<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Wow what a spin <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Indian express is the dork among a dorky media. Both Verghese and Shekhar Gupta are certified Hindu haters. But hindu hating is considered secular in india, it is only when you can a terrorist a terrorist or to remark that the vast majority of terrorists are muslim that it is considered anti-secular. If displaying some idols is conisdered a crime in the secular virvana that is India today, I am a lost cause, because my home is studded with idols of every description.
Check this out
They are trying to create a revolution
The commies are taking over the country
BEWARE!
The great Detoxification
No gods on railway stations, Lalu orders
George Iype in Kochi | August 05, 2004 17:20 IST
Should railway stations exhibit pictures of gods, goddesses and religious icons?
No, says Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
After introducing earthen tea cups and khadi linen on trains, the minister is now eager to free the railway stations from
all religious influences.
A communiqué from Railway Board Chairman R K Singh has instructed railway authorities to remove pictures of gods and goddesses from all stations.
But the directive has angered railway employees, travellers and, yes, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The instructions followed complaints that many railway stations had large photographs of gods exhibited on platforms and even in the offices of station masters and duty managers.
When contacted, a senior official at the Southern Railway said that no specific order from the Board chairman had reached any stations under his supervision as yet.
"But an inspection remark from the Railway Board chairman has been sent to us. Yes, the communication says that railway stations should not be used for any religious activities," the official told rediff.com.
Photographs of Lord Muthappan and Goddess Lakshmi are displayed at many stations in the Southern Railway Zone. Hundreds of thousands of devotees who travel in trains to religious places also use the stations to pray.
During the seasonal trip to the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala, hundreds of devotees use railway stations to conduct poojas.
Railway employees also conduct Ayudha Pooja every year during the Mahanavani festival at railway stations.
Officials said a number of photographs of Hindu gods and goddesses hung in the railway offices may have prompted the Railway Board chairman to issue the order. "Also, the railway authorities want to ensure that the stations are free from all religious activities, especially after the Godhra train tragedy," an official said.
Railway Caterers' Association national president N B Krishna Kurup said it is not proper on the part of the government to ban prayers and other religious activities at railway stations.
"Everyone has the right to religious worship. Railway stations are used by millions of people every day. So what is the harm if some of them worship before their gods at the stations," Kurup asked.
BJP leader P S Sreedharan Pillai said the party would oppose any directive to ban religious activity on the premises of railway stations.<b>
"The Sabarimala devotees from across the country conduct poojas on railway station premises. No government has the right to ban religious beliefs," Pillai told rediff.com.</b>
He charged that the railway minister has been forced to issue the communiqué at the instance of the Communists and the atheists who are controlling the Manmohan Singh government.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"But an inspection remark from the Railway Board chairman has been sent to us. Yes, the communication says that railway stations should not be used for any religious activities," the official told rediff.com.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I remember praying to Vigna Vinayaka at the Secunderabad Station, and buying books at Ramakrishna/Vivekananda book stall, Geeta Press (Ghorakpur) stall and/or the Kanchi Kamakoti stall. Now, this new Railway Minister seems to say that these stalls have no business in the station premises. I hope that acting on these orders the Vinayaka shrine is not gutted overnight.
No URL, came in via email
-------------------------------
UPA's first defence deal with Italian firm
- By Seema Mustafa
New Delhi, Aug. 2: The first major defence contract under the United
Progressive Alliance government has been secured by an Italian firm,
Fincantieri, which has signed two agreements for assistance in the design and construction of an aircraft-carrier for the Indian Navy. The prestigious multi-million-dollar project for the development of the Navy's new Air Defence Ship will cover a period of two years, with Italian assistance available until the delivery of the carrier within eight to 10 years.
Fincantieri has been in line for a share in the Indian defence market. The two deals, totalling nearly $40 million, had been initiated by the previous NDA government. They were signed with the Indian shipyard of Kochi through its Naval Vessel Business Unit and signal the Italian company's involvement in the Indian
Navy's most prestigious 38,000-tonne venture. A Spanish and a French defence firm were in the running for the contract.
The assistance envisages close cooperation between the Indian Navy and Fincantieri, which will provide facilities for working together in Italy. The first news of this project came from the Italian company and not the Indian government, with the contracts being signed late last month.
Under the agreement, Fincantieri will make an assessment of the ship's design, it will be responsible for its propulsion system and integration, it will assist the Kochi shipyard during the installation of the engines as well as during the integration and sea trials, it will supply the engineering and detailed design of the ancillary propulsion systems and the ship's main plants.
It will also assist the Kochi Shipyard while the ADS is under construction as well as during the tests and trials. It will thus now be closely associated with the construction of the ADS, with the "assistance" encompassing not just the defined two years but the decade estimated for its construction.
The Italians have been keen to enter the Indian defence market and have been showing considerable interest. Several Italian defence companies have been visible at defence exhibitions in India with Fincantieri, Finmeccanica, Galileo Avionica, Laenia Aeronautica and others very visible in India this year. Italian defence minister Antonio Martino had invited former defence minister George
Fernandes for a visit to Italy, where he had visited defence sites at Milan, Livorno Riva Trigosa and La Spezia. The Italians were keen on securing the AJT deal and lobbied hard with Mr Fernandes for this. The contract was eventually secured by the British, although this has not stopped Italian firm Aeromacchi from sending a letter to defence minister Pranab Mukherjee reminding him of their interest and capabilities in the AJT field.
State-supported Fintantieri has been more successful under the
Congress-led coalition government, with the Indian contract clearly being added to the company's list of successes. The Indian ADS will have four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines which are supposedly similar to those in Italy's Cavour aircraft-carrier, which was launched by Fintcantieri on July 20 this year. This ship has a displacement of 27,100 tonnes. The Italian company is also
building two Class-U212A submarines within the framework of an Italian-German programme and two "Orizzonte" class frigates as part of a joint Italian-French project.
