Exposing Pseudo-hindutva

[Bodhi]

For Hindutva to revive, it is important for its true sympathizers to expose all the ideological fraud that is going on at the hands of the claimants of the so called Hindutva.

This thread proposes to collect all information that takes a hard look at the pseudo-Hindutva that went on and goes on today...

To begin with, one must read these two hard hitting works back to back:

BJP vis-a-vis Hindu Resurgence
Koenraad Elst

Time for Stock Taking - Whither Sangh Parivar?
Compiled and Edited by Sita Ram Goel

[Bodhi]

A Rejoinder to Swapan Dasgupta's Advice to Farewell to H-word
Arvind Lavakare

June 16, 2009

I have several times observed how, Swapan Dasgupta keeps away from hard
facts and prefers, instead, to obfuscate issues by mixing some facets of
political history and political theories with his wishy-washy views on
the BJP. He's known to have been associated with Advani and BJP for long
and was reportedly Advani's speech writer once. Yet, unfortunately, he
doesn't seem to have realised that BJP's most important appeal to voters
was based on pushing Hindu interests that demanded justice to all,
appeasement of none. And now he wants the BJP to totally give up
Hindutva or even the use of the word "Hindu". How truly "secular" of
him!!

Instead, Swapan believes that the business on hand for the BJP is
"forging an enlightened nationalist agenda centred on security, growth,
modernity and good governance." Well, well, isn't that exactly what the
BJP largely concentrated on during its recent Lok Sabha campaign? Thank
God, the political expert from Oxford (or is it Cambridge?) did not
recommend that the BJP promise reservations to Muslims, a Sachar
Committee II, a Muslim always as the chief justice of India, a Muslim
always as Chief of Army Staff, an increase in the Haj subsidy and
proclamation of a madrasa degree as equivalent to an MBA.

On Hindutva and Secularism

Agreed, the BJP may well be confused with the ingredients of Hindutva.
That is only because it has never ever tried to communicate its ideology
in a manner that would be easily understood by the common man. And, for
this to happen, it has, in short, to become known as a party that
believes in its old motto of "Justice to all, appeasement of none" even
as it aims to make India into a super power while protecting the
interests of the Hindu majority of this nation and scrapping the several
discriminations against the Hindus.

To bring about the above altered image of the BJP, the party will, first
and foremost, have to mount a large and sustained nation-wide campaign
to permanently dispel the notion that the BJP is "communal" while the
Congress and all other parties are "secular"

For instance, the BJP has never ever educated the nation about the fact
that it was Morarji Desai's Janata Party (which included Vajpayee and
Advani among other Jana Sangh leaders) which introduced a Constitutional
Amendment Bill which, among several amendments, wanted the word
"Secular" in our Constitution's Preamble to be defined as "equal respect
for all religions". The BJP, further, has never told the nation that
while that definition was passed by the required majority in the Lok
Sabha, it was the Congress majority in the Rajya Sabha that rejected
that definition. As a result, "secular" continues to remain undefined in
our Constitution. The situation around that word is so bad today that
now everyone believes "secular" to mean "pro-Muslim" and
"pro-Christian", if not exactly anti-Hindu.

Consider the tragic irony today that even the Indian Union Muslim League
(IUML) party is considered as "secular" with which the Congress and the
Left come together as "secular" partners despite the IUML having the
word "Muslim" in its nomenclature itself!! On the other hand, the BJP is
condemned as "communal" despite having had Muslim ministers in its NDA
government and having two Muslims holding important slots today in the
party's organisational structure.

On Uniform Civil Code

Take, again, the BJP's proclaimed desire to have a uniform civil code in
the country. This is considered as being a "communal Hindu" agenda. But
the BJP itself has never ever educated the nation that if the uniform
civil code is a "communal Hindu" demand then the founders of our
Constitution must also be dubbed as "communal" because it is they who
put that demand in Article 44 of our Constitution though desisting from
making that Article justiciable. Further, the BJP has never told the
nation that because the Supreme Court also advocated the uniform civil
code in at least two separate judgements, our Supreme Court must also be
condemned as "communal"!!

On Article 30

Further, take Article 30 of our Constitution which permits religious and
linguistic minorities to establish AND administer its educational
institutions. This freedom to administer their educational institutions
is denied to the majority religion (Hindu) educational institutions.
This is blatantly anti-Hindu and minority appeasement. And its result
has been adverse, very adverse. A constitutional authority, M.P.Jain,
wrote in his book "Indian Constitutional Law" that, quote, "The position
as it has developed is that, in effect, institutions of general
education established and administered by religious or linguistic
minorities enjoy a much more privileged position than those run by the
majority in the matter of regulation by the government or the
university. The Supreme Court has given a very generous interpretation
to Article 30(1) in favour of the minorities." unquote. Now, would
Swapan Dasgupta want that to continue? And can that discrimination
against the Hindus be removed without even mentioning "Hindu rights"?

