Unquestioning belief in the existence of a river no longer visible is the touchstone of faith. That was the substance of the pronouncements made by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Mohan Bhagwat, at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. The occasion being the release of a book on the river, Saraswati, mentioned in some of the Vedas but generally considered mythical, at most an ancient river that dried up in the remote past, it was the central theme in Mr Bhagwat’s reflections. By asking for proof of its existence, students nowadays question India’s cultural heritage. This is because the purveyors of Hindutva have a special place for the absent Saraswati, which is supposed to be auspicious, and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government forms committees — serially — to prove its existence. Turning myth into reality is part of Hindutva’s agenda; proving antiquity, apparently, establishes India’s superiority or Vishwa Guru status. The Saraswati is linked to India’s ancient culture and heritage by supposedly watering the soil of India’s early civilization. The RSS and BJP’s rhetoric around it has made it into a symbol.
What bothered Mr Bhagwat was the students’ lack of faith. Asking questions or being sceptical till given proof is the sign of a scientific mindset, precisely the attitude that RSS and BJP leaders are trying to eradicate. Mr Bhagwat deplored the education system that taught students to question, demonstrating that he and his peers condemned the central goal of education itself. But unfettered research and independent thought cannot flourish in an environment where specific notions must be accepted by faith. These might be of the past — Ramjanmabhoomi, for example — or the present — the divine qualities of the indigenous cow comprise one — or past and present — the Saraswati river. For Mr Bhagwat and his ideological friends, these and similar phenomena are manifestations of India’s culture and heritage. So students should be taught to believe instead of asking questions; education must create faith in myths. Religion, not intellectual freedom, should be its aim. Culture and heritage must shrink to the handful of myths that the BJP or RSS can pull out of their hats. Besides, questions are unwelcome when the ruling regime is intolerant of criticism and dissent. For students, Mr Bhagwat’s friends would feel, silence is golden.