Save Hinduism From Hindus

[Guest mehtab]

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.ph...ontent_id=27599

Besides being morally wrong, events like Babri Masjid demolition,

Gujarat riots harm Hinduism itself

Kaushik Basu

It is time for the average Hindu to reclaim his religion from the

madness being unleashed in its name by the VHP and the RSS.

The most recent complaint against India’s Muslims, namely, that they did

not accept the Shankaracharya’s ‘‘reasonable offer’’ is absurd. The

Kanchi Shankaracharya, true to his reputation, had started out in

earnest — to engage in dialogue, to take and to give. But what was

offered in the end, under relentless pressure from the VHP, was quite

egregious. The Hindus would make no concessions — not on Kashi, not on

Mathura. And the Muslims would gift the disputed land in Ayodhya to the

Hindus.

But this makes a travesty of the term ‘‘gift’’. You can urge your own

side to give away something. But asking the other side to gift something

to you is a misuse of the word. And when that something happens to be

land, created by the illegal demolition of a mosque, this amounts to

taking a person hostage and then asking him to ‘‘gift’’ his watch to you.

This Ayodhya deadlock is just one in a line of events, beginning with

the 1992 destruction of the Babri Masjid and continuing with the

massacre in Gujarat, and the bending of the law to protect its

perpetrators. Not only are these events morally wrong, they do great

harm, ironically, to Hinduism itself.

Writing in the middle of the 19th century,

Karl Marx had marvelled at

the quiet robustness of Hindu civilisation. It would take blow after

blow of invasions, the economy would shatter, the buildings break; but

no sooner had the dust from the invading cavalry settled, it would

become clear that Hinduism was intact, almost unchanged.

In some ways, it is also a religion of unrivalled openness. There is no

central command that sets the rules of what a Hindu may or may not do.

One can violate its rituals and still legitimately claim to be a Hindu.

One can be an atheist and a Hindu, as was the sage Carvaka.

Aggression towards minorities, as are being preached by the VHP, is

unbecoming of this great tradition. To whip up emotions by stoking fears

that Hinduism is endangered and will perish unless it defends itself

aggressively is to reveal an inferiority complex for which there is no

basis.

The inclination to use the State to ban conversion is founded in this

same complex and a failure to understand that Hinduism may not be loud,

strident and proselytising, but it is strong. It faces no risk, except

from its own fundamentalists, who, by imitating other fundamentalists,

are for the first time threatening to change the very character of this

ancient religion.

And while on this subject, I must add my own belief that, even if it

were an endangered religion, there would be no moral reason to ban

conversion. Religion is a personal matter. People should be free to

preach; and if someone, as a consequence of this or simply because he is

dissatisfied with his own religion, wants to switch to another faith,

then so be it.

Hindus have often treated their own sub-groups poorly. ‘‘To the

Untouchables, Hinduism is a veritable chamber of horrors,’’ wrote India’s

most famous Untouchable, B.R. Ambedkar. He argued that Hinduism, as

practiced, was ‘‘inconsistent with the self-respect and honour of the

Untouchables’’ and that this ‘‘justifies

(their) conversion’’. Ambedkar

himself converted to Buddhism three weeks before his death on December 6,

1956.

If such conversions are thought to be offensive, then the lesson must be

to reform the practices within Hinduism that lead to them, instead of

using the State to block exit routes.

It is time the BJP government dissociates itself from the VHP-RSS

combine. I know it is naive to expect politicians to live entirely by

their morals. To be able to do what a politician wants to do, he needs

to be in power, and this often necessitates compromises.

But at the same time even politicians must draw a line and decide that,

beyond a point, it is better to lose an election than to be held hostage

by a small fanatical group that has no respect for the law. The VHP has

made it clear that if the ASI excavations yield no evidence of a temple,

it will ignore the ASI; and if the Supreme Court does not rule in

favour of a temple, it will use mass movement to counter the verdict.

One of the critical ingredients of a thriving economy is the rule of law.

For the BJP government, this is a good occasion to drive this point

home. A tragedy of this government is that it is spending too little

time on things that matter (like creating prosperity for the people) and

too much time on ‘‘politics’’. For a nation as poor as ours, the

pressing need is to enhance growth, create employment and curb

corruption.

India can achieve a growth rate of eight per cent per annum; it is in a

position now to eradicate poverty. However, this will need determination,

brainpower and time on the part of government to crafting and enforcing

good economic policies. Our government is unfortunately so preoccupied

with zero-sum political conflicts — Ayodhya, conversions, cow-slaughter,

resurrection of Vedic Studies — that it is ignoring policies that can

make a real difference to the lives of its citizens.

It needs to p

ut Ayodhya behind it as quickly as possible. If its current

stance is making an early resolution so difficult, I suggest that it

tries what is only a slight modification of the venerable Shankaracharya’s

plan. Ask the Hindus to gift the land where the Babri Masjid once stood

to the Muslims.

— The writer is professor of economics at Cornell University and

visiting professor at the Delhi School of Economics

[Guest mehtab]

PS : i wonder what the RSS / VHP will do to the author?

[Guest mehtab]

hmmm :T:

i wanna start my own VHP (very handsome punjabis)

any members interested? :D

LOL :D ) :nihungsmile:

[Guest mehtab]

and i know vicky already started his version of RSS

Reforming Sikhs of Sacramento (RSS) :D

[Guest mehtab]

woah!

i am good at abbreviations :D B)

[S1ngh]

LOL Tu vee naa.. funny on names..