Media In India/elsewhere -2

[dhu]

<!--QuoteBegin-acharya+Jan 4 2008, 12:49 AM-->QUOTE(acharya @ Jan 4 2008, 12:49 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Were people to think about this process too much, it might break down; but, he writes,

    <b>``the mass of absolutely illiterate, of feeble minded, grossly neurotic, undernourished and frustrated individuals is very considerable, much more considerable, there is reason to think, than we generally suppose. </b>Thus a wide popular appeal is circulated among persons who are mentally children or barbarians, whose lives are a morass of entanglements, people whose vitality is exhausted, shut-in people, and people whose experience has comprehended no factor in the problem under discussion.''

Stating that he saw a progression to ever-less-thought-provoking forms of media, Lippmann marvels at the power of the nascent Hollywood movie industry to shape public opinion. Words, or even a still picture, require an effort for the person to form a ``picture in the mind.'' But, with a movie,

    ``the whole process of observing, describing, reporting, and then imagining has been accomplished for you. Without more trouble than is needed to stay awake, the result which your imagination is always aiming at is reeled off on the screen.''
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Isn't this modern experience really just a continuation of the wasteland of religion. The first step is to create the wasteland and then implant any "desirable" suggestion. The result is absolute control or, rather, a self-sufficient dysfunctionality.

[Bodhi]

Why do our intellectuals behave this way when faced with Islam?

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Our intellectuals and artists have been abused for 1400 years. Indeed, the psychology of our intellectuals is exactly like the psychology of the abused wife, the sexually abused child or rape victim. Look at the parallels between the response of abuse victims and our intellectuals. See how violence has caused denial.

<b>The victims deny that the abuse took place:</b> Our media never reports the majority of jihad around the world. Our intellectuals don’t talk about how all of the violence is connected to a political doctrine.

<b>The abuser uses fear to control the victim:</b> What was the reason that newspapers would not publish the Mohammed cartoon? Salman Rushdie still has a death sentence for his novel. What “cutting edge” artist creates any artistic statement about Islam? Fear rules our intellectuals and artists.

<b>The victims find ways to blame themselves:</b> We are to blame for the attacks on September 11, 2001. If we try harder Muslims will act nicer. We have to accommodate their needs.

<b>The victim is humiliated:</b> White people will not talk about how their ancestors were enslaved by Islam. No one wants to claim the victims of jihad. Why won’t we claim the suffering of our ancestors? Why don’t we cry about the loss of cultures and peoples? We are too ashamed to care.

<b>The victim feels helpless:</b> “What are we going to do?” “We can’t kill 1.3 billion people.” No one has any understanding or optimism. No one has an idea of what to try. The only plan is to “be nicer.”

<b>The victim turns the anger inward:</b> What is the most divisive issue in today’s politics? Iraq. And what is Iraq really about? Political Islam. The Web has a video about how the CIA and Bush planned and executed September 11. Cultural self-loathing is the watchword of our intellectuals and artists.

We hate ourselves because we are mentally molested and abused. Our intellectuals and artists have responded to the abuse of jihad just as a sexually abused child or a rape victim would respond. We are quite intellectually ill and are failing at our job of clear thinking. We can’t look at our denial.
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http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read....CEA90FCCCD0D%7D

[Shambhu]

EXPOSING MEDIA'S ROLE IN GUJARAT ELECTION
02/01/2008 22:26:00 Japan Pathak (Translated in English by Gaurang G. Vaishnav, NJ, USA)


<b>Journalists accepts bribe to write against BJP.</b>

More than Congress, It is Media’s Defeat in Gujarat election.


• Sashtang Dandavat to Chanakya Public
• News media should now start fantasy channels and magazines like Manohar Kahaniyan
• Political correspondents should now start writing children’s’ stories
• Why the barrage of rumors, lies, Gobblesian propaganda, bogus forecasts, false
projections and half truths?

When I put an open post on December 19, four days before the election results of December 23 stating that Modi will win and describing how to celebrate the victory, some people expressed doubt that since this time the election was neck to neck, and Congress was likely to win, if Congress indeed won then DeshGujarat would be a laughing stock.

To everyone who said this, I asked, whom are you going to vote for? Answer: “Modi.” “And your wife?” Answer: “Modi.” “And your sons and daughters?” Answer: “Modi.” Then I asked, “has Modi given you something that your whole family is going to vote for Modi?” They said, No but we like Modi therefore we are going to vote for him. So I said to them: “If you are thinking like this, then do rest of the Guajratis have horns and tails? They also think like you do.”

And, therefore we put the open post of how to celebrate Modi’s victory on DeshGujarat. Excepting a couple of Gujaratis no one expressed any doubt about Modi’s victory.

From the eastern end of the world. Mayurbhai writes “It is said that during World War II, only BBC radio gave true information; now I say that in the 2007 Gujarat elections, only DeshGujarat gave true information.” From the western end of the world Pawan Nanavaty writes: “reading and watching all media we had become nervous but only DeshGujarat was giving correct information as to which way the election 2007 was going.”

Many such opinions form our readers enhance our vigor and our determination to bring to you true information.

The basic factor behind the prediction of a decisive victory of Modi was intuition and keeping our ear to the ground, listening more to people and less the planned talks of the media, accepting basic wisdom and ignoring analyzed opinions. When someone said that Modi will not win, we used to find out by a counter question: was it that person’s belief? Was it his opinion? Was it his wish? Or was it information?

Congress has not won a single election in last so many years. Congress is proud of its win in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 but in that election Congress had 12 seats and BJP had 14 seats, i.e., BJP had two more seats and that encompasses a number of MLAs. Congress does not have an ideological structure of 100% following. None of its leaders have a clean image. The communication of its leaders dependent on the newspapers gives a headache to the people of Gujarat. Gujaratis vote on Macro issues. When the Central Government takes a wrong step on Kashmir, the voter in Kutchh responds to it in the election. This time the macro issue in the election was Modi.

I am in public affairs in Gujarat for last twenty years and in journalism for last ten years. I have been to each and every corner of Gujarat. I know people and on that basis I clearly believed that BJP would definitely not lose this election and Congress was already a defeated old bag, but in reality it would be the media that would be defeated. The media was the oxygen of Congress’s anti-Modism . Just the way a patient goes on spending money on the oxygen cylinders, Modi baiters needed media as the oxygen and they paid for this “oxygen”.

In assessing this election, not only the media people failed to understand the public opinion, they also failed to understand the opinions of their own family members, neighbors and friends. In the columns of DeshGuajrat I had written that there was a wave in favor of Modi because of his cult figure.

Now should I take the media to task? In this, is the reverberation of my as well as your feelings.

I had written previously that I had the confirmed information that a journalist of a small newspaper of Surat was given Rs. 300,000 to write against BJP. It is very highly possible that the political correspondents for major newspapers in Surat, Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar were given at least three times that amount to write against BJP.

These “sold out” journalists wrote big stories after calling Keshubhai, Suresh Mehta, Gordhan Zadafia and Kashiram Rana during and before the elections to ingratiate themselves with them because they had taken the money from the diamond lobby. These stories would be such that after reading them you would feel that BJP would be crushed in Saurashtra!! Koli Patels would clean out BJP!! Patidars would do as told by Keshubhai and BJP would be thrashed!! BJP was strong only in urban areas! Voters in rural area would desert BJP!! Uma Bharati would defeat BJP by taking away BJP’s votes!! Sadhus and sants were not with the BJP this time- so what would happen to BJP? RSS and VHP were against BJP; surely Modi’s prospects would be damaged!!

Even astute readers would be caught in the barrage of such writings, lose bearings and because of that other correspondents would follow this line of arguments; independent observers also get influenced and the cycle of lies and falsehood continues. The leaders who deserve to be consigned to the junkyard, those Dushashans and Duryodhans were made into Bheeshma, Arjun and Bheema by the media with an agenda.

Lies of the Media and Propaganda with an Agenda

(1)BJP will lose because of anti-incumbency against Ashok Bhatt in Khadia (Amdavad)

It could not be believed that Ashok Bhatt would not get the ticket in Amdavad. Ashok Bhatt is such a senior MLA of BJP and has been a minister a number of times so was it possible that BJP would not give him the ticket? It was simply not possible. But Media started agenda based propaganda that Ashok Bhatt would not get the ticket. When Ashok Bhatt got the ticket, Media started saying that there was anti-incumbency in Khadia so Ashok Bhatt would definitely be defeated. The results are that Ashok Bhatt has won from Khadia with margin larger than the last election!

(2) If Modi does not pay attention to canvassing in Maninagar, Patel votes will defeat BJP

Modi will fight from Vadodara’s Raopura seat instead of from Maninagar because he finds Raopura seat safer than Maninagar; Raj Babbar will stand against Modi from Congress; Congress has played masterstroke by putting up Dinsha Patel from Maninagar because there are X number of Patel voters and Y numbers of this and that voters who would vote for Dinsha Patel and Modi would have tough time. Modi would be unable to do canvassing all over Gujarat and he would be restricted to electioneering in Maninagar- all these balloons were floated throughout the election. And what happened in the end? Modi stood from Maninagar only, came only three times for public meetings and won with a larger margin than the last time!

