CPM’s Muslim reservation in West Bengal
Challenged in Supreme Court
By Asim Kumar Mitra
The State government which has followed the recommendation of Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission Report, is not tenable here for the simple reason that the Commission’s report has only been submitted to the Parliament. But it has not yet been tabled in the Parliament for discussion let alone any decision taken on the matter. When the Central government has yet to take any decision on its implementation, how come that the State government could take any such decision?
PENDING Assembly elections of West Bengal, all political parties including CPM, INC, TMC etc. are busy appeasing the Muslim community in their own way. The ruling conglomerate of the State - CPM-led Left Front has outwitted other parties by offering extraordinary facilities of 10 per cent job reservation in government offices for the Muslims.
This has sparked off a strong State-wide reaction. They are of the opinion that after the judgment of the Apex Court prohibiting reservation on the basis religion in the case of Andhra Pradesh, the West Bengal government cannot take such decision. It is not only unethical, it is illegal.
One Joydeep Mukherjee has gone to the Supreme Court to lodge a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The apex court has accepted the case. The constitution bench of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia has admitted this case and they have fixed up the hearing date after Deepavali.
In the meantime State government officials have said that they have not yet received any notice from the Supreme Court. But they have information that such a PIL has been admitted by the Supreme Court. They have said that as they are aware of the judgment given in AP case regarding reservation on religious basis, they have taken all precautions so they could not be caught on wrong foot. They have claimed that the notification circulated by the State government in this regard on 24-2-2010 is a testimony for it. The government has minutely followed the recommendations of Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission report on minority. The State government officials have further pointed out that the Supreme Court, after admitting the PIL, did not stay the notification circulated by the State government.
But Joydeep Mukherjee has demanded that the State government circular has specifically mentioned that out of 108 OBC (Other Backward Classes) groups the State government has chosen only 56 OBC groups for providing with the facility of 10 per cent job reservation, and these groups are essentially Muslims. Of course, mention of one or two other community is also there. But with this they could not hide their ill motive behind this circular.
Mukherjee further mentioned that the State government which has followed the recommendation of Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission Report, is not tenable here for the simple reason that the Commission’s report has only been submitted to the Parliament. But it has not yet been tabled in the Parliament for discussion let alone any decision taken on the matter. When the Central government has yet to take any decision on its implementation, how come that the State government could take any such decision?
Hence it is obvious that the ruling conglomerate of the State is all out to take advantage of the situation without caring the constitutionality of the matter. He is confident that the Supreme Court will not allow this unconstitutional step to be implemented.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Obama visiting Tomb
This is UPA secularism
Veil on Hindu India, minority extravagance
By Dr R Balashankar
Arriving a day after Deepawali, the UPA government could have shown the visiting dignitaries how the festival lights up the city and hearts of people. A trip to Jantar Mantar would have gladdened the President. For a modern architectural wonder, a private initiative, Akshardam temple would have given him the fragrance of India.
THE government’s handling of the visit of US President Barack Obama and his wife set yet another black milestone in the UPA’s track of undermining the Hindu ethos of India.
The government selectively showcased places and people that had no touch of Hindu. The visiting dignitary was taken to a mausoleum first thing when he arrived. Can there be a more inappropriate beginning to a trip? And that mausoleum happened to be that of an invader ruler who laid the foundations of Islamic rule in this country. Was that the reason that spot was chosen? So far we had not heard that Humayun Tomb was such an architectural splendour. Is Humayun’s tomb an architectural marvel or is Humayun considered historically such a tall person? To our understanding neither is the case.
The minister in waiting was Salman Khurshid, again the question why? The answer seems to be that he is a Muslim, more importantly not a Hindu.
In fact, as though to compensate for the UPA’s indiscretion or deliberate ignoring of India’s rich cultural history and heritage, Obama reminded our MPs about the greatness of our nation. ‘You invented the zero’ he said. ‘You unlocked the intricacies of the human body and the vastness of our universe’ he highlighted.
Arriving a day after Deepawali, the UPA government could have shown the visiting dignitaries how the festival lights up the city and hearts of people. A trip to Jantar Mantar would have gladdened the President. For a modern architectural wonder, a private initiative, Akshardam temple would have given him the fragrance of India. The President could have been taken to Chandni Chowk where Guru Teg Bahadur laid his life down in protecting the cause of the Hindus, taking on the emperor Aurangzeb. It would have sent the message of our courage and zero-tolerance to terror.
The list of people who were invited to the official dinner also was queer. Shabana Azmi and her husband Javed Akhtar, A R Rehman, Amir Khan, and the list goes on in these lines. It was as though the government, led by a selected Sikh PM and controlled by a Catholic Christian wanted to give a message to the US President, that India today is dominated in all spheres by non-Hindus.
Obama and his wife were introduced to Indian music, only it turned out to be the Christian choir from Meghalaya.
At the hotel, girls decked up as brides received the President. What a vulgar gesture! Brides are decked up to receive their husbands-to-be, not some stranger, and definitely not a respected visitor. If only someone had told Obama this, he might have had second thoughts accepting the welcome. And the hotel prides itself in ‘reserving’ this welcome to ‘special dignitaries.’
In fact ever since the UPA took over, both its first and second versions, there has been a systematic attempt to deny the nation its Hindu character. Does anyone recall the last time Deepawali and Holi were celebrated in the official residence of the Prime Minister?
On the eve of the Commonwealth games, newspapers took out sponsored supplements on the landmarks of Delhi. All the sites mentioned were mausoleums of known and unknown Muslims. There was not even a mention anywhere that the first city of Delhi was created by the Pandavas or there is a Delhi from which Prithviraj Chauhan ruled.
William Darlymple in his book City of Djinns has wondered why the Archaeological Survey of India never made any attempt to excavate the area that was known as Indraprastha. The Purana Quila region, including where the Pragati Maidan stands today are full of potential archaeological evidences that would throw light on the connection to Mahabharata.
In the last term, UPA closed the Saraswati exploration project. The Dwarka underwater exploration, a pet project of Indira Gandhi was never taken to its logical conclusion.
An on-going exhibition in the heart of the capital, Delhi-The Heritage City has no space for the Hindu heritage. It is full of tombs and mausoleums. Hindus celebrate life, worship the dead in spirit. But never make them a showcase to tread on.
Veil on Hindu India, minority extravagance
By Dr R Balashankar
Arriving a day after Deepawali, the UPA government could have shown the visiting dignitaries how the festival lights up the city and hearts of people. A trip to Jantar Mantar would have gladdened the President. For a modern architectural wonder, a private initiative, Akshardam temple would have given him the fragrance of India.
THE government’s handling of the visit of US President Barack Obama and his wife set yet another black milestone in the UPA’s track of undermining the Hindu ethos of India.
The government selectively showcased places and people that had no touch of Hindu. The visiting dignitary was taken to a mausoleum first thing when he arrived. Can there be a more inappropriate beginning to a trip? And that mausoleum happened to be that of an invader ruler who laid the foundations of Islamic rule in this country. Was that the reason that spot was chosen? So far we had not heard that Humayun Tomb was such an architectural splendour. Is Humayun’s tomb an architectural marvel or is Humayun considered historically such a tall person? To our understanding neither is the case.
The minister in waiting was Salman Khurshid, again the question why? The answer seems to be that he is a Muslim, more importantly not a Hindu.
In fact, as though to compensate for the UPA’s indiscretion or deliberate ignoring of India’s rich cultural history and heritage, Obama reminded our MPs about the greatness of our nation. ‘You invented the zero’ he said. ‘You unlocked the intricacies of the human body and the vastness of our universe’ he highlighted.
Arriving a day after Deepawali, the UPA government could have shown the visiting dignitaries how the festival lights up the city and hearts of people. A trip to Jantar Mantar would have gladdened the President. For a modern architectural wonder, a private initiative, Akshardam temple would have given him the fragrance of India. The President could have been taken to Chandni Chowk where Guru Teg Bahadur laid his life down in protecting the cause of the Hindus, taking on the emperor Aurangzeb. It would have sent the message of our courage and zero-tolerance to terror.
The list of people who were invited to the official dinner also was queer. Shabana Azmi and her husband Javed Akhtar, A R Rehman, Amir Khan, and the list goes on in these lines. It was as though the government, led by a selected Sikh PM and controlled by a Catholic Christian wanted to give a message to the US President, that India today is dominated in all spheres by non-Hindus.
Obama and his wife were introduced to Indian music, only it turned out to be the Christian choir from Meghalaya.
At the hotel, girls decked up as brides received the President. What a vulgar gesture! Brides are decked up to receive their husbands-to-be, not some stranger, and definitely not a respected visitor. If only someone had told Obama this, he might have had second thoughts accepting the welcome. And the hotel prides itself in ‘reserving’ this welcome to ‘special dignitaries.’
In fact ever since the UPA took over, both its first and second versions, there has been a systematic attempt to deny the nation its Hindu character. Does anyone recall the last time Deepawali and Holi were celebrated in the official residence of the Prime Minister?
On the eve of the Commonwealth games, newspapers took out sponsored supplements on the landmarks of Delhi. All the sites mentioned were mausoleums of known and unknown Muslims. There was not even a mention anywhere that the first city of Delhi was created by the Pandavas or there is a Delhi from which Prithviraj Chauhan ruled.
William Darlymple in his book City of Djinns has wondered why the Archaeological Survey of India never made any attempt to excavate the area that was known as Indraprastha. The Purana Quila region, including where the Pragati Maidan stands today are full of potential archaeological evidences that would throw light on the connection to Mahabharata.
In the last term, UPA closed the Saraswati exploration project. The Dwarka underwater exploration, a pet project of Indira Gandhi was never taken to its logical conclusion.
An on-going exhibition in the heart of the capital, Delhi-The Heritage City has no space for the Hindu heritage. It is full of tombs and mausoleums. Hindus celebrate life, worship the dead in spirit. But never make them a showcase to tread on.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Changing face of Russo-Pakistan ties
By MV Kamath
If Afghanistan will get Russian help, why would it want aid from India which would now have to face a Moscow-Kabul-Islamabad entente? But will a Russian-Pakistan relationship help in resolving Indo-Pakistan conflict? With Russia present once again in Afghanistan in a big way, would Pakistan be able to treat Afghanistan as a place to fall-back in case of a conflict with India?
IS Russia slowly but noticeably turning away from India for a more profitable relationship with Pakistan, unbelievable as it may seem? Is India’s tilt towards the United States slowly pushing Moscow to improve its relations with our immediate and hostile western neighbour, at our cost? For over half a century, during the Cold War and after, the Soviet Union and later Russia has stood by India, but now, it seems, the situation is perceptibly changing. It has now been brought to the notice of Indians by a remarkable expose in The Hindu (September 9) by a Russian correspondent, Vladimir Radyuhin which must wake up India from its political slumber.
The story is that early in August, this year, President Medvedev of Russia hosted a quadripartite summit, by inviting leaders of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan to a Black Sea resort Sochi, for high-level discussions. Pakistan was represented by Asaf Ali Zardari. And what is the significance of this meeting? One, Moscow has decisively moved to de-hyphenate its relations with Delhi and Islamabad. Two, it has shown that Russo-Pak relations have been promoted to the highest-presidential-level. And three, that Moscow has overcome its former reluctance to develop full-fledged relations with Islamabad. These are ominous developments. Delhi remains stunned.
As Radyuhin remarks: "Little wonder then, that even after three weeks after the Summit, there has been no reaction from New Delhi". What has made Moscow do a turn-around in its relations with Pakistan? Radyuhin himself provides the answer. It is, he says, the realisation that seeing Islamabad as part of the region’s problems does not help to advance the Russian goal of playing a bigger role in the region". Moscow’s current belief is that "Pakistan must be part of the solution". Pakistan has so far had two powerful friends: the United States and China.
In order to fight India, from the beginning, Islamabad agreed to be the running dog of American imperialism. That paid Pakistan handsomely, in terms of money and material. It went overboard to obey Washington’s dictat and has now realised that this has only landed it in the soup.
The United States is now the most hated country in Pakistan and Zardari has to find a way out. For a long time, to balance US interests, Islamabad courted China, which willingly gave its support because it had its own ulterior motives. In the first place, it wanted to encircle India and cultivating Pakistan was a sound decision from Beijing’s point of view. Secondly, it wanted direct access to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf and a friendly and purchaseable government in Islamabad was to China’s advantage. China has helped build Gwadar port in Baluchistan and can, in no time, send its forces from Zinjiang in Central Asia to Gwadar in 48 hours.
Now Moscow has woken up. In olden times Britain had tried to keep Russia away from the Indian Ocean-and succeeded. Now Britain is no longer in the picture. The United States by its unscrupulous high-handedness has not only humiliated Pakistan but has made it a victim of the very forces US helped raise for throwing Soviet forces out of Afghanistan -the jihadis. For Pakistan, closer cooperation with Russia would be more paying then continued subservience to Washington-and forget the painful past.
To gain Pakistan’s goodwill Russia has promised to aid in two major projects: One project-CASA (Central Asia South Asia) 1000, involves the export of electricity from power-rich Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The other is a motorable road and a railway from Tajikistan to Pakistani across the Wakhan border in extreme northeast Afghanistan, thereby giving Pakistan direct access to the markets of Central Asia and Russia, while Tajikistan-and Russia-will get access to Pakistani ports, a dream long entertained by Russia.
It is suggested that China, too, will stand to gain, as the road is likely to be linked with the Karakorum Highway, connecting Pakistan with China’s Xinjinag region. That should slowly make US help irrelevant to Pakistan. What is significant is that Russia may go still further and become a donor of economic, social and military-political security for Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan-the ultimate irony! Understandably, Russia has a good reason to help the Islamic trio: it will clear the region of US and NATO forces. Already, it would appear that Dimitry Medvedev has renewed his country’s offer to re-build about 140 industrial and infra-structure projects in Afghanistan which the Soviet Union had originally set up during its decade-old military interception.
The deal may be worth one billion dollars, but it may help Moscow to get access to Afghanistan’s oil, gas and minerals. The investment would be eminently worthwhile. Russia’s come-back, in the circumstances, may also help persuade some two lakh Soviet-educated Afghans who had fled the Taliban to Russia, to return to their motherland.
What would this mean to India? It is too early to come to any conclusions. If Afghanistan will get Russian help, why would it want aid from India which would now have to face a Moscow-Kabul-Islamabad entente? But will a Russian -Pakistan relationship help in resolving Indo-Pakistan conflict? With Russia present once again in Afghanistan in a big way, would Pakistan be able to treat Afghanistan as a place to fall-back in case of a conflict with India? Alternately, will Russia be able to get Pakistan out of its anti-India mind-set and help set up peace at last in the Indian sub-continent? That is anybody’s guess.
Writes Radyuhin: "The Sochi Summit has dimmed India’s hope of gaining a strategic foothold in Tajikistan. India and Russia had planned to jointly use the Ayni airfield which India helped to renovate, but Indian presence there looks doubtful now, in the context of the emerging Russia-Afghanistan-Tajikistan axis. India will of course, remain Russia’s close friend and strategic partner but it will have to learn to live with the new Russian- Pakistani bonhomie, just as Russia has taken in its stride India’s entitlement with the US".
What seems obvious is that a whole new political equation is emerging in Central Asian sub-continental politics with consequences yet to be clear. With Pakistan likely to slip out of US control, Washington may wish to be courting India. Delhi would be wise to keep its distance from the US. Russia would still be its best bet, as it has been all these years. We don’t need to be America’s cat’s paw in South Asia.
If Afghanistan will get Russian help, why would it want aid from India which would now have to face a Moscow-Kabul-Islamabad entente? But will a Russian-Pakistan relationship help in resolving Indo-Pakistan conflict? With Russia present once again in Afghanistan in a big way, would Pakistan be able to treat Afghanistan as a place to fall-back in case of a conflict with India?
IS Russia slowly but noticeably turning away from India for a more profitable relationship with Pakistan, unbelievable as it may seem? Is India’s tilt towards the United States slowly pushing Moscow to improve its relations with our immediate and hostile western neighbour, at our cost? For over half a century, during the Cold War and after, the Soviet Union and later Russia has stood by India, but now, it seems, the situation is perceptibly changing. It has now been brought to the notice of Indians by a remarkable expose in The Hindu (September 9) by a Russian correspondent, Vladimir Radyuhin which must wake up India from its political slumber.
The story is that early in August, this year, President Medvedev of Russia hosted a quadripartite summit, by inviting leaders of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan to a Black Sea resort Sochi, for high-level discussions. Pakistan was represented by Asaf Ali Zardari. And what is the significance of this meeting? One, Moscow has decisively moved to de-hyphenate its relations with Delhi and Islamabad. Two, it has shown that Russo-Pak relations have been promoted to the highest-presidential-level. And three, that Moscow has overcome its former reluctance to develop full-fledged relations with Islamabad. These are ominous developments. Delhi remains stunned.
As Radyuhin remarks: "Little wonder then, that even after three weeks after the Summit, there has been no reaction from New Delhi". What has made Moscow do a turn-around in its relations with Pakistan? Radyuhin himself provides the answer. It is, he says, the realisation that seeing Islamabad as part of the region’s problems does not help to advance the Russian goal of playing a bigger role in the region". Moscow’s current belief is that "Pakistan must be part of the solution". Pakistan has so far had two powerful friends: the United States and China.
In order to fight India, from the beginning, Islamabad agreed to be the running dog of American imperialism. That paid Pakistan handsomely, in terms of money and material. It went overboard to obey Washington’s dictat and has now realised that this has only landed it in the soup.
The United States is now the most hated country in Pakistan and Zardari has to find a way out. For a long time, to balance US interests, Islamabad courted China, which willingly gave its support because it had its own ulterior motives. In the first place, it wanted to encircle India and cultivating Pakistan was a sound decision from Beijing’s point of view. Secondly, it wanted direct access to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf and a friendly and purchaseable government in Islamabad was to China’s advantage. China has helped build Gwadar port in Baluchistan and can, in no time, send its forces from Zinjiang in Central Asia to Gwadar in 48 hours.
Now Moscow has woken up. In olden times Britain had tried to keep Russia away from the Indian Ocean-and succeeded. Now Britain is no longer in the picture. The United States by its unscrupulous high-handedness has not only humiliated Pakistan but has made it a victim of the very forces US helped raise for throwing Soviet forces out of Afghanistan -the jihadis. For Pakistan, closer cooperation with Russia would be more paying then continued subservience to Washington-and forget the painful past.
To gain Pakistan’s goodwill Russia has promised to aid in two major projects: One project-CASA (Central Asia South Asia) 1000, involves the export of electricity from power-rich Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The other is a motorable road and a railway from Tajikistan to Pakistani across the Wakhan border in extreme northeast Afghanistan, thereby giving Pakistan direct access to the markets of Central Asia and Russia, while Tajikistan-and Russia-will get access to Pakistani ports, a dream long entertained by Russia.
It is suggested that China, too, will stand to gain, as the road is likely to be linked with the Karakorum Highway, connecting Pakistan with China’s Xinjinag region. That should slowly make US help irrelevant to Pakistan. What is significant is that Russia may go still further and become a donor of economic, social and military-political security for Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan-the ultimate irony! Understandably, Russia has a good reason to help the Islamic trio: it will clear the region of US and NATO forces. Already, it would appear that Dimitry Medvedev has renewed his country’s offer to re-build about 140 industrial and infra-structure projects in Afghanistan which the Soviet Union had originally set up during its decade-old military interception.
The deal may be worth one billion dollars, but it may help Moscow to get access to Afghanistan’s oil, gas and minerals. The investment would be eminently worthwhile. Russia’s come-back, in the circumstances, may also help persuade some two lakh Soviet-educated Afghans who had fled the Taliban to Russia, to return to their motherland.
What would this mean to India? It is too early to come to any conclusions. If Afghanistan will get Russian help, why would it want aid from India which would now have to face a Moscow-Kabul-Islamabad entente? But will a Russian -Pakistan relationship help in resolving Indo-Pakistan conflict? With Russia present once again in Afghanistan in a big way, would Pakistan be able to treat Afghanistan as a place to fall-back in case of a conflict with India? Alternately, will Russia be able to get Pakistan out of its anti-India mind-set and help set up peace at last in the Indian sub-continent? That is anybody’s guess.
Writes Radyuhin: "The Sochi Summit has dimmed India’s hope of gaining a strategic foothold in Tajikistan. India and Russia had planned to jointly use the Ayni airfield which India helped to renovate, but Indian presence there looks doubtful now, in the context of the emerging Russia-Afghanistan-Tajikistan axis. India will of course, remain Russia’s close friend and strategic partner but it will have to learn to live with the new Russian- Pakistani bonhomie, just as Russia has taken in its stride India’s entitlement with the US".
What seems obvious is that a whole new political equation is emerging in Central Asian sub-continental politics with consequences yet to be clear. With Pakistan likely to slip out of US control, Washington may wish to be courting India. Delhi would be wise to keep its distance from the US. Russia would still be its best bet, as it has been all these years. We don’t need to be America’s cat’s paw in South Asia.
Atheism in India
Glimpses
Atheism in India
By MSN Menon
One would imagine that the age of Rama was one of great devotion to god. No, it was not. The Ramayana says that Jabali, the "great Brahmin scholar" tried to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya. Jabali was an atheist.