National
'Administration must be cleansed of people owing allegiance to RSS'
New Delhi, Aug. 8 (PTI): Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to cleanse the administration of people owing allegiance to the RSS, an organisation he accused of being responsible for the killing of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.
"Our first duty is that the fascist forces of RSS should be detected. Today, Government administration is in grip of the RSS, we have to cleanse it," he said at the National Convention on Secularism here.
The veteran Congress leader, who removed academicians close to the BJP and RSS from panels drafting textbooks for schools, said the RSS had a strong hold on the administration as "men having sympathies with the Sangh Parivar were appointed (by the previous Government) to key positions."
"If an institution's biggest achievement was killing of Gandhi than you can expect what national purpose it can serve," he said calling for "exposing the RSS-men" in the Government.
"Not one but there are hundred different fronts of the RSS. They are getting crores of rupees from within and outside the country. The previous Government allowed foreign money to come in but now this web has to be broken. People should know for what purpose the money was used for," Singh said.
The Minister hoped that "the Prime Minister will take definitive action in the regard."
CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, said Singh and I&B Minister Jaipal Reddy, were facing difficulties due to the presence of a large number of "RSS-men" in their Ministries.
"Committees are filled with RSS-men. Raj hamara, Governor tumhara (its our Government but the Governor is of the RSS-BJP). How long will this last," Bardhan said.
The CPI leader charged the BJP with propagating politics of hate and said the party had changed the word Hindutva with nationalism. "Don't forget Hitler played havoc around the world in the garb of nationalism."
Senior Congress leader and noted advocate R K Anand, demanded a ban on the RSS saying even Sardar Patel had opposed the RSS.
"Huge amount of money was garnered abroad and distributed among several organisations which were close to the RSS. Under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, the purpose foreign money was brought in and the use it was put to has to be told to the Government. The money the RSS received should be investigated," he said.
Sachin Pilot, MP from Rajasthan, moved a resolution calling for a thorough study of working of the RSS and countering its "false propaganda and politics of hate and teaching secularism in schools".
"The Lok Sabha election mandate was against parties which wanted to divide the country. We want development of every section of society," he said.
Commie thread missing ...
Full Marx for August treachery!
Balbir K Punj
Anniversary of two august events connected with India's struggle for freedom, Quit India Movement and Independence Day, occur this month. The former marks the greatest and conclusive mass movement waged under the Congress against British Raj since Swadeshi Andolan of 1905. The latter represents the fructification of their cherished objectives.
However, this year, these anniversaries have a paradoxical significance. A Congress Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, when he will address the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, will stand under the long shadow of the communists. It's ironical that the Congress, which claims to be the sole legatee of the independence movement, today stands on the crutches of communists who had sabotaged "Quit India" and repudiated Independence as bogus.
All through "Quit India" the communists described Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, JP and especially Subhas Bose in the vilest of terms. The People's War caricature showed Subhas Bose as a donkey carrying Tojo (July 19, 1942); a mere mask of Japanese imperialist ogre (August 8, 1942); a curr held up by Goebbels (September 13, 1942); and as a midget being led by Japanese imperialists (September 26, 1943).
About Jayaprakash Narayan, People's War (March 21, 1943) wrote: "These vultures have been feeding on the Congress, doing dirty work of their masters." Having abandoned the idea of mass movements since the fiasco of Civil Disobedience Movement (1930) "Quit India" was the last rally that Gandhi led. Precipitated by disappointment with Cripps Mission, this marked a definite turn-around in his stance that the British position should not be imperilled during the War. The CWC's "Quit India" Resolution adopted by AICC on August 8, 1942, asserted that "British Rule should end immediately".
Otherwise, it spoke of launching a nation-wide mass movement under Gandhi. But even before the next day had dawned, the British arrested Gandhi and all eminent Congress leaders. Within a week the entire Congress leadership was behind bars; the AICC and all PCCs except in NWFP were outlawed. The Congress headquarters at Allahabad were seized and its funds confiscated.
"Quit India" had been contemplated as a non-violent movement but following these arrests a conflagration of mob violence engulfed large parts of India. Railway tracks, telegraph, telephone, post offices, electric substations and police stations were destroyed. So "Quit India" ended up as a movement neither led by Gandhi nor non-violent. It was a mass-movement involving mass violence. The retaliatory action by British, going by unofficial figures, claimed more than 10,000 lives.
A little publicised aspect of "Quit India" was the non-participation of the Muslim League and attempts to foil the movement by the communists. Jinnah emphasised that Muslims were opposed to "Quit India" and urged Muslims to keep away from it. He also warned its participants against meddling with Muslim affairs, which might trigger counter-revolution.
While Muslim League was indifferent, the Communist Party of India, with all its wings and branches, tried to sabotage the movement from inside. A ban imposed on CPI by the British in 1934 was lifted on July 23, 1942 (between CWC drafting "Quit India' resolution and AICC adopting it) as per some secret negotiations between communist leaders and British bureaucrats. There was warming up of relations between the British Government and the communists after the USSR switched side in World War II in June 1941.
The erstwhile USSR, since the beginning of the War, was a neutral ally of Nazi Germany that was fighting Britain. So the CPI (Indian Chapter of Moscow based Communist International) went hammer and tongs against "imperialist" Britain. But on June 21, 1941, Hitler surprised its neutral ally, Soviet Union, by launching Oper- ation Barbarosa and wreaking havoc on its peripheral parts. Stalin per force had to join the war on Allied side. Suddenly, from being anti-British and anti-War, Indian communists had become pro-British and pro-War just to be on the right side of the USSR.
For them, it was no longer an 'Imperialist War' but a 'People's War'. No wonder, the British establishment in New Delhi welcomed their changed attitude and reciprocated their gesture cordially. The communists would have carried on their pro-British and pro-War agenda even if there were no "Quit India". "Quit India" came as a providential opportunity to increase the scope of their destructive performance. It happened so that while the entire Congress leadership was imprisoned during "Quit India", the communists were set free to undermine the movement as per British plan.
