Koenraad Elst

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Koenraad Elst is a Belgian writer and orientalist (without institutional affiliation). He was an editor of the New Right Flemish nationalist journal Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies from 1992 to 1995, focusing on criticism of Islam, various other conservativist and Flemish separatist publications such as Nucleus, 't Pallieterke, Secessie and The Brussels Journal. He has authored fifteen English language books on topics related to Hinduism, Indian history, and Indian politics.

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[edit] Biography

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He was born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into a Flemish Catholic family. Some of his family members were Christian missionaries or priests.[1] He graduated in Indology, Sinology and Philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven. He then obtained a Ph.D. from the same university. The main portion of his Ph.D. dissertation on Hindu revivalism and Hindu reform movements eventually became his book Decolonizing the Hindu Mind. Other parts of his Ph.D. thesis were published in Who is a Hindu and The Saffron Swastika. He also studied at the Banaras Hindu University in India. Several of his books have been published by Voice of India.

Elst had for some years a leftist phase. Later, in his twenties, he participated in the New Age movement, worked in a New Age bookstore and organized New Age events.[2] He writes that by 1985 he had had enough of the "superficiality and flakiness" of the New Age scene.[3] In the 1990s he became interested in the European Neopagan movement, but limited his involvement to writing articles for some Neopagan publications until 1998. He however didn't participate in Neopagan events and meetings.[4]

During a stay at the Banaras Hindu University between 1988 and 1992, he interviewed many Indian leaders and writers.[5] He wrote his first book about the Ayodhya conflict. While establishing himself as a columnist for a number of Belgian and Indian papers, he frequently returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-religio-political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders and thinkers.

In 1989, Elst met Sita Ram Goel after reading Goel's book History of Hindu Christian Encounters. Elst later sent Goel a manuscript of his first book Ram Janmabhoomi Vs. Babri Masjid: A Case Study in Hindu Muslim Conflict. Goel was impressed with Elst's script: "I could not stop after I started reading it. I took it to Ram Swarup the same evening. He read it during the night and rang me up next morning. Koenraad Elst's book, he said, should be published immediately."[6] In August 1990, L. K. Advani released Koenraad Elst's book about the Ayodhya conflict at a public function presided over by Girilal Jain.[7][8]

His research on the ideological development of Hindu revivalism earned him his Ph.D. in Leuven in 1998. He has also written about multiculturalism, language policy issues, ancient Chinese history and philosophy, comparative religion, and the Aryan invasion debate. Elst became a well-known author on Indian politics during the 1990s in parallel with the BJP's rise to prominence on the national stage. He claims to be an independent scholar.[9]

Elst says that his language has "softened and become more focused on viewpoints rather than groups of people such “the” Muslims or the Marxist historians." [10] He writes that he has reoriented his scholarly interests towards more fundamental philosophical studies and questions of ancient history, rather than questions in the centre of contemporary political struggles.[11]

[edit] Opinions

[edit] Ayodhya

Elst book "Ram Janmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid, a Case Study in Hindu-Muslim conflict" (1990) was the first book published by a non-Indian on the Ayodhya debate.[12] His opinion is that "until 1989, there was a complete consensus in all sources (Hindu, Muslim and European) which spoke out on the matter, viz. that the Babri Masjid had been built in forcible replacement of a Hindu temple."[13] He claimed that politically motivated academics have, through their grip on the media, manufactured doubts concerning this coherent and well-attested tradition.[14] Elst alleges that the anti-Temple group in the Ayodhya conflict have committed serious breaches of academic deontology and says that the "overruling of historical evidence with a high-handed use of academic and media power" in the Ayodhya controversy was the immediate reason to involve himself in the debate.[15]

[edit] On Antihinduism and anti-Hindu bias

Elst has criticized alleged Anti-Hinduism and anti-Hindu biases. Elst writes for example that "when Hindus complain of factual problems such as missionary subversion or Muslim terrorism, it is always convenient to portray this spontaneous and truthful perception as an artefact of "RSS propaganda".[16]

[edit] On alleged negationism and history rewriting

Elst's book "Negationism in India" makes the case that the Islamic history in India is being whitewashed. He claims that there is a larger effort to rewrite India's history and to whitewash Islam. He says that the goal and methods of this alleged history rewriting is similar with the denial of the Nazi holocaust, and that in India, jihad negationists are in control of the academic establishment and of the press.[17]

