Christian Minister Diverts Hindu Temple Funds for Sewage System

GURUVAYUR
The Hindu

Protest is mounting here over the reported move of the Oommen Chandy Government to utilise the Guruvayur Devaswom funds for implementing the sewage treatment plant and water supply scheme for the area.

The CPI(M) fellow traveller and former MLA of Guruvayur, P. T. Kunjumuhammed, the BJP, the National Congress (Indira) and a host of other organisations such as the Akhila Bharatha Guruvayurappan Theerthadaka Kshema Samithi (ABGTKS) have come out in the open against the move and demanded that the Government should bear the entire expenditures for the schemes.

Mr. Kunjumuhammed told The Hindu here that reports indicated that the high-level meeting convened by the Chief Minister in Thiruvanathapuram had decided to share the cost of the schemes between the Devaswom, the municipality and the Government at 30:30:40 ratio. But this was unlikely to happen as it would be difficult for the Devaswom to share money within the constraints of the existing legal frame-work and court orders.

He said that during the tenure of the previous LDF Government, it was decided that the entire cost of the sewage treatment plant, estimated to be Rs.10 crores then, would be borne by the State Government. The LDF Government had proposed to set up a separate water supply scheme for the people of Chakkamkandam as a relief for setting up the plant there. The contract for the scheme was also awarded to a Bangalore- based company.

``Now we understand that the Government has cancelled that contract and a fresh tender is being invited. It has always been the agenda of the Muslim League to sabotage the sewage treatment plant at Guruvayur, and Mr. Chandy is trying to implement that agenda, by insisting that the Devaswom must share the cost,'' Mr. Kunjumuhammed said.

He recalled that a water supply scheme from the Thrithala project for Guruvayur was already under implementation. Now the Government was proposing another scheme to bring water from the Karuvannur river which is far away from Guruvayur, abandoning the Thrithala scheme which is 50 per cent complete.

The BJP Guruvayur Mandalam committee office-bearers V. K. Sasiskumar and Sreekumar Ezhaveppadi, expressed strong protest against the move to "divert the Devaswom funds'' in the name of implementing the projects for Guruvayur.

NC(I) threatens stir

The NC(I) leaders threatened agitations against the reported move of the Government to use the Devaswom funds for non-temple purposes.

The ABGTKS president, K. G. Sukumaran Master, recalled that it was with the approval of the Kerala High Court that the State Government had declared the construction of the sewage treatment plant for Guruvayur at Chakkamkandam in 2001. The LDF Government had agreed to bear the entire expenditure of the Rs. 10-crore plant.

The High Court had again issued an order in January 2004 directing the Government to construct the sewage treatment plant at Chakkamkandam after meeting the demands of the local people, at its own expenditure.

Hindu Forum of Britain welcomes Labour move

Prasun Sonwalkar

Ramesh Kallidai, secretary-general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, has welcomed the Labour government’s proposed legislation against religious hatred, saying it was “long overdue”.

The law, he said, would extend the current protection against racial discrimination to also cover religious discrimination.

“We are pleased to see the government taking steps to prohibit incitement to religious hatred, which would cover instances where people stir up hatred of others on the basis of their religious belief,” secretary-general of the Forum Ramesh Kallidai said in a statement.

“We welcome the announcement regarding an Equality Bill, which will extend the current protection against racial discrimination to also cover religious discrimination. This is a long overdue measure”, he said.

Kallidai said the Bill would “close a loophole where, at the moment, members of some religions, such as Jews and Sikhs, are protected against incitement to religious hatred, under racial hatred offences, but Hindus, Christians and Muslims are not”.

“Hopefully they will get the balance right and ensure that the Bill will not be an assault on the people’s right to simply disapprove of the beliefs, teachings or practices of a religion”.

On the proposal for national identity cards, Kallidai said, “We will watch with interest the debate on the introduction of ID cards by 2008.” He hoped that the concerns raised at a recently concluded consultation of the Forum on the proposed ID programme, including recording and reading of biometric data as well as verification of information held on the National Identity Register, would be addressed.

Why Hindu rights are not naturally protected in India?

By Anil Rathi

A question that has been haunting me since the past so many years is why the Hindus have to fight for their rights in a country where the majority are Hindus? Also, why has Hinduism given birth to other religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism? And why is Hinduism so tolerant as to allow other religions to co-exist?

Decline of Hinduism Geographically

In the early days Hinduism spread from Afghanistan to Indonesia. But slowly it got confined to India and Nepal only, while people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia adopted other religions.

Failure of Hinduism to Hold its Own Base

We have seen that Hinduism has been subject to constant change. The change may be in language, way of living, beliefs, customs, etc. Take, for instance, Sanskrit language. Considered to be the mother of most of the Indian languages, it is today being used only while performing puja or other rituals. It is confined to a specific use only and is not spoken widely. The people have gradually shifted from Sanskrit to other languages. This shift continues till today even when we have adopted the English language. Whatever may be the reasons for our adoption and acceptability of English, one thing is certain—that it will be the only language which we in India will be using in future.

So also the name of our country is changing constantly. First it was known as Bharat, then Hindustan and today it is, India.

Lack of Zeal to Spread their Religion

Today we are witnessing conversions of fellow-Hindus to other religions in our own country. But are we spreading our religion in other countries? No. Moreover we are not even thinking in that direction. Christians are spreading their religion in hardcore Islamic countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Likewise, Islam and Christianity are being spread in a Hindu country, like Nepal.

Hindus, more or less, follow an individual approach towards life and religion. The collective strength of the community is utilised only for the purposes of marriages and other functions.

Defensive Approach

Why is it that Hinduism has always been on the defensive? Hinduism has never been offensive. In fact, we have always taken pride in saying that “ours is the only country in the world that has not attacked others in the last 10,000 years.” Indeed, this is a remarkable quality of our country and our people. But what was our achievement in this when we were not able to resist the invaders? We always had to defend ourselves against Islamic and Christian invasions on our land. In spite of being the oldest civilisation, we have not been able to produce a world conqueror like Alexander or Chengiz Khan. Even King Ashoka got himself converted to Buddhism and was instrumental in spreading Buddhism far and wide. This defensive attitude is prevalent even today. Conversions of Hindus to other religions are taking place in our country. And what are we doing? Trying to reconvert them again to Hinduism? On the defensive again? Why are we not able to convert the people of other religions to Hinduism first? Why has Hinduism always been on the defensive?

Further, we are not able to protect our borders. Immigration from neighbouring Islamic States continues till today. This immigration is on such a large scale that it has changed the demographic ratio in some districts of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. Hindus have failed to prevent this immigration, both individually as also collectively. No doubt this would not have been possible without the support of local people (politicians), who for the sake of power have encouraged this large-scale immigration. But are our fellow-Hindus so indifferent as to allow and tolerate this, knowing well its consequences?

Lack of Vision/Planning

Over and above all these, Hinduism has no long-term planning and vision. This may be because of internal conflicts, differences and other problems which it is passing through.

The main reason for all these factors is the fragmentation amongst the Hindus. This is primarily because of lack of united action amongst the Hindus themselves. The Hindus follow their own way of life individually. We have hundreds of sects and each sect has its own beliefs and customs. One of the reasons for this may be that Hinduism has always been a way of life, rather than a religion. What one Hindu believes, practices or follows may not hold good for other fellow-Hindus. Because of this fragmentation, we were not able to protect our borders and Hindu States of Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Sind were lost to Islam. Further, we were witness to Islamic rule in our country for almost eight centuries during which large-scale conversion of our people to Islam took place; our temples were destroyed or converted into mosques and properties looted. But after that, the Hindu resistance to Islamic invasion was truly historic. It was due to this resistance we saw the decline of Islamic power in our country. But once again, we were on the defensive. Right?

Muslims have been successful in converting our fellow-Hindus by force. Since we were not able to fight the sword of Islam, we could not prevent such conversions. The Christians were able to convert our brothers and sisters to Christianity by giving service to humanity as also love and affection. Hinduism failed on both the counts.

I have observed that the Hindus, more or less, follow an individual approach towards life and religion. The collective strength of the community is utilised only for the purpose of marriages and other functions. This development of adopting individual approach is natural in Hindu religion. Every Hindu develops this approach from his childhood. This may be one of the reasons for the birth of so many religions, sects and beliefs.

To alter this attitude, we all have to work together to bring reforms in our religion. Long-term strategic planning needs to be developed and adopted whereby the fragmentation and the casual approach of Hindus towards their religion, the individualistic approach, overall attitude towards life and work need to be changed.

Let us make Hinduism a vibrant religion, ready to take on the challenges coming in its path.

I suggest below some points which I feel will be helpful for our religion:

A Nation that Prays Together, Stays Together

The Hindus follow their religion individually. They go to the temple as per their convenience. The procedures for prayers differ from person to person and from temple to temple. This again depends upon the sect and the region to which the temple or the person belongs. This has to be changed. A movement should be launched so that aarti and puja are performed at the same time all over the country. Each and every temple, from north to south, east to west, big or small, should be given a common time to perform aarti and puja. Along with this, every house, shop, office, factory, etc. all over the country should be encouraged to perform aarti and puja at that given time. Not only aarti and puja should commence at a common time, but should also conclude at the same time.

Participation in a common prayer should be encouraged and everyone should be persuaded to take part in aarti. To make it convenient for everyone, the aarti should be held at all public places, trains, community centres, market places, during marriages and other family functions (if the time of aarti falls in between), in between religious ceremonies and discourses and every other possible place. This will facilitate fellow-Hindus to get a feel of collective worship. It will also help in reducing the class conflicts prevalent in the Hindu society. When people of different castes and creeds pray together, the social fabric gets strengthened.

Uniform Methodology for Prayer and Other Practices

Once we are able to follow this time code, then a common methodology of puja and aarti can be fixed and adopted all over the country. Similarly, there should be a common prayer for all the temples in India.

