Sonal Shah is Obama’s first mistake
Posted by JoNov 14
There is so much talk going on about Sonal Shah, the newly appointed Indian-American of US president-elect Barack Obama’s transition group. It all started with some news items pointing out Sonal’s association with VHP-America and her family’s association with VHP-India. Then her friends wrote long blog posts and articles stating that Sonal is a humanitarian and never had been a part of hate politics and you can’t pronunce someone ‘guilty-by-association’ (word of the year).
Well, I wouldn’t blame her friends supporting her (after all they are her ‘friends‘), but I am not sure about some of their substantial reasons in their articles in support that “I am a born Christian and an atheist…” or “I am a Muslim but never felt…” kind of tone. Do Sonal having Christian friends or Muslim friends make the accusations look less important? Heck, BJP has a Muslim MP on their fold, does that make them secular? And sometimes back Advani had renewed his admiration towards Jinnah and recently he met the Christian leaders here in Kerala, but does that put away the riots following Babri Masjid demolition and the renewal of the Hindu-Muslim hatred in India?
And is Sonal Shah only a good samaritan as her friends and herself claim to be? Did she have no association with Sangh Parivar other than attending their meetings in America (some people have commented that it is only the VHP meetings where the second generation Indo-Americans get to learn about their heritage and culture)? The answer is NO.
Sonal was not a teenager who would have been unaware of the Sangh’s agenda and activities back in India. She was 33 when she was serving VHP-America (she is 40 now) as the National Coordinator for the Gujarat earthquake relief in 2001. And until later the media frenzy came about her association, she has never disowned herself from the Sangh. As a commentator in this website mentions, VHP-America’s website says this about the National Project Coordinators:
National Projects Coordinators – The national projects are executed by a committee of members drawn from the [governing council] and the various chapters. The coordinator facilitates the formation of the team, setting of goals and objectives, communication and reaching out to the community.
She was not just an associate of VHP-America but was in the “governing body”. Now should I be stupid enough to believe that Sonal Shah was not aware of the VHP’s hate politics in India at the age of 33 while serving a position in their “governing body” and for “3 years”?
PassTheRoti has listed out some valid points:
1) Sonal was the VHP-A National Coordinator for the Gujarat earthquake relief in 2001. Human rights groups contend that VHP in India engaged in systematic discrimination against minorities while delivering this aid. VHP wasn’t exactly an unknown entity in 2001. A 30-something smart-as-tacks person like Sonal couldn’t have been unaware of its politics, nor can she claim that it was the only organization doing this relief work.
2) Indicorps, Sonal’s organization, has listed the India Development and Relief Fund as one of its supporters and has received funding from it. IDRF is a Sangh outfit.
3) A scant two years after the Gujarat pogrom, Indicorps volunteers and Anand Shah (who was representing Indicorps) were felicitated by Narendra Modi.
4) Sonal was the chief guest at a Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh event in 2004, which included talks that revolved around standard Hindutva revisionist history.
5) Sonal’s father’s connections with the RSS, his strong support of Modi, and his institutional links with the Ekal Vidyalayas are undeniable (I believe that EV’s U.S. tax returns indicate that it operates out of the Shah residence in Houston). This is NOT to make a guilt-by-association argument, but to point out that this *is* important insofar as Indicorps’ flirtation with the Ekal Vidyalayas is concerned. Sonal cannot distance herself from the EVs by claiming that she didn’t know what they were up to, and I think it is fair to ask her why, despite knowing their politics, she chose to associate herself with them in the first place.
6) Several people have made good faith efforts to have conversations with Anand and Sonal about Indicorps in public and private. Many of these reflected their own ambivalence: on the one hand Indicorps appeared to be doing good work, on the other there were the troubling connections listed above. But despite being repeatedly pushed to do two things – offer a simple disavowal of the politics of the Sangh, and explicitly condemn the Gujarat pogrom – neither of them ever did so, choosing instead to avoid addressing those questions by deploying generalities such as “we condemn all violence”. To my knowledge, Sonal’s recent statement is the first time ever that she has distanced herself from the RSS and its affiliates.
