Koenraad Elst - Revision history

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	===Indigenous Aryan theories===		===Indigenous Aryan theories===
	{{main article\|Indigenous Aryans}}		{{main article\|Indigenous Aryans}}
	~~[[File:OIT map.jpg\|thumb\|Map based on The [[Indigenous Aryans\|Aryan Non-Invasionist Model]] by Koenraad Elst]]~~

	In two books, ''Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate'' (1999) and ''Asterisk in Bhāropīyasthān'' (2007), Elst argues against the academically accepted view that the [[Indo-European languages]] originated in the [[Kurgan]] culture of the [[Central Asia]]n [[steppes]] and that the migrations to [[Indian subcontinent]] in the second millennium BCE brought a [[Indo-European languages\|proto-Indo-European language]] with them.<ref>{{cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPP0CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9\|title=Advances in Forensic Haemogenetics\|author=Walter Bär, Angelo Fiori, Umberto Rossi\|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media\|quote=The Gimbautas hypothesis of an origin in the kurgan region and spread during the Bronze Age (between 4,000 and 2,500 BC) [...] seems to have the greatest support from archaeological and other considerations [...].\|access-date=31 March 2019\|isbn=9783642787829\|date=6 December 2012}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8q06xer0vHkC&pg=PA23\|title=Languages of the World: An Introduction\|last=Pereltsvaig\|first=Asya\|date=2012-02-09\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=9781107002784}}</ref> He instead proposes that the language originated in India and it spread to Middle East and Europe when the Aryans, (who were indigenous) migrated out.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal\|last=Humes\|first=Cynthia Ann\|date=2012\|title=Hindutva, Mythistory, and Pseudoarchaeology\|journal=Numen: International Review for the History of Religions\|volume=59\|issue=2–3\|pages=178–201\|doi=10.1163/156852712x630770\|jstor=23244958}}</ref><ref>{{cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XziTDAAAQBAJ\|title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from c. 7000 BCE to CE 1200\|last1=Avari\|first1=Burjor\|date=2016\|publisher=Routledge\|isbn=9781317236726\|page=79\|quote=A Belgian revisionist, Koenraad Elst, has nevertheless claimed that the Aryan migration was not towards India but out of India. Their ancestral homeland, their Urheimat, was the land of Sapta-Sindhava (the Punjab), and from there they expanded outwards towards Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia and, ultimately, towards Europe.}}</ref> According to Elst, the linguistic data are a soft type of [[evidence]] and are compatible with a variety of scenarios. The dominant linguistic theories may be compatible with an out-of-India scenario for Indo-European expansion.<ref>		In two books, ''Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate'' (1999) and ''Asterisk in Bhāropīyasthān'' (2007), Elst argues against the academically accepted view that the [[Indo-European languages]] originated in the [[Kurgan]] culture of the [[Central Asia]]n [[steppes]] and that the migrations to [[Indian subcontinent]] in the second millennium BCE brought a [[Indo-European languages\|proto-Indo-European language]] with them.<ref>{{cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPP0CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9\|title=Advances in Forensic Haemogenetics\|author=Walter Bär, Angelo Fiori, Umberto Rossi\|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media\|quote=The Gimbautas hypothesis of an origin in the kurgan region and spread during the Bronze Age (between 4,000 and 2,500 BC) [...] seems to have the greatest support from archaeological and other considerations [...].\|access-date=31 March 2019\|isbn=9783642787829\|date=6 December 2012}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8q06xer0vHkC&pg=PA23\|title=Languages of the World: An Introduction\|last=Pereltsvaig\|first=Asya\|date=2012-02-09\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=9781107002784}}</ref> He instead proposes that the language originated in India and it spread to Middle East and Europe when the Aryans, (who were indigenous) migrated out.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal\|last=Humes\|first=Cynthia Ann\|date=2012\|title=Hindutva, Mythistory, and Pseudoarchaeology\|journal=Numen: International Review for the History of Religions\|volume=59\|issue=2–3\|pages=178–201\|doi=10.1163/156852712x630770\|jstor=23244958}}</ref><ref>{{cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XziTDAAAQBAJ\|title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from c. 7000 BCE to CE 1200\|last1=Avari\|first1=Burjor\|date=2016\|publisher=Routledge\|isbn=9781317236726\|page=79\|quote=A Belgian revisionist, Koenraad Elst, has nevertheless claimed that the Aryan migration was not towards India but out of India. Their ancestral homeland, their Urheimat, was the land of Sapta-Sindhava (the Punjab), and from there they expanded outwards towards Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia and, ultimately, towards Europe.}}</ref> According to Elst, the linguistic data are a soft type of [[evidence]] and are compatible with a variety of scenarios. The dominant linguistic theories may be compatible with an out-of-India scenario for Indo-European expansion.<ref>

