Indians, whether living in India or abroad, are united when it comes to national pride, in terms of its image, democratic set up or cultural values. There have been several attempts including one recently in London where senior Indian leaders such as Rahul Gandhi acted and said something that may invite foreign interventions as well as set a negative image for the nation. There is increased competition today between economies. It is against the national interest to use the platforms in foreign countries by Indian leaders to spread negative perceptions of our government as well as country just because they are sitting in opposition in parliament. This leads to various challenges for the Indian government and to larger stakeholders which is the Indian diaspora abroad. One of these challenges is to handle Hinduphobia. Hinduphobia is a set of antagonistic, destructive, and derogatory attitudes and behaviors towards Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) and Hindus that may manifest as prejudice, fear, or hatred. Another challenge emanating out of such conspired attempts is to weaken India’s geopolitical interests, trade negotiations and international rankings.
Let us look into the ecosystem of this gang who are the organizers and sponsors of such controversial events abroad, what is their motive, what platforms they use abroad, who funds them, how do they pick and choose the Indian speakers, What audience they engage with or target, what incentive is given to the so called leaders or intellectuals to spread Hinduphobia or to set up anti India narrative, who are the beneficiaries of this propaganda, etc. I would also cite details of three of such events as an example. I would also propose some ways to handle these pseudo intellectuals.
The Congress party has touted the University of Cambridge event to bolster the credibility of Rahul Gandhi, by claiming that it is in fact Cambridge University that has invited Rahul Gandhi to speak. However, while the event is being hosted at Cambridge, it has been organised by a Congress affiliate organisation, which partners with another organisation that appears to be a Congress front. The anchor Shruti Kapila, associate professor at Cambridge has been a known member and activist of SFI, a left student outfit, in her JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) days. The academic atmosphere in some top Universities in India till a few years back has been left dominated that went unchecked till the BJP came into power. The research students will succeed only if they agree to the ideology of the leftist professors, including urban Naxals and Shruti is one of the large chunks of such academicians who entered prestigious Cambridge University through this route. The ecosystem of this gang succeeded in planting their agenda in western Universities since these research scholars were chosen to study abroad on scholarship and in turn set anti India and anti-Hindu perception. The agenda suited ruling parties such as Congress and its allies, who played vote bank politics to garner anti Hindu and separatist votes. It also suited left liberals, urban Naxals as well as most of the foreign governments in their respective geo-political interests. And the western Hinduphobes get a kick out of these initiatives by default. Aspirations of many regional parties are addressed at the cost of national interest. This is the reason that the speakers chosen for this event included Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury, Salman Khurshid, Tejashwi Yadav, Mahua Moitra and Manoj Jha. Rahul Gandhi is at the receiving end for his unsparing criticism of the Modi government during his speech. From referring to the presence of ‘deep state’ in the country and praise of China, Rahul made quite a controversial point that has enraged the general population back home. He attacked the Indian Government claiming “India is not in a good place” as the ruling party has sprinkled kerosene all over the country. He even went on to target the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers saying he has been told by the European bureaucrats that they have “changed” and are “arrogant”. Siddhartha Verma from the audience, an Indian civil servant, studying at Cambridge countered the Congress leader over his idea of India and objected to his reference to India as ‘not a nation but group of states’. The speakers Categorized Hindus as ‘casteist’ and ‘communalist’ toeing the Western line. During his controversial address, Rahul Gandhi signaled his desire for foreign intervention two times. The first one is during the mention of the Russia Ukraine issue, and the second one is when he criticised Indian diplomats for being unwilling to take orders from Europeans. Is the motive to seek help from foreigners to fulfill Rahul’s aspiration to rule India and implement his agenda that has been rejected by Indian voters?
Dismantling Global Hindutva (DGH), a three-day online conference from 10 to 12 September 2021, had sparked much debate on social media. One of the loudest voices against the conference was that of Ohio State Senator, Niraj Antani, the youngest Hindu elected official in the history of the United States. “I am condemning in the strongest possible terms the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ Conference,” he said. “This conference represents a disgusting attack on Hindus across the United States, and we must all condemn this as nothing more than racism and bigotry against Hindus. I will always stand strong against Hinduphobia.” Again, the organizers included so called Indian pseudo intellectuals who are known separatist, left, some studies from JNU and participated in urban Naxal movement. It was nothing but a partisan event related to politics in India. The event platforms activists with extensive histories of amplifying Hinduphobic discourse even while denying the existence of Hinduphobia. Many of these activists equate the whole of Hinduism with caste bigotry and other social ills; deny the subcontinental indigeneity of Hindus and Hinduism; and support or minimize violent extremist and separatists’ movements and deny the resulting genocides and ethnic cleansings of Hindus.
Another example comes from a person who is holder of high constitutional position in India. Speaking at a special international Congressional briefing on Republic Day, ex-Vice President Hamid Ansari sparked a row by accusing the Centre of perpetuating 'intolerance'. The organiser of the event, The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), is alleged to be linked to the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and behind a plot to foment riots in India. From the platform of this institution, Ansari took a shot at the Modi government. In India, he claims, efforts are underway to replace civic nationalism with cultural nationalism. According to Ansari, religious intolerance is encouraged in India by portraying the religious majority as a political monopoly. The credibility of the congress party goes for a six in its judgement on choosing the candidate for high constitutional positions who had a controversial past.
According to a Ministry of External Affairs report, there are 32 million NRIs and OCIs residing outside India and overseas Indians comprise the world's largest overseas diaspora. Such narratives pose an additional challenge for this population which is already vulnerable.
One solution to these issues could be to make political clearance mandatory for the high-profile politicians and academician who are going to attend international political seminar. This could help put a curb on misuse in the name of freedom of Expression. Afterall these set of organizers and speakers have lost ground in Indian politics and academic circle. There are reforms in the admission process in Universities in India as well as setting up a robust recruitment policy for university lecturers that are unbiased. Implementation of The New Education policy from the Modi government is likely to fuel the reform of the recruitment process for teachers and students. The left liberal academic, media and political unholy nexus is counting its final days.
The writer is an NRI Educationalist based in Dubai and Founder of AmbedkarGlobal.com. The views expressed in the article are his own