Treatment of women today does not speak well of present culture: Swamy

MARGAO: Noted economist, statistician, politician and Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy on Sunday called for a cultural renaissance and recognition of the efforts the ancestors put into building the Hindu culture.

Delivering a talk titled ‘Indian cultural heritage and its importance,’ organised by Annapoorni Aiyar Charitable Trust Shri Ganapati and Murugan Mandir, in Navelim,  Swamy spoke of how the Hindu culture was one of the oldest still existing in the world.

“The Hindu society is the oldest society in the world today. UNESCO did a listing of 46 civilisations and found 45 had disappeared.  The only one surviving is the Hindu civilisation. There were no challenges. We were ruled for several years by the Muslims, Portuguese, French and the British but still this society in its basic framework continues to exist,” he said.

Calling for a cultural renaissance, Swamy noted that he was not against Christians or Muslims but that every Indian needed to accept the fact that their ancestors were Hindus. He cited an article from the Journal of Genetics that had stated Indians had a common DNA and that they were all one. “When you think of culture, think of the future and the truth of our past. I was asked how Hindus remain at 82 per cent. This is because our people fought and fought. There was not a place we did not put up a fight. Sometimes they succumbed but they rose again. We know of Shivaji and there was Vijaynagar where Hindus ruled for 300 years. Do you see any reference to Vijaynagar in our schools?  At the most one paragraph. The Mughals who ruled 150 years get one entire chapter. This is the distortion of history. You cannot have a revolution unless this history is rewritten. We also have to highlight the role of women,” said Swamy, recalling Ranikarnavati of Karval and Ranichinamma of Karnataka who were great fighters.

“If you do not have a mindset of what you are, you can never be strong. Even if you are physically strong, if you do not have the mindset you will never be strong. Strength is not sufficient, you need the mindset to use that strength. This process must include all sections of the population equally. Men and women should also be one. Today the treatment of women does not speak well of our present culture. That was not the status of women in the past,” he said.

Women, he said, should feel equally empowered from childhood. “Even today there is a population that girls born are told of the liability they are. There is no equal happiness when a boy and a girl are born. This cultural retribution must stop,” added Swamy.

Responding to a question of whether conversion was a threat to Hindus, Swamy said it was constitutionally acceptable if an individual wanted to convert religion of his own accord. He however said it was wrong for induced conversion where a person was forced into converting to a religion and said there needed to be a ban on that type of conversion.