Learning in Saffron: RSS Schools Orissa

re: samina

{The reason Chatterji is not here is obviously because she has better things to do with her time}

...but she doesn`t have better things to do than write articles for chowk?...

AnOrdinaryHindu #88

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?art_ID=8283550
The police records also show that of the 523 places of worship damaged in the last two months of riots, 298 were dargahs, 205 mosques, 17 temples and three churches.

Romair:

``If India can get a pre-BJP social system, with post-BJP economic growth, it is set for success. ``

Absolutely right and good post.

re: harimau # 75

As you demonstrated, there need not be a contradiction between Islam and India. Ajmer Sharif, the final abode of Garib-Nawaz Moinuddin Chisti is as Indian as any Hindu temple.

We need to understand why Hindus, no matter how fanatic you may call them, will never destroy that Dargah. So there is a logic to Hinduism and the tolerance, even respect, it shows toward others. In a place that is 80% Hindu, if you push Hindus beyond that limit of tolerance you are just begging for trouble. That`s a matter of common sense.

An Ordinary,

The reason Chatterji is not here is obviously because she has better things to do with her time....but that some peaceful co-existance speech you posted....an interesting rhetorical tactic- marginalize non Hindus and then claim that Hinduism is being threatened when people point out the inequity of the situation. This should get you far...

Dost Mittar,

Do you deny that the following paragraph has any validity?

``In Orissa, over the last five years the Sangh Parivar`s tentacles have spread and thickened. Minorities, refugees, and the poor -- the social crevices in which they live narrow from neglect. The disenfranchised struggle to confront social violence. The annexation of territory and resources from the subaltern, the imposition of virulent ideologies and alienating economies, have produced diverse identity politics defining contested practices of citizenship. At the intersections of globalisation and hyper nationalism, Hindutva intervenes, unravelling the fragile fabric of democracy.``

If so, why?

$65 Nasah

Not only did I read Somini Sengupta`s article., I have even saved a copy of it which I now reproduce below. I disagree with your overall assessment of the school while recognizing that some of the education is narrow-minded and limiting. I would say it is very much reminiscent of education in a somewhat poorly run ``Christian`` school.

In a christian school, for example, one would learn that god had a son (!!!!) and various other quite astonishing and bizarre ideas. One would also learn that there is only one TRUE way and other ways are at best misguided but often also SATANIC and EVIL. Something similar is described here.

I have no experience with Madressah`s, so I cannot comment.

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Hindu Right Goes to School to Build a Nation

By SOMINI SENGUPTA (NYT) 1884 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 1 , Column 2
MANDOLI, India ? Just beyond the bustle of this
nation`s capital, in a sprawling compound of grassy
fields and peepal trees, is a microcosm of some of
India`s most destitute: children from pockets of poor,
indigenous communities scattered far in the
hinterlands.

There is the illiterate farmer`s son from the hill
tribes of Assam in the northeast. There is the
teenager with the bright probing eyes from Jharkhand,
one of the poorest corners of the country. There is a
boy, orphaned since the age of 5, who is housed, fed
and schooled here just outside New Delhi, the capital,
free of charge.

The nearly 300 boys here at the Sewa Dham school, most
of them from what are called the tribal belts of
central and northeastern India, hew to a rigorous
daily schedule from 5 in the morning until 10 at
night. They learn Hindu chants in the ancient
language, Sanskrit. They are taught to give up their
meat-eating ways and to become vegetarians. They are
regaled with tales of brave Hindu warriors and saints
and quizzed on the ravages of the Muslim emperor,
Babur.

Patriotic to some, frightening to others, this school
represents a central project of the increasingly
militant and powerful Hindu right in this country. It
is substantially bankrolled by Indians in the United
States and run by a charity affiliated with the oldest
and most prominent of the Hindu nationalist groups,
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or the National Voluntary
Service, known as the R.S.S.

The Hindu nationalist movement, once banned and
reviled for its connections to the man who killed
Gandhi, is ascendant once again. Founded in 1925 by
men who made no secret of their admiration for German
and Italian fascists, the National Voluntary Service
is the movement`s parent organization.

The Hindu nationalist network`s political wing, the
Bharatiya Janata Party, leads the coalition government
in New Delhi. The prime minister, Atal Behari
Vajpayee, was once a full-time worker for the
voluntary service.

Education is a centerpiece of the Hindu revivalist
campaign, which is natural, considering its cause: to
build a Hindu nation out of what is officially a
secular country with rights accorded to religious
minorities.

Its backers praise their efforts as a lift for the
society`s most downtrodden. But critics describe
schools like this one as madrasas of the Hindu right:
they pluck the youngest and most impressionable minds
and offer a basket of goods to those who otherwise
have nothing. While there is no evidence that these
schools prepare young boys to take up arms for a holy
war, as some madrasas do in Islamic nations,
certainly, schools like this one can train foot
soldiers for the Hindu nationalist crusade.

``They really look at their work as groundwork that
will pay off in centuries,`` said Christophe Jaffrelot,
a Paris University professor whose book ``The Hindu
Nationalist Movement in India`` (Columbia University
Press, 1996) is widely regarded as the authoritative
study of these groups.

``The R.S.S. is itself an educational movement,`` he
said. ``They want to shape and reshape the mind. That`s
why they want to attract really young people.``

The school is part of a network of social service
organizations that cater to indigenous people and
``dalits,`` or those on the lowest rungs of the Hindu
caste ladder ? the very people organizations like the
voluntary service has been losing to Christian
missionaries for decades. Across remote villages, it
dispatches so-called barefoot doctors armed with
first-aid kits and drugs to combat dysentery. It sets
up orphanages for the abandoned and hostels for
children who must travel long distances to go to
school.

Vidya Bharati, an educational charity that is a part
of the Hindu nationalist family, now runs 20,000
low-cost private schools serving 2.4 million children
across the country. The charity`s schools have
mushroomed recently, with over 1,000 new schools added
every year in the last decade.

Perhaps most notably, with a sympathetic government,
Hindu nationalist groups have mounted an ambitious
effort to revise the national educational curriculum,
replacing history textbooks that it finds
unsatisfactory with a canon of its own. Citizens`
groups have gone to court to block the introduction of
the new curriculum, and the matter now rests with the
Indian Supreme Court. Courses in astrology and ``Vedic
mathematics,`` ostensibly based on the ancient Hindu
Vedic texts, are now taught at the university level.

The Hindu nationalists` larger mission is summed up
this way in a required textbook for book 12th grade
students at Sewa Dham. ``Unfortunately, in the
religious land of India, there is no provision for
religious or cultural education,`` it reads in Hindi,
the medium of instruction at most of these schools.
``That is part of the reason behind the current chaos
in the nation. Today, revolutionary changes are being
talked about in the Indian educational system.
Religion, culture and nationalism are to be given
prominence.``

The schools are run by committed foot soldiers of the
voluntary service who bring to their work nothing
short of the missionary`s zeal. Indeed, it was to
fight the Christian missionaries in the tribal belt
that Rajinder Singh Negi, an upper-caste Hindu from
the northeastern province of Uttaranchal and an
energetic, affable teacher at Sewa Dham, chose his
vocation. ``Teachers control the mind,`` he said simply.

Portraits of Hindu heroes hang on the walls of the
school complex. There is the 18th-century king,
Shivaji, revered for having beat back Muslim rulers in
Maharashtra. There is Keshav Baliram Hegdewar, the
founder of the voluntary service, his picture
frequently garlanded with a string of fresh marigolds.
There is a panoply of ancient Hindu saints and
scholars credited with a host of scientific
achievements.

``Which proves,`` Mr. Negi, pointed out, ``that Indian
culture was far more advanced than Western culture.``

The Hindu right`s version of Indian history is far
from conventional. It holds that world civilization
emerged from India. Aryans were not foreigners from
the West, the view widely held by ancient historians,
but India`s native people. Muslims were invaders who
quashed Hindu traditions.

According to a ``cultural knowledge`` textbook produced
by the group`s education wing, Lord Ram, the
blue-skinned warrior-king of Hindu lore, lived 886,000
years ago, a conclusion based on ``ancient texts and
astrology.`` Ram is described as ``the source of
inspiration for Indian culture.`` The Hindu golden era,
they believe, dates back to the time of the Indus
Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.

But it is not only the ancient past that concerns
them. A quiz written for eighth graders tests their
knowledge of the continuing campaign to build a Hindu
temple in Ayodhya, the mythical birthplace of Ram,
where Hindu militants razed a 16th-century mosque in
1992. Students are grilled on everything from the date
on which the temple reconstruction movement began to
the names of those killed by the police.

