<!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Political preference can alter the brain: Research
[ 16 Jul, 2006 1941hrs ISTANI ]
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WASHINGTON: A UCLA imaging study has found allegiance to a political party can affect the brain activity of partisans viewing the candidates. Published in journal Neuropsychologia, the study finds that a partisan's brain responds to the opposition candidate's face by activating cognitive networks designed to regulate emotion.
Using powerful fMRI equipment at the Semel Institute's Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, the team scanned the brains of 10 registered Democrats and 10 registered Republicans as the subjects viewed the faces of 2004 presidential contenders George Bush, John Kerry and Ralph Nader.
The study was conducted in the heat of the campaign that year. Viewing an opposition candidate produced signal changes in cognitive control circuitry in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulated cortex, as well as in emotional regions in the insula and anterior temporal poles.
"We still have much to learn about the neural basis of political decision making; however, these findings show party allegiance has a clear impact on brain activity," said lead author Marco Iacoboni, associate professor in residence at the Semel Institute, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the UCLA Brain Research Institute.
"Most importantly, our findings show how political attitudes can guide the activation of emotional systems in the brain and influence how people regulate those emotional responses," Iacoboni said.
The effect was strongest for ratings of George Bush, which tended to differ more between Democrats and Republicans than did ratings of John Kerry.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Tirupati Declaration: Hindus of the world unite</b>
V SUNDARAM
Chennai, July 18:
With Hinduism under siege from various quarters, it was time
for a show of unity and purpose. And that is what was witnessed at the
historic meeting of Tirumala Tirupati Samrakshana Samiti (TTSS) at
Tirupati Saturday last.
The meeting's purpose was simple and straightforward ? to show
in no uncertain terms the protest against the rampant and brazen
evangelical activities in Tirupati and Tirmula by Christian
missionaries.
Led by the two most respectable and revered sawmijis in our
midst today, Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Vishveshwara Theertha Swami
of Pejawar Mutt, the meeting, made a clarion call against the sinister
attempts at proselytization by the missionaries and adopted the
historical Tirupati Declaration.
The following are the three cardinal Articles of this Historic
Declaration:
I) We Hindus assembled here declare that we do not support,
directly or indirectly, any group, institution, religion, media, or
political force, which preaches, practices or works against Hindu
dharma in this country.
ii) We appeal to all the Hindus in this country and elsewhere
to subscribe to and support this declaration, the Tirupathi
declaration.
iii) We want all the Hindu religious endowments to be managed
by Hindu bodies, and not by the government. We want the secular
government to release all religious endowments from its hold.
In addition to the above declarations, the following
resolutions were also adopted unanimously:
a) Immediate action must be taken to bring under TTD control
over 250 sq. kilometre area covering various Theerthams closely
associated with the legend of Lord Venkateswara as against the 27.5
sq. kilometres under Andhra Pradesh Government order (G.O.) No.338. In
this context, they quoted Mackenzie's manuscript of the year 1801 as
per which the Seven Hills extended up to the Swarnamukhi River near
Sri Kalahasti in the east, Nagapatala Devarakonda in the west,
Yerraguntla Thota in Rayachoti Taluk in the north and Pillari Kanuma
near Narayana Vanam in the south. Such a law would ward off any threat
of non-Hindu activities on the Seven Hills.
b) Only Hindus by law should be made eligible for appointment
in TTD Service.
c) Andhra Pradesh Government should immediately give up its
plans to convert Tirumala into a luxury tourist spot.
d) There should be a legal ban on all non-Hindu activities in
TTD. medical and educational institutions.
e) TTD funds should be used only for Hindu spiritual activities.
f) The Dharma Prachara Parishad should be renamed as Hindu
Dharma Prachara Parishad.
Speaking on the prohibition of non-Hindu appointments in TTD,
the Swamijis urged that immediate steps should be taken to deport 40
Christian employees and other non-Hindus at Tirumala.
The Swamijis alleged that the TTD's medical and educational
institutions have become centres of proselytisation by non-Hindus.
They demanded that the Devastanam should punish those non-Hindus
indulging in such evangelical activities and identify the TTD and
State Government Officials encouraging them directly or indirectly and
to transfer them from Tirupati forthwith.
The TTSS also charged TTD with diverting devotees' offerings
to other activities owing to Government political pressure. 'These
offerings made by Hindu devotees were meant for running temples,
conducting religious festivals and providing pilgrim amenities and
propagating Hindu Dharma. They are not meant for the evangelization
programmes of Andhra Pradesh Government under a Christian Chief
Minister,' they said.
The TTSS also expressed its deep concern over the increase in
evangelical activities at Tirumala and Tirupati and cited the
documentary evidence adduced by the Five Member Fact Finding Committee
appointed by the Pontiff of Pejawar with Justice Bikshapathi, former
High Court Judge as its head.
The meet also cited High Court Ruling which said: 'The rights
of Tirumala-Tirupati vest with Lord Venkateswara himself and the Trust
Board and the EO are only trustees of the property. None can take any
measures violating the right. All the Seven Hills fall under Tirumala
(W.P. No. 26145 of 1996-97(2) and 59 (DB) dated 7.9.1996).
In conclusion, Pejawar Swamiji categorically told media
persons that the Members of the TTSS fervently hope that their
legitimate demand would be acted upon before 9 August, 2006 and that
further action by the TTSS would be decided after ascertaining the
nature, intention and direction of Government response.
A host of other influential Swamijis from different parts of
India including Varada Ramanuja Jeeyar from Uttar Pradesh and Members
of the Tirupati Fact Finding Committee, T S Rao, former Director
General of Police, R. Srihari, former Vice Chancellor of the Dravidian
University, Krishniah, State Backward Classes Welfare Leader and other
prominent persons also attended the meeting. Several thousand Devotees
deeply concerned about the need for protecting the Seven Hills and the
Tirupati Temple joined in in the call.
http://newstodaynet .com/18jul/ ss2.htm
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<!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> PAGE 1 ANCHOR Why Cong student leaders are rushing to learn Vande Mataram
Varghese K GeorgePosted online: Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 0000 hrs Print EmailQuestions at the NSUI interviews range from party history to text of Jhanda Uncha; those who sex up CVs are sweating more
.
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NEW DELHI, JULY 19:For Vinod Tripathi, general secretary of the Lucknow University Students Union, joining MA in Yogic Sciences was more about prolonging his student politics than salvation-seeking.
He had no clue yoga could be a nuisance in his political career, until last Friday when he was interviewed for a post in the National Studentâs Union of India (NSUI), the student body of the Congress.
ââShow me Vajrasana,ââ he was asked by Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Oscar Fernandes. Tripathi did not have a clue. Then he was asked about other yogic postures. He had no answers so he was asked to be a good student of his subject first and then get back.
Itâs more than street-smartness at test for aspirants for nearly 20 top posts of the NSUI, who are being interviewed by Fernandes and AICC secretary Sanjay Bapna. Last week, 60 student leaders faced the interview board, and those who sexed up their CVs sweated more. ââThe high command wants a new generation which is ideologically sound and versatileâdoing well in academics besides politics,ââ Bapna says of the revised recruitment strategy.
The standard questions include: who is the founder of the Congress, when was the Congress formed, the first woman president of the party, who authored Vande Mataram? The mandatory component of the test is singing Vande Mataram or Jana Gana Mana and the flag song of the Congress, Jhanda Uncha Rahe Hamara.
Though Bapna insists the boys are doing ââexcellent,ââ the âboysâ are not too happy after hit by the surprise interview. The first-ever ideological test has thrown up several moments of fun for the interview boardâone candidate said he could sing Vande Mataram only in a group; another said Nehru was the first president of the Congress. Warned of the impending encounter, a girl messaged her friend for the entire text of Vande Mataram.
The leadership also insists that all recommendations for various posts must also grade the candidates on a scale of 10 for ideological commitment, communication skills, social service, and inter-personal skills. The grading will soon be done for existing office-bearers of the youth and student wings of the party also. ââWe want good managers, sportspersons, teachers and lawyers joining the party. The present exercise is an attempt at that,â a senior leader said.
But the entrenched groups of youth-student leaders are nervous. In the first appointment under the new policy, Wamshi Reddy, a doctor and a new entrant, has been appointed president of Andhra Pradesh NSU, ignoring several others.
Meanwhile, the old guard has taken a break from making rounds of the houses of senior leaders to brush up their general knowledge
varghese.george@expressindia.com
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->BJP tells PM to wind up Sachar Committee
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
The Pioneer
July 21, 2006
Muslim headcount will communalise judiciary, says Arun Jaitley ---- Taking
strong exception to the headcount of members of the Muslim community in the
judiciary, the BJP on Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to wind up
the Justice Rajindar Sachar Committee.
