Dear Samaan Lateef, India and its government are anything but antisemitic and pro-genocidal. Your article had everything that any perverted progressive and so-called human rights activist needs to sway foreign media houses.
On May 28, 1883, a young boy was born in a Marathi family who would go to London to study law. We are talking about Veer Savarkar. It is a known fact that Savarkar was arrested for Gandhi's assassination. However, not a lot of people know that he was acquitted of all the charges. Also, decades ago, when Veer Savarkar was a law student in London, he shared the stage with Gandhiji. In 1909, Gandhi was invited by the Indian community on the occasion of Dussehra. While Gandhi spoke about the selfless acts of Ram, Savarkar talked about the Durga goddess at the event.
Savarkar was a bright student. He studied Indian and world history deeply. As he studied in Britain, his knowledge of the French and American revolutions was profound. He penned a book ‘The history of the war of Independence’ in 1909. British were celebrating the 50th commemoration of the 1857 uprising in the same year when this book was banned from publishing in India.
On May 28, 2021, we celebrated the 128th birth anniversary of Veer Savarkar. On February 19th, 2021, we celebrated the birth anniversary of another exemplary leader M.S. Golwalkar. Both the names are associated with a volunteer organization, RSS. Their names are synonymous with the Hindu nationalism movement in India.
Were they really fascist? Did they praise Hitler for the extermination of Jews? Did they call for the genocide of Muslims in India? We will find answers to these questions today.
Haaretz published an article by Samaan Lateef on March 01, 2021, titled ‘Why Is India’s Government Celebrating an Antisemitic, Pro-genocide Hitler Devotee?’ which is full of blatant lies, banter, and hatred. He labels Golwalkarji as a Nazi sympathizer “who called to replicate Hitler’s extermination of the Jews, but in India – and this time, targeting Muslims.” However, fails to provide any reference for such an accusation.
The epicenter of this accusation rests on the two paragraphs which appear in Golwalkarji’s book ‘We, Our Nationhood Defined’ which has not been published since 1947. The following two paragraphs provide the income for so many, who never get tired of RSS bashing and Hindu hating:
First Paragraph:
“From the standpoint, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture or language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e. of the Hindu nation, and must lose their separate existence or merge into the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment–not even citizens’ rights.”
First, there is no call for genocide as mentioned by Samaan Lateef. Golwalkarji writes about no special privileges by minorities, for that is the basis of secularism. Where all religions, races, ethnicity are equals, why would some claim privileges?
Let’s talk about minorities of India and their success stories. Stop me if you think any of these adjectives do not describe these minorities fairly.
Jains - Successful businessmen, non-violent and peaceful
Sikhs - Highest participation in Indian defense forces, farmers, great service to society, everyone is welcome to have food at langars
Parsis - wealthy, big business tycoons of India, TATA, entrepreneurs, adopted Gujarati as mother tongue, world’s tiniest minority, peaceful, adorable, Bollywood
Jews - Bollywood, warm and cultured, highly adaptive
Buddhists - Peace-loving, spiritual
Christians - Contribution to education
The above mentioned religions are all less than 5% of the population of India. None of them are being persecuted in India. On the contrary, the population of Parsis or Zoroastrians in India is the highest in the world. Modi is working to develop Udavada as their pilgrimage place.
How many minority religions are flourishing in any Muslim nations of the world?
The Hindu population in Pakistan and Bangladesh is decreasing at an alarming rate. Jewish and Jain population in Pakistan is non-existent.
A systematic religious cleansing of Christians happening in Iraq and Syria.
Buddhism which dominated Afghanistan only a few centuries ago has been wiped out completely.
Yazidi persecution by ISIS is yet another example.
The genocide of Jews by Islamic armies killed more Jews than the Holocaust. The genocide hasn’t ended. It is still continuing.
Golwalkarji said minorities should not claim special privileges. Are Muslims in India claiming special privileges?
