Author : Samidha

There seems to be a sudden surge in Hindu phobic sentiment in all walks of life. This is not only dangerous for the multicultural fabric of many countries but also the peace-loving Hindu community living in these countries. It is the nature of Hindus to be understanding, to be accepting and respectful, to avoid conflicts; basically, try hard to maintain peace in society. However, the recent trend to create a false narrative using incidences, posts etc in social media, on college and high school campuses etc. is putting the Hindu community at risk. Unfortunately, such examples of Hinduphobia, or rather Hindumisia, are becoming very common. Hopefully, a look at some of the recent happenings can help convey the problem. 

“Should Canada try to forge closer ties with India? Experts are raising red flags” by Joanna Chiu, is a recent article in Toronto Star. It is just one of the many since India became the favorite distraction for all of the world’s problems. This problem is quite widespread. The ignorance and or bias of these authors regarding this issue is appalling. In the article, the reporter begins by mentioning Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaking out against the treatment of protesting farmers in India by police. Trudeau said, “Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest”. Great! but he conveniently left out the part that these protests were not peaceful, and were a law-and-order issue. The protesters threatened the prime minister of India. Most of the protesters were from the Sikh majority state of Punjab, but this article fails to mention Sikh (Khalistani) vote bank necessary for Canadian politics. He also conveniently forgot to mention how this bill affected Canada’s export to India negatively. 

Keeping up with the popular trend, the author then jumps to media’s favorite bandwagon “Hindu Nationalism” (aka “Hindu Fascism”). Many Christian majority countries like Australia and France talk about immigration and multiculturalism. Australia had even said that certain religious minorities in their country are welcome to leave the country if they do not want to follow Australian laws. Similarly, France has taken action against certain religious minorities because of its disregard for the country’s laws. No one uses words like “Christian” Nationalism or “Christian” Fascism, then why use word “Hindu” to describe nationalism in Hindu majority India? For whatever reason, when the media talks about Indian nationalism and so-called fascism, it feels compelled to mention Mr Modi and Gujarat riots. Somehow, in all these years they have never uncovered the truth. These riots started because Hindus were burned alive by international media’s favorite religious minority. They still seem to be oblivious of the fact that the special judiciary panel appointed by the court had cleared Mr Modi. But this kind of irresponsible journalism often gets away with a one-sided narrative in the name of freedom of the press, “political correctness” etc. 

This author then moves on to another favorite topic of human rights. This all-knowing, 21st-century media never mentions the privileges enjoyed by thriving religious minorities, particularly Muslims, in India under the Modi government. They overlook the fact that Muslims make 30% of the total population. Which other country in the world treats 30% of its population as a “minority”? Countries that can barely handle less than 5% of that same religious population have the nerve to tell the world’s largest democracy how to handle 30% of its population! Countries that constitutionally deprive their religious minorities of any human rights, somehow never get on these so-called authors’ radar. India, although not a signatory to UN treaty, is trying to rehabilitate the persecuted religious minorities. On the other hand, countries who are UN signatories to take in refugees are busy passing resolutions against this noble attempt by India. India is giving a life of dignity to the persecuted religious minorities from its neighbouring countries, who are stripped off their fundamental right to live because of their religious affiliation. 

Another noticeable trend in international media is news about Kashmir. Interestingly, however, the media that can’t get enough of the Holocaust, conveniently ignores to address genocide of Kashmiri Hindus in the name of religion! And then of course is the constant bashing of RSS. They do not bother to find out about this organization’s selfless grass root level work for helping everyone regardless of caste, religion etc. After all, why is international politics so afraid of a volunteer organization? Can you imagine all this venom from a single article! And this is just one article. There is an ocean of these out there and Hindus have a lot of catching up to do.

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