The practice of millions of Hindu married women of putting sindoor (vermillion) in the middle of their hair parting on their forehead denotes their marital status. It is religious in scope and is sanctified by Hinduism itself. Sindoor is also used on the statues of several Hindu deities, one among which is Hanuman, the monkey god, worshipped and revered by devotees across India.On the intervening night of May 6-7, the Indian military launched Operation Sindoor against terrorist outfits in Pakistan in response to the horrific killing of 26 men of our country in Pahalgam, Kashmir, by gun-weilding terrorists on April 22 in the presence of their spouses holidaying as tourists.This operation was meant to give justice to those women whose sindoor was wiped out by the killing of their spouses.Now, Hindutva forces have made utterances by employing the term sindoor to stoke jingoism, hyper nationalism and revenge, and polarise society and polity in the name of faith. Even before the Operation Sindoor was launched, Muslims and Kashmiri people residing in several parts of India were attacked by Hindutva forces. When grief-stricken Himanshi Narwal, the surviving widow of Vinay Narwal – an officer of the Indian Navy who was killed in Pahalgam – appealed not to target Muslims and Kashmiris, she was also abused and trolled by Hindutva followers.It is in this context of such an ecosystem that it is salutary to turn to India’s freedom struggle and learn the lessons of how Mahatma Gandhi used sindoor to uphold cultural liberties of married Hindu women to pursue their religious practices without hatred in face of communal violence. Modi’s hyperboleOn May 22, Prime Minister Modi while addressing a meeting in Bikaner in Rajasthan claimed that the Indian armed forces made Pakistan “kneel” during ‘Operation Sindoor’ and enemies of the country realised that “sindoor (vermilion) could be turned to gunpowder”. Going ballistic, he displayed machoism and said, “Now, Mother India’s servant Modi is standing here with his head held high. Modi’s mind is cool, it stays cool, but Modi’s blood runs hot. And now, not blood, but hot vermilion is flowing in Modi’s veins.”Such hyperboles clearly indicate his intent to mobilise people around an aggressive narrative of nationalism. While campaigning during the 2024 general elections, he had very strangely claimed that he had a sense of being a non-biological entity and now, he claims that “not blood, but hot sindoor is flowing in his veins.”Gandhi gave primacy to blood over sindoorSpinning of such a highly-exaggerated narrative by Modi needs to be seen in the context of how Gandhi located sindoor in the context of the freedom struggle. In a letter to Gangabehen Vaidya on March 28, 1931, what he wrote offers an instructive lesson to Modi who never leaves an opportunity to say while visiting abroad that he hails from “Gandhi ka Desh (Gandhi’s country)”. In that letter, Gandhi wrote, “By the time you get this letter, you will have been out of jail for many days. If it again becomes necessary to let your clothes be stained with blood, let them be. This colour is more pleasant than that of kumkum or sindoor”. Possibly, Gandhi was conveying the message that if her clothes got blood stained by her participation in freedom struggle, the colour of her blood would acquire primacy over the colour of sindoor.Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose gave the stirring slogan: “Give me blood and I promise you freedom”. ‘Blood’ is inclusive of men and women, regardless of faith, whereas sindoor is only exclusively associated with those married Hindu women who prefer to use it to define their marital status. Prime Minister Modi represents all Indians regardless of any identity they represent, including the identity rooted in faith. All that he utters should celebrate an inclusive spirit. So, his assertion that “And now, not blood, but hot vermilion is flowing in Modi’s veins” conveys an idea which is anchored in the idea of Hindu married women.It is in exclusion of other women professing diverse religious creeds and so, it is contrary to inclusion.Gandhi flagged sindoor in NoakhaliIt is instructive that when Mahatma Gandhi was in Noakhali in 1947, during Partition-related violence, a large number of Hindus, and specifically women among them, were the worst victims. Speaking in a prayer meeting in New Delhi on October 31, 1947, he referred to grief and distress of the victims of communal violence in Noakhali and said, “The women in that place had even forgotten to wear bangles or apply sindoor.”Professor Sucheta Mahajan, who taught history in JNU, in her lectures on Gandhi’s visit to Noakhali said that he appealed to those women to use sindoor, bangles and other markers which remained integral to their religious practices without in any way fostering communalism. She also said that some Hindu Mahasabha members such as Vishnu Karkare – who was tried with Nathuram Godse in Gandhi assassination case and got convicted – distributed sindoor and other relief material among women in such a way that it exacerbated communal situation in Noakhali. Gandhi’s exhortation to Hindu woman in Noakhali to use sindoor and bangles as part of their pursuit of their religious practices offers vital lessons for our time to counter majoritarianism and jingoism being promoted in the name of sindoor.Gandhi on sindoor-laced Hanuman idol in a mosqueAt a time when the Partition violence was raging in New Delhi, Gandhi, while addressing a prayer meeting on November 30, 1947, totally disapproved of placement of the idol of Hanuman, after applying Sindoor on it, inside a mosque. He remarked, “To me, it is a mere piece of stone which has been shaped like Hanuman and to which some sindoor has also been applied. In my view, it is not worthy of worship.”“By thus installing idols in the mosques, they are desecrating the mosques and also insulting the idols. As followers of Hinduism we are idol-worshippers, but worshipping any idol in this manner is not religion but the opposite of it,” Gandhi had sharply observed.Those remarks of Gandhi made in Noakhali and Delhi made it clear that he cited the use of sindoor to uphold religious practices to heal and unify people by eschewing hatred. That legacy endures offering lessons to defeat majoritarianism, exclusion and hatred.S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India, K.R. Narayanan.