SC declines to reopen its 20-year-old verdict defining ‘Hindutva as a way of Life'

October,25,2016:

In its 1995 Judgment Apex Court defined Hindutva or Hinduism as a "way of life".

Today Supreme Court declined to hear the contentions of social activist Teesta Setalvad who claimed that 1995 judgment defining Hindutva or Hinduism as a "way of life" has “devastating consequences”.

Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur led a Seven-Judge Constitution Bench which clarified that it will only examining as to what constitutes corrupt electoral practices under Section 123 (3) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Bench said it would not be going into the larger issue of whether 'Hindutva' means the Hindu religion as sought in the petition.

Constitution Bench is slated to decide as to whether if a candidate ropes in the services of religious leaders to use their mass appeal to swing votes in his favour, it amounts to a corrupt electoral practice.

Senior journalist Dilip Mandal, Ms. Setalvad, theatre activist and author Shamsul Islam had appealed before the Constitution Bench pleading that the interpretation given in the December 11, 1995 judgment by then CJI Justice J.S. Verma has led to “Hindutva becoming a mark of nationalism and citizenship.”

Petition claimed that India has reached at a juncture where “narrow and supremacist” interpretations of history, culture, social studies and law threaten the fundamentals of nationhood.

Justice Verma in his Ramesh Yeshwant Prabhoo versus Prabhakar K. Kunte judgment had concluded that "no precise meaning can be ascribed to the terms `Hindu', `Hindutva' and `Hinduism'.

It was also ruled that no meaning in the abstract can confine it to the narrow limits of religion alone, excluding the content of Indian culture and heritage.

The Landmark Judgement classifying Hindutva as a way of life of the people in the sub- continent. It dismissed the idea of equating Hindutva or Hinduism with the "narrow fundamentalist Hindu religious bigotry".

Petitioners claimed that the apex court’s interpretation of Hindutva/Hinduism is leading to “demands of homogenisation and assimilation of minority communities and SC/ST in the Hindutva way of life.”

SC Judgement on Hindutva- Ramesh Yeshwant Prabhoo Versus Prabhakar K. Kunte by latest laws team on Scribd