Recently The US religious freedom watchdog – USCIRF, once again came out against Narendra Modi’s government for its anti-minority record. It has out the following on its website: “Since 2020, USCIRF has recommended that India be designated a Country of Particular of Concern, or CPC, due to the Indian government’s promotion of Hindu nationalism, and engagement and facilitation of systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. The othering of those that are non-Hindu through the misuse of national and state-level legislation has turned India’s diverse and pluralistic society into more of a hostile state for many religious communities, particularly Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Adivasis, and Dalits.: ( https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/uscirf-spotlight/anti-conversion-laws-and-growing-intolerance-india)
The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi came out against the report and issued following statement: In response to media queries on comments on India by USCIRF, the Official Spokesperson Shri Arindam Bagchi said: “We have seen the biased and inaccurate comments on India by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). These comments reflect a severe lack of understanding of India and its constitutional framework, its plurality and its democratic ethos. Regrettably, USCIRF continues to misrepresent facts time and again in its statements and reports in pursuance of its motivated agenda. Such actions only serve to strengthen concerns about the credibility and objectivity of the organization.” ( https://www.mea.gov.in/response-to-queries.htm?dtl/35470/Official+Spokespersons+response+to+media+queries+on+comments+on+India+by+USCIRF)
Such issues are very common but what has changed is that the EAM is now more proactive and responds promptly to anything that is anti India and more importantly a deliberately and indirect form of campaign being launched against the country by vested interests.
To understand such utterances and how the western media and intelligentia especially in the United States, is shaped, one has to do some background checks and homework. We all are well aware that there is a good Eco System that picks candidates who have some basic skills in writing and preferably a IIT / JNU or western education and are anti India, anti Hindutva and more importantly Anti Modi in present times. If one fulfills these basic criteria there are good chances that you will be identified and picked by the eco system and will be routed across the world through their own channels and medium. You can publish books, write articles in New York Times, Washington Post Guardian etc, will be called for book fairs, and also be an expert on book and literature websites. If you have some potential then you can make it to the level of getting a Nobel prize too like Amartya Sen, positions in IMF/ World Bank – Kaushik Basu etc etc. For a level below, we have the likes of Kapil Komireddy who is the new sensation in western media after publishing a sharp book on India – Malevolent Republic A Short History of the New India. Now how the western intelligentsia gets an impression of India besides of course other than New York Times and Washington Post is interesting as one reads what this Kapil Komireddy has to say. As an expert on a book recommending website FiveBooks.com that suggests 5 books on all important subjects and topics in the world, Kapil is being picked to recommend a book on India. But before he does that he also appears for a short interview where he has the following to say.
We quote him :- “And Prime Minister Modi is remaking India in ways that were inconceivable just 10 to 15 years ago. Hindu nationalism was a marginal idea for many decades in India, and it has now deluged the mainstream. It is now the establishment, and minorities in India have, for the first time, found themselves being treated as second-tier citizens, as if they live on the sufferance of this government and of the Hindu majority. That is something many Indians would have thought impossible. One of the earliest conversations I remember in my own family home was one of my father’s guests saying, ‘the BJP is never going to form a government, ever.’ And within ten years of that, the BJP had formed a government. So, it seems as though India has raced to a point of no-return. It has detached itself from the foundational principles upon which the state was premised: secularism, socialism, democracy, non-alignment—they’ve all gone. What we now have in its place is a kind of rage against history, the desire to vanquish history. There’s a lot of cultural resentment, the belief that Indians have been betrayed by history, that there’s a cosmic conspiracy against India, and that the Prime Minister is trying to combat forces which, without him, would devour India. This thinking has become so pervasive.
And the genius of India, the ability to assimilate difference, the ability to live with difference, has steadily disappeared. For the very first time, friends, Muslim friends, talk about leaving the country. We’ve had challenging times before in India, but they never saw themselves as threatened by India, and for the first time, they do feel that way.. ….Today, minorities are depicted as an existential threat to India, even though they’re scattered and they’re not a threat internally. Nonetheless, the project of transforming India really depends upon exaggerating the ability of minorities to destroy India.”
With such words that are being read by hundreds and thousands of book readers it is obvious what message is being delivered to the world at large.
Then there was this story which is recently being published through social media about Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF) which says the following in its mission statement:- Traditionally, media in India are seen as institutions with a public purpose, housed in a corporate framework. This dual-purpose model (pursuit of public purpose as well as earning from it) has become challenged in recent times. Legacy media houses having become dependent on advertising revenue, now increasingly find it hard to compete with the online platforms to which advertising is shifting. News television channels also face similar, and serious financial challenges. This struggle to survive and sustain has made journalism susceptible to pressures from various quarters – from advertisers and corporates, from owners, from politicians, from government and even from society itself. The ever-present pressure to conform and shy away from speaking truth to power has increased dramatically.
The foundation had received substantial donations from Azim Premji, Karan Mujumdar Shaw, Ratan Tata. Aamir Khan, Nilekani, among others. Many media like The wire , scroll , Print have been said to receive funding from them. The foundation has Amol Palekar, CB Bhave , Mukund Padmanabahavan as trustees besides others (https://ipsmf.org/board-of-trustees/).
Conclusion:
To cut the story short and to summarise the point we wish to highlight is that a huge eco system exists which primarily devotes its energy and power against anti India activities. As Pm Modi has emerged as one of the biggest protector of Hindutva in the country and is strengthening the country this eco system wants him to go and weaken the nation. The main actors behind this eco system is Gorge Soros and his NGO, Open Society Foundation (OSF) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Society_Foundations#:~:text=Open%20Society%20Foundations%20(OSF)%2C,public%20health%20and%20independent%20media.) . Then there is the Vatican and christian group which also tries to demean Hinduism. The islamic groups do it more openly and aggressively be it ISIS, Al Qaida, Taliban , ISI and the extreme mindset based in the country led by some maulvis and others. These Indian maulvis also get funding from Pakistan, Saudi etc.
The government has to officially put this ecosystem on record and then address them strategically. Unless the ecosystem is acknowledged their activities will go unhindered and citizens at national and international level will not be able to know their existence and anti India stance. they will be simply influenced by what they read.
Second, the PM has to raise a new breed of sophisticated and erudite Indians who can write and publish both at national and international levels. While the anti India ecosystem picks and funds people easily, the rightists in the country are so self centered and short sighted that they are more happy in pulling the legs of each other rather than promoting them. As an example that we dont wish to write but had we been writing anti India we would have been picked by the Ecosystem with lakhs of funds at our disposal. However, rest assured we will not budge from our objectives even if there is a billion dollars to eat.
The Indian council of Cultural and Social Research (ICCSR) has to ante up its activities both at national and international level. We are not sure what they are doing but certainly its not satisfactory. By now a parallel group should have been formed that could protect Indian interests on the world stage with a different line of statement for citizens to read and access. ICCSR in association with other organizations can create an excellent platform of REAL HINDUTVA, HINDUISM, VEDIC and UPANISHADIC Studies for the world. We have witnessed the efforts of Hindu University in the US which is doing some good work and is spearheaded by RSS veteran Manohar Shinde ji. There are many Indian and Vedic experts in America and elsewhere ( Malhotra, Subash Kak et al) who all need to be roped in and encouraged by the government.
With new challenges emerging at a very fast rate and the global environment getting uncertain by the day India has to be alert at all levels. Like minded people have to support each other just like the anti India Eco system works. When the going gets tough the tough has to get GOING. This is no imaginary world but a real world where we all are placed at great risks in all terms.