The cultural knowledge textbook also includes a pitch
to buy Indian goods and avoid foreign products. Indian
soap (Neem brand, for instance) is endorsed; foreign
soap (Palmolive) is to be boycotted. The same goes for
soda, ice cream, milk powder, jeans, cosmetics,
biscuits and more.

In addition to such cultural knowledge, the boys are
taught the standard Indian curriculum as well as yoga
and exercises. Television is restricted, and on a
recent afternoon, having just taken exams, dozens of
boys huddled around a television set watching a
body-building competition. Judging from the grades
posted in the principal`s office, Sewa Dham`s students
do well on state exams.

The principal`s office also displays a map labeled
``worldwide patronage.`` There are congratulatory
missives from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America ?
the expatriate branch of the World Hindu Council ? as
well as from the Arya Samaj of Bergen County and the
Hindu Society of Ottawa. On one recent day a check for
$2,340 arrived from a Hindu temple in the Catskills.
Another $3,500 came from Australia.

Donations of this size can go a long way here. The
Sewa Dham school has an annual budget of 5.4 million
rupees, or $113,000; about half comes from overseas,
school officials said. Suresh Joshi, the national
coordinator for the education wing of the voluntary
service, said that all told, it spent about 50 million
rupees, $1.04 million, a year on its charitable
projects, most of it focused on tribal peoples and
dalits. The voluntary service is active in 30,000
villages nationwide, Mr. Joshi said.

The group believes that all indigenous people, many of
whom practice animism, are really Hindus, whether or
not they realize it. Exposure to Hindu culture and
history, the group hopes, will persuade those people
to return to the fold.

``We believe all the tribalszap in India, they are
originally Hindu only,`` Mr. Joshi said. ``Slowly they
will feel like this. Then they will say themselves,
`We are also Hindus.` ``

The common Hindi word for the indigenous people
``adivasi,`` or people of the soil, is shunned by the
Hindu right, for it suggests that they predate Hindu
civilization. The voluntary service prefers to call
them ``vanvasi,`` or people of the forest.

Focus on the indigenous people seems to have paid off
in at least one corner of Gujarat. There, only a
couple of years ago, Hindu nationalists clashed with
indigenous people over conversions to Christianity.
During the recent Hindu-Muslim violence in that state,
some tribal groups went on a rampage against Muslims.

Voluntary service recruiters select the best and
brightest to enroll in schools like this one, with the
goal that they will return to their communities armed
with an education as well as a message.

In one Sewa Dham textbook, a section entitled ``Our
Goal`` reads: ``To develop a national educational system
that can develop a generation of youth who are full of
Hindu pride and patriotism.``

Bisoran Wari, an indigenous boy from the hills of
Assam, was chosen early. A volunteer from the group
persuaded his parents to send him to a school near his
home when he was 8. Three years later, after he had
shown promise, he was brought here to Sewa Dham. ``My
parents are farmers, they can only write their names,``
the boy said.

His version of the group`s history is, naturally,
rosy. Its founder, Dr. Hegdewar ? the students call
him ``guruji`` out of respect ? gathered young people
together and taught them how to ``serve society,``
Bisoran said. He would like to do that as well, he
said.

Now 18, having just taken his state graduation exams,
he plans to study politics at a state-run college near
his parents` home and, eventually, become a lawyer.
``Lawyers work for justice,`` he explained.

Then, if the voluntary service takes him for its
rigorous training program to become one of its
full-time workers, he said, he would consider joining.

Here is an example how muslims and others in India are trying to step up.

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India`s Poor Bet Precious Sums on Private Schools
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/15/international/asia/15INDI.html

excerpts:
``With my little means, I have to manage my family,`` Mr. Rai said. ``But still, I thought to spare some extra money for the boy, so he will do well in life.`` A member of the cowherders` caste, Mr. Rai dreams that his son will become a ``big officer.``

``Since ages, we are doing manual work,`` said Rehaman Sheik, 35, an illiterate plumber in the Dharavi slum of Bombay. ``Why should they?`` he said of his sons. ``They should have a good profession.``

dost-mittar #79: I obviously don`t know what happens inside India, since I have never lived there. And my interests in Indian politics only developed over the past ten years, as I started meeting more and more Indians. So I can only comment based on whatever little I know.

