Zuraib Qasit Khan
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https://qz.com/1265399/why-buddhist...bala-sena-are-targeting-muslims-in-sri-lanka/
Buddhist extremists want to protect Sri Lanka from “foreign” elements—especially Muslims
New clashes between Buddhist extremists and Muslims occurred in two different towns in Sri Lanka, Kandy, and Ampara in early 2018. Triggered in part by hate-filled posts spread by nationalistic Sinhala Buddhist Facebook groups, these riots resulted in the death of one Muslim and the destruction of many buildings.
To many non-Buddhists outside Asia, this sort of violence can seem surprising. Westerners think of Buddhism as a peaceful religion, folding Buddhist terms and practices into stress relief practices such as mindfulness. But like any religion, Buddhism has a far more complicated story than that—and Sri Lanka has seen many disturbing and violent episodes that attest to that fact.
The Buddhist Protestantism of the 19th century, the monks who invoked Buddhist texts to justify the Sri Lankan civil war, and the extremist movements surging today all have one thing in common: a belief that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation that must be protected from foreign elements, violently if necessary. The Sri Lankan case shows that nationalism and extremism can be filtered through anything.
Buddhist revivalism in the early 20th century
The movement known as Buddhism revivalism or Protestantism in Sri Lanka started with Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933). Known as the father of Buddhist Protestantism in Sri Lanka, Dharmapala had an anti-imperialist and nationalist agenda. Besides fighting the British, who ruled Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) at the time, Dharmapala focused on founding Buddhist schools and strengthening the Sinhala language and Buddhism in Sri Lanka’s public sphere.
Anagarika Dharmapala. (Wikimedia Commons)
To this day, Sinhala nationalists portray him as a hero and their saviour from “the evil influence of Western domination”; his birthday is celebrated every year in the Sri Lankan media, reminding people of the deeds of a national hero.
In 1915, police changed the original route of a Buddhist festival procession in order to prevent them from passing a mosque. Mockery by Muslims did not help the matter, and riots soon erupted in Sri Lanka, pitting Sinhala Buddhists against Muslims. 25 Muslims were killed, around 200 were injured, mosques were damaged, and many businesses belonging to Muslims were destroyed. The British were accused of killing both Sinhala and Muslims when they tried to stop the riots, providing the spark that ignited the Sri Lankan independence movement.
Buddhism and the civil war
Between 1983 and 2009, Sri Lanka was plagued by a civil war between the Sinhala government and Tamil (mainly Hindu) rebels. The war had numerous causes, but prominent among them were government moves to embrace religious nationalism.
After they won independence from Britain in 1948, Sri Lanka’s politicians started to enforce the use of the Sinhala language across the country’s public institutions, making it the official language. They also inserted Buddhism into the constitution: “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the state to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.”
This angered Sri Lanka’s Tamil-speaking minority. Militant student organisations were soon formed with the aim of forming a new Tamil homeland. In July 1983, also known as Black July, Tamil rebels killed a number of soldiers from the Sri Lankan army. During subsequent riots, various Sinhala mobs killed many Tamil civilians. The civil war was now a fact.
Buddhism was invoked to justify the war in various ways. In her book, In The Defence of Dharma: Just-war Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka, religious studies professor Tessa J Bartholomeusz offers some examples. To take just one, a Sinhala army song from 1999, said to be composed by a Buddhist monk, contained the following verse:
Linked by love of the [Buddhist] religion and protected by the Motherland, brave soldiers you should go hand in hand.
But it wasn’t just the army; everyday people and monks also used Buddhist texts and used military metaphors. Some Buddhist monks extolled warrior virtues as stemming from Buddhism:
That Buddhism is a religion of ardent aspiration for the highest good of man is not surprising. It springs out of the mind of the Buddha a man of martial spirit and high aims … Buddhism … is made by a warrior spirit for warriors.
After the war
When the civil war ended in 2009, many hoped that Sri Lanka’s ethnic groups would find a way to coexist in peace. But it didn’t take long before the country’s Buddhist extremists found another target.
