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The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - utepian - 02-15-2007
A petition from couple of months ago that missed our eyes. Enjoy the who's who of secularism among the signatories.
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 02-16-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Feb 9 2007, 08:20 AM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Feb 9 2007, 08:20 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Telegraph
February 02, 2007
<b>A SENSE OF HUMILIATION</b>
- Why the bhoomi puja in Singur is such a great let-down
by Ashok Mitra<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->[right][snapback]64200[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->When googling for the source, I found that this opinion(ated) article was reposted at "Confederation of Human Rights Organisations Keralam, India" - Keralam, that <i>other</i> stronghold of communist political power in the country.
http://www.humanrightskerala.com/index.php...d=5279&Itemid=5
Since when did 'Human Rights' have anything to do with communism? They are complete opposites. Oh wait, that's right. Equating the two started when christianity was also connected as a champion of 'human rights'.
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 02-24-2007
Commies outdoing themselves.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/feb/23kalam.htm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->President Kalam's address to Parliament on Friday stirred up a row with the Left parties asking the Central government to take cognizance of the Hindi translation of the word secularism used in the address, saying 'dharmanirpeshkta' (secularism) had been wrongly termed as 'panthnirpeshkta' (only Hindu religion).
Reminding the government that the very purpose of forming the United Progressive Alliance was to defend the country's secular edifice, they asked it to look into the matter to find out how the mistake had crept into such an important policy document of the government.
At a joint press conference convened to brief the media about the issues the Left proposed to raise during the Budget Session of Parliament, Communist Party of India parliamentary group leader Sitaram Yechury said whether it was a 'bureaucratic' or the translator's mistake, it had to be corrected as Indian Republic was based on separation of religion from the state.
Explaining the meaning of 'Panthnirpeshkta,' Yechury claimed that very connotation of the word was 'reflective of the pernicious philosophy,' which means that there is only one religion in the country, that is Hinduism and all others are sects.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 03-04-2007
<b>No show for Jesus docu in India</b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070303/211/6csio.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi: After protesting the screening of the controversial film The Da Vinci Code last year, the question over how Jesus Christ died and what his relationship with Mary Magdalene is threatening to snowball into a fresh controversy.
Discovery channel has decided not to broadcast the controversial documentary, The Lost Tomb of Christ, on Jesus Christ in India following protests by Christian groups against the broadcasting of the documentary which claims Jesus was buried in Jerusalem and fathered a child named Judah with Magdalene.
.....
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - acharya - 03-04-2007
Is it nation or decimation of nation?
V SUNDARAM
Islam-embracing, Christianity-coveting and Hindu-hating parliamentarian of convoluted fame, Sitaram Yechury, in a learned article has recently declared: 'Accordingly Golwalkar proceeds to assert that we means 'Hindus' and, hence, 'Swaraj' means 'Hindu Raj' or 'Hindu Rashtra.' Taking recourse to mythology instead of history, theology instead of philosophy, Golwalkar 'established' that the Hindus were always, and continue to remain, a nation. He proceeds to assert the intolerant, theocratic content of such a Hindu nation. The conclusion is unquestionably forced upon us that in Hindustan exists and must need exist the ancient Hindu nation and naught else but the Hindu nation. All those not belonging to the national Hindu race, religion, culture and language naturally fall out of the pale of our real 'National' life'. In the 60th year of our independence, the effort to consolidate the modern Indian republic based on the foundations of secular democracy, federalism, social justice and economic self reliance requires a democratic ostracisation of such pernicious political projects.'
To the anti-Hindu Communists like Sitaram Yechury, India may appear to be a land inhabited only by the descendants of Mohammed of Ghazni (971-1030 A.D.) or Mohammed of Ghori (1162-1206 AD) or St Francis Xavier (1502-1552 AD) alone. For him India means only 'Islamic India' and 'Christian India' and nothing else. For the Communists of India with their superincumbent international egotism, and vain - glorious pretensions, perhaps the history of India starts only with the date of birth of Mohammed of Ghazni in 971 AD. For communists in general and Sitaram Yechury in particular it will make greater sense to argue that India has greater cultural or spiritual or metaphysical connections with Stalin of Russia or Mao Tse Tung of China and more particularly his beloved concubines graphically described with Communist clarity if not conviction by his own personal Medical Doctor for more than 30 years.
Countries are very much like individuals, subject to not dissimular pressures, internal and external, influenced by environment, events, traditions and training. The past 60 years after the independence of India can no more be isolated or divorced from the context of 5 millenniums of eternal India's history and culture than an individual's life and character be divorced from the lives of his forebears, his own background and upbringing.
Ernest Renan (1823 - 1892)
A nation is not a notion
Lenin (1870 - 1924)
A notion is not a nation
Viewed in this non-Communist light, the history of India is predominantly and inevitably the history of Hinduism, for out of a total population of nearly thousand and six million, well over 80 % are Hindus. Although Hinduism as we know it today emerged long before 2500 BC, yet some historians have adduced evidence to establish its origin in the Indus Valley Civilization of Mohenjo-daro, which goes back to around 3000 BC. According to Sir John Marshall, who supervised the excavations in the Indus Valley, enough evidence appears in the fragments recovered 'to demonstrate that this religion of the Indian people was the lineal progenitor of Hinduism.' This would make Hinduism almost coincidental with the beginnings of Indian civilization.
A very great journalist and one who was in no way less non-saffronized than the self-proclaiming Sitaram Yechury of today, Frank Moraes in his book 'India Today' (1960), showed a clearer understanding of India as a nation of unity amidst great cultural diversity, when he wrote: 'The Indian Constitution of 1950 ordains that the State shall be secular; but however enlightened and well intentioned this proviso is, it cannot in itself erase the imprint of history. For better or worse, Hinduism has set its stamp on India and pervaded every sphere of life from the social and economic to the cultural and political. Unlike other religions, Hinduism is confined largely to the territorial limits of India, and gives that country its distinctive character and outlook.' All the communist leaders of India are going out of their way to deny this simple fact so eloquently recorded by Frank Moraes.
Stalin wrote a book on 'Marxism and the National Question' in 1913 in close collaboration with Lenin. In this book, definitely not influenced by Guruji Golwalkar, the Leninist definition of a nation was summarized as 'A historically evolved, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture'.