I don`t think Congress did that bad of a job, after partition - socially speaking. In fact, I think they did a pretty good job socially; though a terrible job economically (Pakistani leaderships did an good job economically, but a terrible job socially). I think it is nearly impossible, for third world countries, to survive in one piece, with large religious and ethnic minorities; much less allow the minorities to completely become a part of the society. Pre-partition India could not do it with all Muslims. Pakistan could not do it with Bengalis.

However, India was able to do it with its Muslims, post-partition. Even if they were at the bottom of the totem pole, they still felt enfranchised enough that they did not want to separate (other than Kashmir). I look at this as a success for India, even if the time bomb had started ticking, under Congress.

However, in third world countries, this can only last for so long. The pie is just not big enough to accomodate all groups. Either India would have had to make huge economic progress to accomodate everyone. Or it would have to somehow or the other keep the rise of majority extremist nationalistic parties, in check.

This is where, I think the problem started. The Congress had terrible economic policies. And could not expand the pie. Invariably, somebody would attempt to make a minority party the scapegoat for this, as in all third world countries.

The dangerous part for India is that the opposition did not appear in the form of a moderate pro-Hinduism or an anti-secularism type of group. It went to the extreme. It appeared in the form of an extremely nationalistically and violent Hinduvta group. It did not just sideline the religious minorities in the country (like the MMA and other political parties in Pakistan do). It actually went after them.

I think the Gujrat killings are just one part of BJP. It is their own advertised agenda on their website that is scary. That is not the agenda of a Hindu party. It is an agenda of an anti-Muslim party. There is a big difference there.

As strange as this may sound, I think the party that could counter the BJP the best, is not a secular Congress. It would be a moderate Hindu non-secular party. I think there are too many educated and sensible Indians who support BJP (this is scary). If they had another moderate Hindu alternative, they may go there. Though they will never go to a Congress, which they consider pro-Muslim.

This is why I think in Pakistan, the party that will successfully counter the MMA will be one that either brings huge economic progress to those areas. Or a moderate Islamic party. Not one that tries to wipe out the MMA, through forced secularism.

Such parties will only make the MMA stronger, as a counter to them. Similarly if BJP makes India richer, I doubt Congress will ever be able to challenge it; regardless of how secular the Congress happens to be. While a moderate Hindu party could challenge the BJP on its own religious turf.

In religiously motivated, third world societies, it is always necessary to have a party that occupies the non-secular part of politics. Preferably a very moderate non-secular party. If such moderately religous parties, or their breathing spaces, are wiped out, then that leaves the ground open for extremist religious parties. This is why I think third world religious socities (India Pakistan etc.) that try to shove secularism (or religion) down the throat of its citizens, will always face a backlash, which will favor extremist parties, like the BJP. The best situation for them is to have a secular party and a moderate reigious party, and let the people decide whom they want. Rather than only having two secular parties. Two secular choices, if they are both economic failure, will invariably lead to an extremist religious choice.

This is also why we are seeing the rise of religious parties in third world countries.

Angana`s analytical abilities and her arguments are the best support to RSS.

The contradictions in Angana Chatterjee`s rant should be apparent to anyone who reads her article with a dispassionate mind.

For instance, she says ``Sectarian education campaigns undertaken by Hindu extremist groups demonize minorities through the teaching of fundamentalist curricula.``

On the other hand, ``Most RSS run schools are affiliated with the State Board of Education and adhere to the state approved curricula.``

Therefore she postulates a process of ``Hindutva infiltration`` of the State Board, which she nowhere demonstrates.

Similarly, she writes: ``The vigorous assertion of Sanskrit provides for the erasure and Hinduisation of minority languages.`` But the texts the RSS uses are in Oriya! `` These texts, written in Oriya, are taught in schools and available in bookstores.``

The class of person that Angana Chatterjee represents are ``correct`` regardless of their contradictions, because they claim to represent ``liberal, humanitarian, secular`` values. In reality, they represent nothing of the sort, and their increasing cries of alarm are because Indians, as they rise out of their socialist stupor, see little value to these people.

The common theme of these people is vilification of the RSS. On the activities they cannot agree, for instance Angana Chatterjee writes that the RSS is erasing local culture, erasing the little traditions in favor of the overarching grand tradition. However, Marxist historian Romila Thapar in a workshop, had this:

``Romila Thapar: That I think is a particularly important view. What we were talking about yesterday that many of us who belong to the secular tradition do not really have a feel for local history. It is very important that one goes into the, question of local history, does it intelligently, and says that you know this, this and this is possible but this is definitely not possible. So one has to force oneself to take an interest in local culture and local history.

