Worshipping Dogmatic Tormentors

Shashi Tharoor will always worship dogmatic tormentors like Tipu despite the destruction of Tharoor Swarupam empire but will still curse hapless syncretic Hindus as Talibanis and Pakistanis

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor

Goerge Orwell once famously said, “Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.” While our intelligentsia, by and large, has done hardly anything to refute, Dr Shashi Tharoor has often gone an extra mile to prove Orwell scarily accurate. During the first week of May 2018, Tharoor, joining Karnataka Assembly election trail in Bengaluru, made an important announcement, “Rahul Gandhi had a lot of commendable qualities that are becoming more and more apparent to the voters.”

By the way, interestingly followed up his statement with a lecture at Indian Institute of Science campus on ‘Role of Reason in Indian Politics.’ Bengalureans were also bestowed with this exciting thought of Dr. Tharoor, “Congress considers Tipu Sultan, a hero though he raided neighbouring kingdoms.”

‘ If the BJP manages to win a repeat of their current strength in Lok Sabha, then frankly our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive… And that will be a new one that will enshrine the principle of a Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan.

Have they started a Taliban in Hinduism itself? What the BJP is saying and the talks they give on Hindu Rashtra is very dangerous and will destroy our country. The whole country has watched what took place in Pakistan. And everyone knows what that country stands for.’ Tharoor love to worship Tipu Sultan but see Hindus as Talibanis. Girish Karnad in his Kannada play elevated Tipu to the level of a revolutionary ideologue, influenced by the fraternity ideals of French Revolution

‘ If the BJP manages to win a repeat of their current strength in Lok Sabha, then frankly our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive… And that will be a new one that will enshrine the principle of a Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan. Have they started a Taliban in Hinduism itself? What the BJP is saying and the talks they give on Hindu Rashtra is very dangerous and will destroy our country. The whole country has watched what took place in Pakistan. And everyone knows what that country stands for.’ Tharoor love to worship Tipu Sultan but see Hindus as Talibanis. Girish Karnad in his Kannada play elevated Tipu to the level of a revolutionary ideologue, influenced by the fraternity ideals of French Revolution

‘ If the BJP manages to win a repeat of their current strength in Lok Sabha, then frankly our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive… And that will be a new one that will enshrine the principle of a Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan. Have they started a Taliban in Hinduism itself? What the BJP is saying and the talks they give on Hindu Rashtra is very dangerous and will destroy our country. The whole country has watched what took place in Pakistan. And everyone knows what that country stands for.’ Tharoor love to worship Tipu Sultan but see Hindus as Talibanis. Girish Karnad in his Kannada play elevated Tipu to the level of a revolutionary ideologue, influenced by the fraternity ideals of French Revolution

It would have significantly profited, if scholarly Dr Tharoor, was kind enough to have named this “neighbouring kingdoms” that Tipu invaded. Tharoor certainly knows these kingdoms, but he will surely NOT tell you. A few of Talukas of the present-day Palakkad District were once known as Tharoor Swarupam until Tharoor’s Party hero Tipu sultan razed it unrecognisably. Even before hapless Hindus were subjected to Mapilla riots of Malabar and Travancore, Tharoor Swarupam was razed to dust, thanks to Tipu Sultan. Notwithstanding Tharoor’s selective dumbness, Palakkad Fort, standing today on the ruins of decimated Tharoor Swarupam, is a glaring testimony to untold horror. Dr Tharoor has extensively written on his ancestors and Tharoor Swarupam. And, there is hardly any reason to believe that a person of his intellectual eminence, once poised to become the General Secretary of the United Nations, will not know how Tharoor Swarupam was decimated due to Talibani mindset. Tharoor very well knows Hindus cannot be Talibanised to retaliate in the same language.

