Monday, January 25, 2010

Hajj Subsidy: An Instrument of Muslim Appeasement in Indian Politics

Dr Radhasyam Brahmachari

The Indian government, outrageously contravening its Secular Constitution, spends huge sums of money to subsidize Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca as appeasement for Muslim votes...




Hajj: The fifth Pillar of Islam

Islam stands on five pillars, namely (1) Kalema or six sentences of oath to Islam, (2) Namaaj or prayer, five times a day, (3) Roja or fasting in the month of Ramadan, (4) Zakat or giving away a part of income (2.5%) for the sake of Jihad (i.e. for terrorist activities) and (5) Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Islamic Hajj, i.e. pilgrimage to Mecca, is an obligation that every able-bodied Muslim, who can afford, is expected to perform at least once in life. This ritual demonstrates the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to the Allah, the Islamic God. The Hajj occurs from the 8th to the 12th day of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

It should be mentioned here that the Hajj ritual was considered ancient even in the times of Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century AD. Islamic scriptures say that it was practiced even in the days of Ibrahim (Abraham of Bible). In ancient times, tens of thousands of pagan pilgrims used to join processions, simultaneously converging on the ancient idol-temple of Kaaba in Mecca for the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals. Many believe that initially the Kaaba was a temple of Lord Shiva, Hajj was a Hindu practice, and later on included into Islam by Prophet Muhammad. In ancient tradition, the pilgrims would walk counter-clockwise seven times about the Kaaba, a process called Tawaf, kiss the Hazr-e-Aswad (the Black Stone), then run back and forth from the Zamzam Well near the Kabah back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, then go to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, then proceed to Muzdalifah to gather appropriate pebbles, which they would throw at three pillars in Mina to perform the ritual of the “Stoning the Devil”. The pilgrims would then shave their heads, perform an animal sacrifice, and celebrate the three day global festival of Eid-ul-Adha. Muslims continue to imitate the same.

Every male Muslim, proceeding toward Mecca to perform the Hajj, must clad himself with Ihram, namely two pieces of white cloth, one to wear and the other to cover the upper part of his body and thus he enters a state called Muhrim. A person in the state of Muhrim must not tie any knots or wear any stitched items except for a money belt if it is needed. He should allow the ankle and back of foot to be exposed. Furthermore, whilst in the state of Muhrim, a Muslim must also not use any scented things at all on himself or on clothes. For women, there is no clear prescription. Women's clothing, therefore, varies considerably and reflects regional as well as religious attitudes. In general, female pilgrims clothe themselves in long white robes, covering the body from head to foot and leaving the face exposed. The simple, white Ihram clothing is indeed a Hindu practice, which is still continuing as part of the Hajj pilgrimage.

Last year (i.e. 2009 AD), an estimated 2.5 million Muslims from around the world converged on Mecca in November for the Hajj pilgrimage, of which 160,491 from India. Indian pilgrims were the first to arrive, when the Hajj Terminal opened for the season on Oct. 20, according to the Consulate General of India, who coordinated the arrangements of 115,000 pilgrims coming through the Mumbai based Hajj Committee of India. The remaining 45,491 pilgrims came through private tour operators. About 500 buildings were hired to accommodate the pilgrims in the Mecca region; 70,000 pilgrims grouped ‘green’ stayed within one kilometer from the Holy Masjid-ul-Haram (i.e. Kabaa); 13,000 grouped ‘white’ between 1 and 1.6 km from it and 32,000 others in Aziziyah. The Indian mission set up a 50-bed hospital in Mecca. About 1,100 stayed in various accommodations (Ribats) set up by erstwhile princely states of India.

Hajj subsidy spending

In 2007, the Hajj subsidy paid by the Indian government was 5.95 billion rupees and Rs. 7 billion for 2008 (Rs. 45 = US$ 1). Since 1994, the roundtrip cost to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has been fixed at Rs. 12,000 per pilgrim, and the government has footed the rest of the bill. In 2007, this difference came to Rs. 47,454 per passenger. The total Government spending for the 2009 Hajj subsidy is not yet clearly known. Many estimate that it could be as high as over 18 billion rupees (Rs. 1800 crore).

According to Hajj Committee CEO Mohammad Owais, the committee has been asked by the Ministry of External Affairs to collect Rs 12,000 from each person towards airfare. According to Owais, accepting financial assistance like subsidized airfare for Hajj pilgrimage is un-Islamic. He also believes that one should not be under any obligation while undertaking Hajj and the pilgrims should be allowed to travel by any airline of their choice. “We should be allowed to place bulk orders with the airline, which quotes the lowest price for a ticket. As of now, we are bound by the Government to travel by Air India only”, adds Mr Owais.

It should be pointed out here that considerable criticism has been leveled against this practice, both by Hindu organizations and by Muslim religious groups. However, after the filing of a Public Interest Litigation by B.N. Shukla and former BJP Rajya Sabha member Prafull Goradiyam, seeking an end to Hajj subsidies. The Supreme Court of India, although declared the practice unconstitutional, ruled that the subsidy may be continued.

History

The practice of providing subsidized airfare by the Government of India began as early as 1959, as a policy of appeasing Muslims, in contravention of the secular principle of the government. While commenting on it, Bipin Pal, in his article The Haj subsidy: A Himalayan shame, writes, “How absurd, if not sad, that India is the only country in the world that provides a subsidy to its second-biggest majority for pilgrimage to Mecca; in the pretext of her constitutional obligation (of secular) and later enacted as the Hajj Act, way back in 1959! Thanks to Janab Jawaharlal Nehru, who chose to give this gift to the second-biggest majority! Thanks to his stream of secular ideologists and India's urban English press that even after 27th May 1964 (after the Janab's demise), that they chose to remain silent on the Act that can surpass all the Constitutional provisions that can make a mockery of democratic republic India's secular image.”

In 1992, after the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya, Mr P V Narasinha Rao, the then Prime Minister of India, to cool down aggrieved Muslims, increased both the Hajj quota and amount of subsidy. It may be mentioned here that the government does not provide any such subsidy to the Hindu pilgrims, who go to visit Kailash-mansarobas in China, or to Amarnath in Kashmir or Gangasagar in West Bengal. On the contrary, the government imposes direct and indirect pilgrimage taxes on them.

Dispute

“Regarding a trip to Mecca for performing Hajj pilgrimage, the Koran is very strict and says that those who perform Hajj have to do it only from their hard-earned money. Not only that, before setting off for the Hajj, he/she must repay his/her loans and return everything he/she might have taken as deposits from others. The question of accepting a subsidized trip is totally frowned upon pious Muslims. Particularly for the Indian pilgrims, the money for subsidizing the plane fare is Kafir's money! How can a true Muslim perform Hajj pilgrimage out of the dole or tax given by Kafir's comprising of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis and Atheists. Is it not Haram? Recently, Muslim ulemas could have understood the point and expressed their opinion that accepting subsidy for the Hajj pilgrimage is un-Islamic and unethical (haram)”, according to author G K Menon. It should be mentioned here that the Chennai-based Nawab of Arcot was the only Muslim, who was most vocal on this point and campaigned to stop the subsidy. But his pleas fell on deaf ears. The matter has also created confusion amongst Indian pilgrims. However, recently a group of Muslim MPs has requested the Central Government to discontinue the Hajj subsidy, and implement other means to ease the Hajj pilgrimage.

It has been suggested that a fund (Hajj Kitti) would be created and those, who are interested to perform the pilgrimage, would deposit money on monthly or yearly installments, and would withdraw the money during the journey. In fact, the present Government, led by the Indian National Congress, is considering such an alternative as the present practice is under severe criticism as an instrument of appeasing Muslims for votes by the certain parties. A case against the present UPA Government is also pending in the Allahabad High Court moved by a Hindu nationalist leader, because offering such a financial assistance to a religious group goes directly against the secular spirit of the Indian Constitution. Many believe that the present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is determined to settle the issue within his tenure, which is going to end in 2014.

