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This broadcast was recorded in one, 60-minute segment.
Introduction: The primary “jumping off point” of this program and the foundation of the previous two broadcasts is the political and commercial career of Baba Ramdev. A major supporter of Narendra Modi, his BJP and the Hindutva fascist RSS, for which the BJP is a political front, Ramdev runs a highly successful business career centered on the teaching of yoga and the marketing of “ayurvedic” foods, cosmetics and medicines. In turn, his business interests are inextricably linked with Modi, the BJP and the RSS.
(In FTR #‘s 795, 988 and 989, 990, 991, 992, and 1015, we detailed the Hindutva fascism of Narendra Modi, his BJP Party and supportive elements, tracing the evolution of Hindutva fascism through the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi to the present time.)
With Modi and the BJP running India, Ramdev’s Patanjali food business has also dovetailed directly with India’s military development and potential strategic interests. A thought-provoking and possibly valid comparison might be seen between Ramdev’s operations and the operations of the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon. In FTR #970, among other programs, we examined the Moon operation as an extension around the world and down the decades of the Patriotic and Ultranationalist Societies of Japan. A religious, commercial and fascist political entity, the Unification Church bears many striking ideological and operational similarities to the Ramdev organization.
Beginning with review of ideological and operational links between RSS Hindutva fascists and the followers of Hitler and Mussolini, we highlight key features of what may seem to many to be a classic case of political “strange bedfellows.” Key considerations in the Hitler/Mussolini/Hindutva fascist affinity include:
- Opposition to the British Empire (as constituted), admiration for the domestic agendas of the Fuehrer and Il Duce, as well as the military prowess shown by the European Axis nations: “. . . . In the decades prior to that momentous event, senior RSS members had direct links to both Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany. Part of the RSS’ fascination with these totalitarian regimes was their shared opposition to the British Empire — however, it went far beyond that. The RSS (as well as multitudes of other Hindu nationalists) admired the way Mussolini and Hitler reorganized their respective nations so quickly from the wreckage of war to build a powerful economy and military under the banner of patriotism and nationalism. . . .”
- The studied nature of the Hindutva/Hitler/Mussolini affinity: ” . . . . Marzia Casolari, an Italian scholar who studied Indian politics, once wrote of RSS’ connections with European fascism: The existence of direct contacts between the representatives of the [Italian] Fascist regime, including Mussolini, and Hindu nationalists demonstrates that Hindu nationalism had much more than an abstract interest in the ideology and practice of fascism. The interest of Indian Hindu nationalists in fascism and Mussolini must not be considered as dictated by an occasional curiosity, confined to a few individuals; rather, it should be considered as the culminating result of the attention that Hindu nationalists… focused on Italian dictatorship and its leader. To them, fascism appeared to be an example of conservative revolution. . . .”
- Belief in the common, mythological “Aryan” origins of India and Germany: ” . . . . Much of Nazi ideology and imagery came from the symbols and history of ancient India – indeed, the infamous Nazi swastika was based on a Hindu symbol of strength and good fortune. Moreover, the legendary history (some would say, myth) of the invasion of prehistoric India by the mysterious ‘Aryan’ tribes would (centuries later) provide Hitler with his notion of a ‘super master race’ that was destined to dominate the world. . . .”
- The enthusiastic embrace of Hitler and Mussolini by V.D. Savarkar, the ideological founder of Hindutva fascism and the primary architect of Gandhi’s assassination: ” . . . . Perhaps there was no greater admirer of Hitler and Mussolini in India than Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, another leading member of RSS. In a speech delivered in 1940 (after the Second World War had commenced), Savarkar said: ‘There is no reason to suppose that Hitler must be a human monster because he passes off as a Nazi or Churchill is a demigod because he calls himself a Democrat. Nazism proved undeniably the savior of Germany under the set of circumstances Germany was placed in.’ . . .”
- The Hindu Mahasabha’s support for a Hitler/RSS conjunction: ” . . . . Indeed, many Hindu nationalists also derided Gandhi for opposing Nazism and fascism. In 1939, a spokesman for the Hindu Mahasabha (Hindu Party) intimately connected Germany with Indian culture and people. ‘Germany’s solemn idea of the revival of the Aryan culture, the glorification of the Swastika, her patronage of Vedic learning and the ardent championship of the tradition of Indo-Germanic civilization are welcomed by the religious and sensible Hindus of India with a jubilant hope,’ the spokesman blustered. ‘Only a few Socialists headed by… Nehru have created a bubble of resentment against the present government of Germany, but their activities are far from having any significance in India.’ He added: ‘Germany’s crusade against the enemies of Aryan culture will bring all the Aryan nations of the world to their senses and awaken the Indian Hindus for the restoration of their lost glory. . . .’ ”
- Other RSS leaders saw useful similarities in the ethnic chauvinist philosophy of both Hitler and Hindutva fascism. ” . . . . Another senior RSS member, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, also praised Nazism and believed the ideology should be applied to India. ‘German race pride has now become the topic of the day,’ he wrote. ‘To keep up the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races — the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan [India] to learn and profit by.’ Golwalkar enthusiastically advocated for an India dominated by Hindus. ‘There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race,’ he wrote. . . . ”
- The ethnic ideological paradigm of Hindutva fascism and Nazism meld well: ” . . . . If one were to replace ‘Hindu’ with ‘German,’ Golwalkar’s words would match Hitler’s rhetoric almost exactly. . . .”
- Savarkar also saw Nazi and RSS ethnic theory and policy as converging: ” . . . . Savarkar also spelled out why Hindus should rule India and others should either be expelled or merged into the Hindu majority. ‘The Aryans who settled in India at the dawn of history already formed a nation, now embodied in the Hindus,’ he wrote. ‘Hindus are bound together not only by the love they bear to a common fatherland and by the common blood that courses through their veins and keeps our hearts throbbing and our affection warm but also by the of the common homage we pay to our great civilization, our Hindu culture. . . .”
We review of a missing and very possibly important chapter in Ramdev’s personal history: missing years in his young adulthood, raising the question of where he was and what was he doing? We wonder, in that same context, who put up the venture capital to launch Ramdev’s yoga and ayurvedic products businesses: ” . . . . He was born to a poor farm family in north-central India, probably in 1965 (he has always been vague about his age) and given the name Ram Kisan Yadav. . . . As a teenager, he left home for a gurukul. The years that followed are curiously blank; Ramdev has said very little about them, sometimes claiming he doesn’t remember. What is clear is that in 1995 he became a monk and assumed his current name after a revelation . . . .”
