To Goanet - Dr. Santosh Helekar wrote: >I do not agree with Rajan that Admin Noronha is anti-Hindu. But it is >clear to me that he is not a secular pluralist either. The grounds for >this belief are quite obvious. Admin Noronha is driven by an >entrenched ideology. As with all ideologies, it has outlived its >purpose, if it had any purpose in the first place.
My use of the term "anti-Hindu" for Admin Noronha was deliberate. Criticism of Hinduism, Hindus, Hindu Right, Hindu Anything in itself does not make anyone anti-Hindu. To cite an extreme case, I have never thought of Nascy as anti-Hindu. Semi-literate clown, yes. Anti-Hindu, no. The "anti-Hindu" fellow harbours a deep resentment towards any assertion of Hindu identity or any attempt at Hindu organization, whether it is political or social. Anytime he sees something which in his mind demonstrates Hindu strength his instinct is to smear it, or fabricate stories to tar the individual or group. Groups like HJS are a Godsend to him for they feed right into his pre-conceived narrative. At the same time, similar expression by Christians, Jews, or Muslims elicits no such disapproval; indeed Muslim atrocities are whitewashed as a matter of course. Exhibit A of this breed is the Indian Marxist, of which we had one here on Goanet (I hear that that bhailo is now fouling the air in the capitalist haven of Singapore. The hypocrite.) Admin Noronha is anti-Hindu in the sense outlined but I am not sure he is actuated by any ideology - that would mean that his worldview is shaped by reflection and study, for which there is no evidence whatsoever. What we know is that he is a master of the cut & paste, an agile Googlemeister, a garden-variety smear merchant, a purveyor of slime & lies. I wouldn't go digging into Noronha's soul looking for anything deeper. Regards, r * * * In every way, the Goans of Bombay were part of the great melee that was this metropolis, distinct perhaps in the way communities often are, holding on to their own traditions but merging slowly nonetheless and forming the thin thread of nationhood that would eventually become India. -- Selma Carvalho, in *Into the Goan Diaspora Wilderness*. Available at Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Price (in Goa only) Rs 295. http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ * * *
