Have you ever thought about the word Hindutva; how is it related to Hinduism; who came up with the concept; and what does it actually mean?
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar published a pamphlet under the title “Essentials of Hindutva”, which was retitled as “Hindutva: who is Hindu” and reprinted in 1928. In this pamphlet, he clearly mentioned that there is no relation between Hinduism and Hindutva.
The latter is a political ideology which defines those with “pure” Indian blood. According to Hindutva ideologues, a Hindu is one who considers India to be his motherland (matrbhumi), the land of his ancestors (pitrbhumi) and his holy land (punyabhumi).
Savarkar and Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar crystallised the identity of Hindutva, while borrowing most of their political concepts from the west. This political ideology was meant to create a hierarchy with the “upper” caste male at the top.
The aforementioned pamphlet clearly mentions that only an upper caste male will be the first grade citizen of this country (akhand Bharat). All women, Dalits, Muslims and others, will remain second grade citizens.