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	{{short description\|Oriental philologist and Hindutva activist}}		{{short description\|Oriental philologist and Hindutva activist}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox person		{{Use dmy dates\|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox person

->দয়ানন্দ: Removed Biasness towards The Author. This is wikipedia Not Leftists' or Hinduvtas personal House. Pls try to be a neutral not bias.

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Removed Biasness towards The Author. This is wikipedia Not Leftists' or Hinduvtas personal House. Pls try to be a neutral not bias.

New page

{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{short description|Oriental philologist and Hindutva activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox person
| name = Koenraad Elst
| image = Koenraad_Elst_at_Varanasi.jpg
| caption = Elst in [[Varanasi]], [[Uttar Pradesh]].
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|8|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Leuven]], [[Belgium]]
| nationality = Belgian
| citizenship = [[Indian people|Indian]]
| education = [[Benaras Hindu University]]
[[Katholieke Universitiet Leuven]]
| occupation = Author
| organization = [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]]
}}

'''Koenraad Elst''' ({{IPA-nl|ˈku:nra:t 'ɛlst}}; born 7 August 1959) is a [[Flemish people|Flemish]] author and [[right wing]] [[Hindutva]] proponent,<ref name=":1" />''<ref name="Camus" />'' known primarily for his support of the [[Indigenous Aryans#The "emerging Out of India" model|Out of India]] theory. He has also engaged himself with the [[Flemish movement]] for [[direct democracy]] and Flemish [[secession]].

==Early life and education==
Elst was born into a [[Flemings|Flemish]] [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] family but he rejects [[Roman Catholicism]] and instead calls himself a “[[Secular humanism|secular humanist]]”.<ref name="bharatvani.org">{{cite web|url=http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/chr/missionaries.html|title=The Problem of Christian Missionaries|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040818003619/http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/chr/missionaries.html|archive-date=2004-08-18|url-status=dead|access-date=11 December 2010}}{{Self-published source|date=December 2020}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=December 2020}} He graduated in [[Indology]], [[Sinology]] and [[philosophy]] at the [[Katholieke Universiteit Leuven|Catholic University of Leuven]]. Around that time, Elst became interested in [[Flemish movement|Flemish nationalism]].{{sfn|Nanda|2009|p=112}} Between 1988 and 1992, Elst was at the [[Banaras Hindu University]]. In 1999, he received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in Asian Studies from Leuven.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Geybels|first1=Hans|last2=Herck|first2=Walter Van|title=Humour and Religion: Challenges and Ambiguities|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781441194831|page=IX|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnUSBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> His doctoral dissertation on [[Hindu revivalism]] was published as ''Decolonizing the Hindu Mind''.{{sfn|Nanda|2009|p=112}}

[[Prema Kurien]] notes Elst to be unique among the [[Voice of India]] scholars in the regard of his having an advanced academic degree in a related field of their professional discourse.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/117286860/a-place-at-the-multicultural-table-the-development|title=A Place at the Multicultural Table : the Development of an American Hinduism|last=Kurien|first=Prema A.|date=2007|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813541617|pages=166|oclc=476118265}}</ref>

