Who should Indian Muslims Vote?

The title should have been, who should Indians Vote? As the essay is not about Muslims, but Muslims are a part of it as much as Hindus, Dalits, Sikhs, Adivasis, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Bahai's, Parsis and Jews.

Please review the following items; Ravish Kumar's appeal, Dr. Shariff’s latest research. Dalit Leaders call, Rajesh Khanna’s filmi speech and what kind of India does one want? 

India’s problem is like any other nations’ problem; the Majoritarian arrogance. A few among the majority feel threatened that their way of life is going to disappear. Their short-sighted solution is not dialogue, but showing other people their place or "Auqat" and sometimes resort to killing, maiming, harassing, lynching and raping, as if it will solve the problem, no, it does not, it will aggravate the situation further.

The best solution is hanging on to the values that gave India its stability, a growth economy, stability and a respectable place in the community of nations. We cannot exist by ourselves, we need consumers beyond our borders for us to thrive,  and we need to buy the things from others to grow, as we cannot produce them effectively.  We have a stable constitution, the constitution that guarantees every Indian to live his or her life as he or she chooses.  In simple words, every human is free to breathe, drink, eat, wear and believe whatever he or she wants.

The foreign direct investment poured into India because the investors felt safe with their investment. If they see the communal riots, lynching, harassment, discriminations against fellow Indians, they will pull out as they did in Apartheid South Africa. All of us will lose.

Muslims along with Dalits and Christians are in the most challenging situation, and I know the moderate majority of Hindus do not gloat over this; they want all to prosper and feel secure.

The smartness of Muslim, Dalit, and Christian leaders has not gotten anyone out of the ditches. Muslims being the second largest group in India need leaders who could lead the people in the right direction. The ugly rhetoric by some has created more barriers than the goodwill.  No more emotional slogans to deceive people in the heat of the moment, we need pragmatic solutions. 

Given the current situation, let’s collectively figure out how to get out of the mess and how we can handle the 2019 Elections for the good of all Indians.  Let’s look at becoming relevant again.

Let’s go with the idea of an ideal democracy and work our way towards it.

In such a democracy, Muslims don’t need anyone to represent them; the Christians don’t need a Christian to represent them, Dalits don’t need a Dalit to represent them, a Brahmin does not need to represent Brahmins, a Kashmiri Pandits does not need a Pandit to represent them. Similarly, no Adivasi, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Bahá’í, Zoroastrian, Jews and others need their own to represent them because the elected representative serves all people.  We need to nurture such individuals, India is blessed with too many good people.

Let me be clear; when Hindus, Muslim, Christians, Dalits, Sikhs and others are mentioned, I am talking about the majority of each group.  They mind their own business by taking care of food for their families, their children's education, healthcare, home,  and living a life of their own.  The troublemakers are a small percent of politically oriented men in each group; we should never use the phrases that Muslims, Hindus or Sikhs are wrong because that is false. 

We are all from Adam and Eve, and it is mentioned in Quran, Bible, and the Torah, and that makes all of us, the 7.5 billion of us, members of the same family.  I don't know if they believe in it, if they did, they would not treat another human any different. Neither the Muslims nor the Christians of India have expressed that thought boldly.

Swami Vivekananda also failed to communicate the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbukum to the people of India. Had he emphasized that we are all one people regardless of the color of the shirt or saree we wear, whether we eat roti with Pyaaz or Keema, whether we wear a topi,  turban, pallu, Hijab or whatever, we are still one people!   

Each group claims there is only one creator and they come to refer him as Eshwar, Allah, Yahweh, Jesus, Mahito, Ahura Mazda, Wahe Guru, Budhha, Mahavir and on and on.  However, when they are talking,  their mouths twist and say Hindu God, God of Israel, Muslims God or a Christian God,  what kind of talk is that? By the way, these are not majority of the people in any group, it is the tiny minority within each group. 

Muslim votes were rendered ineffective in the 2014 general elections. Muslims don’t need to blame anyone; instead, they need to find a way to become participants and contributors towards the well being of the nation.

Dr. Shariff’s latest report brings shame to our democracy. In the state of Karnataka alone 18 lakh Muslims are missing from the voter's list.  How significant that number is if that kind of research is done all over India?  Do we have caring Indians who can fund this research and work on registering the disenfranchised? A real democracy succeeds when all are participating. Let the funding come from the public and not the political parties as they would want a pound of flesh.

The political parties from BJP, Congress, JD, SP, AIDMK, Trinamool and other regional parties have their manifesto that they want Indians to subscribe.  It is time, we the people, the Indians of all hues develop our manifesto, not a Muslim or Christian manifesto, but an Indian proclamation for all Indians, and vote for those individuals who would subscribe to most of the items on the manifesto. 

Do we have a manifesto?

Together, let’s create one.

Let’s make a checklist and look to the candidates who would fit in, let’s not look to the parties, they have betrayed us before. It’s just not us; we appeal to all Indians to consider the grassroots list. Let’s make it meaningful again.

We can make a table for all the MP candidates across India, and publish a list where these candidates stand on issues critical to all Indians.

Does the candidate;

1. Stand up for any Indian when access to education is denied?

2. Stand up for any Indian when access to a job is denied?

3. Stand up for any Indian when access to housing is denied?

4. Stand up for the rights of individuals when they are violated?

5. Let's develop a comprehensive list - that benefits all Indians

We can develop a table for all the 545 contestants listed by the States in Alphabetical order; then across the columns, we will record the criteria and check mark the items that the candidates will commit to abide. 

 It should be our government by us for us, and they need our support. 

We need to vote those candidates who are clean and are willing to bring Indians together and not pit one Indian against the other. We don't need those guys, they are impregnated by the British mentality of divide and rule.

There are good individuals among BJP, Congress, BSP, JD, and other regional parties.   As Indians, we need to vote those candidates who are 1) Financially clean 2) Want to work on bringing Indians together and 3) subject themselves to investigation. If anyone is questionable, we need to disqualify them from our table until they prove they are clean.  Then we can expect the nation to move forward.