Separate family and personal board for marriage and family laws
Polygamy is permitted to Muslim men in India
Freedom to preach, practice, and expand their religion
Loudspeakers for Azan which is banned in many countries
“Golwalkar exhibited instinctive antipathy towards Muslims and aspired for a majoritarian Hindu India. He was a firm believer that religious minorities would have to be second-class citizens in India.”
In the two paragraphs that we shared above, nowhere did Golwalkarji expressed antipathy towards Muslims, did not call for their genocide, didn’t ask Muslims to leave India and go to Pakistan, never asked for the removal of Muslim professors from Universities. All the countries that welcomed immigrants from Muslim countries are worried about their assimilation into their countries. So was Golwalkarji.
Muslims in India enjoy the freedom and rights which they do not enjoy in Islamic nations.
We have had Muslim Prime Minister - Dr. Zakir Hussien
We have had Muslims at high posts in Indian Defence Forces
Top Bollywood stars are Muslims
Muslim women can drive, travel and wear anything they like in India
Right to religion is one of the fundamental rights in India
Polygamy is still legal for Muslim men in India
Triple talaq is criminalized under the Indian constitution. This revolution came after BJP came into power. Current PM of India, Narendra Modi who has been RSS swayamsevak since his childhood made it happen along with Amit Shah and others.
Sharia law prescribes non-Muslim should be excluded from the administration or political decision-making process. The Quran describes Jews as monkeys and Christians as swine. Jews and Christians were restricted from riding horses or carrying arms in Andalusia Spain. If Golwalkar is fascist as he talks about the Hindu nation, what would Samaan Lateef call Quran or Sharia law?
"... They are those whom Allah has cast aside and on whom His wrath has fallen and of whom He has made some as apes and swine..." (5:60); "...You have surely known the end of those from amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath, in consequence of which we condemned them: Be ye like apes, despised" (2:65); and "when, instead of amending, they became more persistent in the pursuit of that which they were forbidden, we condemned them: Be ye as apes, despised" (7:166).
What are you going to say about these verses of the Quran? Let me guess, you can’t really question anything written in the Quran. Can you? Islam means submission. Even if you were to say something, you would say, “I am missing the historical context of the verses.” Let’s talk about that.
Second paragraph:
“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 differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by.”
Golwalkarji wrote the book in 1938 when the two-nation theory was running wild. Muslims claimed themselves to be different from Hindus in terms of customs, rituals, clothes, food, marriage and holidays. They had separate neighborhoods as well. Ask any Muslim where their loyalty lies - Islam or their country and you will know they would pick Islam every time.
In a manifesto on Hindu-Muslim relations issued in 1928, Khwaja Hasan Nizami declared:
"Musalmans are separate from Hindus; they cannot unite with the Hindus. After bloody wars the Musalmans conquered India, and the English took India from them. The Musalmans are one united nation and they alone will be masters of India. They will never give up their individuality. They have ruled India for hundreds of years, and hence they have a prescriptive right over the country. The Hindus are a minor community in the world. They are never free from internecine quarrels; they believe in Gandhi and worship the cow; they are polluted by taking other people's water. The Hindus do not care for self-government; they have no time to spare for it; let them go on with their internal squabbles. What capacity have they for ruling over men? The Musalmans did rule, and the Musalmans will rule."
Hitler was hugely popular in India and the world in the 1930s. He challenged the colonial powers and brought economic prosperity to Germany amidst the Great Depression of 1928. President John F Kennedy openly admired Nazi Germany while visiting the country thrice during 1937, 1939, and 1945. As a young man, he accepted fascist rule and approved of Nazi theories. According to JFK’s diary, “I have come to the conclusion that fascism is right for Germany and Italy. What are the evils of fascism compared to communism?” He continued, “Hitler had in him the stuff of which legends are made.”
Would Samaan Lateef refer to President Kennedy as a fascist or Hitler devotee?