==Works==
===Indigenous Aryan theories===
{{main article|Indigenous Aryans}}
[[File:OIT map.jpg|thumb|Map based on The [[Indigenous Aryans|Aryan Non-Invasionist Model]] by Koenraad Elst]]

In two books, ''Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate'' (1999) and ''Asterisk in Bhāropīyasthān'' (2007), Elst argues against the academically accepted view that the [[Indo-European languages]] originated in the [[Kurgan]] culture of the [[Central Asia]]n [[steppes]] and that the migrations to [[Indian subcontinent]] in the second millennium BCE brought a [[Indo-European languages|proto-Indo-European language]] with them.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPP0CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|title=Advances in Forensic Haemogenetics|author=Walter Bär, Angelo Fiori, Umberto Rossi|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|quote=The Gimbautas hypothesis of an origin in the kurgan region and spread during the Bronze Age (between 4,000 and 2,500 BC) [...] seems to have the greatest support from archaeological and other considerations [...].|access-date=31 March 2019|isbn=9783642787829|date=6 December 2012}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8q06xer0vHkC&pg=PA23|title=Languages of the World: An Introduction|last=Pereltsvaig|first=Asya|date=2012-02-09|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107002784}}</ref> He instead proposes that the language originated in India and it spread to Middle East and Europe when the Aryans, (who were indigenous) migrated out.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Humes|first=Cynthia Ann|date=2012|title=Hindutva, Mythistory, and Pseudoarchaeology|journal=Numen: International Review for the History of Religions|volume=59|issue=2–3|pages=178–201|doi=10.1163/156852712x630770|jstor=23244958}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XziTDAAAQBAJ|title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from c. 7000 BCE to CE 1200|last1=Avari|first1=Burjor|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317236726|page=79|quote=A Belgian revisionist, Koenraad Elst, has nevertheless claimed that the Aryan migration was not towards India but out of India. Their ancestral homeland, their Urheimat, was the land of Sapta-Sindhava (the Punjab), and from there they expanded outwards towards Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia and, ultimately, towards Europe.}}</ref> According to Elst, the linguistic data are a soft type of [[evidence]] and are compatible with a variety of scenarios. The dominant linguistic theories may be compatible with an out-of-India scenario for Indo-European expansion.<ref>
{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHYnGde4BS4C|title=The Indo-Aryan Controversy|last=Patton|first=Laurie L.|publisher=Psychology Press|year=2005|isbn=9780700714636|editor1-last=Bryant|editor1-first=Edwin|pages=1–19|chapter=Introduction|quote=It is possible that the absorption of foreign words could have taken place after the emigration of other branches of Indo-Europeans from India (p. 8).|editor2-last=Patton|editor2-first=Laurie L.}}
</ref>

One of the few authors to use [[paleolinguistics]],<ref name="bryant">{{Cite book|title=The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate|last=Bryant|first=Edwin|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|place=New York|page=146|quote=In any event, Elst's proposal that earlier tribes could have emigrated from India bearing the centum characteristics and, after the velars had evolved into palatals in the Indian Urheimat, later tribes could have followed them bearing the new satem forms (while the Indo-Aryans remained in the homeland), cannot actually be discounted as a possibility on these particular grounds.}}</ref> he is deemed as one of the leading proponents of the [[Indigenous Aryans]] (Out of India fringe theory). The theory has been rejected by the scholarly community and is not deemed as a serious competitor to the [[Kurgan hypothesis]],<ref name=":3" /> except by some authors in India.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/103786543/in-quest-of-the-origins-of-vedic-culture-the-indo-aryan|title=The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture : The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate.|last=Bryant, Edwin, author.|date=March 2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195169478|pages=147|oclc=697790495}}</ref>