(3) Purushottam Solanki will lose because of the displeasure of Koli Patels due to Chandani case

Media propagated lies that Purushottam Solanki would change his constituency; this time he was likely to lose. But Solanki won, defeating his Congress rival by garnering more than double his opponent’s votes. He won with a lead of more than 34,000 votes and 61% of votes. Suspended BJP M.P. from Surendranagar, Soma Ganda Patel used to go around as if the Koli votes were in his pocket and the media used to run to him on all Koli Patel issues but his own son lost from Virmagam’s Koli Patel dominated constituency!

(4) BJP will lose in Saurashtra due to the effect of Keshubhai’s displeasure on the Patidars

Media and the money power of anti-Modi diamond merchant Patels’ lobby created a bogey that Keshubhai had strong impact on the Patidar (Patel) voters but BJP won 24 out of 35 seats in Patel dominated constituencies! Look at the Patel dominated constituencies where BJP lost- In Jamjodhpur it lost by 17 votes and in Manavadar by less than 2000 votes. Keshubhai’s stature was made up only by the media. In the seventh year of 21st century, there is no relevance of Keshubhai and the Patidar-ism in Gujarat’s politics. Their relevance was created only in the printed paper of the newspapers and screens of television by the media. The media believed as if the Visavadar seat with the dominance of the Leuva Patels was Keshubhai’s inheritance from generations; BJP won this seat as well. Media propagated lies like Bharat (Keshubhai’s son) Patel would contest from this seat, would not contest, etc. It got a slap on its face when Bharat Patel himself refused to contest. Of course recently Keshubhai has in an interview with Sunday Indian Magazine said that his son was not offered the ticket. The candidate that Congress selected for the Visavadar seat on the recommendation of Keshubhai group was defeated.

Not only that, the media was saying that BJP would be decimated in Saurashtra because of the votes of Leuva Patidars, Keshubhai’s displeasure and the propaganda of the dissidents who were given helicopters by Congress. Same media is now witnessing that as against 39 seats in Saurashtra in the 2002 elections, BJP has secured 44 seats in 2007!

(5) BJP will lose in Amreli due to the Dissidents (Asantushtas)

The media that put out stories of BJP’s defeat In Amreli, the fortress of the dissidents is slapped by ‘Chanakya’ Gujaratis. Balu Tanti lost in Dhari and Bechar Bhadani lost in Lathi. In Amreli, the backyard of Vasant Gajera, the castist Patidar, his nephew, Paresh Dhanani has lost from the Congress against Dilip Sanghani of BJP, his bete noir. He will become a minister and for five years will move in a car with red light in front of Gajeara’s home! Congress had given this Vasant Gajera a helicopter to garner Patel votes but not only his nephew has lost, his brother, Dhiru Gajera has lost with a wide margin in Surat! Media had painted Dhiru Gajera and Vasant Gajera as tigers; public of Gujarat has magically made them into pussycats!

(6) BJP will lose in Kutchh due to Suresh Mehta’s displeasure

Media had pumped up Suresh Mehta in Kutchh to larger than life. This Suresh Mehta had become Chief Minister of Gujarat based on ‘not this person’, ‘not this person’, ‘not that person’ selection process. Later on he accepted a lower post, lost an election and became invisible. But as soon as he started speaking against Modi, the media lifted him up and by giving columns after columns in newspapers and showing him repeatedly on TV, the media made him so big as if he was a heavyweight in the politics of Gujarat. Forget being heavyweight, Suresh Mehta was not a factor at all, but media had made him into one! Look- Suresh Mehta’s protégé in Kutchh, Gopal Dhua lost in Mundra, Narendrasinh Jadeja lost in Abadasa and besides these two seats, BJP got three more seats in Kutchh!

(7) BJP will lose because of the candidacy of rebels Sunil Oza and Dhanraj Kella

On the South Bhavanagar seat, Media pumped up BJP’s dissident Sunil Oza but Sunil Oza got only 2000 votes. In Vadhwan, media pumped up BJP’s dissident Dhanraj Kella but there also BJP won; Dhanraj Kella came in third!

(8) Saurabh Patel will be defeated by Koli candidate; BJP will lose to Mayavati’s BSP

The media kept writing repeatedly that Saurabh Patel would lose in Botad because his opponent, Koli Patel candidate Peethawala was super rich and had lot of influence. Now the media is witnessing Saurabh Patel’s victory. In Vadodara, media that was highlighting every mischief of dissident Nalin Bhatt’s refrain of “Mayavati has arrived, Mayavati has arrived” is now also witnessing that Nalin Bhatt did not even get 5000 votes on the Sayajiganj seat of Vadodara!

(9) BJP will lose by the weight of Kashiram Rana

The media that projected Kashiram Rana as the powerful leader of Surat is now witnessing that BJP has won all seats of Surat, including Rana’s favorite seat of Surat east by a thin margin. BJP’s position has become stronger in the South Gujarat which the media projected as Kashiram Rana’s bastion and to whom media used to run all the time calling him a leader of reckoning. Surprisingly, BJP has also won the seat in Dang, which Congress had always won since after independence!

(10) Rahul Gandhi’s charisma will work: BJP will lose

The media that sang paeans to Rahul Gandhi’s road shows in Surat and Vadodara and predicted that Congress would triumph all over these areas should now sing mournful songs for Congress because Rahul Gandhi’s road shows in Vadodara and Surat have proved to be flop shows as Congress could not win a single seat out of the four seats in Vadodara city as well as from Surat city!

(11) VHP and RSS are upset: BJP will lose

Media made Gobbelsian propaganda that VHP was upset, RSS was upset and that they were not active but within a striking distance form where I live, there is a RSS shakha and one of the RSS swayamsevaks, Rakesh Shah was selected from the Ellisbridge constituency and another Swayamsevak was selected for BJP’s media cell. If you trace the roots of each candidate, it would be RSS or VHP. When an appeal with Ashok Singhalji’s name comes twice in support of Modi, when there are rallies of Dharmendra Maharaj, it was sheer lie that was propagated that VHP was out to defeat BJP. The results of the election have exposed these lies of the media!

Did Pravin Togadia who worked against Modi at the time of the election in the name of VHP have any sense to understand how Christian missionaries’ activities would have increased had the Congress come to power? Considering the way Congress has surreptitiously given tickets for its safest winning Adivasi seat of Vyara in the last two elections to Christians, it could have been possible that the gentleman could have become minister of education, Health or Adivasi Development. Had Togadia and the Sadhus given a thought to what situation might have developed? Togadia used to guide the dissidents by telephone; Gujarat will not forgive Togadia for his telephone role in this election.

(12) BJP will Lose because of Uma Bharati’s candidates

That Chaitanya Shambhu Maharaj, who lost election to Lok Sabha contesting form Gandhinagar seat from R.J.P. of Shankarsinh Vaghela, has become president of Gujarat of a party of Uma Bharati, who has lost any relevance. This party had put up candidates. Chaitanya Shambhu Maharaj used to say that after the election, his party would extend support to BJP on the condition that Modi should not be the Chief Minister. Media gave this statement lot of weight and exposure. Now, not a single one of the candidates of this Chaitanya Shambhu Maharaj has won and majority (perhaps all) of the candidates have lost deposits! Great journalists of Gujarat that gave three column wide importance to this Maharaj and his statements should, now after the results, form Bhajan Mandlis!

(13) Sadhus are unhappy: BJP will lose

And that Saint by the name of S. P. Swami from old Swaminarayan Mandir in Gadhda in Saurashtra to whom the media used to run with cameras for his interviews- BJP has won the Gadhda seat! BJP has wrested this seat from a sitting MLA of Congress. This S. P. Swami was going to create disturbance in Modi’s public meeting in Bhavanagar so police had arrested him in advance. And this S. P. Swami had taken out a “Yaatra” of Sadhus in 200 cars from Somanath to Vapi where in every constituency blessings were given to the Congress candidate and people were exhorted to defeat BJP. But would you look at the results? BJP won in Somanath, BJP also won in Vapi and S. P. Swami really should have worried about his own home because BJP also won in Gadhda! The head Swami of Vadatal Swaminarayan had also joined in this “Yaatra” and look- BJP also won form Mehmadavad!

****

People of Gujarat have given a resounding slap on the faces of all those political correspondents and journalists who repeatedly lied to them stating time and again “Modi is in danger from all these forces and BJP will lose the elections.”

Media was showing its true colors on the morning of the election results and is still showing it after the results..

NDTV, IBN 7, AAJ Tak had reached the Congress House (Congress office in Amdavad) on the morning of the election results and in the beginning when BJP was getting clobbered in Central Gujarat, they had started asking Bharatsinh Solanki in live telecast: “Are you in the race to become the Chief Minister?” Bharatsinh was also smug saying, “no, I am only a soldier of the party.” Then the IBN correspondent said that the breaking news was that Modi’s false claims of Development had proven to be lies and his tactic of spreading communal poison had also failed. Modi might not come to power again. After that IBN 7 asked Harin Pathak outside BJP office “Are you ready to accept defeat after the drubbing in the very beginning in Central Gujarat?” In response, Harin Pathak said : “ I have just seen on another channel that BJP is ahead in 90 seats and Congress on 55. Wait another hour, we will win.” Yet, IBN 7 insisted, “but according to the trends we have, you are losing.” Then the scene shifted to the studio where the anchor said that BJP was not reedy to concede. That bearded political analyst Yogendra Yadav said that if he were watching the results seating with Modi, he surely would have been under tension, the game was slipping (from the hands of BJP).

