Saffron Brotherhood - Hindutva and ISIS

It is amazing that all the right wing ideologies, be it Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist are the same. It is born out of insecurity, and with the fear of losing in a dialogue, all of them resort to violence, and claim the only way they will have peace is by annihilating the other.

Co-existence is Anathema to ISIS, Talibans, Brotherhood, Hindutva, RSS, VHP, Neocon Christians, and hard core Zionists. There is hope, if we all learn to see the flaws within and talk about it without fear, we can bring about a small change at least.  For every Muslim ass, there is a Hindu, Christian, Jewish and a Buddhist ass.

I would request the comment to keep to the topic and not jump off to other things.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net 

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Saffron Brotherhood

DC | Javed Anand | February 05, 2015, 00.02 am IST
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150205/commentary-columnists/article/saffron-brotherhood

In its most benevolent interpretation, Hindutva is the ideology that proclaims that India is, should be, a Hindu rashtra (nation) where the status of religious minorities should depend entirely on Hindu goodwill. Though not the same thing, Hindutva belongs to the same family as the ideology of an Islamic State wherein at its benevolent best religious minorities may be permitted (within strict limits) to do their own thing so long as they subserviently pay the jizyah tax.

Secularism as enshrined in the Indian Constitution stipulates the equality of all citizens: non-discrimination, equal opportunity, equality before law, equal protection of law. Not surprisingly, the adherents of Hindutva are inherently as hostile to the ideals of a secular state as the Islamists. The “Brotherhood in Saffron” is but an ideological close cousin of the “Muslim Brotherhood”.

The Sangh Parivar and the Shiv Sena are to India what the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Taliban and their ilk are to Pakistan. Though Pakistan has officially been an “Islamic Republic” virtually from the moment of its birth, it still is far from the ideal of an Islamic State where only the Sharia rules. So the Islamists are working overtime to realise their totalitarian fantasy.

Post-Partition India thankfully opted for a secular state. But since the mid-1980s, Hindutvawadis have worked zealously to steer the country’s polity in the direction of a “Hindu rashtra”. With a self-proclaimed “Hindu nationalist” now at the helm, why be surprised if they today feel emboldened to speak and act as never before?

On Republic Day, the information and broadcasting ministry issued an ad using a visual of the pre-1976 amendment Preamble to our Constitution in which the words “secular” and “socialist” were missing. In an article published in a national daily, Sudheendra Kulkarni staunchly questioned the motive behind this attempt to revert to the un-amended Preamble.

The significance of his comments lies in the fact that he was aide to the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (right man in the wrong party) and subsequently adviser to the former stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party, L.K. Advani (the original “Lauh Purush”, “Chota Sardar”). Mr Kulkarni argues that attempts to defend the controversial ad by the I&B minister of state, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, and comments by the Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut have in effect brought Hindutva’s “hidden agenda” out in the open.

But contrary to what he thinks, the controversial ad is no “Freudian slip”. If anything it’s the latest instance of the Sangh Parivar’s Machiavellian mind at work. The Hindu rashtra ideal is by no means a “forbidden fantasy” lodged in the “unconscious” of its followers. It’s been out there in bold print in the writings of V.D. Savarkar and the most revered “guru” of the Sangh Parivar, M.S. Golwalkar for nearly a hundred years. It’s only the compulsion of democratic politics that forces the Sangh Parivar into keeping its real agenda hidden from the electorate.

The words “secular” and “socialist” are even today embedded in the party constitution which the BJP adopted for itself at its birth in 1980. But who does not know that the politically-expedient bid to loosen its ties with Hindutva was hastily abandoned the moment the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh hit back, switching its political support to the Congress in 1984 (following the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the massacre of Sikhs)?

Since the mid-1980s, the BJP has done everything possible to make secularism sound like a dirty word. Its former president, Mr Advani, shrewdly coined the term “pseudo-secularism” to demean and rubbish all secular politics as nothing but “appeasement of minorities”. The battle lines today are even more sharply defined: if you are not pro-Hindutva, you are “sickular”. There was no mention of the word secular in the BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 parliamentary elections.

The Republic Day ad is not the first attempt of the BJP and its parivar to banish the S-words from the country’s political vocabulary. At a Sadhu Sammelan following the demolition of the Babri mosque in December 1992, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Swami Vamdev had publicly demanded that the Indian Constitution be thrown into the dustbin of history, replaced by a Hindu Constitution. “Why only four, Hindu men should be free to marry 44 women if they so desired,” he had thundered.