===Hindutva and Islamophobia===
Elst was an editor of the [[New Right]] Flemish nationalist journal ''[[TeKoS|Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies]]'' from 1992 to 1995, focusing on [[criticism of Islam]] and had associations with [[Vlaams Blok]], a [[Flemish Movement|Flemish nationalist]] [[far-right]] political party.{{sfn|Nanda|2009|pp=112–113}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://alfredvierling.com/?p=3240|title=NIEUW RECHTS TEN ONDER, beschreven door Dr Koenraad Elst|last=Vierling|first=Alfred|date=1 July 2013|access-date=19 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Heidenen voor het blok : radicaal-rechts en het nieuwe heidendom|last=Zutter, Jan de, 1962-|date=2000|publisher=Houtekiet|isbn=9052405824|location=Antwerpen|pages=17|oclc=50809193}}</ref> He has also been a regular contributor to ''[[The Brussels Journal]]'', a controversial conservative blog. {{Quote box | width = 25% | align = right | salign = right | border = 1px | halign = center | qstyle = font-style: italic; |quote=Every Muslim is a Sita who must be released from Ravana's prison. We should help Muslims in freeing themselves from Islam …| author = Koenraad Elst{{sfn|Nanda|2009|p=106}} | quoted=1}}

In ''Ram Janmabhoomi vs Babri Masjid'', Elst makes the case for the birthplace of [[Rama]], the Hindu god/king to correspond with the site of [[Babri Masjid]] and concurrently portrays Islam as a fanatic bigoted faith.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sethi|first=Harish|date=26 January 1991|title=Justifying Hindu Hurt.Ram Janmabhoomi vs Babri Masjid by Koenraad Elst. Review|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=26|issue=4|pages=167–168|jstor=4397247}}</ref> The book was published by Voice of India, a publication house that is self-describedly devoted to furthering the Hindu nationalist cause and had attracted immense criticism for publishing anti-Muslim literature in abundance.{{sfn|Nanda|2009|pp=112–113}}<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Pirbhai|first=M. Reza|date=April 2008|journal=Modern Intellectual History|volume=5|issue=1|pages=27–53|doi=10.1017/S1479244307001527|issn=1479-2451|title=Demons in Hindutva: Writing a Theology for Hindu Nationalism|s2cid=145620682}}</ref> It was though praised by [[L. K. Advani]], former deputy Prime Minister of India, who commanded an important role in the [[Demolition of the Babri Masjid|demolition of the said masjid]].<ref name="Goel">Sita Ram Goel, ''How I became a Hindu''. ch.9</ref> In ''Ayodhya and After'' (1991), Elst was even more explicit in the support of the demolition and termed it an exercise in national integration which provided "an invitation to the Muslim Indians to reintegrate themselves into the society and culture from which their ancestors were cut off by fanatical rulers and their thought police, the theologians".{{sfn|Anand|2011|p=138}} In another interview, Elst went on to claim that it was a justified act of revenge which enforced fears of Hindu repercussion, thus curtailing Muslim violence.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/125291789/the-god-market-how-globalization-is-making-india|title=The god market : how globalization is making India more Hindu|last=Nanda, Meera|date=2011|publisher=Monthly Review Press|isbn=9781583672501|pages=227|oclc=897104896}}</ref> He though has retrospectively rejected the use of violent force in the demolition of the temple and has urged the Muslims to contend with the construction of a peace monument.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A245138092/GPS?sid=GPS&xid=2fd5c0b4|title=Ayodhya: 'Congress-BJP talks are important'|date=2010-12-21|work=New Indian Express (Chennai, India)|access-date=2019-04-27|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A244917542/GPS?sid=GPS&xid=c7715e81|title=Indologist moots 'peace monument' by Muslims|date=2010-12-20|work=New Indian Express (Chennai, India)|access-date=2019-04-27|language=en}}</ref>