[edit] Hindutva

Elst has criticized the Hindutva movement because, as he claims, "there is no intellectual life in this Hindutva movement".[18] He claims that Hindutva advocates have not developed a "wellfounded coherent vision on a range of topics which any social thinker and any political party will have to address one day", and that there is as yet very little original or comprehensive work being done in the Hindutva movement.[19] According to Elst, "Hindutva is a fairly crude ideology, borrowing heavily from European nationalisms with their emphasis on homogeneity. Under the conditions of British colonialism, it was inevitable that some such form of Hindu nationalism would arise, but I believe better alternatives have seen the light, more attuned to the genius of Hindu civilization."[20]

Elst's book "BJP vis-à-vis Hindu Resurgence", and a chapter in "Decolonizing the Hindu Mind" criticizes the RSS Parivar.[21] On the RSS, he says that its intellectual output is minimal: "Most of its pamphlets and manifestoes contain a lot of puffed-up patriotism and wailing over the Partition of the Hindu motherland, but little penetrating analysis that could be the basis for imaginative policies and a realistic strategy."[22]

He criticized Hindutva writers for only complaining about Muslim atrocities, but refusing to search Islamic doctrine for a reason for the observed fact of Muslim fanaticism.[23] He has also criticized fringe Hindutva writers for claiming that the Taj Mahal is a Hindu temple, or for claiming that the Vedas contain all the secrets of modern science. [24]

[edit] On allegations of "Hindu fascism"

Elst has written at length about fascism and totalitarianism in India and the West. His book The Saffron Swastika analyses the rhetoric of "Hindu fascism". He argues that "objective outsiders are not struck by any traces of fascism in the Hindutva movements, let alone in the general thought current of anti-imperialist Hindu awakening. While one should always be vigilant for traces of totalitarianism in any ideology or movement, the obsession with fascism in the anti-Hindu rhetoric of the secularists is not the product of an analysis of the data, but of their own political compulsions."[25]

In an article, he argued that the current tendency to accuse Hindu movements of “fascism” is nothing but a "replay of an old colonial tactic."[26]

[edit] On Nouvelle Droite and Vlaams Belang

Elst rejected the Nouvelle Droite movement after initial sympathy in the early 1990s. Among the reasons for his rejection he cites that the collaborationist aspects of the careers of two Belgian writers were covered up in Nouvelle Droite articles, and that he suspected that "its critique of egalitarianism in the name of “differentialism” could at heart simply be a plea against equality in favour of inequality, Old-Right style".[27]

However, he does not actively oppose the Nouvelle Droite movement:

Wisely or unwisely, I have not taken my scepticism to be a reason for any active hostility to the Nouvelle Droite people, some of whom I count as friends... Time permitting, I accept invitations from that side, so that I spoke at their conference in Antwerp in 2000, if only as a stand-in for an announced speaker who had cancelled at the last minute for health reasons (Pim Fortuyn, no less, the Dutch liberal sociology professor who criticized Islam, subsequently went into politics, and ended up murdered by a leftist).[28]

Jan De Zutter criticized Elst for being too close with the Vlaams Belang, as in June 1992, Koenraad Elst gave a speech on the dangers of Islam at the Vlaams Blok Colloquium where the party proposed its first version of its 70 point anti-immigration policy[29] Elst said that he spoke there because it was the only party where the problem of the Islam was brought up, but that he also explicitly said that he didn't agree with the party's solution for that problem, and disapproved of their xenophobia.[30] He stated that the VB can not be and was never his party because of its xenophobia and ethnocentrism.[31] Since this event, he has often been accused of being the party's specialist on Islam and its link with the new Pagan Movement.[citation needed] Though he himself denies any affinity to the party program,[32] he admits to "lukewarm" sympathy for the Flemish cause (of independence).[33] Lucas Catherine contrasted Elst's viewpoint with the viewpoint of Filip Dewinter, who according to her could not have been very happy with Elst's opinion that not the Moslems, but Islam, is the problem.[34]

[edit] On Islam

Although some of his books or articles contain harsh critics of Islam as a whole (among others "Wahi: the Supernatural Basis of Islam"; or "From Ayodhya to Nazareth", in which he dwelves into the realm of establishing a purported link between Ayodhya and the conflict between Palestinians and Israel, a try not isolated in some extreme-right european movements), Elst made a claim saying that he is not anti-Muslim, and argues often that “not Muslims but Islam is the problem”. [35] [36]

