The Costs of Hindu Extremism: New York Times

[Asim]

The Opinion Pages | Editorial

The Costs of Hindu Extremism

The dismay that many ordinary Indian citizens feel about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s willingness to tolerate, even encourage, the Hindu hard-liners in his own party has now spread to the financial community. Last week, Moody’s Analytics, a division of the bond rating and risk management company, warned that Mr. Modi “must keep his members in check or risk losing domestic and global credibility” — meaning, in so many words, its attractiveness to international investors.

Indian business leaders are no less alarmed. Over the weekend, N.R. Narayana Murthy, a co-founder of the Indian technology giant Infosys, lamented that “the reality today is that there is considerable fear” in the minds of the minority in India, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairwoman and managing director of Biocon, said business leaders are “concerned with what’s happening all across the country.”

Among the sparks that have set off an extraordinary outpouring of citizen reaction are the August killing of Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi, a 76-year-old critic of Hindu idolatry, and Mr. Modi’s tardy condemnation of the lynching of a Muslim man in September by a Hindu mob enraged by a rumor that his family had killed a cow and eaten its meat.

By mid-October, 35 Indian authors and poets had returned their awards to India’s National Academy of Letters. Since then, Indian sociologists, scientists, filmmakers and more than 300 Indian artists have published public statements of concern and outrage. On the occasion of his 50th birthday on Monday, the film superstar Shah Rukh Khan spoke out against intolerance and warned, “We will never be a superpower if we are not going to believe that all religions are equal.”

The plain truth is that India is being rived by hatred and held hostage to the intolerant demands of some Hindu hard-liners. This is not the India a vast majority of Indian citizens want and it is not an India that will attract the foreign investment Mr. Modi has worked hard to drum up on his many trips abroad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/opinion/the-costs-of-hindu-extremism.html?_r=0

[gattaca]

Hopefully Asim can post something about Pakistan as well which are dealing with internal problems. He is just obsessed with india just like his fellow citizens. 

[amiret]

the film superstar Shah Rukh Khan spoke out against intolerance and warned, “We will never be a superpower if we are not going to believe that all religions are equal.”

All  ideologies/religions/fairy tales are not equal .  Some fairy tales are worse than others. 

 

[asterix]

All  ideologies/religions/fairy tales are not equal .  Some fairy tales are worse than others. 

 

SRK is asking for Uniform (Equal) Civil Code... I agree with his demand...

[vvvslaxman]

There is no hindu extremism by and large . Citing one or two incidents 100 times don't make it 200 incidents which is the idea of MSM. Bombard you with the same news on a daily basis until you convince yourself that it is true.  IN truth half the america hates Muslims more than Indians.  Nobody lynched Azharuddin for being a traitor or sania for marrying a b grade Pakistan cricketer (hehe). Abdul Rahman for converting from hindu to muslim.. No president has been loved by India more than Abdul Kalam.  Can you tell me a Hindu who rose to the top in Pakistan?

Edited November 4, 2015 by vvvslaxman

[The Outsider]

I can see exactly the same kind of denial and Head In Sand Syndrome (HISS) amongst Hindus about the rising Hindutva as was prevalent in Pakistan in the 70s and 80s.

[Yoda-esque]

People need a perspective and education of history to understand the future of a country .

One thought is if I am not oppressing you,I am getting oppressed.The other thought is that unless I am going extinct I won't raise my voice.

It's obvious to guess which thought belongs to which ...

Now read the article again

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

[New guy]

There is no hindu extremism by and large . Citing one or two incidents 100 times don't make it 200 incidents which is the idea of MSM. Bombard you with the same news on a daily basis until you convince yourself that it is true.  IN truth half the america hates Muslims more than Indians.  Nobody lynched Azharuddin for being a traitor or sania for marrying a b grade Pakistan cricketer (hehe). Abdul Rahman for converting from hindu to muslim.. No president has been loved by India more than Abdul Kalam.  Can you tell me a Hindu who rose to the top in Pakistan?

I think many of those things you mentioned are in the past and yes, today we are in danger of going the extremist way. Which is not a surprise as it happens every time this particular party comes into power. There is a huge difference between people supporting hate like in the US and the ruling part openly allowing provocative statements and looking the other way when extremism happens. For example look at that clock thing with the Muslim boy. Obama was quick to invite him to the white house to dispel the perception. 