In addition to promoting Yoga’s well-documented fitness benefits, Ramdev presents Yoga as a vehicle for reconnecting Indians with their mythic past. In fact, the discipline is rooted in more recent and European-imported culture: “. . . . This narrative about yoga’s ancient roots has become a sacrament for Hindu nationalists, and it is echoed in the West. But it is mostly myth, an idealized origin story of the kind so many would-be nation-builders, from ancient Rome to the Zionists, have fostered about themselves. The oldest Hindu scriptures contain almost no mention of physical postures. Even the Yoga Sutras, the so-called bible of yoga, include only a few short verses suggesting comfortable postures for sitting. Many of the postures practiced in yoga today appear to have emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. . . .”
In fact, a significant contribution to contemporary Yoga discipline was made by a Danish Nazi sympathizer named Niels Bukh. ” . . . . Dozens of modern ashtanga yoga postures are similar or identical to those found in a gymnastic routine introduced to India by the British in the first decades of the 20th century and originally developed by a Danish fitness instructor named Niels Bukh, who later became notorious for his pro-Nazi sympathies. . . .”
More about Niels Bukh: ” . . . . His system of exercise became highly popular in Germany, and in 1933 Bukh publicly expressed his allegiance to the National Socialist cause and its aim of improving the health of the Aryan race through gymnastics. . . .”
Yoga’s popularity in Weimar Germany translated into an affinity for the discipline expressed by Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler, who also saw the physical regimen as an extension of the ancient “Aryan” past of India. That mythical Aryan past also became part of SS and Nazi atavistic occult ideology. ” . . . yoga was recommended to death camp guards in Nazi Germany. But that’s exactly what historian and yoga expert Mathias Tietke found as he researched his new book, ‘Yoga In National Socialism’. . . .”
More about the SS/Yoga connection: ” . . . . It was seized on by race experts in the party as being the pursuit of ‘Ayran’ people. Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, an S.S. captain and yoga expert, who influenced his chief Himmler and convinced him that ‘yoga can internally arm us and prepare us for the forthcoming battles.’ . . . . Himmler, obsessed as he was with hocus-pocus race theories and mysticism relating to his S.S. ‘supermen,’ carried around a German copy of the Bhagavad Gita with him wherever he went. He regarded the ancient Sanskrit epic as being a blueprint for cruelty and terror, using it, said Tietke, to ultimately justify the Holocaust. He wrote; ‘He identified himself and the SS with the old Indian Kshatriya caste and its publicized attitude of unscrupulous killing for one’s ‘higher purpose.’ . . . . ”
This dovetails with the SS mythology/ideology, which saw the SS as the embodiment and fulfillment of the “Aryan” race.
Next, we review of the sweetheart land deals given to the Moritomo Gakuen school in Japan by the Abe government and comparisons between that arrangement and the bargain-basement land purchases afforded the Ramdev operation by the Modi government.
we “dolly out,” so to speak, and begin to examine the Modi/RSS/Ramdev axis in a broader political and geopolitical context.
We review the strong links between “Team Trump” and the Modi/BJP/RSS axis. There are also strong links between Tulsi Gabbard, the left-cover Hindutva fascist who nominated Bernie Sanders for President in 2016 and The Modi/BJP/RSS axis., as well as connections between “Team Trump” and Gabbard.
- Trump’s Indian partners in his real estate projects overlap the milieu of Modi’s BJP (a cat’s paw for the Hindu nationalist and fascist party the RSS.) ” . . . . Mr. Trump’s partner in the Trump Tower Mumbai is the Lodha Group, founded by Mangal Prabhat Lodha, vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party — currently the governing party in Parliament — in Maharashtra State. The Lodha Group has already negotiated with the United States government; it announced a landmark purchase of a property, known as the Washington House, on tony Altamount Road, from the American government for 3.75 billion rupees, almost $70 million. His partner in an office complex in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, is IREO, whose managing director, Lalit Goyal, is the brother-in-law of a Bharatiya Janata member of Parliament, Sudhanshu Mittal. Mr. Mittal, in an interview, has denied having any connection with the real estate company. . . .”
- Trump interviewed Gabbard for a cabinet position: “. . . . Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a high-profile Bernie Sanders supporter during the Democratic primaries, is ‘under serious consideration’ for various Cabinet positions in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, according to a senior official on the transition team. According to the official, the 35-year-old Hawaii congresswoman is being looked as a candidate for secretary of state, secretary of defense or United Nations ambassador. If selected, Gabbard will be the first woman as well as the youngest pick for Trump’s Cabinet. . . .”
- Trump’s “alt-right” advisor Steve Bannon is a fan of Gabbard’s: ” . . . . Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, reportedly likes Gabbard because of her stance on guns, refugees and Islamic extremism along with her ability to invoke strong anti-establishment populist sentiment on the left. . . .”
- Bannon is also a fan of Narendra Modi and has followed his political rise closely: ” . . . . Mr. Trump may be largely indifferent to the reasons behind his Hindu loyalists’ fervor, but his most senior advisers are not. The campaign’s chief executive, Stephen K. Bannon, is a student of nationalist movements. Mr. Bannon is close to Nigel Farage, a central figure in Britain’s movement to leave the European Union, and he is an admirer of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist Mr. Bannon has called ‘the Reagan of India.’ It may be pure coincidence that some of Mr. Trump’s words channel the nationalistic and, some argue, anti-Muslim sentiments that Mr. Modi stoked as he rose to power. But it is certainly not coincidental that many of Mr. Trump’s biggest Hindu supporters are also some of Mr. Modi’s most ardent backers. . . .”
- Gabbard is also a big fan of Narendra Modi, having been involved with the planning of Modi’s U.S. visit and networking with BJP members: ” . . . . Gabbard, a strong supporter of Modi, is a Democrat Congresswoman from Hawaii. . . . She had spoken to Modi after his victory in the Indian general elections and congratulated him and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She has also been involved in the planning of Modi’s US visit and had last month met two BJP leaders Vijay Jolly and MP Rajyavardhan Rathore in that connection. . . .”
- On a trip to India, Gabbard networked with both the BJP and the RSS, the Hindu nationalist/fascist party for which Modi’s BJP is a cat’s paw. (All of Modi’s cabinet appointments were drawn from the RSS. Modeled on the German Nazi Party and Mussolini’s blackshirts, the RSS killed Gandhi.): “. . . . Speaking at a fundraising event for the BJP in August 2014 . . . Gabbard said that Modi’s election victory was only possible because ‘people stood up, one by one by one by one, and said we will demand that this change occurs.’ . . . Gabbard was treated as royalty on her visit to India last year. As she hobnobbed with the Indian prime minister and foreign minister among others, The Telegraph, a Kolkata-based newspaper, called her ‘the Sangh’s mascot’ in the US. The Sangh, a moniker for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is a right-wing hindutva organisation and the ideological guardian of the BJP party that rules India now. . . .”
