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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rejoinder to National Geographic Magazine   

By: Swami Jyoti
swamijyoti@vivekanandagospel.org
August 22, 2003

Rejoinder to National Geographic Magazine
(June 2003 issue article on “India's Untouchables”)

WILL THEY LISTEN?
A Word to the Editor and his staff writer:

To William L. Allen,
Editor in chief National Geographic Magazine
PO Box 98199 Washington, DC, U.S.A
20090-8199 E-mail: <ngm@nationalgeographic.com>

Sir,

Ref: The article, “India’s Untouchables” in your June 2003 issue, by your staff writer Tom O’Neill.

At the very outset (as I have also done at the end of my rejoinder to your article which follows) let me raise an important point. Coming on the heels of this National Geographic article is the Pope’s statement in Vatican. One therefore suspects if this article was an advance propaganda for Christian Conversions Movement aimed at India and other Asian countries advocated by the Pope. A specialized scientific Magazine like the National Geographic becoming a tool in the hands of dogmatic Christian Missionaries who have stood against all reason and science, and who have divided Christianity itself into two warring halves, Catholics and Protestants, is a tragedy, to say the least. Will the author, Tom O’Neill, listen to the reasons given in the rejoinder and come out of his prejudice against the really great nation, India, which is destined to play very soon an important role in the cultural history of the world? --

HINDU MONK

=======================================================================

A REJOINDER TO THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

FROM A HINDU MONK

Recently (June 2003), two prominent U.S. Magazines carried special articles focussing on the ‘proselytomania’ of the fervent American evangelists. The writings highlighted the abnormal missionary zeal and bizarre mentality as also their typical methodology for ‘harvesting souls’. While one Magazine was bragging about the Christian Evangelical crusade against the Islamic country of Iraq in the wake of Baghdad’s fall, the other was apparently camouflaging but nevertheless cleverly towing the missionary line to increase the count of harvested souls in India.

The Time Magazine (internet: <www.time.com>) article, insolently captioned: “Should Christians Convert Muslims?” focussed on a new flock of missionaries who had launched a vigorous campaign to take the Christian Gospel to Islamic countries, which sooner or later is bound to inspire more backlash than belief. The article speaks for itself the hautiness of the evangelists and the low cunning employed by them in winning the alien souls for Jesus Christ.

The article in the National Geographic Magazine (internet: <www.nationalgeographic.com>) captioned "India’s Untouchables", apparently exhibiting the white man’s burden for the lowly and the downtrodden in India, was written from the point of view of finding fault with Hinduism, plus a pinch of 'Gandhi-bashing'. Even a casual reader from India, would not have failed to note the fact that this article was mainly aimed at denigrating the Hindu religion and India. A not-well-researched article, full of prejudice, it appeared to be mostly for consumption in the western world, with a view to evoke sympathy and support for the avowedly proselytizing activities in India.

On a visit to the online Readers Forum (Internet: <www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm>) of the NG, I found pages after pages of strong reaction shown by its readers, both from the East and the West, to the biased article on “India’s Untouchables.” Needless to say that my fingers were tired of scrolling through more than twenty pages in the Internet. Many more pages still remained. The following few lines are in the light of the reaction found in the initial couple of pages:

Presenting a biased view, by highlighting only the evil side of the Hindu caste system and not at all focussing on the progress made in eliminating it, by associating caste system with Hinduism, while it is equally prevalent in other religions, NG has unwittingly fallen into the trap of Vatican to paint Hinduism and India in bad colors. May be, only then they can keep the harvest of souls in India going. Exploitation of caste system by Christian missionaries is what is perpetuating the caste system. Understanding the influence of missionaries in western media to denigrate foreign cultures is critical to understand the lack of objectivity and bias in this report. Instead of portraying the problems of the lower classes in a proper context of living environment, the NG unfortunately has chosen Hinduism as its context. This article is patently a distorted picture of reality and is meant to sensitize the global concern for the lower classes in India and to motivate the proselytizers in their usual game of increasing their numbers.

Everyone knows that our previous president was K. R Narayanan -- a Dalit (if you want to use this word). Our current president is a Muslim, the prime minister a Hindu, finance minister, a Sikh and defense minister a Christian. Tell me one other nation on the earth, which can boast of such diversity. Therefore, this article is a well-written selective-truth which people can believe, but are getting a very small picture, which is neither representative of India nor Hinduism.

The above lines, gathered and compiled from the Readers Forum, give an idea of the strong reaction shown by the readers of NG.
*****

With all our limitations, we Indians have a reason to be proud of having established and sustained a democratic political system. This is our greatest achievement. We have managed to have a broad representation even at the highest level of our democratically elected governments: our prime ministers and presidents have included individuals who were also women, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits. As against this, how many colour presidents or women presidents can the ‘greatest democracy in the world’, the U.S. boast? This is an important question, which the Indians wish to ask Tom O’Neill, the U.S. author of the article in NG. Obviously, he has no answer. On the contrary, he will eat humble pie if he is told how his forefathers ill-treated and persecuted the Blacks in the U.S.

