BJP SPOKESPERSON NALIN KOHLI on Hindutva – Courtesy: Vathsala Sankaran

Al Jazeera, which is known for its Hindu hate and anti-India agenda, conducted an interview of a BJP leader, Nalin Kohli while reporting on the Indian general elections 2019. 

From the outset, the anchor had all its cards out in the open and was coming out with all guns blazing while talking about the nomination of Sadhvi Pragya from Bhopal and some of the other statements from the Prime Minister of India.

The anchor asked “Your Prime Minister (emphasis on the phrase many times) says that a Hindu can never be a terrorist.. There has been no instance of the same in the history… Do you agree with that?”

Nalin Kohli: Yes. A Vehement yes. A proud yes. Yes, a thousand times.

There is no doubt that some people belonging to Hindu faith have picked up a gun for crimes, but none of them have done it in the name of their faith or Bhagwan. There are many naxals who were born into the Hindu faith but picked up a gun for their left ideology – the ideology of Stalin, Mao, Lenin. There are many insurgent groups in north-eastern states but they have not, never have, never will pick up the gun in the name of Ram, or Krishna, or Shiva. 

There are no Hindu groups banned by the UN for their terror activities. There are organizations belonging to left ideology, white supremacy ideology, numerous of them belong to Islamist ideology; but not even a single one which belongs to Hindu or Hindutva ideology. Because of the simple reason that no organization would be supported by the Hindus which talk about killing innocent people in the name of religion or ideology.

Our ancient values do not justify or teach violence. We are very proud of the fact that Hindus spread their culture and ethos in many countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and others but never through violent means. We have achieved this distinction by the sheer prominence that our faith puts on the Spiritual world, rather than on the materialistic world.

The likes of people who rush to paint Hindus as terrorists have taken away many things from us Indians in the past- our wealth, our resources, our inventions, our knowledge, our lives – but we will not allow them to take away this moral high ground we have achieved by the sheer resilience and belief in our teachings. No matter how hard they try, we will not let them drag us down to their level and equate’ all-inclusive’ faith with all the other hate spreading ideologies in the world.

So, yes, we stand behind ‘Our’ Prime Minister 100 percent. And if they are too shallow to understand what he said then it’s their problem, really. India has stopped looking at the things from your prism since 2014 and we have no plan to go back to the old ways.

The anchor asked “You have given a ticket to a terror accused. She is out on bail but is still facing a trial in your courts, so how do you explain that?”

Well, Mr Mehdi Hasan, she has already been exonerated from the grave MCOCA charges. The National Investigative Agency (NIA) has given Sadhvi Pragya a clean chit. She was the victim of a vindictive Congress government trying to concoct the Hindu terror theory while exonerating real terrorists. An insider bureaucrat had spilt the beans on the conspiracy. A Congress leader had forced him to concoct Hindu terror. He was told ‘people are willing to drink Rahul Gandhi’s urine, and you can’t even do this much?’ when he refused to be a party to the conspiracy.

We Indians understand our country much better than you and are aware of the way fabricated ‘Hindu Terror’ theory was created. So we don’t need a lecture from you on the ethics and morality, especially from an organization which itself is the front face of Wahhabi ideology and spew venom against Hindus every moment

You, Mehdi Hasan, introduced Sadhvi Pragya as “Extreme Hindu Nationalist”.

What is so extreme about her? Which of her statements have made you reach this conclusion? Has she talked about violence against any other religion? Has she spread hatred against any other religion?

Just because she dresses in a certain way, she becomes extremist. 

Just because she loves her religion and is proud of it, she becomes an extremist.

Just
because she is not apologetic about being a Hindu, like you want, she becomes an extremist.

We are done with the labels that you want our leaders to tag with. We do not care about your opinion anymore. We will not be apologetic about our Hindu identity and Hindu ethos anymore. We are the oldest continuing civilization of the world and are proud of our ancient culture and teachings. Deal with it.

If we would have paid heed to your propaganda and labels, we would have lost the chance of choosing the best leader India has had in a long, long time. Similar labels and questions were being thrown at him by the likes you in 2014.

“How can BJP announce someone with riot charges as its Prime Ministerial candidate”; “Narendra Modi is anti-Muslim, an extreme Hindu Nationalist”.

I cannot even begin to imagine what would have happened to the country if he would not have been elected with a full majority in 2014. But that is what the likes of you wanted. You have been a sore loser since 2014 and you will be a sore loser even after 2019. Try and find your inner peace. This hate is never going to take you far.

So, good luck in spreading your propaganda, Al Jazeera, and please leave us alone.

We do not need sermons from the supporters of a violent ideology that has become the source of most of the terrorist activities in the world.