By Antony Kuriakose
THE most prominent indigenous Hindu is Kanaksi Khimji. The great consideration Oman has towards Hindus in Oman, is largely due to the Khimjis—a powerful business family, that has great say in the various ministries of the country. In fact the world’s only Hindu Sheikh is Kanaksi Khimji, the head of Khimji Ramdas Group of Companies, as the title was granted by the Sultan of Muscat to him. His grandfather came to Oman in 1870 and since then the Khimjis have prospered.
The present head of the family happens to be an uncompromising vegetarian, his devotion is anchored to Lord Shreenathji, and though his admired entrepreneurship branches out across the globe, his roots lie in Gujarat. His business acumen is so well recognised, that, the Sultan of Oman gave his yacht Lo’Lo’ to this person of Indian origin, for developing tourism business in the Sultanate. Dressed in a flowing full-length robe and wearing the kaffiyeh, the cloth that covers the head, Khimji easily passes off as an Omani. When he married in 1960, Khimji was presented with a silver jug by Sultan Said Taimur Bin Faisal. The queen mother, Bibi Mahezun, had given him two of her photographs, a privilege accorded to only a few. His firm is a leading corporate house in Oman. It represents over 100 global brands in a wide spectrum of businesses and services in that Gulf nation. Thanks to the pioneering spirit of Kanaksi Khimji in education, there are now 14 Indian schools in Oman, with 17,000 NRI students pursuing their education.
When it comes to UAE, the bilateral contacts between the UAE and India date back to the early 19th century when pearls and dates from the former and spices, provisions and clothing from the latter, were energetically traded to their mutual advantage. Although some Indian trading families began settling down in places like Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah around that time, it was only after World War-I that their numbers started increasing exponentially. The local government’s relatively liberal policy towards religions other than Islam, has enabled the NRIs to build Krishna Temple (Srinathji) and a Shiv temple and a Gurudwara. They have also been allowed to set up a number of cremation grounds, one of which has even been built at government expense, for the benefit of persons who are not permitted by their religion to bury their dead. The Hindus also respect these signal concessions and during Ramadan fasting period, the prasad in these temples is distributed only after the Iftar time (breaking fast).
With a population of 643,000 and a total area of 691 sq.kms., Bahrain is the smallest of the Middle East States. Indians are known to have gone to Bahrain in pursuit of trade as early as 3000 BC when their ships plied from the Harappan settlements to Oman and Bahrain, on their way to Mesopotamia. In fact Bahrain was under the British Government in India, prior to Indian Independence in 1947, like the other princely Indian states. During that era, the prime ministers to the Emir (king) of Bahrain were the Hindu Bhatias and their family temple was and is in the centre of the town.
Bahrain’s distinguishing features have been an enlightened and modern education policy and a moderate policy towards non-Islamic religions. Religious freedom is prevailing really well in Bahrain. There are four temples, a Krishna temple, Durga temple, an Ayyappan temple, ISKON temple and three gurudwaras for the Sikh community. Though several Indian families have been residing in Bahrain for many decades, only a few of them have been granted local citizenship.
To be sure, life for the Hindus, in these largely Muslim states ranges widely, from religiously intolerant Saudi Arabia, through a laid-back existence in easy-going Oman, to the relative excess of Dubai. But even in Dubai, it is hard to forget, that you are in an Islamic country, and this, mixed with mutual stereotyping, and expat-unfriendly residence laws, makes the Hindu in the Middle East always a little nervous, but more prosperous than he would be in India.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Cuttak city was founded by Oriya King Nrupakesari in 985 AD
Cuttak city was founded by Oriya King Nrupakesari in 985 AD
By Arya S Das
FOUNDED by the famous Oriya King Nrupakesari in 985 AD, Cuttack was once a gem of a city. Situated on a delta shaped piece of land and surrounded by two mighty rivers the Mahanadi and the Kathajodi, Cuttack remained the capital of Orissa for about 1,000 years. Places of archeological importance, exotic temples, forts, rich handicraft traditions, colourful festivals and picturesque river banks bordered with green hills and forest preserve huge employment potential. Though the city has thrived as a commercial centre, the economic potential in other sectors has not been tapped to address the growing unemployment problem in the city.
Tourism can be the money spinner due to the city’s proximity with the golden triangle: Konark, Puri and Bhubaneswar. Tourists will love to see the prehistoric cave paintings in Naraj Hills towards the western part of the city. The historic Baliyatra Maidan which is the mute testimony to Orissa’s maritime trade with Greece can be a tourist attraction if a museum chronicling Orissa’s long maritime history is built here. Every year a fair called Bali Yatra is celebrated here commemorating the sea voyage of Oriya traders to foreign nations from this river port. The remnants of the famous Barabati Fort which was once a nine story palace can be preserved with documentation. The mote around the Barabati fort can be turned into a magnificent venue for water sport activity. There is an 11th century stone embankment protecting the city from flood which is an engineering marvel. The stone embankment constructed by Raja Markata Kesari protected the city from flood for centuries. The city sky line is decorated with exotic ancient temples namely Lakshmi Narayan temple, Raghunathjew temple, Jain temple and Chandi Mandir. Magnificent Dantan Saheb Gurudwar, churches and mosques are also part of the city’s heritage. There was once a magnificent sacred mango groove adjacent to the Raghunathjew Temple which was destroyed due to the poor attitude of the local residents. There is a need to restore the glory of this sacred groove which is originally the property of the famous Raghunathjew temple.
Cuttack is known as silver city for its world famous silver filigree work. Many other handicraft traditions like horn craft, clay work, wood work and gold jewelry work still survive in the lanes and by lanes of the city which can generate employment with the conscious efforts of the State government and other development agencies. Over the years many artisans from the city have migrated to Gujrat, Mumbai and New Delhi for better opportunity. The young generation of artisans have switched over to other professions due to their uncertain future. There is an urgent need to ban the machine made silver filigree products as this has eroded the traditional skill of artisans and is responsible for the untimely death of the silver filigree craft.
An exclusive market place for genuine artisan products can be carved out in the city to attract tourists. Faster train connectivity from Cuttack to India’s financial capital Mumbai will definitely help thousands of Oriya artisans to access the global craft market. Cuttack city has become very much chaotic due to lack of development vision. British Historian William Hunter describes the magnificence of the city which had wide roads with beautiful bunglow type houses resembling pictures on a drawing board. Disappearance of jobs in fishery and in other traditional sectors have forced people to put shops on roads and in residential areas which cause permanent nuisance for residents. There is an urgent need to carve out vendor zones in the city which will improve tourism prospect.
By Arya S Das
FOUNDED by the famous Oriya King Nrupakesari in 985 AD, Cuttack was once a gem of a city. Situated on a delta shaped piece of land and surrounded by two mighty rivers the Mahanadi and the Kathajodi, Cuttack remained the capital of Orissa for about 1,000 years. Places of archeological importance, exotic temples, forts, rich handicraft traditions, colourful festivals and picturesque river banks bordered with green hills and forest preserve huge employment potential. Though the city has thrived as a commercial centre, the economic potential in other sectors has not been tapped to address the growing unemployment problem in the city.
Tourism can be the money spinner due to the city’s proximity with the golden triangle: Konark, Puri and Bhubaneswar. Tourists will love to see the prehistoric cave paintings in Naraj Hills towards the western part of the city. The historic Baliyatra Maidan which is the mute testimony to Orissa’s maritime trade with Greece can be a tourist attraction if a museum chronicling Orissa’s long maritime history is built here. Every year a fair called Bali Yatra is celebrated here commemorating the sea voyage of Oriya traders to foreign nations from this river port. The remnants of the famous Barabati Fort which was once a nine story palace can be preserved with documentation. The mote around the Barabati fort can be turned into a magnificent venue for water sport activity. There is an 11th century stone embankment protecting the city from flood which is an engineering marvel. The stone embankment constructed by Raja Markata Kesari protected the city from flood for centuries. The city sky line is decorated with exotic ancient temples namely Lakshmi Narayan temple, Raghunathjew temple, Jain temple and Chandi Mandir. Magnificent Dantan Saheb Gurudwar, churches and mosques are also part of the city’s heritage. There was once a magnificent sacred mango groove adjacent to the Raghunathjew Temple which was destroyed due to the poor attitude of the local residents. There is a need to restore the glory of this sacred groove which is originally the property of the famous Raghunathjew temple.
Cuttack is known as silver city for its world famous silver filigree work. Many other handicraft traditions like horn craft, clay work, wood work and gold jewelry work still survive in the lanes and by lanes of the city which can generate employment with the conscious efforts of the State government and other development agencies. Over the years many artisans from the city have migrated to Gujrat, Mumbai and New Delhi for better opportunity. The young generation of artisans have switched over to other professions due to their uncertain future. There is an urgent need to ban the machine made silver filigree products as this has eroded the traditional skill of artisans and is responsible for the untimely death of the silver filigree craft.
An exclusive market place for genuine artisan products can be carved out in the city to attract tourists. Faster train connectivity from Cuttack to India’s financial capital Mumbai will definitely help thousands of Oriya artisans to access the global craft market. Cuttack city has become very much chaotic due to lack of development vision. British Historian William Hunter describes the magnificence of the city which had wide roads with beautiful bunglow type houses resembling pictures on a drawing board. Disappearance of jobs in fishery and in other traditional sectors have forced people to put shops on roads and in residential areas which cause permanent nuisance for residents. There is an urgent need to carve out vendor zones in the city which will improve tourism prospect.
Modi a victim of Left-Islamist witch-hunt
Facts reveal a different story
By OP Gupta, IFS (Retd)
The SIT has no written manual of its procedures laying down principles and procedures of its investigation, therefore, SIT has potential to work arbitrarily and at whims and fancies of its members. So a citizen is not bound to cooperate with SIT. In the light of these it was not necessary for Modi to present himself to SIT as this SIT is neither a statutory body nor it has any police or judicial powers to summon a citizen.
THESE days a lot of media hype is being created against Narendra Modi based on the complaint of Zakia Jaffery that her late husband Ehsan Jaffery made telephone calls to Modi but Modi did not send police in time so Modi is personally responsible for murder, aid & abetment of murder of Muslims in her Society. She has named 63 persons in her complaint filed before the Supreme Court. She has completely hidden the fact that Police Commissioner PC Pandey had visited Ehsan Jaffery at 10 AM on February 28, 2002 and offered them safe passage but Jaffery did not accept the offer. Even the Information Department of the Government of Gujarat has not highlighted this fact. It is further reported that Jaffery incited the mob by opening fire at them.
It is known that in our administrative culture, Chief Ministers and Ministers are required to limit themselves only to laying down policies and hold periodic review thereof. And Chief Minister and Ministers are neither authorised by law nor by convention to get involved into day-to-day operations, much less directing deployment of platoons and battalions of police constables. Whether police force should go to place X or to place Y is to be decided by district SP and not by a Chief Minister. Therefore the question why did Modi not send police to Jaffery residence is just not maintainable.
A Minister cannot be personally and individually held responsible for death of persons if police does not reach in time to save those persons. Can Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa, be held criminally liable for murder of Swami Laxamanananda and his four disciples as he had failed to provide police security to Swamiji though Swamiji had written to Chief Minister months before his murder seeking police protection?
But despite Commissioner Pandey offering safe exit to Jaffery at 10 AM on February 28, 2002, Modi was grilled on March 27, 2010, by the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Supreme Court.
RK Raghavan and other members of the SIT should tell the public whether they expected/expect a Minister to order the actual deployment of police units and if so under which rule.