The prayer should be inter-active, i.e. everyone should participate in the prayer. Today in most of the temples, the priest performs the puja while the fellow-Hindus are passive participants. The prayer should be such that every participant is active and involved/engrossed in the prayer. The prayer should be brief and simple.

A movement should be launched so that aarti and puja are performed at the same time all over the country. Each and every temple, from north to south, east to west, big or small, should be given a common time to perform aarti and puja.

Appointment of Counsellors (Acharyas)

Presently the custodians of Hindu religion are at two levels. The first level comprises of priests who perform puja, aarti and other religious ceremonies while the second level is that of saints, like Murari Bapu, Sri Sri Ravisankar, etc. In between these two lies a big vacuum. A third level, called counsellors, should be created and appointed at every temple. Their prime responsibility should be to impart knowledge of the religion along with other issues like family counselling, religious counselling, personal counselling, community counselling or any other counselling, guidance, advice as may be required.

Today if a person is in trouble and has to receive counselling, either he has to go to a priest or to a saint. The priest advises him to perform puja for mental satisfaction and the saint gives advice on various do’s and don’ts. Most probably the counsellors will also advise on the same but they do so with a human touch. The advise will come after a personal hearing and that is what a person needs at his moment of trouble. The troubled person knows that he has someone to lean upon in his time of need. One of the main problems of Hinduism is of excessive dependence on priests, who are narrow-minded and whose actions are not beneficial to a large section of the society. By appointing counsellors, the dependence on priests can be minimised. The counsellors can co-ordinate with the general public more effectively and bring about a change in the thinking process of the Hindus.

The counsellors should be thorough professionals appointed after passing the necessary examination and should be full-time employees of the temple. They should be paid handsomely so that they are perfectly capable in discharging their duties.

The counsellors will be very useful in those areas where conversions are taking place. They can stop these conversions. Being attached to the temple and the adjacent community, they can get first-hand information on all such activities. They can mix with the local population and learn about each one of them personally. They can persuade them to come to the temple. The counsellors will know who visits the temple and who does not. Incentives can be given to the local population for visiting the temple. A new front can be opened for converting Muslims, Christians and Buddhists to Hinduism.

Celebration of Basant Panchami

One of the points I wish to raise here is why has Valentine's Day caught up with our youngsters?

Here one thing that has to be considered is that the young generation of today needs an excuse for celebration. They will celebrate Valentine’s Day or any other day, with religion taking a back seat. Thus to discourage Valentine’s Day is not proper unless we give them an alternative to celebrate. Why not organise a festival on the lines of Valentine’s Day? Basant Panchami is an ideal day that fits perfectly well in this category.

To discourage Valentine’s Day from becoming a part of our culture and religion in the near future, we must propagate celebration of Basant Panchami among our youngsters. Ask publishers to bring out greeting cards and special gifts on Basant Panchami. Encourage hotels to organise Basant Panchami parties. Sponsor a movie on Basant Panchami day with attractive songs and dances shown. Create SMS on Basant Panchami and send it all over India. Display hoardings and bring out special Basant Panchami messages in newspapers. In short, create a hype and atmosphere as to mould our youngsters to celebrate Basant Panchami instead of Valentine’s Day.

(Contact author at 1st Floor, Indra Sarita, Balraj Marg, Dhantoli, Nagpur-440 012, Email: hindusanmitra@yahoo.co.in)

“Nationwide agitation if Amarnath Yatra is restricted” —Prakash Sharma

By Khajuria S. Kant in Jammu

“Bajrang Dal and VHP would launch a nationwide agitation against the Jammu and Kashmir government if the yatra to Amarnath is restricted and registration fee being charged from the pilgrims is not stopped”, warned Shri Prakash Sharma, national convenor of Bajrang Dal. Talking to mediapersons in Jammu, he alleged that the state government was bent upon creating hurdles in the Amarnath Yatra by raking up fresh controversies every year. He said that the yatra should take place as per the aspirations of the Hindus and no ‘ifs and buts’ would be accepted by the Hindu organisations in this regard.

He warned that if the government continued to create hurdles, thousands of Dal activists would reach Jammu to join the yatra by defying the restrictions imposed. Strongly criticising the state government for charging registration fee from pilgrims, he said that the move revealed the discriminatory attitude of the state government towards Hindus since no fee was charged from the pilgrims of others religions visiting their respective pilgrim centres.

He alleged that the state government had made special arrangements for Muslim pilgrims visiting Mecca and other places but when it came to the Hindus, restrictions were imposed.

Hailing the state High Court’s decision, Shri Sharma said that by filing the PIL before the upper bench of the High Court, the state government had revealed its communal intentions. He accused the government of hatching a conspiracy to curb the yatra by creating hurdles in its smooth conduct, like imposing registration fee and banning the social and religious organisations from arranging langars at various places. He demanded that Jammu should be made a permanent base camp for Amarnath Yatra and parchi system, like the Vaishno Devi shrine, should be introduced for Amarnath pilgrims also. “The Dal does not want to toe the line on the controversy over the issue of time whether the yatra should be of two months or of three months; we demand that any pilgrim reaching Jammu should be allowed to have darshan at the holy cave,” he said. “The yatra should remain open from Guru Purnima onwards till Shrawan Purnima as per the Hindu traditions,” he added.

Faith is blind, so is secularism

Satiricus

Sophisticated secular Satiricus feels outraged. How dare these cussed communal cusses claim that any religion apart from sacred secularism can be scientific enough to be acceptably modern? But this is precisely what they profanely profess. Of course, that is ridiculous rubbish, for hi-tech Hinduism is a contradictory concept, and no sterling secularist can subscribe to the boorish belief that modern science and technology are actually in tune with it. But then, we live in a less than perfect world, so there are pernicious people who preach such puerility with impunity. What is worse, they have foreign friends (rather, friends) who agree with these Indian idiots. Take, for instance, this prayer business. Prayers in the form bhajan and kirtan are a highlight of Hinduism, and its dim-witted devotees claim that prayers have even curative powers.

Satiricus is stunned at this stupidity. He is all the more stunned to see that this stupidity is shared by Western (and therefore modern) experts. For example, a British psychiatrist by name Daniel Beor, who is conducting research in the curative factors in times of illness, says the curative power of prayer has its origin in Einstein’s principle according to which matter and energy are interchangeable, and adds, “if people are Matter, they can interact on an Energy basis in endeavours such as prayer.” There are other westerns who are still more emphatically eastern. For instance, Dr. Michael Friday of London Medical College, says, “Patients who have strong faith in God and who pray regularly, recover more quickly than those who do not believe in the efficacy of prayer and depend solely on medicines.” In other words, a prayer is a stronger medicine than medicine itself. This is all so abominably anti-secular and therefore deeply distressing .To cap it all, it is also hopelessly, horridly, hideously Hindu. For, believe it or not, Col. Kripal Singh, president of the Psychiatrist Society, says the Sundar Kanda in Ramayana, the Vishnu Sahasranama, the 12th and the 15th adhyayas of the Gita, are all part of the science of psychotherapy—“and I can emphatically say so on the strength of my own experience.” This is the limit. For this scientific citizen of secular India seems not to realise that while he is apparently talking of psychotherapy, he is actually talking of Hinduism. Such men are dangerous and they need to be detoxified.

Better still, Arjun Singh should see that what this doctor says is duly ‘doctored’,—in whatever dictionary sense the minister in charge of the Department of Detoxification sees fit, from ‘altering’ to ‘falsifying’ . Unfortunately for this Don Quixote, the don of detoxifiers, the battle between Indian secularism and Hindu science seems to go on and on.

For instance, in Maharashtra there is a body called Andha Shraddha Nirmulan Samiti, dedicated to the eradication of blind faith. And, of course, blind faith is the exclusive abomination of Hinduism, so this organisation is virtually devoted to the eradication of every Hindus belief—of course, in the service of science and secularism. So during the Ganesh festival time it carried out a campaign against Ganesh idol immersion in a river on the ground that it pollutes the water. Now religion pollution and secular sanitation are equal and opposite, so who would want unclear water in the name of Lord Ganesh? Naturally no one, not even the Lord himself. But does he really permit pollution on the day he takes leave? No, says the Srishti Eco Research Institute of Pune.

During the Ganesh festival time, Andha Shraddha Nirmulan Samiti carried out a campaign against Ganesh idol immersion in a river on the ground that it pollutes the water. Now religion pollution and secular sanitation are equal and opposite, so who would want unclear water in the name of Lord Ganesh? Naturally no one, not even the Lord himself. But does he really permit pollution on the day he takes leave? No, says the Srishti Eco Research Institute of Pune. Some facts and figures given by this ecological research institute in a recently published statement make interesting but, alas, anti-secular, reading.

Some facts and figures given by this ecological research institute in a recently published statement make interesting but, alas, anti-secular, reading. It says 60,000 Ganesh idols are immersed in the local river every year. On an average the idol is eight to ten inches tall, and weighs 250 grams. This means, around a tonne-and-a-half of plaster of Paris used for the idols mixes with the river water during the ten days of the Ganesh festival. But the total residue that daily mixes with the water is around 90 tonnes. This means the residue added by the Ganesh idol immersion is less than 2 per cent of the daily total. Then again, the calcium sulphate used for making plaster of Paris is neither easily soluble in water nor toxic in any way, and so does not endanger flora and fauna in the water. As for the artificial pigment used for painting the idol, it weighs less than 0.1 per cent of the idol.

In sum, say these ecological researchers, no supportive ground seems to be available for the claim that river water is polluted by Ganesh idol immersion. Now what does Satiricus have to say? He is too stunned to say anything, except that secularism still communal khatre mein hai, all detoxic daring on Veer Arjun Singh’s part notwithstanding. In fact, he fears there is a deep-seated conspiracy between science and Hinduism against secularism. For there have also been other cases in which it has been proved by modern science that blind faith after blind Hindu faith actually has penetrating vision.