My appeal to BJP supporters is to seriously consider saving our democracy, we have the freedoms because that is the foundation laid by our founding fathers. Each one of you is a beneficiary of the great democracy created and nurtured in the last 70 years. Let's not give any party a landslide victory, let's deliberately provide a significant opposition to question the "mun-mani" raj by any party. If we do that, corruption will be checked; nepotism will be stopped, accountability of government will begin.  Let this be our government by us for us. 

Whether Congress or BJP, if you give them a majority, they will become arrogant and do things that are not good for the country. 

What do we have to lose by doing the right thing? 

Please write your comment in the comment section below for development of such a manifesto. This is not copyrighted; you can do it on your own or joins us in a team effort.

Articles Worth Reflecting: 

• Dr. Shariff’s Latest Research http://m.deccanherald.com/?name=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/667082/karnataka-elections-2018-ngo-says.html
  
• Ravish Kumar’s call  http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2018/03/ravish-kumar-emotional-appeal-to-muslims.html
  
• Have Muslims stood up for the Oppressed? A Dalit Leaders call - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2018/03/have-muslims-stood-up-for-oppressed.html
  
• Rajesh Khanna’s movie speechhttps://www.facebook.com/krishna.thapa.5036459/videos/1356318007847508/?t=5
  
• What Kind of India do we want?http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2018/01/indias-pluralistic-ethos.html
  
• Minorities Dilemma whether to support Congress by Naushad Khan
  http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2018/03/minorities-in-dilemma-on-whether-to.html

Mike Ghouse is an Indian American committed to building cohesive societies where people can live without fear and prosper together.  His work is listed at www.CenterforPluralism.com and http://MikeghouseforIndia.blogspot.com

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Nupur Sharma's Take on Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan

Nupur Saheba,

I have come to admire your work, Zafar Bhai religiously send the link to each one of your episodes and I have been sharing this with groups.

Your episode 28 on Aamir Khan is right on the dot and I am glad you recognized his contributions there. 

Urdu Wala Chashma, Episode 28: Aamir Khan Unplugged

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKdQmDpWpRI&feature=share

When I get a chance, I will write a note about your work, I salute all work that is inclusive.

Mahatma Gandhi

It was a delight to hear about Mahatma Gandhi, my take is fairly identical to yours.  I am inspired by him – saw him in my dream twice, way back in early 70’s and again early 90’s., both the times, he pats on my back and say, beta tujhe bahut kaam karnay hain.
Every year on his birth and death, I publish something or the other about him.  My work on Pluralism is inspired by him.

Dalits

Thanks for talking about Dalits.  I have consciously made to include Dalits in my thinking and conversation, as I do with every religion from Atheism to Zoroastrianism and every one in between.  

Here is an article I wrote last week - Have Muslims stood up for the Oppressed?http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2018/03/have-muslims-stood-up-for-oppressed.html

Aamir Khan

I just realized I have written quite a bit about his work

Aamir Khan is an Avatar of Krishna
http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2012/07/is-aamir-khan-avatar-of-krishna.html

Aamir Khan, the new Social Hero of India  http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2012/07/aamir-khan-indias-new-social-hero.html

Aamir Khan is God sent
http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2012/07/aamir-khan-is-god-sent-to-india.html

My suggestion would be to pull poetry that is inclusive…  for example Sahir Ludhianavi includes “A Radha ki ham jins, a hawwa ki beti.”  Bulleh Shah’s “My holi manaoongi bismillah say.” There is so much literature that brings together different traditions. 

Caste System - books to understand it.

Caste System in India may have originated with the idea of division of labor, that each person will do what he is capable of. However, it was really a piss poor attitude of men in power to keep the others oppressed to serve them in a variety of ways. The Caste system, is also known as an instrument of oppression. Eleven books are reccommended to understand it.

There are over 200 Million Indians who are forced into this camp forever, it is hereditary. Anyone born to the 200 Million Dalits is automatically inferior per the system.  While it is illegal to discriminate an Individual in India, the practice continues. As a teen, I have aggressively fought against some of these practices. It is a horrible practice.

The upper class, meaning superior Hindus want this mention removed from California textbooks, as they claim it mispresents India. I don't know what world they live in. The practice continues, and I do support the removal of such ascriptions from the textbooks provided, the upper caste Hindus condemn each ugly incident in India, and make efforts to completely ban the practices through education and knowledge imparting at home, school and workplace. After that is achieved the California Textbooks can reflect the corrected version. No American Indian Child needs to be humiliated knowing that his or her nation of heritage continues discriminatory practices and mistreats fellow humans. 

Mike Ghouse
Center for Pluralism.
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Courtesy Literary Hub
By S. Shankar
Caste is not unique to India, and no country should be reduced to a single social category, no matter how intrinsic a part of its reality. Nevertheless, to understand India you have to understand caste, whose intricacies are unarguably difficult. It is not just one of the most prominent social features of India; it is at the heart of many of the past and present fissures of the country.

I grew up in India living the reality of caste every day. Even so I had to learn, and unlearn, many things about caste while completing my two most recent books: the novel Ghost in the Tamarind, which narrates an inter-caste romance between a Brahmin man and a Dalit woman against the backdrop of powerful anti-caste movements in southern India; and a co-edited collection of academic essays on caste and life narratives.

What exactly is caste? You might have heard somewhere (perhaps in a high school or college classroom) that there are four ancient and unchanging castes in India ranging from Brahmins at the top, through Kshatriyas and Vaishyas in the middle, to Shudras at the bottom, with a fifth group of so-called Untouchables—the preferred term now is Dalits—even further below. These, though, are only partial truths, for history is replete with examples of the changeability of caste, and in practice there are thousands of castes. One truth about caste, however, is undeniable: in all its manifestations through history it has been the name for a monstrous and irredeemable system of social hierarchy and oppression based on horrific notions of ritual pollution and exclusion.