The five-member SIT was constituted by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on March 25, 2008, to re-investigate the Gujarat riot cases. The apex court directive came in the wake of a complaint filed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking transfer of probe and trial of riot-related cases outside the state. Decision to form a special team was announced by the bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam after hearing amicus curiae Harish Salve.
The SIT initially consisted of three IPS officers from Gujarat, Geeta Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia, and two retired IPS officers from outside the state-ex-CBI chief RK Raghavan and former UP cadre IPS officer CV Satpathy.
Setting up the SIT and handing over cases to SIT by the three-member bench of the Supreme Court is violative of the decision of the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court in the AR Antulay case (1988 AIR 1531). In this case, in a nutshell, it was decided that no special procedure can be laid down by the Supreme Court for prosecution of any citizen other than that laid down in statutes as every citizen is entitled to equal protection of law (Articles 14 and 21).
Secondly, handing over complaint of Zakia Jaffery to SIT, without first hearing the 63 persons accused by Zakia amounts to violation of the principles of natural justice by this three-member bench of the Supreme Court. Principles of natural justice lay down that no one shall be condemned unheard.
The Indian Express (Anita Saluja, March 29, 2010) has quoted Raghavan as saying: "Petition of Zakia was SIT’s bible." It means that every allegation made in Zakia’s complaint is gospel truth for SIT. This shows biased attitude of SIT chief.
Thirdly, this SIT has no written manual of its procedures laying down principles and procedures of its investigation, therefore, SIT has potential to work arbitrarily and at whims and fancies of its members. So a citizen is not bound to cooperate with SIT. In the light of these it was not necessary for Modi to present himself to SIT as this SIT is neither a statutory body nor it has any police or judicial powers to summon a citizen.
It may be recalled that Indira Gandhi had refused to cooperate with the Shah Commission as the Shah Commission set up its own special procedure though it was set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act.
Since SIT has no written manual it may work arbitrarily is not a hype as Justice Alam on April 6, 2010, hearing observed: "SIT should have a uniform approach. There is no uniformity in the SIT." At this hearing the three-member bench decided to drop Geeta Johri and Jha from the SIT.
On April 14, 2009, The Times of India and The Economic Times reported: The Special Investigation Team severely censured NGOs and social activist Teesta Setalvad who campaigned for the riot victims. In a significant development, the SIT led by former CBI director RK Raghavan told the Supreme Court that the celebrated rights activist cooked up macabre tales of wanton killings.
Affidavits of 22 witnesses were found to be identical and were drafted, typed and printed from same computer. When SIT questioned those who had signed the affidavits it was found that they were not aware of the incidents covered in affidavits.
Generally foreign-funded pro-Islamist NGOs and a section of Indian media having foreign equity have been in the forefront to defame and demonise Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, by repeating ad nauseum falsehood and canards since the 2002 Gujarat riots, and have been partially successful in creating a public perception that post- Godhra riots were organised by Modi as the Information Department of the Government of Gujarat, in my view, has not been proactive and persistent in presenting full fact sheet before the people of India as often as Gujarat is maligned by such NGOs and their sympathisers.
While serving as Ambassador to Finland I was called upon to speak to local pressmen who wanted to know factual position about stories appearing in Indian media about the so-called ‘massacre and genocide’ of Muslims in Gujarat. I sought report from the Home Department of Gujarat and was furnished with data which showed that the Modi government was not biased in handling the post-Godhra riots, and in fact the Modi government arrested a very large number of Hindus.
The Principal Secretary Home wrote to me that during the period from February 27 to April 30, 2002, number of Hindus killed in the police firing was 80, number of Hindus arrested in crime was 10432 as against 4533 Muslims, number of Hindus arrested in preventive action was 20,082 as against 4133 Muslims. Hindus constituted about 78 per cent of all arrests made by the Gujarat Police. When I presented this data the mediamen got satisfied that the allegation of being pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim against the Modi government was just not sustainable. And, that the allegations against the Gujarat Police being inactive or partial towards Hindus, or doing too little and too late were unsustainable. Gujarat has a history of communal riots and had about 443 riots between 1970 and 2002.
It may be recalled that despite communal riots legacy of the past the 2002 communal riots broke out only in 12 out of 25 districts of Gujarat. It means that about half of Gujarat remained unaffected and credit for this must go to Modi and to civil servants of Gujarat.
In Panchgani district Police rescued and saved about 3700 Muslims during February 28 to March 3. More than ten thousand Muslims were saved by the Gujarat Police in Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Nardipur, Bhavnagar, Surat, Dahod and Vadodara. But a section of Indian media suppressed these facts and presented to the world news as if entire Gujarat was burning deflecting foreign investments away from India.
During the 2002 communal riots 190 Hindus were killed and 662 Muslims got killed. So number being below a thousand it could hardly be called ‘massacre’ or ‘genocide’ of Muslims in Gujarat as many more Sikhs had died in the 1984 riots.
In the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 many thousands of Sikhs were killed. According to the Ranganath Mishra Commission 3874 Sikhs were killed out of which 2307 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone. According to Sikh sources 4733 Sikhs were killed all over India out of which 2733 were killed in Delhi. Khushwant Singh told the Nanavati Commission: "The 1984 bloodbath left me feeling like a Jew in Nazi Germany." The Ranganath Mishra Commission reported: "In the mobs attacking Sikhs were people with sympathy for the Congress (I) and associated with the party’s activities."
Anti-Modi forces keep harping that post-Godhara riots were pre-planned and not spontaneous reaction to brutal burning alive of 58 Hindus including 26 women and 12 children at the Godhara railway station on February 27, 2002. If post-Godhra riots were pre-planned by the Modi government, why did violence not break out in the remaining 13 districts of Gujarat?
On this question of spontaneous response, Vir Sanghvi, Editor of the Hindustan Times wrote in the Sunday HT (April 21, 2002): " As much as some of us may try and pretend otherwise, no body with any intellectual honesty can dispute that riots were a response to Godhra."
Namita Bhandare, another journalist, wrote (HT, April 15, 2002) that according to an opinion poll conducted in Gujarat 70 per cent people believed that riots were spontaneous reaction to Godhra, and only 9.3 per cent believed it was backed by the government. And as we know neither the Hindustan Times nor Vir Sanghvi is supporter of Modi.
We know the role of Teesta Setalvad in case of Zahira Sheikh who was jailed by the court for giving false evidence. Zahira blamed Teesta for forcing her to give false evidence. It is high time that the Supreme Court bench should clarify this matter of 22 identical affidavits and order speedy trial of those who manufacture and manipulate evidences to misuse the judicial process.
In brief, the Information Department of the Government of Gujarat should aggressively and repeatedly place fact sheet before the people of India, and, the persons being falsely accused must file complaints u/s 500 of IPC against the so-called activists, and the Government of Gujarat must act against them under Section 153A for inciting communal feelings of one community against another by manufacturing evidences.
By OP Gupta, IFS (Retd)
The SIT has no written manual of its procedures laying down principles and procedures of its investigation, therefore, SIT has potential to work arbitrarily and at whims and fancies of its members. So a citizen is not bound to cooperate with SIT. In the light of these it was not necessary for Modi to present himself to SIT as this SIT is neither a statutory body nor it has any police or judicial powers to summon a citizen.
THESE days a lot of media hype is being created against Narendra Modi based on the complaint of Zakia Jaffery that her late husband Ehsan Jaffery made telephone calls to Modi but Modi did not send police in time so Modi is personally responsible for murder, aid & abetment of murder of Muslims in her Society. She has named 63 persons in her complaint filed before the Supreme Court. She has completely hidden the fact that Police Commissioner PC Pandey had visited Ehsan Jaffery at 10 AM on February 28, 2002 and offered them safe passage but Jaffery did not accept the offer. Even the Information Department of the Government of Gujarat has not highlighted this fact. It is further reported that Jaffery incited the mob by opening fire at them.
It is known that in our administrative culture, Chief Ministers and Ministers are required to limit themselves only to laying down policies and hold periodic review thereof. And Chief Minister and Ministers are neither authorised by law nor by convention to get involved into day-to-day operations, much less directing deployment of platoons and battalions of police constables. Whether police force should go to place X or to place Y is to be decided by district SP and not by a Chief Minister. Therefore the question why did Modi not send police to Jaffery residence is just not maintainable.
A Minister cannot be personally and individually held responsible for death of persons if police does not reach in time to save those persons. Can Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa, be held criminally liable for murder of Swami Laxamanananda and his four disciples as he had failed to provide police security to Swamiji though Swamiji had written to Chief Minister months before his murder seeking police protection?
But despite Commissioner Pandey offering safe exit to Jaffery at 10 AM on February 28, 2002, Modi was grilled on March 27, 2010, by the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Supreme Court.
RK Raghavan and other members of the SIT should tell the public whether they expected/expect a Minister to order the actual deployment of police units and if so under which rule.
The five-member SIT was constituted by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on March 25, 2008, to re-investigate the Gujarat riot cases. The apex court directive came in the wake of a complaint filed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking transfer of probe and trial of riot-related cases outside the state. Decision to form a special team was announced by the bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam after hearing amicus curiae Harish Salve.
The SIT initially consisted of three IPS officers from Gujarat, Geeta Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia, and two retired IPS officers from outside the state-ex-CBI chief RK Raghavan and former UP cadre IPS officer CV Satpathy.
Setting up the SIT and handing over cases to SIT by the three-member bench of the Supreme Court is violative of the decision of the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court in the AR Antulay case (1988 AIR 1531). In this case, in a nutshell, it was decided that no special procedure can be laid down by the Supreme Court for prosecution of any citizen other than that laid down in statutes as every citizen is entitled to equal protection of law (Articles 14 and 21).
Secondly, handing over complaint of Zakia Jaffery to SIT, without first hearing the 63 persons accused by Zakia amounts to violation of the principles of natural justice by this three-member bench of the Supreme Court. Principles of natural justice lay down that no one shall be condemned unheard.
The Indian Express (Anita Saluja, March 29, 2010) has quoted Raghavan as saying: "Petition of Zakia was SIT’s bible." It means that every allegation made in Zakia’s complaint is gospel truth for SIT. This shows biased attitude of SIT chief.
Thirdly, this SIT has no written manual of its procedures laying down principles and procedures of its investigation, therefore, SIT has potential to work arbitrarily and at whims and fancies of its members. So a citizen is not bound to cooperate with SIT. In the light of these it was not necessary for Modi to present himself to SIT as this SIT is neither a statutory body nor it has any police or judicial powers to summon a citizen.
It may be recalled that Indira Gandhi had refused to cooperate with the Shah Commission as the Shah Commission set up its own special procedure though it was set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act.
Since SIT has no written manual it may work arbitrarily is not a hype as Justice Alam on April 6, 2010, hearing observed: "SIT should have a uniform approach. There is no uniformity in the SIT." At this hearing the three-member bench decided to drop Geeta Johri and Jha from the SIT.
On April 14, 2009, The Times of India and The Economic Times reported: The Special Investigation Team severely censured NGOs and social activist Teesta Setalvad who campaigned for the riot victims. In a significant development, the SIT led by former CBI director RK Raghavan told the Supreme Court that the celebrated rights activist cooked up macabre tales of wanton killings.
Affidavits of 22 witnesses were found to be identical and were drafted, typed and printed from same computer. When SIT questioned those who had signed the affidavits it was found that they were not aware of the incidents covered in affidavits.
Generally foreign-funded pro-Islamist NGOs and a section of Indian media having foreign equity have been in the forefront to defame and demonise Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, by repeating ad nauseum falsehood and canards since the 2002 Gujarat riots, and have been partially successful in creating a public perception that post- Godhra riots were organised by Modi as the Information Department of the Government of Gujarat, in my view, has not been proactive and persistent in presenting full fact sheet before the people of India as often as Gujarat is maligned by such NGOs and their sympathisers.
