Why Understand the Western Culture?

Why Understand the Western Culture?
by S.N. Balagangadhara

Let me begin this contribution, the third piece about our culture and traditions, by sharing something you are familiar with. Very often, I have heard the NRI parents in the USA making the following remark:

"When I came to the US so many decades ago, I knew very little about Hinduism. My ignorance was driven home when I had children and they began to ask what Hinduism was. Because I had to educate them, I ended up learning more about Hinduism in the US (thanks to this or that organization or Swami) than during all the years I spent in India".

Let us reflect on this experience. When Indians come to the US, they feel that they are confronted by their ignorance (or their lack of knowledge) about "Hinduism". To account for this state of affairs, they could blame either their earlier lack of interest (in learning about their "religion" while they were in India) or the absence of education (in India) in this regard. Of course, neither of the two quite explains why they need explicit instruction in "Hinduism" in order to transmit traditions to their children. After all, the transmission of the Indian culture over the millennia depended (continues to depend) upon ordinary people who have "learnt" their traditions from their parents and peers, and not from any pundits. One's "knowledge" and "ignorance" when one came to the US, in this sense, are comparable to the similar "knowledge" and "ignorance" of the ordinary Indians. In all probability, had they remained in India, their absence of knowledge would not have worried them as much as it worries them now. They would have transmitted their tradition and culture the way millions do in India: without any explicit instruction in the "religion" called "Hinduism". Peer groups, family circles, friends and relatives, would have also played a role in this process no doubt.

However, what appears to work in India appears to fail when Indians come and settle down in the United States. Here, they feel the need for some sort of an explicit education about "Hinduism". Clearly, this is due to the environment they find themselves in: not only does their new environment not help in the transmission of the Indian culture and traditions but it also forces the individual Indian parents to school themselves in the Indian "religions" in a particular way. That is to say, unlike the Indian environment where cultural transmission can take place without an explicit education in their "religions", people are forced to articulate what their religion is about when they come to live in the western culture. Therefore, unlike (most) of our parents and peers, Indians living in the West appear to face a different kind of challenge: come up with an explicit understanding of "Hinduism", if they intend to transmit their culture and traditions to their children as well.

Yet, it is my impression that what appears to work for them (namely, codifying "Hinduism" in terms of either its beliefs or practices, or by spelling out their "Ten Commandments", etc) does not work for their children who are born and grow up in the United States: what satisfies the parents does not satisfy the needs of the children. While the parents are quite happy to meet in self-study classes, read Patanjali and feel good that they have arrived somewhere, because now they can talk about "pramaana" and "anumaana", their children do not seem to share the parents" sanguinity. The children feel that they are left to fend for their own and face questions from their peers and teachers, which they do not understand or cannot answer.

In other words, there seem to be three different kinds of problems. First: the Indian ways of transmitting traditions and culture appear to break down, when Indians come and settle down in the West. Second: the Indians seem to feel the compulsion to codify their traditions in some form or another, because of the pressure exerted by the cultural milieu they live in. Third: such codifications, while they seem to satisfy the needs of the parents, do not appear to help the children in their daily interactions with their peers and society at large. Because of these three problems, a fourth problem also comes to the fore: such codifications have the tendency to downplay both the importance and the necessity of the kind of diversity and pluralism that the Indian traditions have.

In the current piece, I want to reflect on this situation. For the sake of convenience, I will assume that my impressions (and they are only that, impressions) are by and large true. I will furthermore also assume that they are true for many (if not all) Indians living in the West. I am interested in localizing the problems and seeking solutions for them; I am not interested in either apportioning blame or identifying the "culprits". Even though I have some idea why such a situation has come about, I shall be mostly silent on this issue for the time being.

Setting the Context

When the British East India Company consolidated its hold over many parts of India and its administrators assumed the position of rulers, a very peculiar kind of hostility towards the Indian traditions became the hallmark of the colonial administrative policy. Of course, this hostility was there from the very beginning: in "Hinduism", the "religion" of the Hindus, they found everything that was reprehensible and repugnant. This hostility arose not merely because they "discovered" that some of the Indian practices were intolerable or immoral, like child marriage, sati and what-have-you. Their repulsion had a deeper root: their understanding of religion taught them that such perversions are integral to false religions. Because "Hinduism" was a false and degenerate religion, its perversions were not mere accidents but its necessary features.

We need to understand this well because the notion of false religion does not make sense to us. Therefore, let me put it in very simple terms. To the followers of the Semitic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), only God can be the object of worship. When they speak of "God", we need to keep two things very firmly in mind.

The first is this: this "God" is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. According to their scriptures, (the biblical) God created the world (for instance, as it is described in the book on Genesis in the Old Testament Bible). He is the God of the Israelites (of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendents), who punished the Jews, scattered them across the world for forgetting Him, and also promises to save them. In the hands of the Christians, (the biblical) God's promise to save the Jews got transformed into the salvation of the entire humanity; the "God of Israel" also became the singular, unique and unqualified "God", even though He continued to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. His promise, the Christians claimed, was redeemed in Jesus of Nazareth: Jesus was the promised messenger of this God. ("Christ" means the anointed one or the messiah.) The Jews did not think that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, whereas the followers of Jesus claimed that he was precisely that. (In this sense, one of the points of disagreement between the Christians and the Jews is about the status of Jesus of Nazareth: Is he the Christ or not? Has the Christ already come, as the Christians claim, or should one await his arrival, as the Jews insist?)

The second point is this. Satan, or the Devil, attempts continuously to seduce "people" to stray from the path of worshipping (the biblical) God. In the hands of the Christians, "people" refers to the entire humankind. Satan or the Devil (he has many names and his followers are "legion") undertakes this task of seduction by making the credulous believe that he, the Devil, is the "true" (biblical) God. Of course, he is not the "true God"; he is the "false god". In this task, he is immensely helped by the human followers of the Devil: the "priests". These "priests" create all kinds of "rituals" and mumbo-jumbo, deceive the credulous, hide the "true message" of (the biblical) God, and so on and so forth. By doing all these, they encourage the ordinary people to worship the devil and his lieutenants: these are the "false gods". So, we have one "True God" (the biblical God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and multitudes of "false gods". Because religion is the worship of God, we get two kinds of religions: the "true" religion that worships the "true God" and false religions that worship the "false gods".

To the British Christians (and to the Islamic rulers before them), the "religion" of the Hindus could only be false religion. Our devas and devis were false gods and merely different representations of the Devil and his lieutenants. To the Protestants (and to most of the Catholic missionaries), such a false religion could only be understood in terms of the seductive power of the Devil and the machinations of Devil's "priests", viz., the Brahmins. Such a false religion not only delivered the credulous into the clutches of the Devil and sent them on a one-way ticket to hell, but it also had to be intrinsically immoral. Consequently, any phenomenon they thought they saw in India, whether it was sati or child marriage, had to do with the immorality of "Hinduism" and the wickedness of the priests of this false religion. They believed that such a false religion could only exist because a cunning and devious group of people (these are the "priests" of such false religions) succeeds in deceiving the majority: in the Brahmins, they found such a layer of "priests". How did these priests gain and maintain their power? In the "caste system", they found the answer to this riddle. Somehow, the Brahmin priests invented the "caste system" and somehow they imposed this immoral system on the larger society. Thus, this "caste system" became an integral part of the false religion that "Hinduism" was.

You must remember that the foundation and the framework of these "discoveries" were not empirical investigations but their theological beliefs. Everything they "discovered" was fitted into this framework. The discovery of the Upanishads and the Buddhist (and the Jain) traditions merely strengthened the framework. Thus, they came up with the three stages of the decay and degeneration of "Indian religion": Vedic religion, Brahmanism and Hinduism. The Vedic religion retained the intimations of (the Biblical) God and His original message; Brahmanism was the corruption and decay of this religion in the hands of the Brahmin priests; "Hinduism" is a further degeneration and corruption of the already corrupt religion of Brahmanism. The Buddha fought the "Brahmin priests" and, because of this, in the eyes of the Protestants, "Buddhism" was less "corrupt" than Brahmanism. But "Hinduism" was the most degenerate and corrupt "false religion", which, unfortunately, was embraced by the majority of the gullible in India.

Therefore, all the ills of Indian society and culture were traced back to "Hinduism". They are intrinsic to this religion, the British claimed, and integral parts of the same. Lie, when repeated often enough, becomes the truth; nonsense, when propagated widely, begins to make sense. Such is the case with respect to the story about the Indian "religions", especially "Hinduism".

Drawing a Parallel

The Indian intellectuals of yesteryears swallowed this story wholesale. (The "why" is a very big question, which I shall ignore in this piece.) Thus, two extreme reactions came into existence: at one end of the spectrum, some people wanted to "reform" the religion of the Hindus. They wanted to go back to the "purer" religion of the Vedas and the Upanishads. At the other end of the spectrum, rabid defenders of "Hinduism" also came into existence. As is usual in such cases, any number of intermediate positions between these two extremes also crystallized.

The "reformers" tried to build a purer form of Hinduism: they accepted that the pujas in the temples and at home constituted "idol worship" and, therefore, were intolerable; they discovered that, indeed, the Upanishads did not talk about the "rituals" that the people practiced and, therefore, the "Brahmin" priests had corrupted this purer religion of the Indians; and so on. Having agreed with the British about almost everything they said, these intellectuals began the process of constructing a pure religion called "Hinduism" that was modeled upon their understanding of Protestant Christianity. They discovered the "Nirguana Brahma" that some people had spoken of earlier; they found out that the Indians too had spoken of "God" in the singular; etc. In short, their only "disagreement" with the Protestant Christians was this: could the "Indian religion" be reformed to resemble some or another respectable variant of Christianity or not" The Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, etc. began to create "respectable" versions of "Hinduism" that would not overly shock the sensibilities of Protestant Christians. Like all "respectable religions", these versions of Hinduism identified its "scriptures" and codified them into clear sets of beliefs; they also had "God" at the centre of their "doctrines"; had their own versions of "ethical commandments" and their "vocation" of service to fellow-human beings. And, much like their Protestant brethren, they wanted to "reform" Hinduism, abolish "the caste system" (and all such ills), and looked down upon the "ignorant" mass of the Indians who were not knowledgeable about the subtle tenets of the Upanishadic doctrines and were sunk in superstitious practices.

