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http://www.dailynewstribune.com/opinion/x1903425217/Khalidi-No-room-for-extremist-hate-in-Waltham Khalidi: No room for extremist hate in Waltham<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/opinion/x1903425217/Khalidi-No-room-for-extremist-hate-in-Waltham> *By Omar Khalidi/ Guest columnist* GHS <http://www.dailynewstribune.com/> Posted Aug 26, 2010 @ 07:46 AM Across the United States, people of Indian descent are contributing to the success and prosperity of our nation. Examples include Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, Fareed Zakaria and Sanjay Gupta of CNN, Deepak Chopra, 11 Nobel laureates, Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut who died on the space shuttle Columbia, and thousands of scientists and entrepreneurs. Our landscape is also changing. Beautiful Hindu temples have sprung up all over the country, including Massachusetts, adding to the architectural mosaic. Indian restaurants are a rage in almost every metropolis, including Waltham. However, there is trouble brewing in this pretty picture of Indian communities. To cater to Indian religious and spiritual needs, many groups invite religious teachers. One such "teacher" is Sadhvi Rithambra. Rithambra is scheduled to speak on behalf of the organization, Vishva Hindu Parishad at Waltham High School on August 27 and August 29. Rithambra has incited violence in India with bloody consequences. Consider her resume: Rithambra gained notoriety for her leadership in the demolition of the historic Babri Mosque in India in 1992. She is known for her rabble rousing speeches to incite violence against minorities in India. Her infamous slogan "Ek Dhakka aur do, Babri Masjid Tor do", ("Give one more blow, and raze the mosque to the ground") provided the key impetus to bring down the 16th century mosque. Leading up to the demolition of the mosque, one of her battle cries was khoon kharaba ("massacre") of the Muslims. In 2003, she sealed her reputation as a Hindu supremacist by vowing at the site of the demolished mosque: "a Hindu temple would be built by the use of force if all hurdles in its way were not removed." The Liberhan Commission, a judicial commission appointed by the Indian Government to investigate the demolition of the Mosque, found Rithambra to be one of the 68 people directly responsible for the demolition and the subsequent violence that killed approximately 3,000 people across India in 1992. There are criminal cases ongoing against her in India. Rithambra used proceeds from her International fundraising visits to set up terrorist camps in Vatsalya Gram, a shrine, where young children are trained in the use of firearms and ammunitions. Police arrested her in 1995 for inciting hatred against Christians in Dewas in 2006. Her hate speech led to cases of arson. She founded Durga Vahini, a militant Hindu women's organization responsible for numerous acts of violence including the ransacking of the Orissa state legislative assembly in 2006 and the anti-minority pogroms in Gujarat in 2002 which killed over 2,000 people. Rithambra's student Pragya Singh, also a member of Durga Vahini, was arrested for masterminding the bomb blast in Malegaon on September 8, 2006 in which 37 were killed. The United States was founded on religious freedom. This principle has united Americans of all ideological persuasions, ethnic backgrounds, national origins, sexual orientations, and religious affiliations. Even in the post-9/11 era, this country's basic foundation has been unshakeable. Rithambra's vision and actions do not comport with this value. She not only has a record of virulent speeches against India's minority Christians and Muslims, but has a chronology of inciting violence. Her conduct is best exemplified by the Babri Mosque demolition and subsequent bloody events throughout India. As a community, can we benefit from Rithambra's message? I do not think so. Everyone has a right to free speech, including those who build their careers on hate. However, Waltham residents and others attending Rithambra 's speech at the High School ought to ask her and her sponsors whether she believes in religious freedom for everyone, anywhere, and at any time. What religion, including Hinduism, believes in the destruction of sacred places whether churches, synagogues, temples or mosques? If she and her sponsors do hold spiritual values, how do we reconcile them with her conduct during the Babri Mosque destruction and the subsequent ongoing bloody events in India? Indians are enriching America in many ways, but hate speeches disguised as religious discourses must never be one of them. *Omar Khalidi is a native of India. He has traveled in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia over the past decade at the invitation of U.S. Department of State to speak about religious freedom in America. He can be reached at okhal...@mit.edu.* Copyright 2010 The Daily News Tribune. Some rights reserved<http://www.gatehousemedia.com/terms_of_use> Loading commenting interface... <http://www.dailynewstribune.com/> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to humanrights-movem...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to humanrights-movement+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