We also review Pierre Omidyar’s significant role in both India and Ukraine:
- Omidyar helped finance the rise of Modi and his Hindutva fascist BJP in India. Most of Modi’s cabinet selections were drawn from the RSS: ” . . . . This week, India’s newly-elected ultranationalist leader Narendra Modi unveiled his cabinet, three-quarters of whom come from a fascist paramilitary outfit, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) . . . . founded in 1925 by open admirers of Mussolini and Hitler; in 1948, an RSS member assassinated pacifist Mahatma Gandhi. . . .”
- The head of Omidyar’s charitable operations in India–Jayant Sinha–became Modi’s finance minister and honored a convicted “cow vigilante” murderer.
- Omidyar helped finance the Maidan coup in Ukraine, which brought to power Ukrainian fascists evolved from the OUN/B.
- Omidyar worked with U.S. Agency for International Development–a frequent vehicle for U.S. covert operation–to effect the Maidan coup.
- Omidyar has now partnered with the inappropriately-named National Endowment for Democracy to further his ends. NED is little more than a front for continued covert operations.
- Omidyar’s charges in Ukraine have been complicit in the murder of journalists critical of their activities.
- Omidyar’s OUN/B successor associates in Ukraine have worked to intimidate journalists with whom they disagree, tarring them with the useful sobriquet of “Kremlin/Russian” dupes.
Omidyar’s work in both Ukraine and India–operating as an apparent asset of U.S. intelligence and (perhaps) the Underground Reich–are best viewed in the context of the Earth Island and a flanking maneuver on Russia and China.
Stretching from the Straits of Gibraltar, all across Europe, most of the Middle East, Eurasia, Russia, China and India, that stretch of land: comprises most of the world’s land mass; contains most of the world’s population and most of the world’s natural resources (including oil and natural gas.) Geopoliticians have long seen controlling that land mass as the key to world domination.
With the OUN/B successor organization fascists in power via the Maidan coup and a parliamentary coalition government with Petro Poroshenko, pressure is being put directly on Russia’s flank. With the Hindutva fascists of Narendra Modi/BJP/RSS in power in India, pressure is being put on China’s flank: “U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced a momentous shift in American global strategic policy in a little noticed statement on May 30. From now on, he decreed, the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), which oversees all U.S. military forces in Asia, will be called the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM). The name change, Mattis explained, reflects “the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific Oceans,” as well as Washington’s determination to remain the dominant power in both. Such a name change may not sound like much, but someday you may look back and realize that it couldn’t have been more consequential or ominous. Think of it as a signal that the U.S. military is already setting the stage for eventual confrontation with China. . . .On June 8th, for example, the DoD launched Malabar 2018, a joint Pacific Ocean naval exercise involving forces from India, Japan, and the United States. Incorporating once neutral India into America’s anti-Chinese “Pacific” alliance system in this and other ways has, in fact, become a major twenty-first-century goal of the Pentagon, posing a significant new threat to China. . . .”
Of significance for us in the context of anti-China/Earth Island geopoliticals are the anti-communist utility of the BJP/RSS/Ramdev nexus and the dovetailing of a Ramdev/Patanjali installation in Assam with the needs of the Indian Air Force for a base in that area:
- Ramdev and the B.J.P. appear to have utility as vehicles to eradicate Communist influence in parts of India: ” . . . . The RSS has become more visible since Modi’s 2014 victory. The group and its affiliates have built hundreds of schools and job-training centers in Assam and other northeastern states in recent years. I visited several and saw unmistakable signs of the RSS ideological program. . . . All this hard indoctrination work has paid off. In 2016, the B.J.P. won control of Assam’s state government in legislative elections. And in March of this year, the party won stunning electoral upsets in two adjacent northeastern states, where leftist parties had dominated for decades. There was talk of a ‘saffron wave’ that might spread to the south Indian regions, including Communist-dominated Kerala, that have long resisted the advance of Hindu nationalism. Many Indian political analysts said the RSS’s grass-roots work was essential to the recent electoral victories. But one RSS volunteer in Assam, a construction contractor, told me Ramdev’s presence and his yoga promotion had been very influential, too. . . .”
- Also of significance is the dovetailing of Modi/B.J.P. assisted Patanjali operations with the Indian military–specifically, the Indian Air Force: “. . . . After admiring the cookie plant and its 300-foot oven, we drove across a deliciously smooth, median-free stretch of pavement that resembled a runway. In fact, it is a runway, built in consultation with the Indian Air Force so that jet fighters can take off and land on it, Singh told me. ‘We will dedicate this to the nation in case there is need for an extra airstrip,’ he said, and then added with a knowing look, ‘We are near China.’ Patanjali seems almost to view itself as an extension of the state — or rather, an illustration of what has become a ‘state-temple-corporate complex,’ in the apt phrase of the Indian author Meera Nanda. . . .”
We conclude the program with review of a Hindutva chant used by Baba Ramdev and Narendra Modi.
In our previous programs, we have spoken of Ramdev’s use of a Modi/BJP/RSS invocation, highlighting Ramdev’s working of the “fascis”–the “bundle” of accolytes–in Fuhrer/Duce-like fashion: ” . . . . Ramdev took the microphone and introduced the phalanx of several hundred Hindu religious students, known as brahmacharis, sitting in neat rows on the field. Everyone repeat after me: ‘Bharat mata ki jai!’ he shouted. The crowd raised their arms and pumped their fists as they chanted the words — ‘India my motherland is great’ — that have become a defining slogan of the Hindu nationalist movement. . . .”
Narendra Modi echoed this in his September 2015 speech at the SAP Center in San Jose. (As mentioned above, Tulsi Gabbard helped arrange Modi’s tour.) An audio excerpt concludes this program. For convenience, we have included a portion of text from Modi’s speech.
“. . . . Please repeat after me “Bharat Mata Ki Jai.” Say it loudly; I want the voice to boom all the way to India, Bharat Mata Ki Jai, (audience repeats), Bharat Mata Ki Jai, (audience repeats) . . . .”
