Voice of India (VOI) is a
publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
house based in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, that specialises in
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 ...
books and serves as one of the most important tools in the development 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 ...
ideologies.
History
Ram Swarup
Ram Swarup (Hindi: राम स्वरूप ; – ), born Ram Swarup Agarwal, was an Indian author and one of the most important thought leaders of the Hindu revivalist movement.Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt: Hindutva zwischen „Dekolonisierung ...
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 ...
traversed across a long politico-intellectual journey in the late 1940s that ended in the former choosing a "right leaning socialist cum atheist ideology" and the latter,
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
In 1948, Swarup, who used to work for an anti-communist think-tank, convinced Goel to denounce communism and soon, both of them embraced nationalism in their way to hardliner
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 ...
politics, whilst being actively sympathized by
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
(RSS).
They though renounced from partaking in active political activism and instead chose to insert themselves in the field of
metapolitics
Metapolitics (sometimes written meta-politics) is metalinguistic talk about politics; a political dialogue about politics itself. In this mode, metapolitics takes on various forms of inquiry, appropriating to itself another way toward the discourse ...
, confronting the Nehruvian secular establishments with a Hindu world view.
By 1949, Goel was writing for the ''
Organiser'', a RSS journal and later that year, both of them were running an
anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
think-tank from Kolkata.
However, over the years, they grew dissatisfied with RSS's unwillingness to develop a hardcore Hindu ideology to fight the three main enemies of India-Christianity, Islam and Marxism, and in 1981, Goel established VOI as a protest against the anti-intellectual culture of RSS.
Goel, in his autobiography--
How I Became a Hindu
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- ...
wrote of VOI's objective to "inform Hindu Society about its own great heritage, as also the dangers it faces" and publish Hindu-nationalist literature.
A year after the foundation, Goel had made an appeal for donation, that read:-
According to Pirbhai, the house was established to provide the
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" or the "RSS family") refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which rema ...
, which till then lived on borrowed slogans, a Hindu ideology of its own.
Attempts at refutation of the
Indo-Aryan migration
The Indo-Aryan migrations were the migrations into the Indian subcontinent of Indo-Aryan peoples, an ethnolinguistic group that spoke Indo-Aryan languages, the predominant languages of today's North India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lank ...
theory was also a core objective.
Authors
Voice of India is associated with numerous journalists, historians, social commentators and academicians such as
Arun Shourie
Arun Shourie (born 2 November 1941) is an Indian economist, journalist, author and politician. He has worked as an economist with the World Bank, a consultant to the Planning Commission of India, editor of the ''Indian Express'' and ''The Times ...
,
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 popular ...
, Shrikant Talageri,
Francois Gautier, Harsh Narain,
Subhash Kak
Subhash Kak is an Indian-American computer scientist and historical revisionist. He is the Regents Professor of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, an honorary visiting professor of engineering at Jawaharlal ...
,
Koenraad Elst
Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a Flemish right wing Hindutva author, known primarily for his support of the Out of India theory and the Hindutva movement. Schola ...
, and
N. S. Rajaram
Navaratna Srinivasa Rajaram (22 September 1943 – 11 December 2019) was an Indian academic and a Hindutva ideologue. He is notable for propounding the "Indigenous Aryans" hypothesis, asserting that the Vedic period was extremely advanced from ...
; nearly all of whom advocate for
Hindu nationalism
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 ...
in varying ways and self-identify as ''Bauddhik Kshatriyas'' ("intellectual warriors").
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80).
Witze ...
, 'Rama's Realm: Indocentric rewriting of early South Asian archaeology and history' in: ''Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public'' Routledge (2006), , p. 20
https://archive.org/donate/ onate book to Archive.org/nowiki>] Most of the authors do not have any subject-specific scholarship
and are
Islamophobia, Islamophobic.
Witzel has described the affiliated writers to be part of a "closely knit, self-adulatory group that churned out long identical passages, copied in cottage industry fashion". Bergunder recognises that not all authors published by Voice of India are on the extreme of the Hindu nationalist spectrum.
Almost every major colonial-era Hindu intellectual and especially
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
is derived from.
Publication themes
Monotheistic religions
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...
are deemed to be inherently violent, non-democratic and totalitarian in nature and thus, practice-able only by lower kinds of minds.
Non-deserving of any respect, they are deemed to be contemptible demonic diseases which masquerade as religions and similar to
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
et al, shall be deemed as the foremost threats to the welfare of the humanity and
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
.
Social services by
Christian Missionary
A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...
groups are deemed as a camouflage for their ultimate intent of
baptizing
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
people from other faiths and advocacy for
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
.
Anti-Muslim literature are published and reprinted in bulk and Muslims are portrayed as the primary reason behind the downfall of the erstwhile Hindu glory.
History of
Hindu holocaust at the hands of
Islamic invaders is prominently featured
and conversions to Hinduism are heavily advocated for liberation from the ''prison-houses'' of these
Abrahamic religions
The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran.
