WHY THE BIG FUSS OVER ONE MUSLIM LEADER CONDEMNING TERRORISTS?
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
I do not know why there is such a big fuss about this so-called
fatwa.
Others have done so before, and there have been so-called rallies
against terrorism.
Yet no one has specifically condemned any of the terrorists by name.
Here are a couple of quotes:
A former Kuwaiti information minister, Sad bin Tefla, wrote an
article in a London Arabic daily, Al Sharq Al Awsat, last Sept. 11
entitled "We Are All Bin Laden.'' He asked why Muslim scholars and
clerics had eagerly supported fatwas condemning Salman Rushdie to
death after he wrote a novel deemed insulting to Islam, "The Satanic
Verses,'' but to this day no Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa
condemning Osama bin Laden for murdering nearly 3,000 innocent
civilians, badly damaging Islam.
Thomas L. Friedman, "The Battle of the Pump", The New York Times,
October 7, 2004
In Jan 2008, 30 leading Deobandi religious scholars, while declaring
suicide attacks 'haram', rationalised these as a mere reaction to the
(Pakistani) government's wrong policies in the tribal areas...... Why
do Pakistanis suddenly lose their voice when it comes to suicide
bombings? The bomber - even if he kills pious Muslims or even those
in the act of prayer - kills in the name of Islam. Therefore, people
mute their criticism lest they be regarded as irreligious or even
blasphemous. Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, in an article ("They Only Know How
To Kill", The Times of India, March 12, 2002)
Namaste
Ashok Chowgule
Muslim leader condemns terrorists
Daily Mail Reporter
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The leader of a worldwide Muslim movement today issued a fatwa
condemning terrorists and suicide bombers as the enemies of Islam.
Pakistan-born Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said there were no 'ifs or
buts' about terrorism and such acts had no justification in the name
of Islam.
In a news conference today he called on Islamic leaders to convey the
message that acts of terrorism cut people off as true followers of
Islam. Muslim scholar, Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri,
Muslim scholar, Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, launches a fatwa - or
Islamic religious ruling - that condemns suicide bombings today
'They can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom
operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma (the
wider Muslim community), no, they become heroes of hellfire, and they
are leading towards hellfire,' he said.
'There is no place for any martyrdom and their act is never, ever to
be considered Jihad,' he said.
Dr Qadri, who spoke at length in both English and Arabic before his
audience, said his fatwa, a religious edict or ruling, was an
'absolute' condemnation of terrorism without 'any excuses or
pretexts'.
'Good intentions cannot convert a wrong into good, they cannot
convert an evil into good,' he said.
'Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in
Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any
kind of excuses or ifs or buts.'
7/7 bomber Shehzad Tanweer
7/7 bomber Shehzad Tanweer in a jihadist video recorded before his death
He insisted that Islam was a religion of peace that promotes beauty,
'betterment', goodness and 'negates all form of mischief and strife'.
The 600-page fatwa by Dr Qadri, founder of the global Minhaj-ul-Quran
movement, which has thousands of supporters across the world as well
as in the UK, will be translated into English in the coming weeks.
His talk will also be made available online in an attempt to counter
extremist versions of Islam available on the internet.
The fatwa has been billed as 'arguably the most comprehensive'
theological refutation of Islamic terrorism to date by counter-
extremism think-tank the Quilliam foundation.
The Minhaj-ul-Quran movement said it runs courses in combating
religious extremism in educational centres throughout Britain
including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Nelson, Walsall and
Glasgow. It currently has an office in Dundee.
A fatwa, an edict issued by a learned Muslim scholar, may concern any
aspect of Islamic life.
The term became famous in the Western world in 1989 after the author
Salman Rushdie was forced into hiding following a 'death fatwa'
issued by Ayatollah Khomeni, then Supreme Leader of Iran, on the
grounds that his book, The Satanic Verses, had 'insulted' Islam.
Readers' comment:
Twin Towers destroyed - September 2001
Bali bombings - October 2002
Madrid bombings - March 2004
London bombings - July 2005
Mumbai bombings - July 2006 (and attacks November 2008)
Fatwa issued - February 2010
Question -- why does it take nearly a decade for a solitary muslim
voice to condemn terrorism?
- Paula, Warks, England, 02/3/2010 15:09
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254855/Muslim-leader-condemns-suicide-bombers-fatwa.html
End of forwarded article from Ashok Chowgule
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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bademiyansubhanallah
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/8a1efe054a3bf157#
...and I am Sid Harth
bademiyansubhanallah
>
> ...and I am Sid Harth- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3f5e2a3be4798e7d#
Sid Harth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Subramanian Swamy
Member of Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha), Union Cabinet
Minister for Commerce & Law
In office
1973–1991
Prime Minister Chandrasekhar
Preceded by A. G. S. Ram Babu
Succeeded by P. Mohan
Born September 15, 1939
Nationality Indian
Political party Janata Party
Spouse(s) Roxna
Profession economist, Politician
Religion Hindu
Dr. Subramanian Swamy (b. 15 September 1939 at Chennai, sometimes
spelt as Subramaniam Swamy) is a politician from India. He is also a
trained economist.
Personal life
Subramanian Swamy has two daughters, Gitanjali Swamy and Suhasini
Haider. Suhasini is a journalist with Indian television channel CNN-
IBN. His wife Dr. Roxna Swamy is an Advocate in the Supreme Court of
India.
Association with Harvard
Following his time at the Indian Statistical Institute, he was awarded
a doctorate by Harvard University in 1964. Two of his advisors at the
time were Simon Kuznets and Paul A. Samuelson[1]. For a time, while
completing his dissertation in 1963, he worked in the UN Secretariat
at New York as Assistant Economics Affairs Officer. He subsequently
worked as a resident tutor at Lowell House, and as an assistant
professor for the Harvard Economics department where he later became
an Associate professor in 1969. Subsequently he has been a regularly
teaching at the rank of full Professor at the Harvard Summer School.
He is accounted by some to be an authority on the comparative study of
India and China[2] and is also well-versed in the Mandarin Chinese
(Hanyu) language[3].
Association with IITs
He was Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology
Delhi from 1969. He was removed from the position by its board of
Governors in the early 1970s but was legally reinstated in the late
1980s by the Supreme Court of India. He continued in the position till
1991 when he resigned to become a cabinet minister. He served on the
Board of Governors of the IIT, Delhi (1977-80), and on the Council of
IITs (1980-82).
Political career
He is regarded as a proponent of Hindutva as a political concept. He
first came into spotlight for protesting against the emergency imposed
in 1975. He was one of the founding members of the Janata Party and is
its president since 1990. He was elected member of parliament 5 times
between 1974 and 1999. He has twice represented the city of Mumbai
North East during 1977 and 1980, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the
Parliament.
He is known for his efforts in normalizing relations with China and
Israel. In 1981, he persuaded Deng Xiaoping to open the Kailash
Mansarovar in Tibet to Hindu pilgrims from India[4]. In 1990-1991, he
was a minister in the Chandra Shekhar cabinet and was in charge of the
ministries of Commerce and Law and Justice.
He was also a member of the Planning Commission between 1990 and 1991.
Between 1994 and 1996, he held the position of Chairman of the
Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade (equivalent to
the rank of a cabinet minister) under the P. V. Narasimha Rao
government. Dr. Swamy has been subject to several defamation cases. He
is known to argue these cases himself without the agency of lawyers.
He has enjoyed a strange maverick relationship with J. Jayalalithaa.
He was perceived as instrumental in bringing the disproportionate
assets case of J. Jayalalithaa into public notice in the 1990s but by
1997, he had become her political adviser and was instrumental in
convincing her to withdraw support from the Vajpayee Government in
1999. The alliance with Jayalalithaa ended after she lost the General
Elections held in the same year.
In October 2004, he along with other members of the erstwhile Janata
Party established the Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch to oppose the policies
of the ruling UPA.
He has played an important role in fighting for the cause of
preventing the destruction of Rama Sethu bridge. He moved the Supreme
Court of India and successfully obtained a stay for the Sethusamudram
Shipping Canal Project at the final hours on August 31, 2007. The case
is under hearing before the Supreme Court.
Most recently Dr. Swamy has been crusading for proper electoral
governance in the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the
Indian Elections. Dr. Swamy has been one of the few petitioners, who
has successfully petitioned the Indian Courts to look in to serious
electoral mis-management potential in the use of Electronic Voting
Machines (EVM) during the Indian Elections from 2001 through 2009.
Following a preliminary hearing in the Delhi High Court in late 2009,
the Chief Justice of the High Court concurred with Dr. Swamy's
petition and admitted the matter for a full hearing in early 2010. Dr.
Swamy has argued that any electoral mechanism such as an EVM must
provide full audit-ability, account-ability and transparency and that
Indian Election Commission's current EVM has neither of the three.
Additionally the technology is in direct violation of the Indian
Information Technology Act. The matter is currently under
consideration in the Indian Courts.
He has been very effective in the Courts fighting for justice and has
used the Courts effectively on issues of public importance. It is
worth noting that he is an economist but has been very successful
arguing PILs in Court for the public good.
Stance against the LTTE
He is noted for his consistent stance against the LTTE which is
proscribed as a terrorist organization by 31 countries
(see list)
Commenting:
“ LTTE is a terrorist organization which moreover killed Rajiv Gandhi
and has spewed poison online about India[5] ”
“ LTTE is a part of the Sri Lankan problem, and can never be a part of
the solution[6] ”
His stance against the LTTE has had five successive Indian governments
place him in the Z category of Indian security, with security cover of
at least 22 personnel because of the high LTTE threat to his life.[7]
Subramanian Swamy was attacked by a group of pro-LTTE lawyers .[8]
Violent clashes between the Tamil Nadu police and practicing lawyers
occurred on the 19th of February 2009 on the Madras High Court
premises.
Books
Dr. Subramanian Swamy is the author of numerous books and writes
regularly in various journals and newspapers, some of his books are :-
Economic Growth in China and India, 1989
Hindus Under Siege. (2006)
Notes
^ Boumans 167
^ Prospects for India-U.S. relations better: Swamy The Hindu - January
23, 2008
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/23/stories/2008012360151400.htm
^ About Dr. Subramanian Swamy
http://www.kamakotidevotees.org/london/dr-swamy.html
^ Pilgrims' route The Tribune - September 26, 1998
http://www.tribuneindia.com/1998/98sep27/spotlite.htm
^ Subramanian Swamy on LTTE, Defence Agreement and the right to
station Indian Troops in non-Tamil areas in Sri Lanka Asian Tribune -
June 28, 2004
^ India will Never Support Eelam; Dr Subramanian Swamy Says Nidahasa
News - October 8, 2007 http://news.nidahasa.com/news.php?go=fullnews&newsid=348
^ Transcripts - Parliament of India http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/lsdeb/ls12/ses2/0405089808.htm
^ [1] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/Lawyer_arrested_for_pelting_eggs_at_Swamy/articleshow/4152259.cms
References
Boumans, Marcel (2005). How Economists Model the World Into Numbers.
Routledge. ISBN 0415346215.
External links
Biography on Janta Party site http://www.janataparty.org/president.html
Subramaniam Swamy's views on the influence of Hinduism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQhDXwZztSU
Subramaniam Swamy in Janata Party's website
An article by Dr. Subramanian Swamy on how to face defamation
litigation
http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/21/stories/2004092103551000.htm
Subramaniam Swamy fined Rs. 5 lakhs by the Delhi High Court for making
libellous allegations against Jayalalitha Jayaram
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060104/nation.htm#16
Basic Islam for Hindu Dhimmis - Subramanian Swamy
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=159&page=31
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramanian_Swamy"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramanian_Swamy
Swamy sees insecurity among minorities
By Our Staff Reporter
RAMANATHAPURAM, FEB 26. The people belonging to minority communities
will always live in fear if the Bharatiya Janata Party is voted to
power again in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Janata Party
president, Subramanian Swamy, told presspersons at Pasumpon village on
Thursday.
Dr. Swamy said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had failed to
ensure the welfare of minorities and it was evident from the fact that
Muslims were put to untold hardships in Gujarat. "They feel a sense of
insecurity throughout the country."
The Government should take necessary steps to arrest the general
secretary of the MDMK, Vaiko, if he continued to support the LTTE or
praise its leader in public meetings.
No party would get simple majority in the coming Lok Sabha elections,
he said and predicted a hung Parliament.
Dr. Swamy wondered how the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, could
tolerate the issue of the foreign origin of the Congress president,
Sonia Gandhi, as he had termed the former Chief Minister, M.G.
Ramachandran, a Malayalee when the AIADMK formed the Government in the
State.
Dr. Swamy urged the Government to give no objection certificate to the
Central Government to name the Madurai airport as Pasumpon
Muthuramalinga Thevar Airport. The State Government had twice rejected
the requisition of the Central Government.
The Janata Party would approach the court to issue a direction to the
State Government in this connection after the elections.
Earlier, speaking at a function organised by the family of
Muthuramalinga Thevar in recognition of his (Dr. Swamy's) efforts in
installing the Thevar statue in Parliament House, Dr. Swamy said the
Janata Party would take the necessary steps to set up a modern
university in the name of Thevar at Pasumpon.
He appealed to the Government to include the life history of Thevar as
one of the subjects in the college curriculum in order to facilitate
the younger generation to know about the heroic deeds of Thevar and
his dedication towards the betterment of society.
http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/27/stories/2004022706661100.htm
Need for ‘Hindu vote bank’: Swamy
Special Correspondent
TIRUPATI: Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday said the
only way to counter vote-bank policies blindly pursued by governments
and political parties was to develop a strong and formidable “Hindu
vote bank.” It was the only way to check the “continued neglect and
subjugation of Hindus and Hindu temples,” he said.
Dr. Swamy criticised the United Progressive Alliance government for
its attempt to “bend over backwards” to protect mosques and churches
while showing “utter indifference” to protect the Hindu shrines and
sentiments.
He was addressing a convention organised by the Andhra Pradesh Hindu
Temples Protection Committee.
Dr. Swamy said that though there were 42 mosques in Ayodhya where no
prayers were offered, Muslims were laying claim to the disputed Ram
Janmabhoomi alone.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/17/stories/2009021759811100.htm
GOVERNMENT
Pulls and pressures
The days leading up to the swearing-in of the BJP Government were
marked by hard bargaining by some of the party's allies.
V. VENKATESAN
in New Delhi
IMMEDIATELY after the Election Commission formally notified the
results of the Lok Sabha elections and informed President K.R.
Narayanan about it on March 10, the President began a consultative
process to constitute a new government. The Election Commission had
earlier announced that the new Lok Sabha would be constituted before
March 12, and the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its
allies, which had emerged as the largest combination of pre-election
allies but had fallen short of a majority in Parliament, were under
the impression that the numbers game would begin on or after March 12.
The initial public statements of leaders of the Congress(I) and the
United Front seemed to indicate that they would endeavour to prevent
the BJP from coming to power.
Thus, when the President invited BJP Parliamentary Party leader Atal
Behari Vajpayee for a discussion on government formation on March 10,
BJP leaders were taken by surprise. Vajpayee was holding talks with
the alliance partners when the President's invitation was received.
Vajpayee read out the contents of the letter to newspersons. In his
letter, Narayanan offered his felicitations to Vajpayee on his
election as the leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party. He gave
Vajpayee the first opportunity to let him know whether he would be
able and willing to form a stable government which could secure the
confidence of the Lok Sabha. The President noted that the BJP had
emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha and the political
formation that it headed was the largest combination of pre-election
allies.
However, when Vajpayee gave a written undertaking to the President
that he was in a position to form a stable government that could
command the confidence of the House, the President asked for documents
to support the claim that the BJP and its allies had strength of 252
seats. The BJP had hardly expected the President to insist on
documentary proof of its parliamentary support.
Only a day earlier, the leaders of the BJP and its allies had met at
Vajpayee's residence in New Delhi to discuss the contents of the
National Agenda for Governance, a programme of action for a government
of the BJP and its allies. It did not occur to any of the BJP's
strategists that they should secure formal letters of support from the
leaders of the allies. The BJP took the support of its pre-election
allies for granted, when it publicised the letters of support given by
the post-election allies and some independents. With the assured
support of 12 more MPs - either independents or those belonging to
post-election allies - the saffron alliance was seemingly in a
position to secure 264 votes.
In the belief that the process of securing letters of support from the
alliance partners would be a mere formality, Vajpayee decided to get
back to the President on March 11 with the letters. But trouble arose
when four of the BJP's five allies in Tamil Nadu - the All India Anna
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Pattali Makkal Katchi, the
Janata Party and the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress - did not send in their
letters. (The fifth ally, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(MDMK), had sent its letter of support by facsimile to the President
and a copy of it to Vajpayee.)
Unable to secure all the letters, Vajpayee postponed his meeting with
the President to March 12. Anxiety was writ large on the faces of BJP
leaders as AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha, who was coordinating
the actions of the smaller parties in her alliance in Tamil Nadu,
continued to hold back although she had repeatedly made public
statements right up until March 9 to the effect that her party and its
allies would offer "unconditional support" to a Vajpayee-led
government. The BJP was also concerned that the perception of a
misunderstanding with a major alliance partner would not bode well for
its claim to form a stable government.
A senior leader in charge of party affairs in the southern States said
that the delay had been occasioned by the fact that Jayalalitha was
unwell on March 11. All of March 12, BJP leaders in Delhi desperately
tried to contact Jayalalitha in Chennai, but she was incommunicado.
More ominously for the BJP, she persuaded the MDMK to withdraw the
letter of support it had faxed to the President.
SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha leaving Rashtrapati Bhavan after
the swearing-in ceremony.
The first indication of the reasons for the delay in the despatch of
the letters from Chennai came from Janata Party leader Subramanian
Swamy. Appearing on television, Subramanian Swamy said that
Jayalalitha had requested the BJP to appoint him Finance Minister and
TRC leader Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthy Home Minister. Subramanian Swamy
said that BJP leaders had refused to concede the request. Subramanian
Swamy's references to the demand for the dismissal of the Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Government in Tamil Nadu in the light of the
February 14 Coimbatore blasts seemed to indicate that a commitment on
that was a "pre-condition" for the AIADMK's "unconditional" support
for a BJP-led government.
Although some sections in the BJP were in favour of conceding
Jayalalitha's "demands", Vajpayee and party president L.K. Advani were
unwilling to appease her beyond a point. The BJP refused to concede
Jayalalitha's request on ministerial appointments, and were not quite
so categorical on the demand for the dismissal of the DMK Government.
It was for this reason that the AIADMK and the PMK said that they
would not join a BJP-led ministry.
BJP leaders were nevertheless optimistic that the letters of support
would arrive in Delhi with a special messenger on the morning flight
from Chennai on March 12. What they did not know was that the letters
of support had already been despatched to Delhi: they were in the
custody of a senior AIADMK leader who was waiting for a nod from
"Amma" in Chennai so as to deliver the letters to the President.
After waiting for nearly two days, Vajpayee virtually gave up his
efforts: he met the President at 7.30 p.m. on March 12 and furnished a
list of 240 MPs from whom he had letters of support. The names of the
three MDMK MPs who had withdrawn their letters of support, however,
figured in this list. In effect, as on March 12, Vajpayee had the
support of only 237 members of the Lok Sabha, considerably short of a
majority. Vajpayee, therefore, did not stake his claim, but left it to
the discretion of the President to decide whether he could be invited
to form a government. The President then announced that he would begin
consultations with leaders of the other political formations without
dismissing the BJP's claim.
Meanwhile, Subramanian Swamy stepped up his efforts to widen the gulf
between Jayalalitha and the BJP. He accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) of blocking his appointment as Finance Minister - for
which, he claimed, he was eminently qualified, given his teaching
experience in Harvard. Ramamurthy suggested that the BJP was paying
the price for taking its allies in Tamil Nadu for granted.
Subramanian Swamy refused to concede that the AIADMK-led grouping's
alliance with the BJP had broken down or that it would have to explore
other alternatives. He, however, said that he believed that the door
was open for talks with the Congress(I) and that he expected
Congress(I) leaders to open channels of communication with Jayalalitha
in the changed political context. Subramanian Swamy envisaged a grand
alliance, which would include the Congress(I), the AIADMK and its
allies, all the United Front constituents except the DMK, the Tamil
Maanila Congress and the Telugu Desam Party, a few other minor parties
and some independents. Senior Congress(I) leader Sharad Pawar was
reportedly in touch with Jayalalitha, seeking her support for a
Congress-led government.
In their meetings with the President, leaders of the Congress(I) and
the U.F. reportedly sought four days' time to hold consultations and
explore the possibility of forming an alternative government. This in
effect gave the BJP and the AIADMK an opportunity to patch up. But
even on March 13, Jayalalitha showed no signs of relenting. She denied
that she had insisted on the allotment of key portfolios for her
allies or the dismissal of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu as a pre-
condition for extending support.
However, she accused the BJP leadership of displaying a "negative
attitude" when she raised issues that were of importance to Tamil Nadu
at a meeting of the BJP and its allies in New Delhi on March 9 (see
separate story). BJP leaders, in turn, wondered why Jayalalitha had
not raised the issue when she addressed newspersons and expressed her
total and unconditional support to a BJP-led government after the
meeting. They said that while all her demands could be negotiated, the
manner in which she had raised them - on the eve of the President's
invitation to Vajpayee to form a government - was somewhat mystifying.
"We expected her to behave in a mature way," a senior BJP leader from
the South said.
Finally, on March 14, Jayalalitha announced her decision to forward
the letters of support to the President. Relieved, the BJP prepared to
send a senior emissary on behalf of Vajpayee to meet her on March 15
in Chennai. Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who met her in Chennai on
March 15 and showed her a draft of the National Agenda, succeeded in
persuading her to drop her demand to give Subramanian Swamy a
ministerial post; he also got her to agree to the AIADMK, the PMK and
the TRC joining the Ministry.
The draft of the National Agenda incorporated, even if only in
somewhat vague terms, all her publicly stated demands.
WHAT explains the turnaround by Jayalalitha? AIADMK leaders in Delhi
explained that she was persuaded to fall in line and support the BJP
in view of the adverse criticism in the media holding her responsible
for blocking Vajpayee's assumption of office as Prime Minister.
Jayalalitha's decision that the AIADMK and some of its allies would
join the Ministry was prompted by the knowledge that the President was
unlikely to invite Vajpayee to form a government unless these allies,
which command a combined strength of 27 MPs in the Lok Sabha, were
ready to join the Government.
On March 15, after Jayalalitha announced in Chennai that the AIADMK,
the PMK and the TRC would join the Government, the President contacted
the AIADMK's Parliamentary Party leader, G. Swaminathan.
He indicated that only if all the constituents of a coalition
participated in the government would the coalition remain cohesive; he
further indicated that his decision on whether to invite Vajpayee to
form a government would hinge on this.
Shortly after receiving her confirmatory message, the President
appointed Vajpayee Prime Minister and set March 19 as the date of the
swearing-in of the government. He also asked Vajpayee to seek a
confidence vote in the Lok Sabha by March 29.
Significantly, the President did not consider it necessary to insist
on a commitment from the Trinamul Congress, a member of the BJP-led
alliance, that it would participate in the government. The Trinamul
Congress has only seven MPs in the Lok Sabha, whereas the AIADMK-led
combine has 27 members.
In a communique issued on the night of March 15, in which he detailed
the consultation process he had initiated since March 10, the
President referred to Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi's reported
remarks to newspersons that the party did not have the numbers to form
a government.
He also took into consideration the Telugu Desam Party's stand -
ascertained in a telephonic discussion with its leader N. Chandrababu
Naidu - that the party would remain neutral during the vote of
confidence.
It was these two factors that finally convinced the President that a
Vajpayee-led Government would be able to secure the confidence of the
House.
India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 07 :: Apr. 4 - 17, 1998
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1507/15071180.htm
India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 10 :: May 09 - 22, 1998
COVER STORY
Dealing with Jayalalitha
After the Jaswant Singh-Jayalalitha meeting, the AIADMK has fallen
silent; Subramanian Swamy, however, has stepped up his offensive
against the BJP.
T.S. SUBRAMANIAN
in Chennai
GOING by the current mood in BJP circles in Tamil Nadu, the party will
adopt a tough stand with respect to the All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha will
now have to choose between the BJP and Janata Party leader Subramanian
Swamy. The BJP is said to have indicated to her that she would have to
make her choice before the Budget session of the Lok Sabha begins on
May 27. BJP sources in Chennai told Frontline that the party would not
accept Subramanian Swamy's presence in the AIADMK-led front in Tamil
Nadu if he continued to say that he would topple the Vajpayee
Government.
BJP leader Jaswant Singh flew in from Delhi and met Jayalalitha at her
Payyanoor retreat, 60 km from Chennai, on April 25. Sources said that
Jaswant Singh did some "plain talking". He apparently told Jayalalitha
that the BJP would not accept her three major demands: dismissal of
the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Government in Tamil Nadu; the
removal of Ram Jethmalani and Ramakrishna Hegde from the Union
Cabinet; and action against a private television channel based in
Chennai. The sources added that Jaswant Singh ruled out a place for
Subramanian Swamy in the coordination committee. He also told her to
put an end to attacks by some AIADMK functionaries on Jethmalani and
Hegde.
Jaswant Singh met Jayalalitha against the background of a slanging
match between Jethmalani and Hegde on the one hand and AIADMK
Ministers at the Centre, M. Thambi Durai, R. Janarthanan and R.K.
Kumar, on the other. The row followed the April 8 resignation of Union
Surface Transport Minister Sedapatti R. Muthiah of the AIADMK after a
Chennai court framed charges against him in a case of acquisition of
assets disproportionate to his known source of income during his
tenure as the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly from July 1991 to
October 1994.
VINO JOHN
Jaswant Singh outside Jayalalitha's Payyanoor Bungalow retreat near
Mamallapuram.
The situation worsened a week later. After a meeting of the AIADMK
executive committee on April 15, Jayalalitha demanded that all Union
Ministers who were charge-sheeted in corruption cases resign or be
dismissed by the Prime Minister. The next day, Jethamalani and Hegde
strongly criticised her and predicted that these "pinpricks" would end
soon.
On April 18 Jayalalitha wrote to Vajpayee naming three Ministers -
Communications Minister Buta Singh, Urban Development Minister
Jethmalani and Commerce Minister Hegde - as being involved in cases of
corruption and demanding their removal or the re-induction of Muthiah.
On April 19 Jethmalani again launched a broadside against Jayalalitha.
He took on Subramanian Swamy too. "It is clearly Dr. Subramanian Swamy
who is pushing her into making all these wild demands," he said. Hegde
wanted Vajpayee to go in for fresh elections instead of giving in to
Jayalalitha's "blackmail". In reply, Thambi Durai, Kumar and
Janarthanan, in a statement on April 23, asked Vajpayee to "advise Mr.
Hegde to either shut up or get out."
It was at this stage that the BJP high command intervened and sent
Jaswant Singh to meet Jayalalitha. Jaswant Singh had earlier come in
March to placate her when she delayed giving the letters of support
that would enable Vajpayee to form the government. BJP sources said
that this time Jaswant Singh made it clear that junior Ministers of
the AIADMK should not speak out of turn. If the AIADMK leadership had
something to say, Jayalalitha should be the one to say that, he said.
He also advised her against rushing to the media. The BJP high command
was annoyed that her letter to Vajpayee had been released to the
media.
Jaswant Singh was reportedly categorical about the BJP's decision not
to invoke Article 356 to dismiss the DMK Government. A senior BJP
source said: "We are tightening the screws. The idea is that this war
of words cannot go on... You will find a change from now on."
There was no word from Jayalalitha about the meeting. Sources in
Chennai indicated that there was no meeting ground between Jayalalitha
and Jaswant Singh. Jaswant Singh, however, claimed that the "mission
was a success". On the welter of charges and counter-allegations made
by Union Ministers, he said that the Prime Minister "will take such
action as he deems fit and proper."
The same day K.L. Sharma said in New Delhi that Subramanian Swamy
would not be included in the coordination committee because he had
failed to vote for the Government in the vote of confidence.
WHETHER by accident or design, a DMK executive meeting presided over
by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on April 25 condemned the demand for
the dismissal of the Government that emanated from an "enemy party"
and Union Ministers belonging to it as "blatant blackmail" and "devoid
of any merit at all". It added that the demand was made "to subserve
their vested interests, with palpable mala fides in order to avoid
accountability to the courts of law in the pending cases of
corruption."
The resolution also condemned the transfer of Union Special Secretary
for Home Ashok Kumar, one of two officials sent as part of the Central
team to study the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu, and said that
this was done because he told the "truth". The resolution said that
this approach amounted to "burying" federalism and marked a
"dictatorial trend in interfering in the State Government's affairs."
The resolution added: "In the event of any such proclamation (for
dismissal) being made in Delhi because of the blackmail of the vested
interests," it would be "resisted by constitutional, lawful and
peaceful methods in courts of law." The executive committee appealed
to all democratic forces "to support this resistance movement."
When a reporter asked Karunanidhi whether the resolution was driven by
the fear that his Government would be dismissed, he said: "This is
only a reply to the threats from some terrorists in Poes Garden."
The Chief Minister called the resolution "an advance notice to the
Centre that it should not give room to some people who have been
trying to paralyse the administration and disrupt law and order by
repeatedly claiming that the DMK Government will be dismissed."
AFTER the Jaswant Singh-Jayalalitha meeting, AIADMK leaders fell
silent. However, Subramanian Swamy stepped up the offensive once it
was known that he was not welcome to the coordination committee. He
alleged on April 26 that the BJP citing his not having voted for the
Government was an "excuse" to exclude him from the coordination
committee. According to him, the real reason for the crisis was the
"asymmetrical application of the criterion" on who should be a Union
Minister. He said that while Muthiah was asked to resign, "tainted"
Ministers such as Hegde and Advani were allowed to continue. Advani's
crime - he was charge-sheeted in the Babri Masjid demolition case -
was not a "political crime", he said, but "a crime against humanity
and the integrity of the nation..."
Swamy met Jayalalitha in Chennai on April 27 and said that he was
"free to explore the possibility of creating an alternative, secular,
patriotic front" at the Centre. He declared that henceforth "in
national politics, I am a free bird." He claimed that Jayalalitha had
told him that Jaswant Singh "never discussed the matter" of his
exclusion from the coordination committee. Although he would consider
breaking away from the BJP-led alliance, he asserted that he continued
to be part and parcel of the AIADMK-led front in Tamil Nadu.
Jayalalitha, BJP sources said, was faced with a difficult situation.
"If Swamy remains in the AIADMK front in Tamil Nadu, then there is
nothing wrong in the BJP getting close to somebody who is against her,
such as the DMK. She has to choose between the BJP and Swamy."
Meanwhile, Subramanian Swamy has been busy floating the idea of a
secular front to oust the BJP-led coalition Government at the Centre.
He met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party president
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Laloo Prasad
Yadav. Meanwhile, Congress(I) leader Madhavrao Scindia met Jayalalitha
in Chennai, apparently in a bid to build bridges between his party and
the AIADMK.
Political analysts believed that Jayalalitha was left with "no
choice". She could not part company with the BJP because the stakes
involved were high - there were corruption cases pending against her
and her former Ministers, and breaking away from the BJP would weaken
her.
The response of the other constituents of the AIADMK-led front to
Swamy's challenge will have a bearing on Jayalalitha's future course
of action. Of the three of them - Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (MDMK), the Pattali Makal Katchi (PMK) and the Tamizhaga
Rajiv Congress (TRC) - the PMK and the TRC are participants in the
Central Government. The PMK had indicated its position when its leader
S. Ramadoss hinted that his party would not play along with
Subramanian Swamy.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1510/15100120.htm
Swamy seeks Manmohan’s sanction to prosecute Raja
Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has sought the Prime
Minister’s sanction to prosecute Union Communications Minister A. Raja
in the wake of CBI raids on Sanchar Bhavan offices to investigate
alleged irregularities in spectrum allotment.
In a statement, Dr. Swamy said he filed a petition for sanction as
early as on November 29, 2008 with Dr. Singh, as required under the
Prevention of Corruption Act, to launch a criminal investigation
against Mr. Raja under Sections 11 and 13 of the Act.
The CBI raids made the granting of permission by Dr. Singh a “mere
formality,” Dr. Swamy said.
An independent case filed by him in the designated sessions court for
trying cases under the Act would be the best recourse for a fair trial
of the spectrum deals and the CBI investigation could supplement the
legal process, he said.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 24, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/24/stories/2009102461211000.htm
Sanatana Dharma Foundation Honors Dr Subramanian Swamy and Dr S.
Kalyanaraman for their Courageous Effort in Protecting the Historic
Rama Sethu Sanatana Dharma Foundation, Dallas, Texas organized its
first Hindu Unity Day, at the DFW Hindu Temple, in Dallas on the 19th
and 20th of July, 2008. Symbolizing Hindu Unity, Representatives of
Dallas Chapters of several organizations like the Art of living
Foundation, Ammachi Satsang, Hare Krishna ISCKON group, Gayatri
Parivar, Brahmakumaris, Carribbean Mandir, Chinmaya Mission, Hanuman
Temple, Sathya Sai groups, Datta Yoga Peetam and other prominent Hindu
personalities from the local Dallas-Fort Worth community in Texas,
were present at this unique event. Dr Subramanian Swamy's latest book
"Rama Sethu Symbol of National Unity" was released and distributed at
the Event, to key members of these organizations and other prominent
members of the community.
Rama Sethu Symbol of National Unity
Hindu Dharma Rakshaka Kshatriya Award
This award, a first of its kind, has been instituted to honor and
celebrate the 'Kshatriya Spirit', specifically the courage shown by
Hindus in taking risks and standing up to fight for the protection and
preservation of Dharma. The word Kshatriya is a Sanskrit word that
refers to the royal and noble class of Hindus who historically
defended their nation, and the Dharma of the land.
Rama Sethu Symbol of National Unity
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) July 26, 2008 -- Dr Subramanian Swamy, PhD,
visiting professor of Economics, Harvard University and former Union
Law Minister of India, and Dr S. Kalyanaraman, Director, Saraswati
River Research Center, and President of Sri Rameshwaram Rama Sethu
Raksha Manch, received awards in Dallas, Texas for their courageous
effort in protecting the historic Rama Sethu, from being destroyed by
the Government of India in the name of a development project.
NASA Photograph of Rama Sethu
Rama Sethu is the original Sanskrit name given to a bridge built by
the legendary King Rama, who crossed over to Sri Lanka from India to
fight the King of Lanka, Ravana, recover his wife Sita, and restore
Dharma (Order) in the land of India. While it is difficult to
establish the exact historical age of these events, the bridge is
thought to be at least 5000 years old, if not much older, making it
the oldest causeway built across an ocean channel. The Rama Sethu is
referred to in numerous ancient Sanskrit texts and scriptures, as a
man made structure, and in recent times, it has been vividly
photographed by both NASA and Indian Satellites.
When India fell under Colonial rule, the British renamed this
construction as "Adam's Bridge". The Government of India, in recent
years, has been trying to establish a Shipping Channel between India
and Sri Lanka, by breaking and destroying the continuity of this
ancient structure. Hindus in India and around the world have been
protesting and fighting this decision of the Government of India, and
have demanded that the Rama Sethu be declared a monument of historic
importance and a world heritage site. On May 8th, 2008, the Supreme
Court of India directed the Government of India to go back to the
drawing board to see if it can create an alternate shipping route, and
at the same time, study the Rama Sethu as a monument of historic
importance. It is yet to be seen if the Government of India will
comply with the Court's direction, and thereby uphold due
constitutional process, or continue on its path of destroying the Rama
Sethu, dis-regarding the Supreme court's direction.
Sanatana Dharma Foundation, (www.sdfglobal.org) a Dallas based Non-
Profit organization inspired by the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha,
(www.acharyasabha.org) the apex body of Hindus in India, presented the
"Hindu Dharma Rakshaka Kshatriya Award" to Dr Subramanian Swamy & Dr
S. Kalyanaraman on the occassion of the Hindu Unity Day organized at
the DFW Hindu Temple in Dallas, Texas on July 19, 2008. Speaking on
the occasion, the President of Sanatana Dharma Foundation, Kalyan
Viswanathan, said that "This award, a first of its kind, has been
instituted to honor and celebrate the 'Kshatriya Spirit', specifically
the courage shown by Hindus in taking risks and standing up to fight
for the protection and preservation of Dharma. The word Kshatriya is a
Sanskrit word that refers to the royal and noble class of Hindus who
historically defended their nation, and the Dharma of the land."
The Highlight of the Hindu Unity Day Event was the speech by Dr
Subramanian Swamy on his personal experiences during his defense of
Rama Sethu in the Supreme Court of India, which was greeted by a
spontaneous standing ovation. In presenting the "Hindu Dharma Rakshaka
Kshatriya" Award, his fearless defense in the Supreme Court of India,
getting a critical and timely stay order, the subsequent withdrawal of
the Government of India's petition, and the later Verdict of the
Supreme Court were all highlighted.
Dr S. Kalyanaraman made a scholarly presentation on the River
Saraswati, highlighting the recent research findings, the origins of
the Vedic civilization on the banks of River Saraswati and the fact
that it holds the central "Key" to the re-writing of the history of
India and re-establishing the real historicity of the Vedas. While
presenting the Award, his dedicated research in supporting the
struggle of the Rama Sethu, and his pioneering contributions in
researching and resurfacing the River Saraswati were lauded.
Symbolizing Hindu Unity, Representatives of Dallas Chapters of several
organizations like the Art of living Foundation, Ammachi Satsang, Hare
Krishna ISCKON group, Gayatri Parivar, Brahmakumaris, Carribbean
Mandir, Chinmaya Mission, Hanuman Temple, Sathya Sai groups and other
prominent Hindu personalities from the local Dallas-Fort Worth
community in Texas, were present at this unique event. Dr Subramanian
Swamy's latest book "Rama Sethu Symbol of National Unity" was released
and distributed at the Event, to key members of these organizations
and other prominent members of the community.
Smt. Ranna Jani, President, DFW Hindu Temple in Texas speaking on the
occassion on behalf of the Temple, thanked both Dr Subramaniam Swamy &
Dr S. Kalyanaraman for coming to Dallas and sharing their experiences
with the participants. On the second day, a workshop was organized,
where challenges facing Hinduism today, were discussed. Presentations
on the state of Hindu Temples in India, challenges posed by
Christianity and Islam were also discussed. The session was very
interactive, and educational, as per the feedback received.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Sanatana/Dharma/prweb1146784.htm
CHENNAI, January 22, 2010 Swamy against Nalini’s release
Special Correspondent
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy calling on Tamil Nadu
Governor Surjit Singh Barnala at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai on
Thursday. Photo: Special Arrangement
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday met Tamil Nadu
Governor Surjit Singh Barnala and urged him not to sign any
recommendation of the State government for freeing Nalini Sriharan, a
life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Dr. Swamy told the Governor that the issue pertaining to premature
release of Nalini was still pending before the Madras High Court, and
any decision on the issue would amount to contempt of court.
He also made a mention before the First Bench to expedite the hearing
of his writ appeal in the matter.
Later speaking to journalists, Dr. Swamy said that he came to know
from a section of the media that the review board had reportedly
decided to release Nalini.
He said that he had mentioned before the bench comprising Chief
Justice H.L. Gokhale and K.K. Sasidharan that any decision of the
board would render infructuous his appeal against the single judge
order to the State government to reconstitute the board to decide the
case of Nalini.
The Chief Justice had asked him to file an application to the High
Court Registry for speeding up his appeal, he said.
He said the constitution of the board itself was illegal. He planned
to move for restoration of death penalty for Nalini. He said the State
government had earlier said that it would oppose the premature
release, now it cannot go back on its stand.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article87758.ece
Hindu's under SIEGE
aumprakash
January 14, 2007
it's fromt the talk given by Dr.subramanya swamy on the day of his
book relese "hindu's under siege- the way out" http://www.kksfusa.org/
it's fromt the talk given by Dr.subramanya swamy on the day of his
book relese "hindu's under siege- the way out"
http://www.kksfusa.org/
Hindu's under SIEGE
3:13
Added: 3 years ago
From: aumprakash
Views: 3,128
All Comments (30 total)
Loading...nazimquraishi (1
politicians since nehru and including him (the pundits alinged with
the raja of kashmir, who wanted kashmir to not be free like rest of
india)
found themselves out of power. so they figured out a formula to get
back in power in the democratic structure of india and it worked.
so wake the f up (my indians) my hindus. politicians are only about
themselves and their ideas. Not about you.
nazimquraishi (1 week ago) Hindu was a generic term used to refer to
anyone who lives south of hindukush mountains and south of Hindu River
(Indus per the brits).
Hindu = citizen of hindustan, indian = citizen of india & french =
citizen of france.
Prior to monotheism most countries were polytheists.Ancestors of
Indian Muslims were polytheists too.
The confusion between religion and nationality was caused and
encouraged by the british after they realized what a rebellion like in
1857 could do to them.
anirudhnandan (10 months ago) Comment removed by author
raghaa (3 weeks ago) thats what they learnt from birtish my friend.
What will a poor hindu will do if there is no basic fullfilment? he
will convert into christian. its happening right now ;)
winnerji (11 months ago) When his lips are pronouncing HINDUS...it's
all about only Brahmins....Will he do anything for Dalith
people....is he considering Dalith as Hindus.....?????? FRAUD....
NanakLove (1 year ago) stand up for dharma my brothers. the 9th Sikh
Guru even gave his life for kashmiri pundits.
ndshastri (1 year ago) Show S.Swamy orkut comm
search :::::: Sri Subramanian Swamy
Metaemipricus (1 year ago) Christian Evangelists, Islamic Jihadis and
leftist naxal terrorists - the three most violent sectarian cults have
come together to destroy India. Wake up Hindus.
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nmohan101 (1 year ago) this guy is a racist; Hinduism in not under
siege...
dd1857 (1 year ago) who say not.. Every where that is the case..
Christanity and Muslims...are book based.. attacking all
kafirpandit (1 year ago) Hindus are the bravest people on the earth.
All Muslims and Christian missionaries should be thrown out of
Bharatvarsh.
tonyshit80 (11 months ago) I saw Muruga last week, he motion less
pls help him my dear friends
TAPS711 (1 year ago) Leave the Hindus alone. They have a right to
believe what they want. They are peaceful people.
tonyshit80 (11 months ago) No, I will not allows the such things
happen....
Radian1991 (1 year ago) Hindu Society has been suffering a sustained
attack from Islam since the 7th century, from Christianity since the
15th century, and this century also from Marxism. The avowed objective
of each of these three world-conquering movements, with their massive
resources, is the replacement of Hinduism by their own ideology, or in
effect: the destruction of Hinduism.-Dr.Koenraad Elst
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arnotkaling (1 year ago) swamy bastard should be shot. He supports
sinhala terrosm in sri lanka. he fully supported indian terrost
invasion of sri lanka.
NanakLove (1 year ago) not just hindu's but sikhs too..we gotta stand
up together brothers
TAPS711 (1 year ago) You are right.
emperor0989 (1 year ago) sikhs are hindus only, and hindus are sikhs.
we are cousins, if not brothers.
haridham (1 year ago) Show Hide 0 Marked as spam Reply lol
haridham (1 year ago) Show Hide 0 Marked as spam Reply watch?
v=XcFA8iSXf2c
EXChristian0 (2 years ago) Excellent video clip! Thanks! DOWN WITH
ANTI-HINDU ELEMENTS (anti-hindu govt, pseudo-secular anti-hindu
media, Christlamist Communist thugs, deceitful and cunning missionary
pests). Come on Hindus, WAKE UP, UNITE AND FIGHT FOR DHARMA! Jai Hind!
EXChristian0 (2 years ago)
DOWN WITH ANTI-HINDU ELEMENTS (anti-hindu govt, pseudo-secular anti-
hindu media, Christlamist Communist thugs, deceitful and cunning
missionary pests, ISLAMIC jihadis etc). Come on Hindus, WAKE UP, UNITE
AND FIGHT FOR DHARMA! Jai Hind!
chocolayer (2 years ago)
Aumprakash a digital RSS propagandist. A muslim hater and non brahmin
hater. His lowly life is based on lies and he survived on lies.
humbleRaj (2 years ago)
Nice ideo Aumprakash Ji :)
badmashguy (2 years ago)
It might be true for Hinduism....but isn't it true for every other
religion too....
humbleRaj (2 years ago) Show Hide +3 Marked as spam Reply Nope,None
of American Politicians speak against christianity or None of The
leaders from Islamic Countries condemn Islam, but Indian politicians
abuse Hinduism in India.
Peenp (3 years ago)
I agree with you Aum.
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=IFU-iAP43M0&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3DIFU-iAP43M0
Hinduism under siege, says Subramanian Swamy
Coventry, UK | December 07, 2005 8:11:13 PM IST
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=184292&cat=India
Janata Party President and former Union Minister Dr. Subramanian Swamy
today told a large UK Hindu gathering at the Sri Krishna Temple here
that to combat the invisible and multi-dimensional siege against
Hinduism, all the Dharmacharyas of Hindu religion must come together
in a formal body with a permanent secretariat in New Delhi.
He said that Swami Dayananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, near
Coimbatore had already convened a Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha in Mumbai
in mid-October last, and resolved to do so.
Dr. Swamy said that the siege has a religious dimension because of the
pernicious and subtle denigration of Hindu icons and Institutions such
as through filing bogus cases against the Kanchi Shankaracharya, a
psychological dimension by inculcating a confused mindset through a
one-sided secularism, a cultural dimension in propagating that Indians
are Caucasian invaders from beyond Afghanistan through the baseless
Aryan-Dravidian theory, and in the physical dimension by induced
conversions to Christianity and Islamic terrorism.
"Hindus are being driven out from their homelands in Kashmir,
Bangladesh and even Mau in UP, but the political leadership in India
lacks the virile mindset to challenge this denigration of Hindus in a
83 percent Hindu populated nation" he added.
Dr. Swamy further said that India is distinctive only because of it's
Hindu foundation and continuing civilisation. Hence India as Hindustan
means a nation of Hindus and those Muslims and Christians who accept
their ancestors are Hindus.
Parsis may have come from Persia but they accept Hindu culture as
their own. This is our Hindustani identity. Hence, those Christians
and Muslims who do not accept their ancestors as Hindus should go back
from where they came from or lose their voting rights.
Even Hindus who claim to be racially Aryans or Dravidians have no
place in Hindustan. In Rig Veda "Arya" only meant civilised, while
Dravida is a Sanskrit word coined by Adi Sankara to mean south India-
where three seas meet.
Dr. Swamy said that without demolishing the caste system a cogent
cohesive Hindu identity can not be forged. Hence the Acharya Sabha
should issue a nirdesh" (direction) that according to the Vedas and
Uttara Gita, varna and jati are not birth based but determined on
gunas (merits) and occupation.
"Varna is a choice not a compulsion," he added. (ANI)
http://www.nchtuk.org/content.php?id=288
December 21, 2008
Out of the box
By Subramanian Swamy
The India of today would not have been in existence had the attempts
to divide Hindus succeeded. In the 20th century, a sinister attempt to
divide the Hindu community on caste basis was made in 1932 when the
British imperialists offered the scheduled castes a separate
electorate.
What does the despicable terror and mayhem in Mumbai on November 26
signify for India? Shorn of the human tragedy, wanton destruction, and
obnoxious audacity of the terrorists, it signifies a challenge to the
identity of India from radical Islam. Cinema actor Shahrukh Khan may
wax eloquent about the ?true Islam? on TV, but it is clear that he and
other such Muslims have not read any authoritative translations of the
Koran, Sira and Hadith which three together constitute Islam as a
theology, and which is a complete menu of intolerance of peoples of
other faiths derisively labeled as kafirs. Hence, instead of talking
about the ?correct interpretation? of Islam they ought instead be
urging for a new Islamic theology consistent with democratic
principles.
In 2003, two years after the 9/11 murderous and perfidious Islamic
assault on USA, resulting in killing of more than 3000 persons within
two hours, and which was perpetrated by leveraging the democratic
freedoms in USA, the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the website of its
Islamic Affairs Department [www.iad.org] laid down what a ?good?
Muslim is expected to do. Dr. Steven Stalinsky of the Middle East
Media Research Institute[MEMRI] based in Washington DC accessed it and
published it in issue No.23, of the Institute newsletter, dated
November 26[what irony!] 2003. I have to thank a NRI in US, Dr.
Muthuswamy for this reference. In that site it is stated:
?The Muslims are required to raise the banner of Jihad in order to
make the Word of Allah supreme in this world, to remove all forms of
injustice and oppression, and to defend the Muslims. If Muslims do not
take up the sword, the evil tyrants of this earth will be able to
continue oppressing the weak and helpless?
Now who is more authoritative?Sharukh Khan or Saudi Arabia ? Obviously
the latter. The above quote is what in substance is being taught in
every madrassa in India, and can be traced back to the sayings of
Prophet Mohammed. I can quote a plethora of verses from a Saudi
Arabian translated Koran [e.g., verses 8:12, 8:60, and 33:26] which
verses justify brutal violence against non-believers. If I delved into
Sira and Hadith for more quotes, then I could risk generating much
hatred, so it will suffice to say that Islam is not only a theology,
but it spans a brutal political ideology which we have to combat
sooner or later in realm of ideas.
Some may quote back at me verses from Manusmriti about brutality to
women and scheduled castes. But as a Hindu I have the liberty to
disown these verses [since it is a Smriti] and even to seek to re-
write a new Smriti as many, for example, Yajnavalkya have done to
date. Reform and renaissance is thus inbuilt into Hinduism. But in
Islam, the word of the Prophet is final. Sharukh Khan and other gloss
artists cannot disown these verses, or say that they would re-write
the offensive verses of the Koran. If they do, then they would have to
run for their lives as Rushdie and Taslima have had to do. Leave alone
re-writing, if anyone draws a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed, there will
follow world-wide violent rioting. But if Hussein draws Durga in the
most pornographic posture, the Hindus will only groan but not
violently rampage.
We Hindus have a long recognised tradition of being religious liberals
by nature. We have already proved it enough by welcoming to our
country and nurturing Parsis, Jews, Syrian Christians, and Moplah
Muslim Arabs who were persecuted elsewhere, when we were 100 per cent
Hindu country.
Moreover, despite a 1000 years of most savage brutalisation of Hindus
by Islamic invaders and self-demeaning brain washing by the
Christians, even then, Hindus as a majority have adopted secularism as
a creed. We have not asked for an apology and compensation for these
atrocities. But the position of Hindus in this land of Bharatmata,
where Muslims and Christians locally are in majority, in pockets?such
as in Kashmir and Nagaland, or in small enclaves such as town
panchayats of Tamil Nadu, is terrible and despicable. Even in Kerala
where Hindus are 52 per cent of the population, they have only 25 per
cent of all the prime jobs in the state, and are silently suffering
their plight at the hands of 48 per cent who vote as a vote bank.
The 26/11 Mumbai slaughter therefore should teach us Hindus that the
time has come to wake up and stand up?it is now or never. If we do not
stand up now to Islamic terrorism, then India will end up like Beirut,
a permanent battlefield of international terrorists, buccaneers,
pirates and missionaries.
What does it mean in the 21st century for Hindus to stand up ? I mean
by that a mental clarity of the Hindus to defend themselves by
effective deterrent retaliation, and also an intelligent co-option of
other religious groups into the Hindu cultural continuum.
Mental clarity can only come if we are clear about the identity of the
nation. What is India? An ancient but continuing civilisation or is it
a geographical entity incorporated in 1947 by the Indian Independence
Act of the British Parliament ? What then does it mean to say ?I am an
Indian?? A mere passport holder of the Republic of India or a
descendent of the great seers and visionaries of more than 10,000
years ? Obviously our identity should be of a nation of an ancient and
continuing Hindu civilisation, legatees of great rishis and munis, and
a highly sophisticated sanatana philosophy.
If Hindu culture is our defining identity then how can we co-opt non-
Hindus, especially Muslims and Christians ? By persuading them by
saam, dhaam, bheda and dand that they acknowledge with pride the truth
that their ancestors are Hindus. If they do, it means that they accept
Hindu culture and enlightened mores. That is, change of religion does
not mean change of culture. Then we should treat such Muslims and
Christians as part of our Brihad Hindu family.
Noted author and editor M.J. Akbar calls this identity as of ?Blood
Brothers?. It is an undeniable fact that Muslims and Christians in
India are descendents of Hindus. In a recent article in the American
Journal of Physical Anthropology, an analysis of genetic samples [DNA]
show that Muslims in north India are overwhelmingly of the same DNA as
Hindus proving that Muslims here are descendents of Hindus who had
been converted to Islam, rather repositories of foreign DNA deposited
by waves of invaders.
Akbar thus asks rhetorically: ?When have the Muslims of India gone
wrong?? and answers: ?When they have forgotten their Indian roots?.
How apt ! Enlightened Muslims like Akbar therefore must rise to the
occasion and challenge the reactionary religious fundamentalists. That
is India is not Darul Harab to be trifled with. In a conciliatory
atmosphere the minorities would willingly accept this. It is also in
their interest to accept this reality. Hindus must persuade by the
time honoured methods Muslims and Christians to accept this and its
logical consequences.
This identity was not understood by us earlier because of the
distorted outlook of Jawaharlal Nehru who occupied the Prime Minister?
s chair for seventeen formative years after 1947 and for narrow
political ends, had fanned a separatist outlook in Muslims and
Christians.
The failure to date, to resolve this Nehru created crisis, has not
only confused the majority but confounded the minorities as well in
India. This confusion has deepened with winter migratory birds such as
Amartya Sen descending on the campus of the India International Centre
to preach inane taxonomies such as ?multiple identities?.
There has to be an over-riding identity called national identity, and
hence we should not be derailed by pedestrian concepts of multiple or
sub-identities.
?Without a resolution of the identity crisis today, which requires an
explicit clear answer to this question of who we are, the majority
will never understand how to relate to the legacy of the nation and in
turn to the minorities. Minorities would not understand how to adjust
with the majority if this identity crisis is not resolved. In other
words, the present dysfunctional perceptional mismatch in
understanding who we are as a people, is behind most of the communal
tension and inter-community distrust in the country.
?In India, the majority is the conglomerate or Brihad Hindu community
which represents about 81 per cent of the total Indian population,
while minorities are constituted by Muslims [13 per cent] and
Christians [3 per cent]. Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, and some other
microscopic religious groups, represent the remaining three per cent.
Though also considered minorities, but really are so close to the
majority community in culture that they are considered as a part of
Hindu society. Unlike Islam and Christianity, these minority religions
were founded as dissenting theologies of Hinduism. Even Zoroaster can
be traced to leader of Vahikas in Mahabharata who migrated to Persia.
Kaikeyi in Ramayana was from Persia when that country was hundred per
cent Hindu. Thus these religions share the core concepts with Hindus
such as re-incarnation, equality of all religions, and ability to meet
God in this life. That they feel increasingly alienated from Hindu
society nowadays is also the consequence of India?s identity crisis
caused by British historians and their Indian tutees in JNU.
The India of today would not have been in existence had the attempts
to divide Hindus succeeded. In the 20th century, a sinister attempt to
divide the Hindu community on caste basis was made in 1932 when the
British imperialists offered the scheduled castes a separate
electorate. But shrewdly understanding the conspiracy to divide India,
Mahatma Gandhi by his fast unto death and Dr. Ambedkar by his
visionary rejection of separate electorate, foiled the attempt by
signing the Poona Pact.
But the possibility that such attempts at dividing India socially may
be made again in the future, a possibility that cannot be ruled out.
Indian patriots will have to watch such attempts very carefully.
Segmentation, fragmentation, and finally balkanisation have been part
of the historical process in many countries to destroy national
identity and thereby cause the political division of the nation
itself. Yugoslavia is a recent example of this, which has now been
divided into four countries, largely due to Islamic separatism and
Serbian over-reaction.
Virat Hindutva can be achieved in the first stage by Hindu
consolidation, that is achieved by Hindus holding that they are Hindus
first and last, by disowning primacy to their caste and regional
loyalties. This would require a renaissance in thinking and outlook,
that can be fostered only by patient advocacy and intellectual
ferment.
For this we need a new History text, and a proper understanding of the
distinction between the four varnas [not birth based but by codes of
behavior for devolution of power in society] and jati [which is birth
based and mostly for marriages]. Just as Valmiki and Vyasa are
regarded as Maharshis despite being of different jati from Parasuram,
hence Dr. Ambedkar should be called a Maharishi for his sheer depth of
knowledge of Indian history. That he had become bitter because of
Nehru systematically sidelining him is no reason not to do so.
India thus needs a Hindu renaissance today that incorporates modern
principles, e.g., of the irrelevance of birth antecedents, fostering
gender equality, ensuring equality before law, and accountability for
all. It is also essential to integrate the entire Indian society on
those principles, irrespective of religion. Uniform Civil Code for
example, is something that the vast majority of Muslim women want, but
because this demand has been usurped by those who deny the equality of
nationality to the Muslims, hence comes the resistance to a eminently
reasonable value. The Muslims think that this is the first step in
several to subjugate them or wipe out their identity. But Muslims have
quietly accepted Uniform Criminal Code [the IPC] despite that it
contradicts the Sharia.
In other words, Hindutva has two components?one that Hindus can accept
[such as caste abolition, eradication of dowry etc.] without any other
religion?s interests to consider. The other is the embracing by
minorities of the core secular Indian values which have Hindu roots.
This would require, particularly Muslims and Christians, to
acknowledge that their ancestry is Hindu, and thus own the entire
Hindu past as their own legacy, and to thus tailor their outlook on
that basis. This would integrate Indian society and make the concept
of an inclusive[Brihad] Hindutva and rooted in India?s continuing
civilisation.
Thus, if India has to decide to have or not have good relations with
Israel, Pakistan, Iran or US, it cannot be on the basis how it will
impact on India?s Muslims and Christians, but on what India?s national
interests require. If India has to dispatch troops to Afghanistan,
Iraq, Sri Lanka or Nepal to combat terrorism, that policy too has to
be decided on what is good for India, and not what any religious or
linguistic group identifies as it?s interest.
Thus such an Hindutva is positive in outlook, while raw Hindu
xenophobia is negative and based on Hindu hegemony which will frighten
all. Such a Hindutva will resolve our current energy-sapping identity
crisis, which otherwise will completely emasculate India in the long
run. The choice for the patriotic Indian is thus clear: We need a
clear and positive view of our national identity based on our Hindu
past and a Hindu renaissance to unite the Hindus with constructive
mind-set as well as persuade the minorities to be co-opted culturally
with Hindu society.
Once being Indian means Virat Brihad Hindutva, we can tackle terrorism
by an effective strategy of defence. What are the components of that
strategy is the subject matter of my next column here.
(To be concluded)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=268&page=10
December 28, 2008
Out of the Box
Isolate and confront the rogue state, war no option
By Subramanian Swamy
Hindus and such Muslims and Christians together constitute the
Hindustan nation. All others are either permanent residents or
foreigners, but therefore should have no voting rights. NRIs abroad
who also acknowledge to be of Hindustani descent can be permitted to
be voters in India.
Since the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has yet not condemned Pakistan
for allowing its territory to be used by ?non-state actors?, such a
Commission is all the more necessary. Pakistan cannot be allowed to
wash its hands off responsibility in this by silence of those who are
paid to speak in Parliament by the tax-payer on behalf of the Indian
nation.
Coming back to the question of retaliation for the Mumbai 26/11
attack, I advocate US-Israel-India coordinated aerial strikes at all
the prominent training bases of the LeT and JeM in PoK, which action,
since it is on a part of India, will not mean an act of war, whatever
Pakistan may think. This is the mirror-image of the argument that
Pakistan itself has used while invading India in 1999 in the Kargil
sector i.e., since they consider J&K not a part of India, hence
Pakistan can invade it!
Terrorist attacks such 26/11 Mumbai carnage can be deterred only by
effective retaliation which will serve as a deterrence against future
attacks. What is an effective retaliation for the 26/11 attacks ? In
my view, it is bombing of LeT camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-held
territories. That means war declared by Pakistan. War is however a
terrible event in human affairs. It is against the finer and civilised
instinct of the human being and a temporary triumph of the base
emotions. Wars are imposed either on evil intentions or by
miscalculations. Civilised societies to survive have to be prepared
for such wars. My quick answer thus to the question whether war with
Pakistan is then inevitable is: Yes!
My substantive answer is that the war will be imposed on us anyway
whether we retaliate or not, by the compulsions of Pakistan?s polity,
and we should prepare for a formal war with that country which could
come anytime within the next four years. The terror genie is now out
of the bottle in Pakistan, and an informal ad hoc proxy war is already
on between India and Pakistan through Pak-trained terrorists. It
cannot be ended without a decisive formal war. We cannot also go on
bleeding like we have during last 20 years, each occasion at the time
and place of choosing of the terrorists of Pakistan. To top it all, we
are being dished out Pakistan?s inane argument on the need providing ?
proof?, by a government which is a puppet of the trainers of these
terrorists.
Unlike the 1965, 1971, and 1999 wars with Pakistan, this time we
should first prepare instead react by reflecting on who are our real
allies in this coming war, and what the post-war situation of a
destructed and disarmed Pakistan should be. In 1971, USSR was claimed
to be our ally, but it would not let us smash the West Pakistan
military machine when the Pakistan army was on all fours on the
floor.
This time, because of nuclear weapons on both sides, the war has to be
decisive. Pakistan must be sanitized and/or further dismembered beyond
recognition. The new Pakistan or the former Pakistans must be led by
those who understand India?s retaliatory capacity.
One thousand years of the foreign invasions of this land have proved
that Hindus will not submit, no matter what the tribulation and
personal tragedy. Iran, Babylonia, Turkey, Egypt and others of the
Middle East had in contrast submitted and became majority Muslim
countries within a few decades. But Hindus as a whole, despite 1000
years of brutality and impoverishment, have stood defiantly. In Akhand
Hindustan, we are still 75 per cent of the total population despite
all the atrocities.
But now defiance is no more enough. Now we must decisively and finally
settle the issue and defeat our centuries? old tormentors and the
violent theology behind it.
In my last column I had stated that Islamic terrorism cannot be fought
unless we adopt a virat brihad Hindutva concept of identity for
Indians, which identity I defined as the mindset of Hindus, who are
proud of their Hinduness, and ready to co-opt Muslims and Christians
as blood brothers and sisters if they too proudly acknowledge the
truth that their ancestors are Hindus and that despite change of
religion their culture does not change [Culture is a secular concept
defined on the myriad of human relations and attitudes].
Hindus and such Muslims and Christians together constitute the
Hindustan nation. All others are either permanent residents or
foreigners, but therefore should have no voting rights. NRIs abroad
who also acknowledge to be of Hindustani descent can be permitted to
be voters in India.
This mindset in responding to terror must focus on retaliation as a
deterrent against terrorism, which is the real meaning of ?zero
tolerance? for terrorism. The retaliation cannot be confused with
vengeance but has to be defined as effective actions to nullify the
political objectives of the patrons of terrorists.
What is, for example, the retaliation for the 26/11 terrorist attack
on Mumbai? Or for that matter, the ?menu? of retaliation for all the
terrorist attacks since 1989 beginning with when 500,000 Hindus and
Sikhs were driven out by terrorists from the Kashmir valley?
The retaliation has to be tailored in each terrorist attack to nullify
the political objective of the patrons which objective motivates that
attack.
In the 26/11 attack, the political objective was to demonstrate to the
world that India is a wobbly, flabby, and corrupt country that cannot
defend itself, that anyone can bribe his way with Indians to achieve
his nefarious goal. Hence, they want to demonstrate that India is a
corroding civilisation, and unworthy being a reliable ally of any
country. That is why foreign tourists of friendly countries, such as
US and Israel, were chosen for murder.
The terror patrons of Pakistan have, in my opinion, achieved
substantially this objective by putting a question mark on our
integrity as a people. How could such an operation, foreigners now
ask, be put through without the intelligence having a clue? Is it
because India ignored timely US intelligence of September that made
the LeT postpone its dastardly project scheduled of September 27th to
26/11?
The truth is more bizarre: Intelligence Bureau and RAW did know, but
the information was not acted on by the Maharashtra government. Why?
It is rubbish to say that the information was not ?actionable?, i.e.,
not specific enough to take counter measures. I have had access to
some of the intelligence supplied to the Maharashtra government, some
of it are dated two years ago, which disproves this claim.
One such advisory actually states that LeT-trained terrorists
numbering about a dozen are likely to enter from the sea in the
Gateway area, and take control of high profile targets such as hotels!
Is this not actionable? Or was the Maharashtra Police prevented from
taking action by Ahmed Patel on behalf of Sonia Gandhi as alluded to
by former Chief Minister of the state, Mr. Narayan Rane?
I thought therefore the Opposition in Parliament would have demanded
at least a Commission of Inquiry headed by a sitting judge of the
Supreme Court to go into all the lapses. Instead they wallowed in
talking of national unity. This is not the time to talk of unity with
the government. We are not yet in a formal war to need to talk of
unity with the government. A horrible incident had taken place, and it
is over now. Hence, it is the duty of the Opposition to put the
government in the dock, and at least demand a Commission to go into
the lapses. When a formal war is launched we can at that stage unite
with the government in a show of unity.
But not now. Since the UPA chairperson Ms. Sonia Gandhi has yet not
condemned Pakistan for allowing its territory to be used by ?non-state
actors?, such a Commission is all the more necessary. Pakistan cannot
be allowed to wash its hands off responsibility in this by silence of
those who are paid to speak in Parliament by the tax-payer on behalf
of the Indian nation.
Considering that the first employer in London in 1965 of Ms. Sonia
Gandhi was a Pakistani called Salman Thassir, a dubious business
magnate with perhaps ISI connection, and that the guest of honour at
the select gathering of just 35 invitees to her daughter Priyanka?s
wedding, was Farida accompanied by her husband Munir Ataullah, both
known bag persons of prominent Pakistan politicians with ISI
connections, hence, it is a matter of concern that Ms. Sonia Gandhi
has not condemned Pakistan for the 26/11 attack, and in fact she has
not condemned even one terrorist attack starting Mumbai 1993.
Coming back to the question of retaliation for the Mumbai 26/11
attack, I advocate US-Israel-India coordinated aerial strikes at all
the prominent training bases of the LeT and JeM in PoK, which action,
since it is on a part of India, will not mean an act of war, whatever
Pakistan may think. This is the mirror-image of the argument that
Pakistan itself has used while invading India in 1999 in the Kargil
sector i.e., since they consider J&K not a part of India, hence
Pakistan can invade it!
The US and Israel will probably not agree at present to help in a
military strike since India has never come to the assistance of US or
Israel in their hour of grief. In fact when on the day Saddam Hussein
was toppled in 2003, a joint BJP-Congress resolution was passed by the
Lok Sabha condemning US ?imperialism? in Iraq! Nor have we ever
offered Israel help whenever a terrorist attack took place in that
country?
Hence, to get the US and Israel effectively on our side in this war on
terror, we too have to commit to help them in this war, not merely by
ministers paying a visit to Washington and waxing eloquent about
being ?natural allies?. For all their duplicity, Pakistan under
Musharraf in contrast had made a world of difference to the US in its
war on terror. Hence the soft corner for Pakistan in US and Europe.
For example, when New York Times reporter Daniel Pearl?s throat was
slit by LeT, the Pakistan government caught the mastermind Omar Sheikh
[whom we had released in the IC hijack matter at Kandahar] and sent
him to Guantanomo prison without making noises about ?proof?. More Al
Qaeda leaders have been captured or killed by the US with the
cooperation of Pakistan than by direct action of the US. Nor can the
US keep the Taliban out of Afghanistan without the active support of
Pakistan. Hence, it is understandable that the US is in a catch-22
situation on Pakistan and we in India, if we want US cooperation, have
to concretely provide a way out of that.
If we strike at the terrorists camps in PoK, the various governments
of Pakistan cannot sit quiet. There are four other governments of
Pakistan besides one headed by Zardari. In addition to his government,
there is the Army government operating through the seven corp
commanders, the ISI government working abroad through fake currency
and beautiful women, the Mullah government through Friday prayers in
mosques and by brainwashing in madrasas, and the de facto Taliban
government in the frontier areas. Anyone of these four governments can
declare a war against India on the war cry of jehad, and the other
four will have to follow. So war is the outcome of any retaliatory
action of India.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=269&page=6
Opinion - Leader Page Articles
Defamation litigation: a survivor's kit
By Subramanian Swamy
The Supreme Court judgment in the Nakkeeran case is the main tool in
the survival kit for honest media and other critics of politicians
against libel litigation.
ON SEPTEMBER 17, the Tamil Nadu Government filed an affidavit in the
Supreme Court stating that it had ordered the withdrawal of 125
defamation cases filed against The Hindu and various other
publications. This is a tribute especially to The Hindu `parivar' for
showing guts and challenging the constitutionality of the cases filed
against its representatives. The Jayalalithaa Government chose
discretion over valour by not risking the Supreme Court striking down
the libel statute itself as unconstitutional. Rather than lose
permanently the weapon of state harassment of critics that defamation
law represents, the Government chose to back down.
This is the second time that the AIADMK State Government has directed
a carte blanche withdrawal of defamation cases. The first time was on
January 1, 1994 when the Tamil Nadu Government withdrew numerous
defamation cases filed against me in several Sessions Courts in the
State. The reason then was the same: the Supreme Court Bench of Chief
Justice M.N. Venkatachalaiah and Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy had heard
extensive arguments from me as petitioner in person and the Tamil Nadu
Government counsel on the defamation law, and then orally asked why
the law should not be struck down. The Government counsel then asked
for time, and came back a week later to say that all the cases against
me had been withdrawn. Hence, the cause of action for my petition
disappeared, and my petition became infructuous. I was personally
relieved but the law survived for use on another day.
But Justice Jeevan Reddy, who had listened to me with great care, went
on to write a landmark judgment in the Nakkeeran case [1994] that
incorporated the core of my arguments and citations from the United
States Supreme Court and the United Kingdom's House of Lords. That
judgment today c. The judgment however needs to be developed further
by more decided cases further clarified by continued challenge to
state-sponsored defamation litigation that has become far too frequent
in the country, so that freedom of speech and expression can become
more deep and extensive than at present.
Under the Indian Constitution, the fundamental right to free speech
(Article 19) is subject to "reasonable restrictions." What is
reasonable is subjective in a society; it can only be developed to
some objectivity by cases decided in courts [`case law'] and according
to the political culture of the times. At present, reasonableness is
codified in two laws — first, in exceptions to criminal culpability
incorporated in Sections 499 and 500 of the British colonial statute
known as the Indian Penal Code (1870), and second, the limits to civil
liability incorporated as tort law. In India, defamation proceedings
can be initiated under either or both, together or in sequence. Most
democratic countries have however done away with the criminal law,
which is archaic and draconian. But India has not yet done so.
What is one to do if one receives a court summons for alleged
defamation? For example, I once received a summons from a Delhi court
because I had called a BJP leader, V.K. Malhotra, "an ignoramus." The
remark was made by me during the Lok Sabha proceedings, but lifted by
a sub-editor and inserted in a column I wrote for the magazine.
Under the law, I had to prove that it was true — or face imprisonment.
Now, how does one prove that a person is an ignoramus in a court of
law? Add to that the harassment I would have to suffer of travelling
to court at least 10 times a year for at least five years to attend
the case or face a warrant for my production in court. Or I would have
to engage a lawyer who would charge me a hefty sum. All this for a
mild rebuke of a political leader? The editor of the magazine decided
he could not stomach it, so he apologised for printing the remark. I
was left holding the bag.
However, I fought the case and won. Mr. Malhotra was directed to pay
me Rs.8,000 as compensation for my petrol bills, which he paid with
some reluctance. Now how did I do it?
I pulled out of my survival kit the first tool of defence: in a
defamation case, the aggrieved person must prove "publication," which
means Mr. Malhotra would have to prove first that I had, in the
original text given to the magazine, written what was printed. The
onus was on him to produce the original. Now which magazine keeps the
original? He failed to produce it and I won.
In a 1997 press conference, I made some charges against Chief Minister
M. Karunanidhi. He used Section 199 of the Criminal Procedure Code to
get the Public Prosecutor to file a defamation case. This meant the
contest in court was between me and the state, and not between me and
the Chief Minister personally. Thus the Government would spend the
money out of the public exchequer and use Government counsel to
prosecute me, a totally unequal contest and wholly unfair (even if
legal).
If Section 199 had not been there, the Chief Minister would have
personally been the complainant and I would have had the right to
cross-examine him. Now which busy politician would like that? Hence, I
pulled out the second tool in my survival kit. I filed an application
before the judge making the point that the alleged defamation related
to the personal conduct of the Chief Minister and not to anything he
did in the course of public duty. I argued that Section 199 would not
apply. Thereafter, the State Public Prosecutor quickly lost interest
in the case. Had the judge rejected my prayer, I would have gone in
appeal to the Supreme Court and got Section 199 struck down. But alas,
I could not.
In 1988 another Chief Minister, Ramakrishna Hegde, filed a suit
against me under tort law for Rs.2 crore damages for my allegation
that he was tapping telephones and using his office to benefit a
relative in land deals. Although ultimately, the Kuldip Singh
Commission and a parliamentary committee studying the Telegraph Act
upheld my contentions, I would have had a problem had the court
decided the case before these inquiry reports came out.
So I pulled out the third tool in my survival kit, namely the U.S.
Supreme Court case laws, the most famous of which was The New York
Times case decided in 1964. Contrary to popular impression, U.S. case
laws on fundamental rights are applicable to India following a Supreme
Court judgment in an Indian Express case in 1959.
Furthermore, since 1994, these U.S. case laws have become
substantially a part of Indian law, thanks to Justice Jeevan Reddy's
judgment in the Nakkeeran case.
The principle in these case laws, restricted to public persons suing
for damages, is wonderfully protective of free speech: if a person in
public life, including one in government, feels aggrieved by a
defamatory statement, then that person must first prove in court that
the defamatory statement is not only false, but that the maker of the
statement knew it to be false. That is, it must be proved by the
defamed plaintiff to be a reckless disregard of the truth by the
defamer defendant. This principle thus reversed the traditional onus
on the defamer to prove his or her allegation, and placed the burden
of proof on the defamed.
This reversal of burden of proof is just, essentially because a public
person has the opportunity to go before the media and rebut the
defamation in a way aggrieved private persons cannot do. If criticism
and allegations against a public person have to be proved in a court
of law, what is likely to happen is that public spirited individuals
will be discouraged and thus dissuaded from making the criticism. This
is what the U.S. Supreme Court in the famous New York Times case
characterised as a "chilling effect" on public debate; it held this to
be bad for democracy.
Hence the need to balance the protection of reputation in law with the
democratic need for transparency and vibrant public debate. The U.S.
Supreme Court admirably set the balance for freedom and democracy.
Since Mr. Hegde was an intelligent man, he recognised what my survival
strategy meant. He would have come on the stand in court. He would
have been examined and cross-examined on why what I said was not true,
and how he knew that I had known all along that my charges were false
and yet I made them. He therefore sent me a message one day wanting to
know if I would call it quits. So his defamation case went from one
adjournment to another, until it lapsed upon his death. Before his
passing, Hegde and I met. Both of us agreed that it was unwise for
politicians who have so much access to the media to rebut charges to
file defamation cases and waste the time of already overburdened
courts. I got the impression that some sharp lawyer was behind his
temporary loss of judgment in filing the case.
Today, with developing case laws, defamation litigation has become a
toothless tiger for politicians to use against the media. There are
enough dental tools in my survival kit to ensure this. I am therefore
writing a full Manual on how to expose dishonest politicians and get
away without being harassed in court. I hope honest critics will no
more hesitate to speak their minds about what they know to be the
truth even if they cannot prove this in court beyond a reasonable
doubt.
I am happy therefore that The Hindu chose to fight it out rather than
capitulate. More should follow its lead for a better democracy and a
freer media.
(The author, an economist, is a former Union Law Minister. As a rule
he argues his own cases in court without the agency of lawyers.)
http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/21/stories/2004092103551000.htm
Swamy fined for charge against Jaya
New Delhi, January 3
The Delhi High Court today imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Janata Party
President and former Union Minister Subramaniam Swamy for levelling
charges against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa that she
knew about the plan of the LTTE to assassinate former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur in May 1991.
Mr Justice Pradeep Nandrajog said Mr Swamy had failed to establish
that Jayalalithaa had received information and money from the banned
LTTE for the assassination of Gandhi.
“The defendant (Swamy) had exceeded the limits of qualified privilege
as his statement was quite unconnected with and irrelevant to the
situation and suffers from redundancy of the expression,’’ said the
order.
The M.C. Jain Commission of Inquiry was constituted on August 23, 1991
by the Centre to look into the circumstances leading to the
assassination of Gandhi.
Appearing before the commission, Mr Swamy had said Ms Jayalalithaa was
tipped by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) about the
assassination of Gandhi by its suicide bombers on April 17, 1991. —
UNI
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060104/nation.htm#16
December 03, 2006
Thinkpad
Basic Islam for Hindu Dhimmis
By Subramanian Swamy
Temples have been demolished in the Valley on a daily basis. The world
could not care less. An American had once told me: ?Why should we
care? Indian democracy is led by the majority who are Hindus and you
want us to talk about the human rights of the community of rulers??
We do not have much time, in fact about 45 years, as the X-graph of
statistical regressions estimated by J.S. Bajaj and colleagues shows. ?
X? represents the two trends?Hindu percentage declining and Muslim
percentage rising, and intersecting in the year 2061.
We Hindus must understand the true nature of Islam before we can
formulate a strategy to defeat those who threaten us.
Thanks to Shri Vedantamji of the VHP, I had visited Thondi and
Rasathipuram Municipalities of Ramanathapuram and Vellore districts
respectively, and was truly shocked by what I saw. Both these
municipalities are in Muslim-majority areas, and the local bodies
election had empowered the Muslims with their capture of the
municipalities.
The Muslim-ruled municipalities have thereafter converted these areas
into mini Dar-ul-Islams, in a Hindustan of 83 per cent Hindus! The
minority Hindu areas of the municipality were thus denied civic
amenities, funds for schools, garbage clearing etc., and sent notices
in Urdu. Hindus were bluntly told convert to Islam if they wanted
civic facilities.
I could not believe that in South India this was possible where Hindus
are actually above national average at 90 per cent of the population.
I know that in Kashmir Valley, Muslims who are in majority have
actively or passively connived in driving out half a million Hindus
out of their homes and made them refugees in their own country.
Temples have been demolished in the Valley on a daily basis. The world
could not care less. An American had once told me: ?Why should we
care? Indian democracy is led by the majority who are Hindus and you
want us to talk about the human rights of the community of rulers??
Such atrocities are happening not only in Kashmir, but in other parts
of India as well in pockets wherever Muslims are in majority, e.g.,
Mau and Meerut. In pocket boroughs of India, thus, Dar-ul-Islam has
today returned to India after two centuries. Considering that a
demographic re-structuring is slowly but surely taking place, with
Hindu majority shrinking everywhere, Dar-ul-Islam in pockets might
indeed, like amoeba, proliferate, coalesce, and jell into a
frightening national reality?unless we Hindus wake up and take
corrective action now, actions for which we shall of course not get a
Nobel Peace Prize.
Dar-ul-Islam is a Muslim religious concept of a land where Muslims
rule, and the non-believers in Islam are termed as Dhimmis. The term
Dhimmi was coined after the Jews were crushed in Medina [Khaybar to be
exact], and the defeated Jews accepted that if they did not convert to
Islam, then they would accept second-class status politically,
culturally, and religiously. This included zero civil rights including
the right to modesty of women, and the special tax jaziya.
There is thus no scope for Muslims and non-Muslims uniting as equals
in the political, cultural, or social system in a Dar-ul-Islam where
Muslims rule. Secular order in India thus is possible only when
Muslims are not in power. Thondi, Rasathipuram and other places prove
that the Muslim mind suffers from a dangerous duality?of seeking
secularism when out of power and imposing a brutal demeaning theocracy
for non-Muslims when in power.
It is this duality that patriotic Hindus must re-shape by modern
education and other means, as also retain its demographic overwhelming
majority in India. We do not have much time, in fact about 45 years,
as the X-graph of statistical regressions estimated by J.S. Bajaj and
colleagues shows. ?X? represents the two trends?Hindu percentage
declining and Muslim percentage rising, and intersecting in the year
2061.
The dhimmitude of Jews in Medina and later in Mecca represents the
beginning of religious apartheid inherent and basic to Islamic mores,
and practised long before what we saw in South Africa on the basis of
colour and race, and that which became prevalent during the Islamic
imperialist rule in parts of India. Hindus had been dhimmis for six
hundred years in those parts of India despite being a bigger majority
in the country than even today. Hence, a majority is not enough.
Hindus need also a Hindu mindset to be free.
In his presidential address to the Muslim League in Lahore in 1940,
Mohammed Ali Jinnah had articulated this concept of apartheid in his
own inimitable way:
?To visualise Hindus and Muslims in India uniting to create a common
nation is a mythical concept. It is only a fancy dream of some
unawakened Hindu leaders?. The truth is that Hindus and Muslims are
two different civilisations?. since their thought process grow on
different beliefs.?
Large sections of Muslims in India then had rejected Jinnah and his
concept of non-compatibility of Muslims with Hindus. But after
Independence and Partition, instead of building on this rejection by
many Muslims, the Nehru era saw increasing pandering precisely to the
religious element that believed in this apartheid. Indira Gandhi
vigorously continued this appeasement thereby nurturing the apartheid
mentality of Muslim orthodoxy.
But the final undermining of the enlightened Muslim came when the
government capitulated in the Shah Bano case. Thousands of Muslims had
demonstrated on the streets demanding that the government not bring
legislation that would nullify the Supreme Court?s judgment in the
Shah Bano case but in vain. Rajiv Gandhi, I learnt later, on counsel
from his Italian Catholic family, had surrendered to the hard line
clerics who protested that the Supreme Court had no right to interfere
and to de facto amend the Shariat, the Islamic law code. These
relatives on a directive from the Vatican thought that if secular law
would be applied to Muslims, it can be to the Christians too.
This was a nonsense argument of the Muslim clerics, since the Shariat
had already been amended, without protest, in the criminal law of
India. The Indian Penal Code represents the uniform criminal code that
equally applies to all religious communities. I therefore ask the
clerics: if a Muslim is caught stealing, can any court in India direct
that his hand at the wrist be cut off as the Shariat prescribes? If
Muslims can accept a uniform criminal code what is the logic in
rejecting the uniform civil code?
In India, Dhimmi status for Hindus during Islamic imperialist rule has
had other social implications. Defiant Brahmins and Kshatriyas, who
had refused to convert and chose to remain Hindus, were forced to
carry night-soil and suffer great indignities for their women folk. Or
it meant gross mental torture. Guru Tegh Bahadur, for example, had to
see his sons sawed in half, before the pious Guru?s own head was
severed and displayed in public.
The debasement of Hindu society then was such that those targeted
valiant Brahmins and Kshatriyas, who had refused to convert and thus
made to carry night-soil, were disowned by other Hindus and declared
to be asprashya or ?untouchable?. The ranks of the Scheduled Caste
community, which was not more than 1 per cent of the population before
the advent of Islam in India, swelled to 14 per cent by the time
Mughal rule collapsed.
Thus, today?s SC community, especially those who are still Hindus,
consists mostly of those valiant Brahmins and Kshatriyas who had
refused to become Muslims but preferred ostracization and ignominy in
order to remain Hindus. Hindu society today should offer koti koti
pranams to them for keeping the Bhagwa Dhwaj of Hindu religion flying
even at great personal cost and misery.
I have already written enough in these columns about Hindus being
under siege from Islamic fanatics and Christian proselytizers. I have
suggested that we can lift this siege only if we develop a Hindu
mindset, which is a four dimensional concept. But that mind must be
informed, and understand why others do what they do to Hindus before
we can defeat their nefarious designs. Here I suggest therefore that
we Hindus must understand the true nature of Islam before we can
formulate a strategy to defeat those who threaten us. In a later
column I will write about the true nature of Christianity and how to
combat the menace of religious conversions of Hindus.
At this juncture let me add even though I oppose conversion as
violence, as Swami Dayanand Sarasvati boldly wrote to the Vatican
Pope, nevertheless if an Indian Muslim or Christian changes his
religion to Hinduism today, I will not regard it as conversion because
it is a return to the Hindu fold of those whose ancestors had been
forcibly converted.
Unlike Hinduism, which says not a word against non-believers, in fact
says that other religions also lead to God, Islam is harsh on them,
and justifies violence against them as sacred. The choice to non-
believers in Islam is: convert or accept dhimmitude. Hence, the
explanation for Thondi, Rasathipuram, Mau etc., and the duality in
ethics practised by Muslims everywhere. A true Muslim is Dr. Jekyll
when in minority, and Mr. Hyde when in majority.
So what should we Hindus do? First, recognise that being a pious Hindu
is not enough. Hindus must unite and work to install a Hindu-minded
government. If 35 per cent of the 83 per cent Hindus unite to vote for
a party, absolute majority is attainable. If Hindu Dharma Acharya
Sabha, RSS, and VHP decide to mobilise the voter to support a party
that espouses an approved Hindu agenda, then the union government is
within reach through the ballot box. Second, search for those Muslims
who are ready to openly and with pride declare that their ancestors
were Hindus. My guess is that about 75 per cent of Muslims will be
ready to do so. These are the Muslims who can be co-opted by Hindus to
fight Islamic fundamentalism. If we do not do so, then the Muslim
clerics will have a free run of their fanaticism.
For this a required reading is Sri Sri Ravishankar?s Hinduism & Islam:
Dedicated to the People of Pakistan Who have Forgotten Their Own Roots
[www.artofliving.org]. In this Sri Sri Ravishankar has shown how ?
Muslims have completely forgotten that their forefathers were Hindus,
so they have every right to Vedic culture?. He in fact traces the pre-
Islam origins of the K?aaba. Third, invest heavily in primary
education to make it world class, ban the madrasas for any student
below 21 years, and make Sanskrit a compulsory language for all
students.
(The writer is a former Union Law Minister.)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=159&page=31
Sid Harth
Interviews for final Selection of awardees under the Scheme of
National Overseas Scholarship for SC etc. candidates for the Selection
Year 2008-09
http://socialjustice.nic.in/nosinter.php
Quotation for Creative Design of Half Page Color Advertisement on
Republic Day 2010
http://socialjustice.nic.in/republicday2010.php
Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme to promote Voluntary Action
for Persons with Disabilities (Revised DDRS Scheme)
http://socialjustice.nic.in/ddrs.php
List of persons / organizations given National Awards for the
Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities-2009 (54 KB) (PDF file that
opens in a new window)
http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/awardeelist09.pdf
Advertisement for the receipt of nominations for National Award for
outstanding field work in eradicating untouchability and combating
offences of atrocities against Schedued Castes for the year 2009 (141
KB) (PDF file that opens in a new window)
http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/advnaward09.pdf
Proposed Amendments in the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995-
Comments / Suggestions Invited (Notice for Proposed Amendments in the
Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995-Comments / Suggestions Invited (15
KB) (PDF file that opens in a new window) )
http://socialjustice.nic.in/draftpwdact.php
http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/noticepwd.pdf
http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/expnote.pdf
http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/dpwdact.pdf
NGO Partnership System (101 KB) (PDF file that opens in a new window)
http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/ngopartnership.pdf
Scheme for Incentives to employers providing Employment to the Persons
with Disabilities in the Private Sector (Hindi Version of Scheme for
Incentives to employers providing Employment to the Persons with
Disabilities in the Private Sector)
http://socialjustice.nic.in/incentdd.php
Advertisement for inviting applications under the Scheme of National
Overseas Scholarship for SCs etc. Candidates for the selection year
2009-10 (78 KB) (PDF file that opens in a new window)
http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/nos0910.pdf
Published on 14-04-2007 In National
Viewed 2935 times | Written by Cho Ramaswamy
Social injustice
Karnataka government's ignoring rulings of the courts' in the Cauvery
tangle is unjust. The Kerala regime's brazen contempt for judgements
in the Mullaperiyar issue is the worst example of chutzpah. But, the
Tamil Nadu has attempted to do something worse against the Supreme
Court by organising a general strike against its interim pronouncement
because it is supposed to be "social justice."
The Apex Court had spoken its mind in the matter of 27 percent
reservation for "Other Backward Castes" in higher education and
ordered an interim stay on the law in this respect. Though the TN
government opposed and decried the ruling as do most political parties
in the length and breadth of the nation, this is the only state that
dovetailed its allies' [and the entire opposition's] support for a
state sponsored "bandh."
Senior counsel Vijayan has pointed out a hitherto unnoticed aspect of
this issue.
"When the case came up for the first time, its plaintiffs – a certain
youths' association was in the process of organising a strike.
The Supreme Court's interim orders, at that point in time, were in
favour of the government which had opposed it. Forced to accept the
call of the courts, the body called off its mass action. Now, the
state government has acted in a manner so as to insult the voice of
the judiciary. Shouldn't the present regime exhibit the same sense of
responsibility shown earlier by a voluntary organisation," Vijayan
demands to know.
The Supreme Court expressed itself explicitly while ordering an
interim stay in the matter of reservation in education.
The court reiterated its earlier orders which had clearly stated that
the reservations cannot exceed 50 percent…This upper limit [aimed to
keep out] the creamy layer within the Backward Castes was an aspect of
the [collective] wisdom expressed in the articles enshrined in The
Constitution. If breached, this would defeat the very purpose of the
assurance of "equal opportunities" which are the bedrock of all our
laws, the court said. Ensuring that reservations do not go beyond the
prescribed 50 percent limit, that all those who have already been
benefited by the statute are kept beyond its purview and prevention of
their indefinite continuance are the duty of the government.
Backwardness cannot be a permanent feature and therefore ought not to
become endless, the court reflected in its interim order.
These above sentiments expressed by the courts have been stressed in
many articles published several times in Thuglak.
This time, the Supreme Court has pointed out that the census of 1931
cannot be the basis to determine OBCs. Further it said that such an
old yardstick cannot be accepted as the justification for 27 percent
reservation in [central] educational institutions.
Those who oppose these averments of the Apex Court naturally point to
the fact that it did not question reservations in government jobs. But
these sections have failed to comprehend a simple facet of the whole
issue. Different articles in the Constitution have dealt with
reservations in jobs and educational institutions separately and have
differentiated between the two.
While tackling the matter of reservations in jobs, the Constitution
clearly says they are applicable only "to those Backward Classes which
do not have adequate representation."
Shorn of legalese, this means that the founding fathers of our
Constitution had accepted the fact that certain sections of the
population weren't represented in government posts.
But the statute doesn't accept this premise while dealing with the
issue of reservations in educational institutions. The article that
deals with this matter clearly says that the special arrangement is
meant for the uplift of "socially and educationally backward sections"
of the population that encompasses "oppressed and scheduled castes
[and] tribes…"
Since this was based on the situation that prevailed in 1931 [when the
last census was conducted] questions are bound to be raised about its
present applicability.
If this distinction between jobs and education is understood, nobody
would say that the two are on an equal plane.
Between the creation of our Constitution and the present day,
different amendments were made to include several sections in the
populace purely to increase political parties' vote banks. This
resulted in those who depended on merit being totally outnumbered in
blatant violation of the tenets of equality stated clearly in the
Constitution.
Every time the courts opposed such moves, political parties assailed
the judiciary as a matter of habit. The present order of the Supreme
Court isn't a final denouement. Yet, several political outfits are
condemning it as such. The Tamil Nadu government simply went a step
further and organised a "bandh."
"On what basis can the ruling party in Tamil Nadu insist on our
obeying the Supreme Court in the Cauvery and Mullaperiyar issues," is
a poser bound to be raised by the ruling [coalitions] in Karnataka and
Kerala respectively.
Naturally the two "K" states can demand the right to be on an equal
footing with Tamil Nadu in ignoring the Supreme Court!
On several occasions, for different reasons, the powers that be in
many states as well as at the centre have accorded short shrifts to
judgements pronounced in courts. At times, they have rendered their
orders meaningless by amending the laws.
It may happen on this occasion as well.
The words of the judiciary have tasted bitter to governments
regardless of their being regional or national because the courts base
their orders on the Constitution while ruling political arrangements
treaded a different measure due to political conveniences.
The latest imbroglio is an attempt on the part of the political
parties to decimate the bulwarks of democracy enshrined in our laws –
equality and justice for all. If the political class succeeds in its
quest, it would be meaningless to call ourselves a democratic state.
The alibi for this – the cause of "social justice" – is its very
antithesis.
(Translated from Thuglak by TSV Hari)
http://indiainteracts.in/columnist/2007/04/14/Social-injustice-/
Social injustice
Social justice in India means many things to most people. It is a coin
that offers the solution on one side, and promises to retain its
premium value if the extent of social injustice is allowed to grow on
the other. The side that pays the most during election-time is not the
one that has the solution. To the authors of the Constitution ushering
in social justice was an honest commitment with an unrealistic time-
limit. It was this error in the original document that allowed the
political class to turn the policy of job reservation into an
opportunity for creating a captive vote-bank. The two-day national
convention of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other backward
communities in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, organised by the Bharatiya Janata
Party is the latest example of the scale of confusion that politicians
are willing to create by making promises that fly in the face of law
and logic. Of course, since every political party is now playing the
Dalit card, why should the BJP not follow the policy? In the highly
competitive political game of appearing to be different from the other
in championing the Dalit cause, parties are constantly inventing new
agendas. The BJP convention in Mhow has promised to introduce job
reservation in the private sector.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh stole the Dalit thunder
last year by organising a conference of Dalit intellectuals that
adopted a charter of action called the Bhopal Declaration. With
assembly elections round the corner, the BJP has decided to offer
everything short of the moon to break the Congress’ grip over the
levers of power in Madhya Pradesh. Real issues becoming “victims” of
narrow and self-defeating politics have slowed down India’s march
towards economic progress. Population control is a real issue, that no
party wants to touch for the odium attached to it because of Sanjay
Gandhi. Social justice was a low-key issue until 1989. After Mr V. P.
Singh implemented the Mandal Commission report on job reservation, no
leader has shown the moral courage to question the rationale of a
policy that has increased the level of general tension without
offering social and economic emancipation to the country’s vast
underclass. Adopting a resolution is not going to make the private
sector offer jobs without applying the test of merit. Creation of
merit will help the Dalits join the expanding mainstream of
professional excellence without having to feel small in the eyes of
their colleagues. How about a policy that allows Dalits admission in
the best schools in the country? That is where the foundations of
academic excellence are laid. Thereafter, merit alone should be the
benchmark for admission to premium professional courses. Creating
social tension by expanding the size of job reservation will some day
cause an explosion that would make the post-Mandal riots in the
country look like a mild tantrum.
Satyameva jayate
The Union Cabinet’s nod to a proposal to make “truth a defence” in
contempt cases where aspersions have been cast against a judge is
laudable, in that it can remove a gross discrepancy. So far, the
contempt law has been an exception to the fundamental right to the
freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution.
Actually, the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, is silent on whether truth
can be a defence. Perhaps the law was taciturn on this issue because
it was considered inconceivable that a judge could be fallible. But
this silence was interpreted in some cases to mean that even if an
aspersion was true, it still constituted a contempt of court because
it lowered the authority and dignity of the court. While attempting to
remove this grey area, the government has rather enhanced the
authority of the judiciary because the judges occupy such an exalted
place in society that fingers should not be pointed at them, not just
because the law says so, but because the people at large actually
consider them to be beyond reproach. If there is foolproof evidence
against any member of the fraternity that he erred, then the person
making the allegation should not be hauled over coals just because the
wrongdoer happened to be a judge. This immunity was liable to be
misused. One black sheep could have brought a bad name to the entire
community. Even if the unthinkable did not happen, there were chances
that people’s faith in the integrity of the judges would not be as
unflinching as it should be.
Many countries like Australia and New Zealand already have truth as
defence in contempt cases. The Cabinet’s decision that can make the
judiciary more accountable without compromising its autonomy is in
line with the proposals of the National Commission to Review the
Working of the Constitution (NCRWC). In fact, many legal luminaries
have been supporting the move strongly. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer had
advocated in a signed article last year that “… truth and good faith
must be reinstated as sound defences, so that a judge who has
something to hide may be exposed to the … light of truth”. As he had
concluded in the Mulgaokar case dealing with “unsavoury” allegations
against a senior sitting judge, “a benign neglect, not judicial
intemperance, is the sensible therapy of contempt law”. If a political
consensus develops on the proposal, the contempt law can be changed
without amending the Constitution.
Welcome move on Kashmir
Why peace must be pursued
Praful Bidwai
Whatever one’s reservations about Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s political
style and his party’s ideology, one must heartily and unstintingly
welcome his decision to visit Kashmir and launch an initiative for
reconciliation and peace. His visit was undoubtedly a landmark: on
April 18, he became India’s first Prime Minister to address a public
meeting in the valley since the “azadi” militancy broke out in 1989.
This is itself commendable. It also speaks of a positive change in
ground reality. His visit, coming six months after the largely free
and fair Legislative Assembly elections, has kindled new hopes, If his
overture is followed up with wise and purposive moves, we could see
some real progress in resolving one of the most troubled, complex and
bloody disputes in the world.
In Srinagar, Mr Vajpayee attempted a “double whammy”. He held out the
“hand of friendship” to Pakistan, significantly, from Kashmiri soil.
And he offered a dialogue between the Centre and different currents of
opinion in Jammu and Kashmir. Both offers were soon hedged in with
conditions. And yet, they indicate a welcome softening of New Delhi’s
stance. The change of tone and tenor has outlasted the somewhat
dampering effect of the qualifying statements Mr Vajpayee himself made
the following day, reiterating that the talks leading to peace with
Pakistan would only take place once there is an end to cross-border
terrorism. Yet, the impact of the new tone and tenor is welcome.
Of the two initiatives, on Pakistan, and on domestic arrangements
pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, the first is both more important and
likelier to succeed more quickly than the second — for three reasons.
First, Pakistan has responded remarkably positively to India’s offer
of a dialogue and said it is willing to hold it “any time, at any
place and any level.” It has added that it hopes to work out specific
dates for negotiations “within days”. Second, there is growing
recognition within both governments that they cannot indefinitely
sustain their mutual hostility. They are under increasing pressure
from the major powers to defuse rivalry and reach mutual
accommodation.
Only six months ago, India and Pakistan were all ready to go to war.
The reasons why they didn’t basically continue to hold today. The
global situation emerging after the Iraq war has discomfited both by
highlighting their own vulnerability on account of the Kashmir and
nuclear issues. Washington, in its most aggressively unilateralist and
expansionist phase today, has threatened to extend the Iraq conflict
and also turn its attention to South Asia. On March 31, Secretary of
State Colin Powell told The New York Times that “the whole of the
subcontinent’s problems” were part of the “broad agenda” that the US
plans to address soon. South Asian tensions have figured prominently
in the deliberations of Russia, France and Britain too, who have all
called for an India-Pakistan dialogue.
And third, a certain momentum favouring a short time-frame for an
India-Pakistan meeting has been generated, with the planned visit to
South Asia of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in early
May. Despite the latest suicide attacks by militants, it is likely
that both India and Pakistan will make some positive gestures just
ahead of that visit. Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay
Singh says there is already some clarity on certain “modalities” for a
possible India-Pakistan summit and its agenda. More important, Mr
Armitage will probably mediate informally between the two governments
and “facilitate” a future summit — just as he brokered peace between
them twice last year.
This doesn’t argue that a Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting will certainly
happen or succeed. After all, even one terrorist act in India, whether
or not sponsored by Pakistan, can scuttle it altogether. Its success
will depend on how far the two governments are prepared to move away
from their stated “first positions” and explore a new detente or
agenda of peaceful coexistence.
This, in the first place, means they must accept that war is simply
not an option. Neither side can win it. Their nuclear capability has
been a “great leveller”. Nuclear wars cannot be won; they must never
be fought.
To make the summit successful, Islamabad will have to drop its
traditional emphasis on a plebiscite on Kashmir and 50-year-old UN
Security Council resolutions. More important, it will have to
verifiably give up supporting militant violence in Kashmir as an
instrument to coerce India to the negotiating table. It has to
recognise that its support to terrorist militants who kill innocent
civilians at will done nothing to advance the cause of the Kashmiri
people. New Delhi too must do something so that the issue is opened
up. The Kashmiri people must be involved in settling it.
India must take the Shimla Agreement of 1972 seriously. Under it, all
bilateral issues are to be resolved through peaceful discussion. So
far, New Delhi has cited the Shimla accord mainly to oppose a
multilateral dialogue — but never once discussed Kashmir bilaterally
with Pakistan. Changing all this won’t be easy, but if a robust
beginning is made on the basis of some mutually accepted principles,
the process of reconciliation could get rolling. At times like these,
process is everything.
The biggest obstacles here will be the hawks in the two countries who
have a stake in perpetuating a state of mutual hostility. In Pakistan,
they are jehadi Islamists both inside and outside the army. In India,
they are the BJP’s right-wingers who oppose reconciliation with
Pakistan.
This time around, the BJP has supported Mr Vajpayee’s peace gesture,
but somewhat reluctantly. Its first response on April 18 was to oppose
it. Earlier, it enthusiastically welcomed External Affairs Minister
Yashwant Sinha’s diatribe against Pakistan as a “fitter case” than
Iraq for pre-emptive war. Ideological antipathy to Pakistan apart,
this is an important election year for the BJP. In four major Assembly
elections it is pitted against the Congress. Rather than embark on a
new, uncertain, Kashmir and Pakistan policy, it might be tempted to
fall back upon a hawkish line which appeals to its urban elite
constituency.
Piloting a peace process in such a situation will need statesmanship.
Even more difficult will be the domestic Kashmir reconciliation
agenda. Here, the Centre has no clarity whatsoever, although people
like Mr Vajpayee sense that J&K today offers a great opportunity
because of its relatively credible election, and the installation of a
state government which generates hope with its “healing touch”.
However, the Centre is fumbling at the level of strategy. It said it
would talk to all those who abjure violence. Yet, it refused to invite
the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, representing 23 different groups,
to talks. But it should know that there is little political sense in
talking only to “elected representatives”, for most of whom J&K’s
integration with India is unproblematic. It is the others that it must
win over. They include the APHC. The Hurriyat’s influence may have
declined. But it still represents a significant current of opinion in
Kashmir. The Hurriyat would, of course, like the government to apply
the “Nagaland formula” to Kashmir: talks at a high political level;
exclusively with one group; and a ceasefire. In reality, there are too
many differences between Kashmir and Nagaland, and the APHC and the
NSCN. But talking to the Hurriyat on a non-exclusive basis is surely
necessary.
A breakthrough on Kashmir will probably have to wait upon serious
progress in India-Pakistan relations. But the process of
reconciliation must start, both internally and externally. Far too
much is at stake — not least, the lives of millions who could turn
into radioactive dust should war break out. There is simply no
alternative to peace.
MIDDLE
Pathbreaking research!
S. Raghunath
A reader writing to the “letters” column of a national newspaper has
said that the principal reason for the continued brain drain from the
country is that peons in India are paid more and enjoy a better status
than scientists.
The All-India Confederation of Peons (AICP) has taken strong exception
to the tone and tenor of the letter calling it in poor taste and
lacking perspective and smacking of an anti-peon bias.
Talking to mediapersons, a spokespeon said: “We peons have been at the
receiving end of malicious and motivated attacks for far too long and
it’s about time we took a stand. In actual fact, peons are
spearheading pathbreaking research in some of the most esoteric fields
and their work promises to push back the frontiers of knowledge and
pure science. Let me briefly elaborate.”
“Visitors to government offices might have seen surly and ill-tempered
peons sitting motionless for hours on end on rickety wooden stools.
Actually, this is part of an ongoing and well-funded research in three-
dimensional structural analysis and dynamics of lattice bodies whose
object is the development of a one-legged wooden stool for use by
peons in government offices. Just imagine the savings in scarce wood
that will result from the development of one-legged stools!”
Continuing, the spokespeon said: “We peons are heavily involved in
research in greenfield areas of behavioral sciences and reaction of
human psyche under deliberate stress. We let visitors who call at
government offices to transact legitimate business wait for hours on
end, all the while smirking and giving maddeningly vague and evasive
answers to the query, ‘Will I have to wait much longer to see the
sahib?’ and under controlled clinical conditions, we study the stress
caused by our overbearing attitude. I ask you, have Carl Jung or
Sigmund Freud done any work in these fields of human psychology? We
peons are doing it and what do we get in return? Only brickbats and
not bouquets.”
“You’ll be interested to know that peons are also actively pursuing
research in fibre chemistry and textiles. We wear the same khaki
uniform for up to 11 months without washing them even once and we’re
studying the metabolism of sweat glands on khaki cloth. We hope to
soon achieve a breakthru’ in the development of sweat resistant
artificial fibres and textiles.
“No aspect of science and research has escaped our attention and we’re
heavily into medical research, too. Peons of our New Delhi chapter and
working in South Block and Shastri Bhavan are engaged in studying the
effect of caffeine in coffee and tea in cardiac functions of well-
heeled babus and they have observed marked clinical symptoms like
lethargy in disposing of important files and tying the red tape, but
alacrity in demanding higher dearness allowance to neutralise the
rising wholesale price index. They have submitted learned papers to
the Lancet and the British Medical Journal and they are being held
over for publication.”
The spokespeon concluded: “So you can see for yourself that we peons
are working away from the glare of publicity and contributing our
humble mite to the advancement of scientific research and
progress.”
Sanskrit faces uncertain future in Punjab
Jangveer Singh
A part of the Punjab Institute of Oriental and Indian Languages in
Patiala which has been declared unsafe. — Photo Subhash
Imagine a college with three windowless rooms measuring 12 by 12 feet,
having half-broken small wooden benches-cum tables, half of which have
been placed in the lone verandah of the institution. It is housed in a
building, part of which is unsafe and out of bounds for the students.
This is the Punjab Institute of Oriental and Indian languages in
Patiala. In 1963 the institute was named the Government Institute of
Oriental and Modern Indian Languages, Patiala. Before that, it was
known as the Sanskrit Vidyala. It is the oldest Sanskrit institution
in the state having been set up as early as 1860.
This institution, which was once the pride of the state, has been
ignored for decades. It now houses another institution - the
Government Sanskrit Mahavidyala of Nabha - which was transferred to
Patiala in October, 2002. This effectively means there are three small
rooms, a verandah which, on many occasions, is used as a classroom,
and a library hall for the staff of the Sanskrit institution, which
now goes by the high-flying name of Institute of Oriental and Indian
Languages.
“The government has changed the name to give the impression that it
was creating a new institution in which it was merging the Nabha
college”, says one of the teachers of the institution. He adds the
government has not given even a single paisa for the new institution,
that shows how concerned it is even about maintaining the lone
Sanskrit teaching institution of its kind. The institution does not
have even a single room which can be rightly called a classroom. There
are some rooms on the first floor which are used by the Government
Primary and Middle School. An order to vacate the rooms was passed by
a former Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jasbir Singh Bir.
The teacher says part of the college has been renovated through a Rs 1
lakh grant given by former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a
Sangat Darshan programme. The amount was used to strengthen the roof
of the library hall and its adjacent verandah, besides renovating two
rooms, now occupied by the office staff. “This has ensured that at
least the roof will not fall on our heads”, remarks the teacher,
adding that part of the building seems to be beyond repairs and has
been sealed off to ensure that no student steps inside.
But the four teachers at the Sanskrit Mahavidyala, Nabha, didn’t have
a safe roof above. Their college was closed and they were told to
report for duty at the Patiala institute in October last year. Three
of the teachers joined duty at Patiala, while the fourth is fighting
it out in court.
The Nabha institution was run by Acharya Sadhu Ram before it was taken
over by Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha. Subsequently, it was taken over
by the Pepsu government and, finally, by the Punjab Government on the
Pepsu state’s merger. A teacher, Basant Lal, now posted at the Patiala
institution, says the institution was upgraded to a college in 1972
and was earlier housed in the Nabha fort from where it was shifted to
a government building. However, when the building was declared unsafe,
it was shifted to a rented building in 1983. In March, 2002 the
college management was asked not to make new admissions on the plea
that the building was unsafe and the students’ strength had also
declined. The college was subsequently merged with the Patiala
institution to form a new institution.
The institutions may have had a tragic history, but sadder still is
the fate of the Sanskrit language in the state. The student strength
in the new institute has come down to an all-time low of 29 against
last year’s 45. Teachers blame this on lack of any reservation for
students going in for the Shastri graduate course, which is taught
only in Sanskrit. They say the students have to compete for jobs with
students with Sanskrit at the graduation level in which it is taught
in the Hindi medium. “If this is the respect given by the government
to an advanced Sanskrit course, there is little hope for Sanskrit, its
teachers or Sanskrit institutions in the state”, add the teachers.
Panjab University’s low priority to top centre
Ravinder Sud
A view of the V.V.B. institute of Sanskrit at Hoshiarpur
The Vishveshvaranand Vishav Bandhu Institute of Sanskrit and
Indological Studies located at Sadhu Ashram, Hoshiarpur, is fast
losing the very purpose for which it was set up about 100 years ago on
account of the indifferent attitude of the authorities of Panjab
University, Chandigarh.
This world-renowned research institute, situated on the outskirts of
Hoshiarpur city on the Una road and run by Panjab University, offers
five-year postgraduation courses in Shastri and Acharya. There are 75
students, including 30 girls and five research scholars. They are
generally from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Jammu and
Kashmir. Stipends are given to the students of oriental studies.
Dr Damodar Jha, a former Chairman of this institution, tells The
Tribune that there are only 14 teachers as against the sanctioned
posts of 32. Four of them are above 60 and four others are going to
retire shortly. None of the posts, which had fallen vacant on the
retirement of any teacher in the past, was filled.
Besides, the university authorities have shifted six posts from here
to Chandigarh. This has not only adversely affected the studies of
students, but also research work in Sanskrit and indological studies,
including Vedic interpretation.
There is no hostel facility for girl students and the hostel for boys
is run in the rented building of Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research
Institute, adds Dr Jha.
This institute has a big library having 73,408 books, 2,676 hand-
written manuscripts, 123 research journals and 3,093 photocopies of
rare books which are out of print now. But this institution has not
been developed further, he complains.
Tracing its genesis, Prof Inder Kumar Uniyal, Director, VVRI, says
that in 1903 Swami Vishveshvaranand and Nityanand started an office in
Shimla for preparing word indices of the four principal Vedic Samhitas
and a dictionary of the texts. The word indices were issued in four
volumes in 1908-10 and considerable basic material was collected for
the dictionary.
In 1924 the office was shifted to Lahore where it was put under the
charge of Acharya Vishva Bandhu. Under him, the scope of the institute
was widened so as to include the study of different branches of
indology. The institute also set up a teaching wing with classes for
MA, Vidyavachaspati and Shastri in Sanskrit and Prabhakar in Hindi.
Panjab University, Lahore, gave a grant of Rs 1,000 in 1936-37 and an
equal amount in 1937-38.
The university accorded recognition to the work done by the institute
by publishing “A Vedic Word Concordance” and a complete etymological
dictionary.
After partition, the institute got uprooted from Lahore. After much
suffering and loss, it was restarted on its present premises at Sadhu
Ashram, Hoshiarpur.
In 1957, at the instance of the institute, Panjab University opened
its Department of Devanagari Transcription of South Indian
Manuscripts.
Earlier in 1950, Panjab University had extended affiliation to the
institute for starting various courses of study in Hindi and Sanskrit
and the University Grants Commission began to give liberal financial
aid to the institute. The same year the institute extended its
academic activity to Chandigarh by setting up a research centre
there.
In the beginning of 1965, Panjab University made a proposal that the
institute, while continuing to function from Hoshiarpur and
maintaining its entity, should integrate itself with the university.
This proposal was accepted. Accordingly, a part of the institute was
taken over by the university under the new name Vishveshvaranand
Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies (VISIS).
At present 12 research projects, including the compilation of a
dictionary of Vedic interpretation, are being pursued. There is a long
list of 49 research works in various fields of indology published by
this institute.
The Manuscript and Text Editing Section has a collection of more than
10,000 ancient manuscripts, of which 8,360 were catalogued
descriptively in the volume and were published in 1959. A
supplementary catalogue dealing with the remaining manuscripts came to
light in 1975. However, with the transfer of the Lal Chand collection
of rare books and manuscripts to DAV College, Chandigarh, the
institute now has about 2,300 ancient manuscripts.
The VVRI has published 16 volumes of Vedic Concordance of more than
1,1000 pages. The compilation of the dictionary of Vedic
interpretation, which was started by the late Acharya Vishav Bandhu in
1965, is yet to be completed.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030429/edit.htm#5
Social Issues
What Are The Current Social Issues In India? We have already written
on the most common social issues in india and we keep adding more and
more articles regarding the contemporary social issues in india and
social problems faced by India. This is an effort to bring to the
social evils of India to the notice of as many people as possible. You
can contribute and share your views, ideas and articles on "Social
Issues" that ail India.
Currently Available Articles on "Social Issues": Leprosy in India 17th-
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Plight of women in India- Witch branding 8th-Feb-2010
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Caesarean Births in India 14th-Jan-2010
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/caesarean-births-in-india.html
Abortion Worldwide: A Decade of Uneven Progress 21st-Oct-09
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/abortion-worldwide-a-decade-of-uneven-progress.html
Infant Mortality in India 21st-Oct-09
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Khap Panchayat in India 15th-Sep-09
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Smoking among women in India 31st-Aug-09
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Poverty in India 21st-Aug-09
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Public Health System in India 02nd-Apr-09
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Gender Analysis 18th-Feb-09
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Problem of Child Abuse 17th-Feb-09
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Adolescent Health Programme in India16th-Feb-09
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Status of Education in Delhi27th-Jan-09
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State of the World’s Children 2009- UNICEF Report21th-Jan-09
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Honour Killings in India25th-Nov-08
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Universalization of Education in India5th-Nov-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/universalization_of_education_in_india.html
Problems of working women 25th-Oct-08
Malnutrition Deaths in Madhya Pradesh24th-Sept-08
Educational Problems of Women in India27th-August-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/educational-problems-of-women-in-india.html
Female Foeticide in India05th-August-08
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World’s Sanitation Report21th-July-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/worlds-sanitation-report.html
Status of Sex Workers in Delhi21th-July-08
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Alcoholism10th-July-08
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Juvenile Delinquency10th-July-08
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Girls, Women and Poverty12th-June-08
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Untouchability in India12th-June-08
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Infant Mortality in India12th-May-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/infant-mortality-in-india.html
Water problem in India15th-Apr-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/water-problem-in-india.html
Child Malnutrition in India11th-Apr-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/child-malnutrition-in-india.html
The problem of old age in India11th-Apr-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/problem-of-old-age-in-india.html
Global Food Stocks Fall7th-Apr-08
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Millennium Goals India Position7th-Apr-08
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Population -The trends in India7th-Apr-08
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Tuberculosis in India7th-Apr-08
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Female Literacy in Kishanganj District18th-Mar-08
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Polio in India -Latest Situation07th-Mar-08
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Prostitution in India16th-Feb-08
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Beggary in India4th-Feb-08
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Flood Management in India18th-Jan-08
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Crime against women in India18th-Jan-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/crime-against-women-in-india.html
Decline in number of out of school children in India: A Pratham survey
report17th-Jan-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/decline-of-school-children.html
Polio in India8th-Jan-08
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/polio-in-india.html
Child Soldiers of India3rd-Dec-07
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Latest Figures on HIV/AIDS-20073rd-Dec-07
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/latest-figures-on-hiv-2007.html
HIV/AIDS situation in North-East India3rd-Dec-07
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/hiv-situation-in-north-east-india.html
Literacy Situation in India1st-Dec-07
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/literacy-situation-in-india.html
Hunger in India - Impact on Children27th-Nov-07
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/hunger-in-india.html
State of Rural Healthcare in India-NRHM Report23th-Nov-07
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World HIV/AIDS Figures Low23th-Nov-07
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Gender Gap in India15th-Nov-07
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Birth Registration in India12th-Nov-07
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Recent trends in employment in India10th-oct-07
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Elementary Education in India 2005-06 –A Report 10th-oct-07
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Corruption in Education system in India – A UNESCO Report 10th-oct-07
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Plight of HIV/AIDS affected children10th-oct-07
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Rural Sanitation in India10th-oct-07
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Recent Trend of Divorce in India
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Relevance of National Rural Health Mission
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Reproductive Health Status of Women in India
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Female Infanticide in India
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The Status Of Education And Vocational Training In India
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Plight of Indian Women: Victims of NRI marriages
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Problem of Child Abuse
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Sustainable Development
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Class Struggle
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/class-struggle.html
Women Employment in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/Women-Employment.html
Literacy Rate In India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/literacy-in-india.html
Woman Empowerment In India
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Drug Abuse in India
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Dowry System in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/dowry-system-in-india.html
HIV/AIDS in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/aids-in-india.html
Poverty in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/poverty-in-india.html
Population of India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/india-population.html
Child labour in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/child-labour-in-india.html
Rural Girls Education
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/girl-education.html
State of Maternal Health in India
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Unemployment in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/Unemployment-in-India.html
The status of children in India - Findings of UNICEF 2005 report
HIV/AIDS and Women
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/children-of-India.html
Situation of HIV /AIDS in Bihar
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/AIDSinBihar.html
Girl and Women Trafficking in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/WomenTrafficking-in-India.html
Gender Inequality In India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/GenderInequality.html
Domestic Violence Against Women
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Development and Environment are not Contradictory Paradigms
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Urbanization Is A Blessing In Disguise
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NACO covers less than 10% of HIV –infected in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/naco-covers.html
Deadly AIDS numbers rising across the world
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Status of children in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/status-of-children.html
Status of Dalits in India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/status-of-dalits.html
Crime Against Children
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/crime-against-children.html
Migration In India
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/migration-in-india.html
http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/index.html
Key Texts on Social Justice in India
Published by Sage Publicatio...
Editors: Roohi, Sanam Samaddar, Ranabir
ISBN: 978 81 321 0064 5
Format: Hardback
Pages: 1116
List price(s): 150.00 GBP
Publication date: 30 May 2009
Short description
A compendium of key texts on social justice. It brings out the
relational nature of justice as well as the fragmented nature of its
existence. It explores how law fares in delivering justice, how
violence becomes an essential part of the popular notion of justice
and how the dynamics of justice is linked with the emergence of
marginal situations.
Full description
Volume I: Social Justice and Enlightenment: West Bengal is edited by
Pradip Kumar Bose, Professor of Sociology, Centre for Studies in
Social Sciences, Calcutta, Kolkata and Samir Kumar Das, Professor of
Political Science, Calcutta University, Kolkata. This first volume of
the series The State of Justice in India: Issues of Social Justice is
a collection of writings on the state of social justice in the present-
day West Bengal. It studies the strong disjunction between the notion
of enlightened politics, on which the constitutional Left in West
Bengal has thrived for several decades, and social justice. The
articles probe the question: is there a necessary connection between
the politics of communism and attainment of social justice? Social
Justice and Enlightenment: West Bengal is based on ethnographic
studies which suggest that while there is a general regime of justice
in West Bengal, the rule of law as the main mechanism of justice makes
little sense in the presence of specific local judicial practices. It
questions why the archaic rule of law still remains fundamental in the
state governance and concludes that the West Bengal experience
demonstrates that while democracy may widen through the mass entry of
workers, peasants and the rural and urban poor, and though this may
facilitate long-denied political justice for them, this does not
ensure social justice per se. Volume II: Justice and Law: The Limits
of the Deliverables of Law is edited by Ashok Agrwaal, Lawyer,
researcher and civil rights activist and Bharat Bhushan, Editor of the
Daily Mail Newspaper . This second volume of the series The State of
Justice in India: Issues of Social Justice brings together the tension
that brews between law and justice in India. It begins with how our
legislators had engaged in the discourse on justice at the time of the
making of the constitution. The articles highlight the way law has
created dichotomies in its attempt to be the guardian for justice. The
authors have coined the idea of 'justice gap', which unveils the gap
between the claims for justice and governmental regime of justice.
Justice and Law: The Limits of the Deliverables of Law also deals
extensively with the issue of reservation. It has one article
documenting the history of reservations in India, in the background of
political contentions, elections, and judicial activism. The other
article traces how the 'policy game' goes on in the language of courts
and law. Both the articles indicate how the issue of justice is
closely linked to the issue of expansion of democracy. Another article
measures the success of the legal system in providing justice to those
in the margins. This one-of-its-kind book will be an invaluable
resource for academics and researchers studying sociology, law, social
justice, political theory and Indian democracy. It will also be useful
for human rights activists, policy makers, policy analysts and NGOs.
Volume III: Marginalities and Justice is edited by Paula Banerjee,
Head of the Department of South and South East Asian Studies,
University of Calcutta, Kolkata and Mahanirban Calcutta Research
Group, Kolkata and Sanjay Chaturvedi, Professor of Political Science
at the Centre for the Study of Geopolitics and Honorary Director,
Centre for the Study of Mid-West and Central Asia, Panjab University,
Chandigarh. This third volume of the series The State of Justice in
India: Issues of Social Justice shows how marginalities in social
spaces marked by power raise the issue of justice. It deals with the
situation of people living in the margins of the society and their
relationship with communities that enjoy enough material well being to
secure their rights. It reveals how effective governance
unintentionally uses strategies of inclusion, exclusion, differential
exclusion, and, most importantly, techniques of turning spaces into
'marginal enclaves', giving rise to injustice, and thereby, the demand
for justice. Marginalities and Justice demonstrates that justice may
emanate from the dynamics of marginality. The same governmental
techniques that to some extent address issues of social justice, may
produce marginal positions too. Thus, this collection suggests the
existence of a remainder; it demonstrates what remains outside the
operations of governmentality and explores the arrangement of social
spaces. Volume IV: Key Texts on Social Justice in India is edited by
Sanam Roohi, Programme Associate, Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group,
Kolkata and Ranabir Samaddar, Director, Mahanirban Calcutta Research
Group, Kolkata. This fourth volume of the series The State of Justice
in India: Issues of Social Justice is a compendium of key texts on
social justice. It brings out the relational nature of justice as well
as the fragmented nature of its existence. Key Texts on Social Justice
in India explores how law fares in delivering justice, how violence
becomes an essential part of the popular notion of justice and how the
dynamics of justice is linked with the emergence of marginal
situations. Each article is, on one hand, an appeal for justice, and,
on the other, a manifesto that state actions fall short of ensuring
justice. This compilation is meant for the students and researchers
working in the fields of justice, sociology and law. It will serve as
supplementary text in law as well as a source book that gives a
comprehensive analysis of justice in the Indian scenario.
Table of contents
VOLUME I: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ENLIGHTENMENT: WEST BENGAL - Pradip Kumar
Bose and Samir Kumar Das Series Acknowledgement - Ranabir Samaddar
Series Introduction - Ranabir Samaddar Introduction - Pradip Kumar
Bose and Samir Kumar Das Land Acquisition Act and Social Justice: A
Study on Development and Displacement - Ratan Khasnabis Two Leaves and
a Bud: Tea and Social Justice in Darjeeling - Roshan Rai and Subhas
Ranjan Chakrabarty Deprivation and Social Injustice in a Rural
Context: An Ethnographic Account - Kumar Rana with Amrit Paira and Ila
Paira On the Wrong Side of the Fence: Embankment, People and Social
Justice in the Sundarbans - Amites Mukhopadhyay Prescribed, Tolerated,
& Forbidden Forms of Claim Making - Ranabir Samaddar VOLUME II:
JUSTICE AND LAW: THE LIMITS OF THE DELIVERABLES OF LAW - Ashok Agrwaal
and Bharat Bhushan Series Acknowledgement - Ranabir Samaddar Series
Introduction - Ranabir Samaddar Introduction - Ashok Agrwaal and
Bharat Bhushan Justice in the Time of Transition: Select Indian
Experiences - Sabyasachi Basu and Ray Chaudhury The Founding Moment:
Social Justice in the Constitutional Mirror - Samir Kumar Das Indexing
Social Justice in India-A Story of Commissions, Reports and Popular
Responses - Bharat Bhushan Trivializing Justice: Reservation Under
Rule of Law - Ashok Agrawaal The Fallacy of Equality: 'Anti-Citizens',
Sexual Justice and the Law in India - Oishik Sircar VOLUME III:
MARGINALITIES AND JUSTICE - Paula Banerjee and Sanjay Chaturvedi
Series Acknowledgement - Ranabir Samaddar Series Introduction -
Ranabir Samaddar Introduction - Paula Banertjee and Sanjay Chaturvedi
Gulamiya Ab Hum Nahi Bajeibo: Peoples' Expressions for Justice in
Jehanabad - Manish K Jha Ethnography of Social Justice in Dalit Pattis
(Hamlets) of Rural UP - Badri Narayan Tiwari Rights and Social Justice
for Tribal Population in India - Amit Prakash AIDS, Marginality and
Women - Paula Banerjee Towards Environmental Justice Movement in
India? Spatiality, Hierarchies and Inequalities - Sanjay Chaturvedi
VOLUME IV: KEY TEXTS ON SOCIAL JUSTICE IN INDIA - Sanam Roohi and
Ranabir Samaddar Series Acknowledgement - Ranabir Samaddar Series
Introduction - Ranabir Samaddar PART I. DEVELOPMENT AND DISCONTENT:
THE QUESTION OF INJUSTICE Section Introduction Ethnic Politics and
Land Use: Genesis of Conflicts in India's North-East - Sanjay Barbora
Contexts and Constructions of Water Scarcity - Lyla Mehta Karnataka:
Kudremukh: Of Mining and Environment - Muzaffar Assadi Report of
Investigation into Nandigram Mass Killing - Sanhati Eroded Lives:
Riverbank Erosion and Displacement of Women in West Bengal - Krishna
Bandyopadhyay, Soma Ghosh and Nilanjan Dutta PART II. SOCIAL JUSTICE:
THE STATE AND ITS PERCEPTIONS Section introduction The Communal
Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) - Bill
The National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy,
Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 The Right to
Information Act, 2005 The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Policy, 2007 The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
PART III. JUSTICE: LAW AND BEYOND Section Introduction Illegality and
Exclusion: Law in the Lives of Slum Dwellers - Usha Ramanathan Illegal
Coal Mining in Eastern India: Rethinking Legitimacy and Limits of
Justice - Kuntala Lahiri Dutt Verdict on an HIV case, Supreme Court of
India Reproduced in Medhina - Laya, Dipika Jain and Colin Gonzalves An
Indian Charter for Minority Rights - Sabyasachi Basu and Ray Chaudhury
PART IV. WOMEN AND MARGINALITY: An Issue of Gender Justice Section
Introduction Gender: Women and HIV - Medhini, Laya, Dipika Jain and
Colin Gonzalves National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001)
Women, Trafficking and Statelessness in South Asia - Paula Banerjee
PART V. JUSTICE: Marginal Positions and Alternative Notions Section
Introduction Voices From Folk School of Dalit Bahujan & Marginalised
to Policy Makers - Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights Social
Assessment of HIV/AIDS among Tribal People in India - NACP III
Planning Team Caste is Dead, Long Live Caste - G P Deshpande Tehelka
Debate: Beyond Caste - Puroshottam Agarwal Report from the Flaming
Fields of Bihar PART VI. FREEDOM AND EQUALITY, RIGHTS AND SOCIAL
SECURITY: BUILDING BLOCKS OF JUSTICE Section Introduction Jungle Book:
Tribal Forest Rights Recognised For First Time - Nandini Sundar
Informal Sector in India: Approaches for Social Security Arguments,
Protests, Strikes and Free Speech: The Career and Prospects of the
Right to Strike in India - Rajeev Dhavan Democracy and Right to Food -
Jean Dreze
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/key-texts-social-justice-india
Retro-modern India. Forging the Low-caste Self
Published by Routledge
Author: Ciotti, Manuela
ISBN: 978 0 415 56311 6
Format: Hardback
Pages: 312
List price(s): 55.00 GBP 95.00 USD
Publication date: 23 February 2010
Short description
Set in the socio-political milieu of the state of Uttar Pradesh in
north India, this book puts forward an original theoretical approach
to analyse subaltern configurations of modernity within the nation
state. It substantiates this approach by weaving the low-caste
Chamars’ core ethical concerns of humanism with ethnographic accounts
of resilient — as well as newly forged — socio-economic hierarchies,
internalised ideologies of betterment and reform, and the social race
for progress where contestants are very often same-nation citizens.
Full description
Firmly situated within the analytics of the political economy of a
north Indian province, this book explores self-fashioning in pursuit
of the modern amongst low-caste Chamars. Challenging existing accounts
of national modernity in the non-West, the book argues that subaltern
classes shape their own ideas about modernity by taking and rejecting
from models of other classes within the same national context. While
displacing the West — in its colonial and non-colonial manifestations
— as the immanent comparative focus, the book puts forward a unique
framework for the analysis of subaltern modernity. This builds on the
entanglements between two main trajectories, both of which are viewed
as the outcome of the generative impetus of modernisation in India:
the first consists of the Chamar appropriation of socio-cultural
distinctions forged by 19th-century Indian middle classes in their
encounter with colonial modernity; the second features the Chamar
subversion of high-caste ideals and practices as a result of low-caste
politics initiated during the 20th century. The author contends that
these conflicting trends give rise to a temporal antinomy within the
Chamar politics of self-making, caught up between compulsions of a
past modern and of a contemporary one. The eclectic outcome is termed
as ‘retro-modernity’. While the book signals a politics of becoming
whose dynamics had previously been overlooked by scholars, it
simultaneously opens up novel avenues for the understanding of non-
elite modern life-forms in postcolonial settings.
The book will interest scholars of anthropology, South Asian studies,
development studies, gender studies, political science and
postcolonial studies.
Table of contents
Orthography and Transliteration.
Glossary of Selected Terms. Foreword. Acknowledgements.
1. Chamar Modernity: Progressing into the Past
2. ‘Today We Can Touch Anything’: Reflections on the Crux of Identity
and Political Economy
3. Ethnohistories behind Local and Global Bazaars: Chronicle of a
Weaving Community and its Disappearance
4. ‘We Used to Live like Animals’: Education as a Self- and Community-
engineering Process
5. Nonrational Modernity? Religious Agency, Science and Spirits
6. Beyond the Vote: Politics as Sociality, Imagination and Identity
7. The Bourgeois Woman and the Half-naked One: Gendering Retro-
modernity
8. The Politics of Indian Modernity. Bibliography. About the Author.
Index.
Biography
Manuela Ciotti is a social anthropologist with a PhD from the London
School of Economics. She is currently Research Associate at the Centre
for South Asian Studies, University of Edinburgh. She has published
several articles in leading journals on topics ranging from education,
labour ethnohistory, gender and class transformation, and women’s
political activism.
Drawing on research she carried out during the tenure of a Nuffield
Foundation New Career Development Fellowship, Ciotti is completing her
second monograph entitled Political Agency and Gender in India
(forthcoming). An edited volume entitled Femininities and
Masculinities in Indian Politics (forthcoming) develops the different
aspects of the gender and politics nexus. Ciotti’s focus on South
Asian Studies is intertwined with her interests in anthropological
epistemologies and the politics of location and representation;
converging on these, a monograph provisionally entitled 'Producing
Knowledge in Late Modernity: Lessons from India' is under preparation.
Buy here: http://www.routledgepolitics.com/books/Retro-modern-India-isbn9780415563116
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/retro-modern-india-forging-low-caste-self
Jinnah and Tilak: Comrades in the Freedom Struggle
Published by Oxford Universi...
Author: Noorani
ISBN: 978 0 19 547829 7
Format: Hardback
Pages: 350
List price(s): 15.99 GBP
Publication date: 26 August 2010
Short description
The distinguished Indian lawyer and writer, A. G. Noorani, urges his
readers in this incisively argued book to look again at some of the
key events and personalities in the struggle against British colonial
rule in India.
Full description
The distinguished Indian lawyer and writer, A. G. Noorani, urges his
readers in this incisively argued book to look again at some of the
key events and personalities in the struggle against British colonial
rule in India. He begins with 'the forgotten comradeship' between
Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Whatever their other differences, both felt passionately about the
cause of Indian freedom. Jinnah defended Tilak in his trial in 1916 on
sedition charges, and ultimately secured his acquittal. The full text
of the legal proceedings, including Jinnah's powerful speeches for the
defence, are included as an appendix. After Tilak's death in 1920,
Jinnah continued to work closely with political leaders of all
persuasions and was regarded by the British as one of their most
formidable opponents. Noorani argues that only in 1937, following the
conflict over the formation of the provincial ministry in the United
Provinces, did Jinnah abandon his hopes of working jointly with
Congress to achieve independence. Noorani is firmly of the view that
Jinnah wanted a loose confederation in which the rights of the Muslim
population were fully guaranteed rather than the separate state of
Pakistan as it eventually emerged in 1947. He discusses Jinnah's
tactics during the crucial months in 1946 when the Cabinet Mission
Plan was on the table, and argues that the Plan offered a viable
possibility of avoiding Partition. In his opinion, the blame for its
failure rests squarely with Congress and with Gandhi in particular,
although trust and imagination were in short supply on all sides. The
book includes three additional essays by the author, on respectively
why the Suhrawardy-Bose plan for a united Bengal failed, the failure
to provide effective safeguards for minorities in the partition
scheme, and the Haroon report of 1940, together with the text of some
key documents.
Table of contents
CONTENTS LIST;
PREFACE;
1. A Forgotten Comradeship;
2. After Tilak: Jinnah and Gandhi's Congress;
3. The Widening Divide;
4. Wrecking India's Unity;
5. The Gandhi-Cripps Pact;
6. Demise of the Cabinet Mission's Plan;
7. An Embittered Separation;
8. The United Bengal Episode;
9. Assessing Jinnah;
APPENDICES;
1. JINNAH'S DEFENCE OF TILAK: THE COURT PROCEEDINGS;
2. JINNAH'S BATTLES FOR PRESS FREEDOM;
3. THE LUCKNOW PACT, 1916;
4. JINNAH'S 14 POINTS, 1929;
5. JINNAH-RAJENDRA PRASAD PACT, 1934;
6. THE LAHORE RESOLUTION, 1940;
7. STAFFORD CRIPPS' OFFER 1942;
8. THE C.R. FORMULA 1944;
9. JINNAH'S OFFER OF 12 MAY 1946;
10. THE CONGRESS' OFFER OF 12 MAY 1946;
11. THE CABINET MISSION'S PLAN OF 16 MAY 1946;
12. THE MUSLIM LEAGUE WORKING COMMITTEE'S RESOLUTION ON 31 JANUARY
1947 AT KARACHI;
13. THE PARTITION PLAN OF 3 JUNE 1947;
14. JINNAH'S SPEECH TO PAKISTAN'S CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ON 11 AUGUST
1947;
15. SIR CHIMANLAL SETALVAD'S ARTICLE ENTITLED 'INDIA DIVIDED: WHO IS
TO BLAME FOR PARTITION?' THE TIMES OF INDIA; 15 JUNE 1947;
16. MAULANA HASRAT MOHANI'S POEM ON TILAK; AND (A) URDU ORIGINAL (B)
ENGLISH TRANSLATION;
17. JINNAH AND THE MUSLIMS OF INDIA; 18. THE HAROON REPORT
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/jinnah-and-tilak-comrades-freedom-struggle
Key Texts on Social Justice in India
Published by Sage Publicatio...
IndiaSocial issuesLaw & society
Editors: Roohi, Sanam Samaddar, Ranabir
ISBN: 978 81 321 0064 5
Format: Hardback
Pages: 1116
List price(s): 150.00 GBP
Publication date: 30 May 2009
Short description
A compendium of key texts on social justice. It brings out the
relational nature of justice as well as the fragmented nature of its
existence. It explores how law fares in delivering justice, how
violence becomes an essential part of the popular notion of justice
and how the dynamics of justice is linked with the emergence of
marginal situations.
Full description
Volume I: Social Justice and Enlightenment: West Bengal is edited by
Pradip Kumar Bose, Professor of Sociology, Centre for Studies in
Social Sciences, Calcutta, Kolkata and Samir Kumar Das, Professor of
Political Science, Calcutta University, Kolkata. This first volume of
the series The State of Justice in India: Issues of Social Justice is
a collection of writings on the state of social justice in the present-
day West Bengal. It studies the strong disjunction between the notion
of enlightened politics, on which the constitutional Left in West
Bengal has thrived for several decades, and social justice. The
articles probe the question: is there a necessary connection between
the politics of communism and attainment of social justice? Social
Justice and Enlightenment: West Bengal is based on ethnographic
studies which suggest that while there is a general regime of justice
in West Bengal, the rule of law as the main mechanism of justice makes
little sense in the presence of specific local judicial practices. It
questions why the archaic rule of law still remains fundamental in the
state governance and concludes that the West Bengal experience
demonstrates that while democracy may widen through the mass entry of
workers, peasants and the rural and urban poor, and though this may
facilitate long-denied political justice for them, this does not
ensure social justice per se. Volume II: Justice and Law: The Limits
of the Deliverables of Law is edited by Ashok Agrwaal, Lawyer,
researcher and civil rights activist and Bharat Bhushan, Editor of the
Daily Mail Newspaper . This second volume of the series The State of
Justice in India: Issues of Social Justice brings together the tension
that brews between law and justice in India. It begins with how our
legislators had engaged in the discourse on justice at the time of the
making of the constitution. The articles highlight the way law has
created dichotomies in its attempt to be the guardian for justice. The
authors have coined the idea of 'justice gap', which unveils the gap
between the claims for justice and governmental regime of justice.
Justice and Law: The Limits of the Deliverables of Law also deals
extensively with the issue of reservation. It has one article
documenting the history of reservations in India, in the background of
political contentions, elections, and judicial activism. The other
article traces how the 'policy game' goes on in the language of courts
and law. Both the articles indicate how the issue of justice is
closely linked to the issue of expansion of democracy. Another article
measures the success of the legal system in providing justice to those
in the margins. This one-of-its-kind book will be an invaluable
resource for academics and researchers studying sociology, law, social
justice, political theory and Indian democracy. It will also be useful
for human rights activists, policy makers, policy analysts and NGOs.
Volume III: Marginalities and Justice is edited by Paula Banerjee,
Head of the Department of South and South East Asian Studies,
University of Calcutta, Kolkata and Mahanirban Calcutta Research
Group, Kolkata and Sanjay Chaturvedi, Professor of Political Science
at the Centre for the Study of Geopolitics and Honorary Director,
Centre for the Study of Mid-West and Central Asia, Panjab University,
Chandigarh. This third volume of the series The State of Justice in
India: Issues of Social Justice shows how marginalities in social
spaces marked by power raise the issue of justice. It deals with the
situation of people living in the margins of the society and their
relationship with communities that enjoy enough material well being to
secure their rights. It reveals how effective governance
unintentionally uses strategies of inclusion, exclusion, differential
exclusion, and, most importantly, techniques of turning spaces into
'marginal enclaves', giving rise to injustice, and thereby, the demand
for justice. Marginalities and Justice demonstrates that justice may
emanate from the dynamics of marginality. The same governmental
techniques that to some extent address issues of social justice, may
produce marginal positions too. Thus, this collection suggests the
existence of a remainder; it demonstrates what remains outside the
operations of governmentality and explores the arrangement of social
spaces. Volume IV: Key Texts on Social Justice in India is edited by
Sanam Roohi, Programme Associate, Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group,
Kolkata and Ranabir Samaddar, Director, Mahanirban Calcutta Research
Group, Kolkata. This fourth volume of the series The State of Justice
in India: Issues of Social Justice is a compendium of key texts on
social justice. It brings out the relational nature of justice as well
as the fragmented nature of its existence. Key Texts on Social Justice
in India explores how law fares in delivering justice, how violence
becomes an essential part of the popular notion of justice and how the
dynamics of justice is linked with the emergence of marginal
situations. Each article is, on one hand, an appeal for justice, and,
on the other, a manifesto that state actions fall short of ensuring
justice. This compilation is meant for the students and researchers
working in the fields of justice, sociology and law. It will serve as
supplementary text in law as well as a source book that gives a
comprehensive analysis of justice in the Indian scenario.
Table of contents
VOLUME I: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ENLIGHTENMENT:
WEST BENGAL - Pradip Kumar Bose and Samir Kumar Das
Series Acknowledgement -
Ranabir Samaddar Series Introduction -
Ranabir Samaddar Introduction -
Pradip Kumar Bose and Samir Kumar Das Land Acquisition Act and Social
Justice: A Study on Development and Displacement -
Ratan Khasnabis Two Leaves and a Bud: Tea and Social Justice in
Darjeeling -
Roshan Rai and Subhas Ranjan Chakrabarty Deprivation and Social
Injustice in a Rural Context: An Ethnographic Account -
Kumar Rana with Amrit Paira and Ila Paira On the Wrong Side of the
Fence: Embankment, People and Social Justice in the Sundarbans -
Amites Mukhopadhyay Prescribed, Tolerated, & Forbidden Forms of Claim
Making -
Ranabir Samaddar
VOLUME II: JUSTICE AND LAW: THE LIMITS OF THE DELIVERABLES OF LAW -
Ashok Agrwaal and Bharat Bhushan Series Acknowledgement -
Ranabir Samaddar Series Introduction -
Ranabir Samaddar Introduction -
Ashok Agrwaal and Bharat Bhushan Justice in the Time of Transition:
Select Indian Experiences -
Sabyasachi Basu and Ray Chaudhury The Founding Moment: Social Justice
in the Constitutional Mirror -
Samir Kumar Das Indexing Social Justice in India-A Story of
Commissions, Reports and Popular Responses -
Bharat Bhushan Trivializing Justice: Reservation Under Rule of Law -
Ashok Agrawaal The Fallacy of Equality: 'Anti-Citizens', Sexual
Justice and the Law in India -
Oishik Sircar
VOLUME III: MARGINALITIES AND JUSTICE -
Paula Banerjee and Sanjay Chaturvedi Series Acknowledgement -
Ranabir Samaddar Series Introduction -
Ranabir Samaddar Introduction -
Paula Banertjee and Sanjay Chaturvedi Gulamiya Ab Hum Nahi Bajeibo:
Peoples' Expressions for Justice in Jehanabad -
Manish K Jha Ethnography of Social Justice in Dalit Pattis (Hamlets)
of Rural UP -
Badri Narayan Tiwari Rights and Social Justice for Tribal Population
in India -
Amit Prakash AIDS, Marginality and Women -
Paula Banerjee Towards Environmental Justice Movement in India?
Spatiality, Hierarchies and Inequalities -
Sanjay Chaturvedi
VOLUME IV: KEY TEXTS ON SOCIAL JUSTICE IN INDIA -
Sanam Roohi and Ranabir Samaddar Series Acknowledgement -
Ranabir Samaddar Series Introduction -
Ranabir Samaddar
PART I. DEVELOPMENT AND DISCONTENT: THE QUESTION OF INJUSTICE
Section Introduction Ethnic Politics and Land Use: Genesis of
Conflicts in India's North-East -
Sanjay Barbora Contexts and Constructions of Water Scarcity -
Lyla Mehta Karnataka: Kudremukh: Of Mining and Environment -
Muzaffar Assadi Report of Investigation into Nandigram Mass Killing -
Sanhati Eroded Lives: Riverbank Erosion and Displacement of Women in
West Bengal -
Krishna Bandyopadhyay, Soma Ghosh and Nilanjan Dutta
PART II. SOCIAL JUSTICE: THE STATE AND ITS PERCEPTIONS Section
introduction The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and
Rehabilitation of Victims) -
Bill
The National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy,
Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999
The Right to Information Act, 2005
The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
PART III. JUSTICE: LAW AND BEYOND
Section Introduction
Illegality and Exclusion: Law in the Lives of Slum Dwellers -
Usha Ramanathan Illegal Coal Mining in Eastern India: Rethinking
Legitimacy and Limits of Justice -
Kuntala Lahiri Dutt Verdict on an HIV case, Supreme Court of India
Reproduced in Medhina -
Laya, Dipika Jain and Colin Gonzalves An Indian Charter for Minority
Rights -
Sabyasachi Basu and Ray Chaudhury
PART IV. WOMEN AND MARGINALITY: An Issue of Gender Justice Section
Introduction Gender: Women and HIV -
Medhini, Laya, Dipika Jain and Colin Gonzalves National Policy for the
Empowerment of Women (2001)
Women, Trafficking and Statelessness in South Asia - Paula Banerjee
PART V. JUSTICE: Marginal Positions and Alternative Notions Section
Introduction Voices From Folk School of Dalit Bahujan & Marginalised
to Policy Makers -
Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights Social Assessment of HIV/
AIDS among Tribal People in India - NACP III Planning Team Caste is
Dead, Long Live Caste -
G P Deshpande Tehelka Debate: Beyond Caste -
Puroshottam Agarwal Report from the Flaming Fields of Bihar
PART VI. FREEDOM AND EQUALITY, RIGHTS AND SOCIAL SECURITY: BUILDING
BLOCKS OF JUSTICE
Section Introduction Jungle Book: Tribal Forest Rights Recognised For
First Time -
Nandini Sundar Informal Sector in India: Approaches for Social
Security Arguments, Protests, Strikes and Free Speech: The Career and
Prospects of the Right to Strike in India -
Rajeev Dhavan Democracy and Right to Food -
Jean Dreze
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/key-texts-social-justice-india
Social Justice: Sunset or Dawn
Published by Eastern Book Co...
Author: Iyer, V.R.Krishna
ISBN: 978 81 7012 144 2
Format: Hardback
Pages: 176
List price(s): 12.00 GBP
Publication date: 23 July 2008
Short description
Contains lectures that make an impassioned plea for social justice for
India's poor millions who the author says have been denied social
justice by the three great wings of the government the Executive, the
Judiciary and the Parliament.
Full description
Justice Krishna Iyer is a great proponent of social justice. In these
lectures he makes an impassioned plea for social justice for India's
poor millions who he says have been denied social justice by the three
great wings of the government the Executive, the Judiciary and the
Parliament. A prolific writer, Justice Krishna Iyer is known for his
hard hitting but eloquent lectures and writings. First published under
the title, Some Half Hidden Aspects of Indian Social Justice , the
book was sold out within a very short period of time. It has now been
enlarged and two new chapters have been added. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy
case has been given wide treatment, as also other current issues.
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/social-justice-sunset-or-dawn
Politics of Social Exclusion in India, The
Published by Routledge
Editors: Bhattacharyya, Harihar Sarkar, Partha Kar,
Angshuman
ISBN: 978 0 415 55357 5
Format: Hardback
Pages: 208
List price(s): 80.00 GBP 130.00 USD
Publication date: 7 December 2009
Short description
Social exclusion and inclusion are issues of fundamental importance to
democracy. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this book examines at
the multidimensional problems of social exclusion and inclusion, and
the long-term issues facing contemporary Indian democracy.
Table of contents
Introduction - Harihar Bhattacharyya, Partha Sarkar, and Angshuman
Kar
1. Some Theoretical Issues Concerning Social Exclusion and Inclusion
in India - Sobhanlal Datta Gupta
2. Social Exclusion and the Strategy of Empowerment - T. K. Oommen
3. Identity Politics and Social Exclusion in India's North-East: The
Case for Redistributive Justice - N. K. Das
4. Inclusion in Nationhood: Bhudev Mukhopadhyay's Concept of
Jatiyabhav - Harihar Bhattacharyya
5. Rabindra Nath Tagore's Concept of Social Exclusion and Inclusion in
India: A Nation without Nationalism - Jyotirmay Bhattacharyya
6. Identity and Social Exclusion-Inclusion: A Muslim Perspective -
Asghar Ali Engineer
7. Inclusive and Exclusive Development in India in the Post-Reform Era
- Provat Kuri
8. Social Exclusion in India: Evidences from the Wage Labour Market -
Rajarshi Majumdar
9. Polavaram Dam Project: A Case Study of Displacement of Marginalized
People - Sudipti Banerjea
10. Purity as Exclusion, Caste as Division: The Ongoing Battle for
Equality - Jasbir Jain
11. Narrating Gender and Power: Literary and Cultural Texts and
Contexts - Sanjukta Das Gupta
12. The Fire and the Rain: A Study in Myths of Power - Anima Biswas
13. Conclusion: Democracy at the Crossroads - Harihar Bhattacharyya,
Partha Sarkar, and Angshuman Kar List of Contributors
Biography
University of Burdwan, India
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/politics-social-exclusion-india
Social Movements I: Issues of Identity
Published by Oxford Universi...
Editor: Oommen
ISBN: 978 0 19 806327 8
Format: Hardback
Pages: 272
List price(s): 24.99 GBP
Publication date: 31 January 2010
Short description
This volume brings together a selection of readings on movements
related to religion and caste, as well as regionalism, and linguistic
and tribal movements in India, examining them with respect to the
construction and perception of identity.
Full description
In the ongoing process of social transformation, new identities are
often constructed, while existing identities may mutate or transform,
and some might even be rendered obsolete. Social Movements I: Issues
of Identity, part of the Oxford in India Readings in Sociology and
Social Anthropology (OIRSSA) series, examines the phenomenon of social
movements in India with respect to the construction and perception of
identity. It brings together a selection of readings on movements
related to religion and caste, as well as regionalism, and linguistic
and tribal movements in India. It specifically addresses (a) the
abbreviation and even abrogation of identities versus elaboration of
identities; (b) the tensions between group identity and individual
equality believed to be pulling in opposite directions; (c) identity
as the basis of inclusion and exclusion of citizens in the
participatory processes in the polity and economy; and (d) perceiving
identity of minorities as a source of threat for the nation and the
state by the dominant majority, as against invoking identity as the
route to justice by the weak/dominated minorities. These issues are
relevant in situating identitarian movements in the wider context.
This reader will be useful for students and scholars of sociology,
anthropology, social history, Indian politics, and those studying
Indian society and social movements in particular.
Table of contents
PREFACE, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;
GENERAL INTRODUCTION: ON THE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (T.K.
OOMMEN);
SECTION I - RELIGIOUS AND CASTE MOVEMENTS;
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION I;;
1. Socio-religious Movements of the Twentieth Century (Kenneth W.
Jones);;
2. Ethno-religious Mobilization and the Politics of Secularism
(Christophe Jaffrelot);;
3. Caste and Conversion Movements (Walter Fernandes);;
4. Different Shades of Dalit Mobilization (Vivek Kumar);;
5. The Tabhlighi Jama'at: The Making of a Transnational Religious
Movement (Shail Mayaram);;
SECTION II - REGIONAL, LINGUISTIC AND TRIBAL MOVEMENTS;
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION II;;
6. Foundations of the Dravidian Movement (Robert L. Hardgrave);;
7. The Shiv Sena Movement (Dipankar Gupta);;
8. The Assam Movement (Sanjib Baruah);;
9. Tribal Solidarity Movements in India (Surajit Sinha);;
10. Christian Conversion Movements in the North East (Frederick S.
Downs); Notes on Contributors
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/social-movements-i-issues-identity
Social Movements II: Concerns of Equity and Security
Published by Oxford Universi...
Editor: Oommen
ISBN: 978 0 19 806328 5
Format: Hardback
Pages: 376
List price(s): 26.99 GBP
Publication date: 31 January 2010
Short description
This reader brings together a selection of writings on peasant and
labour movements; women and students youth movements; and ecological
and environmental movements. It discusses contemporary social
movements in India from the perspective of equity and security.
Full description
Inequity manifests in different forms in different contexts - it could
based on income disparity, gender, and class, and impact different
aspects of society. Social Movements II: Concerns of Equity and
Security, part of the Oxford in India Readings in Sociology and Social
Anthropology (OIRSSA) series, examines the phenomenon of social
movements in India with respect to the concerns of equity and security
as two forces behind contemporary social movements. The issue of
equity is concerned not only with income and class but is also related
to ideas of development and distributive justice for peasantry and
labour. It is also the focus of groups such as women and the youth,
which occasion protests and mobilizations. Moreover, in the current
scenario, booming economies, soaring populations, and choices of
development strategies have a bearing on the rise of social movements
related to ecology and the environment. This reader brings together a
selection of essays that explore the various dimensions of equity, and
also covers issues of environmental and ecological security. These are
imperative in situating related social movements in the wider context.
This reader will be useful for students and scholars of sociology,
anthropology, social history, Indian politics, and those studying
Indian society and social movements in particular.
Table of contents
PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; GENERAL INTRODUCTION: ON THE ANALYSIS OF
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (T.K. OOMMEN);
SECTION I - PEASANT AND LABOUR MOVEMENTS;
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION I;;
1. Indian Peasant Uprisings (Kathleen Gough);;
2. Naxalbari Peasant Movement (Partha N. Mukherji);;
3. The Bhoodan Gramdaan Movement (T.K. Oommen);;
4. . The new Farmer's Movement in Maharashtra (D.N. Dhanagare);;
5, The Indian Labour Movement: Growth and Character (S.M. Pandey);;
6, Changing Industrial Relations: India, 1950-2000 (Debashish
Bhattacharjee);;
7. Labour Activism and Women in the Unorganised Sector (Supriya Roy
Chowdhury);;
SECTION II - WOMEN AND STUDENTS YOUTH MOVEMENTS;
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION II; ;
8. Changing Terms of Political Discourse: Women's Movement in India,
1970s-1990s (Indu Agnihotri and Vina Mazumdar);;
9. The Anti-dowry Movement in Delhi (Rajni Palriwala);;
10. The Self-Employed Women's Association (Martha A. Chen);;
11. The Transformation of the Indian Students' Movement (Philip G.
Altbach);;
12, Student Power: Mobilization and Protest (T.K. Oommen);
Section III - Ecological and Environmental Movements;
Introduction to Section III;;
13. Ecology Movements in India (Vandana Shiva);;
14. . Parks, People and Protest: The Mediating Role of Environmental
Action Groups (Ranjit Dwivedi);;
15. . Protest against Displacement by Development Projects (T.K.
Oommen);
Notes on Contributors;
Index
http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/social-movements-ii-concerns-equity-and-security
Sovereignty and Social Reform in India: British Colonialism and the
Campaign Against Sati
Published by Routledge
Author: Major, Andrea
ISBN: 978 0 415 58050 2
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
List price(s): 75.00 GBP 125.00 USD
Publication date: 30 June 2010
Short description
Offers an important reinterpretation of major themes of sovereignty,
authority and social reform in colonial South Asian history. Focusing
on the British prohibition of sati in 1829, this book shows how the
debates that preceded this legislation have been instrumental in
setting the terms of post-colonial debates about sati.
Full description
This book offers an important reinterpretation of major themes of
sovereignty, authority and social reform in colonial South Asian
history. Focusing on the British prohibition of sati in 1829, the
author shows how the debates that preceded this legislation have been
instrumental in setting the terms of post-colonial debates about sati,
as well as of defining the terms and parameters of British involvement
in Indian social and religious issues more generally.
Table of contents
1. Introduction 2. Princes, Politics and Pragmatism: British Policy on
Sati in the Indian States 1830-1860 3. Prohibition, Prevention and
Prosecution: The Practicalities of Suppressing Sati 4. Romance, Race
and Rule: Imagining Sati in Rajput Society 5. Victimhood and Volition:
British Encounters with the Satimata 6. Conclusion
Biography
Andrea Major is Lecturer in Wider World History at the University of
Leeds. Her research interests relate to the nature of the colonial
encounter between Britain and India, and in particular their
interaction on social and gender issues.
chhotemianinshallah
Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir
Mridu Rai
Paper | 2004 | $28.95
320 pp. | 5 x 8
Paper $20.00
Full Text of this book, thanks to the Google.
http://books.google.com/books/princeton?hl=en&q=Hindu+Rulers%2C+Muslim+Subjects%3A&vid=ISBN9780691116884&btnG.x=15&btnG.y=10#v=snippet&q=Hindu%20Rulers%2C%20Muslim%20Subjects%3A&f=false
Disputed between India and Pakistan, Kashmir contains a large majority
of Muslims subject to the laws of a predominantly Hindu and
increasingly "Hinduized" India. How did religion and politics become
so enmeshed in defining the protest of Kashmir's Muslims against Hindu
rule? This book reaches beyond standard accounts that look to the 1947
partition of India for an explanation. Examining the 100-year period
before that landmark event, during which Kashmir was ruled by Hindu
Dogra kings under the aegis of the British, Mridu Rai highlights the
collusion that shaped a decisively Hindu sovereignty over a subject
Muslim populace. Focusing on authority, sovereignty, legitimacy, and
community rights, she explains how Kashmir's modern Muslim identity
emerged.
Rai shows how the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was formed as
the East India Company marched into India beginning in the late
eighteenth century. After the 1857 rebellion, outright annexation was
abandoned as the British Crown took over and princes were incorporated
into the imperial framework as junior partners. But, Rai argues,
scholarship on other regions of India has led to misconceptions about
colonialism, not least that a "hollowing of the crown" occurred
throughout as Brahman came to dominate over King. In Kashmir the Dogra
kings maintained firm control. They rode roughshod over the interests
of the vast majority of their Kashmiri Muslim subjects, planting the
seeds of a political movement that remains in thrall to a religiosity
thrust upon it for the past 150 years.
Review:
"Rai's contribution lies in the extremely thorough and painstaking
documentation that she provides when tracing the marginalization of
the native inhabitants of Kahmir, the chicanery of the British, and
the fecklessness of the Dogra rulers. Her account of the growth of
Muslim religio-political consciousness in the early part of the
twentieth century . . . unearths a wealth of detail. . . . Rai's book
is a useful one. Those interested in understanding the background of
the continuing tragedy in Kahmir will find much to consider in her
substantial account of the historical backdrop."--Sumit Ganguly,
Journal of Asian Studies
Endorsements:
"Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects is a brilliant work of historical
scholarship that will become indispensable reading for all those
interested in the modern history and politics of the subcontinent. It
a pioneering historical study of rights, religion, and regional
identity in Kashmir that could also inspire future studies on other
regions of the subcontinent."--Sugata Bose, Harvard University
"This is a major contribution to Kashmir studies and should set the
standard for the next generation of publications on Kashmir.
Challenging the existing literature, this work is heady and fresh--and
deserves attention."--Alexander Evans, King's College London and the
Royal Institute of International Affairs
"Mridu Rai's book reminds us powerfully of the crucial importance of
colonial history to the present. She is able to de-essentialize
religion and secularism in the Kashmir conflict, which is very useful
in light of India's secularist claims and the ways in which some
sociologists have theorized those claims. Carefully researched and
lucidly conceptualized and written, this book forwards an important
thesis on an important topic."--Peter van der Veer, University of
Amsterdam
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements x
Abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1: Territorializing Sovereignity: The Dilemmas of Control and
Collaboration 18
CHAPTER 2: The Consolidation of Dogra Legitimacy in Kashmir: Hindu
Rulers and a Hindu State 80
CHAPTER 3: The Obligations of Rulers and the Rights of Subjects 128
CHAPTER 4: Contested Sites: Religious Shrines and the Archaeological
Mapping of Kashmiri Muslim Protest 183
CHAPTER 5: Political Mobilization in Kashmir: Religious and Regional
Identities 224
Conclusion 288
Glossary 298
Bibliography 305
Index 319
Book Review
Mridu Rai. Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the
History of Kashmir. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2004. Pp.
xi, 335. Cloth $65.00, paper $22.50.
Chitralekha Zutshi. Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity,
and the Making of Kashmir. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Pp. xvi, 359. $35.00.
Ever since the India-Pakistan near war of 2001–2002, we have been
subject to an incessant flow of words on the Kashmir conflict. Sadly,
this deluge has done little to enhance our knowledge of the subject.
Bar changing the odd adjectives, adding a little detail, or inserting
the views of the proverbial man on the street, little has been added
to Sumit Ganguly's Crisis in Kashmir: Portents of War, Prospects of
Peace (1997) or Victoria Schofield's Kashmir in Conflict: India,
Pakistan, and the Unending War (2000). Two new histories have been
widely applauded for constituting a happy break with this dismal
tradition. Little attention has been paid, however, to the
considerable theoretical and empirical problems presented by Mridu
Rai's and Chitralekha Zutshi's books. 1
Both Rai and Zutshi deal with a critical period in the history
of Jammu and Kashmir: the century of Dogra monarchical rule that
preceded the independence of India and Pakistan, and the division of
the state between the two powers in the course of the war of 1947. It
was in this period that the welter of territories that constitute
modern Kashmir were welded together under a single power, a
consequence of Britain's handing over of the region to Maharaja Gulab
Singh, a prince who sided with the empire's war of conquest against
the Sikh kingdom of Lahore. Like the other semi-independent states of
princely India, Kashmir witnessed a constant struggle for influence
between the monarchy and the imperial government. It was to become the
site of a number of other contestations: of monarch against democrat;
of empire against nationalist; of Hindu against Muslim; of peasant
against landlord. 2
Rai sees this century as one in which a "Hindu State" was
formed, the consequence of the Dogra monarchy's search for legitimacy.
Lacking any real basis for its sovereignty over the peoples whose
destinies it now controlled, it responded by inventing a history in
which the Dogra dynasty represented both the Hindu faith and Rajput
martial tradition. Rai maps this process by carefully documenting the
Dogra monarchy's growing control of Hindu religious practice in
Kashmir, notably through state-controlled trusts. Since the state was
Hindu in character, Rai concludes, "religion and politics became
inextricably intertwined in defining and expressing the protest of
Kashmiri Muslims against their rulers" (pp. 16–17). 3
Zutshi arrives at similar conclusions, but with considerably
more attention to nuance and detail. Her study of the workings of
Dogra rule suggests the need for a careful examination of what, if
any, meaning the notion of a "Hindu state" may have actually had to
contemporaries. There was, Zutshi's narrative suggests, no unilinear
project of Hinduization under the Dogras; rather, there were complex
and fluid processes of collaboration and conflict among various
categories of elites, both Hindu and Muslim. Kashmir's small Brahmin
community, the Pandits, whom Rai sees as key collaborators of the
Dogra project, emerge at least one point in Zutshi's book as its most
bitter opponents. Notions of a homogeneous Kashmiri Muslim identity,
Zutshi's analysis suggests, need to be tempered by an understanding of
the working of caste, class, and ideology.
Customer Review
The Challenging Natures of Kashmir, May 25, 2007
By T. Dodge
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
"Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects" covers the macro historical, social,
religious, and political highlights in Kashmir from about 1840 to
1950. It is a fascinating view into a world far distant but fearfully
close as two modern nuclear armed adversaries seek domination over the
mystical lands of Kashmir. This is a book of essential preliminary
understandings to the current situation in the region and of the
volumes I have encountered is the best. I hope the author contemplates
another book dealing with the post 1947 era. For those seeking recent
political happenings, I suggest "Kashmir" by Sumantra Bose.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1TLIUMBUTBR1D
Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of
Kashmir
by Mridu Rai
maryum's review
excellent book!!! really worthwhile reading and very meticulous
research on the impact of colonialism on kashmir. one of the few books
that looks at the kashmiri conflict from the perspective of the
kashmiris and not as a pawn in an india-pakistan chess match.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/370620
Paper $20.00
31% off regular price
Paper: $28.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-11688-4
File created: 10/18/2009
Questions and comments to: webm...@press.princeton.edu
Princeton University Press
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLV, No 38
Book Review: ’The Hindu-Muslim Divide : A Fresh Look by Amrik Singh’
Sunday 9 September 2007
[(BOOK REVIEW)]
The Hindu-Muslim Divide : A Fresh Look by Amrik Singh; Vitasta
Publishing Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; 2007; pp. XIV+238; Rs 345.
It is ironic that around the time we are celebrating 60 years of
India’s independence, the subject under discussion here is the Hindu-
Muslim divide, instead of it being harmony between members of
different communities in our free country. But one has to face the
facts and hence this discourse.
The author of the book under review, Dr Amrik Singh, starts it with a
painful note: “As generally recognised, the Hindu-Muslim divide has
existed in India for about thousand years. The partition of India into
India and Pakistan in 1947 was the latest instalment in this
longstanding dispute.” (p. 3) But soon he sounds a note of optimism:
“But one thing is clear that, despite signals to the contrary, the two
warring communities are nearer an understanding with each other than
ever before.” No convincing reason is provided for the optimistic
note, and the author goes further and adds that the situation is
likely to change in about half a century or more (what a satisfying
thought!), even though it is stated: “In these matters, no one can be
precise.”
It is not very easy to agree with the author’s assertion about the
thousand year old Hindu-Muslim divide. For, India is known for its
composite culture, and quite a good part of the last thousand years
have been known to be marked by considerable harmony with some
aberrations. But aberrations are at times unavoidable and even the
intra-community conflicts and divisive trends have been there in the
concerned groups. When the Pakistani leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,
during the more fanatic phase of his political life (something the
author makes a reference to) had talked about a thousand year war, his
bravado had the future in mind.
One would, in fact, like to go back to much older times, than the last
thousand years. It may be pointed out that composite culture had been
the feature of India even before the beginning of the first century
AD. The contributing influences all these years had been the teachings
of Gautam Buddha, the Vedic and Vedantic ideals of tolerance and
spiritual values, the disarming qualities of the Sufi value and the
noble sentiments of the Bhakti movement, and, more recently, the
thoughts of personalities like Swami Vivekananda, Maulana Azad, Altaf
Husain Hali and those believing in secular ideals among other factors.
While the commingling of Sufi and Bhakti ideals is an extremely
cherished heritage of the past, the state of confrontation, in recent
times, one has to admit, between the campaign of Tableegh and Shuddhi
(mentioned by the author while stating the effort of Hinduism for
‘semitisation’) (p. 132) is a tragic episode in our saga of composite
culture : like a bad dream one would perhaps like to forget.
EVEN without agreeing fully with the basic statement of the author
with regard to a thousand year old divide one would like to praise him
for covering the subject of Hindu-Muslim divide in a very
comprehensive manner particularly in the recent past. Dr Amrik Singh
has covered the entire ground by recounting how the spirit of mutual
understanding and conciliation gave way to conflict between the
Muslims and Hindus. Much discussion is available about the factors
responsible for this conflict leading to the partition of the country
along with its independence, the roles of leaders of the two
communities during those traumatic years and, indeed, the shape this
conflict has taken in today’s India.
The book is in the form of notes on different subjects relevant to its
theme, probably written at different points of time. But it contains a
wealth of information on the nature and cause of the divide—the
machinations of the British rulers, the folly of partition, the
practice of separate electorates, and even the complexities of adult
franchise and a joint electorate, the polarisation between the two
communities, the present concept of Hindutva and many other factors
that the author has painstakingly gone into. The author has laid great
emphasis on the need for pluralism and for a policy “in the direction
of reducing the Hindu-Muslim divide and work towards what has been
described as pluralism,” as he puts it.
Dr Amrik Singh has given some very perceptive opinions of acknowledged
experts on Hinduism and Islam, some approvingly while others with his
note of critique. Consider the quote from the eminent historian, Prof.
M. Habib (whom he describes as the “tallest historian of medieval
India”):
A Hindu feels it is his duty to dislike those whom he has been taught
to consider the enemies of his religion and his ancestors; the Muslim,
lured into the false belief that he was once a member of a ruling
race, feels insufferably wronged by being relegated to the status of a
minority community. Fools both! Even if the Muslims eight centuries
ago were as bad as they were painted, would there be any sense in
holding the present generation responsible for their deeds? It is but
an imaginative tie that joins the modern Hindu with Harshvardhana or
Asoka, or the modern Muslim with Shahabuddin or Mahmud.
“That these words were written several years after the partition makes
them even more relevant than they would have been otherwise,” says Dr
Amrik Singh and every rightly. (p. 200) Members of both the
communities can gain from introspecting in the light of the late
historians’ observation.
At another place, the author quotes Girilal Jain who, according to
him, “apart from being a leading journalist, was a keen student of
Hinduism”: Unlike the Muslims, the Hindus do not possess a vision of
the future, which is rooted in the past for a variety of reasons, one
of them being that, unlike the Muslims, they have not been able to
invent a golden age which can be located in any kind of history and
that they cannot invent one. While, they would, if challenged, vaguely
own up all Indian history up to the beginning of the Muslim invasions
of north India in the 11th century, they do not identify themselves
with any particular period. Indeed, they have little sense of history.
So how can they have a golden age and how can a people without such a
sense engage in revivalism? What can they seek to revive? Hinduism is
an arbitrary imposition on a highly variegated civilisation, which is
truly oceanic in its range. Such a civilisation cannot be enclosed in
a narrow doctrine. It cannot have a central doctrine because in its
majestic sweep it takes up all that comes its way and adapts it to its
over-widening purpose, rejecting finally what is wholly alien and
cannot be accommodated at all. Attempts have been made to build
embankments around this ocean-like reality to give it a shape and
definition. But these have not succeeded. The spirit of India has
refused to be contained. To put it differently, Hinduism has refused
to be organised. By the same token, it has refused to be communalised.
(p. 135)
Amrik Singh reacts to Jain’s stipulations: “While it is true that
Hinduism has refused to be organised and it has refused to be
communalised, how is it that today we witness what Nehru once
described as ‘non-Muslim aggression among Muslims’?” The author says
that this phrase of Nehru occurs in one of his letters addressed to
the Chief Ministers after the police action in Hyderabad.
IN the context of the Hindutva philosophy, it would be relevant to
consider the following quote from the late K.R. Malkani who became
known as the Editor of the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, and an ideologue
of the Bharatiya Janata Party:
The Muslim Indian should realise that Hinduism is not a religion, but
a culture. That he is Muslim by religion but Hindu by culture. Let
Indonesia with its Muslim religion and native Hindu culture be the
model for the Muslim in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. (p. 138)
Malkani’s prescription is not possible, says Amrik Singh, either in
terms of physical or political considerations or in terms of their
historical evolution. “While Hinduism has a hoary tradition behind it,
the pre-Islamic traditions in Indonesia are not even clearly defined.”
Incidentally, at the time of writing this review a mammoth gathering
of Muslim men and women with hijab (about 100,000) including scholars
and religious leaders from different parts of the world, is
deliberating in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, in search of ways to
establish a single Muslim government in the Islamic world (on the
ideals of Khilafat-e-Islamia) largely at the initiative of a group of
Indonesian Muslims. But that is another story that needs to be
considered in its own context.
The author feels that the effort to remove the present divide has
largely to be on the part of the Congress party. The removal of the
divide is linked with economic and political development of the
country. He says, “The Congress—currently in power—owes it to the
Muslims to bring them at par with others and thereafter involve them
in the process of development, both economic and political. The
Congress also has the further obligation to help the Muslims to draw
abreast of others socially.” (p. 191)
The author says that in seeking to separate from India, they (the
Muslims) followed a path which culminated in the partition of India in
1947. In the ultimate analysis that was a mistake, which Jinnah and
those who followed him had made. “Since the kind of Islamic future
that the Muslims of the subcontinent had aspired for themselves is
running into problem, sooner or later the thinking of the Muslim world
will make them learn from experience and come to terms with the
changed reality. But when? It is difficult to answer this question,”
the author says.
The author is of the view that the solution to the Hindu-Muslim divide
is linked, to a great extent, with the normalisation of relations
between India and Pakistan. The problem in India cannot be isolated
from the problem in Pakistan. The triumph of fundamentalism will be
bad for Indian Muslims as well. An end to confrontation would help
remove the divide in India, he says.
What, according to the author, is the prospect of the Hindu-Muslim
divide disappearing?—one may ask. He talks very enthusiastically of an
Indian version of globalisation. This globalisation is the result of a
“new mix of policies”, that are going to help all Indians including
Muslims.
He states: What has made it easier for India to adjust to the changing
world relatively more easily is partly because Hinduism is more
adjustable to the logic of the contemporary idea of development. If
India succeeds in this experiment, as seems to be happening, the
Indian Muslims too can before long, become a part of this experiment.
Currently, they are somewhat estranged from the mainstream. (p. 225)
Dr Amrik Singh would want the Indian Government to push ahead
vigorously with the spread of education and the Indian Muslims to give
evidence of some “political initiative” and “political maturity”.
According to the author, the confrontation with the United States now
“...is partly coming in the way of the Islamic world breaking with her
past”. If the US were not so confrontationist, he says, things in the
Islamic world would to some extent start changing, “sooner than is
happening at the moment”. According to him, India’s role in this
context is “positive, if not also praiseworthy”. And, India’s version
of globalisation can prompt others, even those in the Islamic world,
to move in that direction.
Dr Amrik Singh feels that if what is stated above happens, the “Hindu-
Muslim divide in India will gradually weaken”. More than that, he
says, this would give rise to “a new era in world history in more than
one sense”. What happens in India, according to him, would be of
considerable historical significance. “Indeed, it can also prove to be
a development of a wider economic and cultural significance.” Amen!
The reviewer, a veteran journalist who worked for several years in
Mainstream, currently edits the periodical Alpjan.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article302.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLVI No 28
Day One in Calcutta
Monday 30 June 2008, by From NC’s Writings
Ten years ago, in the afternoon of June 27, 1998, Nikhil Chakravartty
breathed his last. Remembering him after 10 years, we are reproducing
some of his finest reports, editorials and articles that appeared in
this journal and elsewhere over the last sixty years. We are also
reproducing the speech that our former President, K.R. Narayanan,
delivered while unveiling N.C.’s portrait at the Press Council of
India (New Delhi, February 28, 1999), and publishing several
reminiscences by those who knew him intimately.
The following report by Nikhil Chakravartty, the Calcutta
correspondent of People’s Age (published from Bombay), appeared in the
weekly’s August 24, 1947 issue (it was wired from Calcutta on August
17, 1947) under the following headlines : ‘End of a Nightmare and
Birth of New Dawn!’; ‘Calcutta Transformed by Spirit Of Independence’;
‘Hindus, Muslims Hug Each Other In Wild Joy—Tears Roll Down Where
Blood Once Soaked The Streets’.
Frenzy has overtaken Calcutta. It is a frenzy which no city in India
has ever felt through the long years of thraldom under the British.
When the clock struck midnight and Union Jacks were hauled down on
August 15, 1947, the city shook to her very foundations for a mad
frenzy overtook her 40 lakh citizens. Nothing like this has ever
happened before.
I have racked my brains for hours; I have looked up all despatches in
the Press; but still I find no adequate words to communicate the
unforgettable experience that has overwhelmed me in the last three
days. It is like a sudden bursting of a mighty dam: you hear a
deafening roar of water sweeping away everything in the flood. It
comes with a crushing suddenness and strikes with the strength of a
thousand giants.
That is how all of us in Calcutta have felt in the last few days—all
of us, old or young, man or woman, Hindu or Muslim, rich or poor. In
this mighty sweep of the flood none was spared. And the floods carried
off a lot of dirt and stigma of our slavery.
Calcutta is Reborn
ONE hundred and ninety years ago, it was from Calcutta that Clive set
out of conquer this land of ours and it was this city which was the
seat of all his vile intrigues that divided our ranks and brought
about our defeat. But today in the sweeping torrent of freedom all
that has been wiped away, and once again this beloved city of ours
stands out clean and full of radiance with the glow of lasting
brotherhood.
Everybody felt nervous about August 15. Weeks ahead authorities were
on tenterhooks; more police and military were being posted to ensure
peace. Ministers would not permit meetings in the open to celebrate
the transfer of power, afraid that the goondas might create trouble.
East Bengal Hindus were nervous that one little spark in Calcutta
might throw the entire province into the flames of a civil war;
Muslims were panicky that they might be finished off in Calcutta and
many had left the city.
Gandhiji had already moved his camp to one of the most affected areas—
Belliaghata—and cancelling his East Bengal trip, had decided to spend
a few days here with Suhrawardy. But even he was disturbed by rowdy
goondas, backed by communal groups, accusing him of being an enemy of
Hindus. News from the Punjab was bad. On the whole an uncanny fear
gripped everybody and the day of independence seemed like a deadline
for disturbances.
But how wrong were our calculations! With all our pretensions of
knowing our people, with all the prophecies and warnings, bans and
precautions, no one really knew how the people—common men and women
among both Hindus and Muslims—would come forward to celebrate August
15. It was this unknown factor, which in every turn of history is the
determining factor, that has made all the difference in our
calculations and the actual happenings on that day.
People’s preparations for the celebrations of the day went on briskly,
though imperceptibly. The demand for Tri-colours knew no bounds;
whatever be the material, whatever the make, every flag was literally
sold out. Even the poorest of the poor, coolie, scavenger or rickshaw-
puller, bought the Jhanda. In paras and mohallas boys and girls were
getting ready practising drills or formations, organising Prabhat
Pheris. Party differences, personal bickerings, etc. were forgotten.
Discordant voices there were, but they did not matter. Mahasabha first
raised the slogan of black flags, but then piped down and declared non-
participation. But all the prestige of Shyamaprosad could not make any
impression on the very people whom he had swayed during the Partition
campaign.
Forward Bloc and Tagorites also opposed the celebration on the ground
that real freedom was yet to be won. But despite the fact that
thousands of Bengali homes paid homage to Netaji that day hardly a
handful abstained from participation. Every school, factory, office,
every home—be it a mansion or a bustee—awaited the great day with
hearts full of jubilation.
As the zero hour approached, the city put on a changed appearance. On
the streets, people were busy putting up flags and decorating
frontage. Gates were set up at important crossings, bearing names of
our past titans like Ashoka or our martyrs in the freedom movement.
The atmosphere was tense; should there be a new round of stabbings or
shootings among brothers, or should there be return to peace and
normalcy?
All Barriers Broken
THE first spontaneous initiative for fraternisation came from Muslim
bustees and was immediately responded to by Hindu bustees. It was
Calcutta’s poor toilers, especially Muslims, who opened the floodgate,
and none could have dreamt of what actually took place.
Muslim boys clambered up at Chowringhee and shouted, “Hindu-Muslim ek
ho” and exhorted the driver to take them to Bhowanipore. But the
driver would not risk that and so they came up to the border only.
But then all of a sudden in the very storm-centres of most gruesome
rioting of the past year—Raja Bazar, Sealdah, Kalabagan, Colootolah,
Burra Bazar—Muslims and Hindus ran across the frontiers and hugged
each other in wild joy. Tears rolled down where once blood had soaked
the pavements. “Jai Hind”, “Vande Mataram”, “Allah-ho-Akbar” and above
all renting the sky “Hindu-Muslim ek ho”.
Curfews were ignored; men rushed out on the streets, danced, clasped
and lifted each other up. It was all like a sudden end of a nightmare,
the birth of a glorious dawn.
As midnight approached, crowds clustered round every radio set and
Jawaharlal’s ringing words sent a thrill round every audience,
“Appointed day has come —the day appointed by destiny..”
With the stroke of midnight, conch-shells blew in thousands, conch-
shells blown by our mothers and sisters from the innermost corners of
our homes—for the call of freedom has reached every nook and corner.
And with the conch-shells were heard the crack of rifles and bursting
of bombs and crackers. The very arms that were stored so long to kill
off brothers were being used to herald the coming of freedom.
A torchlight procession started in North Calcutta. Tram workers, in
all spontaneity, brought out a couple of trams crowded with Hindus to
the Nakhoda mosque and were feted by Muslims with food and drink. In
Burra Bazar, Muslims were treated the same way and all embraced one
another. Hardly anybody slept that night—the night choked with
passionate emotions welling up in so many ways.
As the morning came the city was already full of excitment and
pavements were thronged with people. Prabhat Pheris came out singing
songs of the national struggle. Boys and girls marched through the
streets with bands and bugles—bright and smart, free citizens of
tomorrow.
Flag salutations in every park, in every school and office. Buses
plied free, giving joy rides to thousands. Trams announced that all
their returns would be sent for relief. And they ran till late at
night along all mixed routes which were closed for the past year.
At the Government House, our own Government was to unfurl the
Tricolour, but invitees were confined to Burra Sahibs and officials,
the rich and elite, Ministers and Legislators. They came in big cars,
many with their wives dressed in all their fashionable clothes.
Government House—People’s Property
COMMON people, those that have made freedom possible, they too came in
thousands, but they were kept outside, beyond the huge iron gates. Why
must this be so? Why must this occasion be celebrated in the way the
White Sahibs have done so long?
I watched that crowd growing restless every minute and found among
them the very faces that you come across in the streets every day or
at the market or in your own home: babu, coolie, student, Professor,
young girl and shy wife—all jostling with each other, impatient at
being kept out. Sikh, Muslim, Bhayya and Bhadralok clamoured for the
gates to be opened and when that was not done, they themselves burst
into the spacious grounds and ran up towards the Governor’s stately
mansion.
The burst into the rooms much to the annoyance of the officials and
perhaps also of the marble busts of many of the White rulers that have
never been disturbed in their majesty.
For hours they thronged there, thousands over thousands of them,
shoving out many of the ICS bosses. But it would be a slander to say
that they were unruly. How little did they touch or damage? Had they
been unruly, as somebody had reported to Gandhiji, the whole place
would have been a wreck in no time.
They went there for they felt that it was one of their own leaders who
had been installed as their Governor. And when the annoyed officials
ran up to Rajaji to complain to him about the crowd swarming into the
rooms, C.R., it is reported, replied: “But what can I do? It is their
own property. How can I prevent them from seizing it?”
The sense of triumph, of pride that we have come to our own could be
seen in the faces that entered the portals of the Government House. It
is symptomatic of August 15 no doubt. For though there were
restrictions and curtailments to real freedom in the elaborate plans
the Dominion Status, the people—the common humanity that teems our land
—have taken this day to mean that that have won and no amount of
restrictions will bar the way, just as no policeman could stop the
surging crowd that broke into the Government House.
Outside, all over the city, houses seemed to have emptied out into the
streets, lorries came in hundreds, each packed precariously beyond
capacity; lorries packed with Hindus and Muslims, men and women.
Streets were blocked and the people themselves volunteered to control
traffic.
Rakhi Bandhan Again
LORRY-LOADS of Muslim National Guards crammed with Gandhi-capped young
Hindu boys shouted themselves hoarse “Jai Hind”, “Hindu-Muslim ek ho”.
Somebody in Bhowanipore waved a League flag under a Tri-colour. What a
sight and what a suspense. But the days of hate were over and all
shouted together, “Hindu-Muslim ek ho!”
A batch of Hindu ladies went to Park Circus to participate in the flag
hoisting. They tied rakhi (strings of brotherly solidarity made famous
during Swadeshi days) round the wrists of Muslim National Guards. And
the Muslim boys said, “May we be worthy brothers!”
Hindu families, quiet and timid Bhadralok families, came in hundreds
to visit Park Circus with their wives and children in tikka gharries
piled by Muslims. Muslims, well-to-do and poor, visited Burra Bazar,
and Ballygunge in endless streams. And this was going on all these
three days.
They are all going to paras or mohallas they had to leave or where
they had lost their near and dear ones. Today there is no area more
attractive and more crowded than the very spots where the worst
butcheries had taken place. As if to expiate for the sins of the last
one year, Hindus and Muslims of Calcutta vied with each other to
consecrate their city with a new creed of mighty brotherhood.
On the evening of August 16, one year back, I sent you a despatch
which could describe but inadequately the mad lust for fratricidal
blood that had overtaken Calcutta that day. To mark the anniversary of
that day I visited the crowded parts of Hindu Burra Bazar and the
Muslim Colootola where in this one year hardly anyone passed alive
when spotted by the opposite community. But this evening Muslims were
the guests of honour at Burra Bazar and Hindus, as they visited
Colootola, were drenched with rose-water and attar and greeted with
lusty cheers of “Jai Hind”.
On the very evening, at Park Circus, was held a huge meeting of Hindus
and Muslims. Suhrawardy, J.C. Gupta, MLA, and Bhowani Sen spoke. It
was here that Suhrawardy asked the Muslims to go and implore the
evicted Hindus to come back to Park Circus.
At Belliaghata, Gandhiji’s presence itself has brought back hundreds
of Muslim families who had to leave in terror of their lives only a
few weeks back. And Gandhiji’s prayer meetings are attended by an ever
increasing concourse of Hindus and Muslims—themselves living symbols
of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Reports from Bengal districts also prove that this remarkable upsurge
of solidarity was not confined to Calcutta alone. In Dacca, despite
panic, Hindus and Muslims jointly participated in the celebration of
Pakistan, and Muslim leaders themselves intervened in one case where
the Congress flag was lowered, and the flag was raised again.
Everywhere Hindus showed response by honouring the Pakistan flag.
Joint Hindu-Muslim demonstrations were the marked features of the
occasion.
Reports from Comilla, Kusthia, Dinajpore, Krishnanagore, Munshinganj,
Malda and Jessore, all show that August 15 had passed off in peace and
amity. Only local fracas were reported from Kanchrapara, but the great
and good tidings from Calcutta eased the situation there.
In this mighty flood of freedom and brotherhood there is yet the sense
of suspense, for it came with such an incredible suddenness and
magnitude that many think it is too good to last long. It is like
holding a precious glass dome in your hands while you are in suspense
that it might fall and break at any moment.
Spontaneous assertion of people’s will for freedom and brotherly
solidarity needs to be harnessed in lasting forms and that is where
our leaders will be tested in the coming weeks.
Whatever happens, August 15 will be cherished for Calcutta’s grand
celebration on the eve of the end of the dark night of slavery and the
dawn of freedom. Calcutta yesterday was the symbol of our servitude
and fratricidal hate. Calcutta today is the beacon-light for free
India, asserting that freedom once resurrected can never be curbed or
destroyed, for all our millions of Hindus and Muslims together are
ready to stand together as its proud sentinels.
(People’s Age, August 24, 1947)
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article801.html
Mainstream Weekly
VOL XLV No 21
1857 In Our History
Monday 14 May 2007, by P C Joshi *
[(The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Great Indian Revolt
of 1857 is being observed this month. Though the spark for the Revolt
was lit by Mangal Pandey at Barrackpore earlier the same year, the
Revolt actually began in May at Meerut: on May 6, 85 sepoys of the 3rd
Bengal Cavalry at Meerut refused to use the cartridge, the cause of
the rebellion—all of them were placed under arrest; on May 9 these
sepoys were brought to a general punishment parade at the Meerut
Parade Ground, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and stripped of
their uniforms. When the 11th and 12th Native Cavalry of the Bengal
Army assembled at the Parade Ground on May 10, they broke rank and
turned on the Commanding Officer Colonel Finnis who was shot dead—this
was the first incident of Revolt at Meerut; thereafter the sepoys
liberated the imprisoned sepoys, attacked the European Cantonment and
killed all the Europeans who could be found there. Then in conjunction
with the Roorkee sepoys, called to Meerut following the uprising, they
marched to Delhi where the first major incident took place on May 11
with the killing of Colonel Ripley.
We are carrying here excerpts from a seminal article “1857 In Our
History” by the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of
India, P.C. Joshi, whose birth centenary is being observed this year,
to mark the occasion. This article was presented at a symposium held
to observe the centenary of the 1857 Revolt in 1957; later it was
published alongwith other articles presented at the symposium in book
form (also edited by P.C. Joshi) by the People’s Publishing House, New
Delhi. —Editor)]
The few contemporary Indians who wrote on 1857 did so for the British.
The dominant British attitude is revealed in entitled, “The Bengali
Press, How to Deal with It”, published on August 9, 1896, in Pioneer,
a very influential British organ of the times:
We know how Englishmen within the memory of living men treated their
own newspaper writers… If a gentle and graceful writer forgot himself
so far as to call the Prince Regent ‘an Adonis of forty’ he got two
years’ ‘hard’. If a clergyman praised the French Revolution and
advocated Parliamentary reform and fair representation, he was
condemned to work in iron manacles, to wade in sludge among the vilest
criminals.
The writer advocated the infliction of the same punishment on an
Indian who dared to write on the Indian Mutiny of 1857.1
Indians thus had no say in this controversy but our rebel ancestors
with their heroic deeds and by shedding their warm blood had made
their contribution more eloquent than words....
It is inspiring to recall here what Marx thought of the 1857 national
uprising. As early as July 31, 1857, on the basis of Indian mail
carrying Delhi news up to June 17, he concluded his unsigned
newsletter to the New York Daily Tribune with these words:
By and by there will ooze out other facts able to convince even John
Bull himself that what he considers military mutiny is in truth a
national revolt.2
India’s historians may go on arguing and differing about the character
of the 1857 revolt but the mass of the Indian people have already
accepted it as the source-spring of our national movement. The hold of
the 1857 heritage on national thought is so great that even Dr R. C.
Majumdar concludes his study with the following words:
The outbreak of 1857 would surely go down in history as the first
great and direct challenge to the British rule in India, on an
extensive scale. As such it inspired the genuine national movement for
the freedom of India from British yoke which started half a century
later. The memory of 1857-58 sustained the later movement, infused
courage into the hearts of its fighters, furnished a historical basis
for the grim struggle, and gave it a moral stimulus, the value of
which it is impossible to exaggerate. The memory of the revolt of
1857, distorted but hallowed with sanctity, perhaps did more damage to
the cause of the British rule in India than the Revolt itself.3
The controversy whether the 1857-58 struggle was a sepoy revolt or a
national uprising can be resolved only by squarely posing and
truthfully analysing the character of the contestants on either side
and the nature of the issues—political, economic and ideological—
involved in this struggle. In short, a sound historical evaluation
demands that who was fighting whom and for what be correctly
stated....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE British conquest of India implied not only the imposition of alien
rule but, something worse still, a pitiless destruction of the
traditional Indian social order itself and disruption of its own
normal development towards a new order. Marx was the only thinker of
the period who studied this tragic phenomenon scientifically and
formulated the role of British imperialism in India in such a correct
manner that his conclusions were borne out by the subsequent
researches of Indian scholarship and they helped Indian patriots to
understand Indian reality better and give a progressive orientation to
Indian national thought.
As early as 1853 when the Indian situation was being debated in the
British Parliament on the occasion of the renewal of the East India
Company’s Charter, Marx stated in an article entitled “British Rule in
India”: All the civil wars, invasions, revolutions, conquests,
famines, strangely complex, rapid and destructive as the successive
action in Hindustan may appear, did not go deeper than its surface.
England has broken down the entire framework of Indian society,
without any symptoms of reconstitution yet appearing. This loss of his
old world, with no gain of a new one, imparts a particular kind of
melancholy to the present misery of the Hindu, and separates Hindustan
ruled by Britain, from all its ancient traditions, and from the whole
of its past history… It was the British intruder who broke up the
Indian handloom and destroyed the spinning wheel…British steam and
science uprooted over the whole surface of Hindustan, the union
between agriculture and manufacturing industry.4 ...
After the conquest of Bengal and eventually throughout India, the
method of enforced and unequal trade was used to loot India and this
led to its economic ruination. R. P. Dutt states how the situation
underwent a qualitative change after the British became the ruling
class in India, how methods of power could be increasingly used to
weight the balance of exchange and secure the maximum goods for the
minimum payment.5
By the end of 18th century and much more clearly by 1813-33, a shift
had come over British policy towards India. After a period of
primitive plunder and the systematic ruination of Indian trades and
crafts, the British bourgeoisie, with the completion of their
Industrial Revolution, began to use India as a dumping ground for its
industrial manufactures and, above all, textiles. Marx noted this
sharp shift, and, in one of his articles during 1853, wrote:
The whole character of trade was changed. Till 1813 India had been
chiefly an exporting country while it now became an importing one; and
in such quick progression, that already, in 1823, the rate of
exchange, which had generally been two-sixth per rupee sunk down to
two per rupee. India, the great workshop of cotton manufacture for the
world, since immemorial times, became now inundated with English
twists and cotton stuffs. After its own produce had been excluded from
England, or only accepted on the most cruel terms, British
manufactures were poured into it at a small or merely nominal duty, to
the ruin of native cotton fabric once so celebrated.6
The policy of the East India Company also annihilated the independent
merchant bourgeoisie as well as the artisans and craftsmen. Prof
Ramkrishna Mukherjee describes the process in the following words:
Along with thus turning the Indian artisans ‘out of this ‘temporal’
world’, as Marx remarked caustically, proceeded the liquidation of the
Indian merchant bourgeoisie. Monopolising Indian products for the
English meant that the Indian merchants could no longer survive. Only
those could maintain their profession who acquiesced in becoming
underlings of the Company or of its servants engaged in private inland
trade in India or of the private English merchants residing in India
for the same purpose. Otherwise, they had to find a new source of
livelihood. Not only were the Indian merchants prohibited from buying
commodities directly from the producers which were monopolised by the
English, but the agents of the Company and its servants forced such
goods on the Indian merchants at a price higher than the prevailing
one.7
By annihilating the independent merchant bourgeoisie, which to some
extent also fulfilled the role of the manufacturing bourgeoisie, the
monopolist East India Company destroyed that very important class in
Indian economy which could be their rival.
Another aspect of this phenomenon is noted and analysed by K. M.
Panikkar in the following words:
With the establishment of European trade centres in the main coastal
areas of India, there had developed a powerful Indian capitalist
class, closely associated with the foreign merchants, and deriving
great profits from trade with them… The Marwari millionaires of Bengal
have become the equivalent of the compradore classes of Shanghai of a
later period …The emergence of this powerful class, whose economic
interests were bound up with those of the foreign merchants and who
had an inherited hatred of Muslim rule, was a factor of fundamental
importance to the history of India and of Asia.8
These Indian agents of the Company and of the British merchants were
called gomasthas and bannias and played the role of sub-agents of
foreign capital and a pro-British role in the 1857 uprising.
How did intelligent Indians react to the above economic situation and
policies?
It is useful to quote Allamah Fazle Haq of Khayrabad, an eminent
Muslim scholar of the traditional school who took a leading part in
the 1857 revolt and was transported for life:
Having seized power they (the British) decided to bring under their
hold the various sections of the people by controlling eatables, by
taking possession of the ears of corn and grain and giving the
peasants and cultivators cash in lieu of their rights of farming.
Their object was not to allow the poor men and villagers a free hand
in buying and selling grains. By giving preference to their own
people, they wanted to control the cheapening or raising of the rates
so that the people of God might submit to their (Christian) policy of
monopoly, and their dependence on them (Christians) for their
requirements might force them to meet the purpose of the Christians
and their supporters, and their desire and ambitions which they had in
their hearts and the mischiefs and evils which they had concealed in
their minds.9
In the above background, the appeal of the manifesto issued by Bahadur
Shah on behalf of the insurgent centre at Delhi had its own
significance. The manifesto appealed in the following words to the
merchants: It is plain that the infidel and treacherous British
Government have monopolised the trade of all the fine and valuable
merchandise such as indigo, cloth and other articles of shipping,
leaving only the trade of trifles to the people and even in this they
are not allowed their shares of the profits, which they secure by
means of customs and stamp fees, etc., in money suits, so that the
people have merely a trade in name. Besides this, the profit of the
traders are taxed with postages, tolls, and subscriptions for schools,
etc. Notwithstanding all these concessions, the merchants are liable
to imprisonment and disgrace at the instance of complaint of a
worthless man. When the Badshahi Government is established all these
aforesaid fraudulent practices shall be dispensed with and the trade
of every article, without exception, both by land and water shall be
opened to the native merchants of India who will have the benefit of
the Government steam-vessels and steam carriages for the conveyance of
their merchandise gratis; and merchants having no capital of their own
shall be assisted from the public treasury. It is, therefore, the duty
of every merchant to take part in the war, and aid the Badshahi
Government with its men and money, either secretly or openly, as may
be consistent with its position or interest and forswear its
allegiance to the British Government.10...
The economic and political operation of the East India Company in
India led to a systematic squeezing of our national wealth which has
been described by India’s economic historians as the economic drain.
Let us examine this as it existed on the eve of the 1857 revolt.
There was the so-called Indian Debt, which was incurred by the Company
in order to consolidate its position in India and to spread its
influence further through expeditions and wars, and at the same time,
paying high dividends to share-holders in England, tributes to the
British Government since 1769 and bribes to the influential persons in
England.11
R. C. Dutt makes the following comments as regards the genesis and
mechanism of this Indian Debt:
A very popular error prevails in this country (England in 1903) that
the whole Indian Debt represents British capital sunk in the
development of India. It is shown in the body of this volume that this
is not the genesis of the Public Debt of India. When the East India
Company cessed to be the rulers of India in 1858, they had piled up an
Indian Debt of 70 millions. They had in the meantime drawn a tribute
from India, financially an unjust tribute, exceeding 150 million, not
calculating interest. They had also charged India with the cost of
Afghan wars, Chinese wars and other wars outside India. Equitably,
therefore, India owed nothing at the close of the Company’s rule; her
Public Debt was a myth; there was a considerable balance of over 108
millions in her favour out of the money that had been drawn from her.
12
Montgomery Martin, an Englishman with sympathy for the Indian people,
wrote as early as 1838:
This annual drain of £ 3,000,000 on British India amounted in 30 years
at 12 per cent (the usual Indian rate) compound interest to the
enormous sum of £ 723,997,917 sterling; or, at a low rate, as $
2,000,000 for 50 years, to £ 8,400,000,000 sterling! So constant and
accumulating a drain even on England would have soon impoverished her;
how severe then must be its effect on India, where the wages of a
labourer is from 2d. to 3d. a day?13....
Prof Ramkrishna Mukherjee goes even further and states:
A total picture of this tribute from India is seen to be even greater
than the figure mentioned by Martin in 1838. During the 24 years of
the last phase of the Company’s rule, from 1834-35 to 1857-58, even
though the years 1855, ’56 and ’57 showed a total import-surplus of £
6,436,345—(not because the foreign rulers had changed their policy,
but because some British capital flowed into India to build railway in
order to prepare her for exploitation by British industrial capital),—
the total tribute which was drained from India in the form of ‘home
charges’ and ‘excess of Indian exports’ amounted to the colossal
figure of £ 151,830,989. This works out at a yearly average of £
6,325,875, or roughly half the annual land revenue collections in this
period!14
The above was the grim reality, grimmer than any ever witnessed in the
whole course of India’s age-old historic development. As Marx stated,
there cannot, however, remain any doubt but the misery inflicted by
the British on Hindustan is of essentially different and infinitely
more intensive kind than Hindustan had to suffer before.15
The British, under the East India Company’s rule disrupted the whole
economic order of India, they turned the traditional land system topsy
turvy, they smashed the trades and manufactures of the land and
disrupted the relationship between these two sectors of the Indian
economy, systematically drained the wealth of our country to their
own, and destroyed the very springs of production of our economy.
Every class of Indian society suffered at this new spoliator’s hands.
The landlords were dispossessed and the peasants rendered paupers, the
merchant bourgeoisie of India liquidated as an independent class and
the artisans and craftsmen deprived of their productive professions.
Such unprecedented destruction of a whole economic order and of every
class within it could not but produce a great social upheaval and that
was the national uprising of 1857. The all-destructive British policy
produced a broad popular rebellion against its rule.
Within Indian society, however, those productive forces and classes
had not yet grown (in fact early British policy had itself destroyed
their first off-shoots) that could lead this revolution to victory.
The revolt of 1857 as also its failure were both historical
inevitabilities. But it also was a historical necessity, for after it
followed those modern developments..., from which emerged the modern
national liberation movement of the Indian people and those new social
forces which led it to victory.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE religious factor played a big part in the revolt in 1857. The
British statesmen and chroniclers exaggerated and deliberately
misinterpreted the role played by this factor to prove their thesis
that the 1857 uprising was reactionary, revivalist and directed
against the progressive reforms that they were introducing in Indian
society. The early generation of English-educated Indian intellectuals
swallowed this imperialist thesis uncritically because they themselves
had suffered under the old reactionary religious influences. A true
historical outlook demands that we do not forget the historical stage
which Indian society had reached on the eve of 1857, the ideological
values which would be normal to this society and the ideological forms
in which the Indian people could formulate their aspirations....
It is abundantly clear... that the British rulers purely for their
imperialist motives were out for some decades preceding 1857 to
culturally denationalise India by the method of mass conversion to
Christianity. This was seen as a menacing danger by the mass of
Indians, irrespective of their viewpoint whether it was Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan or Bahadur Shah, whether it was the enlightened Bengali
intellectual in Calcutta or the Nana Saheb at Bithoor, by the mass of
sepoys both Hindu and Muslim. Thus when the religious factor played a
big role as it did in the struggle of 1857, it was as a part of the
national factor. The mass of Indians took up arms to defend their own
religions and they were fighting not only in defence of their religion
but to defend their way of life and their nationhood. Of course, there
were several reactionary features within Indian society but then the
only healthy way to change them was through the struggle of the Indian
people themselves.
This is not all. Our rebel ancestors used religion to advance the
revolutionary struggle. They did not let religion stupefy them. But
they used religion to get the strength to fight the Firinghis.
A proclamation was issued at Delhi with royal permission urging upon
the Hindus and Muslims to unite in the struggle in the name of their
respective religions.
To all Hindus and Mussalmans, citizens and servants of Hindustan,
officers of the army now at Delhi and at Meerut send greetings:—it is
well known that in these days all the English have entertained these
evil designs—first, to destroy the religion of the whole Hindustani
army and then to make the people by compulsion Christians. Therefore,
we, solely on account of our religion, have combined with the people
and have not spared alive one infidel, and have re-established the
Delhi dynasty on these terms. Hundreds of guns and a large amount of
treasure have fallen into our hands; therefore, it is fitting that
whoever of the soldiers and people dislike turning Christians should
unite with one heart, and, acting courageously, not leave the seed of
these infidels remaining.16
When the struggle in Oudh after the fall of Lucknow was on the
downgrade, and insurgents were heroically fighting defensive and
mostly losing battles, the captured sepoys used to be asked by the
British why they had joined the revolt. Their answer used to be:
The slaughter of the English is required by our religion. The end will
be the destruction of the English and all the sepoys—and then, God
knows!17
The Rajah of the Gond tribes was living as a pensioner of the British
at Nagpur. He had turned a traditional Sanskrit sthotra recited in
worshipping the devi into an anti-British hymn. The London Times of
October 31, 1857 gives the translation of the prayer: Shut the mouth
of the slanderers and Eat up backbiters, trample down the sinners,
You, “Satrusamgharika” (name of Devi, ‘destroyer of enemy’) Kill the
British, exterminate them, Matchundee. Let not the enemy escape, not
the wives and children Of such oh! Samgharika Show favour to Shanker;
support your slaves; Listen to the cry of religion. “Mathalka” eat up
the unclean, Make no delay, Now devour them, And that quickly, Ghor-
Mathalka.
During the siege of Delhi, British agents repeatedly tried to
transform the joint Hindu- Muslim struggle into a fratricidal Hindu-
Muslim civil war. Even as early as May 1857, British agents began
inciting the Muslims against the Hindus in the name of jihad and the
matter was brought before Bahadur Shah.
The king answered that such a jihad was quite impossible, and that
such an idea an act of extreme folly, for the majority of the Purbeah
soldiers were Hindus. Moreover, such an act could create internecine
war, and the result would be deplorable. It was fitting that sympathy
should exist among all classes… A deputation of Hindu officers arrived
to complain of the war against Hindus being preached. The king
replied: ‘The holy war is against the English; I have forbidden it
against the Hindus.’18
Thus did our rebel ancestors use religion to organise and conduct a
united revolutionary struggle against foreign domination. In the
historic conditon of 1857, the ideological form of the struggle could
not but assume religious forms. To expect anything else would be
unrealistic and unscientific.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE British text books on Indian history contained only the story of
the “atrocities of the mutineers,”—dishonouring of women, killing of
children and so on. The reality, however, was the opposite. Again, the
early generation of educated Indians like Savarkar and others began
exposing from British sources themselves the story of unprecedented
British atrocities against the Indian people. During the non-
cooperation movement of the twenties, the British terror during 1857
was related to Jallianwallabagh to rouse the people to struggle more
valiantly and unitedly than our ancestors had done during 1857.
Thereafter came Edward Thompson’s The Other Side of the Medal which
tried to put across the thesis that there were atrocities on both
sides which are best forgotten.
The question of questions is: can the two sides be put on the same
plane? Can the crimes committed by the enslavers of the people be
equated with some mistakes and excesses committed by the fighters for
freedom? The two cases are different....
If tales of Indian “terror” are largely mythical, British brutality
got even Lord Canning worried. On December 24, 1857, the following
Minute appears in the proceedings of the Governor-General-in-Council:
…the indiscriminate hanging, not only of persons of all shades of
guilt, but of those whose guilt was at the least very doubtful, and
the general burning and plunder of villages, whereby the innocent as
well as the guilty, without regard to age or sex, were
indiscriminately punished, and in some cases, sacrificed, had deeply
exasperated large communities not otherwise hostile to the government;
that the cessation of agriculture and consequent famine were
impending; …And lastly, that the proceedings of the officers of the
Government had given colour to the rumour…that the Government
meditated a general bloody persecution of Mohammedans and Hindus.19...
In the History of the Siege of Delhi, written by an officer who served
on active service, it is graphically described what the British
officers did on the way from Ambala to Delhi.
Hundreds of Indians were condemned to be hanged before a court-martial
in a short time, and they were most brutally and inhumanly tortured,
while scaffolds were being erected for them. The hair on their heads
were pulled by bunches, their bodies were pierced by bayonets and then
they were made to do that to avoid which they would think nothing of
death or torture—cows’ flesh was forced by spears and bayonets into
the mouth of the poor and harmless Hindu villagers.20
How the sepoy and the civilian, the guilty and the innocent alike were
butchered by the British victors after the capture of Lucknow is
described below by one of them:
at the time of the capture of Lucknow—a season of indiscriminate
massacre—such distinction was not made and the unfortunate who fell
into the hands of our troops was made short work of—sepoy or Qudh
villager it mattered not—no questions were asked; his skin was black,
and did not that suffice? A piece of rope and the branch of a tree or
a rifle bullet through his brain soon terminated the poor devil’s
existence.21
What happened in the countryside, between Banaras, Allahabad and
Kanpur during General Neill’s march through the area is described by
Kaye and Malleson in the following words:
Volunteer hanging parties went out into the districts and amateur
executioners were not wanting to the occasion. One gentleman boasted
of the numbers he had finished off quite ‘in an artistic manner’, with
mango trees for gibbets and elephants as drops, the victims of this
wild justice being strung up, as though for past-time in ‘the form of
a figure of 8’.22...
Pandit Nehru has rightly stated the problem of race mania as it faced
our insurgent ancestors and faced us subsequently in the whole course
of our struggle for freedom.
We in India have known racialism in all its forms ever since the
commencement of British rule. The whole ideology of this rule was that
of the Herrenvolk and the master race, and the structure of Government
was based upon it; indeed the idea of a master race is inherent in
imperialism. There was no subterfuge about it; it was proclaimed in
unambiguous language by those in authority. More powerful than words
was the practice that accompanied them, and generation after
generation and year after year, India as a nation and Indians as
individuals were subjected to insult, humiliation, and contemptuous
treatment.23...
Our forefathers suffered and bled during 1857. Subsequent generations
kept up the struggle and went on making the needed sacrifice. If after
independence we forget our past experience and began to consider
British imperialism as our new friend instead of our traditional foe,
we will not be able to safeguard Indian independence nor discharge
India’s duty towards the struggling colonial peoples in Asia and
Africa...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN the broad historical perspective of India’s struggle against
British domination what needs being stressed is not the limitation and
narrowness of the 1857 uprising but its sweep, breadth and depth. The
1857 uprising stands sharply demarcated from all the earlier anti-
British wars of resistance fought on Indian soil.
The first is the sheer vastness of the area covered by the 1857
uprising and the still wider sympathy and solidarity it commanded. It
is admitted by all historians and chronicles, British and Indian
alike, that the 1857 national insurrection was the biggest ever anti-
British combine that had so far been massed in armed struggle against
British authority in India.
The second is the qualitative difference between this and all other
anti-British wars. In the earlier wars people of a single kingdom,
which very often coincided with a specific nationality, fought single-
handed. For example, the Bengalis alone fought at Plassey. The same in
the Karnatak and the Mysore and the Maratha, the Sikh and the Sind
wars. Earlier attempts at broader combinations had failed. But during
1857 people of various castes, tribes, nationalities, religions, who
had lived under different kingdoms rose together to end the British
rule. It was an unprecedented unity of the Indian people. Marx, the
most far-sighted thinker of the age, duly noted this new phenomenon.
Before this there had been mutinies in the Indian army but the present
revolt is distinguished by characteristic and fatal features. It is
the first time that the sepoy regiments have murdered their European
officers; that Musalmans and Hindus, renouncing their mutual
antipathies, have combined against the common masters; that
‘disturbances, beginning with the Hindus, have actually ended in
placing on the throne of Delhi a Mohammedan Emperor’; that the mutiny
has not been confined to a few localities.24
As it is important to stress the above positive aspect of the 1857
national uprising, it is equally important to state its negative
aspect and state which decisive areas and sections of the Indian
people did not join the national uprising and how some were even led
to supporting the British side. There were several factors involved
but let us examine the main, the national factor. The Gurkhas and the
Sikhs played a decisive role on the side of the British. The Nepal war
had been fought by the British with the help of the Hindustani Army.
Rana Jung Bahadur, who was centralising Nepal under Ranashahi, was
promised by the British a permanent subsidy and large tracts in Terai
and he brought his Gurkha soldiers down, in the name of revenge, for
subduing Oudh.
The Sikhs had their own historic memories against the Moghuls and
after initial hesitation the British were able to recruit the
unemployed soldiers of the Khalsa Army and the retainers of the Sikh
princes and sardars.
From the Marathas the heir of the Peshwas had risen in revolt but the
Maratha princes had their own rivalries and historic feuds both with
the Nizam in the South and the Moghuls in the North.
The Rajputana princes had their own historic memories of earlier
Moghul and later Maratha domination, besides their being under British
grip now.
These historic memories from the past of our feudal disunity kept the
people of large parts of the country paralysed and moved by their
feudal self-interest the Indian princes helped the British usurpers.
Nehru has put the whole position in very succinct words:
The revolt strained British rule to the utmost and it was ultimately
suppressed with Indian help.25
As it is true that the 1857 revolution was the biggest national
uprising against British rule, so it is equally true that the British
were able to suppress it by using Indians against indians. Divide and
rule was the traditional British policy and they used it with
devastating effect during 1857....
The peasant was anti-British but his outlook was confined within his
village, his political knowledge did not go beyond the affairs of the
kingdom in which he lived under his traditional Raja.
The political-ideological leadership of the country was yet in the
hands of the feudal ruling classes. They shared the general anti-
British sentiment but they feared their feudal rivals more. They were
a decaying class and their historic memories were only of the feudal
past of disunity and civil wars and the vision of a united independent
India could not dawn upon them.
Love of the country in those days meant love of one’s own homeland
ruled by one’s traditional ruler. The conception of India as our
common country had not yet emerged. Not only did the feudal historic
memories come in the way but the material foundations for it, the
railways, telegraph, a uniform system of modern education, etc., had
not yet been laid but had only begun.
The conception of India as common motherland grew later and the great
experience of 1857 rising helped it to grow. The London Times duly
noted the rise of this new phenomenon.
One of the great results that have flowed from the rebellion of
1857-58 has been to make inhabitants of every part of India acquainted
with each other. We have seen the tide of war rolling from Nepal to
the borders of Gujarat, from the deserts of Rajputana to the frontiers
of the Nizam’s territories, the same men over-running the whole land
of India and giving to their resistance, as it were, a national
character. The paltry interests of isolated States, the ignorance
which men of one petty principality have laboured under in considering
the habits and customs of the other principality—all this has
disappeared to make way for a more uniform appreciation of public
events throughout India. We may assume that in the rebellion of 1857,
no national spirit was roused, but we cannot deny that our efforts to
put it down have sown the seeds of a new plant and thus laid the
foundation for more energetic attempts on the part of the people in
the course of future years.26
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT was the aim of the insurgents, what sort of a political and
social order did they seek to establish in India? A sound
characterisation of the 1857 struggle depends upon the correct answer
to the above problem. For it will help to decide whether it was
reactionary or progressive.
It is amazing that there is virtual agreement on this question between
not only British and some eminent Indian historians but also some
foremost Indian political leaders.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has stated his opinion thus: Essentially it
was a feudal outburst, headed by feudal chiefs and their followers and
aided by the widespread anti-British sentiment… Not by fighting for a
lost cause, the feudal order, would freedom come.27
Dr Majumdar’s conclusion is: The miseries and bloodshed of 1857-58
were not the birthpangs of a freedom movement in India, but the dying
groans of an obsolete aristocracy and centrifugal feudalism of the
medieval age.28
Dr Sen, the official historian, improves upon and carries forward the
Prime Minister’s characterisation:
The English Government had imperceptibly effected a social revolution.
They had removed some of the disabilities of women, they had tried to
establish the equality of men in the eye of the law, they had
attempted to improve the lot of the peasant and the serf. The Mutiny
leaders would have set the clock back, they would have done away with
the new reforms, with the new order, and gone back to the good old
days when a commoner could not expect equal justice with the noble,
when the tenants were at the mercy of the talukdars, and when theft
was punished with mutilation. In short they wanted a counter-
revolution.29...
One can understand British statesmen and historians advancing the
thesis of the Old Man vs. the New, of their own role being progressive
and the insurgent cause reactionary, in sheer self-defence. But when
Indian leaders and historians repeat the same old British thesis the
least one can say is that they are mistaking the form for the
substance. It is true that the 1857 uprising was led by Indian feudals
(but not them alone!) and they were not the makers of events, nor sole
masters of India’s destiny. There were other social forces of the
common people in action during this struggle and they had brought new
factors and ideas into play. It is a pity Drs Majumdar and Sen and
Pandit Nehru have given no thought nor weight to them. If we study
them carefully and seriously, the conclusion is inescapable that
during the 1857 national uprising, the popular forces were active
enough, healthy in their aspirations and clear-headed enough in their
ideas to prevent a reactionary feudal restoration in India.
One of the great positive achievements of the 1857 uprising acclaimed
with justified pride by the Indian national movement has been the
noble attempt to forge, and sustained efforts to maintain, against
British machinations, Hindu-Muslim unity for the successful conduct of
the struggle.
Playing upon Hindu-Muslim differences had become so much a part of the
flesh and blood of the British representatives in India that Lord
Canning spontaneously began thinking, when the first signs of the
storm burst during May 1857, whether the Hindus or Muslims were behind
it? Kaye states the problem and the significance of the new situation
facing the British rulers: But, before the end of the month of April,
it must have been apparent to Lord Canning, that nothing was to be
hoped from that antagonism of Asiatic races which had even been
regarded as the main element of our strength and safety. Mohammedans
and Hindus were plainly united against us.30
The British officials, however, did not give up but persisted in the
policy of stirring Hindu- Muslim dissensions. “I shall watch for the
differences of feelings between the two communities,” wrote Sir Henry
Lawrence from Lucknow to Lord Canning in May 1857. The communal
antipathy, however, failed to develop; Aitchison ruefully admits:
In this instance, we could not play off the Mohammedaa against the
Hindu.31
The insurgent leaders were fully aware of this disruptive British
tactic. Allamah Fazle Haq, himself a Muslim revivalist, wrote: They
(the British) tried their utmost to break the revolutionary forces by
their tricks and deceptive devices, make ineffective the power of the
Mujahids and uproot them, and scatter and disrupt them…. No stone was
left unturned by them in this respect.32
The insurgent leaders consciously laid great stress on Hindu-Muslim
unity for the success of the struggle. Bahadur Shah, the sepoy
leaders, the learned Ulema and Shastris issued proclamations and
fatwas stressing that Hindu-Muslim unity was the call of the hour and
the duty of all. In all areas liberated from British rule the first
thing the insurgent leaders did was to ban cow-slaughter and enforce
it. In the highest political and military organ of insurgent
leadership Hindus and Muslims were represented in equal numbers.33
When Bahadur Shah found that he could not manage the affairs of state,
he wrote to the Hindu Rajas of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Alwar that if
they would combine for the purpose (of annihilating the British) he
would willingly resign the Imperial power into their hands.34
An insurgent Sikh regiment in Delhi served under a Muslim commander.35
Such instances can be multiplied....
There is another very important aspect of this problem. Hindu-Muslim
unity was one of the important keys in deciding the fate of the issue.
The British side knew it and tried their hardest and best to disrupt
it. The Indian side also knew it and did their utmost to realise and
maintain it. But this by itself would be a static statement of the
problem. The better Hindu-Muslim unity was forged in the insurgent
camp, the longer the struggle could last; the longer the struggle
lasted, the more chances the popular forces got to come to the fore
and the more the ideological-political influence of feudal forces
became weakened; the more the feudal forces weakened the less chances
were left of a feudal restoration. Such is the dialectics of all
popular and national struggles. During the last phase of the struggle
in 1857-58, the feudal forces stood thoroughly exposed and weakened.
The popular forces were not yet powerful, conscious and organised
enough to overwhelm them and carry on the struggle to victory. What
actually took place was British victory and not feudal restoration.
When the modern national movement began in the next generation, the
glorious heritage of Hindu-Muslim unity was taken over from the 1857
struggle and the next two generations gave a more and more democratic
programme to the conception of Hindu-Muslim united front against
British domination.
The British side also learnt its lesson from this historic phenomenon.
Forrest in his Introduction to State Papers, 1857-58, states:
Among the many lessons the Indian Mutiny conveys to the historian,
none is of greater importance than the warning that it is possible to
have a revolution in which Brahmins and Sudras, Hindus and Mohammedans
could be united against us, and that it is not safe to suppose that
the peace and stability of our dominions, in any great measure,
depends on the continent being inhabited by different religious
systems…. The mutiny reminds us that our dominions rest on a thin
crust ever likely to be rent by titanic forces of social changes and
religious revolutions.36...
Inside the disintegrating feudal order that was India of those days,
new currents of democratic thought and practice were arising; they
were not yet powerful enough to break the old feudal ideological bonds
and overwhelm British authority; they were menacing enough to make the
real Indian feudals seek a new lease of life as a gift from the
British after beseeching due forgiveness for having joined the
insurgent cause.
The destruction of the ancient land system in India and the law on the
alienation of land stirred the whole countryside into action against
the government whose policies had made the old rural classes, from the
zamindars to the peasants, lose their lands to the new section of
merchants, moneylenders and the Company’s own officials, and which had
played havoc with the their life. The large-scale peasant
participation in the 1857 uprising gave it a solid mass basis and the
character of a popular revolt. The Indian peasants fulfilled their
patriotic duty during 1857.
Peasants joined as volunteers with the insurgent forces and, though
without military training, fought so heroically and well as to draw
tributes from the British themselves... At the battle of Miaganj,
between Lucknow and Kanpur, the British had to face an Indian
insurgent forces of 8000, of whom not more than a thousand were sepoys.
37 At Sultanpur, another battle was fought by the insurgents with
25,000 soldiers, 1,100 cavalry and 25 guns and of these only five
thousand were rebel sepoys!38 After the fall of Delhi, the British
concentrated upon Lucknow. As the British massed all their strength
against Lucknow so from the villagers of Oudh came armed, peasant
volunteers for the last ditch defence of their capital city. In the
words of Charles Ball, The whole country was swarming with armed
vagabonds hastening to Lucknow to meet their common doom and die in
the last grand struggle with the Firangis.39
After the fall of Bareilly and Lucknow, the insurgents fought on and
adopted guerilla tactics. Its pattern is contained in Khan Bahadur
Khan‘s General Order:
Do not attempt to meet the regular columns of the infidels because
they are superior to you in discipline, bandobast and have big guns
but watch their movements, guard all the ghats on the rivers,
intercept their communications, stop their supplies, cut their dak and
posts and keep constantly hanging about their camps, give them (the
Firinghis) no rest!40
Commenting on the above, Russell wrote in his Diary:
This general order bears marks of sagacity and points out the most
formidable war we would encounter.41
The heavy responsibility for carrying into practice the above line of
action and aiding the scattered insurgent forces to prolong the anti-
British war of resistance fell on the mass of the peasantry. All
contemporary British chronicles of the story of this war in
Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Oudh and Bihar contain numerous stories of
how the Indian peasantry loyally and devotedly carried out the behests
of the insurgent high command. Let us take only one example:
Even when the cause of the mutincers seemed to be failing, they
testified no good will, but withheld the information we wanted and
often misled us.42
In a national uprising that has failed, the role and contribution of
any class can best be estimated by the amount of sacrifice it makes.
Measured in these terms, the peasantry is at the top of the roll of
honour of the 1857 uprising. Holmes states:
The number of armed men, who succumbed in Oudh, was about 150,000, of
whom at least 35,000 were sepoys.43 ...
The rural population as a whole rose against the new land system
imposed over their heads by the British rulers. Secondly, that the
pattern of struggle was to eliminate the new landlords created under
the British regime, destroy their records, hound them out of villages
and seize their lands and attack all the symbols of British authority
especially the kutchery (law-court), the tehsil (revenue office) and
the thana (the police outpost). Thirdly, the base of the struggle was
the mass of the peasantry and the rural poor while the leadership was
in the hands of the landlords dispossessed under the British laws.
Fourthly, this pattern of struggle fitted into the general pattern of
the 1857 national uprising, the class struggle in the countryside was
directed not against the landlords as a whole but only against a
section of them, those who had been newly created by the British under
their laws and acted as their loyal political supporters, that is, it
was subordinated to the broad need of national unity against the
foreign usurper.
Talmiz Khaldun’s thesis that during this uprising “The Indian
peasantry was fighting desperately to free itself of foreign as well
as feudal bondage” and that “the mutiny ended as a peasant war against
indigenous landlordism and foreign imperialism” is thus an
exaggeration. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Indian
peasantry during this struggle decisively burst through the feudal
bonds either politically or economically to transform a broad-based
national uprising into a peasant war. On the other hand all the
evidence that is known is to the contrary....
The Indian peasants made a compromise with the traditional landlords
in the interests of the common struggle but the landlords became
terrified by this alliance when they saw it in the living form of a
revolutionary popular struggle. Gubbins, who had wide personal
experience of Oudh and other Eastern districts, states:
Much allowance should, no doubt, be made in considering the conduct of
the Indian gentry at this crisis, on account of their want of power to
resist the armed and organised enemy which had suddenly risen against
us. The enemy always treated with the utmost severity those among
their countrymen who were esteemed to be friends of the British cause.
Neither their lives nor their property were safe. Fear, therefore, no
doubt entered largely into the natives which induced many to desert us.
44
Narrow class interest and fear of the “armed and organised” masses,
whom the British rightly called “the enemy,” ultimately led the Indian
feudal gentry to desert the revolutionary struggle and seek terms with
the foreign rulers. The situation led to feudal treachery and
suppressoin of the national uprising, and not to the strengthening of
feudalism in the minds and the later movement of the Indian peasantry
and the people.
Dr R.C. Majumdar himself quotes the Supreme Government “Narrative of
Events” issued on September 12, 1857:
In consequence of the general nature of the rebellion and the
impossibility of identifying the majority of the rebels, the
Magistrate recommended the wholesale burning and destruction of all
villages proved to have sent men to take active part in the rebellion.
45
This is how the British understood the peasant contribution to the
1857 uprising. Could there be a restoration for the feudal order in
India on the shoulders of such a peasantry?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 1857 uprising is a historic landmark. It marks the end of a whole
historic phase and the beginning of a new one. On the British side it
finished the Company’s rule and led to direct government under the
British Crown. The period of rule of the merchant monopolists of the
East India Company ended and the dominance of the industrial
bourgeoisie of Britain in the affairs of India began. On the Indian
side, the revolt failed but the Indian people got that experience
which enabled them to build the modern Indian national movement on new
foundations and with new ideas, and the lessons of 1857 proved
inestimable. Both sides drew and applied their lessons from the 1857
experience in the subsequent period. The British were the victors,
they went into action soon; we were the vanquished, we took longer.
From their experience of the 1857 uprising the British rulers sharply
changed their policy towards the Indian feudal elements, and
discarding the old policy of attacking their interests, they adopted a
new policy of reconciling them as the main social base of their rule
in India. The Indian people from their experience of the Indian
feudals drew the lesson for the next phase of their movement that
their anti-British struggle to be successful must also be an anti-
feudal struggle. Those who were so far regarded by the Indian people
as their traditional leaders were now rightly considered as betrayers
of the 1857 uprising and the Indian puppets of the British power.
As regards the Indian princess, the policy of annexations was given
up. Queen Victoria in her Proclamation promised them:
We shall respect the rights, dignity and honour of native pricess as
our own. Very candidly Lord Canning in his Minute of April 30 noted:
The safety of our rule is increased and not diminished by the
maintenance of native chiefs well affected to us.
How the Indian national movement understood the post-1857 British
policy towards the princes is best reflected in Nehru’s Discovery of
India where he states that the retention of the native states was
designed to disrupt the unity of India,46 Indian princes playing the
role of Britain’s fifth column in India.47....
The Army was reorganised after the sepoy mutiny, which had set the
country aflame. The proportion of British troops was increased and
they were primarily used as an “army of occupation” to maintain
internal security while the Indian troops were organised and trained
for service abroad to subjugate Asian and African territories for
British imperialism. The artillery was taken away from the Indian
hands. All higher appointments were reserved for the British, an
Indian could not even get the King’s Commission nor get employment in
the Army headquarters except as a clerk in non-military work. The
Indian regiments were reorganised on the principle of divide and rule
and recruitment confined to the so-called martial races.
But in the long run nothing availed the British. The memory of the
sepoys’ role during 1857 never died not only in the memory of the
Indian people but also of the Indian armed forces. As the modern
national movement grew, it could not leave the Indian Army, however
“reorganised”, untouched. During the 1930 national struggle, the
Garhwali soldiers refused to fire at the Indian demonstrators at
Peshawar. During the post-war national upsurge after a series of
“mutinies” in the Indian Army and Air Force, the Royal Indian Navy
revolted on February 18, 1946 and the next day the British Prime
Minister announced the dispatch of the Cabinet Mission to India and
negotiations for the independence of India began.
The Indian administrative machine was reorganised as a colossal
bureaucratic machine with Indians employed only in subordinate
positions, all real power and responsibility resting in British hands.
The Queen’s Proclamation had promised that there would be no racial
discrimination against the Indians in employment in government
services. The reality, however, was different...
After 1857, politically, even Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had suggested that
Indians should be included in the Legislative Council to keep the
government in touch, with the people. In 1861 the Indian Councils Act
provided for the inclusion for legislative purposes of non-official
members. In 1862, three Indians were so nominated. These legislatures,
in which real power remained with the exclusive British Executive,
were used by patriotic Indian statesmen as tribunes of the Indian
people and to unmask British policies and thus aid the growth of the
national movement. The British tactic of divide and rule, however,
succeeded in another way. The institution of separate electorates for
the Muslims was the first expression of the poisonous two-nation
theory which ultimately resulted in the partition of the country at
the very time of gaining independence.
The British Government, which claimed credit for early social reform
measures like banning of sati, widow remarriage, etc., after the
experience of 1857 and its subsequent alliance with the Indian feudal
reaction became the opponent of all progressive social measures.
Hindu law was largely custom and as customs change, the law also was
applied in a different way. Indeed there was no provision of Hindu Law
which could not be changed by customs. The British replaced this
elastic customary law by judicial decisions based on the old texts and
these decisions became precedents which had to be rigidly followed…
Change could only come by positive legislation but the British
Government, which was the legislating authority, had no wish to
antagonise the conservative elements on whose support it counted. When
later some legislative powers were given to the partially elected
assemblies, every attempt to promote social reform legislation was
frowned upon by the authorities and sternly discouraged.48
The British Government thus became the defender of social reaction in
India, after 1857!
The British overlords had created an English educated Indian middle-
class to get cheap and efficient and denationalised Indian cadres for
the lower essential rungs of their administration.
Educated natives took no part in the sepoy mutiny: despite the charges
to the contrary, they heartily disapproved of the revolt and showed
themselves faithful and loyal to the British authorities throughout
the course of that crisis.49
The above is not wholly true. Dr Sen states: Even this small minority
(of modern educated Indians) were not unanimous in the support of the
Government. An educated Hindu of Bengal complained of ‘a hundred years
of unmitigated active tyranny unrelieved by any trait of generosity’.
“A century and more of intercourse between each other,” he adds, “has
not made the Hindus and the Englishman friends or even peaceful fellow
subjects.”50
Calcutta was the biggest centre of these modern educated Indians. They
were at the time themselves concentrating upon the struggle against
Hindu orthodoxy and the religious terms in which the cause of the
insurgents was clothed repelled them. Because of their historic origin
and the limitations of their political experience they wrongly
identified progress with British rule. They were not, however,
“faithful and loyal” in the sense Earl Granville imagined them to be,
servile to the British rulers. This was proved in the very next year
after the 1857-58 uprising was suppressed when the Bengali
intelligentsia stirred the whole of Bengal in solidarity with the
Indigo Revolt, with the peasants of Bengal and Bihar who were victims
of unimaginable oppression and exploitation of the British planters.
Again it was Surendranath Banerji who took the initiative to run an
all-India campaign against lowering the age for the ICS, which
patently went against the Indian candidates. Then came the campaigns
regarding the IIbert Bill and racial discrimination in courts and the
Vernacular Press Act and so on. As the new intelligentsia saw more and
more of India under the British Crown all their illusions about Queen
Victoria’s 1858 Proclamation being the Magna Carta of Indian liberties
gradually evaporated and they began to agitate for political reforms.
In 1882 the Grand Old Man of Indian nationalism, Dababhai Naoroji,
wrote: Hindus, Mohammedans and Parsees alike are asking whether the
British rule is to be a blessing or a curse...This is no longer a
secret, or a state of things not quite open to those of our rulers who
would see.51...
Even before 1857, From India a policy of imperial expansion was
planned and the British Government of India was set on the perilous
road of conquest and annexation in the East for the benefit of
Britain, but of course at the cost of the Indian tax-payer.52
Thus Malacca and Singapore were occupied, Burma conquered, Nepal and
Afghan wars conducted and the Persian war managed.
The age of the Empire, based on India, began after 1857. India now
became in fact no less than in name a British possession. The Indian
Empire was at this time a continental order, a political structure
based on India, and extending its authority from Aden to Hongkong.53
In this period, Afghanistan and Persia were made virtual British
protectorates, expeditions and missions were sent to Sinkiang and
Tibet in the North and the British position in South-East Asia and
China consolidated.
“The continental involved a subordinate participation of India”54 as
policemen, traders and usurers, and coolies in the plantations of
Britain’s growing colonies. Indian resources and manpower were thus
used not only to conquer but maintain and run Britain’s colonial
Empire.
This, however, was only one side of the picture. As part of winning
foreign support for the Indian uprising Azimullah Khan, Nana’s
representative, is reported to have built contacts with Russia and
Turkey. Rango Bapuji, the Satara representative, is also reported to
have worked with Azimullah. Bahadur Shah’s court claimed Persian
support. All this was in the old principle that Britain’s enemies are
our friends. But Britain was the colossus of that period, and the
feudal ruling circles of these countries could never be in any hurry
to come to the aid of the Indian revolt. They could at best exploit it
and await its outcome.
This was, however, not the attitude of democratic circles in these and
other countries... there was in all democratic circles of the
civilised world great sympathy for the Indian uprising. Great and
historic is the significance of the Chartist leaders’ solidarity with
the Indian national uprising. Modern British labour movement dates its
birth from the Chartists. Modern Indian national movement dates its
birth from the 1857 uprising. What a new fraternal vision emerges from
the memory that the British proletariat and the Indian people have
stood together ever since the beginning of their respective movements.
The Chinese date the birth of their modern anti-imperialist national
movement from the Taiping uprising as we date ours from the 1857
uprising. The Chinese paper (presented at the symposium on the
centenary of the 1857 Revolt) documents the hitherto unknown story
that the Chinese people responded sympathetically to the 1857 uprising
and the Indian sepoys deserted to the Taipings and fought shoulder to
shoulder with them against the common enemy. Marx noted the new
phenomenon that the revolt in the Anglo-Indian army has coincided with
a general disaffection exhibited against supremacy by the Great
Asiatic nations, the revolt of the Bengal Army being, beyond doubt,
intimately connected with the Persian and Chinese wars.55
Thus the great national uprising of 1857 laid the foundation for the
worldwide democratic solidarity with the Indian struggle in its next
phase and our new national movement built itself on healthy
internationalist traditions. For example, in the twenties, the Indian
national movement vigorously opposed the imperialist policies in the
Middle East and expressed solidarity with the Egyptian struggle under
Zaglul Pasha, in the thirties it expressed practical solidarity with
the Chinese people’s struggle against the Japanese invaders and the
worldwide anti-fascist movement and so on. It was thus no accident
that after the achievement of independence India emerged as a great
world power championing the cause of world peace and the liberation of
all subject nations....n
[*NOTES
1. Major B.D. Basn, Rise of The Christian Power in India, (1931), p.
953.
2. Marx, unsigned article, “The Indian Question”, New York Daily
Tribune, August 14, 1857.
3. Quoted by R.C. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny and Revolt of 1857, p.
278.
4. Marx, “The British Rule in India”, New York Daily Tribune, June 25,
1853.
5. R.P. Dutt, India Today, p. 98.
6. Marx, “The East India Company—Its History and Results”, New York
Daily Tribune, July 11, 1853.
7. Ramkrishna Mukherjee, The Rise and Fall of the East India Company,
p. 174.
8. K.M. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance, p. 99.
9. Allamah Fazle Haq of Khayrabad, “The Story of the War of
Independence 1857-58”, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society,
vol. V, pt. 1, January 1957, p. 29.
10. National Herald, May 10, 1957.
11. Mukherjee, op. cit., p. 223.
12. R.C. Dutt, The Economic History of India in the Victorian Age, p.
xv.
13. Montgomeny Martin, Eastern India, Introduction to vol. I.
14. Mukherjee, op. cit., pp. 224-25.
15. Marx, “The British Rule in India”, New York Daily Tribune, June
25, 1853.
16. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 229.
17. Charles Ball, Indian Mutiny, vol. II. p. 242.
18. Sir T. Metcalfe, Two Narratives of the Mutiny at Delhi, pp. 98-99.
19. Quoted by Edward Thompson, The Other Side of the Medal, pp. 73-74.
20. Quoted by Savarkar, Indian War of Independence, p. 134.
21. Majendie, Up Among the Pandies, pp. 195-96.
22. Kaye & Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, vol. II, p. 281.
23. Nehru, Discovery of India, p. 281.
24. Marx, unsigned article, New York Daily Tribune, July 15, 1857. 25.
Nehru, op. cit., p. 279.
26. Quoted by Savarkar, op. cit., pp. 534-35.
27. Nehru, op. cit., p. 279.
28. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 241.
29. S.N. Sen, Eighteen Fifty Seven, pp. 412-13.
30. John Williams Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, vol. I, p. 565.
31. Quoted by Asoka Mehta, The Great Rebellion, p. 42.
32. Fazle Haq, op. cit., p. 33.
33. Vide Talmiz Khaldun’s paper “The Great Rebellion” presented at the
symposium held on the occasion of the centenary of the 1857 Revolt.
34. Metcalfe, op. cit., p. 220.
35. Ibid., Jeewanlal’s Diary, under date 26 August.
36. G.W. Forrest, op. cit., vol. II, p. 150.
37. On October 5, 1858. See Col. G.B. Malleson, Indian Mutiny of 1857,
Vol. III, p. 287.
38. On February 3, 1858. See Ibid., vol. II, p. 334.
39. Ball, op. cit., vol. II, p. 241.
40. Quoted by Asoka Mehta, op. cit., pp. 51-52. Also Savarkar, op.
cit., p. 444.
41. W.H. Russell, My Diary in India in the Year 1858-59, p. 276.
42. M.R. Gubbins, An Account of the Mutinies in Oudh, p. 53.
43. T.R. Holmes, History of the Seopy War, p. 506.
44. Gubbins, op. cit., p. 58.
45. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 217. 46. Nehru, op. cit., p. 284. 47.
Ibid., p. 268. 48. Nehru, op. cit., p. 285. 49. Earl Granville,
February 19, 1858, in the House of Lords in reply to the charges of
the President of the Board of Control, Lord Ellenborough.
Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, CXL VIII, 1858, pp. 1728-29.
50. Quoted by Sen, op. cit., p. 29.
51. Dadabhai Naoroji, “The Condition of India”. Correspondence with
the Secretary of State for India, Journal of the East India Affairs,
XIV, 1882, pp. 171-172.
52. K. N. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance, p. 105.
53. Ibid., pp. 162-163.
54. Ibid., pp. 164-165.
55. Marx, unsigned article, New York Herald Tribune, July 15, 1857. *]
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article107.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLVI No 41
Dissecting Anew Hindu-Muslim Ties And Partition
Wednesday 1 October 2008, by Amarendra Nath Banerjee
[(BOOK REVIEW)]
HINDU-MUSLIM RELATIONS IN A NEW PERSPECTIVE BY PANCHANAN SAHA
(FOREWORD BY DR ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER); BISWABIKSHA, KOLKATA; PP.
FORWORD +392; RS 300.
Hindu-Muslim relations are very much complicated—the knottiest problem
in Indian history. Since the advent of Islam in the Indian
subcontinent more than millennium years ago, India faced a powerful
challenge from a militant and vigorous religion with an egalitarian
appeal. India failed to stem the tide of the rapid spread of Islam due
to internal squabbles and degeneration of society. In the caste-ridden
Brahminical society the lower castes were denied proper human rights.
They were not only socially degraded but also economically exploited.
It is no wonder, therefore, that millions of them welcomed Islam as a
religion of deliverance and to gain human dignity. The theory of
social liberation seems to be right for substantial reasons in
Islamisation in India. Swami Vivekananda had rightly said:
The Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation to the
downtrodden, to the poor. That is why one-fifth of our people have
become Mohammedan. It was not the sword that did it all. It would be
the height of madness to think that it was all the work of sword and
fire.
But it does not mean force was not at all applied in Islamisation.
However, the major role was played by the Sufi saints and Pirs in it.
Nevertheless, wholesale Islamisation did not take place in India like
Afghanistan, Persia and other countries perhaps due to the inherent
strength of the Hindu philosophy in spite of its many drawbacks.
The advent of Islam produced tremendous reactions in India. Hinduism
wanted to protect itself by going into its inner shells with stricter
caste rules and regulations. But this hardly helped in preventing the
egalitarian influence of Islam on Hindu society. The Bhakti movement
was its product.
But living hundreds of years side by side, eating the same grain from
the common fields, drinking the same water and inhaling the same air,
the Hindu and Muslim societies and religions underwent profound
changes. Islam of India today is not the same as what it was when it
arrived. Hinduism also could not remain the same. Both the religions
had influenced each other. There was some kind of assimilation between
the two in spite of frequent clashes and mutual hostility. But
unfortunately a composite Indian nation has failed to emerge
assimilating the two major religions in India due to various factors
which led ultimately to the partition of the country.
Dr Panchanan Saha’s new book, Hindu-Muslim Relations in a New
Perspective, is projected on a large canvas from the advent of Islam—
gradual Islamisation and its causes, conflict and assimilation,
sprouting of the seeds of separation by the conscious British policy
of divide-and-rule, Hindu-Muslim revivalism and the short-sighted
policy of the Indian political leaders which ultimately led to the
communal carnage and partition of India.
