Bharatpedia

Voice of India


Voice of India (VOI) is a New Delhi-based publishing house that focuses on producing pro-Hindu literature. It plays a significant role in advocating for and defending Hindu Dharma. It was established by Sita Ram Goel in 1981, to develop a Hindutva ideology, and has since published numerous authors subscribing to similar thought-schools.

HistoryEdit

Ram Swarup and Sitaram Goel embarked on a significant intellectual and political journey in the late 1940s. Initially, Swarup aligned with right-leaning socialist and atheist ideologies, while Goel leaned towards communism. However, in 1948, Swarup, who was associated with an anti-communist think-tank, persuaded Goel to abandon communism. Both eventually embraced a form of nationalism that aligned with Hindutva, gaining short time support from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Instead of engaging in active political activism, they focused on metapolitical efforts, challenging the prevailing Nehruvian secular establishment (Abrahamic hardliners) with a Hindu perspective. By 1949, Goel was writing for the RSS journal, Organiser, and both were managing an anti-communist think-tank in Kolkata.

Over time, they grew disillusioned with the RSS's reluctance to develop a robust Hindu ideology to address what they saw as the main threats to India: Christianity, Islam, and Marxism. In 1981, Goel founded Voice of India (VOI) as a response to what he perceived as the RSS's anti-intellectual stance.

Goel, in his autobiography—How I Became a Hindu—wrote of VOI's objective to inform Hindu Society about its own great heritage, as also the dangers it faces and publish pro-Hindu literature. A year after the foundation, Goel had made an appeal for donation, that read:-[1]

Hindu society and culture are faced with a crisis. There is a united front of entrenched alien forces to disrupt and discredit the perennial values of the Indian ethos. All who care for India need to know what is happening and what is to be if a major tragedy is to be averted. Voice of India aims at providing an ideological defense of Hindu society and culture through a series of publications. Some of these publications have already been brought out and received wide appreciation. In this fight for men’s minds, our only weapon is truth. Truth must be told, as much about Hindu society and culture as about the alien ideologies which have been on the war-path since the days of foreign domination over the Hindu homeland.

According to Pirbhai, the house was established to provide the Sangh Parivar, which till then lived on borrowed slogans, a Hindu ideology of its own.[1] Attempts at refutation of the Indo-Aryan migration theory was also a core objective.[2]

AuthorsEdit

Voice of India is associated with numerous journalists, historians, social commentators and academicians such as Arun Shourie, David Frawley, Shrikant Talageri, Francois Gautier, Harsh Narain, Subhash Kak, Koenraad Elst, and N. S. Rajaram; nearly all of whom advocate for Hindu nationalism in varying ways and self-identify as Bauddhika Kṣatriyas[lower-alpha 1]. Many left-wing self-proclaimed 'intellectuals' considered these authors Islamophobic because the authors were challenging them in a domain they had traditionally regarded as their exclusive territory. Witzel has described the affiliated writers to be part of a "closely knit, self-adulatory group that churned out long identical passages, copied in cottage industry fashion".[3] Bergunder recognises that not all authors published by Voice of India are on the extreme of the Hindu nationalist spectrum.

Almost every major colonial-era Hindu intellectual and especially Swami Vivekananda is derived from.[1]

Publication themesEdit

Monotheistic religions are deemed to be inherently violent, non-democratic and totalitarian in nature and thus, practice-able only by lower kinds of minds.[4][1] Non-deserving of any respect, they are deemed to be contemptible demonic diseases which masquerade as religions and similar to Nazism et al, shall be deemed as the foremost threats to the welfare of the humanity and Hinduism.[1][5] Social services by Christian Missionary groups are deemed as a camouflage for their ultimate intent of baptizing people from other faiths and advocacy for secession.[6] literature that was exposing Islam's true face was published and reprinted in bulk and Islamic invasion are portrayed as the primary reason behind the downfall of the Hindu glory. History of Hindu holocaust at the hands of Islamic invaders is prominently featured[7] and conversions to Hinduism are heavily advocated for liberation from the prison-houses of these Abrahamic religions.[4][1] Kondo notes that Judaism, despite being a monotheistic religion, is spared with any criticism and is even occasionally praised courtesy their original pluralistic roots.[6]

In contrast, Hinduism is regarded as the very representative of Indian-ness, which had supposedly sought to create a cultural empire rather than an imperialist military driven one.[1] Additionally, a global appealing brand of Hinduism is crafted in a bid to attract Western spiritual seekers into the fold of Hinduism.[4] The Hindus are routinely asked to de-colonise their minds from Western schools of thought; the Indigenous Aryans theory is propounded as a rebut to the theory of Aryan invasion theory. Concepts of Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava—that all religions are equally true and lead to the same end, because this concept was equating the peaceful and pluralistic Dharmic traditios with violent practices of closed creeds like Islam and Christianity.[8]