As Arun Shourie observes in The Only Fatherland: "Issue after issue of People's War, the new organ of the Communist Party, while it railed against the British Government, heaped sarcasm, scorn, abuse on Gandhiji, the Congress, JP and other leaders of the underground movement, and on Subhas Bose. While formerly they had been accused on leading the country to suicide by not disrupting the war effort, they were now accused of leading it to suicide by disrupting it" (p 24). On December 16, 1941, communist intermediary NM Joshi, general secretary of AITUC, sent Home Member of Viceroy's Council Sir Reginald Maxwell to ensure that the communists in detention were released swiftly so that they could press their changed point of view at the forthcoming AICC. Later, there were several secret parleys between them.
On April 23, 1942, a ten-page long "Confidential: Not for publication, Memorandum on Communist Policy and Plan of Work" was submitted to the Government. Joshi also met a senior Intelligence Bureau officer Ghulam Ahmed on May 12, 1942 to convey his plans. But during January, prominent communist prisoners, Sunil Mukherji, Rahul Sankrityayana, AK Ghosh, RD Bhardwaj, Sher Jung, RC Sinha, DN Mazumdar, SA Dange, Soli S Batliwal, etc., lodged in different jails of India, certified in writing that their attitude to war changed and that, if released from prison, they would do their bit towards the War effort. When the issue came to light, they tried to deny writing any such letter, but these are well-preserved in the National Archives.
The actual beginning of "Quit India" certainly altered their plans but also vastly enhanced the scope of showing performance. Judging by the nation's mood, the CPI would risk public ire by advertising its anti-movement and pro-war efforts. So the Marxist masters of falsehood, through December 1942 issues of People's War carried 'disinformation' of government atrocities against them.
The truth, however, was contained in Communist Party's bulky secret performance reports, delivered to Sir Reginald Maxwell and forwarded to Additional Secretary Sir Richard Tottenham. These reports available with National Archives show how the communists were able to prevent hartals and sabotages in Kanpur, Bombay, Jamshedpur, Calicut, Lahore, and Madras, etc., and turn people from anti-British to pro-British (The Only Fatherland, pp 57-85). An enthusiastic Comrade K Satyanarayana, an editor of "Prajashakti", even penned a eulogistic song "People's War" which was broadcast from All-India Radio.
After "Quit India" ended, the communists tried their unsuccessful best to eulogise Gandhi and whitewash its activity during the movement. But there was no full-stop to their treachery. While Jinnah floated his Two-Nation theory, the communists buttressed it by floating multi-nation theory. They claimed that India, like the USSR, was a conglomeration of multiple nations. Basing their arguments on right to self-determination, they supplied all intellectual arsenal needed to justify the creation of Pakistan. The Communists even engaged their cadres to campaign for Pakistan.
However, when Pakistan actually came about, they were the first to be cleansed. The communists denounced the freedom of India: "Yeh azadi jhootha hai, lakhon log bhookha hai" (millions are hungry, this independence is false) and in 1949 planned unsuccessfully to launch an armed insurrection saying India was ripe for armed revolution. The Communists never disappointed us in proving that they are the fifth columnists and vultures from the killing fields of Gulags.
Govt to amend Constitution
Sanjay Singh/ New Delhi
It's the latest "secular" recipe from Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh - amend the Constitution to establish a commission exclusively to provide affiliation to minority educational institutions. To give further validity to these institutions, the affiliation would be routed through central universities and not through ordinary state universities.
This would effectively mean that such institutions would bypass the norms set by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the apex statutory body to regulate higher education. It could also make the role of the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and Medical Council of India (MCI) redundant for institutes set up by the minorities.
The agenda paper for the meeting of the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE), which concluded on Thursday, clearly mentioned it. Item no XV of the "Provisions in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) having a bearing on Education" says: "The UPA Government will amend the Constitution to establish that it will provide direct affiliation for minority professional institutions to central universities." The assertion - the "Government will amend" - is most definitive. The Government, it seems from the language, has dealt a fait accompli.
Education is listed in the Constitution in the Concurrent List and therefore, before the Human Resources Ministry embarks upon establishing the commission, it needs to amend the Constitution.
Item no XVI says: "The UPA will promote modern and technical education among all minority communities." As per constitutional provisions, minority is both religious and linguistic. There could be a problem if a group of Oriyas, or Malayalees, Telugus, Tamils, or Bengalis claims minority status in states other than its native place. Similarly, Hindi-speaking people in a district of Kerala could claim to be a minority. Religious groups of all kinds would start vying for the same status in all parts of the country, observed experts.
In this connection, BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu told The Pioneer: "Arjun Singh is pursuing his own agenda and the move is fraught with dangerous implications which the Government would find difficult to handle in future."
A section of legal and educational experts said: "If the Constitution is amended to this effect, it would open a pandora's box. As it is, there is a mushrooming of private professional institutions, most of which do not meet the norms of regulatory bodies.
"By doing this, the Government would encourage people of all hue and shade to claim that their institute belongs to the minority, or is religious or linguistic, and they could demand setting up of separate commissions for their sect or religion."
They felt that Mr Singh was making a serious attempt to "dilute the Supreme Court's ruling on minority institutions".
A majority of private medical and engineering colleges, which earned huge money through capitation fees, were vying to get the "minority institute" status, either on religious or linguistic lines. For example, colleges in the Delhi's NCR region are trying to get minority status claiming that Telegus and Tamils were a minority in their district. In Rajasthan, there are at least 30 minority professional institutes at present.
Will the Marxists only bark?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Because the United Progressive Alliance ministry has just taken a decision that threatens to expose the pretensions of the Marxists -- lowering the interest rate on employee provident funds (EPF).
The interest rate on EPF used to be a healthy 12 per cent. One of the major issues raised by the Left against the National Democratic Alliance was that the Vajpayee ministry had lowered this to 9.5 percent.
