Hindu Nationalists Are Enrolling, and Enlisting, India's Poor

While "poverty breeds terrorism" has been widely discredited, don't forget that the middle-class radicals who run revolutions do look to the poor for their muscle.

This is a very disturbing story, and the parallels between the Hindu nationalists of the title and some Islamist groups are scary. Consider:

Education is a centerpiece of the Hindu revivalist campaign, which is natural, considering its cause: to build a Hindu nation out of what is officially a secular country with rights accorded to religious minorities.

The next paragraph talks of critics describing the schools as the "madrassas of the Hindu right". What their educational program is can perhaps be seen from what the government has pushed on universities -- like astrology and "Vedic Mathematics". Or its version of world history, based on the Vedas -- unless the Vedas say uncomfortable things. For example, the Vedas are very clear that the Aryans invaded the subcontinent, but the Hindu right claims that they were the native people.

India has its problems, but it's one of the bright lights of Asia. Secularly governed, democratic, relatively progressive, and growing more prosperous even if more populous... And even there, religion-based extremism is rearing its ugly head. Then again, it made strong inroads in the US itself during the eighties.

[I just noticed that part of a phrase dropped out somehow -- most likely, I idiotically forgot to type it in the first place -- in the last paragraph. I've fixed it.]