Learning in Saffron: RSS Schools Orissa

..angana back at it.... hahahaha.....

Angana

I am a Hindu. When I have time, I would like to explain what Hinduism is, why it is so readily misunderstood, why it is so great, and why all of us must understand this Indian tradition better if we want to create a more noble world.

Will I become a hated person in your eyes? Why?

re: this article
Here we go again.
``The RSS has spearheaded the movement, successfully penetrating into the educational systems of both the grassroots and centralised regulatory commissions. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has fashioned an institutional umbrella that is having a damaging impact on education at the grassroots. The RSS has established Vanvasi Kalyan Parishads, Vivekananda Kendras, Sewa Bharatis and other groups to advance the ideological agenda of Hindu nationalism.``

``Created by the RSS in 1978, the Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan network focuses on moral, extracurricular and physical education for `mind, body and spirit`. The Vidya Bharati system supervises over 18,000 schools across India, with 1.8 million students and 80,000 teachers. A shared curriculum is used across the country. The Vidya Bharati operates 60 graduate institutions.``

``Known as Shiksha Vikas Samiti, Vidya Bharati directs 391 Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools with 111,000 students in Orissa. The RSS has constructed a network of educational institutions across the state.``

``The RSS holds month long training sessions across Orissa during summer vacations to attract students and young children. From these sessions, the RSS recruits for the Officers Training Camps (OTC). Held twice a year, the OTC provides schooling in self-defense and leadership. Around 500 people attend each year. On completion, approximately100 join the organisation as campaigners. Graduates take an oath, ``I will devote my body, mind, and money (tana, mana, bhana) to the motherland.``

I re-read the above statements many times. I find nothing wrong here. If this is what RSS is doing, kudos to it. I feel proud of RSS.

Sridhar

re: Angana Chatterji

Thanks for an eye-opening article. You deserve praise for not getting cowered by some of your irredentist co-nationals who would like the world to condemn Islamic fundamentalists (who don`t have access to WMD yet) and turn a blind eye to Hindu fundamentalists (who already have access to WMD).

Patriotic Indians must wake up and smell the coffee before its too late to stop India from the ``hara-kari`` that Khushwant Singh and millions of secular Indians dread.

#4 AnOrdinaryHindu

If I was Angana, I would call you anOrdinaryFascist. Because, you see every hindu is first of all a fascist. It is their nature and happens automatically at birth.

Why? Because Marx said so. Also because some hindu texts from 500 BC describe something called caste system. This is a very bad thing, it is worse than the slavery and genocide described in the old testament, it is worse than the instruction to murder all non-muslims given in Koran.

Black african slaves were available for sale in Saudi Arabia till 1920. All ``advanced`` western countries had official racist laws till the 1960`s. But it is only the hindus who are naturally fascist. Even though, as soon as India became independent in 1947, it instituted the world`s largest affirmative action program for its oppressed minorities. This was a full 20 years before the great advanced western countries did anything for their minorities.

Strange isn`t it? But then thats Angana devi`s unique form of looniness...

[on-sarcasm]
Teaching people sanskrit !! Uggh, what a disgusting thought. Teaching people nationalism

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Graduates take an oath, ``I will devote my body, mind, and money (tana, mana, bhana) to the motherland

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I am going to have to throw up. All this hindu stuff is naturally anti-indian.
[off-sarcasm]

The fundamentalist marxist and admirer of mass murderer Stalin/Mao/Charu Mazumdar strikes again. As always, the villain of the piece is anyone that has anything to do with hindu culture. Why? Because it is naturally fascist. Madressahs are A-OK; convents are fine; missionaries are great. But propagating hindu traditions

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thats just plain wrong. Nuff said.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

This article is automatically synthesized by a Marxintosh computer program. It is full of rhetoric such as ``At the intersections of globalisation and hyper nationalism, Hindutva intervenes, unravelling the fragile fabric of democracy``.

There are innuendoes that these schools and their organizers teach or do something bad, without saying what that bad is; i.e., some examples would hit the spot. Perhaps some interactors can contribute here with examples.

