I understand that your primary issue here is that I am applying a different standard to Hunka than I am to Bose, given both fought for their respective nations freedom, and both fought for the Nazis.
Something you actually agreed was wrong but then continue to attempt to justify.
But let me ask you this - If I statistically sample 100 European Waffen SS members (forget nationality) and 100 Indian Legion members from the 1940s, where do you think I am likely to find anti-semites? I will bet my money that almost all of them will be European. Nazism did not take a hold in Europe, and I think you will agree with this, without pre-existing cultural and endemic anti-semitism. That was huge in Ukraine as well, where 1.5M Jews died.
"Huge in Ukraine"? No it wasn't. Ukraine had the lowest rate of antisemitism in Europe at the time.
And I'm repeating myself here, but Hitler didn't only hate Jews. Not everyone who died in the gas chambers and was imprisoned in concentration camps and hunted by death squads was because they were Jewish. It's entirely possible for people to sympathize with Hitler because of a hatred for homosexuals, for example, and not because of views on Judaism and the Jewish people. Or are you going to say homophobia never took root in India either?
In any case, your comment about Jews killed in Ukraine is a bit misleading. At the time the Jews were killed, Ukraine was under German occupation. Had India fallen to Germany too, do you really believe they would have spared the Jews there?
1.5 million Jews killed by the Nazis in power in Ukraine is tragic and shows the evil and depravity of the Nazis. Now how many Ukrainians were killed by the Soviets in the Holodomor been 1932 and 1933? Between 3.5 and 5 million. In one year. If Hitler had been able to achieve that death rate, then instead of killing 6 million Jews in 4 years, he would've killed 14 to 20 million, or in other words, he would've succeeded in exterminating them because there were only about 9.5 million Jews in Europe and 14 million Jews in the world.
So if you were living in Ukraine, and you watched family members, friends and neighbours killed by Stalin, and Nazis show up and start fighting the Soviet Union and killing Jews, which of those reasons do you think would motivate you to join them more? But you aren't evaluating them on that, you're evaluating them based on the rate of antisemitism only. Worse yet, you're not even using the rate of antisemitism in Ukraine, which you don't know, you're using the rate for all of Europe.
The "historical and cultural contexts" that you say are so important you completely ignore. You even admit you don't know the historical and cultural contexts, but then keep talking like you do.
On the other hand, India has never been anti-semitic. Ever. It is simply not in India's culture, history, or psyche to be so. Given this cultural and political context of Europe at that time, if Hunka said "I was only fighting for Ukraine's freedom", it cannot just be taken at face value and you'd have to ask that extra question. On the other hand, given India's history, Bose can be taken at face value.
Why are we taking anyone at face value? Or why aren't we taking them all at face value? You're also not taking Bose at face value, you're actively dismissing any concerns. Bose blocked Jews fleeing Nazis from settling in India, and he's reportedly published an article saying he supported antisemitism and the Holocaust. Your only argument against that is "Well there was no antisemitism in India ever and still isn't." Except there is, and while it never took root in India, that doesn't mean there were never any antisemites there at all. Nor does that mean Bose couldn't have been pro-Nazi because of the persecution of homosexuals or any other group. But there is no reason to scrutinize someone with no indications of antisemitism more than someone who does have indications of antisemitism simply because of their background, and to do so is bigotry.
If we remove the names and ethnicities, you would never take the position you have. If I said, "We have 2 members of the Waffen SS, let's call them SS1 and SS2, how much scrutiny should we give to evaluating whether they should be investigated for war crimes?" You would 100% say, "The exact same." If I said, "SS1 said Jewish refugees shouldn't be allowed to leave Germany and that he partly blames them for the oppression and murder of his countrymen and ancestors, but we have no indication that SS2 ever said anything antisemetic," you would say, "We should definitely have more scrutiny towards SS1." But then I say, "SS1 is Indian and SS2 is Ukrainian," and you say, "Oh, no, then definitely more scrutiny for SS2 then." Yet you say it's not the ethnicity that's the factor here? The only difference that caused you to change your opinion, assuming I'm correct in how you would've reacted, is that one person's background is Indian and the other is Ukrainian
There is no reason to take anyone at face value and no need to. We should investigate and evaluate equally. Anyone who joined the Waffen SS or the Nazi party should face the same scrutiny. End. Done. You'll probably even claim you agree with that, but then go on to try and justify different levels of scrutiny based on ethnicity.
This is not a prejudiced or a bigoted position. This has nothing to do with Hunka's ethnicity. This is being aware of the respective cultural and political contexts of their time and asking that extra question that needs to be asked.
You say Hunka should face extra scrutiny because of his ethnicity, but then say it has nothing to do with his ethnicity? You say this is about being aware of the respective cultural and political contexts of their time, but then about you only understand the cultural and political contexts of one of the two ethnicities in question? This is exactly why it's prejudice and bigotry.
I don't know what else I can say to explain this.
You've explained it well enough. The problem is you think your declarations that it's not prejudice carry more weight than the subsequent explanations that demonstrate prejudice.
It's like those people who say, "I'm not racist, but black people commit more violent crime." The "I'm not racist part" is invalidated by the subsequent racist comments. Likewise, you say, "It's not prejudice, but..." and then go on to say a bunch of prejudiced stuff. Now you're surprised. "I already said I wasn't prejudiced. What else can I do?" Stop saying the prejudiced stuff. Stuff defending it. You could do that. But you won't, because you think it's justified. Which is why I reject your statements that you aren't prejudice.