Urgent: Plans to derail California Hindu textbooks revision

December 1, 2005

massive and destructive invasion. Then when archaeological proof was not

forthcoming, it was termed a gradual migration. Now, many espousing AIT

previously, talk of replacement of just societal elites without a major

population change. Thus, we see that the theory has slowly been bent out of

shape to account for the lack of hard evidence while maintaining Euro-centric

concepts about west-to-east transmission of cultural and linguistic ideas.

When one examines the collaborators in this

debate, the confetti of motivations behind maintaining AIT’s validity is

unraveled - Indologists like Witzel, Farmer and Co., Missionaries/Evangelicals

such as John Dayal, and Marxists. I have tried

to state below what each of these groups actually stand to achieve by

partnering for pushing AIT/AMT and the associated version of India’s history:

Weaken Indian society and encourage Balkanization or the breakup

of India: AIT allows ‘divide and rule’ because it pits non-Dalits against

Dalits, North Indians against South Indians, etc. Possible forces behind such

an attempt are western think-tanks/intelligence agencies who seek to further

weaken/soften the Indian state, Proselytization forces - which can then play

off one segment of the population against the other to create a feeling of

perpetual persecution, leading to more conversions fueled by insecurity and

hate, and surprise! – Marxists, who see a culturally more united India as

detrimental to vote-bank, class-based politics.

Preserve status quo with respect to the cultural history of

Europe: This is an interesting topic to explore

as some have suggested that a significant chunk of their imagined cultural

history would be wiped clean without help from the ‘Vedic Aryans’ and

associated literature. Here the main actors again seem to be

history/linguistics departments in the west – one of who’s tasks surely has to

be ensuring and maintaining the ‘superiority’ of the west in terms of

cultural/linguistic innovations. Church leaders will no doubt view this agenda

favorably – by ensuring that the west is continued to be viewed as a superior

culture, the traditional association of Christianity with the West can

therefore be used to imply the superiority of Christianity itself.<!--[if

!supportEmptyParas]-->  Paint cultural achievements in Ancient

India as borrowings and portray earlier social practices negatively as

irrational, nonsensical and discriminatory: Marxists and Missionaries have

taken a lead

on this front as this leads to a loathing of one’s own culture making conversion

(in the case of missionaries) and acceptance of western “enlightenment” concepts

easier (in the case of Marxists). For western forces, this agenda is used to

restrict the growth of Hindu philosophy, Yoga and associated traditions in the

west by spreading the seeds of doubt and confusion in the minds of prospective

followers. Also, “Enlightenment”-era philosophy and leftist ideology meshes

well with modern-day Christianity – both strive for an irrational totality and

certainty in workings of the world around them. So as a first step, by painting

Hinduism as a non-authentic belief-system filled with superstition, Indologists

have set discarding of Hinduism as the initial requirement that needs to be met

for India to become an “enlightened” society. Marxists have innocently lapped up

these inherently racist western constructs and in a display of total lack of

originality and wisdom, seek to dutifully

satisfy this requirement so they can be counted among the “enlightened”. Another

ingenious display of how natives are used by imperialistic powers to perform

their bidding.  Questioning the

authenticity of native religions and associated historical figures: Proving the

supposed fictional nature of these figures is tantamount to proving the uniquely

authentic nature of Christian beliefs in the mind of the missionary. This is

equivalent to the practice of first targeting the leader(s) of an army during

war. Similarly, current leaders of these religions will also be targeted for

the same reason.  Paint the caste

system and Dalit issue as one of race, equivalent to the situation of African

Americans in the US: The irony here is that the supremely racist, 19th century,

Eurocentric viewpoint of supposed Indo-Europeans riding down the Hindukush,

trampling upon peaceful, black natives and imposing social inequalities is used

by the closet-racist AIT-touting Indologist crowd to paint themselves as the

liberators of “India’s blacks” all while implicitly preserving the assumed

notions of European cultural superiority!!! Their sincere hope is that this

will make it difficult for Indians to get support from any quarter in the US or

elsewhere in the fight to correct distorted versions of history. In fact, recent

efforts to enlist the support of African and African-American organizations in

this regard have come to attention. By doing this, the responsibility of the

west in propagating false concepts of racial superiority is diminished and in

the process, they are actively trying to plant seeds of conflict among

non-western societies/peoples.<!--[if

!supportEmptyParas]-->  While it is

always difficult to suppress the truth for too long, in this case, the lack of

unified and concrete evidence supporting AIT or indigenist arguments has made

this a propaganda ball-game. Given the funds available to sources trying to

push AIT (western institutions and missionaries), it is imperative to act to

counter these untruths. Listed below are some steps to address this menace:

Further research: Archaeologically, it has been sufficiently

proven that there was NO invasion or large-scale displacement of the

Indian gene pool as posited by AIT. Similarly, there are no references to such

a phenomenon in historical literature. It is now up to

Indian linguistic departments to rebuff traditional IE linguistics arguments by

patiently working out alternative possibilities, while also tirelessly

questioning established assumptions about the supposed IE migration. In

addition, further research should be carried out on the origins of Mitannis -

Vedic kings who ruled the Middle East in the 2nd millennium BC.<!--[if

!supportEmptyParas]-->  Correction of historical/current

inaccuracies wherever they may occur: Like the BBC initiative, Indians should

pro-actively confront AIT wherever it appears and shoot down these racist

assumptions with ground realities – i.e., that AIT has no

archaeological/philological basis, that the caste system has nothing to do with

skin color, that discrimination of minorities has never been an Indian trait,

that affirmative action policies in India are unparalleled in terms of

coverage and consequence (how many women/minority heads of state/political

leaders does one see in the west? – Contrast this with the sea of backward

class/Dalit/women political leaders in India!!).