"The Sachar Committee is on a path of national destruction. The Prime Minister,
who constituted the committee, must accept this reality and wind up the Sachar
Committee, a product of the perverse mindset," BJP general secretary Arun
Jaitley said on Thursday.Â
The Sachar Committee had started a Muslim headcount in the armed forces but was
forced to abandon the exercise midway in face of fierce media criticism.
Asserting that the Sachar Committee was a product of a perverse mindset, Jaitley
said, "The committee tried to destroy the professionalism of the Indian Armed
Forces by seeking to communalise them. The public opinion and political
opposition prevented the Government and the Sachar Committee from proceeding on
a suicidal path."
"Having failed to communalise the Army, the Committee is now making attempts to
communalise the judiciary. At this rate, a situation would arise when the
litigants might ask for the judges of his caste or religion to hear the cases,"
Jaitley added.
With the UPA Government already under attack from the BJP for indulging in
minority appeasement, the Muslim headcount in the judiciary has given fresh
ammunition to the Opposition to target its gun at the Centre.
Jaitley said that a judge owes his commitment to law and law alone. "His
religion is a matter of his personal belief. His religious belief does not
dictate his interpretation of law. If religious representation was introduced
as a criterion for judicial appointment, it would embolden religious identities
in the discharge of judicial functions," he said.
Asking if the Sachar Committee was under the belief that the judicial
polarisation on the basis of religion would serve India best, Jaitley said: "If
the Sachar Committee has its way, litigants of a particular religion would be
more comfortable before a judge of that religion. Would the engagement of
lawyers be also on the basis of their religious denomination."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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Home > Top Stories > Nation
Friday, July 21, 2006
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Nation
Readers React
'An India beyond vote bank politics'
Vinod Naidu/ Reader
Posted online: Friday, July 21, 2006 at 1526 hours IST
Updated: Friday, July 21, 2006 at 1539 hours IST
Mumbai Meri Jaan July 21: Mumbai blasts, the Gujarat carnage, Varanasi blasts, attack on the Parliament.....will this stop in the future ? Of course it can, just bring sanity, logic, reason & transparency into governance.
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But then we may begin by putting in place a system that allows election of persons with principles, some substance, integrity, and who see India for what it is - a diverse country - and are driven by a great desire to integrate this diverse nation into a single India. Too idealistic ? Not so...there are a huge number of politicians, babus, police, religious heads....etc that are secular and with a great desire to change India for the better but they are not in a position that can effect the desired change.
So, instead, our country is governed on the bases of vote bank politics, and this is, and will continue to be the greatest threat to national development, national unity, national integrity and internal security because majority of the people feel excluded and lacking in opportunity to help themselves to a better life.
The success of vote bank politics lies in maintaining the status quo of the âpoor peopleâ and with this it will be hard to ring in the much needed change. It is almost impossible to wait for the âpoor peopleâ to awaken. What we can do is to unite â i.e, the middle class, the âintellectualsâ, the media, the business community, film & sports personalities, the NRI and any one with a voice should think together and get together and kick up a storm sufficient enough to change vote bank politics from being religion & caste based to being based on performance and good governance.
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If this does not happen, the âpoor massesâ will continue to be so and India will be what it is today....disunited in many areas and on many issues with rampant corruption thrown in, a fertile breeding ground for development of all kinds of militancy, with thugs running around as âleadersâ etc...etc.
The general public have managed to live in peace and harmony in spite of the âgovernanceâ this far. It is this central character of the Indian people that is being gnawed at now and therefore It is time we go beyond passive resilience.
Perhaps we should select a day and time in the future...say August 15th , 2006 and designate 12 noon as the âhour of changeâ wherein we organize ourselves into groups and those with a voice or are âpopularâ or âfamousâ or are âcelebritiesâ take the lead in peacefully demonstrating on the streets, telling the Indian politicians that dividing and ruling India as it was done is now over and that India wants, drinking water, proper roads, world class infrastructure, health care, primary and secondary schools, care for the aged etc...etc.
The rest of us can send SMS messages, emails, letters etc to every politician, the police, the babus, the âreligious headsâ telling them that they are the main players in making India a safe, prosperous and a great super power and that this will be most beneficial to us & them and our children and their children and their children's children and not to wait for the âpoor massesâ to wake up and demand change. The poor are so crushed they simply cannot do that now. They need our help to help themselves.
Think !!
08-01-2006, 10:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-01-2006, 10:19 PM by Bodhi.)
If you retrospect carefully about our modern past of last 100 years or so, worst damage to India has not been done by Islamists, Missionaries or Communists, but by another breed of people who come from within India and her culture. There is no definite name to this breed, but they call themselves "secular".
Their very existance is miserable since beginning of their lives. Though typically born of Hindu parents, they soon learn to hate themselves for being born in a Hindu family. Since their early growing up, the fire of their self-hate is widely and openly fueled by the secular or convent education they receive - in particular the distorted view of history and philosophy of India which they get to learn. They never receive the faithful education into their own culture, philosophy, and view of life. They are not even properly equipped in the basic Indian languages so that they can inquire the Indian philosophy first hand. In fact some of these folks - later in their lives - purposefully learn the Indian languages, to do some "scholarly research" for proving - <span style='color:red'>"Why I am not a Hindu". Their hate runs deep - very deep. Although - of late - they have actually learnt to be more sophisticated -and hide this hate from coming out too openly! And as the human psyche would dictate, they must love something too. So, naturally, they learn to like every thing which is adverse to Hinduism and India.
They have a whole legacy of leaders whom they swear by. Their love for their legandary leaders is such that they just can't stand any critical consideration into their lives. What they also can not stand is any public knowledge about other leaders who were adversaries of their leaders or who might have spoken against their leaders. This is one of their emotional week points. They often break down - either in tears or in fit of rage - if you try to critically examine the deeds of their leaders, or praise adversary leaders.
Although I beleive Akbar might have started cleverly breeding these people, I think it were British who institutionalized the factories for their mass production. The early samples of this breed were carefully selected from families which had Hindu names but not strong Hindu backgrounds in life, or had european leanings. These young people went to England to receive English education, and were carefully nurtured to view Europe as the epitome of all human acheivement, and India as full of savagary and home to backwardness. Once back in India, they were chosen by British to be promoted as the "native Indian leaders" and systematically made succesful. All the adversaries or competitors of these leaders were handled strong handedly by British and never allowed to succeed. Before quitting, this was the breed British transferred power to, and obviousely why.
Post independence, this breed grew rapidly, by leaps and bounds. They helped themselves and each other in occupying all prominent positions in acadamia, polity, policy making, NGOs, social activism, media, judiciary and anywhere where they can pursure their agenda. Of late, they have even started penetrating the religious and cultural Hindu organizations too - to hurt them from inside.
They are also running a conversion mission of their own - which largely remains unnoticed! They are recruiting and converting the young Hindus into their own breed, and they do it pretty openly through control over schools, colleges and universities. They also make "secularism" a hip thing to attract young impressionable mind.
What is their agenda? Actually I am not sure beyond a certain point. What I am sure of though is, they hate Hinduism from deep their psyche, and all their agenda points are - hurt Hindu. And since they consider all progress and development to be a foreign concept, they view all foreign concepts like communism, socialism, islamism, christianism etc with deep reverence. In fact they create conductive local environment - to complement the spread of all of these viruses and bacteria.
Politically, they go all out and appease these sections who promote any of these. And they consider all promotors of Hindu culture as the arch-enemies. In Media, they are especially strong. They portray Hinduism always in bad light, and adversaries in positive light. Managing lies and hiding truth is their particular especiality. They have honed the skills of opinion management, and know how to keep the large unsuspecting Hindu public in dark.
Their modus operandi is very clear by now.
In politics:
- divide Hindus
- appease muslims, christians
- never hesitate to partner with commies, Islamists for political supremacy.
- ends justify the means
- Say you love India but hate Hinduism.
- Ignore terrorism. Its a natural phenomenon. Work for betterment of minorities.
In Media:
- Brand Hindu activism as fundamentalism
- Attack the Hindu unity. Highlight the differences, even promote.
- Create news. Make Hindu appear barbaric, backward, and far from development
- Allow full run for Islamists, Christian missionaries.
- Suppress News, add so much fluff around truth, that truth is not to be found.
- Keep hurting Hindu icons of respect. Those are the energy points of Hinduism.
- In films and other media, portray Hindu values derogatory - but subtly.
- Promote steriotypes - corrupt Pundit who rapes womes, Swamis or devotees are comic people. Muslim is a rightious and brave person. Even if a poor muslim takes to crime, soceity is responsible. Even in crime, muslim criminal is a hero, brave and daring man, who fights corrupt hindu policemen.
