Hindu Rashtra

English

Etymology

Compound of Hindu +‎ Sanskrit राष्ट्र (rāṣṭra, “state, nation”); possibly an unadapted borrowing from Hindi or another Indian language.

Proper noun

Hindu Rashtra

1. (Hindutva) the (idealised) administration of India under a theocratic government as a Hindu state as sought by Hindu nationalists
   • 1982, Balraj Madhok, Rationale of Hindu State, page 99:

     The RSS has been in existence since 1925. It considered the whole of India to be Hindu Rashtra. The way India was partitioned only confirmed the RSS view about Hindu Rashtra which is in keeping with the modern concept of nationalism.

   • 1998, The Muse and the Minorities: Social Concerns and Creative Cohesion : International Seminar, Papers and Proceedings, Steering Committee the Muse and Minorities, pages 172, 384:

     Even as Pakistan had been declared an Islamic state, India should be declared a Hindu Rashtra, they argued. […]A nation is a nation but when everyone starts calling it Hindu Rashtra or a Sikh nation or a Muslim nation then it becomes a theocratic State.

   • 2021 December 11, Antara Chakraborthy, Pravin Prakash, “Uttar Pradesh 2022: A Blueprint for the Yogi’s Hindu Rashtra”, in The Diplomat‎^[1]:

     The end game is the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra, an ethnic democracy predicated on their ideology of Hindutva, an ethno-religious nationalism holding that the cultural values of Hinduism (as interpreted by the Hindu Right) are indistinguishable from the national identity of India.

   • 2022 September 20, “Kerala Governor has mindset of an RSS worker, says CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan”, in The Hindu‎^[2]:

     He said the country is facing “a moment of crisis” with the RSS aiming to turn it into a Hindu Rashtra if it manages to win the next elections.

See also

• Ramrajya
• Akhand Bharat