Sorry for the long absence, and the fact that I'll gloss over much of what's been going on while I was away. What I found most interesting was that hinduwoman wrote:

"About hindu mulitancy --- I am very confused about it. But if we are too peaceful or chivalrous Islam is going to wipe us out for sure."

This statement is enough to make me blush at my snide remarks about hinduwoman repeating canards and dangerous nonsense. (Despite the fact that most of what she wrote earlier does really qualify for either dangerous nonsense or Goebbelsian canards). Sorry, hinduwoman, if you have the sense to smell something fishy about hindu militancy, you have me rooting for you. Your job is specially tough since most of your information comes from sources that are frying political fish. Moreover, these sources have implanted doubts in your mind about the sincerity of "secular" hindus. You seem to think that the celebrated "pseudo-secularist" so commonly encountered in hindutva discourse is a traitor to hinduism. My submission is just the reverse. It is the militant, hate-spewing, homogenizing hindutva ideology that has betrayed us.
I have equal, if not more, concern about fundamentalist, hate-spewing, homogenizing militant islam, and hope to see it wiped off the face of earth. But not by bigoted Hindus, as you seem to want; nor by "triumphant christianity" as Sastan hopes. My fond hope is that we, the right thinking, rational, irreverent, secular, civil citizenry will overcome these reactionary, retrogressive trends in the cultural evolution of human beings.
amit

You have not still told me what 'dangerous nonsense' I had been spouting.

I think that Amit Misra considers you too sympathetic to Hindu militants; at least, that's my best guess on what he means.

And yes, I get a chuckle out of the idea of Hussein painting a naked woman who is supposedly Ayesha. The excrement would hit the fan in the Muslim community. Metaphorically, of course :-)

Oh I got that Mishra thinks me close to Hindutva. But I had posted a list of Hindu grievances against the Muslim community at present and behaviour of pseudo-intellectuals. Which of them are he calling canards and why?

HindooHeathen

Is Hinduthva synonymous with Hindu fundamentalism?

A fundamentalist believes in some basic fundamental beliefs and demands exclusive universal recognition for them elevating them to the level of empirical scientifically verified facts. Belief based religions, which promote conformity always as a rule produce fundamentalists. At times, they dominate the respective religions and at times, they become a fringe group. However, the so-called Hindu "ism" is not a belief-based religion rather a way of life with emphasis on the unhindered spiritual quest of an individual. As such the Hindu milieu has always promoted diversity rather than conformity. Always the search for the elusive Hindu fundamentals has resulted in utter confusion and frustration of the Western scholars. Then how can there be Hindu fundamentalists when Hindu "ism" lacks any belief-based fundamentals? For example, many Hindus consider reincarnation as a fact and equally many Hindu sects reject reincarnation. Yet, both have lived side by side without persecuting each other. (Some modern scholars have countered this argument by taking exactly two questionable records, Pushya Mitra's persecution of Buddhists and Koon Pandiyan's persecution of Jains. Both the Pushy Mitra legend and the so-called persecution of Jains in South India, have essentially no historical authenticity. What have been produced by a very few scholars as evidences to prove Hindu persecution of Buddhists and Jains, are always much-localized quarrels. Moreover, they too number no more than the number fingers on one hand, in a Hindu history of five thousand years! Both Elst and Sita Ram Goyal have given excellent countering to these two myths of persecution. ) Then what is Hinduthva, which is often spoken of as the Hindu fundamentalism? Hinduthva is the upholding of the essentially Hindu nature of Indian nation and her cultural unity. Because it is the Hindu nature, that has made India a repository of diversity. The origin of Hinduthva starts not with the founding of RSS in 1925. Swami Vivekananda has stressed it. So, have Sri Aurobindo and Bal Gangadhhar Thilak. So has Mahatma Gandhi in his book "Hind Swaraj". Down south, MahaKavi Subramanya Bharathi wrote about it. Dr. Annie Beasent also stressed its need. Only thing the term Hinduthva was not coined then. Veer Savarkar coined it. What was the need? The Muslim appeasement policy of the Congress, done in good will, but without realizing the consequences, necessitated it. It is unfortunate that the Congress leadership of that time ignored the secular Muslim leadership. In addition, it manipulated the Muslim mass psyche with extra-territorial loyalties and through the agencies of fanatical Maulvis. Then at every stage, one finds Congress ready to appease and even directly contributing to the growth of Muslim League.
The Calcutta killings and NavKoli massacres have their roots at the Congress negationism over Mopilla riots. But for Savarkar's timely intervention limited only by his own fading influence (as against Gandhiji), many more Hindu families would have been destroyed. Coming to the much repeated propaganda line against RSS that Godse was its member; Godse was actually a former member of RSS. In addition, he found RSS too timid and inadequate. Then Godse was also a former member of Congress too. The home ministry then conducted a thorough investigation into the fact as to whether RSS was in any way connected with Mahatma's assassination and freed Sangh of all the charges. Yet, some people revel in charging the Sangh with that fratricidal crime of killing the Mahatma. Today India is ruled by a tribe of secular politicians whose secularism is as phony as a four-rupee note. The forces of Church and Islamic fundamentalism coupled with Communism threaten India's pluralist society not the forces of Hinduthva. For example the Ekatmata Stotra (Hymns of India's spiritual unity) daily recited by millions of RSS boys throughout the length and breadth of this nation mention Sufi saints like Kabir and Raz Khan. Their names I learnt not in my government history textbooks but in the RSS Shaka grounds. Go through the Ekatmata Stotra and one will find it as a rich tribute and celebration of pluralist India. And these people are charged with exclusivism and homogenizing. Visit VanVasi Kalyan Ashrams run by the RSS. They are running more than 10,000 one-teacher schools in the tribal areas. And they are not destroying the cultural diversity of the tribal area. Rather while empowering the tribals, they also preserve their spiritual heritage, which has been threatened by missionaries. Take for example the case of NLFT (a terrorist outfit bred and nourished by the Baptist Church). It has banned all tribals from conducting their traditional ceremonies and compel that they even give up their rites of passage for Christian customs. NSCN openly declare in their manifesto that they are fighting for a Christian Nagaland! Al-Umma movement (responsible for Coimbatore bomb blasts which killed more than 100 innocent people) and its political voice TMMK (with whom secular political parties have electoral tie-up) have taken up a grass root movement to "clean" Indian Islam of all Hindu impurities and making Muslims more Arabic. Indian Communist parties have always acted as cheer leaders for ethnic cleansing of Tibetans, Chinese aggression of India and Stalinist purges. Yet RSS and Hinduthva are charged with homogenizing Indian society.