That the proverbial Church and State are coming a bit too close for comfort in Narendra Modi’s India is a proven fact. There have been many instances of their intermingling — almost. Ceremonies within the premises of State institutions have, for instance, been tinged with the flavour of rituals associated with the majority religion. The prime minister leading the sengol tableau in the company of seers comes to mind in this context. Institutions have, more often than not, been tepid in their resistance towards religious polarisation. Even the army has now been made to study ancient texts and epics in its tryst to gain military wisdom. Yet another discomfiting example of the bonhomie between the Church and the State was witnessed with the announcement at the Mahakumbh of the finalisation of a ‘Constitution’ for Akhand Hindu rashtra. The document, compiled by a committee of scholars representing the sanatan dharma, is expected to be sent to the Centre. Hindu rashtra’s eclipsing of republican India, a patron of the committee stated, has been set for 2035. Unsurprisingly, Hindu rashtra’s constitutional edifice is based on the Manusmriti, Arthashastra, the Ramayana and other works sacred to the sanatan tradition. Some of its other tenets make for telling reading. Military education would be compulsory for citizens; there will be harsh punitive action against theft and even harsher punishment for those accused of ‘anti-national’ activities — a nebulous term that is already used as a dog whistle by India’s right-wing to punish its opponents, including political activists, journalists and dissenters. The ‘Constitution’ also proposes a unicameral legislature with the "chief of the country" chosen by three-fourths of the elected members of the legislature. What is revealing is that only those belonging to sanatan dharma would have the right to contest elections. In many ways — and this is only to be expected — Hindu rashtra’s Constitution seems to be the very antithesis of the enlightened document — B.R. Ambedkar’s Constitution — that guides the modern, secular republic.

The bluster of an India run according to the principles of Hindutva and sanatan dharma may animate and be limited to the fringe at the moment. But it must be remembered that many aspirations of Hindutva, which had appeared to be the talk of a loony fringe, have, over the years, come to pass by trampling upon the secular terrain. The processes that lead to the ripening of toxic fruits often begin innocuously. These must be resisted and nipped in the bud.