On Article 370

The BJP's demand for the abrogation of Article 370 of our Constitution
is widely condemned by those detestable "pseudo-secularists" as being
anti-Muslim. Sadly, there are some ignorant leaders in the BJP itself
who believe that the demand for such abrogation is now meaningless
because the several amendments to the Jammu & Kashmir State Constitution
have brought that state citizens' rights to the same constitutional
level as the national Constitution. Absolutely nothing could be farther
from the truth. The subject is too vast for discussion here. But let it
be stated, without hesitation, that the abrogation would be a measure
that will ensure that at least the major and important democratic rights
are the same throughout the length and breadth of India. For instance,
the abrogation of Article 370 will enable the "non-State subjects" in
J&K to vote in the State Assembly elections and not merely in the Lok
Sabha elections. Further, "non-State subjects" will, unlike presently,
be able to contest all elections in J&K --- from Panchayat to State
assembly, and will be eligible for government scholarships and
employment that are presently legally denied to them. These and several
other discriminations against "non-State subjects" of J&K are the result
of Article 35A --- created specially for J&K through a Presidential
Order under Article 370. Abolish at least that 35A and you will have
secured a major triumph for democracy in India.

On subsidy to religious pilgrimage

Take another example: the Haj subsidy. Why should only Muslims get such
a subsidy for their pilgrimage to a site sacred to their religion? Why
can't a Pilgrim Subsidy be given to Hindus for pilgrimage to Amarnath,
Manasarovar, Vaishnodevi, Chardham, Sabarimalai etc? Why shouldn't Sikhs
get a Pilgrim Subsidy to their scared site in Pakistan? Why shouldn't
Christian get a subsidy to visit the Vatican during the X-mas Mass or a
visit to Bethlehem? Is giving a Pilgrim subsidy only to Muslims a
"secular" act? Would asking a pilgrim subsidy for Hindus be communal?
Swapan Dasgupta should answer.

A last example. Why should only Hindu temples be allowed to be run by a
state government? Aren't there mosques and churches which are
mismanaged? Why can't they be managed by a state government? Swapan
should be asked to answer. He should also answer whether it is entirely
"secular" that the the collections of a temple are allowed to be used by
the state for Muslim and Christian purposes?

There are several areas, really, in which the Hindus have been
discriminated against in our country. Why then should they not
politically protest against such discriminations?

The problem, as I see it, is that the BJP just does not know how to
project itself and the interest of the Hindu majority of India. Time has
come, surely, for the BJP to engage, for a five-year period, a
thoroughly professional PR agency, which will create a Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) for the party and guide the BJP leaders and cadres to
market it across the country.

On building Ram temple in Ayodhya

When the BJP/NDA lost in 2004, several ordinary Hindus I met in Mumbai
personally (car mechanics, taxi drivers, white collar workers in
government as well as private sector, and corporate executives) said
that they and innumerable others of their kind voted against the BJP
because the BJP didn't do anything about the Ram Temple when they were
in power from 1998 to 2004. In fact, one taxi driver expressed his
frustration scintillatingly by saying, "Sahab, Ram Mandir Ayodhya me
nahi banega to kya Saudi Arabia me banega?"

All of the above, and crores and cores more of Hindus, just didn't know
that (i) it was impossible for the BJP to build the Ram Temple without
first scrapping or amending The Acquisition of Land At Ayodhya Act,
1993,wherby the Congress Government of Narasimha Rao had not only
acquired the entire land in the Temple area but also promised the
construction of some kind of a holistic park there to include a church,
a mosque, a temple, etc etc. (ii) scrapping that law was impossible
without getting the BJP's NDA allies consent for the new law that would
permit the construction of the Ram Temple (iii) the NDA allies of the
BJP were just not prepared to give that consent. The BJP has never
educated the nation on that score, leaving crores and crores of Hindus
to be convinced that the BJP was just not serious about the Ram Temple.

By the way, but most significantly, the BJP did not challenge the above
Acquisition of Land At Ayodhya Act, 1993. In fact, it was a Muslim who
did so!!!!!!!

