Looney American Foundation Threatens To Sue
The Nobel CommitteeBy Ra Ravishankar
07 October, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Background Information: Since last September, Hindutva (Hindu supremacist) groups have attempted in vain to doctor sixth grade social science textbooks in California [1]. With the solid backing of their Indian allies, and aided by a battery of expensive lawyers and the PR firm Ruder Finn, these groups sought to elide discussion of caste and sex-based discrimination (in India) in the textbooks [2]. Their efforts were first opposed by a white scholar (Michael Witzel, Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University), and the California State Board of Education is predominantly white, so the Hindutva groups and their supporters cynically assumed the mantle of an aggrieved minority [3]. What follows is an (as yet) imaginary account of the developments following the announcement of the Nobel Physics Prize in a Hindutva community; the lack of context and critical information (in the account below) is typical of how the mainstream press has covered Hindutva-related issues in the U.S.
The Looney American Foundation (LAF), an advocacy group of Hindus, today announced its intent to sue the Nobel committee for "gross violations of due process" in awarding the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics to space scientists John Mather and George Smoot. Dismissing the Nobel Committee's judgment that the awardees' work "looks back into the infancy of the Universe and attempts to gain some understanding of the origin of galaxies and stars", LAF President Pravin Singhal asserted that the origin of the universe never held any mystery for true Hindus.
"The Puranas speak of the creation and destruction of the universe in cycles of 8.64 billion years, which is quite close to the currently accepted value [13.7 billion years] regarding the time of the big bang, give or take a few billion years. We Hindus are never given our due", he said in a voice choked with emotion, and quoted Swami Prakashanand Saraswati (spiritual leader of the Vedic Foundation) in support: "Hindu scriptures reveal the scientific axioms that are extremely helpful in the research and the development of science. But, the intelligentsia of the world as well as the researchers of the physical sciences, being skeptical of Hindu religion, never thought of using the scientific knowledge of the Upnishads and the Puranas to promote their study and researches in the right direction." [4]
His voice now a rising crescendo of righteous indignation, Singhal continued: "We have been silent way too long, but the latest affront is one too many. We will not rest until the Christian West recognizes the contributions of ancient Hindu sages who not only predicted the creation but also the destruction of the universe (the latter still beyond the grasp of modern science)."
"If only we had the means to file a suit, we would have done so already", a colleague ruefully reminded. "Our California effort has all but emptied our coffers, and we are averse to dipping into our pogrom funds [5] to finance what's surely going to be a long-drawn legal battle", Singhal clarified, and appealed to "all Hindus and defenders of minority rights to help us set the record straight, and give credit where it is due (our ancient sages)." He concluded on a
promising note: "We already have endorsements from the Organization of Upper Caste Hindus (OUCH), Parents for Equality of Stupidity in Textbooks (PEST) and the Vishwa Looney Parishad (VLP or the World Looney Council)."Meanwhile, a little known group calling itself the American Loonies Against Discrimination (ALAD) threatened the Nobel Committee with a suit of its own for legitimating what it called a "false" theory. Andy Shah, President of ALAD, explained: "Swami Prakashanand Saraswati has already proved that the big bang and the inflation of the universe never happened, that our planetary system (along with all the celestial abodes) was originally created by Brahma 155.5219719616 trillion years ago, and that our Hindu religion was first revealed 111.52 trillion years ago [6]. So, attributing a far more recent origin to the universe (13.7 billion years) is a malicious attempt by anti-Hindu forces to contradict the glorious antiquity of our religion. This is a gross violation of minority rights and a grievous assault on our tradition and the self-esteem of all Hindus, particularly children."
As an out-of-breath Shah paused to catch breath, one of his underlings intervened: "Such willful disregard for the glorious traditions of Hinduism can only give greater fillip to brazen assertions of equality by the Dalits."
Shah brusquely cut him off and continued: "What my friend meant to say is that a society with no respect for tradition will slowly but surely degenerate into anarchy. We are all for equal rights for everyone, we most assuredly are not sectarian. In fact, every day we preach the message of Jesus Christ to the Dalits: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. We also agree with Pope John Paul II that we mortals 'should not inquire into the beginning itself because that was the moment of creation and the work of God'. We do hope to work with the Vatican to halt the march of godless science and its cheerleaders (like the Nobel Committee)."
Notes:
1. The groups involved are the Hindu American Foundation, the Hindu Education Foundation and the Vedic Foundation, all of them with demonstrable links to the Sangh Parivar (family of Hindutva groups) in India. For details, see the amicus brief filed by the Friends of South
Asia and its allies at
[http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/
Amicus%20Brief%20by%20South%
20Asian%20Groups%20Apr%2017.PDF]2. For a short list of such edits, see
http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/TextbookEdits.html3. The irony was not lost on those familiar with the workings of the Sangh Parivar; see "Indian Jim Crow in Victim Garb"
[http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan06/Swamy19.htm]4. All quotes attributed to Swami Prakashanand Saraswati are from his book, "The true history and the religion of India". For more on his scholarship, see "Move Over Intelligent Design, Here Comes Bhartiya Creationism"
[http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar06/Ravishankar22.htm]5. The Sangh Parivar's work in India is partly (but significantly) financed by its foreign fronts masquerading as charities. See "The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American Funding of Hindutva" [http://www.stopfundinghate.org/sacw/] and "In Bad Faith? British Charity & Hindu Extremism" [http://www.awaazsaw.org/ibf]
6. The Vedic Foundation used to proudly display this "fact". When challenged in public, it quickly cleaned up its website but not fast enough to vanish without a trace. For your amusement, an archived copy is available at
http://web.archive.org/web/20030803191007/
http://thevedicfoundation.org/communities/do_you_know.htm#########
Bio: Ra Ravishankar is a contributor to the Campaign to Stop Funding
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