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Hindu Radicals Pose Terrorist Challenge to the Sub-Continent

Deflections To The Right

A few fund-raising organisations come under the scanner for diverting overseas charity money into RSS propaganda activity

A.K. SEN

Kanwal Rekhi has been facing the ire of right-wing Hindus across America.

This is because in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, Rekhi, global chairman of The IndUS Entrepreneurs, an organisation of South Asian businesspeople, claimed that money collected by Indian Hindus in America and sent to religious groups in India was being channelled to target minorities. "Many overseas Indian Hindus—including some in this country—finance religious groups in India in the belief that the funds will be used to build temples, and educate and feed the poor of their faith. Many would be appalled to know that some recipients of their money are out to destroy minorities (Christians as well as Muslims) and their places of worship," wrote Rekhi in the article, co-authored with Henry S. Rowen, a professor emeritus at Stanford University and senior fellow of the Hoover Institution.

They suggested that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee could deal a severe blow to such covert causes by simply labelling them terrorists.

Hyderabad's Keshava Sewa Samiti, one of IDRF's beneficiaries, has the same add ress as the local RSS HQ; the BKP's Delhi address is where the VHP operates from.

Their claims—of right-wing Hindu groups diverting funds from the US to finance divisive activities in India—were articulated in respected academic Robert M. Hathaway's recent testimony (see interview) before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Hathaway asked the commission to recommend an inquiry into fund-raising activities in the US by groups implicated in the recent violence in Gujarat. He told the commission that "some US residents make financial contributions to overseas religious groups in the belief that these funds are to be used for religious or humanitarian purposes, when in fact the monies so raised are used to promote religious bigotry".

The India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) is among the most prominent of charity groups involved in raising funds in the US, much of which ends up bankrolling outfits in India that are connected to Hindutva through the umbilical cord of the RSS. A Maryland couple, Vinod and Sarla Prakash, established the IDRF in 1978, and speak of their role in the upliftment of adivasis in India.

An ex-employee of the World Bank and a former RSS member, Vinod Prakash claims the RSS doesn't accept any foreign contributions. He declares emphatically, "The IDRF has given absolutely no money to the RSS. We deal only with NGOs involved in relief and rehabilitation."

Outlook investigations, though, show irrefutable RSS links of some organisations that the IDRF funds. This is what makes a social activist from the San Francisco Bay Area, Raju Rajagopal, remark acerbically, "If you claim to have nothing to do with it when you actually do, it becomes a matter of transparency. After working hand-in-glove for years, Sangh parivar outfits in the US can't suddenly try to distance themselves from the VHP-Bajrang Dal. They have left footprints all over the Internet."

Not only do footprints exist, so does incriminating evidence of the IDRF's duplicity. Precisely what has goaded Rekhi and Hathaway to demand investigations into the fund-raising activities of Hindutva groups in the US. The IDRF, for instance, has donated $2,50,000 in the last four years to Sewa Bharati Madhyakshetra, an RSS affiliate, which claims to "protect the tribal people from subversion, and integrate them into the mainstream". Again, the Keshava Sewa Samithi in Hyderabad, to which the IDRF has sent $40,000 since 1998, has the same address as the RSS headquarters in the city.

When confronted with the Sangh antecedents of Sewa Bharati, Prakash quickly retracted from his earlier position to say, "I am aware of the RSS-VHP affiliations of some organisations we fund." He then went on dismiss such links as a non-issue.

But Sewa Bharati isn't the only RSS-linked recipient of the IDRF's munificence.For instance, the IDRF lists a sister organisation called the Ekal Vidyalaya. Incidentally, the Ekal Vidyalaya was started by the VHP under the aegis of the Bharat Kalyan Pratishthan (BKP), and has now been taken over by the Sri Vivekananda Rural Development Society (SVRDS). The IDRF funds both the BKP and the SVRDS.

The BKP's history is in itself quite interesting. Since the VHP did not have the necessary clearance to accept funds from overseas, it set up the BKP for this purpose, receiving $81,750 from the IDRF since 1998.

Human Rights Watch had linked the attack on Christians in tribaI areas to the increased activity of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams, another recipient of IDRF funds.


In a message dated February 14, 1999, now posted on the Internet, US-based S.P. Attri says he had written a letter to VHP leader Ashok Singhal enquiring about the method of sending donations from the US to the VHP. Attri reveals that in response he received a letter on March 23, 1998, from Sitaram Agarwal, all-India secretary,



VHP, acknowledging that his organisation "needs money and lots of it to carry out shuddhi and seva and dharam prasar for the tribals, Harijans and the Dalits".

Agarwal's problem was that under existing rules, the VHP couldn't accept foreign donations without the government's permission. The VHP, however, had shrewdly found a way out, a fact Agarwal confessed in his March 23 letter. As Attri writes, "To get around the problem of GoI rules hurdle, VHP has floated a trust under the name of 'Bharat Kalyan Pratishthan' and VHP can now accept foreign money in the name of this trust, provided the donor accompanies his donation with a letter stipulating that 'this money is to be used for the Welfare of the Tribals and the Dalits'."

The address Agarwal recommended for NRI Hindus to send money to is revealing: Secretary, Bharat Kalyan Pratishthan, Sankat Mochan Ashram, Sector-VI, Rama Krishna Puram, New Delhi-110 022, India. This is precisely the address from where the VHP operates in Delhi.