While serving as Ambassador to Finland I was called upon to speak to local pressmen who wanted to know factual position about stories appearing in Indian media about the so-called ‘massacre and genocide’ of Muslims in Gujarat. I sought report from the Home Department of Gujarat and was furnished with data which showed that the Modi government was not biased in handling the post-Godhra riots, and in fact the Modi government arrested a very large number of Hindus.
The Principal Secretary Home wrote to me that during the period from February 27 to April 30, 2002, number of Hindus killed in the police firing was 80, number of Hindus arrested in crime was 10432 as against 4533 Muslims, number of Hindus arrested in preventive action was 20,082 as against 4133 Muslims. Hindus constituted about 78 per cent of all arrests made by the Gujarat Police. When I presented this data the mediamen got satisfied that the allegation of being pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim against the Modi government was just not sustainable. And, that the allegations against the Gujarat Police being inactive or partial towards Hindus, or doing too little and too late were unsustainable. Gujarat has a history of communal riots and had about 443 riots between 1970 and 2002.
It may be recalled that despite communal riots legacy of the past the 2002 communal riots broke out only in 12 out of 25 districts of Gujarat. It means that about half of Gujarat remained unaffected and credit for this must go to Modi and to civil servants of Gujarat.
In Panchgani district Police rescued and saved about 3700 Muslims during February 28 to March 3. More than ten thousand Muslims were saved by the Gujarat Police in Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Nardipur, Bhavnagar, Surat, Dahod and Vadodara. But a section of Indian media suppressed these facts and presented to the world news as if entire Gujarat was burning deflecting foreign investments away from India.
During the 2002 communal riots 190 Hindus were killed and 662 Muslims got killed. So number being below a thousand it could hardly be called ‘massacre’ or ‘genocide’ of Muslims in Gujarat as many more Sikhs had died in the 1984 riots.
In the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 many thousands of Sikhs were killed. According to the Ranganath Mishra Commission 3874 Sikhs were killed out of which 2307 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone. According to Sikh sources 4733 Sikhs were killed all over India out of which 2733 were killed in Delhi. Khushwant Singh told the Nanavati Commission: "The 1984 bloodbath left me feeling like a Jew in Nazi Germany." The Ranganath Mishra Commission reported: "In the mobs attacking Sikhs were people with sympathy for the Congress (I) and associated with the party’s activities."
Anti-Modi forces keep harping that post-Godhara riots were pre-planned and not spontaneous reaction to brutal burning alive of 58 Hindus including 26 women and 12 children at the Godhara railway station on February 27, 2002. If post-Godhra riots were pre-planned by the Modi government, why did violence not break out in the remaining 13 districts of Gujarat?
On this question of spontaneous response, Vir Sanghvi, Editor of the Hindustan Times wrote in the Sunday HT (April 21, 2002): " As much as some of us may try and pretend otherwise, no body with any intellectual honesty can dispute that riots were a response to Godhra."
Namita Bhandare, another journalist, wrote (HT, April 15, 2002) that according to an opinion poll conducted in Gujarat 70 per cent people believed that riots were spontaneous reaction to Godhra, and only 9.3 per cent believed it was backed by the government. And as we know neither the Hindustan Times nor Vir Sanghvi is supporter of Modi.
We know the role of Teesta Setalvad in case of Zahira Sheikh who was jailed by the court for giving false evidence. Zahira blamed Teesta for forcing her to give false evidence. It is high time that the Supreme Court bench should clarify this matter of 22 identical affidavits and order speedy trial of those who manufacture and manipulate evidences to misuse the judicial process.
In brief, the Information Department of the Government of Gujarat should aggressively and repeatedly place fact sheet before the people of India, and, the persons being falsely accused must file complaints u/s 500 of IPC against the so-called activists, and the Government of Gujarat must act against them under Section 153A for inciting communal feelings of one community against another by manufacturing evidences.
A blasphemous film by an American cartoonist
By Shachi Rairikar
As expected Nina Paley’s response to protests from some Hindu groups was: "Art and artists are major targets of some right-wing nationalist groups in India." We would love to see the reactions of India’s secular left-wing if Paley similarly ridicules Islam or Christianity.
Swami Vivekanand told the Christians in America, "If all India stands up, and takes all the mud that is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and throws it up against the Western countries, it will not be doing an infinitesimal part of that which you are doing to us." More than a century has passed since then but the situation remains unchanged even today.
Nina Paley, an American cartoonist, in her animated film Sita Sings the Blues has left no stone unturned to denigrate the most revered icons of Hinduism, Ram and Sita, and the holy epic Ramayana. The film has turned the Ramayana into a laughing stock, is outrightly blasphemous and cannot be expected to be tolerated by even the most tolerant people.
In the film the commentators say that the Ramayana is not as true a story as the Bible. Sri Ram is depicted kicking Sita into the fire at the time of her agnipariksha and at the time of banishing her from the kingdom, even walking over her pregnant stomach. Sri Ram is shown as sweating and then fainting in fear on hearing from Hanuman what he saw in Lanka.
In the Ramayana, Ravan’s devotion to Shiva is described as such that the 72 thousand nadis or energy channels in his body created a sound (anahat nada). This has been interpreted in the film as "Ravan played the veena for Shiva with his intestines". Ravan’s intestines are shown tumbling out of his body and playing veena.
The holy Ramayana has been transformed into a pervert cheap lowly jester. Sita speaks in an uncouth manner telling Ravan, "Your ass is grass once Lord Ram comes here." Ravan’s sister describes Sita’s beauty saying that her breasts are like big round juicy lotuses. Sita is shown wearing a cholie that reveals her breasts in one outfit from above, and in another outfit from below the blouse.
One commentator viciously says that one needs to ‘give her one little tight thing’ for not returning with Hanuman when he came to rescue her. Another says that Sita stayed back as she wanted Sri Ram to rescue her and defeat Ravan due to the ego of wanting ‘her husband’ to be her rescuer and so she is called a ‘bloodthirsty’ woman and is depicted with blood coming out of her mouth and blood on her hands.
As expected Nina Paley’s response to protests from some Hindu groups was: "Art and artists are major targets of some right-wing nationalist groups in India." We would love to see the reactions of India’s secular left-wing if Paley similarly ridicules Islam or Christianity.
The film is available for free viewing on the internet and the most surprising fact is that it has received many international awards. It has been recommended to children on many parenting sites. There clearly seems to be an international strategy to defame Hinduism and the Hindus.
Another major attempt at denigrating Hinduism has been made by Wendy Doniger in her book The Hindus - An Alternative History. The book is not only ill-researched, full of factual errors but full of derogatory, defamatory and offensive statements.
There are statements like, "If the motto of Watergate was ‘Follow the money’, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be ‘Follow the monkey’ or, more often ‘Follow the horse’." The author with all her incorrect interpretations alleges that in Rigveda 10.62, it is implied that a woman may find her own brother in her bed! The book likens the Vedic devotee worshipping different Vedic deities to a lying and a philandering boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend(s).
The author’s contempt of the Hindu people is evident in sentences like "...The mosque, whose serene calligraphic and geometric contrasts with the perpetual motion of the figures depicted on the temple, makes a stand against the chaos of India, creating enforced vacuums that India cannot rush into with all its monkeys and people and colors and the smells of the bazaar..."
About the Ramayan there are references like "Dasharatha’s son is certainly ‘lustful’. When Lakshmana learns that Sri Ram has been exiled, he says, "The king is perverse, old, and addicted to sex, driven by lust."
Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard Michael Witzel has described Wendy’s translations of Rig Veda, Jaiminiya Brahmana and Manusmriti in these stark terms - ‘lacking common sense’, ‘unreliable’, ‘idiosyncratic’ and ‘a stream of unconnected George-Bush-like anacolutha’.In the words of the BBC, "Doniger is known for being rude, crude and very lewd in the hallowed portals of Sanskrit Academics."
Even the literary skills of Doniger were questioned by many readers who felt that every chapter seemed to have been written by a different person, suggesting that the book is a collection of writings of Doniger’s students. In spite of all its faults and deliberate mockery of Hinduism the book got nominated for the National Book Critics Circle.
Doniger has faced the wrath of the right-thinking Hindus. A critic had once thrown an egg at her at a conference in London in 2003. In her defence Doniger claims that she has been targeted because her "disadvantage lies in being female, non-Brahmin and more importantly, non-Hindu". Before claiming victimhood on silly grounds, Doniger should take care to take a closer look at Hindu history where eminent personalities like Annie Besant and Sister Nivedita still command respect even though they were females, non-Brahmin and non-Hindu.
When books like Doniger’s and films like Paley’s are considered for awards, serious questions arise about the authenticity, motives and merit of the critics and awards themselves. There is definitely a large section in the Western world which has a well-designed anti-Hindu agenda.
It would be interesting to see the international response if Christianity or Islam become the subject of such derogatory portrayal. Positively, the very first protests would come from our own secular Indian government itself and then the media and the activists. The Prime Minister will lose sleep worrying about the hurt sentiments of the minorities. But they will defend these offending anti-Hindu works with their usual rhetoric of "freedom of expression"; the sentiments of the religious majority, of course, can go to the dogs.
The said film and the book should be instantly withdrawn from circulation and apology rendered by the publishers, writers and creators to the millions of Hindus all over the world. There are online petitions to protest against these anti-Hindu works. Please log on to the following links and sign the petitions to join the protest.
Protest against Nina Paley’s outright denigration of The Ramayan: http://www.hindujagruti.org
Demand for withdrawal of a flawed book on Hindu history published by Penguin: http://www.petitiononline.com
Once when Swami Vivekanand was travelling on a ship, there were some Christian missionaries who abused the Hindus and their religion. The Swami walked over to one of the speakers, seized him by the collar and said firmly, "If you abuse my religion again, I’ll throw you overboard." That’s the message that we have to send out to the world.
As expected Nina Paley’s response to protests from some Hindu groups was: "Art and artists are major targets of some right-wing nationalist groups in India." We would love to see the reactions of India’s secular left-wing if Paley similarly ridicules Islam or Christianity.
Swami Vivekanand told the Christians in America, "If all India stands up, and takes all the mud that is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and throws it up against the Western countries, it will not be doing an infinitesimal part of that which you are doing to us." More than a century has passed since then but the situation remains unchanged even today.
Nina Paley, an American cartoonist, in her animated film Sita Sings the Blues has left no stone unturned to denigrate the most revered icons of Hinduism, Ram and Sita, and the holy epic Ramayana. The film has turned the Ramayana into a laughing stock, is outrightly blasphemous and cannot be expected to be tolerated by even the most tolerant people.
In the film the commentators say that the Ramayana is not as true a story as the Bible. Sri Ram is depicted kicking Sita into the fire at the time of her agnipariksha and at the time of banishing her from the kingdom, even walking over her pregnant stomach. Sri Ram is shown as sweating and then fainting in fear on hearing from Hanuman what he saw in Lanka.
In the Ramayana, Ravan’s devotion to Shiva is described as such that the 72 thousand nadis or energy channels in his body created a sound (anahat nada). This has been interpreted in the film as "Ravan played the veena for Shiva with his intestines". Ravan’s intestines are shown tumbling out of his body and playing veena.
The holy Ramayana has been transformed into a pervert cheap lowly jester. Sita speaks in an uncouth manner telling Ravan, "Your ass is grass once Lord Ram comes here." Ravan’s sister describes Sita’s beauty saying that her breasts are like big round juicy lotuses. Sita is shown wearing a cholie that reveals her breasts in one outfit from above, and in another outfit from below the blouse.