The various social groups collected most recently under the name Dalit have felt the power of this irredeemable system with the greatest force. The Indian constitution, adopted in 1950, acknowledged in an enlightened moment that the historically disadvantaged Dalits needed special support to advance socially and economically, and then set out to provide it. Since then, India has had a Dalit President and a powerful woman Dalit Chief Minister of a state. Nevertheless, the oppression of Dalits, ranging from daily humiliation (such as the maintenance of separate glasses for Dalits in some village tea shops) through sexual violence to outright massacre (alas, so many that the name of Khairlanji, where in 2006 four members of the Bhotmange family were brutally murdered, must suffice as stand in) continues till today. Reality is never neat or singular.

This is one reason “the Boom in Dalit literature”—as some have called it—of the last few decades is so important. The Boom represents the entrance of new and vital voices onto India’s literary stage—that is into forms of artistic production from which they had formerly been excluded (of course, Dalits, often musicians and performers, have had their own powerful expressive forms going back centuries). Many trace the origins of the Boom back to Dalit writing in Marathi, which began to gather force in the Seventies. From there, the Boom spread to other languages, and now there are significant bodies of work in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and other languages.

Below are eleven works that may serve as an introduction to caste. The works are not all by Dalits, for the experience of caste, and the need to critique it, is not their burden alone. Nevertheless, Dalit literature and voices help orient this list, which aims not to be representative but rather to present some highlights. All the works are widely available either in the original English or else in English translation.



R. Ambedkar, Essential Works, ed. Valerian Rodriguez

It is appropriate to start the list with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), the most important Dalit leader of modern India. Ambedkar was a brilliant rival of M. K. Gandhi, with whom he tussled over Gandhi’s inadequate position on caste. (Gandhi attacked untouchability but also romanticized the caste system in some of his pronouncements.) A deep and wide-ranging thinker, Ambedkar converted to Buddhism toward the end of his life as a protest against caste. This collection includes the pivotal Annihilation of Caste and some of his writings on Buddhism.



Premchand, “Deliverance” The World of Premchand, trans. David Rubin

I am cheating here—this is not a book. It’s a short story, written in 1931, by the greatest figure of Hindi literature in the twentieth century. I read it in my high school Hindi class, where it made an enormous impression on me. You can find it in a standard collection of Premchand’s stories such as The World of Premchand (translated by David Rubin). The story presents the thoughtless and tragic exploitation of Dukhi Chamar by a Brahmin from whom he needs a favor. Premchand is regarded as a master of social realism, but the macabre final scene of the story, juxtaposed to the title, exceeds any tame sense of realism. In 1981, the story was adapted as a TV film directed by Satyajit Ray (available on YouTube with sub-titles)—so read the story, and then compare the film.



Mulk Raj Anand, Untouchable

This novel, published in 1935, is a widely taught classic by an important Indian writer in English. It presents a day in the life of a Dalit manual scavenger Bakha, who bitterly ruminates on his lot in often florid language. The novel ends famously with Bakha attending a meeting at which Gandhi appears. In many ways the novel has not aged well, and has come in for its share of criticism for the depiction of Bakha. Nevertheless, it raises interesting questions about the literary depiction of a fictional Dalit life in English.



U. R. Ananthamurthy, Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man, trans. A. K. Ramanujan

Ananthamurthy was a towering national figure in India who wrote in Kannada. The novel, set in South India and written in 1965, is a devastating psychological study of the progressive dissolution of a respected Brahmin challenged in his orthodoxy. Samskara was translated into English by the renowned poet A. K. Ramanujan, and an acclaimed movie adaptation was made in 1970.



Urmila Pawar, The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs

Published in 1988 in Marathi, this autobiography helped bring particular attention to the experiences of Dalit women. Pawar recounts her life over many decades including her childhood in a rural part of Western India, conversion to Buddhism, move to the great metropolis of Bombay, and involvement in the movement for Dalit emancipation. Among other things, the book, translated by Maya Pandit, powerfully registers the evolving nature of Dalit life and politics during the twentieth century.



Poisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit Literature, ed. Arjun Dangle

This 1992 anthology, edited by a prominent Dalit writer, brought to national and international visibility the Boom in Dalit literature in Marathi. The book includes poetry, fiction and non-fiction (autobiographical writing as well as critical essays) by significant figures of the Boom like Namdeo Dhasal, Baburao Bagul, and Raja Dhale. A reader might do worse than start with this iconic collection that remains relevant twenty-five years later.



Bama, Karukku, trans. Lakshmi Holmstrom 

Karukku is a 1992 award-winning autobiography in Tamil by a Christian Dalit woman, translated into English by Lakshmi Holmstrom. Bama details not only her experiences of prejudice in her village but also within the Christian denomination to which she belongs. It is a good reminder that caste is not just a Hindu problem. On its publication, the novel quickly became famous for its earthy language.

    

Kancha Illaiah, Why I Am Not a Hindu

This book, published in 1996, is part autobiography, part ethnography, part political analysis—and all polemics. It was enormously influential in introducing the idea of dalitbahujan. By dalitbahujan, Iliah means a social group consisting of Dalits as well as non-Dalit castes immediately above Dalits. Part of his provocative claim is that the social and cultural practices of dalitbahujan differ so much from upper caste Hindus that they cannot properly be called Hindus at all. Through this claim he sets out to debunk hindutva, or Hindu fundamentalism. 


Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

This epic novel in English follows four characters, two of them Dalit, over a number of years. The novel, published in 1996, is an extraordinary exercise in realism. Mostly set in Bombay during the Seventies, it portrays the Dalit characters in relationship to a vast and changing world around them. I consider it one of the greatest novels about India in the last quarter century; at the same time, comparing it to Anand’s Untouchable allows us to see how much things have changed—or, not changed—when it comes to literary depictions of caste. Fair warning—the novel is long and dark. 