Further, on the Ram Temple itself, the BJP has never ever educated the
Hindu community on the structured series of dialogue which were arranged
by Prime Minister Chandrashekhar between the Hindu and Muslim
representatives to ascertain concrete evidence as to whether the Babri
Masjid was, as belived by the Hindus, built after Baber had destroyed
the Ram temple already existing there. The Hindus, represented by VHP
leaders, presented government land revenue records as well as historical
and other evidence to prove their point; even the excerpts from the
diary of Aurangzeb's daughter were shown to prove that the Ram Temple
existed before the Babri Masjid was built there. The Muslim side's
evidence was just a collection of nebulous articles written by so-called
"eminent historians" who even contradicted themselves at times. And,
when the concluding, critical meeting was to be held to finally decide
the issue one way or other, the Muslim side just didn't turn up!! It was
tragic that Chandrashehkhar had to quit around that time and the whole
matter got buried in history as Narasimha Rao's minority Congress
government came to power. Why, even the comprehensive Press Note issued
by the VHP to sum up the proceedings of this dialogue and how it ended
was not used by the"secular" media of ours.

This blatantly unprofessional and partisan attitude of our media could
have been well overcome if the BJP had utilised a sustained advertising
campaign on the subject. That is what a professional PR agency would
certainly have persuaded the BJP to do. But nothing, alas, was done ---
either then or at anytime thereafter. No wonder that the crores and
crores of Hindus have come to believe that the BJP is not at all serious
about building their dream of a glorious Ram Temple at Ayodhya, about
fighting to preserve and protect Hindu rights, about preventing the
blatant ongoing appeasement of Muslims and stopping the serious
discrimination against Hindus.

By the way, Ashok Chowgule, a Vice President of the BJP, has all the
relevant data on the subject of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya including a
glossy booklet in which it is stated how a British civil judge, had, in
the 19th century itself, come to the definite conclusion that a Ram
Temple was, in fact, in existence at Ayodhya prior to its destruction
and the building there of the Babri Masjid. The British judge, however,
confessed that he was unwilling to give a verdict to that efect because
of the possible impact on the sentiments of the two communities. Sad to
say, the BJP has never even tried to project all this info that Ashok
Chowgule has to the nation at large. A professional PR agency would have
ensured that it got adequate media coverage throughout the country and
also suceeded, if employed, to advertise all the info most tellingly in
a sustained national campaign. That would have been great for the BJP in
securing the support of crores and crores of Hindu voters who have,
sadly, turned to the Congress and other parties. Alas, the BJP just
doesn't have the sense of communicating its point of view effectively.

One last thought on the Ram Temple. Has the BJP ever pursued the matter
long-pending in the Allahabad High Court? Why not?

[Guest]

Behooves to add this 9 year old article to this thread.

Nov 7, 2000
http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/nov/07arvind.htm
Arvind Lavakare
Hindutva vs the BJP: The Battle Ahead

Even a month after he delivered his address at Agra, K S Sudershan continues to get fiery flak in the English language press for his Indianisation call to the minorities. Unless the RSS chief has a Teflon brain, the message to him should be loud and clear: he should imbibe Dale Carnegie before he opens his mouth next.

However valid his thinking, it's really no use unless Sudershan can dress it all up sweetly, sensitively and sequentially so as to win friends and influence people. On the other hand, as long as he couches his beliefs in a bossy, bellicose and brazen manner, Hindutva will lose even the friends it has and increase its foes. It's really a matter of PR and the art of communications.

Sudershan may not know it, but even some of his Parivar has begun to view his brief but belligerent tenure at the RSS helm as the beginning of the Sangh's decline. One of its young journalists asked this rhetorical question the other day: "If 49 of the 50 mediapersons who come to your press conference are your adversaries by thought and if the 50th one is bound to twist and distort what you say, why say something that'll only add fuel to fire?" A corollary is why the RSS shouldn't try to win all-round public acclaim for its core competence of promptly rushing in to help people in great distress irrespective of their community? Why can't it produce a directory of its amazing bunch of qualified people of distinction who are doing noble work in the nation's far-flung areas?

Just how indifferent and ignorant the RSS has been all along about PR is evident from the fact that for well-nigh 75 years since inception it boasted that it did not care or crave for publicity for its undeniable yeoman work in times of national calamities or crises. And it was only a few months ago that it at last appointed an official spokesman for itself.

Alas, what a spokesman! As quaint and quixotic as Sudershan appears to be. He is M G Vaidya, a former editor of a Sangh Parivar Marathi language daily and now in his seventies. His writings show that he is steeped in RSS ideology and idiom. His dress is simple. But his tongue is acidic as it became clear at one private meeting this columnist recently attended as an observer.

