With the entry of Moghul rule in India several centuries back, a large number of Hindus were systematically and forcefully converted to Islam and the rest of the Hindus never protested and not even took serious note of it.
by N. S. Venkataraman
Millions of Hindus who lived in the past and who live at present time have been believing that philosophy and way of life enunciated by Hindu religion and enriched by Vedas , Upanishad and Bhagawad Gita and thoughts lucidly explained by great Hindu scholars like Adi Sankara, Ramanuja and others can never become extinct in the world and therefore, there is no need for defending Hinduism at any time. This belief has brought great qualities of tolerance amongst Hindus towards other religions. In such scenario, practitioners of Hindu religion have never attempted to convert those belonging to other religions to Hinduism. Of course, this is as it should be.
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| Historic Hindu temple in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India [ Photo © Kishore Ragav Ganesh Kumar/ Unsplash] |
With the entry of Moghul rule in India several centuries back, a large number of Hindus were systematically and forcefully converted to Islam and the rest of the Hindus never protested and not even took serious note of it. In the same way, when Europeans entered India and started ruling the country, millions of Hindus were systematically and cunningly converted into Christianity and again, the Hindus, by and large, never protested in any visible manner.
With Islam and Christianity firmly entrenched in India now and with their growing population, India, which has been considered as a Hindu country, has now become a secular country. Again, Hindus in India do not seem to be particularly concerned about this.
However, in recent years, one can clearly see that there has been an aggressive campaign to convert Hindus to other religions by fair or foul methods, which are too visible and cannot be ignored anymore.
While such conversion attempts are continuing with no significant protest from a large section of Hindus , what one cannot miss is the hate campaign against Hindu religion that has been launched in recent years.
Such hate campaign against Hindu religion continues to remain strong and at disturbing level particularly in Tamil Nadu, amongst all other states in the country.
While the hate campaign has been there in Tamil Nadu for more than seven decades now, in the last eighteen months, after the new government assuming power in Tamil Nadu, the hate campaign is now continued with high level of intensity, focus and perhaps, with silent and tacid support from the political party presently ruling in Tamil Nadu.
The ongoing hate campaign is so vigorous that some hate campaigners with little knowledge of Hindu ethos have started questioning the existence of Hindu religion itself. They are saying in a notorious manner that there have been no Hindu religion in the distant past. Several misinterpretations are given to confuse and fool the gullible people.
What is very unfortunate is that the print and visual media in India, which are all the time looking for sensational and so-called breaking news, without examining whether the news and events are absurd and newsworthy, give huge publicity to hate campaigners and organize counterproductive debates. As a result, the Hindu hate campaigners in Tamil Nadu have a field day with the media giving huge publicity to their baseless observations bordering on absurdity and in the process, even providing undeserved publicity to the motivated Hindu hate campaigners.
As the situation in Tamil Nadu has become now so serious that can erode the future base of Hindu religion in Tamil Nadu, there seem to be no alternative other than defending Hindu religion and Hindu way of life with high level of determination by Hindus in the state.
The Hindu hate campaigners in Tamil Nadu have temerity and arrogance to say that Thiruvalluvar, the great philosopher poet, was not Hindu and even removing sacred ash from the forehead of Vallalar, one of the greatest Hindu philosophers known to mankind. There have been huge interference in the affairs of Hindu temples by the present Tamil Nadu government, upsetting the rhythm in the Hindu rituals and with the government going to the extent of misusing the property and other possessions of Hindu temples as per their whims and fancies.
The essence of this article is to stress the fact that the Hindu religion now has to be defended, even as those belonging to Hindu religion should not attempt to convert people belonging to other religions to Hinduism.
The hate campaigners against Hindu religion obviously think that Hindus would not react even to the extreme level of hate campaign. This confidence of Hindu hatemongers need to be punctured effectively.
N. S. Venkataraman is a trustee with the "Nandini Voice for the Deprived," a not-for-profit organization that aims to highlight the problems of downtrodden and deprived people and support their cause and to promote probity and ethical values in private and public life and to deliberate on socio-economic issues in a dispassionate and objective manner.
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