Jewish tradition ...
.
Kondo notes that
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, despite being a monotheistic religion, is spared with any criticism and is even occasionally praised courtesy their
original pluralistic roots.
In contrast, Hinduism is regarded as the very representative of Indian-ness, which had supposedly sought to create a cultural empire rather than an imperialist military driven one.
Additionally, a global appealing brand of Hinduism is crafted in a bid to attract Western spiritual seekers into the fold of Hinduism.
The Hindus are routinely asked to de-colonise their minds from Western schools of thought; the
Indigenous Aryans
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 is propounded as a rebut to the theory of
Indo-Aryan migration
The Indo-Aryan migrations were the migrations into the Indian subcontinent of Indo-Aryan peoples, an ethnolinguistic group that spoke Indo-Aryan languages, the predominant languages of today's North India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lank ...
and a
revisionist history of science is sketched that purports for the presaging of all modern mathematical and scientific advances, in the
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
.
Concepts of
Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava
''Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava'' is a concept embodying the equality of the destination of the paths followed by all religions (although the paths themselves may be different). The concept was embraced by Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar (she built ''masjid ...
—that all religions are equally true and lead to the same end, are rejected as anti-Hindu school of thought.
Audience
The works are of excellent typographical quality and widely available in print as well as over the web; there appears to exist a significant audience across the globe.
They have been used by
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 Modi ...
and its allied organs to legitimize the basis of their political campaigns.
Reception
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 ...
notes VOI to be the most strident medium of expression for Hindu triumphalism, wherein a common theme of Hindu superiority is put forward and which is increasingly penetrating public discourse in India.
She observes VOI to be on the far right of even RSS and that its authors considering the old guards of RSS (and
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 Modi ...
) to be too soft on Islam, blame them for failing to provide a sound defense of Hinduism against other Abrahamic religions.
Sebastian Kim notes that Goel and Voice of India are not officially associated with the
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" or the "RSS family") refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which rema ...
or other mainstream Hindu nationalist groups, and that the latter had purposefully distanced themselves from Goel and VOI due to the shrill rhetoric.
Moed Pirbhai notes an instance, where Goel was chided even 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 ...
, of
Babri Masjid fame, for excessively strong language.
Others have also noted of this non-linkage to have aided in VOI's impressions of being a neutral apolitical institution.
Nanda also notes an increasing marriage of VOI with the European-American far right as evidenced from the popularity of
Koenraad Elst
Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a Flemish right wing Hindutva author, known primarily for his support of the Out of India theory and the Hindutva movement. Schola ...
,
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 ...
et al.
Kondo observes cherry-picking of data and abuse of history to be a prominent tool in VOI publications; whilst destruction of temples, forced conversions etc. are highlighted to attest the true essence of Islam, the publications don't mention the numerous cases where Hinduism and Islam have co-existed peacefully for eras.
Thomas Charles Nagy whilst assessing Ishan Sharan's ''The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple'' and other works (all published by VOI) noted an aggressive and absolutist tone coupled with an affinity for manipulating the history, which was guided by the broader political aspects of present-day-India and the Hindutva ideology.
Pirbhai notes degradation of Islam as well as the derision of Muslims to be two core themes of VOI.
He also remarks that the most repeated statement in Voice of India writings seems to be that ‘the problem is not Muslims but Islam’.
According to Heuze, the Voice of India authors draw their inspiration from democratic texts, European thought and secular and democratic polemicists to justify their anti-Islamic "crusade" while simultaneously distancing themselves from everything that could be perceived as an endorsement of the extreme-right. Kim notes that the VOI publications have been integral resources behind the anti-Muslim and anti-Christian campaigns of the Indian Hindu-right.
Malini Parthasarathy
Malini Parthasarathy is an Indian journalist, who was an editor of ''The Hindu'' during 2015–2016, and is currently the chairperson of group's publishing company, THG Publishing Private Limited (formerly part of Kasturi & Sons Limited).
Fam ...
notes them to be at the forefront of the resurgence of Hindu nationalism in India.
Other scholars have noted its books to pursue a revisionist project centered around an "epistemic obsession with primordial Aryanism".
Bergunder deems these non-scholarly revisionist attempts as a tool to fulfill their broader ideological agenda of rejecting the
subaltern discourse.
Indologists
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80).
Witze ...
and Steve Farmer writes:
[Witzel, Michael and Steve Farmer. 2000. , ]
Frontline
', 17(20), September 30-October 13.
Academics and intellectuals who disagree with the VOI scholarship are often branded as negationists, who suffer from Hindu cowardice and thus seek to conceal or whitewash facts.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Book publishing companies of India
Hindu nationalism
Hindu revivalist writers
Hinduism and Islam
Hinduism-related controversies
Hinduism studies books
History books about Hinduism