I/III.
Press Release by Campaign to Stop Funding Hate 
A virtual melee has ensued in print and digital media over the
selection of Ms. Sonal Shah, an American of Indian origin to the Obama
transition team's advisory board. Shrill accusations of Ms. Shah being
a "racist and Hindu chauvinist" are being reciprocated by equally
shrill attempts to portray anyone who raises serious questions about
the selection as being anti-India, anti-Hindu, anti-progress, and
recently, as against "liberal civility." We condemn such baseless and
unfair statements.
At the outset we wish to acknowledge that Ms. Shah has had a record of
being a visible and an important face of the "desi American" community
- a successful professional, and a politically and socially engaged
citizen.
We are also happy to note at least one positive effect from this
debate. Even as this issue gets played out on pubic fora, the din of
militant Hindutva drumbeats has suffered some dampening. Almost all
participants, including those who have come out in support of Ms.
Shah, have said that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- both integral to the Hindutva movement, are
part of the "politics of hate" that must be resisted. We wish such
statements had come much earlier, such as the time when people were
being butchered in Gujarat, or when Indicorps (an organization Ms.
Shah co-founded) was felicitated by Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister
of Gujarat.
Ms. Shah has become something of a point of pride for many Americans
with origins in India. But Ms. Shah does have feet that leave tracks,
has written words that have been archived, and has occupied offices of
responsibility. We wish to explore this material record below by
examining two of the most persuasive claims made by supporters of Ms.
Shah. These are:
1. That accusations of Ms. Shah being a closet Hindutva ideologue
amount to "guilt by association", a reference to the fact that her
father Mr. Ramesh Shah has well documented leadership roles within the
Sangh Parivar (Collective Family, the name for the set of
organizations of Hindutva).
2. That Ms. Shah's only association with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
of America (VHPA) was in the context of the Gujarat earthquake;
surely, she cannot be faulted for not picking the right organization
when urgent action was the need of the hour.
Our claims of Ms. Shah's Hindutva associations are not based on guilt
by association. Instead, we ask: What organizational and ideological
work did Ms. Shah perform for and as part of the VHPA?
We have archived records demonstrating that Ms. Shah was a part of
VHPA's leadership group--the governing council and chapter
presidents/coordinators. She participated in strategy discussions with
prominent leaders of the Sangh Parivar. Ms. Shah was not just a
bystander, she was considered important and trustworthy enough by the
Hindutva leadership to be included in a core group with Ajay Shah,
Gaurang Vaishnav, Mahesh Mehta, Yashpal Lakra, Vijay Pallod, Shyam
Tiwari, and others. Does Ms. Shah deny that she played such a role?
Even in light of the recent public statement by Gaurang Vaishnav,
General Secretary of the VHPA, that Ms. Shah was made a member of the
governing council as she came out of college?
