Growing up through the Suburban New York Public School System I was always led to assume that fanaticism could only take shape in the totalitarian states of the third-world. Islamic states to be specific. Yet, A closer look at India, the largest parliamentary democracy in the Asian world would gravely prove my Suburbia New York Public Education quite naïve.

India, the largest Parliamentary democracy in the Asian world remains a buddy of the western world, because its considered a secular state- even though the dominating party in the coalition government since '98, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the political wing of the RSS which is devoted to the creation of a militant Hindu State and was created by Gandhi's assassin, Godse.

Here I think it is essential that I tell you who I am. I was born and raised all my life on the outskirts of suburban Long Island in a quite conservative Muslim family, deeply cultured in the Pakistani way of life. Although I honor and practice the traditions of my parents, I can honestly say, due to my diverse and multi-cultural schooling environment, that I hold no biased towards the neighboring country of India. Quite the contrary, my interest in this subject stemmed not from my Pakistani upbringing but from my American private university education. I was introduced to this subject through an assigned reading for a culture class. The professor, having thorough knowledge and experience within the Indian culture, added the much needed insight and enthusiasm, which ultimately led me to do some of my own research.

As Gandhi worked to spread the message of Indians uniting to create a state of peace, Godse was raising enthusiasm for the creation of a militant Hindu State. He was pushing the idea of the ideal "Hindustan", the land of the Hindus. His purpose in assassinating Gandhi was explained ever so clearly in the speech he delivered before his execution, "Gandhi's pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national tongue of India. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims." Says Godse, " All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus." Towards the end of his speech, Godse expresses no sorrow or hesitation in his actions as he says, "No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan." Ironically Godse was a Brahmin from western India, a region that was hardly affected by the partition.

Gandhi himself was born into a high caste Hindu family. His father worked as a minister for the Royal Family. Gandhi was born in the Muslim dominated state of Gujarat. Growing up in Kathiawad, a district consisting mainly of Muslims, Gandhi learned to accept and embrace diversity. And throughout his life he created a lifestyle that incorporated both Hindu and Muslim teachings.

Nathuram Godse's brother, Gopal Godse, along with four others, masterminded the assassination of Gandhi. In an exclusive interview by Indian Journalist, Firdaus Syed Ashraf, for Rediff On The Net, Gopal Godse says, "You know, I had mixed feelings," he said. "I knew I was going to lose a brother; and I had no doubt that I was gong to be arrested and share his fate. On the other hand, our target had been fulfilled. We had done away with somebody who was not only satisfied with the creation of Pakistan; he wanted to see Pakistan progress; he was in fact the father of Pakistan." He continues to say, "So if you ask me, did I feel any repentance, my reply is no - not in the least. We had taken the decision fully knowing what we were doing. We knew if we allowed this person to live any longer, he would do more and more harm to the Hindus, and that we could not allow it." Godse today, holds the urn, which contains the ashes of his brother. He has promised to scatter them in the Sindhu River of Pakistan when "mother India is whole again."

The problem, as I see it, lies not in Indian Nationalism, but in the overall agenda and pogrom of the RSS and its members carefully placed in the ruling party. The disguise of secularism, works well indeed. Even after a government-sponsored genocide, which even after gaining international recognition, the world, the secular and western buddies of India, have not demanded change.

The R.S.S. is today, more then half a century later, closer to its dream of creating the ultimate 'Hindustan'. R.S.S. members are placed in different sectors of the government and developmental programs. The most esteemed working to build up India's nuclear power position, and others working to scientifically prove religious beliefs.

The most prominent members of the R.S.S. holding positions in the government, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his loyal side-kick and expected heir, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who have never denied its militant ideology. In fact, the highest position within the R.S.S. is held by K.S. Sudarshan, who serves as an adviser to Prime Minister Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Advani. The pogrom of the Hindu Nationalist government could not be so clearly expressed as was said by R.S.S. leader Sudarshan in a speech in 1999. Pankaj Mishra, reporter for the New York Times Magazine describes, "He described how a new epic war was about to commence between the demonic and divine powers that forever contended for supremacy in the world. Sudarshan identified the United States as the biggest example of the "rise of inhumanity" in the contemporary world." "Our History," says Sudarshan, "has proved that we are a heroic intelligent race capable of becoming world leaders, but the one deficiency we had was weapons." Sudarshan ended his speech with quite a frightening prediction of the 'final victory' of Hindu Nationalism.