In the chapter, “Conflict and Assimilation”, Saha emphasises the role
played by the Sufi saints, Bhakti movement as well as attempts of the
Mughal Emperor, Akbar, and his great grandson, Dara Shiko, to help the
process of reconciliation between the Hindus and Muslims. But
unfortunately this process was not properly taken forward due to
various factors, particularly the emergence of Wahhabism and Hindu-
Muslim revivalism.
♦
IN his analysis Saha has been seldom swayed by emotion; rather he has
remained mostly faithful to rationalism. He holds that the causes of
spread of separatism among the Muslims of India are to be found in the
refusal of the already matured Hindu bourgeoisie in sharing power with
the newly emerging Muslim bourgeoisie. Muslim bourgeoisie developed
later due to their empathy to British rule and Western education.
Saha has sympathetically discussed the Fourteen Points of M.A. Jinnah
in this direction and the rejection of the Congress to share power
with the Muslim League in Uttar Pradesh after the elections of 1936
and to collaborate with Fazlul Haque in Bengal for forming a secular
Ministry. It seems class interest played a more decisivie role in
making this choice than the greater interest of the country.
There is a simplistic explanation of Hindu-Muslim cleavage by putting
the sole responsibility on the British policy of divide-and-rule. But
Saha appears to be correct when he cites Tagore—“The Satan cannot
enter unless there is a hole to get in.” Tagore believed that division
among Hindus and Muslims existed and the cunning British rulers
utilised it to prolong their rule.
In his last chapter, entitled “Was Partition Inescapable?”, Saha has
not traversed the beaten tracks of numerous scholars of partition. He
has used substantial Pakistani literature on partition to prove his
point.
There is an enigma why Gandhiji, in spite of opposing partition on the
basis of religion tooth and nail, ultimately accepted it as a fait
accompli. The Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, lamented that
they were thrown to the wolves. What went on behind-the-scenes is a
mystery to this day.
It seems that the Hindu big bourgeoisie wanted an unchallenged market
even in partitioned India. They seemed to think that a truncated
Pakistan would not be viable. Whatever the reasons, it is evident that
had the Indian leaders shown true sagacity and leadership free of
class or emotional bias, there might have been a Confederation of
India based on the Cabinet Mission’s Plan which the Congress initially
accepted but subsequently refused to do so for reasons that are
unknown. Hence it is not inappropriate to quote The Times of India:
It is legitimate to enquire who is responsible for this debacle. ….
the parties concerned, the Congress, the British Government and the
Muslim League, are all more or less responsible, although on the facts
set forth, the Congress should get the first prize.
One could have expected that such a serious book should have remained
free from printing and editorial errors.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article957.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLVI, No 50
Hindu Terrorism: The Shock of Recognition
Wednesday 3 December 2008, by Badri Raina
Epigraph
“Underlying these religions were a common set of beliefs about how you
treat other people and how you aspire to act, not just for yourself
but also for the greater good.”
(Obama in his interview about Religion given to Cathleen Falsani,
March 27, 2004; cf. to his mother’s teaching about the validity of
diverse faiths and the value of tolerance.)
I
So, now, India is home to “Hindu” terrorism. Departing from the more
usual banner-appelation, “Saffron Terror”, I wish the fact to be
registered that saffron is drawn from the stamin of a delicate and
indescribably pretty mauve flower grown exclusively in my home valley
of Kashmir, and exclusively by Muslims. My inherited memories of it
are thereby sweet and secular to the core. Also, saffron when used to
grace milk products, Biryani, or to brew the heavenly kehwa is a thing
of the gods truly.
It is only when it is coerced against the use of nature to colour
politics that it rages against the sin. Then, don’t we know, what
gruesome consequences begin?
I think it proper, therefore, to stick with the more direct and honest
description, “Hindu” terrorism, since, much against their grain, even
India’s premier TV channels are now bringing us news of “Hindu”
terrorism, so compelling the materials gathered by the investigating
agencies thus far. This despite the fact that in my view the term
“Hindu” trerrorism is as erroneous as the term “Muslim” terrorism.
Even though not a religious man myself, I am able to see that being
Hindu or Muslim by accident of birth has no necessary connect with how
one’s politics turns out to be in adult life. A plethora of specific
contexts and shaping histories are here provenly more to the point.
II
It was way back in 1923 that Savarkar, never a practising Hindu
(indeed a self-confessed atheist) had first understood that from this
benign term, “Hindu”, could be drawn the toxic racial concept
Hindutva, and made to serve a forthrightly fascist purpose. That
Brahminism had always been a socially toxic form of Hinduism was of
course an enabling prehistory to the new project.
He it was who established Abhinav Bharat in Pune (1904), that
theoretical hotbed of twice-born Brahminical casteism against which
low-caste social reformers such as Phule, Periyar, and Ambedkar were
to struggle their whole lives long.
Such casteism was made the instrument of communalist politics to serve
two major objectives: one, to overwhelm and negate the specific
cultural and material oppressions of the low-caste within the Hindu
Varna system , and two, to elevate the low-caste as a warrior of a
common “Hindutva” army against the chief common “enemy”, the Muslim.
Such an army has been seen to be needed to salvage the “real” nation
from this so-called common enemy who continues to be represented to
this day by the RSS and its hydra-headed “educational” front
organisations as an “invader” still bent on seeking to convert India
into an Islamic theocratic state.
Aided in these mythical fears and constructions by the British during
the crucial decades leading upto Independence, India’s majoritarian
fascists continue thus to keep at bay all consideration of secular
oppressions based entirely in the brutal social order of Capitalist
expropriation.
Savarkar thus counselled how a resurgent nation could result only if
“Hinduism was militarised, and the military Hinduised”.
Clearly enough, the serving Army Colonel, S.P. Purohit, and the other
retired Major, one Upadhyay, who the Mumbai ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad)
tells us, are at the centre of the Malegaon terrorist blasts of
September 29, 2008, alongwith Sadhvi Pragya and the rogue-sadhu,
Amreetanand—and very possibly complicit in half-a dozen other blasts
as well—seem to have heeded Savarkar’s advice to the hilt.
Indeed, in his narco-test confessions, Colonel Purohit, sources have
told some TV channels (Times Now), admits to his guilt and justifies
his actions as retribution for what he thinks SIMI (Student’s Islamic
Movement of India) have been doing. He is understood to have further
indicated that the rogue sadhu, Amreetanand, nee Dayanand etc., has
been the kingpin and chief coordinator and devisor of several other
blasts carried out by this cell, including the blasts at the revered
Ajmer Dargah (Mausoleum of the 12th century Sufi saint, Chisti, which
to this day draws devotees across faiths the world-over), and at
Kanpur.
The ATS are now busy exploring the routes through which huge sums of
money have been brought into the country for such terrorist activity
as hawala transactions, and whether the RDX, suspected to be used in
the Malegaon blast, was procured by Colonel Purohit through Army
connections. It is to be noted that Purohit has been in Military
Intelligence, and serving in Jammu and Kashmir, where it is thought he
made contact with the rogue sadhu, Amreetanand.
(Indeed, as I write, news comes of the ATS claiming that Purohit
actually stole some 60 kilos of RDX which was in his custody while
doing duty at Deolali, and that in his narco-test confession he admits
to passing it on to one “Bhagwan” for use in the blast on the
Samjhauta Express train in February, 2007.)
Needless to say, that alongwith the courts, we will also require that
the ATS is actually able to obtain convictions rather than merely pile
on evidence which may not be admissible in law.
To return to the argument:
As I suggested in my last column, “Notions of the Nation” (Znet,
November 4), Hindutva militarism since the establishment of the Hindu
Mahasabha and the RSS has been inspired by the desire to emulate and
then better Muslim “aggressiveness” seen as a racial characteristic
that defined “Muslim” rule in India, and rendered Hindus “limp” and
“cowardly”.
Thus, if Savarkar established Abhinav Bharat, Dr Moonje, an avowed
Mussolini admirer who in turn inspired Dr Hedgewar to establish the
RSS on Vijay Dashmi of 1924 (victory day, denoting the liquidation of
the Dravidian Ravana by the Aryan Kshatriya warrior, Ram), established
the Bhondsala Military Academy at Indore (1937). It now transpires
that this academy has been playing host to the Bajrang Dal for
militarist training routines etc., and its Director, one Raikar, has
put in his papers. Unsurprisingly enough, both these institutions are
now under the scanner.
III
Over the last decade, terrorist blasts have occurred in India across a
wide variety of sites and in major cities and towns.
Many of these blasts have taken place outside mosques and known
Muslim- majority locations, as well outside cinema halls that were
thought to be showing movies inimical to Hindu glory.
Briefly, these sites are: cinemas in Thane and Vashi in Maharashtra,
Jalna, Purna, Parbhani, and Malegaon towns, again all in Maharashtra—
and all areas of high Muslim density, in Hyderabad outside a famous
old mosque, and in Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat.
Curiously, in the Surat episode, some sixteen odd bombs were found
placed along the main thoroughfare in tree branches, on house-tops, on
electric poles and so forth. Not one of them however exploded. This
was thought to be the result of defective switches. Curious
circumstance that; besides the wonder that Ahmedabad’s Muslims could
find such sprawling access to such strategic locations without Modi
knowing a thing.
Yet, regardless of where the blasts have taken place, almost without
exception the Pavlovian response of state agencies as well as, sad to
say, media channels has been invariably to point fingers of suspicion
and culpability towards one or the other “Islamic” outfit.
Often, young Muslims men have been rounded up in the scores and held
for days of brutal questioning without the least prima facie evidence.
Nearly in all such cases, however reluctantly, they have had to be let
off.
The most recent case is that of some fifteen young Muslims picked up
after the Hyderabad blasts. Tortured with electric shocks, they have
nevertheless been found to be innocent and let go.
Indeed, after the gruesome blasts in the Samjhauta Express—a train
service of reconciliation and confidence-building between India and
Pakistan—in which some 68 people were burnt to cinders, 45 of them
Pakistani citizens, fingers were immediately pointed towards the SIMI.
Yet, the ATS of Mumbai now suspects that this may also be the doing of
the “Hindu” terrorists in custody. These speculations have been raised
by the circumstance that the suitcases that held the bombs had Indore
labels on them.
Just as the ATS now suspects that more than half a dozen blasts (the
two at Malegaon, in 2006 and 2008, at the cinemas in Thane and Vashi,
at Jalna, at Purna, at Parbhani, provenly at Nanded and Kanpur) have
all been the handiwork of “Hindu” terror groups.
IV
For some years, reputed civil and human rights organisations, and
individual members of civil society that have included journalists,
judges, lawyers, writers, artists, teachers, students, and labour
organisations, besides organised Muslim fora and Left parties, have
been cautioning both state agencies and media conglomerates to:
• desist from the Pavlovian haste with which some one or other Muslim
group is immediately named and labelled literally within an hour of
the occurrence of a blast, thus contributing to the maligning of the
entire Muslim community;
• to consider the possibility that groups other than those involving
Muslims could be involved;
• to refrain from covering up prima facie evidence which points to
such possibilities; indeed, where such evidence seems conclusive, as
the complicity of the Bajrang Dal at Nanded and Kanpur;
• to ponder the question as to why Muslims should effect blasts within
their own localities or outside their mosques;
• to weigh the consequences for the Muslim psyche of the failure of
the state to prevent repeated pogroms against them, and to find or
punish the guilty; not to speak of active state connivance in those
pogroms (Moradabad, 198o; Nellie, 1983; Hashimpura, 1987; Bhagalpur,
1989; Mumbai, 1992-93; Gujarat, 2002, to cite just the more recent
ones);
• to permit transparency in the matter of police investigations with
due regard for the Constitutional rights of those held in custody—such
as visitation, access to legal defence, norms of the recording of
confession and other evidence etc.;
• to respect the obligatory presumption of innocence until anyone is
juridically found guilty;
Time and again these cautions and rightful prerogatives have been
trampled under foot.
Aided by the loud biases of the corporate media which have tended to
reflect the predilections both of free-market imperialism and
comprador urban middle class sentiments in India’s metropolitan towns,
India’s state agencies and that “all-knowing” species, the
Intellegence expert, who seems ever present to reinforce anti-Muslim
prejudice, have tended to feed massively into the politics of the
Hindu Right-wing.
For years on end, India’s chief malady has been sought to be seen to
reside in “Islamic” terrorism, and in the complicit refusal of the
secularists to allow draconian preventive laws to be brought back on
the books. Not in poverty, malnutrition, disease, absence of health
care or clean drinking water, or lack of steady work among the urban
poor, or the ousted tribals, disenfranchised farmers, chronic failure
of primary schooling and so forth among some 75 per cent of Indians.
And most of them belonging to the Muslim, Dalit, and Tribal
communities.
And to repeat for the nth time, this three-fourths of Indians able to
spend just or under Rupees Twenty a day, all according to the
governments’ own Arjun Sengupta Committee Report.
Not to speak of the venomous communalisation of the polity, the
alienation and ghettoisation of the minorities, and the state’s
failure or unwillingness to carry through schemes that could redress
these maladies.
As to new terror laws, the government of the day may protest that it
has all the laws it wants, and more; as well as the fact that the
worst terrorist attacks took place when laws like the dreaded POTA
(Prevention of Terrorism Act) was on the books during the tenure of
the NDA regime led by the ultra-”nationalist” BJP. Small dent is made
by any regime of empirically-founded facts, or fair-minded arguments
on the right-wing fascists and their fattened constituency.
V
Now, of course, a radically transformed milieu is unravelling.
Photos and videos are doing the rounds that show the “Hindu”
terrorists currently under investigation in close and intimate
proximity to top leaders of the RSS, the VHP, and the BJP as well.
Had POTA indeed been on the books today, such evidence would have
authorised the police to put them all behind bars on the charge of
associating with those under investigation for “terrorism”. And all
that without any recourse to bail either.
Predictably, nonetheless, after some days of dumbfounded
crestfallenness (remember that the main electoral plank of the BJP in
the elections now under way in several states and in the soon-to-be-
held parliamentary polls is the failure of the Congress to eradicate
“terrorism” because of its “minority appeasement” policies), the Right-
wing fascists are back to brazen form.
Even as the projected Prime Ministerial candidate, Advani (the high-
point of whose career remains the successful demolition of the Babri
mosque) seeks to strike a stance of caution, party hard-liners have
taken to peddling outrageous theories.
As a complement to the well-known Pavlovian hunch that “all terrorists
are Muslims”, we are now told by the likes of Rajnath Singh, the party
President, that “no Hindu can be a terrorist”, that is to say even
when he or she is found to be one.
This for the reason that what the ordinary man calls “terrorism” is in
fact “nationalism” where any Hindu be involved. Live and learn.
Other than that, it is both interesting and laughable that spokesmen
and women of the BJP are today reduced to gurgitating every single
argument that Muslims and civil rights organisations have to this day
voiced:
• presume innocence until found guilty;
• desist from the “political conspiracy” to malign a whole community;
• do not let enemies of the Hindu-right propagate fake evidence
against them, since all evidence against them must be fake in
principle;
• and most outlandishly, do not communalise terrorism; that from
India’s rank communalists who have done nothing but communalise
terrorism ever since we remember!
VI
Even as these new developments point to a potentially mortal combat
among “Hindu” and “Muslim” terror groups, I venture to think that the
situation also offers opportunities of far-reaching redressal for all
three axes that matter: the state and its agencies, the party-
political system, and the polity generally.
First off, if, as has been the case, the Congress’ secular credentials
have consistently been vitiated by, willy nilly, playing second-fiddle
to Hindu-communalist appeasement, the denuding of the Hindu-Right
offers it the opportunity of a lifetime to assert the supremacy of the
constitutional scheme of things, without fear or favour.
It is indeed a circumstance that can now help the Congress and other
secular parties to come down like a ton on communalism of all shades
that underpin the fatal subversion of the secular republic without the
need for apology.
In this endeavour, its greatest inspiration must come from two factors
on the Muslim side of the issue:
one, that over the last year every single major and influential Muslim
cultural and religious organisation has publicly, and repeatedly,
denounced through speech, act, and fatwa “terrorism” as un-Islamic and
a rightful candidate for punishment under law;
and, two, that without exception they have pleaded only and ever for
fair and just treatment at the hands of the authorised instruments of
state, both when victimised by pogroms and suspected as culprits; and
for credible pursuit of those that persecute them.
Not once has any Muslim organisation worth the name suggested that
Muslims have any claims that override the cosntitutional regime of
laws and procedures pertaining to all citizens of the Republic.
All that in stark contrast to the refusal, however camouflaged or
strategised, of the RSS and its affiliates to accept either the
secular Constitution or the notion of secular citizenship.
It is to be recalled that the RSS tactically acquiesced to
acknowledging the primacy of the national flag over its own saffron
one in 1949 as a quid pro quo to its release from the ban imposed on
it after Gandhi’s murder.
To this day it seeks to overthrow the Republic as constituted by law
and to replace it by a theocratic Hindu Rashtra wherein the
prerogatives of citizenship will be determined not by secular,
democratic equality but racial difference among Indians (all that
brutally codified in Golwalker’s two books, We, and Our Ntionhood
Defined; and, the later Bunch of Thoughts which explicitly designates
Muslims as the nations’s “Enemy Number One” in an exclusive chapter).
However Hindu cultural politics may have come to infect sections of
the fattened urbanites, the Congress must show the conviction that
none of these in this day and age would be willing to back what is
explicitly “terrorist” activity, indistinguishable from any other,
once the matter is proven.
This then is a fine moment to release a new energetic politics that
recharges the conviction and inspiration of the non-discriminatory
humanism that informed the leaders of the freedom movement, and thus
to disengage whatever popular base the Hindu-Right has built over the
years since the demolition of the Babri mosque from its fascist
leaderships and cadres.
Just as, in fact, many BJP supporters are busy thinking whether they
are indeed willing to carry their love of Muslim-haters quite to the
point where those other dreams of Indian super-powerdom are seriously
jeopardised by a war of competing terrorisms.
It is also a golden opportunity for the Congress-led UPA, should it
come back to power, to take a hard look at the communalist virus that
has infected law-enforcement agencies over the decades, and to make
bold to effect reforms of a far-reaching character, such as include
the recruitment of Muslims and other “minorities” in due proportion to
the forces, and not just among the lower ranks.
Speaking of the Army, some three per cent Muslims are today among its
ranks—some sixty years after Independence. And I won’t make a guess as
to how abysmal might in fact be its share among the officer core,
colonel and above. And wouldn’t I dearly like to take a peek into what
sort of Indian History is taught India’s future officers at Khada-
kvasla and Dehradun? Truly; and who does the teaching as well.
VII
As to the BJP: it has another opportunity as well, namely, to
reconstitute itself as a secular party on the Right, bearing full
allegiance to the Constitution in letter and spirit (remember now that
among other things on the street-level, the NDA regime led by the BJP
did constitute a Constitution Review Committee—an ominous enough move
that, thankfully, was duly aborted in course), and shunning once and
for all its enslavement to the RSS and its fascist vision of India,
its history, culture and state.
Failing to do so, the BJP may succeed in causing further mayhem; but
it is highly unlikely now to attain the sort of ascendance it seeks
through fair means and foul.
Most of all, the BJP must understand that the Muslims of India, and
Christians as well, have the inalienable right to live and work in the
country on the terms set by the Constitution, not by the RSS or the
Sangh Parivar.
And, conversely, that the BJP itself is as subject to those
constitutional stipulations as any another collective of Indians who
practice their beliefs and politics.
Let the BJP notice the epigraph chosen for this column; it comes from
the new President-elect of the one country that the BJP adores. Or
will it now, with a Black man at the helm?
A different voice floats from there.
Time for the BJP to change its langoti, and say “yes we can” also be
peaceable and law-abiding citizens of the Republic of India. And to
prize and protect its magnificent plurality like all sensible and
humane Indians.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1067.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol. XLVII, No 34, August 8, 2009
Will RSS see the Ground Reality and join to Salve India‘s Core Values?
Sunday 16 August 2009, by Sailendra Nath Ghosh
Of late, the RSS has been accusing the BJP of inconsistency and also
of failure to convey the real meaning of Hindutva. The BJP has
certainly been inconsistent. It has been in two minds because like the
Congress, it, too, is preoccupied, not with any principle or any
concern for correct ideation, but with the slogan that can help it
capture power. But on the question of the real meaning of Hindutva, is
the RSS itself clear and consistent? It has a very large and committed
cadre. Why does it depend on the BJP to “convey the real meaning”? To
what extent has the RSS itself succeeded in conveying the supposedly
real meaning?
The RSS has been saying that anybody who regards India as his/her
motherland and a holy land is a Hindu and that the Indian Muslims are
Mohammadi Hindus and the Indian Christians are Isahi Hindus and so on.
Now, there is a large body of people who plainly call themselves
Hindus. They are not the followers of any one Prophet or of any one
Book. They have a large body of sacred books – the Vedas, the
Upanishads, the Geeta and Puranas. They venerate many Rishis and adore
some maryada-purushes like Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. How should they
be described? They cannot be called Ramiah Hindus or Krishnaiah
Hindus. They would not like to be called Sakti-ite Hindus, or Shivaite
or Vaishnavaite Hindus. Saktism, shaivism, and vaishnavism have got so
merged in their thinking that they are partly sakta, partly shaiva and
partly vaishnava. They worship all these principles as different
manifestations of the one Supreme Reality in differing circumstances.
If they are to be called “Sanatan dharmis” or in brief, “Sanatanis”,
why did the RSS not launch a movement insisting that the members of
the community, now plainly called Hindus, add a prefix “Sanatani” to
bring consistency? Not to do that would mean they would continue to
describe themselves as Hindus by religion, and again, as Hindus by
nationality. This becomes ridiculous.
Hinduism is no particular religion. It is a philosophy of religions.
The great nationalist leader, late Bipin Chandra Pal, described
Hinduism as a “confederal principle of co-existence of all religions”.
In deference to this spirit, the RSS had composed a verse in which the
names of pious Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jains were included
as persons to be remembered and revered early every morning, before
beginning the day’s work.
Socio-Cultural Heritage got Degraded
IF this is Hinduism, how does Hindutva differ from it? The RSS’s
cryptic answer is, Hindutva is the concept of “geocultural
nationalism”. Implicitly, it says that long before India’s political
unification, India had achieved cultural unification from Jammu and
Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and from Arunachal and Meghalaya to Saurashtra
through the medium of two great epics, the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, and the Geeta (which is truly a part of the Mahabharata).
These great works of the ancient Indians, then universally called
Hindus, had imparted values of parental love, filial duties, brotherly
love, unshakeable fidelity to the spouse, the monarch’s obedience to
the people’s wishes, the triumph of dharma over the mightiest wrong-
doer—that is, values to be cherished in perpetuity. Hence Hindutva is
value-orientation, the RSS claims. But can the RSS deny that during
the so-called Hindu period, caste hatred had taken firm roots as a
value? In ancient India, desertion of the wife for no fault of hers
also had become a tradition, as in the case of Sita. Murder of a
shudra for reading the Vedas was sanctioned by the social ethos.
Merit of Religio-Confederal Concept
THE RSS needs to accept that the ancient Hindus had, at a certain
stage, come to indulge in regressive social discrimination. The
obverse side of “geocultral nationalism” was socio-cultural dominance
of the higher castes and of the males among them. In the sphere of
philosophical concepts, however, the ancient Hindus were the most
liberal and the highest in cosmopolitanism (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam).
Hence if the RSS does not want to nurture caste inequality and gender
inequality, it should give up its “geo-cultural nationalism” (read the
socio-cultural concept) of Hindutva. If it seeks to promote the
philosophy of co-existence of all faiths, which is the ideal of
Hinduism, it should opt for the religio-confederal concept of
Hindustaniyat. The Muslims of this country have no problem with this,
because they have been traditionally describing themselves as
Hindustanis. The word Hindustan itself came from the verbiage of the
Iranians.
Four Cardinal Considerations
THE RSS needs to recognise four things. First, the usage of a word in
a restricted sense over centuries changes the original acceptation of
the word. Secondly, the Koran not only teaches the oneness of the
Creator. Its esoteric message is the unity of all of creation. The
bigots fail to see this. Hence, for ages, the raging controversy
within Islam, in the words of the eminent historian, the late Prof
Mohammad Habib, has been “between Wahdat-ul-wujud (God is everything)
and Wahdat-ush-shuhud (everything comes from God)”. Those who believe
in the former become attuned to tolerance, amicable relations between
all religious and racial communities and (Emperor) Akbar’s doctrine of
sulh-I-kul (Universal Religious Peace). The doctrine of Wahdat-ush-
shuhud led to the worship of external shariat (shariat-i-zahiri) and
communal hatred. (Vide Prof Habib’s Foreword to Dr S.A.A.Rizvi’s book
“Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries”)
From the above, it follows that the pious people in other faiths
should help in resolving the worldwide intra-Islamic controversy in
favour of the former. Declaration of the principle of confederal
principle in religion in India would largely help resolve Islam’s
global problem and be a powerful blow against bigotry, for world
peace.
Thirdly, India’s religio-philosophy’s contribution to Sufism in Islam,
and Islam’s contribution to spurring religious reform movements in
India constitute a glorious chapter in the world’s history. Historians
agree that the growth of Sufism in early Islam was inspired as much by
its internal urges as by the influences of Buddhism, the Vedanta and
the Hellenistic religions. Islam’s strident call to equality was
wedded to the Arabian nomadic tribes’ aggressive traits. It needed an
Indian response. This provided the spark for the religious reform
movements led by Ramananda, Kabir, Namdev, Tukaram, Guru Nanak and Sri
Chaitanya. To talk of inequitous socio-cultural Hindutva as the motto
is to belittle the fruitful intermingling of the religio-philosophical
thoughts of early Islam and its contemporary Hinduism.
Sharing is a positive value within Islam. Sharing the means of
sustenance is also an ideal of Hinduism so much so that Swami
Vivekananda had proclaimed that the “Hindu ideal is socialistic”.
Hence there is considerable convergence between the pristine Islamic
and Hindu spirituality.
Fourthly, all the ideals of love and selfless service which the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata had taught are getting eclipsed under the
influence of the now globally dominant commercialism, selfism, and cut-
throat competitivism in the name of efficiency. To restore ancient
India’s sublime values, we need a joint fight of all people against
the West’s consumerist and acquisitive philosophy of life and its
accompanying paradigm of development. The Biblical value of universal
love, the Koranic value of Raham and the Upanishadic teaching “love
others as you do yourself” can join together to beat back the narrow
self-centric modes of thought. For this also, the fascination for the
word “Hindutva” needs to be given up to salve the basic values.
Hinduism’s ideal is synthesis, ever higher synthesis. It requires
reconciliation by dissolving the sources of conflict in every
unfolding situation. Its ideal is integration of the heart and the
head (that is, emotion and intellect) of every individual; integration
of individuals with the society; integration of the communities by
elevation to newer peaks of harmonious existence. Its form of address
must, therefore, be such as has a psychological appeal to all people.
The language of negativism, or a language that has the flavour of bias
against any group is alien to the spirit of Hinduism. We need
inclusivism in letter and spirit.
Inclusivism is not an apologia for overlooking anybody’s hateful,
divisive or separatist trends. But to successfully fight separatism,
we must have a robust faith in the ultimate victory of the cause for
universal good and the preparedness to make sacrifices for it. Success
is assured if the approach is positive. Mere criticism/condemnation of
any trend without a pointer to the workable alternative serves only to
widen the gulf. It defeats the national purpose.
True, the virulent anti-Hindu, anti-Shia mujaddid movement in the 16th
century, the bigoted ulama’s secretive conspiracies against Emperor
Akbar’s policy of religious tolerance in the 16th century, the wave of
Wahabi Jihadism from Arabia in the 18th century, the ani-Hindu tirade
of the later-day incarnate of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in the late 19th
century and the mayhem for a separate homeland for the Muslims led by
the later-day incarnate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah were all abominations
and deserved condemnation. But the turning of the usually unruly
Pathans into the volunteers of non-violence led by the Frontier Gandhi
( Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan) was an index of the wonder that communal
harmony and national unity could achieve.
Indian Muslims had no Pathological Separatism
IT must not be imagined that the Indian Muslims had always been under
separatist influence. It is well known that in undivided Punjab,
undivided Bengal and in Sind and the NWFP, and Balochistan, that is,
in the Muslim-majority States which were to constitute Pakistan later,
the Muslim League’s influence was meagre. In the elections to the
provincial legislatures and the Central Assembly in 1937, just a
decade before the Partition, the Muslim League had cut a sorry figure.
In Punjab, it contested only seven out of 84 Muslim reserved seats and
won only two. In Bengal, out of 117 Muslim reserved seats, it had won
only 38. In Sind out of 133 Muslim reserved seats, it had secured only
38. In the NWFP, the League was trounced. The League did not get even
a single seat in the Central Assembly. This showed the Muslims could
be mobilised for national purposes if the national leadership could
act wisely and avoid falling into traps.
True, a decade later the results were reversed. The Muslim League won
all the 30 reserved seats for Muslims in the Central Assembly and 428
seats out of 492 reserved seats for Muslims in provincial
legislatures. That happened because the elections were held in an
atmosphere in which no civilised country would ever allow an election
to take place. The ambience was vitiated by the British rulers’
intrigues, the Imams’ fatwas and false propaganda blitz that in the
event of Muslim League’s defeat, the Muslims would not be allowed to
congregate to offer prayers or to bury their dead and that the
madrasas would all be closed. The Indian National Congress, which had
the necessary moral resources and international prestige, could have
asked for postponement of the elections unless there was a stoppage of
the false propaganda and a calming down of the tempers. Moreover, it
should never have agreed to the elections— a virtual referendum —
being held on the basis of restricted franchise in which only 10 per
cent of the population had the right to vote!
Deadly Poison Mix of Ruling Party’s Pseudo-Secularism and RSS’
Hindutva
IN post-independence India, the ruling Congress party, in the name of
secularism, has been following a policy of appeasing the bigoted
Muslim clerics. Thereby it encouraged “minority aggressivism” and
further fuelled the communal fire. But Hindutvavad was no answer to
this. Instead of mitigating the communal fire, it only served to
corroborate Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s and later Jinnah’s thesis that the
Muslims and the Hindus were two separate nations. What was needed
instead was the pointer that concessions to the clerics were only a
cloak for neglect of the Muslim masses’ material, intellectual and
spiritual interests. Only Mahatma Gandhi’s kind of response could have
been effective. During his Noakhali tour, with his ever-present
declaration of Universal Love, he had challenged the communalist
leaders to show him where the Koran had enjoined the killing of people
of other faiths. Could the RSS challenge the communalists the way the
Mahatma did?
One only wishes that the Mahatma had shown the same grit by standing
steadfastly with Maulana Azad and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in resisting
Partition.
Hinduism’s unique teaching is: “Hate the sin, not the sinner.”
Hinduism also teaches: “Love others as you do yourself.” “Love has the
power to heal.” The Biblical teaching, too, is Universal Love. The
Koran teaches Khuda’s Raham pervades the universe. Criticism by the
way of pointer to the error is essential. But criticism without
concern for the welfare of the wrong-doer is of no avail.
Half-hearted Compromise is no Solution
IN its latest meet, the BJP’s National Executive has tried to make a
compromise between the RSS’ clamour for Hindutva and many of the BJP
leaders’ belated realisation that the Hindutva slogan alienates not
only the Muslims, Christians and large sections of the Dalits, but
also the secular “caste-Hindus”. L.K. Advani’s middle-path declaration
that the party would not accept “any narrow, bigoted, anti-Muslim
interpretation of Hindutva” indicates it is unable to shed its
fascination for the word it has so long been pledged to. In fact, the
BJP would not be able to shed it until the the RSS realises how, by
sticking to this word, it is hampering national unity and also
defeating its own cherished values. This tightrope walking by the BJP
will not have the healing touch. This will not unify the people.
Clearly discarding Hindutva and accepting Hindustaniyat will not mean
any loss of face. This will rather show the courage to steer a change
propelled by the depth of patriotic fervour.
If the RSS and/or the BJP could drop Hindutva as its motto, it would
be able to challenge the Muslimist bigots more effectively. Like Dr
Rafiq Zakaria and in one voice with all truly secular people, it will
be able to tell the bigoted clerics:
During the British rule, you accepted the replacements of the Koranic
punishments by those which the then rulers had imposed in their civil
and criminal courts. At that time, you acquiesced in the banning of
the stoning of the adulterous to death, though this ban violated the
Koranic injunction. You paid interest on the loans taken from the
banks though it was prohibited by the Koran. Now, you raise a hue and
cry about carrying out some essential reforms in Muslim Personal Law
even though some Muslim countries have already enacted them. In
protest against the Supreme Court’s righteous verdict in the Shah Bano
case, you got enacted a law of maintenance which has thrown many
Muslim women divorcees to the streets. ‘Triple talaq at one go’ is
barbaric and against the spirit of the Koran; still you cling to it.
After it drops the outmoded Hindutva slogan, it would be able to mock
the shariat enthusiasts in the manner of Akbar Allahabadi: “The Shaikh
advised his followers, why do you travel by train when you could
travel on camel’s back?”
Writing on the Wall
MAYBE, all these pleas will fall flat in the RSS leadership’s ears. In
that case, the RSS should read the writing on the wall: the RSS will
break up or become moribund. Despite its claim of being a monolith
with no divergence of views among its members, the RSS will face a
grave existential crisis if it does not change its tune in keeping
with the times. There are already sufficient indications. In the1980s—
I forget the exact year—I was invited by Deendayal Research Institute,
headed by Nanaji Deshmukh, to give a series of lectures on my ideas of
environment and development. Lala Hansraj Gupta was in the chair. When
I came to say “Hinduism is no religion. It is a way of life”, I heard
an exclamation in endorsement: “Exactly. Those who talk of ‘Hindus,
Hindus’ but have no interest in the lives of Muslims are not genuine
Hindus.” The voice was Nanaji’s. I was pleasantly surprised because
Nanaji was a prominent RSS member and I did not expect this from an
RSS leader of his stature. Later I had many discussions with him, in
course of which I asked him: “Why don’t you tell your opinions to
Balasaheb Deoras?” He told me that he was writing down his viewpoints
but these would be published after his death. Presumably, he did not
want to annoy the RSS leadership for fear of their non-cooperation in
his other constructive activities at Gonda or Chitrakut.
I know some senior BJP leaders who would be happy if Hindutva is
dropped as the guiding principle. How long can the RSS keep such
people together under the banner of Hindutva? The slogan of Hindutva
does conjure up fear of “Hindu cultural domination” in the minds of
today’s non-Hindus, even if Hindu Rashtra is ruled out. Rationalising
has its limits.
If the RSS changes its archaic ideas and accepts Hindustaniyat as the
religio-confederal principle, it can play a much larger role on the
national horizon. During invasions by China and by Pakistan, its
volunteers played a very useful role in mobilising the people against
the invaders, and working as service providers to our military and
internal security forces. It also played a significant role in
regulating traffic and maintaining law and order even-handedly. In
recognition of this, the then Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri,
invited the RSS leadership to be a member of the National Security
Council. In times of violent attacks on the Sikhs following Indira
Gandhi’s assassination, it did laudable work in giving shelter and
succour to the Sikhs. Dr Hedgewar had links with Bengal’s legendary
revolutionary leader, Trailokya Nath Chakrabarty also known as
‘Maharaj’; and therefore, this nation’s hero, Subhas Chandra Bose, had
even thought of utilising the RSS’ organisational skill in raising a
nationalist volunteer force. During Jayaprakash Narayan’s anti-
corruption and anti-Emergency movements and Bihar flood relief, the
RSS had earned fulsome praise from JP.
Will the RSS let all this goodwill to be besmirched or lost by its
dogmatism and obsolete ideas? It needs to realise that its Hindutvavad
does stir up, among its unthinking followers—which is by far the
larger part—fanaticism, blind prejudices and hatred against all those
who now refuse to see themselves as “Hindus”. If the RSS did not
suffer from the Nelson’s eye syndrome, it would have seen that a large
section of the Dalits and even the Sikhs, who were once the vanguard
of saving the Hindus from forced conversion, do not now like to be
counted as Hindus.
The author is one of the country’s earliest environ-mentalists and a
social philosopher.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1571.html
Mainstream Weekly
VOL XLV No 01
Sachar Committee Report : A Review
Tuesday 24 April 2007, by Anees Chishti
The report of the High-Level Committee appointed by the Prime Minister
under the chairmanship of Justice Rajindar Sachar, retired Chief
Justice of the Delhi High Court, to study the ‘Social, Economic and
Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India’, has been a
subject of wide discussion in the press, among parliamentarians and
other politicians as well as in other informed sections of the
society.
The seven-member Committee had as its members eminent personalities
like Sayid Hamid, former Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim
University and currently Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Prof
T.K. Oommen, former Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a
sociologist of world renown, among others. Dr. Abusaleh Shariff, Chief
Economist, National Council of Applied Economic Research, who is noted
for his perceptive research on various issues of national concern, was
the Member-Secretary. There was no woman member: surprising, as the
condition of women is very important for any survey of the social
scenario among the Muslims. And, the Committee has tried to look at
the predicament of the Muslim women in as good a manner as it could.
The Committee had several consultants from different disciplines and
had commissioned specialists on various aspects of the subject under
coverage to write papers for its use in its study of the complex
issues.
The Committee collected data from the various Censuses, the National
Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), banks and, of course, from the
Central and State Governments.
The members of the Committee visited different parts of the country to
assess the grassroots situation and grasp the realities by experience
rather than merely with the help of statistics brought to their desks
by investigators. The Committee tried to sift the perception of
members of the Muslim community (as well as of non-Muslims) and
understand the nature and magnitude of the community’s grievances, to
be able to judge the veracity or otherwise of the expressions of
negligence and deprivation.
Most of the grievances of the community are common knowledge and those
who have access to the Urdu press in different parts of the country
are fully aware of the endless stories of ‘woes’ and ‘miseries’ of the
community. But a systematic study of these grievances had to be made
and the Sachar Committee ventured to do that. We shall deal with the
grievances briefly later but, first, a review of the findings of the
Sachar Committee in different areas of its concern.
II
It would be appropriate to begin a survey of the Sachar Committee’s
findings with the fundamental issue of education. The literacy rate
for Muslims in 2001 was, according to the Committee’s findings, far
below the national average. The difference between the two rates was
greater in urban areas than in rural areas. For women, too, the gap
was greater in the urban areas.
When compared to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the growth
in literacy for Muslims was lower than for the former. The female
urban enrolment in literacy ratio for the SCs/STs was 40 per cent in
1965 that rose to 83 per cent in 2001. The equivalent rate for Muslims—
that was considerably higher in 1965 (52 per cent)—recorded a figure
of 80 per cent, lower than the figure for the SCs / STs.
According to the Sachar Committee’s findings, 25 per cent of Muslim
children in the 6-14 age-group either never went to school or else
dropped out at some stage.
The disparity in Graduate Attainment Rates between Muslims and other
categories has been widening since the 1970s in urban and rural areas.
According to the Sachar Committee, only one out of 25 undergraduate
students and one out of 50 post-graduate students in ‘premier
colleges’ are Muslims. The percentage of graduates in poor households
pursuing post-graduate studies is significantly lower for Muslims:
Hindus General (29 per cent); SCs/STs (28 per cent); OBCs (23 per
cent); Muslims (16 per cent). The unemployment rate among Muslim
graduates is the highest among all Socio-Religious Categories (SRCs),
poor as well as non-poor.
In the midst of the widespread discussion about the role of madrasas
in the life of Muslims, it is interesting to note that only three per
cent of Muslim children go to madrasas.
Some figures of the Committee are very revealing, when the situation
of OBCs is considered. In education upto matriculation, graduation and
employment in the formal sector all OBCs lag behind in terms of the
all-India average. Muslim OBCs (that have been defined here a little
later) fall below the Hindu OBCs in all categories. And, General
Muslims fare the worst being behind both Hindu and Muslim OBCs.
An important cause for the low level of attainment of Muslims in
education is the dearth of facilities for teaching Urdu and other
subjects through the medium of Urdu (mother tongue) in lower classes,
the Committee points out. It cites the better examples of Karnataka
and Maharashtra in this context. These two States are much better
equipped with Urdu medium schools at the elementary level. Karnataka
has the additional feature of concurrent facilities for English medium
as well in a good number of schools, the Committee points out.
In an indirect reference to the utility of reservation, the Committee
says that the SCs/STs have reaped advantages of targeted government
and private efforts thereby pinpointing the importance of ‘affirmative
action’.
Employment
According to the findings of the Sachar Committee, Muslims have a
considerably lower representation in jobs in the government including
those in the Public Sector Undertakings compared to other SRCs.
According to these findings, in no State of the country the level of
Muslim employment is proportionate to their percentage in the
population.
It is pointed out that the situation of government jobs is the best in
Andhra Pradesh where a “fairly close” representation (in proportion to
the population) has been achieved. Other States with a better picture
of representation are: Karnataka (8.5 per cent job share in a
population proportion of 12.2 per cent); Gujarat (5.4 per cent against
9.1 per cent); Tamil Nadu (3.2 per cent against 5.6 per cent).
According to an analysis, in all other States, the percentage of
Muslims in government employment is half of their population
proportion. The highest percentage figure of government employment for
Muslims is in Assam (11.2 per cent) even though it is far less than
the State’s Muslim population (30.9 per cent).
The most glaring cases of Muslims’ deprivation in government jobs are
found in the States of West Bengal and Kerala where, according to
common perception, egalitarianism has been the cherished norm in all
walks of life. In West Bengal where almost 25 per cent population
practises the Muslim faith, their share in government jobs is a paltry
4.2 per cent. In Kerala the Muslim representation in government jobs
is 10.4 per cent, a figure that is short of half of their population
percentage. In Bihar and UP the percentages of Muslims in government
jobs are found to be less than a third of their population
percentages. Those governing these States need to monitor their
actions to bring the situation in conformity with their professed
objectives and claims.
There are some factors that need to be considered in view of the low
employment figures for Muslims on an all-India basis. The Sachar
Committee observes that the low aggregate work participation ratios
for Muslims are ‘essentially’ due to the much lower participation in
economic activity by the women of the community. Also, a large number
of Muslim women who are engaged in work do so from their homes rather
than in offices or factories. Their figure in this regard is 70 per
cent compared to the general figure of 51 per cent
There is a high share of Muslim workers in self-employment activity,
especially in urban areas and in the case of women, the Committee
points out. Whether this trend is due to compulsion or their non-
expectation for jobs in the government or non-government formal
sector, or due to their inclination for certain types of work that are
done best under a self-employment scheme, would be an important
subject for study. The fact has to be considered that Muslims in
regular jobs in urban areas are much lower in numbers compared to even
the SCs/STs. And, surprisingly, the Muslim regular workers get lower
daily earnings (salary) in public and private jobs compared to other
socio-religious categories, as the Committee points out.
The point that needs special notice is that, according to the
Committee’s findings, Muslim participation in professional and
management cadres is quite low. Their participation in security-
related activities (for example, in the Police services) is
considerably lower than their population share (four per cent
overall).
In the context of employment of Muslims at the level of the Central
Government, the Committee’s findings are very revealing. In the Civil
Services, Muslims are only three per cent in IAS, 1.8 per cent in IFS
and four per cent in IPS. (While the figures are shockingly low
compared to the population percentage, the fact also needs to be
considered that there were only 4.7 per cent Muslims among the
candidates at the Civil Services examinations in 2003-04. The figure
would be almost identical for other years.)
In the Railways, 4.5 per cent are Muslims and, significantly, ‘almost
all’ (98.7 per cent) are in low level positions. Are you listening,
Laloo Prasad Yadav?
Figures for other Departments are: Education 6.5 per cent, Home 7.3
per cent, Police Constables (for which no special educational
qualifications are required) six per cent.
Also to be considered is the finding that in the recent recruitments
by State Public Service Commissions, the employment of Muslims has
been as low as 2.1 per cent.
Minorities other than Muslims are not placed as delicately as the
Muslims. According to the Committee’s findings, 11 per cent of Group A
jobs are with minorities other than Muslims. Deprivation of Muslims in
the State judical set-up seems to be among the most worrying aspects
of their overall backwardness.
The data collected by the Committee in this sector are about all
levels of the officers and employees: Advocate Generals, District and
Sessions Judges, Additional District and Sessions Judges, Chief
Judicial Magistrates, Principal Judges, Munsifs, Public Prosecutors,
and Group A, B, C and D employees. The overall Muslim presence of 7.8
per cent in the area of judiciary in 12 States with high concentration
of Muslim population is considered very low by experts.
To come back to an old theme, in West Bengal with a Muslim population
of over 25 per cent, the figure of Muslims in ‘key positions’ in the
judiciary is only five per cent. In Assam with a Muslim population of
30.9 per cent, this figure is 9.4 per cent. Surprisingly, in Jammu and
Kashmir (where the Muslim population is 66.97 per cent), the
community’s share in the State judiciary is only 48.3 per cent. Andhra
Pradesh once again scores over other States in terms of equitable and
even more than equitable sharing of jobs: Muslims have a share of 12.4
per cent in the State judiciary against a population share of 9.2 per
cent.
Experts feel that for an inclusive democracy, an equitable share for
all sections of the society in the judiciary is essential: it creates
greater public confidence in the judicial process. It would be useful
to survey the situation in this regard in some other developing and
developed countries to be able to arrive at some remedial measures for
this crucial sector of decision-making.
Health and Population
Along with education and employment, health and population welfare are
the other areas that have to be assessed for estimating attainments of
any society. The Sachar Committee has done this exercise in a
comprehensive manner.
First, the overall population picture: According to the 2001 Census,
the Muslim population of India was 138 million (13.4 per cent of the
total population). This figure is estimated to have crossed the 150
million mark in 2006. According to the estimate cited by the
Committee, the share of the Muslim population would rise ‘somewhat’
and stabilise at just below 19 per cent in the next four decades (320
million Muslims in a total population of 1.7 billion). There are many
areas where the Muslim population is 50 per cent or more; and in nine
out of 593 districts (Lakshadweep and eight districts of Jammu and
Kashmir) the Muslim population is over 75 per cent.
On the positive side, the period 1991-2001 showed a decline in the
growth rate of Muslims in most States. According to the Committee’s
findings, the Muslim population shows an increasingly better sex ratio
compared to other Socio-Religious Categories. Infant mortality among
Muslims is slightly lower than the average. (It is beyond the
Committee’s understanding how Muslims should have a child survival
advantage despite lower levels of female schooling and economic
status.) Life expectancy in the community is slightly higher (by one
year) than the average, and this should again surprise many.
The Committee’s finding is important that the Muslim child has a
significantly greater risk of being underweight or stunted than is the
case with other Socio-Religious Categories: the risk of malnutrition
is also ‘slightly higher’ for Muslim children than for ‘Other Hindu’
children. This again seems to be a contradiction vis-à-vis the
reported child survival rate.
Economy
Related to the existing economic condition of Muslims is the issue of
providing legitimate support by state and private agencies for the
members of the community to improve their position. One would like to
examine the situation with regard to trends in the support system of
existing instruments. Banks have been seen as an important source of
credit to support citizens’ economic and commercial ventures. The
picture regarding bank loans to members of the minority is not bright,
according to the findings of the Sachar Committee. It says that the
share of Muslims in ‘amounts outstanding’ is only 4.7 per cent. This
figure is 6.5 per cent in the case of other minorities. Further, on an
average the amount outstanding per account for Muslims is about half
that of the other minorities and one-third of ‘others’.
The pity is that, according to the report, many areas of Muslim
concentration have been marked by many banks as ‘negative’ or ‘red’
zones where giving loans is not advisable. Something would, indeed,
have to be done to put an end to such blanket bans, particularly in
view of the Committee’s finding that very large numbers of Muslims are
engaged in self-employment ventures.
The Reserve Bank of India’s efforts at banking and credit facilities
under the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for the welfare of
minorities have, according to the Committee’s findings, mainly
benefited minorities other than Muslims, thus “marginalising Muslims”.
Apart from the formal banking sector there are two other institutions
that are meant to extend loans to the disadvantaged for economic
ventures: the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation
(NMDFC) and National Backward Classes Finance and Development
Corporation (NBCFDC). For loans from the NMDFC, one has to obtain a
guarantee from the concerned State Government. According to the
Committee, this is the biggest hurdle in the processing of loan
applications. And members of minority communities are very adversely
affected due to this factor.
Poverty Factor
The Committee has found that substantially large proportion of Muslim
households in urban areas are in the less than Rs 500 expenditure
bracket. According to calculations mentioned in the Committee’s
report, using the Head Count Ratio (HCR), overall 22.7 per cent of
India’s population was poor in 2004-05. In absolute numbers, this
amounts to over 251 million people spread across India. The SCs/STs
together are the most poor with an HCR of 35 per cent followed by
Muslims who record the second highest incidence of poverty with 31 per
cent people below the poverty line. The H(indu)-General is the least
poor category with an HCR of only 8.7 per cent and the OBCs hold the
intermediary level HCR of 21 per cent, which is also close to the all-
India average.
The Committee has observed that the inequality is higher in urban
areas compared to rural areas in most States. It says that poverty
among Muslims is the highest in urban areas with an HCR of 38.4 per
cent. Significantly, the fall in poverty for Muslims, according to the
data provided to the Committee, has been “only modest during the
decade 1993-94 to 2004-05 in urban areas, whereas the decline in rural
areas has been substantial”. Poverty leads to neglect, or the other
way round: the Committee found a “significant inverse association”
between the proportion of Muslim population and educational and other
infrastructure in small villages. Areas of Muslim concentration are,
somehow, not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus
stops.
An analysis by the Committee showed a fall in the availability of
medical facilities with the rise in the proportion of Muslims,
especially in larger villages. A similar but sharper pattern can be
seen with respect to post/telegraph offices.
Affirmative Action
Under the existing constitutional provisions, affirmative action in
the form of reservation cannot be possible for the entire Muslim
community even though, according to the findings of the Sachar
Committee, the entire community has been left behind in terms of
education, employment and economic status. A way can be found to lift
a significant segment of the community’s population if social
stratification is defined and officially accepted within the Muslim
community. It could be done in case of Hindus, and subsequently for
Mazhabi Sikhs and neo-Buddhists in terms of caste demarcation. But it
would not be easy to have official acceptance of the caste principle.
The resistance against acceptance of social stratification on caste
lines among Muslims would come largely from the clerics and other
orthodox sections of the Muslim community itself which would be
adamant in its insistence that caste does not exist within the
community. This, even though the fact is that, whether one likes it or
not, the Muslim community is divided with caste demarcations almost on
the lines of the Hindus. A via media has to be found for a clearly
defined backward class like the OBCs among the majority community.
The Sachar Committee has talked of the issue of social stratification
among Muslims. It points out that the 1901 Census had listed 133
social groups, “wholly or partially Muslim”, in India. This
classification thus recognised the fact of social stratification in
the community. The Committee has identified different groups of
Muslims based on studies by sociologists. The community, according to
these studies, as mentioned by the Committee, is placed into
two broad categories , namely, ashraf and ajlaf. The former, meaning
‘noble’ (emphasis added), includes all Muslims of foreign blood and
converts from higher castes. While ajlaf, meaning ‘degraded’ (emphasis
added) or ‘unholy’, embraces the ‘ritually clean’ occupational groups
and low ranking converts. In Bihar, UP, Bengal, Sayyads, Sheikhs,
Moghuls and Pathans constitute the ashrafs, The ajlafs are carpenters,
artisans, painters, graziers, tanners, milkmen, etc. According to the
Census of 1901, the ajlaf category includes “the various classes of
converts who are known as Nao Muslim in Bihar and Nasya in Bengal. It
also includes various functional groups such as that of Jolaha or
weaver, Dhunia or cotton carder, Kulu or oil presser, Kunjra or
vegetable seller, Hajjam or barber, Darzi or tailor, and the like.”
The 1901 Census also recorded the presence of a third category called
Arzal: “It consists of the very lowest castes, such as Halalkhor,
Lalbegi, Abdal and Bedia.” The Committee has taken note of the fact
that the Presidential Order (1950), officially known as Constitutional
(Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, restricts the Scheduled Caste status
only to Hindu groups having “unclean” occupations. Their non-Hindu
equivalents have been bracketed with the “middle caste converts” and
declared OBCs.
The Committee has noted that at least 82 different social groups among
Muslims were declared OBCs by the Mandal Commission (1980). Owing to
this declaration many Muslim social groups got reservation in
different parts of the country under the Backward Classes category.
Only two States, Kerala and Karnataka, have provided reservation to
the State’s entire Muslim population (minus the creamy layer). The
roots of this policy have to be traced to the colonial days.
In Karnataka (the erstwhile princely state of Mysore), affirmative
action started in 1874 (with 80 per cent posts in the Police
Department having been reserved for non-Brahmins, Muslims and Indian
Christians). In Karnataka today, all Muslims with income of less than
Rs 2 lakhs per annum enjoy four per cent reservation in jobs and
admission to institutions in the category of ‘More Backwards’. In
Kerala Muslims enjoy 12 per cent reservation, with some other
communities and social groups too being provided reservation.
Tamil Nadu, which had a tradition of reservation to Muslims since
1872, withdrew such reservation following independence. Currently even
though there is no reservation in the State on the basis of religion,
nearly 95 per cent Muslims have been provided reservation as Backward
Classes, according to the data provided by the State Government to the
Sachar Committee. Significantly enough, reservations in Tamil Nadu
stand at 69 per cent, much above the limit of 50 per cent fixed by the
Supreme Court. Looking at the state of public employment for OBCs the
Committee found that unemployment rates were the highest among Muslim
OBCs when compared to Hindu OBCs and Muslims General. In the formal
sector (government/PSUs), the share of Muslim OBCs was much lower than
those of Hindu OBCs and Muslims General.
At the workers’ level, the Committee estimated that out of every
hundred workers about eleven were Hindu OBCs, three were Muslims
General and only one was a Muslim OBC.
The Committee had divided public employment into six ‘agencies’ of the
Central Government including PSUs and universities. It found that the
Hindu OBCs were under-represented. But their under-representation was
less than that of Muslim OBCs in five out of the six agencies, less
than that of Muslims General in three out of the six agencies. In the
State services the Committee found that Muslim OBCs had a better share
at the Group A level, but their presence was insignificant at other
levels.
In the context of Muslim OBCs, the Committee concluded that the
abysmally low representation of Muslim OBCs suggests that the benefits
of entitlements meant for the Backward Classes are yet to reach them.
The Committee also concluded that “the conditions of Muslims General
are also lower than the Hindu-OBCs who have the benefits of
reservations”.
III
While the Sachar Committee has done a laudable job of assembling a
huge body of data and presenting it in an easily digestible manner, it
has not been as meticulous in formulating its recommendations. Perhaps
it was due to the fatigue after an enormous amount of legwork on a
national scale and the subsequent analysis of the compiled information
that its members had to do in about 15 months of actual work, coupled
with the desire of submitting its report rather urgently and the fact
that much of the information about its findings had already been
accessed by a section of the press. In view of the mind-boggling
findings and the very sensitive nature of the ground it was traversing
a very comprehensive matrix of recommendations should have been
presented by an able and competent panel blending experience and fresh
thinking. Unfortunately this could not be achieved by the Committee.
The most important recommendations of the Committee can be summarised
as under:
• Creation of a National Data Bank (NDB) where relevant data about
different socio-religious communities could be stored to facilitate
any study and subsequent action.
• Setting up of an autonomous Assessment and Monitoring Authority
(AMA) for a regular audit of the benefits of different programmes of
the government reaching the concerned communities or groups.
• Establishing an Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) to examine and
analyse the grievances of deprived groups, the inspiration
understandably for it coming from the Race Relations Act, 1976 of the
United Kingdom that finds mention in the Committee’s recommendation.
• Exploring the idea of introducing some incentives to a ‘Diversity
Index’ in the realms of education, government, and private employment
and housing programmes. Special mention has been made of a possible
programme of incentives to colleges and institutions under the
University Grants Commission linked to diversity in the student
population.
• Evolving some sort of a ‘nomination’ procedure for enhancing the
levels of inclusiveness in governance.
• Certain measures like removal of anomalies in Reserved
Constituencies for General Elections against complaints of declaring
Muslim concentration areas as SC/ST reserved seats.
• Institutionalising evaluation procedures for textbooks, alternate
admission criteria in regular universities and autonomous colleges;
cost friendly reasonable hostel facilities for minority students as a
priority; making teacher training oriented to ideals of pluralism;
state-run Urdu medium schools for primary education in mother tongue;
ensuring appointment of experts from minority community on interview
panels and boards; linking madrasas with higher secondary schools
facilitating shift of students who might opt for a mainstream
education system after a few years; recognition of degrees from
madrasas for competitive examinations (a recommendation hard to find
acceptance in any section of concerned quarters); on the economic
front, provision of financial and other support to initiatives built
around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and that have growth
potential.
The above suggestions have given considerable food for thought with
regard to the panacea for deprivation of the Muslim community in
various spheres. But a more comprehensive and concrete programme
should have been suggested by the Committee.
This task could have been performed best by the able members of this
panel who had travelled far and wide and acquainted themselves with
the grassroots realities rather than leaving it for another possible
committee for a start from a scratch. This was essential to get action
initiated on the basis of its findings instead of letting this venture
too meet the fate of the earlier Gopal Singh Committee over two
decades ago that had similar findings (although it had a narrower
coverage than the Sachar Committee). Now it is for the Prime Minister
and his government to decide the future course of action to remedy the
situation regarding the travails of the Muslim community.
IV
Much of the Sachar Committee’s endeavour was in pursuance of the
perception among Muslims of utter neglect and apathy, and even
suspicion, towards the Muslim community on the part of governmental
agencies—right or wrong! An oft-repeated remark by many members of the
community was that Muslims carried a double burden of being labelled
as ‘anti-national’ and as being ‘appeased’ at the same time. Or,
whenever any act of violence or terror occurs Muslim boys are picked
up by the police. “Every bearded man is considered an ISI agent,” the
Committee has quoted someone as saying. It was also pointed out that
“social boycott of Muslims in certain parts of the country have forced
them to migrate from places where they lived for centuries.”
The Committee has also observed that identification of Urdu as a
Muslim language and its politicisation has complicated matters. A
worrying observation is that Muslims do not see education as
necessarily translating into formal employment. And, many a time
madrasas are the only educational option for Muslims.
On the economic front, the Committee observes that liberalisation of
the economy has resulted in displacement of Muslims from their
traditional occupations, thus depriving them of their livelihood.
The Committee has reported that there were many complaints of Muslims’
names missing from electoral rolls. It could not look into the
veracity or otherwise of this complaint. But what the Committee found
in case of complaints that a number of Muslim concentration Assembly
constituencies are declared as ‘reserved’ seats for the SCs
(deliberately?) should certainly worry those involved with the work of
delimitation of constituencies. Its analysis of reserved
constituencies for SCs in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal proved
that there was truth in the allegation of the members of the minority
community in this regard.
With the perception of Muslims not being quite favourable to official
agencies, the revelation of the findings of the Sachar Committee with
regard to over-representation of the community in the country’s
prisons, reported (before the submission of its report to the Prime
Minister) by The Indian Express, in its series of reports entitled
‘The Missing Muslim’, created a sensation. The Urdu press was on fire
and questions were asked why prisons were the only place where Muslims
were over-represented compared to all other communities and in some
cases their representation being much higher than their population
proportion.
In Maharashtra, the percentage of Muslim jail inmates in all
categories was found to be way above their share in the population
(share in population: 10.6 per cent; share in prison inmates: 17.5 per
cent). In Gujarat the position was: share in population: 9.06 per
cent; share in jail inmates: over 25 per cent). The situation was on
similar lines in other States too although the jail inmate share might
not be as bad in other States as in the States mentioned above.
Following the submission of the report to the Prime Minister, The
Indian Express reported that the data with regard to prisons were
edited out of the Sachar report, following the concern expressed on
these figures in different quarters. Some observers felt that the
prison figures should not have been omitted, as they would have given
a clear picture of some of the Muslim grievances with regard to the
more sensitive issues.
The remedy for the travails of the Muslim community can be found
largely by the community’s bolder initiatives in the field of
education that would empower them as nothing else would.
The government, on its part, seems to be ready for whatever remedial
measures can be adopted by its different agencies. The recent
initiative taken by the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, K. Rehman
Khan, to arrive at a consensus for action on an all-party basis,
through a conclave of Muslim MPs (including some from the Bharatiya
Janata Party, which has been very critical of the very appointment of
the Sachar Committee), seems to be a significant one. One only hopes
that such an initiative would have the support of the government and
some concrete steps would be taken without much delay.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article95.html
Sid Harth
James Heitzman and Robert L. Worden, editors. India: A Country Study.
Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank individuals in various agencies of the
Indian and United States governments and private institutions who gave
their time, research materials, and special knowledge to provide
information and perspective. These individuals include Hardeep Puri,
Joint Secretary (America) of the Ministry of External Affairs;
Madhukar Gupta, Joint Secretary (Kashmir) of the Ministry of Home
Affairs; Bimla Bhalla, Director General of Advertising and Visual
Publications, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; Amulya Ratna
Nanda, Registrar General of India; Ashok Jain, director of the
National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies; T.
Vishwanthan, director of the Indian National Scientific Documentation
Centre; G.P. Phondke, director of the Publications and Information
Directorate of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; Air
Commander Jasjit Singh, director of the Institute for Defence Studies
and Analyses; G. Madhavan, deputy executive secretary of the Indian
Academy of Sciences; Sivaraj Ramaseshan, distinguished emeritus
professor, Raman Research Institute; H.S. Nagaraja, public relations
officer of the Indian Institute of Science; Virendra Singh, director
of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Bhabani Sen Gupta of
the Centre for Policy Research; Pradeep Mehendiratta, Vice President
and Executive Director, Indian Institute of American Studies; and
Richard J. Crites, Chat Blakeman, Peter L.M. Heydemann, and Marcia
S.B. Bernicat of the United States Embassy in New Delhi. Special
thanks go to Lygia M. Ballantyne, director, and Alice Kniskern, deputy
director, and the staff of the Library of Congress New Delhi Field
Office, particularly Atish Chatterjee, for supplying bounteous amounts
of valuable research materials on India and arranging interviews of
Indian government officials.
Appreciation is also extended to Ralph K. Benesch, who formerly
oversaw the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program for the Department
of the Army, and to the desk officers in the Department of State and
the Department of the Army who reviewed the chapters. Thanks also are
offered to William A. Blanpied, Mavis Bowen, Ainslie T. Embree, Jerome
Jacobson, Suzanne Hanchett, Barbara Leitch LePoer, Owen M. Lynch, and
Sunalini Nayudu, who either assisted with substantive information or
read parts of the manuscript or did both.
The authors also wish to thank those who contributed directly to the
preparation of the manuscript. They include Sandra W. Meditz, who
reviewed all textual and graphic materials, served as liaison with the
Department of the Army, and provided numerous substantive and
technical contributions; Sheila Ross, who edited the chapters; Andrea
T. Merrill, who edited the tables and figures; Marilyn Majeska, who
supervised editing and managed production; Alberta Jones King, who
assisted with research, making wordprocessing corrections to various
versions of the manuscript, and proofreading; Barbara Edgerton and
Izella Watson, who performed the final wordprocessing; Marla D.
Woodson, who assisted with proofreading; and Janie L. Gilchrist, David
P. Cabitto, Barbara Edgerton, and Izella Watson, who prepared the
camera-ready copy. Catherine Schwartzstein performed the final
prepublication editorial review, and Joan C. Cook compiled the index.
Graphics support was provided by David P. Cabitto, who oversaw the
production of maps and graphics and, with the assistance of Wayne
Horne, designed the cover and the illustrations on the chapter title
pages; and Harriet Blood and Maryland Mapping and Graphics, who
assisted in the preparation of the maps and charts. Thanks also go to
Gary L. Fitzpatrick and Christine M. Anderson, of the Library of
Congress Geography and Map Division, for assistance in preparing early
map drafts. A very special thank you goes to Janice L. Hyde, who did
the research on and selection of cover and title-page illustrations
and photographs, translated some of the photograph captions and
textual references, and helped the editors on numerous matters of
substance and analysis. Shantha S. Murthy of the Library of Congress
Serial Record Division provided Indian language assistance. Clarence
Maloney helped identify the subjects of some of the photographs.
Finally the authors acknowledge the generosity of individ-uals and
public and private organizations who allowed their photographs to be
used in this study. They have been acknowledged in the illustration
captions.
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Preface
This edition supersedes the fourth edition of India: A Country Study ,
published in 1985 under the editorship of Richard F. Nyrop. The new
edition provides updated information on the world's second most
populous and fastest-growing nation. Although much of India's
traditional behavior and organizational dynamics reported in 1985 have
remained the same, internal and regional events have continued to
shape Indian domestic and international policies.
To the extent possible, place-names used in the text conform to the
United States Board on Geographic Names, but equal weight has been
given to spellings provided by the official Survey of India.
Measurements are given in the metric system.
The body of the text reflects information available as of September 1,
1995. Certain other portions of the text, however, have been updated.
The Bibliography lists published sources thought to be particularly
helpful to the reader.
http://countrystudies.us/india/2.htm
History
THOSE "WHO WEAR COTTON CLOTHES, use the decimal system, enjoy the
taste of [curried] chicken, play chess, or roll dice, and seek peace
of mind or tranquility through meditation," writes historian Stanley
Wolpert, "are indebted to India." India's deep-rooted civilization may
appear exotic or even inscrutable to casual foreign observers, but a
perceptive individual can see its evolution, shaped by a wide range of
factors: extreme climatic conditions, a bewildering diversity of
people, a host of competing political overlords (both local and
outsiders), enduring religious and philosophical beliefs, and complex
linguistic and literary developments that led to the flowering of
regional and pan-Indian culture during the last three millennia. The
interplay among a variety of political and socioeconomic forces has
created a complex amalgam of cultures that continue amidst conflict,
compromise, and adaptation. "Wherever we turn," says Wolpert, "we
find . . . palaces, temples, mosques, Victorian railroad stations,
Buddhist stupas, Mauryan pillars; each century has its unique
testaments, often standing incongruously close to ruins of another
era, sometimes juxtaposed one atop another, much like the ruins of
Rome, or Bath."
India's "great cycle of history," as Professor Hugh Tinker put it,
entails repeating themes that continue to add complexity and diversity
to the cultural matrix. Throughout its history, India has undergone
innumerable episodes involving military conquests and integration,
cultural infusion and assimilation, political unification and
fragmentation, religious toleration and conflict, and communal harmony
and violence. A few other regions in the world also can claim such a
vast and differentiated historical experience, but Indian civilization
seems to have endured the trials of time the longest. India has proven
its remarkable resilience and its innate ability to reconcile opposing
elements from many indigenous and foreign cultures. Unlike the West,
where modern political developments and industrialization have created
a more secular worldview with redefined roles and values for
individuals and families, India remains largely a traditional society,
in which change seems only superficial. Although India is the world's
largest democracy and the seventh-most industrialized country in the
world, the underpinnings of India's civilization stem primarily from
its own social structure, religious beliefs, philosophical outlook,
and cultural values. The continuity of those time-honed traditional
ways of life has provided unique and fascinating patterns in the
tapestry of contemporary Indian civilization.
http://countrystudies.us/india/3.htm
Harappan Culture
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Vedic Aryans
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Kingdoms and Empires
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The Mauryan Empire
http://countrystudies.us/india/7.htm
The Deccan and the South
http://countrystudies.us/india/8.htm
Gupta and Harsha
http://countrystudies.us/india/9.htm
The Coming of Islam
http://countrystudies.us/india/10.htm
Southern Dynasties
http://countrystudies.us/india/11.htm
The Mughals
http://countrystudies.us/india/12.htm
The Marathas
http://countrystudies.us/india/13.htm
The Sikhs
http://countrystudies.us/india/14.htm
The Coming of the Europeans
http://countrystudies.us/india/15.htm
The British Empire in India
http://countrystudies.us/india/16.htm
Company Rule, 1757-1857
http://countrystudies.us/india/16.htm
The British Raj, 1858-1947
http://countrystudies.us/india/17.htm
Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-59
http://countrystudies.us/india/17.htm
After the Sepoy Rebellion
http://countrystudies.us/india/18.htm
The Independence Movement
http://countrystudies.us/india/19.htm
Mahatma Gandhi
http://countrystudies.us/india/20.htm
Political Impasse and Independence
http://countrystudies.us/india/21.htm
Independent India
http://countrystudies.us/india/24.htm
National Integration
http://countrystudies.us/india/22.htm
Jawaharlal Nehru
http://countrystudies.us/india/23.htm
Indira Gandhi
http://countrystudies.us/india/24.htm
Rajiv Gandhi
http://countrystudies.us/india/25.htm
Geography and Demographics
Geography
Coasts and Borders
Rivers
Climate
Earthquakes
Population
Population Projections
Population and Family Planning Policy
Health Conditions
http://countrystudies.us/india/35.htm
Health Care
Education
http://countrystudies.us/india/37.htm
Religion
The Vedas and Polytheism
http://countrystudies.us/india/39.htm
Karma and Liberation
Jainism
http://countrystudies.us/india/41.htm
Buddhism
http://countrystudies.us/india/42.htm
The Worship of Personal Gods
http://countrystudies.us/india/43.htm
Vishnu
Shiva
Brahma and the Hindu Trinity
The Goddess
http://countrystudies.us/india/47.htm
Local Deities
http://countrystudies.us/india/48.htm
The Ceremonies of Hinduism
Domestic Worship
Life-Cycle Rituals
Temples
Pilgrimage
Festivals
Islam
http://countrystudies.us/india/55.htm
Sikhism
http://countrystudies.us/india/56.htm
Tribal Religions
http://countrystudies.us/india/57.htm
Christianity
http://countrystudies.us/india/58.htm
Zoroastrianism
http://countrystudies.us/india/59.htm
Judaism
http://countrystudies.us/india/60.htm
Modern Changes in Religion
http://countrystudies.us/india/61.htm
Language, Ethnicity, and Regionalism
Linguistic Relations
Diversity, Use, and Policy
Languages of India
Hindi and English
Hindi
English
Linguistic States
The Social Context of Language
http://countrystudies.us/india/69.htm
Tribes
http://countrystudies.us/india/70.htm
Jews and Parsis
http://countrystudies.us/india/71.htm
Portuguese
http://countrystudies.us/india/72.htm
Anglo-Indians
http://countrystudies.us/india/73.htm
Africans
http://countrystudies.us/india/74.htm
Regionalism
http://countrystudies.us/india/75.htm
Telangana Movement
Jharkhand Movement
http://countrystudies.us/india/76.htm
Uttarakhand
http://countrystudies.us/india/77.htm
Gorkhaland
http://countrystudies.us/india/78.htm
Ladakh
http://countrystudies.us/india/79.htm
The Northeast
http://countrystudies.us/india/80.htm
Society
Themes in Indian Society
Family
Veiling and the Seclusion of Women
Life Passages
Children and Childhood
Marriage
Adulthood
Death and Beyond
Caste and Class
The Village Community
Urban Life
The Economy
Structure of the Economy
The Role of Government
Labor
Industry
Government Policies
Manufacturing
Energy
Mining and Quarrying
Tourism
Science and Technology
Agriculture
Crops
The Green Revolution
Livestock and Poultry
Forestry
Fishing
Government and Politics
The Constitution
Politics
The Congress
Opposition Parties
Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rise of Hindu Nationalism
http://countrystudies.us/india/113.htm
Communist Parties
Regional Parties
Caste-Based Parties
http://countrystudies.us/india/116.htm
Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir
http://countrystudies.us/india/117.htm
Hindu-Muslim Tensions
http://countrystudies.us/india/118.htm
Corruption
http://countrystudies.us/india/119.htm
The Media
The Rise of Civil Society
Foreign Relations
Pakistan
http://countrystudies.us/india/123.htm
Bangladesh
http://countrystudies.us/india/124.htm
Sri Lanka
http://countrystudies.us/india/125.htm
Nepal
http://countrystudies.us/india/126.htm
Bhutan
http://countrystudies.us/india/127.htm
Maldives
China
http://countrystudies.us/india/129.htm
Southeast Asia
Middle East
http://countrystudies.us/india/131.htm
Central Asia
Russia
http://countrystudies.us/india/133.htm
United States
http://countrystudies.us/india/134.htm
Britain, Australia, Canada, Western Europe, and Japan
United Nations
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FOCUS GROUP ASIAN SUBCONTINENT:
Muslim-Hindu Relations in India
Beside being one of the most populous nations in the world, India is
also one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse. Islam and
Hinduism are the main religions in India, however, and the two have
had a very long and sometimes violent coexistence. After the British
left India in 1947, in particular, the continent split into the
nations of the Muslim Pakistan and a majority-Hindu India in a violent
partition which cost the lives of approximately one million people and
dislocation of no fewer than eleven million.
Since 1947 India and Pakistan have fought three wars with each other
since then; and violence between Hindus and Sikhs and Muslims in India
itself have also been bitter and violent. The secular regime in
democratic India that Mahatmas Gandhi help establish in 1947 professes
to be one country for all Indians, no matter their religion; but
enmity between religions continues to plague India. The tide of Hindu
communalism continues to roll across the Indian subcontinent, and with
a literacy rate of just 30% and horrific poverty India's democracy
faces strong challenges in the future. Combine that with the
conflicts in Kashmir with Pakistan and the proliferation of nuclear
weapons in the area, and the situation is particularly dangerous.
Questions to keep in mind: What historical events in history
contribute to present day bad feelings between Muslims and Hindus on
the Asian subcontinent? What are the wars, conflicts, rivalries that
Muslims and Hindus have suffered between them? What was the influence
of the life and death of Mohandas Gandhi? How many Muslims are there
compared to Hindus and Sikhs in present day India? What conflicts
have arisen on sites considered "holy" by both Muslims and Hindus?
RESOURCES:
At Yahoo! check out the following categories: Indian history in
general, India by time period, and Mohandas Gandhi. Also check out
this excellent CNN perspective on India and Pakistan: 50 Years of
Independence. This is also an excellent article about Indian and the
recent elections there.
Check out these links also: Redif India Online, Discover India, India
Express, Hello India!, India Review, Inet India, and India on
Internet.
Check out these official Indian government pages: Indian Parliament
Home Page, and The President of India.
This is a cool link about Hindu vs. Muslim values in India. This is
also good. Read this article about tensions between Indian Muslims
and Hindu nationalists.
Check out the below NPR radio broadcasts to get an in-depth analysis
of events:
India-Pakistan: Tit for Tat
Tensions rise anew with the shooting down of a Pakistani military
plane and a reported retaliatory missile firing (8/23/99)
CNN broadcasts: Pakistan/India Partition, India/Pakistan at 50, India
Acquires Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan Nuclear Weapons, India Hindu-Muslm
Tensions, India Diverse Country (good link!)
http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/India/Arts_and_Humanities/Humanities/History/
http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/India/Arts_and_Humanities/Humanities/History/By_Time_Period/
INDIA ELECTION '98
March 4 1998
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript
Leaders of a Hindu nationalist party are demanding the right to form
India's next government after nearly complete election returns show
the party winning the most seats in the parliament. But conflicting
claims have led to bitterness and confusion. Fred de Sam Lazaro has
this report on the party's rise to power.
A RealAudio version of this segment is available.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Ramesh Chand Thomar has served in India's
parliament since 1991, representing a semi-rural district in the
Northern, Uttar Pradesh province. He began this campaign day with a
stop at a Hindu temple, part of a routine that emphasizes the central
theme of his BJP or India People's Party. Called Hindutva, the slogan
has few specifics but declares India "a nation of Hindu values." He
insists this does not violate the secular democratic tradition of
Mahatma Gandhi, on which the nation was founded. Thomar says it simply
calls on Indians to be patriotic.
RAMESH CHAND THOMAR: Indian must think first of India, the development
of India, the prosperity of India, we like that. The people are living
here and they are thinking about other countries.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: What other countries specifically?
RAMESH CHAND THOMAR: Neighboring countries, whatever they have in
their mind, I cannot say.
BJP strategy: anti-muslim rhetoric?
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The BJP's critics say that's code language aimed
at India's Muslim minority. They are often accused of being loyal to
Pakistan, India's Islamic neighbor and adversary in three wars,
according to Syed Shahabuddin, a former member of parliament and
publisher of a journal called Muslim India.
SYED SHAHABUDDIN, Publisher, Muslim India: This is precisely their
method of trying to undo, or rather to do a minority out of its due
share. Point one, look, he's the enemy, he is the other, he is the
enemy, he is the adversary, he's with them; he's the fifth columnist.
He's at the beck and call of Pakistan. And Pakistan, of course, you
know, is always leaving difficult responsibilities against us. And
this is how you create a miasma of fear, and that is how you create
distrust. That is how you inject poison into the body politic of this
country, and that is how you create an atmosphere in which any amount
of violence can take place.
Religious tensions become political issues.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Critics blame the BJP for trying to reignite
religious tensions that date back centuries. In the early 1990's, the
party led a campaign to remove a 16th century mosque, called Babri
Masjid, and replace it with a Hindu temple. They claimed India's
Muslim conquerors built it in a sacred spot; the birthplace of the
Hindu God Rama. Murali Manohar Joshi, a BJP leader, explained the
campaign to foreign reporters.
MURALI MANOHAR JOSHI: If Hitler would have been victorious in the
second world war and there would have been a statue of Hitler in
Trafalgar Square, and in 1990 the Britishers would have been liberated
from Hitler's yoke, what would they have done to that statue of
Hitler?
The ruling party faces voter resentment.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: In 1992, rioters stormed the mosque called Babri
Masjid and razed it. The incident sparked violent clashes that claimed
dozens of Hindu and Muslim lives, and for a while, it seemed to
alienate many voters from the BJP, but political observers say it also
hurt the ruling Congress Party government, which was criticized for
not cracking down on the rioters. At the same time, the Congress
government, which had ruled India almost uninterrupted for four
decades, began to face increasing voter resentment for policies that
failed to deliver even basic amenities. It's frustration that's still
very much in evidence.
MAN: (speaking through interpreter) Take a look at the condition of
our village. Do you see any water taps? We have to go two kilometers
to get water, and we still get water from an open well.
TEACHER: (speaking through interpreter) The minister came here, he
promised to expand this school. We're still waiting. We only go to the
fifth grade. I'd love to see kids go to the eighth.
SECOND MAN: (speaking through interpreter) When it comes time for our
votes, they say they'll do this, they'll do that, in the end they
don't do anything.
THIRD MAN: (speaking through interpreter) The Congress Party has been
in power for a long time. They haven't done anything for the poor, the
lower castes.
The Congress Party faces allegations of corruption.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Perhaps the biggest reason for the Congress
Party's fall from grace were allegations of widespread corruption.
It's an issue the BJP has seized. A BJP promise to clean up politics
has struck a responsive chord, even among some Congress Party members,
like Colonel Ram Singh.
COLONEL RAM SINGH: I really got so disgusted. Every minister, barring
four or five of us, there is about 65, every minister was looting the
country literally with both hands, and it was shameful.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Singh, who ran for parliament this time as a BJP
candidate, believes his adopted party is divorcing itself from its
extremist past.
COLONEL RAM SINGH: I think that is gradually being removed. I mean, my
total outlook has always been, and will always be that every religion
should have equal place, equal rights, and they should be no
persecution of anybody on religious grounds.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Singh describes himself as a moderating force in
the BJP and the party has gone out of its way to tone down its
Hindutva rhetoric, according to H. K. Dua, editor of the Times of
India.
H. K. DUA, Editor, The Times of India: They are trying to project more
a centrist party, keen to do the business of the state, taking the
others along, than the kind of image they had tried to project
earlier. Possibly they are seeing it's politically necessary. They
won't be able to come to power if they are taking an extreme position.
So there is a definite attempt to demarcate themselves from the old--
the old Hindu image. But they're doing it softly, lest they may lose
their old constituency.
RAMESH THOMAR: India is a secular country, and it will remain always
secular.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Hard-line BJP candidates, like Ramesh Thomar,
insist they're committed to freedom for all religions, but at the same
time, Thomar says a temple must be built at the site of the demolished
Babri mosque.
RAMESH THOMAR: Construction of the temple is the permanent solution,
and most of the Muslim people also wants that the temple of Rama in
Ayodhya that should be constructed.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: So you would like to see a temple constructed
in--
RAMESH THOMAR: Must, must, must.
Which party will control the future of India?
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Election results show the BJP won the most seats
in parliament but not the majority needed to form a government. Its
position on the temple and other issues will be the subject of intense
and difficult negotiations as it seeks coalition partners. Kuldi
Nayyar is a columnist and former diplomat.
KULDIP NAYYAR, Columnist: The roots of tolerance, the roots of secular
polity, the roots of sense of accommodation are very deep, because
even last time, they tried their best to get others to join them.
Fourteen, fifteen parties came together to keep them away because
these people represent a philosophy or an ideology which is alien to
this country.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Opposing the BJP in the race to form a coalition
government is the once dominant Congress Party, whose campaign was led
by a woman with India's best-known political name, Sonia Gandhi. It
finished a distant second and will try to team with a group of smaller
parties called the United Front to stop the Hindu Nationalists.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/jan-june98/india_3-4.html
bademiyansubhanallah
There is a popular saying about the newly appointed president of BJP,
Nitin Gadkari … that he manages to elicit results with the least of
efforts. It was with great pomp that Gadkari had raised the apt issue
in Indore that the party was in need of combative people, not of
sychophants or yes-men. But it is not hidden from anyone as to how
serious the gentleman, whom Gadkari himself kept portraying as Mr
Genius from Indore to Delhi, is about political issues. Even
otherwise, in Gadkari’s regime the people who were first appointed to
various posts are all known to be the flagbearers of the practice of
doing the rounds of the powers that be. For example, the newly-
appointed president of Punjab BJP Ashwini Sharma or Khimi Ram,
Himachal’s executive president who has been made a full president by
Gadkari. The BJP president wanted to send Prabhat Jha as the president
of Madhya Pradesh BJP; in Bihar he is advocating the need of handing
over the reins to another loyal-tag owner Mantoo Pandey alias Mangal
Pandey. One Alok Kumar has been appointed the chief of the all India
training camp of the party. Or the saffron flag of aggression of the
yes-brigade is flying high during the Gadkari rule.
Gadkari's Govindacharya
BJP president Nitin Gadkari has started the process of selecting his
team. But for Gadkari, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is the most important
person right now and if sources are to be believed then Gadkari’s is
moving fast forward on Sahasrabuddhe’s brains. In a way Sahasrabuddhe
is working as the political secretary of Gadkari. This association is
exactly like the relationship Govindacharya once shared with Advani.
Sanjay Joshi and Bal Apte are also going to play an important role in
identifying and selecting the new team for Gadkari. In view of the
importance of the forthcoming Assembly election in Bihar, Leader of
Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley is being made the in-
charge. One finds it difficult to recall if earlier a Leader of
Opposition had played the role of an election in-charge. What kind of
a precedent is being set by Gadkari?
Poll
Is BJP a sinking boat?
Yes (67.12%)
No (32.88%)
BJP too trying to earn some brownie points
Anita Saluja
First Published : 07 Mar 2010 03:49:00 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Sensing that history may be created on the centenary of
International Women’s Day in India, if the Rajya Sabha succeeds in
passing the controversial Women’s Reservation Bill, enabling 33
percent reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State
Assemblies, the BJP on Saturday lent a helping hand to the UPA
Government.
The BJP core group meeting, which was convened by BJP president Nitin
Gadkari, appealed to all political parties to vote in favour of the
Women’s Reservation Bill.
After the meeting, leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, “The
BJP was the first party to demand one-third reservation for women in
Parliament and state Assemblies. It has promised the Centre full
support to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.” Leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was optimistic of the passage of the
Women’s Bill in the Upper House and said that on its own, the BJP was
mobilising support for the Bill.
Claiming that the BJP has always stood for empowerment of women, being
the first party to give one-third reservation to women in the party
organisation, Gadkari said that it had issued whip to all the party
members of Rajya Sabha.
He said that it was the NDA Government, which first moved the Bill in
Parliament and mooted the idea to set apart 33 percent of the total
seats in Parliament and state Assemblies for women in BJP National
Council meeting at Vadodara.
Unlike in 1996, when the BJP was riven with dissensions on the Women’s
Reservation Bill, with firebrand leader Uma Bharti opposing the
legislation inside the Lok Sabha, this time around, there is no
dissenting voice.
Uma Bharti is no more in the BJP and with Sushma Swaraj leading the
party in the Lok Sabha, no one dares to challenge her ruling. “We have
to prove our own credibility,” remarked a senior leader from the Rajya
Sabha.
Apart from the three Yadavs, Mulayam Singh of the SP, Lalu Yadav of
RJD and Sharad Yadav of JD (U), the BJP alliance partner in
Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, is also opposing the Bill in its present
form.
Comments
Right & time demand step by leading political parties in national
interest.
By Kapil Pathak
3/7/2010 10:04:00 AM
I don’t want to make a show of it
BJP youth wing leader Poonam Mahajan spills the beans on why she
skipped her brother’s big fat TV wedding
By Anand Holla and Vickey Lalwani
Posted On Monday, March 08, 2010 at 03:12:45 AM
The Mahajans have a way of making it to the headlines. This time it is
Rahul, who tied the knot, for the second time, with a 21-year-old
Bengali model and item girl in a televised event on Saturday which was
attended by his mother, but not his sister.
Poonam Mahajan-Rao
Poonam Mahajan-Rao, who had always stood by her elder brother during
the darkest phases of his life - the drug scandal for instance – was
missing from the scene.
This sent the media and commentators in a tizzy, as Rahul and his
spokespersons found themselves struggling to deal with speculations
that Poonam, who is a BJP youth wing leader, wanted to stay away from
the reality drama.
After considerable effort, Mirror managed to speak to Poonam. “I am a
very private person, and for me, an event like a marriage is a private
affair.” However, Rahul’s ‘private affair’ was a high-voltage mega-TRP-
driven event with millions watching it live as it unfolded. When asked
why she didn’t join in the much-watched ceremony, Poonam defended, “I
am the kind of person who prefers to sit at home rather than make a
show out of things. I even keep my son’s birthday party as private as
possible. That’s how I am.”
Incidentally, Poonam was very much around when Rahul married his
childhood sweetheart Shweta in a private ceremony in 2006. They
divorced two years later.
Speaking about her own wedding which was a low-key affair, Poonam
said, “Ten years ago, I made a choice of getting married to the person
I wanted to. Now, Rahul has made his choice and being his sister
support him entirely.”
Rahul with his newly-wedded wife Dimpy Ganguly after the reality show
concluded
When asked if there are any differences within the Mahajan family over
Rahul’s choice and decision, Poonam said, “Rahul is my elder brother
and his decisions are totally his. I will be there for him just like
I’ve always been there for him, even during the tough times. I wish
him all the luck with this marriage. Together, we want to take forward
our father’s legacy by helping each other.”
Not just Poonam, missing from what was purported to be Rahul’s big day
was his uncle Gopinath Munde, BJP national general secretary and MP.
Munde has been constantly by the side of late BJP leader Pramod
Mahajan’s family since he was shot dead three years ago by younger
brother Pravin.
BJP sources said Munde along with national president Nitin Gadkari and
leader of state legislature Eknath Khadse were in Nashik for their
felicitation. “The felicitation programme was finalised few months ago
and Munde had accepted the invitation. In fact he made it a point to
attend the Nashik event as his absence at previous felicitation event
in Aurangabad was being blamed on intra party tussle with Gadkari,’’ a
party leader remarked.
But the speculations over Poonam’s absence refuse to die down. “Poonam
may have deliberately avoided not to attend the much publicised
wedding show for political reasons. She is keen to establish herself
politically and does not want to get embroiled in any controversy,’’
the source said.
Parties divided, but government determined to push women’s bill
PM says the Centre is moving towards providing one-third reservation
for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures
By PTI
Posted On Sunday, March 07, 2010 at 04:12:40 AM
New Delhi: Affirming his commitment to women’s empowerment, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Government is moving
towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and
state legislatures.
Inaugurating the women’s leadership summit here, he said the
Government is committed to social, economic and political empowerment
of women, whatever effort and resources the task might take.
Minister of State (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development,
Krishna Tirath welcomes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the
inauguration of the Women’s Leadership Summit 2010
The Women’s Reservation Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation of
seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies is expected to come
up in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Observing that reservation for women in local bodies has
revolutionised governance at the grass-roots level, he said, “We hope
to give this movement of political participation of women further
fillip by increasing the number of seats reserved in Panchayats and
city and town governments to 50 per cent.
“More significantly we are moving towards providing one-third
reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures," he
said.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a message read out by Women and Child
Development Minister Krishna Tirath, said women in the country have
broken glass ceilings but those in rural areas have not been able to
avail of many opportunities.
LS Speaker Meira Kumar said that though Indian tradition provides high
status to women by worshipping them as gods, the practise is reversed
in society.
The three-day summit being held as part of women's day celebrations
would be attended by women achievers from all fields.
JD-U divided
However, sharp divisions have emerged among the opponents of the Bill
with Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar supporting the measure, pitting himself
against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it.
SP also opposes
The Samajwadi Party, which opposes the Bill in its present form, on
Saturday said it will register its “protest” on Monday. The SP has
suggested reservation within reservation for OBC women, not more than
20 per cent.
BJP supports
Asserting that it was determined to ensure passage of the Bill, BJP
sought to make political capital on the issue by stating that since
the UPA coalition was in minority in the RS, the onus of getting it
adopted was with the main opposition.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday convened an emergency meeting
of the party Core Group to discuss the Bill.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News -
Nation§id=3&contentid=2010030720100307041240664ef9a81db
JD(U) Hints At Softening of Opposition to Women’s Bill
New Delhi, March 7 – With the numbers favouring the passage of the
women’s reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha Monday, the Janata Dal-
United (JD-U), a prominent party opposing it, Sunday indicated a
softening of its position.
JD-U chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Ali Anwar Ansari said the party
will consider the opinion of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in
support of the bill, which seeks to reserve 33 percent seats for women
in parliament and state legislatures.
‘A meeting of JD-U MPs will be held at party president Sharad Yadav’s
residence Monday morning. We will take a unanimous decision,’ Ansari
told IANS.
The JD-U has not issued a whip to its MPs to either support or oppose
the bill.
Ansari said the bill is expected to be passed by the upper house of
parliament and ‘there is no point of opposing it for the sake of
opposition’.
‘We are taking the opinion of all our members and a decision will be
taken,’ he said.
Ansari, who spoke to both Yadav and Nitish Kumar Sunday, ruled out the
possibility of the party abstaining from the vote on the bill.
Nitish Kumar, who will lead the JD-U charge in campaign for Bihar
assembly elections later this year, Saturday spoke in favour of the
bill.
With more and more parties coming out in favour of the legislation,
the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remained
its only two vocal opponents. Both parties are demanding quotas for
backward classes and minorities within 33 per cent reservation for
women. While the SP has 11 members in the Rajya Sabha, the RJD has
four.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has 12 members in the upper
house, has not opened its cards yet with regards to the bill.
For the bill to be passed, it has to be supported by two-thirds of
those present and voting. This figure should also be at least 50
percent of the total number of members in the house.
With an effective strength of 233, the Constitution (108th Amendment
Bill), 2008, needs support of 155 members in the Rajya Sabha if all
the members are present.
While the combined strength of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and the Left – three main supporters of the bill – comes to 138
in the upper house, many other parties, including the DMK, AIADMK,
Biju Janata Dal, National Conference, Nationalist Congress Party and
Shiromani Akali Dal have expressed their support for the path-breaking
legislation.
With the ruling Congress having timed the consideration of the bill
with the International Women’s Day and party president Sonia Gandhi
making a strong pitch for its passage, the BJP too has joined the race
to claim credit.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who appealed to all parties to support
the bill, said the party was conscious that the ruling coalition was
in minority in the Rajya Sabha. He said the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government had first moved the bill in parliament.
The Constitution (108th Amendment Bill), 2008, provides for
reservation of one-third seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies
for 15 years from the date of commencement of the Act on rotation
basis.
The proposal to provide such reservation to women has been pending for
the last 13 years due to lack of political consensus.
Posted by Vamban on Mar 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM
http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/
Latest News
•Lok Sabha Adjourned for Fourth Time
http://www.vamban.com/lok-sabha-adjourned-for-fourth-time/
•BJP Condemns SP, RJD for Tearing Up Women’s Bill
http://www.vamban.com/bjp-condemns-sp-rjd-for-tearing-up-womens-bill/
•Women’s Bill Moved, Torn to Shreds in Rajya Sabha
http://www.vamban.com/womens-bill-moved-torn-to-shreds-in-rajya-sabha/
•JD-U Joins SP, RJD to Protest Women’s Bill
http://www.vamban.com/jd-u-joins-sp-rjd-to-protest-womens-bill/
•85 Million Women Missing in India, China: UNDP
http://www.vamban.com/85-million-women-missing-in-india-china-undp/
http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/
BJP to oppose any proposal for autonomy to Kashmir
By IANS
January 19th, 2010
NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari
Tuesday said his party will oppose any proposal for granting autonomy
to Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking at a function here to mark 20 years of exodus of Kashmiri
Pandits from the valley, he said a solution to the Kashmir problem
should be found within the parameters of the Indian Constitution.
“We will oppose autonomy with full force. If such a proposal comes to
Parliament, we will be against it,” he said.
Gadkari termed as “dangerous” the report of Justice Saghir Ahmad - who
headed the working group on Centre-State relations - recommending
giving autonomy to the state. The report was submitted to the Jammu
and Kashmir government last month.
The BJP chief blamed the Congress for the problems in Jammu and
Kashmir. “Congress has messed up things in the state,” he said, adding
that the “mistakes” should not be repeated.
The function was organised by the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation.
Dhumal ordered tap on Virbhadra Singh’s phone, CD tells
By IANS
January 19th, 2010
SHIMLA - In another twist to the corruption cases against union Steel
Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a new audio
compact disc (CD) from an unknown source was circulated here Tuesday
in which Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is purportedly directing the
vigilance chief to tap the phones of the couple.
Two other CDs were also released here — one audio in which Dhumal was
heard talking about former union ministers Sukh Ram and Shanta Kumar
and the other video in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
parliamentarian Virender Kashyap was shown accepting some cash in
regard to granting permission to an educational institute in the
state.
In the alleged conversation recorded in the first CD, Director General
of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas asked Dhumal regarding Singh and his
wife’s phone tapping. At this Dhumal replied: “Do it.”
Manhas then said: “Yes, we will do it, we will do it. If the CID
(Criminal Investigation Department) is doing it, its staff will leak
it.” Dhumal replied: “This is right.”
Dhumal and Manhas allegedly also talked about some Rs.25 crore (Rs.250
million).
However, a senior police official said there was no proof of the
authenticity of the CD. “It is released when the vigilance is almost
ready to start within a month the prosecution against Virbhadra Singh
and his wife,” he said.
The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009,
under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complaint against Singh
alleges misuse of his official position and criminal misconduct when
he was the chief minister of the state in 1989.
Interestingly, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD released
by Singh’s political adversary Vijay Singh Mankotia in 2007.
Meanwhile, Dhumal refuted the allegations in the new CD. He told IANS
on phone from Delhi Tuesday: “Right now I am not in the state. I have
not seen the CD and not even heard about it. I am not in a position to
comment on it.”
“The government machinery is not involved in phone tapping of Singh
and his wife. It’s just a white lie,” he added.
The CD that showed BJP parliamentarian Virender Kashyap talking to
someone on the issue of granting permission to an educational
institute in the state was recorded April 17, 2009 when Kashyap was
only a party activist.
In the conversation, Kashyap was insisting and telling the person
sitting opposite to him to first complete the formalities and then
seek formal permission. The CD also showed Kashyap being offered some
cash, which he hesitantly accepted.
However, Kashyap was not available for comments.
Prosecution against Virbhadra likely within month: Police
By IANS
January 1st, 2010
SHIMLA - Police is likely to start within a month the prosecution
against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha
Singh in corruption cases registered against them, an official said
here Friday.
“We are still awaiting a few forensic reports from a Central Forensic
Science Laboratory (CFSL)… most likely the prosecution against
Virbhadra Singh and his wife would start within a month,” Director
General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas told reporters.
Regarding the questionnaires sent to the couple, Manhas said: “We got
the replies to the questionnaire. Both the questionnaires have about
25 questions.”
The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009, by
the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau under the Prevention of
Corruption Act.
The complaint against Singh alleges misuse of his official position
and criminal misconduct when he was chief minister of the state in
1989.
According to police, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD
released by Singh’s political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.
In the CD, Singh was heard referring to some monetary transactions on
the phone with former Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer
Mahinder Lal, who is now dead. The CD also contained recordings of his
wife and some industrialists.
Manhas said that four of the nine people identified in the CD are
dead.
“Four are dead out of the nine accused. It is still to be decided that
who is the main accused,” the police official added.
Singh has already refuted the allegations, saying the state’s ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to malign him.
Revival of Friends of BJP
March 8th, 2010
I was part of a small team from Friends of BJP that was invited to
attend the BJP National Council meet in Indore in mid-Feb. It was
quite a gathering - over 5,000 people brought together from all over
the country.
Among the announcements made was that of the revival of Friends of
BJP.
Here is what Nitin Gadkari said in his Presidential Address: “We are
also planning to revive Friends of BJP, an associate organisation of
the non-member Well Wishers of the party. All patriotic citizens,
especially all young professionals who look forward to BJP as an
instrument of making India a resurgent republic are welcome to join
this forum.”
We will be back with more details soon. My hope is that we can help
bring about a change in India’s political and policy climate in the
coming years.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Santosh // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:29 am
Rajesh,
I was one of the individuals who wanted BJP voted back to power in
2004 because of what they achieved in their last term. And I firmly
believe that BJP was pro-reforms in their term.
But seeing what India has been able to achieve in last 6 odd years
shouldn’t be undermined. Ofcourse, Congress isn’t the reformist that
most urban Indians want and India has managed the growth because of
sheer efficiencies of private enterprise.
For what we have achieved in last 6 years, I don’t go all out against
them. Today, I don’t see any reason why BJP should be supported -
There is no great leader remaining whom we can trust to take our
country forward. They don’t play the role of constructive opposition
at all. They find baseless arguments in blocking/ criticizing every
Congress move.
I fail to understand what is it that you see so strongly in BJP to go
& support them. I don’t to vote for a government shouts from roof-top.
I want a clear plan of what they would do & who is the team that is at
work. Unfortunately, I don’t see either.
2 Alok Mittal // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:17 am
What is really needed is not revival of Friends of BJP, but revival of
BJP itself. I think Congress has won a lot of erstwhile BJP supporters
over the past 6 years; and BJP has lost a lot of supporters over the
past 2 years. There is a critical distinction between the two, and the
latter can only be addressed by the BJP leadership itself.
3 Adarsh Jain // Mar 8, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Alok and Santosh,
I think for the future of the country there should be a worthy
opposition. After Nitin Gadkari became party president, I believe BJP
is ready for transformation and play the role of constructive
opposition till next election
http://emergic.org/2010/03/08/revival-of-friends-of-bjp/
India's women quota bill triggers uproar in parliament
Foreign 2010-03-08 17:23
NEW DELHI, March 8 (AFP) - An attempt by India's government to pass
legislation reserving a third of all seats for women in parliament
provoked uproar on Monday as opposition politicians forced repeated
adjournments.
The government had been confident that the Women Reservation Bill,
which has been stalled for 14 years, would gather the required votes
to pass in the upper house on Monday after being presented on
International Women's Day.
The upper house was adjourned twice on Monday as politicians opposing
the bill shouted down speakers and refused to allow the introduction
of the proposed legislation and a scheduled debate.
The ruling Congress party, its allies and the main opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pledged their support in public, but
several socialist parties oppose it.
They argue that the law, which would reserve a third of seats for
women in the parliament and state assemblies, would lead to a monopoly
by upper-caste women at the expense of lower caste and religious
minority Muslims.
"We are not anti-women but we want reservations for women hailing from
minority and backward classes first," Mulayam Singh Yadav, a leader of
the pro-Muslim Samajwadi (Socialist) party said outside parliament.
Attempts to pass the bill have been blocked by various political
groups in the past who have demanded separate quotas for women from
Muslim and low-caste communities.
Yadav said the bill was an attempt by the Congress and the BJP to
appease the rich and the influential upper class.
The controversial proposal to reserve 33 percent of seats, first
introduced in parliament in 1996, would dramatically increase women's
membership in both houses of parliament where they now occupy about
one in 10 seats.
Because the bill involves a constitutional change, it needs the
approval of two-thirds of legislators in the upper house after which
it will go before the lower house where it also requires a two-thirds
majority.
Women currently occupy 59 seats out of 545 in the lower house. There
are just 21 women in the 248-seat upper house.
"Our government is committed towards women empowerment. We are moving
towards one-third reservation for women in parliament and state
legislatures," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a women's leadership
summit on Saturday.
Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and regarded as India's
most powerful politician, has thrown her weight behind the bill,
saying she attaches the "highest importance" to it.
It will be a "gift to the women of India if it is introduced and
passed" on International Women's Day, she told party lawmakers last
week.
Political analysts said the government was testing the waters by
introducing it in the upper house first instead of the lower house,
where most proposed legislation is sent.
Some accused the government of playing politics by seeking to appease
women by proposing the legislation but without having any realistic
chance of it passing.
Politics in India has traditionally been a male bastion, but women now
hold prominent positions, including President Pratibha Patil and Sonia
Gandhi. India has had one female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.
Panchayats -- local governing bodies in towns and villages -- already
reserve a portion of their seats for women and experts say the move
has given women greater status in their communities. (By Rupam Jain
Nair/ AFP)
MySinchew 2010.03.08
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/36074
Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government
NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi
The Prime Minister is holding emergency meetings with his senior
ministers to discuss the Women's Bill and the impact of Lalu Prasad
and Mulayam Singh Yadav announcing they will withdraw their support to
this government. (Read & Watch: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to
govt)
Lalu and Mulayam have said the Women's Bill is being forced upon them
by the Congress, and that it does not protect the interest of Dalit
and Muslim women.
The Rajya Sabha is meant to vote on the bill today.
For the Women's Bill, the government is not worried about the numbers
because the Opposition - the BJP and the Left, along with smaller
parties, are in favour of the bill.
However, the Finance Bill has not yet been passed. And that's what the
government is worried about.
The UPA government believes that without Lalu and Mulayam's MPs, it
can still count on 274 votes in favour of Pranab Mukherjee's budget.
The number of votes required to pass it is 273. So the government's
margin is tiny. And that's what the BJP and Left will try to exploit.
Both have already attacked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the
budget, in particular, over the hike in petrol and diesel prices. The
government's key allies including the DMK and Mamata Banerjee have
also expressed their concern over the fuel hike, and the government's
new numbers weaken its position if it finds it must negotiate with
these allies.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/why-lalu-mulayam-exit-worries-government-17380.php
Women's Bill: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to government
NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi
The Congress-led UPA government finds itself in a spot. Set to table
and get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, it now
has to contend with the threat of withdrawal of support from two
traditional opponents of the Bill - the Samajwadi Party and the RJD.
Both parties have announced they are withdrawing support to the UPA
government over the Bill. While the government does not need their
support to pass this Bill, since the BJP and the Left will vote in
favour, it will find itself on an uncomfortable, wafer-thin majority
for other legislation, like the crucial Finance Bill, without the
buffer of the 22 Samajwadi Party MPs and 4 RJD MPs in the Lok Sabha.
(Read: Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government)
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav have said they oppose the Women's
Bill because it does not protect the interests of minorities and Other
Backward Castes.
The bill reserves 33% seats for women in Parliament and in state
assemblies.
"Reservation should be for Muslims and Dalits," said Mulayam Singh
Yadav.
"The government is trying to force the bill upon us. The Congress
does not listen to anyone. The bill must bring the Asli Bharat
forward...the Congress is leaving women and Muslims behind, " said
Lalu.
The government is in a huddle right now on what next steps should be.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is holding meetings with senior
colleagues like Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary
Affairs Minsiter PK Bansal to evolve a strategy.
Not to press ahead with the Women's Bill today will mean a big loss of
face, especially given that the Bill is close to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi's heart and the many statements that she and other
Congress leaders and ministers have already made. But the party cannot
risk Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav actually carrying out
their threat and officially withdrawing support.
Along with the BSP, the two parties have already ensured that
Parliament proceedings are anything but smooth. As Lok Sabha opened in
the morning, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh rushed to the Well of the
House.
In the Rajya Sabha too, the SP and RJD disrupted Question Hour. Here
they demanded the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report first. (Read: Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill)
Both Houses reconvened at noon only to be adjourned again.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/mulayam-lalu-to-withdraw-support-to-government-17373.php
Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill
Press Trust of India, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi
Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Lalu Yadav have announced the withdrawal of
their outside support to the UPA government over the Women's
Reservation Bill.
The government is attempting history in the making, but the
proceedings have got off to a very rocky start. There was chaos in
both the houses when they opened on Monday morning.
Rajya Sabha:
The Rajya Sabha witnessed unprecendented scenes leading to an
adjournment for the third time on Monday as determined SP, RJD, LJP
and BSP members entered the well of the House, ripped off mikes and
tore up papers in an attempt to stall the Women's Reservation Bill
from being taken up for consideration.
An attempt was made to snatch the Bill from the Chairman's table which
was prevented by marshals. However, they snatched some papers from the
Secretary General's table and tore them up.
Mr Kamal Akhtar of Samajwadi Party, Mr Sabir Ali of LJP and Mr
Gangacharan Rajput of BSP along with other party members spearheaded
the stalling tactics. Some of them then got on the reporters' table in
the well of the House.
All members of various political parties were on their feet. Seeing
these antics many looked shocked.
The ruling Congress party members, especially women, were seen making
a protective ring around Law Minister M Veerappa Moily who will move
the Bill for consideration.
Shocked over these developments, the Chairman adjourned the House till
3 pm.
Earlier, the House was adjourned twice within minutes of assembling as
members of the SP, RJD, LJP, and BSP raised slogans from the well of
the House demanding implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report.
Lok Sabha:
The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the third time on Monday afternoon
when SP, RJD and JD(U) members trooped into the well protesting the
Women's Reservation Bill in its present form.
When the House, which was earlier adjourned twice on the same issue,
reassembled at 2 pm, members of these parties led by RJD chief Lalu
Prasad, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav,
stormed the well shouting slogans.
As the slogan-shouting continued, Trinamool Congress members including
its chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, were seen singing the
famous song - "We shall overcome some day".
Other Trinamool members, including Minister of State for Health Dinesh
Trivedi, chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay and cine-star turned MP
Shatabdi Roy, were heard singing the song in the House.
As the din continued, Deputy Speaker Karia Munda adjourned the House
till 3 pm.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/rajya-sabha-adjourned-after-uproar-over-womens-bill-17368.php
BJP too to quit JAC?
Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:43:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: The BJP is contemplating quitting the Telangana political
JAC and evolve its own programme of action to rouse public opinion in
favour of separate Telangana State.
The State leadership of the party wants to strengthen the party’s base
at ground level in villages. It will have `Jai Telangana’ slogan in
Telangana areas and `Jai Andhra’ in Andhra districts.
The party’s approach to Telangana that all legislators should resign
and force a constittutional crisis has changed after it encountered
opposition within the party. Those who opposed it argued that MLAs of
neither the Congress nor the TDP resigned.
This was the reason why these elements got together and ensured the
election of Kishan Reddy as the party’s State president who too
subscribed to the idea and refused to resign. In such an event, the
point that is being discussed at length is why stay in the JAC when
the party is not in a position to honour its decisions (of quitting
the Assembly).
To make this easy for Kishan Reddy’s supporters, the BJP National
Committee too expressed displeasure over the BJP continuing in the JAC
and wanted it to make an honourable exit from the panel so that it
would not be misconstrued by the people.
Already, the ABVP, which has an ideological affiliation with the BJP,
is carrying on the movement for Telangana without joining the JAC and
has already made a mark. The BJP wants to toe the same line so that it
will be able to preseve its identity and strengthen its base.
The Stare party leadership has asked the district units to organise
Telangana programmes in districts only in the name of the party and
will not have anything to do with the JAC. This apart, the JAC leaders
are not on good terms with the new chief of the State unit.
Comments
PEOPLE AND STUDENTS OF T-REGION REJECTED KCR/TRS & TRAITORS IN
TELANGANA CONGRESS FOR PUBLICITY STUNTS AND RESIGNATION DRAMAS AND KCR/
TRS MP NOT RESIGNED AGAINST THEIR OWN ADVISE TO OTHERS AND KCR
ATTENDING RAJ BHAVAN DINNER EVEN AFTER KNOWING THE WITH SRI KRISHNA'S
TOR- SEPARATE-T NOT FEASIBLE HAS GONE AGAINS THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
TRS/KCR WILL REALISE THIS IN BYE-ELECTION RESULTS THAT IS WHY KCR/TRS
MP NOR RESIGNED.
By JAC-T= KCR/TRS+KO-DANDA ONLY.
3/8/2010 1:19:00 PM
BJP demands bill on bifurcation
Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:42:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: The BJP State Council has demanded that the Centre
introudce a bill in Parliament for bifurcation of the State.
The council, which met here yesterday, said in its political
resolution that the constitution of the Justice BN Srikrishna
Committee was intended to prolong the issue and saw no need for the
party to make a presentation to the Srirkrishna panel since it
beleived that the committee’s purpose was other than formation of two
States.
“Bifurcation of the State is the only answer to backwardness of the
two regions,’’ it said and criticised other parties for their
dichotomy on the issue.
By another resolution the council expressed concern over the
deteriroration of administration which led to increase in the prices
of essential commodities as well as breakdown of law and order.
The murder of Sri Vaishnavi in Vijayawada and the hooch tragedy in
East Godavari district were indicative of the breakdown of the law and
order machienry, the council said. It alleged that the State
Government had miserably failed to come to the rescue of people
affected by the unprecedented floods in Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar,
Krishna and Guntur districts.
Though the Centre annoucned Rs 1,000 crore for mitigation of the
suffering of the flood-affected people, the funds had so far not been
transferred, it pointed out.
A resoultion said that the adminsitraion was in a state of suspended
animation with Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who was asked to step into
the shoes of YS Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a helicopter crash,
being unable to perform.
By another resolution the party demanded that the State should take
immediate steps for controlling the prices of essential commodities
which have been going through the roof and supply power for nine hours
to the farm sector to save standing crops.
Lalu declares 'war' against women's Bill
TNN, Mar 8, 2010, 05.42am IST
Women's Bill: 'Conspiracy to eliminate minorities'PATNA: RJD chief
Lalu Prasad on Sunday declared he will fight tooth and nail against
women's reservation Bill. "Yuddh hoga (There would be a war)," he
thundered and added the OBC brigade will roll up sleeves against the
move.
Lalu said BJP and Congress are making a 'historical blunder' by
issuing a whip to their MPs to vote for the Bill in its present form.
"If they (Congress and BJP) think they will get women's votes, they
are mistaken. It's a male-dominated society (where women go by what
their menfolk say while voting). If I ask my wife, Rabri Devi, to vote
for a particular party, do you think she will vote for another party?"
he asked at a presser and added nowhere in the world women get
reservation in legislative bodies.
Even if it has to be given, there should be quota for deprived
sections within this reservation, Lalu said and added the faces of
women belonging to minority community, backward castes, Dalits and
tribals should be visible through this reservation. "The quota should
be for those who cannot enter the legislative bodies on their own," he
said.
By introducing the Bill, the RJD leader said, the Congress is trying
to divert people's attention from main issues like price rise,
unemployment, growing regionalism and threat to national security.
"The BJP and Congress want to get votes of Muslims, Dalits and OBCs,
but they do not want to safeguard their interests," he said.
Lalu hit out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for changing tack on
the issue. "Nitish is a `bahurupiya' (a master of disguise)," Lalu
said, recalling Nitish earlier gave a note of dissent as a member of
the parliamentary committee which looked into this issue.
Also, Nitish's party colleague and JD(U) national president Sharad
Yadav once declared he would consume poison if the women's reservation
Bill in its present form was introduced. "By advising Sharad to ensure
the passage of the Bill now, Nitish has shown his real face to the
Muslims, Dalits and OBCs," Lalu said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5656141.cms
. BJP, Justice Sagheer in agreement on Kashmir Accord
Working Group Report on Centre-State Relations-V
Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Mar 7: The historical comment of former Prime Minister late
Indira Gandhi “The clock could not be put back in this manner” is
central theme of ‘some kind of restoration of autonomy’ recommended by
Justice Sagheer Panel on centre-state relations and clearly, in
contrast to vehement claims of ruling coalition.
The recommendation is in agreement with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
led union cabinet’s decision on Autonomy resolution of Jammu and
Kashmir on July 5, 2000. The then union cabinet while rejecting
autonomy resolution of then National Conference (NC) led government in
Jammu and Kashmir had accepted that there is a clear case for
devolution of more financial and administrative powers and functions
to the states alongside taking suitable steps to ensure harmonious
centre-state relations in the light of the recommendations of the
Sarkaria Commission.
Interestingly, the union cabinet had then rejected autonomy resolution
by referring to Kashmir accord, more commonly known as Indira-Sheikh
Accord. It had said that issue of restoring constitutional situation
in Jammu and Kashmir to its pre-1953 position had been discussed in
detail by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah with former Prime Minister
late Indira Gandhi in 1974-75. The decision had noted that agreement
signed after these negotiations had affirmed that provisions of the
Constitution of India already applied to the state of Jammu and
Kashmir without adaptation or modification are unalterable.
Justice (Retd) Sagheer in his report on Pages 93 and 94 has referred
to speech of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi in the
parliament on February 24, 1975 in which she had remarked, “The
constitutional relationship between state of Jammu and Kashmir and the
union will continue as it has been and extension of further provisions
of constitution to the state will continue to be governed by procedure
prescribed in Article 370.”
Justice Sagheer further notes, “Sheikh Abdullah was very anxious that
to start with, the constitutional relationship between the state and
the centre should be as it was in 1953 when he was in power. It was
explained to him that the clock could not be put back in this manner.
Mirza Afzal Beg pressed for transfer of provisions relating to
fundamental rights to state constitution, removal of the supervision
and control of Election Commission of India over elections to the
state legislature and the modification of Article 356 to require the
state government’s concurrence before imposing president’s rule in the
state.”
Late Indira Gandhi while outrightly rejecting these demands had said,
“It was not found possible to agree to any of these proposals. I must
say to the credit of Sheikh Abdullah that despite his strong views on
these issues, he has accepted the agreed conclusion.” After this,
Justice (Retd) Sagheer has referred to clause 3 and 4 of the Kashmir
Accord.
The panel while referring these two clauses has concluded that if any
provision of the constitution of India had been applied to the state
of Jammu and Kashmir without adaptations and modifications, then such
modifications are unalterable. But with respect to provisions applied
with adaptations and modifications, it was agreed that they can be
altered or repealed by an order of President under Article 370 but
each individual proposal in this behalf would be considered on its
merits;
“With a view to assuring freedom to the State of Jammu and Kashmir to
have its own legislation on matters like welfare measures cultural
matters, social security, personal law and procedural laws, in a
manner suited to the special conditions in the State, it is agreed
that the State Government can review the laws made by Parliament or
extended to the State after 1953 on any matter related to the
Concurrent List and may decide which of them, in its opinion, needs
amendment or repeal. Thereafter, appropriate steps may be taken under
Article 254 of the Constitution of India. The grant of President's
assent to such legislation would be sympathetically considered,”
Justice Sagheer has noted from the Kashmir Accord as relevant to
present discourse on autonomy.
Concluding debate on autonomy, Justice Sagheer Ahmed has referred to a
Supreme Court decision in Sampat Prakash vs. State of Jammu and
Kashmir in which it was held that inspite of the dissolution of
constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, the constitutional
provisions could be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir with
such adaptations and modifications as the president may deem fit. It
is after these referrals that Justice Sagheer has recommended for
examining the question of autonomy in the light of Kashmir Accord.
Interestingly, the ruling coalition through 10 page recommendatory
notes of report had claimed that Justice Sagheer had recommended what
National Conference (NC) led government had proposed central
government through a resolution properly passed and vetted by more
than 60 members of state legislative assembly on June 26, 2000. The
resolution which was rejected by the then BJP led NDA government on
July 5, 2000.
[Kashmir Times]
Related news
:. Saghir reports to Omar, 24 Dec 2009
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1261696873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news
Posted on 08 Mar 2010 by Webmaster
chhotemianinshallah
Between despair and hope
PRAFUL BIDWAI
The Rae Bareli court's discharge of L.K. Advani in the Ayodhya
demolition case is a mockery of justice, but the Supreme Court's
intervention in the Best Bakery matter revives hopes that the Indian
legal system might prevail in bringing the perpetrators of communal
hate crimes to book.
THE waywardness of India's police and justice delivery systems has few
parallels when it comes to punishing communal offences and hate
crimes. What began as a devious process of manipulation of the first
information reports in the Babri mosque demolition case, and the
totally illegitimate dropping of conspiracy charges against the
principal accused, turned into a grotesque parody of justice on
September 19 when the Special Court of Magistrate Vinay Kumar Singh in
Rae Bareli framed charges against seven persons, including Murli
Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and other Vishwa Hindu
Parishad leaders, but discharged Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
Advani is the man who spearheaded, planned and ideologically inspired
the raucous agitation that led to the razing of the mosque on December
6, 1992.
Precisely what charges are framed against the remaining seven will be
only known on October 10. The list of offences filed by the CBI under
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is not long: Section 147 (rioting), 149
(committing a crime), 153A and 153B (spreading communal hatred) and
505 (creating ill will). But it is clear that the indictment will not
include the all-important charge of criminal conspiracy, nor offences
under Sections 295 and 295A of the IPC (defiling places of worship and
indulging in acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any
class).
Thus, the perpetrators of one of the worst hate crimes in India's
history - who pulled down a monument which had become a symbol of
pluralism - will not even stand trial for destroying a mosque and
exploiting communal hatred, which they so clearly did.
This is bad enough. What is downright outrageous is that Advani, who
was the most important leader of the anti-Babri movement which the BJP
took over in the late 1980s, and who conducted the infamous Somnath-to-
Ayodhya rath yatra and played a direct, preponderant role in the
events leading to December 6, has been let off the hook. The
ostensible reason made public for this is the curious argument that
the CBI cited two conflicting testimonies, one of which claimed that
Advani tried to calm down the restive crowd (while the other said he
did nothing to restrain leaders like Uma Bharati and Sadhvi
Ritambhara, with whom he shared the dais who made extremely
inflammatory speeches).
Basing himself on this claimed contradiction, the Magistrate gave
Advani the "benefit of the doubt". Strangely, he cited the Supreme
Court's ruling in the Praful Kumar Samal case, that if the scales of
evidence presented against the accused during a trial are "even" then
that is a fit ground for acquittal. This conforms to the canonical
rule that a person must be considered innocent until proved guilty.
Logically, this rationale can come into effect only at the conclusion
of a trial, not before it, at the stage of framing charges. It does
not stand to reason that a person against whom there is weighty prima
facie evidence should be simply let off. The Supreme Court had said:
"If an element of grave suspicion is there and the accused has
explained the doubts then he can be discharged." Advani manifestly did
not explain away any "doubts".
The Magistrate has erred in exonerating Advani. Independent
investigations have turned up overwhelming evidence of Advani's
pivotal role in the processes and events that led to the demolition,
including the happenings of December 6. The Citizens' Tribunal on
Ayodhya, comprising Justices O. Chinappa Reddy, D.A. Desai and D.S.
Tewatia documented Advani's role at length in its Report of the
Inquiry Commission (July 1993) and in the Judgement and
Recommendations (December 1993), both published by the Tribunal (K-14
Green Park Extension, New Delhi 110016).
These show that Advani was central to the build-up to the events of
December 1992 - from numerous kar sevas, the 1990 rath yatra, and
manipulation of the State government (then under the BJP's Kalyan
Singh), to misleading the courts, and organising crucial coordination
meetings of the Sangh combine. The intention to raze the mosque was
repeatedly and unambiguously stressed during these events. The very
purpose of the rath yatra was to kindle "Hindu pride" and "get even"
with history - of "conquest and humiliation" of the Hindus by
"foreigners". The main slogans of the yatra were provocative: "there
are only two places for Muslims - Pakistan or kabristan
(graveyard))".
The Inquiry Commission recorded detailed testimony of eyewitnesses to
show that plans for December 6 were launched by the BJP-VHP-Bajrang
Dal with a lalkar saptah starting November 29. By December 2, 90,000
kar sevaks had gathered at Ayodhya. By December 3, they numbered
150,000. On December 5, Advani addressed a public meeting in Lucknow
and was to go to Varanasi, reaching Ayodhya/Faizabad on December 5.
He, however, altered his plans so as to reach Faizabad to join an all-
important closed-door meeting at Vinay Katiyar's house, where the
ultimate, detailed, nuts-and-bolts plans for December 6 were
finalised.
Among those present were the RSS' H.V. Seshadri and K.S. Sudershan,
the VHP's Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar and Acharya Dharmendra, the
Shiv Sena's Moreshwar Save, and the BJP's Pramod Mahajan. Meanwhile, a
rehearsal of the demolition operation took place the same day near the
Babri mosque.
According to the Commission, on December 6, Advani arrived at the site
at the same time as Joshi (10-30 a.m.). He, among others, addressed
the kar sevaks. His speech was intemperate. Meanwhile, some kar sevaks
had breached the security cordon and were in a highly excited state.
At 11-30 a.m., Uma Bharati made a highly inflammatory speech,
including slogans "tel lagao Dabar ka, naam mitao Babar ka", "Katue
kate jayenge, Ram-Ram chillayenge", and so on.
At 11-45, Advani reportedly announced, "We don't need bulldozers to
pull down the mosque; [we can do it manually by removing chunks of its
wall]". The assault on the mosque began. Advani then ensured that the
demolition would continue and be completed without the intervention of
Central paramilitary forces stationed nearby. At 3-15 p.m., he urged
kar sevaks "to block all entry points to Ayodhya to prevent Central
forces from entering, and warned the armed forces not to touch the kar
sevaks." The eight accused were present at the site for a full seven
hours and made no gesture to distance themselves from the destructive
and illegal actions of the day.
The December 6 events were videographed and photographed by numerous
journalists, by Indian and foreign TV channels and, above all, by the
Intelligence Bureau, which reportedly has nine hours of tapes.
(Curiously, the CBI did not present all of these to the special
court).
Yet, the Sangh Parivar has launched a disinformation campaign which
claims that Advani did his best to restrain the kar sevaks and shed
tears at the demolition! It is relevant to ask if these were tears of
sorrow or of joy: Advani has consistently described the anti-Babri
agitation as a "national" movement for Hindu self-assertion, which
finally removed what he called the "ocular" insult in the form of the
mosque.
The disinformation and evasion of responsibility speaks of monumental
cowardice on the part of Advani & Co. They revelled in the
destruction, and hugged one another in exultation and mutual
congratulation.
The BJP rode to political power at the Centre on the anti-Babri Masjid
movement. In all honesty, its leaders must face trial and declare
either that they stand by their role or that they regret and repent it
and apologise. They cannot both take credit for the act and attribute
its planning and execution to mysterious, unknown and unknowable
forces - as Sangh ideologue K.R. Malkani once did, by blaming the
CIA.
There was a clearly identifiable human agency behind December 6: the
BJP-VHP-RSS-Bajrang Dal-Shiv Sena's top leadership, including Advani
and Joshi. But cowardice is a Sangh characteristic. Following Gandhi's
assassination, the RSS was banned. Thousands of its members quickly
stopped participating in its activities and claimed they were never
its members.
The Rae Bareli order is odious. But Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav has decided not to appeal against it - on the
grounds that "I am a firm believer in the judiciary and of the view
that the court verdict on Ayodhya should be acceptable to all ... I
welcome the court's decision and have nothing more to say ... " Amar
Singh has gone even further to say that the government cannot appeal
against it. This strengthens the suspicions of a secret collusive deal
between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. Mulayam Singh Yadav has
decided to accept the BJP's Kesarinath Tripathi as Speaker and not to
poach on the party's MLAs. This makes the whole matter all the more
sordid. It sets back hopes of a just trial and further shakes the
public's confidence in India's justice delivery system.
IN contrast to this comes the Supreme Court's intervention in the Best
Bakery case. Through two hearings on September 12 and 19, the court
effectively began piloting and guiding the Gujarat government in its
handling of the consequences of a "fast-track" special court's
judgment exonerating all the accused for the burning of 14 Muslims.
While questioning Gujarat's Chief Secretary and Director-General of
Police directly, Chief Justice V.N. Khare obtained an assurance that
Gujarat's Advocate-General would now take full charge of the matter.
He would redraft the appeal against the "fast-track" court verdict.
The Supreme Court tried to establish three things: the Best Bakery
investigation was faulty because 37 of the 43 witnesses turned
hostile; there was miscarriage of justice; and there is a case for re-
trial of the accused outside Gujarat. The Gujarat government did admit
that there was miscarriage of justice and there is a case for re-trial
(although that should not be outside Gujarat). It also claimed the
investigation was not faulty. However, the Supreme Court asked it to
file an affidavit on October 9 to say on what lines its appeal would
be drafted. This suggests close supervision or stewardship of the
process of litigation.
Welcome as this intervention is, the Court needs to go beyond the Best
Bakery case and look at the horrendous crimes committed during the
Gujarat pogrom in their totality. Crimes Against Humanity, the report
of the Concerned Citizens' Tribunal, comprising eminent jurists and
scholars, concluded, after examining 2,094 statements and 1,500
witnesses, that the pogrom that lasted several weeks amounted to
genocide in the strict sense of the term. The pattern of violence
shows: selective targeting of Muslims, inhuman forms of brutality,
military precision and planning, and use of Hindu religious symbols.
This was planned, sustained and prolonged through hate speech,
intimidation and terror by the RSS, the BJP and the VHP-Bajrang Dal,
with the complicity and participation of policemen and bureaucrats,
encouraged by Narendra Modi.
It is clear that Muslims were targeted not because they did this or
that act, but simply because they were Muslims. The killer mobs'
declared intention, as revealed by their own slogans, was to
liquidate, mentally harm, humiliate and subjugate Muslims and "destroy
them", "wipe them out from Gujarat", and cleanse the state of Islam.
The physical violence directed against Muslims, the calculated
destruction of the economic basis of their survival, and sexual
assaults against Muslim women as an instrument of terror, all point to
genocide.
Article II of the International Convention on Genocide, 1948 defines
genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group" like: "(a) killing [its] members; (b) causing [them]
serious bodily or mental harm; (c) deliberately inflicting on the
group conditions ... calculated to bring about its physical
destruction... ; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group; (e) forcibly transferring [its] children ... to
another group."
The Gujarat pogrom unambiguously fits the definition. As a signatory
to the Convention, India is obliged to punish the perpetrators of
genocide through a competent court. This demands a special independent
National Tribunal for hate crimes and genocide. This alone can meet
the ends of justice.
For this to happen, we must see the numerous cases of violence not as
discrete acts, but in their totality as genocide. This sui generis
process of litigation will need special agencies for investigation and
prosecution as well as victim protection. It would be a historic
tragedy if the Indian state once again fails to bring the perpetrators
of hate crimes to book.
Volume 20 - Issue 20, September 27 - October 10, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2020/stories/20031010005312500.htm
India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 16 :: No. 04 :: Feb. 13 - 26, 1999
COVER STORY
A bitter aftermath
The pattern set in the aftermath of the Staines killing shows that
there are enough voices in positions of authority willing to justify
heinous crimes committed in the name of religion.
SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN
SENSITIVITY to public opinion was at a premium in the aftermath of the
grisly murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his
two young boys by a lynch mob in Orissa on January 23. Union Home
Minister L.K. Advani put on record his strong condemnation of the
event, as did Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh, the latter
describing it as a "crime against humanity". But for each such
concession to the demands of rectitude, there was a gesture that
tended to work to the contrary purpose. One such act was Advani's
preemptive exculpation of the Bajrang Dal - his claim that he had
authoritative information that the organisation was not involved in
the crime. Another was BJP president Kushabhau Thakre's assertion that
Christian missionaries were inviting trouble through their activities.
He said: "I appeal to the missionaries that they are sitting on a
stack of hay. They better be careful."
Thakre's remarks conformed to a pattern of morally dubious conduct by
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate organisations
after the Staines murder. In what could only be construed as a gross
act of dishonouring the dead, Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice-president
Giriraj Kishore asserted that the work of Graham Staines amidst
leprosy sufferers was a facade, since there were no such people within
a wide radius of where he lived and worked. As an intervention in an
emotionally fraught situation, this was only slightly less coarse than
that of Hindu Jagran Manch's Orissa unit president Subhash Chouhan. He
said that Graham Staines was killed because he was engaged in
proselytisation. The pattern set in the aftermath of the killing was
very clear. Adherents to the RSS worldview who happen to be in the
Government felt obliged to issue deprecatory noises. But those outside
the Government felt few such restraints.
EASTERN PRESS AGENCY
Australian Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines with wife
Glade and children Philip, Esther and Timothy, in a picture from the
family album.
A three-member team of Cabinet Ministers visited the site of the
murder as part of the Government's crisis management strategy. Prior
to his departure to the spot, Union Minister for Steel and Mines
Naveen Patnaik made it clear that he looked at the event through the
miasma of his antagonism to the Orissa unit of the Congress(I).
Defence Minister George Fernandes and Human Resource Development
Minister Murli Manohar Joshi chose a strategy of prudence in advance
of their visit - the former because he is a key member of the BJP-led
Government's crisis management effort and the latter because of his
well-advertised proximity to hardline elements in the RSS.
The ministerial trio spent one hour at the scene of the crime. On its
return to Delhi, the team issued a statement which ascribed
responsibility for the crime to an "international conspiracy" by
"forces which would like this Government to go". If this effectively
ruled out the culpability of the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates, the
team also urged that a judicial commission of inquiry be constituted
to look into the murder in order to uncover the conspiracy.
Shortly afterwards the Government announced, on the advice of the
Chief Justice of India, that a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court,
Justice D.P. Wadhwa, had been appointed as a one-man commission of
inquiry into the Staines killing. Union Minister for Information and
Broadcasting and Cabinet spokesman Pramod Mahajan said that the
inquiry report would be completed by April, so that it could be placed
in Parliament in its next session.
The Director-General for Investigations in the National Human Rights
Commission, D.R. Karthikeyan, visited the scene of the crime. His
report is expected to be submitted by the middle of February, though
with the appointment of the judicial commission it could become an
input for the broader inquiry. Certain suggestions that he made in the
context of the local police investigation, such as entrusting it to
the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the State police and
putting an officer of the rank of Superintendent in charge of it, have
been accepted.
A two-member team from the National Commission on Minorities
comprising James Massey and N. Neminath also went to the site. Its
report is also expected to be an important input into the inquiries of
the judicial commission.
AP
During their visit to Manoharpur village in Orissa a few days after
the murder of Graham Stewart Staines and his sons, members of the
Cabinet team, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Human Resource
Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister for Steel and
Mines Naveen Patnaik, make inquiries.
IN the midst of these exertions, the ambivalence of official
utterances continues to cause disquiet. It is well known that the
Bajrang Dal - as in the case of most organisations in the RSS
constellation - does not maintain membership rolls. Established in
1984, just when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was beginning to take
shape in the strategies of the RSS, the Bajrang Dal honed its
agitational and inflammatory skills in the lethal campaign to bring
down the mosque in Ayodhya. The slogans it crafted as part of this
campaign still ring with menace and were often chanted by the riotous
mobs which took a heavy toll of human life during the six years
leading up to the demolition.
Many modern legal systems have a category of offence known as "hate
speech". Slogans and declamations that tend to engender a sense of
antipathy towards any group of people are an offence in themselves.
And if they are issued in close temporal or spatial connection with
actual incidents of violence against these groups, a direct
association is drawn. The onus is then on those who raise the
inflammatory slogans to prove that there is no connection with the
actual act of violence.
By this reasonable benchmark, the BJP spokesmen who have, at every
juncture since the cycle of anti-Christian violence began, exerted
themselves in the cause of strife rather than harmony bear a share of
the blame for the Staines killing. And their conspicuous lack of
remorse after the event has certainly contributed to the sustenance of
an atmosphere of violence. This has been most recently exemplified in
the alleged gang-rape of a Catholic nun on February 3 in Mayurbhanj
district in Orissa. Heinous crimes have been justified by the supposed
sense of rage at the incursions of alien religions into what is deemed
to be Hindu territory. For the BJP leaders who today represent
governmental authority, this has concurrently become an alibi for a
complete abdication of responsibility.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1604/16040220.htm
Volume 24 - Issue 08 :: Apr. 21-May. 04, 2007
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COLUMN
Politics of intimidation
PRAFUL BIDWAI
The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to browbeat the Election
Commission and its critics on the anti-Muslim CD issue.
SUBIR ROY
BJP State president Kesri Nath Tripathi with senior leader Lalji
Tandon in Lucknow on March 30.
NO Indian political formation can even remotely match the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) when it comes to violating norms of political
decency, defying the law, and pursuing an outrageously divisive and
sectarian agenda. The latest instance is its release on April 3 of a
viciously anti-Muslim compact disc (CD) entitled Bharat ki Pukar (the
call of India) as part of its campaign material for the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections.
The BJP has disowned the CD and feigned ignorance of how it got to be
commissioned, written, approved and released — without sincerely
apologising for it. Worse, it has tried to turn the tables on a
constitutional authority, the Election Commission, as well as its
political opponents. It has also used threats and intimidation to
resist reasonable pressure to play by the ground rules of electoral
politics.
Even more disgracefully for the Indian political system, the BJP has
for all practical purposes got away with its offensive conduct. As
this is being written, during the third round of polling in the seven-
phase U.P. elections, it seems highly unlikely that the BJP will be
made to pay politically for its defiance of the prohibition against
using hate speech to win votes, itself a crime against democracy.
The Election Commission issued the BJP a notice asking the party to
explain why it should not be punished under the Representation of the
People Act, 1951 and its Model Code of Conduct, which was in force
when the CD was released. But the BJP, true to type, launched a
counter-offensive and tried to divert attention from this central
issue by demanding that Naveen Chawla, one of the Election
Commissioners, recuse himself from hearing its case. It took this
secondary issue to the Supreme Court on April 13, which has deferred
its hearing to May 8.
Regrettably, the BJP has thus succeeded in getting any resolution of
the issues raised by the CD postponed until it ceases to matter for
the all-important election campaign in U.P.
Now, it can hardly be disputed that the CD is flagrantly anti-Muslim.
It perversely portrays all Muslims as anti-Hindu and anti-national.
They are depicted as duplicitous devils: they trick Hindus into
selling them cows by pretending they will look after them, only to
butcher them in a gory way. They oppress their own women and turn them
into mere reproductive machines - so as to change India's demographic
balance.
The CD shows Muslim men abducting innocent Hindu girls and eloping
with them - only to convert them forcibly. (The effect of this was
reinforced in real life by the systematic hounding of mixed couples
from Bhopal and elsewhere, and by orchestrated "protests" against
their marriage, including a typical Hindutva-style attack on a Star
News studio in Mumbai.)
The CD was clearly calculated to incite hatred against a religious
community, divide citizens, and provoke a militant reaction - probably
with a view to triggering a Hindu-communal backlash. There is nothing
vague or unambiguous of its purpose: it is to win votes in U.P., where
the BJP faces a double-or-nothing prospect.
It simply will not do for the BJP to pretend that the CD was
unauthorised and produced by a junior-level "worker" without prior
approval by the party's top leaders, including Lalji Tandon and State
unit president Kesri Nath Tripathi. According to Virendra Singh,
director of the Bulandshehr-based Fakira Films, which produced the CD,
the State BJP leadership was consulted "at every stage of the writing
of the CD" and whenever the script was "modified... and fine-tuned...
" This stands to reason. Withdrawing the CD cannot mitigate the
original offence because the disc is in circulation and has been
viewed by large numbers of people - in excerpts aired on television,
as well as original copies.
V.V. KRISHNAN
The controversial CD.
Prima facie, there is an irrefutable case against the BJP for
violating the election law in a depraved manner and for offending
Sections of the Indian Penal Code that pertain to spreading hatred
against a particular group or using appeals to religious identity and
which prohibit and punish the use of inflammatory communal material.
The Election Commission was not only right to issue a notice to the
BJP, it was duty-bound to act against it. Logically, such action can
take many forms: publicly reprimanding the BJP, imposing a hefty fine,
and derecognising it at least so far as the use of the lotus symbol is
concerned. The E.C. is not merely meant to disqualify a candidate in
retrospect for communal propaganda. Article 324 of the Constitution
gives it a broad mandate, which includes preventing, precluding and
punishing the use of such propaganda during elections.
The "retrospective" argument just does not stand up to scrutiny. The
E.C.'s core job is to do all it can to prohibit effectively the use of
unfair electoral practices. That is why it is empowered to requisition
police and paramilitary forces, transfer and appoint civil servants,
and set rules for the conduct of the electoral process in its minutest
details.
Implicit in, and central to, the E.C.'s function as a statutory
authority is preventive and pre-emptive action so as to guard the
sanctity of elections. To use an analogy, its principal task is not to
punish arsonists but to prevent fires, which vitiate the selection of
the people's representatives - a process vital and indispensable to
democracy. The E.C. would be perfectly within its powers to demand an
explicit, binding commitment from any political party that it will not
use communal means of canvassing electoral support, a breach of which
would automatically entail disqualification and derecognition.
The case for doing so is especially strong because only last December,
the BJP officially released a CD similar to the April avatar. This was
done during its National Council meeting in Lucknow, where the CD
featured as part of the press kit. The BJP fully owns and stands by
this CD. It cannot claim innocence about its cousin/derivative.
It has since produced equally obnoxious advertisements questioning the
patriotic intentions of Muslims through the caption: Kya inka irada
Pak hai? (Are their intentions pure). Several of its top leaders,
including its chief ministerial candidate Kalyan Singh, have publicly
defended their content as "truthful".
The plain truth is that the BJP has tried to browbeat its opponents -
by raising a diversionary issue and by resorting to the melodramatic
(but mercifully aborted) tactic of courting arrest and launching a
self-righteous protest agitation against the E.C.'s notice. (It is
another matter that it also put up a dummy candidate in Tandon's
constituency - his own son - in case the U.P. BJP's topmost leader
faces punitive action.)
This is not the first time that the BJP has resorted to bluff and
bluster, by threatening a "mass agitation", by pretending that any
E.C. action against it would amount to an "electoral emergency", and
by creating a climate of fear. This is a familiar tactic. It takes
recourse to majoritarianism and arouses concern that should a Hindutva
force be even brought to book, the consequences in the form of
disruption of order would be unacceptable.
The BJP did exactly this after the Babri Masjid was demolished in
December 1992, when it prevailed upon the Centre to allow the patently
illegal makeshift Ram-Lala temple built on its rubble to remain.
Indeed, even before that ghastly episode, our courts were reluctant to
take pre-emptive action except of a tokenist variety against it. So
was the government, which retreated each time the BJP adopted an
aggressive posture.
Here too, the fear of a "majoritarian backlash" trumped all
considerations of constitutional propriety, defence of secularism and
plain legality. Since December 1992, no government has dared to assert
the law of the land. Nor have the demolition's planners and
perpetrators been brought to book.
A similar fear gripped the Establishment after the Gujarat pogrom. The
Centre failed to dismiss the BJP-ruled State government although it
had caused, and continued to preside over, a total breakdown of all
constitutional order: even High Court judges and senior police
officers had to flee their homes in fear. The Opposition too failed to
mount enough pressure on the Centre to impose President's Rule, for
which there has never been, and could not have been, a fitter case.
Worse, elections were allowed to be held while a whole community had
been terrorised, democratic governance had collapsed, and free and
fair canvassing, polling and exercise of rational choices had become
impossible — given the continuing harassment and intimidation of
Muslims, inflamed Hindu-communal sentiments, the BJP-VHP's (Vishwa
Hindu Parishad) goonda raj, and the prevalence of a generalised
climate of fear.
All that the E.C.'s initial and salutary intervention in Gujarat
resulted in was postponement of the elections by a few months - when
the obvious remedy was President's Rule, followed by full return to
normalcy and systematic prosecution of the pogrom's perpetrators. The
Supreme Court's off-the-cuff pronouncements indicating its opposition
to deferring elections did not help.
S. SUBRAMANIUM
Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami flanked by Election
Commissioners S.Y. Quraishi and Naveen Chawla, in New Delhi.
The Establishment, in effect, has repeatedly permitted the BJP to hold
and exercise a veto over vital political processes, exercise of police
and prosecution powers, and the running of the administration in
crisis situations such that it would be suborned by the forces of
Hindu communalism.
This does not argue that the Indian government/Establishment has
turned actively communal over the years, only that it has made
deplorable compromises with Hindu communalists or passively accepted
that they deserve to be treated differently from other communalists,
as well as secularists. It is both noteworthy and shameful that the
worst abuses of freedom and the most ferocious attacks on democracy,
secularism and the rule of law in India's recent history have occurred
in situations where Hindu communalism was ascendant or rampant.
Similarly, the Establishment has allowed the BJP and its associates
virtual veto power on a number of policies, especially those
pertaining to religion and politics, to Kashmir, to relations with
Pakistan and other neighbours, and to defence and national security.
BJP leaders have arrogantly begun to assert such "primacy". Three
years ago, L.K. Advani claimed: "The BJP alone can find solutions to
our problems with Pakistan because Hindus will never think whatever we
have done is a sell-out."
The underlying assumption seems to be that by virtue of being
majoritarian or Hindu-communal, the BJP or the Sangh Parivar is a more
authentic representative of Indian opinion than other political
currents or parties. Nothing could be more false. Looked at
historically, the BJP has been a minority current in Indian politics
until the 1990s. Even at its peak, it has never commanded more than a
quarter of the national vote.
Even more important, the assumption is dangerously misguided and
unbecoming of a society and state that aspires to be secular by
drawing a line of basic demarcation between religion and politics. It
simply cannot accord primacy to a particular religious group by virtue
of its large numbers.
This situation must be remedied. That can only happen when progressive
political opinion and civil society pressure is mounted on the
Establishment so that it stands up to the bullying tactics of the
majoritarian communalists. One must hope that the E.C. will set a
positive example in the CD case.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2408/stories/20070504002810800.htm
Volume 17 - Issue 13, June 24 - July 07, 2000
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COMMUNALISM
An assault on Christians
Emboldened by the weak response of governments to attacks against
Christian places of worship, the affiliates of the Sangh Parivar
unleash a new wave of terror against the community.
PARVATHI MENON
in Bangalore
EVER since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance
government assumed power at the Centre, there has been a low-intensity
war against Christians in India, especially nuns and priests, by
groups and organisations loyal to the Sangh Par ivar. A wave of
attacks against Christian evangelists and places of worship through
1998 culminated in the murder of the Australian missionary Graham
Staines and his two sons on January 23, 1999. Dara Singh, a Hindutva
fanatic with links to the Sangh Par ivar, has been arrested in that
connection. A second wave of terror against Christian missionaries,
that extends now to the States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and
Andhra Pradesh, has culminated this June in a series of bomb blasts in
churches in Ka rnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh.
SHERWIN CRASTO/AP
During a peace march in Mumbai on June 17, Christian priests carry a
portrait of Brother George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in
Mathura.
The bombs that went off in churches in the towns of Vasco in Goa, Wadi
in Karnataka, and Ongole and Tadepalligudem in Andhra Pradesh, point
to a qualitatively new phase in the campaign of organised violence
against Christians in the country. Although the identity of the forces
behind the blasts is yet to be established, the nature of the attacks,
their target and timing, point the finger of suspicion at the Sangh
Parivar. In fact, the month of May alone saw two bomb attacks in
Andhra Pradesh; the first in Machlipatnam where 30 persons were
injured in a bomb blast at a prayer meeting on May 21, and another in
Vikarabad where an explosive device planted in a church was
fortunately defused in time. The simultaneous bomb blasts in the four
towns suggest th at the perpetrators have been emboldened by what has
been seen as a weak and non-serious state response to the terror
campaign so far.
At 6 a.m. on June 8, a bomb exploded on the precincts of the St. Ann
Catholic Church in the industrial town of Wadi in Gulbarga, shattering
glass panes. A second blast occurred at 9 a.m. after the police had
reached the spot, surveyed the area and recove red residual material
of the earlier blast. When a car parked in the church precincts was
moved, a tin box was found protruding from the ground. But it exploded
before the bomb disposal squad could defuse it. One person was injured
in the blast. Wadi has a Christian population of about 80 families.
Around the same time a blast at the St. Andrews Church in Vasco in
south Goa shattered windowpanes and twisted grills out of shape. At
8-15 a.m. that day, the Gewett Memorial Baptist Church in Ongole was
the scene of a bomb blast which because it took pl ace after the
morning service, only injured three persons. A bomb went off at the
Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West Godavari
district, around the same time.
The police have already established certain significant facts with
regard to the blasts. "We are now certain that the same group of
conspirators were behind all the three blasts," C. Dinakaran, Director-
General of Police, Karnataka, told Frontline . In all the cases, he
said, the timing device and the detonators used were of the same type.
While in Andhra Pradesh the explosive had a plastic casing, in Goa and
Karnataka the explosives were encased in tin. The bombs were placed,
in all the cases, ne ar the gates or windows of the church. Gelatine,
an explosive commonly used for blasting in the stone quarries and
cement factories of Gulbarga in Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh was the
raw material used. "The other significant fact is that all the towns
have railway stations and we suspect that this may have determined the
choice of place. The conspirators possibly took trains from one place
to another," said Dinakaran.
K. RAMESH BABU
Inside the Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West
Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh which was damaged in a bomb blast
on June 8.
THE serial blast mark a new phase in the continuing two-year-long
violence against the Christian community in the country. The fact of a
conspiracy is now clearly established. This points not only to careful
and coordinated planning, but also to new leve ls and strategies of
planned violence suggestive of a deadly seriousness of purpose. No
longer need mobs be mobilised in the destruction of places of
Christian worship as in the past. The terrorism of the bomb gives the
criminal a degree of invisibility, and widens the range of attack. The
serial bombs were in the nature of a message of intimidation, not just
to those who work for Christian organisations but to Church
congregations, from prayer meetings to Sunday school gatherings. With
the perpetrators of the crime distanced from the scene of the crime,
it is much easier for a compliant state machinery to give them
protection. The fear of indiscriminate strikes anywhere and at any
time has already created a sense of panic amongst Christians. After
all , ifa bomb can be planted in a town as innocuous as Wadi, it could
happen anywhere in the country.
"I read in all this a pattern of violence. These were similar
explosive devices that were used, " Fr. Dr.H.R. Donald De Souza,
deputy secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India
told Frontline. "We suspect an organised movement b y fundamentalist
groups who have been emboldened by the inaction of the government," he
added.
The serial blasts give the lie to the theory of 'secular violence'
that the BJP and the government it heads have put out regarding the
recent attacks on minorities in different parts of the country.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the government held t hat the
innumerable acts of violence against members of the Christian
community, in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and elsewhere, was not communally
motivated but were incidents of "dacoity and loot" by "criminal
gangs".
According to the United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR),
there have been 35 recorded anti-Christian crimes between January and
June this year. The most recent of these was the murder of Brother
George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in the Paulus Memorial
School in Navada, Mathura, in U.P. on June 7. Within days of this
incident, a group of nuns were attacked in Mathura by a couple of
scooter-borne assailants. In the case of George Kuzhikandam, U.P.
Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta ins isted that money was the motive
behind the murder. "The BJP and the State government reach conclusions
even before the police start investigation," John Dayal, national
convener of the UCFHR said. "Why would a gang of thugs choose to kill
a poor priest i n his school during the holidays ? Or attack nuns who
run a convent school that charges the lowest fees in the area?" Dayal
said that the U.P. Police had promised to post police units at
Christian institutions but these were soon withdrawn. "A police out
post was stationed at the nuns' ashram in Agra. They proved more of a
nuisance as they insisted on being fed and looked after, and were in
any case taken off duty a few days later!" The U.P. government's stand
on the attacks received support from an unexpected quarter. The
National Minorities Commission (NMC) sent an investigative team to the
Agra-Mathura region and its report upheld the official view that the
cases of physical viol ence and murder were committed by anti-social
elements. "The NMC report was prepared by nominees of the present
government. So it is not surprising that they arrived at the
conclusion they did,"said Fr. Donald De Souza. "A group of Christian
parliamentar ians led by P.C. Thomas conducted another enquiry and on
the basis of the same evidence wholly disagreed with the NMC report,"
he added.
THE BJP responded to the serial blasts even before the government did.
While the Home Ministry "waited for reports from the States," the BJP
announced that the blasts were the handiwork of Pakistan's Inter-
Services Intelligence (ISI), which, it said, is bent on fomenting
hatred between Hindus and Christians in the country. Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee had no information to give as to what action the
State governments had taken when a delegation from the UCFHR called on
him three days after the bl ast. By then police investigations could
not establish any ISI involvement.
K. RAMESH BABU
The facade of the church.
Preliminary investigations into the blasts appear to discount the
theory of ISI involvement. "We cannot rule out anything," said DGP
Dinakaran. "But if an organisation as well-funded as the ISI is
involved, we expect they would use more sophisticated bom bs. Why must
they depend on gelatine and not the more expensive and deadly RDX
(research department explosive)?"
Christian leaders attach importance to the proliferation of hate-
literature that has provided the fuel for the attacks, and which also
provides evidence, for a law enforcing agency that wishes to use such
evidence, of who is behind the violence. Hate-lit erature is freely
printed and distributed in States where the Sangh Parivar is active,
and in States where the BJP is in government or is an ally of the
government, as in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Most hate-pamphlets do
not carry the name of an organis ation that has an address. For
example, there are pamphlets signed by the 'Hindu Jagaran Manch,
Kashi', or by 'Supporters of Dara Singh, the God Who Descended from
Heaven'. While some of the books are directly incendiary, others come
in the garb of work s of historical 'research', and yet others are
books/pamphlets on how to harass Christian missionaries in order to
prevent them from proselytising. For example, a booklet published in
Gujarat suggests that one way to prevent missionaries from working is
to foist false cases on them so that they are always tied up in the
courts.
These are faceless, addressless, front organisations of the Sangh
Parivar. If the law enforcing mechanism is slow in apprehending the
culprits in an attack of communally motivated violence, it is even
slower in tracing and taking action against the print ers and peddlers
of hate-literature. The environment in all the three States where the
serial blasts occurred has been vitiated by the activities of the
Sangh Parivar. "We are alarmed at the statements of important people
in the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamseva k Sangh) and the BJP, such as B.K.
Modi and Ashok Singhal, who have been talking of the need to build a
pan Buddhist-Hindu alliance against Christianity and Islam in South
Asia," said Dayal. "The RSS chief speaks of an "Epochal War". What
does all this m ean?" he asked. The NDA government has already swept
the uncomfortable issue of the serial blasts, which they were briefly
confronted with, under the carpet. A passing worry presented itself
when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu was reported to
have tol d a delegation of Christian leaders that he would even
consider withdrawing support to the BJP-led government if the rights
of the minorities were not protected. But that concern too was
dispelled when the Telugu Desam Party leader denied that he had sai d
anything of the sort.
To the Christians in the country, the targets of a sustained two-year-
long cycle of violence, there is little room for comfort. And for
assurances there are few positive measures that have been taken for
their protection.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1713/17130210.htm
India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 26 :: Dec. 19, 1998 - Jan. 01, 1999
COLUMN
RSS and Christians
The Sangh Parivar's violent hatred against Christianity is deep-rooted
and decades old, as is the case with its animosity against several
other communities.
A. G. NOORANI
ON December 4, 1998, nearly 23 million Christians across the country
observed a protest day demanding that the governments at the Centre
and in the States check the growing violence against members of the
community. A letter of protest, drawn up by the United Christians'
Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR), said: "Since January 1998 there has
been more violence against the Christian community than in all the 50
years of the country's Independence. Nuns have been raped, priests
executed, Bibles burnt, churches demolished, educational institutions
destroyed and religious people harassed." This is persecution in the
strict dictionary meaning of the word "pursue with enmity and ill-
treatment". Mabel Rebello of the Congress(I) told the Rajya Sabha that
day that "50 per cent of these (incidents) have occurred in Gujarat
where the BJP is in power".
On October 8, Gujarat's Director-General of Police, C.P. Singh,
confirmed in an interview to Teesta Setalvad, co-editor of Communalism
Combat (October 1998): "One thing was clear in the pattern of
incidents. It was the activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and
Bajrang Dal who were taking the law into their own hands, which posed
a serious danger to peace in Gujarat. Many of the attacks on the
minorities were after these organisations had whipped up local
passions of conversions (by Christian missionaries) and allegedly
forced inter-religious marriages... our investigations revealed that
in most cases these were entirely baseless allegations."
Two disturbing features of the campaign stand out in bold relief. One
is that the attacks mounted steeply after the Bharatiya Janata Party-
led Government assumed office in March 1998. The Archbishop of Delhi,
Alan de Lastic, said: "What I have noticed is that ever since this
Government came to power at the Centre, the attacks on Christians and
Christian missionaries have increased" (Sunday, November 22). The
other is the Government's wilful refusal to condemn them. Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks on December 5 were virtually
forced out of him. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has been false to
his oath of office ("do right to all manner of people in accordance
with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or
ill-will"). He said in Baroda on August 2 (The Hindu, August 3):
"There is no law and order problem in Gujarat." Three days later the
DGP said, according to The Hindustan Times (August 6), that "the VHP
and the Bajrang Dal were taking the law into their own hands." He also
said that incidents of communal violence had increased manifold over
the last few months; recently the crime rate in the State had
increased by as much as 9.6 per cent. On an average, 39 crimes of
serious nature like murder, rape and dacoity were reported in the
State every day." A member of the investigation team sent by the
Minorities Commission revealed: "After initial reluctance, the
officials named VHP and Bajrang Dal allegedly involved in the mob
attacks on Christians and Muslims" (The Indian Express, August 12).
Advani's certificate of good conduct speaks for itself.
Christians did not rush to register their protest, as they did on
December 4, but for long kept pleading for succour. On October 1, the
national secretary of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), John Dayal,
pointedly remarked: "The AICU is surprised that Union Government and
members of the ruling coalition, including the BJP, have not come out
categorically in denouncing the violence against Christians."
The Bajrang Dal has threatened Christian-run educational institutions
in Karnataka with dire consequences if they did not "Hinduise" them.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Rajendra Singh declared at an RSS
camp in Meerut on November 22: "Muslims and Christians will have to
accept Hindu culture as their own if Hindus are to treat them as
Indians" (an Agence France Presse: report in The Asian Age; November
23). The UCFHR bitterly complained in an open letter published on
November 19: "The state has failed to do its duty in protecting the
life, dignity and property of the victims. At many places, it seems as
if the Centre and the State governments have tacitly supported the
communal groups. How is it otherwise that the State governments have
not taken any action against the virulent and anti-national statements
of the VHP, RSS, Jagran Manch and Bajrang Dal?" (emphasis added,
throughout).
While the Sangh Parivar's animosity towards Muslims is well-known, its
attitude towards Christians has taken many people by surprise. But,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary Giriraj Kishore said in
Chandigarh on November 25: "Today the Christians constitute a greater
threat than the collective threat from separatist Muslim elements."
Describing G. S. Tohra, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee, as a "separatist", he said, "all minorities including
Muslims and Christians must accept that their ancestors were Hindus."
Ergo, they must all return to the Hindu fold.
Violence in speech inevitably inspires violent acts. As the Jaganmohan
Reddy Commission that went into the Ahmedabad riots (1969) noted, once
communal tension is created in a city, all that is needed is "only a
match to set on fire and a fan to fan the city ablaze." Riots erupt
over trifling incidents only because the atmosphere has been fouled
up. Hence, the need for "a proper appreciation of the communal
atmosphere in a State, in a town or in any particular area," the
Commission stressed. Those who spread hate are the real perpetrators
of violence. The ones who wield the weapon are their mindless agents.
We have tended to ignore a fact that brooks no neglect - the real
cause of the communal riots is the rise of the Sangh Parivar. There
was communal peace even in the early years after Partition. A Home
Ministry review presented to the National Integration Council in 1968
noted: "From 1954 to 1960, there was a clear and consistent downward
trend, 1960 being a remarkably good year with only 26 communal
incidents in the whole country. This trend was sharply reversed in
1961. "That was when riots erupted in Jabalpur - thanks to the Jan
Sangh, the BJP's ancestor. Communal violence has not "looked back"
since.
Justice P. Venugopal, a former Judge of the Madras High Court, who
inquired into Hindu-Christian clashes in Kanyakumari district in March
1982, noted: "The RSS adopts a militant and aggressive attitude and
sets itself as the champion of what it considers to be the rights of
Hindus against minorities. It has taken upon itself the task to teach
the minority their place and if they are not willing to learn their
place, teach them a lesson. The RSS has given respectability to
communalism and communal riots and demoralise administration (sic).
The RSS methodology for provoking communal violence is: (a) rousing
communal feelings in the majority community by the propaganda that
Christians are not loyal citizens of this country..." Report after
report has indicted the RSS specifically or its affiliates (Ahmedabad
1969; Bhiwandi 1970; Tellicherry 1971; Jamshedpur 1981; and Mumbai
1993).
VIOLENCE is an integral part of the RSS credo. "It should be used as a
surgeon's knife... to cure the society... Sometimes to protect non-
violence itself violence becomes necessary," RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar
said in 1952. (Spotlights: Guruji Answers, pages 110 and 188). In his
fine work India as a Secular State, Donald Eugene Smith recalled the
desecration of a church in Bihar in 1955 and the almost total
destruction in 1957 of the Gass Memorial Centre at Raipur.
V.D. Savarkar wrote repeatedly in his book Hindutva (1923): "Hindutva
is different from Hinduism." For once, he was right. Hinduism is a
great religion, it is ancient. Hindutva is an ideology of hate. It is
recent. He grouped Muslims and Christians together as ones who do not
share "the tie of the common homage we pay to our great civilisation -
our Hindu culture." He added: "Christian and Mohammedan communities
who were but very recently Hindus... cannot be recognised as Hindus as
since their adoption of the new cult they had ceased to own Hindu
civilisation (Sanskriti) as a whole... For though Hindusthan to them
is Fatherland, as to any other Hindu, yet it is not to them a Holyland
too. Their holyland is far off in Arabia or Palestine."
They are not the only offenders: "Look at the Jews; neither centuries
of prosperity nor sense of gratitude for the shelter they found can
make them more attached or even equally attached to the several
countries they inhabit."
Golwalkar revealed on May 15, 1963 that his first book We or Our
Nationhood Defined was based on Savarkar's brother Babarao's book in
Marathi on the same theme, Rashtra Mimamsa. Golwalkar's second book,
Bunch of Thoughts, praised the book Hindutva and amplified its
ideology. The BJP has used it as a political weapon with dangerous
consequences. Chapter XII of Bunch of Thoughts is devoted to three
"Internal Threats" - Muslims, Christians and the Communists. Of the
first two he wrote: "Together with the change in their faith, gone are
the spirit of love and devotion for the nation. Nor does it end there.
They have also developed a feeling of identification with the enemies
of this land. They look to some foreign lands as their holy places."
They are asked to return to the Hindu fold.
Not that that will be of much help. "For a Hindu, he gets the first
sanskar when he is still in his mother's womb... We are, therefore,
born as Hindus. About the others, they are born to this world as
simple unnamed human beings and later on, either circumcised or
baptised, they become Muslims or Christians." The hatred is
unconcealed. They have no right to proselytise. Hindus alone have it,
for, "returning to one's ancestral faith is not conversion at all, it
is merely home-coming."
Bunch of Thoughts first appeared in 1966 but the good work has been
stepped up since. To the three "internal threats", a fourth is added -
"Nehruism" - and among the perils we face is "Macaulayism". In Delhi
functions an outfit, Voice of India, which proclaims: "We are not
general booksellers and handle only books listed in this catalogue.
Please do not ask for other books." It is an outfit with a mission.
For the catalogue has an "appeal" which reads thus: "Hindu society and
culture are faced with a crisis. There is a united front of entrenched
alien forces - Islam, Christianity, Communism, Nehruism - to disrupt
and discredit the perennial values of the Indian ethos. All who care
for India need to know what is happening, and what is to be done if a
major tragedy is to be averted. Voice of India aims at providing an
ideological defence of Hindu society and culture, through a series of
publications."
SOME people were surprised by Advani's assertion at a seminar on
November 6 at Sarnath that "the Buddha did not announce any new
religion. He was only restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals
of the Indo-Aryan civilisation." The Buddha, he added, derived his
teaching from the Bhagvad Gita and was an avatar of Vishnu. Rebuttals
from Buddhists were swift and sharp (see "Hindutva's fallacies and
fantasies", Frontline, December 4, 1998).
However, no one familiar with the stuff churned out by this factory,
for over four decades, would have been surprised. Its literature is
intolerant of any cultural and religious diversity. It fosters a siege
mentality among Hindus and speaks disparagingly of all others - not
excluding Sikhs and Jews. That is not all. A Hindu who does not share
its bigotry is attacked as being "anti-Hindu". Its literature
represents the spirit, outlook and ethos of the Sangh Parivar. The
writings cited below reveal a revolting virulence. Its moving spirit
is one Sita Ram Goel.
The Parivar's organ Organiser only recently (October 18, 1998)
published a paper he had written in 1983. He wrote: "The English-
educated Hindu elite which controls the commanding heights in
government, educational institutions and mass media has failed the
test either because it has become indifferent to Hindu society, as a
result of having imbibed the current cosmopolitan culture, or because
it has been trained to look at Hindu society through eyes which are
not of its own ancestral culture and, as a result, has become
sceptical about, if not actually hostile to, the merits of Hindu
society. This desperate situation has been made more difficult by a
degenerate politics through which vote-hungry, sloganised, short-
sighted and nominally Hindu politicians weaken Hindu society by
dividing it on the basis of caste, sect, language and region, disarm
Hindu society by sanctimonious and one-sided appeals in the name of
traditional Hindu tolerance, strengthen alienated and aggressive
communities by supporting their separatist demands in the name of
secularism." His intolerance brings all within the sway of his
indictment, bar the Parivar itself.
TO return to Advani's notions on Buddhism, a pamphlet entitled
"Buddhism vis-a-vis Hinduism" published 40 years ago by Ram Swarup for
the outfit asserts: "Buddha, his spiritual experiences and teachings,
formed part of a Hindu tradition... A good Buddhist has perforce to be
a good Hindu too." He went on to attack "foreign" religions. "The
indigenous religions of the countries of the two Americas have been
completely overwhelmed. In the African sub-continent (sic) the local
religions are under a systematic attack from Islamic and Christian
ideologies." The Parivar takes a dim view of the United States.
Golwalkar was asked in July 1967: "What is your opinion about present-
day America?" There was lot to comment about - racial conflict,
Vietnam policy, and so on. All he could say was: "Do you not yourself
see that the American youth is fast dissipating himself in all kinds
of sensual indulgence?" Simplistic, sweeping, defamatory judgment
comes easily to the tribe.
Ram Swarup's tract Hinduism vis-a-vis Christianity and Islam continued
his refrain about "native" faiths. "What is happening in India is also
happening elsewhere. In America even the vestiges of once (sic), a
rich spiritual culture of the Indians, is no more." He developed the
theme in its sequel Hindu View of Christianity and Islam (1992). "The
two ideologies have been active and systematic persecutors of pagan
nations, cultures and religions... We have spoken here with sympathy
and respect not only of pagan Americas and Africa but also of the
pagan past of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Iran, Syria and Arabia." V.S.
Naipaul is in good company with the Sangh Parivar. Unlike him, it
indicts Christianity as well as Islam on this score.
"Hinduism can help all peoples seeking religious self-renewal, for it
preserves in some way their old Gods and religions, it preserves in
its various layers religious traditions and intuitions they have lost.
Many countries now under Christianity and Islam had once great
religions; they also had great Gods who adequately fulfilled their
spiritual and ethical needs... during the long period of neglect, they
lost the knowledge which could revive those Gods, Hinduism can help
them with this knowledge. In its simplest aspect, Europeans can best
study their old pre-Christian religion by studying Hinduism."
Ram Swarup goes on to quote approvingly: "Gore Vidal says that from a
'barbaric Bronze Age text known as Old Testament, three anti-human
religions have evolved - Judaism, Christianity and Islam'; he also
calls them 'sky-god religions'."
Ram Swarup damns all three religions as "great persecutors". The Hindu
response of old was wrong. He writes:
"First, they tried to 'reform' themselves and be like their rulers...
One God, a revealed Book and prophets.... The Brahmo Samaj, the Arya
Samaj, and the Akalis also claimed monotheism and iconoclasm ... in
the case of the Akalis, the new look has also become the basis of a
new separatist-militant politics....
"The second way the Hindus adopted was that of 'synthesis'. The
synthesizers claimed that all religions preach the same thing. They
found in the Bible and the Quran all the truths of the Upanishads and
vice versa. They culled passages from various scriptures to prove
their point... It is by such methods that they proved that the Bible
and the Quran were no different from the Upanishads...."
The wrath wells up as he proceeds and delivers a message which
explains why the country has had to undergo what it has all these
years, especially since 1990: "India became politically free in 1947,
but it is ruled by anti-Hindu Hindus. The old mental slavery continues
and it has yet to win its cultural and intellectual independence.
India is entering into the second phase of its freedom struggle; the
struggle for regaining its Hindu identity. The new struggle is as
difficult as the old one. Hindus are disorganised, self-alienated,
morally and ideologically disarmed. They lack leadership; the Hindu
elites have become illiterate about their spiritual heritage and
history and indifferent and even hostile towards their religion...
India's higher education, its academia and media are in the hands of a
Hindu-hating elite."
Note what Ram Swarup has to say of the caste system:
"Once when Hinduism was strong, castes represented a natural and
healthy diversity, but now in its present state of weakness these are
used for its dismemberment. Old vested interests joined by new ones
have come together to make use of the caste factor in a big way in
order to keep Hindus down.
"Hindus have been kept down too long. Everyone including the victims
think that it is the natural order of things. Therefore, now when the
Hindu society is showing some signs of stir, there is a great
consternation. Already a cry has gone out of Hindu fundamentalism, we
must expect more of it in future." The readers have been warned. But
India will not be the only country to be saved. "America is awaiting
to be rediscovered in a characteristically Hindu way, not the
Christian way".
THIS represents a worse-than-narrow world-view. It is redolent of the
bigotry of medieval times. This book was published in 1992. His
earlier pamphlet, "Cultural Self-Alienation and Some Problems Hinduism
Faces", also characterised "castes and denominations" as expressing a
"natural and healthy diversity". The ignorance is astounding. "To
Marx, the British conquest of India was a blessing." Hinduism faces
attacks "both from inside and outside. While the forces of self-
alienation are increasing within society, external enemies have
intensified their attack.... Communism, Islam, Christianity have
powerful international links... their World-Centres. Commu-nists have
their Comintern working overtly or covertly." By 1987, Ram Swarup
ought to have known that the Comintern was dissolved on May 22, 1943
and that the "Islamic International, a kind of Muslim Vatican, Rabitah
al'-alam al-Iscaniya" (Muslim World League) is a Saudi-sponsored non-
governmental organisation (1962) which counts for little in India.
Hindus, by comparison, are at a disadvantage, he moans. "They do not
even have a government of their own." Socially, they are falling prey
to "vulgarity"; that is, "gambling, drinking, vulgar film music...
Cinemas (sic) are becoming great moral and social pollutants."
ANU PUSHKARNA
The Christian missionary centre at Nawapara in Jhabua district,
Madhya Pradesh, where four nuns were gangraped on September 23.
So, combat these and go over to the offensive and "look at Islam,
Christianity and Communism... from the Hindu angle." Sikhs are not
spared. Ram Swarup adopts a dual approach in Hindu-Sikh Relationship
(1985). He woos them as "the members of Hindu society" and denounces
them for thinking that "they were different". Base motives are freely
attributed: "Thanks to the Green Revolution and various other factors,
the Sikhs have become relatively more rich and prosperous. No wonder,
they have begun to find that the Hindu bond is not good enough for
them and they seek a new identity readily available to them in their
names and outer symbols. This is an understandable human frailty."
He defends the storming of the Golden Temple. It "became an arsenal, a
fort, a sanctuary for criminals. This grave situation called for
necessary action which caused some unavoidable damage to the
building." There followed "protest meetings, resolutions", which he
deprecates. "The whole thing created wide-spread resentment all over
India which burst into a most unwholesome violence when Mrs. Indira
Gandhi was assassinated. The befoggers have again got busy and they
explain the whole tragedy in terms of collusion between the
politicians and the police. But this conspiracy theory cannot explain
the range and the virulence of the tragedy. A growing resentment at
the arrogant Akali politics is the main cause of this fearful
happening."
This is of a piece with the Organiser's defence of Mahatma Gandhi's
assassination in its editorial (January 11, 1970) - "turned the
people's wrath on himself." Its editor then, K.R. Malkani, is now vice-
president of the BJP.
SITA RAM GOEL does not lag behind. His pamphlet "Hindu Society under
Siege" (1981) paints a frightening future: "The death of Hindu society
is no longer an eventuality which cannot be envisaged. This great
society is now besieged by the same dark and deadly forces which have
overwhelmed and obliterated many ancient societies. Suffering from a
loss of its elan, it has become a house divided within itself... Hindu
society is in mortal danger as never before."
One is reminded of the loonies of California, the minutemen who lived
in dread of a Soviet conquest of the U.S. The familiar ghosts of old
are revived - "Islamism", "Christianism" and a new one to keep them
company, "Macaulay-ism" (the educated Hindu who rejects the Parivar's
voodoo credo and the mumbo-jumbo of its shrill rhetoric).
"Ideologically, Communism in India is, in several respects, a sort of
extension of Macaulayism, a residue of British rule. That is why
Communism is strongest today in those areas where Macaulayism had
spread its widest spell." In no other parts of the country, though,
are Indian languages and culture more highly respected than in West
Bengal and Kerala. "Macaulayism is wedded to Secularism and Democracy.
It has to find out for itself as to who are the enemies of Secularism
and Democracy and who their best friends. This can be done only by
looking beyond the United Front of Islamism, Communism and
Christianism."
In the U.S., the minutemen belonged to the lunatic fringe. In India,
the Parivar's ideology is espoused by the party in power, even if it
be through dubious alliances. Scruples are not the Parivar's
strongpoint. On April 4, 1980, L.K. Advani and A.B. Vajpayee endorsed
a formulation in the National Executive of the Janata Party which
pledged its members to accept "unconditionally and strive to preserve
the composite culture and secular state established in our country."
After splitting the Janata Party both rejected the concept of India's
"composite culture." On April 8, 1998, at the BJP's Agra session, its
then president, Advani, denounced the concept of composite culture -
just as the Jan Sangh had done in December 1969.
HARSH NARAIN was a Visiting Professor at Aligarh Muslim University and
Reader at the North-Eastern Hill University. His Myths of Composite
Cultural and Equality of Religions (1990) reveals the unspoken
thoughts of the Parivar; the sub-text beneath the avowed text.
"Mere permanent settlement in a country does not entitle a plunderer
to be looked upon as indigenous. It must first be seen whose interests
he is out to serve. What is his attitude towards Indians? Take an
example. European settlers entered America and ruined the original
inhabitants, whom they named 'Red Indians'. To expect the remaining
Red Indians to regard their European-born rulers as equally indigenous
would be a cruel joke beyond their understanding.
"Islam was out to deal a death blow to the equilibrium, exuberance,
and cosmopolitan character of Indian humanity, later designated as
Hindu culture in juxtaposition to Indian culture."
To him, the Taj and the Qutub Minar are specimens exclusively of
Muslim, not Indian, sculpture. For, he holds: "The Muslims have been
religiously indifferent to, if not contemptuous of, Indian sculpture.
Thanks to the taste of the Sufis, the Muslims took some fancy to
Indian music. The main gamut of Indian literature has also been
untinged with Muslim literature and historic-cultural allusions...
Urdu language and literature, the much-vaunted symbols or vehicles of
composite culture, are not the result of intermingling of Hinduism and
Islam but reflected the Muslim image in Indian garb... nor have the
Hindu heroes and servants been fortunate enough to be honoured by the
Muslim community."
This can only be deliberate falsehood, since he flaunts familiarity
with Urdu. The much-maligned Iqbal wrote whole poems in praise of the
Buddha, Ram, Guru Nanak, and Swami Ram Tirtha. He was an admirer of
the Sanskrit poet, Bhartruhari, and had drunk deep at the fount of the
Gita and the Upanishads. Another great poet, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a
confirmed leftist, wrote nostalgically of the soil of Mathura and in
praise of Krishna. He was also an ardent admirer of Bal Gangadhar
Tilak. But this is understandable of one who stoops to libel one of
the greatest mystics and martyrs of all time, Mansur al-Hallaj. He was
beheaded and his life forms the subject of the feat of scholarship,
Louis Massignon's four-volume The Passion of al-Hallaj. He is accused
of converting to Islam "the Dudwalas and Pinjaris of Gujarat." No
authority is cited in support of the charge.
Harsh Narain holds that while "a sizable section of the Sufis had been
comparatively free from the proverbial emphasis on coercion ... the
role of Sufi tradition in bridging the gulf between Islam and Hinduism
or laying the foundations of a composite culture has been greatly
exaggerated."
All this and more only in order to expose "the mad propaganda of
composite culture" and to prove that "Muslim culture cannot be said to
be an integral part of Indian culture and must be regarded as an
anticulture or counter culture in our body politic." This is no
different from the RSS chief's demand (November 22, 1998) that the
minorities Hinduise themselves.
The author turns his attention to Jainism ("failed to develop any
cultural identity of its own") and Buddhism ("basically a life-
negating religion, having little interest in social order, strictly
speaking"). Conclusion? "Our national culture, Indian culture, is a
unity describable as Aryan culture, Hindu culture... Indian culture is
Hindu culture... Muslim and Christian cultures are counter-cultures."
And Parsi culture is "something like" a sub-culture.
So "Hindu culture alone deserves the credit of recognition as the
national culture (abhimanin) of this country, as the culture owning
and possessing this great nation, along with other Indian-born
cultures like Buddhist and Jain cultures as its sub-cultures; Muslim
and Christian cultures being in the nature of tenant-cultures. The
distinction of master-possessor-owner culture and tenant-parasitic
culture has its own significance." One can guess what he is hinting
at.
Sita Ram Goel writes in the same vein. His ardour is reflected in his
three books Catholic Ashrams, Papacy and History of Hindu-Christian
Encounters (304-1996). His preface to the second edition (1996) of the
book on Hindu-Christian encounters explains a lot: "The Sangh Parivar,
which had turned cold towards Hindu causes over the years, was
startled by the rout of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 1984
elections, and decided to renew its Hindu character. The
Ramajanmabhumi Movement was the result. The Movement was aimed at
arresting Islamic aggression. Christianity or its missions were hardly
mentioned. Nevertheless, it was Christianity which showed the greatest
concern at this new Hindu stir, and started crying 'wolf'. Its media
power in the West raised a storm, saying that Hindus were out to
destroy the minorities in India and impose a Nazi regime. The storm is
still raging and no one knows when it will subside, if at all." Thus
"the storm" was unleashed for reasons of power through election
victories.
Goel's writings alone prove that the Parivar's ire against Christians
is decades old. In an article published in March 1983 he had asserted
that the ancient Hindu precept sarva dharma samabhava (all religions
are equal) should not be applied to Christians or Muslims.
IT is with some hesitation that one turns to Goel's book Jesus Christ:
An Artifice for Aggression (1994); so wantonly offensive it is. The
focus now is not on the missionaries, or politics, or history. The
target is the faith itself; Christianity as a religion. Why? Because
hitherto "we Hindus have remained occupied with the behaviour patterns
of Muslims and Christians and not with the belief systems which create
those behaviour patterns. We object to Christian missions, but refuse
to discuss Christianity and its God, Jesus. We object to Islamic
terrorisms, but refuse to have a look at Islamic and its prophet,
Muhammad. I see no sense or logic in this Hindu habit."
Is there any other country in the world where such theses are written
for such a purpose? One wonders. "Now, I could see why the history of
Christianity had been what it had been. The source of the poison was
in the Jesus of the gospels."
The Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary is attacked wantonly. There
are chapters on Jesus of history, of fiction and of faith. The thesis?
He did not exist in history. "The quantum of crimes committed by
Muhammad's Islam was only slightly smaller than that of the crimes
committed by the Christianity of the Jesus Christ... The parallel
between Jesus and Hitler was seen as still more striking. The Nazi
creed, as laid down by Hitler, did not sound much different from the
Christian creed as preached by Jesus in the gospels."
Goel is dismayed to find that Jesus Christ "should continue to retain
his hallow" (sic) in India. "Christianity is accepted as a religion
not only by the westernised Hindu elite but also by Hindu saints,
scholars, and political platforms."
Jesus Christ has been "praised to the skies, particularly by Mahatma
Gandhi." But, "it is high time for Hindus to learn that Jesus Christ
symbolises no spiritual power, or moral uprightness. He is no more
than an artifice for legitimising wanton imperialist aggression. The
aggressors have found him to be highly profitable so far. By the same
token, Hindus should know that Jesus means nothing but mischief for
their country and culture. The West where he flourished for long, has
discarded him as junk. There is no reason why Hindus should buy him.
He is the type of junk that cannot be re-cycled. He can only poison
the environment."
THE virulence of the language reveals the depths of the hatred. This
is what Indians are up against - a powerful hate group, enjoying the
patronage of many politicians in power and in the administration,
which is out to wipe out all traces not only of secularism and
democracy but of religious tolerance, religious and cultural diversity
and, indeed, of decency itself from India.
It shall not come to pass. The answer lies not in forging a united
front of the minorities; it lies in a renewal of the secular ideal in
our politics and in the nation at large.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1526/15261230.htm
Volume 19 - Issue 09, Apr. 27 - May 12, 2002
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
Plumbing new depths
No Indian Prime Minister has justified a communal pogrom the way
Vajpayee has. The BJP's Goa conclave marks the lowest point in
Hindutva's hardline evolution, underlining the need to punish the BJP
politically.
ATAL BEHARI VAJPAYEE'S public address at the April 12 BJP National
Executive meeting in Goa has rudely convulsed the secular conscience
of India's citizens. Many were jolted out of the complacent
assumption, promoted by sections of the media, that Vajpayee is some
kind of "moderate" or "liberal" - "the right man in the wrong party" -
a leader "secular" at heart, whose political "compulsions" regrettably
drive him from time to time to compromise with Hindutva. Yet others
attributed the tone and tenor of his speech to his interaction with
the party's young "hardliners" immediately before the Goa meeting,
such as Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie and M. Venkaiah Naidu, or to the
temporary "influence" of L.K. Advani, which made him reverse the
stance he adopted during his April 4 Gujarat visit.
The significance of Vajpayee's address goes much beyond his personal
"unmasking". His adoption of a virulent communal posture - which looks
at Indian society in terms of a division between Hindus and Others,
and accords social and political primacy to the majority community -
is shocking, but not really surprising. Vajpayee has never claimed to
be secular in the sense of separating religion from politics, or even
to have cut his umbilical cord to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Several public statements can be readily cited, which indicate
Vajpayee's ideological-political inclinations: for instance, "the
Sangh is my soul" (1995), "I will always remain a
swayamsevak" (September 2000), the Ram temple agitation is a "national
movement", not a sectarian-parochial one (December 2000), and his
Uttar Pradesh election speech in February 2002, in which he chided
Muslims for not voting for the BJP, but also warned them it could come
to power without their support. These are not aberrations. Nor is his
annual obeisance to the Sangh in the form of guru dakshina. Vajpayee
is as dedicated to Hindutva or "cultural nationalism" as any RSS
pracharak.
The true significance of Vajpayee's disquisition in Goa lies in its
relationship to the BJP's recent rightward evolution, and secondly, in
the new low political depths it plumbs. Never before has a Prime
Minister of India, of whatever persuasion, descended to making a hate-
speech against Muslims or Christians, castigating them as "outsiders".
Never before were our religious minorities humiliated by a Prime
Minister who would want them to feel grateful for being "allowed to
pray" - that is, for exercising their fundamental constitutional
right.
Never before has an Indian Prime Minister used such aggressive body
language to justify the Gujarat pogrom by citing the "who-cast-the-
first-stone" argument. Vajpayee blamed the victims of India's worst
communal pogrom for their own suffering. No other Prime Minister has
so blatantly undermined public confidence in the rule of law and in
the possibility of minimal justice for all in this society.
We now know, from numerous independent media accounts, and from
several highly credible and sensitive reports*, that the Godhra
killing of 59 Hindus was not, causally, "the first stone". The post-
February 27 carnage in Gujarat, which has claimed upwards of 850
lives, would probably have occurred even if the Godhra incident had
not. The conditions were ripe for the massacre of Muslims in that
"Hindutva laboratory" State. Elaborate preparations had been under way
for weeks before the massacre, in particular after kar sevaks were
dispatched daily to Ayodhya following the stepping up of the temple
campaign.
For instance, according to sources in Vadodara, lakhs of anti-Muslim
leaflets were illegally printed on slow treadle machines - which must
have taken months. Bombs and trishuls were stockpiled over a period of
weeks. The gap, exceeding 24 hours, between the "trigger event" and
the anti-Muslim violence - in contrast to, say, the immediate reaction
in Delhi to Indira Gandhi's assassinatio - only confirms the
organised, unspontaneous, planned nature of the pogrom.
Reconstruction of the Godhra incident, for example in the Citizens'
Forum report, suggests that it was a spontaneous, rather than an
elaborately planned, over-reaction to the daily harassment of local
Ghanchi Muslims (oil-pressers by occupation) by communally charged kar
sevaks returning from Ayodhya. Had there been serious preparation for
the attack on the Sabarmati Express, scheduled to reach Godhra at 2-55
a.m., there would have been a large crowd on the railway platform at
dawn. There was not.
When the train rolled in five hours late, there were only a handful of
vendors, porters and passengers on the platform. An altercation broke
out between the kar sevaks and Muslim tea vendors. It was only when a
rumour spread that young Sophia Khan had been dragged into coach S-6
that a crowd gathered near Signal Fadia, a basti known for communal
tension and criminal activities.
Seven weeks on, the government has failed to provide credible evidence
linking the Godhra episode to a "conspiracy" involving Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence or even an organised group in Gujarat or
elsewhere. Nor can it explain why towns such as Ratlam, which are
physically far closer to Godhra, and which have a similar composition
of Hindus, Muslims and Adivasis, did not register any "retaliatory"
violence, while distant Ahmedabad did.
The reasons are self-evidently Gujarat-specific and political. They
have to do with the Narendra Modi government's conscious decision to
support the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's February 28 bandh call and the
authorities' decision to transport the bodies of the Godhra victims by
train to Ahmedabad in a ceremonial manner calculated to inflame
passions. It is impossible to separate the post-February 27 violence
either from the Modi government or Gujarat's communalised context.
The fact that Vajpayee stooped to endorse Modi's "action-reaction"
logic to justify violent retribution upon a falsely constructed
collective culprit (Muslims) speaks of an utterly debased mind. The
logic of such revenge is ultimately the logic of "getting even" with
history, of Nazism, of barbarism. That is now unfolding before our
eyes.
Clearly, the BJP has decided to embrace a virulent form of Hindutva,
one that bases itself on a contemporary version of the "Two-Nation"
theory. Its disgraceful defence of Modi, its coercive tactics in the
NDA, its prolonged refusal to discuss Gujarat under Rule 184 in the
Lok Sabha, and its wholly unapologetic, brazen, attitude towards the
continuing climate of fear, intimidation and terror in Gujarat all
confirm this. The very fact that the BJP seriously threatened to hold
mid-term Assembly elections in Gujarat in a vitiated atmosphere, and
used it as a bargaining chip in negotiating with its allies, testifies
to its cynicism.
The consequences of this stance are already apparent. Thus, BJP
spokesman V.K. Malhotra made a revoltingly aggressive statement
likening the Congress to the pre-Partition Muslim League - merely
because the Congress expressed concern at the butchery of Muslims
(although not to the exclusion of concern for Hindus too). And one
cannot fail to note Modi's deviousness in transferring honest police
officers who tried to maintain a semblance of impartiality, or his
gross insensitivity to traumatised Muslim children in thrusting
examinations on them at centres located in areas where Muslims were
butchered.
Gujarat is a fit case for compelling the State government to abide by
the Constitution under Article 355 and for imposing President's Rule
under Article 356. True, Article 356 has been repeatedly misused to
dismiss Opposition governments. The demand for its use is being voiced
by forces with an extremely dubious record. But there could be no
fitter case than Gujarat to which the following description from the
Constitution applies: "a situation has arisen in which the government
of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of
the Constitution."
The constitutional machinery patently broke down in Gujarat on
February 28 when scores of citizens were massacred with the full
complicity of the state, and when it could not even protect a guardian
of the constitutional order, a High Court Judge, who happened to be a
Muslim.
It is precisely for such contingencies that President's Rule was
envisaged. The Gujarat situation cannot get normalised with Modi's
replacement alone. If hardcore sanghis like Goverdhan Zadaphia or
Ashok Bhatt were to take over, it could worsen. It is essential, but
not enough, that Modi be sacked. The whole government must be
dismissed and Gujarat placed under President's Rule with advisers of
impeccable integrity and experience, recommended by Parliament as a
whole.
It will take months for Gujarat to recuperate and achieve normalcy in
any real sense. Such normalcy must include reconciliation between
estranged neighbours and communities, full physical, psychological and
economic rehabilitation, and restoration of public confidence in the
impartiality of the government as regards different religious groups.
The danger of half-hearted reconciliation should be obvious. If the
one lakh Muslims who are in relief camps - and three or four times as
many, whose livelihoods have been affected - are forced to fend for
themselves without state and community assistance, they will probably
leave Gujarat altogether, or create "safe" ghettos for themselves. The
greater the ghettoisation, the greater the mutual estrangement of
religious groups, the lesser their social interaction - and the
greater the scope for conflict.
That is the last thing Gujarat needs. Indeed, it would be a recipe for
another communal pogrom. That is precisely what Hindutva craves most.
If the BJP succeeds in its game plan in Gujarat, by whipping up anti-
Muslim hysteria, it will replicate the same trick nationally - if
necessary, by staging another Godhra. If the Nazis could stage the
Reichstag fire, the BJP can create a Godhra-II, through agents
provocateurs.
These comparisons are not far-fetched. In foundational premises of its
ideology and politics, the BJP shares a great deal with the Italian
fascists, the German Nazis and the Taliban. They all reject the
emancipatory heritage of the Enlightenment. They privilege tradition
(itself ill-defined and distorted) over modernity. They are profoundly
intolerant of difference. They hate democracy and equality. And they
do not believe in just and fair means to achieve just ends. They are
prone to despotic methods and barbaric violence.
It will take a lot of effort to fight a force like the BJP-RSS-VHP. It
has already captured a number of institutions and key positions in
government and civil society. It has a dedicated, if fanatical, cadre.
Even in the short run, it will not be possible to isolate the Hindutva
forces unless the perpetrators of the Gujarat violence are severely
punished for their grave crimes, along the lines described in the
previous Frontline column (issue of April 26), and unless the BJP is
politically punished, that is, made to pay a heavy price through
systematic boycott and isolation.
One wishes this would happen both nationally, in the National
Democratic Alliance, and in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is about to
form a government with the Bahujan Samaj Party. Regrettably, the BSP
leadership seems to be bent on using its Dalit base as virtual common-
fodder for Hindutva - for dubious, at best petty, short-term gains.
Fighting Hindutva will be a long haul. But the struggle would not even
have been joined unless the Opposition mounts relentless pressure on
the NDA, both inside and outside Parliament, through dharnas, rallies,
public meetings and mass mobilisation. The People's Front should
consider launching a relay dharna in Gujarat's major cities.
The Opposition will do well to join hands with citizens' groups such
as SAHMAT, Aman Ekta Manch, People for Secularism and the Citizens'
Initiative (Ahmedabad), which have done a great deal to highlight the
Gujarat issue and collect donations for the victims' relief. For
instance, SAHMAT mobilised artists to donate their paintings and
raised Rs.5.5 lakhs through their sale.
One thing is clear: it will be a crying shame if the BJP is allowed to
go unpunished for its grievous assault on India's secular-democratic-
constitutional order, and on the foundations of this plural, diverse,
multi-cultural society.
*Citizens' Forum: Gujarat Carnage 2002, by an independent fact-finding
mission composed of S.P. Shukla, K.S. Subramanian, Achin Vanaik, and
Kamal Mitra Chenoy; State-Sponsored Carnage in Gujarat, Report of a
CPI(M)-AIDWA delegation; The Survivors Speak, by a Women's Panel
sponsored by Citizen's Initiative, Ahmedabad; Ethnic Cleansing in
Ahmedabad, by SAHMAT; and A Report on the Gujarat Carnage, prepared by
the People's Union for Civil Liberties.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1909/19091280.htm
Undermining India
Sitting here in our village home, keeping in touch with the world
through the Internet, the newspapers and magazines like yours, we ask
ourselves, how many fires can we fight? And yet it appears that there
is really no option except to keep fighting them and to stand up for
what we see as the values and beliefs which are intrinsic to the
foundations on which this civilisation (if indeed we can use that term
any longer) is based.
We have been reading the comprehensive coverage in your magazine of
the ghastly and inhuman murder of members of the Staines family in
Manoharpur and the hard-hitting articles on the politics of hate
("Undermining India", February 12). We have also read (on the
Internet) the highly slanted report of the murders (from Rashtradeep -
Orissa) with its not so oblique insinuations that Staines and his
family deserved what they got. What a coincidence that the Santhals
and the Kolhas apparently lost their patience 34 years after Graham
Staines came to work and live in Keonjhar and decided to attack him
when there is a BJP Government at the Centre, and the Sangh Parivar
has targeted Christians as the new enemies! It is hard to believe that
the so- called educated people hold these views and, more sinister,
use their power and technology to propagate these views in the most
dangerous fashion on the Internet from their comfortable spaces in
American universities. It is also interesting that the fact that
millions of dollars are sent by non-resident Indians to support
fascist activities in the name of Hindutva is not questioned or
attacked.
If only we can learn from history, we would see that we are moving
inexorably towards fascism - and the silence of the majority can only
hasten this process.
We too are Hindus, comfortable in the freedom of thought that it
provides, and because of this we can also look at our own tradition
critically and see and understand all the warts and distortions that
it accommodates. But what is propagated in the name of Hinduism is a
far cry from the philosphy to which we subscribe. Had we been born
Dalits or tribal people, or experienced oppression and discrimination
in the name of religion, we too might have opted for Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism or any faith which promised us a better deal and the
hope of social justice and dignity. Certainly, India's Constitution
guarantees each of us that freedom.
In all the polemics and passion that we see around us, one hears
little, if any, questioning or critiquing of the built-in inequities
of Hinduism - only the shrill and fearful howls of the advocates of
Hindutva with its distorted and dangerous ideology of linking religion
with nationalism and patriotism. If we believe that it is the spirit
of inquiry and search for truth that is the hallmark of both science
and religion, then let us stop blaming others and begin looking
inwards in the real quest for self-knowledge and encourage our people
to bring about the changes within, rather than demonising other
faiths, other denominations. But the politics of hate is so much
easier to practise than the quest for truth. It has always been
convenient to mobilise mobs - be it against masjids or mandirs,
Dalits, tribal people, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, 'Madrasis',
'Bangladeshis', 'Pakistanis'. We continue to rely on fanning the
flames of hatred for 'the other', to exercise power instead of coming
to grips with the real issues of this country - poverty, education,
employment and all-pervasive inequality. The issue is not one of
conversions or Christianity, but of how to exploit people who have no
identity or no hope of getting a space under the sun, as the foot
soldiers in the service of the armies of destruction and mayhem who
can terrorise, garner votes when needed, and ensure political power at
all costs. Ultimately, it is through economic policy decisions and the
right kind of education in our classrooms that we can hope to build
the kind of India that our Constitution has promised. For now, we can
only ask and hope that the right-thinking majority of people in this
land, regardless of their religious affiliations, will speak up before
it is too late.
Admiral Ramu Ramdas
(former Chief of the Naval Staff)
Lalita Ramdas
Bhaimala, Maharashtra
* * *
Your crusade against the diabolical designs of the Sangh Parivar is
commendable.
The riots in Suratkal, the persecution of Christians in Gujarat, and
the outrage against a missionary in Orissa expose the Parivar's game
plan. When the Babri Masjid was demolished, people in authority
remained passive spectators. They remain so when the minorities are
attacked. As long as the minorities have insufficient representation
in the police force and secular values are not instilled in the
guardians of law, there is no hope.
The biggest irony is that L.K. Advani, one of the accused in the Babri
Masjid demolition case, has become the Home Minister of this country.
A.B. Vajpayee has proved to be the weakest Prime Minister of India.
During his visit to Gujarat, instead of assuaging the hurt feelings of
Christians, he suggested a national debate on conversions. With this
he dropped his mask of moderation.
Ubedulla
Mysore
* * *
It was with a sense of dismay and shame that one watched the Home
Minister making a humiliating trip to Mumbai to pacify the Shiv Sena's
"paper tiger". It is a pity that the BJP Government with all the power
at its command could not counter the threat to a visiting cricket
team. The Shiv Sena's attack on the BCCI's office or threats to
release poisonous snakes into the playground only proved its
cowardice. If India is to progress, the culture of violence and
terrorism should give way to goodwill, harmony and peace.
Dr. A.K. Tharien
Oddanchatram, Tamil Nadu
* * *
January 23, the day Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons were
burnt alive, was the blackest day in the history of our country. One
is at a loss to understand why such a harrowing punishment was meted
out to the missionary who had served leprosy patients in India since
1965.
Why does the Prime Minister hesitate to take stringent action against
Bal Thackeray, at whose instigation the cricket pitch at the
Ferozeshah Kotla stadium was damaged and the BCCI office in Mumbai was
ransacked? Is the Sena chief so indispensable?
Mani Natarajan
Chennai
* * *
It was a unique and informative Cover Story. The need of the hour is
unity, integrity and peaceful coexistence of various communities. We
should uphold our secular values and fulfil the hopes and aspirations
of every citizen.
Shaik Rafeeq Ahamed
Rayachoty, Andhra Pradesh
* * *
The expectation that the experience of heading a government in a
modern democracy will soften Hindu fundamentalists, has been belied.
With the assumption of power by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the
process of undermining India started. The aim is to throw the country
back into an era when power, wealth and education were concentrated in
the hands of people who belonged to the upper strata of society. But
we have come a long way. A government which owes allegiance to the
Constitution has to go by the principles enshrined in the
Constitution.
A. Jacob Sahayam
Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Arundhati Roy
Indian culture is rich and vibrant and Dalits' contribution to it is
no less than that of any other section of our society. Unless this
aspect is researched and brought out, Dalits will not get the kind of
respect they deserve. In this context, Arundhati Roy's proposal to the
Dalit Sahitya Akademi on the publication of the Malayalam translation
of her novel was really pathbreaking ("In solidarity", February 12).
Dhiraj Kumar
Delhi
Role of bureaucrats
I read with great interest A.G. Noorani's article on Admiral Bhagwat's
case in your February 12 issue. As usual Noorani's article is very
scholarly and unbiased and would serve as reference material. I would,
however, like to point out two references made to me in the article.
First, Noorani should have mentioned that I had also said in my letter
to The Times of India that "he will therefore have to look for another
Cabinet Secretary". This would have clarified that my intention was
that I would rather vacate the post of Cabinet Secretary than sign the
notification.
Secondly, the reference to the 1989 general elections. I do not know
the basis on which it is mentioned that "and that the announcements in
that behalf should be made by the Commission forthwith and before 2.00
p.m. on that date, in any case". This was not my belief at all. In an
article I wrote on T.N. Seshan, published in November 1994, I have
said that "I can only write about late Peri Shastri because I knew him
well. It required a lot of courage to stand up to a strong Prime
Minister like Rajiv Gandhi who decided to appoint two Election
Commissioners obviously to control Peri Shastri. Seshan may say that
he was not consulted here but he went out of his way to force the Law
Ministry to issue the notification urgently. When Rajiv Gandhi decided
to announce the general elections, an urgent Cabinet meeting was held
when the Cabinet approved the proposal. Seshan as Cabinet Secretary
should have been sent to Peri Shastri to convey the decision, but
Rajiv Gandhi said, 'let us not send the bull into the China shop. Let
Deshmukh go and settle it in his own quiet way.' I accordingly went
across after sending a message to Peri Shastri. When I entered his
room, I found him agitated, saying that he would not be dictated to by
the Government in fixing the dates for the elections. There was a
sharp exchange between us and tempers rose. I then decided to keep
quiet and let Peri Shastri blow off steam. When he quietened down I
convinced him that the Government was right in suggesting the dates as
it had to make various administrative arrangements. Ultimately, the
notification was issued accordingly."
This should make it clear that I was not the "civil servant who was
sent as an errand boy". My brief was to persuade Peri Shastri to agree
to the Government's suggestion. It should also be added that at that
time I was not a serving civil servant but was re-employed to hold the
post in the Prime Minister's Office.
B.G. Deshmukh
Mumbai
A.G. Noorani writes:
I was not called upon to mention, as B.G. Deshmukh insists, that he
had asked the President "to look for another Cabinet Secretary". His
intimation to President Zail Singh that he would not notify any order
dismissing Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 as Prime Minister, was wrong enough.
It was not his place to do so; least of all ask the President "to look
for" a substitute especially since the office is in the bounty of the
Prime Minister.
As for the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, the words in quotes are taken
from Justice P.B. Sawant's judgment in the case brought by one of the
two Election Commissioners whom Rajiv Gandhi appointed to overrule
Peri Shastri, the CEC (S.S. Dhanoa vs Union of India & Ors. (1991) 3
Supreme Court Cases 567 at pages 581-582, para 22).
Deshmukh confirms my comment. It was based on Justice Sawant's
reference to his mission as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
It is pointless to shift the blame to T.N. Seshan, then Cabinet
Secretary, when he himself carried out an order he knew to be illegal
and politically immoral. On his own showing, there was "a sharp
exchange" between him and the CEC Peri Shastri and "tempers rose".
This would not have happened unless a zealous Deshmukh had tried to
force the upright Peri Shastri to accept the election dates
peremptorily urged by Rajiv Gandhi. He relented because the two
Election Commissioners had been appointed to overrule him. "The bull
in the China shop" could hardly have performed worse than Deshmukh
himself did at the meeting. Significantly, Deshmukh has not a word of
criticism of the man who sent him, Rajiv Gandhi. His Cabinet's
decision was palpably illegal and politically immoral.
Judging by his own account, Deshmukh was far worse than the "civil
servant who was sent as an errand boy". Both Seshan and Deshmukh
carried out an illegal order with competitive enthusiasm. Servitors
while in service, lecturers on retirement. The Constitution makes the
CEC an umpire between the ruling party and the others. It is his
prerogative to fix the dates. Two of the foremost civil servants of
the day tried to suborn him.
Ban all Senas
The twin massacres by the Ranvir Sena in Jehanabad district are a
testament to V.D. Savarkar's call to "'militarise Hinduism". As the
blood of 12 Dalits (from Khoja Narayanpur, February 10) and of 23
Dalits (Shankarbigha, January 25) flows in central Bihar, the Sangh
(more like, Jang) Parivar offers its regret from one side of its
mouth, while it is gleeful on the other.
The Progressive Forum of India (PFI) condemns the Ranvir Sena for its
violence as well as the Jang Parivar (notably the BJP) and the
erstwhile Bihar Government for their studied negligence.
The Ranvir Sena, like the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra three decades
earlier, was set up in 1994 to counter the growth of Left
organisations in central Bihar. From the first, the organisation was
prone to violence. Before its formation, landlords (many of whom are
Bhumihars) formed private militias that massacred, for instance, seven
Dalits in Sawanbigha village in Jehanabad in 1991. In December 1997,
the Ranvir Sena killed over 60 people in Lakshmanpur-Bathe, again in
Jehanabad. Further, on January 9, 1999, a Ranvir Sena leader announced
that his fascist band planned to conduct a massacre larger than that
in Lakshmanpur in the near future. Neither the State Government nor
the Jang Parivar did anything against him. Progressive forces in Bihar
and elsewhere underscored the danger, but nothing was done. In fact,
The Times of India reported that Vinod Sharma (Ranvir Sena) travelled
with a police officer to Arwal at the time of the massacre. The PFI
condemns this nexus between the landlord militia, the Jang Parivar and
the institutions of the state.
The Ranvir Sena has been set up to undermine popular movements. It
resorts to violence and to authoritarian acts against the oppressed.
The PFI offers its support to those who feel the strong arm of such
organisations and we call upon all progressive people to condemn and
challenge such fascist bands.
Vijay Prashad
(for the Progressive Forum for India)
received on e-mail
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1605/16051120.htm
Volume 21 - Issue 02, January 17 - 30, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
ANALYSIS
HOW ADVANI WENT SCOT-FREE
A.G. NOORANI
The Rae Bareli court judgment in the Ayodhya case discharging Deputy
Prime Minister L.K. Advani is against the weight of the entire
evidence and violates the law as declared by the Supreme Court.
VINO JOHN
Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
THE Deputy Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, Lal Krishna
Advani's discharge in the Ayodhya case on September 19, 2003, was no
"honourable acquittal" after a full trial on the merits. It was a
gross miscarriage of justice, which precludes a proper trial. A
perusal of the English translation of the 130-page judgment in Hindi
by Vinod Kumar Singh, Special Judicial Magistrate, Rae Bareli, reveals
that the grounds for his discharge could well apply also to other
accused such as Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Uma Bharati. Conversely, the grounds on which charges
will be framed against them apply also to Advani. The judgment is
utterly unconvincing in the distinction it draws between him and the
other accused, including Ashok Singhal, V.H. Dalmiya, Giriraj Kishore,
Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara.
The judgment is against the weight of the entire evidence and violates
the law as declared by the Supreme Court. The reasoning is laboured to
a degree. It must be emphasised that what the Magistrate pronounced
was an order of discharge at the stage of framing the charge not an
acquittal on merits after a trial. A discharge does not bar another
prosecution, an acquittal does.
In the face of such a judgment the behaviour of the Central Bureau of
Investigation, the prosecuting agency, was true to form. It did not
move the High Court for quashing the order. The prescribed period of
limitation is three months. The CBI bestirred itself ostentatiously
thereafter in view of public censure. Rajnish Sharma reported in The
Hindustan Times (December 31, 2003) that "CBI sources claim that the
agency's top-brass still differ on whether to move the High Court or
not. Initially, it was decided that the CBI should not go in for an
appeal against Advani. However, faced with mounting criticism for
having failed to appeal against the lower court order, the opinion
seems to have changed.
RAMESH SHARMA
Murli Manohar Joshi.
"While announcing its decision, even the Rae Bareli court had strongly
criticised the agency's role as it felt the CBI had deliberately
weakened the case against Advani. Agency sources now claim that once
the courts reopen, they will file a petition explaining the reasons
for the delay."
IT is necessary to recall the background in order to appreciate the
judgment. The CBI had filed a charge-sheet in court against Advani and
other accused, on October 5, 1993, charging them with conspiring to
demolish the mosque. Two courts found that a prima facie case on this
charge did exist - Special Judicial Magistrate Mahipal Sirohi on
August 27, 1994, while committing the accused to the Sessions Court,
and the Additional Sessions Judge, Lucknow, Jugdish Prasad Srivastava,
on September 9, 1997, while framing the charges.
The Sessions Judge concluded that "in the present case a criminal
conspiracy to demolish the disputed structure of Ramjanmabhoomi/Babri
Masjid was hatched by the accused persons in the beginning of 1990 and
was completed on 6.12.1992". Advani and others hatched criminal
conspiracies "to demolish the disputed premises on different times at
different places". A prima facie case was found to charge Bal
Thackeray, Advani and others, including Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma
Bharati, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
Advani and his colleagues, Joshi and Uma Bharati, faced two charges in
two courts - delivering inflammatory speeches on December 6, 1992,
prior to the demolition, and hatching a conspiracy to demolish the
mosque from 1990. Immediately after the mosque was demolished, two
first information reports were filed in the same police station. One
was filed at 5-15 p.m. against "lakhs of unknown kar sevaks" for
offences committed at 12-15 p.m.; mainly the demolition. Spread of
communal hate was one of them. Very properly, conspiracy was not
alleged since the facts were not known then and no particular person
was cited either. This was Crime No. 197 (demolition).
S. SUBRAMANIUM
Uma Bharati.
The next FIR, filed only 10 minutes later, was Crime No. 198
(speeches) against eight named persons - Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharati,
Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, V.H. Dalmiya, Vinay Katiyar and
Ritambara. It alleged that they had delivered communally inflammatory
speeches at 10 a.m. prior to the demolition (Section 153A IPC). This
charge was common to both FIRs. FIR 198 (speeches) said also that
"during the speeches of these leaders, repeated indications (sic:
"incitement") were given to demolish the mosque. As a result, lakhs of
kar sevaks attacked and pulled down the disputed structure". The
leaders were named because their identities were known. Conspiracy was
properly not alleged in either FIR because it requires a long probe.
There were 47 other FIRs for offences against the media.
After the imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh, the
demolition case (197) was assigned to the CBI while the State police
dealt with the speeches case (198). Both were parts of the same
transaction and were linked inseparably. Eventually, the CBI was
assigned the speeches case as well. It, therefore, submitted a
composite, damning charge-sheet in court on October 5, 1993. But there
was a technical flaw in the assignment of the cases to courts, which
was pointed out by Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Allahabad High Court
on February 12, 2001. He struck down as invalid the reference of Case
198 (speeches) to the Lucknow court from the Rae Bareli court. His
judgment of February 12, 2001, upheld everything else, including the
joint charge-sheet. He thrice said that the defect was "curable" by
another notification after consulting the High Court. Obviously,
justice required that the two cases, 197 (demolition) and 198
(speeches), be tried together in one court.
Neither the Rajnath Singh government nor the succeeding Mayawati
regime had any intention of "curing the defect". Nor has Mulayam Singh
Yadav's government now. The High Court issued a notification on
September 28, 2002, assigning Case No.198 (speeches) to the Rae Bareli
court. On November 29, the Supreme Court upheld it, holding that no
one had a right to insist on a particular venue. It overlooked the
background, the mala fides and the obvious miscarriage of justice. A
review petition has been filed against this order. (vide the writer's
article, `Reprimand for delay', Frontline, March 30, 2001).
To be precise, Justice Bhalla upheld: 1) the Sessions Judge's order of
September 9, 1997, framing the charges in Case No. 197 (demolition);
2) the validity of Vijai Verma's appointment as Special Judge and his
cognisance of all cases (save No.198); 3) the notification of the
Special Court in Lucknow; 4) the CBI's investigation; and 5) the
consolidated charge-sheet of October 5, 1993. Even if the one
concerning the speeches of December 6, 1992, is dropped, the
conspiracy case survives.
C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM
Ashok Singhal.
But let alone a notification to cure the defect and ensure trial of
both the connected cases in one court, in the interests of sheer
justice, the course which the two cases took subsequently in different
courts was, to say the least, surprising. The High Court's ruling was
set at naught by the Sessions Judge at Lucknow, Srikant Shukla, on May
4, 2001, which he had no right to do. Justice Bhalla had merely struck
down the transfer of the speeches case (198) from Rae Bareli to
Lucknow. Shukla went beyond it and dropped even the conspiracy charge
in Case No.197(demolition) before him. The reasoning was tortuous. He
confined FIR 197 (demolition) to kar sevaks alone; ignored the
conspiracy charges and exonerated the leaders. They were held
accountable only in FIR 198 (speeches) - which he could not try. He
wrote: "Two distinct cases were registered which are different. In the
first FIR were kar sevaks who pulled down the structure... and in the
other FIR are conspirators/abettors who instigated the kar sevaks.
This way, the State has considered both the cases different and
separate and has treated them so."
This was in flat contradiction to Justice Bhalla's judgment. What
Shukla did was to transpose the conspiracy charge, which properly
belonged to the demolition case (197) which he was trying, to the
speeches case (198), which he could not try. Having done so, he
dropped proceedings on the conspiracy charge against the eight accused
leaders who also figured in the speeches case and 13 others besides
who did not. Thrown back at the Rae Bareli court like a shuttle cock,
the conspiracy charge was buried there by the CBI two years later in
its charge-sheet of May 30, 2003. On September 1, the apex court
issued notices to Advani and other accused on a petition challenging
this omission. The CBI had curiously moved the High Court on June 19,
2001, against Shukla's order. On August 6, 2003, Justice N.K. Mehrotra
ordered stay of proceedings in the Lucknow court till September 24.
But the conspiracy charge cannot vanish so easily. It covers events
since 1990. Abetment by incitement occurred on December 6, 1992.
Shukla's reference to "conspirators/abettors who instigated" truncates
the conspiracy charge - and drops it. The CBI's joint charge-sheet of
October 5, 1993, explicitly said: "Investigations revealed that on
5.12.1992, a secret meeting was held at the residence of Shri Vinay
Katiyar which was attended by S/Shri L.K. Advani, Pawan Pandey, etc.
Wherein a final decision to demolish the disputed structure was
taken." Sessions Judge J.P. Srivastava's order of September 9, 1997
also mentioned this very date. He traced the beginning of the
conspiracy to 1990, how it picked up speed in 1991 and the stages
leading to its culmination with the demolition of the mosque. In each
stage Advani's role was narrated in detail. "Conspiracy is planned
secretly," he remarked. It cannot be limited to the public speeches on
December 6, as Shukla did. The High Court upheld the validity of the
conspiracy charge.
TWO recent disclosures support the charge. It has been revealed that
on October 1, 1993, the Home Ministry itself sanctioned the CBI's
charge. It mentioned an interesting detail: "In pursuance of the
criminal conspiracy", Pramod Mahajan and Ashok Singhal met Bal
Thackeray on November 21, 1992, and secured the Sena's participation
in the "kar seva". On June 7, 2003, five of the accused alleged
instigation by the leaders. R.N. Das, one of the priests at the site
where the idols were placed inside the mosque before its demolition,
told the media: "I was a witness in a meeting held by Advani and
others... on December 5 night" - and spilled the beans. Justice Bhalla
remarked: "According to the prosecution, the accused persons are
either rich, influential or politically strong." He recalled the
Supreme Court's remarks in the case of the former Chief Minister of
Karnataka, S. Bangarappa: "The slow motion becomes much slower motion
when politically powerful or rich and influential persons figures as
accused."
The demolition case (197) was thus put out of the way. All that the
leaders faced was the speeches case (198) alone. On May 30, 2003, the
CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet in the Rae Bareli court trying
the speeches case. On July 5, the CBI's advocate, S.S. Gandhi, opened
the case and cited statements by witnesses testifying to inflammatory
speeches and to instigation of the kar sevaks to demolish the mosque.
He said he would produce audio and videocassettes as evidence. On July
30, astonishingly, the CBI said that "the video cassettes did not show
them giving any speech". Special Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar Singh
delivered judgment on September 19, 2003, in this case.
He begins by reproducing the FIR in case No. 198 which is revealing:
"I, Sub Inspector Ganga Prasad Tewari, in-charge of the police post
Ramjanmabhoomi, police station Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, was engaged
today, on 06.12.92, in maintenance of peace and order during the kar
seva organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Checking duty near the
disputed Ram Chabutara and Sheshavatar Mandir, I reached the meeting
place in Ram Katha Kunj at about 10 a.m. where the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad General Secretary Shri Ashok Singhal, Joint Secretary Shri
Giriraj Kishore, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi,
Shri Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and BJP M.P. from Faizabad and Bajrang Dal
convenor Shri Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambara, etc. all
the speakers were seated on the dais. The above mentioned speakers
were inciting the kar sevaks by their incendiary speeches; their
slogan was `Ek dhakkar aur do, Babri Masjid tod do,' and destroy this
khandahar (rubble) that is symbolic of the Mughal age slavery. Incited
by their incendiary speeches, the kar sevaks were now and then raising
slogans - "Jab katue kaate jaayenge, tab Ram Ram chillayenge; and
Ramlala, hum aayenge, Mandir yahin banayenge." The intention to
destroy the mosque was again and again indicated (in) these leaders'
speeches. As a consequence, lakhs of kar sevaks broke through the
barricades and destroyed the disputed structure, which has hurt the
national unity seriously. The said event was seen, apart from the
police and administration officials and employees, by the audience and
journalists. Therefore, the report must be entertained and necessary
action taken."
The secret meeting of December 5 was followed by the speeches on
December 6 which incited the demolition. The rest followed as planned.
The judgment recites statements by eyewitnesses on the leaders'
speeches, before the Babri mosque was demolished, as recorded by the
police under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, four video
cassettes, three audio cassettes, photographs and news reports. It is
well settled that at the stage of framing the charges all that the
court has to consider is whether a prima facie case is made out. It is
not to enter into a trial on the merits. Section 227 of CrPC says that
if the Judge considers "that there is not sufficient ground for
proceeding against the accused, he shall discharge the accused", as
distinct from an acquittal which can follow only after a trial on the
merits of the charges.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that "even a very strong suspicion
founded upon material before the Magistrate, which leads him to form a
presumptive opinion as to the existence of the factual ingredients
constituting the offence alleged, may justify the framing of charge".
Nor is the court bound to consider evidence produced by the accused.
It has to consider whether the prosecution case, if unrebutted,
establishes a case in law. That is what a prima facie case means in
law.
KAMAL NARANG
Sadhvi Ritambara.
The sole issue before the Magistrate, therefore, was whether the
police statements produced before him by the prosecution established
such a case. Thirty-odd such statements are reproduced in the
judgment; some contradict others. The contradiction is to be resolved
only in the trial proper; not while framing the charges unless, of
course, the ones against the accused are manifestly untrue or absurd.
In this case, they were not.
Consider the very first two statements which the judgment quotes:
"Shri Ram Kripal Das, disciple of Mahant late Bharat Das, PS
Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, has made, in the main, the following
statement under Section 161 CrPC: "On 6.12.1992 I remained near my
temple the whole day. Through my door and the windows inside, sounds
coming from the Ram Katha Kunj and words (like) Sheshavatar Mandir,
vivadit dhancha (disputed structure) vivadit chabutara (disputed
platform) can be heard. That day, a crowd of kar sevaks had started to
gather since morning. The kar sevaks were raising slogans and loudly
saying: today we would not stop even if some leader tries to stop us.
We will demolish it today... On the Ram Katha Kunj side, leaders were
making speeches one by one that a temple has to be built. There was a
lot of noise. Lal Krishna Advani, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, Murli
Manohar Joshi, etc. spoke. All the leaders were making enthusiastic
speeches. I had seen with my own eyes the above leaders going towards
the temple. When there was a hullabaloo and they were demolishing the
disputed structure, none of the leaders was preventing them. If these
leaders had told the kar sevaks not to break any dome, they would have
obeyed it, because they had called the kar sevaks to come here. Vinay
Katiyar was much active from the very beginning and was prepared to do
everything right or wrong for temple construction" (emphasis added,
throughout).
Dhanpat Ram Yadav made the following statement under Section 161 CrPC:
"On 6.12.92, I was on the roof of the Sita Rasoi (Sita's kitchen) from
early morning. That day I saw Vinay Katiyar, Lal Krishna Advani, Uma
Bharati, etc. coming in a crowd of kar sevaks. They were making
speeches that were provoking the kar sevaks, saying Mandir bana kar
jaayenge, Hindu Rashtra banayenge (we will leave after building a
temple and we will build a Hindu Rashtra). When the kar sevaks had
climbed the domes in large numbers and were demolishing them, none of
the leaders prevented anyone or told to stop. All stood silent... "
Another 10 statements were in the same vein followed by that of
Chandra Kishore Mishra who said "inflamed by the very speeches of
these leaders, the kar sevaks brought down the structure". Advani was
specifically mentioned by him as one of them.
The Additional Superintendent of Police, Faizabad, Anju Gupta was
detailed to provide security to Advani. She saw people running towards
the mosque with tools in their hands. If she could see that so, one
would think, could "the leaders". She said "Then Shri Lal Krishna
Advani asked me what was happening inside the temple. I asked the
control room and came to know that kar sevaks had entered it and were
busy demolishing the structure; then I told him the same. I also told
him that many people had got injured and were being brought near the
Ram Katha Kunj for treatment. Then Advani told me: I want to go and
tell them to come down. I conferred with S.P. Intelligence and
Commandant of the 15th Battalion who were with Shri Murli Manohar
Joshi. He said it was not proper to go into the crowd as these people
were inflamed. Shri Advani talked to his comrades and told me that he
won't go but somebody would have to be taken there. Then I sent Uma
Bharati and two others there. The crowd surrounded my jeep near Dorahi
Kuwan and did not allow us to go ahead. Then Uma Bharati and we
proceeded on foot. I saw after sometime that people had come down from
the domes. They were talking of doing the kar seva from below, not
from above. Advani told me he wanted to talk to the DM. He also told
about talking to the Chief Minister, but I pleaded helplessness. One
person, who had come with Uma Bharati, was making fun of the Supreme
Court. After some time, Advani and Joshi went to the office of Ram
Katha Kunj, and told me they were talking to the Chief Minister. I saw
fire and smoke rising at all sides in Ayodhya. Advani told me... [page
92 bottom: seems some lines are missing here]... began to distribute
sweets... . Advani came back at about six and a half. With him there
were Murli Manohar Joshi, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Ashok Singhal and Vinay
Katiyar etc. About the speeches from the stage, I have already told. I
remember the atmosphere became surcharged with Advani's arrival.
People were raising slogans, but I could not hear any other slogan
because of being busy with other works. Joshi had spoken earlier, he
had said whatever Narasimha Rao could say, the temple would be
constructed here. I did not see these leaders making any attempt to
prevent the kar sevaks from demolishing the disputed structure. Advani
was sad that people were falling from the domes and dying... on the
fall of the first, second and third domes, Uma Bharati and Ritambara
had embraced each other; sweets were also distributed. The two had
also embraced the males. Embracing Advani, Joshi and S.C. Dixit, Uma
Bharati and Ritambara were expressing their happiness. On the fall of
the domes, all the said eight accused and Acharya Dharmendra etc were
congratulating one another. All were expressing happiness."
Vinay Katiyar.
Renu Mittal confirmed reports in The Hindu and The Indian Express
(December 7, 1992): "L.K. Advani began to address the kar sevaks over
the mike from the protection of the Ram Katha Kunj platform. In the
rush of shouts and the milling confusion he could be overheard telling
the kar sevaks to block all entry points to Ayodhya to stop anyone
entering the town. He also announced that the kar seva that begun
today would only end once the mandir nirman was completed... . At 3-30
p.m. the left dome of the Babri Masjid was demolished. Many of the kar
sevaks were injured and some of them were buried under the falling of
the debris of the dome."
Triyugi Narayan Tewari told the police: "The RSS workers also climbed
the domes and demolished the disputed structure. Sh. Ashok Singhal,
L.K. Advani, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Murli Manohar Joshi, Acharya
Dharmendra, Sadhvi Ritambara were also present there and were inciting
the kar sevaks."
A few statements, about 5 or 6, averred that Advani urged the kar
sevaks to climb down; evidently for their own protection. For, some
were buried in the debris.
Vishnu Hari Dalmiya.
The Magistrate's observations on the course the case took are
significant. "This is an indisputable fact that the High Court had
before itself a combined charge-sheet in cases 197/92 (demolition) and
198/92 (speeches) and, compared to this court, the High Court was
presented with much more evidence/statements of witnesses. Apart from
it, the High Court had before it the charge under Section 120 IPC
(conspiracy), which was not included in the charge-sheet filed in this
court. After the said judgment, an order was passed by the Special
Judge (Ayodhya Prakaran), Lucknow, in which 21 accused were recognised
as accused in case 198/92 (speeches) and proceedings against them were
ordered to be stopped. These included the eight accused named in the
charge-sheet filed in this court. Thereafter, the CBI requested the
State government to rectify the said shortcoming in the notification
dated 8/10/93, but the said shortcoming was not rectified by the State
government. After that, special writ petitions were filed by Bhure Lal
and three others against the said judgment of the High Court, on which
the Supreme Court issued its judgment/order on 29/11/2002. Under the
said order of the Supreme Court, a petition has been filed by the CBI
in this court constituted under the former notification, on which the
CBI was directed to get the papers in case 198/92 (speeches) and
present in this court. The record of case 198/92 (speeches) was
received and then the CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet. At
present the case is being heard in this court under the Supreme Court
order dated 29/11/2002. Thus this court has considered the material
presented to it about this charge. Statements of some more witnesses
were considered after the CBI filed a charge-sheet and some evidence
along with it and, later, after its advance investigation."
THUS the CBI itself dropped the conspiracy charge (Section 120 IPC).
The Magistrate lists some 19 considerations for framing the charges.
Two of them read thus: (2) "If the case falls in the area of doubt, it
cannot take the place of proof at the conclusion of the hearing. But
if there is serious doubt in the initial stage and it leads the court
to think that there is ground to believe that the accused has
committed the offence, then the court is not allowed to say that
enough ground is not there for proceeding against the accused... (8)
If material has been presented before the court and that creates
serious doubt against the accused and has not been adequately
explained, it is justified for the court to frame charges and start
hearing." He violated both.
He recorded: "In the videocassettes presented to the court, no leader
is seen making a speech during the demolition of the said structure on
6/12/92. From a perusal of all the statements under Section 161 CrPC
and the available material, it appears prima facie that there were two
groups during the event - one was demolishing the disputed structure
while the other was, along with the security forces, attempting to
prevent the demolition of the disputed structure. The prosecution
witness Shri Ram Kripal Das has said in his statement, among other
things, that the kar sevaks were greatly excited and loudly telling
that (they) would not stop even if some leader tried to stop them.
AJIT KUMAR/AP
Acharya Giriraj Kishore.
"In her statement, Anju Gupta has specifically said that on 6/12/92
she was deployed for Lal Krishna Advani's security. She has also said
that the S.P. Intelligence and the Commandant of the 15th Battalion
were with Murli Manohar Joshi Ms. Anju Gupta is an IPS officer and, as
is evident from her statement, she was deployed for Lal Krishna
Advani's security. Therefore, Anju Gutpa's statement is extremely
important regarding L.K. Advani. She has said the following in her
statement: "I had seen some boys advancing towards the disputed
structure from the Kuber Tola side, with tools in their hands. Then
Shri Lal Krishna Advani asked me what was happening inside the
temple... ."
"From this statement, the prima facie conclusion emerges that at that
time L.K. Advani did not know that demolition of the disputed
structure had started. Besides, Advani's contention in Anju Gupta's
statement that `I want to go and tell them to come down' generates
another view contrary to the prima facie charge against him. In her
statement, Anju Gupta has not indicated any such contention by any
other leader. She has also said Advani had asked her what was
happening at other places and she had said she did not know. The fact
of Advani inquiring about what was happening at other places prima
facie reveals his ignorance." How does his ignorance of what was
happening at "other places" in the city prove his ignorance of what
was happening before his and everyone else's eyes - demolition of the
mosque. His reasoning is palpably wrong. First, there were no "two
groups" of leaders, implying that Advani belonged to one that tried to
pacify the mob while the rest instigated it. Who were Advani's allies
in the pacificatory effort or was he alone in this? There were in fact
two sets of statements before the court. It is not the number but the
quality that matters. Even so, the overwhelming majority explicitly
implicated Advani along with the rest as an instigator. The minority
is not only small but pathetically laboured in its apologia.
Secondly, from a mere query by Advani to Anju Gupta, Vinod Kumar Singh
jumps to the astonishing conclusion that "L.K. Advani did not know
that demolition of the disputed mosque had started." The demolition
was surely there for all to see. The query was "what was happening
inside the temple" (sic.). His concern was not to stop the demolition,
else he would not have urged barricading of the roads to prevent
Central forces from arriving. The reason for his disquiet was
different as she clearly mentioned: "Advani was sad that people were
falling from the domes and dying."
DOUGLAS E CURRAN/AFP
Kar sevaks stop the Babri Masjid five hours before the structure was
demolished on December 6, 1992.
Thirdly, the Magistrate holds that "Anju Gupta has not indicated any
such contention (sic.) by any other leader." On the strength of this
solitary statement, Advani alone is exonerated. Her statement itself
is palpably misconstrued. Lastly, the Magistrate embarked on the
evaluation of the evidence. He singles out her statement, misconstrues
it, and ignores the enormous bulk, which clubbed Advani with the rest.
This is in clear breach of the law as laid down by the Supreme Court.
The Magistrate holds: "On the basis of the material presented to the
court, and having considered the extensive possibilities and the total
impact of the evidence in the light of both sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that two views appear probable only about the prima facie
charge brought against the accused Lal Krishna Advani. One view is
that, prima facie, the crime was caused by Lal Krishna Advani to be
committed and the other view is that, prima facie, the crime was not
caused to be committed by him. After having considered the available
material and the two sides' arguments, in my opinion, suspicion but no
serious suspicion, seems to exist about the accused Lal Krishna Advani
having caused the crime to be committed under Sections 147/149/153A/
153B/505 IPC. On the contrary, having considered the available
material on record in the light of the two sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that serious suspicion exists about the crime having been
caused under Section 147/149/153A/153B/505 IPC by the other accused
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya
Giriraj Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi
Ritambara, which the said accused have been unable to explain... . As
per the above discussion, as two views are possible regarding the
accused Lal Krishna Advani's offence and there exists only suspicion
(keval sandeh) that he caused the said crime to be committed,
therefore under the said ruling the accused Lal Krishna Advani
deserves to be acquitted from the charge in the case in question.
"As per the above discussion, serious suspicion (ghor sandeh) exists
that the crime was caused to be committed by the accused Dr. Murli
Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya Giriraj
Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara, which
the said accused have been unable to explain, therefore in the light
of the said ruling, a prima facie case is made against the accused Dr.
Murli Manohar Joshi, and the rest."
The Magistrate, in effect, tried Advani on the merits instead of
framing charges against him since a prima facie case was disclosed
warranting a full trial. Only at the end is the accused entitled to
benefit of the doubt. The reasoning is tortuous in the extreme. The
conclusion is manifestly demonstrably wrong. Magistrate Vinod Kumar
Singh's judgment prevents Advani's trial on grounds that are
manifestly wrong. Criminal proceedings in the Ayodhya case have taken
a bizarre course. In the Sessions Court at Lucknow, the Judge Srikant
Shukla drops the conspiracy charge on May 4, 2001, in breach of the
High Court's ruling on February 12, 2001. In the Rae Bareli court the
CBI drops that charge in its "supplementary" charge-sheet on May 30,
2003. What are we coming to? The civil proceedings are as disquieting;
especially after the order for excavation by the Special Bench of the
High Court last March. As for the CBI's role the less said the
better.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130002204700.htm
Resolved Question
Hindu Hate Crimes?
Why doesn't anyone ever point out the Hindu hate crimes against
Muslims in India and Pakistan while they are talking about Religious
Extremism?
3 years ago
Additional Details
Thomas, please see answer below, thanks
3 years ago
by Thomas B Member since:
June 12, 2007
Total points:
5188 (Level 5)
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Dear Please list some.
Most Hindu attacks in India are retaliation to what the stupid Muslims
start.
Please show us a proof of Muslim oppression with facts to support your
claim.
Whatever Kalebow has stated comes from an extremist platform christian
news network. I am a Christian and still don't buy this BS spread by
the Evangelical Christian Media. Just the same I don't buy that
Muslims in Pakistan want peace.
All what Kalebow has said has supposedly happened in Burma and Sri
Lanka, he does not answer your question about India, please provide
proof of Hindu crimes against Muslims in Pakistan? are you joking.
When India and Pakistan were separated in 1947 Hindu population in
Pakistan was more than 14% today entire Pakistan is has less than 2%
minorities Pakistan is 98% Muslim State.
Where as India at Sepration had a 7% Muslim population which today is
more than 12% and 12% Muslims in India equal to the entire population
of Pakistan.
Please check your facts about ethnic cleansing then talk.
3 years ago
60% 3 Votes
Other Answers (4)
by MikeInRI Member since:
July 06, 2006
Total points:
87738 (Level 7)
Because for most people in the west they never hear about them and
lets face it Hindus are not mass killing Christians and Jews like
Muslims have been trying to do - it just does get the interest of most
in the west. Most actions taken by Hindus - although are bad - are
usually retalitory in nature which makes thems to a certain extent
seem justified to some.
Good Luck!!!
3 years ago
0% 0 Votes
3 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by Cathy
Member since:
May 09, 2007
Total points:
10890 (Level 6)
Because there comes a point in discussing Religious Extremism where
you just have to start leaving religions and incidents out--EVERY
religion has zealots that commit such crimes.
3 years ago
2 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by wwhy
Member since:
May 03, 2007
Total points:
1734 (Level 3)
The Buddhist state of Burma openly plans to Abolish Christianity and
nobody calls them terrorists ?
The Burma Government May Move to Abolish Christianity With Buddhist
Support ?
Government officials have shut down churches in this capital city and
have disallowed the construction of new church buildings. The number
of bibles allowed for import is limited and in-country printing of
bibles and Christian literature is restricted.
"Some Buddhist monks came and started shouting, 'don't worship God
here – he has nothing to do with us,'” David said. “They said we were
trying to establish Christianity in the village and they did not want
it. The monks and others threw stones at us. They hit us like a hard
rain. Some of us were hit in the cheek, the neck and the forehead."
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/012607Bur…
Report: Burma Plans to Wipe Out Christianity
A leaked secret document claims to reveal plans by the Burmese
military regime to wipe out Christianity in the southeast Asian
country.
Inside the memo were detailed instructions on how to force Christians
out of the country, according to Telegraph.
Instructions included imprisoning any person caught evangelizing,
capitalizing on the fact that Christianity is a non-violent religion.
“The Christian religion is very gentle,” read the letter, according to
Telegraph, “Identify and utilize its weakness.”
Burma, also known as Myanmar, has a Christian population of about four
percent, according to the CIA World Factbook. Persecution against
Christians have come in the form of church burnings, forced conversion
to the state religion of Buddhism, and banning children of Christians
from school.
http://www.christianpost.com/article/200…
Christian children forced to become Buddhist monks.
CHILDREN from Christian families in Burma, between the ages of five
and ten, have been lured from their homes and placed in Buddhist
monasteries. Once taken in, their heads have been shaved and they have
been trained as novice monks, never to see their parents again.
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-…
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_s…
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ch…
Buddhist Extremists Attack Christian-Run Children’s Home in Sri Lanka
A 200-man mob, accompanied by extremist Buddhist monks, has attacked a
children’s home, which was being run by the Dutch Reformed Church in
central Sri Lanka at the beginning of August.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation
which specialises in religious freedom, has reported that the mob
fiercely attacked the home, following which, they climbed to the roof
and planted a Buddhist flag on the roof.
Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
(CSW), said: "We are extremely concerned about the continuing violence
against Christians in Sri Lanka. This latest incident, in which child
care workers have been threatened, is unacceptable and we urge the Sri
Lankan authorities to bring the perpetrators of such violence to
justice."
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/bu…
Hindu and Buddhists united to opose Christian evangelism
Hindu and Buddhist priests from across Asia are uniting to oppose
Christian proselytism. The 1,000 delegates to a three-day conference
in Lumbini, Nepal, discussed Pope John Paul II's recent call to
evangelize Asia. Evangelism constitutes "a war against Hindus and
Buddhists" and is a "spiritual crime," they said.
Hindus attacking Christian churches and
Reports of Christian persecution in Nepal continue
http://www.wtcf.org/www.viamission.org/n…
Buddhist Cambodia Limits Christian Activities :
Cambodia's government issued a directive preventing Christians from
promoting their religion in public places, or using money or other
means to persuade people to convert, officials said Tuesday.
Cambodian Buddhists generally tolerate other religions, but last year
about 300 Buddhist villagers DESTROYED a partially built Christian
church near Phnom Penh.
Also last year, a group of Christian worshippers was caught
distributing sweets to young people in the countryside while trying to
convert them, Sun Kim Hun said. Such activities are illegal.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wire…
INDIA (Newsroom) – Six Christian missionaries participating in a
gospel campaign called "Love Ahmedabad" were beaten so savagely in the
state of Gujarat last week that one of the men may lose his arms and
legs.
Members of the Hyderabad-based Operation Mobilization (OM) were
distributing Bibles and religious tracts in Ahmedabad, about five
miles from Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, the afternoon of May 5
when they were attacked by members of the Hindu extremist groups
Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Operation Mobilization
ships tons of Christian literature around the country. The assailants
also burned copies of the Bible and tracts.
http://www.worthynews.com/news-features/…
Christian missionaries beaten in public for 'converting' Hindus
Television channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the
two young priests while dragging them through Maharashtra's Kolhapur
town.
News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making
him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The
crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and
handed them over to police.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/…
The violence of Buddhist extremists it’s being compared to the killing
fields of Cambodia. In Sri Lanka religion has become mixed with
politics and nationalism - creating a toxic brew of hatred and fear.
They are…… forcibly trying to convert people to Buddhism and forcing
people to kneel down to declare Buddha is our god! Read about it
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=7…
3 years ago
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anser_qu... Member since:
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great answer Thomas...
Unfortunately these bigots that make these false calims only see
though their lens and are not mature enough to realise the facts..
3 years ago
Any my Hindu brother will accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru,
after his crime...? if s why..?.?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As4N.azjWH.QVon7PCP20wjd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072451AAYK8du
Any one accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru, after his crime...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AotF_sqWOe_Lk7tfFDNher7d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072237AAd8GeG
Christians, can you give several examples of scriptures (to add to
this) that show us how precious...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnF9GzIAaTjwzchT.UEaegHd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072220AAxqgd2
Why do religious people think that suicide is a sin?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApdmH190JzBD8onJU9H2_W3d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072151AAI7dpX
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070724133507AAtHOJI
THE OTHER HALF
From the land of hate
KALPANA SHARMA
`We have found a lot of happiness here,' said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?....
The story of 19 young Muslim women from Gujarat.
ON the surface they looked like any group of college girls. A little
conservative, perhaps, compared to their counterparts in Mumbai. But
these were not just college girls. You could tell if you looked more
closely, if you looked into their eyes, if you noticed the anxiety.
Nineteen young Muslim women from Gujarat with 19 stories to tell. All
of them unexceptionally disturbing and tragic. They were invited to
visit Mumbai by Aawaz-e-Niswan, a remarkable organisation that works
with Muslim women in Mumbai and is now extending its work to women in
other cities. The very ordinary, mostly lower middle class Muslim
women from this organisation, many of whom have been personally seared
by communal riots such as those that tore Mumbai apart in 1992-93,
decided to reach out to their sisters in Gujarat after the communal
carnage of 2002. They visited some of the worst affected areas; they
heard the stories from women who did not know how they would pick up
the threads of their lives again. And they decided that they would do
something for the younger women, many of whom expressed a
determination to continue with their education, to seek professional
qualifications and to work and be independent.
For some of the girls from Dahod, Fatehpura, Jalod and Vadodara, even
travelling in a train was a novel experience. The five from Fatehpura,
a small town bordering Rajasthan, had never seen a film in a cinema
theatre. The women from Jalod said there was a theatre in their town,
but women never went there. So one of the highpoints of their visit to
Mumbai was seeing a film in a theatre. They could not get over the
fact that as women they could do this.
Also for the first time, these women travelled around the city by
night. Mumbai by night, or any city by night, was something they could
not have imagined doing in their wildest dreams. Yet they went around
and no one looked at them strangely. They were just some among
thousands of men and women who inhabit Mumbai's public spaces till all
hours of the night.
"We have found a lot of happiness here," said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?
"The love we see on the faces here we don't see there," said another.
"We never get izzat (respect) anywhere in Gujarat," said another. It
was interesting to see how the very anonymity of a big city can mean
so much to people who live surrounded by hate.
That hate lurks around every turn, they said. Everyday they see on the
streets the perpetrators of the crimes that led to the death and
destruction of their community. "Even now if we pass by, they shout at
us, use bad language," said a primary school teacher from Godhra. "We
can see our things, our furniture, even our clothes, being used by
other people," said a student from Fatehpura. She broke down as she
spoke of how her house was burnt and looted, forcing her family to run
across the border to Rajasthan.
If there is one good thing that has come out of this evil, say many of
the girls, it is the increasing emphasis on women's education. "We
girls thought that if we had been educated, we could have taken a good
job and supported our families," said one. Families with no earning
member left did not get anything more than a meagre compensation.
This, she said, forced many parents to realise the value of education
and professional training.
So what did they want to do once they graduated? Most said they wanted
to become teachers. But at least two said they wanted to join the
police.
But the down side is that many girls never had a chance to make that
choice. With parents worried about the future of their daughters in
the immediate aftermath of the violence, many girls were married off
to men they had never met at the relief camps. It is unlikely that
these young women will have the freedom to travel to Mumbai at the
invitation of a women's group, to go to the theatre, to wander around
the city at night, to travel in trains and buses.
Life for the Muslim women of Gujarat, as was evident from the way
these 19 spoke, consists of "earlier" and "now". "Earlier", they had
Hindu friends, went to each other's homes, even celebrated each
other's festivals. "Now" this is not possible, they are even afraid to
go through Hindu areas and the question of enjoying each other's
festivals does not arise. "Even today we are told, Pakistan is yours,
go to Pakistan. The Hindus have come back to the city, the Muslims
have moved out. India has already been divided but now even our city
of Vadodara is divided into India and mini-Pakistan," said Nilofer.
Just a day before we met these women, the Supreme Court had ordered
the reopening of over 2,000 cases filed during the communal trouble of
2002 that the local police had closed. A 10-member committee has been
set up.
The process is forcing all of us to revisit the horror of those days.
The arrest of Police Sub-Inspector R.J. Patil, for instance, who
admitted that he had burnt 13 bodies of the victims of what is known
as the Ambika Society massacre, without sending specimens for forensic
analysis, is only the beginning of more gruesome details that will
emerge.
Yet, even this tentative beginning represents hope for many Muslims in
Gujarat. Said Nilofer from Vadodara, "Even if these cases are
reopened, and regardless of whether there is justice or not, at least
in front of society these people will be named." She felt that the
arrest of men like Patil was an important gesture for her traumatised
community.
E-mail the writer ksh...@thehindu.co.in
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/09/05/stories/2004090500290300.htm
No time for coffee in Copenhagen
TABISH KHAIR is not writing about the numerous lives lost in a
senseless and criminal act of violence on September 11. Instead, he
writes about the voices he has heard thereafter; a sound that has a
certain tone to it and which has set him wondering about abstract
hatred and prejudice.
THERE are moments that cleave Time into two. Everything that happens
afterwards happens in a different world. World War II was one such
moment for Europe. The suicide-hijack-crashing of four passenger
planes and the destruction of the World Trade Center is such a moment
for the world.