An intellectual heir of the school of thought championed by [[Ram Swarup]] and [[Sita Ram Goel]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/125291725/the-god-market-how-globalization-is-making-india|title=The god market : how globalization is making India more Hindu|last=Nanda, Meera|date=2011|publisher=Monthly Review Press|isbn=9781583672501|pages=163|oclc=897104896}}</ref>— the founders of the Voice of India, who were themselves highly critical of both [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]]—Elst is a prominent author of the house<ref name=":5" /> and adopts their hard-line stance against the two religions in his book.{{sfn|Nanda|2009|pp=112–113}} Elst argues that there existed an ''universal spirituality'' among all the races and faiths, prior to the introduction of "Semitic" faiths which corrupted it.<ref name=":5" /> In ''Decolonizing the Hindu Mind'', he contends that the "need for 'reviving' Hinduism spring from the fact that the said hostile ideologies (mostly Islam) have managed to eliminate Hinduism physically in certain geographical parts and social segments of India, and also (mostly the Western ideologies) to neutralize the Hindu spirit among many nominal Hindus."{{sfn|Guichard|2010|p=94}}

He is a vocal proponent of [[Hindutva]], a [[Hindu nationalism|Hindu nationalist]] movement which is typically associated with the far-right and supports [[Bharatiya Janata Party]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Guha|first=Sudeshna|date=May 2005|title=Negotiating Evidence: History, Archaeology and the Indus Civilisation|journal=Modern Asian Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=39|issue=2|pages=399–426|doi=10.1017/s0026749x04001611|jstor=3876625|s2cid=145463239|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/717eff3d7d0abc0b4bdbd7f69af7ca7b91074deb}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sikand|first=Yogesh|date=Spring 2002|title=Hinduism and Secularism After Ayodhya by Arvind Sharma: A Review|journal=Islamic Studies|volume=41|issue=1|pages=166–169|jstor=20837185}}</ref>{{sfn|Guichard|2010|p=145}} Elst perceives Hindutva as a tool to [[Postcolonialism|decolonize]] the mental and cultural state of Indians and return to the past days of Hindu glory.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/108697836/prophets-facing-backward-postmodern-critiques-of|title=Prophets Facing Backward : Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India.|last=Nanda|first=Meera|date=2004|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813536347|pages=10|oclc=1059017715}}</ref> He has written in support of the view that the Vedic science was highly advanced and may be only understood by a Hindu mystic.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/108697932/prophets-facing-backward-postmodern-critiques-of|title=Prophets Facing Backward : Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India.|last=Nanda|first=Meera|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780813536347|oclc=1059017715}}</ref> ''The Saffron Swastika'' is widely regarded to be his ''magnum opus<ref name="Camus">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cepsr.com/dwnld/camusx20040402.pdf|title=Camus, J.Y.(2007), ''The European extreme right and religious extremism.'' Středoevropské politické studie (CEPSR), (4), 263–279}}</ref>'', which argues against the idea that the brand of Hindutva practiced by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) / Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are fascist in ideology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.asianetglobal.com:8080/asianet/2004/news/detailedstory.jsp?catId=10&newsId=2|title=Asianetglobal.com News - 'The Saffron Swastika – The Notion of Hindu Fascism':Konraad Elst|date=20 May 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060520001544/http://www.asianetglobal.com:8080/asianet/2004/news/detailedstory.jsp?catId=10&newsId=2|archive-date=20 May 2006}}</ref> Advani had high regards for the work,<ref>{{cite book|title=My Country, My Life|last=Advani|first=L.K.|publisher=Rupa}}</ref> terming Elst as a 'great historian' and even carried a "heavily marked" copy of the book from which he freely quoted the passages that discussed him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzEEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Saffron+Swastika%22&pg=PA22|title=Outlook|last=Publishing|first=Outlook|date=8 April 2008|publisher=Outlook Publishing|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In other essays and conferences, Elst has supported for outright attacks on the ''enemy'' ideology of Islam which, in his opinion, is supposedly inseparable with terrorism and hence, must be destructed.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A396266943/GPS?sid=GPS&xid=74077060|title=A Hindutva Ploy|date=2015-01-05|work=Indian Currents|access-date=2019-04-27|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A395076200/GPS?sid=GPS&xid=d1978df5|title=Indologist triggers row|date=2014-12-21|work=Mail Today (New Delhi, India)|access-date=2019-04-27|language=en}}</ref> He calls for an Indian-ization of Muslims and Christians by forcing them to accept the supremacy of Hindu culture and terms it as the ''Final Solution for the Muslim Problem''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/108697840/prophets-facing-backward-postmodern-critiques-of|title=Prophets Facing Backward : Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India.|last=Nanda|first=Meera|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780813536347|pages=14|oclc=1059017715}}</ref> In his 1992 book, ''Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam'', Elst attempts to demonstrate that there exists a [[prohibition]] of criticism of Islam in India and accuses ''secular historians'' (including the likes of [[Romila Thapar]], [[Bipan Chandra]], [[Ram Sharan Sharma]] et al.) of suffering from Hindu Cowardice wherein they ignore Muslim crimes against Hindu communities, in order to fulfill their Marxist agenda.<ref>{{cite web | title=Taj Mahal or Tejo-Mahalaya? | website=The Express Tribune | date=2016-07-21 | url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/1146608/taj-mahal-tejo-mahalaya/ | access-date=2018-02-11}}</ref>{{sfn|Guichard|2010|p=89}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/read/117286865/a-place-at-the-multicultural-table-the-development|title=A Place at the Multicultural Table : the Development of an American Hinduism|last=Kurien|first=Prema A|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780813541617|pages=171|oclc=476118265}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530835346/GPS?sid=GPS&xid=029de3a9|title=Of historical lies and countering negationism|date=2018-03-14|work=The Pioneer (New Delhi, India)|access-date=2019-04-27|language=en}}</ref>