Author laments about teaching of Sanskrit, perhaps because she does not know it and hence does incorrect translation (tana, mana and dhana translates to body, mind and money). Most Indian languages have basis in Sanskrit, certainly Oriya, and hence its not clear why Sanskrit teaching wipes out the native language.

Regarding education being communal: major private education institutions in India have been very much community oriented: take example of bombay, the names of schools are obvious in some cases of the community they serve. Anjuman-E-Islam, Dadar Parsee, Jai-Hind and KC College, Sitaram Prakash (Sindhis), Gurathi Kelavani (Mithibai college with it’s a/c cafeteria), South Indian Education Society, Guru-Nanak Khalas College….on and on. These communities think that they need to teach their kids so they raise educational institutes for them. (Perhaps the author wishes to have a Patrick Lubumba University)

So anyways, it was interesting to see that HisExcellency found every thing form WMDs to death of several million dead seculars in this article. It`s not obvious, perhaps he can show how.

Learning in Saffron is bad.

Learning in Red is good.

This is the simple logic of Angana Chatterji and Marxists like her.

pmishra2 #5: ``it is worse than the instruction to murder all non-muslims given in Koran.``

Could you substantiate this with some translations/explanations?

Are you seriously suggesting that Muslims are instructed to kill all non-Muslims? Based on that, are all the Muslims, like myself, who haven`t yet killed a non-Muslim (much less all non-Muslims) committing a sin by not killing them? Could you highlight exactly how we should kill the non-Muslims? Are we supposed to shoot them? Kill them with a knife? Gas them? Kill them in mob violence?

I would like to know, since I work regularly with non-Muslims, and must be committing a sin by not killing them. And there are millions of non-Muslims in Pakistan, and while they are discriminated against, none have been killed by the remaining Muslim population. Also, if you and I meet somewhere, should I be planning to kill you?

Do you fear Muslims, when you meet them in India, since according to your understanding of their religion, they are all instructed to kill you?

Or are you merely trying to gloss over the points made in this article, by bringing in other religions unnecessarily. After all, this is not a comparative religion article. It is specifically about Hinduism, Hinduvta, and the RSS and its influence in Orissa.

re:#10 by Romair
To answer the question posed by Romair to Mishraji, let me say that nowhere in the hindu religious texts does it say: kill anyone who does not belong to hindu religion (or kill the kafir).
Whereas, if one were to believe some experts (strongly denied of course by others), such a thing exists in Qoran. I have yet to see any Qoranic scholar come out openly and say that what Osama bin Laden is doing is unislamic. No Islamic scholar has ex-communicated him so far. OTOH, OBL is a revered figure among muslims and has a high popularity rating among Paksitanis.
What does all this tell you?
That teachings of Qoran have been misused in the past (and are being misused at present) and nobody is there to question the culprits. Qoran rests on the basic premise that it is sacred and holy and that it should not be questioned, even if some of its teachings sound archaic and cannot be applied to modern times (eg blasphemy laws). This is where it differs from Hinduism. Hindus have not hesitated in consecrating Vedas to the dustbin (vedas are still considered sacred but that is another matter) because few can understand them and fewer still can make any sense out of them. The so called ``manusmritis`` (often quoted by my Paki friends to embarass hindus) also belongs to the dustbin. Nothing is sacred if it does not serve the purpose for which it is meant.

Now coming to present times, RSS is not doing anything wrong. If it is instilling a strong sense of patriotism and if that is being done by inculcating strong value system among the youth, then it is a good thing. I did not find this author substantiating her claims that what RSS is doing is going to result in any communal problems. Just teaching children to be better ``hindus`` is not a cause for concern. One thing though is clear: BJP and RSS may sound the death knell for communists in future. This is what Ms Angana objects to.
Sridhar

Hi Excellency:

I am surprised to see you applaud a Marxist. Do you think you would applaud her for similar rhetoric on Pakistan. If I remember correctly, you actually had said you were entirely comfortable with the VHP/RSS agenda in India.

Looks like we are all bhangra-paoing here while the bride is nowhere to be seen. What is the point of publishing her highly controversial articles again and again when she is unavailable to defend her facts or analysis?

