Passing sacrilegious comments on Hindu Dharma and deities has become a regular affair in Bharat’s ‘secular’ political space. Recently, Kerala CPM leaders passed sacrilegious Hinduphobic comments on the Hindu deity Bhagwan Ganesha.

CPM leaders make sacrilegious Hinduphobic comments

On 21 July 2023, AN Shamseer, the Kerala Assembly Speaker, emphasised the promotion of ‘scientific temper’ in education over what he labelled ‘myths’. He spoke sacrilegiously about Sri Ganesha and Hindu itihasa, under the guise of promoting ‘scientific temper’ while addressing school children.

While emphasizing that he credited the invention of aeroplanes to the Wright Brothers, he mockingly spoke of the ‘Hindutva’ ideology believing in Puspak Vimana as the first aeroplane. “Plastic surgery is a discovery of medical science. But what they are trying to teach you is that plastic surgery happened long back in Hinduism. Who was the first plastic surgery baby, the one who had a human body and an elephant’s head, Ganapati? This is how myths are being propagated instead of science,” Shamsheer said, derogating Hindu Dharma and peddling falsehoods in what was likely an attempt to run down the centre’s New Education Policy and textbook revision effort to remove Marxist propaganda.

A complaint was lodged by the BJP Thiruvananthapuram district Vice President, accusing Shamseer of insulting Hindu beliefs under the pretext of promoting “rational thinking”. The person who filed the complaint highlighted that Shamseer’s comments should be taken seriously, given that they were made in front of school children. The complaint argued that cases should be filed under IPC section 153 (a) and section 295 (a) to address insulting religious beliefs or religion.

Kerala CPI(M) Secretary MV Govindan defended Shamseer and days after the sacrilegious comments, Senior CPI(M) leader P Jayarajan insulted Bhagwan Parashuram on similar lines. The Marxist-Communist-Abrahamic cabal’s hatred for Hindu Dharma was evident from Govindan’s response to the controversy.

Govindan seconded Shamseer and stated that Sri Ganesha is a myth but when questioned about Allah, he remarked that not all beliefs should be labelled as myths. He contended that it is essential to distinguish between myths, history, and science and treat each accordingly. He also said ‘all beliefs of believers are not a myth’ when asked whether Allah was a myth. Conversely, when asked if Sri Ganesha was a myth, he said yes!

Not only did the ruling CPI(M) flat-out refuse to ask Shamseer to apologize or correct his statement but its government also lodged a case against 1000 Nair Service Society members who protested against the Hinduphobic remarks.

Hinduphobic Congress also sided with CPI(M) in keeping with its votebank minority-appeasement politics. The Kerala Congress-led UDF has decided not to discuss Speaker Shamseer’s controversial remarks on Sri Ganesha in the Assembly. The Congress believes that discussing the “myth” issue will create an impression of a witch hunt, alienating the Muslim community and potentially influencing the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, as per a report in Janam TV.

Terms such as scientific temper and rational thinking have become convenient excuses to degrade Hindu Dharma. Would Shamseer or any other politician dare to speak in the same way for any of the Abrahamic religions that are actually in need of scientific temper and rational thinking?

Hindu Dharmic organizations must speak up

Not much can be expected from the secular state and political parties. However, this was the time for Hindu Dharmic organizations to step up and speak for Dharma. The only Hindu organisations in action were Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, Dheevara Sabha, and Yogakshema Sabha who led the protests against Shamseer.

Muslim and Christian organizations across Bharat never fail to protest for every obscure anti-Islam and anti-Christian incident anywhere in the world. In contrast, Dharmic organizations in Bharat do not even acknowledge, let alone protest, Hinduphobic incidents within Bharat. Consider this: If any political leader had called out the myths in Islam or Christianity, he/she would have faced a barrage of protests from Islamic bodies and Church-led organizations.

