I am feeling perplexed by this organization, Indicorps. Below is some
of the polemic that comes across in the debate. As I am part of the
International Development Program at Johns Hopkins SAIS, it is a funded
internship I am being pushed to apply for though I feel uncomfortable
with all this controversy. If anyone has more thoughts and reflections
please do let me know.
___________________
Following what you heard about indicorps I found this on the website of
some activists http://www.stopfundinghate.org/, related to the alleged
connections of this NGO with VHP and RSS. More information are provided
below, and links. Actually indicorps's involvement with fundamentalist
groups seems to be based just on funding ( most of which come from the
NRI
nationalists, sangh parivar)something which could blur its well known
secular and highly progressive structure. The ambiguity lies in its
founder's involvement, this Sonal Sha, whose affiliation with VHP is
evident.
I suggest you to find more on the issue, get documented, and be careful
in
your decisions, when the time will come.
and you were right, it is not a casualty that people in JHU pushed you
to
join this organization, on the base of your ethnic background and
tokenized identity. it gives me the creeps, but on the other side one is
also curious to explore the contextuality of it all.
This could be also an issue if discussion and debate for your seminars.
good. take care always.
Indicorps and its Sangh affiliations
The South Asian Conference Council (SACC) at Yale University organized a
conference on solidarity in the South Asian community. The objective was
to increase social activism in the South Asian student community. The
conference included panels on youth activism and workers rights and
brought together some very progressive activists in the community (such
as
Nahar Alam from Andolan, Saru Jayaraman from Restaurant opportunities
Center of New York, Chandra Bhatnagar from the ACLU to mention a few).
In
conflict with this progressive list of speakers, the organizers also
invited Sonal Shah, vice president of Goldman Sachs and co-founder of
Indicorps. According to their website, “Indicorps is a non-partisan,
non-religious, non-profit organization that encourages Indians around!
the
world to actively participate in India's progress.” While some of the
organizations that Indicorps works with are indeed secular and
progressive, at issue was their affiliation with organizations of the
Sangh parivar. These connections range from personal affiliation of
Sonal
Shah with the VHP-A (see
http://www.vhp-america.org/dynamic/modules.php?
name=News&file=article&sid=13),
institutional affiliation of Indicorps with IDRF (IDRF is one of
Indicorps’ supporters; see
http://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=supporters&level=1),
Indicorps’ involvement with Sangh parivar projects such as Ekal
Vidyalaya
(see http://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=partners&level=1).
Perhaps most questionable was Indicorps’ decision to accept an award
from
the “butcher of Gujarat” Narendra Modi in November 2004, at a time when
numerous human rights activists have been threatened from continuing
their
work (http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/india/gujarat/).
The conference organizers allowed a couple of progressive youth
collectives (Organizing Youth! and Youth Solidarity Summer) to read a
statement and ask Indicorps to explain their association with the Sangh
Parivar. Far from explaining, Sonal Shah admitted her affiliation to the
VHP-A, claimed that she would take money from anyone (including the
KKK!),
and used a young Muslim volunteer to claim that Indicorps was in fact
secular. Such is not the kind of solidarity that one expects from a
non-partisan, non-religious organization. In fact, based on the evidence
and Sonal Shah’s admission, Indicorps can be listed as one of many front
organizations of the Sangh parivar in the US. Soon after this public
discussion, the Patriotic Sons of Mother India (a virulent Sangh outfit)
posted a defence of Indicorps by attempting to defame Youth Solidarity
Summer as anti-India and anti-Hindu- typical reaction from the Sangh for
one of their own!
Posts
19 comments:
Hi,
I am a former participant of Indicorps, and would suggest that you discuss your concerns directly with Indicoprs ; it only seems prudent that you would assess issues as complex as these about a particular organization through direct contact rather than hearsay or third-party sources that have ideological agendas, I assure you that you will find Indicorps extremely forthcoming about its take on the need to bridge gaps, be open-minded without losing your grounding, and find compassionate methods towards dialogue in an increasingly polarized world.
The other thing that you will find, is that all Indicorps participants pick where they go and are in control of what they do; it seems silly to not recognize that you are talking about a pretty transparent and democratic approach.
Do your homework, and talk to people who can tell you the truth (i.e. Indicorps, Indicorps participants, and the organizations they work with).
gabo, for more on indicorps, see http://indicorps.blogspot.com/
As the first comment states, it is only prudent that you get it straight from the horses mouth.
The second thing is that when you are dealing with India, you will always be exposed to conflicting opinions as India is soo diverse. So please dont make your judgment by hearing to only one side of the story get the correct facts.
