In this episode of Editorial, HW News Managing Editor Sujit Nair speaks about Eiffel Tower workers going on strike after Hindu group BAPS allegedly didn't want women around their delegation. Mr. Nair opines on the harm this causes Hinduism, and how the religion has fallen in stature courtesy certain self-proclaimed 'Hindu supremacists'
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[00:00:00] With a government which says that we are about Hindutva, a government which says that we are about getting respect for Hindutva, what have we actually got? I am saying that somebody who says that I am Hindu Tua, I am there for Hindu Tua, I am going to promote Hindu Tua, I am going to protect Hindu Tua, those questions, those claims is what I am questioning. Namaskar! Welcome to another episode of Editorial.
[00:00:31] Normally, I do not, my editorial is not meant for Hindus or Muslims or I do not get into religious specifics when I do my editorial or when I think of my editorial. Whatever I want to present, I present to my countrymen and my countrymen comes from all caste, creed, sects, everything.
[00:00:56] But today, I am directing this editorial, not only Hindus should watch it, but I am directing this editorial to Hindus. Because a lot of things that I am going to talk about relates to Hindus and a lot of things that I want you to think about. I want Hindus of this country to think about it. That's what I want to do today and let's get into the topic at hand.
[00:01:27] You see, there is this sect called BAPS. BAPS meaning Bhocha, Sanvasi, Akshar, Purushottam, Swaminarayan, Sanstha. Now, Swaminarayan Sanstha is very famous in India. And so is Baps actually. A lot of people know about them too. Now, these Baps, they wanted to do some event in near Eiffel Tower where they have a temple, a temple that was inaugurated by our good Prime Minister.
[00:01:53] They have a temple there. They wanted to do an event there. Now, there are these Baps. They have their priests who wanted to go and have some function there. And when the priests come, they didn't want women around. They didn't want, allegedly didn't want women around because Baps has something else to say. My colleague has done a full-fledged show on this. So, please have a look at it. He has explained everything very in hard details.
[00:02:18] So, this priest didn't want women around and so therefore women were asked to stay away. Women were hidden. They were asked to disappear. They were sidelined. So, women working in Eiffel Tars, they were told to don't show your face Baba because Baps priest do not want to see you. So, they were all kind of sidelined, hidden, asked to disappear. And the function happened.
[00:02:44] Now, Eiffel Tars staff got furious. They are not used to this. They said, listen, this doesn't work. And they went on a strike. It became an international discussion, an international story. Every country, every newspaper carried it. Eiffel Tars staff went on strike. It's a world site. It's a world tourism site. And that they went on strike.
[00:03:10] So, obviously, the entire world carried it. Finally, whose name got spoiled? Not BAPS. Not even the Swaminarayan sect. Hinduism. Hinduism name got spoiled. Because somewhere down the line, they were representing Hinduism. They were representing Hinduism.
[00:03:32] And we, as government, as politicians, as everything, we went out of our way to ensure that we stay connected to this organization. In fact, after all of this, after two days of all of this happening, our ambassador to the UNESCO wrote a tweet praising Babs and praising the way the work they have done. Somewhere down the line, we wanted to be associated with it. On one hand, our Ministry of External Affairs says, Baba, amkone malam?
[00:04:02] This is between two individual identities. Amkone malam? This is not anything to do with a country. Which is fair. Which is a fair statement to make. But our ambassador to UNESCO, he wrote a tweet supporting BAPS. What does that mean? We want to stay connected to it. What does that mean? We are in some way endorsing that organization. Which means what? We are endorsing what happened also in Eiffel Towers in Paris. Yes, we are endorsing that. Which means that Hindus are endorsing it.
[00:04:31] Is it fair? Is it helping Hinduism or harming Hinduism? Think about it. You know, today, internationally also, a lot of Hinduism that is being seen through reels, through social media, are Hinduism? Or are Hindu representatives like this? This country is not of Akvar, it is of Raghuvar.
[00:05:01] It was a time like this. It was made by Babar's name. Now, whoever will become here will be made by Raghuvar's name. Some people are saying that we are calling in Balaam and giving up the Sanatana. All places are important to them. They have to be able to reach their own way. They will come to our country. That's why we are in our country. So, spiritually, our spiritualism will be an important part of our country. It will grow in spirituality. The people will grow in the country. The people will grow in the country. It will grow in the country.