The funny thing is that Harin Pathak and other Gujaratis were watching E TV where BJP was clearly seen to be leading while IBN 7 and Aaj Tak were selling dreams of Chief Minister’s chair to Bharat Solanki and misinforming the public. These rascals were showing lies even on the day of the results and even after the results, keep on discussing Godhra, Maut Ka Sodagar (Merchants of Death), ‘Who is bigger? Party or Modi’, this issue and that issue in the election, etc.

Badmash (Rascal) Media but Chatur Praja (Intelligent Public)

Media should have understood that the salaries of Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Dua, etc. come from, and the media runs on advertisements for a customer class that comprises of 50% middle class, rich class, young class, urban and semi urban class, the people who love Modi. Therefore media should have been pro –Modi but the media went the other way and therefore, today when Congress has won in a handful of Adivasis, rural and Muslim areas, media’s relevance is now limited to those pockets only.

Modi benefited from the media’s fear mongering of Modi’s defeat because more and more people, fearing that Modi might lose, to assure his victory came out to vote in droves. In areas where there was dominance of Patidars, people came out to vote thinking “what if Patidars vote against Modi? Let us vote to save Modi and neutralize anti-Modi vote.” This was the impact of the mispropaganda of the media and anti-Modi lobby.

Some time back I had written that you should give up hope that the journalists would become better journalists. Readers, you become the good readers and intelligent readers. The election results that came on December 23 make it clear that you Gujarati readers were intelligent readers in 2002, are intelligent readers in 2007 and would always be intelligent readers. Jay Gujarat!

(Translated by Gaurang G. Vaishnav, NJ, USA, vicharak@gmail.com
from an article in Gujarati on www.deshgujarat.com by Japan Pathak.)
http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx...eID=5254&SKIN=M

[ramana]

Op-ed in Pioneer, 10 Jan., 2008

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Media tends to mislead

Shailaja Chandra

<b>Just look at how 24x7 television channels and newspapers got it all horribly wrong about the Gujarat Assembly election. Rather than feel the pulse of the people, media chose to listen to those willing to say what it wished to hear</b>

Governments emp-loy intelligence agencies and corporates engage market sleuths to spy on rivals. While private sleuthing may yield results (at a price), <b>highly placed people often remain cocooned from reality, hearing only what a chosen few tell them; or worse, depend on TV channels and newspapers that, as we know, are propelled by their own internal dynamics.</b>

Take the example of the Gujarat Assembly election. I was in the rural areas of Vadodara district last November. It was clear as daylight that Mr Narendra Modi was coming back. <b>The usual "kaun jitenge bataiye" questions which my companions were naive enough to ask only elicited the stock reply -- "maloom nahi, 50-50 hai". With election round the corner, few will divulge what they know -- not even to another local, not even to a family member -- because no one wants to feel a fool if the result is otherwise.</b> Fifty-fifty is neither here nor there, but safe.

A page or two from history might act as an advisory for those who are naive enough to seek straight answers. Take the example of the 1994 Assembly election in Rajasthan. I was on election duty as an observer and had to tour the district of Chittorgargh for four days each on three separate occasions. Accompanying me were a tehsildar, a gunman and a driver -- different ones each time. As we drove around the constituency traversing miles and miles of barren countryside and visiting polling stations, no one talked politics. Even so my companions and others found ways of indicating whom they were backing.

Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was seeking re-election as Chief Minister. If I made an observation about improved roads, pat would come the reply, "Yeh inke waqt me hua hai." No names and no comments.<b> Inke and unke said it all.</b> And predictably, Mr Shekhawat returned to power. Fourteen years later, my observation about a comparatively well functioning panchayati raj system elicited a similar catchphrase, but this time it was, "Gehlot sahib ke time me bahut kaam hua tha."

<b>The statement innocuous as it sounds carries an implicit judgement on the perceived dearth of kaam at other times. Recall Queen Elizabeth's legendary comment to the Indian Prime Minister, "Islamabad is a very clean city," making a comparison with New Delhi inevitable.</b>

Take Delhi in November 2003. The RWAs had found their feet and were strutting around enjoying their newfound importance. The CNG crisis was over. Delhi's forest cover had improved. Shining new buses had arrived. Spanking new flyovers had replaced grid locked intersections. The backlash on electricity meters, bills, privatisation of water had not yet been sparked. The commotion about unauthorised construction and encroachment on public land had not even started. The 'feel good' factor could be felt literally like the onset of good weather. Anyone could have predicted that Ms Sheila Dikshit would come back with a bang. The coalition at the Centre was BJP-dominated. <b>The police, the bureaucracy, drivers, private secretaries -- all those who worked in proximity to important people chanted the 50-50 forecast to Centrally-appointed BJP functionaries, despite knowing what the electorate's intentions were. Just as traditional midwives do not want to be the first to break the 'bad news' about the birth of a girl child, hangers on cannot remain hangers on if they deliver bad news.</b>

Take the India-US nuclear deal.<b> Not for a moment did the Americans expect that anyone would have the temerity to question what the Government had undertaken to do. To be fair, no one could have predicted that the Cabinet decision on the 123 Agreement would be questioned, much less slowed down and halted. But once that reality became obvious, it is astonishing that the gravity of the "bluff", "bluster" and "posturing" was not apparent to the army of diplomats whose whole-time job it is to gauge perceptions. </b>"It's all political," said the Americans as though that by itself was a revelation.

That India is a federal country and that <b>a coalition is in power at the Centre is known to any school child. That decision-making involves huge interplay of ideological positions and regional interests is also well recognised. That different constituents of the coalition have reasons to back off or pull out, scuttle or revive, tolerate or castigate things to impress their party cadre is evident. This is the daily food of regional newspapers understood by Indians, educated as well as the hoi polloi. Yet, the nuclear deal dealers accorded an understanding reached with civil servants inviolability, without fully understanding the enormous pressure individual political parties can apply.</b>

The moral of the story is this: <b>Television, print media, office and drawing room conversations are fascinating. Talking to people we feel comfortable with is stimulating. But these inputs cannot capture underlying emotions, likes, dislikes, constituency compulsions and the need to play to the home gallery, all of which determine public perception and outcome. For that, one has to listen to the predictions of ordinary people. The most difficult part is to penetrate that ordinariness and interpret seemingly off-track remarks which collectively become harbingers for tomorrow.</b>

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We try very hard on the forum to feel the common pulse but it is hard with all of us not pulling in for that goal.

[Guest]

To get local pulse, best place is to listen to mohalla woman chit- chatting during afternoon. One can get real feel and they are always on dot. During onion shortage days before Delhi election, it was no guess it was created by Congress. Media was in bed with Congress. I had first hand information because I used to sit near TOI evening beat reporting room with my ear open. Whole issue was created by media and Congress, but people refused to use common sense and went all out to buy onion as if after that day they will never get onion or they will die without onion. All this created a big loss for BJP. One should never presume that commonsense exist. Even last Delhi election these women gave right pulse. They get information or rumor from every source, first from Jamadars, Milk booth, utensil cleaning lady, street Jamadars, Sabziwalla, dhobi, mochi, local shopkeeper, school rickshawalla, bus stop, husband, kids, they collect all these rumor from every source and gives real ground reality. During 2004 general election, they had this on lips, <i>“Taxiwalla was saying only some people had become rich we taxiwalla are still poor, Congress will change everything, Sibal Sahabji had made promise to everyone”. </i>Now these ladies started comparing their living status with Ambani and now they are poorest of poor. End result they voted for Congress.

[Guest]

<b>TV CHANNEL OR CHURCH AGENT </b>

Every profession owes certain responsibilities and an ethical commitment to the society. In the case of mass media the responsibilities and ethical commitments are multiplied, because they shoulder the responsibility of unfolding the truth.

Hence their version has to be impartial, unbiased and at the same time should be beneficial for the mass. It is also most important that the truth should be seen from the angle of one's own country and its culture, not from the angle of an alien.

<b>But the mass media of India are unique. Most of them feel they are beyond every boundary of responsibility. They are above all accountability. They are free to write or speak anything and everything they wish and have no commitment to the society or anybody in it. They need not have any ethics at all. </b>

Examples are abundant everyday in the print and electronic media. Most of the 'media-men' have become 'middlemen'. Their endeavour is not to express the truth but to campaign for some party, some individual or some institutions obviously by which or by whom they are gratified.

The recent incident was a programme on the unrest in Kandhamala in the NDTV on 9.1.2008 at 10.00 PM ("In the name of God "). The programme started with a picture of a burning cross, obviously hinting to violence against Christianity. As if no violence was done to Hindus.

The anchor told that the problem in Kandhamala started with an incident when the Christians erected a structure and the Hindus objected to it. The fact that the structure was constructed on the ground where the statue of Goddess Durga is erected every year was cleverly concealed by her.