Gandhari had hundred sons, the Kauravas. Blind faith? Dr. B.G. Matapurkar, pioneer of stem cell research in India, says the method used by sage Dwaipayana to produce the babies was scientifically correct. Abhimanyu learned the war strategy of chakravayuh bheda from Shri Krishna while he was in his mother’s womb. Blind faith? Modern medical science says babies in the womb can learn. Good Lord! Where are we heading?

We may actually end up accepting that the only blind faith in need of eradication is our blind faith in secularism. The secular Gods forbid!

A Destitute Hindu

By: Keshto Patel
May 25, 2005

Looking at India, sometimes I realize, India may not be a rudderless ship even with all those meaningless turns it has taken, may not be a luxury liner either, but somewhat expensive vessel though (136 Billion Forex), If that be not the case, Indians may be navigating International waters without a compass (lack of CDC). Or there are too many captains of the calm sea on board S.S.INDIA, (mind you I never said M.V.INDIA, big difference -- one is steam ship, the other a motor vessel) But does not the GOI know that too many cooks spoil the broth?

This is what is exactly happening with our India, if New Delhi is something to be looked upon, For we have semi junk, dormant, do-nothing PMO on one side, untutored MEA on the other hand which is busy producing mother of all blunders a la Korea (yes, nukes are big mistake of India), Nepal (no Indian arms for it, only Pak-China), Vatican (mourning blunder) and finally a queen Sonia with crown sans Indian Monarchy, with yes mam stooges a la Ahmed Patels.

With above unique qualities full of petty character, why do you think western nations would give us any respect? Don`t these nations fully know, that even a country like Sudan is better than India on certain terms?

Sudan, being a pariah state of course, nevertheless, this tiny winy country has never been stamped as soft state, lamb state, comatose country, rudderless ship and all other contemptuous names synonyms with India. This smaller country is capable of defying UN a la Darfur, do what they think is good for them a la China (although it may not be), but they have the resolve, which India lacks big time.

What good is your gun if you don’t want to fire it?

When is the last time we played a hardball with pony Bangladesh - leave mighty US alone for a moment? In an international arena India is like a burger with bone, whiskey without alcohol, that nobody desires. Look at Mister Modi who was cloned as Castro by State Dept scientists because he possesses all the qualities to be the future Prime Minister of India.
Writing is on the sky, Look at the pregnant Falcons (F-16) flying with a womb (nukes).

Indians should not be asked what is wrong with them, everything is wrong since inception of Mughul Raj of India, Mahatma Gandhi`s FIR was filed in Urdu language, Jawaharlal Nehru was upbeat on Farsi than Hindi language, our Rajya Sabha members a la Shabana and Kuldeeps are busy protecting Islamic terrorists and questioning our police instead (ansal plaza), rather they should be asked what is right with them. If Indians cant care for their own survival -- nothing is right with them -- never will be.

Haji Mastan is long dead, (850 million Hindus could not produce a top notch smuggler that minority Muslims did - dang) but long liveth Dawood Ibrahim with star and crescent empire of Islam, who with his giant robotic arm, transfers Indian resources to Islamabad, with his multi million extortion empire, whose victims are exclusively Hindus -- there is no stop to Hindu misery; India under Islamic seize

Gone are those days of cavemen`s world, where crime did strike first, police came later, right now we live in a lawful society bound by ethics n constitution and not otherwise, hence the onus is on our premiers and chiefs of the Indian high command to ensure that they deliver the prudent and conducive environment for us Indians to live in which we should be free from corrupt clutches of Laloos, Shahi imams of India and Dawoods of Pakistan to survive peacefully -- to thrive in India seems to be the luxury for now.

I am at penitence, but our own secular Hindus are not realizing what is waiting in the wings for them, come September. Why do they always think hunky dory about Muslims, despite Sabarmati Express a la Godhra, Ghatkoper Bomb Blast, Coimbatore Bomb Blast, Bombay Bomb Blast, where a series of fifteen massive explosions rocked the length and breadth of Bombay, India on Friday, March 12, 1993? The blasts, which killed at least two hundred and twenty-eight people and injured more than 1,200, struck several Bombay neighborhoods simultaneously targeting Hindus?

Don`t worry, that was, after all, the same thinking of those rich Hindus of Hyderabad under Nizam`s rule and those of Noakhali, who got decimated and got converted ultimately. It would be your turn next, if you don`t mend your ways of Ishwar-Allah and Ram-O-Rahim a la Gandhi -- It does not pay, not when those Sabarmati`s are burned.

Nearly half a million Kashmiri Hindu Pundits are still knocking some doors without success.

Hindus better be proud villains of today than poor victims of tomorrow.

Turn the tide on phony seculars by thinking 3D.

Keshto Patel

A Poisonous Tree (Secularism) and its Deadly Fruit

By Pramod Kumar
Chief Editor
Hindu Renaissance

Wave after wave of agony and despair has swept over the mind of the Hindu community ever since the new dispensation lodged itself in the seats of power at New Delhi. Be it the state-sponsored terrorism in Tamilnadu against the Kanchi Shankara Math unleashed since Diwali or the shameful interim report on the Godhra carnage released by justice Banerjee, Hindu morale has never been lower in the post-Hindutva era.

The poisonous tree of anti-Hinduism, planted by an illegitimate leadership that thrust itself upon the national mind in the post-independence era, nurtured by its bastard offspring that desperately seeks to remain in power, is bearing its deadly fruit today.

However, it is only when the hammer blow strikes hard that the mind of man resolves itself into a steely will. Similarly, these adverse circumstances are to be looked upon as an urgent call to reorganise Hindu polity into an effective political force in secular India.

I believe that we have gained a better insight into our community's political prospects after the five- year BJP led NDA rule at the centre and in the aftermath of its electoral debacle in May last year. It is now exceedingly clear that only a party whose cadre is deeply rooted in the civilisational ethos of Sanatana Dharma can safeguard the interests of the Hindu community and put an end to the anti-Hindu discrimination and minorityism that is paraded as secularism in India. Colunmist S. Gurumurthy hits the nail on the head with his trenchant analysis of the problem:

"But here in India, while the minorities are organised around their book and their prophets, the majority faith, the Hindu faith, is totally unorganised. In fact, it is not organisable at all. With 33 crore Gods to be propitiated one can understand how impossible it is to organise Hinduism. So we have organised minorities on the one hand and unorganised - why un-organisable - majority on the other. With the result secularism as understood in India protects the organised minorities. It leaves the unorganised majority completely unprotected and undefended. Vote bank politics made it worse. Since the minorities are organised they become readymade vote banks, mere ballot papers. But the Hindu majority does not behave or vote as majority. This is so even on issues of faith as the divergent faiths and Gods within Hinduism makes it difficult for them to unite like the minorities. 'Secular' India denies to the majority the rights it reserves for the minority. So secularism in essence treats the 'secular' state as a majoritarian institution. In Christendom, the majority is Christian any way. And they are also organised additionally.

"But, 'secular' India will not allow the Hindus to unite. It will snuff out any attempt to organise the Hindus, label those who attempt it as communalists and fundamentalists. But, unless Hindus get organised, 'secular' India will not allow Hinduism to survive. Then, will 'secular' India not do to Hinduism what Christianity did to Roman paganism? The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that Rome did not know how to handle Christianity that negated all other faiths. The inability of Roman Pagans to handle an intolerant faith, as the encyclopaedia repeatedly refers to Christianity, caused the collapse of the Roman Paganism. 'Secular' India's intolerance to Hindus is similar. The Hindus have to handle 'secular' India like the minorities do. That is, the Hindus have to get organised and create a majoritarian regime. This is a rule of survival for them. And for the survival of a faith-neutral state itself! The question is, will they do it in spite of 'secular' India's hostility?"

It is but natural that when political or economic power rests in the hands of the followers of Abrahamic faiths, their ingrained tendency to establish the rule of their one-true-faith over all others manifests as cold blooded repression or manipulation aimed at reducing the 'other' into dhimmitude. Therefore, Hindu polity badly needs an attitudinal change, it will be suicidal to continue to treat politics as the dirty field of the stereotypical criminal-politician. Here is a new kurukshetra unfolding in front of our eyes and the secular Hindu - the 21st century Arjuna- is paralysed by the confusion of sarva dharma samabhava. Unable to distinguish between friend and foe and devoid of the will to defend himself, he waits for a new Krishna to rouse him from his unmanliness, cowardice and inaction.

Yet, there is hope. Our hope lies in those men and women about whom Swami Vivekananda proclaimed, "My faith is in young men and women... they will work out the problem like lions." India today boasts of the largest youth population ever in its history - literally millions of Vivekanandas, Chandragupta Mauryas & Shivajis are waiting for an opportunity to rebuild Samarth Bharath.

Every situation demands an appropriate response and so it must be that the Hindu youth will have to rise to this occasion by combining the courage of Shivaji and the wisdom of Ramdas together in them. May the clarion call of action go forth to them in every nook and comer of the world and may young Hindus be instrumental in dispelling the secular gloom that binds us all in the darkness of despair.

History falsification in new earnest

By Udayan Namboodiri

People in ancient India ate beef. Mahmud of Ghazni was a great patron of poetry. The Mughal period was the ‘Age of Magnificence’. The Jain tirthankaras who preceded Bhagwan Mahavira did not exist. Shivaji, Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Teg Bahadur were only ‘rebellious’ leaders who sought to destabilise the great Mughal empire and were (logically) executed. Banda Bahadur was something of a caste leader who organised ‘lower caste Punjabis’ and did not receive the support of the upper classes; so ‘he was executed’. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was a nationalist while the Hindu Mahasabha was communalist. Joseph Stalin was a great leader (who was not responsible for the outbreak of World War II) and the ‘paranoia’ over communism in the free world was ‘unjustified’. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose ‘died’ in an air crash. The Soviet Union only ‘intervened’ in Afghanistan and despite its (peaceful?) withdrawal, the civil war in Afghanistan is continuing.

