November 09, 2008
No VHP links, our family condemns Gujarat riots, says Sonal Shah’s brother
It seems that the whole Shah family is furiously backpedaling and denying links to the VHP:
“We are in no way involved with the VHP in India or the Gujarat Government here,” said Anand Shah, who runs Indicorps in Ahmedabad, an NGO Sonal Shah co-founded that provides fellowships to overseas Indian-origin young professionals to do internships in India in social work.
Notice the misleading "in India" which makes the sentence technically true, but ignores the fact that Sonal Shah was the National Coordinator of the VHP in America (the VHPA), and the whole family is deeply connected to right wing Hindu organizations responsible for the murder of thousands of minority citizens in India.
From Indian Express:
Anand Shah, the brother of economist Sonal Shah who has been named by US President-elect Barack Obama as member of his advisory board, said today that his family and their NGO had nothing to do with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the Gujarat government.
As a “coordinator” of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad America (VHPA), Sonal Shah helped raise funds for victims of the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat. Her brother, who said that she couldn’t comment given her present responsibilities, criticised the 2002 riots.
More here. And from the Hindustan Times:
Obama team member has Sangh links
US President-elect Barack Obama may have cultivated a left-of-center image for himself, but Sonal Shah, the Indian-American advisor in his transition team, has well established rightwing leanings.
The 40-year-old economist has been associated with the overseas activities of the Sangh Parivar. She was a national coordinator of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America campaign to raise funds for Gujarat earthquake victims in 2001.
Her father Ramesh Shah, a vice-president of the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP), had campaigned for LK Advani in Gandhinagar during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. He had also briefly traveled with Advani during his Bharat Udaya Yatra, countrywide election tour.
More here. And this from the Times of India:
Will Obama's top aide give Modi visa power?
Will economist Sonal Shah, one of US president-elect Barack Obama's top aides, open the doors of America for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi who has been barred from entering the US by the Bush Administration?
Shah, 40, an economist who co-founded Indicorps, comes from a family believed to be close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and particularly to Modi, having known him since his days as a young pracharak. The Houston-based Shahs developed strong links to the Sangh Parivar around the same time Modi decided to dedicate his life to the Sangh.
Modi used to visit the Shah family, which migrated to the US in 1970, whenever he was in the US before he was sworn in as Gujarat's CM, a source said. Sonal, inducted as an advisory board member by the US president-elect to assist him in smooth transition of power, could play a vital role in reversing the Bush Administration's decision not to grant Modi a visa for a visit in effect since March 2005.
It's vital for Modi that Sonal eventually gets an important profile in the Obama Administration because an insider could influence or change policy decisions of the previous dispensation — notwithstanding Obama's known views on religious freedom.
There are other examples indicating close ties between the Shahs and Modi.
More here. And this is from the Indian Daily News & Analysis:
Govt hesitant to discuss Shah’s alleged Sangh links
NEW DELHI: No one in the government wants to comment on the startling revelation that President elect Barak Obama's transition adviser, Sonal Shah is a closely linked to the Sangh Parivar overseas's chapter. ``We have no idea, and we don't react to press reports, anyway she is a US citizen and her appointment is an internal issue of a foreign country, '' is the standard response from foreign service officials. But privately those close to the Congress and opposed to the BJP are quite rattled.
But most believe that Obama probably has little idea of what these links mean in the Indian context. `` It is extremely silly for the Obama camp not to have done a through background check of people in the transition team,'' says former ambassasdor Arundhuti Ghosh, though he unsure about the truths of these reports. Analyst K Subrahmanyam, is unperturbed by the reports of Shah's VHP links. He was irritated at the tendency to ``titillate and exaggerate.'' ``Let us not jump to hasty conclusions,'' he said.
Posted by Abbas Raza at 11:59 PM | Permalink
Comments
This is becoming more complex after his denial. As far as I know, the same brother did not condemn the Gujarat violences on the wake of those events. His organization receives funds from IDRF.
The Parivar members are very clever at creating a thousand umbrellas for their work, which makes it very difficult to pin them down and make clear associations.
