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September 17, 1998
ELECTIONS '98
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How Readers responded to Darryl D'Monte's recent columns
Date sent: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 08:04:51 -0700 Darryl, you are so right when you state the poor condition of some of the best historical sites. Rule number one that India needs is "Toilets and not Temples." We need toilets so that people don't defecate along the way and in everybody's way. The Shiv Sena can build some toilets in Muslim neighbourhoods and the Muslims can build some toilets in Hindu neighbourhoods, so that we can stop giving trash to each other and learn to live together. Our hygiene and preservation of the environment is in deep decay, a compulsory lesson is needed with a fitting punishment for disobedience. In Bombay we can ask big companies to sponsor community toilets for slums. The companies can help maintain them through local sponsorship. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation can operate clean toilets and charge people an affordable amount to use the facilities. Unless the needs of the area around our historical sites is addressed, we cannot improve the site itself.
Date sent: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 23:38:24 -0700 What is wrong with the "Hinduisation" of India? The Indian culture is the Hindu culture. Burning of any religious text has to be condemned and Hinduism definitely does not teach this. Can we say that it was the Christian Hitler who ordered the killing of Jews? Or it was the Islamic Mughals who ordered the killing of our Sikh gurus? Or it was the Christian Europe that ruled the world? You are right, girls after eloping with Muslims are being converted. If you don't believe this check any incident where a Hindu girl has been married to a Muslim. Remember Sangita Bijlani? If the author knows history, he will know that India was a Hindu country and conversions were unknown till Islam and Christianity came to India. Just look at Kashmir, Hindus there have been driven out. Ghar Vapasi campaign is a case of sour grapes for the author because Christian missionaries could not reach this place earlier. Are you aware of the fact the Christian missionaries are converting people by saying that Bible is the fifth Veda Yesur Veda. Read about the Christian conquests of Latin America. The author says: "The communal forces even tried to pass the anti-conversion bill." The author is opposed to conversion of tribals to Hinduism (who are in fact Hindus but have been misled into believing that they are different). When the author talks of Afghanistan, Pakistan, he should also see the condition of the minorities in these countries. Hindus are second grade citizens. Is he aware that a lot of Hindus have been converted to Islam? Before comparing communalisation and militarisation of society with Nazi Germany, the author should remember the fact that Nazi Germany was a Christian Germany. In spite of so many attacks on Hinduism for hundreds of years from various other religions, Hindus have never been violent. The medieval ages were dark ages in Europe and the Middle East where Christianity and Islam were the major religions -- not in Hindu India. The author should get his facts straight. Srinath
Date sent: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 10:39:24 -0500 I am glad for your warning that Darryl Monte will be a regular contributor from now on. I will try to stay away from this column. Once again we see a person from the minority community seeing things through minority lenses, instead of trying to see the bigger problem in the country. If Mr Monte does not like P N Oak (just to give one example), then he should present some forceful arguments to refute him. Do not make statements just because someone else's argument does not suit you. Sanjay N Gattani
Date sent: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 11:55:15 -0400 I believe that words, spoken or written, have a greater effect when succinctly put. It is easy to debunk an entire ideology by painting it as being "fundamentalist." The Nazi movement. Evil of the century, right? In fact, a certain Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author of Hitler's Willing Executioners, has tried to paint an entire people as being criminals. Their crime: they lived in the age of Nazism. Taking a cue, the British for our subjugation and the Americans for slavery, can be said to qualify for the same degree of condemnation, and hence branded criminals. Obviously the author will disagree. As one brave Scotsman once said, ''History is written by those who have the blood of martyrs on their hands.'' No one has any count of how many Indians died in the freedom struggle. No records of how many Africans died after being subjected to trans-Atlantic travel and slavery. No account of the innocent Vietnamese killed fighting the French and then the Americans, in their struggle for freedom. Why? No International Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity was set up to try any American or British? Why not? So, then how is Nazism alone the evil incarnate? What the author succeeds in conveying is his failure to understand why the movement for Hindutva is popular. By comparing it to Nazism, he not only adheres to the blanket condemnation of all the Nazis, as opposed to their leaders alone, but also betrays a clear lack of understanding of what Hindutva is. Why some of us feel the way we do is because it is the unfortunate history of this country of ours to be told time and again about our 'glorious country' and our 'secular traditions,' first by the British and then the so-called secularists of the world. It is an undisputed fact that only with the pursuit of dharma has our society been able to accommodate a great many number of religions and sects. It is because of this separation of dharma from the political fabric of our nation that we have succeeded in totally ruining ourselves and our country. It is also unfortunate that others have come from outside and mistaken the pursuit of dharma as a form of cowardice, something to be taken advantage of. The Muslim rulers did and so did the British. The conversions, forced or otherwise, were/ are a direct result of the efforts to subvert our society. They certainly do not stand out as the efforts of a community to "peacefully" practise its religion. This is what you don't understand, Mr D' Monte. Please do not put down an entire movement because you fail to see beyond the headlines. Your own great service to Bharat is undisputed and my response to your myopic article about the Hindutva movement is neither an attack on you nor should be construed as such. I recognise, but fail to understand, your absolute failure to mention whatever is happening in Kashmir these days. Is Gujarat the only place left on earth that is visible to you? Maybe you don't recognise the conversion movement as an effort to subvert the Hindu identity, maybe I do. Sadly, it is only the crimes against the minorities that get reported somehow. That is probably why Gujarat is so high on the list of national priorities that the National Minorities Commission makes a trip to the state whereas the innocent Kashmiri Hindus who have languished since 1990 have had no succour. It would do well for you to read an article in Rediff on August 19, 1998 which describes how the Keralite Muslims opposed the singing of the national song Vande Mataram. What kind of a country do I live in when organisations issue fatwas against singing of the national song? It is true that RSS opposed this in Kerala. It is also true that ONLY RSS opposed this affront to our song. I don't know what kind of a nation I live in if for opposing such attitudes in a community, I have to be compared with Nazis. Do you know, Mr D'Monte, what kind of a country you live in? Ashish Chandra
