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:
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“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”
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“I’ve always condemned any politics of division, of ethnic or religious hatred, of violence and intimidation as a political tool”
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“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 … “
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“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:
<
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.
<
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.
Meh, I think Steve Chu, Nobel Laureate and the Director of LBNL is a better choice right now.. this “issue” notwithstanding
49 · Amrita said
You’re not looking very hard. It took me about five minutes to find (google “rahm emanuel” and “progressive jewish”). In fact, there is a LOT of work done by progressive jewish americans who understand that zionism and judaism are not equivalent terms, much like many of us understand that Hinduism and Hindutva are not equivalent terms.
I agree, though, that the issue of gender is not explored enough on this – i’ve been trying to think really hard about my own attitudes. That there are many South Asian-American feminists who are opposed to Sonal Shah makes me feel that perhaps gender is not the central issue here, though it’s always an issue, which is why I continue to participate.
Key Questions for Me:
How do you feel about a U.S. government official simultaneously serving on the governing board of a rightwing Hindu organization in the United States (even using her U.S. government e-mail on their lists!)?
How do you feel that this person has not been forthright or transparent about her actions and possibly beliefs over several years and in fact tried to cover them up? What kind of accountability is this, particularly for what this administration has promised us?
How would you feel about this person being put in a position of power as a prominent South Asian American given the answers to questions one and two?
Those are the three questions that I think are worth considering, regardless of where you fall on the underlying issues.
Rahm wasn’t on the leadership council of The American Friends of the Likud, either.
(He also moved very quickly to disavow his father’s statements and apologize for them.)
sajit, she is 40 now. the years we are talking about are at least the three years leading through 2001. My guess is that she was not “just out of college” in any sense that a 2nd gen American desi would use the phrase. She was in her early 30s and working at the U.S. Treasury department.
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..Tr. Dept. employees are allowed to become members of political orgs with world HQs in foreigh countries?
Would a person of Pakistani/Algerian/Indonesian origin be allowed to?
Oh – she is 40 now. All this while i was under the impression that she is below 30. Fresh out of college – the association could be excused. Mid thirties a wee bit harder. Although on the whole this is a non-issue. Let us turn this around and ask can someone who has been on the governing council of the Communist Party of america or the governing council of the Klan (take your pick) be appointed in the cabinet. If yes, then Sonal stays. If not, then maybe it is time to go.
If Modi becomes PM of India, Sonal’s presence will be of benefit to both India and USA. When the USA can elect Bush twice then Modi as PM of India is not so bad.
Catching a wave doesn’t make it a more honorable or a better thing to do, and yes, isn’t the hullabaloo all about Sonal’s family ties? Here’s what Vijay says: “Born in Gujarat, India, Shah came to the United States as a two-year old. Her father, a chemical engineer, first worked in New York before moving to Houston, and then moving away from his education toward the stock market. The Shahs remain active in Houston’s Indian community, not only in the ecumenical Gujarati Samaj (a society for people from Gujarat), but also in the far more cruel organizations of the Hindu Right, such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Overseas Friends of the BJP (the main political party of the Hindu Right) and the Ekal Vidyalaya. Shah’s parents, Ramesh and Kokila, not only work as volunteers for these outfits, but they also held positions of authority in them. Their daughter was not far behind. She was an active member of the VHPA, the U. S. branch of the most virulently fascistic outfit within India. The VHP’s head, Ashok Singhal, believes that his organization should “inculcate a fear psychosis among [India’s] Muslim community.†This was Shah’s boss. Till 2001, Shah was the National Coordinator of the VHPA.”
Apart from putative family ties to VHP in India, the rest is hot air and sleight of hand. For example, notice the the leap from Sonal being an “active” member of the separately incorporated VHPA (active at what? Cruelty or public service?)to Ashok Singhal, head of the VHP in India, suddenly becoming Sonal’s boss and then back again to Sonal as National Coordinator for the VHPA.
You or I could easily parse the next attack-and-backpedal gem from VP the same way: “At an earlier panel I questioned her links to the Hindu Right, and so asked people to be wary about her organization, Indicorps. She was furious, and we had a bitter exchange in the Green Room. But at no point did she deny her active connections to the Hindu Right. Her brother, Anand, wrote to me not long after, concerned that Indicorps, which he runs full-time from India, would be tainted by our tussle. “I was curious about Sonal’s own personal relationship with the VHPA,†I wrote back, “That sparked some concern for me. Of course we are free to have our multiple associations, and there is no expectation that all our affiliations necessarily influence each other. That necessity is granted, although it is my understanding that the VHPA is a very disciplined organization that demands a lot from its members – notably congruence in all the work that they do. Which is why I raised the question.”
