E-commerce platform Amazon seems to have quietly withdrawn the sale of a sacrilegious, Hindumisic book titled ‘Deadly Bhagavat Geeta’. A group of Hindus had protested at an office of Amazon India in Nagpur district of Maharashtra on Tuesday, protesting against the sale of this book and Pakistani flags on the e-commerce platform.
In a viral video, the group shouting the slogan ‘Vande Matram’ were seen at the e-commerce office. The incident, which news agencies like IANS and PTI have described as ‘ransacking’, was reported at the Ganeshpeth area on Tuesday afternoon.
The protesters are said to be associated with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Later, a Nagpur-based MNS leader Chandu Lade reportedly wrote to Amazon India Limited, demanding that the book titled ‘Deadly Bhagavat Geeta’ which denigrates the Bhagavad Gita and Pakistani flags available for sale be removed from the e-commerce platform.
On Google Books, below is the synopsis provided of the sacrilegious book in question, which has been written by one DR Achariyar and published in 2018 via CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, a self-publishing service owned by Amazon –
“It deliberates dangers and chaos in applying Gita at Corporate sector and management schools. Religious texts are for spirituality. It has limitation within praying location and people. When it is glorified at corporate trainings out of context to fool ignorant people, it must be deliberated for pros and cons openly. This book deliberates about it with reference to Padma Purana and facts of it. You can understand Bhagavat Gita text in brief in simple English. I could not understand why my orthodox Hindu grandfathers banned Mahabarata books reading at homes then. Now, I understood why. People considered as war manual ,and create and justify enmity in family relations as in the story. Brahmins read Gita to attain salvation-Moksha. Not for others, It was written to maintain discriminatory caste system of inequality. It was formulated to rule the state then and accepted. Now, no country accepts inequality and social discrimination. In such civilized society, promoting Gita is dangerous and against humanity. No logics and philosophical approach will dilute its contents.”
Anyone with some knowledge of Bhagavad Gita can see that this book by DR Achariyar completely distorts the message of the Gita, in which Sri Krishna explains how all humans should lead a balanced life in pursuit of the 4 purusharthas – Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha. Incidentally, the line of arguments made in this Hindumisic book to distort the Bhagavad Geeta are similar to what some ‘experts’ like Sheldon Pollock and Amartya Sen have made.
The sacrilegious book was clearly available for sale in Amazon, but now seems to have been withdrawn
Before:
After
Incidentally, last year Amazon was charged with indirectly funding a American Baptist Church module that converted 25000 Hindus/Dharmiks to Christianity in north-east Bharat – a charge the company denied. However, earlier this year, Amazon reportedly closed down the ‘charity donation program’ AmazonSmile against which this accusation had emerged.
How Hinduphobia/Hindumisia is mainstreamed in ‘secular’ India
Both national news agencies, PTI and IANS, have downplayed the clear sacrilege and distortion of a core Hindu Dharmic text in this book ‘Deadly Bhagavat Geeta’.
Let’s first look at their headlines,
PTI: MNS workers vandalize Amazon office in Nagpur to protest sale of Pak flags, controversial book
IANS: MNS activists ransack Amazon office in Nagpur
The headlines used by both news agencies are part of the same English-language mainstream media strategy to negate Hinduphobia, and reinforce negative stereotypes about Hindu activists. Anyone who just scans these headlines (studies have shown that around 60% of readers just scan headlines) will have no clue that the protest was about a sacriligeous anti-Hindu book.
Even some of those who bother to read the full article will be skeptical whether the book was really offensive to Hindus or not. One look at the language used in these news agencies’ reports shows their sleight of hand (emphasis added) –
PTI: “…a book which allegedly hurts religious sentiments of Hindus”, “…a book titled “Deadly Bhagavat Geeta” which ‘denigrates’ the Bhagavad Gita is sold on Amazon and it should be removed from the platform, the letter said.“
IANS: “…a book which allegedly hurts religious sentiments of Hindus”, “He also claimed that the Amazon website sells a book titled ‘Deadly Bhagavat Geeta’ which ‘denigrates’ the Bhagavad Gita and sought its removal from the e-commerce platform.
Use of scare quotes like the ones used around the word denigrate by both PTI & IANS are standard practise when reporters/journalists wish to convey skepticism because they consider that word or phrase to be odd or inappropriate for some reason.
As this investigative journalist explains, “This use of language to shape the readers opinion before we even read the article is nuanced, skilled and, most of all, highly effective.”
This is how Hinduphobia is mainstreamed in our Republic by media, intelligentsia and most organs of the State – by denying that Hinduphobia even exists, by censoring anti-Hindu hate crimes as much as possible, and by gaslighting Hindus that they are the ones ‘stoking violence’ and ‘communalizing society’.
