Academic Babones Explains Why India's Intellectuals Must Not Blame Muslims for Their Own Divisions

India’s Muslims are not the problem and if the country’s intellectuals fall prey to Western anti-Hinduism, the only people they can blame are themselves, noted Australian sociologist and academic Salvatore Babones as he called upon the ‘intellectuals’ to “recognise their common peril”.

In an exclusive article for Firstpost, Babones said: “The goals of Western anti-Hinduists align not only with those of anti-India Islamists, but also with those of many Indian intellectuals. This isn’t because the Indian intellectuals are themselves anti-Hindu or anti-India. It’s because the kind of India that anti-Hinduists want — secular, socialist, and subaltern — is the same kind of India that many Indian intellectuals miss.

“It’s hard to resist the prestige of a human rights residency or a Harvard fellowship, and they might very well think that their enemy’s enemy is their friend.”

Babones said it was time the intellectuals think again as the “anti-Hindu movement wants to turn India into a pariah state on the Israeli model, and all Indians will be caught up in the catastrophe”.

He said it was time that intellectuals on all sides of Indian politics “recognise their common peril — and their common patriotism”. “While it may be emotionally satisfying to call each other names, Indian intellectuals should recognise that they have more in common with each other than any of them have in common with Western anti-Hinduists,” the well-known academic said.

In a word of advice, Babones said if Indian intellectuals have any doubt about the looming challenge of a BDS campaign against India, “they should talk to their Israeli colleagues, religious and secular. Above all, they should learn from Israelis not to blame Muslims for their own divisions”.

“India’s Muslims aren’t the problem. If Indian intellectuals fall prey to Western anti-Hinduism, the only people they can blame are themselves,” he added.

The sociologist, in his article, also called out the West’s “resentment” against India, saying they were unable to “accept the idea of a strong and independent Hindu-majority country. They would much rather keep India weak and poor, just as their ancestors did centuries ago”.

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