Bhagwan Ganesha is an important deity for Hindus. As He is the first to be prayed to Hindus in the entire country should be out on the streets and it is the duty of Dharmic organizations to provide Hindu society guidance in this regard. Also, considering the fact that Ganesh Chaturthi is a popular festival in Maharashtra one would expect trusts of popular Ganpati mandirs including Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak and AshtaVinayak mandir among others to at least condemn Shamseer’s unsavoury remarks.

It is not just Shamseer’s sacrilegious remarks, Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Swami Prasad Maurya is a repeat offender when it comes to making anti-Hindu remarks. This April, Maurya made an objectionable comment on Prabhu Sri Ram.

In the video, Maurya can be heard saying — “Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram…” and pauses for the crowd to complete the sentence saying “…Hawa main ud gaye Jai Shri Ram” — a contentious political slogan that was coined in the early 1990s. Earlier, Maurya spewed venom against Ramcharitmanas.

Recently, Swami Prasad Maurya shared a video on his X (formerly Twitter) account, where he is seen giving a speech about Hindu Dharma. He says, “The roots of Brahminism are very deep and the reason for all disparity is also Brahminism itself. There is no religion called Hindu, Hinduism is just a deception. They have renamed “Brahminism” as the Hindu religion in this country. This is a conspiracy to trap the Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs in the web of their religion”.

But Shamseer and Maurya are not the only ones, a slew of politicians have used FoS (Freedom of Speech) as a facade to hide their Hindudvesh (Hindu hatred). Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) Ritlal Yadav, MLA Chandrashekhar Yadav and Shivanand Tiwari. These are merely some of the examples we have cited to highlight the fact the secular parties are united by their deep-seated hatred for Hindus and Hindu Dharma.  

Besides these Hinduphobic rants, Hindu Dharmic processions have been repeatedly attacked across the length and breadth of Bharat. We expect organizations like RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and political parties like BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) to speak up against anti-Hindu incidents. Though that is not entirely wrong, we need to go beyond political and social organizations and leave Dharma in the hands of Dharmic organizations whose turf it is.

In 2021 when a series of temple attacks took place in Andhra, Hindu seers came together to conduct a conclave. The conclave was aimed to finalise an action plan to protect and preserve Hindu dharma, its temples and the ‘sampradaya‘. Similarly, Ayodhya seers have also been vocal be it in the case of Swami Prasad Maurya’s crass statements or their views on Adipurush’s distortion of Ramayan.

A Dharma Sansad was conducted in Prayagraj to demand the freeing of Hindu temples from government control. In November 2021, the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti (AKSS) sought an apology from Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav for referring to saints as ‘chillumjeevi’ (those who smoke tobacco and cannabis in earthen pipes) and ‘ek rang wale’ (people of one particular colour).

When violence against Hindus took place in Bangladesh and Kashmir in 2021, Pejawar Swamiji was one of the few seers to issue a statement. Instances, when Dharmic organizations and/or Hindu seers have been vocal about Hindu concerns, are both sporadic and very few.

Even neo-gurus like Sri Sri Ravishankar, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, and Baba Ramdev among others have been missing in action many times. In fact, Sadhguru downplayed the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, secularized Mahashivratri celebrations, and took a 180° turn from his Free Temples campaign.

More than political and social organizations, it is the responsibility of Dharmic organizations irrespective of sampradayas to stand up for Dharma and inspire Hindus to vocalize their concerns. Street-power should never be underestimated and protest marches send out a strong message.

Maharashtra’s Jan Aakrosh Rally last December demanding a law against love jihad was attended by thousands of Hindus who responded to the call of Sambhaji Bhide Guruji. Despite the absence of Guruji, it was possible to mobilize Hindus. Therefore, all Hindus need is proper guidance and Dharmic organizations must take responsibility considering that we have numerous mathas, akhadas, and other such organizations.

The Mathas and other Dharmic organizations should make it clear that the insult of Hindu Dharma and Hindu deities will not be tolerated at any cost. They must rally Hindus to be vocal because silence is no longer an option and maybe our Dharmic organizations can borrow a leaf from Abrahamic organizations on how to send a strong message to people like Shamseer and Maurya.