Ernest Renan (1823 - 1892) clearly defined a nation in 1882 which should shock all the pseudo-secular rascals and political swindlers of India. He said: 'A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one, constitute this soul or spiritual principle. One lies in the past, one in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form'. For men like Sitaram Yechury and his Communist tribe, only the Muslims and Christians in India are entitled to the terrestrial benefit of this spiritual definition of Ernest Renan. According to the CPI (M) and all the other Communist parties of India who owe their allegiance only to Soviet Russia and China - not to the Russian or Chinese people but only to the Communist Party in both countries. Hindus in numerical majority in India can have no history; they can have no racial, social or cultural memories. An open consortium of pseudo-secular bandits, committed to the only cause of destruction of India through destruction of Hindu Religion, Society and Culture, wants to erase the cultural and racial memories of every patriotic Hindu by confiscating their thoughts and memories.
George Orwell (1903-1950) in his great novel '1984' published in 1949 envisioned a totalitarian world of 1984 in which a morally corrupt Government maintains absolute power by systematically depriving its subjects of their identities and by denying them any hope of cultural legacy. No one can deny this novel's power, its hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions - a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time. Communists of all grades and shades like Sitaram Yechuri, Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, A.B. Bardan and the like are collectively working together to obliterate the social, cultural and spiritual legacy of all the Hindus of India today in the way in which George Orwell described it in his novel '1984'. Writing in 1949, with the horrific examples of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) fresh in his mind, he envisioned a dark society in which people's touchstones are battered, shattered and pulverized as a matter of public policy. George Orwell wrote of a Ministry of Truth where the official records of past events are constantly monitored to suit immediate political needs. A slogan trumpeted by the novel's ruling elite suggests why tyrants and dictators of all eras have always been inspired to pursue such seemingly surreal goals: 'Whoever controls the past controls the future, whoever controls the present controls the past'. Any one among the pseudo-secular non-men like Sitaram Yechuri would love to be a Union Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Truth if it were to be established in New Delhi today with the full benediction of the Catholic Sonia Gandhi from distant Italy and the Islamic Imam of Jumma Masjid close at home to achieve this noble end!!
Against this lurid background, it becomes the bounden duty of the Hindus of India today to wake up from pseudo-secular slumber and unite and democratically fight for the larger cause of establishment of a Hindu Raj or Hindu Rastra envisioned by great Indian leaders like Bala Gangadara Thilak, Veer Savarkar, Dr Hegdewar, Sri Guruji Golwalkar, Shyama Prasad Mukerji, Deendayal Upadhyaya and others. Only the achievement of total Hindu unity and Hindu solidarity can lead to the democratic ostracisation of all the anti-Hindu pseudo-secular political parties in India like the Congress, the CPI(M), the CPI, the RJD, the Lok Jan Sakthi, the DMK, all the political parties forming part of the anti-Hindu and anti-Hinduism UPA coalition Government in New Delhi today.
Hitler always smelt the odour of international Jewry in all contexts, places and situations. Sitaram Yechury's deathless hatred for the Hindus exceeds the unquenchable hatred which Hitler had for the Jews. No wonder he smelt the rat of Hindutva in the Presidential address recently given by our President Abdul Kalam in the Parliament. The President had just finished his rather routine address to a joint sitting of Parliament, and the Hindi translation was being read out - a job that to everyone's relief is confined normally to the first and last paragraphs. The President did not realize that a pseudo-secular cobra was lurking in the last line of the first paragraph that spoke of the country's - commitment to building a strong, modern, inclusive, secular and dynamic India. Someone in the cabinet secretariat had translated 'secular' as panthnirapeksh instead of the more common dharmnirapeksh. Sitaram Yechury protested strongly against the use of the prefix 'Panth' in the word panthnirapeksh. He said 'Panth' means sect. This is the language that the RSS normally uses to underline that Hinduism is a religion and the rest like Christianity and Islam are mere sects. We are supporting the government to keep the communal forces out, but the President in his Hindi translation uses panthnirapeksh. In the case of Communist leaders of India, the distinction between the sublime and the ridiculous is often so marginal like that of the two exciting Sections in the Indian Penal Code. I am referring to the subtle distinction in the IPC between 'House Trespass' and 'Lurking House Trespass'. When I look at the response of Sitaram Yechuri to the Presidential address, I am at a loss to understand as to which of the two Sections of the IPC can be applied in a non-saffronized and secular manner!!
(The writer is a retired IAS officer)
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 03-07-2007
http://www.cultivasian.org/article/49/%3Cf...fontsize%3E.htm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I would like to submit the following hypothesis for discussion: the claim that the use of religion for political ends is evil and provokes violence is an old cliché from Christianity. Within its theological framework, it makes perfect sense to accuse human beings of corrupting religion by abusing it for the satisfaction of their worldly desires. This corrupted religion then gives rise to conflicts, riots and violence. Such a story was embedded in the European common sense by the sixteenth century. It became especially popular in post-Reformation Britain to make sense of the Wars of Religion. The belief was that there was a pure primitive Christianity untainted by human hands, which is revealed by the biblical God as the one true religion. Reflecting this Godâs will for humanity, the true religion can bring only peace, harmony and happiness. However, human beings - sinful as they are and misguided by the devil - corrupt this pure religion and try to use it for their own worldly and political ends. Needless to say, evil priests and crooked politicians are the prime suspects.
Since the British believed that the traditions they encountered in India were instances of false religion, it was obvious to them they would find the same kind of demonic violence here. Hence, they saw all kinds of conflicts in India as the violence that inevitably results from the corruption of religion for worldly ends. In their eyes, traditional leaders became priests of the devil. Stereotypes emerged about cunning Brahmins and deceitful mullahs. Whenever violent riots occurred, the reason was obvious: such priests and politicians had deceived innocent believers into slaughtering each other in the name of religion.
In the process of colonial education, Indian intellectuals adopted this theological story from their colonial masters as an account about the âcommunal violenceâ inherent in Indian society. Tragically, this Christian experience of India was mistaken for a valid description of its society. The tragedy continues today. The colonial consciousness of Indian intellectuals prevents them from seeing that they reproduce a silly theological story about the corrupting influence of humanity on religion as though it were scientific truth. If we really want to understand the Gujarat riots and similar horrific events, we first need to get rid of such common-sense clichés from the West.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 03-11-2007
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=82751
<b>'Govt committed to Muslim welfare'</b>
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 03-19-2007
<b>Hindu Vote Bank: The need and rationale</b>
Subramanian Swamy
Organiser
March 25, 2007
<b>Ramlila cannot be celebrated in Mau (UP) because the Muslim MP of the Muslim
majority area finds it an affront to Islam</b>. Muslims are subsidised for travel
abroad for Haj, but Hindus going to Kailash in Tibet are not. <b>Hindu temples are
taken over by the government and itâs hundi funds are given to Muslims and
Christians to build mosques and churches. But mosques and churches cannot be
similiarly treated.</b>
Those Hindu authorities who have credibility with the Hindu masses, have to
appeal to them to vote for a party that adopts and openly advocates a
pre-approved Hindu Agenda.
