"Suicidal" Hindu Misconceptions About Woke Leftism
Shrikant G. Talageri
The following twitter exchange, between Koenraad Elst and a twitter handle named Itihasika (who has been the tweeter of many very important and informative threads on Hindu issues) is interesting, since it illustrates the power of Woke Leftist gangsterism which can create vocal fan followers, glorifiers and apologists even among otherwise sane and intelligent Hindu intellectuals:
Koenraad's response puts it in a nutshell: as per the logic of this emphatically Hindu Woke apologist, Sheldon Pollock, Suraj Yengde and Audrey Trushcke are activated by "compassion & historic guilt" and Hindus (i.e. "Hindutwa vaadis opposing Caucasian wokeness") who oppose them or criticize them are of a "suicidal" bent of mind as they are missing out on golden opportunities to cultivate these "compassionate wokes in the western equation"!!
Of course, Itihasika is perfectly right when he writes: "The Hindu lack of civilizational common sense and survival instinct is bewildering. You can rely us Hindus to make the wrong decision & support the wrong side anywhere in the world": the only thing is that though he probably thinks he is referring to "Hindutwa vaadis opposing Caucasian wokeness", he is actually referring to Hindus like himself (the phrase "us Hindus" seems to be a "Freudian slip") who think that wokists in the west are activated by "compassion & historic guilt". Nothing could be further from the truth.
It is a total mystery to me how an otherwise intelligent tweeter like Itihasika could have suddenly decided that "Caucasian wokeness" is some new sect of Jainism, Buddhism or Gandhism with "Compassion" as its basis. There has never been anything to indicate that Wokism is anything but a new western name for post-Soviet-Union-era Leftism. I have already pointed out the central characteristics of Leftism and Rightism, as opposed to Hindutva, in my article "Leftists and Rightists" in the following chart:
|
IDEOLOGIES |
TYPOLOGY |
INSPIRING MOTIVES OR CHARACTERISTICS |
CLAIMED AND ACTUAL AIMS |
|
Hindu Nationalism
|
Sāttvik
Elevating Ideology ↑
|
ETHICS 1.Truth. 2.Justice. 3.Humanitarianism. |
Claimed: Cultural Justice. Socio-Economic Justice.
Actual: SAME
|
|
Rightism |
Rājasik
Expansive Ideology ← →
|
MATERIALISM 1.Greed. 2. Lust for Power. 3. Exploitation. |
Claimed: Cultural Justice.
Actual: Economic Exploitation. |
|
Leftism |
Tāmasik
Degrading Ideology ↓
|
DARK EMOTIONS 1. Hatred. 2. Terror. 3. Anarchy. |
Claimed: Socio-Economic Justice.
Actual: Cultural Hatred. |
"Compassion" is not even the last item on the wokist list of attributes: and it is not just totally absent from that list but the central attribute of wokism is exactly the opposite to compassion: the central attribute of wokism is what we could call the crow-and-vulture variety of "sadism", manifesting in bullying, gang-ragging, intimidation, psycho-terrorism, mass-hounding, etc. It has its historical roots in earlier historical manifestations in the west such as witch-hunting, heresy-hunting, the Inquisition, etc., all of which were based on the same kind of Extreme Self-Righteousness that is represented by Wokism.
This Leftist tendency has long been known in post-Independence India. Every person who the Left feels should be on its side has faced this psycho-terrorism in the past. Sita Ram Goel has recounted the following account of the treatment meted out to the truly Secular Muslim leader Hamid Dalwai (see Appendix - Hamid Dalwai). Then there was the famous incident more than two decades ago (I cannot recall the exact date), when the famous Classical Dancer Sonal Mansingh, always thought earlier to be a Leftist artiste, performed at a VHP organized function in the USA, after which she faced a wave of hatred and boycott on all left-controlled cultural forums and in all the left-controlled media and academic platforms.
