Subramanian Swamys transformation into a merchant of hate Submitted by admin on 29 July 2011 - 2:53am Articles India Politics Indian

Muslim By Ayub Khan Subramanian Swamys Islamophobic outbursts in the July 16th edition of DNA did not come as a surprise to many. The maverick always displayed a knack for hogging t he limelight throughout his political career. For many years now had been displa ying an extreme anti-Muslim attitude despite having close professional as well a s family relations with Muslim. However, this was not always the case. As late a s the early to mid-90s Swamy was the most vocal critic of Hindutva. Lest anyone, including Swamy, has any doubts about this we only need to go as far as 1993. On March 13, 1993 Swamy gave a speech at the Madina Education Centre in Hyderaba d on the topic, Demolition of Babri Masjid and Aftermath.A verbatim transcript of the speech was published in the April, 4-11, 1993 issue of The Anti-Corruption a nd was also brought out as a booklet by Madina Publications. A comparison of the DNA article with this speech reveals how radically his views have changed in th e short span of 18 years. In that article Swamy had stated that RSS, VHP, BJP, and other affiliates are no t pro-Hindu but anti-Muslim organizations. After the Babri Masjid demolition, the fir st thing we must do, is to disabuse the minds of the people, that RSS stands for Hindusthey have vulgarized the name Hindu, like Hitler, in the name of nationali sm, vulgarized the meaning of nationalism, he had stated. Dr. Swamy now wants to scrap Article 370. But in his 1993 speech he had asked wh y the Hindutva parties only talk about Article 370 and not about articles 371 (A ),( B), ( C) and so many articles and subsections of article 371 which say that i n areas of Himachal Pradesh the outsiders cannot buy land. In Mizoram outsiders cannot buy land. In Arunachal you cannot buy land, there are so many states where you cant buy land, he continues. Answering his own question he says that the Hindutva leaders only talk about 370 because that will mean something harmful will happen to Muslims. He now raises concerns about the Muslim rise in population. But in 1993 he had s tated that there is no scientific evidence to show that the Muslims will become demographic majority in the near future. He had attributed the slightly higher M uslim birthrate to the differences in per capita incomes. If you bring the per ca pita income of Muslims on the same level as of Hindus, the difference in growth could disappear. Swamy calls for removal of Gyan Vapi mosque and the construction of temples on t he sites of 300 other mosques. In the 1993 speech he had stated that the Hindutv a forces rake up the issue of Kashi Vishwanath and others to collect crores of ru pees for it. He had then also stated that the Ram Lalla Mandir must be demolished, because it is not a mandir, it is built on sin, it is built on treachery. It is built on deceit, it is not built according to Agama Shastras. As a way of gettin g out of the deadlock he had supported the view of the Babri Masjid Action Commi ttee that it be resolved by independent enquiry committees. Swamy now calls on conversions to be prohibited, scrapping of Muslim personal la w, and the essential reduction of Muslims to second class citizens. In his 1993 speech challenging the Hindu right he had asked: Does it say in Hinduism, that yo

u have no right to preach other religions except your own religion? It does not matter what the Muslims are doing to their minorities in Saudi Arabia. Even in P akistan or anywhere. We are not going to imitate them. Our society is different. It came out of a joint struggle of Hindus and Muslims. It is true that some Mus lims didnt want to be a part, but didnt some Muslims want the Muslims to be a part of India. Swamys ideological journey has made many twists and turn over the years. That wou ld have been inconsequential in another age. But in the current atmosphere of vi olent Islamophobic hate, as is evident most recently from Norway, hateful rhetor ic can very easily lead to violent action against minorities. It is heartening t o know that Swamys fulminations have been condemned a cross-section of the societ y. At the same time it is sad that one strong votary of peaceful coexistence has transformed himself into a merchant of hate. Share Comment viewing options Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to a ctivate your changes. Muslim double standards Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 30 July 2011 - 4:37am. Indian muslims are converts. They must realise this. It is fine for them to crit icise Sri Swamy; but where is the outrage in the Muslim community for the terror against the Hindus? I am outraged by the lack of outrage. There would be no Isl amic terror if the silent majority of Muslims were not silent. Where is the outrage against Gilani? This fact alone makes a bold statement. The silent majority supports terrorists like him. reply Share Why? Submitted by Shaan (not verified) on 29 July 2011 - 11:47pm. What could be the reason behind it? You need to think about it, and may be ask h im. reply Share