With National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) bringing back the history books discontinued by the NDA government in 2002, the campaign to distort India’s history has got a new lease of life. Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Arjun Singh, who owes his position to the Leftists, has taken charge of the operation to drill pinko history into the minds of innocent children. In his zeal to please his masters, the HRD Minister has destroyed the autonomy of NCERT and thrown every pedagogical principle out of the window. Leave alone their typographical errors, factual mistakes and brazenly communal distortions, the books by the so-called ‘eminent historians’--R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar, Bipin Chandra, Arjun Dev and Satish Chandra--are unfit from the point of view of the National Policy of Education (NPE) which was formulated under Rajiv Gandhi and given shape by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

The NPE, in its Plan of Action (1992) had categorically stated that the National Curriculum Framework of School Education (NCFSE) must be revised every five years to keep students up to date with the needs of the age they would be required to live in. Accordingly, the NDA government had commissioned a new NCFSE which was implemented from the beginning of the academic year 2002-03 after the Supreme Court upheld it. It had integrated the teaching of history, geography, civics and economics and from that session onwards, these disciplines were taught out of a common book of social sciences between Classes VI and X. Only at the ‘plus two’ stage were exclusive books on history supposed to be introduced. In keeping with the new NCFSE, students had got new books which were proved to be academically sound. The Leftists who had criticised these books through their forum, the Indian History Congress (IHC), were silenced when NCERT, in August 2003, gave a point-by-point rebuttal in a book called Fallacies in the IHC Report (from Fallacies to Report). Students, teachers and parents all over India had welcomed the new pedagogy because not only were young children finally instilled with pride in their national past, but the academic burden was also substantially reduced. But now, under orders from A.K. Gopalan Bhavan, the national headquarters of the CPI(M), the NCERT has, in one stroke, revived the history books which conformed to an old NCFSE. If Singh had at least waited for a new NCFSE, however farcical and ill-conceived it could get under Leftist influence, he could at least have had a fig leaf. But, the Congress party is now reduced to such servility before the communists, that it has discarded the same NPE that its glorious leader, Rajiv Gandhi, had introduced.

Under orders from A.K. Gopalan Bhavan, the national headquarters of the CPI(M), the NCERT has, in one stroke, revived the history books which conformed to an old NCFSE. If Singh had at least waited for a new NCFSE, however farcical and ill-conceived it could get under Leftist influence, he could at least have had a fig leaf.

Henceforth, students of the secondary stage will be required to buy and memorise a separate book for history and continue with the social sciences text developed under NDA rule for knowledge of geography, civics and economics. That means, for just 30 marks, they will be required to memorise books of minimum 100 pages (as they go higher, the books thicken and end up at over 220 pages for the Class X text) plus geography, civics and economics.

The callousness of Singh’s lackeys in NCERT can be gauged by the fact that the ‘new’ books don’t even conform to the syllabus. For instance, the Class VI book by Romila Thapar is wholly focused on ancient India whereas the syllabus (formulated after nation-wide consultation in January 2002 and upheld by the Supreme Court subsequently) says students must learn bits and pieces about all ancient civilisations like those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Babylon, etc. Initially, NCERT had requested Thapar to write a fresh book to adapt to the new syllabus. But, imagine the arrogance of the high priestess of Leftist academia, she not only refused but also asked NCERT to change its syllabus and match it with the chapterisation of her book. And, NCERT obliged! The same munificence was granted to Thapar’s peers--the other ‘eminent’ historians.

The question that naturally arises is: Which civilised country allows its democratically evolved policies to be destroyed at the whims of a handful of persons? But, of course, the communists will argue that India is not a civilisation worthy of protection (remember what Karl Marx wrote about India in 1853?) and, therefore, anything goes. The history books make up just one manifestation of their sleight of hand. With a spineless minister like Arjun Singh at the helm, the communists are striking an unprecedented success rate with pushing their twisted ideology down the throats of India’s Generation Next.

History is a particularly sensitive area of study. It must be remembered that 95 per cent of India’s students who complete the first 10 years of education do not prefer to study history from the ‘plus two’ stage upwards. Way back in 1966, Romila Thapar and her ilk realised the necessity to ‘catch them young’. They reckoned that a sure way to control the minds of Indians was to shape their consciousness through a steady dose of Marxism-Leninism before they are lost to the professional courses. That is why we see most Indians, even of the most educated variety, harbouring ill-conceived ideas about India’s history. They are not aware that the Aryan Invasion Theory is a hoax. They nurse a perception that ancient India had a feudal society marked by caste and gender discrimination, superstition and intellectual poverty. To them, the arrival of the Turks, Persians and Mughals was like a welcome influence which transported the Indian people to a higher level of spiritual and material prosperity. Few Indians are aware that far worse than the Jewish holocaust perpetrated by Adolf Hitler was the one committed on the people of India by waves of conquerors between the 11th and 18th centuries. For instance, even the most brilliant Indian Foreign Service officer who feigns ‘specialisation’ on Afghanistan, is scarcely aware about the significance of the name of the mountain range in that country--Hindu Kush. How many millions of Indians were slaughtered there will never be known, because our ‘eminent’ historians will ensure that it is never introduced into the national discourse.

They are not aware that the Aryan Invasion Theory is a hoax. They nurse a perception that ancient India had a feudal society marked by caste and gender discrimination, superstition and intellectual poverty. To them, the arrival of the Turks, Persians and Mughals was like a welcome influence which transported the Indian people to a higher level of spiritual and material prosperity.

NCERT is guilty of promoting communal ill-will. Instead of bringing the facts about Indian history into the open, the premier educational policy institution is pandering to the same vote-bank compulsions which mark the politics of Arjun Singh and his communist backers. When history books force Hindu and Sikh children to denounce their ancestors and praise their conquerors, a sense of inferiority is instilled into their minds. But, because the smriti and shruti traditions will not permit the vanishing of the collective memory of humiliation, rape and murder, a sense of rage is willy-nilly allowed to build up in young minds.

Simultaneously, the children from Islamic families are given a false sense of glory when they are brought in line with the conquerors from the West. If, on the other hand, they are informed that under the Mughals and Tuglaqs, their ancestors suffered as much as the Hindus, a sense of national reconciliation will be promoted. They will not be perceived as Aurangzeb ki aulad, but inheritors of a common past. If this is ‘secularism’, then it will be resisted. Arjun Singh can expect hell fire and brimstone from nationalists.

(The author is senior editor, The Pioneer, and national spokesperson of Siksha Bachao Andolan.)

Mullah trespass on judicial system

18th Conference of AIMPLB
By Shahid Raheem

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has decided to re-establish the Islamic judiciary system at district and Panchayat levels in India. This was revealed by Board’s general secretary, Abdurraheem Qureishi including former Parliamentarian, Syed Shahabuddin in a press-briefing session after conclusion of a three-day AIMPLB 18th Conference on May 1, 2005 held at Taj-ul Masjid, Bhopal.

The Board has decided to enforce the newly formulated ‘model nikahnama’ upon the Muslim population of India. AIMPLB chairperson, Maulana Rabby Hasani Nadwi declared in his presidential address that Islam has underlined the status of Indian Muslims and it was essential to enforce the Islamic law in their day-to-day practical life. But, he said that the Islamic law would be taught through the Nizam-e-Qaza, the Islamic judiciary system.

Defects of the Document

Many women activists have not accepted the same as a beneficial document to solemnise a marriage with women-protection bindings. The sword of talaq on women's head swings like a pendulum as the document is silent on the bilateral rights of the conjugal contract.

Second, the right to action against husband for any violation has also not been included in the document. However, a woman has the right to divorce her husband in Shariah by the process of khulla. The woman has the Quranic right to divorce her husband on grounds of conflicts raised between them.

The declaration to set up Nizam-e-Qaza, the Islamic judiciary system in 648 districts of India is in itself an open declaration to ignore the Constitution of India. The AIMPLB has reportedly started Shariah courts in every district to deal with family and property disputes within the Muslim community. This means that AIMPLB has no faith in the laws of India.

The third point is that the document avoids quoting Quran which is to be repeated after necessary intervals of one month and the mandated power of talaq by Shariah would be dissolved automatically after practice of sexual abstinence by conjugal partners through mutual consent, not by force. However, the conjugal partners will re-marry to maintain the further relation after reciting talaq twice in two-monthly intervals. The third recitation of talaq will break the relationship finally.

The fourth defect in the model nikahnama is that it has reduced by three more years the 18-year age limit stipulated for the girl’s marriage. This point should be discussed further to examine the Prevention of Child Marriage Bill 2004 pending before Parliament.

The fifth flaw of mehar, the institutionalised custom laid down by Prophet Mohammad is also ignored as it mandates that it would be paid in gold and silver or in the form of immovable property. However, it was legitimised by the Prophet to pay a fix amount in advance to the groom or her guardian. He himself demanded first to pay the mehar in his own daughter Sayeda Fatima Zahra's marriage and Hazrat Ali was paid the amount in advance. The practical mehar system was not enforced in India. In the light of Islamic mehar as showed practically by Prophet himself, the dowry system becomes haraam and is strictly prohibited, but the AIMPLB has not included the concept in the model nikahnama.

The sixth point is that the AIMPLB has declared that the model nikahnama is not mandatory. If that was true, the question raised is that why are they trying to enforce it all over India? And why are they eager to set up Dar-ul-Qaza, the 648 Shariah courts at district levels across India?

Shias’ and Bareilvis’ Denial

It was many times noted that the AIMPLB and its followers have not agreed with the reforms in Muslim marriage laws (such as the ban on polygamy) implemented in countries like Pakistan, Iran, Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Bangladesh. Now many Muslim sectors have also rejected the nikahnama formulated by this Board.

According to the claims of AIMPLB authorities, the model nikahnama has been accepted by all other sectarian Muslim community, like Shia-Asna-Ashriya, Ahl-e-Hadith, and Bareilvi and all of them are ready to start the Nizam-e-Qaza, the Islamic judiciary system. But, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, the chairperson of AIMPLB (Jadeed) in Bareilvi sector and Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar, the chairperson of All India Shia Personal Law Board, have reacted by saying that they have shunned the AIMPLB because the existing Board has deviated from its religious duties. The Ahl-e-Hadith sector is reportedly busy in the process to constitute its separate Personal Law Board.

