By: Hindu Council of Australia.
Hinduphobia and hate against Hindus or asking them to lie low and not to show pride in their heritage is becoming a rage in Australia. It is a worrisome development and has the potential to increase in hate crimes against peaceful Hindus. The latest act by Hindu haters is a Hindu Hate conference to dismantle the essence of Hinduism globally. Unfortunately this conference is being organized in the name of American Universities and some of the speakers are “not well known” academics who might be hoping to get into some limelight. If anything, their acts may lead to unwarranted suspicion against Hindu students in Universities across the western world including in Australia.
It is not the first time that such a fate is being met by a community in Australia. Other communities have faced xenophobia and Islamophobia from time to time. We must condemn any hate mongering towards any community or religious group in Australia. Philosophy of intolerance and belief in only one way of life disturbs Australia’s harmony and should have no place in our society. Those who can not tolerate “others” should not have a place of pride in our Universities.
This latest in this saga is preceded by a bougie of religious hate raised by a group when a minor altercation between two groups was portrayed as a religious riot. It ended up in the incarceration of a young bright man on trumped up charges. Biased minor ethnic media made its own contribution to obfuscate the facts so that Vishal Jood, a youth from Haryana was arrested and then kept in Jail.
Groups who profess humanity in their name jumped to the conclusion and declared Vishal Jood guilty before a court of law could have a good look at the charges and make up its mind. They jumped the gun and blamed “right-wing Hindu-nationalist entities in India and in Australia” for Vishal “stood up for India and challenged separatist elements making anti-India comments and shaming the Indian community because of their actions”. Being a Hindu or standing for once ethnicity is a crime in the view of these reporters.
Thanks to the fair go of Australians and fairness and tenacity to be just, after many months of languishing in Jail, hate crime charges against Vishal Jood have been dropped and he has been granted bail by a court of law. According to his lawyers, appearing before Magistrate David Price at Parramatta Local Court, the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) withdrew eight charges out of ten. A police request to lay a further charge under section 93Z of the Crimes Act of publicly threatening or inciting violence on grounds of religion was not sanctioned by the DPP.
Vishal’s counsel played a video to the court of a Farmers Rally at Quakers Hill in Sydney in December 2020. The video showed Vishal unfurling the Tiranga (the national flag of India), following which over a dozen goons surrounded him, pushed and dragged him and assaulted him repeatedly. The crowd was chanting “Modi kutta, Modi kutta.” (Abusive language against India’s most popular Prime Minister Narandra Modi). The court heard that following this rally, Vishal received numerous threats on social media from anti-India elements.
On 14th February, Vishal was standing on Wigram Street when he heard one the cars” occupant’s yelling, “There’s Rahul Jood.” Several people came out of one of the cars. One of them ran towards Vishal armed with a baseball bat. Vishal took the bat off him and smashed a window of the nearest car with it, to scare away his attackers.
Attempts to ruin the life of a young man by terming an altercation as a religious motivated crime and follow it up with a hate conference against practicing Hindus has no place in Australia and must be condemned as such. While the justice system has withdrawn hate crime charges, motivated media continues to portray it as a racial or religious crime by highlighting the religion of the parties concerned. Such attempts to turn an altercation between young men, into a religious crime, even after all hate related charges have been dropped shows how deep Hinduphobia has already set in Australia. An accurate and factual reporting can be found here (Vishal Jood will be released on 15 October, Here’s details of the judgement – Australia Today (theaustraliatoday.com.au) and here DPP withdraws 8 charges; Vishal Jood to walk free after pleading guilty to 3 charges – Criminal Law – Australia (mondaq.com)
Hindus and Indian community have solidly stood behind Vishal Jood for they believed in his innocence. Many of them continue to believe that Vishal was being targeted simply because he was a Hindu and a proud Indian. Defending his ethnicity has made him dear to some musicians who have written a song tribute for Justice for Vishal Jood. Hindu and Indian community organized a signature campaign demanding justice for him and got close to ten thousand signatures in a few days. Many Hindus and Indians are of the opinion that Vishal Jood was targeted so that an example can be made of any Hindu who stands with pride in his heritage or in his country of birth. This must be deplored. Indian diaspora stood with Vishal Jood for he had courage to take a stand against those who want to divide his homeland (India).
We hope that the gang which attacked Vishal Jood are just that, a gang of misguided youth and are in any way connected with Hindu hater extremists accused of Air India Flight 182 bombing in which a total of 329 people aboard were killed, [69] 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens and 24 Indian citizens. Several men were arrested and tried for the Air India bombing. Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted in the case.[72][73] He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for assembling the bombs that exploded on board Air India Flight 182 and at Narita Airport.[74]
Let us all vow to use all peaceful means to this threat of sowing the seeds of division in our community.
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