Behind the present day tribulations of Indias minorities ( Muslims, Christians, etc ) lies an insecurity pumped into the Hindu majority by a pre-meditated five-decade campaign that portrayed Muslims and Christians as disloyal, anti-national or criminal. Militant nationalists always need an enemy in order to grow. Hitler had the Jews. In India there are the minorities within and Pakistan, China and the West outside.
For Hindu chauvinists the greatest national crime has been the 'pampering' of the minorities but they forget that it is the majority who have been pampered with government jobs, facilities, housing and not the minorities. They conscientise the masses about setting right all historical wrongs. Todays Muslims must make amends for what the Muslim princess did centuries ago. All ancient Hindu temple sites must be restored. They forget that even Hindu princess looted their own temples, Buddhist viharas were converted into Hindu temples, Jains were harased, Shaivite temples were turned into Vaishnavite temples and vice versa. A interesting point to be noted is that the origins of the Christian communities in India go back to 52 AD, when the Apostle Thomas set foot on Indian soil, a period when Hinduism itself had not yet taken on its present identity. It was Sankarcharya in the eight century that re-established Brahminism in the present form while trying to root out Budhism from Indian soil. The Hindutvawadis/Sanghparivar (fundamentalist hindu groups comprising of rss, vhp, bajrangdal, shiv sena) are evolving new ways of humiliating, marginalizing and crushing their opponents i.e. muslims, christians, tribals, dalits, etc. They (sanghparivar) humiliate and disarm their critics by accusing them of being foreigners and anti-nationals. They provoke them beyond endurance and any self-defence is described as violent. They keep spreading misinformation in a studied and systematic way so that at least half of it will be believed. For this, they take inspiration from the manuals of the Nazis whom they greatly admire. They harass minorities with court cases so as to wear them down. They seek to pack all the national parties with their people so that they will be in command no matter what party comes to power The Hindutvawadis use the print, celluloid, audio and video media to further their cause, especially during elections. One cannot underestimate the vastness of their designs. The organs of the state bureaucracy, the judiciary, police and armed forces are polarized, when one officer takes action, another rushes to the rescue of the Hindutvawadis. Anti-democratic attitudes are today widespread in the same urban middle class in India that was the backbone of democracy. Gone are the days of slogans like "Unity in Diversity". The Sangh Parivars clear-sighted aim is to establish Hitler's Aryan rule in India, and impose the Manu Code with its caste-norms. Just as for the Nazis, the Jews were a great threat, so the sangh parivar considers the Muslims, Christians, Dalits, Tribals, Socialists, Communists and modern Hindus a great threat. The Sangh parivars definition of Nation, is not acceptable. It is monocultural negating other religions and people. The struggle between the Brahminical forces under the disguise of Hindu nationalism on the one hand and the dream of an egalitarian, pluralistic and democratic Indian State and society on the other hand, will determine the direction and the destiny of the Indian State and society. yours faithfully, Paul Fernandes [email protected] Thane, Mah. ********************* *********************