In 1893, speaking about the inhuman treatment of Negroes in America, Swami Vivekananda, the great Hindu Monk of India, who was in Chicago at that time, observed that their lot had become worse after the abolition of slavery (in 1865). “Today”, said the Swami, “they are the property of nobody. Their lives are of no value; they are burnt alive on mere pretences. They are shot down without any law for they are murderers; for they are Niggers, they are not human beings, they are not even animals…”

During the decade, 1889-1899, the total number of Negroes lynched, according to official estimates, was 1460. “Prejudice against the Negroes was equally strong in the North; and the main body of Northern opinion believed, as the South did, that the Negro was an inferior being; that he could never be fully assimilated into the American system, and that he was best kept subordinate to the white man. Segregation, discrimination and ‘Jim Crow’ customs received the tacit approval even of such northern liberals as Godkin of ‘The Nation ’.” (A Comprehensive Biography of Swami Vivekananda, Part I, p. 449, 451and 452).

In this context, it must also be pointed out that the white supremacists of America organized the Ku Klux Klan, one of the notorious secret societies of modern times, after the American Civil War, in protest against the emancipation of Negroes in order to prevent their voting. The members of this secret society, enraged at seeing former slaves in position of power while they themselves were forbidden to hold public office under Reconstruction resorted to terror and violence to subdue the newly enfranchised Negroes and keep them from polls.

In the face of all this evidence in the historical records of his own Christian country, the U.S., Tom O’Neill, still has a cheek to find fault with Hinduism and India. It is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. It is not too late for him to tender an unconditional apology not only to the Blacks but also to the Red Indians of America for all the atrocities and holocaust perpetrated on them by his forefathers. In addition, incorporating the contrite apology, he can also write another detailed article on the subject matter, to be published prominently as a cover story in the NG.

Having said all this, let us now carefully analyze Tom O’Neill article. At the very outset it must stated that one gets confused about the conclusions arrived at by him on the facts he presents. He mentions about one Giridharilal Maurya, a leather worker, aged 52, who was attacked by eight men from higher Rajput caste families of Rajasthan, who has taken legal steps, whose case drags on and on, and whose son has advanced to the college. The author then concludes, “To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system… Cast system follows the precept: ‘All men are created unequal.’ ” According to Swami Vivekananda, the greatest modern authority on Hinduism, caste is only a social guild. It has helped large groups to survive with their way of life and culture under extremely trying circumstances of history like the thousand years of most violent and intolerant political subjugation, first under the Islamic marauders and then under the British Christian traders.

To support his theory that ‘all men are created unequal’, Tom O’Neill refers to a ‘legend’ mentioned in the famous Rig Vedic ‘Purusha Sukta’. Here the four Varnas, Bramana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra are described to emerge from head, shoulders, thighs and feet of the Supreme Being. Then how does the idea of the ‘unequal’ come? To be different parts of the Supreme Being is not to be ‘unequal.’ Does the author think that his legs are unequal to his hand, shoulder, or head? He further says: A fifth group are the Achuta or untouchables and that the Primordial Being (viz. the Creator God) does not claim them, meaning the Purusha Sukta does not mention them. Then, how does he call them the fifth group, and on what authority?

The author goes on to say that in “extreme cases, which are not uncommon, the women of the untouchables are raped, burned, lynched and gunned down”, and in the same breath also admits that the “Indian Constitution forbids discrimination, and specially abolishes untouchability.” Yet, he writes, “Hinduism of 80% population discriminates untouchables.” Does the author mean that 80% population are persecuting continuously the untouchables in the worst manner of raping etc? In that case, the country could have been a boiling hell for so many ever-increasing international communities who come here for business, for study in our Universities, to play World Cup cricket, chess etc. How does he explain that?

On page 13 of NG, the author writes to contradict himself, “The untouchables appear quite normal” and again, he says, “You cannot hide your caste and the other Hindus find out.” On page 14 of NG the author says, “1950 Constitution mandates a quota and reserves seats in Federal Legislature upto 15%. They are in law called Scheduled Castes and Tribes and have reserved seats in State Legislatures, village councils, civil services and universities”, and adds, “but for all the laws, the hard heart of caste remains unmoved.” Does he mean that these reserved seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Legislatures, both Federal and State, are not allowed to be filled by the upper castes? Then what about A. Jagajivan Ram, who became the Deputy Prime Minister under Nehru, K. R. Narayanan, who became President, Bangaru Laxman who became the President of BJP, Kalyan Singh and Bangarappa, both Chief Ministers of two big states viz. Utter Pradesh and Karnataka? Dozens of Federal and State Ministers are from Scheduled Castes. The author himself mentions the present Chief Minister Mayawati as the three-times elected Chief Minister of Utter Pradesh! In the face of these, how can he conclude, as he does that “there are 160 million untouchables in a country that trumpets itself as a model for developing nations, the world’s most populous democracy, a modern power outfitted with software industries, communication satellites and plant for making nuclear energy and bombs”?

