Calling O'Farrell’s visit to the RSS headquarters “disgraceful”, Rice, a Senator for Victoria, told Parliament that the “contemporary RSS rides roughshod on people’s human rights”, and time and again it has “attacked Indian people’s human rights of freedom of expression, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and safety.”
Especially referring to the RSS’ advocacy of Hindu Rashtra, Rice, a founder of the Greens, Australia's third largest political party, said, the organization “demonises” minorities and “encourages persecution of some of the non-Hindu citizens of India, particularly those of Muslim background”, adding, her concern is, this was the second senior-most diplomat from any country “to meet with the RSS in recent times.”
In a tweet, referring to her speech in Parliament, Rice said, “The Hindu nationalist, fascist RSS has shown its disregard for human rights. Australia's High Commissioners play an important role on the world stage as representatives of Australia and our values. Barry O'Farrell's visit to the RSS headquarters runs counter to Australia’s values.”
Meanwhile, Pieter Friedrich, who claims to be “a freelance journalist specializing in analysis of affairs in South Asia, with a focus on the RSS and its Hindu nationalist agenda”, has floated an online petition stating “O'Farrell's visit appeared to clearly condone the RSS and, by extension, its radical Hindu nationalist ideology”.
The petition states, “As Australia's representative in India, his visit is deeply concerning in context of RSS' heavily documented ideological and institutional inspiration by European fascist movements like those of Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy”, noting, RSS has been “repeatedly accused of instigating violence”, has been “banned three times, “the first time following the assassination of MK Gandhi by a former RSS member.”
Recalling that one of RSS “subsidiaries” Bajrang Dal “is implicated in the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines, who was burned alive along with his two sons aged ten and six-years-old”, the petition recalls how RSS and its many subsidiaries have been “implicated” several anti-Muslim pogroms, including Gujarat riots of 1969 and 2002 and the “Odisha pogrom” in 2008 in which 100 plus Christians were killed.
Stating that O'Farrell's “laudatory visit” to the RSS headquarters instills a spirit of dread within the persecuted minorities of India as well as those Australian citizens of Indian minority origin, the petition, demanding O'Farrell’s resignation, says, he “has demonstrated his utter lack of diplomatic acumen and total insensitivity to the concerns of persecuted people in India.”
Addressed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, the petition says, if the High Commissioner does not resign, he should be immediately “recalled.”
Recalling that one of RSS “subsidiaries” Bajrang Dal “is implicated in the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines, who was burned alive along with his two sons aged ten and six-years-old”, the petition recalls how RSS and its many subsidiaries have been “implicated” several anti-Muslim pogroms, including Gujarat riots of 1969 and 2002 and the “Odisha pogrom” in 2008 in which 100 plus Christians were killed.
Stating that O'Farrell's “laudatory visit” to the RSS headquarters instills a spirit of dread within the persecuted minorities of India as well as those Australian citizens of Indian minority origin, the petition, demanding O'Farrell’s resignation, says, he “has demonstrated his utter lack of diplomatic acumen and total insensitivity to the concerns of persecuted people in India.”
Addressed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, the petition says, if the High Commissioner does not resign, he should be immediately “recalled.”
Diaspora human rights group protests visit
Earlier, 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 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.”
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.”
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.”
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