And even though Sonal now disassociates herself from the Sangh Parivar, interestingly the RSS is going to give her a public reception in Gujarat. With the VHP elements intruding into the Obama administration, we will have to wait and see what effect it is going to make in the long run. If only Barack Obama really cares.
(Thanks to Blogbharti for the links)
(Image courtesy: utexas.edu)
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9 comments
Comment by Inji Pennu on November 15, 2008 at 9:57 am
I think if we all work quick, we can make Obama team rethink this decision. Why dont we all send suggestions on Obama website, where he has asked the people to speak.
Comment by Jo on November 15, 2008 at 10:55 am
That is worth a try, do you have a link to that space? Also there is already a Facebook group demanding the same.
Comment by Inji Pennu on November 16, 2008 at 9:54 am
Jo
This is the website. We can make a format and we can start sending out and make more blog posts. This is quite dangerous if people from VHP are made important members. Remember Narendra Modi was denied Visa due to massive campaigns. We should seriously do something about this.
Comment by Oh God on November 20, 2008 at 1:02 am
here goes the typical Indian “froggy” attitude…trying to pull down whoever trying to reach far…now every Indian outside will have a far off “association” with any party in India…either a Mamu or a chachu or a neighbour’s chachu or a Mamu…If I am famous, all these chachus and mamus will pop up from nowhere and give a warm welcome when i go to India…i cant tell them to stop…more so, i wont be able to resist all the attention..nobody stopped her from doing humanitarian works for people outside U.S and India…y bother now??…cos shes got an “association”? hmm..maybe it’ll be alright if she goes back to christianity and work with ppl in Rome..
Comment by Ram on November 21, 2008 at 10:01 pm
InjiPennu and Jo, go ahead and work ‘quick’ to make Obama rethink about Ms.Shah, because she has ‘association’ with VHP. Give me a break! Please take time to read what VHP does in North America or attend their couple of meetings. Obama’s selection process will scrutinize all aspects of their members. Obama himself had associations with several pastors, isn’t it questionable.
Jo and Inji, don’t take out your religious attitudes…..
Comment by One AmongSeveral on November 23, 2008 at 11:30 am
Ram, I agree with you. I know lot of dirty work VHP is doing in some places.
I haveseen VHP dirty work and also Christien priests dirty work.
Man I am also getting SICK may be after reasding comments a lo t:-)
Let Obama decide. Malayalis have one thing in common Jeaousy.
Comment by Ajita on November 25, 2008 at 10:24 pm
The attitude of those commenting here is sickening. It is our right to condemn anti-secular forces. Am I supposed to feel good just because an Indian reaches a position of power? The logic of these comments is pathetic. Yes, Muslims and Christians have committed terrorist acts as well, but that is irrelevant here. We are criticizing Ms Shah here and I reserve the right to criticize other anti-secularists elsewhere.
It is a failure of critical reasoning to believe that love for one’s country implies that one has to unquestioningly cheer the fascists who are destroying her.
And finally, this bit from the above comment betrays the arrogant bigotry of the commenter.
“Malayalis have one thing in common Jeaousy”
I am fed up with other Indians criticizing Malayalees and Tamilians. If Malayalees have one thing in common, they are a lot more literate than the rest of the country. Maybe you would have learned to spell better if you were one.
Comment by Darsi Ven on December 19, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Inji Pennu and Jo, It is hard to think and believe that Obama does not know about the antecedents of his team members. He must have carefully chosen the best of the best. Obama is a pragmatic and progressive thinker and his team reflects the same qualities. Instead trying to open the eyes of a proven leader like Obama, better you open your eye to the reality. When you try to burry the truth, it grows in strengh and comes out shattering all the faces of falsehood. Obama is wiser than you. That is why he chose right people for the right places. And he won with that team. He does not require your advises. Reform your thinking first.