TO doubt is the way of the Hindu. It could be traced back to the Vedas.
A hymn in the Rig Veda says:
Who is there who truly knows
And who can say, whence this
Unfathomed world?
And from what cause?
Or, even the gods do not know!
There was a profound doubt in the heart of Hindu thought. The rishi was not even sure whether the gods knew the answers.
No wonder, the Hindu set out on his eternal quest to know the truth about the "unfathomed world". And our first meeting was with Yajnyavalkya.
Yajnyavalkya (1200 BC), the great teacher of Hindu philosophy, perhaps marked the transition from Vedic gods to the Supreme Being (Brahma). The sage says "Brahma is limitless in time and space." The Vedic gods were limited,
Of the six great philosophic systems (Darshanas) (Sankhya, Nyaya, Yoga, Vaisesika and two Mimamsas) four (Sankhya, Nyaya, Yoga and Vaisesika) were not so sure whether gods existed.
Sankhya, the oldest and most profound philosophic system believes that the universe was not created by god, that Prakriti was the mother of everything. The law of Swabhava ruled the world. Even the Buddha took advantage of Sankhya.
Nyaya is more logic than philosophy or religion. There is only a casual reference to God in Nyaya.
Yoga is anterior to Nyaya. It is a means to acquire supernatural powers, even to surpass the gods. It is independent of the Vedas.
As for Vaisesika, it preceded Buddhism and Jainism, it saw no need to introduce god into the cosmic system.
One would imagine that the age of Rama was one of great devotion to god. No, it was not. The Ramayana says that Jabali, the "great Brahmin scholar" tried to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya. Jabali was an atheist.
Buddhism and Jainism made atheism respectable. In fact, Buddhists were rulers in many parts of India till the advent of Islam. Buddha chose not to speak of god. There was no sharp division between man and god in Buddhism. Sunyata is the apex thought of Buddhism.
The Charvakas and Lokayatas were the greatest propagators of atheism. They gave life and blood to Sankhya. There was no place for god in Chanakya philosophy. Creation took place, they said, because "it is in the nature of things to happen." They called it Swabhava Vada, which is the only law of nature. It is the cornerstone of the Charvaka philosophy. The universe had always existed. It was not created. Virtue and vice were conventions, they said. The only good was the pursuit of pleasure. Hedonism was their ethics. They refused to be swayed by the Vedas. Kautilya hailed their philosophy an important doctrine. Mahabharata speaks highly of the Charvakas as "vanerable sages". It shows how India respected dissent. Charvaka had a powerful impact on the development of atheism in the world. Their remarkable logic and sweep of thought far outstripped the achievements of classical philosophy.
Lokayatas were popular atheists and free thinkers. They opposed the Vedic tradition. But they were not addicted to hedonism. They held moderation a virtue. The Lokayatas believed that the world alone was real. They rejected all authority other than theirs.
The advent of Islam brought about the complete destruction of the incipient civilization of the Hinduism. They took to Bhakti. It also meant the end of Buddhism in India. Islam could not tolerate atheism.
To conclude, the Hindu grew up in the cradle of atheism till the advent of Islam. Atheism brought about tolerance among Hindus. True, the Hindus withdrew into a shell. But that was to protect their faith. But in the process, all disputes ceased and the Hindu quest for the truth came to an end. Dear Reader, our task is to revive our old traditions - the tradition of bold enquiry.
Atheism in India
By MSN Menon
One would imagine that the age of Rama was one of great devotion to god. No, it was not. The Ramayana says that Jabali, the "great Brahmin scholar" tried to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya. Jabali was an atheist.
TO doubt is the way of the Hindu. It could be traced back to the Vedas.
A hymn in the Rig Veda says:
Who is there who truly knows
And who can say, whence this
Unfathomed world?
And from what cause?
Or, even the gods do not know!
There was a profound doubt in the heart of Hindu thought. The rishi was not even sure whether the gods knew the answers.
No wonder, the Hindu set out on his eternal quest to know the truth about the "unfathomed world". And our first meeting was with Yajnyavalkya.
Yajnyavalkya (1200 BC), the great teacher of Hindu philosophy, perhaps marked the transition from Vedic gods to the Supreme Being (Brahma). The sage says "Brahma is limitless in time and space." The Vedic gods were limited,
Of the six great philosophic systems (Darshanas) (Sankhya, Nyaya, Yoga, Vaisesika and two Mimamsas) four (Sankhya, Nyaya, Yoga and Vaisesika) were not so sure whether gods existed.
Sankhya, the oldest and most profound philosophic system believes that the universe was not created by god, that Prakriti was the mother of everything. The law of Swabhava ruled the world. Even the Buddha took advantage of Sankhya.
Nyaya is more logic than philosophy or religion. There is only a casual reference to God in Nyaya.
Yoga is anterior to Nyaya. It is a means to acquire supernatural powers, even to surpass the gods. It is independent of the Vedas.
As for Vaisesika, it preceded Buddhism and Jainism, it saw no need to introduce god into the cosmic system.
One would imagine that the age of Rama was one of great devotion to god. No, it was not. The Ramayana says that Jabali, the "great Brahmin scholar" tried to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya. Jabali was an atheist.
Buddhism and Jainism made atheism respectable. In fact, Buddhists were rulers in many parts of India till the advent of Islam. Buddha chose not to speak of god. There was no sharp division between man and god in Buddhism. Sunyata is the apex thought of Buddhism.
The Charvakas and Lokayatas were the greatest propagators of atheism. They gave life and blood to Sankhya. There was no place for god in Chanakya philosophy. Creation took place, they said, because "it is in the nature of things to happen." They called it Swabhava Vada, which is the only law of nature. It is the cornerstone of the Charvaka philosophy. The universe had always existed. It was not created. Virtue and vice were conventions, they said. The only good was the pursuit of pleasure. Hedonism was their ethics. They refused to be swayed by the Vedas. Kautilya hailed their philosophy an important doctrine. Mahabharata speaks highly of the Charvakas as "vanerable sages". It shows how India respected dissent. Charvaka had a powerful impact on the development of atheism in the world. Their remarkable logic and sweep of thought far outstripped the achievements of classical philosophy.
Lokayatas were popular atheists and free thinkers. They opposed the Vedic tradition. But they were not addicted to hedonism. They held moderation a virtue. The Lokayatas believed that the world alone was real. They rejected all authority other than theirs.
The advent of Islam brought about the complete destruction of the incipient civilization of the Hinduism. They took to Bhakti. It also meant the end of Buddhism in India. Islam could not tolerate atheism.
To conclude, the Hindu grew up in the cradle of atheism till the advent of Islam. Atheism brought about tolerance among Hindus. True, the Hindus withdrew into a shell. But that was to protect their faith. But in the process, all disputes ceased and the Hindu quest for the truth came to an end. Dear Reader, our task is to revive our old traditions - the tradition of bold enquiry.
KALIDAS
The scientific genius of Kalidas
By NR Waradpande
The phenomenon of day and night was well understood even in the days of the Rigveda. Hymn 1138 of the Rigveda speaks of the messengers of Vrtra wheering round the parinaha or the globe of the earth. The Aitareya Brahman affirms that the Sun neither sets nor rises, He takes a turn and causes day and night.
KALIDAS flourished at the court of Agnimitra Shunga of Vidisha as is clear from the Bharatavakya of the play Malavikagnimitra which says that when Agnimitra is ruling the subjects feel secure from calamities. The Bharatavakya is not a part of the play. It is sung after the play is over and even those characters which are dead in the play participate in it as actors and not as characters. So Agnimitra is not praised here by the characters but by living actors who have just performed the play.
This proves beyond doubt that Kalidas flourished at the time of Agnimitra Shunga in 150 BC. There are other arguments supporting this view but this is not the place to go into them. It is necessary to bear in mind the date of Kalidas for viewing the scientific statements of Kalidas in the background of science that is known to have existed in 150 BC.
Imagination is necessary for the poet as well as the scientist, but the poet and the scientist use their imagination for different purposes. The poet uses it for creating beauty while the scientist uses it for describing natural phenomena in a way which helps in predicting and even controlling it. But the two types of imaginations are seldom found in the same person. Kalidas is such a rare person.
The phenomenon of day and night was well understood even in the days of the Rigveda. Hymn 1138 of the Rigveda speaks of the messengers of Vrtra wheering round the parinaha or the globe of the earth. The Aitareya Brahman affirms that the Sun neither sets nor rises, He takes a turn and causes day and night.
Kalidas knows in addition to this that the movement takes place around the Meru or the North pole. I was surprised to note that even some students of Sanskrit do not know that Meru is the name of the North Pole though Bhaskaracharya clearly mentions it while explaining the day and night phenomenon at the poles and even Apte’s dictionary clearly mentions that Meru is the name of the north pole.
Kalidas recalls all this while describing the circumlocution of Aja and Indumati around the fire as a part of their marriage rite. The verse says: "The couple circumlocuting hand in hand around the fire whose flames were ascending, looked like the day and night circumlocuting the high peaked Meru with their limits marked by a common line.
Kalidas says that it is the day and night that rotate around the earth and not vice versa as Aryabhatta said in the fifth century. In this he was following science contemporary to him. But his genius lies in visualising how the phenomenon would appear to an observer outside the earth when he is stationary in relation to the Sun. I have met people who are incapable of visualising that to those who land on the moon, the earth will appear above them and not below.
Kalidas however anticipates science in places. In the 14th canto of the Raghuvansha Rama says about the calumny that befell Seeta: "Calumny is irresitible. Even the moon can not escape it. What is merely the earth’s shadow is proclaimed as a stain by all and sundry".
This statement is often mistaken to refer to the shadow of the eclipse. But the shadow of the eclipse is transitory. Again it is not regarded as a permanent stain on the moon. Moon’s escape from the shadow of the eclipse is celebrated.
The stain on the other hand is permanent and is widely described as a stain. It is undeniable that Kalidas regards the stain as the shadow of the earth and is NOT referring to the phenomenon of the eclipse.
This shows how apt the simile is and speaks for the poetic genius of Kalidas. But in addition to poetic fancy the simile is a scientist’s theorising which later on resulted in the astronomy of the eclipse. There is no evidence that the astronomy of the eclipse was understood in 150 BC. SB Deelhit’s History of Indian Astronomy does not refer to any astronomy of the eclipse before the period of Aryabhatta, which is 5th century AD.
The above quoted verse indicates how the imagination of Kalidas worked with heavenly phenomena. But heavenly phenomena engaged the human mind in the remotest of periods. Man took interest in things remotest far earlier than in things nearest i.e his own body and mind. Ancient man’s concern with his own soul should not be cited against this statement because this concern was more imaginative and emotional than scientific. But Kalidas displayed the capacity of understanding the phenomenon of perception on the lines of the Physics of light. Note the following verse in the Shakuntalam. The poet is describing the speed with which the chariot of Dushyanta was being driven.
"What is really curved is being seen as straight".
In order to have such an experience one must move with a speed of at least 50 miles per hour. Such speed was not possible in the days of Kalidas.
A little explanation of how such a perception occurs will not be out of place. This is the result of binocular vision. Two rays coming from the object seen to the two eyes make an angle. The nearer the thing the greater the angle. Points on a curved line are at different distances and therefore make different angles at different times in the movement whereas points on a straight line are at the same distance from the observer at different times in the movement. When the difference in the angle is noticed the thing is seen as curved, when it is not noticed it is seen as straight.
As in the psychology of vision Kalidas displays his insight in psychology of the unconcious also. Psychologists did not talk of the unconscious mind before Freud. That was in the twentieth century. But Kalidas not only had a grasp of this idea, he has even used it for dramatic purposes. Dushanta of the Mahabharata is an unprincipled womaniser who uses an innocent maiden just to satisfy his lust and feigns ignorance of the whole affair when called upon to take the responsibility of his own deed. Kalidas and the principles of Dramaturgy in his days did not allow such a "hero". He has therefore employed the sage Durvasa so that Dramaturgy is not violated and at the same time a very powerful and tragic dramatic scene could be presented. It is the curse of Durvsa to Shakuntala that makes Dushyanta forget Shakuntala. The curse erases the memory of Shakuntala but leaves intact all the emotions that could be revived by remembering her.
When he was sunk in such a blank past he heard one of his queens Hanspadika sing the following song:
‘Oh you droning bee, having kissed the mango blossoms with hasty flight you are now perched on the lotus, clean forgetting the blossoms.!
Polygamous husbands are habituated to such taunts but on this occasion Dushyanta felt he is being stung on a soft spot. This made him restless. He tried to pacify himself by the thought that some event in his past birth is throwing up these emotions without reviving the memory of those events.
This is anticipation of Freud two thousand years ago.
By NR Waradpande
The phenomenon of day and night was well understood even in the days of the Rigveda. Hymn 1138 of the Rigveda speaks of the messengers of Vrtra wheering round the parinaha or the globe of the earth. The Aitareya Brahman affirms that the Sun neither sets nor rises, He takes a turn and causes day and night.
KALIDAS flourished at the court of Agnimitra Shunga of Vidisha as is clear from the Bharatavakya of the play Malavikagnimitra which says that when Agnimitra is ruling the subjects feel secure from calamities. The Bharatavakya is not a part of the play. It is sung after the play is over and even those characters which are dead in the play participate in it as actors and not as characters. So Agnimitra is not praised here by the characters but by living actors who have just performed the play.
This proves beyond doubt that Kalidas flourished at the time of Agnimitra Shunga in 150 BC. There are other arguments supporting this view but this is not the place to go into them. It is necessary to bear in mind the date of Kalidas for viewing the scientific statements of Kalidas in the background of science that is known to have existed in 150 BC.
Imagination is necessary for the poet as well as the scientist, but the poet and the scientist use their imagination for different purposes. The poet uses it for creating beauty while the scientist uses it for describing natural phenomena in a way which helps in predicting and even controlling it. But the two types of imaginations are seldom found in the same person. Kalidas is such a rare person.
The phenomenon of day and night was well understood even in the days of the Rigveda. Hymn 1138 of the Rigveda speaks of the messengers of Vrtra wheering round the parinaha or the globe of the earth. The Aitareya Brahman affirms that the Sun neither sets nor rises, He takes a turn and causes day and night.
Kalidas knows in addition to this that the movement takes place around the Meru or the North pole. I was surprised to note that even some students of Sanskrit do not know that Meru is the name of the North Pole though Bhaskaracharya clearly mentions it while explaining the day and night phenomenon at the poles and even Apte’s dictionary clearly mentions that Meru is the name of the north pole.
Kalidas recalls all this while describing the circumlocution of Aja and Indumati around the fire as a part of their marriage rite. The verse says: "The couple circumlocuting hand in hand around the fire whose flames were ascending, looked like the day and night circumlocuting the high peaked Meru with their limits marked by a common line.
Kalidas says that it is the day and night that rotate around the earth and not vice versa as Aryabhatta said in the fifth century. In this he was following science contemporary to him. But his genius lies in visualising how the phenomenon would appear to an observer outside the earth when he is stationary in relation to the Sun. I have met people who are incapable of visualising that to those who land on the moon, the earth will appear above them and not below.
Kalidas however anticipates science in places. In the 14th canto of the Raghuvansha Rama says about the calumny that befell Seeta: "Calumny is irresitible. Even the moon can not escape it. What is merely the earth’s shadow is proclaimed as a stain by all and sundry".
This statement is often mistaken to refer to the shadow of the eclipse. But the shadow of the eclipse is transitory. Again it is not regarded as a permanent stain on the moon. Moon’s escape from the shadow of the eclipse is celebrated.
The stain on the other hand is permanent and is widely described as a stain. It is undeniable that Kalidas regards the stain as the shadow of the earth and is NOT referring to the phenomenon of the eclipse.
This shows how apt the simile is and speaks for the poetic genius of Kalidas. But in addition to poetic fancy the simile is a scientist’s theorising which later on resulted in the astronomy of the eclipse. There is no evidence that the astronomy of the eclipse was understood in 150 BC. SB Deelhit’s History of Indian Astronomy does not refer to any astronomy of the eclipse before the period of Aryabhatta, which is 5th century AD.
The above quoted verse indicates how the imagination of Kalidas worked with heavenly phenomena. But heavenly phenomena engaged the human mind in the remotest of periods. Man took interest in things remotest far earlier than in things nearest i.e his own body and mind. Ancient man’s concern with his own soul should not be cited against this statement because this concern was more imaginative and emotional than scientific. But Kalidas displayed the capacity of understanding the phenomenon of perception on the lines of the Physics of light. Note the following verse in the Shakuntalam. The poet is describing the speed with which the chariot of Dushyanta was being driven.
"What is really curved is being seen as straight".
In order to have such an experience one must move with a speed of at least 50 miles per hour. Such speed was not possible in the days of Kalidas.
A little explanation of how such a perception occurs will not be out of place. This is the result of binocular vision. Two rays coming from the object seen to the two eyes make an angle. The nearer the thing the greater the angle. Points on a curved line are at different distances and therefore make different angles at different times in the movement whereas points on a straight line are at the same distance from the observer at different times in the movement. When the difference in the angle is noticed the thing is seen as curved, when it is not noticed it is seen as straight.
As in the psychology of vision Kalidas displays his insight in psychology of the unconcious also. Psychologists did not talk of the unconscious mind before Freud. That was in the twentieth century. But Kalidas not only had a grasp of this idea, he has even used it for dramatic purposes. Dushanta of the Mahabharata is an unprincipled womaniser who uses an innocent maiden just to satisfy his lust and feigns ignorance of the whole affair when called upon to take the responsibility of his own deed. Kalidas and the principles of Dramaturgy in his days did not allow such a "hero". He has therefore employed the sage Durvasa so that Dramaturgy is not violated and at the same time a very powerful and tragic dramatic scene could be presented. It is the curse of Durvsa to Shakuntala that makes Dushyanta forget Shakuntala. The curse erases the memory of Shakuntala but leaves intact all the emotions that could be revived by remembering her.
When he was sunk in such a blank past he heard one of his queens Hanspadika sing the following song:
‘Oh you droning bee, having kissed the mango blossoms with hasty flight you are now perched on the lotus, clean forgetting the blossoms.!
Polygamous husbands are habituated to such taunts but on this occasion Dushyanta felt he is being stung on a soft spot. This made him restless. He tried to pacify himself by the thought that some event in his past birth is throwing up these emotions without reviving the memory of those events.
This is anticipation of Freud two thousand years ago.
mecca masjid blast
‘Huji, not Hindu group, behind Mecca Masjid blast’
By Abhishek Sharan
THOUGH the CBI has sought to establish the hand of a Hindu terror group in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast, a US counter-terrorism agency thinks otherwise. According to the National Counter-terrorism Center (NCTC), the blast was allegedly executed by a Pakistan-sponsored terror outfit, the Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI).
NCTC director Michael Leiter, submitted as much in his ‘Statement for the Record’ before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, on September 22, 2010.
Before the CBI took over the case, the Hyderabad police too had named the HuJI as the blast’s alleged executor.
"The group also has been involved in multiple, high-casualty attacks... in India in May 2007 that killed 16," read Leiter’s statement.
He added, "HuJI has collaborated with Al-Qaeda on attacks and training for HuJI members. In January 2009, a federal grand jury indicted HuJI commander Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri in absentia for a disrupted terrorist plot against a newspaper in Denmark."
The group was also allegedly involved in an attack against Pakistani intelligence and police facilities in Lahore in 2009 that killed 23, according to Leiter.
CBI’s probe findings, however, have claimed that an Indore-based terror outfit whose members were allegedly linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh perpetrated the mosque attack.
The agency has arrested two accused in the case - Lokesh Sharma and Devender Gupta - and is looking for the alleged bomb makers, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra.
"The NCTC does not seem to be updated with the developments in the case, which is surprising," said a senior CBI investigator when HT asked him about the US agency’s version on the attack’s suspected perpetrators.
(Courtesy:The Hindustan Times)
By Abhishek Sharan
THOUGH the CBI has sought to establish the hand of a Hindu terror group in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast, a US counter-terrorism agency thinks otherwise. According to the National Counter-terrorism Center (NCTC), the blast was allegedly executed by a Pakistan-sponsored terror outfit, the Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI).
NCTC director Michael Leiter, submitted as much in his ‘Statement for the Record’ before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, on September 22, 2010.
Before the CBI took over the case, the Hyderabad police too had named the HuJI as the blast’s alleged executor.
"The group also has been involved in multiple, high-casualty attacks... in India in May 2007 that killed 16," read Leiter’s statement.
He added, "HuJI has collaborated with Al-Qaeda on attacks and training for HuJI members. In January 2009, a federal grand jury indicted HuJI commander Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri in absentia for a disrupted terrorist plot against a newspaper in Denmark."
The group was also allegedly involved in an attack against Pakistani intelligence and police facilities in Lahore in 2009 that killed 23, according to Leiter.
CBI’s probe findings, however, have claimed that an Indore-based terror outfit whose members were allegedly linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh perpetrated the mosque attack.
The agency has arrested two accused in the case - Lokesh Sharma and Devender Gupta - and is looking for the alleged bomb makers, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra.
"The NCTC does not seem to be updated with the developments in the case, which is surprising," said a senior CBI investigator when HT asked him about the US agency’s version on the attack’s suspected perpetrators.