Even though these reformers were intolerant of the Indian culture and its manifold traditions, the rest of India tolerated them as yet another contribution to the variety and diversity of the Indian traditions. The Arya samaji's, for instance, were as much "Hindus" as the "Vaishnavites" were; the differences between them merely exemplified the different paths that India had been used to over the millennia. So, these reformers could survive too, the way many others before them had survived.

When the British noticed that the majority of Indians are ignorant of their scriptures, the reformers tried to respond to this by going back to some texts from their traditions; when the British criticized this or that practice, the reformers tried to modify or replace that practice; when the British thought that Indians were immoral, the reformers tried to come up with a set of moral rules from their texts to show that "Hinduism" could be moral as well? In many ways, these reformers merely acquiesced to the demands and criticisms of the British and tried to sculpt a "Hinduism" that could meet the criticisms. However, in the midst of all these, they failed in doing that one thing which would have helped them: understand the culture of the British and the nature of their religiously inspired criticisms. They merely assumed that the British were justified in the criticisms of the "Hinduism" of their time and tried to show that underneath the contemporary corruption, a "purer" form of religion was waiting to be found. In this too, even where they did not know this well, they followed the British and European portrayal of India and the degeneration of her "religions".

Why is this story important to us today? There are two reasons. The first is this: the portrayals of the Indian culture and the nature of her traditions, which the western culture has provided over the centuries, have become standard text-book trivia today. Even though the picture the West has painted is incomprehensible without presupposing the truth of the Christian doctrines, the claims about the so-called "religions" of India appear comprehensible even to those who do not know anything about Christianity. Intellectuals in the West and in India believe in the truth of the western descriptions of the Indian culture. Most of us in the West believe that "the caste system" exists in India; that the Brahmins have oppressed the so-called "Dalits" in India over the millennia; that Buddhism was a rebellion against the "ritualistic" domination of the Brahmin priests; and so on. Indian intellectuals believe in this story as well: witness our "reservation policy" and the "conversion" of the so-called "Dalits" into "Buddhism", as mere examples of our commitment to the truth of these western stories about India.

There is an additional reason as well. Today, most Indians in the West respond to the questions and challenges posed by their milieu the way the Indian reformers responded to the British criticisms and challenges. In which way are our responses today similar (if not identical) to those of the reformers from yesterday?

Two Different Ways

Consider the following questions, which are routinely asked about our culture in the West. Why do you wear bindi?; Why do you not eat beef?; Is it true that you worship the phallus?; What do you think about the caste-system?; Do they still burn widows in India?; Why do your gods have six or eight arms?; What is your religious symbol?; Do you worship that statue in that temple?; Do you believe in God?; Are you religious? And so on and so forth. What does one do when one faces these questions?

Broadly speaking, there are two ways of responding to this situation. The first would be to try and answer these questions assuming, in the process, that (a) the questions are intelligible and that (b) one understands them. This is the route chosen by most of us and the Indian reformers. We now need to notice what happens if we tread this route today because, unlike the reformers of yesteryears, our milieu is not the Indian but the western culture.

The first requirement, of course, is that we come up with satisfactory answers. However, satisfactory for whom though? Should it satisfy us, the first generation Indians in the West, or our children, the second generation Indians, or the questioner? Consider, as an example, one of the oft-heard answers to the question about not eating beef which goes as follows: Indians are nourished by cow's milk which is akin to being breast-fed by the mother; therefore, most Indians consider the cow as their mother. Hence, they do not slaughter cows and eat beef. (Or cattle are crucial to the survival of the Indian peasantry; hence they do not slaughter and eat them; or any number of such "explanations".) Needless to say, this answer is satisfying neither to the questioner nor to most second generation Indian children. In India, one sees people beating cows and throwing stones at them, which is hardly an expression of "reverence" to the mother figure that the cow is alleged to be; no Indian goes around feeding his "mother" when he sees the cow foraging for food on the streets; furthermore, at first sight, it also appears an irrational answer: surely, people dying of starvation is of greater consequence than abstaining from eating beef. Is it not possible to reduce starvation and hunger in India, if people were "allowed" to eat beef? To questions like these, one has to come up with all kinds of convoluted answers, which leave most unsatisfied. Alternately, one takes the route of the Jews and the Muslims: we are forbidden from eating beef for "religious reasons", in the same way the Muslims do not eat pork and the Jews want only "kosher" food. This answer will work only so long as one does not meet someone well-versed in the history of India. When such a person comes up with textual evidence that there was no prohibition against meat (including beef) in the early Indian "religion" then one gets well and truly stuck.

However, the presence of such multiplicity of answers is itself an occasion for embarrassment. Why do different "Hindus" give different answers to questions like the above? Here is where the new cultural milieu exerts pressure for standardizing the answers. Some questions like "why do Hindu women wear bindi on their foreheads"? might allow for some leeway regarding the answers; some others, like "why do you worship phallus"? does not appear to do so.

The standardization of answers seeks to impose uniformity across the variety that characterizes the Indian traditions. These answers not only codify but they also strengthen (among some) another typical tendency of all immigrants, namely, the tendency to accentuate one's practices and beliefs and to hold them both rigidly. One tends to hold on to the real or remembered practices of one's ancestors even more rigidly than one's own ancestors (or the Indians in India) and to become a super-orthodox "Hindu".

This codification of beliefs and a rigid attempt to transplant into a totally different milieu a set of local practices, which might or might not have worked in India, encourages the fossilization of human practices. Instead of being an expression of the dynamic adaptation of human beings to their environments, human practices become rigid and, as such, require justifications. Such justifications can only be provided by a highly dogmatic set of beliefs formulated by this or that institution or Swami. Thus, a "Hinduism" that resembles the Semitic religions comes into existence.

Needless to say, such a "Hinduism" becomes even more vulnerable to challenges from the new cultural milieu. Now, the diversity and multiplicity of the Indian traditions are counter-posed to it and Hindu Americans are being accused of dogmatic orthodoxy. The same milieu which appears to force one to come up with a recognizably Semitic version of Hinduism sharply criticizes all attempts at doing so.

There are many more things to be said about this process but I shall have the occasion to return to these issues later. For the time being, all we need to notice is this: this way of responding to the western milieu merely forces us in the direction that the Hindu reformers took. However, unlike them, we do not live in a milieu generated by the Indian culture. That is to say, the "Hinduism" that we would sustain in the cultural milieu of the West would be even worse than that created by the reformers of yesteryears. It would resemble their "Hinduism", because of the attempts to codify beliefs. It would be worse than that, because we would end up rigidly adhering to some sets of practices. We would sacrifice the very vitality that characterizes the Indian traditions, which allowed them to survive over the millennia and in different environments.

How can we avoid these and other assorted ills and yet continue to practice our traditions in the West? To answer this problem, let me begin by raising the following question. Why are most of these questions not raised in India by us or our fellow "Hindus"? I mean to say, why do we not go around asking questions about eating beef, wearing bindi, worshipping the Shiva Linga, and such like in India? Surely, it is not because we know the answers: if we did, we would have no problems in providing the same answers to our western interlocutors. Here is a simple but a very important point: it does not occur to us to raise these questions about our traditions. It does not occur to us, not because we are any less curious or intelligent than people in the western culture, but because such questions do not make sense in our cultural milieu. That is to say, we learn not to ask such questions about our traditions and this learning is a part of learning to become a member of the Indian traditions. Of course, when I say that we do not ask such questions, it does not mean that we have never raised such questions at any point in our lives: as children, we raised them and the answers satisfied us. Most of these answers referred to the nature of our inherited practices.

In other words, when we confront such questions in the western culture, we need to understand two things: (a) these questions force and compel us to provide a particular kind of answers; (b) they do not make sense in the Indian culture, but are eminently sensible in the western culture. That is to say, when such questions are asked of the Indian traditions, we should not assume that these are intelligible to us; they are not. It is in the nature of the western culture to raise such questions.

Almost all of us, who are successful in the West, assume that we understand the western culture. The reason for this assumption is our ability to be successful in the West. Furthermore, we also assume that we know what these questions mean just because we speak and understand English (or European languages). I would like to submit to you that this assumption is false: we have not understood the western culture at all.

One of the most important consequences of my claim is this: when the western culture quizzes us about the nature of the Indian traditions, this culture is telling us about itself. To provide satisfactory answers to our interlocutors about our traditions does not require that we read the Upanishads or Patanjali; it does not require that we come up with our own "Ten Commandments" or a poorly spun theology. We need to understand the nature of western culture. Simply put: to answer questions about the Indian traditions, we need to understand the western culture.

This is what the reformers did not understand; this is what we do not understand either. The questions that the West raises are rooted in their culture. Consequently, if we want our children to confront this milieu with confidence, more than anything else, we need to teach them about the western culture. We need to make them understand why the West raises such questions and what these mean. Currently, they understand neither. We need not teach them "the" answers to such questions; they will figure out on their own which answers are appropriate. However, we need to make them understand what the Western culture "means" when its members ask us whether "the Hindus believe in God", "what the religious symbol of the Hindus are" and why "the Hindus worship the penis and the monkey".

To sum up: while we live in the West, we are forced into creating a rigid and codified "Hinduism as a religion", much like the reformers of yesteryears. While such constructions surely have their place in the variety and diversity that characterizes the Indian traditions, they neither solve nor address the problem that our children confront. Our children, much like us, do not understand either the culture they are living in or how to respond to some of its challenges. This situation defines our basic task: to teach our children about the West while we pass on our traditions to them. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: how successful have we been in doing both?

[S.N. Balagangadhara is professor and director of the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap, Ghent University, Belgium.]

Combating Marxist Murder March Agaianst The HIndus

Dr. BABU SUSEELAN

The fall of Berlin Wall and the collapse of the bureaucratic Stalinist regimes of Russia and Eastern Europe have been heralded as the end of "Marxism".

