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April 10, 2026
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"As the wind destroys the trees, and the locusts the shali crop, so did the Yavanas destroy the usages of Kashmira."
"Ahimsa also applies to cultures taken as a whole. The devastation of cultures is an important kind of himsa which is not often acknowledged in typical accounts of non-violence. For example, when the United Nations drafted its laws on genocide, they eliminated the phrases which described cultural genocide. In the officially defined UN law, cultural genocide is not prohibited. Gandhi fully understood this kind of violence and often talked about it. Cultural genocide is the systematic and complete elimination or suppression of the native religion, language, dress, way of life, customs, and/or symbols of one people by another. Even though the people in question might be given material benefits through humanitarian aid, education and medical facilities, it is himsa if there is systematic destruction of their identity, sense of history, ideas of ancestry, and relationship with nature. Stripping people of their collective notion of self is a prelude to digestion and a major part of the process of colonization. This kind of himsa goes on today under the name of 'development' wherein success is measured by the criteria of Westernization. Much of what is being called 'universal' – even in human rights discourse – is in fact cultural genocide and therefore himsa in Gandhi's sense."
"Dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed."
"Unless one lives and loves in the trenches it is difficult to remember that the war against dehumanization is ceaseless."
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.