Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
right wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
Hindutva
Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...
author, known primarily for his support of the
Out of India
Indigenous Aryanism, also known as the Indigenous Aryans theory (IAT) and the Out of India theory (OIT), is the conviction that the Aryans are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and that the Indo-European languages radiated out from a homela ...
theory and the
Hindutva
Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...
movement. Scholars have accused him of harboring
Islamophobia
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...
.
Early life and education
Elst was born into a
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
family but he rejects Roman Catholicism and instead calls himself a “
secular humanist
Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...
”.
He graduated in
Indology
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') i ...
,
Sinology
Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the e ...
and
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
at the
Catholic University of Leuven
University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to:
* Old University of Leuven (1425–1797)
* State University of Leuven (1817–1835)
* Catholic University of L ...
. Around that time, Elst became interested in
Flemish nationalism. Between 1988 and 1992, Elst was at the
Banaras Hindu University. In 1999, he received a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...
in Asian Studies from Leuven. His doctoral dissertation on
Hindu revivalism was published as ''Decolonizing the Hindu Mind''.
Prema Kurien notes Elst to be unique among the
Voice of India scholars in the regard of his having an advanced academic degree in a related field of their professional discourse.
Works
Indigenous Aryan theories
In two books, ''Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate'' (1999) and ''Asterisk in Bhāropīyasthān'' (2007), Elst argues against the academically accepted view that the
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, D ...
originated in the
Kurgan
A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...
culture of the
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
n
steppes
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grassland ...
and that the migrations to
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...
in the second millennium BCE brought a
proto-Indo-European language
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
with them.
He instead proposes that the language originated in India and it spread to Middle East and Europe when the Aryans, (who were indigenous) migrated out.
According to Elst, the linguistic data are a soft type of
evidence
Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field.
In epistemology, evidenc ...
and are compatible with a variety of scenarios. The dominant linguistic theories may be compatible with an out-of-India scenario for Indo-European expansion.
One of the few authors to use
paleolinguistics,
he is deemed as one of the leading proponents of the
Indigenous Aryans (Out of India fringe theory). The theory has been rejected by the scholarly community and is not deemed as a serious competitor to the
Kurgan hypothesis
The Kurgan hypothesis (also known as the Kurgan theory, Kurgan model, or steppe theory) is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the Proto-Indo-European homeland from which the Indo-European languages spread out throughout Europe and pa ...
,
except by some authors in India.
Hindutva and Islamophobia
Elst was an editor of the
New Right Flemish nationalist journal ''
Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies'' from 1992 to 1995, focusing on
criticism of Islam and had associations with
Vlaams Blok
''Vlaams Blok'' ( en, Flemish Block, or VB) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independen ...
, a
Flemish nationalist
The Flemish Movement ( nl, Vlaamse Beweging) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to prom ...
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
political party. He has also been a regular contributor to ''
The Brussels Journal'', a controversial conservative blog.
In ''Ram Janmabhoomi vs Babri Masjid'', Elst makes the case for the birthplace of
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bei ...
, the Hindu god/king to correspond with the site of
Babri Masjid
Babri Masjid ( IAST: Bābarī Masjid; meaning ''Mosque of Babur'') was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim commun ...
and concurrently portrays Islam as a fanatic bigoted faith. The book was published by Voice of India, a publication house that is self-describedly devoted to furthering the Hindu nationalist cause and had attracted immense criticism for publishing anti-Muslim literature in abundance.
It was though praised by
L. K. Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
, former deputy Prime Minister of India, who commanded an important role in the
demolition of the said masjid.
[Sita Ram Goel, ''How I became a Hindu''. ch.9] In ''Ayodhya and After'' (1991), Elst was even more explicit in the support of the demolition and termed it an exercise in national integration which provided "an invitation to the Muslim Indians to reintegrate themselves into the society and culture from which their ancestors were cut off by fanatical rulers and their thought police, the theologians". In another interview, Elst went on to claim that it was a justified act of revenge which enforced fears of Hindu repercussion, thus curtailing Muslim violence.
He though has retrospectively rejected the use of violent force in the demolition of the temple and has urged the Muslims to contend with the construction of a peace monument.
An intellectual heir of the school of thought championed by
Ram Swarup and
Sita Ram Goel
Sita Ram Goel (16 October 1921 – 3 December 2003) was an Indian historian, religious and political activist, writer, and publisher in the late twentieth century. He had Marxist leanings during the 1940s, but later became an outspoken anti-co ...
— the founders of the Voice of India, who were themselves highly critical of both
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
and
Islam—Elst is a prominent author of the house
and adopts their hard-line stance against the two religions in his book. Elst argues that there existed an ''universal spirituality'' among all the races and faiths, prior to the introduction of "Semitic" faiths which corrupted it.
In ''Decolonizing the Hindu Mind'', he contends that the "need for 'reviving' Hinduism spring from the fact that the said hostile ideologies (mostly Islam) have managed to eliminate Hinduism physically in certain geographical parts and social segments of India, and also (mostly the Western ideologies) to neutralize the Hindu spirit among many nominal Hindus."
He is a vocal proponent of
Hindutva
Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...
, a
Hindu nationalist
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...
movement which is typically associated with the far-right and supports the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
.
