More dangerous than

shariah: Hindutva
Frank Raj-Ask me question.
Thursday, September 8,
2011
To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her
purging the country of the Semitic races the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been
manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races
and cultures, having diferences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united
whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and proft by.
The ultimate vision of our work is a perfectly organised state of society wherein
each individual has been moulded into a model of ideal Hindu manhood and made
into a living limb of the corporate personality of society.
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, RSS supreme chief
MIDDLE EAST, India, September 6, 2011Trying to understand American society and
politics without studying religions role is probably like attempting research on the
countrys food habits without considering its fast food addiction.
People in the Middle East and the subcontinent were intrigued by the unexpected
inclusion of Shariah in Americas national conversation a few months back. Amy
Sullivan writing in USA Today on June 12 noted how Republican presidential
candidates, felt the need to speak out against the menace of sharia.
Several prominent U.S. politicians got on and sheepishly of the sharia bandwagon.
They might have had more traction with another issue they should probably nip in the
bud right wing Hinduism in America bent on spreading Hindutva, a Nazi inspired
philosophy of hate from India. It is the brainchild of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), a pseudo religious Hindu organization, which controls the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), the main political opponents to Indias ruling UPA Congress coalition of
Sonia Gandhi.
David Briggs, writing in The Hufngton Post (4/28/11) in an article titled, Hindu
Americans: The Surprising, Hidden Population Trends of Hinduism in the U.S., notes
that in the frst efort to conduct a Hindu census in the United States, the Santa
Barbara, Calif.- based Institute of American Religion discovered some 1,600 temples
and centers with an estimated 600,000 practicing Hindus.
For better and worse, however, the latest incarnation of Hinduism in the United States
has gone largely unnoticed by most Americans, says Briggs, adding, That number
could easily rise up to the estimated 1.2 million who self-identify as Hindus.
In his Letter to A Young Hindu, (www.passtheroti.com) Vijay Prashad, the George
and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies
at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, writes: More than a decade ago, I used the
term Yankee Hindutva to describe the way Hindu chauvinism came into the United
States.
Eager to branch out to the Diaspora, the RSS and its subsidiaries took advantage of
multiculturalism to build their foothold here. Not for the American audience an
unadulterated anti-Muslim rhetoric (that would come only in some safe spaces, and
more aggressively, after 9/11).
Most Americans do not noticeably relate to other Americans on the basis of their
religion as Indians do. My own view is, people are people, not Buddhists, Christians,
Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, etc. However, not everyone is secure in a plain vanilla
human identity many people must tout a religious face.
Why isnt humble, authentic faith in God, rather than being hooked to a religion, an
adequate identity?
In India, the caste system still controls people; in America, denominational preferences
have polarized many Americans.
In both America and India, the resurgence of a religious right wing is obvious in politics
and society, but it is absurd to tar the American right with the same fundamentalist
brush. It is poles apart from the Hindu right, which is marked by its dangerous fascist
Hindutva ideology. The assertion of a native Hindu tradition with a profound spiritual
heritage is certainly justifed, but its current rabid avatar in the RSS safron color
makes a mockery of an ancient belief.
Nonetheless, religion is an addiction in both America and India, and its conventions
seem to have made one country very sexy and the other very sleazy. Half of all
marriages in Hollywood obsessed America end in divorce, regardless of ones religion.
And Hindusthan, the Persian term geographically denoting India, is one of the most
corrupt countries of the world.
The cliched born again label may be despised by many Americans (and others), but
American evangelicals are mainly identifed for their strong support of socially
conservative policies, being pro-Israel, anti-abortion, anti-same-sex marriage, and for
sending missionaries worldwide. Not for the murder of minorities on home ground and
the unscrupulous fascist politics that Hindutvadis are known for in India.
After orchestrating modern Indias frst state sponsored anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat
as recently 2002, when several thousand Muslims and Hindus were massacred, today
the Hindu right wing waits for another shot at power, as the main Opposition Party in
the Indian Parliament.
Gandhi died for standing against these right wingers; he was proud of his own Hindu
convictions, but he innovated with notably Christian infuences, and Jainism, Buddhism
and Islam.
Knowing how he rejected the Hindu right, it is distressing to see many middle class
Indians reject the Mahatmas spirituality, by consenting to the same political ideology
that took his life.
Growing up in India, many of my closest friends were Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs; only
much later did I discern that religious militancy exists in all religions. Fundamentalists
carry their baggage with them wherever they go. It is intriguing how a mere sufx to a
word, subverts what people believe in. One cannot link violence to Buddha or Christ,
but you can fnd fanatics in Buddhism and Christianity, like you can in Islam and
Hinduism.
The danger in India is real: If the fascist BJP plays its cards right, it has every
opportunity of coming back to power in India, in 2014.
Is it Sharia that should give Americans cause for concern, or should they keep an eye
on Hindutva as a potential Trojan Horse in America?
Amy Sullivan points out that, politicians who cry Sharia! are engaging in one of the
oldest and least-proud political traditions xenophobic demagoguery. One of the
easiest ways to spot its use is when politicians carelessly throw around a word simply
because it scares some voters.
American flmmaker Nina Paley who received death threats from the Hindu right in
America for her animated movie, Sita Sings The Blues, (www.sitasingstheblues.com)
is quoted by Saumya Arya Haas, in The Hufngton Post, (7/25/11) as saying, Its like
calling the Ku Klux Klan Christians. Calling Hindutvadis Hindus is especially
misleading in the U.S., where people are mostly unaware of violent nationalist groups
in India. Last I checked, Hinduism wasnt a religion of hate and intolerance.
Hindutvadis motives are political, not religious, and they hide behind a religious label.
Not only does this confuse many Americans into thinking they have some legitimacy, it
also, over the long run, harms real Hindus, who are nothing like Hindutvadis.
Her movie, an adaptation of the epic Ramayana mythology, is a feminist
interpretation of the epic loved by Hindus. Paley made the flm biographical by
including her own failed marriage.
Commenting on the opposition to the flms screenings, Haas, the Executive Director of
Headwaters/Delta, warns, While I support anyone, of any or no faith, who wants to
screen and discuss the flm, this is a game-changer. These are Hindus being shut
down, and shut out, by other Hindus. This no longer about an American flmmaker
interpreting the Ramayana, or a feminist perspective on ancient texts. This isnt about
colonialism or cultural appropriation. Its about a controlling group trying to bully their
opinion into being the only opinion.
My claim to Hinduism has been rejected by some because I believe [in] and advocate
non-violence in its extreme form. They say that I am a Christian in disguise. I have
been even seriously told that I am distorting the meaning of the Gita when I ascribe to
that great poem the teaching of unadulterated non-violence.
My religion is a matter solely between my Maker and myself. If I am a Hindu, I cannot
cease to be one even though I may be disowned by the whole of the Hindu population.
I still hold the view that I cannot conceive politics as divorced from religion. Indeed,
religion should pervade everyone one of our actions. Here religion does not mean
sectarianism. It means a belief in ordered moral government of the universe.
Mahatma Gandhi
Posted by Thavam