Why Najma Heptullah believes there’s nothing wrong in all Indians being called Hindus

We can be fairly sure that Union minority affairs minister Najma Heptullah meant well when she stated that there’s nothing wrong in all Indians being called ‘Hindus’. She subsequently clarified that what she meant was that all Indians are called ‘Hindis’ in many countries. Which is why the Nehruvian slogan of ‘Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai’ isn’t a Golwalkarian slogan, but a twee, (in hindsight) rather naïve catchline about Indians and Chinese being fraternal.

Perhaps all that Ms Heptullah wanted was to subtly put a spanner in the works of all those who see everything in a communal light. After all, how can you be anti-Muslim when the Mussalman is ‘Hindu’? And how can there be any ‘minority appeasement’ among a majority of 100% ‘Hindus’? The problem is there are many ‘Hindus/Hindis’ who identify themselves with other more prominent markers than foreign nomenclatures used for them. These include tags such as ‘Sikh’, ‘Mother’ or ‘Capitalist’. Or, as is the case with many religious identity-obsessed Hindustanis: Hindus. If Ms Heptullah’s intentions were to somehow conflate the identity markers of, say, RSS cadre members with those of, say, Darul Uloom Deoband students, it was a laudable attempt. But she missed out on the far more acceptable — and far less confusing — tag that already connects us all: Bharatiya, or Indian.