==Reception==
Elst has attracted significant criticism from academia.

Anthropologist and noted commentator on politico-religious spheres{{snd}} [[Thomas Blom Hansen]] described Elst as a "Belgian Catholic of a radical anti-Muslim persuasion who tries to make himself useful as a 'fellow traveller' of the Hindu nationalist movement".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAqn3OIGE54C&pg=PA262|title=The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India|last=Hansen|first=Thomas Blom|date=1999-03-23|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400823055|pages=262}}</ref> Historian [[Sarvepalli Gopal]] deemed Elst to be "a Catholic practitioner of polemics" who was fairly oblivious of modern historiography methods.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47AARF595dUC&pg=PA21|title=Anatomy of a Confrontation: Ayodhya and the Rise of Communal Politics in India|last=Gopal|first=Sarvepalli|date=1993-10-15|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781856490504|pages=21}}</ref> [[Meera Nanda]] deems him to be a far-right Hindu cum Flemish nationalist.{{sfn|Nanda|2009|pp=112–113}} Elst has engaged in [[historical revisionism]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SzC4XbtPKkC|title=Reform, Identity and Narratives of Belonging : The Heraka Movement of Northeast India|last=Longkumer|first=Arkotong|publisher=Continuum, Bloomsbury|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8264-3970-3|pages=210|chapter=Notes|doi=10.5040/9781472549211|chapter-url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/reform-identity-and-narratives-of-belonging-the-heraka-movement-of-northeast-india/notes}}</ref> and has been described variedly as a Hindu fundamentalist, pro-Hindutva right-wing ideologue, Hindutva apologist and Hindutva propagandist.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=DeVotta|first=Neil|date=2002|title=Demography and Communalism in India|journal=Journal of International Affairs|volume=56|issue=1|pages=53–70|issn=0022-197X|jstor=24357883}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BYbFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA135|title=Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear|last=Anand|first=D.|date=2016-04-30|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780230339545}}</ref>''<ref name="Camus" />''

[[Meera Nanda]] has accused Elst of exploiting the writings of his intellectual forefathers over Voice of India, to "peddle the worst kind of Islamophobia imaginable". {{sfn|Nanda|2009|pp=112–113}}{{sfn|Nanda|2011|pp=161–163}} [[Sanjay Subrahmanyam]] similarly deems Islamophobia as the common ground between Elst and the traditional Indian far right.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/Bad-time-to-be-Muslim/articleshow/1913851.cms|title=Bad time to be Muslim|website=The Times of India|access-date=2019-06-05}}</ref> Elst strongly denies the charges of him being an anti-Muslim, but insists that "not Muslims but Islam is the problem".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/reviews/saffronwave.html|title=Book Review -- Saffron Wave|website=koenraadelst.bharatvani.org|access-date=2017-10-20}}{{Self-published source|date=December 2020}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=December 2020}}

