Subramanian Swamy had advocated disenfranchisement as a punishment for Muslims refusing to acknowledge their Hindu ancestry
The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) will take a final view on Tuesday on an article written by Subramanian Swamy where he advocated disenfranchisement as a punishment for Muslims refusing to acknowledge their Hindu ancestry.
The NCM had taken suo moto notice of the article at its meeting on July 19. The article appeared in the Daily News and Analysis (DNA) on July 16 – three days after the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. NCM chairperson Wajahat Habibullah told The Hindu that while the NCM found the article offensive in the extreme, a final decision on the commission's response would be taken when the full bench reconvened on Tuesday. He said the NCW will go by legal advice it had procured from within the government: “There are no two opinions that the article is highly offensive and violative of the law. I'm fairly clear about the course the NCM should follow, but the decision has to come from the full Bench.”
Since its publication, Dr. Swamy's article has been hotly debated on Twitter and Facebook, and last week it raised a storm in Harvard, where he taught Economics in the 1960s. In an online petition, students and faculty members demanded that Harvard end its association with him. The petition said: “While free expression and the vigorous contest of ideas are essential in any academic community, so too are respect and tolerance for human difference. By advocating measures that would grossly violate freedom of religion and the unqualified right to vote for different religious groups, and by aggressively vilifying an entire religious community, [Mr.] Swamy breaches the most basic standards of respect and tolerance.”
In the article titled, ‘How to wipe out Islamic terror' Dr. Swami, who is also president of the Janata Party said that by 2012, he expected Islam to confront Hindus to “complete unfinished business.” He said: “Fanatic Muslims consider Hindu-dominated India an unfinished chapter of Islamic conquests”. All other countries conquered by Islam 100 per cent converted to Islam within two decades of the Islamic invasion. Undivided India in 1947 was 75 per cent Hindu even after 800 years of brutal Islamic rule. That is jarring for the fanatics.”
Dr. Swami prescribed strategies to defeat the political goals of Islamic terrorism. Among them: “Implement the uniform civil code, make learning of Sanskrit and singing of Vande Mataram mandatory, and declare India a Hindu Rashtra in which non-Hindus can vote only if they proudly acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus. Rename India Hindustan as a nation of Hindus and those whose ancestors were Hindus.”
“Enact a national law prohibiting conversion from Hinduism to any other religion. Re-conversion will not be banned. Declare that caste is not based on birth but on code or discipline. Welcome non-Hindus to re-convert to the caste of their choice provided they adhere to the code of discipline. Annex land from Bangladesh in proportion to the illegal migrants from that country staying in India. At present, the northern third from Sylhet to Khulna can be annexed to re-settle illegal migrants.”
As we all know the first human being came to India probably less than 50,000 years ago doesn't even know the word Hindu.If stricly speaking we should only worship the nature which the caveman probably worshipped or probably an atheist. We all know all religions formed in the past 3000 years are equally bad. They preach foolishness,against scientific knowledge and highly discriminatory.I don't know in what way swamis religion is better than others. But individual human beings have the moral and democratic right in believing some super power(eventhough there is no such thing). If at all Swamy wants to do some good thing let him abolish the caste (evil) system which exist only in the Hindu religion.Will Swamy will leave his caste identity as I have never seen him working as a priest in any temple.Let us all live as a modern human being who believe in the other people's rights, respect other's belief and enrichment of the human values rather than outdated religious belief and caste system.
Swamy has become an extremist, and he can never be considered an alumni of Harvard. Strange, a large political party in India is still keeping him as President of their party. That shows the literacy and political awareness in India.
I think that Mr.Subramaniam swamy's article is a wild outburst of continued failure to check terrorism and ruthlessly punish the perpetuator who is from Pakistan or is supported by it . I do not agree with his views especially on voting rights. As a step towards restoring long term safety of the citizens in our country it is necessary to enact and pass a law that (i) Citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh who are charged with terrorist activity in India shall be tried in only in Military court of India and punished instead of trying in civilian court. (2) It is very clear that Pakistan had crippled the religious minorities in Pakistan who are hindus,sikhs, shite muslims and christians besides sponsoring terrorism. India must ban any religious, trade, sports and cultural interaction with Pakistan, Jamaat-Ul-Islam-pakistan etc.,and get it declared as a terrorist state.
