Ram Swarup
& Sita Ram Goel Centenary Conferences
(22 July
2020)
On 12
October 2020 is the centenary of Ram Swarup, which the Ram Swarup & Sita
Ram Goel Memorial Fund intends to celebrate by means of some kind of a
conference. Unless circumstances clear up miraculously, this will have to be in
teleconference format. This is admittedly make-do, but at least we won't
let this solemn occasion pass by unsung. One advantage of this emergency
format is at least that it won't cost much, chiefly the cost of the
technological team that will ensure our digital connectedness.
On 16
October 2021 is the centenary of Sita Ram Goel. By then, fingers crossed, it
should be possible to organize a real conference. There, we should be able to
present the Congress Proceedings of the Ram Swarup conference, or at least a
collection of papers on Ram Swarup; and a Sita Ram Goel reader, with which I
have started to occupy myself. For this, in accordance with the family's
wishes, I will seek the patronage of a particular
prestigious institute, but this first requires a successful call
for papers.
Call for
Papers
For the Ram
Swarup teleconference, we welcome papers on any aspects of his life and works:
the Changers' Club, his role in the Quit India movement, Gandhian activism and
critique of Gandhi, critique of Communism, view of language, critique of
Christianity and Islam, view of Hindu Dharma, and his influence on Hindu
society. Since you don't honour a great man by reverentially keeping him on a
sterile pedestal, we emphasize that this may include reasoned criticism. We set
a soft deadline on 15 August, but don't feel inhibited if inspiration strikes
you later than that.
For the Sita
Ram Goel conference, we already declare the call for papers open, so we welcome
abstracts of papers the sooner the better, though the actual (hard) deadline
will be 15 August 2021. We need twelve of these abstracts soon in order to
comply with institutional patronage conditions. They may pertain to any part of
Goel's intellectual production, but also to his organisational work in the
Society for the Defence of Freedom in Asia, his candidacy for the Lok Sabha in
1957, the business side of his career, his troubled relation with organised
political Hinduism, and of course the inspiring role of Ram Swarup in the
development of his thought, which he always acknowledged.
We emphasise
our appreciation for any testimonial work that may be offered. Their books will
remain extant and be commented on by future generations, but the people
who can add to their biographies from personal experience are getting
on in years and will soon disappear forever. So we would like them to speak out
now. Also, anyone unable or unwilling to participate in a conference but having
new data or insights to offer, are welcome to entrust these to paper and send
it in. Finally, if you know anyone whom we have overlooked but needs to be
heard in this context, please pass on their names or pass this message
on.
We hope to
hear from many of you very soon, and will keep you posted.
Dr. Koenraad
ELST
Chairman of
the Ram Swarup & Sita Ram Goel Memorial Fund
All
correspondence to: koenraad.elst@gmail.com
1 comment:
Great Sir. Hoping to read these papers when they are compiled/published.
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