Elst's work has drawn praise from fellow Hindutva activists and conservatives. [[David Frawley]] deemed his work on Ayodhya as "definitive"<ref>{{cite book|title=How I Became a Hindu: My Discovery of Vedic Dharma|last=Frawley|first=David|publisher=Voice of India|year=2000|isbn=9788185990606|page=96|author-link=David Frawley}}</ref> and [[François Gautier]] considers Elst as one of the most knowledgeable scholars on India and regretted of his' being unable to publish except from Hindu-oriented publishing houses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/feb/12rajeev.htm|title=Rediff on the NeT: The Rediff Interview/ Francois Gautier|website=www.rediff.com|access-date=2019-06-05}}</ref> Ramesh Nagaraj Rao praised Elst for his unassuming and brilliantly meticulous research whilst blaming academia for turning him into an demonic figure, only to ignore his works.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.saveindia.com/an_interview_with_koenraad_elst.htm|title=An Interview With Koenraad Elst|website=www.saveindia.com|access-date=2019-06-05}}</ref>

==Influences==
[[Anders Behring Breivik]], a Norwegian far-right terrorist, responsible for the [[2011 Norway attacks]] borrowed extensively from his works in writing his manifesto.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=NANDA|first=MEERA|date=2011|title=Ideological Convergences: Hindutva and the Norway Massacre|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=46|issue=53|pages=61–68|issn=0012-9976|jstor=23065638}}</ref> The manifesto, among other things sought to deport all Muslims from Europe and quoted Elst in asserting the existence of a massive movement that was aimed to <nowiki>''</nowiki>deny the large-scale and long-term crimes against humanity committed by Islam<nowiki>''</nowiki>.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gardell|first=Mattias|date=2014-01-01|title=Crusader Dreams: Oslo 22/7, Islamophobia, and the Quest for a Monocultural Europe|journal=Terrorism and Political Violence|volume=26|issue=1|pages=129–155|doi=10.1080/09546553.2014.849930|s2cid=144489939|issn=0954-6553}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite journal|title= Hindu Triumphalism and the Clash of Civilisations|last=Nanda|first=Meera| author-link=Meera Nanda|journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]]|date= 11 July 2009|volume= 44|issue= 28|pages= 106–114|jstor= 40279263 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Nanda|first1=Meera|author-link1=Meera Nanda|title=The God Market: How Globalization is Making India More Hindu|date=2011|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9781583672501|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYcTCgAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|last1=Guichard|first1=Sylvie|title=The Construction of History and Nationalism in India: Textbooks, Controversies and Politics|date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136949302 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shnJBQAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|last1=Anand|first1=Dibyesh|title=Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear|date=2011|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US|isbn=9781349371907| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xU8QkAEACAAJ}}

== External links ==
* [https://scroll.in/article/824732/from-macaulay-to-frawley-from-doniger-to-elst-why-do-many-indians-need-white-saviours From Macaulay to Frawley, from Doniger to Elst: Why do many Indians need White saviours?]

{{Sangh Parivar}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elst, Koenraad}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers from Leuven]]
[[Category:Belgian Indologists]]
[[Category:Belgian political writers]]
[[Category:Belgian columnists]]
[[Category:Flemish writers]]
[[Category:Islam and politics]]
[[Category:Banaras Hindu University alumni]]
[[Category:KU Leuven alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Belgian writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Belgian writers]]
[[Category:Writers about Hindu nationalism]]
[[Category:Analysts of Ayodhya dispute]]
[[Category:Indigenous Aryanists]]
[[Category:Voice of India writers]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Secular humanists]]
[[Category:Hindutva]]