(Courtesy:The Hindustan Times)
This is Ramjanmabhoomi
Ayodhya’s verdict:
By Rukmini Shrinivasan and Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui
AYODHYA, Sept.24: While the Supreme Court has postponed until September 28 its hearing on a plea to defer the Allahabad High Court’s verdict in the Ayodhya title suit, in the pilgrim town itself, there’s no dispute: The place was, and is, Ramjanmabhoomi for its Hindus.
Nowhere in Ayodhya, not in shop addresses or official signages, in the directions yelled out to lost visitors from teashops or police chowkies, or anywhere close to the disputed area, is the "spot" referred to as anything else but Ramjanmabhoomi. Even the official parlance refers to it as Janmabhoomi. For a disputed structure, there is remarkably little dispute.
"The point isn't that everyone calls it Ramjanmabhoomi; the point is, it is Ramjanmabhoomi," says Purshottam Kumar, owner of Shri Ram Chandra ki Sarvottam Samagri, a shop in the main market that sells religious paraphernalia: from headbands worn by karsevaks in 1992 to strings of prayer beads and saffron scarves. Kumar’s is the fifth generation that has lived and worked on the same spot and he explains that each generation has known that this is the place where Ram was born and that there was a temple. "What will the court’s judgment change? Nothing," he says smiling benignly. "Every Hindu knows in his heart that this is the Ramjanmabhoomi and it will not be anything else."
The security is heavy: two rings of fencing, one yellow, one barbed, guarded by village chowkidars, home guards, the PAC, Rapid Action Force and CRPF. CCTVs hover over, ominously overseen by armed men on watchtowers. At the entrance, every object on one's person including belts and pens is removed. There are five full-body checks. A group of women from Gujarat is on a pilgrimage. They will go from here to Nepal. "We’ve come to take Ram’s darshan. There used to be a mosque nearby but went long ago," explains Sushilaben Kanojia of Rajkot.
After walking for several minutes inside what feels like a labyrinth, devotees are deposited 10 feet away from a statue of Ram, Sita, Laxman and Bharat, a fence separating them from visitors. A sign reads 'Don't Wait Here’. The sanctum sanctorum is enveloped on all sides by a tent. This is where the Babri Masjid once stood. Not just the mosque, not even rubble is visible any more. Obviously, there is no Muslim worship here.
The first and only time that TOI saw or heard the word Babri all day was in a cramped two-room house where a 90-year-old man with a hearing aid was being harangued by journalists. ‘Babri Masjid Reconstruction Committee’ read the hand-painted words on the doorway to Mohammed Hashim Ansari’s house. One of the litigants, and the last surviving of the six who were on the same petition, Ansari demands that the court give its verdict soon. "At least in my lifetime," he says pleadingly, adding, "All of Ayodhya’s Muslims are waiting for this."
Bangle-seller Mohammed Arif’s family has lived here in the old city for four generations. "I was here when they broke the mosque and I saw the city aflame," he says softly and with no anger. "Everyone knows what happened. It was on TV. We don't want to stir up trouble. If that means not referring to the area as Babri any more, so be it," he says. Arif and his family have little interest in the verdict. "They can build a church if they want, I don't care," he says. But they’re all watching TV intently on the pavement outside his shop. "For news of trouble," says his teenaged daughter Saira.
"There are two parallel forces in the country, one that supports anarchy and one that supports the rule of law," says Khalid Ahmed, who heads the Helal Committee which offers legal help to the two disputing sides. "The first one gave its judgment on December 6, 1992, when it tore down the mosque, killed 17 Muslims in Ayodhya and burnt down 450 shops, punishing Muslims for the sins of their forefathers. We are still waiting for the judgment of the other force," says Ahmed.
(Courtesy:TOI)
By Rukmini Shrinivasan and Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui
AYODHYA, Sept.24: While the Supreme Court has postponed until September 28 its hearing on a plea to defer the Allahabad High Court’s verdict in the Ayodhya title suit, in the pilgrim town itself, there’s no dispute: The place was, and is, Ramjanmabhoomi for its Hindus.
Nowhere in Ayodhya, not in shop addresses or official signages, in the directions yelled out to lost visitors from teashops or police chowkies, or anywhere close to the disputed area, is the "spot" referred to as anything else but Ramjanmabhoomi. Even the official parlance refers to it as Janmabhoomi. For a disputed structure, there is remarkably little dispute.
"The point isn't that everyone calls it Ramjanmabhoomi; the point is, it is Ramjanmabhoomi," says Purshottam Kumar, owner of Shri Ram Chandra ki Sarvottam Samagri, a shop in the main market that sells religious paraphernalia: from headbands worn by karsevaks in 1992 to strings of prayer beads and saffron scarves. Kumar’s is the fifth generation that has lived and worked on the same spot and he explains that each generation has known that this is the place where Ram was born and that there was a temple. "What will the court’s judgment change? Nothing," he says smiling benignly. "Every Hindu knows in his heart that this is the Ramjanmabhoomi and it will not be anything else."
The security is heavy: two rings of fencing, one yellow, one barbed, guarded by village chowkidars, home guards, the PAC, Rapid Action Force and CRPF. CCTVs hover over, ominously overseen by armed men on watchtowers. At the entrance, every object on one's person including belts and pens is removed. There are five full-body checks. A group of women from Gujarat is on a pilgrimage. They will go from here to Nepal. "We’ve come to take Ram’s darshan. There used to be a mosque nearby but went long ago," explains Sushilaben Kanojia of Rajkot.
After walking for several minutes inside what feels like a labyrinth, devotees are deposited 10 feet away from a statue of Ram, Sita, Laxman and Bharat, a fence separating them from visitors. A sign reads 'Don't Wait Here’. The sanctum sanctorum is enveloped on all sides by a tent. This is where the Babri Masjid once stood. Not just the mosque, not even rubble is visible any more. Obviously, there is no Muslim worship here.
The first and only time that TOI saw or heard the word Babri all day was in a cramped two-room house where a 90-year-old man with a hearing aid was being harangued by journalists. ‘Babri Masjid Reconstruction Committee’ read the hand-painted words on the doorway to Mohammed Hashim Ansari’s house. One of the litigants, and the last surviving of the six who were on the same petition, Ansari demands that the court give its verdict soon. "At least in my lifetime," he says pleadingly, adding, "All of Ayodhya’s Muslims are waiting for this."
Bangle-seller Mohammed Arif’s family has lived here in the old city for four generations. "I was here when they broke the mosque and I saw the city aflame," he says softly and with no anger. "Everyone knows what happened. It was on TV. We don't want to stir up trouble. If that means not referring to the area as Babri any more, so be it," he says. Arif and his family have little interest in the verdict. "They can build a church if they want, I don't care," he says. But they’re all watching TV intently on the pavement outside his shop. "For news of trouble," says his teenaged daughter Saira.
"There are two parallel forces in the country, one that supports anarchy and one that supports the rule of law," says Khalid Ahmed, who heads the Helal Committee which offers legal help to the two disputing sides. "The first one gave its judgment on December 6, 1992, when it tore down the mosque, killed 17 Muslims in Ayodhya and burnt down 450 shops, punishing Muslims for the sins of their forefathers. We are still waiting for the judgment of the other force," says Ahmed.
(Courtesy:TOI)
Thousand years of Brihadeeswara Temple
An architectural wonder.
By V Shanmuganathan
The great emperor of Chola dynasty, Raja Raja-I built a majestic temple for Lord Shiva in Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu. Called Peruvuidayar Kovil, or Brihadeeswarar Temple, or sometimes Rajarajeswaram it is on rolls of the UNESCO heritage sites as part of the circuit called "Great Living Chola Temples".
Tamil Nadu remains as the wonderful resort of classical India whether it is temple architecture, dance, vocal or instrumental music. It hosts the oldest living temples in India, which remained unaffected by iconoclasm of Turks, Mughals and Bahmani invaders.
ONE thousand years ago, the great emperor of Chola dynasty, Raja Raja-I built a majestic temple for Lord Shiva in Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu. Called Peruvuidayar Kovil, or Brihadeeswarar Temple, or sometimes Rajarajeswaram it is on rolls of the UNESCO heritage sites as part of the circuit called "Great Living Chola Temples". The Tamil Nadu government recently organised a grand function, spanning over five days, to celebrate the millennium of its consecration. A scintillating Bharatnatyam recital by 1,000 artistes, led by eminent danseuse Padma Subrahmanyam, took the cream of the cake. A host of events including exhibitions, cultural shows, seminars and deliberations were also organised to mark the occasion.
Tamil Nadu remains as the wonderful resort of classical India whether it is temple architecture, dance, vocal or instrumental music. It hosts the oldest living temples in India, which remained unaffected by iconoclasm of Turks, Mughals and Bahmani invaders. Temples in ancient India were not merely centres of religion, but also art, culture, literature and vocational training. The Brihadeeswarar Temple stands as a reminder to our great culture, art, architecture, religion and language. It is also a symbol of the great wealth and prowess of Chola dynasty, which expanded its empire on Indian Ocean.
The construction of this ‘Big Temple’ begun in 1003 AD and was completed in six years before being consecrated in 1010 AD. The unique archaeological feature of the temple is its Vimana (temple tower) standing 216 feet tall. The summit stone weighing about eighty tons was dragged on to the top through a slope path from a distant Village, called ‘Sarapallam’. It rises over the sanctum, on a square base about a hundred feet, dominates the whole structure. Its shadow never falls on the ground.
The valiant king Raja Raja-I, who reigned between 985 and 1014 AD, was renowned for land and naval conquests. He found peace at the feet of Lord Shiva. The construction of Brihadeeshwara temple coincides with a visible shift in his policies from military expansion to internal administration. But here is a lesson for us. Neither he, nor his illustrious son Rajendra I (who built the famous Shiva temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram similar in design to Brihadeeshwara temple) neglected external and internal security unlike some people, who weakened the martial spirit of India through.
The distinct feature of Brihadeeshwara temple is magnificent monolith Nandi bull, the mount of Lord Shiva, facing the temple tower. The shrine of goddess Brihanayaki, Ganapati, Subrmanya, Dakshinamurty, Nataraja are finely carved. The corridor surrounding the sanctum is a treasure chest of Chola painting and sculpture. The walls of this cave-like corridor were plastered with lime and used as a large canvas for the paintings.
The paintings, which have survived time and a seventeenth century coat of paint, are very beautiful in detail and colour and accuracy.
The story of Sundaramurthy Nayanar reaching Kailash on a white elephant is depicted on another wall. Karuvur Thevar, the Guru of Raja Raja is portrayed in an impressive manner. While the sculptures of Shiva in this corridor are imposing and colossal, the series of eighty one dance poses are superb illustrations of the Natya Sastra.
There is an interesting and popular story about the deep personal interest that the King evinced in the construction of the temple. It is said that one day, when the chief sculptor was deeply absorbed in chiseling the huge Nandi, King Raja Raja Chola went and stood by his side. The sculptor, thinking that it was his boy attendent standing by his side ordered him to prepare a pan (betel leaf with araca nut and lime). The king calmly obliged, folded a couple of betel leaves and handed it over to the sculptor who received it without seeing the hands that supplied them. Chewing the pan in his mouth, the sculptor started uttering words of praise, appreciating the king who planned this unique monument. Later he asked his attendant to bring the spitton near him. The king silently obeyed. When the sculptor raised his head after spitting the chewed betel leaves, he was terribly shocked to see the great Raja Raja Chola standing in front of him. Immediately he touched the feet of the king with tears and made an apology to the emperor, in a voice choked with emotion. The king, with a smiling face, lifted him up and consoled him by telling that it was a rare privilege for him to serve the sculptor whose hands chiseled the sculptures of the magnificent temple. Raja Raja Chola, though a worshiper of Shiva, at the same time, was tolerant to other religions.
He endowed and built temple of Maha Vishnu. He granted a village to the Buddhist Vihara at Nagappattinam. The Brihadeeswara temple was not an act of royal fancy. It is iconic of the glory of Tamil Saiva Siddhanta. Amongst two principal schools of Bhakti cult prevalent in South India, Saivism has a larger following.
In Tamil districts of Sri Lanka Saivism holds unchallenged sway. In Saiva Siddhanta Shiva is believed to exercise the functions of creation, protection, destruction, prevention from lapses is the result of enjoyment of one’s action and beneficent action. These functions He is said to discharge with a view to release the struggling souls from the bondage of karma, and present unto them the ultimate knowledge of Shiva. The goal of individual souls is to realise that it is made of Shiva-Tatva (element of Shiva), and though not merging in Shiva, remain at its feet like beloved child. The icon of Lord Nataraja is most symbolic of Saiva Siddhanta. Temple worship is an indispensable part of Saiva Siddhanta. That might explain why Tamilians have an image of orthodox and scrupulous temple goers.
Raja Raja Chola’s period was one of height of Saivism. This had been made possible by the surge of Shiva devotion brought by Nayanar saints in previous centuries. The heart melting hymns (Devaram) to Lord Shiva by Sambandar, Appar and Sundaramurthy as well as Manikkavasagar in the 9th century who wrote Tiruvasagam are worth hearing. They, in reality, were the pioneers of Bhakti movement that later swept across other parts of India in the medieval age.
He was an extra ordinarily powerful king and a grand monrch of southern India. His army crossed the ocean by ships and conquered many islands. His was a versatile personality. It is a matter of pride that Tanjore temple attracted the appreciation of UNESCO for its art and architecture. Brihadeeswara Temple, is the shining jewel in the crown of Bharatmata. No doubt, it is, Tamil Nadu’s contribution to the pride of India. Let us all celebrate this one thousand years architectural wonder.
By V Shanmuganathan
The great emperor of Chola dynasty, Raja Raja-I built a majestic temple for Lord Shiva in Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu. Called Peruvuidayar Kovil, or Brihadeeswarar Temple, or sometimes Rajarajeswaram it is on rolls of the UNESCO heritage sites as part of the circuit called "Great Living Chola Temples".
Tamil Nadu remains as the wonderful resort of classical India whether it is temple architecture, dance, vocal or instrumental music. It hosts the oldest living temples in India, which remained unaffected by iconoclasm of Turks, Mughals and Bahmani invaders.
ONE thousand years ago, the great emperor of Chola dynasty, Raja Raja-I built a majestic temple for Lord Shiva in Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu. Called Peruvuidayar Kovil, or Brihadeeswarar Temple, or sometimes Rajarajeswaram it is on rolls of the UNESCO heritage sites as part of the circuit called "Great Living Chola Temples". The Tamil Nadu government recently organised a grand function, spanning over five days, to celebrate the millennium of its consecration. A scintillating Bharatnatyam recital by 1,000 artistes, led by eminent danseuse Padma Subrahmanyam, took the cream of the cake. A host of events including exhibitions, cultural shows, seminars and deliberations were also organised to mark the occasion.
Tamil Nadu remains as the wonderful resort of classical India whether it is temple architecture, dance, vocal or instrumental music. It hosts the oldest living temples in India, which remained unaffected by iconoclasm of Turks, Mughals and Bahmani invaders. Temples in ancient India were not merely centres of religion, but also art, culture, literature and vocational training. The Brihadeeswarar Temple stands as a reminder to our great culture, art, architecture, religion and language. It is also a symbol of the great wealth and prowess of Chola dynasty, which expanded its empire on Indian Ocean.
The construction of this ‘Big Temple’ begun in 1003 AD and was completed in six years before being consecrated in 1010 AD. The unique archaeological feature of the temple is its Vimana (temple tower) standing 216 feet tall. The summit stone weighing about eighty tons was dragged on to the top through a slope path from a distant Village, called ‘Sarapallam’. It rises over the sanctum, on a square base about a hundred feet, dominates the whole structure. Its shadow never falls on the ground.
The valiant king Raja Raja-I, who reigned between 985 and 1014 AD, was renowned for land and naval conquests. He found peace at the feet of Lord Shiva. The construction of Brihadeeshwara temple coincides with a visible shift in his policies from military expansion to internal administration. But here is a lesson for us. Neither he, nor his illustrious son Rajendra I (who built the famous Shiva temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram similar in design to Brihadeeshwara temple) neglected external and internal security unlike some people, who weakened the martial spirit of India through.
The distinct feature of Brihadeeshwara temple is magnificent monolith Nandi bull, the mount of Lord Shiva, facing the temple tower. The shrine of goddess Brihanayaki, Ganapati, Subrmanya, Dakshinamurty, Nataraja are finely carved. The corridor surrounding the sanctum is a treasure chest of Chola painting and sculpture. The walls of this cave-like corridor were plastered with lime and used as a large canvas for the paintings.
The paintings, which have survived time and a seventeenth century coat of paint, are very beautiful in detail and colour and accuracy.
The story of Sundaramurthy Nayanar reaching Kailash on a white elephant is depicted on another wall. Karuvur Thevar, the Guru of Raja Raja is portrayed in an impressive manner. While the sculptures of Shiva in this corridor are imposing and colossal, the series of eighty one dance poses are superb illustrations of the Natya Sastra.
There is an interesting and popular story about the deep personal interest that the King evinced in the construction of the temple. It is said that one day, when the chief sculptor was deeply absorbed in chiseling the huge Nandi, King Raja Raja Chola went and stood by his side. The sculptor, thinking that it was his boy attendent standing by his side ordered him to prepare a pan (betel leaf with araca nut and lime). The king calmly obliged, folded a couple of betel leaves and handed it over to the sculptor who received it without seeing the hands that supplied them. Chewing the pan in his mouth, the sculptor started uttering words of praise, appreciating the king who planned this unique monument. Later he asked his attendant to bring the spitton near him. The king silently obeyed. When the sculptor raised his head after spitting the chewed betel leaves, he was terribly shocked to see the great Raja Raja Chola standing in front of him. Immediately he touched the feet of the king with tears and made an apology to the emperor, in a voice choked with emotion. The king, with a smiling face, lifted him up and consoled him by telling that it was a rare privilege for him to serve the sculptor whose hands chiseled the sculptures of the magnificent temple. Raja Raja Chola, though a worshiper of Shiva, at the same time, was tolerant to other religions.
He endowed and built temple of Maha Vishnu. He granted a village to the Buddhist Vihara at Nagappattinam. The Brihadeeswara temple was not an act of royal fancy. It is iconic of the glory of Tamil Saiva Siddhanta. Amongst two principal schools of Bhakti cult prevalent in South India, Saivism has a larger following.
In Tamil districts of Sri Lanka Saivism holds unchallenged sway. In Saiva Siddhanta Shiva is believed to exercise the functions of creation, protection, destruction, prevention from lapses is the result of enjoyment of one’s action and beneficent action. These functions He is said to discharge with a view to release the struggling souls from the bondage of karma, and present unto them the ultimate knowledge of Shiva. The goal of individual souls is to realise that it is made of Shiva-Tatva (element of Shiva), and though not merging in Shiva, remain at its feet like beloved child. The icon of Lord Nataraja is most symbolic of Saiva Siddhanta. Temple worship is an indispensable part of Saiva Siddhanta. That might explain why Tamilians have an image of orthodox and scrupulous temple goers.
Raja Raja Chola’s period was one of height of Saivism. This had been made possible by the surge of Shiva devotion brought by Nayanar saints in previous centuries. The heart melting hymns (Devaram) to Lord Shiva by Sambandar, Appar and Sundaramurthy as well as Manikkavasagar in the 9th century who wrote Tiruvasagam are worth hearing. They, in reality, were the pioneers of Bhakti movement that later swept across other parts of India in the medieval age.
He was an extra ordinarily powerful king and a grand monrch of southern India. His army crossed the ocean by ships and conquered many islands. His was a versatile personality. It is a matter of pride that Tanjore temple attracted the appreciation of UNESCO for its art and architecture. Brihadeeswara Temple, is the shining jewel in the crown of Bharatmata. No doubt, it is, Tamil Nadu’s contribution to the pride of India. Let us all celebrate this one thousand years architectural wonder.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sri Aurobindo’s advice and Bengali Hindus
Hindus still suffer the same as in 1935
By Anirban Ganguly
A Bengali Hindu disciple (perhaps the formidable Dilip Kumar Roy son of the legendary Bard of Bengal Dwijendralal Roy) depressed at the ongoing atrocities committed ‘by some Mohamedans on Hindu families in Bengal’ wrote to Sri Aurobindo expressing anguish. ‘...With the coming of Independence I hope such things will stop...’ he wrote and wished to know whether the Master definitely saw ‘a free India’ in his scheme of things. The reply Sri Aurobindo gave on September 16, 1935 - nearly 75 years ago to the date - was itself portentous, ‘That (India’s independence) is all settled. It is a question of working out only. The question is what is India going to do with her Independence? The above kind of affair? (rioting and attacks on Hindus) Bolshevism? Goonda-raj? Things look ominous.’ (Sri Aurobindo, On Himself, 6th imp, 1995) The situation in Bengal seems to have circled back to the period in question.
