Sonal Shah under pressure

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At the same time that one report mentions Sonal as a possible cabinet choice, Sonal seems to be under pressure as a member of the transition team as a couple of mainstream media outlets started to write about her.

I last posted about Sonal when she issued her statement, almost a month ago. In case, you’ve forgotten, here are the key things she said:

  1. “my personal politics have nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization”
  2. “I’ve always condemned any politics of division, of ethnic or religious hatred, of violence and intimidation as a political tool”
  3. “factually inaccurate internet rumors have attempted to link me to Hindu Nationalist groups through a variety of tenuous connections: Relief work I’m proud to have helped coordinate following the Gujarati earthquake of 2001 … “
  4. “I do not subscribe to the views of such Hindu nationalist groups, and never have”

Since then, however, there have been four new developments (listed chronologically) in the continuing saga of Sonal Shah:

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p>1 The general secretary of VHP-America said Sonal was a member of the governing council of the VHPA for three years. Her critics followed up with a link to the “VHP Governing Council & Chapter Presidents/Coordinators List” in 1998, hosted on Hindunet.org, which showed Sonal as a member of that group, and listed her US Treasury department email as a contact.

Sonal’s earlier statement stated that she was not a member of any Sangh organization in India and had implied that she had never been a member of the VHP-A, but had simply coordinated relief efforts after the earthquake. There was no response by her supporters, some of whom had argued outright that she was not a member of the VHPA, to this news.

2 The transition team announced that Sonal’s work is on the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform panel.

When I found out that Sonal would be working on tech issues, not foreign policy or personnel issues, I thought this would quiet criticism since it made her past affiliations less relevant. However, as with point #1, there was little acknowledgement of this from the other side.

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p>

3

Former senator Rick Santorum wrote an editorial calling Shah “the elephant in the room” where he said:

Shah should condemn the VHP and its actions soon. If she doesn’t, keeping her on – or, more ominously, giving her a post in the new administration – would send the message that the president-elect does not think the VHP is a radical organization. And this is a president-elect who is trying to “change” the image of the United States in the Islamic world with a foreign policy more sensitive to Muslim concerns. [link]

Santorum is generally known for his extreme and intolerant views, so if matters had stopped there, I think she could have ignored the piece without much political cost. The problem is that Santorum’s remarks took the issue out of the desi context where it could be contained, and brought them to a wider audience.

4

A blogger at the National Journal picked up the story with a post titled “Shah Pick Stirs Widespread Controversy.”

The National Journal is a center-left publication, owned by the Atlantic, whose core audience is DC insiders. Given that context, a story which framed Shah as attracting criticism from the left and the right, and which stated that “the controversy could put to rest any speculation that Shah might be shortlisted for a top Cabinet job” must have been most unwelcome.

Note that neither Santorum nor the National Journal have picked up on the fact that she was a member of the VHPA governing council.This leaves Shah room to take the initiative, it also means that things could get more awkward for her.

Recently, Sonal sent out an email which said she was under pressure as a result of this publicity. This email has now been removed from the blog post where I read it earlier, and it seems that Sonal’s friends and allies are rallying to her side, encouraging her to stay on.

378 thoughts on “Sonal Shah under pressure”

  1. so it is moral as long as your elite buddies ok it? interesting.

    An act is moral iff (if and only if) it has positive consequences for rob.

  2. because conversion at least offers some of these communities the hope of leaving the caste system –

    Not true. Low-caste Christian converts in Kerala are looked down upon by the Syrian Christians, they are called “ari” (Rice) Christians. The Syrian Christians like to boast that they were originally Brahmins, though there is no evidence for this.

    Conversion just replaces your god and culture, it doesn’t change your social status, as any Native Indian/Maori knows. Conversion is, and always has been, a form of cultural imperialism.

    whereas the hindu orgs could win their hearts and minds by providing tangible services that would actually help them..

    This is true, and I fully support it. But then, the Ekal Vidyalayas who try to do this get blocked by Christian lobbies who pose as leftie liberals. So we are back to Sonal Shah.

  4. Brother Bleah, I urge a “truce” with the Christians. We must focus our efforts, the straining of every sinew, against the “near enemy” before we confront the “far enemy.” For now, let us fight in the “House of War” only. 😉

  5. 355 · rob said

    Brother Bleah, I urge a “truce” with the Christians

    i think the vhp has proven itself capable of fighting the good fight against christians and muslims, so don’t get trapped in a zero sum fallacy. killing scales well.