Currently, Sri Lanka’s most active Buddhist extremist group is Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist power force, or BBS). The BBS entered politics in 2012 with a Buddhist-nationalist ideology and agenda, its leaders claiming that Sri Lankans had become immoral and turned away from Buddhism. And whom does it blame? Sri Lankan Muslims.
BBS’s rhetoric takes its cue from other populist anti-Muslim movements around the globe, claiming that Muslims are “taking over” the country thanks to a high birth rate. It also accuses Muslim organisations of funding international terrorism with money from Halal-certified food industries. These aren’t just empty words; in 2014, one of their anti-Muslim protest rallies in the southern town of Aluthgama ended with the death of four Muslims.
BBS also has links to Myanmar’s extremist 969 movement. Led by nationalist monk Ashin Wirathu, who calls himself the “Burmese bin Laden”, it is notorious for its hardline rhetoric against the Rohingya Muslim community.
It is hard to say if these latest events really do represent a global trend, but it’s deeply ominous to see extremist organisations collaborating across borders. Sri Lanka and Myanmar aren’t the only countries where this is happening; Thailand is also often mentioned as a hotbed of increasingly belligerent Buddhist extremism. Perhaps the next violent riots to pit Buddhists and Muslims against each other will be taking place in yet another country.
Andreas Johansson, director of Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET), Lund University. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. We welcome your comments atideas.india@qz.com.
=====================================================
Genocide Of Rohingyas In Myanmar: The Hindutva Imprints
in South Asia — by Shamsul Islam — September 18, 2017
Currently, one of the worst post-World War II genocides is underway in India’s neighbourhood. In Rakhine Province of Myanmar (Burma) cleansing of people belonging to the Rohingya Tribe (mostly Muslims and few Hindus and Buddhists), has been going on for last two decades. But this cleansing project of Rohingyas is in full steam now by the Myanmar army and foot-soldiers of the Fascist Buddhist organizations with coming to power of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize recipient for fighting against military rulers of the country. Ironically, this Nobel laureate now supervises genocide of Rohingyas in collaboration with the country’s army and fascist Buddhist cadres.
The rampaging killer/raping/maiming/burning gangs sponsored by the Burmese State, Army and Fascist Buddhist organizations have evoked worldwide condemnation including severe repudiation from world forums including UN. However, Indian PM Modi who visited Myanmar recently instead of expressing concern on the cleansing of Rohingyas expressed solidarity with the Killer State. He and Myanmar’s State Counsellor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a joint statement said, “It is important to maintain security and stability along the long land and maritime borders of India and Myanmar…India stands with Myanmar over the issue of violence in the Rakhine state which has led to loss of innocent lives.” This statement remained silent on the mass cleansing of the Rohingyas but expressed grave concern on the ‘terrorist’ activities of a section of Rohingyas in self-defence. In a more shocking development the RSS/BJP Indian Government has issued instructions to deport nearly 40,000 Rohingyas who escaped to India while under attack for being security threat.
The inimical attitude of the Indian rulers towards Rohingyas is neither accidental nor sudden. It does not seem to be the fall-out of some grave security threat which might have cropped up in the recent past. We need to investigate whether this cleansing got impetus with the political ascendancy of fascist Buddhist organizations in Myanmar and Hindutva fascist organizations in India.
The world obsessed with Islamist terrorism has not bothered to take any notice of a new terrorism network developing fast in India and its neighbourhood between Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and two ultra nationalist Buddhist groups of Myanmar and Sri Lanka against minorities in the area. In a startling and focussed disclosure The International New York Times(October 16, 2014) in an editorial titled ‘DEADLY ALLIANCES AGAINST MUSLIMS’ disclosed how fascist Buddhist groups in the region; Sri Lankan Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, Myanmar’s Wirathu Group 969′ [run by Ashin Wirathu a so-called monk from Myanmar who has preaching hatred toward Muslims and is the spiritual leader of a movement to boycott Muslim businesses] were in contact “at a high level” with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya Swayam Sevak to form what he called a “Hindu-Buddhist peace zone” in South Asia which meant a Muslim-Christian free zone in the area. The editorial was concluded with the following alarming words:
“It is folly for the governments of Mr. Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, President Thein Sein of Myanmar [both headed their respective countries in 2014] and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, or their political allies, to give even the appearance of tolerating these Islamophobic groups in a region that has too often been convulsed by religious sectarian violence. They should condemn this mad alliance before it can spread further.”https://countercurrents.org/2017/09/18/genocide-of-rohingyas-in-myanmar-the-hindutva-imprints/#_edn1
This network though prioritizes Islamic/Muslim threat as the main concern but also treats Christians and other ethnic minorities as dangers and wants to control them. They refused to accept that this region was multi-religious area. Ashin Wirathu is committed to get rid of Muslims and other minorities of the area. They have killed hundreds of Muslims, raped Muslim women, burned hundreds of mosques and destroyed large number of Muslim properties and businesses.