Date: Thursday, August 20, 1998 8:05 PM The above article smacks of a biased and leftist viewpoint. The author does a great disservice by lumping all issues under one banner. His defence of the communists does not have a sound basis. Unfortunately, Indians have had too much of democracy. When people in the western media write about these issues we tend to follow them blindly. In fact, school children of all religions must have patriotic values inculcated in them. It speaks volumes of our lopsided ideas of secularism and democracy, which has lead to India being relegated to the class of underdeveloped countries. We do not have pride in our Hindu or Indian culture. Instead of conducting a shallow analysis, it would behove a respected and eminent writer to avoid raising the fundamentalist bogey. It seems like another fad just like Garibi Hatao in the 1970s, secularism and Mandal monstrosity in the 1980s and the 1990s. When the need of the hour is to unite, casteism, religion and regionalism continue. In the great saint Vivekananda's words, Indians must 'Awake, arise and unite to take all Indians into the new millennium'. Rohit
Date sent: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 14:21:43 +0530 While not disagreeing in essence with the writer, I would like to point out that the "conspiracy theory" angle is a little far-fetched. The proponents of the saffronisation trend are not as cohesively united as appeared earlier. Yes, incidents that point towards an increasing divisive process are mounting, but they are more due to a particular mindset being on the ascendant in the country. I feel that, as long as complete political power is not forthcoming, their rather ineffectual and medievalist gameplan will self-destruct as they begin to argue amongst themselves. Already, their slogan of a glorious India is sounding a little hollow. What is far more dangerous is the administrative trend now visible in the government. Consider this: certain telephone lines have been banned on the sterling grounds that they were fostering unacceptable culture. Such moves do not cause a public outcry and are accepted. Fine. But no one notes that once the administrative and technical infrastructure for information control is set up with the justification of controlling morality, it can be used to control any dissent as well. Jayant S
Date sent: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 17:49:38 -0500 Mr D'Monte, you have no idea how Christians abuse Hindu students in missionary schools. I was repeatedly made to stand up on a bench for over 15 minutes at a time since I could not recite the Christian prayer, "MY FATHER, THOU ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED.......AMEN." That was in 1946, when I was a 12-year-old lad attending American Baptist Missionary High School, Ongole, AP. I was threatened by a bully, Victor, "Pappoda (Dahl guy, a nick name in Telugu for all Brahmin kids), you would see your blood all over you." That scared the wits out of me and next day I recited the prayer flawlessly. For two years I faced hell in that missionary school. Jacob, a drill master, for three periods a week poured venom and hate on Hinduism in his 'morals class.' Williams, our class teacher, a converted-Christian, talked frequently of her devout Hindu mother, who truly followed austerities, while the present-day Hindus were wretched cheaters. If you investigate Christian schools in India, you will find out for yourselves how much change, if any has come at all in those schools in the last 50 years. Hindus do not proselytise, nor attack and insult other religions. They stand for Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava and respect for all religions. The BJP and the Sangh Parivar do not abuse or restrict the freedom of other religious groups. They only want to protect their dharma against the unscrupulous attacks of its enemies. In a country of 900 million people, there will always be some miscreants. You cannot generalise on that and attack the Sangh Parivar, who, on the other hand, will be the first to come to the rescue on behalf of the oppressed. TR Rao, Lafayette, LA
Date sent: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 10:09:41 -0500 (CDT) I have followed your publication with great dedication and have even recommended it to many of my acquaintances. However, by bringing in Mr D'Monte and his obvious slant **AGAINST** the majority Indian community, you have lost your credibility and it is disgusting to see that you would bend over backwards and turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed by various minorities upon India's majority. Only recently has word come out from rural Orissa of forced conversions by Christians of Hindus, and of the Christians' open declaration of winning over Orissa to Christ by year 2000. Most of us know what is happening to Hindus in Kashmir, and I am afraid that the same may start happening in the rest of Hindus' Holy Land. Your obvious slant against Hindus is unfortunate, especially since India IS a democracy and in a democracy, the MAJORITY wins. I would urge you to come back to your 'secular' stance. You can be sure that my acquaintances will get word of this as well. Himanshu Vyas
Date sent: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 12:01:38 PDT It is utterly misguided and factually incorrect. The BJP and the Sangh Parivar have long opposed pan Islamic fundamentalism and forced conversion by Christians in India. We all have witnessed many such events. In Catholic schools, India's history is misrepresented and Bible is taught under the disguise of "moral history" or "Bible history" while no mention is given to the Indian epics. This is reprehensible, but Mr Darryl D'Monte fails to point these out. Many missionaries have been founded to use coercive tactics for conversions. This should not be allowed in a free country. Islamic fundamentalism is another rising curse in India which the whole world is waking up to. Such one-sided reports should be discouraged, if not entirely eliminated. I am a regular reader of Rediff and will find it difficult to read this page if Mr Darryl D'Monte continues his baseless accusations without any evidence.