Now Marxists who are in power in Kerala and West Bengal are rattling their sword and encouraging Marxist criminals to join with Jihadis, smugglers, bandits and mafia, whose modus operandi uses bombing, assassination, kidnapping, extortion and terror. Marxism meant in practice is bloody terrorism, deadly purges, lethal gulags, and forced labor, manufactured famines, extrajudicial executions and genocide. It is also widely known that thousands of innocent Hindus have been murdered in cold blood in Marxist ruled states in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. The Marxists have joined together with Maoist groups, Jihadi terrorist organizations and Peoples War group for the premeditated killing of Hindus in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar. They are also causing the death of Hindus through reckless and wanton disregard for human life.

Marxist party justifies terrorism against Hindus on grievances. In fact, Marxist murder mayhem is not sparked by grievance, but rather, it is inspired by Marxist intolerance, hatred and prejudice against Hindus. Marxist opposition to spirituality, openness, pluralism and tolerance is nothing new. It is as old as Marxism.

Terrorism is an essential part of the Communist Manifesto. Marx and Engels state that history is essentially the history of the class struggle. And the history is full of violence and terror; -terror from above-and terror from below. Of course terrorism is not only a form of political struggle but it is one of the most common strategy Marxists use against its opponents.

While terror constitutes the heart of the Marxist war plan, their goal cannot be achieved without the support of the anti-Hindu forces in India. Marxists are not standing alone in such mass murder of Hindus. The Marxists are tapping into the Islamic terrorist group, the Congress Party, and the anti Hindu press. The Marxist party is using pseudo secular words to charm the vain and muddled leadership of the Congress Party. The Marxists also need an outpouring of Islamic emotions to place secular judiciary, government, and the police on the defensive and make them supporting Marxist war on Hindus.

In foreign countries, Marxism and Islam waged bloody wars. Nevertheless, for a long time, there has existed an implicit Marxist-Islamic alliance in India against Hindus. It operates in politics, and in acquiescence or implicitly in terrorism against Hindus. Leftist writers are free to attack Hindus, but they remain blind to the excesses of Jihadi Muslims. The Marxist-Islamic alliance is strong for a variety of reasons. Marxism and Islam are blind, non-compromising, totalitarian dogmas opposed to free thinking Hindus. Marxist-Islamic hatred against Hindu liberalism is neither logical or practical. The ghost of Marxism remains alive in different parts of India and its goal is to extend its power and influence over free spirited Hindus. The Marxist-Islamic alliance and their deadly hatred against Hindus survives in India because the majority never questioned it. Moreover, Marxist governments in Kerala and West Bengal never allow Hindus to channel their grievances through legal forms. The Marxist government uses state institutions for repression of Hindus.
Prior to, during and after independence, Hindus have faced repeated episodes of genocides, collective violence and state sponsored terrorism. Relent anti Hindu media coverage seemed to make individuals and entire Indian society less sensitive to the horrors of the carnage. As the number of the episodes of mass Hindu killing increased in Kannur, Thalassery and Panoor, the public reaction was mute. Hundreds of Hindus had disappeared, detained, tortured, imprisoned and murdered by the Marxist criminals in Nadapuram, Kasargode, Kozhikode, Thalipparambu, Kilimanoor and Malappuram. Since July, 2007 more than 85 Hindus have been brutally murdered by the Marxist criminals. Most of the victims were killed by machete attacks. The Hindu victims died a slow and painful death. Between 2006 and 2008, there were 124 bombings, small arms attack, home invasion, and roadside murder attempts. The lethality of the Marxist bombings and terrorist incidents also increased. The Marxists justify heinous crimes against Hindus as a necessary battle to destroy "old thought", "old culture", "old habits", and "old customs".

CONFRONTING MARXIST "KILL FOR THRILL' GAME

How to confront the systematic murder of innocent Hindus in Kerala by the Marxist goons, an event of unprecedented magnitude and horror?. What are we to make of the calculated cruelty of the Marxists and the indifference of the Congress Party and bogus secularists?. The majority are still indoctrinated by Psychological warfare operatives whose main role is to disseminate disinformation and carefully manipulated information about Hindus. The Marxists and the Congress Party along with the Islamists have joined together with the secular media to conduct awareness operations that would influence public opinion. These awareness operations, perception management, and mental misdirection campaigns are conducted through propaganda and disinformation.

The conspiracy of media silence also covers up the fact that Marxist funds are still funding these murders. The media determined not to rock the boat has been pretending not know that Marxist party money was greasing the murderers.

Common sense is one of the rarest of commodities these days. And it has been made rarer by the gradual transformation of our society in the past sixty years into a pseudo secular culture. The three basic values of the secular culture are tolerance of aberrant behavior, a non-judgmental attitude, and a sense of entitlement for the organized thugs.

It is time for Hindus to join together and show their strength. They should somehow get their heads out of the sand and realize that the world is a dangerous place and their pacifism, tolerance, indifference, denial, self-criticism, and apathy will get them nothing but a one way trip to loss of the freedoms that they take so much for granted. Anti-Hindu forces have embarked upon a multi-faceted strategy for defeating Hindus. Can Hindus resist the organized and shameless oppression? Is there a way to preserve Hindu self-respect and not to feel helpless, neglected, abandoned and unwanted?
Hindus are facing existential threats similar to those faced in the 8th century from the invading Muslims. Indeed the danger today is worse because Hindus are now dominated by hostile groups. Hindus around the world should awake and courageously assert Hindu rights. Courage is not an emotion, it is an act of will. Hindus need to be proactive with the manner in which we achieve desired outcomes. Our denial, apathy, tolerance, pacifism and irrational defenses should not hamper our offensive abilities. Hindus have been on the defensive on multiple fronts. We must be on the offensive regardless of world opinion. If we continue to tolerate Marxist and Jihadi murder mayhem and their intolerant dogmas, we will not be able to achieve anything. We will be butchered and enslaved for ever.

Hindu organizations should resort to positive violence and massive retaliation all across India against Marxist criminals. Marxists with criminal thinking, criminal needs and risk taking behavior are not willing to change through negotiation, unconditional positive regard or counseling. We must understand how Marxist criminals think and realize they have a fundamental different view of the world from that of Hindus who are basically tolerant and responsible. These miscreants should be cornered, contained and a force continuum shall be applied to save the community from these deadly criminals. We must specially target these criminals and their thinking errors if positive outcomes are to be achieved. Hindu organizations must demonstrate sophistication needed to be viable and visible, and assertive in the changed political world. In order to survive in this changing world of communication, political realities, information warfare and mind manipulation requires Hindus to move beyond mere survival. Hindus need to design an action agenda for turning passive reaction into proactive realities in the public field.

It is time for Hindus to wake up from the slumber, join together and show courage and determination to discriminate between good and evil and to create a strong community. It is a culture war. It is a constant and continuing war on our spiritual values in order to weaken our nation. We must stand up and take sides in this war for the minds.

Hindu organizations must have emotional bonding with Hindus from all over the world. Organizational force, particularly when wielded by a strong Hindu organization, can carry substantial clout. Successful use of organizational power is warranted against perpetrators or its sponsors of terrorism against Hindus. Part of the purpose for displaying Hindu strength and organizational power, in addition to eradication or discouragement of specific murder groups, may be to send a strong message to the target terrorist group that any attack against Hindus comes with a price.

Amarnath case: BJP says Congress action will have backlash

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30 (PTI)

BJP today lashed out at the Jammu and Kashmir government for its move to revoke decision on transfer of land for Amarnath pilgrimage, terming it as a "huge setback to secularism" and warning that it will have a "backlash".

The BJP has convened a special meeting of its office bearers here tomorrow to discuss the issue and chalk out future course of action.

The move to withdraw decision to give land to Amarnath Shrine Board is "a huge setback for secularism in the country and will have a backlash," senior BJP leader M Venakaiah Naidu told PTI here.

He alleged that the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Congress government, "at the advice of central party leadership", was revoking the order "under pressure from fundamentalists and divisive forces and guided by vote bank politics."

Contending that it is a national issue, Naidu said, "power at any cost, even at the cost of national interest, seems to be the guiding principle of Congress. Congress will have to pay heavy price like in Shah Bano case."

BJP will review the situation tomorrow and decide on the future course of action, he said.

The party views the Amarnath development as "surrender of government machinery to separatist forces" and is planning a nation-wide agitation on the issue.

Reacting spontaneously to the decision to not to hand over 40 hectares of forest land to the board, the BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits observed bandh in Jammu today and their supporters clashed with police at several places there.

Kashmiri Pandits join protest over Amarnath land row

New Delhi | June 29, 2008 8:05:07 PM IST


About 500 Kashmiri Hindus, settled in the national capital, Sunday took to the streets and burnt effigies of a few political leaders against what they called "communalisation and politicisation of the Hindu shrine Amarnath".

Youths, who had drawn red lines on their forehead, blocked a road near Jantar Mantar, close to the city business hub Connaught Place, for over an hour.

They held placards reading, in red colour, "Kashmiri Pandits still alive... U dare not do that", "Ethnic cleansing of Hindus... Genocide.. Exodus.. Now the revocation of land transfer!!!" and "Don't ignore our silence".

They burnt the effigies of former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Baig and militant-turned-politician Yasin Malik.

A minor clash took place between Kashmiri Pandits and the police when they set fire to the effigies of Mahbooba Mufti, People's Democratic Party (PDP) president, and another symbolising the Jammu and Kashmir government.

The protesters accused the political leaders of communalisation and politicisation of the sacred Amarnath shrine.

"The ongoing crisis in the Valley is a well-crafted exercise by the separatists and some `anti-national' forces. It comes at a time when the Amarnath pilgrimage was in progress and the Jammu and Kashmir elections are round the corner," said Amal Magazine, a coordinator with Roots In Kashmir, a group that organised the protest.

Ajay Raj Kaul, another activist, termed Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra's decision to ask the state government to retain the land allotted tyo the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) as "immature".

"The land transfer is justified for the benefit of locals and as well the pilgrims. Over six hundred Hindu temples and shrines have been desecrated and destroyed as a part of a systematic plan of cleansing the Valley of any traces of its glorious Hindu past," said Kaul.

He also criticised the PDP that withdrew from the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led coalition government Saturday.

"They are at the forefront of this mayhem, fuelling the anti-Hindu campaign in the Valley," he added.

