By Hermann Jung
IT is not only in India that the ?secular? writers shoot their bolt to defame Hindus, but in the Western world too there are of their likes who have launched a campaign of calumny against Hindus. One such example is an article, entitled ?Indische Sittenwachter? (Indian Moralisers) by Jochen Buchsteiner, published in a German national weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) in the June 20, 2004 issue. One can gauge the extent the writer has tarnished the image of Hindus by using such terms in the article as ?the spectre of Hindutva or re-Indianisation?, ?turning back to the alleged Hindu roots?, ?RSS, an anti-Muslim counter movement against Mahatma Gandhi'sCongress?, etc. The Gujarat riots in the wake of Godhra have been reported without their cause, i.e. the burning alive of Hindu pilgrims in a train. Terrorists shot by the police are termed ?victims? and measures taken by the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Uma Bharti like banning of the sale and consumption of eggs and meat at holy places, stronger efforts towards protection of cows, etc, have been ridiculed. Therefore, what strikes the informed readers in the West is that, more than before, things that in the national life of an average independent country are considered normal are viewed as abnormal and even dangerous. However, during the end of nineties, India-friendly reports appeared in the Western media but after a short span, a deterioration and a dangerous development has been witnessed, which can only be countered by a pungent satirical rejoinder to the writers to remove their misconceptions. It is heartening that a German himself, Hermann Jung, sent a rejoinder to the writer of the above-mentioned article to clarify, point-by-point, his misconceptions.
Jochen writes in column two of the article that ?the BJP stems from the RSS, a cadre organisation formed long before Independence as a mainly anti-Muslim force and a counter-movement against M. Gandhi'sCongress?. In response to this, Herman Jung writes in his rejoinder to Jochen that it was certainly a rash step of Dr Hedgewar to found the RSS in the twenties in order to strengthen and discipline the Hindu society. Stating that he (Jochen) must have belonged to those who could not comprehend that the disorganised Hindu society is plainly unsuitable for our time, Shri Jung points out that it has to yield to the much better equipped systems from the West, which are making good use of the present state of Hinduism, converting its followers, thus forming them into a mass much better suited to ?modern? manners.
In regard to Jochen'sconclusion that ?Gujarat developed into a bloody workshop of Hindu nationalism when CM Modi gave free rein for pogroms against Muslims?, Shri Jung writes: ?The picture of a ?biased? Modi seems to be correct. Among the 37,000 arrested, the two-third were Hindus, among the 800 killed, just one quarter were Hindus and of the 140 persons shot by the police, 80 belonged to the majority community. This kill ratio is far too ?favourable? for the ?unbelievers? (Hindus), and CM Modi should have done his duty to increase this ratio.
?Moreover, why count the ?kafirs? at all if they are killed? It is their fate, they have to somehow disappear from the face of the Earth, so we are told by millions of copies of ?the holy books? distributed all over the world. Meanwhile, the fact that lakhs of ?kafirs? driven out of Kashmir, Bangladesh and Pakistan seem to have lost all chances of reaching the world media, which betrays an admirable degree of co-ordination on the part of the latter.?
Referring to article'scolumn five, in which Jochen writes: ?Recently Modi'ssecurity forces in Ahmedabad shot four persons who allegedly belonged to the Pakistani terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba and who were said to have attempted to kill the CM. But doubts are growing since journalists and the police in Bombay (sic) started investigation. At least one of the victims, 19-year-old student Ishrat Jehan Raza, is considered innocent?, Shri Jung writes that he understands that in order to fight the influence of Hindu nationalists it becomes necessary to present the above four persons as ?alleged? members of Lashkar-e-Toiba and the girl student as ?innocent? (never mind the preceding seven months? police investigation and observation; this can easily be hushed up).
In response to the derision of the earlier-mentioned measures taken by the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharti, Shri Jung poignantly and sarcastically says that the CM of Madhya Pradesh seems to be an ?obstinate? Hindu. This becomes clear from the fact that Leftist Indian as well as, shortly after, conservative Western media devote so much space to her.
And, Shri Jung thinks, if this wonderfully co-ordinated campaign is to meet with some success then they (the ?secular? and Western media) have to conceal that Uma Bharati is an OBC, that in barely seven months in office she stabilised the power supply, connected over 1000 villages to pucca roads, did a lot for eradication of unemployment and for school meals, etc.?all this must be hushed up because the image of a BJP with a ?paramilitary wing?, the ?Brahmin-dominated? RSS, whose members ?suppress? and ?terrorise? dalits and non-Hindus, must be kept alive to guarantee best results.
Laying about the Western media in general and the German media in particular, Shri Jung writes: ?Our media are bound to feel outraged at hearing about this woman being determined, in spite of globalisation gaining momentum everywhere, to ban the sale and consumption of meat and eggs at holy places. So it will become all the more necessary to support those circles that permitted the Burger and Kentucky Fried Chicken culture to make its entry into Indian cities, which must make many a moderniser happily rejoice in the prospect of this fantastic food with its fragrance reaching places of pilgrimage in India (just as has been the case for centuries in the Christian West).?
Rapping on the knuckles of the present UPA government for rescinding what the BJP-led NDA government had initiated, for example, dismissing, experienced politicians simply because they belong to the RSS, Shri Jung affirms that all this is being done with the help of no less than seven ministers with criminal charges against them and a host of other MPs of a similar calibre. The contribution of these people in the political mopping-up operations will certainly be especially effective and thorough.
(This piece is based on the rejoinder by Hermann Jung sent to German national weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. Mr Hermann Jung can be contacted at Siedlung Grafenheide 48, D-33729 Bielefeld, Germany, Tel. +0521-762058, E-mail: [email protected])
