1st July, late evening... and our favourite, our media darling and our pet punching bag got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Yet again, caught at its irresponsible antics. I am referring to our "defining 21st century partner", "friend" The United States Of America. Good ol' Unka Sammie! Apparently, it so transpired on a sweet, sweet 2010 morning that some people within the USA asked for permission to spy on a select few political organisations, namely :
- The Amal - Lebanon
- Pakistan People's Party
- Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt
- Bolivarian Continental Coordinator
- National Salvation Front, Egypt
- The BJP, India
My, what august company to be in. Amal is thought to have links with the Hezbollah; an Islamic Organisation with know and proven militant and armed wings, and as per some reports is suspected of Anti-US attacks. Bolivarian Continental Coordinator is said to have links with FARC, yet another armed group. Of the remaining parties, it can be seen that they are purely Islamic organisations, and the state of affairs in the Islamic world and its utter tragedy is well known to the rest of the world.
Now how does the BJP fit in? Because it supposedly drives what the West loves to term a fundamentalist agenda, a strong Hindutva agenda? Thus, in the eyes of the West, Indian Hindutva is the equal of Islamic terrorism and pure Islamic parties driving a purely Islamic Agenda politically, to the exclusion of all else? Even the Muslim Brotherhood is thought {although debated in some quarters} to have some terror links. And, as per the USA, the BJP is comparable to these august organisations?
HINDUISM
The above begets the question - why is this so? Is it based on a fundamental lack of knowledge of Hinduism, and the West's collosal ignorance of its basic tenets? This does seem to be an important reason for the misplaced western apprehensions, which club all fundamentalism into one, without analysing whether or not it is actually "fundamentalism" in the commonly understood sense of the term.
Hinduism, unlike Christianity and Islam, is not evangelical, and is not interested in conversion of other faiths into Hindus. Hinduism is not a fundamentalist religion at all; there is nothing in Hinduism that is fundamentalist. Hinduism is further not interested in claiming itself as the best and/or only path. It does not have a worldwide organisation, nor does it have any global aims. This is manifestly different from both Islam and Christianity.
In fact, Hinduism is, technically speaking, not a religion at all as it has no central body, or organisation or dogmas. It does not have any history of bloodshed. Everyone is a Hindu - even the atheist can call himself a Hindu. Atheism is a known philosophical thought in what we now call Hinduism, which earlier had no name. The closest any term came was Sanaatan Dharm, or the eternal way.
In fact, Hinduism is, technically speaking, not a religion at all as it has no central body, or organisation or dogmas. It does not have any history of bloodshed. Everyone is a Hindu - even the atheist can call himself a Hindu. Atheism is a known philosophical thought in what we now call Hinduism, which earlier had no name. The closest any term came was Sanaatan Dharm, or the eternal way.
There is no organised aggressive face of Hinduism even in its Hindutva face that is in any way comparable to the others. It does not support militancy, neither is there an organised militant form of the same, not counting some local small scale outfits - which again, are not armed in any way in the conventional sense.
THE BJP
Furthermore, how does the BJP fit into a comparable slot, with respect to the rest of the organisations listed? The listing itself is deeply humiliating, and highly offensive. That the USA can transgress all norms of international conduct as well as undermine Indian Privacy Laws is a further insult to our nation, and a direct questioning of internal laws, and a strong signal that the USA does not care about India, its laws and its opinions. This is in no way acceptable behaviour, any which way you look at it.
The more you consider it, the more deeply disturbing this news becomes. There is no logic that can justify the listing of the BJP in such a list; that itself indicates the deep distrust in the BJP the USA has. Distrust is fine, you are entitled to your own views, howsoever unjustified they may be, or howsoever bigoted; that does not justify the action of throwing away trust, diplomacy, international norms, relations and laws into the dustbin. This proves conclusively that first, the USA has no understanding of Indian ground realities, its culture, or even its political realities, as has been proven earlier as well. Second, it also proves that the USA views India not as a partner, or a friend - notice that it exclusively let out its real friends from the listing.
There is no way the BJP poses a threat to the internal security of the USA. There is no way it can cause any kind internal threat. Further, it has proven itself as a pragmatic party with a good governance record. There is no history of terrorism by the BJP, which is a clean and purely socio-political organisation. I state socio-political for the USA's benefit and warped understanding; for us, it is a purely political organisation, and a good one at that.
Not only that, it hails from a peaceful nation which is no way connected to interests inimical to the USA. There is no turmoil in India; there is no Hindu Terrorism to speak of. {Please dont quote exceptions by misguided people, or unproven allegations}. The BJP, or India is not harmful to the world in any way, nor do we in India have any global designs. This is unlike Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Venezuela, or the others.
Why then is the classification, nay - the deeply offensive and insulting classification with such organisations and countries? By what stretch of imagination is India or its internal political and socio-cultural realities comparable with Egypt and Pakistan, for heaven's sake? By what stretch of imagination is a rightist political organisation with a good governance record in a nation such as India a target for such spying?
And most critically, how does this fit in with the USA's declaration of India being a "defining partnership of the 21st century"? Far too obviously, there is no such intention! Its actions speak for themselves - most are not what you would associate with a friendly nation! If you continue on this path, Unka Sammie - there wont be much of relationship left. You do not treat your partners and friends this way. This is rank arrogance, and brute display of strength, which is not the way to build relations with a proud nation such as India. Wake up before India walks away! As it is, we are trying to build a strong Eastern foray, a marked shift from our pro-West stance.
And most critically, how does this fit in with the USA's declaration of India being a "defining partnership of the 21st century"? Far too obviously, there is no such intention! Its actions speak for themselves - most are not what you would associate with a friendly nation! If you continue on this path, Unka Sammie - there wont be much of relationship left. You do not treat your partners and friends this way. This is rank arrogance, and brute display of strength, which is not the way to build relations with a proud nation such as India. Wake up before India walks away! As it is, we are trying to build a strong Eastern foray, a marked shift from our pro-West stance.
I say this as a friend, USA : Wake up before India walks away! You are trying your damndest to push us away; well, you might just succeed. Read the comments on the news articles; talk to the man on the street - your image has taken a major beating. More and more people are turning anti-USA in India... if you dont care about that, high time you did!
Wake up before India walks away!
References :
1. TOI Article
3. Hezbollah
4. FARC
7. Firstpost
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