<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Friends, pl share this information about the book's second edition in all the websites that you know of and in your different email groups -
hindu groups, armed forces, intelligence officers, whoever you think will benefit from the book. thank you, RR
Friends,
<b>The response to "NGOs, Activists & Foreign Funds: Anti-Nation Industry", published by Vigil Public Opinion Forum, Chennai, ( www.vigilonline. com), was so encouraging that Vigil has brought out a second - and enlarged - edition! The 40 new pages include a chapter on the US-based AID, one by Shri Narendra Modi on NGOs as non-accountable businesses, and a Manderweb update that not only to the covert anti-nation NGOs (such as ActionAid and ASHA) adds Oxfam, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the National Foundation for India, but also uncovers an undeniable mosque-based fund-raising link between Harsh Mander and jihad-supporting NGOs.</b>
The book is packed with data about some very well-known USA, UK and India-based NGOs and "social activists" who receive extensive foreign support - and convincingly documents their anti-India agenda and their total lack of accountability. It includes a photograph that graphically depicts this agenda - "social activists" sloganeering that "Allah will destroy the terrorist state of India". It is, therefore, as the book's blurb notes, this is "a must-read and a wake-up call for all patriotic Indians and well-wishers of India."
The book is softback, Rs 400/- (+ p&h), and its distributor is Aditya Prakashan, 2/18 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002 (tel 2327-8034, email contact@bibliaimpex .com )
Make sure you order your copy before this edition too is sold out!
And please circulate this book announcement to other patriotic Indians and wellwishers of our country.
Thank you,
xxxx
PS
The back cover blurb and the Contents page of the book are given below for your information.
"An explosive book that documents in convincing detail the treasonous agenda of some of our leading NGOs and activists.
There are hundreds of NGOs working with great dedication amongst the socially and economically backward sections of our society motivated only by the inspiring vision to transform social attitudes and the quality of life of the people amongst whom they live and work. This book is not about them.
This book is about NGOs and activists whose so-called peace and human rights activism cloaks deep political ambitions and objectives âpolitical ambitions not just restricted to participating or influencing electoral politics but aimed at shaping the character and direction of Indian polity in a manner which derives from their warped notion of the Indian nation. Their political ambitions and activism are essentially undemocratic and anti-Indian nation. Their grassroots activism in many instances is only a fig-leaf for political activism, well-funded through an inflow of foreign money.
This book exposes the political and anti-nation agenda of some very well-known NGOs and activists, and clearly reveals their foreign sponsorships, donors and funds. It proves their double standards and their total absence of public accountability, and emphasises the urgent need for the Government of India to ensure a vigorous mechanism to counter this anti-nation industry.
A must-read and a wake-up call for all patriotic Indians and well-wishers of India."
CONTENTS
Foreword to the Second Edition
Foreword
1. Introduction: De-Hinduising the Indian Nation *Radha Rajan*
2. NGOs: Description and Regulations *R Vaidyanathan*
3. Social Movements to Totalitarianism: The role of NGOs *Veera Vaishnava*
4. "Yesterday Once More": a FOIL Primer *Narayanan Komerath*
5. The Lashkar-e-Pinocchio Rides Again *Narayanan Komerath*
6. An Oxymoron called AID* Arvind Kumar*
7. Scoring Against Paganism: Untangling the Manderweb *Krishen Kak*
8. NGOs and Activists: Singing for their Supper *Radha Rajan*
9. ASHA Projects: Where does all the money go? *Nirupama Rajan* and *Radha Rajan*
10. Closing Word: Who is afraid of the Hindu nation? *George
Thundiparambil*
Appendices
1. The California Textbook Issue *Vishal Agarwal*
2. Modi's visa denial: Who did it? *B Raman*
3. List of signatories against the Prime Minister's comment re the Gujarat chief minister
4. List of signatories â Promise of India Appeal
5. Indian Muslim Council's First National Convention
6. The Peshawar Declaration
7. USCIRF special hearing on the Gujarat riots â names of attendees,
and an excerpt from the Justice Tewatia report on the same riots 8.
Two contrasting approaches to the USCIRF and the US State Department
9. Important data on terrorist atrocities in J&K
10. Getting it right on J&K *Arvind Lavakere*
11. Manderweb Update* Krishen Kak*
12. Open Letters to the Deccan Chronicle, Mr Harsh Mander & Mr Karan Thapar
13. The CIA and Disinformation Campaigns* B Raman*
14. NGOs as Non-Accountable Businesses* Narendra Modi*
About the Authors
Vigil Public Opinion Forum<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Posting in full for archival purposes, since DailyPioneer link recycles.