I will not write about the 5,000 lives lost in a senseless and
criminal act of violence. Such human loss escapes the limits of
language and representation. One can only stand silent in front of the
monuments of sorrow that tens of thousands - relatives, friends,
colleagues - will carry in their hearts for the rest of their lives.
It is a sorrow the rest of us can only share in silence.
I cannot write about silence. And I should not for, in Copenhagen, I
have been deluged with sound: the opinions of ordinary people, the
film-like coverage of the tragedy by Cable News Network (CNN), the
voices of commentators and politicians. Much of this sound had a
certain tone to it and that tone set me wondering. Is there much of a
difference between the terrorists who struck back at a group of
politicians by targeting tens of thousands of innocent people and
those voices that seem to be using the cruel act of a handful of
presumed Islamic terrorists to tarnish and blame entire populations of
Muslims and Arabs? Do not both the acts demonstrate the same type of
abstract hatred and prejudice?
But the questions never end. On the margins of time, in the split
space between worlds, one is always deluged with questions.
For example, the first Danish person who brought me news of the
tragedy said that he was against violence of any kind and added that
he would understand it if Americans decided to hit back. Why is it
that we always justify our own violence, while the violence of the
enemy is sheer sacrilege? Isn't that why there were shocking pictures
of some Palestinians celebrating: people who have become so used to
the idea of missiles being launched at their own buildings by Israeli
forces and the notion of reciprocal violence that they could not feel
the inhumanity of their celebration?
But, then, is this what we can write about: this spiral of violence
and inhumanity? Is this immense tragedy going to remain at such a
general level of discourse?
The answer seems to be "yes" if various media discussions in the West
are to be believed. But it has to be "no" if we are to salvage some
sense from the wanton destruction.
It is easy for us to sit here in our cosy sitting rooms in Copenhagen,
holding a cup of coffee, munching a biscuit, watching the tragedy
unfold almost as fluently as a film on the idiot box, and speak in
general terms. What we are doing is celebrating our own humanity, and
all human beings - even terrorists - are convinced of their own
superior humanity. Many of the most inhuman acts known to humanity
have been the consequence of such a conviction. We need to go beyond
it. We owe it to the victims of the tragedy to go beyond it.
The second person who called me with news of the tragedy was my
father: a devout Muslim doctor who has lived most of his life in a
small town in Bihar. He was shocked by the news. How could anyone do
this, he said again and again. The word he used was "anyone". I went
back to the TV and, in spite of the fact that no one knew anything
about the identities of the terrorists, I did not hear too many people
say "anyone". I heard "Muslim", "Islamic", "Middle Eastern", "Arab".
These were people who had already decided to exclude entire
populations from the circumference of their definitions of humanity.
My father's "anyone" had been reduced by many of these contributors to
"Arab" or "Muslim", even to the very type of an Arab or Muslim. I
could feel the irreligious "Muslim" in me cringe every time I heard
such discussions. I could feel my father being put in the dock.
It is so comfortable, this celebration of our own humanity. It can be
so inhuman, this celebration of our own humanity.
But what about violence?
Thomas Burnet, the late 17th century English divine, wrote that the
Roman Catholic Church persecuted prophets of Apocalyptic violence
(even though Apocalypse and the millennium were prophesied in the
Bible and, as such, should have been welcome to the church), because
it was in those days a church of privilege. Apocalyptic violence,
Burnet argued, was always the last resort of the persecuted and would
be disliked by those who "have lived always in pomp and prosperity".
Violence, in other words, is seldom a free choice. It is predicated
upon most individuals by circumstances. These individuals are usually
those who labour under an overpowering feeling of injustice and
deprivation. However senseless it might be, behind all violence lies
the rubble of shattered hopes, of real and imagined injustices, of
human desperation and, consequently, inhuman hatred. Let us not take
refuge in the easy excuse that we are against violence. For all of us,
given certain circumstances, are capable of violence or sympathy with
violence. While a thousand candles have been lit in Copenhagen for
those who died in the United States, let us also light a candle or two
for those who die - and thousands do every day, with or without
"Western" complicity - in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda .... Let
us not traffic in the worth of human lives.
No, large descriptions like "violence" do not help if we stay confined
to that general level. Neither does the kind of cry for vengeance that
one heard in the voice of many Americans and Europeans. It is true
that we have to take a stand against violence. Not just violence of
one kind, we have to take a stand against all kinds of violence - the
violence of terrorists as well as the violence of State agencies,
physical violence that leads to the death of bystanders as well as
economic violence that leads to the starvation of millions in a world
that has enough to go around. More than enough.
It is time we in the West think a bit before we bite into the cake of
our affluence and drink the coffee of our civilised condemnation.
If general sentiments will not do, what, then, about the specific
lessons that we can draw from this tragedy?
One of the things that this outrage has demonstrated is the
ineffectiveness of any kind of military shield. The only shield that
can be effective is the shield of a more just world. And for the world
to be made just and equal, it not only needs some of the resources of
the affluent, it also has to be made democratic.
Unfortunately, the U.S. has made itself into the target of extremist
groups largely because it has tried to go solo or exert undue
influence in certain international quarters. The internal democracy of
the U.S. seldom gets translated into international democracy. Had
certain decisions been taken through the channels of the United
Nations (not a military alliance of the privileged, like the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)), the U.S. would have been only
one nation among many. The burden, the "blame" and the risks would
have been shared. There are advantages to democracy at the
international level, but it has to be true democracy. And the final
lesson is that of the dangers of abstract hatred and prejudice. The
act of one leader or a group cannot be blamed in a generalised way on
an entire people or country, as the terrorists seem to have done. But
this is a lesson that we should also remember every time someone uses
the dastardly act of a handful of presumed Islamic terrorists to
implicitly or explicitly blame entire populations of Muslims and
Arabs.
The crashes that reduced the World Trade Center to rubble and the two
terror-inducing plane crashes elsewhere have cleft our age into two.
On the other side of this smoking chasm of blood and bitterness, lies
another world. It can be a world in which all the mistakes of the past
- global inequality, socio-economic exploitation, lack of
international democracy, lack of national democracy and literacy in
some nations, prejudice, hatred - all these mistakes are consolidated
into a world of greater violence and suffering. Or we may, finally,
learn to work towards a world, a very different world, where we will
tackle not the consequences of senseless tragedies but the reasons for
them. A world in which we will condemn not only a certain kind of
violence, but all violence; a world in which we will love not only our
humanity, but all humanity.
In order to make this choice we have to look deep into our own hearts
before we tidy away the tea things and swap the channel in places like
Copenhagen.
People who commit hate crimes against Americans with Middle Eastern
backgrounds in the wake of the terrorist attacks will be prosecuted
"to the fullest extent of the law", according to a top Justice
Department official.
According to new federal hate crime statistics released recently:
* Hate crimes accounted for nearly 3,000 of the roughly 5.4 million
victim-related crimes examined in a study which looked at cases
reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by local police
in more than a dozen states from 1997 to 1999.
* Among the racially motivated incidents, 60 per cent targeted Blacks,
30 per cent targeted Whites and the rest targeted Asians and American
Indians. Forty-one per cent of the incidents involving religious bias
targeted Jewish people.
* Violent crime was the most serious offence in 60 per cent of the
hate crimes, typically involving intimidation or simple assault.
* More than half of the violent hate crime victims were 24 years old
or younger. Among the offenders, 31 per cent of violent offenders and
46 per cent of property offenders were under age 18.
Source: Internet
(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Copenhagen
University, Denmark.)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/10/07/stories/13070612.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Dear Friends:
Hinduism is facing a great many challenges, both external and
internal. On the outside, ill-wishers are trying to malign and
dismantle it. Within, we have practitioners and leaders who are
insensitive to, or unaware of the social, political, and ethical
forces that are sweeping the world. Navya Shastra consists of a group
of Hindus who deeply love and care for our rich and ancient tradition.
We are also very concerned about its future.
We strongly feel that one major blemish in the Hindu world (within
India) is the pernicious aspect of the caste system which denies equal
spiritual rights to all Hindus, and imposes a conceptual hierarchy
that considers some Hindus to be superior/inferior to other Hindus on
the basis of their birth. We do not think that the dehumanization of
Hindus or of any other people is part of the Vedas, Sanskrit or
Tamil.
If some shastras tolerated or encouraged caste-based social
injustices, we reject them, and declare it is time to formulate a
system of values consistent with the age in which we live
(yugadharma). We are against caste hierarchy and caste injustices, not
only because they are not sanctioned in the Vedas, but also because
they are morally wrong, unacceptable, and anachronistic in the world
in which we live. We also need to rid Hindu society of its caste
constraints, because they undermine the future of the religion as a
viable system in the modern world. We are dreaming of a day when the
loftier Hindu visions in Sanatana Dharma will spread all over the
world. There will come a time when practitioners of other religious
systems will resonate with the universal values and visions that are
implicit in the roots of Hinduism.
We invite all our Hindu brothers and sisters to join us in raising
their voices against casteism, and for making Hinduism a greater
religion than what she has ever been.
Lobby all dharmacharyas to reflect on the fossilized iniquities in
Sanatana Dharma. We will actively strive to catalyze the Hindu
leadership into addressing the caste issue and other salient social
issues.
Engender a national debate on a Navya Shastra--one that would redress
the inequalities inherent in the caste system. While the spiritual
intuition of our sages is timeless and eternal, the social tenets
which govern Hindu society have never been static--our lawgivers have
reinterpreted them in different eras.
Conduct a respectful dialogue on reformulating the social tenets of
Sanatana Dharma, in which all members of our community are welcomed to
participate.
Track and promote the efforts of Hindu/Indian organizations and
charities who are working to eradicate caste discrimination in India.
_________________________________________________
Special Announcement: Listen to Jaishree Gopal, Chairman of Navya
Shastra on National Public Radio
NAVYA SHASTRA VISION STATEMENT
Most Hindus are shocked to know that, according to the ancient
Dharmashastras, over 80% of the Hindu population is forbidden to read
the Vedas. These law books were written by sages as procedural and
legal outlines for governing society, and they have remained de facto
authority on religious matters to this day. For example, some
traditional mathas still forbid Vedic instruction to anyone who is not
a ?dwija?--a male born into one of the three upper castes.
A recent Supreme Court of India decision held that non-brahmins are
now entitled to serve as temple priests, effectively opening up the
Vedas and Agamas to all seekers. While the ruling is laudable, we
wonder whether this judicial activism is sufficient to transfigure the
often miserable status of the so called lower castes. Most religious
leaders have remained conspicuously silent on the decision and,
whether out of indifference or disapproval, have not publicly
reflected on the potential consequences of the decision for Hindu
society. Until we have a convergence of sentiment towards a true
casteless society--one acknowledged by religious leaders, the
government and the Hindu community alike--all steps towards
improvement will be tentative gestures, at odds with recrudescent
casteist power structures that operate frightfully and efficiently in
rural India.
Rather than bemoaning, with the fatalists, the inexorably static
nature of society, or assuming, with the optimists, that change is a
natural process, we have decided to take matters into our own hands by
inciting a public debate on the caste issue and other salient social
issues. Would a Navya Shastra (or a comprehensive reinterpretation of
existing Dharmashastras), proposing a more egalitarian configuration
of Hindu society, be a beneficial template for affecting change? We
believe shastric and social reform is important for several reasons.
1. The caste system, as it is currently structured, spiritually
disenfranchises the vast majority of Hindus: Shudras, Dalits,
Adivasis, women and converts. No one, we believe, has studied the
negative psychological implications of such birth-based
classifications on the so called lower castes. A recent wave of Dalit
atrocities morbidly reveals that caste discrimination is still rampant
throughout India. This leaves many spiritually inclined Hindus feeling
that they are unwanted, peripheral stragglers, giving credence to
Hegel?s assertion that the caste system breeds ?spiritual serfdom?. A
Navya Shastra would open the Vedas (as they are traditionally taught)
to everyone, regardless of birth.
2. Until we have a Navya Shastra, the old Dharmashastras will remain,
by default, the governing authority on matters concerning the
religious status of Hindus. It would be rather absurd for the
government to comment on every religious controversy affecting Hindus.
After all, in a truly secular society, the government does not
interfere in religious matters. The will to change must come from the
Hindu leadership itself.
3. Non-Hindus who wish to convert to Hinduism cannot truly do so,
because the Dharmashastras make no place for them. This is very
unfortunate; arresting what was once a great enthusiasm for the Hindu
Dharma in the West.
4. Women are treated as second class citizens. A Navya Shastra would
also increase the status of women.
5. Though there are many reformist sects that have sought to redress
these inequalities, we feel it is crucially important for orthodoxy to
assent to this effort. Otherwise we will have a fractured Hinduism,
with different groups asserting that they alone represent the truth.
Please join our effort by participating in our community forum. We
welcome all sincere strategies for social change. We have an
unprecedented opportunity to make a difference together. Let?s not let
anyone else make it for us.
Truth and Tension in Science and Religion, authored by noted physicist
and religious scholar V. V Raman
Exploring the Connections and Controversies Between Science and
Religion, August 11, 2009
Article on Dalits in Leading Brazilian Newspaper in Special Edition on
India
by Mukunda Raghavan, August, 2009
Navya Shastra on Article 377
Supporters Hail Delhi’s Landmark Pro-Gay Ruling
from India West, July 09, 2009
The organization was particularly critical of the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad, which came out against Article 377. "Unable to find any
strong theological basis in Hinduism for opposing homosexuality, the
VHP relied on the old canard that the family structure would somehow
be threatened by the decision," said Sugrutha Ramaswamy, a Navya
Shastra activist. "This is an unscientific understanding of
homosexuality, which is not a lifestyle choice but rather an inherent
human condition," she added. ....
Other news coverage
Edge Boston, July 10, 2009
India Abroad on Caste in the US
Caste Adrift, May 22, 2009
Caste and US, May 22, 2009
60 seconds chief
Hindu Business Line, March 16, 2009
60 seconds chief Blog, March 16, 2009
Story of a Reformer by Jaishree Gopal, a chapter in the book
Reflections by IITians published by Ram Krishnaswamy
Excerpt from Reflections by IITians, Dec 2008
I want to change what people do and believe in Hindu society,
especially with regards to caste and gender discrimination.
Dr. Jaishree Gopal, IITM & IITD Alumna
Co Founder of Navya Shastra
Interview with D. Murali of Hindu Business Line
Future of Religious Practice
from The Hindu Business Line, Dec 22, 2008
The Hindu, Dec 21, 2008
Food for Thought, Dec 20, 2008
Navya Shastra on Proposition 8
Hindus Urged to Vote Against Prop. 8
from The Advoocate, Nov 1, 2008
Navya Shastra, the international Hindu reform organization based in
Troy, Mich., sent out a press release Friday urging California voters
to reject Proposition 8, which would eliminate the right of same-sex
couples to marry under California law. ....
Other news coverage
Chakra News, Nov 3, 2008
Go Magazine, Nov 3, 2008
Navya Shastra on "Love Guru", the Movie
Hindu reform group opposes Love Guru protests
from Hindustan Times, May 20, 2008
...Navya Shastra, the organisation based in Troy, Michigan, which
earlier spoke out against astrology, female foeticide and Dalit
discrimination, has argued that hyper-sensitivity over inaccurate or
distorted religious depictions in mass media erodes the tradition of
tolerance of criticism in the Hindu faith....
Other news coverage
Zee News, May 22, 2008
Times of India, May 21, 2008
LA Times, May 2008
Asia Arts, UCLA, May 30, 2008
Navya Shastra on Female Feticide
Navya Shastra concern over India's foeticide epidemic
from The Indian Star, May 07, 2008
...Navya Shastra also called on the Hindu community and its
organizations to allow daughters to impart final rites at the funerals
of their parents. "One religious reason why boys are favored among
Hindus is because of the anachronistic belief that only a son can
formally conduct this ceremony, so a girl is totally worthless in this
regard," said Dr. Jaishree Gopal, Navya Shastra Chairman....
Other news coverage
Pro-Life Blog, May 07, 2008
Also appeared in Print Edition of India West
Navya Shastra on Malaysia
Navya Shastra condemns the Government of Malaysia for anti-Hindu
discrimination
from Asian Tribune, November 27, 2007
...One Navya Shastra member who participated in the rally reported
anonymously: "We have changed the political equations at home and
inspired minorities everywhere. We walked the talk. We smelled the
tear gas and it swelled our chests. Like Rosa Parks we said, 'No!'" It
further added that Navya Shastra stands in complete solidarity with
the Hindu community and all other minorities in Malaysia who are the
victims of government persecution.... ....
Navya Shastra Award of Recognition
Navya Shastra Award to two students from Karnataka
from Manglorean.com, August 15, 2007
...These two young women have demonstrated that by challenging
outmoded institutions and customs in a personal way, one can have an
impact on society at large. To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, it is
important for our youth to 'be the change' they want to see," said Dr.
Jaishree Gopal, Navya Shastra Chairman.... ....
Navya Shastra confers the title of Acharya Vidyasagar on Professor
V.V. Raman
Professor V.V. Raman receives title "Acharya Vidyasagar"
from Rochester Community Newsletter, May 28, 2007
...Navya Shastra of Troy, Michigan, the international Hindu reform
organization, honored Professor V.V. Raman by conferring on him the
title "Acharya Vidyasagar" in recognition of his many contributions to
Hinduism. Dr. Jaishree Gopal, Chairman of Navya Shastra, said “In
ancient India, an acharya was a teacher of profound truths, a guide on
the spiritual path, and someone an entire community looked up to....
Other news coverage
Metanexus Magazine, May 18, 2007
Navya Shastra on Temple Entry
Hindu reform organisation slams Jagannath temple priests
from Hindustan Times, March 5, 2007
..."We are appalled to know about the mindless throwing away of large
amounts of food by the Puri temple administration at the instigation
of pujaris (priests) with a medieval mindset at a time and place where
there are thousands of poor and hungry people," said the
organisation's chairman, Dr Jaishree Gopal. ....
Other news coverage
India's Tolerance Levels Tested as American Enters Forbidden
Sanctuary, March, 2007
Report from a Dalit village
Ghosts of the Past
from India Abroad, Feb 18, 2007
...It left me with the thought that true prosperity was impossible
until social advancement and a sense of equality became firmly
entrenched in our communities. ...
Navya Shastra on Manglik-related rituals of Aishwarya Rai
US Hindu reform group condemns rituals by Bachchan
from Daily News and Analysis, February 12, 2007
..."What concerns us is that millions of people may rationalise their
mistreatment of women based upon the Abhishek-Aishwarya example," said
Jaishree Gopal, Navya Shastra Chairman, in a press statement. ....
Other news coverage
Zee News, February 12, 2007
Malaysia Sun, February 12, 2007
Daily India, Fl, February 12, 2007
Philippine Times, February 13, 2007
Japan Herald, February 13, 2007
Yahoo India, Movies, February 12, 2007
The Telegraph, February 12, 2007
New Kerala, February 12, 2007
Navya Shastra Apology to Dalits
Navya Shastra Organization Apologizes for Untouchability
from Hinduism Today, hpi, December 20, 2006
We, at Navya Shastra, deeply regret and apologize for the atrocities
committed on the sons and daughters of the depressed communities of
India, including the tribals, the "untouchables" and all of the castes
deemed as low.... ....
An Unqualified Apology to Every Untouchable by Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta
from desicritic, February 2, 2006
...So here it is, I fully endorse and join Navya Shastra, in
apologising to the other castes, for what I and my forefathers may
have done and promise that I will raise my voice against this
disgusting practice, and hopefully help remove this by my words as
well as my behaviour.... . ...
Navya Shastra in Books
Opening the Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage
by Arthur J. Magida
from Amazon, 2006
...thousand members of Navya Shastra and other reform groups are
seeking to go one step beyond Gandhi ....
Mending A Torn World: Women in Interreligious Dialogue (Faith Meets
Faith Series) by by Maura O'Neill (Paperback - Oct 31, 2007)
from Amazon, 2007
... Dr. Jaishree Gopal, a woman activist, commends the government of
India for working to end discrimination ..." ....
Navya Shastra on TV in Chennai
Temple inauguration in Dalit village, Idamani
Temple Inauguration, July 2006
...This event was aired on Chennai TV station, Thamizhan ....
California Textbook Controversy
Indian Groups Contest California Textbook Content
from New American Media, February 17, 2006
...They also say that it would serve the dalits' cause better if the
textbooks said that "untouchability is a living reality in India,"
instead of simply going by the Hindu groups' suggestion that the books
say that it is illegal to treat someone as an untouchable, Vikram
Masson, co-founder of Navya Shastra, a U.S.-based non-profit
organization that speaks out against caste-related issues, told India-
West. ....
Navya Shastra Organizations Calls for Fairer View in California
Textbooks
from HPI, February 2, 2006
...Navya Shastra is also dismayed that the school board is considering
redacting out any mention of Dalits. While the former untouchables of
India have been called or call themselves many things, including
Avarna and Harijan, the term Dalit is increasingly considered an
empowering symbol of unity among a section of the former untouchables,
including those who still retain their Hindu affiliation, and eliding
their identity must be viewed as an act of upper-caste hegemony. . ...
Hindu view on Papal Succession
Pope Vows to Pursue Outreach by Church
from Washington Post, Thursday, April 21, 2005; Page A18
..."A U.S.-based group of Hindu activists called Navya Shastra,
meanwhile, called on the pope to learn more about Hinduism. "Clearly
he is misinformed about the central practices and tenets which bind
the world's 800 million Hindus," said co-chairman Vikram Masson. ....
Other Faiths Recall Pope's Zeal as Faith Defender
from Reuters, April 20, 2005
...A U.S.-based group of world Hindu activists, Navya Shastra, hoped
the new Pope would learn more about its religion. "Ratzinger has
described Hindu meditative practices as 'auto-erotic' and has stated
that the Hindu doctrine of karma is 'morally cruel'," its co-chairman
Vikram Masson said. "Clearly he is misinformed about the central
practices and tenets which bind the world's 800 million Hindus....
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH'S VIEWS ON OTHER FAITH GROUPS, AND THEIR
REACTIONS
from Religious Tolerance
..."Dr. Jaishree Gopal, is co-chairperson of Navya Shastra. She wrote:
"What is needed now is ecumenism and mutual trust. We hope that the
new Pope comes to understand this, because religious difference and
competition is causing mounting global conflict." ....
US Hindu organisation accu
ses VHP of casteism
from Times of India, Mar 06, 2005
..."This is a bizarre act of conceptual dehumanisation," the statement
quoted Navya Shastra co-chairperson Jaishree Gopal as saying. The
statement urged all Hindu organisations involved in proselytising
activities to do away with attaching cast labels to new converts.
"Surely all modern Hindu reformers agree that there is no spiritual
merit attached to any caste affiliation," the statement added....
(This news item also appeared in various other publications: Hindustan
Times, Pluralism.org, Kerala News, Kerala Next, Express Newsline,
Yahoo India)
God's Wrath in India?
from Beliefnet, Jan 5, 2005
...Another Hindu group, the reformist Navya Shastra, issued a press
release condemning Hindu organizations that have bought into the act-
of-God view, comparing their remarks to those of Christian leaders
like Jerry Falwell. While acknowledging, like Vaishnav, that karma
could have played a role in the deaths, the group, made of Hindu
scholars, practitioners and priests outside India, suggested that it
was more important to focus on helping survivors than trying to
explain why the disaster happened. ....
Tsunami News Coverage
from Times of India, Dec 28, 2004
NEW YORK: With people relating tsunami to God's wrath, a Hindu group
is out to re-educate masses.
from Hindustan Times, Dec 28, 2004
A Michigan-based Hindu group has condemned labelling Sunday's tsunami
tragedy a "vengeful act of God" and asked the global Hindu community
to contribute generously to assist victims of the catastrophe....
from Express Newsline, Europe, Dec 28, 2004
Navya Shastra, a global organization of scholars, activists, priests
and lay people dedicated to fostering the spiritual equality of all
Hindus, has called upon the global Hindu community to contribute
generously to the victims of the December 26 earthquake-cum Tsunami
wave attack in South East Asia. ...
from Guardian UK, Dec 28, 2004
As the world grapples with the scale of the disaster of Indian Ocean
tidal wave, the Guardian's Martin Kettle poses a troubling question
for those who believe in God. ...But a Michigan-based Hindu group,
Navya Shastra, has condemned organisations in India for describing the
disaster as a "vengeful act of God" for the arrest of a Hindu seer, on
murder and other charges. ...
This news item also appeared in various other publications: Yahoo
India, MSN news, Bangladesh Sun, WebIndia, NetIndia, Manorama Online,
Kerala News, Kerala Next, ReligiousTolerance.org
Hindu American Foundation Files Amicus Brief with US Supreme Court in
Ten Commandments Case HPI
from hpi archives, Dec, 21, 2004
...The 34-page brief was signed by HAF, Arsha Vidya Pitham, Arya Samaj
of Michigan, Hindu International Council Against Defamation, Hindu
University of America, Navya Shastra, Saiva Siddhanta Church
(publisher through its teaching wing, Himalayan Academy, of Hinduism
Today and HPI), Federation of Jain Associations in North America,
Interfaith Freedom Foundation and prominent Buddhist scholar and
Director of Tibet House, Professor Robert Thurman....
Hindu group criticises Kanchi Shankaracharya
from Newindpress, Oct 15, 2004
...Navya Shastra research director Gautham Rao, said money for the
crown had come through donations and it could have been put to better
use. "Clearly at this time in Indian history, when the majority of
Indian citizens continue to live at or near poverty levels, we felt
the money should have been spent on social service," he
said.... ...Navya Shastra also questioned the participation of
(Christian) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in
the "opulent" (Hindu) ceremony.
(this news item also appeared in Yahoo India, MSN India, Indian angle,
123Bharat.com, New Kerala portals)
Hindu Temple Society of North America, et al. v. New York Supreme
Court, et al.
from Becketfund
...On September 2, 2004, ten organizations--representing various
religious denominations--submitted an amicus (friend of the court)
letter (PDF format, 66K) in support of The Becket Fund's motion for a
preliminary injunction against the defendants of the federal suit. The
Hindu American Foundation presented the letter on behalf of AGNI
Corporation, the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, the
Hindu Human Rights Group, the Hindu International Council Against
Defamation, Hindu University of America, Ile Obatala Oya, Kanchi
Kamakoti Seva Foundation, Navya Shastra, and the Queens Federation of
Churches....
NRI group battles Hinduism's "inequalities
from India Abroad, June 18, 2004
...While the Indian government has encouraged such reforms to an
extent, the organization insists that Hindus themselves should take up
the cause while avoiding factionalism. At the same time, the group has
been critical of Dalits for highlighting caste discrimination without
actively working with Hindu leaders to resolve the problem.... ....
US body condemns discrimination against Dalit student
from Newindpress, June 06, 2004
A Hindu organisation in the US has condemned reported discrimination
against a Dalit student who was allegedly victimised for offering
prayers in a Hindu temple in India's Andhra Pradesh state....
(this news item also appeared in Yahoo India, NRI Worldwide, MSN
India, Kerala News, Kerala Next)
Local priest supports movement to reform Hindu customs
from India Herald, May 24, 2004
...Navya Shastra is a large group of believers of the Hindu Dharma
domicled in various countries. We believe that chariot of Hindu
society cannot move forward if any of the five horses lag behind. We
have therefore committed ourselves to the mission of facilitating
optimal spiritual development of all Hindus regardless of caste or
gender....
Bound by the same thread
from India Abroad, Teenspeak, Jan 23, 2004
...Let us start modifying our traditions as seen fit without
destroying the essence, beginning with allowing women and all Hindus
to take part in Upanyanam and feel equal in this manner.
Hindu Group Criticizes Dalit Representatives at World Social Forum
from HPI Archives, Jan 23, 2004
Navya Shastra, a US-based global Hindu organization of scholars,
activists, priests and laypeople, has criticized the Dalit
representatives and organizers of the World Social Forum for
highlighting the Hindu dimensions of discrimination against the Dalit
community while refusing to work with the Hindu leadership to bring
about religious reforms...
Solar Flares by Harsh Kabra
from Outlook, Dec 15, 2003
..."The Vedas and its chanting tradition form the fountainhead, the
very epicentre, of the religious beliefs of over 800 million people,"
Vikram Masson, co-chairman, NS, told Outlook from New Jersey. "Be it a
farmer in Tamil Nadu or a fisherman in Bengal, some part of his
spiritual worldview has been inspired by the utterances of the rishis.
By closeting the Vedas with other cultural expressions, UNESCO has
marginalised and diminished the most important scriptures in the Hindu
tradition."....
End caste discrimination, Hindu leaders urged
from IANS, Nov 28, 2003
...Here we have a historic opportunity to declare to the world that
Hinduism will reform itself for ever of caste discrimination," said
Vikram Masson, Navya Shastra co-chairman. "Hinduism, which is
thousands of years old, has never had a significant reformist
movement,"...
Don’t place Vedas in a cabinet of curios
from Deccan Herald, Nov 26, 2003
...Several noteworthy Hindu reformers and thinkers, including Swami
Dayanada Saraswati and Dr. Sarvapelli Radhakrishnan, have advocated
that the Vedic tradition be open to all. We should not ignore their
wisdom.
Hindu group protests clubbing Vedas with folk arts
from Hindustan Times, Nov 19 2003
A US-based Hindu organisation has protested to Unesco against its
decision to club Vedic chanting tradition as a folk art along with the
Belgian carnival of Binche and Indonesia's Wayang puppet theatre....
(this news item also appeared in Newindpress, Hinduism Today, India-
Tribune, India-West)
A New Year Resolution for Hinduism: Opening Temple Doors to All
A recent report of a study conducted across 1,655 villages in the
Indian state of Gujarat, representing 98,000 Dalits, revealed the
shocking fact that 97% of them feel that they are unwelcome at Hindu
temples, religious gatherings and public discourses on scripture.
Researchers did not find a single village that was free from the
practice of untouchability. (“No temple entry for dalits in Gujarat,”
Times of India, 7 December 2009). Such exclusion is neither infrequent
nor limited to Gujarat. The BBC News (“Fury over south India temple
ban,”15 October, 2009) reported an incident of stone throwing to
protest Dalits entering a temple near Vedaranyam in the state of Tamil
Nadu. Last month the High Court of Chennai issued an order, against
the wishes of temple trustees, that a temple procession pass through a
Dalit community in the Villipuram District. Dalit (oppressed) is the
name preferred by those who have been relegated to the lowest rungs of
the caste ladder and regarded as untouchable by members of upper
castes. Dalits constitute around 20% of the Indian population.
Although the exclusion of Dalits from places of Hindu worship ought to
be a matter of deep concern and distress, there is hardly a ripple of
protest in the sea of Hindu complacency. Shutting the doors of Hindu
temples to Dalits stands in bewildering contrast to the anxiety in
other religious traditions about dwindling numbers and the expenditure
of considerable resources to attract the faithful. It should not
surprise that those debarred from Hindu sanctums enter, in significant
numbers, the open and inviting doors of others. Those in India and
outside who are vociferous opponents of religious conversion must
understand and acknowledge the Dalit experience of the Hindu tradition
as oppressive and negating their dignity and self-worth. Conversion is
a challenge for Hindus to consider the relationship between religious
practice and systemic oppression. Exclusion from temples is only one
manifestation of such oppression.
It troubles deeply also that, with notable exceptions, the principal
voices of protest over exclusion are not those of Hindu leaders. In
the case of anti-Dalit violence in the town of Vedaranyam, referred to
above, the protests were led by supporters of the Communist Party of
India –Marxist. In other cases, secular-minded human rights activists
are at the forefront of the agitation on behalf of the Dalits. Earlier
this year, Navin Pillay, UN Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned
caste as negating the human rights principles of equality and non-
discrimination and called for a UN convention to outlaw discrimination
based on caste. The response of silence from Hindus may be interpreted
as support for barring Dalits from places of worship. Even more
importantly, indifference gives validation to the wrong impression
that the Hindu tradition has no theological ground or core for
challenging the human inequality that is at the root of the Dalit
ostracization and oppression.
The assumptions of human inequality that explain the continuing
persistence of untouchability need an urgent, vigorous and unambiguous
theological repudiation originating from the non-negotiable heart of
the Hindu tradition. Although Hinduism is admittedly diverse, its
major traditions are unanimous in affirming the equal existence of God
in every being. “God,” the Bhagavadgita proclaims, “ lives in the
heart of all beings.” This core theological teaching must become the
basis for the assertion of the equal dignity and worth of every human
being and the motivation for challenging and transforming the
oppressive structures of caste that, in reality, deny and violate the
luminous presence of God in all. Although every unjust expression of
caste needs to be denounced, the shutting of temple doors to persons
pleading for the opportunity to worship challenges, in a special way,
the meaning and legitimacy of Hinduism as a religious tradition. For
this reason, Hindus must commit themselves with tireless determination
to the work of welcoming Dalits into every Hindu place of worship.
Such work must be seen as fundamental to Hindu identity and the
meaning of belonging to the community of Hindus.
While we must commend and support Hindu leaders and movements working
already for the well being of Dalits and their equality and dignity,
we must recognize also that many Hindu leaders may not be at the
forefront of such a religiously inspired movement. They are the
beneficiaries of the privileges of caste and immune to the pain of
those who live at the margins. All Hindus who understand the
contradiction between teachings centered on God’s embodiment in every
human being and the exclusion of people from places of worship must
embrace this cause. Hindus settled outside of India who enjoy the
privileges of living in free societies and the protection of the law
against unequal and unjust treatment, have special obligations in this
matter. They need to lift their voices in protest against practices in
the name of Hinduism that denigrate human beings. They must ensure
that Hindu leaders, and especially those who travel often to the West
and who are the recipients of their donations and reverence, hear
their voices. They must make clear the unacceptability of religious
discrimination and demand that leaders renounce silence and
indifference and become active advocates for change. Every Hindu
leader must be challenged to take a stand in this matter.
The Constitution of India specifies, “The State shall not discriminate
against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of
birth.” Constitutional and legal measures, as necessary as these are,
have not and will not eliminate all forms of discrimination based on
caste inequality. Legal measures can never cause the joyous embrace of
all that follows from awakening to God’s presence in each heart.
Religious vision and wisdom can be the source of such transformed
relationships. Hinduism needs an unequivocal theological proclamation
that complements constitutional law by repudiating caste injustice and
that commits Hindus to the equal worth of all human beings. Opening
the doors of all Hindu temples to Dalits is an important step, an
urgent religious matter and an opportunity for the Hindu tradition, in
our time, to define itself. Let this be our collective Hindu
resolution in 2010.
Anantanand Rambachan
Professor and Chair
Religion Department
Saint Olaf College
1520 Saint Olaf Avenue
Northfield
MN 55057
E-mail: ramb...@stolaf.edu
http://shastras.org/rambachan.html
Exploring the Connections and Controversies Between Science and
Religion
New book provides overview and historical perspective on centuries-old
debate
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by William Dube, Aug. 11, 2009 —
Follow William Dube on Twitter
Follow RITNEWS on Twitter
A new book seeks to enhance understanding of the interconnections
between science and religion and promote greater harmony in the long-
running debate between the empirical and spiritual schools of thought.
Truth and Tension in Science and Religion, authored by noted physicist
and religious scholar V. V Raman, provides a historical overview of
the development and spread of scientific inquiry and its interaction
with various religious schools of thought. It also seeks to present a
balanced review of the key tenants of both science and religion and
explore the similarities and areas for cooperation between them.
“While most people can name the many differences between scientific
inquiry and faith, there are as many similarities between the two
schools and, in fact, one has been influenced by the other for
centuries,” says Raman, professor emeritus of physics and humanities
at Rochester Institute of Technology. “Science and religion are much
more interconnected than we often realize and by examining this I hope
to reduce the tension between theologians and scientists and increase
collaboration.”
For example, Jaishree Gopal, director of Navya Shastra, the
international Hindu reform organization, notes that “even while
quoting the best of ethics from various religious traditions, Raman’s
book makes it clear that it is the modern world view, imbued with the
scientific perspective, that has led to our collective moral awakening
regarding practices such as racism, slavery and untouchability.”
Raman has spent nearly three decades studying the intersections
between philosophy, religion and science and currently serves as a
senior fellow of the Metanexus Institute on Science and Religion. He
is the author of 11 books and in 2006 was awarded the Raja Rao award
for outstanding contributions to South Asian literature.
http://www.rit.edu/news/?v=46939
Indian GLBTs the World Over Hail Sexual Decriminalization Ruling
by Kilian Melloy
Friday Jul 10, 2009
Indian GLBT equality proponent Manohar Elavarthi
The decriminalization of same-gender intimacy between consenting
adults in India is viewed by GLBT equality advocates as a major step
forward, but not a cure-all for the societal prejudices faced by
Indian gays.
As reported at New American Media on July 10, the section of the
Indian penal code, Article 377--a relic of the days when Britain
dominated the country under colonial rule--was struck down on Jyly 2
by the Delhi High Court, which found the law to be in violation of
constitutional protections.
The article carried a quoted from GLBT equality proponent Sandip Roy,
who said, "The community here has reacted ecstatically. Most people I
talked to said over and over again that they did not think it would
happen in their lifetime."
Celebrations took place all over the globe. Said Roy, "There were
impromptu celebrations in many cities. People went down to the
Stonewall Inn in New York where the modern gay rights movement began
in 1969.
"In San Francisco, friends distributed mithai at a bar in Castro.
"With Facebook and e-mail these days, the news was huge news as soon
as it broke," Roy noted.
The article cited a Berkeley, CA life coach, Krishnakali Chaudhuri, as
also hailing the ruling, though he tempered his remarks with the
observation that societal bias still remains.
"I think overall it’s a small step in the right direction," said
Chaudhuri, "but we have a long way to go."
One specific point of note, said Choudhury, was the distinction
between decriminalizing same-sex consensual intimacy between adults
and making it legal.
Said Chaudhury, "The international community of human rights is really
applauding the ruling but we have to understand that we have just
decriminalized homosexuality but we haven’t legalized it yet."
Added the GLBT equality advocate, "We need to legalize homosexuality
and then we can make changes to all the qualities of workplace,
marriage unions or health or everything else."
The article said that an American organization comprised of Indian
Americans had also hailed the court’s decision.
The Michigan-based Hindu organization Navya Shastra issued a statement
reading, "For over a century, the law has given license to the state
to persecute individuals based on their sexual orientation.
"Navya Shastra urges the Government of India not to challenge the
ruling or to be swayed by religious chauvinists of any persuasion who
would deny equality to all citizens based on ancient interpretations
of religious texts."
The group took exception to the opposition of a Hindu political party
in India, which spoke out against the repeal.
Stated Navya Shastra’s Sugrutha Ramaswamy, "Unable to find any strong
theological basis in Hinduism for opposing homosexuality, the VHP
relied on the old canard that the family structure would somehow be
threatened by the decision."
Added Ramaswamy, "This is an unscientific understanding of
homosexuality, which is not a lifestyle choice but rather an inherent
human condition."
Others in India also spoke out against the repeal, including a guru
whose claims concerning the health benefits of yoga extend to saying
that gays can be "cured" through the practice of yoga.
A Rediff News.com article from July 10 reported that guru Baba
Ramdev’s insistence that homosexuality is a pathological condition,
and that it can be alleviated through yogic practice, was panned not
only by health professionals but also by his fellow yoga proponents.
The article said that Ramdev took his claims to the Indian Supreme
Court, which had previously been approached by a prominent astrologer
with a petition to re-implement the anti-gay statute.
Said the astrologer, Sushil Kumar Kaushal, "...even animals don’t
indulge in such activities," going on to assert that higher rates of
HIV/AIDS would result from the decriminalization of adult consensual
relations between gays.
But health care professionals in the country have long lobbied for the
end of the statute, pointing out that gay Indians were less likely to
get tested and to practice safer sex as long as legal sanctions were
in place against consensual same-sex adult intimacy.
Under the anti-gay law, same-sex intimacy could be punished by jail
terms of up to ten years.
Moreover, scientists have noted same-sex courtship behavior and even
long-term partnering among some 4,000 animal species.
Ramdev’s claims were rebuffed by, among others, a physician named Dr.
Devdutt Pattanak, who said, "Is his statement based on scriptural
evidence or evidence-based medicine? It is neither."
Added Dr. Pattanak, "It is just a subjective remark."
Dr. Pattanak went on to point out that health professionals had
arrived at a quite different conclusion than had Ramdev.
"Thousands of hours of research have gone into the classification of
diseases, and neither the World Health Organization nor any
psychiatric or psychology journal recognizes homosexuality as a
disease," Dr. Pattanak noted.
"Do we believe scientific research or just an individual’s opinion,
which may simply be a marketing gimmick?"
Yoga practitioner Deepika Mehta, who found healing through yoga after
being paralyzed in an accident, also spoke out against Ramdev’s
claims, the article said.
Ms. Mehta took exception with Ramdev’s essential thesis that
homosexuality is a disease, suggesting rather that, as most medical
experts attest, it is innate and natural to gays.
Said Mehta, "Yoga is about acceptance and coming to terms with who you
really are, your purest core.
"It helps you shed the layers imposed by society.
"And in my experience, yoga has helped a lot of people come to terms
with their sexual orientation, rather than live in denial," added Ms.
Mehta.
Furthermore, Ramdev’s medical claims have no more basis in spiritual
teaching than in medical fact. Said Dr. Pattanak, "Not even the
scriptures recognize homosexuality as a disease."
The article quoted from an article Dr. Pattanak, who is also an expert
in Indian mythology, had written.
"An overview of temple imagery, sacred narratives and religious
scriptures does suggest that homosexual activities--in some form--did
exist in ancient India," observed Dr. Pattanak’s article.
"Though not part of the mainstream, its existence was acknowledged but
not approved," the article continued. "There was some degree of
tolerance when the act expressed itself in heterosexual terms--when
men ’became women’ in their desire for other men, as the hijra legacy
suggests.’"
Nitin Karani, of the GLBT equality group Humsafar Trust, noted, "While
we don’t know what leads to it yet... we do know that homosexuality is
innate.
"And it is not a Western phenomenon, as some people are trying to
label it," added Karani.
"Neither is it a disease."
Noted Karani, "A lot of gay people I know are into yoga and meditation
and are extremely spiritual, but it has not resulted in any overnight
conversions."
In a separate interview published July 10, Rediff.com News spoke with
Indian GLBT equality proponent Manohar Elavarthi, who told the
publication, "Now it is a question of social tolerance. Just because
the law has changed it does not mean that the attitude of the people
will change.
"However, I must add that the court verdict has opened things up for
all of us. I only hope that the Supreme Court upholds the verdict."
Added Elavarthi, "What we want is a complete repeal of the Section 377
of the Indian Penal Code.
"The IPC is guided by a feudal set up and it has not changed with the
times," Elavarthi went on. "About social acceptance, we need to work
towards it.
Elavarthi reposnded to concerns that repealing the entire Article,
which also addresses sexual assault and abuse, by saying, "...along
with this we need to ensure that laws regarding sexual abuse, be it
male or female or children related laws need to be strengthened."
Elavarthi noted that religious objections were not entirely grounded
in scriptural sources.
"In Hinduism there is nothing to show that it is anti-homosexuality."
Indeed, added Elavarthi, "There are instances to show that some of the
Gods have undergone a sex change.
"I don’t understand how Baba Ramdev and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are
opposing this.
"Where Christianity is concerned," Elavartha continued, "the community
is divided in its opinion.
"There are gay churches and the Vatican too says that gays should not
be criminalized.
"Speaking of Islam, there are few who claim that the Quran says that
it is anti homosexuality.
"Shariat law speaks of punishment for men indulging in homosexuality.
However we don’t have this law in India and the laws in India does not
speak of any punishment."
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes
commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts
Editor.
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=93587
http://shastras.org/indiaabroad1
http://shastras.org/indiaabroad2
http://www.blonnet.com/mentor/2009/03/16/stories/0316.pdf
http://60secondschief.blogspot.com/
http://reflectionsbyiitians.blogspot.com/
Future religious practice
Jaishree Gopal, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Navya Shastra, US.
India is perhaps the only place in the world where people of different
religions have been interacting with one another for centuries. In the
West, however, this is the first time they are interacting with many
religions, including those from the East, as a result of modernisation
and globalisation.
Though traditionally religions have been dividing us all, we have
become more conscious of the differences as a result of increased
knowledge about other religions. However, eventually, people are going
to be learning from one another. For instance, yoga and meditation
practices from Hinduism are very common in the US. And some of the oft-
emulated messages of Christianity and Islam are charity and peace,
respectively.
Thus, even though you may continue to identify yourself to a
particular religion, you are going to be incorporating in your life
good elements from other people’s religion, while at the same time
discarding those aspects of your religion that don’t seem right to you
any more. As a result, compassion is going to increase for those whom
we call ‘others’. Definitely, the way we practise our religion is
going to change in the future, more and more.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/mentor/2008/12/22/stories/2008122250421100.htm
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Jaishree Gopal
It is very important for all Indians to get involved in social reform
movement of all kinds, and especially think of caste and gender issues
in Hinduism without being defensive or apologetic, with an eye to
reform rather than justify the current exclusive practices.
Jaishree Gopal, A contributor to 'Reflections by IITians', Co-founder
of Navya Shastra (http://www.shastras.org/)
December 20, 9.15 am
The future of religious practice
Posted by Murali at 9:15 AM
AM I A HINDU? International Best Seller said...
Namasthe Jaishree: What you wrote is very true.
Every religion and every culture has the GOOD, the BAD and UGLY
aspects in it and dwell on the negative aspects do not make any sense.
At the same time, we have to do everything in our power to eradicate
BAD and UGLY aspects where ever we find them.
The very best aspect of Hinduism is
"ABOSULTE FREEDOM OF THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS."
Voltaire in Essay on Tolerance wrote: "I may disagree with what you
say, but I will defend to the death, your right to say it. "Hinduism
is the symbolic representation of what Voltaire wrote.
May 26, 2009 7:41 PM
http://muralilistening.blogspot.com/2008/12/jaishree-gopal.html
November 01, 2008
Hindus Urged to Vote Against Prop. 8
Navya Shastra, the international Hindu reform organization based in
Troy, Mich., sent out a press release Friday urging California voters
to reject Proposition 8, which would eliminate the right of same-sex
couples to marry under California law.
Navya Shastra, the international Hindu reform organization based in
Troy, Mich., sent out a press release Friday urging California voters
to reject Proposition 8, which would eliminate the right of same-sex
couples to marry under California law.
The organization notes that Hinduism has never classified
homosexuality as a sin. While some ancient law codes have been
critical of homosexual acts, the denomination has never called for the
persecution of gays. In fact, there is ample evidence that alternative
lifestyles have been accepted throughout Hindu history. Several modern
Hindu leaders have also spoken positively of gay rights; however, many
American Hindus remain uncomfortable with homosexuality.
“According to the Hindu contemplative tradition, we are all
manifestations of the one universal spirit, straight or gay, and
worthy of the same respect and rights” said Jaishree Gopal, chairman
of Navya Shastra, in the release. “We urge American Hindus in
California to remember this central insight of their faith when they
vote on November 4.” (The Advocate)
http://www.advocate.com/article.aspx?id=42352
US-based Hindu group slams Jagannath temple priests
New York, March 05, 2007
Published: 17:21 IST (5/3/2007)
A US-based Hindu reform organisation has criticised the destroying of
huge quantities of food at the Jagannath temple in Orissa by the
temple authorities because an American had entered the complex - an
act seen as defiling the 12th century Hindu-only premises.
The Navya Shastra, an international Hindu reform organisation, said
the act of the temple authorities had no vedic sanction.
"We are appalled to know about the mindless throwing away of large
amounts of food by the Puri temple administration at the instigation
of pujaris (priests) with a medieval mindset at a time and place where
there are thousands of poor and hungry people," said the
organisation's chairman, Dr Jaishree Gopal.
A 59-year-old American engineer from New York was thrown out of the
temple complex last Thursday, fined, taken to a local police station
and later released, despite his protestations that he was unaware of
the temple's restrictions.
The Michigan-based Navya Shastra was founded in the United States in
2002. According to its website, the organisation stands against
"...caste hierarchy and caste injustices, not only because they are
not sanctioned in the Vedas, but also because they are morally wrong,
unacceptable, and anachronistic in the world in which we live.
"Given the high levels of malnutrition among India's children, this
act (throwing away food), assuredly without vedic sanction, must be
deemed unacceptable," a press release by the organisation, said.
"The organisation is saddened and surprised that no Hindu leader of
any consequence has protested this unconscionable and anachronistic
behaviour. Instead of purifying the premises, the priests should seek
to purify their own hearts and minds, and, along with other leaders,
set a positive example for all devotees," said Dr Bala Aiyer, an
advisor of the organisation said.
Foreigners are not allowed to enter leading Hindu temples in Orissa,
including the Jagannath temple at Puri and the Lingaraj temple there.
An American Christian woman, Pamela K. Fleig, who converted to
Hinduism after marrying an Indian from Uttar Pradesh, was denied entry
into the 11th century Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar in 2005.
Thailand's Crown Princess Sirindhorn was also not given permission to
visit the Jagannath temple in the same year, as she was a foreigner
and Buddhist.
Even late prime minister Indira Gandhi - a born Hindu - was not
allowed to enter the temple when she was in power because she had
married a Parsi.
http://shastras.org/mukundabrazil
Hindu group opposes Love Guru protests
New York, May 22: A Hindu reform organisation in the US has opposed
the growing protests by Hindu groups against upcoming Hollywood film
The Love Guru , saying that calling for a ban on the comedy starring
Mike Myers would be going too far.
Navya Shastra, the organisation based in Troy, Michigan, which earlier
spoke out against astrology, female foeticide and Dalit
discrimination, has argued that hyper-sensitivity over inaccurate or
distorted religious depictions in mass media erodes the tradition of
tolerance of criticism in the Hindu faith.
"Hindus have a remarkable history of freedom of thought and
expression. Unfortunately, this is being eroded these days by
hypersensitive and misguided chauvinistic pressure groups, perhaps
taking their cue from more chauvinistic traditions," Gautham Rao,
Navya Shastra's research director, was quoted as saying in a press
release.
It said while it respects the right of the groups in the US and
elsewhere to protest against the film, it strongly believes that
calling for a ban on the comedy goes too far.
The reform organisation further notes that in the era of electronic
media, monitoring and controlling religious depictions and imagery is
a daunting, near impossible task.
"Hindus should set a spiritual example for others by combating social
ills and discrimination," said Jaishree Gopal, Navya Shastra
chairman.
The protests against the film, which opens June 20, have been
spearheaded by Rajan Zed, Hindu leader based in Reno, Nevada. On
watching the film's trailer some weeks ago, he started accusing the
film of lampooning Hinduism.
Bureau Report
http://international.zeenews.com/inner1.asp?aid=201859&sid=bus
Navya Shastra concern over India's foeticide epidemic
From the Community
Posted: Wednesday, May 07, 2008, 01:17 am EST
Troy, Michigan: Navya Shastra, the international Hindu reform
organization has voiced concern over the declining female-to male sex
ratio in India.
It calls Indian feminist leaders to address the causes for this
deplorable situation and to urge their government to take more
effective action to curb and put an end to this sad and disgraceful
situation in the country.
It is ironic that the epidemic continues to worsen, despite a
burgeoning economy and rising literacy levels.
The bias against girls has existed for a long time across the
socioeconomic spectrum. Navya Shastra notes that even in the
wealthiest areas of the nation's metros, abortions of the girl-child
based upon prenatal ultrasound technology continue to rise, though
there seems to be a growing awareness of the problem.
"Clearly a cultural preference for boys in Indian society is the
driving force behind the rise in female feticide," says Rahul Saxena,
a Navya Shastra member from Bareilly, UP , "technology in this case is
simply serving an ancient prejudice."
Navya Shastra also called on the Hindu community and its organizations
to allow daughters to impart final rites at the funerals of their
parents. "One religious reason why boys are favored among Hindus is
because of the anachronistic belief that only a son can formally
conduct this ceremony, so a girl is totally worthless in this regard,"
said Dr. Jaishree Gopal, Navya Shastra Chairman.
(Compiled from a press release)
From India Abroad February 16, 2007, Pg M11
Ghosts of the Past
Ramya Gopal visits an Indian village where time and tradition appear
to have stood still
The urban scene of India has become a dichotomy between prosperity and
poverty, modernity and tradition. Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore are
hungry for steel: tall skyscrapers, metro stations, and multistoried
shopping complexes. However, the morning warbles of the subjilawallas,
the colorful temptation of street clothing, and the barber under the
banyan tree have refused to disappear into wistful oblivion.
This modern story of India is one with which we have all become
familiar; the miracle India praised on the covers of magazines and
newspapers. Yet in its villages, this dichotomy is replaced by a one-
sided reliance on ancient tradition. When I visited a village near
Chennai this past summer, I saw for the first time the archaic India
described in the stories of the Mahabharatha and the Ramayana.
As we drove away from Chennai, the roads dwindled from paved to dirt
and then sand. The air of the coast was permeated by a pungent odor of
fish, but one that the people seemed to relish. The hot sand calloused
my feet but there was no litter for me to avoid as I had in the
cities. Women in colorful saris and men in dhotis were squatted on the
slimy floor sorting the fish. Repulsed, I strayed away from the stink,
but it nostalgically reminded me that fishing villages initiated the
story of the Mahabharata. Satyavati, the embodiment of mothers in the
epic, was the daughter of a fisherman, and it seemed as if these
fishermen were continuing the legacy. Interrupting my musing, my host
beckoned me to a row of small motorboats shuddering against the coast.
Boats were the only method of transportation across the lake and to
the village.
On the island, I walked, with seaweed in my toes, past small huts with
thatched roofs. The main attraction in the island was an ornate temple
surrounded by everyone in the village. A tent had been strung beyond
with seats lined in rows like a movie theatre. I stood awkwardly in
the sun, unsure of the village mores, until a few older girls beckoned
to me. They had pulled out a chair and formed a towering circle around
me. The girls had matching plaits and silver anklets.
A few were wearing simple cotton pavadais (petticoats), more
traditional to Tamil Nadu, although one was wearing a nightgown. We
gawked politely at each other; American suburban girl meets Indian
village girls. "Why do you have your hair like that? In a bun?" they
asked me in Tamil. Taken aback, I didn't have an adequate response, so
I steered the conversation away from me to them. I discovered that the
girls were between 18 and 20 but had only studied in school until 10th
grade. In between giggles, they added that one of them was engaged.
The girls were at the ripe age for marriage and their parents were
looking for grooms for them. However, they could not marry out of
their village because it was the only "untouchable" village in the
area. This social discrimination as a result of caste distinction
echoed again in their stories about the old temple.
One reason for my visit to Idamani--the place I was in-- was to
witness the opening ceremony of a new temple. The old temple had been
destroyed by the tsunami two years ago. As the girls began to open up
to me, I listened to their stories of backward practices associated
with the temple. One example was the men's inability to wear a poonal,
the sacred thread, because they were not "upper caste". Other families
would not even visit their homes because they were untouchables. Women
were not allowed in the temple when the men held their meetings. These
restrictive traditions had been eradicated in the cities and other
parts of the world but persisted in this village.
The inauguration ceremony of the temple was announced by the ringing
tones of the nadaswaram and the temple quickly became crowded. Some
women looked out coyly from their thatched huts. Young girls were made
up in magenta colored lipstick, designs around their eyes, and traces
of dried turmeric on their faces. In the center of the temple was a
large (homam )fire and shahstri (priest) sang bhajans with the
villagers repeating after him, clapping. Colorful flowers, rice, and
butter for prasadam on aged yellow banana leaves completed the
ceremony.Interestingly, while members of the "higher" caste had rarely
visited the old temple, the inauguration ceremony had been attended by
many outsiders. The new temple would, hopefully, become an emblem of
caste reform.
Even as economic development brings modernity to India's villages,
strong social divides still linger. In this village, for instance,
water purification infrastructure has been put into place yet women
still quit studying in favor of marriage. It was the most striking
difference between the city and the village; caste lines more sharply
divided and a central part of daily life. It left me with the thought
that true prosperity was impossible until social advancement and a
sense of equality became firmly entrenched in our communities.
http://shastras.org/Untouchability_IA.html
India's Tolerance Levels Tested as American Enters Forbidden Sanctuary
Deepak Mahaan
Correspondent
New Delhi (CNSNews.com) - An American tourist caused an uproar when he
wandered into a Hindu temple strictly closed to non-Hindus, in an
incident that highlighted the challenges India faces in presenting
itself as an enlightened democracy.
Detained for several hours by local police in India's Orissa state,
Paul Roediger, a 59-year-old engineer from New York, was later
released on condition he pay a token fine, after what authorities at
the Jagannath temple called an "act of desecration."
Roediger's inadvertent wandering into the shrine of Hindu deity Vishnu
triggered calls from some Hindus for severe punishment, but local
policemen managed to convince temple administrators and angry
adherents that he had trespassed in error.
Unaware of rules banning entry of non-Hindus, the American, who is
interested in temple architecture, walked into the temple's inner
"sanctum sanctorum."
Roediger expressed regret but also blamed temple authorities, noting
that no guard had prevented him from entering the area.
Police Inspector Alekh Pahi said Roediger and two Indian companions
had been released as "there is no provision in law to take any action
against for entering the temple."
Temple authorities afterwards "purified" the "defiled" premises by
washing with water and milk. Food worth nearly $5,000, meant for
distribution among Hindu devotees as part of religious ritual, was
deemed "polluted" and destroyed.
The decision upset a U.S.-based Hindu reform organization, which said
it was appalled by the waste.
The Navya Shastra organization said it reflected "a medieval mindset
at a time and place where there are thousands of poor and hungry
people."
The incident has focused renewed attention onto controversial
religious and cultural practices that survive in India despite its
stated commitment to secular, democratic principles.
"Low-caste" citizens and "untouchables" (dalits) are still denied
entry to various temples or forbidden to use water wells, in
contravention of constitutional guarantees.
Dr. Rashmi Patni, director of the Gandhian Studies Centre at the
University of Rajasthan, argues that such customs go against the
tenets of Mahatma Gandhi who he said stood for human dignity and
equality irrespective of caste, sex, creed or color and fought for
temple entry for dalits.
"Like in every society, social discrimination in India is born out of
centuries' old legacy," she said. "It is similar to the problem and
differences among blacks and whites in the U.S. and cannot be
eradicated merely by enactment of constitutional statutes."
Patni said, however, that the growing affluence of the middle class,
increasing literacy levels and the spread of information technology
was making issues of caste, gender and religion of little importance
to younger Indians.
Sawai Singh, an activist espousing Gandhi's ideas, said successive
Indian governments have failed to curb the menace of religious
intolerance, because politicians prefer to pander to their respective
constituencies.
"If punishments for social discrimination and depravation were to be
severe, many of these evils would get eradicated automatically," Singh
argued.
Ironically, the Jagannath temple is immensely popular among pilgrims,
because unlike some centers, it does not discriminate between higher-
and lower-caste Hindus.
Nonetheless, the temple does not allow entry to non-Hindus or
foreigners - with the exception of Western Hare Krishna devotees, who
throng to the temple each year in large numbers.
Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was once turned away from
the main gates of the shrine, as she was deemed to be non-Hindu,
having married outside of the religion.
Make media inquiries or request an interview about this article.
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11531055/
An Unqualified Apology to Every Untouchable
December 19, 2006
Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta
http://desicritics.org/2006/12/19/103610.php
The untouchables of Hinduism are a wretched lot. For hundreds and
thousands of years, this group of people have been forced to inhabit
the bottom end of the Hindu totem pole.
While it is not at the level of genocide, it is an institutionalised
social
discrimination over a very long period of time. When I read a press
release from a Hindu reformist group apologising to the Untouchables
for the deep seated discrimination, it struck a chord in my mind and I
wanted to write about it, as well as share in this apology.
For example, only recently there was a big brouhaha when a temple in
India refused entry to dalits (who are also Hindu) simply because they
were of a lower caste. In this day and age! I was so furious and when
I complained bitterly that none of the mainstream Hindu organisations
or leaders in India did anything, I was accused of patronising them.
These so-called Hindu organisations are very quick off the mark when
absolutely silly things go on, but when there is clear cut painfully
evident confirmation that there needs to be reform, they are nowhere
to be found. This is absolutely ridiculous and a clear example of
intellectual incoherence at best and incompetence at worst. But I
digress.
Apologies are very strange and at the same time, very human. It is
extremely powerful and at the same time, looked upon with deep
cynicism. It is also extremely difficult to do so, while there is
nothing like this to draw the teeth out of any angst ridden situation.
Just ask me, I have to apologise regularly to my sister. But this
apology is one, which is valid on so many different levels and this is
an apology to the untouchables of Hinduism.
The basics of this religiously mandated behaviour are well known and I
will not spend too much time on going deeper into the intricacies of
this. Other than saying that the idea of difference and discrimination
was institutionalised despite a huge amount of debate on what this
differentiation meant. On one hand, there were statements effectively
saying that everybody is born the same, while on the other hand, there
are statements in religious books talking about how some are born from
the head and some from the foot. Irrespective of what the religious
justification is, one found that there are literally thousands of
groups who consider themselves different from other groups. This
groupism extended to bans on intermarriage, taking meals together and
even extended to group dedicated watering holes and wells.
Quite a lot of Hindu reformers ranging from Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma
Gandhi, Guru Rabindranath Tagore, Dayananda Saraswati, etc. kept a
strong pressure on changing this religious practise, but even when
India became independent, this was still present.
The then leader of the untouchables, Shri Bhimrao Ambedkar, a
brilliant lawyer, even incorporated caste based reservations into the
constitution, to provide them with the leg up.
As it so happens, this is something which I disagree with, because
this has institutionalised discrimination and is not leading anybody
anywhere towards the true equality in the eyes of the state and
citizens, but that's beside the point.
Discrimination was outlawed by the Indian constitution in 1936, but
little has changed for the 300-400 million people who belonged to the
Untouchable Castes of India. I am also conscious of the fact that
calling it 'the caste system' is dangerously simplifying it, as the
actual theological aspects behind the differentiation is much more
complex.
What is also beside the point is that all other religions and cultures
have had the same groupism and differentiation and were trying to
create a separate identity through religious or cultural factors.
Whether we are talking about the Japanese way of looking at the
difference between the samurai and peasants, the difference between
the faithful and the dhimmi, the difference between Catholics and
Protestants, the difference between white and black skin, the
difference between Christian and pagan, you name it, discrimination
has occurred all the time and everywhere. And yes, just because it
happened in other religious, regions and cultures, it just tells me
that it is pretty much human. This is, however, neither an excuse nor
a reason to stop trying to rip out this disgusting practise.
But what good is an apology? We have to address the cynics in our
midst as well, because I have seen this form of visceral reaction from
both sides.
The side of the Hindus, who totally refuse to accept that this
happened and go off into theological arguments and ignore the real
life actions around discrimination. The other side are the Dalits, who
would be happy to tear down the entire country to satisfy their rather
strange desire for revenge. Both extremely simplistic in the extreme
and frankly not worth talking to or about, but then, that's what
happens to fanatics. Their feet are planted firmly in the air!
But this is not for the fanatics, they won't listen anyway, it is for
the vast majority of Hindus, people who have a social conscience, care
about their culture and are conscious of a vast historical injustice
done to a whole group of other people. And it is not a simple binary
equation, high class Brahmins discriminating against lower class
dalits. It happens on every group intersection, so there is no point
in getting up on the high horse about just one group.
An apology is a very good means to bring things out in the open.
Hiding behind a religious tract or pointing at other instances does
not change the situation on the ground. Every Hindu has to be open
about this discrimination, and understand what this has done to us,
our culture, history and reputation. No longer! This apology means
that we understand and accept the fault. Not only that, but an apology
actually provides the impetus or the foundation to do something about
it.
This is the other good thing about an apology for the cynics out
there. Once one has gone through the cathartic process of apologising,
one can start to address this issue, if only by small measures. If a
friend says something demeaning about a lower caste person, even a
raised eyebrow is a small but significant step in telling people that
this form of behaviour is not appropriate.
One will definitely ask me the question if somebody might actually
accept the apology? I am afraid this is the wrong question. When Tony
Blair apologised for the British role in Slavery, he did not do it
because he was worried whether anybody might or might not accept it.
He did it because this was the right thing to do. Despite the fact
that I am personally not responsible for this reprehensible and
horrible historical fact, as a Hindu and as a human being, it is but
right to apologise. As a Hindu, I hold responsibility to my religion,
my nation, my society, my government, and indeed to my children as
well. An apology can, in a small way, lead towards making the world a
fairer place.
The Hindu Reformist group, Navya Shastra (http://www.shastras.org/),
who actually made the public apology, also invited a whole host of
other Hindu luminaries to join in this effort. I am not sure how far
this went but it should be remembered that this caste based
discrimination is not simply religiously mandated, but also socially
mandated. Hence besides religious figures, cultural and social figures
need to be brought into this as well. In many ways, an appeal by one
of the Bollywood actors may actually provide more push to changes in
behaviour, rather than very many Hindu religious leaders combined. But
still, more luminaries joining in to complain, apologise and push
Indians to remove this distressing social condition is good.
So here it is, I fully endorse and join Navya Shastra, in apologising
to the other castes, for what I and my forefathers may have done and
promise that I will raise my voice against this disgusting practice,
and hopefully help remove this by my words as well as my behaviour.
At the UN World Conference on Race (WCAR) held August 31-September 8
2001 in Durban, South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki said:"...there are
many in our common world who suffer indignity and humiliation because
they are not white ...These are a people who know what it means to be
the victim of rabid racism and racial discrimination. Nobody ever
chose to be a slave, to be colonised, to be racially oppressed. The
impulses of the time caused these crimes to be committed by human
beings against others."
And while there was quite a hullabaloo about whether 'casteism' is
appropriate in this race conference, this is quibbling over details.
Discrimination existed, it exists and it behoves us to address it. May
this apology be a first start to a better implementation of religion!
All this to be taken with a grain of salt!
Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta works in the city of London in various capacities
in the financial sector. He has worked and travelled widely around the
world. The articles in here relate to his current studies and are
strictly his opinion and do not reflect the position of his past or
current employer(s). If you do want to blame somebody, then blame my
sister and editor, she is responsible for everything, the ideas, the
writing, the quotes, the drive, the israeli-palestinian crisis, global
warming, the ozone layer depletion and the argentinian debt crisis.
Indian Groups Contest California Textbook Content
India-West, News Report, Viji Sundaram, Posted: Feb 16, 2006
HAYWARD, Calif. – Even as the California Board of Education (CBE) is
trying to grapple with the contentious and loudly debated issue of
corrections requested from Hindu groups in proposed textbooks for
sixth-graders, another group is trying to make its voice heard over
the din.
Some dalits (widely thought of in India as an oppressed people) across
the U.S. are demanding that the term, dalit, used only in one of the
nine proposed textbooks currently being reviewed by the CBE, not be
elided (omitted), as the Hindu groups want, and that a photo of a
dalit cleaning a latrine be replaced with one of a dalit engaged in a
faith practice.
They also say that it would serve the dalits' cause better if the
textbooks said that "untouchability is a living reality in India,"
instead of simply going by the Hindu groups' suggestion that the books
say that it is illegal to treat someone as an untouchable, Vikram
Masson, co-founder of Navya Shastra, a U.S.-based non-profit
organization that speaks out against caste-related issues, told India-
West.
Acknowledging that "the Hinduism sections (in the textbooks) are
extremely poor to begin with" and need to be corrected, Masson, who is
himself not a dalit and is a parent of a school-going child in New
Jersey, observed: "It is curious (the Hindu groups) would want to
elide the word, dalit. We believe the heritage of Hinduism is positive
enough, and there is no need to cover up any inadequacies."
New Jersey resident Jebaroja Singh, whose dalit grandparents converted
to Christianity many years ago, seemed to echo those sentiments.
"When there has been a history of discrimination against dalits, why
should we paint a rosy picture in the textbooks?" asked Singh, who
teaches racism and sexism in the U.S. at William Patterson University
in Wayne, N.J. Masson is married to a Christian priest.
But others argue that since the textbooks primarily deal with ancient
India, a time when the word, dalit, was not even coined, to not remove
it would be inappropriate.
For over a year now, two U.S.-based Hindu groups - the Hindu Education
Foundation and the Vedic Foundation - as well as scores of Hindu
parents, have been pushing for corrections in the social studies and
history courses in the sixth-grade textbooks, saying that the books
not only do not accurately represent India's ancient culture and
history, they sometimes denigrate it. Every six years, textbook
publishers offer the CBE drafts of textbooks they plan to bring out
for the board's acceptance. Public hearings form an integral part of
the review process.
At those hearings last year, the Hindu groups asserted that the books
were historically inaccurate in saying such things as Hinduism evolved
in India from the Aryans who invaded the country in 1500 B.C.; that
Sanskrit was a dead language; that Hindi is written in Arabic script;
that the Aryan rulers had created a caste system, under which the
dalits were forced to perform menial tasks.
According to many scholars, prior to 600 A.D., the terms used in India
to describe a so-called untouchable were chandala and shudra, and only
about one percent of the population fell under that category.
Citing from the book, "The Wonder That Was India," by the late ancient
history scholar A.L. Basham, southern California resident and retired
UCLA ancient history professor Shiva Bajpai told India-West: "In fact,
it was not blood that made a group untouchable, but conduct."
"So a Brahmin could be viewed as a chandala if he behaved badly,"
Bajpai said.
Over the last several decades, the term dalit – a Marathi word that
means oppressed - has been gaining more currency in India, with the
rise of growing activism among the approximately 150 million people at
the bottom of the caste system, who accuse members of the upper caste
of pervasive discrimination for centuries.
The late Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution,
struggled to win dalits like himself equal rights. He renounced
Hinduism in the process, saying the religion perpetuated the caste
system. Mahatma Gandhi worked toward uplifting the dalits' status,
bestowing upon them the term, Harijan, which means "children of God."
However, many dalits and activists do not like to be called that.
"They say if you are born from God, your parentage is questionable,"
said Masson.
Even the group of historians and academics headed by Harvard
University Sanskrit professor Michael Witzel, who is opposing many of
the corrections the Hindu groups have suggested, accusing them of
attempting to whitewash Indian history, has accepted the Hindu groups'
suggestion to delete negative references to untouchability, said Santa
Rosa, Calif., resident Vishal Agarwal, who described himself as an
"independent scholar."
Related Stories:
Missing from Racism Summit Agenda - India's Caste System
America: Welcome to the Third World
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=41bc3d55ffe78d0686112ba99ae75766
US Hindu organisation accuses VHP of casteism
IANS[ SUNDAY, MARCH 06, 2005 07:27:31 PM ]
Sign into earnIndiatimes points
MICHIGAN: A US-based Hindu organisation has accused the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) of "casteist practices" at a mass conversion campaign
in Etah in Uttar Pradesh last month.
Navya Shastra, the organisation which boasts of scholars and priests
"dedicated to fostering the spiritual equality of all Hindus" among
its followers, said the VHP, which claimed to have converted 5,000
Christians to Hinduism at Etah, had classified them as Dalits in their
new religion.
"While we applaud all efforts to spread the Hindu religion through
peaceful and legitimate means, we are utterly baffled that the VHP
would insist that the new converts be labelled as untouchables," it
said in a statement here.
"This is a bizarre act of conceptual dehumanisation," the statement
quoted Navya Shastra co-chairperson Jaishree Gopal as saying.
The statement urged all Hindu organisations involved in proselytising
activities to do away with attaching cast labels to new converts.
"Surely all modern Hindu reformers agree that there is no spiritual
merit attached to any caste affiliation," the statement added.
Organisations like the VHP, which envisions a caste-free society,
should follow their own advice, it maintained.
God's Wrath in India?
Hindu resentment over Christian activity in India fuels religious
explanations of tsunami tragedy.
BY: Arun Venugopal
Resize - Minus Resize - Plus As the world attempts to tackle the
tragedy in South Asia, the focus for the vast majority of South Asians
has been on relief. But the tsunami has also magnified already-
existing tensions between Hindus, Christians and others in the
devastated region. In India--a country often seen as a spiritual
battleground, where religions fight over the souls of the poor and
dispossessed--some conservative Hindus have used the tsunami to
criticize both a Hindu leader's arrest and the presence of Christian
missionaries in India. Meanwhile, evangelical Christian groups may
proselytize as they help tsunami victims.
Last week, a column on the widely-read Indian news site Rediff.com
suggested that the tsunami was a sign of retribution against
Christians, whose activities are seen as betraying India's essentially
Hindu character. (Full disclosure: I work for a publication owned by
Rediff.com, and my articles occasionally appear on Rediff.) Columnist
Rajeev Srinivasan pointed to several religion-related factors he sees
as pertinent. Referring to the earthquake as the "Christmas quake," he
implied that the timing wasn't mere coincidence. He also noted that
the tsunami hit a church at Velankanni, one of the most significant
Christian pilgrimage points in South India, resulting in the death of
50 people. Finally, he connected the tragedy to what many see as the
recent mistreatment of a revered Hindu leader.
In November, a holy man known formally as Shankaracharya Jayendra
Saraswathi was
arrested in connection with the murder of a former official of his
religious order. Hindus around the world decried the arrest, even
organizing mass email petitions maintaining that the entire affair was
politically motivated and related to a longstanding fight with the
current head of the state government of Tamil Nadu, where the most
tsunami-related deaths later occurred. Before long, the
Shankaracharya's sympathizers had solidified their opinion that anti-
Hindu forces were to blame, with some going so far as to point fingers
at the Vatican.
For Srinivasan, the Shankaracharya's arrest seemed the most plausible
explanation for the subsequent disaster. "The devastation by the
tsunami in Tamil Nadu, could it be a caveat from Up There about the
atrocities being visited on the [Shankaracharya]?" he asked. "About
adharma"--evil--"gaining ground?" In summarizing, he wrote, "It is
said that the very elements can be affected by the mystical powers of
sages who have acquired superhuman powers through meditation and
sadhana. I think we should all tread carefully, for now we are
treading on things we do not know."
Srinivasan's comments may seem like isolated rants--and even many of
his longtime readers rejected them--but other groups have echoed his
feelings. The Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Foundation, which defends the
Shankaracharya, recently sent an email to its supporters linking the
tsunami to the holy man's arrest. The email says "God has given a
strong signal with this disaster when the injustice to Dharmic
followers have crossed the tolerance limit." It instructs readers to
pray that the tsunami will be "an eye-opener for the Tamil Nadu
Administration and for the media to stop abusing their powers and
bring out false charges against H.H. [His Holiness]."
Most Hindus find the "act of God" tsunami theories irrelevant, if not
offensive. "Such a controversy, if at all there is one, is a product
of some small minds," said Gaurang Vaishnav of the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad of America, one of many Hindu organizations in the United
States that has rallied to aid the victims.
"Hindus do not believe in a vindictive God. There are always actions
and reactions in accordance with the theory of karma. But to attribute
a wholesale destruction and death of thousands of innocent people to a
single act of a state government is ridiculous, insensitive and
insulting to human compassion that crosses the boundaries of religion
at times of natural disasters."
Another Hindu group, the reformist
Navya Shastra
, issued a press release condemning Hindu organizations that have
bought into the act-of-God view, comparing their remarks to those of
Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell. While acknowledging, like
Vaishnav, that karma could have played a role in the deaths, the
group, made of Hindu scholars, practitioners and priests outside
India, suggested that it was more important to focus on helping
survivors than trying to explain why the disaster happened.
Such act-of-God charges also tap into larger Hindu resentment over the
notion that traditional Hindu culture is giving way to forces such as
Western materialism or other faiths. Opposition to Christian
missionary work and the conversion of Dalits, or low-caste Hindus, is
not confined to Hindu nationalists. Many people react negatively to
the idea that some of India's tribal peoples may be exposed to the
Bible even as they are taught how to read, or may take on a Christian
name. The state of Tamil Nadu has special significance for many
Hindus. It was there that a controversial Anti-Conversion Bill was
passed in 2002, meant to prevent poor Hindus from being forcibly
converted to Christianity, especially via financial inducements.
Christian leaders have denied offering such inducements.
But some mission groups see tsunami relief efforts as an opportunity
to spread the gospel in South Asia. In an
article on the evangelical website Crosswalk.com
, Dr. Ajith Fernando of Youth for Christ was quoted as saying, "We
have prayed and wept for our nation for many years. The most urgent of
my prayers has always been that my people would turn to Jesus. I pray
that this terrible, terrible tragedy might be used by God to break
through into the lives of many of our people."
Another evangelist, Gospel for Asia's K.P. Yohannan, said, "In times
like these, we know that God opens the hearts of those who suffer, and
we pray that as our workers demonstrate God's love to them, many of
them will come to know for the first time that real security comes
only through Him."
The statements were immediately distributed to watchful Hindus through
the e-mail news digest Hindu Press International ("Christians See
Conversion Opportunities in Disaster Relief"), a service from the
publishers of the U.S. magazine Hinduism Today.
For some Hindus, the Christian call to evangelize was expected, and
served to favorably contrast Hinduism's non-proselytization with what
they consider the insidious nature of certain Christian groups. "You
will not find an RSS or VHP volunteer converting a non-Hindu to Hindu
Dharma after helping him in his time of need," said Gaurang Vaishnav.
"This is the true meaning of seva"--service in the spirit of
sacrifice--"to a Hindu."
However, these same Hindu aid groups are themselves under scrutiny. An
email distributed by the leftist group
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate
told Indians interested in donating to disaster victims to avoid Hindu
groups such as the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS), Seva International
and the VHP of America. These organizations, says CSFH, have a history
of using grassroots efforts to advance a militant Hindu political
agenda. According to Kaushik Ghosh, an anthropologist at the
University of Texas, they may create organizational bases, increase
membership, establish political legitimacy or fundraise.
"During [2001's] Gujarat earthquake, the amount of money that flew
into these organizations was unbelievable," said Ghosh. "The
accounting of such money is relatively murky ...NGOs and relief-
development work can become the source of money for a whole range of
'behind-the-camera' projects." For its part, the VHPA states, "funds
for relief work are distributed without consideration of province,
race or religion."
Despite the religious struggles in the press and among advocacy
groups, the interfaith situation appears to be more positive on the
ground, where aid groups and neighbors are working together to help
survivors. One Indian blogger, Amit Varma, reported a growing
friendship between local people of different faiths responding to the
devastation. While spending time in the village of Parangipettai, in
Tamil Nadu, Varma wrote, "A deep bond had been formed between the
villagers, who were all Hindus, and these Muslim men who rushed to
help their neighbours because they believed that to be the way of
their religion. ...Faith, that can be so divisive in times of peace,
can also bring communities together in times of strife."
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Hinduism/2004/11/Gods-Wrath-In-India.aspx
Hindu group criticises Kanchi Shankaracharya
Friday October 15 2004 18:31 IST
IANS
NEW YORK: A US-based organisation has criticised India's leading Hindu
seer, Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, for having been part
of a ceremony where a Rs.20 million ($425,000) diamond-studded crown
was placed on a deity, saying the money could have been spent on
social service instead.
The Navya Shastra, a Hindu organisation, said the seer was part of the
Oct 2 "kumbhabhishekam" ceremony in Andhra Pradesh state's Tirupati
temple where the deity, Lord Venkateswara, was adorned with the crown.
The crown, encrusted with two marble sized emeralds and rare Burmese
rubies besides diamonds, has been donated by the Goenka business
family of Kolkata, India.
Navya Shastra research director Gautham Rao, said money for the crown
had come through donations and it could have been put to better use.
"Clearly at this time in Indian history, when the majority of Indian
citizens continue to live at or near poverty levels, we felt the money
should have been spent on social service," he said.
"We had hoped the Acharya would use his considerable influence to
direct the funds for programmes for the betterment of struggling
Hindus and members of the lower castes, many of whom continue to live
on the peripheries of Hindu society," he added.
Navya Shastra also questioned the participation of Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in the "opulent" ceremony.
http://shastras.org/Kanchinews.htm
NRI group battles Hinduism's "inequalities"
by Arun Venugopal
When Tukaram, a 19-year-old Dalit fresh from his exams, prayed at a
Hanuman temple in Andhra Pradesh earlier this month, he probably never
anticipated the outrage it would cause.
Upper caste villagers issued an injunction against his entire
community, before scrubbing down the entire temple with cow dung and
urine in a symbolic act of purification.
Ths situation might have remained another footnote to the ongoing
story of India's caste divisions, but for the efforts of a group of
reformist NRIs. The group, Navya Shastra, publicly condemned the
actions of the upper caste villagers and announced a Rs 10,000 (about
$200) scholarship for Tukaram.
This is just the latest in a series of actions the group has taken to
address what it feels are inequities in the religion. Unlike secular
groups that rail against caste and gender discrimination, however,
Navya Shastra comprises devout, temple-going Hindus.
These include a leading priest from Houston and a number of academics,
as well as converts to the religion. Among the advisers is Arun
Gandhi, founder of the MK Gandhi Center for Nonviolence, and O P
Gupta, India's ambassador to Finland.
According to Jaishree Gopal, the molecular biologist in Michigan who
founded Navya Shastra with New Jersey resident Vikram Masson, the
group formed after discussions on an online Hindu bulletin board two
years ago.
"There are lots of apologists writing on the Net these days." said
Gopal. "We saw some articles posted that there is no caste
discrimination in Hinduism (but we know) that Dalits are discriminated
against."
Its this inequality, the group contends on its website, which has lead
to an "epochal tide of conversions to religions thats supposedly
preach egalitarian values. There is compelling evidence that the
number of actual conversions in India is vastly understated by both
missionary organizations and the government."
Aside from access to temples for members of all castes, the group
promotes the right for anyone--man or woman--to receive the sacred
thread and/or become a priest.
While the Indian government has encouraged such reforms to an extent,
the organization insists that Hindus themselves should take up the
cause while avoiding factionalism. At the same time, the group has
been critical of Dalits for highlighting caste discrimination without
actively working with Hindu leaders to resolve the problem.
According to Gopal, it is not a coincidence that Navya Shastra is
based outside of India.
"As NRIs, we become more aware of our religious identity when you are
young, as opposed to India, where it just permeates the atmoshere",
she said. "We are used to answering questions about caste over here.
And we can't always justify the discriminatory aspects."
Another member, Sri Rajarathina Bhattar, agreed with this assessment
and cited the grip of "superstitous beliefs" on many Hindus in India.
The priest emeritus at Houston's Sri Meenakshi Temple, Bhattar has
been conducting a letter writing campaign to newspapers and orthodox
leaders in India, stressing the need for reform.
So far, he said, there continue to be a number of priests who insist
on maintaining the status quo.
"But priests who are well educated seem to agree with me." he said.
"The main reason most of them disagree is due to the fear that they
may lose certain rights as a priest."
This article appeared in June 18, 2004 issue of India Abroad
http://shastras.org/ArunVenugopal.html
US body condemns discrimination against Dalit student
Monday June 7 2004 12:52 IST
IANS
TROY (MICHIGAN): A Hindu organisation in the US has condemned reported
discrimination against a Dalit student who was allegedly victimised
for offering prayers in a Hindu temple in India's Andhra Pradesh
state.
Navya Shastra, which professes spiritual equality of all Hindus, has
also promised financial assistance to Tukaram, 19, to meet his
educational costs.
The boy scored a first class in his intermediate examinations and
visited the village temple of Hanuman to make the traditional coconut
offering in Allapur, Andhra Pradesh. When members of the upper caste
community discovered this they condemned the boy and extorted Rs.500
fine from his apologetic father, Tulsiram.
They also purified the temple by washing it with cow urine and dung so
as to efface the imprints of an "untouchable," according to Vikram
Masson, co-chairman of the organisation.
Such community-based discrimination continues in India despite a
constitutional ban and strict legal safeguards against community
discrimination. "Tukaram must know that others in the Hindu world
strongly condemn such actions," said Jaishree Gopal, the other co-
chairman of the organisation.
"Navya Shastra will award Tukaram a scholarship to help his family
with Tukaram's educational costs and sincerely hopes that the Indian
government and religious leaders will pay more attention to the
apartheid in our midst," said Gopal.
http://shastras.org/Newindpress.com
End caste discrimination, Hindu leaders urged
New York, Nov 28 (IANS) A global Hindu group has urged leaders of the
faith to end caste discrimination in their institutions. The group,
Navya Shastra, also said in a press note that the Vedic chanting
tradition should be opened to all instead of being restricted to upper
caste Brahmins. Jaishree Gopal, Navya Shastra co-chairperson, said:
"The only way to save the Vedic chanting tradition is to initiate
sincere members of all castes, ...
…resulting in a dwindling supply of Vedic experts. The organisation is
lobbying Hindu leaders to implement caste blind initiation policies at
an Acharya Sabha meet to be held in Chennai from Saturday.
… "Here we have a historic opportunity to declare to the world that
Hinduism will reform itself for ever of caste discrimination," said
Vikram Masson, Navya Shastra co-chairman.
"Hinduism, which is thousands of years old, has never had a
significant reformist movement," said Arun Gandhi, Navya Shastra
adviser and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. "I believe the new millennium
now offers Hinduism an opportunity to change its ancient ...
http://news.eians.com/2003/11/28/28end.html , 27997 bytes
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Produktinformation
Taschenbuch: 208 Seiten
Verlag: Vintage Books; Auflage: N.-A. (4. August 1997)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 0749390697
ISBN-13: 978-0749390693
Größe und/oder Gewicht: 19,4 x 12,6 x 1,4 cm
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Produktbeschreibungen
Pressestimmen
"A witty documentary satire.... Mehta embraces an enormous variety of
life and death. Her style is light without being flip; her skepticism
never descends to cynicism. [Karma Cola is] a miracle of rationalism
and taste."
-- Time
Sometime in the 1960s, the West adopted India as its newest spiritual
resort. The next anyone knew, the Beatles were squatting at the feet
of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Expatriate hippies were turning on
entire villages to the pleasures of group sex and I.V. drug use. And
Indians who were accustomed to earning enlightenment the old-fashioned
way were finding that the visitors wanted their Nirvana now -- and
that plenty of native gurus were willing to deliver it.
No one has observed the West's invasion of India more astutely than
Gita Mehta. In Karma Cola the acclaimed novelist trains an unblinking
journalistic eye on jaded sadhus and beatific acid burnouts, the
Bhagwan and Allen Ginsberg, guilt-tripping English girls and a guru
who teaches gullible tourists how to view their previous incarnations.
Brilliantly irreverent, hilarious, sobering, and wise, Mehta's book is
the definitive epitaph for the era of spiritual tourism and all its
casualties -- both Eastern and Western.
"Evelyn Waugh would have rejoiced."
-- The New York Times Book Review
Kurzbeschreibung
Beginning in the late '60s, hundreds of thousands of Westerners
descended upon India, disciples of a cultural revolution that
proclaimed that the magic and mystery missing from their lives was to
be found in the East. An Indian writer who has also lived in England
and the United States, Gita Mehta was ideally placed to observe the
spectacle of European and American "pilgrims" interacting with their
hosts. When she finally recorded her razor sharp observations in Karma
Cola, the book became an instant classic for describing, in merciless
detail, what happens when the traditions of an ancient and longlived
society are turned into commodities and sold to those who don't
understand them.
In the dazzling prose that has become her trademark, Mehta skewers the
entire Spectrum of seekers: The Beatles, homeless students, Hollywood
rich kids in detox, British guilt-trippers, and more. In doing so, she
also reveals the devastating byproducts that the Westerners brought to
the villages of rural lndia -- high anxiety and drug addiction among
them.
Brilliantly irreverent, Karma Cola displays Gita Mehta's gift for
weaving old and new, common and bizarre, history and current events
into a seamless and colorful narrative that is at once witty,
shocking, and poignant.
Alle Produktbeschreibungen
http://www.amazon.de/Karma-Cola-Gita-Mehta/dp/0749390697
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Karma Cola
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Die hilfreichste positive Rezension Die hilfreichste kritische
Rezension
3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Amazing
Ms. Mehta is undoubtedly the best Indian author alive!
I dothink the person who wrote the two sentence review probably does
not know the meaning of 'trash'. 'Trash' is the heaps and heaps of
books that get published every year in the US and somehow make it to
the NY Times best seller list just beacuse Oprah thinks it is a good
book or because it can be made into a tv...
Vollständige Rezension lesen ›
Veröffentlicht am 20. April 2000 von SL
› Weitere Rezensionen anzeigen: 5 Sterne, 4 Sterne
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Useful & entertaining
Humorous description of overseas visitors looking to India for
spiritual enlightenment twenty years ago. I read this while visiting
Pune, India, location of Bhagavan Shri Rajnish's ashram, which made it
even more appropriate. Very entertaining & perceptive.
The book is not about India--it is about Western misperception of
India.
Veröffentlicht am 29. Januar 2000 von J. G. Heiser
0 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Decent but nothing special, 21. Juni 2000
Von Meredith Billman Mani -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East
(Vintage International) (Taschenbuch)
While Ms. Metha is an extremely talented writer I find it distracting
to have to wade through her obvious attempts to describe every minute
detail to the reader. It gets to be too much. This is a nice book that
offers (too much) description and a very one sided view of India.
She's writing for an American audience and it's as though she wants
them to laugh at the customs and norms in India. This is not my
favorite book on india or even by the author. This is a middle of the
road book as far as I'm concerned. I don't hate it, but then again I
don't love it either.
0 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
This book is not good., 5. Mai 2000
Von Ein Kunde
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola (Taschenbuch)
This book mocks europeans and americans who have earnestly gone to
India to seek out "enlightenment" and an element of spirituality that
they think is lacking in their home cultures. Gita Mehta employs all
sorts of cliches and negative stereotypes to depict this class of
"foreigner" in India. This is not a very challenging literary task.
Her language is as slick and taught as advertising text. Sometimes
clever, but more often simply rank and mean, Mehta indulges in trite
pseudo subaltern "slamming" of hippies and spiritual seekers.
I wonder what Mehta's reaction would be if an American author started
penning stories of the immature, body-stenched, fashion impaired
Indian immigrants who flock to America to shop in outlet malls and
stuff their cheap luggage full of cheaper nick-nacks for the glass
bureaus back in Delhi and Dehra Dun...
Everyone is looking for something: Westerners look for something
spiritual in India / Indians look for something material in the West.
And you are looking for my opinion on this book: dont waste your time
with this one -- go buy a Rushdie novel you don't already have.
3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Amazing, 20. April 2000
Von SL (OakPark, IL) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola (Taschenbuch)
Ms. Mehta is undoubtedly the best Indian author alive!
I dothink the person who wrote the two sentence review probably does
not know the meaning of 'trash'. 'Trash' is the heaps and heaps of
books that get published every year in the US and somehow make it to
the NY Times best seller list just beacuse Oprah thinks it is a good
book or because it can be made into a tv movie.
This book is a classic. Her use of the language is extra-ordinary. She
touches on the most 'Indian' of values with a great sense of humor and
almost trivialises them. She makes you really think about issues that
matter and drove(still drive) thousands of Westerners to India. She
has also done a great job of contrasting the Eastern and Western view
of life, death and everything spiritual.
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Useful & entertaining, 29. Januar 2000
Von J. G. Heiser (Sunninghill, Berks) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola (Taschenbuch)
Humorous description of overseas visitors looking to India for
spiritual enlightenment twenty years ago. I read this while visiting
Pune, India, location of Bhagavan Shri Rajnish's ashram, which made it
even more appropriate. Very entertaining & perceptive.
The book is not about India--it is about Western misperception of
India.
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
An Essential Book for Travelers to India, 29. Dezember 1999
Von Peter Theis (Minneapolis, USA) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola (Taschenbuch)
This book is a must-read for those travelers bound for India,
especially for those seeking enlightenment. I lived in Varanasi for a
year, and I met many travelers who believed that India was some sort
of textbook Hindu holy land. These people lived in their ideas,
creating a shield around them that kept real India out. Karma Cola
helps show that India isn't a book-ideal made up of gurus and yogis
performing divine-inspired miracles on every street corner. It shows
that India, like any other country, is made up of people: helpful
people and crooks, prude people and perverts. If you go to India,
don't go there to experience some sort of religious miracle. Go there
to see real India and meet real Indians, and read this book before you
go!
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A 'scholarly' (not!) book, 3. August 1999
Von Ein Kunde
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East
(Vintage International) (Taschenbuch)
Nothing but trash! I can not believe that this stupid book is
recommended reading by Lonely Planet!
Witty at times, cynical at others, 30. Juli 1999
Von Michael Washbrooke (Sydney, Australia) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East
(Vintage International) (Taschenbuch)
Written so as to remind each of us that there's a sucker (or seeker)
born every minute, Mehta's book shows us how easy it is to fool
gullible Westerners looking for enlightenment, and that there's a big
difference between open-hearted curiosity and gullibility. Westerners
created a market for gurus, and India filled it. But somewhere among
the amusing anecdotes that Mehta relates in a clucking tongue there's
a tale that's really rather sad. On the whole, I enjoyed the book and
found it witty and amusing, but thought it was perhaps a little
satisfied at its own superiority. For anybody thinking about going to
India to "find themselves," it would be a good primer.
Another thought, 13. Juli 1998
Von bali...@aol.com (Washington, DC) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East
(Vintage International) (Taschenbuch)
In addition to what I've already written, let me also state that the
book is also a criticism of Indians who capitalize on westerners' need
for spiritual fulfillment. On a personal note about the Chapter in
which the illegal route from Pakistan to India is discovered and the
foreigners coming through that route by taking advantage of the
hospitality of the villagers, this is not uncommon even today. I've
had several people stay at my house who basically used me as a cheap
place to stay and without even thanking me for cooking for them or
providing them with a roof over their heads. The ability to take
unashamedly persists. Hospitality is one of the greatest things about
Indian/South Asian culture, but as Mehta demonstrates in the chapter,
it also exposes Indians to a great deal of abuse as anyone who's had
an ungracious house guest can testify.
Not the usual view of India, 7. Februar 1998
Von cat...@gnosys.co.nz (New Zealand) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East
(Vintage International) (Taschenbuch)
Karma Cola is definitely required reading for any westerner interested
in things Indian or perhaps contemplating hitting the Dharma trail.
Its recognition that misunderstanding goes both ways (eg. the
anecdotes about gurus treatment of their Western students) is a good
reality check for those of us whose spiritual search has taken us
there. Ms Mehta gently reminds us that trying to absorb 5000 years of
experience and living may take a little more than a few weeks of squat
loos, and some Om Mani Padme Hums.
This is the first time I've ever read a book about the move of Eastern
thought into the West which was not written by a Westerner. In some
ways sobering, it is also witty and at times poignant.
By the way, an earlier reviewer lambasted the author for attributing
the wrong language to clerks from Kerala. That mistake has been fixed
in the edition I have (Minerva 1997 paperback).
Sucks!!!, 15. Dezember 1997
Von veni...@zonker.ecs.umass.edu (Amherst, MA) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola (Taschenbuch)
Pardon me, but the author's ignorance is showing. The book has very
little to do with reality and panders to every fear and stereotype in
the mind of an Western audience. Here is an instance of the author's
ignorance, a quote from Chapter VI titled Behind the Urine Curtain,
Section 3 (pg 84 in the Vintage paper back edition)-she is talking
about the different people who use the local trains in Mumbai- "There
to the left is a clutch of stiletto-heeled and skirted Goan
secretaries, exchanging office gossip in Portuguese. Close behind them
are the Kerala clerks in white bush shirts and gray trousers,
conversing in (emphasis mine)*KANNADA*". Now anyone with an iota of
knowledge about India and its languages will know that the people of
Kerala speak Malayalam and not Kannada which is the language of the
neighboring Karnataka. Malayalam and Kannada are not obscure tongues
but are each spoken by atleast a few million people. Someone who
doesnt even know this should NOT set out writing a book about India.
Makes one wonder at the autheticity of the other anecdotes in the
book. Throwing in some high sounding philosophical jargon does not
make a book intellectual either (Chapter XIII- Om is Where the Heart
is). In all a very pathetic attempt to make a quick buck out of the
"mystic" of the East. She seems to be the one living up to her book's
title- Karma Cola- Marketing the Mystic East.
A look at the consequences of India's "spiritual draw"., 1. Dezember
1997
Von Ein Kunde
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola (Taschenbuch)
An interesting look at what draws "spiritually starved" westerners to
India and the consequential fallout. The author assumes a lot from the
reader, particularly a working knowledge of spoken French and a
rudimentary understanding of Hindu mythology. I'm lacking on both
accounts so a lot of the book went over my head. One particular
passage that sounds to me like it's important but I didn't fully
appreciate, was the one where she is talking about the meaning of
Karma and its perverted meaning by westerners. She relates the story,
from the Bhagavad Gita, of Arjuna asking Krishna why he needs to go to
war when understanding is superior to action in this case. Krishna
answers that one is bound by action and that only by acting can one be
free of the bondage of action. "That is exactly Karma" says the
author. Now, here is where I have a problem, probably because of my
limited understanding of Hinduism. *I* thought that Karma had to do
with the totallity of ones actions and is *the* factor determining
your next level of reincarnation. What the author seems to be implying
is that Karma is, instead, the bondage of action, i.e. fate. That is,
karma is the thing which predefines our actions rather than the
measure of our actions. I am confused ..... On the other hand, her
very pragmatic telling of the western approach to "instant nirvana"
and the "distressed westerner" abdicating to the nearest Guru is
actually quite refreshing and devoid of the mythical. :-) However,not
quite so overtly there is the implication that the invasion of
confused westerners has had a very destructive impact of the lives of
ordinary Indians. When relating the story of the westerners who
figured out a illegal route into India from Pakistan by taking
advantage of the hospitality of Indians, the protaganist of the story
is said to have said "One cannot make an omelet without breaking some
eggs". The author continues by saying, "and from where I stand the
ground is covered with broken egg shells". This I found quite sad ....
the narcissistic westerners completely lacking in self-restraint and
enough appreciation to understand that the path of "enlightenment"
requires endurance and cannot be delivered at will. Mind you that's
what Christianity preaches; just give your faith to god and you will
be saved. Where is the prerequisite toil and self-sacrifice?
An excellent book on the "other" perspective., 1. Dezember 1997
Von Ein Kunde
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East
(Vintage International) (Taschenbuch)
This is an excellent book for those who want to know what "sensible"
South Asians think about the appropriation and manipulation of their
culture. I'm sure that it would seem rather acerbic to those who
control the discourse on culture and identity but every once in a
while a book comes along and gives voice to the perspective of the
"other." Those of us who have seen their karma, their food, their
noserings, their clothes and their cultural, religious and national
symbols reinvented, recycled and resignified will appreciate this book
as an attempt to point out the folly of such doings. For westerners,
this is like looking in a mirror that does not lie.
A rather cranky view of westerners in India., 16. August 1997
Von loo...@alaska.net (Girdwood, Alaska) -
Rezension übernommen von: Karma Cola (Taschenbuch)
The author has some fun describing the follies and adventures of
westerners in India, but falls into the "more Hindu than thou" mode a
bit. An interesting read.
Produktinformation
Taschenbuch: 944 Seiten
Verlag: St. Martin's Press; Auflage: Reprint (November 2005)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 0312330537
ISBN-13: 978-0312330538
Größe und/oder Gewicht: 20,8 x 13,7 x 4,3 cm
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Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are
only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top,
mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr.
Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero. It means "man of God's
peace," which is what the Indian people know of Lin. What they do not
know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an
Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. He
served two years and leaped over the wall. He was imprisoned for a
string of armed robberies peformed to support his heroin addiction,
which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his
daughter. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but for Greg
Roberts, that's only the beginning.
He arrives in Bombay with little money, an assumed name, false papers,
an untellable past, and no plans for the future. Fortunately, he meets
Prabaker right away, a sweet, smiling man who is a street guide. He
takes to Lin immediately, eventually introducing him to his home
village, where they end up living for six months. When they return to
Bombay, they take up residence in a sprawling illegal slum of 25,000
people and Linbaba becomes the resident "doctor." With a prison
knowledge of first aid and whatever medicines he can cadge from doing
trades with the local Mafia, he sets up a practice and is regarded as
heaven-sent by these poor people who have nothing but illness, rat
bites, dysentery, and anemia. He also meets Karla, an enigmatic Swiss-
American woman, with whom he falls in love. Theirs is a complicated
relationship, and Karla’s connections are murky from the outset.
Roberts is not reluctant to wax poetic; in fact, some of his prose is
downright embarrassing. Throughought the novel, however, all 944 pages
of it, every single sentence rings true. He is a tough guy with a
tender heart, one capable of what is judged criminal behavior, but a
basically decent, intelligent man who would never intentionally hurt
anyone, especially anyone he knew. He is a magnet for trouble, a
soldier of fortune, a picaresque hero: the rascal who lives by his
wits in a corrupt society. His story is irresistible. Stay tuned for
the prequel and the sequel. --Valerie Ryan -- Dieser Text bezieht sich
auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .
From Publishers Weekly
At the start of this massive, thrillingly undomesticated potboiler, a
young Australian man bearing a false New Zealand passport that gives
his name as "Lindsay" flies to Bombay some time in the early '80s. On
his first day there, Lindsay meets the two people who will largely
influence his fate in the city. One is a young tour guide, Prabaker,
whose gifts include a large smile and an unstoppably joyful heart.
Through Prabaker, Lindsay learns Marathi (a language not often spoken
by gora, or foreigners), gets to know village India and settles, for a
time, in a vast shantytown, operating an illicit free clinic. The
second person he meets is Karla, a beautiful Swiss-American woman with
sea-green eyes and a circle of expatriate friends. Lin's love for Karla
—and her mysterious inability to love in return—gives the book its
central tension. "Linbaba's" life in the slum abruptly ends when he is
arrested without charge and thrown into the hell of Arthur Road
Prison. Upon his release, he moves from the slum and begins laundering
money and forging passports for one of the heads of the Bombay mafia,
guru/sage Abdel Khader Khan. Eventually, he follows Khader as an
improbable guerrilla in the war against the Russians in Afghanistan.
There he learns about Karla's connection to Khader and discovers who
set him up for arrest. Roberts, who wrote the first drafts of the
novel in prison, has poured everything he knows into this book and it
shows. It has a heartfelt, cinemascope feel. If there are occasional
passages that would make the very angels of purple prose weep, there
are also images, plots, characters, philosophical dialogues and
mysteries that more than compensate for the novel's flaws. A
sensational read, it might well reproduce its bestselling success in
Australia here.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier
Inc. All rights reserved. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere
Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .
From Booklist
A thousand pages is like a thousand pounds--it sounds like too much to
deal with. Nevertheless, Roberts' very long novel sails along at an
amazingly fast clip. Readers in the author's native Australia
apparently finished every page of it, for they handed it considerable
praise. Now U.S. readers can enjoy this rich saga based on Roberts'
own life: escape from a prison in Australia and a subsequent flight to
Bombay, which is exactly what happens to Lindsay, the main character
in the novel; once in Bombay, he joins the city's underground. Roberts
graphically, even beautifully, evokes that milieu--he is as effective
at imparting impressions as any good travel writer--in this complex
but cohesive story about freedom and the lack of it, about survival,
spiritual meaning, love, and sex; in other words, about life in what
has to be one of the most fascinating cities in the world. One's first
impression of this novel is that it is simply a good story, but one
soon comes to realize that Roberts is also a gifted creator of
characters--not only Lindsay but also Prabaker, who becomes Lindsay's
guide, caretaker, and entree into various elements of Bombay society.
Soon, too, one becomes aware and appreciative of Roberts' felicitous
writing style. In all, despite the novel's length, it is difficult not
to be ensnared by it. And, be forewarned, it will be popular. Brad
Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --
Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .
Pressestimmen
"Shantaram is a novel of the first order, a work of extraordinary art,
a thing of exceptional beauty. If someone asked me what the book was
about, I would have to say everything, every thing in the world.
Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for
Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did
for Walden Pond: He makes it an eternal player in the literature of
the world."
- Pat Conroy
"Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date
and I don't expect anybody to unseat its all-round performance for a
long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex, and blessed with a
perfect voice. Like a voodoo ghost snatcher, Gregory David Roberts has
captured the spirits of the likes of Henri Charrière, Rohinton Mistry,
Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique
magic, and built the most gripping monument in print. The land of the
god Ganesh has unchained the elephant, and with the monster running
amok, I tremble for the brave soul dreaming of writing a novel about
India. Gregory David Roberts is a suitable giant, a dazzling guru, and
a genius in full."
- Moses Isegawa, author of Abyssinian Chronicles and Snakepit
"Shantaram is, quite simply, the 1001 Arabian Nights of the new
century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all
their reading life. Anyone who walks away from Shantaram untouched is
either heartless or dead or both. I haven't had such a wonderful time
in years."
- Jonathan Carroll, author of White Apples
"Shantaram is dazzling. More importantly, it offers a lesson...that
those we incarcerate are human beings. They deserve to be treated with
dignity. Some of them, after all, may be exceptional. Some may even
possess genius."
- Ayelet Waldman, author of Crossing the Park
“Utterly unique, absolutely audacious, and wonderfully wild, Shantaram
is sure to catch even the most fantastic of imaginations off guard.”
---Elle
“Shantaram had me hooked from the first sentence. [It] is thrilling,
touching, frightening...a glorious wallow of a novel.”
---Detroit Free Press
“[A] sprawling, intelligent novel…full of vibrant characters…the
exuberance of his prose is refreshing…Roberts brings us through
Bombay’s slums and opium houses, its prostitution dens and ex-pat
bars, saying, You come now. And we follow.”
---The Washington Post
"Inspired storytelling."
--People
“Vivid, entertaining. Its visceral, cinematic descriptive beauty truly
impresses.”
--USA Today
“Few stand out quite like Shantaram …nothing if not entertaining.
Sometimes a big story is its own best reward.”
--The New York Times
"...very good...vast of vision and breadth."
--Time Out
“This massive autobiographical novel draws heavily from Roberts’ vida
loca. Don’t let the size scare you away – Shantaram is one of the most
gripping tales of personal redemption you’ll ever read.”
--Giant Magazine
“This reviewer is amazed that Roberts is here to write anything.
Swallowed up by the abyss, somehow he crawled out intact….His love for
other people was his salvation…Powerful books can change our lives.
The potency of Shantaram is the joy of forgiveness. First we must
regret, then forgive. Forgiveness is a beacon in the blackness.”
--Dayton Daily News
" Shantaram is loads of colorful fun, [it] rises to something grand in
its evocations of the pungent chaos of Bombay. "
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Shantaram is a true epic. It is a huge, messy, over-the-top
irresistible shaggy-dog story.”
--The Seattle Times
Kurzbeschreibung
A stunning debut novel based on the author's dramatic and
extraordinary true story. After escaping from a maximum-security
prison, Roberts hid in Bombay, establishing a medical clinic, working
in Bollywood and joining the mafia. A gripping and superbly written
adventure story which will receive review and feature coverage. "A
masterpiece...sure to be a bestseller around the world" "The Age" --
Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare
Ausgabe dieses Titels.
Über den Autor
Gregory David Roberts was born in Melbourne, Australia. Sentenced to
nineteen years in prison for a series of armed robberies, he escaped
and spent ten of his fugitive years in Bombay---where he established a
free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, and worked as a counterfeiter,
smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for a branch of the Bombay
mafia. Recaptured, he served out his sentence, and established a
successful multimedia company upon his release. Roberts is a now full-
time writer and lives in Bombay.
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21 von 21 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Shantaram
I grew up in Bombay in the fifties and early sixties, and have not
visited the city for the past odd 20 years. This amazing book has
basically summed up life in one of the most fascinating cities in the
world. Besides the adventure, which is unique in itself, the author
has managed a description of the city and its unbelievable vibrant
atmosphere and street life to pass...
Vollständige Rezension lesen ›
Veröffentlicht am 21. Januar 2005 von Simon Khosla
› Weitere Rezensionen anzeigen: 5 Sterne, 4 Sterne
8 von 8 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Weniger ist mehr
Shantaram - wärmstens empfohlen nicht nur von Amazon-Usern und deren
Rezensionen, sondern unter anderem auch aufgrund vieler positiver
Berichte in diversen Zeitschriften. Nachdem ich nun die 932 Seiten
"geschafft" habe zu lesen, wusste ich nicht recht ob ich zufrieden war
mit dem Buch oder ob ein wenig die Enttäuschung überwog.
Das Buch ist in 5 Teile...
Vollständige Rezension lesen ›
Vor 8 Monaten von Chevy veröffentlicht
21 von 21 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Shantaram, 21. Januar 2005
Von Simon Khosla (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram (Gebundene Ausgabe)
I grew up in Bombay in the fifties and early sixties, and have not
visited the city for the past odd 20 years. This amazing book has
basically summed up life in one of the most fascinating cities in the
world. Besides the adventure, which is unique in itself, the author
has managed a description of the city and its unbelievable vibrant
atmosphere and street life to pass like a film in front of ones eyes.
It is the best book I have ever read about the city.
8 von 8 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Weniger ist mehr, 1. Juli 2009
Von Chevy -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Shantaram - wärmstens empfohlen nicht nur von Amazon-Usern und deren
Rezensionen, sondern unter anderem auch aufgrund vieler positiver
Berichte in diversen Zeitschriften. Nachdem ich nun die 932 Seiten
"geschafft" habe zu lesen, wusste ich nicht recht ob ich zufrieden war
mit dem Buch oder ob ein wenig die Enttäuschung überwog.
Das Buch ist in 5 Teile untergliedert, zu insgesamt 43 Kapitel. Bis
zum Ende des 3. Teiles war ich schwer begeistert wie Roberts über
seine Flucht, sein Untertauchen, das indische Dorfleben, das Leben im
Slum oder aber auch über die Menschen die er trifft und liebt
schreibt, teilweise auch sehr humorvoll. Er malt viele der Szenen,
teilweise bis ins Detail beschrieben, sehr ausgiebig.
Allerdings hat der Autor ein großes Manko. Respekt davor was der Autor
erlebt haben möchte (da die Rahmengeschichte ja doch irgendwie der
Realität entspricht), allerdings scheint es, vor allem gegen Ende des
Romans, sehr oft, als Lobe sich der Autor selbst. Teilweise kämpft er
alle drei Seiten gegen einen neuen Gegner und beschreibt detailliert
wie er diese zumeist K.O. schlägt. Auch die Storyline nimmt mit den
letzten zwei Kapiteln, der Mafia und Aufghanistan stark ab, der Roman
wird zu sehr in die Länge gezogen. Dies ist natürlich sehr schade, da
es zu Beginn wie gesagt ein Buch war das ich den meisten Leuten blind
empfehlen würde. Philosophisch gesehen birgt der Roman Ansätze über
einen evtl Sinn des Lebens, allerdings motivieren diese aber nicht,
sich weiter damit auseinanderzusetzen.
Alles in allem kann ich das Buch als Urlaubsroman empfehlen, aber auch
nur denjenigen, denen Kampfszenen nichts ausmachen. Wirklich
empfehlenswert meinerseits sind daher eigentlich nur die ersten 3
Teile. Deshalb auch die 3 von 5 Sternen.
19 von 21 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Hail Shantaram!, 15. April 2005
Von "kojanko" -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
This book is simply amazing.
It is a classic adventure book first of all, filled with deep
realizations about life, love and death. It is beautifully crafted,
and Gregory Roberts writing style is gripping, colorful and profoundly
simple (in the best way). It always displays an honesty and
authenticity even in the most outragous moments of this tale - and
there are many of those. Shantaram is everything a reader could ever
want from a book - it is poetic, moving, philosophical and extremely
alive. You'll be very sorry when you get to the last of the 900+
pages.
Very sorry, indeed.
Read it.
11 von 12 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
An epic novel set in India, 21. Juni 2005
Von Philippe Horak (Zug, Switzerland) -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram (Gebundene Ausgabe)
Mr Roberts's voluminous novel tells the story of one narrator who
escaped from prison in Australia and travelled to Bombay on a false
New Zealand passport. He doesn't devote much time talking about his
criminal activities in his home country apart from stating that he
used to rob banks and deal in drugs and then chose to abandon his wife
and children for the life of a fugitive. Upon his arrival in the
Indian capital, he met Prabaker Kharre, a loveable character who
showed him round the city, particularly the areas rarely visited by
mainstream tourists. At Leopold's, a bar where illegal business is
conducted by many Indians and a few foreigners, the narrator was
introduced to Karla Saaranen, a beautiful woman who is often the
object of his thoughts throughout the novel due to the difficulty she
has in feeling love for anyone.
As he settled down in Bombay, he learned to speak Marathi and Hindi
and during the adventurous years he spent in the city he became
acquainted with a whole array of characters and he became to be known
as Lin, Linbaba or Shantaram. The most impressive passages in the
novel are the narrator's visit to Prabaker's native village of Sunder,
his work in the zhopadpatti slum, his experience with the monsoon and
the cholera, his work for Abdel Khader Khan and the Bombay Mafia, his
stays at the Arthur Road Prison and the Colaba lock-up and finally his
fight for the mujaheddin cause in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Mr Roberts wonderfully shows both the generosity and the violence of
the Indian people's character. The spirit of Bombay is rendered in
splendid descriptions so that altogether this novel is thoroughly
enjoyable to read.
10 von 11 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Ein grossartiges Werk!, 13. Mai 2008
Von Don Paesano "retito" -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Ich konnte das Buch für volle vier Tage nicht aus den Händen legen.
Ich las immer und überall, während dem Essen, auf dem Klo, auf dem Weg
zum Klo, auf dem Rückweg vom Klo. Und schliesslich mit einer
Stirnlampe in der Hängematte. Das Buch nimmt einem mit auf eine Reise
mit David Roberts, die durch ein Indien führt wie ich es noch nie
beschrieben bekommen habe. Die Geschichte geht vorwärts wie ein
Güterzug. Seite für Seite etwas Neues, Aufregendes, Spannendes. Die
Sprache ist gut verständlich und wunderschön geschrieben. Ich
schliesse mich meinen Vorrednern nicht an, die die Philosophie zum
Teil als "cheesy" beschreiben. Ich war vielmehr beeindruckt vom Autor,
diesem unglaublichen Typen, der Dinge erlebt und so wunderbar
beschreibt, die weit weit über übliche "Reiseerfahrungen" hinweg
reichen.
Das Buch hat mich zum Lachen gebracht und mich zu Tränen gerührt. Es
war keine Seite (!) langweilig. Im Gegenteil. Fesseln, spannend,
intensiv, fordernd. Das Ende, wie viele Abschnitte zuvor, musste ich
gleich mehrmals lesen...Gänsehaut!
Habe das Buch bereits x-mal verschenkt - uneingeschränkter Lesetip!
3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Biblische Geschichten, 31. Mai 2009
Von Helmut Janus -
Erschöpft bin ich nach 933 Seiten am Ende der englischen Ausgabe von
Shantaram angekommen. Das Buch ist durchgehend gut zu lesen. Es gibt
eine unglaubliche Fülle an spannenden Episoden, gut geschriebenen
Dialogen, interessanten Typen, Milieuschilderungen und
Hintergrundgeschichten. Das alles ist in der Inhaltsangabe schon
ausführlich beschrieben worden. Womit ich allerdings meine
Schwierigkeiten hatte, war das Ego des Autors und seine philosophisch-
religiöse Grundeinstellung. Die ganze abenteuerliche Lebensgeschichte
handelt vom Suchen nach dem Guten im Menschen, von immer neuen
Versuchungen, Fehlschlägen und schließlich doch dem Sieg des Guten,
Gerechten und Liebenden. Es sind nicht einzelne philosophische
Schwafeleien, die die Handlung unterbrechen, sondern alles, was
Roberts erzählt, ordnet sich diesem Muster unter. Wenn er in Kämpfe
verwickelt ist, streicht er seine Fähigkeiten als Messerstecher
heraus, aber im entscheidenden Augenblick sticht er ordentlich ins
Fleisch seines Gegners, bringt ihn aber nicht um. Wenn er nach Monaten
einer unfassbaren Tortur aus dem Gefängnis frei kommt, versäumt er es
nicht, noch ein paar Mitgefangene zu retten. Wenn er aus Verzweiflung
wieder Heroin nimmt, dann auch richtig, indem er drei Monate in einer
Opiumhöhle abtaucht und anschließend durch die Hölle des "cold turkey"
geht.
Es sind biblische Geschichten in modernem Gewand, die Roberts erzählt,
die Läuterung vom Saulus zum Paulus. Aus Neugier habe ich mir seine
Website angesehen, und hier entwickelt er auch seine Philosophie von
der "cosmosophy". Ich bin nicht in die Details eingestiegen und habe
dazu auch keine große Lust, weil ich Bücher lese, um mich unterhalten
und zum Nachdenken anregen zu lassen, nicht aber um mir den großen
Wurf einer Welterklärung anzutun. Shantaram lässt mich etwas ratlos
zurück. Vielleicht muss ein solcher Eifer sein, um ein so gigantisches
Werk zustande zu bringen.
7 von 9 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Amazing, 21. August 2006
Von danyboy "eternalflame2" (Brunnen, Schweiz) -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
I have not yet finished reading this book but I already need to
comment on this masterpiece. Shantaram may not be a flawless work and
parts of the book and especially sometimes the imagery and phrases
used appear a bit cheesy. A few comparisons and philosophical thoughts
are either a bit far-fetched or very general and superficial.
This may sound like a book of which one can use the paper to lit a
fire with on a cold winter day. BUT, despite some (undisputable) flaws
I give the book 4 stars because it, nevertheless, has become one of my
favourite books. The amazing and outstanding qualities of the book let
you forget the (minor) flaws mentioned above.
The story is thrilling, funny and never boring. One starts to feel
that what this guy writes is what he really experienced (at least most
of it) and I prefer an honest, true, heart-breaking, interesting story
with a few stylistic flaws to over-intellectual, cold and too perfect
works by some acclaimed literary authors. This is the story of a man's
life, which is far from being a common, everyday one. Let me tell you
one thing: this man has got a lot to tell you. Buy the book, sit down,
make yourself comfortable and dive into the world of Greg David
Roberts. I bet you won't regret it...
4 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
One of the best books ever!!!, 1. Juni 2005
Von "natalie0208" -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Shantaram is one of the best books I ever read, and I read an awful
lot!!! The Author has a great gift of storytelling, the plot is
terrific, his descriptions of the places, the people, their culture is
absolutely gorgeous. So don't hesitate, read this book, it is worth
every cent and you'll not put it down till you reach the last page.
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
A definite MUST-READ!, 23. September 2009
Von S. Gould -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Others have already given this book the raving reviews it deserves. I
won't attempt to add to their comments, except to simply say that you
shouldn't be put-off by the size of this book - once you start reading
it you won't be able to put it down! (and will sadly be through it
faster than you wished!)
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
einfach nur klasse, 23. Juni 2009
Von bücher-wurm "leo3009" -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Ein faszinierendes Buch, das ich nur empfehlen kann. Die plastische
Darstellung des Autors läßt einen in eine komplett fremde Welt
versinken. Extrem gut geschrieben, spannend (zugegebenermaßen hast das
Buch zwischendurch ein paar Längen, die aber die Gesamtheit für mich
nicht beeinträchtigen) und manchmal auch sehr hart, so daß ich bewußt
das Buch zur Seite gelegt habe um die Passagen zu verdauen.
Prinzipiell langweilen mich Kriegsbeschreibungen, aber Gregory Roberts
hat es ausgezeichnet verstanden, auch solche Themen dem Leser nahe zu
bringen. Den Leser erwartet eine große Portion Philosophie, vielleicht
neuer Denkansätze, und das Buch entführt somit in eine (zumindest für
mich) absolut fremde Lebensweise. Wer einmal über den eigenen
Tellerrand hinauschauen möchte, ist genau richtig. Ob man die
Entscheidungen von "Lindsay" verstehen kann oder nicht, auf jeden Fall
ist großer Unterhaltungswert garantiert! Ich freue mich auf die
Verfilmung.
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
The Heart of India, 21. Mai 2009
Von R. Müller-Heinrich "Goldkalb" (Pulheim, Deutschland) -
I have read many books on India and spent time in Bombay and Delhi. No
book, no sojourn has brought me so close to and deeply into the Heart
of India. The simplicity of style, the at times almost brutal honesty
of Gregory Roberts, the expressions of love for the people he met, the
lessons he learned, remind me of Barack Obama's "Dreams from my
Father". Shantaram is an amazing book which lets you feel you are
there. You feel the humid heat of Bombay, you smell all the smells,
good or bad, you see the purple sunset, you are amongst his friends
and could almost touch them. You could find your way into the slum and
feel sure of a welcome, even as a stranger. I felt encompassed by
Prabaker's smile, felt the loyalty of Lin's friends as if they were
mine. I felt the struggles Lin went through to find his way in life,
as if they were my own. I never could condemn him for his "evil"
deeds, as he was giving all the love he had to give at the same time.
As someone already said, I was very sorry when I came to the last
page, because it meant coming back to my own world, like after a
holiday. And my world seems drab and poor, though I don't live in a
slum. And no news report has shown me the futility, the atrocity, the
heart-wrenching sadness of Afghans killing their Afghan brothers,
supported by profit-seeking Americans and Russians for their own
goals. Shantaram. (Abacus)
6 von 8 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Spitze, 26. Juli 2006
Von Frank Bittermann -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram (Gebundene Ausgabe)
Durch die Meldung von Querelen bei der Produktionsvorbereitung des
Films von und mit Jonny Depp bin ich auf diesen Roman aufmerksam
geworden. Auch muss ich zugeben, dass ich Indien immer noch für heiss,
schmutzig und völlig überbevölkert halte, aber dieses Buch hat mir die
Menschen dort näher gebracht. Ein von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite
spannender, lustige, trauriger und vor allem nachdenkenswerter
Schmöker. Ein durchweg gelungenes Erstlingswerk, bei dem ich auf einen
Nachfolger hoffe, denn der Autor hat offensichtlich soviele Abenteuer
erlebt, da kann man nur mit den Ohren schlackern...
Well-read mix of Bombay life, with mafia-cheese and self-
indulgence, 6. Februar 2010
Von Jakarta_expat (Indonesien) -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram (Audio CD)
Shantaram No doubt about it, from the moment the story teller embarks
from the plane to sticky Bombay, the reader is hooked and will press
on to read about slum dwellers, their modes of survivals, boozy white
expats making a living in Bombay and other exciting stuff. The problem
is: The whole long book is mixed with a sense of self-indulgence by
the author lecturing us on life and philosophy. Which alone is not so
bad would he not to press on to tell the most boring love story ever
put into writing. the book is worth your time if you are interested in
India, slum life, street fighting and wanna-be philosophic
excursions.
I listened to the unabridged audio book, and enjoyed the speaker's
different voices. He catches the Bombay accents very well (as far as I
can tell). The female characters annoying me most in the book are read
with a certain ironic "flat" tone as if the audio book reader would
share my feeling of boredom with them as well. Nice touch.
Book: ***, Unabridged audio production: ****
The Precursor to Slumdog Millionaire, if you like, 27. Dezember
2009
Von Oliver Koehler (Berlin, Germany) -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Not the best of stories [in terms of fairly imagery and love "scenes"]
but nevertheless so far a gritty tale of his descent into India's
underworld and his involvement in the Russian-Afghan war - with some
very vivid descriptions of the India that I have come to know and love
and hate over the past years! Nevertheless unputdownable... For a
quick fix if you've ever been to India and want to get past the colour
of the place, an eye-opener at times and a jaw-dropper too. What I did
like - although it has been a point of criticism in other reviews - is
the fact that it sometimes is very loosely constructed. After all, it
is suppoed to be an autobiography - or a memoir? Who knows?
Mind-blowing!, 28. November 2009
Von Stein Claudia Dr "Claudia Stein" (Genf, Schweiz) -
I have lived a couple of years in India in the 1990's (about 800 km
south of Bombay) and can only confirm that the ambience, the life, the
colours and smells of India truly come to life in this book. It is
honest and authentic but what makes this book an amazing piece of
literature is the fantastic story - because it is fantastically told.
I could hardly put the book down, although I would imagine that the
author may have taken some artistic licence in some of his
descriptions. This does not detract from the book which - no doubt -
will one day be a Holly/Bollywood movie. An absolute must-read.
Gripping from start to finish!, 1. Dezember 2008
Von Léonie M. "book fanatic" -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Shantaram is one of that kind of books that calls for a rainy or foggy
November day, for a cosy chair and a good, steaming Indian Darjeeling
cup of tea.
It is a strong and satisfying novel, with a taste that lingers the
memory.
I love it very much because of the first-person narrative and of a
wonderful, admirable writing style as well.
After escaping from an Australian most inhuman prison in the early
80s, Gregory David Roberts, an armed robber and heroin addict was
using the name Lindsay Ford from a false New Zealand passport for
smuggling himself to India to go underground in the slum of Bombay
(Mumbai). Since he escaped, he flew across the world because he was
the most wanted man of his country.
Here he tells his story about his first trip to India. Living in the
land where heart is the king, left everything behind, he was just
running on instinct and pushing his luck. Accordingly to his
experiences the simple and astonishing truth about India and Indian
people is that, when you go there and you deal with them, your heart
always guides you more wisely than your head. It was one of his best
decisions of his life as he trusted the Indian fellow on sight and he
got the chance to know and to love him as friend.
The luck led him to know a mysterious but beautiful woman, he has ever
seen, green-eyed Karla Saaranen, on his very first day on the street
of Bombay. She was reasonably good at being a friend, but at being an
enemy also. In his opinion Karla had that kind of power to make men
shine like the stars, or crash them to dust.
Lindsay learned some Indian languages Hindi, Marathi but himself
became to be well known by the nicknames Lin, Linbaba, Shantaram or
even The Bite of the Tiger.
Using his first-aid kit as the basis, he established in poverty of
Bombay illegal slum a little open-air health clinic. Just trying to do
the right thing, he found often a quantum of solace in his work and by
his friends like Prabaker Kishan Kharre or Abdullah Taheri.
Fate put him into the game of the Bombay mafia. Worked as a gunrunner,
as a smuggler and a counterfeiter. He found some honourable men. Of
course, it is strange and incongrous to hear how he describes
criminals, killers, and mafiosi as men of honour who were amongst
them. Nevertheles, he had some strange experiences and this is the
extremly gripping story of his life, told with all his heart. It was a
real blow to him to be buffeled by fate but he kept on his aim at
writing under the hardest circumstances.
Now, Gregory David Roberts is a fulltime writer. He lives in
Melbourne.
He created the atmosphere of the slum in the suburbs of Bombay and its
events in the richest details. His enthralling debut novel tells an
adventure about love, hate, fight, betrayal and conspiracy. You can
get lost into for days, not just hours.
It is really worth reading!
4 von 6 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
One of the best books I 've ever read, 9. Oktober 2005
Von Mama Orange -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
This book is hard to put out of Your hand - it is intense and
adventurous, it is excellently written and it is full of deep
insight.
1 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Packender Schmöker!, 5. September 2008
Von Tina "Reading Is Great" (Wien) -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Toller, sehr gut zu lesender Roman!Lustig, gut geschrieben,
farbenreich. Wer in Indien war, wird vieles verstehen und
nachvollziehen können. Für Freunde von Schmökern, die nicht allzu tief
gehen und einfach aber extrem fesselnd zu lesen sind, ist dieses genau
und exakt das Richtige.LESEN!
1 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Always a new surprise, 4. Februar 2008
Von Hans-Curt Flemming "Amano" (Mülheim/Ruhr) -
This is a fascinating book which I could not leave alone - I had to
read it and was intrigued about what would come after the next corner.
And the next...
A completely new perspective of the Bombay slum and of the social
networks. Plus, the bittersweet love story. It is well written and
bears the touch of reality.
Absolutely worthy entertainment. I would be very much interested to
learn how he was captured finally and what he is doing now.
0 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Black Bombay, 9. Dezember 2009
Von N. I. Body -
Bei Shantaram handelt es sich unstrittig um eine der besten
Darstellungen von Bombay, bzw. Indien in den 80er Jahren des vorigen
Jahrhunderts. Es werden das Leben in den Slums, Kriminalität,
Korruption, Krankheiten und Brutalität in allen Details (944 Seiten)
geschildert.
Das Buch basiert mehr oder weniger auf dem bewegten Leben des Autors.
Wie er selbst angibt, hat er nicht alles, was er beschreibt erlebt,
sondern auch Teile der Geschichte frei erfunden. Stellenweise ist die
Story recht langatmig, es wird seitenlang über den Sinn des Lebens,
Sinn des Leidens, Vergebung, Liebe, Hass usw. diskutiert. Auch werden
belanglose Gespräche und Begegnungen der Hauptperson zum Teil wörtlich
wiedergegeben. Das führte dazu, dass ich manchmal die Seiten nur noch
überflog - bis die eigentliche Story wieder weiterging.
Was mich aber doch recht gestört hat, ist die Art, in der sich der
Autor, (zu 19 Jahren verurteilter Bankräuber; Ex-Junkie) selbst
darstellt. Seine Verbrechen rechtfertigt er mit seiner gescheiterten
Beziehung und seiner daraus resultierenden Heroinsucht. Nach seiner
Flucht aus dem Gefängnis (zu Beginn des Buches) wandelt er sich zu
weissem Ritter und Heiligen in einem. Den, ihn aufs übelste
folternden, indischen Gefängniswärtern "vergibt" er. Er ist offenbar
der "guteste Gutmensch" von ganz Bombay (so ekelhaft wie das klingt,
liest es sich stellenweise leider auch). Er hilft jedem - immerzu,
ohne Rücksicht auf sich selbst und ohne zu zögern. Dass er dabei aber
weiterhin kriminellen Machenschaften (Drogenhandel, Mafia, usw.)
nachgeht, ist für ihn offenbar ganz "normal". Diese Art der
Selbstdarstellung/-inszenierung beginnt mit der Zeit zu nerven.
In der unsympathischen Hauptfigur liegt zugleich auch das größte Manko
des Buches, neben der teilweise zu langatmigen Schilderung der
Ereignisse. Tip: Es lohnt sich, die "echte" Biografie des Autors im
Netz nachzulesen.
Anzumerken ist noch, dass in meinem Exemplar ca. 10-15 Seiten
unleserlich (zu Hell; Fehler beim Drucken) waren.
12 von 28 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Räucherstäbchen, 3. Juli 2007
Von agardenchair (Germany) -
Rezension übernommen von: Shantaram. (Abacus) (Taschenbuch)
Zugegeben, dies ist bestimmt ein ordentlich geschriebener
Abenteuerroman. Und er ist an manchen Stellen auch lustig. Sprachlich
bewegt er sich in etwa auf der Höhe eines Dan Brown, mit dem
Unterschied, daß Gregory D. Roberts eine Vorliebe für komplizierte
Adjektive hat. Sollte man eine weitere Vorliebe dieses Schriftstellers
angeben, so wäre man gezwungen, das Sammeln von Aphorismen anzuführen.
Mit dem Konvolut von unheimlich sinnreichen Sprüche, die in diesem
Buch angehäuft sind, könnte man ganze Abreißkalender ausstaffieren.
Beispiele: "Truth is a bully, you'd like to know", "Es war nicht die
Hölle, aber es gab keinen Himmel", etc. Wieso nicht einfach
weitermachen mit: "Manchmal ist das Leben nicht schwarz oder weiß,
sondern grau" oder "Es gibt Gutes und es gibt Schlechtes, aber
meistens bekommt man beides serviert", etc.?
An allen Ecken und Enden des Romans findet man diese sprachlichen
Räucherstäbchen, die Tiefe suggerieren wollen. Der Roman liest sich
stellenweise wie ein ausgesprochener Jugendroman. Hier wird der Sound
großer gleichnishafter Erzählungen im Stil von Hemingway oder Conrad
imitiert. Ein Nachfolger Hemingways oder Conrads ist der Autor deshalb
nicht.
12 von 28 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Räucherstäbchen, 3. Juli 2007
Von agardenchair
Zugegeben, dies ist bestimmt ein ordentlich geschriebener
Abenteuerroman. Und er ist an manchen Stellen auch lustig. Sprachlich
bewegt er sich in etwa auf der Höhe eines Dan Brown, mit dem
Unterschied, daß Gregory D. Roberts eine Vorliebe für komplizierte
Adjektive hat. Sollte man eine weitere Vorliebe dieses Schriftstellers
angeben, so wäre man gezwungen, das Sammeln von Aphorismen anzuführen.
Mit dem Konvolut von unheimlich sinnreichen Sprüche, die in diesem
Buch angehäuft sind, könnte man ganze Abreißkalender ausstaffieren.
Beispiele: "Truth is a bully, you'd like to know", "Es war nicht die
Hölle, aber es gab keinen Himmel", etc. Wieso nicht einfach
weitermachen mit: "Manchmal ist das Leben nicht schwarz oder weiß,
sondern grau" oder "Es gibt Gutes und es gibt Schlechtes, aber
meistens bekommt man beides serviert", etc.?
An allen Ecken und Enden des Romans findet man diese sprachlichen
Räucherstäbchen, die Tiefe suggerieren wollen. Der Roman liest sich
stellenweise wie ein ausgesprochener Jugendroman. Hier wird der Sound
großer gleichnishafter Erzählungen im Stil von Hemingway oder Conrad
imitiert. Ein Nachfolger Hemingways oder Conrads ist der Autor deshalb
nicht.
Shantaram. (Abacus) 0349117543 Gregory David Roberts Little, Brown
Book Group Shantaram. (Abacus) Alle Produkte Räucherstäbchen
Zugegeben, dies ist bestimmt ein ordentlich geschriebener
Abenteuerroman. Und er ist an manchen Stellen auch lustig. Sprachlich
bewegt er sich in etwa auf der Höhe eines Dan Brown, mit dem
Unterschied, daß Gregory D. Roberts eine Vorliebe für komplizierte
Adjektive hat. Sollte man eine weitere Vorliebe dieses Schriftstellers
angeben, so wäre man gezwungen, das Sammeln von Aphorismen anzuführen.
Mit dem Konvolut von unheimlich sinnreichen Sprüche, die in diesem
Buch angehäuft sind, könnte man ganze Abreißkalender ausstaffieren.
Beispiele: "Truth is a bully, you'd like to know", "Es war nicht die
Hölle, aber es gab keinen Himmel", etc. Wieso nicht einfach
weitermachen mit: "Manchmal ist das Leben nicht schwarz oder weiß,
sondern grau" oder "Es gibt Gutes und es gibt Schlechtes, aber
meistens bekommt man beides serviert", etc.?
An allen Ecken und Enden des Romans findet man diese sprachlichen
Räucherstäbchen, die Tiefe suggerieren wollen. Der Roman liest sich
stellenweise wie ein ausgesprochener Jugendroman. Hier wird der Sound
großer gleichnishafter Erzählungen im Stil von Hemingway oder Conrad
imitiert. Ein Nachfolger Hemingways oder Conrads ist der Autor deshalb
nicht. agardenchair 3. Juli 2007
Insgesamt: 5
Insgesamt: 5
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Diskussionsbeiträgen
Ersteintrag: 16. November 2008 00:10 CET
Edith Juratschski meint:
Warum schreiben Leute über Dinge, von denen sie keine Ahnung haben?
Beurteilungen eines arroganten 18jährigen brauche ich nicht. Das Kind
soll erstmal begreifen, dass es was zu lernen hat. Solange soll es
schweigen. Und erst rumtönen, wenn es jemanden interessiert.
Antwort auf den Eintrag von Edith Juratschski:
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Antwort auf einen früheren Beitrag vom 15. Dezember 2008 17:11 CET
Zuletzt vom Autor geändert am 16. Dezember 2008 22:37 CET
agardenchair meint:
Edith Juratschski braucht keine Beurteilungen eines arroganten
"18jährigen". Dafür weiß sie, was arrogante Achtzehnjährige brauchen -
klare Ansagen: Als Kinder haben sie zu schweigen. Und dürfen erst
rumtönen, wenn das Rumtönen jemanden interessiert. Wie gut, dass wir
nun wissen, wie es die Erwachsenen mit arroganten Kindern zu halten
haben. Danke, Frau J..
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Veröffentlicht am 14. Januar 2009 16:20 CET
Stephan Peischl meint:
[Vom Autor gelöscht am 13. Februar 2010 22:49 CET]
Veröffentlicht am 24. Mai 2009 10:18 MEST
Malenkow meint:
Dem kann ich uneingeschränkt zustimmen. Ich habe den Roman nach der
Hälfte nur noch quer gelesen.
Antwort auf den Eintrag von Malenkow:
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Holy Cow!: An Indian Adventure (Taschenbuch)
von Sarah Macdonald (Autor) "I have a dreadful long-term memory ..."
Kundenrezensionen
Holy Cow!: An Indian Adventure
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Die hilfreichste positive Rezension Die hilfreichste kritische
Rezension
4 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Fantastic and funny
The author is writing about her experiences in the sub-continent in a
vey funny and humorous way. Especially for people like me, who are
living in India as a foreigner or planning a trip to India, the book
is recommendable. She is describing the every-day problems people with
a "wester culture" have to face with because of the cultural
differences between the...
Vollständige Rezension lesen ›
Veröffentlicht am 5. Juli 2004 von Amazon-Kunde
› Weitere Rezensionen anzeigen: 5 Sterne, 4 Sterne
A definite "OK" book
I just finished this book and am disappointed overall. There was too
much religion and personal soul-searching by the author. I wanted more
INDIA. Yet this book did feed my desire to go to India one day, so it
wasn't all that bad. I took some notes on festivals and villages I
would like to see, but I was expecting more after reading the other
reviews.
Veröffentlicht am 20. März 2007 von beegowhite
› Weitere Rezensionen anzeigen: 3 Sterne, 2 Sterne, 1 Sterne
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4 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Fantastic and funny, 5. Juli 2004
Von Amazon-Kunde "Amazon" (Düsseldorf) -
The author is writing about her experiences in the sub-continent in a
vey funny and humorous way. Especially for people like me, who are
living in India as a foreigner or planning a trip to India, the book
is recommendable. She is describing the every-day problems people with
a "wester culture" have to face with because of the cultural
differences between the "Wester world" and India.
I recommend the book for everyone who is planning a long-time or
travel-trip to the beautiful country of india. You can learn about the
indian culture and about "not-understandable" cultural differences in
a funny way...
Great book at all!!!
5 von 7 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Witzig, unterhaltsam und lehrreich!, 10. November 2004
Von Ein Kunde
Ich war 1999 für drei Monate in Indien und habe es geliebt und
gehasst. Sarah Macdonald ruft alle meine Erinnerungen wach und bringt
mich zum Lachen. Sie beschreibt alle Arten von Gefühlen und
Erfahrungen, die man als "western foreigner" in Indien durchlebt. Es
ist sehr empfehlenswert, auch für Leute, die eine Reise nach Indien
planen. Ich habe es sehr gern gelesen.
A definite "OK" book, 20. März 2007
Von beegowhite (Luxembourg) -
I just finished this book and am disappointed overall. There was too
much religion and personal soul-searching by the author. I wanted more
INDIA. Yet this book did feed my desire to go to India one day, so it
wasn't all that bad. I took some notes on festivals and villages I
would like to see, but I was expecting more after reading the other
reviews.
4 von 6 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
oberflächlich und mit Klischees behaftet, 1. Dezember 2006
Von Emma -
Sarah ist unglücklich zum zweiten Mal in Indien gelandet zu sein. Um
sich die Zeit zu vertreiben, begibt sie sich auf eine Art Hopping
durch die verschiedensten Glaubensrichtungen und spirituellen
Strömungen - von Amma bis zu den Sikhs. Leider schafft es die Autorin
in keiner Weise der Realität Indiens gerecht zu werden. Oberflächlich
blickt sie auf Kultur und Menschen und bedient dabei nur die typisch
westlichen Indienklischees.
Ich habe mehr Zeit in Indien verbracht als die Autorin und konnte das
Buch nur noch völlig entnervt zur Seite legen. Miss Mac Donald
interessiert sich nicht für Indien, weder für die Menschen, noch für
die Kultur und auch nicht besonders tiefgründig für die religiösen
Strömungen, die von ihr besucht wurden. Sie möchte lediglich
unterhalten (was ihr nicht sonderlich gut gelingt) und begreift das
Fremde, das ihr begegnet nicht als Chance etwas Neues zu lernen,
sondern beurteilt es mit arrogant westlichem Blick. Besonders
entnervend ist das Fazit, das die Autorin am Ende jedes Kapitels über
ihr Erlebtes zieht. Jedem, der sich wirklich mit Indien, der Kultur
und den Religionen des Landes auseinandersetzen möchte und nicht einen
pseudospirituellen "Fast Food Reisebericht" lesen möchte, kann ich nur
raten: Finger weg!
1 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
very interesting, 21. Juni 2006
Von Bücherwurm "sandrasemails" -
I've never been to India but will go there after I've finished my
studies.
The book takes you on a journey with Sarah MacDonald which is exciting
and funny and sad sometimes.
You can imagine the things she describes even if you've never been to
India. But it definitely will wake the wish in you to go there.
0 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Educating, entertaining and inspiring, 8. August 2007
Von Wombatsbooks -
"Holy Cow" was meant to be a beach read, but proved to be not only
entertaining, but also educating and inspiring:
Macdonald herself calls her second stint in India "a pilgrimage
through India's spiritualistic supermarket" and herself a "karma
chameleon". "Holy Cow" presents the diversity of India's manifold
religions, deals with their differences and similarities. Macdonald
spends several days in an ashram, attends the Kumbh Mela in Benares,
celebrates Pesach with a group of Israelis, visits a church in the
South of India, immerses herself into Bhuddism, Hinduism etc. She
meets lots of people, makes many a friend and addresses different
attitudes, styles, beliefs and traditions. But most of all she
portrays India as the fascinating land of contrasts that it is.
Reading this diary-like account is nearly like being in India: it
assaults all your senses and yet is very lovable. It is written in a
light-hearted yet sensitive manner and probably politically incorrect,
because Macondald speaks her mind;-). But that makes the read all the
more worthwhile!
Result: Not to be missed! In fact her style reminds me a bit of Bill
Bryson's books. So if you are a fan of Bill Bryson's you might like
this one as well!
0 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
Sehr gutes Buch über Indien, 12. Februar 2007
Von Marie Senoner "musikfan4" (Österreich) -
Das Buch fängt schon super an und steigert sich immer mehr. Es ist
wirklich empfehlenswert für alle die mehr über Indien, die Kultur und
die Menschen Indiens erfahren wollen. Manchmal muss man als Europäerin
schon den Kopf schütteln, aber so ist es Indien...
Unbedingt lesen!!!
Produktbeschreibungen
From Publishers Weekly
Australian radio correspondent Macdonald's rollicking memoir recounts
the two years she spent in India when her boyfriend, Jonathan, a TV
news correspondent, was assigned to New Delhi. Leaving behind her own
budding career, she spends her sabbatical traveling around the
country, sampling India's "spiritual smorgasbord": attending a silent
retreat for Vipassana meditation, seeking out a Sikh Ayurvedic
"miracle healer," bathing in the Ganges with Hindus, studying Buddhism
in Dharamsala, dabbling in Judaism with Israeli tourists, dipping into
Parsi practices in Mumbai, visiting an ashram in Kerala, attending a
Christian festival in Velangani and singing with Sufis. Paralleling
Macdonald's spiritual journey is her evolution as a writer; she trades
her sometimes glib remarks ("I've always thought it hilarious that
Indian people chose the most boring, domesticated, compliant and
stupidest animal on earth to adore") and 1980s song title references
(e.g., "Karma Chameleon") for a more sensitive tone and a sober
understanding that neither mocks nor romanticizes Indian culture and
the Western visitors who embrace it. The book ends on a serious note,
when September 11 shakes Macdonald's faith and Jonathan, now her
husband, is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan. Macdonald is less
compelling when writing about herself, her career and her relationship
than when she is describing spiritual centers, New Delhi nightclubs
and Bollywood cinema. Still, she brings a reporter's curiosity,
interviewing skills and eye for detail to everything she encounters,
and winningly captures "[t]he drama, the dharma, the innocent
exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in
playfulness and the embrace of living day by day..--he drama, the
dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the
living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by
day."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier
Inc. All rights reserved. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere
Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .
From Booklist
Australian MacDonald didn't fall in love with India her first time
there, at age 21. So when her boyfriend, Jonathan, a reporter for ABC,
is sent there for work, she reluctantly follows after a year of
separation. At first, life in India is as bad as she remembered it--
overcrowded, smoggy, disturbing. A serious bout of pneumonia puts her
in an Indian hospital, but as she recovers, she begins to make friends
in India and to understand the culture. She finds herself attending
lavish Indian weddings and trying to comfort her friend Padma, whose
mother commits suicide after Padma marries without her permission.
MacDonald makes an effort to understand the many diverse religions of
the area, including taking a 10-day sojourn in a Buddhist temple and
discussing religion with Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, and even a group of
visiting Israelis. With Jonathan, she takes a trip to war-torn
Kashmir, an area that is at once achingly beautiful and devastatingly
dangerous. A lively, snappy travelogue. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --
Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .
Kurzbeschreibung
“India is like Wonderland. In this other universe everyone seems mad
and everything is upside down, back to front and infuriatingly
bizarre . . .”In her twenties Sarah Macdonald backpacked around India
and came away with a lasting impression of heat, pollution, and
poverty. So when an airport beggar read her palm and told her she
would return to India -- and for love -- she screamed, “Never!” and
gave the country, and him, the finger.
But eleven years later, the prophecy comes true. When the love of
Macdonald’s life is posted to India, she quits her dream job to move
to the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. For Macdonald this
seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love, and it almost kills her,
literally. Just settled, she falls dangerously ill with double
pneumonia, an experience that compels her to face some serious
questions about her own fragile mortality and inner spiritual void. “I
must find peace in the only place possible in India,” she concludes.
“Within.” Thus begins her journey of discovery through India in search
of the meaning of life and death. Holy Cow is Sarah Macdonald’s often
hilarious chronicle of her adventures in a land of chaos and
contradiction, of encounters with Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, Sufis,
Sikhs, Parsis, and Christians, and a kaleidoscope of yogis, swamis,
and Bollywood stars. From spiritual retreats and crumbling nirvanas to
war zones and New Delhi nightclubs, it is a journey that only a woman
on a mission to save her soul, her love life -- and her sanity -- can
survive.
Synopsis
After backpacking her way around India, 21-year-old Sarah Macdonald
decided that she hated this land of chaos and contradiction with a
passion, and when an airport beggar read her palm and insisted she
would come back one day - and for love - she vowed never to return.
But twelve years later the prophecy comes true when her partner, ABC's
South Asia correspondent, is posted to New Delhi, the most polluted
city on earth. Having given up a blossoming radio career in Sydney to
follow her new boyfriend to India, it seems like the ultimate
sacrifice and it almost kills Sarah - literally. After being cursed by
a sadhu smeared in human ashes, she nearly dies from double pheumonia.
It's enough to send a rapidly balding atheist on a wild rollercoaster
ride through India's many religions in search of the meaning of life
and death. From the 'brain enema' of a meditation retreat in
Dharamsala to the biggest Hindu festival on earth on the steps of the
Ganges in Varanasi, and with the help of the Dalai Lama, a goddess of
healing hugs and a couple of Bollywood stars - among many, many others
- Sarah discovers a hell of a lot more.
Über den Autor
Sarah Macdonald is a journalist and radio broadcaster who lives in
Sydney with her husband, ABC journalist Jonathan Harley, and their
baby daughter Georgina. HOLY COW! is her first book.
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APwa 12/15 1455 Rajneesh Conspiracy
By BRIAN S. AKRE Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A lawyer for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
claims the federal government poisoned the Indian guru in 1985 as
part of a conspiracy to force him out of the United States.
Swami Prem Niren, who served as Rajneesh's chief attorney
during the rise and fall of the Rajneeshpuram commune in central
Oregon, said Monday that Rajneesh believes he was poisoned in
late 1985 while he was in an Oklahoma City jail.
Rajneesh, 56, recently has been ill, and doctors concluded his
symptoms were consistent with thallium poisoning, Niren said in a
telephone interview. However, he said tests found no trace of
the rare, poisonous element in Rajneesh.
Veet Mano, director of the Rajneesh Press Services in Los
Angeles, charged in a news release received Monday by The
Associated Press that "the United States government conspired to
murder Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh." Niren said, however, there was
no evidence of that.
"That is an unfortunate phrase," he said. "It's one of those
things. PR people say things different than lawyers do."
Rajneesh now lives in Poona, India, where his movement was
based before he moved to a remote, 64,000-acre Oregon ranch in
1981. He was deported in November 1985 after he pleaded guilty
to immigration fraud in a plea agreement with federal
prosecutors.
Rajneesh has been suffering for the past two months from
nausea, fatigue, pain in his extremities and a lack of resistence
to infection, and was near death for a while, Niren said.
An Indian health official said recently that Rajneesh had
AIDS, but his disciples say a test proved the claim was false.
Rajneesh first experienced poisoning symptoms after a meal in
a jail in Oklahoma City, leading him to believe he was poisoned,
Niren said. Niren said he does not believe jailers in Oklahoma
City were responsible for the alleged poisoning. He speculated
the CIA was involved.
"Of course, years after the event I don't expect anyone in the
government or anywhere else to come forward and say, `I'm
responsible for it,"' Niren said.
Rajneesh, who was arrested in Charlotte, N.C., in October 1985
while allegedly trying to flee the United States, was held
overnight in Oklahoma City while being taken back to Oregon to
face criminal charges.
Niren, who said he is writing a book about his experiences
with the Rajneesh movement and the commune's legal battles, said
the government never had evidence linking Rajneesh to any crimes.
Niren said he recommended Rajneesh accept the plea bargain
that led to his deportation because of concerns over the guru's
health.
"Otherwise the government persecution would continue and he
couldn't take it," he said. "They intended to persecute him until
he left or was broken."
Charles H. Turner, the U.S. attorney who led the prosecution
of Rajneesh and several of his lieutenents, dismissed Niren's
allegations today.
"It's a total and complete fiction and you have to consider
the source," Turner said. "The man has no credibility."
Turner noted that a federal judge determined that Rajneesh had
committed crimes, and the guru was represented by "three
extremely skilled lawyers," including Niren. If Niren had
recommended Rajneesh plead guilty to a crime he did not commit,
the attorney could be disbarred, Turner said.
Rajneesh also had access to any medical care he needed while
he was in jail, Turner added.
"I stood next the man in court and there wasn't anything wrong
with him at all," he said.
The commune disbanded after Rajneesh's departure and the
property remains for sale.
Rajneesh, a self-described "rich man's guru," teaches
meditation as a means to enlightenment.
Niren, also known as Philip J. Toelkes, said he traveled after
the commune broke up and has been practicing law in San
Francisco.
http://www.skepticfiles.org/cultinfo/gurupois.htm
Osho, Bhagwan Rajneesh, and the Lost Truth
by Christopher Calder
When I first met Acharya Rajneesh at his Bombay apartment in December
of 1970, he was only 39 years old. With long beard and large dark
eyes, he looked like a painting of Lao-Tse come to life. Before
meeting Rajneesh I had spent time with a number of Eastern gurus
without being satisfied with their teachings. I wanted an enlightened
guide who could bridge the gap between East and West and reveal the
true esoteric secrets, without what I considered to be the excess
baggage of Indian, Tibetan, or Japanese culture. Rajneesh was the
answer to my quest for those deeper meanings. He described for me in
vivid detail everything I wanted to know about the inner worlds and he
had the power of immense being to back up his words. At 21 years old
I was naive about life and the nature of man and assumed that
everything he said must be true.
Rajneesh spoke on a high level of intelligence and his spiritual
presence emanated from his body like a soft light that healed all
wounds. While sitting close during a small gathering of friends,
Rajneesh took me on a rapidly vertical inner journey that almost
seemed to push me out of my physical body. His vast presence lifted
everyone around him higher without the slightest effort on their
part. The days I spent at his Bombay apartment were like days spent
in heaven. He had it all and he was giving it away for free!
Rajneesh possessed the astounding powers of telepathy and astral
projection, which he used nobly to bring comfort and inspiration to
his disciples. Many phony gurus have claimed to have these mysterious
abilities, but Rajneesh had them for real. The Acharya never bragged
about his powers. Those who came near soon learned of them through
direct contact with the miraculous.
Rajneesh, aka "Osho"
at his arrest in
October 1985
One or two amazing occult adventures was all it took to turn
doubting Western skepticism into awed admiration and devotion.
One year earlier I had meet another enlightened teacher, known
to the world as Jiddu Krishnamurti. Krishnamurti could barely give a
coherent lecture and constantly scolded his audience by referring to
their "shoddy little minds." I loved his frankness and his words were
true, but his subtly cantankerous nature was not very helpful in
transferring his knowledge to others.
Listening to Krishnamurti speak was like eating a sandwich made
of bread and sand. I found the best way to enjoy his talks was to
completely ignore his words and quietly absorb his presence. Using
that technique I would become so expanded after a lecture that I could
barely talk for hours afterwards. J. Krishnamurti, while fully
enlightened and uniquely lovable, will be recorded in history as a
teacher with very poor verbal communication skills. Unlike the highly
eloquent Rajneesh, however, Krishnamurti never committed any crime,
never pretended to be more than he was, and never used other human
beings selfishly.
"Ma Anand Sheela,"
Osho's Top Deputy,
at her arrest in 1985
Life is complex and multilayered and my naive illusions about the
phenomena of perfect enlightenment faded with the years. It became
clear to me that enlightened people are as fallible as anyone. They
are expanded human beings, not perfect human beings, and they live and
breathe with many of the same faults and vulnerabilities we ordinary
humans must endure.
Skeptics ask how I can claim that Rajneesh was enlightened given his
scandals and disastrous public image. I can only say that Rajneesh's
spiritual presence was identical to that of J. Krishnamurti, who was
recognized as enlightened by every high Tibetan Lama and revered Hindu
sage of the day. I do sympathize with the skeptics, however. If I
had not known Rajneesh personally, I would never believe it myself.
Rajneesh pushed the envelope of enlightenment in both positive and
negative directions. He was the best of the best and the worst of the
worst. He was a great teacher in his early years, with innovative
meditation techniques that worked with dramatic power (see explanation
and warning about Osho's Dynamic Meditation technique near the bottom
of the page). Rajneesh lifted thousands of seekers to higher levels
of consciousness and detailed Eastern religions and meditation
techniques with luminous clarity.
When former university professor Acharya Rajneesh suddenly
changed his name to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, I was dismayed. The
famous enlightened sage Ramana Maharshi was called Bhagwan by his
disciples as a spontaneous term of endearment. Rajneesh simply
declared that everyone should start calling him Bhagwan, a title which
can mean anything from 'divine one' to God. Rajneesh became irritated
when I would politely correct his mispronunciations of English words
after his lectures, so I felt in no position to tell him that I
thought his new name was inappropriate and dishonest. That change in
name marked a turning point in Rajneesh's level of honesty and was the
first of many big lies to come.
One false move, one grand error.
Rajneesh lived in an ivory tower, rarely leaving his room unless to
give a lecture, his life experience cushioned by throngs of adoring
devotees. As most human beings who are treat as kings, Rajneesh lost
touch with the world of the common man. In his artificial and
insulated existence, Rajneesh made one fundamental error in judgment
which would destroy his teaching.
Rajneesh calculated that the majority of the earth's population
was on such a low level of consciousness that they could not
understand nor tolerate the real truths. He thus decided on a policy
of spreading seemingly useful lies to bring inspiration to his
disciples and, on occasion, to stress his students in unique
situations for their own personal growth. This was his downfall and
the prime reason he will be remembered by most historians as just
another phony guru, which he undoubtedly was not.
Originally Osho gave himself the lofty title "Sri Bhagavan Rajneesh"
Acharya, Bhagwan Shree, Osho...all the empowering names taken by
Rajneesh could not cover up the fact that he was still a human being.
He had ambitions and desires, sexual and material, just like everyone
else. All living enlightened humans have desires. All enlightened men
have had public lives that we know about and all have had private
lives that remained secret. The vast majority of enlightened men do
nothing but good for the world. Only Rajneesh, to my knowledge,
became a criminal in both the legal and ethical sense of the word.
Rajneesh never lost the ultimate existential truth of being. He
only lost the ordinary concept of truth that any normal adult can
easily understand. He rationalized his constant lying as "left-handed
Tantra," but that too was dishonest. Rajneesh lied to save face, to
avoid taking responsibility for his own mistakes, and to gain personal
power. Those lies had nothing to do with Tantra or any selfless acts
of kindness. What is real in this world is fact and Rajneesh
misrepresented fact on a daily basis. Rajneesh was no simple con-man
like so many others. Rajneesh knew everything that Buddha knew and he
was everything that Buddha was. It was his loss of respect for
ordinary truthfulness that destroyed his teaching.
Rajneesh's health collapsed in his early thirties. He suffered from
what Europeans call myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or what Americans
call Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). His classic symptoms included
the obvious fatigue, extreme sensitivity to smells and chemicals (now
called "multiple chemical sensitivity"), allergies, recurrent low
grade fevers, photophobia, and orthostatic intolerance (neurally
mediated hypotension). Rajneesh also had Type II diabetes, asthma,
and severe back pain.
Rajneesh was constantly sick and frail from the time I first met
him in 1970 until his death in 1990. He could not stand on his feet
for long periods of time without becoming lightheaded because he
suffered damage to his autonomic nervous system which controls blood
pressure. This neurally mediated hypotension (low blood pressure
while standing) causes chronic fatigue and can also lower IQ due to a
lack of sufficient blood and oxygen being pumped to the brain (brain
hypoxia). When he was most ill he would complain of becoming
lightheaded as soon as he stood up. He thought he was getting a
different cold or flu every week. In reality he suffered from a
singular chronic illness with flu like symptoms that can last for
decades.
In his last years Rajneesh used prescription drugs, mainly
Valium (diazepam), as an analgesic for his aches and pains. He took
the maximum recommended dose of 60 milligrams per day. He also
inhaled nitrous oxide (N2O) mixed with pure oxygen (O2) which helped
his asthma and brain hypoxia, but which did nothing for the quality of
his judgment. Naive about the powerful effects of Western medications
and overconfident about his own ability to fight off their potentially
negative effects, Rajneesh succumbed to addiction. His downfall and
humiliation followed swiftly.
Rajneesh was a physically ill man who became mentally corrupt.
His drug addiction was a problem of his own making, not a government
conspiracy. Rajneesh died in 1990, with heart failure listed as the
official cause of death. It is probable that the physical decline
Rajneesh experienced during his incarceration in American jails was
due to a combination of withdrawal symptoms from Valium and an
aggravation of his ME/CFS due to stress and exposure to allergens.
There was much speculation in the American media that Osho had
actually committed suicide by taking a drug overdose. As no one has
confessed to giving Osho a lethal injection, there is no hard evidence
to support the suicide theory. A compelling circumstantial case could
be made for such a scenario, however, with suicide provoked by Osho's
constant ill health and disheartenment over the loss of Vivek, his
greatest love. Vivek had taken a fatal overdose of sleeping pills in
a Bombay hotel one month before Osho's passing. Pointedly, Vivek
decided to kill herself just before Osho's final birthday
celebration. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had threatened suicide at the
Oregon commune several times, hanging his death over the heads of his
disciples as a threat unless they obeyed his wishes. On his last day
on earth, Osho's is reported to have said "Let me go. My body has
become a hell for me."
The rumor that Osho was poisoned with thallium by operatives of
the United States Government is entirely fictional and contradicted by
undeniable fact. One of the obvious symptoms of thallium poisoning is
dramatic hair loss within seven days of exposure. Osho died with a
full beard and no exceptional baldness other than ordinary male
pattern baldness at the top of his head. Many of the symptoms which
may have led Osho's doctors to suspect thallium poisoning were in fact
common symptoms of dysautonomia (damage to the autonomic nervous
system) caused by ME/CFS. Those symptoms can include ataxia
(uncoordinated movements), numbness, standing tachycardia (rapid heart
rate upon standing), paresthesia (sensations of prickling and
itching), nausea, and irritable bowel syndrome, which causes
alternating between constipation and diarrhea.
The only proven cases of poisoning related to Osho were carried
out by Rajneesh sannyasins themselves (a sannyasin is an initiated
disciple, one who takes sannyas). The victims included totally
innocent people at an Oregon restaurant, two Wasco County
Commissioners, and members of Rajneesh's own staff who were poisoned
by Ma Anand Sheela, Rajneesh's personal secretary. Sheela had the
habit of poisoning people who either knew too much or who had simply
fallen out of her favor. Sheela spent two and a half years in a
federal medium security prison for her crimes while Rajneesh pled
guilty to immigration fraud and was given a ten year suspended
sentence, fined $400,000., and deported from the United States of
America.
Rajneesh felt that teaching ethics and morality was unnecessary
because the increased consciousness of meditation would automatically
lead to good behavior. Rajneesh's own actions and the behavior of his
disciples proves that theory to be untrue. There is no direct
connection between meditation and ethics and the dangers and
limitations of teaching ethics are far outweighed by the destructive
anarchy that a lack of teaching creates. Certainly students of
meditation should at least be reminded that lying, cheating, stealing,
and killing are not acceptable behavior. But Osho taught that you
should do as you please and many of his disciples and he himself
committed many ethical crimes. This lapse of judgment was largely due
to the arrogant and downright fascist attitude that one can become so
high and mighty that one is beyond the need for something as old
fashioned as polite and sane ethical behavior.
Those unfamiliar with the Rajneesh story can read the book
Bhagwan: The God That Failed, by Hugh Milne (Shivamurti), a close
disciple of Bhagwan during his Poona and Oregon years. Originally
published by Saint Martin's Press, the book can be found through
Amazon.Com and Amazon.Com.UK. I can verify many of the facts that Mr.
Milne states about the life of Rajneesh in Bombay and Poona though I
have no first hand knowledge of the tragic events at the Oregon
commune. My contacts with people who were there lead me to believe
that most of the facts Mr. Milne presents of the Oregon era are also
highly accurate. Hugh Milne is due great credit for a well written
and entertaining book which is a sincere effort at complete honesty.
On a few occasions, however, I differ from Mr. Milne's interpretations
of what the facts he presents actually mean.
Firstly, Rajneesh did not suffer from "hypochodria," as Mr.
Milne suggested. Rajneesh had a very real neurological disease,
probably inherited, which he mistook for frequent viral infections.
Rajneesh became unusually afraid of germs only due to his very
innocent and understandable medical ignorance. I fully agree with Mr.
Milne that Rajneesh suffered from "megalomania," however, and will add
that Rajneesh had a Napoleonic, obsessive and compulsive personality.
The Void has no ambition whatsoever, a fact which current Osho
disciples keep forgetting. Rajneesh could only speak for his own
personal animal mind, which is the case for all of us. The animal
mind may want its disciples to "take over the whole world," but the
Void does not care because it is beyond any motivation. The Void is
infinity and beyond human desire, so how can that which is beyond the
human mind have human ambitions? The phenomena we called Rajneesh,
Bhagwan, and Osho was only a temporary lens of cosmic energy, not the
full cosmos itself. Personality worship is not spiritual in any way
and self-indulgent attachment to guru is no better than obsessive
clinging to money, power, and social privilege. I am sure Mr. Milne
has learned that fact very well, but many fanatic Osho disciples have
missed the point entirely.
Mr. Milne also suggests that Rajneesh used "hypnosis" to
manipulate his disciples. Rajneesh had a wonderful, melodic, and
naturally hypnotic voice which would be a great asset to any public
speaker. However, in my personal opinion, Rajneesh's power came from
the intense energy field of the universal cosmic consciousness which
he channeled like a lens. Hindus call this universal energy phenomena
the Atman. As a Westerner, I prefer more scientific terms, and
describe the Atman as a highly evolved manifestation of time-energy-
space, the TES (see The TES Hypothesis).
Enlightenment is not something you own. It is something you channel.
Whatever term you use for the phenomena of enlightenment, it is
scientifically accurate to say that no human being has any power of
their own. Even the chemical energy of our metabolism is borrowed
from the sun, which beams light to the earth, which is then converted
by plants through photosynthesis into the food we eat. You may get
your bread from the supermarket but the caloric energy it contains
originated from thermonuclear reactions deep in the center of a nearby
star. Our physical bodies run on star power. Any spiritual energy we
channel also comes from far beyond, from all sides of the universe,
from the complete TES, from beyond the oceans of galaxies and onto
infinity. No human being owns the Atman and no one can speak for the
TES.
Rajneesh, as George Gurdjieff, often used the power of the Atman
for clearly personal gain. Both men used their cosmic consciousness
to overwhelm and seduce women, which was largely a harmless affair in
my opinion. Gurdjieff was ashamed of his own behavior in this regard
and vowed many times during his life to end this practice, which was a
combination of ordinary male sexual lust backed up by the potent
advantage of oceanic spiritual power. Rajneesh went even further and
used his channeled cosmic energy to manipulate masses of people to
gain a kind of quasi-political status and to aggrandize himself far
beyond what was honest or helpful to his disciples. In Oregon he even
declared to the media that "My religion is the only religion."
Diplomacy and modesty were not his strong points.
Gurdjieff, to my knowledge, never reached the extremes of self-
indulgence of Rajneesh and even warned his disciples not to have blind
faith in him. Gurdjieff wanted his students to be free and
independent with the combined abilities of clear mental reasoning and
meditation. Rajneesh, by contrast, seemed to believe that only his
thoughts and ideas were of value because only he was "enlightened."
This was a grand error in judgment and revealed a basic flaw in his
character.
Rajneesh earned his psychic abilities honestly through many
lifetimes of intense inner work. Unfortunately, when he finally
achieved the ability to fully channel the vastness of the Atman, he
failed to apply the needed wisdom of self-restraint. His human mind
so rebelled against Asian asceticism, which he claimed to have
practiced for many lifetimes, that he failed to ensure that his
borrowed power was only used for the good of others.
"Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." Henry Kissinger
After leaving India, Rajneesh created his Oregon commune from
his own powerful mind. He made himself the ultimate dictator, his
picture placed everywhere as in an Orwellian bad dream. That
totalitarian atmosphere was just one of the many reasons I did not
stay at the Oregon commune beyond several brief visits. I was
interested in meditation, not in a big concentration camp where human
beings were treated like insects with no intelligence of their own.
Rajneesh put such a high emphasis on his disciples following orders
without question that they did just that when Ma Anand Sheela,
Rajneesh's personal secretary, gave absurd orders to commit crimes
which Rajneesh himself would have never approved of.
When you decapitate the intelligence of human beings you create
a situation that is highly dangerous and destructive to the human
spirit. You cannot save people from their egos by demanding "total
surrender." The anti-democratic technique of forcing blind obedience
did not work well for Hitler, Stalin, or for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
Germany, Russia, and the Rajneesh Oregon commune were all destroyed
because of authoritarian imperial rule. A diversity of opinion is
always healthy because it acts as an effective counterbalance to the
myopic arrogance of those who would be king. Bhagwan never understood
this truth of history and referred to democracy scornfully as "mob-
ocracy." Rajneesh was an imperial aristocrat, never a generous and
open minded democrat, and he put his contempt for the democratic
process into highly visible action in Oregon.
In an attempt to subvert local Wasco County elections, Rajneesh
had his sannyasins bus in almost 2,000 homeless people from major
American cities in an effort to unfairly rig the voting process in his
favor. Some of the new voters were mentally ill and were given drug
laced beer to keep them manageable. Credible allegations have been
made that one or more of the imported street people died due to
overdosing on the beer-drug mixture, but to my knowledge that charge
has not been conclusively proven. Rajneesh's voting fraud scheme
failed and the once again homeless were returned to the streets after
the election was over, used and then abandoned. If Rajneesh
sannyasins had only held truth above all instead of obedience to guru
above all, then no crimes would have been committed and the commune
might still be in existence today.
Rajneesh used people, spoke out of both sides of his mouth, and
betrayed the trust of his own disciples. This betrayal caused Vivek,
his longtime girlfriend and companion, to commit suicide. Rajneesh
even lied about her death, slandering his greatest love in her grave
by falsely claiming that she was chronically depressed due to some
intrinsic emotional instability. Vivek was never depressed during the
years I knew her and she was the most radiant women I have ever
known.
Vivek was a highly advanced, literally glowing student of
meditation, but her only meditation method was being with Bhagwan and
absorbing his tremendous spiritual presence. When her one method and
one true love collapsed into insanity, she took her own life out of
overwhelming grief. Rajneesh drove her to suicide because she could
not understand nor tolerate his mental decline and collapse. Rajneesh
lied about her death simply to avoid taking responsibility for his own
bizarre behavior, which was the underlying cause of Vivek's despair.
The very same Western disciple who administered nitrous oxide to
Osho has been spreading negative rumors about Vivek, claiming that she
was not a meditative person (as himself) and that she committed
suicide because of a hormonal imbalance and also because she was
depressed about reaching the age of forty. This same sannyasin denied
to me emphatically that he gave Rajneesh irresponsible levels of
nitrous oxide, but later admitted to others that he gave Rajneesh one
to two hour nitrous oxide "treatments" every day for five months.
That level of exposure is clearly dangerous drug abuse with no
legitimate medical justification.
The young Acharya Rajneesh started his life as a teacher who
condemned false gurus and he ended his life as one of the most
deceitful gurus the world has ever known. The difficult fact to
comprehend is that he was enlightened when he was an anti-guru puritan
and he was still enlightened when he was the ultimate self-indulgent
guru himself. This seemingly irreconcilable contradiction is the real
reason I write this essay. I love to go into uncharted territory
where others fear to tread.
When you combine man's natural tendency for selfishness with an
ivory tower lifestyle, you have a situation where ethical behavior can
appear to be optional. Combine the unhealthy atmosphere of self-
deification with a debilitating progressive illness that lowers IQ,
and on top of that add drug abuse, then you have a cliff that even an
enlightened man could fall from. That fall could happen only if the
enlightened man makes one wrong choice, one false move, from both the
heart and from the mind.
Bhagwan's wrong choice was to disregard truthfulness in favor of
what he thought were useful lies. Once you make that wrong turn, away
from ordinary straightforward truth, you have lost your way. No human
being can disregard fact on a regular basis without finding himself in
a sea of turmoil because by discarding fact you discard the ground
beneath your feet. Little lies grow into big lies and the now hidden
truth becomes your enemy, not your friend and ally.
Rajneesh overestimated himself and underestimated his own
disciples. The real seekers of knowledge around him could have easily
handled the truth and were already motivated without the need for
propaganda. But Rajneesh had been a high guru for such a long time,
not just in this life but in previous lives as well, that he came to
see himself in grandiose terms. He was indeed an historic figure but
he was not the perfect superman he pretended to be. No one is! His
disciples deserved honesty but he fed them fairy tales "to give them
faith."
Jiddu Krishnamurti had been more honest than Rajneesh in
repeating relentlessly that "there is no authority" due to the
intrinsic nature of the cosmos. Ardent Rajneesh disciples didn't heed
Krishnamurti's warnings and put blind faith in a man who claimed to be
all-seeing, to have all the answers, and who once in 1975 brashly
proclaimed that he had never made a single mistake in his entire
life. Clearly Rajneesh made as many mistakes as any human being.
Just as obviously, his basic existential enlightenment was no
guarantee of functional pragmatic wisdom.
While Rajneesh was a brilliant philosopher, he was a lost babe
in the woods when it came to the world of science. Worried about
worldwide overpopulation, Rajneesh pressured his disciples to undergo
medical sterilization procedures. Unfortunately, he did not consider
the demographics of population growth. The current population
expansion is largely a phenomena of poor, third world nations, not a
problem originating in the USA, Canada, and Europe, where birth rates
are actually falling. North America and Europe are only experiencing
population increases due to legal and illegal immigration from third
world nations. Having his European and North American disciples
medically sever their reproductive capabilities only added to this
imbalance and many former disciples now regret they complied without
question to his thoughtless edicts.
Rajneesh also declared that the AIDS epidemic would soon kill
three quarters of the world's population and that a major nuclear war
was just around the corner. He thought he could escape nuclear
holocaust by building underground shelters and slow the spread of AIDS
by having his disciples wash their hands with alcohol before eating
meals. His more reasoned admonition was for his disciples to always
use condoms. To enforce his sexual rules, which also involved
elaborate instructions on the use of rubber gloves during sexual
encounters, Rajneesh encouraged his sannyasins to spy on each other,
reporting the names of those who failed to conform to his orders.
"When it comes to gurus, take the best and leave the rest." Ramamurti
Mishra
The disaster of Rajneesh appointing himself the singular great
brain of the universe was compounded by his lack of real world
reasoning skills, and this was the case even before he started taking
large amounts of Valium. Rajneesh could weave magnificent
philosophical dreams and addict his disciples to imagined worlds of
spiritual adventure, but those dreams did not have to stand any
empirical test of truth. In the world of science you have to prove
what you say is true through testing. In the world of philosophy and
religion you can say anything you desire and throw caution to the
wind. If your words sound good to the masses they will sell, whether
they are fact or fiction.
Rajneesh had no understanding of, or appreciation for, the
scientific method. If he thought something was true, in his own mind,
that made it true. His disciples had to obey his words or be banished
from the mini-nation he created in the Oregon desert. Rajneesh ruled
his empire as a warlord with his own private army and puppet
government. His visions and ideas, faulty or not, were taken without
question as the word of God. His disciples were judged by their
ability to surrender to his will and any opposing views were branded
as negativity and an unspiritual lack of faith.
Rajneesh's poor reasoning became even more apparent during and
after the Oregon commune scandal. After being jailed and then
deported from the USA, Rajneesh angrily declared Americans "subhuman,"
ignoring the fact that it was he, an Indian, who pled guilty to felony
immigration fraud and that it was Sheela, an Indian, who ordered the
most serious crimes which brought his empire to ruin. Even in his
fifties Rajneesh was still lying to get his own way, still demanding
to always be the center of attention, and by 1988, suffering from drug
and illness induced dementia, was pouting that his box of toys, his
expensive car collection and jewel encrusted watches, had been taken
away.
Rajneesh's disciples thought they were following a reliable and
authoritative "enlightened master." In reality they had been mislead
by a highly fallible enlightened human animal who was still a little
boy at heart. Rajneesh had not only misrepresented himself
personally, but he misrepresented the phenomena of enlightenment
itself. The idealized fantasy of perfect enlightenment does not exist
anywhere in the real world and it has never existed. The universe is
far too big and complex for anyone to be its master. We are all
subjects, not "masters," and those who pretend to be infallible and
all-knowing end up looking even more the fool in the end.
The famous sages of old seem perfect to us now only because they
have become larger than life myths. The long passage of time has
allowed their followers to effectively cover up their guru's flaws,
just as Rajneesh disciples are currently rewriting and censoring
history to cover up Rajneesh's great failings. Rajneesh was never
more infallible than any other human being. What we call
enlightenment is not a cure-all for faults and frailties that cling to
human animals even after they achieve maximum possible consciousness,
which is perhaps a more realistic definition of the term
"enlightenment."
The ultimate existential truth is silent and beyond all words.
Rajneesh embodied that truth up to the day he died. Visitors to his
ashram in Poona, India, who are open to meditation, will feel a giant
wave of consciousness there. That wave use to be connected to a human
body we called Rajneesh. The body has been turned to ashes but the
wave can still be felt. In the same way J. Krishnamurti's presence
can still be felt at Arya Vihara, his former home in Ojai,
California.
"What you tell them is true, but what I tell them (the useful lies) is
good for them." Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh 1975
The contradiction of corruption and enlightenment can occur
because the brain is never enlightened and enlightenment never says or
does anything. In a way no one ever really becomes enlightened.
Enlightenment happens at the place where you are standing but you
cannot own it or possess it. All the words of so-called enlightened
men come from the human mind and body which interprets the phenomena
of enlightenment like a translator. The words do not come froM the
enlightenment itself. By definition enlightenment cannot speak. It
is absolutely silent and beyond any need to speak.
There are many layers to our beings. Some traditions have
categorized those layers as seven bodies, the first being the physical
body and the seventh the nirvanic, the void from which all is born.
No matter how you count the layers they do exist and the purely mental
layer is always there if you have a physical body. That layer can be
affected by disease and chemical exposure.
Osho died addicted to Valium and he experienced all the negative
symptoms of drug addiction, which included slurred speech, paranoia,
poor judgment, and lowered intelligence. At one point his paranoia
and confusion were so great that he thought a group of German cultists
had cast an evil spell on him. His physical disabilities and drug
abuse were simply more than his mortal brain could take. His biggest
flaw, his disregard for the ordinary concept of truth, was his
ultimate downfall and for that crime he must be held fully responsible
with no excuses.
"Never give a sucker an even break." W.C. Fields
Bhagwan lied when he said he had enlightened disciples. He lied
when he said he never made a mistake. Later he was forced to admit he
was fallible as his list of bungles grew to monstrous proportions. He
lied by pretending that the therapy groups run by his disciples were
not mainly a money making device. Rajneesh broke immigration laws and
lied about it in court. He lied by saying that he was adopted in a
phony scheme to get permanent residence status. Bhagwan Rajneesh was
no murderer or bank robber, but he certainly was a very big liar. The
ridiculous thing is that all of his lies were totally unnecessary and
counterproductive. Honesty really is the best policy.
Sadly, Rajneesh lied when he claimed he was not responsible for
the horrors of the Oregon commune because he hand picked Ma Anand
Sheela and the people who committed the major crimes of conspiracy to
commit murder, poisoning, first-degree assault, burglary, arson, and
wiretapping. The fact that Rajneesh did not order or have pre-
knowledge of the most serious crimes does not mean he was not
ethically responsible for them. If a teacher puts a drunken sailor in
charge of driving a school bus and the children end up dead, then the
teacher is responsible for their deaths. Rajneesh knew what kind of
person Sheela was and he chose her because of her corruption and
arrogance, not in spite of it. In a cowardly attempt to evade his own
failings he changed his name from Bhagwan to Osho, as if a change in
name could wash away his sins.
Some may be horrified that an enlightened soul could become a
convicted felon, but that has not stopped me from seeking the ultimate
existential truth. Rajneesh's life is a lesson for us all to practice
what we preach. Bhagwan gave great advice but he could not heed his
own wise words. He is also a reminder not to take what people say
very seriously. It is better to observe how people live and put less
emphasis on what they speak. Talk is cheap. Actions are more costly
and telling.
Do enlightened men have egos? In my younger idealistic years I
would have said the answer is no. Rajneesh, Gurdjieff, and even J.
Krishnamurti prove to me that they do (see links near the bottom of
the page). I became convinced that Rajneesh had an ego when I saw him
on television in chains being transported from jail to an Oregon
courthouse. In response to a reporter's question he looked into the
television camera and spoke to his disciples saying "Don't worry.
I'll be back." It was not what he said but the look in his eyes that
was positive proof for me. I could see his ego in action, calculating
and manipulating. Once you see something that clearly no
rationalizations can cover up the basic truth. Rajneesh was
magnificently enlightened but he was also profoundly egotistical.
For ordinary humans the ego is the center of awareness and the
Void is perceived only at the periphery. People look at a picture
taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and they see the Void as an
outside object, not as a personal identity. When you become
enlightened, either temporarily in a satori or permanently as a
Buddha, the situation is reversed. Now the Void is your center of
awareness and the ego is at the periphery. Ego does not die, it just
no longer takes the center stage of our attention.
Enlightenment is a functional and desirable disassociation of
identity which is rooted in subtle body development and in physical
brain function. The human brain is a biologically created thinking
machine that has evolved for both personal self-preservation and the
survival of the human species. The ego, which is a selfish motivating
force, is needed to protect our colony of living cells, the physical
body, from danger and to keep our cells replenished with food and
water. If you did not have an ego you would not be able to think,
speak, or find food, shelter, and clothing. The ego function is so
vital for survival that the human brain evolved with two potential ego
mechanisms, one a centralized ego and the second a larger and more
diffuse backup system utilizing less central portions of the brain.
If the body and brain becomes physically ill with high fever and
the centralized ego center is damaged, the backup ego mechanism may
temporarily take over its function. This is ego displacement without
enlightenment. The backup self-maintenance system keeps sleep walkers
out of danger and helps enlightened human animals find food and the
basics of life so they do not physically die as a result of their own
deep meditation.
Enlightened humans do not feel their more diffuse ego and thus
they feel as free as space (the Void) itself. In actuality ego is
still present and working, just as our autonomic nervous system keeps
on working whether we are aware of its function or not. You do not
have to consciously tell your heart to beat 70 times a minute because
it will keep on beating regardless of your awareness. The brain
function that controls heart rate is automatic (autonomic) and does
not need our consciousness to make it work.
Nature has also provided human animals with a strong, virtually
unstoppable sex drive to ensure reproduction of the species. Because
of the overwhelming importance and power of sex, most gurus,
enlightened or not, have maintained active sex lives which are often
kept secret for purely political reasons. In his early years Rajneesh
lied about his strong sexuality, but to be fair this has to be
understood in the context of a rigidly anti-sexual, and highly
hypocritical, Indian social structure. Later on, after his position as
a guru had become solidified, Rajneesh publicly bragged about having
sex "with hundreds of women."
Rajneesh's sex life was of no interest to me and I do not find
any fault with him for having the same sexual desires that all men
have. I do find fault when he was dishonest and cruel for selfish
reasons. While living in Bombay, Rajneesh made one young woman
pregnant through an aggressive and unasked for seduction. The young
woman was highly upset and forced by circumstance to have an
abortion. Rajneesh, protecting his image as a great guru, lied about
his involvement and claimed that she had imagined the whole affair.
In her anger, the young woman told the American Embassy her story.
That incident marked the beginning of Rajneesh's troubles with the
United States Government. Most of Rajneesh's close disciples believed
the young woman, not the much older "enlightened" man. Similarly,
decades later many would believe a young White House intern, not a
much older Presiden Bill Clinton. Being President, or being
"enlightened," does not always ensure good behavior.
All human beings are animals, specifically mammals. It has been
proven that human DNA is at least 98% the same as chimpanzee DNA.
World history, Asian mythology, politics, and the world of alpha male
gurus makes allot more sense if you keep that unavoidable scientific
fact in mind. Our most primal subconscious motivating forces come
from the animal world, which we are still a part of.
Some enlightened human animals have become fooled by the
phenomena of ego displacement and thought they no longer had any
personal selfishness that could cause trouble. Meher Baba spent much
of his life bragging about how great he was yet at his center he felt
perfectly egoless. In truth he was very egoistic and should have
realized that even enlightenment is no excuse for bragging. The same
fundamental misjudgment plagued Acharya Rajneesh. He became fooled
into thinking that he was above arrogance but that was simply not the
case.
Even enlightened humans have to mind their manners and realize
that the Atman is the wondrous phenomena they should promote, not
their own fallible and temporary personalities. Ramana Maharshi had
the right approach in this regard and that is one reason he is still
beloved by all. Ramana Maharshi promoted the Atman, the universal
cosmic consciousness, but never his own mortal body and mind.
Everyone who experienced Acharya Rajneesh's oceanic energy still
loves him, myself included. It is only because I value the truth
above all that I write what I believe are needed criticisms. If we
cannot honestly analyze our mistakes then our suffering was a waste of
time. The ongoing cover-up of Bhagwan's frailties by his
establishment disciples will only destroy the possibility of learning
from his tragedy.
I miss Acharya Rajneesh, never Osho, because he was at his
finest when he had no manipulating political organization surrounding
him. When Acharya Rajneesh was just a man in an apartment with one
old Chevrolet, not dozens of Rolls Royces, he was more honest and
true. When he became his own political establishment things started
to go wrong and that is often the case with men of great power.
How can the ocean go into the drop if the drop has an ego in
it? My answer, as previously stated, is that the ego is an integral
part of the structure of the human brain. It is not simply
psychological but also neurological and hard wired into our neural
pathways (see neurological basis for a sense of 'self'). The self-
survival, self-defense mechanism we call 'ego' cannot be destroyed
unless the body dies.
Huston Smith, the well known author and professor of world
religions, believes that no man attached to this mortal coil can
achieve the ultimate transcendence. You first have to physically die
and when the last coil is broken you are totally free. I believe the
ego steps aside and becomes less of a problem for most enlightened
men, but it is never totally destroyed as long as you have a physical
body.
The Rajneesh scandal exposed the unconscious slavery of Bhakti
Yoga and the underlying fraudulence and corruption of "left-handed
Tantra." What is needed is an honest path, built on self-observation,
self-reliance, and respect for truth. The days of the know-it-all
guru are over. It is time to realize the source of all things
directly.
It would be wonderful to believe that enlightened men were
perfect in every way. That would make life simpler and sweeter, but
it would be fiction, not fact. In a way Bhagwan's tragedy has given
me more hope. If we have to become perfect human beings to become
enlightened then who among us will ever reach that goal? If we
realize that enlightenment is just a gradual progression of expansion
of consciousness then the goal is attainable by all of us, given
enough time. If we work for hundreds of years, through many births
and deaths, with a simple goal of just going a little deeper every
day, then with scientific certainty I believe those who seek
enlightenment will attain it in time. All of the enlightened men I
have known or have read about have made that statement in their own
words. I believe that is a fact that can be trusted.
Addendum - On letters I have received
Any thoughtful person can imagine the range of leters I have
received as a result of posting my Web essay on Acharya - Bhagwan -
Osho - Rajneesh. To date about half of the letters have been from
former Rajneesh disciples who generally agree with my comments and who
thank me for putting them on the Web. Those who agree tell me they
see "compassion for all involved" on my Web page and that I got it
"just about right."
The other letters I receive are from current disciples of the
now deceased Osho, many whom have never actually met the man in
person. Those letters range from death threats from several German
disciples to poorly written and often unsigned insults. The Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance also gets lots of hate mail, but
from many different cults, not just from one. It is interesting to
see how most cults are alike in this regard. The us vs. them
mentality takes over and anyone who does not tow the party line of the
cult is deemed a villain.
Meditation has nothing to do with cults, organizations,
politics, or business, but for many meditation is a secondary issue.
For them it is all about hero worship and blind obedience to the
memory of a now dead guru, which is a silly waste of time in my
opinion. Why not go directly to the source of all gurus and religions
through your own meditation? There is an old Zen saying that "One
should not become attached to anything that can be lost in a
shipwreck." Certainly this admonition applies to gurus as well.
Several Rajneesh sannyasins have written me claiming to be
enlightened and I hear reports that many Rajneesh disciples now make
that claim. One man said that he was "the new Osho" and invited me to
visit his Web page. His page displayed a large heroic picture of
himself, much self-promotion, and an advertisement for prostitutes in
Russia who he claimed were practicing "Tantra." So for him
"enlightenment" and being "the new Osho" literally means to be a
pimp.
Another man, who had never met Osho in person, seemed to claim
that reading Osho's books helped him get over his "mental illness" and
now he was "enlightened" himself. He then forcefully instructed me to
rewrite my Web page to make it "less judgmental" and suggested that
Osho's hypocrisy was just a means to convey his enlightenment to
others. Well, he certainly conveyed his hypocrisy to others! One
young woman, who grew up on the Rajneesh Oregon commune, asked me how
she could make money out of teaching Osho's meditation techniques. I
replied that she should go to an employment agency and get an honest
job. Meditation and business do not mix and there are too many money
hungry gurus out there already.
It shocks me to find that many Osho disciples do not care about
the crimes that were committed and are not bothered by the lies and
hypocrisy of their own movement. They don't seem to comprehend that
as a result of the germ warfare attack committed by Rajneesh
sannyasins on a restaurant in Oregon that meditation groups have
gotten a very bad name around the world.
The unrelated but equally infamous Aum Shinrikyo (a Japanese
cult) nerve gas attack on a subway station in Tokyo worsened this
situation considerably. The attitude of many Osho sannyasins seems to
be that as long as they get their psychic kicks out of a cult that it
does not matter who was hurt or how unethical and disgraceful the
behavior was. In their minds everyone else in the world was
responsible for the Oregon debacle except them. As a result of this
careless attitude many Americans now feel that if a meditation group
starts an ashram nearby it is time to buy a gun and a gas mask.
The amount of historical revisionism and propaganda put out by
some Rajneesh disciples rivals the efforts of Maoists during the 1960s
and their state of mind is similar. If you want to believe in one
perfect man, a Pope of the universe, then anyone who criticizes that
Pope is deemed a devil. Thus all the subtleties of my essay are lost
on these disciples and all they claim to see on my Web page is "hate
and anger." Of course they do not see the hate in themselves directed
at anyone who does not share their own narrow beliefs.
One long time disciple of Rajneesh expressed to me how angry she
was at the Dalai Lama for only visiting the Rajneesh ashram in Poona
once. So for her the Dalai Lama is now a villain just because he did
not want to go back for a second visit. The level of intolerance and
narrow mindedness in the Rajneesh cult is mind boggling to me and I
cannot understand how so many seemingly intelligent people can live in
such a small mental space, barricaded against all those who do not
believe exactly as they do.
The last time I visited the Rajneesh ashram in Poona, India, was
in 1988. It was literally like a loud convention of German Brown
Shirts by that point. Osho was still very popular in Germany, due in
part to his comments in the German magazine Stern which were widely
interpreted to be pro-Hitler. I myself do not believe Osho was a
serious supporter of Adolf Hitler. It seemed to me that he was just
playing with people's minds, but he made his position ambiguous
enough, with enough expressed sympathy for the Axis cause, that many
young Germans were thrilled by his words. Those who lost loved ones
during World War II were justifiably shocked.
At one point Rajneesh stated that "I have fallen in love with
this man (Adolf Hitler). He was crazy, but I am crazier still." I do
not believe Rajneesh meant that statement literally. He was joking,
but he had lost the common sense to know that one does not joke about
loving a man who has killed millions of innocent people. Mel Brooks
can get away with it because he is Jewish and has relatives who were
killed by the Nazis. For a "spiritual" man who portrayed himself as
the world's smartest, highest, and greatest soul, such a remark was
proof that his drug taking was destroying the quality of his
judgment.
At the time of my visit Osho was in silence as he was angry at
his own disciples. He wanted his sannyasins to demonstrate in the
streets of Poona against some Indian officials who had spoken out
against him. Wisely, no one was interested in creating a new
confrontation. This spell of sanity among the flock irritated Osho
who canceled public talks as punishment. I was thus only able to see
him on video tape. On the taped lecture Osho was ranting emotionally,
and factually incorrectly, about how the police in the United States
had stolen his collection of jewel encrusted watches. He said that
they would never be able to wear them in public because his sannyasins
would see the watches on their wrists, at airports etc., and start
screaming out loud that "you stole Bhagwan's watch!" His words and
manner were so childishly irrational that he reminded me of Jim
Jones. This Osho was a far cry from the serene, dignified, and highly
eloquent man I had met years earlier.
Why did Osho own 90 Rolls Royces? Why does Saddam Hussein own
dozens of luxurious palaces? Those desires are products of the base
animal mind of two men who grew up in poverty. Enlightenment does not
care about symbols of power and potency. Looking for hidden esoteric
explanations for obsessive behavior is pointless. Is there an occult
reason that Elton John spends over $400,000. per month on flowers? Is
there a secret spiritual reason that Osho had a collection of dozens
of expensive ladies' watches? The universal cosmic consciousness is
completely neutral and without any need to possess, impress, or
dominate. It also cannot drive or tell time.
Shivamurti's book, Bhagwan: The God That Failed, could have
easily also been entitled The Man Who Became His Own Opposite, or The
Man Who Betrayed Himself. I often tell people that if they could go
back in time and kidnap the Acharya Rajneesh of 1970, then bring him
up through the years to meet the Osho of the late 1980s, that the two
men would be at war with each other. Acharya would have hated Osho's
pompous self-indulgence and Osho would have never tolerated the young
Acharya's brash criticisms. Acharya Rajneesh spoke of freedom and
compassion. Osho once said that he wished someone would
"shoot" (assassinate) former Soviet leader Mikael Gorbachev because he
was leading the Soviet Union to Western style capitalism instead of
his own imagined "spiritual communism." The change in his teaching
was remarkable, to say the least.
I would like to think that the early Acharya Rajneesh would have
approved of my essay, but who can say for sure. For those who suggest
I am not being loyal to Osho, I counter that I am honestly trying to
be loyal to Acharya Rajneesh, the man I took sannyas from, not Osho.
He was a man I still deeply love and respect. But that Acharya
Rajneesh died along time before Osho was even born and the two men
were as different as day and night.
My message to letter writers is to go ahead and write me. You
can vent anger or thank me, but neither will have much effect on me as
I have heard it all before, from both sides. I can only sigh and ask
myself how Acharya Rajneesh, who started out as an anti-guru
extraordinaire, ended up as he did with this current crop of
disciples. Perhaps it shows that power does corrupt and that the
means rarely justifies the ends.
In the end where is meditation in all of this? "Color
Puncture," "Tantric Tarot Readings," encounter groups, and every phony
crackpot scam in the book is being peddled by Osho disciples for large
sums of money. But what about meditation? Then I think back to the
day when the just turned 40 year old Acharya wisely instructed a
friendly Japanese woman, who was starting a new Rajneesh meditation
center in Tokyo, that "Meditation must not be made into a business."
The corrupt means have gotten so far out of hand that the original
intent of the ends, Acharya Rajneesh's original noble vision, has long
been forgotten by many, but not by me.
"No Saint comes to the world with a new teaching or philosophy; he
brings the same
ancient wisdom."
Maharaj Charan Singh, Sikh Guru
From "Divine Light," p. 144
"They [the sages] conduct themselves in the everyday life in
accordance with the time-hallowed rules of conduct..."
"He should be known as the killer of the Brahman, who is a renegade
beyond the pale of all recognized schools of thought."
The Jivan-Mukti-Viveka of Sri Vidyaranya
Translation of Pandit Subrahmanya Sastri, F.T.S., The Theosophical
Publishing House, p. 170, p. 218
"Rajneesh/Osho is the worst thing that ever happened to spirituality
in the west. He rode herd over a mob of naive, idealistic spiritual
seekers, but definitely lacked the traits of an enlightened master.
"Enlightened masters are not drug addicts. They do not turn Dharma on
its head -- like calling "sannyasins" those who adopt a path exactly
opposite of Indian sannyas. They generally don't get arrested and have
their mug shots taken, and ignomiously deported -- especially the
Indian saints. (Christ was one notable historical exception to this
rule.) A true saint, by his spiritual power, is never humiliated or
bested. He has sufficient merit to receive protection and his honored
in his lifetime.
"More to the core, an enlightened master does not encourage his
disciples to abandon time-honored moral norms -- especially the
dharma concerning sex restraint. Osho was basically a kind of pimp who
used the base desires of average people, along with their beautiful
hunger for real spirituality, to build a financial empire and a
following of worshippers who would do whatever he asked.
"When I think back about that 'baby boomer generation' of sincere
spiritual seekers -- all those intelligent, skilled young men and
women of European descent like me -- it makes me so sad. What a
harvest of potential saints that was! How much good might have arisen
if all those young, idealistic westerners could have fallen in with a
legitimate spiritual master -- say, a Vivekananda or a Ramakrishna. We
will never know! I look at them today, and their condition, and they
have missed the boat.
"Thousands of sincere western seekers were misled and harmed by the
novel teachings of Osho. I have seen many of them in the aftermath.
They always lack the satvic glow that comes from yogic sex restraint;
they look like spent rakes aged well beyond their actual years. Even
in their age -- when they might show some spiritual attainment -- many
still crave sex, and all the ordinary base things. Despite Osho's
"indulgence technique," they never got over sex addiction and lust.
"This was one of the Big Lies that Osho told: That by indulging your
sex desire you would transcend it. The great sages of Yoga spoke the
real and opposite truth: You get over sexual lust not by feeding it,
but by restraining it until you encounter the higher thrill of
meditative bliss. Meanwhile, it is only that renunciation -- the
storing of the sexual energy -- that enables one to contact the
transcendental bliss. This has been the message of the sages through
all time, including Lord Buddha, who was frequently ripped off by
"the Bhagwan." Osho's teachings, though sprinkled here and there with
mystical truths, were dead wrong in the most basic ways, and
ultimately spiritually destructive.
"The proof is in the pudding. Christ said that one can know a true
Master by the "fruit" that emerges from him. Through his disciples
Osho gave us moral and family breakdown, drug addiction, a disturbed
childhood for many, and crime -- even terrorism. Osho set Yoga back in
the west perhaps hundreds of years.
"The saddest thing is what happened to all those children of Osho
followers. Osho wanted them to grow up not knowing who their Fathers
were; raised by a mob, with no particular person as Parent. I can't
think of anything much more ignorant, or more cruel. Krishnamurti was
right:
Osho was a criminal."
-- Julian Lee
www.Celibacy.info
Osho/Rajneeshism
Concise summary and history of the Osho/Rajneesh mess
The Rise And Fall of Rajneeshpuram
Sympathetic account of the Osho mess, but with a good accounting of
their criminal activites
"It was later revealed in court testimony that Sheela’s [Rajneeshee
group] had attempted to poison two local communities by dumping
salmonella into salad bars of several local restaurants . . . This
episode has the unfortunate distinction of being the first instance of
modern bioterrorism in the U.S.
"Sheela’s group also allegedly fire-bombed a county records office in
The Dalles. One of the charges most heavily investigated was the
poisoning of Swami Deveraj (later Amrito), Bhagwan’s personal
physician. After the July 6 discourse, Ma Shanti Bhadra hugged
Deveraj and jabbed him with a needle. The syringe contained a still
unidentified poison concocted by Rajneeshpuram nurse Ma Puja. Deveraj
became gravely ill and almost died at the Madras hospital."
"My Life In Orange"
The child of an Osho disciple recounts his crazy life growing up under
the "Rajneesh." Find out how bad it was. Many letters here from other
grown Osho children, or those raised in similar situations.
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
An Apologetics Index research resource
Rajneesh founded the Rajneesh Foundation International, and is one of
the most controversial of modern gurus. In 1981 he was deported from
Oregon under a bevy of serious criminal charges associated with his
ashram, or spiritual community. His recent death did little to stem
his influence in Europe or America.
John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs
Harvest House Publishers, Oregon, 1996.
[A]lso called OSHO AND ACHARYA RAJNEESH, original name CHANDRA MOHAN
JAIN, Indian spiritual leader who preached an eclectic doctrine of
Eastern mysticism, individual devotion, and sexual freedom while
amassing vast personal wealth.
In 1981 Rajneesh's cult purchased a dilapidated ranch in Oregon, U.S.,
which became the site of Rajneeshpuram, a community of several
thousand orange-robed disciples. Rajneesh was widely criticized by
outsiders for his private security force and his ostentatious display
of wealth. By 1985 many of his most trusted aides had abandoned the
movement, which was under investigation for multiple felonies
including arson, attempted murder, drug smuggling, and vote fraud in
the nearby town of Antelope. In 1985 Rajneesh pleaded guilty to
immigration fraud and was deported from the United States. He was
refused entry by 21 countries before returning to Pune, where his
ashram soon grew to 15,000 members. In later years he took the
Buddhist title Osho and altered his teaching on unrestricted sexual
activity because of his growing concern over AIDS.
Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Encyclopedia Britannica
(...) the only known successful use of biological weapons in the
United States was by the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult in 1984. The
group contaminated salad bars in 10 restaurants in The Dalles, Ore.,
with Salmonella Typhimurium, causing several hundred people to become
ill.
Biological and Chemical Warfare Q and A, ABC News, Sep. 24, 2001
Hinduism is not by nature a proselytizing religion, however, in part
because of its inextricable roots in the social system and the land of
India. In recent years, many new gurus, such as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
and Satya Sai Baba, have been successful in making converts in Europe
and the United States. The very success of these gurus, however, has
produced material profits that many people regard as incompatible with
the ascetic attitude appropriate to a Hindu spiritual leader; in some
cases, the profits have led to notoriety and even legal prosecution.
Hinduism Outside India Encyclopedia Britannica
Name Change
In 1988 thirty years after taking the title, ''Bhagwan,'' (which means
''the embodiment of God'') Rajneesh admitted the title and his claim
to be God were a ''joke.'' ''I hate the word... I don't want to be
called Bhagwan (God) again. Enough is enough. The joke is over,''
stated Rajneesh saying he was really the reincarnation of Buddha and
claiming for himself the new title of ''Rajneesh Gautaman the
Buddha,'' (Star Telegram, Dec. 29, 1988; Sec.1, p. 3). Later he took
the title, ''Osho Rajneesh,'' a Buddhist term meaning ''on whom the
heavens shower flowers.'' (Ibid, 1/20/90).
Guru Rajneesh Dead at 58, Watchman Expositor, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990
Guru Rajneesh Dead at 58, Watchman Expositor, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990
Old Bhagwan, new bottles ''A 'new' spiritual guru turns out to have a
past that includes lavish spending, orgies and bacterial terrorism.'',
Salon.com, Oct. 20, 1999
Ever wonder what ever happened to the guy whose religious followers
were linked to the only episode of domestic mass bioterrorism in
America? Well, in the case of the late, notorious Bhagwan Shree
Rajneesh, old renegade sex gurus never die. He just ''left his body''
somewhere in India in 1990 and later emerged as a thriving, modern-day
publishing machine known as Osho.
Rajneesh's flock caught much of his meditative bon mots on tape, and
now incessantly recycle these ponderings as spiritual wisdom under the
author name of Osho.
Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Entry in Encyclopedia Britannica
Rajneeshpuram: Another Tragedy in the Making? Statement by the
Christian Research Institute
The Story of a Truly Contaminated Election Columbia Journalism
Review, Jan/Feb 2000
The only proven incident of bioterrorism the United States has ever
experienced, we learned, was a bizarre plot by the Rajneeshees, a
religious cult, to steal a county election in Oregon in 1984. The
Rajneeshees, followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a self-proclaimed
guru exiled from India, had moved into a ranch in rural Wasco County,
taken political control of the small nearby town of Antelope, and
changed its name to Rajneesh. Next, the cult sought to run the whole
county by winning the local election in 1984.
The amazing story of the Wasco County election scandal was revealed to
the conference's riveted participants by Leslie L. Zaitz, an
investigative reporter for The Oregonian, and Dr. John Livengood, an
epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control. To win the county
election, the Rajneeshees planned to sicken a good portion of the
population in the town of The Dalles, where most Wasco County voters
live. Their weapon of choice to keep local residents from voting was
salmonella bacteria. Cult members decided to test the use of
salmonella and, if successful, to contaminate the entire water system
of The Dalles on Election Day. First, the Rajneeshees poisoned two
visiting Wasco County commissioners on a hot day by plying them with
refreshing drinks of cold water laced with salmonella. Then, on a
shopping trip to The Dalles, cult members sprinkled salmonella on
produce in grocery stores "just for fun." According to reporter Zaitz,
that experiment didn't get the results they wanted so the Rajneeshees
proceeded to clandestinely sprinkle salmonella at the town's
restaurant salad bars. Ten restaurants were hit and more than 700
people got sick.
Wasco County Sheriffs This history includes a recounting of the
Rajneeshees involvement in this Oregon community
More Information:
Apologetics Index (apologeticsindex.org) provides 40,870+ pages of
research resources on religious cults, sects, new religious movements,
alternative religions, apologetics-, anticult-, and countercult
organizations, doctrines, religious practices and world views. These
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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565071603/christianministr
also called Osho or Acharya Rajneesh, original name Chandra Mohan
Jain
born Dec. 11, 1931, India died Jan. 19, 1990, Pune, India
Indian spiritual leader who preached an eclectic doctrine of Eastern
mysticism, individual devotion, and sexual freedom, while amassing
vast personal wealth.
As a young intellectual, Rajneesh visited with and absorbed insights
from teachers of the various religious traditions active in India. He
studied philosophy at the University of Jabalpur, earning a B.A. in
1955; he began teaching there in 1957, after earning an M.A. from the
University of Saugar. At the age of 21 he had an intense spiritual
awakening, which inspired in him the belief that individual religious
experience is the central fact of spiritual life and that such
experiences cannot be organized into any single belief system.
In 1966 Rajneesh resigned from his university post and became a guru
(spiritual guide) and a teacher of meditation. In the early 1970s he
initiated people into the order of sannyasis, who traditionally
renounced the world and practiced asceticism. Reinterpreting the idea
of being a sannyasi in terms of detachment rather than asceticism,
Rajneesh taught his disciples to live fully in the world without being
attached to it.
The first Westerners came to Rajneesh in the early 1970s, and in 1974
the new headquarters of his movement was established in Pune. The
basic practice taught at the centre was called dynamic meditation, a
process designed to allow people to experience the divine. The centre
also developed a diversified program of New Age healing adopted from
the West. Rajneesh became well-known for his progressive approach to
sexuality, which contrasted with the renunciation of sex advocated by
many other Indian teachers.
Rajneesh moved to the United States in 1981 and, the following year,
incorporated Rajneeshpuram, a new city he planned to build on an
abandoned ranch near Antelope, Ore. During the next few years many of
his most trusted aides abandoned the movement, which came under
investigation for multiple felonies, including arson, attempted
murder, drug smuggling, and vote fraud in Antelope. In 1985 Rajneesh
pleaded guilty to immigration fraud and was deported from the United
States. He was refused entry to 21 countries before returning to Pune,
where his ashram soon grew to 15,000 members.
In 1989 Rajneesh adopted the Buddhist name Osho. After his death his
disciples, convinced that he had been the victim of government
intrigue, voiced their belief in his innocence and vowed to continue
the movement he started. In the early 21st century it had some 750
centres located in more than 60 countries.
John Gordon Melton
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/490155/Bhagwan-Shree-Rajneesh
Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990
Articles on the New Age
Guru Rajneesh Dead at 58
Controversial Indian Guru, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, "who turned a
central Oregon town into a tumultuous commune of free love, hedonism
and murder plots before being deported," died on Jan. 19th of heart
failure in Poona, India. (Ft. Worth Star Telegram, 1/20/90).
Rajneesh captured the nation's attention in 1981 when he moved his
ashram community and 93 Rolls-Royces to Antelope, Oregon and advocated
"enlightenment" through sexual promiscuity. Oregonians were concerned
when Rajneesh's followers, who outnumbered the permanent residents of
Antelope, took over the small town changing its name to "City of
Rajneesh." Critics charged that the Guru later tried to take over the
county by bussing in street people gathered from the nation's inner
cities to out-vote the regular citizens.
Ma Anand Sheela, the Rajneesh's personal secretary, later pled guilty
to a number of charges including, "plotting to kill Mr. Rajneesh's
physician with a poison-filled syringe and orchestrating a food
poisoning outbreak that sickened more than 750 people in The Dalles,
the county seat, as part of a plot to take control of the
county," (Ibid).
The Bhagwan was also arrested and deported on charges of immigration
fraud as part of a plea bargain arrangement with U.S. officials. He
returned to his native India after unsuccessfully attempting to
immigrate to several other countries.
Rajneesh's teachings included, "sex is fun, materialism is good and
Jesus was a madman," and the claim that he was "the world's greatest
lover." His "Bible" called, The Orange Book described a typical yoga
session, "Explode! Go totally mad.... Jump up and down shouting the
mantra `Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!' ...Each time you land on the flats of your
feet, let the sound hammer deep into the sex center," (Ibid).
In 1988 thirty years after taking the title, "Bhagwan," (which means
"the embodiment of God") Rajneesh admitted the title and his claim to
be God were a "joke." "I hate the word... I don't want to be called
Bhagwan (God) again. Enough is enough. The joke is over," stated
Rajneesh saying he was really the reincarnation of Buddha and claiming
for himself the new title of "Rajneesh Gautaman the Buddha," (Star
Telegram, Dec. 29, 1988; Sec.1, p. 3). Later he took the title, "Osho
Rajneesh," a Buddhist term meaning "on whom the heavens shower
flowers." (Ibid, 1/20/90).
Thousands of the Guru's followers welcomed his death as "a liberation
of the soul" and celebrations began in the Poona, India compound as
soon as his death was announced.
http://www.watchman.org/na/rajneesh.htm
WEDnesday, Oct 20, 1999 09:00 EDT
Old Bhagwan, new bottles
A "new" spiritual guru turns out to have a past that includes lavish
spending, orgies and bacterial terrorism.
By Dennis McCafferty
Ever wonder what ever happened to the guy whose religious followers
were linked to the only episode of domestic mass bioterrorism in
America? Well, in the case of the late, notorious Bhagwan Shree
Rajneesh, old renegade sex gurus never die. He just "left his body"
somewhere in India in 1990 and later emerged as a thriving, modern-day
publishing machine known as Osho.
Rajneesh's flock caught much of his meditative bon mots on tape, and
now incessantly recycle these ponderings as spiritual wisdom under the
author name of Osho. This Osho has now generated an impressively
diversified empire of books, video tapes, television shows, corporate
seminars (via Osho "trainees") and even a 34-acre luxury spa in Pune,
India. With more than a dozen titles published and still going strong,
his worldwide book and audio book sales now surpass $1 million
annually. Due out in mid-November from the ever-prolific (albeit,
technically dead) Osho: Three new titles from St. Martin's Griffin --
"Creativity," "Courage" and "Maturity," all priced at $11.95 -- to
mark the 10th anniversary of his death in January. And in May 2000, a
new "autobiography" with the working title "Osho: The Autobiography of
the Spiritually Incorrect Mystic."
To date, the published works of Osho have left readers with little
clues as to his former identity. So consumers may not know that
they're actually plunking down their cash for rehashed ramblings from
the late Rajneesh, the controversy-plagued spiritual leader kicked out
of the United States after his legal woes heated up in the mid-1980s.
Rajneesh made headlines with a lifestyle that included a convoy of
more than 90 Rolls-Royces, flashy jewelry and enough hedonistic
pursuits to earn him the title "world's most famous sex guru."
Rajneesh and his followers settled on a 65,000-acre ranch near
Antelope, Ore., wrestled political control from town office holders
and renamed Antelope "Rajneeshpuram." But they were essentially the
sect that couldn't shoot straight. During a conflict with Oregon
authorities, the followers were accused of arson and attempted murder.
In perhaps the most notorious incident, some members of the Rajneesh
crew were linked to a 1984 case in which salmonella bacteria was
sprinkled on the contents of local restaurant salad bars and sickened
750 people. Rajneesh was deported on immigration fraud charges and
died in Pune on Jan. 19, 1990.
However, Rajneesh lives on with an estimated 5,000 of his lectures now
marketed as Osho tapes and books. He'll answer e-mail questions on the
Web and make the occasional remark on current affairs. (Live! From the
Osho Commune International home base in Pune: "Clinton needs Tantra
Sutra, not Kama Sutra.")
The books are less than enlightening about Osho's time spent here on
Earth; their references to Rajneesh are rare and fuzzy. In the
current, uncorrected proofs of the three new St. Martin's titles, for
example, the brief "About the Author" section makes no mention at all
of Osho's prior identity.
Says Klaus Steeg, president of Osho International in New York: "He
changed his name. He was called Bhagwan. But the year before he died,
he dropped that. It's a complete deconstruction of his personality."
And perhaps more importantly, of all the bad P.R. that his former name
brings to mind.
Steeg promises that, while the "autobiography" will tie up some of
these loose connections, the wealth of Osho's heavily marketed inner-
self discourses do not because they're intended as guides. Michael
Denneny, the St. Martin's senior editor currently overseeing Osho
titles, says the publishing company, as is its policy, provides a
picture of Rajneesh in the books. Still, the photos identify him only
as Osho. "If he changed his name to Osho," Denneny reasons, "then it's
like Muhammad Ali and Cassius Clay." As far as how forthcoming the
autobiography will be, that remains to be seen. Osho "distinguishes
between what is true and what is fact," Denneny says. "He prefers the
truth." Jim Fitzgerald, who edited a 1998 St. Martin's-published work
from Osho called "The Book of Secrets," is more blunt: "I'd be
shooting myself in the foot to say that's the guy [whose people]
poisoned salad bars.''
Well, forgive and, most of all, forget, right? At least a few media
types have short memories. Last year, the New York Times featured a
puff piece on Osho International's Lexington Avenue office digs,
describing Osho as a now-deceased Indian mystic and making no
reference to Rajneesh. A 1998 travel piece in Yoga Journal describing
the Pune attraction as a "New Age Xanadu" did connect Osho to the
Rajneesh name, but blithely omitted mention of the salad bars or other
unsavory details.
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/10/20/osho/
The Story of a Truly Contaminated Election
BY LAWRENCE K. GROSSMAN
On November 30, when Vice President Gore's vote challenge was making
Florida the epicenter of the universe, I happened to be in St.
Petersburg, Florida, moderating a conference on "Bioterrorism and the
Media." Terrible as the subject of the bioterrorism conference is, it
promised at least to offer a welcome respite from the endless but
irresistible election mess. As it turned out, I was wrong. The
centerpiece of the conference was, of all things, the case study of a
truly contaminated election.
The only proven incident of bioterrorism the United States has ever
experienced, we learned, was a bizarre plot by the Rajneeshees, a
religious cult, to steal a county election in Oregon in 1984. The
Rajneeshees, followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a self-proclaimed
guru exiled from India, had moved into a ranch in rural Wasco County,
taken political control of the small nearby town of Antelope, and
changed its name to Rajneesh. Next, the cult sought to run the whole
county by winning the local election in 1984.
The amazing story of the Wasco County election scandal was revealed to
the conference's riveted participants by Leslie L. Zaitz, an
investigative reporter for The Oregonian, and Dr. John Livengood, an
epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control. To win the county
election, the Rajneeshees planned to sicken a good portion of the
population in the town of The Dalles, where most Wasco County voters
live. Their weapon of choice to keep local residents from voting was
salmonella bacteria. Cult members decided to test the use of
salmonella and, if successful, to contaminate the entire water system
of The Dalles on Election Day. First, the Rajneeshees poisoned two
visiting Wasco County commissioners on a hot day by plying them with
refreshing drinks of cold water laced with salmonella. Then, on a
shopping trip to The Dalles, cult members sprinkled salmonella on
produce in grocery stores "just for fun." According to reporter Zaitz,
that experiment didn't get the results they wanted so the Rajneeshees
proceeded to clandestinely sprinkle salmonella at the town's
restaurant salad bars. Ten restaurants were hit and more than 700
people got sick.
"They apparently didn't expect it to be such a huge success," Zaitz
said. "The attention attracted by the salad bar escapade brought
hordes of health officials and investigators into The Dalles. It
dashed the cult's plan to do worse on Election Day." Health officials
soon pinned down salmonella as the cause of the sudden outbreak, but
put the blame on food handlers. In 1984, who could have imagined
bioterrorism?
The Rajneeshees also bused in homeless people by the hundreds from all
across the country to register in Wasco County so they could vote in
the '84 election. That plan failed when, alerted by the mass
registration of the homeless, the state threatened to conduct
administrative hearings on every new local voter. The cult's
conspiracy to contaminate the election failed and a year later, the
entire Rajneeshee commune collapsed under the weight of an internal
conflict. Cult informers confessed to numerous crimes, including plots
to kill the U.S. attorney, the state attorney general, and the guru's
doctor, as well as the plot to contaminate the election. Vials of
salmonella were found on the Rajneeshees' ranch.
Zaitz and his investigative reporting team produced a twenty-part
series on the Rajneeshees for The Oregonian starting in June 1985.
After the commune collapsed they went back and produced a follow-up
series. Among other things, they learned that the Rajneeshees had
secretly put together a top-ten hit list on which Zaitz's name
appeared as number three.
"If anything, the local news media were restrained and conservative in
their coverage of the salmonella episode," Zaitz told the conference.
"There was nothing alarmist, nothing to trigger a public panic. More
aggressive coverage perhaps would have heated up already tense
community relations with the commune. Yet the benign treatment also
gave the Rajneeshees comfort that they could get away with it . . . .
Fortunately, the commune collapsed before that could happen. But
consider this: If they knew reporters were watching closely, would
they have even tried?"
Something like that might be said of the presidential balloting mess.
If, in the days before the voting, reporters had focused on the
botched job the nation's election districts were doing with voting
procedures for the central political event of our democracy, the
election of a president, would the balloting and ballot-counting have
been quite so off-base?
For epidemiologist Livengood, however, who had been dispatched to
Wasco County to solve the cause of the mysterious outbreak, the story
had a different, simpler moral: "Don't eat at salad bars."
Lawrence K. Grossman, a former president of NBC News and PBS, is a
regular columnist for CJR.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020614093959/http://www.cjr.org/year/01/1/grossman.asp
Ernest D. Mosier followed Harold Sexton and was Sheriff of Wasco
County two different times. He first served from 1953 to September,
1963, when he resigned. He came back to spend six more years as
Sheriff from July 1971 to 1977 when he was appointed to replace the
resigning William L. Bell.
A native of The Dalles, Mosier graduated from The Dalles High School
and later attended Willamette University. Before joining the Sheriffs'
Office, Mosier was an office manager at a number of companies in The
Dalles area.
Sterling Arthur Trent was appointed to take Mosier's place when he
resigned. A native of Gorin, Missouri, Trent served as Sheriff of
Wasco County until June 1968, when he died in office. He moved to
Oregon in 1913 and was a Deputy Sheriff from July 1954 until he was
appointed Sheriff in September 1963.
A graduate of The Dalles High School, Trent worked in the construction
business for a time and also managed a tire shop and was a stock
rancher for a while. When Trent died, Grant Cyphers was appointed to
take his place, but Cyphers served only a month before it was dis-
covered he was of the wrong political party.
William L. Bell was appointed to take Cyphers' place and remained
Sheriff of Wasco County until July 1971, when he resigned to take a
job with the Board on Police Standards and Training. A native of Long
Beach, California, Bell moved to Oregon in 1947.
Bell graduated from Wheeler County High School in Fossil and attended
five terms at the University of Oregon and two terms at Oregon College
of Education. He signed on with The Dalles Police Department in 1957
as an officer but left for two years to serve in the United States
Army from 1958 to 1960. He remained with The Dalles Police Department
until 1968, when he was appointed to take the place of Cyphers.
Ernest Mosier came back to serve as Sheriff when he was appointed to
take Bell's place, remaining this time until 1977, when John B. Magill
was elected. Magill-- whose family was an old ranching family in Wasco
County -- served a four-year term before Robert G. "Bob" Brown was
elected in 1981.
Born in Council Bluff, Iowa, Brown moved to Oregon in 1963 from South
Dakota. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in Omaha in 1962
with degrees in business administration and engineering. He worked for
seven years as a superintendent and engineer for Peter Kiewet & Sons
in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Washington and
Oregon. From 1967 until 1980, Brown worked for Tenneson Engineering in
The Dalles.
Art Labrousse won the 1984 election and was re-elected in 1988 to
become the first two-term Sheriff in Wasco County since 1968.
Big Muddy-ed Affair
In 1981, Wasco County school children learned a new word:
Rajneeshees. Even before the start of the school year, a few lessons
on this strange East Indian word and what it meant. Followers of the
nomadic Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh purchased the rambling,
64,229 acre Big Muddy Ranch in Wasco and Jefferson counties in July of
1981 as the central commune for the Bhagwan and his devoted
followers.
At first, the residents of nearby Antelope viewed the sudden
appearance of the red-clad Rajneesh disciples, known as Sannyasins but
more commonly referred to as Rashneeshees, as nothing more than a
curiosity. It wasn't long, however, before they realized the
seriousness and full intentions of the Rajneesh movement, or
"invasion,'' as some locals preferred to call it.
While the Bhagwan's chief aide Ma Anand Sheela was declaring the
movement's plan to operate a simple farming commune in the desert, his
other disciples were busy in the background developing grand plans for
a huge resort city for up to 100,000 Rajneeshees.
Within a matter of weeks, construction began on a number of buildings
within the newly-christened Rancho Rajneesh, including a shoppng mall,
restaurant, a resort-like motel and commune service offices. In many
cases, Bhagwan followers moved ahead without securing proper county
building permits.
In the meantime, new recruits continued pouring into the desert
commune -many of them wealthy European and American followers who were
more than willing and able to finance the Bhagwan's movement.
But the Rajneesh movement began to falter in October 1981 when two
months after arriving at Rancho Rajneesh, the Bhagwan applied to the
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for an extension of his
visa. Immigration officials began a full-scale investigation into the
activities of the religious sect, focusing on the guru's intent in
coming to the United States and a pattern of suspect marriages between
the U.S. citizen and foreign followers.
The investigation turned up information that the Bhagwan and his
followers left India in the spring of 1981 owing the Indian government
more than $6 million in unpaid taxes. An Indian tax court voided the
Rajneesh organization's tax-exempt status and assessed millions of
rupees (Indian currency) in back taxes.
But the movement forged ahead in the Oregon desert. In April 1982,
Rajneeshees, voting as a bloc, managed to secure enough votes to take
over the town of Antelope, which was renamed Rajneesh. They also voted
to incorporate Rancho Rajneesh -- the former Big Muddy Ranch as the
town of Rajneeshpuram.
With this newly-acquired power, Rajneesh leaders began making more
demands on county and state leaders. They demanded access to records
and reports by Wasco County officials pertaining to the commune and
its activities. They also demanded state basic school support for the
Rajneeshees' school, even though the state rejected the demand, saying
public tax dollars go to support public schools, not private ones like
the Rajneesh school.
But problems were just beginning for the movement. Over the next three
years, Rajneeshee leaders were accused of the salmonella poisonings of
hundreds of residents of The Dalles and some 500 persons filed suit
against the sect. Sheela, along with two other disciples, were accused
in a 1985 federal grand jury indictment of plotting the unsuccessful
murder of the Bhagwan's private physician.
And the Bhagwan himself broke his own vow of public silence in
September 1985 with a scathing attack on Sheela and a half dozen of
her allies, claiming they had betrayed him and his followers and that
they had stolen $55 million from the commune. An article in The
Oregonian on Sept. 17, 1985, quoted the Bhagwan as saying Sheela "and
her gang had turned my commune into a fascist concentration camp."
The Bhagwan's claims that militant Rajneeshees had been stockpiling
assault weapons and had been engaged in illegal wire-tapping at the
ranch touched off a multi-agency investigation into the alleged
criminal activity which proved to be the beginning of the end for
Rajneeshpuram.
On Oct. 23, 1985, a federal grand jury in Portland secretly indicted
the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Sheela and six other Sannyasins for
immigration crimes. Two days later, a Wasco County grand jury returned
indictments against Sheela and two others, charging them with the
attempted murder of Swami Devaraj, the Bhagwan's personal doctor.
By that time, Sheela and about 25 of her followers had already fled
the ranch to Germany.
But Rajneeshpuram was thrown into turmoil on Oct. 28, 1985 when the
Bhagwan' s loyal followers leared he had been arrested in Charlotte,
N.C., trying to flee immigration authorities on a privately-chartered
jet bound for Bermuda.
At about the same time, word arrived from Germany that Sheela and two
Rajneesh women had been arrested by West German police.
The Bhagwan was returned to Oregon to face a 35-count federal
indictment for immigration-related crimes, although he initially pled
innocent to all 35 counts. But as part of the plea-bargaining
agreement with federal prosecutors, the Bhagwan on Nov. 14, 1985,
agreed to plead guilty to two of the felony counts, to pay the court
costs and to leave the United States.
The Bhagwan returned to India and promptly told reporters gathered at
a New Delhi airport that the United States -the place he called a land
of religious freedom and opportunity four years earlier -- was "just a
wretched country."
Within a week of his departure, thousands of former followers were
leaving Rajneeshpuram in busloads. Within a month of their departure,
residents of the former Antelope reclaimed their town -and its
original name. But legal action against the Rajneeshees would continue
for many years.
Sheela and 20 other disciples later were indicted on federal wire-
tapping charges. Numerous civil suits were filed against the bankrupt
religious sect, some of which still have not been resolved.
On July 22, 1986, Sheela was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and
ordered to pay a $400,000 fine after pleading guilty to state and
federal charges which included masterminding a massive electronic
eavesdropping system at Rancho Rajneesh, plotting the attempted murder
of the Bhagwan's physician and plotting the salmonella poisoning of
about 750 people in The Dalles.
For many Rajneeshees, the dream of carving a utopian Shangri-la out of
the barren, Central Oregon desert ended long before Jan. 18, 1990--
the day Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh died in Ashram in Pune, India, at the
age of 58.
For Wasco County Sheriff Art Labrousse, it was a rare learning
experience -- one he says he will never forget.
"They were well organized," Labrousse recalls. Or at least, better
prepared to take control of the tiny town of Antelope than local
officials were prepared to stop them. Labrousse and his 13-Deputy
force had their hands full trying to maintain law and order with the
sudden invasion of thousands of red-clad Rajneeshees into Wasco
County.
What made it so difficult, says Labreusse, was the cloak of secrecy
which seemed to engulf Rancho Rajneesh.
"Few people actually knew what was going on out there," he said.
Labrousse recalled the telephone call to his office on July 3, 1985,
from someone at the ranch reporting a possible drowning in a lake on
the ranch. Before he could summon the Wasco County medical examiner to
the scene, LaBrousse received another call, this time reporting that a
young man had been pulled from the lake and briefly revived. The man
was taken to the medical center in Jefferson County, but died,
Labrousse was told.
Since the attending physician, who was a Rajneeshee doctor, also was
the assistant medical examiner for Sherman County, Labrousse was told
by the state there was no need to call in the state medical examiner.
No body fluid or any other evidence was obtained by the assistant
medical examiner.
"They had a doctor who was an assistant medical examiner for Jefferson
County -- he ruled the man's death was accidental drowning," Labrousse
said.
Two days later, Labrousse was drinking coffee with an Oregon State
Police officer in Antelope. "We were talking about the Fourth of July
fire in The Dalles, caused by fireworks, when one of the Rajneesh
peace officers from Antelope said, 'Well, we had a great fireworks
show ourselves -- we cremated a boy who just died."
©1998 Roxann Gess Smith
All Rights Reserved
Visit Wasco Co. on The American Local History Network
http://gesswhoto.com/sheriff-wasco2.html
Labrousse cringed, not only because it was too late to do anything if
there had been a criminal deed, but because he had heard of similar
cremations occurring at Rancho Rajneesh in the past.
"We'll never know how many were cremated out there," he says. "But
every time they had a festival or celebration out at the ranch, there
was a death."
Labrousse said he sent a memorandum to the Wasco County Board of
Commissioners, suggesting the county not permit any future festivals
or celebrations at the ranch unless Rajneesh officials agreed in
advance that any deaths which occur during the event would be
investigated by the Wasco County medical examiner.
But the county never had to act on Labrousse's recommendation. Within
two weeks, the Bhagwan himself would expose Sheela and her gang and
Rajneeshpuram would begin to crumble.
The Missing Thumb Killer
Pictured Left: Levi Chrisman
Levi Chrisman was involved in dozens of puzzling murder and criminal
investigations during his 22-year tenure as Wasco County Sheriff. But
few were as complex as the shooting death of Jim Doran, a Bend lumber
mill worker, in early September, 1921.
The only clues to the killer's identity were a missing Dodge touring
car and a missing left thumb.
Doran's body had been found by a young couple, driving a lonely
country road two miles west of The Dalles, late one Saturday night.
Doran had been shot four times -- once in the head and at least three
times in the chest. The body was partially hidden behind some bushes
alongside the country road.
In their initial search of the victim's clothing for some type of
identification, investigators found an expensive gold pocket watch and
a few dollars in change. This led Chrisman and his Deputies to assume
robbery was not the motive behind the murder.
Chrisman's Chief Deputy Guy Elton noticed what appeared to be a trail
of blood leading away from the body into a grove of trees. The Sheriff
followed the trail and found a second gunshot victim with a bullet
wound in his shoulder. The man was rushed to a hospital in The
Dalles.
After undergoing successful surgery to remove the slug, the man agreed
to talk to Chrisman and Elton. He said his name was Bill Ducharme, and
he identified his slain companion as Jim Doran. Ducharme said he and
Doran had left Bend earlier that day with a third man, whose name he
could not recall.
Ducharme told the Sheriff that he and Doran had finished work at the
lumber mill and both were anxious to get to Doran's ranch at
McMinnville. But they didn't have transportation. The man, who
appeared to know Doran, offered to drive them in his car if they paid
his expenses. They agreed.
After having dinner in The Dalles that night, Ducharme said the
stranger offered to take them to a friend's place just outside of town
where they could spend the night. But a short way out of town,
Ducharme said the man pulled his car to a halt and told him they would
have to walk across a field to get to his friend's place.
Ducharme told Chrisman he had started out ahead of the other two when
he heard a shot. He turned and saw Doran tumble to the ground. Then,
Ducharme recalled, the stranger started firing at him so he began
running. One of the shots caught him in the shoulder, Ducharme said,
but he kept running until he collapsed in a grove of trees.
The wounded man could give only a general description of the gunman:
Approximately 40 years of age, medium build, black hair, gray eyes.
His description of the man's car was even more general: A large, black
touring car. He couldn't recall the make and didn't notice the license
number.
Chrisman put out the obligatory dispatches to all police officers and
agencies within a 100-mile radius, telling them to be on the lookout
for a large, black touring car with a dark-haired man in his early 40s
behind the wheel. He didn't hold out much hope, however.
When they received no response to the telegrams, Chrisman and Elton
went back to the murder scene the following morning. They found a
clear set of tire tracks in the soft, dirt shoulder of the road and
had the tracks photographed, hoping they could come up with a match
after searching The Dalles for the missing touring car and its tires.
But the hunch proved both time-consuming and futile.
Next, Chrisman and his men went to the lumber mill in Bend, where
Ducharme and Doran had worked, figuring the killer might also be
employed at the mill. None of the employees could remember seeing a
stranger with Ducharme and Doran at the mill the previous Friday when
the mill closed.
With their search for clues at a standstill, Chrisman suggested
investigators canvass gas stations and restaurants along the road the
three men were traveling Saturday, to see if anyone recalled seeing
the trio. The plan worked. A gas station owner reported three men
drove into his station Saturday afternoon in a nearly-new Dodge
touring car. The observant station owner said when the car's driver
paid for the gas, he noticed the man's left thumb was missing. The
station owner described the other two men in the car and they matched
the descriptions of Ducharme and Doran.
Encouraged at last by some useful leads, lawmen began compiling a list
of all new Dodge touring cars in the county and their owners. If one
of the owners had a left thumb missing and the car's tire tread marks
matched those of the tracks found near the murder scene, Chrisman felt
confident they would have their killer.
Unfortunately, Chrisman discovered, there were about 100 persons in
the county who owned newer Dodge touring cars. But with the help of
Deschutes County Sheriff S.E. Roberts and his Deputies, lawmen were
able to whittle the list of possible prospects to four. The first two
men on the list had two thumbs. The third was a man named Abe Evans,
who lived just outside of Bend.
They didn't find Evans at home, but his wife provided the information
they had been seeking: Her husband was missing his left thumb.
Mrs. Evans said her husband had gone to Salem looking for work. She
was able to provide officers with a license number for her husband's
car.
Lawmen put out an all-points bulletin on Abe Evans, along with the
license number of his car and a complete description of the vehicle.
After hearing the broadcast, Jefferson County Sheriff H.C. Topping and
his men began a wide-scale search of county gas stations, restaurants,
garages and motels for the wanted man and his car. They finally found
a motel owner in Metolius, not far from Madras, who informed them he
had rented a room to a man with a missing left thumb and a Dodge
touring car.
They found Evans, in an obvious state of intoxication, in one of the
motel rooms, trying to sleep off his miseries. They took Evans into
custody and transported him and his car to Deschutes County. Chrisman
checked the Dodge touring car's tire treads with his photographs. They
were a perfect match.
Evans denied shooting Ducharme and Doran, claimed he had left them at
a hotel in The Dalles, that he took off on his own, got drunk and
couldn't remember anything after that. But a search of the suspect
turned up $130 in cash. After two days of questioning, however, Evans
broke down and confessed.
He admitted knowing Doran for some time. He said he met Doran in
downtown Bend on Friday, the day before the shooting, and the two
walked to Doran's bank to cash his $150 paycheck from the mill. Doran
told Evans that he and a friend were going to McMinnville to spend the
winter, and Evans admitted that's where he got the idea to offer them
a ride as a way of getting them out into the country where he could
kill and rob them.
Evans told investigators he believed he had killed Ducharme, too. He
said he took Doran's billfold with most of the cash, but left the gold
watch and the change so it would not look like a robbery. He said he
threw the gun into some bushes, drove back to The Dalles to get some
whiskey, and drove south to the motel in Metolius.
A Wasco County Grand Jury indicted Evans of first-degree murder. Evans
pled not guilty by reason of insanity. A Wasco County Circuit Court
jury, however, convicted Evans of first-degree murder, with no
recommendation for mercy.
On Oct. 8, 1921, Evans was sentenced to hang for the killing of Jim
Doran. His attorney appealed the sentence to the Oregon Supreme Court.
But the high court, after numerous legal delays, upheld the sentence.
Evans never went to the gallows, however. On June 5, 1924 -- the day
before he was to be executed-- Gov. Walter M. Pierce commuted Evans'
sentence to life imprisonment.
http://gesswhoto.com/sheriff-wasco3.html
Apologetics Index News Archive - Search Results
Headline: Anand Sheela tends patients in Switzerland
Source: The Oregonian
Date: 1999/12/26
Description: Former Rajneeshee leader Anand Sheela -- once notorious
in Oregon as the spokeswoman for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh -- now takes
care of frail and elderly patients in two private nursing homes in
Switzerland.
Headline: Indian guru follower Anand Sheela arrested after German TV
show
Source: The Oregonian
Date: 2000/01/22
Description: German police picked up Anand Sheela in a town near
Frankfort, Germany, last week after she appeared on a television show
to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of her former mentor, Indian
guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Sheela was quickly released, however,
because the Interpol warrant for her arrest had been canceled.
Headline: Experts Assess Risk of 'New Terrorism' Threat
Source: Los Angeles Times
Date: 2000/02/07
Description: They called it the ''new terrorism:'' a virulent strain
of anti-American aggression in which enemies without scruples would
use germs and toxic gases, not guns and bombs, to kill tens of
thousands of civilians at a stroke.
Headline: Meditation protected by patent
Source: NZZ Daily Edition
Date: 2000/06/29
Description: Now a dispute has broken out over that in India which
has burst the scintillating soap bubble of the symbiosis of money and
spirit. Professor Jain still likes to talk so beautifully about
dissolving all restricting relationships and he plunders the world's
literature in doing so, but when it comes to bringing his insights of
''One World'' to the people, he pays very close attention to setting
up his own boundary posts in the form of trademarks, patents,
copyrights and license agreements. Even Dynamic Kundalini Meditation
has been reported as a trademark.
Headline: A Sign of Mammon
Source: taz (Germany)
Date: 2000/07/20
Description: Who would be surprised that, in the commune, a bitter
power struggle is raging for control of hundreds of meditation centers
around the world, for the marketing rights of 1,500 book titles, and
of sound cassettes and videotapes of lectures from the Master.
Headline: Expert: US Open To Bioterrorism
Source: AP
Date: 2000/08/22
Description: Advances in technology make the United States more
vulnerable to bioterrorism than to nuclear attack, a leading expert in
defending against biological weapons said Tuesday.
Headline: Former cult camp becomes playground for children
Source: AP
Date: 2000/08/27
Description: The middle schoolers go about their summer camp
activities, unaware that all around them, thousands of followers once
toiled in the service of their leader, the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Headline: FDA Designates Bioterrorism Antidote
Source: AP
Date: 2000/08/31
Description: If bioterrorists ever attack the United States with
anthrax, the antibiotic Cipro will be the first line of defense for
civilians who breathe the deadly bacteria, the government decided
Thursday.
Headline: The battle over bio-terror
Source: Salon
Date: 2000/09/12
Description: In short, ''We can conjure up a worse-case scenario,''
says John Parachini, chief of the Washington office of the Monterey
Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies. ''But we can also
conjure up a meteor hitting the Earth.''
Headline: Two Rajneeshee members plead guilty
Source: The Oregonian
Date: 2000/12/16
Description: Two high-ranking officials in Oregon's once notorious
Rajneeshee cult pleaded guilty Friday to 15-year-old federal
wiretapping charges, canceling international warrants that effectively
confined them to Great Britain.
Notes:
Headline: Biological weapons pose threat to Canada, U.S., scientist
says
Source: Edmonton Journal (Canada)
Date: 2001/03/11
Description: That's the view of U.S. scientist Dr. Ronald Atlas who
has been advising the U.S. government on the growing concern that
criminals will target food, water, air and individuals with viruses,
bacteria, fungi and toxins to further their cause.
Headline: Osho, Guru Extraordinaire, Is Long Gone -- But His Books
Live On
Source: Inside
Date: 2001/05/15
Description: Once known for his fleet of Rolls-Royces, the late
motivational thinker Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is now being packaged as
Deepak Chopra minus the Ayurvedic medicine. His sales are in the
millions, and his returns a mere 4 percent.
Headline: Biological and Chemical Warfare Q and A
Source: ABC News
Date: 2001/09/24
Description: Now that terrorists have demonstrated they're capable of
carrying out unthinkable attacks of extreme devastation, some believe
the United States should be on higher alert for a biological or
chemical attack. ABCNEWS.com talked to several experts to learn about
these weapons, the preparedness of the United States for such attacks
and possible defenses against them,
Headline: America's First Bioterrorism Attack
Source: TIME
Date: 2001/10/08
Description: In the fall of 1984, members of the Rajneeshee, a
Buddhist cult devoted to beauty, love and guiltless sex, brewed a
"salsa" of salmonella and sprinkled it on fruits and veggies in the
salad bar at Shakey's Pizza in The Dalles, Ore. They put it in blue-
cheese dressing, table-top coffee creamers and potato salads at 10
local restaurants and a supermarket. They poured it into a glass of
water and handed it to a judge. They fed it to the district attorney,
the doctor, the dentist. Their plan: to seize control of the county
government by packing polling booths with imported homeless people
while making local residents too sick to vote.
Headline: Oregon town has never gotten over its 1984 bioterrorism
scare
Source: AP
Date: 2001/10/19
Description: In 1984, followers of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree
Rajneesh spiked salad bars at 10 restaurants in town with salmonella
and sickened about 750 people.
Headline: Apocalyptic cult methods explain bin Laden
Source: USA Today
Date: 2001/11/05
Description: Hassan observes that many of the techniques that he
encountered with the Moonies are evident in bin Laden's camps: "social
isolation, controlling their sleep, showing them non-stop videos of
Muslims dying, being buddied up, so that they're never alone. ...
Destructive mind control strips away their ability to think for
themselves." The cult framework goes a little way to explaining the
dissonance between who these hijackers were and what they eventually
did on behalf of al-Qa'eda.
Headline: Microbes were mail-ordered : Lax controls let extremists
easily obtain anthrax
Source: Boston Globe
Date: 2001/11/06
Description: Harris's story illustrates some of the challenges US
officials face as they try to determine whether foreign or domestic
terrorists sent the anthrax-laced letters that have killed four
people.