 

BTW, in today's world perception IS the truth. Modi came to power based on a lot of social media activity and perception. Now you cannot have it both ways and blame media. Moody has already warned India and this is based on perception too. 

 

Look at country as a brand in today's world. We were doing much better than Pakistan in promoting and nurturing that brand. Most investors will look for a serene country without conflict. But think of even one or two isolated incidents as scandals which bring the brand value down. And as you said, this might be perception, but the perception needs to be build for the brand to survive. Statements made by certain dumbasses might just be statements with no substance, however for the world they are still the filter they see us through. And it is going to affect our brand value. Moody's statement is proof of how perception affects reality. 

Edited November 5, 2015 by New guy

[someone]

Silly thread, West is no real friend of our country, they have their own interests. We can't see ourselves through the eyes of the West each time. An independent and big nation can and should make it's own policies and stand up for itself.

Other nations like China and Russia have their own think-tanks and don't take any western propaganda seriously.

[swatpulla]

Hindu extremism is as extreme as your "moderate Islam".

Edited November 6, 2015 by swatpulla

[coffee_rules]

It's more clear if you read this..

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/media-misled-people-on-moodys-report-on-tolerance-government/

The Indian media reported the Moody’s Analytics commentary on Saturday. On November 3, in an editorial titled ‘The Costs of Hindu Extremism’ published in its international edition of the New York Times, made a reference to the Moody’s report while citing growing concerns over religious “hard-liners” and of the worries “spreading to the financial community”.

“Last week, Moody’s Analytics, a division of the bond rating and risk management company, warned that Mr (Narendra) Modi ‘must keep his members in check or risk losing domestic and global credibility’ — meaning, in so many words, its attractiveness to international investors,” the editorial noted.

The government’s note Friday said “it is also surprising that no due diligence was done and the readers were not informed about the difference between Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investor Services”. “Opinion of a Junior Associate Economist employed with Moody’s Analytics has been splashed all across implying it as the opinion of Moody’s Analytics.”

On its website, Moody’s Analytics describes itself as the economic research and analysis division of Moody’s Corporation. It states that its commentary is independent and does not reflect the opinions of Moody’s Investors Services, the credit rating agency that is also a subsidiary of Moody’s Corporation. While Moody’s Analytics has no business or revenue model in India, the other arm of Moody’s Corporation — Moody’s Investor Service — rates the government sovereign bonds and also the offshore debt instruments issued by Indian corporates, for which it derives revenue from the rated entities.

The latest Moody’s Analytics report noted that the government has failed to deliver on the promised reforms and also raised questions over its ability to deliver on them going forward. In its previous quarterly commentary in July, it had red-flagged “falling investments” and the “lack of progress on reforms” as key bottlenecks for India’s growth prospects. “The government’s failure to deliver promised reforms is the major impediment,” Moody’s Analytics said in its July report, “India Outlook: Waiting for Reforms to Fuel Growth”.

[The Outsider]

^ Moody's has already called that government statement for what it is - Sanghi propaganda.

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/moodys-analytics-stands-by-its-report-denies-it-is-the-personal-opinion-of-an-employee/article7844910.ece

[coffee_rules]

^Analytics' report from Moody's is not a rating given to Investors. So, analysts can write all they want, they are mere opinions. Here's another one from Moody's Investors Service which has clearer rating. Our media guns jumped on the former report and attributed it ti ratings downgraded due to Hindu Extremism  

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/11/02/moody_0_n_8449896.html

Moody's Upgrades Modi Government's Bank Ratings From 'Negative' To 'Stable'

Rating agency Moody's Investors Service revised its outlook on India's banking system to "stable" from "negative" on Monday. This comes after a separate report by another of its divisions warned PM Modi that he ought to keep his party members “in check or risk losing domestic and global credibility.”

Moody's had downgraded India's banking system outlook to "negative" in November 2011 but upgraded India's sovereign outlook to "positive" in April, while retaining its rating at "Baa3."

