conversion crisis

[venkateshnayak@yahoo.com]

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Rejoinder to Parameswar in particular and all
knickerbockers in general,
It is indeed gratifying to receive appreciation from a
person who does not subscribe to my own world view. I
thank Parameswar for sparing me those kind thoughts at
the beginning of his rejoinder. it is not surprising
at all that he has chosen to repeat the same things
that the Sangh Parivar has been saying with minimal
alteration, ever since it began preaching to the
country. what is even more common place is his refusal
to be termed an acolyte of the RSS. it is ok, you do
not have to be a member of the RSS to share its
viewpoint. I am not against the RSS as an organisation
of people. It is usual for men and women to form
associations and organisations, social animals that
they are. What is the RSS shorn of its ideological
garb, but just another glorified aerobics club?
It is their ideological stance that gives them their
identity. Their vicious ideas are more dangerous to
society than the organisation on its own.
How can you convey sense to a bunch of hoodlums whose
favourite test of patriotism is a mere cacaophonic
chanting of the beautiful song Vandemataram? How can
you enter into a dialogue with rakshasas who burn
innocent children (read- the Staines children of
Orissa) asleep in the middle of the night, because
their father worked for the betterment of tribals? How
can you sympathise with a caucus of spineless
missionaries of Hindutva who begged Durga incarnate
for lenient treatment during the Emergency in 1975-77?