But there are indications that the dispute would continue. A spokesman of the National Hajj Committee has been reported to have said: “We are also citizens of this nation and, despite our hardships, we also pay tax to the government. We also contribute to the government exchequer. So, we have the right to enjoy government subsidies.”

But, as mentioned above, the matter is controversial even amongst Muslims. Meanwhile, K Rahman, the Vice Chairman of the Rajya Sabha has given a nod to an alternative arrangement as the Koran denounces accepting subsidy for the Hajj pilgrimage. Another influential Muslim leader, Shahid Siddiki, an MP of the Samajwadi Party, said, “Receiving Hajj subsidy is against the tenets of Islam,” adding that, except India, no other country in the world, even the Muslim countries, offer subsidy to Hajj pilgrims.

Demanding an end to the subsidy, Maulana Mehmood Madani, Rajya Sabha member and general secretary of the Jamiat-e-Ulema- e-Hind, says: “It is against the Shariat to be under any kind of obligation while undertaking Hajj. According to the Quran, only those Muslims, who can afford the expenses, should perform Hajj. It’s recommended only for adult, financially able and sane Muslims.” Others, like S Q R Ilyas, convener of the Babri Masjid Committee and a senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), says, “The Hajj subsidy a sop to gain political mileage.”

In a recent article, the renowned scholar Dr Babu Susheelan said, “Hajj subsidy is irrational, unwise and illegal. It is for appeasing Muslims. Why taxpayer money should be channeled for Muslim visit to Saudi Arabia? Every Muslims going for Hajj is required by Islam to behead an animal in the name of their desert deity Allah. Why should a secular government subsidizing Jihadis for animal slaughter? I understand that animal slaughter to please God is banned in India. Then, it is natural for the public to ask the question why subsidizing Islamic animal slaughter in the name of Allah? Visit to Mecca with government money is for advanced training on beheading. Advanced skill building will help Jihadis for beheading kafirs. It is a self-inflicted suicidal policy of the secular government.”

It should be pointed out here that, for a Muslim of India, Hajj pilgrimage is indeed an expensive affair, which only the wealthy Muslims can afford; it is unthinkable for the common and poor ones. So, proving aid to this rich and well-off section of Muslims is unethical, too. In other words, it is simply carrying coal to Newcastle. However, the Indian Government is doing that for the sake of Muslim votes. Apart from that, the government is spending huge money on Muslims and providing many other facilities to appease them, e.g. paying monthly salary to Imams of mosques, expanding madrassa education, providing quota for Government jobs, providing easy bank loans, scholarships for Muslim students, and so on and so forth. Still the government is failing to earn their loyalty.

In India, the appeasement of Muslims for the sake of vote-bank politics has reached such a point that Muslims can commit many crimes without being convicted, can break any law even in front of the law-enforcement authorities, can do any kind of violence on Hindus and the people of other community under the protection of the political parties. Not a single political party is above this mess. It has been mentioned above that BJP, known to be a Hindu nationalist party, is raising hue and cry that the present Congress Party-led Government is indulging in Muslim appeasement through the Hajj subsidy. Yet, when BJP was in power, it increased the Hajj quota and the subsidy. Moreover, previously the Hajj pilgrims had to move to Mumbai to board the planes for Jeddah. But the BJP government, spending several thousand crores of rupees, erected Hajj rest-houses in every metropolitan city and made it possible for the Hajj pilgrims to board the planes for Jeddah in their home towns.

We have seen above that, though most of the ulemas are against accepting government subsidy for the Hajj pilgrimage, yet Hajj pilgrims are happily to avail the subsidized journey to Mecca, and performing Hajj. While Muslim dignitaries are probably ashamed of disclosing the truth, a Muslim cleric, nonetheless, has conceded that a subsidized Hajj would be haraam, provided the subsidy was un-Islamic. The injunctions of the Quran are for Muslims; they do not apply to non-Muslims and others. Therefore, a Hajj, subsidized by the secular Government of India, can still be halaal, because the subsidy, offered by the kafir government, is simply a kind of spoils or mal-e-ganimat, which Almighty Allah has made legal (halaal) in the Quran for the Muslims.

To conclude, it may be said that, whatever may be arguments and counter arguments, the Hajj subsidy by the Indian Government would continue so long the politics of Muslim appeasement persists in India.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

The precious Parijata Tree

By Manju Gupta

WHEN the great deluge occurred, everything was swept under the swirling waters. Even the most precious and irreplaceable things were washed away or got submerged deep in the ocean bed. The gods decided to retrieve whatever they could by churning the ocean. It was during the churning process that the Parijata tree emerged to the surface. It was the most beautiful tree that one could have laid eyes on. Even the gods and goddesses had not seen such a beautiful tree. It had star-shaped blossoms which spread their sweet fragrance in the air around. Indra saw the tree come out of the ocean and laid his claim to it. He thought, “This is the most beautiful tree that I have ever seen. I will take it away and plant it in my kingdom before anyone else sees it.”

The other gods too had seen the tree emerge from the ocean waters but they decided not to stake a claim to it because they all knew that once Indra had set his mind on anything, nothing could stop him from possessing it, come what may. Moreover, no one wanted to annoy him as they feared that an angry Indra could either release no rain and cause a drought on earth, or else release too much water and lead to floods.

As was expected, Indra took the Parijata tree to his garden and planted it, telling his wife Sachi to take good care of it. Sachi religiously watered the tree and nurtured it as her own child. Its enticing fragrance captivated the entire kingdom of Indra.

One day Sri Krishna decided to pay a visit to Indra. Krishna and his wife Satyabhama reached Indra’s palace and on getting the fragrance waft in the air, they were drawn to the source and found the Parijata tree blossoming in full glory. Satyabhama said to Krishna, “I want this tree in our kingdom. We have all kinds of trees but none emits such a fragrance as this one does.”

Krishna tried to dissuade her, “Dear wife, how can I take something which belongs to somebody else? Moreover, Indra will never forgive me if I took his tree.”

But Satyabhama insisted and refused to relent. She persisted, “Surely you can take this Parijata tree forcibly because you are more powerful than Indra.”

A reluctant Krishna gave in to his wife’s wishes. After meeting Indra and his wife Sachi, Krishna quietly uprooted the tree when Indra and Sachi had returned to their chamber. He took the Parijata tree to Dwarka and planted it in his garden. Indra soon discovered that his precious tree was taken away by Sri Krishna. He became livid with anger and collecting his army, launched an attack on Dwarka. A fierce battle ensued and ultimately Indra was defeated. Krishna told the humiliated Indra, “The tree will remain with me as long as I am alive. After my death, you can take it away to do whatever you want with it.”

The Parijata tree blossomed in Dwarka till Krishna’s death. On the seventh day, following his death, when the city of Dwarka began to get submerged under the deluge, Indra rushed to Dwarka and uprooted the Parijata tree to plant it in his own garden. He was happy and so was his wife Sachi.

Judicial imposition of Muslim Law on a Hindu girl

By V Sundaram, IAS (Retd)

WHEN two or three years ago, the Supreme Court of India passed what I considered to be a patently illegal and unconstitutional order in a specific case, I wrote an article in these columns under the title: ‘The darkest day in India’s Legal History’.

I am constrained to use the same words again in respect of a blatantly and patently illegal order recently passed by the Calcutta High Court. It is a matter of national shame for all the Hindu women of India that the Calcutta High Court on December 17, 2009 granted the anticipatory bail plea of a 26-year-old youth from Murshidabad who had been accused of kidnapping and marrying a 15-year-old Hindu minor girl.

