The Growing AID-India Scandal

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[quote=k.ram,Apr 23 2005, 12:47 AM] http://www.charitymonitor.org

Posted on Sulekha at http://www.sulekha.com/news/newsitem.aspx?cid=423288

Was emailed to India-Forum:

Dear Aniruddha Vaidya and Sudarshan Suresh,

I was forwarded an email/press release from AID, about an internet article discussing AID's nature. As donor to various charities (including AID in past), and an Indian American, I followed your advice and read that article at CharityMonitor.com . Thank you for directing me there - I learned many things, though they may not have been expressed in the smooth sugarcoated language that AID's friends the Communist Forum Of Inqulabi Leftists (FOIL) use in their writings. Having understood the issues, I would like to take a shot at putting things in the right perspective so that it's clear to you why people like me <b>DO NOT donate to AID any more. </b>

For starters, Mr/Ms. Vaidya, you claim that AID stands for Gandhian values but you don't clarify was to which 'Gandhi' you are referring to. Based on the faint image on AID's pluralism poster and the logo (which may equally be of a hammer and sickle), I can only imagine that you are referring to Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi aka Mahatma Gandhi. But, that Mahatma had brought our very freedom struggle to a standstill when a couple of policemen were burnt alive by a mob at Chari Chaura. In contrast, the advocates (and members?) of AID find time to attend entire Conferences set up to honor the naxal extremists who specialize in killing policemen in India.
So Mr/Ms. Vaidya, does AID really represent Gandhian values or terrorist values?

Secondly, you are trying to dissassociate from a highly vocal member of the IMC, but you support the resolution he put out!
Is the Indian "MUSLIM" Council a "secular" organization? Is it a charitable organization, and has AID, which claims 501c3 tax exemption, any business participating as conference attendees at the Annual Convention of the IMC - as you have been doing? Hasn't that member of IMC published an article begging for some tears for the fallen Taliban? Haven't the extereme fundamentalist positions of that IMC member been shunned by most liberal muslims including the likes of former MP Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar etc?

I can understand your outrage on being tagged as "communist", "jehadi", "anti-India" but then I'm sure you can understand the disgust felt by the likes of me when any other pro-Indian organization is labelled as 'facists' or 'nazis' or supporters of whatever "tatva" by AID leaders and their associates?

Granted that there is a difference between your organization attending and felicitating this member of IMC and any other AID individual doing so in their individual capacity. But if AID and IMC clearly pat each other in public using your organizational credentials, I think it's only fair for you to accept the fact about AID's links to IMC or vice versa.

Which brings up a question about another email floating around the internet for past 3 months by some vocal members of AID such as Sriram Ananthanaryanan? Didn't he use AID mailing lists and perhaps other resources in this blatant political hate campaign against the Government of India? The letter dealt with trying to get the visa of elected chief minister of Gujarat revoked during the recent trip to US. Which raises the question:
(a) Did AID endorse that letter and stand by it?
(b) If not why is this individual still the Co-ordinator at AID and using AID as a tool of petty partisan politics?
© Are you aware as a charitable organization you do have restrictions on political activities?
(d) Shouldn't I as a donor be concerned that the Internal Revenue Service will disallow all deductions for donations made to AID, since you have clearly been violating the conditions for organizations to which such donations can be made?
(e) Shouldn't AID leaders be held personally liable for tax fraud, and for cheating innocent donors like me, as well as their own young volunteers?

I can understand your stand on behalf of the affected Muslims in one state of India, but I fail to understand why AID is raising funds for politician Mr. Sandeep Pandey's boondongle across the Wagah border! Is AID deaf, dumb and blind like the three proverbial Gandhian monkeys that it can't see the fact that this same Pakistani military junta currently ruling in Pakistan has for past 20 years killed over 50,000 Indians and for past 6 years have held those very citizens of Pakistan hostage in their own nation? Can't you read Sandeep Pandey's statements which blatantly conduct propaganda for this terrorist military regime? Doesn't this association make you terrorist fundraisers?

You state that "While AID regularly attends gatherings at Hindu temples, "; I don't know as to how an secular charitable organization can attend a temple, you might be referring to it's members attending temples. So you can see how easy it is to mistake the actions of an individual for that of the organization or vice versa - done especially under the organizational credentials.

I really don't differentiate between members of any Indian organizations attending gatherings at temple or church or mosques or synagoues. But why is it that ASHA and AID, which claim to be secular charitable organizations, spend donor resources on consistently screen movies showing Hindus as oppressors? Let me ask you Mr/Ms. Vaidya, if you really claim to be 'secular' and 'plural', I'd be more than happy to recommend names of movies to show how oppressive other religions too can be, seems only logical to give other religions a fair share of the screen time.
Anyway, it appears that AID's leadership is more interested in such activities than in genuine charitable activities.

It's heartening to I see that you are familiar with the quotes by Joseph Gobbels. But what did you or your organization do when the slanderers hit another Indian charity/NGO? Didn't those slanderers and the false propaganda peddlers endorse AID and ASHA? Didn't AID leaders participate in the attack, sneakily? If my memory serves me correctly, one Kamayani Swami of AID Milwaukee was infact belligerent in that attack!

Now I'd say this would raise a question for any fair and balanced observer as to why did your organization associate with such people and choose to benefit from their endorsements? Could it be that deafening silence from AID and lack of rebuttals to support a fellow Indian charity, aid (pardon the pun) AID directly in it's fund raising efforts? I don't know about others, but to some, AID's involvement in this affair is certainly questionable. Which brings to another point raised by your latest rebuttal where you state that "Prof. Vinay Lal of UCLA, who is well known for his studies on South Asia and Gandhi." Might I add this 'well known' professor is one of the mud-slingers-in-chief in the past against another charitable organization and is currently more famous for
(a) his support of Taliban blowing off the Bamiyan Buddhas
(b) his pompus false claims that a Christian hospital based in Meeraj was an "RSS" (translation Hindu) "hate-mongering institution" - in trying to cover up the research fraud perpetrated by his associates.
© his claim in teaching American undergraduates at the University of California in Los Angeles, that the President of the United States is a worse terrorist than Osama Bin Laden

His ignorance about South Asia is evident and I'm pretty positive, Gandhiji too wouldn't have approved of any Buddhist statues being blown to smithereens. Mr. Vaidya, you are most welcome to support such individuals, I'll chip in a couple of pennies for AID so that you too can buy a dunce cap one for every AID individual who supports "Prof." Vinay Lal, including Mr Sudarshan.

It's time AID comes clean and stops hiding behind tags such as 'Gandhian' or 'secular' because your actions are exactly the opposite of what you claim to be. Till then you can keep parroting the standard party line a la Baghdad Bob and I'll keep sending my hard earned charity $ elsewhere and will encourage every friend and family member to do the same.

Yours very truly,
xxxx

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