Headline: Cults, terrorist groups share chilling similarities,
experts say
Source: The Oregonian
Date: 2001/11/13
Description: Oregonians were shocked to learn in 1985 that this
outpost of transplanted suburbanites was a launching pad for the first
large-scale biological attack in U.S. history: the poisoning of 751
people in The Dalles with restaurant food sprinkled with salmonella
germs grown in a commune laboratory. But cult psychology experts say
such incidents should come as no great surprise to anyone. They merely
underscore the fact that seemingly normal, well-educated people can be
persuaded to commit unthinkable crimes, including flying airliners
into skyscrapers.
Headline: FDA issues anti-terror food advice
Source: FDA
Date: 2002/01/10
Description: The only known terror attack on U.S. food occurred in
the 1980s, when a cult in Oregon contaminated salad bars with
salmonella bacteria. Experts say fresh produce may be the food most
vulnerable to tampering because it is often eaten raw and is subject
to little government inspection.
bademiyansubhanallah
(Adds more comments)
By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO,
March 10 (Reuters) -
Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan shot down the idea of a formal
policy pact with the Bank of
Japan as the government aims to strike a delicate balance
between pushing the central bank to ease policy further and
respecting its independence. The idea of a formal policy accord has
been floated in the
past by critics of the central bank who feel it could be doing
more to combat grinding deflation that has plagued the world's
second-largest economy for most of the past 15 years. But Kan, who has
also been calling on the BOJ to take
bolder action, said he saw no immediate need for such a pact,
echoing the view held by a majority of policy makers and
politicians wary of threatening the central bank's
independence. "I gather advocates of such a policy want an arrangement
where the government increases the deficits and the BOJ
cooperates by buying more government debt," said Izuru Kato,
chief economist at Totan Research. "They must be thinking central bank
independence allows the
BOJ to be too hesitant about buying government bonds and
therefore they should strip the BOJ of its independence," Kato
said. Kan steered clear of saying exactly what he wants the
central bank to do at its policy meeting next week, where
further easing is likely to be discussed. [ID:nTOE6230A7] BOJ board
member Miyako Suda, seen as hawkish on monetary
policy, said on Wednesday that the central bank will maintain a
very accommodative stance, but she added that the BOJ had
implemented an appropriate policy on prices. "Suda did not sound so
positive about taking more steps
blindly. It's not clear how strong the measures the BOJ takes
next week will be," said Naomi Hasegawa, senior strategist at
Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. With the government's room for further
fiscal stimulus
limited by a public debt that is already close to 200 percent
of GDP, the six-month old administration has put pressure on
the central bank to stem deflation. But the BOJ's options are limited
as long as the economic
outlook remains weak. Expectations of further price declines in future
could
persuade consumers and companies to delay spending and
investment even longer, adding more pressure on the economy.
Until demand picks up and more money flows into the system,
prices will struggle to recover. The BOJ has said prices will rise
eventually as the economy
mends. TOO MUCH INDEPENDENCE? Japan's central bank law guarantees the
BOJ independence in
its policy decisions, but it also requires the bank to
communicate with the government to ensure its policy is in line
with the government's economic policy. Few in the top circle of
Japanese policymakers see the need
for a change in those stipulations. "I am cautious about the framework
of an accord," Kan, also
deputy prime minister, told a parliamentary committee on
Wednesday in response to an opposition lawmaker's question. But some
politicians, mostly from the opposition, have said
the BOJ needs to be more accountable for its decisions, blaming
it for putting Japan in deflation for much of the past 15
years. The BOJ is likely to debate easing again at its March 16-17
board meeting, after introducing a new funding operation in
December amid a wave of government pressure as the yen climbed
versus the dollar. [ID:nTOE6230A7] "If they increase the cheap funding
operation to replace
the corporate support scheme that expires in March, that's
probably already priced in," said Hasegawa of Mitsubishi UFJ
Securities. The Bank of Japan's Suda dropped few hints, repeating the
BOJ's view that easy policy alone is no panacea for deflation.
"Although maintaining easy monetary policy is the top
priority, it is important for the Japanese economy to undergo
bold structural reform as much as it needs a recovery," she
said, referring to the need to fix Japan's pension system and
get public finances in order to reduce concerns about the
future. "If structural reform is delayed, it would undermine the
stimulative effect of monetary policy," she said. Japan's core
machinery orders fell slightly less than
expected in January from the previous month, data showed on
Wednesday, offering more evidence that capital expenditure will
keep growing slowly this year as manufacturers raise spending. Core
private-sector machinery orders, a highly volatile
series regarded as an indicator of capital spending, fell 3.7
percent in January, less than a median market forecast for a
4.1 percent decline, after a 20.1 percent jump in December.
[JPMORD=ECI] ECONJP But the data also showed non-manufacturers remain
wary on
capital spending, highlighting the weakness in domestic demand. Annual
wholesale price deflation eased to 1.5 percent in
February on a recent rise in commodity prices. But economists say
deflationary pressure is likely to
continue due to the big gap between supply and demand. Japan pulled
out of recession in April-June last year,
helped by a rebound in exports and industrial output as well as
a rise in consumption due to government subsidies. But
economists expect growth to slow early this year as the
government cuts public works and the impact of subsidies
fades.
(Additional reporting by Rie Ishiguro, Stanley White, Leika
Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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Yen holds firm, Aussie supported before China data
Mar 9, 2010
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Euro gives up gains, yen steadies after fall
Mar 8, 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BF27F20100310?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r2:c0.111111:b31682724:z0
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE62901R20100310
March 10, 2010, 12:52 a.m.
WORLD FOREX: Euro Ticks Up Vs Yen On Japan Importer Buying
By Miho Nakauchi
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The euro ticked up against the yen in Asia
Wednesday, as Japanese importers buying the single currency on a
regular settlement day set the tone of the market amid a lack of other
trading cues.
But further gains are far from certain, dealers said, with the euro's
near-term direction resting on developments in the euro-zone's fiscal
problem and upcoming economic data.
As of 0450 GMT, the euro stood at Y122.44, slightly up from Y122.36 in
New York late Tuesday. Against the dollar, the unit traded at $1.3602
from $1.3601.
"Overall currency moves were very limited" with share markets almost
unchanged and a lack of major economic data, meaning that Japanese
importers' buying flows became more dominant and set the trend, said
Yuzo Sakai, a foreign-exchange manager at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow.
Japanese importers tend to buy the currency on regular settlement
days, which fall on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th of each month.
At 0450 GMT, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average index was down 0.08%.
Dealers said the European single currency could fall toward $1.3300
and Y119.00 over the next few weeks if any negative news emerges on
Europe's fiscal issues, adding to concerns over its economic outlook,
dealers said.
The focus is on European countries' huge levels of debt, said Hideaki
Inoue, a chief foreign-exchange manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and
Banking Corp. "Growing expectations for sovereign debt default could
prompt mid- and long-term players to sell" the euro, he said.
Although most players are bearish toward the euro, better-than-
expected economic data could help restore investor confidence,
possibly buoying the risk-sensitive euro toward $1.3700 and Y123.50,
some dealers said. Investors will monitor U.S. retail sales for
February and Reuters/University Of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey
for March, both due Friday, for any hints on the health of the global
economy.
Elsewhere, the dollar stood at Y90.00 as of 0450 GMT, almost unchanged
from its New York level of Y89.97 Tuesday. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index,
which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of
currencies, was at 80.576 from 80.580.
The U.S. unit may fall toward Y89.50 in coming weeks, traders said.
Japanese exporters may repatriate overseas assets as we move toward
Japan's fiscal year-end on Mar. 31, which could weigh on the U.S.
unit, dealers said.
1.China's trade surplus shrinks further in February
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-trade-surplus-shrinks-further-in-february-2010-03-09
2.The rise and certain fall of the American Empire
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-rise-and-certain-fall-of-the-american-empire-2010-03-09
Currencies
March 10, 2010, 3:46 a.m. EST · Recommend · Post:
Dollar rises vs. euro as German trade data disappointView all
Currencies ›
By MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar got a lift against the euro
Wednesday when trade data from Germany, a key euro-zone economy, came
in worse than expected.
News Hub: Economist Warns of More Volatility AheadAnirvan Banerji,
director of research at Economic Cycle Research, joins the News Hub to
discuss why he believes the U.S. economy will experience more frequent
recessions ahead.
Germany's exports increased by 0.2% and imports dropped by 1.4% in
January 2010 compared to the same month a year ago, the Federal
Statistical Office reported on Wednesday. Compared to December 2009,
exports fell by 6.3% in January and imports rose by 6.0%. Germany's
seasonally-adjusted foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of 8.7
billion euros in January, official data showed.
"This was the weakest reading since the March of 2009 when the global
economy was in the throes of its worst contraction in [the] post-war
period. The news was especially surprising given the decline in the
euro/U.S. dollar over the past several months," said Boris
Schlossberg, director of currency research at GFT.
He added that the trade balance data were "not helpful to the single
currency which has been battered by concerns over sovereign debt
problems of Greece, Portugal and Spain."
The euro slipped to $1.3551, from $1.3598 in late North American
trading Tuesday, and the British pound skidded to $1.4898, from
$1.4991.
The dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 80.67, +0.08,
+0.10%) , which measures the U.S. unit against a trade-weighted basket
of six major currencies, rose to 80.851, from 80.580 late Tuesday.
The greenback bought 89.96 yen, compared with 89.98 yen late Tuesday.
But the Australian dollar was up 0.1% against its U.S. counterpart, to
91.43 U.S. cents.
The Aussie "outperformed, with better than expected Chinese trade data
underpinning global recovery hopes in the region," said analysts at
Action Economics.
China's trade surplus narrowed further in February to $7.6 billion
from $14.2 billion in January. When compared with the same month last
year, both exports and imports grew at a higher-than-expected rate,
with the value of imports climbing 44.7%, reflecting growing domestic
consumption in mainland China. The value of outbound goods and
services surged 45.7% from February 2009 on a recovery in demand for
Chinese goods. Read more on China trade data.
On Tuesday, the U.S. dollar advanced versus the euro and British
pound, finding support amid ongoing worries about debt problems in the
euro zone after warnings of downgrades from Fitch Ratings and Moody's
Investors Service. See Tuesday's Currencies report.
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-slips-vs-rivals-in-asian-trading-2010-03-08
March 5, 2010 Dollar falls vs. euro as Greece fears subside
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-gains-on-yen-on-boj-easing-report-2010-03-05
March 4, 2010 Dollar up after U.S. data, Europe's rate news
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-yen-benefit-from-sagging-stocks-in-asia-2010-03-04
March 3, 2010 Dollar falls vs. euro on Greece debt-cut move
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-slips-against-most-rivals-in-asian-trading-2010-03-03
Raymond Richman - Jesse Richman - Howard
Richman
Richmans' Trade and Taxes Blog
The Obama Administration's Agenda to Balance Trade
Raymond Richman, 3/9/2010
On March 1, 2010, Ambassador Ron Kirk, United States Trade
Representative, disclosed “The President's 2010 Trade Policy Agenda”,
a suicide pill for the U.S. economy. For three decades, every
administration had more or less the same agenda. Ignore the trade
deficits or just accept them as the inevitable result of competitive
forces, which they are not. If China, Japan, Germany, and others want
to exchange their valuable goods for our money, why should we
complain? We can print more. It is hard to believe that that was and
continues to be the attitude of the vast majority of economists.
They’ve been brain-washed into believing that market forces must
inevitably restore a balance of trade. We pointed out in our book,
Trading Away Our Future (Ideal Taxes Assn, Jan., 2008) that free trade
was not justified by economic theory, that China, like Japan before
it, was deliberately pursuing the mercantilist policy of promoting a
surplus of exports over imports by erecting all sorts of barriers to
imports while subsidizing exports, keeping its currency artificially
undervalued to make its imports expensive and its exports cheap, by
buying U.S. financial assets to keep U.S.interest rates low to
American consumers, to discourage savings and encourage consumption.
Not until recently did an eminent economist like Prof. Paul Krugman
condemn China’s mercantilist practices and suggest U.S. counteraction.
Until then, he believed no country would find it in its interest to
accumulate financial assets rather than goods.
The slow-acting suicide pill suddenly accelerated in the mid-1990s.
The result was the loss of millions of U.S. industrial jobs. How many?
To balance trade at the level of imports in 2008, we would have to
create eight million industrial jobs. The defenders of U.S. trade
policy point to our achievement of full employment in 2007, neglecting
to mention that the competition of factory workers who lost their well-
paying jobs lowered workers’ earnings of all workers. As a result,
wages have stagnated over the past three decades, fewer workers enjoy
middle class incomes, income distribution has worsened, and the U.S.
is on the verge of becoming a second-rate industrial power if it has
not already achieved that distinction. ...
In an incredible display of sycophancy, the document asserts that the
administration’s goal is “Making Trade Work for America’s Working
Families.” America’s Working Families? They have been the big losers
as a result of our tolerance of our huge chronic trade deficits. The
document asserts that “President Obama’s economic strategy halted the
slide into a deep economic crisis and laid the foundation for renewed
American prosperity that is more sustainable, fairer for more of our
citizens, and more competitive globally.” That remains to be seen.
Since the President took office, the unemployment rate, including
those who lost their factory jobs as a result of the trade deficits,
has continued to grow and grow.
The Trade Representative gives lip service to the lip-service of the
G-20 nations who pledged in 2009 to work toward balancing trade. It
displays the same Pollyanna-ish reliance on market forces. All we have
to do is increase our exports by $800 billion. His report states that
the U.S. has reacted to unfair trade practices by imposing
countervailing duties on countries committing infractions of trade
rules like dumping (Chinese tires) and even getting China to further
open its market to “American wind energy products.” Just the other
day, there were protests in the Congress against imported wind
turbines, which, to add injury to injury, are heavily subsidized by
the U.S. government. The President has set a goal “of doubling U.S.
exports in the next five years” to create 2 million jobs. He created a
new bureaucracy called the Export Promotion Cabinet which will fund
export promotion programs, tools for small- and medium-sized
businesses, reduction in barriers to trade, and open new markets. It
joins hundred of federal agencies designed to do-good but end up doing-
nothing.
The report recites: “Effective trade policy helps increase exports
that yield well-paying jobs for Americans … studies show that firms
engaged in trade usually grow faster, hire more, and on average pay
better wages than those that do not. In recent years, exports of
manufactured goods have become an important source of employment,
supporting almost one in five of all manufacturing jobs.” No mention,
not a single mention of the jobs lost to imports, the amount of the
trade deficite, and the declining number of employees in industry,
month after month after month! There is this acknowledgment, “We have
to be frank in recognizing that some Americans lose jobs as markets
shift in response to trade.” So we have enacted a Trade Adjustment
Assistance Act to assist those who lose their jobs to adjust to their
new status. No new export jobs are created by the Act.
That is about all the response the loss of millions of American jobs
has occasioned. Nothing to balance trade except statements that we
need to be more competitive and the international community (the
G-20?) should increase their domestic consumption and imports as part
of a more balanced growth strategy! Don’t hold your breath.
It announces to the world that the United States is committed to the
multilateral trade rules of the WTO system, to trade liberalization
“through negotiation and a defense against protectionism”, the
strongest country in the world announcing that we will not take
unilateral action against the mercantilist practices of such “weak”
countries like China, Japan, Germany, and OPEC. They can continue
their practices, impose barriers to our exports, grant subsidies to
their exports until we petition the WTO for a remedy. The WTO rules
already authorize countries experiencing chronic trade deficits to
take unilateral action including the imposition of tariffs and other
barriers to imports. Why haven’t we done anything to protect our
industry and industrial workers from such destructive trade practices?
La-de-da, it would be so unbecoming a great nation. Our elitists want
to be loved by the world’s elite, who are by-and-large antii-American.
Attempting to counter the impression that it is doing nothing, the
report points to its action responding to “a harmful surge of Chinese
tire imports”, challenging restrictions on U.S. exports of
agricultural products, and filing suit over Chinese export quotas and
duties on raw materials needed by core U.S. industrial sectors from
steel and aluminum to chemicals. Good, those are useful actions but
the number of jobs created relative to the number of jobs lost to the
trade deficits is infinitesimal.
What the U.S. has been engaged in is talk, talk, talk. It needs to
concentrate on jobs, jobs, jobs. The government has engaged in
discussions, just talk, with China, India, Brazil, Russia. It
sponsored and entered into negotiations for a regional, Asia-Pacific
trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Agreement, with Australia, Brunei, Chile, NewZealand, Peru, Singapore,
and Vietnam. Not one industrial job has been created or ever will be.
Another initiative is the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum. The U.S. will host APEC in 2011. The report writes, “To this
end, we are coordinating with the 2010 host nation, Japan, on an
ambitious agenda that engages APEC’s broad membership on crucial trade
and investment topics for the region’s future. Initiatives in APEC are
a successfully demonstrated way of building a stronger and
constructive American role in the Asia-Pacific market.” Aside from
costing a lot of money and providing a free vacation to a lot of anti-
Americans, how many jobs producing goods for export will it create?
Not a single job.
The report recites that “Bilateral relationships are crucial. But as
we know, multi-faceted regional economic relationships are of major,
and even growing, importance for United States and for the world.”
Where is the evidence that it is important, let alone of increasing
importance, to the U.S. The administration is doing and plans to do a
lot of talking. In place of jobs, jobs, jobs, it is placing emphasis
on talk, talk, talk.
http://www.idealtaxes.com/post3074.shtml
UPDATE 1-Japan finmin wary of policy accord with BOJ
TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said
he saw no immediate need to have a more formal policy pact with the
Bank of Japan as the government and the central bank already share a
common goal of beating deflation.
Kan, who took over at the Finance Ministry in January, has been
calling on the central bank to do more to end deflation, but has
steered clear of saying exactly what he wants the central bank to do.
Asked by an opposition lawmaker if he thought a formal agreement with
the central bank would help, Kan said: "It's questionable whether it's
good to have an explicit policy accord. The BOJ governor has already
said in public that the bank wants inflation from plus zero to plus 2
percent ...
"I am cautious about the framework of an accord," Kan, also deputy
prime minister, told a parliamentary committee.
With the government's room for further fiscal stimulus limited by a
public debt that is already close to 200 percent of GDP, the six-month
old administration has put pressure on the central bank to stem
deflation.
Japan's central bank law guarantees the BOJ independence in its policy
decisions, but it also requires the bank to communicate with the
government to ensure its policy is in line with the government's
economic policy.
The central bank is likely to debate easing its ultra-loose monetary
policy again at its board meeting on March 16-17, after introducing a
new funding operation in December under a previous wave of government
pressure as the yen climbed versus the dollar. [ID:nTOE6230A7]
One member of the bank's policy board, Miyako Suda, said on Wednesday
that the central bank will maintain a very accommodative monetary
policy stance to help the country escape deflation.
"The BOJ intends to continue making its contribution to help the
Japanese economy escape deflation and return to a sustained growth
path with price stability," Suda said at a roundtable conference
hosted by the Economist Group.
But Suda also repeated the BOJ's view that easy policy alone will not
be a panacea for deflation.
"Although maintaining easy monetary policy is the top priority, it is
important for the Japanese economy to undergo bold structural reform
as much as it needs recovery... If structural reform is delayed, it
would undermine the stimulative effect of monetary policy," she said.
BOJ officials have said further monetary policy easing will have
little impact on boosting prices, with interest rates already near
zero.
Suda added that the BOJ had taken appropriate steps on monetary policy
and that she didn't think aiming for a high inflation rate would
resolve the shock of the financial crisis. (Reporting by Hideyuki
Sano, Stanley White and Rie Ishiguro; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE62900K20100310?type=marketsNews
FOREX-Yen rises on Japan exporters; sterling falters
By Masayuki Kitano TOKYO, March 9 (Reuters) - The yen rose broadly on
Tuesday on
dollar and euro selling by Japanese exporters, while sterling
faltered on weak data and after Moody's said Britain faces a
dilemma over its support for the banking sector. The yen also climbed
with short-term traders taking cues from
a dip in Nikkei share average .N225 and U.S. stock index
futures SPc1, as demand for riskier assets ebbed. "Japanese exporters
are in the market and selling pretty
actively, including the euro against the yen," said Yuji
Matsuura, joint general manager at Aozora Bank's forex and
derivatives trading group. There could be more yen-buying by Japanese
exporters during
the week, and there might also be some flows in the last week of
March, just before they close their books at the end of Japan's
fiscal year, Matsuura said. Market players said, however, that gains
in the yen have been
limited by speculation that the Bank of Japan may take further
steps to ease monetary policy. The euro fell 0.4 percent to 122.59 yen
EURJPY=R, off a
two-week high of 123.90 yen struck on EBS on Monday. The euro also
dropped against the dollar, dipping 0.1 percent
to $1.3615 EUR= but was still well off last week's $1.3433, its
lowest in more than nine months. The euro struggled after Greek Prime
Minister George
Papandreou warned on Monday that if the Greek crisis worsened it
could lead to a new global financial meltdown. [ID:nLDE6271WD].
Sterling fell 0.3 percent to $1.5014 GBP=D4 and shed 0.7
percent to 135.08 yen GBPJPY=R. Data showing that British house prices
grew last month at
their slowest pace since August weighed on sterling.
[ID:nLAG006161] Another negative factor for sterling was a Moody's
Investors
Service report saying Britain faces a difficult balancing act in
deciding how and when to reduce support for the banking sector,
given growth in the UK's public debt burden. [ID:nLDE6271OB]
EYES ON BOJ MEETING The dollar fell 0.3 percent to 90.01 yen JPY=. The
greenback had rallied on the yen to a two-week high of
90.69 yen on EBS on Monday, after a better-than-expected U.S.
jobs report backed views that the U.S. Federal Reserve will lift
rates faster than the Bank of Japan. The report had also bolstered
demand for higher-yielding
currencies and riskier assets like stocks and commodities, on
improved economic prospects. The Australian dollar fell 0.3 percent
against the yen
AUDJPY=R and the New Zealand dollar shed 0.6 percent
NZDJPY=R. The dollar is likely to be supported at levels around 89.50
yen on speculation about more monetary easing steps from the BOJ,
possibly at its policy meeting next week, said a trader for a
Japanese trust bank. The BOJ meeting is in the spotlight after the
Nikkei
newspaper reported on Friday that the BOJ was examining easing
again and may decide on such a move when it meets on March 16-17.
Sources familiar with the matter said the BOJ is likely to
debate this month easing its ultra-loose monetary policy again.
[ID:nTOE6230A7] The most likely next step for the BOJ is to expand the
fund-supply operation it put in place in December, under which it
lends to banks at 0.1 percent, either by increasing the size from
10 trillion yen ($110.7 billion) or extending the duration of
loans from the current three months. Even if such steps are taken, the
market impact could be
limited given how low yen money market rates are already, said a
trader for a European bank. "Basically, the aim may be to achieve an
announcement effect
and the market has factored in a lot of that," the trader said,
adding that the dollar could fall against the yen if the BOJ
stands pat and unveils no new measures.
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in Sydney, Satomi Noguchi
and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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US STOCKS-Telecoms lead Wall St rise a year after market bottom
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FOREX-Yen, dollar dip; euro up as Greece concerns ease
Mar 7, 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6270JL20100308?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r4:c0.250000:b31625032:z0
Analysis: Greece's crisis could presage America's
By TOM RAUM (AP) – 10 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Greece is a financial basket case, begging for
international help. Is America heading down that same road?
Many of the same risky financial practices that now imperil the Greeks
were at the center of the all-too-recent U.S. meltdown.
As with Greece, America's national debt has been growing by leaps and
bounds over the past decade, to the point where it threatens to swamp
overall economic output. And in the U.S., as in Greece, a large
portion of that debt is owed to foreign investors.
Not good, if these debt holders begin to wonder if they'll be paid
back. A foreign flight from U.S. Treasury securities could sow
financial chaos in the United States, as happened when many investors
lost faith in Greek bonds.
It's something that could affect all Americans. The U.S. has never
defaulted on a debt, and even the hint of such a possibility could
send interest rates soaring and choke off a fragile recovery.
How long can the United States remain the world's largest economy as
well as the world's largest debtor?
"Not indefinitely," suggests former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan. "History tells us that great powers when they've gotten
into very significant fiscal problems have ceased to be great powers."
After all, Spain dominated the 16th century world, France the 17th
century and Great Britain much of the 18th and 19th before the United
States rose to supremacy in the 20th century.
"Unless we do things dramatically different, including strengthening
our investments in research and education, the 21st century will
belong to China and India," suggests Norman Augustine, the former CEO
of Lockheed Martin who chaired a 2009 bipartisan commission studying
the nation's top challenges.
The Greek government has taken stiff austerity steps in an effort to
get a lifeline from the European Union, sparking strikes and violent
demonstrations.
Some of the same risky strategies used by U.S. hedge funds and other
professional investors in a failed effort to profit from subprime
mortgages in this country — and which led to the 2008 financial near-
collapse — are now being employed by those betting that Greece will
default on its debt.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who met with President Barack
Obama at the White House on Tuesday, is calling for "decisive and
collective action" here and in Europe to crack down on such rampant
speculation and unregulated bets. He is also seeking more favorable
European interest rates for loans.
Speaking outside the White House, Papandreou welcomed support from
Obama and some European leaders for such efforts and for the austerity
measures taken by his own government. He said it shows the "labor and
sacrifices are not wasted. Of course, our struggle is not ended, it
continues."
Many economists say it's a stretch to compare the U.S. economy, by far
the world's largest, to Greece and other distressed small economies of
southern Europe. They say many of Greece's problems are unique to that
nation and aggravated by a monetary system that rigidly binds 16
nations to the same currency, the euro.
But others argue it may only be a matter of time before the U.S. faces
a similar, and potentially graver, crisis.
"Someday it will happen if we don't get our act together on spending,
our debt under control and our economy to grow faster," said Allen
Sinai, chief global economist for New York-based Decision Economics
Inc., which provides financial advice to corporations and governments.
With signs pointing to a weaker recovery than after other post-World
War II recessions, U.S. consumer spending is likely to remain
unimpressive and the jobless rate high for some time. Sinai said that
suggests there won't be enough growth to push down federal deficits by
much. "It's a political keg of dynamite," he said.
Greece's national debt now equals more than 100 percent of its gross
domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity. U.S. debt
— now $12.5 trillion — is fast closing in on the same dubious
milestone.
Nearly all of Greek's debt is held by foreign governments and
investors. In the United States, roughly half is owned by global
investors, with China holding the largest stake.
By contrast, Japan's debt is proportionately even bigger — about twice
its GDP — but the impact is cushioned by the fact that most is held by
Japanese households.
"The more open you are to the rest of the world, the more likely
you're going to have a problem if you start running large deficits and
large debt loads," said Mark Zandi, founder of Moody's Economy.com,
and a frequent adviser to lawmakers of both parties.
Zandi does not see any major fallout from the Greek fiscal crisis in
the United States for now, other than a possible temporary hit on
potential European export markets.
However, he said, "global investors at some point are going to start
demanding a higher interest rate. And that's our moment of truth. If
we don't address it by cutting spending and raising taxes, some
combination of the two, then we're going to have a problem."
Polls show growing public anger over deficits and government spending.
The issue is a potent one for the upcoming midterm elections, and a
particular liability for majority-party Democrats.
Calls have sounded from both sides of the political aisle for deficit
reduction. And Obama last month set up a bipartisan deficit commission
to find ways to get the country's budget deficit, now adding more than
$1 trillion a year to the national debt, under control.
But the panel is a weak substitute for what Obama really wanted — a
commission created by Congress that could force lawmakers to vote on
remedies to reduce the debt.
EDITOR'S NOTE _ Tom Raum covers economics and politics for The
Associated Press.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou walks away after talking to the
media in front of the West Wing of the White House in Washington,
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, following a meeting with President Barack
Obama. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i8fvUrHUOkJVfaq5UBxHCYV85s3wD9EBDPRO2
Fears of a Greek bank run
By Dody Tsiantar, contributorMarch 9, 2010: 3:33 PM ET
(Fortune) -- In the middle of the 2001 debt crisis, Argentines stormed
their nation's banks to get their money out. To stop the stampede, the
government imposed controls that allowed them to take out only $250 at
a time and limited withdrawals for overseas trips to $1,000.
Greece, in the middle of its own financial crisis, is teetering on the
brink of a default. Many of its wealthier citizens are also uneasy
about what lies ahead for their cash. According to estimates from
private bankers in Greece and Cyprus, as much as 10 billion euros have
left the country for Greek-owned bank subsidiaries in Switzerland and
Cyprus in the last couple of months.
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"Customers are coming...from Greece on a daily basis," says one
private banker who works for a Greek bank in Cyprus. "They fly here in
the morning, bring us a check and fly back to Athens in the
afternoon."
One banker in Athens reports that many of his clients have sent funds
out of the country in recent weeks, fearing that the government will
take a bigger bite of their money. "They're afraid they'll have to pay
tax on their cash," he says.
Countries in economic turmoil historically look for unpopular ways to
raise revenue, according to economists. So when things start to go
sour, "everyone becomes convinced that the stage is being set for
higher taxes," says former IMF economist Dev Kar, the lead economist
for Global Financial Integrity, an international policy research
center. "People with wealth then ship their money out, so government
does not come and get it when it all comes crashing down."
But growing concerns that Greece's financial crisis will spill over to
its banking system appear to be driving most of the outflow. The fear
isn't totally unfounded: Late last month, Fitch Ratings downgraded the
country's four major private-sector banks to two notches above junk
status on fears that demand for loans may plunge, denting their
potential profitability .
"I'm scared," says one 40-year-old Athenian woman, who's considering
taking her nest egg to Cyprus. "I want to take my money out of the
country before the banks run out of cash."
Not as bad as it seems
A run on the bank, a la Argentina, is not imminent, say banking and
government officials. They acknowledge that money is leaving the
country, but say that reports of massive capital outflows are "grossly
overstated."
"There is a trickle, but nothing like a real flight that would put the
system under pressure," says Anthimos Thomopoulos, chief financial
officer of the National Bank of Greece, which holds a third of
Greece's 250 billion euro total deposit pool.
The situation isn't overly worrisome right now, bank and government
officials say, because most of the money has flowed to those Greek-
owned banks abroad and should, in theory, be easier to repatriate.
What's happening, says Nikolaos Karamouzis, deputy CEO of Eurobank
EFG, a private bank in Greece with 84 billion euro in assets, is "not
materially significant, despite the fact that there is widespread
concern among our clients."
Exactly how much cash has left the country since the crisis exploded
in mid-December is hard to determine, however. According to the most
recent quarterly statistics available, the national deposit pool at
the end of December dropped by less than a half a percent. But
analysts point out those numbers do not reflect the full impact of the
crisis, which picked up momentum in January and February after the
government announced its belt-tightening measures.
A pesos to drachmas comparison
Unlike Greece today, Argentina's government had an arsenal of
financial tools in 2001 to deal with its crisis. It devalued the peso
and imposed capital controls. But as a member of the European Union,
Greece does not have those options; it can't devalue, and because the
Union has rules that call for a free movement of capital within its
boundaries, it can't stop citizens or businesses from moving cash from
one partner country to another.
"The only way Greece could impose capital controls would be to leave
the EU," says Michael Melvin, head of currency and fixed income
research at global asset management firm BlackRock. "And there's close
to zero probability of that."
A return to the drachma isn't likely any time soon either, but Greek
citizens do have good reason to believe that taxes are going to go up.
The socialist government of Prime Minister George Papandreou has
already announced a slew of tax hikes, including increases in the
value-added tax, new excise taxes on luxury goods, such as yachts and
cars, and up to a 20% tax on cigarettes, alcohol and fuel.
0:00 /1:24Greece: Another crisis looms
In addition, a key tenet of the socialist government's plan is to go
after tax cheats aggressively -- economists figure that nearly 30% of
the country's gross domestic product goes unreported to authorities.
For decades, Greece's shadow economy has thrived because many Greeks
-- doctors, plumbers, electricians and lawyers among them -- conduct
business entirely in cash. Much of that money has ended up in bank
accounts in other countries, say economists -- and a lot of it is not
reflected in national statistics.
"The outflow of cash from Greece is not a new phenomenon. If you could
calculate the outflow of the last 50 years, you'd get an astronomical
figure," says University of Maryland economics professor Theodore
Kariotis. "Greeks are a very sneaky people."
The government's new rules intend to change that. Last week it
announced new measures to encourage those who have transferred money
out of Greece to bring it back within six months, no questions asked.
They'll be taxed 5% on the total, however. Another option offered:
declare the money, leave it in foreign accounts -- and be subject to
an 8% tax. After that, foreign governments will cooperate with Greek
tax authorities to pursue lawbreakers, says a source in the finance
ministry.
Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou hopes the government's
new measures will produce results. "As the reform program unfolds, a
lot of this lost, or quasi-lost, liquidity will come back to the
system," he said in a mid-January interview. "It is an immediate
concern, of course, but it is reversible."
Maybe it is, but according to economists, money that leaves a country
rarely returns. "I'm not holding my breath," says Global Financial
Integrity's Kar. "Once [cash] leaves, it's hard to get it back."
The snag in Greece's salary solution
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/04/news/international/greece_pay.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010030403
Is your country the next Greece?
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/08/news/international/next_greece.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010030815
Greeks try to remember how to cut back
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/26/news/international/greece_debt_crisis.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010030109
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/09/news/international/greece_money.fortune/?section=magazines_fortune
Tax hikes may still fail to fix Athen's debts crisis
Wednesday March 10 2010
GREEK tax increases, which have sparked widespread protests, may fail
to generate as much additional revenue as the government in Athens
estimates, a draft EU report says.
While the €4.8bn of additional austerity measures enacted by the Greek
parliament last week "appear sufficient to safeguard the 2010
budgetary targets", risks remain that increases in value-added tax and
fuel taxes may generate less than is projected, the report says.
The Greek government plans to cut the deficit to 8.7pc of gross
domestic product (GDP) this year from 12.7pc in 2009. The draft report
will be discussed by EU finance ministers in Brussels next week.
Demand
An increase in the main VAT rate by 2pc from 19pc will bring in €1.3bn
in added revenue this year, while higher excise duties on petrol and
diesel are expected to generate €450m more, according to the finance
ministry in Athens.
But "the implications on tax revenue of a contraction in demand should
not be underestimated", according to the European Commission.
On VAT, it said "changes in the tax base -- in relation to the
contraction of internal demand -- and tax evasion may result to lower-
than-expected gains".
Greece's overall government debt "remains on a steep upward path",
according to the commission. Greek debt is projected to swell to 125pc
of GDP this year, the highest in the 27-nation EU, it forecasts.
EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday
that the latest measures put Greece on "the path of fiscal adjustment
for 2012" -- the deadline to meet the EU's 3pc deficit limit.
(Bloomberg)
Irish Independent
S&P expert: Integrated eurozone fiscal policy key to sovereign debt
crisis
English.news.cn 2010-03-09 18:32:11
by Xinhua writer Wang Zongkai
BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Integrated fiscal policy was essential
for the euro zone to get out of the consequences of Greek sovereign
debt crisis, according to an expert from Standard and Poor's (S&P).
"The Greek debt crisis can be the strongest challenge that the euro
zone has faced in the past 11 years, and the key to solve the problem
is whether eurozone-16 can sacrifice some of their fiscal
sovereignty," said David Beers, managing director of S&P sovereign and
international public finance ratings group, on Monday.
On Dec. 8, 2009, Fitch Ratings downgraded its rating on Greece
sovereign credit from A- to BBB+, and revised its outlook to negative,
which signaled the commence of Greece sovereign credit crisis.
Moreover, other eurozone members, including Portugal, Ireland, Italy
and Spain, also reported deficit problem recently. In a context of
weak recovery in European economies, some analysts said that the Greek
debt crisis might contaminate the whole Europe.
However, Beers believes that the Greek debt crisis will not cause a
new round of global crisis.
On the one hand, other eurozone members welcomed Greece's 4.8-billion-
euro (6.53-billion-U.S. dollar) austerity package, which has shown the
Greek government's willingness to submit some fiscal sovereignty to
the union for underpinning euros, he said.
On the other hand, the creditworthiness of all eurozone sovereign
states was currently at least adequate to meet their financial
commitments, and S&P did not assume any sovereign state leaving the
euro zone in the medium term, Beers added.
So far, the Greek debt crisis had been contained within the euro zone.
Meanwhile, the Greek government had actively taken measures, while the
euro zone was considering institutional reform such as the
establishment of a European Monetary Fund, which will function like
the International Monetary Fund.
Regarding Britain's estimates of its deficit in 2010 fiscal year to
amount 1.78 trillion pounds (2.67 trillion dollars), nearly 13 percent
of its gross domestic product, Beers said Britain's current fiscal
policy is sustainable.
"If party in office changed, S&P would keep a close look at deficit-
cutting measures of the new administration," he added.
Meanwhile, the other two largest economies in the world are also
facing the deficit problem. U.S. federal deficit in 2009 had amounted
to 1.41 trillion dollars, almost 10 percent of the GDP while Japan's
outstanding public debt reached a record high of 817.5 trillion yen (9
trillion dollars), and 6.83 million yen (7,560 dollars) per capita.
Nevertheless, Beers was more optimistic on U.S. and Japan thanks to
more flexibility and time in dealing with debt problem given that the
dollar and the yen are the two strongest reserve currencies right now.
Beers estimated that it would take one or two years to solve the Greek
debt crisis.
People in Greece and other eurozone countries need to have confidence
while their governments need action.
Editor: Xiong Tong
Related News
• Greece prefers European solution: PM
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/08/c_13201036.htm
• Protests against fiscal austerity measures in Greece
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2010-03/06/c_13199746.htm
• Germany will not give Greece a cent: economy minister
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/05/c_13199043.htm
• Greek families to lose one-month salary yearly due to tax rise
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2010-03/09/c_13203264.htm
• Greek PM calls on world to restrict speculative trading
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/09/c_13202576.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-03/09/c_13203821.htm
Chrysanthemum or Samurai?
Posted By Dan Twining Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 12:20 PM
In a thoughtful essay in today's Financial Times, Gideon Rachman asks
whether Japan may now be tilting towards China after 60 years of
aligning itself with the United States. This question is interesting
on multiple dimensions -- including with regard to the future of U.S.
primacy in Asia, the impact of China's rise on its neighbors, the
nature of Japanese politics and identity, and our understanding of the
deep structure of international relations at a time of systemic power
shifts. Indeed, Japan is a critical case study for assessing how the
developed world will respond to the rise of dynamic new power centers
in Asia -- and what the implications will be for American leadership
in the international system.
The ascent of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) after nearly six
decades of unbroken rule by the conservative, U.S.-oriented Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) has convulsed not only Japanese politics but
also its foreign policy. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has mused
about constructing a pan-Asian fraternal community based on
"solidarity" -- not with Tokyo's closest alliance partner across the
Pacific but with its near neighbors, led by China. What should have
been little more than a tactical skirmish about the terms of the
realignment of U.S. forces in Okinawa has become, through
mismanagement on both sides, a strategic headache for both Washington
and the inexperienced government in Tokyo, raising unnecessary
tensions within the alliance. DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa, the power
behind the throne of the Hatoyama administration, recently led a
delegation of 143 parliamentarians and hundreds of businessmen to
Beijing, reviving in form if not substance the tributary delegations
from China's neighbors that, in pre-modern times, ritually visited the
Chinese court to acknowledge its suzerainty as Asia's "Middle
Kingdom."
These and other moves, unthinkable during the Cold War heyday of the
U.S.-Japan alliance, suggest a striking shift in Japan's geopolitical
alignment as the Pacific century dawns. Despite the fact that Japan
was never part of "the Chinese world order" in traditional Asia, some
analysts believe a Japanese tilt toward a resurgent China would be in
keeping with the country's foreign policy traditions. As Gideon
writes:
Some western observers in Tokyo muse that perhaps Japan is once again
following its historic policy of adapting to shifts in global politics
by aligning itself with great powers. Before the first world war the
country had a special relationship with Britain. In the inter-war
period Japan allied itself with Germany. Since 1945, it has stuck
closely to America. Perhaps the ground is being prepared for a new
"special relationship" with China?
In this reading of Japanese history since the Meiji restoration, the
country has repeatedly aligned itself with the international system's
preeminent power -- Britain in the early 20th century, Nazi Germany
until 1945, and the United States since then. If Japan really is
edging away from the United States to align itself with China today,
that is a compelling indicator that the future belongs to Beijing, and
that America's best days as the world's indispensable nation are
behind it.
Yet this judgment is, if anything, premature -- and may simply be
wrong. Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany, and America during the Cold War
were actual or aspiring hegemons from outside Asia; Japan's alliance
with each of them cemented its own role as Asia's dominant power.
Japan was not aligning with each of these powers to bandwagon with
them, subordinating its power and interests to theirs. It allied with
these Western states to facilitate its own pursuit of national power
and leadership in Asia.
This is true even of Japan's Cold War alliance with the United States,
when post-war leaders in Tokyo pursued a conscious strategy of
developing Japan's economic and technological dynamism within the
cocoon of American military protection. In a systematic and self-
interested manner, these leaders took advantage of the security
umbrella provided by the United States to modernize Japan's economy
and build strength with an eye on a long-term objective of moving
beyond the constraints imposed by the U.S. alliance as Japan grew into
a leading economic and technological power. The DPJ's new independence
vis-à-vis Washington reflects this evolution, and the only surprise is
that more Japan hands in the West didn't see it coming.
Historically, Japan has shown a striking ability to rapidly transform
itself in response to international conditions, as seen in the Meiji
break from isolation, the rise to great power in the twentieth
century, the descent into militarism, and renewal as a dynamic trading
state. Only a few years ago, excellent books and articles with titles
like Japan Rising: The Resurgence of Japanese Power and Purpose,
Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia,
and "Japan is Back: Why Tokyo's New Assertiveness is Good for
Washington" framed the country as a resurgent Asian great power. Since
2001, successive Japanese prime ministers have articulated
unprecedented ambitions for Japanese grand strategy. These have
included casting Japan as the "thought leader of Asia," forging new
bilateral alliances with India and Australia, cooperating with these
and other democratic powers in an "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity,"
formalizing security cooperation with NATO, constructing a Pacific
community around an "inland sea" centered on Japan as the hub of the
international economic and political order, and building a new East
Asian community with Japan at its center. These developments reflect
the churning domestic debate in Japan about its future as a world
power and model for its region, trends catalyzed by China's explosive
rise.
Japan's strategic future remains uncertain in light of the country's
churning domestic politics and troubling economic and demographic
trends. Yet there is no question that military modernization in China
and North Korea has spurred a new Japanese search for security and
identity that has moved Tokyo decisively beyond the constraints that
structured its foreign policy for fifty years following defeat in the
Pacific war. The ascent of the DPJ, with its calls for a more equal
U.S.-Japan alliance and greater Japanese autonomy in security and
diplomacy, is another step forward in Japan's transformation into what
DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa famously called a "normal country." Enjoying a
normal relationship with China, as the DPJ intends to do, is part of
that process. But so will be a continuing partnership with the United
States.
Jason Lee-Pool/Getty Images
http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/09/chrysanthemum_or_samurai
JGB futures edge down from 2-mth high as Nikkei jumps
By Rika Otsuka
TOKYO, March 8 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond futures slipped
further on Monday from a two-month peak hit last week, as growing
optimism about a global economic recovery prompted investors to move
money to stocks from government debt.
The five-year/20-year JGB yield spread matched its highest since
November 1999 as prospects of further central bank easing pinned down
yields on midterm maturities, which are more sensitive to shifts in
monetary policy outlook.
U.S. monthly employment data showed late last week that the world's
biggest economy lost 36,000 jobs in February, less than the 50,000 job
cuts expected by economists. [ID:nN04252324]
But bond losses were limited as the JGB market received support from
speculation that the Bank of Japan would further ease its monetary
policy in the coming months to help Japan's economy move out of
deflation.
"The rise in bond yields has been small as investors are willing to
pick up JGBs, with some speculating the BOJ could further relax its
policy at next week's board meeting," said Hidenori Suezawa, chief
strategist at Nikko Cordial Securities.
JGBs rose on Friday after the Nikkei newspaper said the central bank
will debate whether to ease monetary policy further by expanding the
fund-supply operation it introduced in December, under which it
extends loans to commercial banks at a policy rate of 0.1 percent.
[ID:nTOE6230A7]
"Demand is also strong as a large amount of government debt is
maturing this month," said Suezawa at Nikko Cordial Securities.
Analysts said some 10 trillion yen ($110.8 billion) of JGBs are being
redeemed in March. Government bonds with maturities of five years or
longer will mature in March, June, September and December.
Large amount of bonds maturing means that durations of popularly
followed bond indexes are usually extended to accommodate the
redemptions, generating demand for longer-dated paper from investors
following monthly changes to these indexes.
A 30-year JGB auction scheduled for Tuesday is expected to draw decent
demand as dealers will be looking to replenish their inventories, said
Makoto Noji, a senior market analyst at Mizuho Securities.
"Demand for superlong paper was unusually strong toward the end of
last month as investors bought to match bond indexes, depleting
dealers' inventories."
March 10-year JGB futures edged down 0.07 point to 140.12 2JGBv1,
slipping from 140.27, their highest since late December.
Outstanding loans held by Japanese banks fell 1.5 percent in February
from a year earlier, matching a decline in January that was the
biggest annual drop in four years, the BOJ said on Monday. [JPBNK=ECI]
[ID:nTFD006326]
The market showed a muted reaction to the data, although it somewhat
strengthened expectations that sluggish lending would prompt banks to
add more JGBs to their portfolios with the new financial year starting
on April 1.
The combination of sluggish lending and expectations towards further
BOJ easing has helped JGBs, especially the shorter-dated maturities,
which are supported by purchases from banks.
The five-year/20-year yield spread stood at 167 basis points on
Monday, matching its steepest in a decade, according to historical
data on Reuters EcoWin.
The five-year yield stood unchanged at 0.470 percent on Monday after
banks, the main players in the mid-term sector, aggressively bought
five-year notes late last week to push down the yield to a two-month
low of 0.460 percent JP5YTN=JBTC.
The benchmark 10-year yield inched up 1 basis point to 1.315 percent
JP10YTN=JBTC, staying near a two-month low of 1.290 percent first
reached in late February.
The 20-year yield was up 1.5 basis points at 2.140 percent
JP20YTN=JBTC and the 30-year yield edged up 0.5 basis point to 2.325
percent JP30YTN=JBTC.
Tokyo's Nikkei share average .N225 jumped 2.1 percent after the U.S.
jobs data, with exporters benefiting from a weaker yen. [.T] [FRX/]
($1=90.28 Yen)
(Additional reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Joseph
Radford)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE62703620100308
March 8, 2010, 1:03 a.m. EST · Recommend · Post:
WORLD FOREX: Dollar At 2-Week High Vs Yen On Asia Stock RisesStory
By Takashi Mochizuki
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar rose to a two-week-high against the
yen Monday in Asia, as higher regional shares bolstered investors'
appetite for riskier, higher-yielding assets, and they dumped the safe-
haven Japanese unit for the U.S. currency.
The greenback rose as high as Y90.69, its highest since Feb. 23 as
Asian investors took cues from Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock
Average and China's Shanghai Composite Index.
As of 0450 GMT, the Nikkei was up 1.9% to 10,563.72 and the Shanghai
Composite was up 0.82% to 3,056.00.
Higher Asian share prices often push the yen lower, as Japanese
investors become more aggressive about investing in overseas assets
with higher yields.
The yen's decline, however, isn't likely to continue for long because
Japanese exporters still have a vigorous appetite for yen, analysts
said. Exporters need a hefty volume of yen ahead of the March 31
fiscal year-end when they close their books.
"We would caution against turning very bearish (about the yen) in the
short term," said Adarsh Sinha, a strategist at Barclays Capital.
There is also a risk that demand for yen will increase again if
upcoming U.S. economic data, such as Friday's retail sales, turn out
weaker than expected, analysts said.
"Markets need to wait for more data to assess the true trend of the
U.S. economy," said Tomoko Fujii, a strategist at Bank of America-
Merrill Lynch.
The U.S. government said Friday that non-farm payrolls decreased by
36,000 in February from the month before. This was much better than
the 75,000 decline economists had expected.
But Fujii said it was "premature to draw a conclusion" about the U.S.
economic outlook, as recent U.S. economic reports have contained some
negative surprises.
As of 0450 GMT, the dollar was at Y90.41 from Y90.33 Friday in New
York. The euro was at $1.3679 from $1.3620 and Y123.70 from Y123.04.
The euro may have entered a long-term upward trend, dealers said, on
the belief debt-laden Greece will be able to secure support from its
European partners.
"I'm now becoming certain that Greece won't fail. The clouds are
clearing for Greece's future," said Jun Kato, a senior dealer at
Shinkin Central Bank.
On Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said a number of European
Union nations were preparing a support package for Greece. In Berlin,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that E.U. members would
intervene to rescue Greece if its debt problems threaten to spiral out
of control.
The euro may rise above $1.38 in the days ahead if more positive news
for Greece comes out, OCBC Bank's currency research team said. The
currency last traded above $1.38 on Feb. 11.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a trade-
weighted basket of currencies, was at 80.168 from 80.451
...and I am Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3bc67593a8a0ac5b#
chhotemianinshallah
posted at 12:52 pm on March 9, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
The White House promised a “hard pivot” to jobs and the economy almost
three months ago, attempting to put the ObamaCare debate on the back
burner after the holidays. They had belatedly discovered that the
electorate was much more concerned about the economic plunge than in
retooling a health-care system that works for most Americans now.
Instead of the hard pivot, Democrats have doubled down on ObamaCare —
and the latest Rasmussen survey shows that a strong majority believe
it to be the wrong direction on both issues:
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters say the health care reform plan
now working its way through Congress will hurt the U.S. economy.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 25%
think the plan will help the economy. But only seven percent (7%) say
it will have no impact. Twelve percent (12%) aren’t sure.
Two-out-of-three voters (66%) also believe the health care plan
proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats is likely to
increase the federal deficit. That’s up six points from late November
and comparable to findings just after the contentious August
congressional recess. Ten percent (10%) say the plan is more likely to
reduce the deficit and 14% say it will have no impact on the deficit.
Underlying this concern is a lack of trust in the government numbers.
Eighty-one percent (81%) believe it is at least somewhat likely that
the health care reform plan will cost more than official estimates.
That number includes 66% who say it is very likely that the official
projections understate the true cost of the plan.
Only a plurality of Democrats believe that the bill will help the
economy (43%), while 89% of Republicans and 61% of independents think
it will damage it.
Politically, the Democrats have the worst of all worlds. Not only do
they look out of touch for spending all of their efforts on a plan
that is deeply unpopular with voters, they now are seen as actively
damaging the economy. The deficit spending alone would be enough to
send voters heading for the exits, but the increased costs are even
worse. Seventy-eight percent of all respondents believe that middle-
class tax increases will come as a result of ObamaCare, with almost
two-thirds (65%) believing that to be “very likely.” Fifty-eight
percent of Democrats expect middle-class tax increases, which shows
how effective Obama has been in selling this plan.
What’s the biggest problem with ObamaCare? Majorities of all
political affiliations agree: the cost. Hardly anyone believes the
cost estimates. When asked whether the bill would exceed its cost
estimates, 93% of Republicans, 70% of Democrats, and 80% of
independents thought it at least somewhat likely — with 88% of
Republicans and 73% of independents calling it “very likely.” Only
20% of Democrats thought it unlikely. Again, this looks like a big
failure of the Obama administration’s efforts to sell the package as a
cost containment program.
Democrats now face the prospect of using arcane parliamentary tricks
to pass a bill that has minimal support, one that most voters believe
will damage the economy, cost more than advertised, and prompt
sweeping tax increases, all while ignoring the issues of a damaged
economy while attempting to make it worse. If they think that’s a
winning strategy for the midterms, they need new leadership — and
after the electoral disaster coming, they’ll probably be forced to get
it.
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Comments
and lo, the Democrat party wandered aimlessly in the desert for 40
election years.
TN Mom on March 9, 2010 at 4:13 PM
Great pic!
mikeyboss on March 9, 2010 at 4:18 PM
From the rich being able to buy our representatives and lead our
culture by the nose, yes.
Dark-Star on March 9, 2010 at 4:00 PM
Boo hoo, the rich can do things that I can’t, therefore we have to
give govt control over everything so that the rich can be punished.
I’m still trying to figure out why you actually believe that everyone
who has more than you are is evil.
Is it because you are such a failure in life, that you can’t bear to
accept responsibility?
Lord knows, your given your demonstrated intellectual powers, it’s
hard to imagine you’ve ever been able to handle a job that doesn’t
involve the phrase “would you like fries with that”.
MarkTheGreat on March 9, 2010 at 4:25 PM
and lead our culture by the nose, yes.
Ohh, and people pay more attention to the rich than they do you. I bet
that stings.
MarkTheGreat on March 9, 2010 at 4:26 PM
They won’t get new leadership, because Pelosi will be the only one
left in the House after November.
joe_doufu on March 9, 2010 at 5:03 PM
If you believe the 57% figure, then you’ll love the fictitious 9%
unemployment.
This administration is so inaccurate they couldn’t hit the side of a
barn with a tennis racket.
Cybergeezer on March 9, 2010 at 5:23 PM
I’m waiting for Congress to offer shares of stock in the new Health
Care Industry they want to create.
Think China will buy any?
Cybergeezer on March 9, 2010 at 5:25 PM
This HealthScare legislation is another omnibus spending bill that
lets Congress spend like drunken sailors with unlimited credit cards.
Obama has already signed an omnibus spending bill last year, and he
can’t wait to sign another one.
Cybergeezer on March 9, 2010 at 5:30 PM
If we just get enough fed-up conservative-types to move to Costa Rica
we could remake that country into what the U.S. should be. The U.S. is
going to be a once-great nation in record time and I, for one, don’t
feel like being taxed to death as it goes through its all too rapid
fall.
Fatal on March 9, 2010 at 5:31 PM
Adding a new entitlement? revenue neutral? Look at the prescription
drug benefit enacted by President Bush. In less than 10 years the
unfunded liabilities of this new entitlement are nearly 19 trillion
(18.7 and climbing).
Congress:
Look at the debt clock. Health care reform, yes. ObamaCare, NO.
Angry Dumbo on March 9, 2010 at 6:50 PM
Democrats now face the prospect of using arcane parliamentary tricks
to pass a bill that has minimal support, one that most voters believe
will damage the economy, cost more than advertised, and prompt
sweeping tax increases, all while ignoring the issues of a damaged
economy while attempting to make it worse. If they think that’s a
winning strategy for the midterms, they need new leadership — and
after the electoral disaster coming, they’ll probably be forced to get
it.
This isn’t about winning in 2010.
It isn’t about the leadership.
This is about having the most left leaning leadership in Washington
since the early 30’s taking an opportunity to screw the country that
they thought they would never have!
We have a Marxist president who has already says he’d content with one
term if, BY HIS DEFINITION, he was a good president.
We have a Marxist wax statue House Speaker who comes from a district
where the majority probably feel Congress isn’t taking over enough of
the private sector on the way to their communist utopia.
We have an old, doesn’t-care-if-he’s-reelected Senate Leader who
thinks this is the culmination of his life’s work and that of his dead
friend Teddy!
These three jokers are betting that if they can get this passed,
rammed through, crammed down America’s throat, that in the future the
party can run on “Save Healthcare! Keep those filthy Republican hands
off of it!” “Oh, that evil Republican wants to repeal healthcare and
kill millions by taking away their coverage!”
Unfortunately, the chaos that’s going to ensue, sooner if they pass
healthcare, after we reach banana republic status in the next year,
could lead to numerous conclusions. It may be best if it leads to two
or more countries if this is the government we’re stuck with.
PastorJon on March 9, 2010 at 8:02 PM
Fifty-eight percent of Democrats expect middle-class tax increases,
which shows how effective Obama has been in selling this plan.
Whadda ya know! The Dems are as dumb as the Repubs.
Herb on March 9, 2010 at 8:36
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/09/rasmussen-57-think-obamacare-will-damage-economy/
NYC’s New Suicide Sculptures (metaphor for economic reality)
Posted by barrypopik (Profile)
Wednesday, March 10th at 5:24AM EST
No Comments
New York is full of brilliant ideas these days. Let’s look first at
the suicide sculpture metaphor, then the economic reality.
From Wednesday’s New York Times:
Statues Seem Ready to Leap, but Police Say They Won’t
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: March 9, 2010
They stand about six feet tall and look like naked human beings. Over
the next few days, 27 of them will be scattered across rooftops and
ledges of buildings in Midtown Manhattan — including the Empire State
Building — as part of a public art exhibition.
About the same time that the first figure was placed atop a four-story
building at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue on Tuesday, the Police
Department issued a statement reassuring New Yorkers that the figures
are not despondent people on the verge of leaping to their deaths.
Police officials said they were trying to prevent an overwhelming
number of emergency calls from concerned pedestrians or office
workers. Nevertheless, they said that all emergency calls about a
potential suicide would be taken seriously — even those from places
where one of the figures is located.
“We are going to respond no matter what because there could be a
jumper at the spot,” said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief
spokesman.
The figures, which are anatomically correct, are modeled after the
body of the artist Antony Gormley, who created the exhibition, which
is being presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
Gormley did the same thing in London in 2007.
Is anyone surprised that lots of people would call 911? Does anyone
think that clogging the 911 line is a good idea? In a nanny state
government that forbids toy guns, why is this OK? How much did this
guy earn for this “art”?
Stupidity all around, but that’s not surprising for New York.
Moving on to suicidal economic news, the New York Times loves the
proposed soda tax:
Editorial
Healthy Solution: Taxing Sodas
Published: March 8, 2010
Seldom does one idea help fix two important problems, but a proposal
to tax sugary soft drinks in New York State is just that sort of 2-
for-1 solution. The penny-per-ounce tax on sodas and other sweetened
drinks is a way to raise desperately needed money for the city and
state in a bad economy. It also could help lower obesity rates, which
have soared in recent years.
The Legislature in Albany should adopt this tax quickly.
Increasing New York taxes to support outrageously generous public
union pensions — bless your hearts, New York Times and Mayor
Bloomberg.
What is the other solution to New York’s fiscal crisis? Billions in
increased borrowing, of course:
Paterson’s No. 2 Sets Broad Plan on New York Fiscal Crisis
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: March 9, 2010
ALBANY — New York could borrow billions of dollars to address its
urgent budget shortfall and a financial review board would be
established to impose new discipline on future spending under a five-
year financial rescue plan that Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch will present
Wednesday.
(…)
Mr. Ravitch, who was asked by Gov. David A. Paterson to draw up the
blueprint, is seeking to curb the runaway spending that has helped
plunge New York into fiscal crisis. Despite the recession and talk of
fiscal austerity, state spending this year soared by 10 percent over
the previous year’s budget.
Keep on spending!
The state faces a $9 billion shortfall for the fiscal year that begins
April 1 and a $15 billion gap for the following year.
The plan, which requires legislative approval, seeks to address New
York’s immediate cash needs by permitting the state to sell bonds to
help cover operating expenses.
Keep on borrowing! Does anyone want to buy a bond from a bankrupt
state run by David Paterson?
If the Madison Square Park Conservancy wants to add some art, why not
ditch the suicide sculptures and have a replica of the Diana sculpture
that once graced Madison Square Garden? The Roman goddess Diana was an
emblem of chastity.
Suicide sculpture — an urban metaphor for these times? Why not move
them from Madison Square down to Wall Street?
Economists trim 2011 U.S. growth forecast
Posted 2010/03/10 at 12:40 am EST
WASHINGTON, Mar. 10, 2010 (Reuters) — U.S. economists raised their
forecast for economic growth in 2010 in March, the third straight
monthly rise, while trimming their growth forecast for 2011, according
to a survey released on Wednesday.
Economists surveyed earlier this month in the Blue Chip Economic
Indicators newsletter said the economy is expected to grow by 3.0
percent in 2011, which is 0.1 percentage point lower than estimates
made a month ago.
But economists raised their 2010 growth forecast for the third
consecutive month to 3.1 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from
February.
Still, the economists predicted the recovery would be mild given the
depth of the recession.
The consensus also expects inventories to continue adding to GDP over
the next several quarters but see the size of those contributions
become increasingly smaller.
"By Q1 2011, the contribution to GDP from business inventories is
expected to become trivial," the survey said.
The panelists said they also expect "a slower and less powerful than
is typical improvement in labor market conditions that will cap gains
in disposable personal income and personal consumption expenditures."
The panelists expressed concern that severe winter weather crimped
economic activity in February and that upcoming monthly data on
production, retail sales, housing starts and home sales could fall
short of earlier consensus expectations.
However, they also pointed out any weather-induced softness should be
recovered in the March data.
(Reporting by Nancy Waitz, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Copyright Reuters 2008.
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre6290q0-us-usa-economy-bluechip/
US Chamber of Commerce getting into the game.
I almost titled this "US Chamber of Commerce starts recognizing its
class interests," but that kind of language bugs people on the Right,
for some reason.
Posted by Moe Lane (Profile)
Tuesday, March 9th at 11:48AM EST
5 Comments
Say hello to the US Chamber of Commerce. Or don’t; they’re coming to
sit down at the table any which way.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is building a large-scale grass-roots
political operation that has begun to rival those of the major
political parties, funded by record-setting amounts of money raised
from corporations and wealthy individuals.
[snip]
The new grass-roots program, the brainchild of chamber political
director Bill Miller, is concentrating on 22 states. Among them are
Colorado, where incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is
vulnerable; Arkansas, where Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln faces an
uphill reelection battle; and Ohio, where the chamber sees
opportunities in numerous House races and an open Senate seat.
The network, called Friends of the U.S. Chamber, has been used to
generate more than a million letters and e-mails to members of
Congress, 700,000 of them in opposition to the Democratic healthcare
plan. That is an increase from 40,000 congressional contacts generated
in 2008.
The article goes on to note that the CoC’s grassroots planning
recently got a big boost from the recent Citizens’ United case, as
well as that this organization is increasingly publicly acknowledging
that ‘pro-business growth’ means ‘pro-Republican.’ And why would that
be? Probably because of Democratic assaults like this one:
A Democratic aide says a new provision in the health care bill will
require businesses to count part-time workers when calculating
penalties for failing to provide coverage.
Via Hot Air, and that particular sudden addition to the health care
bill should have the same effect on small business growth as would,
say, a load of buckshot to the face. Remember, folks: the current
ruling party of this country is largely led by people who have never
worked for a living in their lives - and by God, does it show
sometimes! Keep this in mind when opening your checkbooks, because
the business community certainly plans to…
Moe Lane
5 Comments
*HOW* can they do this? How is it Constitutional?
yoyo Tuesday, March 9th at 12:16PM EST
Isn’t the Senate Bill ALREADY voted for? How can they insert an
amendment into a bill that is already passed?
Wouldnt the inclusion of this amendment (or any other) require that
the whole she-bang go back to the Senate for another up/down vote? Or
at the very least, allow the Senate to Amend this to Death - FINALLY?
Without coming back to the Senate, the Bill would be unconstitutional,
yes?
Just Checking. Dan, can you help me out here? Rule check, please!
Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum
‘If you seek peace, prepare for war!’
The ‘yoyo’ replaced my cigarettes January 22, 2006….
http://www.twitter.com/rs_yoyo
That's what "reconcilliation" is all about.
The_Gadfly Tuesday, March 9th at 12:25PM EST
See, this is a cost cutting measure. Without it, they won’t have
enough money to cover the bills, so the reconcilliation rules apply,
and they only need 51 votes for that.
No, I don’t really believe that either, but you can better a year’s
salary that’s how they’ll sell it. Assuming of course you can find
someone dumb enough to take the wager.
We’ve been called racists enough now that it shouldn’t bother us any
more.
-AChance, http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/11/03/what-men-may-do-we-have-done/#comment-24463
If NY23 was a beat down for Conservatives, what do you call what
happened to Progressives in NJ and VA?
inspired by ColdWarrior,
http://www.redstate.com/hooah_mac/2009/11/04/ny-23-the-agony-of-defeat-not-so-much/#comment-156
"Cost Cutting?" Really? Smells of "Policy" to me.
yoyo Tuesday, March 9th at 12:33PM EST
But, I *do* have a head cold, so my sniffer may be broken.
OR, more likely, it just stinks.
I say they should start reconcilling the bill with the Constitution
and go forward from there.
But, I AM a little bit “old fashioned.” *Tradition and Patriotism* and
all that.
Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum
‘If you seek peace, prepare for war!’
Pukin’ Dogs - The Fighting 143
Sans Reproache
The ‘yoyo’ replaced my cigarettes January 22, 2006….
http://www.twitter.com/rs_yoyo
George Washington
hickorystick Tuesday, March 9th at 1:32PM EST
led the Rebellion, because England was infringing upon his interests.
George Washington wasn’t that political a guy. He did maintain his
‘interest’ very sharply. He was one of the wealthiest Colonials, and
he was constantly irritated with England imposing laws and
restrictions impinging on his ‘interest’. He chose his wife, Mary, not
for her looks, but because she had a lot of land. I get so frustrated
with politics because most of the time, especially media time, is
spent talking about nebulous things which we have no power or control
over. We would do well to frame every bill in terms of how it affects
‘interests’. You cannot walk into court and ask for something, unless
you can prove an ‘interest’ or ’standing’. We should do the same in
our political fights, sticking to our right to maintain property. That
is what we fought over in the revolution. Remember, we didn’t bother
to write a Constitution till some years after we had won the war. The
form of government that came most naturally after the victory, was a
Continental Congress. This form left most issues to the states, where
property could best be protected. If we want to effectively fight this
Redistibutor-in-Chief, We better start focusing on our own interest
and that of our states.
Wow...
tdpwells Tuesday, March 9th at 3:09PM EST
So let’s see, that’s most employees at fast food restaurants, grocery
stores, convenience stores, corner pharmacy stores like CVS and
Walgreens, etc etc etc…
Unemployment ought to be at a healthy 30% by the time they’re done.
Nice.
I do not believe that the power and duty of the General
Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual
suffering which is in no manner properly related to the
public service or benefit…to the end that the lesson should
be constantly enforced that though the people support the
Government, the Government should not support the people.
Grover Cleveland (16 February 1887)
http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2010/03/09/us-chamber-of-commerce-getting-into-the-game/
Bloomberg
Siegel Says U.S. Recovery Certain, Euro Region Faces Splinter
March 10, 2010, 5:39 AM EST
By Le-Min Lim
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Siegel, a finance professor at the
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, says the worst is over
for the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates
by year’s end to cool growth.
Spending by companies on equipment and plants will outpace private
consumption as the main growth driver this year, he said in an
interview in Hong Kong. The jobless rate, at 9.7 percent last month,
will fall below 9 percent by the end of 2010, he said. That may force
the Fed to tighten policy and full-year economic growth may reach 4
percent, he said.
The Fed “will feel comfortable raising the rates as long as the
situation continues to improve, as I believe it will,” said Siegel, in
an interview in Hong Kong. Siegel, 64, is an adviser to U.S.-based
WisdomTree Investments Inc., which had $6.7 billion of assets under
management as of the end of last year.
The Fed and the Treasury are trying to withdraw the emergency measures
introduced during the financial crisis without triggering a relapse in
the economy. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Feb. 24 the U.S. is in
a “nascent” recovery that still requires keeping interest rates near
zero “for an extended period” to spur demand once stimulus wanes.
In Europe, the European Central Bank will have little alternative
other than to keep interest rates low as euro region members such as
Greece struggle to convince investors they will cut soaring budget
deficits, he said. Its benchmark rate is currently at a record low of
1 percent.
Exports
The euro is making the exports of nations such as Spain and Greece so
uncompetitive that they may start talks as early as next year to leave
the 16-nation bloc, he said. That departure would be “painful and
difficult and drag down the region for a few years,” he said. One
weakness of the currency union is that it lacks a proper and orderly
exit strategy for members that can’t keep up, Siegel said.
“They should have signed prenups before they got married to the euro,”
said Siegel, referring to agreements that outline the terms of a
divorce.
A U.S. recovery and uncertainty in the eurozone mean the dollar will
remain a “viable” asset, said Siegel.
Later this year, China may start a managed appreciation of the yuan,
Siegel said. China wants to revert to export-driven economic growth,
so is more likely to try a staggered revaluation than a major, one-
time adjustment, he said.
--Editors: Dirk Beveridge, John Fraher
To contact the reporter on this story: Le-Min Lim in Hong Kong at
lm...@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Beech at
mbe...@bloomberg.net.
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Most Asian Stocks Fall as Oil, Shippers Drop; Telstra Advances
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Greek Crisis Is Over, Rest of Region Safe, Prodi Says (Update2)
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-10/greek-crisis-is-over-former-ec-commission-chief-prodi-says.html
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http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-10/rand-may-breach-10-per-euro-for-first-time-in-2-years-rmb-says.html
High Conviction: Short the Yen
by: Alexander Tepper March 10, 2010
Alexander Tepper is Chief Economist at TKNG Capital, a global macro
hedge fund based in New York. Previously, Mr. Tepper was a senior
economic policy aide to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg. He also has
experience at Oliver, Wyman & Company advising Fortune 500 financial
institutions on risk management and as an investment banking Associate
at Credit Suisse. He has a masters degree in Economics from Oxford
University, and a BA in Physics from Princeton University.
We recently had the opportunity to ask Alexander about the single
highest conviction position he currently holds in his fund.
What is your highest conviction position in your fund right now - long
or short?
We are short Japanese yen against the US Dollar. We have implemented
the trade by selling out-of-the-money calls to buy out-of-the-money
puts and taking in premium.
Why did you use options to structure the trade?
Call options on the yen are significantly more expensive than put
options. This “skew,” as it’s known, exists because the Japanese
investment community tends to be short yen, making it susceptible to
sharp rises during bouts of risk aversion.
Investors hedge this exposure by buying out-of-the-money yen calls.
But given the sharp adjustment that has already occurred in the crisis
and a government whose proclivities are far from fiscally
conservative, we view the risks as less asymmetric than implied by the
skew.
Structuring this trade with options is akin to playing with dice
loaded in our favor.
Tell us a bit about Japan right now, and why you're short its
currency.
Japan has traditionally been an export-oriented economy, but that’s
going to change as the population continues to age and retire. These
older citizens, who have saved their whole lives and are no longer
producing anything, will be a natural source of demand, first for
domestic Japanese goods and then for imports. A shrinking labor force
will mean other nations will need to pick up the slack in production.
Already, the savings rate in Japan has fallen into the low single-
digits and it should fall further.
Japan is also in serious fiscal trouble. Its net debt is more than
100% of GDP, and gross debt is nearing 200% of GDP. The Japanese
government and central bank do not seem particularly concerned. It is
only Japan’s strong balance of payments position, and a willful
suspension of disbelief by the markets, that differentiates it from
countries like Greece. But those, too, should ebb over time.
So why will the yen fall?
First, as the Japanese retire, the supply shock to the economy will
result in continuing declines in competitiveness. The yen will need to
fall to restore balance.
Second, less income and more retirees will mean that Japan will need
to fund more of its government’s borrowing from abroad. Making this
attractive will mean a lower exchange rate, higher interest rate, or
(most likely) both.
Third, the government’s fiscal position is the worst in the developed
world. The scale of the adjustments that are necessary to stabilize
the budget deficit would be unprecedented in a large developed nation,
requiring deep cuts to pensions, double-digit tax increases, and
severe spending restraint elsewhere. If sovereign worries persist,
Japan and its currency are obvious targets for speculators.
Finally, we think consumers in the US and UK are undergoing a lasting
shift in psychology that will cause them to save a larger share of
their incomes going forward. Over the long-term, the savings rate
needs to average around 10% in order for Americans to secure a
reasonable retirement. When Americans save more, they buy less,
especially imports. This lack of demand for imports means a stronger
dollar against US trading partners like Japan.
All this is on the assumption that the global economy will limp along
for a while. But if instead we have a return to robust growth that
looks broadly like the pre-crisis economy, the yen should weaken
towards 2007 levels as markets become more and more comfortable with
risk and interest rates rise in the rest of the developed world.
There are a lot of ways to win with this trade.
What would you say the current broad sentiment is on the yen?
The market has tended to view the yen as part of the “risk-on/risk-
off” trade, where the yen rises with worries about the global economy.
Japan’s fiscal issues are well-known, but the market has generally not
priced them, with yields on 10-year Japanese bonds below 1.5%.
Japanese CDS spreads, however, have doubled since late summer.
More broadly, the markets have believed that correction of global
imbalances requires a weaker dollar to encourage Americans and Asians
to change their consumption behavior. We think the financial crisis
and experience of house price declines will be the driving force that
restrains Americans’ profligacy, while Asians will consume more. The
result will be a stronger dollar.
Does Japanese economic policy play a role in your position?
The Japanese government has made fairly clear that it does not intend
to tolerate a markedly stronger yen because it hurts their exporters.
It also seems neither inclined nor able to do anything about the
fiscal situation in the near future.
What catalysts do you see that could move the currency, and the trade
in your favor?
The eurozone’s sovereign risk worries will soon resolve themselves one
way or another. When they do, Japan could easily become a target.
As economic data continue to strengthen over the next few months, a
return to normalcy will mean a weaker yen.
We are also prepared for a more gradual adjustment as markets adopt
our demographic view.
What could go wrong with this trade?
In the near term, Japanese companies repatriating income around the
fiscal year-end in March could potentially lead to a rise in the
currency. A sharp rise in risk aversion could have a similar effect.
We have been careful to choose the strike prices on our options to
minimize the damage if such a spike does occur.
Beyond that, deflation in Japan means that in a perfect economic
world, the yen would appreciate over time. There is also the risk that
the pundits over the past several years prove right and we see
fundamental weakening of the dollar with respect to all Asian
currencies.
Finally, if China were to revalue its currency, as many believe it
will, that could create space for the Japanese authorities also to
allow some appreciation. Again, however, we believe our options are
sufficiently out of the money to limit our downside in such a
scenario.
Thanks, Alexander.
Disclosure: TKNG Capital is short the Yen against the Dollar.
If you are a fund manager and interested in doing an interview with us
on your highest conviction stock holding, please email Rebecca
Barnett.
About the author: Alexander Tepper Alexander Tepper is Chief
Economist at TKNG Capital, a global macro hedge fund based in New
York. Previously, Mr. Tepper was a senior economic policy aide to U.S.
Senator Frank Lautenberg. He also has experience at Oliver, Wyman &
Company advising Fortune 500 financial institutions on risk... More
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The Coolpix L11 is clearly designed more for the frugal than the
fancy. The 6-megapixel camera sports a 37.5mm-to-112.5mm-equi... 3x
zoom lens and a relatively small 2.4-inch LCD screen. While its
hardware hardly impresses, however, the camera offers some
surprisingly useful features. The L11 includes Nikon's In-Camera Red-
Eye Fix and Face-Priority AF. In-Camera Red-Eye Fix supplements the
camera's red-eye reduction flash mode with a processing system that
removes red-eye after the photo is taken. Face-Priority AF detects and
tracks faces in photos, and adjusts focus to stay on those faces,
instead of just the closest subject. Both features come standard on
most Nikon Coolpix cameras, but are still handy for casual shooting.
www-nikon.com Mar 10 0
Carlos Lam is a deputy prosecuting attorney in a mid-sized county in a
midwestern state. An adherent in the Austrian School of economics, he
believes that to truly prosper as the republic envisioned by the
Founding Fathers, we must return to principles of sound money and
limited government. He... More Latest StockTalkWent long Canadian Oil
Sands Trust (COSWF.PK) as a way to hedge oil/gasoline price increases
& to diversify away from the USDSep 11, 2009Latest articles &
Instablog posts1.'Cash for Clunkers' Incentivizes Americans to Take On
More Debt2."Cash for Clunkers" Passes House: The Debt Merchants
Continue Their Efforts3.Will the Chrysler Deal Be Delayed?
Shorting the Yen could be an interesting play. Already the Japanese
savings rate has crashed from its lofty position to under 4%, so the
Japanese government will not be able to count on domestic savings to
finance its debt indefinitely.
Mar 10 06:25 AM
John Thomas graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry with
honors and a minor in mathematics from the University of California at
Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) in 1974. He moved to Tokyo, Japan where he was
employed by a medium-sized Japanese securities house. Thomas became
fluent in... More Company: The Mad Hedge Fund Trader bvgf I’m hearing
from my buddies in Japan that while things are already quite bad in
that enchanting country, they are about to get a whole lot worse, and
that it is time to start scaling into a major short in the yen.
Australia and China have already raised interest rates, to be followed
by the US, and eventually Europe. With its economy enfeebled, the
prospects of Japan raising rates substantially is close to nil,
meaning the yield spread between the yen and other currencies is about
to widen big time. That will generate hundreds of billions of dollars
worth of yen selling as hedge funds rush to pile on a giant carry
trade. Until now, the government has been able to finance ballooning
budget deficits caused by two lost decades, but those days are coming
to an end. Japan is quite literally running out of savers. The savings
rate has dropped from 20% during my time there, to a spendthrift 3%,
because real falling standards of living leave a lot less money for
the piggy bank. The national debt has rocketed to 190% of GDP, and
100% when you net out government agencies buying each other’s
securities. Japan has the world’s worst demographic outlook. Unfunded
pension liabilities are exploding. Other than once great cars and
video games, what does Japan really have to offer the world these
days, but a carry currency? Until now, the government has been able to
cover up these problems with tatami mats, because almost all of the
debt it issued has been sold to domestic institutions. Now that this
pool is drying up, there is nowhere else to go but foreign investors.
With Greece and the rest of the PIIGS at the forefront, and awareness
of sovereign risks heightening, this is going to be a much more
discerning lot to deal with. You could dip your toe in the water here
around ¥88.40. In a perfect world you could sell it as it double tops
at the 85 level. My initial downside target is ¥105, and after that
¥120. If you’re not set up to trade in the futures or the interbank
market like the big hedge funds, then take a look at the leveraged
short yen ETF, the (YCS). This is a home run if you can get in at the
right price.
Mar 10
http://seekingalpha.com/article/192864-high-conviction-short-the-yen
Fresh Trade Winds?
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 02:19
0 Comments and 4 Reactions
Investor's Business Daily
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily
Editorial
Economy: U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk came out swinging
Wednesday, warning Congress that it’s time to pass free trade. Is
something happening here? Is the Obama administration finally getting
serious about jobs?
After a year of inaction, Kirk told Democrats in remarks to the Senate
Finance Committee that passage of free-trade pacts must be “a
priority.”
Free trade “will stimulate export-driven growth and help the United
States meet the president’s goal to double U.S. exports in five
years,” he said, adding that 2 million jobs would be created.
That kind of talk from a leading Democrat directed at the
protectionists in his own party is a new — and welcome — development.
Over the last year, Obama administration officials have occasionally
talked up the benefits of free trade, but only with conservatives and
business groups, who already know about it.
Now some are spending political capital to push it.
Confronting a Congress that is holding up the creation of jobs doesn’t
come a moment too soon. U.S. joblessness stands at 9.7% and Europe is
grabbing U.S. markets abroad.
Congressional protectionists talk of free trade passage in terms of
years; their campaign financiers in Big Labor, such as the AFL-CIO,
say “never.”
Kirk rebuked that stance in his speech, telling labor it had a voice
but “not a veto” on trade and hinted that President Obama would put
the pacts through without them. He also gave labor leaders a deadline
to make demands on free-trade deals like the one with Colombia instead
of constantly moving the goal posts.
One shot.
It doesn’t come a moment too soon. Congress’ failure to enact the free-
trade pacts in front of them is costing the U.S. nearly 600,000 jobs,
according to a 2009 study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Contrary to
protectionist myth, free trade costs no net jobs in the U.S. economy
at all, as Fed chief Ben Bernanke noted in a 2007 speech citing years
of data. “Trade allows us to enjoy both a more productive economy and
higher living standards,” he said. Unemployment is killing the U.S.
economy and sinking the Obama presidency. Time is running out to open
markets that could help repair it. Just this week, Europe signed a
free-trade deal with Colombia and Peru and breezily announced it would
have a pact with fast-growing India ready by October.
U.S. international credibility right now is zero, given that
alreadynegotiated trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea
have languished in Congress for more than three years.
Who’d want to negotiate something new and have it put in congressional
limbo? That’s why the Obama administration’s proposed U.S. Trans-
Pacific Partnership to open new markets in Brunei, Australia, New
Zealand and Vietnam is going nowhere.
“This delay in implementing hurts U.S. credibility around the world —
not just economically, but geopolitically as well,” said Sen. Charles
Grassley, R-Iowa, at the Kirk hearing. Hello? Anyone out there? The
U.S. is losing ground in world markets and doing it at the cost of our
own citizens’ jobs. It’s exactly what U.S. labor unions such as the
Teamsters, United Steelworkers, United Autoworkers and various public
employee unions want.
And right now, like it or not, they rule Congress. It’s ironic,
because many lobbyists believe free trade can pass both congressional
Houses if the bills are put to a vote. Past presidents, including
Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush, knew that’s what
it took to get pacts through Congress. Both threw their all into
getting big treaties — like 1993’s North American Free Trade Agreement
and 2005’s Central American Free Trade Agreement — passed in Congress,
acts that took on people who would stop them to charge up the U.S.
economy. There’s still no sign of Obama out there working the Hill.
But Kirk’s statements, no doubt authorized by the president, may be
the beginning of a turnaround on trade.
http://www.truthabouttrade.org/news/latest-news/15680-fresh-trade-winds
A new finger on the pulse of economy
A new index co-developed by Ceridian uses diesel fuel sales to track
U.S. economic growth.
By NEAL ST. ANTHONY, Star Tribune
Last update: March 9, 2010 - 9:03 PM
Want to know which way the economy is headed? Find out how much diesel
fuel is being burned by the nation's over-the-road truckers.
That's the theory behind a new economic index developed by Bloomington-
based Ceridian Corp., a provider of electronic payments services, and
UCLA's Anderson School of Management.
Called the Pulse of Commerce Index, the survey, to be released
Wednesday, shows the U.S. economy was essentially flat over the first
two months of the year, with a snowbound February decline of 0.7
percent in output offsetting the modest January gain of 0.6 percent.
"February was disappointing, but the geographic pattern underlying the
index suggests this was due in large part to extreme snowfalls during
the month," said Edward Leamer, director of UCLA's Anderson Forecast
and chief economist for the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index
(PCI). "We still need much stronger growth in the PCI to get Americans
back to work. To sustain at least a 4 percent GDP number for the first
quarter [on an annualized basis], the March PCI has to be ... over 1
percent growth. That number will be very important."
The new index is designed to get the jump on the Federal Reserve's
report on industrial production report for February, which comes out
next week.
The PCI uses real-time diesel fuel consumption data from over-the-road
truckers, which is tracked by Ceridian, a longtime payment services
provider to the trucking industry. The index is built by analyzing
Ceridian's electronic card payment data, which captures the location
and volume of diesel fuel being purchased. This provides a detailed
picture of the movement of products across the United States.
In an interview Tuesday, Leamer said that once the bad weather is
taken into account, February's numbers suggest that there is an
underlying power to industrial demand and he expects that a catch-up
surge in goods moved in March will indicate that the economy is
growing at about a 3 percent annualized rate during the first quarter.
"To be optimistic about jobs, we'll need at least that," Leamer said.
"In the fourth quarter, we had 5.9 percent growth, but 3.9 percent was
just inventory replacement. That leaves 2 percent. We need more than
that. And March will tell the quarter."
Leamer said the Ceridian diesel-consumption data, collected from about
7,000 service stations around the country, constitutes a
representative sample and provides a "real data, not surveys" about
the movement of goods, which is a manifestation of industrial
production and shipments.
The flow of commerce
"We're monitoring the flow of commerce at truck stops, and the
arteries for the commercial system are the interstate highways
carrying the products," he said. "It amplifies the swings in GDP and
also tells us early where the economy is going."
Industrial production only accounts for about one-third of the U.S.
economy. It is more volatile than the service sector, which fluctuates
less during economic cycles.
All economic eyes are on month-to-month changes in industrial output,
which is a guide to business spending, credit expansion and demand for
goods in the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession that has given way to
a fairly tepid economic recovery. Most labor economists believe that
the economy won't start adding jobs significantly unless industrial
output starts growing at a 3 to 5 percent annualized clip.
Back testing of the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index indicates
that it is a reliable indicator of industrial output. For example, the
index rose in areas unaffected by February's snows, including 2.7
percent in the Upper Midwest and 2.1 percent in the Pacific region.
"Goods have to be transported for the economy to grow, so when
snowstorms bog down that flow, it is reflected in our index and in the
overall U.S. economy," said Craig Manson, senior vice president and
index analyst for Ceridian.
A new finger on the pulse of economy...
Wait! The economy has a pulse?
posted by DrZoidberg on Mar 9, 10 at 11:55 pm |
http://www.startribune.com/business/87180717.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
Posted: Wed, Mar 10 2010. 9:00 AM IST
International News
US, Europe eye free-trade pacts with rising Asia
The talks will follow the launch of negotiations on a free-trade
agreement between Singapore and the European Union, which is also keen
on expanding trade ties with Southeast Asia
AFP
Singapore: The United States, fearful of being sidelined as China and
other fast-growing Asian economies speed up their integration, is
banking on a new trade pact to shore up its Pacific influence.
Talks opening Monday in Melbourne will focus on a proposed Trans-
Pacific Partnership agreement linking the US market with Australia,
Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Officials hope the TPP will form the nucleus of a wider Asia-Pacific
trade zone that would eventually rope in China, Japan and South Korea
as well as key Southeast Asian nations.
The talks will follow the launch of negotiations on a free-trade
agreement between Singapore and the European Union, which is also keen
on expanding trade ties with Southeast Asia.
The United States and Europe have been shut out of a growing web of
Asia-centric trade pacts spurred by the region’s 1997 financial crisis
and by a lack of progress in the Doha round of global trade talks,
analysts said.
While the United States is “unquestionably” a Pacific power, it “lacks
a comprehensive Asia strategy”, said Ernest Bower, a Southeast Asia
expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in
Washington.
“The lack of consistent US focus in the region has enabled the
ascendance of Chinese power,” Bower said, adding that it could slowly
undermine US business interests and eventually degrade US security
capabilities.
The new trade attention from the West comes as Asian countries lead
the rest of the world in recovering from the global economic downturn.
“That the US and the EU are knocking on Asia’s doors is a recognition
that the centre of economic power is shifting, or has shifted, to our
region,” an Asian diplomat closely involved in trade issues told AFP.
“They know very well that ignoring Asia will be at their own peril.
China is already a major trade partner for many Asian countries and is
leading efforts toward regional economic integration,” he said on
condition of anonymity.
Deputy US trade representative Demetrios Marantis warned that
Washington “faces the daunting prospect of getting locked out” by Asia-
specific trade pacts.
A study by the US-based Peterson Institute for International Economics
showed that discriminatory policies under an East Asia free trade zone
could cost the US economy at least 25 billion dollars of annual
exports and lead to the loss of “about 200,000 high-paying jobs”.
The United States has free-trade accords with Australia and Singapore
and has also negotiated a trade pact with South Korea, but this has
yet to be implemented due to fierce disputes over cars and beef.
China has been more aggressive in wooing regional partners.
An agreement between China and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) covering nearly two billion consumers went into effect
this year, creating the world’s biggest free-trade area in terms of
population.
There are also efforts to form a larger, all-Asian free-trade zone
spanning China, Japan, South Korea and the 10 ASEAN states.
C. Fred Bergsten and Jeffrey Schott of the Peterson Institute hailed
Washington’s decision to join the trans-Pacific talks in Australia.
“Deepening US engagement with countries in the Asia-Pacific region is
crucial for the advancement of both US economic and foreign policy
interests,” Bergsten and Schott said in a recent paper.
“Within the next few years, it is likely that the East Asian countries
will deepen their economic ties and conclude both a regional trade
agreement and a monetary agreement,” the authors said.
Such a bloc would “draw a line” in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by
discriminating against US exporters and investors, and excluding the
United States from major regional economic and security forums, they
said.
Marantis acknowledged that overcoming crisis-hit Americans’ opposition
to free-trade agreements is a key challenge.
Surveys suggest that only about one in 10 Americans think that trade
pacts create jobs, while more than half believe the accords lead to
job losses at home, he said.
http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/10090029/US-Europe-eye-freetrade-pact.html
...and I am Sid Harth
Sid Harth
Irfan Hussain
Scandals
Sixty Years On, More Sinned Against...
The great political scams of the last 60 years reflect their times,
but also fit a timeless definition of corruption: abuse of public
power for private gain. A trip down murky memory lane.
Smita Gupta
Special Issue: India At 60
The great political scams of the last 60 years reflect their times,
but also fit a timeless definition of corruption: abuse of public
power for private gain. They rolled out decade after decade—the
Mundhra scandal, the Kairon embarrassment, the mysterious Nagarwala
case; in the 1980s, big defence scams kept pace with India's growing
defence needs. In the 1990s, as the economy liberalised, stockmarket
and hawala scams erupted. Ironically, while political reputations were
ruined and a government was brought down—in 1989, on the Bofors issue—
very few allegations have ever been proved. The recent scandals, like
the Taj Corridor case involving Mayawati, and the Telgi fake stamp
paper scam, are still fresh in the public mind. Here, we take you on a
trip down murky memory lane.
***
The Mundhra Scandal
The timing was disastrous. Less than a year after the government
nationalised life insurance in 1956—on the grounds that it was not
being managed well—the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) produced
independent India's first scam. Pressured by the Union finance
ministry, LIC bypassed its investment committee and purchased shares
worth Rs 124 lakh in six—mainly dud—companies belonging to Calcutta
industrialist Haridas Mundhra. Feroze Gandhi, Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru's son-in-law, dramatically disclosed the deal in
1958, leading to a nationwide furore, and an investigation. The guilty
were punished, and Union finance minister T.T. Krishnamachari had to
resign.
Kairon and Sons
For independent India, this was a first-of-a-kind scandal. Later, of
course, it was to become almost a cliche in political life: a chief
minister accused of aggrandising himself and his family at public
expense. The S.R. Das Commission, tasked to investigate these charges
against Punjab chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon, exonerated him in
1964, saying a father could not be held legally responsible for the
actions of his grown-up children. But a caveat—that a chief minister
could not escape moral responsibility for his children's' actions—was
indictment enough. Kairon quit.
"Man from Bangladesh"
The case, straight out of a political thriller, captured public
imagination and continues to raise unanswered questions. On May 24,
1971, former intelligence agent R.S. Nagarwala, posing as a "man from
Bangladesh", withdrew Rs 60 lakh from the Parliament Street branch of
New Delhi's State Bank of India, following a purported call from then
prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, to the chief cashier.
Nagarwala had apparently "mimicked" Indira Gandhi's voice. In the
course of the probe that followed, investigating officer D.K. Kashyap
was killed in a mysterious car accident and Nagarwala died in prison.
The Janata Party, alleging that the money belonged to Indira Gandhi,
set up the Jaganmohan Reddy commission in 1977, but found insufficient
evidence to indict her.
"Rajiv Gandhi chor hai"
"Gali gali mein shor hai, Rajiv Gandhi chor hai!" As the scandal over
the Bofors gun deal became a symbol of corruption in high office, this
slogan was heard across the country. The alleged kickback involved was
Rs 60 crore, small change as such scandals go, but it helped V.P.
Singh's National Front trounce Rajiv's Congress in 1989. Since then,
the Delhi High Court has acquitted Rajiv Gandhi and the Hinduja
brothers. 'Middleman' Ottavio Quattrocchi's name has not yet been
cleared, but investigators have not come up with anything conclusive
either. Yet, 18 years later, the ghost of Bofors continues to haunt a
forever tainted Congress—and Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Sonia.
St Kitts Forgery Scandal
Chandraswami, a godman with greasy locks and mighty political
connections, was the central figure in the 1989 tit-for-tat "scam"
intended to tarnish V. P. Singh. He, along with then external affairs
minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, and another minister, K.K. Tewary,
reportedly organised forged documents to show that VP's son Ajeya
Singh had deposited $21 million in the First Trust Corporation Bank in
the Caribbean island of St Kitts, with his father as beneficiary.
After Rao's term as PM ended in 1996, the CBI formally charged him for
the crime. But later, the court acquitted Rao for lack of evidence.
All the other accused were also eventually let off. However, the scam
punctured Chandraswami's colourful career. Politicians kept clear of
him from then on.
Sukh Ram Telecom Scam
He came to be known by the epithet, minister of tele-'phony'. In 2002,
a CBI special court sentenced former Union communications minister
Sukh Ram to three years RI, and fined him Rs 1 lakh for purchasing
poor quality radio system equipment from a company in 1991, causing
the public exchequer to suffer losses totalling Rs 1.68 crore. The
buzz was that Sukh Ram, under whose bed dhobi bundles of cash were
found, was involved in several other deals, but nothing was proved. A
senior telecom official, Runu Ghosh, and Hyderabad-based businessman
Pataru Rama Rao, were also sentenced to two and three years
imprisonment respectively. A tortuous legal battle continues.
Stockmarket Scam, 1992
He was toasted and celebrated by investors and the media alike. But
like the stockmarket, he too crashed, leading to one of the biggest
financial scandals in independent India. 'Big Bull' Harshad Mehta,
held to be largely responsible for the stockmarket crash of '92, was
arrested by the CBI in November that year for "misappropriating" more
than 27 lakh shares—worth Rs 250 crore—of about 90 companies,
including Sensex heavyweights like ACC and Hindalco, through forged
share transfer forms. Blacklisted in the stockmarket, he reportedly
caused a loss of more than Rs 4,000 crore to various entities and
eventually died in custody in December 2001, before all the legal
issues were sorted out. The stock scam reverberated through the
country, with several people committing suicide after losing their
life savings and going bankrupt overnight.
PV in a Pickle
Close on the heels of the stock scam came Harshad Mehta's sensational
allegation that he had paid Rs 1 crore in cash to the personal
secretary of then prime minister Narasimha Rao. He even displayed a
suitcase, offering a symbol for venality, but the allegation was never
proved. Rao was also embarrassed by the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating
scandal. Pickle king Pathak, a UK-based Indian businessman, alleged
that he had paid Chandraswami and his associate K.N. Aggarwal alias
Mamaji (who were close to Rao) $100,000 in return for a paper pulp
supply contract in India, a "promise" that was not kept. Rao and
Chandraswami were acquitted of the charges in 2003 due to lack of
evidence. Despite this, the case remained a blot on Rao.
Jain Hawala Scam
Some of the country's leading politicians were implicated in the Rs 64-
crore hawala scandal, involving payments allegedly received by
politicians through the Jain brothers, who were hawala brokers. The
media went into overdrive over a diary, which apparently contained the
names of top politicians. These included the BJP's L.K. Advani and
Congressmen Balram Jakhar, Madhavrao Scindia and Arjun Singh. However,
they were all cleared. Advani was let off in 1997, while Jakhar and
the Jain brothers were also let off in 1999 for want of credible
evidence. The CBI was severely criticised for its inefficient
investigation of the scandal.
Fodder Scam
In 1996, Bihar CM Laloo Prasad Yadav became the focus of the Rs 950-
crore fodder scam in the state's animal husbandry department,
notorious for financial irregularities involving powerful politicians
(across parties) and officials. In April 2000, Laloo was chargesheeted
in the case, with wife Rabri Devi as co-accused. In December '06, they
were acquitted, but the CBI and the Bihar government, now under the
JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar, opposed the decision in the Patna high court.
Till date, 250 persons have been convicted. But the scandal's severest
toll has been on Laloo's reputation.
Petrol Pump Scam
Shortly after the NDA came to power in '98, the BJP was quick to prove
it was not "a party with a difference". By '02, it was evident that
most petrol pump, LPG and kerosene allotments during the NDA regime
had favoured BJP functionaries, Sangh activists and selected governors
and bureaucrats. Then prime minister A.B. Vajpayee was forced to
cancel all 3,158 allotments, with effect from January 2000. However,
the SC quashed the order. In 2005, an apex court-appointed panel
recommended that 296 of the 409 allotments be cancelled.
Operation West End
Tehelka.com sent shockwaves throughout the country when it released
secret video footage of senior politicians, including then BJP
president Bangaru Laxman and Samata Party national president Jaya
Jaitly, bureaucrats and army officers accepting bribes for defence
deals. This was the first major sting operation in Indian journalism.
From then on, getting 'Bangarued' came to mean being caught with your
hand in the till. The scandal forced Bangaru and then defence minister
George Fernandes to resign. The CBI filed charges against Bangaru and
two of his aides in July '06 and against Jaitly in December '06.
Chargesheets were also filed in 2006 against some of the other accused
in the Union ministry of defence and the army. R.K. Jain, former
treasurer of the Samata Party, was finally arrested in 2006 on charges
of receiving huge payoffs in defence deals.
Bu Smita Gupta with Debarshi Dasgupta
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
22 Gulam:>>" Who are "we" here?
All those involved in fighting the terrorists."
All those now involved in 'protecting/training' the terrorists should
also sincerely join the fight against terrorists and their
elimination. Otherwise, these may well be the first, though
unintended, casualties in the terrorist explosions. Perhaps, you may
be able make them realize this, before it is too late.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
21 Seshadri,
>> Who are "we" here?
All those involved in fighting the terrorists.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
20 Ghulam:>>"We should kill them at a faster rate than they can train
their recruits."
Who are "we" here? The major OIC countries, especially Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, should help non-OIC terrorist-
targetted countries like, India, UK, US in detecting and exterminating
terrorists. Will they? Pakistan is sheltering the Bombay bomber and
Bin Laden and denying it all the time. God Allah will help these
moslems only if they help in eliminating islamic terrorists. Will
they ?
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
19 "The expansion of the ummah and the killing of "kafirs" are both
ideas that do not cross the minds of the bulk of the Muslim
community."
Most of the muslims nourish ideas of ummah expansion and how it can be
brought about. Many of them express it shamelessly, in schools,
offices etc. One of the reasons why the rest of the Indians despise
Muslims in general.
chaitanya
chennai, India
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
18 Seshadri,
>> It means 5 million can be killed or maimed, in due course, by these.
Not if we are killing them at the same time. We should kill them at a
faster rate than they can train their recruits. The terrorists have
done more harm to Muslims than to anyone else.
>> you will agree that all moslems consider non-moslem khafirs could justifiably be killed, if they come in the way of the expansion of the UMMA.
Not true. The expansion of the ummah and the killing of "kafirs" are
both ideas that do not cross the minds of the bulk of the Muslim
community. I have never heard of them from anyone I know. The only
time I hear them is from the sanghis, zionists and from rabid jehadis
who somehow or other have become the favorites of British TV crews.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
17 Ghulam:>>"The best estimate of American and British experts in the
field on the total number of terrorists in the world is less than
10,000."
I see it was Joseph who mentioned the number of jihadis as only a few
millions out 1.3 billion moslems in the world. I wrongly attributed it
to you, sorry. You say the ''trained' terrorist jihadis' are only
10,000; each has a potential for killing or disabling 500 persons,
with today's terrorism technology. It means 5 million can be killed or
maimed, in due course, by these.
More are being trained, in the mean time. IF the moslem states
cooperate with the non-moslem states, the menace can be contained.
Otherwise, the number of terrorist jihadis may grow exponentially with
time and become uncontainable, as it is becoming in Iraq.
>>"You were implying that all Muslims, that is 1.3 billion, were trained to kill non-believers. That is patently untrue."
I did not imply that all the moslems were "trained" to kill the other
non-believers. But, you will agree that all moslems consider non-
moslem khafirs could justifiably be killed, if they come in the way of
the expansion of the UMMA. Even this is against the basic human rights
of non-moslems also as humans, with a right to exist. If devout
moslems believe that only believers in Allah will go to heaven in
after-life, I have no objections to that.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
16 Seshadri,
>> You have yourself stated earlier that the 'few' jihadis amount to a few millions.
What we were discussing was what percentage of Muslims may be
terrorists. The best estimate of American and British experts in the
field on the total number of terrorists in the world is less than
10,000. You were implying that all Muslims, that is 1.3 billion, were
trained to kill non-believers. That is patently untrue.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
15 Ghulam:>>"Not true, except perhaps for a few jehadis "
You have yourself stated earlier that the 'few' jihadis amount to a
few millions. If each suicide bomber can kill 100 and disable another
100, most of them moslems of slightly different sects, the few million
jihadis can finish off most of the billion-plus moslems in the moslem
world today. Is it desirable or permissible ?
Moslem govts should themselves monitor their madarsas, modernize their
education, reduce inter-sect hatreds, liberalize the moslems' world-
view and jail the die-hard jihadis in isolated islands, if reqd.
Mesa'potamia' is burning, George Bush on the 'Potamac' river in
Washington is not able to do much about it. Only Man Mohan Singh's
kind heart may be bleeding for the berieved, disabled, displaced and
refugees of Iraq, especially the children. I wonder why the OIC or the
moslem-welfare organization you have in US are not doing anything
about it. The OIC should itself organize a CIA type secret service to
identify hard-core suicidal jihadis among moslems and arrest them and
put them off.
The idea that 72 'virgins' are waiting to please martyrs in heaven
must be re-explained to the moslems in general and jihadis in
particular. What Narada {Gaapriya=Gasbriel] told Mohammed [Ravana]is
that there is a non-gravity region in Jupiter [St. Peter's 'heaven']
neighbourhood; soul-will in that neighbourhood can bring about the
'joining' of appropriate free elements of the periodic table, seen as
the 272 joiners or yoginees [spiritual virgins, in tantra saastra on
the sree chakra, wheel of creation] to form bodies to experience some
life and apples to eat and so on. 72 of the more significant elements
are indicated by Narada to Ravana. Bhagavat Geeta also talks about
swarga where souls can have some happiness before returning on a new
birth to the earth. If these things are explained and sexual
interpretation of the enjoyment of virgins etc is removed, jihadi
enthusiasm may come down; they may choose to have some good lives on
the earth itself.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM
14 Seshadri,
>> Moslems are brought up to consider all nonmoslems as khafirs fit for elimination only.
Not true, except perhaps for a few jehadis who miss the main thrust of
religious teaching and memorize just a few paragraphs out of context.
Ghulam Y Faruki
New York, United States
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
13 >>" corruption: abuse of public power for private gain. They rolled
out decade after decade"
Corruption will continue to mar the nation's politics and
administration until politics ceases to be the first choice as 'money-
making profession' for scoundrels and scoundrel families. Perhaps, the
grandchildren of corpotate-succeess families now may loose the lure
for lucre and seek to enter politics for purely 'national service' and
not to make money, which they may have in abundance.
But, there is one aspect which popular will can enforce on corrupt
politicians/bureauocrats, even now, namely quick, early and proper
punishments when prima facie crime has been established. The Chinese
have recently given death sentence to a senior official found
responsible for non-enforcement of pharma-product qualities. We may
not go that for, but we may at least confiscate the properties of
politicians and bureauocrats found guilty by the first courts, on
fodder scam, stamp-paper scam etc; they could go in appeal to higher
courts, as per law, but leaving them in power and with ill-accumulated
wealth already declared illegal still with them only makes it easier
for them to employ the most expensive lawyers and win the appeals
somehow, or delay eventual sentences by decades. Karunanidhi now
questionably celebrates halfcentury in politics, only because the case
against some ex-judge who held his black money benami could not end
even before the said judge himself died ! If confiscation of property
pending appeals becomes the norm, such confiscated wealth could be
held in trust and the income proceedings from it can be used for
health and education of the poor in the country; trust can be closed
and wealth returned to appellant, if and when he wins the appeal at
the higher court.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
12 Shenoy: Moslems are brought up to consider all nonmoslems as
khafirs fit for elimination only. But, practising christians like
Joseph could be expected to be even-handed between hindus and moslems,
but he is very partial to islam, favouring its growth and eventual
domination of world, to eliminate other cultures and civilizations
from the world, because of its basic intolerance. But he forgets that
such intolerant culures usually meet their nemesis, by internal feuds
and conflicts, besides acts of God like earthquakes and volcano
eruptions and tsunamis, since arrogance violates God's expectation
from mankind; the Roman civilization met with its end for such reasons
only.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
11 Joseph:>>"So-called Islamic Fundamentalists or so-called Jehadis
total a few million people "
Today's news is that over 170 people died and over 200 injured in Iraq
in one or two suicide bombings. Thus, each jihadi claiming heaven's
vigins makes life extinct or impossible for over 200 people, most of
them moslems also. You say there are only a few million jihadi
moslems. But, 5 million jihadis are enough to kill or disable a
billion moslems, if my arithmatic is right, 7 million enough to take
care of all moslems. Are you happy with the situation? Perhaps, you
are happy about it, as a practising christian, so long as the people
killed are only moslems, jews, hindus, not christians. But moslems
must consider the fact jihadism is wiping out moslems at a rate faster
than procreationism is proliferating it. Moslems should learn to live
in harmony with other cultures all over the world, enlarging and
ennobling quranic laws into humanistic
welfare laws, by give-and-take adjustments with the laws of other
cultures also, which are also human.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
10 Joseph:>>"the President and the Prime Minister of India will always
be Hindus."
Since you insist on proportionate representation for moslems, i.e,
increasing representation for them, as their population increases
disproportionately every decade, they will increase their political
power in all the legislatures and the parliament; chances of moslem
presidents and prime-ministers for India would only increase.
Recently, all 3 candidates for VP's post were moslems. Nothing wrong,
if they are like Zakir Hussein, Abdul Kalam or Ansari. The word,
moslem, sanskritized, stands for mukta-Sreemaan, liberated well-fare-
minded person. All moslems should live upto their names.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 15, 2007 12:00 AM
9 Joseph:>>"Secularism without Equity and proportionate representation
is, Mr. Seshadari, Sham-Secularism. I stand by my observations and
forecast that, henceforth, the President and the Prime Minister of
India will always be Hindus."
A secular democracy can only provide equality of 'opportunity' to all
creeds and castes in the country, people have to utilize them and come
up.
Pak and B-desh drove out nonmoslems. Earlier the moslems 'destroyed'
all persians in Iran and buddheists in Afghanistan, you seem to have
no regrets on that. They would have done the same in India, but the
hindu 'cast' system saved them from annihilation, as a bad blessing in
disguise; only the 'fighting caste' faught and died, 'traders' fled
and came back; priest-caste were either pushed into temples [those not
destroyed] or pushed out of villages as the new 'dalits', the
'workers' started working for the new masters, without change of
religion. Only the older dalits could be persuaded to become moslems.
Women, of all castes, if not too old and not married, were all taken
into harems of the sheiks; child-marriage of girls saved India's
ancient civilization for posterity.
Compared to this, free India's treatment of the non-hindu minorities
has been more humanistic and less demonaic; in fact the privileges
given in set-up, staffing, charging etc of minority institutions for
education in India have been such that, minority college-lords have
prospered fleecing the hindus on education; hindus are trying to get
minority college status on language basis; RKMutt is seeking minority
status for convenience, knowing Paramahamsa will not approve it ! My
late friend Varghese of HCE in Chennai was hoping his college wealth
will beat the Birlas! But now, lay christians in Kerala are raising
their voice against greedy churchian priests running colleges for
profit there. Commerce stands for 'kaama' and 'eershaa', desire and
jeaolousy; hence it leads to corporate behaviour, 'sarpa-reetih',
serpentine behaviour.
Sanskrit apart, you should admit that, opportunity-wise, minorities in
India have been treated more than fairly. Christians have benefitted
and prosperred, because they have left the bible behind and grown up
with science and technology for progress in this world, like their
counterparts in the west, other than the catholics of south America;
but moslems have used their educational priviliege only to deepen
quranic education and thinking in madarsa children. Result is that
moslem children shun science and technology, grow up to be either
traders or tailors or artisans or money-lenders, [perhaps they could
get into police/army, but they probably think defending India will be
quranic sin] They keep their women in coverage, concentrate more on
procreation than creativity, demand larger power in politics because
of increasing numbers in population. Post-1973 rise in oil prices gets
them more Arab dollars for madarsas, making them imagine that God is
for the UMMA to eventuyally take over the world. But, money can buy
things only if someone in the world 'produces' goods other than
children. If the whole world has only procreators, the increasing
population will die of hunger and overpopulate the heaven.
Friends of islam, like you, should advise modernisation of madarsa
education, instead of hate-hindu ideas. Then, moslems can take all
sorts of jobs and prosper in all fields. I have taught in an IIT and
elsewhere for over 50 yrs, had only very few moslem students in most
classes, but those who were there were very studious, courteous and
competant; given good education, they can equal and excel all other
cultures, and deserve the fact that Lord Skanda [same as Apollo/Jesus]
appeared as Sikandar for the moslems to save them from extinction by
the crusaders. God has only mercy and goodwill for all mankind. It is
for humans to utilize it.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
8 Secularism without Equity and proportionate representation is, Mr.
Seshadari, Sham-Secularism. I stand by my observations and forecast
that, henceforth, the President and the Prime Minister of India will
always be Hindus.
Going by the Caste situation in India, to an out side mind, it is
difficult to accept that Hindus will accept non-Hindus as equals when
Hindus themselves are discriminated against by fellow Hindus.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
7 Dear Mr. B. V. Shenoy, I take serious umbrage at your addressing me,
a practicing Christian, as one who does not afford space for other
Religions and for alleging that I am steeped in Islamic
Fundamentalism, whatever that may mean.
Please allow me to recapulate my basic premises about Islam and
Muslims which are as Follows.
a. As Muslims number 1.37 billion which is about one-fifth of the
World's people, it will serve no useful purpose to browbeat them or
subjugate them as is being attempted in Afghanistan, Iraq and
Palestine and elsewhere to a lesser degree.
b. So-called Islamic Fundamentalists or so-called Jehadis total a few
million people out of a total 1,370 Million people.
c. The more the West adopts the present strategy, more number of
Muslims will become antagonistic to it.
d. Islam is growing while other Faiths are either static or losing
followers.
e. Muslims are far more ardent in following their precepts and
practices and as such are a far more dynamic whole.
f. It is better to 'live and let live'
g. From (f.) above must follow a just and equitable solution of the
socio-political issues relating to Muslims in the Philippines,
Thailand, Myanmar, Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir, the South-
West Regions of China and Palestine.
Iam quite clear in my mind that the continuinf presence of foreign
invading forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 'cruel approach' of
Israel to Lebanon and Palestine is only exacerbating the problems.
This appraisal is seconded by a House of Commons Committee as may be
seen below.
Let us not use exaggeration and negative observations against some
one, just because his or her views are unpalatable.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
6 I have to thank you Mr. Pathasarathy for telling me what I always
knew that the Minorities in India are no better off than their
counterparts in Pakistan. As a matter of fact, in the political sphere
we are far better off in that we have Joint Electorate with Special
Reserved Seats as well.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
5 Dear Sheshadri, you are wasting your admittedly deep knowledge about
the Hindu scriptures and holy books on people like Joseph who are
steeped in Islamic fundamentalism which refuses to acknowledge living
space for other religions. You may be a great savant or a pundit, but
for Joseph, you are only a kafir. Pl keep this in mind.
B.V.SHENOY
BANGALORE, India
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
4 Joseph:>>" India is a Hindu Country masquerading as a Secular One"
You are being unfair to hinduism and India and you know that.
Secularism, pluralism etc. are respectable words in India's politics,
only because the majority of population in India is still hindu,
despite higher-than-average proliferation rate of moslems and rapid
increases in churchians by open and crypto-convesions. Hunduism in
India still respects secular values for India, because the bhagavat
Gita, accepted by all sections of hinduism. requires that hindus
should respect all godheads faithully believed in by people anywherem,
since the formless and hence all-forms-possible Absolute will respond
to them in any form faithfully worshipped. Even the RSS/BJP/VHP are
fighting only for the survival of primordial hinduism in India, in
harmony with all other world religions, NOT for the removal of other
religionists from India, or the curtailment of their citizenship
rights in India's dynamic democracy, temporarily operating as if it is
a dynastic demonarchy.
v.seshadri
chennai, india
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
3 When will the U. P. A. Government fall, Miss. Chitra of Mangalore?.
Rather, more precisely, when will Sardar Manmohan Singh be asked to
resign?.
We are coming closer to the situation where the President and Prime
Minister will always be Hindu, which is how it should be as India is a
Hindu Country masquerading as a Secular One. Sixty years is, indeed,
to long to carry on with a myth.
By the way, were you at St. Agnes'?.
Joseph
Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 13, 2007 12:00 AM
2 Congress and secular brigades are known as mother of all scams and
scandals. Today india is fast moving to occupy the world's most
corrupt nation. Let us hope that we stand first at least in some area.
Shameless secular leaders are running in the government in the name of
secularism and showing ghost of the hindu nationalists. Our democracy
have failed to punish corrupt politicians. UPA government is full of
corrupts, anti-nationals and hardcore islamists.
Miss Chitra
Mangalore, India
Aug 12, 2007 12:00 AM
1 Man u guys are liar.. after investigation it was found only 7% of
petrol pump went to peopel with BJP support.. given BJp usually nets
around 26% popular vote if anything bjp suporter should cry foul that
they didn;t get their proper share..
Rahul
Delhi, India
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?235369
National Magazine | May 01, 1996
Focus
Settling A Score
Nina Pillai's mission is to defeat the Congress
Ajith Pillai
Focus
The Political Option
M'esco Managing Director Rita Singh hits the campaign trail
Bharat Ahluwalia
EVER since the gruesome death last July in Tihar jail of her biscuit
tycoon husband Rajan Pillai, Nina Pillai has been threatening to get
her back on "friendly" politicians who "deserted" her in her husband's
time of need. So it did not come as a surprise when she filed her
nomination as an independent candidate for the Lok Sabha from her
husband's hometown of Kollam, 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram.
Though she does not admit it, Nina's immediate mission seems to be not
to win herself but to ensure the defeat of Congress candidate and
Union Minister of State S. Krishna Kumar. "Krishna Kumar was supposed
to be our friend," she says. "But he refused to even come on the phone
when Rajan was dying." However, she is quick to add that it is not
Krishna Kumar she is fighting. "I am fighting his boss."
The 39-year-old former air hostess is also using her political status
to embarrass the Congress. Her revelation at a press conference in
Thiruvan-anthapuram on April 17 that her husband had been cheated by a
political nexus, with the controversial godman Chandraswami at its
core, will not help the Congress. She has alleged that about $2
million was paid to the godman between November '94 and February '95
by her husband. Chandraswami had promised to sort things out for Rajan
Pillai but finally failed him. Points out Nina: "The money was paid to
him because even senior Union ministers we approached told us that
Chandraswami was the man who could move things at the Prime Minister's
level".
She also sees sinister machinations in the troubles she has been
facing in claiming her shareholdings in various companies owned by her
late husband. She suspects the hand of a rival business group which
she alleges is acting with the blessings of Chandraswami. Says Nina:
"Rajan is gone. Now this friend of the Prime Minister wants to torture
a helpless widow." She says her husband fell out of favour with a
section of Congressmen after the '91 elections. It was then that her
husband, she claims, on the request of a senior Congress leader from
Maharashtra, approached K. Karunakaran and Satish Sharma, asking them
not to support Narasimha Rao as the candidate for prime minister-ship.
"Ever since this came to the notice of Chandraswami, we have been in
trouble," she says.
Though Nina Pillai is not likely to emerge even as a marginal leader,
local Congress leaders did their best to persuade her not to contest.
Among them: Chief Minister A.K. Antony, Union Industries Minister K.
Karunakaran and PCC President Vylar Ravi. The Pillais are influential
in Kerala and traditional Congress supporters.
The only cause for comfort in the Congress camp is that Nina is a
novice in politics and as an independent she lacks the backing of any
political organisation. The BJP has come forward to support her but
the party's infrastructure is not fully committed to campaign for her,
perhaps because Nina has made it clear that she will not join any
party. Says she: "Don't think I am part of the BJP. I am not. They
(BJP) came forward to help and I said fine. I want to be an
independent".
Her campaign involves meeting people directly rather than holding
meetings. However, Nina says she is trying to rope in Arjun Singh,
Kiran Bedi and friends in the film industry in Bombay to attend a
rally in Kollam. But despite such plans, her campaigning is patchy.
She is the first to admit that she is a reluctant politician. "I never
dreamt of getting into politics. I have literally been forced to fight
this election. I am fight-ing it for my survival and the survival of
my children".
Though her husband's family was opposed to her entering politics they
have now come around and her in-laws who command much respect in
Kollam have extended support. Early estimates put it that Nina will
corner enough votes to ensure Krishna Kumar's defeat. That, in a
sense, will be victory for her.
May 29, 1996
1 No Place for Revenge
It was saddening to learn that people enter the electoral fray revenge
(Settling a Score, 1). Nina Pillai has admitted that her husband Rajan
had tried to bribe himself of the mess he was mired presumably one of
his own creation, by offering Rs 2 crore Chandraswami. Business people
like them exploit and a corrupt system to further eir ends and, in the
rare instances when they don’t succeed, cry themselves hoarse bout
corruption.
Nina Pillai contested the elections not to serve the electorate, but
to ensure the down- of Krishna Kumar, who (I be wrong) is one of the
Congress politicians who is clean and, what’s more, who proved himself
an able administrator and an efficient minister. It is not that I
don’t sympathise with Nina Pillai. she has suffered is traumatic. But
it is, to a large extent, the effect of the actions of her own ilk
that nurtured such a system. The only thing that can be said in her
favour is that she is honest and makes no bones about her intentions.
N.J. Thomas, Dehra Dun
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201281
SC's Poser on Chandraswami's Role in Rajiv Assassination
New Delhi | May 26, 2009
The Supreme Court put a query why no proceedings were initiated
against controversial godman Chandraswami if the government really
suspected him of funding the assassination of former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE.
"If he has funded the assassination, then why did you not proceed
against him?" a vacation bench of Justices VS Sirpurkar and RM Lodha
asked ED's counsel Wasim Ahmed Qadri.
The bench made the passing reference after the ED opposed
Chandraswami's plea to travel abroad on the ground that he had several
criminal cases registered against him and is suspected of funding the
assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the controversial godman,
however, told the court that Chandraswami was never an accused in the
case unlike the slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran and others like the
organisation's intelligence wing chief Pottu Amman.
To another query from the bench, Quadri said it appears the case
against Prabahakaran might be closed in India in view of his killing
by the Sri Lankan Army.
Rohtagi earlier strongly pleaded that Chandraswami be permitted to
travel abroad as he had been acquitted of all the criminal cases
registered against him, except the nine-odd cases registered against
him by ED.
http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?660446
National / Politics / Interviews Magazine | Dec 08, 1997
Exclusive
"Chandraswami Was Sivarasan's Godfather"
J. Ranganath, who sheltered Sivarasan, Rajiv's assassin, speaks to
Outlook on One-eyed Jack's last few days
A.S. Panneerselvan Interviews J. Ranganath
Jayaram Ranganath, 40, is accused No. 26 in the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case. A Kannadiga Tamil from Bangalore, he was married
to Mridula and owned a workshop in the garden city. An unwitting
player after Rajiv's assassins—kingpin Sivarasan alias one-eyed Jack,
and Shubha, part of the killer squad at Sriperumbudur, along with five
others—knocked on his backdoor and allegedly forced entry into his
house on August 6, 1991. The LTTE operatives stayed on till August 20
when the CBI raided the house and found them dead. The deaths, says
the police, was by suicide, although there are doubts about this
theory.
Ranganath was arrested on August 18, 1991, for sheltering Sivarasan
and Shubha. Ironically, it was Ranganath who informed the police about
the fugitives in his house and is the only witness to the CBI's break-
in operation. And he and his estranged wife are the only ones to have
heard Sivarasan and Shubha speak about the crime.
Ranganath's recent affidavit filed before the Jain Commission accuses
the CBI of deliberately hiding key facts and shielding several
culprits. His major contention is that his information that Sivarasan
and his team were promised a safe passage to the West by Chandraswami
and details pertaining to the god -man and some Congress leaders were
not recorded by the CBI. According to him, the CBI was determined not
to widen the net beyond the role of the LTTE in the plot to kill
Rajiv. "As the only living witness and the only one with no political
axe to grind, my words should be taken seriously," he declares.
As a key witness, the information he has is important, to say the
least. A.S. Panneerselvan sought an interview through Ranganath's
lawyers. The questions were sent to him at the high security
Poonamallee sub-jail located within the designated court complex where
the Rajiv assassination case is being heard in Chennai. Ranganath's
answers have been duly attested by the additional superintendent of
the jail. Excerpts:
Did Sivarasan and Shubha tell you about their connections with
Chandraswami and an AICC functionary?
They did speak about their connections with Chandraswami and also with
a Congress leader from Karnataka who was a member of Rajiv Gandhi's
cabinet. They used to say that it was through this leader that they
got the details of Rajiv Gandhi's election tour programme. They talked
about the AICC functionary as their close associate. During his stay
with me, Sivarasan also informed me that Chandraswami was his
godfather.
(In his affidavit submitted to the Jain Commission on November 4,
Ranganath speaks of Sivarasan and Shubha naming Aswath Narayan, a
local Congress leader, as one of their friends. Both Shubha and
Sivarasan pointed out that Narayan was close to the AICC functionary
in Delhi who helped them with Rajiv's tour programme.)
What was the safe passage promised to Sivarasan by Chandraswami?
Sivarasan wanted to go abroad directly from Bangalore. This was the
reason why he came to Bangalore. But he said that if he went to Jaffna
he could be killed and that the 'Jain Muni' (The godman's real name is
Nemichand Jain) would arrange for his safe passage to a foreign
country.
(In his affidavit to the commission, Ranganath declares that Sivarasan
told him the godman planned to first bring him to Delhi and then sneak
him out to a foreign destination.)
Did the CBI prevent you from telling the whole truth?
The CBI threatened me. Barring the LTTE, they did not want me to
mention the involvement of the others in the crime. Since they fixed
the LTTE as the only offenders, they wanted evidence to accuse it—and
not against those who commissioned the offence.
What are the truths the CBI refused to record or act upon?
Then CBI chief Karthikeyan warned me not to speak anything about the
AICC functionary or any other Congress people, and Chandraswami.
Karthikeyan seemed to know the facts about the assassination and also
the powers behind Rajiv's killing. He warned me of serious
consequences if I gave the information to a magistrate or others. From
what he told me it was clear that he was shielding Chandraswami and
some key Congress people. Even after my request, CBI (SIT) failed to
record my statement.
I took DCP Kempiah (Karnataka police) to the Bangalore hideout where
Sivarasan and Shubha were hiding. But his statement has not been
produced before the designated court.
How do you know that the CBI was reluctant to arrest Sivarasan and
Shubha?
On the morning of July 30, 1991, a person called Vicky was arrested at
Coimbatore. He gave specific information about Sivarasan's hideout in
Bangalore (this was before Sivarasan and the others forcibly entered
Ranganath's house on August 6). But for 24 hours, the CBI made no
effort to search the hideout. On August 2, 1991, the CBI questioned
one Jaganathan, who arranged four safehouses for the LTTE workers. He
gave details of the locations of these houses and the hospitals in
which the injured LTTE men were admitted. But the CBI did not make any
effort to arrest Sivarasan. Perhaps because if he were caught alive,
Sivarasan would squeal about those who conspired to kill Rajiv and
also of his (Sivarasan's) connections with Congressmen. This is
perhaps why even on August 18, 1991, the CBI did not allow the local
police to catch them.
If I get an opportunity to depose before the Jain Commission, then I
will prove the fact that there are other persons involved in Rajiv
Gandhi's assassination. I am the only one alive who stayed with
Sivarasan and Shubha (after the assassination) and heard what they had
to say about the killing.
Aug 25, 2009 04:04 PM
1 congress has involved in rajiv's killing it is the hidden fact
MATHI
Madurai, India
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?204696
National / Politics / Cover Stories Magazine | May 04, 1998
Cover Story
Enter Chandraswami
Rajesh Joshi
Also In This Story
Cover Story
The Life And Times Of Jayalalitha"
No one can get anything out of me or subdue me by threats, harsh
treatment; it only makes me more stubborn, inflexible, unbending,
determined. The only way anyone can get me to cooperate is to be nice
to me, pamper me, cajole me, talk to me kindly, softly." —Jayalalitha
in a March 1985 interview.Ajith Pillai, A.S. Panneerselvan
Cover Story
The Revenge Of Draupadi
Cover StoryThe Inner Circle
Cover StoryA Coalition In FettersThe BJP struggles to come up with a
strategy to deal with unpredictable allies like JayalalithaIshan
Joshi
Cover StoryAn Intriguing DualismThe Tamil psyche is a paradoxical mix
of a 2,000-year-old heritage, regional pride and modernitySagarika
Ghose
Cover Story72% Tamils Angry With Jaya's DemandsTo gauge the reaction
of the people of Tamil Nadu to AIADMK leader Jayalalitha demands on
the BJP government at the centre ,an option poll was conducted by
Outlook - Mode in the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and
adjoining areas. In all 5990 respondents in the age group 21 - 45 were
interviewed on April 21 - 23. Most of them do not approve of her
actions and move to destabilise the Vajpayee government.
CHANDRASWAMI is back in business. His services were sought recently by
friends in the BJP to defuse the on-going crisis provoked by the
friend Subramanian Swamy and J. Jayalalitha on one side, and Ram
Jethmalani on the other. Even though the BJP adopts an anti-
Chandraswami posture in public, senior leaders like Murli Manohar
Joshi and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat are known to be close to him.
So, while the prime minister appealed to the allies to observe
restraint, Shekhawat met the godman at Rajas-than Bhawan, apparently
to propitiate Swamy. However, Chandraswami's aide Vikram Singh
maintains they discussed "some work regarding his school in
Rajasthan".
Such interaction with the godman is not new. Sources say that after
the general elections when the BJP was still trying to garner support,
Chandraswami was approached by "top party leaders". Says a
Chandraswami aide: "Around 10 days before the formation of the
government, people from the BJP approached Swamiji to get Dr Swamy and
Jayalalitha around." And now with the BJP-Jayalalitha standoff
continuing, the Vajpayee government badly needs an effective
intermediary. Chandraswami, it is felt, is just the man. His hold on
Swamy can be gauged from the fact that he played an important role in
bringing two sworn enemies, Swamy and Jayalalitha, together.
But those close to Chandraswami concede that even he can't ask Swamy
to keep quiet. "How can you expect Swamy to keep quiet when he is not
getting anything? Why does one then get into politics?" asks Singh.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205454
National / Politics Magazine | May 11, 1998
Focus
Swami's New Saviours
Will friends in the BJP coalition help Chandraswami wriggle out of the
cases against him?
Charu Lata Joshi
Also In This Story
Chandraswami Case-List
CONTROVERSIAL godman Chandraswami could well have been holidaying in
the south of France. But for a timely order on May 1 by CBI Special
Judge Ajit Bharioke who has been hearing the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating
case—and in whose court the swami had moved an application for
permission to travel to France and the US for 'medical treatment'.
Till then, Chandraswami's plans for a getaway had appeared to be
moving with clock-work precision.
Jethmalani feels the government is 'soft' on the Godman. AIADMK's R.
Kumar is believed to be behind the 'Save Swami' campaign.
Just a fortnight back, on April 17, the Directorate of Enforcement
(DOE)—which is trying him for five cases of foreign exchange
violations amounting to Rs 2,100 crore—had told the metropolitan
magistrate hearing the cases that it had no objection to his
travelling abroad. In a matter of days, the court gave Chandraswami
the green signal.
The two dichotomous moves have exposed a simmering controversy within
the government on the future of the godman. And has exposed the power
he continues to wield. This time round, Chandraswami derives his
strength, not only from his proximity to BJP leaders like Bhairon
Singh Shekhawat, but also from his closeness to Janata Party chief
Subramanian Swamy. And it is the Swamy-faction—represented by AIADMK
chief J. Jayalalitha and her minister of state for banking, R.K. Kumar—
who appear to be indirectly involved in soft-peddling the cases
against Chandraswami. Says Ram Jethmalani, minister for urban
development, who has had clashes with both the godman and Swamy: "The
attempts to go soft on Chandraswami seem quite obvious."
The stand adopted by the DOE—a letter from Kunal Singh, assistant
director of investigation, Delhi zone, had informed the court that it
had "no objection" to Chandraswami's travel plans—which literally gave
him permission to flee the country, has clouded the entire proceedings
with suspicion. The enforcement agency holds that since both
investigation and adjudication proceedings were completed in the four
cases, they had technically no reason to oppose his application.
However, legal experts argue that the move amounts to a major
concession towards Chandraswami by the department. The move seems
suspicious since investigation is still pending in one case—involving
foreign exchange transactions worth $200,000 with his then New York-
based disciple Bina Ramani in 1981—and there are apprehensions that if
he does travel abroad, he could tamper with witnesses and crucial
evidence.
The fact that the metropolitan magistrate had first asked for the
DOE's stand on the accused in writing and also demanded Chandraswami's
status in the CBI cases, possibly indicates the DOE's influ-ence over
the court's decision.
What made the DOE's stand even more dubious was the fact that yet
another sister agency, the CBI, which when confronted with a similar
move in the Pathak case—the agency is presently handling two cases
against the godman, the St Kitts Forgery case as well as the Lakhubhai
Pathak cheating case—had categorically opposed the godman's
application to travel abroad. According to sources, Cha-ndraswami is
likely to move the high court in appeal against the rejection of his
application by Bharioke.
THE godman's moves are getting desperate. And in the process, the
dichotomy in the government's stand is being further exposed. In a
spate of curious developments, even as the DOE appeared to be giving
Chandraswami a free rein, a definite lobby within the government,
headed by L.K. Advani in the home ministry, appears all set to nail
him. The main motive being to get at the BJP's principal foe,
Subramanian Swamy. Says Supreme Court senior counsel, Ashok Panda:
"What is required is a comprehensive approach by the government as a
whole and not diverse actions by individual agencies. "
Within a matter of days of the DOE move, the ministry of home affairs
(MHA) gave its approval to prosecute the god-man under the Foreign
Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). The case had come to light when
the CBI, while inspecting the accounts of Chandraswami's Vishwa
Dharmayatan Trust, found that it had not intimated the MHA of its
foreign contributions ever since it was formed in 1985. The agency
subsequently filed a chargesheet and moved the MHA for sanction to
prosecute the godman
. Recently, an interim Income Tax report evaluated the total assets of
Chandraswami and the Trust at Rs 2,300 crore, a substantial amount of
which came from foreign donations. The report, which gives a detailed
break-up of foreign donations received by the Trust till June, 1996,
shows that, among others, NRI businessmen Somchai Chawla of Hong Kong,
Abdul Ismail from the UK, Adnan Khashoggi and Rakesh Khanna from
Canada, had made substantial contributions in dollars.
The income tax department's inquiry into the godman's living expenses
also shows that he had spent nearly Rs 200-300 crore on foreign trips
undertaken between 1985-95. The report also mentions Vikram Singh as
Chandraswami's closest confidant and states that he is the director of
five companies—Ambassador Construction Pvt Ltd., Neptune Estates Pvt
Ltd., Nav-Abhiyan Publication Pvt Ltd., Scorpion Finlease Pvt Ltd.,
and Genesis Financial Services Pvt Ltd.
But, despite all the probes into the god-man's murky financial affairs—
which followed after the public interest litigation was filed in
Supreme Court in December, 1996—what has emerged most clearly is that
the swami is neither down nor out. After nearly two years of heated
legal battles and after languishing for eight months in a dingy Tihar
cell, Chandraswami appears to have staged a dramatic comeback.
Political circles are abuzz with news of his having returned to his
favourite occupation: power-broking.
What has aroused even greater suspicion within certain sceptics in the
DOE circles is Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's recent
announcement to "introduce drastic changes" in foreign exchange
regulations by the next session of Parliament. Insiders fear that this
will spell a dilution in powers of arrest as well as major concessions
to FERA offenders. Realistically, this may imply that the charges
which Chandraswami presently faces may not constitute offences at all
by the time a new enactment on FERA is brought about.
Political pundits see a deeper conspiracy behind the recent moves to
go-slow on Chandraswami. The fact that both Chandraswami and
Subramanian Swamy have allegedly been named in Justice M.C. Jain's
final report on the larger conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's
assassination, and that the government has a mere six months to place
it before Parliament along with an Action Taken Report is one of the
reasons for Chandraswami's desperation to flee the country. According
to sources, former cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah had told Jain of
having personally read certain wireless intercepts of conversations
between the LTTE, Chandraswami and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad
in early 1991. And these had allegedly showed their involvement in the
wider international conspiracy.
With the underlying pressure to make the report public, the
speculation is that certain factions in the government are eager to
free Chandraswami and would prefer to turn the heat on the Janata
Party leader—who is, in any case, causing problems for the ruling
combine. Legally, too, experts argue that a case of embezzlement and
foreign exchange regulations is not as serious as the findings of the
Jain Commission report. For, once a special team is constituted to
further investigate the Jain Commission recommendations, it will lead
to a serious probe into an even murkier case of money laundering, and
involvement with foreign intelligence agencies in an assassination.
But given that Advani has constituted a team of home ministry
officials to recommend further action on the basis of Jain's
recommendations and an internal report is to be submitted to him
within a month, the heat on the godman seems back on. Yet, knowing
Chandraswami, he will do his bit to use every likely political contact
to wriggle out of a sticky situation.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205496
National / Politics Magazine | May 15, 1996
Investigation
No Godfather Now
Chandraswami's fate will depend on the next government
Ranjit Bhushan , A.S. Panneerselvan
WILL Chandraswami ever be nailed? This week, finally, may provide an
answer as the godman was remanded to a day's judicial custody till May
4. But that answer hinges on another key question: is Narasimha Rao
losing his grip over the proceedings? That may be decided by May 10,
when the results of the elections are expected to be known. If Rao
returns as Prime Minister, the May 2 arrest of the well-chronicled and
controversial godman in a Madras hotel could turn out to be merely a
flash in the pan.
But in the event of the reins of power slipping from Rao's hands, the
investigating agencies may have a different role to play. "The charges
are serious. Depends on how they are framed," says an official
coordinating several charges against the self-styled guru—which range
from income-tax evasion to FERA violations to charges of bribery and
cheating.
Officials admit that the charge on which Chandraswami and close
associate Kailash Nath Agrawal (alias 'Mamaji') were picked up—of
cheating London-based NRI Lakhu Bhai Pathak to the tune of $100,000—is
a weak link in the chain of investigations launched against the
godman. But if Rao's downfall becomes inevitable, there is every
reason for Chandraswami's tryst with trouble to be long drawn out.
On May 2, Delhi's chief metropolitan magistrate Prem Kumar issued non-
bailable warrants against Chandraswami. Issuing the warrants, Kumar
directed the CBI that the godman be arrested and produced on or before
May 14. Such is the godman's clout that reporters trying to ascertain
the next course of action were informed that "he would have to be
traced", even though it seemed common knowledge that the god-man was
holed up in Madras.
A 10-member CBI team headed by Joint Director D. Mukerjee descended on
the Om Sindoori hotel in Madras the same evening. Interestingly, the
hotel owner is Apollo hospital's Dr Pratap Reddy, a Chandraswami
acolyte. Inside the hotel—which resembled a set out of a detective
movie, with CBI sleuths prowling around with their cellphones—the
godman was talking to Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy. The three-
hour meeting between the former Union commerce minister and the guru
was ostensibly meant to ward off the arrest. Swamy was reportedly
trying to use his friend and former attorney general G. Ramaswamy to
invoke immunity through a 1988 bail order in the same case.
The godman had already summoned a battery of doctors who were ready to
certify his "acute condition of cervical spondilitis". But the CBI
would have none of it. In a move reflecting freshly-found confi-dence,
Mukerjee said that if the godman needed treatment, he would have to
accompany the CBI men to a government hospital. After that,
Chandraswami got into the waiting CBI car without further ado and was
taken to the residence of additional sessions judge S. Sambandam,
where a transit warrant was to be obtained.
The CBI had registered the case against the godman on the basis of a
complaint filed by Lakhu Bhai Pathak in 1988. The agency had
chargesheeted the godman and 'Mamaji' for cheating Pathak through the
false promise of using their influence to secure him a newsprint and
paper pulp contract in India. Since then, nothing much had happened.
As judge Prem Kumar observed in his 17-page order, "investigations had
been going on for years without any tangible results."
Interestingly enough, the preliminary investigations conducted by a
CBI superintendent of police in the Pathak case found the "allegations
to be true". Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Enforcement
Directorate for initiating "necessary action". And the Directorate has
declined to reveal the further course of investigations, claiming
privilege because of the sensitive nature of the case. Now, perhaps,
it will be forced to reveal its hand. The real drama may have just
begun to unfold.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201366
National / Politics Magazine | Apr 03, 1996
Focus
Godman Cornered?
A new PIL pitches Chandraswami in his toughest legal battle yet
Rajesh Joshi
WILL the jet-setting guru Chandraswami be able to wriggle out of this
one? Time seems to be running out for the godman, as the Supreme Court
this week hears a public interest litigation (PIL), originally filed
on September 20, 1995, seeking to appoint a special commission to look
into the charges against him.
The investigating agencies—under fire for allegedly protecting the
godman are hoping to prevent that eventuality.
The petition accuses the investigating agencies of having failed to
take action against the godman in spite of the presence of
overwhelming evidence.
The PIL, originally filed by advocate Anukul Chandra Pradhan, accuses
the agencies of "complete inaction" vis-a-vis the Chandraswami case,
because of his "influential connections". The petition primarily seeks
an expeditious inquiry into the charges against Chandraswami, to be
carried out by special commissioners under the direct supervision of
the court.
The PIL was filed only a few days after the then minister of state for
internal security, Rajesh Pilot, ordered the swami's arrest, following
disclosures by Dawood Ibrahim's hitman, Babloo Srivas-tava, linking
the godman to the Dubai-based don. Subsequently, a human rights
organisation, People's Union for Civil Rights, also sought the apex
court's intervention to book Chandraswami and others in the St Kitts
forgery case. The court directed that all complaints pertaining to
Chandraswami be clubbed together and appointed advocate Anil Divan as
amicus curae. It came down heavily on the CBI, directing it either to
"book or leave" him.
The amended petition highlights the Government's reluctance to take
action against Chandraswami. It says the probe must cover his alleged
FERA and tax violations, the St Kitts forgery case, the Lakhubhai
Pathak cheating case, Babloo Srivastava's allegations and the godman's
links with politicians. The investigating agencies have failed to take
action "in spite of overwhelming material", says the plea.
The fact that the court has taken cognisance of the petition should
set alarm bells ringing. Those said to be closely linked with the
godman are Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Petroleum Minister Captain
Satish Sharma and former minister R.K. Dhawan. All three and former
Union minister K.K. Tewari are named in the FIR in the St Kitts case,
but have not been interrogated. Had the CBI acted vigilantly and
independently, it would have done so, the petition points out.
It goes on to explain how Chandraswami manages, each time, to get over
any crisis—referring to his close proximity to top politicians. To
establish the godman's high connections with politicians like Rao and
former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, the petition quotes from his
own admission before the Jain Commission.
Giving details of the St Kitts forgery case—allegedly plotted by V.P.
Singh's political opponents with the aid of Chandraswami and some
officials of the Directorate of Enforcement (DOE)—the petition pleads
for the confessional statement of the late A.K. Nandy, former DOE
deputy director and an accused to the CBI. The petition says, Nandy's
statement discloses the role played by politicians. It also describes
how the operation was planned by Chandraswami, his aide K.N. Aggarwal
alias Mamaji, Larry Kolb (son-in-law of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi)
and the godman's disciple, Dev Kethu.
Quoting from the FIR lodged on May 25, 1990, the petition observes
that Rao, then external affairs minister, also had a role to play. The
FIR says that Rao called consul general R.K. Rai to his suite at the
United Nations Plaza hotel in New York on October 4, 1989, and told
him to personally attest the documents brought to him by Nandy.
The petition highlights the CBI's reluctance to follow the Babloo
Srivastava case. Contrary to practice, the CBI did not use
Srivastava's claim—that he had stayed at Chandraswami's ashram and
planted a bomb in journalist Rajinder Jain's car to falsely implicate
him at the behest of the godman—in the chargesheet filed in the L.D.
Arora murder case.
This omission by the CBI was intended to prevent the judge from taking
cognisance of it and directing the agency to investigate Chandraswami
for harbouring a criminal. More so, because TADA provisions are
drastic, the petition speculates. Had the statement been filed,
Chandraswami would have been implicated, it adds. In former Union
minister Kalpnath Rai's case, the CBI had filed the statement of
Bombay-based criminal Bhai Thakur, which finally led to the arrest of
Rai and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan.
Meanwhile, Chandraswami is maintaining a stoic silence and—perhaps in
the hope of propitiating the gods—observing the navratri fast.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201123
National Magazine | Feb 21, 1996
Update
By The Grace Of God
The CBI fails to find 'clinching evidence' and recommends that the
case against Chandraswami be closed
Rajesh Joshi
Also In This Story
Update"The Swami Used To Give Us Money"THE various people accused in
the hawala and the Bombay blasts cases have made sensational
allegations against top politicians in the course of their
interrogation by the investi -gating agencies. Only a few of these
have been conclusively proved. But nevertheless, the charges can
provide vital leads. Outlook met Virendra Pant, a close associate of
Dawood's right-hand man Babloo Srivastav, and an accused in the murder
of the Delhi businessman, Lalit Suneja. Pant, who was arrested and
interrogated by the CBI and is currently in Tihar Jail, spoke about
Chandraswami's activities and the goings-on in his Delhi ashram.
Excerpts:
The preliminary inquiry (PE No. 2/S/95) registered last year against
controversial godman Chandraswami is being accorded a quiet burial by
the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI). Last week, the CBI sent a
report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recommending that the
case against the godman be closed.
The orders to arrest the godman had been issued by the then minister
of state for internal security, Rajesh Pilot, in the wake of the
confessions made by Babloo Srivastav, a hired killer, about Chandra-
swami's links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
While arrest warrants are being issued to top politicians, the godman
continues to play wheeler dealer from his ashram.
Following his extradition from Singapore for masterminding the murder
of L.D. Arora, a customs offi-cial, last year, Srivastav had disclosed
to the CBI that Chandraswami had kept him in his ashram in February
1992 when hewas wanted in connection with several criminal cases by
the Uttar Pradesh police. In his statement, Srivastav confessed to
having placed a bomb in the car of Delhi-based journalist Rajendra
Jain at the behest of Chandraswami, along with Virendra Pant and
Sanjay Khanna, members of Dawood's vast underworld network.
Pilot's directive had been precipitated by allegations from the
Opposition that Chan-draswami was not being investigated because he
enjoyed political patronage. The CBI looked into the revelations made
by Sriv-astav, and the godman and his aide Vikram Singh were
interrogated on four occasions. But ultimately, the CBI says it has
found "nothing clinching" against the swami.
However, based on Srivastav's revelations, CBI sleuths interrogated
Pant, Sriva-stav's accomplice in the Jain bomb case. Bureau sources
now confirm that Pant not only corroborated Srivastav's statement but
also gave further information about Chandraswami's activities. But,
for some mysterious reason, Pant's confession was not included in "the
official record". This, despite the fact that the investigating agency
had sought the permission of the Shahdara court to interrogate Pant.
What is even stranger is that after the three-day interrogation at
Delhi's Tihar Jail, the CBI said it was not in a position to pursue
the bomb case and, subsequently,Chandraswami's role in it. The reason:
since the case was originally registered with Delhi's Mandir Marg
Police Station, the agency could investigate the charges only if a
notification transferring the case to the CBI was issued by the MHA.
But the transfer never came. However, following adverse media reports,
the police had to reopen the Jain case and Pant was rearrested. As for
the other allegation against the godman of harbouring Srivastav,
officials now say that it will be very difficult to prove in court
that Chandraswami knowingly sheltered him. Going by the law, the
harbourer can be booked only if it is established that he had
knowledge of crimes committed by the person he was shielding.
Pilot had also ordered an inquiry into Chandraswami's alleged links
with Daw-ood Ibrahim. According to Srivastav, Arora was killed because
he had information about the Bombay blasts. Chandra-swami's harbouring
of Srivastav and former minister Arif Mohammed Khan's claims that he
had pictures of the god-man with Dawood's hitmen, hinted at definite
links. But concrete proof has remained elusive.
And now, Chandraswami, a master of crisis management skills, has
somehow managed to win over a one-time sworn adversary, Somchai
Chaisri Chawla, a Thailand-based NRI.Chawla had accused the godman of
cheating him of $250,000 in March 1995, and the Thailand police had
issued arrest warrants against Chandraswami and Vikram Singh. The NRI
had also complained to the Prime Minister then and had sought the
protection of the Delhi police on the grounds that he was being
harassed and threatened by "one Shri Vikram Singh, a close associate
of Shri Chandraswami.... I am being shadowed. As if Delhi is governed
by the rule of Chandraswami". Surprisingly, Chawla has reportedly done
a volte face and withdrawn all his charges against the godman. Sources
informed that Chawla had filed an affidavit with the Indian Government
last month "supporting Chandraswami." But he has been asked by the
Government to present himself and personally verify the contents of
the affidavit.
And so, at a time when arrest warrants are being issued against top
politicians like Kalp Nath Rai and H.K.L. Bhagat, and cabinet
ministers are compelled to resign on corruption charges, the
globetrotting godman continues to play the "wheeler-dealer" from his
sprawling south Delhi ashram.
Also In This Story
Update
"The Swami Used To Give Us Money"
THE various people accused in the hawala and the Bombay blasts cases
have made sensational allegations against top politicians in the
course of their interrogation by the investi -gating agencies. Only a
few of these have been conclusively proved. But nevertheless, the
charges can provide vital leads. Outlook met Virendra Pant, a close
associate of Dawood's right-hand man Babloo Srivastav, and an accused
in the murder of the Delhi businessman, Lalit Suneja. Pant, who was
arrested and interrogated by the CBI and is currently in Tihar Jail,
spoke about Chandraswami's activities and the goings-on in his Delhi
ashram. Excerpts:
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?200868
National / Politics Magazine | Oct 18, 1995
Spotlight
Spinning A Web Of Fraud
The Chandraswami saga heats up with a series of probes and arrest
warrants. But can the godman be nailed?
Ranjit Bhushan
EVER since the then minister of state for internal security, Rajesh
Pilot, ordered the arrest of Chandraswami, the question which is being
increasingly asked is whether this marks the end of the road for the
controversial godman. Senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office
say PV. Narasimha Rao has given the go-ahead for the law to take its
own course. But as investigating officials plod through the plethora
of charges against the globetrotting godman, it is becoming clear that
it will be extremely difficult to nail him.
For one, except for the charges emanating from the confession of
Babloo Srivastav, a hired killer recently extradited from Singapore,
almost all the charges against Chandraswami relate to alleged frauds
committed outside the country. Investigating officials admit that
frauds are difficult to prove in court. It is also not that easy to
conduct investigations in foreign countries.
In one country, however no real probe is needed to begin with. The
Thailand police have already issued a warrant of arrest against
Chandraswami for allegedly duping a businessman of that country,
Somachandra Chaisiri Chawla. Chawla had complained to the Indian Prime
Minister about the fraud perpetrated on him by Chandraswami way back
in March this year, and Pilot's arrest order was based primarily on
it. But even in this case there are doubts whether the arrest warrant
can be executed because India and Thailand do not have an extradition
treaty.
Along with his complaint to Rao, Chawla had also sought protection
from the Delhi Police. He wrote to Commissioner of Police Nikhil
Kumar: "I have been receiving threatening calls/messages from one Shri
Vikram Singh, who is a close associate of Shri Chandraswami...they
have been claiming that in case I do not succumb to their illegal
demands and do not pass on funds/donation to a political party, I
shall not be able to set up any project in India." He also claimed
that Singh threatened to implicate him in false criminal cases.
The Thai warrant was more specific. Issued against Chandraswami and
Vikram Singh, his Man Friday, it said that Rs 2.4 crore had been paid
to the duo for 'getting' work done on Chawla's Rs 1,000-crore ventures
with the Bangalore Development Authority and the Bangalore Water and
Sewage Board for promoting housing projects and water supply schemes
in Bangalore.
While ordering an inquiry into Chawla's complaint, Pilot asked the CBI
to delve into the entire gamut of cases against Chandraswami,
including his alleged links with the prime accused in the Bombay
blasts case, Dawood Ibrahim. The links had been disclosed during the
CBI's interrogation of Srivastav. But proof of any such link can be
extremely elusive. Though the CBI is reportedly examining his
passport, it does not rule out his having used several identities and
passports. The Foreign Registration and Recording Office in Delhi is
looking at all his photographs taken since 1982.
Former minister Arif Mohammed Khan, who first levelled charges against
Chandraswami when his premises were raided in connection with the Jain
hawala case, claims he has pictures of Chandraswami with Dawood
Ibrahim's hitmen at an American airport. But he says he will only
release these pictures at an appropriate time.
As for Srivastav's claim that he had stayed at Chandraswami's ashram
in February 1992, it should not ruffle the probing the cases against
Chandraswami.
Most of the cases abroad relate to frauds. Chandi Suryavali, a local
leader of Indian origin from Paramribo in Surinam, had registered a
case of alleged fraud against the godman in 1986. According to the
details of the Intimation of Unlawful Activities--the Surinamese
version of an FIR--Suryavali had paid him $1 million for setting up
business ventures in India under the aegis of the Surinam Non-Resident
Indian Association. But once he got the money, Chandraswami reportedly
did the vanishing act. The complaint was sent to the Ministry of
External Affairs n 1987 but did not evoke much response from the
Indian Government, except for a cursory "we are examining the issue".
But Pilot's offensive has certainly set the cat among the pigeons.
This round of dirt-digging exercises includes an investigation into
Chandraswami's apartment at Olympic Towers Officials say the apartment
may have been used to entertain influential guests from India, which
may explain the godman's political clout.
The CBI is also chasing up another old case of cheating, this time in
London. According to the details of the case, Chandraswami and his
secretary, K.N. Agrawal, known as Mamaji, cheated an NRI, Lakhu Bhai
Pathak, of $100,000 on the pretext that the accused would use his
influence to secure newsprint and paper pulp supply contracts from the
Government of India. "Even after long persuasion, there was no
response from the accused either to secure the contracts or to return
the money given by the complainant (Pathak)," the CBI document says,
admitting that any further progress would be very difficult. "It has
not been possible to complete this investigation due to the refusal of
foreign witnesses for examination and non-receipt of relevant
documents," it notes.
The catalogue of the thorns in the swami's side is growing. Babloo
Srivastav's lawyers, V.K. Ohri and H.A. Alvi, are especially keen to
see him implicated in a 1991 case of a fatal bomb attack on Delhi-
based Journalist Ravindra Jain. The Jain commission probing the Rajiv
Gandhi assassination decided to look into an Akali leader, Mahant Seva
Dass' claim that the godman was one of the main conspirators.
In the welter of charges that are now seeing the light of day, people
remain cynical as to what the CBI or any other agency can really do.
Especially if the St Kitts investigation is anything to go by. "This
man has known all prime ministers except V.P. Singh," says the Janata
Dal's Ram Vilas Paswan. Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar,
however, maintains there is not much behind the screaming headlines.
"The law takes its own course. It is not dictated by headlines," he
says.
The experience of former joint director of the CBI, N.K. Singh is
quite different though. Singh remembers how he was abruptly taken off
the case and transferred out of the agency when he started issuing
notices to Chandraswami in early 1991. In his special leave petition
before the Supreme Court, Singh recalls the number of times Chandra
Shekhar and the then law minister, Subramanian Swamy, personally
intervened to have the case scuttled. And that is exactly what
happened in the end.
Chandraswami's saviours, if a list is drawn, far outnumber those
gunning for him. So if liquor baron Vijay Mallya offers his personal
aircraft for the godman's use, Chief Election Commissioner T.N.
Seshan, despite Iris all-out war against corruption in high places,
thinks nothing of meeting him publicly.
Leading saffron lights Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Vijayaraje Scindia
also, count among his ardent camp followers. And earlier this year the
Communist Party of India (M) publicly ridiculed its high profile MP,
Amal Dutta, for attending the godman's birthday bash; Dutta, who is
West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu' nephew, is unlikely to get a
party ticket in the next general elections. Chandraswami's relations
with arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi extended to the Iran-Contra deal,
details of which became public later once American involvement in it
was established.
As Vineet Narain, owner of a video-magazine and one of the first to
carry exposes on the godman, says: "it something still happens to
Chandraswami, all I can say is that the Prime Minister has given up on
him. But to see that happening is wishful at this stage."
A telling example of Chandraswami's clout is that the team of CBI
sleuths is 'interrogating' him at his ashram, and not at the CBI
headquarters. And at the doorsteps of the ashram, Janata Party
President Subramanian Swamy beams: "No charges can be proved. It is
all being engineered by the Congress(T)." If that confidence is
anything to go by, the godman seems to be oil a good wicket.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?200039
http://www.outlookindia.com/peoplefnl.aspx?pid=8886&author=Chandraswami
National / Politics / Interviews Magazine | Aug 07, 1996
Focus
'Sweeper Or PM, A Crime Is A Crime'
Lakhubhai Pathak the NRI businessman who has made allegations of fraud
against Narasimha Rao and Chandraswami, began an 'indefinite' fast on
July 25 in Bombay 'to force' the former prime minister to tell the
truth. He called it off the following morning, on the advice of his
newly discovered guide G.R. Khairnar—the recently sacked civic
official, who earlier ran a crusade against Sharad Pawar. Pathak spoke
to Lekha Rattanani after he called off his fast. Excerpts from the
interview
Lekha Rattanani Interviews Lakhubhai Pathak
Also In This Story
Focus
New Man, New Impetus?
With a Deve Gowda man the new CBI chief, the agency may change its
overt pro-Rao stance
Rajesh Joshi
According to Narasimha Rao, he was not present at the Haloram House
hotel in New York when you say you met him.
The meeting took place 13 years ago. I don't remember the exact date.
But that does not change the facts. It was sometime before Christmas.
I remember I went to El Paso after this meeting , and then to Mexico
for Christmas.
So when exactly was the meeting with Rao?
It happened a few days before Christmas—between the 18th and the 23rd.
Had I known how important the meeting would turn out to be, I would
have recorded it or called in a cameraman. Rao met me in
Chandraswami's room.
According to Rao's counsel, Kapil Sibal, there is no entry in the
former prime minister's passport to show he was in New York.
Was he (Rao) an ordinary traveller or was he travelling on a
diplomatic passport? It is not my job but the job of the investigating
agencies to find out if he was actually there. Passports can be messed
around with. Anything can happen in India. We can buy ministers like
we buy vegetables. They have fooled the country, now they are fooling
the court.
Some of the witnesses whom you said were present at the meeting—Muscat-
based businessman Umesh Khimji and Ashwin Patel, the businessman from
Leceister, have denied being there. So, were they actually present?
They were eight to ten people. I have already given their names to the
court. I had told the magistrate that I cannot reveal their names
without their permission. I didn't want to offend them or create any
problems for them. I was told by the magistrate that hiding anything
is equivalent to lying. Now they are denying they were present and I
don't have to force them to speak the truth.
One of the witnesses, Maharashtra minister Suresh Jain, said he didn't
know you then and that Rao was not present.
It is an absolute lie. Politicians are people who can change their
statements like other people change their clothes. They have no
conscience.
How did you enter into a contract to supply newsprint and paper pulp
when it isn't your line of business?
The contract was a trap. I was in the pickle line, in no way in
paper.
But what about the money you paid to Chandraswami? Wasn't that a
bribe?
A bribe taken is a crime. So is a bribe given. Let the court decide
whether this is a crime. I paid $100,000 in two cheques, drawn on the
Canadian Imperial Bank, to Chandraswami. I am prepared to face any
sentence if I am proved guilty. A crime is a crime whether it's
committed by a sweeper, king or prime minister.
Are you certain the man you met in the hotel was Rao?
I didn't know Rao till he came into Chandraswami's room. But he has a
face that can't be forgotten.
What exactly did Rao say to you?
Chandraswami brought Rao to his room. Suresh Jain and others were
present. All of us got up and greeted him. Chandraswami introduced me
to Rao saying: "Yeh hamare Pathakji hain. Yeh bahuth bada
industrialist hai." Rao turned to me and said: "Chandraswami has told
me everything. Your work will be done." I was thrilled because I was
the only one in the room who was introduced to him. Suresh Jain said I
was lucky to have managed an introduction. This is the whole truth.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray says that you are keen to join his
party.
I want to be a Shiv Sainik and be of service to the people. I know the
Shiv Sena from the time I had a pickle factory in Andheri in 1974-75.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201873
National Magazine | Dec 22, 2003
Sanjoy Ghosh
haryana
'Godman Gave The Slit-Throat Sign...'
That's how Chandraswami threatened the IAS officer who blew the
whistle on Chautala's teacher scam
Chander Suta Dogra
A little after 7.30 pm on October 22, Chandraswami, Delhi's infamous
godman and political wheeler-dealer, had an unusual visitor. Ushered
into his presence was Sanjiv Kumar, the 1985 batch IAS officer and
whistle-blower-in-chief of the schoolteacher recruitment scam in
Haryana. It was on his petition that the Supreme Court on November 25
ordered a CBI inquiry into alleged attempts by Haryana CM Om Prakash
Chautala and his office to substitute genuine selection lists with
fake ones for appointment of primary teachers in 19 districts.
"Mr Chautala was built up as a ruthless man whom I should be very
frightened of."
The attempt was to effect 2,000 new appointments. Though there's no
official confirmation, it's alleged that Rs 1 lakh was demanded from
each candidate.
The October 22 meeting with Chandraswami was meant to force Kumar into
entering into a compromise and withdraw the demand for a CBI probe and
accept an inquiry by a divisional commissioner. The godman spoke to
him for about eight minutes. The contents of that conversation,
secretly recorded by Kumar and given to the Supreme Court for
safekeeping, is giving sleepless nights to many in Haryana, especially
Chautala.
The godman may be down and out in Delhi, but he's playing an active
role in neighbouring Haryana, threatening to get "the throat slit" of
people like Kumar. Recalls Kumar: "Two minutes into the conversation
with Chandraswami and I realised he was handing out threats on behalf
of chief minister Chautala who's one of the respondents in my
petition." Though the apex court has ordered a CBI inquiry into the
case and Kumar has been provided protection by the Delhi Police, he is
still a scared and harried man. Says he: "I'm worried that what
happened to Satyendra Dubey (the whistle-blower in the Golden
Quadrangle highway contracts scam who was murdered in Patna three
weeks ago) might also happen to me."
The officer spoke exclusively to Outlook about the meeting with
Chandraswami, which he recorded on the tape.
"The godman said I should think of what'll happen when police
protection is taken off."
"After a few preliminary remarks, Chandraswami said I should think of
what'll happen when police protection is taken off after a few months.
He then placed his hand on his throat and ran it like how a butcher
would. I asked him, 'Maar bhi sakte hain (You mean, get killed)?' and
he replied, 'Woh kuch bhi kar sakte hain (He can do anything)'."
According to Kumar, he was advised by the godman to be wary of
Chautala. "Mr Chautala was built up as a tough and ruthless man whom I
should be very frightened of. Chandraswami also reminded me of how
former PM Chandrashekhar was laid up in hospital with a heart ailment
after the treatment meted out to him by Chautala when the former's
Bhondsi farmhouse in Gurgaon district was taken back by the state
government."
The godman, according to Kumar, continued in a similar vein:
"Chandraswami said 'Chautala will institute more cases against you and
your career will be ruined'." He also apparently warned Kumar to keep
away from Karan Singh Dalal, RPI MLA from Palwal (a bitter critic of
Chautala), saying "he's a finished man". When Kumar asked whether he
(Kumar) too could be killed?, the godman reportedly said: "Main kya
keh sakta hoon (What can I say?)."
A couple of days later, Kumar was summoned again to Chandraswami's
ashram. This time two candidates, whose names are in the second list
(allegedly fake), were also present. In a separate petition to the
court, they had pleaded their selection was genuine. Their petition
gave damaging details of the place and time when an officer in the
CM's office called them to Delhi's Haryana Bhavan and demanded money
from them. Chandraswami was trying to get them to withdraw their
case.
As for Kumar, he was given another dose of Chandraswami's threats
which also he recorded. Recalls the IAS officer: "He repeatedly
threatened me with dire consequences if I did not heed his
warning.Eventually, I asked him, 'Swamiji what should I do?' and he
replied, 'Samjhauta kar lo (work out a compromise)'. I told him that I
would do so. The fact that I had agreed to a compromise was apparently
passed on by Chandraswami to the CM because at the next hearing of the
case on November 3, the Haryana government counsel offered to get the
matter inquired into by a divisional commissioner. They were quite
taken aback when I opposed this offer and stuck to my original plea
for a CBI investigation." The SC order directed the CBI to take charge
of the tapes as well as the two lists of selected teachers, which were
till then kept in the court's custody.
But why did Kumar agree to meet Chandraswami? Ever since it became
clear the apex court was likely to order an inquiry, he began getting
threats on his phone. Eventually, he told the anonymous caller that it
would be better if he came out in the open and talked. A few minutes
later, he got a call from a person claiming to be the swami's
secretary. He said, "Swamiji would like to meet urgently. It's
something of your interest." Says Kumar, "At that point I was quite
demoralised and virtually at my wits' end. I agreed. But I took the
precaution of telling my wife that if I did not return in an hour she
should inform the police," says Kumar.
Trouble began for Kumar in July 2000 when he was appointed director,
primary education, by the newly elected Chautala government. According
to the facts as stated in the October 25 apex court judgement,
applications for recruiting 3,206 teachers were invited in November
1999. And on the basis of interviews held in 19 districts, a list of
selected candidates was finalised. The outgoing director, Rajni Sekhri
Sibal, kept the lists in a cupboard and sealed it. The key to the
cupboard too was put in a sealed and signed envelope. When Kumar took
charge, he was "pressurised" into substituting another list in place
of the original list. He refused.
In September 2000, all members of the 19 district selection committees
were called to Panchkula and then to Haryana Bhavan in Delhi. Fresh
and false lists of candidates were prepared and the members were
forced to sign this list. On September 28, 2000, this list was handed
over to Kumar with a directive that it should immediately be
substituted for the original list. Instead, Kumar, on November 7,
2000, opened the sealed cupboard and released the original list. These
candidates were then appointed. And within a month of that he was
transferred.
But he took the precaution of taking the "fake" list with him. And
then the nightmare began. His flat in Sector 19, Chandigarh, was
broken into. He began receiving threats. He was denied promotion twice
and put under suspension. Soon after that the government registered
two corruption cases against him, which also come under the ambit of
the CBI investigation.
It's two years since he was suspended and he has been managing to keep
the home fires burning with the help of family and friends. "The
government has not given me even the subsistence allowance of 50 per
cent of my salary," Kumar says. Justice is still a long way off for
him because the CBI investigation into the case could drag on for some
time. But it takes courage to blow the whistle. And Kumar is
determined to keep up his dogged fight as long as he can.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?222426
National Magazine | Jul 20, 1998
Exclusive
Finally All Fingers Point To A Foreign Hand
The Jain Commission's final report focuses on a larger international
conspiracy, and the CIA-Mossad-LTTE link, in the Rajiv killing
Charu Lata Joshi
Also In This Story
Exclusive
Mossad Missives
Ex-Cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah told Jain of the Israel link
Exclusive
Damning Intercepts
Wireless messages indicate the LTTE wasn't acting in isolation
Exclusive
The BCCI Channel
Jain says Chandraswami linked up with BCCI through Khashoggi
FOR seven rambling years, the Jain Commission of Inquiry—set up to
unravel the larger conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's May 21, 1991,
assassination—has stumbled from one controversy to another. The
Commission's interim report, tabled in Parliament last year, led to
the fall of the United Front government—it had pointed fingers at its
coalition partner, the DMK, for harbouring the LTTE, thus creating
conditions which facilitated the assassination.
"The possibility of a foreign hand behind the LTTE in the Rajiv
assasination is trengthened."
It had also come down heavily on the V.P. Singh government for
ignoring the security threat to Rajiv.
The final report charts a markedly different course. Volume II,
covering chapters I to VI, widens the ambit beyond the immediate
circumstances to emphasise a larger, international plot. Foreign
intelligence agencies like the CIA and Mossad, and leaders of some
Sikh extremist organisations step in as the new dramatis personae. The
report says they actively collaborated with the LTTE and key Indian
individuals in the period immediately preceding the assassination. The
eight-volume set, 14 chapters in all—accessed by Outlook—was submitted
to the home ministry on March 7 this year.
Curiously, even as he lambasts the work of the CBI's Special
Investigation Team—devoting an entire volume to its investigational
lapses—Jain appears to have considerably toned down his earlier stand
on the complicity of the DMK and has instead concentrated on the
'foreign' angle. But there are specific recommendations for the
prosecution of certain members of the DMK, PMK, and DK, who were
earlier chargesheeted in the assassination of EPRLF chief K.
Padmanabha in Chennai in 1990.
The report is not without its Indian angle. Startling depositions and
intelligence intercepts included in the report indicate that Dr
Subramanian Swamy and former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, in
different ways, may have had prior knowledge of a threat to Rajiv but
did not react in a "timely manner".
"CIA seems to have a track record of destabilising governments while
indulging in assassination plots."
At the same time, Jain appears to have pulled his punches in
recommending any further probe into the charges against these two
politicians.
What emerges finally is a picture of a well-networked international
plot and certain key Indians, cast in varying degrees of complicity,
who had 'knowledge' of the plan. Whether Home Ministry officials, who
are studying the report, will be able to take any action on these
findings for presenting the Action Taken Report in Parliament during
this session remains in the realm of speculation. For now, the report,
with its explosive annexures and wild-card theories, has the potential
of stirring up yet another political maelstrom.
THE FOREIGN HAND: What is the foreign hand referred to in the final
report? The depositions and intelligence inputs from RAW and IB have
led Justice Jain to infer that the Tamil Tigers couldn't have operated
in isolation. In fact, he barely stops short of concluding that it was
just the hired executor—a point Jain had touched upon in his interim
report. Notes Jain: "The LTTE may be having its own financial
resources but to acquire such high-tech weaponry, financial help and
help in the form of shipment of arms, which are referred to in IB
reports, cannot be ruled out. The possibility of a foreign hand behind
the LTTE in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi can't be ruled out,
rather it is strengthened." The wireless intercepts (see box) clinches
the fact that LTTE operatives like K.
"...there were moves to remove Rajiv and the hand of Chandraswami has
been established."
Padmanabha had links with the CIA and that the US intelligence agency
assisted the Tigers in arms procurement and other operations. The LTTE
was networked with international agencies and these could have helped
them in the plot to kill Rajiv.
To establish the foreign link, the report quotes telegram No. 24 (CCB)/
20537 of September 11, 1991—sent to the Ministry of External Affairs
by the Indian Ambassador in Tunis, containing a key tipoff he got from
PLO president Yasser Arafat. It was conveyed that "Yasser Arafat had
information that Rajiv's enemies would use the election period to get
rid of him. He got this information from inside Israel and his
European sources. These sources mentioned that the LTTE and Sikh
extremists would try to harm Rajiv Gandhi. Besides the above three,
hostile forces from outside India may also make an attempt."
A recorded note on the talk between the then foreign secretary
Muchkund Dubey and the Palestinian ambassador in India, dated June 6,
1991, included in the final report reads: "The Palestinian ambassador
told me that they had seen the movement of Mos-sad agents in India,
including towards Madras. He said that if one was looking for a link,
it was the CIA/Mossad/LTTE link. He further stated that the culprit
could have been one of the women related or associated with the five
LTTE leaders who had killed themselves after taking cyanide soon after
the commencement of the IPKF operation."
Justice Jain gives considerable import to the Arafat input.
"Swamy spoke of the possibility of Prabhakaran having been financed
for the job..."
"I find the information furnished by Yasser Arafat genuine and there
is no reason to disbelieve it.... From the note of Shri Muchkund Dubey
and the CCB telegram, it is amply borne out that there was an
international plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi and that it was a
Mossad/LTTE/CIA link."
Statements from Dubey's successor J.N. Dixit, Sonia Gandhi as well as
details gleaned from RAW and IB have been woven into the report to
shore up the information the PLO chief had passed on to Indian
authorities. Dixit's deposition finds prominence in the report:
"Arafat is right in stating that he had sources within Israel and well-
established sources in Europe. This information conveyed in the
telegram must have been cross-checked by the field units of RAW under
directives of their headquarters."
"There must have been operatives of the CIA and Mossad in India during
1990-91.... The likelihood of Rajiv coming back to power might have
been viewed with some reservations, not so much by the US government
itself but by segments of the US defence and Intelligence
establishment in the context of Rajiv Gandhi's opposition regarding
refuelling facilities provided by India for US Air Force planes during
the Gulf War," adds the ex-foreign secretary.
Similarly, in her statement to the Commission, Sonia Gandhi confirms
that "it is a fact that Arafat sent my husband messages through the
Palestinian mission in India saying that they had learnt of the
threats to his life. This was reconfirmed to me and my children
personally by Arafat when he met us soon after my husband's funeral.
There were several other occasions when he received similar
information."
RAW too provided the Commission with inputs, which it had shared with
IB, on the activities of Mossad and CIA in India in the year
immediately preceding the assassination. The final report mentions
Amos Radia and Giorce Betchar as agents operating for the Israelis in
India. As regards CIA activities in India, RAW had informed the IB
that two suspected US intelligence officers were in India in the
months preceding the killing.
A study of the post-Gulf war scenario in West Asia conducted by RAW,
which was communicated to the PMO, then cabinet secretary Naresh
Chandra, then foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey, IB, the Naval
Headquarters and then Air Force chief S.K. Mehra, clearly stated:
"International terrorism will get a fillip and we can expect terrorist
strikes against soft targets in India. Considerable vigil will have to
be exercised."
While Jain has gone to great lengths to establish the foreign hand,
he has also indicted intelligence agencies like RAW for not taking a
serious view of information that came its way. The report says: "RAW's
conclusion on Arafat's information requires deeper examination.
Nothing has been said about the possible involvement of the CIA which
may operate through Mossad in the light of Rajiv Gandhi's utterances
during the Gulf War opposing refuelling facilities to the US."
Further, Jain writes, "the CIA seems to have a track-record of covert
operations for desta-bilising governments while indulging in
assassination plots or otherwise as reported in the print media.... It
is in this background of the CIA's alleged track-record that Arafat's
utterances have to be evaluated."
THE report notes that, "Kumaran Padmanabha's (KP) account in BCCI,
Bombay branch, prima facie establishes links of the LTTE with the
bank. Unless material from the Senate subcommittee is gathered, it
will not be proper to conclude that the BCCI funds were not made
available in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.... The
material which has come before the Commission raises a very strong
possibility of such help from some individuals and agencies since it
is well established that KP was the LTTE's international arms
procurer."
Despite all the information pieced together, the report is short on
specifics and does little to flesh out the precise manner in which the
foreign hand purportedly worked. The veil of mystery that shrouds the
Rajiv killing remains. Jain indicates how the LTTE conspired with
foreign agents/agencies to carry out the assassination, but provides
only a vague delineation of possible motives. As things stand, it is
doubtful whether the MEA (which has been given charge of investigating
the international link) will be able to come up with anything.
THE INDIAN CONNECTION: Justice Jain has devoted separate chapters to
three key Indian players who are suspected, one way or the other, to
have had prior knowledge of the assassination. Nothing definitive or
conclusive here, but Jain has woven in intriguing loops of
circumstantial evidence—quoted and contained in the annexures—around
godman Chandraswami, Janata Party leader Dr Subramanian Swamy and
former PM Chandra Shekhar. The three are bracketed, prima facie, as
either having a link with those who allegedly conspired with the
assassins or at least having been privy to the fact of a plot.
The link between Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy has been taken
seriously by Jain in the light of Chandra-swami's deposition: "I know
Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy have been very thick for the
last 7-8 years. Dr Swamy told me that I (Chandraswami) may persuade
Rajiv Gandhi to make Chandra Shekhar the PM." Working within this
framework, the Commission has read much into the independent
testimonies of a host of witnesses—wherever they overlap—and arrived
at certain conclusions.
For instance, Justice Jain concludes that Akali leader Mahant Sewa
Dass's deposition stands corroborated by evidence provided by RAW.
Dass was sent as Chandra Shekhar's emissary to meet Khalistan
proponent Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan in London. He had deposed that at the
meeting a plot to eliminate Rajiv was being hatched jointly by Babbar
Khalsa militants and a representative of the LTTE (R.M. Pradi)—and
that the project was to be financed by Chandraswami. Jain says: "It is
fully established that Mahant Sewa Dass went to London, met Dr Chohan
in the presence of some persons, conveyed the message of Chandra
Shekhar and brought back a letter from Dr Chohan addressed to Shri
Chandra Shekhar."
The letter also finds a place in government records and reads:
"Dear Mr Chandra Shekharji,
Namaskar!
Mahantji discussed quite a few but very important things with me. I
very much appreciate your initiative in Punjab. I am sure it will help
to pacify the violence in Punjab. Mahantji will give you the details
of our discussion on various aspects. Talks are the only way to
resolve the problems.
More on hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan"
According to the report, "RAW confirms the meeting and that almost all
the active pro-Khalistan groups were represented in the meeting. It
also says that the main purpose of Mahant Sewa Dass's sojourn was to
find out the pro-Khalistani elements on a possible peace package
acceptable to them which could then be projected as an achievement of
the Government of India as a successful attempt to bring back the
Sikhs abroad into the national mainstream.... However, a contemporary
inquiry should have been made and the report should have been sent to
the PM."
The Commission also has on record a communication UO.No 3/5/88-VS,
dated July 21, 1988, in which RAW mentioned reports indicating that Dr
Chohan was trying to establish contact with the LTTE in the UK. Also,
"government records show that Mahant Sewa Dass was sent by the
government as an emissary of Chandra Shekhar to meet Dr Chohan. His
arrangements for travel were made by the government."
According to Jain, "From the perusal of various statements, it is
evident that the relations of Chandraswami did exist, not only with
Rao but also with Chandra Shekhar, Subrama-nian Swamy and O.P.
Chautala. However, no inference of complicity can be drawn, although
the surveillance at 10, Janpath and the statement of Saifullah may
give rise to some doubts."
As for Chandraswami, the circle of suspicion is wider. His links with
the LTTE as well as international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (see
box) have been established. Notes Jain: "The evidence and material
does point an accusing finger at Chandraswami and circumstances which
have come before the Commission raise a doubt regarding his
involvement in the assassination. Taking the entire evidence, material
and circumstantial, brought on record, a serious doubt arises
regarding Chandraswami's complicity and involvement. So the matter
requires a further probe.... There is a plethora of evidence on record
in the form of testimony of Buta Singh, S.S. Mahapatra, B.G. Deshmukh
and others which proves that there were moves to remove Rajiv Gandhi
and the hand of Chandraswami in these moves has been clearly
established."
Many witnesses have attested to the godman's dubious links with
international agencies. Ramesh Dalal, BJP activist, deposed that he
knew "Shri Chandraswami has relations with the CIA, Mossad and the
LTTE. He took the help of these agencies in assassinating Rajiv
Gandhi.... In the core group of Chandraswami, Rajendra Jain, Babloo
Srivastava, K.N. Aggarwal, Subramanian Swamy, Chandra Shekhar, O.P.
Chautala and Pinaki Misra were there. The people of this core group
used to meet Chandraswami in his bedroom. Chandraswami told me he had
been financing the LTTE..."
The report says: "It is noteworthy that when he (Ramesh Dalal) had
expressed his doubts regarding the involvement of Chandraswami as
early as August 1991, investigations should have been conducted.
Outrightly rejecting his testimony would not be a proper course and a
thorough investigation is required to be made about the truth or
otherwise of his testimony. Some support is available...from the
deposition of Mahant Sewa Dass Singh."
As for Swamy, the Commission interweaves various independent
depositions and pieces of evidence to flesh out his links with the god-
man and international agencies as well as his role as an intermediary.
The report notes that Swamy had made a trip to London in 1995 with
Chandraswami—they both stayed at Halkin Hotel and the bill was picked
up by the godman.
Going back to the period before the killing, Jain cites the then
cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah's statement that "there were some
intercepts emanating from Israel for information to Chandraswami and
Swamy for Jaffna. These intercepts have not come before the
Commission. If Saifullah's statement is correct, then the intercepts
would have thrown much more light on the question of complicity."
THE report adds: "A serious doubt has also been cast by E. Velusami
who has filed an affidavit before the Commission..." Velusami, then
general secretary of the Janata Party in Tamil Nadu, had deposed that
his party president had arrived "in the morning at Madras airport by a
flight from Delhi on Sunday, May 19, 1991." Elections in the state
were set for May 26. "Swamy's whereabouts became unknown on May 21
morning. He subsequently learnt he had spent May 21 morning in a hotel
called Trident near the airport and that he had met some persons
there....
It is not clear why he made this secret stay in Madras on May 21,
1991, that too, after suddenly cancelling his pre-settled programme of
going to Delhi from Madras and without any information to his
colleagues..." Swamy's itinerary was confirmed by the personal
secretary to the ex-minister, writes Jain. He gives credence to the
testimony of Aziz Haniffa, Washington bureau chief of India Abroad, in
which he states that "during an interview with Swamy, the latter
claimed it was he who was instrumental in introducing the LTTE to the
Israelis, which led to their training by Mossad."
Similarly, former Rajya Sabha MP Rajani Ranjan Sahu deposed that in
1994 Dr Swamy told him and two others at the Tamil Nadu governor's
house that the LTTE was hired for the job. He claimed Prabhakaran
ordered the assassination after entering into a Rs 100-crore deal. He
also revealed that "one W. Anderson, first secretary in the American
Embassy, was anti-Rajiv" and that intelligence officials had got wind
of the plot. Jain, at the same time, seems to suspend judgement on the
episode: "From the statements of Sahu, Jitendra Prasada and Rajiv
Shukla, it is borne out that they happened to meet Dr Swamy in the
drawing room of the Governor's house and that... Dr Swamy spoke of the
possibility of V. Prabhakaran having been financed for the job which
might have motivated him for the assassination.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205868
bademiyansubhanallah
gathered about Sathya Sai Baba.
Visit Sathya Sai Baba's Official Web Site
(Link takes you outside the Rick A. Ross Institute web site)
http://www.sathyasai.org/
Sathya Sai Baba, "God"
or "sexual predator"?
Atheist Karuna woos godman in TN
Times Now, India/May 9, 2007
By Dhanya Rajendran
He may be one of the country's best known atheists, but when it comes
to funding state projects, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi
does not mind the help of spiritual gurus. The Satya Sai trust has
agreed to fund a project which will provide drinking water to parched
Chennai. And Karunanidhi is only too happy to welcome the godman.
Till a few years ago, it was unthinkable that Karunanidhi would ever
share a dais with Satya Sai Baba, however at a public appearance with
the spiritual Guru in January this year, Karunanidhi asked Sai Baba's
help for developmental projects. Now Sri Satya Sai Trust has agreed to
upgrade the 25 km-long Kandaleru-Poondi canal, which will bring water
to Chennai.
Karunanidhi may not believe in God, but as analysts say, he has proved
to be a tactful politician.
"He is an atheist at a personal level, and when he shared a dais with
Sai Baba, he explained his stand saying the question was not whether
he believed in God, but whether he was worthy of God's trust. But at a
more practical level, I buy his point From whichever source the money
comes, and as long as it is not tainted, it is welcome," remarked S
Murari, a political analyst.
The chief minister has kept aside his radical beliefs for good reason;
With the states finances running dry due to the numerous sops given by
his government, Karunanidhi desperately needs funds. Now that the Baba
trust has entered into a partnership with the government, the big
question is whether they will undertake the Coovum river-cleaning
project.
"Cleaning the Coovum is my dream, but I will need your help. It has
been quoted as a Rs 1,000 crore project. I'm not asking for the whole
amount, but I will be happy if you donate the same," is M
Karunanidhi's request.
This is, definitely, an image makeover. But the chief minister's
tolerance towards religious matters are limited to accepting help to
develop his state. When it comes to clashes between believers and non-
believers within the state, Karunanidhi always sticks to his
ideologies.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba24.html
Spiritual guru criticised for opposing statehood for Telangana region
Gulf Times/January 23, 2007
Hyderabad -- People went on a rampage here yesterday in protest
against spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba who said he was against a
separate Telangana state.
His followers meanwhile called a shutdown in Puttaparthi town of
Anantapur district to condemn remarks on the guru.
Shouting slogans against him, dozens of students belonging to
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) barged into a Sai Baba temple near
Osmania University here, pulled down huge cut-outs of the guru and
burnt them.
An effigy of Sai Baba, who termed moves to bifurcate the state
'mahapapam' (great sin), was also burnt.
Addressing a function in Chennai on Sunday, Sai Baba said there was no
demand for a separate Telangana state from the people of the region.
"Dividing the people or the country is not good. Bifurcating the state
is mahapapam," he said.
Sai Baba, who preaches love, understanding and universal brotherhood,
has thousands of followers in India and abroad including several heads
of state, politicians, military officials, judges, film stars and
sportsmen.
During the last few decades, he has built a vast empire worth billions
of rupees transforming the small village of Puttaparthi, his
birthplace, into a modern town with a state-of-the-art airport,
education and health facilities.
The reaction to his comments was sharp from the protagonists of
separate Telangana. TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao asked Sai Baba
to confine himself to religion. "Is Sai Baba blind to the suicides by
farmers in Telangana region? Is he blind to the fact that the region
was subjected to exploitation?" asked Rao, who is leading the movement
for a separate state comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad.
Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yaskhi Goud wondered what Sai Baba
knew of the problems of Telangana.
"He is from Rayalseema region and what does he know about the problem
of fluorosis (an abnormal condition caused by excessive intake of
fluorine), in Nalgonda? He is funding the water projects for
Rayalseema and Chennai," said Goud.
Revolutionary balladeer and Maoist sympathiser Gaddar, who is also
actively participating in the movement for separate Telangana,
criticised Sai Baba for opposing the demand.
Meanwhile, a shutdown was being observed in Puttaparthi town in
Anantapur district to condemn the remarks of Telangana leaders against
Sai Baba.
Shops and business establishment were shut and Sai Baba's disciples
set afire effigies of Chandrasekhara Rao, Madhu Yashki Goud and
Gaddar. The streets around Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of Baba, wore
a deserted look.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba23.html
Satya Sai Baba caught in British controversy
Indo-Asian News Service/December 22, 2006
Satya Sai Baba, one of India's best known spiritual leaders, has
triggered a fresh controversy in Britain after association with The
Duke of Edinburgh's Award charity involving young people.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a London-headquartered charity whose
patron is Prince Philip.
It gives three kinds of awards (bronze, silver and gold) to anyone
aged between 14-25 for achievements in four categories: community
service, skills, physical recreation and expeditions. Each year it is
estimated that over 2,25,000 youngsters vie for the honour in Britain
alone.
This year, when the charity celebrates its 50th year, it has chosen to
send about 200 young volunteers to India to work with the Sri Satya
Sai Organisation.
However, the feat, pulled off by Sai Youth UK, a division of the
parent body, has created a furore. Several people, including some of
the Satya Sai Baba's former Western disciples, questioned the decision
in view of the mixed reputation the godman enjoys. Sai's devotees deny
the allegations.
The Guardian was the first to raise its voice saying the award scheme
had chosen as its accredited partner a spiritual group "whose 'living
god' founder has been accused of sexually abusing young boys".
Satya Sai Baba hit bad press in Britain two years ago when a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, interviewed young Western disciples who
alleged that the godman had sexually coerced them.
The Guardian quoted Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and
chairman of Fair, a cult-watching and victim support group, as saying:
"It is appallingly naive for the award scheme to involve young people
and the royal family with an organisation whose leader is accused of
paedophilia. Parents who plan to send their children on this
pilgrimage... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."
The daily also said Michael Gave, a conservative MP, planned to write
to the charity to say it should monitor the organisations they chose
as partners more strictly.
"As a society we need a more determined effort to identify and expose
those religious cults and extremists that pose a direct threat to
people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that should be directed
elsewhere," he was quoted as saying.
In the 1990s, when Prince Charles visited India, he had expressed a
desire to visit the Sai Baba but was quietly dissuaded by the British
Embassy in New Delhi.
Since The Guardian's article, it was reported that there was mounting
pressure on the charity to distance itself from the Sai group.
However, charity spokesperson Shona Taylor did not answer repeated
queries as to whether the volunteers had left for India and how they
could be contacted.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba22.html
A holy furore rages in Britain
Daily News Analysis/November 5, 2006
By Ginnie Mahajan
Delhi: Old allegations of sexual abuse of boys by spiritual guru
Sathya Sai Baba have created a fresh furore in Britain.
The issue snowballed after the British press reported that 200 boys
would visit India on a month-long humanitarian pilgrimage starting
November 13, organised by the Sai Youth Movement, a division of the
Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.
These boys are to receive the Duke of Edinburgh award for their
humanitarian work. According to the Guardian, the British public is
irked by two issues — safety of the boys at Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram
at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and the
involvement of royalty with the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.
The newspaper quotes a former home office minister Tom Sackville, who
also runs a victim support group, as saying, “It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia.”
Interestingly, the United States Department of State has a travel
advisory against the Sathya Sai Organisation: “US citizens should be
aware that there have been unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual
behaviour by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or
religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh.”
The Guardian says US state officials have confirmed that this is a
direct reference to Sathya Sai Baba. There have been rumours for years
that the spiritual guru, who calls himself an incarnation of god,
molested young devotees during interviews. Both Indian and foreign
visitors to the ashram have come on record to say how he has abused
them.
The public relations officer of Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram, however,
told DNA: “We do not care what the advisory says. People and
organisations can write whatever they want to believe. We have no more
to say on this issue. Yes, the boys are coming to India in about two
weeks’ time.”
The visit coincides with Sathya Sai Baba’s 80th birthday. He had
apparently given a ‘divine commandment’ to the Sai Youth Movement to
visit him on the occasion.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba21.html
The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of
Edinburgh awards
Sexual abuse accusations against group's leader--80th birthday
invitation to hundreds of youngsters
The Guardian, UK/November 4, 2006
By Paul Lewis
A spiritual group whose "living god" founder has been accused of
sexually abusing young boys has become an accredited partner of the
Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, the Guardian can reveal.
Last night pressure was mounting on the charity to break its links
with the group whose followers are devoted to the preachings of 79-
year-old holy man, Sai Baba.
About 200 young people will fly to India in two weeks' time on a
humanitarian pilgrimage run by Sai Youth UK, a division of the Sri
Sathya Sai Organisation. The teenagers and young men earn their Duke
of Edinburgh awards for humanitarian work, chiefly distributing
medical aid.
The trip coincides with Sai Baba's 80th birthday and has been
arranged, organisers say, after he gave a divine commandment for the
UK's Sai youth movement to visit him for the occasion.
For decades male former devotees have alleged that the guru molested
them during so-called "interviews". During the last youth pilgrimage,
in 2004, young people were granted group interviews with the guru
after administering medical aid to villages surrounding Sai Baba's
ashram in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, although there was no evidence
of abuse.
Large numbers of young men have travelled from across the world to
study alongside and meet the guru. His supporters say their encounter
was spiritually enriching. Others, including participants in a BBC
programme, The Secret Swami, two years ago, accuse him of abuse,
claiming he massaged their testicles with oil and coerced them into
oral sex.
Sai Baba has never been charged over the sex abuse allegations.
However, the US State Department issued a travel warning after reports
of "inappropriate sexual behaviour by a prominent local religious
leader" which, officials later confirmed was a reference to Sai Baba.
Tom Sackville, a former Home Office minister and chairman of Fair, a
cult-watching and victim support group, said: "It is appallingly naive
for the award scheme to involve young people and the royal family with
an organisation whose leader is accused of paedophilia.
"Parents who plan to send their children on this month's
pilgrimage ... should be aware of the danger their children are being
exposed to."
But Peter Westgarth, chief executive of the charity, last night faced
down calls to terminate his organisation's relationship with the Sai
organisation. He said: "This is not the only religion accused of
paedophilia. Young people who are participating on these trips are
doing so because they choose to," he said. "The awards accredit the
good work they do for poor people in India. We make no judgment about
their religion. We would no sooner intervene here than we would the
Church Lads' and Girls' Brigade."
The Conservative MP Michael Gove said he would write to the charity
asking it to consider a stricter monitoring of the organisations they
they work with. "As a society we need a more determined effort to
identify and expose those religious cults and extremists that pose a
direct threat to people, so that they do not enjoy patronage that
should be directed elsewhere," he said.
Shitu Chudasama, Sai's UK national youth coordinator, defended the
trip, saying it was primarily a humanitarian mission to help
impoverished people, saying that the sex abuse claims were "totally
unfounded". He added: "We hope to have an interview with Sai Baba but
it's not guaranteed. If he wants to see us, he'll call us."
Sai Organisation's UK branch has also came into contact with royals
through the awards, something Buckingham Palace was made aware of in
September. In correspondence seen by the Guardian, Brigadier Sir Miles
Hunt-Davis, Prince Philip's private secretary, wrote: "[We] are very
keen to get this sorted out properly and finally." He said trustees of
the award would undertake legal advice before deciding how to
proceed.
In July the Sai Organisation received a certificate for their
"invaluable contribution" to the awards at a Buckingham Palace garden
party. A news story which appeared on a Sai Baba website after the
ceremony was removed after an intervention by Peter Westgarth, who
said the event had been misrepresented.
In the posting, Mr Chudasama recounted the moment he delivered a
speech to "various dignitaries, diplomats, ministers [and] famous
celebrities" at the palace. "I was the last speaker called up, and
suddenly a confidence, a joy, engulfed my being," he said. "I
attributed everything to our founder Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. As
I spoke I watched the sea of faces, they were hanging from my every
word and there was a look of excitement on their faces as if to say
'why have we not heard of this organisation before?'."
Mr Chudasama also attended a private audience with Prince Philip at St
James's Palace last year. "Prince Philip showed a very keen interest
in our youth and asked many questions," Mr Chudasama wrote in a Sai
newsletter. "I also had the opportunity to mention ... that we drew
our inspiration and motivation from our founder Sri Sathya Sai Baba;
he paused for a few seconds and then said: "Very good".
Backstory
Saytha Sai Baba, who has an estimated 30 million followers worldwide,
is possibly India's most controversial holy man. He gained a following
in his teens when he claimed to have divine powers and, later, said he
was an incarnation of God. His teachings are benign - his most famous
mantra is "Love All, Serve All" - and he encourages followers, which
include many of India's political elite, to undertake humanitarian
work. He purports to be able to miraculously conjure sacred ash and
expensive jewellery into the palm of his hand, as if out of thin air.
Opponents dismiss his miracles as party tricks. The Sai Organisation
claims to have more than 1,200 Saytha Sai Baba Centres in more than
100 countries.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba20.html
Guru who gives us no answers
The Scotsman/June 18, 2004
By Tom Adair
The Secret Swami might have veered towards the amusing - in an "Oh my
God, how gullible can you be?" kind of way - had it not been for the
repeated allegations of sex abuse.
Sai Baba, the swami in question, had started off looking like some old
bloke with an ego as big as his bank account. There he sat, in his
opulent ashram at Puttaparthi, near Bangalore, dressed in blinding
canary-yellow and sporting a head of what looked like jet-black pubic
hair - a mane of Leo Sayer proportions; as if he had poked his tongue
into a light socket. Count your blessings - he didn't sing.
Instead, he did tricks, producing trinkets from his fingers - gold
watches, bracelets, stuff with Ratners written all over it. Maybe he'd
read the Paul Daniels Trickster's Guide to Palming, and practised like
mad without the distraction of the lovely Debbie McGee (it later
transpired that Debbie would not have been a distraction). The swami's
followers adored his "miracles" and gasped.
Ten thousand worshippers formed a permanent camp inside the ashram,
believing Sai Baba to be an avatar - a god on Earth. He attracted
attention from burned out hippies, the ones with smoke still doping
their nostrils. Sometimes they smiled their faraway smiles; sometimes
they spoke. One guy believed he'd been in communion with Sai Baba for
21 years before he'd visited "god" in his pad. Sai Baba was quick to
spot white faces wearing dollar signs. As these dupes gawped up from
the crowd, he would single them out for special attention.
The documentary took a much less wide-eyed approach than Sai Baba's
flock, denouncing him from the start as a sham whose ashram resembled
a market place, not a shrine. Oh yes, he appeared to have done some
good - constructing a hospital in the district, providing free
medicare for the poor, and supplying clean water - however, the £40
million it cost was funded by wealthy acolytes, faithfully following
Sai Baba's earnest exhortation: "Wherever you see a sick person -
there is your field of service." And yet, Sai Baba's secret motto
turned out to be different, more like: "Wherever you see a gullible
young believer, (boys only apply) bingo! - sexual opportunity."
The programme gathered American former devotees who claimed that Sai
Baba had abused them, had exposed himself to them, indulged in oral
sex and then sworn them to secrecy. This sexual degradation had shaken
their faith. These victims included a father and a son who were
alleged to have been abused over many years. It was implied that many
Indian boys had also been taken advantage of but were too scared to
make public statements.
All this would matter if it affected just one child. What makes it
worse is that Sai Baba has a worldwide following of 160 million people
and is visited by heads of state. He is thus respectable, a notable
Indian figure.
The allegations went unanswered. When duly challenged, a twitchy
Indian government minister blew his top and accused the reporter of
impertinence. Meanwhile the US embassy's website has posted warnings
to potential visitors.
Whether or not it will shake the blind faith of the devotees remains
to be seen. However, the programme was an example of investigative
reporting all too rare these days - getting inside and under the
issue. It may have even stopped further innocents from falling prey to
the avatar's whim.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba19.html
Spiritual Depths
The Guardian (UK)/June 18, 2004
By Rupert Smith
It's difficult to write about religion without offending someone, but
mercifully we're reviewing a television programme here, and not the
mixture of wishful thinking and wilful credulity that leads people to
worship soi-disant gurus such as Swami Sai Baba. BBC2's This World
strand last night gave us The Secret Swami, an entertaining hour that
made a compelling case against Sai Baba, portraying him as a charlatan
and an abuser.
Young men who claimed to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba related
hair-raising stories of "private interviews" in which the not-so-holy
man pulled his skirt over his head and invited them to get down and
dirty. Hilariously, one Hindu scholar reminded us that this is a
practice sanctioned by neither scripture nor tradition. "Worship of
the linga does not include doing the blow-job."
What started out as a routine denunciation developed into something
more sinister. Sadly, the moment I see a man in a dress surrounded by
grinning worshippers, I'm looking for a catch - and it didn't take
much to prove that Sai Baba's "miracles" were nothing more than a bit
of old-fashioned sleight of hand. On that basis, we might all end up
worshipping David Blaine, which is a worry. But reporter Tanya Datta
did her job properly, and went far beneath the surface of magic tricks
and gaudy tat. She found that Sai Baba bought the eternal gratitude of
rural Indian villagers by paying for clean water supplies, and that he
caused a massive hospital to be built, funded by one of his followers,
Isaac Tigrett, who co-founded the Hard Rock Cafe chain. She discovered
also that the Indian government, rightly mindful of the rural vote,
has turned a blind eye to claims of wrongdoing in the Baba camp. A
government official got very shirty indeed with Ms Datta, shouting
denials before he'd even heard the allegations. In these cases, "no"
usually does mean "yes".
There was little room amid all the skulduggery for any real
examination of Sai Baba's theology; all we learned was that he is an
avatar, although of whom was not made clear, and that he conveniently
embraces all religions. Without any real exegesis of his ideas, it was
hard to know exactly what his followers believed in - it surely can't
just have been Baba's ability to produce fake Rolexes out of thin air,
or cough up eggs.
But even former disciples couldn't shed much light on what turned them
into such true believers. A nice family from Arkansas were so crazy
about Sai Baba that they encouraged their teenage son to spend as much
time with the guru as possible. Despite allegations of abuse at the
hands of Sai Baba, the son came out with the astonishing comment, "we
are all tools, and we all have to be around for Swami to use - if he
needs a screwdriver".
An hour wasn't enough to do the subject justice, and for once I was
left wanting more. This isn't something I'd say lightly about
television documentaries, which usually need to be edited by 50%. The
mystery of Sai Baba, of his apparent protection by the authorities, of
his canny manipulation of the rural poor and his inexplicable appeal
to rich westerners, only deepened. Astonishingly, Sai Baba has not yet
had the collar of his robe fingered by the long arm of the law.
Armand Leroi, the handsome biologist, turned his attention to the
tricky subject of racial difference in the final part of Human Mutants
(Channel 4). There was some fun stuff about excessive facial hair and
random skin pigmentation to pave the way to Leroi's central thesis,
that "we are all mutants - but some of us are more mutant than
others".
With this in mind, he gently introduced the idea of "a new race
genetics", which was nowhere near as sinister as it sounded. Genome
mapping enabled scientists to identify racial background according to
four main human groups - and, against this kind of science, "terms
like 'black' and 'white' don't describe anything that's real any
more".
This would have come as cold comfort to a Cape Town housewife who went
to bed as a white woman and woke up the next morning black. Shunned by
her family, she died in poverty, which suggests that Leroi's DNA
utopia is a way off just yet.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba18.html
Sai Baba: God-man or con man?
Basava Premanand is India's leading guru-buster
BBC News/June 17, 2004
By Tanya Datta
He believes that the country's biggest spiritual leader, Sri Satya Sai
Baba, is a charlatan and must be exposed.
Basava Premanand has been burgled... again.
It is the third time in just one month. But he is in no doubt of the
thieves' motives.
He suspects they were looking for evidence that he has collected for
over 30 years against India's leading spiritual guru, Sri Satya Sai
Baba.
Mr Premanand believes this evidence proves the self-proclaimed "God-
man", Sai Baba, is not just a fraud, but a dangerous sexual abuser.
"Sai Baba is nothing but a mafia man, conning the people and making
himself rich", he says of his bete noire.
As India's leading guru-buster, Basava Premanand is the scourge of all
miracle-makers.
He is the founder of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations
and the editor of a monthly periodical called The Indian Sceptic.
He believes that it is his duty to dispel the "curse of gullibility
blighting his country in the form of myth and superstition", and
replace it instead with the "gospel of pure, scientific
understanding".
Since 1976, he has waged a bitter war against Sai Baba, a man who
commands a following of millions both in India and abroad. His
devotees believe him to be an Avatar, or incarnation of God in human
form.
But to Mr Premanand, this God is anything but holy.
Allegations
Rumours about Sai Baba sexually abusing young male devotees have been
circulating for years.
In 1976 a former American follower,Tal Brooke, wrote a book called
Avatar of the Night: The Hidden Side of Sai Baba. In it, he referred
to the guru's sexual exploits.
But Brooke's allegations were dismissed out of hand by the tightly
controlled Sai Baba Organisation.
Dr Michael Goldstein, chairman of the international Sai Baba
organisation, admitted he had heard rumours, but told us that he did
not believe them. He said: "My heart and my conscience tell me that it
is not possible."
But in the last four years, and with the growth of the internet, the
tide of claims against Sai Baba has become a groundswell.
Former devotees such as Alaya Rahm and Mark Roche, featured in the the
BBC film Secret Swami, are coming forward with increasingly graphic
stories of the guru's serious sexual exploitation.
Their own experiences bear an uncanny resemblance, yet span a time
frame of almost 30 years.
Both had been subjected to Sai Baba rubbing oil on their genitals.
"He took me aside", said Alaya Rahm, "put the oil on his hands, told
me to drop my pants and rubbed my genitals with the oil. I was really
taken aback."
All the allegations against Sai Baba so far have been made by
Westerners.
But Mr Premanand says that there are many Indians who also claim to
have been abused but are too afraid to speak out.
Well-connected
It is no surprise that Indian victims are scared of reprisals. Sai
Baba's influence among the power elite of India is impressive.
Prime ministers, presidents, judges and generals, have all come to the
ashram (religious retreat) in Puttaparthi in southern India, to pay
their respects.
The previous prime minister of India, Mr Atal Vajpayee, once issued a
letter on his official notepaper calling the attacks on Sai Baba
"wild, reckless and concocted."
Sai Baba also enjoys a close relationship with the state police. A
former head of police once acted as his personal chauffeur.
None of this, however, deters Mr Premanand who has doggedly pursued
Sai Baba over the years through the courts, the media and several
embarrassing books and exposures.
Little wonder that his campaign has enraged some of the holy man's
supporters.
To date, Basava Premanand has survived four murder attempts and bears
the scars from several savage beatings.
In 1986, he was arrested by the police for marching to Puttaparthi
with 500 volunteers for a well-publicised confrontation with Sai
Baba.
Later that year, he took Sai Baba to court for violating the Gold
Control Act by producing gold necklaces out of thin air without the
permission of a Gold Control Administrator.
When his case was dismissed, Mr Premanand appealed on the grounds that
spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.
Break-in
In June 1993, the peace of the ashram was shattered when a gruesome
incident took place.
Four male devotees, who were close to Sai Baba, broke into their
guru's private quarters late at night armed with knives.
Their motives are unclear. Some say they were going to warn their guru
about corruption among the higher echelons of the ashram. Others say
they were going to kidnap or even kill Sai Baba.
They were stopped by Sai Baba's personal attendants and in the violent
struggle that ensued, two of the attendants were killed and two left
seriously wounded.
Sai Baba managed to escape through a secret flight of stairs and raise
the alarm.
Just before the police arrived, the four men escaped to Sai Baba's
bedroom. It was there, the police say, they shot the intruders out of
self defence.
Mr Premanand claimed a cover up and went to court.
He says: "The central government stopped the investigation, because if
the investigation takes place, a lot of things will come out like
economic offences and sex offences."
He was outraged that Sai Baba - one of the key witnesses to the events
of that night - had not been questioned.
Over the next three years, he took his case all the way to the Supreme
Court, before he was eventually defeated.
Today, this sprightly septuagenarian is as busy as ever, collecting
and collating more information. Mr Premanand is preparing for another
battle.
"This," he says mischievously, "is going to be the greatest fight of
my life."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba15.html
BBC2 uncovers secrets behind India's Secret Swami
Aim/June 14, 2004
The most popular of all Indian Godmen, Sai Baba has always been the
Teflon God, the untouchable, charismatic man worshipped by Indian
Prime Ministers, Presidents and peasants. His power over both the
influential and the downtrodden goes to the heart of Indian society
and raises serious questions about the social health of the world's
fastest emerging economy.
Sai Baba claims to be a living God and to millions, his word is truth;
his ability to bring clean water and healthcare to thousands, proof of
divinity.
In a programme that explores the nature of belief, This World travels
from India to California, where the generation whose devotion and
donations helped Sai Baba to power are unravelling at the seams. Hard
Rock Café owner Isaac Tigrett sent Sai Baba's message around the world
by making the Godman's Love All Serve All mantra the corporate slogan
of his multi-million empire. He now has to confront the fact that his
God may have been a sexual abuser.
This World features the story of a family who gave their entire lives
to a man they believed was God, only to discover he was exacting a
terrible price: the sexual innocence of their son. In an intimate and
powerful portrait a family talks openly about their betrayal and the
man who controlled their lives.
"The being which I called Sai Baba, the living God that I had taken
into my heart had been truly abusing my son, for so long. I felt
completely betrayed..." says Marissa, a former devotee. Another, Alaya
says: "I remember him saying, if you don't do what I say, your life
will be filled with pain and suffering."
This programme is the first to film inside Sai Baba's Ashram for a
number of years and aims to come closer to the true "face of God" than
ever before.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba16.html
Man Arrested With Gun at Sai Baba's Ashram
The Hindustan Times/January 18, 2002
Bangalore, India -- A 26-year-old man who allegedly tried to shoot Sai
Baba on Thursday with an air pistol at his ashram in Whitefield on the
outskirts of Bangalore, was overpowered by ashram volunteers. The air
pistol and some pellets were recovered from the man, Somasundaram, the
police said. Somasundaram was overpowered when he started running
towards Sai Baba who was emerging from a building to give darshan,
eyewitnesses said.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba13.html
British law against Sai Baba sought
Times of India/September 5, 2001
By Rashmee Z. Ahmed
London -- Campaigners against religious cults across western Europe
are trying to persuade the British government to follow the French and
legislate against movements such as Sai Baba and the Moonies.
Tom Sackville, a former British minister and current chairman of the
anti-cult organisation Family Action Information and Resource (FAIR),
told The Times of India, "the French legislation of two months ago has
enormously encouraged my 15-year battle against exploitative cults
such as that of Sai Baba."
The anti-cult campaign comes even as The Times, London, carried
extensive reportage of Sai Baba on Monday, questioning his role in the
"mysterious deaths of three British men", which campaigners admit are
hard to prove were directly caused by the guru.
The newspaper, which flagged its investigation as "exclusive", said
"Sai Baba's activities are being studied by the (British) Foreign
Office, which is considering issuing an unprecedented warning against
the guru to travellers."
It said one of the men had "complained of being repeatedly sexually
molested by Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore."
There is growing British press interest in the man they describe as
"Indian mystic and miracle worker" to the rich, famous and titled such
as the Duchess of York and an architect known to be close to Prince
Charles.
Commentators say this is largely because Sai Baba has a substantial
European fan following, alongside a growing number of hostile and
vocal former devotees who accuse him of physical, mental and monetary
abuse.
The Internet war launched by former devotees across western Europe,
including David Bailey, a Welsh concert pianist once considered to be
Sai Baba's right-hand man, has focussed unsavoury publicity on Sai
Baba.
However, Sai Baba's London headquarters continues to reject all the
allegations.
Several parliamentary questions in the last five years have drawn the
British government's attention to Sai Baba's alleged misconduct. But,
British MPs and anti-cult campaigners say the government has always
maintained that the number of British cases are too few to merit
action.
But now, a new area of concern has arisen according to The Times,
which says Sai Baba has infiltrated the British school system in a
dangerous catch 'em young policy.
The newspaper says more than 500 British schools are being taught
according to "Sai Baba-influenced educational programmes". It says the
programmes are promoted by two charities, the Sathya Sai Education in
Human Values Trust UK and the Human Values Foundation.
Former minister Sackville says the development is worrying because "it
is just like we wouldn't want or allow far-right groups such as the
British National Party (BNP) to be talking to our children in school."
Admitting the BNP was an extreme example, he said "the principle we
are keen to impress on the British government is that just like the
French, we have to make it a criminal offence to exploit people in
vulnerable situations."
Anti-cult campaigners say that their cause has been strengthened
because UNESCO pulled out of an educational conference at Puttaparthi
last year.
They say that if the French legislation is followed by other European
countries, it could eventually become European Union law and would
severely limit the activities of movements such as that of Sai Baba.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba12.html
Suicide, sex and the guru
The reputation of Sai Baba, a holy man to the rich and famous, has
been tarnished by mysterious deaths and allegations of sexual abuse
August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy
In a world of pain and sorrow, a smiling little man in a saffron robe
who can cure misery by magic is a bewitching prospect.
To millions of followers around the world, Sai Baba is a benevolent
spiritual leader whose hospitals and schools work tirelessly for the
advancement of the poor. But an investigation by The Times today
discloses that three British men have apparently taken their own lives
after becoming followers of the miracle worker. Two of them were
encouraged to believe that he could cure their medical problems. One
of those also said that he had been touched intimately by the Sai
Baba.
This is the same Sai Baba who is adored and indulged by the
international jet set. The Duchess of York had the treat of watching
him produce a gold watch and cross from thin air when she visited his
ashram in India.
The Prince of Wales's architectural adviser, Keith Critchlow, designed
a vast, stunning hospital for Sai Baba, which has been compared to St
Peter's in Rome and a maharaja's palace. "The most influential holy
man in India today," is how the respected architect describes the
guru.
The hospital, mostly financed by Isaac Tigrett, the wealthy American
founder of the Hard Rock Café chain of restaurants, treats the humble
people of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. So it was with
righteous indignation that Sai Baba, in a rare fit of public anger,
has turned on the band of disillusioned disciples who are now
tarnishing his name.
Jesus Christ, said Sai Baba to a large crowd of devotees, underwent
many hardships and was put on the cross because of jealousy. In those
days there was only one Judas to betray him, but now there are
thousands.
The holy man alleged that his detractors were being bribed to lie
about him because of fear of his growing popularity. "People are
trying to stop me but can do nothing," he said. "People love and
follow Sai because of the truth I stand for and the love that is my
basis."
Detractors are casting doubt on Sai Baba's miracles, suggesting that
he is little more than a conjuror with a limited repertoire of jaded
tricks. A financial row over the £13 million fortune of the British
film actor James Mason, whose widow became a Sai Baba devotee, is
smouldering. Most devastating is the suggestion that Sai Baba might
have been abusing his power over young male followers by indulging in
sexual activity with them.
Sai Baba was born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926 in the tiny
village of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh.When he was only 14, Sai Baba
- already magically producing candles and pencils for school friends -
surprised his family by announcing that he was the reincarnation of
Sai Baba of Shirdi, a miraculous old Indian sage who died in 1918.
Today Sai Baba's birthplace is home to an ashram that can accommodate
10,000 pilgrims. The obscure village has grown to cater for Sai Baba's
followers, of which there are more than 20 million worldwide. They
include some of India's most influential people. The legendary batsman
Sachin Tendulkar, who helps to organise cricket matches at Sai Baba's
stadium, says that he "worships" the guru.
The director-general of police in Andhra Pradesh, H. J. Dora, acts as
Sai Baba's chauffeur when the spiritual leader visits the state
capital, Hyderabad. Judges and top civil servants flock for audiences
with him. The Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, another follower,
has opened a new Sai Baba hospital in Bangalore. In a lofty tribute,
the premier said that Sai Baba has shown humanity the path of
liberation which goes beyond freedom from worldly attachments.
However, the first cracks in faith in Sai Baba's magical powers came
about because of a visit by a previous prime minister, Narasimha Rao,
also a devotee.For this special occasion, Sai Baba appeared to
materialise a gold watch from nowhere. But when Indian state
television workers played back film of the incident in slow motion,
they saw that the miracle was a sleight-of-hand hoax. The clip was
never broadcast in India but has been widely circulated on videotape
there. Sai Baba's most common miracle is to produce "sacred ash" from
between his fingers.
Sometimes he pulls shiny, solid religious artefacts from his mouth.
But magicians who have analysed these wonders say they are nothing
more than old and simple tricks. Sai Baba is being challenged on
another more prosaic front. Questions are being asked about the
fundraising techniques employed by his followers. Some are accused of
targeting vulnerable rich people and claiming that the miracle worker
might be able to cure the afflictions of old age.
One of Sai Baba's most devout followers was Clarissa Mason, the second
wife of the film star James Mason. When Clarissa died of cancer in
1994, she willed a large part of her late husband's £13 million estate
to the cult, although, due to a dispute with Mason's children,
Portland and Morgan, who contend that the estate was not hers to will
in the first place, it will be some time before the cult can hope to
see any of the Mason millions.
Clarissa Mason believed utterly in the powers of Sai Baba, filling her
house near Lake Geneva with pictures of the "godman". Her legacy has
gone to a trust whose beneficiaries are believed by Mason's children
to include a follower of Sai Baba.
But more potentially damaging than claims about money are the sexual
allegations against Sai Baba. These were first publicised as long ago
as 1976, when Tal Brooke, a disenchanted American devotee, wrote
Avatar of Night. Over the years, the description by disillusioned
followers of intimate acts involving Sai Baba has persisted.
The suggestion is that Sai Baba grants one-to-one audiences to young
men, who believe they are in the presence of a living god. This may
entail a high level of intimacy and the men allowing their private
parts to be touched or fondled by the guru.
There have been no prosecutions. A complaint was lodged with India's
Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been
no result. In the United States, though, anti-Sai Baba campaigners are
trying to persuade the authorities to open investigations into the
alleged molestation of American citizens who are minors. The co-
ordinator of this American campaign says that he has been interviewed
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation but no formal inquiry is under
way.
So has Sai Baba, the most worshipped sage of the Orient, really been
groping youthful followers. One innocent explanation is provided by
Stuart Jones, a member of Sai Baba's Bristol and Bath group. He points
out that there is a possible cultural misunderstanding at play. In
yoga, Jones explains, one of the energy points on the body is below
the testicles, an area sometimes stimulated by a teacher such as Sai
Baba.
"When I was out there, it happened to a couple of friends of mine, but
it was more like, how can I say, doctor's surgery. There was no
sexuality involved. One chap said that a tremendous amount of energy
was suddenly released in him and he felt wonderful afterwards. I don't
mean ejaculation. It was like suddenly feeling wonderful. Sometimes he
rubs the chest or the forehead where these other points are."
Talk of "energy points" does not endear Sai Baba to the Indian
Rationalists Association, an organisation of atheists and doubters
which seeks to debunk organised religion and disprove all miracles.
They denounce him as the biggest fraud of the "god industry". Joseph
Edamaruku, the association's president, says: "He has consistently
refused to subject himself to an independent examination. He raises
enormous amounts of money from India and around the world. We do not
believe claims that it is spent on hospitals and charitable works."
One charitable field where Sai Baba's followers do seem to be most
active is education. Sai Baba's teachings, however, are a collection
of banal truisms and platitudes. The most famous utterances he has
made in a six decade-long career as a living god are "Help ever, hurt
never" and "Love all, serve all". Few are likely to argue with such a
simplistic and universal moral code. He broadens his appeal further by
allowing devotees to continue practising their own religion while
paying homage to him.
Sai Baba's children's course, Education in Human Values, is taught in
schools in 100 countries. It promotes five qualities: truth (satya),
righteousness (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prema) and nonviolence
(ahimsa). Education in Human Values rejects rote learning, emphasising
Indian techniques such as "silent sitting", quotation, story-telling,
song and group activities.
Sai Baba's message reaches British schoolchildren through two
charities. The first is named in his honour, the Sathya Sai Education
in Human Values Trust UK, which claims to have had contact with 80
schools. Typical of its activities is a summer camp held at
Christchurch Primary School in Ilford, East London, several weeks ago
where 100 children painted, played games and sang. Courses have been
cleverly designed to fit into Key Stages 1 to 4 of the National
Curriculum, targeting children aged seven to 16.
The charity states that it does not promote any particular religion.
Carole Alderman, the founder, a former ChildLine volunteer, has no
teaching qualifications. She admits to using some of Sai Baba's
quotations but says: "We don't teach about Sai Baba at all."
She adds: "I have witnessed a lot of his miracles. I have seen people
going in with crutches or wheelchairs and come out walking. I have
seen him materialise things many times a day. He just knows
everything." Asked about the sexual allegations, she says: "It's
totally unfounded. Anybody who actually knows him, knows it is."
Another British charity, the Human Values Foundation, says it has
reached more than 500 schools. Its chairman, Dennis Eagan, said "The
foundation has nothing to do with Sai Baba."
But the Human Values Foundation's programme is also called "Education
for Human Values". It promotes Sai Baba's same five virtues, using
"silent sitting", activities, songs, quotations and stories. Its
president, June Auton, has been a regular visitor to Sai Baba's
ashram. She has been described by Barry Pittard, a former English
lecturer at Sai Baba's college in India, as "synonymous with Swami's
Human Values Programme."
Auton told The Times: "I'm not going to discuss anything about my
religion at all on the phone. My religion is my business." Pressed,
she would only say: "I do attend my local church." It is the recent
suicides, however, that may hurt Sai Baba the most in Britain.
Suicides and suspicious deaths have long marred his reputation. A
German man was found hanging from a rafter in Puttaparthi in the early
1980s. A father and daughter took fatal overdoses in Bangalore in 1999
after failing to get an audience with the guru.
In a puzzling incident in June 1993, Sai Baba was attacked by four
young male devotees armed with knives. Two of the guru's bodyguards
were stabbed to death. After the four youths, long-time followers of
Sai Baba, locked themselves in a room, they were all shot dead by
police. Challenging faith in a man of miracles can be painful. At Sai
Baba's Central London base in Clerkenwell, there is reluctance to
confront the allegations of sexual harassment, suicides and financial
maneuvering.
Dee Puri, at the London headquarters, denounces the suggestion that
Sai Baba takes money from the rich, pointing out that at his 28-year-
old London premises: "Entrance is free. There is no money going to
Baba at all.
As for the suggestions of sexual harassment, she told The Times: "I
don't want to talk about it because there is no such thing. I think
such conversations disturb me and my beliefs. The organisation is most
unhappy that you have tried to hurt us. Nobody will speak to you
unless you want to write something which is truth, which is not
controversial.
"As far as I am concerned, Baba is a great, great guru. Thirty years I
have been a devotee of Baba and millions and millions of people are,
so I would very respectfully ask you please not to put that sort of
question to me."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba11.html
Three die after putting faith in guru
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Dominic Kennedy
Three British men have died mysteriously after becoming followers of
an Indian mystic famed as a 'god man' and miracle worker. Sai Baba's
activities are being studied by the Foreign Office which is
considering issuing an unprecedented warning against the guru to
travellers.
The Times has learnt that three Britons have apparently taken their
lives after placing hope in India's most popular holy man.
One of them had complained of being repeatedly sexually molested by
Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore.
Michael Pender, an HIV-positive student, was found dead at a London
hostel after taking alcohol and painkillers. He had already tried to
commit suicide at the holy man's headquarters.
Aran Edwards hanged himself at home in Cardiff after joining a Sai
Baba support group and being encouraged to write to the guru to solve
his psychological problems.
Mr Edwards sent a flurry of anxious letters but was devastated after
receiving no replies and being told that the guru did not read his
mail.
Andrew Richardson, a South Africa-born British national, jumped off a
building in India shortly after visiting Sai Baba's ashram.
Among visitors who have paid respects to Sai Baba are the Duchess of
York, the Prince of Wales's architect Keith Critchlow, the cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Sai Baba's message is being preached in more than 500 British schools
through charities which claim to provide non-denominational education
in 'human values.'
Tom Sackville, a former Home Office Minister, last night urged the
Government to take decisive action to warn teachers and pilgrims of
the dangers of becoming involved with Sai Baba. The guru's reputation
is plummeting after the United Nations cancelled a conference at his
headquarters, issuing a condemnation of his alleged sex abuse of
youths and boys.
Unicef pulled out of a conference it was due to sponsor with the
guru's educational organisation in Puttaparthi last September.
The UN's cultural agency issued a trenchant statement: 'The
organisation is deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of
sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at
the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba.
'Whilst it is not for Unesco to pronounce itself in this regard, the
organisation restates its firm moral and practical commitment to
combating the sexual exploitation of children, in application of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires states to
protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and violence.'
In hundreds of British schools, Sai Baba-influenced educational
programmes on 'human values' are currently being promoted as part of
the National Curriculum.
The Charity Commission met the trustees of one of the educational
charities involved, the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Trust UK,
last year and 'found no concerns,' a spokesman said.
Mr Sackville, chairman of the anti-cult organisation Fair (Family
Action Information and Resource), said that he had successfully
intervened to persuade a girls' school to reject a Sai Baba-inspired
course.
'Schools are not on their guard because at official level they are not
given any steer,' Mr Sackville said. 'Some other countries would have
had official warnings.'
He said that Whitehall was strongly opposed to letting the British
Government apply sanctions to cults, which civil servants describe
respectfully as 'new religious movements.'
As for the Charity Commission's clean bill of health to the Sai Baba
educational organisation, Mr Sackville said: 'There's a lot of very
naive people around in these government institutions.'
He called on the Foreign Office to issue a warning against Sai Baba
along the lines of recommendations to travellers to beware the dangers
of Aids and violence abroad. The Foreign Office is believed to be
considering putting out just such advice.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba10.html
'I sought peace and couldn't find it'
The Times British News/August 27, 2001
By Michael Dynes and Dominic Kennedy
Durban -- Michael Pender, a student, hoped that Sai Baba would be able
to cure him of HIV. Like thousands of devotees from around the world,
Mr Pender went on a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram in Puttaparthi,
southern India, expecting to find magic and divinity. Instead Mr
Pender, known as "Mitch," was found dead after taking tablets in the
lonely bedroom of a hostel for the homeless in Highbury, North London.
He was 23.
Kathleen Ord, who first told him of Sai Baba's teachings, has since
destroyed her books and videos on the holy man. She said: "I blame
myself in many ways because, if I hadn't introduced them, Mitch would
probably be alive now. That's what he went to India for, thinking he'd
find a cure.
"He tried to commit suicide in the ashram. He had overdosed on drugs
more than once. He had some strange, very powerful experiences there.
There was something sexual that was frightening." Her son, Keith, has
given a detailed account of what Mr Pender said in his last weeks
about meeting Sai Baba. The guru flattered the British student by
describing him as "the reincarnation of St Michael." Mr Ord's
evidence, posted on the Internet, states: "He told me that the very
first private interview that he had with SB was a sexual encounter.
"At first he couldn't believe any of this was happening. It felt
unreal and frightening. But then after the first interview he thought
SB must have been showing him something about himself . . . that there
must have been some spiritual or 'divine' explanation behind the
swami's actions.
"But after the fourth interview, he became very despondent and
confused about the whole thing; each interview was a repetition of the
first . . . Baba 'materialised' an emerald ring on the fifth interview
and gave him money on the sixth.
"After telling me of his experiences, Michael became quite depressed."
On January 12, 1990, Mr Pender's body was found by the supervisor of
his hostel. Traces of paracetamol and alcohol were found in his blood,
but a pathologist found it impossible to determine if they were lethal
doses. An open verdict was recorded at an inquest in St Pancras.
Aran Edwards, a classical guitarist and postgraduate theology student
at the University of Wales in Newport, joined Sai Baba's Bath and
Bristol support group. David Bailey, a concert pianist from Conwy,
North Wales, who had become one of the guru's closest British aides,
met Aran with the group.
"He was sort of persuaded that Sai Baba looked after him, did
everything for him and that he should write to Sai Baba with his
problems," Mr Bailey said.
"He was quite an ill person, mentally unstable and needed orthodox
help. In the end, he wrote a couple of dozen or more letters to Sai
Baba. The group had told him this was what to do.
"He used to ring me from phone boxes pleading with me. There were 35
phone calls, I suppose . . . he was absolutely desperate that I should
talk to Sai Baba for him because he was in such a state and had
written all these letters which he had sent out and hadn't had a
reply. Could I please help because I was Sai Baba's right-hand man?
"At the end I said, 'Wake up. He doesn't even read these letters'. He
was so distraught about the situation, he decided to commit suicide."
Aran Edwards, a single man, was found hanged from a staircase at his
home in Cardiff, on April 19, 1999. He was 37. A suicide verdict was
recorded by the coroner.
Stuart Jones, of the Bath and Bristol group, said: "He was a very
fragile kind of person, very sensitive, very gentle in nature. If you
are thinking there is a link, I know for a fact there wasn't a link in
the sense of all the allegations going about Sai Baba. He was in
distress long before."
Aran never visited Sai Baba in India. But Andrew Richardson, a British
national born in South Africa, did. He made a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's
ashram, booking in for a week, but mysteriously leaving after only two
days.
On September 19, 1996, Mr Richardson travelled to Bangalore and hired
a taxi at the railway station to one of the city's tallest buildings,
the State Bank of Mysore. Mr Richardson flung banknotes and
travellers' cheques in the air, ran into the bank and up the stairs to
the eighth floor, where he smashed a window and leapt 84ft to the
ground, killing himself. He was 33.
Two letters were found on his body. One to Sai Baba outlined his quest
for spiritual enlightenment. The second was a suicide note saying he
was in a deep depression: "I came to India in search of peace but
could not find it." His mother, Deirdre, at her home near
Pietermaritzburg, said: "Andrew wanted to see Sai Baba, but was also
heading to Calcutta to see Mother Teresa . . . All he wanted to do was
work with the poor."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba9.html
Sex Scandal swirls around Sai Baba
Cult News Summary/December 2004
Sai Baba, a controversial Indian "holy man" presides over a spiritual
kingdom that includes one of the world's largest ashrams. He claims to
have millions of followers.
But the guru, who is approaching 80, has a history of sexual abuse
allegations that in recent years has made media headlines around the
world.
Former followers of the aging swami reportedly call him "a sexual
harasser, a fraud and even a pedophile."
One man says Sai Baba ordered him to drop his pants and allow the guru
to massage his penis. He later said, "Sai Baba was my God -- who dares
to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he
had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in
totality."
Despite such revelations and the growing scandal that surrounds Sai
Baba he continues to be worshipped at his ashram. Twice a day he
parades about and makes appearances to the faithful, entertaining them
with what seems like little more than magic tricks.
Sai Baba's so-called "materializations" include making watches and
jewelry appear out of "thin air."
At functions his followers rock back and forth with "shining eyes"
seemingly in trance-like or hypnotic states. Perhaps in this condition
they are prepared to believe almost anything.
The guru holds court within lavishly appointed rooms decorated with
gold leaf and hanging chandeliers.
"Sometimes I think the ashram is a madhouse and Swami is the
director," said one recently devoted disciple. Does Sai Baba prey upon
the psychologically and emotionally vulnerable? "When you don't have
problems, you don't go to the ashram," says a disciple.
But there may be casualties amongst the true believers.
A Malaysian woman reportedly had a psychotic breakdown, attacked
ashram workers and was taken into police custody. She sat in a holding
area almost catatonic, mumbling "darshan, darshan, darshan"
repeatedly.
Sai Baba has accumulated substantial influence and prestige within
India. That influence includes some prominent leaders such as former
Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. The Times of India reported in 1993
that the guru's followers include "governors, chief ministers,
assorted politicians, business tycoons, newspaper magnates, jurists,
sportsmen, academics and, yes, even scientists."
His popularity is easy to understand. Sai Baba has built a hospital
that offers free services, partly financed by a $20 million donation
from Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Café. Its pink façade
makes it look more like a palace than a hospital. And in the entrance
area there are images of Sai Baba.
Sai Baba's charities have reportedly been plagued though by "rumors of
chicanery and worse."
Nevertheless Illustrated Weekly of India stated, "God or a fraud, no
one doubts the good work done by the Sai organization."
But does the guru use his accumulated good will and "God-man" status
to get into people's pants?
The sex abuse claims are strikingly similar and seem to fit the same
pattern.
"During my 'private audiences' with Sai Baba, Sai Baba used to touch
my private parts and regularly massage my private parts, indicating
that this was for spiritual purposes," wrote one former devotee. "He
grabbed my head and pushed it into his groin area. He made moaning
sounds. As soon as he took the pressure off my head and I lifted my
head, Sai Baba lifted his dress and presented me a semi-erect member,
telling me that this was my good luck chance, and jousted his hips
towards my face," the man said.
When the devotee later talked about his sexual encounter he was thrown
out of the ashram.
"Each time I saw Baba, his hand would gradually make more prominent
connections to my groin," said another former follower.
All of the allegations reportedly involved mostly teenage boys and
young men in their 20s.
This story is hardly new. In 1970 a book by Tal Brooke titled "Lord of
the Air" later renamed "Avatar of Night," told the story of a devoted
disciple's disillusionment upon learning of Sai Baba's sexual
appetite.
More recently a document called "Findings" accumulated accounts of
alleged sexual exploitation and abuse from the guru's former
followers.
An excerpt from the document reads, "Whilst still at the ashram, the
worst thing for me -- as a mother of sons -- occurred when a young
man, a college student, came to our room, to plead with David, 'Please
Sir, do something to stop him sexually abusing us&These sons of
devotees, unable to bear their untenable position of being unwilling
participants in a pedophile situation any longer, yet unable to share
this with their parents because they would be disbelieved, placed
their trust in David; a trust which had built over his five years as a
visiting professor of music to the Sai college."
Since the release of "Findings" the Sai Baba sex scandal has grown and
gained momentum.
A California man named Glen Meloy, who spent 26 years as a devotee
wanted to launch a class-action lawsuit against the Sai Organization
in America. "You've got all these kids who are scared to death to do
anything that will do disrespect to their parents, in a room with
someone they believe to be the creator of the whole universe. This
isn't just any child abuse; this is God himself claiming to do this,"
Meloy said.
One former Indian ashram volunteer petitioned India's Supreme Court to
investigate Sai Baba. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been
abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old
kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In
most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not
going to believe them. American citizens have been knowing about this
abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to
him," he said.
UNESCO yanked its co-sponsorship of an education conference in India
linked to Sai Baba and stated it was "deeply concerned about widely
reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children
that have been leveled at the leader of the movement in question,
Sathya Sai Baba."
After Conny Larsson, a Swedish actor went public about his coerced
sexual relations with the guru; the Sai Organization in Sweden was
shut down.
India Today ran a cover story about the scandal, as has England's
Daily Telegraph.
Labor MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament.
Former British government minister, Tom Sackville said, "The
authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable."
But it seems that the guru's ardent followers can rationalize almost
anything.
One such disciple concluded in an essay published on the Internet,
"First of all, I believe that Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar, a full
incarnation of God ... any sexual contact Baba has had with devotees
-- of whatever kind -- has actually been only a potent blessing, given
to awaken the spiritual power within those souls. Who can call that
'wrong'? Surely to call such contact 'molestation' is perversity
itself."
A "potent blessing"?
"When he does it, he has a purpose," concludes another still devoted
follower.
Other devotees have rejected reports about their guru's sexual abuse
completely regardless of how many of his alleged victims come forward
to tell their stories.
One said, "I think this is a projection of his devotees' problems. You
hear a lot of rumors&but for me it's not important. When you're happy,
why doubt it?"
Note: This news summary is based upon an article titled
"Untouchable" (note: dead link) by Michelle Goldberg, which appeared
in Salon Magazine, July 25, 2001
Holy man? Sex abuser? Both?
Vancouver Sun/February 27, 2001
By Douglas Todd
His followers say Sai Baba is a God on Earth, and they generously
support his multi-billion-dollar religious empire. But some former
adherents are coming forward with dark tales of the guru sexually
molesting young men.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba -- "The Protector," "The Infinite," "the Creator"
-- has only once left India, where he reigns as arguably the country's
most famous living swami. But Sai Baba is here tonight at this temple
in east Vancouver. Sai Baba is sitting in the ochre robe on the wooden
throne at the front altar, smelling the eye-stinging incense,
listening to the spine-tingling chants and watching the earnest,
multiracial followers bow to him. Sai Baba is omni-present.
So be-lieves B.C. Sai Baba president Nami Thiyagaratnam, who teaches
management studies at the University of Victoria. To devotees, Sai
Baba is an avatar, God on Earth, born of a virgin mother. Separated by
gender in the Vancouver temple, the scores of East Indians,
Caucasians, Japanese, blacks and Chinese followers who sit on the red
carpet revering Sai Baba believe he paranormally transports his
invisible soul throughout the globe.
They are convinced that at this moment he is gazing contentedly at
them and other adherents conducting similar rituals of worship around
the planet at 6,700 Sai Baba temples, charity hospitals and schools,
mostly in India, but including 500 centres in the U.S. and 70 in
Canada. Dr. Ray Ludwig, 60, a Vancouver physician, puts his awe for
the Indian avatar succinctly: "Sai Baba, to me, is like a thousand
Mother Teresas. It was the greatest day of my life when I met Sai Baba
15 years ago. He transforms people to an altruistic lifestyle."
But deep troubles are emerging in Sai Baba's wealthy, glorious
universe, where people of all religions, from Christianity to
Buddhism, are meant to come together, because, as Sai Baba teaches,
"all faiths are facets of the same truth."
Accusations are mounting that Sai Baba has been sexually molesting
comely young men for decades during private meetings at his giant
ashram in India, where thousands visit each week.
The round-faced "saint" with the Jimi Hendrix hairdo, who is known for
miraculously manifesting out of thin air everything from wristwatches
to sacred stones and ash, has never admitted to sexual assault. But
followers in Canada and elsewhere acknowledge they've taken part with
him in what they call "sexual healing."
As the number of disturbing accounts grow, followers around the world
and across Canada have been feeling betrayed. Greater Vancouver boasts
one of the bigger North American Sai Baba contingents, with several
thousand members, about 75 per cent of them from the city's large Indo-
Canadian community With the sex scandal rapidly being unveiled on
various Internet sites and in a few newspapers, Sai Baba has told his
adherents, whose numbers range from 10 million to 50 million,
depending on whom you talk to, not to sign on to the World Wide Web.
The abuse charges are producing a mix of confusion and sadness,
defensiveness and sublime indifference among those who remain
acolytes. Thiyagaratnam, speaking at the Sai Baba Centre at 1659 East
10th, says he's not surprised that people are trying to ruin the
reputation of such a wondrous man. After all, he says, people also
persecuted Jesus Christ and Buddha. "It's very acrimonious and we're
sad. But people are entitled to their opinion." The charges are taking
their toll, however.
UNESCO recently cancelled its co-sponsorship of a conference in Sai
Baba's hometown of Puttaparthi, in southern India, saying it was
"deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of sexual abuse
involving youth and children that have been levelled at the leader of
the movement."
The many celebrity admirers of 75-year-old Sai Baba -- including
Indian president Atal Bihari Vajpayee; Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of
the Hard Rock restaurant chain and House of Blues; Sarah Ferguson,
Prince Andrew's former wife, and dozens of prominent Indian
professionals -- have so far been silent. But graphic charges have
come from all over the world.
London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper and India Today magazine recently
reported the case of American Sam Young, a young man who said he was
repeatedly abused by Sai Baba in a private room while his unwitting
parents remained outside, feeling blissful that their son was getting
so much of the divine one's attention.
Former Sai Baba leaders such as Swedish psychotherapist and former
film star, Conny Larsson, who says the guru regularly performed oral
sex on him and asked for it in return. Sai Baba was said to have
claimed he was simply correcting Larsson's inner "kundalini" energy.
David Bailey, a Welshman who had risen high in Sai Baba's inner
circle, fell away after hearing numerous accounts of how young men's
sessions with Sai Baba, which started out as purported sexual healing,
eventually turned into molestation. Bailey has been compiling the
stories, called the Findings, on a Web site.
Californian Glen Meloy is one of many former adherents who are busily
"e-bombing" decision-makers, including the White House, U.S. Senators,
the FBI and Indian newspapers, with warnings to keep young males away
from Sai Baba.
Still, no criminal charges have ever been laid against Sai Baba,
although some speculate that's because of his exalted position and
charitable work in India, where he's opened numerous well-appointed
hospitals, schools, colleges and water-treatment facilities.
Dr. Michael Goldstein, the influential U.S. president of the Sai Baba
organization, this year dismissed all the accusations. He says they're
unbelievable and that Sai Baba remains divinely pure, filled only with
"selfless love." The answer for those who doubt, says Goldstein, is to
show more faith.
But Goldstein's attitude draws the disdain of people such as
Vancouver's Tony Cleary, who walked away last year from the group
after 15 years of high-level dedication. Cleary, a 57-year-old
businessman, said it's difficult to leave. "Sai Baba makes you feel so
important because he tells you he's chosen you."
In addition to the sex allegations catalogued by Bailey, a friend,
Cleary is concerned about what he estimates are the billions of
dollars that well-meaning devotees give to Sai Baba and his various
charities. "It's a huge enterprise," Cleary says. Sai Baba is said to
be the reincarnation of the revered Indian saint, Shirdi Sai Baba, who
died in 1918. But Cleary said Sai Baba's teachings are "pretty
standard stuff.
"It's basically Hinduism with an eclectic mix of Christianity and
Buddhism, so it will appeal to more people." Despite his anger, Cleary
still believes Sai Baba probably has miraculous powers, including the
ability to "astral travel," which allows his soul to traverse the
globe.
Cleary also believes Sai Baba, who has only physically travelled to
Africa many years ago, may transport himself to sleep in various
sacred beds that devotees keep for him around the world, including in
Vancouver. So far in Canada, two people have agreed to go public with
accounts of Sai Baba's practice of "sexual healing," sometimes known
as "genital oiling."
But they offer ambiguous interpretations of what happened. Marc-Andre
St. Jean said in an interview from Montreal that when he was 19 and
had a private session with Sai Baba, the guru pointed at his genitals
and said, "Something slow."
Although St. Jean didn't know what Sai Baba was talking about at the
time, he said the guru then "asked me to drop my pants. He made a
materializing motion with his hand and there was cream on it. He
applied it to my scrotum." St. Jean thought at the time the event was
not sexual -- but more like "going to the doctor" for what he found
out was a urinary infection -- but St. Jean has since quit the group
after hearing and believing the mounting allegations of molestation.
St. Jean, now 29, remains bemused. "The charisma of Sai Baba is
incredible," he says. "The love was flowing from him. All this still
bothers me a lot. It's scary." In Langley, by contrast, Sai Baba
leaders Ann and David Jevons remain defiantly loyal to their divine
master.
Although they witnessed Sai Baba conduct a "sexual healing" on their
son's genitals more than a decade ago, they say the guru did it
because their son had a lump on his testicles, probably caused by an
anti-miscarriage drug she had taken during pregnancy.
"I know Sai Baba has done sexual things," says Ann Jevons, 62. Ann and
David, 65, acknowledged in an article for their newsletter that Sai
Baba can show less interest in adults such as themselves and more
interest in children and young people in general -- showering them
with rings and watches that he mysteriously materializes out of
nowhere.
But Jevons thinks sexual healing is a good thing, because "there is a
kundalini point between the anus and the genitals, where human energy
starts." It is totally understandable, she says, that a saint would
want to help people by curing disruptions in the flow of such a
crucial life force.
"Sai Baba is faultless," Jevons says. "He just opened the largest
hospital in south India. He's done incredible service to the world.
His accusers are wrong. And we're no gullible believers."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba6.html
Guru shrugs off sex allegations
The Star/January 14, 2001
By Tom Harpur
`Do not get deluded because I talk, laugh, eat and walk like
you. . . . All my actions are always selfless, selfless, selfless.'-
Guru Sai Baba
IN THE Oct. 28 issue of the London Telegraph's Sunday magazine, a
major feature article described one of the greatest scandals to befall
a guru or religious leader in our time.
Titled "Divine Downfall," the six-page expos* by British investigative
journalist Mick Brown makes the case that the man millions around the
world hold to be God incarnate, a healer and "miracle worker" on a par
with Krishna or Christ, has systematically and for decades sexually
abused large numbers of teenage boys.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba - who has only once left his southern India ashram
in Puttaparthi, close to Bangalore (for a visit to Uganda), yet has
followers numbering anywhere from 10 million to 50 million, depending
on the source - is also accused of financial wrongs and "B-grade
conjuring tricks."
But those charges have been around for years. What is new is the huge
controversy now coming to a head over a document released on the
Internet, called "The Findings."
It was compiled over the last three years by David Bailey, a Welsh ex-
devotee, who had risen high in the guru's inner circle only to be
devastated by allegations made to him by several students at Sai
Baba's ashram college.
They claimed the guru had sexually abused them and said they couldn't
tell anyone because they were fearful of being disbelieved by their
parents and friends who were also devotees.
Shocked, Bailey quit the ashram and began building a record of
evidence gained from devotees around the globe.
The completed dossier includes scores of accounts of such abuse from
Holland, Australia, Germany, India and the United States.
Swedish movie actor Conny Larsson is one of those cited: "Not only did
Sai Baba make sexual advances towards him, but he had also been told
by young male disciples of advances the guru had made on them."