One commentator viciously says that one needs to ‘give her one little tight thing’ for not returning with Hanuman when he came to rescue her. Another says that Sita stayed back as she wanted Sri Ram to rescue her and defeat Ravan due to the ego of wanting ‘her husband’ to be her rescuer and so she is called a ‘bloodthirsty’ woman and is depicted with blood coming out of her mouth and blood on her hands.
As expected Nina Paley’s response to protests from some Hindu groups was: "Art and artists are major targets of some right-wing nationalist groups in India." We would love to see the reactions of India’s secular left-wing if Paley similarly ridicules Islam or Christianity.
The film is available for free viewing on the internet and the most surprising fact is that it has received many international awards. It has been recommended to children on many parenting sites. There clearly seems to be an international strategy to defame Hinduism and the Hindus.
Another major attempt at denigrating Hinduism has been made by Wendy Doniger in her book The Hindus - An Alternative History. The book is not only ill-researched, full of factual errors but full of derogatory, defamatory and offensive statements.
There are statements like, "If the motto of Watergate was ‘Follow the money’, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be ‘Follow the monkey’ or, more often ‘Follow the horse’." The author with all her incorrect interpretations alleges that in Rigveda 10.62, it is implied that a woman may find her own brother in her bed! The book likens the Vedic devotee worshipping different Vedic deities to a lying and a philandering boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend(s).
The author’s contempt of the Hindu people is evident in sentences like "...The mosque, whose serene calligraphic and geometric contrasts with the perpetual motion of the figures depicted on the temple, makes a stand against the chaos of India, creating enforced vacuums that India cannot rush into with all its monkeys and people and colors and the smells of the bazaar..."
About the Ramayan there are references like "Dasharatha’s son is certainly ‘lustful’. When Lakshmana learns that Sri Ram has been exiled, he says, "The king is perverse, old, and addicted to sex, driven by lust."
Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard Michael Witzel has described Wendy’s translations of Rig Veda, Jaiminiya Brahmana and Manusmriti in these stark terms - ‘lacking common sense’, ‘unreliable’, ‘idiosyncratic’ and ‘a stream of unconnected George-Bush-like anacolutha’.In the words of the BBC, "Doniger is known for being rude, crude and very lewd in the hallowed portals of Sanskrit Academics."
Even the literary skills of Doniger were questioned by many readers who felt that every chapter seemed to have been written by a different person, suggesting that the book is a collection of writings of Doniger’s students. In spite of all its faults and deliberate mockery of Hinduism the book got nominated for the National Book Critics Circle.
Doniger has faced the wrath of the right-thinking Hindus. A critic had once thrown an egg at her at a conference in London in 2003. In her defence Doniger claims that she has been targeted because her "disadvantage lies in being female, non-Brahmin and more importantly, non-Hindu". Before claiming victimhood on silly grounds, Doniger should take care to take a closer look at Hindu history where eminent personalities like Annie Besant and Sister Nivedita still command respect even though they were females, non-Brahmin and non-Hindu.
When books like Doniger’s and films like Paley’s are considered for awards, serious questions arise about the authenticity, motives and merit of the critics and awards themselves. There is definitely a large section in the Western world which has a well-designed anti-Hindu agenda.
It would be interesting to see the international response if Christianity or Islam become the subject of such derogatory portrayal. Positively, the very first protests would come from our own secular Indian government itself and then the media and the activists. The Prime Minister will lose sleep worrying about the hurt sentiments of the minorities. But they will defend these offending anti-Hindu works with their usual rhetoric of "freedom of expression"; the sentiments of the religious majority, of course, can go to the dogs.
The said film and the book should be instantly withdrawn from circulation and apology rendered by the publishers, writers and creators to the millions of Hindus all over the world. There are online petitions to protest against these anti-Hindu works. Please log on to the following links and sign the petitions to join the protest.
Protest against Nina Paley’s outright denigration of The Ramayan: http://www.hindujagruti.org
Demand for withdrawal of a flawed book on Hindu history published by Penguin: http://www.petitiononline.com
Once when Swami Vivekanand was travelling on a ship, there were some Christian missionaries who abused the Hindus and their religion. The Swami walked over to one of the speakers, seized him by the collar and said firmly, "If you abuse my religion again, I’ll throw you overboard." That’s the message that we have to send out to the world.
CPM atrocity at graveyard
RSS martyr’s memorial demolished
By S Chandrasekhar
SINCE seventies hundreds of brave hearts have sacrificed their lives for holding afloat the saffron flag in the CPM-RSS killing fields of Kannur in north Kerala. Throwing into the Arabian Sea the CPM arrogance of not letting any other ideology flourish in Kannur, the RSS has established a vast network of shakhas and is hitting back for self-defence.
The RSS has been able to create a massive public outrage against CPM murder politics and intolerance, which have led to CPM’s humiliating defeat at Kannur parliamentary and assembly polls.
After a brief lull, CPM is at its game again. On March 31, a steel bomb was found at the martyr tomb of RSS brave- heart Sooraj, near the Muzhippilangad beach. Detailed examination of the tomb by the police on April 1, yielded four more bombs. They were fixed to the four corners, with the aim of blasting it.
A few months back, CPM blasted the same tomb of Sooraj, who was stabbed in the series of CPM-RSS clashes, which took place in 2005, which left several murdered from both sides.
Despite police protection, the CPM continued its tirade against the dead. The RSS repaired the tomb of Sooraj on April 4. But on April 5, the tomb was found demolished! The situation is very tense and heavy police force have been rushed there.
Many see this tomb destruction as a war between CPM secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. With Pinarayi facing CBI probe in Rs 376-crore SNC-Lavlin scam, Kodiyeri is consolidating his position as a future CPM chief minister candidate. The tombs are being demolished to provoke RSS, so as to attack Home Minister Kodiyeri and launch a massive campaign against him.
Meanwhile, the no-nonsence SP of Kannur, Anup K John who was able to contain CPM-RSS clashes and bring peace has been shunted. His determination to arrest CPM hit-squads which were behind murders of RSS men and his threat to demolish CPM tombs, columns and flags, causing tension, are seen as reasons. While BJP had removed most of the tombs and columns, CPM had refused to do so. Anup K John’s refusal to follow the diktats of CPM local secretary Sasi and Home Minister Kodiyeri for acting against RSS has provoked this shifting.
The RSS has warned that its hands will not be tied, if the CPM attempts any mis-adventure against it, in Kannur.
By S Chandrasekhar
SINCE seventies hundreds of brave hearts have sacrificed their lives for holding afloat the saffron flag in the CPM-RSS killing fields of Kannur in north Kerala. Throwing into the Arabian Sea the CPM arrogance of not letting any other ideology flourish in Kannur, the RSS has established a vast network of shakhas and is hitting back for self-defence.
The RSS has been able to create a massive public outrage against CPM murder politics and intolerance, which have led to CPM’s humiliating defeat at Kannur parliamentary and assembly polls.
After a brief lull, CPM is at its game again. On March 31, a steel bomb was found at the martyr tomb of RSS brave- heart Sooraj, near the Muzhippilangad beach. Detailed examination of the tomb by the police on April 1, yielded four more bombs. They were fixed to the four corners, with the aim of blasting it.
A few months back, CPM blasted the same tomb of Sooraj, who was stabbed in the series of CPM-RSS clashes, which took place in 2005, which left several murdered from both sides.
Despite police protection, the CPM continued its tirade against the dead. The RSS repaired the tomb of Sooraj on April 4. But on April 5, the tomb was found demolished! The situation is very tense and heavy police force have been rushed there.
Many see this tomb destruction as a war between CPM secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. With Pinarayi facing CBI probe in Rs 376-crore SNC-Lavlin scam, Kodiyeri is consolidating his position as a future CPM chief minister candidate. The tombs are being demolished to provoke RSS, so as to attack Home Minister Kodiyeri and launch a massive campaign against him.
Meanwhile, the no-nonsence SP of Kannur, Anup K John who was able to contain CPM-RSS clashes and bring peace has been shunted. His determination to arrest CPM hit-squads which were behind murders of RSS men and his threat to demolish CPM tombs, columns and flags, causing tension, are seen as reasons. While BJP had removed most of the tombs and columns, CPM had refused to do so. Anup K John’s refusal to follow the diktats of CPM local secretary Sasi and Home Minister Kodiyeri for acting against RSS has provoked this shifting.
The RSS has warned that its hands will not be tied, if the CPM attempts any mis-adventure against it, in Kannur.
Aligarh Muslim University Campus in Bihar
ABVP Protest against Aligarh Muslim University Campus in Bihar
Bihar government has allocated 300 acres of land and money for this divisive move in Muslim majority Kishanganj
Police brutally beat up ABVP workers in Patna
Regional organising secretary of ABVP Shri Dinesh Kumar said 65 students were seriously injured in police brutality. He said the state government has crossed all limits of Muslim appeasement and it is illogical to set-up a branch of AMU in Bihar. He said the government is doing all this to grab Muslim votes in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Opening an university branch in Kishanganj will transform the district into a major hub of Islamic militancy.
THE brutality of Bihar police was exposed on March 29 when it mercilessly lathi charged the students democratically protesting against the opening of a branch of Aligarh Muslim University in State’s Kishanganj area. The students were going to meet the Chief Minister with their demands but the police did not allow them. When they protested, the police lathi charged them and also used tear gas shells. Over a dozen students were injured in the lathi charge.
The police stopped the protesting students at R Block Crossing, which is close to the Chief Minister’s residence. The stone pelting was reported from both sides at this point. The police suddenly started lathi charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse them. Meanwhile, a group of students managed to reach the gate of the Assembly and started staging demonstration. This group basically faced the inhuman brutality of the State police. Some of the students were reportedly taken to Secretariat Police Station and were very brutally beaten-up.
The police was so brutal that some of the students including Umashankar Bharati, Sarvajit Shandilya and Rajiv Ranjan became unconscious on the spot. The brutality of police crossed all limits when the police did not take them to hospital despite repeated requests. An activist somehow took highly bleeding Rajiv Ranjan to a hospital at Gardinar Road where the doctors referred him to Patna Medical College. The condition of Ranjan is still critical. The police did not spare even the teachers. Prof Anjani Pandey from Nawadha was very inhumanly beaten-up with sticks and shoes. National secretary of ABVP Shri Ramashankar Sinha and State secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar received multiple fractures in hands.
Regional organising secretary of ABVP Shri Dinesh Kumar said 65 students were seriously injured in police brutality. He said the State government has crossed all limits of Muslim appeasement and it is illogical to set-up a branch of AMU in Bihar. He said the government is doing this to grab Muslim votes in the forthcoming Assembly elections. "Opening an university branch in Kishanganj will transform the district into a major hub of militants," he said.
State organising secretary Shri Gopal Sharma said if the State government feels that Kishanganj is a educationally backward it can set-up a separate university in the name of any nationalist personality. "Having the branch of other State’s university puts a question mark over the education system of the State. If the government wishes, it can open IIT, National Law School or any medical college in the region," he said.
It is to be noted that the Central government has decided to open six centres of Aligarh Muslim University at six different places of the country. A team of the University under the leadership of its Vice Chancellor visited Bihar on February 4 to start the special branch in Kishanganj. The team explained the project to the Chief Minister through power point presentation and the Chief Minister finally allotted 243.76 acre land to the University on March 27. The land has been allotted on lease for 30 years with the option of further renewal.