For public consumption RSS has denied the claim of Gnanasara that they were in discussions “at a high level” with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak spokesman, Ram Madhav, promptly denied that there were any such discussions. But according to NYT Madhav, a senior RSS/BJP ideologue of India’s ruling oligarchy, “has written comments sympathetic to Bodu Bala Sena and Mr. Wirathu’s group 969 in Myanmar on his Facebook and Twitter accounts”. He lauded the plan of “Hindu-Buddhist peace zone” in South Asia which means an area free of minorities specially Muslims. In his posting [March 28, 2013 on Facebook] agreed with the propaganda that
“The Muslim population in Sri Lanka is growing fast…There are mosques and madrassas sprouting everywhere in the country. A rough estimate suggests that of the 1.2 million Muslim populations every 50 households have a mosque. In Colombo itself a new magnificent mosque is coming up, so are in many other places. Increasing number of burqa-clad women and skull cap-wearing men can be sited on the streets of Sri Lankan cities and towns now.”
Ram Madhav also noted that Muslims in Sri Lanka have been insisting on halal products. He noted approvingly that “the Bodu Bala Sena essentially talks about protecting the Buddhist culture of the country from foreign religions. By this it also means the Christian missionaries who are trying to convert people”.
He was happy to note that “the Bodu Bala Sena has maintained that Hindus and Buddhists of the country should work together on these issues.” He ended by commending, “So far, the issues raked up by the BBS are worthy of active and sympathetic consideration. Bodu Bala Sena is able to capture the attention of the Buddhist population of Sri Lanka.”It was atrocious on the part of Ram Madhav, a leader of the ‘largest Hindu organization in the world’ to overlook the fact that the Sri Lankan State in connivance with such Buddhist fascist organizations of Sri Lanka killed, raped and maimed lakhs of Hindu Tamils in the area. In one of the Tweets he wrote: “BODU BALA SENA – A NEW BUDDHIST MOVEMENT IN SRI LANKA Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) – a Buddhist organisation many wish”.
It is to be noted that RSS historically has been close to the ruling military dictators in Myanmar who have encouraged characters like Ashin Wirathu to propagate hatred for minorities in the country. How close RSS was to the military junta which now shares power with Aung San Suu Kyi can be known by the following report which appeared in the official organ of the RSS, Organizer dated February 28March 5, 2000:
“The 50th anniversary of the Sanatan Dharma Swayamsevak Sangh (SDSS-The RSS counterpart in Burma) was held at the National Theatre on Mayoma Kyaung Street, Yagnon, recently. Secretary-2 of the State Peace and Development Council, Lt. Gen. Tin Oo attended the meeting. The programme was attended by ministers and senior military officers. Minister for Commerce, Brig. Gen. Pyi Sone; Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Maj. Gen. Sein Htwa; Minister for Health, Maj. Gen. Ket Sein were among the prominent persons who attended the function…The Secretary-2 delivered speech at the function.”
This report appeared with two photographs. In one photograph five military Generals including second in command of the military junta, Lt. Gen. Tin Oo, were seen standing on the stage in the midst of SDSS leadership wearing khaki shorts. In the other photograph leading lights of the Burmese military junta were seen sitting in the front row of the auditorium.
