Lord Desai and Hindu Dharma-------Nitin Mehta, UK

Lord Desai and Hindu Dharma

-------Nitin Mehta, UK

Tributes have been flowing in at the passing away of Lord Desai recently. He was a distinguished academic and a man with views on many subjects. Desai was also a self proclaimed atheist. That was his privilege. What hurts is that Desai has expressed views of a religion that he was born in that were deeply hurtful.

Like many Indian academics abroad Desai had contempt for his heritage. He ridiculed the Hindu Holy book the Bhagavad Gita. In January 2012, delivering a lecture at the Prof Ramlal Parikh Memorial Lecture organised by the Indian Society for Community Education, Desai criticised Gandhi's faith in  the Gita as it condoned violence and equated

the Mahabharata war to a holocaust. In September 2012 he delivered another lecture at the Nalanda University in Bihar titled, The Bhagavad Gita: A secular inquiry into a sacred text. He argued that the holy book was not "a suitable text for modern India" and further questioned, "Why are we respecting the text uncritically, which has so many flaws". Desai also claimed that the Gita was written at different times by 3 different people.

Regarding Gujaratis Lord Desai said, 'Gujarat has redefined itself from a peace-loving tolerant place full of civility into an aggressive assertive Hindu domain. This has been the result of a steady and assiduous Kulturkampf fought by the Jan Sangh/BJP through the 1980s and the 1990s. He claimed that the good, gentle, middle class Gujaratis, prosperous not poor, are steadily turning anti-Muslim.

Regarding the notorious drawings of Hindu goddesses by M.F. Hussain, Desai argued that Hindus objected to the drawings simply because Hussain was a Muslim and they wanted to deny him his artistic freedom. Hussain, he said, has been painting on Indian themes for decades. He argued that Hindu goddesses can be seen in a variety of poses which many may find erotic in the temples of Khajuraho and Tirupati and many others.  He further asserted that Hindu society and religion are remarkably relaxed and tolerant about sexual practices of human beings as well as of their gods and goddesses. Hussain would never have dared draw naked images of the revered figures of  other religions and had he done so, Desai would never have defended him. Desai also claimed that India was not an ancient nation. According to Desai the Mughals, 'stayed behind' in India and therefore are Indians. The fact is that what Desai thinks are Mughals are actually Hindus converted to Islam.

Over the last three to four decades Indian academics abroad have been in the enviable position of eating their cakes and having it. People in India including politicians welcome them as heroes who have made a name for themselves abroad. In 2008 Desai was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour in the Republic of India, in recognition of his distinguished service in literature and education. PM Modi paid fulsome tribute to Desai on his passing away and praised his contribution in promoting Indian culture. 'Insight', an online platform defending Dharma also gave a great tribute to Desai. Back in the countries they had migrated to, these intellectuals ridiculed the land of their birth and rubbished the country. This way they curry favor with the media and the establishment.

There are other Lords of Indian origin who have enjoyed this privileged life. Treated as heroes back in India and treated as intellectual giants by the British media for their brutal depiction of India, its heritage and its poverty etc. This phenomenon is unique to Indian intellectuals abroad. No other nationality of intellectuals abroad will so willingly denigrate the land of their birth. Salil Tripathi, a Gujarati, New York based author has called the former PM of UK Rishi Sunak a cow worshipper. He has recently written a book on Gujaratis. He has been doing interviews in Gujarat promoting his book

He believes Gujaratis have become intolerant and reminds everyone of the 2002 riots. No mention of the Hindu pilgrims burnt in a train. If Gujarati's expressed remorse about the 2002 violence they could move on he claims. He believes that it is a myth that Gujaratis are vegetarian and non-violent. In his paper called, The Hindu Case he said that, though historically the practice of Hinduism does promote the idea of an inclusive and tolerant way of life, in the past decade Hindu extremists have captured the religion and perverted it to their own ideological ends. It seems not many people in India and in particular Gujarat know the hatred this man has for Hindus. 

Going back to Lord Desai, he called himself a Marxist but his lifestyle was anything but. He was after all Lord Desai enjoying all the trappings of a Capitalist lifestyle. His dealings with Gadafi and his son shows that he had no inhibitions of dealing with a brutal dictator and taking his money. Desai gave a degree to Gadafis son even though it was known to be plagiarised. Gadafi gave £ 1.5 million  to LSE. Desai's reaction was that, 'we need the money'. He must have suffered from Cognitive Dissonance.

A people and a country that cannot distinguish between friend and foe and whose observance of a situation is Nebulos will not get far in a world which is increasingly polarised.

RJS POSITIVE MEDIA 

+91 9811705015