Hindu Unity

Hindu Unity (H.U.) is the official website of the Bajrang Dal, [cite web|url=http://bajrangdal.org|title=bajrangdal.org |accessdate=2007-03-13] a Hindutva youth organization, and was funded by Indian American Rohit Vyasmaan.cite web|url=http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/may/26hindu.htm|title="Mumbai police gag hinduunity.org", Rediff|accessdate=2007-03-13]

As of 2001, the site was run by its president Sanjay Sharma (based in New Delhi), with two advisors: Raj Malhotra and Sanjay Shah. Other people involved in the running of the site are Avinash Narayanan, Nikeel Sinha, Amarendra and Atul Sen. [ [http://rajkaregakhalsa.net/sikhlionz/bajrangdalwhoisrohitvyasmaan.htm] ]

The Hindu Unity website advocates the defense of Hindu culture, heritage, and religion, and supports Hindutva organizations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). The site is notable for its "Hit List" of "Evil forces that are against the Hindu people," which includes a wide variety of people, including actors, film directors, academics, religious leaders, politicians, and terrorists. The list features personal information on many of its targets, sometimes including photos, phone numbers, addresses and passport particulars.cite web|url=http://www.hinduunity.org/hitlist.html|title=Hindu Unity's Criminals Hit List: The Black List, Enemies of Hinduism Exposed!|accessdate=2007-03-13]

Positions

*The website states that it will protect Hindus from Muslim terrorists and Christian missionaries.
*The website praises Jewish people and the state of Israel numerous times, and contains links to Kahanist websites. It contains an article on the Jews of India [ [http://hinduunity.org/jewsofindia.html] ] , their history and culture and publishes a favorable view of the small Jewish communities in the country. It is pro-Zionist.
*The website also claims to be pro-Sikh, and describes what it sees as historical persecution of Sikhs by Muslims in significant detail, referring to Sikh advocacy websites for background. [ [http://www.hinduunity.org/articles/sikhs/evidence1-4.html] ] [ [http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/events/mannu.html] ]
*The website also contains what presents itself as the History of Islamic Persecution in India.

Position regarding the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict

As of 4 August 2006, the home page of the website has displayed a picture that advertises support for Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict [ [http://www.hinduunity.org/images/picofislam.jpg] [http://www.hinduunity.org] ] and aggressively encourages Indians to do the sameFact|date=September 2008. Hindu Unity perceives this conflict as a war between Islam and HumanityFact|date=September 2008. A large number of Indians are reportedly increasingly sympathetic to Israel in the Arab-Israeli conflict in general [ [http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w060724&s=kurlantzick072606] ] . Their support is summarized by the following quotes from the website:

"The war between Islam and Humanity continues on borders of Lebanon and Israel. HinduUnity.org supports Israel in its military actions"

"Israel is clearly showing us the way on dealing with Islam. Anyone awake in India?"

Censorship

Hindu Unity has twice been censored by Indian ISPs.

It was censored by several Indian ISPs in 2004, after an order from Mumbai police. According to "Rediff", "Sources at the Mumbai police commissioner's office said the directive was issued because the web site published inflammatory material against Islam."

The website was censored by all Indian ISPs in 2006 in the wake of the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, after a request from the Computer Emergency Response Team - India. According to the Inter Press Service, "the move was a response to hate messages on websites and 'blogs' that could have spread enmity between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims."cite web|url=http://www.oneworld.net/article/view/136769/1/|title="Bloggers Blocked After Mumbai Blasts", Inter Press Service|accessdate=2007-03-13] The website remains banned in Indiacite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/19blogs.htm|title="Blog blockade will be lifted in 48 hours", Rediff| accessdate=2007-04-01] .

On February 2 2007, its old web board was shut down and locked by ezboard, its forum's American host, for "Terms of Use" violations possibly related to its allegations of rape against Rahul Gandhi. However, by February 11, it had created an alternative phpBB-based web forum hosted at its own domain, although it lost its archives due to ezboard's swiftness in locking down its old board.

Hindu Unity's "Hit List"

Hindu Unity's website is perhaps best known for its "Criminals Hit List" of individuals and organisations labeled "Evil forces that are against the Hindu people." As of August 2006, there were 109 individuals and 13 institutions listed, including Indian political figures (e.g. Sonia Gandhi, for allegedly being a "Traitor to India and Hindus, Pro-Christian/Muslims agendas", Shashi Tharoor, Lalu Prasad Yadav, for allegedly "swindling money from Hindus", Jyoti Basu), other South Asian politicians (e.g. Pervez Musharraf, for allegedly "overthrowing the last hope of democracy in Pakistan and hopes for peace in Kashmir", Khaleda Zia, for alleged responsibility of the killings of many Hindus in Bangladesh), Indian actors (e.g. Shahrukh Khan, Shabana Azmi, Dilip Kumar, Sanjay Dutt), Christian religious figures (e.g. the late Pope John Paul II, for being the force behind "immoral, unethical and forceful conversions in India.", Pat Robertson and Benny Hinn for their anti-Hindu rhetoric), Indian artists and filmmakers (e.g. M F Husain, for his "offensive" portrayal of Hindu Deities, Deepa Mehta, "for producing movies that depict Hinduism as being immoral"), and various media outlets (e.g. "The Hindu", "The Times of India", "India Today", STAR News, Zee News, "The New York Times", PBS, BBC).

References

External links

* [http://www.hinduunity.org Hindu Unity] - Official website
* "Two Unlikely Allies Come Together in Fight Against Muslims", New York Times, June 2, 2001, Saturday; preview at [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F7071FFE3C5B0C718CDDAF0894D9404482] , full text archived at [http://www.racematters.org/antimuslimuniteinternet.htm]