C Chatterjee
Date sent: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 10:00:02 PDT I would have really appreciated if you would have given some thought before writing this article. Your article is biased against the Hindus. Consider the following facts: The India-Pakistan and Israel-Palestine problem is similar. Pakistan fighting for Kashmir and Palestine for the Gaza Strip. Israel has heaped numerous atrocities on Palestinian people, but nothing is said about the Israelis. While on the other hand Indian Hindus, who have suffered a lot, are being branded as Hindu Talibans. Has the writer seen the plight of Kashmiri Hindus or Pandits at the hands of Pakistani terrorists? When they were driven out of their homes could your writer not see it? About the communal riots, if you see history -- it's always the Muslims who have attacked first and then the Hindus have retaliated. Can the writer imagine what the repercussions would have been if he had written such an article in Pakistan about the Muslim Taliban. Hindus are tolerant and will remain tolerant, but if anyone takes us for granted then he or she is in a fool's paradise. I would appreciate if the writer replies to this mail.
Date sent: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 09:09:34 PDT
From: "Gopal Pillalamarri" The article titled "Hinduisation of India" by the renowned journalist and former editor of The Indian Express and The Times of India, lacked objectivity, reasoning and was downright prejudicial, partial and anti-BJP from start to finish. It was quite unbecoming of a journalist of his stature, as it only smacked of his inherent hatred for the BJP, just because he happens to be a Christian. There was absolutely no reasoning or argument based on facts in his highly vituperative and alarming article. Such one-sided articles, written in blind hatred, only help in raising communal passions on religious lines in the volatile and inflammable conditions prevailing in the country today. You would be doing a great service to the country by not carrying such obnoxious articles in the name of freedom of speech. Mr D'Monte wrote more as a Christian in anger, trying his best to arouse even Muslims into his line of coloured thinking and BJP bashing. It seems he is not able to digest the rise of the BJP in the country, but mere rhetoric, prejudice and anger cannot stop the BJP's advance, howsoever much he wishes.
Date sent: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 05:29:33 PDT "Beware the Hindu Taliban" is a thought provoking article, not because of the quality of its content but because of the ambiguity of the secularism to which the author swears by. The first thing which strikes me is the reference to rock music which the so-called Hindu Taliban had banned. The author also mentions to the "decibel level of the supporters of the Godse play." Does the author mean to say that rock music is good and the Godse play is bad? If India is going to be a free society the way he thinks then he should also condemn the banning of the play. Freedom cannot be selective. Then the author refers to the Ghar Vapsi campaign in which tribals were converted to Hinduism. Does the author mean to say that when Christians convert people they are secular but when Hindus do the same it is communalism? The author points out that the government has been tampering with history, but what he doesn't mention is that the history we read today was written by the British and was endorsed by the Communists because it suited their philosophy. The present history divides the Indians into Aryans and Dravidians. Even though the Archeological Survey of India and a lot of Vedic scholars think otherwise. Instead of believing our own people, the author seems to believe the European historians. The author will probably think I am a communal person as I have mentioned the Vedas, but it is not so, I am a truly secular person who has respect for all religions. I am only pointing to the people who refuse to sing Vande Mataram citing religious considerations. I would like to ask the author would these people have refused to sing Vande Mataram 50 years ago when they had not been converted to some other religion. I would request the author not to give one-sided views on any issue. Vasu
Date sent: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 22:53:48 -0400 The very reason Hindutva has an appeal to most Hindus today is the very school of thought that the likes of D'Monte are subscribing to. Can Darryl explain the settling of Bangladeshi Muslims in Assam and the support of the Leftists for such a demographic assault. Instead of beating around the bush, take up an Arun Shourie article and prove him a liar. I have never been an admirer of the RSS and the BJP, but the very fact that the killings of Hindus in Kashmir, and the rampant conversion of Hindus is not objected to by these group of people is responsible for what we see today. Conversion to Hinduism is suddenly communal for these so-called intellectuals. The same plurality argument can be used by Hindus for these reverse conversions. Dr Andy Ananth
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