Surprisingly another branch of the AMU is being set-up in Mursheedabad of West Bengal, just 110 km from Kishanganj and another in Malappuram in Kerala. The State government did not take even one month to allot the land to the AMU but it has not taken any decision on the plea of the Border Security Force which even deposited Rs ten crore for a piece of land about 15 years back.
Protesting against the State government’s move to open the unit of AMU, the ABVP called for a day-long bandh in the State on April 1. The dawn to dusk bandh began amid tight security arrangements and passed off largely peacefully. Another reason for the bandh was to protest against the police lathi charge on ABVP activists. ABVP’s call also had the support of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.
Meanwhile, amid allegations of police excesses, the State government ordered an enquiry into the incident by Inspector General RS Bhatti. But the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar clearly said the AMU branch would be opened in Kishanganj at any costs. "We are committed to setting-up a branch of AMU in Kishanganj," he said. Muslims make up 66.7 per cent of the voters in Kishanganj parliamentary constituency, about 400 km from Patna.
Bihar government has allocated 300 acres of land and money for this divisive move in Muslim majority Kishanganj
Police brutally beat up ABVP workers in Patna
Regional organising secretary of ABVP Shri Dinesh Kumar said 65 students were seriously injured in police brutality. He said the state government has crossed all limits of Muslim appeasement and it is illogical to set-up a branch of AMU in Bihar. He said the government is doing all this to grab Muslim votes in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Opening an university branch in Kishanganj will transform the district into a major hub of Islamic militancy.
THE brutality of Bihar police was exposed on March 29 when it mercilessly lathi charged the students democratically protesting against the opening of a branch of Aligarh Muslim University in State’s Kishanganj area. The students were going to meet the Chief Minister with their demands but the police did not allow them. When they protested, the police lathi charged them and also used tear gas shells. Over a dozen students were injured in the lathi charge.
The police stopped the protesting students at R Block Crossing, which is close to the Chief Minister’s residence. The stone pelting was reported from both sides at this point. The police suddenly started lathi charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse them. Meanwhile, a group of students managed to reach the gate of the Assembly and started staging demonstration. This group basically faced the inhuman brutality of the State police. Some of the students were reportedly taken to Secretariat Police Station and were very brutally beaten-up.
The police was so brutal that some of the students including Umashankar Bharati, Sarvajit Shandilya and Rajiv Ranjan became unconscious on the spot. The brutality of police crossed all limits when the police did not take them to hospital despite repeated requests. An activist somehow took highly bleeding Rajiv Ranjan to a hospital at Gardinar Road where the doctors referred him to Patna Medical College. The condition of Ranjan is still critical. The police did not spare even the teachers. Prof Anjani Pandey from Nawadha was very inhumanly beaten-up with sticks and shoes. National secretary of ABVP Shri Ramashankar Sinha and State secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar received multiple fractures in hands.
Regional organising secretary of ABVP Shri Dinesh Kumar said 65 students were seriously injured in police brutality. He said the State government has crossed all limits of Muslim appeasement and it is illogical to set-up a branch of AMU in Bihar. He said the government is doing this to grab Muslim votes in the forthcoming Assembly elections. "Opening an university branch in Kishanganj will transform the district into a major hub of militants," he said.
State organising secretary Shri Gopal Sharma said if the State government feels that Kishanganj is a educationally backward it can set-up a separate university in the name of any nationalist personality. "Having the branch of other State’s university puts a question mark over the education system of the State. If the government wishes, it can open IIT, National Law School or any medical college in the region," he said.
It is to be noted that the Central government has decided to open six centres of Aligarh Muslim University at six different places of the country. A team of the University under the leadership of its Vice Chancellor visited Bihar on February 4 to start the special branch in Kishanganj. The team explained the project to the Chief Minister through power point presentation and the Chief Minister finally allotted 243.76 acre land to the University on March 27. The land has been allotted on lease for 30 years with the option of further renewal.
Surprisingly another branch of the AMU is being set-up in Mursheedabad of West Bengal, just 110 km from Kishanganj and another in Malappuram in Kerala. The State government did not take even one month to allot the land to the AMU but it has not taken any decision on the plea of the Border Security Force which even deposited Rs ten crore for a piece of land about 15 years back.
Protesting against the State government’s move to open the unit of AMU, the ABVP called for a day-long bandh in the State on April 1. The dawn to dusk bandh began amid tight security arrangements and passed off largely peacefully. Another reason for the bandh was to protest against the police lathi charge on ABVP activists. ABVP’s call also had the support of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.
Meanwhile, amid allegations of police excesses, the State government ordered an enquiry into the incident by Inspector General RS Bhatti. But the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar clearly said the AMU branch would be opened in Kishanganj at any costs. "We are committed to setting-up a branch of AMU in Kishanganj," he said. Muslims make up 66.7 per cent of the voters in Kishanganj parliamentary constituency, about 400 km from Patna.
How Bhopal’s history was overturned overtime
By Sangeet Verma
Bhopal is not just a city, but a great civilisation that started with the vision of a great king who designed it excellently with reservoirs, knowledge institutions, temples and markets. Centuries later, it was a sheer face off between nobility and greed, between culture and mad fanaticism that saw constant attempts to destroy the values, morals and icons of this great civilisation. However, years of consistent and deliberate efforts to manipulate its history and identity have all gone in vain.
RAJA Bhoj of Malwa (1010 –1053) was one of the greatest legendary kings in central India in known history. A great scholar of many subjects, King Bhojraj understood the concept of architecture, town and country planning so well that he wrote an entire encyclopaedia of eighty three chapters, the Samrangana Sootradhar on the subject. Bhojraj created three major cities using his vast knowledge and understanding of traditional Indian knowledge system. These were Mandapdurg, his capital Dharanagri, and the famous city of lakes Bhojpal, now known as Mandu, Dhar and Bhopal respectively.
It was due to the geographical advantage of the area that King Bhojraj decided to build the city of Bhojpal. The demography of the area was suitable for large reservoirs that would be the source of biodiversity and life to human settlements for many centuries. Strategically, Bhoj understood the importance of locating a city in the centre of India, thereby controlling the trade routes. Hence Bhoj found the great Bhimkund near Bhopal, expanding 648 square kilometres, along with the famous upper lake of Bhopal. Unlike the claims of most historians, Bhopal was not a small village. Bhojraj developed it as a well planned city with a square plan and a central square for business. One of the wives of Udayaditya Parmar, the grandson of Raja Bhoj is said to have founded a temple called the Sabha Mandal which was completed in 1184 and occupied the same site on which Jama Masjid of Kudasia Begum now stands. (Imperial Gazetteer of India 1908, volume 12 page 143). It is said that the premises of this temple complex was so huge that five hundred pundits stayed in its quarters.
The Parmar dynasty of Bhojraj ended in 1327. Dharanagri and Mandu fell to the Khiljis of Delhi, who went on a destruction spree destroying temples, Bhojshalas, and ancient knowledge institutions. In the fifteenth century, Hoshangshah destroyed the main wall of the legendary Bhimkund reservoir. It took three years for the water to drain out and another thirty years for the area to become cultivatable. Bhopal city, however, was protected against this cultural aggression by its native Gonds, who were the rulers of the great Gondwana Kindom, and a strong force in central India. Little did they know that very soon Bhopal was to become the centre of foreign cultural invasions for many years to come.
In late seventeenth century a womaniser Afghan, Dost Mohammad Khan of a village Tiraah in Afghanistan forcefully kidnapped the wife of a noble Pathan, killing her husband in the process. (Begums of Bhopal by Sheharyar Khan). The pathans sought revenge, and Dost Mohammad fearing for his life fled to India. He was given refuge by an old family friend in Delhi, which was a city under confusion and turmoil after the end of Aurangzeb. Dost soon became a warrior in the army of one of the aspirants to the Delhi crown. Although a good horseman and fighter, Dost Mohammad had no control over his weaknesses or his ambitions and soon ended up raping the daughter of the very person who gave him shelter. He found himself fleeing from Delhi on route to central India. His first stop was Bhilsa (Vidisha) where he worked for the King for some time. Soon, he wandered into the small kingdom of Mangalgarh, (now the Berasia tehsil of Bhopal). The aging King of Mangalgarh and his wife were old and ill and had no children. Dost Mohammad was quick to smell the opportunity to fulfil his ambitions. He won their hearts with his gallantry and loyalty, defeating other small zamindars who were a constant threat to Mangalgarh. Upon the death of the King, the widow Queen of Mangalgarh ruled for some time, with Dost Mohammad as her chief advisor and protector, and upon her death in 1712, Dost Mohammad Khan became the most eligible heir to their throne.
Dost Mohammad Khan was quick to visit Tiraah, his hometown in Afghanistan, returning with a few hundred Pathans, who were willing to fight anyone for money and women. Dost however, did not have the heart to challenge the local Gonds and Rajputs, who he feared for their bravery and might. So, he extended a hand of friendship to them, inviting them with their families for celebrating the festival of Holi with him. A huge complex of tents was set-up for the royal guests outside the beautiful city of temples, Jagdishpur located on the banks of the river Banganga near Bhopal. On the eve of Holi, the celebrations of alcohol and drugs went deep into the night, and when the guests were almost unconscious, the Pathans of Dost Mohammad Khan cut the ropes of the tents and set them on fire. They attacked the few soldiers that had accompanied the unsuspecting Rajputs and killed them mercilessly. Those trying to escape were chased on horses under the full moon and massacred. The royal Rajput women realised what was going on and themselves set their tents on fire, choosing Johar rather than captivity to Muslims. The merciless killings carried on to early morning, so much that the river Banganga went red with Rajput blood. Rejoicing his victory and the scenario, Dost Mohammad Khan proudly renamed the river ‘Halali’ (meaning a place where the Kafirs were sacrificed). Meanwhile the neighbouring town of Jagdishpur had an early alarmed dawn. The locals had been listening to the cries of the Rajputs all through the night and knew they were next. Many families disappeared into the dense forests before dawn. Others locked themselves inside their houses. The gates of Jagdishpur were broken early morning and the massacre started. Hindus were dragged outside the houses and killed. Women were carried away on horse backs. The sounds of screaming and crying enveloped the city. Many knelt down in front of the Khan seeking Islam and forgiveness to ensure their families survival. Those who converted were given the task of bringing down the temples of Jagdishpur as their first token of loyalty to Islam. Dost Mohammad Khan declared the city his capital and renamed it ‘Islamnagar’. In one night, Dost Mohammad had eliminated all local competition. He, along with his few hundred Pathans soon started fighting wars for other kings in return for money and earned the reputation of ruthless contract killers.