Though it made perfect economic sense in an era of falling interest rates everywhere, the move was damned as a betrayal of the working classes. If I remember correctly, the Left Front even made a commitment in its manifesto to restore the rate to 12 per cent.
Once the results of the 14th general election were in, the Left Front realised that it had a heaven-sent opportunity to put pressure on the non-BJP ministry that was sure to materialise.
I believe Comrade Bardhan of the CPI was the first off the mark, issuing a long list of demands. (The CPI, by the way, has only ten MPs in the Lok Sabha.) The first on the list was that the new ministry should not raise the price of cooking gas. The second was that no public sector undertakings should be closed, sold, or privatised in any form whatsoever. And so on and so forth.
The report card on the Manmohan Singh ministry makes very interesting reading given this history. Fuel prices were raised, and I am sure that more hikes are in the pipeline. The Government of India has refused to issue a blanket ban on privatisation; in fact, it has suggested raising the foreign direct investment limit in the crucial sectors of telecommunications, aviation, and insurance. And now, in the unkindest cut of all, the interest rate on <b>EPF has actually been further reduced, to 8.5 percent</b>.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
UPA's jaziya through backdoor
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> But it is obvious that something deeper is afoot, and its purpose is the cultural annihilation of the Hindu people. We are facing a pincer attack from sinister quarters; pusillanimity will only take us to extinction. It is time to rise and validate our culture and our history.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
UPA government is hard at work trying to reverse most of NDA's changes.
Among them:
> Kerala removing Gujarat from national anthem
> Demonizing Gujarat at every instance
> Reversing Haj subsidy changes of NDA
> Reversing the textbook corrections by introducing distortions
> Hungama over PM talking with Panchajanya
> Starting enquiry over census report (to hide increase in Muslim population)
> Targeting Uma Bharati
> Some group organizing candle light march against Tiranga Yatra
I think it is nauseating to see the charade and to think it has been going on since independence.
I sincerely hope that when NDA comes back to power they reverse every perverse policy of this government.
However, what are the long term implications of these politics of pseudo-secular fundamentalists?
Only in India can a nationalistic pride or nationalistic expression be under such vicious attack.
Who is Amaresh Misra ? Where do they find such rascals ?
The Idea of India: 'Detox' Plan Needs Mediaeval Foundation
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Congress's anti-sangh parivar detoxification campaign needs a perspective. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi launched similar anti-communal tirades in the 50s and the early 70s, but the sangh parivar, despite its overtly extremist character, managed to bounce back. What perhaps explains some of this resurgence is the beguiling clarity with which it looks at the past. It categorises mediaeval India as a dark period, pushing liberal historians into a quandary.
During the 90s, the Congress, liberal-secular Hindu and Left intellectuals were asked: Wasn't there Muslim domination before the British? Was Babar justified in destroying a temple and building a mosque at Ayodhya? Did not Muslims destroy Indian culture? The standard secular reply was defensive: Some Mughal emperors may have done something (bad) but the need is to look beyond and focus on the present; let's not rake up the past; let's concentrate on issues which unite and not divide and so on and so forth.
In contrast, the parivar's view of historical wrongs is a powerful idea. It may not give the BJP enough seats to form a government on its own but has certainly ensured that irrespective of government change, the anti-Muslim Hindu consciousness remains the norm. In this context, it is not surprising that detoxification faces resistance from within.
The crucial and decisive issue is the status of years 1206-1857: Were they years of darkness and bondage as depicted by the parivar? Available evidence suggests that these years saw India coming of age in matters of statecraft, engineering, metallurgy, physics, defence industry, weaving, shipbuilding and astronomy. India's wealth stayed in India for Indians. 'Muslims' did not destroy Indian culture; the best and second best among them gave ancient traditions a contemporary expression. They saved Indian culture from stagnation.
Delhi's Khilji mosque, Jaunpur's Attala Masjid, Tughlaq architecture, Sharqi painting, and Deccan schools of art and masonry blended the beam and the lintel with the dome and the arch. The temples constructed during the 18th century by Maratha personalities in Benares and Mathura have a 'Muslim' look: Kashi's Vishwanath temple, next on the sangh parivar's hit list, can still be confused for a mosque because of its oblong cupola.
The Mughal era was path-breaking. The old system of bookkeeping was mixed with Islamic accountancy in Siyaqnamah. Ayurveda was revived and interpreted in the light of Unani prescriptions. Mughal-Deccani painting borrowed motifs and styles from pre-Sultanate Jain, Rajput and southern schools. Dhrupad, Khayal and Qawwali matured out of several folk and pre-Sultanate musical structures. The tabla and sitar were fashioned out of the mridang and veena.
Amir Khusro, the father of this lost Indian renaissance, discovered khari boli. He composed several lullabies, riddles, children's poems and serious masnavis. Amir Khusro humanised and modernised the Indian ethos. Can the sangh parivar deny that? Emperor Akbar had Mahabharata, Panchatantra, Puranas and Ramayana translated in Persian. Their copies can be found today in several national and regional libraries of India. Mahabharata and Ramayana begin with Bismillah-ur-Rahim and have beautiful miniatures of Indian gods.
The culture evolved by the Mughals was cosmopolitan. Caste and religion were neither manipulated nor swept under the carpet. The Mughal pan-Indian gesture encompassed the spunk of the Bhumihar, the spine of the Turani, the pride of the Multani, the ruggedness of the Bihari and the resilience of the Dakhani. Before Akbar, Lord Krishna's statue was painted in black; the emperor reinterpreted 'Shyam Varna' mentioned in the Puranas as a shade of blue.
True Hinduism is not Hindutva but Sanatan Dharma established by Adi Shankaracharya and carried forward by Tulsidas and Surdas. Written under great orthodox pressure, Tulsi's Avadhi Ramcharitmanas projected the absolutist ideal of a contemporary king. Akbar was celebrated as a symbol of Ram in several Rajasthani ballads.