This terrorist network exposed by New York Times may have many other layers as was made clear by neo-Nazi mass murderer of Norway, Breivik who glorified Indian ‘Hindu Nationalists.[ii]He opened Pandora’s box when declared ‘Hindu Nationalist’ movement as a key ally in a global struggle to bring down democratic regimes across the world. Just before he went to massacre a large number of people in Norway he released a ‘manifesto’ of 1,518 pages, of which 102 pages dealt with the glorification of Hindutva movement of India. It declared support to “Sanatana Dharma movements and Indian nationalists in general.” This manifesto also laid down a plan of co-operation between neo-Nazi movements of Europe and ‘Hindu Nationalist’ organizations of India. This neo-Nazi document emphasised that it was essential that these two “learn from each other and cooperate as much as possible” as “Our goals are more or less identical’. This manifesto specially mentioned the name of the fountain head of the Hindutva politics like RSS and its subsidiaries like BJP, ABVP and VHP in this regard.[iii]
Importantly, the manifesto pledged military support “to the nationalists in the Indian civil war and in the deportation of all Muslims from India’ as part of a larger campaign to ‘overthrow of all western European multiculturalist governments.”
Imagine if these revelations had made some references to Muslim/Christian/Sikh individuals or organizations, the Indian intelligence agencies would have dug the areas inhabited by them to find out the linkages. Unfortunately, these startling disclosures about RSS’ linkages with a developing terror nexus internationally, are no cause of worry for the Indian State. This silence gives the conspirators legitimacy to play havoc with the region.
The International Court of Justice at The Hague must immediately constitute a team to unearth the nefarious role of fascist religious and cultural organization behind genocide of Rohingyas in Myanmar. Apart from looking into the role of such organizations in this genocide, this UN organ must also find out whether this cleansing is taking place to facilitate the capture of oil resources in this region and land grab by the Chines and Indian corporate giants. [iv]
Shamsul Islam is a retired Professor of University of Delhi.Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
For some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu & Gujarati see the following link:
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam
Facebook: shams shamsul
Twitter: @shamsforjustice
https://countercurrents.org/2017/09...as-in-myanmar-the-hindutva-imprints/#_ednref1 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/opinion/deadly-alliances-against-muslims.html?_r=0
[ii] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/norwegian-mass-killers-manifesto-hailshindutva/article2293829.ece
[iii][ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/norwegia...iks-manifesto-supports-hindutva/170496-3.html ]
[iv] https://qz.com/1074906/rohingya-the...grab-politics-behind-myanmars-refugee-crisis/
Buddhist extremists want to protect Sri Lanka from “foreign” elements—especially Muslims
New clashes between Buddhist extremists and Muslims occurred in two different towns in Sri Lanka, Kandy, and Ampara in early 2018. Triggered in part by hate-filled posts spread by nationalistic Sinhala Buddhist Facebook groups, these riots resulted in the death of one Muslim and the destruction of many buildings.
To many non-Buddhists outside Asia, this sort of violence can seem surprising. Westerners think of Buddhism as a peaceful religion, folding Buddhist terms and practices into stress relief practices such as mindfulness. But like any religion, Buddhism has a far more complicated story than that—and Sri Lanka has seen many disturbing and violent episodes that attest to that fact.
The Buddhist Protestantism of the 19th century, the monks who invoked Buddhist texts to justify the Sri Lankan civil war, and the extremist movements surging today all have one thing in common: a belief that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation that must be protected from foreign elements, violently if necessary. The Sri Lankan case shows that nationalism and extremism can be filtered through anything.
Buddhist revivalism in the early 20th century
The movement known as Buddhism revivalism or Protestantism in Sri Lanka started with Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933). Known as the father of Buddhist Protestantism in Sri Lanka, Dharmapala had an anti-imperialist and nationalist agenda. Besides fighting the British, who ruled Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) at the time, Dharmapala focused on founding Buddhist schools and strengthening the Sinhala language and Buddhism in Sri Lanka’s public sphere.
Anagarika Dharmapala. (Wikimedia Commons)
To this day, Sinhala nationalists portray him as a hero and their saviour from “the evil influence of Western domination”; his birthday is celebrated every year in the Sri Lankan media, reminding people of the deeds of a national hero.
