Full of Hate and Flawed Understanding of Hinduism

The author seems confused between the fundamental tenets of Hinduism and the broader idea of India. Both are rooted in the principle of "Live and Let Live!"—a notion I'm confident we could have agreed upon if he were alive today. However, the book instead seems to promote hatred and a hostile tone towards the rich diversity (including diversity of thought) that India embodies and is justly proud of.

The author refers to the Rig Vedic era but cleverly chooses to ignore the Upanishads, which are essentially the distillation of Hindu philosophy and thought. This omission highlights his lack of understanding. Anyone familiar with the Upanishads would never stoop to the cheap tactic of belittling Buddhism and its principles, as he does in Chapter 3. This chapter also reveals his flawed grasp of Indian history, where he exaggerates a minor perspective and underplays the deep-rooted inequalities and exploitation under Brahminical dominance, which actually led to the rise of Buddhism, Jainism, and the Ajivika sect.

Many other examples could be provided, but I'll stop here. The unfortunate reality today is that people have stopped reading and listening. I would request and recommend that you read—read as much as you can—and you will find all the answers to the questions raised by this author and echoed by today’s politicians.

I deeply love this country, but I fear that the worm of communalism and polarization might forever change the beautiful India I was born into—a place where I breathed freely and made friends without worrying about caste, gender, or religion. My greatest fear today is whether my children will have the same experience, or whether this politics of hatred will transform the country to the point where I may have to constantly prove my identity as an Indian, simply because I belong to a particular caste, gender, or religion.

Despite these fears, deep down I still hold onto hope. Hope that the India I was born in still exists, and that our natural love and compassion will overcome this surge of extremism and the binary way of viewing things.

This is my view; yours might be different or similar. In any case, please keep reading—not just one point of view, but the opposite as well (the only condition is that it should be factually and logically correct). This will broaden your perspective, open your mind, and make it calm enough to observe, analyze, and reflect not just objectively but subjectively as well.

P.S: I respect the fact that he spent time in Cellular Jail for the Indian cause and thus I felt that even though I disagree with him, I still should give his thoughts a read. Maybe this was the right step because now I'm perfectly clear about his vision and why I was right that it's actually dangerous (at least to my understanding) to the unity and integrity of India.

P.S: You have every right to disagree with me but that was my honest review. Though I made sure that my words are chosen carefully, I still apologize if unknowingly any of my above sentence caused any kind of inconvenience or hurt which was not my intention and I deeply regret that (if any)!

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