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moment in which an entire generation of young, modern Hindus in India and the diaspora is
growing up and asking only one pressing question: Who are we, really?
How will perceptions about Hinduism change?
I have been urging my readers in America to encourage at least one child in the family to pursue
the study of humanities. Only then will the discourse change. Of course, it becomes ridiculous
when you talk of flying machines etc, but one must look at the philosophy. We need massive
investment in humanities to bring out the intellectual perspective. The past is always telling
stories but who is telling those stories? The only books by Hindu authors you may see in
American bookstores are those by Yogananda or Vivekananda. The rest are dominated by white
non-Hindu academics not sensitive to the cultural nuances of Hinduism.
But what about incidents like the recent attacks on churches?
When it is explicitly religious in nature and a mob attacks places of worship, it could be
construed as a religious attack. But some guy throws a stone you know some identities are
being protected and others are being blamed, it is so brazen. The lynch mob in the northeast was
a Christian one and attacked an alleged Muslim rapist and beat him to death. That news item is
circulating in American discourse as a law and order problem; it is so devious. They dont refer
to the religion. In the name of secularism and social justice, which are good causes, people are
doing a lot of hypocritical things.
The other big thing was the BBCs Nirbhaya documentary. It was silly of the government to ban
it. But the Hinduphobic mood globally is so deep that people immediately think that Oh, if
something bad is happening in India, it is because of Hinduism and not a law and order problem.
Richard Dawkins tweeted that the film shows the culture of misogyny in India. Even his fans hit
back and asked why are you blaming India for this. Then he slowly backtracked.
That is why it is so important for Hindus to have the right Hindu identity; the future of the world
depends on it. For a very long time Hinduism did the right thing by being self-effacing. Other
communities were driven by the canonical need to dominate. But today we live in a world of
distortions and misunderstanding. Every community is representing themselves; why should the
Hindu community be the one that is disallowed from speaking for itself ? This is where the
whole Left secular argument has collapsed.
DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.