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Hindu Vivek Kendra |
A RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE PROMOTION OF HINDUTVA |
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12. Agenda of the authors of the Report
12.1 We can give many examples which
will more than amply prove that the authors, and the publishers, of the
Report have an agenda. For example, the Report says that the first Indian
act of Hindutva was the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. What the communists about
the Mahatma is well documented. But these same communists also know very
well that even after serious attempts by a regime that was virulently opposed
to the RSS, no evidence could be found about its involvement or of its
members.
12.2 It is true that Nathuram Godse
was a member of the RSS for about two years in the early 40s. But, then,
Godse was also a member of the Congress Party and assisted it in the independence
struggle.
12.3 The Report talks about rapes
of Christian nuns. The most notorious incident was that of four nuns in
Madhya Pradesh. The Congress government there has confirmed that the dastardly
act was done by some 24 tribals, half of whom were converted to Christianity.
In another case in Orissa, the forensic report clearly showed that there
was no rape. (In this latter case, one has to wonder about the state of
mind of the persons who asked the nun to come out in the public and make
a false claim of rape.)
12.4 Of course, people will mention
about the burning of Graham Staines and his two sons. Here too the Sangh
organisations have been cleared of any guilt in the incident by the Wadhwa
Commission. However, it is pertinent to reproduce two of the recommendations
of the Commission:
· Point No. 9: There
should be a Code of Conduct for the political parties when their leaders
make statements without verification in a situation like the present one.
Leaders cannot make statements merely for gaining political mileage. Their
statements should be subdued and not to fan the fire when the atmosphere
is communally surcharged. It is the duty of everyone to have regard to
each other's faith and to spread a message of love, peace and kindness.
Murderer is a murderer to whichever faith he may belong. A criminal is
a criminal. Religion need not be brought in such matters. Allow the police
to make independent investigation of the crime uninfluenced by politics
or religion or caste.
· Point No. 10: Media, both
print and electronic, has also to exercise restraint. Screaming headlines
should be avoided which have the effect of misleading the public and creating
more tension and suspicion among different communities. News headlines
in the cases of rape of nun and murder of a Christian boy and girl after
rape have been noticed. One cannot imagine the damage that might have been
caused to the polity by such headlines and reporting. Reporting of communal
strife should not be done without proper verification or an ordinary crime
given a communal twist.
12.5 The Report also alleges that in
the distribution of the relief after the Gujarat Earthquake of January
2001, the Sangh was deliberately not making it available to the Muslims
and the dalits. In this respect, it would be worthwhile to quote from an
editorial in The Times of India.
· "The RSS has been
very active in relief and rehabilitation work...There are, however, unconfirmed
reports from Gujarat that the ideological bias of the RSS towards certain
communities and castes is already evident even in the task of providing
relief." (Editorial, "Political Aftershocks", The Times of India, Feb 6
2001.)
12.6 Eleven words of praise, based
on confirmed reports. And 29 words of damnation based on unconfirmed reports.
Strange seems to be the manner of professionalism in Indian journalism.
12.7 Within a couple of days, the
RSS spokesman wrote to The Times of India asking for the details of these
unconfirmed reports, so that the organisation could take the necessary
corrective actions. As of this date no such information has been received.
One does guess that it is difficult to provide details of unconfirmed reports.
12.8 Moreover, a photo, from a website
of the Times of India group which showed a Muslim family, along with many
others, in a huge tent set up by the VHP, was sent to the editor. A photo
of a couple of nuns of the Missionaries of Charity bringing a patient to
a VHP medical camp was also sent. Was there an acknowledgement of the blatantly
false charge by The Times of India? If there was, at least this section
of the Report need not have been written.
12.9 When there was a mid-air collusion
just over the village of Charhi Dadri in Haryana, the first group of people
to reach the site were members of the Sangh. That a large number of victims
were Muslims did not deter them in providing the necessary assistance in
pulling out the bodies from the wreckage and helping in undertaking the
final rites. This effort was recognised in the Saudi newspaper Al-Riyad.
12.10 A couple of other points need
to be taken up. The authors of the Report talk about Hinduism as a religion.
Obviously the level of scholarship of the authors must be quiet low, and
their integrity non-existent, if they stoop to this low level. All serious
scholars on Hinduism would clearly state that referring to it in the same
context as Christianity and Islam would guide the person in a completely
wrong direction.
12.11 The essence of Hinduism can
be taken up from Prof Klaus Klostermaier, who spent quite some time in
India before quitting the Jesuit order, has to say.
· "Hinduism will
spread not so much through the gurus and swamis, who attract certain number
of people looking for a new commitment and a quasi-monastic life-style,
but it will spread mainly through the work of intellectuals and writers,
who have found certain Hindu ideas convincing and who identify them with
their personal beliefs. A fair number of leading physicists and biologists
have found parallels between modern science and Hindu ideas. An increasing
number of creative scientists will come from a Hindu background and will
consciously and unconsciously blend their scientific and their religious
ideas. All of us may be already much more Hindu than we think." (A Survey
of Hinduism, p 414. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Ltd, Delhi, 1990.)
12.12 A second point needs to be mentioned
is about Friends of India Society International (FISI). This organisation
came to be to co-ordinate the opposition to the Emergency declared by Smt
Indira Gandhi between 1975-77. A large number of persons of Indian origin,
living in the UK and the USA, came together as a spontaneous act to oppose
this rape of democracy. In a very short time, the persons involved came
to realise that a huge majority of them had a Sangh background. Just as
in India, where the major ground level opposition was by Swayamsevaks,
the international experience was no different.
12.13 The organisers of FISI decided
to continue with the organisation in the post-Emergency period, so that
there is a forum availed to the Indian Diaspora to take up issues which
are of concern to the land of their ancestors, without in any way hurting
the interest of the land where they are now settled. And yet the authors
of the Report allege that this organisation, which worked so hard to help
in restoring democracy in India, is itself an undemocratic organisation.
Perhaps they do so because the Communist Party of India, under instructions
of the erstwhile Soviet Union, supported the Emergency.
· Q 7. But Hindutva
organizations claim that it is the missionaries and madarsas which initiate
the problem. Is this not true?
· It is mostly not true.
There may be missions which convert. There may be madarsas where hatred
is taught. (Emphasis added.)
12.15 Obviously the authors of the
Report have a poor opinion of the intelligence of their readers. But, then
they do seem to have proved this right at least in case of those who have
come out in their support!
12.17 In the same spit-and-run tactics,
the authors of the Report say:
12.18 The RSS has been banned three
times. The first time was in the aftermath of the assassination of Mahatma
Gandhi. It has been more than adequately established that this was a political
move, to try and destroy an organisation which was thought to come in the
way of implementing the political agenda of Nehru. The second time was
during the Emergency of 1975-77. During this period many other organisations
were banned for the simple reason that they all opposed the Congress Party
of Indira Gandhi. (Which Congress Party was approached by Setalvad of Sabrang
to finance the anti-BJP campaign at the time of the last elections.) The
third time was after the demolition of the Babri structure that stood at
the Shri Rama Janmabhoomi. This ban was not confirmed by the commission
which went into the legality of the ban.
12.19 The VHP was banned two times.
The first was along with the third ban on the RSS. The second one was after
the statutory period of this ban was over, and this was summarily overturned
by the concerned commission. Thus, it is clear that yet again the authors
of the Report have to resort to being economical with the truth in trying
to take forward their agenda.
12.20 The authors claim that their
Report has been 'meticulously researched'. If so, could they list out the
cases where the 'VHP and RSS workers have been implicated in murderous
activities'?
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