(hindustantimes.com)
Some of my best friends are Muslim. At the height
of the American struggle for racial equality
it became a badge of honour for whites to proclaim
that some of their best friends were black.
An unequivocal denial of racism, however stereotypical,
rang a public message that eventually crept
into American consciousness. No such badge of
honour resounds in the Hindu's contentious relationship
with his 'second class' Muslim friend. If anything,
the reverse seems to be true. I am Hindu, and
some of my best friends are Hindus, is the new
social yardstick, an indefensible position of
honour.
According to the RSS, the grand shakhas - the
madrassas of Hinduism - will restore 'first
class' status, and make Hindus proud of their
ancient heritage. New curriculums can be set
to 'correct' history under the guise of Indian
culture. When the legacy of Hindu Rashtra has
no direct lineage, a host of tertiary probables
can be drawn into the picture: India had metallurgy
and astrophysics long before the Nobel Committee
in Stockholm decided on its awards; it was an
advanced and settled society while the Europeans
were barbarians. India was shining while the
world was in darkness?In undoing historical
fact, the idea is not to give you details of
the
metallurgical science of the time, or to state
specifics of prevailing astrophysics, but only
to record that they existed. Pride is in the
mere statement of their existence.
Ironically, the reasoning of racial and religious
purity is decidedly misplaced in a world increasingly
without borders. The idea of asserting a Hindu
identity in Hindu India is all the more ironic,
or moronic, given that a majority population
of 82 per cent should feel 'threatened' and
'second class'. It matters little that the other
18 per cent are dispersed unevenly across a
country of continental size and that none among
them is united enough to form a cohesive political
force. But nevertheless, for the sake of Hindu
pride, they pose a threat.
It is easy to sense the hokey nationalism that
fans this unease and paranoia in India. Yet,
amongst the staunchest supporters of the Hindu
Rashtra are Indian Americans - a strange breed
of Indian whose allegiance to the motherland
seems to get strengthened by distance. The greater
the time spent abroad and the more the money
earned, fills the departed with a sense of acute
longing. In suburban Ohio, and downtown Milwaukee,
self-styled saviours gather every week in local
community centers and high school auditoria
to express their love for Hindu India.
To look beyond their adopted home for a grander
agenda: Save India. Nehru's definition of secularism
as an equality of religions in which the state
plays no part is anathema to them. They are
more at ease with the RSS idea that Hinduism
incorporates all faiths, and so, all Indians
are Hindus. Whether the Muslims, Sikhs and Christians
like it or not, they are just another kind of
Hindu.
To be part of the wealthy Diaspora in the US
means that you can assert your Hindu identity
without fear of repraisal. After all, your neighbour
Fred is a white Anglo Saxon Protestant, whose
bigotry can hardly be directed towards someone
he can't understand, nor cares to.
The nearest Muslim is in Cheltenham, 12 miles
away and he is probably busy organising his
own hate group. So, Hindus can meet regularly
over a vegetarian Sunday barbeque and discuss
Hindu rights and way of life, (polish their
trishuls) over mushroom pakoras, even watch
a new Bachchan flick on the DVD.
I chanced upon a meeting of the Boston branch
of the HSS, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, at
the Framingham Community Center, while on a
recent visit. It was a Saturday morning and
I saw the devout arriving in their Chevys and
Hondas. Brown Americans in a relaxed weekend
mood.
But once they had walked into the hall, something
changed. Like middle- aged boy scouts, they
became possessed; their tan Bermudas began to
resemble RSS' khaki shorts. They were now Hindus
addressing the crisis of religion far away.
The main function of the American shakhas I
was told, was to unite the Hindus of America
and create a brotherhood of saffron.
"Length of residence is the only measure
of belonging," the leader explained. "Hindus
are the natural sons of Hindustan". Home
was a birthright by ancestory. By that reasoning,
the man claiming to be the rightful owner of
India, would never have rights in his adopted
country, not even in the county elections. The
wooden floor of the basketball court had begun
to resound with recrimination and fear: factors
that united these and other HSS members spread
in 24 states across America.
I sat behind my host, Bimal Dasgupta, a researcher
at the Harvard Medical School, and wondered
what drew self-respecting people like him -
teachers, bankers, businessmen - into such mindless
baby talk. Was it merely a weekend distraction,
or something more sinister? Was there really
a grand design, like Hitler's, or was this just
another way of grasping at a homeland that they
had themselves spurned.
My own friend, before he left for the US, was
only mildly religious, and a liberal who had
spoken out, if only in private, against the
Babri Masjid demolition and the Sikh riots.
But 12 years in America had changed him. A life
confined to suburban comfort needed an intellectual
outlet. The Iraq war, the US support of Israel,
were of little consequence to someone who still
sent part of his pay to his mother in Kolkata.
Hindu activism was a better bet. Getting together
every week in a gym or community centre, with
a group of similarly inclined men in baggy shorts,
was a form of communion, a reason to exist.
By making it all happen in a suburban setting,
ten thousand miles away, the issues could be
discussed in their fullness, and happily resolved
to perfection, away from the messy overlapping
reality of India. An ideal country was being
created every weekend in suburban America.
The meeting lasted two hours. Its moderator
Anand Paranjpe, a youth member of the RSS in
Mumbai before he got his green card and moved
his family to Boston: "The shakhas also
help second generation Indian Americans connect
with their traditions". I was hard pressed
to find anyone younger than 50 among the 22
paunchy men. The second generation was probably
on the baseball field or doing drugs.
The meeting proceeded. Rajesh Desai of Cambridge
brought up the issue of slander. Baltimore Sun
had raised doubts on the Indian claim on Kashmir.
The group felt that questioning the ownership
of Kashmir wasn't only un-American, but also
un-Hindu. Karan Rastogi of Wellesley suggested
they sue the paper. A member said that the Milwaukee
shakha had just elected a Punjabi motel chain
owner to head it: His son, apparently was a
cause of family distress having married a white
American. They talked of the Muslim riots in
Meerut?
In all the talk, the continual barbs against
the minorities, and the perpetual references
to Hindu tradition, all I could sense was the
abject loneliness of the naturally gregarious
Indian living the American suburban life. Hatred
of the Muslims was a unifying condition; outside
the trimmed lawns and manicured hedges, it gave
meaning to life. As much meaning as Neo-Nazism,
and the Ku Klux Klan.
Midway through the discussions, the wives appeared
with samosas, chutney and paper plates and set
up the table along the sidelines of the basketball
court. One of them, set a saffron flag on the
table along the samosa plates, something her
husband forgot to take for the military-like
initiation of the meeting. As the circle broke
and everyone rushed to the food, the picture
focused and the HSS revealed its true self:
just a bunch of kranky old farts in baggy shorts
with nothing better to do than change the world
every weekend.
(The writer is a renowned architect and a published
author)
sacw.net | 27 January 2007
http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/bhatiaJan07.html
