I refer to the column by Vashna Jagarnath in Daily Maverick titled “India in crisis as fascism festers” of 20 December 2019. Regrettably, the column in question contains inaccuracies and untruths about me and the South African Hindu Maha Sabha (SAHMS).

According to Jagarnath, “[Ashwin Trikamjee] is the President of the Hindu Maha Sabha of South Africa, an organisation that is popularly and academically understood to be deeply linked with the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] which, as noted above, is an undeniably fascist organisation”.

But she does not provide one iota of evidence that the SAHMS or its president, Trikamjee is linked in any way to the RSS. In fact, the opposite is true.

The SAHMS is an organisation that has steadfastly supported a secular state and sought to ally itself with religious bodies from across the spectrum. Jagarnath uses as evidence of RSS links, articles that in the main deal with the Maha Sabha in India.

Jagarnath’s approach is tantamount to conflating the history of the nutty Workers’ Revolutionary Party (UK) with that of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party in South Africa of which Jagarnath is the Deputy General Secretary – that would be an injustice that Jagarnath would immediately take umbrage at. But she does precisely that in her article.

This despite the fact that cursory research will show that the Hindu Maha Sabha (HMS) of South Africa is not related in any way to this organisation. This is either a question of sloppy research or a deliberate attempt to malign my name and that of the SAHMS. While accusing me of “verbal diarrhoea”, Jagarnath seems to be involved in loose accusations based on “research” designed to reinforce a predetermined conclusion. This would constitute research diarrhoea, would it not?

But there is something more worrying in the tone of hectoring that Jagarnath adopts. Is this not a form of authoritarianism, the very condition against which she rails?

Without wanting to sound churlish, but given that Jagarnath refers to her position in the SRWP, it is instructive that in the recent general election, her party was not able to garner enough votes for a single seat in Parliament. One of the critiques of the SRWP is the allegation that it is dressed-up Stalinism. Are not Hitler’s fascism and Stalinism two sides of the same coin? Is not blatant falsification, the smearing of people without attention to the facts a form of fascism? Is not the sentiment that if you are not with me, you are against me the very essence of authoritarian populism that Jagarnath rails against?

Let me reiterate at the risk of reinforcing the slur of “verbal diarrhoea” that the mission of the SA Hindu Maha Sabha is to contribute to good relations between Hindus and all other communities or sectors on local, national and international levels towards sound nation building, based on the fundamental principle of the world is one family. The Maha Sabha’s logo and motto, Vasudev Kutumbakam (Maha Upanishad, V.71 – the World is One Family) resonates with concepts such as ubuntu (humanity to others) and batho pele (people first). DM

Ashwin Trikamjee is President of SA Hindu Maha Sabha.