Belgian journalist Paul Belien has reported that Elst thinks that “Islam is in decline, despite its impressive demographic and military surge” – which according to Dr Elst is merely a “last upheaval.” But Elst also thinks that it is possible that Islam will succeed in becoming the majority religion in Europe before collapsing[37]

[edit] On other religions and philosophies

When at the beginning of 2007, Buddhist organisations in Belgium disclosed that they were applying for the status of a recognized religion on the same basis as agnosticism, Koenraad Elst started a campaign against the possible recognition of Buddhism in Belgium, using his blog and public speeches in cultural centres [38]. He openly used Maoist sources (mostly dealing with the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism) to discredit the Buddhist application.

At the end of March 2008, Koenraad Elst ridiculed Hugo Claus's decision to commit euthanasia, claiming that it was influenced by the purple agnostic lobby to embarrass the Roman Catholic Church [39].

[edit] On racism

Elst disapproves of xenophobia and racism, and elaborated: "Of course I have nothing to do with racism and xenophobia, and I have my life-story to prove it. Given the democratic slump in Europe, I am convinced that a measured and carefully monitored immigration is necessary. My hometown is host to people from every country, and I have a lot of foreign friends, mostly Indian and Chinese. So, I am not at all against immigrants, and I have personally helped some to integrate or to get naturalized as citizens of my country. But my criticism of Islam stands: Islam is intrinsically separatist and hostile to neighbour communities." [40]

Elst has helped Kurds and Pakistanis to integrate into Dutch society, and has a Chinese god child.[41] He said he believes that Turks and Moroccans can integrate themselves perfectly and assimilate, and that it doesn't matter if someone is called Ali or Fatima.[42]

[edit] On the Aryan Invasion theory

Elst, unlike some defenders or critics of the Aryan Invasion theory, does not claim that the debate is resolved. He wrote in his main work on the subject:

"One thing which keeps on astonishing me in the present debate is the complete lack of doubt in both camps. Personally, I don’t think that either theory, of Aryan invasion and of Aryan indigenousness, can claim to have been “proven” by prevalent standards of proof; even though one of the contenders is getting closer. Indeed, while I have enjoyed pointing out the flaws in the AIT statements of the politicized Indian academic establishment and its American amplifiers, I cannot rule out the possibility that the theory which they are defending may still have its merits."[43]

The Hindu nationalist N.S. Rajaram criticized Elst's book "Asterisk in Bharopiyasthan" because of Elst's alleged agenda of rescuing Indo-European linguistics from oblivion.[44] Elst's views on the Aryan Invasion Theory were also criticized by e.g. Hans Hock[45], Edwin Bryant[46], George Cardona[47] and rather severely by Michael Witzel[48].

[edit] Influences

Elst has published in English and Dutch. He contributed for example to the conservative magazine Nucleus.[49] He is also a contributor to the "conservative-libertarian" internet magazine The Brussels Journal, the Flemish satirical weekly 't Pallieterke and other Belgian & Dutch publications. He has also written for mainstream Indian magazines like Outlook India. He wrote a postcript to a book written by American neoconservative and middle-east scholar Daniel Pipes (The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West). He has also published critiques of Islamism in the West[50]. According to Sanjay Subrahmanyam, he has connections to the far-right Vlaams Blok.[51]

He has described himself as "a secular humanist with an active interest in religions, particularly Taoism and Hinduism, and keeping a close watch on the variegated Pagan revival in Europe."[52]

He has not adopted Hinduism: "I am neither a Hindu nor a nationalist. And I don’t need to belong to those or to any specific ideological categories in order to use my eyes and ears."[53] As a reason for his interest in Hindu nationalism, he says that he noticed for myself that the legitimate Hindu nationalists are thoroughly misrepresented in the journalistic and academic literature about them, and that the anomaly between their image and the reality on the ground struck him by surprise.[54] He also wrote: "However, I do readily admit to being a “fellow-traveller” of Dharmic civilization in its struggle for survival against the ongoing aggression and subversion by well-organized hostile ideologies. Only, I must add that in Hindutva-watching publications of the past decade, I have never encountered any journalistic or academic “expert” who was not a fellow-traveller of one of the warring parties."[55] This admission extends to his political sympathies; "Rest assured that in Hindutva circles, many people count as far more important than I."[56] He resists any attempts at direct association with the Sangh Parivar, however, calling his ideology 'Hindu Revivalism'.