The Telegraph account told a particularly moving story of an American
husband and wife who suddenly found themselves being given special
treatment by the guru - out of all the thousands seeking to get near
him at his twice-daily public sessions.
Simultaneously, their teenage son, Sam, was being selected for even
closer ties. The Telegraph said he was given presents of all kinds,
including expensive watches, which the guru claimed to have
"materialized" out of thin air.
Over four years, Sam spent many hours alone with "God," just metres
from his parents outside.
The parents were stunned when their son finally alleged that Sai Baba
had steadily moved from fondling to demands for oral sex and,
eventually, attempted rape. Sam said he had feared that to tell anyone
would end his parents' happiness and incur the divine wrath of the
guru.
Significantly, the harrowing stories in "The Findings" produced a
flood of similar accounts from every corner of the Internet.
Gradually, the stage was set for one of the most amazing battles ever
spawned in cyberspace.
Browsing the Net recently, I found everything from Web sites with
specious, unconvincing arguments - for example, that the whole affair
was initiated by the omnipotent, omniscient guru as a kind of "divine
game" to test the disciples' faith - to a host of critical chatrooms,
columns and letters.
Sai Baba has been "India's most famous and powerful holy man" for
nearly 60 years.
His official biographer says in a four-volume work that the "saint"
was born sinless "of immaculate conception," like the Virgin Mary, in
Puttaparthi in 1926.
At 13, he announced he was the reincarnation of a revered southern
saint, Shirdi Sai Baba, who died in 1918. Even as a boy, the guru
displayed signs of allegedly miraculous powers by "materializing"
flowers and candies from "nowhere."
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other politicians are
included among his followers, as are members of India's judiciary,
academics, scientists and scores of high-profile members of the upper
middle class.
There are nine chapters of the Sai Baba organization in Toronto and
many others nationwide.
Nothing I have found yet on the Web or elsewhere directly meets the
current charges. Instead, the pro-Baba arguments seem to consist of
various ways of saying that God is God and doesn't really have to
explain. His ways are far beyond anything we mere humans can
understand.
Sai Baba is reported to have said recently to his devotees: "Never try
to understand me."
Perhaps he eventually will be cleared of the accusations levelled
against him. He may be a pure healer and a promoter of universal love.
But if this quote is accurate, he embodies the kind of guruship to be
avoided at all cost.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba5.html
The man believers think is God
Sai Baba, an Indian holy man, worshipped by many prominent Canadians,
is accused of being a sexual predator
The Ottawa Citizen/December 19, 2000
By Bob Harvey
Millions of devotees in Ottawa and in more than 100 countries around
the world recently celebrated the 75th birthday of Sai Baba, an Indian
spiritual leader they believe is God.
But a growing number of leaders of the movement in Canada, Sweden, the
U.S. and other countries have quit: they say Sai Baba is a sexual
predator.
UNESCO also recently cancelled its co-sponsorship of a conference in
Sai Baba's home town of Puttaparthi, India, saying it was "deeply
concerned about widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse involving
youth and children that have been levelled at the leader of the
movement."
Raj Midha, the president of Ottawa's brand new $2-million Sri Sathya
Sai Spiritual Centre on Hunt Club, is a believer. Like many devotees,
he wears a large ring given to him by the guru. "He materialized it
from thin air," Mr. Midha says.
Television documentaries produced in Australia, India and other
countries have used slow-motion to show that such "miracles" are
really just clever sleight-of-hand by Sai Baba. But Mr. Midha shrugs
off this and other allegations about Sai Baba. "With all big leaders,
there have always been people who didn't like them. Even Jesus was
crucified."
What Mr. Midha wants to do is tell how Sai Baba has changed his life
and others. He shows off the 156,000-square-foot centre with pride,
and points to Sai Baba teachings posted on the walls of the building.
He says those teachings can be summarized in eight words: "Love All,
Serve All", and "Help Ever, Hurt Never."
Mr. Midha, a telecommunications engineer, believes Sai Baba cured his
wife's cancer, and he credits his own work with the Shepherds of Good
Hope and other charities to Sai Baba's teachings. On the centre's
second floor, he is reverent as he enters Sai Baba's bedroom, which
comes complete with bathroom, and a balcony overlooking the worship
area on the ground floor.
Sai Baba has taken only one trip out of India, and that was to Uganda.
But Mr. Midha and other devotees firmly believe their leader can
transport himself around the world at will. Mr. Midha says they know
Sai Baba uses his Ottawa bedroom, because they leave a glass of water
on his bedside table, and often the glass has been half-drained. About
200 devotees regularly worship at the centre, and some report having
seen the holy man while they were praying.
Conny Larsson, a psychotherapist, and once a well-known actor and film
star in his native Sweden, has a very different view of Sai Baba. He
first met Sai Baba in 1978, built his own apartment near the guru's
headquarters in Puttaparthi, and remained a devotee until last year.
Mr. Larsson was the spiritual co-ordinator of the Sai Baba movement in
Sweden, and says he brought tens of thousands of people to India to
see Sai Baba by speaking at conferences, writing a book about Sai
Baba, and speaking on radio.
"Now I feel very guilty," he says. For the first five years he knew
Sai Baba, Mr. Larsson says the guru regularly practised oral sex on
him, and asked that Mr. Larsson do the same for him. The guru's
explanation, as it has been for many young men, is that he was
correcting Mr. Larsson's kundalini, or cosmic force.
"I was brainwashed," said Mr. Larsson in a telephone interview from
Sweden. "As a child I was severely molested, and when he did this to
me, he told me he was going to correct something. And in my mind, I
thought God was healing me of this tragedy. This is the reason he
could do what he liked. "Everyone told me I was very special. They
puffed me up. For a person so molested and hurt as a child, it was a
relief to be someone."
By 1986, Mr. Larsson had talked to many young male devotees, most of
them attractive blond westerners, who told him they too had had sex
with Sai Baba. He believes Sai Baba has had sex with many more
reluctant male followers. Why do they do it? He says it's because
"everyone believes he is divine. They want to believe because they
have nothing else," he said.
For more than 50 years, Sai Baba has been India's most famous holy
man. The number of his followers is estimated at somewhere between 10
million and 50 million, and they include India's Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vaijpayee; Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of the Hard Rock
Restaurant chain; Simon de Jong, a former New Democrat MP from
Saskatchewan; and Kris Singhal, founder of Ottawa's Richcraft Homes.
Birendra, the king of Nepal, Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew's former
wife; and many other celebrities have also made pilgrimages to see the
guru.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Sai Baba's ashram,
and what was once a small village now has an airstrip, a university, a
hospital and enough hotels and apartment blocks to accommodate tens of
thousands of people. "When you see all these important people moving
around there, kings and queens moving around as if they were common
people, you start to believe he (Sai Baba) has a divine plan for all
mankind," said Mr. Larsson.
Twice a day, Sai Baba strolls among the thousands of devotees seated
in the main temple and chooses people from the crowd for private
interviews. Often those chosen for private interviews are young men
like Mr. Larsson once was. What prompted him to quit the organization
and start speaking out was the abuse suffered by a young Swedish man
who asked for his help as a psychotherapist, after six interviews with
Sai Baba.
"He told me about the same things that happened to me. The swami
opened his trousers and started to masturbate him. He withdrew, but
the swami insisted." Mr. Larsson then brought the man to a meeting of
Swedish leaders of the Sai Baba movement, and told his own story as
well. The majority of the leaders resigned, and Mr. Larsson, like many
other ex-devotees, put his story on the Internet.
Mr. Larsson's story is one of many that appear in another Internet
posting, The Findings, a 42-page document amassed by David and Faye
Bailey, former devotees who once lived in Puttaparthi, and edited a
magazine to propagate Sai Baba's teachings. Mr. Bailey is a British
concert pianist and taught students at the Sathya Sai Baba College.
When some of his students complained to him about being sexually
molested by Sai Baba, he quit the organization and began documenting
the stories of abuse.
Glen Meloy, a retired management consultant in California, is another
former devotee who is using the Internet to warn others to keep their
sons away from Sai Baba. After 26 years of following Sai Baba, he quit
when he heard the story of a 15-year-old California boy who said he
had been abused on multiple occasions. Mr. Meloy said this boy and
others in families of devotees "were born with the idea that Baba is
God. So they submit because they're afraid to displease their parents,
let alone God himself, who's asking them to participate in these
acts."
Mr. Meloy is now bombarding politicians, the White House, Indian
newspapers, and the FBI with allegations of abuse by the Indian
spiritual leader. He says he gets 50 to 100 e-mails and phone calls a
day from former devotees, many of them looking for advice on what to
do about the tales of abuse they have heard.
To date, only one former Canadian devotee is willing to go public with
his story of being sexually touched. Marc-Andre St. Jean of Montreal
said that when he visited Puttaparthi in 1992, Sai Baba took him into
a private interview room, and asked him to drop his pants. Then he
touched Mr. St. Jean's genitals. He said he had a kidney problem and
at the time he thought Sai Baba was just trying to help him.
But Mr. St. Jean's story, and that of the son of a Quebec family of
devotees, helped persuade seven co-ordinators of the Sai Baba movement
in Quebec to hand in their resignations.
Alain Groven of Montreal's South Shore was the province's
representative on the national Sai Baba council. He said he and other
co-ordinators resigned after comparing the stories of Quebecers to
those of Mr. Larsson and others who suffered more severe abuse.
Mr. Groven said that last year, the Canadian organization gave Sai
Baba $90,000 as a birthday present, and the 70 centres across Canada
probably donated even more this year, for the 75th birthday.
[One woman said that] she and the other Montreal-area co-ordinators
who resigned wonder why so many others have remained devotees. "But
when you believe he is God, and you have invested yourself in a
spiritual community, it involves too much to suddenly decide he is not
God. Your whole spiritual world falls apart. It's too hard to bear,"
she said.
V.P. Singh of Windsor has been president of the Canadian Sai Baba
organization for the past 30 years. He said he does not care to read
the allegations against Sai Baba, and like most other devotees, he
obeys his guru's command not to use the Internet.
"I have known him for 30 years, and I have had a nice experience," he
said. Mr. Singh said the Canadian and other leaders who have resigned
from the organization around the world "can do whatever they want to
do; it's their business."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba4.html
Divine downfall
The Daily Telegraph Saturday Magazine/October 27, 2000
By Mick Brown
Driving into town from the small Midwest airport where Carrie Young
and her husband had met me off the plane, she pulled a large picture
from the back seat of the station wagon. Framed in gilded-gold, the
picture showed the couple and their three children posing with an
elderly, chubby-faced Indian man with an ostentatious Afro haircut,
dressed in a red robe. Staring out of the picture, it seemed the
Youngs were shining with happiness. "And to think," said Carrie, "this
is the man we used to think was God."
The Youngs were what Americans call "straight arrows": honest, decent
and truthful. A handsome, clean-cut couple in their mid-40s; both
worked in the computer industry. The past year, said Jeff, had been
difficult, what with all that had happened, but they were pulling
things together.
A year ago, their son Sam had come to them with a shocking assertion:
Sathya Sai Baba, he told them - the man the Youngs had revered as God
for more than 20 years - was, in fact, a sexual abuser. Over the
course of four years, in his ashram, while Sam's parents sat a few
metres away - thrilled that their son should be in such close
proximity to the divine, secure in their belief that the god-man was
ministering to their son's spiritual welfare - Sai Baba was actually
subjecting him to sustained and systematic sexual abuse. "You'll meet
Sam at the restaurant," said Carrie. "He's prepared to talk about
this. He thinks it's important too."
Sam was a tall, blue-eyed, dreadlocked boy with a look that could only
be described as angelic. For the next four hours, they told me the
story of how they had come to Sai Baba; of their spiritual
aspirations, the dreams, the visions, the miracles - and the nightmare
their lives had turned into. And always, throughout the conversation,
the same question repeated itself: how could it possibly have come to
this?
For more than 50 years, Sai Baba has been India's most famous and most
powerful holy man - a worker of miracles, it is said, an instrument of
the divine. His following extends not only to every corner of the
Indian sub-continent, but to Europe, America, Australia, South America
and throughout Asia. Estimates of the total number of Baba devotees
around the world vary between 10 and 50 million.
To even begin to appreciate the scale and intensity of his following,
it is necessary to have some understanding of what his devotees
believe him to be, and of the powers that are attributed to him. Among
his devotees, Sai Baba is believed to be an avatar: literally, an
incarnation of the divine, one of a rare body of divine beings - such
as Krishna or Christ - who, it is said, take human form to further
man's spiritual evolution.
According to the four-volume hagiography written by his late secretary
and disciple, Professor N. Kasturi, Sai Baba was born "of immaculate
conception" in the southern Indian village of Puttaparthi in 1926. As
a young boy, he displayed signs of miraculous abilities, including
"materialising" flowers and sweets from nowhere. At 13, he declared
himself to be the reincarnation of a revered southern Indian saint,
Shirdi Sai Baba, who died in 1918. Challenged to prove his identity,
Kasturi writes, he threw a clump of jasmine flowers on the floor,
which arranged themselves to spell out "Sai Baba" in Telugu.
In 1950, he established a small ashram, Prasanthi Nilayam (Abode of
Serenity) in his home village. This has now grown to the size of a
small town, accommodating up to 10,000 people, with tens of thousands
more housed in the numerous hotels and apartment blocks that have
sprung up around. There is a primary school, university, college, and
hospital in the ashram, and innumerable other institutions around
India bearing Sai Baba's name. In India, his devotees include the
former prime minister, PV Narasimha Rao, the present Prime Minister,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and an assortment of senior judiciary,
academics, scientists and prominent politicians. Unlike other Indian
gurus who have travelled in the West, cultivating a following among
faith seekers and celebrities, Sai Baba has left India only once, in
the '70s, to visit Uganda. His reputation in the West spread largely
by word-of-mouth. His devotees tend to be drawn from the educated
middle-classes.
It is said that as an instrument of the divine, Sai Baba is
omniscient, capable of seeing the past, present and future of
everyone; his "miracles' include materialising various keepsakes for
devotees, including watches, rings and pendants, as well as vibhuti or
holy ash. Like Christ, he is said to have created food to feed
multitudes; to have "appeared" to disciples in times of crisis or
need. There are countless accounts of healings, and at least two of
his having raised people from the dead.
Sai Baba's teachings resemble a synthesis of all the great faiths,
with a particular emphasis on Christian charity, enshrined in his most
ubiquitous aphorism, "Love All, Serve All".
The principal event in Prasanthi Nilayam is darshan, in which Sai Baba
emerges twice daily from his quarters adjacent to the main temple and
walks among the thousands of devotees seated on the hard marble floor.
Hands reach forward to touch his feet or to pass him letters of
supplication. Occasionally he pauses, to offer a blessing or to
"materialise" vibhuti in an outstretched hand. It is during darshan
that Sai Baba, by some unseen criteria, chooses people from the crowd
for private interviews. Some devotees might wait for years.
Inevitably for such a potent figure, Sai Baba has, for years, been the
subject of rumbling allegations of fakery, fraud and worse. But he has
proved remarkably immune to controversy, the accusations doing little
to dent his growing following or the esteem in which he is held. But
all that, it appears, is about to change.
In recent months, a storm of allegations have appeared - spurred by a
document called The Findings, compiled by an English former devotee
named David Bailey - which threaten to shake the very foundations of
Sai Baba's holy empire. Sai Baba may represent an ancient tradition of
belief, but the instrument of accusation against him is an altogether
modern one. Originally published in document form, The Findings
quickly found its way on to the Internet, where it has become the
catalyst for a raging cyberspace debate about whether Sai Baba is
truly divine or, as one disenchanted former devotee describes him, "a
dangerous paedophile".
David Bailey became a devotee of Sai Baba in 1994, at the age of 40,
drawn by an interest in the guru's reputation as a spiritual healer.
"I couldn't see him as a God," says Bailey, "but I did think, this
could be a great holy man who has certain gifts."
An extrovert man, Bailey quickly became a ubiquitous and popular
figure among devotees. He travelled all over the world, speaking and
performing at meetings and would visit the ashram in India three or
four times a year. Over the course of four years Bailey claims to have
had more than 100 interviews with Baba. At Baba's instigation, Bailey
married a fellow devotee, and together they edited a magazine to
propagate Sai Baba's teachings. But the closer he came to Sai Baba,
Bailey told me, the more his doubts multiplied. The miracles, he
concluded, were B-grade conjuring tricks, the healings a myth, and
Baba's powers of being able to see into people's minds and lives
merely a clever use of information gleaned from others.
Bailey's dwindling faith was finally crushed when students from the
college came to him alleging that they had been sexually abused by the
guru. "They said, `Please sir, can you go back to England and help
us."' They were unable to tell their parents because they were afraid
of being disbelieved, and feared for their personal safety.'
Shocked by the allegations, Bailey severed his association with Sai
Baba and began to assemble a dossier of evidence from former devotees
around the world. The Findings is a chronicle of shattered illusions.
It contains allegations of fakery, con-trickery and financial
irregularities in the funding of the hospital and over a Sai Baba
project to supply water to villages around the ashram, which is
habitually trumpeted as evidence of his munificence.
Some of these allegations have been aired before. But the charges
contained in The Findings are of an altogether different magnitude.
They include verbatim accounts of abuse from devotees in Holland,
Australia, Germany and India. Conny Larsson, a well-known Swedish film
actor, says that not only did Sai Baba make homosexual advances
towards him, but he was also told by young male disciples of advances
the guru had made on them.
In April, Glen Meloy - a retired management consultant and a prominent
Californian devotee of some 26 years standing - received a letter from
an American woman who had read The Findings on the Internet. Her 15-
year-old son, she said, had also been abused. Included in the letter
was a four-page statement from the boy himself alleging multiple
sexual abuse.
Meloy launched his own Internet campaign to spread the allegations.
The effects of this have been enormous. There has been a rash of
defections from Sai Baba groups throughout the West. >From other
devotees, however, the response has been one of disbelief and denial.
"Sai Baba," says Bailey, "is a simple sex maniac who's on an ego trip,
after money, after power. He is a sheer conman." No, say others, "Sai
Baba is God."
The Young family are not among those listed in The Findings, but the
story of how they had come to Sai Baba was not atypical. In the early
'70s, Jeff had become interested in "the spiritual quest", initially
through psychedelics, then through yoga and meditation. He learned of
Sai Baba through a friend, and in 1974, at the age of 18, visited
India for the first time.
Three weeks later Jeff had a private interview with Sai Baba. "And I
remember feeling peace like I had never felt before; feeling loved
like I'd never been loved before." He returned to Los Angeles, where
he lived in a community with fellow Baba devotees. He met Carrie,
whose childhood had been characterised by parental abuse, and her
teenage years by drug abuse. She, too, became a devotee of Sai Baba.
They married, moved to the Midwest and started to raise a family. Over
the years, they visited Sai Baba from time to time. They founded a
community, home-schooled their children according to his teachings,
and strove to lead a life of purity and self-discipline.
Then, in 1995, things began to change. Their son, Sam, who was now 16,
visited the ashram with a family friend and was singled out for a
private interview with Sai Baba. Eighteen months later, the Youngs
returned to Puttaparthi; again Sai Baba singled out Sam and called him
and the family for an interview. "He made [a big fuss of] our group,"
said Jeff. "He materialised a ring for my son. He told everybody that
Sam had been a great Shirdi Sai devotee in a previous life - he just
poured it on." During the course of that visit, the Youngs were called
for seven interviews, while Sam had some 20 private meetings. The
family felt blissfully privileged. He materialised rings, watches,
bracelets, gave them robes and the silk lungi he wore next to his
skin.
The following year, the family returned to Puttaparthi three times. On
each occasion they would be gifted with two or three interviews. Sam
had twice as many. "We had no idea what was going on," said Jeff.
In 1995, Sam had come to his father. In a private interview, he said,
Sai Baba had "materialised" some oil in his hand, unbuttoned Sam's
trousers and rubbed his genitals. Jeff told his son he had had a
similar experience when he first met Sai Baba at 18. "I said to Sam,
what did you think about it? He said he didn't feel there was anything
sexual about it; it was like Sai Baba was doing his job. And I'd kind
of had that experience. A doctor gives a boy an exam. I'd taken it as
some kind of healing." Thereafter, Sam said nothing about his
experiences.
What had actually occurred was this: from anointing with oil, Sam told
me, Sai Baba's advances had grown progressively more abusive and
forceful. Sai Baba, he said, had kissed him, fondled him and attempted
to force him to perform oral sex, explaining that it was for
"purification". On almost every occasion Sai Baba had given him gifts
of watches, rings, trinkets and cash, in total around $10,000. He had
told him to say nothing to his parents. When Sam asked Baba why he was
doing this, he would tell him it was because Sam was "a special
devotee - that it was a great blessing". When Sam attempted to resist,
he said, Baba would threaten not to call his parents for any more
interviews. "I felt obligations, to my parents, our friends, all the
thousands of people sitting outside who all wanted to be in the
position I was in, not knowing what was really there.
"And then the big thing was the concept that he is God, from day one,
so when he says, don't tell anybody ..."
In fact, Sam did tell somebody. He confided what was happening to two
other American teenagers who were students at the Puttaparthi college.
They had had similar experiences. "They justified it as a divine
experience. But he was doing things to me that I didn't want to do,
and I was just letting it happen."
In 1998, according to Sam, Sai Baba attempted to rape him. The
following year, the day before the family were leaving for
Puttaparthi, he told his father he did not want to see Sai Baba alone,
without specifying why. Jeff sensed something was amiss. "I told him,
you must always be true to your conscience. The family don't care if
we never have another interview again." In Puttaparthi, Sam was again
called for a private interview. When Sai Baba attempted to get him to
perform oral sex, Sam walked out for the last time, although it would
be some months before he summoned the nerve to tell his parents. Jeff
said it took some weeks to "process" what they were hearing. "We knew
that Sam was telling the truth, but I still asked myself, what could
this mean?"
The Youngs contacted a leading figure in the American Sai Baba
organisation. "He said it must be some kind of test," said Jeff, "and
for a moment we felt better."
Then Dr Michael Goldstein, the man in charge of the entire Baba
organisation in America, flew in from California to meet them. "He
said, we've got to talk to Baba about this; words are not enough;
faith must be restored." Goldstein flew to India. He returned to tell
the Youngs that Sai Baba had told him "he is pure", and that Goldstein
accepted that. He asked Jeff if he thought his son might be
delusional. The Youngs no longer speak with Goldstein.
A senior devotee, a trustee for the Sathya Sai Baba Society of
America, Jerry Hague, told me that he and his wife had been devotees
for 25 years. He was deeply shocked at the allegations and could not
begin to understand them.
"All I know in my heart is that Swami is the purest of the purest, and
that everything he does is for the highest good of everybody." This
denial - Sai Baba is God, God doesn't do these things - was a theme
that was echoed by innumerable other devotees I spoke to in America
and Britain.
Among those people named in The Findings is Dr D Bhatia, the former
head of the blood bank at the Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital,
who, it is claimed, had a longstanding sexual relationship with Sai
Baba. Bhatia resigned from his post at the hospital in December 1999
and is now an administrator at a hospital in New Delhi.
Contacted by phone, Bhatia said that he had become a devotee of Sai
Baba in 1971, at the age of 20, and that he had had sexual relations
with Sai Baba for "15 or 16 years". In that time, he said, he was also
aware that Sai Baba had relations with "many, many" students from the
college and school, and with devotees from overseas.
One of the most remarkable facets of this controversy has been the
role of the Internet. Even 10 years ago, it is doubtful whether the
allegations against Sai Baba would have spread so far and so fast.
Conny Larsson has set up a support group for those claiming abuse by
Sai Baba, and says he receives some 20-30 e-mails a day from victims
"crying out for help. You cannot leave these people in the desert".
In America, the campaign organised by Glen Meloy has concentrated on
"e-bombing" copies of the allegations to senators, the White House,
the FBI and Indian newspapers. The most conspicuous success of the
campaign came in September when Unesco withdrew its co-sponsorship and
participation from an education conference at Puttaparthi, citing
"deep concern" over the allegations of sexual abuse.
For all the allegations laid against him over the years, Sai Baba has
never been charged with any crime, sexual or otherwise. And his
exalted position in India has until now kept him safely insulated from
any kind of public inquiry.
Among former devotees, there is a sense of shock, betrayal, anger - a
hunger, if not for revenge, then for accountability. "We know that
many victims have been physically molested," Glen Meloy told me, "but
in reality all the former devotees have been spiritually raped because
we chose to believe that this man was the highest. I certainly
considered him to be the God of gods, the creator of all creation, my
friend, my everything. The intense desire I have to expose him now is
directly proportionate to the amount of devotion I gave him."
Sitting in the restaurant in a small, homely Midwest town, Jeff Young
struggled to understand what had led him to believe that an Indian
guru could be God.
Looking back, he said, when Sam finally told him about the sexual
abuse, he didn't find it difficult to believe at all. "I realised, I'd
really known this for a long time but didn't really know it." Jeff
shook his head. " You ask yourself, how could millions of people be
wrong? How could millions of people be tricked? .. We'd spent 23 years
raising our family to believe in him, going upstream against a river.
You think, how could I have been so wrong?"
Whether he is divine, "a demonic force", as Glen Meloy describes him,
or simply an accomplished fakir and confidence trickster, Sai Baba has
said nothing publicly about the allegations. When contacted, K.
Chakravarthi, secretary of the Puttaparthi ashram, said, "We have no
time for these matters. I have nothing to say."
Sai Baba's principal English translator, Anil Kumar, said every great
religious teacher had faced criticism. Allegations had been made at
Sai Baba since childhood, "but with every criticism he becomes more
and more triumphant."
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba3.html
Scandal engulfs guru's empire
Divine Downfall
The Age (Australia)/November 12, 2000
By Padraic Murphy
For Hans de Kraker, a trip to India to see Sathya Sai Baba, a self-
proclaimed god with a following of up to 25 million devotees, was a
spiritual quest. But he said the pilgrimage ended when the 73-year-old
guru tried to force him to perform oral sex.
Mr de Kraker, who now lives in Sydney, has gone public to alert
devotees to a sex scandal that is threatening to undo Sai Baba, by far
the most popular of India's new-age gurus.
"It is devastating to realise the man you see as a spiritual master is
simply conning people for his own sexual gratification," Mr de Kraker,
32, said. "After a while you notice that the people chosen for private
interviews tend to be good-looking young males."
Mr de Kraker, who first visited Sai Baba's ashram in 1992, said the
guru would regularly rub oil on his genitals, claiming it was a
religious cleansing, and eventually tried to force him to perform oral
sex. He was kicked out of the ashram after alerting senior officials
in 1996.
Mr de Kraker's story is not an isolated one, and a growing list of
alleged victims is threatening to engulf the Sai Baba organisation,
which has an estimated worth of $6billion. Droves have left after
allegations of paedophilia and the rape of male followers.
Sai Baba's main ashram in Puttaparthi, India, is the largest in the
world and can sleep up to 10,000 people. That number of people
regularly turn out to "darshan", a twice-daily ritual in which Sai
Baba walks among devotees choosing people for private interviews.
It is in these private interviews that many of the alleged assaults
against males between the ages of seven and 30 take place. Former
devotees said the interviews usually involved family groups, but when
young males were involved they were ushered into a second room, behind
what has come to be known as the "curtain of shame".
The organisation has been shut down in Sweden after revelations that
Conny Larson, now a film star in that country, was molested by Sai
Baba. The FBI is looking into similar allegations made by American
children and there are investigations into the sect in France and
Germany.
Both UNESCO and Flinders University in South Australia and Flinders
University in South Australia pulled out of a conference organised by
Sai Baba in September because of concerns about the guru's sexual
conduct. In Australia, the sect is estimated to have up to 5000
followers. It runs schools in northern NSW and Western Australia, and
has meditation centres across the country.
Now Australian victims are preparing documents to present to federal
authorities about the guru's activities.
Terry Gallagher, a property developer from Kiama, in New South Wales,
regularly visited Sai Baba in the early 1990s and spent three years as
the coordinator of the group in Australia. He left the group in the
mid '90s after boys in Indian schools run by Sai Baba complained to
him of sexual abuse.
"Spiritually it is devastating. I'm concerned because of both the
sexual abuse of young boys, and the spiritual fraud Sai Baba
perpetrates," Mr Gallagher said.
Sri Ramanathan, a former Sri Lankan judge and head of the Sai Baba
Organisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea, refuses to warn
families taking children to Puttaparthi about the allegations.
"All god men have these kind of allegations levelled at them, why
should I warn people of these allegations, they are just allegations?"
he said. "He is a holy man. I know that (these allegations) cannot be
proved."
Raphael Aron, the director of Cult Counselling, said: "These
organisations are run by one individual and there are never any
complaint mechanisms. When these sorts of allegations come up, the
usual response is that it is some kind of test of faith and the whole
thing is denied."
Several former devotees who spoke to The Sunday Age said they had been
thrown out of Sai Baba's ashrams when they questioned leaders about
the charges.
The sexual exploits of the guru were exposed 30 years ago by Tal
Brooke, a former high-ranked devotee who now runs a cult-watch group
in the US. "It appears that now he is out of control. The problem is
that people have such faith that these allegations would kill them
spiritually," he said from his home in California.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba2.html
Screen Star James Mason Laid to Rest After 16 Years
Reuters/November 25, 2000
London - Hollywood screen legend James Mason has been finally laid to
rest -- 16 years after his death, the Daily Telegraph newspaper
reported on Saturday.
Mason's children buried his ashes in a Swiss cemetery on Friday after
an acrimonious legal battle over the British actor's estate with their
stepmother Clarissa Kaye, and later with the administrators of her
estate, the paper said.
The wrangle became so bitter that for many years Mason's children,
daughter Portland and son Morgan, had no idea of the whereabouts of
their father's ashes. Portland finally tracked them to a bank vault in
Geneva.
``It is like a dream,'' the Daily Telegraph quoted Portland Mason as
saying after the burial ceremony. ``Sometimes I thought it would never
happen. It has been so, so long,'' she said.
Mason, who died of a heart attack aged 75 in 1984, was the star of
such screen classics as ``A Star is Born,'' ``The Desert Fox,''
``Lolita'' and ``North by Northwest.''
The paper said that the actor felt his second wife Clarissa had
sacrificed a Hollywood career of her own when she agreed to move to
Lake Geneva with him in 1963. He wanted her to be able to live in
comfort after his death. The children believed he intended for them to
inherit his estimated 15 million pound fortune on Clarissa's death,
the paper said. But Clarissa, who died six years ago, bequeathed
everything to a trust with unknown benefactors.
The children believe the benefactors are devotees of Sathya Sai Baba,
an Indian religious sect, which Clarissa became close to in the last
years of her life. They are continuing litigation in the hope of
gaining control of at least part of their father's estate.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba8.html
Devotee 'Tricked Woman Into Sex'
The (London) Times/July 5, 2000
By Simon De Bruxelles
A Follower of an Indian guru tricked a woman into having sex with him
by promising that it would cure her "bad vibrations", a court was told
yesterday.
Priyakant Shah, 47, a shopkeeper from Plymouth, allegedly persuaded
the mother of three that he was a messenger from the Hindu mystic Sai
Baba and he had been ordered in a dream to have sex with her. His
alleged victim, who is also of Asian origin, told Plymouth Crown Court
that the relationship began after Mr Shah had "engineered" her divorce
from her husband, whom she subsequently remarried.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she met Mr Shah
in the mid-1980s when he ran a temple in South London devoted to the
worship of the 73-year-old guru who claims 30 million followers
worldwide.
The woman, who was 37 or 38 at the time, said Mr Shah persuaded her to
leave her husband and take her daughters to live in a flat above his
shop in Plymouth.
She said: "I had been praying in the prayer room and Shah was asleep
on a bed in there. As I prayed, I heard him say 'No, Baba, no, Swami,
I cannot do that'.
"I asked him later what he meant and he told me that I would not
believe it, but Baba had said he had worked so hard with me but I was
still carrying bad vibrations and that he had to have physical contact
with me.
"I asked him what he meant and he said he had to have sexual
intercourse with me. It was the only way the bad vibrations would come
out. I said 'no way'."
She said she woke later to find Mr Shah naked by her bedside and he
had made her have sex with him.
Mr Shah denies two charges of procuring a woman to have sex by false
pretences and one of indecently assaulting one of her daughters, who
was 12 or 13 at the time.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/saibaba/saibaba1.html
Them are few things sadder than a good guru gone bad. The cynics among
us may object that a "good guru" is a contradiction in terms and
certainly the spectacle of corrupt and authoritarian cults in recent
years has cast a pall over the role of spiritual teachers.
Nevertheless I'm willing to maintain that a significant amount of
wisdom and compassionate works have proceeded from various gurus and
their followers, and I resist the impulse to write off the whole bunch
as charlatans and power-trippers
From all indication Swami Muktananda helped thousands of people in his
day - a fact that even disillusioned ex-devotees don't dispute.
However, the last few years of his life saw a proliferation of abuses
which are only now coming to light William Rodarmor; a former lawyer,
park ranger, wilderness trip leader and presently a graduate student
at the University of California at Berkeley journalism school has
spent months interviewing former and current followers of Muktananda
for this investigative article. CQ independently contacted his major
sources and confirmed the authenticity of their quotes and
allegations. -Jay Kinney
The Secret Life of Swami Muktananda
by William Rodarmor
Illustrated by Matthew Wuerker
"There is no deity superior to the Guru, no gain better than the
Guru's grace ... no state higher than meditation on the Guru." -
Muktananda
ON THE American consciousness circuit, Baba Muktananda was known as
the "guru’s guru," one of the most respected meditation masters ever
to come out of India. Respected, that is, until now.
When Baba Ram Dass introduced him to the U.S. in 1970. Muktananda was
still largely unknown. Thanks to Muktananda's spiritual power, his
Siddha meditation movement quickly took root in the fertile soil of
the American growth movement. By the time he died of heart failure in
October 1982, Muktananda's followers had built him 31 ashrams, or
meditation centers, around the world. When crowds saw Muktananda step
from a black limousine to a waiting Lear jet, it was clear that the
diminutive, orange-robed Indian was an American-style success.
At various times, Jerry Brown, Werner Erhard, John Denver, Marsha
Mason; James Taylor, Carry Simon, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and Meg
Christian have all been interested in Muktananda's movement. The media
coordinator at the large Oakland, California, ashram is former Black
Panther leader Erika Huggins.
Baba Muktananda said he was a Siddha, the representative of a
centuries-old Hindu lineage. According to his official biography, he
wandered across India as a young man, going from teacher to teacher,
living the chaste, austere life of a monk. In Ganeshpuri, near Bombay,
he became the disciple of Nityananda, a Siddha guru of awesome yogic
powers. After years of meditation, Muktananda experienced
enlightenment. When Nityananda died in 1960, Muktananda said the guru
passed the Siddha mantle to him on his deathbed, though some of
Nityananda's followers in India dispute the claim. When Muktananda
himself died, a sympathetic press still saw him as a spiritual Mr.
Clean, and his two successors, a brother-sister team of swamis,
continue to draw thousands of people searching for higher
consciousness.
To most of his followers, Muktananda was a great master. But to
others, he was a man unable to live up to the high principles of his
own teachings. "When we first approach a Guru," Muktananda wrote, "we
should carefully examine his qualities and his actions. He should have
conquered desire and anger and banished infatuation from his heart."
For many, that was a warning that was understood too late.
Some of Muktananda's most important former followers now charge that
the guru repeatedly violated his vow of chastity, made millions of
dollars from his followers' labors: and allowed guns and violence in
his ashrams. The accusations have been denied by the swamis who took
over his movement after the master died.
In the course of preparing this story, I talked with 25 present and
former devotees; most of the interviews are on tape. Some people would
only talk to me if promised anonymity, and some are bitter at what
they feel was Muktananda's betrayal of their trust. All agree that
Muktananda was a man of unusual power. They differ over the ways he
used it.
"I don't have sex for the same reason you do: because it feels so
good." -Muktananda
IN HIS teachings Muktananda put a lot of emphasis on sex - most of it
negative. Curbing the sex drive released the kundalini energy that led
to enlightenment, he said. The swami himself claimed to be completely
celibate.
Members of the guru's inner circle, however, say Muktananda regularly
had sex with his female devotees. Michael Dinga, an Oakland contractor
who was head of construction for the ashram and a trustee of the
foundation, said the guru's sexual exploits were common knowledge in
the ashram. "It was supposed to be Muktananda's big secret," said
Dinga, "but since many of the girls were in their early to middle
teens, it was hard to keep it secret."
A young woman I am calling "Mary" said the guru seduced her at the
main American ashram at South Fallsburg, New York, in 1981. Mary was
in her early twenties at the time. Muktananda was 73.
At South Fallsburg, Muktananda used to stand behind a curtain in the
evening, watching the girls coming back to the dormitory. He asked
Mary to come to his bedroom several times, and gave her gifts of money
and jewelry. Finally, she did. When he then told her to undress, she
was shocked, but she obeyed.
"He had a special area which I assume he used for his sexual affairs.
It was similar to a gynecologist's table, but without the
stirrups." (To his later chagrin, Michael Dinga realized he had built
the table himself.) "He didn't have an erection," Mary said, "but he
inserted about as much as he could. He was standing up, and his eyes
were rolled up to the ceiling. He looked as if he was in some sort of
ecstasy." When the session was over, Muktananda ordered the girl to
come back the next day, and added, "Don't wear underwear."
On the first night, Muktananda had tried to convince Mary she was
being initiated into tantric yoga - the yoga of sex. The next night,
he didn't bother. "It was like ‘Okay, you're here, take off your
clothes. get on the table and let's do it.' Just very straight, hard,
cold sex."
Mary told two people about what had happened to her. Neither was
exactly surprised.
Michael's wife Chandra was disturbed. Chandra was probably the most
important American in the movement. As head of food services, she saw
Muktananda daily, and knew what was going on. "Whoever was in his
kitchen was in some way molested," she said. A girl I’ll call "Nina"
used to work for Chandra. One day, the guru remarked to her in Hindi,
"Sex with Nina is very good." Nina's mother was later made a swami.
Chandra said she had rationalized the guru's having sex in the past,
but was dismayed to learn it had happened to her young friend Mary.
Aware of Muktananda's power over people who were devoted to him, she
saw it as a form of rape.
The other person Mary confided in was Malti, Muktananda's longtime
translator.
Mary said Malti wasn't surprised when she told her about being seduced
by the aged guru. "She told me people had been coming to her with this
for years and years," Mary said. "She was caught in the middle." Malti
and her brother, who have taken the names Chidvilasananda and
Nityananda, are the movement's new leaders.
Another of Muktananda's victims was a woman I'll call "Jennifer." She
says Muktananda raped her at the main Indian ashram at Ganeshpuri in
the spring of 1978. He ordered Jennifer to come to his bedroom late
one night, and told her to take her clothes off. "I was in shock," she
said, "but over the years, I had learned you never say no to anything
that he asked you to do...."
Muktananda had intercourse with Jennifer for an hour, she said, and
was quite proud of the fact. "He kept saying, ‘Sixty minutes,’" she
said. "He claimed he was using the real Indian positions, not the
westernized ones used in America." While he had sex, the guru felt
like conversing, but Jennifer found she couldn't say a word. "The main
thing he wanted to know was how old I was when I first got my period.
I answered something, and he said, ‘That’s good, you're a pure girl.’"
Devastated by the event, Jennifer made plans to leave the ashram as
soon as possible, but Muktananda continued to be interested in her.
"He used to watch me getting undressed through the keyhole," she said.
She would open the door and see the guru outside "I became rather
scared of him, because he kept coming to my room at night."
Both women said the Ganeshpuri ashram was arranged to suit
Muktananda's convenience.
"He had a secret passageway from his house to the young girls'
dormitory," Mary said. "Whoever he was carrying on with, he had
switched to that dorm." The guru often visited the girls' dormitory
while they were undressing. "He would come up anytime he wanted to"
Jennifer said, "and we would just giggle. In the early days, I never
thought of him as having sexual desires. He was the guru..." Mary knew
otherwise: she talked with at least eight other young girls who had
sex with Muktananda. "I knew that he had girls marching in and out of
his bedroom all night long," she said.
While his followers were renovating a Miami hotel in 1979, Muktananda
slept on the women's floor, and ordered that the youngest be put in
the rooms closest to his, and the older ones down the hall.
"You always knew who he was carrying on with," said Chandra. "They
came down the next day with a new gold bracelet or a new pair of
earrings." Around the ashram, said Mary, people knew that "anyone who
had jewelry was going to his room a lot."
For a time, Muktananda's followers found ways to rationalize his
behavior. He wasn't really penetrating his victims, they said. Or he
wasn't ejaculating - an important distinction to some, since retaining
the semen was supposed to be a way of conserving the kundalini energy.
Ultimately, Chandra felt it didn't make any difference. "If you're
going to be celibate, and you're going to preach celibacy, you don't
put it in halfway, and then pull it out. You live what you preach..."
After years of repressing their growing doubts about Muktananda,
Michael and Chandra finally drew the line when they learned he was
molesting a 13-year-old girl. She had been entrusted to the ashram by
her parents, and was being cared for by Muktananda's laundress and
chauffeur. The laundress "told me Baba was doing things to her," said
Chandra. "I think he was probing around in her." The laundress
suggested it was only "Baba's way of loving her," but Chandra was
appalled.
Charges of sex against Muktananda continued. In 1981, one of
Muktananda's swamis, Stan Trout, wrote an open letter accusing his
guru of molesting Little girls on the pretext of checking their
virginity. The letter caused a stir, but word didn't go beyond the
ashram. In a "Memo from Baba," Muktananda merely answered that
"devotees should know the truth by their own experience, not by the
letters that they receive... You should be happy that I'm still alive
and healthy and that they haven't tried to hang me."
"Wretched is he who cannot observe discipline and restraint even in an
ashram." -Muktananda
I N THE first of his eight years with Muktananda, Yale dropout Richard
Grimes said he was "in a funny kind of grace period, where you're so
involved with the beginning of inner Life that you don't really notice
what is going on." But then he started seeing things that didn't jibe
with his idea of a meditation retreat.
"Muktananda had a ferocious temper," said Grimes, "and would scream or
yell at someone for no seeming reason." He saw the guru beating people
on many occasions. "In India, if peasants were caught stealing a
coconut from his ashram, Muktananda would often beat them," Grimes
said. The people in the ashram thought it was a great honor to be
beaten by the guru. No one asked the peasants' opinion.
Muktananda's ubiquitous valet, Noni Patel, was a regular target of his
master's wrath. While on tour in Denver, Noni came down to the kitchen
to be treated for a strange wound in his side. "At first, he wouldn't
say how he had gotten it," Grimes' wife Lotte recalled. "Later it came
out that Baba had stabbed him with a fork."
When ex-devotees talked about strong-arm tactics against devotees, the
names of two people close to Muktananda kept coming up. One was David
Lynn, known as Sripati, an ex-Marine Vietnam vet. The other was Joe
Don Looney, an ex-football player with a reputation for troublemaking
on the five NFL teams he played for, and a criminal record. They were
known as the "enforcers"; Muktananda used them to keep people in line.
On the guru's orders, Sripati once picked a public fight with then-
swami Stan Trout at the South Fallsburg ashram. He came down from
Boston, where Muktananda was staying, and punched Trout to the ground
without provocation. Long-time devotee Abed Simli saw the attack, but
figured Sripati had just flipped out. Michael Dinga knew otherwise.
Muktananda had phoned him the morning before the beating, and told him
Trout’s ego was getting too big, and that he was sending Sripati to
set him straight. Dinga, a big man, was instructed not to interfere.
In India, Dinga and a man called Peter Polivka witnessed Muktananda’s
valet Noni Patel give a particularly brutal beating to a young
follower: A German boy in his twenties, whom Dinga described as
"obviously in a disturbed state" had started flailing around during a
meditation intensive. The German was hauled outside, put under a cold
shower, stripped naked, and laid out on a concrete slab behind the
ashram. Dinga said the German just sat in a full lotus position, and
tried to steel himself against what happened next.
Noni Patel took a rubber hose, a foot-and-a-half long, and beat and
questioned the boy for thirty minutes while a large black man called
Hanuman held him. "They were full-strength blows," said Dinga, "and
they raised horrible welts on the boy's body."
There exists a long tradition in the East of masters beating their
students. Tibetan and Zen Buddhist stories are full of sharp blows
that stop the students rational minds long enough for them to become
enlightened. Couldn't that have been what Muktananda was doing?
"It could be seen that way," said Richard Grimes. "For years we
thought that every discrepancy was because he lived outside the laws
of morality He could do anything he wanted. That in itself is the
biggest danger of having a perfect master lead any kind of group -
there's no safeguard."
Chandra Dinga said that as Muktananda's power grew, he ignored normal
standards of behavior. "He felt he was above and beyond the law," she
said. "It went from roughing people up who didn't do what he wanted,
to eventually, at the end, having firearms."
Though the ashrams were meditation centers, a surprising number of
people in them had guns. Chandra saw Noni's gun, Muktananda's
successor Subash's gun, and the shotgun Muktananda kept in his
bedroom. Others saw guns in the hands of "enforcer" Sripati and ashram
manager Yogi Ram. The manager of the Indian ashram showed Richard
Grimes a pistol that had been smuggled into India for his use. One
devotee opened a paper bag in an ashram vehicle in Santa Monica, and
found ammunition in it.
A woman who ran the ashram bakery for many years said she knew some
people had guns, but that it never bothered her. The Santa Monica
ashram, for example, was in a very rough neighborhood, she said, and
the guns were strictly for protection.
"In an ashram, one should not fritter one's precious time in a
precious place on eating and drinking, sleeping, gossiping and talking
idly." -Muktananda
BY ALL accounts, devotees in the ashrams worked hard under trying
conditions. In India, they were isolated from their culture. Even in
the American ashrams, close friendships were frowned on, and
Muktananda strongly discouraged devotees from visiting their families.
A woman I'm calling "Sally" used to get up for work at 3:30 a.m. She
said her day was spent in work, chanting, meditation, and silence.
"Some days, you couldn't talk to anyone all day long. I would get very
lonely." Recorded chants were often played over loudspeakers. Even a
woman who is still close to the movement admitted that "the long hours
were a drag."
Though he was Muktananda's right-hand man for construction, Michael
Dinga worked "under incredible schedules with ridiculous budgets,"
putting in the same hours as his crew. In the six-and-a-half years he
was with the ashram, he said he had a total of two weeks off.
As time went on, Dinga came to be bothered by what he saw as
exploitation: "I saw the way people were manipulated, how they would
work in all sincerity and all devotion [with] no idea that they were
being laughed at and taken advantage of."
"Even a penny coming as a gift should be regarded as belonging to God
and religion." -Muktananda
MUKTANANDA'S movement was both a spiritual and a financial success.
Once Siddha meditation caught on, said Chandra Dinga, "money poured
into the ashram." Particularly lucrative were the two-day "meditation
intensives" given by Muktananda, and now by his successors. Today, an
intensive led by the two new gurus costs $200. (Money orders or
cashier's checks only, please. No credit cards or personal checks.) An
intensive given in Oakland in May 1983 drew 1200 participants, and
people had to be turned away. At $200 a head, Chidvilasananda and
Nityananda’s labors earned the ashram nearly a quarter of a million
dollars in a single weekend.
There was always a lot of secrecy around ashram affairs, Lotte Grimes
remarked. During Muktananda's lifetime, that secrecy applied to money
matters with a vengeance.
The number of people who came to intensives, for example, was a secret
even from the devotees. Simple multiplication would tell anyone how
much money was coming in. And when Richard Grimes set up a restaurant
at the Oakland ashram, he said Muktananda "had a fit" when he found
out that Grimes had been keeping his own records of the take.
Food services head Chandra Dinga said the restaurants in the various
ashrams were always big money-makers, where devotees worked long hours
for free. On tour during the summer, she said, they would feed over a
thousand people, and bring in three thousand dollars in cash a day.
Sally said that a breakfast that sold for two dollars actually cost
the ashram about three cents.
Donations further fattened the coffers. if somebody important was
coming to the ashram, Chandra’s job was to try and get them to give a
feast and to make a large donation. $1500 to $3000 was considered
appropriate. "There was just a constant flow of money into his
pockets," said Chandra, "it let him get whatever he wanted to get, and
let him buy people."
Muktananda himself was said to have been very attached to money. "For
years, he catered only to those who were wealthy," said Richard
Grimes. "He spent all the time outside of his public performances
seeing privately anyone who had a lot of money."
A parade of Mercedes-Benzes used to drive up to the Ganeshpuri ashram
with rich visitors, said Grimes. In Oakland, Lotte Grimes saw Malti
order a list drawn up of everybody in the ashram who had money, to
arrange private interviews with Muktananda, by his orders.
Devotees, on the other hand, had to get by on small stipends, if they
got anything. Chandra Dinga, despite her status as head of food
services, never got more than $100 a month. Devotees with less
prestige were completely dependent on the guru's generosity. Sally
once cried for two days when she broke her glasses, knowing she would
have to beg Muktananda for another pair.
How much money did Muktananda amass from his efforts? Even the
officers of the foundation that ostensibly ran Muktananda's affairs
never knew for sure.
Michael Dinga was a foundation trustee, and used to cosign for
deposits to the ashram’s Swiss bank accounts, but the amounts on the
papers were always left blank. In 1977, however, he got a hint. Ron
Friedland, the president of the foundation, told Dinga that Muktananda
had 1.3 million dollars in Switzerland. Three years later, Muktananda
told Chandra it was more like five million. "And then he laughed, and
said, ‘There’s more than that.’"
A woman called Amma, who was Muktananda's companion for more than
twenty years, told the Dingas that all the accounts were in the names
of Muktananda’s eventual successors, Chidvilasananda and Nityananda.
Michael and Chandra Dinga finally quit the ashram in December 1980.
They had served Muktananda for a combined total of sixteen-and-a-half
years, and had risen to positions of real importance. Both knew
exactly how the ashram operated.
Together, they went to Muktananda to tell him why they wanted to
leave. The guru wasn't pleased. To get the Dingas to stay, Muktananda
called on everything he thought would stir them. He offered them a
car, a house, and money. When that failed, he started to weep. "You're
my blood, my family," he said. Then Muktananda abruptly changed tack.
"You've come on an inauspicious day," he said. "I can't give you my
blessing." Next morning, he called Chandra on the public intercom and
said she could leave immediately.
After they left, the Dingas say they were denounced by the guru, and
their lives threatened.
"Muktananda claimed he had thrown us out because Chandra was a whore"
said Dinga, "that she was having sex with the young boys who worked in
the restaurant. Later he said I had a harem. In other words, he was
accusing us of all the things he was doing himself." Muktananda also
claimed that none of the buildings Michael had built were any good.
When one of Michael's crew stood up for him, he was threatened
physically.
Leaving all their friends behind in the ashram, the Dingas moved to
the San Francisco area, but Muktananda's enmity followed them. Their
doorbell and telephone started ringing at odd hours, and Michael saw
the "enforcers" running away from their door one night. A cruel hoax
was played on Chandra. Someone followed her when she took her cat to
the vet, then phoned the vet's office with a message that her husband
had been in a bad accident. Chandra waited frantically at Berkeley's
Alta Bates Hospital for three quarters of an hour, only to learn that
Michael was at work, unhurt.
Death threats started to reach the Dingas toward the end of April
1981, six months after they had left the ashram. On May 7, Sripati and
Joe Don Looney visited Lotte Grimes at her job in Emeryville with a
frightening piece of information: "Tell Chandra this is a message from
Baba: Chandra only has two months to live." Another ex-follower said
he got a similar message: If the Dingas didn't keep quiet, acid would
be thrown in Chandra's face; Michael would be castrated.
The Grimeses and the Dingas reported the threats to the police. The
Dingas hired a lawyer.
The threats stopped soon after Berkeley police officer Clarick Brown
called on the Oakland ashram, but Chandra was badly frightened. Some
ex-followers still are.
Michael and Chandra's departure sparked a small exodus from the
ashram. Some of the ex-followers began to meet and compare notes on
their experiences in the ashram. "We were amazed and rejuvenated,"
said Richard Grimes. "We got more energy from learning he was a con
man than we ever did thinking he was a real person."
Just the same, the devotees who left the ashram are still dealing with
the damage done to their lives. Michael and Chandra's marriage broke
up, as did Sally's. Michael is only now coming out of a period of
depression and emptiness. Richard and Lotte Grimes are bitter at
having wasted years of their lives in the ashram. Stan Trout still
considers Muktananda a great yogi, but a tragically flawed man.
Chandra Dinga has taken years to come to terms with her experience
with Muktananda; "Your whole frame of reference becomes askew," she
said. "What you would normally think to be right or wrong no longer
has any place. The underlying premise is that everything the guru does
is for your own good. The guru does no wrong. When I finally realized
that everything he did was not for our own good, I had to leave."
Muktananda’s two successors were at the Oakland ashram in May end I
asked Swami Chidvilasananda about the accusations against her guru.
To her knowledge, did Muktananda have sex with women in the ashram?
"Not as far as I saw," she said carefully. What about the charge that
Muktananda had sex with young girls? "Those girls never came to us,"
Chidvilasananda said. "And we never saw it, we only heard it when
Chandra talked to everybody else."
Chidvilasananda also denied that there was a bank account in
Switzerland. When asked about the ashram's finances, she said that all
income was put back into facilities. "We are a break-even
proposition," the new leader said.
As for the alleged beatings, she said that Americans had their own
ways of doing things. She said, "You can't blame the guru, because the
guru doesn't teach that."
Why then, I asked, do the other ex-devotees I talked with support the
Dingas in their charges?
Chidvilasananda replied, "I'm very glad they gave you a very nice
story to cover themselves up and I want to tell you I don't want to
get into this story because I know their story, too, and I do not want
to say anything about it." When I said, "You have a chance to tell us
whether or not you think these are accurate charges, falsehoods, or
delusions," Malti's answer was: "I’m not going to probe into people's
minds and try to find out what the truth is."
Two swamis and a number of present followers also said the charges
were not true. Others say they simply don't believe them.
On the subject of money, foundation chief Ed Oliver conceded in an
October 1, l983, interview with the Los Angeles Times that there is a
Swiss account with 1.5 million dollars in it. And when I repeated
Swami Chidvilasananda's denials about women complaining to her, Mary,
the woman who says the guru seduced her in South Fallsburg, said,
"Well, that's an out-and-out lie."
"The sins committed at any other place are destroyed at a holy centre,
but those committed at a holy centre stick tenaciously - it is
difficult to wash them away." -Muktananda
THIS IS a story of serious accusations made against a spiritual leader
who is still prayed to and revered by thousands. Even his detractors
say Muktananda gave them a great deal in the beginning. "He put out a
force field around him," said Michael Dinga. "You could palpably feel
the force coming off him. It gave me the feeling I had latched onto
something that would answer my questions." Former devotees say
Muktananda's eyes had a kind of light; when they first met the guru,
he radiated love and benevolence. He also had a way of making his
devotees feel special.
"I think he liked me so much because I wasn't taken by all the visions
and the sounds," said Chandra, "that I understood that having an
experience of God was something much more substantial and more
ordinary." Chandra still feels that spirituality is the most important
thing in her life. She says the gradual unfolding of the dark side of
her guru's personality chipped away at her love and respect. "When you
have a loved one you never dream that he might hurt you. At the end, I
was devastated." Yet despite the unsavory conclusion to her ten years
with the swami, Chandra still notes, "if I had it to do over again, I
still wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world."
In a way, the sex, the violence, and the corruption aren't the real
point. Muktananda's personal shortcomings were bad enough, explained
Michael Dinga, but "the worst of it was that he wasn't who he said he
was."
A person can make spiritual progress under a corrupt master, just as
placebos can actually make you feel better. But how far can a person
really grow spiritually under a master who doesn't himself live the
truth? There was a tremendous split between what Muktananda preached
and what he did, and his hypocrisy only made it worse. His successors
are now in a dilemma: If they admit their guru's sins, Chidvilasananda
and Nityananda lose their god-figure, and weaken their claim to a
lineage of perfect masters. But if they don't, people who come to them
looking for truth are courting disappointment.
Stan Trout, formerly Swami Abhayananda, served Muktananda for ten
years as a teacher and ashram director. He left in 1981. "My summary
withdrawal from Muktananda’s organization was also a withdrawal from
what I had considered my fraternal family, my friends, and able all,
my life’s work," he wrote us. He sent this open letter after reading a
draft of "The Secret Life of Swami Muktananda," in which he is quoted.
- Art Kleiner
Letter From a Former Swami
by Stan Trout
I’d like to add this letter, if possible, as an appendix to the
article on Muktananda by William Rodarmor. It is a statement of my
thoughts and opinions of Muktananda after two years of deep
deliberation following my discovery of his ‘secret life’.
When I left Muktananda’s service, I did so because I had just learned
of the threatening action he had taken against some of his long-time
devotees who had recently left his service. He had sent two of his
body-guards to deliver threats to two young married women who had been
speaking to other women who had been speaking to others of
Muktananda’s sexual liaisons with a number of young girls in his
ashram. It was immediately clear to me that I could not represent a
guru who was not only taking sexual advantage of his female devotees
but was threatening with bodily harm those who revealed the truth
about him. However, after I had left Muktananda and had make the
reasons for my departure known to others still in his service, another
issue came to light for me, teaching me something not only about
Muktananda’s, but about the nature of the organization and all other
such organizations in which the leader is regarded as infallible by
his followers, and is therefore obeyed implicitly.
When Chandra and Michael Dinga and later myself realized the truth
about Muktananda and his secret sex life, there was absolutely no
means available to present the evidence for a fair hearing or
judgment. There was no recourse but to leave, for the guru was the
sole appeal, and he was as accustomed to lying as he was to breathing.
Yet his word was regarded by followers as so absolutely final that
when each of us left and were branded "demons" by him, not a single
soul among those who had been our brother and sister devotees for ten
years questioned or objected, but unamimouly rejected us outright as
the demented infidels he said we were. One has only to observe the way
each of us who discovered the guru’s secret life were treated by our
former comrades to understand the power for evil inherent in any
relationship based on the infallibility of the leader and the
unquestioned obedience of the subjects...
It is clear to me that not only had the girls with whom Muktananda
practiced his sexual diversions committed acts to which they had given
no moral or rational consent, but so had the men who were ordered to
threaten them with violence, and so had I myself when I had followed
Muktananda’s orders to express to others opinions which I did not
sincerely hold. It is a sad but perennial phenomenon: Out of a love
for truth and for those who teach it and appear to embody it, we
unwittingly set ourselves up for exploitation and betrayal. Our
mistake is to deify another being and attribute perfection to him.
From that point on everything is admissible.
I think the lesson to be learned is that we simply cannot afford to
relinquish our individual sovereignty - whether it be in a socio-
political setting or in a religious congregation. Those who willingly
put aside their own autonomy, their own moral judgment, to obey even a
Christ, a Buddha, or a Krishna, do so at risk of losing a great deal
more than they can hope to gain.
About Muktananda himself I have thought a great deal. There is no
doubt in my mind that he was an extraordinarily enlightened, learned,
and articulate man who possessed a singular power, a dynamic personal
radiance and charisma that drew people to him and inspired them to lay
their lives at his feet. Surely such a power is divine; yet there is
no way to justify the way in which he used this power. If God himself
were to behave in this way, we would have to find him guilty of
flagrant disregard for the law of love.
Some may say, ‘He did no worse than any of us have done, or would do
if we could.’ And I would answer, ‘No; he did worse than any of use
have done or would have done in his place. For, though he was only
human like the rest of us, he staged a deliberate campaign of deceit
to convince gentle souls that he had transcended the limitations of
mankind, that through realizing the eternal Self, he had attained holy
"perfection." He planted and nourished false, impossible dreams in the
hears of innocent, faithful souls and sacrificed them to his sport.
With malicious glee, he cunningly stole from hundreds of trusting
souls their hearts and wills, their self-trust, their very sanity,
their very lives. No ordinary, good person could do this, no matter
how he tried; his heart and conscience would not allow it.
Like all of us, Muktananda was only human. And, like all men who
worship power, he was inevitably corrupted and destroyed by it. His
power could not save him form the weakness of the flesh, nor from the
wickedness and depravity that servitude to it brings. He ended as a
feeble-minded sadistic tyrant, luring devout little girls to his bed
every night with promises of grace and self-realization.
Muktananda’s claim of "perfection" (Siddha-hood) was based on the
notion that a person who has become enlightened has thereby also
become "perfect" and absolutely free of human weakness. This is
nonsense; it is a myth perpetrated by dishonest men who wish to
receive the reverence and adoration due God alone. There is no
absolute assurance that enlightenment necessitates the moral virtue of
a person. There is no guarantee against the weakness of anger, lust,
and greed in the human soul. The enlightened are on an equal footing
with the ignorant in the struggle against their own evil - the only
difference being that the enlightened person knows the truth, and has
no excuse for betraying it.
Throughout history there have been many enlightened souls who have
been thought great, who, in the pride of their perfection and freedom,
have imagined themselves to be beyond the constraints of God’s laws,
and who have thus fallen from love and lost the glory the once had.
Those glorious Babes and Bhagwans, thinking to build their kingdom
here on earth upon the ruins of the young souls devoted to them, often
succeed for a time in fooling many and in gathering a large and
festive following, but their deeds also follow them and proclaim their
truth long after the paeans of praise have been sung and wafted away
on the air. "God is not mocked"; there is no freedom, no liberation,
from His law of love, nor from His inescapable justice. It is indeed
often those very persons who have thought themselves most perfect,
most free and ungoverned, who have fallen most grievously; and their
piteous fall is an occasion for great sadness, and should serve as a
clear reminder of caution to us all.
The Rick A. Ross Institute
email: in...@rickross.com URL: http://www.rickross.com
Copyright © 2001-2008 Rick Ross.
http://www.rickross.com/groups/saibaba.html
chhotemianinshallah
chhotemianinshallah
> http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thre...
>
> ...and I am Sid Harth
> Since newsgroup posts are being removed
> by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
> this post may be reposted several times.
Jai Maharaj
From Encyclopedia Dramatica
Jai Maharaj IS undisputedly the biggest troll/trollspammer in the
universe! SERIOUSLY! Consider this:
He has atleast 100,000 posts on Usenet
He just won't die
He's been literally living on Usenet ever since it came into
existence
All of his posts are copypasta of articles advancing his point of
view; none of his posts have any moral, spiritual or commercial value
Considered to be a major factor contributing to the downfall of
Usenet
Contents [show]
1 Usenet Abuse and Crossposting Faggotry
2 Asstroll-ogy
3 Real Identity
4 Some Theories and Answers to the puzzle
5 Theory and Timeline based on the above facts
6 More Research7 How to Annoy Jai Maharaj
Usenet Abuse and Crossposting Faggotry
What makes Jai Maharaj the biggest pest on usenet is his crossposting
all over usenet with daily news articles suggesting a vicious anti-
christian and anti-muslim slant….and vegetarianism. (Vegetarianism was
invented by high caste Hindoos to exterminate the lower caste ones by
starvation). Jai claims to have been around since the predecessor to
the Internet, ARPANET was started. But again, all he did was hijack it
as a tool for his bullsh*t astrology and Hinduism. As of now, there
are 100,0000 [Update: 110,000 and climbing] of his rubbish postings
dumped all over usenet, clogging newsgroups and modem speed. All his
posts contain a signature with links to his site. As one user noticed,
his postings tend to attract a certain idiotic fringe of superstitious
Hindoos who then find the link to his website at the end of the post.
Jai Maharaj Likes... Jai Maharaj Dislikes...
Asstrology Scientists
Vegetarianism Meat-eaters
Hindu caste system (he's high caste) Members of Hindu low castes
acting uppity on Usenet...even if they are second generation
Americans!
Living in USA USA
Trolling and stalking Being trolled and stalked
Homo porn Hindu porn http://www.flickr.com/photos/haberlah/55690106/in/set-1206444/
Hindu high caste Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu lower castes
Being Anonymous Being trolled by Anonymous
Hinduism Any other ism
Does Jai Maharaj ever write on his own? If he could, he wouldn’t be
spamming across usenet like a nut, he would be a writer. His usual
response never goes beyond 4 lines and only consists of a screaming
outburst against “xtians” and “muslims” and anyone who disagrees with
him. But he compensates for this lack of expression by digging up IP
addresses and obtaining locations, real names and phone numbers of his
enemies, which he posts online for his devoted Hindoo pimps to
harass….or in the case of Sidharth, he notifies the authorities
alleging “child abuse”. Its no surprise that Jai is the most despised
entity on Usenet and the entire Usenet community eagerly awaits the
day he will post his last.
The Mahabully, the best psychological compilation on Jai Maharaj ever.
Written by o...@cts.com and can be found here. It details his attacks
on several Usenet posters, his masturbation confessions and his IRA
sympathies. To quote :
“The Mahabully lusts for the prestige and fear that an Ascendent
Hindustan would inspire, and prefers that this is realised at the
expense of his race enemies. His own voice is mean-spirited, immature
and violent. The Mahabully, like other bullies, forms the nucleus of a
coterie of bullies and wanna-be bullies. His kangaroo courts attract a
cabal of marginal, schizoid personalities. The Mahabully may pursue a
vindictive vendetta against anyone who dares to hold them accountable,
perhaps using others' resources and contemptuous of the damage caused
to other people and organisations in pursuance of the vendetta. The
Mhabully 'is greedy, selfish, a parasite and an emotional vampire'.
The Mahabully imposes on others a self-aggrandising falsehood, a
living lie, which is constantly buttressed by additional distortion
and lies. The Mahabully is quick to conjure with injurious terms like
'terrorist'yet it is he himself, Jay Stevens aka Jai Maharaj, who
might fairly be accused of terrorism IMO. For example, he has
advertised a terrorist training video on Usenet.
More Resources
Jai Maharaj's bullshit on Usenet.
http://groups.google.ca/groups?as_q=&num=10&scoring=r&hl=en&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_ugroup=&as_usubject=&as_uauthors=Jai+Maharaj&lr=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=&as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=2&as_maxm=12&as_maxy=2007&safe=off
R Johnson has the second best compilation on Jai which can be found
here.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Jay+Stevens&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=890778936.233210%40iris.nyx.net&rnum=1
A FAQon Jai Maharaj.
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/minifaqs/jai.maharaj.miniFAQ
Dr. Jose Mariachi’s Compiled Killfile on Jai
http://www.geocities.com/drjosemariachi/jay_faq.html#bb
Jerry Guzzman’s description of jai whom he claimed to have met Jai
Maharaj. According to him, Jai derives some sado-masochist psychotic
pleasure from people paying attention to him, whether positive or
negative.(Proof that jyotshi/Brahmin Hinduism adversely affects mental
capacity?)
Asstroll-ogy
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Jai Maharaj preys on ignorant Hindu fools who don’t even know the
internet is on computers….and to whom a message posted in English to
usenet is the equivalent of India test firing another ex-russian junk
missile. Jai has his pimps in India fleece these ignorant fools of
their money by offering them bullshit jyotshi predictions. In
addition, Jai Maharaj seeks to push the rest of the jyotshi scammers
off his turf by copyrighting catch phrases like “prediction registry”,
“holistic jyotshi” and “mantra”! His bullshit jyotshi atrology can be
seen at work at his websites, such,
Main Asstrollogy page of Jai
Another Asstrollogy page
http://www.flex.com/~jai/
More Asstrollogy
How the scam works is that some idiot Hindu who cant type or
comprehend stumbles upon his usenet posts and follows the above links
embedded in his signature…….and voila! Meet jai, the predictor of
their future happiness and well being. Since hardcore materialism,
hate and penis worship wash away the remaining intellect of his
adherents, they are more than willing to part away with their money
for a little guidance from a cyber-jyotshi …….and what is there to say
when the bullshit jyotshi boasts clients (unnamed of course….ahem)
among all the rich and powerful running this planet? Even the
whitehouse is said to havee declared war on timing outlined by Jai!
Don't believe me? Read him right here.
Jai’s jyotshi scam simply consists of juggling various assumptions and
screaming glory when any one of them work out. Whats worse, Jai isn’t
even putting up a realistic Nostradamus like fooling game……instead he
is lousy enough to let his anti-christian and anti-muslim bias leak
into his predictionsas well. Again, one has to subscribe by
contributing to his PayPal account to get access to his bullshit
predictions on future events.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/PayPal
http://www.flex.com/~jai/registry/white.html
Real Identity
This is the only known photograph of Jai Maharaj. It appeared on an
asstrollogy website. The following information also appeared: "Jai
Maharaj, P.O. Box 1919, Waianae, HI 96792-6919, USA, Tel:
1-808-521-8808, Email: jyot...@aol.com (Synthetics - NO, Uparatnas -
YES, Flawed gems - NO) - SERVICE: I both choose gems and also supply
gems loose or set in jewelry"Jai Maharaj's own website has a very
brief but pompous bio that runs as follows:
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish/quotes.html
Jai Maharaj, who lives in Hawaii, USA, was born and raised in Varanasi
and later in other northern cities. He has been active in campaigns
for both the conservation of time-tested wisdom and the progress of
Bharat. His education and life experience include spirituality, health
and medicine, architecture and engineering, law and business, and
activism in several areas. He has also battled the enemy as a soldier
in the armed forces at the border in Kashmir. Jai Maharaj is a
consultant for a think tank with the government, organizations and
individuals as clients. He is an ordained Vedic-Hindu priest. He hosts
a popular, comprehensive and well maintained news website News Plus .
He monitors news worldwide concerning India and also participates
actively in many discussion forums.
According to Mike (mi...@zang.com),
Jay Stevens hung out on Hawaii's GT Power BBS network in the late 80's
early 90's. I'm talking like 89-90, in that area. While my memories of
him specifically are vary vague, they do carry a general feeling of
chronic irritation. One can be very confident to add IBM compatibles
as his platform of choice, as Hawaii's BBS scene in that period was
heavily platform segregated, and GT Power was a very pro-PC
environment, and had a large military subculture. Nothing I remember
indicates that he was in the military, however.
He is also described as being in his 60s.
In addition, several addresses have been posted on Usenet purportedly
belonging to him. They are of course, yet to be verified, but anyway
here they are:
JAY R STEVENS : 4305 ALLA ROAD APT 7, MARINA DEL RAY, CA 90292
4086, GLENCOE AVE, MARINA DEL RAY, CA 90292 Tel: 310-823-3461
3940, LUTHERAN CIR, SACRAMENTO, CA 95826 ... right near the Sacramento
burb of Manlove
3168 BRAND ST, IRVINE, CA 92606 Tel: 310-375-8510; DOB: May 1940; AGE:
63; E-Mail:j...@mantra.com; ISPs: FLEX NET
A Whois search of Jai’s Mantra.com reveals the following:
Registrant:Mantra Corporation (MANTRA-DOM),P. O. Box 1919, Honolulu,
HI 96792-6919 US
Administrative Contact:Maharaj, Jai (JM225) j...@FLEX.COM
Mantra Corporation
P. O. Box 1919
Waianae, HI 96792-6919 US
(808) 581-8808 fax: 999 999 9999
Technical Contact:Wong, Del (DW403) d...@FLEX.COM
P.O.Box 22481
HONOLULU, HI 96822-2481 US
(808) 539-3790 fax: (808) 539-3793
In the early days of the Internet, Shyamasundara Dasa had an ugly
business dealing with Jai, whichallowed him these personal tidbits:
Date of birth: Oct 7, 1946, 9:15AM
Place of birth: New Delhi, India
Real name: Jai Mathura (but was using Jai Stevens)
Address: as given above
Phone: 808-948-4357
FAX: 808-696-3217
Usenet user Reginald Perrin managed to dig up the incorporation papers
of Mantra.com. He managed to come up with information that Jay Stevens
(Jai Mirage, Jai Maharaj) is one of the founding officers (the other
being Joan Miller) of Mantra Corporation, which was incorporated in
Hawaii on November 30, 1990 issued 1000 shares. It's an astrology scam
masquerading as a business consulting and marketing outfit, with 2
shareholders.
From a Hawaii state web site:
NAME: MANTRA CORPORATION
STATUS: A
CONSENT:
SIM-NAME:
DATE-INC: 11/30/1990
TERM: PER
DATE-EXP:
ADDRESS: P. O. BOX 1919 WAIANAE HI 96792 6919
PURPOSE: BUSINESS CONSULTING, MARKETING,ADVERTISING AND RELATED
SERVICES
SEC DEALER:
VOTE:
VOTE DATE:
REPORTS=> CURR-YR: LAST-YR: 1993 PRIOR-YR: 1992
DELINQUENT:
OFFICERS AS OF 11/30/1990
STEVENS,JAY R POSITION: *P/S/D
MILLER,JOAN E POSITION: *V/T/D
STOCK AS OF 11/30/1990
COMMON SHARES: 1,000 PAID IN:
1,000
PAR-VAL:
TRAN-DATE--ST-TYPE-REMARKS
11/30/1990 C ART ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
As you can see, mantra.com is incorporated in the name of JAY R.
STEVENS and we can safely assume its his real name. Joan Miller may
either be Jai's Indian wife with a changed name, or a a chickin.
Dell Wong
As you can see in the technical contact of Mantra.com, a certain Dell
Wong is listed. Dell Wong can be several things:
1.An employee/frontman of Jay Stevens
2.A business partner of Jay Stevens
3.A legal alias of Jay Stevens. (under law, it is possible to have a
legal alias provided its listed with the authorities)
4. A completely non-related entity who has become guilty by
association with flex.com, which hosts mantra.com and appears to be
complacent towards Jai's trolling activities.
It has been assumed that Del Wong is nothing but Jay Stevens’
frontman, whom Jay uses in his real legal and business affairs. Del
Wong has been ruled out as being an alias of Jai since his photodoes
not resemble a desi. He may be local Hawaiian or Chinese.
Or who knows? It could be Jai. Well anyway, the contact info of of
Mr . Wong from a Hawaii government tax site is as follows:
Agent Name DEL WONG
Agent Address 2800 WOOD LAWN DR STE 254
HONOLULU Hawaii 96822
United States of America
Business Entity Name FLEXNET, INC.
Record Type Master Name for a Domestic Profit Corporation
File Number 99105 D1
Status Active
Purpose TO PROVIDE HIGH-SPEED COMMERCIAL INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
FOR HAWAII BASED ORGANIZATION COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS;
Place Incorporated Hawaii UNITED STATES (Same as mantra.com)
Incorporation Date 03/13/1995
Mailing Address P O BOX 22481 HONOLULU Hawaii 96823-2481
United States of America
Xref Name 1 FLEX NET
Term PER
Some Theories and Answers to the puzzle
The great mystery regarding jay Stevens is why his ISP, FLEX.COM has
never kicked him off than take the trouble and complaints, especially
since he pays a measly $9.95/ month to stay online. The most plausible
answer is that Jay Stevens owns Flex.com through Dell Wong! It seems
Jay originally sneaked into the United States disguised as one of the
thousands of mass produced computer coolies. In his initial years, his
computer coolie skills blossomed but once he managed to escape the
work gang and apply for permanent residence, he reverted back to being
the bullshit jyotshi hatemonger he always was. However, before his
computer skills waned, his computer coolie skills helped him set up
Hawaii’s first ISP, Flex.com and once the cash started flowing, jay
discovered there was plenty of time to spend on his vedic jyotshi
asstrollogy as well as pursuing his hates.
Many have wondered how Jay manages to stay online 24/7 and yet retain
his humanity. The answer is that when he is not cross posting hate, he
is managing Flex.com. In other words he is half robot half demon.
A WHOIS of Flex.com reveals the following:
Registrant:
flexnet inc.
p.o.box 22481
honolulu, Hawaii 96823-2481 United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Created on: 24-Sep-91
Admin. Contact:
wong, del d...@flex.com
flexnet inc.
p.o.box 22481
honolulu, Hawaii 96823-2481 United States
(808) 539-3790 Fax --
Technical Contact:
wong, del d...@flex.com
flexnet inc.
p.o.box 22481
honolulu, Hawaii 96823-2481 United States
(808) 539-3790 Fax –
Del Wong (or Jai Stevens?) is the founder-owner of Flex.com.
Theory and Timeline based on the above facts
http://www.uhm.hawaii.edu/
Jai Maharaj/Jay Stevens sneaked into the United States as an average
grade mass-produced computer coolie. Here are some facts derived from
an online interview between Caroline Wright and ‘Dell Wong’, who
happens to sound more like Jai.
Studied at University of Hawaii at Manoa(might be a good idea to ask
them)
ran a bbs for eight years prior to that got kicked out by U.H., got
his sister in-law in trouble by abusing her internet access
privileges.
Then started ISP service in July 12th 1994 under several different
names, such as Flex.com (of which he indicates had its first employee
named Kristin Paulo who started Hula.net)
He was also involved in the setup of several local Hawai ISPs Did Web
programming with Jeff Tupa who became webmaster and system
administrator for Flex.com. *Tupa is said to have left on 12/29/03.
Had a partner by the name Del Wong
Though the respondent in this interview is referred to as Dell Wong,
it sounds exactly like Jai. And since it was conducted via email, it
is more than probable that Jai was on the other end. For example, this
interview is located on the Flex.com website in the "who are we" tab.
Rather than give a brief info on the company and its history, we find
an online interview with Caroline Wright entitled "Curiousity Killed
the cat." Further, there are too many arrogant and vague comments made
through the interview which sound more like Jai. This interview was
conducted in January 2000, but don’t be surprised if Jai removed or
edited it.
Consider these arrogant and nonchalant comments in the interview which
are a trademark of Jai.
Lots of prospects get put off by our/my "attitude", but heck, FlexNet
is Del Wong.
I don't bother anymore reading the dang thing. As I said before our
present modem situation is crappy. But again, by the time this article
comes out, we will again rock in that department. No worry.
(Caroline Wright asks)Who is the staff of FlexNet? Are you a one-man
band? Is Missus Wong still helping you out? Is Flex your only
business, or do you have other irons in the fire? What are they?
(Jai/Wong answers)Everything is secret. Don't Tell, Don't Ask.
The question of Jai owning Flex.com has surfaced before on Usenet.As
usual, Jai brings forth his sockpuppets to dissuade people from
further pursuing the topic. Take this thread,
Siva K Sundaram wrote:Dr. Jai Maharaj (supposed) real name is Jay
Stevens (based on Net info,one can't know for sure if that's his
actual real name). His web site's domain name, mantra.com, identified
as belonging to Mantra Corporation,has an IP address (206.126.0.13)
matching the domain for the Hawaiian ISP flex.com, which Mr. Stevens
(probably) owns and runs.
To this, a sockpuppet of Jai responds:
Jay Stevens doesn't own or run shit! He's a mercenary for the VHP,
paid by a well-known Indian doctor who "operates" from Houston. I say
he's a mercenary, because he does not live what he purports to preach,
and because he is paid for the propaganda and recruitment efforts.
Flex.com is *not* owned or operated by Jay, but they do host some
services for him, for a fee, of course. His spamming, discerning
readers will note, stems not from flex.com(which has a stern policy in
that regard), but from a no-holds-barred Usenet provider called
Altopia:
A more intelligent Usenet user writes:
Right, that's discernible from examining the source of his posts, that
he uses Altopia for his NNTP services. However, I can't buy the claim
that flex.com merely hosts services for Mr.Stevens. The domain names
flex.com and mantra.com map to the same IP address.If flex.com merely
hosted services for mantra.com, then mantra.com would have to map to a
different IP address.(Note that Jai may have corrected this)So Mr.
Stevens' (if that's his real name) relationship with flex.com is
clearly More than just being a customer. And there's evidence that Mr.
Stevens is trying to hide that fact. He has a web Page at http://www.flex.com/~jai
which suggests that he's a customer of that ISP. He also has a
separate page for his "organization", http://www.mantra.com (address
206.126.13.34), which also suggests a pure customer relationship,
since The address apparently is on the flex.com subnet. However, the
following is unusual. Since mantra.com has the same IP address as
Flex.com, one should expect to reach the flex.com web site by entering
Mantra.com as a URL in a browser, but this does not happen! Rather,
the HTTP Server "magically" recognizes the mantra.com name and
redirects the request to 206.126.13.34, to www.mantra.com! Further
evidence that Mr. Stevens is trying To hide his more intimate
relationship with flex.com.
More Research
Please contact Anonymous and request more research.
How to Annoy Jai Maharaj
Respond to his Usenet posts with a copypasta of this article.
Accuse him of murdering rival asstrollogers
Create an online game in which vegetables have to escape from being
eaten by him
Call him Pakistani
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Jai_Maharaj
Dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj
View Full Version : Dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj
Dr. Gay Maharaj
Dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj
http://members.tripod.com/sid_e_slicker/india10.html
By Sid Harth
The heinous Hindus like a fake doctor, rather a dog-tor, Hindu
hoodlum, Dr. Jai Maharaj and yours truly have a running feud. This
fundamentalist Hindu terrorist tries to irritate me, apparently for no
reason. It is going on for good four years. In this time I wrote and
posted nearly five thousand articles on all subjects imaginable,
basically showing the heinous Hindu character.
This ding bat dog-tor, however, in the same period, or approximately
so, have stolen copyrighted material from reputed media and posted
under his fake name, Dr. Jai Maharaj nearly fifty thousand articles,
according to Deja.com archives.
I cannot compete with that kind of demonic output. Dr. Jai Maharaj
should thank god for that kind of energy, drive and single minded
pursuit of Hindu ****, that is exactly what his posts are and always
were. What is that idiotboy's problem? Perhaps schizophrenia, perhaps,
multiple personality disorder, perhaps advance stages of brain trauma.
Whatever is his case against yours truly, not clear to me nor is it
clear to his Hindu hoodlum cabal.
This hoodlum has just about accused every single leader of the world,
every single religion of the world, every leader of opposition in
India, including but not limited to Sonia Gandhi, Roman Catholic wife
of former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, who was mercilessly
murdered by Hindu fanatics such as Dr. Jai Maharaj, imagine that.
The over abundance of filth he posts, no one is capable of reading it
no matter how many hours one can spare for that dishonorable duty.
Apart from being a spam meister, this gangeskhan reposts several of
his very lenghthy, sometimes hundreds of pages long material, not just
once but several times.
Dr. ding bat dog-tor's feud with me is not unique. He has gone after
several other newsgroup posters and writers, not the same thing. This
saffron **** sheriff considers himself not only a great Hindu moralist
but like an idiot that he is, breaks his own pumped up false image,
right thereafter. Of all the material he posts none is penned by him,
except a headline, all caps venomous headline. His signature includes
a Sanskrit mantra, "Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti." Literally it means the
be peace, repeated three times for stress.
However this ding bat has no peace in his deluded mind as he comes out
brandishing his excaliber as a war mongering monkey. There is your
typical Hindu filthy thinking and filthier philosophy. Comes directly
from one black Hindu god, lord Krishna.
All fine and well for me as if not this ding bat ****ting around we
would, most probably, not be able to portray a typical Hindu American,
safe in America which allows free speech and due protection under the
law. Dr. Jai Maharaj loves free speech as much as I do. His free
speech falls in the category, which is excluded under the US
constitution gurantees. One cannot cry fire in a crowded theater, with
or without valid reasons.
Ds. Jai Maharaj not only cries, not that womanly cry either, cry of a
warrior, blood curdling cry of American native, wrongfully called
'Indian.' The cry is shrill, obnoxious, fearful and incendiary, to say
the least. Hindu hoodlums love him, adore him and play his game. Good
for the village idiots, I say. I am least disturbed as to the fact
that dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj has both secret and not so secret
groupies. It just proves that an idiot can be village idiot Hindus'
messed up Messiah. Who else do you think ought to lead bunch of ****
worms than king of all **** worms, idiotboy, dog-tor Dr. Jai Maharaj?
The problem is with his lies. He lies, lies some more and to cover his
tracks, lies on top of it. If according to ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai
Maharaj, Hindu religion is the best in the world how come he has to
defend it so vigorously? Shouldn't the best product in the world,
including the best mouse-trap get the people knocking the doors?
This rats' asshole has serious problem with his logic. Let us for
argument's sake consider dog-tor Dr. Jai Maharaj's argument that Hindu
religion is the best and the Hindu culture is the best add to that as
a corollary, Hindu gods, all thirty-three millions of them are the
best, practitioners of Hindu religion are the best, citizens liveing
in India and practicising faithfully their cherished religion are the
best, make it anything and everything related to Hindu religion is the
best, for
argument's sake only.
Dt. Jai Maharaj's outrage against the world has no place. The value or
the price of a diamond is determined by the demand and supply of that
unique product. De Beers, the world monopoly decides how many diamonds
be marketed and at what price. No matter what is actual production or
actual demand the price is kept high to make diamond value at a
specific, luxury level.
If Dr. Jai Maharajs antics can be considered equal to De Beers cartel,
keeping the value of Hindu religion at ridiculously high level it
serves no purpose. No one is interested at Dr. Jai Maharaj's
artificially held value of Hindu religion. There is no great rush to
migrate to Hindu religion. The contrary is true. great many people
have abandoned it, if not stopped being rigorous practitioners of Dr.
Jai Maharaj brand of Hindu religion.
Under the circumstances, his hue and cry and his illegal, immoral
attitude towards all is unjustified. No matter how many times I said
that Hindu religion is a gutter religion it makes no difference to the
practitioners of that religion. They still follow their conscience or
personal choices to stick with it.
Shouldn't this ding bat dog-tor take a hint that it is the personal
choice of Hindus against overwhelming evidence against their religion,
their society, their history and culture that keeps it in place. I do
not believe that this ding bat dog-tor has that simple logical truth
seeking imagination.
Du. Jai Maharaj need not offend or defend anyone. God takes care of
that. I don't suppose this idiotboy has what it takes to add two and
two. Most probably, it would be five, three or twenty-two.
Sid Harth..."Show me a defender of Hindu culture and I shall show you
an idiotboy, dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj."
Dr. Gay Maharaj
http://www.cyclingforums.com/archive/index.php/t-55500.html
'na he na he he's is rotan baba 'who rolled up kulu manali in northern
hindustani.
`I've always `wondered who this chickensucker "Jai Maharaj" was. I
knew `for certain he wasn't a real Hindu. I did a Google `search on
"Jai Maharaj" + "Jay Stevens", and dozens of `hits popped up. Thanks
for the lead.
%:%:%: The Proto Jai Maharaj Periodic %:%:%: %:%:%: Informational
Posting %:%:%:
1. Who is Jai Maharaj?
Jai Maharaj is the 'Voice of Mantra Corporation'. Though it is seen
as
just one poster posting all the stuff on Usenet, it is widely
suspected
that Jai is not the only contributor.
2. What newsgroups are home to Jai Maharaj?
You're kidding. Any newsgroup on Usenet, forums on Compuserve,
practically anything anywhere anytime is home to Jai Maharaj. Just
post on any of the following groups on Noosenet and Jai is very eager
always to share his wisdom with any group.
Jai's wisdom is presently available on the following groups:
alt.astrology sci.med.nutrition rec.food.veg soc.culture.indian
alt.culture.hawaii (he says "Come over to alt.culture.hawaii" but he
JAI MAHARAJ UNCUT AND UNWASHED
Dean T Dean!!!!!! You got the afternoon off from your poor yet honest
dad's fast goat turd franchise and you...
never posts there)
The Usenet graph of Jai Maharaj in a brand of vedic astrology :
3. What do you need to do to get in the good books of Jai Maharaj?
Well, say that Vedic astrology is good. Don't ever be a animal person-
eater. Also see Q. 4. Also ask Virendra on alt.astrology.
4. What do you need to do to get in the bad books of Jai Maharaj?
Just flame him on Usenet for 5 days. It helps if you are quite
"popular" or "widely known" on a newsgroup. Else you aren't worth Jai
Maharaj's time. Say that Vedic Astrology is a fake. Or that Mantra
Corporation is misusing Internet-Usenet by advertizing using the 4-
line .sig.
5. What is common between Jai Maharaj and John Palmer?
Both have claim to being one of the most "popular" persons on Usenet.
Jai has accused lots of people with "LIBEL". JP has slapped virtual
lawyers on many.
6. What is different between Jai Maharaj and John Palmer?
John has his own machine and his own domain. Jai gets on to U. of
Hawaii and accesses Freenets from there.
John has a knowledge of sendsys while Jai doesn't. Jai is quite known
to accuse people of sending mail plants when there wasn't any sent.
But Jai is working hard to be a JP.
7. What is the mark of a Jai Maharaj posting?
It always starts with a -=Namaste=- and ends with a -=Om Shanti=-.
oops.. sorry. Always ends with the 4 line .sig.
He posts usually from his accounts as:
Exposed Arindam Banerjee's tactics of abuse 3302
Dr. Jai Maharaj Yawnnn.... Still peddling the same old lies. I'll
reply (yet again) with the same...
Your tax dollars at work!
Till date, he has never been seen from a commercial account. Once in a
while, mantra corporation (which has the same mcimail number
apparently its distilled wisdom.
8. What do I do if I don't want to see Jai's postings at all?
There is a wonderful mechanism on bulletin board systems called
"Killfile". Use it.
is the freenet he is using. Also you can send a nice 'thank you' note
for every posting he does. He appreciates it very much.
9. Why this FAQ?
There are countless people on Usenet who still don't know Jai Maharaj
and this humble effort on my part will probably enable people from far
and wide to get to know the personality of Jai.
btw, there is also a alt.fan.jai-maharaj (the newgroup was sent by
spread the Jai Maharaj message for the good of the world.
Contributions to the FAQ most welcome. If anyone wants to take over
the FAQ, you are most welcome to. Please post everything on the
newsgroup.
Every effort has been made to present facts. Corrections welcome on
that count from anyone, be it from Jai Maharaj or John Palmer.
Jai anon.penet.fi. Jai Jai Maharaj. Jai Julf.
-=Om Jai Maharaj=-
This posting can be circulated on any non-profit media. You can make
copies for educational use.
Brought to this forum by a caring anon.penet.fi user. Please post this
as a reply to jai's messages while snipping his message. Spread to all
corners of the creation. ÐÐ
JAI MAHARAJ BUSTED....CONNECTION TO FLEX.COM EXPOSED! VERSION 1.0
(OR PROOF THAT HINDUISM HAS LETHAL SIDE EFFECTS)
JAI MAHARAJ's CONNECTION TO HINDU personS.....
Jai Maharaj is in bed with Hindu persons and the Hindu equivalent
investigated by the Mumbai police for promoting liquidate of non-Hindu
Indians. The Hinduunity website has a "hitlist" page with names and
addresses of non-Hindu Indians against whom it openly incites
violence. The "hitlist" can be viewed here:
Mumbai Police Investigates hinduunity: VSNL, INDIA's Govt is blocking
the site. Israeli funded Hindu hate criminal Rohit Vyasman, who was
kicked off his ISP addr.com, runs the site. The site currently has its
own server and requires no ISP. The
Created On:01-Mar-2000 00:32:20
UTC Sponsoring Registrar:R164-LROR Registrant ID:GKG-C00000E47E
Registrant Name:Rohit Vyasmaan PO BOX 174 East Norwich NY 11732 US
Phone:+1.2089785264
There is proof that the Israeli person outfit outlawed by the UN,
Kahane.org runs the website, since it carries a link to Kahane.org as
well as Israeli propaganda.
In addition, the two servers of the website are : NS1.YESHUA.CC
(Yeshua is a Jewish name)
Name Server:NS2.GWSYSTEMS.CO.IL
(IL is the subdomain for Israel)
"When Addr.com dropped HinduUnity.org as one of its clients, Vyasman
called Guzofsky's office in Brooklyn. Guzofsky is a follower of Rabbi
Meir David Kahane, a Brooklyn-born, former member of the Israeli
Knesset, who called for the expulsion of Arabs from Israel. Guzofsky
connected Vyasman to Gary Wardell, a businessman in Annandale, VA.
Wardell's web service business now hosts both the HinduUnity.org and
Kahane.org sites. The two sites also have a mutual link." Link:
Jai maharaj frequently posts links to this website as well as
material. Whats more, he is a member of the members only forum area
where Hindu fanatics meet and discuss upcoming riots and
buttbuttinations in India.
Did Jai Maharaj help Rohit Vyasman set up Hinduunity.org on his own
servers?
the WHOIS of which is as follows: Registrant: Himalayan Academy
(XGZAGUWGCD) 107 Kaholalele Road Kapaa, HI 11111 US
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact: Japendra
107 Kaholalele Road
Kapaa, HI 11111 US
808-822-7032 fax: 808-822-4351
The other website contained in Jai's signature is
http:www.hindunet.org, the WHOIS of which is as follows: Registrant
ID:DOTR-00243868 plus 1 Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Inc. P.O.
Box 722098 San Diego CA 92172 US Phone:+1.8584844564 Admin.
ID:DOTC-01366589 Admin Name:Ajay Shah
Note that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is the Nazi-KKK equivalent of with
it enbreastles him to an investigation.
JAI MAHARAJ BEHIND HATE CRIMES IN HONOLULU?:
Oct.22,2002: The FBI and Honolulu police have launched a hate crime
investigation into who left hundreds of anti-Muslim leaflets at Oahu's
only mosque yesterday morning. The leaflets were breastled "ATTENTION
RAG-HEADS" and included a threat against Muslims. The leaflets,
according to the group, said "every curry fund-raiser will be checked
to ensure that funds are not being funnelled to support person groups.
Anyone found in violation will be strapped with explosives and shipped
to Iraq. MAY GOD (NOT ALAH) BLESS AMERICA!!" Source:
Exposed Arindam Banerjee's tactics of abuse 3300
I don't know about him. These two I talk about pretend to be concerned
about Hindus and Hinduism. In reality...
Jai Maharaj resides in Honolulu (we will get to that later). The point
is, if he dedicates his entire day crossposting hate messages against
muslims and posts a link to the Hindu equivalent of the KKK, the VHP
in every post, don't you suppose he might be tempted to get physical?
But since he is a coward Hindu, you can expect him to be involved only
in anonymous hate crimes like the one mentioned above.
There are two peculiar features regarding the aforementioned hate
crime: 1. The reference to "curry fundraisers" seems to be aimed at
deflecting attention from the perpetrator (Jai?) who himself is of
"curry" Asian Indian origin. 2. Allah mispelt as Alah seems to be
deliberate to deflect attention towards Jai and portray the image of a
white Christian perpetrator who happens to be ignorant of spelling
Allah. Deliberate? You bet.
CONTACT THE HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT AND TELL THEM WHY YOU THINK JAI
DID IT....REMEMBER, TIPS ARE ANONYMOUS AND YOU COULD BE REWARDED IF
JAI
GETS BUSTED!
Honolulu Police Department 801 South Beretania Street Honolulu, HI
96813
Deputy Chief of Police Paul Putzulu: 529-3975
Police Vice-Drug Tip Hotline: East Hawaii: 934-"VICE" (934-8423) West
Hawaii: 329-"ZERO-ICE" (329-0423) Non-emergency Information and
Complaints: 935-3311
JAI MAHARAJ's FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF CHILD ABUSE
Jai maharaj has a file on him in the California Police Department
after he notified the police that a anti-Hindu Usenet poster
"Sidharth" of Pennsylvania was a child molester. The police
investigated the affair and discovered that Jai had led them on a
false trail. To quote Sidharth:
"His (Jai Maharaj's) latest charge against me is so ridiculous that I
ignored it altogether as typical Hindu blasphemy. The charge is that I
abuse children. This charge was made by one Sujata Londhe, another
covert Hindu person of Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Sujata Londhe has
since been inactive for one or more reasons. She never could prove the
charge nor bunch of Brahmin sh*t loaders who acted on her
William Grosvenor sick Jew hater using fake names. Google William
Grosvenor
U.S. Soldier Recalls Horror of Nazi Camp Published: 5-8-05 MAUTHAUSEN,
Austria (AP) - Bodies stacked like firewood. A concrete slab where
dead...
"This ding bat dog-tor, however, in the same period, or approximately
so, have stolen copyrighted material from reputed media and posted
under his fake name, Dr. Jai Maharaj nearly fifty thousand articles,
according to Deja.com archives." Read Sidharth's article at:
On another occasion, Jai Maharaj accused a usenet user disagreeing On
another occasion, Jai posted private imfo on a non-Hindu Indian so
JAI MAHARAJ IS THE KINGPIN OF A VEDIC-JYOTSHI BULLSH*T ASTROLOGY
SCAM!
Jai Maharaj preys on ignorant Hindu fools who don't even know the
internet is on computers....and to whom a message posted in English to
missile. Jai has his pimps in India fleece these ignorant fools of
their money by offering them bullsh*t jyotshi predictions. In
addition, Jai Maharaj seeks to push the rest of the jyotshi scammers
off his turf by copyrighting catch phrases like "prediction registry",
"holistic jyotshi" and "mantra"! His bullpoo jyotshi atrology can be
never took off. Guess jyotshi bullsh*t and news analysis simply don't
mix.
How the scam works is that some idiot Hindu who cant type a sh*t (and
naturally devoid of comprehension) stumbles upon his usenet posts and
follows the above links embedded in his signature.......and voila!
Meet
jai, the predictor of their future happiness and well being. Since
hardcore materialism, hate and privates worship wash away the
remaining intellect in the minds of his Hindu adherents, they are more
than willing to part away with their money for a little guidance from
a cyber-jyotshi .......and what is there to say when the bullsh*t
jyotshi
boasts clients (unnamed of course....ahem) among all the rich and
powerful running this planet? Even the whitehouse declares war on
timing outlined by Jai! (something he pulled out of his butt). Check
it out here:
scam simply consists of juggling various buttumptions and running
around naked when any one of them work out. Whats worse, Jai isn't
even putting up a realistic Nostradamus like fooling game......instead
he is lousy enough to let his anti-christian and anti-muslim bias leak
into his predictions as well. See subscribe by contributing to his
Paypal account to get access to his bullsh*t predictions on future
events.
JAI MAHARAJ IS A CROSS POSTING USENET ABUSER
http://www.barossa-region.org/Australia/WHO-IS-JAI-MAHARAJ.html
monkey pees in its own mouth [gross]
monkey pees in its own mouth [gross]
0:10
Added: 1 year ago
From: capinfox
Views: 70,039
All Comments (46 total)
Loading...SuperJusto22 (4 days ago) groossssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!! !!!
1
greenorange75 (5 days ago) ATHF FTW
criticalbitch1987 (1 week ago) go on my son !!!!
Bravyanz0r (1 week ago) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WTH?!
KhanioProductions (2 weeks ago) Give this comment a thumbs UP! lol
watermeloncutie16 (2 weeks ago)I think that is so sad that monkey
needs some water
RonixEnclave (3 weeks ago) I had to do that when I was lost in the
desert for 4 days.
lolaap1234 (3 weeks ago) This is fucking sad he needs to get water
australianicon (1 month ago) this monkey is doing what i do almost
every day
volcomdaddy (1 month ago) i just really hate monkeys so much!!!!!!!
SantaTheEmo (1 month ago) makes me thirsty.
Fartknocker0990 (1 month ago) i hope no one is getting ideas........
InYourFaceNewYorker (1 month ago)That's not a monkey, that's a
chimpanzee, considered one of the great apes. Chimps are the closest
cousins of humans. Wow, our close cousin is peeing in his mouth. ;)
krisrod8 (2 weeks ago) do you look like a monkey?
xochequetsal (1 month ago)stupid monkey!
sich69 (1 month ago) ^_^
isin1998 (1 month ago) o_o omg omg o_o
AshleyWyles (1 month ago) eh mi god that was so disgusting!! EW
mercen144 (2 months ago)likes the comments
Rexd101 (2 months ago) Monkies are awesome. They can survive in the
desert because they have something to drink. As long as they keep
drinking it they can store it for later. Fucking awesome huh.
Shanzap (2 months ago) uhm
u can only drink ur pee once
after that the salt and acid in it will kill u
u have to wait for ur system to cleanse again
well I dunno for monkeys
cause clearly this monkey must do it all the time
leightontang (2 months ago) OH MY GOSH THAT DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!
Rubbatubby8 (2 months ago) Same here
Sm00thCriminaal (2 months ago) lol refreshing....homemade lemonade
with a twang to it.
yamahaTRAIL (2 months ago) @Sm00thCriminaal hahahahhaha
kslaopuwmuil (2 months ago) we love monkeys they are sooooo cute
(sweet)
5/5
dasbakon (2 months ago) Chimpanzees are not monkeys, they are apes.
kslaopuwmuil (2 months ago) Shit dude, get a life instead of being a
smartass.
nolifer
thecorduroysuit (2 months ago) Comment removed by author
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thecorduroysuit (2 months ago)Well, dasbakon is absolutely right,
Chimps ARE apes, not monkeys. It`s pretty sad when people equate
intelligence with ``Having no life.``
95gobbler (2 months ago) that monkey got its colors messed up the
pees are suppose to be green not yellow
bearspark (3 months ago) lol
iStocop (3 months ago)if he's thirsty he gotta do wat he gotta do.
joshdodds94 (3 months ago) Curtis Juch..... HarHarhehehaHRahr
Katieboo1996 (5 months ago) gross
samangelo11 (7 months ago) what happened to the other 9
ToontownMad2605 (7 months ago) I counted 1. :S
xluckyx (7 months ago) i demand my other 9 clips >:[
Nathanpq7 (7 months ago) there wuz only 1 vid not 10
robnobhob (7 months ago) hahah xD
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monkeylover098 (7 months ago) dude u suck 4 that
ThePhoenix815 (11 months ago) where's the other 9?
DJSFAMOUS (8 months ago) exactly
hazzaslim (1 year ago) rofl
skilla2k8 (1 year ago) hahahahaha woodzy
WoodzyBoi2K8 (1 year ago) lol
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=5Fj37OTTmm4&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3D5Fj37OTTmm4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fj37OTTmm4
Crazy gorilla eating his own poo
Crazy gorilla eating his own poo
1:21
Added: 3 years ago
From: chaqlee
Views: 264,967
All Comments (552 total)
zrx7769 (3 days ago) thats not a gorilla, its a nigger
pinoyrules15 (5 days ago) THATs a GORRila talents No one human CAn't
Do that....
silphantom (5 days ago) WhY aRe YoU TyPing LiKe ThIs??
zrx7769 (3 days ago) um, no your wrong
dxdxliu (1 week ago)recycling
bluelite7x (1 week ago)Orangutans piss in their mouths, gorillas eat
their shits, and terrorists blow themselves up. As intelligent as
primates are, they can clearly be fucked in the head!
TheBrawlMaster (1 week ago) This zoo dont feed him enough, so he has
no choice to recycle his poo.
devywevy1996 (1 week ago) if i wasnt sick before i dont know what i
am noww.
truelypink (1 week ago) African American Style!!!
KhanioProductions (2 weeks ago) that is not wat gorillas would do in
the wild, that gorilla is hungry and mentally fucked
vlcmarijn (2 weeks ago) 50 cent
Irokashi (2 weeks ago) Now we know what the gorillas get for diner.
darylklein13 (2 weeks ago) yum yum yum
thats fucking gross
garyf7777 (2 weeks ago) Is this Iyanna Washington?
Selwof (2 weeks ago) this is recycling in its base form, good to see
other creatures making a difference. . .
jaqu19 (2 weeks ago) damn, that is one fucking crazy gorilla!
toasterhead91 (3 weeks ago) petty goss... i saw a goilla eat his
poop, puke it up, then eat the puke tho X_X
Smaejdah (3 weeks ago)He wanted to give those fucking people a little
show :D
zaffe93 (3 weeks ago) what a poor black person
Jan8991 (3 weeks ago) seroiusly poor gorilla
louandmikes (3 weeks ago) 1 word Nasty
14ethank (3 weeks ago) that is beyond gross.
ACmilanfan80 (1 month ago) how does ur shit taste u niggaa
DahnD (1 month ago) My dog eats horse shit O.o Not to mention
frogs...
knarftretsom (1 month ago)YAAY ITS MY LANGUAGE =)
Netherlands ;D
4devilking4 (1 month ago) poor garilla
his hungry T.T
GIVE HIM SOME FOOD!!
his a poor animal who eats poop because his hungry GIVE HIM
FOOOOOOD!!!
specialkid94 (1 month ago)i gues he wanted it his way o.o
yamablaster14 (1 month ago) Finger lickin good yum!! Haha
80gamer (1 month ago) doesnt that make u wanna kiss jim
vicktrickly72 (1 month ago) better than 2 girls 1 cup, and 2 girls 1
finger, and 4 girls fingerpaint...
planes3333 (4 weeks ago) @vicktrickly72
whats that mean??
vicktrickly72 (4 weeks ago) it means STOP WATCHING THINGS EAT WASTE
you might find yourself doing it
GermanysF1nest (1 month ago) baaaaaaaaaaaaaaah pervert
lmr2727 (1 month ago) leave him alone!!!!! dogs do that too, you
know! jeez!
Joshuaguss (1 month ago) LOL 0:33 The gorilla see everybody's laughing
at him, and it looks like he's asking "You never ate poo".
93bendzsi (1 month ago) Also the dogs do thats as well
VibrantBeautyBaBy (1 month ago) Left overs I guess? LoL!
SiCcCkKk!!!!! HAHAHA!
cburrezzy (1 month ago) i know his breath STANKIN!
lauzama (1 month ago) whats wrong that gorilla
80gamer (1 month ago) either its on crak or that poo is going strait
to its head
davidhamburg1996 (1 month ago) wtf ?!?!? LOOOOL !!!!!
GameSpazzProductions (1 month ago)there was probably a recycle sign
somewhere in the zoo.
toaking54 (1 month ago) insane
Shadow247night (1 month ago) That's just messed up!
emokekz890emokekz (2 months ago) leave him be, he's trying to eat for
crying out loud.
gtardude1 (2 months ago)i meen a straght face my dad mesed me up
gtardude1 (2 months ago) whats funny is he eats it with a strait
Ardefoc (2 months ago) Mmm Nutrients
emmanuelrio911 (2 months ago) what an idiot... yuck i lost my
appetite
Tyguy161 (2 months ago) *pukes*... man hes really mackin' down
triplepoopsmith (2 months ago) this is gross but hilarius
hagertyh (2 months ago) That zoo must not give them enough to eat :
( LOL
watermelonhorsey123 (2 months ago) this made my mouth have herpies :
&
khanhq (2 months ago)1 gorilla
1 zoo kinda like 2 girls 1 cup lol
spmommy4 (2 months ago) Rofl
fuzzwarmy (2 months ago) This gorilla is not crazy. Gorillas get
their vitamin B12 and other important nutrients from insects and their
own feces. Zookeepers rarely if ever feed insects to captive gorillas,
so captive gorillas are forced to rely solely on their feces for B12.
soccrplyr10 (2 months ago) the cameraguy said ratemypoo
nrobnas43 (2 months ago) the gorilla says, " This tastes like shit".
cutehannahful (2 months ago) OMG!!!!! I Think i'm gonna throw up!!!
gerrardjake (2 months ago) damn hes downing that like a champ
Sm00thCriminaal (2 months ago) @gerrardjake it must of thought it
seen a peanut
TheIrinucka (2 months ago) i feel sick :-&
MRDOGSWIPE (2 months ago) Oh My Goodness...idk what to say...
MrEmejias (2 months ago) the gorilla is looking at everybody like
"haven't you ever eaten poo?".
Joshuaguss (2 months ago) LOL 0:10 That Gorilla is wondering why a-lot
of people keep watching him eat. 0:40 Look at him, everytime he take a
bite, he looks and see people staring and laughing at him.
1:09 So I guess he said "I'm gonna finish my food when everybody
leave."
Zebbe190 (2 months ago) the gorilla is looking at them like:
-Can you do that, phff!
:)
SillyGoober23 (2 months ago) apes do sometimes do that...there is
usually undigested nuts, fruit, or vegetables that they can
smell...or the Zoo keepers aren't feeding them :-)
DrToonhattan (2 months ago) Haha, that guy at 1:03 looked like he was
going to be sick.
I don't blame him.
But isn't the whole point of poo being really smelly so that animals
don't eat it?
Or maybe it just had a cold.
RaiMX (2 months ago)He is just saying: Look at my poor life - I'm
eating my own shit!
Mas18J (3 months ago) Ieeelllhhh Hij eet gewoon zn eigen poep op!
Haha
HugeChunkySkidmark (3 months ago) I like the part where the monkey
eats the shit
themelanator1 (3 months ago) thats fucking funny when he eats shit
amelie1416 (3 months ago)at least they won't have to clean up his
poop
cryptex220 (3 months ago) wtf?
INTHETREE71 (3 months ago) naasty....
way worse than my neighbors dog Kimmy.... she ate her poo too.....
The thing is is that they crave vitamins so an alternative would be
fesies, also known as shit ! HAHA But this was funny!
unstopable410 (3 months ago) you are one sick and gay nasty mother
fucker
ZzXDGXzZ (3 months ago) lol!! thatd be funny toofbar
welubsoursheet (3 months ago) YUMMY!!!! He makes me so wet. What team
does he play for?
truckdog19508 (3 months ago) thats a gorilla genious, not a baboon,
ya fucken uber tard
MarioLuigification (3 months ago) O.O DX
3rdDragunov (3 months ago) What a stupid fucking animal, that's
fecies, dumb fucking retarded baboon. Some one throw him some patatos
to eat at least?
CazAttack57 (3 months ago) lol yummy
3ej6 (3 months ago) hes just playing mind games
youdead179 (3 months ago) MMM CHOCALATE MUFFINS!!!!!!
HomicideTroop901 (3 months ago)dude
smallin45 (3 months ago) OMG~!
mtgPirate (3 months ago) He must be REALLY hungry..
toofbar3 (3 months ago) 2Gorillas1cup?
FROZENUSER (3 months ago)who doesn't likes to eat poo?
matt4c4 (3 months ago) Comment removed by author
shirey812 (4 months ago) hey, less work for the employees, lol
yomomma41 (4 months ago)hey he's thinking GREEN alright! lmao
RECYCLE!!!
lol
CanadiaNecro1 (4 months ago) They do it in the wild too.
CaveatCartoonShows (4 months ago) :O THAT'S NASTY...welp, this proves
that we're defendantly related to apes!!
CaveatCartoonShows (4 months ago) CRAP! SPELLED DEFIANTLY WRONG...
CaveatCartoonShows (4 months ago) wait...that's not how you spell it
either...
BrittanyBrittanyable (4 months ago) LMFAO! *spits* That was sooooo
gross but halarious. Them damn zoo owners need to feed him!
treasuredroperX (3 months ago) He has leaves to eat...
NoMercyForTheWeak001 (4 months ago) ooh dude! my eyes!
dittocopys (4 months ago) you are not alone 0_0
TappaJ123 (4 months ago) wow!!!!!
sChOoLmIsSeR (4 months ago)He must of enjoyed that..
karts565 (4 months ago) söö sitta
MrMickeyd1112 (4 months ago) pause at 0:10 Something funny
bitches?!?!?!
greendaylover4 (4 months ago)ha ha yeah lol good one
taeyatalkalot (4 months ago) It was gross buy so funny lol
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BLACKOUT319 (4 months ago) Marked as spam i almost threw up
starlinayei (4 months ago)2GIRL1CUP HELPER
gayskunk (4 months ago)its accully normal for some animals to do
this, rabbits do it to regain certain nutriants, much like a cow
vomits in its own mouth and chews on it, its just instinct
snewso (4 months ago) musta been hungry
AznLiishii123 (4 months ago)that was very disturbing to see, yet i
cant stop watching it!
darthkevster (4 months ago) yum yum lmao
TFloydProductions (4 months ago) taste even better the second time!!!
1
sergen121 (4 months ago) feel sorry for his wife
crotchfungus (5 months ago) Well they are vegetarian, so I guess its
okay
Mars5890 (5 months ago) lol
YtothemuddafukinT (5 months ago) Man, you'd think they'd give the man
who just won a Nobel Peace Prize better chow than that!
woozie442 (5 months ago) It's dinner time at the white house!
aodessey (4 months ago) you're fucking sick
halfahuman (5 months ago) 1:09 D=
12kirkhinrich12 (5 months ago) That's recycling!
annhelen88 (5 months ago) haha, kuleste mest demonstrative monkey
hoho :)
DeiFanGirl94 (5 months ago) damn, he's so pervert!!
...
xD
Kacicka999 (5 months ago) Damn ...
XDiScONeCtX (5 months ago) Yummy.
cheemoguy (5 months ago) barf!!!
OffTheDeepEnd101 (5 months ago) nastiehh
bindass99945 (5 months ago) this bez of fucking zoo peoples, not
giving proper
food to wild animals :( i feel really pity for that gorrillaaaaaaa
Jarrith4291 (5 months ago) I really think the incessant giggling of
the camera man intensifies the effect...
EvilToiletTaco (5 months ago) RECYCLE
jeffreyhrz (5 months ago)why does it smell like shyt everytime i see
this video?
GlitzAndGlamour1 (5 months ago) i think i died a little on the inside.
5superbreasons (5 months ago) yum
cfhscheer (5 months ago) o_0
aznrichgirl (5 months ago)awhhh): i bet thts jus a super bad zoo who
doesnt feed the animals T_T
xHahaElly (5 months ago) Maybe he was hungry ):
XxGameadickxX (5 months ago) talk about potty mouth
savanah37615 (6 months ago) ewewewewewewewewHAHA
trxrida10 (6 months ago) LOL SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
druha10304 (6 months ago)drafted number 6 by the new york knicks.
x001m69 (5 months ago) NO, I think this ape looke like a New England
Patriot
duerdum9 (6 months ago) haha cool gorilla!
TheBrawlMaster (6 months ago) 1 gorilla 1 cup
crazystarwarsguy1006 (6 months ago) humans: holy shit its eatin its
own poop!!!!
gorilla: yum takes like apples I WANT MORE
peter12331 (5 months ago) HAHAHAHAH
buckatunnaboy (6 months ago) Man, that's some good sh*t!!! LOL!
emochild987 (6 months ago) lol black ppl.....
xxHATESxTHExWORLDxx (6 months ago)LMFAO
Moving4Motion (6 months ago) He just wants a hot meal :D
THEANIMEPERV (6 months ago) i remember when my dog use to do that
LMAO. XD.
5w545 (6 months ago) Show Hide 0 Marked as spam Reply ew, freaking
gross
blueears1 (6 months ago) Good examle of recycling we all shud recycle
our poo.
Fredwiener (6 months ago) Recycle fail
xerke (6 months ago)wow how sad how far he needs to go to get
attention
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gta4ratman (6 months ago) Marked as spam HEY!
dont knock it till you try it
welshwarrior123 (6 months ago) Marked as spam bet his breath smells
like shit
tree003a (6 months ago) now all that gorilla has to do is burp in
your face!
luncheon198 (7 months ago) NOMNOMNOMNOM
greenket (7 months ago) this is some original 2girls 1cup
SeAz00n (7 months ago) Gorilla and poo! :D
xTSxPUNISHER (7 months ago) mmmmmm taste haha
bleachjunkie (7 months ago) My dog does that... O.o
crazyds123456789 (7 months ago) Must tought it was a banana or he
must be reallly really hungry
and omg he likes it O-o
daniellos333 (7 months ago) why didnt u name the title "insane gorilla
eating its own shit"
SketchyFingers12 (7 months ago) i wonder how it tastes...
raniman999 (7 months ago) OMG NASTY!
theforrestwhaley (7 months ago) i saw a gorilla eat his own puke at
the bronx zoo
CherylVooren (7 months ago) this is Artis @ holland =]
thinkinrich (7 months ago) DONT WASTE IT U MOTHERFUCKER
BaileytheHedgehog112 (7 months ago) what a crazy fucking bastard!!
they say monkeys are smarter than us??
JoshDaGoodfella (7 months ago) Gross, and they say monkeys are smarter
than us?!!
But then again, I suppose some Youtubers do eat their own poop, I'm
looking at you trolls!
Pufflestudio09 (7 months ago) Crazy Gorilla: THIS IS MY POOP I MUST
EAT!
People: I don't wanna eat it anyways nasty ass.
Crazy Gorilla: Well you can't have any, I LOVE POOP!
StyrbjornStarke (7 months ago) thats one hungry nigga!
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ccsecond (7 months ago) Marked as spam Nom nom nom
skateshiz1 (7 months ago) haha :)
KievThug24 (7 months ago) oh shit..that is totally crazy!!!!
36jemm (7 months ago) 1 gorilla 1 hand 0_o
Metalsonic136 (8 months ago)Dont Watch If Your Eating Cheese
whiplash1one (8 months ago) imagine if u had to kis him after that
Martoh1 (8 months ago) Mmmmm, tasty
crazyds123456789 (8 months ago) i remember seeing a rino eating its
own crap
GlitzAndGlamour1 (8 months ago)I only watched 10 seconds and i was
gagging the hole way through.
headmanboy30000 (8 months ago) you are what you eat
LinksLightArrows (8 months ago) people think we evolved from these
dumb animals...
DetroitRick1 (8 months ago) This gorilla is the shit.
bakerman93 (8 months ago) no wonder why the others call him shit
face
VisionDivine (8 months ago) S0_0
universalmind3000 (8 months ago) O_o
bigdsears (8 months ago) Today I ate my own poop in front of the
human's. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since
it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely
made condescending comments about what a 'funny gorilla' I am.
Bastards.
Zadaxes (8 months ago) wtf
illybang (8 months ago) Eating feces occurs in the wild and often
occurs at a more frequent rate in zoos. Ingestion of feces is thought
to have nutritive value. For example, ingested feces may help in the
utilization of B vitamins that are manufactured in the lower gut.
Beneficial bacteria that aid digestion are also replenished.
Videogamefan1992 (8 months ago) I bet the gorilla had great breath
after that.
funspot101 (8 months ago) what do we say when the smoke alarm goes
off and mom's cooking?
" Dinner's Ready! "
k00lGuy (8 months ago) ugh! gross... zookeeper aint feeding these
goriilas or something. They end up eating their own shit.
Billster05 (8 months ago) the zookeepers must be feeding them
something otherwise they would have no shit
gabeo8 (8 months ago) People:Lmfoa HAHAHHAHA BlaaarghRawr
Gorilla:I can chew on poo and not be embarassed by it *omnomnomnom*
ShitOnAPlatter (8 months ago) Check Out The Blonde @ 1:02 I Wouldn't
Mind Eating Her Poo !
eckels3000 (8 months ago) HAHA LMFAO!!!!!
backpacc (8 months ago) O_O
BmWbEaSt11 (8 months ago) i like to eat my own poop...especially
diarrhea...i like the runny feeling in my mouth
mummomies45 (8 months ago) lol if gorilla would throw the zookeeper
in face with that
Timverbaz (9 months ago) Comment removed by author
xBLaKHearTx (9 months ago) omgomgomg!
*vomits*
LoL!
CowsAndCrows (9 months ago) zookeeper wont clean my cage.. so ill do
it myself
Mbsaysfasho (9 months ago) haha thats a good one
FFatboy911 (9 months ago) WELLLL...i guess if your hungry and you
just laid out last nights supper..you might as well eat it O.O
fuckblackmetal (9 months ago) orrible...
dmaninfan (9 months ago)That gorilla is gangster...
Mark01656 (9 months ago) i bet he wishes he hasd some hot sauce or
some mouth wash for later lol
haloveiwer (9 months ago)what do you want im just eating my poo i
thought you humans do that too?
sololamer (9 months ago) WHy do they pick the stupidest gorillas to
put in the zoo.
Piccolo49 (9 months ago) POO POO
thinkinrich (9 months ago) he needs some tortilla
eresputo (9 months ago) need some you mama!
thinkinrich (9 months ago)your mama eats every day
tonnysaidno (9 months ago) I ate pancakes in the morning and get
constipate. My goodmother gave me exlax and I push, and push, and
push, and shat 1 pancake and a half. I guess the other 5 and a half
were absobed by my body.
thinkinrich (9 months ago) Comment removed by author
thinkinrich (9 months ago) Comment removed by author
babycatmilker (9 months ago) oh man im getting hungry watching this
BeltaiTheImp (9 months ago) if i were the gorilla id ask for apple
sauce
pinoyrawr (10 months ago) nasty
houtman45 (10 months ago) its nutrious lol
AgentCROCODILE (10 months ago) OMGWTFBBQ Sauce anyone?
PurpleStorm8 (10 months ago) Lol, the guy at 1:05 was about to spew.
eleszar1 (10 months ago) OKEY so NOW I GO TO BED BEFORE I SLEEP I EAT
POO ! YUUUMI
specialtaskforceswat (10 months ago) I already eat my poo with
ketchup and somtimes bbq sauce for a treat
yourneverknowblah (9 months ago) lol
taste4love (10 months ago) DEAMIT, so thats why they are so strong
and muscled, im gonna start making that sheet at home... i poo, and
then i will eat my poo with ketcchup...and after 2 weeks, my muscles
will get stronger
BFMVpwnage5168 (10 months ago) that's what i call EXTREME RECYCLING
iiBubblez (10 months ago) That's so mean...
lahijadelchale (11 months ago) Next video......2 GORILLAS 1 CUP!!!!!
demilavatojr9 (11 months ago) NOT POO I WAS THERE IT WAS HIS FOOD
HaloMania2k (10 months ago) me to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
videolover61 (11 months ago) Dont try that kids...it will screw up
your breath!!! lol
sierraonezero (11 months ago)Love the finger lickin' action around
0:50, that's some gooooood stuff!
GeorgeA2k8 (11 months ago)Another gorilla and a cup and we might just
have a video...
chubster0101 (11 months ago) Two Gorillas One cup there is another
way a man in a gorilla suit
Meixafuhellzman2 (11 months ago) HAHAAHAHAAHA!
ducksmasher09 (11 months ago) 1:10 LMFAO!!!
succexy11 (11 months ago)Oh, my god! Are they not feeding the
gorilla? Or do they do that in the wild, too?
BeatboxKingS (10 months ago) Because they eat plants and small bugs.
All their poop is safe to eat i guess because its not so potent by
greasy foods ect.
kanonekraftschuss (10 months ago) No, it is pudding, not poo.
BeatboxKingS (10 months ago) I dont know if your being sarcastic
But thats not pudding
lol
monkeys,Gorillaz, primeapes are known to eat their own poo
They dont know the difference between a high balanced diet
to an all you can eat shit buffet
XD
Joshuaguss (11 months ago) That Gorilla walked away 1:09, because he's
just like human beans, he don't like people staring at him eating. He
will finish his dinner when those people leave.
wogboyz109 (11 months ago) ooooooooooo man i feel sick
TaylorVSMike (11 months ago) i did want attention so he ate his own
poop and after he probably went to the back to throw up
Himalicious (11 months ago) it wants attention.. it got
attention! :D
Vhakkox (11 months ago) This is some funny shit.
GIUSSEPPE1987 (11 months ago) save the chimps and gorillas save the
chimps
GoodSmellingStink (11 months ago) Gorillas get more and more like
humans everyday. They even recycle their trash.
Southparkisdshit (11 months ago) thats just grose!
cammycool3 (11 months ago) I think he thinks ''Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm''
DarkShadowRage2 (11 months ago) 1 Gorilla1 cup?
nukynk (11 months ago) 1 gorilla, NO cup
yuurepoer (11 months ago) Dude !
kit99999999 (11 months ago) Lol hes tryin to lose weight
kit99999999 (11 months ago)this stupid ass monkey eatin his ugly ass
shit ohhh shit his daily dessert
VioletBoyTV (1 year ago)I think im gonna puke
ProjectRedfoot (1 year ago) he looks pissed about eating it too!
lawlawl.
"im eating poo god damnit..."
BerserkGorilla5 (11 months ago) Gorillas always look angry. XD
jyoeun86 (1 year ago) his breathe smells like SHIT!
Cathrynlee (1 year ago) Fat bastard
theturdbucket1 (1 year ago) whats so wierd i do that all the time
BitchyPagentQueen (1 year ago) How disgusting, I am appalled!
Could he not have used some matters and a knife and fork?
:D
999roby (1 year ago) its ugly.....you must take a fork and a knife
JohnsLazy (1 year ago)do they not feed him enough of what he likes?
iLuKaS2oo9Baby (1 year ago) He relly is crazy
chevytruck123 (1 year ago) Thats sick!
mama2815 (1 year ago)does that mean the zoo is not feeding its animals
enough that this fella had to eat his own excrement?
keribery1235 (1 year ago)maybe its that or that he just expirementing
(i cant spell that right)
pydec3ption (1 year ago) That would be funny if he threw it at the
window
boribori90 (1 year ago) that's just....not even necessary.
JWcolour (1 year ago) Don't knock it til ya try it.
Vhakkox (1 year ago) 1Chimp1Poop.
mbudd121 (1 year ago) 1 gorilla no cup
cynikal12345 (1 year ago) hahhhahahah
scargill8 (1 year ago) HAHAHA I was there when this happened I think
VEGAN0011 (1 year ago)mmm gorilla say better than a mcdonalds
KataarSolo (1 year ago) if the only things you ate were oranges and
bananas, your poo would still have nutrients in it too, but humans
consume afr too many chemicals, and processed foods which are high in
salt and fat, or high level bacterial produce, which means our poo is
toxic
you could actually eat some gorilla poo in a survival situation and it
would keep you going....
or would it?
you decide
myoppositelife (1 year ago) i thought they were suppose to be smart
or somthing
coney10000 (1 year ago) all thaat is goning to happen is that it will
come back out...
endnami (1 year ago) is that normal behavior?
Stifaan (1 year ago) love the laugh
moonguy16 (1 year ago) Holy Crap
Retardidape (1 year ago) Well...his whole face probably smells of
shit XD
klobyshuffle (1 year ago) His breath smells like shit!!!! lol
HackToob (1 year ago) 2 gorillas 1 cup
niddster77 (1 year ago) its funny how the filmer is just laughing his
ass off
SilverAsakura (1 year ago)cut the crap.
lottore (1 year ago) thats horrid even 4 a gorilla
Brizco888 (1 year ago) that is soo gross!
RockOutGurl167 (1 year ago)this is halrious but gross at the same
time haha
rikiboum (1 year ago) Anarchist monkey !
vergil43 (1 year ago)NATHAN!
quoththeraven929 (1 year ago) why?
porscheflat (1 year ago) To him...it's finger-lickin' good...
negrote4 (1 year ago) whats more delicious than your own dump?
Inikalord (1 year ago) YUCK!!!
narutoop1 (1 year ago) siiiiiiiiiiiiccccck
emilio911911 (1 year ago) dude!!!!thats just nasty!!!!
janderson2000 (1 year ago) I wonder if he craps out bananas after
eating the poop
loundon2 (1 year ago) i wanna eat his poo and then fuck it and make
babies 100x with it so my dick is covered in poo
then i suck my own dick cuz its cool like that
EmptyNutShells (1 year ago) that is literally the sickest thing i've
heard my whole day o_O
for that, you should feel proud :D
teeku666 (1 year ago)lol 2 gorillas 1 cup
XD
spnky92 (1 year ago) hey i saw some thing like this on a porn website
with asians...oh...yea haha
TenTen902 (1 year ago) Reply 2 girls 1 cup rrreeemmmiiixx LMFAOO!
techmasterflash (1 year ago) Olivia says that's some good cucka mun!
MiniMi3z (1 year ago) OMFG! how can he be so fucking stupid!
wearejusthumanbeing (1 year ago) in nature they can eat whenever they
want, maybe he was too hungry
beebabe411 (1 year ago) shame they have no food :''(
littleFlecker4 (1 year ago) mmmmmm gooddd seconds and thirds yum
Gtrplyr1 (1 year ago) 2 girls 1 cup google it..
ifyoureadthisyousuck (1 year ago) itd be good if he chucked it up over
the enclosure haha "hits people"
hiddeninja (1 year ago) omg so disgusting...ew but nice vid
OmgPanda1 (1 year ago) at 18 sec he stops chewing he probably
like,"Wtf are you guys laughing at?!"
mrtallhall (1 year ago) its kimbo!
sleepypoodle (1 year ago) So that's what George Bush does in his
spare time.
ajrunke (1 year ago) wow get over it...you lost in 00 and 04
sleepypoodle (1 year ago) I think it is quite clear who LOST judging
by your
economy and employment figures, hopefully the majority of Americans
have learned from this fiasco.
Evilman661 (1 year ago) yum lol
bleachandnarutoareth (1 year ago) People shouldn't bang on the poor
ape's cage. That is cruel. As if he wasn't having a bad enough time
already.
gnamp (1 year ago) bad time?- he's got a shit-eating grin
FluffiFish (1 year ago) I guess but he didn't seem very annoyed.
kokoykiko (1 year ago) masarap na tae yan
SoCalstylez858 (1 year ago) lol
jiya560 (1 year ago) shit kkakakakaknaiainaniniainaniiii iii mukang
tae
shanchilly (1 year ago) yuck
suluama2002 (1 year ago) that is jacked up. ๏̯͡๏)
Zollehx (1 year ago) Show Hide 0 Marked as spam Reply ๏̯͡๏)
Titanium267 (1 year ago) ๏̯͡๏)
promethiusboy (1 year ago) its all about recycling baby
SoCalstylez858 (1 year ago) hahaha ! oh shit im laughing my ass off
right now at that comment1
ajauregui67 (1 year ago) mmmm that looks good
Bigmike3122 (1 year ago) i guess they dont feed them enough
orinkly (1 year ago) Don't do this at home
mjfangirl123 (1 year ago) eww discustint but funny! im watching it
again
disciple111 (1 year ago) that gorrila is gettin SHIT faced
what1ever2guy3 (1 year ago) lol
TheSnake1588 (1 year ago) I actually saw a Baboon carrying some poo in
it's mouth like a dog carrying a tennis ball on the same day of the
posting of this comment. (I was at the zoo)
videomana123 (1 year ago) HAHAH THIS IS FUNNY
WizKidProductions (1 year ago) we evolved from that? COOOL!
ScopedOut7 (1 year ago) lmao
rainbowkittyy (1 year ago) omg i threw up in my mouth a little
iluvgtasan (1 year ago) That is the most discusting thing i have ever
seen!
leafzzzzzzz (1 year ago)2 GIrls 1 CUP OMFGGGGg
porscheflat (1 year ago) I would've said umm..chocolate...but that
shyt didn't have the correct color to even look like chocolate.
That's straight POOO from the ground up!! ;-( and he didn't even FLUSH
it down with water.
PatriciaXavier1991 (1 year ago)Menhame :)
ukbnpok (1 year ago)benz tucks into some wedding cake made by
apesworth
JoeJonasLover989 (1 year ago) like ooooooooo wtf is this maybe it
tastes like choclate
kits18 (1 year ago) looks delicious!! :D
TatakCrazy (1 year ago) WTF!!!Rofl
opennskyy (1 year ago) Oh, please. Some animals, such as Nonhuman
Apes, eat their feces to get more nutrients. They just give food a
"second go" thru their digestive systems to try and obtain every
vitamin/nutrient they can out of it.
najib351 (1 year ago) looks like the zoo ran outta bannanas so he had
to make his own
XxGiveMeMalicexX (1 year ago) I'm dying of laughter at what
poopalina821 said to poopbams2
rofl.
ThyRampage (1 year ago)Can I have the leftovers?
MALAKAS0 (1 year ago) LoooooooL
alxuan (1 year ago) 1 gorilla 1 cup lol
fullthrotle2007 (1 year ago) lmao rofl, thats some good SHIT
jwuonog (1 year ago)Okay, there are a lot of videos of the gorillas
eating poop. Why do they do this?
vegeto245 (1 year ago)thats finger licking good
Roofusx (1 year ago) i just threw up
chickenflavoredbutt (1 year ago) hahahahahahahahahahahahah
vegeto245 (1 year ago)u left sum
tigereye247 (1 year ago) poobams2 you are some gross dropping freak
99mik123 (1 year ago) that monkey is giving me ideaes
tjlawson20 (1 year ago) disgusting vile creature
dooby99 (1 year ago) this monkey is my idol
IronChariots (1 year ago)That's not his poo, it's mine.
1takeachance1 (1 year ago) :o I thought it tasted a little wierd XD
PooBams1 (1 year ago) wow thats really fasinating. You guys know it
does not taste all that bad. I mean if you are in the mood for it it
actually goes quit well with pee. I mean ya, you guys should try it.
PooBams2 (1 year ago) u fjucking retrad! thats gotta be bed fo yo heff
system yall be'z knowin!
poopalina821 (1 year ago) what the HELL did you just say?????
runescapesex (1 year ago) gadverdamme mischien ruikt hem stront nog
naar banaan die dat heeft gegete
hunycupz7608 (1 year ago) he must be sick or sumthin
paramountpics101 (1 year ago) oh.. shit
masterjason21 (1 year ago) Dutch man :P haha
welke dierentuin was het?
where is that zoo?
babbocke (1 year ago) there so stupid why all scientis sa a our
antsesters where from moneky
k9saurus (1 year ago)not all gorillas do this... and they are people
who do it too
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masterjason21 (1 year ago) Marked as spam 2 girls 1 cup ;)
andyswVids (1 year ago) They just assume that we came from apes and
that we share 95% of dna as they do. This isn't true, in fact, only 1%
of our "protein" dna matches to monkeys. 95% of the 1% matches.
Couldn't you believe that people thought that they came from monkeys?
haha.
bleachandnarutoareth (3 months ago)what are you two? where the fuck
did you learn to spell
babbocke (3 months ago) wth did u find my comment i watched this shit
mabe 1 year ago
InvincibleGamer1 (1 year ago) hahaha!!! Poor gorilla!!!
Alidore4 (1 year ago) this makes me wana go 2 the zoo
Tjac (1 year ago) Show Hide +3 Marked as spam Reply the gorillas
like "Fine you people whant a fucken show here ya go A' holes!"
Dagulag (1 year ago) bah i hope the glass breaks and they gorilla
gives the children a big bad punch to their ugly heads
Dagulag (1 year ago) that monkey aint crazy think bout how youd feel
when youd have to eat your own shit because youd die otherwise... not
funny and that retarded children punch at the glass till the monkey
gets crazy ... stupid assholes
emac085 (1 year ago) you dunbshit. u act like if they dont feed him at
the zoo.
xemxjayx (1 year ago) shows how much they feed them in zoos.
witchking3434 (1 year ago)rofl root of all evil!
p.s. thats still gross
witchking3434 (1 year ago) rofl root of all evil!
p.s. thats still gross
saborguerito (1 year ago)LOL he's like. FINE bitches. you want to see
a show! HERE YOU GOOOOO!!!! LOL
grazatt (1 year ago) Maybe it was just some chocolate some one threw
to him?
yalcinkaya123 (1 year ago) oh my god......
what shall i say about that...?
jakewr1996 (1 year ago) why does this come up on related videos of me
singing?
tastybitepizza (1 year ago) You are setting yourself up for: "Boy
singing songs from Rent & the American national anthem = a gorrilla
eating feces."
tastybitepizza (1 year ago)You are setting yourself up for: "Boy
singing songs from Rent & the American national anthem = a gorrilla
eating feces."
MATSAROK (1 year ago) hahahahahahahahahahahah
upperBeastsider (2 years ago)CRAZY gorilla.
Typhvs666 (2 years ago) HAHA
eckels3000 (2 years ago)Lol! I watch this every day!
raymundciesielski (2 years ago) I do this all the time! :D
theguywhodoesnothing (2 years ago) that is what me and family does
ever night. On Friday night my sis eats her dieareah naked.
luffyguy (2 years ago)my fish eat their own poo
luffyguy (2 years ago) my fish eat their own poo
ToffeeChips19 (2 years ago) This is normal. They do this in the wild.
They eat there poo to get more vitamins and minerals.
sidderzmx (2 years ago) is that my mom?!?!?
dackjaniels555 (2 years ago) yeah.. didn't you know your mom is very
famous in the world of scat!
tubeyouguy161406 (2 years ago) you are what you eat, you SHITBAGS!
englandrob94 (2 years ago) lmao, its probably gone mad after being
trapped in that small enclusre for so long
heyjeySigma (2 years ago) at 17 secs he stops munching. He must be
thinking "wtf are laughing at u fuckers?"
lol that's what happens when u dont feed the pets.
fiddop (2 years ago) thats harsh ...see what happends to animals when
stuck in a cage?..was in a zoo in india ..and believe me that was
nothing but depressing , monkeys stuck alone walking the exact same
steps all day =/
1sandstar1 (2 years ago) Ya gotta eat what you can to survive in the
zoo.
mortal886 (2 years ago) hes eating his own poo because they probably
didnt feed him for a long time....they don't even care about the
gorrila , hes probably hungry man!
greenash20 (2 years ago) tat is nasty
cuteblueyedblonde (2 years ago) ok you do realise that hes doing that
because he is stuck in a cage and is bored and has probly gone crazy
so has nowt better to do. thats what human beings have reduced this
creature to. oh yea its sooooooooo funny NOT!
TheTeddybjorn (2 years ago)that is not true. a lot of animals
(including the mountain-gorilla) eats their own poo. since it's
apperently very nourishing.
cuteblueyedblonde (2 years ago)how do u know that its good to eat
crap? and i have read enough and seen enough to realise they dont do
it willy nilly. there is no nourishment in poo, it is a waste product.
TheTeddybjorn (2 years ago) I'm not saying that it's good to eat it..
at least not for humans. but for some reasons gorillas tend to eat
their own poo. I'm no expert on gorilla poo but apparently when they
eat they only get a small part of the energy they need from their
food, the rest is left in their poo. at least I think so. but anyway,
they DO eat their own poo
daganboy (2 years ago) yay!
fattoldpig (2 years ago) monkey see monkey do
linutas (2 years ago) fuuuuu
austin23cook (2 years ago) ALSO ANOTHER THING.... WERE ONLY 12% of dna
away from that 0.o soz bout the caps
austin23cook (2 years ago) ok i got 2 things to say to this
1) its 96% the daily value of YUMMEH
2) I LOVE THE SPECES WHO EAT THEIR OWN FECES !!
TUROKS (2 years ago) Gay
ryann23naks (2 years ago) what kind of gorilla is that?!! his already
crazy..
vietaznboy123 (2 years ago)peanit butter o.o
111oir111 (2 years ago)whats a fucking aboriginal!
miranduhh112 (2 years ago) now that is just plain disgusting!
jugg300 (2 years ago)funny i seen a hamster eat dog terds for
dinner....it weird!!! nice tho lol
redscarf (2 years ago) I wanna french that gorilla
Deathzilla7 (2 years ago) y the fuck do animals eat shit...?
NemesisX24 (2 years ago) animals eat their feces because their
digestive systems do not get all of the potential vitamins and
minerals from the food the first time around. They re-eat it so they
can get the rest of the nutrition from the food. Thanks :]
irondroid (2 years ago)armf yum yum pooya!
startrigg (2 years ago)They called him Alex After the manager of man
utd. he's also full of shite!
mypantsaremario (2 years ago) Dont film your mum thats mean
ateo75 (2 years ago) Does anybody know why gorillas behave like
that ?
Send me a message, please.
by Antonio
JASONWCACURA (2 years ago) It's either that or finger your mother.
They tend to prefer poo.
lazarus280 (2 years ago)why are you guys saying eww? i eat mine all
the time but first i put mine in the oven for few minuets then let it
cool down then add little bit of salt and pepper. and a glass of milk.
Belive me... You'l wanna try it.
thedeadtruth (2 years ago) you know you arent funny?
WhiteLionness (2 years ago) lol i find it kinda funny..
shawn9911 (2 years ago) ur botfucking funny. your just a 54 year old
virgin living in your moms basement
thedeadtruth (2 years ago) oh of coarse im not talking about the
video it was lazarus's response that isnt funny and if im 54 what are
you? 89?
im 14 go kill urself and make the world a little better
kanney91 (2 years ago) xD thats all xD
shawn9911 (2 years ago) really sick but sad. thats what happens when
u put animals in captivity
weissry1 (2 years ago) This is not dependent on captivity. Animals in
the wild do this as well based on their diets.
Psycrologist (2 years ago) Was that 50Cent ? I couldn't see his theeth
with all that shit on them
Gansutitron (2 years ago)se ve que con el I.P.C por las nubes ya no
tienen ni para pienso animal... así vamos acabar cualquier día!!!
davidburman (2 years ago) dude ive seen al ur comments speek some god
damn english
mrjon75 (2 years ago) i gagging! give that thing a banana!
hotsauce2147 (2 years ago) dude..
ohayousun (2 years ago)erm, never waste anything you can eat, XD
earthwormjim88 (2 years ago) i eat poo its nice
vamppyra333 (2 years ago) Es que cetais en France ca?
dmsanct (2 years ago) 1 gorilla 1 poo xD
al27balas (2 years ago) Pobre animal, privado de libertad y reducido a
ser un espectáculo para turistas. No debe tener muchas cosas que hacer
y por eso se come su propia mierda, no creo que sea un comportamiento
natural en su especie.
surfingmushroom (2 years ago) it must have been the best thing he ate
and he just had to have some more!! lol
zoltan65 (2 years ago) en ese zoo no les deven dar de comer jajajaja
kanfor (2 years ago) ¿qué hace aquí Otegui?
nueve26k (2 years ago) HAHAHAH! This is the best gorilla eating poo
video in the world. Look how serious his face is.
Maivkab (2 years ago) Hhahaha.. Looks like the guy who recorded this
was really have a laugh!!! This is some funny as shiet!!!
k1ll3r5c07736 (2 years ago) nothin wrong with tht. i do it all the
time.
HeartlessPeople (2 years ago)aawh gatverdamme :P
eigen poep eten XD
SRB2Pheonix (2 years ago)
hey, at least theyre reduce reuse and recycle... their crap... T-T
DaKoonNco (2 years ago) the gorilla probubly went fucking insane in
that zoo.
Astralnaut (2 years ago) Gorillas in the wild eat their feces as
well.
Jetli390 (2 years ago) *shit*
Guest3791140 (2 years ago) EEEEWW!!!my god!my god!!i think im gonna
puke???! omg!!don't the fucking ppl in the zoo feed them!!???fuck
man!!
Fransouah (2 years ago)Dogs do that too.
Is that a visitor banging on the window at the end?! What a moron..
dragonkinga (2 years ago) god thats disgusting
x0roy0x (2 years ago) omfg man!!!!!
XD..lol
mrtazr (2 years ago) that gorrila has been in there to long thats wy
hes doin that
TheMan4462 (2 years ago) WTF?!?!?!?
CrabKing88 (2 years ago) what the hell? man, hes got nothing better
to eat,
damn it.
adambombiswaycool (2 years ago) *barf*
starum7845 (2 years ago)is this in taronga zoo i saw a monkey eating
its poo
chewie133 (2 years ago) toronga zoo that place rings a bell( were is
it)
**metallica**
iSHYTmyPANTS (2 years ago) that sick bastard
frankzito1 (2 years ago) He doesn't even cringe
hellogoodbyetoyounow jeez need more zookeepers huh?
teamixr (2 years ago) that is so buuhahlaauhaa cough....that was funny
bllaahhhh....!
Gimilli (2 years ago) great thing to teach the kids at the window
HAHAHA
christian1122 (2 years ago)i bet the zookeepers dont feed him
vers0014 (2 years ago) Whats so weird about that?
godrocks112 (2 years ago)i eat that, it's better than pizza
i0like0french0fries (2 years ago) its better then sum1 elses init
haha
lebanon4evur22 (2 years ago) eeeww.. i almost threw up X-P
cashdude84 (2 years ago) Reply mmmmmmmmmmhhhh i ned sum of watever he
is on
n im not talknig bout poop lol jk
cashdude84 (2 years ago) mmmmmmmmm he must b full of shit
XTHHaseo (2 years ago) LOL LOL LOL LOL
nilos77 (2 years ago) he is sick from all those people over there
watching him is sad
MaximusDread (2 years ago) Yea, I always thought it was kinda sick how
zoos keep animals locked up in confined areas just for our amusement.
It's almost as sick as the fashion industry that slauter wildlife for
their fur.
Loopyjoe19 (2 years ago) Why do they not shave thefur off?
MaximusDread (2 years ago) Good point. I guess a tranquilizer gun
would do the job. But what would you do after you shaved an animal's
fur? would you send them back into the wild stripped of their fur
completely naked, or would you keep the animal sedated in a holding
cell until his fur grows back? Either way it's still bad news for the
bears. (terrible movie-reference LOL).
Loopyjoe19 (2 years ago)they could put them back in the wild...
wonder what they would look like - probably weird - anyway they could
keep them under watch and find alot the when it grows back.
not sure how they could do it with elephants and their tusks though.
alien6crowe (2 years ago) yes .. youshoudl also stop driving yoru
car.. IT IS POLLUTING TEH EARTH YOU CRAZY CUNT> and PLEASE stop using
electricity... save it.. switch to candles and STOP USING
ELECTRICITY>>
787310 (2 years ago) WHOA,WHOA,WHOA!NO NEED TO GET CRAZY! I mean
global warming and all that 5H17 is bad, BUT YOU ARE CRAZY ALIEN! NO
CARZ?NO ELECTRICITY?
whosyourdada (2 years ago) yes.
Assiman (2 years ago) is that really so funny?
pkyoubad (2 years ago) tasey i would eat my own poo if it tasted like
candy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh0OGko3TjA&feature=related
bademiyansubhanallah
...and I am Sid Harth
Prostitution in India.
Article 6: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures,
including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and
exploitation of prostitution of women in India. According to a 1994
report in Asian Age there are at least 70,000 women sex workers in
Delhi, Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore and Hyderbad. 30% of these women
are under 20 years of age. 40% are 20-30 years of age, and
approximately 15% of them became prostitutes as children under the age
of 12.
In India, many innocent victims are forced into prostitution by their
husbands or relatives. Some are tricked or enticed into prostitution.
http://www.indianchild.com/prostitution_in_india.htm
This traffic does not stop
The bondage of cross-border sex-workers
Lucknow, February 15, 2002: When 12-year-old Rupa, a Dalit girl from a
village near Varanasi, said that she had been raped by the landlord's
son and friends, the village panchayat (village council) refused to
believe her. Instead, the panchayat maintained that she was concocting
stories. Rupa's problems did not end here. On the pretext of helping
her, Rupa's neighbour offered her domestic work in Kolkata. But
instead of taking her to this eastern Indian city, he brought her to
Delhi and sold her to a brothel for Rs 10,000 (1US$= Rs 48). According
to Rupa, there are many other girls from her village and her caste in
this brothel.
Like Rupa, 20-year-old Mala was lured to come to Uttar Pradesh from
Nepal when she was 10 years old. She was raped by her custodians who
held her captive for over a month and then took her to Mumbai. She has
been working in this city as a sex worker for the last decade, often
servicing six to 10 clients every night This bestial, sleazy world of
intra-country and trans-border trafficking in women and young girls
was highlighted recently in a workshop organised in Lucknow by the
BETI Foundation, UNDP.
Trafficking in human beings is more lucrative than trade in arms or
narcotics according to Roma Shyamsundar, Vice President of STOP, a
Delhi based non-governmental organisation (NGO) actively involved in
the rescue of trafficked girls. According to Shyamsundar, a lifelong
exploitative situation is established when a woman or a girl is
trafficked: she is forced into prostitution and thus begins a vicious
cycle of paying the brothel owner for whom she works. Even if she is
rescued, her plight does not improve because she is not accepted
either by her family or by society. And she has no means of survival.
Consequently, many rescued victims have no choice but to go back to
sex work.
Given the abysmal poverty in Bangladesh and Nepal, the porous borders
with India and even culturally sanctioned prostitution like the
Devdasi system, the business of trafficking girls has fertile soil on
which to grow in the region. Expectedly, it is highest in border
regions with high poverty and low women's literacy. The new state of
Uttaranchal too is a popular hub, especially along the porous borders
at Pithoragarh and Champawat.
A 1994 UN definition of trafficking limits it to the clandestine and
illegal movements of persons across national borders with the goal of
forcing women and children into sexually exploitative situations.
Today, this definition in its wider sense also includes internal
trafficking through kidnapping, migration and luring women and girls
to cities for better work prospects.
What is causing alarm both in governmental and NGO circles is the
escalation in trafficking of young girls in the last decade. NGOs like
STOP and MAITI in Nepal report that most trafficking in India (both
trans-border and in-country) is for prostitution. And 60 per cent of
those trafficked into prostitution are adolescent girls in the age
group of 12 to 16 years. Still more alarming is the fact that the
average age of trafficked girls, which was 14 to 16 years in the
1980s, came down to between 10 and 14 years in the 1990s. These
figures are corroborated by a study done by the Department of Women
and Children in 13 sensitive districts of Uttar Pradesh. It reveals
that all sex workers who formed a part of this survey had entered the
profession as young girls.
Globalisation, professionalisation of trafficking syndicates,
feminisation of poverty and rise in sex tourism - all have contributed
to an increase in trafficking. This problem is further compounded
because of two factors: linkages of trafficking with the spread of HIV/
AIDS and the clandestine nature of the activity.
Studies now show that while women of all ages are more vulnerable to
the infection than men, young girls are even more at risk because
their genital tracts are immature. In addition, they have absolutely
no control over sexual relations and sexual health. So a physical
vulnerability is compounded by a gender vulnerability. Says a Nepali
child rescued from a brothel by STOP, "Clients don't like condoms and
the owner of the brothel tells me to do what the clients want. If I
refuse then the man chooses another girl and not only do I lose out on
making money, I am also beaten up."
The clandestine nature of trafficking, which is often undertaken with
familial consent, means that there are no action plans either at the
governmental or the NGO level to deal with the problem. For instance,
the study done in 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh shows that in a sample
of 1,341 sex workers, brothel-based prostitution was 793 and family-
based prostitution came close at 548.
However, progress -- though very little -- is being made. Efforts at
rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked women and girls have now
turned from a welfare to a rights-oriented approach. Interventions are
increasingly based on issues like combating stigma related to HIV/
AIDS, developing empowering strategies for victims and involving
communities in the rehabilitation of rescued women and girls.
But there is a lot that still needs to be done. Involvement of
communities is of the greatest significance here since it has been
seen that rescued women and girls are not accepted by their families
and communities. The situation becomes worse if someone tests positive
for HIV because she is immediately labeled a prostitute - a perception
that creates a complex situation in the rehabilitation programmes.
Even if trafficked returnees can avoid such treatment, they have few
options for survival. There are very few rehabilitation centres that
provide physical, mental and emotional support or legal and literacy
expertise. Consequently, many young HIV positive girls and women
return to sex work, thereby continuing the transmission of HIV
infections. Says Shyamsundar, "We believe that all brothel children
have to be rescued. A 10-year-old is expected to take on 10 or 12
customers a day. It is worse than rape."
What is needed is a multi-pronged strategy which can help in curbing
trafficking and empowering communities and which also has scope for
rescue and rehabilitation processes. The task is not just daunting,
given the political priorities of most governments it is not given the
importance it deserves.
Radha Rastogi
February 2002
Radha Rastogi is a Lucknow based journalist with over 25 years
experience with mainstream media. She specialises in development
issues and has specifically worked in the field of education in the
state of Uttar Pradesh. This opinion on India Together is provided by
the Women's Feature Service.
Feedback: Tell us what
http://www.indiatogether.org/women/opinions/traffic.htm
MAITI in Nepal
http://www.maitinepal.org/
UNDP homepage
http://www.undp.org/
http://www.indiatogether.org/women/opinions/traffic.htm
Fantasies of city life attracts minor girls !!! - 2010-01-21
A fresh incident of interception of eight minor girls from Information
and vigilance booth of Maiti Nepal Nagdhunga unraveled the extremity
to which capital city, Kathmandu attracts innocent girls from rural
areas. Observing their dress up and behavior reveals the fact that
they were attracted by the fashion vibes and sense of freedom posed
by the capital city.
On 12th January, 2010 ,eight innocent girls were intercepted at
Nagdhunga for being at a high risk of trafficking. All eight girls
were minors, age varying from 9 years to 18 years. All of them
belonged to Tanahu district and were traveling to Kathmandu to find
jobs. After series of counseling sessions, they said that five of
them lied to their parents saying that they were going for a movie
while three of them ran away from school. They had sold their gold
nose stud to get money for bus fare.
While questioned at the check post, they had no clue about where they
were staying in Kathmandu. Thaey said they were traveling to Kathmandu
to find "a nice job" and earn their livelihood. Although all of them
are literate to a certain grade, they were aloof about human
trafficking. During counseling sessions, it was observed that their
interest was mainly on pursuing material satisfaction like cell
phones, nice dress, shoes and cosmetics, etc. Their prime focus was on
earning money and fulfilling their fantasy rather than going to the
school.
This incident manifests the burgeoning gravity between the capital
city and remote districts. Undoubtedly, Kathmandu is soaring high on
creating fashion and as a consequence it is luring innocent girls
towards a so called city lifestyle which further generates hazardous
upheavals and risks in their life.
On 17th January, 2010 their respective family members were contacted
and brought together for family counseling. All the girls were handed
over to their respective parents Maiti Nepal is committed to provide
every kind of support to these girls that may be required for their
successful reintegration
http://www.maitinepal.org/ndetails.php?option=News&cid=127
Internal trafficking as an escalating challenge to a civilized
society!!! - 2010-01-10
The number of girls entrapped in sexual exploitation is atrocious.
Undoubtedly, the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu holds a lot of job
opportunities. What attracts these girls to the capital city is the
superficial conception, that they could change their lifestyle by
merely changing their city. With a commitment to themselves of
improvising their life situations, they travel to Kathmandu with risks
and hazards. In fact, they are “trafficked” to Kathmandu. In the guise
of dance bars, cabin restaurants and massage parlors, these innocent
girls are sexually and physically exploited. Most of these girls are
easily lured, molded and convinced and hence they are trafficked
at minor age.
In a recent incident of a raid operation conducted by Nepal Police at
various so called “Prostitution hubs” of the capital city, number of
girls were rescued and kept for inquiry at Hanuman Dhoka Metropolitan
Police Range. Maiti Nepal provided psychosocial counseling to the
girls and minors were referred to Maiti Nepal for rehabilitation and
family re-integration. Officials of Maiti Nepal visited the custody
wherein the girls were handcuffed and kept in a dreadful condition.
Currently, Maiti Nepal's rehabilitation home Kathmandu is providing
safe shelter to nine girls. At the shelter home, the girls are
receiving counseling, life skills trainings and medical
supervision.The girls revealed that they had adopted the profession
just to keep them alive as other livelihood opportunities seemed a far
cry for them. Maiti Nepal is keen on finding alternative livelihood
opportunities for them .Their family members are being located and
provided with family counseling.
Data of girls at the shelter home:
Age Range: - 15 years – 22 years http://www.undp.org/
Districts: - Dhading, Dharan, Argakhachi, Nuwakot, Kavrepalanchowk
http://www.maitinepal.org/ndetails.php?option=News&cid=126
Helping women - by reaching out to men
by Rajeev Narayan
UNV volunteer Rajeev Narayan (left, with notebook) in discussions with
youth groups on issues of Gender-Based Violence and masculinity in
Uttar Pradesh, India. (UNV)UNV volunteer Rajeev Narayan (rear centre
left, in orange shirt) engages with youth. "A central focus of my work
is MASVAW (Men’s Action for Stopping Violence Against Women) which has
initiated campaigns urging boys and men to raise various issues of
safety and violence against women in their communities," he says.
(UNV)01 March 2010
New Delhi, India: In 2008, an innovative UN joint programme in the
Asia-Pacific region was launched, called 'Partners for Prevention:
Working with Boys and Men to Prevent Gender-Based Violence'. Given the
strong potential volunteerism has to support and champion violence
prevention, especially at the community level, UNV saw a unique
opportunity to contribute.
UNV joins with UNDP, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and
the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in this initiative.
'Partners for Prevention' (P4P) incorporates volunteerism both through
the placement of UNV volunteers at P4P’s regional secretariat, and
with national partners working on violence prevention to document,
share, and support country-level initiatives.
Each volunteer supports the programme in different ways. For my part,
I am a national UNV volunteer Network and Outreach Coordinator based
at the Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ) in India.
There is a growing movement which calls for dynamism from youth and
adult men to reduce the rapid rate of violence against women. My host
organization, CHSJ, is at the centre of this movement in India. CHSJ
is a policy resource centre working on issues of health, gender
equality and social justice and currently holds the network
secretariat for the Forum to Engage Men (FEM), a national network
working with boys and men for eliminating Gender-Based Violence.
I have been working with issues of masculinity, including what it
means to be a man in my culture, and on Gender-Based Violence
prevention for the last couple of years. My role as a UNV volunteer
has allowed me to gain vital experience at the community level in
India, and document best practices and learning. I then in turn have
the exciting opportunity to connect with partners across the region
through Partners for Prevention to share this learning.
A central focus of my work is MASVAW (Men’s Action for Stopping
Violence Against Women) which has initiated campaigns urging boys and
men to raise various issues of safety and violence against women in
their communities. MASVAW is unique in that it is a volunteer-driven
movement and works with a chain of volunteers taking responsibility at
the individual level and at each of the respective districts
throughout the state. We count on these men and prepare them for
future leadership roles.
I have been actively participating in MASVAW activities, mobilizing
volunteers, assisting the secretariat in documenting case studies,
challenges, and learning to be shared within the Forum to Engage Men
network. Through Partners for Prevention, I also work with other
organizations in the region that are interested in building similar
volunteer movements in their countries.
My knowledge of the local dialect has helped me a lot in connecting
with the people in the local communities of Uttar Pradesh where
Bhojpuri is the common language.
I am also involved in the development of Partners for Prevention’s
social media campaign pilot in India. The campaign aims to raise
awareness and build sensitivity among youth on issues of violence and
prevention.
The campaign will reach out to youth through online social media
applications (like Facebook) and also link them with real world events
and volunteer activities promoting violence prevention to get them
actively involved and engaged in a meaningful way. And I have been
working together with P4P staff and partners in India to build
partnerships with local universities and youth volunteer groups for
the campaign.
Overall my work as a volunteer with Partners for Prevention has helped
me to understand the importance of community-based approaches to
create knowledge and raise public awareness on sensitive issues such
as gender discrimination, marginalization, the gender division of
labour and Gender-Based Violence.
Through my experiences with Men’s Action for Stopping Violence Against
Women I have been able to regain strength, courage and confidence in a
clear-cut message: 'Not all men are violent'. I have also had the
opportunity to participate in international and regional workshops and
events providing me with a range of inspiring and educational
experiences as well as the opportunity to share the work being done in
India.
Given these rewarding experiences, I can say that I feel proud to
serve as a UNV volunteer with Partners for Prevention and CHSJ. Day by
day I believe that my commitment can really lead to concrete results
in my area of work, wherein a society free of violence exists.
http://www.unv.org/en/news-resources/news/doc/helping-women-by.htmlPreventing
gender-based violence by working with boys and men
by Rizwan Latif
UNV volunteer Rizwan Latif (standing) works as Outreach & Capacity
Development Officer at ROZAN, an Islamabad based NGO working on issues
related to emotional and psychological health, gender, violence
against women and children, and the psychological and reproductive
health of adolescents. (UNV)11 March 2010
Islamabad, Pakistan: I’m a national UNV volunteer working as Outreach
and Capacity Development Officer at ROZAN, an Islamabad based NGO
working on issues related to emotional and psychological health,
gender, violence against women and children, and the psychological and
reproductive health of adolescents. ROZAN is a partner organization of
Partners for Prevention (P4P), a UN Regional Joint Programme on the
“Prevention of Gender-based Violence by Working with Boys and Men” of
UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM and UNV in Asia-Pacific.
I believe individual self-growth is the key to bringing changes to
society for the promotion of human development. Pakistan is a country
where the majority of the population is comprised of youth. Access to
basic necessities and knowledge is a very big challenge and youth is
the most vulnerable segment of society. Engaging youth for gender
equality is possible only when both men and women realize their
individual roles and responsibilities to contribute to a society free
of violence.
Being a UNV volunteer gives me the opportunity to engage men and boys
in order to stop violence against women and promote gender equality.
The main objective of the promotion of volunteerism is to achieve
peace and development and to turn global development challenges
around. Through the promotion of volunteerism and volunteers, there
are opportunities to prevent gender-based violence in general and
violence against women in particular. I feel gender equality or
violence issues are my own issues and this is my motivation. It is
great to fight for a cause and involve individuals and groups to bring
changes in society, particularly on the gender-based violence issue.
Women in Pakistan are the most marginalized segment of society. The
main problem women are facing is the negligence of their role by their
own partners, family and state. There are cultural barriers and
strictness, which prohibit women from competing and promoting self-
awareness and growth. Several issues are associated with women only,
i.e. lack of education, of basic health facilities, violence
(physical, sexual, psychological) etc. State level policies especially
related to violence against women exist, but proper implementation is
still a big challenge.
To assign a UNV volunteer to support a local organization is a very
innovative idea. This particular UNV assignment through P4P and ROZAN
will provide me with an opportunity for self-growth to understand and
gain knowledge on this specific issue of male involvement to prevent
gender-based violence. In our society, men will be the main active
agents to bring about change, since due to lack of understanding and
persistent traditional cultural practices, women have still a very
limited space.
Volunteers engaging men and boys for gender-based violence prevention
will be a major resource for interventions and activities to stop and
put an end to gender-based violence. The volunteers will make a
difference through the dissemination of relevant knowledge, and by
demonstrating in a practical way their commitment and willingness to
initiate self-actions to end gender-based violence, and violence
against women in particular. Through the involvement of media,
volunteers will be able to effectively communicate and involve every
part of society to stop gender-based violence.
At ROZAN, I am associated with a project called “Hamqadam – male
involvement initiative to address gender-based violence”. It aims to
initiate and sustain change in male (men and boys) attitudes about
themselves and their role in society, sensitizing them about the issue
of violence against children and women.
Patriarchal society and its links to gender-based violence are very
pressing issues, particularly in Pakistani society. It’s a very
interesting and unique work to highlight and understand the factors
responsible for gender-based violence and violence against women. A
formative research, which was conducted by ROZAN focusing on male
dominance and its link to violence, gave me an insight into how male
dominance is constructed by society. The gender equitable men (GEM)
scale adaptation system, which was implemented in the intervention
areas of the Hamqadam project by ROZAN, is a very effective tool to
measure the perception and attitudes of the community.
ROZAN believes in the essence and importance of volunteers for human
development. Within the organization, a volunteer management system is
functioning effectively. A volunteer coordination committee is working
within the ROZAN programmes. Every programme by ROZAN has established
a volunteer network engaging volunteers to prevent gender-based
violence and violence against women.
There are also other implementation strategies in the Hamqadam project
activities under the umbrella of ROZAN. Prevention of gender-based
violence and violence against women is a very interesting and
distinctive area of work and I feel a great pleasure to be part of it.
Addressing complex issues around core thematic areas, with focus and
dedication, to bring about change in society gives me great
motivation.
http://www.unv.org/en/perspectives/doc/preventing-gender-based-violence-by.html
UNVs help the women of Orissa rebuild their lives
by Anita Katyal*
03 June 2000
Orissa, India: The state of Orissa in eastern India was devastated by
a cyclone on 29 October 1999. High-velocity winds accompanied by
massive tidal waves left behind a trail of destruction and human
misery. A total of 19,000 villages were fully or partially destroyed,
affecting an estimated 13 million people. The official death toll is
just under 10,000 while thousands of cattle have been killed and
thousands of hectares of land destroyed.
Six months have elapsed since that fateful night. Efforts have been in
full swing to help the affected people of Orissa first through
immediate relief measures and later through long-term rehabilitation
schemes. Several agencies under the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in New Delhi have come together here to work jointly
towards helping the victims. The UN's mission in Orissa, however,
could not have been such a success were it not for the efforts of the
13 national United Nations Volunteers (NUNVs).
Seven women UNVs have proved particularly invaluable in these efforts.
Now that attention is focused on rehabilitation for victims, the UNV
district support officers as they have been designated, are
concentrating on how they can help the women most affected in the
natural disaster.
Abha Mishra of India joined as a UNV in December and has since served
in the Balasore district. With the flood waters rising to over nine
feet and entire villages submerged, her first task was to document the
extent of damage, monitor the movement of relief materials and assess
conditions in the field. "I toured the affected villages extensively,
spoke to the villagers, the village headmen, the local authorities and
especially the women to find out their problems," she explains.
In addition, she was also asked to pitch in with the United Nations
Children's Fund's ongoing rural water and sanitation programme that
was expanded after the cyclone ravaged the district. "This involved
long conversations with the women as I tried to explain to them the
benefits of proper sanitation and hygiene," says Abha.
"The women were remarkably enthusiastic and assured me that they would
pay greater attention to their personal hygiene and would not hesitate
to fetch water even if they have to walk a kilometre." The women were
motivated enough to set up mahila mandals (women's groups) to educate
the other women. Like her counterparts, Abha has drawn up elaborate
plans to organize the women in remote villages into self-help groups
and is currently in the process of putting them in place. At the same
time, she has also held regular meetings with the community workers in
the affected villages. These community workers, or anganwadi workers
as they are referred to, provide basic services like nutrition and
immunization for children and neonatal care to pregnant mothers at the
government-run community centres. Most of these centres were destroyed
in the cyclone but they have started functioning in temporary tent
structures.
"I am motivating the anganwadi workers to organize the village women
into self-help groups. After all, we are here for a short time and it
will be difficult for us to follow up on these activities. Therefore,
I am involving the local NGOs and anganwadi workers since they will be
here even after we leave," says Abha.
Sandhaya, a 27-year-old anganwadi worker in Talanagar, recalls when
Abha first came to their village. "She told us how these groups would
help the women in sharing their problems and also told us how we could
set up a thrift fund and start some income-generating schemes," she
says. More importantly, she adds, Abha's visit helped them air their
grievances. For instance, she says, the foodgrains at their anganwadi
centre were badly damaged and they brought this to Abha's attention
who, in turn, asked the local authorities to take immediate remedial
measures. "When Abha came to our village and discussed our problems,
we felt that finally our grievances would be relayed to the right
quarters," she says.
Radhamani Singh, who supervises 48 anganwadi centres under her charge,
says the sessions with Abha proved extremely helpful. The workers told
how they are working in makeshift structures with virtually non-
existent infrastructure. Abha listened attentively, gave them useful
tips on checking malnutrition and keeping track of the health of women
in general. "After this meeting, the anganwadi workers felt more
confident and more capable of handling all the problems thrown up in
the post-cyclone period," says Radhamani.
Talking to outsiders who are not part of the official machinery also
helps, she explains. When a government official comes, people are
generally hesitant to talk because they run the risk of annoying
somebody. "But with UNVs, there are no such problems and so it is easy
to talk. It is also good to know that somebody is genuinely interested
in our problems and will do something about them, " she adds.
UNV Rita Missal, located in the Cuttack district, has managed to get
the women in Nodaarisol village to discard their veils and became
active participants in the development plans of their village. "Women
in this village are traditionally not supposed to step out of their
homes but after several meetings with them, I have persuaded them to
sit on the village committee where decisions are taken about the
future rehabilitation plans of the village," she says.
Similarly, women's participation in reconstruction work was nil but
here again, she convinced them that their participation will mean
extra income for the family. The women have also constituted a mahila
mandal, or a self-help group, which has not only set up a thrift fund
but has become involved in such diverse activities as distribution of
relief materials to the monitoring of sanitation and immunization
programmes.
Kalika Mohapatra, who is responsible for the Khurda district, has been
working as a UNV since December - weeks after the cyclone hit Orissa.
She remembers her initial visits to the villages when people were
living under hastily-erected tents and tarpaulins, eating from
community kitchens and fighting for the relief materials being
distributed.
Since the crops were severely damaged by the cyclone and it would be
some time before agricultural activity could be resumed, Kalika helped
the women set up groups to explore income-generating activities.
"After several discussion sessions, the women became gradually
receptive to forming self-help groups when they realized that they
could also contribute to the family income," says Kalika. "A lot of
them showed interest in starting kitchen gardens which would provide
them a steady income. In fact, we found that after several such group
discussions, the women became more vocal and confident and voluntarily
discussed their problems... they became more aware of their
difficulties but also realized they could also contribute in making a
difference," she says, adding that they also started seeking
information about immunization programmes and how they could keep
their communities clean.
As part of their mandate, UNVs also coordinate the activities of NGOs
working in the field and help them in the implementation of their
programmes. Soon after she joined, Kalika says she was approached by a
local NGO, Childcare, which works in a group of villages, about 35
kilometres from Orissa's capital Bhubaneswar. The villages, she says,
were destroyed during the cyclone and its inhabitants had, by some
mistake, been overlooked in the relief and rehabilitation programmes
launched by the government.
Childcare, she says, had already been working in these villages and
after the cyclone the people were keen to expand their activities.
However, funding was proving to be a problem as they came up against a
wall each time they tried seeking resources. Kalika says she
approached a governmental funding agency which gives money for rural
programmes and also got in touch with an Italian NGO, CESUI, which had
evinced interest in undertaking a worthwhile programme for the
victims.
Gradually, these efforts paid off as an integrated development
programme has been put in place in the village of Bhalunka. A non-
formal centre for children has been set up which is proving quite a
relief to the women who can now leave their children there knowing
they will not be wandering around aimlessly in the fields and will
instead be looked after.
At the same time, the women themselves, who earlier earned a pittance
working as casual labourers, have been given special training in
mushroom cultivation.
"We had lost everything in the cyclone but we are now trying to
rebuild our lives. Learning mushroom cultivation has really helped me
in this process....earlier I did not earn more than Rs. 35 a day and
then, again, work was not regular. Today, my income has nearly
doubled," says Urmilla Singh, 30. Urmilla is among 20 women from the
village who have received this training. "Earlier, there was never
enough money to meet the needs of the family. Today, with this
additional income, I am able to look after my four sons a little
better," says 28-year-old Gauri Singh, who is also getting health
services that were earlier not available to her. Gautmi Singh says she
now enjoys a increased, regular income and better working conditions.
"Besides, we have more time to look after our families," she explains.
The women have organized a group that meets once a month to discuss
their common problems and also established a thrift fund to be used
for emergency purposes, explains group secretary Gautmi Singh.
*Anita Katyal is a journalist based in New Delhi.
http://www.unv.org/en/what-we-do/thematic-areas/gender/doc/unvs-help-the-women.html
Restoring Punjab's cultural heritage, UNVs foster a sense of community
by Dr. Savyssachi and Gurmeet S. Rai
07 September 2000
BONN: In the northern Indian State of Punjab, the historical landscape
bears testimony to the fact that people from different communities
have interacted from ancient to modern times.
In the recent past, however, violence and terrorism have fragmented
the State's social and cultural fabric. Cultural Heritage and the
Promotion of Understanding in Punjab, a joint project supported by the
UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) the UN
Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV),
seeks to restore cultural heritage and develop a sense of community
amongst people from different religious and social traditions. The
overall objective is to foster a culture of peace. To that end,
restoration efforts have been interlinked with community development
activities. Seven national UN Volunteers -- social scientists, art
restorers and conservation architects -- are part of the project. It
is implemented by the Cultural Resources Conservation Initiative
(CRCI), a voluntary group of conservation architects.
On what ground can the people be engaged as members of a community?
How can it be ensured that the physical restoration of building
structures is simultaneously a restoration of the sense of community?
What are the necessary social conditions for extending the life of
these buildings?
With these considerations in mind, three old religious shrines, Kishan
Mandir (Krishna's Temple) in Kishankot Village, Guru Ki Masjid (the
Mosque of the Master) in Sri Hargobindpur Village and Massania Dargah
of Baba Shah Badar Diwan in Massania Village, were selected for
restoration. Of these, Kishan Mandir was chosen as the first project
for the UN Volunteers.
In Kishankot, 50 per cent of the population are Sikhs, 25 per cent are
Hindus and 25 per cent Christian. The walls of the temple are
decorated with paintings depicting Hindu and Sikh themes. It was
obvious that the UNV social scientists and conservation specialists
had to work hand in hand.
The temple restoration could only be successful and lasting if the
community was flourishing. This however, was not the case. "The
village had no facilities", recalls Zamrooda Khanday, one of the UNV
social scientists. "The school was ill-equipped, there was no
qualified doctor and a large majority engaged in gambling and was
consumed by alcohol." In addition, a large number of men migrate
seasonally to different parts of India in search of work -- mostly
agricultural -- as there is no opportunity for productive work at
home.
UNV specialists identified health, education and horticulture
activities to be linked to the restoration process. They successfully
worked together with women, children and the elderly members of the
community. "Initially, people of the village seemed laid back,"
recalls Asif Iqbal, another UNV social scientist. "However, in the
course of our work it emerged that they were willing to do many
things, and given an opportunity would not let it go by."
Children and youth are now engaged in gardening, the local library, a
recreation and sports club and in non-formal education (NFE). The UNVs
took part in supportive classes for education, detoxification and
counselling work with families as the building blocks of community. At
present, efforts are being made to facilitate public participation and
generate awareness regarding political rights in order to facilitate
the functioning of the panchayat, or the local governing council.
Every household was given an opportunity to contribute to the
restoration of the Mandir, either in cash or in kind. The link between
temple restoration and sustainable community development began to
emerge. For instance, the art conservators organized workshops with
children on clay modelling and drawing. The workshops were to be
organized before the completion of the restoration to strengthen the
link between the community and the temple. "I am encouraging most of
the younger guys to learn on-site how to take care of the temple,"
says UNV art restorer Prashant Gadpaile, who works on preserving the
temple's precious, yet deteriorating paintings. Part of his work is
raising awareness within the community: "I have to guide people
regarding the code of conduct. For instance, they should not write on
the temple walls, they should not smoke in the temple area and they
should not touch the paintings."
Mohalla, or street corner meetings, were organized together in
cooperation with the UNV social scientists to explain about the
restoration work. "People responded in a very positive manner and
showed greater interest in the process after the meetings," recalls
Munish Pandit, a UNV conservation architect. Furthermore, the mohalla
meetings serve as a forum where apart from temple restoration other
social issues can be discussed.
"In one of the mohalla meetings, an old lady complained about her bad
eyesight. Many others attending stated that this was a general problem
for all ladies in the village. On further discussion it emerged that
smoke from the chulha (a cooking stove) damages their eyes. We then
suggested the smokeless chulha," says Munish Pandit.
Through the community's participation facilitated by the UN
Volunteers, a sense of belonging to the Kishan Mandir has evolved.
While this is crucial to ensure the temple's maintenance once the
restoration work is completed, the UNVs also see to it that the
necessary technical skills are passed on. Conservation architect
Munish Pandit, for instance, trains two local masons in restoration
work. He is confident about the temple's future.
"They have shown great interest and aptitude to learn more about the
traditional techniques, materials and methods of construction," says
the national UN Volunteer. "They will be able to maintain the temple
in an appropriate manner without the need of a specialist."
FILM REVIEW
Documenting the flesh trade
"I wanted to show not just a few victims, but to help viewers
understand the mechanics and the politics of trafficking and
migration," says Ananya Chatterjee. Shoma Chatterji revies
Understanding Trafficking.
19 July 2009 - Eighty seven minutes is rather long for a serious
documentary on one of the ugliest realities of life - the tracking of
young women, usually turned into sexual slaves. But Understanding
Trafficking does not drag because it embarks on a journey of shocking
discoveries about girls who are made to cross their Lakshman Rekhas by
physical force, by diabolic manipulation, sometimes, even by their
parents and close ones to be sold like cattle in the flesh markets of
Nepal, Bangladesh and India. Are these girls 'bad'? Or are they
'good'? Ananya Chatterjee's film drives us to redefine the
implications of what 'good' or 'bad' mean for these tragic victims.
The film tracks the trade across Nepal, Bangladesh and West Bengal in
India, through interviews with NGO workers, victims of trafficking,
victims who have been rescued and rehabilitated, some pimps and agents
who pretend to be social activists, and some women who head
organisations working to stop trafficking and rescue innocent victims
from this illegal trade. Through captive audiovisual shots that go
into forbidden ghettoes of the trade, it shows how trafficking is an
integral part of organized crime with a long human chain that begins
with the girl's family, including her parents, and reaches her to the
brothel she has been sold to, to live and die there as a sex worker.
"The project was part of a competition floated by IAWRT (International
Association for Women in Radio and Television) over three years ago. I
won that competition along with two other international film makers.
It is funded by FOKUS, a women and child welfare organisation in
Norway. I always wanted to make a film on trafficking ever since I
came into film making in 1991. I would like to extend this project
both geographically and deeper than its present form," says
Chatterjee, who had honed her skills in documentaries with her earlier
films on the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, on sexual harassment of
women at the workplace, and other topics.
Although human trafficking is illegal in almost every country,
thousands of girls become sexual slaves each year. The human
trafficking industry has a reported annual income of $8 billion, and
the UN estimates that it may employ as many as 40 million women.
What is trafficking? Who is trafficked, by whom, where and how? Are
the victims aware that they are being trafficked? What role do the
families play? Do they play a positive and reassuring role in the
rehabilitation of the girls when and if they come back home? What are
the reasons that lead to trafficking? Is it poverty or is it easy
money? Is it ignorance - true or pretended, or is it greed? Does it
result from lack of education and any earning skills? These are some
of the questions Understanding Trafficking raises. It also stresses on
the sad fact that no separate and exclusive law exists to punish the
trafficking of girls and women for prostitution. Also, no social or
governmental infrastructure exists for their rescue, rehabilitation,
education, training and mainstreaming of these girls.
Why did she name the film Understanding Trafficking? "I wanted to show
not just a few victims, but to help viewers understand the mechanics
and the politics of trafficking and migration," says Chatterjee. The
film opens with graphics designed and created by Anirban Ghosh. It
then moves on to Farah Gherda, a young girl studying in St. Xavier's
College, Kolkata, planning to go abroad to pursue her interests in
professional photography. She has the backing of her parents to seek
fresh pastures. She is distanced from the Lakshman Rekha. - maybe not
even aware of its existence. But she is one of the lucky few among the
millions of little girls who do have choices to make.
The film tries to explore the differences between sex work and
trafficking, migration and trafficking, etc. Through captive
audiovisual shots that go into forbidden ghettoes of the trade, it
shows how trafficking is an integral part of organized crime with a
long human chain that begins with the girl's family, including her
parents, and reaches her to the brothel she has been sold to, - to
live and die there as a sex worker.
"I have used the metaphor of the Lakshman Rekha because generally,
trafficking victims are handled from a welfare-based approach. Women
are thought to be weak and vulnerable, needing protection, and it is
expected that they should not attempt to venture out. Women and girls
are dissuaded from migrating, even to find work, since they might get
trafficked. This limits women from exploring their full potential. And
if a woman does get trafficked, it becomes extremely difficult for her
to reintegrate into society, which blames her for crossing the line.
As a feminist, however, I feel there should be no such man-made
boundaries to define or confine
Photo: A teenaged girl rescued from being trafficked now learns
music.
The narrative in the film focuses on both individual lives as well as
institutional issues. Juhi, a pretty girl who was trafficked by her
'mother' is shown being rescued from the notorious Sonagachi district
of Kolkata and educated by a city NGO Sanlaap, only for her 'mother'
to again sell her off to the brothel after claiming her from the NGO.
Indrani Sinha, Sanlaap's president, says the organisation works with
victims of trafficking, who they try to rehabilitate and put back into
the mainstream. One is also introduced to a self-proclaimed social
activist named Dipak Prahladka who steps in to 'rescue' Juhi from
Sanlaap itself - traffickers often disguise themselves as do-gooders,
says Sanlaap.
One of the highlights of the film is a wonderful rehabilitation
programme for trafficking victims ventured into by Jabala, a West
Bengal-based NGO which works on prevention and rehabilitation of
trafficking victims. They regularly organise football camps for the
girls. Survivors of trafficking have a lot of anger in them, which
they need to take out. So kicking the football is a therapeutic
process for them, and playing gives them confidence and becomes a
route to empowerment. The camps take place in Murshidabad.
The film includes an exploration of Nepal's attempts to protect its
women from being exploited in India, primarily through the Foreign
Employment Act, which imposed a ban on foreign employment for single
Nepali women. However because of the conflict situation in Nepal and
opportunities in the international labour market, many Nepali women
migrated through illegal channels. These women remained undocumented
in official records. Research has shown that migrant Nepali women
contribute 8 per cent towards the country's national budget. In 2002,
a modified FEA stated that women seeking foreign employment required a
permission letter from their fathers or husbands. In 2008, the FEA of
Nepal was again modified due to sustained activism by women's groups.
It now allows women to seek foreign employment independently.
Technically, the film stands out because of its aesthetic music and
lyrics, penned by the late Gautam Chatterjee. Two beautiful songs on
the sound track lend themselves into the ambience of the film - its
context and its visualisation. The imaginative background score and
difficult editing are by Saikat Sekhareswar Roy. Sukanta Majumdar has
done the sound design and Joydeep Bose has done the cinematography
that is restrained and refrains from sensationalizing facts and
incidents. ⊕
Shoma Chatterji
19 Jul 2009
Dr. Shoma A Chatterji, freelance journalist and author, writes on
cinema, media, human rights, cultural issues and gender.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/jul/rvw-traffic.htm
BOOK EXCERPT
Karma Sutra
With the closure of the dance bars, the sex industry has another arm.
Thousands of women without education have lost their livelihood. They
have to cash in on their looks before the passage of time wrinkles it.
Excerpts from Rajendar Menen's book.
26 June 2008 - The ladies bars, which shot into the media spotlight
with their closure, are expensive and most men who visit them have a
drink and spend a lot of money to watch beautiful women dance. It is
an extravagant and harmless way to spend time. The women charge
enormous amounts for more private sessions and very few men can afford
them.
And those who can are only getting rid of ill-gotten wealth. Most
business transactions in India involve payments under the table and
ladies bars are a good way to get rid of the money that can't be
stored in banks or used with credit cards and cheque books. The
parallel economy in India is colossal. There has to be some way to
spend the money that can't be kept legitimately. It will make good
economic sense for the government to support a proliferation of such
bars. It will generate employment and the money that needs to be
hidden will surface. It is an excellent way of mopping up black money.
The morality issues that have been raked up to support the ban won't
cut a denture anywhere because the girls simply disappear and find
similar employment with a different calling card.
At the bars the women dance energetically and with an imaginative show
of skin to loud Hindi film music rich in innuendo and beat. They are
in sarees and other traditional Indian costumes and their dances look
far less obscene than the 'item' numbers that sell Hindi cinema at the
box-office. Men shower the girls they fancy with currency notes that
are picked up by attendants and dropped into boxes set aside for such
collections. The dancers take a portion of the largesse. The
management decides what to do with the rest.
Several people in positions of power have to be paid to allow all this
to happen. It is widely accepted that hundreds of thousands of rupees
are dropped into the boxes in the ladies bars every single night. It
is quite a spectacle: non-stop dancing, strobe lights, loud music and
scores of men seated around tables drinking, eating and ogling away. A
Hijra dance is also added to the scream of offerings if the management
feels like it. A compilation of both genders in one form, neither
fully masculine nor covertly feminine, stretching wildly to music,
always meets with requests for an encore. It adds variety to the
choreography. The garden has a new flower.
At erratic intervals, a man beckons a girl with currency notes or he
just walks over to the dance floor and garlands her with money. Some
men join the dancers too to the accompaniment of wolf whistles and
loud appreciation. Everyone has a great time. Bouncers keep a close
watch and there is never any ruffle in the proceedings. Its all owned
and run by unlikely bedfellows brought together by the lure of quick
and big money born without a chartered accountant's whistle or a
padre's conscience.
The author's book Karma Sutra: Essays from the Margin was published
by Saga Books in February 2007.
Now, with the closure of these bars, the sex industry has another arm.
Thousands of women without education have lost their livelihood. They
have to cash in on their looks before the passage of time wrinkles it.
So they have slipped into the flesh industry in every corner of the
city, moved to other states in India and even to different countries.
Sex workers have a very short shelf life. They have to mint the moment
even if the sun has temporarily blighted it in eclipse mode.
I have interviewed several bar girls. Most of the interviews have
taken place in the green room. It is a little room with mirrors and
benches, painted in innocuous cream or pastel shades, with a toilet
attached to it. It is very basic. There are containers of talc, soaps,
makeup kits, a few combs and towels. You finish your dance, rush in,
change clothes and prepare for another round. You adjust your make-up
in the large mirror, ask the others how you look, take a final glance,
and you are off. There is no time even for gossip.
After the show, the girls change into ordinary, everyday clothes, if
they have the time, and finally get a chance to yak away. They will
talk about the money earned and about the customers. Some of them will
accompany clients for the night, but most of them will go home to
families that they look after with their earnings.
It is very late at night when they pack up, early morning really, and
they don't need more attention on the way home. So make-up, jewellery
and all the glamorous outfits are removed and they get into dowdy
salwar kameez if they can. Groups of women don't always travel at this
time of the night and so they are a visible presence. Cabs wait
outside the bars. They share it to their destinations somewhere in
this lonely, dreary city or to the nearest railway station if they are
living far away. A spate of rapes and robberies has made the
authorities place an armed policeman in the ladies compartment. If the
policeman behaves himself, this can be a deterrent to crime.
Lata is from Agra, from a basti near the Taj Mahal. She says she is
twenty-seven and married with two children. Her husband left her, the
children are in school and she takes care of old and sick parents. She
is slightly built and wears spectacles when she isn't dancing. Her
features are soft. She isn't garrulous like the others and can pass
off as a chemistry teacher at some municipal school. She has a stern
look and a commanding air. You will never imagine that she makes a
living dancing to currency notes.
"I make good money," she tells me. "But it is hard work. You know how
it is. Dancing for so many hours every day is not easy. My feet pain
every night and I need to be massaged. I have varicose veins and take
medicines. Every man thinks we are game. I haven't been to anyone till
now. I dance, collect the money and go home. I have many
responsibilities. My children are in an English medium school and my
father has lakva (paralysis). I have to look after them. If something
happens to me, they are finished. I can't even afford to fall sick for
a day. I pray to God that nothing happens."
Several people in positions of power have to be paid to allow all this
to happen.
I ask her if she has given a thought to marriage again. "No, I will
never marry again," she retorts fiercely. "It is no use. I will have
more kids and more problems. I am very happy without a man. Who needs
a man anyway? I am earning well. I can also get sex anytime I want, so
why do I need a husband? Marriage is just legal prostitution."
Rani is also from Uttar Pradesh. She is also in her twenties and is
married with children. Her husband is still with her but doesn't
contribute to the household. "He drinks all the time and doesn't work.
If I don't give him money, he hits me. I don't really care about him,
he can leave me and go if he wants to, but I am worried for my
children. Nothing should happen to them. I should secure their future.
That's my only concern."
Both girls have bank accounts and have made small investments. They
met in Mumbai and have become good friends. They dance at the same
bar, live in the same building, go shopping together and help look
after each other's families. There is great bonding. They understand
one another well. They also go home to their villages together, along
with their families, at least once a year. They don't have to tell the
world what they do for a living. It's their secret. The job provides
for the family and gives them the dignity that money can buy.
Shama is glamorous and very attractive. Even while talking to me, she
keeps checking her make-up and looks into her little mirror. She knows
she is beautiful. She has the look of a woman who enjoys the attention
of men. She is also about twenty-seven and married with kids. She is
from Delhi. All of them are from poor families. They have studied till
the third or fourth standards and then dropped out. Educating girls is
considered unnecessary in poor Indian families. They will anyway get
married and leave home. They are paraya dhan, - someone else's wealth.
So they are taught housework.
All of them have been married off in their teens and their parents
have rustled up huge amounts of dowry and elaborate wedding
arrangements. Grown up, unmarried girls are not appreciated in Indian
families and so when a girl is born all attention is directed to
getting her a spouse. Unfortunately, all the three husbands have
turned out to be useless, good for nothing jerks. They have spent the
dowry and taken to drink, gambling and womanising. The girls are the
only earning members in their families and, worse, they run the risk
of contracting a sexual disease from their husbands!
I met these girls while talk was on about the impending ban on
bargirls. They had read about it and heard about it and were obviously
worried. What will you do if the bars really shut down, I ask. (As I
write this, the bars have shut indefinitely). "We will have to go to
other cities or somewhere else in Mumbai. We don't know what to do
really. But something will have to be done. Whatever is written in our
naseeb (destiny) will happen." They know that they can't dance forever
and have to make quick money and bank it somewhere, possibly even
start a small shop or enterprise. The sooner they do this the better.
It all depends on how much money they have to kick-start a new
venture. For now, prostitution is the only recourse and they recognise
that fact. It is lucrative.
"We will have to take to dhandha," they tell me without sounding
alarmed. They have obviously thought about it. "What else can we do?
We have no other skill?" Some girls have made contacts with bar owners
in neighbouring states. Some have also decided to move out of the
country. The sex industry all over the world has sent feelers to the
bar girls. Most of the girls are very attractive and dance
exceptionally well. They are checking out options. The girls and their
managers meet up frequently to discuss plans.
Their lives will be disrupted. Children's schooling, parents' medical
treatment, new employers and clients, a new country altogether; every
aspect of their lives will be turned upside down. It's a big move and
they are very uncomfortable with it. But there is no choice. If they
don't dance, fast and furious now, the wide net of everyday, unkind
prostitution will eventually suck them into its intricate folds. ⊕
Rajendar Menen
26 Jun 2008
This article is extracted from Rajendar Menen's book "Karma Sutra:
Essays from the Margin", published by Saga Books in February 2007.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/jun/wom-karma.htm
BOOK REVIEW: A LIFE LESS ORDINARY
A journey of courage
Baby Halder's life is like that of millions of poor, exploited women.
What is different, and astoundingly so, is that she has written a book
about it - a story which saddens us with its matter-of-fact narrative
of a life of tribulation, but also makes us rejoice vicariously in its
extraordinary triumph, writes Neeta Deshpande.
29 November 2006 - "Many days have passed; Only a few remain now."
Simple, candid words. Words which say little, yet span a lifetime. It
is in these sparing words that sixty-five year old Bai - who was
employed to care for me during my childhood - sums up her life of
privation and suffering. As a little girl, my days were enlivened by
moments with her - listening to her hilarious aphorisms, eating her
delicious laddus of leftover rotis, ghee and sugar, and warming myself
around her wood fires in the winters.
But despite our close relationship, I am ashamed to admit that I know
very little about Bai's life before she moved into our house as a
domestic help. Fleeting statements from her have hinted at a childhood
of penury, marriage at a precariously early age to an abusive man, an
early widowhood, and the hardship which followed. "Listen to me - I
have seen it all. I have gone to bed on an empty stomach", she would
tell me on rare occasions. Though I wanted to know more, I did not
have the courage to ask her to summon up memories of all the sadness
she had endured. So when I came across the much acclaimed
autobiography of Baby Halder - a domestic worker - I gravitated
towards it for my own reasons. Perhaps I would find Bai in the book,
speaking through the author's voice.
I was not wrong. Baby Halder's life seemed to traverse a similar
trajectory to Bai's, or for that matter, millions of poor, exploited
women in an India where they are treated as lesser human beings.
Victims of an endless cycle of poverty, their needs are routinely
ignored, their aspirations systematically thwarted. Like Bai, Baby too
was married off at a tender age. Her husband - twice as old as she was
then - also turned out to be violent, abusing her verbally and beating
her often. Soon, she was forced into a life of drudgery as a domestic
worker, her days filled with mindless chores in other people's homes.
However, here the similarities end, for Baby Halder, unlike most women
of her background, can read and write. Her schooling up to the seventh
standard equipped her to recount her life in her Bengali book Aalo
Aandhari (Light and Darkness), a story which saddens us with its
matter-of-fact narrative of a life of tribulation, but also makes us
rejoice vicariously in its extraordinary triumph.
Childhood
Translated into English as A Life Less Ordinary, Baby's memoir begins
like an innocent school essay, interspersed with swirling snowflakes,
flowering hills and an occasional, joyous rainbow - elements of her
life as a little girl in Dalhousie. However, in tune with her short-
lived childhood, these happy reminiscences are numbered as well. For
soon, we find her drawing sketches of an often absent, abusive father,
and a frustrated mother who abandoned the family, pressing a coin into
the four-year-old Baby's palm before walking away. The coin served as
an unforgettable memory of a mother whom she saw only years later. She
received no love from her step-mother either, who beat her often.
The author looks back on her childhood in these evocative lines,
peculiarly written in the third person, perhaps in an effort to
distance herself from painful memories. "Poor Baby! What else could
one say of her? Imagine a childhood so brief, so ephemeral, that you
could sit down and the whole thing could unravel in front of you in
barely half an hour! And yet her childhood fascinates Baby. Perhaps
everyone is fascinated by the things they've been deprived of, the
things they long for. Baby remembers her childhood, she savours every
moment of it, she licks it just as a cow would her newborn calf,
tasting every part."
However, despite their adverse circumstances, Baby's mother earnestly
wanted her to go to school, and her father encouraged her to study. On
her part, the little girl loved school as much as she hated home,
worked hard, and never missed a day. Her precarious life sowed many
hurdles in her schooling, but she persisted and managed to study.
Marriage and motherhood
At the naive age of thirteen, Baby was hastily married off to a 26-
year-old man, her evanescent childhood relegated to her memories. Soon
after she entered her new home, her husband roughly pulled her towards
him one night. Little Baby just "shut her eyes and her mouth tightly
and let him do what he wanted". At the age of fourteen - a child
herself - she had to endure an excruciatingly painful delivery. The
poignancy of her state is expressed by an incident during her
pregnancy. Tired of staying within the four walls, she would venture
out to watch the children at play. She alone knew how desperately she
wanted to play with them. One day, when their gulli landed at her
feet, she picked it up, and without being fully aware of what she was
doing, ran into the field to join them. Only when a woman chided her
that she should be careful lest she hurt her stomach, did she run back
into the house in embarrassment.
Despite bearing children at a ridiculously young age, Baby clearly
understood her responsibilities as a mother. She wanted a good life
for her children, including a proper education. According to her, it
was not enough to give birth, for parenthood brought with it a
responsibility to enable a person to grow into a human being.
These were not mere words; she would soon act on them too. Her
husband, who had initially been negligent of her - desisting from
answering her queries and even refusing to take her to the hospital in
time for her delivery - now turned abusive, and would beat her
regularly. One such instance, during her second pregnancy, caused an
agonising miscarriage. Eventually, his violence pushed her to the
brink of desperation, when she firmly decided to part ways. Soon, she
boarded a train for distant Delhi for the sake of her children. Later
in a newspaper article, she would explain that she was glad she moved,
because there were no good schools for her children back home.
The author looks back on her childhood in evocative lines, peculiarly
written in the third person, perhaps in an effort to distance herself
from painful memories.
To feed herself and her three little ones, she found work as a
domestic help, work which entailed slogging from dawn until midnight.
Her employer would shout at Baby's children who would be locked up on
the roof all day, and did not even allow her to meet her eldest son
who was working and living elsewhere. Fed up with such inhuman
treatment, she left, and by a stroke of serendipity found a new
employer - one who would transform her life in unimaginable ways.
Writing
Baby's new 'Sahib', former professor of anthropology Prabodh Kumar,
whom she would later call 'Tatush' - the name that his sons used for
him - helped her in more ways than one. He provided her a room when
her house was broken down by bulldozers, reunited her with her eldest
son, found a school for her children, and supplied them with the
necessities of life. But over and above all his help, he would talk to
her, asking her to think of him as a "father, brother, mother,
friend ..." Baby was touched when he treated her as a human being,
given that most people behave callously towards servants and pay them
precious little - the employers taking advantage of the desperation of
domestic workers to subsidise their own lives.
His most significant contribution to her life, however, enabled her to
transgress the boundaries drawn around her, bringing forth an aspect
of her personality that she would never have been aware of. After he
saw her peering at a Bengali book while she dusted his bookshelves, he
asked if she could read. The next day, he pulled out a book for her,
and asked her to read out its name. With his encouragement, she
blurted out Amar Meyebela, the first book she read on her way to
writing one herself. When he found her making progress with reading
the book, he provided her a notebook and pen, and prodded her to write
the story of her life. The astonishing result - Aalo Aandhari - is her
story of darkness and light, the travails and joys in a journey of
courage.
Progressive outlook
Baby's book is peppered with her thoughts on various aspects of her
life, including the size of her family and the education of her
children. Upon realizing that she might be following the 'local
custom' in her neighbourhood of three to four children per couple, she
had the foresight to undergo a family planning operation after her
third issue. Her views on the status of women and the discrimination
they face are also worth noting. When her husband turned the house
into a dirty, horrible mess whenever she was away, she questioned a
neighbour as to why the woman of the house had to be around to keep
the place clean.
Now writing her second book, Baby told a newspaper that in her
autobiography, she simply wrote about all that she had faced. This
time, she would be more analytical and try to find out why she was put
in those situations in the first place.
A rare voice
The people behind the book must be congratulated for bringing out this
unusual life-story of a person who would otherwise have been relegated
to the background of her employers' houses, condemned to a furtive,
silent existence. Prabodh Kumar translated the manuscript from the
original Bengali into Hindi, cleaning it up as required, but leaving
Baby's own voice intact. Publisher and writer Urvashi Butalia of
Zubaan translated the narrative from Hindi into English.
While reading the book, one is struck by Baby's courage to resolutely
live as a single woman with three children in faraway, unfamiliar
Delhi, where she painstakingly carved out a new life for herself.
Though she does not ask uncomfortable questions of her readers, the
mere narration of her life leaves us to ponder why she should have had
to suffer through the ordeals of a child marriage, an abusive husband
and exploitative employers.
Though this is not a book to be read for its literary merit, it should
be valued for its powerful story of survival and success in the face
of relentless, overwhelming odds - a story which will remain etched on
our minds for its author's grit and determination to refuse to accept
defeat. This down-to-earth memoir stirs and delights, saddens and
overpowers, humbles and uplifts us with its direct, unpretentious take
on the universal experience of being human. ⊕
Neeta Deshpande
29 Nov 2006
Neeta Deshpande is a student of Hindustani vocal music based in Goa. A
Life Less Ordinary by Baby Halder, translated by Urvashi Butalia, is
published by Zubaan in collaboration with Penguin Books, 173 pp., Rs.
195.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/nov/rvw-halder.htm
WISDOM SONG
A life of conviction
The book serves a felt need, as also the purpose of getting Baba Amte
under the reader's skin. But the author does not tease out historical
and sociological connections, and ask questions of broader relevance.
The definitive interpretation of Amte's life and its significance is
still awaited. Neeta Deshpande reviews Wisdom Song: The life of Baba
Amte.
24 October 2006 - One does not need glorious words to portray the work
of Baba Amte. Be it enabling victims of leprosy to live a life of
dignity, or buttressing the movement of people being displaced by the
Sardar Sarovar dam, his actions have always spoken eloquently for
themselves. However, despite his remarkable life of courage,
conviction and endurance, there isn't a good biography of this
tireless crusader. Neesha Mirchandani's book, Wisdom Song: The Life of
Baba Amte attempts to fill this void, narrating the story of his life
in simple prose.
Peppered with quotes and remembrances from Amte and the many
committed men and women he inspired, Mirchandani recounts the
extraordinary stories of his lifelong endeavours. The narrative
encompasses the celebrated Anandwan - a sprawling rehabilitation
centre for the leprosy-affected and physically challenged - in
Maharashtra (1951 onwards), Amte's advocacy on behalf of the tribals
affected by the Bhopalpatnam and Icchampalli dams (1984), the Bharat
Jodo yatras (1985-86 and 1987-88), and finally, the decade he spent on
the banks of the Narmada, putting his moral weight behind the Narmada
Bachao Andolan (1990-2000).
Amte's defining moment came one rainy night, when he encountered a man
dying of leprosy. "It was like being sucked into the eye of a
hurricane. Everything went blank and in that moment, the social
justice work, the evening prayers, my wife, children ... everything
lost perspective and meaning," he reminisces vividly. Thus, in 1951,
began the unbelievable story of Anandwan, painstakingly hewn out of
barren, rock-strewn land infested by wild animals, by Amte, his wife
Sadhana and their fellow workers afflicted by leprosy. It took six
weeks of severe toil to cut through the rock while digging the first
well, a task accomplished by a few crippled persons along with Amte.
With poverty and extreme hardship as constant companions, the group
transformed their harsh surroundings into verdant fields. Since then,
Amte has never looked back. Dedicating his entire life to the
downtrodden, despite suffering an excruciatingly painful degeneration
of the spine, this cheerful nonagenarian defiantly marches on.
Amte has often said that one can live without fingers, but not without
self-respect. True to this maxim, beyond healing people's wounds, he
restored their dignity by providing them with work. Thus, those
shunned by society and condemned to a life of begging were enabled to
work in the fields and vocational training centres of Anandwan. A
veteran resident recalls that when he visited Warora - a nearby town -
during the early days of Anandwan, no one would give him water to
drink. Now, as Amte proudly reiterates in an interview, people call
Anandwan residents to help install water pumps and other devices. Over
the years, his dream has evolved into a town with hospitals, schools,
homes, agricultural land and occupational training centres, built and
run by the leprosy-affected and physically challenged themselves.
continue reading article ...
In the process of reconstructing Amte's life, Mirchandani's narrative
is enlivened by the reminiscences of his family and co-workers, who
carry his work forward. One such recollection is that of Bharati Amte,
his daughter-in-law who runs a hospital at Anandwan. "He taught me
that the first thing I should ask a patient is, 'Have you eaten?' Many
people who came to Anandwan have to walk for miles - they are tired,
hungry and poor. They don't teach this humanity at medical school."
The book also provides perspectives of people who have benefited from
his work. Devram Kanera, from a village to be submerged in the Narmada
Valley, elaborates that only when Amte came to the region did people
begin to understand the broader canvas of their struggle and its
motives.
"He taught me that the first thing I should ask a patient is, 'Have
you eaten?' Many people who came to Anandwan have to walk for miles -
they are tired, hungry and poor. They don't teach this humanity at
medical school."
Prior to relocating to the Narmada Valley to bolster the efforts of
the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Amte led a movement of tribals who would
have been displaced without rehabilitation by the Bhopalpatnam and
Icchampalli dams in 1984, had it not been for his intervention. He
believes that the big dams which he opposed "pillaged from the poor to
provide luxuries to the select rich, destroying natural resources in
the process for short-term financial gain." Living by his conviction,
he fought for the tribals and farmers who would be dispossessed of
their homes and agricultural lands in the name of development.
Although it serves a felt need, Mirchandani's book has its
limitations. While her broad sympathy to Amte's cause is well-placed,
the author fails to maintain a critical distance, which would have
made the biography more well-rounded. Given that rehabilitating the
leprosy-affected was Amte's calling, a chapter providing the medical,
historical and social background of the disease would have helped. At
times, the biography comes across as casual; the author includes her
scribbled notes of conversations with Amte before elaborating on these
notes. At others, it is sentimental. The first chapter could have done
without a romanticized juxtaposition of Amte's birth in 1914 with a
'Christmas truce' between German and British soldiers during the First
World War. Crucially, the book does not go beyond the story of Amte's
life, to tease out historical and sociological connections, and ask
questions of broader relevance. For instance, it would have been
useful to understand how Amte's efforts have influenced social
perception of leprosy at a wider level.
As the Marathi litterateur P.L. Deshpande cautions us, "... once Baba
Amte gets under your skin, you will never be the same again." The book
serves the purpose of getting Baba Amte under the reader's skin. But
the definitive interpretation of his life and its significance is
still awaited. ⊕
Neeta Deshpande
24 Oct 2006
Neeta Deshpande is a student of Hindustani vocal music based in Goa.
"Wisdom Song: The Life of Baba Amte", by Neesha Mirchandani, is
published by Roli Books, p.280, Rs.395.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/oct/rvw-babaamte.htm
NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN
A gallery of failures
A former member of the National Commission for Women, Syeda Hameed
records the powerlessness of the institution in her new book, They
hang: Twelve women in my portrait gallery. Deepti Priya Mehrotra notes
the chilling refusal of the system to defend women against
atrocities.
19 May 2006 - Women's activists throughout the country have reported
the hostile attitude of the police and the judiciary when it comes to
punishing perpetrators of violence. But when a high-placed government
functionary faces similar hostility, and finds herself powerless to
deal with it, it is indeed an eye-opener.
Planning Commission member Syeda S Hameed is one such person. In her
recent book, 'They Hang - Twelve Women in My Portrait Gallery', she
narrates her personal experience of trying to help 12 wronged women
get justice. Syeda Hameed's book, based on her work as Member of the
National Commission for Women (1997-2000), is an explosive account of
the impotence of this institution. Not only does she document, in
brutal detail, the violence committed on women in a range of contexts,
but also the chilling refusal of `the system' to bring the guilty to
book.
The atrocities Syeda recounts are not unusual, nor are they unknown to
us. Several have been in the public eye during the late 1990s. For
instance, Ila Pandey's case against her husband Rajneesh Pandey, who
was repeatedly raping their 10-year-old daughter in Karvi, Uttar
Pradesh. Or the story of Lalita Oraon, raped by Amrit Lugan, India's
First Secretary, Economic Affairs, Paris, while she worked in his
house as a maid and nanny.
Syeda provides information from her role as investigator in these
cases: she took down testimonies of hundreds of people, and wrote
detailed reports. Her Karvi report clearly indicated the culpability
of Rajneesh as well as the virulent campaign launched by his
supporters against local women's groups who took up the case. Entitled
`Case of Child Sexual Abuse and Targeting of Women's Rights Groups',
the report received media coverage and "momentarily shook the
establishment". Years later, however, Rajneesh remarried, while the
case filed by Ila drags on.
Similarly, Syeda wrote an NCW report entitled `The Alleged
Exploitation and Abuse of Lalita Oraon in Paris, France' and sent it
to all relevant government departments authorised to present an Action
Taken Report on the issue. But the report was stillborn. Says Syeda,
in the book: "I was anxious to begin taking action, but the matter
never saw the light of day. No matter how I tried, I could not get the
report released. It disappeared mysteriously from the scene, fell
between the cracks of procedure and protocol.... Lalita Oraon vanished
into thin air. Years passed without a word about Lalita."
One NCW report, `Come In, but One by One: Sexual Harassment at Delhi
Public School' - connected with the alleged harassment of women by the
DPS NOIDA principal Varma, was released at a crowded press conference
in New Delhi. It got media attention, but soon vanished from the
public sphere. The school protected its principal, despite concrete
evidence of sexual harassment of at least three women teachers (whose
services he had terminated as soon as they refused to comply with his
wishes). Varma served his full term and, after superannuating, was
given an extension for another three years. Syeda notes bitterly, "My
report probably still lies (in NCW), carefully preserved in files
which no one ever opens, or it may have been shredded with all other
five-year-old documents...."
Syeda's book displays strong personal commitment as well as rare
honesty. The book is uncompromising in its recording of experiences.
At places she moves beyond precise facts into an imaginative
reconstruction of events and persona - always clarifying which of the
writing is fact, and which is `faction'.
One disturbing aspect emerging from her accounts is the nasty role
played by `society' - families, relatives and neighbourhoods - in
instigating violence. In Haryana's Sudaka village for instance, 15-
year old Maimun's family forced her to marry Aijaz. This was to
protect their `izzaat' (honour) that was compromised by Maimun's
affair with Idris, a man from her own village. Aijaz and his cronies
gang-raped Maimun, slashed her with a knife from neck to midriff, and
left her to die.
"My report probably still lies carefully preserved in files which no
one ever opens, or it may have been shredded with all other five-year-
old documents..."
• By choice and circumstance
Later, strangers found and nursed Maimun, and then Idris located her.
Her parents filed a case against Idris, and the police arrested
Idris's old parents. When Maimun and Idris came to NCW, Syeda and her
colleagues were moved and angry, and immediately drove to Sudaka
village. There they faced an extremely hostile mob of villagers, who
dragged Maimun out of the vehicle. The Haryana police did not move a
muscle to prevent this. The NCW team returned empty-handed - no
justice delivered. Instead, they had actually handed over the lamb for
slaughter.
All the 12 stories indicate that NCW lacks infrastructure, back-up,
and `teeth'. Although it is the apex body for women in India, it is
powerless to actually move the administration, police and judiciary,
to make them take appropriate action. Gross violations of women's
human rights carry on with impunity. Everybody knows that the guilty
are seldom punished. Even though, NCW members and hundreds of other
women's groups might work tirelessly to handle the deluge of cases
that pour in, their efforts could still end up in vain.
In the same book, Syeda also highlights the stories of fighting women,
those who speak out against exploitation - file First Investigation
Reports (FIRs); refuse to succumb to brutal backlash; and refuse to
kowtow to the powers-that-be. Thus, one elderly trustee of DPS,
refused to condone the principal's misconduct, rather she testified
that the principal "used his power and position to extract sexual
favours from women teachers...." Sometimes, Syeda `imagines in' a
woman who fights back - Rajneesh Pandey's second wife perhaps; or
Chaddo, who becomes a lawyer after her elder sister Shaddo was killed
by in-laws. She imagines Sajoni - a tribal woman from Bagjori village,
Bihar, branded a witch, thrashed by villagers after she ploughed her
fields - leaving the village with her five children to find a better
place to survive in.
Sheila Rani, a sweeper in DPS, provides incisive analysis as well as
ground-level strategy. When the principal tried to molest her, she
fought back, and later told a teacher of the school, "Every dog in
this place wants a piece of flesh.... We can fight our battles in our
own way. We can kick and bite and scratch. Your court-kacheri will
never get us a scrap of justice." She asked for a transfer saying,
"There is no dearth of toilets to clean. If not here, I will find them
in other schools. But the shit has become JK cement on these haramis
('bastards' in Hindi); only a bolt of lightning can shatter it. I am
going where, if I clean hard enough, the dirt will come off!"
Sadly - nay, tragically - the NCW has been unable to send the bolts of
lightning needed to shatter the concrete structures sheltering
criminals and routinely abetting crimes against women.
Syeda wrote the book because she doesn't want these stories of
terrible violence to disappear from public memory. She also wanted to
highlight that NCW is unable to achieve justice in these cases because
it is toothless: "The Commission's reports are not binding on anyone,
and its jurisdictions stops at its front door." (Courtesy: Women's
Feature Service) ⊕
Deepti Priya Mehrotra
19 May 2006
Deepti Priya Mehrotra is a Delhi based freelance journalist "They Hang
- Twelve Women in My Portrait Gallery", Syeda S. Hameed, Women
Unlimited, New Delhi, 2006, 183 pp, Rs 275.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/may/wom-ncw.htm
By choice and circumstance
Uma Chakravarty turns the pages of Deepti Priya Mehrotra's stories of
single mothers.
October 2003 - New Delhi, (WFS) - One day, recently, I checked in a
bit early to catch a flight at the Bangalore airport. As I sat getting
bored, I decided to browse at the bookstall, something I almost never
do because of the peculiar mix of books airport stalls have - travel,
oriental India, spiritual India, Jeffrey Archer - that I neither have
the time nor money for.
I was both surprised and pleased to find many copies of Home Truths,
Deepti Priya Mehrotra's recently published book on single mothers, on
one of the shelves. And I began wondering at the many transformations
this could represent. Is it because Penguin, which has a wide reach in
the market, has published the book? Are 'single moms' an important
part of today's reality? Has the women's movement created a space for
thinking about issues in new ways? Or is it merely that the title of
the book is eye-catching?
Whatever the reason, it is good to know that a feminist rendering of
an emerging facet of life has a readership beyond the already
converted communities. Home Truths is a narration of the experiences
of single mothers as they cope with multiple emotions and challenges
in a world defined by the nuclear-extended family, which is regarded
as the norm in India. Even in the post-globalisation, market oriented,
consumerist metropolitan India, the family (as shown in
advertisements), is the nuclear family plus dad's mother and father on
the one hand, and 'couple-dom' on the other. The single mother
phenomenon is an aberration in such a situation and there are almost
no institutional supports available for women to mediate their
difficulties, as Mehrotra notes in her afterword.
Single mothers face problems and overwork, yet they also savour a
sense of autonomy and independence.
The experiences of single mothers constitute the main part of the
book - a series of stories of women from different social locations.
Although the number of narratives is small, the women are drawn from
different communities, regions and professions. Single mothers face
problems and overwork, yet they also savour a sense of autonomy and
independence.
I was particularly drawn to some of the narratives. Nafisa of
Hyderabad for instance, just walked out of a bad marriage one day. She
took courage from women she had seen on TV - those who refused to
accept that their lives would continue to be determined by men who
tried to victimise them - and arrived at the dargah (shrine) of
Nizammudin, in Delhi. Meena, a nautanki (song-dance-drama) artist,
recognises that for one like her "there is no one when she is old";
her daughter too has become a nautanki artist and dances for a living.
Then there is the narrative of Sapna, a widow who says quite matter-of
factly, "I am the mother, I am the father". There is no place for self-
pity in her approach; she insists on living by a code that she has
evolved. And because Sapna has become part of a newly forged community
of women activists in a working class area, she has a protective
shadow of women friends falling over her. And so, she is not alone.
Pratima's husband died in an accident; she struggled for years to be
independent, to feed her children on her own earnings and is finally
able to craft a new life where she is at peace because now, she can
add curry to the rice that the family managed on, earlier.
These are stories of extreme fragility - of survival, of choices
denied and others consciously made, of anger and bitterness at
betrayals, and of pleasure gained at achieving autonomy. No two
stories are similar, even as there are many common threads. The
narratives in the book can be read separately, as they stand on their
own. The prologue pegs the book and an afterword seeks to address some
of the issues the narratives throw up. Yet, there are many other
issues that the individual reader can relate to, or draw out from the
richly woven tapestry of experiences that women recount as they
generously let you into their lives, their difficulties, their sorrows
and their fears as well as their dreams and hopes.
Mehrotra has also tried to bridge the distance and the hierarchy that
is inherent in a relationship when one person talks about her own life
and another writes it down, even as the book binds the two together as
single mothers. The author includes an account of her own life as a
single mother - which she taped - becoming for that duration, both the
narrator and the listener. The author's narrative is a very honest
account, one of the rare retellings of complex emotions in the book -
of anger and rage, and a sense of betrayal at the break up of a
marriage. Toward the end of the narrative, there is an equally honest
recognition that her ex-partner is not a villain but rather another
person with his own needs and shortcomings. Finally, she has got to a
stage where she sees herself as part of a flow of people, work, music
and laughter, of being able to finally savour her space and freedom.
In the author's personal narrative, we see that she has got to a stage
where she sees herself as part of a flow of people, work, music and
laughter, of being able to finally savour her space and freedom.
Not all the narratives are about reaching some kind of resolution to
difficulty. There is an implicit understanding that there is
considerable insecurity in their lives. But equally, there is the
insight that 'security' usually goes along with economic dependence,
and accepting arbitrariness as an aspect of the relationship with a
partner. As Mehrotra puts it, the price of security could also be the
condition that "no home is forever". And when that home breaks up -
through death, abandonment or choice - you could be left feeling that
as a single woman there is no one for you. Or, that although it's been
a long, tough journey, you have created your own secure kind of place.
⊕
Uma Chakravarty
October 2003
Uma Charavarty writes on gender and history; she taught history in
Miranda House, Delhi University for many years.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2003/oct/wom-singlemom.htm
FEMALE ILLITERACY
Educating India
The Annual Status of Education Report, 2009 points out yet again that
what stands between rural girls and a good education is often basic
facilities like transport and proper toilets, writes Kalpana Sharma.
14 February 2010 - Swati and Anita are two young women from rural
Maharashtra. They have one thing in common. Both dropped out of school
once they completed Standard VIII. They wanted to complete their
schooling. Both spoke passionately to me when I met them about their
desire to study. Even their parents wanted them to study further. But
circumstances would not permit this.
Both girls faced an identical dilemma. While the school up to Standard
VIII was in their village or close by, the high school was some
distance away. The only way to go there was by the local State
Transport bus. While going to school was not such a problem as it was
during the day, at the end of the school day, they had to wait several
hours before they could catch the bus back. If for some reason the bus
was cancelled, and this would happen with alarming frequency, they
would have had to walk back to the village in the dark, something
their parents would not contemplate. Hence, the only option was to
drop out of school.
In contrast, the brother of one of the girls faced no such problem. As
soon as he was through with his classes, he would hitch a ride on a
passing truck and make his way back. This was not an option open to
the girls.
Tragic situation
What is tragic is that both these girls are as bright as any you would
meet in a city like Mumbai. The only reason they will not become the
engineers and doctors of the future is because there is no reliable
transport linking their village to the nearest school. And theirs are
not remote villages in the interior of Maharashtra. Swati lives a mere
hour away from Pune. If this is the story of Swati and Anita, think
how many millions more like them must be chafing at being deprived for
no other reason than a safe mode of transport.
In 2009, ASER surveyed 16,000 villages, 300,000 households and 700,000
children. There is nothing on this scale done by an agency outside
government, hence its importance. (click here for ASER web site).
We also know that many more girls drop out even before Standard VIII
for another reason: the lack of toilets in schools. The latest ASER
(Annual Status of Education Report) 2009, a comprehensive survey of
government and private schools in 575 out of 583 rural districts in
India, revealed that only 50 per cent of government schools have
toilets and that four out of 10 government schools did not have
separate toilets for girls. Even where there were separate toilets for
girls, as many as 12-15 per cent were locked and only 30-40 per cent
were "usable". I visited a school in Bihar where toilets had been
constructed but within days their doors had been stolen and the toilet
pans smashed making them unusable.
If girls dropout when they reach adolescence, it is often for no other
reason than the lack of toilet facilities. Even in a city like Mumbai,
the dropout rate amongst girls attending municipal schools is markedly
higher than that of boys because of the absence of toilets for them.
The annual ASER study, facilitated by the NGO Pratham, is a constant
and important reminder of the state of education in this country. In
2009, ASER surveyed 16,000 villages, 300,000 households and 700,000
children. There is nothing on this scale done by an agency outside
government, hence its importance. But each year, when ASER results are
made public, we are reminded that education is not just about
quantity, or the number of children who enrol in school - a number
that is increasing - but the quality of the education these children
get. And that, although it is getting better in some states, is still
shockingly poor.
Conducting simple reading and mathematics tests in schools, the survey
reveals that a little over half of all children in Standard V in
government schools cannot read a Standard II text book. This means a
10-year-old cannot read what a seven-year-old is supposed to be able
to read. What then are these children learning even if they become a
statistic showing increased enrolment and attendance in schools?
Disturbing trend
Precious little, it would seem. What they cannot learn in school, they
do so by paying for private tuitions. One of the more disturbing
statistics in the survey reveals that one in four children in Standard
I in private schools is sent for private tuitions as are 17 per cent
of Standard I students in government schools. Can you imagine that?
Little six-year-olds being sent for private tuition. By the time they
reach Standard VIII, over one third try and learn what they are
clearly not taught in school through private tutoring. An analysis of
the budget of poor people would reveal what a chunk of their earnings
goes into such tuitions because they hold on to the belief that
education will pull them out of poverty. But given the poor quality of
education in these schools, their children will never be able to
compete with those with ability to pay for better quality schooling.
Fortunately, not the entire ASER report is gloom and doom. One of the
brighter moments in it is the fact that in Bihar, the state considered
a basket case on most counts, the dropout rate for girls in the 11-14
age group has reduced from 17.6 per cent in 2006 to 6 per cent in
2009. So Bihar must be doing something right. In fact, one of the
striking sights in Bihar today is of girls on bicycles, given by the
government if they clear Standard VIII, going to the nearest high
school.
The desire to ensure that children get a good education runs deep in
most Indian families. Parents will sacrifice and save to invest in
their children's future. Even poor families, including the homeless
with no secure shelter, find a way of sending their children to
school. The increase in the enrolment rate in India - 96 per cent of
children between the ages of 6-14 are enrolled in school, government
and private - is proof of that.
What urgently needs to be tackled is the quality of education, basic
facilities like toilets and running water, and transport, particularly
for girls. Even this will not suffice unless there is a notable change
in the status accorded teachers who ultimately decide whether and what
children learn. Instead of the inordinate amount of attention that
continues to be paid to institutes of higher learning, or private
institutions that promise to prepare rich children for studies abroad,
something much more simple and basic can and needs to be done to
educate India and Indians. ⊕
Kalpana Sharma
14 Feb 2010
Kalpana Sharma has been Chief of the Mumbai Bureau and Deputy Editor
with The Hindu. Her opinions, which appear in a regular column with
The Hindu, are concurrently published in India Together with
permission.
Comments (1)
Posted by Usha Gupta,
I fully agree that the educational scenario can improve only if we pay
attention at providing quality primary education. I believe that the
Govt primary schools, whether in rural or urban ares, if not
delivering, should be handed over to NGOs or private societies who are
eager to educate the young children at a low cost or free, if
required. Unless we take our education system seriously ,things at
economic, social & even at political level will not improve. We have
made education a fundamental right without trying to make it a viable
reality. It is high time we stop thinking in terms of building
statistics only, & start making qualitative difference.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2010/feb/ksh-educate.htm
bademiyansubhanallah
Perry Anderson on the Specter of China
Posted on Mar 19, 2010
By Perry Anderson
The following review originally appeared in the London Review of
Books, whose website is www.lrb.co.uk, and is reposted with
permission.
These days Orientalism has a bad name. Edward Said depicted it as a
deadly mixture of fantasy and hostility brewed in the West about
societies and cultures of the East. He based his portrait on Anglo-
French writing about the Near East, where Islam and Christendom
battled with each other for centuries before the region fell to
Western imperialism in modern times. But the Far East was always
another matter. Too far away to be a military or religious threat to
Europe, it generated tales not of fear or loathing, but wonder. Marco
Polo’s reports of China, now judged mostly hearsay, fixed fabulous
images that lasted down to Columbus setting sail for the marvels of
Cathay. But when real information about the country arrived in the
17th and 18th centuries, European attitudes towards China tended to
remain an awed admiration, rather than fear or condescension. From
Bayle and Leibniz to Voltaire and Quesnay, philosophers hailed it as
an empire more civilised than Europe itself: not only richer and more
populous, but more tolerant and peaceful, a land where there were no
priests to practise persecution and offices of the state were filled
according to merit, not birth. Even those sceptical of the more
extravagant claims for the Middle Kingdom – Montesquieu or Adam Smith
– remained puzzled and impressed by its wealth and order.
A drastic change of opinion came in the 19th century, when Western
predators became increasingly aware of the relative military weakness
and economic backwardness of the Qing empire. China was certainly
teeming, but it was also primitive, cruel and superstitious. Respect
gave way to contempt, mingled with racist alarm – Sinomania capsizing
into Sinophobia. By the early 20th century, after eight foreign forces
had stormed their way to Pekin to crush the Boxer Uprising, the
‘yellow peril’ was being widely bandied about among press and
politicians, as writers like Jack London or J.H. Hobson conjured up a
future Chinese takeover of the world. Within another few decades, the
pendulum swung back, as Pearl Buck and Madame Chiang won popular
sympathy for China’s gallant struggle against Japan. After 1948, in a
further rapid reversal, Red China became the focus of still greater
fear and anxiety, a totalitarian nightmare more sinister even than
Russia. Today, the high-speed growth of the People’s Republic is
transforming Western attitudes once again, attracting excitement and
enthusiasm in business and media alike, with a wave of fashion and
fascination recalling the chinoiserie of rococo Europe. Sinophobia has
by no means disappeared. But another round of Sinomania is in the
making.
The title of Martin Jacques’s When China Rules the World belongs to
the scare literature of the first. But its function is little more
than a commercial come-on, designed to clear the purchased display-
table and the airport stall. The book itself is a sweeping
contribution to the second. Its message consists of two parts. The
first is the now well-known projection that – at present growth rates
– the Chinese economy will be the largest in the world, overtaking the
American, within about 15 years. With four times the population of the
US, China already has the biggest foreign reserves, is the leading
exporter, posts the most spectacular stock-market gains, and contains
the largest car market on earth. So massive is the transformation its
rise to economic supremacy will bring that – so Jacques – history can
henceforward simply be divided into BC and AC: Before China and After
China. This part of the argument is a straightforward quantitative
extrapolation. Jacques hammers the impending figures home, without
adding a great deal to what anyone with a certain economic literacy
would know already.
Beyond altering international league tables, what will China’s
emergence as an economic superpower signify? The second part of
Jacques’s message is not about size, but difference. China is not like
other nations, indeed is not really a nation-state at all. It is
something vaster and deeper, a ‘civilisation-state’, inheritor of the
oldest continuous history in the world, whose underlying cultural
unity and self-confidence are without equal. Long before the West, its
rulers created the first modern bureaucracy, imbued with a Confucian
outlook at once authoritarian and democratic, controlling domestic
subjects more by moral education than force, and organising adjacent
regions into a consensual tributary system. By absorbing feudal
aristocrats into impersonal state service, they freed market forces
from customary constraints to develop a commercial society of
unparalleled dynamism and sophistication. Only the accident of more
readily available coal at home, and ruthless colonial pillage of
resources overseas, allowed 19th-century Europe to overtake this great
proto-modern economy, as industrialised in its way as the West, and
much larger. But this Western predominance will prove a brief
interval. Today, China is returning once more to its historic position
as the dynamic centre of the global economy.
What are going to be the consequences for the rest of the world?
Traumatically for the United States, China will fairly soon replace it
as hegemon, not only in traditional areas of Chinese influence in East
and South-East Asia, but across former Third and First Worlds alike.
The soft power of its sporting prowess, its martial arts, its costly
painters, its multitudinous language, its ancient medicine, and not
least the delights of its cuisine, will spread China’s radiance far
and wide, as Hollywood, English and McDonald’s do America’s today.
Above all, its spectacular economic success will not only inspire
imitation wherever poor nations strive for betterment. It will reorder
the entire international system, by holding out the prospect, not of
democracy within nation-states, which the West vainly seeks to
promote, but of ‘democracy between nation-states’. For we are entering
a time in which the political and ideological conflicts that marked
the Cold War are giving way to an ‘overarching cultural contest’, in
which ‘alternative modernities’ will end the dominance of the West. In
that emancipation a distinctively Chinese modernity, rooted in the
Confucian values of devotion to the family and respect for the state,
will lead the way.
How should this construction be judged? Enthusiasm, however well-
meaning, is no substitute for discrimination. Chinese antiquity
stretches back to 1500 BCE or beyond. But this no more makes today’s
People’s Republic a special genus of ‘civilisation-state’ than
comparable claims for la civilisation française make one of the Third
or Fourth Republic. Talk of ‘civilisations’ is notoriously self-
serving, and delimitations of them arbitrary: Samuel Huntington
arrived, rather desperately, at eight or nine – including an African,
Latin American and Eastern Orthodox civilisation. Nothing is gained by
affixing this embellishment to the PRC. Like France in the 1930s or
1950s, contemporary China is an integrist nation-state, cast in an
imperial mould, if with a much longer past and on a much larger scale.
Nor are inflated claims for the age-old economic centrality or social
wisdom of pre-modern China much help in understanding the present or
future of the country. If, up through the Song, China was
technologically and commercially far in advance of Europe, by the end
of the Ming its science lagged well behind, and even at the height of
Qing prosperity in the 18th century, agrarian productivity and average
wage levels, let alone intellectual progress in a broader sense, were
nowhere near vanguard developments in Europe. Nor are idyllic images
of sage concern for the welfare of the masses much closer to the
realities of rule by successive dynasties, which in the words of one
of China’s finest historians, He Bingdi, were always ‘ornamentally
Confucian and functionally Legalist’ – repression wrapped in
moralising rhetoric.
It would be unfair to judge any of this side of When China Rules the
World, a popular work, by scholarly standards. None of it matters very
much to the main thrust of the book, where it serves only as
preliminary folklore to adjust readers in advance to the idea of pre-
eminence to come. China could perfectly well be about to dominate the
world without having nearly always represented the summit of universal
development in the past. More serious is the incoherence of the book’s
central message. For the most part, When China Rules the World is an
unabashed exercise in boosterism, hailing the PRC not only as the
paramount power of the future, but as the liberating ice-breaker that
will, in the book’s American subtitle, bring about ‘The End of the
Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order’. Sightings of this
sort seem to have become a late British speciality: Jacques’s version
is only a little less absurd than Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century
by Mark Leonard, a fellow seer of the Demos think tank Jacques helped
to found. But there is another side to When China Rules the World at
odds with its generally upbeat story. Internationally, China has
‘embraced multilateralism’, attracts its neighbours and partners by
‘soft power’, and promotes ‘democracy between nations’. Yet we also
need to be aware that ‘the Chinese regard themselves as superior to
the rest of the human race,’ inheriting a Middle Kingdom mentality
that has always been more or less racist, and traditions of tributary
statecraft that may have been conducive to stability, but were always
based on hierarchy and inequality. Might this heritage compromise the
fair prospect of a democratic inter-state system? Not necessarily,
since while ‘the Western world is over, the new world, at least for
the next century, will not be Chinese in the way that the previous one
was Western’. The book, in other words, disowns its own title,
confected purely to increase sales. China is not going to rule the
world. All that is happening is that ‘we are entering an era of
competing modernity’ in which China will ‘increasingly be in the
ascendant and eventually dominant’.
But the idea of a distinctively ‘Chinese modernity’ winning a global
competition for hegemony is no more coherent than that of high-speed
Chinese growth ushering in ‘democracy between nation-states’. Its role
in the book is to be understood in the light of the author’s cursus
vitae. Once the editor of the Communist Party of Great Britain’s
monthly, Marxism Today, after his party and journal gave up the ghost
in the early 1990s Jacques moved into mainstream journalism, shedding
the language, if not altogether the reflexes, of his past. The Cold
War over and the Soviet Union gone, the opposition between socialism
and capitalism was now a back number. How then should the open-door
policies of the PRC – its welcome to the world market – be related to
it? This is not a matter on which When China Rules the World cares to
dwell. Such questions belong to a vocabulary the book goes out of its
way to avoid. Over five hundred pages, the word ‘capitalism’ scarcely
ever appears. But there is still a global contest, in which the more
sympathetic side can nonetheless win. Simply, it is now between not
the outdated political and ideological categories of socialism and
capitalism, but alternative ‘modernities’, as so many different
cultural ways of being up to the minute. The function of this change
of lexicon is not hard to see. What it offers is the chance of a
consolation prize for the left. Capitalism may have won worldwide, so
why bother to go on talking about it? Instead, why not look ahead to
the welcome prospect of a non-Western variant of what is now our
common destiny overtopping all others, in a country where the ruling
party at least still describes itself as Communist?
Alas, there is a logical difficulty in this wistful hope, which is
insuperable. Alternative modernities, so conceived, are cultural, not
structural: they differentiate not social systems, but sets of values
– typically, a distinctive combination of morality and sensibility,
making up a certain national ‘style’ of life. But just because this is
what is most specific to any given culture, it is typically what is
least transferable to any other – that is, impossible to universalise.
Other recent works highlighting cultural differences in a post-
ideological world – Huntington’s Clash of Civilisations or Fukuyama’s
Trust come to mind – have grasped this intransitivity, making no
claims that any one complex could tend towards predominance over all
others, in the way that a modal economic order can. Moreover,
projections of a Chinese modernity that will eventually become
hegemonic not only forget the inherently self-limiting character of
any strongly defined national culture, they further ignore the
especially intense Chinese insistence, familiar to anyone who has been
in the country, on the uniqueness of China. Few contemporary cultures,
save perhaps Japan, are so self-consciously resistant to international
comparison, so convinced of the inimitability of their own forms and
traditions. In his way, Jacques is aware of this, at times even
exaggerating it as an inveterate sense of superiority close to racism,
of which there is less evidence than he assumes. But he fails to see
how thoroughly the cult of Zhonghuaxing – ‘Chineseness’ – undoes his
own imaginings of a future Han modernity spreading triumphantly, as a
universal attractor, across the globe.
The rise of the PRC as a great economic, political and military power
is a central fact of the age. But it gains no illumination from a
vacant notion of modernity, which remains as nebulous at the end of
When China Rules the World as it was at the beginning. It would not be
too unfair to say that what the book at bottom represents is a belated
meeting of Yesterday’s Marxism with Asian Values. For beyond a general
insistence on the ethical continuities of Confucianism, of which
Chinese Communism is viewed as a lineal heir, it says remarkably
little about contemporary Chinese society itself. A few cursory lines
noting that inequality has been growing, but the government is now
acting to redress it; a bit more on the shortage of natural resources
and environmental problems; a clipped paragraph on the Party; some
prudent reflections on trouble in the border regions; and a firm
assurance that the country is not ready for democracy, so it would be
best if the CCP could rule undisturbed for another 30 years: this is
more or less all the reader curious to learn about the actual social
landscape of the PRC could gather from it. Certainly there is nothing
to upset the authorities in Beijing, where reception should be
excellent. In 1935, the Webbs entitled their book on the USSR Soviet
Communism: A New Civilisation?, dropping the question mark in
subsequent editions. Today’s ‘civilisation-state’ has been approached
in something of the same spirit.
Serious understanding of contemporary China lies elsewhere. Two works
of outstanding scholarship, from opposite ends of the political and
intellectual spectrum, can be taken as current benchmarks. From the
liberal right, Yasheng Huang’s Capitalism with Chinese
Characteristics is a tour de force of empirical inquiry, conceptual
clarity and independence of mind. Anyone wanting to know what kind of
economy, and what sort of growth, can be found in the PRC should now
start here. Huang’s premises could not be more rigidly neoclassical:
sound development is delivered by private ownership, secure property
rights, financial liberalisation and the systemic deregulation of
economic transactions – and these alone. His conclusions, however, are
a clear illustration of the truth of Carlo Ginzburg’s observation that
a misguided ideology can be a precondition of original research, as
well – perhaps as often – as an obstacle to it. By meticulous scrutiny
of primary evidence, above all a huge mass of bank documentation
tracking loans and their recipients, rather than simply relying on
aggregated second-hand statistics, Huang has cut through the clouds of
obscurity and confusion that have tended to surround the performance
of the Chinese economy in the Reform Era which followed the passing of
Mao.
His central finding is that the apparently unbroken rates of high-
speed growth have rested on two quite different models of development.
In the 1980s, a general liberalisation of financial policy allowed
private businesses to flourish in the countryside, many under the
misleading sobriquet of ‘township and village enterprises’, as credits
flowed to peasant start-ups and rural poverty fell dramatically. Then
came the shock of 1989. Thereafter, the state abruptly changed course,
choking off credits to rural entrepreneurs, switching loan capital
instead into large, rebuilt state-owned enterprises and urban
infrastructures, and – not least – granting massive advantages to
foreign capital drawn to the big cities. The social consequences of
this change, Huang argues, were dramatic. Inequality – not only
between village and city-dwellers, but within the urban population
itself – soared, as labour’s share of GDP fell, while peasants lost
land, rural healthcare and schooling were dismantled, and illiteracy
in the countryside actually grew. In a blistering chapter on Shanghai,
the showcase of Chinese ‘hyper-modernity’, Huang demonstrates how
little average households in the city benefited from its glittering
towers and streamlined infrastructures. Amid a ‘forest of grand
theft’, officials, developers and foreign executives prospered while
private firms were stunted and ordinary families struggled to get by,
in ‘the world’s most successful Potemkin metropolis’. Nationwide, in
20 years, officialdom – raking in four successive, double-digit
increases in its salaries between 1998 and 2001 alone – has more than
doubled in size.
Cautiously, Huang expresses some optimism about the direction of the
current Hu-Wen government, as a correction of the worst excesses of
the Jiang-Zhu regime of the 1990s, while remarking that its reforms
may prove too late to redress the ruin of peasant enterprise, in
villages now often emptied by labour migration. But he ends by
contrasting the sky-high Gini coefficient of today’s PRC with the
relative equity that marked the high-speed growth in the rest of East
Asia – Japan, South Korea and Taiwan – and the far greater role in
China of foreign and state enterprises, and the lesser weight of the
domestic private sector, in the country’s growth model. One
consequence, he maintains, is that productivity gains have been
declining since the mid-1990s. For Huang, the lesson is
straightforward: efficiency and equity always depend on free markets,
which in China remain half-strangled. Capitalism there certainly is,
but a variety deformed by a corrupt and self-aggrandising state, which
in denying its people liberty to manage their own economic affairs has
failed to create reasonable conditions of fairness or welfare. The
prescription is simplistic, as a glance at the United States could
have told any scholar at MIT like Huang. Since the 1980s, financial
liberalisation and cast-iron property rights have not delivered much
social equity to Americans. But the indictment, set out with exemplary
care and lucidity, is unnegotiable. So too is the anger behind it, at
callousness and injustice. Not many economists would think to dedicate
their work, as Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics does, to a
couple of imprisoned villagers and an executed housewife.
Huang’s central concern is with the fate of rural China, where, as he
rightly insists, the majority of the population still lives and dies.
The fate of urban labour is the subject of Ching Kwan Lee’s Against
the Law. Studies of the working class anywhere in the world, once a
staple of history and sociology, have declined along with labour
movements as a political force; in recent years, perhaps only in
France has writing of real distinction appeared. Lee’s book, written
from a standpoint on the radical left, transforms this scene. Although
quite different in mode and scale, in power nothing like it has
appeared since E.P. Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class.
In fact, it could well have been called The Unmaking and Remaking of
the Chinese Working Class. The product of seven years’ research and
interview work on the ground, it is an ethnographic and analytic
masterpiece.
The book is a diptych, one part devoted to the rustbelt of Manchuria,
the other to the sunbelt of Guangdong. Its first half is a study of
the destruction of the proletariat that built China’s principal
industrial base after Liberation, as the great state-owned enterprises
of the north-east were scrapped or sold off, leaving their workers
jobless and often near-penniless, while officials and profiteers lined
their pockets with what was left of all they had created. By
coincidence, we have an unforgettable fresco of the wreckage of this
old working class and its universe in Wang Bing’s nine-hour
documentary West of the Tracks (2003), a landmark of world cinema in
this century and a fitting pendant to Against the Law, made in
Shenyang while Lee was conducting her research in the same city. The
second part of Lee’s book explores the emergence of a new working
class of young migrant labourers from the countryside, about half of
them women, without collective identity or political memory, in the
coastal export zones of the south-east. They have low-wage jobs, but
no security, toiling up to 70 or 80 hours a week in often atrocious
working conditions, with widespread exposure to abuse and injury.
Dereliction in the rustbelt, super-exploitation in the sunbelt: the
treatment of labour is pitiless in either zone.
How do workers react to it? In a system where they have no freedom of
industrial or political organisation, and the social contract that
once gave them a modest security and dignity in exchange for
subordination has been jettisoned, the law – however authoritarian –
becomes the only resource to which they can appeal. Any direct action
risking police repression, protests typically find their way to the
courts, in the hope that blatant violations of legality by employers
or local officials will find some redress there – and in the belief
that the central government, if it knew its laws were being broken,
would take action to see them enforced. Such popular faith in the good
intentions of the Party leadership might be seen as a Chinese version
of the traditional Russian belief in the tsar as ‘Little Father’,
unaware of the misdeeds of his bureaucrats and landlords. The central
authorities naturally foster the illusion that they are not
responsible for illegalities lower down, giving them leeway to step in
with last minute concessions when protests look like getting out of
hand.