Viramma with Josiane Racine and jean Luc Racine, Viramma: Life of an Untouchable

Or should I say “by Josiane Racine and Jean-Luc Racine with Viramma”? Like many collaborative biographical projects, this 1998 book raises questions about whose voice we really read in its pages and how that voice has been packaged. The book is the life of a Tamil Dalit woman based on interviews that the France-based ethnographers conducted over many years. It was first published in French and then translated into English. I include it here because the narrative presents a female Dalit voice not yet politicized by the radical movements launched in Ambedkar’s name.



Perumal Murugan, Seasons of the Palm

Shortlisted for the Kiriyama prize, this novel in Tamil presents the life of a goatherding Dalit boy who works for a non-Dalit family a little higher than him in caste. It is in equal parts tender and harrowing, and has been wonderfully translated by V. Geetha. The boy’s relationship to this family as well as the goats he herds is detailed with great insight. Though not by a Dalit writer, the novel may be regarded as a work enabled by the boom in Dalit literature. Since the book’s publication in 2000, Murugan has been attacked for a subsequent novel—One Part Woman—that was deemed offensive by the caste community that it portrayed. The engagement with caste in literary works, as I was very conscious in writing Ghost in the Tamarind, remains controversial.

Have Muslims Stood up for the Oppressed?

Have Muslims Stood up for the Oppressed?

If we don’t stand up for others, why should anyone stand up for us?

Muslims have to decide, believe and practice what Prophet Muhammad said, think for your brother what you want for yourselves? Was Prophet Muhammad’s scope of wisdom limited to a group of people or his kindness was for all humans beings?

I am proud of the pluralistic heritage of India. Over the last thousand years, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Jews have done everything to be a part of each other and yet have retained their identities. The society has developed a broad common culture to the shameful exclusion of Dalits and Adivasis, who are considered inferior humans; it is repulsive to think that such attitudes exist even now.

What did Muslims do? While I have many great examples to share, but most Muslims treated the Dalits in the same manner, as the ones they accuse of mistreating; the upper caste Hindus. 

A lot of work is done to correct thousands of years of DNA’d attitudes of the caste system; this disgusting practice needs to go. We are talking about human dignity and respect the God-given uniqueness of each one of us. Thanks to Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar and thousands of Indians for taking up the issue to correct the wrongs of yesteryears.  My father was bold enough to break the norms and invited the Dalits in our home to share tea or a meal with us, and eating from the same utensils that we used. On my part, I fought vigorously at the street corner water taps to give equal access to the Dalits. Many of you have done that.

Who does not want to be treated equal and included? Equal treatment of fellow humans was one of the reasons why many Dalits converted to Islam. But joining Islam did not give them the good they were looking for, they are still outcast Muslims, and Muslims in India have their own version of prejudice, Pakistan has its own version and other nations have their own versions.  A few consider themselves superior to the others – Ashraf, Syed’s and from the family of the Prophet.

How is one superior to the other? Do these Muslims know that even if you were the daughter of the Prophet, you don’t have any advantages over others unless you personally earn your place through good deeds – that is serving others without any return? 

I hope and pray that Muslims get rid of their prejudices, treat all humans as equal (Prophet’s statement) and stand up for the rights of others. If you are an authentic Amin, you’ll earn the respect of fellow humans for the common good.

Elections are coming up, Muslims need to seriously talk with the individual legislators to consider representing all Indians and shelve narrow interests. They should represent all or none and not be sold to any interest groups.  Together Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits can be relevant in restoring India to be a great nation again.   It is time for Muslims to make up for their short-comings of the past, and become a just people and stand up for the rights of others and when we do that, more and more people will come around and we can build an India that is good for all.

The following inspirational video is worth watching  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOJXFf4BXtc

What about Owaisi and MIM Party;

You may have your own opinion, but Owaisi is as divisive as some of the other parties. We don't necessarily need Muslims to represent Muslims, what we need is our elected officials to represent every Indian. Muslims and Dalits need to reach out to the individual candidates regardless of what party they belong to.  The extremists won't listen, but the majority wants justice and fairness, even among BJP.

Owaisi's divisiveness lost 17 seats where Muslims were running through other parties, he stuck his candidates and divided the Muslim vote. He is hell-bent on doing that again in Karnataka. He needs to be kicked out of Muslim politics.  If other parties are divisive, let them, let's us be builders of our Nation.

We simply cannot go wrong if we pursue policies for the well being of all Indians, even though we are suffering.

Related Article: Can a Muslim become Prime Minister of India? http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2012/05/can-muslim-indian-become-prime-minister.html

Mike Ghouse

Holi Festival – Bulleh Shah – Holi Kheloongi Keh Bismillah

May this Holi bring Indians together and let’s make a sincere effort to bring together as many diverse Indians as possible into the public events. May the barriers of ill-will fall and goodwill prevail whether you celebrate or not. Let freedom be the foundation of our society.

Holi is a Hindu festival of radiance and celebration of spring with colors that nourish one’s joyous moods and complements the function of respective elements in the atmosphere. The essence of Holi is liberation and breaking the barriers between adults and children, family members, and friends, and the festivity opens up to each other.

Although Holi is part of the Hindu tradition, most Indians participate in it, it presents the unity of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians and of course, Jains, Zoroastrians, Baha’i, Jews, Buddhist and native traditions. You can read more about it at  http://centerforpluralism.com/happy-holi/

“Festivals of the World” is an educational series commenced by Mike Ghouse in 1993. When we live in the same communities as neighbors, we might as well learn about each other. The best way to build cohesive societies is for its members to participate in festivities as well as commemorations of each other, or, at least understand each other’s’ joys and sorrows. For the believers, the events have religious connotations, but for others, it should be a cultural event, an event where their friends join them as friends to celebrate or commemorate, this is what builds relationships and bonding and eventually safe societies.

