By: Abhijit Bagal
Srikrshnah@yahoo.com
May 02, 2004

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“India was for close on a thousand years swept by barbaric invasions and for almost another thousand years in servitude to successive foreign masters. But in India at a very early time the spiritual and cultural unity was made complete and became the very stuff of life between the Himalayas and the two seas… Invasions and colonization have not been able to crush the ancient soul out of the body her Vedic rishis made for her.” (Sri Aurobindo)

The massacre of 6 million Jews and the persecution Jews suffered all over the world has been meticulously recorded by the Jews after 1945 and has been enshrined not only in history and school text books, but also in Holocaust museums. It has not been done with a spirit of revenge but to present facts as facts. Hindus of India have also suffered a terrible holocaust in the past. The Hindu Kush mountains for instance -- there is practically no serious research ever done about it and no mention in history books. The name Hindu Kush means `Hindu Killer,` and unlike the Jewish holocaust, the exact toll of the Hindu genocide suggested by the name Hindu Kush is not available.

The recent plight of the Kashmiri Pandits is another example of Hindu genocide. Over 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits have been forced to flee their homeland. Many Pandit men, women and children have been brutally murdered. About 70,000 still languish in makeshift refugee camps. Scores of temples in Kashmir have been desecrated, destroyed, looted; more than 900 educational institutions have been attacked by terrorists. Properties of Pandits have been vandalized, businesses destroyed or taken over; even hospitals have not been spared.

Francois Gautier, a correspondent covering India for more than 20 years, says that he has witnessed the terrible damage terrorism in Kashmir has inflicted upon people`s lives, their families, their culture, the very fabric of society, not only of the Kashmiri Pandits, but also of the Muslims in the valley, who after all, are victims too of Islamic jihad.

Mr. Gautier, born in Paris, is a French journalist and writer, who was for eight years the political correspondent in India and South Asia for “Le Figaro” and now works for Ouest-France, the largest circulation daily in France and LCI, France`s 24 hour TV news channel. Mr. Gautier has written several books: “Un autre Regard sur l`Inde" (Editions du Tricorne, Geneva-Paris), "Arise O India" (Har Anand) 1999, "A Western journalist on India" (Har-Anand 2001), "India`s Self Denial (Editions Auroville Press, 2001) and "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a guru of Joy" (India Today Book Club, 2002). He is married to Namrita, an Indian and has lived in India for the past 33 years. Mr. Gautier, who presently writes the "French Connection” column in the Pioneer and contributes regularly to Rediff.com ( http://www.rediff.com/news/franc.htm ), shuttles between Delhi and the international city of Auroville (named after Sri Aurobindo) near Pondichery in South India.

With some other journalist friends, Mr. Gautier has started FACT -- Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism ( http://www.terrorfact.com ) which strives to make known, both within India and in the world, the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits, one of the worst human rights abuses of the 20th century, which is not only totally ignored by the Western Press, but also by Amnesty International, the UN, and the Human Rights Watch. The first task of FACT has been to mount an exhibition on terrorism, focusing on the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits, so that the people of India, who do not suffer directly from terrorism understand, what it does to others. This exhibition, which opened at the Habitat Center, New Delhi, on July 18, 2003, was a great success. More than 25,000 people visited the exhibition till its closing day, on July 23.

The aim of FACT is manifold: to take the present exhibition all around India and all over the world, particularly the United States, where most symposiums on Kashmir, including a few organized by the US State Department, are peopled mostly by Pakistanis, and some Muslims and US based “Secular/Marxist-Leftist/Progressive/South-Asian” Indians who are rabidly anti-Hindu.

There are plans to start another exhibition on forced Christian conversions in the Northeastern part of India. Ultimately, the goal is to build a Hindu/Sikh/Buddhist/Jain/Indic Holocaust Museum based in either New Delhi, or in Bangalore. It will record not only the genocide of Indic people at the hands of Muslim invaders, but also the terrible persecution inflicted by the Portuguese (hardly mentioned in Indian history books) and the British colonialists -- nobody knows for instance that 20 million Indians died of famine between 1815 and 1920, because the English broke the agricultural backbone of India to get raw materials like cotton, jute etc.

In November 2003, Mr. Gautier went to Israel for 6 days and met there a number of personalities, thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Cooper and Dr Balitzer from the US based Wiesenthal foundation. The Indian ambassador in Israel, Raminder Jassal, was most helpful and has helped arrange the exhibition and meetings with some of Israel’s top political and cultural people. In December 2003, the exhibition was shown at the Indian Council of Cultural Research in New Delhi.

On the 23rd of December, 2003, the first meeting of the proposed Vedic/ Holocaust museum (name not fixed yet) took place in New Delhi. It was a high level meeting in the presence of Mr. Chowdury, Director National Museum; Dr. A.K Das, Director Lal Bahadur Shastri Museum; Dr O.P Kejariwal, Director Nehru National Memorial; Meenakshi Jain, Historian; Anupa Pande, Director National Institute; Dr Gurpreet Maini, Historian, Punjab Library Center; Dr S.S Biswas, former director National Museum etc.

