Sita Ram Goel

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Politics · Govt of India ·  v • d • e 


Sita Ram Goel (Devanāgarī: सीता राम गोयल, Sītā Rām Goyal) (1921–2003), author and publisher, is an important figure amongst late 20th century Hindu thinkers.

Sita Ram Goel was born in 1921 in Haryana. He graduated in history at the University of Delhi. As a student, he was a social activist, and did work for a Harijan Ashram in his village.

During the Direct Action Day riots of 16 August 1946 (also called the great Calcutta killings) which was organized by the Muslim League shortly before Partition of India, Goel and his wife and first son narrowly escaped to save their lives. He writes in his autobiographical work "How I became a Hindu" that he "would have been killed by a Muslim mob" but his fluent Urdu and his Western dress saved him. And he writes that on the evening of the 17th he and his wife and son "had to vacate that house and scale a wall at the back to escape murderous Muslim mobs advancing with firearms."[1]

Sita Ram Goel had strong marxist leanings during his student days and was on the verge of joining the Communist Party of India in 1948. He read Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto and "came to the conclusion that while Marx stood for a harmonised social system, Sri Aurobindo held the key to a harmonised human personality."[2]

Sita Ram Goel was strongly influenced by Indian writer and philosopher Ram Swarup. A poet and a novelist, in his later career he emerged as a commentator and critic on Christianity, Islam, and Communism in the Indian context. Goel has also criticized the work and research methods of Marxist historians like Romila Thapar. His work has been criticized by writers like Meera Nanda.

He published books in English and Hindi. He also translated George Orwell's 1984, three Dialogues of Plato, Denis Kincaid's book "The Great Rebel" about Shivaji and other books into Hindi.

He came in conflict with the leadership of the RSS and the Organiser in the early 1980s, and was forced to stop writing articles for the Organiser. One editor of the Organiser, K.R. Malkani, who supported Goel was sacked. The RSS believed that Goel's articles were "costing the party all its Muslim votes."[3]

Contents

[edit] Banned books

[edit] Understanding Islam through Hadis

In 1983 Goel reprinted Ram Swarup's "Understanding Islam through Hadis" which sold out fast. (It was first published in 1982 in the USA.) The book was a summary of the Sahih Muslim Hadith, and consisted of extracts from the Hadiths. In 1987 he again reprinted the book, and published a Hindi translation of the book. Some Muslims thought that the book was offensive, and Goel was arrested by the police and bailed out after 18 hours in police custody.[4] He recounted the situation:

Soon after we reached the Police Station, he shouted at me, "[5] (who arst thou? what hast thou done? A big riot was about to break out)." I told him that I was nobody, and did not understand the accusation. He barked, "[6] (Muslims are excited. They have heaps of bricks and stones piled up on the roofs of their houses, and firearms within. They can set the city on fire whenever they want). I asked him why the police had allowed them to collect and keep the arsenal. He snarled, "[7] (put this question to your leaders, I am only a poor policeman trying to feed my family). I kept quite.[8]

In 1990 the Hindi translation of the book became banned. In March 1991 the English original became banned as well. The criminal case against Goel for printing the book was dismissed after some years on 5 May 1997, but the book still remained banned.[9]

Many Indian intellectuals have protested against the arrest of Goel.[10] Arun Shourie commented on the criminal case:

No one has ever refuted him on facts, but many have sought to smear him and his writing. They have thereby transmuted the work from mere scholarship into warning. (...)The forfeiture is exactly the sort of thing which had landed us where we are: where intellectual inquiry is shut out; where our traditions are not examined, and reassessed; and where as a consequence there is no dialogue. It is exactly the sort of thing too which foments reaction. (...)"Freedom of expression which is legitimate and constitutionally protected," it [the Supreme Court] declared last year, "cannot be held to ransom by an intolerant group or people." (...)The "victories" in having Shah Bano reversed, in having Rushdie banned - "victories" which were loudly applauded by the "secularists"; the success in convincing political parties - with maps and lists - that Muslims would decide their fate in hundreds of constituencies; to say nothing of the "victories" of the violence in Punjab and Kashmir - the reaction is the cumulative result of these distortions in our polity.[11]

[edit] Hindu View of Christianity and Islam (1993)

In 1993 the MP Syed Shahabuddin, who in 1988 asked for the ban of the Satanic Verses[12], demanded a ban on Ram Swarup's book "Hindu View of Christianity and Islam". Goel and Swarup went into hiding because they feared that they could get arrested. The court accepted a bail, and they could come out of hiding. [13][14] The case has been criticized by Elst, who wrote: "Conversely, banning this book would send a signal that the present establishment will do what it can to prevent Hinduism from rising up, from regaining self-confidence, from facing the challenge of hostile ideologies."[15]

[edit] Colin Maine's "The Dead Hand of Islam"

In 1986 he reprinted Colin Maine's essay "The Dead Hand of Islam" [3]. Some Muslims filed a criminal case against Goel, alleging that it violated Sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code and similar articles of the Indian Customs Act.

