Indian children born abroad -- some (more) clarifications

[Partha Banerjee]

Thanks for your supportive comments, Robert Zydenbos. I didn't know there
was a third book written by an ex-RSS. The only one I know is the one by
Des Raj Goyal (RSS, published in 1979 from Delhi, Radha Krishna Prakashan).
Goyal is now a veteran member of the progressive group Communalism Combat.
He also belongs to CPI of India now.

My book "In the Belly of the Beast" is now published from Delhi (Ajanta
Books International). I have some copies with me here in U.S. in case
someone is interested. This is a not-for-profit venture.

Like Subbayyaa, I was enlisted by RSS leaders to go to jail during the
Emergency, but instead they later put me in charge of publishing and
distributing underground anti-Indira Gandhi literature in Calcutta.

Just a brief history.

-Partha

p.s. -- Is there any way for me to get a copy of Subbayya's book?

________

 >> Partha Banerjee <partha at CAPITAL.NET> writes:
>> [...]
>> Once upon a time you were a RSS member. 15 years later you made a
>> complete volte face, and have dedicated your life to hate-mongering
>> about it. Who knows, 15 years from now, you will start hate-mongering
>> about the dead left-wing stuff you so passionately advocate now. I
>> think I'll just wait it out. :-)
>
>There is a similar publication in Kannada:
>
>A.K. Subbayya, _Aar. Es. Es.: antara.mga_. Bangalore: Sa.mgaati
>prakaa;sana, 1988. 80 pp., price Rs. 10.
>
>Subbayya was with the RSS for 11 years and also went to prison with
>fellow members during Indira Gandhi's emergency. According to the
>author, the Hinduism propounded by the RSS is typical of the highest
>castes, and the leadership is keen on preserving the caste system (p.
>12). The organisation demands slavish obedience to its leaders (p. 17),
>and the brand of religion which it propagates is, unlike that of truly
>traditional institutions like ma.thas etc., a diseased religion of
>hatred (p. 14).
>
>This sounds very much like what I hear from my wife's cousin, who too
>was an enthusiastic RSS member once upon a time. And he is a
>traditionally devout, very patriotic, brahmin gentleman, and he cannot
>possibly be accused of being a communist or Hinduism-hater.
>
>Such reports should at least alert us that perhaps not all is fine and
>glorious about those three-letter organisations.
>
>I have written in detail about how the best-selling Kannada novelist
>seeks to promote the RSS through his novels, in my _The Calf Became An
>Orphan - a study of contemporary Kannada fiction_ (Pondicherry:
>EFEO/IFP, 1996): xenophobia, communal discrimination, distorted readings
>of history and world geography, misrepresentations of Christian
>religious practices (no, sorry, I am not in the least interested in
>'defending Christianity', and I am not a Christian either, thank you),
>and much more (lengthy, detailed summaries are given, with page numbers
>and everything else for those who wish to check). I know the author in
>question personally (he too is a distant relative-in-law of mine), and
>as a person I cannot think of him as 'evil' or anything of the kind; he
>seems rather misled and ill-informed. (And, very noteworthily, he too
>has moved away from his original energetic enthusiasm in his more recent
>novels.)
>
>Where did your book appear, Partha Banerjee?
>
>--
>
>Dr. Robert J. Zydenbos
>Mysore (India)
>e-mail zydenbos at vsnl.com