I am proud of the pluralistic heritage of India. Over the last thousand years, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Jews have done everything to be a part of each other and yet have retained their identities. The society has developed a common culture, however, to the shameful exclusion of Dalits and Adivasis, who are considered inferior humans; it is repulsive to think that such attitudes exist even now.

A lot of work is done to correct thousands of years of DNA’d attitudes of the caste system, this disgusting practice needs to go. We are talking about human dignity and respect the God-given the uniqueness of each one of us. Thanks to Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar and thousands of Indians for taking up the issue to correct the wrongs of yesteryears.  My father was bold enough to break the norms and invited the Dalits in our home to share tea or a meal with us, and eating from the same utensils that we used, and I fought vigorously at the street corner water taps to give equal access to the Dalits.

A foreigner visiting India cannot tell who is a Muslim, Hindu, Christian etc. We all look the same, dress the same and pretty much eat from the same range of foods. If you visit a park, beach, tomb, a touristy place, restaurant, and a theater, you will find all of them enjoying the activity together; you cannot differentiate who is who.

However, the filthy politicians continue to pit one Indian against the other, nothing different than the US or any other nation. There was a time, such divisive tricks did not work with the people and even now, it does not work with a majority of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.

Devotional songs are a part of every Indian, including Atheist, they all enjoy the songs.  As a Muslim I have participated in the devotional songs of all religions, they sound beautiful and the essence of all of them is to express gratitude to the creator.

Even though the film Padamavat has portrayed King Alauddin Khalji as a crude lustful man, he is no different than the kings of the past or the leaders of today.   What is important is Khalji was shown giving utmost respect to the festival of Holi, by having one his attendants place symbolic colors on his face. There are innumerable stories among Kings and the commoners of yesteryears, another example was King Aurangzeb protected a Hindu queen because she ties a Rakhee (symbolic of sister’s love for brother).  There was, and still tremendous respect for each other’s traditions.

Some of the most beautiful Hindu and Sikh devotional songs are written by Muslims and vice versa. The most popular Indian poetry includes references to the multiple religious points – for example in the film Pyasa, there was a song called, “Jinhein naaz hai hind per o Kahan hain,” and in one of the lines the poet brings in two different faiths commonness; the status of a woman; A Radha ki hamjins, a hawwa ki beti.”

This week an incredible poetry of such syncretism has appeared. This was written some 300 years ago and the poet Bulleh Shah has beautifully merged the Islamic tradition with the Hindu tradition.

Bulleh Shah was born in 1680 and wrote this poem before this death in 1757.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ar7Xnydoxk&t=219s 

Daler Mehendi has sung this also – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeZuxGJyDQI

Let no one pit you against the other, in the end, we all die, let’s die in peace without messing ourselves with hate and ill-will. Neither Hinduism nor Islam or any other religion teaches us to hate or harass the other. Next time a politician attempts to generate ill-will towards others, and if you are in the crowd, yell back to shut up and ask him to speak about bringing Indians together for peace and prosperity.

You may also like this video – Festivals of 10 Religions    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vAwvoqz01I

If you like, please share…

Mike Ghouse

India in California Text books - Hindutva influence

I have supported the rights of Indians to correct the wrongs of the written history. It is not good for Hindu American children to grow up reading negative things about their heritage, The question is can we change the facts of history, while the facts continue to happen?

For children growing up in the United States, it is embarrassing for them to read about the mistreatment of Dalits, and now the others who are not Hindus.  It does not fit with the American way of life. Of course,  Muslims are not free from it either with Triple Talaq and polygamy and other practices going on in India.

Caravan paper writes, 

.....................................

“The camp led by the HAF and HEF, which claimed to represent the Hindus in the US, had criticised the textbooks for content that was deemed derogatory to Hinduism, including a flippant question that was criticised as mocking (“How’s Your Karma Doing?”), and a photograph of cows eating trash.” 

Almost all of the edits that came from the Hindu side—many of which sought to erase or whitewash more unsavoury aspects of Hinduism and South Asian history, such as patriarchy and caste—were rejected.

In one proposed edit, the report reads, “This is a subject of controversy, not settled fact. Correction: Remove mention of ‘Sarasvati’ and refer to it as ‘Indus Valley Civilization.’” In another comment, the panel was even more emphatic: “The Sarasvati River has never been proven to exist.””

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Anyone visiting India sees the cows eating trash, I was there in August last year and took several pictures with disgust. The cow we ‘claim’ to revere so much has to endure such humility.  That is a fact of life and we cannot whitewash it unless we change how cows are treated in India. India is one of the top three exporters of beef and the owners of the slaughterhouse are Hindus and Jains, the ones who oppose beef in India, but the bulk of the sellers of cattle to slaughterhouse are Hindu farmers, it will hurt their livelihood. If non-Hindus quit eating beef, the Indians farmers will be committing mass suicides as selling the cattle is their livelihood and the numbers are rising.

If there is a proof of the Sarasvati River, and references to it, it should be called Indus Sarasvati Civilization, if there is no proof, no need to change facts of history.

Almost all of the Muslim, Christian and Dalit Indians are for Hinduism, but not for the Radicals among Hindus in the guise of Hindutva, an extremist political ideology whose founder believed in Hitler and many members of the RSS continue to praise Hitler. These men, in the name of Hinduism (not really) are harassing fellow Indians, and the man on the top does not say much - all he has to do is say that there will be punishment for anyone who harasses or discriminates fellow Indian. Hinduism does not teach one to discriminate, harass or lynch, then the PM claiming to be Hindu should speak up. Can the HAF and HEF speak about the values of Hinduism that goes against the very organization they have been supporting?   