In fact the 1935 Government of India Act did not bring much relief to the Bengali Hindus. It has been argued that under the provincial Constitution which the 1935 Act imposed on Bengal ‘Bengali Hindus were permanently debarred from exercising any political power in their province...they were reduced to a permanent statutory minority.’ (Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Thy Hand, Great Anarch, 1987 cited in Tathagata Roy, A Suppressed Chapter in History, 2007). Chaudhuri, a perceptive observer of socio-cultural-political trends in Bengal, saw the link going back to the Communal Award of 1932. The Award had definitely established, he observed, the dominance of Muslims ‘over the governance of Bengal’ and the Bengali Hindu was apprehensive that ‘as soon as the Muslims get political power they would, in education as in literature, undermine the very culture based on ancient Indian ideals which was the pride of the Bengali Hindu.’ Chaudhuri found the fear to be ‘neither baseless nor unjustified.’ (Sanibarer Chithi, September 1936, Ibid.,)
The political, social and cultural re-marginalisation of the Bengali Hindu seems to have begun in Bengal. His space appears to be shrinking and this time round there is little left to fall back on. It is ironic that the political formations which are now exacerbating and expediting the process are themselves led mostly by Bengali Hindus with roots in the eastern part of the province. A region they had to once forsake in face of unrelentingly marauding waves of Islamic fundamentalism.
The issue of the Bengali Hindu going back to his roots and there irreversibly entrenching himself had appeared to Sri Aurobindo to be one of the first ways forward. He had made an impassioned appeal to the Bengali Hindu in 1908, at the height of the early nationalist movement (following the attacks on Hindu Swadeshi activists and public at Comilla and Jamalpur, Eastern Bengal, in 1907), to cling on to his roots-to get back to the land. His words written then retain a remarkable contemporaneity - ‘If the present state of things’, he wrote, ‘is allowed to continue, the Mahomedan will be the inheritor of the future and after a brief period of national strength and splendour the Bengali Hindu, like the Greek, will disappear from the list of nations and remain only as a great name in history.’ (Bande Mataram, 6 March 1908) In order to preserve and perpetuate himself the Bengali Hindu had to doggedly stick to the land. He had to go ‘Back to the Land’ and in a Muslim peasantry dominated Bengal landscape resolutely make his presence felt as a mentor and leader. This way could be secured the ‘perpetuation of the Hindu in Bengal.’ (Ibid.,) It was not a call to retreat but to entrench and to resist.
The Comilla and Jamalpur riots of 1907 were clear ominous signals of things to come. The aggressively nationalist Bengali organ ‘Jugantar’ which had in its peak touched a circulation of 50,000 and functioned under the general direction of Sri Aurobindo and was run by a band of his core political followers spoke up against the riots in no uncertain terms. In fact it was one of the few papers to do so, the others followed a policy of, as Sri Aurobindo termed it, ‘cold timidity and heartless over-caution’. The Jugantar captioned a picture of the smashed idol at Jamalpur as ‘bhanga, cchinnamasta Basanti pratima’ (broken, decapitated statue of goddess Basanti) and paraphrasing Bankim’s Anandamath cried ‘ei dekho ma ja hoiacchen’ (here, see, what the mother has become). (Jugantar, Vol.2, No.8, 5th May, 1907, Angshuman Bandyopadhyay ed. Agnijuger Agnikatha, (Beng) 2001, all translations mine from the original Bengali version.) There was no attempt to whitewash or put the incidents under wrap- a chronic malady afflicting our present day secular media.
The paper also featured a report by its Mymensingh correspondent who reconnoitred the affected areas in Jamalpur. It is interesting to see how over a hundred years later the patterns and expressions of violence remain unchanged. ‘Upon reaching the market I saw Hindu shops with broken doors their wares looted by Muslims. The sight that greeted me at the Durgabari prevented me from calling myself a Hindu. The Durga idol was headless so were the idols of Kartik and Ganesha. The marks of a hundred blows adorned the mother’s body (aghater shatachinna mar ange birajman). (Jamalpurer Katha (the Jamalpur Story) Bishesh Sangbadatar patra (special correspondent report) Agnijuger Agnikatha, op.cit.,) It is reported that a team of 50 volunteers had arrived from Comilla to lend support to efforts of the Jamalpur Hindus at self-protection [most of these volunteers belonged to the Jugantar group and were sent there under express instructions from their ‘Supreme Commander’ see i.e. Oral Hist. Interview with Surendra Mohan Ghose, February 27, 1968, NMML, New Delhi] They had succeeded in bringing the situation under control to a large extent and the riotous Muslims had fallen silent and the conniving police superintendent dared not peep out. But as the habit with us, the local leaders did not take advantage of this group’s presence and could not facilitate its operations. The group eventually left and the Hindus in the area left alone, were unable to protect themselves, and lost all they had. (Jamalpurer Katha, op. cit.,)
Towards the evening the correspondent witnessed the local Muslim mob laying siege to the area’s Dayamayee Devi temple. The scene was as follows, it was one of terror and panic - the ladies all shuddering and crying in the house adjacent to the sanctorum. An injured guard with a broken rifle trying to protect the temple and raving Muslim mobs circling the road and pounding on the door and a head-priest crying at the altar asking the mother for protection was what the Jugantar correspondent witnessed. The night drifted with the sole rifle firing blank rounds and keeping the mob at bay. (Ibid.,)
The correspondent then records his emotion charged thoughts during the scene. It aptly describes the pseudo-secular intellectual and activist species that remain invariably silent during such occurrences. The description, over a hundred years old, has not lost any of its sheen: ‘I thought once of dragging all those who live without worry under a foreign (firinghi) government and wish to die as slaves, all those who run the length and breadth of the country making speeches at conferences and conferences and who keep petitioning and telegramming Morley [then Secretary of state for India referred to here as a symbol of foreign overlordship], I felt like dragging these fellows and making them see this scene similar to that of a cremation ground. Shame on those who are unable to protect their mothers, their wives and their daughters, shame on their life, shame on their speechmaking and shame on their university titles and recognitions.’ (Ibid.,) The correspondent barely managed to escape alive and report back. This is what the Jugantar dared to report. It openly called upon the Bengali Hindu to forsake lethargy and luxury and to awake and awaken, to get ready and determined to protect his dharma, his society and his women and to vindicate his identity as a Hindu and a worshipper (upasaka) of strength and Shakti.(Jugantar, Vol.2 No.9, 12th May, 1907, op.cit.,) For a section of the Bengali Hindu today, forever rapturous of some far off revolution and class emancipation, such words may seem particularly obsolete or inciting but for the discerning and the affected they remain as alive, as pragmatic as when they were first written.
Interestingly the Dacca Division Commissioner’s report on the Jamalpur incident described the rampaging Muslim mob and the temple desecration and ended with the usual alibi that since the SDO had a very small force ‘no arrests were made here and no names taken.’ (RC Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India, Vol.2, rpt.1997) It is illuminating to see how the functioning habits of a colonial force have easily transferred themselves to an indigenous one, especially in Bengal.
Sri Aurobindo himself writing for the Bande Mataram summed up the l’affaire Jamalpur in the following words, ‘ ...the broken image of Durga, the outraged sanctity of religion, the blood of our kindred, the offended honour of our cause and country,-all cry out for succour and vindication...’ (Bande Mataram, April 25, 1907)
Unless this cry for succour and vindication is answered today in a sustained and concerted manner the Bengali Hindu’s retreat, decay and extinction shall perhaps be a process - irreversible, inevitable, inescapable.
By Anirban Ganguly
A Bengali Hindu disciple (perhaps the formidable Dilip Kumar Roy son of the legendary Bard of Bengal Dwijendralal Roy) depressed at the ongoing atrocities committed ‘by some Mohamedans on Hindu families in Bengal’ wrote to Sri Aurobindo expressing anguish. ‘...With the coming of Independence I hope such things will stop...’ he wrote and wished to know whether the Master definitely saw ‘a free India’ in his scheme of things. The reply Sri Aurobindo gave on September 16, 1935 - nearly 75 years ago to the date - was itself portentous, ‘That (India’s independence) is all settled. It is a question of working out only. The question is what is India going to do with her Independence? The above kind of affair? (rioting and attacks on Hindus) Bolshevism? Goonda-raj? Things look ominous.’ (Sri Aurobindo, On Himself, 6th imp, 1995) The situation in Bengal seems to have circled back to the period in question.
In fact the 1935 Government of India Act did not bring much relief to the Bengali Hindus. It has been argued that under the provincial Constitution which the 1935 Act imposed on Bengal ‘Bengali Hindus were permanently debarred from exercising any political power in their province...they were reduced to a permanent statutory minority.’ (Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Thy Hand, Great Anarch, 1987 cited in Tathagata Roy, A Suppressed Chapter in History, 2007). Chaudhuri, a perceptive observer of socio-cultural-political trends in Bengal, saw the link going back to the Communal Award of 1932. The Award had definitely established, he observed, the dominance of Muslims ‘over the governance of Bengal’ and the Bengali Hindu was apprehensive that ‘as soon as the Muslims get political power they would, in education as in literature, undermine the very culture based on ancient Indian ideals which was the pride of the Bengali Hindu.’ Chaudhuri found the fear to be ‘neither baseless nor unjustified.’ (Sanibarer Chithi, September 1936, Ibid.,)
The political, social and cultural re-marginalisation of the Bengali Hindu seems to have begun in Bengal. His space appears to be shrinking and this time round there is little left to fall back on. It is ironic that the political formations which are now exacerbating and expediting the process are themselves led mostly by Bengali Hindus with roots in the eastern part of the province. A region they had to once forsake in face of unrelentingly marauding waves of Islamic fundamentalism.
The issue of the Bengali Hindu going back to his roots and there irreversibly entrenching himself had appeared to Sri Aurobindo to be one of the first ways forward. He had made an impassioned appeal to the Bengali Hindu in 1908, at the height of the early nationalist movement (following the attacks on Hindu Swadeshi activists and public at Comilla and Jamalpur, Eastern Bengal, in 1907), to cling on to his roots-to get back to the land. His words written then retain a remarkable contemporaneity - ‘If the present state of things’, he wrote, ‘is allowed to continue, the Mahomedan will be the inheritor of the future and after a brief period of national strength and splendour the Bengali Hindu, like the Greek, will disappear from the list of nations and remain only as a great name in history.’ (Bande Mataram, 6 March 1908) In order to preserve and perpetuate himself the Bengali Hindu had to doggedly stick to the land. He had to go ‘Back to the Land’ and in a Muslim peasantry dominated Bengal landscape resolutely make his presence felt as a mentor and leader. This way could be secured the ‘perpetuation of the Hindu in Bengal.’ (Ibid.,) It was not a call to retreat but to entrench and to resist.
The Comilla and Jamalpur riots of 1907 were clear ominous signals of things to come. The aggressively nationalist Bengali organ ‘Jugantar’ which had in its peak touched a circulation of 50,000 and functioned under the general direction of Sri Aurobindo and was run by a band of his core political followers spoke up against the riots in no uncertain terms. In fact it was one of the few papers to do so, the others followed a policy of, as Sri Aurobindo termed it, ‘cold timidity and heartless over-caution’. The Jugantar captioned a picture of the smashed idol at Jamalpur as ‘bhanga, cchinnamasta Basanti pratima’ (broken, decapitated statue of goddess Basanti) and paraphrasing Bankim’s Anandamath cried ‘ei dekho ma ja hoiacchen’ (here, see, what the mother has become). (Jugantar, Vol.2, No.8, 5th May, 1907, Angshuman Bandyopadhyay ed. Agnijuger Agnikatha, (Beng) 2001, all translations mine from the original Bengali version.) There was no attempt to whitewash or put the incidents under wrap- a chronic malady afflicting our present day secular media.
The paper also featured a report by its Mymensingh correspondent who reconnoitred the affected areas in Jamalpur. It is interesting to see how over a hundred years later the patterns and expressions of violence remain unchanged. ‘Upon reaching the market I saw Hindu shops with broken doors their wares looted by Muslims. The sight that greeted me at the Durgabari prevented me from calling myself a Hindu. The Durga idol was headless so were the idols of Kartik and Ganesha. The marks of a hundred blows adorned the mother’s body (aghater shatachinna mar ange birajman). (Jamalpurer Katha (the Jamalpur Story) Bishesh Sangbadatar patra (special correspondent report) Agnijuger Agnikatha, op.cit.,) It is reported that a team of 50 volunteers had arrived from Comilla to lend support to efforts of the Jamalpur Hindus at self-protection [most of these volunteers belonged to the Jugantar group and were sent there under express instructions from their ‘Supreme Commander’ see i.e. Oral Hist. Interview with Surendra Mohan Ghose, February 27, 1968, NMML, New Delhi] They had succeeded in bringing the situation under control to a large extent and the riotous Muslims had fallen silent and the conniving police superintendent dared not peep out. But as the habit with us, the local leaders did not take advantage of this group’s presence and could not facilitate its operations. The group eventually left and the Hindus in the area left alone, were unable to protect themselves, and lost all they had. (Jamalpurer Katha, op. cit.,)
Towards the evening the correspondent witnessed the local Muslim mob laying siege to the area’s Dayamayee Devi temple. The scene was as follows, it was one of terror and panic - the ladies all shuddering and crying in the house adjacent to the sanctorum. An injured guard with a broken rifle trying to protect the temple and raving Muslim mobs circling the road and pounding on the door and a head-priest crying at the altar asking the mother for protection was what the Jugantar correspondent witnessed. The night drifted with the sole rifle firing blank rounds and keeping the mob at bay. (Ibid.,)
The correspondent then records his emotion charged thoughts during the scene. It aptly describes the pseudo-secular intellectual and activist species that remain invariably silent during such occurrences. The description, over a hundred years old, has not lost any of its sheen: ‘I thought once of dragging all those who live without worry under a foreign (firinghi) government and wish to die as slaves, all those who run the length and breadth of the country making speeches at conferences and conferences and who keep petitioning and telegramming Morley [then Secretary of state for India referred to here as a symbol of foreign overlordship], I felt like dragging these fellows and making them see this scene similar to that of a cremation ground. Shame on those who are unable to protect their mothers, their wives and their daughters, shame on their life, shame on their speechmaking and shame on their university titles and recognitions.’ (Ibid.,) The correspondent barely managed to escape alive and report back. This is what the Jugantar dared to report. It openly called upon the Bengali Hindu to forsake lethargy and luxury and to awake and awaken, to get ready and determined to protect his dharma, his society and his women and to vindicate his identity as a Hindu and a worshipper (upasaka) of strength and Shakti.(Jugantar, Vol.2 No.9, 12th May, 1907, op.cit.,) For a section of the Bengali Hindu today, forever rapturous of some far off revolution and class emancipation, such words may seem particularly obsolete or inciting but for the discerning and the affected they remain as alive, as pragmatic as when they were first written.
Interestingly the Dacca Division Commissioner’s report on the Jamalpur incident described the rampaging Muslim mob and the temple desecration and ended with the usual alibi that since the SDO had a very small force ‘no arrests were made here and no names taken.’ (RC Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India, Vol.2, rpt.1997) It is illuminating to see how the functioning habits of a colonial force have easily transferred themselves to an indigenous one, especially in Bengal.
Sri Aurobindo himself writing for the Bande Mataram summed up the l’affaire Jamalpur in the following words, ‘ ...the broken image of Durga, the outraged sanctity of religion, the blood of our kindred, the offended honour of our cause and country,-all cry out for succour and vindication...’ (Bande Mataram, April 25, 1907)
Unless this cry for succour and vindication is answered today in a sustained and concerted manner the Bengali Hindu’s retreat, decay and extinction shall perhaps be a process - irreversible, inevitable, inescapable.
Teesta manufacturing lies as anti-Hindu evidence
‘She influenced witnesses to wrongly testify in courts’
By Navin Upadhyay
A former close associate of social activist Teesta Setalvad has sought permission to testify before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the post-Godhra riot cases about the way she influenced the witnesses to wrongly testify before courts.
Seeking to set the record straight, Rais Khan, a former coordinator for Setalvad’s NGO, Citizen for Peace and Justice (CJP), has written to SIT chief RK Raghavan and Supreme Court’s Justice DK Jain denying news reports that he had tampered with the affidavits filed by Nanumiya Rasulmiya Malik, a star witness in Naroda Gaum and Madina Banu rape cases.
"I wish to state that these affidavits were not prepared by me and were sent to me by Teesta Setalvad of CJP from Mumbai for obtaining signature of witness Nanumiya. Nanumiya’s allegation against me that I inserted certain paragraphs in his affidavit without his knowledge is totally false, as I never made any changes in his affidavit. Nanunuya has signed the affidavits sent by Teesta, under whom I was working during that period."
In a letter dated September 1 to SIT chief RK Raghavan, SC judge DK Jain and HS Vora, Judge Special Designated Court (SIT), Ahmedabad, Khan said, "I wish to give a statement to SIT to clarify my position on such baseless allegations and (I am) also willing to disclose how innocent witnesses and victims were misguided by Teesta Setalvad to wrongly testify before many courts." A copy of the letter is with The Pioneer.
Khan went on to add, "I am sure I may be given a chance to disclose various facts before the SIT related to not only these cases but other cases also."
In the past, Khan had also alleged that the CJP, a Mumbai-based NGO, was instrumental in organising payment of `1 lakh each to as many as 10 witnesses in various post-Godhra riot cases. The money came from the CPI(M) relief fund and was distributed months before the witnesses deposed in the courts, five years after the clashes took place. Four other eyewitnesses received `50,000 each.
The revelation had come in the backdrop of reports that a host of Gujarat riot case victims were misled into signing affidavits giving false information at the behest of CJP.
Interestingly, those who were both victims and eyewitnesses received `1 lakh and `50,000 while the victims got mere `5,000 each. This had raised eyebrows over the selection of beneficiaries and the purpose of paying a disproportionately large sum to the eyewitnesses before the trial.
Khan had at that time told The Pioneer that he had submitted the name of beneficiaries to the CPI(M) on instructions from Teesta Setalvad. "Setalvad identified the people and I merely followed her instruction and forwarded the list to CPI (M)," Khan had said.
On August 20 this year, the SIT had accused Teesta of interfering with the trial by threatening a Public Prosecutor (PP).
In a report submitted to the Supreme Court, the SIT said she threatened to complain to the SC against the PP for opposing an application for stay of trial by one Salim Shaikh. Setalvad had told the prosecutor on phone that he should have simply ‘okayed’ the application, the SIT stated.
Referring to her conversation with Meghaninagar riot case public prosecutor RC Kodekar, the apex court Bench noted, "This is serious...we will not appreciate this at all."
Meanwhile, Rais Khan has been getting threatening calls warning him not to speak against Setalvad, otherwise "he and his family will be killed". Khan even lodged a formal complaint last month at Rakhiyal police station, Ahmedabad, about the threats.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
By Navin Upadhyay
A former close associate of social activist Teesta Setalvad has sought permission to testify before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the post-Godhra riot cases about the way she influenced the witnesses to wrongly testify before courts.
Seeking to set the record straight, Rais Khan, a former coordinator for Setalvad’s NGO, Citizen for Peace and Justice (CJP), has written to SIT chief RK Raghavan and Supreme Court’s Justice DK Jain denying news reports that he had tampered with the affidavits filed by Nanumiya Rasulmiya Malik, a star witness in Naroda Gaum and Madina Banu rape cases.
"I wish to state that these affidavits were not prepared by me and were sent to me by Teesta Setalvad of CJP from Mumbai for obtaining signature of witness Nanumiya. Nanumiya’s allegation against me that I inserted certain paragraphs in his affidavit without his knowledge is totally false, as I never made any changes in his affidavit. Nanunuya has signed the affidavits sent by Teesta, under whom I was working during that period."
In a letter dated September 1 to SIT chief RK Raghavan, SC judge DK Jain and HS Vora, Judge Special Designated Court (SIT), Ahmedabad, Khan said, "I wish to give a statement to SIT to clarify my position on such baseless allegations and (I am) also willing to disclose how innocent witnesses and victims were misguided by Teesta Setalvad to wrongly testify before many courts." A copy of the letter is with The Pioneer.
Khan went on to add, "I am sure I may be given a chance to disclose various facts before the SIT related to not only these cases but other cases also."
In the past, Khan had also alleged that the CJP, a Mumbai-based NGO, was instrumental in organising payment of `1 lakh each to as many as 10 witnesses in various post-Godhra riot cases. The money came from the CPI(M) relief fund and was distributed months before the witnesses deposed in the courts, five years after the clashes took place. Four other eyewitnesses received `50,000 each.
The revelation had come in the backdrop of reports that a host of Gujarat riot case victims were misled into signing affidavits giving false information at the behest of CJP.
Interestingly, those who were both victims and eyewitnesses received `1 lakh and `50,000 while the victims got mere `5,000 each. This had raised eyebrows over the selection of beneficiaries and the purpose of paying a disproportionately large sum to the eyewitnesses before the trial.
Khan had at that time told The Pioneer that he had submitted the name of beneficiaries to the CPI(M) on instructions from Teesta Setalvad. "Setalvad identified the people and I merely followed her instruction and forwarded the list to CPI (M)," Khan had said.
On August 20 this year, the SIT had accused Teesta of interfering with the trial by threatening a Public Prosecutor (PP).
In a report submitted to the Supreme Court, the SIT said she threatened to complain to the SC against the PP for opposing an application for stay of trial by one Salim Shaikh. Setalvad had told the prosecutor on phone that he should have simply ‘okayed’ the application, the SIT stated.
Referring to her conversation with Meghaninagar riot case public prosecutor RC Kodekar, the apex court Bench noted, "This is serious...we will not appreciate this at all."