During the BJP-led coalition’s 13-month tenure in power at the Centre, initiating a debate on a comprehensive review of the Indian Constitution in 1998, the then BJP vice-president and spokesperson K.L. Sharma had talked about deleting the words “secular” and “socialist” from the Preamble. Leaders from the Sangh Parivar have a long history of double-speak. In sharp contrast, the late Shiv Sena supremo, Bal Thackeray, never minced his words. In an interview to Shekhar Gupta for his Walk the Talk programme (in 2007), he more or less justified the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse (“Godse thought that if this old man lives any longer then he will ruin the country… you have to think… why he decided to kill”); reiterated that what India really needed was a “benevolent dictatorship”; praised Adolf Hitler: “Hitler did very cruel and ugly things (to the Jews). But he was an artist, I love him (for that). He had the power to carry the whole nation, the mob with him. You have to think what magic he had. He was a miracle”.

That’s Thackeray, unadulterated. So different from the patriarchs of the Sangh Parivar who continue to revere “Guru Golwalkar” (the second and the longest serving sarsanghchalak of the RSS: 1940-1973), but find his admiration for Hitler and antipathy to India’s religious minorities so politically embarrassing in today’s context that they claim the book, We, or Our Nationhood Defined (1938), was written by someone else.

That’s why, to make sense of the Sangh Parivar’s frequent double-speak, it’s often helpful to listen to the Shiv Sena’s straight talk on the subject. Listen, therefore, to Mr Raut who spoke thus on the latest controversy: “Balasaheb Thackeray had been saying that India was divided on the lines of religion. Pakistan was created for Muslims, thus, what remains is a Hindu rashtra.

The country is of Hindus and belongs to them. People of all religions can live in India but Hindus will dominate.” India, he insisted, was never secular. Perhaps we should be grateful that no one, as yet, has demanded the deletion of the word “democratic” from the Preamble, and its replacement with the word “Hindu” to leave us with just “Sovereign Hindu Republic”.

The writer is co-editor of Communalism Combat and general secretary, Muslims for Secular Democracy

I stand for free speech, even if it were a hate speech. I will urge the media to record the speech and after effects, As the report claims that, Togadia's previous speech on Jan 17 injured 30 and several lakhs worth of property was vandalized, if this is documented well, then Togadia is responsible and must be sued for damages. 

I have always stood up for free speech. It is ironic that I stood up for Pamela Geller's who was banned from speaking in London, and she wanted to sue me for telling on Fox News that it was her ad in the subway that killed a passenger who was Hindu. No one has sued her.

We need to sue any one whose speech will cause damage to life and property, but free speech including hate speech must be allowed, I am glad they have allowed the MIM rally as well.

Yes for every Hindu Ass, there is a Muslim Ass. 

Mike Ghouse committed to free speech
www.MikeGhouse.net 

Praveen Togadia barred from Bangalore, VHP fumes

• Sudipto Mondal, Hindustan Times, Bengaluru
 | 
• Updated: Feb 03, 2015 10:49 IST

Vishwa Hindu Parishad's motorcycle rally in Bengaluru. (HT Photo)

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The Vishwa Hindu Parishad's plan to organise a "Hindu rally" in Bangalore hit a hurdle on Tuesday when their star speaker Praveen Togadia was banned from entering the city.

Sources in the home minister's office told Hindustan Times that the government is also considering banning Togadia, who has at least 19 cases of hate speech against him in over a dozen states, from entering Karnataka.

The VHP said the ban was "undemocratic" and claimed it had mustered more than two lakh supporters for the event called Hindu Viraat Samavesha on February 8. "We have issued prohibitory orders banning Togadia's entry into the city but we have decided to permit the event. We are in talks with the organisers to arrive at a mutually agreed format for the programme," said Bangalore Police Commissioner MN Reddi.

Reddi said Togadia had been barred from the city to "prevent a law and order situation".

The VHP plans to protest for Togadia. "We will move court to get justice and hold protests across Karnataka against the decision of this anti-Hindu government," said VHP south India organising secretary Gopalji.

"This is unconstitutional and undemocratic. Togadia has addressed many rallies in Karnataka over the last few months and there has been no trouble. The Congress is playing vote bank politics," said former BJP chief minister Jagdish Shettar, who is leader of the opposition.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah supported the police's decision. "The government had nothing to do with it. The decision was taken independently by the police. But it was a good decision as Togadia's previous visits to the State have triggered communal violence. The government is committed to preventing such attempts at polarization," he said.