Edited November 6, 2015 by coffee_rules

[The Outsider]

^ Another classic Sanghi tactic from the government- create a false bogey and appear as Phantom in destroying it.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Moodys-to-Modi-Rein-in-BJP-members-or-risk-losing-global-credibility/articleshow/49603075.cms

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/moodys-to-modi-rein-in-members-or-risk-losing-credibility/

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/moodys-to-modi-keep-bjp-members-in-check-or-risk-losing-credibility/article7823019.ece

http://www.hindustantimes.com/business/moody-s-warns-modi-rein-in-bjp-members-or-risk-losing-credibility/story-BL7ju5tFzq4AuXFqRKtm3N.html

All clearly state Moody Analytics- you can check more. One or two aberrations don't make a trend.

When these things were denied by Moody's themselves, Sanghis tried to spread rumors through their supposedly neutral and cultured mouthpieces like Tavleen Singh that the writer was the son in law of Irfan Habib. 

And all this for a supposedly insignificant report from a junior analyst- itni phat kyon rahi hai for such an insignificant thing, then?

[Singh bling]

The Opinion Pages | Editorial

The Costs of Hindu Extremism

The dismay that many ordinary Indian citizens feel about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s willingness to tolerate, even encourage, the Hindu hard-liners in his own party has now spread to the financial community. Last week, Moody’s Analytics, a division of the bond rating and risk management company, warned that Mr. Modi “must keep his members in check or risk losing domestic and global credibility” — meaning, in so many words, its attractiveness to international investors.

Indian business leaders are no less alarmed. Over the weekend, N.R. Narayana Murthy, a co-founder of the Indian technology giant Infosys, lamented that “the reality today is that there is considerable fear” in the minds of the minority in India, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairwoman and managing director of Biocon, said business leaders are “concerned with what’s happening all across the country.”

Among the sparks that have set off an extraordinary outpouring of citizen reaction are the August killing of Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi, a 76-year-old critic of Hindu idolatry, and Mr. Modi’s tardy condemnation of the lynching of a Muslim man in September by a Hindu mob enraged by a rumor that his family had killed a cow and eaten its meat.

By mid-October, 35 Indian authors and poets had returned their awards to India’s National Academy of Letters. Since then, Indian sociologists, scientists, filmmakers and more than 300 Indian artists have published public statements of concern and outrage. On the occasion of his 50th birthday on Monday, the film superstar Shah Rukh Khan spoke out against intolerance and warned, “We will never be a superpower if we are not going to believe that all religions are equal.”

The plain truth is that India is being rived by hatred and held hostage to the intolerant demands of some Hindu hard-liners. This is not the India a vast majority of Indian citizens want and it is not an India that will attract the foreign investment Mr. Modi has worked hard to drum up on his many trips abroad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/opinion/the-costs-of-hindu-extremism.html?_r=0

Islamic extremism has almost destroyed the continent. Partition was creation islamic extremism , result millions died and became homeless .Later because of Kashmir trillions of dollar were spent and are still spending on militaries instead of going to uplift poor. Millions in continent are poor and suffering ALL THANKS TO ISLAMIC EXTREMISM. 

 

Just imagine an undivided India  with communal harmony  , it could had developed much faster than China

[coffee_rules]

When it appears on NYT and Pakistani websites, and all liberals have their panties in a wad, flagging that article, the government had to depend on it's media buddies to not fight the fire.

[someone]

 

Just imagine an undivided India  with communal harmony  , it could had developed much faster than China

Nope, what about corruption? Till we have Dynasty politics, there will be corruption. There is corruption everywhere but India has inefficient corruption. That's a big difference. And then, what about population, where some communities do no family planning at all.

[Singh bling]

Nope, what about corruption? Till we have Dynasty politics, there will be corruption. There is corruption everywhere but India has inefficient corruption. That's a big difference. And then, what about population, where some communities do no family planning at all.

China is equally or more corrupt  , yet they have acheived  biggest poverty elevation,And China too ended their one child policy recently without decrease in population

[someone]

China is equally or more corrupt  , yet they have acheived  biggest poverty elevation,And China too ended their one child policy recently without decrease in population

Please, read before replying.  I wrote clearly in India,  it's inefficient corruption. That itself can be the biggest problem here in India.

And then, we elected a so called "secular" government in place for nearly 60 years, and yet they had little vision, failed on development front and were selfish for personal gains.

[Number]

The one off incidents were happening here and there from long irrespective of governments. Its just convenient to blame the govt. now since its BJP. How else you explain blaming central govt when something has happened in Karnataka and UP which has ultra secular govts.

And the way political writers with their clear leanings have milked it, has made it pure buffoonery.