The Anand Shah has made a very interesting comment. He said- she (Sonal Shah) became involved with VHPA to raise funds for his organization. A very lame logic indeed. One doesn't become the "National Coordinator" of an organization to just get funds from it. And why would they allow an unknown face to become their National Coordinator, pray tell?
Posted by: Manas Shaikh | Nov 10, 2008 5:45:56 AM
This story is extremely worrisome. For someone to have such an important role in the transition who has herself been involved with an unabashedly violent and extremist hate group is a travesty. That is not to mention the close ties of her father to Modi and Advani (for whom he campaigned in Gujarat in 2004 after the carnage). At a minimum she needs to be asked on the record what her views of VHP and the Gujarat violence are and where she stands on these questions.
The story that she only raised money for earthquake victims under the VHP umbrella does not fly. How much sympathy would there be for someone raising money for Hamas's charitable works in Gaza. Not very much and rightly so if the message is one of intolerance.
Posted by: Fawad | Nov 10, 2008 5:55:42 PM
VHP is a fundamentalist organization,. However it does not advocate killing non believers glocally.
Posted by: rh may | Nov 10, 2008 7:30:23 PM
Statement from Sonal Shah:
+++++++
"As an Indian-American who has lived in this country since the age of four, serving on the Obama-Biden transition team is a unique privilege for me. A presidential transition is always a time of excitement and, in some cases, of rumors and unfounded gossip. I'd like to set to rest a few baseless and silly reports that have been circulating on the Internet. First, my personal politics have nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization. I've never been involved in Indian politics, and never intend to do so. Second, I've always condemned any politics of division, of ethnic or religious hatred, of violence and intimidation as a political tool. Some factually inaccurate internet rumors have attempted to link me to Hindu Nationalist groups through a variety of tenuous connections: Relief work I'm proud to have helped coordinate following the Gujarati earthquake of 2001, or cultural and religious affiliations of some of my family members, or apolitical humanitarian work I've been privileged to do as a founder of the NGO Indicorps and as the Director of Global Development for Google.org. Finally, I do not subscribe to the views of such Hindu nationalist groups, and never have. Ridiculous tactics of guilt by association have been decisively repudiated by the American people. I am delighted with what the victory on November 4 says about my country, and about our place in the world. I look forward to serving our President-elect in this time of transition."
++++
From a debate on the issue on Sepia Mutiny
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005510.html#comment220812
Posted by: Paul | Nov 10, 2008 8:09:13 PM
Sad.
Posted by: Girish Kulkarni | Nov 11, 2008 1:29:06 AM
"First, my personal politics have nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization."
Is her former involvement with the VHP-A a reason to doubt this?
Posted by: Sagredo | Nov 11, 2008 4:57:00 AM
I too would like to understand how tightly the America offshoot is connected to its parent organization. The latter I have a feeling for and know that they have their fascist streak, particularly in places like Gujarat or Orissa.
VHP-A pretty much buzzes at the edge of my consciousness as a generic sort of right-wing social group. They seem to go around demanding school textbook changes and getting angry when Hinduism is Disrespected, that sort of thing.
I've never moved in the appropriate circles though, and don't know if in practical terms VHP-A members take their marching orders from VHP or if they're more loosely affiliated. If this Shah woman went around supporting and bankrolling genocide she should be kept far, far away from American government. If, by contrast, she was just something of an Indian James Dobson the case is less clear.
Posted by: D | Nov 11, 2008 10:37:04 AM
I think Modi's days are getting numbered. He has very little scope now for unleashing any more outright terrorism of the caliber of Godhra though he will continue to intimidate the petty weak person he is. Now that he and VHP/ RSS are on the radar of the international folks any foolish action will be met with economic action - his fund raisers like Sonal & VHPA will have to deny and keep low. We should push for such lack of action and trigger immediate boycotts which will make him a liability to the party. Combined with the anti-modi factions of BJP we should first isolate him and remove him from power. Once he is out of power we could simply slap the fellow with legal action enough to build acidity and stones into the body and mind which decided that helpless people given under his care were to be terminated.