Meanwhile, the King of Gonds Nawal Shah, who ruled most of central India from his capital Ginnaurgarh, fell prey to his enemies, who were the rulers of Badi near Bhopal. They poisoned his milk and attacked Ginnaurgarh. The beautiful Queen of Nawal Shah, Rani Kamlapati, was known for her beauty and talents far and wide. Fearing the intentions of her husband’s assassins, she moved to her palace in Bhopal, which was much safer due to the loyalty of the locals there. Here, she heard about Dost Mohammad Khan and summoned him to her palace in Bhopal. She hired him to kill her husband’s assassins in return of fifty thousand currency. Dost Mohammad Khan, was shocked to see the prosperity and wealth of the Gonds. Bowing down to her in honour, he had secretly developed a greed not only for the Kingdom of Ginnaurgarh and Bhopal, but also for Queen Kamlapati. (Bangana Se Halai, by Niranjan Verma and Begums of Bhopal, by Sheharyar Khan). Dost was quick to attack the Queen’s enemies at Badi, and using his advantage of surprise, he smoothly finished them in a matter of days. On his return to Bhopal after his victory, Dost Mohammad Khan was a changed man. He landed in the Queen’s palace and stayed on for days, taking complete undue advantage of the Indian hospitality traditions and breaking protocol on many occasions. Gradually, his intentions became clear to Rani Kamlapati, who politely asked him to leave. An annoyed Dost Mohammad asked for more money and wealth in the name of his damages in the war. The furious Queen threw her keys on the floor. To her surprise, Dost Mohammad quietly picked them up and walked away. A tearful Rani Kamlapati saw her wealth being carried away through a long fateful night. Dost Mohammad returned to Islamnagar, but could not take his greed away from either Rani Kamlapati or Bhopal. So, he made a plan. He sent a word to Queen Kamlapati to either marry him and convert, or face his attack. That same night in 1723, before Rani Kamlapati could design a defence, Dost Mohammad along with his Pathan soldiers attacked an unguarded palace in Bhopal. The Queen’s only son died for his mother’s honour fighting the Khan and his Pathans. Left with no options, Queen Kamlapati committed suicide in the upper lake of Bhopal. Her body was quickly recovered by the loyal Brahmins of Brahminpura (now Ibrahimpura) and given a Hindu funeral before Dost Mohammad could get his hand on it. Dost Mohammad Khan finally conquered Bhopal, but could never conquer the strength of Rani Kamlapati.
His happiness however, was short lived. As the news of the incident spread, the furious Marathas attacked Bhopal from the west. Seeing an opportunity, the Nawab of Hyderabad attacked him from the south. Scared and defeated, Dost Mohammad signed surrender. In 1724, he gave half of his state to the Marathas and as had no money to pay to the nawab of Hyderabad, he mortgaged his son Yar Mohammad Khan till he paid up. Pay up he could never, as he died a sudden death 1726, within three years of the suicide of Rani Kamlapati. His divided and weak state soon went heirless and the daughters came to rule. The Begums maintained a close relationship with the British, and declared additional bonus for their Bhopal army in 1857, fearing the spread of anti-British sentiment in their ranks. More than nine hundred soldiers of the Bhopal state were sent to fight the first world war for the British in 1914. Years later in 1947, the last ruler of Bhopal Nawab Hamidulla Khan decided to go with Pakistan. It was under the fear of a direct threat of military action by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that he surrendered the state of Bhopal to the Union of India and Bhopal finally gained freedom on June 1, 1949, almost two years after the country gained Independence from British rule.
Bhopal is not just a city, but a great civilisation that started with the vision of a great king who designed it excellently with reservoirs,knowledge institutions, temples and markets. Centuries later, it was a sheer face off between nobility and greed, between culture and mad fanaticism that saw constant attempts to destroy the values, morals and icons of this great civilisation. However, years of consistent and deliberate efforts to manipulate its history and identity have all gone in vain. Today, the days of the nawabs when even lamps could not be lighted on Deepavali, and bells could not be sounded in the temples are over. This great city of Raja Bhoj has rediscovered itself in the light of modernity and is asserting to take the route its fonder had destined it for.
Bhopal is not just a city, but a great civilisation that started with the vision of a great king who designed it excellently with reservoirs, knowledge institutions, temples and markets. Centuries later, it was a sheer face off between nobility and greed, between culture and mad fanaticism that saw constant attempts to destroy the values, morals and icons of this great civilisation. However, years of consistent and deliberate efforts to manipulate its history and identity have all gone in vain.
RAJA Bhoj of Malwa (1010 –1053) was one of the greatest legendary kings in central India in known history. A great scholar of many subjects, King Bhojraj understood the concept of architecture, town and country planning so well that he wrote an entire encyclopaedia of eighty three chapters, the Samrangana Sootradhar on the subject. Bhojraj created three major cities using his vast knowledge and understanding of traditional Indian knowledge system. These were Mandapdurg, his capital Dharanagri, and the famous city of lakes Bhojpal, now known as Mandu, Dhar and Bhopal respectively.
It was due to the geographical advantage of the area that King Bhojraj decided to build the city of Bhojpal. The demography of the area was suitable for large reservoirs that would be the source of biodiversity and life to human settlements for many centuries. Strategically, Bhoj understood the importance of locating a city in the centre of India, thereby controlling the trade routes. Hence Bhoj found the great Bhimkund near Bhopal, expanding 648 square kilometres, along with the famous upper lake of Bhopal. Unlike the claims of most historians, Bhopal was not a small village. Bhojraj developed it as a well planned city with a square plan and a central square for business. One of the wives of Udayaditya Parmar, the grandson of Raja Bhoj is said to have founded a temple called the Sabha Mandal which was completed in 1184 and occupied the same site on which Jama Masjid of Kudasia Begum now stands. (Imperial Gazetteer of India 1908, volume 12 page 143). It is said that the premises of this temple complex was so huge that five hundred pundits stayed in its quarters.
The Parmar dynasty of Bhojraj ended in 1327. Dharanagri and Mandu fell to the Khiljis of Delhi, who went on a destruction spree destroying temples, Bhojshalas, and ancient knowledge institutions. In the fifteenth century, Hoshangshah destroyed the main wall of the legendary Bhimkund reservoir. It took three years for the water to drain out and another thirty years for the area to become cultivatable. Bhopal city, however, was protected against this cultural aggression by its native Gonds, who were the rulers of the great Gondwana Kindom, and a strong force in central India. Little did they know that very soon Bhopal was to become the centre of foreign cultural invasions for many years to come.
In late seventeenth century a womaniser Afghan, Dost Mohammad Khan of a village Tiraah in Afghanistan forcefully kidnapped the wife of a noble Pathan, killing her husband in the process. (Begums of Bhopal by Sheharyar Khan). The pathans sought revenge, and Dost Mohammad fearing for his life fled to India. He was given refuge by an old family friend in Delhi, which was a city under confusion and turmoil after the end of Aurangzeb. Dost soon became a warrior in the army of one of the aspirants to the Delhi crown. Although a good horseman and fighter, Dost Mohammad had no control over his weaknesses or his ambitions and soon ended up raping the daughter of the very person who gave him shelter. He found himself fleeing from Delhi on route to central India. His first stop was Bhilsa (Vidisha) where he worked for the King for some time. Soon, he wandered into the small kingdom of Mangalgarh, (now the Berasia tehsil of Bhopal). The aging King of Mangalgarh and his wife were old and ill and had no children. Dost Mohammad was quick to smell the opportunity to fulfil his ambitions. He won their hearts with his gallantry and loyalty, defeating other small zamindars who were a constant threat to Mangalgarh. Upon the death of the King, the widow Queen of Mangalgarh ruled for some time, with Dost Mohammad as her chief advisor and protector, and upon her death in 1712, Dost Mohammad Khan became the most eligible heir to their throne.
Dost Mohammad Khan was quick to visit Tiraah, his hometown in Afghanistan, returning with a few hundred Pathans, who were willing to fight anyone for money and women. Dost however, did not have the heart to challenge the local Gonds and Rajputs, who he feared for their bravery and might. So, he extended a hand of friendship to them, inviting them with their families for celebrating the festival of Holi with him. A huge complex of tents was set-up for the royal guests outside the beautiful city of temples, Jagdishpur located on the banks of the river Banganga near Bhopal. On the eve of Holi, the celebrations of alcohol and drugs went deep into the night, and when the guests were almost unconscious, the Pathans of Dost Mohammad Khan cut the ropes of the tents and set them on fire. They attacked the few soldiers that had accompanied the unsuspecting Rajputs and killed them mercilessly. Those trying to escape were chased on horses under the full moon and massacred. The royal Rajput women realised what was going on and themselves set their tents on fire, choosing Johar rather than captivity to Muslims. The merciless killings carried on to early morning, so much that the river Banganga went red with Rajput blood. Rejoicing his victory and the scenario, Dost Mohammad Khan proudly renamed the river ‘Halali’ (meaning a place where the Kafirs were sacrificed). Meanwhile the neighbouring town of Jagdishpur had an early alarmed dawn. The locals had been listening to the cries of the Rajputs all through the night and knew they were next. Many families disappeared into the dense forests before dawn. Others locked themselves inside their houses. The gates of Jagdishpur were broken early morning and the massacre started. Hindus were dragged outside the houses and killed. Women were carried away on horse backs. The sounds of screaming and crying enveloped the city. Many knelt down in front of the Khan seeking Islam and forgiveness to ensure their families survival. Those who converted were given the task of bringing down the temples of Jagdishpur as their first token of loyalty to Islam. Dost Mohammad Khan declared the city his capital and renamed it ‘Islamnagar’. In one night, Dost Mohammad had eliminated all local competition. He, along with his few hundred Pathans soon started fighting wars for other kings in return for money and earned the reputation of ruthless contract killers.
Meanwhile, the King of Gonds Nawal Shah, who ruled most of central India from his capital Ginnaurgarh, fell prey to his enemies, who were the rulers of Badi near Bhopal. They poisoned his milk and attacked Ginnaurgarh. The beautiful Queen of Nawal Shah, Rani Kamlapati, was known for her beauty and talents far and wide. Fearing the intentions of her husband’s assassins, she moved to her palace in Bhopal, which was much safer due to the loyalty of the locals there. Here, she heard about Dost Mohammad Khan and summoned him to her palace in Bhopal. She hired him to kill her husband’s assassins in return of fifty thousand currency. Dost Mohammad Khan, was shocked to see the prosperity and wealth of the Gonds. Bowing down to her in honour, he had secretly developed a greed not only for the Kingdom of Ginnaurgarh and Bhopal, but also for Queen Kamlapati. (Bangana Se Halai, by Niranjan Verma and Begums of Bhopal, by Sheharyar Khan). Dost was quick to attack the Queen’s enemies at Badi, and using his advantage of surprise, he smoothly finished them in a matter of days. On his return to Bhopal after his victory, Dost Mohammad Khan was a changed man. He landed in the Queen’s palace and stayed on for days, taking complete undue advantage of the Indian hospitality traditions and breaking protocol on many occasions. Gradually, his intentions became clear to Rani Kamlapati, who politely asked him to leave. An annoyed Dost Mohammad asked for more money and wealth in the name of his damages in the war. The furious Queen threw her keys on the floor. To her surprise, Dost Mohammad quietly picked them up and walked away. A tearful Rani Kamlapati saw her wealth being carried away through a long fateful night. Dost Mohammad returned to Islamnagar, but could not take his greed away from either Rani Kamlapati or Bhopal. So, he made a plan. He sent a word to Queen Kamlapati to either marry him and convert, or face his attack. That same night in 1723, before Rani Kamlapati could design a defence, Dost Mohammad along with his Pathan soldiers attacked an unguarded palace in Bhopal. The Queen’s only son died for his mother’s honour fighting the Khan and his Pathans. Left with no options, Queen Kamlapati committed suicide in the upper lake of Bhopal. Her body was quickly recovered by the loyal Brahmins of Brahminpura (now Ibrahimpura) and given a Hindu funeral before Dost Mohammad could get his hand on it. Dost Mohammad Khan finally conquered Bhopal, but could never conquer the strength of Rani Kamlapati.