Horror of '47 revisited
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><i>Nobody has been spared in this book, whether it is the British royalty or Indian leaders. The author tells the story as it is, making the characters look all too human, writes MV Kamath </i>
<b>Indian Summer, Alex Von Tunzelmann, Simon & Schuster, £20</b>
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->One can say with utter confidence that there has never been a history of India from the time the British left the country to Jawaharlal Nehru's death, written with such openness, insight and daring as Alex Von Tunzelmann's Indian Summer. The sub-heading, 'The Secret History of the End of an Empire', tells it all. So many secrets come tumbling down in the depiction of the epic sweep of events that one wonders how come they were kept away from the public eye for six-long decades.
Illuminating each page are anecdotes about celebrities that include Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Vallabhbhai Patel among Indians and Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee and, of course, Lord Mountbatten and his wife Edwina.
Tunzelmann is relentlessly honest whether writing about Britain of the 17th century ("begging was common and the nation's 10,000 vagabonds the terror of the land") or of Queen Elizabeth I ("next to Akbar, Elizabeth was indeed as weak and feeble woman with her dubious breeding... and her grubby, unsophisticated, cold, dismal little kingdom") or of the British in India as the empire moved on: "<b>Indians were commonly referred to as 'natives' in the 18th century, 'coolies' by the end of the 19th and 'niggers' by the beginning of the 20th</b>."
Nobody has been spared, whether it is the British royalty ("<b>Prince Albert had been placed 68th out of 68 in his final examination of Trinity College, Cambridge</b>"), British nobility (reference to the low economic status of Lord Mountbatten and Prince Philip; the latter, who was to marry Elizabeth II, has to be read to be believed), or to <b>Winston Churchill, a sick character who regarded Indians as "a beastly people with a beastly religion" and wanted Gandhi to be trampled down by an elephant at India Gate in New Delhi, with the Viceroy seated aloft the animal/b].
[b]There are references to Lord Mountbatten's love affairs, as indeed of his wife Edwina's liaison with Nehru, described with considerable detail to everyone's shame. Mountbatten and his wife were often not even on speaking terms and there was a time when Edwina even thought of seeking divorce. Mountbatten's relationship with Nehru, Gandhi, Jinnah and several others are freely discussed, as also the rapport between Indian leaders themselves, none flattering</b>.
There are references even to the Poona Pact, with <b>BR Ambedkar, the co-signatory with Gandhi, saying: "There was nothing noble in the (Mahatma's) fast, it was a foul and filthy act." </b>
We learn that Mountbatten was disinclined to accept the viceroyalty; that Nehru originally was suspicious about his appointment and mistrustful of the man himself; that Mountbatten was scared to come to India and is quoted as saying as he left England: "I don't want to go (to India). They don't want me there. We'll probably come home with bullets in our back."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> At one point, Mountbatten felt that Gandhi was proposing to take advantage of Jinnah's good intentions to crush Muslim dissent and is quoted as saying: "I find it hard to believe that I correctly understood Mr Gandhi." The most ironic quote is of Jinnah telling Liaquat Ali Khan that Pakistan was "the biggest blunder" of his life. He is supposed to have said: "If now I get an opportunity, I will go to Delhi and tell Jawaharlal to forget about the follies of the past and become friends against."
Incidentally, the author notes that because "Nehru failed to inform Jinnah that the (Kashmir) Maharaja had asked for help and that he was sending troops, Jinnah became convinced that Nehru had all along meant for Kashmir to be dragged into India by force". What gives special relevance to this absorbing study of one of the defining moments of world history is the recalling of small but human anecdotes that make the characters look all too human.
Tunzelmann tells the story as it is. This is narrative history-writing at its best.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
N.S. Rajaram reviews "India After Gandhi" by Ramachandra Guha
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Book Review
<b>A BIASED HISTORY</b>
<i>N.S. Rajaram</i>
India After Gandhi: The history of the worldâs largest
democracy by Ramachandra Guha. (2007). Picador India:
900 + xxvi pages. Price Rs 695 (HB).
India After Gandhi is an ambitious work with a no less
ambitious claim to be âthe full story â the pain and
the struggles, the humiliations and the glories â of
the worldâs largest and the most unlikely democracy.â
The period covered is from independence in 1947 to the
present.