This isn't all. The IDRF lists the Bharat Vikas Parishad and Sanskrit Bharati as sister organisations; both are listed on the RSS website that describes the many outfits it has spawned. In addition, some of IDRF's recipient organisations are headed by RSS activists. For instance, the Jeevan Dhara Rakt Foundation, to which the IDRF has sent approximately $45,000 since 1998, is run by Shyam Behari Lal, a businessman and a social worker. The foundation website lists Lal as a "Sampark Pramukh, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, Meerut Vibhag." Again, Dr Vishwamitra of the Kalyan Ashram, Shillong, belongs to the RSS while the Guwahati-based Shishu Shiksha Samiti is situated in Keshav Dham, which is the local RSS headquarters.

The IDRF also funds Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams (VKAS) and kendras to reconvert tribals to Hinduism. The IDRF's 'affiliate/sister' organisation in Sidumbar, Gujarat, the Hostel-Dispensary-Cultural Centre for Children and Nurseries, in its own literature, Amrut-Kumbha (Reservoir of Nectar), authored by one Dr Shantaram Hari Ketkar, says in a section on the Kalyan Ashram in Gujarat: "The Muslims are also trying to create chaos in these communities, either by enticing these tribals or by raping the tribal girls by force. The Kalyan Ashram at Sidumbar is trying to put a stop to these activities of Muslims as well as Christians.... The workers of Kalyan Ashrams are required to give a tough fight to the Christian missionaries because they keep on harassing the local residents." In its October 1999 report, Human Rights Watch linked the attack on Christians in tribal areas in India to the increased activity of the Kalyan Ashrams.

Prakash preens about his support to the VKAS in Ranchi and Bangalore. But the link between VKAS and reconversion raises serious questions here about why a "development" NGO should indulge in reconversion. Says Rajagopal, "It's one thing to feed tribals, but another to teach children that all Muslims are their enemies."

Adds Najid Hussain, a professor at the University of Delaware, whose father-in-law Ehsan Jaffri, a former Congress MP, was brutally murdered in the Gujarat violence, "Much of the money raised in the US is poured into so-called adivasi education programmes. Given that adivasis committed most of the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat, it's quite possible they are being brainwashed like the Al Qaeda members were at the madrassas." Hussain even told the US Commission on International Religious Freedom that nine out of every 10 dollars spent on fanning the communal frenzy in Gujarat came from the US and Europe.

Opposition to organisations like the IDRF stems from the fact that they operate under the garb of secular and non-political organisations when they are fronts for radical Hindu organisations in India. Says San Jose-based Shalini Gera, author of an online petition to the National Human Rights Commission condemning the Gujarat riots, "In such a scenario, several people who would otherwise not wish to fund RSS organisations unwittingly send money to the IDRF." Adds Rajagopal, "It is one thing if an NRI donor were to knowingly fund the RSS or the VHP. It would be his right. It is quite another if a donor is funding a 'front' organisation, without being aware that he may be bankrolling the RSS or VHP agenda."

Prakash, however, insists that every single person donating money to the IDRF knows where his/her contribution is going. "I am not a mediaperson, nor do we have a PR department. People should look at our published reports to know where their money is going." While many donors may be ignorant about the misuse of their donations, there are indeed a large number of people who consciously contribute to hardline Hindutva groups.

Rekhi says he was shocked to see many prominent Indian-American entrepreneurs on the list of donors to Hindu front organisations. As an affluent investor, Rekhi says he has always turned down repeated requests to contribute to such groups. Some Indians do, however, fall into the trap set by what Rekhi describes as slick talk and good packaging.

Admitting it is widely alleged that money collected by some Hindu organisations in the US go to extremist elements in India, Sumit Ganguly, a professor of Asian studies and government at the University of Texas, Austin, however, told the US Commission on International Religious Freedom that it would be unfair to tar and feather the entire community with the same brush. "Rumours are rife that money changes hands, but most people innocently send money to India. If indeed the money is going towards extremist propaganda, there is enough legal basis to put an end to the source," he says.

Connecticut-based lawyer Sunil Deshmukh attests that extreme right-wing Indian Hindus in America tend to be more staunch than those in India. "Their silence on the violence in Gujarat was deafening. What is more alarming is the feeling among them that with their money power, they can do anything."

For the moment, though, it seems their dollars could have fanned the communal conflagration in Gujarat. Considering the horrific nature of the violence there, and the role the Sangh outfits played in the carnage, the depositions before the US Commission isn't the last we have heard about the routing of greenbacks to India for extreme right-wing groups.

Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia>Communalism
 
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Let's be honest there is racism in India

Thanks, we are obliged with ur useful observation. But u really dont know the real story my friend.Only need to to flip the situation in which,
Afzal guru is a patriot, Bhagat singh and sadhvi Pragya are terrorists.
SIMI and Im are social service organisations and RSS and VHP are are terrorist organisations.
Godhra kand is accident, gujarat riots were preplanned.
15% muslims are humans and 85% hindusare insects.
Malegaon blasts are only blasts and other balasts are fire crackers.
reservations for muslims and general qouta dor hindus.
Crores of money for Haj pilgiammage and and nothing for amarnath yatra.
Supporting Islamoc terrorists is secularism and killing innocent Indians is Jihad and patriotism.
Babri masjid is issue and demishiment of 100s of hindu temple is development.
islam is god.s religion to follow, and hindus are kafirs.

there are 1000 of such jeopardies in which hindus are living in current India.
 