Again she mentioned with a very mild tone that 'the vehicle of Swami Laksmanananda' was attacked when he came to Brahmanigaon. Very misleadingly, she did not mention who attacked it and where exactly it was attacked. Again, very cleverly she added "why the Swami was going to the place?"

Here also she very deceptively concealed the fact that Swami Laksmanananda was attacked 'unprovoked' when he was at a distance of fifty kilometers from the Brahmanigaon ( where the Hindu-Christian strife had taken place).

Throughout the whole programme there were hundreds of pictures showing the damages done to the Christians and no expression of any damage done to the Hindu. Of course in the whole episode, once, for one or two seconds one Hindu lady was shown crying. But no mention relating to her damage was pronounced by the anchor. <b>The anchor very cunningly concealed the fact that the Hindus have sustained equal or more damage in comparison to the Christians and the first man who was killed was a Hindu, murdered by the Christians</b>. The Hindus, in the programme were pictured as villains and Orissa was painted as place filled with Hindu extremists. The Christians were pictured as an innocent lot being tortured by the Hindus mainly by the Sangh Parivar. The conversion was depicted as an outstanding benevolence extended by the Church.

At the end, of course, a few reluctant words slipped out of the anchor's mouth about Christians' violence. <b>But that was, she explained, an inevitable act of revenge to answer the Hindu atrocity and violence. </b>

The TV channel behaved not as a media but an agent of the Church heavily paid to campaign for it.

My earnest prayer, therefore, to the lovers of Hinduism and lovers of India to wage a war against such villainy of the mass media. Please write in thousands to the NDTV about its notoriety. At the same time please write to other papers and expose NDTV's real hypocrisy.

Whenever there is any anti-Hindu or anti-Indian item in any of the print or electronic media we shall have to write thousands of letters to different news papers and magazines and expose them. We have to write to the concerned Ministry to ban such news channels which propagate lies and tarnish the picture of the country in the world.

- xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Guest]

<b>Modi, a hero</b>

Though I also operate within the realms of Indian English media, <b>though I am aware of its “pseudo-secular” credentials, I was baffled by the kind of lop-sided, anti-Modi coverage of the Gujarat elections, especially in the electronic media</b>.

The English newspapers and news channels <b>declare themselves as “unbiased and secular” while they act as if they are the stooges of one particular political formation</b>. I strongly feel unless you are the mouthpiece of a political party, you are supposed to keep your biases aside while writing and reporting. But on the day the Gujarat election results were announced, <b>I saw open disappointment on the faces on many English news channels,</b> and many were seen commenting in the beginning that all was not lost for the Congress and only the urban results had started trickling in and once the rural and tribal-area results were out, it would be a totally different picture. Is this the way the balanced media should report? I think not.

Once it was known that Modi had swept Gujarat, the discussion took on a different direction. The champions of “secularism” declared that in no time, there would be grave problems in the BJP as Modi had become bigger than the party. They also predicted that his next target would be L.K.Advani’s position. Various news channels speculated on how Modi’s victory would adversely affect the BJP.

<b>But not a single journalist spoke about how ineffective Madame Gandhi’s and Rahul Gandhi’s campaigns had been. Like the sycophantic Congress, the ‘secular’ media also did not find anything wrong with the Gandhis</b>. The fault, the incompetence lay with the local leadership. Or was it the electorate that was to blame for their choice?

The newspapers, like the Communist parties, wanted the Congress to rethink and regroup so that the nation could be saved from the ‘communal’ BJP. Many newspapers, in their editorial advised the Congress on how to stop the “communal” BJP. But the funniest comment came from the CPM; “what is required is a determined and uncompromising struggle against the communal ideology of Hindutva and the capacity to launch sustained struggles of all sections of people who suffered from the right wing economic policies of the Modi government.”

As an Indian, certain questions come to my mind. One is, by talking for the majority, if the BJP becomes communal, what do you call the Congress for exploiting the minority which they have been doing ever since India won independence? If the BJP is polarising the society, what do you say about the Congress that had been polarising the Indian society on caste and religious lines?

In Gujarat also, had they not been trying to exploit the Patels? You look at Kerala, how many caste based parties are there? Both the Congress and the communist parties field candidates based on the caste preferences of the area. How do you describe this? Secularism?

Among the news channels, nobody except noted journalist M.J.Akbar was interested in analysing the reasons for Modi’s spectacular victory and his unbelievable rise in popularity throughout the country.

Throughout the campaign, <b>Modi spoke about the kind of development he had brought about in Gujarat but how many newspapers and television channels spoke about that? Gujarat could attract investment of US$ 17.8 billion in 2006-07 when the country as a whole attracted $69 billion during the same period. When India’s GDP growth is 9%, it is 13% in Gujarat. Industrial growth in India is 11% while it is 15% in Gujarat. Gujarat accounts for 20% of India’s industrial output, 25% of the country’s textile production, 40% of its pharmaceutical production, 47% of its petrochemical production and 21% of the country’s exports.</b>

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the father of India’s Green Revolution, (who makes it clear he differs with Modi’s politics), recently told me in an interview, “Some states like Gujarat have done good work, so the agricultural growth rate in Gujarat is over 9%. That is because they have been given the soil health cards, they have been given credit; in short, they have been given all the support system. They have a lot of land in the Kutch region, and they have developed it. Whatever may be Modi’s politics, which I may not approve, he is a very good administrator.” Gujarat achieved this when the country’s agricultural growth was a mere 2%.

I wonder if Modi is maut ka saudagar, what do you call the Congress for what happened in 1984? What do you call the Communists for what happened in Nadigram?

It is high time the nation knew what Modi had done for his state rather than talking about communalism? It is high time to find out what the younger generation of India find in him?<b> It is high time to find out why he is the hero of modern India? It is also high time the English media in India came out of the warp of pseudo secularism and see the reality that is there in the country. </b>

http://notanobserver.rediffiland.com/blogs...i-a-hero-4.html

[Shambhu]

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/3829.html

The British Bastion of Cluelessness at it again: Widows this time.

[dhu]

<b>Exposing the Modern Racist Paradigm</b>
http://opposingdigits.com/racistparadigm/

[ramana]

I could have psoted in Psy-ops thread but I think this is where it belongs. I was struck by the gnawig fact that something is worng in the Bhaji controversey in Ozzie land but could put my finger on it.

Well here it is. From Pioneer, 18 Jan., 2008

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The race to transfer guilt
Ashok Malik

Writing in London's Daily Mail after the controversy-ridden Sydney test match, a particularly over-the-top sports columnist said, "Here is the latest news from Down Under. A Black cricketer claims he was called a 'monkey' so the authorities have dumped a black umpire to appease the team accused of harbouring a racist."

Paul Hayward, for that is the writer's name, had more to add: "'Monkey' relegates the object to the animal kingdom and instantly evokes slave ships out of Africa, lynchings in America's deep South and the worst ramblings of white supremacists." The point he was trying to make was that calling a Black cricketer a monkey was different from 'conventional' or even 'legitimate' abuse and sledging.

While he's clearly unknown and unheard of in India, <b>Hayward has put forward an argument that others have echoed too. By allegedly calling Andrew Symonds a "monkey", Harbhajan Singh, they charge, has crossed the Rubicon.</b>

<b>It is the sort of high-minded rhetoric that would leave most Indians completely bewildered. "Slave ships out of Africa"; "lynchings in America"; "ramblings of white supremacists": All very well, but what's it got to do with Harbhajan Singh's Sikh/Punjabi ancestors? The Indians weren't the ones running the slave ships, so why should they be guilt-tripped?</b>

There are some intriguing questions amid the acrid post-Sydney debate. <b>Does racism in sport (or in any field) only become an issue when the cultural commentators of the West -- not to speak of pompous cricket writers in London and jejune cricket captains in Australia -- discover it?</b>

Begin with first principles. <b>After Sydney, the usual hand-wringing has begun among sections of the Indian intelligentsia. They insist Indians live in glass houses and are actually quite racist. For evidence, sales figures of 'skin fairness creams' have been cited. One newspaper has diligently compiled a list of which Indians hate other Indians: From Delhi residents who ridicule students from the North-East to Bengalis who despise Marwaris.</b>

All of this is beside the point. It is nobody's argument that Indian society doesn't have prejudice; that is, regrettably, a part of the human condition. <b>Yet, racism -- in the manner in which it is being discussed after the Sydney test -- refers to a specific political belief that Black people are inferior. It is about the oppression and brutalisation of those of African origin by, predominantly, Western nations.</b>

In this narrow-focus framework India as a society has far less to answer for than, say, Australia or, indeed, the forefathers of apoplectic newspaper columnists in London. Correctly or incorrectly, the Indian establishment and middle class see their country as a strong voice against racism -- a society that backed liberation movements in South Africa and Namibia, for example, and led the crusade against racism in sport when race was really a global problem, rather than the newbie multi-culturalist's hobby horse.

<i>{India spent a lot of money annually to give support to ANC when it was banned by the West. Ask Mandela}</i>

<b>Despite the holier-than-thou nonsense of Cricket Australia's apologists, the fact is racism in international sport is far less of a menace today than it was 20 years ago.</b> It was a fault-line from, roughly, the 1950s, when newly independent nations in Asia and Africa felt White countries weren't giving them their due. <b>India suffered too, if only collaterally. First-grade English cricketers routinely skipped tours to the sub-continent. Between 1947 and 1980, India was invited to visit Australia only three times -- 1947-48, 1967-68 and 1977-78.</b>

Was this racism or merely distance, discomfort and mutual suspicion? It usually depended on your passport.