In acadamia:
- mould the History to show Hindusim a rudimentary and primitive religion
- there war never a unified India
- Teach children: Invaders were brave, your forefathers meek and idiotic. You are such a miserable stock.
- Promote the conversion into secularism.
=====================================================
This thread is to discuss the threat to India and Hindu culture from this particular breed of people. Do we call them "pseudo-secularists" or psecs in short?
Things which I would want to discuss are:
- How to unmask them,
- What is their true agenda
- How to re-convert the present psecs back into Hindu cultural fold; or is it possible?
- How to stop future conversion of young minds into potential psecs?
- News about their activities.</span>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The long shadow</b>
Tuesday, August 01, 2006Â 21:06 IST
André Béteille
Caste has become an obsession with the media. They turn their eyes in every direction for signs of caste bias. Where it does exist, caste bias is largely a matter of the mind, and when more and more people become convinced about its open or hidden operation, it begins to rear its head even where it did not exist. Today caste bias in our public institutions is on its way to becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy.
The prevalent view among educated Indians in the early years of independence was that caste was in decline: it had its importance in India's past but it would have little importance in its future. This was the general opinion in Calcutta where I was a student in the mid-fifties and among economists, historians and political scientists in Delhi where I came to teach in 1959. The only academics who took caste seriously were the sociologists, and since I was one myself, I became the target of much light-hearted banter from the economists in the Delhi School of Economics.
When N Srinivas pointed out in his address to the archaeology and anthropology section of the Indian Science Congress in January 1957 that caste was acquiring a new lease of life in independent India, The Times of India commented that he was exaggerating its importance. Now newspaper writers are falling over each other to show how important caste is in contemporary India. Their newfound zeal and enthusiasm leaves serious students of the subject nonplussed.
What actually is happening to caste today? A sober assessment of the evidence will show that, while caste has probably become more important in certain domains, it has also become less important in many others. In the prevailing circumstances it becomes difficult to determine whether caste as a whole is becoming stronger or weaker. But those benign optimists who had hoped at the time of independence that caste would disappear by the end of the century have been proved wrong.
If we turn back to discussions of caste in the 50 years prior to Independence, we will find that those who wrote about it pointed to three different kinds of factors as being fundamental to its persistence. One set of authors stressed the ritual basis of caste with its roots in the opposition of purity and pollution. They pointed to the innumerable restrictions on the acceptance of food and water, and the elaborate procedures devised for the maintenance of purity. These rules and restrictions have steadily declined in strength, with several becoming obsolete.
A second set of authors maintained that caste constituted the social basis of the economic division of labour in India. While the lowest castes are still concentrated in ill-paid manual occupations and the upper castes are more prominent in better paid non-manual ones, the association between caste and occupation has definitely weakened. Many traditional occupations have become obsolete and they have been replaced by new 'caste-free' occupations. With rapid changes in the occupational system, the association between caste and occupation will weaken further.
Finally, there are those who argued that the real strength of caste lay in the rules of marriage prescribed by it. These rules were rigid and elaborate, and, among the Hindus, they enjoyed the sanctions of both shastric and customary law. While caste endogamy, or marriage within the caste, is still the general practice particularly in the rural areas, departures from it are taking place with increasing frequency. Particularly in the growing educated middle class.
There is one domain in which the slow but unmistakable decline of caste is contradicted, and that is in politics. When Srinivas argued that caste was acquiring a new lease of life, all the evidence that he marshalled in support of his argument came from the domain of politics. In the decades since then politicians of all shades and complexions have learned to make increasing use of caste for the mobilisation of electoral support. No doubt there are regional variations in this, and, hopefully, not irreversible. But if caste has acquired an increasing hold on the public imagination, we have mainly our politicians to thank.
All political parties promote caste consciousness by putting forward claims in the name of caste pretending to safeguard social justice. Even the left parties have become champions of caste quotas, using the disingenuous argument that in India caste is the form taken by class, a theoretical innovation that must make Marx and Engels turn in their graves.
The writer is a sociologist.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1044913<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>India is being taken for granted</b>
By M.V. Kamath
It is not Narendra Modi who is chief minister of Maharashtra but a certified secularist like Vilasrao Deshmukh. So where do we go from here?
What happened in Mumbai on July 11, 2006 is a calculated repetition of what happened in Godhra four years ago and in just as ghastly a fashion but with more finesse.
In Godhra, our secularists gave the excuse that some kar sevaks pulled the beard of a Muslim tea vendor at Godhra station and did not pay him for a wretched cup of tea. Yet anotherâand entirely imaginedâexcuse was given that the kar sevaks, right in front of their own wives and daughters kidnapped a Muslim girl and raped her. Those who believe that would believe anything. The girl allegedly raped was not even produced before the court. Forgotten was the fact that some two thousand plus Muslims had foregathered close to the station and were seen throwing stones and burning rags at the coaches. It was also claimed that the kar sevaks were demanding of the Muslim tea vendors to say Jai Ram Shri Ram.
But what happened in Mumbai? Some 'terrorists'âapparently they dropped from heavensâmanaged to plant bombs in the first class compartments of seven local suburban trains and got them exploded through remote control . Over 190 persons were killed and over 250 badly injured. And why, may one ask?
India has done nothing to rouse Muslim anger. India has not sent any of its armed forces to Iraq. No suburbanite has pulled the beard of any station Muslim tea vendor or kidnapped a Muslim girl to rape her. Mumbaikars are ever so busy a lot trying to just make both ends meet that they would not even be aware if a heavenly and seductive maiden from a heaven were to stand by their side. They had done no harm to any Muslim and yet a couple of hundred people were killed in cold-blood and our secularists are silent. The terrorists are not even identified for what they are: Muslims.
But Mumbai maintains peace. Why? Because Mumbai belongs to everybody. It follows therefore that it belongs to nobody and so nobody takes to the streets. And it is not Narendra Modi who is Chief Minister of Maharashtra but a certified secularist like Vilasrao Deshmukh. So where do we go from here? Dismiss the gruesome killings as the work of unnamed and unidentified 'terrorists' and forget the event and go on as if nothing has happened? What sort of government do we have in Mumbai and at the Centre?
One guesswork is that the explosions are a way of Muslims taking revenge for the High Court awarding death sentences to two terrorists involved in the Akshardham Temple raids in Ahmedabad. But what has that got to do with Mumbai? Al Qaida has expressed its joy at the killings of innocent Mumbai suburbanites.
Another theory is that the terrorists are members of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), an Islamic student body who are paid agents of ISI and its newly formed outfit Tehfaz-e-Sherai Islam. And who are the ISI? They are agents of the Pakistan Army. And who is running the Pakistan Army? General Pervez Musharraf, no less. And who is patronising him? The Government of President Bush who has been eager to supply some 36 F-16 fighter planes plus several hundred crore rupees worth of ammunition and spare parts to Pakistan. So whom do we blame? Narendra Modi?
The Government of India sounds frightened. A large section of the scientific community is against the proposed US-India Nuclear Agreement and there is no public discussion of so major an issue, The Reservation for SC/ST/OBCs so thoroughly damned by responsible scholars has apparently been the sole work of Arjun Singh , without the authorisation of the Cabinet.
Worse, Arjun Singh is now demanding reservations for Muslims as well and the PM's office is silent. The I & B Ministry is reportedly planning to control the media just as the Chinese Government does and nobody quite knows what is going on. The CPM is known to be cutting a deal with the Maoists without either the knowledge or approval of the government. The DMK having threatened to withdraw support to the UPA government over the disinvestment of the government in the Neyveli Lignite plant is now reportedly pressing the UPA government to do a U-turn in India's Sri Lanka policy of hands-off.
After first surrendering to the DMK, a purely communal body, the Prime Minister has put on hold all future talks on disinvestment. The UPA Government has apparently exhausted its capacity to take any hard decisions. We learn that Home Minister Shivraj Patil kept the Prime Minister in the dark over the swearing in of a minority JMM government in Jharkhand, which could be a rumour, but it is afloat.
In Bhiwandi Muslims probably don't know that under Mughal rule, masjids were not only built near Hindu temples as in Varanasi and Mathura , but were also built over the ruins of demolished temples as in Ayodhya. In Maharashtra, the government obviously cannot even build a police station next to a masjid. There have been reports that the Water Resources Minister has been seeking to shut down the Narmada Project and it is open knowledge that Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar and the NCP backed Rahul Bajaj's candidature for the Rajya Sabha seat recently made vacant by Pramod Mahajan's death.