“The RSS espouses a Hindu Rashtra (a Hindu theocratic state) as against the secular nation guaranteed by India's constitution. And to this end, Golwalkar argued India must have five unifying factors: country, race, religion, culture, and language. He mocked democracy and emphasized nationalism based on race.”
The Indian subcontinent has been inhabited by Hindus for centuries until Islamic invaders forcefully entered India and converted people to Islam. Golwalkarji mentions the unifying factors as country, race religion, culture, and language, and that is because Hindus in the Indian subcontinent were unified based on these factors until Islam came to India, converted people to Islam, and taught them the concept of believer and infidel.
There is no democracy in Islam. Only fascism, totalitarianism and submission to one fanatic ideology.
“According to Muslim Canon Law the world is divided into two camps, Dar-ul-lslam (abode of Islam), and Dar-ul-Harb (abode of war). A country is Dar-ul-lslam when it is ruled by Muslims. A country is Dar-ul-Harb when Muslims only reside in it but are not rulers of it. That being the Canon Law of the Muslims, India cannot be the common motherland of the Hindus and the Musalmans. It can be the land of the Musalmans—but it cannot be the land of the 'Hindus and the Musalmans living as equals.' Further, it can be the land of the Musalmans only when it is governed by the Muslims. The moment the land becomes subject to the authority of a non-Muslim power, it ceases to be the land of the Muslims. Instead of being Dar-ul-lslam it becomes Dar-ul-Harb.
If therefore any Musalman is being compelled to wage war against the Mujahid of Islam, he must not only be a conscientious objector himself, but must, if he values his own salvation, persuade his brothers also at whatever risk to himself to take similar objection. Then and not until then, can he hope for salvation. This is our belief as well as the belief of every other Musalman and in our humble way we seek to live up to it; and if we are denied freedom to inculcate this doctrine, we must conclude that the land, where this freedom does not exist, is not safe for Islam.”
Samaan Lateef, would not talk about it. Would he?
History tells us, where Islam has set foot, the civilisations have vanished.
Saudi Arabia was home to Jewish and pagan tribes. Ka’ba was a pagan temple. Islam was born and Jews were exterminated and pagans were killed.
Syria was home to Christians and the mighty Sassian empire. Both vanished from Syria.
Zorostrains inhabited Iran and Persia. Now their highest number of population exists in India.
Berber tribes of North Africa converted to Islam as violent Islamic armies butchered them and left them no choice.
Mughals came to Afghanistan which was the epicenter of Buddhism and Jainism. Now Buddha of Bamiyan is being bombed. No monastery is standing. No Jain temple survived. The last few surviving Sikhs are fleeing
Mughals came to India and caused Hindu genocide, changed names of our cities, destroyed temples, looted wealth and enslaved children, women and men.
How can one not worry about assimilation of Muslims in India?
“RSS was considered a fringe group whose extremist Hindutva ideas were rejected by the majority of Indians. However, in the past two decades, India has displayed a strong appetite for aspects of fascism.”
Samaan Lateef writes how RSS’s HInutva ideas have been rejected by the majority of Indians and yet RSS has 5-6 million volunteers at present with approx 60,000 shakhas operating all around the country. RSS is a volunteer organization and does not command any membership fees or calls for genocide or violence. Instead, in times of need, our nation leans on RSS volunteers for help during times of crisis.
RSS selflessly worked during 1962, 1965 and 1971 war. Similarly, it has distributed food supplies to 7.3 million needy families and distributed food packets to 45 million people in the COVID-19 pandemic.
To simplify, fascism is “a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.”
Samaan, you need to clarify which aspects of fascism India is developing appetite for. If you are talking about crushing opposition or criticism, then you must check the media since 2014 and I bet you will find more articles criticizing Modi than praising him. None of his critics have been beheaded or murdered so far. In contrast, they are making good money churning out articles. If you were talking about aggressive nationalism, then yes, maybe India is finally developing an appetite for fascism. Everyone needs to be a patriot, the muslims of India more than ever.