The judge discharged Goel and referred to the earlier court precedent "1983 CrLJ 1446": If such a contention is accepted a day will come when that part of history which is unpalatable to a particular religion will have to be kept in cold storage on the pretext that the publication of such history would constitute an offence punishable under Sec. 153A of the Penal Code. The scope of S-153A cannot be enlarged to such an extent with a view to thwart history. (...)Otherwise, the position will be very precarious. A nation will have to forget its own history and in due course the nation will have no history at all. (...)If anybody intends to extinguish the history (by prohibiting its publication) of the nation on the pretext of taking action under the above sections, his act will have to be treated as malafide one.[16]

[edit] The Calcutta Quran Petition

Goel published the book The Calcutta Quran Petition with Chandmal Chopra in 1986 and on August 31, 1987 Chandmal Chopra was arrested by the police and kept in police custody until September 8 for publishing with Goel this book on the Calcutta Quran petition. Sita Ram Goel had to abscond to avoid getting arrested.[17]

[edit] Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them

There were proposals in November 1990 in Uttar Pradesh to ban Goel's book "Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them". [18]

[edit] Voice of India

In 1981 he started the non-profit publishing house Voice of India.

The American author David Frawley wrote about Voice of India:

While Voice of India had a controversial reputation, I found nothing irrational, much less extreme about their ideas or publications. They were simply doing for the Hindu religion what intellectuals in other religious traditions had done for theirs. Their criticisms of Islam were on par with the criticisms of the Catholic Church and of Christianity done by such Western thinkers as Voltaire or Thomas Jefferson. In fact they went far beyond such mere rational or historical criticisms of other religions and brought in a profound spiritual and yogic view as well. [4]

[edit] Legacy

Sita Ram Goel has often been described as an "intellectual kshatriya".[19]

The Belgian writer Koenraad Elst met Sita Ram Goel in India and wrote about his work: "The importance of Ram Swarup's and Sita Ram Goel's work can hardly be over-estimated. I for one have no doubt that future textbooks on comparative religion as well as those on Indian political and intellectual history will devote crucial chapters to their analysis. They are the first to give a first-hand "Pagan" reply to the versions of history and "comparative religion" imposed by the monotheist world-conquerors, both at the level of historical fact and of fundamental doctrine, both in terms of the specific Hindu experience and of a more generalized theory of religion free from prophetic-monotheistic bias. [5]

K. Elst also stated: "Come to mention him, I found that in moral stature and depth of scholarship, he completely dwarfed the Stalinist "eminent historians" and other icons of "secularism". Which is why I cannot help frowning when I see Meera Nanda forget her limitations and berate a towering personality like Goel." [6]

David Frawley said about Goel that he was "modern India’s greatest intellectual kshatriya", and "one of India’s most important thinkers in the post-independence era". According to Frawley, "Sitaram followed a strong rationalistic point of view that did not compromise the truth even for politeness sake. His intellectual rigor is quite unparalleled in Hindu circles..." [20]

[edit] Works

[edit] Further reading

  • India’s only communalist: In commemoration of Sita Ram Goel; Edited by Koenraad Elst; Voice of India, New Delhi. (2005)

[edit] See also

Hindu reform movements
v • d • e
Brahmo Samaj · Arya Samaj · Ramakrishna Mission · Gandhism · Hindutva
Important figures and authors
Sri Aurobindo ·Ananda Coomaraswamy · Alain Daniélou ·Koenraad Elst ·David Frawley ·Sita Ram Goel ·M. S. Golwalkar · Mahatma Gandhi · The Mother ·Harsh Narain ·Swami Prabhupada · V. D. Savarkar · Swami Sivananda · Arun Shourie · Ram Swarup · Rabindranath Tagore · B. G. Tilak ·Yogananda · Raja Ram Mohun Roy · Debendranath Tagore ·Keshub Chandra Sen ·Dayananda Saraswati · Ramakrishna · Vivekananda ·

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Goel, How I became a Hindu
  2. ^ Goel, How I became a Hindu
  3. ^ Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  4. ^ Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  5. ^ tû kaun hai? yeh kyâ kiyâ? bahut baDi riot hote hote ruki hai
  6. ^ musalmân ubal rahen haiN. unke gharoN kî chhatoN par behisâb îNt patthar rakkhâ hai, gharoN ke bhîtar golâ bârûd: wê jab châheN shahar meN âg lagâ sakte haiN
  7. ^ yeh bât to apne netâoN se pûcho, meN to ek garîb policeman huN, bacchon kâ pet pal rahâ huN
  8. ^ Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  9. ^ Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  10. ^ Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  11. ^ Fomenting Reaction by Arun Shourie. 8 November, 1990. Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  12. ^ Shahabuddin, Syed. “You did this with satanic forethought, Mr. Rushdie.” Times of India. 13 October 1988.
  13. ^ S.R. Goel, ed.: Freedom of Expression, 1998
  14. ^ K. Elst: "Banning Hindu Revaluation", Observer of Business and Politics, 1-12-1993
  15. ^ Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  16. ^ Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7
  17. ^ Elst 1991
  18. ^ Elst 1991 [1]
  19. ^ e.g. in India’s only communalist: In commemoration of Sita Ram Goel; Edited by Koenraad Elst; Voice of India, New Delhi. (2005)
  20. ^ Frawley, David. How I became a Hindu[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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