Hindu Terrorism? Imran Khan
By captainjohann • Dec 18th, 2008 • Category: Politics • 13 CommentsI am not a particularly enamoured of Gautier’s writings but as i see most of the pakistani spectators talk about India as though ruled by terrorists, i thought this writing by mr. Gautier will bring some balance .
I was particularly disappointed with the comment by Mr.Imran Khan, a cricketer whom i always admired. His comment that cancellation of Indian tour will affect India/pakistan relations. He didnot say why cancellation by Australia,West indies,England didnot affect realtions with those countries? I personally feel this descision is short sighted but then when i read this comment by an icon like Imran , i felt the government has done the correct thing.
The Hindu Rate of Wrath When the Mahatma’s cowards erupt in fury, it hurts. It isn’t terror.
Francois Gautier
(The writer is the editor-in-chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l’Inde.)
Is there such a thing as ‘Hindu terrorism’, as the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for the recent Malegaon blasts may tend to prove? Well, I guess I was asked to write this column because I am one of that rare breed of foreign correspondents— a lover of Hindus! A born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I’ll be given
some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents’ ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro).
In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India , doing photo
features on kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowly realised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in the true spirituality behind Hinduism. The average Hindu you meet in a million villages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts your diversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French or Chinese. It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian different from, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim. I also learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifest itself at different
times, under different names, using different scriptures (not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21st century religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecuted minorities from across the world—Syrian, Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, and today, Tibetans. In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have never militarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion on others by force or induced conversions.
You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like SIMI, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody. We know also that most of these communal incidents often involve persons
from the same groups—often Dalits and tribals—some of who have converted to Christianity and others not.
However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process; compare this to the ‘vengeance’ bombings of 1993 in Bombay , which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjid destruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act of the two. We also remember how Sharad Pawar,
when he was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off in a Muslim locality of Bombay I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the
Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa . Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror. Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj. They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed.
So sometimes, enough is enough. At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus—whom the Mahatma once gently called cowards—erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat . It happened in Jammu , then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, and Malegaon . It may happen again elsewhere. What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning
from the political leadership. Therefore, the BJP, instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.
There are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet. They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communities in the world today. Can you call them terrorists?
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I am a retired Jet Pilot of Government of India. My only daughter is schizophrenic and as such interested in disabled due to mentalillness.
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To the rhetorical question asked at the end of this article: Yes we can call them terrorists - you’ve given plenty of examples in your second last paragraph.
We call certain segments of the Hindu Right terrorists just like we can call Muslim extremists, Jewish fundamentalists and Christian Supremists terrorists,etc.
Facts are facts, please don’t try to distort them just because your empathetic about a certain segment of human society. There are a million apologists such as yourself representing their own respective communities. That doesn’t justify what you pretend to stand for, just like there can be no justification for any acts of violence. Today all moderate citizens must stand together and say to those who want to hijack our peace, our tranquility, and our future generation’s destiny: ENOUGH. ENOUGH OF YOUR VESTED INTERESTS. GO HOME. THE TYRANTS GO HOME! Be you a tyrant donning your stars and your stripes, or your religious artifacts/facial hair, or your elitist capitalism-driven thirst for fiscal imperialism. ENOUGH. GO HOME. THE PEOPLE’S VOICES WILL NOT BE SILENT ANY MORE
Dear Johann,
i know you will say here he(read muhammad ali sajjad) go again, but the picture is never complete without the two sides , you have mentioned one what about the other?
i confused you endorse the view that:
“instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.”
are you giving justifications for violence?
muslims in middle east are doing the same i.e. “choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.”
how come they are branded as terrorists and the Jews as the poor innocent the victims?
and why if the hindus “choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.” they are justified and the victims i.e muslims and christians are getting what they deserve?
Dear Johann please dont give me the history of middle east, or india, i know it, i am talking about the present
explain to me only what you have said, “instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.”
this act followed by muslims, they are terrorist
this act followed by hindus, its their right
why the double standard?
and do tell me about the other side of the picture
Sameen,
The article is by a French journalist, He has written after lot of research on the subject.
Could not completely understand the last para of your comment.
Now having said that, let me start with some facts now. LeT was formed in 1990’s against Indian Kashmir, one of the article on this same blog site named 9 is not 11 has mentioned a quote by the leader and founder of the organization which is destroy India.
All these years people are carrying out the terrorist activities are claiming they are doing this for Muslims in India who are suffering. But you see they are also given reservation so that they can send their children to schools, colleges for better future, they are given support from govt for hajj trips while a Hindu does not get any support from govt for any Hindu pilgrim.
While in school they taught us one story of a mother monkey and her child, have you heard it. I will still tell over here, they were put in a pool and water was poured in the pool. The mother monkey was holding the baby above the water till the time it reached her head. When the water crossed her head level, she put the baby under her feet and stood on it so that she can survive.