It is six months now since the Bhagalpur Riots Commission was set up, but it is yet to start work, The Sunday Pioneer (July 16) ran a survey on the performance of the Congress-led UPA government. On practically every question raised, the public showed total dissatisfaction with the UPA government.
When asked whether, if elections are held now, the voter would re-elect the UPA government, 58 per cent said no. And 52 per cent said they were not satisfied with the overall performance of the UPA. And for a time there were strong rumours that the Prime Minister had put in his papers. No one can blame him. The coalition government parties are taking him for a ride. And he is too much of a gentleman.
But the sheer impertinence of Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, linking the Mumbai bomb blasts to the failure of resolution of the so-called Kashmir dispute, takes one's breath away. India has to complain to Washington that if Bush cannot persuade Musharraf to close down the terrorist training camps in Pakistan territory, Islamabad may have to pay heavily for it in the future.
<b>India is being taken for granted by all and sundry because we are considered weak and vacillating . Musharraf speaks with a forked tongue. He seems to respect only violence. Meanwhile, in all this, the Muslim community in India has a great role to play. They must expose the terrorists in their midst and put the interests of India first, second and last. That is true secularism.
For far too long has the community remained silent. As for our secularists, the less said about them the better . Which is why we have growing terrorism not only in Jammu and Kashmir but now all over India. </b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
:argueNation
<b>Kalam speech today; govt uneasy</b>
SANTWANA BHATTACHARYA
Posted online: Monday, August 14, 2006 at 0140 hours IST
Updated: Monday, August 14, 2006 at 0320 hours IST
NEW DELHI, AUGUST 13: This Independence Day-eve, the government is more than a bit jittery. And, itâs not just about the tense security situation. Rather itâs about what might be in store for them in President APJ Abdul Kalamâs August-14 address to the nation.
With the OoP Bill still hanging fire after two rounds of legislation, the ruling coalition is apprehensive of a coded admonition from President Kalam. This is, as a senior UPA minister said, the only speech the President ever makes that does not need Cabinet approval.
The government was hoping for an I-Day gift in the shape of a Presidential assent to the controversial Bill by Sunday evening. This has not fructified. Even if the 7 pm âaddress-to-the-nationâ goes without a hitch, members of the Cabinet and Parliament have to face Kalam earlier in the day for the opening of the Parliament Museum.
It will also be attended by Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and leaders of all political parties. While walking through the period settings brought alive through sound-light-video synchronisation with multi-screen on Indian democratic traditions, ââone never knows what the President will tell usââ, a senior Congress leader said.
I got the following email from a friend of mine which is self-explanatory.
Are you a Secularist?
Then please answer these questions for yourself
There are nearly 52 Muslim countries.
Show one Muslim country where Hindus are extended the special rights that
Muslims are accorded in India?
Show one country where the 85% majority craves for the indulgence of the
15% minority.
Show one Muslim country, which has a Non-Muslim as its President or Prime
Minister.
Show one Mullah or Maulvi who has declared a 'fatwa' against terrorists.
Hindu-majority Maharashtra, Bihar, Kerala, Pondicherry , etc. have in the
past elected Muslims as CM's, â¦..
Can you ever imagine a Hindu becoming the CM of Muslim - majority J&K?
In 1947, when India was partitioned, the Hindu population in Pakistan was
about 24% â¦.Today it is not even 1%.
In 1947, the Hindu population in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was 30%
â¦. Today it is about 7%.
What happened to the missing Hindus?
Do Hindus have human rights?
In contrast, in India, Muslim population has gone up from 10.4% in 1951
to about 14% today;
â¦whereas Hindu population has come down from 87.2% in 1951 to 85% in 1991.
Do you still think that Hindus are fundamentalists?
In India today Hindus are 85%. If Hindus are intolerant, how come Masjids
and madrasas are thriving?
How come Muslims are offering Namaz on the road?
How come Muslims are proclaiming 5 times a day on loud speakers that
there is no God except Allah?
When Hindus gave to Muslims 30% of Bharat for a song, why should
Hindus now beg for their sacred places at Ayodhya, Mathura And Kashi?
Why Gandhiji objected to the decision of the cabinet and insisted that
Somnath Temple should be reconstructed out of public fund, not government
funds. When in January 1948 he pressurized Nehru and Patel to carry on
renovation of the Mosques of Delhi at government expenses?
Why Gandhi supported Khilafat Movement (nothing to do with our freedom
movement) and what in turn he got?
If Muslims & Christians are minorities in Maharashtra, UP, Bihar etc.,
are Hindus not minorities in J&K, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh,
Meghalaya etc? Why are Hindus denied minority rights in these states?
When Haj pilgrims are given subsidy, why Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath,
Sabarimalai & Kailash Mansarovar are taxed?
When Christian and Muslim schools can teach Bible and Quran,
â¦. Why Hindus cannot teach Gita or Ramayan in our schools?
Do you admit that Hindus do have problems that need to be recognized?
Or do you think that those who call themselves Hindus are themselves The
problem?
Why post - Godhra is blown out of proportion, when no-one talks of the
ethnic cleansing of 4 lakh Hindus from Kashmir?
Do you consider that - Sanskrit is communal and Urdu is secular, Mandir
is Communal and Masjid is Secular, Sadhu is Communal and Imam is secular,
BJP is communal and Muslim league is Secular, Dr.Praveen Bhai
Togadia is ANTI-NATIONAL and Bhukari is Secular, VandeMatharam is
communal and Allah-O-Akbar is secular, Shriman is communal and Mian is
secular, Hinduism is Communal and Islam is Secular, Hindutva is
communal and Jihadism is secular, and at last, Bharat is communal and
Italy is Secular?
Why Temple funds are spent for the welfare of Muslims and Christians,
when they are free to spend their money in any way they like?
When uniform is made compulsory for school children, why there is no
Uniform Civil Code for citizens?
In what way, J&K is different from Maharashtra, TamilNadu or
UttarPradesh, to have Article 370?
Abdul Rehman Antuley was made a trustee of the famous Siddhi Vinayak
Temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai â¦.Can a Hindu - say Mulayam or Laloo â ever
become a trustee of a Masjid or Madrasa?
Dr. Praveen bhai Togadia has been arrested many times on flimsy grounds.
Has the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Delhi, Ahmed Bhukari been arrested for
claiming to be an ISI agent and advocating partition of Bharat?
Can this happen anywhere, except in a HINDU NATION - BHARATH?
JAI HIND !!!
This is not prepared by/for any political party/group
⦠these are the observations & the thoughts of
a Citizen Of India
India not a Hindu civilisation, says Amartya Sen
WASHINGTON: Professor Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize laureate, has said that it is wrong to project India as a Hindu civilisation because its history has been diverse and to see its history in strictly Hindu terms can only miss a lot of Indiaâs traditions.
In an interview published by India Abroad... Full Story
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...6-8-2006_pg7_35
<!--emo&:angry:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Some Straight Talk From An Indian Muslim 8/14/2006 9:18 PM
http://vivekajyoti.blogspot.com/2006/08/th...k-to-stone.html
Let me give you a perspective of the future. In 50 years India has reached this stage and in another 50 years Muslims shall control India. India is Muslim country and shall always remain so. Look around and see how you Hindoos honour and respect us. The more violent we Muslims get the more you will honour us. In the next 10 years there will be a Muslim Prime Minister of India.
A day or two after the Mumbai train explosion your government gave $25 million US Dollars to the Government of Pakistanâ¦.Whyâ¦To come, blow up some more trainsâ¦See how brainy you Hindoos areâ¦You pay Pakistan to destroy you. Just like Prithviraj gave opportunity to Ghori to destroy himâ¦History is repeating itself.
I would like to see and the likes of you exclude a Muslim Prime Minister of India, Or stop India become a Muslim country. This is not a dream. It is a statement of fact. We Muslims are multiplying much faster than you. We are allowed to have five wives. You Hindus can not even look after one. Your movie industry is already Mohammedanised. Your language, custom, culture, religion are destroyed are being eroded away into history.
We Muslims know that you Hindoos cannot do without us. Since the day Ghori destroyed that coward Prithviraj, you Hindus have been on the run and we Muslims will keep you on the run until there is not a single Hinduoo left in this world.
Note another fact. It is not only the Muslims who are eliminating you. The Christians are doing much better and faster. You do not know your own history and the English had to tell that. You rely on the Christians and Muslims to exist.
The stones (idols) did not save Prithviraj and Ghori executed him. However Ghori was defeated four times and Allah was with him and he was not killed. He returned to destroy his enemy. Ghori's defeat was only to teach him lesson which he mastered and destroyed you stone worshipper Prithviraj.
This is some straight talk to stone headed Hindoos. You are incapable to hear, read and understand the truth. Go discuss with your friends how to garland Siva Lingum or may be to put a condom on it.