Kashmiri Pandits warned the government of a possible backlash on Amarnath shrine issue.

"This should be treated as a warning to the government that there will be a severe backlash and mayhem of the same magnitude as is being seen on the streets of Srinagar if the land transfer is reversed," said Pooja Shali, a female activist.

The Jammu and Kashmir government Sunday said it will retain the forest land allotted to the SASB.

The move came a day after the PDP left the government in crisis by pulling out of the Congress-led coalition amid differences over the allotment of the forest land in north Kashmir's Baltal area.

The Kashmir Valley has witnessed violent protests in the past week, after the state government March 5 allotted 40 hectares of forest land to the SASB, which till now managed the annual pilgrimage to the Hindu cave shrine in south Kashmir.

The Jammu and Kashmir cabinet March 5, 2008 allotted the 40 hectares of forest land in north Kashmir Baltal base camp area of the Amarnath Yatra to the SASB headed by the state governor for facilities for the pilgrims.sm/rd/vt

(583 Words)29061945NNNN (IANS)

VHP to stage nation-wide stir on Amarnath land issue

Chennai, Jun 29: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will stage a country-wide agitation tomorrow, condemning the Jammu and Kashmir Government for withdrawing the land allotted for infrastructural facilities for the benefit of Amarnath pilgrims.

In a statement here, VHP Tamil Nadu unit Organising Secretary M Veerabahu said the Jammu Government had withdrawn the allotted lands, following opposition from Muslims.

''If such incidents of atrocities against Hindus continued, the VHP will launch an agitation demanding withdrawal of various facilities extended to the Muslims, like concessions and infrastructure facilities for Haj pilgrims and allotment for lands to Wakf Board by the Centre,'' he added.

Expressing regret that the Congress Government had withdrawn the land to stay in power by bowing to the demands of the Muslims, Mr Veerabahu said the agitation would be held across the country demanding restoration of land for the benefit of pilgrims. The Centre should insist the Jammu and Kashmir Government to do so,'' he added.

BJP plans to lead India wide counter Hindu agitation to recover Amarnath Shrine land from proPakistani Islamic jihadists of Kashmir

Anil Sohani
Jun. 29, 2008

Bande Ma Taram. It is time to cleanse Kashmir of Pakistani ISI and Islamic Jihadists imported from Taliban and Middle East. It is time to rise up and put saffron all over Jammu and Kashmir. It is time to tell PDP and its pro-Pakistani leaders to quit the land of Mother India. It is time for Manmohan Singh to quit Indian politics and take refuge in George Bush’s America.

What has happened in Kashmir is the start of taking back our country from India’s enemies. Hindus need respect. The Amarnath land must be returned.

The BJP and the VHP on Sunday gave a shutdown call on Monday in Jammu and demanded the removal of Amarnath shrine board chairman and Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra after the board gave up its claim on the forest land allotted to it.

It is shame for India that Hindus cannot worship comfortably in Amarnath. It is a shame that communists, SP and the congress party oblige the Muslims for their votes. Hindus have equal rights to worship God as does Muslims.

It is time to chant ‘Bande Ma Taram’. It is time to take back India from foreigners and religious bigots. It is time to throw anti-Indian el4emts out of the country.

We want removal of Vohra for succumbing to pressure. This is most shameful act as he has succumbed to few protests of fundamentalists, political parties and separatists," state BJP president Ashok Khajuria told media reporters in Jammu.

PM Manmohan Singh and Italian import Sonia Gandhi failed to respect and protect Hindu rights to worship in Amarnath. Enough is enough. Scrap those talks with Pakistan.

India staged the Amarnath shrine land transfer fiasco to show Kasmiri Muslims that political means can bring them what they want

Kiran Chaube
Jun. 29, 2008

It was strange to see a land deal initiated by the Government inciting a series of protests and backing down on the deal quickly. It may be the greatest political trick India has ever played.

Islamists and separatists in Kashmir found their new leader PDP prez Mehbooba Mufti. It was well-planned set up in Kashmir. Mufti will lead the protests and finally resign. At that point Government will reverse the land allotment showing the separatists that political means can get them what they want.

It helps the Congress party to communalize the upcoming election. It makes sure that they get most of the Muslim votes.

The whole fiasco was an insult to Hindus. But this Government in India cares little about Hindus. At the cost of Hindu dignity, they showed the world that they care for the Islamic Jihadists – the so called separatists in Kashmir.

Pakistan is also somewhat perplexed. Sources say, Pakistan was ready to launch new fresh attacks on India but was secretly informed otherwise. Pakistan behavior (quietly watching) for the first time showed that they knew that the decision would be reversed.

The whole episode guarantees heavy Muslim turnout for the Congress party that guarantees Muslim rights at the cost of Hindu dignity.

Life in Kashmir in standstill, Hindus have no future?

MIL, Jun 26, 2008. Dr. Raj Baldev

New Delhi, India: June 26, 2008 - It seems that Hindus have no voice anywhere in this so-called democratic India, wherever the basic privileges are announced in their favor, the protests emerge against them. The govt.can’t think of even giving basic amenities to the Hindu pilgrims, how ridiculous!

Every year, thousands of Hindus visit Amarnath cave, considered one of the holiest shrines of the Hindu faith. They have no basic amenities on their way like toilets or to give some rest to the old pilgrims.

In absence of such amenities, the passages which the pilgrims use are normally affected by non regular toileting on their way and that created unhygienic environment.

In addition, the sick and old people used to suffer dreadfully in absence of any resting place where they could be given first aid or rest for a while to ease their fatigue. As a result of non hygienic conditions, the people have been urging the govt. to improve the passage by providing basic amenities of toilets and provide pre-fabricated huts to meet the emergency of the old and the sick.

There has been a long outstanding demand from the public, the Hindu pilgrims, that some arrangement should be made to provide basic amenities to them like toilets and temporary pre-fabricated huts to help then on the way.

As a result of long outstanding demand to give basic facilities to the pilgrims, the state government decided to transfer around 40 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board - the organization which organizes the pilgrimage.

As said, Hindus look to have no right to avail the
basic facilities in democratic India, at least in some parts, where they have their holy shrines. I don’t know who to blame?

The local environmentalists protested against the decision and local politicians joined them in opposing the issue, irrespective of showing any respect to the human values, emotional sentiments of the Hindu pilgrims or the human considerations, is it so that they are Hindus?

Since the protestors have no logical argument to oppose the issue, they started alleging that the transfer of land to the shrine board is part of a "conspiracy to settle non-local Hindus in the valley with a view to reducing the Muslims to a minority".

Really it is unfortunate, where the question of their settlement arises. The govt. did not settle any Hindu in 50 years and now they would do it?

If this is the thinking of the people in Kashmir,it is unfortunate. They turned away thousands of Hindus Pundits from their valley, and they were protected and rehabilated by the Govt. in other states of the country.

They are now protesting against providing basic amenities to the Hindu pilgrims, blocking the way, shutting the shops in the valley and creating unending traffic jams not allowing the passengers to move about, all educational institutions are closed and normal business has come to a standstill. What’s this?

How much India aids to Jammu and Kashmir in which the tax ratio of the Hindus in India is more 80%. In other words, the financial aid that comes to this state from India, comprises substantial contribution from the Hindus, still they are denied even basic amenities in Kashmir while visiting their holy shrine.

Since political parties have no credibility of their loyalty, their loyalty is restricted to cheap publicity stunt and nothing else have also joined the protestors like National Conference and constituents of the governing coalition - the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Communist Party-Marxist (CPI-M); the former CM Mufti Mohammad Sayed has also demanded to revoke the transfer of land.

I really don’t know where India is going and how Kashmir is thinking? It is not a good sign of harmony?

Does Europe have a Civilising mission in India?

by JAKOB De ROOVER
16 June 2008 - Issue : 786

Recently, the European Parliament hosted a meeting on “caste discrimination in South Asia”. At the meeting, participants stated that “India is being ruled by castes not by laws” and that they demanded justice, because there “is one incredible India and one untouchable India.” The EU was urged to come out with a policy statement on the subject. One MEP, referring to the caste system, said that “this barbarism has to end.” This is not the first time. However, before the EU decides to publish policy statements on caste discrimination in India, we would do well to reflect on some simple facts.

First, the dominant conception of the caste system has emerged from the accounts by Christian missionaries, travelers and colonial administrators. Rather than being neutral, these accounts were shaped by a Christian framework. That is, the religion of European visitors to India had informed them beforehand that they would find false religion and devil worship there, and that false religion always manifested itself in social evils. Especially the Protestants rebuked the “evil priests” of Hinduism for imposing the laws of caste in the name of religion. They told the Indians that conversion to Protestantism was a conversion to equality. Thus, Indian souls were to be saved from damnation and caste discrimination.

Second, this Christian account of “the Hindu religion” and its “caste system” informed colonial policies in British India. Building on the theological framework, scholars now wrote “scientific” treatises on Hindu superstition and caste discrimination.

The Christian mission found its secular counterpart in the idea of the civilising mission, which told the West that it had to rescue the natives from the clutches of superstition and caste. One no longer promoted religious conversion, but the colonial educational system harped on “the horrors of Hindu society.”

Third, the colonial educational project had a deep impact on the Indian intelligentsia. Hindu reform and anti-caste movements came into being, which reproduced the Protestant accounts of Hinduism and caste as true descriptions of India.

Their advocates did not adopt these descriptions as passive recipients, but actively deployed them to pursue socioeconomic and political interests. Political parties and caste associations were created to safeguard the interests of the “lower castes.” The elites of these groups united in associations and received financial and moral support from the missionaries and other progressive colonials.

Fourth, the “Dalit” movement of today is the product of these colonial movements. The notion of “Dalits” makes sense only within the colonial account of India, which had postulated the existence of one single group of “outcastes” or “untouchables” that was supposedly exploited by the upper castes. In reality, it concerns a variety of caste groups, with no criteria to unite them besides the claim that they are all “downtrodden.” Indeed, many of these groups are poor and discriminated against by other caste groups. However, their socio-economic interests have been hijacked by some of their western-educated elite members. In the name of the downtrodden, these elites establish NGOs and then travel from conference to conference and country to country in order to reveal the plight of the “Dalits” to eager western audiences and secure funding from donor agencies.