Considering that the events and personalities are
quite recent, with many key actors still around it is
too much to expect it to be entirely objective. The
author admits as much when he says: â⦠the historian
is here writing about times that are close to him as
well as his readers. He, and they, often have strong
opinions about the politicians and the policies of the
day. In the chapters that follow I have tried to keep
my own biases out of the narrative, but my success in
this respect may be limited â or at least more limited
than in other parts of the book.â
Reasonable enough, but what one finds in the book is a
better account of recent events than the history of
the early years of India as a free nation. There are
large gaps in its treatment of events surrounding the
transfer of power and Nehruâs foreign policy failures.
The sections on the India-China- Tibet triangle leading
up to the debacle of 1962 war is particularly weak.
The author seems ignorant of important recent work on
the subject by the French scholar Claude Arpi (Fate of
Tibet) who has used records from the period that have
been kept away from scholars by the Nehru-Gandhi
family. (This is true even of the National Archives.)
The authorâs relative success with recent history
contrasted with his weak coverage of the earlier
period may be due to his approachâ of a social
anthropologist rather than a research historian. There
is also a pervasive Nehruvian bias that on occasion
glosses over his failures. There is no mention of
Nehruâs obsession with the Korean War while neglecting
the much more momentous Chinese invasion of Tibet,
both of which took place in 1950. The author fails to
note â he is probably ignorant of the fact â that
there was international support for India recognizing
Tibet as a free country and create a buffer. Nehruâs
real failure was neglecting the neighboring Tibet in
search of international glory in Korea.
It is a similar story when we get to Independence and
the Kashmir problem. He claims that most Indians blame
Mountbatten for taking the dispute to the UN thereby
absolving Nehru. He also fails to mention that Nehru
became prime minister only because Gandhi anointed
him, putting pressure on Sardar Patel to withdraw.
Also there is no mention of the INA trials and the
naval mutiny that followed. This, according to the
British Prime Minister Attlee was what convinced the
British to leave and leave in a hurry.
In Atleeâs words the most important reason was: âThe
activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which
weakened the very foundation of the attachment of the
Indian land and naval forces to the British
government.â Astonishingly, there is no mention of
Subhas Bose in the entire book, though he rather than
Jawaharlal Nehru was the most popular hero when the
war ended.
The best part of the book is the second half covering
the period following Nehruâs death (1964). Part five
devoted to the rise of the backward castes and the
politics of empowerment makes valuable reading. It
draws heavily on the ideas of Indiaâs greatest
sociologist the late M.N. Srinivas. But here too there
are gaps. There is no mention of the Justice Party,
the forerunner of the Dravidian parties or of the
ideas of language and race of pseudo scholars like
Bishop Robert Caldwell that led to their ideology.
Here too there are biases, but they are less
disturbing than in the earlier part of the book,
perhaps because we are close to the events and are
used to them. At the same time, there is no blanket
condemnation of the BJP as a fascist party. He
rubbishes such comparisons for trivializing the
horrors inflicted by the real fascists of Europe like
Hitler. He also points out that the BJP peacefully
handed over power once defeated, hardly a fascist
trait. He might have added that it has been the
Congress that has bared its fascist teeth, in imposing
the Emergency and in dismissing elected state
governments.
The bookâs main thesis seems to be that Indian
democracy must remain true to the Nehruvial ideal. But
the author offers no insights on how it is to be
achieved when Nehru created neither the institutions
nor a cadre of workers to keep the ideal alive. What
represents Nehruâs legacy today? His descendants, who
lost no time in snuffing out democracy in his own
party, and seem to see elections only as a tool for
gaining power? Can we expect them to nurture democracy
in India? The book has no answers.
India After Gandhi is a useful but by a no means
definitive account of the first six decades of India
as a free nation. For all its errors of omission and
commission, it is a laudable effort by a scholar
willing to take on a formidable challenge. One hopes
that there will be more books on the subject leading
to a healthy debate.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
When A Tree Shook Delhi authored by journalist Manoj Mitta and lawyer HS Phoolka will be released later this week
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->November 1, 1984, a massacre began. Over 3,000 Sikhs were hacked to death. But the police and the Government looked the other way. Commission after Commission whitewashes the guilt of the accused. Now 23 years later a new book nails the guilty in chilling detail.
Among the accused - Kamal Nath, now Union Minister for Commerce, he led the mob outside Gurudwara Rakab Ganj, where two Sikhs were roasted alive, in the immediate vicinity of the Lok sabha.
Amod Kanth (now Chief Vigilance officer, Delhi Jal Board) abetted mass crime against a single Sikh by making a victim out to be an aggressor.
Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and Dharma Dass Shastri, Congress leaders led mobs and forced the police to release rioters.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
December 09, 2007
<b>Saffron Surge</b> by <b>Tarun Vijay</b> released
Strength is the propeller of ideasâSarsanghachalak
By Pramod Kumar
âHowsoever good discourse we deliver, unless it is backed by shakti (strength) no one will listen to it. The Hindu society has everything to give to the world but what it lacks is unity. The system of governance that we followed even after Independence too further divided us. We must think about what unites us and what divides us,â said RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan while releasing a book Saffron Surge in New Delhi on November 27. The book is written by Panchjanya editor Tarun Vijay and has been published by Har-Anand Publications, New Delhi.
The packed auditorium of India International Centre had the distinguished gathering of eminent politicians, writers, journalists, columnists, social activists and professionals. Prominent among those who were present included Sarkaryavah of RSS Shri Mohan Bhagwat, VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal, Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy, NDA convenor Shri George Fernandes, former director of NCERT Dr J.S. Rajput, noted columnist Shri A. Suryaprakash, editor of The Pioneer Shri Chandan Mitra, senior journalist Shri Saeed Naqvi, former governor of Sikkim and Goa Shri Kidarnath Sahani, Shri Balbir K. Punj, Kshetra Pracharak Shri Dinesh Chandra, BJP organising secretary Shri Ramlal, and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Prof. Jagdish Mukhi.
Calling upon the Hindus to recognise their strength, Shri Sudarshan further said Muslims and Christians are not minority in this country as 99.9 per cent of them have the same forefathers as Hindus have.
Stressing the need to form a benevolent force of Hindus in the country to assert their point of view, Shri Mohan Bhagwat said Hindutva is neither against anyone nor is it a reaction against anybody. âWe want that this type of authentic feeling should arise among all countrymen,â he said further adding that the book Saffron Surge, which is a compilation of the inner feelings of all Hindus, has initiated a good dialogue, which should continue.
He said Hindutva is the identity of this country and everyone born here is the son/daughter of one Bharatmata. Therefore, all should work for the welfare of this land. What the world needs today is present in Hindu culture. A untied force of the people having such thinking should be created. He, however, asked when an affidavit questioning the existence of Sri Ram, is filed before the apex court of the country by so-called highly educated officials, how can Hindus feel secure? âHindutva is our ethos and source of our unity. It helps evoke unity within us,â he added.
Shri Chandan Mitra said the book has come at a very significant time and it clearly outlines the ethos, tolerance, liberalism and the attack that liberalism is facing now. It also mentions the manner in which the Stateâs power is being used as a deliberate attempt to blank out Indian culture. Referring to current issues like Nandigram, Taslima Nasreen and media boom he said the CPM goons have been committing inhuman atrocities in West Bengal for decades but it is due to the vigilant media that they have been exposed in Nandigram. âBut by raising the Taslima issue Leftists have successfully diverted the public attention from the real issue i.e. Nandigram.â He said the very soul of this country is being systematically attacked again and again. If Maoists succeed in Neapl, he said, the temple of Pashupatinath would become like the Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar as no Hindu will be there to worship.
Shri Saeed Naqvi said though India is the largest democracy that has more than 150 million Muslims in the country, Muslims have deliberately been engaged in five issuesâBabri mosque, Shahbano case, Salman Rushdie, relations with Israel and Taslima Nasreenâby the politicians and in this game Muslims got nothing.
Smt. Sandhya Jain criticised the mixing of Nandigram issue with the Gujarat riots that took place in 2002 and also with the residence of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen. âIn Nandigram there was no direct provocation as was in Godhra where 59 innocent Rambhaktas returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive.â
Earlier, introducing the book Shri Tarun Vijay said the image of Hindutva is being distorted in peopleâs mind by the pseudo-secularists. He said the RSS swayamsevaks are in forefront in many fields including medicine, information technology, science and energy. He said the RSS has been working tirelessly to bridge the gap between various communities and sections of the society.
01-18-2008, 12:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2008, 01:44 AM by ramana.)
I used to know Sanjeev Sabhlok when he was in US. He is dad wrote an e-book on the Vedas and the Koran.
Sanjeev has ideas for a "Freedom Team" for India (on that link above).. <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
There was a recent(~ two weeks to date) BookTV presentation on this on CSPAN. There should be a video link on the CSPAN site.
<span style='color:red'>Hindu Voice launches pro-Hindu novel.</span> <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>For Advani, it's nation first </b>
pioneer.com
A Surya Prakash
In his foreword to Mr LK Advani's autobiography, My Country My Life, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee has observed that during the course of his long and eventful political life, Mr Advani has, at times, been misunderstood, and as a result "become a victim of the dichotomy between image and reality". Similar sentiments were echoed by Mr Jaswant Singh, another leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the formal launch of this book on March 19 when he said that "Advaniji is the most misread, most misrepresented politician" in the country.
Anyone who reads My Country My Life will realise the obvious chasm between reality and image in respect of its protagonist. Whatever be the shortcomings of this book, it must be said that Mr Advani has achieved substantial success in bridging this gap. But how does some one in an India's public life get a society steeped in illiteracy and poverty to read a 986-page tome and re-evaluate him?
Meanwhile, we need to ask the question, who creates this dichotomy between image and reality of political leaders like Mr Advani and why? Because Mr Advani is not the first victim of such image distortion. Nor will he be the last. This chasm between reality and image is the result of a pseudo-secular and indeed a pseudo-democratic environment that has been manufactured and sustained by members of a school of thought that owes its allegiance to the Nehru-Gandhi family. This school, which has been active since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, has, with mischievous intent and consistency, promoted false gods and tarnished the image of the real heroes of India
Among the early victims of this fraudulent enterprise were Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and BR Ambedkar, but the list of illustrious Indians who have fallen prey to this propaganda machine is pretty huge. It includes persons like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad, C Rajagopalachari and Syama Prasad Mookerjee, apart from Congress presidents like Acharya Kripalani and Purushottam Das Tandon. During the Indira Gandhi era, every effort was made to besmirch the image of Sarvodaya leader Jayaprakash Narayan, S Nijalingappa, who was president of the Congress during the 1969 split, and a host of other leaders who were morally and intellectually way above Mrs Indira Gandhi. It has been a systematic effort to distort the reality and to raise questions about their commitment to fundamentals like democracy (Netaji Bose, Jayaprakash Narayan), egalitarianism (Rajagopalachari) or the secular order (Rajendra Prasad and Syama Prasad Mookerjee). In respect of some others, attempts were made to destroy their image by caricaturing them as weird characters (Morarji practices urine therapy).
So, it should surprise nobody when this school brands Mr Advani, the man who was thrown in jail by a fascist Congress that wrecked the Constitution and destroyed the independence of Parliament, the judiciary and the media during the infamous Emergency of 1975-77, as being anti-Constitution. The Congress, of course, is a party of democratic angels! Again, the perpetrators of all those heinous crimes against humanity and democracy during the Emergency including forcible sterilisation of Muslims, are supposedly "secular" people, but Mr Advani is a Hindu communalist! Further, the man who suffered incarceration for 19 months to defend our basic democratic rights and our Constitution and who took the first opportunity that came his way (as Information and Broadcasting Minister in 1977) to undo the fascist laws passed by the Congress to gag Parliament and the media, is a fascist, but those who conducted themselves like the Nazis and raised loathsome slogans like `Indira is India and India is Indira' are democrats!
Take the case of Patel and Ambedkar, contemporaries of Nehru, who made a critical contribution to the idea of India. At the time of independence, there were 564 princely states which had the option to join India or Pakistan. Nehru asked Patel to handle the responsibility of integrating 563 of these states into the Indian Union. The task of integrating the remaining State -- Kashmir -- he kept to himself. While Patel completed his task within a remarkably short span of time, Nehru made a mess of Kashmir. He not only complained to the United Nations and internationalised the issue, but also took the fateful and unpardonable decision to prohibit the Indian Army from throwing out the Pakistani intruders who had occupied one-third of Jammu & Kashmir. One shudders to think what political map, generations of post-independence Indians would be drawing in school but for the determination and patriotic zeal of Patel.
Yet, this pseudo-secular enterprise promoted by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has sought to sully the image of Patel while vesting the very average Nehru (who later subjected India to an even greater national humiliation during that hopelessly one-sided 'war' with China) with heroic virtues. This very enterprise has similarly downgraded the phenomenal socio-political reform carried out by Ambedkar through the instrumentality of the Constitution. The majesty of his ideas and his grand scheme for the establishment of political and social democracy in India are best explained in his summing-up remarks at the final reading of the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949. This is a speech which would have made an Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson proud.
Therefore, if 60 years after independence, we sense a deep and abiding commitment to India's unity and integrity across the length and breadth of the country, we owe a debt of gratitude to Patel. Similarly, if one senses social and political cohesion across the land and a desire, despite our diversity, to resolve differences through democratic means, we owe a debt of gratitude to Ambedkar. He spelled out the grand scheme for democracy and social cohesion in that immortal speech in the Constituent Assembly, which would certainly rank as one of the greatest speeches delivered by a national leader. Nehru's 'Tryst with destiny', in comparison, would sound very pedestrian indeed. Yet, thanks to this pseudo-intellectual enterprise, our children have never been properly introduced to Ambedkar's work and philosophy which have ensured democracy and national unity.