Allah Ho Akbar.
Akbar Azimullah
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Op-Ed  Deccan Chronilce. 22 Aug.,2006
<b>Indiaâs elusive consensus </b>
Back to Forward: By Inder Malhotra
Manmohan Singhâs third Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort was also the 59th prime ministerial oration from that august rostrum in celebration of the magic day when, in Jawaharlal Nehruâs memorable words, India had its âtryst with destiny.â The first 17 of these were delivered by Nehru himself â a record that is unlikely to be equalled, given the increasing fragmentation of the polity and the decreasing stature of most of those plunging into politics.
Indira Gandhi was close on the heels of her âpappuâ but with a crucial difference; the 16 Red Fort speeches she made were in two separate instalments of 11 and five. Having spoken from the same hallowed spot during six sequential years, Atal Behari Vajpayee comes next to her. Rajiv Gandhi spoke on five occasions, as did P.V. Narasimha Rao. Nehruâs successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Morarji Desai, who replaced IG, each addressed the nation twice. Charan Singh, Deve Gowda and Inder Gujral did so only once each. The luckless Chandrashekhar never got the opportunity.
Without further remembrance of things past, let me return to the good doctorâs rather longish discourse that was better delivered than on the last two I-Days, but was nothing to write home about. His subsequent reply to the Rajya Sabha debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal was far, far superior and has won him deserved approbation. Indeed, it was his first performance that was truly prime ministerial, hopefully to be continued.
However, my focus is on a short but significant paragraph in the Prime Ministerâs Red Fort speech appealing for national consensus, of which, predictably, little notice has been taken. <b>He exhorted âall political partiesâ to recognise the need for âbroad consensusâ on all issues involving national interest. The sentiment is unexceptionable, indeed imperative</b>. With its immense diversities and complexities, Indiaâs need for consensus is acute. But paradoxically nothing seems more difficult to achieve than consensus even on vital issues of national security.
This is so because, with the possible exception of Bangladesh,<b> no country is so hopelessly polarised as India</b>. Every matter, including the most trivial, is under disputation, so relentless and raucous, that governance of the vast country is becoming well nigh impossible. There are exceptions even to this rigorous rule. On occasions the entire political class suspends its fierce infighting and unites for blatantly self-serving reasons.
For instance, not very long ago, all political parties in Parliament had unanimously rejected the Election Commissionâs demand, endorsed by the Supreme Court, that candidates in every election must declare their assets as well as the criminal cases they might be embroiled in. Eventually, these parties were shamed into accepting the sound principle.
But this did not prevent them from proclaiming â with unanimity â that embezzling money from the MPsâ local areas development funds was but a âminor misdemeanourâ and therefore the guilty ones need not be expelled from the House, as those accepting cash for asking parliamentary questions had earlier been. And now, unanimity prevails yet again as MPs are giving themselves a substantial raise in pay and perks. They alone are blessed enough to be able to do so!
For the rest, can there be a more telling proof of the chaos â resulting from not only the lack of consensus but also from the violation of the most elementary norms of democracy â that at the time of writing, 200 âworking hoursâ of Parliament in the ongoing monsoon session have been âwastedâ in the almost daily disruption of proceedings by screaming MPs that are verbally abusive of each other and embarrassingly close to physical violence? But there is no point just lamenting this alarming state of affairs. Something has got to be done about it. Sadly, this is precisely where the rub lies.
In the first place, both sides â the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), with the Congress as its core and the Left Front as its supporter âfrom outsideâ â share the responsibility for the current confrontation accompanied by the flouting of every rule of the game of democracy. In all fairness, the culpability of the BJP may be greater, if only because to this day it has not come to terms fully with its 2004 defeat, resulting in an egregiously negative approach.
Whatever the merits and demerits of the Indo-US nuclear deal, the BJPâs total rejection of it is surely odd, considering that it was even prepared to concede the American demand for the signing of the CTBT, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.<b> But then, the Congress, in the driving seat for the last 27 months, has done precious little to salvage the situation</b>. On the contrary, the Assembly election in UP, still six months away, has so aggravated the polarisation that even the fight against the scourge of terrorism has been made hostage to crassly partisan politics.
An older and bigger malaise is the utterly flawed concept of consensus in this country. This became obvious when the Vajpayee government needed the support of parties opposed to it for both the Kargil War (1999) and its Iraq policy (2003). <b>It is no secret that many BJP stalwarts were raring to send Indian troops to the Iraqi abattoir. L.K. Advani had indeed assured the Bush administration of that. Only Atalji put his foot down and stopped that folly, helped perhaps by the Congressâ categorical opposition to the move</b>.
<b>But what exactly did Vajpayee do on the two occasions? He held meetings of 36 leaders of 28 parties, explained the broad official policy, and let the assembled leaders hold forth and then adjourn. Inder Gujral was absolutely right in complaining that this was an essay ânot in consensus building but in information sharing.â Even this kind of exercise hasnât taken place under the present dispensation. </b>
<b>In established democracies, consensus is built through private consultations between the government and Opposition leaders, accompanied by public debates, often extremely sharp, on the floor of the House. The Leader of the Opposition is usually briefed even on the most sensitive matters almost as frequently as the Prime Minister is. When, oh when, will Indian politicians learn that the Treasury and Opposition benches are partners in making the democratic system work? </b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Office of Profit Act challenged in Apex Court</b>
United News of India
New Delhi, August 22, 2006
Trinamool Congress member of Rajya Sabha Dinesh Trivedi has challenged the constitutional validity of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Act 2006 (Act no 31 of 2006) in the Supreme Court as the impugned Act is aimed at shielding those MPs and ministers who are holding office of profit.
The petitioner has asked for interim stay against the operation and enforcement of the impugned Act.
The petitioner has also asked for stay of the implementation and enforcement of the impugned Act with retrospective effect so that it will not affect the disqualification proceedings pending before the Election Commission prior to the passing of the Act or the disqualification incurred prior to the passing of the Act.
The petition filed through Mr P H Parekh had contended that the sole aim of the Act is to protect the political leaders including the Ministers and MPs who are holding the office of profit while being Ministers and MPs.
More than 40 members from both Houses of Parliament including Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Samajwadi Party(SP) MP Amar Singh and others are facing disqualification proceedings under Article 102 and 192 of the Constitution of India and the inquiries being conducted by the Election Commission of India.
According to the petitioner Law Minister H R Bhardwaj in his speech in Rajya Sabha on July 27, 2006 admitted that the government had come with the amendment Bill to protect some honourable Members and that after the Bill was passed the government would be ready to constitute a committee of both Houses to look into the matter thoroughly and come out with a solution.
The impugned Act has taken out 45 offices of profit with retrospective effect to shield the political leaders.
President A P J Abdul Kalam had returned the Bill to the Parliament for reconsideration as he had some reservations about the validity of the Bill. The Bill was returned by the government without making any changes.
According to the petitioner the Act has been enacted in self interest and not in public interest and has nullified the objective and the principles underlying the Article 102 (1)(a) of the Constitution of India and the real purpose behind the enactment of the impugned Act is to protect the Members of Parliament holding the offices of profit in question, who are facing disqualification before the Election Commission under Article 103 of the Constitution.
Mr Parekh shall mention the matter before the court tomorrow for fixing the date for early hearing of the matter.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Idea of INDIA Under Assault</b>
Kanchan Gupta
The Pioneer
August 28, 2006
The two of them walked into the moonlit night. Mahendra was grieving, but also
strangely curious.
Suddenly Bhabananda became a different person. He was no longer a calm and
patient sanyasi; nor did he look like a bloodthirsty warrior. In the stillness
of this full moon night, amid the verdant forest and its rippling brooks, he
became joyous. Bhabananda repeatedly tried to draw Mahendra into a
conversation, but finding no response he burst into song:
Vande maataram
Sujalaam suphalaam
Malayajashiitalaam
Sasyashyaamalaam
Maataram
Mahendra was surprised by the lyrics, partly because he could not follow the
words. Sujalaam... Suphalaam... Malayajashiitalaam... Sasyashyaamalaam...
"Who's maata?" he asked Bhabananda. Without answering the question, Bhabananda continued the song:
Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiim
Pullakusumita drumadalashobhiniim
Suhaasiniim Sumadhurabhaashhiniim
Sukhadaam varadaam maataram
Mahendra said, "This is desh (my country), this is not maata!"
Bhabananda replied, "We recognise no other mother - our mother is our
motherland... We have no mothers, fathers, brothers, friends... we don't have
wives, children, homes. All that we have is this sujalaa suphalaa,
malayajashiitalaa, sasyashyaamalaa... "
With realisation dawning, Mahendra said, "Do continue with your song."