We are glad to hear Ms. Shah assert that her "personal politics have
nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such
organization", and that she does not "subscribe to the views of such
Hindu nationalist groups". However, in view of her close association
with VHPA, as summarized above, Ms. Shah's claim to have "never"
subscribed to such Hindu nationalist views strains credulity.
Ms. Shah's participation in the VHPA Governing Council predates by a
few years her position as National Coordinator of VHPA's Gujarat
earthquake activities in 2001. The position of earthquake relief
coordinator doesn't seem to be an easy one to ascend to -- VHPA's
website states that "national projects are executed by a committee of
members drawn from the Governing Council and the various chapters."
Thus, Ms. Shah's coordination of VHPA earthquake relief seems to have
built upon her earlier leadership role within the VHPA. We do not know
when/if her affiliation with the VHPA ceased, but VHPA media secretary
Shyam Tiwari has recently claimed: "Sonal was a member of VHP of
America at the time of the earthquake. Her membership has [now]
expired."
A note about Ms. Shah's earthquake relief work. Calamities such as
the 2001 Bhuj earthquake often bring out the best in humans, but the
Sangh Parivar is notorious for using such moments instrumentally and
cynically for advancing its violent ideological agenda. An ordinary
donor or fund-raiser can be excused for not knowing the Sangh agenda,
but for someone like Ms. Shah, who grew up in a family deeply rooted
in the Sangh Parivar, it is more than a little disingenuous to claim
that such fund-raising was apolitical or neutral. There are numerous
documented instances of the Sangh Parivar's religion- and caste-based
discrimination in doling out relief. Therefore we are shocked that Ms.
Shah has expressed pride in coordinating relief work (under the ambit
of VHPA) following the Gujarat earthquake of 2001. The relief work
coordinated by the VHP is known to have rebuilt villages in the Kutch
region exclusively for caste Hindus while marginalizing lower caste
Hindus and Muslims to the periphery. The VHP thus took the opportunity
of the earthquake to re-create multi-ethnic villages into exclusive
Hindu spaces. In addition, given the pivotal role played by the VHP
and other Sangh organizations in the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom, we fear
her pride is entirely misplaced.
Although we appreciate the positive influence Ms. Shah has had on many
second-generation desis, we have a hard time forgetting the many
victims of Hindutva. If Ms. Shah really wants to dispel doubts about
her linkages with the VHPA and other Sangh Parivar outfits, we urge
her to be more forthcoming in her condemnations of the Sangh Parivar,
especially its branches in the United States since that has been the
site of her involvement. Some ways for Ms. Shah to do this would be
to:
1. acknowledge her past organizational associations with the Sangh
Parivar
2. distance herself from the public reception reportedly planned by
the RSS in her native village in Gujarat
3. categorically condemn the role played by Hindutva forces in
anti-minority violence in India, and the facilitation of this violence
by funds sent through various Sangh Parivar affiliates in the United
States
 