In fact, as Lee makes clear, the law can only function as an effective
system of control and mystification if the courts do not invariably
act as rubber stamps for criminality or oppression. In general, that
is just how they do behave. But in a minority of cases, labour
disputes are decided – more often partially than wholly – in favour of
workers, keeping alive the belief that the law remains a protection
even where it is being brazenly flouted by those with state power
behind them. In ways reminiscent of the 18th-century England depicted
by Thompson in Whigs and Hunters, notions of ‘the rule of law’ become
a battleground, in which the anger of those below seeks to wrest
verdicts from the cynicism of those on high, as the only potential
weapons of the weak to hand. The reason regular failure in this
unequal contest does not lead to more explosive forms of protest, Lee
shows, is material rather than ideological. In the rustbelt, workers
dispossessed of everything else typically retain their own housing,
privatised to them at low prices, as a safety net. In the sunbelt,
migrant labourers still have rights to a plot of earth back in their
villages, where land has not yet been privatised, as a fall-back. For
all the wretchedness of their respective lots, neither is quite
destitute: each has something to lose.
The sobriety and realism of these conclusions diminishes nothing of
the tragedy of betrayed hopes and ruined lives that fills the pages of
Against the Law. Lee’s capture of the voices of those caught in the
relentless industrial mechanisms of the Reform Era, in one poignant
interview after another, is among the finest accomplishments of her
book. The stories are often heartbreaking, but the accents with which
they are told speak of courage, indignation, stoicism, even humour, as
much as bitterness, resignation or despair. Few sociological studies
have combined structural and existential, objective and subjective
truths so memorably as this one. Without taking stock of it, no sense
of contemporary China is clear-eyed. In the 19th century, Europe
looked to America as the future, if one still quite some way off. In
the 21st century, the West looks towards China in something of the
same way. So far, certainly, no Tocqueville of the East has appeared.
Is what he once achieved repeatable? There is plenty of time yet. But
it is unlikely that Democracy in America will find its successor,
wherever else it might, in any Modernity in China.
Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the
State
By Yasheng Huang
Cambridge University Press, 366 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Chinese-Characteristics-Entrepreneurship-State/dp/0521898102%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0521898102
Against the Law: Labor Protests in China’s Rustbelt and Sunbelt
By Ching Kwan Lee
University of California Press, 340 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Against-Law-Protests-Rustbelt-Sunbelt/dp/0520250974%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0520250974
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/perry_anderson_on_the_specter_of_china_20100319/
Free PDF Ebooks Files @AcrobatPlanet.Com ..Home
Submitted by wulan on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 06:31 Business & Economics
In the 12 years from 1978 to 1990, China‘s reform and opening up
achieved remarkable progress, with its GDP growing 9.0% annually and
trade volume growing at 15.4%. During this period, urban per capita
income grew 5.9% annually, but that of rural areas grew at a
spectacular rate of 9.9% annually (NBS, 2002 pp.17, 94,148). People‘s
living standards and incomes increased significantly and urban-rural
disparities fell.
The achievement of China‘s reform can be called a miracle in economic
history. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, international
economic research community did not understand much about China‘s
reform, and many economists were far from optimistic. Most economists
believed that a market economy should be based on private property, a
feature that the Chinese economy apparently lacked at that time.
China‘s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were not privatized; a dual-
track resource allocation system was prevalent with state planning
still playing a very important role. They thought that although
China‘s economic transition was blessed with beneficial initial
conditions such as high proportions of cheap rural labor, low social
security subsidies, a large population of overseas Chinese, and a
relatively decentralized economy that helped to achieve some short-
term progress, the dual-track system would soon lead to efficiency
loss, rent-seeking, and institutionalized state-opportunism, which
constituted an inferior institutional arrangement. (Balcerowicz, 1994;
Woo, 1993; Sachs and Woo, 1994 and 1997; Qian and Xu, 1993.). Some
economists even claimed that China‘s transition would finally fail due
to incomplete reform (Murphy, Schleifer, and Vishny, 1992; Sachs, Woo,
and Yang, 2000).
At that time, most economists were optimistic about reform in the
Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (FSUEE hereafter) due to the
fact that these countries reformed their economies according to the
fundamental principles of neo-classical economics. The most
representative of these principles was the —shock therapy“ implemented
in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Russia, which consisted of three
main components: price liberalization, rapid privatization, and
macroeconomic stabilization by removing fiscal deficits. (Lipton and
Sachs, 1990; Blanchard, Dornbusch, Krugman, Layard, and Summers, 1991;
Boycko, Shleifer, and Vishiny, 1995.) These components are considered
the base of an efficient economic system in neoclassical economic
theory.
Economists recommending shock therapy also knew that it took time to
make the transition from one economic system to another and that it
was costly to cast aside previously vested interests. But they
optimistically assumed that the national economy would grow after six
months or a year following an initial downturn stemming from the
introduction of shock therapy (Brada and King, 1991; Kornai, 1990;
Lipton and Sachs, 1990; Wiles, 1995). According to their beliefs, the
FSUEE would overtake China through their reform, though the former
started their reforms much later, and China‘s difficulties would loom
larger due to inconsistencies inside the economic system brought about
by incomplete reforms.
Ten years have elapsed since the predictions of many renowned
economists were put forth in the early 1990s. Contrary to these
predictions, China‘s economy has grown in the past decade while those
countries that implemented the shock therapy experienced serious
inflation and economic decline. Russia‘s inflation reached 8414% in
1993, and that of Ukraine reached 10155%. In 1995, Russia‘s GDP was
only half of what it had been in 1990, and Ukraine‘s situation was
worse with a 60% decline during the same period. With significant
declines in per capita income and extreme exacerbation of income
disparities, all social indicators slid–male life expectancy in Russia
decreased from 64 years in 1990 to 58 in 1994 (Gregory and Stuart,
2001, p. 470). Overall, the countries that implemented shock therapy
experienced great difficulties in reform, in contrast to the
optimistic expectation of most economists. In eastern European
countries, Poland scored best in economic transition with only a 20%
decline in its GDP. Poland did not really implement reform based on
shock therapy, however. Although prices in Poland were liberalized,
most of its large SOEs have yet to be privatized (World Bank, 1996;
Dabrowski, 2001).
In the 1990s, the Chinese economy did suffer from a myriad of
problems. For example, the SOE reforms initiated in the early 1980s
have yet to be completed; inter-regional and urbanœrural disparities
have enlarged; and there are still many serious problems in financial
system awaiting solution. However, the national economy grew 10.1%
annually in the 1990s, 1.1% higher than that of the previous 12 years.
International trade grew also at a rate of 15.2% in the last decade
(NBS, 2002, pp. 17,94),. Moreover, people‘s living standards improved
rapidly, especially in urban areas. Economic development in China not
only promoted the welfare of the Chinese people, but also contributed
greatly to the world economy. During the Asian Financial Crisis, the
Chinese currency (RMB) did not depreciate, which played an important
role in Southeast Asian economies‘ quick recovery and growth.
Download
PDF Ebook Viability, Economic Transition and Reflections on Neo-
classical Economics
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March 19, 2010 1:52 PM
Is China Building the Next Bubble?
Posted by MoneyWatch.com
This post by Carla Fried originally appeared on CBS' MoneyWatch.com.
Will the next pop you hear be the sound of the China bubble bursting?
A few of the world's savvier financial minds think so.
Jim Chanos has made a fortune betting against investments he believes
are ripe for a fall. Among his most illustrious short trades was
pegging high-flying Enron as a disaster in waiting. Today the hedge
fund manager is taking aim at China. "Without a modicum of doubt we
have a credit-driven property bubble right now," Chanos recently
declared in a talk he gave at the London School of Economics. That was
a toned-down version of his quip to the New York Times that China is
"Dubai times 1,000 -- or worse," a comment the manager of the $6
billion Kynikos fund now half-heartedly describes as tongue-in-cheek.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/business/global/08chanos.html
Chanos is adding his respected voice to a growing rumble that China's
economy is nearing 212°F. In a recent survey of investment pros who
subscribe to Bloomberg's news and data service, 62 percent said they
believed China is brewing a bubble. Also singing in the China bubble
chorus: Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff, Gloom and Doom
report publisher Marc Faber, and, most recently, James Rickards, a
Virginia-based consultant who knows a thing or two about financial
calamity -- he was the general counsel for Long-Term Capital
Management. To be clear, the China bubble talk is mostly focused on
the country's real estate sector, where property sales jumped 76
percent in 2009 and prices in some markets have recently been rising 8
to 10 percent a month. But the fear is that a meltdown in the real
estate market could take down the rest of the Chinese economy with it,
as has happened in the U.S. and Japan. And with China expected to
account for about a third of global growth in 2010, the consequences
could well be global.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=aNZe4JWeV1aw
The Mother of All Stimulus Projects
The roots of the problem lie in China's aggressive response to the
financial crisis. To make up for reduced exports, the government
ramped up domestic spending and what ensued was the "mother of all
stimulus projects," says Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the
Peterson Institute for International Economics. The roughly $575
billion in direct stimulus doled out by China's central government
represented 15 percent of its GDP. (Consider that if the U.S. stimulus
program had clocked in at 15 percent of GDP we would be debating the
merits of a $2 trillion program, not the $787 billion Congress settled
on.)
China's banks also followed the stimulus script, doling out $1.4
trillion in loans last year, a 30 percent increase from 2008. All that
liquidity did the job. According to China's official data (which are
notorious for their lack of transparency) the domestic economy
expanded 12.6 percent in 2009, offsetting a three percentage point
decline in GDP from exports. Overall, China's economy grew 8.7 percent
in 2009, up from 2008's anemic -- at least by China's standards -- GDP
growth of 6.8 percent.
However, much of the stimulus spending and lending has found its way
into real estate, creating ominous imbalances and the potential for
huge amounts of bad loans that the Chinese government would then have
to cover. Commercial developers who were all too happy to take the
stimulus money and build on spec are now often hard-pressed to find
tenants; entire office buildings and shopping malls stand empty in
many large cities that have attracted the most development. In the
residential market, the problem is flipped: too much demand and not
enough supply. Homes are the default investment choice for an
increasingly flush populace that has limited access to other
investment vehicles. And the prevailing sentiment is that if you don't
buy today you are going to be priced out of the market tomorrow.
In response to concerns that it's inflating a bubble in real estate,
the central government has begun taking steps to cool things off, but
to date it's more talk than action. Bank reserve requirements and a
key lending rate have been increased only slightly, and official 2010
lending targets, while lower than last year, will still surpass credit
outlays from 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/business/economy/19fed.html
Bubble Dynamics
A torrent of commercial development, a residential market convinced
that if you don't get in today you're toast, and a wan government
response to overheating ... Sound familiar? But there are several key
structural differences between our real estate mess and China's
situation, which suggest it is simplistic to assume China's bubble
must end in a U.S.-style meltdown.
1. Leverage is muted. About 25 percent of Chinese buy their homes
outright with cash. Among borrowers, a 50 percent down payment is
typical; you can't get a mortgage with less than 20 percent down and
if you are looking to buy a second (or third) property the down
payment is 40 percent. China also has yet to develop a HELOC market.
Lardy, of the PIIE, notes that China's household debt as a share of
household income runs about 40 percent. In 2007, U.S. household debt
to income was 130 percent. Nor has China fallen into the grasp of Wall
Street alchemists concocting toxic real estate derivatives.
2. It's not a blanket bubble. Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai are
China's Florida, Nevada, and California: speculation and overbuilding
have clearly fed bubble valuations. But Nicholas Consonery, China
analyst at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, says
there's still plenty of unmet demand in China's second-, third-, and
fourth-tier cities.
3. The ubiquitous demand argument. Consonery also articulates the most
oft-heard reason for why the bubble doesn't have to burst: China
actually needs more construction, not less, to accommodate the mass
migration of Chinese from their rural past to their urban future.
While China's real estate picture doesn't necessarily stack up as
Dubai times 1,000, or even the United States circa 2006, similarities
to Japan's property bubble could be more salient. Rather than a quick
burst, Japan is still working through a long slow deflation from its
epic property bubble that peaked in the late 1980s. Patrick Chovanec,
professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management
in Beijing, who has advised private equity funds on China investments,
says that's the danger facing China. "Never underestimate the ability
of the Chinese to brush things under the rug, rather than
acknowledging losses and poor investments," Chovanec cautions. "That
can create a long-term drag on the economy."
Koyo Ozeki, head of Pimco's Asian credit analysis team, acknowledges
the Japan corollary (his comparison of China, Japan, and U.S. real
estate bubbles is below), but he believes a crucial difference is that
China has the ability to grow its way out of trouble. His worst case
scenario is that there's a two- or three-year cooling off period for
property values, but not a meltdown. "I think that it [would be] a
'correction,' as opposed to a 'burst of a bubble' similar to those
seen in the developed countries, because of China's structural demand
for modern houses," says Ozeki.
Source: Pimco estimates
The 437,000 Renminbi Question
What does this mean for your portfolio? When you have sharp minds on
both sides of the argument that should be a tip that making a big bet
on either is probably unwise. Moreover, China presents a few extra
challenges. Despite its large footprint -- China is expected to take
over Japan as the second largest economy in 2010 -- keep in mind we're
still talking about an emerging market.
Volatility and surprises (both upside and downside) are the norm. Add
in the fact that China's financial system and data reporting aren't
exactly open source code and you have another layer of complexity. And
even the China bears are careful to point out that they have no clue
when the bubble will burst. "We are not calling for an impending
crash," Chanos reminded the LSE crowd. Rogoff, former chief economist
of the IMF and co-author of This Time is Different, which chronicles
the long history of global financial calamities, recently told
Business Week he believes the liquidity deluge in China will
eventually culminate in enough bad debt to cause China's economic
growth to slow to just 2 percent to 3 percent a year. But as for when,
well, Rogoff would only pin it down to some time in the next 10 years,
and added that the setback would be short-term, not a Japanese-style
slow bleed.
Given all that uncertainty, it seems wise to channel Pascal's Wager:
Acknowledge you might be wrong and adjust your portfolio accordingly.
In this instance, that's an argument for taking a look at what might
happen if in fact China's bubble blows so explosively that it sends
the economy into a severe downturn. Here's how your portfolio could be
affected:
Stocks: China is the third largest economy behind the U.S. and Japan,
and it is expected to push its way to number two this year. The IMF
forecasts that China will grow 10 percent, more than double the
overall world rate. If the bubble does in fact burst, growth will slow
and we could be in for round two of a global recession. That's an
argument for being cautious with equities and making sure your
emergency cash fund stays stuffed.
U.S. Treasuries: China holds about 10 percent of outstanding Treasury
debt; it jockeys with Japan from month-to-month for the top spot among
foreign investors. If China's economy hit the skids, one theory is
that it might choose to sell off Treasuries to raise capital for
spending back home. But dumping Treasuries is far from an easy call
for China, as it would depress the value of its Treasury portfolio and
cause the renminbi to rise in value (and the dollar to fall), which is
not ideal for its exports. Questions about how China will handle its
cache of U.S. Treasuries will likely keep the bond market on edge.
That's just another risk factor to add to why Treasuries aren't
exactly the safest investment right now.
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/would-you-lend-to-tim-geithner-on-these-terms/745/?tag=content;col1
Emerging market funds and ETFs: These are the most obvious losers if
China falters. It's not just that China represents 17 percent of the
MSCI Emerging Market Index -- the single largest country weight -- but
that so many of the other emerging markets, especially those rich in
resources such as Brazil and Russia, need China to remain a hungry
consumer. Overweighting emerging markets seems especially dicey right
now, despite the sector's recent strong performance. But even beyond
the implications of a China bubble, it's also wise to understand that
the fastest-growing economies don't always produce the highest
investment returns.
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/blog/wise-investing/growth-in-china-india-and-brazil-might-not-mean-great-investment-returns/1002/?tag=content;col1
Bubble or not, one thing is clear: China is teeing itself up for
plenty of volatility in the coming years. And it will affect the whole
world. "Even with the strong long-term fundamentals, any market that
has experienced such rapid growth creates its own fragility," says
investment banker Euan Rellie, senior managing director of Business
Development Asia LLC. "That makes it certain there will be declines
and corrections."
More on MoneyWatch:
China's Growth Threatened by Inflation, Or Is It Deflation?
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/blog/against-grain/chinas-growth-threatened-by-inflation-or-is-it-deflation/481/?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Video: Why You Should Worry About China
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/video/why-you-should-worry-about-china/385526/?tag=contentMain;contentBody
The China Boom: A Sure Thing NOT to Bet on in 2010
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/china-the-sure-thing-not-to-bet-on-in-2010/677/?tag=content;col1
Video: Why You Need Emerging Markets in Your Portfolio
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/video/investors-why-you-need-china-and-brazil/388541/?tag=contentMain;contentBody
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503983_162-20000790-503983.html
China : Shifting Concentration Of Real Wealth
By: Indranil Sen Gupta Friday, March 19, 2010 9:56 AM
In my last column I discussed about the immense potentiality of china
towards creation of wealthy citizens. I have tried to depict the true
picture of the Chinese government, which helps to increase and develop
the citizens of china. It clearly points out those Chinese economic
policies are helping to reduce the gap of rich and poor. The proof of
the pudding is that China ranks No 2 on Forbes billionaires list.
Moreover 27 of them have made into the list for the first time and
that also at a point of time when the world economy is fighting
enormously with the recession nights.
I ended the report with a prelude to this topic where I will again try
my level best to bring forth the policy behind making Chinese citizen
and economy so surprising to the world economy. But before that we all
need to have a quick look towards the covered up journey of China.
If we look into the historic position of Chinese economy it will very
hard for any one to believe about the turn around been formalized in
to shape of today's Chinese economy.
• China's industries developed and grew from 1927 to 1931. Though
badly hit by the Great Depression from 1931 to 1935 and Japan's
occupation of Manchuria in 1931, industrial output recovered by 1936.
• By 1936, industrial output had recovered and surpassed its previous
peak in 1931 prior to the Great Depression's effects on China.
• This is best shown by the trends in Chinese GDP. In 1932, China's
GDP peaked at 28.8 billion, before falling to 21.3 billion by 1934 and
recovering to 23.7 billion by 1935.
• In 1978, China was to witness one of the most rapid periods of
change in her 5,000 year history.
• 30 years later, China had developed from an economically desolate
and ideological-driven country into an industrial powerhouse, rapidly
overtaking developed western nations in recession.
• In the 1990s, many state enterprises were privatized and private
individuals were allowed to create companies. In 1990, the Shanghai
Stock Exchange was reopened after Mao first closed it 41 years
earlier.
• It also established a series of "special economic zones" in which
foreigners could invest in China taking advantage of lower labor
costs.
This investment helped the Chinese economy boom. In addition, the
Chinese government established a series of joint ventures with foreign
capital to establish companies in industries hitherto unknown in
China.
• By 2001, China became a member of the World Trade Organization,
which has boosted its overall trade in exports/imports—estimated at
$851 billion in 2003—by an additional $170 billion a year.
• In 2006, an estimated $699.5 billion of foreign investment was
present in China. A great deal of this investment came from Chinese-
speaking regions such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, who was the first to
invest in China. Japanese and Western investment followed.
So now its well clear to my readers about the encapsulated journey of
today's Chinese economy from the era of 1930.But all these were in the
initial days were only plans or policies. How did they materialize is
the point to be analyzed.
They have been materialized due to one single factor that is the
education. Education not only in schools and college levels, but also
to create the huge untapped potentiality of skilled and semi skilled
education and educated mass of population. We all know that china
posses one of the largest population. The world at times used to
critics this huge mounting population of china. But china and its
government's decades after decade have converted their biggest weak
point in to their biggest strength. Today china enjoys the huge
potentiality of its consumers and consumption.
It have created the largest pool of skilled and semi skilled workers
and employees .What we say in corporate term Blue Collard Jobs. China
has used its cheap commodity resources to create world best products
and cheap products. Educations particularly in science field have
helped china to become the supreme power of technology. China have
created the world finest products through its massive and continuous
never ending technological innovations. It have created scientist and
researchers equivalent to the western world. All these have been
created on the wheel of proper and improvised education system
provided by Chinese governments.
We have discussed many times a about the Chinese economic growth
models and the huge reserves and its stock gold piles. But among all
these the real growth model is the development of education system in
china. Its real wealthy citizens are the ones who gets education and
take the future responsibility of Chinese economy. China is making a
shift of its wealth. Its busy in shaping up the fortune of the
citizens of china.
If china have become the No.2 in Forbes billionaires list it ca be
clearly declared without any second thought that China deserves to be
crowned with No.2
Very recently china is going to bring a change in the education
system.
• China plans to revamp its university admissions system, allowing
students to take subject-specific tests.
• Currently access to university is entirely dependent on the score
students gets on a two-day test on a wide range of subjects.
• A little more than 10.2 million students take the exam each year,
and only about 25% of them get in. The vast majority of those who
don't make the cut go straight into the work force. China is trying to
bring change into its education system so that the vast majority can
reap the benefits of education. Moreover this will also increase the
talent pool of Chinese new generation. More White Collard Jobs will be
created resulting free dependence of the economy.
The schools and colleges have been asked to develop and promote
create thinking minds within the students. This will enable the future
growth of china. Just imagine when many countries in the west are busy
to resolve the post war situation and busy in exercising images of
super power, China is creating and shaping its future. China is
thinking way ahead of another 30years from now. Where as many
countries in the west who are busy to come out of the bad sins
committed through speculative economic and business growth modules
adopted by them.
China is thinking to develop the nation where ideas will be sold and
other economies will buy them paying hefty amount Products will be
replaced by ideas. A time might come when the Chinese economy will
increase the taxation for selling only innovative ideas. It might
sound funny but juts imagine the growth model and the future strategy
adopted and being implemented by china towards developing its economy.
It can be said that China is SHIFTING CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH. Western
economies will become 2nd rank economies and China will come under
developed economies rank.
Today after so many years US and other economies have identified that
the real growth of any economy lies in the hands of education system.
It can created speculative gains and growth for shorter time frame but
if its looks within the thin line of economic growth the results are
beyond speculation. Today the US government is buying in shaping up
the education system. It asks its citizens to create scientist doctors
and researchers. Since it feels very well that the in the coming
decade other economies will take over the super power crown.
Today US have realized the mistakes it have committed and now bringing
radical changes in the education system to shape up the future. Very
recently US is emphasizing to improve students and teachers instead of
punishing under performing schools. US have 33% under performing
schools. Unfortunately the list is increasing each day without
rewinding back. US is also going spend four-billion dollar more on
education system.
At the end I would like to conclude the series with this note that all
these analysis of the education system was not to criticize but to
bring forth the true portrait being painted by the world and China
alone in the coming decades. We must understand the growth of any
economy never lies in numbers. It lies among all of us who are juts
like you reading this article. It is we who will bring the economic
growth GDP to 20% in the next 3 decades from now. Its not the business
profit figures or the fiscal balance which will bring this growth.
Education is the foundation of economic growth of any nation on this
planet.
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A Slow Boat From China
Posted: March 19, 2010 at 5:08 am
China said it will send an envoy to Washington to discuss the friction
between the two countries over the value of the yuan. It will not
matter. Too many members of Congress, CEOs of major exporters, and
union presidents who use China’s trade practices as a target for their
plans to save millions of jobs need to get the yuan’s value to “float”
in the free market. That should, they reason, give America the chance
to compete with China’s exports based on price.
America can increase exports by two times what they are now, as the
President says will happen. China’s economy will be damaged because
the cost of its manufactured goods will rise. The day when China’s GDP
catches America’s will be pushed well beyond the horizon.
China’s leaders are clearly in the midst of trying to fashion some
compromise. The Emperor has had no clothes for too long. China has
protected its currency in an unseemly way, at least economically. The
world’s most populous nation can act on its own, or have the other
major world powers label it a currency manipulator. That will probably
lead to a series of large tariffs against Chinese goods which could
knock down its export traffic enough to put its economy into a funk.
China still has more leverage than the developed nations. They cannot
run their economies without cheap Chinese goods. It would hurt
consumer spending and damage the already hobbled retail industry.
China cannot be replaced as the “low-cost” provider of imports. It
does not need to mention that fact. It is easier for China to say it
cannot re-value the yuan because the action would ruin China’s cost
advantage and push Chinese workers out of jobs.
China’s envoy may seem to come to Washington hat in hand. He may
suggest some modest compromises on the yuan’s value. He will, however,
say in private and not in public, that the US would not want to see
Walmart go out of business because it cannot make a profit on goods
made in America.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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March 19, 2010, 3:23 a.m. EDT
Currency stress tests indicate Beijing 'readying' yuan move
SocGen says one-off 5%-10% appreciation coming in April or May
By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Additional evidence that China is preparing
to allow its currency to appreciate is accumulating, with various
government bureaus reportedly conducting their own "stress tests" on
the effect a stronger currency would have on the nation's industry.
Chinese media reported earlier in the week that the Ministry of
Finance would send researchers to study the impact of currency gains
on exporters and processing manufacturers. Meanwhile, findings from a
similar study, conducted by the Ministry of Commerce, are due to be
released by April 27, according to a report Friday in China Business
News.
ViewPoints: China, the New Dominant Economy?
Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, David Rubenstein, predicts
that China will surpass the U.S. as the dominant economy by the year
2035, in a ViewPoints interview with Deputy Managing Editor Alan
Murray.
The Commerce Ministry is also readying a six-point study on measures
that would boost Chinese imports and foster more balanced foreign
trade, according to broker Société Générale.
"China is not abandoning plans for yuan appreciation/revaluation,
despite what many are interpreting as a political environment that is
growing hostile to such a development," wrote SocGen economist Glenn
Maguire in Hong Kong.
The developments, Maguire said, indicate China is preparing to shift
its policy stance in a manner that will be "more substantial" than a
mere gradual yuan appreciation.
Instead, SocGen is forecast a one-off revaluation of 5% to 10% in
either April or May.
"A move of this magnitude will negate the risk of the protectionist
card being played in the U.S. midterm elections," Maguire wrote.
However, Standard Chartered analysts said Friday markets were now
expecting a lower rate of annual yuan appreciation this week, likely
as a result of contradictory signals emanating from Beijing on its
currency.
The futures markets were pricing in 2.2% to 2.8% of annual yuan
appreciation against the dollar, down from the 3% rise indicated last
week.
Standard Chartered said it was advisable for companies that trade with
China to begin hedging currency risk.
State firms' profits up
In a related development Friday, the Finance Ministry said profit
among state-owned enterprises rose 89% in the first two months of the
year.
SocGen's Maguire said the finding was yet more evidence China's of a
coming move on the currency.
Profits were healthy, except among companies that would benefit from a
stronger yuan, Maguire said, adding that some state companies such as
power producers and steel makers would see input cost fall under a
revaluation scenario.
Steel mills in particular are likely to face price pressures, as major
iron-ore miners are seeking to raise prices significantly in this
year's contracts.
"The impressive increase in profits over the past year suggests a
greater ability of the Chinese industrial complex to withstand a yuan
appreciation than many analysts are crediting," Maguire said.
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
Comments (60)
Temporalist 6 hours ago+3 Votes (4 Up / 1 Dn)
Agreed Continent. The Chinese people will benefit from the increased
Yuan. They will start to buy their own goods and they will no longer
need to export as much.
This is just a red herring to distract people from the real problem
that most major countries around the world are broke and going more
broke; promising citizens more crazy entitlements and caving into
unions and labor forces while increasing debt and deficit spending to
all time highs.Reply Link Track Replies Report Abuse therosierside 3
hours ago+1 Vote (1 Up / 0 Dn) Request sentAgree and Disagree. China
on the whole cannot afford their own products, and export of the
manufacturing of goods is their primary resource. I say call their
bluff. When push comes to shove, pull. However, I do agree, this is a
'red herring'. The irony drips in your statement.
Go ahead threaten away on the rise of the yuan. Ha, it's funny though.
It's like the U.S.S.R. all over again, and China got a taste for
capitalism, and the wealth from manufacturing. Their people will riot
if this happens, and their government is more scared of their own
people than the US. Power to the people!
The U.S. and the U.K. can make out on this the most, if they team up,
and remember their roots. It's amazing though, how we can easily shoot
straight, but might shoot ourselves in the foot instead. Let's also
not forget our arabic AND israeli allies. Power to the people!Reply
Link Track Replies Report Abuse iewgnem 2 hours ago0 Votes Request
sentA strong currency will enable Chinese consumers to buy more, but
if the US is any indication, what they buy might not be their own
goods.Reply
1REAGAN 6 hours ago-1 Vote (4 Up / 5 Dn)
The dollar is in free fall. If China were to continue pegging the
yuan, the result would be catastrophic. China must float the yuan.
Maybe it will help Americans to see that hussein is ruining the
American economy.
heisamazing 5 hours ago+1 Vote (3 Up / 2 Dn)
Yeah, don't let facts get in the way of an opinion. The dollar is not
in a free fall.
See 2 year graph: http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=dxy&sid=0&o_symb=dxy&freq=1&time=9
Its obvious where your bias lies.
1REAGAN 5 hours ago+1 Vote (4 Up / 3 Dn)
The dollar lost 30% versus the euro in 2009. The Keynesian huessy
policies will continue to weaken the dollar. The dollar is in free
fall.
The pound is also weakening because of the Keynesian policies of the
"British Labour Party."
Countries who implement socialist, Keynesian policies will have
weakening currencies. Countries who move toward free enterprise will
have strengthening currencies.
tjbrew 5 hours ago-1 Vote (3 Up / 4 Dn)
With a screen name like "1REAGAN", it's not hard to see your bias.
Yes, Reagan, the originator of large fiscal deficits and Reagonomics,
the start of the vast transfer of wealth to a few elite with "trickle
down" economics. If we just cut corporate taxes to zero that would fix
everything!
And the guy you're call "hussein" who in your opinion is "ruining the
American economy" ... yeah, the guy before him left the economy in
such great shape it's really hard to see why it hasn't all been fixed
by now! Sheesh ...
LBX 6 hours ago-1 Vote (1 Up / 2 Dn) Req
The RMB is likely to be floated in April.
Once it is floated, it will immediately DROP about 3 to 5%.
AmeriWho 5 hours agoEven (2 Up / 2 Dn)
RMB?
aiiiyo 2 hours ago+1 Vote (1 Up / 0 Dn)
same as Yuan
bull 6 hours ago+3 Votes (5 Up / 2 Dn)
China will not let the Yuan move more than 5% vs. the dollar per year
- forget about anything else as it will kill their export machine and
their grander plans......They do not care about the well being of
their people......they are just cheap labor in the Govt's mind.....
NO-FOMC 2 hours ago0 Votes Request senttrue maybe 10 years ago, and
yes i know that for a fact...but the bottom line is which is the
better of two evils....@#$%&! your reserves away by buying worthless
US assets (treasury debt) or help your domestic economy?
China realizes they are soooo done with eating table scraps from the
floor ...
iewgnem 2 hours ago0 Votes
I think a lot of Americans right now will rather see their welbeing
improve from getting employed as "cheap labor" making things for
exports than being able to buy more stuff from abroad with
unemployment checks. But then the US government cares too much for its
own people to let that happen.
UPJONES 5 hours ago+3 Votes (4 Up / 1 Dn)
The profit of the enterprise working on export processing business is
razor thin, at just about 2-5%. They will file bankruptcy right after
a 5% appreciation, and millions of Dagong Mei/Zai (Hunting girl/boys)
will lose their jobs.
China is buying time to do three things:
1. Build its domestic consumer market by increasing incomes/salaries
2. Perfecting the social secuity networks-Pension, Medicare and
apartments(Mostly for homeless)
3. Industrial transformation from manufacturing to innovation and
value added (Look at the neo-energy, nano, Aero, and especially bullet
trains, very competitve given the gov incentives and lots of "Cheap
and Good" engineers)
LBX 5 hours ago-1 Vote (1 Up / 2 Dn)
Many of them are actually getting negative gross margins. not to
mention net.
rojt88 4 hours ago+2 Votes (2 Up / 0 Dn)
LBX
The differences between Chinese and American accounting is caused by
pay differentials between the two cultures. Historically and
culturally, even dating back centuries, Mandarin officials and Chinese
executive pay is always held low. Much of this is due to Confucian
ethics and morality that wealth is not an indicator of success in
life. This is much different from the western ideal. Chinese
traditionally always hide income while American flaunt it.
Chinese businesses whose bosses serve for decades, like Hong Kong's Li
and Tung dynasties, always hide profits and exaggerate losses vs the
Western fashion of hiding loses and boosting profits so that rotating
CEOs can get their annual bonuses.
I estimate that the Chinese have 10-15% of their assets in hidden
accounts...or US$500billion (for PRC, HK, Taiwan). A lot of Chinese
inflation has been due to the sudden repatriation of much of this
offshore moneys into China due to financial instability in the west.
In a recent Chinese survey of foreign funds pouring into China over
the past decade, Hong Kong ranked first, then some islands in the
Caribbean ranked second and third. USA and Europe were last on the
list.
NO-FOMC 4 hours ago+1 Vote (2 Up / 1 Dn)
Funny how at the start of the century and after depression, USA had
the same characteristics...so where would you see china in 20+ years?
and where would you see USA in 20 years? remember..the world was
pegged to dollar gold before nixon. So last 20 years, our growth was
real or inflated?
NO-FOMC 2 hours ago+1 Vote (1 Up / 0 Dn)
US is buying time to avoid three things:
1. Financing a ever growing trade and acct deficit by depreciating the
USD to avoid default
2. Insure our world dominance by going to war so we wont lose our
world reserve currency title
3. the failure to realize a over leverage and underfunded US economy
will not be sustainable
Bastiat 5 hours ago+2 Votes (4 Up / 2 Dn)
Obama wants to run China. He found out that he could't run the US so
now he wants to run China. Obama, your problem is the US$, not the
yuan. You kept Bernanke, now deal with the imbecile.
RayO 5 hours agoEven (1 Up / 1 Dn)
Look out Walmart here comes a big Wave.
iewgnem 34 minutes ago0 Votes Request sentWhat if they simply
increase prices to maintain their margins? Considering in some
industries China consists of >90% of global output, it will still cost
importers less to absorb the cost than to spend billions in new
capital investments and time for production to ramp up. At the same
time re-exporters will see their material prices come down which will
also help to balance their margins.
All the talk about higher exchange rate driving Chinese exporters out
of business are assuming they don't have the power to pass the cost to
consumers on the other side. I suspect part of the stress test is to
see just how much they can raise the costs without losing their
business.Reply Link Track Replies Report Abuse « « ‹ ‹
Temporalist 6 hours ago+3 Votes (4 Up / 1 Dn)
Agreed Continent. The Chinese people will benefit from the increased
Yuan. They will start to buy their own goods and they will no longer
need to export as much.
This is just a red herring to distract people from the real problem
that most major countries around the world are broke and going more
broke; promising citizens more crazy entitlements and caving into
unions and labor forces while increasing debt and deficit spending to
all time highs.
therosierside 3 hours ago+1 Vote (1 Up / 0 Dn)
Agree and Disagree. China on the whole cannot afford their own
products, and export of the manufacturing of goods is their primary
resource. I say call their bluff. When push comes to shove, pull.
However, I do agree, this is a 'red herring'. The irony drips in your
statement.
Go ahead threaten away on the rise of the yuan. Ha, it's funny though.
It's like the U.S.S.R. all over again, and China got a taste for
capitalism, and the wealth from manufacturing. Their people will riot
if this happens, and their government is more scared of their own
people than the US. Power to the people!
The U.S. and the U.K. can make out on this the most, if they team up,
and remember their roots. It's amazing though, how we can easily shoot
straight, but might shoot ourselves in the foot instead. Let's also
not forget our arabic AND israeli allies. Power to the people!
iewgnem 2 hours ago0 Votes
A strong currency will enable Chinese consumers to buy more, but if
the US is any indication, what they buy might not be their own goods.
1REAGAN 6 hours ago-1 Vote (4 Up / 5 Dn)
The dollar is in free fall. If China were to continue pegging the
yuan, the result would be catastrophic. China must float the yuan.
Maybe it will help Americans to see that hussein is ruining the
American economy.
heisamazing 5 hours ago+1 Vote (3 Up / 2 Dn)
Yeah, don't let facts get in the way of an opinion. The dollar is not
in a free fall.
See 2 year graph: http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=dxy&sid=0&o_symb=dxy&freq=1&time=9
Its obvious where your bias lies.
1REAGAN 5 hours ago+1 Vote (4 Up / 3 Dn)
The dollar lost 30% versus the euro in 2009. The Keynesian huessy
policies will continue to weaken the dollar. The dollar is in free
fall.
The pound is also weakening because of the Keynesian policies of the
"British Labour Party."
Countries who implement socialist, Keynesian policies will have
weakening currencies. Countries who move toward free enterprise will
have strengthening currencies.Link Report Abuse tjbrew 5 hours ago-1
Vote (3 Up / 4 Dn) Request sentWith a screen name like "1REAGAN",
it's not hard to see your bias. Yes, Reagan, the originator of large
fiscal deficits and Reagonomics, the start of the vast transfer of
wealth to a few elite with "trickle down" economics. If we just cut
corporate taxes to zero that would fix everything!
And the guy you're call "hussein" who in your opinion is "ruining the
American economy" ... yeah, the guy before him left the economy in
such great shape it's really hard to see why it hasn't all been fixed
by now! Sheesh ...
LBX 6 hours ago-1 Vote (1 Up / 2 Dn)
The RMB is likely to be floated in April.
Once it is floated, it will immediately DROP about 3 to 5%.
AmeriWho 5 hours ago
Even (2 Up / 2 Dn)
aiiiyo 2 hours ago+1
same as Yuan
bullrunisbull 6 hours ago+3
China will not let the Yuan move more than 5% vs. the dollar per year
- forget about anything else as it will kill their export machine and
their grander plans......They do not care about the well being of
their people......they are just cheap labor in the Govt's mind.....
NO-FOMC 2 hours ago
true maybe 10 years ago, and yes i know that for a fact...but the
bottom line is which is the better of two evils....@#$%&! your
reserves away by buying worthless US assets (treasury debt) or help
your domestic economy?
China realizes they are soooo done with eating table scraps from the
floor ...R
I think a lot of Americans right now will rather see their welbeing
improve from getting employed as "cheap labor" making things for
exports than being able to buy more stuff from abroad with
unemployment checks. But then the US government cares too much for its
own people to let that happen.
UPJONES 5 hours ago+3 Votes (4 Up / 1 Dn)
The profit of the enterprise working on export processing business is
razor thin, at just about 2-5%. They will file bankruptcy right after
a 5% appreciation, and millions of Dagong Mei/Zai (Hunting girl/boys)
will lose their jobs.
China is buying time to do three things:
1. Build its domestic consumer market by increasing incomes/salaries
2. Perfecting the social secuity networks-Pension, Medicare and
apartments(Mostly for homeless)
3. Industrial transformation from manufacturing to innovation and
value added (Look at the neo-energy, nano, Aero, and especially bullet
trains, very competitve given the gov incentives and lots of "Cheap
and Good" engineers)
LBX 5 hours ago-1 Vote (1 Up / 2 Dn)
Many of them are actually getting negative gross margins. not to
mention net.
rojt88 4 hours ago+2 Votes (2 Up / 0 Dn)
LBX
The differences between Chinese and American accounting is caused by
pay differentials between the two cultures. Historically and
culturally, even dating back centuries, Mandarin officials and Chinese
executive pay is always held low. Much of this is due to Confucian
ethics and morality that wealth is not an indicator of success in
life. This is much different from the western ideal. Chinese
traditionally always hide income while American flaunt it.
Chinese businesses whose bosses serve for decades, like Hong Kong's Li
and Tung dynasties, always hide profits and exaggerate losses vs the
Western fashion of hiding loses and boosting profits so that rotating
CEOs can get their annual bonuses.
I estimate that the Chinese have 10-15% of their assets in hidden
accounts...or US$500billion (for PRC, HK, Taiwan). A lot of Chinese
inflation has been due to the sudden repatriation of much of this
offshore moneys into China due to financial instability in the west.
In a recent Chinese survey of foreign funds pouring into China over
the past decade, Hong Kong ranked first, then some islands in the
Caribbean ranked second and third. USA and Europe were last on the
list.
NO-FOMC 4 hours ago+1 Vote (2 Up / 1 Dn)
Funny how at the start of the century and after depression, USA had
the same characteristics...so where would you see china in 20+ years?
and where would you see USA in 20 years? remember..the world was
pegged to dollar gold before nixon. So last 20 years, our growth was
real or inflated?
NO-FOMC 2 hours ago+1 Vote (1 Up / 0 Dn)
US is buying time to avoid three things:
1. Financing a ever growing trade and acct deficit by depreciating the
USD to avoid default
2. Insure our world dominance by going to war so we wont lose our
world reserve currency title
3. the failure to realize a over leverage and underfunded US economy
will not be sustainable
Bastiat 5 hours ago+2 Votes (4 Up / 2 Dn)
Obama wants to run China. He found out that he could't run the US so
now he wants to run China. Obama, your problem is the US$, not the
yuan. You kept Bernanke, now deal with the imbecile.
RayO 5 hours agoEven (1 Up / 1 Dn) Re
Look out Walmart here comes a big Wave.
iewgnem 34 minutes ago
What if they simply increase prices to maintain their margins?
Considering in some industries China consists of >90% of global
output, it will still cost importers less to absorb the cost than to
spend billions in new capital investments and time for production to
ramp up. At the same time re-exporters will see their material prices
come down which will also help to balance their margins.
All the talk about higher exchange rate driving Chinese exporters out
of business are assuming they don't have the power to pass the cost to
consumers on the other side. I suspect part of the stress test is to
see just how much they can raise the costs without losing their
business.Reply Link Track Replies Report Abuse
March 19, 2010, 3:31 p.m. EDT
U.S. stocks break win streak on jitters over Greece, India, oil
By Donna Kardos Yesalavich, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A retreat in energy stocks weighed on the
broader market Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average stalling
in its attempt to set its longest winning streak in more than 13
years.
The energy sector was the weakest category in a broad-based sell-off
as oil prices retreated near $80 a barrel. Worries about key overseas
economies also weighed on the market, which some said was due for a
pause after a solid run lately.
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55637
The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed
(INDU 10,742, -37.41, -0.35%) fell 47 points, or 0.4%, to 10,731.93,
on pace to snap an eight-day winning streak, the first such run since
late August. A nine-day gain, if the Dow can manage a late-day
rebound, would represent the Dow's longest rally since November 1996.
A dive in energy prices fueled by an uptick in the dollar has made
that rosy outcome seem less likely as the session has played out. Oil
futures were recently off $1.75 at $80.45 a barrel after retreating
near $79 earlier in the session at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX
1,160, -5.92, -0.51%) , which slipped Thursday, recently was off 0.6%,
led by a 1.2% decline in its energy sector. Baker Hughes /quotes/
comstock/13*!bhi/quotes/nls/bhi (BHI 47.53, -1.84, -3.73%) slid 3.6%,
while Consol Energy /quotes/comstock/13*!cnx/quotes/nls/cnx (CNX
45.59, +0.04, +0.10%) and Massey Energy /quotes/comstock/13*!mee/
quotes/nls/mee (MEE 49.91, -1.74, -3.37%) were off more than 2% each.
Exxon Mobil /quotes/comstock/13*!xom/quotes/nls/xom (XOM 66.56, -0.48,
-0.72%) fell 1%, and Chevron /quotes/comstock/13*!cvx/quotes/nls/cvx
(CVX 74.17, -0.81, -1.08%) was down 0.6%.
"The commodities, like other risky assets, are taking a little bit of
a breather," said Russ Koesterich, managing director of BlackRock's
scientific active equity business. But he said it was encouraging that
both stocks and raw materials weren't declining even more.
"The market has had a big run-up, it's continuing to defy some of the
pessimists, and this happened on a bunch of factors," including benign
inflation readings and a decision by the Federal Reserve to keep its
rate target near zero, said Koesterich. "This is helping to keep a
floor under stocks."
Other central banks around the world, however, have become more wary
of inflation. On Friday, investors were spooked by the Reserve Bank of
India's move to increase its key lending rate to 5% and its borrowing
rate to 3.5%.
Uncertainty over possible financial aid for Greece also lingered,
hurting the euro. The U.S. dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0
(DXY 80.75, +0.52, +0.65%) , which heavily weights the euro in a
basket of currencies versus the greenback, was recently up 0.6%. See
more in Currencies.
Indexes tracking higher-risk corners of the stock market fared worse
than the Dow and S&P. The Nasdaq Composite Index /quotes/comstock/10y!
i:comp (COMP 2,374, -16.87, -0.71%) was off 0.8%, while the Russell
2000 fell 1.2%.
Digits: Palm's Future in DoubtThe latest forecast and smart-phone
sales data from Palm is raising serious concerns about the company's
viability. Dow Jones Newswires' Roger Cheng joins Stacey Delo on
Digits to discuss. Plus, an unprecedented look at the finances behind
YouTube, the world's most successful video site, as well as the
growing number of vehicles offering a self-parking option.
The S&P's health-care sector was flat ahead of an expected weekend
vote on federal reforms.
"We've been significantly overweight in health care for many months
now with the expectation that when it passes -- good, bad or ugly --
that that certainty will allow the health-care stocks to breathe a
sigh of relief," said Harry Rady, chief executive and portfolio
manager of Rady Asset Management.
Among the sector's winners on Friday were UnitedHealth Group /quotes/
comstock/13*!unh/quotes/nls/unh (UNH 34.54, +0.15, +0.44%) and
WellPoint /quotes/comstock/13*!wlp/quotes/nls/wlp (WLP 65.19, +0.12,
+0.19%) , up more than 2% each. But Merck /quotes/comstock/13*!mrk/
quotes/nls/mrk (MRK 38.05, -0.01, -0.02%) slipped 1% after the Food
and Drug Administration warned about the increased risk of muscle
injury for patients taking an 80-milligram dose of its cholesterol
drug Zocor.
Among stocks to watch in other sectors, Boeing /quotes/comstock/13*!ba/
quotes/nls/ba (BA 71.34, +0.62, +0.87%) rose 0.9% after announcing
plans to increase production of its 777 and 747 aircraft earlier than
anticipated amid increasing demand. See more on Boeing.
Among stocks in focus, Palm /quotes/comstock/15*!palm/quotes/nls/palm
(PALM 4.02, +0.02, +0.44%) plunged 27%. The company reported a
narrower quarterly loss but warned of significantly lower revenue in
the current quarter amid disappointing sales of its latest
smartphones. Read more on Palm.
Trading volume was higher, with about 3.8 billion shares having
changed hands in New York Stock Exchange Composite volume recently,
compared with the recent full-day average of about 4.8 billion. The
increase came on so-called quadruple witching day, when contracts for
stock-index futures, stock-index options, stock options and single-
stock futures expire.
Treasury prices slipped. The 10-year note /quotes/comstock/31*!ust10y
(UST10Y 3.69, +0.01, +0.27%) fell 1/32 to yield 3.678%.
More Market Snapshot
March 18, 2010 U.S. stocks' uneven session extends Dow win streak
http://store.marketwatch.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PremiumNewsletters_CampaignTheTechnicalIndicator?dist=IYMLMSB1T
March 17, 2010 Dow win streak longest since August 2009
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-post-gains-in-early-trading-2010-03-17
March 16, 2010 U.S. stocks finish higher in cheering Fed
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-hold-near-flat-ahead-of-fed-2010-03-16
March 15, 2010 U.S. stocks make late-day rise, helped by Wal-Mart
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-mostly-lower-google-dips-wal-mart-up-2010-03-15
March 13, 2010 U.S. stock investors to use data as a road map
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-investors-to-use-data-as-a-road-map-2010-03-13
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-open-higher-led-by-boeing-2010-03-19
bademiyansubhanallah
STAFF WRITER 15:59 HRS IST
Shimla, Mar 18 (PTI) Newly-appointed BJP general secretary Jagat
Prakash Nadda today resigned as cabinet minister in Himachal Pradesh
to take up his new assignment at the national level.
Nadda met Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in assembly and submitted
his resignation which was accepted.
"Yes I have submitted by resignation to the chief minister," Nadda
told PTI.
"I have asked him (Nadda) to continue till the ongoing budget session
of the assembly," Dhumal said.
Nadda in his letter to the CM said that since he has been appointed as
national general secretary of the BJP he was resigning from HP cabinet
in accordance with the party's policy of 'one man one post'.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/570541_Nadda-resigns-as-HP-minister-to-take-up-natl-assignment
JP Nadda resigns as Himachal cabinet minister
Posted by Ravinder Makhaik on Mar 18th, 2010
Shimla: Forest minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on being appointed as BJP
general secretary today submitted his resignation as a cabinet
minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal ministry to take up his new
assignment at the national level.
Nadda met Dhumal in assembly today and submitted his resignation which
has been accepted.
“I have submitted by resignation to the chief minister,” Nadda
confirmed to My Himachal News.
“I have asked the forest minister to continue till the ongoing budget
session,” said the chief minister.
Nadda in his letter to the CM cited that since he had been appointed
national general secretary of party he was resigning from HP cabinet
in accordance with the party’s declared policy of ‘one man one post’.
http://himachal.us/2010/03/18/jp-nadda-resigns-as-himachal-cabinet-minister/19150/news/ravinder
Day curfew lifted in Bareilly
STAFF WRITER 12:37 HRS IST
Bareilly, Mar 20 (PTI) With the situation improving in riot-hit areas,
day curfew has been lifted in the city.
"The situation is completely normal and day curfew in five police
areas - Prem Nagar, Qila, Baradari, Kotwali and Subhash Nagar - has
been lifted between 5 am to 10 pm," officials said.
The situation had become a bit tense yesterday after six statues were
allegedly stolen from the ancient Jagganath Puri temple in Bada Bazar
area.
Protesting against the theft, members of a community blocked road,
which was later lifted on the assurance that the guilty would be
arrested soon.
Curfew was clamped in four of the six police areas of the city on
March 2 in the wake of communal clashes over a barawafat procession.It
was later extended to one more police area after fresh violence on
March 11.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573674_Day-curfew-lifted-in-Bareilly
BJP demands Raj Home Minister's resignation
STAFF WRITER 23:7 HRS IST
Jaipur, Mar 19 (PTI) Holding statewide protests, BJP today demanded
the resignation of Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal, alleging
he had threatened its MLAs in the legislative assembly.
"Besides Dhariwal's resignation, the Congress government should revoke
the suspension of two MLAs -- R S Rathore (whip) and Hanuman Beniwal
-- who were suspended in previous two sittings of the House," Arun
Chaturvedi, its state president, told a press conference here.
The Leader of the House and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has not been
present in the House for the last two days and should attempt to break
the deadlock, Chaturvedi said.
"If this is not done on March 22, the BJP will hold 'Jail Bharo' in
all district headquarters," he said.
Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Vasundhara Raje alleged the state
government's repressive tactics in the assembly were a reminder of the
British period.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573450_BJP-demands-Raj-Home-Minister-s-resignation
Praveen Togadia held for trying to walk into Kandhamal
STAFF WRITER 0:22 HRS IST
Bhubaneswar, Mar 19 (PTI) Firebrand VHP leader Praveen Togadia was
tonight arrested alongwith his supporters by the Orissa Police as they
tried to enter riot-hit Kandhamal district, defying a ban on their
visit.
Togadia, who arrived at Charichowk in Boudh district, neighbouring
Kandhamal, was held under Section 151 of the CrPc when they tried to
walk into Kandhamal district despite a ban, police said.
After they were asked not to proceed to the district, they initially
held a sit-in protest at Charichowk.
The VHP leader is now lodged at the forest inspection bungalow at
Charichowk, Lambodar Buda, Inspector-in-charge of Boudh police
station, said.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573518_Praveen-Togadia-held-for-trying-to-walk-into-Kandhamal
Togadia released by Orissa Police
STAFF WRITER 12:11 HRS IST
Phulbani (Orissa), Mar 20 (PTI) Fireband VHP leader Praveen Togadia,
who was arrested while trying to enter riot-hit Kandhamal district
despite prohibitory orders, was today released by Orissa Police.
"Togadia was released on a bond and he left for Bhanjanagar in Ganjam
district," Kandhamal SP Pravin Kumar said.
The VHP leader was arrested last night under Section 151 of the CrPC
when he tried to walk into Kandhamal, along with supporters.
Earlier the state government had put a ban on Togadia's visit in view
of the communally-fragile nature of the district, which had seen
largescale communal violence in the wake of killing of VHP leader
Lakhsmananda Saraswati in August 2008.
Meanwhile, the district VHP unit of Kandhamal organised a 12-hour
bandh protesting Togadia's arrest.
While all shops and business establishments were closed, educational
institutions and government offices functioned as usual, police said.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573641_Togadia-released-by-Orissa-Police
Shahnawaz not to attend BJP spokespersons' meet
STAFF WRITER 14:12 HRS IST
New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who is
reportedly sulking after he was overlooked for the post of general
secretary by party president Nitin Gadkari, is likely to keep away
from a meeting of new spokespersons convened today by Leader of
Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
Swaraj is holding a meeting of the seven BJP spokespersons to decide
allocation of work and brief them about their new job.
Sources said the meeting was being held at the behest of Chief
Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad who is keen on getting his new team
cracking without any delay.
Sources close to Hussain said he is likely to keep away from the
meeting but insisted that this is due to his ill-health.
"He is a disciplined soldier of the party and will go with whatever
the party decides.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/572096_Shahnawaz-not-to-attend-BJP-spokespersons--meet
Dissent in BJP over Gadkari\’s new team – IBNLive.com
Published by admin on March 19, 2010 filed under Asian News
Headlines · Comments (0) The Hindu Dissent in BJP over Gadkari’s
new team IBNLive.com BJP’s latest worries- party President Nitin
Gadkari’s honeymoon period is over. His first challange will be Bihar-
and state party leaders anger might cost the party dearly as Bihar
will be going to polls later this year. Shatrughan Sinha and CP Thakur
… Everyone can’t be satisfied: Gadkari about dissent over his team
Economic Times Shatrughan vents ire at not being included in Nitin
Gadkari’s team Daily News & Analysis Dissent in BJP over Gadkari’s new
team India Today NDTV.com
http://asia.getsomenews.com/2010/03/19/dissent-in-bjp-over-gadkaris-new-team-ibnlive-com/
Raise complaints with me, not media: Gadkari
on March 19th, 2010
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Friday asked
party leaders to raise any complaints about his choice of a new team
with him and not with the media.
“Those who have complaints about the new team should speak to me, not
the media,” Gadkari told the NDTV news channel, a day after actor-
turned-party MP Shatrughan Sinha’s remarks on the composition of the
new team of office-bearers announced Tuesday.
Sinha Thursday recited the lyrics of an old Hindi film song in answer
to a question about the new team. “Uff na karenge, lab see lenge,
aansu pee lenge (I will not sigh, will seal my lips and swallow my
tears),” he said, expressing disappointment that leaders like Yashwant
Sinha had been left out and the team had not been able to give a
message of dynamism.
“It’s wrong to say that Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were excluded
because they are Advani detractors… It’s not possible to include
everyone on the team,” Gadkari said.
The BJP president also justified the appointment of Nehru-Gandhi
family member Varun Gandhi as party secretary, saying: “Varun Gandhi
should be given a chance, why hold the past against him?”
The party had sought to distance itself from Varun Gandhi after he
allegedly made inflammatory remarks during the Lok Sabha election
campaign last year.
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Aryan race
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with "Arianism" which was an early non-trinitarian
form of Christianity.
This article is about the racial theory. For the full range of
meanings of "Aryan", see Aryan. For Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian and
Jain spiritual interpretations, see Arya. For other uses, see Aryan
(disambiguation).
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in European
culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-
European languages and their descendants up to the present day
constitute a distinctive race or subrace of the larger Caucasian race.
[1]
While originally meant simply as a neutral ethnic classification, it
was later used for political racism in Nazi and neo-Nazi ideological
form. It became a concept of scientific racism, and hence also in
other currents such as occultism and white supremacism.
Belief in the existence of an Aryan race is sometimes referred to as
Aryanism.
Origin of the term
Main article: Aryan
See also: Arya
The earliest epigraphically-attested reference to the word arya occurs
in the 6th century Behistun inscription, which describes itself to
have been composed "in arya [language or script]" (§ 70). As is also
the case for all other Old Iranian language usage, the arya of the
inscription does not signify anything but "Iranian".[2]
The region Aria as depicted by Waldseemuller in 1507The term Aryan
originates from the Sanskrit word arya, attested in the ancient texts
of Hinduism such as the Rigveda. Arya in Sanskrit holds the meaning
civilized or simply referring to an individual of higher
consciousness.
In the 18th century, the most ancient known Indo-European languages
were those of the Indo-Iranians' ancestors. The word Aryan was adopted
to refer not only to the Indo-Iranian people, but also to native Indo-
European speakers as a whole, including the Albanians, Kurds,
Armenians, Greeks, Latins, and Germans. It was soon recognised that
Balts, Celts, and Slavs also belonged to the same group. It was argued
that all of these languages originated from a common root—now known as
Proto-Indo-European—spoken by an ancient people who must have been the
original ancestors of the European, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan peoples.
The ethnic group composed of the Proto-Indo-Europeans and their modern
descendants was termed the Aryans.
This usage was common in the late 19th and early 20th century. An
example of an influential best-selling book that reflects this usage
is the 1920 book The Outline of History by H. G. Wells.[3] In it he
wrote of the accomplishments of the Aryan people, stating how they
"learned methods of civilization" while "Sargon II and Sardanapalus
were ruling in Assyria and fighting with Babylonia and Syria and
Egypt". As such, Wells suggested that the Aryans had eventually
"subjugated the whole ancient world, Semitic, Aegean and Egyptian
alike".[4] In the 1944 edition of Rand McNally’s World Atlas, the
Aryan race is depicted as being one of the ten major racial groupings
of mankind.[5] The science fiction author Poul Anderson (1926–2001),
an anti-racist Libertarian of Scandinavian ancestry, in his many
novels, novellas, and short stories, consistently used the term Aryan
as a synonym for Indo-Europeans. He spoke of the Aryan bird of prey
which impelled those of the Aryan race to take the lead in developing
interstellar travel, colonize habitable planets in other planetary
systems and become leading business entrepreneurs on the newly
colonized planets.[6]
The use of "Aryan" as a synonym for "Indo-European" or to a lesser
extent for "Indo-Iranian", is regarded today by many as obsolete and
politically incorrect, but may still occasionally appear in material
based on older scholarship, or written by persons accustomed to older
usage, such as in a 1989 article in Scientific American by Colin
Renfrew in which he uses the word "Aryan" in its traditional meaning
as a synonym for "Indo-European".[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Iranian_peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_American
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Renfrew
19th-century physical anthropology
Main article: Caucasian race
See also: scientific racism
The 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (Leipzig, 1885-1890)
shows the Caucasian race (in blue) as comprising Aryans, Semites and
Hamites. Aryans are further subdivided into European Aryans and Indo-
Aryans (the latter corresponding to the group now designated Indo-
Iranians).In 19th century physical anthropology, represented by some
as being scientific racism, the "Aryan race" was considered a subgroup
of the Caucasian (or Europid) race, essentially corresponding to the
speakers of Indo-European languages native to Europe, Persia and the
Indo-Gangetic plain in South Asia.
The original 19th-century and early 20th-century use of the term Aryan
referred to "the early speakers of Proto-Indo European and their
descendents".[8][9] Max Müller is often identified as the first writer
to speak of an Aryan "race" in English. In his Lectures on the Science
of Language in 1861[10] he referred to Aryans as a "race of people".
At the time, the term race had the meaning of "a group of tribes or
peoples, an ethnic group".[11]
When Müller's statement was interpreted to imply a biologically
distinct sub-group of humanity, he soon clarified that he simply meant
a line of descent, insisting that it was very dangerous to mix
linguistics and anthropology. "The Science of Language and the Science
of Man cannot be kept too much asunder ... I must repeat what I have
said many times before, it would be wrong to speak of Aryan blood as
of dolichocephalic grammar".[12] He restated his opposition to this
method in 1888 in his essay Biographies of words and the home of the
Aryas.[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalic_index
Müller was responding to the development of racial anthropology, and
the influence of the work of Arthur de Gobineau who argued that the
Indo-Europeans represented a superior branch of humanity. A number of
later writers, such as the French anthropologist Vacher de Lapouge in
his book L'Aryen, argued that this superior branch could be identified
biologically by using the cephalic index (a measure of head shape) and
other indicators. He argued that the long-headed "dolichocephalic-
blond" Europeans, characteristically found in northern Europe, were
natural leaders, destined to rule over more "brachiocephalic" (short
headed) peoples.[13].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_de_Gobineau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacher_de_Lapouge
The division of the Caucasian race into Aryans, Semites and Hamites is
in origin linguistic, not based on physical anthropology, the division
in physical anthropology being that into Nordic, Alpine and
Mediterranean. However, the linguistic classification of "Aryan"
became closely associated, and conflated, with the classification of
"Nordic".
This claim became increasingly important during the 19th century. In
the mid-19th century, it was commonly believed that the Aryans
originated in the southwestern steppes of present-day Russia. However,
by the late 19th century the steppe theory of Aryan origins was
challenged by the view that the Aryans originated in ancient Germany
or Scandinavia, or at least that in those countries the original Aryan
ethnicity had been preserved. The German origin of the Aryans was
especially promoted by the archaeologist Gustaf Kossinna, who claimed
that the Proto-Indo-European peoples were identical to the Corded Ware
culture of Neolithic Germany. This idea was widely circulated in both
intellectual and popular culture by the early twentieth century,[14]
and is reflected in the concept of "Corded-Nordics" in Carleton S.
Coon's 1939 The Races of Europe.
Other anthropologists contested such claims. In Germany, Rudolf
Virchow launched a study of craniometry, which prompted him to
denounce "Nordic mysticism" in the 1885 Anthropology Congress in
Karlsruhe, while Josef Kollmann, a collaborator of Virchow, stated in
the same congress that the people of Europe, be they English, German,
French, and Spaniard belonged to a "mixture of various races,"
furthermore declaring that the "results of craniology...[are] against
any theory concerning the superiority of this or that European race"
to others.[10]
Virchow's contribution to the debate sparked a controversy. Houston
Stewart Chamberlain, a strong supporter of the theory of a superior
Aryan race, attacked Josef Kollmann arguments in detail. While the
"Aryan race" theory remained popular, particularly in Germany, some
authors defended Virchow's perspective, in particular Otto Schrader,
Rudolph von Jhering and the ethnologist Robert Hartmann (1831–1893),
who proposed to ban the notion of "Aryan" from anthropology.[10]
Indo-Aryan migration
Main article: Indo-Aryan migration
See also: Out of India theory
Models of the Indo-Aryan migration discuss scenarios of prehistoric
migrations of the early Indo-Aryans to their historically attested
areas of settlement in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent and
from there further across all of North India. Claims of Indo-Aryan
migration are primarily drawn from linguistic[15] evidence but also
from a multitude of data stemming from genetics,[16] Vedic religion,
rituals, poetics as well as some aspects of social organization and
chariot technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_period
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
All discussion of historical Indo-Aryan migrations or Aryan and
Dravidian races remains highly controversial in India to this day, and
continues to affect political and religious debate. Some Dravidians,
and supporters of the Dalit movement, most commonly Tamils, claim that
the worship of Shiva is a distinct Dravidian religion going back to
the Indus Civilization,[17] to be distinguished from Brahminical
"Aryan" Hinduism. In contrast, the Indian nationalist Hindutva
movement argues that no Aryan invasion or migration ever occurred,
asserting that Vedic beliefs emerged from the Indus Valley
Civilisation,[18] which pre-dated the supposed advent of the Indo-
Aryans in India, and is identified as a likely candidate for a Proto-
Dravidian culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalitstan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindutva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilisation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Dravidian
Some Indians were also influenced by the debate about the Aryan race
during the British Raj. The Indian nationalist V. D. Savarkar believed
in the theory that an "Aryan race" migrated to India,[19] but he
didn't find much value in a racialized interpretation of the "Aryan
race".[20] Some Indian nationalists supported the British version of
the theory because it gave them the prestige of common descent with
the ruling British class.[21]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._D._Savarkar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racialized
Genetic studies
A genetic study in the year 2000 in Andhra Pradesh state of India
found that the upper caste Hindus were closer relatives to Eastern-
Europeans than to Hindus from lower castes.[22] However, a study
conducted by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2009 (in
collaboration with Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public
Health and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT) analyzed half a
million genetic markers across the genomes of 132 individuals from 25
ethnic groups from 13 states in India across multiple caste groups.
[23] The study asserts, based on the impossibility of identifying any
genetic indicators across caste lines, that castes in South Asia grew
out of traditional tribal organizations during the formation of Indian
society, and was not the product of any Aryan invasion and
"subjugation" of Dravidian people.[24]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_for_Cellular_and_Molecular_Biology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Medical_School
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_School_of_Public_Health
Occultism
Theosophy
Mme. Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, a lawyer, agricultural expert,
and journalist who covered the Spiritualist phenomena.Main article:
Root race
These debates were addressed within the Theosophical movement founded
by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott at the end of the nineteenth
century. This philosophy took inspiration from Indian culture, in this
case, perhaps, from the Hindu reform movement the Arya Samaj founded
by Swami Dayananda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Blavatsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Steel_Olcott
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arya_Samaj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Dayananda
Blavatsky argued that humanity had descended from a series of "Root
Races", naming the fifth root race (out of seven) the Aryan Race. She
thought that the Aryans originally came from Atlantis and described
the Aryan races with the following words:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_Race
"The Aryan races, for instance, now varying from dark brown, almost
black, red-brown-yellow, down to the whitest creamy colour, are yet
all of one and the same stock -- the Fifth Root-Race -- and spring
from one single progenitor, (...) who is said to have lived over
18,000,000 years ago, and also 850,000 years ago -- at the time of the
sinking of the last remnants of the great continent of Atlantis."[25]
Blavatsky used "Root Race" as a technical term to describe human
evolution over the large time periods in her cosmology. However, she
also claimed that there were modern non-Aryan peoples who were
inferior to Aryans. She regularly contrasts "Aryan" with "Semitic"
culture, to the detriment of the latter, asserting that Semitic
peoples are an offshoot of Aryans who have become "degenerate in
spirituality and perfected in materiality."[26] She also states that
some peoples are "semi-animal creatures". These latter include "the
Tasmanians, a portion of the Australians and a mountain tribe in
China." There are also "considerable numbers of the mixed Lemuro-
Atlantean peoples produced by various crossings with such semi-human
stocks -- e.g., the wild men of Borneo, the Veddhas of Ceylon, classed
by Prof. Flower among Aryans (!), most of the remaining Australians,
Bushmen, Negritos, Andaman Islanders, etc."[27]
Despite this, Blavatsky's admirers claim that her thinking was not
connected to fascist or racialist ideas, asserting that she believed
in a Universal Brotherhood of humanity and wrote that "all men have
spiritually and physically the same origin" and that "mankind is
essentially of one and the same essence".[28] On the other hand, in
The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky states: "Verily mankind is 'of one
blood,' but not of the same essence."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Brotherhood
Blavatsky connects physical race with spiritual attributes constantly
throughout her works:
"Esoteric history teaches that idols and their worship died out with
the Fourth Race, until the survivors of the hybrid races of the latter
(Chinamen, African Negroes, &c.) gradually brought the worship back.
The Vedas countenance no idols; all the modern Hindu writings do".
[29]
"The intellectual difference between the Aryan and other civilized
nations and such savages as the South Sea Islanders, is inexplicable
on any other grounds. No amount of culture, nor generations of
training amid civilization, could raise such human specimens as the
Bushmen, the Veddhas of Ceylon, and some African tribes, to the same
intellectual level as the Aryans, the Semites, and the Turanians so
called. The 'sacred spark' is missing in them and it is they who are
the only inferior races on the globe, now happily -- owing to the wise
adjustment of nature which ever works in that direction -- fast dying
out. Verily mankind is 'of one blood,' but not of the same essence. We
are the hot-house, artificially quickened plants in nature, having in
us a spark, which in them is latent".[30]
According to Blavatsky, "the MONADS of the lowest specimens of
humanity (the "narrow-brained" savage South-Sea Islander, the African,
the Australian) had no Karma to work out when first born as men, as
their more favoured brethren in intelligence had".[31]
She also prophecies of the destruction of the racial "failures of
nature" as the future "higher race" ascends:
"Thus will mankind, race after race, perform its appointed cycle-
pilgrimage. Climates will, and have already begun, to change, each
tropical year after the other dropping one sub-race, but only to beget
another higher race on the ascending cycle; while a series of other
less favoured groups -- the failures of nature -- will, like some
individual men, vanish from the human family without even leaving a
trace behind".[32]
It is interesting to note that the second subrace of the Fifth or
Aryan root race, the Arabian, is regarded by Theosophists as one of
the Aryan subraces. It is believed by Theosophists that the Arabians,
although asserted in traditional Theosophy to be of Aryan (i.e., Indo-
European) ancestry, adopted the Semitic language of the people around
them who had migrated earlier from Atlantis (the fifth or (original)
Semite subrace of the Atlantean root race). Theosophists assert that
the Jews originated as an offshoot of the Arabian subrace in what is
now Yemen about 30,000 BC. They migrated first to Somalia and then
later to Egypt where they lived until the time of Moses. Thus,
according to the teachings of Theosophy, the Jews are part of the
Aryan race.[33]
Ariosophy
Main article: Ariosophy
Guido von List (and his followers such as Lanz von Liebenfels) later
took up some of Blavatsky's ideas, mixing her ideology with
nationalistic and fascist ideas; this system of thought became known
as Ariosophy. It was believed in Ariosophy that the Teutonics were
superior to all other peoples because according to Theosophy the
Teutonics or Nordics were the most recent subrace of the Aryan root
race to have evolved.[34] Such views also fed into the development of
Nazi ideology. Theosophical publications such as The Aryan Path were
strongly opposed to the Nazi usage, attacking racialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_von_List
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanz_von_Liebenfels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariosophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aryan_Path
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racialism
The idea of the Northern origins of the Aryans was particularly
influential in Germany. It was widely believed that the "Vedic Aryans"
were ethnically identical to the Goths, Vandals and other ancient
Germanic peoples of the Völkerwanderung. This idea was often
intertwined with anti-Semitic ideas. The distinctions between the
"Aryan" and "Semitic" peoples were based on the aforementioned
linguistic and ethnic history.
Semitic peoples came to be seen as a foreign presence within Aryan
societies, and the Semitic peoples were often pointed to as the cause
of conversion and destruction of social order and values leading to
culture and civilization's downfall by proto-Nazi and Nazi theorists
such as Houston Stewart Chamberlain and Alfred Rosenberg.
According to the adherents to Ariosophy, the Aryan was a "master race"
that built a civilization that dominated the world from Atlantis about
ten thousand years ago. This alleged civilization declined when other
parts of the world were colonized after the 8,000 BC destruction of
Atlantis because the inferior races mixed with the Aryans but it left
traces of their civilization in Tibet (via Buddhism), and even in
Central America, South America, and Ancient Egypt. (The date of 8,000
BC for the destruction of Atlantis in Ariosophy is 2,000 years later
than the date of 10,000 BC given for this event in Theosophy.) These
theories affected the more esotericist strand of Nazism.
A complete, highly speculative theory of Aryan and anti-Semitic
history can be found in Alfred Rosenberg's major work, The Myth of the
Twentieth Century. Rosenberg's well-researched account of ancient
history, melded with his racial speculations, proved to be very
effective in spreading racialism among German intellectuals in the
early twentieth century, especially after the First World War.
These and other ideas evolved into the Nazi use of the term "Aryan
race" to refer to what they saw as being a master race of people of
northern European descent. They worked to maintain the purity of this
race through eugenics programs (including anti-miscegenation
legislation, compulsory sterilization of the mentally ill and the
mentally deficient, the execution of the institutionalized mentally
ill as part of a euthanasia program).
Heinrich Himmler (the Reichsführer of the SS), the person ordered by
Adolf Hitler to implement the final solution (Holocaust), told his
personal masseur Felix Kersten that he always carried with him a copy
of the ancient Aryan scripture, the Bhagavad Gita because it relieved
him of guilt about what he was doing — he felt that like the warrior
Arjuna, he was simply doing his duty without attachment to his actions.
[35]
Himmler was also interested in Buddhism and his institute Ahnenerbe
sought to mix some traditions from Hinduism and Buddhism.[36] Himmler
sent a 1939 German expedition to Tibet as part of his research into
Aryan origins.
Neo-Nazism
The Sun wheel is used as the symbol of the Aryan raceSince the
military defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allies in 1945, some neo-Nazis
have expanded their concept of the Aryan race, moving from the Nazi
concept that the purest Aryans were the Teutonics or Nordics of
Northern Europe to the idea that the true Aryans are everyone
descended from the Western or European branch of the Indo-European
peoples.[citation needed] "Moderate" "white nationalists" who embrace
what is called pan-Aryanism want to establish a democratically
governed Aryan Federation.[37] On the other hand, according to
Nicholas Goodrick-Clark, many neo-Nazis want to establish an
autocratic state modeled after Nazi Germany to be called the Western
Imperium.[38]
This proposed state would be led by a Führer-like figure called the
Vindex, and would include all areas inhabited by the Aryan race
(defined as non-Jews of European ancestry), i.e. Europe (includes all
of Russia), Anglo-America, South Africa (may include Rhodesia (now
called Zimbabwe)) with its white minority, Australia, New Zealand, and
southern South America (that is Chile, Argentina, eastern Bolivia,
southern Brazil, Uruguay, and possibly Paraguay.) Only those of the
Aryan race would be full citizens of the state. The Western Imperium
would embark on a vigorous and dynamic program of space exploration.
The concept of the Western Imperium as outlined in the previous three
sentences is based on the original concept of the Imperium as outlined
in the 1947 book Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics by
Francis Parker Yockey as further updated, extended and refined in the
early 1990s in pamphlets published by David Myatt. [39][40][41]
Various concepts of Aryanism and how they should be implemented are
debated on the Stormfront website.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Parker_Yockey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Myatt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormfront_(website)
Tempelhofgesellschaft
A neo-Nazi esoteric Nazi Gnostic sect headquartered in Vienna, Austria
called the Tempelhofgesellschaft, founded in the early 1990s, teaches
a form of what it calls Marcionism. They distribute pamphlets claiming
that the Aryan race originally came to Atlantis from the star
Aldebaran.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_Nazism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-volkisch_movements#Tempelhofgesellschaft_.28Gnostic_sect.29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_race#The_civilization_of_Atlantis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldebaran
See also
Anatolian hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolian_hypothesis
Aryan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan
Germanic peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples
Indo-Aryan migrations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Aryan_migrations
Nordic theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_theory
Nordic race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_race
Proto-Indo-Europeans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Europeans
Indo-European language family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_language_family
Kurgan hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurgan_hypothesis
Race Life of the Aryan Peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Life_of_the_Aryan_Peoples
Scandinavism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavism
White nationalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_nationalism
White supremacy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy
Philosophical:
Esotericism in Germany and Austria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esotericism_in_Germany_and_Austria
Thule Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society
Germanic Neopaganism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_Neopaganism
Neo-völkisch movements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-v%C3%B6lkisch_movements
Third Reich specific:
Aryanization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryanization
Aryan paragraph
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_paragraph
Honorary Aryan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_Aryan
Ahnenpass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenpass
Aryan Games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Games
Contemporaneous concepts of race:
Alpine race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_race
Armenoid race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenoid_race
Dinaric race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinaric_race
East Baltic race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Baltic_race
Iranid race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranid_race
Mediterranean race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_race
References
Constructs such as ibid., op. cit. and loc. cit. are discouraged by
Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes as they are easily broken.
Please improve this article by replacing them with named references
(quick guide), or an abbreviated title.
^ Mish, Frederic C., Editor in Chief Webster's Tenth New Collegiate
Dictionary Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.:1994--Merriam-Webster
See original definition (definition #1) of "Aryan" in English--Page
66
^ cf. Gershevitch, Ilya (1968), "Old Iranian Literature", Handbuch der
Orientalistik, Literatur I, Leiden: Brill, pp. 1–31 , p. 2.
^ Wells, H.G. The Outline of History New York:1920 Doubleday & Co.
Chapter 19 The Aryan Speaking Peoples in Pre-Historic Times Pages
271-285
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outline_of_History
^ H.G. Wells describes the origin of the Aryans (Proto-Indo
Europeans):
http://www.bartleby.com/86/19.html
^ Rand McNally’s World Atlas International Edition Chicago:1944 Rand
McNally Map: "Races of Mankind" Pages 278–279--In the explanatory
section below the map, the Aryan race (the word “Aryan” being defined
in the description below the map as a synonym for “Indo-Europeans”) is
described as being one of the ten major racial groupings of mankind.
Each of the ten racial groupings is depicted in a different color on
the map and the estimated populations in 1944 of the larger racial
groups except the Dravidians are given (the Dravidian population in
1944 would have been about 70,000,000). The other nine groups are
depicted as being the Semitic race (the Aryans (850,000,000) and the
Semites (70,000,000) are described as being the two main branches of
the Caucasian race), the Dravidian race, the Mongolian race
(700,000,000), the Malayan race (Correct population given on page
413--64,000,000 including half of the Malay States, Micronesia, and
Polynesia), the American Indian race (10,000,000), the Negro race
(140,000,000), the Native Australians, the Papuans, and the Hottentots
and Bushmen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_people_of_the_Americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australoid_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australoid_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capoid_race
^ See, for example, the Poul Anderson short stories in the 1964
collection Time and Stars and the Polesotechnic League stories
featuring Nicholas van Rijn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_and_Stars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_van_Rijn
^ Renfrew, Colin. (1989). The Origins of Indo-European Languages. /
Scientific American/, 261(4), 82-90.
^ Mish, Frederic C., Editor in Chief Webster's Tenth New Collegiate
Dictionary Springfield, Massachuetts, U.S.A.:1994--Merriam-Webster
Page 66
^ Widney, Joseph P Race Life of the Aryan Peoples New York: Funk &
Wagnalls. 1907 In Two Volumes: Volume One--The Old World Volume Two--
The New World ISBN B000859S6O
http://books.google.com/books?id=s9UKAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pomeroy_Widney
^ a b c d Andrea Orsucci, "Ariani, indogermani, stirpi mediterranee:
aspetti del dibattito sulle razze europee (1870-1914)", in Cromohs,
1998 (Italian)
http://www.cromohs.unifi.it/3_98/orsucci.html
^ OED under race, n.6 I.1.c has "A group of several tribes or peoples,
regarded as forming a distinct ethnic set. Esp. used in 19th-cent.
anthropological classification, sometimes in conjunction with
linguistic groupings."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OED
^ Speech before the University of Stassbourg, 1872, Chaudhuri, Nirad,
Scholar Extraordinary: The Life of Professor the Rt. Hon. Freidrich
Max Muller, Chatto and Windus, 1974, p.313
^ Vacher de Lapouge (trans Clossen, C), Georges (1899). "Old and New
Aspects of the Aryan Question". The American Journal of Sociology 5
(3): 329–346. .
^ Arvidsson, Stefan (2006). Aryan Idols. USA: University of Chicago
Press, 143. ISBN 0-226-02860-7.
^ The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration
Debate, Edwin Bryant, 2001
^ Trivedi, Bijal P (2001-05-14). [http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/
articles/05_01/Indo-European.shtml "Genetic evidence suggests European
migrants may have influenced the origins of India's caste system"].
Genome News Network (J. Craig Venter Institute).
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/05_01/Indo-European.shtml.
Retrieved 2005-01-27.
^ It is claimed that the Pashupati seal represents Shiva. J. Marshall
1931: Vol. 1, 52-55. Mohenjo-Daro and the IVC. London: Arthur
Probsthain.
^ Although most pro-Aryan migration theory scholars also agree that a
part of the IVC culture has influenced Hinduism. Renfrew says: "it is
difficult to see what is particularly non-Aryan about the Indus Valley
Civilization. Renfrew 1988:188-190. Archaeology and Language. New
York: Cambridge University Press
^ Bryant 2001:271, Talageri 2000. The Rigveda.
^ After all there is throughout this world so far as man is concerned
but a single race - the human race, kept alive by one common blood,
the human blood. All other talk is at best provisional, a makeshift
and only relatively true. (...) Even as it is, not even the aborigines
of the Andamans are without some sprinkling of the so-called Aryan
blood in their veins and vice-versa. Truly speaking all that one can
claim is that one has the blood of all mankind in one’s veins. The
fundamental unity of man from pole to pole is true, all else only
relatively so. Savarkar: "Hindutva". Vinayak Damodar Savarkar,
Savarkar Samagra: Complete Works of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 10
volumes, ISBN 81-7315-331-0
^ Erdosy 1995:21, The Indo-Aryans of ancient South Asia.
^ http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=11381027
^ Indians are one people descended from two tribes
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indians-are-one-people-descended-from-two-tribes_1292864
^ Aryan-Dravidian divide a myth: Study, Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Aryan-Dravidian-divide-a-myth-Study/articleshow/5053274.cms
^ The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and
Philosophy, Vol.II, p.249
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Doctrine
^ Ibid., p.200
^ Ibid., pp.195-6
^ The Key to Theosophy, Section 3
^ The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and
Philosophy, Vol. II, p.723
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Doctrine
^ Ibid., p 421
^ Ibid., p.168
^ Ibid., p.446
^ Powell, A.E. The Solar System: A Complete Outline of the
Theosophical Scheme of Evolution London:1930 The Theosophical
Publishing House Pages 298-299
^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan
Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology New York:1992 New York
University Press Chapter 13 "Herbert Reichstein and Ariosophy" Pages
164-176
^ Padfield, Peter Himmler New York:1990--Henry Holt Page 402
^ P.7, New Religions and the Nazis, By Karla Powne
^ Fundamentals of Pan-Aryanism:
http://forums.skadi.net/showthread.php?p=940600
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenvolk
^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2003). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric
Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York: New York University
Press. pp. 221. ISBN 0-8147-3155-4.
^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism,
and The Politics of Identity New York: 2002--N.Y. University Press,
See Chapters 4 and 11 for extensive information about the proposed
"Western Imperium"
^ “Vindex—The Destiny of the West—Imperium of the West” by David
Myatt:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=423609919&blogId=497426085
^ [http://www.natvan.com/national-vanguard/130/index.html
"Space Exploration: An Expression of the Aryan Soul" by John Clarke
National Vanguard magazine Issue 130, January-February 2006:]
Further reading
The Arctic Home in the Vedas by Bal Gangadhar Tilak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arctic_Home_in_the_Vedas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_Gangadhar_Tilak
Arvidsson, Stefan. Aryan Idols. The Indo-European Mythology as Science
and Ideology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2006 ISBN
0-226-02860-7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Arvidsson
Poliakov, Leon. The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalistic
Ideas In Europe New York: Barnes & Noble Books. 1996 ISBN
0-7607-0034-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Poliakov
Widney, Joseph P. Google Books edition of Race Life of the Aryan
Peoples Race Life of the Aryan Peoples New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1907
In Two Volumes: Volume One--The Old World Volume Two--The New World
ISBN B000859S6O
http://books.google.com/books?id=s9UKAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage#v=onepage&q=&f=false
External links
The Aryan race
http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/ListOfCollatedArticles/TheAryanRace.html
Indo-European Languages
http://www.bookrags.com/Indo-European_languages
Aryan by Kim Pearson
http://kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu/Dictionary/aryan.htm
Iranian Branch of the Indo-European Family
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/february/IranianBranch.html
Races and Ethnic Groups of Iran
http://www.farhangsara.com/races.htm
Forensic Anthropology
http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/biology/research/forensicanthropology/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
...and I am Std Harth
chhotemianinshallah
Sharad Pawar is not new to verbal abuse. Before Bal Thackeray cosied
up to him in recent times, he was wont to call the Maratha warlord the
most colourful names. Among the more mentionable of them were
`maidyancha pota ’ (a sack of flour) and a dog (I would rather not
repeat the Marathi as that sounds worse).He also continuously poked
fun at Pawar’s ample girth, saying he might be getting stuck in his
commode each morning. To be noted: Thackeray himself preferred Indian
toilets. Hotels he stayed at in Maharashtra had to modify their rooms
for the purpose and when he thought he might be thrown into jail by
Chhagan Bhujbal his primary concern, ahead of other comforts, was if
he would get an Indian toilet in his cell — though Michael Jackson did
use a Western one when he came calling at Matoshree in 1997!
Pawar was so sickened by all such politically irrelevant comments that
he warned Thackeray about the consequences: “I am from the rural areas
and a rural rustic can get more colourful abuse out of his mouth than
someone like Thackeray, city born and bred can ever fathom. So don’t
tempt me.’’ That shut Thackeray up quite adequately because he could
not be sure about how insulting Pawar could get or even if he could
match the latter’s vocabulary, word for word.
I guess Thackeray had reason to run scared. Because he knew Pawar
could say the worst possible things about somebody and still keep the
language parliamentary. Like the time in the Eighties — I recall I
was shocked out of my wits when he referred to then opposition leader
Mrinal Gore as `Pootna Maushi’.
Gore was a well-known socialist and she was very adept at her job as
an opposition leader. She was one of the primary persons who had
exposed Pawar’s alleged involvement in what we then referred to as the
`dereservation scam’. Decoded, this was simply that soon after he
became Chief Minister in 1988, Pawar decided that more than 250 plots
in Bombay which had been reserved for schools, gardens, hospitals and
other public spaces would be, well, dereserved and handed over to
private builders for commercial constructions. Pawar had overruled the
objections of both bureaucrats and municipal authorities about the
advisability of turning Bombay into more of a concrete jungle thus.
Gore tabled the whole list of the plots, along with a minute by minute
account of how they were dereserved, in the Maharashtra Assembly —
leading Chhagan Bhujbal, then the Shiv Sena’s lone legislator in the
House, to stick another unforgettable tag on Pawa: Bhookhandanche
Shrikhand Khalle (he has eaten shrikhand out of plots of land).
But while Pawar could brush aside such labels, what he could not get
over was the complete exposure of his integrity (since then wherever
Pawar goes, land scams, true or not, follow).
Why I believe Pawar’s abuse of Gore was unforgivable was because of
the choice of his words — which were not unparliamentary by themselves
but the circumstances under which they were uttered were downright
vicious. Pootna was the rakshasi who had been assigned by Lord
Krishna’s maternal uncle Kansa to poison the baby God through her
milk. Everyone knows the legend: how Baby Krishna bit her breasts and
destroyed both her and her evil purpose.
Gore had, at the time, been recovering from breast cancer and I
thought it was particularly nasty, downright mean and very hurtful of
Sharad Pawar to allude to a worthy opponent in such unpleasant and
personally painful terms. I was little more than a rookie at the time
and I recall rushing to Gore’s party office at the Vidhan Bhavan soon
after Pawar’s volley – I wanted to sympathise more than get a reaction
out of her to that insult.
However, Gore spoke of everything else but that abuse. And when I
asked her for a reaction, she said she had not heard anything at all
and there was no point reacting to something she did not know about.
Since Gore had very much been present during Pawar’s outburst, I
realised that she was either very hurt or very forgiving. In either
case, her response was very dignified and, in the absence of
television channels in that era, the whole episode was put to rest
almost immediately.
So, if an eon later, Satyavrat Chaturvedi now calls Sharad Pawar
another colourful name, I am not surprised that the Maratha strongman
should not find it too hard to forget and forgive. For Chaturvedi’s
terms of reference were neither personal nor could be too hurtful
(except to the extent that he chose to abuse at all) – those are
terms used almost like punctuation in many North Indian tongues. But
while MCs and BCs might be lingua franca in the North, I agree with
Pawar that it was quite unparliamentary language to have been used at
all.
Perhaps Chaturvedi should have taken lessons from Pawar before he got
abusive: on how to be parliamentary and unpleasant at one and the
same time!
Comments
One Response to “Whose abuse is it anyway?”
Rajen Kaushal says:
March 20, 2010 at 7:10 am
By far, conclusion is that unparliamentary language has no place on
high seats like CM. Thackerays comments are given more weightage by
Media otherwise, going by their political stature, they do not deserve
much weightage.
After exorbitant rise in food prices and sugar, Sharad Pawar’s
response was poor but going by Congress rules after independendence,
Congress, a party of capitalist never contained inflation and many
fold increase in food prices after independence is evident. Moreover,
while appointing ministers, Govt. must ensure that a person does not
become minister for industry from his home state. Maharastra houses
major sugar mills and Sharad Pawar should not have been Agricultural
Minister. What better or clean administration Manmohan Singh,
projected and perceived as honest man by Indians, provide?
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/03/19/whose-abuse-is-it-anyway/
Beat men fair and square
IF THE BILL DOES BECOME LAW, THOUGH,
I AM SURE AT LEAST THE YADAVS, WHO
ARE NOW OPPOSING IT VOCIFEROUSLY,
WILL BE AMONG THE FIRST TO BRING OUT
THEIR WIVES AND DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW TO
OCCUPY HIGH POSITIONS
Ihave always been agnostic when it comes to women’s
reservation: I am not against it per se, but I am not for
it either. My reservations about, well, reservation for
women is based on observation of how it has played out
in Maharashtra, which was among the first states to introduce
a 33 per cent quota for women in local self-government
bodies.
When I travelled to the villages, I noticed that most of
the women sarpanchs were wives of powerful men of the
area. Though it is getting slightly better these days, most
of these women did not take decisions on their own —
and if they did, their husbands would still beat them up.
In the cities, it was only somewhat better — the men
might not beat up women but the latter were certainly
puppets in the hands of their husbands.
I recall one particular woman corporator who had a
fairly bad reputation for just being who she was: the conservative
wife of a local party boss. Her husband took to
threatening people in her name and her mother-in-law
set up a desk right at her front door to rake in the earnings
— she personally counted the cash all day long!
It drove even members of her own party crazy. One of
them told me wryly, “I am against women’s reservation
only for this. Give a man a ticket and only he is corrupt,
give a woman a ticket and her whole family becomes
extortionists.’’
Of course, I did not agree with that perception and
ticked him off quite soundly.
I notice, though, that at least the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC) has got better over the
years. But several years ago former Chief Minister
Manohar Joshi had told us, after fielding women relatives
of Shiv Sainiks, quite unabashedly, “We are a purushi
(male) party. Electable women are very difficult to find.’’
However, when Bombay Mayor Shraddha Jadhav gave
away awards on International Women’s Day this year, all
top officials on the dais were women: Shailaja Girkar is
the Deputy Mayor, Mridula Joshi is the Municipal
Secretary and Manisha Mhaiskar is the Additional
Municipal Commissioner. One half was there on account
of the benefit of reservation; the other half had got there
on their own steam, perhaps pipping several worthy men
at the post.
So while I saluted all those women, my ambivalence
towards women’s quota continued, even as the UPA government
failed to have the Bill passed in Parliament on
Monday.
If the Bill does become law, though, I am sure at least
the Yadavs, who are now opposing it vociferously, will be
among the first to bring out their wives and daughtersin-
law to occupy high positions — yes, even the ‘par kati’
ones — remember Sharad Yadav’s obnoxious remark
about women with short hair? His wife has (or at least
had at the time he made that remark) short hair.
Next would be the girlfriends, as we have seen many politicians
promote their paramours even without the benefit
of reservations. I wonder how long it will be before the
common woman, without the benefit of a Godfather in
politics, gets an opportunity to enter a legislative body
on her own merit.
But if she did, I am not so sure it would be fair to restrict
women to constituencies for just five or ten years. Former
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had represented his constituency
in the Lok Sabha for ten terms — if not 50 years,
given several mid-term polls, this meant at least 40 years
at a stretch. Why should women not have similar right
to continue for as long as the voters want them?
If I were into electoral politics, I certainly would be
highly resentful at the injustice and unfairness of it all.
Yet, there is really no other way out of the situation. Which
once again reinforces my ambivalence about a quota for
women.
So it is just as well that I am not a politician with parliamentary
ambitions. I prefer to best the men at their
own game and beat them in their own backyards. As
Pratibha Patil did. And as many other exemplary women
are doing. ■ sana...@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/images/HTPopups/120310/10_03_M_MTR_16.pdf
How does she do it?
I have said all I wanted to say about my reservations about the
women’s reservation bill in my column anandan on Wednesday this week.
Like I said in the column, I am agnostic about the bill – I neither
believe in it nor do I knock it. I simply doubt that it will help at
all (help the common woman, that is).
But whatever my reservations, I am amazed at how Sonia Gandhi managed
to have the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, March 9. That
morning it looked as though not just the fate of the bill but also her
authority over her party was at risk. For, I know as a matter of fact
that many men in her party were as determined as Lalu and Mulayam
Yadav to ensure that it never became law and I thought they would
surreptitiously pitch in to scuttle the bill. But now I do not think
too many of them will dare voice their opposition.
I wonder what makes Sonia Gandhi take all the right calls and achieve
miracle after miracle in such quick succession. This particular bill
had been hanging in the balance for 14 years and when several more
stable governments could not manage to get it through, it really did
require a great deal of political will to push it at the risk of so
much endangerment of the UPA’s future.
I have heard people say quite often that we cannot find one single
Indian to rule this country and follow it up with the query: why
should Indians have to kowtow to the Italian bahu of Mrs Indira
Gandhi? In fact, I am looking to all those critics for an answer: yes,
really, why?
But I think I have a clue. And that came from a British diplomat to
quite another question. We were discussing how the Indian diaspora was
among the highest wage earners everywhere else in the world (and thus,
not surprisingly, they incurred the wrath of the locals in their
adopted countries for beating them to and keeping their jobs by sheer
dint of hard work). Yet, when it came to our own country, we were
among the poorest, most backward and taking too long getting anywhere.
The diplomat said, “Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that Indians
follow the rules to the `t’ wherever they live abroad. In India they
break the law all the time and so make it difficult for both
themselves and others to get along.’’
Then a Congress worker told me why he preferred Sonia Gandhi to her
husband, Rajiv. “She has a very European outlook on rules and honour.
She keeps her word and will not allow any violations. For example, if
the maximum age for a youth congress leader is 35, she will not allow
any one older to be elected to that post. No other considerations like
caste et al except what is stated in the rulebook. That is heartening
for the rest of us: we know we will eventually get there if we fit the
bill and no one can bring any untoward influence to bear upon her to
push us off the ladder. Even Rajivji was not so correct, he would
allow the occasional jugaad. ’’
That was a eulogy of his party president, of course, but I now wonder
if that is true. Perhaps she does bring a sense of honour and follows
the rules in everything she does and so succeeds more than others who
believe in, well, jugaad (manoeuvring people and situations to suit
their needs).
But on Tuesday, as she gave interviews to women journalists on
television, I was impressed by Sonia’s tone and pitch – happy but
thanking all the men for having made it possible. Gracious for their
support to both the Left parties and the BJP which have knocked her
endlessly over various issues but not gloating about it at all a la
the Yadavs, keeping a door open for the allies and, of course, very
self-effacing.
I say `self-effacing’ because when I first met her in Nasik several
years ago, after she first took over the party’s reigns in the middle
of an election in 1998 and miraculously helped a losing Congress win
45 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra, she was quick to give
the credit to Sharad Pawar. And when we asked her about her role as
the Congress president, she said, “I am only the latest in a long
series of Congress presidents. Other Congress leaders have been around
longer than I have been and it is they who have done things for the
party, not me. I am still learning.’’
I guess she has learnt well by now and I remark upon another thing: in
the decade at the start of which even her own party men took her with
several fistfuls of salt to now, she seems to have muted the criticism
about her being a misfit in Indian politics and put their uncertainty
about her ability to deliver to rest.
The Congress is the most indisciplined, chaotic and irreverent party I
know. Yet they revere their party president more than the Shiv Sainiks
do Bal Thackeray or the BJP does its own succession of party chiefs.
Perhaps that is because she delivers to them nine times out of ten,
while others do not. But I continue to wonder: did Sonia Gandhi learn
it all at the feet of her mother-in-law or is she bringing a European
sense of commitment to her party that helps her defeat the might of
the BJP and its formidable allies in 2004 and return with an even
greater majority in 2009? And now give to Indian women what no man (or
even woman — most notably Indira Gandhi) has dared or cared to before?
(9 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 9:05 pm
28 Responses to “How does she do it?”
vijai lugani says:
March 13, 2010 at 3:25 am
she leaenedrned the political process in india under the leader ship
of mrs. indra gandhi and of cousrse from rajiv gandhi. she knows upto
this time how to bring together different political shades under one
umberala when requied, she does not believe in cast and creed.she is
hard worker and of couse haverahul and pryanka and some faithful
polrical advisers. the author of this artical is absoultely right in
every aspect and more ever she is not power hungry. if she does not
like some people she can show them door to get out.
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Vijay Lugani,
If I write about the good qualities of my dhobi they’re not too far
from the ones that you wrote – hardworking, honest, faithful,
relatively selfless and mostly fair. For that matter these qualities
are universal and necessary to succeed in any profession. What makes
Sonia different from us is she finds herself married in to the most
politically influential family in our country where political power is
hereditary and party members are expected to bow to the whips of party
leaders.
Ajay says:
March 13, 2010 at 5:16 am
Interesting thoughts… However, I think many Europeans may feel that
Italian background is bit different from that of Western European one…
Ed says:
March 13, 2010 at 5:53 am
Take a dig on this topic at
[ http://pages.rediff.com/we-evolve/21809#allfeeds ]
The bill is only useful when it break the poverty lines, dynasty lines
…
It should be 35% (poor women), 35%(poor men), 30% (talented)
70% should be representative of poor.
It should be 35% (poor women), 35%(poor men), 30% (talented –
scientist, economist, etc)
THE BIG QUESTION IS how do we qualify to be
1 )Identify 70% – Poor & most popular 10 candiate representing Poor
People from certain region (MP/MLA area) to whom the Election
commision will fund campaign money
2 )To keep tap on Rich person whose campaign funds/money has to be
capped by Election commision and made almost equal to 1).
3 )Criteria to identify 30% (talented people)
Ways to find the list 1) and 2) and 3) is something ruling party needs
to think and debate instead of wasting time.
To gauge 1), we need to count the strongest of the following points by
Election Commision and more can be added by debates
A) Years of work
B) Have an open debate at ONE or TWO cantenders preferred location
agreed by each contenders,
let contenders speak what they have done and want to do.
Make people/choser stand in different locations on the debate ground
to exibit their support.
The count done to choose the top 10.
C) Ensure rotation between Male and Female, thus women whose work and
popularity is on her own rather than backing of GOONDAS should be
preferred for qualifying 1)
People backed by money and goonda power cannot qualify for 1)
D) Every term, Election commision can choose certain region by Gender,
thus they can choose between the women & men that qualify for 1) or
term when both women & men qualify for 1)
Debate should be there to decide if 2)candiates should be allowed to
contest irrespective of gender.
Cap/restriction of number of time(2 times max) a candiate can stand
for elections in a sequence.
Debate on how election commsion will enforce 1) on all parties and in
all regions.
Debate on how to lessen the dynasty and family business and bring
democracy by Election Commission criteria in 1).
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 4:11 am
Ed,
Because you write of so many different, often contradictory,
qualifications for running for office may be you should be our next
Election Commission.
Vijay Saini says:
March 13, 2010 at 6:36 am
Meekly following Sonia Gandhi is the slave mentallity. Although India
is a free country now, it would take us a very long time to get over
the slave mindframe. I think we are ripe and ready for foreign rule by
proxy. Any country can capture us in reality.
AB says:
March 13, 2010 at 7:56 am
Funny article, then lets elect Silvio Berlusconi as president of
India.Problem solved
Jitendra says:
March 13, 2010 at 9:18 am
I have never read such a degrading article. It is a shame that we
still have white man’s lackey amongst us. It is achivement of Mcaulays
education aystem that country continues to create such people even
after 62 years. She can do it because congis are a party of chamchas
and nincompoops including PM. Not a single congi has any moral, ethics
and no one is ready to stand up for the good of country. They only
stand up to save their chair and that depends of congi president. This
article talks of European values and commitment. Is author trying to
say that India does not have people with values and commitments. We
have plenty of people but stupid system of election where masses of
Idiots vote on the basis of caste, religion and personal loyalties.
What a stupid assumption on the part of author that Eurpeons are
better then us. In western coutries it is the system that works but
people are no different from us.
This bill is wrong because it will create rabris. Every from of
reservation and quota should be removed if country has to make any
progress. Otherwise mediocres will continue to stuff this country and
we will reamin a third world country forever. Singapore, Japan and
Malayasia are better than us without importing any whity. Have you
ever thought why we are still joke of the world after 62 years.
Reservation is an indication of failures of Govt economic and social
policies, and majority of the time Congi traitors have been in rule.
Wake up and get rid of banana spine and start believing in yourself
and it is shame that congis have imposed a whity on us. It hurts my
self respect.
LAKSHMANAN says:
March 13, 2010 at 9:32 am
Any type of reservations, on a permanent basis, is a threat to
liberty, standard of life, freedom and finally to democracy. See what
is happening in government due to reservations, especially reservation
policy in promotions. Merit is sidelined and in the name of social
justice many people occupy posts which they would not have got but for
reservations. It is not their fault and no one is worried about the
declining standard of Administration which is directly affecting the
generl public.
The introduction of reservation for women may be an eye opener in the
years to come and after 10 or 15 years every all shall join together
to undo reservations of any kind, I hope.
Nikhil says:
March 13, 2010 at 10:11 am
Oh god! When will journos stop sucking toes of the Nehru-Gandhi
family? Perhaps, never.
Bhukkal Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Thats the best summarisation of this article, Nikhil. Well the journos
are on fat pay packets….there is no responsible and honest journalism
left, they have to also buy flats in posh areas, salaries will cater
to their chai paani only… Shameless Creed, I wish there were Kiran
Bedis in Journalism as well.
Ekta B says:
March 13, 2010 at 11:07 am
Although an expat now, this is definitely the way I see things under
Sonia Gandhi in India, a very well written article indeed.
I have now lived overseas for the last 14 years and as someone who has
been given their fair share in an adopted and foreign land and made to
feel so at home, I must say it feels good to read that Sonia has
achieved in India (not from a political but recognition stand-point)
what we hope to achieve overseas as immigrant Indians.
I hope there are more people like her from different political
persuasions for it would make for a better and stronger India.
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 3:01 am
Ekta B,
To be where Sonia is in politics today, one has to first marry in to
the most politically influential family in a country where dynastic
politics reigns supreme. This privilege is found only in India and not
in the West. After looking at the success of political heirs in India,
I’m convinced humans are capable of being reasonably successful if
they’re thrown in any job.
As far as success of foreigners in India is concerned, we already do
it well in many different spheres.
Anil says:
March 13, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Basically I am against any kind of reservations. The historic bill
however was a necessity because of our historic suppression of the
female gender over thousands of centuries. The real necessity is the
empowerment to the women. The glaring example is in the way women are
treated in Army. The strangest thing is that people have totally
forgotten the most maligned PM Mr H D Devegowda (the humble farmer)
and his Law Minister Ram Das Khalap who tabled the bill for the first
time.
Anil Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
One more point about our Constitution. India gave voting rights to
women since its independence. USA gave voting rights to women almost
80 years after the blacks got to vote in 1870 !
Gopi Thomas says:
March 13, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Although I do not care about congress party and its politics, I do
admire and respect Mrs Gandhi. Like many, I was questioning her
selection, her “foreign” status, her commitment etc. I have come 180
degrees around, she is an exemplary leader, good disciplinarian. I
firmly believe now, that she at the core, is 100% “Indian”, much much
more than many of her followers or other Indians. I do believe she
wants to create a better and new India on the foundation of our
ancient and rich heritage. Originally it was the call of her husband;
now I truly believe, to her, it is now the call of the country.
Atul8 says:
March 13, 2010 at 8:52 pm
In all my years of international travel, I learnt a valuable lesson
about myslef and my countrymen…. we lack accountability & discipline.
Of course, controlling the congress coffers does help, but Sonia’
foreign roots are really an advantage in this Jugaad ridden society
Most important, normally europeans are not given to visions of
grandeur when in power, unlike in our case where the lust for that red
light on the car is more important than perforing their gievn jobs.
It has to be the European sense of commitment….all the way!!
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 4:02 am
Atul8,
If you think Sonia’s european heritage makes her special in Indian
politics, too bad we let the British go, is it not?
The European sense of commitment and discipline were not achieved
overnight by passing bills for quotas in European governments. If
you’re suggesting to overcome lack of accountability and discipline in
India through more political quotas, perhaps, you should continue with
your international travel till you see clear.
Atul8 Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Nikhil,
My response in one line -
Too bad we did not embrace and carry forward the sense of discipline &
accountability when we let the British go.
You need to do something about your aggression – it is colouring your
usual objectivity
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Atul8,
The sense of discipline & accountability is not a British – or should
I say Italian – USP. Such characteristics are universal and cultivated
in societies where merit and systems are valued more than quotas and
personalities. We could not develop that sense because of intellectual
lethargy and we let ’some’ leaders off the hook when they dilute
democractic processes.
What you may see as aggression, I see it as a natural response to the
perfidy of the mainstream media. Happy international traveling, for
you.
Atul8 Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Nikhil,
Whatever we are, we have done unto ourselves – good or bad.
But when a discussion veers away from the issue to personalities, then
it becomes a clear indication that objectivity is losing out.
Musnt let that happen in the interest of a healthy debate.
Nikhil Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 1:14 am
Atul8,
Dear, the article revolves around hollow personality and not
substance. The comments will not be too far off, would they? I
fundamentally disagree with your point of view and I had to express it
in a sharp way.
Atul8 Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Nikhil,
You were not being sharp. You were being obtuse.
However, enough has been exchanged on this topic, and we should move
on.
Nikhil Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:31 am
Atul8,
It provoked you, that’s all I wanted. Enough said!
Harish says:
March 15, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Is ambika soni ghost writing these articles
You did hit it out of the park with the European honour bit maam…
stupid and rash…but..takes guts..the right wing is sort of like the
australian team in the early part of last decade on the internet…and
they are still reeling in shock and have not attacked this piece in
earnest even after two days…
Rajeev says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:07 am
This article truly reflects dark skinned Indians’ mentality…eternal
slaves
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 2:17 am
The Congress is the most indisciplined, chaotic and irreverent party I
know. Yet they revere their party president more than the Shiv Sainiks
do Bal Thackeray or the BJP does its own succession of party chiefs.
The first sentence is unadultyerated lie.. i have never seen any
congress man being anythgin beyond yesman to the nehru family figure..
Somehow this is being presented as virtue which it is not.
BJP is nto family rule Shiv sena could be another matetr altogether
but to ask BJP men to be supine and fawning liek congressmen towards
their leader is negating the intra party democracy of BJP. Everyone is
free to express hsi/per opninon noone need fawn like congressmen do to
the later of 10 janpath.
Rajeev says:
March 16, 2010 at 9:53 pm
I get a feeling that Anandan may be dreaming for Congress ticket in
2014..Good going..Why don’t you start licking feet of Sonia like
Barkha did recently.
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/03/12/how-does-she-do-it/
Kill Bill, for men’s and women’s sake
Amid riotous scenes, India’s upper house passed a controversial
legislation to reserve a third of seats in federal and state
legislatures for women. The constitutional amendment “one that changes
the scope of India’s Constitution” is likely to scrape through the
powerful lower house, too. Despite overreaching itself, the government
of the day will probably survive.
In principle, empowering women is the way to go. Yet this triumph is a
zero-sum game. One participant’s gains can come only from another’s
equivalent losses. It seeks to pay Paul by robbing Peter.
This bill is deeply flawed because collateral damages have not been
addressed. Since it will be a zero-sum game, it will have a direct
bearing on representations of minority communities, backward castes
and marginalized women themselves. The Bill is anti-minority, anti-
backwards, and both anti-women and anti-men.
In a largely risk-averse political system, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi
can take the credit for pulling out a Bill that previous governments
“including those run by her own party” had abandoned, and for driving
it past dissenters whom she may in future need.
Imposing a 33 per cent quota seems momentous in a country where female
foetuses are aborted, wives spanked and women are paid less than a
third the male average in unorganized jobs. In reality, the quota can
add to the sort of disequilibrium current legislatures are made of.
Even setting aside the fact that some male MPs will naturally have to
step down for women, the proposed law fundamentally changes the basic
nature of India’s electoral representation.
With a 15-year shelf-life, 33 per cent of the seats will be blocked in
rotation and will be done in a way that a seat shall be reserved once
in three back-to-back elections. The revolving quota is the Bill’s
most serious flaw.
Two-thirds of candidates, men and women, will be unseated every time
and one-thirds will have no chance of being re-elected from the same
seat. This one-third will be left wondering if they will get to retain
their seats, depending on the outcome of the lottery.
On the whole, it will set off largescale churning “every single time”
that will make elections farcical. Electors will vote in, rather than
vote out incompetent representatives. With frequently changing
representatives, what would voters go by in deciding whom to elect?
The role of past performance in deciding a candidate’s fate will be
further lessened, thereby blunting the only weapon the common man has.
Constituencies will cease to matter for candidates. The veterans and
more guile among candidates will resettle themselves, pushing out less
iconic politicians.
Accountability will suffer because a candidate will less likely go to
the same voter every time. The voters’ powers to rate a candidate’s
performance will diminish, paving the way for a greater role of money
in deciding electoral outcomes.
A “sense of belonging” is part and parcel of Indian politics.
Constituencies are nursed by politicians who invest time, efforts and
money into the place they hope to get elected from.
Can we have compelling women leaders if they do not have strong
permanent political bases? The current Bill is paternalistic; it seeks
to make rolling-stone politicians of women, or “one-time players”, to
use women activist Madhu Kishwar’ words.
Several women’s rights organisations have highlighted these fault
lines. NGO Manushi advocates an alternative Bill, requiring political
parties to reserve nominations (tickets) for women, not seats.
Feminist fundamentalists, however, in their zeal, have failed to
appreciate the serious weaknesses hidden in the proposed amendment.
Though it will not exactly result in separate electorates, the women’s
reservation Bill, in spirit, moves towards that direction. But
proponents of the Bill deny such a possibility. Separate electorates,
theoretically, are those where electors and the elected belong to the
same community, sex or caste.
The Constituent Assembly “which served as India’s first Parliament
until it framed the Constitution” had overturned separate electorates
granted by the British government to minorities, especially Muslims
and Sikhs.,
Framers of the Constitution opted to keep the highest elected
institution free from preferential treatment, preferring the “first
past the post system”over proportional representation, save for time-
bound reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to enable
them to overcome disadvantages.
The Constituent Assembly initially included minority safeguards in its
Report on Minority Rights adopted in August 1947 and in the Draft
Constitution’s Part XIV. However, subsequent nationalist arguments
“situated in the immediate past history of Partition” paved the way
for a reversal of minority safeguards.
The principal arguments against it were that such rights were based on
caste and religion, and religion-based separate electorates had been
the immediate trigger for Partition. With the Muslim League and the
Sikh Panthic Party in disarray, Muslim and Sikh acquiescence on
reversing minority safeguards was ultimately secured.
The reversal was done by a close vote in the Constituent Assembly
Advisory Committee meeting, but key Muslim leaders, including Congress
leader Maulana Azad, abstained. (R. Retzlaff points out in “The
Problem of Communal Minorities in the Drafting of the Indian
Constitution” that the Constitution would have included political
safeguards for religious minorities had framing been completed during
the initial timetable fixed for it. Also see Rochana Bajpai’s Minority
Rights in Indian Constitution, Working Paper 30).
If the women’s Bill is passed in its current form, then a clear case
emerges for compensatory minority safeguards to be reactivated, not
separate electorates but reserved seats.
In fact, parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and
Muslim organizations have demanded a quota-within-quota in women’s
reservation.
Muslim representation in the federal legislature is dwindling: from 48
in 1985, it is 29 at present. In all 15 Lok Sabha elections, only 14
Muslim women have been elected. Kerala has two Muslim federal
lawmakers, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have 1 each. States such as
Mahrashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan have none..
The women’s reservation Bill is based on the presumption of
homogeneity in the status of women. Homogeneity is a stupid idea when
applied to assess communities horizontally. Not all women, like
Muslims, are equally disadvantaged or privileged.
Since privileged groups are always in a better position to leverage
concessions, the proposed amendment will help privileged women gain at
the expense of less-privileged ones. Though ideally, the highest
elected forum should be able to be free from all reservations, a quota
that specifically addresses maginalised women would have been
pragmatic.
The Congress, at his stage, clearly has not thought of the jigsaw
puzzle that awaits it. It is simply basking in the glory of a
political stunt. The BJP has eyes set on inroads through upper-caste
women. The Left’s euphoria matches Abdullah’s in this Urdu
proverb: begaani shaadi me Abdullah diwana (Abdullah is rejoicing at
an uninvited wedding).
(10 votes, average: 2.7 out of 5)
Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Filed under India · Tagged collateral damages, Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi, elections, India’s Constitution, legislation, Madhu Kishwar,
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
36 Responses to “Kill Bill, for men’s and women’s sake”
Gopi Thomas says:
March 14, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Churning, short terms etc are good; and an increased representation
for women is even better. Democracy works through elected
representatives voting on changes and issues. I do hope Lok Sabha
votes for this; and if they do, I hope people like Zia will shut up.
These are the same people who want reservation for this group of
people and that group of people; what is wrong with having seats
reserved for women?
Panchayaths, municipality, and Corporation elections (and mayoral
slots) in Kerala have been reserved for women in the last 15 years,
and it ahs produced real grass roots level progress. A bigger
representation by women in Parliamenta nd aswemblies will only do
good.
Vijay Bhatia Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:53 am
Gopi, you are arguing in favor of increased representation of women in
Parliament and Assemblies. That of course is very much desirable. But
this bill, in its current form is a sure prescription of political
chaos.
What this bill means is that no male leader can represent same
constituency more than twice! And this will do no long term good for
women politicians either. Because, before they can gain ground and
experience, they will have to move on, since in next election cycle
the seat won’t be reserved!
Here is a very Rational take on this important issue (feel free to
comment):-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
[Reply]
Vijay Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:09 am
No one is arguing against a bigger representation by omen in
Parliament and assemblies will be good. The debate is about how to
achieve it.
The bill in its current form is sure recipe for political chaos.
Here is another rational opinion on this important issue:-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
Bell Bajao Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
“Panchayaths, municipality, and Corporation elections (and mayoral
slots) in Kerala have been reserved for women in the last 15 years,
and it ahs produced real grass roots level progress. A bigger
representation by women in Parliamenta nd aswemblies will only do
good.”
Indeed! We’ve seen this happen in other parts of the company as well.
Reservation in panchayat has actually empowered women in villages and
has helped a lot in their upliftment.
VARUN SAXENA says:
March 15, 2010 at 1:53 am
Mr.Zia, the bill has certain Issues and to a certain the bill proposed
by Madhu Kishwar is in someways better.
But what I cannot understand is this. You said “The Bill is anti-
minority, anti-backward”. Can you pls explain How ?
How can women reservation bill be Anti Muslim ? How come just about
everything becomes Anti Muslim ?
I hope this bill passes with some modifications and not the
modifications which Mulayam and Laloo are suggesting but the ones
suggested by Learned People.
The only reason Mulayam and Laloo are against this Bill is that most
of the MPs’ of these 2 parties are big goons and only through these
goondaism of these goons alongwith folling Muslims and Lower Castes by
pitting them against Upper Castes do they win elections.
Now it can be safely said that more than 95% goons in INDIA would be
men. Henceforth with Women having 33% reservations the chances of
these parties winning Elections will be inversely affected
Ashish says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:21 am
I agree that while the objective is laudable, the bill as it stands
today is deeply flawed. I am not comfortable with the idea of having
no power over my MP (man or woman) who knows that he/ she will not
need my vote next time.
I liked the arguments put forward by Karan Thapar favouring changes to
the bill in his column earlier today.
Am I against reserving seats for women? No, I am not. But, this bill
in its present form; no, it does not appeal to me. MPs are not IAS
officers that they can serve one constituency (district) for 2 terms
and then move to another one for the next terms.
However, trust Zia to use the Women’s reservation bill to ask for
reservations for Muslims.
Way to go Zia; suck up to Mulayam now. Who knows, he might make you an
MLA/ MP from Delhi.
Vini says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:27 am
The headline of this post should be: Kill Bill, for men’s sake. After
all, all the rhetoric we have heard in recent days about the bill
being a threat to parliamentary democracy, equality… blah, blah,
blah…. including this blogpost… is simply a smokescreen to hide the
truth that no man wants to be caught admitting: That men, don’t want
to share power with women. Ever.
Yes the Bill has flaws, but those flaws can be addressed without
killing the Bill.
What I want to say here first is that I take extreme offense at the
use of the word ‘spanking’ to trivialize a serious issue like domestic
violence. Do you have any idea what domestic violence is? Perhaps not.
That’s why you treat it so flippantly.
As for the rest of the blog, it is all conjecture. You and all the
doomsayers don’t know if this bill will work till it is implemented.
It might just. And forget that old argument that it will be taken over
by elite women. So far it’s been elite men in charge.. so what’s wrong
with elite women having a go?
As for the problems of revolving quota that you bring up as the Bill’s
most serious flaw, I think you can argue the other way too. That is,
MPs from reserved constituencies will work extra hard in the reserved
constituency to ensure that they get a ticket when the seat is not
reserved any more because of the good work they would have hopefully
done.
Ashish Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
@Vini,
Mr Zia can’t just win, can he ?
For the first time, Zia tried arguing for the majority (men!). And,
still, he finds very few supporters!
Not speaking for Zia here; just speaking for myself.
I support the objectives behind the bill; as a man. I see in India a
huge need to balance the power structure which is so tilted in favour
of men. Also, as others have pointed out in comments, an increased
representation for women is inversely correlated (or so we hope) to
the criminality quotient of our legislatures.
I do not wish this bill to be killed. I do however wish this bill to
be amended to somehow handle the rotation issue. Like I had said,
Karan Thapar made some excellent suggestions. So did the legal cell
head of the Shiv Sena on TV.
Ma’am, most men on this blog are not against the bill; please do not
make the mistake of thinking men oppose the bill. Far from it.
Certainly not because we will lose a chance to be an MP/ MLA… I doubt
any of us commenting here have realistically ever thought of
contesting elections.
All men are not Laloo Yadav/ Sharad Yadav/ Mulayam Yadav.. luckily all
women are not Mayawati, Mamata or Jayalalitha either who promote
women even less than men do.
May I also mention that I have a vested interest? As one with two
daughters, at least one of whom is seriously disinclined to study
(admittedly early days, she is just 6), I love the new career options
this bill opens up for her.
Vijay Bhatia says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:55 am
“I am not comfortable with the idea of having no power over my MP (man
or woman) who knows that he/ she will not need my vote next time.”
Excellent point Ashish!
Here is my take on this important issue, if you like:-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
K says:
March 15, 2010 at 4:09 am
I dont understand what makes the women reservation bad but all those
other reservations (BC,SC,OBC etc.) good ? Both types are aimed at the
‘marginalized’ and both actually lower the quality of politicians we
elect and even more importantly, both a against the constitution which
lets the people decide who should represent them.
Quota has only helped influential sections of SC,BC,OBC. This is not
like a ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ where an unknown, marginalized dalit or
lady can make it to the parliament, no matter how much quota is
introduced.
As Sonia shockingly and sadly commented, people like Lalu will have
greater control over parliament and greater share of black money
because he has seven daughters and the power to field them in
elections.
peshori ahuja says:
March 15, 2010 at 5:41 am
Reservation itself means that the comunity, the religion, the class,
or any groupthat asks or gets reservation is not capable of attaining
the efficiency of the level that is attained by those for whom there
is no reservation.
Not only that but by asking or getting the reservation makes the
reserveds a second class citizens and it makes the clever politicians
more manipolative and powerful.
Vijay says:
March 15, 2010 at 8:14 am
For most parts I agree with Zia’s reasoning. This bill in it’s current
form is a sure recipe for political chaos. Political commitment by
parties is way to go.
Why political parties have to be coerced by laws? Where did the days
go, when parties used to organize “aandolans” for social cause? Why
not even congress want to field more women candidates, unless coerced
by the law?
This is anything but LEADERSHIP.
Here is another rational opinion on this important issue:-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
Joseph James says:
March 15, 2010 at 8:20 am
The writer bases his arguments against the women’s bill on the false
premise that the retention of a constituency by a sitting member is
the be-all and end-all of democracy. In an advanced stage of
democracy, every election will bring in new candidates as it is
happening in the southern states. In fact, a constituency must be
nursed by a party and not by individuals. At any rate, going by the
arguments of bill’s opponents like Zia, the candidates displaced by
the reservation are going to promote women from their families. This
will mean that, certain constituencies which were individual pocket
boroughs earlier will now become family pocket boroughs. Or ingenious
candidates will now start nursing two constituencies instead of one.
In short the electorate, now, stand to receive more attention from the
politicians, which isn’t a bad thing after all. Moreover, rotational
unseating is applicable only to men, not to women. So, performing
women members can continue to represent their constituencies even when
they become unreserved. This will push the female strength in the
parliament beyond the mandatory 33%. The argument that the bill
doesn’t address the grievances of marginalized women doesn’t hold
water either. As of today all women are marginalized. The quota within
quota can come in the second stage. After all this is a mere
beginning. Amendments can be introduced later to make it foolproof. It
must be given time to evolve like the anti-defection law. What’s most
worrying about the anti-bill movement is that it seems to be centred
around the Muslim interests. Even the socialist parties are
purportedly doing it please the Muslim minority. I do not think Islam
is as anti-women and anti-progress as it is usually made out to be.
Dr. P.K. Jha says:
March 15, 2010 at 8:43 am
Reservation in any form is bad, be it caste-based or gender-based or
religion-based. As Karan Thapar says, the whole issue of reservation
is an offense, for it leads to severe discrimination. The proposed
bill for women is no exception.
The women in favor of this bill are virtually projecting themselves as
handicapped. Strangely, they are the ones who also insist on gender
equality.
Every policy of reservation is initially deemed to end after a period
of ten to fifteen years, and this one is no exception. However, we
know from our experience that this kind of promise is basically a
hogwash.
There is still time for good sense to prevail. For heaven’s sake,
withdraw the bill.
sks says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:05 am
The fact is that a woman might actually do very well in 5 years to be
re-elected again. Why should anyone presume that they will not get
reelected! It might be the best strategy to break the current fiefdom
without performance!
By the way, which sane person uses the word spanked for abuse!
Shrinivas says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:22 am
Some of the objections to the bill are valid, but since for 60 years
the disparity, marginalization and backwardness of women is not
addressed by the the political system, only quota is the solution.
Though this is meant for 15 years, we can imagine this not going away
after that.
The people who suggest that let parties reserve % of candidacy to
women is not going to work, as we all know that just to satisfy the %
the parties will give tickets where they don’t stand a chance to win.
Now, about quota within quota, I believe being women, representing
women and fighting for women is a bigger cause than representing a
cast, community or a section of society. So let’s fight for the the
right cause first. These parties who are making hoopla about quota in
quota, did not bother to give tickets neither to women nor minorities
in the same %.
Sid says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:26 am
First of All welcome change from Zia Haq – atleast instead of calling
for Fatwa – he is trying to engage in a debate! However, it is NOT an
intellectual debate because:
1. For Muslims there are many forums & 80% our media is in FOREFRONT
to project their interests & represent their view points.
2. For OBC & SC, 63 years have gone by, except for their leaders
becoming Zillionaires, NO REAL improvements have been seen in their
lives. Many CMs ruled for long time (Laloo, Karunanadhi, Mulayam,
Mayawathi etc). Same is true of Muslims (all Bollywood big guns are
Muslims – do they donate any charity to good Muslim organizations?)
Money also comes from Gulf employed Muslims.
3. My wife should be writing this – but she is BUSY listening to
Bollywood songs, so SPIRITED men like me have to take up the cause of
WOMEN!
4. Most important – Laloo has commented – women’s bill OVER his dead
body – such GOLDEN oppertunity may NEVER again come in our life times,
so why NOT KILL TWO wonderful birds with one STONE. Don’t even THINK –
JUST go for the KILL by voting BLINDLY for women’s bill!
n s parameswaran says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:54 am
The people who call themselves secular, liberal and progressive are
the people who ask for communal reservation for Muslims under the garb
of ‘Monorities’. . When they practice ‘Communalism’ it is called
‘Progressive Politics’, and when Hindus object to it they are labelled
‘Communal’.
If muslims are backward then the reason is they want to be backward.
They never started or took admission in schools and colleges and
instead started “madarassa’, learnt Quaran by rote. Now how can they
get jobs which such ‘UN”Qualifications. Then they blackmail the
majority with cries of injustice and opression. Spineless parties like
Congress, Left and Opportunistic and unprincipled parties like RJD,
SP, DMK, AIADMK, JD(Secular), Left and the whole bandwagon of seculars
have fallen for this blackmail and ruined India.
MUSLIMS SHOULD NEVER EVER BE GIVEN RESERVATION UNDER ANY
CIRCUMSTANCES.
Tanuj says:
March 15, 2010 at 12:07 pm
The britishers used seperate electorate to divide & rule. By giving
reservation based on religion we would be doing the same. Who stops a
party to give a ticket to a muslim lady from one of the reserved
seats?
I think it is a landmark bill and should be supported by all.
Gurmeet says:
March 15, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I think this bill will prove to be a boon for all women, but
especially for Muslim women. Representation of Muslim women has so far
been very weak. When one-third of the seats are reserved for women, a
substantial number of muslim majority constituency will have to elect
a woman. There is an excellent chance that those constituencies shall
be represented by Muslim women. It is also likely that these women
will not be the burka or naquab clad women, who are oppressed by the
fundamentalists in the Muslim society, but would be more socially
progressive and liberated from the dogmas. This is likely because the
arduous task of reaching and engaging with the electorate will be so
much easier for the progressive Muslim women. These women will serve
as the role model of rest of the young women in Muslim society, which
will ultimately be a good thing both for the Muslims and therefore for
India.
Vini says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:57 pm
The headline of this post should be: Kill Bill, for men’s sake. After
all, all the rhetoric we have heard in recent days about the bill
being a threat to parliamentary democracy, equality… blah, blah,
blah…. including this blogpost… is simply a smokescreen to hide the
truth that no man wants to be caught admitting: That men, don’t want
to share power with women.
Yes the Bill has flaws, but those flaws can be addressed without
killing the Bill.
What I want to say here is that I take extreme offense at the use of
the word ‘spanking’ to trivialize a serious issue like domestic
violence. Do you have any idea what domestic violence is? Perhaps not.
That’s why you treat it so flippantly.
As for the rest of the blog, it is all conjecture. You and all the
doomsayers don’t know if this bill will work till it is implemented.
It might just. And forget that old argument that it will be taken over
by elite women. So far it’s been elite men in charge.. so what’s wrong
with elite women having a go?
As for the problems of revolving quota that you bring up as the Bill’s
most serious flaw, I think you can argue the other way too. That is,
MPs from reserved constituencies will work extra hard in the reserved
constituency to ensure that they get a ticket when the seat is not
reserved any more because of the good work they would have hopefully
done.
Ziauddin Shafi says:
March 15, 2010 at 6:59 pm
The simple fact is that, if you want to prevent a civil war in our
country, you will have to simply amend it and incorporate all the
demands that are being raised here. No, this is not a threat – nobody
can threaten a civil war damn it, this is just a forecast of shape of
things to come. Maoists on the rampage, Yadavs fully agitated, Muslims
further discriminated against and lesser represented in the power
share, Dalits more oppressed than before – and the high caste hindus
more getting more power in the process. This is a sure formula of
inciting a civil war – thank you congress, bjp and cpim – you are
about to do something which china, usa, europe & pakistan would have
loved to do – have a great civil war in india so that it receds back
to the middle ages – then it would be easier for the buccanneers of
the khyber to get in and set up shop. India had always suffered due to
the high caste hindus throughout its history – and alas would continue
to do so because of them.
S Singh Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Ziauddin
Nice “hope”!
Believe me, your hope will not happen. India is beyond that.
Skirmishes will be there, appeasing politicians will continue to
appease, country will progress at a rate less than what it could have.
A growing India uplifts all; the huge spending govt does on
disadvantaged will only grow.
If 10% of so called high caste Hindus control the whole India, one
should congratulate them on their skills.
Have you tabulated the “classification” of the top 100 richest
Indians ? Do you know how many Brahmins are in the richest 100? It is
4.
sanjeev says:
March 15, 2010 at 7:06 pm
@ Zia
i could guess that Zia will ultimately turn to his muslim
reservation.
You need a serious therapy of “reverse brainwashing”
I f these skull caps and three quarter pyajama’s got reservation then
this will be step towards another Pakistan in the making. Remember the
process started this way in 1909…Morley Minto Reforms
SKS Mumbai says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:31 pm
‘The Bill is anti-minority, anti-backwards, and both anti-women and
anti-men’
If we exclude the women and men, it would read like a pre-partition
Muslim League’s pamphlet.
‘Framers of the Constitution — —- —– save for time-bound reservation
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to enable them to overcome
disadvantages.’
Except for the rotation part (clearly a problem), how is current bill
different from above?
‘The principal arguments against it were that such rights were based
on caste and religion and religion-based separate electorates had been
the immediate trigger for Partition’
Just immediate trigger? Or the whole basis?
Zia sahab, are you suggesting that proportional representation was the
way to go? We thought that all those wanted proportional (actually
more than proportinal with a veto as well) representation crossed over
in 1947.
‘With the Muslim League and the Sikh Panthic Party in disarray, Muslim
and Sikh acquiescence on reversing minority safeguards was ultimately
secured’
Indeed, after Mr Jinnah and Muslim League left India in 1947, Muslims
of India had nobody to represent them, exactly as Mr Jinnah had
insisted all along. Our Hindu Communal Leaders foolishly questioned Mr
Jinnah’s premise. (For Mr Jinnah and ML, Hindu communalism was
represented by Gandhi, Nehru and congress, rarely did they talk of
Hindu Mahasabha)
‘In fact, parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and
Muslim organizations have demanded a quota-within-quota in the women’s
reservation’
Yup, the ‘Strongest Argument’ against the bill.
Mr Zia’s Final Conclusions:
Congress acted dumb, Left dumber.
The Bill is a victory for Hindutva driven Bramhin-Bania combine!!
Do we need any other reason to oppose the Bill?
Rajeev says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:17 am
The best thing will be to merge India with pakistan and name is
Greater pakistan. Gives muslims like Zia 100% reservation with right
to kill or convert non-muslims especially hindus.
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:45 am
One participant’s gains can come only from another’s equivalent
losses. It seeks to pay Paul by robbing Peter
Do you have same sentiments in matters of reservation for muslims..
Hypocricy at its very best
Zia Haq Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Unfortunately, of late, I haven’t been able to read up on the comments/
invectives that follow because of lack of time.
On your charge of hypocricy: What I said is up here for you to read
again. But Here’s what I didn’t say anywhere: that Muslims should get
separate electorates (something simply out of question) or political
reservation. On the contrary, I said: “Though ideally, the highest
elected forum should be able to be free from all reservations, a quota
that specifically addresses maginalised women would have been
pragmatic.” What does this tell you?
Even so, I am not against political reservation for women per se, but
not in the current form. I would much rather have political parties
give nomination to the extent of 33 per cent. Who or what stops them.
And please understand, I do not advcoate any quota on the basis of
homogeneity. I said so: “Homogeneity is a stupid idea when applied to
assess communities horizontally. Not all women, like Muslims, are
equally disadvantaged or privileged.” Therefore, I will never advocate
quota for all Muslims.
Understand that before I decide to write or take a position, I do
consider all relevant issues before arriving at an informed decision
and not simply think with a Muslim hat on. The Bill, in its current
form, suffers from inherent flaws. Its bearing on representations of
minority is one such flaw, among others. It is a given that Muslim
representation will be severely affected. And therefore it is a
legitimate concern. Moreover, blocking such a huge number of seats for
women in this way — I have argued — legitimises the demand for a quota
within quota for backward women, which will include Muslims, OBCs etc.
Nobody is even talking about Muslim political reservation. it’s not
required, not recommended and not demanded. The demand is for
political representation, not reservation.
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:48 am
NO muslim reservation in legislation.. we do not want start of another
pakistan movemenet.. this is how it all started in past..
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 2:08 am
See the thuggery of parties sekeing quota withitn quota.. these people
will make you belive as if they have bene emporing the women i within
their community caste only the general category women have faced
dicrmination. But fact is noone acroos the party caste creed lines
have bene empowering women. There is a common threat fo discrimantion
against women by their respective male folks.. Who stops these idiots
shouting for quota within quota from giving tickets to more and more
muslim and backward and sc/st and what nto women.
One fo the guy was saying woman; reseervation will dilute sc/st
reservation as if sc/st woman are nto sc/st.
These thuigs who support reservation when it’s conveneint to them are
suddenly parooting reservation pays peter by robbing paul..
Pahle ye akal nahin aai thi
ramesh says:
March 16, 2010 at 10:43 am
The mother of all the resavations is the resv. the muslims are allowed
tobe the resident non indians,
Rajeev Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Good one. We have 150 million pakistanis living in India barring
handful.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 17, 2010 at 9:14 pm
@Zia
@Zia
‘I didn’t say anywhere: that Muslims should get separate electorates
(something simply out of question) or political reservation’
What you said was this: Constituent Assembly would have approved
separate electorates (is that same as Minority safeguards?) but for:
1. fresh memory of partition, which made the nationalist arguments;
particularly effective, and/or
2. a weakened Muslim League (I omit Sikh part here); and/or
3. abstention by key Muslim leaders.
Of course, that does not mean that you wanted ’separate electorates’
or ‘political reservation’ for Muslims?
Nor does your following statement mean so:
‘If the women’s Bill is passed in its current form, then a clear case
emerges for compensatory minority safeguards to be reactivated, not
’separate electorates’ but ‘reserved seats’
Am I missing something?
For e.g. the difference between ‘reserved seats’ and ‘political
reservation’?
Or the similarity between
‘compensatory’ and ‘only for marginalised’?
Ashish Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:30 am
@SKS
It has been established before that Zia resorts to generalities when
specifics are called for.. at any rate, he has his own idioms and
syntaxes. Deliberately vague or vaguely deliberate, a compendium of
Zia-isms will be a best-seller.
As for your question: am I missing something? well, yes. You are. You
are missing the point of this blog. The sole function of this blog is
to generate controversy by ill-advised and poorly researched comments
and boost eyeballs.. the visit stats look good on account of Zia,
Vinod Sharma et al.. they are stars.
Rajeev says:
March 18, 2010 at 1:33 am
All the muslims who are asking for reservation on caste basis should
revert back to Hinduism.
The reservation for SC/ST/OBC was introduced to fight casteism in
HINDU society. It was for HINDUS who were at the bottom of their
SOCIETY. There were many who chose to become muslims/xtians to escape
HINDU casteism. Now if they want to come out of caste opression, they
need to revert back to hinduism.
In the word of Shri Kancha Illiah “islam and xtianity are democratic
religion” so there is no chance of casteism being part of muslim/xtian
socities.
Rajeev says:
March 18, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Simple solutions-
1. If you are muslim and want reservation on caste, come back to caste
system in Hinduism and avail the reservation.
2. If you are muslim and want reservation on caste but don’t want to
revert to Hinduism, please pack your bags and go back to pakistan
where you guys have 100% reservation.
Budgeting for minorities
Although historically aware of its disadvantaged sections and their
special needs, India has decisively switched from ‘appeasing’ Muslims
— its largest minority — to budgeting for them.
Two things in recent years have helped institutionalise minority
budgeting. One is the creation of a minority affairs ministry by the
Congress-led UPA government in 2004 and, as a result, yearly budgetary
allocations made to it.Two, a high-level government survey in November
2006 that proved disadvantages faced by Muslims, followed up with
another one that recommended reservations.
Till now, an unproductive Hajj subsidy worth Rs 390 crore — which goes
in bankrolling the pilgrimage through discounted airfare — had been
the flagship largesse.
Even though government-funded religious travel is not unique to
Muslims, the Hajj subsidy has often been singled out as unfair.
The Centre underwrites a part of the travel costs of the annual Hindu
pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, the abode of the Hindu god
Shiva.
Karnataka’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government proposes
concessional Hindu pilgrimages to the temples of Udupi, Dharmasthala
and Saudatti in the southern Indian state.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Congress party-led government
subsidises the cost of travel for Christians visiting Jerusalem in
Israel and Bethlehem in Palestinian Authority. A subsidy is also being
planned, according to media reports, for Manasarovar Yatra in China.
Why should government fund religious jaunts? Either because we are a
welfare state unlike any other or it is a game of votes. Perhaps,
both.
Deploying tax revenues for affordable healthcare, education and
employment may be good economics but in an ancient holy land,
spiritual well being seems to deserve importance too. But competing
populism has definitely crept into it.
Show me an economically underprivileged Hindu who will find fault with
government help to make a dip in the holy Ganges a reality? Or a
Muslim quibbling over a lifetime visit to Mecca, courtesy government
help?
However, there is a growing demand from Muslims themselves for the
Hajj subsidy to be scrapped. While it gives Air India 150,000 assured
passengers every year (that’s the total number of seats on all Indian
carriers criss-crossing the country on any given day), helping it keep
afloat, the grant has been turned into a stick to beat Muslims with.
No Muslim asked for it in the first place.
Muslims are now calling for global and national open bids: whoever
offers the cheapest tickets gets to fly away with 150,000 prize
passengers. Fair enough.
“If the Hajj subsidy is withdrawn, it won’t hurt us. If scholarship
are cut, that would,” Asaduddin Owaisi, Hyderabad MP from the All
India Majlis-eIttehadul Muslimeen party, told the Hindustan Times last
year.
There is a less obvious side to the Hajj subsidy. The subsidy itself
seems responsible for Muslim backwardness, given that it has enabled
governments to use it as a signature grant and avoid more basic
financial interventions.
However, the recognition that minorities can be predisposed to
experiencing disadvantages due to their numerical inferiority itself
has made planning and budgeting for them an integral part of most
developed countries.
Almost all of Europe and the US make special allocations of one type
or the other for their minorities.
Why do Indian Muslims need a helping hand?
The country’s Muslim population is 150 millions, making it the state
with the second-largest Muslim population, after Indonesia. Indian
Muslims experience serious disadvantages, low literacy and high
poverty rates.
Their literacy rates are well below the national average, while
poverty rates are only slightly higher than low-caste Hindus,
according to the November 2006 Sachar Committee report.
Muslims, mostly Sunnis, make up 13.4% of India’s population, yet hold
fewer than 5% of government posts and make up only 4% of
undergraduates in universities. The report also found that, despite
being self-employed at a far higher rate, Muslims trail other groups
in terms of access to credit.
Yet, they can influence elections, using their voting power to extract
concessions from parties who woo them.
Muslims are not uniformly disadvantaged. Those in south and west India
have been historically wealthier. In the north, Muslims were thrust
into abject poverty at once when their wealthier counterparts left for
Pakistan during the 1947 Partition.
Muslims in rural areas are less poor than in urban areas, where their
poverty rate of 38 percent is higher than any other population’s,
including low-caste Hindus.
Although no formal Muslim caste system exists, three groups of Indian
Muslims –ashraf, ajlaf, and arzal — indeed function as such. More
correctly, there is definitely a Muslim class system, if not a caste
system.
The ashrafs, thought to be of Arab ancestry, form the upper class
among Muslims, while the ajlafs are thought to be previously Hindus
who converted to Islam to escape the Hindu caste system. A third
group, the arzals, correlates to the lowest caste among Hindus.
The Sachar Report has provided exhaustive data on socio-economic
conditions of Muslims.
The Sachar report has been controversial, not just for highlighting
Muslim marginalisation but also because of its very mandate. Hindu
nationalists — led by the BJP — criticized the report, tainting it
with an old brush –- that of appeasement.
While it offers clear proof of Muslim marginalisation, there have been
debates about how to combat Muslim unemployment rates. The BJP is
averse to solutions focusing directly on Muslims but would prefer
general poverty alleviation.
All government outlays to pull a community out of backwardness can
look like appeasement, given the zeal for competing interests of
political leaders vying for power.
Has budgeting helped?
India’s 2010-11 budget has given 50% higher allocation to the minority
affairs ministry — up from Rs 1,740 crore to Rs 2,600 crore.
Cash flow to minorities — from bank loans to scholarships — peaked
during 2008-09, according to government data, as Muslims appeared to
be slowly overcoming a strong bias of banks in lending.
Public sector banks, which would turn down Muslim loan applicants
because they were considered “credit risk groups”, have disbursed a
staggering Rs 82,864 crore in loans to minorities during 2008-09.
Since the Reserve Bank has now turned its focus to 121 backward
minority districts with high Muslim population, as identified by the
minority affairs ministry, Muslims got a chunky pie of the credit
share.
Banks now have to compulsorily service Muslims in backward areas after
the Reserve Bank added minorities to its list of other priority
lending sectors, like agriculture and small-scale businesses in July
2007.
“We will be able to see the results shortly if not immediately,”
Planning Commission member Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, who heads the
minority sector, says.
Cash constraints are now easing, with banks achieving lending targets
set for minorities. In 2008-09, the Reserve Bank’s target was that 13%
of loans under priority sector lending should go to minorities and
banks were able to lend 12.4%. This was better than 2007-08, when the
target was 10.6% and actual sanctions 9.6%. Priority sector lending
accounts for 40 per cent of total loans, according to the federal
Reserve Bank of India norms.
Banks also opened 524 branches in minority concentration districts in
2009 and nearly 6-lakh minority students got scholarships. In 2008,
523 branches were set up.
The UPA government has earmarked a whopping Rs 7,000 crore for
minority welfare under the 11th Five Year Plan that concludes in 2012.
The government now plans to install national-level independent
monitors to track back how Rs 3,780 are being spent for minority
welfare under the “flagship multi-sectoral development programme”, in
which lawmakers will have a say for the first time.
The multi-sectoral programme, which helps set up anything from a
school to a water pump, applies to 90 districts countrywide where
minorities make up more than 25 per cent of the population and lag
behind significantly on crucial socio-economic parameters.
The government’s approach is such that creation of assets in these
districts should also benefit the majority communities as well. UP,
Assam and Bihar have the largest number of minority districts, with
21, 12 and 6 districts respectively.
These districts were selected on the basis of 10 indicators, ranging
from literacy to the number of inoculated children.
The government hopes evaluating schemes with a fine-toothed comb and
involving area MPs, an idea of minority affairs minister Salman
Khurshid, are moves that would customise the multi-sectoral scheme.
The government feels a quick appraisal is important to ensure rapid
implementation of schemes. “These national-level independent monitors
will report back two things: are schemes being implemented in the
right way and right place, according to Khrushid.
The scheme, in its second stage now, is also called being called a top-
up phase because money from the minority affairs will be now poured
into schemes of other ministries so that minorities benefit.
The Planning Commission is also evaluating massive spending on
minority welfare as it prepares for mid-term appraisal of the 11th
Five-Year Plan.
Planning Commission member Hameed is set to personally travel to five
regions for first-hand feedback from beneficiaries.
Lessons from Congressional Black Caucus
Some historic measures for minority welfare, including an exclusive
ministry, helped the Congress sail through the last general elections
for a second term in power.
However, Muslim lawmakers, whose numbers are dwindling over time, have
seldom used parliamentary mechanisms creatively to ensure Muslims get
a fair deal. A problem with Muslim leadership is that political
leadership has often overlapped with religious leadership.
Divided along sharp party lines, India’s Muslim lawmakers seldom get a
chance to work in unison. However, they could take a leaf out of the
Congressional Black Caucus.
The Caucus helped highlight the plight of US minorities with a two-
step process: by the congressional budget process called the Humphrey-
Hawkins debate and by moving alternate budget resolutions.
The struggle of minorities in the US helped them integrate into
society and as their clout grew, Congress became more responsive to
their needs. Geographical concentrations of some minorities in the US
have led to their greater representation, though it is far behind
their share of the population.
In the 2001-2003 Congress, for instance, African-Americans comprised
12 percent of the population, but just 8.3% of the House members;
Hispanics made up 13 % of the population and just 4.4 % of the House;
and women represented 51 % of the population but just 13.6% of the
House, and 13% of the Senate.
America’s annual budget project to thrash out budgetary solutions to
address backwardness of minorities is a lesson for both Indian
minority lawmakers and those opposed to minority-specific solutions,
like the BJP.
A beginning has been made but just a fraction achieved. After all,
every change for the better begins with a small minority.
(9 votes, average: 4.11 out of 5)
Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 11:09 pm
102 Responses to “Budgeting for minorities”
sanjeev says:
March 1, 2010 at 1:40 am
Mullah Zia
“The Centre underwrites a part of the travel costs of the annual Hindu
pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, the abode of the Hindu god
Shiva ”
This is less of a pilgrimage and more of india’s strategic and
geopolitical game plan to counter the chinese arguments of Arunachal
being historically part of China. and more imporatantly a tradition
which has been part ofindian civilzation.
Further this is a trekking expedition and not any luxury trip by an
aeroplane.which your ilk makes at taxpayers money.
I hope brainwashed mullahs like you might be aware that govt of India
also promote trekking to high altitude areas…through Indian
Mountaineering Federation (IMF). I myself has been part of some IMF
funded trekking expeditions to himalayas.
So in that way its not any exclusive and out of turn activity.
Further this yatra is open to all Indian citizens cutting across
religious lines…but Haj is not.
So don’t show your ignorance…rather write something about islamophobia
Mitra Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 11:10 am
Hey Sanjeev,
Whatever excuses and arguments you come up with, it is a fact that
Govt. of India subsidizes a Hindu pilgrimage just as it does for
Mulsims and Christians. Nowhere does the Govt. say they do it for
strategic reasons- and it is a rather absurd argument. So cool down
and try to control your hatred. Aren’t you guys always shouting about
how tolerant Hindus and Hinduism are? There is no way to infer that
from your churlish behavior! Learn to give respect to people and
debate like a civilized educated man- even when you keep making stupid
arguments. Jai Hind!
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
How can you expect an uncivilized Hindu terrorist to react when
confronted with facts? All I’ve seen on this blog, is people preaching
hatred and violence bypassing all logic and sense. None of their
comments make sense and I repeat NONE. But rhetoric is what helps them
feel superior, else they are cowed down by the uneducated minority so
easily. Let them have the comfort of the rhetoric and shameless
ignorance. Ignorance is bliss ya know?
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
@Pandit sanjeev
“The Centre underwrites a part of the travel costs of the annual Hindu
pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, the abode of the Hindu god
Shiva ” ~~~> FACT
“This is less of a pilgrimage and more of india’s strategic and
geopolitical game plan to counter the chinese arguments of Arunachal
being historically part of China” ~~~~>FICTION …
“…and more imporatantly a tradition which has been part ofindian
civilzation” ~~~> Is that all you think about your own culture and
religion? Hang your head in shame. I pity you.
“Further this is a trekking expedition and not any luxury trip by an
aeroplane.which your ilk makes at taxpayers money.”
Does that make it a FREE expedition? The Government employs choppers
for your “safety” in the mountains, massive policing arrangements for
the crowd and at times they even arrange for fake shivlings (LMAO)
when you “God” fails to appear Will you please tell me who funds
these costs? IMO It is the taxpayers money and that includes Muslims
of this country. If you are so averse to Muslims, why don’t you shun
government spending? Lets just take an example – India’s third largest
software exporter Wipro is held by a Muslim billionaire. Over a lakh
of people are employed by the company and they pay huge taxes to this
government every year. Why don’t you ask your Hindu brethren to stop
taking up jobs in Wipro and making a living out of it? The tax they
pay is also funded by that very same Muslim -held company. Do you need
more examples? OK have you heard of the companies – Cipla, Wockhardt ,
Himalaya heath Care are only to name a few of them. What about the
crores of taxes, the “Khans’ of Bollywood pay to this Government and
the revenue that their movies generate directly or indirectly ( though
people employed and associated with the movies) Why would you like to
go on a “holy” trip on Muslim money? Should’nt you shun the Government
subsidy?
“I hope brainwashed mullahs like you might be aware that govt of India
also promote trekking to high altitude areas…through Indian
Mountaineering Federation (IMF). I myself has been part of some IMF
funded trekking expeditions to himalayas. So in that way its not any
exclusive and out f turn activity.”
So ? Doesn’t make sense honey! Try harder next time and come up with
some logic, not brain-dead arguments.
“Further this yatra is open to all Indian citizens cutting across
religious lines…but Haj is not.”
LMAO I pity you now!!
“So don’t show your ignorance…rather write something about
islamophobia”
Internet Hindus have time and again proudly proved their blissful
ignorance. I’m glad you are just another one of them!
raman says:
March 1, 2010 at 8:24 am
So, they need special budget for them , they need special care from
government otherwise they warn that some of them will turn into
terrorist or help them…..what kind of logic is this………
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
No one has argued that they will turn into terrorists if the
government doesn’t provide them with a separate budget. After all what
have all the subsequent governments done over all these years? They
have only pushed the minorities ( read Muslims ) to impoverishment and
under-representation without a voice. Anyone who dares speak for
Muslims is labeled a traitor or at best a supporter of Muslim League.
Anything that anyone even promises for Muslims ( let alone fulfill
them) is termed as Muslim Appeasement. How wonderfully naive.
Muslims have lived in ghettos with discrimination over the years in
this country and we don’t need any one to make nonsense announcements
for Muslims. We have lived with deprivation and can survive in our own
mumbling ways.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Oh BTW look what poverty has done to people in the rural areas. Will
you dare call the Maoists terrorists and traitors? The argument
against it is that they are our very own civilians although they can
murder people at will,kill innocents, behead people they hate and rape
and maim women. So what? after all they are Hindu civilians, they’ve
got every right to be protected in this country. A Muslim on the other
hand is picked up by the police at random without evidence or even
gunned down in cold blood is quickly labeled a terrorist by everyone.
Why make a distinction?
raman Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 12:51 am
Did I say I sympathize with Maoists, do not assume things…..
RE Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 3:07 am
No, I never said that. I am only putting across my point.
Ashish Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Dear RE,
the Maoists do not fight on religious grounds; the Indian state’s
“war” against them is also “secular”.
There is tremendous amount of blood-letting going on in the names of
protecting the rights of the economic underprivileged and the rights
of the state. I have not heard any Maoist (or any CPIML member) make
any invocation to religion.
I am not sure why you think the State treats the Maoists as “Hindu
civilians”. Care to explain?
SP Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 3:34 am
Maoists justify terror as a means of pursuing their goal of
overthrowing the Indian state just because they are poor and the
deprived citizens of this country? Common a very sizable population of
this country is below the poverty line. But the Government won’t fight
a war against them because these ‘Adivasis’ happen to be our ‘own’
people although they can engage the armed forces of this
coutry,massacre them at will, abduct ,kill and behead people at will.
A 20 something Muslim guy on the other hand is picked up at random/
even better shot in broad daylight, by the police and branded a
terrorist without even a shred of evidence The News channels hail the
police and the government and all we read is “20 something Islamic
Terrorist has been nabbed who has confessed to all the bombings that
ever happened in the country over the last 10 years”. How lame is
that!
Why is there such a discrimination in the treatment between the two? A
terrorist is a terrorist! Be it a Maoist or a certain Pragya Singh
Devi. Why does the mainstream political party come up in defense of
HINDU terror accused or label any muslim ACCUSED to be a terrorist?
The same goes with the Maoists – the Government won’t wage a war
against them just because they happen to be Hindus.
Anyone who challenges the state should be an enemy of the
state .Unfortunately that is not true for the Hindus of this country.
They can get away with mass orchestrated murders and live under state
protection. (‘92 ‘02 anyone?) And so is the case with the Maoists.
They are Hindus and by default saintly and hence cannot be treated as
terrorists.
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
@SP
I will again quote from my post “there is a tremendous amount of
bloodletting going on in the names of protecting the rights of the
economic underprivileged and the rights of the state.” I think I make
it clear that Maoists are fighting only in the name of protecting the
rights of the underprivileged.
And, what gives you the idea that the Government is not fighting them?
We can differ on whether it is a “war” or not. But the human rights
activists will certainly not agree with you that the government is
going easy on the Maoists. Unless of course you say that the likes of
Arundhati Roy are basically Hindu zealots and speak for the Maoists
only because they are Hindus.
Let me quote from your reply:
“A 20 something Muslim guy on the other hand is picked up at random/
even better shot in broad daylight, by the police and branded a
terrorist without even a shred of evidence The News channels hail the
police and the government and all we read is “20 something Islamic
Terrorist has been nabbed who has confessed to all the bombings that
ever happened in the country over the last 10 years”. How lame is
that!”
You know, this seems to be straight from the alleged situation in the
North-East; where the “war” between the state and the ultras have
resulted in several cases of human rights abuses that should be the
concern of any civilized society. The state of Manipur is a case in
point. May I however point out that the affected populace is not
Muslim in Manipur.
The Indian state is not perfect; far from it. Nor is the Indian
society. But, it is a worthwhile experiment is creating a multi-hued
culture. Thanks to our founding fathers and thanks to the economic
progress unleashed in the last 20 years, the benefits of modern living
are reaching many. If you argue that Muslims face systematic and
systemic discrimination, then you must be prepared to look within and
ask why is it that no other religion in India, including the Sikhs
(even after 1984) have a problem sharing space and prospering in this
country.
Looking at everything through the religious prism makes for noisy
debates but, makes you hostage to “benefactors” like Mamata Banerjee
and Laloo Yadav.
Mitra says:
March 1, 2010 at 11:05 am
Very interesting and informative discussion! Hope you keep monitoring
how well the minority welfare schemes are progressing- this is really
important. It is good we have a decent, honest man Salman Khursheed as
the Minister- politicians like him are relatively rare in India.
sanjeev Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 5:43 pm
@ Mitra
I can expect such sort of logic from naxal sympathisers like you….
Hope you forgot your bengali ilk got kicked by these so called
discriminated lots on 16 july 1946 (direct action day ).
Wait for some more decades another Pakistan will be demanded from your
home state. The demand will arise from your so called secular and left
ruled state.
Or else i can imagine you have admitted to dhimmi status or else burqa
clad.
Rajeev Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:05 am
This guy is muslim with hindu last name..just like Bhowmik (saba naqvi
bhaowmik).
sanjeev Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
@ Rajeev
I M sure she is a girl and so brainwashed by so called leftist of
Students Federation of India (SFI).
She haven’t been able to come out of the vote bank politics of naxal
sypmathizers of JNU.
Mitra Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I am Hindu and I am not a woman. I won’t give you my first name as I
teach in an university and I have a website- I am afraid Hindu
nationalist vandals will try to bother me. I am not a Naxal
sympathizer and thats not what we are discussing. The Naxals are left-
wing extremists and you guys are right-wing extremists- every
patriotic Indian should condemn both equally. The day you guys will
learn to make an actual argument instead of spewing vile hatred and
prejudice, I will be happy to have a discussion.
sanjeev Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
@ Mitra
It is you who started labelling someone as sangh parivar or bajrang
bal member
Its welcome that you want positive debate..
Btw other people like me also work for govt organizations.
Nobody has time to bother except those with whom you empathise…hope
you remember the recent karnataka episode over Taslima nasreen article
episode. who resorted to rioting ?
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
@Sanjeev pandit.
1. I hope you are not a disgruntled shudra who is not even allowed to
enter the temple by The Brahmins or you did not marry in the same
gotra and were hounded by your own goons. You sound very irked and
disgruntled so can I assume that someone in your family decided to
kill a female child or maybe your wife does not want to put on a
ghoonghat? Is there any reason why you are so pissed off with life?
2. Regarding rioting in Karnataka :
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8544657.stm
“Police say Hindu groups joined the unrest in both places after
Muslims took to the streets. About 50 arrests have been made in
connection with the violence. ”
Muslims taking to streets to voice protest against something does not
mean they were rioting but as usual, people don’t have the guts to
accept the truth in this country. I am sure they did not pull you out
of you house and mob you down like the goons at RSS do under state
protection. Every citizen has the legitimate right to voice his/her
opinion but the fact of the matter is Hindu cowards started a riot.
Television images on “Times Now” , a clearly pro- hindutva ,pro- BJP ,
pro- right wing channel showed images of people with ORANGE flags with
“OM” inscribed on them. Now I can bet they were not Muslims. Secondly,
the Ram Sene called a bandh the very next day! WOW how did the entire
protest affect those cowards? Karnataka is BJP ruled so people have
the liberty to start a riot and get away with it just like Gujarat.
The Muslims are the ones who will be labeled terrorists any which way.
At least have the guts to accept the truth in public MORON
perpetual.dilettante says:
March 1, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Since you cite the government subsidies for the pilgrimage to Kailash
Mansorovar as a point to counter the annual Haj subsidies, numbers
around what the total outlay for the project is would have been
interesting for a fair comparison. Do not quite agree with your point
that the Muslims had not asked for the subsidies. The fact remains
that there were demands from certain quarters from within the
community for this step. Obviously the point whether or not they
represented the true sentiments of the community can well be debated.
However, your point around the government not subsidizing religious
pursuits is well taken. It needs to be applied irrespective of
religious affiliations of the vote banks, pressure groups, etc.
However, there is a bigger question here around the value of
affirmative action, specially in context of religious segments. That
is a point worth debating as well
Gopi Thomas says:
March 1, 2010 at 2:35 pm
If money would have solved Muslim “backwardness” , countries like KSA
would be producing qualified engineers and journalists and teachers
leave alone world class scientists. They recently opened a “world
class” university; minister E Ahmed represented India in the
inauguration ceremony – 80% of the student body was foreign students
whom they had ‘bought” with lucrative scholarships. A student from
Minnesota stated that he will have to spend $20,000 in a state Univ in
Minnesota; now he gets paid $20,000 affter all the expenses; he did
not know how long he could last there in KSA because the public
outside the walls of the Univ do not want a Univ there.
Why is Pakistan so backward with madrasites killing left and right,
with nosystem to speak of other than a rot corrupt military system,
if, as the author says “elite’ Muslims migrated to Pakistan.
Hyderabad (Telengana) was under Nizam rule for yearsa nd years. Why
are Muslims educationally so backward there?
Why iin Kerala they are still backward educationally (although they
are significantly better compared to all India Muslim average)? And a
smaller minority there, Christians, excelled in education,
industriousness, contributions..
The author talks about bank loans. Muslims are promoting “Islamic
Bank” as the right way of banking. I have seen Muslim students being
advised on some of their “exclusive” sites not to seek student loan,
and to take lower level job rather than pursuing higher studies with
student loans.
We have to bring all up to participate in a vibrant, growing India.
Money, if at all, is only a very small part of the equation. It is
attitudes, entrenched belief systems, uncompromising stickiness to a
set of rules formed in 650 when conditions were different, learning
Arabic (instead of English) etc etc. If these do not change, whatever
money is allocated, we will still have this dialogue of backwardness
fifty years from now, 100 years from now.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Your arguments are best very naive and you obviously know that. If you
still need an explanation, I’m ready to debate
sanjeev says:
March 1, 2010 at 5:55 pm
@ Gopi
Govt should resort to following Measures for development of muslims
1. Sharia laws
2. Islamic banking
3 Education only through madrasa: this should include courses on
geography and hisory of saudi arabia, science based on quran, arabic
language
4. Compulsory pilgrimage for all muslims to Haj
5. Freedom to kill as many as infidels as they wish so that they can
achieve ultimate aim: jannat with hooris
I think then they can have proper development of their personality as
well as material progress
Ziauddin Shafi says:
March 1, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Muslims of Hyderabad were never backward during the Nizam’s rule.
Since the last 30 years or so, the criminal nexus between MIM and the
Congress, who treat the Hyderabadi Muslims as their vote bank, have
deliberately worked against the education of Muslims in the city. So
much so that government schols functioning there do not have teaching
staff, water, electricity and toilets – forcing poor students to drop
out. Government-funded Urdu medium schools are in the worst possible
conditions – unbelievable is the word. Despite all these Muslim
traitors and “secular congress” traitors, the Muslims of Hyderabad and
Telangana are struggling to find their feet. The northern Indian
Muslims are comparatively better off – they have leaders like Salman
Khursheed and Sayyida who are sincere, honest and hard-working. Hope
they also come down to Telangana & Hderabad to look into the affairs
here.
Shoeb K Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 11:19 pm
@Shafi
Are you implying that there was a “conspiracy” to deprive Hyderabad
Muslim students of education? Are you saying that Muslims in Hyd were
highly educated during Nizam rule and 30 years after independence, and
then due to misadministration or stupidity or conspiracy of leaders,
the education started going down???
How do other people (including the so called most backward DAaits
among us) get educated? Sam Pitroda, the telecom architect of India,
came from a Dalit background. Modern india has lakhs of stories like
that.
You may be right that some Muslim eladers and congress leaders
coluded. At the end of the day, our community has to look into
ourselves — are we doing right? Are we giving emphasis to education,
like other communities are giving? Or, are we satisfied iwth menial
trading jobs? Do w e want our daughters get educated and working and
standing on their feet? Do we give emphasis to readinga nd writing (at
a basic level as well as at a literary level)? Arent most of our
people victims of mullahs and maulavis, this way or no way? Do many of
us really interact with otehr religious members in an intimate way?
Unless we sort out these, we will always be blaming some others and
not doing the right thing.
Ashish Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
@ Shoeb K,
till today I did not know that Sam Pitroda came from a Dalit family; I
suspect very few others on this blog did either.
The great thing is, we don’t know and we don’t care. It is enough for
us that Sam Pitroda is what he is, a visionary with the gumption to
get things done.
Is Azim Premji a Muslim? Well, yes. Is he an example? Of course. Is he
an example only for Muslims?
” Modern india has lakhs of stories like that.” .. yes, and thank you
for making this simple statement.
Let’s worry about evolving a “post-religious” identity. We must.
The questions you raise are not limited to Muslims; I think the
Muslims as a community can benefit by making common cause with the
poor Hindus/ Jains/ Christians and demand that the government deliver
on education, women’s rights and childrens’ health and nutrition. Of
course, the community must play its part in ensuring that religion is
quoted as an argument to stymie those initiatives.
@Ziauddin Shafi I think you are not informed about the sorry state of
affairs in the northern part of the country. The lack of leadership
that you talk about, is even more pronounced in North and it shows up
in all the indices.
UI Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
@Shoeb K Reply:
“Are you implying that there was a “conspiracy” to deprive Hyderabad
Muslim students of education? ”
Why only in Hyderabad, look at the vitriol everyone spewed when there
was a proposal to set up a branch of AMU in Murshidabad, West Bengal.
AMU may not be an Oxford but education surely will help the most
deprived and the backward. Do you think it was fair to unnecessarily
criticize the setting up of a branch of AMU? You know what, you need
to get out of you comfort zone to see what people have done to Muslims
in this country. I am an engineer and I’ve seen the nasty face of
educators at every stage of my school/university. I was always singled
out because I was the only Muslim in the class who topped exams year
after year. It is exactly things like these that make people cringe
and say that they do. Accept the fact that there has been a targetted
marginalization of Muslim in this country
“How do other people (including the so called most backward DAaits
among us) get educated? Sam Pitroda, the telecom architect of India,
came from a Dalit background. Modern india has lakhs of stories like
that.”
Have you ever heard of something called reservations? When the most un-
deserving candidates are given preferences in places that matter, what
do you expect in this country? Abolish all forms of reservations or
apply them equally for ALL economically backward sections of the
society. Only then you will get a clear idea of what the reality is.
“You may be right that some Muslim eladers and congress leaders
coluded. At the end of the day, our community has to look into
ourselves — are we doing right? Are we giving emphasis to education,
like other communities are giving? Or, are we satisfied iwth menial
trading jobs? Do w e want our daughters get educated and working and
standing on their feet? Do we give emphasis to readinga nd writing (at
a basic level as well as at a literary level)? Arent most of our
people victims of mullahs and maulavis, this way or no way? Do many of
us really interact with otehr religious members in an intimate way?
Unless we sort out these, we will always be blaming some others and
not doing the right thing.”
You must be kidding my dear! You seriously must be kidding me! Talking
about things from the comfort of your home with a laptop in front of
you is something different than the stark poverty and alienation that
Muslims face in this country. Get out of the 5-6 Urban cities for
God’s sake. You cannot expect anyone to get a decent education unless
he is lucky like me or you, when there is abject poverty , when people
can hardly make ends meet if at all. I’ve seen most Muslims living in
ghettos even in so called urban cities where there is hardly a decent
school in the vicinity and you talk about education? Have you ever
wondered why Muslims are discriminated when it comes to getting a
rented house in a Hindu locality?
You talk about the status of women in our society( are you seriously a
Muslim or just using a Muslim name? )
“Do w e want our daughters get educated and working and standing on
their feet?”
Seriously? Any and every educated family that I know of and some very
poor families insist on their daughters going to school to get an
education. Esp when it comes to urban areas, people are more open to
allowing women to work. You seriously must be kidding me or you are
very detached from the society !!
“Arent most of our people victims of mullahs and maulavis, this way or
no way?”
Again you are making sweeping generalizations.
“Do many of us really interact with otehr religious members in an
intimate way?”
What do you mean by an Intimate way? Of course where the majority are
people from other communities, you mingle with them , at school , at
work , in your neighborhood. Living in ghettos does not mean that you
never interact with anyone!
A Banerjee says:
March 1, 2010 at 8:50 pm
The biggest enemy of the muslim community is the muslim himself. There
is an intersting article comparing muslims and jews. Although jews
consist of only 0.02 % of the world’s population, they have won 130
Nobel Prizes. Muslims are 20% of the world’s population, but have won
only 7 Nobels. I think that Muslims must stop this tirade of being
‘minorities’ and start working for themselves.
What has number to do with progress? If that be so the case then how
doyou explain the parsis who are doing so well for themselves?
The trouble with Mr Zia and other ’secular’ people is that they waste
their time and energy (please see that I am not mentioning ‘brains’)
brooding over some conspiracy theory or some ’sachar’ report instead
of using their time productively. This imacts the minds of young and
gullible muslim youth who start thinking that the entire nation is
against them.
Their was a very nice ad campaign by Idea in which Abhishek Bachhan
says that their will be no community, only mobile numbers. That’s the
way it should be…..
UI Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
BS
Anil Kumar says:
March 1, 2010 at 10:04 pm
All the religious pilgrimage subsisdy given to non-muslim you have
rehashed is the progeny of haz subsidy.> So muichy noise was made that
various state govts hand have bene forced..
No hindu no chrstian wnats thatsubsisdy only muslims are the one who
always need crutch for anything and everything..
They insisst that they will nto join mainstream education but they
must eb given job..
State of those hindus who confine themselves withitn the scriptute
study are not different we don;t see them cribbing..
If you want job start learnign physics chemistry math those Quran and
hadith reading is nto going to give you job..
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
“No hindu no chrstian wnats thatsubsisdy only muslims are the one who
always need crutch for anything and everything..
They insisst that they will nto join mainstream education but they
must eb given job..”
BS
Raju Kurien says:
March 2, 2010 at 6:51 am
The problem with Muslims is that they do not have a proper perspective
or they refuse to accept the reality. For example, This Javed Naqvi, a
reporter for DAwn, (a Pakistani based newspaper) always writes about
how bad it is for Muslims in india; how the goovernment goes on
destroying Muslims.. This guy is a Pakistani, living in and enjoying
Delhi, and he is always venomous about India– May be it is jealousy………
Muslims acn be a “suppressed moinority” (as they think) or an
aggressive contributor to national progress; they have to make that
choice..Government can go on pouring tax payers’ money for the so-
called upliftment; but the desire for upliftment and work towards
upliftment has to come from muslims themselves,a nd not througha ny
government programs.
sanjeev Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
@ Raju
This so called peace activist Javed Naqv is no less than Taliban. I
don’t know whether he is Indian national ?
Regarding the much admired masiha of muslims Justice Rajendra sachar’s
credentials…let me highlight one of high ideological fact : He is so
called human right and civil rights activists of Arundhati Roy gang.
We can seriously doubt his credentials as a judge of supreme court or
distinguished jurist. I thibk this sachar committee is all a game plan
of congress left combine.
Although i personally support the govt should do efforts to educate
and elevate living standard of all deprived citizens irrespective of
minority or majority.
But why only the special emphasis on muslims ?
Why can’t they start some programme for all poor people of india and
allocate separate budget targets for this group ?
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Now comes conspiracy theory LMAO
shiuli says:
March 2, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Budgeting for minorities is a much required factor, coz if the gov’t
does not we have big brain drain like MF Husain, escaping to Qatar,
taking Citizen-ship there. We have violent clashes over Taslima
Nasreen’s outcry; also The Great Khan who has already been awarded
Dato-ship in Malaysia, by calling Pakistan, Our Friendly Neighbour,
may condemn Indian Citizenship one fine day.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
BS
ramesh says:
March 2, 2010 at 3:36 pm
What is holding back the muslims, is their literalism in
religion ,which is evident in all their aspects.Why arent the Parsees,
christians or sikh held back.Because they have opend their minds.
Muslims consider everyone else as jews only, their born enemy.They
should see the broader sense of the message.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Because all the hatred,vile and discrimination is directed towards the
Muslims , not towards the Parsees , Christians and Sikhs
S Singh Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
So, there is no animosity to anybody except Muslims.. Could it be that
something is wrong with Muslism?
Why do Muslims have problem everywhere? Be Philippines, thailand, US,
UK, germanty. denmark, Switzerland — why even in the so called Islamic
countries ((OIC)? Oh why!
SP Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 3:36 am
The Problem is that you have become so ignorant that you cannot
comprehend History or Geography or Geo-Politics OR probably you don’t
wish to. At least don’t sound such a moron on the internet.
Ashish Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 12:07 am
@RE
“Because all the hatred,vile and discrimination is directed towards
the Muslims , not towards the Parsees , Christians and Sikhs”
poor souls! Muslims! No one loves them! Boo, hoo, hoo!
Rajeev says:
March 2, 2010 at 10:35 pm
I think instead of budgeting for minority (read MUSLIMS, MUSLIMS and
MUSLIMS), why don’t we send them to their land which we allocated for
them in 1947. The pakistan was meant for muslims of south asia. If you
muslims think, you are not getting fair deal, migrate to the land that
was created for giving muslims fair deal.
Jinnah also demanded same kind of things before partition to safegaurd
the interests of muslims. The then-congress decided not to give in to
Jinnah’s loony demands and agreed for partition. Now after 62 years,
we are being forced to agree to Jinnah’s demand or face terror ending
into another partition of country. How long can this blackmail go on?
Pl. show me a single country in the world where muslim minority has
outperformed other communities…None… Are all these non-muslims country
guilty of this or is the in the muslims gene to stay and ghetto and be
backward? Do you want Sachar to go in all those countries and then
produce a report implying that muslims are denied opportunities.
There is something very wrong with muslim mindset. They are
themseleves to blame for their misery. Why is that Hindus, jews,
chinese are doing so well in USA? Why is that non-muslims do better
than muslims in almost every country?
These muslims have to come out to their eternal victimhood syndrome.
L Mirza Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 am
@Rajeev
Many things you mention are right. For our country to propel, we need
to bring all into the equation. Youa re absolutely right that the
backwardness of msulims can eb squarely attributed to teh community
itself -its religiosu leaders, political leaders etce tc. A
fundamental aspect of Islam as oppsoed to various other “movements” ,
is that the role of the individual or individuality is suppressed;
hence no major innovations, initiatives, pathbreaking inventions,
methosds etc etc.
Government money will do only little. The mindset has to eb changed;
it ahs to come from within; and lot of forces work against that. It is
a real problem; as Zia mentioned in an earlier blog, muslims have to
handle it themselves.. They should know that the world would not wait
for this, and they will be left further behind if they do not acvt.
The sorry situation is that whether we like it or not, we have to
somehow solve this…
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Why don’t you leave this country instead if you hate the people living
in this country? Or is is that you have no place on this earth to call
a Hindu State? haha India is NOT a Hindu country. If you cannot live
here, go and find a place for yourself
Rajeev says:
March 2, 2010 at 10:39 pm
The Sachar report is not an extensive survey but a SAMPLE survey. We
have all seen how surveys have been proved wrong time and again.
The need of the hour for muslims is to shun excessive religiousity,
waste less time curing non-muslims and concentrate on education
followed by search for jobs. You can not be employed on high position
(IPS, IAS, Army etc.) till you get proper education. Even a police
constable in maharashtra police is graduate.
sanjeev Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:00 pm
@ Rajeev
I seriously doubt credentials of Rajendra sachar. he is an
ideologically indoctrinated person and not neutral, unbiased
researcher.
Just google his name..he has association with People’s Union for Civil
Liberties (PUCL)
In the recently arrested Kobad ghandy case his organisation has been
mentioned by delhi police among the naxal sympathisers.
I have personally attended many of the debates and discussions
frequented by this gang of naxal sympathisers like Gautam Navlakha,
Achin Vinayak, DSU, etc. their views clealry state that they are
chinese protege and they aim to bring china type revolution in india.
I seriously doubt how can such a person was appointed chairman of such
a committee.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
You need some money for education which they have been deprived of
over the years
Shoeb K Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
RE
So you are saying that somehow government “deprived ” them of
education, and now have to give them money for education??
Do you believe that our people (I assume you are a muslim) give utmost
importance to education like other commun ities? Even Baniya children
grow up reciting “vidya dhan sarv dhanal pradhan”.. What is our
children taught in Madrasi??
RE Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 4:05 am
No one is begging for alms here. It’s only the Hindus who beg for
Money & Jobs and you will keep begging for your lives. Don’t worry the
Government won’t take away your reservations any soon. You can
obviously beg for even more.
If you are going to tell me that ^%$^% like Mulayam Shi% and people
like him demand BS for Muslims, I pity you and your ignorance of the
reality of this country.
Secondly, you must be naive to think that people think in terms of
community when it comes to education. You must be so out of this world
my HINDU brother! (Using a Muslim name does not make you one) The fact
of the matter is, yes people want education for their children and the
fact of the matter is that a majority of the Muslim population in
India is living foot-to-mouth. I have grown up in a poor Muslim
neighborhood and you can bet a very good number of children went to
proper schools. They may not have been the DPS’s of this country but
yes everyone valued education.Economics is the major concern my dear,
not community based ignorance. When you cannot even earn Rs20 a day,
you cannot possibly dream of sending your child to a regular school.
I come from a Naxal affected place so you very well imagine the state
of affairs and to add to that I grew up in a Muslim neighborhood with
a couple of Madarsas. I can tell you, even people who have studied in
these very madarsas completed their education and then took up
respectable and decent government jobs ,quite unlike your Hindu naxal
brothers just 40-50 kms away from my place. A few of us were lucky
ones who grew up in middle class families, who could study in English
medium schools and landed up with jobs with MNCs. Unfortunately most
are not so lucky. You know what, either you have never seen poverty in
and around you so it’s very comfortable to pass sweeping remarks or
you are just another prejudiced and ignorant Hindu on the internet. If
you are the former (n I doubt it ) all I would ask you is to leave the
comfort of your house to visit a Madarsa .If you are the later, I can
only pity you
sanjeev says:
March 3, 2010 at 5:51 pm
@ Rajeev
Here is an interesting article from Tavleen Singh (who i think can’t
be labelled as sangh parivar member as she happens to be a sikh and
married to muslim
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=59288
I hope ignorant persons like mitra and other so called secularists
accept the true reality after going through this article or else they
will label Tavleen as sanghi.
sanjeev
Rajeev says:
March 4, 2010 at 2:45 am
Sanjeev,
Did you compare debate done on NDTV/CNN-IBN on MF Hussain and Taslima
Nasreen? It exposed the hypocrisy of Indian secualrism. I could not
control my laughter listening to arguements from Shabnam hashmi.
I have come to the conclusion that soft terrorist (ideological) from
muslim community are oxygen for all the terror activities in the
world. These are the people who should be arrested and may be
eliminated Isarael style.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Yes people like you must be singled out Israeli style
[Reply]
sanjeev says:
March 4, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Here is another article exposing the hypocrisy of the so called
secular gang of india:
Its by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, from centre for policy research, new delhi
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/freedoms-our-defence/586662/
sanjeev says:
March 4, 2010 at 5:51 pm
@ Rajeev
sorry rajeev,
i have given up watching news on these sensationlist channels..i only
watch DD news or r news on FM gold radio.
i know this Indian secularism is a biggest joke in the world
Anything can happen in india in the name of secularism and freedom of
speech for the sake of minority (read muslim )
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Two Losers in this country Pandit Rajeev and Pandit Sanjeev have got
HT Blog as the only place to vent their frustration. Is it something
else?
Ashish says:
March 6, 2010 at 11:24 am
After all these serious comments, I think we all need a comic break..
quoting from an email just received:
A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy
International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in
possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a
calculator.
At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes
the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not
identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying
weapons of maths instruction.
“Al-Gebra is a problem for us”, the Attorney General said. “They
derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on
tangents in search of absolute values. They use secret code names like
‘X’ and ‘Y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have
determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of
medieval with co-ordinates in every country.
As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, “There are 3 sides to
every triangle”.
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, “If God had
wanted us to have better weapons of maths instruction, he would have
given us more fingers and toes.’
White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more
intelligent or profound statement by the President. It is believed
that the Nobel Prize for Physics will follow.
Paritosh Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
ha ha ha ha . nice!!!
sanjeev says:
March 6, 2010 at 11:56 am
hilarious !!!
SKS Mumbai says:
March 6, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Why Physics?
They don’t award nobles for Maths or Philosophy? Time they did
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
@SKS
And these must be reserved for Muslims because of the historical
sidelining Westerners have done to them..
So far Muslims have not stated theat the nobels Jews received were
undeserving; so you have to give them credit!
Ashish says:
March 6, 2010 at 2:39 pm
when they run out of existing Nobels; one for each year Obama is in
office..
There is probably no rule against multiple Nobel awards for multiple
disciplines in the same year to the same person; while so far such a
rule would have been largely academic, I think with Obama, this rule
will soon be tested.
Literature Nobel is his for the taking .. with all the fiction in his
speeches (even if he has to share the Nobel with his speechwriters)..
Raju Kurien says:
March 6, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Mosab hasan Yousef, an ex Hamas leader, who later became a Mosad spy,
and converted to Christianity, has written a book titled “Son of
Hamas”. Wall Street journal interviewed him on his opinions,
perspectives….His father is also a leader of Hamas..
Do you consider your father as a fanatic? “he is not a fanatic; he is
a very moderate, logical person. What matters is not whether my father
is fanatic or not; he is doing the will of a fanatic God. It does not
mind whether he is a terrorist or a traditional muslim. At the end of
the day a traditional Muslim is doing the will of a fanatic,
fundamentalist, terrorist God. I know this is harsh to say. Most
governments avoid this subject..
“the problem is not in Muslims. the problem is with their God. They
need to be liberated from their God. He is the biggest enemy. It has
been 1400 years they have been lied to.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 7, 2010 at 10:08 am
So ‘Government funded religious travel’ (let’s call it GFRT) isn’t
‘Unique’ but only Haj subsidy has been targeted! So unfair!
Research does help, even if, of ‘directed’ kind, to pick facts, as
might be necessary for the ‘conclusion’ one has chosen to present. But
’secular’ journalism, at least here in India, is easier than that. For
facts aren’t needed nor is their careful selection and for those on
the cutting edge of secular journalism, fact invention is routine.
Certainly, by those standards, Mr Zia is struggling.
To come up with ‘govt funded religious travel’ or GFRT for questioning
the criticism of Haj subsidy, suggests that research was involved.
Instead of limiting himself to any one of either GFRT or subsidy, he
uses both and implied smartly, that only Haj subsidy is criticized,
without ever saying that both are/aren’t the same. But there may be
’small’ differences between the two:
Subsidy of course is subsidy.
GFRT does not seem to be a well defined concept, but Mr Zia must be
referring to the costs involved in provision of various facilities and
services provided by Govt. for the pilgrims. These costs include a
part for the services rendered in India and another for outside India.
For e.g. in case of Kailash Mansarovar, these are free medical
inspection, security, escort cover, insurance cover and communication
links and 4 days acco. provided by Govt of Delhi (at Delhi) etc, most
of these within India. Then there is also a Rs 3250/pilgrim payment
made by Govt to Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) for arranging
boarding and lodging on the Indian side.
Indian side expenses for Haj, include cost of Haj houses, built in a
number of state capitals (including a capital cost for the facility,
often funded by the concerned state govt. There is a dedicated Haj
terminal at Delhi Airport (can’t say for others), again involving a
capital cost. I am not sure if medical tests, security etc is involved
or not. There is also a fully dedicated Haj department maintained by
Air India throughout the year.
For expenses outside India:
In case of Mansarovar, nothing much is known. Possibly, the escort,
security and medical facilities continue to be provided on the chinese
side as well. Interestingly, complaints regarding poor facilities on
Chinese side are brushed aside by MEA, saying Chinese want a revision
in the rates (last set in 1995) for better facilities.
Foreign component of Haj expenses: expenditure on a contingent of
seasonal local staff, supervisors, data entry operators, drivers and
messengers, appointed in SA, a contingent of more than 600 personnel
(incl. about 135 doctors, nurses and paramedics) on short-term
deputation to SA, hospital facilities (about 100 beds) at Makkah,
Madinah, medicines, ambulances, facilitation and coordination centres
at Jeddah, Makkah probably, Madinah also.
What is also interesting to note, is the kind of answers MEA gives for
questions raised in LS or RS:
1. Whenever there is a broad query (broad as in, about ’subsidy’ and
‘other facilities’) the answer, in case of Haj; includes a number for
subsidy and another for expenses, while for Mansarovar, it is only one
figure.
2. When there is a precise question such as: ‘ whether the Union
Government has been extending ’subsidy’ ( no mention of facilities)
for pilgrimage of Indians abroad’, the answer never goes beyond Haj
( e.g. LS Unstarred Question no 3086 http://meaindia.nic.in/parliament/ls/2006/08/23ls07.html)
3. When a specific question was asked : whether Govt
would also consider providing any subsidy on the lines of subsidy
being provided for Haj Pilgrimage, the smart state minister for MEA
repeats the same Rs 3250 story (of course never uses the word subsidy
for this) and concludes with : ‘Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Haj are
essentially different so far as the number of pilgrims (not enough
devotees? ) , mode of travel and the nature of terrain are involved.
Therefore, there may not be a direct comparison between the two!
http://meaindia.nic.in/parliament/rs/2006/05/11rs27.htm
Thus for some ’strange’ reason, Govt. has consistently failed to apply
the word ‘Subsidy’ in case of Mansarovar costs. This could mean either
a ‘consistent error’ or most likely an accounting conspiracy designed
to discriminate against the poor minority, and worst of all, signed
off by CAG as well!
For the sharper but unfortunately oppressed beings, another ’small’
difference :
- the total amount paid for 2002, 03, 04 for Mansarovar was around Rs.
0.43 Crs (or Rs 43 lacs), while for HaJ 2007 and 2008, it was more
than Rs. 44.00 crs.
-Haj subsidy that Mr Zia shows at Rs 390 crs is over and above that.
Not just that, it seems that subsidy figures for Haj continue to be
presented as ‘provisional’ for last 4-5 years. (i.e. besides the
subsidy).
Mr Zia could have checked a bit of History as well, as he has so
carefully listed out the ‘proposed’ subsidy in Karnataka and the one
announced in AP a ‘couple’ of years ago.
Clearly then, there isn’t ANY VALID reason to target Haj subsidy
alone!! Except the Discriminatory approach, what say Zia?
SKS Mumbai says:
March 7, 2010 at 10:26 am
Can someone tell me whether, there is some difference between the
Kailash Mansarovar, Tibet (for which Govt ‘underwrites’ a part of the
cost, as indicated by Zia) and the Mansarovar, China (for which a
’subsidy’ is under consideration (as Zia says quoting media reports)
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 11:35 am
@SKS,
“Can someone tell me whether, there is some difference between the
Kailash Mansarovar, Tibet (for which Govt ‘underwrites’ a part of the
cost, as indicated by Zia) and the Mansarovar, China (for which a
’subsidy’ is under consideration (as Zia says quoting media reports)”
Only Zia can answer this.. but, on past performance, even if he deigns
to, it is likely to decry your tendency to split hairs..
SKS Mumbai Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
@Ashish
You mean just tendency?
That is all we do, apart from full time hate mongering, that is
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
aha.. but, Mr Zia is a gentleman, not given to invectives
SKS Mumbai says:
March 7, 2010 at 11:34 am
‘Show me an economically underprivileged Hindu who will find fault
with government help to make a dip in the holy Ganges a reality? Or a
Muslim quibbling over a lifetime visit to Mecca, courtesy government
help?’
Now that is a profound question. Perhaps Zia can show us an
‘economically privileged’ Hindu who will find fault with government
help to make a trip to switzerland a reality, or riding a chauffeur
driven BMW (all expense paid) for that matter?
First of all what difference does it make, whether you are talking
about an economically privileged or underprivileged person here,
unless that bounty is meant for reducing that economic gap?
(BTW, I am not sure if Haj susbsidy is only for underpriveleged ones,
and even if, it is, the validity of above question does not change)
Secondly, on what basis does a secular Government decide that my all-
expense trip to swiss alps, is spiritually less important than
someone’s dip in Ganges and more importantly, why should a secular
govt be even required to measure spirituality quotient?
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
@SKS
I read somewhere that Haj subsidies were never requested by the
community. I believe it was instituted during the oil shock of early
1970s and institutionalized ever since. This may be one situation
where one smart politician created a permanent vote bank through this
master stroke.
ajay says:
March 8, 2010 at 10:10 am
those politicians who are using vote bank politics must be dealt with
severely.other people who easily get caugt by words of these soundrels
should apply there common sense
S Singh says:
March 8, 2010 at 5:29 pm
There is no dispute that everything possible should be done to uplift
ALL., to make all contributors to a great country and humanity.
Money should be spent wisely; it also should be spent on all who need,
not just Muslims.
Money is only one, and may be even a lesser part, as far as upliftment
of Muslims are concerned. Unlike Hindus, Christians, jews, budhists
etc they do not give much emphasis to education. It simply is not
their “core” belief. When Hindu and kids belonging to other religions
right from early ages are inculcated “Vidya dhan sarva dhanal
pradhan” , the focus of Muslim kids is memorizing Quran. After that,
they get into petty trades.
Unless education is considered as the most important factor and
embraced by the family and community, nothing will happen; complaints
will remain.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 8, 2010 at 8:20 pm
@Gopi
I don’t know, but it can’t be that simple.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 8, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Quote:
‘While it gives Air India 150,000 assured passengers every year
(that’s the total number of seats on all Indian carriers criss-
crossing the country on any given day), helping it KEEP AFLOAT, the
grant has been turned into a stick to beat Muslims with’
This is really all that it takes!
One article by a non-entity, (he/she could be anything, journalist,
activist, third rate self proclaimed intellectual, rabble rouser,
dancer, singer, whatever. Even if he wasn’t, that article alone will
make him a front ranking secular warrior), asserting that Haj subsidy
is really a subsidy for Air India.
Watch that dumb ‘assertion’ turn into a foundational truth for the
Indian secularrazzi, to be repeated so many times that, Hitler would
have them rather Goebbels.
It just does not matter that the fraudulent claim is immediately
thrashed to pieces by precise facts and irrefutable documentary
evidence, the ‘Truth’ once revealed, is the Divine Law for our secular
believers. To question the law is apostasy or a communal propaganda by
Hindutva forces, or as Mr Zia claims, a ’stick’ to beat poor Muslims
with.
For a moment, even if we accept that fraudulent claim, what changes
Mr. Zia? Muslims are still getting a subsidy, aren’t they? Or can you
book a return ticket for Patna-Delhi-Jeddah for Rs.12000 (or Rs 16000
for last year only)? Bulk discounts? Yes why not, we will see later
how much difference your direct chartering can make. Unfortunately
facts happen to be facts and if they are communal so be it (in the
meanwhile Mr Zia could check whether direct charter negotiations were
attempted at some point of time or not and what went wrong). Here are
the facts:
1. It isn’t 150,000 prize customers in the first place, the number for
2010 is more like 120,000 and that after annual increases of the order
of 10,000-15,000. approximately 50% of that is carried by Saudi
airlines.
2. Spare/standby aircrafts are a part of any commercial airlines
fleet, but they are primarily used when regular aircrafts are sent for
scheduled or unscheduled maintenance. Haj means 2-3 months of a steep
peak forcing most of the commercial airlines to opt for short term
leases, called wet lease. Being short-term, they are by definition
much more expensive than longer leases. It does not take an Einstein
to understand that the capital cost of the wet leased aircrafts will
have to be recovered from the passengers who fly during that peak
window. For e.g. If you look at the state electricity boards, their
normal procurement costs (for the pool) will rarely exceed Rs 4-5/
unit. But during peak months, the incremental power is often purchased
at Rs. 10-15/unit range. It matters, but little, that your requirement
for those few months constitutes a huge volume, the annual fixed cost
will still be recovered during those two months. Further, it seems
that many of the aircrafts have to undertake one trip without
passengers (i.e. no backhaul)
3. If AIR INDIA was really saving itself by grabbing the prized Haj
Service, why does it keep on requesting the Govt to allow other
airlines in the space? Isn’t that Monopolistic, Mr Zia ? Last publicly
known attempt was around 2008. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/haj-subsidy-has-air-india-fuming/360651/0
4. BTW Muslims anyway have the option of not going through Haj
committee and a large number of Muslims actually go through private
tour operators (~ 40,000 or so), so why are suffering the tyranny of
AI? Why? Especially when it also gives the so-unfair-stick to Hindutva
Guys ?
But all these are lies, a hindutva propaganda, sanghi hate mongering,
the only Truth and what we need to remember for ever is that, it is
not the ‘Poor Hajis’ but AI who is being subsidized. (soon we will
discover it wasn’t even AI, it were the vile Bramhins-Bania who were
fattening themselevs)
You know what, some 100 years down the line, secular historian will
cite these and assert Haj subsidy was a myth and contrary evidence
will be subjected to secular tools called contextualizing History and
presenting multiple perspectives and another 100 years Haj subsidy
won’t even be a subject.
S Singh Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Muslims will go on itching, bitching, scratching…
The only solution is dictatorship (why do you think almost all Muslim
countries are dictatorships?) or someother way of controlling, because
they respect power; they just cannot operate independently in a
democracy. Time and again it ahs been demonstrated that they cannot
form, suatain a democracy.
India will remain a democracy, meaning the scratching and bitching
will be with us for a long time, unless a region is converted to
another Pakistan and round up ALL Muslims to that region.
Rajeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
No all muslims should be packed up and sent to pakistan. No more
divisions for these ungrateful people.
Rajeev says:
March 8, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Is this RE another avatar of Soft-terrorits Bobby?
sanjeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
@ Rajeev
Tonight i will get to meet biggest anti national..Javed Naqvi (dawn
reporter from delhi )
I want to ask him some tough questions ..
If any knowledge u can share about this nut ?
Rajeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Ask him just one thing. Is he Indian or Pakistani?
If he is Indian and beleives in secularism, why is he with Pakistan on
Kashmir.
Secondly ask him what happened to 20% hindu population of pakistans.
How many guharat massacre took place in Pakistan?
SKS Mumbai says:
March 8, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Aah Rs 390 crs isn’t it.
Last statement by Dr Tharoor pegs it at some Rs 826 crs for 2009!and
still counting all these numbers continue to be Provisional.
Rajeev says:
March 9, 2010 at 1:30 am
I have always wondered if Hajj performed on khairat of infidel nation
(India) is haram or Halal.
I am pretty sure that all the muslims perforing Hajj on donations
doled out by hindu-dominated India are commiting shirk and their hajj
is invalid according to Islam.
I guess most of the muslims are destined for jahannum.
S Singh Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Does not matter, as long as it is free.
It is the government we should blame; and by that voters like us. what
the politicians have done is one more way of institutionalizing
“minority” , this time with huge allocation. Now the bar of spending
is set high, and every following year it will be higher than the prior
year.
Like any government spending schemes, only 10% will go to the purpose;
other 90% will go to the b ureaucracy and contractors!
sanjeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
ha ha ha ha !
where else they can go ?
mulleh ki dor masjid tak
RE Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
arey pandit ki langot apni dhoti sambhalo yaar
SKS Mumbai says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:35 pm
@Ashish
In RE, you have one of the original ones. His views on Premjee’s
Billions and stuff are part of the original curriculum. Don’t be
surprised, when you are told:
1. It is Indian Muslims living in the gulf whose earnings drive the
larger part of Indian economy.
2. That Indira Gandhi used her charm to get cheap oil from the house
of Sauds and thus Hindus have been living off Muslim charity for ages.
3.That there is a conspiracy under which muslim intellectuals are
being murdered and this has gone for many decades now.
4. That “Urdu” was eliminated as a language to prevent muslim
advancement.
5. Some more that I came across recently: the conspiracy against
Muslims also include: introducing “gate-keeper” mentality-type service
commission exams and entrance exams for professional courses .That a
scientist was picked to become a Muslim President of India, to
diminish OR extinguish his contribution to science.
That (hold your breath) Shahrukh Khan and Amir Khan have Hindu wives,
because they are rich and famous – and their wives will inherit their
crores.
6. Of course we all know about 9/11, 26/11, Karkare, Batla and types.
Recent violence in Karnataka on Tasleema’s article was also a Hindutva
conspiracy.(Confirmed already as I see)
7. Upper caste Hindus joined hands with British in a conspiracy to
weaken Islamic Kings, freedom fight was mainly a Muslim venture, but
Gandhi and Nehru forged another conspiracy to divide India, so that
Muslims were weakened.
8. His views on how state is dealing with Maoists because they are
Hindus shouldn’t surprise anyone. The difference lies, not in
perceptions but in definitions itself.
Reasoned debate is useless and anyway impossible. Facts must adhere to
’secular’ requirement else they are conspiracies. When even fairly
well ensconced people, from the core of mainstream, do not hesitate in
asserting nonsense like Haj subsidy is for Air India, never miss the
opportunity to impress you with Quranic wisdom, or to offer Quranic
justification while urging Muslims to seek education or to not hate
the jews, we know it isn’t just another problem.
This combined with the values our politicians operate on, will ensure
that we just have to live with it the way it is and just hope it does
not get worse during our or our children’s lifetime.
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
@SKS
There is more; especially with the advent of ex SIMI turned into PFI/
SDPI as a political party for the disadvantaged, “not just Muslims”:
1)Brahmins are colluding with USA/UK to make India a Jesustan
2)Reservations etc are farce; Brahmins control everything (i am still
looking for those powerful Brahmins!)
3) Muslims did well in the first 30 years of independence; then a
coordinated conspiracy started to marginalize them, to exterminate
their intellectuals
4)The elite Muslims migrated to Pakistan (we know how that has helped
PAkistan) and the real backward Muslims stayed back in India
5) Gandhiji was in collusion with Brahmins to marginalize Muslims
6)Lodhi and Gazni are not Muslims,a nd Somnath temple destruction
should not be attributed to Muslims
7)Babur loved all and did not destroy any places of worship
8)Auragazeb is maligned by Brahmins; he was a great king who cared for
all equally (and Akbar was not a great king)
9)Shivaji looted neighboring kingdoms, and have done more damage to
india than any Moghul or other foreign invaders have done
10)”Mapilla rebellion” in Kerala that happened with Khilafet was an
agrarian revolution and not one where muslims targeted and raped and
killed Hindus and destroyed their palces of worship
11) tipu Sultan was a benevolent king who did not destroy palces of
worship of Hindus and Christians (although history of Kerala clearly
traces his “patayottam” (rapid fight ) for the massive conversions in
Malabar area, including naming Calicut as Islamabad for a while
12)All the communal troubles are started by Brahmins to further
marginalize Muslims
List goes on
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 1:28 am
@SKS @Gopi Thomas
great compilations; SKS, great summary of the core arguments we have
heard on this blog over the last few months.
This blog has run out of ideas.. tired, tiresome and repetitive..
poorly researched and lately even without a central idea.
I can sense the next blog coming.. on why Ranganath Mishra
recommendations must be adopted. Stealing from a well known poster,
first seen in London, “Sachar spotted the cancer, Mishra has the
answer”.
Trying to remember some Muslim Maoist name; honestly can’t. By the
way, SP/RE/UI.. whoever/ whatever, I was in Lalbazar (Calcutta police
HQ) .. staying with a certain doctor employed with the police the day
Charu Mazumdar was brought in. I have heard enough stories of how
Naxals used to be handled by the Calcutta Police; suffice it to say
KPS Gill was really tame in comparison. Honestly speaking, I have
never ever thought about the religion of the Naxals; now that I do,
yes, you are right. All of these guys I heard of were Hindus-excepting
Jangal Santhal – even though I am sure they will be quite amused to be
called such. But, the brutality on both sides (Naxals and the state)
was totally secular. I hope I am not told next that Maoists and the
Government are in cahoots to rid the world of Muslims.
Hindus become Maoists because they just like to kill and are afforded
protection by the state; and Muslims do not- inspite of all the
discrimination, because they follow the religion of peace. Hmmm…..
Talking about KPS Gill; so, his forces killed Muslims and then dressed
them up as Khalistanis, correct? Just checking…
MMM’s (Much Maligned Modi) goons killed Muslims while his police shot
dead 400 Hindus .. inconvenient, but true.
Gopi, great item 4 on your list. Precisely..
SKS Mumbai Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
@Ashish
‘Honestly speaking, I have never ever thought about the religion of
the Naxals’
Hmm that shows your communal mindset, Bhai sahab.
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
@SKS
my communal mindset is well established on this blog.. garv se kaho…
RE Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Arey bhai then stop living off Muslim money and Muslim oil. Dead
simple as that. You hate us like anything and yet want to live off our
money! hahaha great
RE Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
You didn’t answer my post cuz you DON”T have an answer . Stop being a
MORON for a change. You sound like a joker
SKS Mumbai says:
March 10, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Sorry guys, I underestimated the power of contextualisation and
perspectivasation and the time it might take to secularise the
history. It is faster.
See what India’s great son, Mr Kuldip Nair has to say about 26/11 and
Karkare:
Quote: More worrisome are the Hindu extremists rearing their head. The
murder of police officer Hemant Karkare, who was probing the Malegaon
blasts, was the doing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or Bajrang Dal”
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/16-kuldip-nayar-politics-of-terrorism-hs-01
See how simple it is to present TRUTH. If you want first mover
advantage, it is time to write a Book :
November 26th 2008, Mumbai : Revolt of the oppressed against the vile
Hindu Elite.
You can try a Bharat Ratna for yourself and freedom fighter’s pension
for Mr Kasab
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
@SKS
for a few pieces of silver.. Mr Nayar can be made to say anything..
He does not find a publisher on this side of the border anymore; don’t
judge him too harshly.. he needs to earn a living somehow.
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
@Ashish
I will take Kuldip against Naqvi (who also writes for Dawn) anytime!
SKS Mumbai says:
March 10, 2010 at 4:11 pm
@Ashish
the latest seems to be “garv se kaho hum internet hindu hain”
Rajeev Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Nice one…
Indian says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:59 am
Victim Swami Laxmanananda portrayed as a villain by biased media
Alarming 5 fold increase in Kandhamal Christian population from six
per cent in 1971 to 27 per cent in 2001 ,It began with the arrival of
Christian missionaries in the area who found the remote region very
conducive to conduct prosetylization amongst the poor tribals. The
conversions continued unhindered until the arrival of Swami
Laxmanananda who put strenuous efforts to stop conversions and help
reconversion to Hindouism as well. If not for his effort Kandhamal
would have been another Nagaland in the making where the separatist
movement has wrecked havoc in the state. The aggressive Christian
proselytization in Orissa today pitched previously peaceful tribals
into warring camps of Christians and non-Christian. This has has
vitiated the peace that has existed with various communities for
millenia. Next target is KARNATAKA and they are facing stiff
resistance from Hindus here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SKS Mumbai says:
March 12, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Another TRAIL BLAZING Research!!
Truth behind Sachin’s 200 runs Innings. Must Read
http://altnews.asia/content/2010/03/11/who-controls-fanatic-india-xi-dr-abdul-ruff-colachal-0
Author is one more feather in the crowded cap of our JN University of
Secular Research Sciences.
Ashish Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
@SKS,
does the JNU reserve seats for the mentally challenged?
sanjeev Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
@ ashish
Infact it has become fashionable to criticize govt and hindus in JNU.
There is whole lot a generation mostly elite bengali who tretas it
fashionable to be politically correct and being anti national.
Unfortunately the leftist brigade have penetarted deeply in JNU
faculty where it has become fashionable to criticise anything indian,
Infact JNU has proved to be a factory of producing traitors in the
garb of liberal thinkers
sanjeev Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
@ Ashish
Yes there is reservation for such elements like Rauff in centres of
JNU in schools of languages and international relations. These centres
are for Urdu, Arabic, Persian, west asian studiess, etc.
In fact these centres are reserved exclusively of urdu-persian- arabi
speaking intellectuals.
Hence we used to call these departments as UPA
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
It also shows people live in different planets. Also, it is like
Newton’s law. The more appeasement and more give aways, the more
demand for more and cries of discrimination. The person’s last name
sounds like a typical Kerala “house” name; and if he is from there, it
is an even “bigger” problem. Because whatever may be the issue in
other parts of India, they were part of the ruling coalition from
almost day 1; they got their district formed, they are one of the
richest groups etc etc.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 13, 2010 at 6:29 pm
@Ashish
Reservations for mentally challenged?
Interesting question , but for which levele admission or for faculty.
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/they-call-me-muslim/2010/02/28/budgeting-for-minorities/
My Name Is Bal Thackeray
In the middle of the Shiv Sena’s rampage against Shah Rukh Khan’s My
Name Is Khan in Bombay, came the delightful news that someone had
blackened Pramod Muthalik’s face in Bangalore just as he was preparing
to oppose Valentine’s Day celebrations on Sunday.
I think it is rich that he should describe the act as “undemocratic”
and against freedom of expression – as though such freedoms are the
prerogative of just the bigots of this country and the rest of us have
no democratic rights or freedom to do as we please, at all!
But that also brought to mind the fact that perhaps the Shiv Sena in
Bombay has been the biggest loser this Valentine season. They are the
original party poopers of Valentine’s Day celebrations – there was a
time when Bal Thackeray had become synonymous with the term. I recall
a friend in a raging fight with her husband who would not take her out
to dinner one Valentine’s day one year. When this musty and old-
fashioned gent started a spiel on Indian culture and traditions, my
friend walked off in a huff, muttering, “There is no fun in asking Bal
Thackeray out to dinner, anyway!”
Now the sainiks have no time to mount an attack as of yore on card and
gift companies who might want to make a killing as people celebrate
their love for each other. In any case, they have no reason. The Shiv
Sena is now in the hands of Thackeray’s son Uddhav and he has no love
lost for his divorced sister-in-law, Smita.
According to my information from inside Matoshree, the Sena only ever
took up the anti-Valentine’s Day cause purely for reasons of personal
pique. When they started the campaign sometime in the late Nineties,
Smita was very thick with her father-in-law Bal Thackeray. And
Thackeray Sr was pretty miffed one December when a very well-known
card and gift company –which puts up huge Valentines Day hearts and
arches all across urban India — refused to sponsor his daughter-in-
law’s Mukti Foundation event in the battle against AIDS.
I am told that they had burnt their fingers the previous year – they
were not paid their share of the dues even after several reminders and
appeals and so decided to cut their losses by determining never to
sponsor such an event ever again. None of Thackeray’s cajoling,
pleading or threatening would budge this company.
So when Valentine’s Day came around a few weeks later in February,
Thackeray decided to get even. For years after that the Sena
vandalised all card shops and gift outlets on Valentine’s Day – and
then, one year, it abruptly ceased. It must have been a coincidence
surely that by then the reins had been handed over to Uddhav and his
brother divorced that year. I believe Uddhav saw no point in opposing
something that had caught on like fire, particularly for someone he
considered no longer a member of the Thackeray household; indeed for
someone he felt had no claim to the Thackeray name any longer.
It is also significant that Raj Thackeray actually encouraged the
celebration of love soon after he formed his Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena –he put up posters encouraging youths to learn ball room dancing
(though that stopped after the first year when he received flak for
encouraging westernisation among Indian youth).
Today, the whole world has seen how Shah Rukh Khan has stood up to Bal
Thackeray and refused to pay up – yes, at the end of the day, that is
what, I believe, this was all about. The Sena targeted Shah Rukh only
because he had a film coming up and knew that producers and
distributors would rather buy off the trouble than risk vandalisation
and block crores of rupees riding on their films (that’s what Karan
Johar did after all vis-à-vis Wake Up, Sid and Raj Thackeray). I
salute Shah Rukh for keeping producers and distributors, too, from
giving in to such low blackmailing tactics.
However, very few people know that much before Shah Rukh, one card
company in India had silently determined not to give in to cheap arm-
twisting and risked – even suffered – vandalisation and monetary
losses for years before the Sena got off its back and the celebration
of love began to happen in Bombay in right earnest.
Of course, the individual for whom these obstructionist activities
were undertaken was herself organising highly expensive celebratory
dinners for couples at her various restaurants across the city much
before the vandalisation ceased, quite exposing the duplicity of the
Shiv Sena in its campaigns – a point that has now been underscored by
Raj Thackeray. For the first time I agree with Raj – if the Sena can
allow cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan to go forward
unfettered, then they have an ulterior motive in targeting Shah Rukh
Khan.
And that is not because he is Muslim or supported Pakistani cricket
players. It is because he had a film coming up which had nearly a
billion rupees riding on it. And opportunities like these are not
something to let go of — if Your Name Is Bal Thackeray.
(38 votes, average: 4.53 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Filed under India · Tagged Bal Thackeray, Bangalore, blackened Pramod
Muthalik, Bombay, My Name Is Khan, rampage, Shahrukh Khan, Shiv Sena,
Valentine’s Day celebrations
102 Responses to “My Name Is Bal Thackeray”
Kushal says:
February 13, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Great piece, Sujata. But I’m with Manish – not only the Sena(s) but
ALL political parties have ulterior motives behind their causes.
Kushal Reply:
February 13th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Btw, do you suppose the Sena will demand a cut of MNIK’s takings since
they have practically driven the whole nation to watch it, just to
take a stand?
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Ha, ha, ha! Tht will take some gall!
Anurav Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 10:55 am
True. ALL political parties have ulterior motives but only a handful
like Sena keeps the city as hostage.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Agree, Bunny. But like Anurav says all political parties have their
agenda but only ones like the Sena hold the city to ransom
Kushal Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I’m no advocate for the Sena(s), Sujata and Anurav. But I wonder how a
government can allow things to reach such a state that a party CAN
hold a city to ransom.
What about THOSE ulterior motives?
Harry says:
February 13, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Hi sujata, why didn’t u publish my comment.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Have no control over this , Harry
Anil says:
February 13, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Not much debate when Nilesh Rane a congress MP held Maharashtra to
ransom on the film Zhenda. He even managed to have the film release
postponed. Nice government sponsored promotion for MNIK. 24 hours
prime time coverage. Great going. Keep it up
Mohin says:
February 13, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Bal Thackare is a ordinary Man,is a not God,He is using ordinary
Peoples to him as Powerful
Certainly he fails.If i am CM of Maharastra Surely He will be
furnished.
Anil Kumar says:
February 13, 2010 at 10:13 pm
In the middle of the Shiv Sena’s rampage against Shah Rukh Khan’s My
Name Is Khan in Bombay, came the “delightful” news ..
See this is the problme with socalled educated class of India.. Here
this madam found that news delightful.
As much as I disapprove the nonsense of valentine’s day protest it’s
equally disturbing that people midn you educated one at that find this
vandalism when the recepient is their object of hate find it
delightful..
What is the difference between Muthalik’s army spreading nonsense and
these idiots who blackend his face that too in a panel debate..
Sane people shold be the last oen to endorse these behavious otherwise
you lose the right to complain when army of muthaliksfo the world go
on rampage
Rajeev says:
February 13, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I think it is SRK desperate attempt to equal 3 idiots collections by
any means…what a chichora khan!!!
Rajeev says:
February 14, 2010 at 12:20 am
This controversy started by SRK is just to promote MNIK so that his
movie can beat collections for 3 Idiot.
What a Chichora loser SRK is!!!
What fools we Indians are!!! This mediocre actor has taken this nation
for a ride with Congress in arms and media in his shoes.
By the way our Maharashtra police was so busy gaurding SRK’s movie
that they forgot to gaurd common people of pune (who have stood up to
Thackrey but forgot to stand up to terrorist sympathisers).
Rajeev says:
February 14, 2010 at 12:56 am
Let us see who gained and lost out of this controversy-
1. Congress – Gained political mileage in UP and Bihar by showing sham
sympathy towards north Indians in Mumbai. Gained political mileage
among muslim voters by supporting Shahrukh Khan and his pro-pakistani
stance (Pakistan is a great neighbor to have).
2. Rahul Gandhi – Has become a hero for UP and Bihar voters. By
supporting SRK, he has become hero of communal muslim voters and now
is going to Azamgarh to consolidate those gains.
3. Shiv Sena- After becoming irrelevant after MNS (Raj Thackrey)
hijacked its plank ably supported by congress led chavan govt., they
got an opportunity to get noticed. They miscalcuated big time because
they should know that India has moved on. We have now become immuned
to terrorism and are now more interested in making money. For us
escapist routes like movies are more important than lives of 200
Indians. As long as VIPs are not hurt, we don’t care and so does our
Media.
4. Media- Media got great TRP out of this controversy..loads of ads
and big money. The media under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi has also
started propaganda that rahul is next KING of India (Times of India).
This is the first time in the history of private television that
doordarshan stands ashamed in front of media’s pro-congress bias.
5. Aam Admi urf Ullu ka Pattha – Aam admi lost money on mediocre film
like MNIK, lost valuable time following useless pro-SRK and pro-Rahul
Baba story.
Nikhil says:
February 14, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Sujata,
UNHOLY NEXUS BETN BOLLYWOOD AND NEWS MEDIA IN INDIA:
Please read the article in Indian express today. They say it’s unique
in India where movie producers and stars own or have stake in the
content providers or business groups that own TV channels. This
furthers the deep suspicion in the MNIK controversy. SRK and Karan
Johar, most likely, are laughing their way to the bank. Shiv Sena
perhaps may’ve got a small share of it too. Who knows?
arvind says:
February 17, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thakray family jo khud mumbai ka nahi hai aur apne aap ko asli
mumbaikar batata hai , mumbai uski hai jo mumbai se sachha pyar karta
hai ,uske bare me sochta hai , ye logo ke bhawnao ko bhadkakar apne
roti ka intjam karte hai aur pure mumbai ke logo ke paise ko lutte
hai, pahle party banakar party fund ke paise se apna ghar chalate hai.
Agar thakray me himmat hai to north india jane wali kisi bhi train ke
genral compartment me baith kar dikhai, aur wo train non stopage ho to
shayad destintion tak pahunchte pahunchte wo history ke ek joker ban
kar rah jayenge . thakrey hosh me aao , nafrat ki aandhi mat failao ,
nahi to usi me mit jaoge .
Rajeev Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
It looks like a typical nautanki congressi speech.
shiuli says:
February 17, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Ms.Sujata, great insight. Enjoyed the subtle wit in your writing also
the way you put across your point, by not badgering it down the neck.
Ashish Kolarkar says:
February 17, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Thanks Sujata for revealing interesting secret motive of Thackeray’s
in public domain. I’m sure you have lot of such secrets to offer in
near future. Enjoyed your blog.
arvind says:
February 18, 2010 at 10:20 am
It’s real voice of truth indian , agar dam hai to thkray family ko
train me bitha kar dekh lo saath me tum bhi aa jana
AKshay_Marathi says:
February 21, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Hi..,
THIS IS REALLY DISAPPOINTING TO READ THAT , U ARE PORPOSEFULLY USIN
WORD BOMBAY.
U HATE THAKRE O.K. BUT WHY R U INSULTING WHOLE MARATHI BY REPEATNG
BOMBAY.
MAY BE ONE TO GET OUR LOST PRIDE AND TO SAVE FROM HUMILIATION FROM
INDIAN WE HAVE TO SUPPORT THAKRE.
PLZ. DO’T CALL IT BAMBAY IT IS MUMBAI.
Rajeev Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:47 pm
These jouranlist are extremist fascist who impose their ideologies on
others.
Arpit says:
February 24, 2010 at 1:36 am
Its was only the the publicity stunt by Bal Thackeray. He only wants a
topic every time to be in limelite, as he did when he was delivering
comments on north Indians in Mumbai……..nothing else…I think this type
of political party should be banned in India…I think they people wanna
run country as what they want………………
Earthling says:
March 11, 2010 at 7:28 pm
thakeray is a very bad boy…never will he do good in the face of
indians….corrupting mind sets of people and talking as if he is doing
all good for india…
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/02/12/my-name-is-bal-thackeray/#more-135
Happy Birthday, Netaji
As Bal Thackeray turns 83 on Saturday (January 23), I cannot help
recalling the politics of birthdays that I have witnessed over the
years.
The first political birthday party that I ever attended was that of S
B Chavan (father of Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Ashok Chavan),
sometime in the late Eighties.Sharad pawar had just merged his
Congress(S) with the Congress(I) and become Chief Minister the
previous year. And though Chavan Sr was inducted into the union
cabinet as Home Minister, I think he was mighty miffed at having been
summarily displaced to accommodate the Maratha warlord.
The move opened up a chasm between the so-called `loyalists’ in the
Congress and those who were Pawar’s acolytes. The bickering and
nitpicking went on for months, until Chavan’s birthday arrived on July
14 the next year. Without making any overt moves that might seem as a
campaign against the party high command (it was still Rajiv Gandhi
then), Congress loyalists thought they would use Chavan Sr’s birthday
to put Pawar in his place.
The party was held at a star hotel in South Bombay and a huge
chocolate cake was rolled in to stand under the chandelier in the main
ballroom of that hotel. The hosts had invited all and sundry,
including journalists, except for one very important person – Chief
Minister Sharad Pawar. They were full of glee as Chavan was
fashionably late at his own birthday party and crowed at how awful
Pawar might feel when he read about it in the papers the next day.
The birthday boy arrived an hour after he was scheduled to cut the
cake and we all gathered round him as he held the ribboned knife in
his hand and prepared to set the ball rolling. Even as those around
him clapped and sang the birthday tune, I turned round to see why
there was an unusual hush around the edges of that room.
Sharad Pawar was standing at the door and, even as Chavan cut a slice,
Pawar moved slowly towards the centre of the room. And before Chavan
could lift the slice and feed it to the person nearest him (I forget
who), Pawar was standing with an extended hand to greet Chavan a happy
birthday. A chagrined Chavan had to feed the cake to Pawar, instead;
they hugged and exchanged pleasantries even as many of the Congress
workers stood around in consternation..
Chavan graciously invited him to join the party but Pawar demurely
declined. He had another important meeting to attend, he said by way
of explanation, but had just dropped in as he was passing by the hotel
en route to this other function. He left in minutes but it took
several more for the others to regain their composure and continue
with the now subdued celebrations.
Next day, as I and another colleague nosed round Pawar’s office, we
were told in confidence by a close confidante that Pawar had heard
about the plan to cut him out of the party and was damned if he would
be defeated by a bunch of `upstarts’ or provide a lot of grist to the
mill of journalists who would have a blast the next morning. So he
decided to play party pooper-of-sorts (because that is what he had
turned out to be the previous night).
We were told that Pawar had arrived at the time given out for the cake-
cutting ceremony but sent a sniffer upstairs to find out how things
stood. He decided he would not be kept waiting for Chavan inside the
hotel and asked his cavalcade to circle round the locality of the
hotel several times until Chavan himself had rolled in (he had posted
some cops as lookouts). Pawar then timed his entry perfectly to
nonplus Chavan and his supporters with, “I heard you were having a
party for your birthday. So I decided to drop in myself and greet you
in person.’’
And then he went home. Satisfied that he had nipped any mischief in
the bud. Chavan never had another birthday party like that one again,
though his constituents would celebrate the day in his hometown off
and on over the years.
And as far as I remember, Pawar has only ever had one birthday party –
when he turned 60 nearly a decade ago. There was a five-star event
with the who’s who of India represented the previous evening. But it
was his public rally the next day that saddened me the most. For, even
then it was no secret that he was dying to be Prime Minister. Atal
Behari Vajpayee was in office at the time and Pawar was at pains to
explain to his supporters that it was still not too late for him. “In
this country no one becomes Prime Minister before they are 70,’’ he
said, though that was not strictly true – Indira and Rajiv Gandhi each
had been much younger. “Look at P V Narasimha Rao, he was half way
through his seventies before he became PM; even Vajpayee now is past
75. I am yet only 60. There is still plenty of time.’’
I wondered if his support base was shrinking and he needed to say that
to stop them from abandoning him altogether. Ten years later he is
still not PM and I wonder how much more time he would now need to get
to that high office.
But it is not just Congressmen who are fond of birthdays. Manohar
Joshi had had himself presented with a 60-diamond necklace on – what
else? – his 60th birthday in a very public ceremony in Bombay wherein
he laid claim to a flawless career stating proudly that no one could
find a breath of scandal against him. Bal Thackeray, then about to
turn 75, was at the time besieged with allegations that his nephew Raj
Thackeray had murdered middle-class professional Ramesh Kini and he
did not take that comment kindly. Joshi was out of office within weeks
and Thackeray barred anyone from going to town on his own birthday.
Joshi has never had another party again.
Nearly a decade later, Thackeray is still off a public celebration of
his birthday. Shiv Sainiks, though, have organised blood donation
camps, free distribution of grains et al to mark the event but the
Sena patriarch has decided to remain out of public view.
I think he is the wisest of them all. I am told he is superstitious –
kahin nazar naa lag jaye!
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Filed under India · Tagged Bal Thackeray, Maratha warlord, political
birthday party, Rajiv Gandhi, S B Chavan, Sharad Pawar
6 Responses to “Happy Birthday, Netaji!”
Dev says:
January 22, 2010 at 11:03 pm
And we’ll never know what became of Netaji.
Anil says:
January 23, 2010 at 11:36 am
Wish Pawar had used the same cunningness to improve agriculture sector
and bring down prices. He is just incapable of thinking big for the
country. The only person who really knew how to celebrate birthday in
a manner beffiting his personality was Chach Nehru. He really spent
quality time with children. Others have just aped him.
Ashish Kolarkar says:
January 23, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Due to such shrewdness and intelligence Pawar is in the limelight for
such a long time. He is too ambitious and believes in playing long
innings. Who knows one day this Maratha Sardar would hoist flag from
Lal Kila?
But it seems that Pawar is losing his popularity for his foot in mouth
comments recently. He seems to have all the problems but no soultions
to Offer to common man. He is bent on taking his role too casually.
Good that Thackeray Sr has finally realised that birthday bashes are
meant for sycophancy only and don’t serve any good purpose.
vipin malik says:
January 24, 2010 at 12:03 am
you remeber for netaji all indian popel it was great man
vipin malik says:
January 24, 2010 at 12:10 am
i am a fan of Netaji
Anil Kumar says:
January 24, 2010 at 3:51 am
These leaders who set goal in terms of this or that chair make me
cringe..
All these leader needs a plenary session with Narendra Modi..
Everytime anyone asks him about chairs his reply is I never lust for
chair I lost for work to be done target to be achieved with or without
chair.. Chair is not the destination and that’s how it should be..
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/01/22/happy-birthday-netaji/#more-131
Jhenda ooncha rahe…
14 Comments
Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar and Sarkar Raj are broadly thought to be
based on the life of Bal Thackeray. In large portions, the theme might
be taken from episodes from the Sena tiger’s life but the intelligence
and dexterity of managing politics that has characterised Amitabh
Bachchan’s portrayal of Sarkar in the two films have never been Bal
Thackeray’s forte.
Thackeray is an instinctive politician whose reactions have always
been spontaneous rather than well-thought out. Moreover, he has
thrived not on his programmes or issues of his making but on the
mistakes of other parties (in large measure, the Congress). For
example, the one and only time that the Shiv Sena came to power in
Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP was in 1995, soon after the 1992
riots and the 1993 bomb blasts when people thought and believed that
the Congress was playing far too many games and still remembered the
protectionist campaign of Shiv Sainiks through those burning weeks.
If the Sena was unable to return in 1999, 2004 and 2009 again, it is
because in these years, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress
Party, in alliance in Maharashtra, have largely done little wrong and
Thackeray has found no gap in the fabric to tear it apart.
But the Shiv Sena’s massive defeat at both the Lok Sabha and the
Assembly elections can be largely attributed to art — or at least
politics posing as art. Just before the Lok Sabha polls, Raj Thackeray
had helped to produce a film titled Mee Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje
Bhosale Boltoy (I, Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhosale, speak), with
Mahesh Manjrekar playing the title role, that was an indictment of the
complacence and laid-back attitudes of Maharastrians. It portrayed,
through film, the political point that Raj had been hammering at for
months: that the Maharashtrian is content with just a table, khurchi
ani pankha (a table, a chair and a fan). That he did not strive for
much more and allowed others to walk all over him. The film exhorted
Maharashtrians to become more combative in their own interest and,
like Oliver, never stop asking for more
It released in Maharashtra’s cinemas just before the producers-
multiplex imbroglio and so ran for weeks and weeks and had a great
hand in influencing a large number of Maharashtrian youth who went
right out and voted for Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Now the Shiv Sena has come out with its counter to that film – benami
again, like Raj’s production of Chhatrapati, but with no kid gloves on
this time. It appears to be a real-life account of the war between the
two cousins – indeed, from the stills released so far, it is very
difficult to spot the differences between the actors who play Raj and
Uddhav and the original cousins.
Titled Jhenda (Flag), it seems to be a mixture of truth and
exaggeration and some of the alleged falsehoods have already compelled
the producer to make some cuts and changes and promise to re-release
the film without the offending portions.
But while everyone — from Narayan Rane’s son to sundry Sena leaders —
are objecting to their unfair portrayals, the one man it lampoons the
most – Raj Thackeray – is uncharacteristically silent.
I haven’t seen Jhenda yet but I am told that there is a scene where
Raj’s character dons a skullcap and attends an Iftaar party. I don’t
know how true that portrayal is, for in all my years I at least have
not seen Raj Thackeray in a skull cap at an Iftaar party. When Raj
launched his MNS he did mean to be all inclusive and there are many
Muslims in his party who are devoted to Bal Thackeray’s nephew. Yet
they have all taken a so-called `mature’ decision not to agitate or
protest.
It could be because Raj well realises that any protest will only help
the film at the box office and more people will end up seeing his
portrayal in an unflattering light than they would if he just gives it
the royal ignore. But, a little bird tells me, Raj has also been cut
down to size and is no longer sure what his protests will lead to.
At the constitution of the current Assembly in Maharashtra, he
protested against Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi taking his oath in
Hindi. That has led to another non-bailable warrant from a court in
Madhya Pradesh (in addition to cases pending against him in courts in
Bihar and Jharkhand, just transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court))
and suddenly he has no Godfathers.
It is largely believed that the previous Congress government egged him
on against the Shiv Sena but the Assembly elections proved that Raj
was eating into even the Congress and the NCP voter base. So they have
no reason to nurture a Frankenstein’s Monster. But it may also be
true, as I have heard, that the Congress is also squeezing his
business interests to gag him into submission. Moreover, he needs to
keep is silence, again, to buy freedom for those of his MLAs who were
suspended for four years from the Maharashtra Assembly for beating up
Azmi for taking his oath in Hindi.
When I asked a top functionary in the government why those MLAs were
not expelled outright, he said, “If we had done that, it would have
led to by-elections and Raj Thackeray might have come back with a bang
and got more arrogant. This is our version of suspended animation; he
cannot now afford to create more trouble out of fear that there might
be more action that will actually pinch.’’
Without the alleged protection offered by the previous government, I
think Raj is now truly feeling that pinch. And the Sena is not far
behind in hoisting him with his own petard and, in addition, hoisting
its own flag — both the party standard and the celluloid variety.
But, still, I believe Chhatrapati …. was a far more intelligent film –
for one, it needed no cuts, for another it touched a chord with
Maharashtra’s youth — than Jhenda could ever be.
(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Filed under India · Tagged Amitabh Bachchan, Bal Thackeray, bjp,
Congress, Lok Sabha polls, Mahesh Manjrekar, Raj Thackeray, Raj
Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar,
sarkar raj, Shiv Sainiks
14 Responses to “Jhenda ooncha rahe…”
Ashish Kolarkar says:
January 8, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Thanks Sujata for telling us about “Chhatrapati….” and its impact in
recent elections. I think so much has come in print/visual media about
Thackeray family that people have started losing interest in it. With
the desertion of Smita Thackeray the things have become too
intriguing. How come daughter-in-law basking under the glory of father-
in-law could leave the later at this stage for greater political
aspiration?
I’ve read a research paper which said that there is great similarity
in genes of nephew and Uncle. I think the Raj and Bal Thackeray prove
the theory. Raj has got cartooning and same eccentric nature from his
uncle. He is too unpredictable. He is on the threshold of finding his
identity after initial euphoria. It is time for him to invent more
tricks to be in the market with due help from ruling party.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Yes, there is great similarity — and even in terms of events history
is repeating itself vis-a-vis Rraj Thackeray. Will write about those
by and by
Anil Kumar says:
January 8, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Congress will keep him alive.> he need not woory.> Congress always
creates fransktein .
Punjab was gifted Bhindarwale in order to check Akali Dal. Congressi
have no scruples when it coems to snatchign power they care two hoot
about even national interest.
Maharashtra was first gifted Baal thackrey to check labour uninsit and
communist’s rise. now we haevRaj Thackrey to check Baal thackreey
Assam have ben figted crores of illegal bangaldeshi
List goes on and on.
Country can go to dogs as long as these gimmciks insure perpetuation
fo power of congress they are fair game for anythign and everything
Pankaj Reply:
January 9th, 2010 at 11:08 am
country is with dogs and *******!
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
You are right on all counts
bobby says:
January 9, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Raj may be silent also because there are no elections round the
corner.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Well, the municipal elections are due next year which are crucila to
him in terms of his business interests across Bombay
Anil says:
January 9, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Narayan Rane and his son are doing more goonda giri than the entire
Thackrey clan put together. There is absolutely no unfair portrayal of
the the former. They should not crib. Any portrayal of their character
will be a milder version of their true self. Ranes have been the most
unscrupulous turncoats in Maharashtra politics. No fan of Shiv Sena
but Congress have won in Maratha land becuase of the infighting in
Sena. Haven’t seen ‘Zhenda’ but ‘ Mee Chhatrapati Boltoye’ by Mahesh
Manjrekar is a classic Marathi film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BmqdU0tpRk
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
However, the producer of jhenda has given in and agreed to delete the
offending scenes — that’s muscle power for you!
Sujata Anandan says:
January 11, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Well, the municipal elections are due next year which are crucial to
him in terms of his business interests…
Joe Zachs says:
January 18, 2010 at 1:43 pm
After watching Sarkar, I admire Ram Gopal Verma for how he hoodwinked
the vested interest into believing that it is a film about “His life”
A real master move Varma.
Dev says:
January 22, 2010 at 11:08 pm
I am reminded of a dialogue in a popular Hindi movie – Jhanda jish
desh ke bhi ho, danda Indian hona chahiye.
Mob rules OK.
Praveen Saxena says:
January 28, 2010 at 12:05 pm
The fact of the matter is that Raj Thakeray is a creation of the
Congress Party and a beneficiary of the mad rush 24×7 news channels.
The Congress has played these tricks in all states Maharashtra,
Punjab, Assam etc. The Kashmir mess is a result of the negligence
shown by the Congress govt at a crucial time.
The country ends paying the price for the dirty politics of the
Congress Party
Ashwatthama says:
February 6, 2010 at 11:20 am
Well Jhenda is way far superior film than Mi Shivaji…
I found MSRBB very stereotype and melodramatic and on the other side
Jhenda is extremely realistic and brilliant.
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/01/08/jhenda-ooncha-rahe%e2%80%a6/#more-126
‘Wrong of Pawar to seek Sena nod’
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, March 20, 2010
First Published: 00:51 IST(20/3/2010)
Last Updated: 00:53 IST(20/3/2010)
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has said it was wrong of people to go to
parties like the Shiv Sena to seek permission to screen a film or hold
cricket matches.
Chavan was referring to Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief
Sharad Pawar’s meeting with Sena chief Bal Thackeray before the IPL
started to get an assurance from the Sena that the matches in Mumbai
pass peacefully.
This was soon after the Sena, protesting the attacks on Indians in
Australia, said it would not allow Australian cricketers to play in
the IPL.
“Yes, it is wrong,” Chavan said in an interview to Vir Sanghvi for
CNBC-TV18’s programme Off the Record with Vir Sanghvi.
Sanghvi had asked Chavan if he approved of people going to the likes
of Thackeray for permission for holding matches or screening movies.
“Sharad Pawarji is a senior leader. He is in the Union
government and they say he went to discuss the IPL matches and issues
like that….Yes, there were a lot of eyebrows raised and asking why did
he go?” Chavan said.
Chavan, in reply to another query, also said the Sena was losing
ground and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will probably be the main
opposition.
Chavan also talked about the trouble he was having with alliance
partner NCP in handling the Mumbai police. “There have been political
problems,” he said. “I don’t deny that…”
The CM also admitted that there was “politicisation” of the police
force. “We have to select people with integrity…,” he said.
“Looking at the situation during 26/11, we have been cautious. We have
to put a stop to all this and see that proper people handle jobs of
equal importance and men of integrity and people with strength and
courage and the determination to fight, take charge.”
On factionalism in the Mumbai police, Chavan said there have been
differences but they have been sorted out.
Tune in to Off the Record with Vir Sanghvi on CNBC-TV18 at 8 pm on
Saturday and 9 pm on Sunday.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/mumbai/Wrong-of-Pawar-to-seek-Sena-nod/Article1-521102.aspx
Goondas, mind your own business
By Khushwant Singh
Did Shah Rukh Khan and the Maharashtra government score a decisive
victory over the Shiv Sena by showing ‘My Name Is Khan’ in Mumbai’s
cinemas?
Did liberal elements in Karnataka score over Rama Sene by blackening
the face of Pramod Muthalik? Many of us think so and hope both senas
have been dumped on the garbage heap. Unfortunately that is not so.
Shiv Sena’s balloon has no doubt been somewhat deflated but not burst.
It was the same when Rahul Gandhi travelled by suburban train, walking
down streets of Mumbai — a one time performance. And Muthalik has
wiped that soot off his face and is leading his storm troopers to
impose his will on people who do not agree with him.
My reasoning is simple: you cannot put down subversive elements
without having a strong government, which can effectively deal with
bullies. Their strength is their ability to damage property and rough
up people: No one wants to lose his property and get beaten up. The
most vulnerable are mill owners, cinema hall proprietors, eateries and
film people.
They will be eager to patch up with the Thackerays and the Muthaliks.
Take it from me that soon SRK will come to an understanding with the
Thackerays. It has been done before. Sunil Dutt and his daughter Priya
Dutt of the Congress sought Bal Thackeray’s blessings before the
elections. So did Pritish Nandi to become Sena’s nominee to the Rajya
Sabha.
Bal Thackeray is happy to receive important people at his residence,
Matoshree. They kowtow to him and touch his feet while he sits on his
throne draped in saffron robes and rudraksh malas, looking like a
patriarch of all he surveys. He aches to be loved to and is as liberal
in his blessings as he is in offering visitors chilled beer.
I have never met his recalcitrant nephew Raj Thackeray but his modus
operandi is much the same as his uncle’s. So I fear the present
euphoria generated by the release of ‘My Name Is Khan’ is going to be
short-lived. We have yet to build up a mass support of those who can
confront these senas’s goondas and teach them how to mind their own
business.
Bharatrihari
Almora-born Ramesh Chandra Shah was a professor of English in Hamidia
College, Bhopal, till 1997. However, he won acclaim as a Hindi poet
and novelist and was honoured with several awards. He stumbled on
Bharatrihari’s poems in Sanskrit and decided to learn the language; to
be able to translate them into English. I published some selections in
‘Yojana’ and ‘The Illustrated Weekly of India’. It is a privilege to
publish some more a third time. The translations are in rubai form and
read as well as Fitzgarald’s translations of Omar Khayyam.
‘Thus Spoke Bharatrihari’ is divided into three sections: Niti
(polity), Sringar (erotica) and Vairagya (asceticism). First I give
examples of Sringar:
You are so lucky if you can admire The lineaments of satisfied desire
In your young bride; suck at her honey’s mouth And let her languor in
your arms retire And:
The bookful blockheads preaching self-restraint Do not consider what’s
really at stake Love’s play on passionate breasts and thighs once
known Such amorous raptures who can ever forsake.
In the third verse he rues the futility of life spent in making love:
The joy companionship of women brings Ends in despair and
disillusionment
Self-knowledge is the only certain good Leading to calm of mind, all
passions spent.
Finally the search for salvation:
Blest are the saints who from all passions free Possess their souls
and live in ecstasy With boundless space as garment and a bowl Of rice
as food and woods as company.
And:
Drunk with delusion’s ever tempting wine We mortals fail to see the
spark Divine
Caught in the vicious whirls of nights and days Our soul ne’er stops
to think of its decline Dress Code
Henry Ford II, son of Henry Ford I, who felt that his father was
generally improperly dressed and did not adhere to the correct dress
code, had the following conversation with him:
Henry Ford II: Dad, you are the biggest manufacturer of cars and a
very renowned person in America. Then why do you dress so shabbily?
Henry Ford I: Yes. I dress the way I like, as everyone in America
knows me as Henry Ford.
Henry Ford II: But, when you go abroad, there also you dress in the
same way, even in poshest of places.
Henry Ford I: Yes, of course, abroad also I dress the same way,
because there no one knows me as Henry Ford.
(Contributed by Colonel Trilok Mehrotra, Noida)
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/58941/goondas-mind-your-own-business.html
Sid Harth
Following are various stats, facts and figures on crime in India and
judicial data , picked out of newspapers (mainly Hindustan Times),
magazines (mainly India Today), the BBC and various sources on the
web. These figures are not meant to be comprehensive lists, but rather
statistical trivia or factual snippets. For basic general facts and
figures about India as well as several Indian states, please see the
Quick Reference popups on the right hand side of this page, or go to
the main page of India statistics, facts and figures . For a full list
of links to our statistics pages, see the About India index or the
bottom of the right navigation bar on this page.
Lines marked with an asterisk (*) are recently added entries.
stats on court cases, murder and jails in India
- pending court cases country wide: more than 20 million (end of
2002)
- persons in jail waiting for trial: over 1 million (end of 2002)
- conviction rate of court cases: around 1 percent (according to Prem
Shankar Jha)
- number of murders in India between 1998 and 2000: 37,170
- murders committed in Uttar Pradesh: 7,200 to 7,500 per year [HT Jun
04]
- occupancy of Muzzafarnagar district jail in UP: 1,155 prisoners
(oct 03)
- capacity of Muzzafarnagar district jail in UP: 530 prisoners (oct
03)
- number of prisoners jailed in 60 prisons in Uttar Pradesh: 50,939
(oct 03)
various crime statistics and data
- people who died instantly in Bhopal on 2-3 Dec 1984 from the Union
Carbide gas
leak: 1,700 [HT May 04]
- people who have died since Dec 1984 from after effects from the
Union Carbide
gas leak in Bhopal: 22,000 [HT May 04]
- people who continue to suffer from varied diseases affecting
respiratory,
reproductive systems as a result of the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak
in Bhopal:
570,000 [HT May 04]
- * number of persons reported missing in Nithari (impoverished area
in Noida, Delhi): 41 within 2 years [REU Jan 07]
- * number of cases of kidnapping, murder and rape registered by the
CBI in
Noida relating to suspected serial killers Moninder Singh Pandher
and
Surendra Koli: 19 (CBI: (Central Bureau of Investigation) [REU Jan
07]
- * number of polythene bags containing body parts found in drains
near the
suspect: 40 [REU Jan 07]
- number of policemen in Delhi: 59,077 [HT Jun 04]
- number of finials missing at the Red Fort Delhi Gate: 10 (originals
could fetch each
about 33,600 Euro on black market)
- drop in crime in Delhi Nov 2003 (compared to Nov 2002): murder: -36
% --
robbery: -23 % -- extortion: -73 % -- rioting: -70 %
- number of crimes in the Chambal ravines (UP) within past 5 years:
approx 4,000
kidnappings & 180 murders (The UP government has proposed to combat
crimes and
bandits in the Chambal ravines by setting up a 371 acre lion safari
park with 5 lions to
attract tourists) [BBC, Aug 2005]
crime in Government / corruption
- candidates facing criminal charges in the Oct 2004 Maharashtra
election: 91 out
of 163 Shiv Sena party candidates -- 45 out of 111 BJP candidates
-- 31 out of 124
Nationalist Congress party candidates -- 30 out of 157 Congress
candidates [BBC Oct 04]
- number of UP candidates with a criminal record who made it to the
14th Lok
Sabha: at least 12 [HT May 04]
- number of Uttar Pradesh's MLAs who have been through processes of
the law
reserved for criminals: 205 (of a total of 403 MLAs - Member of the
Legislative
Assembly) [HT beginning 2004]
- amount of money taken by MPs in recent "cash for questions"
scandal:
232 - 10,000 US Dollars in bribes for asking questions in
parliament [BBC, Dec 2005]
- number of MPs suspended by India's main political parties for
taking bribes,
end 2005: 9 (Congress: 1 -- BJP: 5 -- BSP: 3) [BBC, Dec 2005]
some facts on laws, sentences & Court rules
- legal sentence for homosexuality: 10 years prison [BBC, Jan 2006]
- age of the colonial Indian Penal Code dealing with homosexuality:
145 years
[BBC, Jan 2006]
- year in which a petition for legalising homosexuality was dismissed
by the High
Court in Delhi: 2004 [BBC, Jan 2006]
- year in which the High Court in Delhi overturned the 1914
legislation and ruled
that women should be allowed to serve alcohol in public: 2005 [BBC,
Jan 2006]
"missing person" tourist stats
- number of registered "person gone missing" in the Kulu Valley (HP)
since 1992: 15
- estimated foreigners disappearance in the Kulu Valley (HP) for the
past decade: 50
(estimate by UK based pressure group Fair Trials Abroad)
- "mysterious" tourist deaths in Goa (jan 2003 - apr 2004): 59
data on crime against women
- official punishment for sex selection (i.e. abortion if child is
female): 3 years jail +
50,000 Rupees fine (equiv to 960 Euro)
- loss of female births within past 2 decades caused by abortion and
sex selection:
estimate of more than 10 million [BBC, Jan 2006]
- annual 'girl deficit' due to prenatal sex selection and selective
abortion: 500,000
according to researchers for the Lancet Journal [BBC, Jan 2006]
- rape cases pending in courts across the country: 56,000 [Oct 2003]
- * registered cases of rape in Delhi 2004: 550 [BBC, Aug 2005]
- rape cases in Delhi 2002: convicted: 98 -- acquitted: 344
- age of rape victims in Delhi: 75% are minors, and of those 25 % are
below 12 years
- registered cases of eve-teasing for Mar - Aug 2003 in Indian
metropoles: Delhi: 744
-- Mumbai:27 -- Kolkata:30 -- Chennai:143
- cases of rape for Mar - Aug 2003 in Indian metropoles: Delhi: 262
-- Mumbai: 40
-- Kolkata: 18 -- Chennai: 21
- officially recorded dowry deaths in major cities combined (Delhi,
Mumbai, Calcutta,
Chennai): 2002: 181 -- 2001: 121
- cases of crimes against women registered with the police in
Himachal Pradesh
2002: 920 (including 137 for rape, 138 for kidnap, 6 for dowry)
- Haryana cost of buffalo: 18,000 - 24,000 Rs (approx 345 - 460 Euro)
- Haryana cost of girl (human trafficking): 4000 Rs (approx 77 Euro)
some crime statistics of Himachal Pradesh
- number of cases of crime in HP from Apr 2003 to May 2004: 1,617
registered cases
- top on the Human Rights violators' list in Himachal Pradesh: Police
(HP Human
Rights Commission received 148 complaints involving police, that is
43 percent of the
complaints)
- cases registered under the NDPS Act in HP: 2002: 312 -- 2003:310
(NDPS: Narcotics, Drugs & Psychotropic Substances) [HT Mar 04]
- amount of drugs recovered by police in HP: 2002: 720 kg charas, 35
kg opium
-- 2003: 420 kg charas, 35 kg opium, 1.5 kg brown sugar
- number of police personnel involved in the annual "Destroy
Cannabis" operation
in the village of Malana in HP Sep 2004: team of 200 people from
Narcotics Control
Bureau, Kullu police and Home Guards [HT Sep 04]
stats on "Destroy Cannabis" operation in Malana Sep 2003 in HP
- cannabis growing area destroyed in Malana and surrounding: 1,100
bigha
(1 hectare = 12 bigha)
- duration of operation "Destroy Cannabis": 8 days (15 - 23
september)
- number of police or soldiers or helpers: 250 or more
- longest cannabis plant found: 15 feet 7 inches
- possible production from destroyed area: 300 kg charas
- area of destruction of cannabis fields in previous years: 1998: 939
bighas
-- 1999: 224 bighas -- 2000: 1,200 bighas -- 2002: 676 bighas (1
hectare = 12 bigha)
data sources & key:
AT: Asia Times, BBC: BBC online, BRIT: Britannica 2002, BSNL: BSNL
Telecom Trends, BSt: Business Standard, CIA: CIA Factbook India, CIN:
censusindia.net, CNEI: Chandigarh Newsline, c/net: c/net news, ConSu:
Content Sutra DI: Daily India, DNA: DNA India, EB: EquityBull, EI:
ExpressIndia, EW: EconomyWatch, FE: Financial Express, FL: Frontline,
GG: Gujarat Global, GTF: Global Technology Forum, GBoWR: Guinness Book
of World Records, HT: Hindustan Times, ID: IndiaDaily, IInfoLine:
India InfoLine IND: The Independent, ITo: India Today, NPBS: Nature
PBS, PhO: PhysOrg, RED: Rediff, REU: Reuters, Sify: Sify Broadband,
TH: The Hindu, TNJ: The News (Jang), ToI: Times of India, TT: The
Tribune,
http://www.neoncarrot.co.uk/h_aboutindia/india_crime_stats.html
Specimen Data Tables : Crime and Law
Cognizable Crimes Registered in India
(1995 to 2001)
Year Num.of Offences Ratio (IPC : SLL) Rate/100000 Inhab. Total
1995 1695696 4297476 1:2.53 5993172 -
1996 1709576 4586986 1:2.68 6296562 675.6
1997 1719820 4691439 1:2.73 6411259 671.2
1998 1778815 4403288 1:2.47 6182103 636.7
1999 1764629 3198902 1:1.78 4911730 497.8
2000 1771084 3396666 1:1.92 5167750 515.7
2001 1769308 3575230 1:02:02 5344538 520.4
Abbr.: IPC : Indian Penal Code.
