Ranganathan has meticulously researched the book and explained in chapter after chapter what he calls the great discrimination that is unparalleled in world history.
A friend had sent me a video of Anand Ranganathan, a brilliant scholar and one of the finest orators in Asia. He is an argumentative Hindu and his arguments are always on the dot. I checked the video and heard Ranganathan listing some eight points about Hindus in India and why he feels Hindus are eighth class citizens—does he mean Hindus are worthless?—and why Hindus are victims of state-sanctioned apartheid.
Strong words, I must confess, ostensibly because the word apartheid has rarely crossed the boundaries of South Africa.
So what did Ranganathan say? He started with the state control of Hindu temples and their properties—as per his estimates—is by far the largest financially most damaging scam of independent India. He was scathing in his remarks when he said the scam continues, sorry, flourishes even now. He says the scam is so high that it outguns, outsmarts the milking of the petroleum sector by politicians. Brilliant. I remember how oil companies tried hard to lift football for decades in India and pumped crores of cash, once almost agreeing to fund a two-match Real Madrid tour of India for a price of Rs 6 crores (a lot of cash three decades ago).
Ranganathan said religion and the state must be totally separated from one another. But is that happening? “Hindu temples for thousands of years have been centres for worship and learning and of community living, of trade and economy, statecraft, even defence.”
Ranganathan argued that every invader of India knows very well that to dismantle the nation it was important to dismantle this temple ecosystem. “Hindus for generations have been at the receiving end of state sponsored pillaging of their places of worship.” And then asks: “If the Congress can bring in a legislation to allow the state to control the temples, why cannot the BJP bring in a legislation to free the Hindu temples from the state? A petition by Swami Parmatmananda and Swami Dayanand Saraswati has been pending in the Supreme Court since 2012. The courts can do midnight hearings for granting mercy to terrorists but not here.”
Governments of just ten states in India control more than 111,000 temples, says Ranganathan, asking why the Communists—for whom religion is the opium of the masses—must control temple board of directors and appoint their card holders to such positions. And why should state governments levy an administrative charge between 5%-21% on Hindu temples as an audit? Should the state decide, who should be the priest and what should be the procedure of the puja? “Only in India can you step aside and watch as the state appoints non-Hindus, Muslims like Farid Hakim, Christians like Vangalapudi Anitha on boards that control Hindu temples.”
Now, I switched off the video and returned to Ranganathan’s book, “Hindus in Hindu Rashtra: Eighth class citizens and victims of state-sanctioned apartheid” by BluOne Ink. His books are, strangely, very small in size, almost like a reporter’s handbook but the content is always very powerful. The tone of the book is like a silver bullet that is used to kill a werewolf.
Ranganathan has meticulously researched the book and explained in chapter after chapter what he calls the great discrimination that is unparalleled in world history. Says Ranganathan: “Given the increasingly active, ‘legal’ encroachment and simultaneous comatose cession of Hindu space, both physical and mental, the time has come to call a spade a spade, and expect concrete steps to undo the continuing damage to Hindu interests.” I find the points very valid; I am convinced Ranganathan’s critics would stand nowhere when presented with his deeply-researched facts.
Look at some of the numbers. The Indian Muslim population is 14.2%, in the last eight years, as many as 31.3% of the homes under the Awaas Yojna, 33% of funds under the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna and 36% of loans under the Mudra Yojna have gone to the Muslims. “No, the issue, I repeat, is not of appeasement. The issue of apartheid. The issue is of State-sponsored, state-sanctioned discrimination against a particular community. And that community is the majority community—the Hindus,” writes Ranganathan. Is he wrong? No, he is not, he is raising some very valid points.
Very, very justifiably, Ranganathan raises the issue of Kashmiri Hindus who have been victims of ethnic cleansing. The author says Muslims in Kashmir want Hindus to flee but then return later as tourists.
They want the Hindus to come as tourists and fill their coffers but not settle in their own land. He speaks to Sushil Pandit, a victim of that ethnic cleansing, who says “Tourism in Kashmir funds Jihad. The Hindus are funding their own demise. How on this earth can we watch this unfold and do nothing about it? What kind of a country is this where one can settle 5,700 Rohingya Muslims in Jammu but not seven lakh Kashmiri Hindus—the original inhabitants of the land?” It is not a rant; it is a slice of truth. Ranganathan refers to Vivek Agnihotri’s movie, The Kashmir Files, and says why many are rattled with the movie. And it is only because the movie tried to reset the Kashmiri Hindu narrative.
Argues Ranganathan forcefully: “Why do they want to hide the truth about BK Ganjoo who hid inside a rice barrel when Jihadis came looking for him after his Muslim neighbour informed on him. Ganjoo was shot dead. Rice laced with his blood was fed to his wife. I will tell you why they want this truth to be hidden. Because they realise that The Kashmir Files is not just a film, it is a Proustian collection of memories. Of Girija. Of Ganjoo. Of Dinanath. Of tens and thousands of Kashmiri Hindus who were betrayed by their own friends.”
I liked the chapter on the Waqf Act, 1995 and how Waqf is the third largest landowner in India after the Defence and the Railways and how the outgoing UPA government led by the Congress handed over 123 prime Central Delhi properties to Waqf and withdrew its claim on them. Writes Ranganathan: “Let me remind you of the ground reality. Waqf tribunal decisions can only be overturned by a long and financially draining process. The Waqf knows this. In a country where four crore cases are pending, harassment through legal procedure that stems from the inner offices of an all-appeasing government, executive and judiciary is a sword that is sharper and more potent than Khalid’s.”
The author refers to the case of Nupur Sharma and makes a brilliant argument. I loved every line of it. So wrote Ranganathan: “That the legislature discriminates against Hindus is not news—I have provided enough examples.
Plenty more exist of minority appeasement at the cost of the majority, but what is to be done when the judiciary singles out the Hindus? What is the recourse then? What is the recourse when you find that the fine lady who stands atop our temples of justice belligerent, when you find her sword that is pointing to the skies blunted and her blindfold perforated, when you find her scales rusted? What is the recourse? There is none.
Because while the Supreme Court decides to remove discrimination from Islam, it is stopped from doing so by the Parliament. When it decides to remove perceived discrimination from Hinduism, it is encouraged to do so by the Parliament.”
Is there anyone who can argue against Ranganathan, I do not think so.