It is true that the RSS is the first group of
volunteers that reaches any site of disaster man-made
or otherwise. Kudos to them. But are you aware that
they were also the first to provide assistance to the
riot affected in Mumbai after the Sanghi hoodlums had
gone about their butchering Not everday does one come
across people who hit first and bandage the victim
later. I remember coming across this in a comical
context in the celebrated comics Asterix in
Switzerland. but it is scary when it happens in
reality. Is this Rashtriya Seva?
It is high time the chaddidharis stopped abusing the
Congress for its minorityism. WHAT IS THEIR BLUE-EYED
BOY- BANGARU LAXMAN DOING THESE DAYS? Muslims have
suddenly become the flesh of the flesh and blood of
the blood of this country. it is not surprising that
gory metaphors continue to decorate the language of
the BJP given the history of the Sangh parivar. Kudos
to the RSS- it has not clue about what is going on
when Bangaru Laxman makes these statements just the
day after the Sanghis issue a call to Indian
Christians to Indianise their identity.
Perhaps this mistake would not have occurred if the
knickerwallahs had taken the trouble of investigating
the practices of Indian Christians within their homes
and churches. One merely has to go to Kerala to see
how Indianised the rituals of the christians have
become. Look at the names of so many Mallu and Tamil
Christians, they are a curious combination of European
and Sanskritic and Dravidian names. Several ritiuals
of theirs have strong local and 'Hindu' influences.
These communities have fought tooth and nail for using
the local language like Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and
Malayalam during their masses and in their prayers.
While the masses are conducted in Latin in the Vatican
and in English in England it is the local languages
that dominate most of the churches in India. Have the
sanghis paid attention to this aspect of Indian
Christians? I am being foolish! How can you make a
blinkered mule see the world that exists beyond its
narrow angle of vision? Or will the Upanisadic example
of a frog in the well serve a better and more
'Hinduish' comparison?
It is also surprising that whenever these shortypants
exmplify the so called missionary activity of the
Church they cite the example of the Northeast and
Christians all over India are attacked with this
excuse in mind. I have not visited the North eastern
states so far.although I have many friends from those
states I have not yet found a single 'unpatriotic'
Naga or Khasi or Angami christian who spews venom at
Hindus. They are some of the best friends you can have
if you manage to break the ice and that takes long
because the 'mainstream indians' have a stupid
nickname for them- 'chinkies'. (it is just like the
comrades calling all Hindutva votaries Nazis and
fascists. these name callings have a limited effect at
a time when a majority of the people have not
experienced Nazism or Fascism first hand.)
You cannot integrate them into the so called
mainstream by ridiculing them or demonising them.
Practice what you preach- extend a hand of love and
they will take it. If you wait for them to extend
their hand first your cause is lost. it becomes a cat
and mouse game all over again.
Let Madrasas be Madrasas. The constitution gives the
minority communities the right to maintain religious
and educational establishments wholely unfunded by the
state and I am happy with it. It is true that the
institution and its curriculum needs to be modernised
according to the present context and there are very
vocal voices within these communities demanding
change. Let the process take its own time. Instead of
preaching patriotism to them, the loose chaddiwallahs
should tighten up their belts (pun wholely intended)
to do something about the social evils of Hinduism. It
should be realised that a community whose members
firmly believe that Ganesha idols began drinking milk
one fine morning and stopped even before visible signs
of diarrhoea had set in at night, needs its own belief
systems re-examined and modernised. How can you think
of moving into the 21st centruy on the back of the
Internet with such a superstitious mindset? I was
witness to Professors from elite educational
institutions whose business was scientific research
argue in favour of accepting the whole fraud as a
miracle. It is not clear whether they were practising
Hindus as they might have been dragged to the presence
of the cute elephant headed deity out of sheer
curiosity. Or they might have accompanied their wives
in the fond hope of partaking some of the merit that
might have accrued if the miracle were for real. There
is not much hope from the educated sections of the
Hindu community either if these attitudes continue.
It is not surprising at all that Parameswar has
unwittingly lived up to the description of the
chaddidhari sanghis which I gave in my first
submission. They do not have an iota of knowledge
about ancient Indian history except awareness of some
names. even if they have read something, it comes from
cheap guides written by third rate writers who need
some recognition in society for al the trouble they
took in publishing their books. How can you think of
Adi Sankara as a very progressive person? I hope
serious scholars will pardon me if I treat Sankara as
a singular person rather than as a generic name for a
lineage of scholars belonging to the Advaitic school
(the dates for Sankara 788 -820 A.D. are also
contestable), but I will continue with the popular
understanding associated with this name. His
philosophy may be lofty but he was not different from
the rest of his brahmana scholarly community that kept
the lower castes and women away from the Jnana Marga
towards moksha. Ramanuja and Madhva at least allowed
Bhakti marga its due place which was accessible to the
lowliest of the low but Sankara was far behind them.
There never was a golden age and there will never be
one. Every generation looks back on its past and
admires it while being critical of the present. there
are so many living in India today who feel that
British Raj was better than the present state affairs.
little do they realise that they insult the memory of
the freedom fighters who laid down their lives for the
country so that the future generations may enjoy
freedom. But that apart, how can the period up to the
7th centruy be considered a Swarna Yuga? is it in
terms of the gold coins that were minted in India?
historians have proved that this was not so. There was
a progressive decline in trade and urbanism and
consequently use of currency in precious metals since
the dawn of the Christian era (for the information of
the Chaddiwallahs- neither Christ nor the christians
had anything to do with it. it was simply the effect
of the socio-eco dynamics of the period). Temple
architecture which is one of the pointers of India's
glorious achievements (despite the fact that most of
those who toiled for its construction were not
admitted in as they belonged to the lower castes) was
still in its nascent stage of development. there were
several literary contributions in Sanskrit no doubt
but access to this was again restricted to the upper
castes. This was also the period when several
Dharmasastras were written in different parts of
India. They codified the Hindu laws which reinforced
the oppression of women and the sudras who formed the
majority population in ancient India. Pick up the
original sanskrit editions of these books and you will
find statements like 'pour molten lead into the ears
of a sudra if he hears the chanting of the vedas and
into his mouth if he chants it after learning it
somehow.' while a Brahmana who kills a sudra is
punished with a small monetary fine a sudra who kills
a brahmana is to be punished with death without much
ado. This is Hindu jurisprudence of the Swarna Yuga
before the 7th century A.D. But how will the sanghis
know all this? they are incapable of reading up their
own scriptures and depend upon the sanitised versions
provided by their ideological mentors. If they picked
up the original texts it would be nothing short of
holding a mirror up to oneself- the reflection would
display an imperfect past not a golden one.
When you point out Aligarh Muslim University for the
effect Muslims have on educational institutions please
do not forget the not so distant Banaras Hindu
University. Have you blamed the Hindu community for
the ruination of this once glorious institution even
once? what about all the universities in Bihar and the
rest of the country where casteism and toadyism have
become rampant? It must be pointed out that even today
academic posts are filled up and first classes are
awarded on the basis of caste in most of the regional
universities. will the Chaddiwallahs take up
responsibility for this being the self-appointed
spokespersons of the Hindus? They ought to do so, as
these universities have a majority population of
Hindus. so hindus are directly responsible for the
destruction of these institutions of learning. I know
that this is a fallacious argument which will not
stand the test of reality. But how can the same be
valid if applied to the minority institutions?
Chaddidharis should remove their chaddis wrapped
around their eyes and wear them where they are
supposed to be worn so that they may have a clearer
vision.
 As for the patenting of patriotism it is a shame that
lofty symbols like the song Vandemataram and Jai Sri
Ram (a corruption of the traditional Jai Siya Ram- a
warning for all Hindu women who idolise the Sangh
parivar- if they can drop Sita mata- the beloved of
Lord Ram- will they spare you?) are appropriated by
the chaddidhari sanghis. It is we who have allowed
them a free hand by refusing to fight back. It is time
we claimed back these sacred symbols of our Indian
culture from this lunatic fringe. They have not
patented patriotism. They have instead given
'nationalism' and 'patriotism' a bad odour by draping
their soiled chaddis around them.
Jai Hind


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