Third in India, anything that has to do with Hinduism is often looked down upon by the so called "elite of the society". its fashionable these days to do so. RSS is the country's largest NGO that does not take any money from the Government but still provides a great service to the society and is very nationalistic.
The StopHateFunding.org kind of organizations are primarily supported by Communists who are being increasingly marginalized in the Indian Society today and hence smear any good that is being done (esp by the Hindu community) with a conspiracy theory. Please see sites like www.ekal.org again an institution supported (though not run by) by RSS which is providing education to thousands of poor and underprivileged children in the country.
So please hear both sides and then make your decision.
I wish you all the very best and hope that you will agree to give Indicorps a shot.
Did not the RSS distribute sweets when Gandhi was assasinated? And was not Godse -- Gandhi's killer -- inspired by the RSS (which does not keep a member list)? These things seem to suggest that praising the RSS as India's largest NGO is not an innocent statement. The connection of Ms. Shah with the VHP-A is also not something anyone can shrug away as irrelevant. I wonder why there is a defensive reaction to the suggestions on this forum for the individual interested to actually see these affiliations as crucial for decidinig the character and ideology of IndiCorps. Should these questions not be posed?
Wow. The power of the web. This is gabo writing. I am very grateful for your responses and want to address each one. Firstly, with all due respect to whoever posted the indicorps.blogspot.com site, isn't that a cheap shot to use their name in a blog address only to not have it be that org's blog? What if someone had a gabo.blogspot.com site that basically said I was a self-indulgent, narcisstic hypocrite would that be cool? I don't want to get into LEGAL issues, forget about that, I am talking of common decency. I know that power-less groups need to win by any means necessary, especially when you are going against a group whose founder is the vice president for Goldman Sachs, but lets do it with ideas and not cheap-shots because in the end Indicorps is something we need to relate ourselves to in an intelligent way. I open this discussion to hear both sides and understand where people are coming from. That being said. The first comment is well taken I will ask and speak to people directly though I also need to talk with other people as well, they both seem important to me.
As far as RSS is helping people, thats a weak argument. If they were responsible for mass killings and have proven ties to illegal and communal activites, case-closed, no amount of good doing counter-acts that behaviour. Lets talk evidence here, the facts, if there is a link to crimes (and it seems there is) then their NGO work no matter who it helps is only reestablishing their legitimacy and is being used to buy goodwill. So no! Bad argument, though I agree to the fashionability of linking hindus with fascists though you can see why it makes people uncomfortable don't you? It gives me the creeps when I even here people use hinduism in any political context, our genius and why we somehow survived after independence came from our secularity and if we lose that we will be just like the rest of those fantatics.
I do not question indicorps work. From all my information the organization is run by very able, committed, brilliant professional people. When you look over the fellows list they are obviously not recruiting the new hitler youth, it is a progressive bunch many even espousing allegiances to radical grassroots groups (food not bombs for example). The projects, who they hire, the experience, the "good" it does is not at the heart of the issue. The dilemma is in whether it matters that Sonal Shah is affiliated with the VHP. Is there conflict of interest? Thats the smoking gun issue for me. If I am uncomfortable with the VHP and perhaps do not like what they stand for, is there a place for me in INDICORPS? What level of autonomy will there be? Will I also have my name dragged in the mud and seen to be a part of a front for the RSS and VHP? That is what is most troubling, reputation, conflict of interest, autonomy. Its why I choose not to do Peace Corps (and for a good explanation of why read: "Alternatives to the Peace Corps") though briefly because I did not want to be associated with the government. Thats not to say Peace Corps doesn't do good things, come one we can't just look at one act linearly, we need to look at the big picture of the machine it is a part of. I felt my good work in the peace corps would be used to by the US government to justify their foreign policy. and similarly I don't want my good work in indicorps to legitimize the existence of RSS and VHP, i don't want to be a part of that if the links are that strong.
so thats whats up. having said all this I am still undecided though would like to hear more about what you all feel, as indians or otherwise. This is an important issue to get straight ethically. And I want to re-iterate that we do it with some respect and understanding, I am in no way Anti-Indicorps or the other way around, its all grey area to me, and I am not only thinking out loud its also happening on the WWW which makes it even more important and exciting to get everyone involved.
Peace
G
Hi Gabo,
My name is Anand and I run Indicorps on the India side (and have since its inception) - I am also Sonal Shah's brother.
I am happy to talk to you about Indicorps and any questions you have directly - anand[at]indicorps.org.
