Sagarika Ghose proves yet again that she’s a Category-5 Moron (thanks, Mediacrooks) in the very opening sentence of her ill-informed but intellectual-sounding titled piece, In search of the modern Hindu.
Its time to liberate Hinduism from politics
From there, she jumps straight into launching a veiled abuse against Narendra Modi and what she calls are his "social media armies." But the Category-5 moron-ness comes out in full play in this sentence where she refers to herself thusly:
Your humble columnist has the dubious honour of coining the phrase "Internet Hindus".
Such humble patting on her own back without realizing that she’s actually celebrating her own stupidity. Category-5 like I said. Everybody on Twitter are aware what exactly transpired after she coined that: when people stood up to her name-calling, she had to finally resort to what people of her ilk in the media are good at–trying to silence her critics with the threat of legal notice. Funny she doesn’t mention that.
But according to Sagarika, these aren’t the only reasons why politics must be liberated from Hinduism. Here are others:
There is large scale Hindu-isation of popular culture, as seen in the best selling novels by Amish on the life of Shiva, the hit TV serial Mahadev, the thronging temples, the high decibel festivals, export quality Hinduism in the form of yoga gurus and wellness spas….The assertion of majoritarian Hindu identity dominates the political space. In the cultural space celebration of festivals have become a tad too consumerist….Books, articles, paintings, interviews on Hindu themes are inevitably met by vociferous attacks from the Hindu Right seeking to "protect" Hinduism. But is this continual protest, actually preventing Hinduism from being popularised, from being thrown open to newer younger audiences? The repeated attacks and persecution of writer and scholar Wendy Doniger is a case in point. Historian Ramachandra Guha who recently wrote on the need to revive the reformist spirit of Hinduism was similarly denounced on the net as the "anti Hindu" ravings of the Macaulayputras.
And she goes on and on in this vein listing out such "crimes" of the dreaded Hindu Right. It is plain and simple abuse and one needn’t bother even refuting it. In numerous tweets directed against those who labels as "Internet Hindus," and other people espousing Hindu causes, Sagarika has thundered saying stuff like "I will not have my spiritual and tolerant and accommodative Hinduism hijacked by these people" and such other nonsense. Which means she admits she’s also a Hindu and isn’t ashamed of it. But what is her Hinduism? Let’s look for the answer in what she herself says in this piece:
In the cultural space celebration of festivals have become a tad too consumerist
What exactly is the lifestyle Sagarika leads? On the occasion of Holi, her husband requests the nation not to waste water. In parallel, she tweets about how she enjoyed her swim in some upscale health club/pool. And this is not including the other creature comforts she must be used to. Consumerist you said? Tum karo toh chamatkar aur hum kare toh balaatkaar?
One of the most distinguishing features of people like Sagarika Ghose is their sheer presumptuousness. Like they’re the Holy See or something. Sample this:
surely there is a need to evolve a charter of the modern Hindu, for whom pride in his faith and traditions can co-exist with the needs of a modern multi-faith democratic society.
Evolve a charter of the modern Hindu? What does this even mean? People like Sagarika Ghose give free speech a bad name. Evolve a charter of the modern Hindu? How would it sound if I said that there’s a need to evolve a charter for a non-moron Sagarika Ghose? Oh, and there is a real need to do that. Even accepting this, how does Sagarika arrogate to herself this right? Hindu history has had an entire galaxy of reformers and saints who never spoke in these terms. Their lives embodied the reforms they had in mind, and because an ounce of action is worth a billion sermons, their reforms succeeded. This kind of "evolving charters" talk is the product of a Prophetic, and therefore, a diseased mind.
And how does she set about evolving this charter? By asking a series of motivated questions that do more to reveal than hide her contempt for Hinduism. Indeed, her entire outpouring of gibberish is just that–a series of questions. Here are some brief samples:
Today, Hindus may carry out pujas and pilgrimages with a vengeance, but how many of us actually examine what our religious beliefs actually are? Do festivals centred exclusively around male relatives need to be questioned? Do hymns like the Purusa-sukta embody social hierarchy?…Should Sabarimala allow women? Do the teachings of Hinduism carry within them an imperative to interrogate caste? Does the dialogue of Gargi and Yajnavalkya show how we must question pre-conceived notions? How do we interpret the killing of Meghnad in the Ramayana from the viewpoint of morality? How can the relationship of Ram and Sita be interpreted in a modern context? ….how can Ram and Ravana talk to a modern citizen? What does Hinduism say about love, ambition, family?….Will the Hindu Right ever permit a Ramayana equivalent of Jesus Christ Superstar?
If Sagarika had bothered to step out of the confines of her ignorance of which she’s so proud and done some real reading, such dumb questions wouldn’t even have occurred to her. And we needn’t answer them for her for another important reason–other than her Category-5 moron-ness. She has absolutely no credentials to write anything about Hinduism. But then since when has ignorance been an obstacle that has prevented our secular and media dumbos to hold forth what they think is an opinion and informed analysis? A common, everyday menace faced by almost every apartment-dweller in the US is the deluge of junk mail he/she gets. And it’s anybody’s guess how they deal with that problem–feed all that junk to the shredder. You can’t stop them from assaulting your mailbox but you can shred them. I highly recommend this approach to deal with Sagarikaesque nonsense.
I suppose Sagarika has learnt the art of keeping her worst for the last:
To give Hinduism new life, the modern Hindu should resist simply remaining a political Hindu.
My head just exploded. What does "giving Hinduism a new life" even mean? Does Hinduism have an "old life?" And likewise, what does a "political Hindu" even mean? And what or who is a "modern" Hindu? Is there an "ancient" Hindu? And how exactly does Sagarika come up with such rubbish? Sagarika might be a moron but she’s an insidious moron. The list of her ill-informed questions is aimed at reducing Hinduism to just another variant of the (predominantly) Leftist discourse about lunatic ideas like multi-culturalism, terror-feminism, identity, environmentalism, and other assorted filth.
Another noxious element that flows as a vile subtext throughout her piece is the fact that she only cites instances of bad behaviour on the part of some Hindus as proof that Hinduism today is in the hands of only such people, and that it has degenerated. Needless, she picks out these instances deliberately, and such picking out is selective. No telling the other side of the story. And she obviously also doesn’t mention the fact that media houses like her own have contributed immensely in demonizing even genuine Hindu voices. Back in the secularist heydays a person like Arun Shourie was called the vilest abuses but her own channel now gives him Prime Time slots because of the TRP it’ll bring. How and why did he suddenly become oh-so-decent? Did he convert into Secularism? No. This then is the character of the people who wax eloquent on Hinduism.
One would think Sagarika is really concerned about Hinduism. She isn’t. This piece itself is proof of that. It is yet her latest attempt to demonize and discredit Hindus so that nobody takes them seriously. For all her claims here about reinterpreting and questioning and interrogating, why does Sagarika simply resort to labelling and name-calling anybody who questions her claims on Twitter? From where does this intolerance stem? And she gives a puke-worthy sermon about Hinduism? Bloody Mary!
Shame!
Never mind. She’s beyond it.
Tags: Sagarika Ghose, Hinduism, Hindu, Indian Politics, Commentary, Pseudosecularism Hall of Shame, Media Watch, CNN-IBN