The Hindu Nationalist Party's most noted and internationally recognized action was the Massacre of Gujarat. The struggle began when the B.J.P. 'won' elections in the Muslim majority state of Gujarat. In a report by the Human Rights Watch the city of Ahmedabad suffered the most violent attacks. The events of the days are described the Human Rights Watch in the following words, "Between February 28 and March 2 the attackers descended with militia-like precision on Ahmedabad by the thousands, arriving in trucks and clad in saffron scarves and khaki shorts, the signature uniform of Hindu nationalists-Hindutva-groups. Chanting slogans of incitement to kill, they came armed with swords, trishuls (three-pronged spears associated with Hindu mythology), sophisticated explosives and gas cylinders. They were guided by computer printouts listing the addresses of Muslim Families and their properties' and embarked on a murderous rampage confident that the police was with them. In many cases, the police led the charge, using gunfire to kill Muslims who got in the mobs' way."

Mishra believes "The scale of the violence was matched only by its brutality. Women were gang-raped before being killed. Children were burned alive. Gravediggers at mass burial site told investigators 'that most bodies that had arrived' were burned and butchered beyond recognition. Many were missing body parts-arms, legs and even heads. The elderly and the handicapped were not spared. In some cases, pregnant women had their bellies cut open and their fetuses pulled out and hacked or burned before the women were killed."

As expected, the chief minister of Gujarat, Narenda Modi, is also a member of the R.S.S. Modi’s comments concerning the actions taken in the state he governs were, "An equal and opposite reaction". Modi later denied this statement. The statement must be in reference to the murder of almost 60 people, majority of who were Hindu Activists by a mob of Muslims. This defense was later challenged by the Human Rights Watch, charging that Hindu nationalists had planned the Gujarat killings well in advance of the attack on the Hindu activists. The Human Rights Watch cited common reports throughout the Indian mass media that suggested, "That a senior Hindu Nationalist minister sat in the police control room in Ahmedabad issuing orders not to rescue Muslims from murder, rape and arson. Many secular Indians saw the ghost of Nathuram Godse presiding over the killings in Gujarat." India's leading social scientist, Ashis Nandy expressed grief in that India, "state's political soul has been won over by [Gandhi's] killers."

The Hindu Nationalist government has incorporated into the political goals of the hindutva interpretations of science, history, medicine and other intellectual fields of knowledge. Pankaj Mishra, explains this phenomena, "I was startled, for instance, when Vijay [the young editor of an R.S.S. weekly who was described as 'the modern face of Hindu nationalism'] triumphantly showed me the headline in his magazine about the patenting of cow urine in the United States. Western science, he said, had validated an ancient Hindu belief in the holiness of the cow-yet further proof of how the Hindu way of life anticipated and indeed was superior to the discoveries of modern science. " Mishra even goes on to witness these tests as he enters a laboratory run by the R.S.S. "In one room, its white-washed walls spattered with saffron-hued posters of Lord Rama, devout young Hindus stood before test tubes and beakers full of cow-urine, distilling the holy liquid to get rid of the foul-smelling ammonia and make it drinkable." He adds, "In another room tribal women in garishly colored saris sat on the floor before a small hill of white powder-dental powder made from cow urine."

Not far from the laboratory Mishra finds an elementary school created by the R.S.S. for the education, - 'proper' education of the tribal children. On the walls he finds enlarged photos of militant Hindu freedom fighters. In the office of the headmaster, he finds a large map of India before the division and is told by the principal, "how the R.S.S. member in charge of the federal government's education department was making sure that the new history textbooks carried the important message of Hindu pride and Muslim cruelty to every school and child in the country." He continues, "The message of the R.S.S., he said, was egalitarian and modern; it believed in raising low-caste people and tribals to a higher level of culture."

The government's response to the Massacres in Gujarat shocked the world as an R.S.S. official resolution stated, "Let Muslims understand that their safety lies in the goodwill of the majority." At a public appearance, India's Prime Minister Vajpayee commented on the massacre with blunt blame on the victims, saying, "Wherever Muslims live, they don't want to live in peace." In response to international pressure, the P.M. says, "No one should teach us about secularism."

Yet in the Global neighborhood, India has proved to be an ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism and/or radical Islamism. An Indian journalist tells the New York Times Magazine, "The Hindu nationalists are especially cautious at present," he says, "their fascistic nature has been obscured so far in the west by the fact that India is a democracy and a potentially large consumer market. They have managed to speak with two voices, one for foreign consumption and the other for local. But they know that religious extremists are under closer scrutiny worldwide after 9/11, and they know that they don't look too good after the killings of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat."