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Oct-21-2008
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Views expressed here are author"s own and not of this website. Full disclaimer is
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(Author is an independent researcher, and freelance contributor based in New Delhi, India)
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The new myth floated by the secular media postulates that backward and riot hit areas serve as breeding grounds of terror. This is just old wine in a new bottle; rationalizing Islamic fundamentalism by creating justifications for the same instead of accepting the central dogma of jihad enshrined within Islamic theology as the root and stem of terror. After all, the secular media has a history of drawing parity between Islamic fundamentalisms and so called Hindu fundamentalism. In 1985, when a petition filed by Sita Ram Goyal demanding ban on the Koran for its abusive verses was being decided by the Calcutta high court [1], the Times of India was flooded with pro Islamic articles which tried to draw parallels with the seemingly violent verses of the Bhagavad Geeta [2]
In the same decade, when archaeological evidence was discovered which pointed out temple remains below the Idgah site at Mathura, marxist historians were up in arms and instead alleged the site originally belonged to a Buddhist monastery, a claim which was demonstrated by independent researches to be dubious [3]
Subsequent to each terror attack involving the SIMI, the secular media issues a customary "Islam stands for peace" article the following day by accusing those against the jihadi doctrine to be reading the holy Quran out of context since Allah has given only "real" Muslims like them, the exclusive sanction to interpret the same [4]
Secularists are now vociferously demanding a ban on the Bajrang Dal as a confidence building measure for Muslims who are seething at SIMI"s ban [5] as also the Christian missionaries [6] who were unnerved by the uncharacteristic forceful Hindu resistance against conversion of their tribal brethren. We pose the following questions:
A. Does the ideology of the SIMI mirror that of Bajrang Dal?
B. Is the extent of Bajrang Dal"s desecration of church property equivalent to the loss of life and property involving terrorist attacks by SIMI and like minded Islamic organizations (as also Christian fundamentalists in the North East especially in Tripura and Nagaland) which target specifically innocent Hindus
C. Do members of Bajrang Dal abuse Mohammed, Mary or Jesus Christ? Contrast with SIMI/IM and missionary agendas
D. Do members of Bajrang Dal nurture any agenda of wholesale conversion? Contrast with "secular" Christian agenda [7]
E. Have members of Bajrang Dal ever been implicated for bomb blasts specifically targeting members of the minority communities?
F. Has the Bajrang Dal ever justified its actions specifically in case of the attack on New Life churches in Karnataka theologically i.e. by attributing divine sanction through means of (any) Hindu scripture?
G. Has the Bajrang Dal been involved in distribution of any anti Muslim / anti Christian Literature which reviles their founding fathers and saints in their historicity, power, character or efficaciousness?
H. Has the Bajrang Dal been involved in moral policing which has involved physical intimidation or actual bodily harm like shooting, stabbing or acid throwing? Contrast with Muslim fundamentalist organizations
I. Has the Bajrang Dal been involved in riots involving Pan Hindu issues like depiction of Hindu gods on toilet seats in America? In contrast Israel occupation of Palestine, the Gulf War, Salman Rushdie"s Satanic verses, post 9/11 American strikes in Afghanistan, hanging of Saddam Hussein, Danish cartoon controversy, Taslima Nasreen"s asylum in India have all triggered violent riots by Islamic fundamentalist groups.
J. In schools operated by VHP has it ever been taught that the sun goes round the earth? (Contrast with contemporary Deoband)? Have the students been impressed fraudulently or otherwise to participate in anti Muslim/anti Christian practices?
H. Has the Bajrang Dal ever put the Hindu religion or its theological icons over and above the nation. Has it participated in any anti-national subversive activities? Has it declared its religious identity and associations to transcend those of the nation state?
We believe, If the Bajrang dal deserves to be banned, then so does several other Islamic organizations, the Christian missionaries and several left wing extremist groups which are more potentially far more dangerous to national integration
As for the claim of Azamgarh to be the victim of backwardness [8], nothing could be further from the truth. The most damning evidence to the contrary is that most of these terrorists were studying in Delhi subjects ranging from computer science to ironically Human rights; evidently the backwardness of their city did not hinder their progress. Secondly, Azamgarh is no more backward than thousands of other cities in India, forget Uttar Pradesh. See table;
Statistic (Azamgarh Uttar Pradesh Orissa/Kandhamal district [9])
Health
--------
Life expectancy
Number of Hospitals (- 62 58 in State of Orissa)
(22 2-3 major hospitals in Kandhmal district only)
Economy
-------
Population below povery line (23% 40% > 50% in Orissa. 78% in Kandhamal district )
Education
---------
Literacy Rate (56 47 50 in Orissa. < 30 in Kandhmal)
Clearly, Orissa is as much backward as Uttar Pradesh and Azamgarh. If we move to the tribal districts like Kandhmal, the site of Hindu tribal-Christian tribal clashes the backwardness barometer rises exponentially. Why is then, the ensuing violence not considered as consequent to backwardness instead of assuming it as a VHP sponsored Hindu backlash, quite unlike its virtual condoning in case of Azamgarh, where the census data does not allow us to construct any case for remotely rationalizing the same especially since the geographical locus of violence in case of the former is restricted to the particular district while SIMI sponsored terror transcends the boundaries of state and nation.
