*Recently someone with whom I have been corresponding for some time wrote me this mail*:
*Hi Aditya* *Seek your views on some issues:* *Is communism/naxalite movement accepting of LGBT? I saw a movie recent;ly called "Red Alert" on the naxal movement in Andhra. They stated that they view women as equal to men. Wonder what would be their views on LGBT? * *Is it better for an LGBT person to be atheist/agnostic? At least, there is no fear factor of a hell.* * * ***What follows below is my response to him. Since I felt that it would be relevant here as well, I am reproducing it here*: I am unable to comment on the position of Naxalites on LGBTI issues, since I have not had any opportunity to delve into what they really think about various issues. As far as Communists in India are concerned, they have (like all others) spoken in many voices. However it must be mentioned that the first political voices that came round to seeking decriminalisation of homosexuality in India were the communists and especially the CP(I)M Politburo member Brinda Karat. So called socialists like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav have categorically and publicly been homophobic, and on the issue of LGBT rights, have forgotten their socialism and taken shelter under the ruse of 'Indian Culture'. As far as spiritual ideas go, I think every person should have the freedom to decide for themselves, and since any such decision in the exercise of that freedom cannot be termed as either good or bad, they cannot be labelled 'better' or 'worse' either. Essentially what I am saying is that one may disagree with the spiritual viewpoint of another, but one cannot disagree with the right of another to have that view by calling that view any lesser valid. The only restriction one can have on enjoyment of their right to spiritual freedom is that when they exercise their right, it should not cause hurt or harm to another (No Babri Masjid Demolition, or Ram Mandir, or Gujarat Pogrom against Muslims please). Personally, I am a Hindu, and in the true Hindu ethos, I am an atheist. I am quiet proud to be both. I believe that god is a created notion of mankind to help themselves on the path of ultimate enlightenment. I feel similarly about the created notions of heaven and hell, which are mankind's orchestrations to steer away from certain actions that are spiritually hurting/obstructive and to follow certain others that are spiritually enhancing/augmenting/strenghtening of that path to enlightenment. Therefor this faith in Hinduism and atheism at the same time is, I understand, complimentary and not contradictory. This is what makes Hindu India a veritable God Factory. Mankind can manufacture as many gods as s/he needs to satiate any and every purpose. The direction that Nehru gave to India's polity as its first Prime Minister, wherein, he propagated a kind of secular atheism in public policy, I believe in a skewed notion of a borrowed secular understanding from the west, has actually been hurtful to India. Rather than understand the Indian ethos of finding value in all spiritual traditions and according all of them equal respect, this other strand of borrowed secularism relied on heaping equal disdain, and equal scorn on all spiritual/religious traditions. Firstly this misguided secularism led to the moral vacuity that has guided the various Congress dispensations, and congress offshoots, that has ruled India for most of its independent history. Without the moorings of 'Dharma' (Which is DUTY to one's placement as a dispassionate, disaffected, non-venal actor, and NOT 'Religion' in the western sense), the politics of the congress and its so called socialist offshoots have degenerated into the monstrous corruption that plagues out system today, and that impedes the unleashing of our national potential. The joke goes that China grows because of the government, and India grows in spite of the government. The saddest hour in a nations life is when such a joke is actually true. Secondly, and more insidiously, the un-trammel-able spiritual moorings of many an average Indian, when oppressed by the aforementioned vacuity and corruption of misguided secularism, have propelled them squarely into the laps of the Hindu Right Wing in India, who espouse an ideology of hate, of cultural hegemony, of violence, and of a superstition laden backward looking social attitude of regression and nonsense. The Hindu right wing in India, like right wings anywhere, sustains itself by creating "Rakshashas' (Demons/Ogres) of a few otherwise good men, who can then be used to terrorise everyone else into submission. As a tool and tactic of political control, this is rather 'un-Hindu'. There is not much difference in this tactic, from the tactics that were fine tuned by Hitler. No wonder the Hindu right wing loves and eulogises Hitler (Read up what Bal Thakre of the Shiv Sena had to say about Hitler, and you would know what I am talking about). The Hindu Right wing also feeds right wing reactions of other minority religions. The Hindu right wing sustains itself by creating outsiders and enemies, to be targeted and fought, whose oppression then justifies their existence. Much like other religious minorities are made outside enemies in this manner, LGBTI too is potent as the demonised other. More than any serious cultural opposition to LGBTI rights, its good politics for the Hindu Rights to target LGBTI. The unscientific spirit of the Hindu Right is probably best demonstrated by a charlatan yoga televangelist called Baba Ramdev, who sustains a running campaign against LGBTI rights, makes quackery claims of curing homosexuality, all to further his political career that he has embarked upon. Other religious minority political dispensations, in turn have to sustain this anti LGBTI stance, lest they be perceived to be less culturally valid and 'Indian' than the Hindu Right. SO we have a situation today where while they kill each other in political pogroms at all other levels, on the matter of LGBTI rights, the Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh right wing have come together and joined hands. Politically I am of a left persuasion, but only in matters of social policies. That makes me one of those rare people who belong to the Hindu Left. And when I say rare, I mean rare indeed. Probably, the last great practitioner of the Hindu Left viewpoint was Gandhi. He was secure enough in his spiritual convictions to not have to take recourse to violence, or hegemonic oppression. At the same time, he could look beyond the regressive traditions and superstitions to call for social change that were truly revolutionary. The sad fact is that while the Hindu Right Wing in India has the sordid distinction of eliminating the physical life of Gandhi by assassinating him, the Nehru-Gandhi dynastic, so called socialist, dispensations that have been in power for the most time, are responsible for eliminating the spiritual-political legacy of Gandhi in every possible manner. I mentioned that I am a leftist only in matters of social policies. This is because I do not think that communism can do any better at unleashing the true potential of India, its economic and entrepreneurial might, any better than the corruption laden congress led socialist political center can. While it is venality and the urge to control everything that feed that venality, which guides the congress and the political centre, the communists are too beholden to a fossilised ideology of controlling human lives to maintain political overlordship. Both lead to the same result. Stunting of the potential of India. On economic matters, I am a believer in the potential of the Indian to better himself/herself, if given that chance and left alone without unreasonable or corrupt restrictions. India was the richest place in the world for two thousand years, beginning with the time of Chandragupta Maurya, and ending with the onset of the British. I believe that was so because of the potential that the geography, the climate, the resources, and the people of India offered. I think we can get there again. We have to do that with a modern and scientific outlook, we have to shun all social practices that were dehumanising, but we have to abide by Dharma to get there. This as I mentioned before, is not a god driven dharma. It is the dharma that dictates the duty of selflessness in public life, the duty of ethical conduct in private life, the duty of care and compassion for the fellow being, the duty of egalitarianism in the dispensation of justice in all spheres of human endeavour, and the duty to provide untrammelled expression to the human potential of the Indian. Sadly, be it the political left, the political right, or the political center, none offer this dharmic attitude today to LGBTI in India. Best regards, Aditya Bondyopadhyay