One 30-odd-year-old man in the gathering asked him how the staunch resistance of The Times of India to publishing pro-Hindutva letters was to be overcome. Vaidya's answer went like this: "Raise your voice and tell the editor to publish your letter. You will see the difference." That's Carnegie in reverse. That's proof, besides, of Vaidya having no clue about ToI's security system for accessing its editorial department.

Another Vaidya gem that day was his reaction to the use of English. "If you receive a wedding invitation printed in English, don't go to the wedding" he advised. Yet, we learn, he has at least one son living abroad.

If there's none of Carnegie in the RSS --- witness how Sudershan's forehead is invariably furrowed and his mouth grimaced -- there's perhaps too much mollycoddling in the BJP lately. Especially since Bangaru Laxman became the party's president. He first laid out an unconditional red carpet for the Muslims and has just done it for the Dalits. Why, he's even prepared to cross swords with the RSS over the question of letting the minorities preserve their mindset, however fissiparous it might be.

Conspicuously, Laxman has not spoken at all of winning over the Hindus from "secular" parties or of retaining the existing Hindu votes of the BJP. What is at work clearly is Laxman's assumption of the TINA factor: for the committed Hindus there is no alternative but the BJP and that if the BJP can wean away even a portion of the 15 per cent of the country's minorities, it will romp home on its own when the next Lok Sabha poll comes along.

If the emerging discontent in the VHP against the BJP is anything to go by, Laxman's BJP could well be in for a nasty shock.

Dr Pravin Togadia, the surgeon who is general secretary of the VHP, has gone on record already that the BJP biting the dust in the recent Gujarat civic election was due to the absence of the VHP's support to BJP candidates. And a senior VHP functionary has defended him with some very angry arguments communicated to this writer.

It should be realised, he says, that the work of organisations like the VHP is to have Ram Rajya --- in the cultural context --- and not necessarily through the BJP. The VHP has sided with the BJP so far because the BJP had said it would work towards such a Ram Rajya, while other parties found it inconvenient to be concerned about the issues of the Hindu society. So, what we have to see, he says, is whether the BJP is endeavouring to achieve that goal. "Based on my personal experience in Gujarat and Maharashtra, I would categorically say that they have failed," he says.

He then proceeded with his angst list as follows:

The BJP has not provided a different direction to society, and instances of corruption are many. Its scale is really no different from what it was/is in Congress regimes. The infighting in the BJP is also on the same scale as in other political parties. It is obvious that those who were mouthing high sounding principles were no different when it came to using the strings of power.

Worse has been the fact that the Hindu sentiments have not been respected. For example, in Maharashtra, the BJP did very little to assist the VHP when it came to dealing with the Christian evangelists at the street level. In many cases it was found that the local leaders used to take the side of the evangelists because the evangelists now bribed the BJP leaders as they used to bribe the Congress leaders earlier.

When this was brought to the notice of the senior leaders, goes the accusation, nothing was done to correct the situation. For instance, when, in the context of the alleged attacks on Christians, the VHP booklet Religious Conversions: Frequently Asked Questions was presented to a BJP leader, his reaction was "Why does the VHP want to create problems for Christians?" He then went on to say that the result of VHP's programme would be to make a Christian (namely, Sonia) as the prime minister! This incident apparently happened in a public place.

Then there was the case when a BJP MLA proposed a private member's Bill in the Maharashtra Assembly to ensure that there would be no fraud, inducement or force in the matter of religious conversions. It was identical to the one that exists in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh, and was sought to be introduced in the Centre in 1978 by O P Tyagi. The BJP leadership was, however, against such a move. Either it was a case of appeasing the Christians or internal politics that it did not want the credit to go to the MLA concerned or a little of both. Result: the Bill lapsed.

Another serious grouse has been that BJP's leaders have totally bypassed the party's core issues of uniform civil code, Ram temple, Article 370 and justice to all with appeasement of none. The anger is that the BJP alone has had to put its agenda on the backburner while its allies in government have made no such sacrifice. And the agony is that the BJP leaders have not made an iota of intellectual effort to convince its allies on these issues, the most palpable being the failure to do so even on the uniform civil code that is so crucial to the nation's women.

The VHP's sentiments at this juncture thus seem to be very defined. The votaries of Hindutva do not wish to see corrupt, incompetent people in power. In a democracy, they seem to be saying, one makes a choice at the time of the ballot. Sometimes, the choice is the least of all evils.<b> If the BJP has no concern for its core vote base, it is idle to expect that this base should have any concern for the BJP.

