On Documentaries -

I recently discovered some interesting documentaries that are downloadable from the internet--so long as you have a good connection, patience, and the right software (Bit Torrent and variants). The links for these are available from Desi Torrents. You'll have to be your own judge as to the morals of downloading there, but it seems few, if any, of these documentaries are available commercially.

Final Solution

This is a shocking investigation of the Hindu-Muslim riots (massacre?) following the Godhra incident. It is not easy to watch as the stories are horrific. Posts on that forum claim that this documentary was banned in India and that its circulation in the US lead to the banning of Narendra Modi. It certainly paints the BJP/Bajrang Dal/VHP and Modi in a very bad light. I always had a soft spot for the BJP but remember back to the Babri Masjid days when busloads of 'kar sevaks' arrived in Vrindavan following the demolition of the mosque. Their general demeanor seemed to have nothing religious about it at all. I witnessed one of them stealing from the temple bookstall and don't think I am overreacting by stating that most of them seemed more like goondas than sevaks. This documentary confirms the violent, nationalistic and ignorant nature of much of this brand of Hinduism.

(My battery is about to die so I'll have to complete this later.)

A bit of a slim selection of interest. I was hoping to find one of those old Bengali films of Mahaprabhu...

There was a massacre of Muslims in Gujarat after Godhra, it was truly horrific, and Modi seems to be ultimately responsible. Even Vajpayeeji - a very decent good man - seems to have felt so because soon after, while still PM, he rebuked Modi, 'The duty of leader is to look after all the people!' which provoked Modi to denial. This was reported in press at the time, making clear that PM Vajpayee was unhappy. Outside Gujarat there is broad acceptance of Modi's wrongdoing.

There are good BJP like Vajpayee (and good VHP), and there are thugs, especially amongst the 'Sangh Parivar' like the Shiv Sen of Bal Thakuray. If the party could split from its extremists, this would be good for consciences, but probably bad for politics, sadly. (because no party has majority support and alliances are crucial).

The only mitigating factor in the complexity of Indian democracy is that no party can claim moral superiority. The so-called 'secular' parties also have blood on their hands. When Indira was killed by Sikhs, Congress leaders massacred anyone with Sikh turban in the streets of Delhi (with their imported golf clubs, while the police stood guard!). (My taxidriver to RK was one casualty. Cut his hair after. Stopped wearing turban). And even worse was Indira's son Sanjay Gandhi. Though a 'progressive' his methods were pure Fascism. His mother suspended democracy with a claimed 'Emergency' in the 1970's, at which time Sanjay become de facto leader. He organised young thugs and idealists into groups who went around the country kidnapping people and forcibly sterilising them, destroying slums with the poor stilll in them (See Rushdie's Midnght's Children), generally imposing bourgeois values by force on the 'ignorant masses'.

Even the history debates are complex. While the idea that Hindus were always persecuted in the extreme past by Muslims may be exaggerated by a Brahmin bias, in the 20th century enough documented vicious separatist acts by Muslims remain in many Hindu's memories that there is little chance of true reconciliation and good grounds for Hindu grievances. (Indian Muslim separatism began during WWI with the demand for restoration of Baghdad Caliphate [Khilafat], which had recently been dissolved by the Turkish secular progressive Kemal Ataturk. To demand Khilafat they massacred 1000's of Hindus in Kerala in the 1920's! Why? Jihad!) So mythologised arguments about the extreme past repesent genuine grievances in the present.

Madrasi Baba told me they did that to the Radhakund babajis in 1976, kidnapping them at midnight, bringing them to Mathura in jeeps and throwing them out on the street in the dead of night after the operation without even one paisa to return to Radhakund....

My Guru-brothers and me pinned a lot of hope on the BJP when they came to power in 1998 - not much came out of their 6 years in power, though, and I think I know why. They want a return to 'hindutva', but are at a loss about what actually is hindutva - the original Vedic days are so long past.....

The relationship between religion/ modernity/ and politics is very complicated, and the whole world is struggling with it.

Just read a brilliant recent article on the subject, but very long, if anyone has spare time:

http://www.nationalinterest.org/ME2/dirmod...EDC6B65C2D4587A

One of the signs of good conversation is that it makes you think. I'll be thinking about this idea all day, I can tell. Thanks to adiyen-ji for this insightful & thought provoking statement!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4633263.stm

Indira was one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century, perhaps one of the most determined women who ever lived, with a will of iron. But she had one huge weakness, as a mother, for her youngest son. Sanjay literally could do anything, he had even more power than his mother (who was arrested and jailed).

Indira knew Nixon hated her as a 'Witch'- I knew this already (BBC researchers are not what they used to be!) - and she reciprocated. Coca cola became Campa cola. India became no1 Soviet ally. Such unflinching courage she had to play the superpowers at big risk. To stand up to Bindranwale, knowing she would probably be killed for desecrating Golden Mandira. And she was, by her own trusted bodyguards. Tragic fate!

In assisting Bangladesh freedom she helped many Gaudiyas and others there suffering under Pakistan invader brutality. If we cannot fathom the worth of such a one, what chance is there for simplistic 'Hindutva'?

One of the fascinating aspects captured in Final Solution is the use of religious symbolism:

1. Modi or one of his cohorts is recorded at a rally comparing Godhra to Ravana setting fire to Hanuman's tail, thus one fire (the rail carriage that was set alight--or not, later reports suggest it was an accident but in India, who knows whether that was doctored in order to calm the people) would be responsible for many more fires against those who set the original fire

2. the language of the VHP, Bajranga Dal, etc., is replete with references to siksha, diksha, enlightenment, etc.

I think there was no reason to 'doctor' the Godhra report, and it seems balanced, reasonable and corroborated by witnesses: there were Muslims demonstrating outside the train, but no evidence of arson. Surely just a tragic accident. Overcrowded train, people cooking on gas stoves I seem to recall...

The worst thing too was that Modi was re-elected. I think Churchill called Democracy the 'least worst option', and that says it - we have no better option right now, but deeply flawed.

I also saw on TV some years back the behaviour of some sectarians in Gujarat. Rathyatra in Ahmedabad. Beautifullly decorated Rath with Lords Jagannath Baladev, Subhadra. But instead of happy devotees, these young thugs on the cart, with vicious expressions, take the beautiful cart directly to a mosque on a Friday at prayer time. The Muslims actually refrained from being provoked, but the 'Hindu' thugs attacked them from the cart with stored missiles anyway. All recorded on Video - the thugs were proud of what they did! For me it was extremely distressing, a sacrilege against the Lord and unnecessary provocation. In this atmosphere the later massacre was almost tragically predictable.

Gaudiyas impress me as rather free of such hatred, willing to turn the other cheek. Gaudiya suffering in Bangladesh equals that of any other Hindus, yet they refuse to descend to the level of their abusers, like Haridas they suffer and endure, absorbed in the next world, not this one.

The problem is of course that aggressors take advantage of such endurance. As a result big parts of ancient India are now lost forever (Pakistan, Bangladesh) and the remainder of India is forever in agony. I am not being apologetic to the Rathyatra thugs in any way, but just plain endurance is another extreme.