“Golwalkar was the subject of a hagiographic chapter entitled "A Guru Worthy of Worship" in a book written by Modi himself in 2008, in which he praised Golwalkar for having "inspired nationalism" and for "devoting his life" to his principles. It’s clear that Golwalkar’s insistence on uniformity and suspicion of diversity also had a profound influence over India’s prime minister.”
In the year 1966 at Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, VHP held its first conference. The world watched in awe as religious heads of every sect, community, maths, Jain seers, Buddhist monks and Sikh saints were present on one platform while Golwalkarji was in the audience.
“Guruji’s biggest achievement at the conference was to persuade the gathering to disown the varnashrama, or the caste system, and unanimously passed a resolution Hindavaha sadoraha, na Hindu patito bhavet (All Hindus are born out of the same womb (of Mother India). Therefore, they are brothers and no Hindu can be treated as untouchable. This was the biggest reformist push anybody could have imagined as the signatories included all the shankaracharyas who were firm believers in the caste system.”
What suspicion are you talking about Samaan?
“India’s history is mired in communal conflicts, but attacks on religious minorities have spiked during the Modi regime, principally against Muslims, who constitute 14 percent of the country’s population.”
No data has been provided if communal conflicts have increased after 2014. Let’s talk about communal riots in India where Muslims incited violence and people died:
Noakhali riots
Partition of India
Attack on Indian parliament
26/11 Mumbai bomb attack where the perpetrators from Pakistan were frantically searching for Jews on Marine drive and shot them at first instance.
2002 Gujarat communal riots - The inciting incident of these riots was when Muslims set a train coach on fire and 59 people including children, women, and men burned alive inside as they could not escape.
Bangalore riots because of a Facebook post
Frequent attacks on Indian army in Kashmir
The list does not end here but by the time I will be done writing it, some more incidents would have happened already. So we move on for now.
“Since Modi’s BJP came into power in 2014, India’s Muslims have been under constant attack from Hindu nationalists. Much of the hate has been sponsored by groups or individuals close to the Modi government.”
Muslim organisations getting funds from anti-India outfits
Recently, Zakat Foundation was in news for aiding Muslim candidates crack prestigious civil services exam UPSC. This is concerning. Why? Zakat Foundation praises Zakir Naik. The Mumbai-born terror-connected international Islamist operative and televangelist is banned in India for his anti-Hindu preachings, call for Jihad and anti-India activities. Zakat Foundation was getting funds from Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation International.
The foundation fervently opposed Citizenship Amendment Act and Uniform Civil Code despite being an institute of intellectuals who know there’s nothing anti-Muslim about CAA and Uniform Civil Code. In its submission to the Home ministry, the Zakat Foundation had informed that it received Rs. 13,64,694.00 from the Madina Trust based in the United Kingdom during the financial year 2018-19. The Madina Trust-UK is known for anti-India activities.
Another Islamic organisation “Muslim Aid” has been actively working in India for last 15 years and funding anti-India activities. A British Islamist publication from 1992 features, call for donations aftermath Babri Mosque destruction in December 1992. That means it has been operational for the last three decades. Also, it has been working in Pakistan for many years. Nowadays, Muslim Aid India apparently operates from Hyderabad. However, when it comes to the management, its two prominent faces Jafer Hussain Qureshi and Mirza Feroz Baig are part of a plethora of companies and NGOs registered in the United Kingdom.
Another organization that has been in news for all the wrong reasons is the Muslim extremist group Popular Front of India (PFI). In January 2021, the Enforcement Directorate was probing the money laundering probe against the PFI. On the basis of its investigation, it stated that the Kerala-based outfit had raised a hefty amount to organise terrorist training camps in Kerala. In a statement filed in a Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases, the ED stated that it had taken up a case after a charge-sheet filed by NIA in a special NIA court in 2013 informed that a group of PFI/SDPI activists became a part of criminal conspiracy to provide training to their cadres in use of explosives and weapons and organised a terror camp at Narath in Kannur district.