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Thanks, we are obliged with ur useful observation. But u really dont know the real story my friend.Only need to to flip the situation in which,
Afzal guru is a patriot, Bhagat singh and sadhvi Pragya are terrorists.
SIMI and Im are social service organisations and RSS and VHP are are terrorist organisations.
Godhra kand is accident, gujarat riots were preplanned.
15% muslims are humans and 85% hindusare insects.
Malegaon blasts are only blasts and other balasts are fire crackers.
reservations for muslims and general qouta dor hindus.
Crores of money for Haj pilgiammage and and nothing for amarnath yatra.
Supporting Islamoc terrorists is secularism and killing innocent Indians is Jihad and patriotism.
Babri masjid is issue and demishiment of 100s of hindu temple is development.
islam is god.s religion to follow, and hindus are kafirs.

U R so strange that u donot even think that those so called domolishing of Hindu mandirs by Muslims few hundred years ago. and now u want revenge from Indian Muslims who's parents might be Hindus at the time and destroyed a 500 years old monument, who knows one day u will destroy Taj mahal too. with wearied thought that u have.

Gohra was planned by your Hindu extremists to start roits in gujrat, would u think that any Muslim in his right mind would do it knowing that he lives in Hindu India. And u keep mentioning this even thought in many posts this has been proved to you.

what reservations for Muslims, u Kill them at any opportunity u get, UR country politician do weared things when help Muslims just to make a
browny point and not to help Muslims.

Hay all that money u spend on Muslim haj is it a favor, it is strange that they are your tax paying citizens and you are criticizing the money GOI pays for the haj, it looks that u hate Muslims living in India and singling them out for any thing u r mind can imagine. when we the Pakistanis talk about oppressions of Indian Muslims u take an offense to that saying that they are Indians and now u want to talk about Muslims in India.

In any of your talk about Indian patriots u never mention about Muslims only Hindus, do you know any Muslim Patriot in india that you can remember and talk about, how strange that u only mention Afzal who was threatened by U R India Army to attack parliament if not his family In kashmir will be killed. Let me teach u about God's Religion and I did not say this, great theologian have deducted this.

In a God's religion a Prophet is sent by God to the mankind, as he did with Adam, Ibrahim, Moses, Noah, Jesus, and Muhammad (P.B.All of Them.)and a book is revealed to them through Angel Gabriel, other beliefs are not brought by one Prophet rather changed by different people in the time span of the Religion and that my friend is not god's Religion only a belief started and is changed as seen fit by some not with divine power but on their whims. Divine powers are the same in each case as they are delivered by Angle Gabriel and are given to one chosen prophet at a time, no one can change it or revise it.

Now i am not certain but Buddha may fall into this category if he preached the belief in One God and no other deities. Non what so ever.

Let us see what u have to say about this. I am sure like other Indians u only have question, questions and more question except when making mockery of things about Pakistan and Islam, i have yet to see if Indians on this forum have any thing positive to talk about Islam and Pakistan.

Did i mention about the fact that I tried to go to your Bharat RAkshak and they refuse enlisting me saying that this name is not allowed to enlist as my name starts with Ahmed. What u have to say about this.since u r never short of word about Islam and Pakistan.
 
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Gohra was planned by your Hindu extremists to start roits in gujrat, would u think that any Muslim in his right mind would do it knowing that he lives in Hindu India. And u keep mentioning this even thought in many posts this has been proved to you.

ASQ: What happened in Gujrat was unpardonable. Innocent people lost lives to religious frenzy. God forgive me , im not justifying it, but it all started with burning of a train on 22nd December. It LATER turned out to be a accident as per banerjee comission ... but mob frenzy was raised on that day. Religion took precedenc over common sense. Rumors added to it. Rest is history.


what reservations for Muslims, u Kill them at any opportunity u get, UR country politician do weared things when help Muslims just to make a
browny point and not to help Muslims.
I agree with you partially. People getting killed in riots in one thing, but People like Modi (who is also the current CM) indulged in systematic cleansing by looking the other way when riots were happening. His party BJP was in center. Just what proof can you provide that can implicate a CM of a state? ... Two comissions were formed that looked into this. And as usual nobody came forward to testify against the CM. The legal comission formed, had to admit that there were no legal ground to prosecute Modi. He could not be Tried in court of law. This issue had rocked our assembly. Ultimately Modi had to resigned. But he again came to power (At that time gujrat was relatively poor and uneducated state ... people easily belived him once he gave them a one sided view of burning of the train and about how he will protect them against any such misadventure in future!). So you have a CM going unpunished for his crimes. Now being on the outside you may feel that this is discrimination. In a way it is.. but not on religious ground. Thats the way our community has suffered. Judiciary has its limitation in my country. The CJ of INDIA called Modi "Modern Day NERO". Politician have been slave to the power. You will find tons of such cases where people have gone ahead scot free. Please dont generalize this as a grass root bias towards muslim peopulation.[/QUOTE]

I am sure like other Indians u only have question, questions and more question except when making mockery of things about Pakistan and Islam, i have yet to see if Indians on this forum have any thing positive to talk about Islam and Pakistan.
Im not a frequent visitor .. but yet to see any indians mocking islam! yes, sentiments have run high on both the sides for respective country. But i dont think anyone has made expression on islam.


Did i mention about the fact that I tried to go to your Bharat RAkshak and they refuse enlisting me saying that this name is not allowed to enlist as my name starts with Ahmed. What u have to say about this.since u r never short of word about Islam and Pakistan.
Are you sure? Can you post a screenshot or something?
 
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ASQ: What happened in Gujrat was unpardonable. Innocent people lost lives to religious frenzy. God forgive me , im not justifying it, but it all started with burning of a train on 22nd December. It LATER turned out to be a accident as per banerjee comission ... but mob frenzy was raised on that day. Religion took precedenc over common sense. Rumors added to it. Rest is history.