We have had in the past Hindu-minded leaders in powerâe.g., Morarji Desai, Lal
Bahadur Shastri, even Indira Gandhi. But they could do little for the Hindu
community because they did not come to power on the Hindu vote bank. Those
Hindus who voted for them to power did so on issues such as political stability
or garibi hatao. But the Muslims and Christians who voted for them did so only
because these leaders would not disturb their religious practices.
The consolidation of Hindu vote be thought of as a diabolical plot of the upper
castes to keep their alleged hegemony on Hindu society, effort should be made
to co-opt scheduled castes and backward Hindu communities in the vanguard of
the leadership of the Hindu vote bank. If encouraged by the Acharyas, then they
can be in the forefront of the Hindu movement.
The short answer to the question is that we must make it happen (i.e., create a
Hindu vote bank) to rescue the nation from the quicksand it is in. <b>Hindus are
under a siege today from terrorism, religious conversion, state sponsored
demolition of Hindu icons, and rubbishing of our hoary history in school and
college textbooks.</b>
The Indian nation, as the world knows it, is a nation of a live and unbroken
Hindu civilization. That is Indiaâs distinctiveness today. Otherwise we would
be a nation much like Greece, Egypt, and Iraq. Their past glory is in the
museums and art galleries, and not visible in the daily life of the people.
Pakistan has this problem too because they would like to claim the ancient
Indus Valley civilization, e.g., Mohendajaro, Harappa, Taxila as their own, but
to do that Pakistanis will have to acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus,
which acknowledgement would undermine their fragile nationhood.
The siege under which the Hindus are today, cannot be lifted and smashed unless
those in government are committed to the cause of Hindus. Merely having pious
Hindus in power is not enough for this purpose. We have had in the past
Hindu-minded leaders in powerâe.g., Morarji Desai, Lal Bahadur Shastri, even
Indira Gandhi. But they could do little for the Hindu community because they
did not come to power on the Hindu vote bank. Those Hindus who voted for them
to power did so on issues such as political stability or garibi hatao. But the
Muslims and Christians who voted for them did so only because these leaders
would not disturb their religious practices such as in civil code, inheritance
laws, freedom to convert etc.. Muslims and Christians voted as a national
vote-bank while vote of Hindus was fractured, Hindus perceived no threat to
their religion nor felt any need for state-sponsoring of Hindu consolidation.
Thus Hindus were content with wallowing in past practices of caste,
regionalism, and linguistic chauvinism and remain divided. They voted on that
basis.
Today Hindus can no more allow their vote to be fractured because Hindus as a
whole are under siege. For example, 500,000 Hindus were driven out of Kashmir
for no other reason except that they are Hindus, even if in a nation of 83 per
cent Hindus; Kanchi Shankaracharya was jailed on a bogus case for no other
reason except that the Chief Minister wanted to curry favour with the Vatican
disregarding the individual sentiments of 91 per cent Hindus of Tamil Nadu;
North-east has undergone an enforced demographic change in favour of Muslims
and Christians to help consolidate the minority vote bank and obtain a
sanctuary; Darul Islam has been introduced in pockets of the country, in
whichever pocket where Muslims are in majorityâthus Shariat has been adopted by the J&K Assembly, forcible conversions are being carried out in Thondi
(Ramnathapuram District), Melvisharam (Vellore) and 39 other town panchyats in
Tamil Nadu; Ramlila cannot be celebrated in Mau (UP) because the Muslim MP of
the Muslim majority area finds it an affront to Islam. Muslims are subsidised
for travel abroad for Haj, but Hindus going to Kailash in Tibet are not. Hindu
temples are taken over by the government and itâs hundi funds are given to
Muslims and Christians to build mosques and churches. But mosques and churches
cannot be similiarly treated. The proven 1,72,000 years old Treta Yuga Rama
Setu can be bull-dozed but a defunct mosque in Ayodhya cannot be touched. The
list of atrocities against Hindus, just because they are Hindus, is endless.
Abroad too, temples are being demolished in Malaysia, Kazakhastan, and Russia.
Hindus have been decimated in Bangla Desh, the nation we liberated with our
jawansâ blood. Hindus are regularly deported from Saudi Arabia because they
choose to pray to Hindu gods within their own homes. <b>Such is the impotence of
83 per cent of India against just 15 per cent of Muslims and Christians in the
country, and of a nation claiming to be an emerging super power in the world.</b>
How to put an end to this defacto dhimmi status of Hindus ? There are three
things that have to be doneâfirst, there must be a party or a front that seeks
votes on the issue of restoring Hindus their due place in the destiny of the
nation. That means advocating that India must be known as a nation of Hindus,
and those who proudly acknowledge that their ancestors are Hindus. That is,
India is a Hindu Rashtra and to be known as Hindustan. This inclusive concept
of Hindu Rashtra would enable Muslims and Christians to join Hindus by snapping
their connection with the nationâs brief demeaning past of thousand years when
Muslim and Christian aggressors from abroad heaped untold and unprintable
atrocities on the Hindus. <b>Thus, those who identify themselves with Ghazni,
Ghori, or Clive have no place in Hindustan.</b>
Accepting Hindu Rashtra will not mean that they must disown their religion,
which in any case no genuine Hindu will ever insist on, but it will open the
way for those Muslims and Christians who want to return to the Hindu fold, the
religion of their ancestors. Being Hindustani will mean learning the true
history of Indiaâthat of a nation of mostly indigenous people who rose to great
and unprecedented heights in wealth, science and spirituality, but retrograded
for a period due to lack of unity and decadence. But at the same time they
never capitulated to foreign oppressors. From Udaipur to Hampi to Raigarh to
Tirunelveli to Jhansi to Kohima, Hindu icons kept fighting preferring to die
than capitulate.
Second, those Hindu authorities who have credibility with the Hindu masses, have
to appeal to them to vote for a party that adopts and openly advocates a
pre-approved Hindu Agenda. Two such authorities in todayâs circumstances are
obvious: [1] the RSS and itâs affiliates which have undisputed and demonstrated
national organisations and proven capacity to mobilise the Hindus. Both the
Prayag VHP conference [February 10 to 13] and the RSS organised Guruji
Centenary Celebration [February 18] should affirm this fact. [2]
The Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha launched by Swami Dayananda Sarasvati with the support of all Jagadguru Shankaracharyas, most mahaman-daleshwars, and peethadhipatis.
Swamiji has already made the acharyas adopt a âTirupati Declarationâ which in
effect states that the Hindu dharmacharyas will come out their ashrams and
mobilise the people to consolidate the Hindu vote âsince the Hindu vote is
sacredâ. According to this Declaration, this vote will not be cast for those
who work against the Hindu religion.