Ideological Apparatuses

The current propaganda of Shashi Tharoor to defame Hindutva is not only graceless and boorish but also an extraordinary act of his hubris Prof Varun Gulathi This new academic session with a warmly welcome orientation, course briefings, university rules, and regulations were recently held across colleges of the University of Delhi. I could see the freshers flushing with excitement in my college, named after a great warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. I take two things granted: I take pride in highlighting instances of Shivaji as a builder of Hindu Rashtra and his cultural establishment in my classes, also taking references from Barthelemy Carre, a French traveler who visited Bharat twice during his regime. And second, I explore the boundaries and possibilities to make a positive contribution from a most depressing ideologically inclined syllabus. Quite the contrary, most of my academic peers would enjoy the moments when they feed to undergraduates the latest "mad theories" "Hindu Taliban and Hindu Pakistan," coined by Shashi Tharoor who, I think, has a great ability to distinguish between these ideological terms and the spiritual/cultural heritage of Bharat. In doing so, there is something much worse: the addition of these "mad theories" will effectively suffocate an opportunity for Humanities to claim for itself an intrinsic value and purpose of education. Irrespective of whether one agrees or not, the current propaganda of Tharoor is not only graceless and boorish but also an extraordinary act of his hubris. The intention here, what I feel, is not only to appease the political and ideological embodiments but to create emotional tensions in academia which have already separated from the real world of books and demands of society. Most significantly, Tharoor"s jibe showed that he is prepared to be a horrible brainwasher even at the cost of compressing his wisdom. But, in reality, these "mad theories" with the questions of belief and disbelief raise doubts about the sincerity of Tharoor"s love for his country. The paradox is that Tharoor is genius as well as blind to the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, the incredible violence of Muslim invaders, forced conversion of Hindus in Pakistan, and Mahatma Gandhi"s vision of Ram-Rajya, to name a few. In his criticism there is amnesia: Bharat drives her strength from its diversity as it tends towards acceptance. Bharat has been per se progressive, flexible with a mostly liberal society where all sets of practices are treated equally, despite the existence of radical and tyrannical behavioral ordinances. The philosophies and doctrines of Hindutva are to follow the principles like sarve bhavantu sukhinah, sanatana dharma, morality, universal unity, non-violence, kindness, love, and empathy. It is a land of self-realisation to attain divinity and harmony with a free flow of the various trends. And after all, what if he writes Why I am Hindu? His self-absorbed and faulty criticism hampers him to understand the tenets of Hindutva which teach that everybody"s path is different, though the realisation of the Truth/God is the common goal of all. It is not an arbitrary exaltation, but the gospel truth is that Hindu way of living has offered the knowledge, values and the right spirit of the dharma which are universally beneficial. What is reasonably certain is that Tharoor" ideological terminology has presented a living paradox. There is no conflict to understand between the right and the wrong, here personified as God (Hindu) and Demon (Taliban). Tharoor will win the moral fight if he takes resources from the cultural roots of Bharat. At the same time, I think the politicised “mad theories” are entirely jocular, inaccurate and false and one should not hesitate to dismiss them as usual Left-wing rodomontade. (The writer teaches at the University of Delhi)

No sooner did Tharoor make his Taliban/Pakistani statements against Hindus, many theories started making rounds as to his intent. While some say, it’s a discretionary tactic in the wake of tightening fist of law, some others pity Tharoor for having been under the trap of some vested interests. For an ordinary man, it’s tough to decipher the intent. So, it’s best left to the experts to delve into this realm.

In fact, a thorough study may be commissioned under the aegis of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India’s apex centre for mental health and neuroscience education. Precisely five years ago (July 2013), NIMHANS was reported to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CBI to train latter’s officials who investigate senior politicians and bureaucrats accused in high profile and politically sensitive cases. A study into the brain-mind-behavioral axis of a person gripped in Semitic, or any other dogmatic ideology would be highly relevant in Bharat’s context because we, as a nation, are braced with severe challenges of integration.

