Firebrand Hindu Cleric Yogi Adityanath Picked as Uttar Pradesh Minister

[Recursion]

Source: NYT

India’s governing party on Saturday appointed a firebrand Hindu cleric to lead the country’s most populous state, a turning point for a government that has, until now, steered clear of openly embracing far-right Hindu causes.

The choice of Yogi Adityanath — who has been repeatedly accused of stirring anti-Muslim sentiments — to lead Uttar Pradesh, came as a shock to many political observers here, who have become accustomed to the carefully moderated public positions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in line with his projected image as a pro-development leader and global statesman.

Mr. Adityanath has openly called for India to be enshrined as a “Hindu rashtra,” or Hindu nation, and supports the rebuilding of a temple to the Hindu god Ram, also known as Rama, on the site of a razed 16th-century mosque, a project that was halted after it incited bloody religious riots in the 1990s.

With the appointment, Mr. Modi “is unveiling a vision of benign majoritarianism,” said Shekhar Gupta, a longtime editor and political talk show host. “That means it’s a Hindu country, that’s the fact, and we’ll be nice to you if you behave yourself.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/world/asia/firebrand-hindu-cleric-yogi-adityanath-picked-as-uttar-pradesh-minister.html

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This guy is crazy, and this is horrible news.

[LeftInTX]

1. He looks like a villian out of a Bollywood movie, except he has little hands

[synergie]

2. I really wish the people writing these pieces would bother to do their homework.

I don't know much about this guy, but the extra bits in that NYtimes article need to be more informed.

The mosque that was razed was built on the site of a razed temple to Rama, in his birthplace, so there are issues on both sides, and he is apparently a priest in some sect's temple, not just dressing up like one, and there is no uniform among priests.

The guy might be actually crazy, but he's popular among the people he's going to be governing, let's hope that everyone keeps an eye on him and ensures he doesn't actually violate the laws he's supposed to be upholding.


Who's the political talk show host, is it like citing Rush Limbaugh or someone with credibility?

And since when are Indians forced to do a sun salutation?

Sorry, but these sloppy articles just annoy the heck out of me, why can't they find someone who actually understands the topic being covered to explain who this guy is and why it's an issue, without all this ignorant nonsense?

[Recursion]

3. Sorry, no

Nope. I've seen too many people carrying RSS's water to fall for any of the things you're saying.


And since when are Indians forced to do a sun salutation?

Seriously? Did you miss that entire yoga in the schools saga?


The mosque that was razed was built on the site of a razed temple to Rama

See, that's what I mean about RSS talking points. Do you remember the Mandal riots?

[synergie]

4. Sorry, but who mentioned the RSS? I've seen too many instances of ignorant

writers saying dumb things about India, which is what I addressed and the sole thing I addressed.

Seriously, I guess I missed where anyone was "forced to do a sun salutation".

See, that Ayodhya thing isn't an RSS talking point, it's an actual dispute that predates the RSS and whatever by a hundred years. Leaving out that tidbit is actually not informing someone who doesn't know anything about the country or the religion, assuming that this writer actually had a clue and given the rest of the silly bits in there, I'm guessing there is a huge amount of ignorance.

See, when you fail to actually read what was written and why, and only see through the political bias, you miss the point.

The writer was ignorant, and you seem to share that ignorance of history and facts due to your obsession with the RSS thing.

I stand by my criticism of the author's ignorance and once again point out that you seem to share her bias and ignorance of the underlying facts. It's nice that you were paying attention to the 80's politics, but the issue here is the history of the site going back to the 1500's, which to the Western world is ancient history, but not so much to a country that remembers quite well the destruction of the barbarian conquers, both British and Mughal and the destruction they wrought. This has been documented pretty widely, and is not contested, regardless of what right wing nut jobs decided to do hundreds of years later.

Did you bother to look at history and the issue from all sides, or is it just accepting the words of people whose motives you don't know good enough?

Not the most effective way to inform oneself, and the NYT repeatedly falls on its face when veering from the basic facts.

This dude has quite the history, but when they veered off his own words and actions, they exposed their poor research and ignorance. Get the RSS off your mind and study the history, the actual underlying one, not only of the issues but how westerners cover things. They're kind of terrible at it.

[Recursion]

5. The fact that you *didn't* mention them is what's telling

It's nice that you were paying attention to the 80's politics, but the issue here is the history of the site going back to the 1500's

Sorry, I have no interest in the rabbit hole of communal claims stretching back centuries. Let's stick with people who are still alive right now. Or people who aren't alive right now but should be, like the guy who was beaten to death because this demagogue's mouth-breathing followers decided to beat him to death after hearing he had beef in his freezer.

Hindutva is Naziism in saffron and I have no patience left for it.

[synergie]

6. Um, I was criticising the terrible reporting, so um your obsession with the RSS

speaks more about your own bias than anything else.

Okay, you, like the ignorant writer, have no interest in actual facts, or knowing of what you speak? Got it.


Um, the guy was beaten to death was accused of stealing an animal from his neighbor. All the religious bigotry here on all sides obscures that simple fact. This guy had nothing to do with inciting anything against that man, he said dumb things AFTER the fact. So, let's stick with actual facts, and the point that you seem to be rabidly, mouth breathingly as ridiculous as the guy you criticize.

Hindutva is quite literally nothing at all like Nazism, but the characterization by ignorant folks who wish to demonize anyone who dares question literally any and ALL attacks on Hinduism, shares a bit more with that group and their penchant for demonizing groups they wish to abuse. I have no patience with such ignorance or such bigotry at all, that Nazi thing is offensive, on literally all levels and is beneath you.

That writer didn't do her homework, and you seem to be too blinded by your own bias to see how you're no better than what your criticize.

There are some feral folks running around literally calling anyone who dares to NOT attack India or Hindus, as being "hindutva", it's patently ridiculous. All this religious bigotry against an entire religion over a horrific crime of vigilantism against a guy who stole another guy's cow.

I'd suggest you stop embracing the ignorance and look into facts, and get better sources than other ignorant folk too damned lazy to find out basic facts that they insist including for no reason. It's willful and lazy ignorance like this that allows demagogues to flourish and actual Nazis to justify their hate of those they choose to scapegoat.

[Hortensis]

7. Hotter climates, hotter heads, fried brains.