A riot broke out during Togadia's last visit to Karnataka on January 17 when he addressed a gathering of 25,000 supporters at Puttur, 60 km Mangaluru. More than 30 people were injured in the violence and property worth several lakh rupees was destroyed.

Interestingly, the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimin has planned a massive rally on February 8 to counter the VHP's event. As the main speaker, they plan to have the party president and MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who has nearly a dozen hate speech cases against him across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Home Ministry sources said that Owaisi too will be prevented from entering the State although they said that his status as an elected representative might complicate matters.

Sonal Shah Renounces Hindu Group

I seriously doubt if Sonal Shah renounced her affiliation with VHP because of pressure, she is American raised and most Indian kids raised here are immune to hate ideology that a "FEW" Indian parents attempt to inject in their kids. Shame on those few parents who poison their kids.

She probably thought it will go away, when it did not she chose to express her sincerity.

It is a shame that a FEW Indians are so hateful against the other Indians for questioning her qualifications.

Vijay and Ubaid did their democractic duty to question indeed, they simply wanted clarifications and thank God and every one who did their due dilegence in asking her to tell her stand on the affiliation issue, we have it now and she is in clear.

She is going to be loved by one and all. I am glad she has sincerely expressed her freedom, she has a good heart and a good soul. God bless her!

Mike Ghouse

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 4:00 PM
Under Pressure, Shah Renounces Hindu Group
By GAUTHAM NAGESH, Government Executive
http://lostintransition.nationaljournal.com/2008/12/shah-renounces.php

After weeks of questions, Obama transition team member and former Google executive Sonal Shah today renounced her former connection to a Hindu organization accused of fomenting violence against Muslims and Christians in India.

In a statement obtained exclusively by NextGov and National Journal, Shah says that if she could have anticipated the role of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the 2002 outbreak of communal violence in the Indian state of Gujarat, she never would have associated with the group's American branch a year earlier:

In 2002, Gujarat suffered one of the most profound tragedies in its long history, when extremist political leaders, including some associated with the VHP, incited riots that resulted in the deaths of thousands. Had I been able to foresee the role of the VHP in India in these heinous events, or anticipate that the VHP of America could possibly stand by silently in the face of its Indian counterpart's complicity in the events of Gujarat in 2002 -- thereby undermining the American group's cultural and humanitarian efforts with which I was involved -- I would not have associated with the VHP of America.

The controversy escalated this weekend when Shah asked supporters for their help in stopping the spread of allegations that she had been a member of the VHP.

In an e-mail sent Friday night and obtained by NextGov, Shah asked her supporters for help combating the allegations and expressed fear that the Obama transition team would ask her to resign as a result of the story.

"I need your help," wrote Shah. "This is gaining legs as the National Journal also picked it up and likely Fox. I need to moblize [sic] people against the leftists and the right wing. There is a likely chance that they will ask me to resign as team does not need my publicity."

The controversy has been gathering steam in the Indian press and South Asian blogosphere for weeks now, but it went mainstream on Thursday when former GOP Senator Rick Santorum published an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer questioning the appointment of Shah to the transition team -- prompting a Lost In Transition post Friday.

Shah, a Google executive who previously worked for Goldman Sachs and served as a Treasury official in the Clinton years, was appointed to the Obama transition team in November and has since been tapped to be part of the three-person team to develop technology policy. She is also reportedly being considered for Secretary of Energy.

However, her appointment to the administration has drawn strong reactions from the South Asian community. While many prominent Indian-Americans have stood behind Shah, others have raised doubts about her past. Dr. Shaikh Ubaid is part of a group including several Muslim and Sikh associations and dozens of college professors that sent letters to both Shah and President-elect Obama, requesting further information on Shah's past associations.

"When she was appointed, it was initially a proud moment for us, her being an Indian-American," said Ubaid in an interview given before Shah's latest statement. However, the reports regarding Shah's past ties to the VHP gave Ubaid and others a cause for concern.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad is an international Hindu organization which is a part of the Sangh Parivar, the Indian nationalist movement organized around Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the political face of Hindutva; VHP is the social wing of the movement.

The nonprofit group Human Rights Watch as well as the U.S. State Department have condemned the BJP-led government and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for not stopping the 2002 violence in Gujarat following the burning of a train containing Hindu pilgrims by a Muslim mob. In rioting that followed, more than a thousand people were killed, the majority of whom were Muslims.