If Hindus are harassed in America, you can count on Muslims to speak up, would the HAF guys do it? Do they represent Hindus or the radical Hindus? HAF has to come out clean with statements as to whose interests they represent - Hinduism's or Radicals among Hinduism?
 http://standingupforothers.blogspot.com/2012/04/standing-with-hindus.html and this petition urging Toyota to be inclusive, exclusion splinters the society, inclusion bonds people and nurtures goodwill.  The petition - http://chn.ge/2sc6e7v 

If the Dalits and non-Hindus are treated like what India’s constitution calls for; that is Dalit women are not the object of sex for the upper caste Hindu men; and they are not entitled to the Dalit women and they are not raped and hung on trees, and if a Dalit groom rides a horse and the upper caste accepts it instead of beating the groom up; if a Muslim is not lynched for eating meat (suspecting it beef) and if Christian nuns are not raped and harassed. If HAF and HEF can focus on correcting this non-sense in India, then the California textbooks should be corrected.

The extremists assume that they can destroy others, but in the end, they are part of the destruction. If the corporations see the injustice, discrimination, and mistreatment of Indians by Indians, they will stop investing in India and start backing off. All of us will lose. 

Sam Brownback, the new Ambassador for religious freedom said it in one sentence if a nation oppresses a minority, they will take it for a while, but eventually, revengeful minds will start scheming and everyone will be hurt. Justice is the foundation of successful societies. America is a shining example of it. It is in the interest of every Indian to be just and seek justice for others.

We cannot dupe our children, teach them one thing but when they visit India, they see it differently. The Indians parents look stupid to the American Indian Children. Over the years, I have asked some of my extremist fellow Indians to show their comments to their children and ask them honestly to grade them on the scale of the stupidity of their statements.

I expect the communalists at SAJA to pounce on me, and will try to give my comment a communal color, their brains are trained to be communal, I hope someday God helps clean their minds and start thinking Indians as Indians and not Dalits, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhist, Bahai, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Tribals.

Mike Ghouse
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Reference - http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/californias-textbooks-war-reveals-mounting-influence-hindutva-united-states

Courtesy Caravan

The Latest Skirmish In California’s Textbooks War Reveals The Mounting Influence Of Hindutva In The United States

By ARIA THAKER | 7 February 2018

COURTESY SOUTH ASIAN HINDUS FOR ALL

SAHFA criticised the textbooks for not complying with a set of curricular guidelines—called the “framework”—that the California board of education had finalised in May 2016. The review of the framework, too, saw a tussle involving largely the same players, and SAHFA’s camp had then come out ahead.

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Early in the morning, on 9 November 2017, hundreds of people flooded the headquarters of the California department of education. They lined up in the building’s glass atrium, waiting to testify before the members of the state board of education. That day, the board was scheduled to vote on whether various new history and social-science textbooks were going to be adopted for use in California’s government-run schools. The board president reportedly stated that the hearing was “the longest in the history of the state Board of Education.”

A point of contention before the board that day was the material in these textbooks that referred to South Asia. Thenmozhi Soundararajan, an anti-caste activist who testified that day, estimated that of the roughly 500 people present, 470 were there to discuss concerns related to this material. A key concern—among others, such as the description of the Indus Valley Civilisation and the origins of Sikhism—was the representation of caste in Hinduism.

The people present, and their concerns, can be divided into two broad camps. One camp was led by South Asian Histories for All, an inter-caste, multi-faith group of activists that Soundararajan founded. SAHFA cited inaccuracies regarding caste and other issues in the textbook material, and called for a delay on the books’ approval so that they could be submitted for further editing. The other camp, which Soundararajan said greatly outnumbered SAHFA, was led by the Hindu American Foundation(HAF), a non-profit that claims to advocate for Hindus in the United States, and the Hindu Education Foundation (HEF)—an outfit affiliated with the Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh, the US-based wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. This camp, too, was heavily critical of certain parts of the textbooks, which they felt denigrated Hinduism. They did not, however, ask for the board’s decision to be delayed.

After the public hearing, the board voted to reject two of the 12 textbooks up for discussion, both published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The camp led by the HAF and HEF, which claimed to represent the Hindus in the US, had criticised the textbooks for content that was deemed derogatory to Hinduism, including a flippant question that was criticised as mocking (“How’s Your Karma Doing?”), and a photograph of cows eating trash. The board approved the rest of the books, which had been released by other well-known publishers, among them National Geographic, Pearson and McGraw Hill.

Even the textbooks that were approved, however, had at least some material that Hindu groups had called derogatory. Nevertheless, the Hindu camp celebrated the board’s decision as a victory. HAF and HEF both posted an identical statement on their respective websites, titled “Hindu Americans Win Historic Victory in California Textbooks.” SAHFA, meanwhile, posted a press release titled “History Under Attack: New California Textbooks Fail to Protect Targeted Minorities, Cave to Hindu Nationalists.”

SAHFA criticised the textbooks for not complying with a set of curricular guidelines—called the “framework”—that the California board of education had finalised in May 2016. The framework was determined after many months of edits submitted by members of the public, and a review process facilitated by a team of educational experts called the Instructional Quality Commission, or IQC. According to state procedure, the framework dictates the content that should appear in textbooks.

The finalising of the framework, too, saw a tussle involving largely the same players: HEF and HAF on the Hindu side, and SAHFA and many leading South Asianist academics in opposition to them. In the final framework, SAHFA’s camp had come out ahead. Almost all of the edits that came from the Hindu side—many of which sought to erase or whitewash more unsavoury aspects of Hinduism and South Asian history, such as patriarchy and caste—were rejected. Several of SAHFA’s edits, including ones that affirmed the existence of caste oppression, were accepted. SAHFA’s assumption at the time, Soundararajan said, was “that our job was done.” But in early 2017, when she saw the textbooks, “it was just like night and day from what was approved in the framework and what got implemented.”

The state board’s decision in November marked a dramatic reversal of fortunes between the two camps, which, if the board had more diligently followed its procedure, would likely not have occurred. An examination of this procedure reveals the pressure that Hindu groups exerted on the publishers, such as directly participating in their review processes and embroiling them in litigation, to influence the final outcome. Soundararajan noted, “Our assumption was that the State Board of Education was going to be protecting the adherence to the frameworks, and they were negligent in that.”