Bhabananda began to sing again:
Vande maataram
Sujalaam suphalaam malayaja shiitalaam
Sasyashyaamalaam maataram
Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiim
Pullakusumita drumadala shobhiniim
Suhaasiniim sumadhura bhaashhiniim
Sukhadaam varadaam maataram
Koti koti kantha kalakalaninaada karaale
Dwisapta koti bhujaidhrat kharakaravaale
Abalaa keno maa eto bale
Bahubaladhaariniim namaami taariniim
Ripudalavaariniim Maataram
Tumi vidyaa tumi dharma
Tumi hridi tumi marma
Tvam hi praanaah shariire
Baahute tumi maa shakti
Hridaye tumi maa bhakti
Tomaara i pratimaa gadi
Mandire mandire
Tvam hi Durgaa dashapraharanadhaarinii
Kamalaa kamaladala vihaarinii
Vaanii vidyaadaayinii namaami tvaam
Namaami kamalaam amalaam atulaam
Sujalaam suphalaam
Maataram
Vande Mataram
Shyaamalaam saralaam susmitaam bhuushhitaam
Dharaniim bharaniim Maataram
Mahendra saw tears streaking down an emotional Bhabananda's face. Amazed,
Mahendra asked, "Who are you?" Bhabananda said, "We are santaan (children of
the motherland)."
(Free translation from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Anandamath)
Contrary to popular belief, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote the lyrics of Vande
Mataram, or at least the first two stanzas of the song, much before he penned
Anandamath, his novel celebrating the sanyasi uprising against the tyrannical
rule of Bengal's Muslim subedars. The original version was written sometime in
the early 1870s - probably 1875 - and was later expanded into its full version
and incorporated in Anandamath in 1881.
Much later, when Vande Mataram became the rallying cry of India's freedom
movement, after it was set to music by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and adopted
as the National Song at the Varanasi session of the Congress on September 7,
1905 (it was accorded this status, bringing it at par with the National Anthem,
officially by the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950), leaders of what was
then incipient Muslim separatism began to raise the bogey that Bankim Chandra
Chatterjee's creation was "idolatrous" and, therefore, unIslamic. In time, this
became, and continues to remain, the chant of those sections of the clergy and
community who remain hopeful of setting the clock back by 150 years, if not
more, when much if not all of India was ruled through firmans issued from the
masnad of Delhi, more specifically Lal Qila.
There is little reason for either surprise or anguish over the ulema's whiplash
response to Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's letter to
Chief Ministers, in which he said, "The year-long commemoration of 100 years of
adoption of Vande Mataram as the National Song started on September 7, 2005 and will be coming to a close on September 7, 2006. As a befitting finale to the
commemoration year, it has been decided that the first two stanzas of the
National Song Vande Mataram should be sung simultaneously in all schools,
colleges and other educational institutions throughout the country..."
In Hyderabad, Maulana Syed Shah Badruddin Qadri, president of the Sunni Ulema
Board, issued a fatwa, instructing Muslims not to sing the National Song and
added that Muslims should not send their children to schools where Vande
Mataram is sung. In Allahabad, India's all-weather Islamist and Shahi Imam of
Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari turned apoplectic with rage and
described any attempt to make Muslims sing the National Song as "oppression of
Muslims".
Such resistance and refusal has been registered by the ulema earlier too.
Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, aka Ali Mian, who, while he was alive, came to
represent theological fanaticism and practised it with unabashed gusto as
chairman of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, often raved and ranted
against Vande Mataram while rubbishing all suggestions that the National Song
defines the idea of Indian nationhood as something sacred and divine.
Nor is it surprising that the same Ali Mian, in his stirring address to a
gathering of Indian and Pakistani Muslims in Jeddah on April 3, 1986, should
have exulted, "Cow slaughter in India is a great Islamic practice, (said)
Mujadid Alaf Saani II. This was his farsightedness that he described cow
slaughter in India as a great Islamic practice. It may not be so in other
places. But it is definitely a great Islamic act in India because the cow is
worshipped in India."
Hence the renewed rage against Vande Mataram because it symbolises the
motherland India worships; it must be profaned because we associate with the
"ode to the motherland", to quote Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, "the purest
national spirit"; it must be denigrated because, as Bipin Chandra Pal (a
"terrorist" in the present UPA regime's jaundiced eyes) put it, "The new
nationalism which Vande Mataram reveals is not a mere civic or economic or
political ideal. It is a religion." It is this religion of nationalism and
patriotism, and not merely India's National Song, which is once again under
attack from those who hawk Islamic revanchism and preach bigotry and separatism in the guise of protecting the identity of India's Muslims.
The fresh fatwa against Vande Mataram is not without history and can be traced
to the Congress's capitulation in the face of Islamic opposition. In 1923, the
Congress met at Kakinada and Maulana Mohamed Ali was brought to the venue in a procession led by a raucous band. As was the practice, the session was
scheduled to begin with a rendition of Vande Mataram by Pandit Vishnu Digambar
Paluskar. When Pandit Paluskar rose to sing what had by then become the anthem
of India's freedom movement, Maulana Mohamed Ali protested, saying that music
was taboo to Islam and, therefore, singing Vande Mataram would hurt his
religious sensitiveness. Pandit Paluskar snubbed the maulana, pointing out that
the Congress session was an open gathering and not a religious congregation of
any one faith. For good measure, he added that since the maulana had not found
the band that led his procession a taboo to Islam, he could not object to the
singing of Vande Mataram.
Maulana Mohammed Ali may have been stumped on that occasion, but by the time
India became independent from foreign rule, the Congress had conceded ground to those who today have the temerity to scoff at the National Song or refuse to
sing the National Anthem as activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India
or members of the Jehovah's Witness sect do.
By 1937, Vande Mataram had become a "Muslim grievance" and Ali Sardar Jafri convinced fellow-traveller Jawaharlal Nehru that the song which had inspired the freedom movement and sent martyrs like Khudiram Bose to the gallows without any trace of regret, was actually "idolatrous in spirit". Nehru went a step further and described the mantra of Indian nationalism and patriotism as "out of keeping with modern notions of nationalism and progress."
The Muslim League was quick to take its cue from Nehru and a month later, on
October 17, 1937, passed a resolution at its Lucknow session, condemning the
Congress for "foisting Vande Mataram as the national song upon the country in
callous disregard of the feelings of Muslims." When the Congress Working
Committee met in Calcutta later that year with Nehru as president, it
officially recognised "the validity of the objections raised by the Muslims to
certain parts of the Vande Mataram song" and "recommended that at national
gatherings only the first two stanzas of the song should be sung."
But appeasement does not have any limit - the Muslim League was not reassured
either by Nehru's action or his promise that Vande Mataram in "future (will)
become less important." The Pirpur Committee, which was set up by the Muslim
League to compile a list of "atrocities against Muslims", submitted its report
on November 15, 1938. Among the "atrocities against Muslims" was listed Vande
Mataram.
As September 7, 2006 approaches, we hear a similar refrain from the League's
legatees: "Asking us to sing Vande Mataram is oppression of Muslims." The
Pirpur report is being written all over again.
Before independence, the Congress sacrificed the cultural and civilisational
content of Vande Mataram, which even in its truncated form is nothing but a
hymnal tribute to an idyllic Mother India, on the altar of the Muslim League's
separatist politics. We see a similar capitulation today with the Congress
declaring, in response to the ulema's rant against Vande Mataram, that it is
not compulsory to sing the National Song.
<b>Soon, it will be the turn of the National Anthem, and then the idea of India as
a nation and a nation-state. No price, it would seem, is too high to pay in
order to keep the ulema in good humour.
</b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:bcow--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/b_cowboy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='b_cowboy.gif' /><!--endemo--> Parties unanimous on Vande Mataram
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 28
The ruling Congress and the main opposition party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana are unanimous in their admiration of the song Vande Mataram and believe that the songâs association with the freedom struggle overrides any criticism that may be hurled at the ode penned by the late Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
The unanimity is in stark contrast to some other states where the Union Human Resources Ministryâs recent directive regarding celebration of the anniversary of the song has pitted rival political parties against each other.
Hopefully, Haryana would figure among those states where the celebration would be set in a secular context sans the vulgar religious passions instigated by communal parties elsewhere.
The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today told the TNS that the anniversary of the song on September 7 would be observed in Haryana. The Chief Minister said the role played by the song in the freedom struggle had placed it in a very special milieu. âWe should not disown important traditions of the past,â Mr Hooda said.
The Education Minister, Mr Phool Chand Mullana, also echoed similar views and said the government would try to ensure the participation of school children on the occasion of the celebration next month.