His happiness however, was short lived. As the news of the incident spread, the furious Marathas attacked Bhopal from the west. Seeing an opportunity, the Nawab of Hyderabad attacked him from the south. Scared and defeated, Dost Mohammad signed surrender. In 1724, he gave half of his state to the Marathas and as had no money to pay to the nawab of Hyderabad, he mortgaged his son Yar Mohammad Khan till he paid up. Pay up he could never, as he died a sudden death 1726, within three years of the suicide of Rani Kamlapati. His divided and weak state soon went heirless and the daughters came to rule. The Begums maintained a close relationship with the British, and declared additional bonus for their Bhopal army in 1857, fearing the spread of anti-British sentiment in their ranks. More than nine hundred soldiers of the Bhopal state were sent to fight the first world war for the British in 1914. Years later in 1947, the last ruler of Bhopal Nawab Hamidulla Khan decided to go with Pakistan. It was under the fear of a direct threat of military action by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that he surrendered the state of Bhopal to the Union of India and Bhopal finally gained freedom on June 1, 1949, almost two years after the country gained Independence from British rule.
Bhopal is not just a city, but a great civilisation that started with the vision of a great king who designed it excellently with reservoirs,knowledge institutions, temples and markets. Centuries later, it was a sheer face off between nobility and greed, between culture and mad fanaticism that saw constant attempts to destroy the values, morals and icons of this great civilisation. However, years of consistent and deliberate efforts to manipulate its history and identity have all gone in vain. Today, the days of the nawabs when even lamps could not be lighted on Deepavali, and bells could not be sounded in the temples are over. This great city of Raja Bhoj has rediscovered itself in the light of modernity and is asserting to take the route its fonder had destined it for.
US the biggest culprit
Intrusions in the name of human rights
By MD Nalapat
In European countries, health care for the underprivileged of other countries is of a standard far lower than that given to natives. What about the human rights of those who fall ill in Europe and the US? Why is the fundamental right to health being ignored by countries that claim to be the world’s only supporters of universal (and I emphasise the word “universal”) human rights?
In a country where European culture is pre-dominant, the US, any individual without health insurance would face a horrible situation. In particular, those who are visitors to the US, especially from the poorer countries, would be refused access to health care facilities unless they are at the point of death or severe trauma. Even in such situations, they would be sent out of the medical facilities as soon as they are able to sit on a wheelchair.
ALTHOUGH Asia has been the lead continent for all except three centuries of recorded human history, disunity within its peoples and a dysfunctional social and governance structure ensured that almost all the continent got ruled by European states from the 18th century onwards. Although such dominance has disappeared from most parts of Asia—with the exception of locations such as Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which has been taken away from rightful owner Mauritius—the after-effects of colonialism still persist in the Asian mindset. This manifests itself in believing that the continent is far behind Europe in every respect.
Although it is a fact that Europe is—at present—far more advanced than Asia, accounting for much more technological discoveries as well as a better average lifestyle, it is not true that human rights are better protected in Europe than that in Asia. An honest examination of the overall situation would show that human rights are far better protected in Asia than that in Europe, at least so far as the most vulnerable sections of society are concerned, such as ethnic minorities and those residents without citizenship papers.
Take the case of health care. In a country where European culture is pre-dominant, the US, any individual without health insurance would face a horrible situation. In particular, those who are visitors to the US, especially from the poorer countries, would be refused access to health care facilities unless they were at the point of death or severe trauma. Even in such situations, they would be sent out of the medical facilities as soon as they are able to sit on a wheelchair and leave, which is usually much before they are fully recovered. As for the European countries, in almost all of them, health care for the underprivileged of other countries is of a standard far lower than that given to natives. What about the human rights of those who fall ill in Europe and the US? Why is the fundamental right to health being ignored by countries that claim to be the world’s only supporters of universal (and I emphasise the word “universal” ) human rights?
Contrast this to, for example, Kuwait. This small Asian country has an excellent health system, which can be fully accessed not only by citizens and residents but by any visitor who comes on a valid visa. Such an individual, if she or he falls ill, can get the best medical treatment available for a cost of just one Kuwaiti dinar. In contrast, such people get only tenth-class medical treatment in most of Europe, the best facilities being reserved for the rich and the second-best for citizens, while in the US, they get no treatment at all. If an underprivileged individual, especially a non-citizen, were to appear at a US hospital with US$ 4, he would be laughed at and thrown out of the door.
Good medical care for the underprivileged is present not only in Kuwait. The generosity of the Arab spirit—in the best traditions of friendly Asia—has ensured that every country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) provides excellent health care, including to those without money or even insurance. In most parts of Asia, those who are both sick and poor, and who are visitors, get much better attention than that in Europe or the US, where only those people who “belong” are given preference, even while they themselves seek privileged treatment from the rest of the globe. Of course, it must be admitted that public health facilities in India are of low quality, so that those who get admitted to government hospitals have to undergo much additional suffering as a result. This is not a surprise, given the fact that Indian officialdom looks only towards the US and the EU for inspiration.
And what about the fact that hundreds of thousands of the sick are dying each year even in the rich countries because they cannot afford medicines that have been artificially priced high by pharma companies in Europe and the US? These companies gouge not only outsiders but their own populations, justifying the high prices on the ground that the revenues from them are needed for research. The fact is that 78 per cent of the research for critical drugs has been done outside these companies, many by government-funded laboratories. However, so powerful is the pharma cartel that it has got the European Union to commit such actions as blocking low-cost Indian drugs from entering not only home markets but also Africa. As for US companies, they use the court system to protect their monopolies, a control over medicine supply that ensures a crippling cost to health care in the US and Europe. Had these countries the moral courage to resist the lures of their pharma giants, millions of their own citizens would have benefitted from low drug prices. But who cares for the human rights of those who are ill, when huge profits can be made by overcharging?
Again, does anyone bother to compute the immense damage being done to international human rights by the super-rich speculators in the US and Europe? These selfish individuals have caused incalculable misery to hundreds of millions by driving up the prices of oil, foodgrain, metals and much else that are essential for the modern economy. Even after being given more than a trillion dollars by governments that hesitate to spend pennies in feeding the poor in Africa, the big financial institutions in London, New York, Zurich and Frankfurt are once again driving up the prices of commodities by speculation. Yet this open trampling of the human rights of the globe is allowed to take place by local governments.
Indeed, some in these countries even buy up (at a very cheap price) the debt of the poorest countries and then use their court system or their governments to force such countries to pay them huge amounts. And how was this debt created? By loans that went mostly into paying the salaries of the citizens of the very countries making the loans.
In the case of Afghanistan, for example, more than 80 per cent of the “aid” that is going to that country from Europe and the US gets diverted as salaries to citizens of the US and Europe working in Afghanistan, and to the many facilities they need. Each “philanthropist” from the rich countries who are working in
Afghanistan cost in a day what an ordinary Afghan cannot hope to earn in a year, yet none of this is considered a “violation of human rights”.
Another gross violation of universal human rights is the immense subsidy paid to a few farmers from the rich countries in order to prevent competition by the many in the poorer countries. We all know of milk and butter mountains, that are allowed to rot while tens of millions starve elsewhere. What about the US$ 40 billion given as subsidy to a handful of European fishermen, who use the money to drain the oceans of fish? What about the immense stretches of forest land in Brazil, Russia and Indonesia that are being destroyed by companies headquartered in countries that talk every day about universal human rights? Do we not have a right to these forests? And are our human rights not being trampled upon by companies that greedily destroy them? Once again, it is not from Asia that these companies come from, but from the rich world.
This article will end by drawing attention to a law that the US and its partners are forcing India to agree to. Once passed, this shameful law would limit the liability of a foreign supplier of nuclear equipment to India to US$ 100 million, even if a faulty plant design kills tens of thousands of innocents by radioactive leakage. In a similar way, those clamouring about “human rights” see no contradiction in depriving millions of access to fair compensation. Indeed, they often bully local governments to agree to terms that discriminate against their own citizens in favour of foreign interests, all in the name of “free trade”. And yet, especially in the EU, every effort is made to ensure that the market remains closed to the poorer countries. They do not mind spending vast amounts of energy in order to produce items that poorer countries could give them at much lower cost. At the same time, they are happy when several citizens of poorer countries act like donkeys by buying expensive brands that cost several times more than the substantive benefits they give. Indeed, one reason why Japan, for example, is in the present dire economic state is the immense investment made in Europe in the 1980s and afterwards, when investments in Asia would have generated both better products as well as higher profits. Compared to the profits being made in Asia, there are usually only losses in Europe. The Japanese are so obsessed with the US and the EU that even their IT software needs are sought to get sourced from there, rather than from India. Japanese companies are now paying a heavy price for such policies, and some are accepting the need to turn to India if Japan is to continue to prosper.
The world needs a comprehensive definition of “Universal Hunan Rights”. This should include the right to cheap medicines and good health care. The right to be treated with dignity everywhere and to get the same access for citizens as is given to citizens of other countries. This should include the right to be free of the disasters created by speculators and others preying on the poor by raising prices of essentials. This should include protection of forests and control over fishing and other actions that take away the ecological balance. In all these fields, India should lead.
By MD Nalapat
In European countries, health care for the underprivileged of other countries is of a standard far lower than that given to natives. What about the human rights of those who fall ill in Europe and the US? Why is the fundamental right to health being ignored by countries that claim to be the world’s only supporters of universal (and I emphasise the word “universal”) human rights?
In a country where European culture is pre-dominant, the US, any individual without health insurance would face a horrible situation. In particular, those who are visitors to the US, especially from the poorer countries, would be refused access to health care facilities unless they are at the point of death or severe trauma. Even in such situations, they would be sent out of the medical facilities as soon as they are able to sit on a wheelchair.
ALTHOUGH Asia has been the lead continent for all except three centuries of recorded human history, disunity within its peoples and a dysfunctional social and governance structure ensured that almost all the continent got ruled by European states from the 18th century onwards. Although such dominance has disappeared from most parts of Asia—with the exception of locations such as Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which has been taken away from rightful owner Mauritius—the after-effects of colonialism still persist in the Asian mindset. This manifests itself in believing that the continent is far behind Europe in every respect.
Although it is a fact that Europe is—at present—far more advanced than Asia, accounting for much more technological discoveries as well as a better average lifestyle, it is not true that human rights are better protected in Europe than that in Asia. An honest examination of the overall situation would show that human rights are far better protected in Asia than that in Europe, at least so far as the most vulnerable sections of society are concerned, such as ethnic minorities and those residents without citizenship papers.
Take the case of health care. In a country where European culture is pre-dominant, the US, any individual without health insurance would face a horrible situation. In particular, those who are visitors to the US, especially from the poorer countries, would be refused access to health care facilities unless they were at the point of death or severe trauma. Even in such situations, they would be sent out of the medical facilities as soon as they are able to sit on a wheelchair and leave, which is usually much before they are fully recovered. As for the European countries, in almost all of them, health care for the underprivileged of other countries is of a standard far lower than that given to natives. What about the human rights of those who fall ill in Europe and the US? Why is the fundamental right to health being ignored by countries that claim to be the world’s only supporters of universal (and I emphasise the word “universal” ) human rights?
Contrast this to, for example, Kuwait. This small Asian country has an excellent health system, which can be fully accessed not only by citizens and residents but by any visitor who comes on a valid visa. Such an individual, if she or he falls ill, can get the best medical treatment available for a cost of just one Kuwaiti dinar. In contrast, such people get only tenth-class medical treatment in most of Europe, the best facilities being reserved for the rich and the second-best for citizens, while in the US, they get no treatment at all. If an underprivileged individual, especially a non-citizen, were to appear at a US hospital with US$ 4, he would be laughed at and thrown out of the door.