SLL : Special and Local Laws.
Crime against Women
Figures at All-India / State level : (Currently showing India with
State Level consolidated figures) Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
Arunachal Pradesh | Assam | Chhattisgarh | Delhi | Goa | Himachal
Pradesh | Jharkhand | Kerala | Madhya Pradesh | Maharashtra | Manipur
| Orissa | Punjab | Rajasthan | Tamil Nadu | Tripura | Uttar Pradesh |
Uttaranchal | West Bengal |
(Data table headings are shown Year-wise in descending order)
Number of Cases Registered at National Commission for Women (NCW)
Related to Alleged Attacks on Women/Girl by Nature of Complaints in
India (01.11.2008 to 31.10.2009)
State/Age-Group-wise Victims of Total Rape Cases in India (2007)
Crime Head-wise Incidents of Crime Against Women in India (2001 to
2006)
Incidents of Custodial Rape in Police Custody in India (1995 to
2006)
Proportion of Crime Against Woman (Indian Penal Code) toward total
Indian Penal Code Crimes in India (1996 to 2006)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (Women and Children) under
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 in India (2004 to 2006)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered for Atrocities against Women
and their Status in India (2006)
State-wise Number of Missing and Traced Men, Women and Children in
India (2006)
Number of Cases Detected and Persons Arrested in Flesh Trade in
India (2003 to 2005)
Selected City-wise Number of Crime Committed Against Women in India
(2005)
State/Selected City/Age-Group-wise Victims of Other (Rape) Cases in
India (2005)
State-wise Cases Registered and Case Charge Sheeted under Cruelty
by Husband and Relatives against Women in India (2001 to 2005)
State-wise Number of Cases of Procuration of Minor Girls, Selling/
Buying of Girls for Prostitution in India (2001 to 2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered for Atrocities against Women
and their Status in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered of Harassment (Molestation)
and Sexual Harassment of Women in India (2002 to 2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered Under Procuration of Minor
Girls in India (2003 to 2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered under Rape, Molestation and
Sexual Harassment in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Complaints for Harassment of Women at Work
Place Received and Disposed by National Commission for Women in India
(2002 to 2005)
State-wise Number of Complaints for Harassment of Women at Work
Place Received and Disposed of by Department of Women and Child
Development in India (2002 to 2005)
State-wise Number of Dowry Deaths Reported in India (1999 to
2005)
State-wise Number of Missing and Traced Men, Women and Children in
India (2005)
Cases Filed Against Clinics/Doctors for Communication of Sex of
Foetus in Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab (As on
31.3.2004)
Different Types of Crimes Committed Against Women in India (2001 to
2004)
Month-wise Number of Complaints Received by National Commission for
Women in India (April 2003 to March 2004)
Number of Complaints of Sexual Harassment Received in Prasar
Bharati in India (2001-2002 to 2003-2004)
State/Month-wise Atrocities Complaints Received Against Women by
National Commission for Women in India (2004)
State/Month-wise Atrocities Complaints Received Against Women by
National Commission for Women in India (2004)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered for Atrocities against Women
and their Status in India (2004)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered under Rape, Molestation and
Sexual Harassment in India (2002 to 2004)
State-wise Number of Complaints for Harassment of Women at Work
Place Received by National Commission for Women and Department of
Women and Child Development in India (2002 to 2004)
State-wise Number of Missing and Traced Men, Women and Children in
India (2004)
Number of Cases of Eve-Teasing and Rape Reported in Metropolitan
Cities of India (As on 1st March 2003 to 31st August, 2003)
Category/Month-wise Complaints Received in National Commission for
Women in India (2001-2002)
City-wise Number of Rapes and Rapes with Murders in India
(2000-2002)
Different Type of Crimes Committed Against Women in India (1998 to
2002)
Nature and Number of Complaints Received Against Women in India
(January 2000 to March 2002)
State-wise Cases Reported, Persons Arrested, Charge-Sheeted and
Convicted in Custodial Rape in India (2001 and 2002)
State-wise Number of Complaints Received regarding Crime against
Women in India (1997 to 2002)
State-wise Number of Missing Girls (14-18 Years) in India (2000 to
2002)
Category/Month-wise Complaints Received in National Commission of
Women in India (April, 2000 to March, 2001)
Missing Women Registered and Percentage of Women Recovered in Six
Metropolition Cities in India (1999 to 2001)
Number of Dowry Death Cases Reported in India (During 2000-2001)
State-wise Cases Disposal of Cruelty (Husband and Relatives) by
Police and Court in India (1999 to 2001)
State-wise Disposal of Dowry Prohibition Act Cases by Police and
Court in India (1999 to 2001)
State-wise Incidence of Incest Rape Cases Registered in India (1999
to 2001)
State-wise Incidence of Molestation and Percentage Variation Over
Previous Year in India (1999-2001)
State-wise Incidence of Procuration of Minor Girls, Selling/Buying
of Girls for Prostitution in India (During 2000 to 2001)
State-wise Incidence of Total Crime Committed Against Women in
India (1999 to 2001)
Crime Head-wise Incidents of Crime Against Women in India (1990 to
2000)
Different Types of Crimes Committed Against Women in India (1990 to
2000)
Disposal of Custodial Rape Cases by Courts in India (1995 to
2000)
Disposal of Custodial Rape Cases by Police in India (1995 to
2000)
State-wise Cases Reported, Persons Arrested, Charge-Sheeted and
Convicted in Custodial Rape in India (1998 to 2000)
State-wise Incidence of Rape (upto Available Month) in India (1998
to 2000)
State-wise Incidence of Sexual Harassment and Total Crime Committed
Against Women in India (1998 to 2000)
State-wise Number of Complaints handled by the National Commission
for Women in India (1998 to 2000)
State-wise Rape Cases Reported, Chargesheeted and Convicted in
India (During 1999-2000)
State-wise Trade of Girls for Prostitution in India (1999 and
2000)
Disposal of Crimes Against Women Cases by Courts in India (1997 to
1999)
Disposal of Crimes Against Women Cases by Police in India (1997 to
1999)
State-wise Incidence of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, Indecent
Representation of Women (Pre.) Act, Dowry Prohibition Act Committed
Against Women in India (1999) - Part III
State-wise Incidence of Molestation, Sexual Harassment (Eve-
Teasing), Importing of Girls Committed Against Women in India (1999) -
Part II
State-wise Incidence of Procuration of Minor Girls, Selling/Buying
of Girls for Prostitution in India (During 1998 to 1999)
State-wise Incidence of Rape, Kidnapping and Abduction, Dowry
Deaths and Cruelty by Husband and Relatives Committed Against Women in
India (1999) - Part I
Percentage Distribution of Various Crimes against Women in India
(1998)
State/Cities-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide Not
Amounting to Murder (C.H.) in India (1998) - Part I
State/Cities-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide Not
Amounting to Murder (C.H.) in India (1998) - Part II
State-wise Incidence of Immoral Traffic (P) Act, Indecent Rep. Of
Women (P) Act, Dowry Proh. Act Committed Against Women in India (1998)
- Part III
State-wise Incidence of Molestation, Eve-Teasing, Importing of
Girls and Sati-Prevention Act Committed Against Women in India (1998)
- Part II
State-wise Incidence of Rape, Kidnapping and Abduction, Dowry
Deaths and Cruelty by Husband and Relatives Committed Against Women in
India (1998) - Part I
Incidence and Rate of Crime Committed Against Women
Offenders Relation and Proximity to Rape Victims
Victims of Rape under Different Age Group
Releted Links
Indicators on Other Attainment
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/incidenceofcrime/130/crimeagainstwomen/17911/stats.aspx
Foetiside
Figures at All-India / State level : (Currently showing India with
State Level consolidated figures) Rajasthan |
(Data table headings are shown Year-wise in descending order)
Selected State-wise Number of Ultra-Sound Machines Sealed for Non-
Maintenance of Records/Non-Registration under Pre-Conception and Pre-
Natal Determination Techniques Act (PC & PNDT) in India (2005 and
2006)
State-wise Incidence of Female Foeticide in India (1994 to 2007)
State-wise Incidence of Female Infanticide in India (1999 to
2007)
State-wise Number of Bodies Registered, Court/Police Cases and
Machines Seized/Sealed under Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act 1994, in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Complaints Filed in Courts against Violators
of PC and PNDT Act/Rules in India (As on 31.7.2005)
State-wise Number of Bodies Registered, Court/Police Cases and
Machines Seized/Sealed under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act 1994, in India (As on
31.3.2004)
State-wise Cases of Foeticide/Female Infanticide in India (2001 to
2003)
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/incidenceofcrime/130/foetiside/207039/stats.aspx
State/City-wise Incidence and Rate of Crime Committed
Against Women in India
(2000)
1 State/City
2 Incidence
3 % of Contrib.to All-India Total
4 Est.Mid -Year Pop.(In Lakh)
5 Rate of Cognizable Crimes
6 Rank*
7 Rank**
Andhra Pradesh
1 2 3 4 5 6
14299 10.1 758.5 18.9 4 3
Arunachal Pradesh
143 0.1 12.0 11.9 16 21
Assam
3732 2.6 263.0 14.2 11 13
Bihar
6299 4.5 1005.6 6.3 25 8
Goa
100 0.1 16.1 6.2 26 24
Gujarat
6140 4.3 484.9 12.7 14 9
Haryana 2.3 199.3 16.6 7 14
Himachal Pradesh
842 0.6 67.4 12.5 15 18
Jammu & Kashmir
1634 1.2 99.9 16.4 8 17
Karnataka
5852 4.1 523.0 11.2 19 10
Kerala 3.5 323.5 15.4 9 11
Madhya Pradesh
17902 12.7 802.3 22.3 2 2
Maharashtra
13177 9.3 914.3 14.4 10 5
Manipur
74 0.1 25.4 2.9 29 25
Meghalya
69 0.0 24.5 2.8 30 26
Mizoram
133 0.1 9.6 13.9 12 22
Nagaland
22 0.0 17.0 1.3 32 28
Orissa
4717 3.3 359 6 13.1 13 12
Punjab
2156 1.5 236.2 9.1 21 16
Rajasthan
12942 9.2 538 7 24.0 1 6
Sikkim
21 0.0 5.6 3.7 28 29
Tamil Nadu
13732 9.7 619 3 22.2 3 4
Tripura
330 0.2 38.1 8.7 24 19
Uttar Pradesh
18920 13.4 1715.4 11.0 20 1
West Bengal
7043 5.0 793.3 8.9 22 7
Total States
138572 98.0 9852 4 14.1 - -
Total (All-India)
141373 100.0 10021.4 14.1 - -
Cities
Ahmedabad
510
3.0
42.8
11.9
18
10
Bangalore
1255
7.5
57.1
22.0
7
3
Bhopal
320
1.9
16.9
19.0
10
15
Chennai
4037
24.0
67.5
59.8
1
1
Coimbatore
283
1.7
13.0
21.8
8
17
Delhi (City)
2122
12.6
120.6
17.6
11
2
Hyderabad
1227
7.3
71.5
17.2
12
4
Indore
372
2.2
14.6
25.6
5
13
Jaipur
804
4.8
22.1
36.4
3
7
Kanpur
956
5.7
24.8
38.6
2
5
Kochi
125
0.7
18.3
6.8
21
23
Kolkata
558
3.3
130.6
4.3
23
9
Lucknow
683
4.1
26.7
25.5
6
8
Ludhiana
289
1.7
17.3
16.7
13
16
Madurai
380
2.3
12.8
29.6
4
12
Mumbai
888
5.3
187.1
4.7
22
6
Nagpur
443
2.6
20.9
21.2
9
11
Patna
212
1.3
13.0
16.3
14
21
Pune
352
2.1
35.9
9.8
20
14
Surat
243
1.4
24.4
10.0
19
19
Vadodara
240
1.4
16.6
14.5
17
20
Varanasi
206
1.2
13.1
15.7
16
22
Vishakhapatnam
282
1.7
17.8
15.8
15
18
Total (Cities)
16787
100.0
985.4
17.0
-
-
Note : * : Rank on the basis of rate of total cognizable crime.
** : Rank on the basis of Percentage share.
http://www.indiastat.com/6/specimen.aspx
Crime against SC/ST
Figures at All-India / State level : (Currently showing India with
State Level consolidated figures) | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | Andhra
Pradesh | Arunachal Pradesh | Assam | Bihar | Chandigarh |
Chhattisgarh | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | Daman & Diu | Delhi | Goa |
Gujarat | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Jharkhand |
Karnataka | Kerala | Lakshadweep | Madhya Pradesh | Maharashtra |
Manipur | Meghalaya | Mizoram | Nagaland | Orissa | Pondicherry |
Punjab | Rajasthan | Sikkim | Tamil Nadu | Tripura | Uttar Pradesh |
Uttaranchal | West Bengal |
(Data table headings are shown Year-wise in descending order)
Selected State-wise Central Assistance Released and Utilised under
Provision of Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989) in India
(2005-2006 to 2007-2008)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Scheduled Tribes by Court in India (2006)
State-wise Incidence (I), Rate (R) and Percentage Contribution (P)
of Crime Committed Against Scheduled Tribes in India (2006) - Part I
State-wise Number of Cases Ending Conviction under Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act. 1989) in India
(2004 to 2006)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered under Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in India (1998
to 2006)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Scheduled Tribes by Court in India (2005)
State-wise Funds Released Under Protection of Civil Rights Act,
1955 and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of
Atrocities Act, 1989) in India (1997-1998 to 2004-2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under Hurt of Scheduled
Castes (SC) (In Conjunction with SC/ST (P) of Atrocities Act) and PCR
Act in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under Hurt of Scheduled
Tribe (ST) (In Conjunction with SC/ST (P) of Atrocities Act) and PCR
Act in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under Kidnapping and
Abduction and Dacoity of Scheduled Tribe (ST) (In Conjunction with SC/
ST (P) of Atrocities Act) in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under Murder and Rape of
Scheduled Tribe (ST) (In Conjunction with SC/ST (P) of Atrocities Act)
in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under Robbery and Arson of
Scheduled Castes (SC) (In Conjunction with SC/ST (P) of Atrocities
Act) in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under Robbery and Arson of
Scheduled Tribe (ST) (In Conjunction with SC/ST (P) of Atrocities Act)
in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under SC/ST (P) of
Atrocities Act Only and Other Crimes Against Scheduled Castes (SC) in
India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered (CR), Persons Arrested (PA),
Persons Chargesheeted (PC), Total Persons Tried (PT), Persons
Convicted (PV) and Persons Acquitted (PQ) under SC/ST (P) of
Atrocities Act Only and Other Crimes against Scheduled Tribe (ST) in
India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered , Persons Arrested , Persons
Chargesheeted , Total Persons Tried , Persons Convicted and Persons
Acquitted under Kidnapping and Abduction and Dacoity of SC (In
Conjunction with SC/ST (P) of Atrocities Act) in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered, Persons Arrested, Persons
Chargesheeted, Total Persons Tried, Persons Convicted and Persons
Acquitted under Murder and Rape of SC (In Conjunction with SC/ST (P)
of Atrocities Act) in India (2005)
State-wise Number of Murder Cases Registered Against Scheduled
Caste and Scheduled Tribe in India (2005)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Scheduled Tribes by Court in India (2004)
State-wise Number of Atrocities Cases Registered under Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in
India (2002 to 2004)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Scheduled Tribes by Court in India (2003)
Number of Cases Registered under SC/ST (POA Act 1989 and PCR Act,
1955) in India (1997 to 2003)
State-wise Cases under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in Regard to Disposal of Cases by
Courts, Cases Ending in Conviction and Cases Pending in Courts in
India (1999 to 2003)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered by Police, Charge Sheeted in
Courts and Cases Disposed Off by Courts under Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in India
(2003)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Scheduled Tribes by Court in India (2002)
Selected State-wise Showing Disposal of Cases by Exclusive Special
Courts Booked Under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention
of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in India (31.12.2002)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered by Police, Charge Sheeted in
Courts and Cases Disposed Off by Courts under Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in India
(2002)
State-wise Police Atrocities Against Tribals in India (2000 to
2002)
State-wise Murder Committed Against SC/ST by Non-SC and ST in India
(2001 Upto available Months)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered by Police, Charge Sheeted in
the Courts and Cases Disposed off by Courts Under the Scheduled Castes
and the Secheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) in India Act,
1989 (2001)
Number of Crimes Against Scheduled Castes in India (1991 to 2000)
Percentage Share and Variation in IPC Crimes Against Scheduled
Castes in Total IPC Crimes in India (1992 to 2000)
State/UT with Maximum Percentage Contribution to Crimes against
Scheduled Caste in India (2000)
States with Maximum Percentage Contribution towards Various forms
of Crimes Committed against Scheduled Tribes (2000)
State-wise Number of Cases Acquital under Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in India (During
1998 to 2000)
State-wise Number of Cases Chargesheeted in Courts under Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in
India (During 1998 to 2000)
State-wise Number of Cases Conviction under Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in India (During
1998 to 2000)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered, Charge Sheeted in the Courts
and Cases Disposed off by Courts Under the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) in India Act, 1989 in
India (2000)
State-wise Number of Cases Registered, Charge Sheeted in the Courts
and Cases Disposed off by Courts Under the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) in India Act, 1989 (1999)
Cases Registered with Police under Different Crimes Head and
Atrocities on Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in India
(1995 to 1997)
Disposal of Cases for Committed Crimes Against Scheduled Castes by
Courts/Police
Disposal of Cases for Committed Crimes Against Scheduled Tribes by
Courts/Police
Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes Against
Scheduled Castes by Courts/Police
Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes Against
Scheduled Tribes by Courts/Police
Incidence of Crimes Against Scheduled Castes
Incidence of Crimes Against Scheduled Tribes
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/incidenceofcrime/130/crimeagainstscst/17913/stats.aspx
Juvenile Courts
Figures at All-India / State level : (Currently showing India with
State Level consolidated figures) Gujarat | Maharashtra | Meghalaya
|
(Data table headings are shown Year-wise in descending order)
Crime Head-wise Juveniles Apprehended under IPC and SLL Crimes by
Age-Group and Sex in India (2007)
Incidence and Rate of Juvenile Delinquency under IPC in India (1988
to 2007)
Juveniles Apprehended Under IPC and SLL Crimes By Age Groups in
India (1993 to 2007)
Crime Head-wise Juveniles Apprehended under IPC and SLL Crimes by
Age Groups and Sex in India (2006)
Crime-wise Juvenile Delinquency IPC Cases in India (1995, 2000 to
2006)
Juvenile Delinquency (SLL) Under Different Crime Heads in India
(2000 to 2006)
Juveniles Apprehended by Age Group and Sex in India (1971, 1981,
1986, 1987, 1988 and 1991 to 2006)
State-wise Number of Juvenile Justice Boards and Homes Setup under
Provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act,
2000 in India (2006)
State-wise Number of Juveniles Staying in Observation Homes Set up
under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 in
India (August, 2006)
Crime Head-wise Juveniles Apprehended under IPC and SLL Crimes by
Age Groups and Sex in India (2005)
Disposal of Juveniles Arrested under IPC and LSL Crimes in India
(1988 to 2005)
Juveniles Apprehended under Congnizable Crime in India (1971, 1981,
1986, 1987, 1988 and 1991 to 2005)
Juveniles Arrested under IPC Cognizable Crime and Offences under
Local and Special Laws in India (1968, 1971, 1981, 1986, 1988 and 1991
to 2005) - Part I
Juveniles Arrested under IPC Cognizable Crime and Offences under
Local and Special Laws in India (1968, 1971, 1981, 1986, 1988 and 1991
to 2005) - Part II
Crime Head-wise Juveniles Apprehended under IPC and SLL Crimes by
Age Groups and Sex in India (2004)
Juvenile Delinquency in India (1971 to 2004)
Crime Head-wise Juveniles Apprehended under IPC and SLL Crimes by
Age Groups and Sex in India (2003)
Crime-wise Juveniles Apprehended by Age Group and Sex in India
(2003)
Juvenile Delinquency under Local and Special Laws (Cases Reported)
in India (1971, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1991 to 2003)
State-wise Central Assistance Released under Programme for Juvenile
Justice in India (1997-1998 to 2002-2003)
Crime-wise Juveniles Apprehended by Age Group and Sex in India
(2001)
State-wise Number of Juvenile Courts and Junvenile Welfare Boards
in India (2000-2001)
Crime-wise Juvenile Delinquency IPC Cases in India (1991 to 2000)
Juveniles Apprehended by Age Group and Sex in India (2000)
State/City-wise Disposal of Juveniles Arrested under IPC and LSL
Crimes in India (2000)
State/City-wise Juvenile Delinquency IPC Cases in India (2000)
State/City-wise Juvenile Delinquency under Local and Special Laws
(Cases Reported) in India (2000)
State/City-wise Juveniles Delinquency Under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (2000) - Part I
State/City-wise Juveniles Apprehended Under Congnizable Crime in
India (2000)
State/City-wise Juveniles Arrested under IPC Cognizable Crime and
Offences under Local and Special Laws in India (2000) - Part I
State/City-wise Juveniles Arrested under IPC Cognizable Crime and
Offences Under Local and Special Laws in India (2000) - Part II
State/City-wise Juveniles Delinquency Under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (2000) - Part II
State/City-wise Juveniles Delinquency Under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (2000) - Part III
State/City-wise Juveniles Delinquency Under Different Crime Heads
(SLL) in India (2000) - Part I
State/City-wise Juveniles Delinquency Under Different Crime Heads
(SLL) in India (2000) - Part II
State-wise Juvenile Delinquency under IPC in India (During 1998 to
2000)
Juveniles Apprehended by Age Group and Sex in India (1999)
State/City-wise Juveniles Apprehended under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (During 1999) - Part I
State/City-wise Juveniles Apprehended under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (During 1999) - Part II
State/City-wise Juveniles Apprehended under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (During 1999) - Part III
States/City-wise Juvenile Delinquency under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (During 1999) - Part I
States/City-wise Juvenile Delinquency under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (During 1999) - Part II
States/City-wise Juvenile Delinquency under Different Crime Heads
(IPC) in India (During 1999) - Part III
States/City-wise Juvenile Delinquency under Different Crime Heads
(SLL) in India (During 1999) - Part I
States/City-wise Juvenile Delinquency under Different Crime Heads
(SLL) in India (During 1999) - Part II
States/City-wise Juveniles Apprehended under Different Crime Heads
(SLL) in India (During 1999) - Part I
States/City-wise Juveniles Apprehended under Different Crime Heads
(SLL) in India (During 1999) - Part II
States/UTs/Citywise Classification of Juveniles Arrested under IPC
and SLL Crimes by Economic-Setup and Recidivism in India (During
1999)
States/UTs/Citywise Classification of Juveniles Arrested under IPC
and SLL Crimes by Education and Family Background in India (During
1999)
States/UTs/Citywise Juveniles Apprehended under IPC Crimes by Age
Group and Sex in India (1999)
States/UTs/Citywise Juveniles Apprehended under SLL Crimes by Age
Group and Sex in India (1999)
State-wise Disposal of Juveniles Arrested under IPC and SLL Crimes
and Sent to Courts in India (1999)
State-wise Number of Juvenile Homes/Observation Homes/Special Homes/
Aftercare Institutions in India (1997-1998)
Crime Head-wise Juveniles Apprehended under IPC and SLL Crimes by
Age Groups and Sex in India (1996)
State-wise Juveniles Apprehended by Sex for Committing Crime under
IPC and SLL in India (During 1996)
State-wise Juveniles Apprehended under Different SLL Crimes in
India (1996) - Part I
State-wise Juveniles Apprehended under Different SLL Crimes in
India (1996) - Part II
State-wise Juveniles Apprehended under SLL Crimes by Age Group and
Sex in India (1996)
Crime Head-wise Juveniles Apprehended by Age Groups and Sex in
India (1995)
Juveniles Arrested under IPC Cognizable Crime and Offences under
Local and Special Laws in India (1968, 1971, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1991 to
1995) - Part III
State-wise Institution under the Juvenile Justice Act in India
(1994-1995)
Crime-wise Juvenile Delinquency IPC Cases in India (1968, 1971,
1981, 1986 and 1988)
State-wise Institutions for Neglected and Delinquent Children under
the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 in India
State-wise Welfare Boards and Juvenile Courts under the Juvenile
Justice Act, 1986 in India
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/juvenilecourts/148/stats.aspx
Crime against Child
Figures at All-India / State level : (Currently showing India with
State Level consolidated figures) Andaman & Nicobar Islands | Andhra
Pradesh | Arunachal Pradesh | Assam | Bihar | Chandigarh |
Chhattisgarh | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | Daman & Diu | Delhi | Goa |
Gujarat | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Jharkhand |
Karnataka | Kerala | Madhya Pradesh | Maharashtra | Manipur |
Meghalaya | Mizoram | Nagaland | Orissa | Pondicherry | Punjab |
Rajasthan | Sikkim | Tamil Nadu | Tripura | Uttar Pradesh |
Uttaranchal | West Bengal |
(Data table headings are shown Year-wise in descending order)
State/Sex-wise Number of Children Traced in India (2005 to 2007)
State-wise Number of Children Missing (upto Age of 0-18 Years) in
India (2004 to 2007)
State-wise Persons Arrested under Kidnapping and Abduction in India
(2007)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committed Crimes
Against Children by Court in India (2006)
Number of Cases of Murder, Rape and Kidnapping of Abduction of
Children in (NCR Regions of Delhi) India (2004 to 2006)
State-wise Cases Registered Under Child Marriage Restraint Act in
India (March to June, 2006)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committed Crimes
Against Children by Court in India (2005)
State-wise Cases Registered, Charged sheeted, Trial Completed,
Convicted and Person Convicted Under Child Marriage Restraint Act in
India (2003 to 2005)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committed Crimes
Against Children by Court in India (2004)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Children by Court in India (2003)
State-wise Cases Registered, Charged sheeted, Trial Completed,
Convicted and Person Convicted Under Child Marriage Restraint Act in
India (2001 to 2003)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Children by Court in India (2002)
Victims of Child Rape in India (1992-2002)
Crime-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committed Crimes
Against Children by Court in India (2001)
State-wise Child Rape Victims (upto 14 years) in India (2001)
State-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committing Crimes
Against Children by Court in India (2001)
State-wise Disposal of Persons Arrested for Crimes Committed
Against Children by Police in India (2001)
State-wise Number of Cases Reported under Child Marriage Restraint
Act, 1929 in India (1999 to 2001)
Disposal of Cases for Committed Crimes Against Children by Courts/
Police
Disposal of Persons Arrested for Committed Crimes Against Children
by Courts/Police
Incidence and Rate of Committed Crimes Against Children
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/incidenceofcrime/130/crimeagainstchild/17912/stats.aspx
Violent Crimes
Figures at All-India / State level : (Currently showing India with
State Level consolidated figures) Delhi | Punjab | Tamil Nadu |
(Data table headings are shown Year-wise in descending order)
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to
Murder in India (2007) - Part I
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to
Murder in India (2007) - Part II
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Murder in India (2007) - Part I
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Murder in India (2007) - Part II
State/City-wise Number of Unidentified Dead Bodies Recovered and
Inquest Conducted in India (2000 to 2007)
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2007) -
Part I
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2007) -
Part II
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2007) -
Part III
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2007) -
Part IV
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2007) -
Part V
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2007) -
Part VI
State-wise Incidence and Rate of Violent Crimes in India (2007) -
Part I
State-wise Incidence and Rate of Violent Crimes in India (2007) -
Part II
State-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to
Murder (C. H.) in India (2007) - Part I
State-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to
Murder (C. H.) in India (2007) - Part II
State-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to
Murder (C. H.) in India (2007) - Part III
State-wise Number of Cases Registered /Disposed under Violation of
Human Rights in India (2004-2005 to 2006-2007)
State-wise Number of Victims Murdered by Use of Fire Arms in India
(2007)
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to
Murder in India (2006 ) - Part I
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to
Murder in India (2006 ) - Part II
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Murder in India (2006) - Part I
State/Age Group-wise Victims of Murder in India (2006) - Part II
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2006) -
Part I
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2006) -
Part II
State-wise Disposal of Violent Crimes by Courts in India (2006) -
Part III
State-wise Incidence and Rate of Violent Crimes in India (2006) -
Part I
State-wise Incidence and Rate of Violent Crimes in India (2006) -
Part II
State-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide not Amounting to
Murder (C.H.) in India (2006) - Part I
State-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide not Amounting to
Murder (C.H.) in India (2006) - Part II
State-wise Motives of Murder and Culpable Homicide not Amounting to
Murder (C.H.) in India (2006) - Part III
State-wise Number of Victims Murdered by Use of Fire Arms in India
(2006)
State-wise Number of Victims Murdered by Use of Fire Arms in India
(2003 to 2005)
Violent Crime (2004 and 2005)
Age Group/Gender-wise Victims of Culpable Homicide not Amounting to
Murder in India (2002 to 2004)
Age Group/Gender-wise Victims of Murder in India (2002 to 2004)
Age Group-wise Victims of Kidnapping and Abduction in India (2001
to 2004)
Crime Rate for Violent Crimes under IPC in India (1996 to 2004)
State/Age Group/Sex-wise Victims of Culpable Homicide Not Amounting
to Murder in India (2004) - Part I
State-wise Percentage Share of Violent Crimes to Total IPC Crimes
in India (2000 to 2004)
Victims of Murder by Fire-Arms in India (1999 to 2004)
Violent Crimes Reported in India (1996 to 2004)
State-wise Murder Cases Pending Investigation in India (1991 to
2003)
Violent Crime (2002 and 2003)
State-wise Number of Victims Murdered by Use of Fire Arms in India
(2001 and 2002)
Age/Gender-wise Profile of Victims of Murder in India (1999 to
2001)
Age/Gender-wise Victims of C.H. not amounting to Murder in India
(1999 to 2001)
State-wise Left Wing Extremist Violence in India (During 2000 and
2001)
Violent Crime (2000 and 2001)
Age-wise Victims of Kidnapping and Abduction in India ( 1999 and
2000)
Violent Crimes (1999)
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/incidenceofcrime/130/violentcrimes/17910/stats.aspx
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/incidenceofcrime/130/stats.aspx
http://www.indiastat.com/crimeandlaw/6/stats.aspx
...and I am Sid harth
bademiyansubhanallah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crime is present in various forms in India. Organized crime include
drug trafficking, gunrunning, money laundering, extortion, murder for
hire, fraud, human trafficking and poaching. Many criminal operations
engage in black marketeering, political violence, religiously
motivated violence, terrorism, and abduction. Other crimes are
homicide, robbery, assault etc. Property crimes include burglary,
theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Corruption is a significant
problem.
Crimes against women
Main article: Women in India
Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India.
The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth
rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population
growth rate by 2010.[1] Earlier, many cases were not registered with
the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation
cases. Official statistics show that there has been a dramatic
increase in the number of reported crimes against women.[1]
Sexual Harassment
Half of the total number of crimes against women reported in 1990
related to molestation and harassment at the workplace.[1] Eve teasing
is a euphemism used for sexual harassment or molestation of women by
men. Many activists blame the rising incidents of sexual harassment
against women on the influence of "Western culture". In 1987, The
Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed[2] to
prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or in
publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner.
In 1997, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of India took a
strong stand against sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The
Court also laid down detailed guidelines for prevention and redressal
of grievances. The National Commission for Women subsequently
elaborated these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers.[1]
While public urination is not practised by men of all ages in India,
it is socially unacceptable for girls and women to publicly urinate
when restrooms are unavailable. In other countries such as Laos,
Cambodia, and Vietnam public urination is practised by women when
there are no toilets. This leads to harassment and UTI in women.
[3] [4] [5] [6]
Dowry
Main articles: Dowry and Dowry law in India
In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act,[7]
making the dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However,
many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides and murders
have been reported. In the 1980s, numerous such cases were reported.
However, recent reports show that the number of these crimes have
reduced drastically.[8]
In 1985, the Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to
the bride and bridegroom) rules were framed.[9]
According to these rules, a signed list of presents given at the time
of the marriage to the bride and the bridegroom should be maintained.
The list should contain a brief description of each present, its
approximate value, the name of whoever has given the present and his/
her relationship to the person.
A 1997 report[10]
claimed that at least 5,000 women die each year because of dowry
deaths, and at least a dozen die each day in 'kitchen fires' thought
to be intentional. The term for this is "bride burning" and is
criticized within India itself. Amongst the urban educated, such dowry
abuse has reduced dramatically.
Child Marriage
Child marriage has been traditionally prevalent in India and continues
to this day. Young girls live with their parents until they reach
puberty. In the past, the child widows were condemned to a life of
great agony, shaving heads, living in isolation, and shunned by the
society.[11]
Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is still a common
practice.[12]
According to UNICEF’s “State of the World’s Children-2009” report, 47%
of India's women aged 20–24 were married before the legal age of 18,
with 56% in rural areas.[13]
The report also showed that 40% of the world's child marriages occur
in India.[14]
Female infanticides and sex selective abortions
India has a highly masculine sex ratio, the chief reason being that
many women die before reaching adulthood.[1]
Tribal societies in India have a less masculine sex ratio than all
other caste groups. This, in spite of the fact that tribal communities
have far lower levels of income, literacy and health facilities.[1]
It is therefore suggested by many experts, that the highly masculine
sex ratio in India can be attributed to female infanticides and sex-
selective abortions.
All medical tests that can be used to determine the sex of the child
have been banned in India, due to incidents of these tests being used
to get rid of unwanted female children before birth. Female
infanticide (killing of girl infants) is still prevalent in some rural
areas.[1]
The abuse of the dowry tradition has been one of the main reasons for
sex-selective abortions and female infanticides in India.
Domestic violence
The incidents of domestive violence are higher among the lower Socio-
Economic Classes (SECs). There are various instances of an inebriated
husband beating up the wife often leading to severe injuries. Domestic
violence is also seen in the form of physical abuse. The Protection of
Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 came into force on October 26,
2006.
Trafficking
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was passed in 1956.[15]
However many cases of trafficking of young girls and women have been
reported. These women are either forced into prostitution, domestic
work or child labor.
Illegal drug trade
India is located between two major illicit opium producing centres in
Asia - the Golden Crescent comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran
and the Golden Triangle comprising Burma, Thailand and Laos.[16]
Because of such geographical location, India experiences large amount
of drug trafficking through the borders.[17]
India is the world's largest producer of licit opium.[18]
But opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets.[18]
India is a transshipment point for heroin from Southwest Asian
countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan and from Southeast Asian
countries like Burma, Laos, and Thailand.[19]
Heroin is smuggled from Pakistan and Burma, with some quantities
transshipped through Nepal.[19]
Most heroin shipped from India are destined for Europe.[19]
There have been reports of heroin smuggled from Mumbai to Nigeria for
further export.[19]
In Maharashtra, Mumbai is an important centre for distribution of drug.
[20] The most commonly used drug in Mumbai is Indian heroin (called
desi mal by the local population).[20]
Both public transportation (road and rail transportation) and private
transportation are used for this drug trade.[20]
Drug trafficking affects the country in many ways.
Drug abuse: Cultivation of illicit narcotic substances and drug
trafficking affects the health of the individuals and destroy the
economic structure of the family and society.[21]
Organized crime: Drug trafficking results in growth of organized crime
which affects social security. Organised crime connects drug
trafficking with corruption and money laundering.[21]
Political instability: Drug trafficking also aggravate the political
instability in North-West and North-East India.[22]
A survey conducted in 2003-2004 by Narcotics Control Bureau found that
India has at least four million drug addicts.[23]
The most common drugs used in India are cannabis, hashish, opium and
heroin.[23]
In 2006 alone, India's law enforcing agencies recovered 230 kg heroin
and 203 kg of cocaine.[24]
In an annual government report in 2007, the United States named India
among 20 major hubs for trafficking of illegal drugs along with
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Burma. However, studies reveal that most of
the criminals caught in this crime are either Nigerian or US nationals.
[25]
Several measures have been taken by the Government of India to combat
drug trafficking in the country. India is a party of the Single
Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961), the Convention on Psychotropic
Substances (1971), the Protocol Amending the Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs (1972) and the United Nations Convention Against
Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988).
[26]
An Indo-Pakistani committee was set up in 1986 to prevent trafficking
in narcotic drugs.[27]
India signed a convention with the United Arab Emirates in 1994 to
control drug trafficking.[27]
In 1995, India signed an agreement with Egypt for investigation of
drug cases and exchange of information and a Memorandum of
Understanding of the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Drugs with
Iran.[27]
Arms trafficking
According to a joint report published by Oxfam, Amnesty International
and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) in 2006,
there are around 40 million illegal small arms in India out of
approximately 75 million in worldwide circulation.[28]
Majority of the illegal small arms make its way into the states of
Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya
Pradesh.[28]
In India, a used AK-47 costs $3,800 in black market.[29]
Large amount of illegal small arms are manufactured in various illegal
arms factories in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and sold on the black market
for as little as $5.08.[28]
Chinese pistols are in demand in the illegal small arms market in
India because they are easily available and cheaper.[28]
This trend poses a significant problem for the states of Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal,
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh which have influence of Naxalism.[28]
The porous Indo-Nepal border is an entry point for Chinese pistols,
AK-47 and M-16 rifles into India as these arms are used by the
Naxalites who have ties to Maoists in Nepal.[28]
In North-East India, there is a huge influx of small arms due to the
insurgent groups operating there.[30]
The small arms in North-East India come from insurgent groups in
Burma, black market in South-East Asian countries like Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, black market in Cambodia, the
People's Republic of China, insurgent groups like the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Indian states like Uttar Pradesh
and pilferages from legal gun factories, criminal organizations
operating in India and South Asian countries and other international
markets like Romania, Germany etc.[30]
The small arms found in North-East India are M14 rifle, M16 rifle,
AK-47, AK-56, AK-74, light machine guns, Chinese hand grenades, mines,
rocket-propelled grenades, submachine guns etc.[30]
The Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs drafted
a joint proposal to the United Nations, seeking a global ban on small-
arms sales to non-state users.[28]
Poaching and wildlife trafficking
Illegal wildlife trade in India has increased.[31]
According to a report published by the Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA) in 2004, India is the chief target for the traders of
wildlife skin.[32] Between 1994 and 2003, there have been 784 cases
where the skins of tiger, leopard or otter have been seized.[32]
Leopards, rhinoceros, reptiles, birds, insects, rare species of plants
are being smuggled into the countries in Southeast Asia and the
People's Republic of China.[31]
Between 1994 and 2003, poaching and seizure of 698 otters have been
documented in India.[32]
Kathmandu is a key staging point for illegal skins smuggled from India
bound for Tibet and PRC.[32]
The report by EIA noted there has been a lack of cross-border
cooperation between India, Nepal and the People's Republic of China to
coordinate enforcement operations and lack of political will to treat
wildlife crime effectively.[32]
The poaching of the elephants is a significant problem in Southern
India[33]
and in the North-Eastern states of Nagaland and Mizoram.[34]
The majority of tiger poaching happen in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.[35]
Following is a comparison of reported cases of tiger and leopard
poaching from 1998 to 2003:
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Reported cases of tiger poaching[36] 14 38 39 35 47 8
Reported cases of leopard poaching[36] 28 80 201 69 87 15
Samir Sinha, head of TRAFFIC India, the wildlife trade monitoring arm
of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Conservation
Union (IUCN), told Reuters in an interview "The situation regarding
the illegal trade in wildlife parts in India is very grim. It is a
vast, a varied trade ranging from smuggling of rare medicinal plants
to butterflies to peafowls to tigers and it is difficult to predict
how big it is, but the threats and dimensions suggest that the trade
is increasing".[31]
Project Tiger, a wildlife conservation project, was initiated in 1972
and was launched by Indira Gandhi on April 1, 1973.[37]
With 23 tiger reserves, Project Tiger claimed to have succeeded.[37]
But according to critics like conservationist Billy Arjan Singh,
temporary increases in tiger population were caused by immigration due
to destruction of habitat in Nepal, not because of the widely
acclaimed success of wildlife policy in India.[37]
Cyber crime
Cases of spam, computer hacking, cyber stalking and email fraud are
rampant in India.[38]
The Information Technology Act 2000 was passed by the Parliament of
India in May 2000, aiming to curb cyber crimes and provide a legal
framework for e-commerce transactions.[39]
However Pavan Duggal, lawyer of Supreme Court of India and cyber law
expert, viewed "The IT Act, 2000, is primarily meant to be a
legislation to promote e-commerce. It is not very effective in dealing
with several emerging cyber crimes like cyber harassment, defamation,
stalking and so on".[38]
Although cyber crime cells have been set up in major cities, Duggal
noted the problem is that most cases remain unreported due to a lack
of awareness.[38]
In 2001, India and United States had set up an India-US cyber security
forum as part of a counter-terrorism dialogue.[40]
In 2006, India and the US agreed to enhance cooperation between law
enforcement agencies of the two countries in tackling cyber crimes as
part of counter-terrorism efforts.[40]
A joint US-India statement released in 2006 after talks between US
President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
stressed that in view of the importance of cyber security and cyber
forensic research, the two countries are also carrying out discussions
on a draft protocol on cyber security.[40]
Corruption and police misconduct
Main article: Corruption in India
Corruption is widespread in India. It is prevalent within every
section and every level of the society.[41]
Corruption has taken the role of a pervasive aspect of Indian politics.
[42]
In India, corruption takes the form of bribes, evasion of tax and
exchange controls, embezzlement, etc.
Despite state prohibitions against torture and custodial misconduct by
the police, torture is widespread in police custody, which is a major
reason behind deaths in custody.[43][44]
The police often torture innocent people until a 'confession' is
obtained to save influential and wealthy offenders.[45]
G.P. Joshi, the programme coordinator of the Indian branch of the
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi comments that the
main issue at hand concerning police violence is a lack of
accountability of the police.[46]
In 2006, the Supreme Court of India in a judgment in the Prakash Singh
vs. Union of India case, ordered central and state governments with
seven directives to begin the process of police reform. The main
objectives of this set of directives was twofold, providing tenure to
and streamlining the appointment/transfer processes of policemen, and
increasing the accountability of the police.[47]
In 2006, seven policemen were charge sheeted and eleven were
convicted[48]
for custodial misconduct.
Crime over time
Incidence of cognizable crimes in India 1953-2007[49]
A report published by the National Crime Records Bureau compared crime
rate from 1953 to 2006. The report noted that burglary declined over a
period of 53 years by 38% (from 1,47,379 in 1953 to 91,666 in 2006),
whereas murder has increased by 231% (from 9,803 in 1953 to 32,481 in
2006).[50]
Kidnapping has increased by 356% (from 5,261 in 1953 to 23,991 in
2006), robbery by 120% (from 8,407 in 1953 to 18,456 in 2006) and
riots by 176% (from 20,529 in 1953 to 56,641 in 2006).[50]
In 2006, 51,02,460 cognizable crimes were committed including
18,78,293 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 32,24,167 Special & Local
Laws (SLL) crimes, with an increase of 1.5% over 2005 (50,26,337).
[48]
IPC crime rate in 2006 was 167.7 compared to 165.3 in 2005 showing an
increase of 1.5% in 2006 over 2005.[48]
SLL crime rate in 2006 was 287.9 compared to 290.5 in 2005 showing a
decline of 0.9% in 2006 over 2005.[48]
Year[50] Total cog. crimes under IPC Murder Kidnapping Robbery
Burglary Riots
1953 6, 01, 964 9,802 5,261 8,407 147,
379 20, 529
2006 18, 78, 293 32,481 23,991 18,456 91,
666 56, 641
% Change in 2006 over 1953
212.0 231.0 356.0
120.0 -38.0 176.0
SOURCE: National Crime Records Bureau[50]
Crime by locale
Location has a significant impact on crime in India. In 2006, the
highest crime rate was reported in Pondicherry (447.7%) for crimes
under Indian Penal Code which is 2.7 times the national crime rate of
167.7%.[48]
Kerala reported the highest crime rate at 312.5% among states.[48]
Kolkata (71.0%) and Madurai (206.2%) were the only two mega cities
which reported less crime rate than their domain states West Bengal
(79.0%) and Tamil Nadu (227.6%).[48] Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore have
accounted for 16.2%, 9.5% and 8.1% respectively of the total IPC
crimes reported from 35 mega cities.[48]
Indore reported the highest crime rate (769.1%) among the mega cities
in India followed by Bhopal (719.5%) and Jaipur (597.1%).[48]
Jammu & Kashmir (33.7%), Manipur (33.0%), Assam (30.4%) and Daman and
Diu and Pondicherry (29.4%) reported higher violent crime rate
compared to 18.4% at national level.[48]
Uttar Pradesh reported the highest incidence of violent crimes
accounting for 12.1% of total violent crimes in India (24,851 out of
2,05,656) followed by Bihar with 11.8% (24,271 out of 2,05,6556).[48]
Among 35 mega cities, Delhi reported 31.2% (533 out of 1,706) of total
rape cases.[48]
Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest number of rape cases (2,900)
accounting for 15.0% of total such cases reported in the country.[48]
Uttar Pradesh reported 16.9% (5,480 out of 32,481) of total murder
cases in the country and 18.4% (4,997 out of 27,230) total attempt to
murder cases.[48]
Crimes against foreigners in India
There are several instances of violent crime against foreigners in
India.[51]
Many of the crimes occur against foreigners only. Scams involving
export of jewels occur in India, which target foreign citizens.[51]
Political demonstrations are common in India. These demonstrations
often turn violent and routinely cause disruption of transportation
services, causing great inconvenience to foreign tourists in India.
Traveling alone in remote areas after dark is of particular risk to
foreigners.[52]
Because U.S. citizens' purchasing power is relatively large compared
to the general Indian population, they the preferred target for
robbery and other serious crime.[53]
In April 1999, Swaraj Damree, a tourist from Mauritius was befriended
by a group of Indians who later held him in 25 days of captivity. They
robbed him of cash amounting to US $1,500, took his travellers'
cheques, wrist watch, gold chain, bracelet, two bags and suitcase.
[54]
In 2000, two German trekkers were shot in Himachal Pradesh. A few
weeks later, two Spanish tourists were killed in Himachal Pradesh by
robbers.[55]
Many foreign tourists are victims of violent crime in Kolkata.[56]
In September 2006, criminals robbed the wallet of a British woman in
Kolkata.[56] The same month, a Japanese tourist was robbed on his way
to Sudder Street.[56] In October 2006, a foreigner was robbed in
daylight on Park Street.[56]
Petty crime
Petty crime, like pickpocketing, bag snatching etc. are widespread in
India. Theft of valuables of foreigners from luggage on trains and
buses is common. Travelers who are not in groups become easy victims
of pickpockets and purse snatchers. Purse snatchers work in crowded
areas.[57]
Passport theft
In India, stealing passports of foreigners from their luggage on
trains and buses is widespread.[51]
Theft of U.S. passports is very common, especially in major tourist
areas.[53][58]
Scam incidents
Many scams are perpetrated against foreign travelers, especially in
Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.[53]
Scams usually target younger foreign tourists and suggest them that
money can be made by privately transporting gems or gold or by taking
delivery abroad of expensive carpets avoiding customs duties.[53]
Such incidents pull the traveler over the course of several days and
begin with a new scam artist who offers to show the foreign traveler
the sights. They also offer cheap lodgings and meals to foreign
travellers so that they can place the traveler in the physical custody
of the scam artist and can leave the foreigner with threats and
physical coercion. In the due process, the foreigner loses his
passport.[53]
Taxi scam
There are also taxi scams present in India, whereby a foreign
traveler, who is not aware of the locations around Indian airports, is
taken for a ride round the whole airport and charged for full-fare
taxi ride while the terminal is only few hundred yards away.[57]
Overseas Security Advisory Council in a report mentioned the process
about how to avoid taxi-scam.[57]
Rape and sexual assault against foreigners
Incidents of rape and sexual assault against foreign tourists at
popular tourist spots is increasing in India. Many of the alleged
perpetrators are children of senior government officials or
politicians.[59][60]
In September 1994, Gurkirat Singh, grandson of the then CM Beant
Singh, was accused of abducting and molesting a French tourist Katia
Darnand in Chandigarh[61][62].
In March 2006, Biti Mohanty, son of a senior police official in
Orissa, raped a German tourist in Alwar, Rajasthan.[63][64]
A Japanese woman was raped in Pushkar, Rajasthan on April 2, 2006.[65]
[66] In June 2007, a South Korean was raped near Manali.[63]
In September 2007, two Japanese women were gang-raped in Agra,[63]
a popular tourist-spot in India where the Taj Mahal is situated. The
Indian state of Rajasthan, which is a popular destination among
foreign tourists with one out of every three foreign travellers
visiting the state, have been rattled by rape cases of foreign
tourists.[67]
On December 5, 2009, a Russian woman was raped in Goa by a local
politician John Fernandes. In February 2008, Scarlett Keeling, a
British national aged 15 was raped and killed in Goa [68].
In January 2010, a Russian girl aged 9 was raped in Goa [69];
referring to this and earlier cases, Russia threatened to issue an
advisory asking its citizens not to travel to the coastal state [70].
The US Bureau of Consular Affairs has warned women not to travel alone
in India.[58]
However in contrast the British Foreign office only advise women to
take normal precautions.[71]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Consular_Affairs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Foreign_office
See also
Caste-related violence in India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste-related_violence_in_India
Corruption in India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India
Indian mafia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_mafia
Indian political scandals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_political_scandals
Law enforcement in India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_India
Mafia Raj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_Raj
Religious violence in India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_violence_in_India
Kala Kaccha Gang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kala_Kaccha_Gang
Notes
^ a b c d e f g Kalyani Menon-Sen, A. K. Shiva Kumar (2001). "Women in
India: How Free? How Equal?". United Nations. http://www.un.org.in/wii.htm.
Retrieved 2006-12-24.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Shiva_Kumar http://www.un.org.in/wii.htm
^ "The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1987".
http://www.wcd.nic.in/dowryprohibitionrules.htm. Retrieved
2006-12-24.
^ http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/255611
^ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-325432.html
^ http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=149258&go=tasha
^ http://radicalchange.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/cambodia-a-wayfarers-journey/
^ "The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961".
http://www.wcd.nic.in/dowryprohibitionact.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
^ (2006-12-19)"Women of India: Frequently Asked Questions".
2006-12-19.
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/women/faq.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
^ "The Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the
bride and bridegroom) rules, 1985".
http://www.wcd.nic.in/dowryprohibitionrules.htm. Retrieved
2006-12-24.
^ Kitchen fires Kill Indian Brides with Inadequate Dowry, July 23,
1997, New Delhi, UPI
^ Jyotsna Kamat (2006-12-19). "Gandhi and Status of Women".
http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gwomen.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
^ BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Child marriages targeted in India
^ http://www.unicef.org/sowc09/docs/SOWC09_Table_9.pdf
^ http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/18/stories/2009011855981100.htm
^ "The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956".
http://www.wcd.nic.in/act/itpa1956.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
^ P. J. Alexander (2002). Policing India in the New Millennium. Allied
Publishers. pp. p658. ISBN 8177642073.
^ Caterina Gouvis Roman, Heather Ahn-Redding, Rita James Simon (2007).
Illicit Drug Policies, Trafficking, and Use the World Over. Lexington
Books. pp. p183. ISBN 0739120883.
^ a b "CIA World Factbook - India". CIA World Factbook.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html.
Retrieved 2007-12-01.
^ a b c d India
^ a b c "Drug trade dynamics in India".
http://laniel.free.fr/INDEXES/PapersIndex/INDIAMOLLY/DRUGSDYNAMICSININDIA.htm.
^ a b P. J. Alexander (2002). Policing India in the New Millennium.
Allied Publishers. pp. p659. ISBN 8177642073.
^ Alain Labrousse, Laurent Laniel (2002). The World Geopolitics of
Drugs, 1998/1999. Springer. pp. p53. ISBN 1402001401.
^ a b "Mechanism in States".
http://narcoticsindia.nic.in/Mechinstates.htm.
^ Airports get scanners to check drug trafficking
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1680312.cms
^ "US names India among 20 major hubs for drug trafficking".
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=5f7ed0c7-60a5-40fc-bbf1-7e9b4c070f59&&Headline=India+among+20+major+drug+hubs%3a+US.
^ Daniel J. Koenig (2001). International Police Cooperation: A World
Perspective. Lexington Books. pp. p172. ISBN 0739102265.
^ a b c Daniel J. Koenig (2001). International Police Cooperation: A
World Perspective. Lexington Books. pp. p173. ISBN 0739102265.
^ a b c d e f g India home to 40 million illegal small-arms
^ "Small Arms Trafficking".
http://www.havocscope.com/trafficking/smallarms.htm.
^ a b c A Narrative of Armed Ethnic Conflict, Narcotics and Small Arms
Trafficking in India's North East
^ a b c Illegal wildlife trade grows in India
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSDEL8332720070817?sp=true
^ a b c d e The Tiger Skin Trail
http://www.eia-international.org/files/reports85-1.pdf
^ R. Sukumar (1989). The Asian Elephant: Ecology and Management.
Cambridge University Press. pp. p210. ISBN 052143758X.
^ Charles Santiapillai, Peter Jackson (1990). The Asian Elephant: An
Action Plan for Its Conservation. pp. p30. ISBN 2880329973.
^ The situation in India
http://www.internatyearofthetiger.org/india.htm
^ a b Poaching & Seizure Cases
http://projecttiger.nic.in/poaching.asp#
^ a b c At least one tiger is killed by poachers every day
http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/oct/02tiger.htm
^ a b c Byte by Byte
http://www.rediff.com/netguide/2003/feb/18crime.htm
^ India cyber law comes into force
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/978231.stm
^ a b c India-US to counter cyber crime
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/978231.stm
^ Where will corruption take India? People's Union for Civil Liberties
http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Human-rights/2002/corruption.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Union_for_Civil_Liberties
^ Corruption in India
http://www.indianchild.com/corruption_in_india.htm
^ Torture main reason of death in police custody The Tribune
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070313/punjab1.htm#7
^ Custodial deaths in West Bengal and India's refusal to ratify the
Convention against Torture Asian Human Rights Commission 26 February
2004
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2004statement/146/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Human_Rights_Commission
^ Custodial deaths and torture in India Asian Legal Resource Centre
http://www.alrc.net/pr/mainfile.php/2004pr/41/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Legal_Resource_Centre
^ Police Accountability in India: Policing Contaminated by Politics
http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/2005vol15no05/2448/
^ The Supreme Court takes the lead on police reform: Prakash Singh vs.
Union of India, CHRI
http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/aj/police/india/initiatives/writ_petition.htm
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Snapshots – 2006 National Crime Records
Bureau
^ "Incidence of cognizable crimes (IPC) under different crime heads
during 1953-2007". National Crime Records Bureau.
http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2007/cii-2007/1953-2007.pdf. Retrieved
2009-11-08.
^ a b c d Snapshots (1953—2006) National Crime Records Bureau
http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2006/cii-2006/Snapshots.pdf
^ a b c "TRAVEL REPORT India".
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/report-en.asp?country=128000.
^ "India". http://www.canadiancontent.net/profiles/India.html.
^ a b c d e "India 2007 Crime & Safety Report: New Delhi".
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=62883.
^ Foreign tourist drugged, robbed, tortured, released after 25 days
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990420/ige20118.html
^ India's valley of death
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/south_asia/909877.stm
^ a b c d "Shudder street".
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070218/asp/calcutta/story_7406290.asp.
The Telegraph
^ a b c "Crime & Safety Report: Chennai".
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=62882.
^ a b "Consular Information Sheet: India".
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1139.html. Bureau of
Consular Affairs
^ Handle foreign tourists with care, DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_handle-foreign-tourists-with-care_1124186
^ Crimes against tourists alarm tour operators, DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_crimes-against-tourists-alarm-tour-operators_1123611
^ <http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?207483
^ http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/34517/
^ a b c "Main accused arrested in Agra tourist rape case".
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070924/211/6l4pp.html.
^ Biti Mohanty's father gets showcause notice, DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_biti-mohanty-s-father-gets-showcause-notice_1075743
^ Another foreign tourist cries rape, The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1497108.cms
^ Japanese tourist alleges rape, The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2006/04/20/stories/2006042006481000.htm
^ West India state troubled by rape case of foreign tourist
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/20/content_4451686.htm
^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3529865.ece
^ http://www.hindustantimes.com/goa/Russian-rape-case-Goa-women-s-panel-to-seek-details/502950/H1-Article1-502942.aspx
^ http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100128/jsp/nation/story_12036988.jsp
^ (15 February 2010)"India travel advice". British Foreign Office. 15
February 2010. http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/asia-oceania/india.
Retrieved 22 February 2010.
References
New trends in drug trafficking
http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/19/stories/2008011956120300.htm
India becoming hot bed for drug trafficking: Expert
http://expressbuzz.com/edition/default.aspx
http://www.cyberlawsindia.net Cyber Crime in India
Mumbai mafia is using more sophisticated weapons then police
Further reading
Edwardes, S M (2007), Crime in India, READ BOOKS, ISBN 1406761265 .
Broadhurst, Roderic G.; Grabosky, Peter N. (2005), Cyber-Crime: The
Challenge in Asia, Hong Kong University Press, ISBN 9622097243 .
Menon, Vivek (1996), Under Siege: Poaching and Protection of Greater
One-Horned Rhinoceroses in India, TRAFFIC International, ISBN
1858501024 .
Vittal, N. (2003), Corruption in India: The Roadblock to National
Prosperity, Academic Foundation, ISBN 8171882870 .
Gupta, K. N. (2001), Corruption in India, Anmol Publications Pvt Ltd,
ISBN 8126109734 .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_India
chhotemianinshallah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which is of a temporary
nature, grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Text of Article 370
In view of its importance the text of the article 370 (Without
amendments) is reproduced below:
Article 370 of the Constitution of India (Temporary provisions with
respect of the State of Jammu and Kashmir)
1. Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution:
a. the provisions of article 238 shall not apply in relation to the
State of Jammu and Kashmir,
b. the power of Parliament to make laws for the said State shall be
limited to;
i. those matters in the Union List and the Concurrent List which, in
consultation with the Government of the State, are declared by the
President to correspond to matters specified in the Instrument of
Accession governing the accession of the State to the Dominion of
India as the matters with respect to which the Dominion Legislature
may make laws for that State; and
ii. such other matters in the said Lists, as, with the concurrence of
the Government of the State, the President may by order specify.
Explanation—For the purpose of this article, the Government of the
State means the person for the time being recognised by the President
as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acting on the advice of the
Council of Ministers for the time being in office under the Maharaja’s
Proclamation dated the fifth day of March, 1948;
c.the provisions of article 1 and of this article shall apply in
relation to this State;
d.such of the other provisions of this Constitution shall apply in
relation to that State subject to such exceptions and modifications as
the President may by order specify
i. Provided that no such order which relates to the matters specified
in the Instrument of Accession of the State referred to in paragraph
(i) of sub-clause (b) shall be issued except in consultation with the
Government of the State:
ii. Provided further that no such order which relates to matters other
than those referred to in the last preceding proviso shall be issued
except with the concurrence of the Government.
2. If the concurrence of the Government of the State referred to in
paragraph
(ii) of sub-clause (b) of clause
(1) or in second proviso to sub-clause
(d) of that clause be given before the Constituent Assembly for the
purpose of framing the Constitution of the State is convened, it shall
be placed before such Assembly for such decision as it may take
thereon.
3. Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of the
article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this
article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with
such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may notify:
Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the
State referred to in clause (2) shall be necessary before the
President issues such a notification.
4. In exercise of the powers conferred by this article the President,
on the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State of
Jammu and Kashmir, declared that, as from the 17th day of November,
1952, the said art. 370 shall be operative with the modification that
for the explanation in cl.(1) thereof the following Explanation is
substituted namely:
Explanation—For the purpose of this Article, the Government of the
State means the person for the time being recognised by the President
on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the State as the
*Sadar-I-Riyasat of Jammu and Kashmir, acting on the advice of Council
of Ministers of the State for the time being in office.
Implications of Article 370
This article specifies that except for Defence, Foreign Affairs,
Finance and Communications,(matters specified in the instrument of
accession) the Indian Parliament needs the State Government's
concurrence for applying all other laws. Thus the state's residents
lived under a separate set of laws, including those related to
citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as
compared to other Indians.
Similar protections for unique status exist in tribal areas of India
including those in Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland
however it is only for the state of Jammu and Kashmir that the
accession of the state to India is still a matter of dispute between
India and Pakistan still on the agenda of the U.N.Security Council and
where the Government of India vide 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord committed
itself to keeping the relationship between the Union and Jammu and
Kashmir State within the ambit of this article .
The 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord mentions that " The State of Jammu and
Kashmir which is a constituent unit of the Union of India, shall, in
its relation with the Union, continue to be governed by Article 370 of
the Constitution of India " .
Indian citizens from other states and Kashmiri women who marry men
from other states can not purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Indira-Sheikh_accord
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu_%26_Kashmir
See also
Article 356
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_356
PART XXI of Indian constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PART_Twenty_One_of_the_Constitution_of_India
References
Full text of the articlePDF (387 KiB)
http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/PARTXXI.pdf
Article 370 text from wikisource
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India/Part_XXI
^ Vasudha Dhagamwar (May 04, 2004). "The price of a Bill".
http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/46240/. Retrieved 24 March
2009.
External links
Background of article 370
http://rashtraman.blogspot.com/2008/08/article-370.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_370
Indian Opinion
A real Indian view of current affairs
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Article 370
article 370 was introduced to abide by the terms of J&K's accession.
The accession of J&K was conditional.
India desperately wanted to prove 2-nation theory wrong and wanted a
muslim majority region under its fold, also the strategic significance
of Kashmir and willingness of Kashmiri leaders to have separate state
for themselves (under protection of India) were the main reasons why
India went ahead for accession of J&K.
When Instrument of Accession was signed, constitution of India was not
ready. As per clause 7 of the Instrument of Accession, J&K was not
committed to accept the future Constitution of India.
In 1949 november when all the princely state heads and provincial
heads of Indian dominion were supposed to issue proclaimations making
Constitution of India operative in their respective states and
provinces, J&K refused such proclaimation refering to the clause 7 of
Instrument of Accession. This is because the draft form of
constitution refused separate constitutions for the states and J&K
always wanted their own separate constitution.
There was a legal imbroglio in this situation, the accession issue was
already with united nations and in such situations India has to abide
by its promise. This lead to Article 306-A of the draft Constitution
of India (which became article 370 in the actaul constitution).
Considering the overall situation prevalent, Article 370 was a major
step forward at that time. The Article at least paved the way for the
Republic of India to make several laws and provisions of the
Constitution of India applicable to Jammu & Kashmir State beyond the
strait jacket of the Instrument of Accession. Besides, Article 370 was
conceived as a temporary arrangement, with hopes of a full integration
in time to come.
Posted by Shailendra at 1:25 AM
Labels: article 370, India, J K, kashmir
2 comments:
kavi deependra said...
thank you very much ..for such valuable information...
kavi deependra
December 25, 2009 10:26 AM
Acme Consultants said...
This information cannot be considered as full information. Please give
the actual reason
February 27, 2010 4:11 AM
Post a Comment
http://rashtraman.blogspot.com/2008/08/article-370.html
SP, RJD pipe down, Govt not in a hurry for Women's Bill in LS
PTI
New Delhi, March 10, 2010
UPA allies SP and RJD on Wednesday piped down on their threat to
withdraw support to the government and the ruling coalition appeared
not to be in a hurry to press ahead with the Women's reservation bill
in the Lok Sabha.
A day after the Rajya Sabha passed the historic legislation, Trinamool
Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, whose party boycotted the voting, on
Wednesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi who reportedly addressed
her concerns and assured her all parties would be consulted before the
historic legislation is brought before the Lok Sabha.
However, Banerjee continued to sulk over Congress attitude when she
walked away from the Rajya Sabha during the discussion on the Railway
budget after a Congress leader made a veiled attack on her suggesting
she was not following "Cabinet discipline".
The timing of tabling the bill in the Lok Sabha was a matter of
speculation amid reports that the Government does not want to take any
chance with the crucial money bills to be voted before the House
adjourns for a recess on March 16.
However, Law Minister Veerappa Moily dismissed any fears of threat to
the government on the issue of financial business saying government
had the numbers and there was no deliberate strategy to delay the
Bill.
Parliamentary Affairs minister P K Bansal gave no indication of the
Bill being brought before March 16, saying "We want everyone on board.
We will certainly try for a congenial atmosphere."
On the other side, the Bill's strong opponents SP chief Mulayam Singh
Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who had threatened to withdraw
support over its passage, did not execute their threat today.
Women's Bill to be in place in two years
It will be more than two years after the Women's Reservation Bill is
passed in Lok Sabha for it to be implemented because of the long
subsequent legislative and other processes associated with it.
"It will take a minimum of two years. Just like the delimitation
process...a commission or a committee it will take two to two-and-a-
half years from now. The process is such," Moily told PTI.
However, he expressed confidence that the reservation of seats and the
identification of 181 of the 543 seats for women in Lok Sabha will be
in place "definitely" before the next Lok Sabha elections due in 2014.
Apart from reserving seats in Lok Sabha, the Constitution Amendment
Bill, which was passed by Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, seeks to provide
reservation for women in 1,370 out of a total of 4,109 seats in 28
assemblies.
The principle of reservation of seats for women will also apply to
seats reserved for SC/ST candidates.
The Bill also provides for rotation of seats reserved for women every
Lok Sabha.
Explaining the process, Moily said once Lok Sabha passes the Bill and
the President signs it it will be sent to all the states for
ratification.
At least 14 of the 28 states will have to ratify the legislation for
it to become a law. This process, Moily said, may take about nine
months.
Women's bill in LS likely on March 15
The Women's Reservation Bill, which has been passed by Rajya Sabha,
may be tabled in Lok Sabha on March 15 or 16 but a final decision on
it will be taken by the Business Advisory Committee which meets on
Friday.
"The BAC is meeting on Friday. It will have to decide the date," Law
Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters when asked when the
Constitution (108th Amendment) bill would be tabled in the Lower
House.
Replying to questions, Moily said the bill could be tabled on March 15
or March 16.
He expressed confidence that the bill that provides for 33 per cent
reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies would have a
smooth sailing in the Lower House of Parliament too.
The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha yesterday with overwhelming
majority, with 191 voting in favour and only one against among those
present in the House.
Moily said the government has some other agenda like the Finance bill
and some legislations to replace ordinances that are needed to be
taken up urgently.
Asked whether there was any plan to revoke suspension of the seven
Rajya Sabha members considering demands for the same, the Law Minister
evaded a direct reply and merely said, "The Congress and UPA
government are not interested in keeping out members of either Lok
Sabha or Rajya Sabha. That is not our legacy. Our legacy is to involve
everybody.
No quotas within quota, no threat to Govt: Moily
Government ruled out providing 'quota within quota' for OBCs and
Muslims in the Women's Reservation Bill and said there was no
deliberate delay in bringing the measure to Lok Sabha on perceived
threat to its stability.
Unfazed by threats of withdrawl of support by allies like SP and RJD,
the Government is absolutely confident and has no worries about
numbers in Lok Sabha or about passage of the money bills in the lower
house.
"There is no provision for sub quota for OBCs or minorities under the
present scheme of things in Constitution and also because there is no
data available even today on communities and castes under the census,"
Moily said.
BPCC suspends Lalu's relative, Tytler says no
Congress in Bihar suspended RJD chief Lalu Prasad's relative Anirudh
Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav for reportedly speaking against Women's
Reservation Bill, but AICC general secretary in-charge of state
affairs, Jagdish Tytler, said no such measure was taken against him.
"He does not stand suspended as announced by BPCC president Anil
Sharma earlier in the day," Tytler told reporters in Patna.
Yadav had personally explained his position to him stating that he
believed in the policies and programmes of the Congress, Tytler said.
"Yadav has explained to me that he was not averse to the party line on
the Women's Reservation Bill. "I have asked Yadav to explain his
position in writing to which he has agreed," Tytler said.
Yadav, brother-in-law of Lalu, said, "I have not said anything on the
issue. Since the assembly elections are around the corner, some vested
interests in the party are playing dirty politics to malign me."
Earlier in the day, the BPCC chief said, "We have taken a serious note
of Yadav going to the extreme step of violating the party lines on the
bill and suspended him with immediate effect."
According to reports, Yadav had threatened to resign from the Congress
to protest against its stand on the Bill. He had switched over to
Congress following differences with Lalu on allotment of party ticket
before the last Lok Sabha election.
AP Cong demands Bharat Ratna for Sonia Gandhi
Hailing AICC president Sonia Gandhi for getting the Women's
Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, women wing of the Andhra
Pradesh Congress demanded that she be awarded Bharat Ratna for her
valuable contribution for the empowerment of women in the country.
"We have faxed our demand to President Pratibha Patil already. We will
meet her soon and request her to confer Bharat Ratna on madam
Soniaji," state Mahila Congress president K Ganga Bhavani said in
Hyderabad.
She said a resolution has also been passed in this regard by the
Congress' women wing.
Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of the state Congress Committee, wore
a festive look with party members distributing sweets, bursting
crackers, lighting sparklers and dancing with joy over the passage of
the women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The party members hit out at RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Party
supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav
for opposing the bill.
"The behaviour of MPs who tried to snatch away and tear the papers was
abominable. If Lalu has so much love for dalits, then why had he made
his wife (Rabri Devi) chief minister. He could had made a dalit leader
the chief minister," T Venkata Ratnam, a woman Congress leader, said.
Related Stories
Govt firm on MPs' suspension
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/87525/Top%20Stories/Govt+refuses+to+revoke+RS+MPs'+suspension.html
'TC wanted all-party debate'
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/87457/Top%20Stories/We+wanted+all-party+debate:+Mamata.html
Uproar over Women's Bill
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/87478/42/Uproar+over+Women's+Bill;+LS+adjourned.html
RS passes Women's Quota Bill
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/87352/42/RS+passes+Women's+Quota+Bill.html
Suspended MPs refuse to apologise
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/87509/42/Suspended+MPs+refuse+to+apologise.html
ASK PRABHU
India Today ASK PRABHU Story If the Congress starts supporting Common
Civil Code, eliminates Article 370, terminates all the casts/religion-
based reservations, where would you be?
March 3, 2010
None of these changes would affect my life. I trust democracy and
nationalist secularism.
-Asked by Shivram Gopal Vaidya
vaidyas...@gmail.com
More stories from ASK PRABHU
Why do you avoid answering the question that might put Muslim
hooligans and Congressmen in tight spot? Are you afraid of them? Do
they hamper your channels' day-to-day work?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89191/ASK%20PRABHU/Why+do+you+avoid+answering+the+question+that+might+put+Muslim+hooligans+and+Congressmen+in+tight+spot+Are+you+afraid+of+them+Do+they+hamper+your+channels'+day-to-day+work.html
Pakistan plays with our govt, like cat plays with a mouse, bleeding us
regularly. Yet our ministers run to defend tapori like pro-Pak
statements of some celebrities. What message does Pakistan get out of
this?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89190/ASK%20PRABHU/Pakistan+plays+with+our+govt,+like+cat+plays+with+a+mouse,+bleeding+us+regularly.+Yet+our+ministers+run+to+defend+tapori+like+pro-Pak+statements+of+some+celebrities.+What+message+does+Pakistan+get+out+of+this.html
How to elect honest politician where elections are based on money
power?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89189/ASK%20PRABHU/How+to+elect+honest+politician+where+elections+are+based+on+money+power.html
I take extra care of my children studying in convent as I see so many
improper tricks are applied to make them deviate religiously. Everyday
after school I force them into Quransharif. Am I communal to defend
our beliefs?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89188/ASK%20PRABHU/I+take+extra+care+of+my+children+studying+in+convent+as+I+see+so+many+improper+tricks+are+applied+to+make+them+deviate+religiously.+Everyday+after+school+I+force+them+into+Quransharif.+Am+I+communal+to+defend+our+beliefs.html
Sir, recently, I heard that India was rebuffed and snubbed in Tehran
and in Istanbul. Is this true? Why were we treated like this
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89187/ASK%20PRABHU/Sir,+recently,+I+heard+that+India+was+rebuffed+and+snubbed+in+Tehran+and+in+Istanbul.+Is+this+true+Why+were+we+treated+like+this.html
ASK PRABHU
India Today ASK PRABHU Story Mumbai is a part of India. Any Indian
can settle there. What about Kashmir? Do you and your channel support
the scrapping of article 370?
February 20, 2010
Why don't you read the Constitution of India? Many of us can't buy
land in many states in North East and even in Himachal. Article 370 is
part of our Constitution and it can be changed only by the state
assembly.
AIMPLB begins a new journey from Lucknow
Farzand Ahmed
March 21, 2010
The 38-year-old All India Muslim Personal Law Board [AIMPLB] that
stands for the protection of Shariat and Muslim Personal Laws seemed
to be rewriting its own history on the banks of Gomti in Lucknow when
it elected when it elected four new female members to the 51-member
executive committee. With this number of elected members of Board
increased to five. [There were 25 nominated women members in the 201-
member general body].
The AIMPLB representing all Muslim sects and schools of thought is
currently in session for the first time in Lucknow which once
threatened its existence.
It was on the ground of gender bias within the Ulema-dominated
organisation and deliberate neglect of growing plight of women that a
parallel all-women All India Muslim Women Personal Board [AIMWPLB]
headed by Shaishta Ambar was set up in Lucknow some five years ago.
Later Hazrat Tauquir Raza Khan, the spiritual head of powerful Barelvi
school of Sunni Muslims split the Board and floated AIMPLB [Jadeed].
It was followed by third split in January 2005 in Lucknow when well-
known Shia cleric Khateeb e-Akbar Maulana Mirza Athar set up a
separate All India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board. The founders had
alleged that AIMPLB had been neglecting views of Shia community and
not doing much for the Indian Muslims as a whole.
Despite splits and criticism AIMPLB stood firmly. However, many
members viewed the direct election of four women members---Rukhsana
Lari, Safia Naseem [both from Lucknow], Noorjehan Shakeel [Kolkata)
and Asma Zehra [Hyderabad] was seen as sign of Board's acceptance of
the fact it could no longer ignore the growing pressure from Women.
Naseem Iqtidar Ali Khan was till now the sole woman member in the
executive committee. She continues to be on the panel.
Earlier in January this year AIMPLB Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani had
held the first ever direct dialogue with women in Lucknow and faced
their anger over various issues including the issue of Talaq
[divorce].
Expands to NE States
Maulana Rabey Hasni Nadwi, head of the Dar-ul-Uloom Nadavat-ul-Ulema,
the Lucknow-based Islamic Seminary, was unanimously elected the
president of the Muslim Law Board for the third successive term.
According Board Spokesperson Zafaryab Jilani another significant
feature of elections was the Board's attempt to expand its
representation in the north-eastern States and Ladakh. The
representatives from these regions were elected as term members.
While, Maulana Bilal was elected from Meghalaya and Syed Ahmed from
Tripura, the Independent MP from Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir), Ghulam
Hussain and Maulana Ata-ur- Rehman, AUDF (Assam United Democratic
Front ) MLA from Badarpur in Assam were elected term members from
Ladakh and Assam.
Announcing the results of the elections, the AIMPLB spokesperson,
Zafaryab Jilani said the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, K. Rahman
Khan and retired justice, Mohammad Qadri were made the life members of
the board. Jilani said these appointments were made against the eight
vacancies among the 102 founder members of the Law Board.
Kamal Farooqui, Qasim Rasool Ilyas, Saifullah Rahmani, Maulana Atiqur
Rehman Bastavi and Syed Athar Ali of Mumbai were the new faces elected
as term members. Besides, 10 members would be nominated by the Board
chairman.
History
All India Muslim Personal Law Board was established at a time when
"the then Government of India was trying to subvert Shariah law"
applicable to Indian Muslims through parallel legislation. Adoption
Bill had been tabled in the Parliament. Mr. H.R.Gokhle, then Union Law
Minister had termed this Bill as the first step towards Uniform Civil
Code. Ulema, leaders and various Muslim organisations convinced the
Indian Muslim community that the risk of losing applicability of
Shariah laws was real and concerted move by the community was needed
to defeat the conspiracy.
"It was a historic moment" claims Board adding "this was the first
time in the history of India after Khilafat Movement that people and
organisations of Indian Muslim community belonging to various schools
of thought came together on a common platform to defend Muslim
Personal Law.
First such meeting was convened at the famous Islamic Seminary at
Deoband on the initiative of Hazrat Maulana Syed Shah Minnatullah
Rahmani, Ameer Shariat, [Bihar & Orissa] and Hakeemul Islam Hazrat
Maulana Qari Mohammad Taiyab, Muhtamim, Darul Uloom, Deoband. The
meeting held a convention in Mumbai on December 27-28, 1972. "The
Convention was unprecedented. It showed unity, determination and
resolve of the Indian Muslim community to protect the Muslim Personal
Law".
All India Muslim Personal Law Board was born
The Board came into limelight for the first time when it intervened in
the Shah Bano case and pressured the Rajiv Gandhi government to blunt
the Supreme Court rule. The government had asked AIMPLB then headed by
highly revered Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, then Chief of Darul Uloom
Nadvatul Ulema [Lucknow] to come out with the amendment in sections in
the Criminal Procedure Code [Cr PC] relating to the issue of alimony
[that was against Shariat]. And the law was changed which the Sangh
Parivar took up as an example of Muslim appeasement. Later Board
intervened in the Babri Masjid movement too. But so far the Board has
confined itself to the cause of Shariat. It also launched movement to
reform the Muslim Society in 1986 against misuse of Talaq, vulgar
display of wealth in functions like marriage, dowry, female foeticide,
illiteracy among women and also to spread the understanding of Shariat
[Quoranic laws] among men and women.
Its campaign includes revival and strengthening of Dar-ul-Qaza [the
court of Qazi] to deal with the disputes relating to Muslim Personal
laws.
Failure
Critics say that the male & cleric dominated organisation has
neglected the plight of women and failed to take any effective steps
to protect the women from the curse of Triple Talaq [uttering Talaq
thrice in one sitting verbally]. However, Senior Board member Zafaryab
Jilani [also Board's legal advisor] said though the Board was aware of
misuse of Triple Talaq, the question was how to abolish it. He said
different sects and schools have different practices but all the main
four Schools among Sunni sect were almost unanimous in favour of
Triple Talaq. Scholars, he said, also quote numerous Hadis [rulings
and sayings of the Prophet] on this.
Its role in the Imrana case was criticised everywhere. Imarana of
Muzaffarnagar was allegedly sexually assaulted by her father-in-law
but when the issue was highlighted a Fatwa had declared her husband as
her "son". This had led to hue and cry by women groups. The Board had
sent an investigation team but it tried to cover up the issue.
It also failed to bring out an effective Model Nikahnama that could be
acceptable to women groups too. Yet this time again it evaded the
Women Reservation Bill which was being projected by a section of
Muslim political leadership that it was against Muslim women. The
Lucknow session focused on Librehan Commission report stressing that
all the people found guilty of destroying the Babri Masjid should be
prosecuted and punished. It has also opposed the proposed Communal
Violence Bill. The Board was of the view that the proposed Communal
violence Bill was 'most harmful' for Muslims as it would not fix
responsibility of the police and administration. AIMPLB spokesperson
Mohammad Abdur Rahim Qureshi told mediapersons "Muslims have been the
sufferers be it riots in Bhiwandi, Meerut, Nalanda, Bhagalpur or
anywhere". Qureshi said the proposed legislation would be discussed in
detail. The Board has also opposed the setting up of a Central Madarsa
Board.
Having done this, scholars attending the 21st Session in Lucknow would
spell out the future plans at public meeting on Sunday evening.
Abolish 370, says Bhagwat, Advani
Arvind Chhabra
Madhopur (Pathankot), March 20, 2010
Different leaders including RSS chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat and former
deputy prime minister L.K. Advani today raised demand to abolish
Article 370 from the constitution as they paid glorious tributes to Dr
Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, described as the first martyr of independent
India, who laid down his life for the principle of one nation, one
flag and one constitution. Various leaders had splurged in Madhopur in
Pathankot on the occasion.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, BJP president Nitin
Gadkari and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal were
among thousands who had gathered at the border point of Punjab-Jammu
and Kashmir (J&K) as it was here in 1953 he had started his campaign
to make J&K integral part of India and to make it possible for every
Indian citizen to visit J&K without permit. His life size statue was
unveiled and the place was named as Ekta Sathal.
Mohan Bhagwat gave a call to launch a second struggle to abolish
Article 370, the "last remaining symbol of disintegration." He also
demanded respectable rehabilitation of 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Hindu
migrants back in Valley, who are suffering in different parts of the
country.
Advani said that the struggle of Dr. Shayamal Prasad would be complete
only if Article 370 was repealed from the constitution. He said that
we became victim of British policy of disintegrating India even after
partition.
Gadkari, who also demanded repealing of Article 370 said that talks
with Pakistan would be futile till Pakistan continue to foment
terrorism from its soil.
More stories from North
'Thank God, we don't have a Thackeray'
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86961/LATEST%20HEADLINES/Thackeray+targets+Maha+governor+over+'Mumbai+for+all'+remark.html
Bhilai: Principal sends lewd SMSes to students; thrashed
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89030/India/Bhilai:+Principal+sends+lewd+SMSes+to+students;+thrashed.html
India ok with life term for Headley: Govt
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89024/India/India+ok+with+life+sentence+for+David+Headley:+Govt.html
Getting official access to Headley will help India: BJP
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89000/India/Getting+official+access+to+Headley+will+help+India:+BJP.html
Batla autopsy: Police in the dock
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/88969/India/Damning+Batla+autopsy+findings.html
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89176/India/Abolish+370,+says+Bhagwat,+Advani.html
Courtesy: Mail Today
Damning Batla autopsy findings
Aman Sharma
New Delhi, March 19, 2010
Eighteen months after the controversial Batla House 'encounter'in the
aftermath of the Delhi serial blasts, the post-mortem reports of the
victims are out and are drilling gaping holes in the police version of
the incident.
The post-mortem reports reveal that both the slain suspected
terrorists, Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid, had injuries inflicted by a
blunt object, other than the numerous gunshot wounds on their bodies.
Sajid's post-mortem report also confirms he was shot three times in
the head with the bullets travelling vertically downwards, which was
visible in the photographs of Sajid's body published by MAIL TODAY
earlier.
The report says these three bullets having their entry wounds in the
scalp led to cranio-cerebral damage to the brain, causing Sajid's
death.
One of these bullets fired in the head exited from the back of his
chest, another came out near his jaw and the third one exited from the
back of his right shoulder.
There was another bullet shot behind his head.
How the police managed to shoot Sajid from above during an encounter
remains unexplained.
The report also confirms that Sajid has another bullet entry wound on
his right shoulder, which went vertically down and lodged in his
chest.
There were two more injuries on Sajid's body, which are non-firearm
wounds. How these wounds could be inflicted when bullets were being
fired from both sides, according to the police version, remains
unanswered.
These are injury numbers 13 and 14 specified in the post-mortem report
- the former is a four by two cm abrasion over the midline on Sajid's
back while the latter is a muscle-deep laceration wound of 3.5 by two
cm on the right leg. It is unexplained how Sajid could have got such
wounds before his death in a shootout.
The post-mortem report of Atif reveals his body was riddled with 10
bullets in the chest, abdomen, thighs, shoulder, neck and lower back.
He also has a nonfirearm injury - specified as injury number seven
which is an abrasion on his right knee.
The post-mortem reports have been furnished by the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) in response to an application filed under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act by a Jamia Millia Islamia student Afroz
Alam.
The Delhi Police had persistently refused to share these reports over
the last 18 months. Even the NHRC had skirted the issue initially in
their report on the Batla House encounter though it went to great
lengths to explain the fire-arm injuries to Delhi Police inspector
Mohan Chand Sharma that caused his death.
The NHRC, in its report, had merely said that the post-mortem reports
of the two suspected terrorists mentioned injuries other than fire-arm
injuries but did not disclose more or investigate how injuries by a
blunt object could have been inflicted in a shootout. The autopsies of
Atif and Sajid were done three days after the encounter by a panel of
three AIIMS doctors of forensic medicine.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had been fighting to get the post-
mortem reports made public, said the autopsy reports reveal what the
Delhi Police have been desperately trying to hide.
"Blunt injuries mentioned in the autopsy could not have been caused in
a shootout. Obviously, there was some scuffle or the two boys were
beaten up before they were shot.
How can anyone explain the top of the head bullet injuries or the one
in the top of his (Sajid) right shoulder - with all bullets going
vertically down in the body?" Bhushan asked.
He added: "Pictures of the bodies had exposed these injuries. The
police were hence desperately trying to hide these post-mortem
reports.
The non-firearm injuries on both the back and leg of Sajid cannot be
explained. That is why we have been demanding an independent
investigation into the alleged encounter." A senior doctor at AIIMS,
who was associated with the autopsies, said he could not explain the
nonfirearm injuries on Sajid's body.
"But the other three or four gunshot wounds on Sajid's head and
shoulder is possible in a shootout… for example, the terrorist may
have fallen after taking a bullet in his leg and could have been
firing at the police lying down. So, such a pattern of injuries is
possible in such a volley of fire," he said.
But Bhushan rubbished the explanation.
"If Sajid was lying down and firing, there should be a hail of police
bullet marks on the walls of the room. But there was none in the room
where the shootout happened," he said.
The Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association also reacted strongly to the
contents of the autopsies. "Almost all entry wounds on Atif's body are
in the region below the shoulders and at the back of the chest, which
point to the fact that he was repeatedly shot from behind. In Sajid's
case, the entry points of the gunshots and the fact that all but one
bullet travelled downward suggests he was held down by force (which
also explain the injuries on the back and leg), while he was shot in
the back and head," said Manisha Sethi of the association.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/88969/India/Damning+Batla+autopsy+findings.html
Getting official access to Headley will help India: BJP
PTI
New Delhi, March 19, 2010
With extradition of Pakistani- American David Coleman Headley now
ruled out after he pleaded guilty to terror charges, BJP today said
this was a loss but official access to India to question him would
help prove to the world about Pakistan's involvement in the Mumbai
strikes.
"It (consequences of his pleading guilty before a US court) is a mixed
bag. As we cannot get extradition, it is a loss. But, at the same
time, we can get official access and can officially question him so
our dossiers (against Pakistan) will be more weighty," BJP
spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
He asserted that though Pakistan may ultimately dismiss Headley's
confessions as "mere papers" and not evidences, the involvement of the
neighbouring country in the 26/11 terror attacks would be established
more firmly and be "very clear" to the world community.
"Now the trial of Ajmal Kasab (lone surviving terrorist in the 26/11
case) is winding up. So, I think we can expect the result in that case
also," he said.
Javadekar took a dig at the UPA government for making a "unilateral
offer" of foreign secretary-level talks to Pakistan inspite of its
continued support to terror.
"The real test of India lies in how it deals with Pakistan because
Pakistan has not changed a bit. It has not done anything, not taken
any credible steps....Terror continues, infiltration is growing. Still
government did a sudden U-turn and unilaterally offered talks," he
said.
This move had emboldened the Pakistani establishment, especially the
ISI, to simultaneously do business with India and plot terror,
Javadekar alleged.
He said it was ISI's policy to inflict a thousand cuts and wound
India.
Bhilai: Principal sends lewd SMSes to students; thrashed
Raghunandan Panda & Sunil Namdeo
Bhilai/Raipur, March 19, 2010
Parents of a Bhilai school students beat up its principal after he
allegedly sent lewd messages on their mobiles.
K.S. Chhabra, principal of famous school Maharishi Vidya Mandir, a
well known school in Chhattisgarh's steel city Bhilai, has been
accused of making obscene phone calls and sending lewd short messages
(SMSes) on some of his students' mobiles.
Chhabra even called them to his office in the school and at home, the
parents alleged. A victim recorded her principal's sickening demands
on her mobile and reported to the parents.
Enraged over the principal's gesture, the parents beat him black and
blue. They alleged that Chhabra's disgusting behaviour was going on
for a few years. They thrashed him all the way to the police station
until the policemen rescued him.
The police have started an enquiry into the matter and have recorded
calls by Chhabra as proof.
Bahadur, one of the parents of such students, said, "The principal
used to say that your children are failing. If you want them to pass
you will have to do everything I say."
Thank God, we don't have a Thackeray here: Dikshit
PTI
New Delhi, March 20, 2010
"Thank God, we don't have a Bal Thackeray," said Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit on Saturday while calling Delhi a unique city where people
from across the country can live comfortably.
"We have varied culture and true cosmopolitan people. People from
Kerala to Jammu and Kashmir and to those from the North-East can live
here comfortably.
"Everyone knows what is happening in Mumbai (anti-north Indian
campaign). It certainly does not happen here. Thank God, we don't have
a Bal Thackeray here," she said about the anti-North Indian campaign
by the Shiv Sena and MNS.
Dikshit was speaking at an interactive session at a summit organised
by CII and the Wall Street Journal.
The chief minister also spoke about the uniqueness of Delhi, where
everything including its weather, is imported and the number of
heritage structures it has.
Related Stories
Mumbai: Sena chief targets Guv
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86961/LATEST%20HEADLINES/Thackeray+targets+Maha+governor+over+'Mumbai+for+all'+remark.html
Bal Thackeray lashes out at IPL
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/28488/42/Bal+Thackeray+lashes+out+at+IPL.html
Bal Thackeray flays Tendulkar
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/71045/42/Balasaheb+flays+Sachin+on+Marathi+remark.html
Sena chief attacks Chavan, Rahul
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/82646/42/Bal+Thackeray+attacks+Chavan,+Rahul.html
ASK PRABHU
India Today ASK PRABHU Story As per our Constitution, an Indian can
stay or live in any part of India except Jammu and Kashmir. But some
political leaders, for their political gains, are opposing this. Is it
correct? I think the electronic media is more powerful to spread this
message.
March 3, 2010
The state of J&K enjoys a special status under Article 370 of the
Constitution. It doesn't permit people from other parts of India to
buy property in J&K. The BJP has been agitating for scrapping Article
370 but all other parties are opposed to such a move unless it is
proposed by the state assembly itself.
-Asked by Anil Kumar
anilkuma...@gmail.com
BJP believes in one nation one constitution: Nitin Gadkari
PTI
Saturday, March 20, 2010 21:37 IST
Madhopur (Punjab): Asserting it stands for "one nation one
constitution", the BJP today said the party is firm in its resolve to
scrap article 370 of the Constitution providing special status to
Jammu and Kashmir.
"The party stands for one nation one constitution slogan given by
Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee," BJP president
Nitin Gadkari said here on the occasion of unveiling of a statue of
the late leader.
He said the BJP will not dilute its stand on abrogation of Article 370
and there is a need to emulate Mukherjee, who "fought for scrapping of
permit system prevalent in those days which debarred people to enter
and move freely in Jammu and Kashmir".
Gadkari said his party is opposed to the Centre's policy on Kashmir,
which is mere appeasement to those who pose a threat to the nation,
and its mild approach to tackle Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
Addressing the gathering, he said Pakistan continues to wage a proxy
war against India by sponsoring terrorism in J-K, while Naxalism is
posing an internal threat to the country.
The Centre has not yet come out with adequate measures to meet these
threats. The Government seems to be softening its stand on Pakistan
due to pressure of some foreign powers, Gadkari alleged.
"Kashmir is an integral issue and no talks with Pakistan can be
resumed unless it gives ample proof of striking hard on militants
operating from its soil.
"Pakistan should stop aiding and abetting terrorism in India," Gadkari
said.
Former deputy prime minister L K Advani in his address said while
Vallabh Bhai Patel and Mukherjee had a common resolve to see a strong
India, the British gave independence but with a rider that the rulers
of the erstwhile princely states could use their discretion on staying
with India.
Apparently referring to the "Mumbai for maharashtrians' issue, RSS
chief Mohan Bhagwat, who unveiled the statue, said Hindus were forced
to migrate from Jammu and Kashmir but the country belongs to all
Indians and regional chauvinism does not hold any place.
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was also present
there, said Mukherjee's photographs would be put up in the gallery
here.
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, state BJP president
Shanta Kumar, Punjab industry and local bodies minister Manoranjan
Kalia, Amritsar BJP MP, Navjot Singh Sidhu
were among those present on the occasion.
The place where the life-size statue of Mukherjee was erected was
named as 'Ekta Sthal'.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A possible deconvolution for the convoluted logic of RSS: What Mohan
Bhagwat could have said ....
In a recent blog entry the chief of RSS, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat (MB) was
criticised for saying: He who is an Indian is a Hindu and he who is
not a Hindu is not an Indian.
A long and winding debate ensued. It was desirable to retain the
informal notions related to the words Hindu and Indian, and yet
certain specificity was needed for precision, unambiguousness and
substantiveness.
Mr. Thammayya, in one of his comments, had asked: Hey, I have another
suggestion. What do you think, MB should have told? Interesting to
know this.
I have recently outlined an abstract version of Hindu-WOL (Hindu Way
of Life), terming it, for various reasons, Sanatana Dharma. In light
of this article, here is my take on what MB could have said:
One of the essential underpinnings of an open and free mind regarding
religious truths is: There can be points of view regarding the Truth
and the ways of attaining the Truth which are seemingly quite
different from the ones I uphold but are equally valid.
Hindus pursue and practice such openness and freedom.
A belief in exclusive monopoly regarding religious truths and/or
insistence on one's concrete details regarding the same, is
inconsistent with this notion of freedom.
India, in our view, is a home-nation for Hindus. Those who are not
Hindus are not legitimately Indian.
Remarks:
0. The term Hindu is not defined comprehensively here. And yet,
whatever is essential for for the political debate is captured in
terms of the concepts of openness and freedom.
For example:
a. The term Hindu is free from geographical, racial, linguistic,
regional connotations and overtones.
b. So there can be Hindus residing as citizens of other nations.
1. Similarly, India, although not defined comprehensively, is hinted
in the last sentence, to be the current geopolitical entity, whose
citizens we are. This suffices for the political debate.
For example:
a. The term India is free from racial, linguistic, and regional
connotations and overtones.
b. Those, who are currently residing in India as citizens but do not
honor this openness and freedom are termed illegitimate citizens.
This allows us to use the terms "Hindu" and "India" with specificity
necessary for the relevant aspects of political debate, while
retaining the same informal notions regarding these words, which most
of us may entertain.
Nonetheless, this is still a tentative version, and is open to be
improved upon. Readers' suggestions are welcome.
Interestingly, a Dutch Politician, Geert Wilders has said many things
which RSS could have, and should have articulated long long ago. Some
of these are, I have provided links obtained from the same wikipedia
page: "not tolerate the intolerant", "Ban Koran like Mein Kampf", and
"There might be moderate muslims, but there is no moderate Islam".
However, as I have repeatedly alleged, owing to intellectual lethargy,
among those who are supposed to provide India with political
leadership, these things have not happened here in India.
Posted by samAlochaka
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/possible-deconvolution-for-convoluted.html
Sid Harth
from Delhi University
Religious conversion has become the subject of passionate debate in
contemporary India. From the early 20th century onwards, it has
surfaced again and again in the political realm, in the media and in
the courts. During the last few decades the dispute has attained a new
climax in the plethora of newspapers, journals, and books whose pages
have been devoted to the question of conversion. Apparently, a large
group of Indians considers this to be an issue of crucial import to
the future of their country.
Generally Speaking, Religion is s system of faith and worship of
supernatural force which ordains regulates and control the destiny of
human kinds.
The Merrian Webster Dictionary defined , Religion as an organized
system of faith and worship, a personal set of religious belief and
practice, a cause, principle or belief held to with faith and order.
The Oxford Dictionary defined, Religion the belief in a super human
controlling power, especially in personal God or Gods entitled to
obedience and worship.
Swami Vivekananda perceives religion as - it is based upon faith and
belief and in most cases consist only of different sect of theories
that is the reason why we find all religion quarreling with each other.
1
According to Sage Aurobindo, The quest of man for God is the
foundation for religion & its essential function is the search for God
and the finding of the God. 2
Hinduism in the view of Dr. Radhakrishan is The main aim of the Hindu
faith is to permit image worship as the means to the development of
the religious spirit to the recognition of the Supreme who has his
temples in all beings.3
We can conclude from the above discussion that no universally
acceptable definition as to what exactly "religion" is. There appears
to be near unanimity that religion, generally, is a belief or faith in
the existence of a Supernatural Being and the precepts which people
follow for attaining salvation.
Religion may be regarded as belief and patterns of behaviors by which
human try to deal with what they view as important problems that can
not be solved through the application of known technologies and
techniques of organization. To overcome these limitations people turn
to the manipulation of supernatural beings and powers.
Religion consist of various rituals, prayers, songs, dances, offerings
and sacrifices, through which people try to manipulate supernatural
beings and powers to their advantages. These being and power may
consist of Gods and Goddesses, ancestral and other spirits or
impersonal power either by themselves or in various combinations . In
all societies there are certain individuals especially skilled at
dealing with these beings and powers and who assist other members of
society in their ritual activities. A body of myths rationalizes or
explains the system in a manner consistent with peoples experience in
the world in which they live.
Every individual has a natural entitlement of religious faith and
freedom of conscience , a right to adopt or abandoned any faith of his
own choice. In this sense freedom of religion and freedom of
conscience is fundamental right both constitutionally and
conventionally.
The freedom of religion and freedom of conscience has been recognized
under the international law. The General Assembly of united nations
adopted without dissenting vote on 10th December,1948 the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights recognizing fact that the entire humanity
enjoys certain alienable rights which constitute the foundation of
freedom, justice and piece in the world.
In order to give effect to the Universal Declaration of human rights
the members of the united nations of also adopted the two conventions
in 1966 in this concern:-
1. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
2. International covenant on Civil and Political rights.
The Government of India by its declaration dated 10.4.1979 had
accepted Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two
international covenants with certain reservations which do not cover
the right to freedom of religion. Apart from this the Constitution of
India also enshrines the freedom of religion and freedom of conscience
as fundamental rights under Article 25,26,27,28,30.
Religious Conversion is multifaceted and multi dimensional phenomenon.
Indian society is a pluralist and heterogeneous society with
multiplicity of races, religious cultural, castes and languages etc.
Religious Conversion has always been a problematic issue in India.
Every incident of conversion causes lot of hue and cry in society;
especially it causes nostalgic feelings to Hindu organization because
of its inherent socio- political. Rigid and Stringent caste system
prevailing in Hindu Religion is one of the most significant factors
behind the religious conversion. This is because of this caste system
Dalits ( in most comprehensive and inclusive sense the word Dalit
includes Untouchables, Shudras and Adivasis) are the most susceptible
section of the society to religious conversion . The other causes of
conversion are
1. Polygamy which is prevailing in Islam
2. To get rid of unwanted matrimonial ties.
3. To get reservation benefits.
Polygamy is a system wherein a male person his authorized to keep more
than one wife/wives where all the other wife/wives are still alive, or
where a male person is authorized to solemnize more than one marriage.
Polygamy is just opposite to the system of monogamy. In the past
almost all the societies in the world have been either polygamous or
polyandrous. Monogamy was never a rule but an exception. Amongst all
the religions resourceful persons were allowed to keep as many wives
as he can afforded. But Islam has been exception to his general rule.
The Prophet Mohd. ( 571 AD-632 AD) the last messenger according to
Quaran laid down the principle for his followers that a person may
keep as many as four wives only and that too only in exceptional
circumstances prevailing in those days. The Prophet had allowed the
followers of Islam to keep four wives at one time because of the
contemporary reasons. During the life of Prophet the Arabian society
was the society of innumerable tribal communities and war was constant
phenomenon of those days in Islam. Hundreds of wars were fought
amongst those tribals can themselves, sometimes in the name of Jehad,
sometimes in the name of religion, sometimes for the sake of
established political hegemony. Only men were allowed to participate
in the wars and not the women. One of the obvious consequences of
these wars was that innumerable women became widows. One of the most
burning problem before the prophet was that how to manage the lives f
these destitute widows and the children. Nobody was there take care
for these helpless widows and children. So the prophet evolved out a
workable solution of the problem. He permitted the men that every man
would keep as many as four wives along with their children. So that no
widow or child would die out hunger starvation or illness. Through the
system every widow and her children were taken care of.
Here two important points are worth mentioning that:
1. The permission given by the prophet to keep more than one wives was
not a permanent prescription for all the times to come. But it was
only a temporary provision just to manage the cotemporary problems.
Along with the provision of keeping for wives the prophet imposed a
mandatory conditions upon the persons who might keep more that 1 wife
that if a person keeps more than one wife he must have an equal eye
upon all the wives. That is the principle of equality which was to be
observed and not to discriminate on any grounds whatsoever.
2. Keeping more than one wife was not prescribed as general rule. But
only an exception and that is only to deal with the above mention
contemporary problem. But after the life of the profit, the Muslim
leaders especially in India have misinterpreted the dictates of the
prophet in his concern and started receiving undue advantage of this
dictate of the prophet. Muslim religious leader and Ulemas have
maintained that the dictate of the prophet to keep four wives was not
a temporary provision rather it was a permanent dictate for all time
to come. This is how they have misconceived the dictates of the
prophet and justified and legitimized polygamy almost 1500 years after
the life of the prophet.
It is significant to mention that the practice of polygamy has been
abolished even in the constitutionally declared Islamic states long
ago but in India this practice is still valid under the Muslim
personal law. It is also pertinent to mention that the practice of
polygamy is anti feminist and it is discriminatory against Muslims
women because polygamy is a unilateral right provided only to Muslim
men. Therefore, it is suggested that the privilege of polygamy should
not be given Muslim community under their personal laws and uniform
civil code is the need of the hour.
The Impact Of Religious Conversion
The religious conversion into Islam by a person from non Islamic faith
is not valid if the conversion is done for the purpose of polygamy.
Neither Islam nor the law recognizing any such conversion in India. In
the case of Sarla Mudgal vs Union of India4 a married Hindu male
converted in to Islam for the sake of solemninising another marriage
as polygamy is permitted in Islam. The Hon’ble SC held that conversion
in to another faith Ipso-facto does not dissolve the first marriage
because no one is allowed to take the benefit of his own wrong.
Moreover the court held that the married person converting into Islam
is not entitle to marry another woman after conversion. It was held to
be an act of bigamy prohibited U/S 17 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and
punishable U/S 494 of IPC and it was further observed that the second
marriage is void.
In Vilayat Raj vs Smt. Sunita 5 it was observed by the court that if
both the parties to the marriage were Hindu at the time of marriage ,
pre-nupital law i.e. Hindu Marriage Act applied even after conversion
in Islam.
In Lilly Thomas vs Union of India 6 it was observed that an apostate
husband is guilty of bigamy U/S 494 of IPC if he marriage another
woman after converting into Islam. It was observed that holding such
person guilty of bigamy is not violation of freedom of religion U/
Article 25 of the Constitution, hence, Section 17 of H.M.A. 1955 is
applicable.
From the above it is clear that after the pronouncement of the
aforesaid judicial verdicts, polygamy is no more a valued person for
religious conversion into Islam.
A person does not ceases to be Hindu nearly because he declares that
he has no faith in his religion. A person will not cease to be Hindu
even if he does not practice his religion till he does not renounces
his religion or starts living and behaving like an atheist or agnostic
or starts eating beef or insulting God or Goddesses. He does not
ceases to be member of the religion even if he starts expressing his
faith in any other religion , he continuous to be a Hindu Chandra
Shekharan vs Kulundurivalu7
If a person converts from Hindu religion to Sikh , Budhism or Jainism
he does not cease to be Hindu since all these religions do not fall
beyond the definition of ‘Hindu’ in the relevant section of Hindu
Marriage Act . He ceases to be Hindu if he converts into Islam
Christianity or Jews or Zoroastrain, conversion into these religion is
a ground for desolation of marriage for the other spouse and not for
the spouse who converts into any such religion ( U/S 13 H.M.A)
Under Section 80 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 if
the husband gets converted into Non-Hindu faith wife is entitled to
live Separately without forfeiting her right of maintenance but if she
herself also ceases to be Hindu, she looses her claim of maintenance
under the section, But she is entitled under section 24 of H.M.A in
1955 for pedente-lite and permanent alimony.
Special Marriage Act 1954 reflects the true sprit of Indian Secularism
as it is in consonance with India ‘s heterogeneity and multiplicity of
religious faith. Conversion does not make any effect on matrimonial
ties as the Act is the secular legislations and itself contemplate
inter caste and inter religious marriages.
The Indian Divorce Act, 1869- If the husband gets converted into non
Christian faith, wife is entitled for divorce but vice versa is not
possible. If wife gets converted into non Christian faith husband can
not apply for divorce. NANG vs LABYA8
Under Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939 Section 4 says if a
wife renounces Islam, the marriage does not Ipso-facto dissolve unless
the circumstances warrant otherwise.
The picture is complete if we account for the fact that most of these
laws are aimed to keep the low caste Hindus within the fold of
Hinduism. And so while law prohibits conversion, 're-conversion' of
low caste Hindus is permissible. If a low caste Hindu who had
converted to another faith or any of his descendants reconverts to
Hinduism, he might get back his original caste In Kailash Sonkar. 9
Major Events Of Conversion
Major events of conversion are not reported unless they are
highlighted by media or a hue and cry is made by Hindu Organization.
Following are the major incidents of religious conversion in post
independence.
Nagpur:- The Ist and the biggest mass conversion which the country has
ever witnessed, took placed on the 14th day of October 1956. Place
Nagpur, Maharashtra, the city where the headquarter of Rastriya
Swayamsewak Sangh is situated. About a half a million Dalits said good
bye to Hinduism from their life and embraced Budhism under the
leadership of the greatest social reformer, the great visionary and
the prophet of Dalit emancipation Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
Meenakshipuram:- The significant event of religious conversion took
place on Feb 19th 1981 at Meenakshipuram of Kanyakumari District in
Tamil Nadu. Where 280 families got converted to Islam. All of these
280 families cited social reasons behind their conversion. These
reasons were persecution, ill treatment and humiliation they
constantly had to face at the hands of upper caste of Hindus which
made their lives miserable and worst than animals.
Dulina :- Another significant even t of religious conversion which
created a lot of hue and cry in the society took place at Gurgaon,
Haryana 2002. This all had happened after a very pathetic incident of
burning Five Dalits Alive by a mob of upper caste people in a police
station at Dulina in Jhajjar District in Haryana. Police remain silent
spectator. Now nothing was left for the families of these massacred
Dalits to remain in such a violent and hatred preaching system of
faith, where in Dalit have no place. All the five families of
massacred Dalits got converted in to Buddhism at Rabidas Mandir,
Gurgaon, Haryana on 28th October 2002 under the banner of All India
Confederation of SC/ST organization and the Lord Buddha club in the
presence of famous film director, All India Christian Council , Jamait
Ulma-I Hind and in the presence of Media Persons.
Another dimension of this event of conversion is that after these
event of conversion all the Saffron Hindu Organizations rushed to
these families and threatened them to face dire consequences on
account of the above said conversion. Due to assaults and threats and
under the pressure of these Hindu Organization, ultimately, these
sacred Dalit Families broke down and had to make a public statement
that we did not leave Hindu religion , we did not convert.
In July 2002 another incident of religious conversion took place
Guntur distt. Andhra Pardesh were 70 Dalits converted in to
Christianity.
Delhi:- In the year 2002 Udit Raj the Chairman of All India
Confederation of SC/ST Organizations and the Lord Buddha Club give a
national wide call for conversion. This conversion ceremony was
supposed to be performed at Ram Leela Maidan of Delhi . Around one
million Dalits were supposed to get convert into Buddhism.
The preparation regarding the conversion programme were on . This
nation wide call for the conversion got an unprecedented coverage in
national and international media. Dehydration to saffron Hindu
organization regarding such a massive programme of conversion, was
oblivious. These organization resorted all means to shut of the mouth
of media , so that this call may not reach the public at large. The
Ram Leela Maidan , where the programme was supposed to be organized ,
declared as prohibited area and Section 144 of Crpc was imposed in and
around the area, all borders of Delhi where from influx of Dalits, to
take Diksha, was possible were sealed. The Government was determined
to ensure by hook or by crook let the programme may not be organized.
Finally, the organizer had to change the spot for the proposed
programme . The Government could not succeed to curb the enthusiasm of
dalits and ultimately more than 10,000 Dalits succeeded to say good
bye to Hinduism and embraced Buddhism.
Right to freedom of faith is not a conferred right but a natural
entitlement of every human being. In fact law does not assign it but
it asserts, protect and insurers its entitlement. Indian Society has
nourished and nurtured almost all the established religion of the
world like Hinduism , Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism
etc. from it s time immemorial. Article 25 incorporates right to
practice, profess and propagation of faith not only this , the Article
guarantees the freedom of conscience. Right to possess adopt abandoned
faith is ascribed by a person since his birth. India is a
heterogeneous and pluralist society with multiplicity of faith and
cultures. India most fundamental code of governance. i.e. The
constitution of India also asserts, protects and ensures this right to
all individuals irrespective of their religions, under its various
provisions especially Art. 25.
Every human being has a natural entitlement of religious faith and
freedom of conscience and right to adopt or abandon any faith of his
own choice. This being so , the freedom of conscience has been
recognized as a basic human right both constitutionally and
conventionally.
The Constitution of India aims at securing freedom of religion and
freedom of conscience under Article 25 ,26,27,28,30 and at the same
time it seeks to create a harmony among all religions. Being suitable
to the pluralistic society and historical lineage . Such freedom needs
to continued. Any other policy will not be unconstitutional but also
extremely harmful and suffocative for the public. It. However, need to
be realized that an incessant process of transformation and change is
also going on as change is the rule of nature. The ideas , faith,
psyche, behavior and attitude of people have always been subject to
change, though, the factors of change are spatial and temporal. An
important aspect with respect to change of faith is the state of One’s
awareness and ignorance. More awareness and enlightenment does
definitely have an impact on the thought, belief and action of a
person, faith and elements of conscience. Thus as regards conscience ,
state of knowledge is itself under a constant process of change and
every human being is undergoing a metamorphosis of understanding with
continuing with continuing process of experience of life and
learning . Therefore , it is advisable to tie up someone to a
particular faith for all the times.
But in Indian perspective , an aspect of freedom of conscience which
has attained a problematic dimension , is the right to propagate
faith. The meaning of propagation is to promote , spread and publicize
one’s relating to his own faith for the edification of others. The
term propagation implies persuasion and exposition without any element
of fraud, coercion and allurement. The right to propagate one’s
religion does not give a right to convert any other person to one’s
own religious faith. It may be pointed out that the right to convert
other person to one’s own religion is distinct from and individual
right to get convert to any other religion on his own choice. The
later is undisputedly is in conformity with the freedom of religion
and freedom of conscience under Article 25 of the constitution while
the former is the subject of long prevailing controversy with
reference to propagation of faith.
Religious conversion has always been a very sensitive social issue not
only because of the reasons that it has psychological concerns of
religious faith but also because it has wider socio-legal and socio-
political implications. It has also been revealed by the recent
incident of conversion in Haryana, Madhya pardesh , Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat , Orissa and in Delhi ( in Delhi according to official sources
around 20,000 dalits got converted in to Buddhism in the year 2002
under the nation a wide call for conversion by Udit Raj , the leader
of Justice party). On the one hand due to these recent incidents of
conversion the Hindu Safforn Organizations like R.S.S., V.H.P., Shiv
Sena , Bajrang Dal. etc. have made a lot of hub-bub and not only this
Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former prime minister call for a nation
wide debate on conversion
The legislative history relating to the issue of conversion in India
underscores the point that the authorities concerned were never
favorably disposed towards conversion. While British India had no anti-
conversion laws, many Princely States enacted anti-conversion
legislation: the Raigarh State Conversion Act 1936, the Patna Freedom
of Religion Act of 1942, the Sarguja State Apostasy Act 1945 and the
Udaipur State Anti-Conversion Act 1946. Similar laws were enacted in
Bikaner, Jodhpur, Kalahandi and Kota and many more were specifically
against conversion to Christianity. In the post-independence era,
Parliament took up for consideration in 1954 the Indian Conversion
(Regulation and Registration) Bill and later in 1960 the Backward
Communities (Religious Protection) Bill, both of which had to be
dropped for lack of support. The proposed Freedom of Religion Bill of
1979 was opposed by the Minorities Commission due to the Bill's
evident bias.
However, in 1967-68, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh enacted local laws
called the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act 1967 and the Madhya Pradesh
Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam 1968. Along similar lines, the Arunachal
Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 1978 was enacted to provide for
prohibition of conversion from one religious faith to any other by use
of force or inducement or by fraudulent means and for matters
connected therewith. The latest addition to this was the Tamil Nadu
Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Ordinance promulgated
by the Governor on October 5, 2002 and subsequently adopted by the
State Assembly. Each of these Acts provides definitions of
`Government', `conversion', `indigenous faith', `force', `fraud',
`inducement' (and in the case of Arunachal, that of `prescribed and
religious faith'). These laws made forced conversion a cognizable
offence under sections 295 A and 298 of the Indian Penal Code that
stipulate that malice and deliberate intention to hurt the sentiments
of others is a penal offence punishable by varying durations of
imprisonment and fines.
As early as 1967, it became evident that the concern was not just with
forced conversion, but with conversion to any religion other than
Hinduism and especially Christianity and Islam. In the Orissa and
Madhya Pradesh Acts, the punishment was to be doubled if the offence
had been committed in respect of a minor, a woman or a person
belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community. 10
Moreover, Jayalalitha government in Tamil Nadu has gone to the extent
of enacting ant-conversion legislation (Tamil Nadu prohibition of
forcible conversion ordinance 2003) to put a check on the incidence of
religious conversion. In April 2006 The Rajasthan Dharma Swatantrata
(religious freedom) Bill, introduced by the BJP government, was passed
by a voice vote. The Chattisgarh Government passed an anti-conversion
bill in form of Chattisgarh Religion Freedom (Amendment) Act, 2006
providing for a three-year jail term and a fine of Rs.20,000 for those
indulging in religious conversion by force or allurement. The Madhya
Pradesh Government also passed a controversial bill to amend the
state's Freedom of Religion Act of 1968 to prevent religious
conversion by force or allurement.
The contention of the Hindu organization is that most of the minority
religious organization, especially, Christian Missionaries are
actively involved in the activities of mass religious conversion in
the name of social service. According to them the target groups of
these Christian missionaries are generally illiterate and poor Dalits
and Poor tribes.
On the other hand many dalit organizations and Dalit thinkers have
perceived these recurrent incidents of religious conversions as great
events of Dalit emancipation from the clutches of the vicious Hindu
Caste System which is and has been a constant stigma on the face of
Indian society. According to them, Hindu Caste System is founded on
rigid and the stringent Caste hierarchy . Due to this inhuman and hate
worthy Caste system Dalits and Shudras (Untouchables) have always been
treated inhumanly, they have been subjugated, oppressed and persecuted
by the so called upper caste Hindus or Manu vadis in the name of
caste. Dalit thinkers also allege that Hindu Soceity could not make a
adequate reforms in Hindu religion during last more than 3000 years ,
so that a lower caste Hindu could not live with human dignity in Hindu
religion. According to them majority of Dalits and shudras
(untouchable) are illiterate deplorably poverty stricken and living in
sub- human conditions. They have been denied basic human rights even
after 59 years of independence, Moreover, in day today life they often
to face atrocities and exploitation at the hands of upper caste Hindus
in the name of caste. Hindu religion does not treat its all follower
alike, Hinduism discriminates against one segment of its followers vis-
à-vis the other and does not treat all of them equally. It has failed
to provide social dignity to dalit and shudras. Therefore, they think
that it is better to kick our such an obnoxious and suffocating
religion from one’s life and to convert in a religious which does not
discriminate against them in the name of caste and which given them
equal treatment and dignified human life. That is why Dalits and other
progressive minds have supported the incidence of mass religious
conversion and consideration them to great events.
We can conclude from the above discussion that any protest against
religious conversion is always branded as persecution, because it is
maintained that people are not allowed to practice their religion,
that their religious freedom is curbed. The truth is entirely
different. The other person also has the freedom to practice his or
her religion without interference. That is his/her birthright.
Religious freedom does not extent (sic) to having a planned programme
of conversion. Such a programme is to be construed as aggression
against the religious freedom of others.
Finally, as far as Hinduism is concerned, besides it being vindicated
as a way of life, efforts must be made to augment its role as a form
of religion, that is, Hinduism must be practiced as a religion that
upholds the principles of personal freedom, self-dignity, social
equality and economic security. This will reduce the chances of
transgression by way of conversion in any manner. Scriptures like the
Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita should gather larger weight age and
reach the necessary quarters for sufficient lobbying to match the
access and emotional respect gained by the Bible and the Koran. The
image of a Hindu will go up not by blaming others for conversion but
by creating conditions that will make conversion by and large
unnecessary for the fellow members of his religion.
Foot Note:-
1. The Complete Words of Vivekananda, (1),P. 127
2. Shri Aurobindo-The Life Divine , P. 699
3. Dr. Radhakrishnan-Religion and Society, P. 103
4. AIR 1995 SC
5. AIR 1983 SC
6. AIR 2000 SC
7. AIR 1963 SC 185
8. AIR 1924 , Rangoon , 263
9. (1984) 2 SCC 91
10. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2002121700110200.htm&date=2002/12/17/&prd=op&
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Anti Superstition Law
Pritha Jha - IVth year law student - ILS law college, Pune
I
Introduction:
The history of the anti superstition bill began in 2003, when the
first draft of the anti superstition bill was tabled. It was called
the Jadu Tona Andhshradha Virodhi bill of 2003. This was the first
bill of its kind ever to be tabled anywhere across the country.
However, the bill was met with strong opposition by most parties as
the definition of superstition was considered too vast. What was
superstition and blind faith to one could possibly be belief and faith
to another. Amidst these arguments, the bill was finally passed with
some amendments. Although the bill was pending before the central
government for its approval for almost seven months, problems arose
when the elections began. The governor was of the view that since the
government was going to change, it would not be appropriate to put a
new law in place. Hence, as fate would have it, the bill did not come
into force. That however, was not the end of the journey and 2 years
later a new draft was tabled in March 2005 much like the one that was
tabled in 2003 with subtle differences and an amended version was
finally passed on the 16th of December 2005. This review examines both
the bills of 2005. The bill of 2003 was unavailable. Whereas the bill
of 2003 had been drafted by Mr. Narendra Dabholkar of the Andhashradha
Samiti, the bill of 2005 was drafted by Mr. Shyam Manav.
The Bills:
A first reading of both the bills gives one the feeling that the new
draft has included a lot more people in its purview and has also made
mild, some of the provisions of the older draft. The March draft uses
the words to protect the poor and ignorant people in the society
Against blind faith, ignorance and customs born out of blind faith in
the name of god...black magic by so called god’s men. The December
draft however uses the terminology of application to common people
customs thriving on ignorance and completely removes the usage of the
words blind faith...in the name of God and so called God’s men. It is
thus quite clear that the present bill recognizes the fact that it is
not just the poor and the ignorant who can be victims of tantriks and
babas but also the people of the upper classes that may be affected.
It also wishes to avoid opposition over the usage of the words God’s
men and in the name of God because practices and rituals practiced in
the name of God may be an expression of faith to some.
Short Title, Extent and Commencement:
The March draft of the bill was called the Maharashtra Eradication of
Black Magic and Evil Practices and Customs Act, 2005 whereas, the
final draft is called the Maharashtra Eradication of Black Magic and
Evil and aghori Practices Act, 2005.
The word Customs has been removed from the title and the word aghori
has been inserted possibly because of the difficulty in defining the
word Custom as would cater to the needs of this bill.
Definitions:
The definition clause has been severely shortened in the December
bill. The earlier bill included definitions of Black Magic. Magical
remedy. However, this has now all been covered in one clause. All the
words have the same meaning as they have been defined in The Drugs and
Magic Remedies (objectionable advertisements) Act, 1954 and the
criminal procedure code, unless, they have been expressly defined in
the bill. However, there are still certain terms such as Aghori, jaran-
maran, buvabaaji, devi mata or dev devaski which find no definition in
the Bill.
A rather large definition had been provided for in the March bill for
practice of Black Magic or blind faith. It included practice by a
person or through another by claiming to possess supernatural powers
or divine powers or power of the spirit for treatment or for curing or
for healing physical and mental ailments thereby causing material or
financial loss to a human being. This definition would have thus
included other varied practices such as Voodoo, Wicca and Reiki. This
however has completely been removed from the present bill. This is
probably one of the biggest reasons why the present bill was labeled
as anti-hindu, because it does not seem to cover the practices of
other religions such as Islam and Christianity.
A noticeable change is that of the inclusion of Doctors and medical
practitioners in the present bill. The earlier bill expressly excluded
this class of people. This would have given a license to doctors to
practice black magic; hence it has rightly been included.
Registered medical practitioner as defined under the Drugs and Magic
Remedies Act 1954, means any person, -
(i) who holds a qualification granted by an authority specified in, or
notified under Section 3 of the Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916 (7 of
1916) specified in the Schedules to the Indian Medical Council Act
1956 (102 of 1956); or
(ii) who is entitled to be registered as a medical practitioner under
any law for the time being in force ;in any State to which this Act
extends relating to the registration of medical practitioner;
Prohibition of Black Magic:
Both the bills prohibit the promotion, propagation and the practice of
Black Magic. The December Bill also prohibits the promotion, practice
and propagation of aghori practices. This also included people who
abet or attempt to commit any act punishable under this Act.
The March Bill provided that any person who contravenes the provisions
of the Act would be punishable with a term extending to seven years or
with a fine extending to fifty thousand rupees or with both. The
revised version of the bill however provides a minimum sentence of six
months extending to seven months along with a fine, the minimum limit
of which is provided at fifty thousand rupees. Hence the amended bill
comprehensively necessitates the imposition of both imprisonment and
fine.
Jurisdiction to try offences:
Both bills declare the offences punishable under the Act as cognizable
and non-bailable. No court inferior to that of a Metropolitan
Magistrate or a Magistrate of the First Class is permitted to try any
offence under the Act.
Offences by companies:
Both bills provide that if any offence is committed by a company then
every person in charge of and responsible to the company at the time
of commission of the offence for the conduct of its business would be
deemed guilty. It however, expressly excludes people who did not have
knowledge of the commission or people who had exercised all diligence
to prevent its commission. It also provides that if such an act is
committed with the consent or due to the neglect of any director or
manager or secretary or any other officer of the company who is
responsible for the exercise of due care then such a person would also
be deemed to be guilty under the Act.
A separate definition has been provided for a company under both the
bills which includes firms, an association of persons or body of
individuals, whether incorporated or not. Where the March Bill
includes trusts in the definition of a company, the December bill does
not. The reason for the exclusion of the same is unclear.
Vigilance officer:
There is a slight difference in the manner of defining the vigilance
officer in both the bills. The March draft provided that the vigilance
officer, who would be one or more police officers of the rank of an
inspector of Police, would be appointed for the whole State or such
part of the State as may be specified. However, the December draft now
changes this to one or more police officers for one or more police
stations as may be specified. The December bill thus does away with
the ambiguity of appointed police officers for parts of the State.
Where the duties of the Vigilance officer are concerned, most of the
duties remain the same. The earlier bill however, empowered the
officer to detect and prevent the contravention of the Act and to
report cases to the nearest police station within his jurisdiction.
However, the present bill lays a greater duty on the vigilance officer
because it requires him to take quick and speedy action in case a
complaint is filed at the police station by a victim. It also requires
him to give necessary advice, guidance and help to the concerned
police station. The rest of the duties such as collection of evidence,
performance of other duties as notified from time to time remain the
same under both the bills.
The March bill however, provided that the Vigilance officer shall
associate himself with the members of recognized organizations within
the area of his jurisdiction and co-ordinate with such organizations.
It further goes on to state what these recognized organizations would
be and what their duties would be. The bill stated that any social
organization which had been established and registered for not less
than two years under the provisions of the Bombay trusts Act, 1950 or
the societies registration Act, 1860 may apply to the state government
for recognition. It further provided that the government may accord
such recognition after due enquiries. It appears that the
Andhasharadha Samiti, being an organization which would fit in this
category wanted to be at the forefront of such activities while
drafting the bill. Being a recognized organization, the Vigilance
officer would then be forced to work in co-ordination with the
organization by virtue of section 6(3). This provision has been
deleted from the December Bill.
Power of Entry, Search etc:
The Act will give tremendous powers to the Vigilance officer as he
will have the power to enter and search any premises in which he has
reason to believe that an offence has been or is being committed. He
will also have the power to seize any instruments or material or
advertisements which he has reason to believe were being used for the
commission of the crime. It also gives him the power to seize any
other objects which according to him would help prove the crime. The
provisions of the criminal procedure code would apply to any search or
seizure under the Act as would apply to any search or seizure made
under the authority of the warrant issued under section 94 of the
Criminal Procedure Code.
Protection of action taken in good faith:
Common to both bills
The provisions of section 159 and 160 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951
shall apply to acts done in good faith by the Vigilance Officer as if
he were a police officer within the meaning of that Act.
Application of the provisions of the Code:
Common to both bills
The provisions of the Code shall apply to the investigation and trial
of the offences under this Act. Both the bills also go on to state
that this Act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any
other law for the time being in force.
Publication of the fact of conviction:
Both bills make provisions for convicting courts to order the
publication of the name and the place of residence of the person
convicted in the local newspaper where the offence has been committed.
No such publication however, may be allowed until the appeal has
finally been disposed of.
Rules:
Both bills also make provisions for the making of rules to carry out
the purposes of the Act by notification in the official gazette. The
procedure for the making, modification and the annulment of such rules
has also been provided for under the Bill.
Power to remove difficulty:
This is an extremely ambiguous provision that had been put forth in
the bill of March which was removed in the new bill. It provides that
in case the State government encounters any difficulty in giving
effect to the provisions of the Act then the Government may take such
steps by notification in the official gazette as it may deem necessary
to remove such difficulty. Such an order, however, could not be given
before the passing of two years of the commencement of the Act.
Savings:
The bill of December 2005 provides for a provision which clarifies
that the Act would not apply to acts involving religious rites and
rituals which do not affect any person mentally or physically. This
has been done in order to avoid a religious uproar. It at the same
time however, also creates certain ambiguities as many acts can be
committed under the guise of being a religious act or a religious
ritual.
Schedules:
The schedule to the bill of March specified the acts which were
considered as offences. This has almost completely been changed in the
new bill and very little of the old bill has been retained. Whereas
the first bill listed out 27 practices, the new bill lists only 12.
The schedule to the March Bill included:
1) Under the pretext of expelling the ghost, assaulting by tying a
person with rope or chain, beating by stick or whip, to make the
person drink footwear soaked water, giving chili smoke, hanging a
person to the roof, fixing him with rope or by hair or plucking his
hair causing pain by way of touching heated object to organs or body
of a person, forcing a person to perform a sexual act in the open,
practicing aghori acts by chanting mantras, putting urine or human
excretion forcibly in the mouth of a person.
This clause has completely been retained. Only the words by chanting
mantras have been removed from the new bill in order to avoid
religious opposition. Chanting mantras need not necessarily be in
connection of aghori practices and is also used for religious
practices and to connect it with aghori would have caused religious
uproar.
2) Display of so called miracles by trying to create an impression of
existence of the things beyond or contrary to proven scientific rules
and to deceive, cheat or terrorize any person by propagation and
circulation of such practices. The wording of this section has
completely been changed and it now reads as follows:
Display of so called miracles by a person and thereby earning money
and to deceive, defraud and terrorize people by propagation and
circulation of so called miracles.
The intention of the legislators here appears to be that it is not the
belief of the people that should be attacked but only the people who
want to derive monetary gain out of display of miracles who should be
attacked. Even God is beyond scientific proof but the impression of
His existence cannot be challenged. Beliefs such as these cannot be
challenged under the guise of deception or terrorism. Another question
which arises is would magicians now be allowed to display their magic
for entertaining people? Although magic is not used always to
terrorize people, it does have that effect during the performance of
certain tricks.
3) Doing any inhuman act for search of precious things, bounty, water
resource in the form of karni, bhanmati and making or trying to make
human sacrifice by making jaran-maran, buvabaaji, devi mata or dev
devaski.
The following clause has been more appropriately drafted in the latest
bill and it now reads as follows: Doing any inhuman act in search of
precious things, bounty, water resource or for similar reasons in the
name of karni, bhanamati and making or trying to make human sacrifice
in the name of jaran-maran, or dev-devaski or to advice, instigate or
encourage committing of such inhuman acts.
The words buvabaaji and devi mata have been excluded and the other
words highlighted have been included. Thus not only the act itself but
also the instigation or the propagation of the act would comprise the
offence.
4) In case of dog bite, knowingly committing the act of giving
unscientific treatment of mantra tantra, gandadora and herbs, etc. to
a person infected with rabies instead of modern medical treatment or
preventing him from accepting the same.
Only a part of this clause has been retained and other bites such as
those of a scorpion and a snake have been included. A separate clause
had been put for snake bites in the earlier bill. This has now been
included in the same clause. Thus if a person is bitten by any of
these and such a person is treated by mantra tantra and ganda dora, it
would be an offence. The usage of herbs has been excluded. It is a
proven fact that herbs have medicinal value and hence its usage has
been allowed under the present bill unlike its prohibition in the
earlier one.
5) Piercing needle, and nails or other such objects in the arm,
tongue, chicks or any other part of the body, pricking pointed objects
in the body, whipping oneself, to bang oneself on the wall of temple
with intention of fulfilling the prayer made before God or commitment,
cutting oneself with a sharp instrument on one’s forehead and on any
other part of the body or to inflict self injury or committing any act
in public place which causes pain to normal human being in the name of
religious customs or traditions. This provision has completely been
removed from the present bill.
These acts need not be committed in religious faith. People pierce
their tongues even in the name of fashion. Again, a practice which may
not make sense to a person may make sense to another because he has
faith in it. Hence, such exhaustive provisions cannot be put into the
Bill.
6) Defrauding people, in the name of God and faith to have illicit
sexual relationship with women or men either natural or unnatural,
with or without consent of the person involved.
This provision has been deleted from the present bill because these
acts have already been declared to be illegal under the Indian Penal
Code and hence they are not necessary.
Instead, the following provisions have been included:
To create an impression that oneself is having special supernatural
powers, incarnation of another person or holy spirit, or that the
devotee was his wife, husband or paramour in past birth thereby
indulging in sexual activity with such person.
To keep sexual relations with a woman who is unable to conceive
assuring her of motherhood through supernatural powers.
7) Create or to propagate of inviting spirit of God or Goddess through
any person as a medium. This has been removed from the present bill
and the following has been included:
To create an impression by declaring that a divine spirit has
influenced one’s body or that a person has possessed such divine
spirit and thereby create fear in the mind of others or to threaten
others of evil consequences for not following the advice of such
person.
This provision makes clear that it is not merely the practice of
inviting a spirit that is causing harm but the fact that it is being
propagated in society causing fear in the minds of the people. This
needs to be stopped.
8) Assuring any woman to perform gopala santan ritual in the fourth
month of her pregnancy for birth of a male child, operating stomach by
fingers, diagnosing disease by placing stone, farshi (tile) on the
head, making use of improper and harmful methods to diagnose and treat
diseases and illness; claim to have divine remedies for abortion,
contraception, enhancement of physical satisfaction in the sexual act
for men and women, increasing their sexual powers, menstruation
problems, conceiving, etc.
In the disguise of offering motherhood by performing some divine act
or magical remedy keeping sexual relations with women who are unable
to conceive, deflowering them, keeping illicit sexual relations with
them.
This has now been removed and a short provision stating that claiming
to perform surgery by fingers or claiming to change the sex of a
foetus in the womb of a woman, has been put in place.
9) To spread threat amongst the people by way of invoking by mantras,
putting up a false show to make a person free from poisonous
infection, creating an impression that there is ghostly or divine
wrath causing physical injuries and stopping a person from taking
medical treatment and instead diverting him to practice aghori acts or
deeds.
The following provision in this regard has been included instead:
To create panic in the mind of public in general by way of invoking
ghosts by mantras, or threaten to invoke ghost, putting up a false
show to make a person free from poisonous infection by invoking
mantras or similar things, creating an impression that there is
ghostly or divine wrath causing physical injuries and preventing a
person from taking medical treatment and instead diverting him to
practice aghori acts or treatment, threatening a person with death or
causing physical pains or causing financial or psychological harm by
practicing or tend to practice mantra-tantra (chetuk), black magic or
aghori act.
10) In the name of jaran maran, karni or witchcraft (chetuk),
assaulting any person, parading him naked, excommunicating or
declaring any person as outcast or to expel a person from society or
put a ban on his activities, declaring such person as possessed by
evil spirit or incarnation.
To appear in the state of complete nakedness in the public place and
misbehaving with women by treating oneself as awaliya baba or baba
with divine power.
This has now been substituted by the following two acts:
By declaring that a particular person practices karni, black magic or
brings under the influence of ghost, or diminishes the milching
capacity of a cattle by mantra tantra, or create suspicion about such
person, or similarly accusing a particular person that he brings
misfortune to others or is responsible for spread of diseases and
thereby making the living of such person miserable, troublesome or
difficult, to declare a person as Satan or incarnation of Satan.
In the name of jaran maran, karni, or witchcraft assaulting any
person, parading him naked or put a ban on his daily activities.
11) To create an impression that insanity has been caused to a person
due to influence of ghost or divine power and to conduct mantra tantra
to cure him by way of sacrifice of hen or goat or any other animal.
Cheating people in the false hope of providing freedom from madness,
offering treatment to patients of serious or terminal illnesses by
offering stones with the powers of mantras, finger ring, bangle,
jogstick or thread, tait, ganda dora, etc, with such false hope.
This has now been replaced by: To create an impression that a mentally
retarded person is having super natural power and utilizing such
person for business or occupation.
The following provisions have also been removed:
Causing disturbance in society in general or creating panic or cause
intimidation by way of chanting Mantra or Tantrik action in the name
of exorcising a ghost or to free a person from the influence of ghost
or evil spirit.
By declaring that Devi, a spirit has influenced one’s body, create
disturbance by shouting and thereby spreading threat and disturbing
the general peace, declaring the names of the persons who has done
karni, etc, thereby making the living of such a person miserable of
difficult, to provide unscientific cure to psycho somatic conditions
such as giving angara, pendant, etc. to the people. Haunting a person
with an influence of ghost by practicing witchcraft which cannot be
proved with the help of modern science. Treating any disease with the
help of mantra tantra without authorized or recognized medical degree
under the law for the time being in force. Threatening a person with
death or causing physical pains or causing financial or psychological
harm by mantra tantra (witchcraft), Black Magic or by practicing
aghori treatment.
Trying to make believe burning of things, vanishing of things,
appearance of cross marks on the body, etc, as effect of bhanamati and
claiming treatment for the same. Claiming to perform miracle by
burying oneself in the ground. Under disguise of offering God’s
blessings, cheating people by way of accepting money or any other
belongings, by unlawful means. In the name of religion, Holy
Scriptures, God and Goddesses, display of false extraordinary powers,
indulgence in free sexual relations, adopting unethical and corrupt
means for cheating and duping people. Compelling women to enter into
prostitution and committing atrocities against them, by cheating them
under blind faith.
The following other provisions have been included:
With a view to receive blessings of super natural power to follow the
evil and aghori practices which cause danger to life or grievous hurt;
and to instigate, encourage or compel others to follow such practices.
Conclusion:
This is a noble effort of the legislators to put an end to the
atrocities being committed in the name of religion. Throwing people in
burning flames to cure people of Chicken Pocks, writing Ram on the
doors of the house to prevent the unholy ghost from entering the house
is becoming increasingly common these days. Although the intentions
are good, as has been seen in the past, not all legislations score
high marks where implementation is concerned. Some fail more so
because people refuse to follow them and because it appears to be
against the customs and traditions of the people. Literacy drives
would have been more appropriate for such a personal subject. No
committee has been put in place under this bill that would go around
educating people about the evil effects of these practices. Another
thing that comes across is that most of the acts named in the bill
would be offences in itself, the only difference is that their
commission under the guise of religious practice would henceforth also
be termed as an offence. Nevertheless, the success of the bill still
remains to be seen.
The author can be reached at :prit...@legalserviceindia.com
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/statl.htm
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own temperament has taken over significant powers....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l360-Judicial-Accountability-&-Separation-Of-Power.html
Article 370: Article-370 was created with a view that its existence
would be temporary. ...
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l256-Article-370.html
Doctrine of pleasure and its proviso article 311 of Indian
Constitution: How these articles regulates the functioning of
government servants and what are the remedies available to
government..
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l253-Doctrine-of-pleasure-and-its-proviso-article-311-of-Indian-Constitution.html
Right to Information in India: A democratic society survives by
accepting new ideas, experimenting with them, and rejecting them if
found ...
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l188-Right-to-Information-in-India.html
Preamble- A Key To Open The Minds Of The Framers Of The Constitution:
The Preamble to a Constitution embodies the fundamental values and the
philosophy, on which the Constitution is based,
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/pre_mb.htm
Supreme Court the Final Pedestal of Justice: A law may be defined as
an assemblage of signs, declarative of a volition, conceived or
adopted by the sovereign in a stage...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/sc_c.htm
Constitution-Judicial Democracy: Judiciary is that branch of
government that interprets the laws or says what the laws mean &
democracy means a form of government...
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/thyg.htm
Doctrine Of Basic Structure (Constitutional Law): It is very difficult
to state a single and accurate definition of the term ?law? as it is a
general term and has different connotations for different people.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/thyg.htm
Racism - Society’s Cancer: Racism refers to beliefs, practices, and
institutions that negatively discriminate against people based on
their perceived or ascribed race....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/rac.htm
Dual Citizenship: The status of being a citizen of a specific nation
state, signifies a person’s legal status and carries with it numerous
consequences.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/dual_cet.htm
Writ Of Habeas Corpus For Securing Liberty: The concept of writ
essentially originated in England & to issue appropriate writ.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/wha.htm
Nature Of The Indian Constitution: Judicial Exposition: The
Constitution of India is not an end but a means to an end, not mere
democracy...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/c1onst.htm
Doctrine Of Constitutional Tort: Under the English Common Law the
maxim was "The King can do no wrong" and therefore, the King was not
liable for
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/dct.htm
Right to die- " To be or not to be?": The care of human life and
happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate
object
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/die.htm
Sustainable Development and Indian Judiciary:
Right to wholesome environment is a fundamental right protected under
Article 21 of the Constitution
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/jud.htm
Austianinan Concept Of Sovereignty: Austin places the notion of
sovereignty at the basis of his theory of law. Austin borrowed from
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/sover.htm
Legality Of Foreign Judgments: The article/paper aims to study the
binding nature of the foreign judgments i.e. judgments...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/fore.htm
Constitutional Position of Jammu and Kashmir: Under Part XXI of the
Constitution of India, which deals with Temporary, Transitionalr ..
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l281-Constitutional-Position-of-Jammu-and-Kashmir.html
Supreme Court is the final Pedestal for justice: the supreme is the
final and the highest authority for which a person ca go..
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l386-Supreme-Court-is-the-final-Pedestal-for-justice.html
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/constitution/const_home.htm
Written By : Deepika Bansal - Student Law
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of the land, which is
fundamental in the governance of India. The Constitution of India was
enacted on 26th November, 1949 and was adopted on 26th January, 1950.
The Draftsmen of the Indian Constitution took inspiration from
Constitutions all over the world and incorporated their attributes
into the Indian Constitution. For example Part III on Fundamental
Rights is partly derived from the American Constitution and Part 1V on
Directive Principles of State Policy from the Irish Constitution.
A Constitution should be a dynamic document. It should be able to
adapt itself to the changing needs of the society. Sometimes under the
impact of new powerful social and economic forces, the pattern of
government will require major changes. Keeping this factor in mind the
Draftsmen of the Indian Constitution incorporated Article 368 in the
Constitution which dealt with the procedure of amendment. Due to
Article 368 the Indian Constitution can neither be called rigid nor
flexible but in fact it is partly rigid and partly flexible. Articles
of the Indian Constitution can be amended by a simple majority in the
Parliament (Second Schedule, Article 100(3), 105, 11, 124, 135, 81,
137), or by special majority that is majority of the total membership
of each house and by majority of not less than two thirds of the
members of each house present and voting , or by Ratification by the
State Legislatures after special majority (Article 57, 73, 162,
Chapter 1V of Part V, Chapter V of P!
art V1, Seventh Schedule, representation of the State in Parliament
and provisions dealing with amendment of the Constitution).
During the 50 years of the Constitution, more than 80 amendments have
taken place. The founding fathers of the Indian constitution who
granted more rights to the people without balancing them with their
duties, perhaps did not foresee the emergence of present political
environment, wherein the political players of various segments in the
country are more interested in fulfilling their individual aspirations
than the aspirations of the people. There is an element of truth in
this
criticism. The fact is that the ease in the amending process of the
Indian Constitution is due to the one party dominance both at the
Centre and the State .Yet, on close examination it will be seen that
there were compelling circumstances which led to the constitutional
amendments. While some amendments were a natural product of the
eventual evolution of the new political system established under the
Constitution in 1950, there were others necessitated by practical
difficulties. The first amendment! took place in June, 1950.
The question whether Fundamental Rights can be amended under Article
368 came for consideration of the Supreme Court in Shankari Prasad v.
Union of India . It challenged the validity of the 1st amendent to the
Constitution. In this case it was held that a constitution amendment
will also be held valid even it abridges or takes away any of the
fundamental rights. A similar decision was given my the honble Supreme
Court in Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan which challenged the
validity of the 17th amendent. In Golaknath v. State of Punjab , the
validity of the Constitution (17th Amendment) Act, 1964 was again
challenged, which inserted certain State Acts in Ninth Schedule. The
Supreme Court in its landmark decision overruled the decision given in
the Shankari Prasads and Sajjan Singhs case. It held that the
Parliament had no power from the date of this decision to amend Part
III of the Constitution so as to take away or abridge the Fundamental
rights. Eleven judges participated in this decision with the ratio
being 6 : 5. The judges were worried about the numerous amendments
made to abridge the fundamental rights since 1950. It apprehended that
if the courts were to hold that the Parliament had power to take away
fundamental rights, a time might come when these rights are completely
eroded. The Chief Justice applied the doctrine of Prospective
Overruling and held that this decision will have only prospective
operation and, therefore, the 1st, 4th and 17th amendment will conti!
nue to be valid.
It means that all cases decided before the Golaknaths case shall
remain valid. In order to remove difficulties created by Golaknaths
decision parliament enacted the 24th Amendment.
The amendment has made the following amendments :
(1) it added a new clause (4) to Article 13 which provides that
nothing in this Article shall apply to any amendment of this
constitution made under Article 368 .
(2) it submitted a new heading to Article 368 power of Parliament to
amend the Constitution and Procedure therefore. Instead of Procedure
for amendment of the Constitution.
(3) It inserted a new sub section (1) in Article 368 which provides
that notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, Parliament may, in
exercise of its constituent power may amend by way of addition,
variation, or repeal any provision of this Constitution in accordance
with the procedure laid down in the Article. Thus the 24th amendment
restored the amending power of the Parliament. The validity of the
24th amendment was challenged in the case of Keshavnand Bharati v.
State of Kerala . It challenged the validity of the Kerala Reforms
Act, 1963. but during the pendency of the petition the Kerala Act was
placed in the Ninth Schedule by the 29th Amendment. The question
involved was the extent of the amending power conferred by Article 368
of the Constitution. A Special bench of 13 judges was constituted to
hear the case. The Court by majority overruled the Golaknaths case
which denied Parliament the power to amend fundamental rights of
citizens. It held that the 24th amendment merely made explicit which
was implicit in the unamended Article 368. The Court held that under
the Article 368 Parliament is not empowered to amend the basic
structure or framework of the Constitution. After the decisions of the
Supreme Court in Keshavnand Bharati and Indira Gandhi cases the
Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, was passed which added two
new clauses , namely, clauses (4) provided that no constitutional
amendment (including the provision of Part III) or purporting to have
been made under Article 368 whether before or after the commencement
of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976 shall be called in any
court on any ground. Clause (5) removed any doubts about the scope of
the amending power. It declared that there shall be no limitation
whatever on the constituent power of Parliament to amend by way of
addition ,variation or repeal of the provisions of the Constitution
under this Article. Thus by inserting this clause it was made clear
that the basic structure of the Constitution could be amended. In
Minerva Mills v. Union of India the Supreme Court by 4 to 1 majority
struck down clauses (4) and (5) of Article 368 inserted by the 42nd
amendment, on the ground that these clauses destroyed the essential
feature of the basic structure of the Constitution. Since these
clauses removed all limitations on the amending power and thereby!
conferred an unlimited amending power, it was destructive of the basic
structure of the Constitution. The judgment of the Supreme Court thus
makes it clear that the Constitution not the Parliament is supreme in
India. The Parliament owes its existence to the Constitution and it
cannot take priority over the Constitution. Therefore this landmark
decision ended the long controversy between the Courts and the
Executive.
The amendment process was incorporated in the Constitution by the
Draftsmen of the Constitution to help India adapt itself to the
changing circumstances. Society is never stagnant. It is ever-
changing. Therefore the amending procedure was made partly flexible so
as to make it easy for the Legislature. But the Parliament started
thinking that it has unlimited amending power. It assumed itself to be
the supreme law when the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
The Parliament started making amendments which were destroying the
basic structure of the Indian Constitution. But after the landmark
decisions of Keshavnand Bharati and Minerva Mills the Court by its
power of judicial review has curtailed the amending power of the
Parliament. The amendments made by the Parliament can no more affect
the basic structure of the Constitution. But, looking at the ease with
amendments can take place depending on the whims and fancies of the
ruling government and the POLITICS IN THE POLITICS OF INDIA we cannot
say how long the rights of the citizens are safe and unobstructed.
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/pol.htm
Written By : Sachin Mehta
On 26 March 2002, the controversial anti-terror law, the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA) was passed with 425 votes for the Act and 296
against, after a 10-hour debate in the parliament. The intensity of
the effects of the bill could be seen very clearly by the rejection of
the bill by the upper house of the Indian Parliament leading to a
Joint Session of Parliament, a measure that had taken place only the
third time in the past. The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs justified
the initial Ordinance after the September 11,2001 terror attacks by
claiming an upsurge of terrorist activities, intensification of cross
border terrorism, and insurgent groups in different parts of the
country, despite the fact that the state of Jammu and Kashmir
witnessed a decrease in the terrorist incidents taking place in that
state.
POTA, though now has been repealed, lives as an example showing the
bold step taken by India in its fight against terrorism. The POTA had
during its days and even after its downfall, has made India a silent
spectator to serous ongoing debates between political parties, the
media, social activists and NGOs on certain provisions seen to be
draconian, within POTA.
Two years from the enactment of the POTA, a number of issues as to the
possibilities of misuse of the provisions of the anti terror law
including the targeting of minorities and using it against political
opponents had arisen. In Gujarat, all except one of the POTA detainees
are from the Muslim minority and in Tamil Nadu and UP too the
ostensible anti-terror law has been abused to book, without lucidity
and accountability, political opponents and underprivileged
communities respectively.
A decade long experience with a previous national anti-terror law, the
infamous Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention (TADA) that
was in force between 1985-1995 gives legitimacy to the fear that the
misuse of such laws evoke among human rights activists, political
dissenters and minorities. Under the TADA, the conviction rate was
less than 1%, despite the fact that the confessions made to the
police, even though being given under torture, were admissible as
evidence.
The developments after the enactment of the POTA, including the
responses received by the POTA review committee show that the POTA is
worse then TADA. POTA provides for criminal liability for mere
association or communication with suspected terrorists without the
possession of criminal intent (Section 3(5) of the POTA). Section 4 of
POTA is similar to Section 5 of TADA in laying out a legal presumption
that if a person is found in unauthorized possession of arms in a
notified area, he/she is automatically linked with terrorist activity.
Section 48(2) provides for the option of pre-trial police detention
for up to 180 days. As under the TADA, where 98% of the cases never
reached the trial stage, this Section 48(2) could also be misused by
the police by keeping an accused for long periods of detention without
charge or trial. Special courts for trials are established under POTA
which are given the discretion to hold trials in non-public places,
like prisons, and to withhold ! trial records from public scrutiny,
thus preventing the independent monitoring of special court sessions.
Section 32 provides that confessions made to police officers are to be
admissible in trial, which has increased the possibility of coercion
and torture in securing confessions.
The provisions contained under the POTA were mostly contained in
existing laws, except those, which were contained in the Criminal
Procedure Code, the Indian Penal Code, the Evidence Act or the
Constitution of India. The Act effectively undermines the fundamental
tenet of the criminal justice system by putting the burden of proof on
the accused. But the Act also had some provisions, which were not
attacked for being against human rights. These provisions stated that
Confessions must be recorded within 48 hours before a magistrate, who
will send the accused for a medical examination if there is a
complaint of torture. Further a legal representative of the accused
can be present for part of the interrogation. Moreover police officers
can be prosecuted for abusing their authority. The POTA also provided
that victims could be paid compensation.
But these provisions could not act as an effective shield to protect
the Act from the criticism it received for its other provisions
abusing human rights. Those opposed to POTA had argued that existing
laws were sufficient to deal with terrorism. Within a year POTA had
already built up a dubious record and in some states it was already
dreaded as its predecessor. State governments, including opposition-
ruled ones, had not hesitated to use POTA to fix political opponents.
At the Peoples Tribunal on POTA and Other Security Legislation at the
Press Club in New Delhi on July 16,2004 a 629-page report based on
depositions made before the Tribunal by victims and their families
from ten states in India, as well as expert depositions by lawyers and
activists, showed that such security legislations grant sweeping
powers to authorities, which has led to misuse of these powers and
severe restriction of basic rights. At the same time, such
legislations do not address the political, social and economic roots
of the problem.
The tribunal concluded that the review of victim and expert testimony
showed that the misuse of the Act is inseparable from its normal use.
The tribunal stated that the statute meant to terrorise not so much
the terrorists as ordinary civiliansand particularly the poor and
disadvantaged such as dalits, religious minorities, adivasis, and
working people. Thus the tribunal recommended that POTA be repealed
and that too in such a manner that the POTA charges are deleted from
all existing investigations and trials. But, if the state so desires,
these may continue under other laws and charges.
Finally on September 17, 2004 the Union Cabinet in keeping with the
UPA government's Common Minimum Programme, approved ordinances to
repeal the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) and
amend the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Home Minister
Shivraj Patil said that the government would provide a sunset period
of one year during which all cases pertaining to POTA would be
reviewed by the Central POTA Review Committee. He added, There would
be no arrests made after the ordinance is promulgated. To fill the
lacuna that have been created due to the repeal of the Act, adequate
amendments were being brought to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act, 1967 to define a terrorist act and provide for banning of
terrorist organisations and their support systems, including funding
of terrorism, attachment and forfeiture of proceeds of terrorism, etc.
All terrorist organisations banned under POTA would continue to remain
banned, under the Unlawful Activities Act, after the repeal of the
Act. Some of the clauses contained in POTA, which will be completely
dropped in the amended Unlawful Activities Act, are: the onus on the
accused to prove his innocence, compulsory denial of bail to accused
and admission as evidence in the court of law the confession made by
the accused before the police officer.
The BJP government has slammed the Cabinet decision to repeal POTA as
politically motivated and compromising of the essentials of national
security. BJP spokesperson and former Law Minister Arun Jaitley said
if the amendments brought out under the existing laws after the repeal
of POTA are found to be inadequate, the BJP-ruled states would be
asked to come out with their own legislations filling up the lacuna.
But till such a step is taken many innocent victims of the POTA can
take a sign of relief and thank their stars that the reign of terror
under the stringent anti terror law POTA has come to an end.
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/pota.htm
Written By : Sandeep Pathak, III year B.B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) National Law
University, Jodhpur
Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (herein after referred as
Olga Tellis) was decided in 1985 by the five Judges Bench of the
Supreme Court of India. The Hon'ble bench comprised of C.J., Y.V.
Chandrachud, J., A.V. Varadarajan, J., O. Chinnappa Reddy, J., S.
Murtaza Fazal Ali and J., V.D. Tulzapurkar. This case came before the
Supreme Court as a writ petition by persons who live on pavements and
in slums in the city of Bombay. It was prayed by the petitioners to
allow them to stay on the pavements against their order of eviction.
The majority judgment (concurring by all the five Judges) was
delivered by Hon'ble Chief Justice Y.V.Chandrachud.
Factual Score of Olga Tellis
The writ petitions were filed by the slum dwellers and pavement
dwellers before the Supreme Court of India. This class of people
constituted nearly half the population of the city of Bombay. The
respondents - State of Maharashtra and Bombay Municipal Corporation
took a decision that all pavement dwellers and the slum or bust
dwellers in the city of Bombay will be evicted forcibly and deported
to their respective places of origin or removed to places outside the
city of Bombay section 314 of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act,
1888. Pursuant to that decision, the pavement dwellings of some of the
petitioners were in fact demolished by the Bombay Municipal
Corporation. The petitioners challenge the order of the Bombay
Municipal Corporation of eviction as being unreasonable and unjust
without providing with alternative living facility. The petitioners
claimed right to livelihood as a part of their right under Article 21
of the Constitution that is right to life under Article 32. Moreover,
petitioners contended that sections 312, 313 and 314 of the Bombay
Municipal Corporation Act are invalid as violating Articles 14, 19 and
21.
Issues Considered by the Apex Court
1. That the order for the eviction of the pavement is the infringement
of their right to livelihood and in turn the encroachment over their
right guaranteed under article 21 of the Constitution.
2. That the impugned action of the State Government and the Bombay
Municipal Corporation is violative of the provisions contained in
Article 19(1) (3), 19(1) (g) and 21 of the Constitution.
3. That the procedure prescribed by section 314 of the Bombay
Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 for the removal of encroachments from
pavements is arbitrary and unreasonable.
Decision of Supreme Court
The decision of the Supreme Court in this case was based on the
humanistic approach of the judges and the Apex Court stepped into the
activist role. The Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the slum dwellers
must get the alternative shelter if they are evicted from the
pavements.Although, the eviction orders were held to be valid under
article 14 and 19 of the Constitution. Infact, the right to life was
once again enlarged to engulf the right to livelihood as being a part
of liberty of an individual. The decision of the Court also focused on
the concept of the welfare state and reliance though not expressly but
impliedly was placed on the Directive Principles of the State Policies
under the Constitution.
Rationale, Reason and Jurisprudence of Olga Tellis
The decision of this case essentially falls back on the premise of the
positivism. The judgment delivered by C.J., YV.Chandrachud is solely
based on the concept of the analytical positivism of Britain. The
letter of law was considered to be paramount. The Supreme Court
focused on both the premises, that is, reformation and superiority of
the law. In Para 28, Justice Chandrachud took the approach propounded
by Hans Kelson, where he considers constitution as a highest norm or
the Grundnorm. According to Kelson, Grundnorm is the basic norm which
determines the content and gives validity to other norms derived from
it. On this basis, Justice Chandrachud, observes in Para 28 that,
There can be no estoppel against the Constitution. The Constitution is
not only the paramount law of the land but, it is the source and
sustenance of all laws. Its provisions are conceived in public
interest and are intended to serve public purpose.
Furthermore, it is the theory of the "Father of the English
Jurisprudence" - Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) that was reiterated by
the Apex Court in true sense. Bentham talked about the reform of the
substantive law by the way of reforming the structure of law.
1. Law in the Reformative Process
This case can be said to be a decision that leads to the reformation
of the substantive law. Bentham divided the jurisprudence into two
parts, that is, expositorial (what law is) and censorial (what law
ought to be) .Olga Tellis has shifted the focus from censorial
jurisprudence to the expositorial jurisprudence by enlarging the scope
of article 21 of the Constitution and including right to livelihood
and right to shelter as a part of right to life. Justice Chandrachud
in Para 32 of his judgment states,
An equally important facet of that right is the right to livelihood
because, no person can live without the means of living, that is, the
means of livelihood. If the right to livelihood is not treated as a
part of the constitutional right to life, the easiest way of depriving
a person of his right to life would be to deprive him of his means of
livelihood to the point of abrogation.
This view of the Hon'ble Court clearly indicates the follow up of the
Bentam's philosophy of reforming the law through its structure. The
law as defined by Bentham is, an assemblage of signs, declarative of
violation, conceived or adopted by the sovereign in a state,
concerning the conduct to be observed in a certain case by a certain
person or class of persons, who in the case in question are or are
supposed to be subject to his power .Therefore, this although focuses
on the aspect that law is certain and laid down that is, positum, but
at the same time this definition is flexible enough to be cover a set
of objectives so intimately allied and to which there would be such
continual occasion to apply the same proposition . Therefore in the
present case when Justice Chandrachud states that ,"no person can live
without means of living" ,he is applying the Bentamite jurisprudence
to reform the law laid down under article 21 and at the same time also
utilizing the flexibility of his definition of law to equate the
intimately allied occasions of life, liberty and livelihood.
2. Hedonist Utilitarianism
Olga Tellis brought the concept of Benthamite philosophy of the
Hedonist Utilitarianism. Justice Chandrachud in Para 1 states that the
petitioners form almost half the population of the city. The fact of
such a large number of pavement dwellers in question caused the
decision to fall in their favour.The principle of utility by Bentham
stated that, out of various possibilities in a given case, one must
choose that option that gives the greatest happiness to the greatest
number .
The Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 laid down the law relating
to the pavement dwellers under section 312-314. It stated many
prohibitions on the housing and depositions of various items on the
pavements by the dwellers. Justice Chandrachud while deciding this
case entirely followed the PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY as given by Bentham
and held that the end aim of the legislator should be HAPPINESS of the
people and the GENERAL UTILITY must be the guiding principle. Apex
Court by making a balance sheet between the happiness or the utility
of the slum dwellers with the aim and object of the particular
legislation came to a conclusion that justice must be done only by
giving the redressal to the poor and needy pavement dwellers. Justice
Chandarchud in Para 49 states that,
Hearing to be given to trespassers who have encroached on public
properties? To persons who commit crime? There is no doubt that the
petitioners are using pavements and other public properties for an
unauthorised purpose. But, their intention or object in doing so is
not to "commit an offence or intimidate, insult or annoy any person",
which is the gist of the offence of 'Criminal trespass' under Section
441 of the Penal Code. They manage to find a habitat in places which
are mostly filthy or marshy, out of sheet helplessness. It is not as
if they have a free choice to exercise as to whether to commit an
encroachment and if so, where. The encroachments committed by these
persons are involuntary acts in the sense that those acts are
compelled by inevitable circumstances and are not guided by choice.
Here, as elsewhere in the law of Torts, a balance has to be struck
between competing sets of values.....
Therefore, the Apex Court had drawn a balance sheet and analysed the
Happiness and utility of the petitioners and the respondents. The
Court relied upon the Pelican book in Para 56 and states,
Malnourished babies, wasted mothers, emaciated corpses in the streets
of Asia have definite and definable reasons for existing. Hunger may
have been the human race's constant companion, and 'the poor may
always be with us', but in the twentieth century, one cannot take this
fatalistic view of the destiny of millions of fellow creatures. Their
condition is not inevitable but is caused by identifiable forces
within the province of rational human control.
In the above-mentioned finding by the Hon'ble Supreme Court it is
evidently clear that the reliance was placed on the "destiny of
millions of fellow creatures". It signifies the application of the
Bentham principle of utility in the outcome of the judgment of Olga
Tellis.
Bentham's justification of his utilitarianism is founded upon four
propositions. These are as follows,
1. All agents (as agents) seek a personal good.
2. Ultimately, all self-conscious agents aim at the same goal
(irrespective of the particular context in which the particular action
is performed).
3. That same ultimate goal is always the maximization of personal
pleasure (and the avoidance of personal pain).
4. The proper role of the state is to promote the greatest aggregate
pleasure within its community.
The four commands of utility for civic society in the Bentham's
Utilitarianism, upon which the aggregate happiness depends are
security, subsistence, abundance and equality. Out of the above,
security was the most important. Subsistence, abundance and equality,
however, all depended, in Bentham's view, on the paramount directive
of security. The decision given by the Supreme Court heavily relies on
the entire four propositions given by Bentham (above-mentioned).
Justice Chandrachud in the Para 2 of the judgment lays down the
emphasis on the slum dwellers right to life and reside in any part of
the country with dignity as other citizens of the nation. He stated
that an individual can live without security but cannot live without
"subsistence" the Supreme Court in the instant case holding that the
Right to livelihood and shelter as being an important component of the
Right to Life again establishes a nexus between subsistence and right
to livelihood once again confirming the abidance of the Benthamite
principle of utility. Moreover when the court established that if the
petitioners were evicted from their dwellings, they would be deprived
of their livelihood.
The due recognition is given to the fact that the number of the
pavement dwellers was huge and it constituted almost half of the
city's population. Therefore, the test greatest aggregate happiness
for the greatest number is also fulfilled. According to Jullias
Stone , by happiness of the community Bentham meant simply the
aggregate of individual surpluses of pleasure over pain. The greatest
happiness of the greatest number states that the pleasure and the
pains of the society are to be weighed at same plane. In this case
also the pleasure of the society was upheld and also the pain of
another section of the society (slum dwellers) was brought down.
Then Bentham's principle of utility becomes the principle that we are
always to act in such a way as to give as many people as possible as
much as possible of whatever it is that they want. I think that the
interpretation in Olga Tellis preserves the essence of Bentham's
doctrine, and it has the advantage of making it independent of any
special psychological theory.
Conclusion
To conclude, the whole Benthamite principle applied by Justice
Chandrachud on behalf of all the brother Justices can be summarized in
one sentence stated in Para 46 of the judgment, Human compassion
(happiness) must soften the rough edges of justice in all situations.
Thus, it can be concluded the Supreme Court adopted the Utilitarian
Principle in terms of the pleasure and pain calculus or the hedonistic
calculus of Jermy Betham.
Authored by Sandeep Pathak and can be reached at :
pathaksa...@rediffmail.com
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/case.htm
"Uniform Civil Code"
Written By : Gauri Kulkarni - Vth year law - Symbiosis Society's law
college, Pune
Introduction:
The mere three words and the nation breaks into hysterical jubilation
and frantic wailing. These three words are enough to divide the nation
into two categories - politically, socially and religiously.
Politically, the nation is divided as BJP, which propagates
implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (hereinafter referred to as
the UCC) and the non BJP including the Congress party, Samajwadi
party, who are against the implementation of the UCC. Socially, the
intelligentsia of the country, who analyse logically the pros and cons
of the UCC and the illiterate who have no opinion of their own and
succumb to the political pressure are at opposite poles. And,
religiously, there is a dangerous widening schism between the majority
Hindus and the minority community mostly the Muslims. Being a law
student, I would like to consider the legal implications of UCC.
I strongly support the crusade for the implementation of UCC and
homogenising the personal laws. I support it, not because of any bias,
but because it is the need of the hour. It is high time that India had
a uniform law dealing with marriage, divorce, succession, inheritance
and maintenance.
Indian case law:
Recently, the Supreme Court of India again called for a UCC. The
Supreme Court first directed the Parliament to frame a UCC in the year
1985 in the case of Mohammad Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum[1],
popularly known as the Shah Bano case. In this case, a penurious
Muslim woman claimed for maintenance from her husband under Section
125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure[2] after she was given triple
talaq from him. The Supreme Court held that the Muslim woman have a
right to get maintenance from her husband under Section 125. The Court
also held that Article 44[3] of the Constitution has remained a dead
letter. The then Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud observed
that,
"A common civil code will help the cause of national integration by
removing disparate loyalties to law which have conflicting ideologies"
After this decision, nationwide discussions, meetings, and agitation
were held. The then Rajiv Gandhi led Government overturned the Shah
Bano case decision by way of Muslim Women (Right to Protection on
Divorce) Act, 1986 which curtailed the right of a Muslim woman for
maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The
explanation given for implementing this Act was that the Supreme Court
had merely made an observation for enacting the UCC, not binding on
the government or the Parliament and that there should be no
interference with the personal laws unless the demand comes from
within.
The second instance in which the Supreme Court again directed the
government of Article 44 was in the case of Sarla Mudgal v. Union of
India[4]. In this case, the question was whether a Hindu husband,
married under the Hindu law, by embracing Islam, can solemnise second
marriage The Court held that a Hindu marriage solemnised under the
Hindu law can only be dissolved on any of the grounds specified under
the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Conversion to Islam and Marrying again
would not, by itself, dissolve the Hindu marriage under the Act. And,
thus, a second marriage solemnised after converting to Islam would be
an offence under Section 494[5] of the Indian Penal Code.
Justice Kuldip Singh also opined that Article 44 has to be retrieved
from the cold storage where it is lying since 1949. The Hon’ble
Justice referred to the codification of the Hindu personal law and
held,
"Where more then 80 percent of the citizens have already been brought
under the codified personal law there is no justification whatsoever
to keep in abeyance, any more, the introduction of the ‘uniform civil
code’ for all the citizens in the territory of India."
The Supreme Court’s latest reminder to the government of its
Constitutional obligations to enact a UCC came in July 2003[6] when a
Christian priest knocked the doors of the Court challenging the
Constitutional validity of Section 118[7] of the Indian Succession
Act. The priest from Kerala, John Vallamatton filed a writ petition in
the year 1997 stating that Section 118 of the said Act was
discriminatory against the Christians as it impose unreasonable
restrictions on their donation of property for religious or charitable
purpose by will. The bench comprising of Chief Justice of India V.N.
Khare, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice A.R. Lakshamanan struck down the
Section declaring it to be unconstitutional. Chief Justice Khare
stated that,
"We would like to State that Article 44 provides that the State shall
endeavour to secure for all citizens a uniform civil code throughout
the territory of India It is a matter of great regrets that Article 44
of the Constitution has not been given effect to. Parliament is still
to step in for framing a common civil code in the country. A common
civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing the
contradictions based on ideologies."
Thus, as seen above, the apex court has on several instances directed
the government to realise the directive principle enshrined in our
Constitution and the urgency to do so can be inferred from the same.
Secularism v/s UCC:
The spine of controversy revolving around UCC has been secularism and
the freedom of religion enumerated in the Constitution of India. The
preamble of the Constitution states that India is a "secular
democratic republic" This means that there is no State religion. A
secular State shall not discriminate against anyone on the ground of
religion. A State is only concerned with the relation between man and
man. It is not concerned with the relation of man with God. It does
not mean allowing all religions to be practiced. It means that
religion should not interfere with the mundane life of an individual.
In S.R. Bommai v. Union of India[8], as per Justice Jeevan Reddy, it
was held that religion is the matter of individual faith and cannot be
mixed with secular activities. Secular activities can be regulated by
the State by enacting a law.
In India, there exist a concept of "positive secularism" as
distinguished from doctrine of secularism accepted by America and some
European states i.e. there is a wall of separation between religion
and State. In India, positive secularism separates spiritualism with
individual faith. The reason is that America and the European
countries went through the stages of renaissance, reformation and
enlightenment and thus they can enact a law stating that State shall
not interfere with religion. On the contrary, India has not gone
through these stages and thus the responsibility lies on the State to
interfere in the matters of religion so as to remove the impediments
in the governance of the State.
Articles 25[9] and 26[10] guarantee right to freedom of religion.
Article 25 guarantees to every person the freedom of conscience and
the right to profess, practice and propagate religion. But this right
is subject to public order, morality and health and to the other
provisions of Part III of the Constitution. Article 25 also empowers
the State to regulate or restrict any economic, financial, political
or other secular activity, which may be associated with religious
practice and also to provide for social welfare and reforms. The
protection of Articles 25 and 26 is not limited to matters of doctrine
of belief. It extends to acts done in pursuance of religion and,
therefore, contains a guarantee for ritual and observations,
ceremonies and modes of worship, which are the integral parts of
religion.[11]
UCC is not opposed to secularism or will not violate Article 25 and
26. Article 44 is based on the concept that there is no necessary
connection between religion and personal law in a civilised society.
Marriage, succession and like matters are of secular nature and,
therefore, law can regulate them. No religion permits deliberate
distortion[12]. The UCC will not and shall not result in interference
of one’s religious beliefs relating, mainly to maintenance, succession
and inheritance. This means that under the UCC a Hindu will not be
compelled to perform a nikah or a Muslim be forced to carry out
saptapadi. But in matters of inheritance, right to property,
maintenance and succession, there will be a common law.
Justice Khare, in the recent case[13], said,
"It is no matter of doubt that marriage, succession and the like
matters of secular character cannot be brought within the guarantee
enshrined under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution."
The Chief Justice also cautioned that any legislations which brought
succession and like matters of secular character within the ambit of
Articles 25 and 26 is a suspect legislation. Article 25 confers right
to practice and profess religion, while Article 44 divests religion
from social relations and personal law.
The whole debate can be summed up by the judgement given by Justice
R.M. Sahai. He said,
"Ours is a secular democratic republic. Freedom of religion is the
core of our culture. Even the slightest of deviation shakes the social
fibre. But religious practices, violative of human rights and dignity
and sacerdotal suffocation of essentially civil and material freedoms
are not autonomy but oppression. Therefore, a unified code is
imperative, both, for protection of the oppressed and for promotion of
national unity and solidarity."[14]
Codification:
The biggest obstacle in implementing the UCC, apart from obtaining a
consensus, is the drafting. Should UCC be a blend of all the personal
laws or should it be a new law adhering to the constitutional mandate?
There is a lot of literature churned out on UCC but there is no model
law drafted. Many think that under the guise of UCC, the Hindu law
will be imposed on all. The possibility of UCC being only a repackaged
Hindu law was ruled out by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he
said that there will be a new code based on gender equality and
comprising the best elements in all the personal laws.
The UCC should carve a balance between protection of fundamental
rights and religious dogmas of individuals. It should be a code, which
is just and proper according to a man of ordinary prudence, without
any bias with regards to religious or political considerations.
Here is an overview of the essentials of the UCC:
Marriage and divorce:
The personal laws of each religion contain different essentials of a
valid marriage. The new code should have the basic essentials of valid
marriage which shall include:
(i) The new code should impose monogamy banning multiple marriages
under any religion. Polygamy discriminates against the women and
violates their basic human rights. Thus, monogamy should be imposed,
not because it is the Hindu law, but because it adheres to Article 21
of the Constitution[15] and basic human values.
(ii) The minimum age limit for a male should be 21 years and for a
female should be 18 years. This would help in curbing child marriages.
Punishment should be prescribed for any person violating this
provision. Also, punishment for other persons involved in such an act,
like the relatives, should be prescribed which would have a deterrent
effect on the society.
(iii) Registration of marriage should be made compulsory. A valid
marriage will be said to have solemnised when the man and the woman
sign their declaration of eligibility before a registrar. This will do
away with all the confusion regarding the validity of the marriage.
(iv) The grounds and procedure for divorce should be specifically laid
down. The grounds enumerated in the code should be reasonable and the
procedure prescribed should be according to the principles of natural
justice. Also, there should be a provision for divorce by mutual
consent.
Succession and inheritance: This area throws up even more intractable
problems. In Hindu law, there is a distinction between a joint family
property and self acquired property which is not so under the Muslim
law. The Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), formed under the Hindu law, run
businesses and own agricultural lands. Under the UCC, this institution
of HUF, peculiar to the Hindus, has to be abolished. There are also
fetters imposed on the extent to which one can bequeath property by
will under the Muslim law. Considering all these, the UCC should
include:
(i) Equal shares to son and daughter from the property of the father,
whether self acquired or joint family property. There should be no
discrimination based on sex in the matters of inheritance. The
provisions of the Hindu Succession (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 1994
can be taken as guiding principles wherein the daughter of a
coparcener shall by birth become the coparcener in her own right in
the same manner as a son and have the same rights in the coparcenary
property as she would have had if she had been a son, inclusive the
right to claim by survivorship and shall be subject to same
liabilities and disabilities as the son.
(ii) Provisions for inheritance of the property of mother, which she
has self acquired or acquired through her father or relatives.
(iii) The provisions relating to will should be in consonance with the
principles of equity. There should be no limitations imposed on the
extent to which the property can be bequeathed, the persons to whom
such property can be bequeath and the donation of the property by will
for religious and charitable purpose.
(iv) The essentials of valid will, the procedure for registration and
execution of the will should be provided for.
(v) Provisions for gifts should not contain any limitations, though
essential of valid gift and gift deed should be specified.
Maintenance: The maintenance laws for the Hindus and Muslims are very
different. Apart from personal laws, a non-Muslim woman can claim
maintenance under Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure. A Muslim
woman can claim maintenance under the Muslim Women (Right to
Protection on Divorce) Act, 1986. Apart from maintenance of wife,
there are also provisions for maintenance of mother, father, son and
unmarried daughter under the Hindu law. The UCC should contain the
following with regards to maintenance:
(i) A husband should maintain the wife during the marriage and also
after they have divorced till the wife remarries.
(ii) The amount of alimony should be decided on basis of the income of
the husband, the status and the lifestyle of the wife.
(iii) The son and daughter should be equally responsible to maintain
the parents. The reason for this being that if she claims equal share
of the property of her parents, she should share the duty to maintain
her parents equally.
(iv) The parents should maintain their children - son till he is
capable of earning on his own and daughter, till she gets married.
Thus based on these fundamental principles, an unbiased and fair UCC
can be framed which will be in consonance with the Constitution.
Working of UCC and the Indian scenario:
How foolproof will be the UCC? Will there be more abuse and less
obedience of UCC? Will UCC have negative effect on the society? Such
questions are bound to be raised after the implementation of the UCC.
All laws are formulated to be obeyed, but they are abused. This
doesnot mean that law should not be implemented. Similarly, there is a
great possibility of the UCC being abused, but this should not eschew
the Parliament from enacting the UCC; the social welfare and benefits
resulting from the implementation of UCC are far greater.
While explaining the reason for including Article 44 in the Directives
Principles, it was observed,
"When you want to consolidate a community, you have to take into
consideration the benefits which may accrue to the whole community and
not to the customs of a part of it. If you look at the countries in
Europe, which have a Civil Code, everyone who goes there forms a part
of the world and every minority has to submit to that Civil Code. It
is not felt to be tyrannical to the minorities."[16]
Some legal experts argue that progressive law is welcomed but a
suitable atmosphere must be created in which all sections feel secure
enough to sit together and cull out the most progressive of their
personal laws. But this can be answered by an example of Hindu law.
When the Hindu Code Bill, which covers Buddhist, Sikhs, Jains as well
as different religious denominations of Hindus, was notified, there
was a lot of protest. And the then Law Minister, Dr. Ambedkar, had
said that for India’s unity, the country needs a codified law. In a
similar fashion, the UCC can be implemented, which will cover all the
religions, whether major or minor, practiced in India and any person
who comes to India has to abide by the Code.
Not many know that a UCC exists in the small state of Goa accepted by
all communities. The Goa Civil Code collectively called Family Laws,
was framed and enforced by the Portuguese colonial rulers through
various legislations in the 19th and 20th centuries. After the
liberation of Goa in 1961, the Indian State scrapped all the colonial
laws and extended the central laws to the territory but made the
exception of retaining the Family Laws because all the communities in
Goa wanted it. The most significant provision in this law is the pre
nuptial Public Deed regarding the disposal of immovable and movable
property in the event of divorce or death. During matrimony, both
parents have a common right over the estate, but on dissolution, the
property has to be divided equally; son and daughters have the equal
right on the property. As the procedure involves compulsory
registration of marriage, this effectively checks child and bigamous
marriage.
The philosophy behind the Portuguese Civil Code was to strengthen the
family as the backbone of society by inculcating a spirit of tolerance
between husband and wife and providing for inbuilt safeguard against
injustice by one spouse against the other.
Commenting that the dream of a UCC in the country finds its
realisation in Goa, former Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud had
once expressed hope that it would one day "awaken the rest of bigoted
India."[17]
Conclusion:
The section of the nation against the implementation of UCC contends
that in ideal times, in an ideal State, a UCC would be an ideal
safeguard of citizens’ rights. But India has moved much further from
ideal than when the Constitution was written 50 years ago.
But to conclude, I would like to say that citizens belonging to
different religions and denominations follow different property and
matrimonial laws which is not only an affront to the nation’s unity,
but also makes one wonder whether we are a sovereign secular republic
or a loose confederation of feudal states, where people live at the
whims and fancies of mullahs, bishops and pundits.
[1] AIR 1985 SC 945
[2] "(1) If any person having a sufficient means neglects or refuses
to maintain- a) his wife, unable to maintain herself, or b) his
legitimate or illegitimate minor child, whether married or not, unable
to maintain itself, or c) His legitimate or illegitimate child (not
being a married daughter) who has attained majority, where such child
is, by reason of any physical or mental abnormality or injury unable
to maintain itself, or d) his father or mother, unable to maintain
himself or herself, a magistrate of the first class may, upon proof of
such neglect or refusal, order such person to make a monthly allowance
for the maintenance of his wife or such child, father or mother, at
such monthly rate not exceeding five hundred rupees in the whole, as
such Magistrate thinks fit, and to pay the same to such person as the
Magistrate mat from time to time direct: Provided that the Magistrate
may order the father of a minor female child refereed to in clause (b)
to make such allowance, until she attains her majority, if the
Magistrate is satisfied that the husband of such minor female child,
if married, is not possessed of sufficient means."
[3] "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform
civil code throughout the territory of India."
[4] AIR 1995 SC 153
[5] "Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in
which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the
life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and
shall also be liable to fine."
[6] John Vallamattom v. Union of India AIR 2003 SC 2902
[7] "No man having a nephew or a niece or any nearer relative shall
have power to bequeath any property to religious or charitable uses,
except by a Will executed not less than twelve months before his
death, and deposited within six months from its execution in some
place provided by law for sak\fe custody of the Will of living
persons."
[8] (1994)3 SCC 1
[9] "(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other
provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom
of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate
religion. (2) Nothing in this Article shall affect the operation of
any existing law or prevent the State from making any law - a)
regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other
secular activities which may be associated with religious practice; b)
providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu
religious institutions of a public character to all classes and
sections of Hindus."
[10] "Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious
denomination or any section thereof shall have a right- a) to
establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable
purposes; b) to manage its own affairs in matters of religion; c) to
own and acquire movable and immovable property; and d) to administer
such property in accordance with law."
[11] Acharya Jagdishwaranand Avadhut v. Commissioner of Police,
Calcutta (1984)4 SCC 522
[12] Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India AIR 1995 SC 1531
[13] John Vallamattom v. Union of India AIR 2003 SC 2902
[14] Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India AIR 1995 SC 1531
[15]"No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty
except according to procedure established by law"
[16] Constitutional Assembly Debates Volume VII pg. 547
[17] Mohammad Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum AIR 1985 SC 945
Authored by Gauri Kulkarni and can be reached at :
miss...@hotmail.com
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/ucc.htm
chhotemianinshallah
By Kanchan Lakhani
A state-level function was organised here today to pay homage to Dr
Shyama Prasad Mookherjee. Addressing a mammoth gathering, former
deputy Prime Minister LK Advani said: “Dr Mookherjee laid down his
life for the unity and integrity of the nation. He not only opposed
the permit system introduced for the people from outside J&K, but also
defied the permit restriction by entering the state on May 11, 1953.
The system itself was instrumental in creating differences among the
citizens of independent India.”
Stating Article 370 as dangerous for the unity and integrity of India,
Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS said the Article should be scrapped at
earliest to ensure safety of the people of Jammu and Kashmir from the
evil designs of terrorist outfits functioning from across the border.
He also dedicated the samarak of Dr Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, named as
Ekta Sathal, at Madhopur bridge on the Punjab-J&K border, near here.
BJP national president Nitin Gadkari also rued the fact that India had
failed to settle the J&K issue even after 62 years of Independence. He
alleged that the appeasement policies of the UPA government were
encouraging terrorism in the country. Demanding immediate repealing of
Article 370, he said Dr Mookherjee’s sacrifice would not go in vein.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in his brief address, said
martyrs belonged to the nation and not to any religion, cast or
region. Also present on the occasion were Himachal Pradesh CM PK
Dhumal, former CM Shanta Kumar, MP Navjot Sidhu, MP Avinash Rai
Khanna, BJP state chief Ashwani Sharma, BJP in charge (Punjab affairs)
Balbir Punj, and state ministers like Manoranjan Kalia, Master Mohan
Lal, Tikshan Sud, Luxmi Kanta Chawla and Swarna Ram.
via The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News.
http://amritsarmetro.com/2010/03/21/scrap-article-370-bjp-rss/
Researcher in new BJP vanguard
Poornima Joshi
New Delhi, March 21, 2010
BJP leaders aren't known to be "overqualified". But Nirmala
Seetharaman seems to have changed that image when she set foot in the
party headquarters on Saturday afternoon.
The saffron camp's media cell acquired a new profile with
Seetharaman's inclusion as spokesperson in BJP president Nitin
Gadkari's new team of officebearers.
An international trade expert with an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru
University's (JNU) Centre for Economic Studies and Planning,
Seetharaman was a researcher in the world's largest professional
services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the UK.
Since she came back to India and settled in Hyderabad, the BJP's new
spokesperson has been engaged in research work in health, education
and rural employment. She is also part of running a model school
called Pranava in Hyderabad, and was a member of the National
Commission for Women. "I had finished PhD as well on textile trade
between India and Europe under the GATT regime, but could not submit
it," said Seetharaman.
So how did someone from JNU, known as the fourth bastion of the CPM
after West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, end up in the BJP? "I was anti-
Left and part of the free thinkers in JNU. But I never joined any
political party. In fact, till 2006, I was engaged in research. But
when the chance came, I signed up with the BJP," she said.
At a time when Gadkari is facing criticism about sacrificing quality
in favour of the glamour quotient in his team, Seetharaman was propped
up by the party to parry queries in this regard. "What is wrong if
women from the film world or any other profession join politics?
It will only add fresh ideas so essential for the growth.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89207/India/Researcher+in+new+BJP+vanguard.html
Cong has defied Nehru in its RS nominations: BJP
22 Mar 2010, 0726 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: BJP on Sunday kept up its attack on Congress for nominating
two of its defeated Lok Sabha candidates — Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar and
Ram
Dayal Munda — to the Rajya Sabha. BJP said the action amounted to
defying Jawaharlal Nehru’s stand on the issue.
“Pandit Nehru, in his speech in the House of the People on May 13,
1953, had categorically stated that such nominees (to Rajya Sabha)
should not represent political parties. There should be a high water
mark of literature, art or culture,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap
Rudy said.
“By nominating two active party members, Congress has defied the stand
taken by their guiding leader,” he said. Both Mr Aiyar and Mr Munda
had lost the 2009 Lok Sabha polls while contesting from their
constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, respectively.
“It seems the RS has become a refuge for defeated Congress candidates.
Congress is making a mockery of the nomination category,” he said. He
quoted Gopalswamy Iyengar, a Constituent Assembly member, to drive
home his party’s point. “Iyengar in his speech in the Constituent
Assembly on July 28, 1947, said that those seasoned people who may not
be in the thickest of political fray, but who might be willing to
participate from art and culture should be given an opportunity
through such nominations.”
IANS
BJP leader calls for Hindu state again in Nepal
2010-03-22 17:20:00
A little-known Hindu organisation's call for reinstatement of a Hindu
state in Nepal received an unexpected support here from a visiting top
leader of India's Bharatiya Janata Party.
Former BJP president Rajnath Singh, who had arrived in Nepal Sunday to
attend the last rites of former Nepali prime minister Girija Prasad
Koirala, who was also the architect of a secular Nepal, said at a
press conference in Kathmandu Monday that he supported a Hindu state
in the Himalayan republic.
'We used to feel proud that Nepal was the only Hindu kingdom in the
world,' Singh said. 'I will be happy when Nepal is a Hindu state
again.'
The Indian leader said that there were other theocratic countries in
the world - including in the European Union and in South Asia.
'But no one is opposed to them,' Singh said. 'No one is appealing to
(the Islamic states of) Pakistan and Bangladesh to become secular. But
it was done in Nepal.'
Singh, who met Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and President
Ram Baran Yadav Monday prior to his departure, said Hinduism was a way
of life and tolerant of other religions.
'That is why India is secular,' he said. '(But) Pakistan separated
(from India) to become theocratic and look at the state of the country
today.'
Asked about the sectarian riots in western India's Gujarat state under
a BJP government, the BJP leader said his party condemned violence.
Singh also made a veiled attack against Nepal's former Maoist
guerrillas, who waged a 10-year war for a secular state and are now
the biggest party in Nepal following the election in 2008.
'Weapons belong to defenders of the state, not the masses,' he said,
obliquely referring to the allegation against the Maoists that they
have still retained weapons.
'In a healthy democracy, there shouldn't be arms in people's hands.'
The Indian leader said he had urged Nepal's leaders to implement the
new constitution on the basis of consensus within the May deadline.
Singh's remarks are likely to fuel a controversy in Nepal at a time
when several Hindu organisations are calling for a Hindu state.
A little-known group called the Vishwa Ekata Parishad set two buses
and a motorcycle on fire in Kailali district in farwestern Nepal
during a general strike called by them in western Nepal Monday.
The group is seeking to reinstate Hinduism as the state religion. An
anti-monarchy campaign led to parliament declaring the country secular
in 2006.
The new constitution is expected to consolidate the nature of the
secular republic.
However, ahead of the new constitution, Hindu groups have begun
raising demands for a Hindu state.
Last week, a National Religious Revival Campaign kicked off in
Kathmandu, attended by lawmakers and veteran politicians, making the
same demand.
There has also been a series of visits by Hindu preachers, including
controversial Indian Chandraswamy, who have been attending rituals
calling for a Hindu state.
The last of them, a nine-day ritual, was attended by three former
prime ministers of Nepal and deposed Hindu king Gyanendra himself.
Nepal's only openly royalist party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party
(Nepal), is demanding a Hindu kingdom.
Kamal Thapa, who was home minister in king Gyanendra's regime and
heads the royalist party, has warned of protests against the new
constitution unless the government holds a referendum ahead of it.
Thapa says people should be allowed to decide if they want a king and
a Hindu state through the referendum.
In the past, the party called a general strike in Kathmandu valley to
show its clout and also blockaded major ministries.
SEARCH http://sify.com/topics/Nepal.html
Advani blogs against Kashmir's autonomy
2010-03-22 15:20:00
Opposing autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of the
pre-1953 status to the troubled state, senior Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) leader L.K. Advani has said the party won't allow the
constitutional clock to be turned back and vowed to get Article 370
completely abrogated.
'All that the country wants is to move forward to the complete
abrogation of Article 370,' Advani said, referring to the
constitutional provision that gives special status to Jammu and
Kashmir in India.
'The nation will not allow the constitutional clock to be turned back
in respect to the state's integration with India,' the veteran BJP
leader blogged.
Before 1953, Jammu and Kashmir had a separate head called prime
minister. The Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India, and the
comptroller and auditor general had no jurisdiction over the state.
Only three departments, defence, currency and foreign affairs were
controlled by the Indian government.
Any Indian citizen wanting to visit the state had to acquire a special
permit to enter Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the permit system was later abolished and gradually the
clauses, which Advani called 'separatist provisions', were changed and
the article diluted.
This, Advani wrote, 'brought (Jammu and Kashmir) at par with other
states in these matters'.
'When in the name of Kashmir's autonomy, it is nowadays said that the
dilution of Article 370 that took place post-1953 must be undone, it
is all these wholesome provisions of the Indian constitution which are
sought to be once again scrapped in their application to the state of
Jammu and Kashmir,' he said.
'The nation's clarion call to the powers-that-be is that India will
never forget Shyama Prasad Mookerji's sacrifice,' he said remembering
the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder who entered Jammu and Kashmir in 1953
defying the permit system. Mookerji was taken to a prison where he
fell ill after a hunger strike. He later died.
http://sify.com/news/advani-blogs-against-kashmir-s-autonomy-news-national-kdwpubjefbh.html
BJP leader weighed in blood
NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 22, 2010, Ahmedabad
Weighing your leader in gold and silver is passé. How innovative can
your welcome be after Mayawati's money garland caught the eye of
everyone in the country?
A silver chair for Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda. A gun
salute for BJP general secretary Narendra Singh Tomar. Now try this.
The new state BJP chief in Gujarat, RC Faldu, was weighed in blood, 75
litres of it for his 75 kg of body weight. All that blood has been
kept in Vadodara for donation "to the needy".
The leader looked quite happy at the innovation as he sat on the giant
weighing scale. For the more conventional, he was also weighed in
coins.
Tomar, the BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh and general secretary, was
felicitated over the weekend with followers firing gunshots in the air
in Morena and a district-level office-bearer ended up injured.
Chief Minister Hooda said no to the silver throne and, it is reported,
a golden crown. But then Hooda belongs to the party that is taking its
austerity drive very seriously. In neighbouring UP, Chief Minister
Mayawati shall soon be accepting her third garland made of money.
Watch Video
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/bjp-leader-weighed-in-blood-18227.php
BJP general secretary’s show of gun power injures partyman
22 Mar 2010, 1010 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Even as BJP president Nitin Gadkari battles to contain the
fall-out of a fresh burst of dissidence within his party following
the
announcement of his team of office-bearers, one of his chosen few
decided to exhibit his clout by a brazen show of gun power and might
at Shivpuri in his home constituency.
Mr Narendra Singh Tomar’s first visit to his Lok Sabha constituency —
Morena in Madhya Pradesh — after being named a national general
secretary of BJP left at least one party activist injured during the
101-gun salute given by his followers. In a brazen show of strength
and muscle power, Mr Tomar, who’s also the outgoing state BJP
president, chose to exhibit his might by parading 101 gun-totting
supporters on the occasion. This act clearly violated the law, but no
could dare taking any action against him for the fear of inviting the
state government’s wrath. MP is ruled by BJP.
What is more shocking is that the incident took place in the very
presence of police and district officials who were there during the
controversial ceremony . Most of the arms used in the ceremony were
said to be illegal.
Mr Tomar’s action has added to the woes of the BJP president, who is
already facing a lot of flak for his non-application of mind in the
selection of his team of office-bearers and the members of national
executive. The process flew in the face of his opt-repeated assertion
that he would go strictly by performance-audit while naming persons to
head important organisational posts. It now turns out that allegiance
to party satraps played an important role in team-selection exercise .
Factors such as regional and castebalancing were completely
jettisoned.
With Mr Gadkari faltering in his first big test, doubts are already
being raised about his next major hurdle — that of appointing
presidents to head the party in politically crucial states of UP,
Bihar, MP and Maharashtra. With a rejuvenated Congress gearing up to
challenge BSP in Uttar Pradesh and the JD(U)- BJP combine in Bihar, it
remains to be seen whether Mr Gadkari goes purely by merit in
appointing leaders to head the party in these states, or falls victim
once again to the pulls and pressures being exerted by powerful
chieftains.
Madhya Pradesh: Gun salute goes wrong, BJP leader injured
Press Trust of India, Sunday March 21, 2010, Morena (Madhya Pradesh)
A BJP leader was seriously injured on Sunday after he was accidentally
hit by a bullet fired to welcome party's newly-appointed general
secretary Narendra Singh Tomar at a town near Morena in Madhya
Pradesh.
Tomar was being given a gun salute by party workers on his arrival at
Ambah town when one of the bullets accidentally hit BJP's divisional
unit vice president Subhash Sharma in the leg causing serious
injuries, police said.
Sharma was rushed to primary health centre and then to Morena district
hospital, which finally referred him to Gwalior Medical College
Hospital.
Watch Video
BJP dreams big for Bangalore
Express News Service
First Published : 22 Mar 2010 06:18:17 AM IST
Last Updated : 22 Mar 2010 08:58:03 AM IST
BANGALORE: There was confusion in the run -up to the BBMP elections.
Ticket distribution was chaotic and there were allegations that
candidate selection was not transparent.
There was no confusion. We had been discussing ticket distribution for
three months and finalised the candidates based on the suggestions of
the party workers. There may be minor differences but no major
problems.
Despite your promise of not letting it happen, people with criminal
background have gotten into the fray from the BJP.
There is no such instance. We have not given ticket to any such
elements.
What are the issues that the BJP feels could fetch votes? i) The
incomparable development work our party has done in Bangalore in the
last two years.
ii) The party is committed towards the development of Bangalore, well
reflected by the allocation of Rs 3,500 crore in the state budget.
iii) Our decisions have pleased Bangalore voters. For instance, take
our decision to bring in a legislation banning cow slaughter.
iv) People know that JD(S) and Congress have been playing a drama over
NICE, they have been shedding crocodile tears.
All international airports or important industries were all built by
acquiring land. Why oppose only NICE? BJP has been an urban party for
a long time, but you still have no single leader who can claim to
represent Bangalore.
Why such a void? There is no such void. We have many leaders. Such
problems exist in the Congress, which is why they had to go away from
Bangalore to decide on ticket distribution. We did it sitting in
Bangalore.
Mention five things you will do on a priority basis if you are voted
to power.
Ensuring drinking water in all the areas; laying underground
draianage, roads and necessary infrastructure in the newly-included
areas under the BBMP; developing and conserving lakes; making
rainwater harvesting compulsory; making Bangalore greener.
How many seats do you hope to bag? I am confident of getting a clear
majority.
What would the BJP do if it falls short of majority? Will it sit in
the opposition or engineer another ‘Operation lotus’? The first
question does not arise because we are confident of getting a clear
majority. If the Congress and the JD(S) make any political conspiracy
we are ready to counter them by manoeuvring the situation.
BJP, Bollywood Ishtyle13 Comments | Post Comment
Tavleen Singh
Posted: Sunday , Mar 21, 2010 at 0140 hrs
This has been a most depressing week when seen from the perspective of
a political columnist. The new president of our main Opposition party
announced his new ‘dream team’ to revive the BJP and his list would be
hugely funny if it were not so pathetic. There are three actresses, a
cricketer, a fashion designer, a sprinkling of ‘youth’ leaders and a
former chief minister who is a misfit among the actresses.
Vasundhara Raje is the BJP’s only leader in Rajasthan and instead of a
desk job in Delhi, should have been left as a formidable Opposition
leader in Jaipur. She lost the election by inches. But, it seems as if
the BJP has decided not to be a real Opposition party, only a
Bollywood version of one. It has to be said in Nitin Gadkari’s defence
that from day one, when he burst into song at that first convention in
Indore, he indicated that despite his ample girth, he is a
lightweight. Not a bad singer but pointless since we have enough real
musicians; what we need desperately is a real Opposition party.
If we had a real Opposition party, six million tonnes of food grain
would not be rotting in Punjab while Parliament is in session. In a
country in which nearly half our children are malnourished, it is
beyond sickening that the Government of India can get away with stupid
excuses like ‘not having enough warehouses’. Just put the wretched
grain in trucks and send it to organisations like Akshay Patra or just
give it free to village shops. Our TV channels did an excellent job
last week in emphasising that the grain is being eaten by rats while
children starve, but there is only so much the media can do. The rest
is in the hands of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and why should
they do anything as long as there is no Opposition party to rub their
nose in the dirt?
If we had a real Opposition party, we would not be putting another Rs
30,000 crore of taxpayers money into ‘cleaning’ the Ganga and the
Yamuna until we know why twenty years of expensive effort failed to
clean our most sacred rivers. Before throwing more of our money down
the drain, should we not first be given some answers? One example. Why
was our money spent on building sewage treatment plants that do not
work when everyone knows that the only solution is to not allow any
sewage into these rivers in the first place?
But, what is the point in my depressing myself further with these
questions when I know that it is futile asking them until we have a
real Opposition party? If you need proof that we do not have one you
only need to have watched this last session of Parliament. In neither
the Lok Sabha nor the Rajya Sabha did we see the BJP raise any real
issues. Sushma Swaraj’s interventions have been heavy on elocution and
low on content. She ends up sounding like someone trying to win first
prize in a college debate. Arun Jaitley supported the Women’s
Reservation Bill as if his heart was really not in it. There is no
reason why it should have been. The Bill, as I pointed out in this
space last week, undermines the fundamental principles of Indian
democracy and should be strenuously opposed.
Even as I write those words, I slip further into gloom as the face of
Shri Lal Krishna Advani floats before my eyes. Not in the form of the
Hindutva hawk on that chariot to Ayodhya that left so much death and
hatred in its wake. But, as the tired, old man he now is. A tired, old
man who has nothing new to say, no future prospects, but who clings
shamelessly to the few crumbs of power that remain with him. In doing
so he destroys any chance the BJP has of renewal or even survival.
What was the point of him giving up his job as Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha if he refuses to give up control of the
parliamentary party?
The reality is that he has given up nothing. Mr Gadkari can take his
‘dream team’ of actresses and sportsmen and sing all the way back to
Mumbai and it would make no difference. There remains only one leader
in the BJP. He is a worn-out, jaded old man who appears determined to
destroy what remains of the party he once helped build. With only the
Commies on the Opposition benches, the Government can lapse safely
into complacent non-activity while we the people rely on our own
efforts to withstand a certain decline. Forgive me if I sound
seriously gloomy but it is a seriously gloomy time.
Follow Tavleen Singh on Twitter at tavleens
13 Comments |
Rotting Grain
By: K.C.Sharma | Monday , 22 Mar '10 16:51:07 PM
Rotting grain is really a shame when so many starvation deaths are
happening.But if the real figures can somehow, may be through RTI be
extracted from the Govt it will be found that so much money has been
spent on construction of go-downs and on the Food Corporation of India
that if the same money was spent by private traders there would be no
shortage of storage space.And grain would be available where required
through cash coupons distributed to the really needy. But the Govt
babu's and the socialistic politicians would have even then found a
way to pocket that money and the grain meant for the poor. You have
every right to rubbish the BJP but most of the blame lies at the door
of the socialistic dreams of our great leaders of fifties and sixties
who still control the mindset of our present leaders of the GOP.
Will BJP bounce back?
By: Neetu Banga | Monday , 22 Mar '10 12:16:43 PM
The party needs to stop talk on hard-line Hindutva and focus on
emerging as a true secular party.By inducting educated and positive
attitude people does not mean party will come back to power, it still
have long way to go to win the hearts of the people.
UNBALANCED CRITICISM
By: B.V.SHENOY | Monday , 22 Mar '10 11:56:56 AM
Tavleen Singh seems to have written this article with the editor
holding the secular gun to her head. The criticism of Gadkari and his
new team seems to be pointless and cheap. If Sunil Dutt can be a
politician, and the congress government can honour a dead actor
(M.G.Ramachandran) with Bharat Ratna (nothing less!), what is wrong
when Gadkari selects intelligent actors like Kiran kher for his
youthful team? Sidhu is a world reknown cricketer, a good human being,
a witty orator and a successful parliamentarian. Any party would feel
proud to have him in its national management team, But Tavleen has
nothing but derisive words for these young, politically savvy public
figures. By using vile language for Advani, you are only be exposing
your own lack of balance. Once in a way you may attempt writing about
the lady who runs the country from behind closed doors of 10 Janpath,
who doesn't know the A,B, C or D of Indian politics but lords over the
country. And please mind your language.
Corrupt Officers of FCI
By: Shiv M | Monday , 22 Mar '10 11:06:07 AM
FCI and its ministry has been making mockery of food storage System.
Dont they see how developed world store their grains in sylos and not
even a piece of grain goes waste and they can export same wheat to we
Indians with cheap prices with their so high labour cost. FCI
officials show these food grains as gone waste but at the same time
sell them to black market and pocket in 1000s of crores rs. this must
come to an end and no government agency should be allowed to buy and
misappropriate tha tax money of we common Indians. it's high time we
must stop these unchecked corruption or we and out chilren will die
out of malnutrition while these thugs and rats will get fatter and
fatter day after day.
TRUE OPPOSITION
By: NIRANJAN | Monday , 22 Mar '10 8:54:44 AM
OPPOSITION IN OUR COUNTRY IS ALWAYS TOO BUSY PULLING DOWN THE RULING
GOVT. BUT IT IS ALSO BUSY TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT WHEN THE RULING
GOVT. COMES DOWN THEY HAVE THE BIGGEST BOWL TO COLLECT THE FALLOUT! I
WISH THE PARLIAMENTARIANS WOULD LOOK AT SOME DECENT COUNTRY'S SYSTEM
AND TRY NOT EMULATE POORLY RULED DICTATORSHIP LIKE COUNTRIES! ATRUE
OPPOSITION WOULD THINK FIRST OF THE COUNTRY AND THEN OF THE PARTY AND
THEN FOR INDIVIDUALS. IN OUR COUNTRY THE ORDER IS REVERSED.
How
By: Neelima Choahan | Monday , 22 Mar '10 7:53:38 AM
Dear Ms Singh, I am a great a admirer of yours. I have read you since
I was a child. I think you are the byword in Indian politics
commentary but what I cannot understand is how is that you manage to
criticize BJP even when you are berating the Congress. Or is it the
other way around? I hope we get rid of this useless government and of
course that cannot be done without a strong Opposition.
Professor Emeritus
By: DR. D. Prithipaul | Monday , 22 Mar '10 5:40:51 AM
Mrs. Tavleen Singh does not seem to get it. With the Prime Minister's
office sponsoring a third rate Bollywood actor with a Padma, it is
proof that the Government acquires its understanding of social
realities from Bollywood fillums. This being so Mrs. Singh's laments
function like mere whispers in the wind - however much she may be
right, as she always is. Is there a debate on the nature of the
reasons, for example, which she marshals against the allotment of a
third of parliamentary seats to women? How will the rural electorate
field its women candidates and what will be the criteria for the
selection of the latter?
STANGE TRUTH
By: V.K.CHAWLA | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 23:11:43 PM
IF THE BJP TAKES A ISSUE & MAKE RUCKUS IN PARLIAMENT , THE SO CALLED
MEDIA CRTICISE IT . EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT UPA GOVT. IS NOT WORRIED &
THEIR LEADERS ARE SAYING IT OPENELY THAT THEY GIVE TWO HOOTS TO ALL
THOSE WHO ARE CRYING - MEHANGAI - PRICE RISE, BECAUSE THEY KNOW HOW
THE THE POOR PEOPLE ARE FORCED TO VOTE FOR THEM BY CLAIMING ONLY THEY
ARE SECULAR
Nitin Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of
imagination.
By: Jay | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 20:15:55 PM
When the top level of any organization is occupied by mediocre people
they tend to choose mediocre or below people to work under him/her.
With more efficient and talented people they feel threatened. Nitin
Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of imagination. He
is neither a good orator like Vajpayee-Advani nor have we read good
scholarly article from him unlike many other BJP leaders like Arun
Shourie. He may be a points man for RSS within BJP, but he can never
re-invent or re-energize the fast declining BJP party organization and
establish it as the main viable opposition.
Bashing BJP
By: R. Kapoor | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 19:15:41 PM
Only yesterday a Bollywood person, Shatrugan Sinha, a BJP stalwart and
a cabinet minister in NDA bashed Gadkari for neglecting some senior
members in the 'dream' team. Bollywood influence in BJP goes back many
years and is nothing new, however, recently it has become fashionable
for parties to exploit its presence. Didn't MNIK score one over the SS
and MNS in Maharashtra recently? We should not forget how SP tried to
enrope Sanjay Dutt, while already having Jaya Prada and Jaya Bahaduri
Bachachan being MPs. Why should we not forget Raj Babbar winning in
general elections as a Congress party candidate. Bollywood or in other
words the cinema world in India has been very prominent in politics,
especially in the South. So, it is wrong to criticise BJP vis-a-vis
Bollywood influence. I do agree with Tavleen, however, that BJP is in
'gloomy time.' Was Gadkari a racehorse that is expected to win the
Derby? With all the pessimism around BJP, can these dark clouds
disappear. I think they would.
bitter truth
By: savita | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 18:45:38 PM
very well said tavleenji
Nitin Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of
imagination.
By: Jay | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 18:25:03 PM
When the top level of any organization is occupied by mediocre people
they tend to choose mediocre or below people to work under him/her.
With more efficient and talented people they feel threatened. Nitin
Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of imagination. He
is neither a good orator like Vajpayee-Advani nor have we read good
scholarly article from him unlike many other BJP leaders like Arun
Shourie. He may be a points man for RSS within BJP, but he can never
re-invent or re-energize the fast declining BJP party organization and
establish it as the main viable opposition.
bitter truth
By: vikram | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 3:17:46 AM
Bitter truth. Tavleenji, you are great.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-bollywood-ishtyle/593498/0
Not summoned by SIT on March 21: Modi
Agencies
Posted: Monday , Mar 22, 2010 at 1813 hrs
Gandhinagar:
Modi's letter came following reports that he had boycotted the SIT
summons.
In an open letter, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said
he shall respond to the SIT probing the 2002 Gujarat riots ‘fully
respecting’ the law, as he refuted reports that he had skipped
appearance before the panel on Sunday.
"SIT had not fixed March 21, 2010 for my appearance. To say that I was
summoned on March 21 is completely false. I shall respond to the SIT
fully respecting the law and keeping in view the dignity of a body
appointed by the Supreme Court," he said in an open letter.
Modi's letter came following reports that he had boycotted the SIT
summons. He said, "Truth cannot be suppressed. It is now my duty to
place before you the facts that brings out the importance of
understanding what the truth really is."
Elaborating his stand, he said, "After the 2002 Godhra incidents, I
had categorically said in the Vidhan Sabha and in public that no one
is above the Indian Constitution and the law, even if he happens to be
the chief minister of a state.
These are not mere words. My actions have reflected this statement in
its true spirit. I assure you that this would be my stand in the
future."
However, sources in the government said that Modi was seeking legal
help for which senior party leader and BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha from
Gujarat Arun Jaitley, who is a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, has
arrived in the city.
BJP sources claimed that Jaitley would be looking into the summons
issued to Modi and give his legal opinion on what steps should be
taken. On Sunday, when Modi was summoned, SIT office was kept open
during the office hours from 1030 hrs to 1810 hrs.
In connection with Zakia's complaint, SIT has already recorded
statements of a number of persons named in her complaint which
include, former minister of state for Home Gordhan Zadafia, BJP leader
I K Jadeja, former BJP MLA from Lunawada Kalu Malivad and sitting MLA
from Mehsana Anil Patel, former IPS officer R B Sreekumar, social
activist Teesta Setalvad, IG Shivanand Jha, some other senior police
officers and political leaders.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/not-summoned-by-sit-on-march-21-modi/594116/0
'Marathi vs non-Marathi' narrow political agenda: Chavan
Agencies
Posted: Monday , Mar 22, 2010 at 1636 hrs
Mumbai:
Ashok Chavan reiterated that his govt was committed to the welfare of
all people who live in the state.
Describing the "Marathi versus non-Marathi" issue as the narrow
political agenda of few politicians, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan on Monday said a placement agency owned by one such leader had
recruited 150 non-Maharashtrians.
"Their party's public stand says something and the leaders act
otherwise. I am not complaining," Chavan said without naming any party
during his reply to the motion of thanks to the Governor for his
address to the joint sitting of the state Legislature.
When the opposition benches asked Chavan to name the party and the
leader concerned, he said, "I would reveal the names at an appropriate
time."
Chavan said his government had an all-inclusive approach in its vision
for developing the state.
"Maharashtra belongs to all. My government is committed to the welfare
of all people who live here," he said.
Opposition members staged a walkout at the end of the Chief Minister's
speech criticising him for not spelling out the government's stand on
extension of statutory development boards whose term expires next
month.
He said his government was committed to the development of Marathi
language, art and culture.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/marathi-vs-nonmarathi-narrow-political-agenda-chavan/594098/
RSS feed: New BJP chief spikes journalists
21 March 2010
Coomi Kapoor in the Indian Express on the journalists’ contingent in
the new team of BJP office-bearers.
This entry was posted on 21 March 2010 at 10:07 am and is filed under
A bit of fun, Magazines, Newspapers, People, Television.
http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/rss-feed-new-bjp-chief-spikes-journalists/
Sunday, September 13, 2009
BJP laments stab by ‘insider journalists’
PNS | New Delhi
It may still be trying to recover from the jolt dealt by insiders, but
the BJP believes that it has got another problem: ‘friendly
journalists’, who cannot remain ‘insider’ for too long.
An editorial in the latest issue of the party’s organ Kamal Sandesh
has dwelt on the issue. It says, “There are journalists who wish that
BJP should run as per their whims. Any person — journalist included —
has a right to offer advice and opinion but how can it be that a
political party should follow, without exception, the diktats of some
journalists. If that doesn’t happen, the political organisation turns
bad in their considered opinion.”
That is not the only complaint of the party. “A scenario in which
journalists should turn a tool in the hands of an individual
politician does not augur well for either of the two. Our effort
should be to create a healthy balance in which neither the journalist
is a weapon in the hands of a politician nor should the latter have to
act as a shield for journalists.”
Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha, who is a former journalist and editor of
the party’s magazine, stops short of taking names. “This write-up is
not against an individual. This is what an aam karyakarta (normal
workers) of the BJP feels.”
The BJP has already made its displeasure widely known over some of the
articles and TV interviews by journalists and former journalists, who
had been closely associated with the party but later started behaving
like an ‘independent entity’.
Jha says, “Even while working in a political party, they (friendly
journalists) wish to maintain their separate identity, something
special and different from the rest of the lot. An impression also
gains ground among karyakartas that these people originally from
journalism are senior karyakartas.”
The BJP leaders would admit that this impression is not wrong too,
because they (friendly journalists) move about and communicate only
with higher echelons in the leadership and not with the lower rung of
political workers. “The respect and attention they get subject of envy
to others,” the editorial in Kamal Sandesh reads.
The same write-up adds, “It is true that it is their duty to report
but the questions remains: how, when and where. This is a matter that
these wielders of the pen should ponder over. They have to ensure that
in the process of the performance this onerous duty to present the
ideology to the nation, mutual confidence, faith and respect does not
fall a casualty.” And, the last word from the party organ: “We do
understand that journalism cannot be a synonym for bosom friendship
between a journalist and a politician. Yet, we have to stand firm at
our respective post of duty.”
http://dailypioneer.com/202162/BJP-laments-stab-by-‘insider-journalists’.html
Who are the journos ‘running & ruining’ the BJP?
25 August 2009
PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: Former Indian Express editor
Arun Shourie’s explosive interview with the paper’s current editor,
Shekhar Gupta, while revealing the deep schisms within India’s
principal oppostion party, the BJP, has also once again thrown light
on the less-than-professional role political journalists have been
playing.
For the second time in two months, Shourie targetted “The Gang of Six”—
a pack of half-of-dozen journalists who, says the Magsaysay Award
winning investigative journalist, have been used (abused? misused?) by
various different sections of the BJP.
On Gupta’s Walk the Talk interview for NDTV on Monday, Shourie said
his letter to the BJP president Rajnath Singh demanding accountability
in running the party had been dubbed as an act of indiscipline even
though that letter had remained confidential.
There were leaders, he says:
“…who had been planting stories against L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and
others through six journalists (and yet it’s not called
indiscipline)”.
At the BJP’s national executive meeting in mid-June, shortly after the
party suffered a “nasty jolt” in the general elections, Shourie had
gone so far as to say that “the BJP was being run by six journalists”
who were “damaging the party interest“.
On both occasions, Shourie hasn’t named “The Gang of Six”, but by
repeatedly talking about them has set tongues wagging.
However, the questions remain: is the BJP so feeble a party to be
felled by mere pen-pushers? If BJP leaders are using them to “plant”
stories against one another, are the journalists exceeding their brief
by allowing themselves to be used?
Is ex-editor Shourie sanctimoniously crying wolf or is this par for
the course in other parties too? Are editors and publishers of the
publications where the “Gang of Six” work aware of their journalists
being so used?
And if so, is it OK?
http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/who-are-the-journos-running-ruining-the-bjp/
The sad and pathetic decline of Arun Shourie
16 February 2009
SHARANYA KANVILKAR writes from Bombay: Arun Shourie is one of the
strangest cases on the Indian intellectual landscape if not its most
disappointing. A living, walking, moving advertisement of how rabid
ideology can addle even the most riveting of minds, stripping it of
all its nuance and pretence; its very soul and humanity.
***
Once a fiery critic of Reliance Industries as editor of the Indian
Express, he was happy to deliver a eulogy at Dhirubhai Ambani’s first
death anniversary; even changing the law as minister to benefit
Reliance Industries, as alleged by the son of Girilal Jain, the former
Times of India editor who held shares in the company, no less.
Once a symbol of middle-class integrity and probity for various scams
unearthed his watch, his stint as disinvestment minister was
pockmarked with allegation after allegation (although an unattributed
Wikipedia entry claims he was ranked “the most outstanding minister of
the Atal Behari Vajpayee government” by 100 CEOs).
A slow, scholarly, Chaplinesque demeanour hides a cold, clinical mind
that piles the rhetoric and the stereotypes on the poor, the
marginalised and the disenfranchised while taking up high faluting
positions on terrorism, governance, internal security and such like,
through long, meandering essays whose opacity could put cub
journalists to shame.
And, as always, selectively twisting and turning the facts to fit his
preconceived conclusion, and hoping no one will notice.
To paraphrase Ramachandra Guha, Shourie has become the Arundhati Roy
of the right:
“The super-patriot and the anti-patriot use much the same methods.
Both think exclusively in black and white. Both choose to use a 100
words when 10 will do. Both arrogate to themselves the right to hand
out moral certificates. Those who criticise Shourie are characterised
as anti-national, those who dare take on Roy are made out to be agents
of the State. In either case, an excess of emotion and indignation
drowns out the facts.”
But what should disappoint even his most ardent fans, and there are
many young journalists, is how easily and effortlessly a pacifist
penman has regressed from “a concerned citizen employing his pen as an
effective adversary of corruption, inequality and injustice” (as his
Magsaysay Award citation read) to a hate-spewing ideological warrior
with fire blazing through his nostrils.
A son of a Gandhian who now openly advocates “two eyes for an eye and
a whole jaw for one tooth” with barely any qualms.
***
At a series of lectures in Ahmedabad on Saturday, Shourie bared his
fangs some more:
“India is still a passive country when it comes to taking a stand
against terrorism….
“It should, in fact, take an extremist stance and must prove that it
can also create a Kashmir-like situation in Pakistan.
“There are many places like Baluchistan, where a Kashmir-like
situation can be created but, “hum abhi bhi Panchsheel ke pujari hain
(We still worship the tenets of Panchsheel)”….
“Pakistan has been successfully carrying out destruction in India for
the last two decades and has still managed to escape problems, while
India on every occasion has failed to present a unified response to
terrorism and has suffered as a consequence….”
Really?
An eye for an eye? Two eyes for an eye? A jaw for a tooth?
In the name of Vivekananda, should India do unto Pakistan what
Pakistan has done to us? Is this a sign of vision on the part of a man
who some believe should be the next prime minister, or tunnel vision?
Is such barely disguised hatred and vengeance, hiding behind vedas and
upanishads, going to make the subcontinent a better place to live in?
Should the people of Pakistan, the poor, the marginalised, the
disenfranchised, pay the price for the sins of the generals?
Should a great, ancient civilisation become a cheap, third-rate,
neighbourhood bully?
Has Arun Shourie lost more than his soul and humanity?
Has Arun Shourie just lost it?
Photograph: courtesy The Hindu Business Line
http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/the-sad-and-pathetic-decline-of-arun-shourie/
chhotemianinshallah
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
New Delhi, March 22: BJP President Gadkari denounced as propaganda
that Hindutva was against Muslims and said facts were misrepresented.
Terming Hindutva as the "spirit" of BJP, party President Nitin Gadkari
today said it cannot be a subject of political debate and lamented
that its image had overshadowed its real meaning.
"Whether someone likes it or not, the subject has been a matter of
debate for the last 40 years in politics. I feel people should know
the reality (of what Hindutva means) after serious thinking.
"It is a tragedy of image versus reality. Letters can change but not
the spirit. Hindutva is our philosophy, it is our spirit... which
cannot change," Gadkari said during the 'dedication ceremony' of over
100 professionals as volunteers for the BJP.
The function was followed by a talk on 'politics and Hindutva' in
which Gadkari said Hindutva cannot be a subject of political debate
and it can never be an agenda for any political party.
He termed as "propaganda" that Hindutva was against Muslims and said
people were "misrepresenting" the facts to further their vested
interests.
Maintaining that BJP was in favour of equality in social and economic
spheres for all, he said "We believe in the philosophy of 'vasudev
kutumbhkam' (world is one family)."
Gadkari alleged that "pseudo secularists" were deliberately attaching
religion with a terrorist and said the term 'secularism' is now being
used for minority appeasement.
"... terrorist has no creed, caste or religion.
Image of Hindutva overshadowed real meaning
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
A god fearing Hindu will not kill an innocent Muslim and similarly, a
god fearing Muslim will not kill an innocent Hindu, and if he is doing
so, then he is a terrorist who does not belong to any religion," he
said.
The BJP president said in a secular country, the government, the
judiciary and the media should be secular but an individual cannot be
secular.
He said it was necessary that the new generation was taught the real
meaning of Hindutva, adding, "A proper focus on the issue is the need
of the hour".
Speaking on the issue, RSS ideologue M G Vaidya said he had expressed
"concern" when Sudhendra Kulkarni, the close aide of BJP leader L K
Advani wrote after the party defeat in general elections that it
should distance itself from Hindutva.
He lamented that the "spirit" remained ignored but at the same time
appreciated that it was being remembered once again in 2010.
Vaidya said for BJP, distancing itself from Hindutva would mean
distancing itself from RSS and its core values.
He recalled that when the issue of BJP's relations vis-a-vis Hindutva
was being debated in 2004, he had said that BJP has moved along a
particular line from where it would not be appropriate to pull it
back.
"I had said that if BJP disassociates itself from Hindutva, then the
RSS would take a call on whether to keep Hindutva in politics or not,"
Vaidya said.
The BJP president said in a secular country, the government, the
judiciary and the media should be secular but an individual cannot be
secular.
He said it was necessary that the new generation was taught the real
meaning of Hindutva, adding, "A proper focus on the issue is the need
of the hour".
Speaking on the issue, RSS ideologue M G Vaidya said he had expressed
"concern" when Sudhendra Kulkarni, the close aide of BJP leader L K
Advani wrote after the party defeat in general elections that it
should distance itself from Hindutva.
He lamented that the "spirit" remained ignored but at the same time
appreciated that it was being remembered once again in 2010.
Vaidya said for BJP, distancing itself from Hindutva would mean
distancing itself from RSS and its core values.
He recalled that when the issue of BJP's relations vis-a-vis Hindutva
was being debated in 2004, he had said that BJP has moved along a
particular line from where it would not be appropriate to pull it
back.
"I had said that if BJP disassociates itself from Hindutva, then the
RSS would take a call on whether to keep Hindutva in politics or not,"
Vaidya said.
---IANS--
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/image-hindutva-overshadowed-real-meaning
Nityananda files writ in Karnataka High Court
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Bangalore, March 23: Self-styled godman Nityananda Swami, facing
allegations of involvement in sleazy activities, has filed a writ
petition before the Karnataka High Court seeking quashing of cases
filed against him by the Ramanagar district police.
Nityananda, who is at large ever since the video clippings of his
alleged sleaze activities involving an actress were telecast by
private channels on March two, contended in his petition yesterday
that he was innocent. 32-year-old Nityananda, alias Rajasekharan,
charged that one of his former discipline and driver Kurup Lenin had
conspired to defame him and his Ashram by levelling such allegations.
The whereabouts of Nityananda are a mystery. However, the followers of
Nityananda at his Ashram at Bidadi on the city's outskirts claim that
he is in Haridwar attending the Kumbh Mela. The writ is yet to come up
for the High Court registry, according to sources in the High Court.
Tamil Nadu police, which had registered cases under various sections,
including rape, against Nityananda, transferred them to the police in
Ramanagar, as the Ashram falls under it. Ramanagar police had re-
registered the cases against Nityananda.
-PTI
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/nityananda-files-writ-karnataka-high-court
No decision on direct access to Headley yet: US envoy
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
New Delhi, March 23: The US said Tuesday there had been no decision to
give India "direct access" to David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani
American terror suspect who has confessed to his role in the 26/11
Mumbai terror strike.
In a statement issued by the US embassy here, Ambassador Timothy J.
Roemer clarified Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake's
comment in Delhi Saturday. Blake had been asked by reporters if Indian
investigators would be allowed to quiz Headley. "My answer would be
yes," he said.
"As the Assistant Secretary indicated, the US is committed to full
information sharing in our counter terror partnership. In fact in this
case we have provided substantial information to the government of
India and we will continue to do so. However, no decision on direct
access for India to David Headley has been made," Roemer said in a
statement.
He added that the US department of justice will work with the Indian
government "regarding the modalities of such cooperation".
Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram had been upbeat about getting
access to Headley, after a phone call with US Attorney General Eric
Holder.
"It is my understanding," Chidambaram said, "that India would be able
to obtain access to Headley to question him in a properly constituted
judicial proceeding. Such a judicial proceeding could be either pre-
trial or during an inquiry or trial."
The National Investigation Agency was asked to form a team which will
travel to the US to interrogate Headley, who confessed in a Chicago
court to his role in the Mumbai terror attack that left 166 people
dead.
--IANS
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/no-decision-direct-access-headley-yet-us-envoy
Foreigners in Maharashtra will have to undergo a 'character' check
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Mumbai, March 23: The government has come up with the idea of
assessing the character of foreigners staying in the state and keeping
a strict vigil on their activities.
"We will check the records of foreigners and seek character
certificates from their respective countries," home minister RR Patil
said in the legislative council on Monday. "If we find that they have
a dubious record, we will ask their countries to take them back."
Patil was replying to a calling-attention motion on last month's
German Bakery blast in Pune. The issue of foreigners was raised by the
Shiv Sena's Neelam Gorhe. "What steps has the government taken to keep
a check on foreigners," she asked.
Patil said, "We have already started checking foreigners' visas and
taking action against suspect people." He appealed to citizens to
alert the police if they spotted anything suspicious.
The police already have a rule in place that requires flat-owners in
Mumbai to inform them if they give out their premises toforeigners.
Hotels and lodges in the city have also been told to inform the police
about guests from abroad. The owner of a South Mumbai flat, where US
terrorist David Coleman Headley stayed for more than six months, had
failed to inform police about his presence in the city.
Patil admitted in the council that the state had received specific
intelligence alerts about a possible terrorist strike at Chabad House
and Red Temple in Pune. On the day of the blast, chief minister Ashok
Chavan had said the state had had no inkling about a possible attack.
The Centre, however, said it had issued an alert in October 2009.
Patil asserted that the state police was competent to investigate the
German Bakery blast but would not hesitate to seek the help of other
agencies like the National Investigation Agency, CBI, IB, and the anti-
terrorism squads of other states. Last week, he had rejected an
opposition demand to hand over the probe to the CBI.
“Terrorists are changing their techniques every time," Patil said.
"We can neither deploy police everywhere nor frisk every single
person. There is only one solution — to strengthen the intelligence
system. For that we have set up the Maharashtra Intelligence Academy.
The first batch of this academy has completed its training and will be
operational soon."
---Agencies
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/foreigners-maharashtra-will-have-undergo-character-check
Muslim marriage age issue: Bombay HC notice to Centre
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Mumbai, March 23: The Bombay High Court today issued a notice to the
additional solicitor general who represents union government in a case
where marriageable age of Muslim girls has become an issue.
The notice was issued after the petitioner has the challenged the
constitutional validity of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA),
saying it violates freedom of religion.
The division bench of Justices D B Bhosale and A R Joshi also directed
that the girl, who is currently 15 years old, be produced in the court
on March 29, so that the judges may interview her.
Zakia Begum, the girl's mother, moved the High Court in January after
police took the girl into custody at the behest of child welfare
committee.
The girl's uncle had informed CWC that she was going to be married
off, in violation of PCMA. Police also filed a criminal case against
her parents for violating the act.
The parents have sought the custody of their daughter -- who is
currently in a shelter home and quashing of the criminal complaint.
Today, petitioner's lawyer Prakash Wagh told the court that the girl's
parents are ready to give an undertaking not to marry her off till she
turns 18. Similar undertaking has already been given to CWC, he said.
The judges said that before ordering her release from shelter home,
they would like to talk to her.
The judges also restrained the girl's family members from meeting her
till she is interviewed by them next Monday.
The Judges said that they would like to deal with the larger issue
involving conflict between Muslim personal law and PCMA. As per PCMA,
a girl cannot get married before she is 18 years of age, but according
to Shariat law, she can marry on reaching puberty.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board too has been impleaded by the
petitioner. Appearing for the Board, senior counsel Yusuf Muchhala
said the court will have to see if the issue involves "core beliefs"
of the religion.
Advocate Mihir Desai, representing two NGOs who have intervened in the
case to oppose the petition, said, "It cannot be said that if I do not
get married before 18, I am not a Muslim."
"Well, I did not get married before 18 myself," advocate Muchhala,
himself a Muslim, remarked, evoking laughter. He, however, said that
he would have to study original Islamic scriptures to formulate his
response to the petition, and that will take some time.
The hearing has been adjourned till March 29.
-PTI
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/muslim-marriage-age-issue-bombay-hc-notice-centre
‘Islamist extremists can destabilise Bangladesh’
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
New Delhi, March 23: Most of the Muslim population in Bangladesh
supports the secular state and abjures violence but Islamist
extremists have the potential to destabilise that country, say experts
from a leading Dhaka-based think tank.
“The Islamist extremists represent a minuscule proportion of the
population; nevertheless, the potential for Bangladesh to be
destabilised by these extremists is fairly strong,” says a paper by
Humayun Kabir and Shahab Enam Khan.
It speaks about the causes of militancy in that country. Titled
“Understanding the threats from Islamist Terrorism in Bangladesh”, the
paper was presented at a security dialogue organised here by the
Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Bangladesh Enterprise
Institute (BEI).
Kabir is a senior research director and Khan a project director at the
BEI that has partnerships with many international agencies.
The paper says Islam in Bangladesh has always been defined by
tolerance, moderation and pluralism. Muslim-dominated Bangladesh has a
population of 160 million.
“In general, most of the Muslim population in Bangladesh support(s)
the secular state and abjure(s) the violence and distorted
interpretations of Islam that have plagued countries like Pakistan,
Afghanistan and some in the Middle East.”
Noting that Bangladesh has witnessed a sharp rise in terrorism
primarily from the mid-1990s, the paper points to four complex forms
of terrorism in the country - political, anti-state, ethnic and
social.
It says there exists a nexus between terrorist groups and smuggling
syndicates, criminal gangs and politically sponsored cadres to nourish
a supporting network for each other.
Citing 2007 statistics mentioned in a BEI report, the paper says
Bangladesh has 1,027 organised criminal groups, two insurgent groups,
five outlawed groups, at least four ideologically digressed groups
with militant intent, 16,062 criminals operating in various gangs and
762 politically sponsored criminal groups.
“Extremist groups such as Hijbut Tahrir, Harkat ul-Jihad-I-Islami-
Bangladesh, the militant jihadi Jamat-ul Mujahdeen Bangladesh or their
dissident groups are at the forefront of promoting religious terrorism
in Bangladesh,” the paper says.
The paper mentions that Bangladesh continues to be a transit and
launching point for Pakistan-based terrorist groups that target India
and Southeast Asia.
“Groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami retain
a significant presence in Bangladesh and have used its territory to
launch terrorist attacks against India…there is ample evidence to show
that the student front of Jamaat-i-Islami Bangladesh, Islami Chhattra
Shibir, also acts as an extremist group that resorts to violent
activities.
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/%E2%80%98islamist-extremists-can-destabilise-bangladesh%E2%80%99
Watch Five Videos: About 45 minutes worth of viewing. (Hindi, English)
Nation pays tribute to first martyr of independent India-Shyam Parsad
Mookherjee
JAGMOHAN SINGH
Monday, 22 March 2010
MADHOPUR(PATHANKOT): The Nation paid glorious tributes to Dr. Shyama
Prasad Mookherjee, first Martyr of independent India, who laid down
his life for a principle of one nation, one flag, one constitution.
Thousands of people led by Mohan Rao Bhagwat, Sar Sanghchalak,
Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, Lal Krishan Advani, former Deputy Prime
Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab, Nitin
Gadkari, National President BJP and Prem Kumar Dhumal Chief Minister
of Himachal Pradesh fondly remembered the selfless sacrifice of Dr.
Mookherjee at the border point of Punjab-J&K border, from where in
1953 he started his campaign to make J&K integral part of India, to
make it possible for every Indian citizen to visit J&K without permit.
To perpetuate the contribution of Dr. Mookherjee towards unity and
integrity of the country, his life size statue was unveiled here by
all leaders naming the place as Ekta Sathal.
Speaking on occasion Mohan Bhagwat gave a call to launch a second
struggle to abolish Article 370, the last remaining symbol of
disintegration.
Bhagwat also demanded respectable rehabilitation of 3.5 Lac Kashmiri
Hindu migrants back in valley, who were suffering in different part of
country. Appreciating the Punjab Government for making glorious
attempt to perpetuate the memory of Dr. Mookherjee, Bhagwat criticised
Union Govt. for soft peddling Pakistan on issue of terror. Bhagwat
gave a call to launch second struggle to complete the integration of
J&K with India.
Speaking on the Occasion former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan
Advani said that the struggle that Dr. Shayamal Prasad started in 1953
would complete only if Article 370 was repealed from the constitution.
He said that we became victim of British policy of disintegrating
India, even after partition of Pakistan. He recalled the contribution
of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, then Home Minister for integrating
princely states back into India. He said that the demand for autonomy
for J&K or restoring pre 1953 status would be suicidal for the
integrity of the country.
Paying glorious tributes to Dr. Mookherjee, Nitin Gadkari, National
President BJP rued the fact that India has failed to settle J&K issue
even 62 years after independence. He said that appeasement policies of
UPA government were encouraging terrorism and naxalism in the country.
Flaying UPA for starting talks with Pakistan under pressure of foreign
countries Mr. Gadkari said that talks with Pakistan would be futile
till Pakistan was fomenting terrorism from its soil. Demanding the
immediate repealing of Article 370, Gadkari said that Dr. Mookherjee’s
sacrifice would not go in vein.
Paying his humble tribute, Sukhbir Singh Badal Deputy Chief Minister
said that the present generation indebted to freedom fighters who laid
down their lives in the prime of their youth so that we could all
breathe in peace. He said that this statue of Dr. Shayama Prasad
Mookherjee would continue to guide and motivate present generation
about the value of his sacrifice in keeping India intact. Badal said
that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was eagerly waiting for this
momentous day but could not come here personally due to ill health.
Earlier, the leaders unveiled the statue of Dr. Shayama Prasad
Mookherjee that has been erected at the joint border of Punjab,
Himachal and J&K. A photo gallery showing the pictorial history of Dr.
Mookherjee’s contribution in freedom struggle was also inaugurated on
the occasion.
Thousands of people from Punjab, Haryana and J&K paid glorious
tributes to Dr. Mookherjee.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/24361/38/
To attract youth, Gadkari seeks new Hindutva idiom
Express News Service
Posted: Tuesday , Mar 23, 2010 at 0222 hrs
New Delhi:
BJP president Nitin Gadkari said: ' Hindutva cannot become any
political party's agenda.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday stressed on the need for a
modern idiom to articulate Hindutva for the youth, even as he said
that the Supreme Court’s 1995 description of Hindutva (wherein it
described it as “a way of life”) must be the touchstone while
explaining the idea.
“Hindutva cannot become any political party’s agenda,” Gadkari said by
way of explaining that it was “more of a way of life”. This was the
first time he spoke at length on Hindutva after taking over as party
president.
“From Vivekananda to the Supreme Court definition, the idea of
Hindutva has been variously discussed. Hindutva is not against any
religion. While Hindutva is our philosophy, there’s a need to employ a
new idiom to articulate it to connect with the youth,” Gadkari said
while speaking on “Hindutva and Politics” at a function to mark the
launch of an association of volunteers “that will promote the BJP
among the youth”.
“Our credo has always been ‘justice for all; appeasement of none’. A
true Hindu can never attack a Muslim, and a true Muslim can never
attack a Hindu. A terrorist, on the other hand, has no religion,
caste, or creed. It’s the pseudo-secular brigade that has unduly
highlighted the religion of terrorists who happened to be Muslims,”
said Gadkari.
The BJP president said that while a “democracy would always need truly
secular institutions”, individuals “can never become secular”. After
taking over as the party president, Gadkari has attempted to bring
about certain changes in the organisation, something that won the
approval of RSS ideologue M G Vaidya.
18 Comments |
Be agressive in highlighting the failures of UPA
By: R.C.Mohan | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 13:00:38 PM
BJP a party with great leaders at the top are still to win the
confidence of people in India although the party too advocate the
policy of secularism in its own way.Gadkari as president of the party
must come forward to highlight the failures of the present UPA
government in several areas. Manmohan Singh has failed in all fields
except in the economic arena thanks to his vast experience in the
affairs. In spite of a global recession, India could withstad the
melee because of Mr.Singh. But in all other fields he has miserably
failed and this fact should be highlighted by the BJP. In Law & Order,
Agricultural, Food Distribution,Controlling terrorism, external
affairs etc the present UPA Government has let down the people to a
pathetic state of affairs.Dividing the hindus and appeasing other
religions made them comfortable in hoodwinking the people to an
extend.Hence Gadkari has to be progressive by being agressive in
highlighting the failures of the UPA.All will get attracted naturally
Indian Prestorika for UPA
By: J.A. Mansuri | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:58:42 PM
Both UPA & NDA could reshape by learning for future strategies about
co-existence with & without difference in plural society. Observing
specific areas of SC and Constitution will lead to further polarize
society & national polity. Observing judiciary on Babri Masjid will
bring national integration. Vaccum in philosophy and cadre is on
surface amongst both groups.
Observing Judiciary
By: Ananth Seth | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 13:38:48 PM
Effective and just National Integration can only come after the
followers of Islam give up their false claim on Ayodhya and disown
pseudo-secularists and pseudo-intellectuals. Any other talk is nothing
but an "under cover" attack on the history and civilization of this
great country.
BJP back to winning trajectory
By: Chirag K. Shahc | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:58:34 PM
I sincerely wish that BJP wins next elections both in Banglore polls
and Bihar. It is high time a nationalist party gets its due.
BAD PERSONS
By: yusuf ahmed | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:39:36 PM R
a bad person is a bad person - a thug is a thug - let us not brand him
- region religion have nothing to do with badness - the new BJP
President is right - his thought process his mind set is on target -
reflects a mental over haul -
Gadkari seeks new Hindutva idiom
By: subramanian | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:05:50 PM
The party's Top leadership is making good and sincere attempts to
rejenuvate BJP. The party has to attract down trodden and weaker
sections of Hindus to retain BJP as the main opposition party. Involve
all Indians across religious lines to become the ruling party.
Kangress bhagaoe,desh bachaoe
By: birju | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:02:36 PM
Gadkariji,way to go! demolish the evil party ruling us and install the
patriots in power!
Hindutava
By: Parminder Singh | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 11:35:17 AM
My dear brothers and sisters. If a particular word creates
misunderstanding, notwithstanding the intentions behind it, we should
reconsider modifying it. Suppose Akalis say that in Punjab, Sikhutava
be practised or christians in NE States say Christianava be practised
and Muslims say in J&K, Muslimism be way of life, it would definately
not be acceptable to others. I would suggest to Mr Gadhkari that he
should use the word Bharatism as the slogan and moto. While one may
have reservations or objections to any word which in any way seem to
be linked to a particular community or religion, none can have
objection to the word reflecting the country in which he or she lives.
