Country India Publication date 1991 | Language English Originally published 1991 Publisher Voice of India | |
Similar Negationism in India: Conceali, Hindu Temples: What Hap, The Saffron Swastika, The Story of Islamic Imperialis, Understanding Islam through H | ||
Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society is a book by Koenraad Elst published in 1991 by Voice of India. The book is about the Ayodhya debate and also discusses Indian politics and communalism. Elst opines that reaching national integration "requires dropping the anti-Hindu separatist doctrines that have largely been created for the purposes of several imperialisms, and are now being kept afloat with a lot of distortive intellectual and propagandistic effort."
The book attempts to examine the polemics between 'communalists' and 'secularists' in India. He also writes about Indian secularism and Communalism, and alleges "that a clear majority of the riots are started by Muslims". In another chapter, the author discusses the banning of books like Ram Swarup's Understanding Islam through Hadis. In the 14th chapter he discusses the concept of "Hindu Fascism".
This book was his second book on the Ayodhya debate. It was followed by Ayodhya, The Finale and Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple.
Reception of his books on Ayodhya
Elst has written several books on the Ayodhya debate. His first was Ram Janmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid, a Case Study in Hindu-Muslim conflict, while the book of the present article was his second.
Elst's book Ram Janmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid, a Case Study in Hindu-Muslim conflict (1990) was the first book published by a non-Indian on the Ayodhya debate. His opinion is that "until 1989, there was a complete consensus in all sources (Hindu, Muslim and European) which spoke out on the matter, viz. that the Babri Masjid had been built in forcible replacement of a Hindu temple." He claimed that politically motivated academics have, through their grip on the media, manufactured doubts concerning this coherent and well-attested tradition. Elst alleges that the anti-Temple group in the Ayodhya conflict have committed serious breaches of academic deontology and says that the "overruling of historical evidence with a high-handed use of academic and media power" in the Ayodhya controversy was the immediate reason to involve himself in the debate.
K. Elst sent Goel a manuscript of his first book Ram Janmabhoomi Vs. Babri Masjid: A Case Study in Hindu Muslim Conflict. Goel was impressed with Elst's script: "I could not stop after I started reading it. I took it to Ram Swarup the same evening. He read it during the night and rang me up next morning. Koenraad Elst's book, he said, should be published immediately." In August 1990, L. K. Advani released Koenraad Elst's book about the Ayodhya conflict at a public function presided over by Girilal Jain.
According to Elst, the book was presented to the world by L.K. Advani and Girilal Jain, together with Sita Ram Goel’s Hindu Temples, What Happened to Them, and thereby appeared on the cover of most Indian newspapers.
The book was reviewed by professor Ramesh Rao.
Indologist Gerald James Larson called the book a good treatment of the Neo Hindu interpretation of the evidence. K. D. Sethna, also known as Amal Kiran, he praised Elst's book on Babri Masjid as "absolutely the last word".
Reflecting on a book review by Ayub Khan, Elst says that he was criticzed because his writings on the Ayodhya debate were quoted by BJP leaders like L.K. Advani. Ayub Khan wrote that "such is his importance in Hindutva circles that L.K. Advani quoted him at length while deposing before the Liberhan Commission investigation the demolition of Babri Masjid."
Prof. Edwin Bryant notes that the third Ayodhya book is one of Elst's notable works. The book is cited in numerous publications, like Thomas Gilly's The Ethics of Terrorism, D. Anands "Hindu nationalism in India", Rebecca Frey's "Fundamentalism", Edwin Bryants "Quest for the origins of Vedic culture", and many more.