Rejection of Indian Constitution

The declaration to set up Nizam-e-Qaza, the Islamic judiciary system in 648 courts of India is in itself an open declaration to ignore the Constitution of India. The AIMPLB has reportedly started Shariah courts in every district to deal with family and property disputes raised within the Muslim community. This means that the AIMPLB has no faith in the laws constituted under the Union Government of India.

The Nizam-e-Qaza, Islamic judiciary system was first legitimised by the third Caliph of Islam, Ottoman-e-Ghani at Madeenah, Saudi Arabia during the period of his tenure a.d. 646-656. In India, it was first legitimised in a.d. 1192 by Qutub-ud-Deen Aibak, successor to Mahmood Ghaznavi. Abu Hassan Lahoree Safani was the first to be appointed as Qazi at Lahore.

The king of Slave Dynasty, Shams-ud-Deen Iltutmish, held the first Islamic court in Delhi but these were ended by the British government in 1864. Now the Emarat-e-Shariah and AIMPLB have jointly worked to establish a separate judiciary system and the related courts against the government rules. Is it right for the Indian Muslims to play their role in support of neo-extremism in relation to which Ulemas will establish a parallel judiciary system?

(The writer is a media researcher at ORF, New Delhi. He resides at 2391, Deen Dayal Bhawan, IInd Floor, Shadipur, Patel Nagar (West), New Delhi-110008.)

VHP threatens countrywide agitation

UPA’s move to acquire Hindu temples
By Pramod Kumar

Strongly reacting against the UPA government’s move to ‘acquire Hindu temples’ and ‘impose a tax on Hindu charitable institutions’, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has threatened to launch a countrywide agitation against the move. The VHP leaders have warned the government not to further test the tolerance of the Hindus. This issue would be prominently discussed at the VHP’s Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal meeting scheduled to be held in Haridwar from June 14 to 15, wherein the saints would decide on the further course of action.

"Newspapers have reported that the UPA government has sent a proposal to the standing committee that all Hindu temples of the country should be acquired and a tax imposed on the monetory offerings in the temples besides imposing a tax on charitable institutions. This is a direct onslaught on Hindu Dharma", said Shri Ashok Singhal while talking to Organiser in New Delhi on May 17.

Shri Singhal alleged that the Congress president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi had been working according to Pope John Paul’s plan, who during his visit to India had proposed to convert India into a Christian-dominated country in the 21st century. "Today, over 34,000 Hindu temples of Andhra Pradesh are under the control of the state government and a law has already been enacted to auction their lakhs of acres of land. Priests working in such temples do not get a reasonable salary. Despite sufficient money offered in such temples, enough material for conducting daily prayers is not provided to priests. Thousands of temples are on the verge of destruction. Over Rs 900 crore are offered in the Tirupati temple annually. But due to the conspiracy hatched by politicians and bureaucrats, not a single penny from this money is used to protect Hindus from conversion. Not only this, the government now wants to snatch this money away by imposition of tax," he said. The VHP leader pointed out that over 43,000 temples in Kerala were on the verge of ruin. He alleged that more than half the money received by the Karnataka government after acquiring Hindu temples was being used for supporting madarsas.

Shri Singhal said the temples of Jagannath Puri, Tirupati, Kashi Vishwanath, Vaishno Devi, Guruvayoor, Chamunda Devi, Dattapeeth, Kali Mandir of Patiala, Amarnath, Badrinath, Kedarnath, etc. have already been acquired by the government. "All sects, akharas and saints of the country are greatly disturbed over this move of the UPA government and have been forced to take up a rigid stand," he said.

UPA to communalise polity

By K.G. Acharya

The recent advertisements, issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, in newspapers about the formation of Prime Minister’s high-level committee for preparing a report on the status of the Muslim community, appears to be aimed at strengthening the Muslim vote-bank and dividing the country further.

To compile a report by seeking accurate answers to the long list of questions will not only be a very time-consuming and costly affair, but also an impossible task. Much before the Partition of India, the Muslims in the country were propagating the same theory that Muslims were backward in the Hindu-dominated India and thus obtained many concessions from the British before getting a separate nation carved out of India.

If the complaints of the Muslims are to be believed, the special concessions given by the British and the successive governments in India for the last many years have not resulted in ameliorating the lot of the Muslims. They have merely led to the creation of a sense of separateness in the minds of the Muslims. The Partition took place because of their refusal to co-exist with the Hindus and their feeling of superiority that they were the ruling community and the Hindus were the slave.

In fact, these feelings make the whole exercise, such as the one intended above by the Prime Minister, end in futility. It is only if the Muslims consider themselve Indians first and confine their religion to their private lives that they can hope to progress. Our Constitution guarantees them progress in the material field and freedom to follow their religious rites. Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, a Gandhian and a socialist leader, had even advised them to give up the typical dress code they followed to distinguish themselves from non-Muslims and to stop glorifying Ghori, Ghaznavi, Babar, etc., who were not their real ancestors.

The fact that we have presidents, governors, cricketers, businessmen, actors, musicians and craftsman from the Muslim community in almost every national activity proves that the formation of the above committee is essentially politically motivated.

(The writer can be contacted at 21/33 Sagar Aptt. Link Rd., Lokhandwala Cx. Andheri, Mumbai-400 102.)

After 50% reservation in AMU, muslims want more

This is what pseudo-secularism will lead one to...

That was the reason why Pakistan was created. 100% reservation for muslims only.

New Delhi, May. 24 (PTI): Hailing the UPA Government's decision to back 50 per cent reservation for Muslims in the Aligarh Muslim Universty, the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind today said it was "a step long in coming" and should be followed at all levels, including Parliament and State Assemblies.

"We have always supported reservations for minorities," Jamiat General Secretary Mahmood A Madani, told reporters here at the briefing on the organisation's 28th general session to be held at the Ram Lila grounds in New Delhi.

"For the last 10 years we are demanding reservations for Muslims and our Constitution also provides for this," he said, but added that reservation is not the only solution to problems ailing the Muslim community.

"We have to address the issues plaguing us, mainly providing basic educational facilities to Muslims, fulfilling which seat reservation at the university level will have any meaning," he said.

"The AMU's decision is long in coming, this should have been done years ago," he said dismissing concerns that the step would contradict the AMU Act which bars discrimination in granting of seats on religious lines.

Maintaining that he was not averse to seat reservation in other educational institutions, including the Jamia Milia Islamia, Madani said he would press forward his demands at the session which over 6,000 delegates and members of the Jamiat were expected to attend.

The Jamiat would now press the Government to extend reservation in other fields as well, including Government and semi-Government jobs, Parliament and State Assemblies, he said.

History stands still for confused historians

s History a static subject requiring no revision in the light of fresh research findings? The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) certainly seems to think so. And this is what it wants India's school children to believe.

After surviving the lies and distortions that fill almost every chapter in History texts the government schoolbook authority recently published, youngsters would also have to grapple with the irrelevance of the "facts" contained in them. These are works by historians caught in a time warp, utterly out of touch with reality.

The Class XII textbook, Contemporary World, would rank as one of the greatest works of pseudo history ever published. A 216-page affair, it is the labour of an apologist for the crimes of Communism and is intended to furnish young minds with a Nehruvian worldview. But since this is about irrelevance, sample one of the many passages, which speak of a "contemporary" world frozen in the early 1990s - evidently the last time its author, Arjun Dev, visited the manuscript.

After talking about Soviet military "intervention" (not invasion) in Afghanistan, he tells his beholders (page 176): "It is a different matter that the withdrawal of Soviet troops did not lead to the establishment of peace in Afghanistan and the civil war in (sic) that country continues unabated."

What about 9/11? It did not happen. The war on terrorism? The rise and fall of the Taliban, the coming to power of Hamid Karzai? Perhaps all that is too toxic, so better to "detoxify"it beforehand - just to save time. After dedicating thousands of words in admiration of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union (no mention of the Prague Spring, Imre Nagy, etc), the author forgets to mention that the "EEC" has evolved into the EU!

But why be fixated on Arjun Dev? After all, he is just a merit promotion scheme professor who retired as head of NCERT's Social Science Department in 2000. The high-priestess of Left academia, Romila Thapar, in her book for 12-year-olds, upholds the theory about Aryan migration which has long been rejected by most historians, including herself.

She writes: "We do not know where they came from; perhaps they came from north-eastern Iran or the region near the Caspian Sea or Central Asia". NCERT sources say that this book was originally written in 1966 when the Aryan migration/invasion theory was an axiom among historians. The least that one expected of NCERT's present denizens was a mere representation to the grand dame of Indian (Marxist) historiography to recall the passage from her own later works and make suitable modifications. But nothing of that kind happened.

In 2002, Ms Thapar wrote in Early India, from the origins to AD 1300 (Penguin Books): "Indo-European and Indo-Aryan are language labels, but in the nineteenth century, these were also incorrectly used as racial labels and this confusion persists. The correct usage should be "Indo-European-speaking people" and 'Indo-Aryan-Speaking-people', but the shortened labels, Indo-European and Indo-Aryan are commonly used. Language is a cultural label and should not be confused with race, which although also a social construct, claims that it has to do with biological descent."

The agenda is for all to see: deny to the young Indian any organic connection with his past and make him feel that India is an eternal receptacle for foreign influence. Since 99 per cent of Indians never touch a work of non-fiction history after the secondary school stage, this is what Ms Thapar would like them to recall for the rest of their lives. As for the small minority, which does learn the truth, they will be shouted out in the numbers game.

Plan falsehood is resorted to in describing the religion of the people of Harappa. Apart from concealing the latest findings about the Indo-Saraswati civilisation, her reticence about the resemblance of "a seated figure who might be a God" and the Hindu God, Lord Shiva, plainly shows a twisted political mind at work. And what about the Shiva Lingam, the bust of a woman with sindoor on the parting of her hair and countless other seals showing a certain continuity between the Indo-Saraswati people and ourselves? That, of course, would be "saffronisation".