This article has become a source without being too clearly examined. But as Amardeep said in his post of November 10, “The accusations have been widely covered in the Indian media, including The Hindustan Times, TOI, and DNA. Most of those are simply echoing the statements made by Prashad. I have also been getting emails from left-leaning Indian academic friends, who are outraged about Sonal Shah.”
So the frenzy is being whipped up into a froth on purpose– it seems he knew her at U Chicago and she took a moneymaking path while he took the academic route–looks personal to me.
did you read the post or the comments before commenting? first of all, my opposition to sonal shah is based on her choices, not based on her father’s choices (the only reason her father’s choices are relevant to me is that they render moot the notion that she was unaware what the vhp/rss are about). second, there are many reasons why america’s politics on israel can be considered bad, or too weighted in favor of israel. these politics are no reason for indian-americans to emulate this same kind of behavior. gender is a red-herring to me – the fact that certain factions of extreme israeli politics are acceptable in the us does not mean that radical hindu organizations need to be acceptable to indians.
modi is very likely to become pm of india, and it will be a sad, sad day. by the logic of helping with modi, why not appoint togadia or babu bajrangi as liaison? i also have no idea what the comparison of bush and modi is supposed to illuminate.
51 · jackal said
but there is more. i hope there is enough of an uproar about sonal shah’s vhp ties that obama feels she is just not worth it for any position, let alone positions that require senate confirmation.
I’m not going to try to defend Prashad’s breathless prose, but I don’t feel Vijay defines the issue either.
So then you’re unconcerned about her position in the VHPA leadership. Do you feel it is irrelevant as a consideration?
58 · Amrita said
i realize parsing vijay prashad’s motives are more amusing to you – in an earlier comment, you remarked that you know the prashad family personally and that they are obsessed with self promotion, but that does not mean blithely dismissing the arguments against her. i was disturbed earlier by the fact that sonal shah chose to direct her participation in gujarat relief efforts through the vhp, but had reserved judgment. however, this further news about her leadership role in the vhp-a certainly cements my opposition to any role for her in mainstream american political life.
55 · dr amonymous said
the vhp-a head was full of bluster and bs in the interview, when it came to defending sonal. he was practising his version of the taqqiya that people much like to revile.
27 · gbs said
So you are against her no matter which Hindu organization she supports. Well, that says a lot.
“i hope there is enough of an uproar about sonal shah’s vhp ties that obama feels she is just not worth it for any position, let alone positions that require senate confirmation.”
i don’t know about that. obama’s been there, done that. if anything he’s likely to draw parallels with the tarring and feathering he himself went through on account of rev. wright and ayers. also, vhp and rss are both legitimate entities, unlike the klan and the communist party. so even if shah was directly aligned with these parties, but in a limited, focused way, I doubt this would be a cause for concern. i would love for her senate confirmation hearings to thrash out every single misdeed of the vhp just so it can be out there for public scrutiny and americans in general (and not just the self-flagellating hindus) can judge for themselves.
64 · rgb said
i am sure it does, to you. any other semiotics you’d like to share? we’re not talking about opposition because she sat on her local temple building council here and participated in sunday chants of the gita.
. I think Obama might be the first not to but even he had to loudly proclaim his Christian faith.
no. this is relatively new. after all, andrew jackson, our 7th president is probably the first which would even be counted as christian by conservative protestants (two were explicit unitarians, jefferson’s personal skeptical deism was well known, washington and madison were milder than jefferson but of the same general orientation in terms of adhering to a cultural christianity but lacking orthodoxy, while james monroe’s personal writings don’t seem to show any evidence of personal piety [after the presidency jefferson’s writings do get more orthodox, converging upon the unitarian christianity of john adams]). additionally, there are several unitarian presidents after the earlier ones, e.g., william taft.
i know this is off topic, but this misperception needs to be corrected. there are stupid people who will repeat it.
62 · gbs said
Clearly you’ve made up your mind irrespective of the facts.
All these attacks on Sonal Shah are no different from the US case for war on Iraq – weak on facts combined with outright lies. America is a ‘faith-based’ nation after all. No surprise more than 60% of americans believe that Iraqis were responsible for 9/11 even though none of the hijackers were from that country.
One thing is certain, all presidents Dem or Repub in this country have nodded to the “fact” that this country’s foundations are Judeo-Christian
also, judeo-christian was a term popularized after world war ii. the early republic was anti-catholic in sentiment (see the declaration of independence), so using the term ‘judeo-christian’ is totally anachronistic.
