Hinduphobic false narratives abound throughout Western media. Among the worst are Leftist outlets like the BBC, The Guardian, Time Magazine, and Reuters. They grasp onto these narratives and attempt to create a mirage of the oh-so-dangerous and scary Hindu nationalist boogeyman.
UK Member of Parliament (MP) Bob Blackman was daring enough to recently speak on the phenomena of anti-Hindu sentiment, saying “Last week in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, the Ram Mandir was consecrated. This was of great joy to Hindus across the world as being the birthplace of Lord Ram. Very sadly, the BBC, in their coverage reported, of course, that this was the site of the destruction of a mosque forgetting the fact that it had been a temple for more than 2000 years before that happened and that the Muslims had been allocated a five-acre site on which to erect a mosque adjacent to the town.”
The opening of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, devoted to the Indic hero and much-loved Hindu deity of the Ramayana, has brought back much joy and pride for many in India, and not just the country’s Hindu population and diaspora. If we were to believe the Western media, this new temple, dare I say ‘old mandir’, is “purely political, divisive, controversial, contested, a monument to Hindu supremacy, a spectacle” and “built on the site of a historic mosque.” They will print that “Indian Hindus have a war on mosques”, but certainly will not mention that five acres of land and funds have been provided for building a new mosque. They will not mention that Indian Hindus were suppressed by centuries of invasions, Mughal rule, and British colonialism.
This Hindu temple wasn’t built on a mosque. It was rebuilt on the rubble of a mosque that was itself built on a historic Hindu temple, destroyed by invaders. Invaders built such mosques on many thousands of destroyed Hindu temples, schools, and libraries. Do people in the West really think all these mosques were built by peaceful means? It took 500 years to get this temple back in the location thought by many to be the place of Ram’s birth. The process was done legally and voted on by India’s Supreme Court, which has had at least one Muslim seat since the 1930s. It involved deliberate long legal proceedings with many arguments and documentation from all sides.
We know that on December 6, 1992, this 16th-century mosque in question was taken apart by Hindu activists. This led to riots and cultural clashes involving up to 200,000 Hindus and Muslims. This resulted in an estimated 900 deaths, including 575 Muslims and 275 Hindus. India has come a long way since then. Let us in the US remember that we have mega-churches standing on the sacred sites of our indigenous peoples. Let the Anglos know that hundreds of churches in Greece and Eastern Europe were built on the ruins of mosques and Pagan religious monuments.
The typical American or European is unaware of Indian society and culture, which involves both Hindus and Muslims, along with many other religious and ethnic groups. The typical Westerner is most often very unaware of India’s history. The liberal Western media seems to think that Indian Hindus and Muslims are fighting a religious civil war. This woke-bully mentality is based on sanctimony and the fact that privileged liberals think it is their duty to be offended on behalf of ethnic and religious minorities, but only those who live in countries other than their own.
While they are busy trying to decide who or what they will cancel next, Indian Hindus and Muslims tend to mind their own business and live together in relative peace.
Regarding the Ram temple, the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust secretary Athar Hussain said, “The Supreme Court verdict on the temple issue has been accepted by the Muslims. The Muslim community has no negative approach towards the consecration ceremony or the temple. The moment is both triumphant for Hindu(s)…and for the country’s 200 million Muslims. We will share our unity and communal harmony with the world, and it will start with Ayodhya. Hindus and Muslims fought shoulder-to-shoulder against the British. This is our story and Ram is also a part of our common heritage.”
India and Hinduism itself are very diverse, inclusive, vast, and plural. Its dharma represents the world’s most ancient continuously practiced, indigenous spiritual and philosophical tradition, which focuses on inner knowledge over outer belief. It is also an intellectual and multi-cultural tradition attached to sophisticated schools of philosophy, its own system of medicine and psychology, architecture, astronomy, metaphysics, mathematics, and various art forms.
Look up the fairly recent Pew Polls done in India and the US in regard to freedom of religion. It polled 35,000 Muslims in each country. Around 85 per cent of Indian Muslims said they thought Indian culture was the best worldwide and felt free to practice Islam. Compare that to around 35 per cent in the US who felt the same or expressed similar admiration. So, maybe we, in America, should allow India to be autonomous and focus on our own problems — one being domestic terrorism that goes hand in hand with Christian nationalism.
India’s government is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse in the world. Let Indians have their sovereignty and do away with our hypocrisy.
Sean Bradrick is an American Sanatani & Yogi. Author of the soon-to-be-released book, ‘A Hindu’s Guide to Advocacy and Activism’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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