Posted by: Mandalay | Nov 14, 2008 10:00:29 PM
VHP is a fundamentalist organization,. However it does not advocate killing non believers glocally. (sic) rh may
Is it okay to kill them just within India then? An honest discussion of terrorism and fascism is not possible if everything is reduced to a moral zero sum game. See the Hindutva manifesto of the VHP that Namit has posted in his comment addressed to Prof. Balram Singh in another thread. What substantive difference do you see in its content with that of the Islamist world views of the Taliban?
I live in Houston. After the Gujarat earthquake, there was a fundraiser by the Indian community here and an appeal for donations was published in the local paper. An Indian neighbor contacted me and I gave money. For all you know, it was Sonal Shah's initiative I gave to - I have no idea. Then the Godhra massacre took place a year later. There was NO fundraising for the victims of that disaster among the Indian community in my town.
I certainly did not look closely at where my earthquake relief money was going and if it went to the VHP arm of America, that does not make a person like me a sympathizer. But Sonal Shah obviously knew for whom she was collecting and what their political philosophy stands for. She cannot claim the same kind of ignorance.
I am sure the Obama group is going to look at Ms Shah's antecedents more carefully. May be the Congresswallahs in India will dig in too. This is a wake up call for all south Asians who are just coming of age in the American public and political sphere after being quiet doctors and engineers until now. Expect the same scrutiny that all public figures have to face. Dual ideologies, all too common - one for the "homeland" and another one for US consumption will not fly.
As for the BJP / VHP / RSS, their brand of terrorism is not just restricted to killing and intimidating minority communities. It has taken the form of indiscrimate killings until now blamed solely on the Islamists. This has obviously been done with the hope that such bombings in public places would automatically be blamed on Indian Muslims. See the toxic effects this kind of virulent nationalism is likely to have on the very fabric of India - here and here. The linked articles are written by veteran journalist Manoj Joshi, an expert on Indian military and security affairs, hardly a communist / Marxist sympathizer.
Rahm Emanuel's zionist Israeli father made the following comment after Emanuel was appointed Obama's White House chief of staff.
"Obviously, he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
Emanuel has apologized for his father's remarks. Perhaps Ms Shah too can do the same rather than just issue carefully worded statements about her "innocent" associations with the VHP.
Posted by: Ruchira | Nov 14, 2008 11:43:01 PM
Your stories are incomplete, I was in India reading the news when this happened, and the same papers backtracked by publishing stories about the smear(an omission hardly inconsequential or unintentional) Further, all of know that Indian English media is yellow - tough to rely on it when it suits your argument when you know there are printed lies in at other times. E.g., Same HT article above called Sonal's brother "Amit", ostensibly having talked to him - even a quick Google search found out his name is Anand, and the Times of India published Sonal's sister's picture in place of her own - if they can't get that straight makes you wonder about the fact checking on everything else. It is dangerous to rely on, as fact, information that has clearly not been fact-checked just because it was published in an Indian paper, a journalistic community that all Indians in India, at least, know has no integrity.
Regardless, I find it amazing that without a single piece of evidence, in the form of a letter or a speech or even a statement onto which Sonal Shah signed that suggests even remotely that she has even the slightest views that are being insinuated above - in contrast with a clear record of inspiring people to be changemakers for a more secular and just India and of career/area of work choices that are stellar and commendable over a span of 20 years (perhaps with exception of associating, for whatever reason, with the VHP in America) - that we would be so juvenile as to suggest so publicly that everything above makes her guilty of something. Of what, might I ask? Working with the VHP-A? Because there is nothing else.
It seems fair to say that that was a bad choice, and that the VHP-A is involved in lots of stuff across borders in a complex political discourse, but that alone is not enough to make the jump that a post like this or countless others asks readers to make a sinister conclusion about someone.
Last I checked, it only takes reasonable doubt to acquit someone in a court of law, but it seems with this issue that it only takes reasonable doubt to implicate, given the overwhelming and contrary evidence, credentials and public support for Sonal Shah by equally spectacular people.
That is, almost by definition, a witch-hunt. Not something that reasonable people should associate with, either. I suspect you would agree?
Read this edit about Sonal by the Indian Express: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/whos-a-liberal/386450/
Posted by: GP | Dec 10, 2008 8:26:57 AM
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