François Gautier

François Gautier, born 1959 in Paris, is a writer and journalist based in India. He came to India at the age of 19 and spent his first eight years in Auroville [http://www.auroville.org/] India at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. He has been living in India since the 70's and is married to an Indian. He shuttles between the international city of Auroville and New Delhi.

He has covered major developments in the South Asian region. He was there in Kashmir at the height of militancy covering the valley. He was there at the 600-year-old wooden shrine Charar e sharif in Srinagar covering it when it was burnt by the fundamentalists as a result of Islamic terrorism. He traveled to Kashmir, North east India and other areas in south asia like no other. His contributions to Hindutva historical revisionism are the books like Rewriting Indian History [http://www.francoisgautier.com/Written%20Material/Rewriting%20Indian%20History.doc] which read India from a different perspective. He studied the country from a journalist’s viewpoint as political correspondent for international newspapers like Le Figaro [ [http://www.lefigaro.fr Le Figaro site] ] , Le Journal de Genève and Ouest-France [ [www.ouest-france.fr/ Ouest France site] ] , a provincial daily with the largest circulation in France, and for [LCI] [ [http://tf1.lci.fr/ LCI site] ] , France's 24 hour Television news channel. Francois wrote extensively for the “Ferengi’s Column” in the Indian Express and the “French Connection” column in the Pioneer which were very popular columns and contributes regularly to Rediff.com [ [http://www.rediff.com link rediff] ] . He is currently working as Editor in Chief for La Revue de l'Inde [ [http://www.lesbelleslettres.com/collections/?collection_id=52] ] . He now writes for Rediff.com occasionally and once in a fortnight for Sahara samay [ [http://www.saharasamay.com site] ] , Dainik bhaskar [ [http://www.bhaskar.com/ site] ] and New Indian Express [ [http://www.newindpress.com/ site] ] .

He is a staunch supporter of Hindu nationalist movements and has written many books on Hinduism, Indian politics and Hindutva. Among his books are "Un autre Regard sur l'Inde" (Editions du Tricorne, Geneva-Paris) [http://www.francoisgautier.com/Written%20Material/GROUPES.rtf] ; "Arise O India" (Har Anand 1999) [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/8124105189 Amazon.com: Arise Again O India: Francois Gautier: Books ] ] , "Cry O my bloved India" [http://www.francoisgautier.com/Written%20Material/GROUPED.doc] "A Western journalist on India" (Har-Anand 2001), "India's Self Denial (Editions Auroville Press, 2001) [http://www.francoisgautier.com/Written%20Material/Cultural.doc] and "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a guru of Joy" (India Today Book Club, 2002) [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/818747842X Amazon.com: Guru of Joy: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and The Art of Living: Francois Gautier: Books ] ] .

He leads FACT [ [http://www.fact-india.com/index.php FACT site] ] (Foundation Against Continued Terrorism) [ [http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/02/16/stories/2007021601190300.htm Looking back at history] The Hindu - Feb 16, 2007, 2003] [ [http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/feb/16francois.htm The truth about Aurangzeb] Rediff - February 16, 2007] , an organization which highlights the plight of terror victims in Kashmir [ [http://www.fact-india.com/kashmir.php Kashmir exhibition] -FACT exhibition ] and Bangladesh [ [http://www.fact-india.com/bangladesh.php FACT Bangladesh Exhibition] - FACT] He founded the organisation with money he got from Nachiketa, the journalism prize awarded to him by the then Prime Minister of India Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee on behalf of the Government of India.

After his services as South Asia Correspondent of "Le Figaro" were terminated in June 2000, the Cour d' Appel de Paris ordered restoration of the work contract and payment of compensation. Gautier explained his dismissal as a consequence of his "pro-Hindu image", saying the editors believe "I have turned native. Mine is a lonely battle." [ [http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=99517 Outlook] ] Mr Gautier taught journalism part-time at the Sri Sri center for media studies [ [http://www.sscms.org/ SSCMS] ] , an institute run by the Art of Living Foundation a school that was a brain child of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bangalore.

See also

*David Frawley
*Koenraad Elst
*Michel Danino
*Alain Danielou
*Girilal Jain

References

External links

* [http://www.francoisgautier.com/ Francois Gautier's homepage]
* [http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/history/gautier/ Rewriting Indian history Online Book]
* [http://www.hindu.org/publications/fgautier/selfdenial.html India's self denial by F. Gautier]
* [http://www.rediff.com/news/franc.htm Francois Gautier at rediff.com]
* [http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/14franc.htm A sampling of Francois Gautier's experiences in india]
* [http://www.fact-india.com/ FACT homepage]