Rsridhar #11,

I am not a leftist by any means, but find the personal attacks on Angana Chatterji
by various interactors here to be completely misplaced and for once agree with
Romair. This article has nothing to do with Islam or its apparent malevolence. It
is entirely about RSS and its impact in Orissa, and one should focus on that.

The RSS is a fascist organization with the usual dreams of pure races and cultures
and fantasies of righteous violence. It has all the overt shades of the Nazi party -
inculcating a strange sort of cultural discipline amongst the youth which can be
conveniently appealed to. Any organization promoting militant nationalism does it.
It also defines a very tangible ``other`` that is vilified. Hinduism has nothing do with
any of this - it just happens to be the convenient label here.

Asking people to be ``better Germans dedicated to their Fatherland`` seemed rather
innocuous at first, I am sure.

re: #12 by stuka

++
If I remember correctly, you actually had said you were entirely comfortable with the VHP/RSS agenda in India.
++

I applaud Chatterjee for calling a spade a spade. The VHP/RSS harps on Hindutva but its political offspring (the BJP) oscillates between secularism and Hindutva. Under the camera lights of US/EU media, LK Advani, Yashwant Sinha and Vajpayee pose as secularists. The moment Vajpayee enters a VHP meeting, he suddenly switches gears and calls himself a ``swayamsevak``. Why wear two different masks?

++
That teachings of Qoran have been misused in the past (and are being misused at present) and nobody is there to question the culprits. Qoran rests on the basic premise that it is sacred and holy and that it should not be questioned, even if some of its teachings sound archaic and cannot be applied to modern times (eg blasphemy laws).
++

Firstly, the Quran is not unique in this sense. The Bible itself was misused by the Church before the Protestant movement to generate income for the clergy. Ferdinand and Isabella invoked religion to exterminate their political opponents in Spain. After cleansing Spain of Jews and Moors (Muslims), they turned their attention on other Christians as well.

All religions are susceptible to politicization, not just Islam. Gandhi himself invoked religion to achieve political ends during the freedom movement. Concepts like ahimsa (nonviolence) and satyagarh (spiritual struggle) were culled directly from religious traditions. From Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush, all U.S. presidents describe their political goals in terms of ``good`` and ``evil``. This is just smart politics. It has nothing to do with the essence of Bible, Quran or any other religious scripture.

As for your statement that ``Qoran rests on the basic premise that it is sacred and holy and that it should not be questioned, even if some of its teachings sound archaic and cannot be applied to modern times (eg blasphemy laws)``... it is completely incorrect.

Muslims are encouraged to study the Quran and debate it. Although the Arabic text of the Quran has not changed in the last 14 centuries, there are today almost 72 sects of Islam. Clearly, the same Arabic verse means different things to different people. If everybody blindly accepted the Quran, there wouldn`t be so many different interpretations, would there?

Quran is neither archaic nor inapplicable to modern times. In fact, it is the fastest growing religion in the world especially in the U.S. and Europe (which BTW are not archaic societies). The Blasphemy law doesn`t stop people like Salman Rushdie from research or critical analysis of Quran, Muhammad and his companions. It just prevents people like Rushdie from minting money by pillorying Islam and insulting the sensibilities of 1.3 billion Muslims by resorting to half-truths and stereotypes. Societies become modern and civilized through research, inquiry and critical inquiry... not through half-truths and stereotypes.

True reformers like Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Imam Ghazali, Shah Walliullah and Gandhi did not indulge in crass pillorying of their faiths... because then nobody takes you seriously.

Since Pakistan is an Islamic state by choice and popular consent, it is obliged to enact laws that respect the religious sensibilities of its citizens. Therefore, the blasphemy law is not unfair in principle. The only problem with the law is in its modalities. At present, an FIR may be lodged against a person simply on the basis of a complaint, without verifying the facts of the complaint. When an FIR is lodged, the Police is obliged to take the accused into custody. This results in unnecessary stigma and legal hassles. If a magistrate could verify the facts of the complaint, 99% of the complaints will be thrown out of the window.