In recent years, this pseudo-intellectual enterprise has successfully distorted the image of leaders like Mr Advani, who have been active participants in the democratic process for over six decades. Seeds of doubt have been sown in the minds of citizens about Mr Advani's commitment to core constitutional values. Though Mrs Gandhi turned India's democracy into a dictatorship and presided over an authentic fascist regime for 19 months, the pseudo-secular enterprise has unfortunately succeeded in painting the victims of her regime as "fascists". The arrival of My Country My Life on book stands is, therefore, an important development. Hopefully, this book will encourage citizens, who have been fed distorted images of Mr Advani, to gravitate towards the truth -- at least in respect of this contemporary public figure.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Rafiq Zakaria is father of Fareed Zakaria who too has come up with a book of his on future of US.
This review is interesting. Rafiq seems to be hitting the right notes, but his career as Congress politician from Mumbai all his life, his list of deeds doesn't match up to this words now. Maybe with age people mature.
Review of Rafiq Zakaria's book:
Indian Muslims: Where have they gone wrong?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The theme of Zakaria's 17th book is the nefarious role played by Muslim political leaders in impeding communal harmony before and after Indian independence.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Zakaria takes the bull by the horns by dilating on how the present generation of Indian Muslims is suffering the consequences of erroneous steps taken by its leadership of yore and now. In the 1940s, Muslim elites "gave Muhammad Ali Jinnah all the support he needed" for partition of the South Asian subcontinent. After 1947, "they resorted to the same manner of confrontation with the dominant Hindus, widened the divide and intensified the hatred" (p xxviii). Ordinary Muslims were indoctrinated with a "ghetto mentality" and divorced from the national mainstream owing to "obstinate adherence to outmoded traditions" and fear of the ulama (clerical class).
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Zakaria cites Imam Ghazali, popular as the "Rejuvenator of Islam": "If Muslims did not destroy terrorism, terrorism would destroy them" (p 203). To gloat over acts of terrorism and hold jashn (celebrations) depicts "utter crassness and lunacy".
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The ostrich-like behavior of such leaders as Syed Shahabuddin and Imam Bukhari harms Muslims by keeping communal rancor alive. Hindus in turn have to live with 150 million Muslims, who cannot be wished away. Threats from the champions of Hindutva to eliminate Muslims have to cease.
Highlighting the more liberal facets of the lives of historical figures can clean mental cobwebs. Shivaji, the Maratha warrior king, had one-third Muslim soldiers in his army. The supreme commander of his navy was a Muslim. The first thing Shivaji did after a conquest was to promulgate protection of mosques and Muslim tombs. "He was more liberal and tolerant than the best of European potentates" (p 315). Swami Vivekananda, the apostle of humanism, saw the real unity of India in Hindu-Muslim goodwill in the villages and averred, "A junction of the two great systems - Vedanta brain and Islam body - is the only hope" (p 327).
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
came via email:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Below is a video link of brilliant talk on Rama Sethu and its relevance to the what is happening to Hinduism, delivered by Dr. Subramanian Swamy during his recent visit to US when he released his book on Rama Sethu.Â
Every Indian must watch this. For those who may not know, it is Dr. Swamy's brilliant arguments in Supreme Court that blocked destruction of Rama Sethu.
Listen to how Dr. Swamy, who is an economist and not a lawyer, relate how he argued for 8 hours at a stretch with Supreme Court justices and successfully convinced them to stop destruction of Rama Sethu. Listen to why he took up this case because he clearly saw it as another example of undermining Hindu society. Hear about the gross corruption involved, total lack of values and simple decency in the leaders of current government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tZOUw5-P0U...ex=0&playnext=1
(Note: This is link to play list and all the parts will be automatically played)
Rama Sethu book can be ordered from Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Foundation at 908-244-3258.
PLEASE PASS ON TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.
