Why does India mourn Christopher Hitchens ?

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Hitchens, the man who spoke the Truth without fearing any, passed away on December 15 at Texas.Inspite of being an Anglo-American , he had deep linkages with India and held fearless views with regard to several Indian public figures including Gandhi, Mother Teressa. Besides he was one of the close friends of Indian writer Salman Rushdie.

He was a die-hard supporter of India. Be it 26/11 Attacks or other Bombay attacks he opposed the US Government’s liberal policy towards Pakistan and the massive grants US gave to Pakistan.

Once he wrote, “Bombay has been assaulted multiple times and the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan blown up with the fairly obvious cross-border collusion of the same Pakistani forces who are helping in the rebirth of the Taliban.It would be good to hear from the president (Bush) and the president-elect (Obama) that we regard attacks on the fabric and society of India with very particular seriousness, as assaults on a close friend that was battling al-Qaida long before we were.The people of India need to hear this from us, as do the enemies of India, who are our sworn enemies, too”.

However, it was his critisizm of Pakistan after the Abottabad attacks that rocked the whole world and he became a celebrity figure. These were the times he was fighting with Cancer.
He advocated that the Twin Prides of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Army and Nuclear Weapons were parasitic to America and were reserved to be used against India.

After September 11 attack  Hitchens  wrote “Osama bin Laden forgot to consult the Talmudic sub-text. Each of the 72 virgins comes with a mother-in-law. His terrorists should have read the fine print”.

Critisizm of Mother Teresa

He was famous for his critisizms of Mother Teressa. In 1992, Hitchens wrote an article[16] for The Nation in which he called Mother Teresa “The Ghoul of Calcutta”.He accused her of failing to treat people, particularly children, placed in her care, and criticized her strong religious views on contraception and abortion. According to him, Mother Teresa was a political opportunists using the charity for the spread of an aggressive version of Catholicism.

Criticizm of Dalai Lama
He ctitisized Dalai Lama’s acceptance of “45 million rupees, or about 170 million yen” from Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult which released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo Subway system.
He also critisized the Dalai Lama’s proclamation that Hollywood actor Steven Seagal was a tulku and a reincarnated lama of Tibetan Buddhism and Dalai Lama’s alleged support of India’s Pokhran-II thermonuclear tests.

Mahatma Gandhi

He critisized Gandhi for being the only major preacher of appeasement who never changed his mind.