SPECIAL ISSUE

July 7, 2001: Hindu-bashing at its peak

By J.V. Lakshmana Rao

Chicago: A systematic, calculated and awfully unrealistic and unethical campaign with full of half-truths and un-truths has been launched by an ill-informed American talk-show host over the electronic media — radio and television.
The radio talk show aired on the WLS 890 AM between 10 a.m. and 12 noon on Saturday, June 30, was full of lies. The television show is scheduled for 6 a.m. on Sunday. It is significant that the broadcasts are timed when major congregations of Indians like the JAINA convention, the TANA convention, and the “Vedanta in the Third Millennium” convention are being held.
The talk-show host, Tony Brown, revels with raving enthusiasm by reeling awfully insulting and outrageous things like that Nazism was from Hinduism, Hilter borrowed the symbol “Swastika” from Hindu religion, Hindus have no religious books like the Bible or the Koran, Hinduism does not have religious hierarchy like Pope or papal system, women are made subservient to men throughout their lives, untouchability is widely practiced in India, only 5 percent of three high caste people rule the rest of one billion population, and after the death of Mother Teresa, all nuns in India were systematically persecuted, female children and women of lower castes are forced into prostitution and there is no welfare system in India.
He even blames the US government for allowing such people to immigrate into the US. He also attacks the US government for not able to provide proper educational facilities for the Americans in the country, forcing the country to import thousands of computer experts from India.
As the program was being aired, the editorial board members of India Tribune were disturbed by what was being said about Hinduism and India and India Tribune likes to share its disgust and anguish with its readers. Though the transcript of the whole broadcast cannot be reproduced here, an attempt to give a few excerpts has been made as an example of the tone of the broadcast.
Tony Brown claims that Hindus were invaded by Europeans allegedly some 1500-2000 BC ago and those “blacks” mixed with Europeans and the resultant group was known as Aryans - the superior species of humans. He also mentions that Hindus have 330 million gods. Drawing a distinction of color of the skin, he says that while the whites have become the superior caste people, the blacks remained “inferior sub-species.” He emphasizes that “Hinduism is rally Brahminism” and the lower-caste people can never attain that status, even if they make money and become rich. “Americans do not understand Hinduism, therefore they do not understand what caste system is. It is a system based on color discrimination. Untouchability means slavery,” he says.
The talk-show host says: “In India there are one billion of people, of whom 500 million live in poverty. There is no such thing in the country as welfare system. That means, it is their belief that they (lower caste people) should be persecuted and no one should help them.”
He says that the various books on comparative religion are wrong and they do not interpret Hinduism correctly. If one has to get to understand what is Hinduism, one has to meet the one who is opposed to the caste.”
Elaborating what is Hindu-ism, he says Brahminism was there first, but later it was being called Hinduism. It is even debatable whether Hinduism is not a religion; it is a political ideology. “There are 300 million gods in Hinduism. You do not have to believe in god to be a Hindu. Christians have a Bible, Jews have a Bible, Muslims have a Koran, and there is no Hindu bible. There is no central creed what a Hindu believes. There is no hierarchy like the Pope, the cardinals and so forth.”
Further debating on the caste system, he says: “A woman in India is never free. First of all she is under the control of her parents; when she gets married, she is under the control of her husband; and when her husband dies, she is under the control of her children. She doesn’t get free. And the concept of Hinduism is purity. Are you pure? If you are around impure caste, you have to go home and cleanse yourself. I am impure because you are around me. Women are impure. That is the theory. Black untouchable are impure. Foreigners are impure. The idea is to create system of segregation, apartheid, so that the pure people can be kept away from impure people.”
The tone of the broadcast continues in this outrageous and insulting fashion and India Tribune, which lays emphasis on the Hindu belief of equality of all religions, appeals to its readers, community members and leaders to consider the issue seriously and launch a peaceful mass protest to stop this unhealthy practice of Hindu-bashing, as Tony Brown promises a few more shows on the subject on a weekly basis. And Tony Brown can do it with Indians and Hinduism only. One can imagine what outrageous reaction Tony Brown would generate if he does it to any other religion.