A leading newspaper just performed a sterling service by publishing a photograph of the “Ganesh chappals” that have so enraged the Hindu-Indian community in America. Without the photograph, it would have been difficult for people in this part of the world to envisage how something so deeply offensive could have been contemplated and executed with such equanimity by cobblers in a country otherwise prone to the mantra of out-sourcing. The slippers bore tiny motifs of the god Ganesh all over, and no doubt one had only to slip one’s feet into them to feel secular superiority coursing through one veins!
Not so long ago, a leading British store thought Hindu gods were good enough (sic) to grace toilet seats. Without being hyper-sensitive, one may legitimately question why Hindu gods alone are singled out for such honour. I do not believe the incidents are innocent, harmless or accidental. India has been associated with the spiritual quest since the dawn of civilization; the dullest soul in the world knows the esteem in which gods are held in this land. For a god as universally renowned as Ganesh to land up beneath human feet is to my mind a very intentional insult.
Hindus have a special prayer seeking Mother Earth’s forgiveness for having to put their feet upon her sacred body. We cannot view a god on footwear as part of secular evolution. What is more, the religious symbols and icons of the faiths to which the offenders adhere (howsoever nominally) have never found their way into the same profane space into which Hindu gods are being thrust with apparent regularity. I therefore think that it was a mistake for the American Hindu community to let the manufacturer get away with an apology and withdrawal of the offending slippers. The next time such an offence occurs, they should file a class action suit.
I believe these cultural shock and awe tactics are related to the consistent White Christian goal of eradicating all native faiths and traditions in the world. What better way than by eroding the sanctity of other gods? At some level these activities connect with last year’s well orchestrated campaign against a US-based charity, India Relief and Development Fund (IDRF), titled “The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and American Funding of Hindutva.” Coming in the wake of the Gujarat riots, it got good mileage internationally.
The November 2002 report, published by Sabrang Communications, India, and South Asia Citizens Web, France, was basically a rehash of old allegations by the Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL) and was even authored by Biju Mathew, FOIL founding member. Some American Indian friends of mine have since united under the aegis of Friends of India and investigated the “Hate” charges. Sifting through layers of innuendo, they have arrived at facts which debunk Sabrang-FOIL fulsomely.
IDRF’s principal crime (sic) is that it collects funds to provide services to the poor in India, irrespective of caste or religion, in areas that missionaries fondly imagine are their sole preserve. Projects are monitored through volunteers who meet their own out-of-pocket expenses and thus ensure that as much as 99.1% funds reach intended beneficiaries.
Such dedication adversely affects the harvesting of souls! Not surprisingly, Friends of India found that Sabrang-FOIL was targeted at US corporations that provide matching funds to employee contributions to IDRF. Hurting IDRF financially would deprive Indian NGOs of funds and leave the field open to rich evangelists. IDRF was by no means flush with funds as most of its donors were small donors. Over a thirteen year period, it raised just thirteen million dollars. In contrast, in 2001-2002, Christian bodies in Karnataka alone received ninety-eight million dollars!
Sabrang-FOIL leveled serious charges against IDRF-funded agencies in the core areas of education, tribal welfare, and so on. Regarding Ekal Vidyalaya schools, it said: “While the stated purpose of the schools is eradication of illiteracy in remote areas, the One Teacher School are heavily involved in spreading Hindutva ‘education’ with a focus on stopping conversions to Christianity and encouraging ‘reconversions’ to Hinduism…”
As opposed to this, Radhika Sharma in India Currents (an Indian-American monthly from San Francisco, USA), observed: “Ekal Vidyalayas offer five years of free non-formal education to village children aged 5-14 years in groups of 30 to 40… The teachers are locally educated youths who have passed grades 8 or 9 and have been trained specifically for the purpose… These village schools also serve the ancillary function of a meeting point for the entire community wherein ideas regarding health and better lifestyle are discussed… The curriculum is designed by educationalists to cater to special local needs and is taught in the regional language of the state… The girl child is also well represented: 50 percent of the students and teachers are female…”
Friends of India has provided interesting observations from White American scholar Yvette Rosser (University of Texas, Austin), who recently travelled in some north-eastern states. Visiting a non-Christian Dimasi village near Dimapur, Nagaland, she met villagers who told her that “over a hundred years ago the Americans came with the Kala Kitab (black book) and told them their Gods were satans…’. Such tolerance!
The village headman told Rosser that they “decided to get organized when in the fall of 1999 there were dozens of huge prayer meetings warning people that Jesus was returning to earth on the new year. Missionaries from different churches would go through all the villages on bicycles with bull-horns and tell people to come to the prayer meeting and be saved – to leave their old evil ways behind and be saved when the rapture comes on Dec. 31, 1999.” The Dimasis countered with their own prayer meeting, and later got assistance from the Vivekananda Kendra to print their own Dimasi prayer booklets. No wonder the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of Northern America is so upset with them! The Dimasis also managed funds to preserve a unique ancient monument – a giant chess set associated with Mahabharata hero Bhima’s wife, who hailed from this tribe. I’ve seen pictures of this set, and it truly deserves to be top on our Heritage list.
Friends of India has thus taken the Sabrang/FOIL report apart, charge by charge, and established that its authors have no primary evidence from appropriate government sources or other acceptable proof-points to substantiate their wild accusations. Indeed, the report appears to be nothing more than ideological hatred packaged into accusations against NGOs who are providing yeoman services in education, healthcare, managing orphanages, rehabilitation work (Latur and Gujarat earthquakes, Kargil victims), and other social service projects.
The most fundamental allegation, of course, relates to ‘Hinduizing’ activities of the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates. Here I can do no better than to leave the reader with the profound thoughts of the US-based Jubilee Church: “…India … is desperate for the truth of the gospel. In the land of a million gods, multitudes live in confusion and spiritual bondage with no knowledge of God’s goodness. We bring the good news of the gospel not only through evangelism and crusades, but also by revolutionizing the standard of living through missionary work, including the development of a Bible College to equip local pastors, and digging wells to bring fresh water to needy villages.” Aaa hah…
The Pioneer, 6 May 2003