Sanatan Dharma's ekeshwarvaad (One God) was often equated with Islamic monotheism. Respective Shankaracharyas blessed Akbar, Shivaji and Tipu Sultan, warriors who fought for justice. There was no communal element in the fight of Sikhs and Marathas against the Mughals. Hindus and Muslims fought on both sides. Maulvi Abdul Aziz of Delhi declared Hindustan dar-ul-harb (where jehad is legitimate) only after Lord Lake captured Delhi in 1803, not when Marathas ruled Delhi in alliance with the Mughals.
The Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb or composite culture continued till 1857 through Urdu, Rekhti and a unique common Hindustani identity. All problems from modern communalism to invented histories can be traced to our defeat in the 1857 mutiny. The British doctored pseudo-reformist Hindu and Muslim currents after 1857, separating Hindi from Urdu and Hindu history from Muslim history. Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb, which had filtered down to peasant village and artisan culture, was sidelined. The ensuing distortions culminated in the tragedy of Partition.
There was little resistance when VHP goons levelled Vali Dakhani's mazaar in Ahmedabad during the recent Gujarat riots. Urdu's father-figure Vali Dakhani symbolised Indianness, on which the sangh parivar had launched an audacious, brutal attack. The parivar fulfilled what the British had dreamt of doing.
The line followed from 1206 to 1857 offers hope amidst despair. Indians need to be reminded that in their cosmopolitan past lies their only way forward.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-Dev M+Sep 16 2004, 01:37 PM-->QUOTE(Dev M @ Sep 16 2004, 01:37 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> > Kerala removing Gujarat from national anthem
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Anthem issue: Chandy apologises for error
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"The mistake in some of the text books was unfortunate. I am offering my apology on behalf of the government if anyone's feelings are hurt with the inadvertent error," Chandy told reporters Thiruvananthapuram on Friday<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Idea of India: 'Detox' Plan Needs Mediaeval Foundation
By AMARESH MISRA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...853180.cms
Congress's anti-sangh parivar detoxification campaign needs a perspective. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi launched similar anti-communal tirades in the 50s and the early 70s, but the sangh parivar, despite its overtly extremist character, managed to bounce back. What perhaps explains some of this resurgence is the beguiling clarity with which it looks at the past. It categorises mediaeval India as a dark period, pushing liberal historians into a quandary.
During the 90s, the Congress, liberal-secular Hindu and Left intellectuals were asked: Wasn't there Muslim domination before the British? Was Babar justified in destroying a temple and building a mosque at Ayodhya? Did not Muslims destroy Indian culture? The standard secular reply was defensive: Some Mughal emperors may have done something (bad) but the need is to look beyond and focus on the present; let's not rake up the past; let's concentrate on issues which unite and not
divide and so on and so forth.
In contrast, the parivar's view of historical wrongs is a powerful idea. It may not give the BJP enough seats to form a government on its own but has certainly ensured that irrespective of government change, the anti-Muslim Hindu consciousness remains the norm. In this context, it is not surprising that detoxification faces resistance from within.
The crucial and decisive issue is the status of years 1206-1857: Were they years of darkness and bondage as depicted by the parivar? Available evidence suggests that these years saw India coming of age in matters of statecraft, engineering, metallurgy, physics, defence industry, weaving, shipbuilding and astronomy. India's wealth stayed in India for Indians. 'Muslims' did not destroy Indian culture; the best and second best among them gave ancient traditions a contemporary expression. They saved Indian culture from stagnation.
Delhi's Khilji mosque, Jaunpur's Attala Masjid, Tughlaq architecture, Sharqi painting, and Deccan schools of art and masonry blended the beam and the lintel with the dome and the arch. The temples constructed during the 18th century by Maratha personalities in Benares and Mathura have a 'Muslim' look: Kashi's Vishwanath temple, next on the sangh parivar's hit list, can still be confused for a mosque because of its oblong cupola.
The Mughal era was path-breaking. The old system of bookkeeping was mixed with Islamic accountancy in Siyaqnamah. Ayurveda was revived and interpreted in the light of Unani prescriptions. Mughal-Deccani painting borrowed motifs and styles from pre-Sultanate Jain, Rajput and southern schools. Dhrupad, Khayal and Qawwali matured out of several folk and pre-Sultanate musical structures. The tabla and sitar were fashioned out of the mridang and veena.
Amir Khusro, the father of this lost Indian renaissance, discovered khari boli. He composed several lullabies, riddles, children's poems and serious masnavis. Amir Khusro humanised and modernised the Indian ethos. Can the sangh parivar deny that? Emperor Akbar had Mahabharata, Panchatantra, Puranas and Ramayana translated in Persian. Their copies can be found today in several national and regional libraries of India. Mahabharata and Ramayana begin with Bismillah-ur-Rahim and have beautiful miniatures of Indian gods.
The culture evolved by the Mughals was cosmopolitan. Caste and religion were neither manipulated nor swept under the carpet. The Mughal pan-Indian gesture encompassed the spunk of the Bhumihar, the spine of the Turani, the pride of the Multani, the ruggedness of the Bihari and the resilience of the Dakhani. Before Akbar, Lord Krishna's statue was painted in black; the emperor reinterpreted 'Shyam Varna' mentioned in the Puranas as a shade of blue.
True Hinduism is not Hindutva but Sanatan Dharma established by Adi Shankaracharya and carried forward by Tulsidas and Surdas. Written under great orthodox pressure, Tulsi's Avadhi Ramcharitmanas projected the absolutist ideal of a contemporary king. Akbar was celebrated as a symbol of Ram in several Rajasthani ballads.
Sanatan Dharma's ekeshwarvaad (One God) was often equated with Islamic monotheism. Respective Shankaracharyas blessed Akbar, Shivaji and Tipu Sultan, warriors who fought for justice. There was no communal element in the fight of Sikhs and Marathas against the Mughals. Hindus and Muslims fought on both sides. Maulvi Abdul Aziz of Delhi declared Hindustan dar-ul-harb (where jehad is legitimate) only after Lord Lake captured Delhi in 1803, not when Marathas ruled Delhi in alliance with the Mughals.
The Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb or composite culture continued till 1857 through Urdu, Rekhti and a unique common Hindustani identity. All problems from modern communalism to invented histories can be traced to our defeat in the 1857 mutiny. The British doctored pseudo-reformist Hindu and Muslim currents after 1857, separating Hindi from Urdu and Hindu history from Muslim history. Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb, which had filtered down to peasant village and artisan culture, was sidelined. The ensuing distortions culminated in the tragedy of Partition.
There was little resistance when VHP goons levelled Vali Dakhani's mazaar in Ahmedabad during the recent Gujarat riots. Urdu's father-figure Vali Dakhani symbolised Indianness, on which the sangh parivar had launched an audacious, brutal attack. The parivar fulfilled what the British had dreamt of doing.
The line followed from 1206 to 1857 offers hope amidst despair. Indians need to be reminded that in their cosmopolitan past lies their only way forward.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Idea of India: 'Detox' Plan Needs Mediaeval Foundation
By AMARESH MISRA<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Ofcourse this guy will never recall temples, culture, literature destroyed by barbaric Islamic invader.
<b>From saffron to red, Joshi sees colours thicken</b>
www.newstodaynet.com/25SEP/LD1.HTM
When the BJP was in power, the Left and other parties saw saffron in text book compilation by the government. Now the government has changed. And so too have the colours of perception.
<b>Now the BJP sees red (both literally and metaphorically) in the education policy of the UPA government. It is strongly driven by Leftist dogmas, former Union HRD Minister and senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, who was in the eye of an educational storm not long ago, today said</b>.
Addressing presspersons here, Murli Manohar Joshi charged the UPA government with trying to put the clock of education back. The committee appointed by the Centre to analyse history books prepared by NCERT experts during the last NDA regime comprises just Communists who have all along been opposing NDAs education policy. The committee advised a complete replacement of the contents without even going through it, he said.
Refuting the allegations of saffronising education during his term at the office, the former HRD Minister recalled that it was during his tenure that Sarva Dharma Samaadhan, where the books gave a balanced account of basic tenets from all religions, was introduced.
If this is called saffronisation of education, I am ready to take the the blame on my shoulders, he added.
<b>Charging the Centre of ignoring the history of freedom fighters, he said the government is trying to remove all impressions from the minds of students about great revolutionaries who strove for the well-being of the nation </b>.
<b>Education must inculcate a spirit of rationalism and patriotism among all. It should inform about all ancient Indian scholars, philosophers, sculptors, scientists and mathematicians irrespective of their caste or creed,</b> he said.
Joshi added: The Siksha Bachav Andolan Samithi would take up the task of creating awareness among the masses on the dangers of this governments erroneous education policy. We are planning to hold seminars, symposiums and signature campaigns throughout the country on this count.
On the proliferation of minority education institutions in the country, he said it was for the respective State governments to have a check on exact number of students belonging to minority communities studying in these institutions.
<b>With regard to the removal of freedom fighter Sarvarkars plaque from the Andaman Cellular Jail, the senior BJP leader noted, his contribution to freedom struggle was immense as he languished in jail serving two successive jail-terms fighting against alien rule. The UPA governments attitude towards Sarvarkar has brought shame to the nation.</b>
Questioning the motive behind the Centre repealing POTA, Joshi said, <b>the repeal of POTA would mean a open field for terrorists. Its indeed a threat to all those who want to build a strong nation</b>.
Referring to Union Home Ministrys warning to a few Hindu organisations to shed communalism, <b>Joshi asked whether organising, assembling and serving Hindus is a crime? He dared the Ministry whether they would do the same thing with other minority organisations in the country</b>.
Earlier, he paid homage to nuclear scientist Dr Rajah Ramanna, who passed away recently.
BJP national secretary L Ganesan and State unit president C P Radhakrishnan were also present on the occasion.
<b>Must read....</b>
<b>History in the making </b>
By Sanjay Basak
It can be described as a clash of ideologies. The Indian student appears to be trapped between two ideologies, that of the extreme Left and the ultra-Right. To an extent, the saffron rulers are of the opinion that âhistory is linked to patriotism.â But for the Left, âpatriotism ruins history.â And the result of this disagreement: history is being written, and re-written, by the victors. Under the then Human Resources Development minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, the students were taught about their âmatribhoomiâ, âhow great Indian civilisation isâ and all about âHindu societyâ.
Then came Arjun Singh, who launched a crusade against what he described as âsaffronisation of educationâ by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance regime. The saffron historians were weeded out and replaced with the reds. The National Council of Educational Research and Training, under former director J S Rajput, was already waging a battle with the Left historians, who claimed there was ânot merely an attempt by the BJP-led NDA regime to communalise education, but that saffron history was replete with factual errors.â
The Human Resources Development minister swung into action to set up an advisory committee to rectify the âinaccuracies and distortion of facts in the history booksâ brought out by NCERT during Dr Joshiâs tenure. Rajput had, however, admitted to certain factual errors in the books and claimed these occurred mainly due to pressure brought on by court litigation. But he attacked the âtendency of some intellectuals and school authorities to seek the umbrella of political parties to give vent to their ideological leanings.â
While the Left historians ridiculed the âsaffronâ text books, which claimed there was evidence for the use of sindoor in terracotta figurines of ancient India, Rajput claimed there was âhistorical evidence, including terracotta figurines, pointing to the use of sindoor in ancient India.â He refuted the Left charge as âthe ignorance of critics.â
The Marxists accused Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and a team of historians of trying to give a saffron tinge to Indian history and criticised so-called âfactsâ stating that the âHindu civilisation is superior to all other civilisations (Page 2: Ancient India for Class XI)â. Rajput, while defending his books, accused the Left historians of âundermining the glory of the Indian heritage and civilisationâ.