Education of the public: While there are already many websites

which seek to correct such historical inaccuracies, it is important to for an

institution with established credentials to also take up such information

dissemination activities. In addition, popular media such as cartoons and

movies should be used to further reinforce accurate versions of India’s

history.  Expose forces behind the

AIT: This should include<!--[if

!supportEmptyParas]-->  Uncovering the racist biases of many of

these scholars, Uncovering the clandestine collaboration of these forces,

namely, the Indologist-Missionary-Marxist nexus. Exposing the racist biases of

enlightenment authors and other 19th century European scholars who helped

construct the IE framework. Exposing the “harvest mania” behind missionary

activity and the simplistic, irrational assumptions of these folk such as

anti-evolutionism, crusading/jihadist mindset, and anti-environmentalism.

Attempts should also be made to relate this to the East Asian situation where

such tactics have led significant conversions in countries such as S Korea,

China, etc. It is no co-incidence that East Asians have also taken to

consumerism and

other western influences as a fish takes to water.

Form a meaningful partnership with Dalit leadership and work

hard to assuage their concerns: This is of primal importance – not just because

the enemy camp is baiting a significant portion of India’s population constantly

by offering violent, anti-national, disruptive strategies (Maoists, Naxalites,

etc.). This is going to be one of the toughest steps to take because of mutual

suspicions, involvement of foreign agencies, Hindu orthodoxy, Evangelists and

interested parties who will suffer politically with a break-down of this schism

in Indian society.<!--[if

!supportEmptyParas]-->viji <viji123 > wrote: Dear

Friends As you all know plans are underway to have portrayal of Hinduism in

California textbooks and it has come under extreme attack from anti Hindu

forces. A hearing will be held today and decision tomorrow - Dec 02, 2005.

I came across the game plan of the anti Hindu league. Please read through the

entire text. Please remove my email address while forwarding this email. You

can forward it to interiit if you wish -- do remove my email though. If

possible you can contact the below thru phone due to urgency and let them of

the email. Hindu Education Foundation Contacts For information

: info (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org To join the efforts: join_us (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org

For media: media (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org For Organizations:

media (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org For California Initiative contact California

Coordinator Anjali Patel join_us (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org 7930 McClellan Rd. Ste # 1

Cupertino, CA 95014 Phone: 408-257-1394 _________ Next step:

California Comm. vote on Hindutva changes Dear Amarjit Singh and John Dayal!

I would like to turn your attention to the matter discussed in the attached

letter from Prof. Michael Witzel at Harvard and in the letter below. As you

will see, Hindutva forces in California have been active trying to change the

contents of Californian school books so that they reflect the views held by

Hindutvavadins on Indian society and history. Witzel and a number of other

scholars have reacted to this in the manner expressed by the letter. Notice

particularly the following paragraphs below: ****** "This is not a public

hearing. But all that means is that there is no official published time for the

public to speak before the commissioners take action. Nonetheless, each meeting

has a time for “public comment” and people will be allowed to come up and

speak. (Thus, we have to be present). If they follow the order of the

published agenda, public comment comes after the actual vote. They will only

hear Tom Adam's (CA Dept. of Education) report on the earlier

(Hindutva-inspired) and our (Wolpert, Heitzman, Witzel) findings. But if they

see the huge Hindutva crowd expected and decide to let them speak first, it is

possible votes will be swayed back the other way simply because no political

person likes to say no, in public, to an unhappy minority group seeking redress

of grievances." ****** We feel that support from other Indians - not

Hindutvavadins - would be needed to counteract the initiative from the Hindutva

people. It would probably be an advantage if Dalits were present and could

demonstrate that the Hindutvavadins do not speak for all Indians. I have been

reluctant to announce this on the Dalit lists because we don't know if they are

infiltrated, we therefore turn to you for advice and help. Is there a way to

(discretely) mobilize Dalits in California and elsewhere in this matter? Could

you get some support from Afro-American organizations here? We don't want to

create the impression that only a few outsiders are against the Hindutva

version of history. Best regards, Lars Martin Fosse Dr.art. Lars

Martin Fosse Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114, 0674 Oslo - Norway Phone: +47 22 32 12

19 Fax: +47 850 21 250 Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45 E-mail: lmfosse (AT) chello (DOT) no

http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164 FW:

Next step: California Comm. vote on Hindutva changes amarjit Send Email

Dear List Members Please publicise the contents below so that we may have our

opinions heard. Regards Amarjit Singh

--

Lars Martin Fosse [lmfosse (AT) chello (DOT) no] 27 November 2005

15:12'Amarjit Singh'Cc: 'John Dayal'VS: Next step: California

Comm. vote on Hindutva changes Dear Amarjit Singh and John Dayal! I would

like to turn your attention to the matter discussed in the attached letter from

Prof. Michael Witzel at Harvard and in the letter below. As you will see,

Hindutva forces in California have been active trying to change the contents of

Californian

school books so that they reflect the views held by Hindutvavadins on Indian

society and history. Witzel and a number of other scholars have reacted to this

in the manner expressed by the letter. Notice particularly the following

paragraphs below: ****** "This is not a public hearing. But all that means is

that there is no official published time for the public to speak before the

commissioners take action. Nonetheless, each meeting has a time for “public

comment” and people will be allowed to come up and speak. (Thus, we have to be

present). If they follow the order of the published agenda, public comment

comes after the actual vote. They will only hear Tom Adam's (CA Dept. of

Education) report on the earlier (Hindutva-inspired) and our (Wolpert,

Heitzman, Witzel) findings. But if they see the huge Hindutva crowd expected

and decide to let them speak first, it is