Leftists have always displayed Compassion, but only for murderers, rapists and terrorists. perhaps the most blatant case is that of the "nirbhaya" incident in Delhi where a girl was gang-raped and one of the rapists (a "minor") inserted a metal rod into her body and pulled out parts of her internal organs (intestines, etc.). Leftists at the time had plenty of Compassion, but only for the "minor" rapist. In the Newshour Debate on Times Now channel at 9 p.m. on 14/7/2014, the women panelists, Leftist Womens’ Rights and Child Rights activists one and all, were fully and militantly determined to protect and fight for the “human rights”, not of raped women in general but of rapist “minor” men in general. These included Vrinda Grover, Nina Nayak and Sudha Ramalingam on a crusade to protect “minor” or “juvenile” rapists. On the actual occasion of the “nirbhaya” case more than a year earlier, we had other women “human rights activists” of the same genre, like Malvika Rajkotia, Flavia Agnes, and others, shouting vociferously in defence of the rights of the “child” who had playfully extracted his victim's intestines. The following, just one example of many such articles in the Left dominated press at the time, will illustrate the heart-rending agony of this poor "minor" boy:
But those regular earlier Indian manifestations of Leftist psycho-terrorism were still small-time acts or tame trailers or mere jhalaks to the present waves of "Caucasian woke" psycho-terrorism that is regularly unleashed in the west on a massive scale, helped by the power and reach of the internet. It is much more terrifying and omnipotent than the earlier version because, after the demise of the Soviet Bloc Leftist international forces in the late nineteen-eighties, the Leftist psychopathic virus spread rapidly to the West to which Leftism was always earlier a Cold War bogeyman to frighten democratic-minded people. Today, it is the West (Europe, USA, Canada, etc.) which is totally in the grip of this psycho-terrorist Leftist ideology which dominates the western media and academia and sets its inalienable rules of politically correct behavior.
No-one knows this better than Vladimir Putin, and no-one can describe the situation in its full fury. The following video is an absolute must-watch for all Indians and Hindus:
The storm of hatred and boycott unleashed on J.K.Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, in 2019-2020, by woke activists and the internet armies controlled by them, after she opposed the dismissal of Maya Forstater, a researcher at a London thinktank, for expressing views on transgenders which were objected to by woke activists, must be read in detail.
But perhaps nothing illustrates more powerfully the complete control that the "Caucasian woke" psycho-terrorists have over the western Universities, which control all discourse in the west, than the way in which Hinduism is regularly targeted, to the extent that an International Virtual Conference on "Dismantling Global Hindutva" was held between 10-12 September 2021. It was cosponsored by the departments of over 53 Universities from all over the USA, including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Cornwell and Northwestern, and over 1100 academicians from all over the world signed a statement of solidarity expressing their full support for the conference. [See my article "Dismantling Global Hindutva"].
Perhaps it is the impression of Itihasika that it is not the actual "Caucasian woke" apostles of Compassion, but their "Hindu elite copycat version" people, who have so much control over, and such massive support in, western Universities as to achieve this record-breaking academically sponsored feat of organized Hinduphobia/Hindumisia?
As I have pointed out in the above chart, the three characteristics of this Woke Leftist ideology, whether "Caucasian" or "Hindu" are Hatred, Terror and Anarchy.
Wokist dictatorship in the west today has set up politically correct rules governing every public activity, for example racial quotas even in the roles in films and serials! Sometimes − but just sometimes − they face minor setbacks in individual cases:
However, by and large they are succeeding in spreading Anarchy and Terror to disrupt or permanently rupture the stable structure of human society at large. It is western society today that has become transformed by woke ideology. But, in this age of "development" and "progress", what becomes common in the west today becomes common in India tomorrow.
Much more could be written, but is there any need for it? Nothing is more frightening than that intelligent Hindu tweeters should be acting as apologists and glorifiers of "Caucasian" (or any kind of) "Wokeness"!
APPENDIX - HAMID DALWAI:
[The following is an extract from the book "Defence of Hindu Society" by Sita Ram Goel, published by Voice of India, New Delhi, in 1983. It consists of the introductory part of chapter 9, "Character of Nehruvian Secularism", pp.87-90 of the book]
Twenty years ago (in 1963) I had been invited to a seminar on Hurdles To Secularism. It was presided over by the late Shri Jayaprakash Narayan (JP). The Working Paper had been prepared by the late Professor A.B.Shah. It was a surprising departure from the usual norm of such papers. While he had repeated the current cliches about 'Hindu communalism', Professor Shah had been equally unsparing about what he had nailed down as 'Muslim communalism'.
In the event, however, the paper remained irrelevant to the discussion that took place. The several speakers that rose, one after another, became red in the face and foamed at the mouth as they fulminated against Hindu society for denying employment to Muslims in the public as well as the private sector, for reducing the Muslim minorities to the status of second-class citizens, for committing untold atrocities on the poor and helpless Muslims in a repeated round of riots,, and so on so forth. The most vociferous of them was Balraj Puri who has managed to masquerade for many years as a martyr in the service of what he proclaims to be humanist causes.