Mr Mullana said he had not yet seen the HRD Ministryâs directive, but added that the song was known for its patriotic fervour and therefore there was no reason why its anniversary should not be celebrated in Haryana.
Mr Ashok Arora, President of the Haryana unit of the INLD, said the song was known for its popularity among freedom fighters and it should be taken as such. While welcoming the celebration of the anniversary of the song, he said, âThe song inevitably brings back the memories of the days of the freedom struggle.â
Despite being cleared by various committees and with even the Constituent Assembly stamping its approval on the song as the national song, Vande Mataram still manages to ruffle feathers. This is because of the incorporation of the song by Chattopadhyay in his controversial novel âAnandamathâ, the story of which had hurt Muslim sentiments.
The BJP too was contacted and its reaction to the issue was on the expected lines. Mr Ganeshi Lal, President of Haryana BJP, suggested sending to mental asylum those who were opposing the celebration of the anniversary of the song.
How to become an Intellectual in India
9/3/2006 4:02:03 PM IISH COMMUNICATION TEAM.
For getting the status of an intellectual, the caste, religion, sex, age, language or any other regional or linguistic parameters are not a criteria.
* It is easy to get the status, if you are a Hindu who always criticizes his own religion and sanathana dharma
* Your education qualification, actual intelligence, vocabulary, position, etc do not have any bearing for getting the status
.* You should always be little and denigrate Indian heritage and culture, whenever you get opportunity or even by creating opportunity.
* Always make fun of Hindu dharma and ancient Hindu scholars, saffron colour, Omkar, temples and priests
* You have to make the show that you have the authority to criticize Hindu dharma.
* Try to find a good place in the electronic media screen and print media.
*Keep a charisma for attracting the media people; give them whatever they need for doing so.
* Keep the relation with them very strong.
* Tell always the positives about other religion while degrading and denigrating Hindu dharma.
* This will give a good image as an âimpartial and unbiased scholarâ
* You will automatically become famous as a pakka secular leader and other intellectuals push you up.
* What ever you say- think- or do look only for your personal benefit.
* Take the opportunity to understand the future benefits also, even if the ruling ministers and ruling party change.
* Speeches should be so designed to get maximum clapping/ applause from the audience.
* Keep appropriate facial expression depending upon what and where you say.
* Create an impression that you are a sincere and dedicated leader of the common man.
* Use as much confusing words as possible so that in future you can easily change you words, opinions and visions.
* Select words in such a way that nobody understands what you really mean by saying so.
* If anything wrong happens in the future from your expressions you can easily put all the blame on the media.
* You should never quote anything from Indian heritage or ancient Indian books because it is cheap to quote indigenous knowledge.
* Quote always the Russian, Chinese or even from Iraq leaders.
* If you are compelled to quote from India, quote only from Jawaharlal Nehruâs words.
* For justifying your view point take quotations from great (late) foreign scholars even if they have not told so.
* This will help you in the long run because those leaders will not come back for questioning you.
* You should only be careful to note that when and where you are quoting.
*Use as many quotations as possible from foreign scholars of your status for denigrating Indian heritage and culture.
*You can use even outdated scientific data and observation for this purpose.
*You can add your own words while quoting their words, because nobody is going to verify those statements.
* Only try to create an impression that your quotations originally belong to a great foreign scholar. * Inform indirectly, the audience that you also read books.
* your speech, or writing should never give any doubts to your audience or readers about its authenticity and originality, even if it belongs to others.
*Never praise the past â present and future India.
*Never do so for Sanskriti and make it a point that you never quote from Sanskrit books.
*Keep this in mind even if you are delivering lecture in Sanskrit institutes.
* You can see many intellectuals of your type in almost all the Sanskrit institutes, Ayurveda colleges and Vaastu gurukulam
*share your views with them for further degrading our cultural heritage.
* If you have time to spare tell all the memorable negatives about Hindu dharma in Sanskrit institutes also. So that people will appreciate you secular, rational and scientific vision which can even fetch you some Sanskrit based awards.
* Due to the circumstances, if you are forced to say something good about our heritage, take all precaution and say as though you are quoting from a foreign leader.
* But create an impression, that you are also an authority to talk about India and inform indirectly that you also know about Indian culture at an equal level to some of our prime ministers.
* Keep in your mind that even when you protest against cocoa cola, Pepsi and American multinationals use similar words against Indian contribution to science or technology.
* Appreciate only foreign scientists and scholars, if possible from Russia or China.
* Belittle and denigrate Indian scientific and technological heritage whenever and wherever possible and encourage younger generation to do so.
* But make sure that your children are studying in reputed excellent dharmic institutes where Indian culture is taught to the core, preferably outside your State.
* If you have the qualification to read the school books and happen to read any heritage knowledge in the syllabus, proclaim that it is Hindu fundamentalism and the protest against the move towards Saffronisation, Hinduisation, Indianisation and so on.
* If you have enough followers and they have courage, declare a Hartal against all type of saffronisation.
* If you are quoting the words of someone, try to make sure that the name of the scholar is not familiar to the audience, and also see that the book is not available in printed form.
* Tell that the âparticularâ scholar said it in Rangoon or Korea, in 1938 Feb 28th.
*Make sure that nobody verifies your statements or quotations
* Since your future as an intellectual remains exclusively on how many press conferences you hold and press release you give, make sure that at-least one per week is done.
* You can get sponsorship for the expenses without any difficulty
* Express your shock through media on the sad and sudden demise of other intellectuals.
* Try to become one of the speakers for giving felicitation address in as much meetings as possible.
* Praise the organizers as much as possible, which will benefit you in the course of time.
* Try to participate in funerals processions, chain making, group running for building patriotism, etc. if possible be in the front.
* Stand near by the famous people so that your photo also will appear in the media.
* You elevate all useless (of course useful for you) fellows, in return they will elevate you, so help each other
* Always put the first signature in mass memorandum, preferably in presence of the media photographers.
* Do not follow law and order; this can get a place in media easily.
* You have to say that you are violating the law and order for the people.
* Even if you lack professional or technical qualification, try to get a seat as syndicate or senate member of the Universities, or at least as Devaswom Board president, or Chairman, etc which does not need any qualification and quality. Getting higher position as the Toddy Workers Welfare Board, Fisher Men Welfare Board, etc., need higher qualifications.
* If the press reporters or general public ask some general question to you, say âyou know much better than meâ and save yourself.
* If the situation goes little negative and more questions flow on the same subject, tell something about Aryan Invasion.
* If the situation further worsens and more questions come, criticize the caste system in Hindu dharma.
* If nothing else is available for saving yourself from the press people tell something negative about Amma, Swamy or Guruji, and declare that all the present problems in India are created by them
*Make sure to tell good about Mother Teresa, Bukari Imam and St Xavier Francis, even though he has destroyed 480 temples and converted thousands of Goan Hindus to Christianity in Goa.
*Or as the last tool, before attempting a walk out, tell that all the problem including Tsunami, Katrina, Rita, Wilma and the Plague in Surat and Iraq problem are all created by Sangha Parivar organizations.
*Talk like a genius who can speak about any subject at any time.
* In foreign countries, before delivering lectures, do not âdrinkâ too much, even if the organizers are giving free
* See that your tongue is not slipping while delivering lecture.
* Make sure that you read from paper, in foreign countries if you have consumed drinks beyond the limit.
* Remember that it is natural many intellectuals consume more when they visit foreign countries, because better quality and unlimited quantity liquor is available free of cost for the guests.
*Still keep a ânatural seriousnessâ of an intellectual in your face.
*If you are sure that your control on leg and tongue is loosing, give the written matter to one of your colleagues to read, if he has a better control over his body.
* Create an impression that you are not âspeakingâ because of jetlag or you are tired
* Tell in one line that âI am not well and hence giving the paper to so and so to read my messageâ.
* Try to build your own style in using words and hand action during speech
* If you cannot build an original set of natural action during for the speech, copy the method followed by someone who is no more.
*Try to build up associations âfansâ or followers.
* Criticize any Indian at any level either going up or down, but keep a minimum standard while criticizing a foreigner.
*You should always remember that the memory of the âreacting peopleâ is less and really memorizing people will not react.
*Whenever you are contradicting your own earlier statements, inform the audience that it is because of their ignorance they feel that you are contradicting the earlier statement.
*Make the audience feel that you know about India also.
* While talking something about India, ask what happened in 1936 Feb 29 ( after making sure that it is a leap year), as though something happened on that day.
*If you are forced to resign from some position due to your criminal background, tell that it is for the people you threw the position and tell that let the people decide on your quality.
*Declare those statements with dignity and at low voice.