1. Beginning with review of ideological and operational links between RSS Hindutva fascists and the followers of Hitler and Mussolini, we highlight key features of what may seem to many to be a classic case of political “strange bedfellows.” Key considerations in the Hitler/Mussolini/Hindutva fascist affinity include:
- Opposition to the British Empire (as constituted), admiration for the domestic agendas of the Fuehrer and Il Duce, as well as the military prowess shown by the European Axis nations: “. . . . In the decades prior to that momentous event, senior RSS members had direct links to both Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany. Part of the RSS’ fascination with these totalitarian regimes was their shared opposition to the British Empire — however, it went far beyond that. The RSS (as well as multitudes of other Hindu nationalists) admired the way Mussolini and Hitler reorganized their respective nations so quickly from the wreckage of war to build a powerful economy and military under the banner of patriotism and nationalism. . . .”
- The studied nature of the Hindutva/Hitler/Mussolini affinity: ” . . . . Marzia Casolari, an Italian scholar who studied Indian politics, once wrote of RSS’ connections with European fascism: The existence of direct contacts between the representatives of the [Italian] Fascist regime, including Mussolini, and Hindu nationalists demonstrates that Hindu nationalism had much more than an abstract interest in the ideology and practice of fascism. The interest of Indian Hindu nationalists in fascism and Mussolini must not be considered as dictated by an occasional curiosity, confined to a few individuals; rather, it should be considered as the culminating result of the attention that Hindu nationalists… focused on Italian dictatorship and its leader. To them, fascism appeared to be an example of conservative revolution. . . .”
- Belief in the common, mythological “Aryan” origins of India and Germany: ” . . . . Much of Nazi ideology and imagery came from the symbols and history of ancient India – indeed, the infamous Nazi swastika was based on a Hindu symbol of strength and good fortune. Moreover, the legendary history (some would say, myth) of the invasion of prehistoric India by the mysterious ‘Aryan’ tribes would (centuries later) provide Hitler with his notion of a ‘super master race’ that was destined to dominate the world. . . .”
- The enthusiastic embrace of Hitler and Mussolini by V.D. Savarkar, the ideological founder of Hindutva fascism and the primary architect of Gandhi’s assassination: ” . . . . Perhaps there was no greater admirer of Hitler and Mussolini in India than Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, another leading member of RSS. In a speech delivered in 1940 (after the Second World War had commenced), Savarkar said: ‘There is no reason to suppose that Hitler must be a human monster because he passes off as a Nazi or Churchill is a demigod because he calls himself a Democrat. Nazism proved undeniably the savior of Germany under the set of circumstances Germany was placed in.’ . . .”
- The Hindu Mahasabha’s support for a Hitler/RSS conjunction: ” . . . . Indeed, many Hindu nationalists also derided Gandhi for opposing Nazism and fascism. In 1939, a spokesman for the Hindu Mahasabha (Hindu Party) intimately connected Germany with Indian culture and people. ‘Germany’s solemn idea of the revival of the Aryan culture, the glorification of the Swastika, her patronage of Vedic learning and the ardent championship of the tradition of Indo-Germanic civilization are welcomed by the religious and sensible Hindus of India with a jubilant hope,’ the spokesman blustered. ‘Only a few Socialists headed by… Nehru have created a bubble of resentment against the present government of Germany, but their activities are far from having any significance in India.’ He added: ‘Germany’s crusade against the enemies of Aryan culture will bring all the Aryan nations of the world to their senses and awaken the Indian Hindus for the restoration of their lost glory. . . .’ ”
- Other RSS leaders saw useful similarities in the ethnic chauvinist philosophy of both Hitler and Hindutva fascism. ” . . . . Another senior RSS member, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, also praised Nazism and believed the ideology should be applied to India. ‘German race pride has now become the topic of the day,’ he wrote. ‘To keep up the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races — the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan [India] to learn and profit by.’ Golwalkar enthusiastically advocated for an India dominated by Hindus. ‘There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race,’ he wrote. . . . ”
- The ethnic ideological paradigm of Hindutva fascism and Nazism meld well: ” . . . . If one were to replace ‘Hindu’ with ‘German,’ Golwalkar’s words would match Hitler’s rhetoric almost exactly. . . .”
- Savarkar also saw Nazi and RSS ethnic theory and policy as converging: ” . . . . Savarkar also spelled out why Hindus should rule India and others should either be expelled or merged into the Hindu majority. ‘The Aryans who settled in India at the dawn of history already formed a nation, now embodied in the Hindus,’ he wrote. ‘Hindus are bound together not only by the love they bear to a common fatherland and by the common blood that courses through their veins and keeps our hearts throbbing and our affection warm but also by the of the common homage we pay to our great civilization, our Hindu culture. . . .”
1e. We review of a missing and very possibly important chapter in Ramdev’s personal history: missing years in his young adulthood, raising the question of where he was and what was he doing? We wonder, in that same context, who put up the venture capital to launch Ramdev’s yoga and ayurvedic products businesses: ” . . . . He was born to a poor farm family in north-central India, probably in 1965 (he has always been vague about his age) and given the name Ram Kisan Yadav. . . . As a teenager, he left home for a gurukul. The years that followed are curiously blank; Ramdev has said very little about them, sometimes claiming he doesn’t remember. What is clear is that in 1995 he became a monk and assumed his current name after a revelation . . . .”
1f. In addition to promoting Yoga’s well-documented fitness benefits, Ramdev presents Yoga as a vehicle for reconnecting Indians with their mythic past. In fact, the discipline is rooted in more recent and European-imported culture: “. . . . This narrative about yoga’s ancient roots has become a sacrament for Hindu nationalists, and it is echoed in the West. But it is mostly myth, an idealized origin story of the kind so many would-be nation-builders, from ancient Rome to the Zionists, have fostered about themselves. The oldest Hindu scriptures contain almost no mention of physical postures. Even the Yoga Sutras, the so-called bible of yoga, include only a few short verses suggesting comfortable postures for sitting. Many of the postures practiced in yoga today appear to have emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. . . .”
In fact, a significant contribution to contemporary Yoga discipline was made by a Danish Nazi sympathizer named Niels Bukh. ” . . . . Dozens of modern ashtanga yoga postures are similar or identical to those found in a gymnastic routine introduced to India by the British in the first decades of the 20th century and originally developed by a Danish fitness instructor named Niels Bukh, who later became notorious for his pro-Nazi sympathies. . . .”
The Yoga influence on Nazism and Hindutva fascism should NOT be misconstrued as casting aspersions on the discipline or its many adherents with the onus of totalitarian ideology.
“Baba Ramdev’s Holy War” by Robert F. Worth; The New York Times Magazine; 7/29/2017.
