A New Round Of Anger and Humiliation: A reply to Daniel Pipes
Reader comment on item: A New Round of Anger and Humiliation: Islam after 9/11
in response to reader comment: Wrong comment about India

Submitted by Jaisingh Thakur (India), Jul 17, 2007 at 01:46

With due deference to your scholarship and authority on the subject , I wish to point out that inspite of the fact that the Muslim population in India has reached an alarming number (sufficient enough to be considered a grave threat to the existence of this country itself), as well as the fact that Muslim rule lasted in the sub continent for about half a millennium, it is my firm belief, borne out amply by the daily life I see around me, that the ethos of India, its traditions, its culture, the sources of its inspiration and its life-giving essence, are firmly rooted in its Hindu-Buddhist traditions.

True, even after the treachery of Partition, Islam was given space to survive and flourish in our country, true that it has done so largely to the detriment of the native communities of this ancient land, also agreed that on hindsight, the action of our the-then political leaders, may definitely appear to be dictated by utterly selfish motives rather than governed by national interests. All this, however,speaks volumes of the misfortune of the Hindu-Buddhists of the sub continent, who, ever since the advent of Islam in the sub continent, have been rapidly losing their territory to these marauders from Central Asia, Iran, and other parts of the world.

The fact that the majority of India's population even to-day remains Hindu, is not due to any tolerance shown by the Muslim rulers, it is due, in large measure, to the inherent vitality and spritual superiority of our Hindu Buddhist faiths over the violent, all-seizing, faith of its conquerors. India, in this sense never was, is not, and in my opinion never will be an "Islamic" nation,notwithstanding the number of mosques constructed on its soil with Saudi funds, or the machinations of its banal politicians who have allowed its own population to drift away into the enemy's fold!

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.