindu community in Bangladesh. There are loud protests on the imposition of Sanskrit, but Urdu as a second language of Bengal is cheered. Hindu terrorism is to be feared but if terrorists are radical Islamists, terror suddenly has no religion?
The mindsets of Self-Hating Hindus are not very different from Self-Hating Jews. For years, he has been brought up on a diet of anti-Hinduism.
Having been reduced to a minority psychologically (for Hindus were never in numerical minority in India), Self-Hating Hindus begins seeing the world as they have been taught. In Hinduism, he sees only decay and misery and he longs to escape it. But escape might not be easy in a tightly-bound society as is prevalent in India. He therefore wrecks the system from within.
With his words, actions, writings, he ceaselessly crusades to undermine the faith of his forefathers. Using Logic as a potent weapon, he seeks to undermine the faith. However, Logic is a weapon that is quickly discarded when it turns counter-productive, for instance when logic exposes the hollowness of the faiths he is in awe of. Of late, a Self-hating Hindu has also expressed himself in ways that would make him seems like an Indophobe. He criticizes India’s armed forces, its government, its human rights record, and well, anything that can show India’s inherent inferiority as compared to foreign cultures.
The need of the hour is for Hindus to be aware of their glorious past and their mighty achievements. They need to be aware of their ability to remedy many of the modern world’s problems with their scientific and humanist philosophy. More important is the need to be aware of our strengths and our powers. Instead of glorifying the rants of these Self-Hating Hindus, we must confront them once and for all and show them their true place- in the ash heap of history.