"Annex land from Bangladesh in proportion to the illegal migrants from that country staying in India. At present, the northern third from Sylhet to Khulna can be annexed to re-settle illegal migrants." Is this guy living in the 10th century?
Instead of making serious attempts of making India a united , progressive and a developed country, people like him are just diluting the mind of this Y generation. Swamiji Please don't use your dirty politics to divide people of india. We dont want any civil war please. India is growing in all sectors but certain politicians playing with their ideology to decrease.
It is very disheartening to know that these kind of communal ideologies still persist in this great nation. I am yet to read the article, but from the excerpts provided here, it seems that the article is going against Democracy the very first principle of our nation and against Humanity. This kind of ideology will bring in more violence. In these turbulent times when we have to unite and fight against Poverty, unemployment, food shortage, no drinking water, no schools, no proper medical facilities, climate change, Under development, Corruption, Naxalism, Terrorism etc, this ideology is uncalled for.
I used to have deep respect for Dr. Swamy but his nonsense talking is making me to cry foul on myself, for respecting such irresponsible person. I feel the best panacea for such people is to ingnore their bullshit dirty politics.
First i cant believe that Muslims or Christians or any one who converted from Hinduism don't realize their ancestry. Its only probable that its irrelevant to their day to day life at present. And second i don't think every Muslim or Christian or Hindu tries to implement every word from their holy book. i am sure most people's knowledge about their respective holy book is either what they hear from others or reading bits and pieces of it. So its stupid to pull in the contents of holy books to support one's theory.
There is a thing called freedom of speech. Mr. Swamy didn't say all muslims need to be killed or something, he is suggesting, although absurd, a civil avenue - this isn't 'hate speech'. Freedom of speech is precious - Indians are smart enough to learn to ignore nonsense, we need moderation, in voice and reason, not censorship. Don't censor views, moderate them, not everyone will agree with everything.
I liked the comments. This is indeed a good debate - whether to have Inida as a theocratic state or not (whether Hindu or Muslim or I will not be surprised, if Christianity). But given the general trend religion and religious beliefs are having a certain influence in our nation. While we adopt a shying away from commenting on section, we pounce on the other side of the view - albeit it is a natural indignation to see the ancient heritage being threatened.
I shudder the influence media and news has on people. At the outset, of 14 comments - 11 are against, 3 are for/neutral. We do not know how many comments the paper received, but based on this - it gives a common sense, that the general view is opposed to Dr Swamy's proposal. Maybe, only so many people bothered to comment, or perhaps this is the intent of the daily. It is like any exit polls, the results could be in contrast the actual results (provided no electoral malpractices happen).
It is extremely sad that a Harvard graduate can stoop to such low levels. No crude bomb can divide our country as much as an article like this by Swamy. My request to the media would be, plz do not make a hero of Mr Swamy by giving him unwanted space in your news, something which he seems to be greedy for. Our country is one known to be "unified in diversity" but these divisive articles are just going to make it a thing of the past. Terrorism is an evil of society and i consider those involved in it as anti muslim, having said this give me one reason to believe that Mr.Swamy is not a terrorist!!!!!!
The issue at hand is not whether anyone's going to implement the Janata Party President's policies...his party has all of two members. The issue at hand is: Does merely holding a view that proposes changing India from a secular state to a theocratic state along the lines of Malaysia or Pakistan(conversion from the dominant religion is illegal there) warrant prosecution? Can no one disagree with these policies?
S.swamy must be put behind the bar, his doctrine is very close to Oslo killer. Mr. Swamy may also kill innocents Indians, the way Anders Behring Breivik did .
Its absolutely disgusting and pathetic that senior leaders and so called 'Hindu Intellectuals' [from Harvard] can stoop so low and bring their own prejudices and biases into mainstream society. India is a secular country meant for all and no longer a 'Brahminical society' it used to be 500 years back. Yes terrorism is the worst thing ever but this does not mean that all Muslims are terrotists. Minorities whether Muslims, Christians, Dalits, etc are as much a part of India as the others. This man must be held accountable for his communal remarks and given his just desert!