Witnessing his history being torn to shreds, Dr Joshi launched a âsave education campaignâ. Known as a saffron hawk even in the BJP camp, Dr Joshi blasted the Left historians. âThese archaic historians need to brush up their history. Arjun Singh believes our nation should not be referred to as matribhoomi. This is most unfortunate and amounts to putting on British glasses for understating Indian history,â he retorted.
The HRD minister replied in a manner that could only be termed politically correct: âThis is only an argument of people who are despaired of everything else. Everything I am doing is according to the Common Minimum Programme. I have had fairly exhaustive discussions with the Prime Minister and other senior colleagues.â For minister Arjun Singh, âdetoxification is not a shot in the dark. Why should I try for something which is not available?â
Incidentally, Left historians and intellectuals who describe the existing history text books (NCERT publications) for Classes IX, X, XI and XII as âBJP booksâ, have come up with the âcorrect interpretation of history.â After going through the text books, out some âsaffron distortionsâ have been highlighted and, as the Left historians claim, their âcorrected versionsâ. The books in question are still being taught in schools affiliated to Central Board for Secondary Education.
Eminent historian Professor Arjun Dev said the books should have been replaced by the previous ones, which were authored by Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra, R S Sharma and Satish Chandra.
CONTEMPORARY INDIA: HISTORY BOOK FOR CLASS IX
by Hari Om
The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi does not find a place in this text book published by NCERT. The government body explained, âGandhiâs assassination is omitted due to space constraints.â J.S. Rajput, while admitting that Gandhiâs assassination should have been mentioned, said, âIf there are errors and omissions, they will be corrected and upgraded.â He then clarified, âIn any case, all details will be there in the Class XII book.â
<b>Apart from Gandhiâs assassination, even the Holocaust does not find mention. The author had said on record: âWhy not write about those things that happened during Lenin and Stalinâs periods in the USSR? The truth is, I had to leave out a lot of things due to space constraints.â</b>
<b>Pg 3: Vasco da Gama, taking a round of the African continent, landed at Calicut...
Correct version: Vasco da Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope, and did not take a round of the African continent</b>.
<b>Pg 3: In 1765, the steam engine was invented in England.
Correct version: âThe correct date is 1769, when James Watt patented his steam engine.â</b>
<b>Pg 6: Trade led to political conquest and political power was used to propagate Christianity... The English East India Company, in the name of religious neutrality, was giving maximum support and encouragement to Christianity.
Left Historians argue: âThe idea that the major aim of colonialism in India was the spread of Christianity is in line with the anti-Christian bias of the book. The East India Company, in fact, had been wary of missionary activity in India, seeing it as a possible cause of popular unrest.â</b>
Pg 23: Tilak defended the Chapekar brothers stoutly in Kesari and invited the charge of sedition against themselves.
Left historians claim: âHari Om here openly glorifies individual violent resistance to the British as against non-violent mass resistance. In the process, he presents a grossly misleading account. Tilak was not prosecuted for sedition because he defended the Chapekar brothers. He was prosecuted for writing articles before the murder of Rand, for which the Chapekar brothers were arrested. Secondly, Tilak strongly criticised their action as the horrible action of a fanatic.â
<b>Pg 23-24: Similarly in Bengal, the return of Swami Vivekananda and the foundation of the Ramakrishna Mission electrified the whole political situation.
Left historians argue: âThe author seeks to link Hinduism, especially Vivekananda, to this strand of violent resistance or the cult of assassinations, which he calls the new spirit... It also overlooks the fact that the Ramakrishna Mission was and has been a non-political organisation</b>.â
Pg 26: ...<b>the Muslims had participated in the 1857 uprising in a big way. They had taken part in the anti-British struggle in order to regain lost ground and restore the Mughal Empire to its pristine glory</b>.
Left historians say: âIndeed! So, while the Hindu sepoy died for the freedom of the country, the Muslim sepoy fighting the British along with him died only for the sake of the Mughal Empire! Muslims, it is thus insinuated, could not have loved this country or fought for its freedom. What deadly venom is here sought to be transmitted to the young readers of the book.â
Pg 27: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the emergence of the Muslim League.
Left historians state: âBy putting Sir Syed Ahmed Khan under the emergence of the Muslim League, Hari Om wishes to link him with the Muslim League, although he died some eight years before it was founded. He had nothing to do with its formation. Syed Ahmed Khanâs contributions to the spread of scientific education and his essentially modern thought are totally ignored in the account...â
ANCIENT INDIA FOR CLASS XI
by Makkhan Lal
Pg 3: Ashoka, in his Rock Edict IX, insisted on the following measures and practices to maintain harmony, peace and prosperity in society...
Left historians state: âThese are not at all to be found in Ashokan edicts, including Rock Edict XII, which is essentially concerned with religious tolerance and removal of sectarian discord.â
<b>Pg 13: Karl Marx and F. Engels acknowledged their intellectual debt to F.W. Hegel...
Left historians say: âMarx and Engels acknowledged their debt to the elements of dialectics in Hegelian philosophy. Even so, they rejected Hegelâs idealism and his entire view of history.â</b>
<b>Pg 20: But with the excavations at Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan and Harappa, the antiquity of Indian civilisation has gone back to about 5,000 BC...â
Left argues: â....Nothing at the three sites can be possibly dated before circa 3,200 BC. If civilsation means presence of cities, no city in India can possibly be dated earlier than circa 2,600 BC.â[/B]
MEDIEVAL INDIA FOR CLASS XI
by Meenakshi Jain
Pg 26: ... Thus from the first Arab foray into the Sind to the Turkish conquest of Lahore, it took the invaders four hundred years to establish a foothold in the continent...â</b>
<b>Left historians argue: âThe Arabs held Sind and southern Punjab from the early 7th century onwards and that was surely enough of a foothold. The Arabs and Ghaznavids are lumped together as invaders. The author might have still better gone back to Alexander, then she could have said that it took 1,300 years for the invaders to establish a foothold here!â</b>
Pg 30: Meanwhile another slave Bakhtiyar Khalji....