Bipan Chandra's book for Class XII students, Modern India, devotes just about 300 words on Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA. It says with a certain finality: "With the collapse of Japan in the war during 1944-45 (sic), the INA too met defeat and Subhas Bose was killed in an aeroplane accident on his way to Tokyo." Exactly which reference material did the "eminent" historian use for this is a question his young readers would naturally ask at a time when the Justice MK Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry has publicly debunked the air crash theory as totally devoid of evidence.

Tomorrow : So what, this is "secular" history

Act repealed to woo minorities, says Hindu Munnani

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Hindu Munnani on Monday criticised Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for her clarification on the repeal of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion (TNPFCR) Act.

In a statement, Rama Gopalan, state organiser, said the Act was repealed with an eye on the votes of minorities.

Calling upon leaders of different Mutts to rise against the "danger of religious conversion," he said, "We do not despise other religions. But we will not compromise on safeguarding ourselves."

Distorted secularism has created crisis for nationalism:Advani

BHOPAL, MAY 22 (PTI)

Claiming that "distorted" secularism has created a crisis for nationalism, BJP President L K Advani today said it is unfortunate that people talking about religion in the country are looked down upon.

"It is only in India that people talking about religion are looked down upon. Its unfortunate," Advani said at the `Amrit Mahotsava' organised to mark 76th birthday of veteran BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Pyarelal Khandelwal here.

"Distorted secularism has created a crisis for nationalism in the country," he said.

Claiming that BJP drew its commitment to the nation from RSS, Advani said Sangh aims at allround development of the country and has bestowed virtues of political ethics, discipline and dedication among workers, enabling them to strike a difference.

Addressing the gathering, senior BJP leader and former HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi alleged that criminals and musclemen have gained prominence in politics, which has witnessed a steady decline in ethics.

RSS and BJP were the only hope to save the situation, he said and alleged that Indian culture was under attack and conditions prevailing during freedom struggle were re-emerging.

Alleging that sychophancy was now considered as politeness and people with self-respect as bad, BJP's fiery sanyasin Uma Bharti said people like Khandelwal have laid the foundation stone of the temple (party).

"Now when the temple is ready, crows have started perching atop it lapping up the credit," she said.

Bharti, who shared the dias with Advani after a long gap, was seen holding short discussions with him, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur and state BJP chief Shivraj Singh Chauhan while other leaders were delivering speeches. Lauding Khandelwal for his commitment and dedication towards the RSS and BJP, the fiery sanyasin said unlike others, the Rajya Sabha member was a silent worker and was never seen speaking to media-- formally or informally.

Alleging that BJP and RSS were the target of a malicious campaign, BJP Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu said people like Railway Minister Lalu Prasad hold them (BJP and RSS) responsible for every problem.

Naidu also asked party workers to follow the principle of "country first, party second.., and yourself last".

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Gaur, Chouhan, Orissa Cooperatives Minister Surama Pani and Orissa BJP President Jual Oram also addressed the gathering.

Khandelwal was presented with shawl, shriphal, citation and memento to mark the occasion.

`Pseudo-secularism' a threat to nationalism, says Advani

Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL: The Bharatiya Janata Party president, L.K. Advani, said here on Sunday that forces trying to spread `pseudo-secularism' in the country posed a threat to nationalism.

Mr. Advani was addressing a function held to mark the 75th birthday of the senior BJP leader and Rahstriya Swayam Sevak Sangh pracharak Pyarelal Khandelwal.

The tendency to belittle dharma and oppose "Saraswati vandana" (offering prayers to Goddess Saraswati) was nothing but `pseudo-secularism.'

Praises RSS

BJP workers had left an impact on the minds of the people due to their commitment and devotion to ideology. The BJP owed its discipline to the RSS, he said.

Mr. Advani praised Mr. Khandelwal's service as a sangh pracharak and said the party needed workers who could follow the path shown by him [Mr. Khandelwal].

`Our culture under attack'

The former Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Murli Manohar Joshi, said there appeared to be a void in terms of ideology in the country. It was unfortunate that people were associating politics with muscle and money power.

"Our land, culture and ideology are under attack and the need of the hour is to face the challenge," he said.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, said it was unfortunate that sycophants were considered righteous and disciplined whereas those who were fearless, frank and outspoken were termed rebellious and defiant.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur and State BJP unit president Shivraj Singh Chauhan also spoke.

Sangh Parivar slams AMU quota move as "anti-national"

New Delhi, May 20: Dubbing as "communal and anti-constitutional" the centre's decision to give 50 per cent reservation for Muslims in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 36 courses, the Sangh Parivar, including BJP, today threatened to oppose it "tooth and nail".

"It is a blatantly communal decision aimed at one upmanship in Uttar Pradesh. It is against the constitution, against the nation and against the interests of Muslims. It is divisionary and motivated by appeasement politics," BJP vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.

He said the move would open a "pandora's box", and charged the government with "playing on emotions" and "continuing to play vote bank politics."

"We will oppose the move tooth and nail. We are exploring all possible action," he said when asked whether the party would legally challenge the Centre's decision.

RSS spokesman Ram Madhav alleged that "communal and appeasement politics" was being encouraged ever since the UPA came to power and the establishment of AMU on religious lines "played an important role in the partition of India".

"Fresh attempts are on to make it an institution of Muslim fundamentalists and every well meaning citizen should oppose it," he said.

Announcing country-wide protests against the move, VHP secretary general Praveen Togadia said his organisation would also mobilise students against the decision of the UPA government.

Bureau Report

Minorityism, Kerala's time bomb

VA Gangadharan

Kerala is fast emerging as a hotbed of "communal feudalism". It is manifested in the broad spectrum of Malayalee life and culture. In her democratic road to communal power, the patronage regimes of Kerala have virtually destroyed every socio-political structure so assiduously built by men of great conviction during the social reform movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kerala is now caught in the vortex of appeasement politics. Governance has become a dirty game of apportionment by feudal caucuses controlled by influential minority leaders - a paradox of pluralistic democracy. This is perhaps the only state in India where the concept "minorities" is irrelevant because the ratio of Hindus (the "majority") to non-Hindus is almost 50-50. Yet it is witness to the worst form of communal feudalism. The Hindus of Kerala are victims of all-out discrimination by the owners of fiefdoms earned through minority appeasement by leaders of both the LDF and UDF.

Under colonialism, they were deprived of their social capital through a process of systematic dethronement. Political isolation went hand-in-hand with economic deprivation thanks to well-orchestrated policies. Now, brainwashed by an educational system which promotes self-flagellation for Hindus, they are reduced to pleading for the unity of the majority against the minority.

But strange are the ways of democracies. The majority does not matter! Kerala's political parties are in thick competition to appease the minority vote-banks. That is considered legitimate under "secularism". The Kerala Congress (KC) was created under the indirect auspices of the Church to promote Christian interests by retaining power in core sectors - revenue,education and rural development - irrespective of the formation in power. The KC's ministers pampered their community and when the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)'s turn came, they outdid the feat of the trendsetters. The response of the majority has not been matched in deeds - only words. Ideological combat is all that is offered.

Politics is the art of possibilities. For the minorities, support or opposition to the UDF or LDF is based on the extent of the commitments each group is able to extract in order to ensure that the majority is kept divided. Examples are available in plenty. An exploration of these issues will bring out the nature of the struggle discreetly fought by the minority against the majority. Leaders who try to rise above this unseemly game are shown the door. The fates met by AK Antony and VS Achuthananthan highlight this fact.

Antony was removed from the post of CM because he dared to tell the world about the relative prosperity of the minorities over the majority community. He wanted to befriend the estranged Nair-Ezhava leadership which supported him to secure the best ever UDF victory in its history. But the minorities were in no mood for reconciliation and he was shown the door.

The Justice KK Narendran Commission report is yet another classic case of minority appeasement. The history of reservation policies, right from the age of the Maharajahs, was one based on appeasement. The Travancore kings did it by implementing Noke's report (1936) and disregarding the Legislator Committee Report. When the Constitution of India confined reservation to the SCs and STs, successive governments in Kerala opened new windows of appeasement by extending 40 per cent reservation to "backward classes". In the end, the minorities turned out to be the largest holders of resources, power and privileges. The Commission, much to the discomfiture of its sponsor, brought out a surprising story of over-representation of OBCs and minorities. The report has had a profound impact on Kerala society. The Ezhavas, who led the struggle in the company of Muslims and Christians, now withdrew and initiated a movement for the majority. This has been one of the few salutary effects of the Narendran Commission. It ended the era of enmity between the Nairs and the Ezhavas.

The Muslim League, which converted communal feudalism into an ideology, is now consolidating its fiefdom ahead of the panchayat elections by raising the demand for the implementation of the Narendran report. In the process, the UDF's edifice will be damaged permanently. This may be divine justice because the UDF was the original creator of communal fiefdoms. Communalism was its mantra and feudalism its practice.

They allowed parades in Marad to appease Muslim fundamentalists and quelled the Muthanga and Mathikkettan agitations to pacify Christian settlers. They had no qualms in selectively pumping public resources to realise private political objectives. These monies were used to monopolise profit-making institutions in utter disregard to sensible public opinion. They wrested government properties worth crores in prime locations of Kerala's towns to harvest the "dreams" of the state's GenNext.

They sympathised with Kerala' first known Islamic terrorist,Abdul Nasser Madani, the prime accused in the 1998 Coimbatore blast case, and moved covertly to get him bail. An Assembly dominated by the UDF can be counted upon to enact any law for abetting minority aggrandisement.

The LDF, led by the Marxists, is no better. The CPI(M )'s choice of Malappuram as the venue of its 2005 state conference was deliberate. It was an ill-concealed move to reach out to Muslims and convince them of the closeness of Marx and madrassa. The party condemns and humiliates all those who speak out against appeasement. Even a senior comrade like V Achutanandan, the leader of the CPI(M) in the Assembly, was subject to such treatment.