<b>Third, the Hindu vote bank need target only forty per cent of the 83 per cent</b>
Hindus to achieve an absolute majority in Parliament and Legislatures. Fifty
per cent of the 83 per cent will enable a two-thirds majority. This fact is
important because there are Hindus who lack the required mindset to bond with
other Hindus in collective action. <b>They suffer from the pre-Gita Arjuna
disease, as Swami Chinmayananda termed it, of nagging doubts and searching for
excuses to run away</b>. There are other Hindus who would like to be elected on the Hindu vote but wish to guard their secular and international image. They
equivocate and can betray the mandate of Hindus. This is what Guruji said of
those who may have vyaktigat charitra but were of no use to the Hindu cause
because they lacked rashtriya charitra. We do not need these people in the vote
bank since they will dilute the mandate if included. <b>We need those who have no
reservation about being a virat Hindu.</b>
Lest the consolidation of Hindu vote be thought of as a diabolical plot of the
upper castes to keep their alleged hegemony on Hindu society, effort should be
made to co-opt scheduled castes and backward Hindu communities in the vanguard
of the leadership of the Hindu vote bank. If encouraged by the Acharyas, then
they can be in the forefront of the Hindu movement. The Valmikis in Meerut and
the Kurmis in East UP have already demonstrated their capacity to defend Hindus
when others were afraid to do so.
Thus the nation needs a Hindu vote bank, as VHP called for in Prayag, and it is
the duty of all patriotic Hindus to mobilise for it to come about.
We need, therefore, a Hindu-minded government to set things right. It will not
suffice to form a government of Hindus. We have seen that in the past.
Moreover, we must ensure that a government formed by a Hindu vote bank in the
future does not fritter away the mandate because of personal reasons or
advancement. <b>The Hindu-minded leaders thus elected should be clean and unafraid to implement a Hindu agenda without being apologetic, and without
procrastination. Such a wobbly Hindu leadership will be worse for the cause
than pseudo-seculars in power.</b>
(The writer is President, Janata Party and a former Union Law Minister.)
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - acharya - 03-23-2007
India News
Sons of anti-saffron former PMs rise with BJP's help
By Liz Mathew, New Delhi, March 22: A decade after low profile leaders H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral found themselves catapulted as prime ministers to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power, the sons of both have manoeuvred themselves into coveted positions with the party's help.
While Gowda's son H.D. Kumaraswamy heads the Janata Dal-Secular-BJP government in Karnataka, Gujral's son Naresh has just been elected to the Rajya Sabha on an Akali Dal-BJP ticket from Punjab.
The ruling Congress dismissed the obvious irony as "opportunism" and "betrayal of ideological commitment", but the BJP termed it as the "end of political untouchability" towards it.
"Anti-communalism is an ideological commitment. Gowda and his son have betrayed it and became opportunists to play power politics," Tejaswini Seeramesh, the Congress MP who defeated Deve Gowda in Kanakapura, told IANS.
"For these leaders, secularism is a garb that they can put on when it is convenient for them. The recent developments have removed their masks and exposed them," the Karnataka MP said.
While Gowda was prime minister from June 1996 to April 1997, Gujral took over from him as head of the United Front government with non-Congress and non-BJP parties coming together to cobble a post-poll alliance to keep 'communal forces' out of power. Congress extended crucial outside support to the governments.
Although former prime minister Gujral refused to comment on his son's election to the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, Naresh Gujral said the Congress party's "secular claims" were "nonsense".
"What the Congress claims is selective secularism. You raised your voice against Gujarat (2002 riots). What about the 1984 Sikh carnage? Was anybody punished for it?" asked Gujral, referring to the anti-Sikh riots in the national capital after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
"If a Shiv Sena or BJP member joins the Congress, they become secular overnight. The Congress party has been asking for votes, saying that the prime minister was a Sikh. Is this secularism? I find it nonsense," Gujral told IANS.
Pointing out that his political leanings did not have anything to do with his father, Gujral said: "I have my own convictions. I like the ideologies of the Akali Dal and I believe it is the best party to protect the interests of Punjab."
Naresh as well as BJP leader Harin Pathak claim that political untouchability is a factor of the past. "Political parties have now realised that it was idiotic to keep the BJP away. Nobody can now ignore a party like the BJP," Pathak said.
"It is highly unfortunate that the BJP had been untouchable for parties like the Congress when they have an alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League," he added.
--- IANS
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 03-24-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"Anti-communalism is an ideological commitment. Gowda and his son have betrayed it and became opportunists to play power politics," Tejaswini Seeramesh, the Congress MP who defeated Deve Gowda in Kanakapura, told IANS.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Congress has never been committed to anti-communalism. They have fanned communal feelings among Indians to secure muslim votes. If congress were serious about building a secular India, they would help in emergence of a strong confident Hindu majority. Unless Hindus feel confident about security of their culture and heritage, dream of secular India is just a daydream.
I am glad to see the younger generation of congressi leaders is realizing that.
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 04-15-2007
<b>Communally secular or secularly communal?</b>
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 04-15-2007
The unravelling of Uttar Pradesh
Tavleen Singh
As someone who believes that India is a rich country that has been impoverished because of the incompetence of our political class, I have watched the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh with growing dismay. You only need to walk down a street in Mumbai or Delhi to see that poverty caused by bad governance is the only issue in Uttar Pradesh.
---------------------
This was lucidly confirmed, a couple of weeks ago, by the Chief Economic Adviser to the Finance Ministry, Ashok Lahiri. This is what he told Outlook magazine: âThe Ninth Plan (1997-2002) document said that the <b>amount of money we spend for poverty alleviation â around Rs 40,000 crore â would have given around Rs 8,000 per month per poor family </b>, which would be sufficient to buy three kilos of food grain every day.â
---------
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 04-15-2007
Sonia teaches Rajadharma to Indian Hindus, who of course are clueless about their own Dharma <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> <b>Modi not doing his rajdharma, says Sonia</b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070413/48/6ek0d.html
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 04-15-2007
<b>RSS demands withdrawal of âChristianâ Rs 2 coin</b>
4/13/2007 2:24:46 AM http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1090518
NEW DELHI: The new two-rupee coin has invited controversy from an unlikely
quarter. The RSS has demanded withdrawal of the currency for it claims that a
holy Christian cross has replaced map of India on the backside of the coin.
Without referring to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the RSS targeted her. It
wants the government to explain why this coin should become a means of
promoting Christianity and who took the decision to have an basic version of
the Christian cross. The RSS chief K Sudershan has articulated the demand.