In fact, (white male) Jews and Catholics didn’t have the franchise in every state until some point around the 1820s-1840s (I have never met anybody who could tell me exactly when it changed).
68 · rgb said
yes, exactly. also i said “her”. so i must be sexist. you missed that careful reading in your semiotics.
66 · gbs said
I’ve got better things to do with my sunday, thank you. Feel free to spend the rest of the day attacking your strawman Sonal Shah.
72 · rgb said
didn’t seem like it earlier based on your fine toothcomb parsing. and straw-woman, thank you very much. have a great rest of your weekend, love!
rgb, gbs, please lay out your arguments rather than attacking each other.
63 · gbs said
Fair enough. that’s why the VHP-A e-mail archive is helpful as corroborative information.
Thanks, doc amonymous, only you linked to an opinion piece, not an online petition addressed to Rahmbo himself nor an attempt to force him to explain himself and repudiate his own ties and his family’s ties with anybody. That, OTOH, is what we can see being demanded of Sonal in the strongly voiced challenge set forth here— “We further hope that you will unequivocally disown and repudiate your and your family’s past and current associations with the VHP and all other Sangh Parivar organizations”—and from a coalition of 13 orgs, and 26 “endorsements”, no less! Note as well the twee disclaimer at the end, “We wish you all the best in your endeavors and we look forward to your response.”
There’s a difference! What we have going on with Sonal is very personal and absolutely a crabs in a bucket episode purposely blown up out of all proportion, no matter how large and important the issues that are being brought to bear. We Desis do this best!
75 · dr amonymous said
yeah, that timeline has been independently established, i am referring to his defense of her choice to be on the leadership council (minimizing it as just after college), as well as his opinion of her disavowals.
Actually, yes it does mean parsing and dismissing these bogus arguments, but by no means blithely. This is some serious damage being done to an individual’s reputation, nothing less.
Amrita:
I replied to you in comments #54 and #61 but failed to mention you by name.
american mainstream politics is reflexively supportive of several hardline right israeli opinions (such as likud’s opinions on settlers and unilaterally changing the facts on the ground), which in a just world, would not be acceptable. this is not worthy of emulation, and is a poor reason to support sonal shah. israel’s goal is to demographically and otherwise exclude all but folks of the jewish persuasion, i don’t think that is the direction india should go down, and i don’t see why right wing hindu organizations should be given added legitimacy by appointments like sonal’s. (of course, all this might be moot if, as i dread, narendra modi becomes the next prime minister of india – what sonal shah’s appointment indicates will be the least of the worries).
78 · Amrita said
but not at the expense of the non-bogus arguments.
All of this anti-Sonal campaign just seem like an anti-Hindu tirade to me. People in the comments have clearly mentioned how they would have loved her if she wasn’t working with an Hindu Organization.
I think it is despicable for us to drag Sonal Shah and her family through such a disgusting smear campaign based on zero facts of any wrong doing.
Can any one tell me Has she committed any crime? Has she been accused of any crime, other than being a Hindu of course? Has she done any wrong while working for VHP of American? Has VHP of America done any illegal activity? Has any of the organization that she may or may not have worked has ever been convicted of any crime? Are any of the organization that she worked for is banned anywhere in the world?
If not, then we should look at our behavior and get out of this crab mentality of pulling down any of one us who has gotten ahead through shear hard work in American society.
Never mind. Don’t worry bout mentioning me by name, Memory— you just forgot. But do you see that our discussion, pro or con, of Sonal’s past position in the leadership of the VHP-A, arising as it does out of a deliberate smear campaign, will necessarily include material that is irrelevant to an appointment of any kind? Especially renewable/green energy, if that’s the case.
76 · Amrita said
Since when do online petitions carry more weight than articles in Tikkun by Michael Lerner? It also seems ironic that you would minimize that article given that you’re inordinately focused on an article by Vijay Prashad in Counterpunch – when in fact these issues have been bubbling for at least three years and could have been addressed at any point up to and including now. Yet they are not – why? why should we continue to grant power to people that we are uncomfortable with with good reason? this should not be a theoretical discussion =the sangh is part of really heinous activities. it’s easy to sit here and talk about this stuff but at a certain point it ceases to be about fairness and simply becomes overindulgence–if you parse sonal shah’s statement half as closely as you have vijay prashad’s (which is pretty irrelevant since he’s not seeking political power in the same sense), it would be pretty ugly.
and if the desi community is better at making sure the people are representing us are not participating in rightwing extremism outside the united states than the jewish community is – well maybe we should pat ourselves on the backs.