Africans or those of African descent had a more combustible encounter. Apartheid was a hot button especially when some nations insisted sport and politics could not be mixed. It led to an African boycott of the 1976 Olympics. <b>As far back as 1976, then England captain Tony Greig welcomed the West Indies cricket team by promising to make them "grovel". As Clive Lloyd pointed out in his autobiography, Living for Cricket, this brought to mind images of African slaves in sugar plantations and inspired his team to smash England 3-0. Even so, there was no indignant columnist waiting to admonish Greig, no Ricky Ponting complaining to the International Cricket Council (ICC), no ICC referee who cared a damn.</b>

Since the 1990s, racism has, for the most part, ceased to be an issue in international sport. Perhaps making up for lost time, the moral custodians of Western culture have suddenly woken up to it, and are promoting a war against a phantom enemy. There is a word for this phenomenon -- political correctness.

It is instructive that in the manner in which it is delineated and its concerns hierarchically laid out, <b>political correctness is itself neo-racist -- only addressing those sensitivities the West believes worthy of protecting. There is also an inexplicable universalisation of its postulates.</b> Why else would an Indian, with no slave ships in his family, no Gone With the Wind legacy, be expected to 'atone' in equal measure for Europe's or America's historical maltreatment of the Black man? Has political correctness become a civilisational transfer of guilt?

Such collective amnesia is not limited to racism. <b>Consider how Europe and even the United States have blissfully whitewashed their record of anti-Semitism. Over centuries, European nations regularly demonised Jews. Even during the Holocaust, America was turning back German Jewish refugees.</b>

After World War II, <b>when the monstrosity of the Nazi regime was there for all to see, Europe and America changed their minds.</b> Hitler now became the unmentionable one. Even a rational academic discussion on his relative achievements and failures -- without in any way mitigating the evil he institutionalised in his concentration camps -- became out of bounds.

<b>India's Semitic encounter was very different. Successive waves of Jewish migration -- spread over hundreds of years -- resulted in no ill will. That is why it is sometimes strange when Western interlocutors lecture India on the need to excise even mild mention of Hitler from public discourse. </b>

Indians see Hitler as no different a villain from Nadir Shah or Attila the Hun. The West insists he is in a league of his own. <b>The strict anti-Semitism codes that the West has designed are its attempt to make up for a dubious past. Other countries, those with no history of violence against the Jews, don't understand why they should be spoon-fed these rules.</b> Just like, one supposes, a working class Sikh youth can't understand why he should be a scapegoat for the Slave Trade.

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Till now they used to attack others, now they are on receiving end. Browns are with smart brains, money and stealing their jobs and living is really hurting them.

For Indians, monkey is used for child like behavior, for Oz it is for dirty filthy black and brown people.

Otherside, In India even now brown prefer white, see why whole Congress party is chasing Queen. Have you see Welcome given by government to Anglo-Saxon and African? Do you think Indian Parliament will jump to handshake Leader from Africa even Mandela as they did with Clinton.

[dhu]

<!--QuoteBegin-ramana+Jan 18 2008, 01:40 AM-->QUOTE(ramana @ Jan 18 2008, 01:40 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Has political correctness become a civilisational transfer of guilt?
[right][snapback]77251[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

This statement captures the condescending liberal attitude almost perfectly.

But I feel that these characters are transferring over something other than guilt, something more like a bad reputation. As Elst said about Islam, the surprising thing is not the crimes that have been committed but the absolute lack of guilt in the perpetrators.

Something is going on that these rightists can mutate so quickly into liberals when the situation demands, that they can effortlessly adopt the liberal clothing, so to speak (just as the liberal adopts the clothing and ways of the defeated native -online source-). Hudaibaiya??

[dhu]

India is an <i>experiment </i>in Multiculturalism!!

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->IN PRAISE OF CULTURAL IMPERIALISM?
..
Furthermore, the history of a number of ongoing experiments in multiculturalism, such as in the European Union, India, South Africa, and the United States, suggests that workable, if not perfected, integrative models exist. Each ..

IDENTITY WITHOUT CULTURE
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Religion imposed its principles and normative frameworks onto nonwestern cultures. Liberal Politics fragments those same cultures into atomistic Identities.

[Shambhu]

Finally someone says it... <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> (Year old, but new to me...)


Saturday, November 04, 2006
<span style='color:green'>
‘India Abroad’ or ‘Pakistan Abroad’?</span>
I am a life-subscriber to India Abroad for over a decade, and I have painfully come to the decision of canceling my subscription and ask you to stop mailing the issues due to me from now on. I took this step to boycott your paper, as I believe very strongly you are part of the machine for pseudo-secular anti-Hindu propaganda. As English language media’s misinformation campaign, you play a central role in USA.

Professor Romesh Diwan in his column “India Ascendant” http://sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=298065 suggests a more appropriate name for your paper ‘Pakistan Abroad’. He lists a large table of how P-sec media fabricate/slant reports and black out to further their anti-Hindu agenda. I pick a few of the incidents from that table for you here.

I have determined to send this letter to as many friends and like-minded Indians, organizations here and abroad to tell them of my boycott and ask them to join me in this boycott if they agree with me. I believe most NRI’s are not going to lie low forever and take the non-sense your P-sec media is dishing out without fear of a counter attack. Your propaganda of lies will be exposed and I am ready to fight for Truth and India.

-- Dr. T. R. N. Rao, Ph. D. , Loflin Chair Professor of Computer Science University of Louisiana, in an open letter to the Editor of India Abroad (a rediff.com group).

* * *

I am a life-subscriber to India Abroad for over a decade, and I have painfully come to the decision of canceling my subscription and ask you to stop mailing the issues due to me from now on. I took this step to boycott your paper, as I believe very strongly you are part of the machine for pseudo-secular (P-sec) anti-Hindu propaganda. Francois Gautier, an eminent columnist of Le Figaro wrote a year ago: “Oh! Poor India! Thy journalists are thy worst enemies” (Hindu, March 2002). I came to the same conclusion as Gautier quite a few times as I keep reading your paper. Let me illustrate a couple of cases to prove my point.

In the year 2000, there was a burst of Christian church bombings in South India. Your Eminency, India Abroad, headlined on front pages for weeks and attacked ferociously the Hindutva groups assumed to be the architects of these dastardly acts. You had no proof and gave none whatsoever. You just assumed blindly just as all other P-sec media did. It must be Hindutva. Eventually when the proof came out and that a Muslim outfit, named Deen Daar Anjumaan (DDA), trained in Pakistan, was arrested and found guilty of these church bombings, the whole rogue media fell silent. We haven't heard anything about that DDA outfit or any further details. 'Mum' is the word for it. Your silence is indeed "deafening" as one Rediff writer put it. A much respected professor from Syracuse University (author of many books - his name I choose to withhold here) presented a paper (in a conference held at Stevens Institute of Technology, Sept. 2002) attacking the Hindutva groups for the many church bombings. When I asked him for the source of his points of attack, he said without much hesitation "India Abroad columns". That professor, when I gave the details of DDA and its bloody mischief to him, he expressed his profound shock and regretted his mistake. But, India Abroad! You are no professor and you have no such compunctions. When I wrote a letter asking you to retract all of the lies and innuendo against Hindutva groups, you chose to send that letter to your wastebasket. Do you need a more clear-cut case of your unabashed anti-Hindu propaganda of lies and innuendo?

Last year when Sir V. S. Naipaul of Indian origin received Nobel Prize for literature, we expected some self-congratulations, and praise for that great accomplishment. Alas! Your weekly immediately burst out with two one-4page P-sec columns. As they expressed his masterly command of English prose writing, they are more critical of Sir Naipaul's views, particularly his writings about Muslim countries. One has gone even to the extent of attributing this Nobel to post 9/11 anti-Muslim tirade. Your P-sec writers have very imaginary traits. They also have profusely "bleeding hearts" when it comes to non-Hindus that are killed. It is okay, but why not a few crocodile tears when fifty-six or so Hindu men, women and children were burnt alive in a train. We hear about Gujarat carnage daily without a break. However, Godhra carnage, which started it all, is conveniently forgotten and does not get even an occasional mention. As English language media’s misinformation campaign, you play a central role in USA. Professor Romesh Diwan in his column “India Ascendant” http://sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=298065 suggests a more appropriate name for your paper ‘Pakistan Abroad’. He lists a large table of how P-sec media fabricate/slant reports and black out to further their anti-Hindu agenda. I pick a few of the incidents from that table for you here.

Place: Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh; Incident: rape of four nuns; Media Report: blowed up. Blamed: RSS, and Central BJP government and workers; no mention of the state Govt. or tensions due to conversion activity Facts: Rape by converted Christians. Madhya Pradesh Government is run by Congress Media Response: Story never retracted; No apology to the Hindu parties so maligned. No explanation or self-examination for such false reporting.

