Dear Mr. Harsh Kapoor: I am sending this message once
again because our university mailer returned it to me. My
earlier message read:
"Dear Mr. Harsh Kapoor: I have read the
memorandum/manifesto that you have circulated about the
alleged infiltration and takeover of the ICHR by the "Sangh
Parivar." While it is important for scholars to be skeptical
of all claims to knowledge, and of the description and
explanation of history and historical events, I believe what
your memorandum does is to perpetuate the cycle of blame,
and to push India and Indians towards further conflict. It is
important, if you think so, to make sure the ICHR and other
academic bodies have a variety of scholars representing a
variety of viewpoints. It surely cannot be used to promote
mere ideologies (whether of the Left or of the Right,
whether of Marxist/Leninists or Feminists or of any brand
of jingoism), and be peopled by mere ideologues. (May be,
it is also time to think of disbanding these government-
supported/funded institutions that have perpetuated
cronyism more than scholarship?!) However, if that is the
rule of thumb you subscribe to, where has been the outrage
at the expression of crass and crude comments on Hindus
by your fellow travellers (Read, for example, Itty
Abraham's article in the May 22nd issue of "India Abroad"
where he calls all Hindus "untrustworthy.") Also, I am
aghast and frightened by the easy use of epithets like
fascist, Nazi, bigots, etc., by you and your comrades against
those people whose works you don't like. This hysteria
doesn't do you proud, and this is not the language of
"scientists" and "scholars" but of those totalitarians who
wish to shut out opposition. I would just like to say that
your brand of hysteria and concocted history may have
found roots in American academe; that, however, doesn't
make it "scientific." If, as you claim, that some Indian
historians and their particular take on the events of the past
and present have found resonance in American academe, I
would like to point out that I work in American academe
and know firsthand the flights of fancy, the posturings, the
preenings, the fashionable pretences of my colleagues in the
"social sciences" (an oxymoron if there is one! Why can't
we just say social studies?) and the humanities. So, I would
like to suggest, if suggestions are still welcome, to tone
down your rhetoric, to build bridges, to proceed cautiously,
to eschew demonization, and work for consensus rather
than conflict. It is easy to travel on bandwagons, whether
of the right, left, secular, or of the Hindutva (In numbers
there is security, huh?!). It is the need of the hour,
however, for all such travellers to become more self aware,
put on the brakes of wisdom and circumspection, get rid of
fashionable "connections," and understand one's own urges
for exacerbating conflict. I hope that I not only get a
hearing from you but that you will do me the favor of
circulating this to those you have circulated your original
memorandum.
With regards,
Closepet N. Ramesh, Ph.D
Associate Professor, Communication
Truman State University
Kirksville, MO 63501
(Member, Consultative Committee on Indic Studies and Conflict
Management, Dharam Hinduja Center for Indic Studies, Columbia University, New York)