Dr. Koenraad Elst – an appeal
An appeal for help for Dr. Koenraad Elst
Dr. Koenraad Elst, born in 1957, is a well-known Belgian scholar. His initial fields of research included Iran and China, and very soon India, to which he devoted his PhD thesis. He has visited India frequently over the years, and has studied many of the issues concerning Hindus and Hindu society in India. He has articulately defended Hindu causes through about 20 well-researched books and numerous articles.
A few of them are:
- Ram Janmabhoomi Vs. Babri Masjid (1990)
- Ayodhya and After: Issues before Hindu Society (1991)
- Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam (1992)
- Indigenous Indians–Agastya to Ambedkar (1993)
- Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate (1999)
- Decolonizing the Hindu Mind: Ideological Development of Hindu Revivalism (2001)
- Gandhi and Godse: a Review and a Critique (2001)
- The Saffron Swastika: the Notion of “Hindu Fascism” (2001)
- Who is a Hindu (2002)
- Ayodhya: the Case against the Temple (2002)
- Return of the Swastika: Hate and Hysteria Versus Hindu Sanity (2007)
Dr. Koenraad Elst has often lectured in the U.S.A. and also in India. In 2004 for instance, at the invitation of a few of us, he visited Coimbatore, where he gave three lectures on current issues.
Because of the support he extended to Hindu causes — although based on reasoned arguments and massive research — Dr. Koenraad Elst’s academic career, which should normally have been very bright, was thwarted, and his finances were always precarious or worse.
In recent years, his health has suffered too, and he was diagnosed with a case of degenerating heart muscles that would sooner or later require a heart transplant. With the practice of yoga and an Ayurvedic treatment, Dr. Koenraad Elst was able to stabilize his condition for some time. However, earlier this month, his condition deteriorated and he had to be admitted to the ICU of the University hospital in Antwerp (Belgium), where he still is, as his heart can no longer function on its own. He is now on an international waiting list for the graft of a new heart.
A few friends of Dr. Koenraad Elst in India and abroad have spontaneously offered to contribute to the medical expenses. Contributions will be taken from India to Europe later this month by a friend of Dr. Koenraad Elst.
Anyone who wishes to contribute should send by post a DD in the name of “Dr. Gautam Sen” to the following address:
Mr. Ashok Malik,
C 383 Defence Colony
New Delhi 110 024
Please add a covering note to specify that the amount is a contribution for Dr. Koenraad Elst. Contributions should preferably reach before June 25.
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