Kissoon’s Blasphemy of Hinduism

Apr 14, 2014 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Reference is made to Freddie Kissoon’s letter (KN Apr 13) in which he denigrated a Hindu practice. Very often KN allows Kissoon to get away with attacks on Indians, Hindus and Muslims with KN not allowing an equal response. This is not the first time Kissoon attacked Hinduism and KN allows him the medium to attack Hindus; one cannot understand why KN allows this discredited writer to continue the denigration of the faith of almost a billion people. It is hoped that KN will permit a right to a response and appropriate management action will be effected against the disgraced columnist.
I support and will defend absolute freedom of speech but not religious blasphemy. No one has a right to attack another’s faith or ethnicity. I do not think KN’s competitor, SN, would have permitted Kissoon’s diatribe to be published.
Guyana is a multi-religious society and we must respect the practices of the diverse faiths regardless of how we feel about certain aspects of their practices. No newspaper should allow its writers to attack or condemn the practices of any faith – will lead to communal tension and even civil war as is the case in so many countries in Africa and Asia. All religions have very odd nonsensical practices; it is not for us to publicly to condemn or belittle the practices even when we disagree with them.  It is therefore wrong for Kissoon to describe Hindus as rat worshippers and for KN to allow this remark to go unedited.
Out of pure ignorance and lack of understanding of the significance of Hindu practices and of the rat, Kissoon crossed the line when he wrote that Hindus “worship rats”. That is a complete misunderstanding of a practice in the Hindu faith. Hinduism respects the sanctity of all life  – including that of rats.  Hindus are not worshipping rats but rather respecting life.  Also, Hindus believe God can take any form, including that of a rat or a roach to test a devotee’s love for God and hence the reason for not harming the rat. In Hinduism, God takes human or animal forms and can also non-form (ningun) as in wind, etc.  The rat appears in the holy scripture with special significance and it has nothing to do with worshipping it. That is utter ignorance from Kissoon. The learned Pandits can expound on the subject more eloquently than me and I hope they will take Kissoon and KN to task for allowing this blasphemy. Kissoon’s comment clearly shows he does not understand the subject he writes about.  I have consistently penned that even when Kissoon reads texts or theories, he fails to understand the centrality of the arguments or the concepts and as such the reason for his misstatements on almost everything he writes. The man is what many pandits in Guyana have called a “gadaha. I also note that the remark about rat worshipping has no relevance to the rest of the letter or the centrality of his argument about India’s election. But then again, Freddie does not even know what he writes about. The man is no scholar and one can understand why his contract at UG was not renewed after he reached retirement age.
I dare Kissoon to condemn the feudal practices of other religions; he would know the consequences. Instead of commenting on rat worshipping, why does not Kissoon write about how some religious leaders close their eyes to sexual molestation of little children (male and female) in the Middle East; little innocent kids from South Asia are bought and taken as sex slaves in the Middle West. Where is Kissoon’s outrage of that practice?
Kissoon also made another comment that is not supported by facts. He wrote that Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Ministerial candidate of the opposition BJP, should be in jail for crimes against humanity.  Kissoon was referring to a spate of killing in 2002 in the state of Gujarat where Modi has been Chief Minister for the last 13 years. There were several commissions of inquiries by the Congress Government on the communal riots as well as by independent groups, the media, and the Supreme Court of India on the communal violence. All cleared Modi for wrong doing including those appointed by the Congress that despises Modi. An appeal to the ruling clearing Modi was rejected by the full Supreme court just a few days ago. If Kissoon were reading Indian papers properly and comprehends what he reads, he would have known this fact. The court blames several people for the communal violence – Muslims and non-Muslims — and several are in jail. The violence was horrible and Modi expressed regrets but rejects blame for it. The state did respond to the violence slowly but respond it did unlike say what happened in Guyana at Agrciola and elsewhere in Guyana. I condemn that violence in 2002 as I condemn the violence that occurred in Guyana in Oct 1992, Dec 1997, Jan 1998, March 2001 and other incidents of violence in Guyana directed against people based on their race.
I met Modi several times in the greater New York area as well as in India during my frequent visits.  He is a very charming person who respects the sanctity of life and would not engage in actions that would not protect life or respect people of other ethnicities. Since the 2002 riots, there has hardly been any incidence of communal violence in Gujarat and Muslims appreciate Modi for his tough stance against communalism. Modi is loved in Gujarat and across India. Polls rate him as the most popular politician in India.  Google reported last week that he got the most hits of any other politician in India. He was elected and re-elected four consecutive times as Chief Minister. In the last election in 2013, over a quarter of the Muslim population voted for him. It is estimated that he will get about a third of the Muslim votes in the general elections now under way. Modi is contesting a seat in Varanasi where Muslims account for almost 25% of the votes; many Muslims are supporting him and he is expected to coast to victory. Also, everywhere I travelled in India, where I am polling at the moment, I discern a Modi wave even among Muslims.  People of all religious background and ethnicities and castes believes he is the person who can end corruption and fast track development of this vast diverse nation. All over the country, Muslim clerics are backing Modi saying they no longer wish to be electoral slaves of other parties. They respect Modi- no nonsensical attitude and his tough response to terror.
Kissoon writes out of ignorance and fails to demonstrate the traits of someone who was in academia. He is advised that before he makes uninformed, unintelligent comments, he should seek expert assistance. Otherwise, he will make a gatchu of himself as has been his norm.
Vishnu Bisram

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