Correct version:<b> âBakhtiyar Khalji was not a slave, but a free-born man of the Khalji tribe.â</b>
Pg 79: âThe near-unanimous contemporary condemnation of the Sultan could perhaps be attributed to Muhammed Tughlaqâs open consultations with Hindus and jogis, which provoked chroniclers like Isami and Barani to denounce him as irreligious.â
<b>Left historians state: âSuch statements tend to portray medieval writers as far more communally inclined than they actually were.[B] Barani, our major historian, never castigates the Sultan or holds him to be irreligious on the ground that he consulted with Hindus</b>. On the contrary, he criticised him for encouraging rationalism. Ibn Batuta, while he saw him consulting jogis, does not at all criticise him for this. It is only Isami who makes the consulting an issue...â
Pg 84:<b> He (Firuz Tughlaq) then blockaded an island near the sea coast, where nearly a hundred thousand inhabitants of Jajnagar (Orissa) had taken refuge and converted the island into a basin of blood by the massacre of unbelievers...
Left historians state: âThere is no island off the Orissa coast that can possibly contain one lakh people, or even a tenth of the number.â</b>
Pg 85: â<b>The Mughals were actually Barlas Turks, not Mongols, though they also acknowledged their links with the latter...â</b>
Left historians state: â<b>The Barlas tribe was a genuine Mongol tribe and traced its descent from the legendary Mongol ancestry with whom the imperial line of Chengiz Khan also originated. Such Chengisied houses like Barlas and other Mongol clans took to the Turkic tongue and so became Turkicised, but continued to regard themselves as of Mongol origin</b>.â
MODERN INDIA: HISTORY TEXTBOOK FOR CLASS XII
by Satish Chandra Mittal
Pg 246: â...Subhash Chandra Bose met Veer Savarkar, who suggested to him to escape from the country, like his elder brother Rash Bihari Bose.â
The Left historians point out: <b>âRash Bihari Bose was not Subhash Chandra Boseâs brother... the error is unpardonable.â </b>Subhash Chandra Bose, in the book Indian Struggle, talks about his meeting with Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Savarkar and stated that he was disappointed with both leaders.<b> There is no evidence of Savarkar advising Subhash Chandra Bose to leave the country</b>.
Pg 246: Subhash Chandra Bose formed a new group within the Congress, which came to be called the Forward Bloc. This invoked sharp reactions from the Gandhiites, leading to his resignation from the presidentship of the Congress...â
Left version: âSubhash Chandra Bose formed the Forward Bloc after he had resigned from the presidentship of the Congress.â
Pg 246: â...<b>On 13 March 1940 the former Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, General Dyer, was shot dead in London by Sardar Udham Singh...â
Left version: âGeneral Dyer had died in 1927 of cerebral hemorrhage. The Lieutenant-Governor who was shot dead was Michael OâDwyer.â</b> <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Pg 185: â...Savarkar engaged himself in the activities of the Hindu organisation...â
The Left historians argue: <b>âThe organisations, including the Hindu Mahasabha, remain unnamed.</b> It is nowhere stated in the book that he was a leader of the Hindu Mahasabha and presided over its annual session in 1937, where he expounded his two-nation theory.â The Left historians also complain that âas is to be expected, there is quite a lot about Savarkar in the book, including his advice to Subhash Chandra Bose to escape from the country.â
<b>It was also pointed out by the Left historians that on pages 243, 244 and 245, the book dedicated a âwhole page to the Communistsâ opposition to the Quit India Movement, while it stated that Savarkar only directed his followers not to take part in the movementâ. The Left historians also object to the description of the Hindu Mahasabhaâs objective as the ârevival of social and cultural consciousness among the Hindus</b>â.
CONTEMPORARY WORLD HISTORY: FOR CLASS XII
by Mohammed Anwar-Ul Haque, Himansu S. Patnaik and Pratyusa K. Mandal
The Left historians claim: <b>âThis book adds a new dimension to NCERTâs new history. Some of it reads like old US-inspired Cold War propaganda of McCarthyite variety.â</b>
Pg 92: <b>Communism, like Fascism, was an equal contributor to World War II... The Nazi dictator (Hitler) remains the worldâs most infamous war-monger. But there is a difference now. In the estimate of contemporary scholars, he has to share that infamy equally with Joseph Stalin</b>.
<b>Pg 144: ...In 1974, the Salazar dictatorship was overthrown...
Correct version: Salazar had died in 1970...
On Pg 172, two different dates are mentioned for the setting up of the Warsaw Pact â first in 1945, the second in 1955</b>Sunday Chronicle,
Deccan.
http://www.deccan.com/Sunday%20Chronicle%2...Description.asp
BJP blames Centre for Plan panel fiasco
By Our Special Correspondent
BANGALORE, OCT. 1. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today lambasted the Union Government for the fiasco in first naming foreign experts to the consultative committees of the Planning Commission, justifying it and then disbanding it on account of political pressure.
It had sent a wrong message across the country and internationally, said the BJP president, M. Venkaiah Naidu.
Amenable to pressure
Speaking to presspersons here today, Mr. Naidu said that it had been proved beyond doubt that the Government was amenable to pressure.
"<b>This is not an ordinary issue. The Planning Commission is a premier, independent body of which the Prime Minister is the Chairman."
There were too many power centres and the Government was giving in to the diktats of the Communist parties.</b>
"We are happy that it got rid of Left indoctrination in the Government."
`Vindictive approach'
<b>Mr. Naidu also took exception to the Government setting up a Group of Ministers to inquire into the decisions of the previous Government and said that the approach was "vindictive and confrontationist." </b>
Cautioning the Government, he said that there were BJP and National Democratic Alliance -partner Governments in some States and they could also adopt such an approach, but that would not help.
The Government instead should concentrate on checking inflation and curbing terrorism, he said.
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