Comment by qDaac on December 24, 2008 at 9:00 am
obviously you didnt fact check before starting ur crusade.
please see this excerpt from http://www.sepiamutiny.com
Let me start by posting Sonal Shah’s newly-released statement in full, as one goal of this post is to let readers judge her words for themselves:
I was recently maligned by a professor at a college in Connecticut who wrote an article in CounterPunch accusing me of association with Hindu extremism. Then, a few days ago, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, published an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer, to which this site linked, that echoed the CounterPunch accusations. These attacks sadden me, but they share one other thing in common: the accusations are false.
In reaction to these attacks, my closest friends — and many strangers — have rallied to my side. I am touched by this outpouring of support. And as painful as this episode has been for me personally, I welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue with the seriousness that it deserves, but the conversation should proceed on the basis of verified facts and reasoned argument, not innuendo and defamation.
Indian politics and history are contested and emotive, but also unfamiliar to most Americans. I understand why so many Indians and Indian-Americans feel strongly about religious extremism in India, because I share the same concerns.
I am an American, and my political engagements have always and only been American. I served as a U.S. Treasury Department official for seven years, and now work on global development policy at Google.org. And I am honored to serve on the Presidential Transition Team of President-elect Obama while on leave from Google.org.
I emigrated from India at the age of four, and grew up in Houston. Like many Americans, I remain proud of my heritage. But my engagement with India has been exclusively cultural and humanitarian. After the devastating earthquake in Gujarat in 2001, I worked on behalf of a consortium of Indian-American organizations to raise funds for humanitarian relief. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHP-A), an independent charity associated with the eponymous Indian political group, was among these organizations, and it was the only one to list my name on its website. I am not affiliated with any of these organizations, including the VHP-A, and have not worked with any of them since 2001.
The experience with the Gujarat earthquake did, however, teach me an important lesson. It pointed up a lack of dedicated infrastructure to help alleviate suffering in India, so together with my brother and sister, I founded Indicorps, an organization modeled on the U.S. Peace Corps that enables young Indian-Americans to spend a year in service to marginalized communities in India. The fellows come from every religious background, and have worked among every religious community in India. Indeed, some Indicorps fellows focus on inter-faith dialogue as part of their projects.
In 2002, Gujarat suffered one of the most profound tragedies in its long history, when extremist political leaders, including some associated with the VHP, incited riots that resulted in the deaths of thousands. Had I been able to foresee the role of the VHP in India in these heinous events, or anticipate that the VHP of America could possibly stand by silently in the face of its Indian counterpart’s complicity in the events of Gujarat in 2002 — thereby undermining the American group’s cultural and humanitarian efforts with which I was involved — I would not have associated with the VHP of America.
Sadly, CounterPunch and Senator Santorum have suggested that I somehow endorse that violence and the ongoing violence in Orissa. I do not – I deplore it. But more than that, I have worked against it, and will continue to do so. I have already denounced the groups at issue and am hopeful that we can begin to have an honest conversation about the ways immigrant and diaspora communities can engage constructively in social and humanitarian work abroad. (link)
I was happy to see a believable account of how Shah’s name appeared on the VHPA website as a coordinator for earthquake relief in 2001. Shah doesn’t specifically address the statements from a VHPA spokesman to the effect of “she was part of our leadership council for three years,” but there is a clear and convincing account of what she now believes about the VHP as an organization in India, as well as a clear statement about Gujarat 2002. I think we should also not overlook the statement “I am an American” that is here: she considers her personal political commitments to be first and foremost oriented to the American political landscape. I think this fact is important to remember whenever we talk about 2nd generation South Asian Americans’ relationships to specific political issues within South Asia.
After the fold, some thoughts following a personal meeting I had with Anand Shah, Sonal Shah’s younger brother, today in Philadelphia.