In Peace and Justice
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (www.stopfundinghate.org)
 
II.
http://www.counterpunch.org/prashad11132008.html 
November 13, 2008
Sonal Shah's Membership Has Expired
Guilt by Participation
By VIJAY PRASHAD
 
Barack Obama’s victory in the U. S. presidential election warmed the 
hearts of millions around the world. When Jesse Jackson wept, I cried 
too. I had worked for Jackson’s campaign in 1988. With Jackson’s 
defeat came the long hibernation of American progressivism. Obama’s 
victory awoke that tradition. A few days later Obama began to 
announce his transition team. The names were not from the 
progressive tradition, but from the more cautious, even conservative 
side of the Democratic Party. In the list I saw the name Sonal Shah. 
That day, I wrote an essay for counterpunch.org calling attention to 
Sonal Shah’s affiliations with various Hindutva groups. In this viral age, 
essays such as this leave their locales and take on a life of their own. 
This one created a little kerfuffle. People excited by the Obama victory 
and by the ascension of an Asian American to a position of authority 
were miffed that I had rained on their parade. Some claimed that I had 
stooped to the Sarah Palin tactic of guilt by association. Just because 
her parents are closely affiliated with the Hindutva groups does not 
mean she is associated with them, they said. I agree. Sonal Shah 
released a statement against "baseless and silly reports" on the 
Internet. She forthrightly pointed out that her "personal politics have 
nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu 
Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or any such 
organization." The VHP and the RSS are well known to spread hate 
and to have participated in ghastly acts of violence within India against 
Muslims, Christians, and oppressed castes, not to speak of spreading 
the general misogyny that their ideology preaches. 
Sonal Shah’s statement is gratifying, but unpersuasive. The VHP’s 
Shyam Tiwari recently said, "Sonal was a member of the VHP of 
America at the time of the [2001 Kutch, Gujarat] earthquake. Her 
membership has expired." This was eight years after the 1993 Gujarat 
riots, when the VHP had an active, and ghastly role. Ms. Shah was 33 
years old then. Her parents were active in Hindutva organizations. How 
could she not have known of their role, and the controversy surrounding 
them? She was not from an apolitical household, but an activist one. I 
brought up her parents only to suggest that she cannot claim now that 
she was ignorant of the VHP’s role in India. She must have known. And 
yet she participated in its activities. There were a host of other agencies 
that raised money for the earthquake survivors. All the earthquake 
survivors: credible media reports showed that the money raised by the 
VHP did not go to Muslim survivors, only Hindu ones (for example, 
"Communalizing Relief: VHP seizes earthquake opportunity," 
Statesman, Kolkata, 12 February 2001 and Vijay Dutt, "Discrimination 
in Distribution of Relief against Dalits in Gujarat Causes Concern," 
Hindustan Times, 27 February 2001). This is hardly an act of charity. 
The VHP says Ms. Shah left the organization in 2001. Three events 
from 2004 bear mention: 
(1) Ms. Shah delivered a keynote address at the Hindu Swayamsevak 
Sangh young conference. The HSS is the U. S. branch of the RSS. The 
University of Chicago’s Martha Nussbaum describes the RSS as 
"possibly the most successful fascist movement in any contemporary 
democracy." The RSS "guru" (teacher) M. S. Golwalkar wrote glowingly 
about Nazi "race pride," and called it a "good lesson for us in 
Hindusthan to learn and profit by." 
(2) Ms. Shah delivered a keynote address at an Ekal Vidyalaya 
conference in Florida. The Ekal Vidyalaya’s are schools set up in tribal 
areas. The RSS’s Chief of Service work, Premchand Goel, said that the 
RSS and the VHP run "thousands of Ekal Vidyalayas." One Ekal 
Vidyalaya teacher, Mohan Lal, told Frontline reporter, T. K. 
Rajalakshmi, "We go for the RSS shakha [branch] meetings regularly. 
The teachers are selected only if they subscribe to the RSS way of 
thought." 
(3) On her behalf, her brother Anand Shah received an award from the 
Gujarat government in the presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. 
When Mr. Modi became Chief Minister of the State in 2001 was the first 
RSS pracharak (volunteer) to be in the position. The RSS celebrated its 
victory. Human Rights Watch’s 2002 report calls attention to the way 
the RSS and Mr. Modi have used Gujarat as "Hindutva’s laboratory," 
stacking the higher administration with RSS-VHP cadre. No Muslim 
police officer has a field posting. As Frontline reporter Praveen Swami 
wrote at the time, "Chief Minister Narendra Modi has become 
something of a hero for many Hindus because he presided over the 
pogrom." 
At none of these events did Ms. Shah or her brother raise their voices 
for the broken hearts and bodies, the survivors and victims of the 2002 
pogrom in Gujarat. By 2004, even mainstream human rights 
organizations and media outlets had recognized that the Gujarat riots 
were state-engineered, and that their author was Narendra Modi. In 
2005, the U. S. government refused to allow Mr. Modi a visa on these 
grounds. And yet, Ms. Shah received an award given by Mr. Modi. The 
novelist Amitav Ghosh refused to be considered for the Commonwealth 
Prize in 2001 because it commemorated imperialism. That is a sign of 
sound moral judgment. To have taken an award from a man who 
conducted a pogrom is a sign of moral turpitude. 
It is a dark cold day if high expectations are to be dashed by such 
convoluted ethics. 
Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian 
History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, 
CT His new book is The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third 
World, New York: The New Press, 2007. He can be reached at: 
vijay.prashad at trincoll.edu 
 