Meanwhile, Rais Khan has been getting threatening calls warning him not to speak against Setalvad, otherwise "he and his family will be killed". Khan even lodged a formal complaint last month at Rakhiyal police station, Ahmedabad, about the threats.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
Julia not the first celebrity to become Hindu
By Philip Goldberg
Once again the powerful forces of celebrity and popular culture have thrust India’s Vedic heritage into the spotlight. India’s greatest export is neither spices nor high-tech entrepreneurs, but its ancient legacy of spiritual genius.
IT may surprise some people, the young in particular, but Julia Roberts is not the first big-time celeb to embrace elements of Hinduism and, as a result, inadvertently educate vast numbers of people about the tradition. And Elizabeth Gilbert is not the first author to write about a personal transformation resulting from time in an ashram and the practice of yogic disciplines. Nor is Eat Pray Love the first film to depict India’s primary religious tradition in a positive way (a group that does not include The Love Guru).
The list of famous folks drawn to Indian-style spirituality goes back to the days when no one had seen a photograph, much less a moving picture.
In the 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a literary superstar in the days of the Lyceum Circuit, was deeply indebted to the Hindoo (that’s how they spelled it then) texts that sailed into Boston Harbor from Europe. So was Emerson’s acolyte, Henry David Thoreau, who rhapsodised about the Bhagavad Gita in Walden. Beginning in the 1920s, Paramahansa Yogananda - a celebrity in his own right after the publication, in 1946, of his Autobiography of a Yogi - attracted students like the composer Leopold Stokowski, the scientist Luther Burbank and the reclusive actress Greta Garbo. Long before Sting and Madonna posed in yoga postures, the gossip pages linked stars such as Gloria Swanson, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe to various Yoga teachers.
Marilyn, Walter Winchell reported, took up Yoga "to improve her legs," but some of her fans who followed her lead no doubt discovered more profound uses for the discipline.
In the 50s and 60s, musical celebrities like violinist Yehudi Menuhin, jazz legend John Coltrane, and, of course, George Harrison, linked up with Ravi Shankar and turned on their fans to the spiritual tradition than underlies Indian classical music. Then came the mother of all spiritual media frenzies, when the Beatles, Donovan and Mia Farrow made their way to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram on the Ganges. Celebrity links to Hindu-derived teachings continued to crop up on a regular basis, from Mary Tyler Moore, the 1970s version of America’s sweetheart (who endorsed Transcendental Meditation on national TV) to today’s sweetheart, Julia.
As for Elizabeth Gilbert, she is the latest in a long line of authors whose personal quests inspired literature that brought Eastern ideas to large numbers of readers. Emerson and Thoreau were the group’s progenitors, and later memoirists and essayists took up the mantle: the British adventurer Paul Brunton; the American yogi Theos Bernard; the Catholic mystic Thomas Merton; the British expatriots Christopher Isherwood, Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley; the psychologist Richard Alpert, who metamorphosed from Timothy Leary’s psychedelic sidekick to Ram Dass after meeting Neem Karoli Baba, the very guru whose photograph reportedly inspired Ms. Roberts to explore Hinduism; and, in the 1980s, Shirley MacLaine whose Out on a Limb sold a zillion copies and was made into a TV movie. Other authors-Hermann Hesse, Somerset Maugham, J.D. Salinger chief among them-converted their explorations into fiction that turned many a reader toward India. T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats and others did it in verse. And now the film version of Eat Pray Love joins a cinematic tradition that includes two adaptations of Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, Louis Malle’s Phantom India, several Merchant-Ivory films, Satyajit Ray’s magnificent Apu Trilogy and, of course, Gandhi, 1982’s Best Picture of the Year.
Artistic merit aside - Gilbert is not Salinger and the movie version of her memoir is to the Apu Trilogy what Britney is to Bach - the point is that once again the powerful forces of celebrity and popular culture have thrust India’s Vedic heritage into the spotlight. All the media attention inspires some to cynicism and others to a genuine spiritual enquiry. On the whole, we are better for it, because the key ideas that get transmitted, however imperfectly, through the books, films and tabloid ballyhoo point to a pragmatic spirituality of openness, universality and freedom. As the saying goes, we have seen this movie before, and we shall see it again, because India’s greatest export is neither spices nor high-tech entrepreneurs, but its ancient legacy of spiritual genius.
(Interfaith minister; author of the forthcoming book American Veda)
Once again the powerful forces of celebrity and popular culture have thrust India’s Vedic heritage into the spotlight. India’s greatest export is neither spices nor high-tech entrepreneurs, but its ancient legacy of spiritual genius.
IT may surprise some people, the young in particular, but Julia Roberts is not the first big-time celeb to embrace elements of Hinduism and, as a result, inadvertently educate vast numbers of people about the tradition. And Elizabeth Gilbert is not the first author to write about a personal transformation resulting from time in an ashram and the practice of yogic disciplines. Nor is Eat Pray Love the first film to depict India’s primary religious tradition in a positive way (a group that does not include The Love Guru).
The list of famous folks drawn to Indian-style spirituality goes back to the days when no one had seen a photograph, much less a moving picture.
In the 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a literary superstar in the days of the Lyceum Circuit, was deeply indebted to the Hindoo (that’s how they spelled it then) texts that sailed into Boston Harbor from Europe. So was Emerson’s acolyte, Henry David Thoreau, who rhapsodised about the Bhagavad Gita in Walden. Beginning in the 1920s, Paramahansa Yogananda - a celebrity in his own right after the publication, in 1946, of his Autobiography of a Yogi - attracted students like the composer Leopold Stokowski, the scientist Luther Burbank and the reclusive actress Greta Garbo. Long before Sting and Madonna posed in yoga postures, the gossip pages linked stars such as Gloria Swanson, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe to various Yoga teachers.
Marilyn, Walter Winchell reported, took up Yoga "to improve her legs," but some of her fans who followed her lead no doubt discovered more profound uses for the discipline.
In the 50s and 60s, musical celebrities like violinist Yehudi Menuhin, jazz legend John Coltrane, and, of course, George Harrison, linked up with Ravi Shankar and turned on their fans to the spiritual tradition than underlies Indian classical music. Then came the mother of all spiritual media frenzies, when the Beatles, Donovan and Mia Farrow made their way to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram on the Ganges. Celebrity links to Hindu-derived teachings continued to crop up on a regular basis, from Mary Tyler Moore, the 1970s version of America’s sweetheart (who endorsed Transcendental Meditation on national TV) to today’s sweetheart, Julia.
As for Elizabeth Gilbert, she is the latest in a long line of authors whose personal quests inspired literature that brought Eastern ideas to large numbers of readers. Emerson and Thoreau were the group’s progenitors, and later memoirists and essayists took up the mantle: the British adventurer Paul Brunton; the American yogi Theos Bernard; the Catholic mystic Thomas Merton; the British expatriots Christopher Isherwood, Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley; the psychologist Richard Alpert, who metamorphosed from Timothy Leary’s psychedelic sidekick to Ram Dass after meeting Neem Karoli Baba, the very guru whose photograph reportedly inspired Ms. Roberts to explore Hinduism; and, in the 1980s, Shirley MacLaine whose Out on a Limb sold a zillion copies and was made into a TV movie. Other authors-Hermann Hesse, Somerset Maugham, J.D. Salinger chief among them-converted their explorations into fiction that turned many a reader toward India. T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats and others did it in verse. And now the film version of Eat Pray Love joins a cinematic tradition that includes two adaptations of Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, Louis Malle’s Phantom India, several Merchant-Ivory films, Satyajit Ray’s magnificent Apu Trilogy and, of course, Gandhi, 1982’s Best Picture of the Year.
Artistic merit aside - Gilbert is not Salinger and the movie version of her memoir is to the Apu Trilogy what Britney is to Bach - the point is that once again the powerful forces of celebrity and popular culture have thrust India’s Vedic heritage into the spotlight. All the media attention inspires some to cynicism and others to a genuine spiritual enquiry. On the whole, we are better for it, because the key ideas that get transmitted, however imperfectly, through the books, films and tabloid ballyhoo point to a pragmatic spirituality of openness, universality and freedom. As the saying goes, we have seen this movie before, and we shall see it again, because India’s greatest export is neither spices nor high-tech entrepreneurs, but its ancient legacy of spiritual genius.
(Interfaith minister; author of the forthcoming book American Veda)
Jain temple in Valley destroyed
By Hemali Chhapia & Mansi Choksi
MUMBAI: Two years ago, a family from Mumbai built a temple in the lap of snow-capped mountains miles away in Srinagar.
The derasar (temple), carved out of teak, decked with marigolds and installed with three idols of Jain tirthankars, was set up for the thousands of Jains who streamed into the volatile region every holiday season.
But recently, the only Jain temple in the Kashmir Valley was burnt down by a mob.
‘‘It is now ground zero. There is nothing left, nothing to go back to,’’ says Jyotin Doshi, chairman of Gem, a travel agency in south Mumbai whose family built the temple. A shaken-up Doshi recalls speaking to the priest, the lone caretaker of the temple, on the night the violence errupted. ‘‘There was curfew in the Valley but he noticed people gathering outside the temple,’’ he says. The priest, who is disturbed and has now returned to his village near Lucknow, quickly gathered the three idols, which were sculpted out of panchdhatu (an alloy of gold, silver, copper, iron and zinc), and hid them in a hotel room. ‘‘And exactly three hours later, the mob struck and destroyed whatever we had built,’’ says Doshi.
Two members of Doshi’s team from Mumbai, Apurva Bhansali and Jiten Dharod, flew to Srinagar the next day when the curfew was lifted. They packed the idols in cardboard boxes and flew to Sabarmati in Gujarat. ‘‘Before the two had reached, the news had spread in Sabarmati. When the idols were installed in Chintamani Parshwanath derasar there, there were more than 14,000 people who came for darshan,’’ he says.
The idols, that has been taken to safety, were built in Kalikund in Dholka, Gujarat. Doshi says that his family set up the temple to realise his 68-year-old mother’s dream.
(Courtesy: ToI
MUMBAI: Two years ago, a family from Mumbai built a temple in the lap of snow-capped mountains miles away in Srinagar.
The derasar (temple), carved out of teak, decked with marigolds and installed with three idols of Jain tirthankars, was set up for the thousands of Jains who streamed into the volatile region every holiday season.
But recently, the only Jain temple in the Kashmir Valley was burnt down by a mob.
‘‘It is now ground zero. There is nothing left, nothing to go back to,’’ says Jyotin Doshi, chairman of Gem, a travel agency in south Mumbai whose family built the temple. A shaken-up Doshi recalls speaking to the priest, the lone caretaker of the temple, on the night the violence errupted. ‘‘There was curfew in the Valley but he noticed people gathering outside the temple,’’ he says. The priest, who is disturbed and has now returned to his village near Lucknow, quickly gathered the three idols, which were sculpted out of panchdhatu (an alloy of gold, silver, copper, iron and zinc), and hid them in a hotel room. ‘‘And exactly three hours later, the mob struck and destroyed whatever we had built,’’ says Doshi.
Two members of Doshi’s team from Mumbai, Apurva Bhansali and Jiten Dharod, flew to Srinagar the next day when the curfew was lifted. They packed the idols in cardboard boxes and flew to Sabarmati in Gujarat. ‘‘Before the two had reached, the news had spread in Sabarmati. When the idols were installed in Chintamani Parshwanath derasar there, there were more than 14,000 people who came for darshan,’’ he says.
The idols, that has been taken to safety, were built in Kalikund in Dholka, Gujarat. Doshi says that his family set up the temple to realise his 68-year-old mother’s dream.
(Courtesy: ToI
Muslims attack Hindus in Deganga
A one-sided riot
Muslims attack Hindus in Deganga
By Asim Kumar Mitra
Hindu temples desecrated, market looted, houses ransacked and several policemen injured at Deganga
ON September 6, 2010, Deganga, only 35 kilometres away from Kolkata, experienced a one-sided armed attack in an area where only Hindus live. Attackers are none else than fanatic Muslims. Muslims constitute 69.51 per cent of the total population of the area. Although Deganga (under the district of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal) belongs to India, Hindus living here are in worst condition than Hindus living in Bangladesh. At least Hindus in Bangladesh are more secured and safe than Hindus of this area. Despite of being in minority Hindus in Bangladesh are organised and getting protection under the present government there. But here in Deganga Hindus are getting worst treatment from the so-called majority community i.e. Muslims because they command the area with 69.51 per cent population.
In Deganga, political leaders of different parties including Trinamool Congress, Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), etc. as major political parties of the State are vying with one another as to appease the Muslims. If the Marxist Chief Minister of the State promises something for the Muslims, TMC leader Mamata Banerjee looses no time to declare something more for the Muslims. The minority community of the State i.e. Hindus are at a loss to see the worst type of appeasing mentality of the major parties just to win over the Muslim votes. Most unfortunate matter is that Mamata Banerjee has kept herself busy attending Iftar parties and never goes to Deganga to see the pathetic condition of the Hindus. Because they all treat Hindus as ‘taken for granted’.
Although Mamata Banerjee is always very much receptive towards any problem faced by the people and she is always seen by the side of the suffering people, this time when Hindus were attacked by the fanatic Muslims, Mamata Banerjee was no where seen near the suffering people of Deganga. The people of Deganga put forward questions: "Why Didi, we are neglected by you? Are we not also equal voters? Do you not want our votes? Or you just neglect us because we are less in number in this particular area." Actually Mamata Banerjee is being called as "Mamata Khatun" by the Hindus here.
Under these circumstances what will be the fate of "Mamata wave" for change of government in this State in 2011? Who will then come to power?
At least one political party of India -BJP has realised the seriousness of the incident and has taken the issue on national level. Shri LK Advani took special initiative to send an observer team under the leadership of Shri Chandan Mitra, MP. The team immediately rushed to the spot on September 9.
On September 6, 2010, evening after iftar was over, Muslims assembled in the Deganga Mosque (Basirhat subdivision of North 24-Parganas) and proceeded towards Hindu areas, looted and ransacked many Hindu shops and Hindu temples, severely beat up many Hindus, torched four public buses. The life in the whole area from Berachanpa to Kadambagachi, all of a sudden became standstill.
Shani (Saturn) Temple of Kartickpur and Kali Temple of Deganga Biplabi Colony has been desecrated and ransacked by the rioting Muslims.
On September 6 at 11 am, the dispute started when some fanatic Muslims started to dig the passage of a Durga Temple in Chattal Pally village which is situated just beside the Deganga Police Station. This Durga Temple is at least 25 years old. In the past, Muslims tried many times sto stop the Durga Puja. Hindus resisted their ill effort.
Chattal Pally and Deganga Police Station come under the district of North 24 Parganas and its Parliamentary constituency is Basirhat. In the Parliamentary elections of 2009, Hazi Nurul Islam of Trinamool Congress won this constituency defeating long time Communist Party MP Ajay Chakraborty (CPI). After this change of power, Hindus started facing all types of threat, humiliation, torture and their religious places got in danger.
When Hindus objected to the digging of the Temple passage, Muslims gathered there in large number and started ransacking houses, plundering Hindu shops and torching public vehicles. Muslims claimed that the location of the Durga Puja pandal at Chattal Pally has blocked the gate of a burial ground. This was a baseless allegation. Because Durga Puja pandal is put on the same place, every year. Hindus informed the police. Police rushed to the place and they had to face the belligerent and fanatic Muslims. Officer-in-Charge of the Police Station, Arup Ghosh got injured, in the clash. Muslims left the place after threatening the Hindus that they would soon come back after taking Iftar.
In the mean time more police force was deployed and Rapid Action Force (RAF) had taken position. According to the police Muslims used crude bombs and sharp weapons to attack the Hindus. Over 50 shops and 30 houses of the Hindus in the area were ransacked and four vehicles and two police vans were torched on September 7. On the same day three ministers, Asim Dasgupta, Ranjit Kundu and Mortaza Hussain visited the area. But fanatics never stopped till the RAF opened fire.
For how long our media would go on suppressing facts on the false plea of peace and tranquillity? In democracy, suppression of facts is a crime. People have every right to know the facts and Media is duty-bound to provide people with correct information.
BJP Parliamentary Delegation visits Deganga
Demands arrest of culprits
A BJP Parliamentary Delegation consisting of Shri Chandan Mitra, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Prabhari of West Bengal, and Shri Uday Singh MP (Lok Sabha), visited the Deganga Block and adjoining areas of Basirhat and Barasat in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on September 9, 2010. They were accompanied by Shri Rahul Sinha, President, West Bengal State BJP, Shri Tathagata Roy, former State President WB BJP and other senior office-bearers of the party’s West Bengal unit.
The Parliamentary Delegation visited areas affected by serious communal disturbances. They surveyed the disturbed localities of Deganga Bazar, Kartickpur and several interior villages to examine the situation first hand and also provide reassurance to the terrified victims of the wanton violence selectively unleashed on members of the Hindu community by the Muslim goondas acting under the direction of the Basirhat Trinamool Congress Party MP, Haji Nurul Islam.
The Delegation found that more than 250 shops and houses and had been vandalised, set on fire by the miscreants. The victims tearfully narrated their heart-rending tale and bitterly complained of violence and humiliation at the hands of goonda elements brought in from outside. Victims also complained of police inertia on the first day of violence, that is, September 6, 2010. Although the State Police, RAF and even the Army have since been deployed, an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty prevails. The Army conducted a flag march only along the main highway, while the police apparently claimed that they were under orders not to use force against the rioters. Only on September 7, after sustained violence against the targeted community (i.e. the Hindus) the RAF swung into action and managed to bring the situation under tenuous control.
The disturbances began with a deliberate attempt to disrupt erection of a Durga Puja pandal at Chattal village although the site has been used for performing community puja for the last 40 years and a permanent temple also stands there. The site adjoins a Muslim graveyard and recently attempts have been made to stop the Durga Puja at its traditional site on the ground that ownership of the land is disputed.
Taking advantage of the disturbances unleashed by Haji Nurul Islam’s goons, the rioters mounted a mike atop the Deganga Bazar mosque in violation of a High Court order prohibiting the use of a microphone at the shrine. The local Hindu community was seriously aggrieved and agitated over this action especially because the police did not intervened to dismantle the mike despite its promise to the community leaders. The BJP delegation also visited the Kali temple at Kartickpur which has been severely vandalised by the miscreants.
The delegation visited the Deganga thana and interacted with I-G Sanjoy Mukherjee and SP Rahul Srivastava. While appreciating the police’s concern to restore normalcy first, the MPs demanded that the miscreants be promptly apprehended in order to restore confidence.
The BJP has demanded immediate arrest of TMC MP Haji Nurul Islam who, from all accounts, incited the mob into communal frenzy and has been named in the FIR lodged by local people. The BJP leaders sought proactive intervention by security forces to ensure that the terrified local populace feels secure once more. Further, it was astonishing to learn that none of the other political parties had made any effort to provide succour to the thousands of victims and the administration had adopted a hands-off policy.
The BJP leaders demanded immediate intervention by the Government of West Bengal to arrest the culprits, provide compensation to the victims, restore the status quo with regard to local disputes and usher in a sense of security in the troubled area.
(FOC)
Muslims attack Hindus in Deganga
By Asim Kumar Mitra
Hindu temples desecrated, market looted, houses ransacked and several policemen injured at Deganga
ON September 6, 2010, Deganga, only 35 kilometres away from Kolkata, experienced a one-sided armed attack in an area where only Hindus live. Attackers are none else than fanatic Muslims. Muslims constitute 69.51 per cent of the total population of the area. Although Deganga (under the district of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal) belongs to India, Hindus living here are in worst condition than Hindus living in Bangladesh. At least Hindus in Bangladesh are more secured and safe than Hindus of this area. Despite of being in minority Hindus in Bangladesh are organised and getting protection under the present government there. But here in Deganga Hindus are getting worst treatment from the so-called majority community i.e. Muslims because they command the area with 69.51 per cent population.
In Deganga, political leaders of different parties including Trinamool Congress, Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), etc. as major political parties of the State are vying with one another as to appease the Muslims. If the Marxist Chief Minister of the State promises something for the Muslims, TMC leader Mamata Banerjee looses no time to declare something more for the Muslims. The minority community of the State i.e. Hindus are at a loss to see the worst type of appeasing mentality of the major parties just to win over the Muslim votes. Most unfortunate matter is that Mamata Banerjee has kept herself busy attending Iftar parties and never goes to Deganga to see the pathetic condition of the Hindus. Because they all treat Hindus as ‘taken for granted’.
Although Mamata Banerjee is always very much receptive towards any problem faced by the people and she is always seen by the side of the suffering people, this time when Hindus were attacked by the fanatic Muslims, Mamata Banerjee was no where seen near the suffering people of Deganga. The people of Deganga put forward questions: "Why Didi, we are neglected by you? Are we not also equal voters? Do you not want our votes? Or you just neglect us because we are less in number in this particular area." Actually Mamata Banerjee is being called as "Mamata Khatun" by the Hindus here.
Under these circumstances what will be the fate of "Mamata wave" for change of government in this State in 2011? Who will then come to power?
At least one political party of India -BJP has realised the seriousness of the incident and has taken the issue on national level. Shri LK Advani took special initiative to send an observer team under the leadership of Shri Chandan Mitra, MP. The team immediately rushed to the spot on September 9.