"I'm not saying Sonal Shah is involved in that," Ubaid said. "But we have questions."

On Nov. 11, Shah had released a statement where she termed the allegations "baseless and silly reports" stemming from her charitable work for victims of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. She denied any involvement in Indian politics, but her critics quickly pointed out that nowhere in the original statement did Shah formally acknowledge her role in the VHP-America or specifically condemn the violence in Gujarat and the actions of Narendra Modi.

Both Ubaid and Vijay Prashad, a South Asian history professor at Trinity College (Conn.) who wrote the original article questioning Shah's ties to the VHP, pointed to a recent interview in which a VHP-America leader indicated that Shah was more than tangentially connected to the group. Prashad, interviewed before Shah's latest statement, called her a "leading figure" of the organization from 1998 to the early 2000s and said her claims of having participated only in the organization's earthquake relief efforts were "disingenuous."

"I can understand someone raised in a suburb, whose parents are apolitical, coming to college, seeing the earthquake, finding an organization and getting involved in raising funds [without knowing any better]," said Prashad. "But here is someone not from an apolitical household. She was well aware of the politics. And she had been in a leadership role. It was not just happenstance."

Shah's brother Anand said that she was co-opted by the organization's leadership, who were eager to show a younger face to the public.

"If the situation wasn't what it is, if it was someone else, I would be asking these questions," said Anand Shah. "It's not a non-serious issue; the questions being raised are legitimate ones." But he added that he hoped people would judge his sister by her own words and actions, and not by her associations.

The text of Sonal Shah's full statement is as follows:

I was recently maligned by a professor at a college in Connecticut who wrote an article in CounterPunch accusing me of association with Hindu extremism. Then, a few days ago, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, published an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer, to which this site linked, that echoed the CounterPunch accusations. These attacks sadden me, but they share one other thing in common: the accusations are false.

In reaction to these attacks, my closest friends -- and many strangers -- have rallied to my side. I am touched by this outpouring of support. And as painful as this episode has been for me personally, I welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue with the seriousness that it deserves, but the conversation should proceed on the basis of verified facts and reasoned argument, not innuendo and defamation.

Indian politics and history are contested and emotive, but also unfamiliar to most Americans. I understand why so many Indians and Indian-Americans feel strongly about religious extremism in India, because I share the same concerns.

I am an American, and my political engagements have always and only been American. I served as a U.S. Treasury Department official for seven years, and now work on global development policy at Google.org. And I am honored to serve on the Presidential Transition Team of President-elect Obama while on leave from Google.org.

I emigrated from India at the age of four, and grew up in Houston. Like many Americans, I remain proud of my heritage. But my engagement with India has been exclusively cultural and humanitarian. After the devastating earthquake in Gujarat in 2001, I worked on behalf of a consortium of Indian-American organizations to raise funds for humanitarian relief. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHP-A), an independent charity associated with the eponymous Indian political group, was among these organizations, and it was the only one to list my name on its website. I am not affiliated with any of these organizations, including the VHP-A, and have not worked with any of them since 2001.

The experience with the Gujarat earthquake did, however, teach me an important lesson. It pointed up a lack of dedicated infrastructure to help alleviate suffering in India, so together with my brother and sister, I founded Indicorps, an organization modeled on the U.S. Peace Corps that enables young Indian-Americans to spend a year in service to marginalized communities in India. The fellows come from every religious background, and have worked among every religious community in India. Indeed, some Indicorps fellows focus on inter-faith dialogue as part of their projects.

In 2002, Gujarat suffered one of the most profound tragedies in its long history, when extremist political leaders, including some associated with the VHP, incited riots that resulted in the deaths of thousands. Had I been able to foresee the role of the VHP in India in these heinous events, or anticipate that the VHP of America could possibly stand by silently in the face of its Indian counterpart's complicity in the events of Gujarat in 2002 -- thereby undermining the American group's cultural and humanitarian efforts with which I was involved -- I would not have associated with the VHP of America.

Sadly, CounterPunch and Senator Santorum have suggested that I somehow endorse that violence and the ongoing violence in Orissa. I do not - I deplore it. But more than that, I have worked against it, and will continue to do so. I have already denounced the groups at issue and am hopeful that we can begin to have an honest conversation about the ways immigrant and diaspora communities can engage constructively in social and humanitarian work abroad.