<b>Former</b> <!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo--> RSS spokesman Ram Madhav told DNA: âUsing religious symbols on coins is against the secular traditions of the country. If that be the case then every religion can legitimately demand to have its religious symbols placed on coins and currency notes of different denominations.â
Madhav said: âThe symbol on the coin was an exact replica of the holy cross gold
coin issued by an 8th century AD Roman Emperor, Louis, the Pious. The four dots
below the cross are symbolic of the four gospels of Christianity.â
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - acharya - 04-25-2007
Agenda<b>
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism</b>
By Ravi Varma
Wherever they had spread and established themselves in the world, proponents of Christianity and Islam had first destroyed the indigenous culture, traditions and religion of the country before imposing their strange and crude religious practices on the local people, invariably by brute force or despicable methods.
Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve their ancient civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all these years in spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and later by organised Christian churches with the active support of their colonial armies in India.<b>
There is a well-orchestrated propaganda mounted in India and abroad to condemn Hinduism as a religion of violence, hatred and social discrimination. And at the same time, Semitic religions of Christianity and Islam of foreign origin are glorified and publicized as divine messages of universal love, brotherhood and non-violence.</b>
This is a travesty of truth as per their own preaching and practices. Therefore, if such pernicious and scandalous utterances against Hindus and Hinduism by the high priests of Christianity and Islam and their secularist cronies of India do not stop voluntarily, resurgent Hindu youth of the country will be compelled to forcibly stop them. <b>The new generation of Hindu youth has already shed their timidity and cowardice to some extent. It is becoming clearer to them that unless they are forcibly stopped, challenged, rebutted and exposed to the core, dark forces of the Semitic religions of foreign origin and their mercenary secularist friends here will not only vulgarize Hinduism, but will also play havoc in the country by destroying social amity, integrity, traditions and cultural unity of Hindus in India and even Indian nationality. </b>Purpose of this short article, which is based on widely known and documented historical events, is intended not only to rebut the above pernicious propaganda against Hindus and Hindustan but also to show the ugly faces of the exponents of Christianity and Islam to Hindus.
It is through the preachings and practices of their priests and their devout co-religionists that values, principles and philosophical contents of the religion and social culture concerned can be properly assessed. In short, social behaviours and personal habits of a person are sufficient to indicate his cultural background and social status of his family also. Therefore, more emphasis is given to the preachings and practices of the high priests of Christianity and Islam so that we will be able to better understand the philosophy and basic principles of the above Semitic religions.
Strange philosophy that is Mlechhatvam
Both Christianity and Islam are offshoots of the original Semitic religion, viz. Judaism. It is interesting to note here that the high priest of these two derivative religions, i.e. Christianity & Islam, openly advocate and encourage their followers to attack, torture and even murder all those who refuse to accept or get converted to their faiths. These religious teachers also assert and declare that Christians and Muslims have a divine mandate to subjugate and convert the entire humanity to their respective faiths by any meansâfair or foul. Therefore both fundamentalist Christian priests and Islamic mullahs have no hesitation to glorify and justify even despicable acts such as murder, genocide, torture, rape and abduction against other religionists as part of their holy wars of religious conversion and conquestâChristians call it by the name âcrusadesâ and Islamists as âjehadâ. In addition, those who die or are killed during the course of these âholyâ wars are hailed as saints and shaheeds (martyrs.) Apparently all these violent devilish acts are sanctioned and even encouraged by their religious leaders most often swearing by or referring to their holy bookâthe Bible and the Quran. The above short sketches of the religious leaders of Christianity and Islam are sufficient to understand the basic principles of Christianity and Islam. <b>It is their paid agents and cronies in India who praise and appease Christians and Islamists as vanguards of divine religions, committed to preaching and practicing universal love, brotherhood, peace, tolerance and non-violence. </b>Some of these admirers are unfortunately Hindus. It would have been better if they had voluntarily converted themselves to Christianity or Islam along with their families. That would be very good riddance.
The strange or Mlechha philosophy of both Semitic religions seems to the civilised people of India, the Hindus, as judged from their preachings and practices in the country, as mutually exclusive, mutually destructive and violently intolerant. They do not believe in practising co-existence with other faiths, nor do they tolerate dissent or dissidence from within their own religious communities. <b>Their hostile intolerance and exclusiveness can best be assessed by the behaviour of different religious groups known as denominations, sects or social castes within the Christian and Muslim communities worldwide. For example, Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Jacobites, Suriyanis, Marthomas, Pulaya or Dalit Christians, who are Christians by heredity or conversion having blind faith in their holy Bible, will never allow another caste group even to perform prayers, baptisms, weddings or burials in their exclusive churches because they are all mutually exclusive and inimical to one another.</b> And these Christians want Hindus to believe and admire them as the most tolerant religious community committed to non-violence and coexistence in the world. In the medieval periods, skirmishes, battles, and wars were very frequent between these mutually exclusive, intolerant and destructive Christian castes.
Similarly among Muslims also, there are dozens of mutually exclusive inimical and intolerant religious sub-castes within their community such as Sunnis, Shias, Kurdish, Bohras, Khojas, Aga Khanis, Druse, Ahmadiyas, besides others of African and tribal variants who do not even recognise everyone else as true Muslims. And therefore, they do not socially inter-mingle or allow one another to conduct prayers, marriages, sunnat or burials in their separate and exclusive mosques or by their imams. <b>Unfortunately, even after long contacts and tragic experience with them for centuries, the Hindus in India have not fully and properly understood their strange customs and philosophies because of the persistent propaganda and inducement by their Hindu âsecularistsâ of various colours.</b>
It should not be forgotten that wherever they had spread and established themselves in the world, proponents of Christianity and Islam had first destroyed the indigenous culture, traditions and religion of the country before imposing their strange and crude religious practices on the local people, invariably by brute force or despicable methods. This is true throughout the world as revealed in all historical records pertaining to different countries, whether in Palestine (old Jerusalem) Arabia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Europe or Asia, and even in the Americas. See the plight of Jews during the Second World War in Christian Europe right under the nose of the Pope in the Vatican. Nobody condemned effectively the Holocaust against Jews in the Christian world! Conquest and destruction of Persia having an ancient civilisation by the vanguards of Arabian Islam and their brutalities there resulted in wiping out of their religion, cultural values and heritage in Iran as later by Christians in the Americas, where there was a flourishing ancient civilisation and culture. Same was the fate of Buddhists in Islamic Afghanistan even recently and Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists in other Muslim countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia even today. What happened to the Red Indians in the Americas and the Aborigines in New Zealand and Australia when European Christians migrated there in their thousands is well known. In the African continent also, victims of Islamic and Christian brutalities were poor indigenous people during their religious wars of conversion and conquest there for spreading Islam or Christianity. Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve their ancient civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all these years in spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and later by organised Christian churches with the active support of their colonial armies in India. That is the wellknown philosophy and background of both Islam and Christianity and also the experience of the entire world, more so of Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs of India till today. That is the short and real history of Christianity and Islam, which Hindu âsecularistsâ praise and glorify as divine messages of universal love, brotherhood, peace and non-violence!
