Gowalkar, Savarkar ... And Jews

In a December 22, 2002 poll in the Times of India, four hundred students from India’s mostprestigious colleges were asked to select the ideal leader India needs most. Independence leader and spiritualicon, Mahatama Gandhi led with 23%. Current Prime Minister Vajpayee finished second with 20%. In third place,with 17%, was Adolf Hitler.

One respondent, 18-year-old Phalguni Das of the National College in Bombay, said, "(Hitler) may not havebeen the best of human beings, but he possessed high leadership qualities. He had the unique ability to makepeople follow him forcibly and nearly conquered the world."

When we look at government issued textbooks in India, these results should not surprise us. In a Standard 9textbook for the western state of Gujarat, Hitler is cited as a man who gave "race pride" to his people.There is no mention of his ghastly treatment of Jews. In the chapter, "Problems of the Country," the firstsubsection is entitled "Minorities" in which Muslims, Jews, and Christians are called "foreigners inIndia."

Given this distressing vilification of Jews, one would expect to see bitter relations between Jews andIndians.

The opposite has occurred. The first-ever joint Capitol Hill forum was held yesterday, July 16, between theUS Indian Political Action Committee (USINPAC), the American Jewish Committee, and the American Israeli PublicAffairs Committee (AIPAC). The event featured nearly a dozen Congress members from across the US, diplomatsfrom the Indian and Israeli embassies, and political activists from both communities speaking about the "symbiotic,""intrinsic," and "unique" nature of Jewish-Indian relations.

Congressman Wilson (R-South Carolina), co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, said it was "appropriateto make this bond."

One speaker, Congress Brad Sherman (D-California), began his speech on the importance of respecting Indiaas an ally by telling an offensive Patel joke, which conjured stereotypes of Patels running motels.

What was interesting is how numerous speakers used the words "Muslim" and "terrorist"interchangeably. The problem for these two nations, Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-New York) said, was thatIsrael was "surrounded by 120 million Muslims" while "India has 120 millions."

While the event purported to speak for all Indians, none of the speakers, however, mentioned issues thatconcern many Indians: mal-nutrition, employment, education, basic human rights, AIDS, health-care...

Congress Tom Lantos (D-California) seemed to summarize the binding issue of the evening (and perhaps of thealliance): "We are drawn together by mindless, vicious, fanatic, Islamic terrorism." After his comment,the standing room crowd of mostly Indians, erupted in applause.

Indeed establishing relations and engaging in dialogue between Jews and Indians is crucial. But Wednesday’salliance is not only detrimental for Israel’s interests, it is also insensitive towards Jews.

Over the past few years, the ruling BJP has aggressively pushed its agenda of "Hindutva." The ideology,a distortion of the tolerant ethos of Hinduism, seeks to create a Hindu state in India in which minorities(Jews including) are forced to live as second-class citizens because they believe in a religion that wasfounded outside of India.

In forming its alliance with India and its diasporic community, many Jewish organizations have,unfortunately, only reached out to unrepresentative, radicalized groups like USINPAC that are too willing toignore Hindutva’s challenge to Indian democracy.

When India’s Deputy Prime Minister, LK Advani came to the US, for example, the American Jewish Committeehosted a June 10 dinner in his honor. A spokesman for the Israeli embassy, Mark Regev, said his countrymaintained close ties with Advani because "He is a man of great power."

At a May 8 annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee, Brajesh Mishra, India’s National SecurityAdvisor, boasted "historical affinity" between India and the Jews, saying India is one of the onlycountries with no history of anti-Semitism.

That Advani has violated international human rights laws and eroded Indian democracy is apparent. SmitaNarula, Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch, noted, "Advani basically represents a group oforganizations that have the ultimate aim of turning India into a Hindu state. To achieve those ends they haveencouraged extreme violence. It's been harmful not only to Muslims and Christians, but for the population as awhole and for the country's secular, democratic fiber."

What is less obvious, however, is Advani’s track record of endorsing anti-Semitic Indian organizationsand leaders. In a July 5, 2002 interview with the Financial Times, Advani admitted, "If you see any virtuein me, I have imbibed it from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—its discipline, patriotism andcommitment to integrity of public life. It is absurd to ask me to de-link from the RSS."This group, labeled "totalitarian" and "fascist" by Mahatama Gandhi, serves as recruiting and trainingground for proponents of hard-line Hindu nationalism.

Two of the organizations pioneering ideologues, Veer Savarkar and MS Golwarkar—individuals who had choicewords about Jews. Speaking of the Nazis, Golwarkar said, "To keep up the purity of the nation and itsculture, Germany shocked the world by the purging of its Semitic race, the Jews. National pride at its highesthas been manifested there. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures havingdifferences going to the root to be assimilated." In 1938, Savarkar endorsed the persecution of Jews inGermany, noting "Germany has every right to resort to Nazism and Italy to Fascism and events have justifiedthat those isms and forms of governments were imperative and beneficial to them under the conditions thatobtained there."

In addition to his anti-Semitism, Savarkar was also, according to the BBC, among others, "suspected of being involvedin Gandhi’s assassination." One would imagine that given global awareness and concern over anti-Semitism,Indian leaders like Advani would distance themselves from ideologues like Gowalkar and Savarkar.

But just the opposite has occurred. In February 2003, Savarkar’s portrait was unveiled in the centralhall of New Delhi’s parliament, amid shouts of "Long live Savarkar".Defending the incident, Advani noted, "It was a burden on us that we could not install the portrait ofSavarkar for all these years but it is good that we could accomplish it during our tenure."

If the Jewish community wishes to establish ties with India, it must first pressure the BJP government inIndia to abandon its anti-Semitism and vilification of minorities. Israel only stands to exacerbate itscredibility, particularly among Muslims, by aligning with a hard-line Indian government that has made littleeffort to hide its hatred for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

For India, the alliance with pro-Israel groups shows how distant India is from Mahatama Gandhi’s vision.Throughout Wednesday’s Capitol Hill event, numerous Congress members rightfully praised Gandhi’scontribution for a better world.

Such sentiment is ironic, however, given Gandhi’s famous declaration: "Palestine belongs to thePalestinians just as Britain to the British."

Then again in age in which Hitler trails in popularity to Gandhi by only six percentage points, nothingshould surprise us.
 

Zahir Janmohamed is writing a book about the rising religious violence in South Asia.