The CPI(M) has no qualms about courting alliances with parties like the IUML. Convenient theories are advanced to justify this policy. In the process, the LDF is alienating the majority by clandestinely aligning and co-habiting with known communal feudal lords. Historically, the LDF has never been seen without a communal group under its fold - whether Muslim or Christian.

Instances of double standards in appeasing communal feudalists are too many to be listed. A classic case is the the Plus-Two schools' scandal of the mid-1990s when the LDF, which was then in power, merrily allowed sectarian groups to take over government institutions. Thus, an excellent opportunity for course correction was frittered away. In the ongoing self-financing college issue, what concerns the Communists more is protecting the nterests of the (minority-dominated) managements of 85 per cent of the colleges profiting from the system rather than pursue justice for Rajani, the student of one such college in Adoor, Pathanamthitta district, who was forced to commit suicide last year after she was denied a loan. They got their cadres free in the Nadapuram case by succumbing to the ultra Muslim communal outfit, the National Development Front.

There is not so much to be said about the so-called "Hindu Right". For obvious reasons, political formations espousing Hindu unity are yet to open their account in Kerala politics. But if indications are anything to go by, they will outdo the LDF and UDF in vote-bank politics if ever they come to power.

However, the analysis will be incomplete if we ignore how majority community is responding to communal feudalism. Yes, there is Hindu consolidation: The NSS and the SNDP Yogam are coming closer. There is reason to believe that the unity will sustain because, unlike past experiments which were top-down, this time the impetus is coming from the grassroots. This is certainly giving Kerala politics new undercurrents. Vellappaly and Panikker are speaking in favour of broad Hindu unity - this is something unheard of in Kerala.

But, no, this enthusiasm will be swept away once the communal feudals, promoted by the existing poles of Kerala politics, invent a new ideology and barge into the centrestage with a profound appeasement policy. Their success is assured because divisive politics has deep political, socio-demographic and economics foundations.

The pessimism is compounded by experience from near history. The resolve to contain the ogre of appeasement is sure to be diluted once the loaves and fishes of office are won. Ending minority appeasement soon gets reduced to a slogan.

(The writer is Director, Sage India Knowledge Associates (SIKA). He can be accessed at drvagsika@gmail.com) l

Separate nation?

The Pioneer Edit Desk

Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh has set to rest niggling doubts that may still have existed about the true intentions behind his actions ever since the UPA Government came to power a year ago.

By approving the preposterous demand of Aligarh Muslim University's executive council that 50 per cent seats in post-graduate courses should be reserved for Muslims, irrespective of their academic qualifications, the presiding high priest of secularism has demolished one of the very few remaining dykes that kept Muslim separatism in post-independence India within manageable limits.

The disgraceful policy of communal reservations practiced by India's colonial rulers was a major contributor to Muslim political separatism based on the theory that Muslims and Hindus form two distinct nations and cannot co-exist in a single nation state and, ultimately, led to the country's partition. If we as a nation were able to put the days of separatist communal politics that so deranged many a stalwart of the freedom movement, it was primarily because the state did not approve of communal reservations.

The logic was simple: Since the Constitution does not segregate on grounds of religion and faith in public affairs, there is no reason why the state should. A sound principle in keeping with the lofty ideal of separating the temporal from the spiritual which should be the cornerstone of any modern republic.

Hence, although Aligarh Muslim University, whose first graduate was Mahendra Pratap Singh, a Hindu king, was recognised as a "minority educational institution", its doors were kept open to students from all communities. And for good reason, too: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who set up this institution in 1920, was fond of asserting "Hindus and Muslims are my two eyes"; his subsequent foray into Muslim separatist politics was as much an aberration as Jinnah becoming the head of an Islamic state.

Disingenuous protagonists of the new communal reservation policy will be quick to point out that Article 30(1) of the Constitution enables Muslims (as much as it does any other minority community in the country) the right to "establish and administer educational institutions of its choice". Even if we were to accept this deeply flawed provision- Articles 25 to 30 are clearly out-of-tune with modern day republican values and should have been deleted decades ago -as sacrosanct and immune to secular interpretation, it does not vest the authorities of such institutions to bar the entry of meritorious and deserving students from other communities

To do so would be tantamount to the creation of ghettoes instead of centres of learning, far removed from the purpose from which they were ostensibly set up. There is another reason, too, that prohibits Aligarh Muslim University from closing its portals to non-Muslim students. As much as 80 per cent of the expenditure incurred by this university, which is now seeking to establish itself as an exclusivist minority institution, is borne by tax-payers, an overwhelming majority of whom are non-Muslims. It is absurd to demand, as Aligarh Muslim University has done, that while it is the bounden duty of all citizens of India to keep its zealots in business, it is their inalienable right to reserve 50 per cent vacancies for Muslims.

This is patently unacceptable to any rational, forward-looking Indian; Mr Singh, the Congress and the Left, of course, have reason to find it entirely acceptable, or else Aligarh Muslim University's outrageously retrograde demand would have been consigned by the UPA Government to where it belongs: The waste paper basket.

Results of All India Secular Essay Competition-2005

(Posted by rohit on rediff.com on 04-05-05.)

Essay competition financed and sponsored by Communist Party of India (Marxists),

Venue of essay competition: 10 Janpath road, New Delhi (Residence of Sonia Maino), for further details contact the receptionist Mani Shankar Aiyer.

Topic: Gujarat a laboratory of Hindutva fascism by Hitler Modi. Word limit: Unlimited (slang/jargons words are permissible) Time: 27th Feb, 2005 to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of butchery of 60 fascists and communal Hindus in Godhra platform by peaceful and tolerant Muslims.

Judges of the essay competition: chara-gobar chor Lalu Prasad Yadav (who has lost Bihar election and his secular cheque which he has given to pinko U C Banerjee has bounced), Mullaha Mulayam (these days he is busy in constructing secular Urdu universities and madrasa), Madam’s son Rahul (who is dreaming to become the PM of secular India with outside support of newly elected Nazi pope of Vatican) and Padmashree Glady Stain widow of Graham Satin (she is very busy in converting communal Hindu tribal to secular Christianity).

1st prize goes to: Amulya Ganguly 2nd prize to: Praful Bidwai 3rd prize to: Ram Punyani

Govt clears 50% Muslim quota for PG courses in AMU, anger on campus

Blatant communalism, appeasement hurts Muslim interests: Irfan Habib, CPM, key faculty

DIPTOSH MAJUMDAR
Friday, May 20, 2005

NEW DELHI, MAY 19: Brushing aside the angry chorus from academics and scholars and the Left parties, HRD Minister Arjun Singh has for the first time approved ‘‘communal reservation’’ in the 140-year-old Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) whereby 50 per cent of seats in postgraduate disciplines will be reserved for Muslim students.

The Ministry is said to be the prime mover of this although, officially, it ratified the decision made by the AMU’s executive council.

This reservation is being made in 36 postgraduate courses—mostly professional—which include the most sought-after like MD, MBA, M Tech, Master of Computer Sciences and Applications and M Ed.

Lashing out at the decision, noted historian and AMU professor Irfan Habib said that this was ‘‘blatant communalism’’ and would change the ‘‘secular character of the university.’’ Also, it would play right into the hands of the BJP, he said, with Kalyan Singh already making the first noises today.

Habib has the full backing of the CPI(M). He recalled that when an amendment in this direction—giving AMU a specific Muslim university status—was introduced to the Aligarh Muslim University Act (1920) in 1981, it was the CPI(M) which had opposed the move.

CPM leaders pointed out that they were no way going to support this form of blatant ‘‘communalism’’ and ‘‘minority appeasement.’’

Habib has been joined by several colleagues, Hindu and Muslim, associated in some way with either Aligarh town or the university proper. Among them is medieval India historian Shireen Moosvi who was the only dissenting voice of the executive council which initiated this reservation.

Under existing rules, 50 per cent of the postgraduate seats are reserved for ‘‘internal candidates’’ (read AMU graduates) who clear the test and 50 per cent for students from outside. All admissions are on merit and are irrespective of faith.

Under the new rules, however, only 25 per cent is earmarked for outside students irrespective of faith. There will be another 20 per cent for internal candidates (AMU graduates) based on merit. And 50 per cent of all seats are to be filled by Muslim candidates who fail to clear under the first two categories.

The remaining five per cent are to be filled by the Vice-Chancellor’s nomination to accommodate candidates who are children of employees or alumni or belong to SC/ST.

HRD Ministry officials justify this using the fig leaf of Section 5 (c) of the AMU (Amendment) Act, 1981, which empowered the university to ‘‘promote especially the educational and cultural advancement of the Muslims of India.’’

For the past 24 years, this clause has never been used the way it’s now. Said an AMU professor on condition of anonymity, reflecting the widespread view on campus: ‘‘

Arjun Singh may try to position himself as the Congress Maulana but, in effect, he is devaluing the Aligarh diploma and degree. Which employer will accept an MBA from a university with 75 per cent reservation? Singh may end up as the new architect of unemployed AMU graduates?’’

Sixty-five members of the AMU faculty (present and former) have brought out a joint statement this evening saying, ‘‘The AMU authorities have recently abandoned the tradition maintained since its foundation of making no discrimination on religious grounds in its admissions. The scheme (of reservation) was approved by the AMU Academic Council on April 28 and by the executive council on May 2 and is being put into effect even for admissions which are currently in process.’’

The teachers said that though Arjun Singh has fallen back on Section 5(c) of the Act, he has not taken a proper look at Sectin 8 (as last amended) ‘‘prescribing that admissions should be open to all irrespective of faith; and that the step is in violation of the established traditions of the institution and is likely to hurt the repute of the AMU and harm the employment prospects of its students.’’

No one in the HRD Ministry would comment tonight but Habib felt that the ministry could have easily turned down the university decision by bringing President A P J Abdul Kalam who is a visitor to the University into the picture.

Arun Jaitley: A year of vendetta

Arun Jaitley
May 19, 2005 19:28 IST

The United Progressive Alliance never had an electoral mandate.