Place: Manoharpar, Orissa. Incident: Australian priest and his two sons burnt alive Media Report: Blamed Bajrang Dal, and Central BJP government; Facts:

(i) An eyewitness detailed report in Rastradeep, a Oriya Weekly from Cuttack, Orissa, Jan 26, 1999, shows conclusively that the burning is the result of tension in the community caused by forced conversions and manipulation by Dara Singh, a Congress worker.

(ii) Orissa State government is run by Congress and Dara Singh helped the election of its ministers. Bajrang Dal has no presence there.

(iii) A Central Bureau of Investigation officer, Joginder Nayak, told a court of the District and Sessions Judge M. N. Patnaik on Monday that none of the 18 persons charge sheeted in the 1999 Graham Staines murder case belonged to the Bajrang Dal. [" Staines murder accused not Bajrang Dal activists: CBI" January 27, 2003 Rediff.com/news [Emphasis added] Media Response: Story never retracted. No apology to the parties maligned. No explanation or self-examination for false reporting.

Arundhati Roy, a darling of India Abroad and the colonial West liberals, wrote about Muslim young women in Ahmedabad by falselygiving a personal witness-like account of the nature of their rape and burning when in fact they were not in Ahmedabad but safe and sound in the US and this information had already appeared in the print media. The details are:

Fact: T. A. Jaffri, son of Mr. Iqbal Eshan Jaffri, killed in the riots, said, "Among my brothers and sisters I am the only one living in India . I am the eldest in the family. My sisters and brothers live in the U.S. No body knew my father's house was the target.

Fabrication: Arundhati Roy described 'the stripping and burning of two daughters' safely living in the US: “A mob surrounded the house of ex-Congress MP, Iqbal Eshan Jaffri. His phone calls to the Director-General of Police, the Police Commissioner, the Chief Secretary and the additional Chief Secretary (home) were ignored. The mobile police vans around his house did not intervene. The mob broke into the house. They stripped his daughters and burnt them alive. Then they beheaded Jaffri and dismembered him. Arundhati Roy fabricates facts as neatly as she covers her true Christian name.

Editor, sir, let me come to my final point. I have determined to send this letter to as many friends and like-minded Indians, organizations here and abroad to tell them of my boycott and ask them to join me in this boycott if they agree with me. I believe most NRI’s are not going to lie low forever and take the non-sense your P-sec media is dishing out without fear of a counter attack. Your propaganda of lies will be exposed and I am ready to fight for Truth and dia.

By Dr. T. R. N. Rao, Ph. D.
Loflin Chair Professor of Computer Science,
University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette , LA 70504
http://www.haindavakeralam.org/PageModul...ageID=2218

[Bodhi]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Arch Dhimmi idiot chanting "Hindu terrorist" yet again (gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/world/10184819.html)

Kuldip Nayyar is another senile old apologist for Islamic Jihad whose USP is dhimmi verbal flatulence and Urdu nostalgia of the "Lahore school". Dhimmitude coming from people like I.K Gujral, Kuldip Nayyar, Khushwant Singh, Rajinder Sachar et al, i.e. all "Ethnic Indians" who were ethnically cleansed from the "Land of the Pure" is particularly revolting.

I have several childhood friends hailing from Punjabi and Sindhi Hindu families that were uprooted from their ancestral lands by Muslim League thugs during partition and forced into an existence of squalor having lost their wealth and in many cases, their womenfolk to Islamic genocide. They walked into dhimmi India with only their lives and the clothes on their bodies intact and rebuilt their wealth through sheer hard work and enterprise. I feel violated to hear scoundrels like Kuldip Nayyar demonising these Hindus as "terrorists" and "fundamentalists".

Having spent a lifetime demonising Hindu nationalists, Nayyar just cannot stop chanting the dhimmi mantra of "Hindu terrorism" even in his twilight years. This, of course is music to Mullah, Missionary, Marxist ears. Their media organs immediately give credence to any garbage coming from his mouth. Bloody traitors. These fellows need to be punished.

http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<b>Hindutva negates India’s ethos </b>
<i>By <b>Kuldip Nayar</b> </i>

The BJP has gone back to Hindutva. This is the only ideology it knows, and follows overtly when it is on its own, and covertly when it is part of the NDA. The party was no different, nibbling from within, when it was part of the Janata from 1977 to 1980 and got relevance. It betrayed Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan who had been given an undertaking that the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh would break their links with the RSS.

It was more than a coincidence that the BJP’s national council met last week on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi who was killed by a Hindu fanatic projecting then the same thesis that the BJP is expounding today. True, the party’s rhetoric was not as loud as before. But Narendra Modi riding to power by playing the Hindu card has once again set the BJP’s tone. The party sang the same tune of Hindutva as his victory in Gujarat had proved.

With L.K. Advani in the forefront, the hard line of the party was expected. What surprised me was the presence of Jaswant Singh on the high table at the meeting. He was so unhappy over the demolition of the Babri Masjid that he even thought of leaving the party. Probably, the idea of staying in the wilderness made him change his mind. I had imagined that Atal Behari Vajpayee would appear at the session at some stage, even if unwell. He did not even send a message.

It is apparent that he has not liked Advani’s antics, first to push him into the background and then to anoint himself as shadow Prime Minister. Even otherwise, Vajpayee has never liked Advani’s hard line. I was disappointed to see Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav at the NDA meeting where Advani’s candidature for prime ministership was endorsed. Both should know that he led the rath which killed thousands of Muslims. Advani is anti-minority and considers even an affirmative action in their favour as “appeasement.”

The biggest challenge the BJP poses is, however, to the liberal elements in the country. Wherever they are and however occupied, their priority has to be to fight Hindutva which nullifies our ethos of pluralism. The BJP is out to divide society and disintegrate the country in the name of religion. Secularism, always a principle of the nation, is now rendered more urgent because of Hindutva.

The party is also trying to destroy the dignity of India and the philosophy of Gandhi which had inspired the struggle for freedom. Jawaharlal Nehru had once said, “The battle of our political freedom is fought and won. But another battle, no less important than what we have won, still faces us. It is a battle with no outside enemy… It is a battle with our own selves.”

The BJP has thrown down the gauntlet. When Rajnath Singh of Hindutva-CD fame tells his party chief ministers to emulate Modi, he is extolling the latter’s anti-Muslim policy in Gujarat. He is threatening democracy and strengthening the forces of fascism. The yardstick to measure Modi’s much-hyped development is the economic progress Muslims and other minorities have made in the state. Gujarat continues to be in the grip of the Hindu Taliban.

The sainiks destroyed the NDTV office at Ahmedabad a few days ago because the channel reported that M.F. Husain, a world-famous painter, was one of the personalities chosen by the people for Bharat Ratna. The land of Modi has such a pathological hatred for Muslims that there is no question of taking action against the culprits because they are the warp and woof of the Hindutva apparatus. There has been no word of explanation, much less condemnation, from the BJP spokesman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, otherwise an urbane person. When the entire structure of his party, the BJP, has been built on anti-Muslim sentiments, its young followers, the sainiks, are but naturally the instruments of terror and tyranny at the beck and call of the party.

The Muslims accused in the Godhra train arson case have been denied a fair hearing and deprived of basic freedom. In all, there were 135 accused in the incident. The last bail order was granted by the Gujarat high court on October 30, 2004. The court has simply not heard any bail application since. Many serious discrepancies in the arrests and some glaring inconsistencies have been pointed out to the state. But it simply refuses to address the concerns. The example of the police getting away with “false testimony” has come to the fore in the Bilkis Bano case in Gujarat. Eleven people who raped her and killed 14 of her relatives, including her three-year-old daughter, have been sentenced to life imprisonment. At last some persons have been punished thanks to the persistence of Bilkis Bano and Teesta Setalvad, a human rights activist, supported by the media. Yet, five policemen have been acquitted. Bilkis wants to pursue their case of “false testimony.”

I have been following practically all the meetings and discussions of the BJP and the erstwhile Jan Sangh for the last four decades. Why has the party of Hindus never tried to raise the question of untouchability? The caste system among Hindus is a most oppressive order. That the RSS which controls the BJP is a pantheon of Brahmins may be one of the reasons. I do not think that the party has ever contemplated reform. In fact, any act which could suggest economic equality, was never to the liking of the BJP. It is a party of the upper classes. What appealed to it from day one was running down the minorities, particularly Muslims.

Compared to the Hindu Taliban, the Muslim Taliban may be less active in India, but they are very much there. They demonstrated against the Godrejs, a house of industrialists, a few days ago because the latter had hosted Salman Rushdie, the author of Satanic Verses. The demonstrators demanded a boycott of goods produced by them. Not many Muslims were associated with the hooligans. But then nobody in the community dared to speak against them. People were simply afraid of what the fundamentalists might do to them. The fear they can instil in the heart of the general public is their weapon.

They have already silenced the government of India on Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi author. The government has made her stay in Delhi, isolating her from the outside world. She has protested against her “house arrest”, but neither the government nor the Muslim community is sensitive about her freedom. She was summoned by the minister of external affairs the other day to tell her to go to Europe. What a treatment meted out by Incredible India!