The author mentions only those Doms (Scheduled Caste) cleaning sewerage etc. Why does he not even mention how many Scheduled Castes have been living in decent flats constructed in large numbers by every state Government! The Doms of Pathuriaghata (in Calcutta), for example, have set up a model of self-development under the leadership of a middle class college professor, Shiv Shankar Chakraborty. They helped him to help their 250 families to built well furnished flats with hygienic drainage, water supply, electric, general systems and technical education. They earn while they learn in their ‘Canework Industries’ through cooperative marketing system.

On page 19 of NG, mention is made of Mahatma Gandhi as a leader of the campaign to eliminate untouchability. In 1915, in his Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi admitted an untouchable family, wrote against untouchability and gave the untouchables a new name, ‘Harijans’. In 1933 he led the temple entry movement and declared that “untouchability is on its last legs”. However, the author laments, “it was only a day dream.” Was it really? The previous para in NG disproves the author’s conclusion: “Mahatma Gandhi campaigned to eliminate Untouchability. At his ashram, he accepted a family of Untouchables. He adopted the family’s Untouchable daughter. In writings and speeches, Gandhi implored Indians to cease discriminating against Untouchables. At his ashram, all residents performed traditionally unclean chores.” On the same page, the author says again, “Gandhi never actually renounced the Hindu Caste System, and the concrete results of his actions were few.” What about the inter-caste marriages that Gandhi practiced in his own family and encouraged in numberless cases? Swami Vivekananda says that the whole world practices caste-system, the only difference being that in the West, it is based on dollars and in India, it is based on culture! The Swami further tells that what has to go is not the caste, which is only a cultural-economic grouping but the difference in their privileges to enjoy life. “Abolish the privileges, and you have the best society”, the Swami assures.

The Ramakrishna Mission Movement started by Swami Vivekananda, which considers caste as only a cultural-economic grouping and not a hereditary or religious institution, pushing ahead by properly educating in culture and economic uplift the backward people. This is yielding results in that the caste privileges are going, all castes meet as equals at all levels of physical, mental, cultural and spiritual forum. Thus, the Ramakrishna Mission has become a ‘trend setter’ of a ‘privilegeless society’. It is a pity that the Christian author of the article in the NG is completely blind to these epoch-making changes taking place in India. May be his Semitic upbringing prevented him from knowing first hand about the dedicated service activities of several Hindu organizations including the Vanavasi Kalyana Kendra and Vivekananda Kendra which are doing a yeomen service in the cause of the lowly and the downtrodden, all over India. <b>On the other hand, the author seems to be well acquainted with and knows more about the activities of one Martin Macwan (obviously a Christian convert) who has started his own organization in Gujarat, backed by the foreign aid received from the Washington, D.C. – based Holdeen India Program (must be a Christian organization aiding and abetting conversions in India). It should be noted that as the author mentions, Martin Macwan, educated and trained in a Jesuit seminary in India, is now active in some 2,200 villages. Stating that Martin Macwan is one of the most visible Untouchable organizers since Ambedkar, the author goes on to say that “until an Untouchable leader like Ambedkar emerges or until Hinduism ceases playing a central role in politics and law enforcement -- both distant prospects -- the shame of untouchability condition will persist. When and if fundamental change does come, it will be traumatic and almost certainly violent. It will probably happen slowly, village by village…” Reminded of the ‘Liberation Theology’ of the Christian missionaries to expedite conversions?</b>

On page 23 of NG, it is mentioned, “no comparable untouchable leader with a wide following has emerged since Ambedkar’s death. The movement is fractured, state by state.” What about the leadership of Sri Narayana Guru of Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangham in Kerla etc? What about the BJP’s Bangaru Laxman etc. already referred to in the previous paras?

In a recent meeting at the Marina Beach in Chennai presided over by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi, an untouchable leader spoke about the atrocities against them after conversion to Christianity. In another meeting held at Ambedkar Nagar, the untouchables proclaimed they were Hindus and that they should not lose their glorious cultural heritage of 5000 years. In this, they had the support of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Ramakrishna Math, Chinmaya Mission, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and others of a dozen leading Hindu Organizations. Does this not prove that the problem of untouchability is being best solved by themselves and there are enough leaders among themselves to do it! Does this not disprove the author’s point of the whole article that untouchability has remained and will continue to remain a Caste problem of India?

Before I conclude, let me raise an important point. Coming on the heels of this National Geographic article is the Pope’s statement in Vatican. One therefore suspects if this article was an advance propaganda for Christian Conversions Movement aimed at India and other Asian countries advocated by the Pope. A specialized scientific magazine like the National Geographic becoming a tool in the hands of dogmatic Christian Missionaries who have stood against all reason and science, and who have divided Christianity itself into two warring halves, Catholics and Protestants, is a tragedy, to say the least. Will the author, Tom O’Neill, listen to the reasons given above and come out of his prejudice against the really great nation, India, which is destined to play very soon an important role in the cultural history of the world?

Swami Jyoti <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->