Rising Threat of Hindu Extremism

Boston Globe ^ | 7/12/2002 | Greenway

[traditionalist]

Whereas Vajpayee was the human face of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which has led a coalition government for four years, Advani is more in tune with the party's base of radical nationalists who seek to undermine the secular India of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. In addition, Advani's policy towards Pakistan is larded with nuclear threats and bellicosity.

[swarthyguy]

"There have been incidents of anti-Christian throughout India."

In a country of 1.2+ billion people, you can find evidence of virtually anything. The perps have been tracked down and arrested. I don't know all the details and stats but there certainly has not been any lack of effort on part of the authorities to nab the nutcases.

And not all over India; most the antiChristian violence occurred in the northern "Hindu" belt. Other hindu areas across the country were not affected ie. Bombay, Kerala, Goa, the entire southern half, so certain hot spots existed and were dealt with; but Christians all across the country were certainly not threatened on a wholesale basis.

[untenured]

In short, the secular, freemarket indian parties are a crtical part of the ruling coalition headed by the BJP.

I'm surprised how free-market they've been; before they took office I thought that whole "swadeshi" thing was a big part of their platform. I know some of their extremist trouble makers have attacked stores selling Valentine's Day paraphenalia and (as you say) a KFC, but the anti-Western variety seems to be the least extreme of the strains of cultural protectionism that crop in BJP thinking.

[traditionalist]

Thanks for that very informative post. Do you have a link that gives more information about the secularist, pro free-market parties in India?

[rmlew]

The BJP just succesfully nominated a Muslim to be the next president of India http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/716422/posts .
Some religious extremists.
This article and those like it on Anti-war.com and the mainstreme publications are an attemp by the left to discredit our allies. This is anti-anti-communism applied to the war on Islamist-terror.

[traditionalist]

That's their viewpoint; that Christianity is foreign to India. But they're wrong; Christian scholars will tell you that Christianity arrived on the western shores of India at a very early date; earlier than some parts of Europe even.

Yes, I have read a little about this. According to local tradition, the Apostle Thomas was the first to bring Christianity to India. If this is indeed true, then Christianity came to India a thousand years before it came to the Slavic parts of Europe, and several hundred years before it reached the parts under Germanic control.

[swarthyguy]

"Swadeshi" -- self sufficiency was actually a Gandhian and Congress concept that was also taken up by the rightwing parties like that composing of the BJP coaltion because of its popularity. Unfortunately, a dogmatic adherence to it led to closed import markets and a severe case of statism.

As a country, India still adheres to it as a concept but with a flexibility component; if there's a better mousetrap elsewhere, let's import it and reverse engineer it. Let's learn from those who do things better seems to be the ever increasing mantra.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[swarthyguy]

No links of the top of my head but here are some good webzines with a lot of contemporary articles about all these issues, as they get vigorously debated in Indian society. Careful, EuroLeftism is strongly entrenched in the Indian intelligentsia.

www.outlookindia.com ( Mainly liberal/moderate with some conservative type voices....
www.sulekha.com - Goto Newshopper or Articles.
www.rediff.com ( Search for Varsha Bhosle; she's the literary equivalent of a pen wielding JoanofArc -- or the Indian Ann Coulter as she's been referred to. Fun to read, even if the cultural references can be obscure sometimes.

[traditionalist]

"Swadeshi" -- self sufficiency was actually a Gandhian and Congress concept that was also taken up by the rightwing parties like that composing of the BJP coaltion because of its popularity.

Wasn't Swadeshi originally Ghandi's call for cottage industry? I seem to remember reading that it began with him calling upon all Indians to spin their own clothes.

[traditionalist]

That's definitely a good sign, and assuages my fears somewhat, but my there are many things that seem to indicate that this was an empty political gesture. From the article:

"The surprise nomination of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the mainly ceremonial post...
"Election to the presidency would make Kalam supreme commander of the armed forces under the constitution but analysts say effective military control resides with the government."

[traditionalist]

Thanks for the links.

[swarthyguy]

Yes, it came out of the fact that there were no clothing factories in India. All cotton was exported to Great Britian, where the clothes were made in factories and shipped back to India for sale. Profits, technology knowhow etc all stayed in the UK. That was the genesis of make and wear your own clothes.

Something similar happened when people stared gathering their own salt from tidal flats, thereby bypassing the British Imperial Salt monopoly.

[swarthyguy]

The Presidency of any parliamentary could be considered an empty suit. In Germany, for instance. In England, the Queen is the head of state.

Regardless, it sets a tone at the top of the government by the calibre of the man. Kalam is a unique eccentric guy; a bachelor rocket scientist, a muslim vegetarian whose father earned a living by ferrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine, he can quote from both the Koran and the Gita.

The best endorsement i have seen of him is that arabnews.com, the flagship paper of Riyadh and islamonline.net have referred to him as a "Muslim", enclosing the word in quotes. They insult him by enclosing his religion in quotes. Obviously, to their eyes, he is an apostate. Let's not even bring up his official visits to Israel to exchange info with the defense establishment there.

BTW, this is the third or fourth muslim President that India has had.

[traditionalist]

Sounds like he's what might be called an Islamic non-conformist.

[swarthyguy]

"an Islamic non-conformist."

Otherwise known as -dead- in islamic countries.

[traditionalist]

Otherwise known as -dead- in islamic countries.

Some, not all. For example, did not unorthodox Islamic beliefs such as Sufiism flourish under the Mughals?

[swarthyguy]

Yes. Tongue in cheek with a particular reference to the more extreme arab regimes, like Saudi.

[keri]

No, I mean a state that does not establish any religion, does not hinder the peaceful expression of religion, and does not favor citizens of one religion over another.

Well, India fits the bill here except for the last part...since it has favored Muslims since partition. What we are seeing in India today is part of "Nehru's legacy."

This is the second article to be posted in the last 24 hours bashing India's supposed extremism and mistreatment of minorities. Well, it's a steaming load of dung.

If the press wants true mistreatment of minorities or a threat of extremism to write about, they have no further to look than "Azad" Kashmir, or Pakistan itself. Why will the media not look at the truth?

[KSCITYBOY]

B4 we worry about this writers' Hindu boogieman maybe we should finish taking care of an actual threat - the one's who have killed thousands of Americans over the past few years - the radical islamic bastards.

[parsifal]

Ping. You always seem interested in things sub-continental. parsy.