Elst perceives Hindutva as a tool to
decolonize
Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence ...
the mental and cultural state of Indians and return to the past days of Hindu glory. He has written in support of the view that the Vedic science was highly advanced and may be only understood by a Hindu mystic. ''The Saffron Swastika'' is widely regarded to be his ''magnum opus
'', which argues against the idea that the brand of Hindutva practiced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) / Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are fascist in ideology. Advani had high regards for the work, terming Elst as a 'great historian' and even carried a "heavily marked" copy of the book from which he freely quoted the passages that discussed him.
In other essays and conferences, Elst has supported for outright attacks on the ''enemy'' ideology of Islam which, in his opinion, is supposedly inseparable with terrorism and hence, must be destructed.
He calls for an Indian-ization of Muslims and Christians by forcing them to accept the supremacy of Hindu culture and terms it as the ''Final Solution for the Muslim Problem''. In his 1992 book, ''Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam'', Elst attempts to demonstrate that there exists a
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
of criticism of Islam in India and accuses ''secular historians'' (including the likes of
Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Quotr: "The pre-eminent interpreter of ancient Indian history today. ... " Thapar is a Professor ...
,
Bipan Chandra
Bipan Chandra (24 May 1928 – 30 August 2014) was an Indian historian, specialising in Economic history of India#Republic of India, economic and Politics of India, political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history ...
,
Ram Sharan Sharma
Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011) was an Indian historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was visiting ...
et al.) of suffering from Hindu Cowardice wherein they ignore Muslim crimes against Hindu communities, in order to fulfill their Marxist agenda.
Reception
Elst has attracted significant criticism from the academia.
Anthropologist and noted commentator on politico-religious spheres
Thomas Blom Hansen
Thomas Blom Hansen (born 22 January 1958 in Frederiksvaerk) is a Danish anthropologist and leading contemporary commentator on religious and political violence in India.
Background
Hansen has a BA in Sociology and an MA in political theory from ...
described 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". Historian
Sarvepalli Gopal
Sarvepalli Gopal (23 April 1923 – 20 April 2002) was a well-known Indian historian. He was the son of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first Vice-President and the second President of India. He was the author of the ''Radhakrishnan: A Biography ...
deemed Elst to be "a Catholic practitioner of polemics" who was fairly oblivious of modern historiography methods. Meera Nanda deems him to be a far-right Hindu cum Flemish nationalist. Elst has engaged in
historical revisionism and has been described variedly as a Hindu fundamentalist, pro-Hindutva right-wing ideologue, Hindutva apologist and Hindutva propagandist.
''
''
Meera Nanda
Meera Nanda (born 1954) is an Indian writer and historian of science, who has authored several works critiquing the influence of Hindutva, postcolonialism and postmodernism on science, and the flourishing of pseudoscience and vedic science. Sh ...
has accused Elst of exploiting the writings of his intellectual forefathers over Voice of India, to "peddle the worst kind of Islamophobia imaginable".
Sanjay Subrahmanyam similarly deems Islamophobia as the common ground between Elst and the traditional Indian far right. Elst strongly denies the charges of him being an anti-Muslim, but insists that "not Muslims but Islam is the problem".
Elst's work has drawn praise from fellow Hindutva activists and conservatives.
David Frawley
David Frawley (born 1950) is an American author, astrologer, teacher (''acharya'') and a proponent of Hindutva.
He has written numerous books on topics spanning the Vedas, Hinduism, Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedic astrology. His works have been popula ...
deemed his work on Ayodhya as "definitive" and
Paul Beliën
Paul Beliën (born 1959), is a Flemish Belgian journalist, author and founder of the conservative blog The Brussels Journal.
Beliën is a master of law with specialisations in European and social security law from the University of Ghent and h ...
had described him as "one of Belgium's best orientalists";
François Gautier
François Gautier (born 1950) is a journalist based in India who served as the South Asian correspondent for multiple reputed French-language dailies. He advocates for an Indigenous Aryan narrative.
He is also the founder of a private museum ...
considers Elst as one of the most knowledgeable scholars on India and regretted of his' being unable to publish except from Hindu-oriented publishing houses. Ramesh Nagaraj Rao praised Elst for his unassuming and brilliantly meticulous research whilst blaming the academia for turning him into an demonic figure, only to ignore his works.
Influences
Anders Behring Breivik
Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...
, a Norwegian far-right terrorist, responsible for the
2011 Norway attacks
The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...
extensively borrowed from his works, in writing his manifesto.
The manifesto, among other things sought to deport all Muslims from Europe and quoted Elst in asserting the existence of a massive movement that was aimed to
''deny the large-scale and long-term crimes against humanity committed by Islam
''.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
External links
From Macaulay to Frawley, from Doniger to Elst: Why do many Indians need White saviours?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elst, Koenraad
1959 births
Living people
People from Leuven
Belgian Indologists
Belgian political writers
Belgian columnists
Flemish writers
Islam and politics
Banaras Hindu University alumni
KU Leuven alumni
20th-century Belgian writers
21st-century Belgian writers
Writers about Hindu nationalism
Analysts of Ayodhya dispute
Indigenous Aryanists
Voice of India writers
Former Roman Catholics
Secular humanists
Hindutva