A clear example of the influence that the Hindu groups exerted over the publishers is that Murali Balaji, HAF’s director of education, is credited in the National Geographic textbook as a “reviewer of religious content.” During the debate on the framework, HAF had asked that the phrase “communities outside the jati system, the ‘Untouchables,’” be changed to “socially ostracized and economically disadvantaged communities”—a revision that would have scrubbed the sentence of any reference to caste. The proposed change was officially rejected, and SAHFA’s request to have the line edited to include the term “Dalit” was incorporated into the final framework.

But the final textbook matches HAF’s suggested edits more closely than it does the framework text. For example, while the framework had described the Dalit community by name, the approved National Geographic textbook fails to do so. It notes, “At the bottom were slaves, laborers, and artisans … Many centuries later, another group developed that was considered even lower.”

The Hindu camp’s edits, particularly on issues concerning the representation of caste, appeared to mirror the positions adopted by Hindutva groups in India. For instance, Sanskar Bharti, a cultural affiliate of the RSS, was reportedly seeking to “correct the lies” about ancient Hindu scriptures being “anti-Dalit and anti-woman.” The outfit sought to remove references to caste discrimination from the Manusmriti, and noted that interpretations of the text arguing that it was anti-Dalit were “propaganda.” The Hindu camp’s edits during both the framework and textbook review sought a similar erasure of references to caste.

A similar deviation from the framework was evident in National Geographic’s discussion of Sikhism. The framework makes clear the fact that Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikhism, “was a social reformer who challenged the authority of the Brahmins and the caste order.” The National Geographic textbook, however, does not include any mention of Nanak’s opposition to the caste system.

During the framework review, HAF, HEF and the Uberoi Foundation—another Hindu group—had all submitted edits for this line that would have erased its reference to caste. According to Jaideep Singh, an academic who specialises in the study of Sikhs in the United States and is active with SAHFA, Nanak’s opposition to caste was “very central to Sikh identity.” The Hindu groups, he added, “viewed it as a personal attack on Hinduism, when in fact it’s who we are as a people.”

National Geographic did not respond to questions about Balaji’s involvement in the textbook-drafting process. When I asked Suhag Shukla, the executive director of HAF, about Balaji’s role as a reviewer on the textbook, she told me that not only had HAF worked with National Geographic, but they have “worked with most of the major ones”—publishers—in California and in other states. “California, being the largest purchaser of textbooks, is an important state, but these narratives are found in textbooks across the United States.” Samir Kalra, a senior director of HAF, affirmed that the foundation had worked directly with all the publishers except for Studies Weekly and McGraw Hill.

A similar influence seems to have been exercised over Pearson’s textbooks. In several instances, the textbooks used the phrase “Indus-Sarasvati Civilization” instead of the term “Indus Valley Civilization”—the phrase used in the framework, which holds the current academic consensus. “Sarasvati” refers to a river from Hindu myth, whose historical existence has not been documented in reputed scholarship. California’s framework contains no usages of the phrase “Indus-Sarasvati Civilization.”

During the adoption process, the drafted textbooks undergo an initial review by a panel of experts, followed by a final review by the IQC, which takes the review panel’s recommendations and the publishers’ responses into consideration in its decision. In its report, the review panel flagged Pearson’s mentions of the Sarasvati River and requested they be edited or removed. In one proposed edit, the report reads, “This is a subject of controversy, not settled fact. Correction: Remove mention of ‘Sarasvati’ and refer to it as ‘Indus Valley Civilization.’” In another comment, the panel was even more emphatic: “The Sarasvati River has never been proven to exist.”

Pearson doubled down in the face of this criticism, and in doing so, revealed that they had received extensive input from Hindu groups on this matter. In a hearing held at the department of education in late September, where the review panel’s suggestions were discussed, Luess Sampson-Lizotte—the vice president for product development for humanities and science at Pearson—requested that the panel’s recommendations about the Sarasvati be rejected. Sampson-Lizotte said, “We worked closely with national and local Hindu scholars to ensure that we created the highest-quality program for California students. The requested changes are supported by the Hindu American Foundation, the Hindu Education Foundation, and Hindupedia.” (Hindupedia is a website that also submitted detailed feedback to the textbooks. In one edit, they claimed that a description of the caste system was a “very stereotypical and negative remark, because these rigid customs were observed only in a few parts of India in late medieval times.”)

The IQC was unmoved by Pearson’s appeal. In a report by the commission in October, they upheld all of the review panel’s requests to have references to the “Indus-Sarasvati Civilization” removed or changed to the “Indus Civilization.” Pearson subsequently revised its textbook in accordance with the commission’s directions.

While the IQC may have been successful at removing the term “Indus-Sarasvati Civilization,” it retained a lot of commentary that perpetuates caste erasure, similar to the type that the Hindu groups pushed for during the framework-review process. For example, one Pearson textbook notes that the caste system

brought both costs and benefits. For instance, the system limited people’s individual freedom. The patterns of their lives were fixed at birth. However, some believe that the caste system helped India develop. They feel that it brought stability to Indian society. Indian goods became famous because caste members perfected their skills. The system also allowed different groups to follow their own beliefs.

It is difficult to imagine such apologia for oppression being peddled in a US textbook’s chapter about chattel slavery or South African apartheid.

The Hindu camp has also pressured the publishers by involving them in litigation. A key player in this aspect is the group California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials, or CAPEEM, which describes itself as “a group of parents residing in the state of California” that is “deeply concerned about the indoctrination of Abrahamic religions and the negative descriptions of Hinduism in the History and Social Science textbooks of our state.” CAPEEM has been active for over a decade—in 2006, it filed a lawsuit against many members of the board of education and the department of education, alleging that the adopted history textbooks put forth “derogatory and unequal treatment of the Hindu religion.” The case ended in a settlement in 2009, with CAPEEM withdrawing the suit, but receiving $175,000 from the department of education and the board.