. . . . This narrative about yoga’s ancient roots has become a sacrament for Hindu nationalists, and it is echoed in the West. But it is mostly myth, an idealized origin story of the kind so many would-be nation-builders, from ancient Rome to the Zionists, have fostered about themselves. The oldest Hindu scriptures contain almost no mention of physical postures. Even the Yoga Sutras, the so-called bible of yoga, include only a few short verses suggesting comfortable postures for sitting. Many of the postures practiced in yoga today appear to have emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Dozens of modern ashtanga yoga postures are similar or identical to those found in a gymnastic routine introduced to India by the British in the first decades of the 20th century and originally developed by a Danish fitness instructor named Niels Bukh, who later became notorious for his pro-Nazi sympathies. Bukh, needless to say, has been conveniently forgotten by both Indians and the yoga-loving celebrities of Hollywood. . . .
2. More about Niels Bukh: ” . . . . His system of exercise became highly popular in Germany, and in 1933 Bukh publicly expressed his allegiance to the National Socialist cause and its aim of improving the health of the Aryan race through gymnastics. . . .”
. . . . His 1924 book “Grundgymnastik eller primitiv gymnastik” (Basic or primitive gymnastics) was a manual in his method, which was later adopted by organizations such as the YMCA. Historian Mark Singleton has argued that through the YMCA and their gymnastics training in British India, Bukh’s exercises influenced Tirumalai Krishnamacharya’s style of Yoga[2][3][4] In 1931 his gymnastics team toured the world, visiting Japan where his system became highly influential. His system of exercise became highly popular in Germany, and in 1933 Bukh publicly expressed his allegiance to the National Socialist cause and its aim of improving the health of the Aryan race through gymnastics. This made Bukh unpopular in Denmark, especially after the German occupation of Denmark in 1940. . . .
3. Yoga’s popularity in Weimar Germany translated into an affinity for the discipline expressed by Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler, who also saw the physical regimen as an extension of the ancient “Aryan” past of India. That mythical Aryan past also became part of SS and Nazi atavistic occult ideology. ” . . . yoga was recommended to death camp guards in Nazi Germany. But that’s exactly what historian and yoga expert Mathias Tietke found as he researched his new book, ‘Yoga In National Socialism’. . . .”
“Nazi Leaders Fascinated by Yoga” [Yoga Journal Editors]; Yoga Journal; 2/24/2012.
Yoga is many things to many people—for some it is a spiritual practice while others consider it a physical exercise. But for most, what comes to mind when they think of yoga are scenes of peace and tranquility—at the least the search for peace and tranquility.
It’s hard to imagine, then, that yoga was recommended to death camp guards in Nazi Germany. But that’s exactly what historian and yoga expert Mathias Tietke found as he researched his new book, Yoga In National Socialism.
“It is associated with mental equilibrium, the search for wisdom and inner peace and is not considered to be about force or persecution,” Tietke told The Daily Mail. “Never the less, there is also this side to the history of yoga.”
It’s a very dark history.
Tietke’s research shows that not only were there S.S. leaders who were fascinated with yoga, they even used yoga’s history and philosophy to justify the Holocaust. S.S. Captain Jakob Wilhelm Hauer wrote “yoga can internally arm us to prepare us for the forthcoming battles,” while Commander Heinrich Himmler actually considered the Bhagavad Gita as a blueprint for cruelty. He identified with the attitude of “unscrupulous killing for one’s ‘higher purpose,’ ” wrote Tietke.
4. More about the SS/Yoga connection: ” . . . . It was seized on by race experts in the party as being the pursuit of ‘Ayran’ people. Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, an S.S. captain and yoga expert, who influenced his chief Himmler and convinced him that ‘yoga can internally arm us and prepare us for the forthcoming battles.’ . . . . Himmler, obsessed as he was with hocus-pocus race theories and mysticism relating to his S.S. ‘supermen,’ carried around a German copy of the Bhagavad Gita with him wherever he went. He regarded the ancient Sanskrit epic as being a blueprint for cruelty and terror, using it, said Tietke, to ultimately justify the Holocaust. He wrote; ‘He identified himself and the SS with the old Indian Kshatriya caste and its publicized attitude of unscrupulous killing for one’s ‘higher purpose.’ . . . . ”
This dovetails with the SS mythology/ideology, which saw the SS as the embodiment and fulfillment of the “Aryan” race.
” ‘Ve Hav vays of Making You Relax’: How SS Recommended Yoga to Death Camp Guards as a Good Way to De-Stress” by Alan Hall; Daily Mail Online [UK]; 2/22/2012.
A German historian has discovered how the SS in Nazi Germany recommended its members — including death camp guards — practice yoga to enrich their ‘mind, bodies and spirits.’
The first ever book probing the Third Reich’s fascination with the ancient discipline — intended to attain ‘perfect spiritual insight and tranquility’ — was published this week, entitled Yoga In National Socialism by historian and yoga expert Mathias Tietke.
It shows how S.S. overlord Heinrich Himmler was fascinated with the discipline and perverted it and its ancient roots into a philosophy to justify the Holocaust. . . .
. . . . Tietke ploughed through thousands of Third Reich documents to chronicle the history of this most peaceful of pursuits in the time of the savagery of Nazism.
As well as the book he is planning an exhibition in Berlin later this year in the Gestapo museum called the Topography of Terror.
The Nazi interest in yoga lay in its roots in the 19th century when India mysticism was a favourite pursuit of the middle and upper classes and a great influence on romantic poets and philosophers.
During the Wiemar Republic, as the Nazis gained strength, yoga enjoyed a boom among a people weary of war, inflation, unemployment and misery.
More than 50 yoga books were published in the 1920’s in Berlin alone. And, as the Nazis corrupted most things they touched, so it was with yoga.
It was seized on by race experts in the party as being the pursuit of ‘Ayran’ people. Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, an S.S. captain and yoga expert, who influenced his chief Himmler and convinced him that ‘yoga can internally arm us and prepare us for the forthcoming battles.’
In 1937, four years after the Nazis attained power, the country’s first yoga centre opened up in Berlin and operated until it was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1943.
The teacher who ran it had disciples in 50 German towns and cities. Himmler, obsessed as he was with hocus-pocus race theories and mysticism relating to his S.S. ‘supermen,’ carried around a German copy of the Bhagavad Gita with him wherever he went.
He regarded the ancient Sanskrit epic as being a blueprint for cruelty and terror, using it, said Tietke, to ultimately justify the Holocaust.