One Sairul Sheikh, a resident of Bakultala in Behrampore, has been accused of kidnapping and forcibly marrying a Hindu minor girl called Anita Roy. Anita’s mother Jyotsna had lodged a complaint with Behrampore Police Station that her daughter had been missing since October 14. On October 15, she came to know that Sairul Sheikh had ‘kidnapped and married’ her minor daughter.

A Division Bench of the Calcutta High court consisting of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Justice S P Talukdar allowed Sheikh’s plea after his lawyers submitted that the marriage was legal under Muslim Personal Law. Holding the marriage to be legal, the Calcutta High Court Bench granted Sheikh’s anticipatory bail application.

Even if Sairul Sheikh had married a minor Muslim girl then he would have been entitled to the full benefit of Muslim Personal Law. But he has no right to impose that Islamic law upon the Hindu men and women of India in general and Hindu minor girls in particular. He cannot claim kidnapping of a Hindu minor girl or rape of a Hindu minor girl as a legitimate ‘minority right’ under the Indian Constitution!!

The Calcutta High Court has given a new and twisted illegal interpretation to Muslim Personal Law. By denying legitimate legal relief to the Hindu minor girl Anita and her mother Jyotsna under The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 (Courtesy: Website of Ministry of Women and Child Development, GOI http://wcd.nic.in/cmr1929.htm), the Calcutta High Court has made the Hindus of India stateless non-persons similar to the status of non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia.

I fervently hope that many Hindu organisations in India would file an application to the Chief Justice of India for Public Interest Litigation in order to prevent the General Blanjet's illegal imposition of Muslim Personal Law on the Hindu citizens of India.

The standard legal dictum is that no citizen can legally claim ignorance of law as an excuse for violation of laws of the land. What is applicable to an individual is equally applicable to all our courts of Law as well. In this context let me invite the attention of the Calcutta High Court to the following provisions of The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 (19 of 1929):

Section 2 : Definitions — In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context:

(a) “Child” means a person who, if a male, has not completed twenty one years of age, and if a female, has not completed eighteen years of age ;

Section 4 : Punishment for male adult above twenty one years of age marrying a child — Whoever, being a male above twenty one years of age, contracts a child marriage shall be punishable with simple imprisonment which may extend to three months and shall also be liable to fine.

Sairul Sheikh, the accused in this case as per Muslim Personal Law is patently guilty of blatant violation of Section 4 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929. Any special Islamic privilege he might have under Muslim Personal Law cannot be invoked under this Act when the offence is committed against a Hindu minor girl.

Jagmohan Singh Khurmi, a fearless writer, has written a brilliant essay titled ‘Islamic Lust for Hindu Women: Psychological Warfare’. Let me quote his hilarious and yet sobering words here: “If these silly Bollywood Hindu film-makers think that they are actually building “secular bridges” by portraying a Muslim hero riding a Hindu woman, then they are in error. They fail to understand Islamic mindset. Even if you make all the Muslims in India superstars, in Pakistan this will not be accepted as a sign of Hindu benevolence or even a gesture of genuine ‘Congress secularism’ but as an explicit evidence of Hindu inferiority and Islamic superiority! Such is their contempt for all things Hindu.”

One woman journalist Tavleen Singh, known for her pro-Islamic stand and who at times went so far as to even justify Islamic terrorism, once got inside the Islamic house of the fanatic Dar-ul-Uloom at Deoband and for the first time in her life discovered the real nature of Islam for herself! To her horror she found that it was millions of light-years away from the rosy imagery Khushwant Singh and Romila Thapar had taught her for years. After a few minutes Tavleen Singh came out stamping her feet in fury. She was so angry that she wrote her next article under title: “If this is what secularism means, give me Hindutva.”

Finally, I cannot help quoting the beautifully apt words of Koenraad Elst: “One of the most painful aspects of Muslim demographic warfare is the open attempt by Muslims to grab non-Muslim girls to use them for their own demographic ambitions, meanwhile also inflicting a good dose of humiliation on the accursed kafirs. In Bangladesh and in Muslim-majority areas inside India, this often takes the form of simply kidnapping girls, or of threatening their families to marry them out to Muslims.”

New generation Bengali is more religious

By Asim Kumar Mitra

Bengali youths are no longer shy of asserting their religious self.

BELIEVE it or not but the fact remains that now-a-days more and more Bengali youths are getting attracted towards religion. As CPI (M) led Left Front is at the helm of affairs of West Bengal for nearly thirty two years, people living outside Bengal naturally inclined to draw a conclusion that Bengalis are, in general, atheist. Especially, Bengali youths do not have faith in religion. Sometime ago, a daily newspaper of Kolkata, had conducted a survey on this subject. Surprisingly their report hit on a completely different fact. One of the different questions the surveyors asked was: “Do you seek solace in religion?” and the answer recorded was “84 per cent YES and 16 per cent NO”.

The report headlined as Turning To God published in The Telegraph (June 4, 2006) said, “Among the devotees waiting impatiently under the sizzling summer sun is a young woman who, in slit denims and silver danglers, sticks out like a sore thumb in the mostly traditionally attired crowd. But Dia Mukherjee, 28, couldn’t care less as long as she catches a glimpse of Ma Kali before catching the evening flight to Mumbai, where she works in an advertising agency. “When I come home, I try and visit the temple at least once to get Ma’s blessings,” she says.

“Yes, it is quite true that today’s Bengali youth is no longer afraid to express his or her religious self,” says Ajoy Kumar Mitra, president of the Kalighat Temple Committee. “Compared to the previous generation, they are less inhibited and less embarrassed to appear god-loving.” And Mitra stresses that he is talking about urban, educated youth. At least one out of every two temple goers, Mitra stresses, is a youth—the footfall of the young was “a lot less”, he adds, even a decade ago.

Religion clearly is in the air. For some, it translates into ritualistic practices, and for others, it is often a way of life. Recently, “Sanskrit Bharati” a social-work institution organised ‘a ten-day Sanskrit speaking classes’ in different parts of the state. It was found that love for Sanskrit was so much that almost all the classes were over crowded. It is further noticed that a considerable portion of the participants were Bengali youths of the state.

Here there was no such undertaking given by the Institution that persons getting this training will be provided with employment. Still they are coming because they believe that only with the knowledge of Sanskrit they will be in a position to know the true Indian culture. It is the love for Indian culture that has pushed them to take such training.

But then, another startling fact came to light which said that even recently the colleges in West Bengal were planning to close the Sanskrit classes for want of students. There were 60 colleges affiliated to University of Calcutta where Sanskrit is being taught as the under-graduate level. But the fact remains that even before five years; these colleges were not getting sufficient number of students. Hence many of them started thinking to close down the department. As a consequence to this, the University of Calcutta was also not getting scheduled number of students. Sanskrit department of University of Calcutta started functioning as a full fledged Post-Graduate department of Calcutta University from 1907 and since then they had not faced any such problem. But after the advent of Left Front government in West Bengal, they simply deleted Sanskrit from the curriculum of school education. Not only that, they had started a vilification campaign against Sanskrit just to hurt the sentiments of the people who love their religion, culture and heritage. Of course, primarily the offensive came from the Congress rulers. They made Sanskrit an optional subject for the school students which was formerly a compulsory subject for them. Now these efforts have become counterproductive for them.

For whatever reasons there may be, the scenario has been totally changed and the latest report of the Sanskrit department of University of Calcutta said that the number of students in each year of M.A. 150 are there. In examinations the success rate is 94 per cent to 98 per cent. The report further says, “Among the students approximately 80 per cent are girls and more than 70 per cent of the total number of students (boys and girls) come from rural areas. About 30 per cent of the total students come from economically weaker section of the society.

