Skip to main content

Australian diaspora rights group objects to envoy's visit to RSS hq, writes to PM

By Our Representative 
The Humanism Project, a human rights and political advocacy organisation of the Indian diaspora based in Australia, has expressed its “dismay, shock and disappointment” at the visit by Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on November 15, 2020.
O’Farrell, after visiting the RSS headquarters, tweeted the move, praising the saffron organization for “actively supporting the community during Covid-19”, adding, he met “with Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat, who shared the relief measures the organisation has adopted across India during these challenging times.”
In a protest letter to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Humanism Project said, Australia’s relationship with India “is robust and is based on the two nations’ history of shared values of democracy, respect for human rights and equal treatment of all people regardless of their race, colour, ethnicity and religious beliefs.”
However, the letter, signed by Deepak Joshi, said, “In the above context, it was a matter of great anguish and disappointment for us, and for many Indians who believe in the above shared values, to see the Australian Envoy to India providing legitimacy to RSS, an organization that never made any secret of its love for Adolf Hitler.”
The letter said, “Both its first chief M Golwalkar and one of the organisation’s heroes, VD Savarkar, were admirers of Hitler, mainly for his ‘cultural nationalism’ and his persecution of the Jews”, claiming, “RSS runs quasi-militant outfits that have often been charged with participating in communal riots and running campaigns against the religious minorities of India.”
The letter underlined, “One such militant outfit is Bajrang Dal, whose leader Dara Singh was convicted for the heinous hate crime and murder in 2003 of Australian Pastor Graham Stuart Staines, who was brutally burnt to death along with his two sons Philip and Timothy on January 22, 1999 in Keonjhar District, Odisha, by a vigilante mob led by Dara Singh.”
The letter recalled, RSS-floated Barjang Dal's Dara Singh was convicted for heinous hate crime and murder of Australian pastor Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons
Pointing out that the RSS website “makes no secret of its contempt for Christian missionaries whom they consider to be foreign elements trying to interfere with their dream of a Hindu India”, the letter says, “It is doubtful that Mr O’Farrell would not have been aware of RSS’s history when he made the trip to Nagpur, to meet Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief.”
It added, “It is reasonable to conjecture that he would have done his reading about the RSS and would have probably known that the RSS has been banned twice, once in the aftermath of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, and has been accused of violence against religious minorities.”
Especially objecting to O’Farrell’s “attempt through his tweet to portray the RSS as some kind of benign group of do-gooders”, the letter said, it “does not deflect from the fact that the RSS is an organization dedicated to the idea that India was and should be a Hindu nation, and that Hinduism’s followers are entitled to reign over India’s religious minorities.”
Asking the Prime Minister to ensure that the Australian Government does not endorse and give legitimacy to organisations like the RSS, which allegedly “go against the shared principles that the relationship of our two countries is built upon”, the letter says, “Political and diplomatic exigencies surely cannot take precedence over our fundamental ideas of democracy, freedom, tolerance, respect, and equality of all humans.”

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.