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academic, atheism, Blog, Blogs, civil rights, genocide, Hindu, Hinduism, Hinduphobia, Hindutva, India, Islam, Kashmir, Liberal, Modi, Muslim, Narendra Modi, News, politics, progressive, Religion, rights, secular, secularism, temple
Ten days after my post on how anti-Hinduism is parading as secularism, the HuffPost posted this blog by academic Vamsee Juluri who analyzed why Hindus ignored secular critiques of their community and chose to elect a controversial Hindu leader.
There are valid lines of reasoning to deter Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) into entering political dialog, let alone becoming incorporated into India’s constitution. Yet, the liberal media often targets Hindu nationalism while turning a blind eye to the clear violation of secular principles by its fellow ideologues in India. The irony is that Hindutva has grown BECAUSE of separate laws for muslims, Haj subsidies, carving an Islamic state out of part of India, and government control of temples (while staying distant from churches and mosques) to name a few causes. No other self-proclaimed secular country does this and gets away.
Reading the posts and replies by people on such forums should remind us that Hinduphobia is alive and well. In fact, this monster is growing stronger everyday and will inevitably face its other ugly counterpart – Hindutva.
Vamsee’s assessment is being proven right – the silencing of liberal Hindu voices extends beyond academia. From Hindu genocide denial to indifference regarding Hindu voices supporting women’s rights to apathy about denying religious freedom to Hindus in Kashmir and Malaysia, the guy next-door simply closes his ears when a liberal Hindu points out the hypocrisy of ‘secular values’. The only thing that catches the mind of the secularist is sensationalizing Hindutva.
So what is the solution? To me, there clearly needs to be a more progressive Hindu voice that needs to shout louder so that it can be heard even when the hand of Hinduphobia covers its mouth.
