This is one wonderful article by frenchman in magazine OUTLOOK INDIA which I could not help but share:
FRANCOIS GAUTIER <http://www.outlooki ndia.com/ author.asp? name=Francois+ Gautier>
Is there such a thing as 'Hindu terrorism', as the arrest of Sadhvi PragyaSingh Thakur for the recent Malegaon blasts may tend to prove? Well, I guessI was asked to write this column because I am one of that rare breed offoreign correspondents, a lover of Hindus! A born Frenchman,Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I'll be given some credit for myopinions, which are not the product of my parents' ideas, my education or myatavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for *LeJournal de Geneve* and *Le Figaro*).In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India , doing photofeatures on kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowlyrealised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in thetrue spirituality behind Hinduism. The average Hindu you meet in a millionvillages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts yourdiversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French orChinese. It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian differentfrom, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim. Ialso learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifestitself at different times, under different names, using different scriptures(not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21stcentury religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecutedminorities from across the world Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians,and today, Tibetans. In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have nevermilitarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion onothers by force or induced conversions.You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and itsaddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groupslike simi, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus whoburn churches without killing anybody. We know also that most of thesecommunal incidents often involve persons from the same groups, often Dalitsand tribals, some of who have converted to Christianity and others not.However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killedin the process; compare this to the 'vengeance' bombings of 1993 in Bombay ,which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjiddestruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act ofthe two. We also remember how Sharad Pawar, when he was chief minister ofMaharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off ina Muslim locality of Bombay .I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I havediscovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about thisso-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been atthe receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition whichcrucified Brahmins in Goa . Today, Hindus are still being targeted: therewere one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundredremain, the rest having fled in terror. Blasts after blasts have killedhundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus,the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of,are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of theirmost sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsorsthe Haj. They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianitythrough inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swamiand a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed.So sometimes, enough is enough.At some point, after years or even centuriesof submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus?whom the Mahatma once gentlycalled cowards?erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happenedin Gujarat . It happened in Jammu , then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, andMalegaon . It may happen again elsewhere. What should be understood is thatthis is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, withoutany planning from the political leadership. Therefore, the BJP, instead ofacting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to lettheir anguished voices be heard.There are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet.They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communitiesin the world today.
Can you call them terrorists?
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