Soul of a Nation
Thurs., Sept. 19 at 9 P.M. ET
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/about/film10.html

"The bloody conflict between Hindus and Muslims in North Western India is at the forefront of a struggle for India's identity, led by an increasingly powerful Hindu fundamentalist movement whose goal is to turn India into a Hindu nation. Over the last three months, some 2,000 Muslims have been killed in theProvince of Gujarat, and more than 100,000 Muslims have been forced to flee to refugee camps. Mean while extremist Hindu private schools are spreading rapidly across India. Will India, home to more than a billion people, continue to be the multi-ethnic, religiously diverse, secular, and tolerant society that Gujarat's Mahatma Gandhi attempted to create? Or will the nation be split -- by a Hindu fundamentalist movement hoping to rise to power by fanning the winds of religious extremism?"

It is very important that all Hindus rise in one voice against this blatant propaganda against Hindus and Bharat, which of late has become a pattern.

There are a few things that you can do.

(1) Write/e-mail/fax to the PBS objecting screening of this biased and concocted documentary, which is the height of irresponsible journalism. (A sample letter is attached.) Contact details: Stephen Segaller Director, News & Pubic Affairs Programming Tel: 212 560 8282 Fax: 212 560 8279 Email: segaller@thirteen.org

(2) Call the PBS station before the documentary is aired and register your protest against it.

(3) Circulate the protest letter amongst your community members and have them send it individually or as a petition to the PBS. Post this letter on email groups you belong to and email it to your contacts worldwide.

(4) Take this letter to your temple(s) and other organizations and ask the management to circulate amongst devotees. Remember, this is a direct assault on all Hindus, irrespective of their political or organizational belief and if left unchallenged, it could have serious consequences for all the Hindus.

(5) Watch the show and then right after it, call your local PBS station to register your protest and asking for equal time for opposing viewpoint.

(6) Have your organization and temples write a letter on their letterhead to the sponsors of this documentary apprising them of the facts and asking them to withdraw the sponsorship or face a possible boycott of their products by one billion strong Hindu community around the globe.

(7) When PBS station in your area has a fund raising telethon, and they do it quite frequently, call them up and tell them that you have decided not to contribute this year because of their biased and untruthful documentary on India.

If thousands of letters and emails are mailed to PBS and their phone lines are jammed before and after the program by protest calls, it will have a major impact.

We will send you the points for telephone call in next few days.

Thank you.

Brotherly Yours,

Gaurang G. Vaishnav
General Secretary
VHP (World Hindu Council) of America
12 Pendelton Place, Ediosn, NJ 08820
732-744-0851; 732-754-1727 (cell)