Good medical care for the underprivileged is present not only in Kuwait. The generosity of the Arab spirit—in the best traditions of friendly Asia—has ensured that every country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) provides excellent health care, including to those without money or even insurance. In most parts of Asia, those who are both sick and poor, and who are visitors, get much better attention than that in Europe or the US, where only those people who “belong” are given preference, even while they themselves seek privileged treatment from the rest of the globe. Of course, it must be admitted that public health facilities in India are of low quality, so that those who get admitted to government hospitals have to undergo much additional suffering as a result. This is not a surprise, given the fact that Indian officialdom looks only towards the US and the EU for inspiration.
And what about the fact that hundreds of thousands of the sick are dying each year even in the rich countries because they cannot afford medicines that have been artificially priced high by pharma companies in Europe and the US? These companies gouge not only outsiders but their own populations, justifying the high prices on the ground that the revenues from them are needed for research. The fact is that 78 per cent of the research for critical drugs has been done outside these companies, many by government-funded laboratories. However, so powerful is the pharma cartel that it has got the European Union to commit such actions as blocking low-cost Indian drugs from entering not only home markets but also Africa. As for US companies, they use the court system to protect their monopolies, a control over medicine supply that ensures a crippling cost to health care in the US and Europe. Had these countries the moral courage to resist the lures of their pharma giants, millions of their own citizens would have benefitted from low drug prices. But who cares for the human rights of those who are ill, when huge profits can be made by overcharging?
Again, does anyone bother to compute the immense damage being done to international human rights by the super-rich speculators in the US and Europe? These selfish individuals have caused incalculable misery to hundreds of millions by driving up the prices of oil, foodgrain, metals and much else that are essential for the modern economy. Even after being given more than a trillion dollars by governments that hesitate to spend pennies in feeding the poor in Africa, the big financial institutions in London, New York, Zurich and Frankfurt are once again driving up the prices of commodities by speculation. Yet this open trampling of the human rights of the globe is allowed to take place by local governments.
Indeed, some in these countries even buy up (at a very cheap price) the debt of the poorest countries and then use their court system or their governments to force such countries to pay them huge amounts. And how was this debt created? By loans that went mostly into paying the salaries of the citizens of the very countries making the loans.
In the case of Afghanistan, for example, more than 80 per cent of the “aid” that is going to that country from Europe and the US gets diverted as salaries to citizens of the US and Europe working in Afghanistan, and to the many facilities they need. Each “philanthropist” from the rich countries who are working in
Afghanistan cost in a day what an ordinary Afghan cannot hope to earn in a year, yet none of this is considered a “violation of human rights”.
Another gross violation of universal human rights is the immense subsidy paid to a few farmers from the rich countries in order to prevent competition by the many in the poorer countries. We all know of milk and butter mountains, that are allowed to rot while tens of millions starve elsewhere. What about the US$ 40 billion given as subsidy to a handful of European fishermen, who use the money to drain the oceans of fish? What about the immense stretches of forest land in Brazil, Russia and Indonesia that are being destroyed by companies headquartered in countries that talk every day about universal human rights? Do we not have a right to these forests? And are our human rights not being trampled upon by companies that greedily destroy them? Once again, it is not from Asia that these companies come from, but from the rich world.
This article will end by drawing attention to a law that the US and its partners are forcing India to agree to. Once passed, this shameful law would limit the liability of a foreign supplier of nuclear equipment to India to US$ 100 million, even if a faulty plant design kills tens of thousands of innocents by radioactive leakage. In a similar way, those clamouring about “human rights” see no contradiction in depriving millions of access to fair compensation. Indeed, they often bully local governments to agree to terms that discriminate against their own citizens in favour of foreign interests, all in the name of “free trade”. And yet, especially in the EU, every effort is made to ensure that the market remains closed to the poorer countries. They do not mind spending vast amounts of energy in order to produce items that poorer countries could give them at much lower cost. At the same time, they are happy when several citizens of poorer countries act like donkeys by buying expensive brands that cost several times more than the substantive benefits they give. Indeed, one reason why Japan, for example, is in the present dire economic state is the immense investment made in Europe in the 1980s and afterwards, when investments in Asia would have generated both better products as well as higher profits. Compared to the profits being made in Asia, there are usually only losses in Europe. The Japanese are so obsessed with the US and the EU that even their IT software needs are sought to get sourced from there, rather than from India. Japanese companies are now paying a heavy price for such policies, and some are accepting the need to turn to India if Japan is to continue to prosper.
The world needs a comprehensive definition of “Universal Hunan Rights”. This should include the right to cheap medicines and good health care. The right to be treated with dignity everywhere and to get the same access for citizens as is given to citizens of other countries. This should include the right to be free of the disasters created by speculators and others preying on the poor by raising prices of essentials. This should include protection of forests and control over fishing and other actions that take away the ecological balance. In all these fields, India should lead.
The crisis of western civilization
By MSN Menon
There was a time when the West used to boast that it has answers to all questions. But the answers have turned out to be false. The recent developments have brought to light the insufficiency of western thought. It has shaken the foundations on which the customary interpretations were based.
IT all began with great hopes. Never in the history of man were conditions so favourable. The Reformation, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution all these gave men an opportunity to chart a new history.
It was really an age of reason. But it was also an age of hubris. There was loss of faith in God. God is dead, declared Nietzsche. Man was on his own.
Tagore was inspired by what he saw. He hoped that an ideal civilisation would issue out of the heart of Europe. But, alas, what came out of the heart of Europe were monstrosities – Fascism, Nazism and Communism. Together, they almost destroyed the world. Who is to blame? The western man. Because he was never Christianised or civilised. He remained the beast that he was.
It was the claim of the west that it was going out into the wide world “to civilise the barbarians.” But what did the colonialist and missionaries achieve? Disorder. Albert Schweitzer, the Swiss Christian leader says: “Western civilisation still acts as a powerful agent of disorder and oppression throughout the world.” The western mission in the world was a failure.
What do the victims say? Tagore says: “It has been increasingly planned that beyond the bound of the empire the torch of western civilisation was not meant to give light, but to start fires.” The fires are still burning in the world. Some, never to be extinguished.
And this is how Aurobindo describes European industrialism: “terrible, monstrous and asuric (demonish)” Aurobindo feared that the West would transmit its social plagues to the rest of the world. He was right.
What do western men say of their own civilisation? Thomas Berry, a historian, says that “this destructive force (European industrialism) rising out of the west and spreading all over the world is imperilling the entire human venture.” This is exactly what it is doing.
The West took away all that was valuable in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Back home, the bricks were giving way to marble.
But what did industrialism do to the men? Made them more selfish and greedy. Prof JP Galbraith, the famous economist, says that selfishness has been the dominant motive of the men behind the industrial revolution. It is even so today. Remember JRD Tata’s judgement on Indian industry and trade? He said greed was what was driving them forward.
Where did the greed take them to? Literally, to damnation. Prof. Samuel Huntington has drawn the finest picture of the western crisis. Of the western maladies he has listed, here are a few: weakening of power, growth of anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, violence, decay of family ties, high divorce rates, illegal babies, teenage pregnancies, weakening of the work culture, growth of strange cults, decreasing commitment to learning and intellectual life. Is there a remedy? Not with the west. There is no exit from the trauma of history, says Huntington.
Can the East offer a remedy? It can. Parkinson says: “If the West wants to survive, it must absorb what is best in the East.”
And what is best in the East? Moderation, tolerance and abhorance to violence. The Buddha says: “Sorrow is the lot of man.” What is his remedy? “Reduce your wants”, he says. But capitalism promotes unlimited desires. And consumerism turns men and women into zombies of the western system.
The West has monotised everything except light, air and soil. I am sure that these will appear in the markets wrapped in beautiful packages.
There was a time when the West used to boast that it has answers to all questions. But the answers have turned out to be false. Niels Bohr, the scientist, says that recent developments have brought to light the insufficiency of western thought. It has shaken the foundations on which the customary interpretations were based, he says.
The West has made far too many mistakes in history. It has not been able to create a better world. We can no more put our trust on the West. But do we want to put our trust on the Chinese or the Japanese? No. The Chinese are a race which has cared for itself throughout their long history. And I am afraid the Japanese are not out of their military psychosis.
The United Nations was a nice idea. But it is dominated by the powerful nations. India has a vested interest in making the UN truly democratic. I am sure India’s voice will be heard attentively.
There was a time when the West used to boast that it has answers to all questions. But the answers have turned out to be false. The recent developments have brought to light the insufficiency of western thought. It has shaken the foundations on which the customary interpretations were based.
IT all began with great hopes. Never in the history of man were conditions so favourable. The Reformation, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution all these gave men an opportunity to chart a new history.
It was really an age of reason. But it was also an age of hubris. There was loss of faith in God. God is dead, declared Nietzsche. Man was on his own.
Tagore was inspired by what he saw. He hoped that an ideal civilisation would issue out of the heart of Europe. But, alas, what came out of the heart of Europe were monstrosities – Fascism, Nazism and Communism. Together, they almost destroyed the world. Who is to blame? The western man. Because he was never Christianised or civilised. He remained the beast that he was.
It was the claim of the west that it was going out into the wide world “to civilise the barbarians.” But what did the colonialist and missionaries achieve? Disorder. Albert Schweitzer, the Swiss Christian leader says: “Western civilisation still acts as a powerful agent of disorder and oppression throughout the world.” The western mission in the world was a failure.
What do the victims say? Tagore says: “It has been increasingly planned that beyond the bound of the empire the torch of western civilisation was not meant to give light, but to start fires.” The fires are still burning in the world. Some, never to be extinguished.
And this is how Aurobindo describes European industrialism: “terrible, monstrous and asuric (demonish)” Aurobindo feared that the West would transmit its social plagues to the rest of the world. He was right.
What do western men say of their own civilisation? Thomas Berry, a historian, says that “this destructive force (European industrialism) rising out of the west and spreading all over the world is imperilling the entire human venture.” This is exactly what it is doing.
The West took away all that was valuable in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Back home, the bricks were giving way to marble.
But what did industrialism do to the men? Made them more selfish and greedy. Prof JP Galbraith, the famous economist, says that selfishness has been the dominant motive of the men behind the industrial revolution. It is even so today. Remember JRD Tata’s judgement on Indian industry and trade? He said greed was what was driving them forward.
Where did the greed take them to? Literally, to damnation. Prof. Samuel Huntington has drawn the finest picture of the western crisis. Of the western maladies he has listed, here are a few: weakening of power, growth of anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, violence, decay of family ties, high divorce rates, illegal babies, teenage pregnancies, weakening of the work culture, growth of strange cults, decreasing commitment to learning and intellectual life. Is there a remedy? Not with the west. There is no exit from the trauma of history, says Huntington.
Can the East offer a remedy? It can. Parkinson says: “If the West wants to survive, it must absorb what is best in the East.”
And what is best in the East? Moderation, tolerance and abhorance to violence. The Buddha says: “Sorrow is the lot of man.” What is his remedy? “Reduce your wants”, he says. But capitalism promotes unlimited desires. And consumerism turns men and women into zombies of the western system.
The West has monotised everything except light, air and soil. I am sure that these will appear in the markets wrapped in beautiful packages.
There was a time when the West used to boast that it has answers to all questions. But the answers have turned out to be false. Niels Bohr, the scientist, says that recent developments have brought to light the insufficiency of western thought. It has shaken the foundations on which the customary interpretations were based, he says.
The West has made far too many mistakes in history. It has not been able to create a better world. We can no more put our trust on the West. But do we want to put our trust on the Chinese or the Japanese? No. The Chinese are a race which has cared for itself throughout their long history. And I am afraid the Japanese are not out of their military psychosis.
The United Nations was a nice idea. But it is dominated by the powerful nations. India has a vested interest in making the UN truly democratic. I am sure India’s voice will be heard attentively.
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