For the votaries of Hindutva, the first step would be, in the present case, to vote the BJP out of power, and then start to work to creating an effective alternative than what the present BJP leadership has been able to provide. Their logic is that they did not put in so much hard work to see anti-Hindutvawadis enjoying the position that they are in at present with nary a thought for those on whose backs they rose to power.</b>

Vajpayee, Laxman & Co have been forewarned. They urgently need Dale Carnegie now.

Arvind Lavakare

[Bodhi]

Waffle at BJP National Executive meeting
Kanchan Gupta

The conventional assessment of the BJP National Executive meeting (June
20-21) is that its primary purpose of providing members with an
opportunity to let off post-election steam has been achieved. This will
put an end to trading of charges and levelling of allegations. It will
be back to business as usual.

It is also being claimed (and I endorse this partially) that those who
have been caviling against the party's ideology and its core idea,
Hindutva, have been silenced. Ideology shall continue to enjoy primacy
and Hindutva shall remain the guiding force.

Third, niggling doubts about the leadership issue have been put to rest.
The party has asserted the principle of 'democratic centralism' and this
is the way it shall be. Never mind what the party constitution says
about electing leaders from bottom up.

My assessment differs on all these counts and more.

The unabashed finger-pointing that was witnessed marks a departure from
the past when sobriety was the norm during National Executive meetings.
Little or no purpose has been served by the mutual recrimination that
marked the discussions till Sunderlal Patwa intervened with an emotional
speech.

Patwa's intervention may have forced an end to the ugly trading of
charges, including between Shahnawaz Hussein and Maneka Gandhi, and
diverted attention from the points raised by Arun Shourie, but the
internecine war is by no means over. At best it is tactical retreat, not
even temporary truce.

It is a pity that two 'leaders', whom LK Advani referred to as "two
eminent Muslim colleagues of ours", were allowed to adopt an abrasive
tone and level all kinds of charges while others were disallowed to
raise issues that are much more fundamental for the party's well-being.

But I guess it is useful to promote the fiction that the BJP lost the
election because of what Varun Gandhi said (or did not say) in Pilibhit.
That way, the real reasons shall remain swept under the carpet.

[Sushil Modi in his intervention mentioned that Hindutva upsets the
JD(U) and could strain the BJP-JD(U) alliance in Bihar. That's as
unconvincing as Naveen Patnaik's claim that he parted company with the
BJP because of the violence in Kandhamal. If Nitish Kumar is convinced
that he can win a majority on his own he will part company with the BJP:
Nobody likes to share power. A section of the JD(U) feels that an
alliance with the Congress makes better sense because it would fetch
political returns at the Centre here and now.]

Here is a fact that should have been the subject of serious discussion
but was ignored by the National Executive: Of the sitting MPs in the
14th Lok Sabha who contested this year's election, only 37 have been
re-elected. In 2004, nearly a hundred sitting MPs of the BJP lost the
election.

It would be absurd to suggest that barring 37 sitting MPs the remaining
lost the 2009 election because of Varun Gandhi's alleged inflammatory
comments or a harsh and narrow interpretation of Hindutva. I don't think
there is any evidence to suggest that Hindutva was even mentioned during
their campaign, leave alone giving it a sinister twist.

The reasons why such a large number of sitting MPs lost are four-fold:

. Poor track record of the individuals;
. Poor organisational back-up;
. Poor campaigning at the constituency level; and,
. Poor selection of candidates.

The BJP obviously does not want to discuss these issues as that would
result in quite a few red faces at the high table. Patwa has saved them
from acute embarrassment.

Second, there is no clarity as yet on either ideology or Hindutva.

Both LK Advani and Rajnath Singh stressed on the inclusiveness of
Hindutva and how it militates against bigotry and fanaticism. That's a
nice thought. But what does it stand for?

. <b>LK Advani said "BJP's understanding of Hindutva is fully in accord
with the unanimous judgement given by the 3-Judge Bench of the Supreme
Court on December 11, 1995."</b>

. <b>Rajnath Singh said "Hindutva . has a sense of respect and a place for
everyone and it is a concept of co-existence. It is this cultural
consciousness which has made Hindutva so benevolent and flexible."</b>

. The Political Resolution moved and drafted by <b>Ravi Shankar Prasad
said, "Hinduism or Hindutva is not to be understood or construed
narrowly confined only to religious practices or expressed in extreme
forms. It is indeed related to the culture and ethos of the people of
the India, depicting the way of life of the Indian people."</b>

The Indian people's "way of life" has nothing to do with politics or
political campaigns to secure state power. If Hindutva is only what the
Supreme Court thinks it is, then it should not be the political creed of
any party, least of all the BJP.