A lot of the criticism you cite is based on misinformation, and I am certain that if you discuss it with us, you will soon realize that most of us growing up in the west in this generation have similar views on the issues raised: the question is, what are we going to do about the increasing intolerance in the ideological fringes of our community? My opinion: put all the energy you have into creating a constructive and inclusive way to get moderate, good-hearted folks in the broader diaspora to put their time and money where their mouth is and do something to bring India together rather than spew community-fragmenting propoganda (from any side).
Just to give you a sense of how this gets played out in the world of rhetoric: Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS), which is the mouthpiece of criticism on Indicorps, used to run a similar program in Boston called SASSY. I attended SASSY in 1998, which was my first introduction to activism and issues in South Asia, and I went on to put my energy into things like Indicorps. You don't find that in any statement they make :)
Through the nature of our project identification process (which is literally visiting/scouting organizations on the ground), the organizations we have worked with in India, our fellows, and the communities we work with represent a diversity of views and backgrounds; That sort of diversity is essential for any real progress.
Best Regards,
Anand
This comment is just pointing to another interesting connection in this controversy and will need more substantiation before it can be deemed really interesting!!
From the first post on this topic, it seems that
JHU SAIS is pushing for Indicrp. Is that true? If that is true then, its really interesting becoz in the recent past, JHU was mired in a controversy involving the RSS. JHU became the first academic institution in the US, in any recent time, to host the RSS when it hosted a talk by Ram Madhav the spokesperson for the RSS -- and that too inspite of widespread protests! Here is a lin to a report on the same:
http://ghadar.insaf.net/April2005/MainPages/neofascists.htm
Also at the bottom of the above report are some first person accounts of what happened. Read those too!
And the important question is: Who in SAIS is pushing? Any specific person? Because JHUs most interesting connection to the RSS, which is probably how Ram Madhav got to speak at JHU, is Walter Anderson, one of JHUs residnt "experts" on South Asia. He has a book called "Brotherhood in Saffron" that was co-authored with a big time RSS ideologue -- Sridhar Damle, where the RSS is potrayed in much softer light than most recent scholarship on it.
As I said upfront... its interesting... but maybe the connection is just coincidental. Is it?
i don't understand how you can get more 'from the horse's mouth' than sonal shah herself. i was at the yale conference and was horrified at her response to the well-researched and well-articulated concerns of the youth organizations. and contrary to statements that keep being posted on india-related sites with regard to communists being 'marginalized' in india - that's actually factually incorrect, given that the current government in india is in large part comprised of a coalition of left and communist parties. secondly, the fact that a group or an ideology is marginalized in society does not automatically make it dismissable - if anything, the fact that ideas and strategies and people who most consistently and clearly challenge the status quo will ALWAYS be marginalized, it actually makes me take them more seriously. at least enough to look at their ideas and platforms and policies more carefully. the BJP, which is the political arm of the sangh parivar, was pro-liberalization and pro-globalization - the kind of liberalization and globalization which causes development crises in third world countries to begin with! corporate globalization is responsible for farmer suicides in india and elsewhere, coke flagrantly pollutes drinking water and kills union activists in india and colombia. to be critical of neoliberal corporate globalization is the first step in being pro-poor and pro-people, and especially pro-development. unless your idea of development is to make the rich richer and to give the poor the occasional handout, or send a bunch of well-meaning young people to their communities to sweep streets. of course, everyone is free to believe and do what they like. if you're comfortable with indicorp's craven connections - and not just financial, by the way, as ms shah herself openly celebrated - with the sangh parivar (which is NOT equal to HINDUISM anymore than the christian right wing or the KKK equals CHRISTIANITY. it's possible to be pro-Hinduism and pro-Hindus without espousing a virulent hate-filled ideology of majoritarian domination - and this is not based on hearsay, it's straight from their websites and their materials). if 'nonymous' respondent number 1 meant that one should speak to indicorps volunteers, that's fine. but indicorps volunteers don't know what's going on at the top, do they? they may be well-meaning and deservedly proud of the community work they did while at indicorps, but that doesn't answer the larger ethical questions that arise from sonal shah and family's political connections and the issue of where they get their funding. there is no such thing as a free lunch - organizations don't give money without feeling like they have a right to define the agenda. but like i said, if you're ok with the murkiness of indicorps' founders' politics, and where they get their moeny, then you have a very different sense of ethics and understanding of progressive politics than those of us who are deeply troubled by such links, then by all means join indicorps. Hell, why not join the Sangh while you're at it? they have their own development projects! As Gabo said, it's about making informed choices.
Peace out.
I read the post and the comments. It's far from a clean cut issue,
but I couldn't be part of anything even partially funded by the RSS and then cheered on by privileged NRIs. Maybe that's my own prejudice. I hold the RSS
morally equivalent to the KKK, Hamas or the IRA. Doesn't matter how much control they have in Indicorps and if they just contribute funding.
