{"id":1536,"date":"2021-09-22T20:31:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T20:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dharmicsystems.org\/?p=1536"},"modified":"2021-09-22T21:19:36","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T21:19:36","slug":"fashion-of-india-and-hinduism-bashing-in-foreign-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dharmicsystems.org\/?p=1536","title":{"rendered":"Fashion of India and Hinduism Bashing in Foreign Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Context<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right in the middle of busy a work day (Wednesday, Oct 21st, 2015), I received an email from a friend about an India related event happening in my neighborhood. The event titled \u201cShattering the Silence: India\u2019s Authors Protest Recent Murders\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u2013 <\/strong>An Evening with Ashok Vajpeyi, was hosted by Centre for South Asian Civilizations at University of Toronto<\/a>. Simply knowing that most of the Centers of South Asian Studies are typically Anti-India\/Anti-Hindu, it peeked my curiosity. I knew from the news headlines, that there is an anti-Modi campaign of intellectuals in India to return literary awards. Knowing about the Indian media\u2019s bias against Hinduism, it made me wonder: How come someone is invited to University of Toronto, with such good timing. Who paid for travel expenses? Who are the anti-India, anti-Hinduism players in my town? With these thoughts, I moved around some items on my schedule to participate in the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While driving to the event I called my wife to do quick internet search on the speaker, Shri Ashok Vajpeyi. She gave me a 2-minute gist on his profile and the local organization hosting the event. I learned that he was one of the initial people who returned his Sahitya Akademi Award and he is an activist who\u2019s linking Dadri lynching incident to suppression of freedom of speech of intellectuals in the country. He\u2019s connected to leftist & Nehruvian-secularist mindset people and was close to Congress politician, Late Sh. Arjun Singh. I also called Shri Rajiv Malhotra<\/strong><\/a>, who has been my advisor in understanding the intellectual Kurukshetra. Rajiv Ji encouraged me to speak up my mind and be comfortable with the confrontation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I expected it to be another anti-India\/ Anti-Hindu event,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went with more of a curious mindset to understand how these events get organized and what lessons I could learn. I\u2019m sharing the learnings with people who care for Hinduism and who care for India, so that they are prepared a bit, as they come across similar scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Event Structure\/ Format<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event was organized at University of Toronto, Mississauga campus at Instructional Centre, room 120. It was a typical auditorium style classroom setting, for 80-100 people or so. There was a formal reception, where attendees had to sign up\/check in. Three cameras were placed at different angles to cover the event well, with a fancy looking multimedia set up. There were marked signs behind the cameras which instructed that, if people didn\u2019t want to be on camera, they should sit behind these lines. It felt like, the event was set up to be nicely documented and promoted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went ahead and sat in the first row as I wanted to get engaged in the conversation. I knew people raising issue against the speaker will be discouraged and I will hardly get a minute or two, if lucky. So being close to speaker, I wanted the opposition from Dharmic-Patriotic side to be recognized on the camera. In front of the room, there were two nice chairs and a set of books that Shri Vajpeyi has published. The format was, that Shri Vajpeyi would give a speech, and then there would be a facilitated Question & Answer session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audience was a good blend \u2013 visually and ideologically. My guess is that about one-third people in audience were of Islamic representation (a couple specifically identified themselves as Pakistani), about same number were Caucasian \u2013 I\u2019m assuming representing the Christian side (One professor of Christianity was identified). I\u2019m guessing of the total of about 50 people, about one-third were in support of Dharmic ideology. As a pleasant surprise, 8-10 people in the audience were familiar faces, whom I had seen in other local Indian events.  It was nice to see, how many people of Dharmic ideology had independently heard about the event and came to the event at a short notice. Of these, 3 of us had participated in the workshop \u201cHow to be an Intellectual Kshatriya?\u201d by Rajiv Malhotra. Being a university event, a good number of University students and staff were there. Shri Shafique Virani<\/strong><\/a>, was the host of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Points of Ashok Vajpeyi\u2019s Speech<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a very experienced literary person, Shri Vajpeyi definitely has very good command over words and did a good job in presenting his views. This is besides the fact that he happens to be on the opposite side of Dharmic\/ Hinduism ideology. Here\u2019s my notes from his speech:<\/p>\n\n\n\n