There were four or five Muslim participants present in that seminar. One of them was a professor of Arabic from a leading university. Another was a lawyer well-known for his championing of all communist and Islamic causes at all times. They were invited to speak next. But they all smiled and said that they had nothing to add to what their 'Hindu brethren' had already said so 'loudly and so lucidly'.
And then all of a sudden I saw some fireworks from the same silent and satisfied Islamic fraternity. They had all stood up, shaking with uncontrollable rage, and were shouting at the same time, "He is lying!" They were pointing their fingers at the gentleman who had been invited to speak by the president and who had said only a few sentences. Balraj Puri kept sitting. But he looked as if he would burst out of his skin.
This was the late Hamid Dalwai. I had heard of him. But this was the first time I saw him. He was a tall man with a slight stoop, a smiling face, and a rather relaxed self-possession. He was saying, "All that has been said about Hindu communalism today is nothing new. We have heard it for the nth time. The intention of the working paper of this seminar, however, was to highlight for the first time what has so far been ignored by all progressive people who swear by secularism. What I want to expose today is Muslim communaliam which has already divided the motherland, and which is still strong enough to poison our body-politic…".
It was at this point that the Muslim gentlemen had stood up and started shouting. I had been asked by JP not to speak at all. He was of the view that I being a well-known 'Hindu communalist' was quite likely to say something wild and thus mar the proceedings. It was Professor Shah who had extended the invitation to me, and then conveyed to me the condition laid down by JP if I wanted to be present. So I had kept quiet in spite of the insufferable Balraj Puri staring at me provokingly, off and on. But I could restrain myself no more. I stood up and addressed JP as follows: "For almost an hour and a half we have been listening patiently to what so many Hindus have said about Hindu society. Now a Muslim gentleman wants to say something about Muslim society. Why should we not listen to him with the same patience? Why is this gentleman, who is not attending this seminar as a gate-crasher but as an invited participant, be shouted down in this shameless manner?"
JP had also come to feel very strongly the iniquity of it all. He looked at the Islamic fraternity with annoyance on his face, and said with a touch of temper in his voice, "I insist that Hamid should be allowed to say whatever he wants to say". The Islamic fraternity collapsed in their seats with pained and perplexed expressions on their faces. They felt betrayed. It was the most unkindest cut of all, coming as it did from a man of such eminent standing in the world of India's Secularism.
Hamid continued:
"Hindu society has produced many communalists. Admitted. But it has also produced men like Mahatma Gandhi who went on a fast unto death to save the Muslims of Bihar from large-scale butchery. It has produced men like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who had the Bihari Hindus bombed from the air when they did not respond to the Mahatma's call. These have not been isolated men in Hindu society, as Rafi Ahmad Kidwai and M.C.Chagla have been in Muslim society. The Mahatma was a leader whom the whole Hindu society honored. Pandit Nehru has been kept as Prime Minister over all these years by a majority vote of the same Hindu society.
Now let me give you a sample of the leadership which Muslim society has produced so far, and in an ample measure. The foremost that comes to my mind is Liaqat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. Immediately after partition, there was a shooting in Sheikhupura in which many Hindus who were waiting for repatriation in a camp were shot down. There was a great commotion in India, and Pandit Nehru had to take up the matter with Liaqat Khan in Lahore. The Prime Minister of Pakistan had brought the Deputy Commissioner of Sheikhupura with him. The officer explained that the Hindus had broken out of the camp at night in the midst of curfew, and the police had to open fire. Pandit Nehru asked as to why the Hindus had broken out of the camp. The officer told him that some miscreants had set the camp on fire. Pandit Nehru protested to Liaqat Ali that this was an amazing explanation. Liaqat Ali replied without batting an eyelid that they had to maintain law and order. This exemplifies the quality of leadership which Muslim society has produced so far. This…"
All hell now broke loose as the Islamic fraternity stood up again, and started shouting that they had not come to the seminar to be insulted by "a hired hoodlum of the RSS fascists". JP could restrain them no more, and declared the proceedings closed with a note of anguish in his voice. As we walked out, I saw that the Hindu champions of Secularism avoided Hamid as if he was a snake. He was trying to take leave of them by approaching each one of them with a smile still lingering on his face. I was the only Hindu who shook hands with him, and patted him on the back for the brave stand he had taken in the face of a rowdy opposition.