  6. even if it involves support of violence against others not rob. scum.

    ohhh–that makes me feel all tingly and manly when you call me “scum.” Please, call me a fascist–that’ll really turn me on.

  7. This is true, and I fully support it. But then, the Ekal Vidyalayas who try to do this get blocked by Christian lobbies who pose as leftie liberals. So we are back to Sonal Shah.

    It’s hard to believe that’s what they are doing. They are suddenly taking an interest in people they considered beyond the pale simply because the missionaries are there. Despite the brimfire many of the missionaries promise us in the hereafter I have a hard time believing that any Christian groups were involved in the murder of that swami. It’s the Maoists doing what they do and even if the hitmen were nominally Christian it does not prove that Christian groups are culpable. Don’t get me wrong, if these missionary groups were truly sincere they would be doing the kind of nonevangelical work well meaning groups like Catholic Relief Services does. But the VHP can’t seem to think themselves outside of a box. They should focus on the structural disadvantages of being a Hindu NGO in India as part of a larger drive to go from pseudosecularism to true secularism and it won’t even be a contest…Indic religions will vie with agnosticism for hearts and minds (just as Buddhism seems to be neck & neck with reductionism among the elite in the West)

  8. Liberal

    and those who fear it are as crazy as those who work towards it.

    Yes. That is why I don’t fear it. I just find it disgusting

  9. I don’t have anything against Christians, thank you very much. I’m the “new face” of the VHP–we’re re-branding ourselves, don’tcha know.

  10. Brother Bleah, I urge a “truce” with the Christians. We must focus our efforts, the straining of every sinew, against the “near enemy” before we confront the “far enemy.” For now, let us fight in the “House of War” only. 😉

    I kinda like Brother Bleah, actually! 🙂

    I am gonna sign off soon, more interesting things to do than argue with Lefties, something I’ve been doing all my life. It is very entertaining, especially over Old Monk, but not very productive. I totally respect their sentiments, but they really need to discard their framework, which is not very coherent, and comes with lots of unnecessary blinkers. It also doesn’t do justice to their intelligence and curiosity. But then, Radhakrishnan and Frege don’t turn on chicks, they also don’t look great on a T shirt as Che! 🙂

  11. I think this entire tirade against Sonal is built on lies, vendetta and politics of hatred against Hindu organizations that millions of Hindus identify with. It has all the ingredients of Gobbelian propaganda. How lies are clothed as facts, how casual and transient associations are framed as complicity – I guess Obama campaign had to face the similar witch-hunt from Right.

    I do not think Sonal has to explain anything, apologize to anybody or seek anybody’s approval. She is not running for elective office. She is being appointed for a non-political job. It is Obama’s prerogative to appoint whomever he may choose and his criteria are qualifications and competence for the job at hand. Barring loony leftists, everybody is excited about Sonia and proud of her.

    If the Hindu-baiters have issues with VHP or VHPA, they should go after these organizations and take them on. They have the government and secular laws on their side. So what is stopping them? I know they can not do nothing, because these organizations would call their bluff. For all their bluster, clinching arguments and so-called facts, they can’t nail anybody from these organizations. One can build propaganda on lies and that is the easiest part they are good at. But to nail organizations and people, you need facts and evidence that can stand the scrutiny in courts. Do you think these organizations would be out there in open, and their enemies would let them go scotfree if there has been even an iota of evidence against them? VHP and VHPA have been operating in open for decades, and millions of Hindus support them, and millions of people have benefitted from humanitarian and welfare work done by them. During Gujarat Earth Quake, people rallied behind VHPA because it was the largest charity that had a proven track record. VHP and its sister organizations in Gujarat provided the largest mobilization of welfare and relief efforts ever seen in the history of India. Millions of people benefitted from it. Thanks to thousands of volunteers like Sonal. VHP conducts countless charity and welfare projects year around and anyone can become part of coordinating or organizing council of such projects. Anybody who wants to participate and contribute can become part of such coordination committees – yes, even people who have never worked for VHP before and people who do not know anything about VHP. Its so-called ideology may be discernable to outsiders and politicians of certain persuasions but people who work for VHP don’t even notice it in their experience working within VHP. I have several friends who have worked for VHP from inside and none of them look like monsters or hate-driven maniacs. I think these sonal-haters are projecting their own monstrosity and hatred on Sonal.

  12. I don’t have anything against Christians, thank you very much. I’m the “new face” of the VHP–we’re re-branding ourselves, don’tcha know.

    i like that word – rebranding. don’t change the product, just the label. i wonder how nun rape and incitement will be “branded” in the new vhp.

