Reaching out to critics is part of our mission
Reaching out to critics is part of our mission…
…but we also have to contend with cynics and trolls who are not serious about a dialogue
From our very inception, Hindus for Human Rights has considered it an important part of our mission to engage with our supporters as well as with our detractors. We believe that there is always something new that we can learn from one another. It is with that mission in mind that we had developed our FAQs two years ago, which anticipated and answered some of the criticisms we were likely to get in the course of our advocacy work:
· Why ‘Hindus’ for Human Rights?
· What is your version of ‘Hindu’?
· Isn't this just ‘Soft Hindutva’?
· Aren’t you perpetuating injustices like the caste system?
· What about the persecution of Hindus in some parts of the world?
· What is your take on Kashmir and the plight of Pandits?
· Jewish people have Israel. Don’t Hindus also deserve their own Mathru Bhoomi?
· Aren’t you unpatriotic in criticizing the India government?
· Hasn’t ‘Secularism’ outlived its relevance in India?
· Isn’t ‘Human Rights’ a tool of Western oppression?
· Do you support open borders and a free-for-all immigration policy?
In addition to the FAQs, however, it is our goal to continue to respond to specific critiques, as long as they are not abusive and do not engage in name-calling. This can be challenging, of course, when stereotypical ‘whataboutisms’ are thrown at us instead of factual rejoinders.
It is a difficult road that we are on, particularly when we discern a disturbing pattern of out-sized sense of entitlement as a majority community and assertion of unfounded claims over and over again, often in almost identical language and tone.
Thanks to the extraordinary effectiveness of social media propaganda by the ruling party since 2014, many people are ready to believe that Hindus around the world are hated by everyone; Hindus will soon be a minority in India; violence is OK in defense of Hinduism; the Delhi riots were started by Muslims, and so on.
Notwithstanding the air of helplessness, HfHR honestly believes that when the fog of Hindutva lifts at long last, we will still find a majority of Indians (and Hindus) embracing co-existence and equality for all. In the meantime, we consider it as our dharma to do our bit to lead those willing, out to safety, and pray that there will not be genocidal violence under the cover of the Hindutva fog.
As we start a new year, we thank our supporters who have been helping us in our mission of engagement by responding to critics on social media, by ‘liking’ our posts, and by sharing and retweeting our messages. We need your ongoing help, especially in updating our FAQs to capture some of the recent developments.
To skeptics and cynics, we pledge to do better in our conversations in 2022, learn from our engagements, and hope that we can make you a believer in our mission.
To those who indulge in name-calling, all we can say is that abusive language is often a sign of inability to respond with facts and real arguments.
To those who take comfort in ‘whataboutisms,’ we can only hope that you will realize that blaming history and using India’s neighbors as foils to justify the surging hate and violence in India is a slippery slope, and is bound to lead everyone over the precipice.
To those who resort to jingoism and patriotism, please remember that those who had little role in India’s independence movement and sat out seventy years of nation-building haven’t exactly earned the sole right to call themselves patriots. Thousands of real patriots are in jail today under false charges, labelled “anti-India,’ a sad reminder of the brutality of colonial rule.
Please listen to these two powerful pleas by true patriots.
Let us together make Year 2022 the beginning of difficult conversations on how to end hate and violence.