Apart from this, colleges are now getting sufficient number of students. One remarkable point to note is many Muslim students are taking admission to learn Sanskrit. There are a number of Muslim teachers who teach Sanskrit in different rural schools of West Bengal.

May be, on the political arena they are always at loggerheads, but the fact remains that these teachers believe that they also belong to the same Indian culture.

Prasanta Ray, who teaches Political Science and Sociology at Presidency College, Kolkata, while reminiscing his student days, maintains that in the Sixties the ambience was different. “We were more secular. We grew up being exposed to a Marxist critique of religion – religion as a source of oppression, a justification for exploitation,” says Ray. “In fact, in Bengal education in the social sciences was modeled on the western value system —rationality, objectivity, scrutiny, and secularity.”

But there has been a change in recent times. Ray, who has been teaching for 40 years, holds that his students are a lot more religious today than they were earlier. “The secular understanding of religion is that it is basically a human creation. In my classrooms I initiate discussions on this issue. And I have noticed that the majority of students argue that there is a God,” he says. “It is now a rare experience, in fact, to have a student support for the secular point of view.”

Today’s Bengali youth is no longer afraid to express his or her religious self. They are definitely turning to God. The newspaper which had surveyed the minds of Bengali youth put forward five questions: (1) Are you religious? (2) Have you always been religious? (3) Is your family religious? (4) Do you often visit a place of worship? (5) Do you seek solace in religion? The answers received by the surveyors were astonishing if not unbelievable. Let me quote the questions and their answers:

1. Are you religious? Answer: YES 84 per cent, NO 16 per cent

2. Have you always been religious? Answer: YES 67 per cent, NO 33 per cent.

3. Is your family religious? Answer: YES 82 per cent, NO 18 per cent.

4. Do you often visit a place of worship? Answer: YES 54 per cent, NO 46 per cent.

5. Do you seek solace in religion? Answer: YES 84 per cent, NO 16 per cent.

Mitra, President, Kalighat Temple Committee, believes that the turn towards religion is a reflection of the Bengali youth’s desire to return to his or her roots. “Young Bengali intellectuals of the previous generation had by and large distanced themselves from religion,” he says.

Mitra believes that they had their reasons. The plethora of so-called gurus and godmen—from the 1960s to 1980s put people off religion, he argues. “Yesterday’s youth wanted to stay away from this brand of Hinduism. But the current generation of youngsters has realised the depth of their own ancient culture,” he says. “They see that even in the West there is great respect for eastern principles such as yoga and ayurveda, which are intrinsically associated with Hindu philosophy. So there is a growing desire among the youth to understand their own culture and religion.”

Some, like Prasanta Ray, believe that a turn towards religion underscores rising levels of insecurity in society. “Family support is dwindling. Children do not have the same network of family support that the previous generations enjoyed. They sometimes miss out on the protection of parents who work outside the home. They don’t even have a large number of siblings. And in this competitive and consumerist world today’s kids also have fewer friends.

There are so many other arguments as well. But the fact remains that the Bengali youths are turning towards God, is a pleasant feature of our social life. Hence the need of hour is to stand united to protect our culture and society and youths should be motivated towards that.

Jyoti Basu: The rise and fall of WB

By Kanchan Gupta

Did Jyoti Basu, who never smiled in public lest he was accused of displaying human emotions, ever spare a thought for those who suffered terribly during his rule? Was he sensitive to the plight of those who were robbed of their lives, limbs and dignity by the lumpen proletariat which kept him in power? Did his heart cry out when women health workers were gang-raped and then two of them murdered by his party cadre on May 17, 1990 at Bantala on the eastern margins of Kolkata?

HAD it been Jyoti Banerjee lying unattended in a filthy general ward of SSKM Hospital in Kolkata and not Jyoti Basu in the state-of-the-art ICCU of AMRI Hospital, among the swankiest and most expensive super-speciality healthcare facilities in West Bengal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would not have bothered to arrange for a video-conference for top doctors at AIIMS to compare notes with those attending on the former Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Jyoti Banerjee, like most of us, spent his working life paying taxes to the Government. Jyoti Basu spent the better part of his life living off tax-payers’ money — the conscience of the veteran Marxist was never pricked by the fact that he appropriated for himself a lifestyle shunned by his comrades and denied to the people of a State whose fate he presided over for a quarter century. Kalachand Roy laid what we know today as Odisha to waste in the 16th century; Jyoti Basu was the 20th century’s Kala Pahad who led West Bengal from despair to darkness, literally and metaphorically.

Uncharitable as it may sound, but there really is no reason to nurse fond memories of Jyoti Basu. In fact, there are no fond memories to recall of those days when hopelessness permeated the present and the future appeared bleak. Entire generations of educated middle-class Bengalis were forced to seek refuge in other States or migrate to America as Jyoti Basu worked overtime to first destroy West Bengal’s economy, chase out Bengali talent and then hand over a disinherited State to Burrabazar traders and wholesale merchants who overnight became ‘industrialists’ with a passion for asset-stripping and investing their ‘profits’ elsewhere. A State that was earlier referred to as ‘Sheffield of the East’ was rendered by Jyoti Basu into a vast stretch of wasteland; the Oxford English Dictionary would have been poorer by a word had he not made ‘gherao’ into an officially-sanctioned instrument of coercion; ‘load-shedding’ would have never entered into our popular lexicon had he not made it a part of daily life in West Bengal though he ensured Hindustan Park, where he stayed, was spared power cuts. It would have been churlish to grudge him the good life had he not exerted to deny it to others, except of course his son Chandan Basu who was last in the news for cheating on taxes that should have been paid on his imported fancy car.

Let it be said, and said bluntly, that Jyoti Basu’s record in office, first as Deputy Chief Minister in two successive United Front Governments beginning 1967 (for all practical purposes he was the de facto Chief Minister with a hapless Ajoy Mukherjee reduced to indulging in Gandhigiri to make his presence felt) and later as Chief Minister for nearly 25 years at the head of the Left Front Government which has been in power for 32 years now, the “longest elected Communist Government” as party commissars untiringly point out to the naïve and the novitiate, is a terrible tale of calculated destruction of West Bengal in the name of ideology. It’s easy to criticise the CPI(M) for politicising the police force and converting it into a goons brigade, but it was Jyoti Basu who initiated the process. It was he who instructed them, as Deputy Chief Minister during the disastrous UF regime, to play the role of foot soldiers of the CPI(M), first by not acting against party cadre on the rampage, and then by playing an unabashedly partisan role in industrial and agrarian disputes.

The fulsome praise that is heaped on Jyoti Basu today — he is variously described by party loyalists and those enamoured of bhadralok Marxists as a ‘humane administrator’ and ‘farsighted leader’ — is entirely misleading if not undeserving. Within the first seven months of the United Front coming to power, 43,947 workers were laid off and thousands more rendered jobless as factories were shut down following gheraos and strikes instigated and endorsed by him. The flight of capital in those initial days of emergent Marxist power amounted to Rs 2,500 million. In 1967, there were 438 ‘industrial disputes’ involving 165,000 workers and resulting in the loss of five million man hours. By 1969, there were 710 ‘industrial disputes’ involving 645,000 workers and a loss of 8.5 million man hours. That was a taste of things to come in the following decades. By the time Jyoti Basu demitted office, West Bengal had nothing to boast of except closed mills and shuttered factories; every institution and agency of the State had been subverted under his tutelage; and, the civil administration had been converted into an extension counter of the CPI(M) with babus happy to be used as doormats.