According to the ED chargesheet, PFI was organised with an aim to fuel enmity between different religions, prepare them for terrorist activities. It wanted to commit acts putting at risk the unity and integrity of the country. ED raised apprehensions on the foreign remittances received by the members of PFI as they were of a “highly suspicious nature” and apparently were sent to his account camouflages as payments related to global trade. As per the agency, several documents and digital devices were found during the search operations conducted at several PFI offices and residences of its office-bearers across India. It was found that the organisation had been getting huge amounts of foreign funds.
In December 2020, the ED had filed an affidavit in the court. According to the affidavit, its investigation had unearthed that the PFI had received money to the tune of over Rs 100 crore in its bank accounts in recent years. It also stated that the funds of PFI was utilised "to disturb social harmony and to incite communal riots" during Hathras case in Uttar Pradesh.
“Last year’s deadly communal violence in New Delhi raged while former U.S. President Donald Trump was visiting India. 53 people, two-thirds of them Muslims, were killed. Ashutosh Varshney, a Brown University professor, believes the violence bore some of the hallmarks of an organized pogrom.”
We hate to disagree with Professor Ashutosh Varshney from Brown University on this stand as the charge sheet filed by Delhi police and the investigation is pointing towards a different story. We understand it must be hard for Professor Ashutosh to investigate the Delhi riots sitting thousands of miles away while Delhi police work really hard to bring justice to victims.
Here are certain facts from chargesheet of Delhi riots:
Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain and others are prime suspects of the riots and have been arrested based on undeniable evidence.
Based on a witness testimony, the court agreed that Khalid was in touch with Hussian before, during and after riots.
Hussien has been accused of being the fundraiser of communal riots and instigated by a mob from his house to destroy and attack the houses nearby.
Petrol bombs, stones, and other destructive weapons were found from the terrace of Hussien’s house.
Intelligence Officer Ankit Sharma was stabbed and his body was thrown in the sewer.
Now let’s talk about more muslims dying in the Delhi riots. Recently when Hamas threw missiles on Israel, civilians in Gaza died in more numbers than civilians in Israel. Why? Because some missiles burst in Gaza before fire, Hamas did nothing to protect the civilians as it was busy attacking Israel. Israel tried to save the lives of people on both sides. When they were planning to bomb a possible Hamas tower, they issued warnings for civilians to empty the building before bombing it.
Muslims have a way to motivate and use its people for jihad. Innocent Muslims do not hesitate to die as they are promised paradise and 72 virgins. So either they are put on vanguard or not protected on priority. More Muslims died in the Delhi riots does not mean Umar Khalid and Hussien didn’t plan and incite it. Hussien distributed money to people who were participating in the Citizenship Amendment Act protest, as per his driver’s testimony.
“Driving Muslims further to the margins, the Modi government introduced series of discriminatory laws geared to dispossess the Muslims of their rights and dignity. The South Asia State of Minorities Report 2020 says India has become a "dangerous and violent space for Muslim minorities" ever since the Modi government introduced amendments to the Citizenship Act in 2019. The report says the amendment in the Citizenship Act opened a pathway for a category of illegal immigrants to legalize their status and become Indian citizens, but it specifically excluded Muslims.
Citizenship act is reserved for minority religions which are persecuted in neighboring countries of India, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
First of all, Muslims are a minority in India but they are not one in any of these nations mentioned above. Secondly, Muslims do not fit the label of ‘persecuted’ in any of these nations and hence they were excluded. If you would like to read about it in detail and the legality of CAA in India, click here.
Don’t you get tired of playing the victim card each time? It is getting predictable.
