When they can’t honestly engage on issues of hate and violence being perpetrated by their Hindutva siblings in India, they resort to diversions and play the victim card.
I don’t normally spend much time on social media. However, some of the recent attacks and misrepresentations of HfHR’s work by HAF and its Executive Director, Suhag Shukla, cry out for a personal response. I feel that it’s important to set the record straight, especially for the benefit of HAF supporters who may yet have open minds.
It’s not my intent to start a verbal duel on social media, which accomplishes nothing. But I am always personally open to a public debate and dialogue with those who hold different views than mine, including the HAF.
HAF/Shukla: “Why do some groups claiming to represent Hindus take positions so antithetical to dharma…?”
I could pose the exact same question to HAF, considering their appalling record of uncritical support for the most adharmic government India has ever had.
The BJP governments’ long list of adharmic and unconstitutional acts include: the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA); state level laws that seek to regulate interfaith weddings and people’s dietary habits; stoking violence against Muslim citizens and Christian preachers; demolishing places of worship and bulldozing homes without any due process; incarcerating critics and activists on trumped up charges; corruption at the highest levels, such as the now discredited Electoral Bonds and horse-trading of elected MPs; collusion with oligarchs to take away people’s autonomy over their farms and lands; and more recently, Transnational Repression and political assassinations.
These are a far cry from the Hindu dharma that my parents and grandparents taught me by example, and from what HfHR believes is a progressive and inclusive Hinduism as envisioned by Hindu saints of yore, such as Kabir, Basavanna, Akka Mahadevi, Tukaram, Narayana Guru, and many others.
This story was originally published in americankahani.com. Read the full story here.