After every outrage, every criminal misdeed committed by Marxist goons or the police while he was Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu would crudely respond with a brusque “Emon to hoyei thaakey” (or, as Donald Rumsfeld would famously say, “Stuff happens!”). He did not brook any criticism of the Marich Jhapi massacre by his police in 1979 when refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan were shot dead in cold blood. Till date, nobody knows for sure how many died in that slaughter for Jyoti Basu never allowed an independent inquiry. Neither did the man whose heart bled so profusely for the lost souls of Nandigram hesitate to justify the butchery of April 30, 1982 when 16 monks and a nun of the Ananda Marg order were set ablaze in south Kolkata by a mob of Marxist thugs. The man who led that murderous lot was known for his proximity to Jyoti Basu, a fact that the CPI(M) would now hasten to deny. Nor did Jyoti Basu wince when the police shot dead 13 Congress activists a short distance from Writers’ Building on July 21, 1993; he later justified the police action, saying it was necessary to enforce the writ of the state. Yet, he wouldn’t allow the police to act every time Muslims ran riot, most infamously after Mohammedan Sporting Club lost a football match.

Did Jyoti Basu, who never smiled in public lest he was accused of displaying human emotions, ever spare a thought for those who suffered terribly during his rule? Was he sensitive to the plight of those who were robbed of their lives, limbs and dignity by the lumpen proletariat which kept him in power? Did his heart cry out when women health workers were gang-raped and then two of them murdered by his party cadre on May 17, 1990 at Bantala on the eastern margins of Kolkata? Or when office-bearers of the Kolkata Police Association, set up under his patronage, raped Nehar Banu, a poor pavement dweller, at Phulbagan police station in 1992? “Emon to hoyei thaakey,” the revered Marxist would say, and then go on to slyly insinuate that the victims deserved what they got.

As a Bengali, I grieve for the wasted decades but for which West Bengal, with its huge pool of talent, could have led India from the front. I feel nothing for Jyoti Basu.

A cultural Taliban in secular India

—VS

I proudly assert my inalienable, indivisible, immutable, and inexorable constitutional right to be a practicing Hindu. Yet, seeing the conduct of E Ahmed, Union Minister of State for Railways, at a recent public function organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Chennai, I am constrained to raise these questions.

Are we living in Islamic Pakistan? Are we living in Islamic Bangladesh? Or are we living in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan? Let me move from this macrocosm to the microcosm. Are we living in the Muslim-majority Malappuram District of Kerala, rightly described by some journalists as a mini-Pakistan in India?

I am raising these issues because the Union Minister of State for Railways, Ahmed who recently participated at a public seminar on ‘Status of Infrastructure’, organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Chennai refused to light the kuthuvilakku as a traditional and well-established part of the inaugural ceremony. The Union Minister caught the other dignitaries and the organisers of the function off guard when he declined to accept the candle offered to him to light the kuthuvilakku on the podium. It is reliably understood that one of the organisers told the Press that the Minister refused to light the lamp because it is an un-Islamic action. It is understood that the Minister told some of the helpless and totally clueless organisers; “The Muslim community does not light lamps. It is against Shariah, the code which governs Islam.”

I understand that some time back, PK Kunhalikutty, a Muslim League leader who was Kerala’s Industries Minister, courted controversy when he refused to light the lamp while inaugurating a State function at Thiruvananthapuram. The famous playback singer K J Yesudas who was also one of the guests at the same function, walked out protesting against it.

The Cheraman Mosque, Kodungallur in Kerala has an ancient oil lamp which always burns and which is believed to be more than a thousand years old.Every day people of all religions bring oil for the lamp as offering. This is one of the few mosques in Kerala which allow entry for people of other religions. In recent years, the mosque has observed vidyarambham, a Hindu initiation ritual marking the beginning of a child’s learning. I am mentioning this so that Union Minister E Ahmed can use his authority for getting a fatwa issued against the managers of this ancient Mosque for violating the tenets of Islam!!

The anti-Hindu ways of Ahmed were very well known in Kerala even before he became the Union Minister of State for Railways. After becoming the Union Minister of State for Railways, he is functioning like a Mughal chieftain. Many organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have already publicly condemned this Hindu-hating Minister for having issued instructions to Railways officers not to do ‘Ganesha Puja’, breaking of coconut, etc before starting of new trains, inauguration of tracks, bridges, etc. He has banned lighting of traditional oil lamps during inaugurations. Likewise, garlanding of trains, anointing them with sandal paste, sindoor, etc. have also been banned. Railway stations have been discouraged against doing puja to electronic panels etc. during ‘Vijayadashami’ and ‘Durga Puja’.

Finally, he has ordered the closure of temples in Railway compounds and is planning their demolition. This anti-Hindu move of Ahmed has caused deep religious resentment and intense anger among the 25 lakh strong railway staff and Hindus at large. I am presenting below the shining symbols of Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma which have been deliberately denigrated by Ahmed!!

While crores are being spent on ‘Haj’ even basic amenities are not being provided to the eight crore plus Sabarimala pilgrims, by the Indian Railways. These Hindu pilgrim are treated as stateless persons by the Ministry of Railways! VHP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan has described this anti-Hindu attitude of this despicable anti-Hindu Union Minister as a threat and challenge to Hinduism. He has rightly charged E Ahmed of communalising a national asset like Railways. He called for immediate restoration of the withdrawn ancient Indian customs and traditions, failing which RSS and VHP will launch nationwide massive agitations. I spoke to a very important VHP leader from Kerala to know more about the blatantly anti-Hindu ways of E Ahmed. He said: “What more can be expected from E Ahmed who is allegedly close to a jehadi suspect in the Bengaluru blasts and who is hiding in Gulf, thanks to Ahmed and the UPA Government!”

Seeing the conduct and opposition of this Union Minister to the lighting of kuthuvilakku at a public function in Chennai, I am reminded of the savage manner in which the Talibans of Afghanistan destroyed the two 6th century statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan Valley in the Hazarajat region of Central Afghanistan

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Was the US Senate Attack on Hinduism an isolated Instance?

Article by: Rajiv Malhotra, USINPAC Leadership Committee Member

The US Senate has a long tradition of opening with Bible prayers, occasionally extending a symbolic courtesy to prayers of other faiths. For the first time in its history a Hindu priest was invited to conduct the opening prayer. Indian-Americans, having contributed immensely to America, naturally felt proud to be afforded equal respect alongside other American religions. But the Hindu prayer was attacked as an “abomination” by hate-filled heckling that resulted from an organized mobilization by civic groups such as the American Family Association attempting, to demonize Hinduism as heathen, immoral and dangerously un-American. The President of the Family Research Council mobilized Americans to block the Hindu priest, saying, “There is no historic connection between America and the polytheistic creed of Hinduism.” David Barton, one of the scholars informing the attackers, declared that Hinduism was “not a religion that has produced great things in the world," citing social conditions in India as proof of its primitiveness.

The denigration of Hinduism influences the way Americans relate to Indians. Andrew Rotter, an American historian, in his book on the US foreign policy’s tilt against India and towards Pakistan during the Nehru era, cites declassified documents revealing US presidents’ and diplomats’ suspicions of Hinduism. They regarded “Hindu India” as lacking morality and integrity, and its “grotesque images” reminded them of previous pagan faiths conquered by Christians, such as Native Americans. American ideas about India are intertwined with stereotypes about Hinduism.