HAF, too, filed a suit against the state board of education in 2006. The foundation claimed that the process that the board had undergone to review textbooks for sixth-grade students was not “fair and open,” and the judge ruled in HAF’s favour.

In February last year, CAPEEM filed another lawsuit, alleging that Hinduism received “unfair and unconstitutional treatment” in the textbooks. In its press release about the complaint, CAPEEM noted that the adopted framework “devotes almost half the discussion of Hinduism to the caste system, which it portrays as a supposed Hindu religious belief.” Last year, the board of education moved a motion before a California court to dismiss the case, but the judge declined to dismiss one of four claims against the state.

Soundararajan said that the CAPEEM suit had been an effective way for the Hindu camp to apply pressure to the process. “Their goal is to basically hang the threat of litigation over this round”—the editing of the textbooks—“so that the state board of education is afraid to actually advocate on behalf of people that aren’t Hindu,” Soundararajan said. “When the publishers would ask the state of California for verification about what was happening, they wouldn’t respond.” She continued, “I think that was specifically because they don’t want any correspondence on the record saying that they may have helped in addressing the issue of caste, because they don’t want to be sued later.” While reporting this story, I reached out multiple times to several individuals affiliated with the department of education—including people on the board and in the IQC—but never received a response.

CAPEEM and HAF’s abilities to initiate such suits, which generally involve paying handsome legal fees, point towards the steep differential in resources between the two camps. While SAHFA is a coalition of volunteer activists, HAF and HEF are both tax-exempt non-profits that receive considerable money in donations. According to HAF’s 2016 tax return, the organisation had net assets of over $3.2 million—a jump of $1 million from the previous year. HEF is not a registered non-profit, but the Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh is, and HSS’s tax returns state that the organisation is “doing business as” the Hindu Education Foundation. The HSS’s 2016 tax return shows that the organisation has assets of over $3.1 million. Curiously, HEF seems to have minimal staff managing these funds—according to its 2016 return, the organisation’s only salaried staff member is Saumitra Gokhale, who supposedly works an average of 40 hours a week and makes $30,000 as a “yoga instructor.” (In an article on the website of Organiser, the RSS’s English-language mouthpiece, Gokhale is listed as a “Pracharak for America continent.” A January 2016 article in the Indian Express identifies him as the current global coordinator for the HSS).

Although Shukla and Kalra told me that HEF has also long been a major player on the California textbooks issue, it is difficult to pinpoint the on-the-ground work that the organisation has done, and who has been executing it. What is visible, though, is the organisation’s virulent digital footprint. For instance, a post on HEF’s website calls SAHFA “a fringe Hinduphobic group” that “tried to derail the textbook adoption process.” HEF also compiled a list of responses to SAHFA’s requested edits, in which it demonstrates even more fervour to whitewash caste than HAF. The list states, for example, that “The ‘caste system’ itself, as many scholars of colonialism have shown, is a product of Europe’s colonial encounter.” In response to a requested edit that would detail the fact that Dalits were “forced to do work considered impure,” HEF wrote that “the suggested edit has political overtones and also is not age appropriate for middle school children.”

HAF seems keen to hide, or at least wash its hands clean of, the fact that HEF is closely linked with the HSS. When I asked Shukla, HAF’s executive director, whether the organisation had ever worked with the HSS, she said no—and that, at the most, the HSS might have signed one of HAF’s many open letters. “We’ve worked with HEF,” she added. Kalra, the senior director, described HEF as “a community-based group” that HAF had worked with “throughout the years.” I then asked him who I should get in touch with from HEF, but he was not able to give me a single name. When I asked him whether the HSS was involved with HEF, he said, “I have no idea about that.” Shukla and Kalra seem to be either woefully ill-informed about their close partners, or intent on remaining evasive about any connections that HAF might have with the Sangh. HEF did not answer my request for an interview.

During the dispute over framework content, academics played a particularly influential role. Unified under the banner of the “South Asian Faculty Group,” many professors signed a letter that detailed the reasons why many of the edits proposed by the Hindu groups were ahistorical and ideologically motivated. A similar letter, with over 90 signatories, was submitted this year, endorsing the specific edits requested by SAHFA.

The Hindu camp, too, assembled a team of academics this year, who submitted their own letter. It was written primarily by Jeffery Long, a professor of religion and Asian studies at Elizabethtown College, who has previously worked with HAF on a report about anti-Hindu bigotry online. With almost 40 signatories, Long’s letter criticised some of the textbooks for their “underlying Orientalist narrative” and their tendency to put forth “inaccurate and unfavorable comparisons of Hinduism with other religions.”

But over a lengthy Skype interview with me, Long took a far more moderate tone than that used by HAF, HEF and many others in the Hindu camp. Long said while he thought some of SAHFA’s edits were “Hinduphobic,” he also found some of them “quite reasonable”—in particular, their requests to include descriptions of caste oppression. He also criticised the Hindu camp for not engaging in productive dialogue with the opposition. “I think one thing that militates against dialogue is when any critical discussion of Hinduism or Hindu practices is immediately dismissed as Hinduphobic,” he said. “That’s not the way forward. The way to cure a problem is first to acknowledge you have a problem.”

As this controversy unfolded, other Hindu organisations also came to the fore to express that HAF and HEF did not speak for them. Sadhana, a non-profit that describes itself as a “coalition of progressive Hindus,” posted a statement announcing their solidarity with SAHFA, noting, “Sadhana rejects attempts to erase or minimize caste in accounts of Hinduism.”

Hindus for Justice, a “network of Hindu progressives across the United States,” posted a statement titled “Just Say No To Hindu Fragility.” It read, “Many Hindus aren’t thin-skinned and afraid. Many of us are able to find pride in what’s best about Hinduism, while still respecting others, acknowledging our faults, and embracing complexity.” The statement continued, “That’s why we’re proud to stand with South Asian Histories for All … We’re proud to stand on the right side of history.”

Aria Thaker is a copy editor at The Caravan.