I agree with you partially. People getting killed in riots in one thing, but People like Modi (who is also the current CM) indulged in systematic cleansing by looking the other way when riots were happening. His party BJP was in center. Just what proof can you provide that can implicate a CM of a state? ... Two comissions were formed that looked into this. And as usual nobody came forward to testify against the CM. The legal comission formed, had to admit that there were no legal ground to prosecute Modi. He could not be Tried in court of law. This issue had rocked our assembly. Ultimately Modi had to resigned. But he again came to power (At that time gujrat was relatively poor and uneducated state ... people easily belived him once he gave them a one sided view of burning of the train and about how he will protect them against any such misadventure in future!). So you have a CM going unpunished for his crimes. Now being on the outside you may feel that this is discrimination. In a way it is.. but not on religious ground. Thats the way our community has suffered. Judiciary has its limitation in my country. The CJ of INDIA called Modi "Modern Day NERO". Politician have been slave to the power. You will find tons of such cases where people have gone ahead scot free. Please dont generalize this as a grass root bias towards muslim peopulation.


Im not a frequent visitor .. but yet to see any indians mocking islam! yes, sentiments have run high on both the sides for respective country. But i dont think anyone has made expression on islam.



Are you sure? Can you post a screenshot or something?[/QUOTE]

That is where your Democracy has failed and has failed miserably, Every body including police had the facts, it is the duty of the police to arrest him and interogate him about the crime this is not a small matter that can be swept under the rug and taken lightly as u do,, in other cases in India police has held mock encounters and has killed even innocents, but in the case of modi police is protecting him, simple as that. who else wil come up when police is involved, i can say for sure that police is implicated and is protecting modi as he is a Hindu and is clearly known to every body in India as the one who not only supplied arm, but directed the killings, and no one want to come up, what a crock. But than this a norm in Indian as those who killed Sikhs during 80's are still at large even though every body knows who they are.

U may call it the biggest Democracy of the world i would call it a Stalinism.

Police is known to do this in India, as it stood by when Muslims in Gujarat were being killed, because they had the instructions from him, how would than police arrest him when police itself was the part of the crime.


what about the Religion i wrote, do you have anything to say to what i wrote. Yes I have seen it questioning by some Hindu about our prophets P.B.U.H. personal life, not only on this forum i see it on u tube, on every forum that i have had a chance to be on.

U guys never mention a thing about Muslim patriots in India, how come, tell your media, your Govt. and your people to be not so biased. But y u have million pages to talk about others.

Now I am applaud at what happened in Bombay, but those perpetrator were less than humans who killed innocents, but than Indian Army has been doing the same in kashmir and who's relatives has been killed in Kashmir have become irrational and are doing wrong things, but you will only realize if one of your relative is killed by Pakistani forces, i like to see how u will feel.

So my Friend let us put tings in prospect and call a spade spade and call on U.N. to help the oppressed wherever they're and whatever Religion they belong to. stop bringing in Israel, and U.S. and talk like a good neighbor do and solve all the problems by mutual and fair discussions.

About Bharat Rakshak i have not saves the screenshot, but i shall try again and we shall see.
 
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Im not a frequent visitor .. but yet to see any indians mocking islam! yes, sentiments have run high on both the sides for respective country. But i dont think anyone has made expression on islam.



Are you sure? Can you post a screenshot or something?


That is where your Democracy has failed and has failed miserably, Every body including police had the facts, it is the duty of the police to arrest him and interogate him about the crime this is not a small matter that can be swept under the rug and taken lightly as u do
Yes, its not a small matter. I agree democracy failed when person like Modi is not bought to justice. But If you re-read my post, i said modi was investigated By two seprate comission and nobody testified AGAINST him. There was no legal ground to prosecute him. Now on what basis will you arrest a CM against which comission could not locate witness (A witness that says "Yes, modi asked us to look other side"). Again remember he was the CM. With his own party BJP in power. Who will bell the cat? Only small good thing was that due to outroar he had to resign.

in other cases in India police has held mock encounters and has killed even innocents, but in the case of modi police is protecting him, simple as that.
Whats with encounter thing? if you mean incident of an Innocent couple being killed by police in encounters in Gujrat?. As usual they needed to catch the culprits for the train fire. And they did that by rounding up a innocent muslim couple. But i think IHRC took Gujrat police to task for that. The police comissioner (or some senior officers) were found guilty in trial and are in jail. IHRC could not pin Modi for this. We can only pray that he will be bought to justice for his crimes someday.

what police officer will arrest CM of his state? .. he was the CM, he dictated the police in Gujrat.


what about the Religion i wrote, do you have anything to say to what i wrote.
What has religion got to to do with this anyway?
 
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Yes, its not a small matter. I agree democracy failed when person like Modi is not bought to justice. But If you re-read my post, i said modi was investigated By two seprate comission and nobody testified AGAINST him. There was no legal ground to prosecute him. Now on what basis will you arrest a CM against which comission could not locate witness (A witness that says "Yes, modi asked us to look other side"). Again remember he was the CM. With his own party BJP in power. Who will bell the cat? Only small good thing was that due to outroar he had to resign.


Whats with encounter thing? if you mean incident of an Innocent couple being killed by police in encounters in Gujrat?. As usual they needed to catch the culprits for the train fire. And they did that by rounding up a innocent Muslim couple. But i think IHRC took Gujrat police to task for that. The police comissioner (or some senior officers) were found guilty in trial and are in jail. IHRC could not pin Modi for this. We can only pray that he will be bought to justice for his crimes someday.

what police officer will arrest CM of his state? .. he was the CM, he dictated the police in Gujrat.

What has religion got to to do with this anyway?