  14. Strobe: “substitute vhp/vhpa with hezbollah/hamas, and hindu with muslim.”

    Guilt not only by association, but by cut and paste too? Just because hezbollah/hamas may be terrible, everything you choose to cut and paste as a substitute is supposed to be terrible too? No wonder you have to build your clinching arguments and demonizations by cut and paste job, and why people do not take them seriously.

  15. if you need me to spell it out for you – i do not see a single sentence in your comment that would be rendered incorrect by the substitution.

  16. I think the point that strobe is making is that just like these VHP and any other organization there are extremists and then ordinary people that are trying to do good things to help people.

    Just like there are people in the U.S. who live a very normal life and support VHP and other organizations in India and other places there are people in the U.S. and India and the Middle East who live very normal lives that support and fund Hezbollah. You might call it a terrorist group but in Lebanon its also a political organization. Many in Lebanon see Hezbollah as the only defence against attacks. So there are normal people in those groups that want to do nothing but help people. BUT I’m guessing that you would not want someone living next to you that is sending raising money and sending it overseas to Hezbollah or Hamas ? Even though Hamas was elected democratically in Palestine and Hezbollah feeds earth quake victims.

    If your neighbor is funding any group in Israel , there are parts of those organizations that have extremists, so are you comfortable with that, too?

  17. The nun rape allegation is being investigated, but it is far from clear that what happened in Orissa wasn’t another instance of a ongoing religious and political battle between the Missionaries, VHP, Congress and BJP.

    Christian missionary involvement- A new breed

    Maoists say they killed the VHP leader and that their cadre are mostly Christians – We killed VHP leader Maoist cadres are Christians

    Congress MP is sought for VHP leader’s murder- Cops chasing Congress MP

    Nun alleges gang-rape- Gangrape allegation

    Nun changes story to say no gang-rape happened- Hindu man saved me from gangrape

    And a story referring a similar sequence of events from 1999 where four nuns were raped … by Christians.

    Jhabua nun rape case

  18. I have one basic question about Sonal Shah, forgive me if it sounds too naive, how can an American citizen living in America whose father was associated with the VHP wing of America, be in anyway responsible for not preventing the riots or even be called a complicit in those. How should she have prevented the riots if she wanted to. Should we judge people based on individual actions or actions of parents or relatives. What happened to the concept of person as an individual? Going by reasoning as this, it seems many more people would be held responsible for things they have absolutely no part in. Allegations like these seem like political gimmickry to me.

  19. she was also a hack for asha for education. AASHA, VHP, Camp Obama. She was trying to prov herself to be obamaworthy like ayers.

  22. Man, that story about Sonal is pretty damning. It looks like the immaculate Ms. Shah was less forthcoming than we thought about her involvement in the VHP. I wonder where her army of defenders is now?

  23. It looks like the immaculate Ms. Shah was less forthcoming than we thought about her involvement in the VHP.

    well, that we knew. i think this drip-drip-drip of revelations shows that she was even less forthcoming and even more disingenuous than we thought.

  24. 371 · pants on fire said

    more evidence on sonal shah’s lack of honesty in her forced mea non culpa.

    Here’s a quote from your article. “At one point she made reference to the Indian branch of the VHP, or VHP Bharat, as a model: “Why don’t we focus on improving the lives of its citizens, etc. That’s where VHP Bharat’s strength is — people remember that.””

    Damn her for trying to refocus the VHP’s energies into something more productive. I know your type, talking about things from a “South Asian” perspective but somehow leaving Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Kashmiri Hindus out of the “South Asian” human rights equation. Must be lonely at PTR

  25. At one point she made reference to the Indian branch of the VHP, or VHP Bharat, as a model:

    did she also refer to hezbollah? and how come her statement doesn’t even seem to know now what she knew then? of course, she says that if she knew then what she knows now, she would’ve stayed away. boy, the time travel sure does get confusing.

    I know your type

    do you now?

    talking about things from a “South Asian” perspective

    did i now?

  26. 374 · people_in_glass_houses said

    I know your type, talking about things from a “South Asian” perspective but somehow leaving Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Kashmiri Hindus out of the “South Asian” human rights equation. Must be lonely at PTR

    Actually, you don’t, not exactly. And please don’t bring up the “South Asia” issue. We’ve gone through it enough over the past four+ years. The commenter to whom you are responding is not someone from PTR- which just goes to show that it’s dangerous to assume such things or accuse them, when you have no way of knowing.