'Truth Has to Be Said. Again And Again!' Sociologist Babones on Left's Attack over 'anti-Hinduism' Charge

Australian sociologist and academic Salvatore Babones, who has come under heavy criticism from the Leftist intelligentsia following his comments about “Western anti-Hinduism”, seems unperturbed.

“Truth has to be said. Again and again!” he said in a conversation with Firstpost.

The American sociologist working in Australia also spoke about his interest in India. “I am a quantitative comparative sociologist. My interest in India didn’t come from fascination with Hinduism or Indian culture or the Western romanticisation of poverty, or even the Taj Mahal. My inspiration was entirely quantitative. What brought me closer to India was the fact that it was the world’s most outperforming, exceptional democracy, which ironically was vilified and called names for dubious reasons,” he said.

According to the Associate Professor in the University of Sydney, “all the rich countries, with some exceptions, are democracies and middle-income countries are quasi-democracies, while all the poor countries are non-democracies”. India, from that standpoint, is a rare phenomenon. “It is the only poor country with a GDP per capita annual income of less than $10,000 that has a well-institutionalised democracy. It is the only poor country that has remained a democracy since its Independence. And India is the only institutionalised democracy between South Korea and Israel. For real, homegrown democracies of India’s qualities, one has to go beyond $20,000 per capita GDP. That for me has been the most striking feature about India’s democracy.”

Prof Babones, however, doesn’t think India and the West, despite sharing democratic ethos, are natural partners. “They are fellow democracies, so there is a confluence of values. But it’s too romantic and naïve to think that democracies are natural allies and friends,” he said, emphasising that the cooperation between the US, EU and India is today driven disproportionately by defence sales. “It’s currently transactional in nature. But in future, I do see India displacing Western European nations to become the US’ main partner.”

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