Fifth, when present-day Europeans rebuke Indian society for the “barbarism” of caste discrimination, they are reproducing the old stanzas of the civilising mission. Such a stance of superiority perhaps worked in the context of colonialism. But today, at a time when Indians buy some of the European industrial giants and Europe is in need of more collaboration with India, it is ill-advised to continue this type of civilisational propaganda.
In fact, such propaganda derives its plausibility from a series of assumptions that no one would be willing to defend explicitly. It attributes all socioeconomic wrongs of the Indian society to its structure and civilisation. The implication is that there is only one way to get rid of socio-economic wrongs here: one has to eradicate both the social structure and the Hindu civilisation. It is as though one would blame the racism, bingedrinking, pedophilia, poverty, homelessness and domestic violence in the contemporary West on its age-old civilisation.
The times have changed. As Europeans, we need to reflect on our deep-rooted sense of superiority and how this informs our moralising discourse on human rights in other parts of the world. To appreciate the impression we give to Indians with our statements on caste discrimination, just imagine a possible world in which the Indian government regularly castigates the US for its racism against African-Americans and the disproportionate death penalties, and the EU for the treatment of South Asians in England, Turks in Germany, women in Romania, the Basque movement in Spain, gypsies in Italy ... just imagine Indian members of parliament consistently blaming the very structure of western societies as the cause of all these wrongs. Europe needs to wake up fast. The time of colonialism is over. If we do not change our attitudes, the irritation towards the EU will grow in countries like India and China. So will the unwillingness to collaborate. In the fast-changing world of the early 21st Century, Europe cannot afford this.

Jakob De Roover is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation (FWO) at the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap, Ghent University, Belgium

Nationalism and sovereignty

By Prafull Goradia

The second great threat to national sovereignty is the communist movement which considers the nation state an instrument of exploitation in the hands of the rich to keep down the poor. The communist manifesto exhorts the workers of the world to unite. The Internationale is the anthem of the movement. While the Left Front rules the three states of Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal, the Maoists are the violent vanguard of Marxism. And they have moved to some 200 or one-third of India’s districts.

Former US Secretary of State Ms Madeleine Albright has lately (Indian Express, June 13 OP-ED) provided an insight into the western mindset about the rest of the world. She was criticising Myanmar for what she thought was putting sovereignty above humanity. The junta at Yangon has accepted aid for its Nargis-hit people on a very limited scale. It has cared more for the security of its power than for the care and comfort of its people. That a leading American could be so ego-centric in her world view is astonishing.

Ms Albright has overlooked that most of Asia and Africa was under the heel of European imperialism for the best part of two centuries. Apart from Japan and Thailand, it is difficult to think of an Asian country which was truly free during that period. Although China was not formally conquered, large tracts of it were harassed and exploited by several powers including her own USA. Does she not realise that fears gathered over, say 200 years, cannot be wiped out in a few decades? Until World War II, in any case, the supremacy of national sovereignty was a universal obsession. Both the world wars were fought on the basis of nationalism.

Thereafter, Europe tired of war, gave up nationalism but its place was taken by the Soviet Union which overran and oppressed most of eastern and central Europe for four decades. The USA was not far behind when it intervened in Korea in 1950, then Lebanon 1958, Vietnam 1960 and so on. Afghanistan and Iraq are the more recent examples. What else but a phantom of an American invasion would first grip an Afro-Asian psyche? The sacredness of national sovereignty would take time to occur to the rulers of many a country. Human costs in terms of the suffering of Nargis-affected thousands would be considered much later. The doctrine of responsibility to protect and the concept of humanitarian intervention, quoted by Ms Albright, would not cut much ice with people who have witnessed so many countries being invaded by the USA over the last 60 years. The Soviet Union has receded from memory since its breakup.

Ms Albright appears to have taken a cue from Europe where many countries have diluted their sovereignty in the light of the human costs incurred due to the clash of nationalisms during the world wars. But that is Europe after the two mega wars wherein the casualties exceeded a hundred million. By the same token, the USA has not diluted any of its sovereignty. On the contrary, Washington has assumed the posture of a super sovereign state which is free to intervene and invade any country at its own free will. Human costs then do not appear to matter! Thousands of its own soldiers have died, not to speak of the lakhs of Afghans and Iraqis who have perished.

Why should the rest of the world change merely because the Soviet Union was collapsing and the Berlin Wall fell? Why should Albright expect an integrated world system free from spheres of influence merely because the two Germanys have come together? In any case, instead of two spheres of influence, isn’t there now a uni-polar world? Be that as it might, we need to return to the relevance of national sovereignty, especially for a country like India.

We are afflicted by two movements which are openly against the idea of national sovereignty. The first is Islam whose followers comprise 15 per cent of India’s population. The Muslim’s first, second and third loyalties are to Allah the Merciful, the Holy Prophet and to the ummah or the world community of his religion. In the words of Maulana Mohamed Ali, the Khilafat movement leader, we (Muslims) are not nationalists but super nationalists, and I as a Muslim say that God made man and Devil made the nation. Ali further said, he belonged to two circles of equal size which are not concentric – one is India and the other is the Muslim world (Gandhi by B.R. Nanda, OUP, page 390). The Khilafat maulanas had insisted and Gandhiji had conceded that the Muslim soldiers of the Indian army would not fight in the event India was invaded by a Muslim army. Early in the 20th century, a Russian inspired Afghan invasion across the Hindukush was considered a live threat. Long before its Pakistan resolution, the Muslim League had endorsed this principle that Muslim will not fight Muslim, no matter whose national he may be.

The second great threat to national sovereignty is the communist movement which considers the nation state an instrument of exploitation in the hands of the rich to keep down the poor. The communist manifesto exhorts the workers of the world to unite. The Internationale is the anthem of the movement. While the Left Front rules the three states of Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal, the Maoists are the violent vanguard of Marxism. And they have moved to some 200 or one-third of India’s districts.

The then undivided Communist Party of India had supported the League’s demand for Pakistan. For the rest of India, it had a two-fold prescription. First, to have an undivided Bengal with a Muslim premier; presumably so that Pakistan could have the whole of Bengal to support it rather than a part as it transpired in 1947. Secondly, to recognise 16 nationalities in the rest of India with each of them having the right to secede from the Union a la the Soviet constitution!

How can Ms Albright and her country ensconced between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans expect other countries to allow their sovereignty to be overridden by disasters like Nargis or tsunami?

(The writer can be contacted at 145, Sunder Nagar, New Delhi-110 003.)

Kashmir police clash with hundreds of Muslim protesters over Hindu land

SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Police in Srinagar fired tear gas and used batons on Monday to disperse hundreds of Muslim demonstrators protesting against a government decision to transfer forest land to a Hindu shrine trust.

Authorities last week said nearly 100 acres of forest land in Kashmir was being transferred to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) to erect temporary structures for thousands of pilgrims who annually trek to a cave shrine deep in the Himalayas.

“Don’t grab our land, we want freedom,” protesters shouted.

Police detained at least 50 protesters from different parts of Srinagar, witnesses said.

Around 250,000 Hindus fled the Kashmir valley after a separatist Muslim rebellion broke out in 1989. Only about 10,000 Hindus remain after years of violent insurgency in India’s only Muslim-majority region.

The protest was called by Kashmiri separatists who also say the fragile ecology of the mountainous region will be ruined by building “permanent” structures at base camps of the pilgrimage.

The government said the charge was misleading.

“The propaganda is unleashed by some people with vested interests … special measures were initiated keeping in view the environmental requirements,” S. K. Sinha, state’s governor and chief of SASB, said in a statement.

During the two-month-long pilgrimage, tens of thousands of devout Hindus walk and ride ponies to the cave, situated at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,700 feet), to pray by an ice stalagmite they believe to be a symbol of Hindu god Lord Shiva.

The pilgrimage has been targeted several times by separatist militants.

Left govt asked to repent for preaching atheism

ibnlive.com

Thiruvananthapuram: Religious groups in Kerala have warned the government they would start statewide protests if it doesn’t scrap references to atheism in a new social studies textbook for Class VII.

A chapter in the textbook for schools that follow the state government’s syllabus says atheism is a better principle to follow in life compared to religion. Leaders of the state’s three main religions allege the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government is propagating Marxism and twisting history through the textbook.

The Church and the Nair Service Society, a Hindu organisation, have threatened to launch a statewide agitation against the Left government if the controversial textbook was not withdrawn.

Representatives of 12 Muslim organisations, led by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), met Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Education Minister M A Baby on Monday and demanded that the textbook be withdrawn.

Baby on Tuesday rejected the Opposition alliance United Democratic Front (UDF) allegation’s that the textbook was anti-religious. He agreed to have a debate in the Assembly but insisted that the textbook was prepared on the basis of guidelines prepared by the National Council for Education Research and Training.

The Minister insisted that the book promotes tolerance but religious groups disagree. Religious leaders take offence to a particular passage in the textbook in which a boy and his parents go for admission to a school and the headmaster questions them about their religion. The boy’s parents say he doesn’t have a religion because theirs was an inter-religious marriage.

The textbook says that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in his will that he didn’t want religious customs at his cremation. Religious groups allege the Left government is misinterpreting Nehru’s writing to promote atheism.

A report by UNI says two photojournalists and two constables were injured in Malappuram district when a protest march by the pro-IUML Muslim Students Federation turned violent on Tuesday.

The protesters allegedly threw stones at the police when they were stopped from marching to the office of the Deputy Director of Education in Malappuram to press for their demand that the textbook be withdrawn.

(With reporting by CNN-IBN Correspondent Naveen Nair in Thiruvananthapuram.)

When I’m told that Hindus "live in darkness" I'm provoked

I am provoked to write this
By M.S.N. Menon

Yes. When I’m told that Hindus “live in darkness” I’m provoked.

I’m a Hindu, not the usual one, for I took the trouble to make a special study of human civilisations and religious atrocities. Naturally, I see religions in a different light. Not the way the “faithful” see them.

Religions are full of lies and false claims. The Jews claimed they were “the chosen people of God.” Where did this delusion take them? To the worst persecution known to man! They remain the object of the longest hate in human history.