The political resolution bizarrely equates Hinduism with Hindutva. This
was best avoided. Hinduism is about faith, which is by definition narrow
and exclusive. Hindutva is about political mobilisation, which has to be
inclusive and all-embracing.

The party should have said:

Hindutva is rooted in India's cultural and civilisational ethos, of
which faith (Hinduism, Islam or Christianity) is only one
inter-changeable component; it is representative of India's identity as
an ancient nation and a modern nation state; it links India's past with
its present and mirrors its aspirations for a better future.

It defines Indianness or Bharatiyata. It is the cornerstone of cultural
nationalism, the BJP's USP.

It is rooted in egalitarianism, tolerance and compassion. It celebrates
democracy. It harmonises differences. It rests on the principle of
justice to all, appeasement of none.

Some may perceive merit in waffle we heard at the National Executive
meeting, but it will not help remove the confusion that prevails at all
levels. The party needs to enunciate Hindutva for our times. I wonder
when the BJP's 'Blair moment' will come.

The BJP would have done itself some good had it used this National
Executive meeting to also clarify a related point: Core issues of the
party are not core elements of Hindutva, they are at best tangentially
linked.

Abrogation of Article 370 is to do with integration of the States and
Centre-State relations. Retaining Article 370 keeps open the issue of
Jammu & Kashmir's full and final integration with the Union of India and
allows others to refer to it as 'disputed territory'. It also accords to
Jammu & Kashmir a special status that is denied to the other States of
the Union. None of these is a key component of Hindutva.

Article 44 of the Constitution states: "The state shall endeavour to
secure for citizens a uniform civil code." This is primarily meant to
uphold the republican principles of equality for all, irrespective of
gender, religion and caste. It is also aimed at modernising Indian
society by ridding it of regressive personal laws. Where does the demand
for Uniform Civil Code fit into the concept of Hindutva?

By not separating these two core issues from the core of its ideology,
the BJP has failed to put an end to the campaign of calumny by the
'secular' political establishment and the ill-informed sections of
media. More importantly, it has missed an opportunity to remove
misconception in the minds of its cadre.

Advani has talked about organisational weaknesses and the need to
address them as well as expand the party's base in States where it is
almost non-existent. The "train compartment" mentality he has referred
to is extremely relevant. Hopefully it applies to all in the higher
echelons of the party.

As for strengthening the organisation and strategise for the next 20
years, it will require a mindset change across the board at the top: The
needless craving for allies and alliances has to be replaced by
determination and a can-do spirit.

Unfortunately, those who speak about it are also strong votaries of
subjugating State units of the party to allies so that local leaders don't
grow in stature and want a place inside the "train compartment".

A last point: States representatives at the meeting were unanimous and
unambiguous in their praise for Narendra Modi. Every where he visited
during the campaign, they said, the cadre were galvanised and supporters
enthused. Nothing more need be said.

http://kanchangupta.blogspot.com/2009/06/w...-executive.html

[Bodhi]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->At last, LK Advani's autobiography has been published in Urdu. He wanted to appear in print much before the elections.

But Advani couldn't get an Urdu publisher then. Most were reluctant to associate themselves with the book. Personally I feel the reason is that majority of Urdu publishers are now in business just because of sale of religious books, which are still sold in large numbers, rather than literature or other books--they might have feared reaction by associating themselves to Advani.

Delhi-based Urdu daily Hindustan Express extensively covered the event. It says that when a prominent Muslim leader of BJP tried hard to convince a well-known Urdu publisher, he agreed but on the condition that the name of the publication house would not be printed in the book. Naturally, the idea was dropped because it was thought that if a book is published without publisher's name and address, it would look undignified.

Telugu, Hindu and English editions of the book had been released during the ad blitz projecting him as Prime Minister. The aim was to reach out to Muslims but it couldn't happen. Now the book--Mera Watan, Meri Zindagi [My Country, My Life] has finally been released.

Speaking on the occasion Advani himself said that though the book has been translated in many languages, the Urdu edition has been the most important one and close to his heart. He also spoke on 'secularim', 'Hindu-Muslim harmon' and a lot.

Journalists MJ Akbar, Aziz Burney, Poet Chandrabhan Khayal, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Najma Heptullah, Rajnath Singh and editor of Akhbar-e-Mashriq Waseemul Haq were present. At the function, Rajnath Singh, said that expressed his love for Urdu.