A truly non-political and non-sectarian organization has to be beyond reproach and
keep well clear of this kind of affiliation. Especially on the Indian usivamente: não nos podíamos esquecer que estávamos a meio de um acto de grande solenidade. O Doutor Botelho passava agora à leitura do Documento Complementar da nossa escritura que continha os Estatutos da Associação. Ao ritmo que começou, o processo parecia não ser longo. As palavras estavam até a abanar-lhe os lábios e as bochechas com alguma energia e ia corrigindo aqui e ali um acento, uma letra maiúscula. Nós seguíamos a leitura dos estatutos pela nossa versão, à qual tinham sido feitas, pela mão do doutor, pequenas mas preciosas alterações: por exemplo em vez de sócios, associados (!) faz toda a diferença. Estava mesmo a correr bem. Muito bem até. Ouvem-se quatro saltos altos no corredor, em crescendo, e entram na sala duas senhoras, escriturárias do cartório, muito preocupadas. Ficávamos a saber que o Cartório encerrava na segunda-feira e que todos os seus livros de notas estavam a ser selados para serem transportados para os novos arquivos. Todos os assuntos possíveis se abateram sobre aquela mesa, parecendo querer interromper a nossa escritura por tempo indeterminado: o Dr. Botelho telefonava para casa a avisar que não ia jantar, a senhora assistente corrigia aqui e ali outras escrituras e carimbava energicamente, o secretário de olhos caídos quase mortos introduzia, uma a uma, com muito calma, folhas de papel no destruidor de documentos, pelo meio punham-se testamentos, assuntos de mortos, casados, grávidas, compras e vendas, atuns, e salsichas da dispensa, e selos, e folhas e tudo, descontrolado e baralhado. O tempo passava e nós assistíamos sentados ao caos do cartório em véspera de Encerramento. Num fôlego final, o Dr.
I read the post and the comments. It's far from a clean cut issue,
but I couldn't be part of anything even partially funded by the RSS and then cheered on by privileged NRIs. Maybe that's my own prejudice. I hold the RSS
morally equivalent to the KKK, Hamas or the IRA. Doesn't matter how much control they have in Indicorps and if they just contribute funding.
A truly non-political and non-sectarian organization has to be beyond reproach and
keep well clear of this kind of affiliation. Especially on the Indian subcontinent. If you propose to work for progressive development you have to
live by the rules you've set out for yourself, even if it comes at
the cost of "progress". Otherwise, like so many development programs, you've just taken a big gulp of the poverty industry Kool Aid.
Doesn't matter if they also build schools and hospitals. These are
the kinds of arguments used by totalitarians the world over. And I don't buy any of
that "it's fashionable to bash Hindus and brand them as fascists" shit. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. The RSS and their ilk are
fanatics, and I would argue they are fascists too, they are a hate group, and I don't buy
that "we don't hate anyone, we just love ourselves" shit either. Or the argument from Sonal Shah's brother about including the RSS/VHP because "diversity" is essential to progress. We're not talking about academic debates. It's one thing to defend their right of free speech, which
I would support, but another to accept their support and be part of their activities.
Even though there's always bound to be wildly divergent interests in a consortium of donors or benefactors, there are plenty of
alternatives that aren't so morally compromised. Which is perhaps to your point about the
Peace Corps. Arguably it might well be impossible to find any
organization (commercial or non-profit) that is absolutely beyond reproach, but publicly accepting an award from Narendra Modi when they could have refused makes
them unacceptable to me.
gabo thanks for your comments...
first thing what you pointed is right ...
bjp ,rss and vhp needs to be banned since they always use relegion and break india..!!!
Second thing it is proven beyond doubt that sonals father is active member of these organizations like vhp ..so does obama know this ?
Does obama know vhp is responsible for gurat right
does he know that modi is happy thinking he will get his visa to go to usa..thanks to sonal..
Dear Gabo,
I donot know of the activities of VHP in America, but the things that they use the funds in India is for Human sacrifice. They have done around 3000 Muslim sacrifices in the Indian state of Gujarat and has justfied the same as well. In August to til date they are in the process of sacrificing Christians in the Indian state of Orissa in Kandhamal, and in Karnatka. The organisation VHP is primarily co-ordinating these and challenges the law enforcement agencies as well attacking the police station when the Orissa police arrested few of their miscreants. Sonal Shah has raised funds for this organisation and her family links with VHP ideology is clearly evident from the news articles. So it is a matter of choice whether you want ot be associated with Evil in anyway. It is not the matter of whether you will be exposed to evil or willtake part in their designs. Right, if that is the moral question, then the answer is evident. But as we are living in an imperfect world controlled by evil, do as per your conscience, if the Holy spirit guides you to take up this option, go ahead but being aware of the challenges you will have to face and with the firm conviction tha you will not sell yuor soul. May God bless you.
