"I very much regret ever having been part of this racist organisation and I will be forwarding my complaints to the Charity Commission" Strong words indeed from Lord Adam Patel, as reported by the Sunday Mercury's Investigations Editor, Amardeep Bassey on 11 August.
Lord Patel may like to explain his use of the term racist. Even if one took the politically correct racial bracketing now in vogue, what racial differences separate Lord Patel and Shantibhai Mistry of Sewa International? One hopes that Lord Patel's ideas on race are not based on notions which take offence in the appearance of a cross on police badges or other items of our nation's insignia.
Leaving aside Lord Patel's accusation of racism for a moment, the integrity of Sunday Mercury's investigation has to be challenged. Consider a few of the "facts" as Bassey reports:
1. That "officials in Madhya Pradesh have banned Sewa Bharati, whose projects are funded by Sewa International". Upon checking with reliable sources directly in India, it turns out that neither Sewa Bharati as an organisation nor its activities are banned in Madhya Pradesh.
2. Insinuating that some sinister motive was behind "Sewa International's income rocketed from £748,355 in 2000 to £2,175,971 last year", and mockingly referring to "relief work in India". Surely elementary investigation would have revealed that the 2001 Gujarat earthquake was a major factor. The scale of destruction and suffering caught the public imagination and contributions came in by the bucket load. Even today, Sewa is continuing rehabilitation projects in remote villages in Gujarat. This relief work is humanitarian, without regard to the religion or creed of those suffering.
3. "Communal rioting in the state of Gujarat ... deaths of hundreds of Muslims urged by militant outfits like VHP". How convenient to totally ignore the root causes of what ignited this violence. The murder of innocent children, women, and men in a train carriage, simply because they were Hindus, is of no consequence. The fact that an organised Muslim mob of over 1,000 carried out this attack in the early hours at a small provincial town, Godhra, is of no consequence. That in the immediate aftermath of the riots, of the 140 shot by the police to quell the situation, 100 were Hindus, is of no consequence. That around 40% of those who lost their lives in the riots were Hindus is also of no consequence. That such Hindu-Muslim riots have for centuries been a feature of life in the sub-continent and predate the VHP, RSS, etc. is also of no consequence. Such facts would come in the way and spoil a "juicy story", it would seem.
4. "The RSS ... members assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1947". If Bassey can't even get the date right, what chance does he stand on important facts in investigative journalism? The correct date was 1948 and, Nathuram Godse, the man found guilty, had left the RSS several years prior to the murder. And what is more, the courts cleared the RSS of all suspicion and complicity in the case. Subsequent independent inquiries also led to the same conclusions. It must also be emphasised that all this took place in the era of Nehru when the establishment was anything but "Hindu friendly".
5. Noxious references to Nazis and Hitler and "... a good lesson for us in India to learn and profit". As a piece of "investigative journalism" this one really takes the biscuit. Of all the millions of words that Golwalkar, the leader of RSS spoke and wrote, is this the best that critics can come up with to malign the RSS? Imagine if Winston Churchill's whole persona and contribution to the 20th century were encapsulated in his reference to Gandhi as a "half naked Fakir"!
6. "Hindu militants demolished the Babri mosque... claiming it had been built on the site of a Hindu shrine." It is too much to go into details to counter this here, but, the least any decent investigative journalist would do, is to determine the facts before quoting oft-repeated lies and half-truths.
Getting back to Lord Patel, it is interesting to note that he had been unable to substantiate his claims against Sewa International when the Asian Voice/Gujarat Samachar approached him.
Having checked press reports on the Internet, it is equally interesting to note that the Sunday Mercury has been unique in making a big story of Lord Patel's resignation. Why did the Mercury not ask for specific details behind Lord Patel's accusations? Someone suggested that Bassey may have a touch of "Stockholm Syndrome" - sympathising with the ideology of his captors, having recently spent some time in the care of Pakistani authorities. A cynic might speculate that "Hindu and India bashing" would follow naturally.
An even more important question arises: Why has Lord Patel resigned from Sewa International, and why now? Surely Lord Patel knew of the association between Sewa International and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh. As Bassey himself reports, this fact is recorded at the Charity Commission.
Why has Lord Patel not taken up the opportunity to see for himself the work of Sewa; to meet the likes of Dawoodbhai, Karimbhai and their families in Vachrajpur, Surendranagar district, where a total of 49 families have been rehabilitated with new housing after they lost everything in the earthquake? And, all this AFTER the riots in Gujarat. Why has Lord Patel not bothered to learn about the work of the RSS with the families of the air crash victims at Delhi a few years ago when two jets full of Haj pilgrims collided and all passengers lost their lives? What has suddenly caused a change of mind?
It is a great shame that by his actions, a man of Lord Patel's stature has so publicly dented the confidence of British Indians who work tirelessly to build bridges across the religious divide. How does he think Hindus and Muslims will feel about each other? Will his actions help or hinder the fight that all people of Indian origin, wherever they may be, are enjoined in to protect their culture, their identity and their motherland from incessant cultural assault and cross-border terrorism?
Only a few weeks ago, there was a fantastic gathering in Birmingham at a Poetry recital. Hindus and Muslims, all Gujarati Indians, joined hands in celebration. Jovial "hazals" intermingled with thought provoking, spiritual poetry, all of it touching on that eternal force which binds humans together. And, to cap it all, the whole audience stood in respect of Saraswati Vandana, not out of a sense of affiliation to any narrow religious dogma, but in recognition of the universal, divine gift of creativity.
What damage has been done to all
this? Only time will tell.