On September 6, 2010, evening after iftar was over, Muslims assembled in the Deganga Mosque (Basirhat subdivision of North 24-Parganas) and proceeded towards Hindu areas, looted and ransacked many Hindu shops and Hindu temples, severely beat up many Hindus, torched four public buses. The life in the whole area from Berachanpa to Kadambagachi, all of a sudden became standstill.
Shani (Saturn) Temple of Kartickpur and Kali Temple of Deganga Biplabi Colony has been desecrated and ransacked by the rioting Muslims.
On September 6 at 11 am, the dispute started when some fanatic Muslims started to dig the passage of a Durga Temple in Chattal Pally village which is situated just beside the Deganga Police Station. This Durga Temple is at least 25 years old. In the past, Muslims tried many times sto stop the Durga Puja. Hindus resisted their ill effort.
Chattal Pally and Deganga Police Station come under the district of North 24 Parganas and its Parliamentary constituency is Basirhat. In the Parliamentary elections of 2009, Hazi Nurul Islam of Trinamool Congress won this constituency defeating long time Communist Party MP Ajay Chakraborty (CPI). After this change of power, Hindus started facing all types of threat, humiliation, torture and their religious places got in danger.
When Hindus objected to the digging of the Temple passage, Muslims gathered there in large number and started ransacking houses, plundering Hindu shops and torching public vehicles. Muslims claimed that the location of the Durga Puja pandal at Chattal Pally has blocked the gate of a burial ground. This was a baseless allegation. Because Durga Puja pandal is put on the same place, every year. Hindus informed the police. Police rushed to the place and they had to face the belligerent and fanatic Muslims. Officer-in-Charge of the Police Station, Arup Ghosh got injured, in the clash. Muslims left the place after threatening the Hindus that they would soon come back after taking Iftar.
In the mean time more police force was deployed and Rapid Action Force (RAF) had taken position. According to the police Muslims used crude bombs and sharp weapons to attack the Hindus. Over 50 shops and 30 houses of the Hindus in the area were ransacked and four vehicles and two police vans were torched on September 7. On the same day three ministers, Asim Dasgupta, Ranjit Kundu and Mortaza Hussain visited the area. But fanatics never stopped till the RAF opened fire.
For how long our media would go on suppressing facts on the false plea of peace and tranquillity? In democracy, suppression of facts is a crime. People have every right to know the facts and Media is duty-bound to provide people with correct information.
BJP Parliamentary Delegation visits Deganga
Demands arrest of culprits
A BJP Parliamentary Delegation consisting of Shri Chandan Mitra, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Prabhari of West Bengal, and Shri Uday Singh MP (Lok Sabha), visited the Deganga Block and adjoining areas of Basirhat and Barasat in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on September 9, 2010. They were accompanied by Shri Rahul Sinha, President, West Bengal State BJP, Shri Tathagata Roy, former State President WB BJP and other senior office-bearers of the party’s West Bengal unit.
The Parliamentary Delegation visited areas affected by serious communal disturbances. They surveyed the disturbed localities of Deganga Bazar, Kartickpur and several interior villages to examine the situation first hand and also provide reassurance to the terrified victims of the wanton violence selectively unleashed on members of the Hindu community by the Muslim goondas acting under the direction of the Basirhat Trinamool Congress Party MP, Haji Nurul Islam.
The Delegation found that more than 250 shops and houses and had been vandalised, set on fire by the miscreants. The victims tearfully narrated their heart-rending tale and bitterly complained of violence and humiliation at the hands of goonda elements brought in from outside. Victims also complained of police inertia on the first day of violence, that is, September 6, 2010. Although the State Police, RAF and even the Army have since been deployed, an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty prevails. The Army conducted a flag march only along the main highway, while the police apparently claimed that they were under orders not to use force against the rioters. Only on September 7, after sustained violence against the targeted community (i.e. the Hindus) the RAF swung into action and managed to bring the situation under tenuous control.
The disturbances began with a deliberate attempt to disrupt erection of a Durga Puja pandal at Chattal village although the site has been used for performing community puja for the last 40 years and a permanent temple also stands there. The site adjoins a Muslim graveyard and recently attempts have been made to stop the Durga Puja at its traditional site on the ground that ownership of the land is disputed.
Taking advantage of the disturbances unleashed by Haji Nurul Islam’s goons, the rioters mounted a mike atop the Deganga Bazar mosque in violation of a High Court order prohibiting the use of a microphone at the shrine. The local Hindu community was seriously aggrieved and agitated over this action especially because the police did not intervened to dismantle the mike despite its promise to the community leaders. The BJP delegation also visited the Kali temple at Kartickpur which has been severely vandalised by the miscreants.
The delegation visited the Deganga thana and interacted with I-G Sanjoy Mukherjee and SP Rahul Srivastava. While appreciating the police’s concern to restore normalcy first, the MPs demanded that the miscreants be promptly apprehended in order to restore confidence.
The BJP has demanded immediate arrest of TMC MP Haji Nurul Islam who, from all accounts, incited the mob into communal frenzy and has been named in the FIR lodged by local people. The BJP leaders sought proactive intervention by security forces to ensure that the terrified local populace feels secure once more. Further, it was astonishing to learn that none of the other political parties had made any effort to provide succour to the thousands of victims and the administration had adopted a hands-off policy.
The BJP leaders demanded immediate intervention by the Government of West Bengal to arrest the culprits, provide compensation to the victims, restore the status quo with regard to local disputes and usher in a sense of security in the troubled area.
(FOC)
Politics delaying the PFI Ban
CPM, Congress vying to please the terror outfit
Politics delaying the PFI Ban
By S Chandrasekhar
MORE than 100 days after the palms of Prof TJ Joseph was cut by jehadi NDF/PFI, both the CPM and Congress are passing the buck for a ban on PFI for vote-bank politics, in approaching local body / assembly polls.
Congress and CPM have time to time, poll to poll aligned with Madhani, SIMI, Jamaat-e-Islami, AP Sunni, Kanthapuram Musaliar, NDF etc. The entire Kerala assembly had passed a resolution and marked their representation to then President Abdul Kalam calling for Madhani’s release. Both accorded a hero’s welcome to him and both wept when he was arrested by Karnataka police!
Several blast cases, acts of terrorism including haul of gelatine sticks, export of terror to Kashmir, recent haul of explosives in train and cutting of brake pipes of train at Nilambur are being soft-peddled to save jehadis. Already IG Tomin Thackankery is under central investigation for going to gulf and talking terms with dreaded jehadis hiding in Gulf. He is the blue-eyed boy of CPM and Pinarayi Vijayan. Now Christian, Congress leaders, are working overtime in Delhi to save him.
Despite incriminating evidence of T Nazeer (kingpin of several blasts in Bengaluru, Jaipur and Delhi etc. and arrested by Karnataka Police from Bangladesh) staying in PFI offices and interacting with Madhani and PFI receiving funds from ISI sourced through Gulf, both CPM and Congress are dillydallying ban on PFI.
Rayana R Khasi(23), an engineering graduate in Kasargod has become the latest victim of the jehadis. They have asked her to stop wearing jeans and shirt and use ‘purdah’. When she refused, she was verbally abused, family threatened through telephone calls and physically attacked by jehadis coming in cars. Due to media and public outrage, the High Court intervened and gave police protection to her. She says purdah is not required for being a good Muslim. A few years back, in Kerala, you could see ladies covering just the back side of their head, but today most of them are wearing black hoods covering whole body. Similarly you cannot see men without skull caps. The Muslims are slowly getting extremised.
The greatest threat facing Kerala is the wide network of illegal gun-making and ownership of unlicensed guns. Toy pistols coming in containers from Gulf are being converted into lethal weapons by expert gun-makers in Malappuram, Kannur area. Nilambur in Malappuram has become a haven for it. On September 12, Sub Inspector Vijayakrishnan of Kalikavu, Nilambur Police Station was shot dead by Mujeeb Rahman, when he went to execute a warrant.
Belligerent jehadis are uping their ante and CPM/Congress are playing games for Muslim vote - banks. The Union Home Secretary has given starting disclosures of Maoist presence in jungles of Wynad. Arrest of a LTTE operative Siva reveals that over 1500 LTTE-hardcores have been sent to Australia, Germany, Italy and Canada through Kerala.
There is a Maoist - LTTE - jehadi gang up in Kerala against the Indian nation with active support from pro-jehadi elements like Madhani, PFI, SIMI and J-e-I.
Unless the nation wakes up to this grave threat, even god cannot save us!
Politics delaying the PFI Ban
By S Chandrasekhar
MORE than 100 days after the palms of Prof TJ Joseph was cut by jehadi NDF/PFI, both the CPM and Congress are passing the buck for a ban on PFI for vote-bank politics, in approaching local body / assembly polls.
Congress and CPM have time to time, poll to poll aligned with Madhani, SIMI, Jamaat-e-Islami, AP Sunni, Kanthapuram Musaliar, NDF etc. The entire Kerala assembly had passed a resolution and marked their representation to then President Abdul Kalam calling for Madhani’s release. Both accorded a hero’s welcome to him and both wept when he was arrested by Karnataka police!
Several blast cases, acts of terrorism including haul of gelatine sticks, export of terror to Kashmir, recent haul of explosives in train and cutting of brake pipes of train at Nilambur are being soft-peddled to save jehadis. Already IG Tomin Thackankery is under central investigation for going to gulf and talking terms with dreaded jehadis hiding in Gulf. He is the blue-eyed boy of CPM and Pinarayi Vijayan. Now Christian, Congress leaders, are working overtime in Delhi to save him.
Despite incriminating evidence of T Nazeer (kingpin of several blasts in Bengaluru, Jaipur and Delhi etc. and arrested by Karnataka Police from Bangladesh) staying in PFI offices and interacting with Madhani and PFI receiving funds from ISI sourced through Gulf, both CPM and Congress are dillydallying ban on PFI.
Rayana R Khasi(23), an engineering graduate in Kasargod has become the latest victim of the jehadis. They have asked her to stop wearing jeans and shirt and use ‘purdah’. When she refused, she was verbally abused, family threatened through telephone calls and physically attacked by jehadis coming in cars. Due to media and public outrage, the High Court intervened and gave police protection to her. She says purdah is not required for being a good Muslim. A few years back, in Kerala, you could see ladies covering just the back side of their head, but today most of them are wearing black hoods covering whole body. Similarly you cannot see men without skull caps. The Muslims are slowly getting extremised.
The greatest threat facing Kerala is the wide network of illegal gun-making and ownership of unlicensed guns. Toy pistols coming in containers from Gulf are being converted into lethal weapons by expert gun-makers in Malappuram, Kannur area. Nilambur in Malappuram has become a haven for it. On September 12, Sub Inspector Vijayakrishnan of Kalikavu, Nilambur Police Station was shot dead by Mujeeb Rahman, when he went to execute a warrant.
Belligerent jehadis are uping their ante and CPM/Congress are playing games for Muslim vote - banks. The Union Home Secretary has given starting disclosures of Maoist presence in jungles of Wynad. Arrest of a LTTE operative Siva reveals that over 1500 LTTE-hardcores have been sent to Australia, Germany, Italy and Canada through Kerala.
There is a Maoist - LTTE - jehadi gang up in Kerala against the Indian nation with active support from pro-jehadi elements like Madhani, PFI, SIMI and J-e-I.
Unless the nation wakes up to this grave threat, even god cannot save us!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Conspiracy to change Murshidabad into Muslimabad
A deep rooted conspiracy has been hatched by the office of the Murshidabad district magistrate to change the name of the district from Murshidabad to Muslimabad. We have in our possession an official letter issued by the district magistrate’s office (Memo No. Msd/Elec/2010/551(5)En, Dated Berhampore , the 21.07.2010) in which it is clearly mentioned in the bottom of the letter that the name of the district is Muslimabad. The said letter was issued to the Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar / Lalbagh / Kandi / Domkal and Jangipur in Murshidabad district to inform ‘extension of period for filing claims and objections regarding summery revisions of electoral rolls till 30. 07. 2010.
The news about bureaucratic conspiracy to make Muslim majority district Murshidabad into Muslimabad was published only in nationalist Bengali weekly, Swastika, on August 9 issue. According to the report of the weekly, it is actually a conspiracy hatched by the ruling Marxist government to win back Muslim votes in the district. Mr Pranab Mukherjee, India’s finance minister, who is an M.P from Murshidabad district, is also in race to win Muslim vote bank. Pranab has provided several crores of rupees in his current Central budget to set up an extended campus of the Aligarh Muslim University in Murshidabad district.
If we examine the district magistrate’s official letter along with setting up of a Muslim university exclusively in Murshidabad district, there will be no doubt about a deep rooted conspiracy to make the district for Muslims only.
(www.indiaworldreport.com)
The news about bureaucratic conspiracy to make Muslim majority district Murshidabad into Muslimabad was published only in nationalist Bengali weekly, Swastika, on August 9 issue. According to the report of the weekly, it is actually a conspiracy hatched by the ruling Marxist government to win back Muslim votes in the district. Mr Pranab Mukherjee, India’s finance minister, who is an M.P from Murshidabad district, is also in race to win Muslim vote bank. Pranab has provided several crores of rupees in his current Central budget to set up an extended campus of the Aligarh Muslim University in Murshidabad district.
If we examine the district magistrate’s official letter along with setting up of a Muslim university exclusively in Murshidabad district, there will be no doubt about a deep rooted conspiracy to make the district for Muslims only.
(www.indiaworldreport.com)
Rishikesh declared Sanskrit City
Sanskrit becoming popular among the masses in Uttarakhand
By Ravindra Saini
There has been a tremendous change in the behaviour of the residents of Bhantoli during the last one year when they got the rare opportunity to converse in Sanskrit. The people of Bhantoli, especially the women, have become quite civil and cultured in their manners ever since they got to learn to converse in Sanskrit.
HARI Om!, Namo Namah, she answers on her mobile phone. Bhawaan katham asti (How are you?). The caller speaking in chaste Sanskrit is no Sadhvi clad in saffron robes. She is Geeta Pathak, a bubbly adolescent girl who hails from Bhantoli, a remote village in Uttarakhand, around 450 km southeast of Dehradun, where the language of use is not the local Kumaoni, but thousands-year old classical Sanskirit. Whenever this 17-year-old girl makes a call or receives it on her mobile, she always greets the person at the other end of the phone line by saying a polite, Hari Om, instead of the usual ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’. In fact, that’s the way this girl is habituated to greeting people!
Geeta Pathak prefers conversing in Sanskrit like the 500 odd other residents of Bhantoli. "Most of the people in this village including women and children now speak in Sanskrit instead of Kumaoni, their mother tongue," says Gita’s father Shri Rajendra Pathak. This turnaround happened ‘only recently’. It happened almost a year after the Uttarakhand government declared Bhantoli a Sanskrit village last year," points out 32-year-old Shri Manoj Adhikari, the first Acharya of the Sanskrit Gram. Bhantoli is the fifth such village in the country after Mattur and Hoshahalli in Karnataka and Mohad and Jhiri in Madhya Pradesh.
All these five Sanskrit Grams, according to Dr Buddhdev Sharma, Secretary of Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy, are a brainchild of Samskrit Bharati, a voluntary organisation dedicated to popularising Sanskrit as a jan bhasha (language of the masses).
The movement, no doubt, is picking up. And Bhantoli is an eloquent testimony to that. For a visitor, this remote village in the Kumaon region with all its residents conversing in fluent Sanskrit seems like placed in 5th century India, the time of the great scholar-poet Kalidas, when this ancient language was the country’s lingua franca.
Kameri Devi (resident of a village near Bhantoli) said there has been a tremendous change in the behaviour of the residents of Bhantoli during the last one year when they got the rare opportunity to converse in Sanskrit. Calling Sanskrit the language of the Gods she said the residents of Bhantoli, especially the women, have become quite civil and cultured in their manners ever since they got to learn to converse in Sanskrit.
National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCET) has now given green signal to con-duct B.Ed. classes in Sanskrit at Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, Haridwar. The decision was long pending on account of different desired parameters for accreditation. In January, the state government adopted Sanskrit as the second official language Hindi remains the first. After this declaration, this step is being counted as next promotional step in the area of language studies and reviving the language of ancient religious texts.
This decision was taken at the regional meet of NCET held on July 18. At present 100 seats are being made available for the current session. Only those students would be admitted to the course who have completed ‘Shastri’ course or have graduation or post graduation degree in Sanskrit.
The admission process for the B.Ed course started from August 15. The decision has not only brought a smile on students’ faces but teachers also. Students would be admitted after the entrance examination and the timely decision of council would help students enroll for the current session. This professional degree in Sanskrit will not only encourage the scholars to learn but also take the language to professional level," says Shri Mahavir Agarwal of Sanskrit Academy. With lack of infrastructure-just 175 students of Sanskrit, 12 teachers, most of whom work as guest faculties and just half a dozen classrooms, the classes are being held in Sanskrit Academy. The Sanskrit University’s building is under construction on Haridwar- Roorkie national highway. The university in its first year began with two students and a bachelor’s course in Sanskrit. But today 150 of its students are enrolled in vocational courses in Yoga, computers, journalism and library science, apart from undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the Sanskrit literature. Sanskrit is the medium of instruction.
Uttarakhand is the first state in the country which declared Sanskrit as second official language. The state assembly had passed a Bill to this effect in December 2009. Uttarakhand has long association with Sanskrit as many great Sanskrit scholars belong to this state. Kalidas, the greatest writer in Sanskrit, was born in Uttarakhand. Many Sanskrit medium schools and colleges of the state are contributing in spread and learning of Sanskrit. The Uttarakhand government is also providing all possible help to these schools and colleges.
"Our overall efforts are to make the Sanskrit a language of daily use and also in competitions so as to give it the due respect. In a bid to promote Sanskrit, the government has decided to confer Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 25,000 cash prizes to the persons who would stand first, second and third in the competitions to be organised by Sanskrit Academy," says Radhika Jha, Additional Secretary, Higher Education. Talking to Organiser in Dehradun she revealed that apart from launching many schemes to promote Sanskrit a separate Ministry and a separate Directorate have been established for the promotion of the divine language in the state. "Chief Minister Dr Nishank is himself Chairman. About 100 Sanskrit schools and colleges are being run in the state and the government has brought all of them under financial aid. Salary and other facilities will be given to the teachers and staff of these schools and colleges as equal to the teachers and staff of the government schools and colleges. There is a separate Sanskrit University and four other universities where Sanskrit is taught. The government has taken the decision to provide free mid-day meal, books, computers and also scholoarship in the Sanskrit schools. Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to start its website in Sanskrit," she added.
Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy organises different programmes to facilitate the promotion of Sanskrit in the state. Through many programmes, the Academy is going to establish direct contact with the people. The academy organises Sanskrit plays, chorus songs, dance, ashubhasan, general knowledge and debate in Sanskrit for students at block, district and state level.
The government has also decided to appoint 36 Sanskrit translators in all the 13 districts (two translators in each district). Two Sanskrit programmers will also be appointed. A separate nodel officer will be appointed to observe the promotional activities in Sanskrit. A decision to release all the government orders in Sanskrit has also been taken. A three-day Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Sammelan was organised from March 11 to 13 Hardwar Mahakumbh. On this occasion the Chaturveda Parayan Mahayagya was organised from March 18 to 27. An audio and video recording of the four Vedas was done. One lakh students will be given a two-month Sanskrit Sambhasan training and "Sanskrit Students Sangam" will be held on October 10. All the Sanskrit teachers are being trained to teach Sanskrit through Sanskrit medium only.
Talking to Organiser Dr Budh Dev Sharma, Secretary, Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy about 50000 students from 3200 schools and colleges took part in different Sanskrit promoting programmes held in all the 13 districts of the state and cash prizes of Rs 45 lakh were distributed. Through "Sanskrit Natyayatra" several Sanskrit plays were staged. "Sanskrit Kutumba Sammelans" were organised in the state. About 154 families were brought together. All spoke in Sanskrit. "Sanskrit Gram Nirman" programme has selected two villages Bhantola in Bageshwar and Kimotha in Chamoli as Sanskrit villages. These villages have been fully developed as Sanskrit speaking villages. Computers have been provided in 56 Sanskrit schools and colleges.
Dr Sharma also pointed out that the government has decided to develop Kaviltha, the birth place of Kalidas, as a centre of literature and cultural excellence at the national and international level. The government is going to open a model Sanskrit school there.
By Ravindra Saini
There has been a tremendous change in the behaviour of the residents of Bhantoli during the last one year when they got the rare opportunity to converse in Sanskrit. The people of Bhantoli, especially the women, have become quite civil and cultured in their manners ever since they got to learn to converse in Sanskrit.
HARI Om!, Namo Namah, she answers on her mobile phone. Bhawaan katham asti (How are you?). The caller speaking in chaste Sanskrit is no Sadhvi clad in saffron robes. She is Geeta Pathak, a bubbly adolescent girl who hails from Bhantoli, a remote village in Uttarakhand, around 450 km southeast of Dehradun, where the language of use is not the local Kumaoni, but thousands-year old classical Sanskirit. Whenever this 17-year-old girl makes a call or receives it on her mobile, she always greets the person at the other end of the phone line by saying a polite, Hari Om, instead of the usual ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’. In fact, that’s the way this girl is habituated to greeting people!