<b>Maulana Wahiduddin Khan presided over the function. Aziz Burney lauded the book and said that it resembled with Maulana Azad's writings</b>, reports Hindustan Express. Large number of Shia and Sunni scholars attended the event at FICCI auditorium. [Photo courtesy Hindustan Express]

anindianmuslim dot com /2009/08/ at-last-advani-gets-urdu-published-for.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->India is a nation of rich diversities. Linguistic diversity is a very unique and proud feature of our national identity. There is simply no other country in the world that has accorded the status of 'scheduled language' to 22 languages as India has done in the Eighth Schedule of its Constitution. As far as dialects in India are concerned, their number may well run into thousands.


The languages we speak may be different. But we are nevertheless one people and one nation. There is a poem by the great Tamil poet Subramaniam Bharati, in which, paying tribute to Mother India, he says that her 33 crore children -- which was India's population then -- speak in 18 different tongues, but they all voice the same sentiment: Unity.

Urdu occupies a special place in India's linguistic bouquet, charming everybody with its hues and spreading its aroma far and wide. It is not confined to any particular state or region. Just as Hindi is spoken or at least understood in most parts of the country, the same is true of Urdu also.

Cultural Nationalism is not anti-Muslim

Is cultural nationalism a religious concept? No. Is it anti-Islam and anti-Muslim? No.

Cultural nationalism holds that India's national identity is defined by its unifying and integrating culture, which transcends its religious and other diversities. This is not something I learnt from books.

I was born and grew up in an environment of cultural nationalism. In the first phase of my book ['My Country, My Life], which deals with the first 20 years of my life that I spent in Sindh, I have described how the social and cultural ethos of Sindh was informed by a remarkable harmony and peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims.

This was primarily due to two factors: the Sindhi language and the propagation of religious tolerance by both Hindu spiritual leaders and Muslim Sufi saints. All the great Hindu and Muslim poets and saints communicated their inspiring ideals through Sindhi.

I have illustrated in my book the best traditions of Sindhiyat by referring to the teachings of Shah Abdul Latif 'Bhitai', who is universally regarded as the greatest Sindhi poet of all times. He composed poems in praise of Rama. I have also referred to Sachal Sarmast, who described himself as a 'Jogi' and advocated brotherhood among Hindus and Muslims under one single benevolent God.

I have described how the Sufi tradition is deeply ingrained, even today, in my wife Kamla's family. Her mother was a devoted follower of the famous Sufi saint, Sain Qutab Shah, whose dargah in Hyderabad she regularly visited. She used to sing Sufi kalaams, gurbani and songs about Ram and Krishna with equal piety.

My wife's sister Sarla and her husband visit Pakistan almost every year to pay obeisance at the dargah of Sain Nasir Faqir, another widely respected Sufi saint.

Kamla would never miss having darshan of Sain Noor Husain Shah, the post-Partition custodian of Sain Qutab Shah's dargah, whenever he visited India. Indeed, when I went to Pakistan in 2005, Sain Noor Husain Shah, who was in Dubai [ Images ] at the time, specially flew down to Karachi to bless my family.

As even Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has acknowledged in his 'Discovery of India', the Indian civilisation -- indeed, the very name 'India' -- owes its origin to the great Sindhu River. Let me recall an interesting incident, which I have quoted from a book by <b>Bhagwan S Gidwani</b>, one of the greatest Sindhi historians. He writes:

{same guy who wrote flowering tribute to tippu sultan -- The Sword of Tipu Sultan}

'In my student days, at Sadhbela, a famous Hindu temple, at Sukkur in Sindh, I saw Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He was at a langar, the community meal. Recently, a South Indian friend questioned me: How come, no one asked Bhutto, why he was there? For us, it was not too uncommon in Sindh to see Hindus in dargahs and Muslims at Hindu holy places.'

Talking about langars, let me mention that Kamla and I organised Akhand Paath of the Guru Granth Sahib, followed by langar, at our house in 2006. Pratibha, our daughter, sang 'Satnam Wahe Guru' on that day. I invited Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [ Images ] for the function and he was gracious enough to accept my invitation.

I am mentioning this here -- and I have mentioned it in the book too -- because reading of the Guru Granth Sahib and going to gurdwaras was a common practice among Hindus in Sindh.

Hence, Cultural Nationalism is about recognising, accepting and feeling proud about the shared cultural heritage of India.

I therefore take this occasion to appeal to my Muslim compatriots: Understand cultural nationalism in the right perspective. The tragic Partition of India in 1947, on the basis of the spurious 'Two Nations' theory, created problems in Hindu-Muslim relations in India, besides engendering problems in the relations between India and Pakistan. It is time to remove prejudices and rebuild unity based on our common cultural heritage.

Ayodhya: Amicable settlement needed

There is a related issue which forms a major section in my book, and that is the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya. I am pleased that Urdu readers will be able to read my detailed description of the Ayodhya movement and come to their own conclusions [in the Urdu edition of Advani's autobiography 'My Country, My Life.']