Magnanimity of Hindus of Bharat
As all historians and Hindus know, Kerala had long traditional trade contacts with the outside worldâAfrica, Mesopotamia, Rome and China even before the birth of Christ and Prophet Mohammed. Therefore, traders from those countries very well knew the peaceful nature and universality and high principles of Hindu religion and civilised Hindu society. <b>Under those circumstances, in keeping with the traditions, customs and cultures of Hindus, the Hindu kings of Kerala had no difficulty in allowing traders from those countries of different customs and cultures to continue their trade and also to settle down in the Hindu country of Kerala and live there peacefully without disturbing the local customs and religious practices even after their change of religious faith to Islam or Christianity.</b> They were all treated only as another caste group like Nairs, Ezhavas and other of the broad amorphous Hindu society, but with foreign affiliations. It is interesting to note that Christianity reached Kerala much before the arrival of Islam.
In such a civilised Hindu country of Kerala, it was not surprising that an ordinary but loyal and capable Muslim trader from the fishermen community was raised to the status of a local chieftain and naval chief, viz. Kunjali Marakkar, by the Zamorin Rajas of Kozhikode. (It is another matter that the last Kunjali Marakkar revolted against and betrayed the benevolent Zamorin family decades later, mainly due to his Islamic ambitions.) On another occasion, the Raja of Chirakkal near Kannur willingly gave his daughter in marriage to a Muslim youth, who had saved her from drowning. Besides, the Raja blessed the couple not only with substantial properties from her Arackal Nambiar family (now extinct), but also conferred on his daughter the title of âArackal Bibiâ. Her consort, who was from an ordinary Muslim family, was honoured with the title of âArackal Ali Rajaâ in traditional Kerala Hindu customs following matrilineal system of inheritance. Even today, family of the Arackal Bibi follows the matriarchal system of inheritance; the senior-most female member of the family is respected as the Arackal Bibi and the senior-most male member as the Arackal Ali Raja (and not the consort of the Bibi.) Such was the cultural influence of Kerala Hindu society on local Muslims who were then peace loving and socially absorbed within Kerala society. Then again, during the reign of Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran of Kochi, a capable Muslim youth was appointed as his personal bodyguard and conferred with the title Nettur Thangal with authority over the local Muslim community. Till recently, the senior-most member of the family enjoyed the privilege of attending on the King of Kochi as his personal bodyguard, and entitled to participate as an honoured guest in all state events of the Kochi kingdom, including the most important annual Athachamayam procession.
(To be continued)
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - acharya - 05-03-2007
Sikhism part of 'great Hindu samaj': RSS
May 02, 2007 15:38 IST
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh has described the Sikh faith as a separate religion belonging to 'one great Hindu samaj'.
In a view that may not go well with Bharatiya Janata Party's ally Akali Dal, the Sangh says it sees a 'problem' if minorities assume a 'political' character.
Spelling out its stand on minorities on its website under a mission header, it says it believes the Hindu Code Bill is applicable to Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists and that it should be applicable to all, including the Christians and the Muslims.
"The RSS believes in the plural structure of society. Therefore, it recognizes that there is bound to be a majority-minority syndrome, and hence each group, whether in the majority or minority, will have a distinct identity and distinct character," it says.
But minorities, according to the Sangh, should restrain themselves from overstepping their 'basic character'.
"...the majority-minority distinctions must be restricted to the bases on which the minority character is sought to be claimed...the problem arises when a particular minority transgresses the basis of its minority character and assumes a political one," it says.
In its stand on Sikhism, the Sangh has called it a separate religion but its followers part of Hindu samaj.
"We regard the Sikh religion as a separate religion, but we regard the Sikh people as belonging to our samaj. When we say that they are a part of the one great Hindu Samaj, we do not deny the existence of their separate religion and separate beliefs. The Hindu samaj is a commonwealth of many religions," it says.
The samaj, it adds, includes idol worshippers as well as those who oppose idol worship and those who accept the authority of the Vedas as well as those who do not.
They are all included in the wider Hindu conceptualisation, the Sangh says.
"Many Sikhs attend RSS Shakhas, but nobody is asked to remove his beard or his turban. The RSS will never try to obliterate the identity of the Sikhs. That will be against the very grain of the RSS," it says.
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - Guest - 05-30-2007
Could go in any number of threads....
Pioneer - Baroda - 29May2007
<b>Icons of Infidels</b>
Sandhya Jain
When the tele-serial Mahabharata captivated the nation with the power of performance and integrity of presentation, I noted that the forceful dialogues which captured the epicâs philosophical truths and psychological insights with unsurpassed perfection were penned by renowned Leftist, late Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza.
Like Muslim artisans who chisel murtis for Hindu temples, Dr. Raza had imbibed his Indian heritage in totality, studying its symbols, meanings, and deeper truths in the course of a long intellectual journey. Nothing else can explain the honesty of the words that captured the spirit of the epic and gripped the imagination of the people. Not since Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah ruptured the social and political fabric has a Muslim so mesmerized this nation.
Yet Dr. Raza was modest about his immense contribution to modern Hindu consciousness. Though his religious and political affiliations did not permit genuflection before a larger Indic identity, he sidelined both to delve the depths of Hindu metaphysics and give us a Hindi Mahabharata. This is not possible with a superficial acquaintance with the epic; the narrative hints at knowledge of Hindu mysticism.
Dr. Razaâs reverential treatment of another faith contrasts sharply with that of his co-religionists Mr. Salman Rushdie and Mr. M.F. Hussain, and Vadodara art student Chandramohan, whose religious affiliation has been carefully concealed by Hindu-baiters. The three exemplify intra- and inter-religious iconoclasm, backed by powerful religio-corporate interests. Mr. Rushdie received the Westâs largest literary advance for an unreadable novel whose highpoint was the equation of the Prophetâs wives with brothel inmates. <b>As Islam lacks the concept of a Holy Family and the wives do not rank as religious entities in its theology, the outraged ummah was caught in an unenviable bind.</b> Rushdie hit a vulnerable spot without technically committing blasphemy; he and his sponsors laughed all the way to the bank.
<b>M.F. Hussain has made execrable paintings of Hindu Devis and is enjoying the fame of notoriety, even as mediocre brush-holders promote their own careers while defending his âcreative freedom.â</b> Mercifully, the somnolent Hindu society is waking up to the perils of letting this cultural iconoclasm go unchecked, and legal interventions have prompted Hussain to transfer his assets to his son and stay out of India. Quite a lot of pragmatism for a supposedly bindaas artist!