Geeta Pathak prefers conversing in Sanskrit like the 500 odd other residents of Bhantoli. "Most of the people in this village including women and children now speak in Sanskrit instead of Kumaoni, their mother tongue," says Gita’s father Shri Rajendra Pathak. This turnaround happened ‘only recently’. It happened almost a year after the Uttarakhand government declared Bhantoli a Sanskrit village last year," points out 32-year-old Shri Manoj Adhikari, the first Acharya of the Sanskrit Gram. Bhantoli is the fifth such village in the country after Mattur and Hoshahalli in Karnataka and Mohad and Jhiri in Madhya Pradesh.
All these five Sanskrit Grams, according to Dr Buddhdev Sharma, Secretary of Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy, are a brainchild of Samskrit Bharati, a voluntary organisation dedicated to popularising Sanskrit as a jan bhasha (language of the masses).
The movement, no doubt, is picking up. And Bhantoli is an eloquent testimony to that. For a visitor, this remote village in the Kumaon region with all its residents conversing in fluent Sanskrit seems like placed in 5th century India, the time of the great scholar-poet Kalidas, when this ancient language was the country’s lingua franca.
Kameri Devi (resident of a village near Bhantoli) said there has been a tremendous change in the behaviour of the residents of Bhantoli during the last one year when they got the rare opportunity to converse in Sanskrit. Calling Sanskrit the language of the Gods she said the residents of Bhantoli, especially the women, have become quite civil and cultured in their manners ever since they got to learn to converse in Sanskrit.
National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCET) has now given green signal to con-duct B.Ed. classes in Sanskrit at Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, Haridwar. The decision was long pending on account of different desired parameters for accreditation. In January, the state government adopted Sanskrit as the second official language Hindi remains the first. After this declaration, this step is being counted as next promotional step in the area of language studies and reviving the language of ancient religious texts.
This decision was taken at the regional meet of NCET held on July 18. At present 100 seats are being made available for the current session. Only those students would be admitted to the course who have completed ‘Shastri’ course or have graduation or post graduation degree in Sanskrit.
The admission process for the B.Ed course started from August 15. The decision has not only brought a smile on students’ faces but teachers also. Students would be admitted after the entrance examination and the timely decision of council would help students enroll for the current session. This professional degree in Sanskrit will not only encourage the scholars to learn but also take the language to professional level," says Shri Mahavir Agarwal of Sanskrit Academy. With lack of infrastructure-just 175 students of Sanskrit, 12 teachers, most of whom work as guest faculties and just half a dozen classrooms, the classes are being held in Sanskrit Academy. The Sanskrit University’s building is under construction on Haridwar- Roorkie national highway. The university in its first year began with two students and a bachelor’s course in Sanskrit. But today 150 of its students are enrolled in vocational courses in Yoga, computers, journalism and library science, apart from undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the Sanskrit literature. Sanskrit is the medium of instruction.
Uttarakhand is the first state in the country which declared Sanskrit as second official language. The state assembly had passed a Bill to this effect in December 2009. Uttarakhand has long association with Sanskrit as many great Sanskrit scholars belong to this state. Kalidas, the greatest writer in Sanskrit, was born in Uttarakhand. Many Sanskrit medium schools and colleges of the state are contributing in spread and learning of Sanskrit. The Uttarakhand government is also providing all possible help to these schools and colleges.
"Our overall efforts are to make the Sanskrit a language of daily use and also in competitions so as to give it the due respect. In a bid to promote Sanskrit, the government has decided to confer Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 25,000 cash prizes to the persons who would stand first, second and third in the competitions to be organised by Sanskrit Academy," says Radhika Jha, Additional Secretary, Higher Education. Talking to Organiser in Dehradun she revealed that apart from launching many schemes to promote Sanskrit a separate Ministry and a separate Directorate have been established for the promotion of the divine language in the state. "Chief Minister Dr Nishank is himself Chairman. About 100 Sanskrit schools and colleges are being run in the state and the government has brought all of them under financial aid. Salary and other facilities will be given to the teachers and staff of these schools and colleges as equal to the teachers and staff of the government schools and colleges. There is a separate Sanskrit University and four other universities where Sanskrit is taught. The government has taken the decision to provide free mid-day meal, books, computers and also scholoarship in the Sanskrit schools. Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to start its website in Sanskrit," she added.
Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy organises different programmes to facilitate the promotion of Sanskrit in the state. Through many programmes, the Academy is going to establish direct contact with the people. The academy organises Sanskrit plays, chorus songs, dance, ashubhasan, general knowledge and debate in Sanskrit for students at block, district and state level.
The government has also decided to appoint 36 Sanskrit translators in all the 13 districts (two translators in each district). Two Sanskrit programmers will also be appointed. A separate nodel officer will be appointed to observe the promotional activities in Sanskrit. A decision to release all the government orders in Sanskrit has also been taken. A three-day Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Sammelan was organised from March 11 to 13 Hardwar Mahakumbh. On this occasion the Chaturveda Parayan Mahayagya was organised from March 18 to 27. An audio and video recording of the four Vedas was done. One lakh students will be given a two-month Sanskrit Sambhasan training and "Sanskrit Students Sangam" will be held on October 10. All the Sanskrit teachers are being trained to teach Sanskrit through Sanskrit medium only.
Talking to Organiser Dr Budh Dev Sharma, Secretary, Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy about 50000 students from 3200 schools and colleges took part in different Sanskrit promoting programmes held in all the 13 districts of the state and cash prizes of Rs 45 lakh were distributed. Through "Sanskrit Natyayatra" several Sanskrit plays were staged. "Sanskrit Kutumba Sammelans" were organised in the state. About 154 families were brought together. All spoke in Sanskrit. "Sanskrit Gram Nirman" programme has selected two villages Bhantola in Bageshwar and Kimotha in Chamoli as Sanskrit villages. These villages have been fully developed as Sanskrit speaking villages. Computers have been provided in 56 Sanskrit schools and colleges.
Dr Sharma also pointed out that the government has decided to develop Kaviltha, the birth place of Kalidas, as a centre of literature and cultural excellence at the national and international level. The government is going to open a model Sanskrit school there.
Detection and deportation of Bangladeshis
A farce: Home Ministry ignorant about border fencing
From Jyoti Lal Chowdhury
HOW much the Union Home Ministry is serious about the expulsion of Bangladeshis from Assam as well as fencing of border became clear from the reply given by Mullapalli Ramchandran, Minister of State for Home, in response to the question of Badaruddin Ajmal, All India United Democratic Front supremo and MP of Dhubri. The question was put during the current session of the Lok Sabha on July 27. It was on, whether any proposal has been received by the ministry from any political party for sealing the border in order to prevent influx of Bangladeshis. Mullapalli Ramchandran said, no such proposal has come from any political party in this regard.
This answer has raised the bizarre question ; whose responsibility is it to fence the border ? Now, after years of agitation by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the North-East Students Organisation (NESO) and by various political parties and the visits by the UHM officials several times for on the spot study of the border management, the reply exposes not only lack of seriousness on the part of the Centre but also its ignorance. If after spending crores of rupees on border fencing and roads and also review of the progress so far made in their implementation, this reply coming from the Union Home Ministry is both shocking and surprising. Perhaps the Ministry is also ignorant of the Assam Accord of 1985, one of its clauses clearly stipulates fencing and sealing of the State’s border with Bangladesh for which deadline has been extended many times .
AASU and Assam Gana Parishad and BJP leaders reacting to the statement of Mullapalli Ramchandran described it quite ‘irresponsible’. It is the responsibility of the UHM to ensure the complete sealing of the border with barbed wire fencing. Political parties fighting for the issue can only help the Centre and the State in its implementation. Kriti Bhushan Purkayastha, Cachar district BJP president, reminded more than a decade back, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Uma Bharati joined thousands of party leaders and workers in forming human chains along Karimganj and Dhubri borders to highlight the serious problem of influx and the need to seal the border with fencing.
In fact, long stretches of border still remain porous, providing enough elbow room to Bangladeshis to sneak into with serious ramification on the demographic structure. The very process of detection and deportation has turned into a farce. This is evident from the fact that from 2001 till date, 14,856 persons have been identified as Bangladeshis. Of them 11,869 made vanishing tricks, while 199 who were pushed back through Karimganj and Dhubri border re-entered since India has no repatriation treaty with Dhaka. The classic case of Mohammed Ataur Rahman of village Morajhar in Nagaon district of Assam is a pointer to it. Rahman was arrested by police on November 14, 2008 as directed by Gauhati High Court. He was a Bangladeshi on the run. He was deported back, but again came back and filed a writ petition vide 45/2009 in the High Court to claim that he was an Indian citizen. The Court taking a serious view of the case has directed both the Centre and the State of Assam to clarify their stand on Bangladeshi issue. It has also brought into focus how crores of rupees spent for setting up tribunals for foreigners in all the 26 districts of the State have been simply a futile exercise and waste of public money. Both the Centre and the State have projected themselves as protector of Bangladeshis for the sake of vote-banks.
From Jyoti Lal Chowdhury
HOW much the Union Home Ministry is serious about the expulsion of Bangladeshis from Assam as well as fencing of border became clear from the reply given by Mullapalli Ramchandran, Minister of State for Home, in response to the question of Badaruddin Ajmal, All India United Democratic Front supremo and MP of Dhubri. The question was put during the current session of the Lok Sabha on July 27. It was on, whether any proposal has been received by the ministry from any political party for sealing the border in order to prevent influx of Bangladeshis. Mullapalli Ramchandran said, no such proposal has come from any political party in this regard.
This answer has raised the bizarre question ; whose responsibility is it to fence the border ? Now, after years of agitation by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the North-East Students Organisation (NESO) and by various political parties and the visits by the UHM officials several times for on the spot study of the border management, the reply exposes not only lack of seriousness on the part of the Centre but also its ignorance. If after spending crores of rupees on border fencing and roads and also review of the progress so far made in their implementation, this reply coming from the Union Home Ministry is both shocking and surprising. Perhaps the Ministry is also ignorant of the Assam Accord of 1985, one of its clauses clearly stipulates fencing and sealing of the State’s border with Bangladesh for which deadline has been extended many times .
AASU and Assam Gana Parishad and BJP leaders reacting to the statement of Mullapalli Ramchandran described it quite ‘irresponsible’. It is the responsibility of the UHM to ensure the complete sealing of the border with barbed wire fencing. Political parties fighting for the issue can only help the Centre and the State in its implementation. Kriti Bhushan Purkayastha, Cachar district BJP president, reminded more than a decade back, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Uma Bharati joined thousands of party leaders and workers in forming human chains along Karimganj and Dhubri borders to highlight the serious problem of influx and the need to seal the border with fencing.
In fact, long stretches of border still remain porous, providing enough elbow room to Bangladeshis to sneak into with serious ramification on the demographic structure. The very process of detection and deportation has turned into a farce. This is evident from the fact that from 2001 till date, 14,856 persons have been identified as Bangladeshis. Of them 11,869 made vanishing tricks, while 199 who were pushed back through Karimganj and Dhubri border re-entered since India has no repatriation treaty with Dhaka. The classic case of Mohammed Ataur Rahman of village Morajhar in Nagaon district of Assam is a pointer to it. Rahman was arrested by police on November 14, 2008 as directed by Gauhati High Court. He was a Bangladeshi on the run. He was deported back, but again came back and filed a writ petition vide 45/2009 in the High Court to claim that he was an Indian citizen. The Court taking a serious view of the case has directed both the Centre and the State of Assam to clarify their stand on Bangladeshi issue. It has also brought into focus how crores of rupees spent for setting up tribunals for foreigners in all the 26 districts of the State have been simply a futile exercise and waste of public money. Both the Centre and the State have projected themselves as protector of Bangladeshis for the sake of vote-banks.
The revolt of the Rani of Attingal 1721-II
The revolt of the Rani of Attingal 1721-II
One of the earliest anti-British Revolts
By Dr TP Shankarankutty Nair
GYFFORD was instructed from above to ease the situation and resume normal trade. At this time Kudaman Pillai died and was succeeded by his young and alert nephew. Gyfford bribed Vanjimuttom Pillai to patch up differences. Vanjimuttom, a partisan of the king of Kollam arranged to crown the sister of the king as queen of Attingal.27 Gyfford was invited to pay up arrear tributes to the new queen and resume trade. Accordingly on April 14, 1721, Gyfford with 120 merchants and about 30 slaves proceeded to Attingal Palace about six kilometers from Anjengo fort, leaving only four men incharge of the fort apart from the women and children and the sick and old. The delegation carried with them the arrear tribute for seven years and presents to the queen and the Pillaimar, ie, about 17,000 panam per year besides velvet and Venetian clothes. Burton Fleming Malheiro and Gyfford led the march. They were received at the palace by an enthusiastic crowd carrying arms. It was normal that the Nayars always carried arms. Within the palace compound Kudaman Pillai was incharge of the ceremony. Discussions about the amount payable to each Pillai took place.28 Cowse, who was more experienced in the ways of the local people sensed trouble. He advised Gyfford to finish the job quickly and leave; but he was rebuffed. After finishing the transactions, Gyfford ordered a volley of fire indicating successful completion of the job. Immediately the Nayars disarmed the Englishmen and collected their arms.29 Gyfford also suspected some foul-play. He sent a note through a native informing his assistant, Sewell, of possible danger to the party and to be prepared for any eventuality. The Englishmen were advised to spend the night in the palace premises in small batches. During the night, the natives fell upon the Englishmen and cruelly butchered one and all. The body of the ring leaders of the English settlement like Malhiero, Fleming and Gyfford were cut into pieces. The tongue of Gyfford was cut into pieces and threw it into Vamanapuram river.30 Later the queen blamed Kudaman Pillai for the heinous act; but the Raja of Travancore blamed the queen for the massacre. The Dutch records also blame the queen for her connivance.31
Samuel Ince, the gunner took up defence of the fort against any possible attack. Women and children were sent away in a ship that was cruising nearby. The treasure and food stock were shifted into the fort. Reinforcement came by sea. Every thing was ready when the attack on the fort took place a few days later. The first attack was repulsed with heavy loss to the attackers.32 But attacks took place intermittently for six months. Although it was Kudaman Pillai, the rival of Vanjimuttom Pillai who masterminded the massacre, it is doubtful whether he had any hand in the attack on the fort. The queen went away to Kollam promising not to return to Attingal until order was restored. She never came back. Another sister of Rama Varma, king to Travancore took over as queen of Attingal.33
Midford who succeed Gyfford as Chief of Anjengo was more dishonest than his two predecessors. He too was dismissed from service.34 His successor Alexander Orme was a friend of Travancore. This antagonized Vanjimuttom who instigated the Madampis of Travancore against their king. The efforts of Travancore to suppress the Pillais and Madampis of Travancore had met with success in 1729, when Martanda Varma became king of Travancore. He was able to capture the eight Madampis who organised attacks on the English fort in 1721 and handed them over to the English.35 By 1729 Martanda Varma eliminated all the Pillais and Madampis of Travancore, Attingal too was annexed and consolidated to the Travancore state. The unchallengeable supremacy of Attingal declined subsequently.36
The revolt of 1721 is one of the earliest of the anti-English, anti-Christian and anti-foreign upheavals of India staged thirty six years before the Battle of Plassey and 136 years before the 1857 struggle for freedom. It is unreasonable and illogical that this fight has been sidelined in all India stream by historians.
One of the earliest anti-British Revolts
By Dr TP Shankarankutty Nair
GYFFORD was instructed from above to ease the situation and resume normal trade. At this time Kudaman Pillai died and was succeeded by his young and alert nephew. Gyfford bribed Vanjimuttom Pillai to patch up differences. Vanjimuttom, a partisan of the king of Kollam arranged to crown the sister of the king as queen of Attingal.27 Gyfford was invited to pay up arrear tributes to the new queen and resume trade. Accordingly on April 14, 1721, Gyfford with 120 merchants and about 30 slaves proceeded to Attingal Palace about six kilometers from Anjengo fort, leaving only four men incharge of the fort apart from the women and children and the sick and old. The delegation carried with them the arrear tribute for seven years and presents to the queen and the Pillaimar, ie, about 17,000 panam per year besides velvet and Venetian clothes. Burton Fleming Malheiro and Gyfford led the march. They were received at the palace by an enthusiastic crowd carrying arms. It was normal that the Nayars always carried arms. Within the palace compound Kudaman Pillai was incharge of the ceremony. Discussions about the amount payable to each Pillai took place.28 Cowse, who was more experienced in the ways of the local people sensed trouble. He advised Gyfford to finish the job quickly and leave; but he was rebuffed. After finishing the transactions, Gyfford ordered a volley of fire indicating successful completion of the job. Immediately the Nayars disarmed the Englishmen and collected their arms.29 Gyfford also suspected some foul-play. He sent a note through a native informing his assistant, Sewell, of possible danger to the party and to be prepared for any eventuality. The Englishmen were advised to spend the night in the palace premises in small batches. During the night, the natives fell upon the Englishmen and cruelly butchered one and all. The body of the ring leaders of the English settlement like Malhiero, Fleming and Gyfford were cut into pieces. The tongue of Gyfford was cut into pieces and threw it into Vamanapuram river.30 Later the queen blamed Kudaman Pillai for the heinous act; but the Raja of Travancore blamed the queen for the massacre. The Dutch records also blame the queen for her connivance.31
Samuel Ince, the gunner took up defence of the fort against any possible attack. Women and children were sent away in a ship that was cruising nearby. The treasure and food stock were shifted into the fort. Reinforcement came by sea. Every thing was ready when the attack on the fort took place a few days later. The first attack was repulsed with heavy loss to the attackers.32 But attacks took place intermittently for six months. Although it was Kudaman Pillai, the rival of Vanjimuttom Pillai who masterminded the massacre, it is doubtful whether he had any hand in the attack on the fort. The queen went away to Kollam promising not to return to Attingal until order was restored. She never came back. Another sister of Rama Varma, king to Travancore took over as queen of Attingal.33
Midford who succeed Gyfford as Chief of Anjengo was more dishonest than his two predecessors. He too was dismissed from service.34 His successor Alexander Orme was a friend of Travancore. This antagonized Vanjimuttom who instigated the Madampis of Travancore against their king. The efforts of Travancore to suppress the Pillais and Madampis of Travancore had met with success in 1729, when Martanda Varma became king of Travancore. He was able to capture the eight Madampis who organised attacks on the English fort in 1721 and handed them over to the English.35 By 1729 Martanda Varma eliminated all the Pillais and Madampis of Travancore, Attingal too was annexed and consolidated to the Travancore state. The unchallengeable supremacy of Attingal declined subsequently.36
The revolt of 1721 is one of the earliest of the anti-English, anti-Christian and anti-foreign upheavals of India staged thirty six years before the Battle of Plassey and 136 years before the 1857 struggle for freedom. It is unreasonable and illogical that this fight has been sidelined in all India stream by historians.
The deep roots of ISI:
The deep roots of ISI: An investigation
For long saboteurs had made Karnataka haven for Islamic terror
By Rudrapratap Markandeya
There were some Navayaths (a cash-rich group within Muslim community who are predominant in Bhatkal) who are ISI agents and Ibrahim Dawood’s agents and who are instigating communal violence.
BANGALORE: The footprints of Pakistan’s dreaded Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Karnataka can be traced at least to late 1991 and early 1992, according to the report of Justice Kedambadi Jagannath Shetty judicial commission.
In a separate chapter titled ‘organisations/elements responsible for disturbances (in Bhatkal)’, and under the heading ISI, the report states that "the evidences of all the witnesses who deposed before the commission on the issue of ISI have not been disputed. Hence it is established that ISI was secretly operating through its agents in Bhatkal, causing disturbances."
Organiser is in possession of the copy of the 2000-pages report of the Justice Kedambady Jagannath Shetty Commission. Though the report was submitted to the State Government in 1996-97, it has not yet been placed on the floor of the state legislature.
In his deposition, the then assistant commissioner of central excise, Prasanna Kumar stated that "Pakistan’s ISI activities were very intense in Bhatkal. They wanted to create Kashmir like situation in Bhatkal and cause economic wreckage to the country."
He further states, "According to me, the main cause for communal disturbances in Bhatkal is the ISI activities of Pakistan who want to establish economic base at Bhatkal by sending out all Hindus and also all the State and Central government offices. Otherwise there was perfect amity between Hindus and Muslims." Adiga, counsel for Hindus stated that elements propped up by the ISI engage all the law enforcing agencies by creating disturbances. Secondly, they jam the communication system, switch off power supply and use the opportunity to land arms and ammunitions. The ISI activities during communal violence was funded by Pakistan’s Abdul Rehman. All the information pertaining to ISI activities were provided by LD Aurora, the then additional collector of Customs." Subsequently, Mr Aurora was transferred from Karwar to Allahabad, where he was assassinated under mysterious circumstances and hence further study about the role and reach, clout and influence of the ISI in Bhatkal could not be probed, stated Adiga.
In his deposition, the then deputy commissioner and senior IAS officer, Pradeep Singh Karola stated that an ISI agent, Mohammed Farooq was arrested in East Champaran in Madhya Pradesh by the Uttar Pradesh Police and during the course of investigation he confessed that he stayed in Karwar and Bhatkal at the behest of ISI. "He has also confessed that he met on Guddu Makhar, a known anti-social element, at a masjid in Bhatkal," Kharola stated.
