Author: Shyam Tiwari,
Duluth, Ga.
Publication: The Washington
Post
Date: July 27, 2000
An act of violence against
innocents is an indefensible act and must be condemned. What I would
like to know is if these people engaged in massive breast-beating exercises
over each and every incident that happens in India have ever honestly pondered
fundamentalists waging war in other countries. All we hear in such
cases are human rights issues against the very people challenging such
violent groups. A few years back, many churches were burned deliberately
all around the United States, but no one raised a hue and cry about it
to the level that has arisen even over a small incident in India.
Could it be due to the
stark reality that despite our liberal face it is still considered politically
correct to point out that the majority of India is Hindu, and hence all
such incidents of violence against non-Hindus are the work of Hindus implicitly
and collectively? It is still considered politically correct to denounce
Hindus' religion publicly. It is still considered politically correct
to mention the demographic map of India in almost every news item, whereas
the same yardstick is seldom applied to other countries of the world.
It is still politically correct to denigrate Hindus for the flimsiest reason.
It is still politically correct to ignore without condemnation when Hindus
get killed or become victims of racial, religious persecution. It
is still politically correct to implicate India for being against minorities
just because it is majority Hindu. It is still politically correct,
in almost every incident with negative connotations, to carefully point
out the religious identity of an individual or group as Hindu.
Religion is always an
issue when it comes to India, and bashing Hindus under any guise is very
systematic in news reports as well as letters that get published.
The worst thing is that it is considered politically correct to do that.
In fact, the common perception is that the only way to get something published
is to write something against Hindus or India no matter how unreal, unproved,
unjust, vicious and fabricated the stories may be. Can someone please
explain what is "Hindu fundamentalism"? One must remember, however,
that many of the yardsticks and terminology in vogue to describe religious
fanaticism don't even apply when seen from the Hindu perspective.
Unless we do some soul-searching
ourselves, we will continue to be hounded by the skewed perceptions, wrongful
ideas and mythical notions about Hindus individually and as a whole around
the world.
