The Argumentative Hindu: essays by a non-affiliated orientalist

The book is the person who rejects the imposed "secularist" consensus. The  author, indus to their mistakes as well as to their potential. Dr. Koenraad  Elst, is a non-affiliated Orientalist who sympathizes with this Hindu  dissenter. But he also made himself some enemies, not only among the  secularists but also among the very Hindus whose cause he champions. In  this book, he defends himself against their criticism and, more  importantly, the late mentors from whom he got his view of Hinduism and of  the challenges to its survival: Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel. He also makes  some new suggestions to his Hindu friends, on how to be more effective and  how to remedy existing errors. Today, illiteracy about Hinduism among  Hindus, the limitation of their knowledge to a very small part of their  heritage, is the most consequential weakness in the struggle for survival.  Stunted ideological development and an anachronistic worldview are serious  obstacles to be tackled if ever a genuine reaffirmation of Hindu  civilization is to win through. This book is a collection of papers written  in the last few years, to wake up the Hindus to their mistakes as well as  to their potential. Koenraad Elst (Leuven 1959) grew up in a Catholic  Flemish family in Belgium. He gave his early interests in Asian traditions  a stronger foundation by earning MA degrees at the Catholic University of  Leuven (KUL) in Sinology, Indology and Philosophy. During a research stay  at the Banaras Hindu University, he discovered how misunderstood India's  religio-political problems are. Without the benefit of any institutional  support, and while raising a family of four, he did original fieldwork for  a dissertation on Hindu nationalism and earned his doctorate magna cum  laude at the KUL in 1998. His work in political journalism and in  fundamental research, laid down in over twenty books and numerous articles,  earned him both applause and ostracism. Especially noteworthy are his  non-conformistic findings on Islam, multiculturalism and the secular state,  the origins of Indo-European, the temple/mosque controversy in Ayodhya, the  affinity and hostility between religion and totalitarianism, the alleged  dark side of Buddhism, the post-Maoist revival of Confucius, various  language policy issues, the institutional future of Belgium, direct  democracy and the defence of threatened freedoms.