Shankar, a senior official in the state intelligence, during his deposition stated that there were some Navayaths (a cash-rich group within Muslim community who are predominant in Bhatkal) who are ISI agents and Ibrahim Dawood’s agents and who are instigating communal violence. A careful study of Justice Shetty’s report confirms that the ISI had propped up numerous youth organisations in Bhatkal in order to foment trouble as well as transport RDX and weaponary to various parts of the country. The KJ Shetty commission takes note of the activities of two organisations, Lions team and Tigers team, and arrives at a conclusion that these two are shady in nature and character, after hearing the deposition made by police officers and government officials. "None of the deposition have been disputed or questioned," Justice Shetty states in his report.
In his detailed deposition, Mr Kiran Dhandopanth Thakur, a senior journalist with Tarun Bharat stated, "As per the information I got from SP, Karwar and further ascertained from the central intelligence agencies, members of the Lions gang based in Bhatkal undertook the task of transporting RDX and other sophisticated weaponary from Bhatkal to Bombay and Gujarat. This was corrorobated by Gujarat ATS in 2002 after they gunned down Zorabuddin Sheikh, a notorious smuggler, who is also the frontman of Dawood Ibrahim in Gujarat. Sheikh was instrumental in storing RDX and AK-47 rifles in an abandoned well in his farm house, which was later used in 1993 Bombay serial blasts.
The then assistant commissioner of central excise, MV Prasanna Kumar stated, "I am aware of one Lions team in Bhatkal. They are hired killers and havala racketeers. They had also involved in communal violence."
For long saboteurs had made Karnataka haven for Islamic terror
By Rudrapratap Markandeya
There were some Navayaths (a cash-rich group within Muslim community who are predominant in Bhatkal) who are ISI agents and Ibrahim Dawood’s agents and who are instigating communal violence.
BANGALORE: The footprints of Pakistan’s dreaded Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Karnataka can be traced at least to late 1991 and early 1992, according to the report of Justice Kedambadi Jagannath Shetty judicial commission.
In a separate chapter titled ‘organisations/elements responsible for disturbances (in Bhatkal)’, and under the heading ISI, the report states that "the evidences of all the witnesses who deposed before the commission on the issue of ISI have not been disputed. Hence it is established that ISI was secretly operating through its agents in Bhatkal, causing disturbances."
Organiser is in possession of the copy of the 2000-pages report of the Justice Kedambady Jagannath Shetty Commission. Though the report was submitted to the State Government in 1996-97, it has not yet been placed on the floor of the state legislature.
In his deposition, the then assistant commissioner of central excise, Prasanna Kumar stated that "Pakistan’s ISI activities were very intense in Bhatkal. They wanted to create Kashmir like situation in Bhatkal and cause economic wreckage to the country."
He further states, "According to me, the main cause for communal disturbances in Bhatkal is the ISI activities of Pakistan who want to establish economic base at Bhatkal by sending out all Hindus and also all the State and Central government offices. Otherwise there was perfect amity between Hindus and Muslims." Adiga, counsel for Hindus stated that elements propped up by the ISI engage all the law enforcing agencies by creating disturbances. Secondly, they jam the communication system, switch off power supply and use the opportunity to land arms and ammunitions. The ISI activities during communal violence was funded by Pakistan’s Abdul Rehman. All the information pertaining to ISI activities were provided by LD Aurora, the then additional collector of Customs." Subsequently, Mr Aurora was transferred from Karwar to Allahabad, where he was assassinated under mysterious circumstances and hence further study about the role and reach, clout and influence of the ISI in Bhatkal could not be probed, stated Adiga.
In his deposition, the then deputy commissioner and senior IAS officer, Pradeep Singh Karola stated that an ISI agent, Mohammed Farooq was arrested in East Champaran in Madhya Pradesh by the Uttar Pradesh Police and during the course of investigation he confessed that he stayed in Karwar and Bhatkal at the behest of ISI. "He has also confessed that he met on Guddu Makhar, a known anti-social element, at a masjid in Bhatkal," Kharola stated.
Shankar, a senior official in the state intelligence, during his deposition stated that there were some Navayaths (a cash-rich group within Muslim community who are predominant in Bhatkal) who are ISI agents and Ibrahim Dawood’s agents and who are instigating communal violence. A careful study of Justice Shetty’s report confirms that the ISI had propped up numerous youth organisations in Bhatkal in order to foment trouble as well as transport RDX and weaponary to various parts of the country. The KJ Shetty commission takes note of the activities of two organisations, Lions team and Tigers team, and arrives at a conclusion that these two are shady in nature and character, after hearing the deposition made by police officers and government officials. "None of the deposition have been disputed or questioned," Justice Shetty states in his report.
In his detailed deposition, Mr Kiran Dhandopanth Thakur, a senior journalist with Tarun Bharat stated, "As per the information I got from SP, Karwar and further ascertained from the central intelligence agencies, members of the Lions gang based in Bhatkal undertook the task of transporting RDX and other sophisticated weaponary from Bhatkal to Bombay and Gujarat. This was corrorobated by Gujarat ATS in 2002 after they gunned down Zorabuddin Sheikh, a notorious smuggler, who is also the frontman of Dawood Ibrahim in Gujarat. Sheikh was instrumental in storing RDX and AK-47 rifles in an abandoned well in his farm house, which was later used in 1993 Bombay serial blasts.
The then assistant commissioner of central excise, MV Prasanna Kumar stated, "I am aware of one Lions team in Bhatkal. They are hired killers and havala racketeers. They had also involved in communal violence."
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Bangladesh's false propaganda of peace
Bangladesh's false propaganda of peace and fairness to Hindus
Abduction and atrocities on Hindus, a regular way of life
LOCAL expelled BNP leader and his hoodlums physically assaulted and injured all members of a minority Hindu family at Barabari village within Joypurhat district and tried to kidnap a Hindu girl - Tithi Rani Sarkar. Due to resistance offered by the family members of the victim, she was rescued from abduction, further rape and forceful conversion. The incident took place on June 26, 2010. Victim’s family did not lodge any FIR at the police station for fear of life. On physical verification it was ascertained that in this area the Hindu families are passing their days with great anxieties.
Due to indiscriminate attack by the perpetrators, the victim Tithi Rani was seriously injured, her father Jagadish Chandra Sarkar (48) got multiple injuries, her aunt, Minati Rani Sarkar (32) and Lucky Sarkar (30) were admitted to local Sadar Hospital for treatment. It is alleged that the local BNP leader ABM Faruk Siddique (who is a father of two children and a lecturer at the Shahid Abul Kashem College) was continuously harassing the girl and ultimately made a proposal to marry her. She was told to adopt Islam. But due to intimidation the minority victim could not dare to lodge any complain against those powerful persons at the police station. The injured victim Tithi Rani also made a statement that about 20-25 hoodlums attacked her house with the intention to kidnap her. The attackers also dragged her forcefully to climb a motor vehicle, but their endeavour could not be successful due to the stiff resistance offered by the family members. Soon the attackers started beating the family members indiscriminately injuring several others. Local people stated that "as we are minority Hindu families we can not lodge any allegations against those powerful perpetrators because of further attack." Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW) and GHRD Dhaka immediately communicated the incident to the Additional Superintendent of Police who was unaware of this horrific incident.
Abduction and atrocities on Hindus, a regular way of life
LOCAL expelled BNP leader and his hoodlums physically assaulted and injured all members of a minority Hindu family at Barabari village within Joypurhat district and tried to kidnap a Hindu girl - Tithi Rani Sarkar. Due to resistance offered by the family members of the victim, she was rescued from abduction, further rape and forceful conversion. The incident took place on June 26, 2010. Victim’s family did not lodge any FIR at the police station for fear of life. On physical verification it was ascertained that in this area the Hindu families are passing their days with great anxieties.
Due to indiscriminate attack by the perpetrators, the victim Tithi Rani was seriously injured, her father Jagadish Chandra Sarkar (48) got multiple injuries, her aunt, Minati Rani Sarkar (32) and Lucky Sarkar (30) were admitted to local Sadar Hospital for treatment. It is alleged that the local BNP leader ABM Faruk Siddique (who is a father of two children and a lecturer at the Shahid Abul Kashem College) was continuously harassing the girl and ultimately made a proposal to marry her. She was told to adopt Islam. But due to intimidation the minority victim could not dare to lodge any complain against those powerful persons at the police station. The injured victim Tithi Rani also made a statement that about 20-25 hoodlums attacked her house with the intention to kidnap her. The attackers also dragged her forcefully to climb a motor vehicle, but their endeavour could not be successful due to the stiff resistance offered by the family members. Soon the attackers started beating the family members indiscriminately injuring several others. Local people stated that "as we are minority Hindu families we can not lodge any allegations against those powerful perpetrators because of further attack." Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW) and GHRD Dhaka immediately communicated the incident to the Additional Superintendent of Police who was unaware of this horrific incident.
Muslim fundamentalists’ plan to Islamise Kerala
Muslim fundamentalists’ plan to Islamise Kerala
Congress playing with fire in search of votes
By Shyam Khosla
Chief Minister lashed out at the Islamic fundamentalist party - Popular Front of India (PFI) for its plan to turn the state into a Muslim-majority state in the next 10 to 20 years. He didn’t stop there and added that the outfit was using money and marriage of young Muslim boys with girls from other religions to achieve this goal. Under attack from the Congress and the Muslim League, VS reiterated his stand on the floor of the State Assembly saying his assessment was based on the evidence uncovered by the police during the investigations into the recent chopping off the right hand of a college lecturer T J Joseph by PFI cadres.
AT long last, Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan seems to have realised the grave threat Muslim fundamentalism poses to nation’s territorial integrity and democratic polity. While it is an honest admission of the grave situation that prevails in the state, the timing of the Chief Minister’s disclosure is suspected. It appears to be a belated attempt by the CPM-led Government to distance itself from the home grown jehadi elements that now pose a grave threat to the polity. Marxist-Mullah nexus is no secret. Communists are as responsible for the growth of Islamists as the Congress party whose soft policy towards terror is too well known. Addressing a press conference in the national capital the other day the Chief Minister lashed out at the Islamic fundamentalist party - Popular Front of India (PFI) for its plan to turn the state into a Muslim-majority state in the next 10 to 20 years. He didn’t stop there and added that the outfit was using money and marriage of young Muslim boys with girls from other religions to achieve this goal. Under attack from the Congress and the Muslim League, VS reiterated his stand on the floor of the State Assembly saying his assessment was based on the evidence uncovered by the police during the investigations into the recent chopping off the right hand of a college lecturer T J Joseph by PFI cadres. Jospeh’s "crime" was that he allegedly blasphemed Prophet Mohammad in a question paper he prepared. Documents seized by the police from PFI hideouts disclosed that the outfit held that Islam and democracy would never go together and that Muslims getting majority in Indian Parliament was impossible. The documents, however, boasted that nobody could prevent establishment of Islamic rule in India. What was needed was activism to promote ‘prominence of Islam", according to this jehadi outfit. And we all know what they mean by "giving our blood" for this anti-democratic and anti-national cause.
Communist Chief Minister’s attack on Islamists is a bit surprising given the party’s track record of colluding with Muslim extremist outfits in search of votes in election after election. However, the unexpected support he received from his beta noir CPM state secretary Vijayan leaves one with the impression that the party as a unit has realised the gravity of the situation. Alarming information gathered by intelligence agencies has apparently rattled the party. The state administration is aware of the existence of Taliban type Kangaroo courts under benevolent sounding names like Dar-ul-khuda that run a parallel judicial system and deliver instant justice against dissenters and "enemies" of Islam. At least half a dozen gangs operate in the Malabar region of the state that is a known base of the banned SIMI. These outfits regularly change their names to avoid identification and monitoring by the intelligence agencies. These have fancy names like Karuna Foundation and Samskara Vadi. Media recently carried reports about seizure of incriminating documents from the offices of these outfits.
One would like to believe that the CPM has realised the horrible consequences of its political support to Islamist groups to divide the Muslim vote and would now change tracks. However, the Congress party doesn’t seem to have learnt any lesson from the tragic outcome of its hobnobbing with Muslim fundamentalists. The Congress has blamed the Chief Minister for defaming the Muslim community by his statement. This is nothing if not a cynical ploy to derail the public discourse on the crucial issue and to put hurdles in whatever action the state might have taken against the terror gangs. That the Congress is desperately trying to win back the Muslim vote bank is no secret. But does it behove the party that is ruling the country to defend and protect anti-national elements? Congress party’s sensitivity to Muslim sentiments is touching. How about its insensitivity to Hindu sentiments? What right has the party to blow out of proportion stray violent incidents to defame the Hindu society by calling it "Hindu terror"? This party led by a foreign born lady that is perceived to have links with Italian intelligence network has no qualms of conscience in hurting national interests in search of votes. Doesn’t it know that it is playing with fire?
It is important to remember that the PFI is the illegitimate child of the Students Islamic Front of India (SIMI)-the notorious terror gang that engineered several terror attacks in different parts of the country. SIMI that now stands banned is the outfit that issued a press statement to take responsibility for bomb blasts and went on to hurl provocative and vulgar attacks on Hindu society that are unprintable. It had sent its handout to countless media houses and persons, including this writer. No sane person can help his blood boiling while reading that obnoxious statement. In early 1990s, some activists of SIMI met at a secret hideout to launch what was then known as National Defence Force (NDF). Apprehending that intelligence agencies had discovered its roots, it changed its name to National Development Front (NDF). Malayalam newspapers duly reported that the NDF had grabbed 100 acres - mostly through illegal means - in the Muslim-dominated Malapuram district for its "Green City". This zone was inaccessible to the law enforcing agencies because of the political patronage provided to the outfit by the powers that be. Media reports had persistently talked of mysterious activities in the campus but the state government chose not to take action. Four years ago, the outfit merged itself with the PFI - the jehadi outfit that has now enormous influence in the state. Its cadres-largely belonging to the banned SIMI-have infiltrated mainstream parties, including the Church supported Kerala Congress, to get political protection for their terror-related activities.
Kerala has emerged as a hot-bed of home grown terrorism. Neither the Congress nor the Marxist can escape responsibility for their soft corner towards Islamist outfits. There are countless instances of how the jehadi outfit managed to grow because of the political patronage extended to it by both the parties. There is that infamous case of how the police raided a SIMI camps in Aluva on August 15, 2006, seized incriminating material and documents and arrested several known jehadis. All the persons arrested from the camp were later released and the case went dead. Soon, a series of bomb blasts in several parts of the country, including Bangalore, Delhi and Jaipur followed. Some of those arrested in this connection revealed that the plan to undertake blasts was finalised at the said camp. Again, four jehadis from Kerala were killed by the army while trying to cross over to PoK. Neither the Union Government nor the State Government took follow up action to trace their roots. There are credible reports that Taliban-type kangaroo courts were functioning in rural areas of the state. It is believed that one such kangaroo court was involved in the case pertaining to the chopping off a hand of the Christian lecturer. State police seized several CDs from PFI cadres depicting al-Qaeda type of torture on "enemies" and dissenters. Chopping off hands, plucking of eyes, ears and noses are some of the barbarian methods adopted by the outfit.
Congress playing with fire in search of votes
By Shyam Khosla
Chief Minister lashed out at the Islamic fundamentalist party - Popular Front of India (PFI) for its plan to turn the state into a Muslim-majority state in the next 10 to 20 years. He didn’t stop there and added that the outfit was using money and marriage of young Muslim boys with girls from other religions to achieve this goal. Under attack from the Congress and the Muslim League, VS reiterated his stand on the floor of the State Assembly saying his assessment was based on the evidence uncovered by the police during the investigations into the recent chopping off the right hand of a college lecturer T J Joseph by PFI cadres.
AT long last, Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan seems to have realised the grave threat Muslim fundamentalism poses to nation’s territorial integrity and democratic polity. While it is an honest admission of the grave situation that prevails in the state, the timing of the Chief Minister’s disclosure is suspected. It appears to be a belated attempt by the CPM-led Government to distance itself from the home grown jehadi elements that now pose a grave threat to the polity. Marxist-Mullah nexus is no secret. Communists are as responsible for the growth of Islamists as the Congress party whose soft policy towards terror is too well known. Addressing a press conference in the national capital the other day the Chief Minister lashed out at the Islamic fundamentalist party - Popular Front of India (PFI) for its plan to turn the state into a Muslim-majority state in the next 10 to 20 years. He didn’t stop there and added that the outfit was using money and marriage of young Muslim boys with girls from other religions to achieve this goal. Under attack from the Congress and the Muslim League, VS reiterated his stand on the floor of the State Assembly saying his assessment was based on the evidence uncovered by the police during the investigations into the recent chopping off the right hand of a college lecturer T J Joseph by PFI cadres. Jospeh’s "crime" was that he allegedly blasphemed Prophet Mohammad in a question paper he prepared. Documents seized by the police from PFI hideouts disclosed that the outfit held that Islam and democracy would never go together and that Muslims getting majority in Indian Parliament was impossible. The documents, however, boasted that nobody could prevent establishment of Islamic rule in India. What was needed was activism to promote ‘prominence of Islam", according to this jehadi outfit. And we all know what they mean by "giving our blood" for this anti-democratic and anti-national cause.
Communist Chief Minister’s attack on Islamists is a bit surprising given the party’s track record of colluding with Muslim extremist outfits in search of votes in election after election. However, the unexpected support he received from his beta noir CPM state secretary Vijayan leaves one with the impression that the party as a unit has realised the gravity of the situation. Alarming information gathered by intelligence agencies has apparently rattled the party. The state administration is aware of the existence of Taliban type Kangaroo courts under benevolent sounding names like Dar-ul-khuda that run a parallel judicial system and deliver instant justice against dissenters and "enemies" of Islam. At least half a dozen gangs operate in the Malabar region of the state that is a known base of the banned SIMI. These outfits regularly change their names to avoid identification and monitoring by the intelligence agencies. These have fancy names like Karuna Foundation and Samskara Vadi. Media recently carried reports about seizure of incriminating documents from the offices of these outfits.
One would like to believe that the CPM has realised the horrible consequences of its political support to Islamist groups to divide the Muslim vote and would now change tracks. However, the Congress party doesn’t seem to have learnt any lesson from the tragic outcome of its hobnobbing with Muslim fundamentalists. The Congress has blamed the Chief Minister for defaming the Muslim community by his statement. This is nothing if not a cynical ploy to derail the public discourse on the crucial issue and to put hurdles in whatever action the state might have taken against the terror gangs. That the Congress is desperately trying to win back the Muslim vote bank is no secret. But does it behove the party that is ruling the country to defend and protect anti-national elements? Congress party’s sensitivity to Muslim sentiments is touching. How about its insensitivity to Hindu sentiments? What right has the party to blow out of proportion stray violent incidents to defame the Hindu society by calling it "Hindu terror"? This party led by a foreign born lady that is perceived to have links with Italian intelligence network has no qualms of conscience in hurting national interests in search of votes. Doesn’t it know that it is playing with fire?
It is important to remember that the PFI is the illegitimate child of the Students Islamic Front of India (SIMI)-the notorious terror gang that engineered several terror attacks in different parts of the country. SIMI that now stands banned is the outfit that issued a press statement to take responsibility for bomb blasts and went on to hurl provocative and vulgar attacks on Hindu society that are unprintable. It had sent its handout to countless media houses and persons, including this writer. No sane person can help his blood boiling while reading that obnoxious statement. In early 1990s, some activists of SIMI met at a secret hideout to launch what was then known as National Defence Force (NDF). Apprehending that intelligence agencies had discovered its roots, it changed its name to National Development Front (NDF). Malayalam newspapers duly reported that the NDF had grabbed 100 acres - mostly through illegal means - in the Muslim-dominated Malapuram district for its "Green City". This zone was inaccessible to the law enforcing agencies because of the political patronage provided to the outfit by the powers that be. Media reports had persistently talked of mysterious activities in the campus but the state government chose not to take action. Four years ago, the outfit merged itself with the PFI - the jehadi outfit that has now enormous influence in the state. Its cadres-largely belonging to the banned SIMI-have infiltrated mainstream parties, including the Church supported Kerala Congress, to get political protection for their terror-related activities.
Kerala has emerged as a hot-bed of home grown terrorism. Neither the Congress nor the Marxist can escape responsibility for their soft corner towards Islamist outfits. There are countless instances of how the jehadi outfit managed to grow because of the political patronage extended to it by both the parties. There is that infamous case of how the police raided a SIMI camps in Aluva on August 15, 2006, seized incriminating material and documents and arrested several known jehadis. All the persons arrested from the camp were later released and the case went dead. Soon, a series of bomb blasts in several parts of the country, including Bangalore, Delhi and Jaipur followed. Some of those arrested in this connection revealed that the plan to undertake blasts was finalised at the said camp. Again, four jehadis from Kerala were killed by the army while trying to cross over to PoK. Neither the Union Government nor the State Government took follow up action to trace their roots. There are credible reports that Taliban-type kangaroo courts were functioning in rural areas of the state. It is believed that one such kangaroo court was involved in the case pertaining to the chopping off a hand of the Christian lecturer. State police seized several CDs from PFI cadres depicting al-Qaeda type of torture on "enemies" and dissenters. Chopping off hands, plucking of eyes, ears and noses are some of the barbarian methods adopted by the outfit.
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