Myths and Dreams: Hindutva Nationalism and the Indian Diaspora

A rhetorical (biased) article coming from a card carrying ``progressive (read communist)``...

Angana,

The vast majority of Indian Hindus, I`ve come across in the US are extremely critical of Modi`s gujarat carnage. Their sympathies for BJP and their likes disaapeared right after the slaughter in gujarat.

If anything, the indian community is more politically active and assertive today about issues affecting india. The indian diaspora is becoming more nationalistic in their outlook, which cannot be judged as Hindu nationalism.

I think you need to re-evaluate your assesment of the indian community as its merely a subjective speculation, not even based upon a scientific survey.

Adios

#5 plats8

Stuka has answered your question to me much better than I ever could. Please read his response in #10. That is exactly the issue.

Please try to understand that not everyone who takes pride in their hindu traditions is a sword-waving VHP moron. I condemnt the Narendra Modi`s and the Parveen Togadia`s. I also condemn the marxist fundamentalists who take special pride in only trashing indic traditions. This women is a classic example, as is Arundhati Roy. The left-wing extremists (``secular fundamentalists``) are as dangerous as the Modi`s and Togadia`s. And indeed, much ``naxalite`` violence in India is supported and justified by such people.

Stuka #12:

I do not have the exact quote from Arundhati Roy in front of me. I recall it clearly she said that for indians to answer phones for westerners with western accents was slavery and cultural suicide. And that she opposed it !

I have rarely felt so angry as I was then. That this women, who has fully exploited the global system to the hilt for her own success, should lash out at modestly educated indians getting a few crumbs, was truly a disgusting act.

What hypocrisy !! What self-unawareness !! And this Angana is cut from exactly that same cloth.

PMISHRA:

``I guess this follows the Arundhati Roy school of thought ``I have made my money in the USA, but answering phones for people in USA is a form of cultural suicide for indians``. Yup, that is an actual quote from the Queen of Hypocrisy herself. ``

Damn!! Are you kidding? Ms Roy and the author above have made their money and they want to lecture to other Indians about the dignity of poverty.

RSaxena:

``...why do these bengali commies always shed a tear for christian missionaries being tossed out of india?..``

who asked those rednecks to come to india in the first place?... ``

These redneck missionaries tend to vote Republican. These Bengali commies want Republican voters to not be present in the states, so they welcome them to India. It is all a conspiracy :)

Plats8:

``I remember you mentioned
campaigning against BJP`s various tentacles in the US and their spurious fund-
raising activities. It was admirable. ``

Hmm, interesting point. I know u asked the question of PMishra but it is something for us to ponder. Ii think the answer is self-evident. There is an upper middle class hankering for law and order, good governance etc. There is also a distaste of violence. But there is also increasing unacceptability of leftist infiltration in Indian intellectual sense. The author is not accept a reasonable middle ground. Her definition of secularism is one set of rules for minorities and another set for Hindus. That hypocricy generates a backlash that can and does go overboard as it happened in Gujarat. The extreme left and extreme right are not too different.

....why do these bengali commies always shed a tear for christian missionaries being tossed out of india?...who asked those rednecks to come to india in the first place?...

I don`t think that any time soon India is going to change its direction. In the upcoming hot and cold wars between west and Islam (the clash of civies) West desperately need ideological partners across the globe. The goals of both Indian & Western civilizations converge here. So in near future we will see more & more segregation and ideological hatred in India. There is no shortage of funds in West to promote this segregationism. It is the same paradigm as it was during the last cold war between West and Communism. There was no short of funds to those Muslim who were fighting against the ideological enemies of the West like Communism & Iranian revolution etc. At that time West and Muslims were ideological allies. The only difference between then and now is that Hinduism has already turned on its own adherents.