Actually, Hussain has been allowed too much liberty (read license) because of the Nehruvian quest for sarkari Mussalmans. <b>He once made some âflatteringâ panels of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which were installed in Parliamentâs Central Hall.</b> The late Piloo Mody found the panels tasteless and objected; Mrs. Gandhi must have seen merit in his view, as the panels disappeared; only Hussain can tell us what happened to them.
<b>The Nehruvian ethos â specifically Mr. Jawaharlal Nehruâs quest for a Soviet-style new Indian with a âscientific temperâ and anti-Hindu orientation </b>â is still alive and kicking. It can be seen in the disrespect âreputedâ artists display for Hindu cultural sensitivities, while vying for State patronage. Though some high profile corporate wives have taken to promoting art recently, for decades after independence, only Government departments gave artists commissions, foreign tours, and national performances.
Even today, all artists network furiously with babus with Departmental budgets, to promote their âcreativity.â I challenge artists defending the disgraceful Mr. Hussain and Chandramohan to <b>make a full disclosure of the extent of State patronage received by them over the decades.</b> SAHMAT should tell us how much funding, if any, derives from sources other than the Union Government. <b>A PIL asking the Government of India to explain its anti-Hindu ethos could be interesting. </b>
In Vadodara, Maharaja Sayajirao University student Chandramohan drew vulgar paintings of Hindu deities, as well as one of Christ. While local pastors objected and joined a protest rally on May 9, both the All India Christian Council and the Catholic Bishopâs Conference of India refused to support them, reducing the issue to âsaffronâ opposition to the âpurityâ of iconoclastic perversion. <b>Chandramohanâ s language in an interview with a friendly newspaper virtually echoes Pope Benedict XVIâs pronouncement that the native populations of South America were yearning for the faith that drove them to the verge of extinction!</b>
The Dera Sacha Sauda controversy that erupted in the wake of the Vadodara incident has interesting lessons on religious identity and cultural sensitivities. The Dera leaped into national limelight when its chief, Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, was portrayed wearing a dress that Sikhs associate with Guru Gobind Singh, and distributing âamritâ in contravention of Sikh maryada. Initially some analysts viewed the controversy as political mischief, but there is another aspect.
Hindus routinely dress up as deities at festivals. Sikhs shun images, hence few realize they have a well developed religious iconography around the ten Gurus, depicted pictorially. Thus, when the Baba appeared in a dress reminiscent of the tenth Guru, Sikhs saw it as impersonation (becoming the living image of) and took offence. The Dera expressed regret, followed by an apology, but refused to close down, as demanded by the Akal Takht. It is popular among marginalized groups and should not be needlessly antagonized. A via media could be a declaration that the Dera is a Hindu, not Sikh, organization, and hence not subject to Akal Takht diktat.
I may add here that I do not shun the use of force to command respect for oneâs views when public debate is one-sided. Moreover, while Hindu ethos has always separated religious and political authority, religion existed in the public realm. Modern attempts to banish faith into the individual domain are ill-concealed moves to clear the public arena for the domination of one creed, depriving others of agency.
Finally, Union Minister Vyalar Ravi is brazenly attacking Guruvayur priests for purifying the temple after his family worshipped there. The Ministerâs wife is Christian, and non-Hindus are not welcome in the mandir. Mr. Ravi could have avoided controversy by declaring that neither his son nor grandson is baptized; the fact that he did not do so suggests the family is Christian. Their insistence upon worshipping the icons of infidels is baffling, <b>but worse is the assault on temple tradition by insisting upon reforms to bring non-believers at par with bhaktas.</b> Hindu society needs to erect higher barricades against aggressive unbelievers trying to invoke State power against the believers.
EOM
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - acharya - 06-14-2007
Spread Hidutva by example not force â convert Pakistan and Bangladesh back to original Indian pride
Preetam Sohani
Jun. 13, 2007
Pakistan and Bangladesh are two nations dominated by Islam. Hindutva respects other religions. After all God is God. It does not matter what you call God. But Hindutva is beyond just a religion. It is a way of life. It is that spiritual life style that elevates your energy level. The feeling cannot be described in words. You can never achieve that good feeling though material accomplishment.
The joy of pardoning, the ecstasy of compassion are the central themes of Hinutva. We need to spread it worldwide. We need to bring Pakistan and Bangladesh back to mother India â the pride of our 5000-year-old tradition. Pakistan and Bangladesh are in shambles because people cannot think beyond killing and revenge. Hindutva can solve it. People in Bangladesh and Pakistan need spirituality, love, compassion and ability to pardon those who harm one.
We need to spread Hindutva in Pakistan and Bangladesh. We need to convert Pakistan and Bangladesh back to original Indian pride. Let us do it by spreading love, affection and compassion. They are our brothers and sisters. Our ancestors shared joy and glory with them. It was the British who created divisions. It was Persian invaders that brought Islam in our great nation India. It is the Western nations that fund Pakistan to fight India.
It is time for Hindutva. It is time for love and compassion. It is time to bring Pakistan and Bangladesh back into Indian nationalism and pride â Hindutva. Vande Ma Taram.
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - acharya - 06-14-2007
Guidance of saints necessary for nationâs progressâNarendra Modi
Sukhi Parivar Abhiyan in Gujarat
Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi said that the total dependence on government for the uplift of society and nation is not fair. Each person should make effort to make a strong nation in his own ways. Social and non-governmental institutions should come forward and participate in the role of education, health and public welfare. Sukhi Parivar Movement is a special creative and constructive undertaking to develop and uplift the tribal people. Under the leadership of Gani Rajendra Vijay several public welfare activities are going on in the tribal areas of district Vadodara. Gujarat Government has assured to extend its cooperation to boost these activities.
Shri Modi expressed these statements while welcoming at his residence, Sahitya Manishi Acharya Shrimad Vijay Virendra Suriji, Tapasvi Samrat Acharya Shrimad Vijay Vasant Suriji and Sukhi Parivar Movement founder Gani Rajendra Vijay, who reached Gandhinagar by undertaking a padyatra from Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. A representative board of Sukhi Parivar Movement was present during this meeting. Shri Modi emphasised that welfare activites are needed to be expedited at tribal area Kavant. Welcoming Acharya Bhagvantas and Gani Rajendra Vijay he said that he is open to all suggestions for public welfare. Saints are great source of energy and are an inspiration to uplift the downtrodden, he added.
