NEW DELHI: Students of India’s history of communalism would find the newly launched book “Hindutva and Minorities in India” highly informative as it gives an overview of the atrocities committed by saffron brigades against India’s minorities, mainly Muslims.
The book is a historical document and dissects in detail the pattern of umpteen anti-Muslim riots that have been engineered by saffron forces in India since the country’s independence in 1947.
The book highlights bellicose intentions of Hindu zealots rooted in the ideology of the ultranationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It drives home this chilling fact: “What the saffron thugs want Indians to identify as ‘nationalism’ is, in fact, fascism.”
The book, a collection of investigative reports and articles by analyst, columnist and journalist Ausaf Saied Vasfi that appeared in Delhi-based weekly journal “Radiance,” chronicles the period that saw the ugly rise of Hindutva forces on India’s political and social scene.
The book was launched in Delhi on Tuesday by Jalaluddin Umri, president of India’s prominent Muslim organization, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, in the presence of journalists, opinion-makers and key guests.
Speaking on the occasion, Umri, a noted scholar himself, regretted that the Hindutva ideology, which attacks the Indian ethos, is being patronized by the current government.
Commenting on the writer’s efforts, Umri said Vasfi has done a commendable job in documenting the injustices meted out to India’s minorities in the last 50 years.
In his speech, Vasfi stressed that those unwilling to make sacrifices need not take up journalism.
He lamented the fact that the Muslim community had not been able to produce many journalists “who could fight its case with the power of pen.”
He emphasized the need for “Muslim nationalist” journalists who are armed with sufficient knowledge.
Vasfi, whose bylines inspired an awe among journalists in India and abroad, has been associated with “Radiance” for the last 50 years.
