This should worry all. Not just Indians in Aotearoa but everyone. While it might appear to be a benign multicultural event aimed to uplift and empower Indian women in Aotearoa, i.e. women of colour, the image clearly informs us that is a gathering of upper caste Hindu women within the umbrella of the Hindu Council of New Zealand and HOTA, Hindu Organisations, Temples and Associations. We have written extensively about the Hindu Council and that it is the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, deemed a religious militant organisation by the CIA.
HOTA is just another extension of the same. We recommend the reader gets familiar with the symbols and language of Hindu extremists. They all exist in Aotearoa.
The feminist aspirations of this Hindu Women Conference then are just a carrot to dangle in front of the horse of multiculturalism, the Pākeha liberals use to showcase Aotearoa as an inclusive country.
We want to remind all Indian women here, and those that do not know the feminist history of India, Brahmin women can get a formal education today because of Savitribai Phule, a Dalit woman, a caste-oppressed woman who started the first girl’s school in India.
So, for upper caste Hindu women to talk about leadership within the framework of Hindutva is not feminism. It is about their role in perpetuating the patriarchy and maintain their own hierarchy.
These women want to talk about decision making in temples but have likely forgotten that when the Supreme Court of India permitted menstruating women in the Sabarimala Temple, it was the same conservative groups that protested and rioted.
A shame the High Commission of India has forgotten its role as a diplomatic mission and as support for ALL Indians. Instead hosting Hindu extremists and their terrorist organisations at the cost of making our minorities here feel unsafe.
There is another reason though. Having such an event in camera perhaps, allows the organisers to control the narrative.
Upper caste Hindu women are always taught to fear Muslim men. This conference is made for that. And one cannot talk about such issues if the attendees are not the already converted. Or politicians who think they are attending a multicultural-women-of-colour event.
We state here that all women are unsafe from Hindutva men, the Hindu trads with their inherent violence and misogyny. In person and online.
Recently one of our activists Dr. Sapna Samant had Indian male trolls attack her for commenting on a story about the upcoming Auckland Diwali event.
We write this first, but it is likely the mainstream will hear of this from RNZ’s IndoNZ journalists where it is framed as a multicultural event with all traces of Hindutva removed. And legitmised by a politician or two.
We also post here a link to Professor Mohan Dutta’s white paper Cultural Hindutva and Islamophobia that we suggest the readers visit/revisit to know and understand how Hindutva works to be culturally acceptable in Aotearoa.
Republished from https://www.aotearoaprogressiveindians.org/ with minor edits. Read the original article here.
Aotearoa Alliance of Progressive Indians
Aotearoa Alliance of Progressive Indians (AAPI) is a collective of community members, activists, artists, performers, academics, physicians, and professionals from across Aotearoa New Zealand committed to a vision of India based on progressive values. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of NRI Affairs.
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