``Among adivasi communities, such ‘development’ inflicts their forcible incorporation into Hinduism. This is unacceptable even if adivasis materially benefit from development because it facilitates cultural genocide.``

The author would have had more credibility if she had protested vocireously about Adivasi conversion to Christianity. I fail to see why that is acceptable but Hinduism is not. The author clubs together Praveen Togadia and LK Advani. Would she club together Syed Shahabuddin and Osama Bin Laden?

This author and her kind have done more to encourage Hindutva than all the Togadias and Singhals combined.

A very good article.

India and Indians should not follow the path of some Muslims and Muslim countries. Good lessons can be learnt from their experience.

Nationhoods based on the narrow differentiations like religion, race, ethinicity spell disastor.

As the writer has rightly said what is more important is culture, home, identity & history.

pmishra2 #3,

Would you mind if I make a personal observation ? Over a year ago, right after
Gujarat (interesting how a state has become an event now), you were one of the
more vocal ones here against Modi-type hindutva. I remember you mentioned
campaigning against BJP`s various tentacles in the US and their spurious fund-
raising activities. It was admirable.

Lately though, there seems to be a definite paradigm shift in your posts towards the
right. What happened ?

...this lady is a fanatic cuckoo in her own right...

...what`s needed is a sane middle-ground, not this bull$hit or narendra modi`s bull$hit...

There is a long history in india of pompous and uninformed left-wing angrezi speaking ``sahibs`` berating the ``nalayak`` hindus for their misdeeds. Ms. Chatterji fits squarely this stereotype.

Playing with innuendo and half-truths, she condemns all hindu organizations equally and is in the end fundamentally opposed to nationalism itself as a concept. No evidence needs to be offered: it is enough to say ``fascism``, ``genocide``, and repeat it a dozen times. Every hindu who takes pride in their history and traditions is a Narendra Modi!

Here are some of the cruder and more hateful parts of her diatribe:

[quote]
The actions of Ekal Vidyalaya, Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, Vivekananda Kendra, Sewa Bharati and other groups offer incriminating evidence of this.
[end-quote]

Where is the evidence? There is absolutely none. If these groups are condemmed as sectarian groups, then you should also condemn the Catholic Church, the Christain fundamentalists, the 100s of muslim revivalist and traditional groups active in India. What is the difference between them? NONE WHATSOEVER.

[quote]
Among adivasi communities, such ‘development’ inflicts their forcible incorporation into Hinduism. This is unacceptable even if adivasis materially benefit from development because it facilitates cultural genocide
[end-quote]

Indeed. And conversion to Christianity is..... ?

Where is your outrage Ms. ``Master of Angrezi`` against aggressive conversion to Christianity? You well know this is widely prevalent in Indian tribal areas. Some indian states are now 90% christian; 50 years ago they were followed primarily animist and tribal traditions.

Why the double standards for hindus? Do you think we are fools? Why this selective outrage for hindus and hindus only? Shame on the hypocrites who can only see one side to the picture.

[quote]
They cannot base their aspirations for India’s future on the absurdly unsustainable development modelled by the United States
[end-quote]

And this is the real masterpiece. This dollar-grubbing indian expatriate who has chosen to live in the USA far from her family is giving a ``bhashan` to the bad hindus: don`t become like the bad, bad USA.

HUH? Is this a joke? I guess this follows the Arundhati Roy school of thought ``I have made my money in the USA, but answering phones for people in USA is a form of cultural suicide for indians``. Yup, that is an actual quote from the Queen of Hypocrisy herself.

DOes not this individual require psychological counselling? And this is the voice of reason? Surely delusion is the kindest thing one could say about her. One could say a lot worse and still be quite accurate.

A well worded article shedding light on the Indian dispora and its sense of identification with India.

As I said else where, the struggle against nostalgia is the best an expatriot can hope.

Ciao

We see that some of them are more than active on these boards. I won`t beat around the bush.. I mean precisely p-mishra2, jay and other thackereys (Rsaxena is not included in this list)

Thank God for Stukas, Pankajs, Dost mittars, Dullabhattis and Eklavyas...

-Manto