“Will Amazon ever understand that kind of trust?” RSS leader Hosabale warns e‑commerce eroding societal bonds

In a pointed critique at modern consumerism, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale voiced strong concerns that e-commerce and market-driven lifestyles are undermining the fabric of human relationships.

Speaking at a discussion on the book 'Integral Humanism: A Distinct Paradigm of Development' by Ashok Modak, Hosabale drew a striking distinction between impersonal online transactions and trust-laden traditional markets, according to a PTI report.

He illustrated his point with a relatable example: ordering a book by Ashok Modak online to a village in Tamil Nadu. "It seems convenient. I pay and they deliver. But is it really that simple?" Hosabale asked. His deeper point centred on relational loss: the absence of a cropping of trust and communal bonds that flourished in local marketplaces, where shopkeepers knew families intimately. “Will Amazon ever understand or replicate that kind of trust?” he asked rhetorically.

Hosabale also pointed out that our increasing dependence on "market-based, government-oriented life" has relegated interpersonal relationships to mere transactions, devoid of emotional resonance. He warned that this trend is not only changing social dynamics but also eroding the core of societal cohesion.

He highlighted that the impulse should not be just material progress, but also value-centric living, further stressing on sustainable growth, noting that while modern infrastructure is indispensable- "we cannot live without electricity"—we need to align development with environmental responsibility. He also argued that education should do more than transmit information; it should imbue values that reinforce social harmony.

Praising Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index, he proposed that well-being and nature must be re-centred as key pillars of national progress. For Hosabale, societal health depends not just on GDP, but on compassion, compatibility, and collective welfare.

"A society cannot live in the past alone. People may draw lessons and inspiration from history, but they must also look ahead to the future and live fully in the present. Bharat has never lived just for itself, it has always existed for the wellbeing of the world," he said.

About the notion that India has failed to produce ideologues in recent centuries, the RSS leader said, "We do not accept this claim made by the West. Western civilisation, particularly in Europe, has been the cradle of ideologies like communism, capitalism and feminism. In contrast, Bharat has contributed philosophy."

An ideology is a closed system which can not be changed, Hosabale said, adding that it comes in the way of independent thinking. "Bharat's contribution lies in philosophy, which offers light and guidance but encourages each person to find their own path. Buddha, Mahavir and Swami Vivekananda were not ideologues, they were philosophers. Bharat has never been a land of rigid ideologies," he said.