[edit] Criticism

Manini Chatterjee, in a review in the Calcutta Telegraph, called Elst's book Ramjanmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid a “very bad book”.[57] She also said that it was marred by miserably tentative terminology, like "maybe" and "possibly".[58] Paul Teunissen's review of the same book criticizes Elst for the unfavourable portrayal of Syed Shahabuddin.[59]

Thomas Hansen criticized Elst as a "Belgian Catholic of a radical anti-Muslim persuasion who tries to make himself useful as a 'fellow traveller' of the Hindu nationalist movement”[60] Ashis Nandy criticized the alleged dishonesty and moral vacuity of Koenraad Elst.[61] Meera Nanda has criticized Elst and claimed that Elst holds Semitic monotheism responsible for the crisis of modernity.[62]

Sarvapalli Gopal in the book "Anatomy of a Confrontation" calls Elst "a Catholic practitioner of polemics" who "fights the Crusades all over again on Indian soil". He also says that it is difficult to take serious an author who "speaks of the centuries when there were Muslim rulers in India as a bloodsoaked catastrophe".[63]

Ayub Khan says that Koenraad Elst is the most prominent advocate of Sangh Parivar in the West. He further says: "Such is his importance in Hindutva circles that L.K.Advani quoted him at length while deposing before the Liberhans Commission investigation the demolition of Babri Masjid." In a reply to Ayub Khan, Elst says that he has been critcial of the Sangh Parivar in his writings.[64]

Christian Bouchet critcized Elst's book The Saffron Swastika for having placed far too much trust in Savitri Devi's autobiography, and for claiming that Savitri Devi was bisexual.[65]

Hindu revivalists have been generally favorable to Elst's work. David Frawley wrote that Elst has a command of political and social issues in India that is unmatched by any western writer and researched in great detail.[66]