And that is where we the Pakistanis have problem with India, when it comes to Muslims or even Sikhs you guys have no problems catching, killing or even undermining them, case in point is the Muslim member of your parliament who talked about this police chief of Bombay croray or kroray killed by someone who was investigating these terrorist Hindu groups and was near the conclusion of the matter, the Muslim member said it was done by police to protect Hindu extremists, and yet most if not all Parliament member laughed at him instead of saying he has a point let us investigate before we decide, but since the blame would have come on Hindu extremists, all are trying to do is cover up.

We in Pakistan see it too often that a criminal even when jailed in India for the crimes against Muslims or Sikhs is given royal treatment in jails and he is having good time in jails than outside.

So those so called commissions look for a loop holes rather than the gravity and the frustrations of the minorities to some how clear these criminals. there is no common sense in the investigations these commissions do as they are looking to free these criminals than to see the frustrations of those who's relatives have been killed.

In gohra you see it as a mob frenzy and I see it as a planned burning of train and killing your own people so that riots can be started and Muslims can be killed.

Since the Punjab kerfuffle of 1984 when Indra Gandhi in her wisdom attacked Gurdawara sahib, and she was killed by her body guards, police killed many innocent Sikhs by holding mock encounters to take revenge from innocent Sikhs, that is what I am mostly talking about when i say Mock encounters as they were carried out for a long time to silence the dissension and the frustrations of people who's holy place has been attacked, but than India does it all the times as you guys claim to be the biggest Democracy but infact are a very strange country where justice for minorities is not available, and where minorities are oppressed all the times.

Look at our braves they will express their dislike even when they are awarded for performance by an American Ambassador. Watch and learn and learn to have some courage and not involve Israel or u.s. but settle the differences by mutual dialogues and fair discussions.

Now u have not answered my inquiry about any Muslim Patriots in pre-partition India and I believe it a systemic style of Hindu India to undermine anything Muslim, u guys are so funny trying to imply that Taj Mahal was built by a Hindu king, when I read this I laughed my head off.


Watch Pakistani Music and enjoy and see how good it is.



About Religion I was answering your question about how Hindu are kafirs and Muslims are momins, so what, don't u guys call non Hindus and Hindus two different people, don't other religion call other like Jews and non Jews so what are u trying to imply, i think u just want to argue for the sake of argument and that is that.

Kafirs means those who do not believe in Islam and those who worship deities other than Allah and those who worship these deities as equal and as worthy of worship and as representing God, Islam does not condone that, Hinduism does, so my friend that is the answer to your question.

Blast are blasts, when did we say they were what u said they were, u r putting Ur word in our vocabulary and trying to get away with pinning on us that we did not say, so again ur assuming things. I am amazed at your deductions each and every time about us and about Islam, no wonder u r so brain washed against Islam, it is annoying.

I think that India really need to come clean and not allow like of Modi to govern, like of Bal Thackeray to be a leader as he condones what Hitler did since u r such good friend with Israel, how can u allow such guys to be free and not it the jail, see again u guys are playing a bad game and one day it might burn u.

I am surprised as to that u did not have repercussion from riots in Gujarat by Muslim families who's relatives were murdered, may by ur action of not bringing modi to justice and leaving him in charge of the province where committed murders, because people are afraid and are not willing to come forward as they know that they might be killed too, he can have them killed, he is still in power and police is on his side.

See I hate when u talk like that
"15% muslims are humans and 85% hindusare insects."
U very cleverly trying to brainwash Hindus on this forum and at large trying to depict us as very bad people.

the fact is totally opposite as many of our talented people and Leader have traveled to India for sharing their talents and or ideas for peace, i can name quite a few, can u name one Indian Leader who came to Pakistan on his own for the sake of peace,and for talking peace, tell me when did a Indian Leader came to Pakistan the way our Leaders do, u think u r superior or unapproachable, superior, high race, what a rude attitude.
 
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Hindu Radicals Pose Terrorist Challenge to the Sub-Continent

February 9, 2009 05:20 PM Age: 41 days

By: Wilson John

The charge sheet filed in a Mumbai court on January 20 against 11 members of the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat – including a serving Military Intelligence officer, a retired Indian Army Major, and nine other activists – has brought the growing landscape of Hindu terrorist cells in India into the open (The Hindu, January 21).

In the last decade a few radical Hindu groups have carried out systematic hate campaigns against minority communities, particularly India’s 150 million Muslims, including mob violence (as in Gujarat in 2002) and bombings (such as the 2004 blast in Nanded, Maharashtra). The September 29, 2008, Malegaon bomb attack in which the Hindu militants are charged was the first sophisticated bombing to be planned and executed by a Hindu terrorist group (Times of India, January 20).

Pursuing the Hindu Rashtra

The Malegaon bombing was intended to be the first of a series of attacks the group had planned throughout India to establish a “Hindu Rashtra,” or Hindu India. The 4,528-page charge sheet, citing 389 witnesses, accused Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, self-styled religious preachers Sadhvi Pragnya Singh and Dayanand Pandey (a.k.a. Swami Amritanand), and others of executing a bomb blast in Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated city in Maharashtra, one of India’s prosperous west coast states. The bomb, strapped to a motorcycle, killed six persons and injured more than 70. The accused have been charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), a tough law that has survived criticism while other severe laws fell after intense public scrutiny.

What really took the country and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) by surprise was the involvement of a serving military officer in a terrorist act. Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, ironically, had trained the ATS when it was formed in 2004 (India Today, January 20). Purohit is the first serving Indian Army officer to be formally charged with aiding and abetting terrorism since independence. Purohit surrendered to the investigating officer in the Malegaon case, Joint Commissioner Hemant Karkare, in October. Karkare was later killed by Muslim terrorists in the Mumbai terror attack of November 26, 2008.