There are domestic implications concerning the diaspora as well. The great American meritocracy has enabled us to succeed as individuals, and many Indians see American Jews as a role model. But it took the Jews over half a century of organized lobbying and litigation by organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, to establish their religious identity in public life. The lesson Jews had learnt in the European Holocaust was that their individual success could easily be used against them if their civilizational identity was defamed. Indians also faced hate crimes in New Jersey when the Dotbusters targeted Hindus. Recent rants by Pat Buchanan and Lou Dobbs generate xenophobia against Indians for “stealing” jobs from “real” (i.e. white Judeo-Christian) Americans. As Indian-Americans stand out for their individual success, while US economic standards deteriorate, we may one day regret having neglected the projection of a positive civilizational image. Unlike many other ethnic and religious groups, we have not adequately engaged US universities, schools, media and think-tanks deeper than the pop culture layer of cuisine, Bollywood and fashions. On the contrary, many Indian writers have fed the “caste, cows, curry” images of India.

Hindu-Americans need to be educated on the history of American public religion and the “American way” of claiming one’s religious identity across the spectrum of liberals and conservatives. In fact, even liberal Americans have always been a very Christian people. Hilary Clinton’s devout Christianity has shaped her liberalism. She told New York Times that her Methodist faith has been “a huge part of who I am, and how I have seen the world and what I believe in, and what I have tried to do in my life.” She carries a Bible on her campaign travels and confidently quotes from St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley, the father of Methodism. Another liberal, Barak Obama, proudly projects his Christianity and delivers many of his key campaign speeches before church congregations. It comes as a surprise to many secular Indians that the very liberal President Jimmy Carter describes himself as a Bible evangelist, and asserts that his Christian faith provided the moral compass to guide his presidency.

Liberalism in America is about egalitarian economic and race policies, and is not a rejection or even a departure from the nation’s majority religion, i.e. Christianity. The equivalent scenario would be for India’s CPM leaders (the liberal/left equivalent of Obama, Clinton and Carter) to quote Hindu sacred texts and deliver campaign speeches in major Hindu temples. While American labor unions have always been very deeply rooted in Christianity, India’s labor unions are encouraged to discard the Hindu identity. Unlike in Europe, American public life has never abandoned its deep rooted Christian foundations. America’s separation of state and church affects only formal institutions, and does not imply de-Christianizing the leadership or the national ethos.

Indian intellectuals have misunderstood America’s Christian psyche because the Indian notion of secularism in India is very different to that of the Amerrican. Indian secularism requires distancing from the majority religion, i.e. Hinduism, by one or more of the following ways: by espousing a “generic spirituality” without any specific religious identity, by condemning any Hindu identity as a mark of communalism with BJP links, or by explicitly blaming Hinduism for all sorts of human rights problems. The equivalent situation would be to blame the Bible for all the US abuses in Guantanamo and in its domestic society, and to de-Christianize America into a sort of generic spirituality. While Hinduism, like all other world religions, does have social problems, it also has internally generated reformations, as well as immense resources to deal with the human condition.

Unraveling this requires understanding Hinduphobia’s nexus in the American academy and seminaries. This is the subject of a well-researched eye-opening new book, titled, Invading the Sacred: An analysis of Hinduism Studies in America. (See: www.invadingthesacred.com for details.) The book exposes influential scholars who have disparaged the Bhagavad Gita as “a dishonest book”; declared Ganesha’s trunk a “limp phallus”; classified the Hindu Devi as the “mother with a penis” and Shiva as “a notorious womanizer” who incites violence in India; pronounced Sri Ramakrishna a pedophile who sexually molested the young Swami Vivekananda; condemned Indian mothers as being less loving of their children than white women; and interpreted the bindi as a drop of menstrual fluid and the “ha” in sacred mantras as a woman’s sound during orgasm. To understand the hatred spewed at us by the Senate hecklers one needs to understand the systemic creation and distribution of such one-sided “data” by an army of “scholars” whose mission is to bolster the image of Hinduism as a danger to the American way of life.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live
or how much money you have
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It dosen’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here
I want to know if you will still stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back

It dosen’t interest me where or with whom
you have studied
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
When all else falls away

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments

Thursday, January 14, 2010

HINDRAF appeals to NRIs at Pravasi Bharatiya

Conference to save Malaysians of Indian origin
By Pramod Kumar

Some extremist Muslims protested the existence of a 100-year old Hindu temple. They slaughtered a cow, took its head, paraded and stomped that to insult the Hindus. More surprising is that the Home Minister of Malaysia held a joint press conference with the Muslim protesters and justified their action. Officially, Malaysia is a secular republic but practically the Prime Minister and even the opposition parties openly call it an Islamic country.

Hindu Rights Action Force, (HINDRAF), the organisation fighting for the cause of Malaysian Hindus, appealed to the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) attending the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas International Conference in New Delhi to pressurise the Malaysian government to stop human rights violation of Hindus there, start long-term programmes to correct their marginalisation and also stop prosecution of the HINDRAF leaders.

The Malaysian Indian Minority & Human Rights Violations Annual Report 2009, prepared and circulated by HINDRAF Makkal Sakthi (HMS) at the Conference in New Delhi on January 7, also urged the NRIs to persuade the Government of India to immediately terminate all Malaysian companies’ projects in India especially by PLUS, GAMUNDA IJN, SCOMI and other UMNO-linked companies undertaking road works, highway projects, monorail and other projects.

HINDRAF urged the Government of India to impose trade sanctions on Government of Malaysia until all atrocities and injustices against the Malaysian Indians are stopped. The Malaysian Hindus also want India to stop buying Malaysian Palm oil, stop investment in Malaysia, stop all Indian IT professionals to work in Malaysia, stop all medical seats offered by it to Malaysia on a government to government basis with immediate effect and the same be granted directly to the Malaysian Indian students to be handled directly by the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

The HINDRAF further appealed to all the participants of the Conference: "Upon return to your countries of residence especially in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, kindly lobby your local Members of Parliament, policy and decision makers, European Parliament, United Nations, International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, United Nations Security Council, NGOs and international community to register their protest and take action against the atrocities against the minority Indians in Malaysia.

Hindus living in Malaysia since four or five generations are today living very miserable condition. They are being denied even the basic human rights and are everyday victimised by racist and religious extremists. "The Government of Malaysia has not only robbed them of their fundamental rights but continues to deny equal opportunities in every facet of life. The complete neglect of the conditions of Indian Malaysians has resulted in large scale dispossession and marginalisation of the majority of Hindus. The ruling coalition in Malaysia dominated by United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) runs a racist, Muslim religious extremist and Malay supremacist government. By explicit state policies the Hindus are excluded from the national mainstream development of Malaysia and they are systematically denied equality and equal opportunities," the report alleged.

Highlighting the miserable condition of HINDUS in Malaysia Shri P Uthayakumar, legal adviser of the Hindraf, said everyday there is some report in three Tamil dallies that any temple, burial ground, Tamil school or any Indian settlement is being demolished, relocated, rearranged or about to be demolished in some parts of the country against the wishes of the marganalised Hindus. More painful is that the land on which these schools or temples are relocated is mostly the waste land under high tension electrical cables or near a drain.

Forced religious conversions and religious intolerance are evidence of creeping Islamisation of Malaysia. Whenever there is a crossing between Islam and Hinduism, there is a tendency for the Islamic perspective to dominate regardless of the merit of the case. This can be seen in several cases of Hindus who found themselves or their children forcibly converted and are not able to reverse the process. "This is an area where clearly minority rights are being trampled upon. Students are converted to Islam in schools even without informing them. The case of Smt S Banggarma is the burning example of forced conversion. She was converted to Islam when she was a child of seven years and was staying at a welfare home and then she was given a Muslim name Siti Hasnah Vangarama Abdulla. She came to know of this conversion when she applied for registeration of her marriage to Sockalingam which was conducted as per the Hindu rituals. Even the birth of her two children was not registered. If a Hindu is running a shop in a Muslim locality, suddenly the licence of his shop is cancelled and is renewed only if he converts to Islam," points out Shri Uthayakumar while talking to Organiser.