He wrote; “He identified himself and the SS with the old Indian Kshatriya caste and its publicised attitude of unscrupulous killing for one’s ‘higher purpose.’ ”
Tietke says Himmler’s attitude to ‘karma’ was never better displayed than at the secret speech he made to senior S.S. men at Poznan in 1943 when he spoke of the noble, virtuous work his butchers were performing in eliminating the Jews of Europe and Russia.
Himmler was also interested in other early Indian religious writings of India, including the Rigveda which contains the mythology of the Hindu gods. “These celebrated the racism of the Aryan immigrating from central Asia to India, killing and driving out designated ‘inferior’ opponents,” said Tietke.
5. In FTR #‘s 969 and 970, we examined the resurgence of fascism in Japan.
Those programs update the re-emergence of the political forces that drove the conquests of Imperial Japan, as well as attempts to institute an Orwellian re-write of Japan’s involvement in World War II.
Key thematic elements of those broadcasts include an ominous resonance between Japanese revisionist schools Tsukamoto, Moritomo Gakuen and the Native-Land-Loving School, some of whose alumni assassinated Japanese prime minister Inukai on May 15, 1932. The “May 15th Incident,” as it is known, was a key element in the rise of fascism in Japan.
“. . . . In 1939, his [Kosaburo Tachibana’s] admirers enabled him to establish a school. He called it the Native-Land-Loving School (Aikyojuku). Everybody in Japan with a message to deliver or an axe to grind opens a school. . . . Those schools in the hands of the patriotic societies are at once a method of training young men for strong-arm work and a plausible excuse for extorting contributions from the rich and timid. . . .”
Several members of Abe’s government network with Japanese neo-Nazis. Some of those Nazi acolytes advocate using the Nazi method for seizing power in Japan. Is Abe’s government doing just that?
In addition to finance minister (and deputy prime-minister) Taro Aso, former defense minister Tomi Inada and interior minister Sanae Takaichi are apparent exponents of Nazi political methodology. ” . . . . Inada made news earlier this month after photos circulated of her and another female in the new cabinet posing with a neo-Nazi party leader. Both denied knowing the neo-Nazi well but later were revealed to have contributed blurbs for an advertisement praising the out-of-print book Hitler’s Election Strategy. Coincidentally, Vice-Prime Minister [and Finance Minister–D.E.],Taro Aso, is also a long-time admirer of Nazi political strategy, and has suggested Japan follow the Nazi Party template to sneak constitutional change past the public. . . . it is a little worrisome that [Interior Minister] Sanae Takaichi . . . is the other female minister who was photographed with a neo-Nazi leader and is a fan of Hitler. . . .”
Much of FTR #969 focuses on Shinzo (and wife Akie) Abe’s support for the Moritomo Gakuen.
- Akie Abe was the honorary principal of the Moritomo Gakuen (still being constructed) and contributed a million yen toward its construction.
- Abe himself apparently donated money to the construction of Moritomo Gakuen.
- Tomomi Inada supported Moritomo Gakuen, having represented the school as a lawyer. She later claimed she could not remember having done so.
- Moritomo Gakuen Yasunori Kagoike is a member of Nippon Kaigi.
- Moritomo Gakuen apparently benefited from favors from Taro Aso’s finance ministry.
In this program, we update the investigation into Akie Abe’s intercession on the part of the Moritomo Gakuen, noting the “sweetheart deal” given to the Moritomo Gakuen school by the Abe government. The similarity with the real estate deals given to Baba Ramdev’s operations by the Modi government should be noted.
“Scandals Dog Abe as He Prepares to Meet Trump” by Motoko Rich; The New York Times; 4/17/2018.
. . . . But last month, the Finance Ministry said an internal investigation found that bureaucrats had tampered with official documents related to the sale of public land to an ultraconservative education group, known as Moritomo Gakuen, at a steeply discounted price. Mr. Abe’s wife, Akie, served as a onetime honorary principal of a planned elementary school that Moritomo wanted to build on the disputed land.
In one of the most damaging findings, the ministry said that officials had scrubbed Mrs. Abe’s name and alleged remarks encouraging the deal from the documents when they were first submitted to Parliament, known in Japan as the Diet. Then this month, the Finance Ministry told Parliament that a bureaucrat had urged a lawyer for Moritomo to lie about how much it would cost to remove garbage from the public land in order to justify the sale at a discounted price. . . .
6. Next, we “dolly out,” so to speak, and begin to examine the Modi/RSS/Ramdev axis in a broader political and geopolitical context.
We review the strong links between “Team Trump” and the Modi/BJP/RSS axis. There are also strong links between Tulsi Gabbard, the left-cover Hindutva fascist who nominated Bernie Sanders for President in 2016 and The Modi/BJP/RSS axis., as well as connections between “Team Trump” and Gabbard.
- Trump’s Indian partners in his real estate projects overlap the milieu of Modi’s BJP (a cat’s paw for the Hindu nationalist and fascist party the RSS.) ” . . . . Mr. Trump’s partner in the Trump Tower Mumbai is the Lodha Group, founded by Mangal Prabhat Lodha, vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party — currently the governing party in Parliament — in Maharashtra State. The Lodha Group has already negotiated with the United States government; it announced a landmark purchase of a property, known as the Washington House, on tony Altamount Road, from the American government for 3.75 billion rupees, almost $70 million. His partner in an office complex in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, is IREO, whose managing director, Lalit Goyal, is the brother-in-law of a Bharatiya Janata member of Parliament, Sudhanshu Mittal. Mr. Mittal, in an interview, has denied having any connection with the real estate company. . . .”
- Trump interviewed Gabbard for a cabinet position: “. . . . Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a high-profile Bernie Sanders supporter during the Democratic primaries, is ‘under serious consideration’ for various Cabinet positions in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, according to a senior official on the transition team. According to the official, the 35-year-old Hawaii congresswoman is being looked as a candidate for secretary of state, secretary of defense or United Nations ambassador. If selected, Gabbard will be the first woman as well as the youngest pick for Trump’s Cabinet. . . .”
- Trump’s “alt-right” advisor Steve Bannon is a fan of Gabbard’s: ” . . . . Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, reportedly likes Gabbard because of her stance on guns, refugees and Islamic extremism along with her ability to invoke strong anti-establishment populist sentiment on the left. . . .”