I was a volunteer with Indicorps some time ago for a year, and had the opportunity to work with rural youth in a village a few hours away from Udaipur in Rajasthan. The youth program focused on getting students from various economic and social backgrounds to participate in activities together. The program involved organizing a secondary school that taught varied subjects (Geography, General Knowledge, Hindi, English, Health/Sanitation (etc). Among the many other activities the youth program worked on were the creation of a football team that had tournaments and matches against other villages, the organization of community plays and events, girls empowerment workshops, health awareness workshops and field trips to the Udaipur.
My experience with Indicorps is nothing but positive. It gave me the opportunity to leave the America I was brought up in, and to experience India in a way that was not like a family visit or a touristy trip. I have both the Shahs and Indicorps to thank for this experience. That being said, since my time with Indicorps, I have never been pushed to support/believe ANY ideology by the Shahs or anyone associated with them. They did however wholeheartedly support the value of service, simple living and a united India.
I want to congratulate Sonal on her recent appointment to Obama's Transition Team. I find it unfortunate that there are multiple unfounded attacks on her. It seems that the internet not only has the potential of spreading awareness, it also provides people with the opportunity to have their own personal McCarthy era option switch. Especially in the public sphere accusations can be enough. I hope people are analytical to see beyond the juicy gossip of the day and question the sources of what they read.
I volunteered alongside Sonal Shah, with her organization Indicorps (indicorps.org) for a year, doing anticorruption work in some of the poorest areas of Delhi. We served all people who came to us, regardless of religion or anything else. It was some of the most rewarding work I've ever attempted. Sonal Shah is one of the most upstanding citizens I've ever known. I encourage all readers to take a second look before believing accusations based on such tenuous evidence. More details are on the Indicorps Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indicorps) as well as testimonials elsewhere (http://rishsanghvi.blogspot.com/2008/11/in-defense-of-sonal-shah.html and http://wetware.blogspot.com/2008/11/in-defence-of-sonal-shah.html).
Dear Gabo
Good you started this discussion.
The arguments by INDICORPS are no good, the fascist RSS make the most of their social committments - ofcourse they are totally committed when they do relief/rescue or social work, but to what end?
Same with INDICORPS - their connections with the fascist SANGH PARIVAR is too well known - they have not yet taken a public stand on Gujarat's Hitler either way - ask any BJP supporter in Gujarat & they will tell you - "we are proud of Modi, the real Hindu emperor for massacaring these terrorist Muslims who shoud be sent to Pakistan or the grave."
INDICORPS working on developmental issues in Gujarat has clearly skirted the issue.
The VHPA, the fascist outfit of RSS, has said that Sonal Shah's membership expired - its a real joke - they have no such membership records of individuals or groups. Whenever their members or parivar groups get tangled in terror or legal issues they use this tag.
Let INDICORPS come clean on this issue by joining with the Gujarat civil society (not the uncivil RSS types) for demanding that Modi should be in jail and not seat of power like many other groups active in Gujarat, then the debate will be different. Let them not argue and escape taking a stand on such a vital issue in Gujarat (of course no need to overuse that old argument, Hitler was also heading a democratically elected government!!).
To clarify a bit, the anti-corruption work I did with Indicorps was far from neutral. We were working to publicize and support common people using the Indian Right to Information Act 2005, the same act that is being used by our Gujarati brothers and sisters to extract information from the Gujarat government on the genocide, to bring its perpetrators to justice. http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/09best.htm
No, the law is not perfect, and it isn't as flashy as a protest or as simple as signing a statement, but after my time in Indicorps I'm proud to have been a part of such a movement - a movement to return control of the government to the people.
WEST BENGAL & ASSAM BELONG TO GREATER BANGLADESH
__________________________________________________________
www.WestBengalBelongsToBangladesh.wordpress.com
HINDU TERRORISM IN BANGLADESH
_________________________________
www.HinduTERRORISMinBangladesh.wordpress.com
GANDHI PROSTITUTES IN HOLLAND
__________________________________
www.GandhiProstitutes.wordpress.com
I found this site using [url=http://google.com]google.com[/url] And i want to thank you for your work. You have done really very good site. Great work, great site! Thank you!
Sorry for offtopic
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
Post a Comment