Take Christianity. What is its claim and what is the reality? It claims to have civilised Europe. In fact, it destroyed one of the greatest civilisations of man—the Greek civilisation. Vassili Vassilevsky, one of the most stimulating authors of Greece, says: “It took us inheritors of a joyous paganistic culture, a long time to internalise the notion of ‘guilt’. Even today we do not wholly accept the idea that the body is the source of evil.” And yet Jesus had said that the “Kingdom of God is within you.” Then, who put the Devil inside the Christian to torment them? The Organised Church.

And it also destroyed the Roman empire. One of the first acts of the Christians (that of Emperor Theodisius), when they came to power in Rome, was to order the destruction of the most splendid library in the temple of Serapis. Obviously, the Church had no desire for enlightenment. The Hindus pray for light daily.

The Church converted the pagan temples into tombs, says W.E.H. Lecky, “for the adoration of the bones of the basest and most depraved of men among the Christian monks.” (History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe”, Vol.II)

And a Christian mob stripped and cut into pieces a gifted, virtuous and beautiful lady in Alexandria. What was her crime? That she was the leader of the Neo-Platonists!

The Roman empire had produced some of the great men in history like poets Horace and Virgil, historians like Livy and Polybius, philosophers like Epictetus and Plotinus, orators like Cicero, lawgivers like Cato. What did Christianity produce in the 1500 years of its dominance over Europe? Not one man of greatness! And almost every great man who was born in Europe after the Renaissance was outside the Church.

And the Roman empire spread the Hellenistic civilisation in half the world. What has the Christian empire to show?

It is the claim of the church that it made a major contribution to the growth of morality in Europe. In fact, it made little contribution. It called Descartes, father of moral philosophy, an atheist! The Church gave its blessings to both capitalism and imperialism. And later to colonialism. Secretary of State Amery (UK) says that an active empire and an inactive Church cannot go together.

The Church had a big hand in slave trade. If there was a conscience problem, it helped to ease it by saying that the black man was the son of the Devil.

Denouncing the trade in black men, Lord Palmerston says: “If all crimes committed from creation down to the present day were added together, they would not exceed, I am sure, the guilt of the diabolic slave trade.” In America Lincoln had to fight a civil war to outlaw the trade. The Church was behind the rebel southern States.

According to the Church, the dark races were not required in God’s scheme of things.

The genocide of the Incas, Mayas and others has no parallel in human history. They were more civilised than the Europeans. “By millions upon millions” says Draper “whole races and nations were remorselessly cut off. The Bishop of Chiape affirmed that more than 15 million were terminated in his time. From Mexico and Peru, a civilisation that might have educated Europe, was crushed out.” (Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. II)

On Galileo’s incarceration, Draper writes: “What a spectacle! This venerable man, the most illustrious of his age, forced by the threat of death to deny the facts…treated with remorseless severity during the remaining ten years of his life….” In the dungeon.

There is nothing in human history as diabolic as the Inquisition. It was created by the Popes to perfect the “art” of torture of the apostates. I can only think of the gas chambers of the Nazis, which did away with six million Jews. “What strikes me most in considering medieval torture is not so much this diabolic barbarity, which is impossible to exaggerate, as the extraordinary variety and what may be termed the artistic skills they displayed”. (Lecky)

What else can one expect from a religion which had thought of eternal hell fire as a punishment for even small wrongs of men!

What about Islam? Space compels me to make it a short review. In his book “In the path of Mahatma Gandhi”, George Catlin, the American philosopher, asks: “What has Islam to offer to compare with the philosophy of Vedanta and the Upanishads?” So much for its “Superiority” claim!

Be that as it may, what is the record of Islam’s atrocities? “The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history,” says Will Durant, the American historian.

The Muslims do not want to be reminded of their past. But it is necessary, says S.Bashiruddin, former Vice Chancellor of Dr. Ambedkar Open University. (See his ‘Deen and Dharma”). He says: “Through the present generation of Muslims is not responsible for what has been done centuries ago, an awareness of such a legacy can sensitize the Muslim opinion leaders…”

With such a record of their past, I would like to know from Christian and Muslim brothers, in which way they are “superior” to the Hindus. Do not tell me that your religious texts do not permit these things. This is an easy explanation. I don’t take it. Men are judged by what they do, not by what they believe or by what is written in their scripture.

UPA misusing central agencies for political vendetta

By Sangeet Verma

The intelligence officers were silent when questioned about almost negligible or low-level security provided to BJP ministers in Madhya Pradesh that is now on the top list of terrorist outfits.

After being routed from almost all parts of the country, and led by a Congress desperate to assert its image of a national party, the UPA government is misusing the tools of governance in every possible manner to win the next assembly elections in the four states of Rajasthan, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

During the UPA regime at the Centre, the opposition leaders have been targeted with agencies like CBI, IB and EOW, while the same agencies have been used to shape larger than life images of Congress leaders. Central government offices have been used to shower benefits on all those who keep singing praises in honour of members of the Gandhi family. At the same time, records of the BJP leaders and supporters have been put under the scanner and help from loyal bureaucrats is being sought to frame and hit at any possible BJP leader or opportunity. The recent income tax raids in Madhya Pradesh are only indications of 10 Janpath’s ‘democratic’ approach to the coming elections. During the raids conducted at 56 places, less than Rs. 1 crore in cash was seized. When questioned in the press conference on the involvement of the BJP state health minister Ajay Vishnoi, Shri A.K. Rana, Director General (Income Tax) and Shri A.K. Singh, Director, (Investigations) said that the houses or offices of the health minister were not raided and they don’t know why he has resigned. What is also surprising is the fact that Shri Vishnoi has no cases pending against him in either Lokayukt, Income Tax, Economic Offences Wing or even any FIR or PIL against him in any court of law.

What is less surprising and more funny is the fact that his resignation was sought by Congress, which has a record of not just corrupt but also convicted ministers who were convicted while in office for the first time in the history of the country.

It is little surprise then, that after being routed from almost all parts of the country, and led by a Congress desperate to assert its image of a national party, the UPA government is misusing the tools of governance in every possible manner to win the next assembly elections in the four states of Rajasthan, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The problem is that the Congress is yet to realise two facts:

1. The era of personal worship in Indian politics is over, at least among the masses.

2. That the Congress is no more a national party with a national presence and is now lame and dependent on regional parties for its survival.

The strategy is very clear. All Congressmen have been asked to convert Rahul Gandhi into a worshipable icon for the masses. Those in the line for worship include senior leaders like Arjun Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shivraj Patil. Also, a similar approach is being adopted at the state level, decorating the Congress chief minister aspirants with royal artillery.

One such funny example is the case of Suresh Pachori in Madhya Pradesh. Suresh Pachori is less known, an aspiring CM candidate from Congress who also has blessings from 10 Janpath. It is these blessings that have earned him a Z plus security cover which few in the intelligence circles could resist smiling at. A senior intelligence officer on conditions of anonymity said that the security provided to Shri Pachori was a surprise as the state government found no security threats to make him eligible for even the lowest category of security in its regular reviews. Another senior official said that usually all state governments honour the security grades provided by other states and since Shri Pachori had earned his security grades from the Central government, it was the moral duty of the Madhya Pradesh government to honour it even if it understood well that there was no real threat to Shri Pachori.

However the intelligence officers were silent when questioned about almost negligible or low-level security provided to BJP ministers in Madhya Pradesh that is now on the top list of terrorist outfits. Be it erasing dacoit names like Gujjar, Gadaria and Parihar in the Chambals or breaking the back-bone of SIMI by arresting its top leaders, the credit largely goes to the state home minister Himmat Singh Kothari, who can still be seen driving a two wheeler in his constituency with a single guard to back him up. None of the other ministers in the state have a Z category security cover. The silence of intelligence department to the issue is the most surprising.

BJP: A party with clear-cut philosophy and distinct features

By K.K. Gupta, IFS (Retd.)

“In Bharat the principles of ethics are termed as dharma—the laws of life.”

The ‘Integral Humanism’, as elucidated at length in the four lectures delivered by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya in September 1965, is the guiding philosophy of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While reading these four lectures with an objective mind, the reader clearly gets an impression as if the best precepts (or rather it would be more appropriate to term it as the ‘crux’) from the holy books of all religions have been well summarised by a great thinker/philosopher. There is nothing in any part of the lectures to suggest any kind of insinuation/ill will against any community/caste/creed/group. The following ‘excerpts/quotes’ from these lectures would amply corroborate this viewpoint:

