Dr. Koenraad Elst who is no stranger to any of us said the following in a blog. He has written a lot on the topic and sees our religion for what it is (quite unlike the extreme right wing Hindus who are willing to kill for it and the leftists / liberals / pseudo secularists who hate it and blame it for all our problems).
Indeed, whereas the Christian Middle Ages were bedevilled by fear of the irrational, Hindu civilization learned to cope with it. It had a fundamental sanity where Christian and Islamic civilization were based on a belief in the divine intrusion into history. But Romila Thapar cannot bring herself to seeing this fact and naming it by its proper name: Hindu civilization had a fundamental sanity. It reminds me of Mani Shankar Aiyar, a Minister in the last Congress government, who wrote in his Sunday column some twenty years back to this effect: "There is something in the air here that makes us tolerant"-- but he didn't dare to name that something because it was called Hinduism.
We also have written a lot on the subject and fervently believe that Hinduism is the glue, which unites this disparate country of ours. We know that regionalism and casteism have created a very nasty atmosphere in the country where we face xenophobia even without leaving the country. But as much as we may hate each other, we stay united not because of any reason but Hinduism. If you believe that (unless you are a leftist liberal) then you realize that the future of our country as it is now, depends solely on the Hindus staying united in face of pseudo-secularism and militant minorityism.
Why do I bring this up? It is because of a statement made in the wake of the so-called “Beef Festival” by a Muslim leader from Andhra. This man claims that
"We do not want the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology to rule the new state. The Congress had played its cards right when it put down the Leftist movement. Under that movement there was only the talk of a cause and no religious feelings. Telangana was the religion, but today, that is not the case. All of us, Christians, Muslims and the Dalits have decided to stay mum and not take part in the movement because in today's situation if the state is created then it will be hell for us," Khan adds.
The Muslims are welcome to have their own agenda. But what is insidious about this statement is that very cleverly, the Muslims have grouped themselves with Christians and (what is really alarming) dalits. We all know that Muslims have no sympathy with anyone except their ummah. Inclusion of Christians is a convenient way of consolidating power as we have seen in Kerala. Of course after gaining the power, they have turned their back on Christians as we have seen in the case of chopping the hand of a Christian Professor. If they can do that to their Semitic beef-eating brethren, what do you think they are going to do with hapless Hindu dalits?
But the problem of Dalits breaking rank from the Hindus is not going to go away by pointing this out. Our dalit brothers and sisters hear stories of atrocities being committed on fellow dalits even in this day and age. Some dalit gets his hands chopped off because he drank from a well or some dalit gets shot dead because he sat in a chair at a wedding and these are examples that we have heard off. If these dalits decide to join hands with the Muslims or worse convert to Islam, whose fault is it? We have written on that topic many times and in one blogpost this is what we wrote.
We therefore have two very different kinds of Indian leaders (Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda) agreeing on the subject of conversion. To put in mildly, they were against it. My own feeling is that if the missionaries or the Islamic scholars present their case without threat, lies or enticements, then it is fine for them to try to convert Hindus. There are a lot of dalits in India who get brutally discriminated against. Their leaders badger them with quotes from Manu. Their detractors do nothing to keep them into the fold. The dalits should have the right to convert, if Hindus cannot help them. It will be our loss. That is what is known as freedom of choice.
So, for the sake of India’s future, we all have certain responsibilities. The so-called upper caste people have to acknowledge the past and present (though a lot less now) oppression and brutalization of Dalits and OBC’s. Unless we do that, doubt and suspicion will remain. To move forward the slate has to be clean. We have to make a solemn vow to eradicate the evil of casteism and work towards enforceable laws, which make the practice a felony crime. We also need to acknowledge the growing numbers of dalits and OBCs and if necessary, concede political leadership to them. Remember, some of our tallest leaders are OBCs (Bhai Narendra Modi and Uma Bharati). Of course for every Modi we have an OBCs like Karunanidhi and Mulayam Yadav who are directly or indirectly victimizing the so-called upper caste and dalit Hindus. We have to watch out for such bad seeds.
For our Dalit and OBC brothers and sisters, the task is a lot harder. They need to forgive and forget in the interest of the nation and their kids. They also need to realize that aligning with Muslims is not the solution. Either they should convert or align with Hindus because eventually, after their interests are fulfilled, the Muslims will betray them. That is “Al Taqqiyya” for you. That would my warning to the Indian Christians too. They just need to see the fate of their brethren in Kerala.
The blog by Dr. Elst can be read at: http://koenraadelst.blogspot.com/2012/04/romila-thapar-on-hinduism.html
Our blog on religious conversion can be read at: http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/01/religious-coversion-and-our.html
The rediff article can be read at: http://www.rediff.com/news/report/why-telanganas-muslims-dalits-prefer-a-united-ap/20120419.htm
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