Team IK for Dr. B S Harishankar
Cultural Terrorism : Conflicts and Debates on Cultural Pasts authored by Dr.B.S.Harishankar . The work is published by Indus Scrolls Press New Delhi (www.indusscrolls.com). The price of the book is Rs.350. 248 pages.
The book has been recently released , by RSS Sarsangachalak , Bhagwat ji. Available on Amazon and on Flipkart.
“Cultural Terrorism” highlights how culture and heritage are hijacked and monopolized by certain religio- political lobbies in India and abroad, as part of a global strategy to undermine societies, propagate intolerance and erase past memories among people, especially in Third World countries. This cultural cleansing is currently launched by cultural lobbies using ideology as a tactic of invasion, backed by huge foreign funds, academicians, writers and media to uproot countries, especially India, from its ancient past. Using such a brigade, the offenders infiltrate and monopolize higher education and research in universities, and through their NGOs produce dubious and hoax reports to brainwash us on our cultural existence. Such an orchestrated cultural invasion is an ongoing phenomenon in India because, such ideological lobbies know the power of Indian culture to integrate people, rejuvenate diverse societies, blend conflicting diversities, sustain values, identities and a sense of belonging to the homeland.
Globalization which has marketed both trade and terrorism has also opened a convenient corridor for cultural terrorism to function in south Asia, especially India using academics. In 2017, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova highlighted the key role of heritage protection in forging new strategies, for peace and social cohesion in situations of conflict. Recently the Ministry of Home Affairs under Government of India has highlighted norms of foreign funds in research areas deemed sensitive. This work has much relevance in this context.
There are twenty one articles in this work. They comprehensively discuss perils on India’s cultural pasts, interventions by colonial and post colonial groups on our historiography, and the changing dimensions of our social and cultural history.
The work examines multiple topics such as Aryan issues, colonial constructs of caste, imperial census, epics and cultural geography, issues on nationalism, recent attacks on national icons such as Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo by left and radical groups, Abhinava Gupta’s legacy and Kashmir’s cultural links with greater India, assaults on our traditional knowledge systems, classical Tamil tradition’s link with rest of India, subaltern and tribal issues, conflicts among various Islamic and Church denominations in West and South Asia, Indo Jewish fraternity, archaeological excavations threatening our security such as in Keezhadi and Pattanam, and foreign funds and espionage in global universities by left and Wahabbi groups.
There are four sections in which these twenty one articles are thematically arranged from an academic perspective. Section one titled ‘Many Trajectories of Subversion’ defines and narrates the extent and scope of cultural terrorism. The second section titled ‘Divide et Impera’ discusses in present context, Aryan politics, colonial caste, imperial census and debates on Saraswati river highlighting recent advances in archaeology and physical anthropology . Third section titled ‘Expropriating our Legacy’ deals with debates on Ramayana and Mahabharata, ancient heritage of Kashmir, India’s knowledge tradition and also, how ancient Tamil traditions are hijacked by religious and racial lobbies using foreign funds. The fourth section Conflicts Intrigues and Unholy Pacts deals with secret agendas between Indian left academicians and church lobbies.
The work also exposes the Cultural Terrorists , Wendy Doniger, Michael Witzel, Sheldon Pollock and George Soros who constantly interfere in our cultural Pasts.
Bharat will rise and show the path of molsha to the misguided comity of nations.
Ordered the Book a few days back and have just started reading what appears to be a wonderful account on the Political Uses of Culture in the context of both Imperialism and post-Colonial societies, especially India.
At a time when Big Tech straddles the vantage position in International Politics and is increasingly becoming too eager to don the cloak and dagger of an Ideology thought supposedly buried under the rubble of the Berlin Wall, books such as these could find their way into digital memory holes for lifting the curtains from over our eyes.
I bought the Book, like many other works of scholarship, because at least by preserving the record of the intellectual struggles of the modern Hindu for my future progeny in the form of a modest collection, I may make amends for having stood on the sidelines at a time when I should have been in the mainstream of this life and death battle for our Ancient Civilisation.