The Alt-Left Balks At The Idea Of Hindu Celebration And Revival

Born and living in the belief system of Sanatana Dharma, I had more than a passing interest in this year’s World Hindu Congress (WHC) in Chicago, which is known for many things besides President Obama, Al Capone, and the over 2,069 shootings this year alone (with at least 365 dead). It is also where Swami Vivekananda delivered two succinct, inspiring lectures at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions that defined a West-facing, English-palatable view of Sanatana Dharma. What Vivekananda did for India is far deeper and more extensive: he still inspires the ethic of self-help, and his exhortation to Indians to “Arise, awake, and stop not until the goal is reached” is still very much resonant!

Indians understood that he was asking them to get the imperialist oppressors out of the country. Alas, today, Vivekananda’s followers are still being attacked by the shills for the imperialists and other enemies, for seeking to wake up and raise their brethren from poverty, ignorance, and misfortune. One of those hatchet jobs, a kind of scavenger hunt by a “thirty-year veteran journalist,” sought to paint the WHC as a Hindutva strategy meeting. The very idea of a WHC seemed to have raised this journalist’s ire.

The headline and the lead paragraph stated her main complaint: “The WHC has been painted as an ‘ideas’ fest rather than an effort at Hindu revival, but the list of speakers clearly shows that the idea is to promote Hinduism and Hindutva.” Excuse me, but did Sirohi expect that the World Hindu Congress was a bash organised by The Hindu newspaper, and the (Indian National) Congress, rather than promoting Hinduism and Hinduness? If so, it must have been a bitter disappointment to not see representatives from the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI, aka People’s War Group), etc.

The author made much of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) declining to attend the WHC after considering being chair of the conference. It is mystifying to me why Gabbard’s office thought that she had the time for that, and small wonder that she pulled out, with a fig-leaf excuse. But it has opened the door for malicious speculation and gossip, mostly aimed to destroy her political career, which the Alt-Left has taken aim at. And in this context, and as surviving chairperson from a much tinier conference, I have a very simple piece of advice to anyone who had doubts about attending: “If you have hang-ups about who else is attending, don’t!” There is no other way to run a global conference.

Sirohi rants about the Vice President of India attending the WHC, and wonders what would happen if Indian leaders attended a “World Islamic Conference” . Well, there is a World Muslim Conference (WMC), and whose secretary general looks after the head office, located in Karachi, Pakistan, and publishes reports like the 160-page report on “human-rights abuses in India-administered Kashmir.”

Indian representatives would have some reservations about world Islamic gatherings since the Rabat Conference SNAFU of 1969.

Facts About The RSS, Anyone?

Ok, let’s get serious. Sirohi seems to have severe hang-ups about the participation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the WHC. That sentiment is widely shared in London and in Cambridge (both the United Kingdom and Massachusetts towns), not to mention in Islamabad and in Beijing. The RSS was formed in 1925, two years after the British Raj imposed the Hindu Temples Act. The RSS conveyed the message that Indians had to learn to stand up and fend for themselves. The British hated the RSS, and hounded and tortured its sympathisers, and sent them to the Andaman Islands to rot to death if the beatings did not hasten death. The Andaman prisons was the British Raj version of the Soviet Gulag or Mao’s or Pol Pot’s “Re-Education Camps”. But neither that nor the century of harassment by corrupt Indian politicians, and stupid or malicious reporters, has stopped the RSS.

The RSS has had their hands full since 1947. The Partition genocides and the Pakistani invasion of Jammu-Kashmir and the Northern Areas saw the RSS gain experience in tending to the victims and carrying the genocide victims for cremation, and providing any meager relief to the traumatised survivors. This work and experience became institutionalised in a tradition of emergency response and service that makes them world leaders in disaster relief and rehabilitation today. And that surely puts a “burr in the butt” of many entities who, we are told, bring in their Bibles and the “change of religion” forms on the first plane to land, in a country after any natural disaster. It causes “cognitive dissonance” among those who become billionaires from politics.
Recently someone put up a small website listing several reports highlighting the work of the RSS volunteers that you will never see from the author that piece on the WHC.

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

What is much more disturbing here is the lack of objectivity, and malicious reporting by Sirohi. She cites an “accusation” of plagiarism against Rajiv Malhotra, whom she labels the “Ayn Rand of Hindutva”. She cannot (honestly) deny knowing that this accusation of plagiarism was investigated, rebutted, and laughed off, and that the targeted book is very much in print and in demand. Sirohi’s sneaky use of this “accusation” canard, while ignoring the outcome, shows her contempt for the truth.

Sadly such behaviour is all too common among certain desi “intellectuals” and “journalists”.

Sirohi’s incredibly pompous sneering at Sankrant Sanu and speculating that his presence at WHC “…may have been the last straw for Congresswoman Gabbard” is much balderdash that must be called out for its sheer “fake quotient”. She writes that Sanu is described as “…an entrepreneur, writer and researcher – all terms that can stretch to fit any profile or non-activity. A search revealed a video Sanu made where he calls himself an Art of Living instructor.”

Hope someone can show her how to search for “About – Sankrant.Org” and find out about his engineering/computer background, his entrepreneurship, his work for Microsoft, and his deep study of how learning in native languages helps the student retain information better.

Let us summarise: the WHC celebrates Vivekananda’s inclusive tradition, while emphasising his call to nationalist action. Participants include the world’s largest and most effective emergency response and relief organisation. A US Congresswoman decides not to attend, after the usual Alt-Left Energizer bunnies raised a political ruckus and spooked her staff with elections two months away. Many others attended, including the Vice President of India. Some Indian politicians, even the BJP ones, decided to not attend, out of respect for the non-political nature of the conference. Among the attendees were intellectuals, writers, speakers who have been very active in studying and sharing the vast storehouse of Hinduism and Indian culture. What part of the above should alarm honest journalists or students of a vibrant community?

Indeed, a mind is such a terrible thing to waste. While they are welcome to their opinions, my problem with these shills and hacks is that their entire lives appear to be devoted to putting sand in the mouths of those whose sole hope for a future is the work being done by quiet, low-key organisations like the RSS in India. About which, and about those who work they write with such derision, such supercilious arrogance and utter dishonesty. This is so because these men and women are coming off a lifetime of privilege and snootiness and a sense of entitlement. Let us call out the nonsense and its peddlers.

Satyam Eva Jayate.

Narayanan Komerath writes from metro Atlanta, USA and is a co-author of the book: “Sanatana Dharma: Introduction to Hinduism”. Amazon books, 2015.