Comment: I believe the RSS is engaged in a massive project of going into local history. I think in the next ten years, they plan to go into each, district, each local area, and produce their versions of local history. It is therefore necessary that secular historians and groups also take serious interest in understanding local history.``

So, in this version it is the so-called secular historians who have been ignoring local cultures and trying to force all the peoples of India into one mode, and RSS is the defender of local culture!

These people should at least have a consistent complaint against the RSS. (The dispassionate mind will note that the evidence from everyone who has done a field visit is in favor of the idea that RSS promotes and preserves the local culture.)

---

In general, if Hindus don`t organize, then these people talk about the backwardness of Hindu society, unable to unite even for its own welfare. When Hindus do organize, then it is dangerous, by definition, though the danger is not demonstrated. The key danger of course, is that Hindus do not genuflect to Angana Chatterjee and Romila Thapar.

The dispassionate mind will laud the RSS for opening schools, and for attempting to get students to be public-spirited, donating effort for development and disaster relief. It will laud the RSS for attempting to break down jati and varna barriers. It will note that the funding and facilities are probably inadequate, and the quality of education is probably still far from national standards, let alone world-class. It will also note that the RSS effort is only a drop in the ocean, an enormous amount more is needed, and that there is room to open competing schools teaching competing visions of India.No one prevents Angana Chatterjee and Romila Thapar and Sabrang and the innumerable always-talk-and-do-nothing NGOs from opening their schools except their utter impotence.

dost-mittar #78
One of her fellow travellers is Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has in the past travelled to Pakistan to meet with Pakistani military brass and is reported to support the Hizbul Mujahiddeen, a armed jihadi group that openly touts ``Islamic rule`` for J&K.

This group has been killing not only paramilitary and Kashmiri police but also unarmed civilian Kashmiris, members of National Conference and the ruling PDP, elected village council chiefs or simple political activists.

It will be a real surprise to get honest replies to the questions on this board from a person like her.

Romair:
A generally good post, much more balanced than Angana`s article. Hindians would do well to pay heed to the gist of your message, which is to do something about the rising muslim alienation. This, you might recall, was also the theme of my `Hey Ram` article. But there is also a lack of comprehension of the facts on your part, esp, from a hindian perspective.

You say,
``However, India has a ticking time bomb also. Interestingly, this time-bomb did not exist when India was poorer, and more secular. The time bomb is India`s Muslim minority.``

Actually, this time bomb was ticking all along during the Congress rule. It is just exploding now. To some extent, it was ticking because of the pseudo-minortyism of the Congress leadership, which encouraged and subsidised Muslims to develop an identity which was not always compabtible with the mainstream, while not taking any positive steps to improve their socio-economic conditions. Given the trauma of the TNT and partitition, the leadership should have encouraged Muslims to think of themsleves more in terms of being part of the Indian rather than the Umma polity. The leadership went so far in accomodating the Muslim view of ancient, medieval and modern history, that it bred silent resentment (ticking bomb!) in the majority community. It was easy then for the vested interests to pick up on issues like Ayodhya, Shah Bano, haj subsidies or muslims allegedly cheering for Pakistani teams to show a match to that ticking bomb.
But the situation is not as bad as it seems. There is a rising realisation among the saner elements of hindus and muslims of the threat the rise in communalism poses to India. Let me make some personal observations: During my last visit to India, this issue was quite on my mind. I noticed a few things which I did not perhaps fullly share in my `Hey Ram` article.
-Muslims are much more visible in the cities in India than they were before, in the sense that they can be easily identifiable through their burgas, hijabs, beards, attire, etc.; there are many more mosques and azaans are heard now in even predominantly hindu areas;
I was not fully able to understand the reason for this. Is it because Muslims have become more religious now? is it because of the large-scale migration to the cities, which includes both muslims and hindus as well as illegal bangladeshi immigrants; is it because their population is increasing faster, at least in the cities? Or, is it because, despite everything that is happening, they feel more confident of venturing, living or doing business in hindu-dominated areas than they did before?
-There is greater muslim presence in non-traditional muslim occupations such as medical profession. My physio-therapist and clinical lab assistant were both muslims, as was my barber/hair stylist.
-In my conversation with a few ordinary muslims that I came across, I was not surprised that they were not keen to discuss the communal situation, but what did surprise me was that they most of them did not think that their life or percetions had changed because of the events in Gujarat. This feeling however was not shared by the educated muslims who one would normally consider to have become part of the mainstream.
In the end, both Hindus and Muslims havto make some changes. Hindus have to stop thinking of Muslims as aliens living in India as a matter of courtesy extended by the Hindus. They have to realise that India is as much theirs as that of Muslims and recognise their contribution to India in all walks of life. But Muslims too have to make an effort to make Hindus think that they are no less loyal to India than hindus are. And this might, in some cases, mean taking a more-catholic-than-pope attitude towards issues that have somehow become an acid test of patriotism.