III
From: "Raju Rajagopal" <rajurajagop at yahoo.com>
Subject: FW: Re: Sonal and the Sangh Parivar
Date sent: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:38:35 +0800
To close the loop: a note I sent to Anand Shah today. FYI.
----------------------------------------
Nov 10, 2008
Dear Anand,
Under normal circumstances I should be writing to you to say how thrilled I
am as an Obama-backer and as an Indian-American that your sister Sonal Shah
has been picked to be part of the President-elect's advisory team. Being
invited into that inner circle at such a young age is no mean achievement
and speaks volumes about her qualifications as well as her dedication
towards the Obama campaign.
Sadly, these are not normal circumstances. My admiration for Sonal's
singular accomplishment is tempered by lingering doubts about her
association with Hindu extremist groups like VHP, which casts a pall over
her appointment: The sectarian dogma that VHP and its affiliates like
Bajrang Dal espouse, in my view, are antithetical to the very idea of
uniting people of all races and faiths that Obama's campaign stood for. 
I just read press reports about your statement on the Gujarat 'riots.' At
one level, I welcome it, even though your comment fell short of
acknowledging VHP's primary role in the violence and does not explicitly
repudiate your family's ties with that organization. At another level, it is
sad that it took you six long years to take such a public stand, which, had
it been taken earlier, could have made some difference in the lives of
people in Gujarat, who have suffered so much in the communal abyss
deliberately created by Mr. Modi. As you know, encouraged by their
unchallenged ascent in Gujarat, VHP and its various incarnations have now
taken to large scale violence against Christians in states like Orissa, and
have even been accused of being part of the terrorist plot in Malegoan.
Considering such a sordid track record, any public condemnation of VHP in
the last few years by your family, in my view, would have been far more
credible than statements being made at this juncture, which are
understandably designed to defend Sonal's reputation. 
I was just going through our e-mail exchanges since 2004, wherein I had
brought to your attention the vicious Nazi-like propaganda being spread by
VHP, whose consequences we are now witnessing in Orissa and several other
states such as Karnataka. Unfortunately, our face-to-face meeting in 2005 in
Pune, meant to have an honest dialogue, was a disappointment to me, as I
felt that you were being less than candid about your continuing sympathies
for the Sangh Parivar. As I concluded in my last e-mail to you attached
below (to which I did not receive a response), you chose to evade personal
responsibility for those ties under the guise of being 'politically
neutral,' which, given your family's reported closeness to the Sangh Parivar
and to Mr. Modi, is tantamount to condoning their efforts to tear India
apart along communal lines. 
Similarly, as I understand from published reports, Sonal has also had ample
opportunities to repudiate her ties with the VHP, which she has apparently
refused to do. And now, speculation in the media that she could be the
'passport' to a US visa for Modi only adds to the suspicion that she is
still very much connected to the Sangh Parivar establishment. 
Anand, I realize that I am in no position to demand anything of you or
Sonal; and I do acknowledge that you guys must be under tremendous pressure
under the media scrutiny that you are now receiving. But given Obama's
campaign theme of unifying people and resolving conflicts peacefully, I
think it behooves Sonal to take an unequivocal public stand on her
relationship with the Sangh Parivar and to clear the air of some of the
misgivings about her that have appeared in the Indian media. She could, for
instance:
1. Issue a personal condemnation of the 2002 Gujarat pogroms,
specifically acknowledging the violent role of VHP and Bajrang Dal, which
have been widely documented by international human rights organizations and
even admitted to on camera by some of the participants.
2. Condemn the alarming spread of anti-Christian violence being
perpetrated by VHP in various parts of the country.
3. Publicly and unequivocally break her ties with BJP, VHP and their
various creations, including Bajrang Dal, Ekal Vidyalayas, etc.
4. Pledge not to intervene in any way with the new administration on
behalf of Mr. Modi in securing him a US visa, which has thus far been denied
to him on the basis of gross violation of human rights for which he has
shown no remorse whatsoever.
Regardless of what President Obama's immediate priorities might turn out to
be, his election is indeed a watershed event for the whole world. Some of
his campaign themes are sure to resonate with people affected by numerous
conflicts around the world and will inspire them to notch up their resolve
to fight for justice. I hope that you and your family can join the right
side of some of those battles in India, especially in Gujarat, by taking
steps to genuinely distance yourselves from the communal demons unleashed by
the Sangh Parivar in the last few years. 
 
Best Regards,
 
Raju Rajagopal


Peace Is Doable


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