Several serving and retired army officers were questioned after Purohit was detained (IBNLive [India], November 25, 2008). Investigators complained that the Indian Army stalled the progress of the investigation by not cooperating with them to find out how Purohit managed to forge documents used to obtain a fake identity card from the military cantonment at Deolali for bomb maker Sudhakar Chaturvedi. Purohit’s role in procuring a license for Chaturvedi’s revolver from the army quota also remains a mystery (Outlook Magazine, December 1, 2008). One of the officers later told police that he was misled into joining meetings of Abhinav Bharat in Faridabad and Kolkata after Purohit convinced him that it was a covert military intelligence operation (Indian Express, January 22).

The investigators were also keen to find out whether Purohit had access to explosives and weapons used for training and whether the Army had any knowledge about missing weapons and explosives from depots and other establishments where Purohit was stationed (Outlook Magazine, December 1, 2008).

Organizing the Abhinav Bharat Group

The charge sheet for the first hearing of the case on February 12 says Purohit set up Abhinav Bharat (Young India) in Pune (Maharashtra state) in June 2006 “with the intention of propagating a Hindu Rashtra with its own constitution and aims and objectives such as Bharat Swaraya, Surajya Suraksha (‘self-rule, good rule and security’)” (Frontline [India], January 31-February 13). Purohit borrowed the group’s name from another extremist group, one of whose members was involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (Indian Express, February 1, 2009). The older Abhinav Bharat organization was dissolved in 1952. The prosecution says the group’s ultimate agenda was to create a Taliban-like organization to promote its plans for a Hindu nation. The group had even worked out the design for a national flag - saffron in color, with a gold border.

Abhinav Bharat had plans to raise funds from top corporate houses like Tatas and Mahindras under the guise of a disaster management company (Times of India, January 26). The court says Purohit collected funds for himself and Abhinav Bharat to promote a "fundamentalist ideology." Though a chunk of the money was used by the group’s treasurer, Ajay Rahirkar, to procure explosives and other weapons, an advance was quietly paid to a builder in Nashik (Maharashtra) for a house for Purohit (Zee News [India], January 20; Samaylive.com, January 20).

The group also thought of approaching Israel for assistance but, according to ATS chief K.P. Raghuvanshi, there is no evidence such a contact was made. Raghuvanshi also indicated the possibility some of the suspects were in touch with Maoists in Nepal, but again there was no hard evidence to prove the link (The Hindu, January 21). Recordings of a meeting which Purohit and others attended in Faridabad (Haryana state) in January 2008, point to at least two operations carried out by the group prior to Malegaon. Evidence has raised the possibility of the group’s involvement in the February 2007 bombing of the Samjhauta Express and twin blasts in Hyderabad in May, 2007 (Indian Express, November 17, 2008; January 24, 2009; Rediff.com, November 15, 2008)

The charges claim the group held meetings at various places - Ahmedabad, Ujjain, Bhopal, Kolkata, Jabalpur, Indore, Faridabad, and Pune - where Purohit and his associates absorbed men from diverse backgrounds to their cause while sketching plans for terrorist attacks. The unifying theme of their discussions was their belief that the future of Hindus in India was in jeopardy (The Hindu, January 21). There is also evidence the group was planning to bring out Hindu extremist literature on the model of Muslim jihadi literature. A laptop seized from one of the accused revealed a cache of jihadi publications (Sakaal Times, January 23).

Purohit’s plan was to utilize the infrastructure used by a national youth organization, the Bharat Scouts and Guides, to train the recruits. The group had even bought land in Maharashtra to set up a training camp (Times of India, January 26). After training, the recruits were to be employed in security agencies.

The Malegaon bombing was planned in January 2008. According to the court, the group decided to bomb Muslim-dominated Malegaon because, Purohit said, “There is a huge population of Muslims in Malegaon. If something is done in Malegaon, it would be like avenging the atrocities against the Hindus.” There were two other reasons for choosing Malegaon - first, September was the month of Ramadan and mosques would have large Muslim gatherings to offer prayers. Second, the group thought it would be easy to mislead the investigating agencies since a jihadi group, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), had carried out a bombing in Malegaon in 2006 (The Hindu, January 21).

The Sri Ram Sene Organization

Sri Ram Sene is another Hindu extremist group that has been indulging in violence against minority communities in Karnataka state. Pramod Muthalik Desain, generally regarded as a fanatic rabble-rouser, set up Sena in 2004 after he fell out with Bajrang Dal, an extremist group that once had a fairly strong presence across the country but had lost its appeal due to infighting and a police crackdown on its activities.

The Sene, with a membership of 2000, mostly 18 to 25 year olds, many of them unemployed, has been following an agenda aimed at preserving the Hindu culture by opposing fashion shows, women drinking in public places, inter-religious and extra-marital relationships, and fundamentalism in other communities (Indian Express, February 1). The Sene members work in tandem with other extremist groups like Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagaran Vedike. A gang of Sri Ram Sene hooligans recently thrashed young men and women at a pub in Mangalore. Pramod Muthalik Desai and 28 others charged in the attack were released on bail at the end of January, only to turn around and threaten anyone found celebrating Valentine’s Day, an expression of “anti-Indian culture” (IBN Live, February 3; Economic Times, January 31).

Pramod Muthalik Desai met Colonel Purohit at least once in Kolkata (February 2008) to discuss the Abhinav Bharat’s plans. The Kolkata meeting was organized by another radical named Tapan Ghosh, who ran a little-known militant group called Hindu Samhati (India Today, January 28).