- Bannon is also a fan of Narendra Modi and has followed his political rise closely: ” . . . . Mr. Trump may be largely indifferent to the reasons behind his Hindu loyalists’ fervor, but his most senior advisers are not. The campaign’s chief executive, Stephen K. Bannon, is a student of nationalist movements. Mr. Bannon is close to Nigel Farage, a central figure in Britain’s movement to leave the European Union, and he is an admirer of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist Mr. Bannon has called ‘the Reagan of India.’ It may be pure coincidence that some of Mr. Trump’s words channel the nationalistic and, some argue, anti-Muslim sentiments that Mr. Modi stoked as he rose to power. But it is certainly not coincidental that many of Mr. Trump’s biggest Hindu supporters are also some of Mr. Modi’s most ardent backers. . . .”
- Gabbard is also a big fan of Narendra Modi, having been involved with the planning of Modi’s U.S. visit and networking with BJP members: ” . . . . Gabbard, a strong supporter of Modi, is a Democrat Congresswoman from Hawaii. . . . She had spoken to Modi after his victory in the Indian general elections and congratulated him and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She has also been involved in the planning of Modi’s US visit and had last month met two BJP leaders Vijay Jolly and MP Rajyavardhan Rathore in that connection. . . .”
- On a trip to India, Gabbard networked with both the BJP and the RSS, the Hindu nationalist/fascist party for which Modi’s BJP is a cat’s paw. (All of Modi’s cabinet appointments were drawn from the RSS. Modeled on the German Nazi Party and Mussolini’s blackshirts, the RSS killed Gandhi.): “. . . . Speaking at a fundraising event for the BJP in August 2014 . . . Gabbard said that Modi’s election victory was only possible because ‘people stood up, one by one by one by one, and said we will demand that this change occurs.’ . . . Gabbard was treated as royalty on her visit to India last year. As she hobnobbed with the Indian prime minister and foreign minister among others, The Telegraph, a Kolkata-based newspaper, called her ‘the Sangh’s mascot’ in the US. The Sangh, a moniker for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is a right-wing hindutva organisation and the ideological guardian of the BJP party that rules India now. . . .”
7. In this program, we review Pierre Omidyar’s significant role in both India and Ukraine:
- Omidyar helped finance the rise of Modi and his Hindutva fascist BJP in India. Most of Modi’s cabinet selections were drawn from the RSS: ” . . . . This week, India’s newly-elected ultranationalist leader Narendra Modi unveiled his cabinet, three-quarters of whom come from a fascist paramilitary outfit, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) . . . . founded in 1925 by open admirers of Mussolini and Hitler; in 1948, an RSS member assassinated pacifist Mahatma Gandhi. . . .”
- The head of Omidyar’s charitable operations in India–Jayant Sinha–became Modi’s finance minister and honored a convicted “cow vigilante” murderer.
- Omidyar helped finance the Maidan coup in Ukraine, which brought to power Ukrainian fascists evolved from the OUN/B.
- Omidyar worked with U.S. Agency for International Development–a frequent vehicle for U.S. covert operation–to effect the Maidan coup.
- Omidyar has now partnered with the inappropriately-named National Endowment for Democracy to further his ends. NED is little more than a front for continued covert operations.
- Omidyar’s charges in Ukraine have been complicit in the murder of journalists critical of their activities.
- Omidyar’s OUN/B successor associates in Ukraine have worked to intimidate journalists with whom they disagree, tarring them with the useful sobriquet of “Kremlin/Russian” dupes.
8. Omidyar’s work in both Ukraine and India–operating as an apparent asset of U.S. intelligence and (perhaps) the Underground Reich–are best viewed in the context of the Earth Island and a flanking maneuver on Russia and China.
Stretching from the Straits of Gibraltar, all across Europe, most of the Middle East, Eurasia, Russia, China and India, that stretch of land: comprises most of the world’s land mass; contains most of the world’s population and most of the world’s natural resources (including oil and natural gas.) Geopoliticians have long seen controlling that land mass as the key to world domination.
With the OUN/B successor organization fascists in power via the Maidan coup and a parliamentary coalition government with Petro Poroshenko, pressure is being put directly on Russia’s flank. With the Hindutva fascists of Narendra Modi/BJP/RSS in power in India, pressure is being put on China’s flank: “U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced a momentous shift in American global strategic policy in a little noticed statement on May 30. From now on, he decreed, the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), which oversees all U.S. military forces in Asia, will be called the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM). The name change, Mattis explained, reflects ‘the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific Oceans,’ as well as Washington’s determination to remain the dominant power in both. Such a name change may not sound like much, but someday you may look back and realize that it couldn’t have been more consequential or ominous. Think of it as a signal that the U.S. military is already setting the stage for eventual confrontation with China. . . .”
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced a momentous shift in American global strategic policy in a little noticed statement on May 30.
From now on, he decreed, the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), which oversees all U.S. military forces in Asia, will be called the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM). The name change, Mattis explained, reflects ‘the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific Oceans,’ as well as Washington’s determination to remain the dominant power in both.
Such a name change may not sound like much, but someday you may look back and realize that it couldn’t have been more consequential or ominous. Think of it as a signal that the U.S. military is already setting the stage for eventual confrontation with China. . . . On June 8th, for example, the DoD launched Malabar 2018, a joint Pacific Ocean naval exercise involving forces from India, Japan, and the United States. Incorporating once neutral India into America’s anti-Chinese “Pacific” alliance system in this and other ways has, in fact, become a major twenty-first-century goal of the Pentagon, posing a significant new threat to China. . . .”
. . . . Consider the backdrop to the name change: in recent months, the U.S. has stepped up its naval patrols in waters adjacent to Chinese-occupied islands in the South China Sea (as has China), raising the prospect of future clashes between the warships of the two countries. Such moves have been accompanied by ever more threatening language from the Department of Defense (DoD), indicating an intent to do nothing less than engage China militarily if that country’s build-up in the region continues. “When it comes down to introducing what they have done in the South China Sea, there are consequences,” Mattis declared at the Shangri La Strategic Dialogue in Singapore on June 2nd.
As a preliminary indication of what he meant by this, Mattis promptly disinvited the Chinese from the world’s largest multinational naval exercise, the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), conducted annually under American auspices. “But that’s a relatively small consequence,” he added ominously, “and I believe there are much larger consequences in the future.” With that in mind, he soon announced that the Pentagon is planning to conduct “a steady drumbeat” of naval operations in waters abutting those Chinese-occupied islands, which should raise the heat between the two countries and could create the conditions for a miscalculation, a mistake, or even an accident at sea that might lead to far worse.
In addition to its plans to heighten naval tensions in seas adjacent to China, the Pentagon has been laboring to strengthen its military ties with U.S.-friendly states on China’s perimeter, all clearly part of a long-term drive, in Cold War fashion, to “contain” Chinese power in Asia.