[Guest]

<b>The Arun Gandhi Affair </b>
From: Dahyabhai Patel
To: editorial@Indiaabro ad.com
Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:15 pm

In 15 February 2008 issue of India Abroad, Sunaina Maira wrongfully tags Arun Gandhi Affair as a freedom of speech issue and drags Hindu American Foundation into the matter as if HAF is a major role player. Arunji’s freedom of speech rights kept him free in USA and not in jail. Arunji has remained very firm on his words and no body has forced him to retract his words. Some people in forum have simply disagreed to his opinion. Therefore it is not an issue of violation of freedom of speech rights.

As usual, she uses Arun Gandhi affair as another opportunity to attack anything that contains the word Hindu. HAF has simply and rightfully issued press release that Arunji had no business in pushing his political anti-violence activism into a discussion forum on religion or faith. I agree with HAF that Arunji has wrongfully and one-sidedly pointed the finger at only one religion for being solely responsible for the violence.

This is not the first time Sunainaji has dragged Hinduism into opposite side of her activism for Palestinian cause. In 2004 she published her review of Hindutava and Sharonism (Israel’s President) Under U.S. Hegemony in Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ). Dragging Hindus of a land far away from Palestine into unrelated activism, does not go well with a person of a stature of academic profession that Sunainaji happen to have.

I wonder what can be a motivational factor for Sunainaji to be such a super strong activist for Palestinian Cause. I suggest she read India Abroad issue of 22 February 2008 letter from Jawaharlal Prasad who explains that Arunji should not use his rights of activism for Palestinian cause to be insensitive to sufferings of people of Jewish faith.

Dahyabhai Patel

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Who is Sunaina Maira??
1. http://www.h- net.org/reviews/ showrev.cgi? path=21834109949 3680

Three months after 911, in December 2001, She delivers a speech to Bharatiya Students Association on topic of
the larger politics of war and resistance to U.S. imperial policies . ( Meaning 911 is a just war against USA)

2. http://findarticles .com/p/articles/ mi_m2501/ is_4_26/ai_ n13562966

Hindutava and Sharonism(Sharon = Israel’s President) Under U.S. Hegemony
Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Fall, 2004 by Sunaina Maira. New Delhi, India: LeftWord Books, 2003. 111 pages. Paper Rs. 75.

3. http://www.umass. edu/complit/ ogscl/culturalst udies/fall2001/ knopermaira. html
El Mexterminator and Synthetic Sadhus: Race, Nation, and Globalization”
- Sunaina Maira

4. http://www.silicone er.com/past_ issues/2006/ february2006. html
In 2006, out of the blue, Sunaina actively attacked Hindu Protests for Fairness in California Textbook case. What motivates her to actively search and attack any Hindu function or activity?. For survival and job security, many such acedemics follow policies of appeasement of the organizations which provide grant money to the Universities. It is highly possible that Middle Eastern Countries offer grants to her faculty.

[dhu]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gutter inspector touring India
Notes on India, Part V

By Jay Nordlinger

The traffic in Bombay, I can barely begin to describe. It’s almost a shame to call it “traffic,” because that word implies movement. I have never seen such traffic — even in Cairo, which, for me, used to define gridlock. In Bombay, there are hardly any lanes, but there are vehicles everywhere. And everyone uses the horn, liberally. That’s the way you communicate with people around you. (That’s the way you communicate with animals, too.)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[acharya]

The De-Hinduization of a Continent

Personal Thought: Save Hinduism
As can be seen by any keen observer, there is a multi-pronged attack
to finish off Hinduism the way other native cultures and religions
have been wiped off from the world.
It is a sad spectacle to see glorious Hindu religion that once
stretched from Afghanistan to Indonesia being reduced to its present
pitiable plight.

Yet Hinduism can be saved; and will be saved.

But before explaining its rescue, let us know the danger faced by
Hinduism.

Entire Indian sub-continent was Hindu land with no Muslim presence
till Muslim attack in 8th century. Hindus lost Afghanistan to Muslims
in 987, and Pakistan in 1947.

At present, just five thousand Hindus and Sikhs are left in
Afghanistan. And Pakistan and Bangladesh too present a dismal
picture. In 1947, Hindus accounted for 24 per cent of the then
Pakistan's population, but now number under two per cent. In
Bangladesh Hindus numbered 30 per cent in 1947; but now number nine
per cent. Nevertheless, in India, the present percentage of Muslim
population is much higher than that in 1947.

And independent India has seen genocide and eviction of Hindus from
Kashmir to become refugees in their own country.

In their mission to destroy and dismember India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh have dispatched crores of their nationals as also
terrorists into India. If Pak-Bangla alliance is focussed to Islamize
India, missionaries are determined to Christianize India. With each
passing day, India is being made more Islamic and more Christian and
less Hindu.

And under the pretext of bringing democracy to Nepal, anti-Hindu
forces, missionaries and Maoists want to shatter the Hindu identity
of Nepal, the only Hindu nation in the world.

Apart from discriminatory government control of all prominent Hindu
temples (whereas no Christian church or Muslim mosque has been
touched by government control), discriminatory Article 30 of the
Constitution of India is also demolishing Hinduism.

Articles 26 and 30 of the Indian Constitution have been misused by
the government to appropriate Hindu temples, and to deny Hindus the
same freedom of running their religious and educational institutions
given to non-Hindu (minority) communities. And this discrimination
against Hindus is demolishing Hinduism.

Over-optimism lacks information; pessimism lacks imagination. Let us
be realistic to know how Hinduism can be saved from its present
predicament.

Many Hindus just surrender to attacks on Hinduism since they have
been de-Hinduised by Macaulayan education, and brain-washed by anti-
Hindu media. And some Hindus indulge in self-flagellation.

Since self-pity or self-flagellation or abject surrender has never
helped any victim, Hindus will continue to be attacked till they
confront their tormentors.

But Hindus can confront their tormentors only if they have the basic
weapons of an unbiased media and a strong nationalist political
party. Gross Hindu hurt can be expressed only through an unbiased
media and redressed only through a strong nationalist political
party.

At present Hindus have neither unbiased media nor a strong
nationalist political party to protect their interests. Both these
instruments are a must to rescue Hinduism from discrimination and
siege.

There is no other way to save Hinduism. And these two weapons will
resolve all problems of Hindu society.

Both these requirements are discussed below.

In any modern democracy, both electronic and print media are powerful
weapons to mould public opinion.

In India, many of print and electronic media are controlled by anti-
Hindu forces. They are denigrating Hinduism, spreading misinformation
about Hindu scriptures, dividing Hindu society and hurting Hindu
sentiments. Hindus are being brain-washed to forget their religion,
heritage and history; and Hinduism is being derided, distorted and
destroyed by anti-Hindu media.

Killing of thousands of Hindus in Kashmir and eviction of several
lacs of Hindus from Kashmir are no news whereas Gujarat riots which
started after Hindu rail passengers were torched at Godhra are always
in the news in anti-Hindu media. Infiltration of crores of Pak-Bangla
nationals threatening to create one more Islamic country on Indian
soil finds no space in media. Similarly, conversion of poorer Hindus
to Christianity by fraud, inducement and coercion creates no ripples
in anti-Hindu media.

Pro-Hindu elements do not have even one nation-wide multi-city daily
news-paper to project their view-point. To ensure that the truth
reaches the masses, Hindus must have nation-wide mass media. Besides
boycotting anti-Hindu media, Hindus must have unbiased daily news
papers and television channels in various languages to enlighten the
readers about current affairs, Hindu religion, heritage and history.

There is no absolute justice in the world. To survive in the world
believing in "survival of the fittest", Hindus have to assert; and
reject injustice, discrimination and degradation.

To protect Hinduism from continuous onslaught, confrontation with
anti-Hindu forces is inevitable. Unfortunately, no existing political
party plans to end discrimination against Hindus or confront gradual
Pak-Bangla take-over of India.

Congress-led UPA government has no plan to end discrimination against
Hindus, or to confront terrorism and demographic invasion. Rather, it
is having soft borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh disregarding the
disastrous consequences.

And while in power, BJP too did nothing to end discrimination against
Hindus; or to fight terror, deport the infiltrators and curb their
daily influx. It did not punish even the Pakistan-sponsored attack on
Indian Parliament in 2001.

Only a strong nationalist political outfit can confront and defeat
Pak-Bangla design to dismember India. Besides, only a strong
nationalist political entity can implement genuine secularism wherein
there would be justice to all and appeasement of none.

In this dismal situation, though RSS must join active politics
immediately, RSS has given no such indication so far. Therefore, the
only alternative is to form a strong nationalist political party to
save India from disaster.

And there are some developments in this regard. Recently Bharatiya
Jana Sangh led by Balraj Madhok has been revived by Prafull Goradia,
former BJP Member of Parliament. It would be interesting to watch
further events in this respect.

Efforts of non-resident Indians for Hindu cause are admirable. But
war to save Hinduism has to be fought primarily in India since only
if Hinduism survives and prospers in India, it will survive and
prosper in other lands. Therefore, even the non-resident Indians must
focus their efforts to create the nation-wide mass print and audio-
visual media and strong nationalist political party in India to
shield Hinduism.

While web-sites, e-mails, internet groups and online petitions are
very helpful and should be continued, these must be in addition to,
and not a substitute for, mass media and regular political activity
in India.