Related Groups

Another link in the chain of Hindu extremism has been the involvement of a former Member of Parliament in militant activites. According to police, MP BL Sharma attended a meeting of Abhinav Bharat in September 2007 at Nashik, where plans for a series of terrorist attacks were discussed (Times of India, February 3). Sharma was a member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the parent body of the Bajrang Dal militant group. The VHP acquired considerable strength and acceptability in Indian society after it took the lead in demolishing the Babri mosque in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) in December 1992. VHP leader Praveen Togadia denies reports he met with Pramod Muthlalik at a Mumbai hotel on August 1, 2008 (Outlook Magazine, December 1, 2008; Times of India, November 24, 2008). Another connection has developed with Nagaraj Jambagi, a close associate of the Sri Ram Sene leader who was recently arrested by Karnataka police in connection with the May 2008 Hubli blasts (Tehelka News Magazine, February 7).

Police officers investigating different violent incidents involving these groups believe that many of them had set up training camps in several parts of Maharashtra, Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh, northern Karnataka, and also in parts of Gujarat (Rediff.com, November 10, 2008). Sri Ram Sene runs one such camp, though Muthalik maintains that the camp was not a terrorist training camp but focused on training “Anti-Terror Squads” (Rediff.com, November 10, 2008).

Conclusion

What is worrisome is that groups like Abhinav Bharat will increasingly draw support from some influential and resourceful sections of the Hindu community as a counter-response to Islamic groups like the Indian Mujahideen (IM), which has already shown a tendency to exploit the communal divide in the country. If not countered adequately and in time, these early symptoms of a cycle of violent religious hatred could seriously test India’s efforts to counter multi-dimensional terrorist threats without damaging the pluralist fabric of its society.

single - The Jamestown Foundation[tt_news]=34480
 
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I just want to ask one thing -

What the hell you want to prove?

There are extremists in Hindu Dharma. Every religion has few. This is unfortunate, but not uncommon. The key is, these people should remain as exceptions. And they are so among Hindus.

Report handful of reports on same 2-3 events doesn't prove anything. The title you chose for the thread clearly shows that you just wanted to look India and Hindus as main culprit. This won't get you anywhere.
 
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Hindu or Muslim or Sikh or Christians, all radicals Pose a thread to humans civilization all over the globe.
Its not at all about Hinduism or Islam. I am sure if you stop reading post and think with your head for just 30 seconds you will understand that.
Religion never teach you to be aggressive , Be it hinduism or sikhism or islam or christianity.
Its you who read what you want to read out of it.
 
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Hindu fundamentalists vandalize Catholic school
2/5/2009
Asia News ( - Asia News)

The violence is triggered by false charges against a priest who is the school principal.

JABALPUR, India (AsiaNews/UCAN) – A group of young Hindu radicals attacked a Catholic school on Monday in Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh, destroying classrooms and equipment. The school principal, a Catholic priest, was arrested for insulting India’s national anthem.

This attack was triggered by an incident that occurred on 26 January, Republic Day, which led a group of teachers at St. Thomas Senior Secondary School to accuse the principal, Fr Thomas Malancheruvil, of stopping them and their students from singing the national anthem. Under Indian law such a crime can be punished with three years in jail.

The accused principal has rejected the charges, saying all he did was to rebuke the teacher responsible for the school’s National Day programme for being late.

Father Malancheruvil told the teacher that would be suspended for a three days but withdrew the suspension the same day when the teacher apologised.

Later however the same teacher, a colleague and a group of students spread rumours that the principal had prevented some students from singing the anthem.

This was used as a pretext by a group of 30 activists from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who attacked the school destroying computers, furniture and windowpanes

Called by the principal police moved in, arrested the young activists and Father Thomas himself. Five AVBP intruders were hurt in the incident.

The clergyman and 15 attackers of the Catholic school were later released on bail.

Hindu fundamentalists vandalize Catholic school - Catholic Online
 
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Hindu or Muslim or Sikh or Christians, all radicals Pose a thread to humans civilization all over the globe.
Its not at all about Hinduism or Islam. I am sure if you stop reading post and think with your head for just 30 seconds you will understand that.
Religion never teach you to be aggressive , Be it hinduism or sikhism or islam or christianity.
Its you who read what you want to read out of it.

Good post. Extremism is a problem worldwide. It's not limited to just hindus, muslims, christians etc. A lot of terrorist organizations in africa don't follow any religion. They are simply violent and destructive because that is what they are good at and thats their agenda to terrorize people.

Any sort of terrorism is unacceptable by everyone in the world.
 
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'Why should Hindu terrorism be a surprise'
Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
Saturday, November 15, 2008 23:30 IST

Tanika Sarkar is professor of history the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. She first wrote about the role of women in right-wing Hindu organisations in 1990. She has co-edited with Urvashi Butalia, Women And The Hindu Right in 1995. In an interview with Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr, Sarkar says she is not surprised either by the alleged involvement of Pragnya Thakur in the Malegaon blast or by the existence of Hindu terror groups.

Are you surprised that a woman is linked to a Hindu right-wing group accused of terror acts?
Not at all. There is a well-established precedent. Sadhvi Ritambhara's -- who has no known links with terror -- audio-cassettes of the early 1990s led to a huge wave of terror. At that time the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) were trying to instigate riots in Uttar Pradesh during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. As there was no tradition of communalism in those UP towns, there were no riots. Ritambhara's cassettes were played in temples then, which resulted in pogroms. When we think of terror, we need to take into account pogroms as well as bomb blasts.