The communist party is a legitimate entity and so is the Imperial Klan party. Being legitimate is not a blanket cover.
Just that Bush is no more a killer of Iraqis than Modi is of Muslims. They can both be considered equally guilty and they were both elected representatives. They were just enforcing the will of the people who elected them. This is the difficulty of being a democracy – sometime crackpots get elected.
Modi is the top rated chief minister in India and Gujarat the best administered state. Even Ratan Tata acknowledges this in his moving Nano car factory to Gujarat. BJP is actually made of the same political slime and isnt different from congress. They are however expected to win the next elections due to anti-incumbency factor. Modi may or may not bid for the PM-ship (Advani is still around) but regardless he is a big player in Indian politics and the US has to take that into account in conduct of foreign policy. The Nov 26 attack has changed many things.
Obama has the sense to make his own judgments and he is ignoring left wing sentiments. If Sonal Shah is competent as she seems to be, she will get a look-in. Her religious inclinations are a non-issue.
Why India needs Narendra Modi?
Suhel Seth
Posted online: Oct 19, 2008 at 2338 hrs
Let me begin with a set of disclosures: I have perhaps written more articles against Modi and his handling of the post-Godhra scenario than most people have; I have called him a modern-day Hitler and have always said that Godhra shall remain an enduring blemish not just on him but on India’s political class. I still believe that what happened in Gujarat during the Godhra riots is something we as a nation will pay a heavy price for. But the fact is that time has moved on. As has Narendra Modi. He is not the only politician in India who has been accused of communalism. It is strange that the whole country venerates the Congress Party as the secular messiah but it was that party that presided over the riots in 1984 in which over 3,500 Sikhs died: thrice the number killed in Gujarat.
The fact of the matter is that there is no better performer than Narendra Modi in India’s political structure. Three weeks ago, I had gone to Ahmedabad to address the YPO and I thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with Modi. I called him the evening before and I was given an appointment for the very day I was getting into Ahmedabad. And it was not some official meeting but instead one at his house. As frugal as the man Modi is.
And this is something that the Gandhis and Mayawatis need to learn from Modi. There were no fawning staff members; no secretaries running around; no hangers on…just the two of us with one servant who was there serving tea. And what was most impressive was the passion which Modi exuded. The passion for development; the passion for an invigorated Gujarat; the passion for the uplifting the living standards of the people in his state and the joy with which he recounted simple yet memorable data-points. For instance, almost all of the milk consumed in Singapore is supplied by Gujarat; or for that matter all the tomatoes that are eaten in Afghanistan are produced in Gujarat or the potatoes that Canadians gorge on are all farmed in Gujarat. But it was industry that was equally close to his heart.
It was almost like a child, that he rushed and got a coffee table book on GIFT: the proposed Gujarat Industrial City that will come up on the banks of the Sabarmarti: something that will put the Dubais and the Hong Kongs of this world to shame. And while on the Sabarmati, it is Modi who has created the inter-linking of rivers so that now the Sabarmati is no longer dry.
He then spoke about how he was very keen that Ratan Tata sets up the Nano plant in Gujarat: he told me how he had related the story of the Parsi Navsari priests to Ratan and how touched Ratan was: the story is, when the Navsari priests, (the first Parsis) landed in Gujarat, the ruler of Gujarat sent them a glass of milk, full to the brim and said, there was no place for them: the priests added some sugar to the milk and sent it back saying that they would integrate beautifully with the locals and would only add value to the state.
Narendra Modi is clearly a man in a hurry and he has every reason to be. There is no question in any one’s mind that he is the trump card for the BJP after Advani and Modi realises that. People like Rajnath Singh are simply weak irritants I would imagine. He also believes that the country has no apolitical strategy to counter terrorism and in fact he told me how he had alerted the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the NSA about the impending bomb blasts in Delhi and they did not take him seriously. And then the September 13 blasts happened! It was this resolve of Modi’s that I found very admirable. There is a clear intolerance of terrorism and terrorists which is evident in the way the man functions; now there are many cynics who call it minority-bashing but the truth of the matter is that Modi genuinely means business as far as law and order is concerned.
I left Modi’s house deeply impressed with the man as Chief Minister: he was clearly passionate and what’s more deeply committed. When I sat in the car, I asked my driver what he thought of Modi and his simple reply was Modi is God. Before him, there was nothing. No roads, no power, no infrastructure. Today, Gujarat is a power surplus state. Today, Gujarat attracts more industry than all the states put together. Today, Gujarat is the preferred investment destination for almost every multi-national and what’s more, there is an integrity that is missing in other states.
