FROM VEENA DAS

Ms.Anjali K Sharan
Program Coordinator
South Asia Studies
SAIS
Johns Hopkins University.

>
>Dear Ms. Sharan,
>
>I write to record my protest  in the strongest possible terms at your
>invitation to Mr. Ram Madhav to present  a talk under the South Asia
>program. Your blurb describes the RSS as a preeminent nationalist Hindu
>organization but as you and others at SAIS  must know,  it is the
>organization that has been deeply implicated in the violence
>against  religious minorities, especially Christians and Muslims. The RSS
>has remained unapologetic about the massive violence against Muslims in
>Gujarat. Moreover, it has propagated hatred against Muslims in many of its
>publications. While I appreciate the need for open communications, I have
>found that organizations such as the RSS use such opportunities to create
>legitimacy for themselves and their views. In fact groups associated with
>the RSS have imposed forms of censorship on many occasions by attacking
>painting galleries, stopping the showing of films they disagreed with and
>forcing publishers to withdraw books. It is not exchange of ideas but
>propagation of  hatred against religious minorities that animates these
>organizations. Finally, the RSS and its other front organizations have
>abrogated to themselves the right to represent Hindus which I find deeply
>abhorrent and wish that other groups such as the ones led by Swami
>Agnivesh were at least invited at the same time to contest the kind of
>hateful propaganda that RSS is disseminating  on the name of Hinduism.
>
>
>
>I would be happy to answer any questions you have on this matter.
>
>
>
>Yours sincerely,
>
>
>
>Veena Das
>
>Krieger-Eisenhower Professor
>
>