Recently, some extremist Muslims protested the existence of a 100-year old Hindu temple. They slaughtered a cow, took it's head and paraded and stomped that to insult the Hindus. More surprising is that the Home Minister of Malaysia held a joint press conference with the Muslim protesters and justified their action. Officially, Malaysia is a secular republic but practically the Prime Minister and even the opposition parties openly call it an Islamic country. The Hindus who convert to Islam do not face much difficultly and become son of the soil. That is why there is large population of Hindus who are Muslim in official record but live as Hindu. The condition of Chinese, Christians and Buddhists is better than Hindus.

According to the report, about 70 per cent of the Hindus in Malaysia have been made or remain in the hardcore poor and working class group with 90 per cent being under the daily or monthly wage-earning category. The poverty is arising from exclusion of the racist religious extremist system-exclusion from proper basic life facilities, from education at all levels, from economic, social and cultural development programmes, from equal opportunities in employment to name few areas. This is all executed with intent, as there seems to be no desire whatsoever to correct them.

The HINDRAF has listed 15 categories of human rights violations of Hindus there. These include education, land issues for public purposes, basic citizen rights or birth certificates and national identity documents and citizenship, poverty, housing, suicides, involvement in crime and extra-judicial killings of Indian suspected criminals, federal government’s poverty eradication and social development programmes, licence and permits for trade and regulated occupations, government contracts and entrepreneur development programmes, law, justice and the federal constitution, government fund allocations in federal government budget, state sponsorship of racism, forced religious conversion and opposition political parties.

Those who raised these issues of serious human rights violation were not only arrested and detained without trial but were tortured very mercilessly. It happened in the case of Shri P Uthayakumar and Shri M Manoharan who led the HINDRAF rally against these violations. They were detained without trial under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) for 514 days. Though they have now been released, the Malaysian Government is attempting to prosecute Shri P Uthayakumar for sedition. He, if convicted, can be sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.

"The force of the police, the Attorney General’s chambers, the judiciary and the civil service are stacked up against the Indians in Malaysia. Where else can we raise these issues and complaints in persuit of a more just, equitable and fair society if not at this Pravasi Bharatiya International Conference," the report said. The HINDRAF has also been declared outlaw in October 2008 though there is no indication of any threat by it to any facet of Malaysian life, other than that it represents effectively the oppressed and marginalised Indians.

The opposition political parties of Malaysia too disappointed the Hindus there. They rode to victory in the general elections of 2008 on the issue of ‘Makkal Sakthi’, the rallying call of HINDRAF, but they have now literally abandoned their cause. So, there is no hope from the political parties too. "Several incidents relating to demolition of Hindu temples, Hindu burial grounds and Indian traditional settlements and Indian squatter settlements and denying state hand to the above and also to Tamil schools by the state governments run by even these opposition parties demonstrated the true position of the opposition political parties and the few Hindu representatives in those parties," the report said. Though all the political parties and even the ruling party have given representation to some Hindus, they are just showpiece especially to show the foreign representatives.

Why Islamic banking is not acceptable in India

By Subramanian Swamy

Islamic scholars argue that payment of interest is a bane on the society. What are the alternatives especially example, for old-aged people who live on the interest from deposits of their lifelong savings, if interest is prohibited? How will banks survive without charging interest on loans extended?

An Islamic banks cannot charge interest, but then what does it do to survive? By giving by one hand, and taking away twice as much or more by the other hand! Let us take an example: If you want to purchase a house worth Rs 10 lakh an Islamic bank will not give you a loan of Rs 10 lakh at a rate of interest and fixed maturity as non-Islamic banks would. Instead the Islamic banks will purchase the house and sell it to you at a higher price! This means they will make a profit and such profit is called halal, as per Sharia! They will ask you to pay this back in say 15 years or so. Of course, interest-free. This is back-door collection of interest.

Thus, an Islamic bank is like a boiled ice cream; it cannot exist in real life without tricking our confidence.

An Islamic bank, or even NBFC, that operates in India, would violate at least the following laws, rules and regulations:

Partnership Act (1932), which stipulates a maximum of 20 partners, since KSIDC says it will be an open partnership between it and private investors without limit.

Wagering (not permitted under Sharia) as per Section 30 of Indian Contract Act (1872).

Sections 5(b) & (c), 9 and 21 of Banking Regulation Act (1949) on prohibition of profit-sharing, buying and selling property, and for not charging interest.

RBI Act (1934)

Negotiable Instruments Act (1881)

Co-operative Societies Act (1961)

Islamic banks will not be permitted by Sharia to give loans for liquor manufacture, cinema, hotel, entertainment industry, etc. These however are under current laws of India legitimate and legal activities. When the government is a partner in the NBFC (as proposed in Kerala), how can an NBFC, which is partnered by KSIDC, deny loans for such legitimate activities, without violating Article 14 of the Constitution, a fundamental right of equality before the law?

It is clear that Islamic bank or NBFC cannot be started in India without violating numerous laws and regulations. Can Kerala legislature amend the laws to make it Islam-compliant? Not possible because under Article of the Constitution 246 only the central government is empowered to change banking and financial statutes. Moreover, Article 27 explicitly bars using tax money with government for furthering any religion.

The G.O issued by the Kerala government explicitly states that the Islamic bank and NBFC would be Sharia-complaint.

Why then is the CPM-led Kerala government so keen? Because the government of Kerala, through KSIDC, is out to placate Muslim voters by promising Islamic bank, voters that the Nandigram incident in West Bengal drove away from CPM. This shows how bogus is CPM’s commitment to what they call secularism.

And why does the Congress not protest? Because they do not want to annoy rich Dubai-based industrialists and hawala operators. Moreover, since the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary TKA Nair is the Chairman of the KSIDC, and Dr Manmohan Singh believes that Muslims must get first charge on our resources, they are keeping silence, much as Bhisma and Drona kept quiet when Draupadi was disrobed. Hence, now patriots in Kerala must rise and protest to save Kerala from fast-creeping Islamisation. And rest of India must help.

Iran: Women banned from wearing make-up on TV

TEHRAN: Iranian women should no longer be allowed to wear make-up when they appear on state television, according to a senior Iranian executive cited by the reformist Etemad newspaper. "Make-up (worn) by women during television programmes is illegal and against Islamic Sharia law ... There should not be a single case," said the head of the state broadcaster IRIB Ezatollah Zarghami, during a conference of network directors.

Zarghami, a former member of the Revolutionary Guards, has been re-appointed by the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He also stated that female guests should appear on TV shows "preferably" hosted by women.

Zarghami said that network directors should also prohibit "repulsive jokes" between men and women on television or radio.

According to media reports, women on Iranian TV do not expose their hair and wear heavy make-up.

Iran’s state television has eight TV channels and 15 radio stations.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Failed gods

The Times Of India
06 January 2010

Tarun Vijay


When the son you sent to Australia with dreamy eyes returns dead in a bag kept in cargo, what will you say about the ministers who tweet away their time when the motherland's children are being assassinated just for being Indians?

I haven't seen anger or sincerity on the part of the governance or any political leader coming out strongly to teach these Aussies a lesson they will not forget. Why? There was an unfortunate Australian family killed in Orissa and the entire white world stood up in unison, even threatening severing of diplomatic ties. What happens now when an Indian, one of us, is killed by Australians? And Nitin Garg is not the first Indian to be attacked -- he died without anyone helping him -- and Indians in Australia believe the Australian government will do nothing to stop these attacks as racism is too deeply ingrained in their system. Indians are welcome as money providers to their educational industry but not as equally respected humans.

What comes first? Money or izzat -- the self-pride? I would prefer sleeping half fed rather than losing my pride and freedom. Make money but with your spine intact is the mantra for any civil society's progress.

