Page 165 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions
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sive, envious, “trigger-happy”, murderous and otherwise enjoying in-
flicting pain. For instance, according to these perverse beliefs, the imag-
inary deity Bhrigu slits, in his anger, the throat of another deity,
Gautama Ahallya, and turns him into stone. Jahnumuni drinks up all the
69
waters of the Ganges River when he is angered. Sita, on the other hand,
is a so-called deity who is verbally aggressive, angry, haughty and mer-
ciless and Devi is ferocious, aggressive and always fighting. 70 Hindu
scriptures thus literally make violence sacred and present it as a fact of
life, which is why violence is so great a part of life and so natural for
some Hindus who espouse these superstitious views.
When analyzing extremist nationalism in India, it is necessary to
consider the influence of Hinduism on this ideology as a great many
Hindus see their superstitious religion as a comprehensive culture that
encompasses every aspect of life. Radical Hindu nationalism’s funda-
mental aim is to revive superstitious Hindu traditions and if necessary,
to impose these Hindu traditions on India whether the nation wants
them or not. Hindus defend the view that, in the face of centuries of long
occupation Hinduism became less and less a part of everyday life, and
in order to reverse this trend and strengthen Hindu unity, these super-
stitious beliefs need to be reintroduced into people’s lives, by force if
need be. By Hinduism they mean the worship of idols, the caste system,
the bigotry that views women as second class citizens, and the inhuman
practices that seek to assimilate non-Hindus. Radical Hindu nationalists
seek to realize these changes at all costs and they are resolved to achieve
this by any means. One such method is to incite people’s feelings of vi-
olence, aggression and hate.
The umbrella organization that represents radical Hindu national-
ism is the Sangh Parivar, which is an umbrella political organization that
unites under its name all the extreme nationalistic parties and organiza-
tions, official or clandestine. The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party- India’s
Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)