In the run-up to the legislation, Home Minister Amit Shah revealed that the government planned to create a National Register of Indian Citizens, which critics say would have the potential to render many Muslims stateless. And then Modi revoked the limited autonomy and other constitutional safeguards of India’s only Muslim majority state, Kashmir, creating fears of demographic change in the region. Golwakar’s "vision" of a Hindu supremacist India, based on the forced subjugation of non-Hindu minorities inspired by the Nazi worldview, seems to be gaining traction in India, and not just theoretically but on the ground.”
Muslims are crying, “Muslims are being treated as second-class citizens of India.” So Indian government revoked the special status of a Muslim majority state. Let us all be equals. Why are you claiming any special privileges when you want to be equal?
What changed for Kashmir after revocation of Article 370 and 35(A)?
On July 29, 2020, OpIndia reported, agriculture operations have been going on without any problem since the abrogation of article 370 and 35 (A). Till that date, more than 18 lakh million tonnes (MTs) of fresh apples had been dispatched by means of National Agricultural Marketing Federation of India. In 2019, a record production of 813 MTs of silk cocoon was achieved. Moreover, handicrafts with a value of more than 688 crores were exported during the first quarter of financial year (FY) 2019-20. Over 24,000 houses were built as a part of the Pradhan Mantri Awas yojana.
The development work is in full swing including hospitality, tourism-related schemes, connectivity, and irrigation. Apart from this, the development of higher education institutions like IITs, IIMs, AIIMS is going on at a rapid pace. The Ministry of Tourism is working to boost tourism and has assigned Rs. 594 crores for 7 projects as a part of SWADESH DARSHAN and PRASHAD schemes. Apart from this, the government of India has issued a certificate of GI registration for the saffron grown in Kashmir. Moreover, a major boost in transport infrastructure is underway in Jammu and Kashmir.
A number of projects such as Light Rail Transit System (LRTS) corridors, satellite townships, Zojila Pass, railway line have already been sanctioned.
“Hate crimes against minorities are rising, taking the form of mob lynches and other violence against Muslims, Christians, and Dalits. In several BJP-ruled states, local governments have passed laws have been passed, criminalizing marriage between Hindus and Muslims, an echo of Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Laws prohibiting Jews from marrying or having intimate relations with persons of "German or related blood." The latest campaign by the BJP, fueled by Hindu nationalists, is to enact a Uniform Civil Code. That would standardize laws regarding marriage, divorce, custody, adoption and inheritance, and would inevitably be based on majoritarian Hindu culture, forcing religious minorities to relinquish their limited autonomy over personal status issues.”
Jains, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis - none of them have Special marriage acts. Why would Muslims have one? If you care so much about personal status issues in Islam in India, why did Muslim Personal Board criminalize triple talaq before BJP made efforts and facilitate to pass the law? Triple talaq is banned in many Muslims countries but it was practised in India until 2019. Hindu nationalist party with its roots in RSS stood up and fought for Muslim women rights in India, none of Muslim men did. Uniform Civil Code is constitutional and necessary for our country. When all the citizens are equal in India, then there must be an Uniform Civil law.
I am going to simplify the issue of Hindu Muslim marriage criminalization without going very deep into complexity of laws.
First of all, Hindu-Muslims or any inter-faith marriage in India or any of the states is not criminalised. If an interfaith couple wants to get married, all they need to do is inform the court 2 months in advance.
Why are these couples asked to jump through so many hoops?
Because marriage has easily become one of the ways to coerce, influence religious conversions. Article 25 of the Constitution of India, “No person can be compelled to change religion only to solemnize marriage, therefore conversion of religion only for the purpose of solemnizing forcible marriage, is not permissible under the fundamental rights."
Here are a few cases of Love Jihad where the means were different but the end of it all were the same:
The left-leaning media has created ruckus ever since the law was passed by the four states questioning the intention of the law. However, they won’t dare to question the Islamic law which prohibits a Muslim women to marry a non-Muslim man.
We rest our case.
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