The same story applies over here, Hindus were being tolerant till now, but now the water has crossed the limit of tolerance, and now they are reacting in the same way the Islamic extremist do.
In Pakistan has there been a case when a bomb blast has happened and the claim has been taken by a group based in India. The claims made the Indian RAW agency is behind it is the same way as the Indian’s saying that Pakistan’s ISI was involved.
But the claims for blasts in Kashmir, or for that matter in many parts in India has been made by terror groups based out of Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
If you want change to happen in your country, you need to come forward and try to find the real picture about the topic. Think, brain storm, discuss, argue, and then come to some sort of conclusion. Don’t just accept what people say, that has been the case for many people in Pakistan, you guys follow what your Maulana or Imam or someone influential. Don’t just accept everything without question like what, why, how, who, etc. till the time you get all the answers for all these.
There is a article on this blog which says 10 things to do to improve the future of Pakistan, I really liked it. Must read for all the Paki’s.
I would like to here your comments on it.
Dear Adi
@@@@@@@@
The same story applies over here, Hindus were being tolerant till now, but now the water has crossed the limit of tolerance, and now they are reacting in the same way the Islamic extremist do.
@@@@@@@@
are you giving justifications for violence?
just because indians treated minorities properly, does that give the extremist the right to commit genocide against them?
i know the direction you and Johann are moving in ,
i will tell that,
but first i would like a response on the above questions from ( the two of ) you
Islamist wahaabi moslems incite wrong stories about poor hindus and indians in pakistan .wahaabi saudi terrorists funds terror in India.BAN this cult
faithfreedom(dot)org
Johann: What about the massacre of 7000 innocent defenseless Moslems in Gujarat, perpetrated by Hindu Fanatics? Isn’t it the terrorism of Hindu Fanatics? Or was this also an act of ‘love-making’?
What about Narendra Moodi? The Hindu Terrorist Chief Minister of Gujarat who himself supervised the genocide of Moslems.
What about Babu Bajrangi, the Terrorist Hindu outfit VHP’s leader, who himself admitted to butchering numerous Moslem women and children during the Gujarat Massacre. Was Babu Bajrangi on a Peace Mission?
ALL OF YOU PLEASE WATCH THIS HORRIFYING ADMISSION OF HINDU FANATIC BABU BAJRANGI WHO PROUDLY TELLS HOW HE BUTCHERED MOSLEM WOMEN AND CHILDREN:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfnTl_Fwvbo]
Johann Says: “You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like SIMI, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody.”
A Blatant Lie!
Everyone knows that Hindu Fanatics burnt several hundred christian alive during, butchered christian priests and raped a number of nuns. Were these also acts of Hindu Compassion??
[http://rupeenews.com/2008/10/05/secular-india-christian-genocide-in-indian-orissa-pictures]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hijIXKo7Ces]
Johann:
You can’t fool the world with your lies. We all know the true face of India. We know well that India is a hell for minorities. The above ones are just a handful of the thousands of incidents involving the Massacre of Moslems and Christians carried out by Hindu fanatics in India.
ALL OF YOU PLEASE WATCH THIS HORRIFYING ADMISSION OF HINDU FANATIC BABU BAJRANGI WHO PROUDLY TELLS HOW HE BUTCHERED MOSLEM WOMEN AND CHILDREN:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfnTl_Fwvbo]
This beast Babu Bajrangi deserves to be hanged a thousand times, yet thanks to Hindu Extremists in Indian Establishment, this Terrorist roams around freely and takes pride in butchering Moslem Women and Children.
This beast Hindu Fanatic Babu Bajrangi deserves to be hanged a thousand times, yet thanks to Hindu Extremists in Indian Establishment, this Terrorist roams around freely and takes pride in butchering Moslem Women and Children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfnTl_Fwvbo
All terrorists, regardless of their religion or nationality should be brought to justice and punished in an exemplary manner!
above video is very very shocking. y is this bajrangi terriost not in jail?
It is wrong to say that there is not Hindu Terrorism which is a monster which quite too often rises its ugle head in India, often resulting in well planned mass murders of minority population. it is a shame for much of civilized India which believes in modernisation in all segments. some thing must be done about this monster, before it grows to a monster of frankenstein proportions.
May be terrorism is inherent in Hinduism! And a Hindu could be a terrorist if he is sincere enough about his religion. And I gather that Kedar Joshi, an Indian philosopher, has written in his article - The Satanic Verses of Bhagavad-gita - that the message of Gita - the popular Hindu scripture - is inherently satanic, and Gita is Hindu terrorism. See these links: http://works.bepress.com/kedar_joshi/26/ & http://www.dailygotham.com/mole333/blog/quotgoingmuslimquot
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. Thank you