If just money made nations, Qatar, Brunei and Liechtenstein would have been the greatest ones. Those making a hyperbole of various states' growth rates must remember this. India is passing through an identity crisis fuelled by the failed gods who don high positions and use it not for enhancing public morale and material power but for their personal benefits as the rai bahadurs of the British colonial era did.

If the people are insecure, the society has lost pride in its heritage, a state power makes it obligatory to be low on the fundamental content that gives an identity to the nation and its people, there is no collective memory of the joys and pains of the past and a resolve to take revenge on the barbaric wrongdoers, the new generation is taught alien values that make it almost hate its own indigenous traditions, then a platform called desire can be built like Dubai and San Diego, but not a nation.

The thing that makes a society radiant with a civilization dating back to thousands of years takes a millennium to create. It presents a history of one people, one land. A history of ups and downs, of victors and the vanquished, but all those share one vision and one ancestry woven with different threads and colours. That's us, as Hindus, no matter what you or someone down in your family chose any stream of faith or another name of a god. How does it matter? Why should a change in faith reflect in the change of my ancestors and heritage? It's impossible by any stretch of imagination or social engineering. It's sinfully barbaric surgery if one enforces the deletion of the past with the change of faith.

Here is a republic that celebrates its new-found status through the instrument of denying its past and disapproving its hoary traditions. So much has been the pressure of its state power that even those organizations which were once created singularly for Hindu rejuvenation and to defeat the assaulters are now singing a "secular" anthem of building roads and praising NREGA. What a fight these gods with feet of clay fought!

The gods of media, corporate world, bureaucracy and of course politics thrive on one mantra: "Have money, will be happy." How false!

It's the state of mind that makes one happy or sad and not the money. A boring repetition of an old saying. Annihilate the terrorists, ensure safety and izzat to the brand "Indian" everywhere on this globe. Then tweeting any lines and singing "blue moon" songs may look justifiable.

Here are a set of people who enjoy political supremacy and jump the queue to get into a Kumbh for a photo op, visit Tirupati, prostrate before the King of Ayodhya, but do absolutely nothing to serve the cause of those places of highest reverence that quintessentially make a Bharatvarsha. They go on destroying the bridge Rama built, do nothing to rebuild Ayodhya, never for a passing reference give the Kumbh a high place in their travel and cultural advisories and ad campaigns and instead use the pictures of the half-clad bathing devotees and naked sadhus as a tool to take a dig at a society that feeds these power centres.

This state filled with an intense hatred for anything Hindu comprises of the instruments of information, entertainment, constitutional authority and workstations of profit. A very small example is of the encroachment clearance by the noble-hearted law enforcer "secular" authorities -- all parties and all shades of courageous leaders included.

They raze a hundred, sometimes more, roadside Hindu temples. Fine sir, law's supremacy must be maintained. But never ever would they dare to touch the adjacent structure of a maulvi's weird imagination. A dargah, a place of Islamic worship, built right in the middle of the huge square, next to a military installation, inside an international airport, over a bridge, all are allowed because the state power recognizes the continuity of the invaders' legacy -- don't touch them. Only the "heathens and pagans and infidels" are to be taught law.

They all ensure that the cause they are taking up doesn't involve any one who is a "borne secular". Hence Rizwan's case was taken up, Not Rajneesh's case. Hence Ruchika case becomes a do or die matter, rightly and I too joined it. But why Ameena Yusuf's case was left untouched? Because nothing should be done in any case where a non-Hindu stands a chance to be put in the question box?

So a dargah can't be touched, a Qutub Minar, built after demolishing Hindu temples, as the board of the Archeological Survey of India pronounces at the site, should be saved and Metro route be changed, but Ram Sethu must be destroyed to earn hot money.

And then we celebrate a Republic Day, under the shadow of a structure that was built not for those who fought for Indian independence but for those who lived and died for the British empire. They call it a part of their heritage and say wow, what a great India Gate!!

I see the blood of the patriotic Indians beneath it. My fault?

Where is the structure in the memory of Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfakullah Khan, Hanifuddin, Vikram Batra or Abdul Hameed on New Delhi's Rajpath?
Why are we made to bow our head before the memorial of those who protected the colonial power?

Terrorists are escaping, terror nations are threatening us and we are smiling and making gestures of friendship. Is that secularism good for a nation's security?

Recognise the fact that it was the Hindu majority that opted for a republic that was not a Hindu state. It was a Hindu majority that ensured with no obligation equal rights to every Indian without considering what their faith or way of worship is. The Hindus happily chose non-Hindu heads of state, accepted a Christian to run the nation de facto without a murmur and put their destiny in the hands of those who belonged to a different stream of religion. Where on this planet would you find such large-heartedness and an unbelievable level of trust in human beings without caring which colour or faith they belong to? America? UK? Germany? China?

That's the state of the state we call a secular republic.

So our gods have done this so far.

More than a quarter of Indians live below a line the state calls the line of poverty. It means living at less than Rs 20 per day. There are analysts who say such people comprise more than 40% of the population.

The secular state so far hasn't been able to provide good roads, a functional and trustworthy public health system, an uninterrupted power supply to non-VIP sections of society, an administration at least with a little less corruption, and basic amenities of water to villagers. And we have travelled six decades of "secular" governance.

So the question is what republic are we going to celebrate this 26th January? The republic of the alienated billionaires of the parliament and corporate class? Of the childish sections of the media?

Celebrating a republic that boasts of ministers who are not known for their performance in the department they are supposed to work but for tweeting and eating away cattle feed and murdering their assistants?

The story of the Indian republic is fast becoming a story of failed gods. The beginning of 2010 gave us stories like Indians being sold as cattle in Saudi Arabia, Indians being stabbed to death in Australia for just being Indian, Indians being killed in India for being patriotic Indians, and a Lilliputian government gifting another salt bag in the form of a Saghir Ahmad report to Kashmiri Hindus who are forced to observe their exile's second decade this 19th January. The only way out is strengthening the people's power to throw out the false gods and establish a rule reflecting the true spirit of the republic.

Monday, January 4, 2010

PIL against Islamic bank

By S Chandrasekhar

The CPM hell-bent on pampering extremist and jehadi elements has taken great interest to create Islamic Bank, backed by Gulf based NRIs who are the main links in drug trade, counterfeit currency rackets, hawala transactions, etc.

Janata Party President Subramaniam Swamy, whose intervention, in the Supreme Court, stayed destruction of the ‘Ram Sethu’, has done it again. In a Public Interest Litigation filed at the Kerala High Court, he has demanded scrapping of the ‘Islamic Bank’, proposed to come up with finance from Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, a Government of Kerala undertaking.

The CPM hell-bent on pampering extremist and jehadi elements has taken great interest to create Islamic Bank, backed by Gulf based NRIs who are the main links in drug trade, counterfeit currency rackets, hawala transactions, etc. The CPM is a major recipient of hawala money and top leaders have multi-crore operations in the Gulf. The Islamic Bank is a hawala route for anti-national operations.

Swamy in his ‘PIL’ has contended that public money is being appropriated for favouring a particular religion in a secular country, as KSIDC has 11 per cent stake in the multi-crore bank. “The Govt. of Kerala participation is clear instance of State favouring a particular religion. The Bank will be as per Sharia laws and hence ‘GoK’ is identified with Islamic Sharia. This is violative of Article 14 and 25 of Constitution which promises equality before law and right to freedom of religion. It is scandalous and dangerous for the country and worse since CPM is promoting it. Islamic Bank is violative of Banking Regulation Act of 1949. Moreover a 7 Judge bench of the Supreme Court has ordered that no public money should be used for promoting institutions of a particular religion.”

The Division Bench of Kerala HC has postponed the case to January 2010 for hearing.