It is indeed a travesty that an Indic mind has always remained an enigma wrapped in mystery for large sections of high profile individuals and intellectuals in our own country. Leave aside those who do it on purpose, a large segment of the intelligentsia, honestly fails to understand a syncretic Indic mind. On an honest note, it is nearly impossible for a positive thought to comprehend as to how seemingly or opposite philosophical dimensions – say Advaita and Dvaita or poor and rich – can coexist, in absolute harmony. Does it defy their logic as to how or rather why at all, castes should coexist in our society, given the graded inequities attributed to them? So, a herculean effort is unleashed by this divide India camp to engineer mitotic and meiotic divisions into castes and then pit them against one another, and then, against Hindu society at large.

When asked by a famous intellectual of the Macaulay breed, as to why at all Jains should coexist with Hindus, a famous Jain Saint is reported to have quipped back– I am a Sthanakvasi because I am a Śhētāmbara Jain. I am a Śhētāmbara Jain because I am Jain. I am a Jain because I am a Hindu. Now, take a bet, a positive mind cannot understand it at all! Yes, it’s a hopeless cause. A person gripped in a dogmatic religion somehow can make sense of it, but a Marxist mind grasped in slotting the whole of the humanity into compatible and irreconcilable contradictions, has never been able to make peace with a mind soaked in syncretic traditions. The great purge of the USSR, China and Mongolia and elsewhere, resulting in the killings of lakhs and lakhs of innocent people, besides the destruction of thousands of books, relics, and ancient monuments, is a glaring testimony to this fact. Hence, a mind trained in Marxist dogma can hardly make sense of Indic thought process.

Now, there is this fascinating dimension of a dogmatic that merits a mention. Two warring dogmas, appearing to be at war, are often at a grudging bonhomie with each other. Mihir Bose, who wrote the famous book From Midnight to Glorious Morning? India Since Independence, has dedicated one whole chapter chronicling and compiling views and writings - right from James Mill to his devout disciple Thomas Babington Macaulay and Sir George Campbell to Sir. Winston Churchill hated Hindus and loved Muslims.

Winston Churchill, during the heights of Quit India movement, is reported to have told Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky, the Soviet ambassador in London, that, should the British be forced to leave India, “Eventually, the Moslems will become masters, because they are warriors, while the Hindus are windbags.”Some years ago, a letter written by Churchill in 1907 was discovered, wherein Churchill had expressed his strong desire to convert to Islam. Now, that explains the love-hate bonhomie of the dogmatic lot. A positive mind will never be able to understand a syncretic mind but will always have sympathy with another positive thought.

This should explain why Tharoor and his party, despite the destruction of Kerala, love to worship their hero Tipu Sultan but see Hindus as Talibanis. Girish Karnad in his Kannada play elevated Tipu to the level of a revolutionary ideologue who was influenced by the fraternity ideals of French Revolution. Karnad again is from the Saraswat community which was subjected by Tipu to untold miseries!

Now, let’s come back to Tharoor. Some of our Indic scholars and supporters were fascinated to listen to his speech entitled “Britain Does Owe Reparations”. There was hardly anything Indic in his constructor logical makeup. It is this breed of intellectuals who love to swing between the polarities but will never liberate themselves from the endless captivation or boredom of the pendulum. One may be tempted to draw an analogy from the Russian or Chinese Revolution. The USSR and China used the ‘demolition paraphernalia’ of the same make as that of their erstwhile oppressors. And precisely deployed the very same debris as their new building material. So, it was no revolution; it was a reversion of exploiters. Once you use the same building blocks, you are always bound to be swinging between polarities – once warring and then again infatuating but never liberating from its clutches. This was the precise problem with Nehru, who loved India but hated Bharat. Nehru never realised that the diametrically opposite perceptions have an innately interconnection. He discovered India but hopelessly lost Bharat.

And precisely, now, Hinduist Tharoor will never be able to either decipher or discover Hindutva. Tharoor will be perennially warring with Hindus…but simultaneously explaining to us, nay, to himself, why he is Hindu. Tharoor can never worship his gods. He will always worship dogmatic tormentors like Tipu despite the destruction of Tharoor Swarupam Empire but will still curse hapless syncretic Hindus as Talibanis and Pakistanis.

(The writer is a Bengaluru based Lawyer)