• “It is essential that we think about ‘our national identity’ without which there is no meaning of ‘Independence.”
• “The basic cause of the problems facing Bharat is the neglect of its national identity.”
• “Opportunism has shaken the confidence of people in politics.”
• “Opportunists with no principles rein in politics of our country.”
• “We had taken pride in resisting things-British while they (Britishers) ruled us, but strangely enough, now that the Britishers have left, Westernisation has become synonymous with progress.”
• “Western science and the Western ways of life are two different things. Whereas Western science is universal and must be absorbed by us if we wish to go forward, the same is not true about the Western ways of life and values.”
• “In the past 1000 years whatever we assimilated—whether it was forced on us or we took with willingness—cannot be discarded now.”
• “The principles of Marx have changed both with the changing times as well as with varying conditions to the extent that parrot-like repetition of Marxism for solving problems facing our country would amount to a reactionary attitude rather than a scientific & pragmatic one.”
• “Human knowledge is common property.”
• “Independance can be meaningful only if it becomes instrument for expression of our culture.”
• “Both from the national as well as human stand point, it has become essential that we think of the principles of Bharatiya culture.”
• “The fundamental characteristic of Bharatiya culture is that it looks upon life as an integrated whole.”
• “There is diversity and plurality in life but we have always attempted to discover the unity behind them.”
• “Hegel put forward the principles of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis; Karl Marx used this principle as a basis and presented his analysis of history and economics; Darwin considered the principle of survival of the fittest as the sole basis of life; but we in this country saw the basic unity of all life.”
• “The unit of seed finds expression in various forms—the roots, the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the flowers and the fruits. All these have different forms, colours and properties. Still we recognise their relation of unity with each other through seed.”
• “Unity in diversity and the expression of unity in various forms has remained the thought of Bharatiya culture.”
• “Conflict is not a sign of culture of nature rather it is a symptom of their degradation.”
• “Human nature has both tendencies—anger and greed on the one hand and love and sacrifice on the other.”
• “The principles of ethics are not framed by any one, these are rather discovered.”
• “In Bharat the principles of ethics are termed as dharma—the laws of life.”
• “When nature is channeled according to the principles of dharma, we have culture and civilisation.”
• “The English word ‘religion’ is not the correct word for dharma.”
• “Here in Bharat, we have placed before ourselves the ideal of the four fold responsibilities of catering to the needs of body, mind, intellect and soul with a view to achieve the integrated progress of man.”
• “The longings for dharma, artha, kama and moksha (the four kind of human efforts) are inborn in man and satisfaction of these in an integrated way is the essence of Bharatiya culture.”
• “When state acquires all powers, both political and economic, the result is a decline of dharma.”
• “A nation is a group of persons who live with ‘a goal’, ‘an ideal’, ‘a mission’ and look upon a particular piece of land as the Motherland. If either of the two—the ideal and the Motherland—is missing, then there is no nation.”
• “Religion means a creed or a sect and it does not mean dharma.”
• “Dharma is very wide concept which concerns all aspects of life sustaining the society.”
• “The fundamental principles of dharma are eternal and universal. However, their implementation may differ according to time, place and circumstances.”
• “The nearest equivalent English term for ‘dharma’ can be ‘innate law’, though even that does not express the full meaning of dharma. Since dharma is supreme, our ideal of the state has been ‘Dharma Rajya’.”
• “Strength lies not in unrestrained behaviour but in well regulated action.”

An in-depth study of all other related literature concerning BJP’s Ideology clearly brings out the following distinct features of this ‘Ideals Oriented’ Party:

1. Well defined principles/ ideas/ideology/approach;
2. Respect for democratic norms/ways;
3. Firmness in maintaining high standards of discipline;
4. Dynamic/reformist;
5. Inspires pride in Indianness/ dharma/culture/civilisation;
6. Strong belief in good governance;
7. Strengthens organisation without compromising individual’s identity, and;
8. Promotes participation/ merit/development/perspective.

That BJP is truly a Bharatiya party and does not subscribes to any kind of discrimination on account of community/caste/class/ creed/colour/gender/status, is amply evident from the following ‘pledge’, incorporated in the form prescribed for the new entrant to attain the primary membership of the party:

“I believe in Integral Humanism which is the basic philosophy of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

I am committed to nationalism and national integration, democracy, ‘Gandhian approach to socio-economic issues leading to the establishment of an egalitarian society free from exploitation’, positive secularism (Sarvadharmasama-bhava) and value-based politics.

I subscribe to the concept of a secular state and nation not based on religion.

I firmly believe that this task can be achieved by peaceful means alone.

I do not believe in discrimination based on caste, sex or religion.

I do not observe or recogonise untouchability in any shape or form.

I am not a member of any other Party.

I undertake to abide by the Constitution, rules and discipline of the party.”

Do the unfounded insinuations maliciously drummed up by the pseudo-secularists against BJP hold any water in the light of aforesaid facts?

(The writer is former Secretary, NCST, Government of India.)

CPI(M)-led Islamic terrorism at Ganga Sagar

by V SUNDARAM

On 12 June (Thursday) 2008, at Sagar Island (also known as Ganga Sagar) 6000 Muslim terrorists let loose organized violence against 180 unarmed Hindu devotees who had gone to Ganga Sagar to attend a Yoga and Training Camp organized by Hindu Samhati in a building belonging to the Kolkata Textile Association. A 6000 strong Muslim crowd, armed with sharp-edged weapons attacked the building (near Kapil Muni temple) and beat up Hindu pilgrims at around 7 pm in a savage manner. . Tapan Kumar Ghosh, the National Convenor of Hindu Samhati and Sunder Das, one of his lieutenants, were badly injured. A few policemen deployed on the spot were also manhandled when they tried to intervene. Tapan Ghosh and Sunder Das, both workers of Hindu Samhati, were also beaten up. The four-hour ordeal continued till a larger contingent of police force headed by the Kakdwip BDO and SDPO arrived. Instead of arresting the Islamic marauders for their acts of terrorism against the majority community, the West Bengal Police arrested on Friday 15 Hindu pilgrims. The police also arrested Tapan Ghosh and Sunder Das, the two Hindu leaders and it has been reported that Tapan Ghosh continues to be in police custody.

The Pioneer of New Delhi reported on 14 June 2008 as follows:

'In what is being viewed as a CPI(M) ploy to shift focus from burning issues and gain back confidence of minorities, who had shifted their loyalties during panchayat election, the police on Friday arrested 15 Hindu pilgrims to Ganga Sagar but let go a Muslim mob, mostly CPI(M) supporters, who on Thursday night attacked and burnt down an inn at Ganga Sagar Islands before assaulting local police men'.

The unruly anti-Hindu Muslim mob was led by Sheikh Ismail, a CPI(M) Member and Chairman of the local panchayat. Instead of arresting him and the members of his gang for their criminal activities under Section 153A, Section 295 and Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, the police arrested Tapan Kumar Ghosh and Sunder Das, apart from 15 Hindu pilgrims. The police allowed Sheikh Ismail, the CPI(M) Islamic Terrorist Leader and his mob to escape from the clutches of law, with the full political support, patronage and benediction of the anti-national and anti-Hindu terrorist CPI(M) Government of West Bengal. The extent of official Police support extended to Sheikh Ismail and his Islamic gangsters can be seen from the fact that the Police even refused to file FIRs against the Muslim attackers who burnt down three rooms rented by the RSS for pilgrims. It has been reported that thousands of BJP workers led by the BJP Secretary of West Bengal Rahul Sinha staged a blockade on Friday, the 13 June 2008 at Esplanade in Kolkata. 526 of them were arrested and released later. Rahul Sinha has stated, `what was more agonizing was instead of booking the offenders the police arrested the victims. At least 15 of them were arrested and booked under non-bailable sections. The Left Front Government has become weak. The CPI(M) is trying to appease the minority community by playing a 'partisan game'.

Sagar Island (also known as Ganga Sagar) lies on the continental shelf of Bay of Bengal about 150 km (80 nautical miles) south of Kolkata. The island is large — with an area of around 300 sq km. It has 43 villages and a population of over 160,000. The island is home to the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger. It is also rich in mangrove swamps, waterways and small rivers. Ganga Sagar is the confluence of river Ganges with the Bay of Bengal. This island is a famous place of sacred Hindu pilgrimage from times immemorial. Millions of people from all over the world flock to the island on Makar Sankranti every year (mid-January), and take a dip in the confluence to rid themselves of all their sins. They also offer puja in Kapil Muni Temple. In 2007, about 300,000 pilgrims took the holy dip where the Hooghly meets the Bay of Bengal on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. The figure was lower by around 200,000 in 2007 because of Kumbh Mela. In January 2008, on the eve of Makar Sankranthi, five lakh Hindu pilgrims visited Sagar Island. Ganga Sagar is also famous for its very large fair which is second only to the Holy Kumbh Mela in terms of public participation. Ganga Sagar fair is held every year on the Sagar Island's southern tip in the Ganges delta atop the Bay of Bengal. That makes Gangasagar all the more distinctive as a place of holy pilgrimage.

It was in this sacred place of Ganga Sagar, a CPI(M) gangster called Sheikh Ismail who also happens to be the Chairman of the local Panchayat, led an Islamic assault on the Hindu Pilgrims at. Divya Pant has written a brilliant article titled `Think before you chant `Bharat Mata Ki Jai''. Let me quote her own words in this context: `In a country that gained independence by chanting slogans like `Bharat Mata Ki Jai', in a land where the nation is considered to be one's mother, a time has come when people are beaten up brutally and then arrested for chanting the same slogan that once stood as one of the symbols of Indian freedom struggle. That too, right under the administration's noses, with local CPI (M) leaders assisting the goons in their tirade. This shocking incident is not one being reported from a remote village of the country, but from Sagar Islands - the pilgrimage considered to be one of the holiest in India. In a place considered so divine by the Hindus, about 172 Hindus were beaten up brutally late on Thursday night (12 June 2008) by a group of immigrant Bangladeshi Muslims, only because the Hindus had dared to utter `Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and `Jai Sri Ram'. What shocks us all more, is the fact that the attackers were led by a Muslim youth named Sheikh Ismail, who happens to be CPI(M)'s Panchayat Samiti seat winner in the area'.

I have carefully gathered the details relating to the ruthlessness of the police and general administration which was only interested in targeting the Hindu Youths from different parts of West Bengal who had come to Gangasagar to attend a Yoga and Meditation Camp organized by a Hindu Organization called Hindu Samhati. The three-day camp, which began on 12 June 2008 (Thursday), was organised in a building close to the confluence and a Vishwa Hindu Parishad building.

Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh, the National Convenor of Hindu Samhati was conducting the main sessions of this camp. Other eminent people and local notables were also present. Everything went on smoothly until the evening of 12 June 2008, when suddenly the camp building was surrounded by a murderous mob of about 6000-7000 local Muslims bent on mayhem. The Muslim attackers were well prepared and were throwing gas cylinders and petrol bombs (Molotov cocktails) and kept on attacking incessantly for a few hours, to set fire to the whole camp. The entire camp building was reduced to ashes. All 180 of the camp attendees (a large number of them women and children) and 15 policemen were trapped inside this burning camp along with their beloved leader Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh.

All this began as follows: After attending the first Yoga and meditation session in the morning on the 12 June, 2008, the Hindu group went to take a dip in the Ganga Sagar confluence, and thereafter to pay obeisance in the Kapil Muni shrine located nearby. While offering the puja, the group chanted `Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and `Jai Sri Ram'. This was enough to anger the local people, who comprise mostly of immigrant Bangladeshi Muslims. They reached the building where the campers were put up, and started hurling abuses and breaking the windowpanes of the building.

