Sridhar Vembu is an incredibly thoughtful man.
His support of RSS should give you pause—either Sridhar Vembu is a monster, or RSS isn't as monstrous as its opposition insists.
His support of RSS should give you pause—either Sridhar Vembu is a monster, or RSS isn't as monstrous as its opposition insists.
But it doesn’t have to be so black and white. A person can be kind, thoughtful, help poor folks out … and still harbour hateful ideologies in their heart. Humans are complicated enough that this contradiction is common enough. You think the people who supported the KKK never gave to charity?
For non-Indians, some background on the RSS. This was the organisation which was banned for involvement in the assassination of Gandhi. When they were unbanned, it was predicated on a promise of never being involved in politics and elections. They got around that by creating a political wing (the BJP, ruling India for the last 8 years).
Till date, the RSS is committed to the core ideology of Hindutva, which envisions India as a purely Hindu state, made solely of Hindus. That’s ominous, considering the hundreds of millions of Indian Muslims and Christians.
Lastly, it’s curious that you call out the bogeyman of “media opposition”. Very Trump like. What you fail to mention is that nearly all the media is allied to the BJP-RSS. The few holdouts (like NDTV) will soon be taken over as well.
Media in India have indeed taken a right turn the past decade, veering steadily away from their western counterparts.
I initially included the word "media" because, just like most places on Earth, journalists in India have far more say than normal people, and RSS's loudest opposition comes from media types.
I don't have any sympathy for Sanghis but this isn't accurate. They have a majoritarian conception of nationalism but they don't envision a state where minorities do not exist. Hell, the RSS has a Muslim wing, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch.
The most despicable hate mongers like Adityanath and Sakshi Maharaj are not actually RSS members. The RSS is moderate in comparison. This is a function of the Overton Window has shifting to an extent but also because the RSS has mellowed.
Here’s a review of the book - https://reddit.com/r/india/comments/qsdvhb/understanding_hin...
Savarkar was not the founder of the RSS. He ridiculed cow worship, ate beef and encouraged the consumption of meat and eggs. He did not exert any significant pull on the RSS and never got along with Golwalkar. I think it would be helpful if you read actual history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh.
Savarkar's ideas, especially that book (Hindutva), have always been influential. I strongly suggest reading the summary I linked. I agree that Savarkar wasn't religious, and it's fascinating how he managed to square that with his stance on Hindutva.
Here's another interesting thing - can you imagine a Marathi recommend that all Indians speak Hindi? Except that's exactly what he did.
> I think it would be helpful if you read actual history.
This is needlessly snarky. Please be better than this.
As long as you participate in Hindu rituals and changing how you practice your own (breaking fast). This also sounds like as a non-Hindu you are declaring your ‘foreign’ faith as inferior to Hinduism.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh#St...
For a Tamil person to go out of their way to endorse Hindu nationalism isn’t pragmatism, it’s hatred.
"India has the longest-running continuous fascist movement in the world – the RSS was founded in 1925. It’s nearly 100 years old. Their internal language hasn’t changed; they’re still using texts by Savarkar or Golwalkar for indoctrinating their members – and Golwalkar famously thought that the Nazi example of getting rid of Jews from Germany should be followed in India for Muslims." https://thewire.in/politics/benjamin-zachariah-fascism-sangh...
"In the 1930s Hindu nationalism borrowed from European fascism to transform 'different' people into 'enemies'. Leaders of militant Hinduism repeatedly expressed their admiration for authoritarian leaders such as Mussolini and Hitler and for the fascist model of society. This influence continues to the present day. This paper presents archival evidence on the would-be collaborators." https://www.jstor.org/stable/4408848#metadata_info_tab_conte...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/hindu-supremac...
Vembu's hobnobbing with such organizations, should make Zoho untouchable for any reasonable person.