The views of Dr Swamy have historical and etiological basis but the time has changed the senerio. The fact is that we live today ina so called secuar state and we have to accept its constitution which nation has adopted.No doubt Islamic terror reqires strong deterrent but defranchising people for not accepting ancestrage is rather extreme and not practicable. Hindu and Majority Muslim can live inpeace in a multicultural context but those Hindus or Muslims who indulge in anti-national activiteies should be dealt with severly rather playing soft on them.
What ancestry has to do with terrorist strikes? Subramanyam Swamy is a fake and impostor. By suggesting disenfranchisement in the manner he did, he only abused his freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. He is liable to be prosecuted for his senseless gibberish. Since when a political turncoat has become the keeper of patriotic faith?
It seems Subramanian Swamy himself is a radical minded fanatic..india is a democratic secular country and we all indians (hindus,muslims,chrictians.jain or any other religion) want it to rename so.. terrorism has nothing to do with religion..a true religious person can never be a terrorist as every religion teaches us to respect other religions.. govt of india should take strict action against such derogatory remarks..
Instead of making serious attempts of making India a united , progressive and a developed country, people like him are just diluting the mind of this Y generation. Swamiji Please don't use your dirty politics to divide people of india. We dont want any civil war pleasee...
The gentleman is a maverick. He wants attention and he wants to shock. While disagreeing with him, i would say that let him say his bit. Dont try to muzzle him. The issue will blow away simply because it is impracticable and not many will agree with him.
A case of fanaticism breeding more fanaticism. Swamy has always been selfish and says things to attract attention. He is a blot on the educated and more so on Harvard. The mature should realize that humanity is a better goal and nationalism is for the petty minded. All religions talk of love and here we have everyone fomenting hatred. Shallowness in spirituality and lack of commonsense is all pervasive. Islam does happen to be a religion that has more serious issues than other religions but the way to address it is through open discussions of the underlying principles/issues.
Mr.Swamy doest not know the rich pluralistic history, traditions of India.( going by the content in The Hindu). One can be a good Mussulman & good Indian in pluralistic traditions of India. The contributions of Muslims in the development of India, its cultural traditions, its art, music, language, architecture, food, movies is immeasurable. yes there are bigots, terrorists among Muslims & Hindus & Christians alike but they are to be isolated. every body dies at the terrorists hands!
Islam came to India in 7th-8th Century AD & now is as much an Indian religion as any other. its time to stop reinventing history or historical inequities and focus on present challenges India faces. We need leaders in public life not bigoted politicians
I had not read the article. But glimpse of article described here is really mind blowing and is a a necessary step required at this hour.We should learn from all other nations of how deeply they are involved in securing their ancestral heritage and culture along with the nationalism which is found to be absent in us ( The Hindus of this Hindustan ). It is not that the many Non Muslim political parties here in Hindustan have Muslim Leaders with it - We should know from them the reason they are with - which can help the minorities to understand and walk on the right path.Every individual living in their nation has a major role to act - work toward the enrichment, flourishing and helping the nation they stay to grow.Instead of believing that this Nation is not theirs, they should start loving the nation its majority people and maintain a national integrity and harmony.
Thanks to The Hindu for publishing this on Dr. Subramanian Swamy.
As usual, Dr.Swamy has exposed his own inadequacies in comprehending facts of Indian history.
Before the British started using the word 'Hindu' as a collective generic to denote the native people who were not of any religion known to them, and for demographic classification in census, people knew and acknowledged only castes that were following rigid exclusionary rules of pollution and untouchability. How can they acknowledge their Hindu ancestry beyond the colonial period?
Even if it is assumed that though there was no 'Hindu' consciousness, the Hindu identity was present throughout, how will the disadvantaged sections feel "proud" about their Hindu ancestry?
His other suggestion that caste should be declared 'not based on birth but on code or discipline' is naive because when caste is de-linked from birth, it would become redundant, and there will be no caste to declare.
Would he suggest disenfranchisement of those Hindus who refuse to acknowledge their initial Buddhist ancestry? After all, before Hinduism became an official religion in South Asia, people were primarily Buddhists, weren't they?
If a senior statesman finds it difficult to adjust to secularism, how easy would it be for common people?
This is outrageous. Subramany Swamy is yet to acknowledge his humanistic heritage so he should be disenfranchised.
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