One of the campers present in the building when the Bangaladeshi and other Muslim attackers ransacked the building, told me in confidence `We had put iron grilles outside the building gate, but they broke open that gate, and started attacking us. Though initially only a group of 5-6 men led by Sheikh Ismail had gathered outside the building, the number soon swelled up and reached around 6,000. They threw petrol into the food items that we had cooked, and also upon our beds before setting them ablaze'.

Another camper, who rushed to the spot on hearing about the atrocities of the Muslim goons led by Sheikh Ismail said, `They were using filthy language, and announcing on microphones that these youths were spreading communal remarks in the area. They got so agitated that they even set ablaze the VHP building, which had nothing to do with the Yoga camp. Even the houses situated close to the campsite were damaged by them'. The Hindu campers were tortured for 6 hours before the police finally came. When they tried to intervene, even the goons beat them up. About eight policemen were injured in this violence. At around 2:30 in the morning, Rapid Action Force (RAF) was deployed in the area to curb the violence, and the campers were rescued by 4:30 am. Fourteen campers were badly injured in the clashes, with two reportedly being in a critical condition.

As if the injury to the body and the soul caused to the Hindus was not enough, 15 of the campers were arrested by the local police, and booked under Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 310 and 323 of IPC (Indian Penal Code). Out of these 15, the organiser of the camp, Tapan Ghosh, the National Convenor of Hindu Samhati and one other person have been remanded to 7 days' police custody.

I reliably understand from one of the campers that Jayanta Mukherjee, the SDPO of the area also abused the Hindu campers and arrested 15 of them. They were beaten up in a merciless manner only for chanting religious slogans like `Jai Sri Ram'and `Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. To crown it all they were also arrested. Ironically, not even one of the Muslim attackers were arrested by the police.

It has been reported that the local MP Basudeb Burman refused to comment on the issue. Milon Parua, the local MLA of the area where the Islamic violence erupted, absconded from the scene.

The Friends of Hindu Samhati, USA have unequivocally condemned the CPI(M) sponsored gruesome attack on the Hindu Samhati training camp at Ganga Sagar (West Bengal) by a murderous mob of local Muslims, at least 6000-7000 strong, on Thursday ( 12 June, 2008).

They have issued the following statement:

1) The Friends of Hindu Samhati, USA strongly lodges its protest against this outrageous attack on a peaceful, indoor religious function that was held behind closed doors at Gangasagar on 12 June 2008. There was no provocation whatsoever for this vicious assault nor was any outdoor procession held at the location. It is pitiable that the police could not provide security to its peace loving citizens and isinstead insisting on closing the camp down.

2) We strongly urge the police and the local administration to arrest all the perpetrators of this heinous crime immediately and provide security to continue the camp at a nearby, alternate location.

3) We deeply deplore the travesty of justice in West Bengal and appeal to the police and the local administration to remove the framed charges and release Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh and 15 Hindu Samhati activists immediately.

In these columns yesterday I had elaborately referred to the fact of Gangasagar being a very important Hindu Tirtha Kshetra (Place of Pilgrimage) where the sacred Ganga River has a confluence with the Bay of Bengal. Ganga Sagar is located on the western edge of the Sunderban Delta on Sagar Island. At the edge of Sagar town — adjacent to the beach — is the ancient temple dedicated to Kapila Muni. Maharishi Kapila is a Vedic sage, who is mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam as the author of basic principles of the Sankhya system of Indian philosophy as enunciated in the classical Sankhya text, Sankhya Karika, in 70 (Sutras) verses, though its expansions and commentaries are spread over 6 volumes. This Sankhya text has numerous commentaries, written over the ages, like the Kapila sankhya pravachana Sutra vritti, by Aniruddha. As described in the Mahabharata, Kapila Maharishi was one of the seven sons of Brahman; others being, Aniruddha, Sana, Sanatsujata, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara, and Sanatana. In Vishnu Purana, he is described as, an incarnation of the mighty and universal Vishnu. He is also famous for teaching a process of liberation known as bhakti yoga. The essential details about sage Kapila’s life are available in the Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana). His parents were Kardama Muni and Devahuti. It was Kapila who instructed his mother, Devahuti in the philosophy of yoga and devotional worship of Lord Vishnu, enabling her to achieve both liberation (moksha), and pure love of God. According to tradition (more particularly in Bengal), Kapila Maharishi was responsible for setting in motion the chain of events that ultimately resulted in Mother Ganga descending to the earth from heaven and giving mankind an opportunity to wash away its sins in her pure water. The earliest mention of the sacred place Gangasagar is found in the Mahabharata where a learned sage explains to Bhishma the significance of taking a dip at the confluence of Ganga Sagar. Millions of Hindu pilgrims visit this holy place all year round to take a dip in the holy Ganges, particularly during the Kumbha Mela and Makara Sankranti festivities. So much for the historic, religious and spiritual significance of Gangasagar!

On Thursday 12 June 2008, a newly created Hindu mass awakening organization called Hindu Samhati had organized a training camp and workshop on the current socio-political scenario at Gangasagar. About 180 men, women and children had assembled in a peaceful manner in the serene surroundings of Gangasagar. Just in order to create fear in the minds of the Hindus and also to give a death blow to the religious feelings of the Hindus of India, ably assisted and aided by the State Police, a political criminal belonging to the CPI(M) called Sheikh Ismail and his Muslim followers let loose violence on 12 June 2008 at Gangasagar against the 180 Hindu pilgrims who had assembled for a training camp.

During the last few months, the CPI(M) volunteers have let loose violence against the RSS, VHP and other Hindu workers in Kerala State and more specially in the Muslim dominated mini-Pakistan District called Mallapuram. The CPI(M) Government in Kerala has become internationally famous for Talibanizing Kerala through State Promotion of heinous acts of Islamic Terrorism against the Hindus of Kerala. Deriving inspiration from CPI(M) Kerala Government, Sheikh Ismail [CPI(M)] led a mob of more than 6000 Muslims to attack the Hindu trainees who had assembled in a building at Gangasagar. The CPI(M) cadre in and around the area lent its full support to Sheikh Ismail. The local police officers and their men were used as convenient political handles to crush the Hindus of the area.

The Hindus of India and even more so, the Hindus of West Bengal and Kerala, have now come to know that the leaders and the members of the CPI(M) are their greater enemies than the Islamic terrorists. Wherever they are in power, they are determined to put even the anti-Hindu and anti-Sanatana Dharma record of famous Islamic marauders in History like Mohammed of Ghazni, Mohammed of Ghori, Balban, Allaudin Khilji, Babar, Aurangazeb, Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali to everlasting ignominious shame. It is against this background that Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh and the Hindus of Bengal have come forward in a determined and united manner to establish Hindu Samhati to protect the Hindus of Bengal against the murderous attacks of CPI(M) Party men and their Islamic terrorist allies.

With incredibly tremendous enthusiasm, a new Hindu Social forum called ‘HINDU SAMHATI’ was launched in Kolkata at the Bharat Sabha Hall (erstwhile Indian Association Hall) on the 14 February 2008. Belying all expectations the venue overflowed with supporters and activists and many willingly endured the entire 4 hour long session standing on their feet as seats were already filled up. The session was convened by Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh and was conducted by Sri Upananda Brahmachari. Senior and prominent Hindu leaders from all over India attended this launch to address the gathering and to extend their support and solidarity towards the cause for which Sri Tapan Ghosh and his compatriots have instituted this forum.

Among the distinguished speakers on that occasion were Swamy Ashimanandaji from Dangs, Gujarat; Himani Savarkar, All India Secretary, Hindu Mahasabha, Pune; Pramod Mutalik, Chief of Hindu Rashtriya Sena, Bangalore; Swamy Pradiptanandaji, President, Bharat Sevashram Sangh, Murshidabad, West Bengal; Bharat Bhai, Chief, Swamy Vivekanand Sanskar Kendra, Valsad, Gujarat; Shailendra Jain, Bajrang Dal Prant Satsang Pramukh,Delhi; Anil Lamba, President, Bharatiya Janashakti Yuva Morcha, Delhi Pradesh; Sudhir Patel, Former Prant Samyojak, Bajrang Dal,South Bihar; Sri Vinay Singh, Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan, Delhi; Sri Mithun Nath, Asst Secretary, Hindu Jagaran Manch, Kachar Dist, Assam, and other eminent guests from the city. Govindacharya was expected to attend but he was detained in Prayag for some religious function, he sent his representative Vinay Singh with his written message. Balkrishna Naik, Jt. General Secretary of VHP, had sent his written message expressing his total support and good wishes.

The venue practically overflowed with enthusiastic young supporters from surrounding districts and the city proper. The audience also included many distinguished activists and karyakartas of different Hindu Organisations, like senior Sangh Pracharak Keshav Rao Dikshit, VHP West Bengal Secretary Ajay Nandi, former ABVP State Secretary Santanu Singha, former ABVP Kolkata City President Joydeep Mitra, VHP State Vice President and prominent writer Dr. Radheshyam Brahmachari, Former VHP Mizoram Organizing Secretary Joydeep Das, to mention a few.

All the speakers stressed the paramount fact that formations such as ‘Hindu Samhati’ are the need of the hour all over the country. Hindus all over the country are facing murderous attacks from the cadres of CPI(M) and the Islamic terrorists. Only Hindu Organizations such as Hindu Samhati can protect the Hindus against the serious wrongs being done against the Hindu community by these elements in the name of secularism and appeasement.

For the Hindus of India in absolute majority, Gangasagar as a place of sacred pilgrimage is as important as Amarnath, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Varnasi, Kanchipuram, Kanyakumari and Rama Sethu. Keeping this fact in view, the CPI(M) partymen and the Islamic Terrorists joined together on 12 June 2008, and attacked the Hindus in Gangasagar. It is reliably understood that the anti-Hindu Government of West Bengal had given ‘behind the curtain instructions’ to their administration to teach an immediate lesson to Tapan Kumar Ghosh, the National Convenor of Hindu Samhati and the Hindus of Gangasagar in order to put fear in their minds and hearts. The Government of West Bengal may politically play with the Hindus of that State. Likewise, the Government of Kerala may also be in a position to do so. But both these Governments (with their underground subterranean political connections with China) can never play with the lives and fortunes of the Hindus of India as a whole in absolute majority.

(To be contd...)