In 1915, police changed the original route of a Buddhist festival procession in order to prevent them from passing a mosque. Mockery by Muslims did not help the matter, and riots soon erupted in Sri Lanka, pitting Sinhala Buddhists against Muslims. 25 Muslims were killed, around 200 were injured, mosques were damaged, and many businesses belonging to Muslims were destroyed. The British were accused of killing both Sinhala and Muslims when they tried to stop the riots, providing the spark that ignited the Sri Lankan independence movement.
Buddhism and the civil war
Between 1983 and 2009, Sri Lanka was plagued by a civil war between the Sinhala government and Tamil (mainly Hindu) rebels. The war had numerous causes, but prominent among them were government moves to embrace religious nationalism.
After they won independence from Britain in 1948, Sri Lanka’s politicians started to enforce the use of the Sinhala language across the country’s public institutions, making it the official language. They also inserted Buddhism into the constitution: “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the state to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.”
This angered Sri Lanka’s Tamil-speaking minority. Militant student organisations were soon formed with the aim of forming a new Tamil homeland. In July 1983, also known as Black July, Tamil rebels killed a number of soldiers from the Sri Lankan army. During subsequent riots, various Sinhala mobs killed many Tamil civilians. The civil war was now a fact.
Buddhism was invoked to justify the war in various ways. In her book, In The Defence of Dharma: Just-war Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka, religious studies professor Tessa J Bartholomeusz offers some examples. To take just one, a Sinhala army song from 1999, said to be composed by a Buddhist monk, contained the following verse:
Linked by love of the [Buddhist] religion and protected by the Motherland, brave soldiers you should go hand in hand.
But it wasn’t just the army; everyday people and monks also used Buddhist texts and used military metaphors. Some Buddhist monks extolled warrior virtues as stemming from Buddhism:
That Buddhism is a religion of ardent aspiration for the highest good of man is not surprising. It springs out of the mind of the Buddha a man of martial spirit and high aims … Buddhism … is made by a warrior spirit for warriors.
After the war
When the civil war ended in 2009, many hoped that Sri Lanka’s ethnic groups would find a way to coexist in peace. But it didn’t take long before the country’s Buddhist extremists found another target.
Currently, Sri Lanka’s most active Buddhist extremist group is Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist power force, or BBS). The BBS entered politics in 2012 with a Buddhist-nationalist ideology and agenda, its leaders claiming that Sri Lankans had become immoral and turned away from Buddhism. And whom does it blame? Sri Lankan Muslims.
BBS’s rhetoric takes its cue from other populist anti-Muslim movements around the globe, claiming that Muslims are “taking over” the country thanks to a high birth rate. It also accuses Muslim organisations of funding international terrorism with money from Halal-certified food industries. These aren’t just empty words; in 2014, one of their anti-Muslim protest rallies in the southern town of Aluthgama ended with the death of four Muslims.
BBS also has links to Myanmar’s extremist 969 movement. Led by nationalist monk Ashin Wirathu, who calls himself the “Burmese bin Laden”, it is notorious for its hardline rhetoric against the Rohingya Muslim community.
Andreas Johansson, director of Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET), Lund University. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. We welcome your comments atideas.india@qz.com.
=====================================================
Genocide Of Rohingyas In Myanmar: The Hindutva Imprints
in South Asia — by Shamsul Islam — September 18, 2017
Currently, one of the worst post-World War II genocides is underway in India’s neighbourhood. In Rakhine Province of Myanmar (Burma) cleansing of people belonging to the Rohingya Tribe (mostly Muslims and few Hindus and Buddhists), has been going on for last two decades. But this cleansing project of Rohingyas is in full steam now by the Myanmar army and foot-soldiers of the Fascist Buddhist organizations with coming to power of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize recipient for fighting against military rulers of the country. Ironically, this Nobel laureate now supervises genocide of Rohingyas in collaboration with the country’s army and fascist Buddhist cadres.