Synopsis of the lecture
(High level summary)
Dr. Swamy started with introductory remarks to show Rama Sethu matter in perspective. He got interested in the problems Hindu Society is facing after Kanchi Sankaracharya was arrested on foisted charges and jailed like a common criminal, for which Supreme Court of India found no prima facie charges. It brought his attention to the forces that are working to undermine Hindu Society by making them feel impotent and inferior. As he looked around, he found the same way the Hindu society targeted in several areas. Whether it is the terrorism where Hindus and Hindu temples are targeted and claimed the number of lives next to Iraq in last 4 years, large scale religious conversions of Hindus, rubbishing of Hinduism in history books in India,
He explains how Hindus who constitute large percentage can be under sieze. He gave example how numbers do not matter, because thousands of goats can be made to run for life by one tiger. Strength or capacity does not matter, because a thin whip master in circus can make powerful lions obey him. The problem he says is lack of Hindu mindset. What is happening today is mental subversion, unlike physical brutalities of Islamic invasions of the past. He says he took up Rama Sethu because it is just another example of the way Hindu society is being targeted in subtle psychological way.
What does he mean by Hindu Mind set? He goes on, it is not about doing Pujas or celebrating Diwali only. It is the corporate psychology that is needed. When 500,000 Hindus were driven out Kashmir by Islamic terrorists and living in squalid camps since 1989, we need to feel annoyed, upset and take action. We worry about one Masjid broken, every day Hindu temples are broken in Kashmir and outside India like Malayasia.  When Hindus and Hindu temples are targeted by terrorists, we need to stand up against it.
What are forces against Hinduism? He gave examples of Christian fundamentalist Pat Robertson openly declaring that he would convert 100 millions to Christianity. Money does not matter. He gave example of christian CM of Andhra Pradesh YSR. As for Islam, he says they are more clearer than Christian fundamentalists in their objective. He explained how the Islamic scriptures (Koran, Sira and Hadith) drive the behavior of Islamists and how Islam sanctions terrorism. He showed it is not just in Kashmir where Hindus are targeted, it is happening in district level in India. He detailed how in every single Panchayat in Tamilnadu (40 of them) where Muslims gained majority, they stopped providing civic services such as water, school, garbage cleanup to Hindus for last 10 years with notices in Urdu that they need to convert to get those services. Failing which, they destroyed their agriculture by directing the water from their tanneries into their fields. He related how he successfully fought this in High Court of Tamilnadu that ordered Governor to take action. He explained the concepts of Dar-Ul-Harab and Dar-Ul-Islam, where this mentality comes from.
However, he does not blame Islam or Christian fundamentalists. He says they are clear in their mind what they want to do and they go about doing it. But it is Hindu who are confused about what he(or she) is and what to do. That confusion he was trying to remove by placing the whole conspiracy behind destruction of Rama Sethu.
Having given this perspective he goes about the Rama Sethu's significance in our history. He detailed how there were committees since 1860, nine of them before independence and six after the independence and not a single committee ever recommended the route that destroys Rama Sethu. How the current Government took on its own to destroy at the behest of Karunanidhi and his chela Baalu. Why so many alternative routes not considered and why every clearance required by law was simply ignored? Why the precedent where Governments in India always changed project plans in order not to hurt religious sentiments would not be followed in finding alternative to the proposed route that would hurt the sentiments of one billion Hindus (e.g, Government in 2001 rerouted Delhi Metro at cost of 500 crores and delay of 1 year, because of simple complaint from a Muslim NGO that the Metro route can cause cracks to three graves near Qutub Minar)? Why did the Government ignore 35 Lakhs verifiable signatures requesting not to destroy Rama Sethu and the protest of 5 lakh people? The same Government that will bend backwards for even slightest dissent from their vote banks, has decidedly chosen the path of breaking the back of Hindu society.
He showed with detailed calculations how it is the greatest economic disaster and the only beneficiaries are TR Baalu who owns the shipping company with ships of the size that can go thro'Â the proposed route thro' Rama Sethu and his son who has company that needs to clear the sand that will be thrown by sea into the dredged area every year, worth multiple crores.Â
Listen to the talk to become aware of the extent of corruption, debasement of our current political leaders and the conspiracy going on to destroy Hinduism from India. Listen to how he brilliantly argued with justices with wit and humor and made the defense counsel eat their words. Hear the options he has to offer to revive Hindu society and create a stronger India.
Dr. Swamy's book on Rama Sethu also provides all the details.  Rama Sethu book can be ordered from Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Foundation at 908-244-3258.
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N S Rajaram's review of Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->To give an idea of how diverse early Christianity was, some said that Jesus never died, while some others claimed he was never born, meaning Jesus was a fictional character. This is also the view of several modern scholars who have studied the Dead Sea Scrolls. John Allegro, a very famous Biblical scholar, wrote: "I would suggest that many incidents (in the Gospels) are merely projections into Jesus's own history of what was expected of the Messiah."