[00:05:31] Therefore, we have to be able to go. We have to come. We have to come. We have to come. And yes, we have to keep our knowledge. We are very good here. We are going to stay here. this man Dhirendra Shastri he seems to be some magically you know forecasting future predicting future and all of that and he gets into some frenzy and and and he speaks about hindu supremacy these are the representative of hindus these are people who are being represented these are people
[00:06:01] who are being who represents hinduism this is your representative hindu do you want him as your representative that's the question i ask you today do you think that he represents our religion that's the question i ask hindus today and that's why i said this editorial is primarily directed towards hindus pray tell me another gentleman he does a lot of social work i'm told but the kind
[00:06:29] of questions he answers the kind of the things he says hello bhai
[00:06:58] is this what serious hinduism is is this what serious hindu culture is what have we reduced our culture to what have we reduced our religion to hinduism is known by people like swami Vivekananda you know he mesmerized the entire west mesmerized by his knowledge mesmerized by what he said what he
[00:07:19] spoke yogananda the way people revere him because of his knowledge his understanding of spirituality his connection with spirituality that's what hinduism is all about we are a very serious religion we are a very serious faith and we are a very deep faith there is a lot of intelligence understanding
[00:07:44] attached with our faith and that is what we professed and that's precisely why most of these people are absolutely tolerant absolutely open to ideas absolutely open to criticism absolutely brilliant in in in justifying or in talking about hinduism and teaching hinduism this was the face
[00:08:04] of hinduism till recently till recently and then the conversion you had on one end you had people like vivekananda you had people like neem karoli baba you had people like yogananda on the other hand you have people like dhirendra shastri you have people like this other gentleman i don't i don't remember
[00:08:27] his name i mean what are we talking about have we helped hinduism or have we harmed hinduism has our imagery gone up or have our imagery gone down you know another factor is most of the people onto your right have a political affiliation at least they show a color they show a color and somewhere down the line
[00:08:51] politicians are more than more than eager to engage themselves with these people you have rapists you have rapists who have seen politicians go and visit them political leaders endorsing them this is the face of hinduism hinduism was known by maharashi ramanan you know if you read him you
[00:09:14] you get spellbound that was hinduism and this is today's hinduism so technically tell me with a government which says that we are about hindutua a government which says that we are about getting respect for hindutva what have we actually got have we gained as hindus or have we lost as hindus this is the question i want to ask you today tell me an honest answer tell me an honest answer
[00:09:42] were you proud of Neem Karoli Baba were you proud of a swami vivekananda or are you wanting these people to represent you are you proud of the fact that these people today are representing you please write down in the comment box below i am not you could have another opinion i'm sure opinions are very personal
[00:10:04] and each one could have one another very important factor when we speak about hinduism names like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj comes to mind and when you talk about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj there are series of things you can talk about him chattrapati shivaji maharaj was a person who actually not only
[00:10:25] professed he lived secularism he lived secularism he never viewed gauged or judged a person based on his religion possibly one of the most secular person in this world that was the the face of hinduism Prithviraj Chauhan was the face of hinduism these were the faces of hinduism today what are we reducing ourselves to today what are we reducing ourselves to every second person say claims to be the face of
[00:10:55] hinduism and you have you have people like this fellow Swatantra Bharadwaj who says i am a i am a fighter for hinduism i protect hinduism this is the face this is what we have reduced to from where to where what have we come to where have we reached and if you go this route where are you going to end up imagine this is the face this this is what today's hinduism is if these are the people who are going
[00:11:20] to represent hinduism this real is not limited to your gurga or your maharashtra or your kerala or your it is it is all over the world entire world is watching but lot of them are surprised as to whether if this is hinduism what have you done to hinduism what has hinduism become in the last one and a half
[00:11:41] decades have we grown or have we gone down to conclude i ask you this simple question has your life become better as a hindu has your religion gained more value more respect across the globe or has we have we are we losing our respect is there any difference that a hindutva
[00:12:08] government has made to a hindu society any difference is our pride real or are we living in a false pride these are questions i leave you with answer these questions therefore i am not saying that you know some government is good some government is bad i am saying that somebody who says that i am hindutva i am there for hindutva i am going to promote hindutva i am going to protect hindutva those questions
[00:12:36] those claims is what i am questioning those are the claims i am questioning if you are voting for somebody vote for the right reason do not vote for the wrong reasons or do not get carried away for things that never happen that's the point i am trying to make till i see you next time that's tomorrow at 10 amashkar