In case you didn’t already know the illustrious Mr Pramod Muthalik, he is the founder of the Shri Ram Sena whose activists attacked a pub in Mangalore and assaulted a group of women on January 24.
In an interview to Rediff, Mr Muthalik has gone ahead and declared that he will ‘not allow’ Valentine’s Day celebrations as it is not part of Indian culture and we don’t “need to” ape the west.
The interviewer also asked him a question that has been on my mind for long:
Who has appointed you a moral policeman?
Nobody needs to appoint me. This is a democracy and we have the right to raise our voice if we think something is wrong.
I couldn’t agree more. Valentine’s Day is little more than a week away. Here is something I feel I “need to” do. You are welcome to participate.
On February 14, 2009, I will send the following message along with a Valentine’s Day ecard to ramsena@shriramsena.com – the official email address specified on the group’s website.
Dear Mr Muthalik,
Happy Valentine’s Day! May the gods bury you in a thousand roses!
I read your interview on rediff and completely agree with you when you say “this is a democracy and we have the right to raise our voice if we think something is wrong“.
I think what you did in that pub in Mangalore was very wrong. Beating people up and molesting women is not Indian culture. What you did was shameful and criminal.
I am writing to you with fondest Valentine’s wishes, in hopes that you will mend your ways and become a good man (though it doesn’t seem likely; I have read your criminal record).
I also wanted to laugh in your face because you think you are capable of “not allowing” the celebration of Valentine’s Day, which, by the way, is an Indian festival in my opinion. We are a pluralist society.
So this is me, raising my voice, against the wrong that you represent.
Regards
Feel free to copy this message for your ecard (if you are sending him one) or write him one of your own. And do spread the word about this. Let us let him know, that Valentine’s Day will be celebrated, whether he “allows” it or not.
I am sending a mail to Mr.Muthalik on V-Day. I strongly feel we should come up with something like http://www.indiatoday.in/war and raise our voice againt them
Gandhigiri.
I hope they monitor that email address, though. Can someone find out his residential address?
great idea !
Hi,
This is good initiative. And after reading most of your blog posts I would really encourage you to spread this initiative as much as you can. But can you also add few things to this -
Can you also email such ecards to Christians who burned down a cinema theater which was showing Da vinci code, movie, when Pope was enjoying it in Italy?
Can you also, please send ecards to Muslims who were burning down houses in Satara because some one some where drew pictures of Mohammad?
Can you also please send ecards to MF Hussain sahab that there are other things he can paint for a while rather on Hindu godsess? I mean if muslims cant take cartoons about Allah, then why we should take nude paintings of our godsses?
Also can you please send ecards to Christian churches who are doing forceful conversions in tribal India?
I think this is a great initiative, but we should do everything we can to spread it to cover all sinners and not just Hindus.
Dont you think?
Best Regards,
Mayank
Well said Mayank!
You forgot to add a gazillion other sinners in every other part of the world. What about white supremacists in America. Or that tyrant Mugabe in Zimbabwe?
The world is full of such instances. I am only one man and unless I take it up as a full-time occupation to email people for their ‘sins’ all day, don’t think I am going to do that. Sorry.
The Muslims who opposed cartoons of Muhammad with violence were retards in my opinion. You want to compete with idiots? Feel free. I am not in.
And the honourable Mr MF Hussain is welcome to paint whatever the hell he wants. I respect him as an artist and I respect his freedom to say his mind. As far as I know, he is not mauling women who go to pubs.
Also, I was a big fan of the Da Vinci Code movie. I wrote about the unreasonable hatred towards it here.
Best Regards,
Vijayendra.
we should all do this … great great idea …
@Vijayendra
Problem is this –
When people talk about only Hindu extremists on their blogs, twitters, facebooks I feel we are not doing justice to majority of Hindus. And believe me I have been following Internet blogs, twitter and other media since for-ever. And most of these so called well educated people will never ever utter a single thing about Muslims, Christians and other minorities which disturbs me. I am not commenting on you per say, in fact I wrote a comment coz I thought “may” be you will be a little more rational than these extremist secularists.
Remember extremisms be it Hindu, Muslims, Christian or even Secular extremism is always a problem. I strongly believe that BJP got support for Babri demolition, because of the suppression we felt with Congress in power. Where we were always treated with double standards and if we said any thing against it, we are Hindu extremists in white collared world.
Try going to Tribal regions of Indian like Vidharbh, Uttar Maharashtra (Nandurbar) and see how Christian are doing forceful conversions.
Even Saint Mother Teressa will not allow patients unless they take up Christianity and we cant say anything about it, as we are suppose to be secular.
Indian mentality and attitude of educated Indians has started going down just like it was the case with Jews. And all of sudden Jews were banished from 80+ countries! Hope I wont be banish from my country for offering services to Shri Krishna. Hope I wont be banned to perform Puja, as was the case in Great Ashoka’s empire.