Allegro was persecuted and hounded out by church authorities for expressing such views. It was no different nearly 2,000 years ago. The key figure in suppressing texts which "encourage believers to seek God within themselves with no mention of churches, let alone clergy" was Irenaeus, a Syrian theologian who was the bishop of Lyon. He is particularly harsh on Judas with his claim of having received secret knowledge (gnosis) as the favoured disciple of Jesus. (It was the claim also of Mary Magdalene in her Gospel.)
Irenaeus's programme was to suppress diversity and impose total uniformity of belief and practices. According to Pagels, "The teachings Irenaeus labelled as 'orthodox' tend to be those that helped him and other bishops consolidate scattered groups of Jesus's followers into what he and other bishops envisioned as a single, united organisation they called the 'catholic (universal) church'. The diverse range... they denounced as 'heresy'... could be antithetical to the consolidation of the church under the bishops' authority."
One can see that the overriding concern of the early church fathers was exercising political control over the followers. Irenaeus's agenda was taken a major step forward in the fourth century by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. He fixed the New Testament substantially in the form we have it today by selecting four gospels out of more than 40 then known, and assigning them to Mark, Luke, Matthew and John.
Athanasius's theological consolidation of Christianity was soon followed by political consolidation. At the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, persuaded Emperor Constantine to extend protection to this version of Christianity or Nicene Christianity. Armed with this power, it was relatively easy for Eusebius, Athanasius and others to suppress the Gnostics and other competing versions of Christianity. Church dominance became complete when Theodosius in 391 AD declared Nicene Christianity the only legitimate religion in the Roman Empire.
Why are these momentous findings little discussed in India when the media is willing to give space to discredited 'Jesus lived in India' stories and proven fakes like the Shroud of Turin? Is it because the English language media is dominated by a convent educated elite that doesn't want to report controversial findings? Or, do Indian churches and their leaders still see themselves as serving colonial masters and have no tradition of critical Biblical scholarship? If so they have yielded the space to politico-religious entrepreneurs like John Dayal and outright charlatans like Valson Thampu.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Modi writes his way to end rift with RSS
Gloria D Souza
15 April 2008, Tuesday
 Indian politicians are chartering a new territory of book writing.
 And BJP is ahead of others in this regard. After Advani,
 Narendra Modi has turned author and his book 'Jyoti Punj' is
 being seen as an effort towards bridging the gap with the RSS.
A 200 page book, titled 'Jyoti Punj', was released by yet another politician turned author, Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat. A few days back, LK Advani had launched his autobiography in the form of a book, "My country, My people."
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bhagat said that there were many pracharak, of the RSS, who used to contribute selflessly for the nation, without any desire for fame and wealth. He said that they wanted their work to talk. Publicity was an alien concept to them.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> By this launch, Modi has extended his hand of friendship to the RSS and now for Modi, dilli door nahi hai. </b>Everyone in Gujarat would love to see Modi as the next prime minister of India. But surely, by the release of 'Jyoti Punj', a strong step has been taken towards Delhi.
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06-13-2008, 10:14 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-13-2008, 10:15 AM by Bodhi.)
<!--QuoteBegin-Bodhi+Jun 13 2008, 04:44 AM-->QUOTE(Bodhi @ Jun 13 2008, 04:44 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->By R C Majumdar. Downloadable from archive:
CORPORATE LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA , 1922
KAMBUJA-DESA - AN ANCIENT HINDU COLONY IN CAMBODIA
ANCIENT INDIAN COLONIES IN THE FAR EAST - Part II (History of Hindu civilization in Malay, Borneo, Java, Bali, Sumatra)
[right][snapback]82781[/snapback][/right]
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Bodhi, There is a djvu reader called Windjvu that installs on Windows PC. Its very good.
I have a link here to the Internet Archive that has MAjumdar books. Download the djvu format for your laptop.
LINK
Something to ponder upon for our supporters of M F Hussain
Book on Prophet Mohammed's wife won't be published
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Publishing giant Random House has scrapped plans to publish a book on Aisha, the wife of Prophet Mohammed, fearing that it could be the new Satanic Verses and may draw the wrath of the Muslim community.
"I'm devastated," said author Sherry Jones, whose novel The Jewel of Medina was bought by the publisher last year in a $100,000 two-book deal that was abruptly called off in May.
In a Wall Street Journal article, Asra Q Nomani, a former reporter of the journal, said, "This saga upsets me as a Muslim -- and as a writer who believes that fiction can bring Islamic history to life in a uniquely captivating and humanising way."
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