Elst has replied to most of his critics in books or in articles.[67]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Problem of Christian Missionaries
  2. ^ New Age Fascism: Review of an Exercise in Marxist Defamation
  3. ^ Hinduism, Environmentalism and the Nazi Bogey
  4. ^ Hinduism, Environmentalism and the Nazi Bogey
  5. ^ Elst, K. Negationism in India
  6. ^ Goel:How I became a Hindu. ch.9
  7. ^ Goel:How I became a Hindu. ch.9
  8. ^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) Footnote 64
  9. ^ So, mr. Ghosh may be the Director of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, but as an independent scholar I am not impressed by such titles and positions. Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991)
  10. ^ Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu? Chapter Four
  11. ^ Ayodhya, The Finale - Science versus Secularism the Excavations Debate (2003) ISBN 81-85990-77-8
  12. ^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991)
  13. ^ Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu? Chapter Nine
  14. ^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) Chapter Fifteen
  15. ^ Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu? Chapter Eleven
  16. ^ Hinduism, Environmentalism and the Nazi Bogey -- A preliminary reply to Ms. Meera Nanda
  17. ^ Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 81-85990-01-8
  18. ^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) Chapter Fifteen
  19. ^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) Chapter Fifteen
  20. ^ Let's Combat Communalism
  21. ^ Hinduism, Environmentalism and the Nazi Bogey -- A preliminary reply to Ms. Meera Nanda
  22. ^ Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 81-85990-01-8
  23. ^ Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 81-85990-01-8
  24. ^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) Chapter Fifteen
  25. ^ Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991)
  26. ^ Was Veer Savarkar a Nazi? [1]
  27. ^ http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/fascism/Nazi5Poewe1.html The religion of the Nazis
  28. ^ http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/fascism/Nazi5Poewe1.html The religion of the Nazis
  29. ^ Jan De Zutter "Heidenen voor het blok - Radicaal rechts en het moderne Heidendom" (Heathens in favour of the Blok - the radical Right and modern Heathenism), ISBN 90 5240 582 4 (Published by Uitgeverij Houtekiet, Antwerpen / Baarn; 2000), p 17
  30. ^ http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/dutch/isvb.html Het VB en de islam
  31. ^ Wat is racisme? [2]
  32. ^ [3] Het VB en de islam - Koenraad Elst, published in Nucleus, october-november 2001
  33. ^ [4] Vlaanderen, Kasjmir, Tsjetsjenië, Kosovo... Het ene separatisme is het andere niet (Flanders, Kashmir, Chechnya, Kosovo: one separatism does not equal another) - Dr. Koenraad Elst, published in Secessie, Antwerpen, 2001
  34. ^ Lucas Catherine - Vuile Arabieren, p.81, quoted at [5]] Het VB en de islam - Koenraad Elst
  35. ^ Book Review - Saffron Wave
  36. ^ Let's Combat Communalism “Koenraad Elst--Sangh Parivar's Apologist”, a review of Decolonizing the Hindu Mind: Ideological development of Hindu Revivalism (Rupa, Delhi 2001), by Ayub Khan in Communalism Watch, 13 March 2003.
  37. ^ "Is Islam Dying? Europe Certainly Is", Paul Belien
  38. ^ De duistere zijde van het boeddhisme. Complete text, in Dutch, of the speech and photo:[6].
  39. ^ De Apotheose van Claus
  40. ^ Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 81-85990-01-8
  41. ^ Anders dan de meeste Blokkers, die inderdaad aan xenofobie ("vreemdelingenangst", overigens niet hetzelfde als vreemdelingen­haat) lijden, ga ik ook in het dagelijks leven veel met moslims en andere immigranten om, ondermeer mijn Chinees petekind en de Koerdische en Pakistaanse illegalen die ik met hun regularisatie help. http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/dutch/isvb.html Het VB en de islam
  42. ^ http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/dutch/isvb.html Het VB en de islam
  43. ^ Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate Aditya Prakashan (1999) ISBN 81-86471-77-4
  44. ^ This asterisk has no fine prints by NS Rajaram, Review in The Pioneer 18 March 2007
  45. ^ Edwin Bryant and Laurie L. Patton (editors) (2005). Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History.
  46. ^ The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture By Edwin Bryant. Oxford University Press
  47. ^ The Indo-Aryan Languages By Dhanesh Jain, George Cardona. Routledge
  48. ^ Edwin Bryant and Laurie L. Patton (editors) (2005). Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History.
  49. ^ bharatvani.org op.cit.
  50. ^ The Rushdie Rules, by Koenraad Elst, Middle East Quarterly, June 1998
  51. ^ Sanjay Subrahmanyam in the Times of India, August 22, 2006
  52. ^ bharatvani.org op. cit.
  53. ^ Elst interview
  54. ^ Elst interview
  55. ^ Voice of Dharma review
  56. ^ Let’s combat communalism
  57. ^ Koenraad Elst Who is a Hindu? (2001)
  58. ^ Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 81-85990-01-8
  59. ^ Koenraad Elst Who is a Hindu? (2001)
  60. ^ Thomas Hansen. The Saffron Wave. (p.262) http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/reviews/saffronwave.html
  61. ^ A. Nandy (“Creating a Nationality”, p.5) http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/interviews/sulekha.html
  62. ^ Meera Nanda: "Dharmic ecology and the neo-Pagan international: the dangers of religious environmentalism in India", presented at panel no. 15 at the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, 6-9 July 2004 in Lund, Sweden http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/politics/bogey.html
  63. ^ Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 81-85990-01-8
  64. ^ Let's Combat Communalism “Koenraad Elst--Sangh Parivar's Apologist”, a review of Decolonizing the Hindu Mind: Ideological development of Hindu Revivalism (Rupa, Delhi 2001), by Ayub Khan in Communalism Watch, 13 March 2003.
  65. ^ The eternal return of Nazi nonsense: Savitri Devi's last writings Savitri Devi Mukherji: Le National-Socialisme et la Tradition Indienne, with contributions by Vittorio de Cecco, Claudio Mutti and Christian Bouchet, published in the series Cahiers de la Radicalité by Avatar-éditions, Paris/Dublin 2004.
  66. ^ David Frawley:How I became a Hindu. http://www.hindubooks.org/david_frawley/how_i_became_a_hindu/journalistic_work/page9.htm
  67. ^ For example, Ayodhya-The Case Against the Temple, Asterisk in Bharopiyasthan, http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/politics/PolSec03AyubKhan1.html

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