On this occasion Sahitya Manishi Acharya Shrimad Vijay Virendra Suriji and Tapasvi Samrat Acharya Shrimad Vijay Vasant Suriji recited mangatpath. Acharya Bhagavantas said that the teaching of Mahavir should be included in school and college curiculla, so that it can reach the large section of society. Gani Rajendra Vijay said that at present the nation is faced with evils like poverty, illiteracy and communal strifes, but the biggest problem is terrorism. âTerrorism grows due to the lack of unbalanced development. We are trying to address these problems through Sukhi Parivar Movement,â he said.
President of Shukhi Parivar Movement Shri Manish Jain said that after completing the Sukhi Parivar Dham activities at Kavant our next plan is to make the same type of dhams in Ahmedabad and Vadodara. (FOC)
The Great Indian Political Debate - 2 - acharya - 06-14-2007
IDEOLOGICAL ENCOUNTERS
Nation building is not for the faint hearted
By Dr Gautam Sen
The RSS is perhaps exceptional, as the one body that has escaped the epidemic of absurdity that has overtaken India, though it could do with some organisational reform and the self-conscious acquisition of intellectual horsepower. The communists have abandoned all pretence of believing anything at all, like their counterparts everywhere, except nurturing anti-national vote-banks and a growing economic empire.
Nation building is not for the faint-hearted. Unfortunately, Indiaâs political culture is suffused with farcical vote-bank politics and prodigious nonsense. All sorts of mediocre, corrupt and dangerous people are strutting about the political stage engaged in low theatre. The nasty virus, which could eventually cost India its independence and what remains of its traditional cultural identity, has infected virtually every national institution. Not everybody is either an idiot or engaged in criminal activity in the name of the public good though a majority of politicians are indeed. In addition, too many people imagine that the Almighty bestowed timeless VVIP status on them and the advancement of their own crass personal and family interests somehow benefits the nation.
Nations have only been built by breaking bones and worse. Worrying about what CNN, the BBC or NDTV will say about oneâs political actions is a virtual guarantee of national suicide. Those who wish to preserve Indiaâs territorial integrity and restore its rich cultural heritage, which only exists now in a most truncated form, and advance its political interests as a nation will need to re-write the script. The RSS is perhaps exceptional, as the one body that has escaped the epidemic of absurdity that has overtaken India, though it could do with some organisational reform and the self-conscious acquisition of intellectual horsepower. The communists have abandoned all pretence of believing anything at all, like their counterparts everywhere, except nurturing anti-national vote-banks and a growing economic empire though they threaten to partition India again and halt the little economic progress it has made.
Now is the time for action, harsh words and firm deeds across the board. Such decisive engagement will galvanise and unite the country rather than divide it, as the dimwits of the bartered national media, in hock to foreign interests, would have us believe. The RSS leadership alone is capable of sponsoring this since even the political movement it spawned is almost beyond redemption, as the founding fathers of the RSS presciently feared would happen. Pussyfooting and telling tall tales about good intentions and promises of great deeds will no longer do. India is in too much serious danger to entertain the balm of political correctness.
Indiaâs principal enemy remains the US because it is the most powerful actor on the world stage and intrusive Christian imperialist, reaching deep into India today. For all their many sins, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi disapproved of American influence in India. By contrast, their successors have thrown all caution to the winds. Instead of dealing with the US cynically to gain advantage for India they have decided to turn India into a Pakistan, ready to do American bidding and encouraging the spread of Christianity. The NDA started the rot, which the thoroughly Christianised Sonia Congress is aiding with alacrity. All of them have conveniently forgotten that Indiaâs Chinese and Pakistani tormentors were armed and put in place by the US. Both China and Pakistan acquired their nuclear weapons prowess with assiduous American succour and the latter has been trained and armed by it since the 1950s. And at every juncture, the British and US establishments decry everything Indian and Hindu, equating their mildest protest against Islamo-Christian imperialism with fascism.
Islam and Christianity are on the march against everything Indian tradition represents. Their nefarious designs within India are unambiguously co-ordinated since they first seek to eliminate what remains of the Hindu opposition to them. This is an old colonial ploy of cutting off the head in order to control the body, which the Portuguese did by engaging in orgies of mass murder of Brahmins. This slender group and other alleged upper caste oppressors are the groups the would-be conquerors of India first wish to dis-empower because they regard others as more manageable. The supposed Dalit uprising is being manipulated by an Islamo-Christian conspiracy, the bitter harvest of which is evident in the social extermination of upper castes in Tamil Nadu. Indiaâs Marxists are a mere conspiratorial appendage to this subversion. However, it is not at all clear the so-called oppressed castes will exchange the miasma of Islamo-Christian slavery for the real and imagined grievances they have accumulated against the Hindu upper castes.
Of course the actual unfolding of this story is more complicated because the biggest collaborators with Islamo-Christian conquest are a significant body of the upper castes themselves. And it is they who have brought India to its current sorry state with unequalled malignancy and stupidity since Independence. Yet, paradoxically, the upper castes have surrendered many of their privileges, though also prompted by some determined protest by the least privileged in India themselves. But the very bundling of the upper castes as an undifferentiated object of hatred by the collaborationist secular bourgeoisie of India and Islamo-Christian terrorists is very similar to the Nazi depiction of Jewry. Eventually, that ended in genocide against the Jews. The incumbent upper caste collaborators will be fully complicit in their own destruction because it is their removal as a social and political presence in India that has always been the real goal of Islam and Christianity.
Decades of experience suggests that the attempt to awaken Hindus in sufficient numbers to combat the growing threat to India has not enjoyed sustained success though they could be mobilised more effectively in terms of their local, regional affiliations as Hindus (rather than a united body of people nationally). The hostile and predatory forces arrayed all around now, including those in government, wish to extinguish both Hinduism and the Indian nation. Although these two national identities are intimately linked, they are not synonymous. It may therefore be worthwhile to highlight the challenge posed to India by its enemies rather than their threat to Hinduism per se. At the same time, defending India patriotically has the great merit of also advancing the cause of Hinduism, most of the time.
Thus, the enemies of Hindus, secular politicians, the Church and Islam, should be exposed in terms of their threat to India and its cultural, territorial and political integrity. A varied and rich seam can be mined in this respect, from the diabolical activities of foreign NGOs and the loss of Indian territory, everywhere from J&K to Assam, to âforeignâ perversion of Indian traditions and White, Christian imperialism, the principal enemy of India. Such a strategy has the potential of eliciting a wider positive response from Hindus as a whole, especially the growing numbers in urban India who tend to leave behind their rural parochialism to become conscious of themselves as Indians. It may even capture the imagination of a good many non-Hindus, especially non-Hindu women to whose interests Islam, for one, is deeply inimical. This pattern of political mobilisation, on behalf of India, is already evident in practice, but needs to become a conscious and systematic political strategy.
(The writer taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science until 2004.)