Ras:
`` Once again I can make a suggestion to Indian readers here.

Read this article and learn.

(Before it is too late)``

This advice wont work for the following reasons:
-Angana`s target audience is Pakistanis, communists and fellow-travellers, she is mostly speaking to the converted and a few relevant points she makes get lost in several other points of doubtful validity;
-If you want to influence someone, you dont do it by insulting and fuming hatrted; she is as likely to influence the thinking of hindus as hamidm is of muslims;
-Unlike hamidm who gives arguments about his case based on facts and is willing to engage those who disagree with him, Angana is so superficial that anyone with a modicum of knowledge about what she talks about can beat her with arguments with less brains than are needed to watch a Bollywood masala film. And she is never there to defend herself, leaving it to others, mainly even more poorly informed Pakistanis, so the article ends up as another useless India-Pak pissing match.


harimou#75
Good post, esp. wrt sacred muslim shrines in India. What`s the story behing the Rasul Kadam site?

Romair
//...In the end, I think the future of India, will not be decided by how strong its Hindu majority is. But by how strong and rich its Muslim minority is...//

Hmmm... Why is that? Would you say future of Bangladesh will be decided how strong and rich its hindu minority(almost 10%) is? Would you future of US is doomed if its black minority is not strong and rich?

People are getting richer in India by hard work using their education and grabbing the opportunities of new economy. This includes hindus, muslims and whoever. Muslims are comparatively backward at this point - so are many hindu communities. How much they progress will primarily depend on how effectively they grab the opportunities around, with help from majority community and the govt. and civil society in general.

I think that`s what is happening. Muslims are stepping up. This is a small sample - but my comany has a development team of 8 in India , 2 out of which are muslims.

I am sorry to see that the author could not summon the courage to defend her article.

My advice to the author and all such angana wannabes is as follows:

If you want to be taken seriously by anybody worth anything in India now, keep your eye on the target. Raise your voice against anybody spreading hatred against anybody else. No Hindu should be demeaning Muslims or Christians (the two communities that are often targetted by Hindutva votaries). Similarly, no Muslim or Christian should be demeaning Hindus. No one should teach children religious materials and mythologies that predisposes them against members of other religions.

If you do that, you will automatically catch many of the zealots among Hindus (and others). These people make their living by preaching against other religions. Progressive Hindus will support you. We can work together, no matter what your background.

On the other hand, you cannot and should not come in the way of Hindus learning about their culture, their history, their holy places. If I say that Hinduism is the greatest religion on earth and teach school children about Hinduism, you have no business throwing your your marxist lecture at me. I am sufficiently familiar with Marx to throw that and much more back at you.

You must understand the concept of core religious places and core historical symbols. For Hindus, India is the central, core geographical location. That is one fact that will not go away just by waving Marxist manifestos in the air.

Once you accept that self-evident fact, then Hindus and everyone else, can get down to the task of making India as secular, nondiscriminatory, and inclusive as realistically possible. Please notice the word `realistically.` Don`t expect any utopias, at least not in India.

If you don`t accept the self-evident fact, and try to strike Hinduism at its very heart, you will not find many peaceful or respectful Hindus any more. It doesn`t matter what your ideology, caste, religion, or science teaches you. You diss us and we will hammer you.

Hindus are going to respect only those who give them the respect of acknowledging what their core religious and cultural symbols mean to them. To those who do not give Hindus that respect, the Hindu of tomorrow is going to be very different from the Hindu of the past.

That is what all communities get. That is what Hindus will take too. Strike a fair deal, and we will all be better off. Try to continue what has happened in the past, you will be in for a very nasty surprise.

Peace.