After I finished talking to the YPO (Young President’s Organisation) members, I asked some of them very casually, what they thought of Modi. Strangely, this was one area there was no class differential on. They too said he was God.
But what they also added very quickly was if India has just five Narendra Modis, we would be a great country. I don’t know if this was typical Gujarati exaggeration or a reflection of the kind of leadership India now needs! There is however, no question in my mind, that his flaws apart, Narendra Modi today, is truly a transformational leader! And we need many more like him!
The writer is Managing Partner, Counselage
83 · Amrita said
So we’re supposed to wait until Shah runs for Congress or otherwise accumulates more social and political and economic power before we start finding out about why she aligned herself with Hindu extremists in India, what that consisted of, and figure out how we feel about that?
86 · sn said
All these people so enamored of trains running on time should put their loved ones’ lives on the line in the tyrant’s choice that Modi presents.
malice intent counts for quite a bit in considerations of guilt.
gbs, this is a hijacked and therefore bogus argument. You have no clear basis for arguing that Sonal Shah is a VHP activist, any more than you do that Rahm Emanuel is a Likudnik.
Not “carry more weight” Doc, an opinion piece is a different animal froma petition. Nobody’s asking Rahm Emanuel to do anything, Michael Lerner is just Tikkunly shaking his head after the fact. And not all articles are the same either, just because they are articles. Vijay’s narrative contains blithe references to his ongoing spat with Sonal, which Lerner’s doesn’t. Consider, if you will, that since these issues have been bubbling for three years, there ws no reason to wait to paste them all on Sonal Shah! That is what was and remains wrong with Vijay’s piece– it’s a personal attack, disguised as a political one, and he has clearly been busy working his contacts since then.
Who is this Vijay Prashad guy to be bowed down to anyway–is this what they’re teaching in the schools these days? I mean, the guy is teaching at some school in Hartford (sorry to be snobby) and one of his books is called: Dispatches from Latin America: The Frontline Against Neo-liberalism. Uh, ok, yeah, none of that neo-liberalism for me–we want to stay poor (and cute!) My parents would not give this dude the time of day (nor would I). Seriously.
I will admit that I don’t know just how bad, really, the VHP is–I mean, is this just a politicized leftist attacking of some rightist group, or is does the VHP really, specifically, have blood on its hands? I doubt many of my other ABD’s really know, and I cert. am not taking anything Prashad says seriously.
No, we should just get the hell out of the way of her professional life, that’s all. She’s not “representing” South Asians or any section ofthe electorate in an appointed position.
David Duke for Secretary of Agriculture!
Opposition to Sonal Shah existed before Prashad, and focusing on Prashad’s article is a distraction.
OK, fair enough–what’s the link of VHP-A to blood? I mean, specifically–I know that Muslims were slaughtered in Gujarat–I want to see the connection–other than, well, you (i.e., VHP-A) disagree with Camille, ergo you’re responsible.
ok…and has anyone noted issues with Rahm Emmanuel’s father. Will his connection cloud his judgement?
Rob, you a bit behind on your reading. You can start with two basic sources for beginners. First, a website: http://stopfundinghate.org/resources.html. You can also try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangh_Parivar. For more advanced reading, try “The Sangh Parivar” edited by C. Jaffrelot.
Look, I’m not saying it’s wrong, but that doesn’t pass the “LOL” test in terms of serious evidence.
there is no direct connection. The Archbishop of Boston shares the same faith as the Bishop of Rome – besides that limited connection. Presumably one owes allegiance to the other but by and large very loose coupling.
Presumably VHP-A owes its allegiance to the VHP in India and yes there is blood on the hands of the VHP in India. But then all political parties have blood on their hands in India.
and you are contending that Bush has no malice while Modi has ? I dont know either of them and I suspect that you dont either. We can but comment only on the deeds not on the motives.
Try the other two sources. The Wiki entry was only partly a joke.
42 · dr amonymous said
Am I the only one that has a hard time taking statements about transparency seriously from someone who clearly has bias and goes by a mis-spelling of anonymous?
Yeah, good point! I mean, I’m not up on Catholicism, but presumably if the Catholics in Italy are up to nonsense, I wouldn’t get all like “no Catholic in Mexico is fit to hold political office.” Give me a freaking break, people, and stop treating Hinduism as less significant than Catholicism. Neither I nor my parents are members of VHP-A, just FYI. But, these weird attacks (by Prashad et al) on it are going to make me join!! And get my brother to join–he and my sister-in-law are kind of chauvinistic!!