The rampaging killer/raping/maiming/burning gangs sponsored by the Burmese State, Army and Fascist Buddhist organizations have evoked worldwide condemnation including severe repudiation from world forums including UN. However, Indian PM Modi who visited Myanmar recently instead of expressing concern on the cleansing of Rohingyas expressed solidarity with the Killer State. He and Myanmar’s State Counsellor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a joint statement said, “It is important to maintain security and stability along the long land and maritime borders of India and Myanmar…India stands with Myanmar over the issue of violence in the Rakhine state which has led to loss of innocent lives.” This statement remained silent on the mass cleansing of the Rohingyas but expressed grave concern on the ‘terrorist’ activities of a section of Rohingyas in self-defence. In a more shocking development the RSS/BJP Indian Government has issued instructions to deport nearly 40,000 Rohingyas who escaped to India while under attack for being security threat.
The inimical attitude of the Indian rulers towards Rohingyas is neither accidental nor sudden. It does not seem to be the fall-out of some grave security threat which might have cropped up in the recent past. We need to investigate whether this cleansing got impetus with the political ascendancy of fascist Buddhist organizations in Myanmar and Hindutva fascist organizations in India.
The world obsessed with Islamist terrorism has not bothered to take any notice of a new terrorism network developing fast in India and its neighbourhood between Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and two ultra nationalist Buddhist groups of Myanmar and Sri Lanka against minorities in the area. In a startling and focussed disclosure The International New York Times(October 16, 2014) in an editorial titled ‘DEADLY ALLIANCES AGAINST MUSLIMS’ disclosed how fascist Buddhist groups in the region; Sri Lankan Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, Myanmar’s Wirathu Group 969′ [run by Ashin Wirathu a so-called monk from Myanmar who has preaching hatred toward Muslims and is the spiritual leader of a movement to boycott Muslim businesses] were in contact “at a high level” with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya Swayam Sevak to form what he called a “Hindu-Buddhist peace zone” in South Asia which meant a Muslim-Christian free zone in the area. The editorial was concluded with the following alarming words:
“It is folly for the governments of Mr. Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, President Thein Sein of Myanmar [both headed their respective countries in 2014] and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, or their political allies, to give even the appearance of tolerating these Islamophobic groups in a region that has too often been convulsed by religious sectarian violence. They should condemn this mad alliance before it can spread further.”https://countercurrents.org/2017/09/18/genocide-of-rohingyas-in-myanmar-the-hindutva-imprints/#_edn1
This network though prioritizes Islamic/Muslim threat as the main concern but also treats Christians and other ethnic minorities as dangers and wants to control them. They refused to accept that this region was multi-religious area. Ashin Wirathu is committed to get rid of Muslims and other minorities of the area. They have killed hundreds of Muslims, raped Muslim women, burned hundreds of mosques and destroyed large number of Muslim properties and businesses.
For public consumption RSS has denied the claim of Gnanasara that they were in discussions “at a high level” with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak spokesman, Ram Madhav, promptly denied that there were any such discussions. But according to NYT Madhav, a senior RSS/BJP ideologue of India’s ruling oligarchy, “has written comments sympathetic to Bodu Bala Sena and Mr. Wirathu’s group 969 in Myanmar on his Facebook and Twitter accounts”. He lauded the plan of “Hindu-Buddhist peace zone” in South Asia which means an area free of minorities specially Muslims. In his posting [March 28, 2013 on Facebook] agreed with the propaganda that
“The Muslim population in Sri Lanka is growing fast…There are mosques and madrassas sprouting everywhere in the country. A rough estimate suggests that of the 1.2 million Muslim populations every 50 households have a mosque. In Colombo itself a new magnificent mosque is coming up, so are in many other places. Increasing number of burqa-clad women and skull cap-wearing men can be sited on the streets of Sri Lankan cities and towns now.”
Ram Madhav also noted that Muslims in Sri Lanka have been insisting on halal products. He noted approvingly that “the Bodu Bala Sena essentially talks about protecting the Buddhist culture of the country from foreign religions. By this it also means the Christian missionaries who are trying to convert people”.