Did anyone suspect this type of organisational ability among the Hindu groups? We should have. First of all, there is no reason why terrorism should be identified with Muslim organisations. Every single community is guilty of using terror tactics. And there is some glorification of it in all religious traditions. And even Buddhists have engaged in great violence in Sri Lanka. I don't see any reason why any particular Hindu act of terror should come as a surprise. Secondly, the amount of training is nothing new. The hurling of gas cylinders into homes of Gujarat's Muslims -- that needed training. The 'trishul diksha' in different parts of Gujarat happened six months before the carnage began. Going back to the late 1980s Bhagalpur riots, the Ramjanmabhoomi-related movement, Babri masjid demolition -- they all had who knows how many years of planning.

Have our investigative agencies failed so far?
When I speak of terror, I mean pogroms also. I do not see why Gujarat pogroms are not terror, and why bomb blasts alone are terror. Hindu terror -- pre-planned, conspired for -- has been going on in our country for at least a decade. When a bomb blast is linked with some particular Hindu organisation, we are startled. Why should that be?Hindu religious organisations -- if you call VHP a religious organisation -- had been steadfastly planning pogroms, which are also terror tactics.

You have been one of the first to write about this issue of women being drawn into the Hindu right-wing groups. What characterises the women in right-wing groups?
Women were generally excluded from public and political activities of any sort. Things have changed. Women have been participated in the nationalist movements, they have been part of the violent and non-violent movements. It is not a surprise they should be part of Hindu right-wing movements. Women have also been part of Muslim terrorist movements. The RSS has floated the Rashtra Sevika Samiti in the 1930s, which is a very old organisation, and has now fallen into the shadows. It also used to train women leaders for the VHP, which has its Matri Mandal, Mahila Vibhag, and the Bajrang Dal has its counterpart, the Durga Vahini and so on. So they have done their bit for rightwing movements. In the 1990s, for whatever reason, they thought it expedient to float certain remarkable women figures -- Vijaya Raje Scindia, Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambhara backing Advani's rath yatra. It is not quite clear why the women's voices were that important. Ritambhara's voice was absolutely crucial for a lot of bloodbath that followed Babri Masjid demolition.

Has Thakur, arrested for actively planning and taking part in the Malegaon blast, made a logical progress from inciting speeches?
She seems to be actively involved. I do not know, from incendiary speeches to action is a matter of degree. Pragya Thakur follows the Ritambhara trajectory.She reminds me very much of Ritambhara. She is supposed to have given incendiary speeches earlier. Like Uma Bharati and Ritambhara, she is celibate, she is ascetic. And she is supposed to be greatly learned in sacred scripture. Men from the sangh parivar do not have a reputation for that. It is quite curious that the women are entrusted with sacred knowledge now.I do not think thatThakur did it on her own initiative. The RSS is the apex body. It does all the planning. It is still the all-male organisation. So, at some stage, the RSS decided to use women in certain capacities, and the women were only too willing.

DNA: Opinion: 'Why should Hindu terrorism be a surprise'
 
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Uncovering the Global Sangh

New Report Points To Growing Sangh Student Network in the US

For Info: hsctruthout@stopfundinghate.org

New Delhi, Thursday, Jan 17, 2008: The Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH) released its latest report “UNMISTAKABLY SANGH: THE NATIONAL HSC AND ITS HINDUTVA AGENDA” on the growth of the Sangh Parivar’s student wing in the USA – the Hindu Students Council (HSC). The press conference and report release was held at the Press Club, New Delhi. The report documents a long and dense trail of connections between the HSC and the Sangh from 1990 to the present. Ironically, the HSC exists on US American university campuses because of the liberal policy of multiculturalism that allows for diversity of cultures and tolerance. Yet HSC has promoted divisive and sectarian speakers such as Ashok Singhal and Sadhvi Rithambara. Indian American youth many times join the HSC without an awareness of the “invisible” connections between HSC and the Sangh.

The HSC was founded in 1990 as a project of the VHP of America. In 1993, Ashok Singhal, then General Secretary of the VHP, declared, "Now, the first project we have in mind is strengthening the Hindu Student Council".1 The report Unmistakably Sangh, provides the first comprehensive documentation of the origins, methods and practices of the HSC and directly counters the claims of the HSC that it "has been independently run since 1993".2 The report uses documents from Sangh sources – VHPA tax returns, filings with US Patents Office, Internet domain registry information, archives of the HSC, and publications of the Sangh Parivar in North America and elsewhere, to establish that the HSC was and remains an arm of the global Sangh Parivar.

Between 2002 and 2004, two reports, “The Foreign Exchange of Hate", and “In Bad faith” exposed the siphoning of funds by the Sangh in the US and UK respectively. This new report establishes that the Sangh’s interests and activities in the US go far beyond funding, and that the HSC represents a grooming space for young Sangh leadership and the entry of the Sangh ideology into second generation Indian American spaces. “The Hindu Students Council claims to be an independent organization with no links to any Hindutva organization or movement. This is patently misleading, as most of those who join HSC do not know they are joining the Sangh,” says Ashwini Rao, a campaign coordinator for CSFH. Several of the HSC’s early recruits on American campuses are leaders in the Global Sangh operations today. “How important the HSC is to the Sangh can be seen from the fact that the HSC built and operated a significant part of the Sangh’s electronic infrastructure out of a server cluster in California” Raja Swamy, another CSFH coordinator pointed out. This runs counter to the policy of multiculturalism that allows organizations such as HSC on American campuses.

Campaign to Stop Funding Hate
 
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