*If you get some negative points on others from the newspapers, use those statements appropriately in your speech. Create an image that you are also aware about what is happening around us.
* Make the people aware that you know what are all happening in Iraq, Houston, Iran, Korea, Lanka and also in Mizoramâ¦
*Quote something from Ethiopia and never say anything negative about Tianen men square or Cuba.
*Never say any negative about Kashmir and Nagaland or the activities of the minorities in those States.
*Tell anything negative about Military or police action in Kashmir or Nagaland making sure that you do not touch anything against minorities.
*Even if you have to say something about minority fundamentalism, say that it is due to majority fundamentalism.
*At times when you have to tell something about yourself, tell politely with tears in eyes that you are a freedom fighter, and son of the great freedom fighter so and so (give the name) who worked with Mahatma Gandhi and Jinna.
* You have to say proudly that you have inherited the dharmic values from your parents, also patriotism and nationalism, which is in your blood.
*Whenever you have to apologize do it boldly and say that you are apologizing for the people and nation.
*Express your gratitude to the great scholars for elevating you to this level after making sure that those people are already dead.
*While expressing your gratitude, try to become over polite and if possible weep or make weeping sound.
* Create an impression that you are a simple man.
*At the time of apologizing create a philosophical environment by quoting Bhagavad-Gita, even if you are quoting wrongly, no body is going to ask any questions because generally the audience who come to listen to your speech, will be ignorant about Geetha.
*Whenever you have to change your vision and opinion, tell that opinion is not iron pestle. Hence change and changing the opinion are the rule of the nature.
*You can even suddenly jump from atheism to religion, because everyone of the atheists does it in the last part of their life.
* If you feel bad for doing so, tell that you have done it for your wife.
* Also inform that you will repeat it for your wife, so that no body will criticize you.
*While delivering lectures to Christians tell that in the next janma you want to be Christian, to the Muslim audience tell that you want to become a Muslim, in the next janma.
*Tell them, in your speech that Upanishads and Vedas are taken from Koran and Bible.
*Try to attend âall religious meetâ as a representative of Hinduism and tell negative about Hinduism. It will be printed in big letters in media.
*Learn two or three lines from Koran or Bible and quote appropriately for getting the applause.
* Give as much good messages from Hindu books and tell that these are all from Koran and Bible.
* You will definitely get many more chances.
* Remember many speakers are charging Rs.3000+ TA + âsomethingâ for delivering such lectures against Hinduism in Kerala.
*If you are a failure as an âintellectual speakerâ, write books by copying from some old foreign books in full or chapter wise.
* Remove few lines here and there add something special, without grammar mistakes, give a novel title and release the book.
* Take sponsorship from wherever possible it will fetch you the livelihood for many generations.
* Take the 50 :50 share, if you are giving the inauguration session for contract.
*Spend some money for getting a court ban on the book, file a petition, this will give enough publicity for the book.
* Intentionally put few controversial lines in the book, so that getting a ban becomes easy.
*There are many Christian writers who write about Hinduism, they will help you how to write on the subjects in which you are fully ignorant.
* You can start writing against Hinduism first, with their help, so that the marketing is easy and building your career also becomes easy.
* Many churches and Christian agents will help you directly and indirectly for propagating your anti Hindu messages.
* Be in contact with the media people, whenever you are travelling.
*Offer a cup of tea or something and keep the friendship strong always.
*Build relationship with five star hotel owners, workers, toddy shop workers union, minority leaders during travelling from place to place.
*This relation will have life long benefit for an intellectual.
*When you get some award, tell that at this age you are not thinking about the award.
* Give some money to some organization and tell them to give half of that as an award to yourself.
* It is the easiest method for getting awards.
*When you stand for receiving the award, keep a philosophical facial expression that you are much beyond the level of accepting an award.
* By following these techniques, you can spend your manushya janma fruitfully for making enough money, position, name and fame, even though it may not have any use for anyone other than yourself.
*Definitely some ministers will inaugurate your bust/ statue for the crows to sit.
* They may also venture to put your name for some drainage canals.
TIPS FROM KERALA INTELLECTUALS TO ALL INDIA LEVEL INTELLECTUALS!
*Support the minorities always even when they destroy temples, go for terrorism, do anti national activities, attack police or media persons.
*Keep silence against all minority mooted terrorism.
*Always justify the bomb blasts, killings, storing weapons in houses and religious institutes, if done by minorities.
*Do not say anything about foreign fund flow for conversion and terrorism.
*Partake in hartal for releasing the terrorist leaders and put your signature in mass memorandum.
*Be an active human right activist for minorities only.
* Support UGC salary for the urdu and Arabi teachers in Madrasas even though they are illiterate.
*Support grant for building Madrasas, mosques, and pension for mullahs and moulavis.
*If a Hindu priest is murdered, do not utter even a single word, but a sand particle fallen on minority priest, straight away blame Hindu fundamentalists.
*If any Hindu institute is taken over by government justify it with powerful words.
*If minority gundas attack the press people, tell to suspend the police or taking action against the police even though they were 200 kilometres away from the site of attack.
*Always speak against the atrocities against minorities by majority community and police, particularly when the election season approaches.
*If the heritage subjects are to be included in the syllabus, divide it 1:1:1 for Hindus, Christians and Muslims.
* For the Muslims support Arabian history and for the Christians something from the life of St George, St Philomena or something what happened in Jerusalem.
* If your supporters destroyed public property, say that it is the second freedom struggle.
* If others did so tell that it is against democracy.
* If your followers attach police or police station say that it is the second Chowri Chowra.
*If your followers happened to be a killer, make sure that he gets the pension for freedom fighters.
*Justify Gherao, hartal, bandh if and only if your followers did it.
* When you approach to old age, tell that you are not an anti hindu.
*Declare that your wife going to temple and you accompany your wife in the old age are personal affairs.
*When you follow religious customs, make it sure that no one tells it publicly.
* Select your own cast for the post of son in law and daughter in law, even when you fight vigorously against cast system.
* If you are an atheist, say that even in Russia and China people go to Budha vihar. So you also follow their footsteps and that too for seeing what is happening in Hindu temples.
* You should know that all intellectuals, atheists and progressives in Kerala go to temple when they cross the age of 65.
* You have also to find a suitable justification for that like Kerala intellectuals.
*Remember that for getting the certificate of an intellectual, no quality or qualification is required.
* Neither poorva janma punyam, poorva janma karma phalam, blessings of your parents or blessings of your gurus nor even your horoscope factors.
*You should only learn how to use your eyes, ears and tongue.
*You should have a thick skin and highly flexible tongue, suitable friends and adjustable wife.
*All the above special qualities are given only to very selected people by the creator. Hence the intellectuals are very few in numbers.
*If you fall within this, you can spend this janma lavishly, under others expenses, without working much, with name and fame. Your janma can be made useful to you and your family, by cheating others and making everyone fools.
*Let god bless all intellectuals who are the assets of India for misguiding all the good people.
<!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> <span style='color:blue'><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Well done Acharya.
I wish u had called them pseudointellectual and it's true for Indians abroad(include their nonIndian accomplices as well e.g. California text books, Harvard dummie etc.).</span></span>
Kerala HC : oath in Allahâs name valid, but in Sree Narayana Guru's name invalid!
By S. Chandrasekhar
In a judgement, which would have far reaching repercussions on the communal situation in the country and give impetus to the jehadi activities going on in the nation, the Kerala High Court Division Bench consisting of judges K.S. Radhakrishnan and V. Ramkumar held that MLAs taking oath in the name of Allah does not violate the constitutional provisions under Section 193 of the Constitution of India. Madhu Parumala, State Vice-President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had questioned the oath-taking of 11 Muslim MLAs in the name of Allah, in a public interest writ petition and asked them to be disqualified.
The judges while dismissing Madhuâs petition opined: âWhat is important is not whether a person swears in the name of God or makes a solemn affirmation, but whether he has affirmed that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, whether he has affirmed that he would uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, whether he has affirmed that he would faithfully discharge his duties of the office he is about to assume. When the Muslims take oath in the name of Allah, in Form VII B of Schedule III of the Constitution of India, they are doing it in the name of Supreme God. Allah is Synonym of God. A Christian can swear in the name of Jesus Christ. Similarly, a Hindu can swear in the name of Ayyappa, Shiva or Krishna because gods have different manifestations.â
<span style='color:red'>Strangely, on a similar issue five years back, the Kerala High Court gave an exactly opposite judgement. Umesh Challiyil, MLA from Kodungallur, swore in the name of Sree Narayana Guru (great social reformer of Kerala whom Hindu Ezhavas consider to be God.) The Kerala High Court quashed the swearing-in, imposed penalty on him and asked him to swear again in the name of God. </span>
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