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The Rediff Interview/ Francois Gautier

'I hope India is not going to turn its back on Hinduism'

There is an unconscious militant dislike of the Christian world towards Hindu India'

'The massacres perpetuated by Muslims in India are unparalleled in history, bigger than the Holocaust of the Jews'

Do you think the State-sanctioned disparity between Hindus and other faiths will continue?

It is a great tragedy that for instance different Congress governments have left millions of Bangladeshis settle in Eastern India and have kept quiet about it, just to cater to the Muslim vote bank. Today even, all the 'secular' politicians refuse to accept the Assam governor's conclusions which are absolutely right: Assam's way of life, its culture, religion, are being totally wiped out by the Bangladeshis immigrants, who on top of that bring with them a militant religion and do not really integrate in the Indian mainstream.

This should not happen and it is one of the dangers that Hinduism has to face today, because Muslims multiply much more rapidly than Hindus, who have generally accepted the need to have only two or three children, even in the backwards villages of Tamil Nadu.

Where do you think the population is going in regards to Hinduism, never mind the politicians?

I do hope that India is not going to turn its back on Hinduism. Because with 800 millions souls, Hindus constitute the majority of this country. Traditionally and historically, Hinduism has always been the most tolerant of all religions, allowing persecuted minorities from all over the world, whether the Jerusalem Jews, the Parsis from Persia, Christians from Syria, or even Arab merchants, to settle in India over the centuries and practice their religion in peace. Are the French ashamed of their Greco-Roman inheritance? Not at all ! On the contrary they even think that civilisation started only with the Greeks. Would you call the Germans or the Italians "nationalists" because they have Christian Democrats Parties?

Christianity is the founding stone of Western civilisation and nobody dares deny it. Clinton goes to the mass and swears on the Bible and none finds anything to say. We French are brought-up listening to the values of Homer's Iliad, or Corneille's Le Cid. It is true that in France there has been a separation of the State and the Church; but that is because at one time the Church misused its enormous political power and grabbed enormous amounts of lands and gold. But no such thing ever happened India. The much-maligned Brahmins never interfered in politics and today they are often a neglected lot.

Aren't there ills in Hinduism? Why aren't these being cleansed? You would admit that there is continuing casteism in India; perhaps also patriarchal ill-treatment of women?

Oh yes, there are a lots of ills in Hinduism, the worst one being that for some mysterious reason, Hindus tend to be the most undisciplined, (look how they drive) collectively selfish, and nationally uncaring community in India, so that it requires a Mother Teresa to look after their own underprivileged. In the same way, they tend to extend cleanliness only to their own immediate surroundings: their homes, or their front porches, but neglect the rest.

It is puzzling for instance how a people which has worshipped the Ganges for thousands of years, treats it with so little respect, dumping every day thousands of chemicals in its waters. They are panicky, cowards (I have my own theory on this: the collective terror unleashed by the Muslim invasions in the unconscious mind of Hindus still trigger in them this panicky and everyone-for-himself syndrome) and have lost this great quality of courage, selflessness and boldness, which Vivekananda tried to drill back into them, with little success.

They are corrupt, which is the gravest of sins, because it is not only the poor, which is understandable, but also the rich, who mix ashes in cement, adulterate petrol, mustard oil, alcohol (maybe we should have here for a few years a military dictatorship China-like. Take, for instance, a few of the hoarders who recently manipulated the prices of onion or salt, put them against a wall and shoot them like animals. You will see how India's economy will straighten-up quickly). There is so much black money in this country, so much hidden wealth, which could make India one of the richest countries in the world if it became white again.

And finally Hindus exploit and abuse their own underprivileged: they pay badly their servants, mistreat them; no wonder that sometimes these very servants kill their masters for a few rupees! My good friend and competitor, Françoise Chipaux, Le Monde's corespondent, showed me recently the servant quarters of her flat which is in Sujan Singh Park, one of the poshest districts of Delhi. You should have seen them: there were not even toilets! Once again you take a few of these owners (who ask for two years advance, half of it payable on a foreign account) and shoot them...

We have a dilemma regarding reservation and the upliftment of the weaker sections. What is your view on the OBC, SC/ST problems?

India's great Sage and philosopher, Sri Aurobindo, felt that the caste system is the most misunderstood, the most vilified subject of Hindu society : "Caste was originally an arrangement for the distribution of functions in society, just as much as class in Europe, but the principle on which this distribution was based was peculiar to India. A Brahmin was a Brahmin not by mere birth, but because he discharged the duty of preserving the spiritual and intellectual elevation of the race, and he had to cultivate the spiritual temperament and acquire the spiritual training which alone would qualify him for the task. So it was for the Vaishya whose function was to amass wealth for the race and the Shudra who discharged the humbler duties of service without which the other castes could not perform their share of labour for the common good".

But, yes, there is no doubt that the institution of caste degenerated: "It ceased to be determined by spiritual qualifications and thus lost most of its meaning. The spirit of caste arrogance, exclusiveness and superiority came to dominate it instead of the spirit of duty, and the change weakened the nation and helped to reduce us to our present condition". Thus, Nehru's intentions by devising the reservation system may have been good, but as usual it has been perverted by human nature and has encouraged sloppiness, cheating and believe it or not, casteism in the reverse sense, as it pays today to say that you from an underprivileged caste!

Thus, everybody wants to be part of OBC, even Christians who converted to escape the caste system! Moreover, it has encouraged anti-brahmanism, like in Tamil Nadu, whereas Brahmans never interfered in political affairs and single handedly preserved the Hindu tradition.

What are your views on the Nehru dynasty and Sonia Gandhi's recent rise?

'Gandhi's and Buddhism's ahimsa, were the non-violence of the weak and the coward; not the non-violence of the lion'

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