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concept of nation was, in fact, Girilal Jain argued, alien to the
Hindu temperament and genius. It was essentially Semitic in
character, even if it arose in western Europe in the eighteenth
century when it had successfully shaken off the Church's
stranglehold. For, like Christianity and Islam, it too emphasized
the exclusion of those who did not belong to the charmed circle
(territorial, linguistic or ethnic) as much as it emphasized the
inclusion of those who fell within the circle.
By contrast, the essential spirit of
Hinduism was inclusivist, and not exclusivist by definition. Such a
spirit must seek to abolish and not build boundaries. That is why he
held that the Hindus could not sustain an anti-Muslim feeling except
temporarily and, that too, under provocation.
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