Over two decades have passed since the Ayodhya issue surfaced on the national scene. A lot of things have happened during this period. I would like to reiterate today what I have emphatically mentioned in my book. The best and the most enduring solution to a sensitive issue like this is to arrive at an amicable settlement through dialogue between leaders of the Hindu and Muslim communities.

I would also like to reiterate another belief of mine: Nothing can contribute to Hindu-Muslim harmony better than a positive gesture by the Muslim community on this emotional issue close to the hearts of millions of Hindus.

Oppose vote bank politics, shun minorityism, work for riot-free India

Let me use this occasion to affirm that my party is firmly committed to secularism as conceived by our Constitution-makers. We chose to support and join the Ayodhya movement only because of the prevailing atmosphere of pseudo-secularism. If secularism had not been perverted to subserve the interests of vote-bank politics, I am sure the course of the Ayodhya movement would have been significantly different.

I wish to make another appeal to my Muslim brethren. 'Vote-bank politics has not helped you. It has helped its practitioners, but not you. It has kept a large section of your community backward, economically and educationally, as the Sachar report has shown. Do not allow yourself to be used by certain political parties for their own narrow ends. Do not allow yourself to be forever typecast as a 'minority,' because it breeds a mentality that sees minorities as being different from the majority. This minority-majority division is harming India's emotional unity and India's all-round progress. Genuine secularism is that which believes in justice for all, and discrimination against none.'

L K Advani

http://news.rediff.com/column/2009/aug/07/...anti-muslim.htm
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[Bharatvarsh2]

"Swami Ramdev on Aaj Tak

Ibrahim Lodhi gave his life fighting Babur and was Indian just like todays muslims. Todays muslims stand with Ram rather than Babur and Ram and Hindus are forefathers of all Indians."



Anyone wanna bet that Ibrahim was just another Muslim fanatic who massacred and persecuted Hindus?



It takes a creative brain like Ramdev's to convert an intra Muslim fight over who gets to rule India and subject Hindus to tyranny into a fight for patriotism.



The Hindu capacity for self-delusion has no bounds, in Europe by contrast just at 5% Muslims in EU people are waking up and Wilders is openly speaking out against the cult of Islam and garnering a lot of support. Meanwhile Indian morons are as blind as ever and stumbling around like a drunk even after over 1300 years of Muslim attacks and tyranny (in various parts of India) that is still ongoing within India itself not to speak of other former Hindu nations.



By this logic a British general born in India who fought the French over who gets to rule India is an Indian patriot!



And who appointed Ramdev as the spokesman for "todays muslims"?



Until Hindus learn to confront the 3 evils of Islam, Christism and Communism head on we will continue to be massacred and our women raped.



Any loser who thinks that Islam, Christism and Communism have any place within India is for all intents and purposes a traitor.

[G.Subramaniam]

OK, Bharatvarsh, let me give it my shot



A great opportunity was lost in 1947 in not getting rid of the muslims



At this point there are no easy options for dealing with Indian muslims



My counter-breeding proposal is simply a holding action and the best holding action possible

since it defuses the main islamic strategic weapon of outbreeding the kafir.



Several RSS activists who openly condemned islam got murdered in TN



As a practical matter, short of Spanish Inquisition or East Punjab 1947, internal islam is

an inoperable cancer. Lakhs of east punjabi muslims got forcibly shuddified at sword point



I think Hindu politicians and swamis are too cowardly and escapist to spell out the options



People like Tapan Ghosh are needed to contain islam on a street by street basis, but that is at

a local tactical level, On a grand strategic level, counter-breeding is the only way out



At least, swami Dayananda's Satyarth Prakash chapters on islam and xtianity must be publicised among Hindus.



Ramdev wants fame, money, followers who want easy moksha. just like any other swami, except

Bharat sevashram sangha, whose monks battle jihadists across west bengal

[Pandyan]

[quote name='Bharatvarsh2' date='30 September 2010 - 10:06 PM' timestamp='1285898296' post='108600']

Any loser who thinks that Islam, Christism and Communism have any place within India is for all intents and purposes a traitor.

[/quote]

Add to that, 'hindu' bitches who themselves promote Islamic culture like Urdu. We got some senile morons like that within this forum itself. By promoting Urdu, you think you're "cultured" or "learned" or some shit you shit-eating faggot? No one's opinion of you is elated by your promotion of Urdu or sulla observances like Eid for that matter. Fucking faggot ass loser, you deserve to get beat up.