Hope everyone will wake up that Hindus are getting kicked time and again and this only makes us support violent organizations which we know is bad for country!
Enough said.
@Mayank
I agree with you when you say extremism is beyond a specific religion. It is everyone’s problem.
I am not against “only” Hindu extremism. You would know that if you have read this blog. One dude forcing another what to do with his life is unacceptable to me. I write about whatever I seems wrong to me.
We all define ourselves through our actions. Hinduism comprises of what Hindus do. Islam is defined by what Muslims do. I have come to call myself a Hindu because it is a progressive and assimilative religion and lets me be what I am.
Yet, what I do defines Hinduism. What Muthalik does in the name of Hinduism defines Hinduism. A Hindu can’t be a dickhead because he sees someone else be a dickhead and then say, “they made me do it”.
I am from Orissa. I have read reports and seen local TV coverage of starving people being lured into Christianity in exchange for food. Frankly, I find myself incapable of blaming them. Those who force a religion upon others, be they Hindu or Christian or Muslim, are all assholes in my book.
Painting your face saffron and picking up weapons won’t make you a Hindu. Act Hindu. Hinduism has faced immense threats and survived. To date, the biggest threats I have seen are bigots who bring a bad name to it.
I propose we set up a wiki to categorize assholery in the name of religion. Thus, we debates like this (above comments) come up we can easily refer to the Assholerypedia and cite references and keep the score.
When quoting a new event (coming from any religion), you can include all previous events (by other religion) at the click of a button. So you won’t be seen as anti-Hindu, or anti-Muslim, or anti-FSM.
Then we can drop the pseudo prefix and become truly secular (assholes).
I like the idea. Objective-sounding reference material for everyone to access.
Kudos!
Looks like he is gonna get an e-mail me..
Will do my bit to spread the word..
Well I have his mobile no. Do any one want to call him…not kidding
Hi vijay ( if I may call u that )
have always enjoyed reading ur blogs and totally agree with your views. Keep on writing and waiting for the novel to be published.
My response to the guy here ( Mayank). First of all please get your facts right. Thjere is no such thing as forced conversions. Do you think all those thousands of people go to church ubnder gun point or what are they being forced with. Please accept the fact that the common man is voluntarily changing his religion without any pressure from any quarters. Religion is a matter of personal choice. Somewhere Hindus need to sit and anlyse what is it that Hinduism is not offering these people that they seek it from other religions.
I myself am a very religious person a hindu who believes in all the Gods that we worship. But the common man who is living below the poverty line is willing to give up his religion because christianity gives him better options for his children’s future. I have volunteered for NGO s in interior Andhra Pradesh and you will find christians with names like Lakshmamma or Padma and the main reason they give for their conversion is better education for their children in english medium convents and also oppurtunities for livelihood. Church communities are close knit and do every thing to help each other in times of crisis. In every situation the conversion is voluntary and this whole concept of forced conversion is such a blatant lie to try and malign the christian community.
Hindus need to stop being selfish, do more for the community spirit, contribute for the upliftment of their own poorer sections and create better oppurtunities, better educatuional institutions before pointing fingers at other communities and blaming them for forced conversions. How many educational institutions are there that are for the poor that is run by hindus, how many charitable hospitals are ther to cater to poorer section of the hindus. You wont come across many and definitely not sufficeint ones to cater to the population. Where as every Gurudwara has a free hospital which treats all the poor irrespective of their religion.
As for Christian hospitals not treating the sick people, that is such a blatant lie. No hospital run by christians or anyone else ever asks you what religion you belong to. God forbid someday when you are in need of a doctor or medical help you might end up in one of the same Christian hospital and thank GOD that you got the best possible medical treatment.
basically today I find that people are getting totally intolerant towards each other with zero regard or respect for the other persons view point. Friends India is a secular country and there is enough room for each one of us from different regions, speaking different languages, following different religions to live in peace and to make this a much more beautiful place for our future generations. Please dont ruin the beauty and the miracle that is India by allowing this kind of negativity to seep into the system.
Finally Hinduism, Hindu culture has been thriving in this country from the Vedic Age and will continue to do so on its own merit. We do not need a Pramod Muthalik or a Pragya Thakur or the Hindutva brigade to preserve or preach Hinduism. Infact we Hindus are better off without these negative specimens.
Keep up the good work Vijay !!
vish86
@vish, Thanks for the kind words.
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Nice initiative Vijayendra!
Ill send one too.
BTW have you recieved any threats as of yet for trying to be responsible from SRS?
Phew… You are a different Mayank.
Threats? Not yet.
he is an asshole
really deserves red chaddi’s 
as a hindu i too feel hindus have the least respect for themselves or their religion. hinduism bashing has become a passion for all of us of the modern age. dunno why but i am yet to see abrahamic faiths thus differentially inclined towards their religion.