They were separate political groups who contested the last election separately. While contesting the election separately they got different numbers of seats. The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party contested against the UPA, but are now supporting the UPA.

The sum effect of this was that with just a few seats more than the National Democratic Alliance the UPA was able to form a majority.

Now, the yardstick of the UPA government's performance is not what the UPA claims or what we in the Opposition claims, but how their supporters look at it.

The Samajwadi Party is probably too embarrassed to call the UPA even an ally. They are more like its opponents.

The Bahujan Samaj Party has publicly denounced the UPA performance.

The Leftists are so embarrassed that they don't want to celebrate one year in power.

Let me now analyse the work the UPA government has done in the last year.

This was the year of tainted ministers. The people of India are always concerned about the criminalisation of politics. This time we are witnessing criminalisation of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister is unable to exercise his prerogative in the matter of forming his ministry.

He has just distributed the quota of ministerial posts to the Congress' allies. Whatever ministers have been nominated by supporting parties he has had to accept them.

What happens when you bring in tainted ministers? The legitimacy of governance declines. Government machinery is subverted to support the tainted. Income tax appellate tribunal benches are reconstituted to help the railway minister.

The CBI has been subverted to help Mohammad Shahabuddin, Mohammad Taslimuddin, Shibu Soren, Lalu Prasad. Governmental agencies and energy are used to help the tainted wash off the taint.

Dr Manmohan Singh is saying let there be a national consensus over the issue of tainted ministers. The proposal is hypocritical because the party that says there should be a national consensus never thought of it when they demanded L K Advani's resignation from the Council of Ministers.

They had rejected the idea of a national consensus when they asked for the resignations of Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi and L K Advani.

Now that they are at the receiving end, they think in terms of a national consensus.

A broad policy on the tainted issue already exists. The prime minister should exercise his prerogative and make his judgment. If the case involves moral turpitude he can't have criminals sitting by his side. If a case involves political agitation he can overlook it. This has always been the practice.

This also has been a year of vendetta.

Anybody with any kind of affiliation with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or National Democratic Alliance should be out. If the Phukan Commission delivers a report exonerating George Fernandes, consign it to the dustbin.

It is a strange case and those who speak about the prime minister's decency must answer. If the government is to prosecute or persecute a man of honesty and the credentials of Arun Shourie and help the Shahabuddins and Taslimuddins, you have no right to be called decent.

It is also the year in which the office of the prime minister and the primacy of that institution has been destroyed. Important political decisions are only notified by the Prime Minister's Office, decisions that are taken elsewhere.

It is the year in which extra-constitutional centres of power have been created. And those extra-constitutional centres of power are being legitimised.

Power without responsibility is repugnant in an accountable democracy. A centre of power who is not accountable to Parliament is not in the best traditions of democracy. Who is accountable for the political decisions taken in Jharkhand and Goa? Who is accountable to Parliament? The prime minister was unaware when the Leader of the Opposition spoke to him about the situation in Jharkhand. This is the level of contradictions in the two centres of power.

Look at what happens in the case of Goa and Jharkhand. The prime minister pleads ignorance when asked why the governors behaved like this. But we know the reasons why they behaved like this. There were indications that the prime minister wanted to invite the Opposition leaders for talks to end the Parliamentary boycott. Suddenly to sabotage the whole process you have Ambika Soni telling the Opposition leaders to 'first apologise'. The prime minister had to step back.

This is the year that has seen the systematic assault on democratic and Constitutional institutions. This government has created a situation where it wants Parliament without the Opposition. In fact, Sonia Gandhi is on record at a Congress Parliamentary Party meeting that the work of Parliament has gone on smoothly because there is no Opposition.

This is precisely what Indira Gandhi said during the Emergency when she jailed MPs and conducted a huge amount of legislative business because there was no Opposition present within Parliament.

When the Supreme Court delivered its verdict against the Congress in the Jharkhand case we saw the makebelieve confrontation being created between the legislature and the judiciary.

When the Election Commission doesn't allow Lalu Prasad as usual to rig the election in Bihar you see the assault on the Election Commission. There was assaults from outside; now, there is an assault from inside.

This has been the year of arrogance of power.

How did you handle the Opposition in Parliament? How did you handle the Goa crisis? When the assembly is in suspended animation the Congress wants a election. It wants to destabilise a stable Opposition-run government.

You allow the railway minister to concoct the incident at a Baroda hospital. Then, say that incident will be used to impose Articles 355 and 356 in Gujarat.

When Pranab Mukherjee is assaulted on Sunday by Congress party workers did the prime minister consider it necessary to indulge in melodrama and call a midnight meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Politcal Affairs?

The windows of Lalu's car were not broken but he wanted to dramatise the impact and pressurise the Opposition, because he wanted to subvert the system and misuse Article 356 in Gujarat.

This is the year where the manner in which some ministers speak is despicable.

An example is Railway Minister Lalu Prasad. In his case, public discourse has been reduced to vulgarity. The prime minister is helpless in checking it because he needs Lalu's MPs to remain in power.

The less said, the better on the economy, which I thought is the prime minister's main strength. Somebody once told me that the economic development of the country is inversely proportionate to the economists who lead it.

The capacity and courage to implement economic reforms lies in one's capacity to take political decisions. I think Prime Minister Singh can be termed a former economic reformer. The last few months have left evidence of that. Every major economic decision has been diluted under pressure from the Left.

The government doesn't have the courage to take bold economic decisions.

This is a lucky government which inherited 8.5% growth rate. The regime of high-taxation is back with P Chidambaram's two Budgets. More areas are being taxed. The taxable components of one's income has gone up in the last two years.

The manufacturing sector which today holds the essence of growth needs labour flexibility, infrastructure creation. It needs utility at a reasonable cost. Today you find that infrastructure creation has been slowed down. The national highway and rural road links programme has slowed down.

The capacity to take hard decisions is lacking in this government. The action, which is allowed to be taken in the case of the Centaur hotel sale, is a deterrent that this government has held out against future reformist ministers. If you reform and take these bold steps we will slam legal sanctions against you. The inquiry in the Centaur hotel sale is an anti-reform step.

The growth of the economy today is not on account of a single decision taken in the last one year.

They inherited 8.5% growth, there was momentum for growth. Nobody can point out a single decision in the last year which can exhilarate growth. I believe the growth seen in the economy today is entrepreneur driven and not policy driven. Let this government claim no credit for that.

They claim successes in diplomacy. Let me clarify that foreign policy is the issue where there has been a national consensus. The country broadly supports what our prime ministers do.

Let anti-BJPism not be the continued essence of the UPA's survival. Today the UPA survives not on the strength of its programmes or performance but only on anti-BJPism. It can be an initial impetus for the government's survival but anti-BJPism cannot be an everlasting solution to the UPA's problems.

When ministers claim that the BJP will remain in Opposition for a decade or more I think of the Emergency. Some people then thought that irrespective of their behaviour, their power was immortal. Politics is a game of revolving doors.

Power is not immortal. It first deserts the arrogant.

The BJP general secretary and former Union law minister spoke to Senior Editor Sheela Bhatt.

Evangelism by governance YSR style

By S.V. Badri

Y. ‘Samuel’ Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is proving to be the greatest facilitator of Christian missionary work in Andhra.

A few days ago, he ensured the entry of JRG Wealth Management Limited, an organisation owned by a Kochi based Syrian Christian, G.B. Mathew, into the decision making and procurement process of prasadam materials for Ugranam of Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati.

And now, he has gone ahead in bringing in a deal between the SVIMS (Sri Venkateshwara Institute of Medical Sciences owned and run by the TTD) and the Frontier Lifeline and Dr K.M. Cherian Heart Foundation of Chennai. Dr Cherian is a Christian and the founder of Madrasa Medical Mission, a true missionary hospital in Chennai. This telemedicine facility was inaugurated by YSR recently through interaction with Dr Cherian and his team through a video conference.

Without intending to belittle the professional competence of Dr Cherian, one is amazed and deeply hurt that the Chief Minister could not pick up hospitals owned and run by Hindus for a tie up with a premier institution owned by one of the most sacred temples of the Hindus. And the money for which comes from common Hindu devotees like you and me. There are at least a dozen or more institutions that can match up, rival and even surpass the facilities offered by Dr Cherian and his team.

Perhaps, YSR does not consider hospitals owned and run by Hindus as worthy of this alliance. Hospitals of eminence like the Apollo Hospitals (incidentally, the chairman, Dr Pratap C Reddy comes from Aragonda, about 40 kms from Tirupathi and Apollo has a hospital facility at Aragonda also), Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Hospitals, Sri Sai Baba’s wonderful hospital at Puttaparthi, Mata Amritanandamayi’s hospital at Kochi, Narayana Hridayalaya of Bangalore, the Escorts Hospital or for that matter any super speciality hospital run by Hindus in his capital city-Hyderabad, as worthy of associating with SVIMS.

YSR has also laid foundations for construction of Vasantha Mandapam in Tirumala, renovation and construction of a new building for the Sri Venkateshwara Oriental College in Tirupati. One should get into the details of which firm of contractors has been awarded the contract for construction.

One will not be surprised if the study would reveal Christians being the benefactors of such contracts. Cost of the projects- is estimated at Rs 109 crores.

The converts like YSR are under constant compulsion to prove their loyalty to the Church.

What next Reddy? Affliliate the TTD veda pathashala to the Vatican?

Go ahead. No body will raise their little finger in protest as you systematically siphon temple funds for proselytisation.

One is amazed and deeply hurt that the Chief Minister could not pick up hospitals owned and run by Hindus for a tie up with a premier institution owned by one of the most sacred temples of the Hindus. And the money for which comes from common Hindu devotees. There are at least a dozen or more institutions that can match up, rival and even surpass the facilities offered by Dr Cherian and his team.

One is sure that by the end of his tenure, YSR will annexe TTD to Opus Dei.

Perhaps, with Hindu passivity at such a peak, he might even manage to replace the shankha/chakra with the cross.