Malini Parthasarthy another secular fundamentalist would wish the nation to believe that there was no communal polarization prior to Babari Masjid demolition (despite three centuries of recorded riots), and equates the stripping down of a profound symbol of Islamic imperialism to be violation of sacred space although the mosque was dysfunctional since 1950. Typical of her clan, she justifies the Bombay blasts which killed more than 300 Hindus as a consequence of the former. [10]
If riots indeed serve as breeding grounds for terrorists, then why has Hyderabad till date not produced any Hindu terrorists despite in 1990 over 400 Hindus losing their lives in communal clashes sponsored many suspect by well known leaders of the Congress party in cohorts with the MIM, another Islamic fundamentalist organization currently allied with the UPA government. The Godhra train carnage followed by the Gujarat riots caused the death of over 250 Hindus; but their families did not produce any terror bombers. The Coimbatore blasts caused death of over 58 people predominantly RSS functionaries yet they have not responded in kind against the suspects, their families or their religious places. Despite facing ethnic cleansing and being rendered refugees in their own homeland why have the 4 million displaced Kashmiri pundits not produced a single terrorist?
All in all, the secular formula which claims backwardness and riots are proportional to terror production in effect legitimize Islamic fundamentalism. It is dangerous and fraudulent and deserves the strongest condemnation by every concerned Indian irrespective of their political and religious identities.
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References & Notes:
1. The Calcutta Quran petition, Sita Ram Goyal http://voiceofdharma.org/books/tcqp/
2. Bhagavad Gita unlike the old testament and the Quran transcends the idea of earth consciousness (See BG 2.45) War as a theme exists in the Geeta only until the 2nd chapter. In contrast, the idea of retributive justice, war and God"s conspiracy against infidels and vice versa is a recurring theme of the latter. Moreover, the context of the Mahabharata proves the war in the Geeta to be essentially defensive. [Steven J Rosen, 2002]
3. Hindu Temples: What Happened to them, Volume 2, Sita Ram Goyal, Chapter V - Spreading the Big Lie
http://www.voiceofdharma.org/books/htemples2/ch5.htm
4. M J Akbar"s Sunday column in the Times of India is a typical example. The degrees to which he tortures Islamic history and theology has been previously dealt with;
http://saurav-basu.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/08/m-j-akbar-and-the-falsification-of-the-islamic-past.htm
5. The inspector (Mohan Chand Sharma) who was killed was a fake counter specialist. Why is his family given awards while our innocent children receive bullets? Similar sentiments are expressed by other Muslim residents of Sanjarpur in Azamgarh. The Statesman, 24.9.2008 / Times of India 23.9.2008]
6. Mangalore residents were fairly united in their belief that illegal conversions precipitated the attack on New Life churches, a Christian fundamentalist evangelical organization sponsored by foreign funding http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/17mang.htm The target of the Bajrang Dal is however not the church. They say that they have vented their anger against the members of the New Life Fellowship (Literature distributed by this christian organization defamed Hindu gods and goddesses. Scanned copies can be found at http://greathindu.com/2008/09/proof-of-christian-complicity-in-abusing-hindu-gods-in-mangalore/) The author William Dalyrmple himself admits way back in 1999 that "American-inspired Pentecostal missionaries - often south-Indian Christians who had received training and funding in the US - arrived and oversaw a surge in the rate of baptisms. They were aiming at wholesale conversions among India"s tribal population" http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/1999/mar/20/weekend.williamdalrymple
7. Catholic Secular Forum (oxymoron?) president Joseph Dias in an interview to rediff.com claimed that all Christians were duty bound to convert "keeping with the Great Commission as urged for by Jesus himself in the Bible (Go forth into the world and preach the Good News to all creation - Mark 16:15)" This is of course anti-constitutional (against public health morality and order article 25) and against the law (Rev. Stainislaus Vs State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1977 SC 908, full bench of five judges) but more importantly it gives rise to the obvious corollary that it is every Hindu"s dharma to not only resist conversion and their agents but also de-convert its victims.
8. Den of terror or victim of backwardness, The Times of India, 24.9.2008
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/msid-3515282,flstry-1.cms
9. Kandhamal Census data http://kandhamal.nic.in/km-intr/profile.pdf
10. Reinvigorate secular nationalism, Malini Parthasarthy, The Hindu, 25.9.2008
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