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From: raj@purdue.UUCP (Rajendra S Yavatkar)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Re: Muslim Personal Law " shariat "
Message-ID: <527@mordred.purdue.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Mar-86 22:06:38 EST
Article-I.D.: mordred.527
Posted: Sat Mar 15 22:06:38 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Mar-86 10:59:10 EST
References: <616@philabs.UUCP> <172@sfsup.UUCP>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
Lines: 42
Summary: Personal law, RSS etc.

In article <172@sfsup.UUCP>, rajeev@sfsup.UUCP (S.Rajeev) writes:
> In fact, I think India is already a Hindu State, and that it is secular
> only insofar as Hinduism itself is a secular religion. The republican,
> democratic ideas in the Indian constitution are a mix of indigenous
> Hindu/Buddhist ideas about laissez-faire tolerance and imported ideas of
> Greek origin. Orthodox Hinduism, with its ideas of caste, can easily
> accommodate Muslim and other religious minorities as "other castes" in
> its scheme of things; there is no real paradox there. In general, I

	The basic tenet of our constituition is to move away from the
fundamentalism of any religion. What you are suggesting will simply
help perpetuate the ills of orthodox Hinduism. Secondly, creating additional
castes will simply add to the existing problems of rampant casteism.

> constitution. The sad thing about the current problems is that Muslim
> fundamentalism plays into the hands of Hindu fundamentalists, who, while
> they are a small minority, are always present, and often well organized
> just as the Moral Majority and its ilk here are. I think that the spectre
> of Muslim fundamentalism is used by the RSS and others to gain political
> power at the expense of secular parties. Which is a vicious circle: it
> forces secular parties to become increasingly polarized along communal
> lines; the net result is probably the ascent of communalists. Everybody
> loses at that point.
	We think the spectre of Muslim fundamentalism is  existing and is
	not raised by RSS or any other organization. 
	Secondly, organizations like RSS have never acquired any power.
	We think it is fashionable to use RSS as a whipping boy without
	trying to understand what it stands for. The concept of 
	Hindu Rashtra professed by RSS encompasses all indians irrespective
	of their religious beliefs. Also, the concept of Hindu Rashtra does
	not mean spreading Hinduism but the revival of Indian values and culture.
	We have yet to see any so-called liberal-minded newspaper or magazine
	attacking fundamentalist organizations like Jamate-e-Islami who
	have exploited the innocent muslims by arousing fear in their
	minds. These organizations also have captured power in some states
	and cities like Hyderabad and their 1-point manifesto is 
	spreading hatred.

						Raju Yavatkar
						Rajiv Khanna

						Purdue University.