The full text of the speech by award-winning author and human rights activist Meena Kandasamy at the commemoration meeting for renowned human rights defender Professor Sai Baba, who died last week. The event was held at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, Hyderabad.
The book "Why do you fear my way so much?", containing letters and poems from prison by human rights defender and Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba was launched at Jawahar Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Look at what you are being made to do. You are forced to wear saffron scarves and asked to march into universities. I was born a Hindu woman, and I have never seen a saffron scarf in my home in all these years. My own father was a full-time RSS Pracharak who quit the organisation because of its Manuvadi caste-supremacy, because of its hatred of minorities, and because of its hatred of regional languages. I write to you because I have seen before my eyes that even the most brainwashed Sanghi person has the opportunity to leave the hatred behind. You can become a new person, you can become a better individual. You can say no to the politics of hate.
Speaking at the Dismantling Global Hindutva online conference, author Meena Kandasamay decodes the faults of political Hindutva which drew its inspiration from "Nazi Germany".