On June 8th, for example, the DoD launched Malabar 2018, a joint Pacific Ocean naval exercise involving forces from India, Japan, and the United States. Incorporating once neutral India into America’s anti-Chinese “Pacific” alliance system in this and other ways has, in fact, become a major twenty-first-century goal of the Pentagon, posing a significant new threat to China. . . .
9. Of significance for us in the context of anti-China/Earth Island geopoliticals are the anti-communist utility of the BJP/RSS/Ramdev nexus and the dovetailing of a Ramdev/Patanjali installation in Assam with the needs of the Indian Air Force for a base in that area:
- Ramdev and the B.J.P. appear to have utility as vehicles to eradicate Communist influence in parts of India: ” . . . . The RSS has become more visible since Modi’s 2014 victory. The group and its affiliates have built hundreds of schools and job-training centers in Assam and other northeastern states in recent years. I visited several and saw unmistakable signs of the RSS ideological program. . . . All this hard indoctrination work has paid off. In 2016, the B.J.P. won control of Assam’s state government in legislative elections. And in March of this year, the party won stunning electoral upsets in two adjacent northeastern states, where leftist parties had dominated for decades. There was talk of a ‘saffron wave’ that might spread to the south Indian regions, including Communist-dominated Kerala, that have long resisted the advance of Hindu nationalism. Many Indian political analysts said the RSS’s grass-roots work was essential to the recent electoral victories. But one RSS volunteer in Assam, a construction contractor, told me Ramdev’s presence and his yoga promotion had been very influential, too. . . .”
- Also of significance is the dovetailing of Modi/B.J.P. assisted Patanjali operations with the Indian military–specifically, the Indian Air Force: “. . . . After admiring the cookie plant and its 300-foot oven, we drove across a deliciously smooth, median-free stretch of pavement that resembled a runway. In fact, it is a runway, built in consultation with the Indian Air Force so that jet fighters can take off and land on it, Singh told me. ‘We will dedicate this to the nation in case there is need for an extra airstrip,’ he said, and then added with a knowing look, ‘We are near China.’ Patanjali seems almost to view itself as an extension of the state — or rather, an illustration of what has become a ‘state-temple-corporate complex,’ in the apt phrase of the Indian author Meera Nanda. . . .”
10a. In our previous programs, we have spoken of Ramdev’s use of a Modi/BJP/RSS invocation, highlighting Ramdev’s working of the “fascis”–the “bundle” of accolytes–in Fuhrer/Duce-like fashion: ” . . . . Ramdev took the microphone and introduced the phalanx of several hundred Hindu religious students, known as brahmacharis, sitting in neat rows on the field. Everyone repeat after me: ‘Bharat mata ki jai!’ he shouted. The crowd raised their arms and pumped their fists as they chanted the words — ‘India my motherland is great’ — that have become a defining slogan of the Hindu nationalist movement. . . .”
10b Narendra Modi echoed this in his September 2015 speech at the SAP Center in San Jose. (As mentioned above, Tulsi Gabbard helped arrange Modi’s tour.) An audio excerpt concludes this program. For convenience, we have included a portion of text from Modi’s speech.
. . . . Please repeat after me “Bharat Mata Ki Jai.” Say it loudly; I want the voice to boom all the way to India, Bharat Mata Ki Jai, (audience repeats), Bharat Mata Ki Jai, (audience repeats) . . . .
An interesting article about Himmler and Hinduism, contributed by a listener:
Heinrich Himmler: The Nazi Hindu
Analysis
By Palash R. Ghosh
http://www.trimondi.de/EN/Himmler-Hindu.htm
Here’s a pair of articles about what appear to be the growing challenges in India dealing with the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV‑2 virus as anti-vaccine rumors — like it will kill you or make you magnetic — continue to spread, especially over platforms like WhatsApp. And guess who is playing a starring role in spreading COVID misinformation: Baba Ramdev. Because of course he is.
But he isn’t just pushing herbal medical treatments his company sells on his audiences over modern medical treatments. He was trashing the use of oxygen and ventilators for deeply sick patients.
Oh, and it also sounds like large numbers of village elders are dying but the Modi government isn’t counting them as Covid deaths in many cases. So the question of what kind of impact Baba’s misinformation is having on the most vulnerable populations in India is difficult to answer other than acknowledging that the real number is certainly a lot higher than the official number. And the official numbers are going from bad to worse:
“In some corners, cow dung, lemon juice, oils and herbs have been promoted as remedies. Business-minded religious gurus have pushed their own products as Covid cures, once even with help from Mr. Modi’s health minister. In a video clip, Baba Ramdev, a religious entrepreneur, mocks modern science and falsely claims that 1,000 doctors have died after taking the vaccine.”
Did you hear? 1,000 doctors died from from the COVID vaccine. So says Baba Ramdev. That’s the kind of meme that has clearly successfully taken hold in Indian villages if the trickle of vaccinations and overwhelmed cremation centers are any indication:
And then there are the deaths of village elders due to “Unknown fevers” and “Chest Infections”. They aren’t considered COVID deaths unless there’s a positive test, and those tests aren’t happening. So it sounds like there’s a situation unfolding in India where something is killing large numbers of village elders but the Modi government isn’t confirming that COVID is the culprit. It’s all quite convenient for the virus and anyone who wants to see the older generation of rural Indians wiped out:
But Baba Ramdev it’s isn’t just spreading claims about doctors dying from the COVID vaccine. He was shaming severely ill COVID patients for needing oxygen. And blaming doctors for COVID and COVID deaths. Beyond that, his company Patanjali Ayurveda started an herbal ‘cure’ for COVID last June. So the guy is encouraging people not to get vaccinated through lies, selling questionable herbal ‘cures’, while chastising those who get sick for needing oxygen and blaming doctors for the pandemic:
““God has given us free oxygen, why don’t we breathe that? How can there be a shortage when God has filled the atmosphere with oxygen? Fools are looking for oxygen cylinders. Just breathe the free oxygen. Why are you complaining about shortage of oxygen and beds and crematoriums?” he said.”
Only fools seek out oxygen for COVID. Why can’t people just breathe the free oxygen in the air? This is the advice the guy blaming the pandemic on doctors:
And at the same time he’s attacking doctors for the pandemic he’s selling herbal COVID ‘cures’. It’s quite a marketing strategy:
Finally, we can’t forget that Baba Ramdev isn’t a random guru. He’s an influential supporter of Nurendra Modi and an open supporter for the BJP:
How many of these dying village elders are taking their COVID cues from Baba Ramdev? We don’t know, but we know the answer is far too many.