AudienceEdit

The works are of excellent typographical quality and widely available in print as well as over the web; there appears to exist a significant audience across the globe.[1][2] They have been used by Bharatiya Janata Party and its allied organs to legitimize the basis of their political campaigns.[1]

Critical receptionEdit

Meera Nanda notes VOI to be the most strident medium of expression for Hindu triumphalism, wherein a common theme of Hindu superiority is put forward and which is increasingly penetrating public discourse in India.[4] She observes VOI to be on the far right of even RSS and that its authors considering the old guards of RSS (and Bharatiya Janata Party) to be too soft on Islam, blame them for failing to provide a sound defense of Hinduism against other Abrahamic religions.[4] Sebastian Kim notes that Goel and Voice of India are not officially associated with the Sangh Parivar or other mainstream Hindu nationalist groups, and that the latter had purposefully distanced themselves from Goel and VOI due to the shrill rhetoric.[9] Moed Pirbhai notes an instance, where Goel was chided even by L. K. Advani, of Babri Masjid fame, for excessively strong language.[1] Others have also noted of this non-linkage to have aided in VOI's impressions of being a neutral apolitical institution.[10] Nanda also notes an increasing marriage of VOI with the European-American far right as evidenced from the popularity of Koenraad Elst, François Gautier et al.[4][7]

Kondo observes cherry-picking of data and abuse of history to be a prominent tool in VOI publications; whilst destruction of temples, forced conversions etc. are highlighted to attest the true essence of Islam, the publications don't mention the numerous cases where Hinduism and Islam have co-existed peacefully for eras.[6] Thomas Charles Nagy whilst assessing Ishan Sharan's The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple and other works (all published by VOI) noted an aggressive and absolutist tone coupled with an affinity for manipulating the history, which was guided by the broader political aspects of present-day-India and the Hindutva ideology.[10]

Pirbhai notes degradation of Islam as well as the derision of Muslims to be two core themes of VOI.[1] He also remarks that the most repeated statement in Voice of India writings seems to be that ‘the problem is not Muslims but Islam’.[1] According to Heuze, the Voice of India authors draw their inspiration from democratic texts, European thought and secular and democratic polemicists to justify their anti-Islamic "crusade" while simultaneously distancing themselves from everything that could be perceived as an endorsement of the extreme-right.[11] Kim notes that the VOI publications have been integral resources behind the anti-Muslim and anti-Christian campaigns of the Indian Hindu-right.[9] Malini Parthasarathy notes them to be at the forefront of the resurgence of Hindu nationalism in India.[12]

Other scholars have noted its books to pursue a revisionist project centered around an "epistemic obsession with primordial Aryanism".[13] Bergunder deems these non-scholarly revisionist attempts as a tool to fulfill their broader ideological agenda of rejecting the subaltern discourse.[2] Indologists Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer writes:[14]

In the past few decades, a new kind of history has been propagated by a vocal group of Indian writers, few of them trained historians, who lavishly praise and support each other's works. Their aim is to rewrite Indian history from a nationalistic and religious point of view. [...] Whole publishing firms, such as the Voice of India and Aditya Prakashan, are devoted to propagating their ideas.

Response by VOIEdit

Academics and intellectuals who disagree with the VOI scholarship are often branded as negationists, who suffers from Hindu cowardice and thus seek to conceal or whitewash facts.[1]

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :3
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :2
  3. ↑ Witzel, Michael (2001). "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts". Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 7 (3): 1–93. doi:10.11588/ejvs.2001.3.830. ISSN 1084-7561.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :0
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :7
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Kondo, Mitsuhiro (2001). "Hindu nationalists and their critique of monotheism: the relationship between nation, religion, and violence". The Unfinished Agenda: Nation Building in South Asia. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. pp. 79–100. ISBN 9788173043796.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :1
  8. ↑ Freedom of expression : Secular theocracy versus Liberal democracy
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kim, Sebastian C. H. (2006). In search of identity : debates on religious conversion in India. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 9780195677126. OCLC 475363564.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :5
  11. ↑ Heuze, Gerard (1993). Où va l'inde moderne?. Harmattan. pp. 91ff, 114ff, 123ff. ISBN 978-2738417558.
  12. ↑ Parthasarthy, Dr. Malini (19 July 2007). Majoritarianism and Indian nationhood: a study of the Hindu nationalist discourse (Thesis).
  13. ↑ Gupta, Tania Das; James, Carl E.; Andersen, Chris; Galabuzi, Grace-Edward; Maaka, Roger C. A. (2018-02-01). Race and Racialization, 2E: Essential Readings. Canadian Scholars’ Press. p. 179. ISBN 9781773380155.
  14. ↑ Witzel, Michael and Steve Farmer. 2000. Horseplay in Harappa Archived 2006-06-26 at the Wayback Machine, Frontline, 17(20), September 30-October 13.

NotesEdit

  1. ↑ intellectual warriors बौद्धिक क्षत्रिय

External linksEdit

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