(Francois Gautier)
Intolerance debate and Hindus
Every minority, which was persecuted in its own country, came to India because of its tolerance. From Syrian Christians to Jews and Tibetans to Ahmadiyya Muslims, the tolerance of Hindus has been unparalleled in the world. India is the only country where Jews were never persecuted.
The entire intolerance debate has been made up, because everybody is against Modi. For Nehruvians, and India is still Nehruvian in spirit, Modi coming to power, it's an alarm bell. The entire Nehruvian apparatus, from JNU to historians, stand to lose everything. That's why they have raised up all this bogus debates. It's absolutely wrong to talk about Hindu intolerance. Hindus are the most tolerant people in the world because they accept that there are many gods.
Modi will have a tough time in tackling the Nehruvians because their philosophy is so engrained that it's difficult to get rid of.
Even democracy has been hijacked in India. You have a parliament where a minority of 40 plus MPs can disrupt an entire session.
India-Pakistan relation
Pakistan was created negatively on the notion that we are Muslims and so we need a separate nation. It was a big mistake. Sri Aurobindo was totally against creation of Pakistan. He had said that as long as India and Pakistan are different, there will be strife and problems.
I believe in reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Whether it will happen violently or naturally, I don't know. Sri Aurobindo and even The Mother had in the Ashram, a map that included not only India, but Pakistan as well.
I have been to Pakistan many times. They are more like Indians and it's only the religion that separates them. So, I'm all for reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Mark Tully of BBC was biased against India
Mark Tully (of BBC fame) never defended Hindus. He did a lot of harm to Kashmiri Pandits. He used to refer to terrorists as ‘gunmen' which the international media is following even today. He never called them terrorists. So it was he who started this bias.
He always defended human rights of Muslims only. He defended one of his colleagues in BBC, a Kashmiri Muslim, who was arrested by Indian Army for providing information to militants. Mark Tully used all his powers and influence to get him released.
I always disagreed with him. He never visited Kashmiri Pandits when they were hounded out. He tried to make amends in the later years and went to functions of a few Kashmiri Pandits.
India badly needs nationalism
One of the faults with Indians are they are not proud of their own culture because they are not taught in schools about their great warriors, yogis and scholars, like we do in France or what the Americans do. As a result, Indians are just clones. That's why I say, India does need nationalism very badly. It doesn't have to be jingoism but some pride of being Indian, which is not there at all except in cricket, perhaps.
You had people like Shivaji who was at par with Napoleon, if not greater, but he is totally ignored as a small chieftain. Philosophers like Sri Aurobindo are not taught in universities. You need to change all that.
