This line of thinking has one gap - a large number (and an overwhelming proportion) of the expats at least into the US is in the age group of 25 to 35.
If you take it from there, there is a clear logical line of thinking as to why they would want to support the RSS / BJP worldview. Most of these young people come from emerging, great Indian middleclass underbelly and with a pan-Indian educational background. They find themselves professionally successful on their own merit - in many cases for the first time in their families. Success breeds confidence and that in turn invokes the search for a strong identity. Since these have been away from India for only a short while, the Indian connection is strong and the search for an identity finds a release in the mother country. Obviously the pan-Indian secular / communist / liberal identity that the Congress sought to bring in through 50 years after independence has not delivered the goods. It did not deliver on the economy, in the military, in cultural affairs or for that matter in any field of endeavor. Worst of all, it sought to take away a core part of the identity (social, cultural or religious) of a large majority of the society by shameless pandering of minority groups such as Muslims. In this perspective, the young, expat India's worldview (or India view) is no different than that of a young person from Mumbai or Guwahati or Chennai for that matter. The question of who is an invader is very topical and determined by what is a dominant view in society today and what prisms that view holds up to history. Islam is a foreign religion, born in the middle east and brought in by "invaders" who wreaked havoc on society through a long period. If they had successfully converted the entire country or Arabized (or Mongolized) them, they wouldn't be called invaders, would they? A key component of Pakistani idealogy holds the massacre of 50,000 people and the route of Sind in the first Islamic/Arab invasion of India as liberating. We, on the other hand, consider it the handiwork of barbarians without looking at how stupid, warring kings, unjust, segregated societies and lack of superior military technology led to our downfall. Neither is the whole truth - but our views mobilize entire communities to act in certain ways. Sometimes, the choices we make because of our views are right and lead us to a flourishing civilization. Sometimes to downfall. Most of the emerging pan-Indians are betting on a view that incorporates an assertion of Hindu identity. The RSS is the only game in town that aligns to that view. hence the following of RSS. Having said all this, this emerging community in India is very different from the essentially fundamentalist Muslim street in most parts of the Muslim world. We are focused on jobs, cars, TVs and our many different gods and godesses. We don't want the destruction of the Muslim (or the Christian or the Commie) world - we want to tell the world we Indians (primarily Hindus) have arrived. Instead of this emerging class changing over to a fire and brim stone RSS world view, the RSS worldview itself would change, in due course of time, in line with what this crowd wants. Did you notice the BJP changing? At the end of it, the commies will still be around singing songs of secularism, liberal values and how fascist these new Indians are. --- Ankur Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I wonder how exactly one decides who the 'invader' > is, because if you go > back far enough in time it would seem that almost > everyone on earth today is > an invader in some way or the other. For example, > the RSS today feels that > the Muslims are invaders in Assam but this is simply > a matter of temporal > perspective. Just six hundred years ago someone > living in Kamrupa would have > referred to the Ahoms as invaders. Indeed, I would > have to regard myself as > an invader because not belonging to the Bodo-Karbi > group I cannot regard > myself as truly 'Assamese'. (That is, assuming that > people belonging to the > Bodo-Karbi group are the 'original inhabitants' of > 'Assam'. How true this > claim is not the point here : I simply accept this > for the moment.) > > In other words, it is simply one of those > interesting historical *accidents* > that the Ahoms invaded 'Assam' before the Mughals > did. If it had been the > other way round would the RSS perhaps have been > fighting today not against > the Muslims but against the Ahoms? (And would it > have claimed in that case > that we should break down the Rang-Ghar which > symbolises Ahom supremacy, ban > people from speaking Tai which stands for a foreign > language and re-write > Assamese history which has been distorted by the > writers of the 'buranjis'?) > > Indeed, if one were to take all of this in a wider > context one simply has > nothing else to do but to throw up one's hands in > the air in despair. Shall > the American Indians demand the expulsion of the > White population from the > USA? Or the South Americans of all people of direct > European descent? Or the > native Australians of all those of British descent? > > In other words, if one were to apply the RSS > principle consistently (the > principle that whoever comes later in time is the > 'invader'), one would come > to the very brink of turning the world into a > veritable war-zone. > > Secondly, I have also been thinking for some years > now what the reason could > be behind the support given by Assamese (and more > generally, Indian) > ex-patriates living in the UK/USA to the RSS-BJP > combine. I have a suspicion > (how founded or unfounded is for you to say) that > they see in the false > sense of anxiety created by the RSS a reflection of > their own anxiety of > living in a Latin-Hispanic-Black-White multicultural > society. That is, now > as the next generation grows up in such an > environment they are afraid that > their own children shall lose their distinctive > 'Assamese-ness', and hence > the parallel RSS claim that Indians shall lose their > 'Indian-ness' has a > strong appealing force to them. Consequently, the > fear that their own > children shall mess up the 'Assamese' gene-pool > through > inter-racial-inter-religious relationships brings > them into an unholy nexus > with the RSS with its hyperbole of a similar mix-up > back at home. > > Now of course I wish to emphasise that much of this > is largely conjecture : > what I would really like to know is what exactly > turns UK/USA ex-patriates, > who of all people should have had sufficient > experience by now of living in > a multi-cultural White-Hispanic-Black society, into > supporters of a group > that challenges this very notion of > multi-culturalism. I find this stance a > very contradictory one : far away from home they > demand equal rights with > the Hispanic, Black and White sections of the > population from a foreign > government, but when it comes to voting back at home > they support precisely > a group that is hell-bent on denying such rights to > a substantial proportion > of the population. > > Nor is it any use pointing to the case of > 'Church-State' relations in the > UK. It is indeed the case that the UK is officially > a Christian state, but > has Tony Blair ever declared that British Hindus > pick up a middle Christian > name? > > In response to all of this it might be said that the > RSS is not out to deny > constitutional-electoral rights to the Muslims. > However, there is at least > one right that such ex-patriates would demand for > themselves from the UK/USA > government : the right to live without any threat, > any interference, or any > intimidation from other sections of the population > (such as White > supremacists, Black Islam-ists, right-wing > Pentecostalists, Mormon > evangelists) : and this is precisely the right that > the RSS-BJP is > flagrantly denying to the Muslims. > > Therefore, such ex-patriates are taking an extremely > self-deceiving stance > when they demand (and enjoy) such a right far away > at home but safe from the > heat and the dust of the ground realities at home > they send their support to > a group that denies to others precisely that right > that they cherish so much > sitting smugly in UK/USA (and this is also precisely > that right that they > have seen an entire Civil Rights generation fight > and die for). > > Ankur > > _________________________________________________________________ > Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN > Messenger > http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger > > _______________________________________________ > Assam mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > > Mailing list FAQ: > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html > To unsubscribe or change options: > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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