As per French President Jacques Chirac (born 1932), "Politics is not
the art of the possible; it is the art of making possible what is
necessary."

With the help of the strong nationalist political party and unbiased
media, the all embracing Sanatana Dharma (eternal religion), the
world's oldest religion popularly known as Hinduism, will not only
survive but will prevail.

Anti-Hindu historians have created the misconception that Hindus
never fought foreign invaders. But it is solely due to heroic Hindu
resistance to foreign invaders for several centuries that Hindu
religion and culture are still alive while many other ancient
religions and cultures have been wiped off long back. Hindu history
is full of heroes who fought for their religion and every inch of
motherland.

Let us also do our utmost to preserve ancient India's magnificent
heritage in whatever is left as truncated India.

And the right effort is bound to bring success as Atharva Veda
(7.52.8) proclaims, "Kritam may dakhshine haste, jayo may savya
aahitah" ("Effort is in my right hand, and victory in my left").

JG Arora
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20051229/2912304.htm

[Bodhi]

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<span style='color:red'>The blessed path</span>
Tarun Vijay

What does it mean to leave a newspaper one has grown with for several decades and join a political party's think-tank?

Leaving Panchjanya is like giving up a part of my body, a whole world of love and affection and unstinting support from those who kept the flame of my conscience alive. It's rare to become the second youngest editor of a journal which is widely regarded as the voice of the largest Hindu movement on earth and survive so long there. Working in an ideological paper elevates. But it binds too. It's unbelievable that in my nineteen years as editor, there was not a single moment when my RSS bosses called me and said: “Look, this is not done. What you have published is wrong in our eyes, better correct or...” Never.

We committed mistakes, published what hurt our own, and took immense liberties. When L.K. Advani was Deputy. Prime Minister and Home Minister, we wrote an editorial severely criticizing his Kashmir policy. We were not de-listed. And Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not only my first editor, but first reader too. Many of our issues were warmly appreciated and severely criticized by him. He would call even when he became Prime Minister to say what we have published is good or simply intolerable. He didn't like criticising opponents personally and would always advise: “Oppose as vehemently you can, but on policies and programmes. Refrain from personal attacks.”

We started publishing film reviews more freely, a women's column with a picture of a beautiful lady and news and views of all our opponents in a paper that was widely perceived as conservative and archaic. Everyone who opposed our ideological stand was published honourably without a single cut, from Somnath Chatterjea to A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja to Shahabuddin and Bukhari. IPTA's theatre new items got published along with Sanskar Bharati's. It shocked our opponents but pleased our friends – it showed the strength of our commitment to what we believe in – dialogue. That's Hindutva and not the Siberia-ism or creating of a Gulag on every news desk by the so called 'independent', 'objective' and 'fearless' journalists of the secular hue.

There were moments when the Sarsanghchalak (RSS Chief) would simply walk in without prior notice to see how we were working and have a cup of tea or nimbu pani . We all worked at very low salaries put in the longest hours without complaining or demanding overtime; the mission kept us alive. It's difficult, if not impossible to work in a Hindi journal to cater ideological arsenal to the faithful when the entire intellectual discourse has been confined to just one language – English. You end up creating more foes than friends. But as Rajju Bhaiyya (Prof. Rajendra Singh), my mentor and the fourth RSS chief used to say, take the challenge head on and look into the eyes of your opponent fearlessly. You will emerge a winner. Be willing to self-correct and believe only in one god – your ideology with a 200 per cent commitment. Everything else, including the top leaders, is secondary to ideology. He would add that if you are going to Thiruvananthapuram, don't get into a squabble at Jhansi station. Once he said: “Never go too close to leaders you adore” , adding that sometimes proximity turns you from idolatrous to iconoclastic, citing the examples of Nehru and Narsimha Rao.



Too many years at one station makes one yearn for a change and new challenges. Going to Zanskar on a 10-day Wangchuk Chhenpo chaddar trek or getting lost in the Indus source region in Nyari province of western Tibet are some of the things I wanted to take up while exploring new avenues and vistas of Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya's Integral Humanism as a student. I also had to honour my commitment to my Chinese friends to write a book on bilateral relations. It took exactly three years to have my work station changed. In the history of Panchjanya I got the best farewell ever given to an editor. What else would a journalist dream of?

Some felt happy and a couple of friends emailed me – “Oh! Sorry to see you joining a political set-up... It's a world where old tea planters of the butchery inclinations have been replaced by 'news planters' pocketing media sources to back stab a colleague, in whose appreciation a book might have been released by the same politician hours before. In contemporary polity, talking ideology is not exactly an 'in' thing. Ideologies look collapsed and are fast replaced by a polity of wealth and deceit. Though it might be a general perception, the basic values of simplicity and commitment have survived and always find a patient audience. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Hiren Mukherji, Ram Manohar Lohia, Rajendra Prasad and Sardar Patel can be named among hundreds of such people who are still adored and inspire. Ideological apartheid should give way to a shared commitment to an idea called India.

My take is: never compromise on your commitments. It's your actions alone that save. Ultimately you have to bear your own cross. As a Hindu, the life and soul are immortal, only the attire, the body, perishes and a new life awaits. So why fear? M.S. Golwalkar, the spiritual fountainhead of the RSS, would warn: never be hasty in forming a government without ideological commitment.

I feel indebted not only to those whose colour I wear, but to those as much whom we have been attacking and hopefully will continue to oppose for their different hue of ideas. Some of the best friends who taught me the real meaning of understanding and intellectual honesty are those who are across the fence and they are Muslims, Christians and hardened Communists who make me envious of their unabridged commitment. They have enriched my life and opened new windows.

To cap it, we went to Vaishno Devi on 25th Feb and it taught me strength of higher values, of ideology overpowering micro-identities. If life was just bread and butter, pilgrimages would be a non-starter and music wouldn't have been described as ennobling.

In times of precipitated intolerance against each other based on parochial and religious identities, the pilgrims' progress shows the strength of nobler bonds. There were Marathis and Biharis, UP- wale bhaiyyas and Gujaratis mingling with Malyalees and Punjabis of all shades – amdasis, Sikhs and Monas (Hindus) and Buddhists from Leh and Sikkim .All melted in one colour - Jai Mata Ki. Each one helps the other to walk miles of steep climb and encourages the other to keep at it. They may be complete strangers and none notices if the other is well dress or poorly attired. A billionaire and a cobbler walk the same path with the same confidence and commitment. That's the miracle of sharing and believing I saw during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement where provincial, caste and language identities were completely submerged in the broader, higher goal of rejuvenating the bruised national icon of Sri Ram. During the Kargil war too, the same spirit of harmony was exhibited extraordinarily and it bound Indians of all faiths with a thread of patriotism. This can be achieved only through ideology of purpose and not through personality cults.

It was an ideology that gave us Buddha who inspired people the world over, instilling universal values of acceptance and inclusiveness. Today he represents the soul of India more than anyone else. Life revolves around ideas. Bricks, mortar, reproduction and sumptuous meals play a supplementary role: essential yet not the whole. A stream of ideas encompassing a world view, woven around ennobling values and defining the relationship between the known and the unknown often forms an ideological way. Those who have chosen one are blessed.

Today the battle is ideological being fought by ill-equipped warriors of different hues. Some understand it a personal play and keep their organization a private limited corporate business trading votes for some considerations. The long-term players with ideological commitments can wait patiently to find the opportune time for the final victory. That alone will help and not the impatience leading to unsavoury compromises. There has to be a paradigm shift in our approach and idioms that we use to address the youth. That alone is going to lead the war of ideologies. The myth of Aryan invasion, a Dhimmitude directing our polity and actions, intense hateful assaults on anything Hindu and spineless responses by an ill-informed crowd that represents the durbari class of Raibahadurs of the colonial period, absence of unity of purpose and the threat of barbaric intolerance can be faced with an uncompromising and unapologetic pride in being Indian inheritors of a great Hindu civilization.

Being a Hindu should be an elevating and enriching factor of our life instead of making us feel embarrassed. Sri Aurobindo had clearly and unambiguously defined our nationalism as Sanatan Dharma, the eternal righteousness that defines what people understand as Hinduism. None has ever said that Sri Aurobindo was communal, so why do have fear today? He believed in the great destiny of India and gave us a path that was universal yet distinctly Indian. Why hesitate to redefine it and adopt for contemporary polity? Defeating ideologies incompatible with the contemporary values of egalitarianism and plurality should form our foundation of nationalism which strives for material progress and ecological safeguards too as an essential part of Hindu dharma. As much as 1.25 lakh sq km of our land is in enemy possession; this, as well as two flags for Kashmir fluttering over Srinagar Secretariat and the killing and uprooting of patriots should hurt us, give us sleepless nights and steel our resolve to undo the wrongs.

Our entire approach to science and technological advances has to be tested on the touchstone of ecological safety and human happiness with an integral approach to all creations, overwriting the consumerist approach.

Those who fear war get war and those who are ashamed at being what they are get nothing but shame from everyone. Never say yes when you ought to say no and never compromise on basic issues. That's what those who have an ideological commitment declare. Rest, simply pass time.

The author is the Director, Dr Syamaprasad Mookerjee Research Foundation. The views expressed are his personal. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/article...7,prtpage-1.cms
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