The goals of the Indic Holocaust Museum was defined -- a path breaking museum, which will for the fist time depict Indian history in a frank and forthright manner; it will be modeled on the lines of the Jewish Holocausts museums, but will differ from them in the sense that it will start by defining the idea of Hindu Dharma and depict in a virtual manner all that was great in Vedic history and has been deprecated and post-dated by Western and Indian historians. It will show how this great Dharmic tradition survived all the successive holocausts and even assimilated some of the invaders. It will finish by highlighting some of the problems which India faces today (Ayodhya, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Islamic terrorism, Christian evangelical fundamentalism etc.) and by projecting India as a great spiritual, cultural and industrial power.

Working groups would be formed and research areas would be assigned to them, as the museum has been divided in six periods: 1) The idea behind the Hindu Dharma that is the Vedic and post-Vedic period. 2) First to 6th century BC, the pre-Islamic period, with the first invasions, Greeks, Huns. 3) 7th Century to 12th, the Islamic invasions. 4) Mughal period 13th century to 18th. 5) European invasions. 6) India Today and tomorrow.

Public support for this Indic Holocaust Museum is crucial and a lot of contributions are needed so that this museum may become a reality. Checks in Indian Rupees or Foreign funds have to be made in the full name ‘Foundation against Continuing Terrorism’ and should be mailed to: Francois Gautier, 41 Jorbagh (1st floor), New Delhi 110003, India.

The second meeting of the Holocaust/Vedic museum took place on January 19, 2004, in, New Delhi. Again, many leading historians were present -- Dr S.S Biswas, former Director, National Museum; Dr A.K Das, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri Museum; Prafull Goradia, historian and writer; Dr Gurpreet Maini, Historian; Anupa Pande, Director National Institute; Dr S.P Gupta, Chairman, Indian Archaeological Society. The periodization of the theme of the Museum was decided upon as a working basis, with modification and fine-tuning taking place as the need emerges. Kashmir, for its unique importance in the overall theme, will feature in its own right in addition to the general periodization. A committee was constituted of Drs Gupta, Biswas, Pande and Maini to prepare a concept paper, the paper would be sent as soon as it is ready to Mr. Gautier.

In March 2004 the exhibition was successfully shown to the Parliamentarians in the German Parliament. Amit Dasgupta, the Charge d’Affaires in the Indian Embassy in Berlin appreciated the exhibition and commented that it was well received by the German Parliamentarians and that the exhibition would be opened to the public.

Another major problem today is that many Indian journalists are not always proud of their own culture and roots and as a result tend to have a very negative outlook on India, which in turn influences western correspondents posted in India. It is therefore very important that new generations of Indian journalists are trained. It is for this purpose that Mr. Gautier and some of his other friends have also helped start a new school of journalism in Bangalore called the Sri Sri Center for Media studies ( http://www.sscms.org ) inspired by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation. There, students are taught the best of journalistic knowledge, both print and electronic, along with classes on Indian history, the ideal of true journalism, and a little bit of coaching in yoga-pranayama and meditation -- two ancient Indian sciences which impart a good and intuitive mind.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of competition both within India as well as in Bangalore, and schools such as the Asian school of journalism, sponsored by ‘The Hindu’ newspaper and the BBC, which form journalists in the hackneyed Secularist/Marxist mould with their anti-Hindu bias, have much more students and funds than this new school.

Foreign correspondents based in India are often very hostile to Indic ideals. Help is needed from the Non Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin -- they could send some of their children, whether they are first, second or third generation, to this new school of journalism, where they would be coached, and when they go back to their respective countries, they can enter mainstream newspapers and after they acquire some experience, they could ask to be posted to India, having a natural advantage by being of Indian origin and hopefully speaking Indian languages. In a few years time, the entire India / Hinduism coverage in the Western world could see a very important shift. At the moment only a one year post graduation course is offered, but eventually a three years complete graduate course will be available. The next session starts in July, 2004, and they need 35 students to break even and not lose money as they have done in the last three years. Those of you who are interested to join or to sponsor deserving students in India, whose parents do not have the means to pay the 90,000 Indian Rupees fee, can contact Mr. Gautier directly by email at: < fgautier@satyam.net.in >

The first two projects of the Vedic/Holocaust museum have started. Ideally, Mr. Gautier would like to have one sponsor per project --- that is, one period of Indian history, like the Portuguese rule for instance, which leads after a year of research to a traveling exhibition before being housed in a temporary museum. Each project will cost about Rs. Six Lakhs for the research only: (20,000 Rs. per month for one head researcher and another 20,000 pm for two assistants, plus travel expenses). Contributions in either foreign currency or Indian Rupees are okay and should be made in the name of ‘Foundation against Continuing Terrorism’ without any abbreviations.

Mr. Gautier is planning to be in Washington DC during the first week of May 2004 with a small Kashmiri Pandit exhibition and may travel to some other cities in the US and will try to get a Congressional hearing on the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. Your support is vital to make this happen. Please remember that “you are only as strong as your community” and that “if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.”

Abhijit Bagal

Note: The information in this article was derived from personal email communications that the author had with Francois Gautier.

About the author: Abhijit Bagal lives in New York State and works as an independent software consultant.