15. Bhagwati Prasad Goenka

I am thankful to you for a copy of �Time for Stock Taking� booklet.

Religions are made for people to shape their lives, in short, to establish a code of conduct for themselves. A religion which preaches that other religions are inferior, cannot be equated with a religion which preaches that all are equal and that all can attain salvation whatever way they adopt. For this matter the comparing of Islam or Christianity with Hinduism is not only impractical but totally naive.

1. If one is intolerant to any other form or concept of faith as is the case with Islam and Christianity, the question of accepting them as equal is totally and plainly stupid. Therefore, accepting their perpetrators like Jesus and Mohammad or equating them with Hindu Gods/Goddesses cannot arise. It is they who fed that any other form of belief is substandard and therefore the malady lies there.

2. Whatever form one wishes to adopt as one�s vehicle to reach Godhood is best left to the individual; we do not wish to discuss the issue, leave aside interfere with one�s ways. But we also will not allow interference with our concept for any reason, be it to the point of being called communal or fascist or whatever pseudo-jargon the self-seekers heap on us.

3. Neither is Islam good nor are Muslims good; both are two faces of the same coin. Having lived on easy and ill-gotten goodies, they (especially the Indian Muslims) still live in their glorified (ghastly) past of having ruled the country for almost 800 years. And what a rule - destruction of Hindu places of faith, forcible conversions, abductions and what not! How shameful have been these 800 years, and yet we wish to appease these slimy characters, have we no spine? Any other people would have sought damages, compensation if not an equal chance of paying back in the same coin.

5. On this point I am only partly in agreement with Dr. Godbole. All, practically all except committed votes, go to the prospective winning political party. Congress has always projected itself as the strongest contender to the throne at Delhi. Only now - that too after the Ayodhya episode - the BJP has become the front runner. Congress knew that Hindus are fragmented, disunited and of slave mentality while Muslims can unite and can be made to vote en masse; therefore, the Congress always kept the Muslims with them and tacitly played politics. It created a fear psychosis and a feeling of prosecution amongst the Muslims and projected themselves as their only saviour, thus ensuring their en masse votes while doing precious little for their upliftment in social, moral and economic standards. That it always played the double role of not punishing this group for its wrong doings, is apparent from records spanning for the last 50 years. Two cases in point being the Ayodhya episode and the aftermath of the Bombay blasts.

6. No Muslim is tolerant. Tolerance is a great virtue which is received only after great penance and after realising the meaning of life. No religion except Hinduism can claim to possess this virtue. However, let not tolerance be confused with cowardice. Sufis are no exception of the general Muslim character as fundamentally they are also of the same mind-set.

7. Quite true. Islam and its preaching are responsible for the ghetto mentality amongst the Muslims. But why go into the finery of this issue at all. If the Muslim leaders are responsible, so are the Muslims - the result being that the Muslims in general are of ghetto mentality. This requires correction not by appeasement but by strict discipline. Islam as it is being taught contaminated by extra-Islamic regimens like Hadis etc. is only instrumental in dehumanising people of this community.

8. Namaz cannot be offered at a �disputed place� but this tenet is more often followed in breach.

It is not possible to assimilate people who believe that they are the best and none else has the right to even exist. It is against the principles of democracy which India is. Sarva Dharma Samabhãv or Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam are noble and humane principles but based on TOLERANCE even to the point of being mult-ideational. Only when these people stand up to criticise their own holy books and tenets and question the Mullahs and Padris can light be bestowed on them and a ray of hope towards true civilisation can come to them. Before that happens, let us not equate the enlightened and the ignorant.

If the meaning of �Sarva Panth Samãdar Manch� is what is detailed, it is certainly most disturbing and would mean diluting our own noble principles of equality of human beings. The questions asked in the letter to Shri.  K.S. Sundarshanji are viewed by me as under:

1. The meaning of �Sarva Panth� should be clearly defined and confined to only Bharatitya spiritual practices.

2. It cannot include Islam or Christianity or for that matter Marxism, Nazism and Fascism.

3. It is idiotic to try to accommodate religions which do not accept anything beyond their own teaching. We should not concern ourselves with Islam or Muslims; we have to unite Hindus of this country and worldwide as one body and we have no reason to try to assimilate others who even do not consider us to be equal.

4. It is a futile exercise to assume that all religions are worthy of equal respect. We already say this by preaching �Sarva Dharma Samabhãv� and �Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam� but this acceptance is with a corollary - the other person or his religion must accept us also as equals.

5. There is no question of accepting anyone who has even the remotest sense of superiority or who considers his form of worship as the only path to GOD. These propagators must learn to accept us, respect our forms of worship, and love this country, thus applying for eligibility to be accepted by us; till then let us forget about them and concentrate on strengthening our own people.
 

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