He was happy to note that “the Bodu Bala Sena has maintained that Hindus and Buddhists of the country should work together on these issues.” He ended by commending, “So far, the issues raked up by the BBS are worthy of active and sympathetic consideration. Bodu Bala Sena is able to capture the attention of the Buddhist population of Sri Lanka.”It was atrocious on the part of Ram Madhav, a leader of the ‘largest Hindu organization in the world’ to overlook the fact that the Sri Lankan State in connivance with such Buddhist fascist organizations of Sri Lanka killed, raped and maimed lakhs of Hindu Tamils in the area. In one of the Tweets he wrote: “BODU BALA SENA – A NEW BUDDHIST MOVEMENT IN SRI LANKA Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) – a Buddhist organisation many wish”.
It is to be noted that RSS historically has been close to the ruling military dictators in Myanmar who have encouraged characters like Ashin Wirathu to propagate hatred for minorities in the country. How close RSS was to the military junta which now shares power with Aung San Suu Kyi can be known by the following report which appeared in the official organ of the RSS, Organizer dated February 28March 5, 2000:
“The 50th anniversary of the Sanatan Dharma Swayamsevak Sangh (SDSS-The RSS counterpart in Burma) was held at the National Theatre on Mayoma Kyaung Street, Yagnon, recently. Secretary-2 of the State Peace and Development Council, Lt. Gen. Tin Oo attended the meeting. The programme was attended by ministers and senior military officers. Minister for Commerce, Brig. Gen. Pyi Sone; Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Maj. Gen. Sein Htwa; Minister for Health, Maj. Gen. Ket Sein were among the prominent persons who attended the function…The Secretary-2 delivered speech at the function.”
This report appeared with two photographs. In one photograph five military Generals including second in command of the military junta, Lt. Gen. Tin Oo, were seen standing on the stage in the midst of SDSS leadership wearing khaki shorts. In the other photograph leading lights of the Burmese military junta were seen sitting in the front row of the auditorium.
This terrorist network exposed by New York Times may have many other layers as was made clear by neo-Nazi mass murderer of Norway, Breivik who glorified Indian ‘Hindu Nationalists.[ii]He opened Pandora’s box when declared ‘Hindu Nationalist’ movement as a key ally in a global struggle to bring down democratic regimes across the world. Just before he went to massacre a large number of people in Norway he released a ‘manifesto’ of 1,518 pages, of which 102 pages dealt with the glorification of Hindutva movement of India. It declared support to “Sanatana Dharma movements and Indian nationalists in general.” This manifesto also laid down a plan of co-operation between neo-Nazi movements of Europe and ‘Hindu Nationalist’ organizations of India. This neo-Nazi document emphasised that it was essential that these two “learn from each other and cooperate as much as possible” as “Our goals are more or less identical’. This manifesto specially mentioned the name of the fountain head of the Hindutva politics like RSS and its subsidiaries like BJP, ABVP and VHP in this regard.[iii]
Importantly, the manifesto pledged military support “to the nationalists in the Indian civil war and in the deportation of all Muslims from India’ as part of a larger campaign to ‘overthrow of all western European multiculturalist governments.”
Imagine if these revelations had made some references to Muslim/Christian/Sikh individuals or organizations, the Indian intelligence agencies would have dug the areas inhabited by them to find out the linkages. Unfortunately, these startling disclosures about RSS’ linkages with a developing terror nexus internationally, are no cause of worry for the Indian State. This silence gives the conspirators legitimacy to play havoc with the region.
The International Court of Justice at The Hague must immediately constitute a team to unearth the nefarious role of fascist religious and cultural organization behind genocide of Rohingyas in Myanmar. Apart from looking into the role of such organizations in this genocide, this UN organ must also find out whether this cleansing is taking place to facilitate the capture of oil resources in this region and land grab by the Chines and Indian corporate giants. [iv]
Shamsul Islam is a retired Professor of University of Delhi.Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
For some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu & Gujarati see the following link:
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam
Facebook: shams shamsul
Twitter: @shamsforjustice
https://countercurrents.org/2017/09...as-in-myanmar-the-hindutva-imprints/#_ednref1 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/opinion/deadly-alliances-against-muslims.html?_r=0
[ii] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/norwegian-mass-killers-manifesto-hailshindutva/article2293829.ece
[iii][ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/norwegia...iks-manifesto-supports-hindutva/170496-3.html ]
[iv] https://qz.com/1074906/rohingya-the...grab-politics-behind-myanmars-refugee-crisis/