Hinduvta
By: DRJ | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 11:57:24 AM
Can u advocate the same philosophy for Pakistan which is driving
hindus and sikhs out. India is perhaps the only country where
affiliations of Muslims and Christians are outside the country i.e
Mekka and Rome. Nothing wrong in beliefs. But the basic interest to
rest with the country which is missing and hels overseas interest to
destabilise the country.
Hindutva and Hinduism
By: soumik pal | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:52:50 AM
Nitin Gadkari's comments are better thought than the usual fare dished
out by the likes of Narendra Modi. But one should realize that
Hinduism, after all, is just a discursive field open to debate and
discussion. It is not monolithic. It is not a religion, it is a dharma
(there's a difference). And by all means is Hinduism inclusive unlike
the brand of Hindutva being promoted by BJP and it's more hardcore
allies like the RSS, VHP etc. Godhra riots and countless other events/
incidents bear testimony to that. And "Mantra", India is not a Hindu
nation.
What is the final solution
By: mun | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:13:58 AM
Whilst all these comments are true, there is still the real problem
India faces not now but about 100 years from now. By that time the
proportion of Hindus and others in particular Muslims will have
changed to a point that unrest becomes more frequent and violent. The
reason is Hindus might continue to say India is secular and indeed
practice religious tolerence, but unfotunately, Islam does not give
any choice to muslims. That is, there is only one way of being muslim,
which is the way quran preached originally. No muslim can accept a
State which is not based on quran. That means India can never enact a
law restricting muslims from marrying more than one wife, practice
family planning or any other practices even if they are archaic and
irrelevant to 22nd century. Is there a way out of this? If muslim
population is proportionately, more than Hindus will they allow Hindus
to live they want to live? No convincing answers to this yet.
Hindutva
By: MRR | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:01:19 AM
It is good start and it is upto verybody to ensure that they do not
elect the Pseudo secular's back to power in next election and give
this ideology a another chance to put in practise. Good luck
To attract youth, Gadkari seeks new Hindutva idiomNew Delhi: BJP
president Nitin Gadkari on Monday stressed on the need for a modern
idiom to articulate Hindutva for the youth, even as he said that the
Supreme Court’s 1995 description of Hindutva (wherein it described it
as “a way of life”) must be the touchstone while explaining the idea.
“Hindutva can ....Read more
18 Comments |
Let and Let live - Hindutva idiom
By: kulmohan | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 9:52:41 AM
Let and Let live - Hindutva idiom. Nothing else would define the
essence of hinduism better
Let and Let Live
By: Indian | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:20:14 AM
Yea that is exactly what is happening with terrorirsts. We are letting
them leave and forgetting ourselves to protect. We are letting
terrorirsts live by voting politicians who are very careful not to
hang them despite of SC judgement
Hindutva
By: Mantra | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 9:38:19 AM
While the Honorable Supreme Court is absolutely correct in defining
Hinduism as a way of life, Hindu's also have certain beliefs and value
systems, which are unique to them. Hindu's like any other religion
believe in the supremacy of god,life and worship. It is therefore a
way of life to practice the three epitomes of any religion. Now
Islamic and Christian nations do give Bonus points to people or
citizens who practice the religion as endorsed by the state. Prime
examples are Malaysia,Israel, France, Australia, whole of Middle East
and to a great extent US and UK too. Now, as a nation, what is wrong
being a Hindu nation? What is wrong in being a Hindu? At the end of
it, India and Nepal are the only two Hindu nations! The consitution
does not need to hurt the religious sentiments of others, nor should
it curtail the rights of other minorities, however, it should not also
give bonus points and additional privileges to citizens of India of
minority beliefs.
Right
By: India | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:00:06 AM
Very good. Very rightly said.
Hindus-Divided
By: DRJ | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 11:02:47 AM
Nitinji is making good and sincere attempts to rejenuvate BJP. The
main flaw in BJP's policy is that it recognises only certain sections
as Hindus and rest all as sub servers. This discrimination is being
exploited by Congress. BJP has to learn to recongnise all sections of
Hindus.
Thanks to Indian Express
By: Swanand Bodas | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 9:35:52 AM
This has been BJP's agenda from JanSangh time. Hindutva by virtue is
comprehensive. The culture here is tolerent and harmonious but of
course is capable to teach a lesson to pseudo secularists who have
been dividing the country for their vote-bank politics. Whatever SC
had said was exactly stated by Veer Savarkar by defining Hindus as
those loving this country and being part of the culture of this
country. But due to Pseudo secular people and even worse media this
has always been prohibitted to come forward. So I must congratulate
Indian Express which at least has made it a news unlike almost other
media channels who are more worried about Rahul Gandhi's whereabouts,
where does he stay what does eat, whether Priyanka was with him or not
etc. than any other intellectual process. This country needs to bring
all religions, states on same level with no special religious laws to
Muslims and no special status to J&K. Only then the country becomes
united
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/To-attract-youth--Gadkari-seeks-new-Hindutva-idiom/594388
Info on 'cash at judge's door' case confidential: SC
Agencies
Posted: Tuesday , Mar 23, 2010 at 1247 hrs
New Delhi:
In the midst of a raging controversy over closure of the 'cash-at-
judge's-door' case, the Supreme Court, which had denied that CBI had
approached the Chief Justice, now says the information is
"confidential".
The Court's interesting reply came on an RTI petition seeking details
whether the Chief Justice of India was approached by the CBI wanting
permission to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav of Punjab and Haryana
High Court in the case.
"I write to inform you that the information sought by you...is
confidential and is exempted from disclosure under the section 8 (1)
(e) and (j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you have no right
to access the said information."
"Further as the information is not held by or under the control of the
CPIO, Supreme Court India, your request cannot be acceded to..." Raj
Pal Arora, Central Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court
said in an RTI reply.
The reply is in sharp contrast to a statement earlier issued by its
Secretary General M P Bhadran who said CBI did not approach the Chief
Justice of India in the case.
Justice Yadav's name had figured in the alleged scam after the
recovery of a mysterious bag containing Rs 15 lakh at the door of
another Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmaljit Kaur, which was
said to have been delivered there due to confusion over names.
Justice Kaur reported the matter to the police. Later, the probe was
given to CBI on the orders of administrator of Chandigarh.
The CJI had also appointed a three-judge committee to look into the
matter. The then Attorney General Milon Banerji had reportedly advised
the Law Ministry that there was not enough material to proceed further
in the matter.
A CBI court observed that the probe agency filed the closure report
after it failed to get sanction from the Chief Justice of India to
launch prosecution against her. Meanwhile, Justice Yadav was
transferred to Uttarakhand High Court after the decision of
collegium.
Applicant Abhishek Shukla had sought a reply from the Supreme Court
whether the CJI was approached by the CBI seeking permission to
prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav.
Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act cited by CPIO Arora exempts disclosure
of information which is held "fiduciary relationship" whereas the
section 8(1) (j) exempts disclosure of information which is
"personal". In both cases, information can be given, if larger public
interest is served.
The Supreme Court has also refused to disclose the report of Justice
Gokhale Committee, constituted by the Chief Justice of India to probe
the allegations, a document which is reportedly accessed by some RTI
applicants already.
The apex court did not give the minutes of collegium meeting which
recommended the transfer of Justice Yadav to Uttarakhand High Court
after allegations of corruption surfaced against her.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/info-on-cash-at-judges-door-case-confidential-sc/594537/0
Tue, Apr 6 2010
NEW DELHI 6 Apr 2010 Right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party marks 30th
anniversary
The Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, India's main opposition
party, marks 30 years with plans for introspection. New party
president Nitin Gadkari aims to analyze the two successive defeats of
the BJP, which takes credit for the nuclear tests in 1998, for
starting the Indo-United States nuclear talks and for diffusing the
tensions of the Kargil War against Pakistan in 1999. The BJP dilemma
is whether to pursue the cultural nationalism (Hindutuva) agenda or to
move to the center to widen its political base.
The BJP and its political allies suffered a shock defeat in the
general elections in 2004 and failed to muster a parliamentary
majority. The party lost strength again in the 2009 general election.
The defeats were attributed to the bad performance of the party in
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.
The party’s growing disciplinary problems were magnified with the
expulsion of former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh in Aug 2009 for
writing a book on Pakistan's Founding Father Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
The BJP, in alliance with several other parties, was in power from
1998 to 2004, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister and Lal
Krishna Advani as his deputy
The BJP was formed on 6 Apr 1980. It succeeded the Bharatiya Jana
Sangh, which merged with the Janata Party. The BJP was formed as a
separate party in 1980 after internal differences in the Janata Party
resulted in the collapse of its government in 1979.
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RELATED READING:
I have never spent a night in Delhi before (Nitin Gadkari’s interview,
DNA newspaper 20 Dec 2009)
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_i-have-never-spent-a-night-in-delhi-before_1325477
GenNext takes centre stage in BJP, 2 GenNext Sushma replaces Advani
(Hindustan times 17 Dec 2009)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/GenNext-takes-centrestage-in-BJP-Sushma-replaces-Advani/H1-Article1-487726.aspx
Bharatiya Janata Party
http://www.bjp.org/
BJP’s Nitin Gadkari Vs The Rahul Gandhi Dilemma (Tehelka Magazine 12
Dec 2009)
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Op121209bjp_nitin.asp
Advani took BJP from political margins to Cong challenger (CNN-IBN 18
Dec 20009)
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/advani-took-bjp-from-political-margins-to-cong-challenger/107374-37.html
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India urges caution as US mulls N-deal with Pak
Yesterday
New Delhi: India on Monday reacted with palpable unhappiness to
reports that the U.S. was willing to discuss a civil nuclear deal with
Pakistan, with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna drawing
attention to its “clandestine activities” in the field.
Union Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna
Mr. Krishna was guarded in his comments, but Opposition parties like
the BJP and the Left cautioned the U.S. against such a move. “The U.S.
should think whether this help is going to create more terrorism in
the world,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari said.
“I think, the U.S. would always look into the track record of every
country with which they are going for certain understanding or signing
a treaty.
“I am sure that the U.S. will constantly remember that the
proliferation of nuclear weapons was because of certain indiscretions
of certain countries and more particularly Pakistan and the
clandestine activities which they carried on,” Mr. Krishna said. He
said this aspect “will have to be kept in mind…I am sure the U.S.
will”.
Reports that the U.S. was willing to discuss with Islamabad a civil
nuclear deal, similar to that with India, were based on remarks
attributed to U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson who was
quoted as saying the U.S. was “beginning to have a discussion with the
Pakistan government” on the country’s desire to tap nuclear energy.
She noted that earlier America’s “non-proliferation concerns were
quite severe” but, “I think we are beginning to pass those and this is
a scenario that we are going to explore”. But there was no
confirmation of these moves from Washington.
U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer sidestepped a question on
the issue, saying he was working on implementation of the Indo-U.S.
nuclear deal.
Mr. Gadkari also noted that Pakistan supports terrorism, and there
would be problems for the world if the U.S. gives nuclear technology
or defence help to it.
CPI leader D. Raja said the U.S. move reflected its “very narrow,
selfish vested interests”. He said the U.S. had so far been
encouraging arms race but now it was going to promote nuclear arms
race because of its “large business interest”.
Keywords: nuclear deal, S.M. Krishna, Nitin Gadkari, D. Raja, Timothy
J. Roemer, Anne Patterson, non-proliferation
- News Agencies
http://www.awamimarkaz.com/2010/03/india-urges-caution-as-us-mulls-n-deal-with-pak/
Nitin Gadkari draws flak from 3 BJP leaders from Bihar
PTI
Friday, March 19, 2010 20:24 IST
New Delhi: Four months after being appointed BJP president, Nitin
Gadkari faced his first challenge as discontent grew over composition
of his new team with atleast three senior leaders from Bihar making
their unhappiness known.
BJP set to defy whip over Women's Reservation Bill PM apologises for
Cong MP's remarks on Vajpayee Scuffle in RS,anger in BJP follows as
Liberhan report tabled
While former union minister Shatrughan Sinha aired his grievance
yesterday for being ignored, another former union minister C P Thakur
criticised Gadkari today saying the new team was "not balanced" and
"injustice" has been meted to out to him.
Another leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who was made one of the seven
spokespersons much below his expectations, also made
known his unhappiness by not attending a meeting of spokespersons
convened by the top leadership today.
With Bihar assembly elections due in October this year, these leaders
as also veterans like Yashwant Sinha were hoping for important
positions in the newly-constituted team.
Purnea MP Udai Singh is also said be disenchanted with his exclusion
from the list but has not come out in the open.
Gadkari, however, was unfazed, saying there were thousands of office
bearers and he could not satisfy everybody.
"As far as what I personally feel, I tried to accommodate everybody. I
can't satisfy everybody. As the president of the party, if anyone has
any problem, he has the right to discuss it with me," Gadkari told
NDTV.
Shatrughan Sinha was the first one to speak against the composition of
Gadkari's team when he announced yesterday that "most deserving"
candidates like Yashwant Sinha have been left out while some not so
competent people figured in the list.
Continuing to sulk, he said the goings-on in the party "did not augur
well" for NDA before the crucial Bihar elections. He also spoke of
"bossy and vested interests" asserting "I cannot compromise with my
dignity".
Though Shatrughan Sinha used Yashwant's name, he is himself
disgruntled.
CP Thakur went public today saying the team should have been balanced
and Maharashtra has been given more importance.
"Injustice has been done to me. My contribution to the party is
definitely not less than that of others...It should have been a
balanced team. The list should be revised," Thakur said.
Hussain, who was tipped to be a general secretary, is also unhappy as
he would have to work under chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Hussain was a union minister in the NDA regime while Prasad was a
minister of state and the former
considers himself a senior.
Moreover, Prasad has been made a general secretary addingsalt to
Hussain's wounds.
Interestingly, Shatrughan, Thakur and Hussain are from Bihar which
goes to polls in October. Their personal grievances may affect the
party's prospects, feel some party leaders.
Hussain kept away from a meeting of the spokespersons convened by
Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj at the behest of Prasad. Sources
said when Swaraj called him about the meeting he said he was unwell
and could not attend.
However, his grievances are known to the party top brass. Sources said
Hussain himself is planning to take up the matter with Gadkari when he
arrives in the capital.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nitin-gadkari-draws-flak-from-3-bjp-leaders-from-bihar_1361000
SIT summons: Lies & falsehood, cries Modi
DNA
Monday, March 22, 2010 19:13 IST
Last updated: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 1:38 IST
Gandhinagar: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Monday struck
back at his detractors and claimed that the special investigation team
(SIT) set up by the Supreme Court to look into the Gujarat riot cases
had not summoned him to appear before it on March 21.
Even as activist Teesta Setalvad was busy distributing copies of the
2007 Tehelka tapes in which various people were seen implicating Modi
in the riot cases, the chief minister issued a “carefully-worded
letter” stating that the “SIT had not fixed March 21, 2010, for my
appearance. The date… was invented by some vested interest”. But
Modi’s letter made it clear that he would respond to the SIT “fully
respecting the law and keeping in view the dignity of a body appointed
by the Supreme Court.”
Speaking on his behalf, senior BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer
Arun Jaitley told a hastily-convened press conference that there had
been “no direct or indirect, or any form of request, by the SIT to
appear” before it. Emphasising repeatedly that “Modi will comply with
all legal obligations, show full respect and respond to the SIT as and
when a time is fixed,” Jaitley said the March 21 date had been wrongly
“leaked to the media by some vested interests trying to intervene with
the process of law”.
Jaitley did not spell out the date that Modi had been asked to appear
before the SIT or whether he would go in person for the meeting.
Neither did Modi’s letter clarify any of these facts. But he did
indicate by implication that he had been summoned by the SIT.
While Jaitley bashed the vested interests and the media repeatedly,
the fact remains that news of Modi being called was confirmed by SIT
chief RK Raghavan himself on March 11 to DNA as part of a telephonic
talk.
Jaitley, who flew down to Gandhinagar on Monday morning, held an
urgent media conference at the chief minister’s office to clarify on
his behalf. “The media has been misleading the people by disseminating
incorrect information that Modi was summoned by the SIT on March 21,
and that he did not appear,” said Jaitley.
“There have been campaigns running for the past eight years to defame
the Gujarat government and the chief minister.”
Taking a side swipe at the NGOs which were fighting for the cause of
the 2002 riot victims, Jaitley said as petitioners in the SC, these
NGOs should “ensure that there was no interference with the process of
law”.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sit-summons-lies-and-falsehood-cries-modi_1362099
Watch lots of Videos:
http://article.wn.com/view/2010/03/19/Nitin_Gadkari_draws_flak_from_3_BJP_leaders_from_Bihar/
BJP reshuffle: What is Nitin Gadkari thinking?
March 20, 2010 17:15 IST
Sheikh Chilli is a well-known character in South Asian mythology. He
abounds in vision, dreams, and knows how to inspire people with his
talk. He is brimming with futuristic ideas, but has no idea how to
realise them: The most famous Sheikh Chilli story is how he decided to
cut a branch off a tree when he needed firewood, except that he was
sitting on the branch while cutting it.
Several in the Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] are reminded of
Sheikh Chilli while evaluating the team that the party's new
president, Nitin Gadkari [ Images ], announced earlier this week. Some
inclusions are inexplicable, omissions even more so. Promotions and
demotions don't seem to indicate any larger strategy the new president
may have in mind for the party.
First, the party amended its constitution to have a 120-member
national executive, up from 80 earlier: This is fine, as the president
thought he would benefit from wider consultation. But, see the list of
members in the executive, including a mysterious category called
'others' (for which there is no provision in the party constitution).
The resultant national executive has 190-plus members. It can only be
an insecure president who has to subvert the constitution, presumably
to have an executive packed with his supporters.
Now, the team itself. Of the 190-plus members, more than 25 are from
Maharashtra [ Images ]. Actor Vinod Khanna's [ Images ] wife Kavita is
an 'other'. But the party's former foreign and finance minister
Yashwant Sinha [ Images ] has not even been found worthy of being an
'other'. He's been dropped altogether. So has been another National
Democratic Alliance Cabinet minister, Jagmohan.
Those from Maharashtra are neither thinkers, nor professionals, nor,
in any way, expanding the intellectual frontiers of the BJP. They are
politicians mostly from the municipal and local body levels. So, no
doubt the BJP expects to sweep the local body elections in Maharashtra
-- but to build a national executive on the back of that talent?
It is clear that Gadkari wanted to end factionalism in the party and
thought that he would be able to do so by making the national
executive a rainbow coalition. So he has appointed Vasundhara Raje as
the general secretary. But he has also appointed Bainsla, her greatest
detractor and the biggest pain in her neck in Rajasthan [ Images ]
during her tenure as the chief minister, as an 'other'. Bainsla
represents the Gujjars in Rajasthan -- the caste in counterpoise to
the largely Congress-leaning Meenas. Why insult the Gujjars by giving
Bainsla an ornamental representation in the executive?
If the national executive is the vehicle for policy decisions by the
party, it makes sense that members from the state where elections are
due should have been chosen in larger numbers and with care. The
Bhumihars in Bihar (which goes to the polls in a few months) are the
biggest supporters of the Janata Dal - United-BJP-led government
there, and are seriously disenchanted with Nitish Kumar. The BJP could
have snapped them up if it had taken a little care. But, there isn't a
single Bhumihar from Bihar in the national executive. Instead, Kiran
Ghai, a Punjabi from Bihar, who has been a nominated member of the
legislative council, has been elevated as an office-bearer. In Bihar
politics, what is she expected to bring to the table?
At least two members from Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] (where the party is
all but finished) -- Ram Bux Verma and Ravi Kant Garg -- left the
party when they were denied nominations. Verma was a Rajya Sabha
member and the party could not give him another term because it didn't
have the numbers to renominate him. He quit the party and returned
later. He's a member of the executive. Garg represented Mathura and
left the party not once but twice after he was denied a re-nomination.
He, too, is in the executive. What sort of message does this send?
Assam has sent 14 MPs to the Lok Sabha. Rajan Gohain is an MP who has
served three terms. He, however, is not an office-bearer. Instead,
Tapir Gao from Arunachal Pradesh, which sends two MPs to the Lok
Sabha, is a secretary. Moreover, Gao represents the scheduled tribe
quota. So, the voice of the North-East region is heard through these
two and Bijoya Chakravarty, who has been appointed vice president.
The Parliamentary Board -- the highest forum of the party -- has 12
members, of which one is reserved for a scheduled caste and the
organising secretary's post is filled by an Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh representative. So, that leaves the president with 10 members
whom he has the freedom of choice to appoint. Of these, seven are
Brahmins. What happened to the BJP's big other backward class project
of social inclusion ?
No doubt, Nitin Gadkari has a plan for the BJP. It is not clear what
it is.
Aditi Phadnis Source:
Discussion Board
Showing 1-10 of total 57 messages
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/mar/20/bjp-reshuffle-what-is-nitin-gadkari-thinking.htm
BJP chief whip spills it out: 70% of MPs oppose Women’s Bill
J P Yadav
Posted: Thursday , Mar 11, 2010 at 0148 hrs
New Delhi:
Betraying the anxiety among MPs on how the women’s reservation Bill
will play out in their constituencies, the BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha
today claimed “at least 70 per cent of MPs” were against the Bill
while a senior BJP MP said he would defy any whip to vote in its
favour even though his party had offered it “unequivocal support” in
the Rajya Sabha.
Ramesh Bais, BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, said there was strong
resentment among Lok Sabha MPs over the Bill and his party leadership
was engaged in placating MPs.
“At least seventy per cent of MPs are protesting against the women’s
reservation Bill and the way the party supported the Bill despite
marshals being used in Rajya Sabha. Top leaders of the party have
assured that grievances of the MPs will be taken into account,” Bais
told The Indian Express, adding that Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant
Sinha had already held the first round of discussions.
Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, senior leader and BJP MP from Madhubani in
Bihar, declared he would defy any party whip in Lok Sabha and vote
against the Bill.
A former Union Minister, Yadav told The Indian Express: “If they issue
a whip (to vote in favour of the Bill), I will break it and vote
against it. Let them end my membership, I am not bothered. I am a
socialist and I cannot compromise on issues of social justice.”
He said he had asked the BJP leadership not to issue a whip in Lok
Sabha and allow MPs to exercise their choice. He also slammed the use
of marshals in Rajya Sabha to evict seven MPs who were opposed to the
Bill.
Yadav said the use of marshals amounted to “martial law” and his party
had been a “mute spectator”.
“History will not spare the BJP. The BJP was like Bhishmapitamah and
Dronacharya in Mahabharata who remained mute spectators to the
disrobing of Draupadi,” he said. Attacking the policy of his party to
support the Bill, he said the BJP would “decline further” if it
ignored the backward classes.
Yogi Adityanath, MP from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, too aired his
protest, wondering why the party had shown such eagerness to back the
women’s reservation Bill when there were more pressing matters on
hand.
Madhusudan Yadav, a first-time BJP MP from Rajnandgaon in
Chhattisgarh, too objected that the party leadership had not protested
the use of marshals to evict MPs from Rajya Sabha.
“The allies and supporters of UPA are protesting against the Bill.
They used the support of the Opposition to use marshals and bulldoze
the Bill through Rajya Sabha. We will not tolerate the use of marshals
in Lok Sabha,” Yadav told The Indian Express.
29 Comments |
BJP is in winning position
By: Danendra jain | Friday , 12 Mar '10 5:32:16 AM
There is no doubt in it that BJP will ultimately gain in election due
to their support to woman reservation bill .Details cannot be
mentioned but realised by true thinker of BJP cadre. It needs some
time to ponder over the issue and merely supporting or opposing for
the sake of support or for opposition will serve no purpose. When they
supported in Rajya sabha there a reason behind it.There is no change
in any part of the bill , they why BJP members have suddenly changed.
It means they did not apply mind in first case and nor they have
applied mind for their next course of action in Loksabha.However I am
of different view.Quota has not served any interest of SC ST or OBC
during last 60 years of freedom and it cannot be imagined that woman
quota will turn the table and bring about overwhelming change in
Indian administration which is ailing from corruption, or give relief
to Indian common men who are suffering from price rise or provide
safety to Indians who are afraid of terror attack or Naxal attack or
help Indian youth who are suffering from unemployment.
women's reservation bill
By: karan | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 13:55:11 PM
Is there any guarantee that the selected women in the parliment will
perform any better than men.Is there any assurance that they will
behave better than men. If one looks are likes of Indira , mayavati,
jayalalitha,sonia, renuka choudri, jayanti natarajan, rabri devi etc,
nothing gives us hope that they are here to change anything that is
happening today.This resrvation bill is a real wastefull exercise.This
only will become an extended family mater spilling in the public
domain with no commensurate benefit to the tax payer's money.One can
not forget the money that this lady renuka choudri splashed on
telephone bills, hotel bills etc only to be reprimanded by The then
Finance minister.
What a mess !!!
By: rao | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 13:05:22 PM
It has taken, as per one of the TV channels (probably govt mouthpiece)
14 long years, after the bill's inception. There must have been
various reasons why it could not come through,except that now as Mrs
Sonia Gandhi (the almighty of India) has taken it as a personal
challenge, the first hurdle was crossed. This is to say the least the
most pathetic situation, whichever way you look at it. Did any one
consider as to why it took 14 long years and would the same factors
(possibly justifying that time, the said reservation -- God knows
which factors) still hold good? We divide the country on all counts,
caste, religion and now gender basis. What is the point in having
reserved seats, which any way would be contested only by the clones
and controlled 'remotely' by others - whatever be the type of
reservation. Improve the lot of the deserving (irrespective of caste,
religion and gender) and the country would automatically prosper. Most
of the women feel such reservation as a disgrace
WOMEN'S BILL
By: kkjha | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 12:20:55 PM
every political party is exploiting the situation -some in the name of
religion,some caste ,others group of castes,look into the
history,yadavs were the most influential upper caste-now they are
backward,thanks to politicians,REMOVE ALL SORTS OF RESERVATIONS AND
WORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY
HAS THE COUNTRY PROGRESSED?
By: N.ASTI | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 12:12:38 PM
Under the leadership of Congress,UPA is trying to divert the mind of
public and sail smoothly thro' current session of Parliament without
addressing the burning issues of PRICE-RISE,SECURITY,DEBACLES IN
DEALING WITH PAK and so on.If a Govt is really working for the Nation
and not only Party-interest AT ALL COSTS,then Congress which ruled the
country for half a decade ,would have brought the living of
SC,ST,OBC,Minorities,Women at a level that none of them need
reservation and all Indians would have been at par in the
progress.Awareness was needed to be created among these masses for
removal of ignorance,Poverty and population rise(which is the biggest
hurdle in the progress).In its stead Indian Politicians ate away the
resources meant for AAM AADMI and throws on the bread of RESERVATION
to different categories,treating them as street dogs,and foolish
Indians enjoy this and get satisfied.
QUOTA BASED ON POVERTY IS IDEAL
By: B S GANESH | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 12:06:10 PM
My frank opinion is any type of quota other than for alleviating
poverty and improving the quality of life of poor people is a sort of
fraud on the nation. B S GANESH
No need of Reservation
By: Sanjay | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:46:43 AM
Why Reservation ? Sonia ,Mamata ,Mayavati ,Jayalalita ,Sushma swaraj
are Indias leading politicians without any
reservation.Presindent ,most influential politician of India are
women .They will come up by their merit.
100%
By: George P. Joseph | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:38:43 AM
Psychologically and the past experiments arrive at 100%, that is the
truth.
Women's bill
By: Bhaskar Kolnad | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:28:13 AM
It should have been 50% reservation for women ,not 33% as now now they
proposing.Even for this ,there is so much of opposition and
reservation.What equality are these top leaders preaching then . Sonia
says it is her husbands dream and many others also speak so much about
it. Double standard.
True face of Women-Bill
By: mohan | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:25:10 AM
It is not only the BJP but also many in the Congress Party is against
the bill. It is only due to the insistance of Sonia Gandhi it could be
moved in the RS.
True face of Women's-Bill----
By: romesh.sharma | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 14:55:38 PM
By now SoniaGandhi has known and is assured by her boot-lickers that
there will be some kind protests,agitations,yammering and blabbering
which won't last longer and the anti-bill people will cool down and
forget.This had always happened in India.Too susceptibles with very
short-memories.India is nomore or say was never real Democracy under
Congress rule.How a bill can get through which needs Constitutional
Amendment withough 2/3 majority support is clear sign of despotic
regime exercising colourful powers.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-chief-whip-spills-it-out-70-of-mps-oppose-womens-bill/589444/0
chhotemianinshallah
PTI, Mar 8, 2010, 06.55pm IST
Article Comments (14)
Sex video: Ashram defends NityanandaBANGALORE: Rejecting rape charge
and doubts raised over death of a foreign devotee of self-styled
godman Paramahamsa Nityananda, his ashram on Monday said he would make
a public appearance soon and answer all allegations.
The charges were part of a "conspiracy to malign the image of the
swami and impede ashram's social activities," the ashram spokesperson
Nitya Sachidananda told reporters at the Nityananda Ashram near
Bidadi, about 40 km from here.
A 23-year-old woman, an inmate of the Bidadi ashram, had alleged that
Nithyananda had raped and sexually harassed dozens of women in the
ashram.
Chennai police have registered a rape and cheating case against
Nityananda, days after video footage of his alleged sleazy acts were
telecast by TV channels.
Sachidananda also denied a charge that mystery shrouded the death of
foreign national Melvyan Boyd Diamond, a Yoga teacher in the ashram.
"Diamond had family history of cardiac problems and he died following
an accidental fall from the second floor of the building he lived in,"
he said, adding that the ashram had arranged for his cremation.
The operation to malign Nityananda had been done in "a surgical
precision" and "Swamiji himself will come and comment on all the
issues. As his "personal security" was at risk "we have advised him to
come after some days," the spokesperson said.
The ashram, which faced violent protests after telecast of the video,
has so far not lodged any police complaint.
Nityananda ashram rejects charge of rape
Article Comments 14
Bidadi ashram
Mohan USA 09 Mar, 2010 07:48 AM
All these guys disguised con people. Any basterd who still defends him
should be throiwn in jail as well. Why don't people check such idiots'
background before follow them. The laws should be strict so that such
crooks must ne hanged in public to make an example.revin malaysia 09
Mar, 2010 02:37 PM
Relax My dear friend..... if you dont know about him plz dont put such
commen. He teaching has transform many ppl life. thounds of ppl is
alive bcoz of his helling do u now haw many cancer patient has cured
and thy are alive 2day..... plz dont throw words will regret
ltr.Mansoor Dubai 09 Mar, 2010 01:53 PM
There are two type of godmenMark Canada 09 Mar, 2010 06:53 AM
Thank You Swami for all your help. You have been the greatest blessing
in my life. Mark.Arun Bangalore 09 Mar, 2010 04:44 AM
I find it curious that Sachitananda cites safety and security as being
the reason for Nithyananda's absence, while claiming that he is at the
Kumbha Mela. I would imagine an ashram with police protection is much
safer than mingling with lakhs of people in public.musing us 09 Mar,
2010 01:22 AM
The whole case against the swami seems manufactured. I would not be
surprised if the govt. is behind all this. At least the state govt. I
would also not be surprised if TOI takes perverse pleasure in
splashing this news all over their front pages for the next month. How
boring and predictable.Indian India 09 Mar, 2010 12:49 AM
India is fit only for Jihadi, Communists,Christian missionaries and
DMK Goons and their contribution for Indian Independence is NIL. Now
they are running the country by proxy for their foreign masters.aaa
bangalore 09 Mar, 2010 12:10 AM
As it is we live in a very cunning world.No one can believe anyone
henceforth.Natarajan Canada 08 Mar, 2010 08:30 PM
We need to monitor cases of sexual abuse at religious places. There
are several cases worse than this, involving children. Unfortunately
the cases involving children's sex abuse happen mostly at churches and
hence cannot be touched by our secular government.Shyam USA 08 Mar,
2010 08:19 PM
Is this framed by the Christian missions and the SUN TV who are PRO-
christians?Anand UAE 08 Mar, 2010 07:47 PM
If the swami could proove that the whole scandal is a conspiracy with
active connivance of some inmates like Lenin Karuppan, will the media
apologise to the public for the sensation created thru their column?
Medias should restrain from sensational journalism and should ensure
fair play.Jeevan Dubai 08 Mar, 2010 07:42 PM
Watch out.This fraud swami might use his power using the Politicial
parties and the top guys that he had in his list of followers.There is
no doubt that he is not involved in all the wrong things and he should
be given the severest of punishment so that the other fraud swami's
should learn a lesson.Daljit kuwait 08 Mar, 2010 07:26 PM
its our problem that we are treating these so called godman as
GOD .its time to show that they cannot play more with the sentiments
of people.Ashwani Hyderabad 10 Mar, 2010 05:03 PM
Like these ashrams/swamis, in many life saving institutions
(hospitals) these scandles do take place. Particularly super
speciality hospitals need to be monitored,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5659498.cms
Quepem man held for raping daughter
TNN, Mar 22, 2010, 12.49am IST
MARGAO: In a macabre incident, the Quepem police on Sunday arrested
one Agnelo Pedro D'Costa, 48, from Catemol, Quepem, on charges of
raping his 17-year-old daughter.
What makes the crime ghastlier is the fact that the accused had
recently fathered a child through incestuous relations with the same
victim-his eldest daughter. Police sources said that the accused had
raped his daughter in April 2009, after threatening her with dire
consequences, following which she became pregnant and delivered a male
child on January 6, 2010.
"The victim, along with her newborn baby, was staying at Mother Tereza
Ashram, Panaji. Her father, meanwhile, would coerce his wife into
inviting their daughter home," Quepem PI Sudesh Narvekar said.
She finally came home on Saturday, only to be raped again by her
father.
The accused's wife is learnt to be working as a domestic help in
another village. "On Sunday, ensuring that his wife had gone to work
and her daughter was home alone, the accused raped her," Narvekar
added.
Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, the Quepem police
arrested the accused. Both the accused and the victim have been sent
for a medical examination, police sources added.
Significantly, the accused is the father of three sons and three
daughters. The victim had not reported the matter to the police when
her father had raped her earlier, police sources added.
Give regard to rape victim's wish to marry rapist: CJI
IANS, Mar 7, 2010, 03.33pm IST
Article Comments (1)
NEW DELHI: In a radical suggestion, India's Chief Justice K G
Balakrishnan on Sunday said that judges, lawyers and social activists
should give "due regard" to the wishes of a rape victim if she chooses
to marry the rapist or have the baby conceived from the crime.
"Judges, lawyers and social activists should also ensure that they do
not take an overtly paternalistic approach when they have to make
decisions for the welfare of rape victims," he said at a seminar.
"Due regard must be given to their personal autonomy since in some
cases the victim may choose to marry the perpetrator or choose to give
birth to a child conceived through forced intercourse," he said.
He was speaking at the seminar on "Access to Justice, Relief and
Rehabilitation of Rape Victims" organised by the ministry of women and
child development.
Others who addressed it included Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily and
Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath.
"We must also keep in mind that the interests of the victim are not
protected by punishing the offenders alone," said Balakrishnan,
referring to a law ministry move to enact a law to set up fast-track
courts to try sex-related offences.
"Adequate attention should also be drawn to suggestions for
compensatory remedies and the rehabilitation of rape victims through
the provision of shelter, counselling services, medical and legal
aid."
He also referred to the "secondary victimisation", which a rape victim
often has to suffer during the trial of the accused due to
inconvenient, probing and often indecent questions by the defence
counsel.
"There is a very real phenomenon described as ‘secondary
victimisation' wherein the victim of a crime faces additional
harassment and humiliation in the course of investigation and trial.
Especially when the perpetrators are in a position of power over the
victims, there is a strong distrust of the credibility of the
investigation itself," pointed out Balakrishnan.
"Some recent cases highlighted in the press have shown how the
investigative machinery can often be manipulated to protect
influential persons, howsoever reprehensible their crimes may be," he
said without naming the Ruchika Girhotra molestation and suicide case
involving former Haryana police chief S P S Rathore.
"The investigators, prosecutors and defence counsels must exhibit an
appropriate degree of sensitivity to the victims," he said.
"Especially during the trial proceedings, judges need to be proactive
in order to restrain the aggressive cross-examination of rape
victims."
The CJI also highlighted recent changes in law, which provides that
the past sexual history of victims must be ignored.
"The Indian Evidence Act was amended some years ago and a provision
was inserted to ensure that the past sexual history of a victim cannot
be given weightage in a trial for the offence of rape," pointed out
the CJI.
"What is needed now is for judges and lawyers to internalise the
principle that facts relating to the past sexual history of a victim
should not even be brought up in the first place, since the purpose of
a trial is to decide whether or not an offence took place as alleged,"
said Balakrishnan.
Rituparna’s marital rape trauma
TNN, Feb 28, 2010, 12.00am IST
Rituparna SenguptaRituparna Sengupta says that getting under the skin
of the character can sometimes cause a lot of trauma. That is
precisely what the light eyed actress realised recently, while
shooting for Karan Razdan’s Mittal Versus Mittal.
Playing a marital rape victim in the film, Rituparna got so involved
with her character that she felt it was really happening to her. After
shooting the marital rape sequence, she not only burst into cold
sweat, but continued to shiver for days after that. “It was
terrifying,” admits Rituparna and says, “I kept seeing the sequence
for days in my sleep and woke up startled.”
Such dedication is really impressive. Wonder after all this why
Rituparna hasn’t got very far in her career, here in Bollywood? Can
you tell us why please?
Girl set on fire for resisting rape attempt
TNN, Mar 18, 2010, 03.48am IST
Article Comments (37)
HYDERABAD: A 15-year-old girl was set on fire allegedly by three men
who attempted to rape her at a house in Sai Nagar near Kushaiguda on
Wednesday. The victim, a class VI dropout, suffered 60 per cent burns
and is battling for life at Gandhi Hospital.
Malkajgiri assistant commissioner of police (ACP) P V Padmaja said:
“As per the statement of the girl, three persons (all bachelors) tried
to rape her at a house in Sai Nagar and when she resisted their
attempt they set her ablaze. The incident took place around 11 am.”
Locals informed the Kushaiguda police about the incident and she was
shifted to Gandhi Hospital.
The victim stays at Padmaraonagar with her parents. Her father is an
auto driver, while her mother is a domestic help.
The girl and her friend used to frequent a tea joint near a three-
storied building in Padmaraonagar when two bachelors staying in the
building befriended them, the ACP said.
“On March 9, the victim left home without informing her parents. A
missing case was registered at the Chilkalguda police station by her
father on the same day. The girl said she had gone to Vijayawada on
March 9 along with three persons. The trio used to frequent their two
friends residing in the three-storied multi building at
Padmaraonagar.” the assistant commissioner of police said.
The victim refused to reveal information on when they returned to the
city and the whereabouts of the three persons. Special teams have been
pressed into service to arrest the culprits, the ACP said.
A case was registered under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 342
(wrongfully confining a person), 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) r/w
511 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Kushaiguda inspector A Muthyam
Reddy said.
Girl set on fire for resisting rape attempt
Article Comments 37
girl set on fire
Ajay US 18 Mar, 2010 04:49 AM
I pray that this 3 culprit gets caught soon and get enough punishment.
Atleast for 15 years each.Kalpana Chennai 18 Mar, 2010 04:34 AMOh My
God!zenith coimbatore 18 Mar, 2010 03:54 PM
so sadkavita hyderabad 18 Mar, 2010 03:40 PM
why this girl has gone with that person its her mistake as well,
without telling her parents see what happen she is the only
sufferingsohail hyderabad 18 Mar, 2010 07:46 PM
she is just a childrox fiji 18 Mar, 2010 02:02 PMevery one want to
have sexMohan-US USA 18 Mar, 2010 05:59 PM
No wastage of money and time.... this should be closed in 15
minutes... drag them to a public place and get the crowd to throw one
stone each.... end of the story and a GREAT "case study"Anmol
Bangalore 18 Mar, 2010 05:29 PM
The punishment should be more seviour for rapists, and those who
attempt to rape.Kiran USA 18 Mar, 2010 05:29 PM
This is nothing new in India. Basically, a way of life. It's always
girls from the poor families get raped by the better offs. Rarely,
perpetrators of the crime get punished. Police are more than willing
to bungle the report for bribe. This is our great culture. I'm glad to
be out of jungle rajChandan Bangalore 19 Mar, 2010 02:11 PM
Pls don't comment if you can't resist/rectify. Kindly pls don't come
back to India again.sai bang 18 Mar, 2010 05:06 PM
there is no way of punishing just by killing the three guys infront of
all is the solution ...so next time no guy should repeat such kind of
attemptsfahad Pakistan 18 Mar, 2010 04:56 PM
They should be hanged till death in the middle of the townvishal pune
18 Mar, 2010 04:45 PM
where is the so called education of Indian Parents these days,gaurang
US 18 Mar, 2010 04:39 PM
i dont think there are chances of them not being caught,but i would
pray that they are brought to justice and given a life term for
attempt to rape and attempt to murder. i fear they may end up free
considering the fact that the victim comes from a poor family and our
legal system favors rich oneskavita hyderabad 18 Mar, 2010 03:50 PM
its a girls mistake as well y she has gone with that person without
telling her parents and now see who is suffering feels so sad for
her.Nadeem Amsterdam 18 Mar, 2010 03:46 PM
There should be an "Eye for an Eye"norbert ksa 18 Mar, 2010 03:23 PM
they must hangDeepak Vizag 18 Mar, 2010 03:21 PM
This again tells us that India is not safe for women. I pray that
justice is done to the girl though chances are bleak.Vishal Beijing 18
Mar, 2010 02:56 PM
Its absolutely horrible and shameful to hear such stories in today's
day and age. Who should we blame? Men, women, society, or the govt.?
anita bangalore 18 Mar, 2010 02:31 PM
going to vijayawada from hyderabad without informing her parents.
hm...this is how kids get into trouble. the people who put her on
flames needs to be punished.Ravi hyderabad 18 Mar, 2010 01:57 PM
Culprits should be punished severely.Aslam Dubai 18 Mar, 2010 01:35 PM
I pray to god that this 3 culprit, Get punishment for the Law as well
as from the God too..Prakash Bangalore 18 Mar, 2010 01:31 PM
Kill those people ........david singapore 18 Mar, 2010 01:29 PM
Really these 3 culprits should be hangedPrafull mumbai 18 Mar, 2010
01:19 PM
I wonder why the girl has,or by whom the names of the 3 have been
witheld.SURESH Mumbai 18 Mar, 2010 01:00 PM“On March 9, the
victim left home without informing her parentsjgkmfmb dutidfgjk 18
Mar, 2010 12:53 PM
give the culprits death sentence. Life for life - they should give
their life for taking the victim's life.jadeja India 18 Mar, 2010
12:38 PMthis only happens in india jay hindMurali-Devavrata Bengaluru
18 Mar, 2010 12:37 PM
While culprits should be brought to justice and given death penalty,
there is no doubt that our cultural values are being degraded due to
Western influence. Girls are taking too much liberty with their
freedom and are suffering. Freedom comes with a price. We should think
about this.nitu hyd 18 Mar, 2010 12:31 PM
what the hell is going on in hyd? law should be so strict dat such
cases would never repeat. god know why such people think of raping a
child(doesn't mean that they can have in view of adults)samuel london
18 Mar, 2010 12:30 PM
I hope the three idiots don't have any political connections nor are
they from influential families otherwise such cases are swept under
the carpet and police would call it an cooking stove accident or even
suicide attempt.Vincent Thailand 18 Mar, 2010 12:02 PM
Since the victims is surviving, the culprits will soon be caught and
here-in lies a chance for the guardians of law and order to set an
example. The three perpetrators should be castrated and their
photographs published in newspapers. Let us remove the blindfold over
the eyes of Statue of Law !Vikrant Melbourne 18 Mar, 2010 11:46 AM
Why girls born in India?Sana Mumbai 18 Mar, 2010 11:02 AM
It's sad that this happened but what amazes me the most is that its
still happening. If not in Hyderabad then probably in some other
city.rahul Pune 18 Mar, 2010 09:45 AM
castrate the culprits and parade them naked to be stoned...javeri
mumbai 18 Mar, 2010 09:28 AM
Our Indian legal system has not generated any fear in the minds of the
offenders. they can do anything they want and walk free. By the time
our law takes its cource they might die their natural death. Go back
to the law of the jungle.Tooth for a tooth and eye for an eye. No FIR,
No Report. Burn themhari india 18 Mar, 2010 09:09 AM
kill them
Rape Ruckus
Mar 9, 2010, 12.00am IST
Article Comments (3)
On the eve of International Women's Day, Chief Justice of India K G
Balakrishnan came up with a strange suggestion. Addressing a meet on
justice for rape victims, the CJI said that "due regard" must be given
to the wishes of a rape victim if she wants to marry the rapist or
give birth to a child conceived following the crime. The CJI's
statement sends out mixed signals. It almost makes it appear that
marriage is an alternative to punishment for perpetrators of rape.
Indeed, it could have the unfortunate effect of minimising the
seriousness of rape which is a fundamental violation of a woman's
body. Besides, it does not take into account that rapes can occur
within marriages too.
The courts or the state shouldn't have any say on the course of action
that a rape victim intends to take. It is paternalism - something that
the CJI has accused activists and lawyers of - to decide on behalf of
rape victims. What should be of utmost importance for law-enforcing
agencies is to ensure that rapists are convicted and handed the
maximum possible punishment. At present, rape figures in India tell a
sorry story. According to some statistics, only one in 69 rapes is
reported, and out of these the conviction rate is a pathetic 20 per
cent. Law enforcement agencies should be looking at ways to increase
the conviction rates as well and put in place conditions where victims
feel comfortable to report rapes. This is a big ask. Let's not deflect
from the real task at hand by suggesting marriage between a rape
victim and the perpetrator.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Rape-Ruckus/articleshow/5659944.cms
Uttar Pradesh tops list of child rape cases
PTI, Mar 4, 2010, 05.04pm IST
NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh tops the list of States and Union territories
with the highest number of 900 child rape cases in 2008 followed by
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
According to the latest data by the Ministry of Home Affairs for three
years, cases of child rape continue to rise as a total of 4,721 cases
were registered during 2006, 5,045 in 2007 and 5,446 in 2008 across
the country.
Police have arrested 5,489 people in 2006 for their involvement in
such crimes, 5,756 in 2007 and 6,363 in 2008.
Madhya Pradesh registered 892 such cases, Maharashtra (690), Rajasthan
(420) and Andhra Pradesh (412) in 2008, the data said.
A total of 411 such cases were registered in Chhattisgarh, 301 in
Delhi, 215 in Kerala, 187 in Tamil Nadu, 129 in West Bengal, 106 in
Punjab and 104 in Tripura, it said.
Whereas, Gujarat has registered 99 cases, Karnataka 97, Bihar 91,
Haryana 70, Himachal Pradesh 68, Orissa 65 and Goa 18.
Teen girl, who alleges rape by Maoist, shot at
IANS, Mar 5, 2010, 12.04pm IST
Article Comments (21)
RANCHI: A teenage girl was shot by Maoist rebels in Jharkhand's
Latehar district for slapping rape charges on a Maoist leader, police
said Friday. The victim is struggling for life in a hospital here.
Maoist guerrillas shot three bullets into 17-year-old Anju Kumari on
Thursday. She was injured critically and has been admitted to the
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science
(RIMS).
"Anju sustained three bullets in her stomach. Her condition is
critical," a doctor said.
Anju was shot when she was riding her bicycle in an area close to
Latehar railway station. She was stopped by three motorcycle-borne
Maoist rebels including the Maoist commander Pappu Lohra, who
allegedly pumped three bullets into Anju's stomach and then fled,
police said.
According to police, Anju was shot because she was bold enough to
lodge a first information report (FIR) against Lohra for abducting and
raping her.
"Anju was shot because she dared to raise a voice against Maoists. She
had lodged an FIR against Pappu Lohra. Anju had accused Pappu of
raping her for two days in a jungle after abducting her," a police
official told IANS.
According to local journalists, Maoist rebels alleged it was the
handiwork of the police to lodge fake rape charges against Lohra.
Teen girl, who alleges rape by Maoist, shot at
Article Comments 21
rape maoist
Rajagopal Delhi 05 Mar, 2010 03:37 PM
Dont arrests maoists criminals just shot dead them immediately on
seeing. Thee is no sin doing so. The Government shold try aerial
survey of maoists and bombard their hide outs without hesitation to
prevent further strikes.R india 05 Mar, 2010 03:36 PM
If it was a fake charge, why did this goonda shoot the girl? Maoists
might have started off as rebels for a true cause, but now they are
nothing but terrorists. I hope these rapists and murderers get their
just desserts from the police and para military forces.Raj Mumbai 05
Mar, 2010 03:27 PM
But its a handiwork of Maoist Rebles to Kill a 17 Year
female...Doesn;t he feel anything kill a Teenage Girl..Aks USA 05 Mar,
2010 03:15 PM
Now a days there are far too many pseudo naxals and all are fake and
they intimidate the tribals into submission and loot the police and
others. They do not have ideologies but only money minded looters.She
was a stumbling block and fear of getting exposed made them to stop
the voice, so was shotBrijendra Russia 05 Mar, 2010 03:05 PM
What is going on in India? Is it a jungle raaj or some law exist
there.After reading this story u realy feel shame being an Indian. A
young girl shot three times by so called mesihah of poor and dalits
started raping their daughters and sisters.These same people will take
arms against them.vishnu satara 05 Mar, 2010 03:04 PM
No commnets here...... Indian are busy cursingNarendra Singapore 05
Mar, 2010 02:39 PM
Well this news shows without doubt that at the end maoist does not
follow any philosophy. In the beginning they like others are
pretending to protect and be voice of poors. Now they are aiming their
gun to them. It makes me wonder Pappu Lohra is, a coward who tried to
kill innocent girl.rkr459 rkr...@yahoo.com.au 05 Mar, 2010 01:43 PM
It is high time ,the national Government take military action to get
rid of this radical elements for once and all.P.R.S.Bhasker Hyderabad
05 Mar, 2010 07:18 PM
I fully agree with the comment of sri Rajagopal of Delhimlechha
timbuctoo 05 Mar, 2010 06:59 PM
... that PCAPA leader Lalmohan Tudu had led an attack on their camp @
Silda, with a Maoist dalam. Later, the police claimed there had been
no attack on Silda, that Tudu was most probably killed in a false
encounter. Ironically, Tudu was the person who had fought for
elections to be held in Lalgarh.Siva TN 05 Mar, 2010 06:03 PMI
s this maoism,Very sad,these group appear like terrorist and criminals
without any causeAnant Nigeria 05 Mar, 2010 06:02 PM
Maoists stand against oppression of the weak by others.faisal dhahran
05 Mar, 2010 05:49 PM
The maoista are nothing but criminals and hoodlums out killing and
stealing. They are thugs terrorising the local populations. They MUST
be destroyed without any mercy for they are only killers and murderers
of the worst kind.Nitin Belgium 05 Mar, 2010 05:46 PM
What is the goverment doing? They cant even ensure the security of a
victim from indian terrorists, how can anybody trust them with
security of the country???Vivek NY 05 Mar, 2010 09:28 PM
Now the so called human activisits will not utter a word. India should
extensively use army againsts these murderers and these hyppocrate
human activist in jail. With the army strenght we have shouldn't take
more than a week to clean up India from these people.aa del 05 Mar,
2010 10:01 PM
Jaago Bharat Jaago.jeff Australia 06 Mar, 2010 06:05 AM
This is shocking to the whole world when india is looked upon as
developing emerging economy gettinon par with the world. It is truly
shockingren bhopal 06 Mar, 2010 11:15 AM
shoot thiose murderers and rapists right at their head!!! no need for
enquiries to police....kill those bastards immediately!!!Anil Delhi 06
Mar, 2010 12:34 AM
I won't name names here but this has been going on around my village
since decade.. Maoist just to slight people's respect kidnap unmarried
girls do whatever they like with her and send them back to their
parents.sajan dub 06 Mar, 2010 12:20 AM
How you can tell the rape alligation is right. Now a days it is a
passion of women to make false complaint to molestation and rape also
IPc 498 for looting money from man.Anant Nigeria 05 Mar, 2010 11:36 PM
Maoists stand against oppression of weak by others.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5645977.cms
Father, daughter gun down 2 over incest taint
Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui, TNN, Oct 6, 2009, 12.06am IST
LUCKNOW: For once, panchayat members of a western UP village were
thrown on the defensive. On Monday, a man and his daughter — cleared
of charges of having incestuous relationship — picked up a gun and
fired at the panchayat members, killing two persons, one of them being
the accuser.
According to the police, they did so to ‘‘punish the panchayat members
for their failure to act against the real culprits.’’
The drama was reported from the Kambhore village, Bijnor. The village
panchayat had earlier ordered ‘expulsion’ of the father-daughter duo
following charges of incest against the man, which reportedly turned
out to be baseless. Agitated that the panchayat did not give them a
chance to defend themselves, the two reportedly reached the panchayat
gathering and opened fire after the members refused to initiate action
against those who had levelled false charges against them.
According to reports reaching the police headquarters in Lucknow,
about a month back, Haseenuddin, a resident of Kambhore village under
Kotwali police station of Bijnor approached the village panchayat and
accused a local resident Akhtar of sexually abusing his daughter
Fatima alias Fato for the past several years. Haseen maintained that
he was an eye-witness to the crime along with another local resident,
Afzal.
The panchayat then summoned the duo and questioned them in public.
Though the two said they were innocent, the panchayat ordered them to
leave the village forever.
As a result, Akhtar sold off his house and shifted to a relative’s
place in an adjacent district. On September 23, Akhtar happened to
meet Afzal and enquired about the charges that he and Haseenuddin had
levelled. When Afzal denied that he was even aware of any such
accusations, the latter forcibly took him to the house of the
‘panchas’ to testify before them.
According to the police, on the request of Akhtar, a panchayat meeting
was convened on Friday last where he and his daughter were absolved of
the charges. However, when the panchayat members announced that there
was no need for action against Haseenuddin, Akhtar whipped out a gun
and fired indiscriminately.
Father, daughter gun down 2 over incest taint
Article Comments 19
Manoj India 06 Oct, 2009 12:37 AM
Think the whole article is quite confusing.Bobby Dayton 06 Oct, 2009
12:48 AM
very good. very great act. The panchs should have acted against
Haseenuddin, but if they did not, then Akhtar didnt do anything by
taking law in his hand. I hate all those preaching about not taking
law in ones hand, just because there would be no difference between
accuser and accusee. But if its once moral at stake, one should do
such things. Bravo.Sajid USA 06 Oct, 2009 12:50 AM
The man should not have taken the law in his hands. But there is great
need in India to do something about those who accuse others falsely.
Many times, police accuse someone and when that man is found innocent
after many years, the police officers who framed the charges are left
alone without any charges against them. There are serious errors in
Indian laws.Shalin Agrawal Ahmedabad 06 Oct, 2009 01:07 AM
I agree with what Akhtar did. If justice is denied then the person may
have the right to take such action if the allegations are of these
level. Panchayat members should take rational decision and law should
be equal for all. VD US 06 Oct, 2009 01:17 AM
This is eerily similar to 'A time to Kill' movie though victims are
different. The 2 should not charged with any crime and should be set
free. The Panchayats other members should be kept in prison. What
agony thefather and daughter must have gone thru when these charges
were leveled against them. Thankfully they were all muslims otherwise
who knows what would have happened on the name of religion.SVR Chennai
06 Oct, 2009 01:20 AM
I don't see anything wrong in it. Failure to give justice, will result
in these kind off actions. Pradeep Bangalore 06 Oct, 2009 01:23 AM
For once, the justice is done. Kudos to the father for taking the
action.Vivek Mumbai 06 Oct, 2009 01:53 AM
It is shocking that the Panchayat acted in a haste on such a sensitive
matter. The report can be true or false but if true then the panchayat
seems to have done a grave mistake by not correcting the 2nd
time,which needed punishment. The sad part is our law doesnot permit
normal humans to do justice and the law would not take action too. The
honest man is suffering today and a collusion of evil minds are
striving. A shock treatement is the only solution that can bring
balance to this crude world but at what cost is for us to judge.
Nilesh California, US 06 Oct, 2009 02:08 AM
Older "Panchayat" judiciary system should be abandoned and must be
taken over by court. It's very must needed as foolish, biased and non
democratic people make the decisions lives of innocent people.Rajendra
Boston 06 Oct, 2009 02:35 AM
Good job by Mr. Akhtar. These Panchayat people should learn to behave
more responsibly.Sanjana Blore 06 Oct, 2009 03:25 AM
Guess this is something our Judges need to be reading for not
supporting Justice rather being baiased.CoolStuff Delhi 06 Oct, 2009
04:30 AMGreat job! Same way we need punish dirty politicians as
well...Umesh USA 06 Oct, 2009 06:12 AM
That is what happens when you don't have redress to your grivences.
Indian government and politicians need to wake up - they are cheating
Indian people for so long and Indian people are running out of
patience. Before people take law in hand for speedy settlement and it
becomes wild west, Indian courts need to hand out speedy
justice.Sharad US 06 Oct, 2009 06:26 AM
The panchas deserved to die. Who gave them the right to punish a
family with an evidence thats so flaky and how come when time comes to
make the family get even by just some punishment to the perpetrators
they step back. This is just a clear case of victimising one family
and though killing in righteous civil society is bad, in this case, I
would say it was the best choice. The art of living in a community is
something we all think is leanrt naturally. We focus on learning
english, science, maths. Nagrik shartra and laws of living in the
society and rights in the society and duties of the society to its
members are things that need to be taught. In villages (and even in
cities) these kind of bitching keeps happening, any family needs to
lean on how to keep their weight and still be responsible. Well, that
would be a start towards creating a utopian soceity.Prashant Dhiman
USA 06 Oct, 2009 06:50 AM
What is wrong about picking a gun when nobody listens to the reason?
he did a great thing, I would have done the same in those
circumstances.shyamal Missouri, USA 06 Oct, 2009 07:23 AM
Well done. If you bring false charges, you deserve bullets. I also
think that if an innocent person is incarcerated and later the real
criminals are found, the innocent person must be compensated Rs 1
Crore for every year of incarceration from the state budget. This is a
penalty for the state government and the police authorities who got
him imprisoned. Today the person just gets a dry apology from the
state.Manoj Delhi 06 Oct, 2009 09:27 AM
I think he did the right thing to take the law on his own hands as the
panchayat's law was already denied for him. This man is innocent and
actions must be taken against 'so-called-panchs' in this case!vimal
noida 06 Oct, 2009 10:48 AM
Bravo, Kudos all words are small in front of there brave act. This is
the true definition of save owns pride. Hats of to you.Joseph Dubai 06
Oct, 2009 11:39 AM
Compliments to the Duo - Father and the daughter, when the Law does
not protect them what other choice you have ?..The panchyat system
does not function, so doesn't Indian Democracy. It is a Mafia System !
Sixty years have passed since our independence and aren't we still
convinced ? Our politicians in Delhi are sleeping and filling their
pockets ! They care a damn about you and me - the common poor guys.See
where China has gone in 60 years. They are the 3rd World Economy from
nothing. And we Indians ? We talk about 10% growth but where is it
reflected, for the Politicians and for the rich of course ? Children
are being raped and burnt (latest moda) and the culprits behind the
political heavyweights are walking free. Where is justice, where is
the law to protect you,me our defenceless children and where are the
bloody netas ? It is time we woke up Indians and do away with all
these useless systems and traitors of the country. We fought for
freedom from British and our leaders died in vain. At least we were
not that bad under the foreigh rule I guess ! India needs a Hitler -
one man one rule. If you don't deliver you perish. Even dictatorship
is bad, but at least we would have punished those bastards and brought
them to book. With this system at least 60 years hence, we will have
advanced much more. Otherwise with the present system of governance we
will see other nations passiing by us, injustice will prevail in walks
of life and our own government will walk on us as it is happening.
Will I say "jai ho" or "Jai no?"
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5091724.cms
3 Indian-origin men in UK jailed for raping kin
PTI, Oct 18, 2009, 01.20am IST
Article Comments (3)
LONDON: Three Indian-origin men, residents of Cardiff, who repeatedly
raped a woman in their family for several years have been convicted
and sentenced to long years in prison.
The three persons sentenced by the Cardiff Crown Court are the 27-year-
old victim's step-father, step-uncle and brother-in-law. The step-
uncle and step-father are illegal immigrants, and will deported at the
end of their sentences.
The 55-year-old step-uncle, and 50-year-old step-father were jailed
with minimum recommended terms of 20 and 15 years respectively, while
her 27-year-old brother-in-law was jailed for 12 years.
The step-uncle admitted before the court that he was the father of the
child conceived when the victim was 14 years old. He was convicted of
seven counts of rape, three of indecency with a child, and one of
indecent assault.
During the hearing, the court was told that the victim's ordeal began
at the age of five when she was raped by her step-uncle. She became
pregnant at 14, but was locked in a wardrobe so that visitors would
not see her condition.
Prosecuting lawyer Marion Lewis told: "The girl was already seven
months pregnant when she first saw a doctor about her condition. When
the baby was born, the girl's parents told friends and neighbours it
was their own, before flying their daughter to India for an arranged
marriage."
Judge Patrick Curran told the step-uncle: "Not content with your own
sexual abuse on her, you encouraged the others to treat her like an
unpaid and unwilling prostitute. You all then involved yourselves in a
group rape on her."
The judge said the continued presence of the two older men in the UK
was "detrimental to public interest."
The prosecuting lawyer said the girl was frightened and also believed
her mother knew what was going on.
"When aged 14 and still a pupil at school, her stomach was expanding
and a scan revealed she was seven months pregnant," Lewis said.
"Her mother beat her all over her body apart from the face with a
curtain pole. She was hidden, sometimes in a wardrobe and visitors
were told she'd gone back to India."
The victim later told the jury that her mother beat her when it was
found out that she was seven months pregnant. She said her mother had
not believed her when she had tried to tell her that she was pregnant
by a member of her own family.
"When she went to the doctors, checked me out, she realised I was
seven months pregnant, she still didn't believe me. She hit me with a
rod and stuff like that so she never believed me".
"She always said to me 'they can't do that to you, they're your
family, they can't do it' but unfortunately they did," the victim
said.
The step-uncle admitted in court he was the father of her child, but
told the jury he had not found out until much later once DNA tests
were carried out.
After the sentence was pronounced yesterday, detective inspector Chris
Mullane of South Wales Police said the victim had been "extremely
courageous" in approaching the police.
Reader's opinions (3)
Praful R Shah Houston, Texas USA 20/10/2009 at 10:55 am
What type of animals are they. They should be hanged.
uma shankar vajpeyi london 20/10/2009 at 08:47 pm
SEND THEM FOR 27 YEARS PLUS IN JAIL AT LEAST ...THIS IS AFTER THE TORY
LEADER RECENTLY INDIANS IN UK ARE LEAST PRESENT IN JAILS
Pamela Weber Quinn England United Jingdom 20/10/2009 at 10:05 pm
Thank goodness this young lady had the courage and support from her
fellow Britains to report this dreadful crime. I think her mother
should have also received a custodial sentance, for beating her
daughter abusing her. The trauma this young lady has endured will be
with her for a very long time. I know she will recieve help and I wish
her all the best from hence forth.
NRI held for raping minor daughter in Punjab
IANS, Mar 28, 2009, 09.32pm IST
JALANDHAR: In a third shocking case of its kind in the country in the
last two weeks, an NRI father was arrested by the Punjab police on
Saturday for allegedly raping his 13-year-old daughter.
A medical examination has confirmed the rape of the minor who lives in
a village in Phillaur town, 40 km from here.
Surinder Singh, who works in Dubai and has three children, was
arrested following a complaint by the victim and her mother. The
victim, the eldest among her siblings, later recorded her statement
before a magistrate, accusing her father of raping her.
Police officials said the father raped his daughter on Thursday night
in an inebriated state. He had come to his village on annual leave.
Earlier this week, a 20-year-old girl from Ajnala town near Amritsar
complained to the police that her father, who is a Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) leader, had raped her for the last eight years.
The father, Ashok Taneja, was arrested by the police after registering
a rape case against him.
Last week, the Mumbai police arrested a 49-year-old businessman who
allegedly raped his daughter for over nine years on the advice of a
black magic practitioner to get "rich quickly".
Reader's opinions (1)
mohammed waseem uae 29/03/2009 at 01:47 pm
i have no words.no need to show in public this kind os cases.just take
them in silent place and encounter to all.
AMRITSAR: Emboldened by the story of the Mumbai sisters who went
public against their rapist father, a 21-year-old college student in
Amritsar has gone to the police with her own horror story about her
father, a local BJP leader, who she accused of raping her for eight
years.
The man, arrested on Wednesday night, was on Thursday sent to 14-day
judicial custody. Police booked the accused, also a well-off
businessman, under section 376 (rape) of IPC. Medical examination of
the girl confirmed sexual abuse.
A student of Guru Nanak Dev University, the ravaged girl drew courage
from the Mumbai victims and spoke of her trauma to relatives from her
mother's family. They then took her mother into confidence.
"I want this man to be put behind bars or shot," the girl said, crying
bitterly. "My father, for that's what I have to call him, has crossed
all limits of human behaviour. He started sexually abusing me since
childhood. Whenever I resisted or refused to bow down to his wishes,
he would threaten to burn me with acid or kerosene."
Wiping tears with her black dupatta wrapped around her face, she said,
"I told my mother that if they (Mumbai victims) can, so can I. All my
relatives have supported me in this. After all, it can't get more
sinful than this, can it?"
The traumatised mother said, "My husband would always find a pretext
to send me away so he could be alone with our daughter. He never
allowed both of us to leave home together. In fact, I am forced to say
that my husband had physical relations with other girls in the family
as well."
The accused, who complained of failing health and admitted himself to
a hospital, in his defence, labelled his daughter and wife
"degenerates with bad character.
"My daughter had good character till two years ago but ever since she
joined university she fell in bad company and got full support of my
wife. They just want me sorted out because they're after my property,"
he said, his face covered by the blanket on his hospital bed. "I am
hurt at the allegation. I would not have minded had they blamed me for
beating them but this is something I cannot do in my wildest dreams."
BJP spokesperson Som Dutt Sharma blamed the Congress for defaming them
"during election time."
"To make matters worse for the victim, the whole family, including her
younger brother, slept in the same room. Day in and day out the girl
would have her rapist by her side, she said. Can you imagine that?"
said a neighbour.
Another rapist dad exposed, this time in Amritsar
Article Comments 68
Praveen Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 10:52 AM
If the Girl is saying true then kill these kind of persons is the good
judgement for this case.Swapnil Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 10:59 AM
Party with difference. It certainly has different stance on
incest.Manoj Delhi 26 Mar, 2009 11:01 AM
Shame on you TOI. This is a pathetic attempt from you to please your
masters in Congress. Where did BJP figure in all this? Were his deeds
known to the world so that BJP could sense that this is what he was
doing to his daughter? He is a normal criminal and should be treated
as such. Somebody occupying a block level position in BJP is being
highlighted by you as if the whole BJP is involved in this crime.
Journalism at its worst... selective sensationalization is the worst
kind of yellow journalism that can be perpetuated. Seems, in this
election not only political parties, even media is going to scale new
depths of irresponsible journalism. Dare you to publish this
comment.shakti singh chundawat bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 11:06 AM
incest is in vogue! :-)Ram Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 11:08 AM
An individual person is doing rape and why is the news dragging his
party here. DO you want to communicate that BJP leaders are like this
raping their daughters? Please communicate responsibly as it is one of
the core principles of journalism. The title is misleading and
irresponsible.hashimi chennai 26 Mar, 2009 11:09 AM
india has become the incest capital of world... shame..!!San Delhi 26
Mar, 2009 11:18 AM
What is the cause for all these nuisances happening these days. We are
so detoriating that In some cases Father(s) are raping these own
daughters ??? Hell or worst than Hell... Who is to blame ??? Do not
you think TOI or so called Media, Films, TV Serials are not
responsibile for instigating or provoking our Lust... Whenever you
open any site (even News Sites like TOI), so many articles to boost
your SEX life or blah, blah... you find on screen. What is all these,
We want to know the news of world. Not how to enjoy our sex or boost
our sex. Are you (TOI) a sex boosting magzine or a nice newspaper.
Shame on you.. Kindly think judiciously and act accordingly. Do not
sell sex just to Be No 1. Peter Vaz Oman 26 Mar, 2009 11:24 AM
Shame after fame is disgusting and the sermons of these top leaders
must by exposed to a great lengths beyond borders by TOI.Are these
people barbarians or monsters of the stone age? SC must create a
stringent laws or life imprisonment or stoned to death by the public
for these cases. Nupur Pune 26 Mar, 2009 11:33 AM
Now is this Indian Culture?? Are these men out of their minds!! Dont
they have any conscience!! 8 years, 9 years...its disgusting!! We go
aorund telling the world that we are a culturally rich country...and
we have cases in Mangalore where men are hitting women..n now this!!
Totally horrifyingsabir bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 11:34 AM
Whats happening, what is moral policing doing now. Is this the
religion teaches. Come-on wake up. Come-on learn the basics of family.
a n k | t az, usa 26 Mar, 2009 11:35 AM
Its a DISGRACE, I am totally DISGUSTED!!!! We Indians speak highly of
our family and cultural values and this just goes to shows how
misinformed and clueless we are. Its a shame. bloreboy bangalore 26
Mar, 2009 11:40 AM
where was the mother all the while...she was a passive participant in
this crime & needs to get her share of the punishment.. also...these
stories if exploited for 8 years are coming up now...why not 8 years
back...the victim needs to provide proper details as to why they were
party to the game till nowRam Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 11:40 AM
The title needs to be changed immediately. Do not name the political
party the person is affiliated to. The political party is not
preaching the person to do rape his daughter. What is the neccessity
of this news in the front page. Please act responsible.Harshal India
26 Mar, 2009 11:45 AM
This can be congress conspiracy as its just Election time, Election
commisioner should take a note of this.Ram Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009
11:48 AM
Are the COngressmen raping their mothers ? WHy drag the party's name
when an Individual is doing a criminal act. IRRESPONSIBLE reporting.
STOP THIS NEWS channel first.Naresh Dhiman Kuwait 26 Mar, 2009 11:51
AM
He and other such fathers should be punished with extreme limits so
that this becomes a examplary punishment which will deter others from
commiting such crime.Sasi Muscat 26 Mar, 2009 11:54 AM
Its disparagement!!!!!!!!! The civic should be heedful. This is
utterly deplorable.Nirmal Jain Bhopal 26 Mar, 2009 11:55 AM
Shame on these people, who talk of sanskars to others claiming
themselves as the sole preserver of Indian Sanskriti (Culture), by
vandalising pubs and terrorising the lovers on Valentine's Day. Will
not be surprised if he is also supported as Varun Gandhi was for his
wrongdoings.Vishal D'Souza Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 11:58 AM
Each & every small incidents of BJP leaders are highlighted on
National Media, but it's a great achivement by the BJP to win
elections even after all media houses are writing against them. Really
BJP a great performer, shame on media which is tarnishing natinal
partiotic party BJP's image in each & every aspect. But BJP's
popularity growing day by day throughout the country.Vishal D'Souza
Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 12:00 PM
Each & every small incidents of BJP leaders are highlighted on
National Media, but it's a great achievement by the BJP to win
elections even after all media houses are writing against them. Really
BJP a great performer, shame on media which is tarnishing national
patriotic party BJP's image in each & every aspect. But BJP's
popularity growing day by day throughout the country.Vaibhav S Pune 26
Mar, 2009 12:00 PM
Sick....Anonym Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 12:01 PM
I do not think BJP endorses this too as part of their agenda like you
people say BJP endorses communal or whatever. This is a criminal case
and should not be related to any political party while referring. The
headline is quite flashy and diverged. Nikesh Kumar Shukla Delhi 26
Mar, 2009 12:02 PM
Yes!!! This is only possible in the BJP the party with the difference.
They are so called and self declared custodian of Indian culture and
the hinduism.Bindu Bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 12:07 PM
It is absolutely revolting to read these stories, which one gets to
read too often now a days. Where is the world headed to; why is it
that the daughters are not being spared by their own fathers; where
will they find comfort and safety if not their own homes? At least one
positive aspect is that the girl had the courage to come out in the
open - women/girls have to raise their voices...so much that the
judiciary takes some strict measures against such dastardly
crimes.Rammy Sydney, Australia 26 Mar, 2009 12:10 PM
Amazing what the other readers are saying: the girl has to prove why
she kept silent? Why bring up the political party the member is
associated with? Must be election ploy? Simply amazing! Its takes a
great amount of courage to report rape, let alone incest. That is even
more so in a country like India. What will happen to this girl? Who
will marry her? Despite all these she still had the courage to tell
her relatives and all we can give her is suspicion and disdain. Where
are our morals and compassion? We should be ashamed to treat this news
this way!Riz Sydney 26 Mar, 2009 12:11 PM
funny, TOI is pro-BJP ; pls dont be mislead..SRG Mumbai 26 Mar, 2009
12:12 PM
Can't expect better from a BJP leader! All of them are either rapist
or provoke rape and murder!KRRamesh Chennai 26 Mar, 2009 12:13 PM
All this cultural damage is happening in India after the Invaders
occupied Indian Land and dominating with the Political clout. Original
Indians are now suffering! The foreign elements to be thrown out of
Our Country!ckg bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 12:15 PM
If there is anything which can be called as National Shame then it is
such news which make us hang our head. Earlier we used to eulogise our
family culture and tradition and criticise the western about there
nuclear mind, when i read such stories i feel that we are no better in
our moral degradation than others. As far as naming a political party,
it is true that one single person can not be equated with the party as
a whole, but it is necessary for the party involved to immediately
initiate action and come clean. Indian USA 26 Mar, 2009 12:17 PM
Everybody has got something to do in their day to day life. Does that
mean whatever he/she will do in their personal life will be the
resposibility of the organization he/she i working for? I am a
congress supporter but ,where is BJP involved in this shameful
incident and what they are suppsed to do in this case? Sivaram S
Pondicherry 26 Mar, 2009 12:19 PM
In continuum to the comment from manoj, delhi :: Mr. Manoj - what do
you mean by he is a normal criminal ? and you seem more bothered about
the mentioning of the party than the degree of crime involved.
However, I agree that such articles should not be featured on the
first page as it would corrupt innocent minds (if any). Though am an
atheist, I hate it when such fellows (the accused) blame it on
astrology or religion.G S wagle bangalore 26 Mar, 2009 12:22 PM
It looks like there is a well knitted propaganda to show BJP in poor
light. No need to say that all in congresswallahs are "Mahatmas".
Poeple have not forgotten the infamous Tandoori Murder episode in the
heart of the capital of the country.All the electronic media now a
days showing nothing but BJP Hatred.Is there an end for this?I find
the journalism at its worst.meeran singh ahluwal Patiala 26 Mar, 2009
12:22 PM
why you are taking only one instance of BJP leader raping his own
daughter, almost 65% of BJP leaders and workers are regularly doing
this insane thing since years but so far no one of them has been
arrested why coz of politicalconnections as every body is aware
of..the govt and public should bring this to show the world thier
cheap and vulgar mentality and they claim to rule the nation.....ha !
ha ! aks USA 26 Mar, 2009 10:16 PM
Thats very sickening to say the least. If daughters are not protected
by their own fathers who else will. Where does it leave the poor girl?
Why is the mother quiet on this? Castrate all this people who cannot
control their urges..Rape is a beastly act and that too on their own
daughter..man this guy must be sick and insane and should be treated
and put behind bars and asked to work for social welfare organisation
or home for the aged but do not leave this man on the roads for God's
sake. As it is there are so many criminals in many disguises roaming
around and we can ill afford another.vishwas india 27 Mar, 2009 12:37
AM
this is nothing but a propaganda againstt BJP, earlier it was Ramsene,
then Varun and now this case which has nothing to do with BJP. voters
should not be misled with such news.Vishal Agrawal Mumbai 27 Mar, 2009
12:48 AM
It is really sad that girls are treated so badly in our country. More
girls should come out to these victims. India needs a women revolution
but of course not legally like reservation etc because that would only
empower them to do injustice. Something like misuse of dowry act by
girls. India is in a very interesting times.Salim usa 27 Mar, 2009
01:06 AM
Hang Him nowLucas Podolski Chennai 27 Mar, 2009 01:06 AMTOI has just
put a word mentioning BJP. Instead of talking about the main topic,
most of you are talking about TOI or politics. This only shows the
narrow mindedness of most of our people.Tally World 27 Mar, 2009 01:08
AM
Sad to see that people are more worried about BJP rather than the
girl. Are you all out of your minds ? A young girl has been physically
tortured by her own father for years. Think about what she must be
going through. These kind of crimes go beyond party lines, castes and
nationalities. Go look up human rights and dignity in a dictionary.Raj
Delhi 27 Mar, 2009 01:09 AM
The act is reprehensible and the man deserves a severe punishment.
However, I think the act is completely personal and BJP should not be
dragged into it. At the same time, if BJP were smart, it would
immediately issue their own condemnation of the act. That they have
not done so shows how poor the party's PR is. I am a Congress
supporter (simply because it seems to offer better leaders and it
doesn't invoke the Hindutva message again and again). But I am a
bigger believer in democracy and for any democracy to function, we
need more than one competitive party at the national level. BJP has
failed miserably in being that party (more so post Mahajan-Vajpayee
era). I sure hope they get their act together and offer us a thriving
alternative to the Congress. Somnath New York 27 Mar, 2009 01:17 AM
Why doesnot TOI ever print the Accused side of the story? TOI should
start making another section for Rapist dads, women's newspaper,
domestic abuse. The media, people, laws every one beleives women are
innocent in this world and men are the only culprits, in fact women
drive men to do the crime.Emanuel D. Samuel Toronto, On. Canada 27
Mar, 2009 01:29 AM
Child molestation is a common phenomenon all over the world. The weak
preyed on by the strong; betrayal of trust; misplaced affection. In my
experience, it is a sickness based on a deviant love and will not stop
regardless. The main reason is the closeness of the parties and the
high percentage probability it will never be exposed. It is not
considered wicked, immoral, rather rationalized by the existence of an
immense, albeit misplaced, love.Dinkar London 27 Mar, 2009 01:37 AM
what's wrong with this world? An Indian London 27 Mar, 2009 02:04 AM
My heart goes out to this young girl and the other victims in her
family . As a nation we should support her , applaud her incredible
courage for speaking out , give her and the other victims all the
support we can and make sure the monster who perpetrated these crimes
is brought to justice . Anyone who seeks to support this monster who
dares to call himself a '' father '' on this site or any other form of
media should be condemned by right minded viewers . This is a horific
crime that deserves punishment of the stiffest kind although no
punishment would ever be enough for what this man has done . Amit
California 27 Mar, 2009 02:04 AM
As sad as the story is, I am glad that women are finally speaking up
about the abuses that they have to live with. Bravo for getting this
matter out. I share the daughters sentiment that this rapist should be
either jailed or shot. Also, Dear Editor, it is laudable that you are
printing these stories, I would however be wary or partisan politics.
In my opinion, it was completely unnecessary to state the rapists
Party Allegiance - this will only help more with vote-bank
politics...just my 2 cents..Rajkumar Patil Toronto 27 Mar, 2009 02:05
AM
What the hell you guys are talking about? A monster father raped her
daughter for a decade, and instead of pressuring the govt for harsh
punishment for such crimes, you people are takling and playing
polytics here. If allowed and encouraged, many thousands of such
victims will come forward, who were pressured and threatened by their
own family members for years. Such criminals do not belong to any
religion, party or country. They do that hinious crime with all their
conscious and do it repeatedly, to those who are most weak and
vulnerable elements of the society:the children. I hate the so called
Sharia law, but when i read such stories, i really feel that these
criminlas should be treated and punished unhumanly;Jatin London 27
Mar, 2009 02:06 AM
I am shocked after this news in India we are finding new ones
everyday, our law should set very tight punishment for this kind of
crime so it can be a learning lesson for all Fritzl's growing in India
& anywhere in the world, Its shame we have got 2 of same kind in our
own country. Its a shame people are still talking this as Congree v/s
BJP war guys please grow up and is this what we are going to leave for
our future generations....Pls all should get together and do sumthing
about victims and help them in every way to restabilise thier life, if
they are not safe in their own houses then we can forget about
everything else..We need to first look at the core of the problems why
are people turning to their daughters as a sex object and I would say
their other family members are equally responsible for this crime who
knew about it.Jasbir Singh Sydney 27 Mar, 2009 02:10 AM
It is a normal Indian psyche, everything they do have link with
politics. Criminals can use any platform. Shankaracharia was charged,
many swamis went to jail, things happened in Aasa Ram's Ashram, Many
Mullahs or Granthis were also found engaging in immoral activities.
The real thing is getting corruption out of Police and court so that
people feel free to approach them. A website should be started where
anyone can list their problems and seek help. Pedophiles are using
everything in India including SMS, internet etc but they are going
undetected.Prasad Gowda London 27 Mar, 2009 02:17 AM
Dear editor, I am ashamed by the way your reporter has reported this
incident. There is no need to mention ones political inclination to
their personal life and the sins commited at a personal level. I am
sure a corrupt politician is as bad as this sinful man and surely you
can find many in every political party in the country!RK B'lore 27
Mar, 2009 02:27 AM
This is rediculos. There is not much to do with BJP in this case.
There are lots of MLA/MPs are horrible things including raping kids of
things. This is the part of thier culture. You go and investigate the
poltical leaders, you will find much more worst than these. There
stupid ppl here they just go on BJP. I would say, only BJP will do
better govt in the current situation for India. Rest all the parties
are hopelessinderjit U.S.A. 27 Mar, 2009 02:27 AM
Per story, the father is a FAMOUS LEADER, the obvious question will be
of what PARTY, so,the media was bound to name the party,same is with
VARUN GANDHI, he shot the lime light because of BJP, otherwise such
speeches of communal hatred are the ORDER OF THE DAY in India and WHO
CARES without the name of the party. This incident should be condemned
by all including sitting MP from Amritsar who belongs to BJP. Margo
Russia 27 Mar, 2009 02:43 AM
The burning question is MENTALITY and it has nothing to do with any
political party. Lack of openess leads to crime. In school teachers
should explain about child abuse and how kids should react. Education!
Education! Education!Thats sad .... Switzerland 27 Mar, 2009 03:04 AM
Small girls being raped by their fathers uncles or grandfathers. Its
happening since ages and its very hard to control. Small girls are
afraid to come out in public and make noise. Mothers wants to keep
their family name.. In India its happening more then we think. Shame
on you all.ae india 27 Mar, 2009 03:05 AM
It seems Indian culture died long back. What a pity thing happening in
our society. Where is human rights group? parents should see that no
tears in his /her daughter. It is very urgent for the govt to form
commission to take the task. where is relation, what relation. now
everything is dissappearing .It is difficult to express anything about
this ghastly incidents.Vikram Bangalore 27 Mar, 2009 03:23 AM
India should become the first country to award death sentence for
raping minors.Raghu Prabhu melbourne 27 Mar, 2009 03:25 AMKeep
politics out of it. Let the police do their job with out any
interference. If the man has done the worng thing, let him be tried in
the proper manner. Does not matter if he is BJP or
Congress.P.M.G.,pillai Mannar, AllaPUZHA KERALA 27 Mar, 2009 03:43 AM
Because no one care for any basic ethic principles.Male memebers in
home must maintain a distance between thefemale members to prevent
these unwanted relations being developed unknowningly.Code of
behaviour for homes also is very essential to maintain proper
relationship. Original Indian India 27 Mar, 2009 03:43 AM
This is no lies, as it were a lie this man would have not complained
of chest pains. Chest pain complaints are only made by the guilty who
know its imminent of them going to jail. This man is a monster and a
threat to public safety, imagine how could someone ever do this to a
minor and keep doing it. He will surely rot in hell but the big
question is will he rot in life or get away with it? This is indeed a
rarestr of rare cases and the punishment should be rare and extreme;
Gallows or bullet (his daughter or should I say victims wish).on the
fence canada 27 Mar, 2009 04:05 AM
Well I truly sympathize with the girl and accused should be hanged to
death if proven so....but we should also spare a thought that the
accused could well be a victim of conspiracy till it is not proved.
This girl and mother may not be getting along well with this
man....could be family dispute or whatever and they could have got a
perfect plot from Mumbai event to settle the score with him....in
India, we seem to take woman's word over man pretty easily....this
social attitude can easily be exploited by some. Just a thought. Umesh
Korea 27 Mar, 2009 04:08 AM
For last few times these type of news are becoming common in developed
cities like mumbai etc....But I heard same news earlier many times
from Punjab only.......Even in 1999 I heard such type of case first
time the place was Punjab & I was shocked even I did not believe for
sometime..but the truth...Ranjan Singh Noida 27 Mar, 2009 04:16 AM
I hope this is one of the rarest incident ever heard. I am also of the
opinion that it haas nothing to do with the party but then why every
time BJP leadres blames other's for such incidents.. Take on the
example of Mr Varun Gandhi..Who other than Varun would have courage
and guts to challenge that whatever that is being shown on news
channels have been docotred..Insane...the party stand by him. Isn't
that shows the kind of ideology these political parties have...I think
these incidents are coming in otice at the right time because you know
whom you are choosing for next 5 years...atleast you know the one you
have voted for is a rapist who raped his own daughter so atleast you
need to take extra care for your relatives..nick sharma melbourne 27
Mar, 2009 04:30 AM
Everyone over here is think from political aspect. And nearly 70%of
the messages are related to politics. what about that girl who has
been in great pain bcoz of this in human behaviors. Think like a human
being not like insane. J.S. North America 27 Mar, 2009 04:47 AM
Hold your breath mothers of India, there are more rapist fathers
hiding under a screen of pretense of being good fathers. There is a
need for mothers to talk and discuss confidential matters with their
daughters. Do not be afraid to ask if their Dads have made seductive
approaches or even rape them. Do not say it cannot happen to my
daughter and do not blame your daughter if such an incident happen. It
is all the fathers' fault and lack of disrespcet. India I believe, has
become the rape capital of the world. It is a shame to learn that
another father who should have known better raped his daughter for 8
years. There are a lot more incidents in India, which have not been
exposed because mothers and daughters depend on fathers to take care
of them. I storngly urge the government to set up shelters to take of
abused women and children. So much young lives are being destroyed and
so much of innocense and purity are being lost. People who commit such
crimes against the young should be severely punished. ABC Mumbai 27
Mar, 2009 07:28 AM
Related to this incident, I want to express one incident happened. To
one girl (my relative girl) after her marriage, her father in-law
asked her husband (ie his son) to go abroad soon after marriage. After
he (son) went abroad, one day (that time her mother-in law went to
market)that father-in-law asked her to obey for him. When she denied,
suddenly he removed her dress and touched her private part of the body
and told her that he arranged marriage for his son with her, only for
he liked her and loved her. she shouted and cried. Finally he left and
told her, "if you tell this to my son or to my wife, I will separate
you from my son. My son believe whatever I tell him". After that he
did not allow any of her relatives to talk with her in person (its
like house arrest). After one year, his son (that girls husband) came
from gulf country. The girl told all this incident to him. He was
shocked and he did not take any action. Just asked her a promise not
to tell this to anybody. Because all their property is in his fathers
name. If he go aganist his father, he may not give any property to
him. In India many girls are suffering like this. God only can save
the pity girls...... KS INDIA 27 Mar, 2009 08:23 AM
Now the man has become like an animal. Because of these few animal
men, the whole men will be looked with doubt. THEY SHOULD BE BOOKED,
TRIED IN A COURT OF LAW AND PUNISHED VERY FAST AND NOT TAKING EVEN FEW
MONTHS. What a shame to the country?A Ray Burdwan, WB 27 Mar, 2009
08:29 AM
Such incidents give us a glimpse as to how many other weak-willed
humans are hiding. And even worse, there are definitely some mothers,
too, who rape their sons and are under cover. The latter are very
rarely exposed because of the inability of the man to speak out. Men
can never be accepted in society as victims to women. Just imagine
their dolour.Abdullah Malaysia 27 Mar, 2009 09:10 AM
The role of mother is very crucial in preventing this kind of
incidents. After a certain age, mother should keep their daugthers
away from unwanted mingling with males.madhulika hyderabad 27 Mar,
2009 09:50 AM
This is the most heinous act did by a father.It is really shameful
that these types of father do exist in our society...............There
is not a single place on earth which is really safe for girls untill
unless they will come out on their own and onus the responsibility of
themselves and their siblings.This is the only possible solution of
this great ever existing problem..........So girls come out of your
limitations and bondages and be ready to make this world feel that
girls are really capable and competent enough to face all these
problems.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/4317364.cms
Businessman raped daughter for 9 years
Sandhya Nair , TNN, Mar 20, 2009, 02.34am IST
Article Comments (179)
MUMBAI: The sprawling township of Mira Road on the outskirts of the
metropolis woke up to the bizarre news of the arrest of a businessman
for allegedly raping his daughter over nine years, drawing macabre
parallels with Joseph Fritzl of Austria who raped his daughter over 24
years.
Ashok Chore (name changed), aged 60, was arrested by the Mira Road
police on Wednesday night from his apartment for sexually abusing his
daughter over nine years on the advice of a `tantrik' who promised
that doing so would make him prosperous.
Arrested along with Chore was the tantrik, Hasmukh Rathod (60), who
posed as an astrologer, and Chore's 47-year-old wife, who has been
charged with abetting the heinous crime. The three were remanded to
two-day police custody by the Thane sessions court on Thursday whereas
the cops had sought a 14-day remand.
The traumatised girl, now 21, had been silent about her ordeal all
these years but mustered the courage to approach the police after her
father, she alleged, attempted to rape her 15-year-old younger sister
on the advice of the same tantrik.
The elder sister, who works for a private firm in Mumbai, had become
the target of sexual abuse at the age of 12 'when Rathod had advised
Chore to have sex with her in order to prosper. Chore and Rathod were
neighbours in Vile Parle. The maternal uncle of the young girls, who
helped them lodge a complaint, said his sister had been brainwashed by
Rathod.
Chore first sexually abused his elder daughter in 2000 when his
interior designing business failed. According to police, Chore used to
undress his daughter in front of his wife and have sex with her.
The fact that his business did not flourish did not prevent Chore from
continuing with his depraved act. Rathod apparently had great
influence on the Chores. He had, in 2002, managed to get the couple's
consent for sex with the elder daughter.
Chore is believed to have borrowed large amounts of money for his
business. Last November, when Chore once again confided in Rathod
about his failing business, he was advised to have sex with his
younger daughter, a class 10th student. The couple is believed to have
even taken her to Rathod's Vile Parle home for sexual encounters to
avoid the elder daughter's wrath. But when the elder daughter learnt
about it last week, she told her maternal uncle. Both the girls are
currently with their maternal uncle and grandmother.
Chore's advocate Edgar Braganza alleged that his clients were being
framed by the two siblings. ``The elder of the two daughters has
complained that she was threatened and sexually exploited by her
parents and Rathod since 2000. This girl is 21 and till date there has
been no complaint or resistance by her. Is it possible for a father to
rape a daughter for nine years and live under the same roof? Where is
the question of medical examination of the accused since it's not a
recent incident?'' Braganza argued in the court.
The police told the court that they would require a 14-day remand as
there is a possibility that the accused may be connected to a gang
involved in prostitution. (With inputs from Nitin Yeshwantrao)
Dev Kumar Dutta Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 11:37 AM
Why're you hiding the bastard's name? Publish his picture and name
ASAP...we want to see him gaurav mubai 19 Mar, 2009 11:42 AM
This is psycho cause, people doing and thinking like this are mentally
ill. The main cause of this type scenario is arisen due to illegal
porn sites and movies which not make us mentally ill but also produce
adverse effect on our social life gaurav mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 11:43 AM
This is psycho cause, people doing and thinking like this are mentally
ill. The main cause of this type scenario is arisen due to illegal
porn sites and movies which not make us mentally ill but also produce
adverse effect on our social life vaidya pune 19 Mar, 2009 11:44 AM
kill them in public...sudhir Ahmedabad 19 Mar, 2009 11:44 AM
It would be of interest to see the opinion of the self appinted
protectors of Hinduism know about the Tantrik. Would they oppose it or
would their blind love for anything remotely hindu make them shy away
from even uttering a few words against such incidents.pramod nagpur 19
Mar, 2009 11:45 AM
aise father ko zinda rahne ka koi adhikar nahi hai aur jo 'tantrik'
aise suggestions deta ho use to beech churahe par zinda jala dena
chahiye.Mehrunnisa Farooq Qatar 19 Mar, 2009 11:48 AM
Is our Indian Culture Slowly dying ? Betiyan to baap ki Izzat thi, aab
baap hi izzat se khilwad kare. This is the worst of human crimes, on
daughters fathered by himself, the parents should be punished
severly.ilyas bharuch 19 Mar, 2009 11:49 AM
Just kill this bastered in publicS W Kamath Secunderabad 19 Mar, 2009
11:54 AM
These type of cases should not be considered as isolated ones
involving depraved individuals, if we really hope to think of India as
a modern nation in the 21st century. Why can't we have the will, at
least in such cases, for demanding the death penalty for the rapist.
Imagine if this is the scenario in Mumbai, one shudders to think of
what would be happening in rural areas. Mr.Rationality USA 19 Mar,
2009 11:55 AM
If the tantrik would have told the father to parade his daughters in
the nude, he would have done that too!. That is why I always say
"DON'T FOLLOW ANY GURUS" AS 99% OF THEM ARE FAKE!Aks USA 19 Mar, 2009
11:56 AM
Stupid belief. These may be an excuse for that fellow also, who knows.
Really some of the absurd stories are slowly coming out due to media
coverage etc. Put them all the accused behind the bars for lifetime
without parole or leninency including the 'tantrik'. Shruti Ggn 19
Mar, 2009 11:59 AM
What a shame!!! These people should be hanged.Mark India 19 Mar, 2009
12:02 PM
He should be hanged to death..this is devil's job,there could be
several such cases in India,but going undercover...due to fear of
shame and disjust.puvathi pukuvathi ksa 19 Mar, 2009 12:04 PM
send this bastard also to Austria,his very own elder brother
JosefFritzl it seems both has come out from the same tunnel, shoot
them from guns from point blank range so that thier parts get blown
out , send them to the gallows,they will spoil the younger
generation ...... or dont publish such reports please!!!!!!Anuj U.P 19
Mar, 2009 12:05 PM
what a shame.... these animals should be hanged to death in public ..
they defy all morals that any society is biult on... if girls aren't
safe in thier own homes.. where else will they be safe. ?J.Mukund
Hyderabad. 19 Mar, 2009 12:07 PMSuch type of persons should be given
capital punishment. Hang them untill death.naro delhi 19 Mar, 2009
12:09 PM
This extremely appalling behaviour is surely comparable to the hedious
josep fritzl crime,send them,both husband & wife to life
imprisonment.No sane person would have an incestuous relationship
wether at the advice of a 'tantrik'or not.It defies nature and only
extremely sick minded people would resort to this kind of behaviour.I
do hope that the courts will mete out the same punishment to both
husband/wife duo as she is equally gulity of abatting this heinous
crime against her daughters.Deb Kolkata 19 Mar, 2009 12:11 PM
This types of most hatred crimes are increasing every day and it can
break the social bonding and trust and thus can result in complete
failure of a state very soon. These filthy criminals should be
punished in a way that others do not dare to think about these in
future.harees dubai 19 Mar, 2009 12:12 PM
i wonder why didnt u guys put the names of the parents n the
tantrikAsh USA 19 Mar, 2009 12:22 PM
This so sick, as bad as it can get. How can a parent do this to his
own flesh and blood just for the sake of money. He should get life in
prison.RK India 19 Mar, 2009 12:22 PMPlease Plublicly trash this
bastard and kill him...Thameem Nairobi 19 Mar, 2009 12:23 PM
Why still we are believing the astrology? If you want to get rid off
your problems, work hard and pray to god. Not to individuals like Sai
Baba, these are thieves, we are living in 21st century, they are just
spiritual guys they can't do anything. can they live for ever? why we
need to trust them? Stop. Believe yourself. Jyoti Sunnyvale, CA 19
Mar, 2009 12:25 PM
How disgusting! We need to spread more awareness among young children
in schools about matters such as incest. Maybe each school can have a
special cell which helps students who face such problems in their own
homes and escalates the case to the police if necessary.Theresa Dubai
19 Mar, 2009 12:25 PM
I was traumatized this last few days hearing the details of incest
case in Austria. Hearing of a similar story in my own city really
makes me sad. I'm sure there are many more cases which are not
reported due to social stigma. I pray that reading about these stories
other kids will break their silence and expose these evil deeds of
their parentsCapt. Brian Fernandez Bandra, Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 12:29
PM
This is what happens when we make wealth and money the one and only
principle in our lives!RG Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 12:30 PM
Found guilty, hang this guy..this is really bad.Kamal Gurgaon 19 Mar,
2009 12:31 PM
Totally Disgusting, This old businessman of 60 years should be hanged
for this heinous crime. Zaheer Australia 19 Mar, 2009 12:33 PM
hard to swollow..some tantrik say something and this dumbhead spoils
the whole meaning of fatherhood. its a shame that todays women has no
burrow left to hide. whom do they trust now?shabana Bangalore 19 Mar,
2009 12:33 PM
It is even more revolting and diabolic than Josef Fritzl's case.
Fritzl is diagnosed as psychotic and a pervert and he did all that in
a secret way till he was caught. Unbelievable greed and perversion is
evident in this case than just superstition.Any adjective will fall
short to explain this heinous act. Both the parents are a classic
example of inhumanity and a shame for term "parent".we can only
imagine the mental state of the child in this case whose trust and
faith in her parent as well as life is so ruthlessly breached. There
is no punishment which is enough for such a crime...capital punishment
is perhaps the easiest way out for the accused shabana Bangalore 19
Mar, 2009 12:33 PM
It is even more revolting and diabolic than Josef Fritzl's case.
Fritzl is diagnosed as psychotic and a pervert and he did all that in
a secret way till he was caught. Unbelievable greed and perversion is
evident in this case than just superstition.Any adjective will fall
short to explain this heinous act. Both the parents are a classic
example of inhumanity and a shame for term "parent".we can only
imagine the mental state of the child in this case whose trust and
faith in her parent as well as life is so ruthlessly breached. There
is no punishment which is enough for such a crime...capital punishment
is perhaps the easiest way out for the accused vicky uae 19 Mar, 2009
12:34 PM
how come he raped his own daughter .this guys hast to punished with
sex torture to them.jalaluddin palekar. UAE. 19 Mar, 2009 12:37 PM
Have islamic Laws to protect the society from such Evil acts.
Jalaluddin Palekar. UAE.mmalbari Kochi 19 Mar, 2009 12:37 PM
When there is a question of Rape and Molestation, We Indians cannot be
behindPinaki Sengupta Rishra 19 Mar, 2009 12:37 PM
A law should now be framed and exemplary punishment to be given to all
the accused so nobody will even dare to do such a crime ever.santosh
sinha beijing 19 Mar, 2009 12:38 PM
It can happen only in mumbai in Indiasaj thomas dubai 19 Mar, 2009
12:39 PM
crime against women are increasing ,,,,and there is no one to voice
against it ,,,,,,,its the poor and the oppressed who are left to the
fate... no one.. is there to raise voice where are the moral police
who raised so many issues ....about culture ,,,, i have decided not to
vote ...anyone ...who are good for nothingGaurav Delhi 19 Mar, 2009
12:40 PM
Before any thing is done to the father i want that bloody, Tantrik to
be punished. And also the father must be given as harsh punishment as
any one could ever getKobita Bangalore 19 Mar, 2009 12:44 PM
How disgusting can one get. Really pains me to note the extent one can
go to gain wealth. The culprits should be punished appropriately.Avi
Australia 19 Mar, 2009 12:45 PM
Highly obnoxious act. Shame on such dads.ajaz bangalore 19 Mar, 2009
12:47 PM
This is totally inhuman the father and the tantrik should be burnt
alive ...............it is totally inhuman JJJJJ Pak 19 Mar, 2009
12:48 PM
This is what you are indians..anne India 19 Mar, 2009 12:49 PMGive him
sever punishment so that in futher no father can do this. This is
really a shame. How can a father do this to his own flesh. I request
and appeal all the girls come forwards when this things start
happenning with them.dont keep quite, it is shame, but instead of
suffering, better to complain and get rid of this devil fathers. It is
big shame when mother who support her husband.We read this all
happening in foreign country, but this thing happening India. Now no
one will come to protect this types of issues which is against our
culture.Sabeera Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 12:53 PM
This rapist dad should be hanged along with his wife. Severe
punishment should be given to both. In Mumbai all this sort of things
happens. Even many daughter in-law's are suffering from issues like
this. I am one person from Mumbai faced by father in-law (but somehow
saved myself), but my husband did not believe. Many pity girls are
living in the world. dr.anupam rajasthan 19 Mar, 2009 12:57 PM
that tantrik and father must be hang on,how anybody can even think
just for moneydr.anupam rajasthan 19 Mar, 2009 12:57 PM
that tantrik and father must be hang on,how anybody can even think
just for moneydr.anupam rajasthan 19 Mar, 2009 12:57 PM
that tantrik and father must be hang on,how anybody can even think
just for moneyshoukat firfiray NRI 19 Mar, 2009 12:57 PM
both (culprit and tantrik should be given capital punishment (hang to
death in public) for lesson to masses. There should not be any lapses
in passing the verdict from judiciary. Rajehs Chennai 19 Mar, 2009
12:58 PM
He is not a human being.....I think may be an animal..Only animals do
see such a difference in sexfaisal dhahran 19 Mar, 2009 01:01 PM
What if this is NOT true? What if the girls wanted money or something
from their parents, like to marry someone they did not like, etc? Why
are people being areested just on the word of someone without any
evidence???? If this is another case of lying, like so many are in
India, then the parents should use every legal means to sue the
government and the police.Nikit Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 01:01 PM
This sought of people humiliates our society and even the man kind,
they should be sentenced to death and especially the tantrik in
public. These guys are humiliating all of us.dr.anupam rajasthan 19
Mar, 2009 01:01 PM
that tantrik and father must be hang on,how anybody can even think
just for moneydr.anupam rajasthan 19 Mar, 2009 01:01 PM
that tantrik and father must be hang on,how anybody can even think
just for moneyRaj Chennai 19 Mar, 2009 01:05 PM
Those men should be cut downAN INDIAN Abroad 19 Mar, 2009 01:05 PMT
his person his wife and the "TANTRIK" all are animals, they should be
punished severely. Shame on him for committing such a heinous crime.
No lawyer shoudl help these people and no police officer should
support them. Shame on them for bringing disgrace on India and Indian
people.s. wadhwa new delhi 19 Mar, 2009 01:06 PM
The laws in our country need to be flexible enough to warrant instant
punishment in such heinous cases.Ramanpreet Delhi, India 19 Mar, 2009
01:09 PM
such a shame full incident. it appears we indians have lost our
cultural values which is always being cherished by others. i am so
disappoited with this factRaj USA 19 Mar, 2009 01:11 PMSick.R.KUMAR
NCR 19 Mar, 2009 01:14 PM
photographs of such crimnals should be published prominantly in the
media and then the punishment should be --hanging them upside down in
a public place till they die and their dead bodies thrown to dogs &
vultures.DONALD ALMAS DUBAI 19 Mar, 2009 01:17 PM
THE FATHER AND THE TANTRIK SHOULD BE CASTRATED AND THE MOTHER
IMPRISONED FOR LIFE.IT SURE WOULD BE THE PUNISHMENT IF THIS WOULD
HAPPEN IN SAUDI ARABIA.NOW THAT THE FATHER IS A BUSINESS MAN HE WOULD
SQUASH THE MATTER PAYING MONEY.SHAME ON THE INDIAN LAW AND ORDER AND
THE CORRUPTION INVOLVED. H K Bhargava Bangkok Thailand 19 Mar, 2009
01:18 PM
Do not bring religion into this. The Girl's Father needs to be
executed as he actually performed the crime. Tantric comes next and
also needs a VERY HARSH punishment.S.L.J.Gallyot Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009
01:19 PM
No leniency should be shown to such a pervert. The crime is worse
because it has violated the safety and security that a father brings
to his family. the tantrik is equally guilty and should face the same
life imprisonment.We have perverts masquerading as tantrics and
swamis. The Parivar has been obstructing the introduction of the
Superstitious practices bill for obvious reasonsNitin Valecha Delhi 19
Mar, 2009 01:21 PM
The case presents the levels of superstition(s) that are still
embedded in our society and the influence of it on even the educated
masses. The culprit(s)(Father & Tantrik) should be given the severest
punishment as it defames and clobbers the "Parent-child" relationship
and falls inot the "rarest of rare" category.Dr. M M Tiwari Raipur 19
Mar, 2009 01:28 PM
No words to condemn the henious crime.How can one even think such
inhuman acts that too from literate persons.Where our society is
leading to?There may be many other cases which are not reported.This
is just superstition,no Tantrik can ever do anything except befooling
persons to make his money.Exemplary punishment must be given to
Father,Mother and the Tantrik. Qaari Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 01:29 PM
The problem here is two fold. Tantrik or occultist can not be banned
because many people have faith in them. These people may feel deprived
of the gain if there is ban on practices based on supernatural powers.
All the money spent on CHANDRAYAN project is waste if the BABAS can
bring moon on palm of your hand. But the BABAS can be watched for
criminal acts. Second problem is INCEST. This can be controlled simply
if the police support is guarunteed which is for what ever reason
absent in many cases. The victims in many cases may not have sense,
mental or physical strentgh to oppose the criminal act. Neighbours
surely become aware of such acts if it continues for long time. They
don't intervene for not buying trouble in case there is no
administrative support to them. To have sympathy for victim may cost
dear and that is the reason no one comes near. Kunal Pune 19 Mar, 2009
01:29 PM
Horrible! Put aside culture stuff, it just shows to what extent a
human mind can go for some selfish benefitssahil india 19 Mar, 2009
01:34 PM
please let us know the name of that criminalAlihusain Mira Road 19
Mar, 2009 01:34 PM
It is a shame for Mira road residents to have such type of acts. As a
resident of Mira Road I feel that these people should be punished in
public by the people. Abdul Azeez Ullal Mangalore, Karnataka 19 Mar,
2009 01:35 PMOnly animals can do like this. Hang this bitch as soon as
possibleamer hyd 19 Mar, 2009 01:36 PM
The case has to be interogated as soon as possible Courts should not
delay such a things for long periods. Which can give rise to such a
criminals as per the tantriks this are very foolish people spoiling
lifes of innocent people for their sake and livelibood if they found
guilty their heads must be cut in public. so that any body with
thoughts of gaining powers or wealth should not believe such a
tantriks who are ready to murder the humanity.Ghanav sydney 19 Mar,
2009 01:41 PM
its funny hw a freakkin antrik can mislead a father to rape his own
daughters... to hell with him n da couple. dese guys hav no right 2
livekasmur hyderabad 19 Mar, 2009 01:41 PM
he should be fired in front of the public.he is not a father he is a
mad dog and mad dogs should not be left kill himSanjit Bal Gurgaon 19
Mar, 2009 01:42 PM
Such a person does not deserve a trail or has any right to recourse of
law. This person deserves the death penalty for completely depraving
the image of a parent and runining the life of his own daughters.
Callous, self centered and depraved people like him and his wife have
no right to live in civilized society.Tauseef Ahmed Delhi 19 Mar, 2009
01:43 PM
Such a shameful incident like this not only put a dent in our culture
but also made mockery of father child relation. A person like him
should be hanged in public so that nobody else could even dare to
think about such henious thing.Rajesh Qatar 19 Mar, 2009 01:43 PM
These crimnals must be punished as per Islamic Law (Shariyah). stone
them and cut the head publically for the lesson of people like Saudi
Arabia. Saudi Arabia has the lowest crime (tend to zero) in the world
due to Islamic Law. Thanks to all om US 19 Mar, 2009 01:44 PMhow some
one can rape some one for 7 years....is this possibleAbhishek MEERUT
19 Mar, 2009 01:50 PM
Ofcourse such a man should be hanged to death if he has committed such
a heinous crime. But, addition to this, Common man has his/her mind
set to believe such incidence to be absolutely truth without any
proofs and evidences and at once get sympathesised with the victim.
Truth must be Explored first!!vinod pune 19 Mar, 2009 01:51 PM
the father should be shot at sight..Samad Khan Bangalore 19 Mar, 2009
01:53 PM
This is sick!! Rape your own child for greed of money. Indian society
was known for its modesty, principals and values.Somewhere along the
recent way, we Indians have lost it all and have become a very
greedy,insensitive and a shallow society. Why take the man to court??
Hang him at Ghandi chowk along with the tantrik.SMF Dubai,UAE 19 Mar,
2009 01:52 PM
India should adopt the Sharia law(Islamic law).This is the only answer
to such henious crimes.People will think twice even before they think
of such evil acts. Think about it India.It will make difference.This
is the true Law.Neel Gagan New Delhi 19 Mar, 2009 01:53 PM
This is just rubbish...they have not done it just becoz Tantrik has
told..or for money...root cause may be non-fullfillment of sexual
desires. It is shameful that Mother was knowing all about it....and
she did nothing to stop it... Bose Delhi 19 Mar, 2009 02:02 PM
If this comes out to be true ultimately, then the only punishment for
these beasts is a single shot at the back of their
head....PERIOD.....Its sickening to the stomach...SMF Dubai,UAE 19
Mar, 2009 01:52 PM
India should adopt the Sharia law(Islamic law).This is the only answer
to such henious crimes.People will think twice even before they think
of such evil acts. Think about it India.It will make difference.This
is the true Law.Neel Gagan New Delhi 19 Mar, 2009 01:53 PM
This is just rubbish...they have not done it just becoz Tantrik has
told..or for money...root cause may be non-fullfillment of sexual
desires. It is shameful that Mother was knowing all about it....and
she did nothing to stop it... lenna kanpur 19 Mar, 2009 01:55 PM
for everything..ranging from terrorism to lack of morality...we
Indians tend to blame the west...now this episode of a father raping
his daughters...let us blame western countries
again.....ha..ha........ha...zh7272 south africa 19 Mar, 2009 02:04 PM
Apply sharia law to correct these greedy and crook so that we can be a
good example to the whole world.neha india 19 Mar, 2009 02:05 PMdnt
knw hw a father can do this to his own daughters.. Amol Bangalore 19
Mar, 2009 02:09 PM
This is an example of what these tantriks are doing to our society.
Why not pass on a law to make this illegal, so these practices can not
be carried out. There are thousands of tantriks today in any city of
India. Also, another thing that happens is astrology, although not
this bad, but it definately influence people to take decisions based
on some stupid stars, we should come out and ban these things once and
forever from our country. People are openly allowed to offer advise
without any scientif support. This is stupid and if we tolerate this,
its going to make us look like real stupid society. I am sure there
are thousands of such cases in various forms hiding throughout India.
Time to pass a law to make this illegal.Peter Oman 19 Mar, 2009 02:10
PM
Signs of our times and deeds of these parents are difficult for us to
digest in reading this article.Life for those kids will be deplorable
and unthinkable.It's a crime before God and Humanity and TOI must
publish the photos of these culprits.Money is still God for many until
this day.How come are these fraudsters caught by the media during the
Global recession period?Nanoti S.K. Nasik 19 Mar, 2009 02:12 PM
It is really shamful that father is raping his own daughters.
Undoudtebly, only punishment for the father should be hanged to death.
In the same time, all sympathy should be extended to the victims, who
have suffered such a crime in their early childhood from their own
father.Rashmi Bangalore 19 Mar, 2009 02:12 PM
This is a ridiculous thing , how one can even think of doing this. he
should be punished as hang till death that also in front of
public.Girish Delhi 19 Mar, 2009 02:13 PM
We should not let this guy die simply by hanging or shooting him. We
should first break his 2-3 bone here and there and then cut his flesh
at multiple places. Remember, do not let this guy. Keep breaking his
bones but keep him alive so that he beg for death.J D Barman India 19
Mar, 2009 02:13 PM
is he a father and most astonishing that is he a human being or a wild
animal. He and his associates should not be forgiven and should be
rewarded with an appropriate punishment.INDIAN INDIA 19 Mar, 2009
02:15 PM
GUYS PLS STOP DISCUSSING, N MAKE A SOLUTIONS.. WE HAV TO WAKE UP TO
WORK ON IT. ITS NOT THE FIRST TIME, IF U GO THROUGH VILLAGES U WILL
FIND SUCH SIMILAR CASES.. GOVRNMENT IS NOT GOING TO ACT ANY THING, END
OF THE DAY THEY WILL GET BAIL, THATS FOR SURE.. SO LETS TAKE EACH OF
US A RESPONSIBALITY TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY OUR CULTURE TO GET RID OF THIS
SMAMEFULL ACTS. isar mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 02:16 PM
Mulsim law is great on this count. India should adpot the mulsim law
against all such crimes for every such criminal irrespective of
religionR C SHAH MUMBAI 19 Mar, 2009 02:16 PM
HE SHALL BE HANGED UNTIL DEATHR C SHAH MUMBAI 19 Mar, 2009 02:16 PM
HE SHALL BE HANGED UNTIL DEATHRahul Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 02:16 PM
What a shame. Madhukar Bengaluru 19 Mar, 2009 02:17 PMBoth the father
as well as the mother should be hanged.Soumitra Noida 19 Mar, 2009
02:19 PM
burn his whole body with cigarette... give him antibiotics ... let
those wounds heal ... burn him again ... repeat it for the rest of his
life. Prakasam Bharat 19 Mar, 2009 02:21 PMHang that father, mother
and Tantrik, after whipping them for 90 days.sorry4victims Kolkata 19
Mar, 2009 02:24 PM
i m really sorry for the victims of such heinous crimes. Joseph Fritzl
in Austria can now at least hold his head high knowing that he is not
the only person committing such crimes. May God Help the world. May
Peace prevail.joson mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 02:27 PM
Only solution for Humanity .. An end to evil acts, an end to crime ,
and for a peace all over the world . , implement Islamic law.. Today
Saudi Arabia has the lowest crime rate .. owing to Islamic law
onlyIndian Dubai 19 Mar, 2009 02:29 PM
Sickening act. All the three deserve a killing by throwing stones at a
public place. No lawyer should take their case. TAHER EBRAHIM JEDDAH
19 Mar, 2009 02:29 PM
First collect hard evidence and proof him as he did this heinous crime
against his own daughters then only hang him along with his "TANTRIK".
Kumar UAE 19 Mar, 2009 02:31 PM
Why produce in court and creat tension in everybody. Please kill the
husband and wife.Indian Mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 02:33 PM
Error!!! this happened in Mumbai as says the headlines.. but the
article is begin with NEW DELHI: .. delhi is on tis reporter's mind
too much for such stuff?? Suman Kashyap Hong Kong 19 Mar, 2009 02:39
PM
To, those advocating Sharia law, as per Sharia they need four eye
witnesses to prove a rape, which is very difficult to get. Hence if
Sharia is applied the beats will be more encouraged as there will
almost never be 4 people watching a rape.Surendran Middle East 19 Mar,
2009 02:40 PM
Extremely shameful for every Indian. This men-shaped animal must be
hanged until death alongwith his wife and tantrik. Government must
concentrate on finding such tantrik working throughout the country
which badly damage a community altogether.seema chembur 19 Mar, 2009
02:40 PM
Its realy horrible incident to see Father raping his own daughters
with his better half help How can mother of 2 tell her husband to have
sex with their daughter They both father and mother of the sibling
should be hanged Thats the best punishmentRafeeq London 19 Mar, 2009
02:48 PM
How long will tantriks and religious extremistis hijack us? Its ironic
and pathetic that even the educated people get trapped by these
senseless people. Give them a punishment no one ever can dare to even
think of commiting such crimes. Tabi Dubai 19 Mar, 2009 02:52 PM
Father, Mother & all other persons involved in this crime, should be
hanged till death that too in some public area. This will give a great
message to the other criminals.....Vijay Hyderabad 19 Mar, 2009 02:56
PM
this kind of acts should be condemned and the culprits should be
punished. Our laws has to be changed so that people will not hide
behind the loopholes and escape from punishment. I request the
concerned authorities to wake up and take action againist them without
wasting much time.rene fernandez bahrain 19 Mar, 2009 02:58 PM
with reference to the rape of women in India, what has L.K.Advani/
Sonia Gandhi done to change the law ? Advani wanted to bring in
tougher punishments to the rapists. Why did he not push for life
imprisnment ? This issue must be raised in this elections and vote
ONLY for the candidates promise to support this legislation. We must
try to stop crimes against women/children AJAY BADIYAL NOIDA 19 Mar,
2009 03:09 PM
incedences like this will destroy relationship of father and
daughter.hussain mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 03:09 PM
three of them should be hanged till death....but other than this our
police should start strict action/investigation against such type of
tantrik ; there are lots in india...Ahmed Sharif Dubai 19 Mar, 2009
03:12 PM
These joseph fritzls must be awarded deaths. what kind of world we are
living in, ladies please beware of outsiders as well as insiders. THE
WORLD HAS CHANGED A LOT. In the name of faith it is an insult to
religion by these creepy TANTRICS.Shabu Dubai 19 Mar, 2009 03:13 PM
This is relly Shamefull for all indians and we are sorry for the
victims and we want immidiate actian agains this bastard no need to
put him in jail for years. he should kill by stones in front of people
and should be live telecast on all chanells then in future any body
even don't think like this . He want more money for whome ???? and
it's my requset to indian Govt give Authority to Victim Girls for
giving punishment to that bloody Tantrik .Shabu Dubai 19 Mar, 2009
03:14 PM
This is really Shamefull for all indians and we are sorry for the
victims and we want immidiate action against this bastard no need to
put him in jail for years. he should be killed by stones in front of
people and should be live telecast on all chanells then in future any
body even don't think like this . He want more money for whome? and
it's my requset to indian Govt give Authority to Victim Girls for
giving punishment to that bloody Tantrik .AH Syndey 19 Mar, 2009 03:14
PM
I too have been dreaming of becoming wealthy for a long time. Does
this Tantrik also offer his daughter (or wife, depending upon who can
take it) for such services? When will people give up superstition in
India?sadeq Duabi 19 Mar, 2009 03:24 PM
Now we need to stop this type of crimes in our society, only possible
by beheading these criminals in front of public to make society aware
what'll happen before committing this type crimesAnonymously_Yours
Europe 19 Mar, 2009 03:28 PM
It is stunning that everyone seems to comment on how the accused party
should be dealt with. People have suggested overtly sadist cruelties
too, providing an insight into the natural mindset of the human
community. Oddly, no one seems to have mentioned any sort of monetary
help, psychological counseling or shelter and future support
commitment for the victims, one of whom happens to be at a tender age
below 18. Once again, it's exciting to note how frustrated and
carnally active the society is, given a chance to vent our anger, most
of us would turn into savage beasts to punish the guilty...yet few or
none would stand to help the deceasedShyam Noida 19 Mar, 2009 03:32 PM
The tantrik stuff has been added just to save the man from his crime.
It seems to be a ploy by his lawyer. I a sure there was no outsider to
instigate the accused.GSM MUMBAI 19 Mar, 2009 03:32 PM
Kill this man and tantrik. There is no other punishment for guys like
these. DEEPAK GHOSH FARIDABAD 19 Mar, 2009 03:41 PM
ALL THE THREE, THE TANTRIK,BUSINESSMAN AND HIS WIFE BE LINED UP IN
PUBLIC AND MUST BE ORDERED TO A FIRING SQUAD TO SHOOT THEM IN ONE GO
OR MUST BE HANGED IN PUBLIC.THIS MUST BE THE LAW OF OUR COUNTRY NOW.
EVEN RAPIST MUST BE HANGED,SHOT OR THEIR PRIVATE PART SHOULD BE CUT
OFF. THIS MUST BE THE LAW NOW.Illur Iqbal Bangalore 19 Mar, 2009 03:42
PM
Please do Insert a Burning Rod to the beloved Parents for doing this
CrimeRubi London 19 Mar, 2009 03:51 PM
What a shame!!I really feel sorry for the girl,this man should be
given such a punishment by law,that the whole world eyes will be open
and no one will dare to do this again after seeing the
punishment.sharda goregaon 19 Mar, 2009 03:56 PMcut his private part
completelyAnita Dsilva Dubai 19 Mar, 2009 04:06 PM
This is really a VERY SHAMEFUL act. Have we human beings lost our
moral values? to top it all, a Mother encouraging such an act gives me
goosebumps, a I am a mother of 2 girls myself but in my sane head I
would give up my life but save my children from such ordeal. This is
actually a SORRY state of today's world. GOD HELP US!!!SJ dubai 19
Mar, 2009 04:09 PM
I can only say that this is the result of getting in love with western
civilization...progress and modernization does not mean that we leave
our values & culture..incest is a normal thing in west as we all know
and sadly it is entering into our society just coz we feel that
whatever west does is good..we need soul searchingAmrit Lal Toppo
Ahmedabad 19 Mar, 2009 04:20 PM
This is absolutely shamful to the society,father is raping his own
daughters more than 3000 thousand time. he is not worthy to be called
father by his daughters. he should be punished. he has turned satan he
is no more human being. Amrit Lal Toppo Ahmedabad 19 Mar, 2009 04:20
PM
This is absolutely shamful to the society,father is raping his own
daughters more than 3000 thousand time. he is not worthy to be called
father by his daughters. he should be punished. he has turned satan he
is no more human being. rajeev gurgaon 19 Mar, 2009 04:43 PM
This kind of crimes should be dealt with only one kind of punishment.
Take them in full public view, cut the pvt part of this man and the
tantrik into pieces and offer it to the dogs!! Hang the lady! The
entire activity should be lively telecast to prevail deterrent for any
prospective criminal!!!Mohammed bombay 19 Mar, 2009 04:49 PM
Tantrik said and father raped his own daughter for 9 long years..WOW.
even hollywood can't make this kind of sense less Movie it could
happen only in indiaReader Pune 19 Mar, 2009 04:51
PMSHAMEFUL.........Asim Ali Khan Jeddah 19 Mar, 2009 04:54 PM
No need to produce them before the court. Straight hang them. Dont
give time to investigate. Both the parents should be hanged till
death.Clive Kuwait 19 Mar, 2009 05:02 PM
I agree that the faces of Such criminals have to be shown in the media
as soon as their crime is established. Even their names should be
shown in bold. And they should not be hanged immediately. They have to
be tortured for years so that they repent for their crimeSrikanth Bhat
Chennai 19 Mar, 2009 05:03 PM
Rape, molestation, child abuse and many such in-humane acts have been
hitting the headlines of late. The legal proceedings get dragged for
years owing to the loop holes in our legal system. Why doesn't our
judicial come out with a ruthless punishment as a reply to this
devilish act. Amputate hands, legs & organ and hang till death. Human
Rights may have their reservations on this, but HR is for Humans
(victims) and not for the devils (criminals).Srikanth Bhat Chennai 19
Mar, 2009 05:04 PM
Rape, molestation, child abuse and many such in-humane acts have been
hitting the headlines of late. The legal proceedings get dragged for
years owing to the loop holes in our legal system. Why doesn't our
judicial come out with a ruthless punishment as a reply to this
devilish act. Amputate hands, legs & organ and hang till death. Human
Rights may have their reservations on this, but HR is for Humans
(victims) and not for the devils (criminals).Blank India 19 Mar, 2009
05:15 PM
I am at loss of words...on how to condemn this ...this what...my mind
goes blank on hearing acts like this what's wrong man...where is this
going...even if one person is doing this, -what are the reasons, how
can someone stoop so low -Is there something that can be done
here...punishing/killing them is just a reaction..how can it solve the
problem - Are they mentally so sick?? Manasakanthi, Konanakunte,
Bangalore 19 Mar, 2009 05:16 PM
Its disgraceful to the indian community and we feel sorry for the poor
girl who when thru this commotion all these years. People of strange
attitude are still in existence.Both the father and mother should be
punished and the punishment should be viewed in all the TV channels
(Breaking news). A new law should be framed for such people. There
might be still more People who are behaving similar to this and it
will teach them a lesson that they cant escape the law. Shaindil
bangalore 19 Mar, 2009 05:20 PM
The daughter and mother should have murdered this opportunistic and
dirty guy long back. If the tantric tells this guy to eat shit, will
he do that? This is the truth India 19 Mar, 2009 05:28 PM
Incest-raping your own kids- is rampant in India, rural and urban. It
has always been a 'family secret' where the mother actually provides
the daughter to her husband. Please do not blame the West, instead
praise them. They widely publicize any incest, whereas Indian
politicians and goons silence the victims. No one hears of their
cries, all pretend that everything is hunky dory in our nation. Wake
up, look around, there will always be examples right under your nose.
Why else to praise the West? because they teach our kids to have guts
to speak up. Ask any older gynecologist, they have been seeing this
for decades.GE Australia 19 Mar, 2009 05:56 PM
India is truly the rape capital of the world.sanjay dubai 19 Mar, 2009
06:01 PM
i am totally in favour of what rajeev from gurgaon has mentioned. it
will be a lesson for those cases which are not out in public
yet.jahangir houlader maldives 19 Mar, 2009 06:06 PM
I think the man should be handed over to the people and tell the mob o
do whatever they like to do.Muhammad MN 19 Mar, 2009 06:11 PM
This is shameful.Adnan Oman 19 Mar, 2009 06:35 PM
Isn't this unbelievable? The heinous act depicts the greed of an
mentally ill individual & to what extent he can fall for the sake of
his worldly desires. All three should be tortured to death for
resorting to one of the worst crime. They have not only ruined their
daughters life but also defamed the father - daughter relationship.
kumar mumbai 19 Mar, 2009 06:37 PM
Even the judiciary would shed tears for the innocent girls. The so
called business man and his wife have no place to live in the human
habituate and so is the tantrik. all this three should get the capital
punishment with no right to appeal. God knows how many people this
tantrik must have brain washed. The police should investigate this
angle too.GANI AHMED SHAIKH DUBAI 19 Mar, 2009 07:27 PM
this kind of people should be hanged in public, this so called
tantriks take people for a ride. COMMON FOLKS WE ARE IN MODERN WORLD
DON'T BELIEVE IN THIS THINGS.Sule Paritosh Plano 19 Mar, 2009 07:28 PM
please try to understand that Merely Beating a Single person wont stop
such activities from happening in future. A businessman has no
religion / ethics. His only intention is money. I also feel that his
Wife is equally responsible for the Crime. Please dont publish the
name of the culprit, as people can Backtrace to their daughters and
make their life miserable Agniyah Shaikh Sharjah 19 Mar, 2009 08:12 PM
International Women's Day was celebrated all over the world recently
with great pomp and show! In the heart of Mumbai these two girls
suffered meanwhile. And how many suffer daily in the same manner!
Girls must be given the courage to openly protest any wrong done to
them. The mother seem to be an impossible person- She should be given
the toughest sentence for her 'silence' and approval for this criminal
act.Abu Abdullah USA 19 Mar, 2009 08:35 PM
Absolutely appalling. What were these middle-aged "adults" thinking?
The Austrian "incest dad" was enough as a pervert in this
world.Tanveer London 19 Mar, 2009 08:37 PM
stupid comment from SJ, Dubai 'incest is a normal thing in west as we
all know and sadly it is entering into our society'. One must be an
idiot to thing incest is 'normal' in any society. In no society incest
is normal. Stop this hatred for west. By that logic, the 60 yr old and
the tantrik was influenced by the west to do such thing!!!!!! what a
laugh!!!! stop blaming the west. this things happens in any society
and we must admint that our indian society also has such incest,
though its not common. Most of the cases are suppressed because of
loss of family honor (the so-called izzat), reputation to the society/
comminuty/country etc.Somnath New York 19 Mar, 2009 09:02 PM
There is no real upliftment of women, such issues would have never
occurred if govt provided more jobs and education than making laws in
favour of women. The laws need to be gender neutral and govt should
promote more jobs and education for women and make them independent.
Govt's policies are just eye wash and at the ground level it never
reaches the general public.Raj Orlando, Florida 19 Mar, 2009 10:01 PM
Media is more active nowadays and due to which more cases will come
out like this incidence. There may be many more incidences like this
in India but victim do not come out. My suggestion : every school must
be visited by two to three psycratist, once in 3 months where all the
students are being checked for any personal problems. These problems
could be rape, bitting by parents, torture, children are having lack
of attention in class, poor health effecting their school activities.
Such psychartist prepare report on each student with all facts and
suggest right remedy or if necessary police complain. This kind of
routine check will encourage children to come out with the fact of any
kind of personal suffering or any kind of psychological problems
disturbing them. Prevention is better for children and for their
natural growth. Nitasha Chennai 19 Mar, 2009 10:33 PM
The lack of education causes people to behave in such a hienous
way.Can you imagine any sane,sensible family consulting a 'tantrik' &
not straight away delivering him to the nearest police station when he
comes up with this vile remedy?I salute the girl for having the
courage in going against her parents & protecting her
sister.Unfortunately,it will leave severe scars on her mind which no
punishment to the parents & the great tanrik can cure.Abhay Dang
Delhi, India 19 Mar, 2009 10:35 PM
Religion does destroy common sense.Abhay Dang Delhi, India 19 Mar,
2009 10:38 PM
One day a woman commits suicide because her daughter refused to study.
And now this. Really, Indians have lost their brains!!Manoj Gupta
Bangalore 19 Mar, 2009 10:52 PM
Oh My God!!! It has happened in India also!!!Shame shame.kg india 20
Mar, 2009 12:18 AM
Another Fritzel!!!kg india 20 Mar, 2009 12:20 AM
Another Fritzel!!!SUMIT DELHI 20 Mar, 2009 12:21 AMwell this is
disturbing thing but do not over highlight this story otherwise that
will give a big impact on father and daughter relationship
universal.amit california 20 Mar, 2009 12:23 AM
Incest laws in the west are more stringent that in the East. In the
west - marrying a first cousin in illegal, it happens in India all the
time. As far as this case - it is a shameful act. The government
should do something about this quick, hopefully they are able to get
the case to hearing before the girl dies of old age...pathetic..monika
glasgow 20 Mar, 2009 12:47 AM
The real culprits in cases like these are indian wives cum
mothers,they have only one mission in their lives which is to keep
evil husbands happy,he might be an addict,a convict,an abuser,but she
will always protect his image and think she will go to heaven if she
does his seva,such women can sacrifice anything even children ,and
because of them india now has a land of courageous abusers who take
pride in their sins, I am a women and I am ashamed of what happened
just because of a coward mother,perhaps time has come to teach all
wives,bhaus,daughters,the real meaning of seva and sacrifice.We have
to stop blaming literacy for everything, our values are corrupted, and
noone can change values,only parents can. So lets be honest with
eachother and be brave enough to stop men when they do wrong not
support them when they speak ,behave,act,wrong and abuse defenceless
children. Sandeep London 20 Mar, 2009 12:58 AM
I have no words...people are so greedy for money & sex that they dont
even see if that's outsider or their own daughter. Religion got
nothing to do with this nor education its an individual and not about
a country, city, religion nor eastern or western countries. People
like them should not be hanged coz that would be too easy...cut their
private part that's the best option & that should be enforced as
global law...shame what a sick human being.Raghunathan Sharjah, UAE 20
Mar, 2009 01:12 AM
I read all the comments. I have no words to say. I am feeling so
shameful and angered by the act of these three bastards. Even a
punishment of death will not solve this issue. This man (father)
should witness his wife being raped by the Tantric. Tantric should
witness his wife being raped by the businessman and the businessman
should pay him 1 Rupee as the cost of the action. Only this could be
the worst of unimaginable punishment to all the three. In India??????
which taught the value of Astrology and all the other remedial
measures to cure the problems by prayers?????????? Where is God?????
Where are these insane people???? All my friends and my family are
very upset and sad. What will happen to these girls? Will anyone marry
them? Can they live a moderate genuine life hereafter? God only can
answer and save their lives. I and my family and all my friends prayed
for them this evening. May God show them a better life from this
evening. Raghunathan, Sharjah.SALMAN RIYADH 20 Mar, 2009 02:15 AM
PRAY TO ONE GOD''ALLAH"WHO CREATE WORLD AND HUMAN NATURE.....ASK HELP
FROM ALLAHsaad uddin saudi arabia 20 Mar, 2009 02:15 AM
dear sir, through your esteemed daily i want to convey my feeling like
any other value loving indians. India is known for its cultural and
religious values across the world but the reality is,as the Mumbai
businessman's case shows that we are deviating very fast to an unknown
limit of moral devastation for which unbridled media is responsible to
a large extent.Sexual harassmment has become regular appearences in
the news papers.And I believe the cases behind the screen are
certainly larger than the noticed ones.So to give a halt or at least
to minimise this kind of heinious crimes the law making agencies
should amend the existing laws towards some tougher ones and convicts
are to be punished puclicly. yours smartindian US 20 Mar, 2009 02:51
AM
Parents and Tantrik must to be killed in public. Freddie Pereira
Sydney 20 Mar, 2009 04:41 AM
This is Insane, After Slum Dog's success all over the world...this
story is very shocking. What has happened to all the so called "Indain
Traditional Culture" which is always Portrayed as a Big Strength
compared to the rest of the world. I am ashamed to call myself an
Indian after this devestating act by the Indian Parents ! Kishore
California, USA 20 Mar, 2009 05:56 AM
The father, mother and Tantrik trio should be shot dead on the
spot. .Derek Canada 20 Mar, 2009 06:34 AM
Surprising none has written that it is the influence of western
culture that is the cause of this heinous crime. Are you guys
surprised that this happens in India too?Suhail USA 20 Mar, 2009 06:34
AM
what a narrow minded and stupid guy. No wonder his business failed,
thomson Abudhabi 20 Mar, 2009 07:19 AMshoot the both stupid husband
and stupid mother&tanric in the public.Crescentman Assam 20 Mar, 2009
09:37 AM
People believe in fast bucks rather than hard work. This mindset has
been taken advantage by jothids and tantriks which needs to be
arrested immediately. Behind everything, the economic considerations
are the root cause. I appeal to the Govt. to come up with
comprehensive, transparent and inclusive 33% reservations to women
immediately without any delay.pankaj khatwani china 20 Mar, 2009 09:37
AM
india police should be very hard with this type of tantrik!!!! and
this type of parents if they dont know meaning of children ,why were
they born , she is so great she geve birth to her doughter and felt
pain for 9 monthskiran pune 20 Mar, 2009 09:54 AM
Dear folk why dont u see whats going under your skin . recently there
was a news of a female australian teacher who torchered their male
student for having sex for marks ?? where r u staying ????archana
delhi 20 Mar, 2009 10:05 AM
It is shame on us ..such an incident is happening in India now.Shame
on such fathers and the co-supporters.He should be punished and
sentenced to death so that others learn.Vipin Chennai 20 Mar, 2009
11:01 AM
The only way to stop rape crimes in India is not by just bringing
those case into light and imprision them that to for how many years
4-6 max.They wont pay nor such crimes can ever be stopped. If the
government and judicial system is realy looking for an answer to stop
then Death sentence have to be imposed for this crime. I tell you
there will be more than 100 case which will fall under this but even
if it becomes 1000 justice must be served. DEATH CAN ONLY DEAL WITH
RAPE CHARGES. People fighting for human rights must understand for
what they are fighting for and most importantly for whom.I hope some
day the judical system of our country will pass with LAW without
debating in our parliment.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/4285650.cms
chhotemianinshallah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Hindu demon. For other uses, see Kali
(disambiguation).
Not to be confused with the goddess Kali.
Kali
In Hinduism, Kali (IAST: káli; Devnāgari: कलि; from a root kad
"suffer, grieve, hurt; confound, confuse") is the reigning lord of
Kali Yuga and nemesis of Kalki, the 10th and final avatar of the Hindu
god Vishnu. According to the Vishnu Purana, he is a negative
manifestation of Vishnu, who along with his extended evil family,
perpetually operates as a cause of the destruction of this world.[1]
In the Kalki Purana, he is portrayed as a demon and the source of all
evil. In the Mahabharata, he was a gandharva who possessed Nala,
forcing him to lose his Kingdom in a game of dice to his brother
Pushkara. His most famous incarnation is the Kaurava King Duryodhana.
Kali is the prototype for the demon Kroni and his incarnation Kaliyan
of Ayyavazhi mythology.
Mahabharata
See also: The Gandharvas mentioned in Mahabharata
Damayanti speaking with a celestial swan.According to the Mahabharata,
the gandharva Kali became jealous when he was late to Princess
Damayanti's marriage ceremony and discovered she had overlooked the
deities Indra, Agni, Varun, and Yama (and ultimately himself) to
choose Nala as her husband. In anger, Kali spoke to his companion
Dvapara, the personification of Dwapara Yuga:
"I am ill able, O Dwapara, to suppress my anger. I shall possess Nala,
deprive him of his kingdom, and he shall no more sport with Bhima's
daughter. Entering the dice, it behoveth thee to help me." [2]
Kali traveled to Nala’s kingdom of Nishadhas and waited twelve long
years for the right moment to strike. Because Nala had rendered
himself impure by not washing his feet before his prayers, Kali was
able to bewitch his soul. Kali then appeared before Pushkara and
invited him to play a game of dice with his brother, guaranteeing
Nala’s downfall. Dwarpa took the form of the Vrisha die that would be
used in the fixed game. Kali forced Nala to lose and, each time, he
would raise the stakes higher despite the protest of his advisors and
wife. Finally, Nala lost his kingdom to Pushkara. Both he and
Damayanti were exiled to the forest.
Duryodhana as depicted in Yakshagana popular drama from
KarnatakaDuring their exile, Kali drove Nala to abandon Damayanti, who
later enacted a curse against everyone that had caused the downfall of
her husband. She eventually returned home after a short time as a hand-
maiden to the Princess of Chedi. Nala, meanwhile, saved the Naga
Karkotaka from fire (where he was cursed to suffer by sage Narada).
Intending to exorcize the devil within him, the serpent bit Nala,
injecting him with deadly poisons that forever tortured Kali. The
venom also changed Nala into an ugly dwarf named Bahuka. He later
became the charioteer of the Ayodhya King Rituparna, who was a master
mathematician and dice player.
Years later, King Rituparna revealed to Bahuka the supreme skill of
controlling the dice in exchange for horsemanship lessons. This skill
awakened Nala from Kali’s control and allowed him (with the help of
Damayanti’s curse and Karkotaka's venom) to exorcise the demon;
vomiting him in the form of poison from his mouth. Nala forced the
Kali’s trembling spirit into a Vibhitaka tree. He then counted the
fruits of the tree and left in search of his wife and later regained
his true form. Kali returned to his abode as well.
Kali was later incarnated as king Duryodhana, eldest of the one
hundred Kaurava brothers. His companion Dvapara became his uncle
Sakuni. The day Duryodhana was born, he unleashed a donkey-like scream
which the donkeys outside the home replied to. Despite the advise from
Vidura to discard the evil baby, Duryodhana's father Dhritarashtra
kept the child because demons had received a boon from Shiva that the
future king would be invincible.[3][4]
Puranic accounts
The Kalki Purana describes him as a huge being, the color of “soot,”
with a large tongue, and a terrible stench. From his birth, he carried
an Upaasthi (worship) bone. The Kalki Purana says this demon "chose
gambling, liquor, women and gold as his permanent abodes."[5] The
Sanskrit-English Dictionary states Kali is "of a class of mythic
beings (related to the Gandharvas, and supposed by some to be fond of
gambling)".[6] The Bhagavata Purana describes him as a sudra wearing
the garments of a king.[7] An early 20th century anti-beef eating
pamphlet protesting the slaughter of the sacred cow in India portrays
Kali as a brownish-skinned demon with a dog-like face, protruding
fangs, pointed ears, long green bushy hair and wearing a red loin
cloth and golden jewelry. (See Religion and politics)
The names of the four yugas of time—Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali—are
named after “dice throws” from a game of dice popular during the Vedic
period. Their order coincides with the favorability of each throw:
Satya is the best throw, whereas Kali is considered the worst.[8][9]
During the Mahabharata, king Nala exorcises the disembodied spirit of
Kali to a vibhitaka tree,[10] the nuts of which were used to create
the dice for the vedic dice game.[11] Therefore, not only Kali’s name,
but his penchant for gambling and reputation as being evil comes from
this dice game.
The churning of the ocean of milk
According to a lesser known Madhva version of the legend, during the
churning of the ocean of milk, a great poison known as halahala was
produced, which Vayu, the god of wind, rubbed in his hands to reduce
its potency. Then a small portion was given to god Shiva, turning his
throat blue. The rest was collected in a golden vessel and digested by
Vayu. (One source states he drank the Kalakuta poison of Vasuki nāga.
[12] Still others more commonly state that Shiva drank alone.[13]) A
little portion of poison that wasn't swallowed by Shiva became the
body of Kali. From this poison also came, "cruel objects like snakes,
wolves, and tigers."[3]
Later, when the asura Rahu was decapitated by Vishnu's Mohini avatar,
the demon’s allies attacked her and all except Kali were killed.
Having the power to possess the bodies of immortal and mortal beings,
he entered the hearts of man and escaped death.[14] He occasionally
entered Shiva and caused him to write evil scriptures, which created
great confusion and misconceptions. Because Kali was “invisible,
unimaginable, and present in all” the only way to correct the chaos
born from the miswritten texts was to completely renew the sacred
scriptures entirely. Thus Vishnu descended to earth as Vedavyasa, the
compiler of the sacred scriptures Vedas and the writer of the Puranas.
[3]
Markandeya Purana
According to Markandeya Purana, the Brahmin Pravara was given a
magical ointment that allowed him to fly. But when he flew to the
Himalayas, the ointment was washed away from the bottoms of his feet
keeping him from returning home to his wife. During this time, the
nymph Varuthini fell madly in love with him and begged the Brahmin to
stay with her forever. But eventually, he rejected her. He prayed to
Agni who returned him home safely.
The gandharva Kali was in love with Varuthini and had been rejected by
her in the past. He saw how she hungered for the Brahmin, so he took
on the appearance of Pravara and came before the courtesan. He led her
into the bedchamber and told her to close her eyes during their shared
pleasure [sambhoga]. (Another version of this tale explains the reason
he told her to shut her eyes was because gods revert to their true
forms whenever they do the basest of things, such as eating, sleeping,
and making love (including dying for demons).) As they made love,
Varuthini noticed that his body became flaming hot and believed it was
because his Brahmin spirit was infused with the sacrificial fire.
After climax, Kali, still-as-Pravara, left the apsara and returned to
his abode. Varuthini soon became pregnant and nine months later gave
birth to a human child that not only looked like the Brahmin but
possessed his soul as well.[15] The authors of the book Science in
Culture comment this was an example of the Sanskrit phrase "from his
semen and from her thinking," meaning the child was indeed Pravara's
child because she believed it was his.[16]
In another version, Kali stipulates he will only marry the apsara if
she keeps her eyes closed while they are in the forest (presumably
making love). However, Kali leaves after their marriage and the birth
of their son Svarocisa. Svarocisa grows up to become a very learned
scholar of the Vedas and learns to speak the languages of all
creatures from one of his three wives. He later marries a goddess and
fathers Svarocisa Manu, one of the progenitors of mankind.[17] (See
Progeny)
Bhagavata Purana
The Bhagavata Purana states the very day and moment god Krishna left
this earth, Kali, "who promotes all kinds of irreligious activities,
came into this world.”[18] Thus, Kali simply came into being because
the prosperity brought by Krishna left after his death.
After setting off to wage war against the evils of the world with his
armies, Emperor Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna, came across a Sudra
dressed as a king who was beating a cow and an ox with a club.
Parikshit immediately lead his chariot over to the scene and angrily
berated the sudra for abusing the sacred cow and her mate. However,
this was no ordinary sudra and these were no ordinary bovine, for the
sudra was Kali and the cow and ox were embodiments of the earth
goddess and Dharma. The Emperor noticed the ox was standing on one of
his legs because the other three had been broken by Kali. Dharma
explained his four legs represented "austerity, cleanliness, mercy and
truthfulness", but he had only the leg of “truth” to stand on since
the other three had been broken by kali over the preceding yugas.[7]
Kali was intent on breaking all the legs that supported the reign of
dharma so he could effect the expansion of his own dark reign on
earth. The earth goddess cried for she had once been plentiful, but
when Krishna died and ascended to heaven, she was forsaken and all of
the prosperity left from the world. She feared evil kings like Kali
would continue to lay waste to the earth.
When Parikshit raised his sword to kill Kali, the sudra stripped
himself of his royal garments and prostrated himself at the emperor’s
feet. The emperor knew Kali tainted the world with his evil and so had
no place in it and raised his sword once more. But Kali interceded
again and begged the emperor to spare his life and allow him a place
to live within his empire. Parikshit decided that Kali would live in
“gambling houses, in taverns, in women of unchaste lives, in
slaughtering places and in gold”.[19] And as long as Parikshit ruled
India, Kali stayed within the confines of these five places. This act
allowed Dharma to regain his legs and the earth to be relieved of much
burden. However, Parikshit was later cursed to die by snake bite after
hunting in the forest and throwing a dead snake on an unresponsive
sage practicing austerities. Upon the emperor’s death, “Kali made his
way to other places like wild fire and established his power
throughout the length and breadth of the whole world.”[19][20]
In another version of the tale, Kali enters into the Emperor’s crown
when Parikshit gives him permission to reside wherever there is gold.
Upon returning home after offending the sage, Parikshit says to
himself, "Kali-yug’s abode is in gold; this was on my head; hence I
had so evil a thought that, having taken a dead snake cast it on the
sage’s neck. Therefore, I now understand that Kali-yug has taken his
revenge on me. How shall I escape this grievous sin?"[21][22]
Kalki Purana
KalkiMain article: Kalki Purana
The beginning of the Kalki Purana describes Kali’s lineage starting
with the creator-god Brahma, his great-great grandfather, and ending
with the birth of his children’s children. Instead of being born of
poison from the churning of the ocean of milk, he is the product of a
long line of incestuous monsters born from Brahma's back. (See Family
Lineage below) Kali and his family were created by Brahma to hurry the
dissolution of the cosmos after the pralaya period was over. When his
family takes human form on earth, they further taint the hearts and
minds of mankind to bring about the end of Dvapara Yuga and the
beginning of Kali Yuga. During the first stage of Kali-Yuga, the
Indian caste system breaks down and god-worship is forsaken by man.
All through the second, third, and fourth stages, man forgets the name
of god and no longer offers Yagya (offerings) to the Devas. It is at
this point when god Vishnu reincarnates as Kalki in the name of the
Devas and all of mankind to rid the cosmos of Kali's dark influence.
The remainder of the tale describes Kalki's childhood, military
training under the immortal Parashurama, his marriage, his preparation
for war against Kali, and the decisive war between the two. Kalki
kicks off his campaign by performing the Ashvamedha sacrifice and
leading his armies behind the horse as it runs freely from kingdom to
kingdom. If any evil king tries to stop the horse, Kalki engages them
in combat. After defeating them, he continues to follow the horse
until all evil kingdoms are vanquished. When Kali finally faces
Kalki's forces, his entire family blood line is wiped out by the
avatar's generals and he presumably dies from wounds inflicted by
Dharma and Satya Yuga personified. Kalki, meanwhile, battles and
simultaneously kills the demon's most powerful generals, Koka and
Vikoka, twin devils adept in the dark arts.[5]
Death
Kali dies one-third of the way through the Kalki Purana. During the
decisive battle between Kali and Kalki’s armies, Kali tried to face
both Dharma and Satya Yuga personified, but was overwhelmed and fled
on his donkey because his chariot had been destroyed, leaving his owl-
crested war flag to be trampled on the battlefield. Kali retreated to
the citadel of his capital city of Vishasha where he discovered his
body had been mortally stabbed and burned during his battle with the
two devas. The stench of his blood billowed out and filled the
atmosphere with a foul odor. When Dharma and Satya burst into the
city, Kali tried to run away, but, knowing his family had been
destroyed, coupled with his grevious wounds, he "entered his
unmanifested years".[5] This might lead some to believe he died, but
one version of the Kalki Purana in the book The Origins of Evil in
Hindu Mythology states Kali does not die but, instead, escapes through
time and space to live in the Kali Yuga of the next Kalpa. The author
comments, "Unlike most battles between gods and demons, however, this
apparent victory is immediately undercut, for Kali escapes to reappear
in 'another age'—in our age, or the next Kali Age."[23] Since he had
the power to manifest himself in human form on earth, he was able to
forsake his dying corporal form to escape in spirit.
Family lineage
Kali is the great-great grandson of Lord Brahma. He is the son of
Krodha (Anger) and his sister-turned-wife Himsa (Violence). He is the
grandson of Dambha (Vanity) and his sister-turned-wife, Maya
(Illusion). He is the great-grandson of Adharma (Impropriety) and his
wife, Mithya (Falsehood). Adharma was originally created from Lord
Brahma's back as a Maleen Pataka (a very dark and deadly sinful
object).
B.K. Chaturvedi, a modern translator of the Kalki Purana, states in a
foot note that the growth of this dark sinful object into Adharma
seems to, "convey the growth of Kaliyuga and its obnoxious
offshoots."[5]
Vishnu Purana
Kali's family lineage is told differently in the Vishnu Purana, which
is a father purana to the Kalki Purana:
The wife of Adharma (vice) was Himsá (violence), on whom he begot a
son Anrita (falsehood), and a daughter Nikriti (immorality): they
intermarried, and had two sons, Bhaya (fear) and Naraka (hell); and
twins to them, two daughters, Maya (deceit) and Vedaná (torture), who
became their wives. The son of Bhaya and Máyá was the destroyer of
living creatures, or Mrityu (death); and Dukha (pain) was the
offspring of Naraka and Vedaná. The children of Mrityu were Vyádhi
(disease), Jará (decay), Soka (sorrow), Trishńa (greediness), and
Krodha (wrath). These are all called the inflictors of misery, and are
characterised as the progeny of Vice (Adharma). They are all without
wives, without posterity, without the faculty to procreate; they are
the terrific forms of Vishńu, and perpetually operate as causes of the
destruction of this world. On the contrary, Daksha and the other
Rishis, the elders of mankind, tend perpetually to influence its
renovation: whilst the Manus and their sons, the heroes endowed with
mighty power, and treading in the path of truth, as constantly
contribute to its preservation.
In this version, Himsa is Adharma's wife instead of his granddaughter.
[1]
Bhagavata Purana
According to the Bhagavata Purana, Adharma is the husband of Mrishá
(falsehood), and the father of Dambha (hypocrisy) and Máyá (deceit),
who were adopted by Nirritti (Hindu god/dess of misery). The series of
their descendants is also somewhat varied from our text; being in each
descent, however, twins which intermarry, or Lobha (covetousness) and
Nikriti, who produce Krodha (wrath) and Hinsá: their children are,
Kali (wickedness) and Durukti (evil speech): their progeny are, Mrityu
and Bhí (fear); whose offspring are, Niraya (hell) and Yátaná
(torment).[24]
In this version, Mrisha is the wife of Adharma and not Himsa or
Mithya.
Linga Purana
The Linga Purana enumerates Adharma among the Prajapatis (Lords of
Creatures).[24]
Dharma Personified
Since Dharma is one of the major antagonists of Kali, it is important
to note this personified deity has his own line of offspring that work
against the demon and his family to bring balance to the world. The
following comes from the Vishnu Purana:
The progeny of Dharma by the daughters of Daksha were as follows: by
Sraddha he had Kama (desire); by Lakshmi, Darpa (pride); by Dhriti,
Niyama (precept); by Tushti, Santosha (content); by Pushti, Lobha
(cupidity); by Medhá, Sruta (sacred tradition); by Kriya, Danda, Naya,
and Vinaya (correction, polity, and prudence); by Buddhi, Bodha
(understanding); by Lajj, Vinaya (good behaviour); by Vapu, Vyavasaya
(perseverance). Santi gave birth to Kshema (prosperity); Siddhi to
Sukha (enjoyment); and Kírtti to Yasas. These were the sons of Dharma;
one of whom, Kama, had Hersha (joy) by his wife Nandi (delight).
Again, the Bhagavata Purana gives a different account of his
children's names.[25]
Progeny
Kali’s sister-turned-wife, Durukti (Calumny), gave him two offspring:
a son named Bhayanak (Fear) and a daughter named Mrityu (Death). His
son and daughter gave him two grandchildren: a boy named Naraka (Hell)
and a girl named Yatana (Torture).[5] Again, there are some
discrepancies here. The Vishnu Purana says Mrityu and Bhayanak are his
brother and sister. Mrityu is even represented as male instead of
female.[5]
Kali is the grandfather of Svarocisa Manu, one of the progenitors of
mankind.[17] As previously mentioned, Kali had a son named Svarocisa
with the Apsara Varuthini. Svarocisa once traveld to Mt. Mandara and
was met by Manorama, a cursed-woman being chased by a demon. In the
past, she had made fun of a sage practicing Tapasya austerities on Mt.
Kailas and was cursed to be captured by a demon. When her friends
Vibhavari and Kalavati berated the sage for enacting a curse for such
a minor offence, he cursed one to be a leper and the other a carrier
of diseases. Manorama had knowledge of a powerful spiritual weapon,
but did not know how to wield it, so she taught it to Svarocisa. When
the demon leaped out of the forest and grabbed a hold of the woman,
Svarocis called forth the weapon. But the demon stayed his hand and
explained he was actually Manorama’s father, Indivara. He had also
been cursed to become a demon by the sage Brahmamitra because he tried
to covertly obtain the secrets of Ayurveda medicine without the sage’s
knowledge. The sage told him that the curse would end when he was
about to eat his own daughter. Once he regained his true form,
Indivara taught Svarocisa the Ayurveda medication, which he used to
cure Manorama’s friends. He later married the three and had three sons
with them. He learned the languages of all creatures from Vibhavari
and the Padmini vidya from Kalavati.
Despite his prosperity, Svarocis was unhappy in his life and could
hear the ducks and deer talking about him behind his back. One day he
went hunting and took aim at a boar, but a deer came through the
clearing and asked to be shot in its place. When he enquired why, the
deer told him that she was really the goddess of the forest and wished
to marry Svarocisa. So he embraced the deer and she turned into a
beautiful woman. Together, they had a son named Dyutiman, who later
became the Svarocisa Manu.[17]
One source states, "Kali's wife Alakshmi and her sons who supervise
evil also came from Kshirasagara [the ocean of milk]."[3] Alakshmi is
the elder sister of the goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu.[26]
Since the Kalki Purana states his wife Durukti is his sister, Alakshmi
would be a second wife because she is not directly related to him.
There are a number of connections and similarities between Kali and
Alakshmi. First and foremost, Alakshmi’s sister is the consort of Lord
Vishnu, who sent his Kalki avatar to earth to defeat Kali.[26] Second,
legends say she was born either from the churning of the ocean of
milk, the poison from Vasuki (who helped churn the ocean) or the back
of Prajapati.[26][27] As previously mentioned, Kali is said to have
been born from the halahala poison created from churning the ocean or
from a lineage created from Lord Brahma’s back.[3][5] Third, Alakshmi
takes the form of an owl.[26] Kali's emblem on his war flag is of an
owl.[5] Fourth, whenever Alakshmi enters a house, families fight and
turn on one another.[28] The presence of Kali and his family on earth
causes mankind to fight and turn on one another. Finally, Alakshmi is
said to ride a donkey.[26] Kali also rides a donkey in the Kalki
Purana.[5]
Role in modern communalism
Further information: Communalism (South Asia) and Religious violence
in India
Anti-beef eating pamphlet (1890 CE) showing Kali (far right)
attempting to slaughter a sacred cow.
The color version ran by the Ravi Varma Press (c. 1912).Kali’s image
was used in several pamphlets circulated by various Agorakshanasabh
(“cow protection leagues”) and “wandering ascetics” as a protest
against the Muslim practice of beef-eating during the British raj.[29]
[30] These pamphlets were produced in a time when Hindu-Muslim riots
over cow slaughter occurred in several areas of India; including
Azamgarh district (1893), when a total of 100 people died in similar
conflagrations throughout the empire; Ayodhya (1912-1913); and
Shahabad (1917).[31] One such pamphlet entitled “The Present State”
showed a cow being slaughtered by a trio of "Muhammadan" butchers.[29]
[30] Another portrayed Kali raising a sword above the head of a sacred
cow, whose body was illustrated to be a microcosmic paradise in which
all the Hindu gods resided. There were many different editions of this
version. For instance, one showed a woman labeled "The Hindu" waiting
with bowl-in-hand for the cow's calf to finish suckling before she
could get milk. A form of Krishna labeled Darmaraj ("Ruler of Dharma")
stood behind the cow and Kali was, again, harassing her with his
sword. Still, a different one deleted the woman and calf and instead
portrayed Dharmaraj in front of the cow pleading mat maro gay sarv ka
jivan hai ("don’t kill the cow, everyone is dependent on it"), while
Kali rebuts he manusyaho! Kaliyugi Mansahari jivom ko dekho ("mankind,
look at the meat-eating souls of the kaligyug").[29]
Some Hindus considered Kali’s presence in the picture to be a
representation of the Muslim community.[29][30] When one of the
versions of these pamphlets came into the possession of a state
official in 1893, he commented that the image “contained a
representation of a Musalman [Muslim] advancing to slay the cow ...”.
[29] One book states, “The Magistrate [at Deoria] found Muhammadans
excited because they heard a picture was in circulation representing a
Muhammadan with a sword drawn sacrificing a cow, and this they
considered an insult.”[29] In 1915, a color version of this picture
ran by the Ravi Varma Press[32] caught the attention of the colonial
censors and was presumably censored in some way.[29]
In popular culture
Nala Damayanti (1921): This big-budget film depicts a famous episode
from the Mahabharata, starting with Narada's ascent of Mount Meru. It
shows Swarga, the Heaven of Indra, the Transformation in the Clouds of
the Four Gods into impersonations of King Nala, Swan Messengers of
Love, the Transformation of Kali into a Serpent, the Meeting of Kali
and Dwarpa and the Four Gods amidst the Blue Air.[33]
Notes
^ a b CHAP. VII http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp041.htm#fr_212
^ SECTION LVIII http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/index.htm
^ a b c d e Chapter X Samudra mathana
^ SECTION XXXI
^ a b c d e f g h i Chaturvedi, B.K. Kalki Purana. New Delhi: Diamond
Books, 2004 (ISBN 81-288-0588-6)
^ Monier-Williams, Monier, Sir.Sanskrit-English Dictionary ISBN
0-19-864308-X
^ a b Canto 1: Creation, Chapter 17 http://vedabase.net/sb/1/17/en1
^ CYCLICAL TIME AND ASTRONOMY IN HINDUISM (See page. 3)
http://www.achaloza.com/docs/AchalOza_CyclicalTime.pdf
^ Glass, Marty. YUGA: An Anatomy of Our Fate. Sophia Perennis, 2004
(ISBN 0900588292)
^ "Terminalia belerica (Combretaceae) is a large deciduous tree
growing to a height of 25 – 30 meters, occurring throughout India up
to 1000 meters elevation, except in the dry regions of western
India ..." [1]
^ Smith, Frederick M. The Self Possessed: Deity And Spirit Possession
in South Asian Literature And Civilization. Columbia University Press,
2006 (ISBN 0231137486)
^ Mutalik, Keshav M. Jagannath Dasa’s Harikathamrutasara (Quintessence
of Hari’s Saga). Bombay: Focus (ISBN 81-7154-787-7)
^ In another version given by Shaivites, Shiva alone drank the deadly
poison, but his consort Parvati squeezed his neck to keep it from
reaching his stomach.[2] Still, some traditions state Vayu drank first
and Shiva last and that Vayu himself is an aspect of Shiva.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaivites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parvati
http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/series/11_names_of_shiva/11_names_of_shiva_bhagawan-1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vayu
^ The same source says Kali can never enter the bodies of Vishnu, his
consort Lakshmi, or Vayu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi
^ Doniger, Wendy. The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade.
University Of Chicago Press, 2000 (ISBN 0226156427)
^ Graubard, Stephen R. and Everett Mendelsohn. Science in Culture. Ed.
Peter Galison and Stephen Graubard. Transaction Publishers, 2001 (ISBN
0765806738)
^ a b c Prasad, Ramanuj. Know The Puranas. Pustak Mahal, 2005 (ISBN
81-223-0912-7)
^ Canto 1: Creation, Chapter 18 http://vedabase.net/sb/1/18/en1
^ a b Sastri, Natesa S. M. Hindu Feasts: Fasts And Ceremonies: Fasts
and Ceremonies. Laurier Books Ltd., 2003 (ISBN 8120604024)
^ See chapters 16, 17, and 18
^ The Prema-Sagara: Or the Ocean of Love (PDF ONLY)
^ Bahadur, S.P. Gitavali: Complete Works of Goswami Tulsidas (Volume
III). India: Prachya Prakashan, 1979 (ISBN 8121506697)
^ O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology.
University of California Press, 1980 (ISBN 0520040988)
^ a b See 55:14 http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp041.htm#fn_212
^ See 55:13 http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp041.htm#fn_211
^ a b c d e Pattanaik, Devdutt. Lakshmi: The Goddess of Wealth and
Fortune-An Introduction. Vakils Feffer & Simons Ltd, 2003 (ISBN
8187111585)
^ Krishna, Nanditha. The Book of Vishnu. Penguin Global, 2001 (ISBN
0670049077)
^ Chakrabarty, Dipesh. Provincializing Europe. Princeton University
Press, 2000 (ISBN 0691049092)
^ a b c d e f g Pinney, Christopher. Photos of the Gods: The Printed
Image and Political Struggle in India. Reaktion Books, 2004 (ISBN
1861891849)
^ a b c Gupta, Charu. Sexuality, Obscenity, And Community: Women,
Muslims, and the Hindu Public in Colonial India. Palgrave Macmillan,
2006 (ISBN 0312295855)
^ Paradox of the Indian Cow: Attitudes to Beef Eating in Early India
http://www.indowindow.net/sad/article.php?child=17&article=11
^ A lithograph press founded by Indian artist Ravi Varma in 1894.[3]
^ Plot Summary for Nala Damayanti (1921)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154931/plotsummary
External links
Look up Kali in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Places of Kali – Podcast of Kali’s tale from the Bhagavata Purana.
કલિયુગનાં ચાર આશ્રયસ્થાન (Kaliyuga's mainstay) – The tale of Kali and
Parikshit in Gujarati.
http://www.swargarohan.org/Bhagavata/Chapter01/09.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavata_Purana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujar%C4%81ti_script
Srimad Bhagavatam: Cant 1 – See chapters 16 and 17.
http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto1/c1-contents.html
A very large detailed painting of King Parikshit about to kill Kali.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_(demon)
/ History / Myths of Origins /
Paradox of the Indian Cow:
Attitudes to Beef Eating in Early India
By DN Jha
Renowned historian writes on beef eating in ancient India and
associated issues
An average Indian of today rooted in what appears to him as his
traditional Hindu religious heritage carries the load of the
misconception that his ancestors, especially the Vedic Aryans,
attached great importance to the cow on account of its inherent
sacredness. The ‘sacred’ cow has come to be considered a symbol of
community identity of the Hindus whose cultural tradition is often
imagined as threatened by the Muslims who are thought of as
beefeaters. The sanctity of the cow has, therefore, been announced
with the flourish of trumpets and has been wrongly traced back to the
Vedas, which are supposedly of divine origin and fountainhead of all
knowledge and wisdom. In other words, some sections of Indian society
have traced back the concept of sacred cow to the very period when it
was sacrificed and its flesh was eaten.
More importantly, the cow has tended to become a political instrument
at the hand of rulers over time. The Mughal emperors (e.g. Babar,
Akbar, Jahangir and Aurangzeb etc) are said to have imposed a
restricted ban on cow slaughter to accommodate the Jaina or
Brahmanical feeling of respect and veneration of the cow[1].
Similarly Shivaji, sometimes viewed as an incarnation of God who
descended on earth for the deliverance of the cow and brahmin, is
described as proclaiming: “We are Hindus and the rightful lords of the
realm. It is not proper for us to witness cow slaughter and the
oppression of brahmanas”[2].
But the cow became a tool of mass political mobilization when the
organized Hindu cow protection movement, beginning with the Sikh Kuka
(or Namdhari) sect in the Punjab around 1870 and later strengthened by
the foundation of the first Gorakshini Sabha in 1882 by Dayanananda
Saraswati, made this animal a symbol to unite a wide ranging people,
challenged the Muslim practice of its slaughter and provoked a series
of serious communal riots in the 1880s and 1890s. Although attitudes
to cow killing had been hardening even earlier, there was undoubtedly
a ‘dramatic intensification’ of the cow protection movement when in
1888 the North-Western Provinces High Court decreed that a cow was not
a sacred object.[3] Not surprisingly cow slaughter very often became
the pretext of many Hindu-Muslim riots, especially those in Azamgarh
district in the year 1893 when more than one hundred people were
killed in different parts of the country. Similarly in 1912-1913
violence rocked Ayodhya and a few years later, in 1917, Shahabad
witnessed a disastrous communal conflagration.[4]
The killing of the kine seems to have emerged again and again as a
troublesome issue on the Indian political scene even in independent
India despite legislation by several state legislatures prohibiting
cow slaughter and the Directive Principles of State Policy in the
Indian Constitution which directs the Indian state to “…to take steps
for… prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and
draught cattle”. For instance, in 1966, nearly two decades after
Indian independence, almost all the Indian communal political parties
and organizations joined hands in masterminding a massive
demonstration by several hundred thousand people in favour of a
national ban on cow slaughter which culminated in a violent rioting in
front of the Indian Parliament resulting in the death of at least
eight persons and injury to many more. In April 1979, Acharya Vinoba
Bhave, often supposed to be a spiritual heir to Mahatma Gandhi, went
on a hunger strike to pressurize the central government to prohibit
cow slaughter throughout the country and ended it after five days when
he succeeded in getting the Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s vague
assurance that his government would expedite anti-slaughter
legislation. Since then the cow ceased to remain much of an issue in
the Indian political arena for many years, though the management of
cattle resources has been a matter of academic debate among
sociologists, anthropologists, economists and different categories of
policy framers.
The veneration of cow has been, however, converted into a symbol of
communal identity of the Hindus and the obscurantist and
fundamentalist forces obdurately refuse to appreciate that the
‘sacred’ cow was not always all that sacred in the Vedic and
subsequent Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical traditions and that its
flesh, along with other varieties of meat, was quite often a part of
the haute cuisine in early India. Although the Shin, Muslims of
Dardistan in Pakistan, look on the cow as other Muslims do the pig,
avoid direct contact with cows, refuse to drink cow’s milk or use cow
dung as fuel and reject beef as food,[5] the self-styled custodians of
non-existent ‘monolithic’ Hinduism assert that the practice of beef
eating was first introduced in India by the followers of Islam who
came from outside and are foreigners in this country, little realising
that their Vedic ancestors were also foreigners who ate the flesh of
the cow and various other animals. Fanaticism getting precedence over
fact, it is not surprising that the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangha
(RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal and their numerous
outfits have a national ban on cow slaughter on their agenda and the
Chief Minister of Gujarat (Keshubhai Patel) announced some time ago,
as a pre-election gimmick, the setting up of a separate department to
preserve cow breeds and manage Hindu temples.[6] More recently, a
Bajrang Dal leader has threatened to enroll 30 lakh volunteers to
agitate against cow slaughter during the month of Bakrid in 2002.[7]
So high-geared has been the propaganda about abstention from beef
eating as a characteristic trait of ‘Hinduism’ that when the RSS
tried to claim Sikhs as Hindus, it led to vehement opposition from
them and one of the Sikh youth leaders proposed, ”Why not slaughter a
cow and serve beef in a gurudwara langar?”[8]
The communalists who have been raising a hullabaloo over the cow in
the political arena do not realise that beef eating remained a fairly
common practice for a long time in India and that the arguments for
its prevalence are based on the evidence drawn from our own scriptures
and religious texts. The response of historical scholarship to the
communal perception of Indian food culture, however, has been sober
and scholars have drawn attention to the textual evidence of beef
eating which, in fact, begins to be available from the oldest Indian
religious text Rgveda, supposedly of divine origin. H.H. Wilson,
writing in the first half of the nineteenth century, had asserted:
“the sacrifice of the horse or of the cow, the gomedha or asvamedha,
appears to have been common in the earliest periods of the Hindu
ritual”. The view that the practice of killing of cattle at sacrifices
and eating their flesh prevailed among the Indo-Aryans was put forth
most convincingly by Rajendra Lal Mitra in an article which first
appeared in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and
subsequently formed a chapter of his book The Indo-Aryans published in
1891. In 1894 William Crooke, a British civil servant, collected an
impressive amount of ethnographic data on popular religious beliefs
and practices in his two-volume book and devoted one whole chapter to
the respect shown to animals including the cow[9]. Later in 1912, he
published an informative piece on the sanctity of cow in India. But he
also drew attention to the old practice of eating beef and its
survival in his own times.[10] In 1927, L. L. Sundara Ram made a
strong case for cow protection for which he sought justification from
the scriptures of different religions including Hinduism. However he
did not deny that the Vedic people ate beef, [11] though he blamed the
Muslims for cow slaughter. Later in the early forties P. V. Kane in
his monumental work History of Dharmasastra referred to some Vedic and
early Dharmasastric passages which speak of cow killing and beef
eating. H.D. Sankalia drew attention to literary as well as
archaeological evidence of eating cattle flesh in ancient India.[12]
Similarly, Laxman Shastri Joshi, a Sanskritist of unquestionable
scholarship, drew attention to the Dharmasastra works, which
unequivocally support the prevalence of the practice of flesh eating
including beef eating in early India.[13]
Needless to say that the scholarship of all of the scholars mentioned
above was unimpeachable, and that none of them seems to have anything
to do with any anti- Hindu ideology. H.H. Wilson, for example, was the
first occupant of the Chair of Sanskrit at Oxford in 1832 and was not
as avowedly anti-Indian as many other imperialist scholars. Rajendra
Lal Mitra, a product of the Bengal renaissance and a close associate
of Rabindranath’s elder brother Jyotindranath Tagore, made significant
contribution to India’s intellectual life, and was described by Max
Mueller as the ‘best living Indologist’ of his time and by
Rabindranath Tagore as “the most beloved child of the muse”.[14]
William Crooke was a well-known colonial ethnograher who wrote
extensively on peasant life and popular religion without any marked
prejudice against Hinduism.[15] L. L. Sundara Ram, despite his
somewhat anti-Muslim feeling, was inspired by humanitarian
considerations. Mahamahopadhyaya P.V. Kane was a conservative Marathi
brahmin and the only Sanskritist to be honoured with the title of
Bharatratna. H.D. Sankalia combined his unrivalled archaeological
activity with a profound knowledge of Sanskrit. Besides these scholars
several other Indian Sanskritists and Indologists, not to mention a
number of western scholars, have repeatedly drawn our attention to the
textual evidence of eating beef and other types of animal flesh in
early India. Curious though it may seem, the Sangh Parivar, which
carries a heavy burden of “civilisational illiteracy”, has never
turned its guns towards them but against historians who have mostly
relied on the researches of the above-mentioned distinguished
scholars.
While the contribution of the scholars mentioned above cannot be
minimised, the limitation of their work lies in the fact that they
have referred to isolated bits of information on beef eating
concentrating mainly on the Vedic texts without treating it as part of
the flesh eating tradition prevalent in India. Unlike their works,
therefore, the present paper seeks to draw attention to the Indian
textual evidence of cattle killing and beef eating widely dispersed
over time so as to indicate its continuity for a long time in the
Brahmanical society and to suggest that the idea of cow’s supposed
holiness does not tie up with practices current in Indian society.
II
The early Aryans, who migrated to India from outside,
brought along with them their earlier cultural traits. Therefore, even
after their migration into the Indian subcontinent, for several
centuries, pastoralism, nomadism and animal sacrifice remained
characteristic features of their life till sedentary field agriculture
became the mainstay of their livelihood. Animal sacrifices were very
common, and in the agnadheya, which was a preparatory rite preceding
all public sacrifices, a cow was required to be killed.[16] In the
asvamedha, the most important of public sacrifices, first mentioned in
the Rgveda and discussed in the Brahmanas, more than 600 animals
(including wild ones like boars) and birds were killed and its finale
was marked by the sacrifice of 21 cows, which, according to the
dominant opinion were sterile ones.[17] In the gosava, an important
component of the public sacrifices like the rajasuya and vajapeya, a
sterile spotted cow was offered to Maruts and seventeen ‘dwarf heifers
under three’ were done to death in the pancasaradiyasava.[18] The
killing of animals including the cattle figures in several other
yajnas including caturmasya, sautramani and independent animal
sacrifice called pasubandha or nirudhapasubandha.[19] These and
several other major sacrifices involved killing of animals including
the cattle, which constituted the chief form of the wealth of the
early Aryans. They, not surprisingly, prayed for cattle and sacrificed
them to propitiate their gods.
The Vedic gods, for whom the various sacrifices were performed, had no
fixed menu of food. Milk, butter, barley, oxen, goats and sheep were
offered to them and these were their usual food, though some of them
seem to have had their special preferences. Indra had a special liking
for bulls (RV, V.29.7ab; VI.17.11b; VIII.12.8ab X.27.2c; X. 28. 3c;X.
86.14ab). Agni was not a tippler like Indra, but was fond of animal
food including the flesh of horses, bulls and cows (RV, VIII. 43.11;
X. 91.14ab). The toothless Pusan, the guardian of the roads, ate mush
as a Hobson’s choice. Soma was the name of a heady drink but, equally
importantly, of a god and killing of animals including cattle for him
(RV, X.91.14ab) was basic to most of the Rgvedic yajnas. The Maruts
and the Asvins were also offered cows. The Vedas mention about 250
animals out of which at least 50 were deemed fit for sacrifice and by
implication for divine as well as human consumption. The animal food
occupied a place of importance in the Vedic sacrifices and dietetics
and the general preference for the flesh of the cow is undeniable. The
Taittiriya Brahmana (III.9.8) categorically tells us: “Verily the cow
is food” (atho annam vai gauh) and the Satapatha Brahmana (III.1.2.21)
refers to Yajnavalkya’s stubborn insistence on eating the tender
(amsala) flesh of the cow.
According to the subsequent Brahmanical texts (e.g. Grhyasutras and
Dharmasutras) the killing of animals and eating of beef was very much
de rigeur. The ceremony of guest-reception (known as arghya in the
Rgveda but generally as madhuparka in subsequent texts) consisted not
only of a meal of a mixture of curds and honey but also of the flesh
of a cow or bull. Early lawgivers go to the extent of making flesh
food mandatory in madhuparka --- an injunction more or less dittoed
by several later legal texts (AsGS, I.24.33; KathaGS, 24,20; SankhGS,
II.15.2; ParGS, I.3.29). A guest therefore came to be described by
Panini as a goghna (one for whom the cow is slain). The sacred thread
ceremony was not all that sacred; for it was necessary for a snataka
to wear an upper garment of the cowhide (ParGS, II.5.17-20).
The slaughter of animals formed an important component of the cult of
the dead in the Vedic texts as well as in later Dharmasastra works.
The thick fat of the cow was used to cover the dead body (RV, X.14-18)
and a bull was burnt along with the corpse to enable the departed to
ride with in the nether world. The funerary rites included feeding of
the brahmins after the prescribed period and quite often the flesh of
the cow/ ox was offered to the dead (AV, XII.2, 48). The textual
prescriptions indicate the degree of satisfaction obtained by the
Manes depending upon the animal offered---- the cow’s flesh could keep
them contented for at least a year! The Vedic and the post-Vedic
texts also often mention the killing of animals including the kine in
several other ritual contexts. The gavamayana, a sessional sacrifice
performed by the brahmins was, for example, marked by animal slaughter
culminating in an extravagant bacchanalian communal festival
(mahavrata) in which cattle were slaughtered. There was, therefore, a
relationship between the sacrifice and sustenance. But this need not
necessarily mean that different meat types were eaten only if offered
in a sacrifice. Thus in the grhamedha, which has been discussed in
several Srautasutras, an unspecified number of cows were slain not in
the strict ritual manner but in the crude and profane manner.[20]
Archaeological evidence also suggests non-ritual killing of cattle.
This is indicative of the fact that beef and other animal flesh formed
part of the dietary habits of the people and that the edible flesh was
not always ritually consecrated, though some scholars have argued to
the contrary.[21] Despite the overwhelming evidence of cattle killing,
several scholars have obdurately held that the Vedic cow was sacred
and inviolable on the basis of the occurrence of the word aghnya/
aghnya in the Atharvaveda and the use of words for cow as epithet or
in simile and metaphor with reference to entities of highest religious
significance. But it has been convincingly proved that if the Vedic
cow was at all inviolable, it was so only when it belonged to a
brahmin who received cows as sacrificial fee (daksina).[22] But this
cannot be taken to be an index of the animal’s inherent sanctity and
inviolability in the Vedic period or even later.
Nor can one make too much of the doctrine of non-killing (ahimsa) in
relation to the cow. Gautama Buddha and Mahavira emphasized the idea
of non-violence, which seems to have made its first appearance in the
Upanisadic thought and literature. But despite their vehement
opposition of the Vedic animal sacrifice, neither they nor their
followers were averse to eating of meat. The Buddha is known to have
eaten beef and pork and the texts amply indicate that flesh meat very
well suited the Buddhist palate. Asoka, whose compassion for animals
is undeniable, allowed certain specified animals to be killed for his
kitchen. In fact, neither Asoka’s list of animals exempted from
slaughter nor the Arthasastra of Kautilya specifically mentions cow as
unslayable. The cattle were killed for food throughout the Mauryan
period.
Like Buddhism, Jainism also enthusiastically took up cudgels for non-
violence. But meat eating was so common in Vedic and post-Vedic times
that even Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, is said to have eaten the
meat of a cockerel. Perhaps the early Jainas were not strict
vegetarians. A great Jaina logician of the eighth century,
Haribhadrasuri, tells us that the monks did not have objection to
eating flesh and fish, which were given to them by householders,
though there is irrefutable textual evidence to show that meat eating
became a strong taboo among the followers of Jainism. The
inflexibility of the Jaina attitude to meat eating is deeply rooted in
the basic tenets of Jaina philosophy, which, at least in theory, is
impartial in its respect for all forms of life without according any
special status to the cow. Thus, although both Buddhism, and, to a
greater extent, Jainism contributed to the growth of ahimsa doctrine,
neither seems to have developed the sacred cow concept
independently.
III
Despite the Upanisadic, Buddhist and Jaina advocacy of ahimsa, the
practice of ritual and random of killing animals including the cattle
continued in the post-Mauryan centuries. The law book of Manu (200 BC-
AD 200), which is the most representative of the legal texts and has
much to say on the lawful and forbidden food, contains several
passages on flesh eating, which have much in common with earlier and
later Brahmanical juridical works. Like the earlier law books, it
mentions the animals whose flesh could be eaten. Manu’s list includes
the porcupine, hedgehog, iguana, rhinoceros, tortoise and the hare and
all those domestic animals having teeth in one jaw only, the only
exception being the camel (V.18); and, it is significant that the cow
is not excluded from the list of edible animals. Eating meat on
sacrificial occasions, Manu tells us, is a divine rule (daivo vidhih
smrtah), but doing so on other occasions is a demoniac practice (V.
31). Accordingly one does not do any wrong by eating meat while
honouring the gods, the Manes and guests (madhuparka ca yajne ca
pitrdaivatakarmani), irrespective of the way in which the meat was
procured (V.32, 41). Manu asserts that animals were created for the
sake of sacrifice, that killing on ritual occasions is non-killing (V.
39) and injury (himsa) as enjoined by the Veda (vedavihitahimsa) is
known to be non-injury (V.44). In the section dealing with rules for
times of distress, Manu recalls the legendary examples of the most
virtuous brahmins of the days of yore who ate ox-meat and dog-meat to
escape death from starvation (X.105-9). Manu’s latitudinarian attitude
is clear from his recognition of the natural human tendency of eating
meat, drinking spirituous liquor and indulging in sexual intercourse,
even if abstention brings great rewards (V.56). He further breaks
loose the constraints when he says: “the Lord of creatures (Prajapati)
created this whole world to be the sustenance of the vital spirit;
both the immovable and the movable (creation is) the food of the vital
spirit. What is destitute of motion is the food of those endowed with
locomotion; (animals) without fangs (are the food) of those with
fangs, those without hands of those who possess hands, and the timid
of the bold. The eater who daily even devours those destined to be his
food, commits no sin; for the creator himself created both the eaters
and those who are to be eaten” (V.28-30). This injunction removes all
restrictions on flesh eating and gives an unlimited freedom to all
desiring to eat animal flesh and since Manu does not mention beef
eating as taboo one can infer that he did not treat cow as sacrosanct.
Manu contradicts his own statements by extolling ahimsa (X.63), but
there is no doubt that he permitted meat eating at least on ritual
occasions (madhuparka, sraddha etc) when the killing of the cow and
other cattle, according to his commentator Medhatithi (9th century),
was in keeping with the Vedic and post- Vedic practice
(govyajamamsamaproksitambhaksyed… madhuparkovyakhyatah tatra
govadhovihitah).[23]
Yajnavalkya (AD 100-300), like Manu, discusses the rules regarding
lawful and forbidden food. Although his treatment of the subject is
less detailed, he does not differ radically from him. Yajnavalkya
mentions the specific animals (deer, sheep, goat, boar, rhinoceros
etc) and birds (e.g. partridge) whose flesh could satisfy the Manes (I.
258-61). According to him a student, teacher, king, close friend and
son-in-law should be offered arghya every year and a priest should be
offered madhuparka on all ritual occasions (I.110). He further enjoins
that a learned brahmin (srotriya) should be welcomed with a big ox or
goat (mahoksam va mahajam va srotriyayopakalpayet) delicious food and
sweet words. This indicates his endorsement of the earlier practice of
killing cattle at the reception of illustrious guests. Yajnavalkya,
like Manu, permits eating of meat when life is in danger, or when it
is offered in sacrifices and funerary rites (i.179). But unconsecrated
meat (vrthamamsam, anupakrtamamsani), according to him, is a taboo (I.
167, 171) and any one killing animals solely for his own food and not
in accordance with the Vedic practice is doomed to go to hell for as
many days as the number of hair on the body of the victim (I.180).
Similarly Brhaspati (AD 300-500), like Manu, recommends abstention
from liquor (madya), flesh (mamsa) and sexual intercourse only if they
are not lawfully ordained[24] which implies that whatever was lawful
was permitted. The lawgivers generally accept as lawful all those
sacrifices, which, according to them, have Vedic sanction. The
sacrificial slaughter of animals and domesticated bovines, as we have
seen, was a Vedic practice and therefore may have been fairly common
among the Brahmanical circles during the early Christian centuries and
even well into the later half of the first millennium AD. It would be,
however, unrealistic to assume that the dharmic precept of restricting
animal slaughter to ritual occasions was always taken seriously either
by brahmins for whom the legal injunctions were meant or by other
sections of society.[25] It is not surprising, therefore, that
Brhaspati, while discussing the importance of local customs, says that
in Madhyadesa the artisans eat cows (madhyadese karmakarah silpinasca
gavasinah).[26]
The evidence from the epics is quite eloquent. Most of the characters
in the Mahabharata are meat eaters and it makes a laudatory reference
to the king Rantideva in whose kitchen two thousand cows were
butchered everyday, their flesh, along with grains, being distributed
among the brahmins (III.208.8-9)[27]. Similarly the Ramayana of
Valmiki makes frequent reference to the killing of animals including
the cow for sacrifice as well as food. Rama was born after his father
Dasaratha performed a big sacrifice involving the slaughter of a large
number of animals declared edible by the Dharmasastras, which, as we
have seen, sanction ritual killing of the kine. Sita, while crossing
the Yamuna, assures her that she would worship her with thousand cows
and a hundred jars of wine when Rama accomplishes his vow. Her
fondness for deer meat drives her husband crazy enough to kill Marici,
a deer in disguise. Bharadvaja welcomes Rama by slaughtering a fatted
calf in his honour.[28]
The non-vegetarian dietary practices find an important place in the
early Indian medical treatises, whose chronology broadly coincides
with that of the law books of Manu and Yajnavalkya, and the two epics.
Caraka (1st-2nd century), Susruta (3rd –4th century) and Vagbhata (7th
century) provide an impressive list of the variety of fish and flesh
and all three of them speak of the therapeutic uses of beef[29]. The
continuity of the tradition of eating flesh including that of the
cattle is also echoed in early Indian secular literature till late
times. In the Gupta period, Kalidasa alludes to the story of Rantideva
who killed numerous cows every day in his kitchen.[30] More than two
centuries later, Bhavabhuti (AD 700) refers to two instances of guest
reception, which included the killing of a heifer[31]. In the 10th
century Rajasekhara mentions the practice of killing an ox or a goat
in honour of a guest[32]. In the 12th century Sriharsa mentions a
variety of non-vegetarian delicacies served at a dazzling marriage
feast and refers to two interesting instances of cow killing[33],
though, in the same century Somesvara shows clear preference for pig
flesh over other meat types and does not mention beef at all.
IV
While the above references, albeit limited in number, indicate that
the ancient practice of killing the kine for food continued till about
the 12th century, there is considerable evidence in the commentaries
on the kavya literature and the earlier Dharmasastra texts to show
that the Brahmanical writers retained its memory till very late times.
Among the commentators on the secular literature, Candupandita (late
13th century) from Gujarat, Narahari[34] (14th century) from Telengana
in Andhra Pradesh, and Mallinatha[35] (14th-15th century), who is
associated with the king Devaraya II of Vidyanagara (Vijayanagara),
clearly indicate that, in earlier times, the cow was done to death for
rituals and hence for food. As late as the 18th century Ghanasyama, a
minister of a Tanjore ruler, states that the killing of cow in honour
of a guest was the ancient rule.[36]
Similarly the authors of Dharmasastra commentaries and religious
digests from the 9th century onwards keep alive the memory of the
archaic practice of beef eating and some of them even go so far as to
permit eating beef in specific circumstances. For example, Medhatithi
(9th century), probably a Kashmirian brahmin, says that a bull or ox
was killed in honour of a ruler or any one deserving to be honoured
and unambiguously allows eating the flesh of cow (govyajamamsam) on
ritual occasions[37]. Several other writers of exegetical works seem
to lend support to this view, though some times indirectly.
Visvarupa[38] (9th century), a brahmin from Malwa and probably a pupil
of Sankara, Vijnanesvara[39] (11th century), who may have lived not
far from Kalyana in modern Karnataka, Haradatta[40] (12th century),
also a southerner (daksinatya), Laksmidhara[41] (12th century), a
minister of the Gahadwala king, Hemadri[42] (late 13th century), a
minister of the Yadavas of Devagiri, Narasimha/ Nrsimha[43] (14th
century), possibly from southern India, and Mitra Misra[44] (17th
century) from Gopacala (Gwalior) support the practice of killing a cow
on occasions like guest-reception and sraddha in ancient times. As
recently as the early 20th century, Madana Upadhyaya from Mithila
refers to the ritual slaughter of milch cattle in the days of yore.
[45] Thus even when the Dharmasastra commentators view cow killing
with disfavour, they generally admit that it was an ancient practice
and that it was to be avoided in the kali age.
V
While the above evidence is indicative of the continuity of the
practice of beef eating, the lawgivers had already begun to discourage
it around the middle of the first millennium when the Indian society
began to be gradually feudalized leading to major socio-cultural
transformation. This phase of transition, first described in the epic
and Puranic passages as kaliyuga, saw many changes and modification in
social norms and customs. The Brahmanical religious texts now begin to
speak of many earlier practices as forbidden in the kaliyuga –
practices which came to be known as kalivarjyas. While the number of
kalivarjyas swelled up over time, most of the relevant texts mention
cow killing as forbidden in the kali. According to some early medieval
lawgivers a cow killer was an untouchable and one incurred sin even by
talking to him. They increasingly associated cow slaughter and beef
eating with the proliferating number of untouchable castes. It is,
however, interesting that some of them consider these acts as no more
than minor behavioural aberrations like cleaning one’s teeth with
one’s fingers and eating only salt or soil.[46]
Equally interesting is the fact that almost all the prescriptive texts
enumerate cow killing as a minor sin (upapataka) and none of them
describe it as a major offence (mahapataka). Moreover the Smrti texts
provide easy escape routes by laying down expiatory procedures for
intentional as well as inadvertent killing of the cow. This may imply
that that cattle killing may not have been uncommon in society and the
atonements were prescribed merely to discourage eating of cattle
flesh. To what extent the Dharmasastric injunctions were effective,
however, remains a matter of speculation; for the possibility of at
least some members eating beef on the sly cannot be ruled out. As
recently as the late 19th century Swami Vivekananda was alleged to
have eaten beef during his stay in America, though he vehemently
defended his action.[47] Similarly in early twentieth century Mahatma
Gandhi spoke of the hypocrisy of the orthodox Hindus who “do not so
much as hesitate or inquire when during illness the doctor …
prescribes them beef tea.”[48] Even today 72 communities in Kerala--
not all of them untouchable perhaps--- prefer beef to the expensive
mutton and the Hindutva forces are persuading them to go easy on it.
[49]
VI
Although cow killing and beef eating gradually came to be viewed as a
sin and a source of pollution from the early medieval period, the cow
and its products (milk, curds, clarified butter, dung and urine) or
their mixture called pancagavya had been assuming a purificatory role
from much earlier times. The Vedic texts attest to the ritual use of
cow’s milk and milk products, but the term pancagavya occurs for the
first time in the Baudhayana Dharmasutra. The law books of Manu,
Visnu, Vasistha, Yajnavalkya and those of several later lawgivers like
Atri, Devala and Parasara mention the use of the mixture of the five
products of the cow for both purification and expiation. The
commentaries and religious digests, most of which belong to the
medieval period, abound in references to the purificatory role of the
pancagavya. The underlying assumption in all these cases is that the
pancagavya is pure. But several Dharmasastra texts forbid its use by
women and the lower castes. If a sudra drinks pancagavya, we are told,
he goes to hell.[50]
It is curious that the prescriptive texts, which repeatedly refer to
the purificatory role of the cow, also provide much evidence of the
notion of pollution and impurity associated with this animal.
According to Manu (V.125) the food smelt by the cow has to be
purified. Other early lawgivers like Visnu (XXIII.38) and Yajnavalkya
(I.189) also express similar views. The latter in fact says that while
the mouth of the goat and horse is pure that of the cow is not. Among
the later juridical texts, those of Angirasa, Parasara, Vyasa and so
on, support the idea of the cow’s mouth being impure. The lawgiver
Sankha categorically states that all limbs of the cow are pure except
her mouth. The commentaries on different Dharmasastra texts reinforce
the notion of impurity of the cow’s mouth. All this runs counter to
the ideas about the purificatory role of the cow.
Needless to say, then, that the image of the cow projected by Indian
textual traditions, especially the Brahmanical- Dharmasastric works,
over the centuries is polymorphic. Its story through the millennia is
full of inconsistencies and has not always been in conformity with
dietary practices prevalent in society. It was killed and yet the
killing was not killing. When it was not slain, mere remembering the
old practice of butchery satisfied the brahmins. Its five products
including faeces and urine have been pure but its mouth has not been
so. Yet through these incongruous attitudes and puzzling paradoxes the
Indian cow has struggled its way to sanctity. But its holiness is
elusive. For, there is no cow- goddess, nor any temple in her honour.
[51] Nevertheless the veneration of this animal has come to be viewed
as a characteristic trait of modern day non-existent monolithic
‘Hinduism’ bandied about by the Hindutva forces.
[1] L.L. Sundara Ram, Cow Protection in India, The South Indian
Humanitarian League, George Town, Madras, 1027, pp.122-123, 179-190.
[2] Siva Digvijaya quoted in Sundara Ram, op. cit. p.191.
[3] Sandria B. Freitag, “Contesting in Public: Colonial Legacies and
Contemporary Communalism”, in David Ludden, ed., Making India Hindu,
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996, p.217.
[4] Idem, Collective Action and Community: Public Arena and the
Emergence of Communalism in North India, Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1990, Chapter 6; Gyan Pandey, ‘Rallying round the Cow’, in
Subaltern Studies, Vol.. II, Ranajit Guha, (ed.), Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1983, pp. 60- 129.
[5] Frederick J. Simoons, “Questions in the Sacred-Cow Controversy”,
Current Anthropology, 20(3), September 1979, p.468.
[6] The Times of India, 28 May 1999, p.12.
[7] Frontline, 13 April 2001.
[8] Rajesh Ramachandran, “A Crisis of Identity”, The Hindustan Times,
7 May 2000.
[9] W. Crooke, The Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, 2
Vols, Delhi: 4th reprint, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1978.
[10] W. Crooke, ‘The Veneration of the Cow in India’, Folklore, 13
(1912), pp.275-306.
[11] Sundara Ram, Cow Protection in India, Madras: The South Indian
Humanitarian League, 1927, p.8, passim.
[12] H.D. Sankalia, “ (The Cow) In History”, Seminar No. 93, May 1967.
[13] “Was the Cow Killed in Ancient India?” Quest, (75), March-
April 1972, pp. 83-87.
[16] J.C. Heesterman translates a passage of the Kathaka Samhita
(8.7:90.10) relating to the agnadheya as: ‘they kill a cow, they play
a dice for [shares in] her, they serve her up to those seated in the
assembly hall’: Broken World of Sacrifice, Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1993, p.283, note 33.
[17] Louis Renou, Vedic India, Varanasi, reprint, Indological Book
House, 1971 p.109.
[18] R.L. Mitra, Indo-Aryans: Contributions to the Elucidation of
Ancient and Medieval History, 2 Vols, Varanasi: reprint, Indological
Book House, 1969, p.363.
[19] A.B. Keith, Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanisads,
Delhi: Indian reprint, Motilal Banarsidass, 1970, p.324; P.V. Kane,
History of Dharmasastra, II, pt.2, Chapter
XXXII.
[20] J. C. Heesterman, op.cit., pp. 190-93, 200-02.
[21] For different views see Hanns-Peter Schmidt, ‘Ahimsa and
Rebirth’ in Inside The Texts Beyond The Texts: New Approaches to the
Study of the Vedas, M. Witzel (ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997,
pp. 209-10; Cf. J.C. Heesterman, ‘Vratya and Sacrifice’, Indo-Iranian
Journal, 6 (1962), pp. 1-37.
[22] William Norman Brown, ‘The Sanctity of Cow in Hinduism’, Madras
University Journal, 27.2 (1957), pp. 29-49.
[23] Medhatithi on Manu, V.27, 41 see Manava-Dharma-Sastra, ed., V.N.
Mandalik, Bombay, 1886, pp.604, 613.
[24] Brhaspatismrti cited in Krtyakalpataru of Laksmidhara,
trtiyabhaga, ed., K.V. Rangaswami Aiyangar, Baroda Oriental Institute,
Baroda,1950, p.326
[25] Contra Francis Zimmermann (The Jungle and the Aroma of Meats,
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987, p.180ff) asserts that
only consecrated meat was eaten and Hanns Peter Schmidt seems to be in
agreement with him
(‘Ahimsa and Rebirth’, op.cit., p.209). But the evidence from the
Buddhist Jatakas, Kautilya’s Arthasastra, and Asokan inscriptions etc
does not support this view.
[26] Brhaspatismrti, 128b, Gaekwad Oriental Series, Baroda, 1941.
[27] For further references see S. Sorensen, An Index to the Names in
the Mahabharata, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1963, pp.593-94.
[28] R. L. Mitra, op.cit., vol.I, p. 396.
[29] Caraka Samhita: Sutrasthanam, II.31, XXVII.79: Susruta Samhita:
Sarirasthanam, III.25; Astanga Hrdayam: Sutrasthanam, VI.65.
[30] Meghaduta, with the commentary of Mallinatha, ed. and tr., M. R.
Kale (ed. & tr.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1979, I.48.
[31] Mahaviracarita, Rampratap Tripathi Shastri (ed. with Hindi tr.),
Allahabad: Lok Bharati Prakashan, 1973. III.2. Uttararamacarita, with
notes and the commentary of Ghanasyama, P.V. Kane and C. N. Joshi (ed.
and tr.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1962, Act IV.
[32] Balaramayana, of Rajasekhara, Ganagasagar Rai (ed.) Varanasi:
Chowkhamba, 1984. I.38a
[33] Naisadhamahakavyam, with the commentary of Mallinatha, Haragovind
Shastri (ed.) Varanasi, Chowkhamba, 1981 XVII.173, 197.
[34] Naisadhacarita of Sri Harsa, K.K. Handiqui (tr. with
commentaries), Poona, Deccan College, 1965, p.472.
[35] Naisadhamahakavyam, p. 1137.
[36] Meghaduta, Kale’s edn, p.83.
[37] Medhatithi on Manu, V.26-7,41. See Manava-Dharma-Sastra (with the
commentaries of Medhatithi, Sarvajnanarayana, Kulluka, Nandana and
Ramacandra), V. N. Mandalika (ed.), Bombay: Ganpat Krishnaji’s Press,
1886, pp.604, 613.
[38] Visvarupa on Yajnavalkya, I. 108. See Yajnavalkyasmrti (with
the commentary Balakrida of Visvarupacarya), Mahamahopadhyaya T.
Ganapati Sastri (ed.), Delhi: 2nd edn, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1982, p.
97.
[39] Mitaksara on Yajnavalkya, I. 108. See Yajnavalkyasmrti with
Vijnanesvara’s Mitaksara, Gangasagar Rai (ed.), Delhi; Chowkhamba
Sanskrit Pratisthan, 1998, p.54.
[40] Haradatta on Gautama, XVII.30.
[41] Krtyakalpataru, Niyatakalakandam, trtiyabhagam, K.V. Rangaswami
Aiyangar (ed.), Baroda: Oriental Research Institute, 1950, p.190
[42] P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, III, Poona: Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute, 1973, p.929.
[43] R. L. Mitra, op.cit., p.384.
[44] Mitra Misra on Yajnavalkya, I. 108.
[45] Palapiyusalata Gourisayantralaya, Darbhanga, Samvat 1951.
[46] Atrismrti, verse 314 in Astadasasmrtyah (with Hindi tr by
Sundarlal Tripathi, Khemraj Shrikrishnadas, Venkateshwar Steam Press,
Bombay, Saka 1846.
[47] Romain Rolland, The Life of Vivekanada and the Universal Gospel,
Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, Eleventh Impression, August 1988, p.44 fn.
3.
[48] M. K. Gandhi, An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments
with Truth, Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad, 1927, reprint 2000, p.324.
Gandhi saw a five-footed “miraculous” cow at the Kumbha Mela at
Allahabad in 1915, the fifth foot being nothing but “a foot cut off
from a live calf and grafted upon the shoulder of the cow” which
attracted the lavish charity of the ignorant Hindu (ibid., p.325).
[49] India Today, 15 April 1993, p.72.
[50] Visnusmrti, LIV.7; Atrismriti, verse 297, etc.
[51] A.L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India, Delhi, Rupa & Co., 27th
Impression, 1996, p.319.
http://www.indowindow.net/sad/article.php?child=17&article=11
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with
Bhadrakali. (Discuss)
For other uses, see Kali (disambiguation).
"Kalika" redirects here. For other uses, see Kalika (disambiguation).
"The black one" redirects here. For the 2005 drone metal album, see
Black One. For the male choral group, see The Black Ones.
Kali
Kali (Sanskrit: काली, Bengali: কালী, both Kālī), also known as Kalika
(Bengali: কালিকা, Kālikā), is the Hindu goddess associated with
eternal energy. The name Kali comes from Kāla which means black, time,
death, lord of death, shiva etc. kAli means "the black one". Since
Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal Time, Kālī, his consort, also means
"the Time" or "Death" (as in time has come). Hence, Kali is considered
the goddess of time and change. Although sometimes presented as dark
and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation
still has some influence. More complex Tantric beliefs sometimes
extend her role so far as to be the "ultimate reality" or Brahman. She
is also revered as Bhavatarini (literally "redeemer of the universe").
Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a
benevolent mother goddess.
Kali is represented as the consort of god Shiva, on whose body she is
often seen standing. She is associated with many other Hindu goddesses
like Durga, Bhadrakali, Sati, Rudrani, Parvati and Chamunda. She is
the foremost among the Dasa-Mahavidyas, ten fierce Tantric goddesses.
[1]
Etymology
Kālī is the feminine of kāla "black, dark coloured" (per Pāṇini
4.1.42). In the Mundaka Upanishad Kali is mentioned as one of the
seven tongues of Agni, the Rigvedic God of Fire (Mundaka Upanishad
2:4), thus giving rise to Kali's tongue, seen in images. It appears as
the name of a form of Durga in the Mahabharata 4.195, and as the name
of an evil female spirit in Harivamsa 11552.
Kāla means black and also time, death, lord of death, shiva etc. kAli
means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal Time,
Kālī, his consort also means "the Time" or "Death" (as in time has
come). "कालः शिवः । तस्य पत्नीति - काली । kālaḥ śivaḥ । tasya patnīti
- kālī" - [from Shabdakalpadrum]. The association is seen in a passage
from the Mahābhārata, depicting a female figure who carries away the
spirits of slain warriors and animals. She is called kālarātri (which
Thomas Coburn, a historian of Sanskrit Goddess literature, translates
as "night of death") and also kālī (which, as Coburn notes, can be
read here either as a proper name or as a description "the black one").
[2]
Kali's association with blackness stands in contrast to her consort,
Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation
ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) in which he meditates, and with which Kali
is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.
Origins
According to David Kinsley, Kali is first mentioned in Hinduism as a
distinct goddess, related to war, around 600 CE. Scriptures like Agni
Purana and Garuda Purana describe her terrible appearance and
associate her with corpses and war. The oldest mention of Kali dates
back to Rigvedic age. The 'Ratri Sookta' in Rigveda actually calls her
as Goddess 'Ratri' and regards Ratri as the Supreme force in the
universe. In the Tantras, she is regarded as the Shakti (Power) of The
Great Mahākāla (a form of Lord Shiva). Her portrayal on dead bodies in
crematorium symbolizes her presence in the hearts of devotees who have
killed their Earthly desires and want Supreme Consciousness in the lap
of the Ultimate Mother, Kali. In another form, she is regarded as the
destroyer, the Mahakali as Kali Tantra says-"kāli kālanāt" meaning
Kali is the one who finishes. Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi
Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni_Purana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda_Purana
In Tantra
Kali Yantra
Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra
Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of
reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be
the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it
is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts,
and rituals.[3] In many sources Kali is praised as the highest reality
or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma,
Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea,
ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source
unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of
Kali's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-
tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kali vidyas
(manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her
to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra
In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kali is one of the epithets for the
primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:
At the dissolution of things, it is Kala [Time] Who will devour all,
and by reason of this He is called Mahakala [an epithet of Lord
Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahakala Himself, it is Thou who art
the Supreme Primordial Kalika. Because Thou devourest Kala, Thou art
Kali, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin
of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [primordial
Kali]. Resuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless,
Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having
a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning,
multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all,
Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art.[3]
The figure of Kali conveys death, destruction, and the consuming
aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even
death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to
confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a
vehicle of salvation.[5] This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-
stotra[6], a short praise to Kali describing the Pancatattva ritual
unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)
He, O Mahakali who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with
dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra,
and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda
flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. 0
Kali, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes
offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Sakti
[his female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet,
a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.[5]
The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kali is more than a
terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here,
she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated
with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, who is said to be
her spouse, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes
a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object
of meditation.[7] In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on
hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and
beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right
hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features
exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of
salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a
symbol of triumph over death.[8]
[edit] In Bengali tradition
Kali Puja festivalKali is also a central figure in late medieval
Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen
(1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as
Shiva's consort, Kali is rarely pictured in Hindu mythology and
iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in
the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengali tradition her appearance
and habits change little, if at all.[9]
The Tantric approach to Kali is to display courage by confronting her
on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible
appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kali's
teachings, adopting the attitude of a child. In both cases, the goal
of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn
acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed
in Ramprasad's work.[10]
Ramprasad comments in many of his other songs that Kali is indifferent
to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to
nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does
not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:
Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a
reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]
Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?
Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.
You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you
wear as a garland around your neck.
It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but
you will not listen.[11]
To be a child of Kali, Ramprasad asserts, is to be denied of earthly
delights and pleasures. Kali is said to not give what is expected. To
the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her
devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go
beyond the material world.[11][12]
A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kali as its
central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet. Mostly sung by male
vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of
the finest singers of Shyama Sangeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.
In Bengal, Kali is venerated in the festival Kali Puja - the new moon
day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.
Mythology
Slayer of Raktabija
In Kali's most famous myth, Durga and her assistants, Matrikas, wound
the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons, in
an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the
situation, as for every drop of blood that is spilt from Raktabija,
the demon reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes
increasingly filled with his duplicates.[13] Durga, in dire need of
help, summons Kali to combat the demons. It is also said that Goddess
Durga takes the form of Goddess Kali at this time.
The Devi Mahatmyam describes:
Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown,
issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and
noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated
with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing
to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue
lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky
with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great
asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the
devas.[14]
Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting
the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her
victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the
corpses of the slain. Her consort Shiva lies among the dead beneath
her feet, a representation of Kali commonly seen in her iconography as
Daksinakali.[15]
In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as
a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet
Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda.
[16] Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like
her in appearance and habit.[17]
Daksinakali
Bhadrakali (A gentle form of Kali), circa 1675.
Painting; made in India, Himachal Pradesh, Basohli,
now placed in LACMA.In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, it is said
that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the
battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. In her fury she fails to
see the body of her husband, Shiva, who lies among the corpses on the
battlefield.[18] Ultimately the cries of Shiva attract Kali's
attention, calming her fury. As a sign of her shame at having
disrespected her husband in such a fashion, Kali sticks out her
tongue. However, some sources state that this interpretation is a
later version of the symbolism of the tongue: in tantric contexts, the
tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and
action) controlled by sattva, spiritual and godly creatures who served
as assassins.[19]
One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and
Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes
up residence in a forest. With fierce companions she terrorizes the
surrounding area. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while
performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the
destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming
the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest,
and defeats her when she is unable to perform the energetic Tandava
dance. Although in this case Kali is defeated, and is forced to
control her disruptive habits, there are very few other images or
other myths depicting her in such a manner.[20]
Maternal Kali
Another myth depicts the infant Shiva calming Kali. In this similar
story, Kali again defeated her enemies on the battlefield and began to
dance out of control, drunk on the blood of the slain. To calm her
down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the
battlefield, as an infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress,
Kali ceases dancing to take care of the helpless infant. She picks him
up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva.[21]
This myth depicts Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect; something
that is revered in Hinduism, but not often recognized in the West.
Ekamukhi or "One-Faced" Murti of Mahakali displaying ten hands holding
the signifiers of various Devas
Mahakali
Main article: Mahakali
Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally
translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of
Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also
simply be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali,[22] signifying her
greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is
etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which
is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in
Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of
the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form
as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order
to be restored.
Iconography
Statue from Dakshineswar Kali Temple, West Bengal, India; along with
her Yantra.Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-
armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she
is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as
blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with
intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled,
small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is
lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of
human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by
serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva,
usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga
or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and
transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.[23]
In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a
blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and three eyes. She has
ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.
[24]
The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark
complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding
a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and
youthful.[25]
In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered
the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is
regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And,
because of her terrible form she is also often seen as a great
protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why
one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically
replied, "Maharaj, when they are in trouble your devotees come running
to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"[26]
According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:
My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda
Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night
sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean
depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This
inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.
-Sri Ramakrishna
Throughout her history artists the world over have portrayed Kali in
myriad poses and settings, some of which stray far from the popular
description, and are sometimes even graphically sexual in nature.
Given the popularity of this Goddess, artists everywhere will continue
to explore the magnificence of Kali's iconography. This is clear in
the work of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta,
who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted
symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.
Popular form
Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:
Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand
carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a
bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.
Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a
severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head
signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order
to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the
abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her
initiated devotees (or anyone worshiping her with a true heart) will
be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.[27]
She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at
108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable
beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which
represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit
alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of
dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a
form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of
language, and all mantras.[28]
She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the
covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss
and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in
its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities — she
will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore
believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to
her — she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.[29]
[edit] Mahakali form
The Dasamukhi MahakaliKali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having
ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a
various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these
represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often
the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication
is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these
deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that
Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an
"ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms,
signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only
through Her grace.
Shiva in Kali iconography
In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead
body of Shiva. There is a mythological story for the reason behind her
standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as
follows:
Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific
dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began
to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request
of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior.
However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a
corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the
dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon her husband she
realized her mistake and bit her tongue in shame.[30]
The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is
as follows:
The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while
the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva, or
Mahadeva represents Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is
beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand,
represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all
names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and
is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all
consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act
independently of him, i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the
universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the
dynamic power of Brahman.[31]
Kali in Traditional Form, standing on Shiva's chest.While this is an
advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual
Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and
associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial
saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without
the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the
short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive;
Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all
Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a"
unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female
power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation
for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and
complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.
To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important
to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from
the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to
both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct
ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a
transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite.
It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only
consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the
absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda — existence, knowledge and bliss. The second
is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya,
i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual
universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti,
and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-
Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we
commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer
as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.[32]
Kali and Bhairava (the terrible form of Shiva) in Union, 18th century,
NepalFrom a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at
rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of
creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or
Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the
Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of
creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or
Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in
one and the same reality — the only difference being in name and
fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally
accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.[31]
Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine
copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal
impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for
the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible
for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali
(or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the
case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With
Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that
creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa
doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value,
just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again)
stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of
their union.[33]
Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava
(Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person
undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically)
in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.[34]
Development
In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with
Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and
uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her. This is both
because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and
because he is able to match her wildness. The ancient text of Kali
Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the
sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the
urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head.
Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing
to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her,
the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and
there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving
each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.
Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her
becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it
was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as
they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal
aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one
side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without
death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos — which could
be confronted — to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is
given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The
Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the
Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Visnu and
Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although
this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the
Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi
(the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all
devis).
The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great
Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from
the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are
the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an
awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century
Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western
popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal
interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however,
suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as
fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a
wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also
be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion,
Mahamaya, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the
nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi
and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika
forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.
1947 TIME Magazine cover by Boris Artzybasheff depicting a self-
hurting Kālī as a symbol of the partition of IndiaLike Sir John
Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as
sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or
appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable
symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as
perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of
liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva,
symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the
entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same
— totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all
subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two."
Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the
same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as
complementary.[35]
Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi
simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of
symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate
with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and
personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists
use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is
unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of
ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying
distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it
allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of
complementary symbols and rhetoric that which suits one's evolving
needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict
and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of
Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the
development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.
A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kālī as a symbol and
metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition
that year.[36]
In New Age and Neopaganism
An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in
the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali
devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it
is to adapt to its new environment."[37] The adoption of Kali by the
West has raised accusations of cultural misappropriation:
"A variety of writers and thinkers [...] have found Kali an exciting
figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and
participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess
worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing,
associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality.
[However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and
misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history
among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by
scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely
chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base
their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background.
[...] The most important issue arising from this discussion – even
more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation –
concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. [...] It is
hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture:
religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined
or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native
culture are not available."[38]
Gerald Gardner was reportedly particularly interested in Kali whilst
he was in the far east, before returning to England to write his
seminal works on Wicca[citation needed].
References
^ Encyclopedia International, by Grolier Incorporated Copyright in
Canada 1974. AE5.E447 1974 031 73-11206 ISBN 0-7172-0705-6 page 95
^ Mahābhārata 10.8.64-69, cited in Coburn, Thomas; Devī-Māhātmya —
Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition; Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi,
1984; ISBN 81-208-0557-7 pages 111–112.
^ a b D. Kinsley p. 122.
^ D. Kinsley p. 122–123.
^ a b D. Kinsley p. 124.
^ Karpuradi Stotra, Tantrik Texts Vol IX, Arthur Avalon (Sir John
Woodroffe), Calcutta Agamanusandhana Samiti, 1922.
^ D. Kinsley p. 124–125.
^ D. Kinsley p. 125.
^ D. Kinsley p. 126.
^ D. Kinsley p.125–126.
^ a b D. Kinsley p. 128.
^ MantraOnNet.com:Text & Images of Kali
^ D. Kinsley p. 118.
^ Devi Mahatmyam, Swami Jagadiswarananda, Ramakrishna Math, 1953.
^ D. Kinsley p. 118–119.
^ Wangu p. 72.
^ Kinsley p. 241 Footnotes.
^ D. Kinsley pp. 119, 130.
^ McDermott 2003.
^ D. Kinsley p. 119.
^ D. Kinsley p. 131.
^ Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls By June McDaniel p.257
^ The Art of Tantra, Philip Rawson, Thames & Hudson, 1973.
^ Sankaranarayanan. S. Devi Mahatmya. p 127.
^ David Gordon White (ed.), Tantra in Practice, ISBN 81-208-1778-8
p466.
^ Sri Ramakrishna (The Great Master), Swami Saradananda, Ramakrishna
Math, 1952, page 624, Sri Ramakrishna: The Spiritual Glow, Kamalpada
Hati, P.K. Pramanik, Orient Book Co., 1985, pages 17–18.
^ Tantra in Practice, David Gordon White, Princeton Press, 2000, page
477.
^ Tantra in Practice, David Gordon White, Princeton Press, 2000, page
475.
^ Tantra in Practice, David Gordon White, Princeton Press, 2000, page
463–488.
^ Hindu Gods & Goddesses, Swami Harshananda, Ramakrishna Math, 1981,
pages 116–117.
^ a b Tantra (The Path of Ecstasy), Georg Feuerstein, Shambhala, 1998,
pages 70–84, Shakti and Shâkta, Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe),
Oxford Press/Ganesha & Co., 1918.
^ Tantra in Practice, David Gordon White, Princeton Press, 2000, page
463–488, Shakti and Shâkta, Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), Oxford
Press/Ganesha & Co., 1918.
^ Impact of Tantra on Religion & Art, T. N. Mishra, D.K. Print World,
1997, V.
^ Krishna, Gopi (1993)Living with Kundalini: (Shambhala, 1993 ISBN
0877739471).
^ Tantra (The Path of Ecstasy), Georg Feuerstein, Shambhala, 1998,
Shakti and Shâkta, Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), Oxford Press/
Ganesha & Co., 1918.
^ The Trial of Kali, TIME Magazine, October 27, 1947.
^ McDermott, Rachel Fell, "The Western Kali", in Hawley, John Stratton
& Wulff, Donna M., Devi: The Goddess in India, p. 305.
^ McDermott, Rachel Fell, "The Western Kali", in Hawley, John Stratton
& Wulff, Donna M., Devi: The Goddess in India, pp. 281–305.
Shakti and Shâkta, Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), Oxford Press/
Ganesha & Co., 1918
Sri Ramakrishna (The Great Master), Swami Saradananda, Ramakrishna
Math,1952
Devi Mahatmyam, Swami Jagadiswarananda, Ramakrishna Math, 1953
The Art of Tantra, Philip Rawson, Thames & Hudson, 1973
Hindu Gods & Goddesses, Swami Harshananda, Ramakrishna Math, 1981
Sri Ramakrishna: The Spiritual Glow, Kamalpada Hati, P.K. Pramanik,
Orient Book Co., 1985
Hindu Goddesses, David R. Kinsley, University of California Press,
1988
Kali (The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar) Elizabeth U. Harding, Nicolas
Hays, 1993
Impact of Tantra on Religion & Art, T. N. Mishra, D.K. Print World,
1997
Indian Art (revised), Roy C. Craven, Thames & Hudson, 1997
A Dictionary of Buddhist & Hindu Iconography (Illustrated), Frederick
W. Bunce, D.K. Print World, 1997
Tantra (The Path of Ecstasy), Georg Feuerstein, Shambhala, 1998
Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions, John Bowker, Oxford
Press, 2000
Tantra in Practice, David Gordon White, Princeton Press, 2000
Encountering Kali (In the margins, at the center, in the west), Rachel
Fell McDermott, Berkeley : University of California Press, 2003
[edit] Further reading
Shanmukha Anantha Natha and Shri Ma Kristina Baird, Divine Initiation
Shri Kali Publications (2001) ISBN 0-9582324-0-7 - Has a chapter on
Mahadevi with a commentary on the Devi Mahatmyam from the Markandeya
Purana.
Swami Jagadiswarananda, tr., Devi Mahatmyam Chennai, Ramakrishna Math.
ISBN 81-7120-139-3
Elizabeth Usha Harding, Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar ISBN
0-89254-025-7
Devadatta Kali, In Praise of The Goddess, The Devimahatmyam and Its
Meaning ISBN 0-89254-080-X
David Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the
Hindu Religious Traditions ISBN 81-208-0379-5
Rachel Fell McDermott, Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the
Center, in the West (ISBN 0-520-23240-2)
Ajit Mookerjee, Kali: The Feminine Force ISBN 0-89281-212-5
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Kali Puja ISBN 1-887472-64-9
Ramprasad Sen, Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Selected Poems to the
Mother Goddess ISBN 0-934252-94-7
Sir John Woodroffe (aka Arthur Avalon)Hymns to the Goddess and Hymn to
Kali ISBN 81-85988-16-1
Robert E. Svoboda, Aghora, at the left hand of God ISBN 0-914732-21-8
Dimitri Kitsikis, L'Orocc, dans l'âge de Kali ISBN 2-89040-359-9
Lex Hixon, Mother of the Universe: Visions of the Goddess and Tantric
Hymns of Enlightenment ISBN 0-8356-0702-X
Neela Bhattacharya Saxena, In the Beginning is Desire: Tracing Kali's
Footprints in Indian Literature ISBN 818798161X
The Goddess Kali of Kolkata (ISBN 81-7476-514-X) by Shoma A.
Chatterji
Encountering The Goddess: A Translation of the Devi-Mahatmya and a
Study of Its Interpretation (ISBN 0-7914-0446-3) by Thomas B. Coburn
Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna
Dallapiccola
Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar (ISBN 0-89254-025-7) by
Elizabeth Usha Harding
In Praise of The Goddess: The Devimahatmyam and Its Meaning (ISBN
0-89254-080-X) by Devadatta Kali
Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious
Traditions (ISBN 81-208-0379-5) by David Kinsley
Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine (ISBN 0-520-20499-9) by David
Kinsley
Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West
Bengal (ISBN 0-195-16791-0) by June McDaniel
Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West (ISBN
0-520-23240-2) by Rachel Fell McDermott
Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the
Devotional Poetry of Bengal (ISBN 0-19-513435-4) by Rachel Fell
McDermott
Kali: The Feminine Force (ISBN 0-89281-212-5) by Ajit Mookerjee
Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great
Goddess (ISBN 0-791-45008-2) Edited by Tracy Pintchman
The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition (ISBN 0-7914-2112-0) by
Tracy Pintchman
External links
Hinduism portal
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Kali at the Open Directory Project
http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Hinduism/Gods_and_Goddesses/Kali/
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
Goddess as Kali - The Feminine Force in Indian Art
Article of the Month - August 2000 Printer Friendly Version
PDF (Acrobat) - 382 kb
Share this Page with a friend The worship of a mother goddess as the
source of life and fertility has prehistoric roots, but the
transformation of that deity into a Great goddess of cosmic powers was
achieved with the composition of the Devi Mahatmya (Glory of the
goddess), a text of the fifth to sixth century, when worship of the
female principle took on dramatic new dimensions. The goddess is not
only the mysterious source of life, she is the very soil, all-creating
and all consuming.
Kali makes her 'official' debut in the Devi-Mahatmya, where she is
said to have emanated from the brow of Goddess Durga (slayer of
demons) during one of the battles between the divine and anti-divine
forces. Etymologically Durga's name means "Beyond Reach". She is thus
an echo of the woman warrior's fierce virginal autonomy. In this
context Kali is considered the 'forceful' form of the great goddess
Durga.
Kali is represented as a Black woman with four arms; in one hand she
has a sword, in another the head of the demon she has slain, with the
other two she is encouraging her worshippers. For earrings she has two
dead bodies and wears a necklace of skulls ; her only clothing is a
girdle made of dead men's hands, and her tongue protrudes from her
mouth. Her eyes are red, and her face and breasts are besmeared with
blood. She stands with one foot on the thigh, and another on the
breast of her husband.
Kali's fierce appearances have been the subject of extensive
descriptions in several earlier and modern works. Though her fierce
form is filled with awe- inspiring symbols, their real meaning is not
what it first appears- they have equivocal significance:
Kali's blackness symbolizes her all-embracing, comprehensive nature,
because black is the color in which all other colors merge; black
absorbs and dissolves them. 'Just as all colors disappear in black, so
all names and forms disappear in her' (Mahanirvana Tantra). Or black
is said to represent the total absence of color, again signifying the
nature of Kali as ultimate reality. This in Sanskrit is named as
nirguna (beyond all quality and form). Either way, Kali's black color
symbolizes her transcendence of all form.
A devotee poet says:
"Is Kali, my Divine Mother, of a black complexion?
She appears black because She is viewed from a distance;
but when intimately known She is no longer so.
The sky appears blue at a distance, but look at it close by
and you will find that it has no colour.
The water of the ocean looks blue at a distance,
but when you go near and take it in your hand,
you find that it is colourless."
... Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1836-86)
Kali's nudity has a similar meaning. In many instances she is
described as garbed in space or sky clad. In her absolute, primordial
nakedness she is free from all covering of illusion. She is Nature
(Prakriti in Sanskrit), stripped of 'clothes'. It symbolizes that she
is completely beyond name and form, completely beyond the illusory
effects of maya (false consciousness). Her nudity is said to represent
totally illumined consciousness, unaffected by maya. Kali is the
bright fire of truth, which cannot be hidden by the clothes of
ignorance. Such truth simply burns them away.
She is full-breasted; her motherhood is a ceaseless creation. Her
disheveled hair forms a curtain of illusion, the fabric of space -
time which organizes matter out of the chaotic sea of quantum-foam.
Her garland of fifty human heads, each representing one of the fifty
letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, symbolizes the repository of
knowledge and wisdom. She wears a girdle of severed human hands- hands
that are the principal instruments of work and so signify the action
of karma. Thus the binding effects of this karma have been overcome,
severed, as it were, by devotion to Kali. She has blessed the devotee
by cutting him free from the cycle of karma. Her white teeth are
symbolic of purity (Sans. Sattva), and her lolling tongue which is red
dramatically depicts the fact that she consumes all things and denotes
the act of tasting or enjoying what society regards as forbidden, i.e.
her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the world's "flavors".
Kali's four arms represent the complete circle of creation and
destruction, which is contained within her. She represents the
inherent creative and destructive rhythms of the cosmos. Her right
hands, making the mudras of "fear not" and conferring boons, represent
the creative aspect of Kali, while the left hands, holding a bloodied
sword and a severed head represent her destructive aspect. The
bloodied sword and severed head symbolize the destruction of ignorance
and the dawning of knowledge. The sword is the sword of knowledge,
that cuts the knots of ignorance and destroys false consciousness (the
severed head). Kali opens the gates of freedom with this sword, having
cut the eight bonds that bind human beings. Finally her three eyes
represent the sun, moon, and fire, with which she is able to observe
the three modes of time: past, present and future. This attribute is
also the origin of the name Kali, which is the feminine form of
'Kala', the Sanskrit term for Time.
Another symbolic but controversial aspect of Kali is her proximity to
the cremation ground:
O Kali, Thou art fond of cremation grounds;
so I have turned my heart into one
That thou, a resident of cremation grounds,
may dance there unceasingly.
O Mother! I have no other fond desire in my heart;
fire of a funeral pyre is burning there;
O Mother! I have preserved the ashes of dead bodies all around
that Thou may come.
O Mother! Keeping Shiva, conqueror of Death, under Thy feet,
Come, dancing to the tune of music;
Prasada waits With his eyes closed
... Ramprasad (1718-75)
Kali's dwelling place, the cremation ground denotes a place where the
five elements (Sanskrit: pancha mahabhuta) are dissolved. Kali dwells
where dissolution takes place. In terms of devotion and worship, this
denotes the dissolving of attachments, anger, lust, and other binding
emotions, feelings, and ideas. The heart of the devotee is where this
burning takes place, and it is in the heart that Kali dwells. The
devotee makes her image in his heart and under her influence burns
away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner
cremation fire in the heart is the fire of knowledge, (Sanskrit:
gyanagni), which Kali bestows.
The image of a recumbent Shiva lying under the feet of Kali represents
Shiva as the passive potential of creation and Kali as his Shakti. The
generic term Shakti denotes the Universal feminine creative principle
and the energizing force behind all male divinity including Shiva.
Shakti is known by the general name Devi, from the root 'div', meaning
to shine. She is the Shining One, who is given different names in
different places and in different appearances, as the symbol of the
life-giving powers of the Universe. It is she that powers him. This
Shakti is expressed as the i in Shiva's name. Without this i, Shiva
becomes Shva, which in Sanskrit means a corpse. Thus suggesting that
without his Shakti, Shiva is powerless or inert.
Kali is a particularly appropriate image for conveying the idea of the
world as the play of the gods. The spontaneous, effortless, dizzying
creativity of the divine reflex is conveyed in her wild appearance.
Insofar as kali is identified with the phenomenal world, she presents
a picture of that world that underlies its ephemeral and unpredictable
nature. In her mad dancing, disheveled hair, and eerie howl there is
made present the hint of a world reeling, careening out of control.
The world is created and destroyed in Kali's wild dancing, and the
truth of redemption lies in man's awareness that he is invited to take
part in that dance, to yield to the frenzied beat of the Mother's
dance of life and death.
O Kali, my Mother full of Bliss! Enchantress of the almighty Shiva!
In Thy delirious joy Thou dancest, clapping Thy hands together!
Thou art the Mover of all that move, and we are but Thy helpless toys
...Ramakrishna Paramhans
Kali and her attendants dance to rhythms pounded out by Shiva (Lord of
destruction) and his animal-headed attendants who dwell in the
Himalayas. Associated with chaos and uncontrollable destruction,
Kali's own retinue brandishes swords and holds aloft skull cups from
which they drink the blood that intoxicates them. Kali, like Shiva,
has a third eye, but in all other respects the two are distinguished
from one another. In contrast to Shiva's sweet expression, plump body,
and ash white complexion, dark kali's emaciated limbs, angular
gestures, and fierce grimace convey a wild intensity. Her loose hair,
skull garland, and tiger wrap whip around her body as she stomps and
claps to the rhythm of the dance.
Many stories describe Kali's dance with Shiva as one that "threatens
to destroy the world" by its savage power. Art historian Stella
Kramrisch has noted that the image of kali dancing with Shiva follows
closely the myth of the demon Daruka. When Shiva asks his wife Parvati
to destroy this demon, she enters Shiva's body and transforms herself
from the poison that is stored in his throat. She emerges from Shiva
as Kali, ferocious in appearance, and with the help of her flesh
eating retinue attacks and defeats the demon. Kali however became so
intoxicated by the blood lust of battle that her aroused fury and wild
hunger threatened to destroy the whole world. She continued her
ferocious rampage until Shiva manifested himself as an infant and lay
crying in the midst of the corpse-strewn field. Kali, deceived by
Shiva's power of illusion, became calm as she suckled the baby. When
evening approached, Shiva performed the dance of creation (tandava) to
please the goddess. Delighted with the dance, Kali and her attendants
joined in.
This terrific and poignant imagery starkly reveals the nature of Kali
as the Divine Mother. Ramaprasad expresses his feelings thus:
Behold my Mother playing with Shiva,
lost in an ecstasy of joy!
Drunk with a draught of celestial wine,
She reels, and yet does not fall.
Erect She stands on Shiva's bosom,
and the earth Trembles under Her tread;
She and Her Lord are mad with frenzy,
casting Aside all fear and shame.
... Ramprasad (1718-75)
Kali's human and maternal qualities continue to define the goddess for
most of her devotees to this day. In human relationships, the love
between mother and child is usually considered the purest and
strongest. In the same way, the love between the Mother Goddess and
her human children is considered the closest and tenderest
relationship with divinity. Accordingly, Kali's devotees form a
particularly intimate and loving bond with her. But the devotee never
forgets Kali's demonic, frightening aspects. He does not distort
Kali's nature and the truths she reveals; he does not refuse to
meditate on her terrifying features. He mentions these repeatedly in
his songs but is never put off or repelled by them. Kali may be
frightening, the mad, forgetful mistress of a world spinning out of
control, but she is, after all, the Mother of all. As such, she must
be accepted by her children- accepted in wonder and awe, perhaps, but
accepted nevertheless. The poet in an intimate and lighter tone
addresses the Mother thus:
O Kali! Why dost Thou roam about nude?
Art Thou not ashamed, Mother!
Garb and ornaments Thou hast none;
yet Thou Pridest in being King's daughter.
O Mother! Is it a virtue of Thy family that Thou
Placest thy feet on Thy husband?
Thou art nude; Thy husband is nude; you both roam cremation grounds.
O Mother! We are all ashamed of you; do put on thy garb.
Thou hast cast away Thy necklace of jewels, Mother,
And worn a garland of human heads.
Prasada says, "Mother! Thy fierce beauty has frightened
Thy nude consort.
... Ramaprasad
The soul that worships becomes always a little child: the soul that
becomes a child finds God oftenest as mother. In a meditation before
the Blessed Sacrament, some pen has written the exquisite assurance:
"My child, you need not know much in order to please Me. Only Love Me
dearly. Speak to me, as you would talk to your mother, if she had
taken you in her arms."
Kali's boon is won when man confronts or accepts her and the realities
she dramatically conveys to him. The image of Kali, in a variety of
ways, teaches man that pain, sorrow, decay, death, and destruction are
not to be overcome or conquered by denying them or explaining them
away. Pain and sorrow are woven into the texture of man's life so
thoroughly that to deny them is ultimately futile. For man to realize
the fullness of his being, for man to exploit his potential as a human
being, he must finally accept this dimension of existence. Kali's boon
is freedom, the freedom of the child to revel in the moment, and it is
won only after confrontation or acceptance of death. To ignore death,
to pretend that one is physically immortal, to pretend that one's ego
is the center of things, is to provoke Kali's mocking laughter. To
confront or accept death, on the contrary, is to realize a mode of
being that can delight and revel in the play of the gods. To accept
one's mortality is to be able to let go, to be able to sing, dance,
and shout. Kali is Mother to her devotees not because she protects
them from the way things really are but because she reveals to them
their mortality and thus releases them to act fully and freely,
releases them from the incredible, binding web of "adult" pretense,
practicality, and rationality.
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chhotemianinshallah
Concept of Copyright in Ancient India
We received many inquiries about tradition of Copyrights in India (I
believe due to some of the recent controversies involving Indians and
People of Indian origin), and one of the researchers requested my
opinion on the concept of Copyright in ancient India.
The concept of proprietary right of an author over his work did not
exist in ancient India. All knowledge was meant for public utility and
not for any gain to the individual.
The reason is simple. Writing was believed to be the result of, Dhee
Sakti or intellectual power obtained only through God's grace. Naham
Karta, Harirkarta, I am not the doer, Hari or God is the Doer was the
humble belief of a scholar. Hence no commercial gain was attached to
the work of an author. Every book was the result of long standing
painful efforts which could not be counted in terms of money.
Nor did the great writers aspire for personal publicity or propaganda;
they cared for popularity of their subject. The book was a dedication
to God first and last. Hence most of the books in ancient times,
literary or non-literary, start with invocation to God or their
favorite deity and end with a colophon and benedictory prayer.
For centuries, palm-leaf books formed treasure of learning. They were
few and rare, before paper and printing made their appearance in
India. Access to books was rare. Hand-copying was in vogue. To get the
copies of books made and distributing them free was considered a
meritorious act. Even copyists thought their duty was a sacred one.
Merit of a book was established in the assembly of scholars in the
presence of a king or nobleman, who himself would be a well-versed
scholar. Once approved by the learned, the works were available to the
public.
Oral system of learning prevailed and books were read to a attentive
listeners. Repeating, memorising and reproducing were more important;
book reading and writing were considered secondary. Books were not on
sale. Hence the question of copyright did not bother our past
authors.
Well known writers and poets got all the encouragement from the
rulers. A distinguished writer was invariably a court poet. He was
publicly felicitated from time to time after his bona-fides were
established. He used to get good remuneration in terms of land and
money.
Works on poetics profusely quoted the original authors, with courtesy.
Popularity of his work was the greatest aspiration for a writer. The
reach and not the reward being their aim, the selfish idea of making
name or money by establishing authorship never struck the ancient
writers. Only books of universal appeal and eternal values have
survived in Sanskrit or regional languages. Proprietary rights have no
meaning to works of Vyasa, Valmiki, Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti and hundreds
of other writers.
If there were instances of plagiarism, there is no record of them.
Many court poets and writers lent their patron's name to their valued
works, willingly or through sheer obedience. It was left to critics of
later centuries, to establish the authentic authorship.
Amma's Column by Jyotsna Kamat
http://www.kamat.com/jyotsna/blog/blog.php?BlogID=977
Brahmanism Controlled Masses Through Language
Dr. K. Jamanadas,
National Language of India
A lecturer friend of mine, who was trying to convince me that learning
becomes easy in student's mother tongue, was taken aback to hear from
me that India does not have a mother tongue, it has mother tongues.
Does India have a national language? Presumably, it does, and it is
Hindi. How it came to become a national language is described by Dr.
Ambedkar who was present in the Congress Party meeting as Chairman of
the Drafting Committee when the Draft Constitution of India was being
considered, on the issue of adopting Hindi as the National language:
"...There was no article which proved more controversial than Article
115 which deals with the question. No article produced more
opposition. No article more heat. After a prolonged discussion when
the question was put, the vote was 78 against 78. The tie could not be
resolved. After a long time when the question was put to the party
meeting the result was 77 against 78 for Hindi. Hindi won its place as
a national language by one vote. I am stating these facts from my
personal knowledge. ..." [Ambedkar B. R., Thoughts on Linguistic
States, Writings & Speeches, Maharashtra Govt., 1989, vol. 1, p. 148]
It is not known, whether the member had gone out in the mean time and
was absent during voting the second time, but surely it does not speak
highly of a language to have been declared as "National" under such
circumstances. This is specially so, when in practice, whole of India
thinks in English, may be it is Law, Medicine, Sports, Commerce,
Accounting, Cinema, Literature, Poetry or any other field of life. In
the homes of elites, English is not only spoken by children and
servants but also their pets like cats and dogs.
Language Problem of India
The question of language is a tricky problem in India. India is a vast
country. True. It was much vaster in ancient times. Now it has been
divided into three countries. In India itself, there are numerous
languages. Some of them are official languages and some are struggling
to become official. The country is divided into provinces on the basis
of language. Gandhiji had promised to do that before independence. So
it was done. The strangest thing is that the people fight among
themselves on the basis of language, as if the linguistic provinces
are two different nations. Dr. Ambedkar had warned that there is a
very thin line between linguistic provinces and linguistic nations and
he had suggested some safeguards and remedies to prevent the calamity
of converting the linguistic provinces into linguistic nations.
Unfortunately no heed was paid to his wise advice. We have to consider
whether India was always having multiple languages, and why there are
so many languages in India and why does the speech differ every few
miles.
Origin of language
Itihasacharya V. K. Rajwade explained that Language originated from
sound, script originated from pictures, expression from natural body
movements and utensils from the figures seen. All this was invented by
the wisdom of man himself by hard work of trial and error, and not due
to any imaginary gods or asuras in imaginary heaven or hell. That
voice originated from damaru of Shankara, Gandhaba-kanya taught the
art of drawing pictures, acting was taught by some kinnara, and making
of utensils was taught by some imaginary vishwakarma are all myth,
fantasy and a pack of lies, nothing is divine, all these arts are
acquired by man by efforts and by learning from trial and error.
[Rajwade V. K., bharatiya vivah sansthe cha itihas, marathi, p. 106]
Language of masses was different
Mr. Nair explains quoting authorities, that language of the masses is
different from that of the "classes". This difference is calculated by
the elites for establishing and maintaining their supremacy. As Nair
quotes Lapier:
"A language is a system of cultural definition whereby meanings are
assigned to a great variety of specific sound combinations thereof and
among a literate people, graphic representations thereof. But the
members of the society seldom speak or even write in terms of the
culturally designated definitions. They speak and write in some
special vernacular which differs both quantitatively and qualitatively
from the official language i.e. from the language as embodied among a
literate people in dictionaries, manuals of grammar and the like".
[`Theory of social control' p. 261, quoted by Nair B. N., "The Dynamic
Brahmin", p.68]
Was Sanskrit a spoken language?
Contrary to the recent hindutwavadi propaganda, it is a well
established fact that Sanskrit was never a spoken language:
"Let us remember that Sanskrit as its meaning indicates was never a
spoken language and that it was only a purified version of the
language that was in popular usage such as Prakrit, and that its
refinement and the codification of grammar in an unalterable form was
the work of grammarians like Panini." [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic
Brahmin", p.67]
Even strong protagonists like Pandit Mishra aver that it was a spoken
language but the "spoken" means, it was spoken by "shishtas" i.e.
elite (meaning Brahmins) alone. Rest of the masses were speaking
Prakrit. [Mishra, p.376] Even in late Sanskrit drammas, as is well
known, the charectors of higher castes speak Sanskrit, and the others
speak Prakrit. So speech depended on the caste.
Views of Prof. Rhys Davids
His opinion is perhaps the consensus opinion and based upon deep study
of scriptures, sculptures and epigraphs both Brahmanical as well as
Buddhistic. He observes:
"... Priests have preserved for us, not so much the opinions the
people actually held, as the opinions the priests wished them to
hold. ... What had happened with respect to religious belief is on a
par with what had happened with respect to language. From Takkasila
all the way down to Champa no one spoke Sanskrit. The living language,
everywhere, was a sort of Pali. Many of the old Vedic words were
retained in more easily pronounceable forms. Many new words had been
formed, on analogy, from the existing stock of roots. Many other new
word had been adopted from non- Aryan form of speech. Many Aryan
words, which do not happen to occur in the Vedic texts, had
nevertheless survived in popular use. And mean while, in the schools
of the priests, and there only, a knowledge of the Vedic language
(which we often call Sanskrit) was kept up. But even this Sanskrit of
the schools had progressed, as some would say, or had degenerated, as
others would say, from the Vedic standard. And the Sanskrit in actual
use in the as it is from the so- called classical Sanskrit of the post
Buddhistic poems and plays." [Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 211 ff.,
emphasis ours]
He avers that, outside the schools of the priests, the curious and
interesting beliefs recorded in the Rig Veda had practically little
effect, and Vedic theosophy was never a popular faith. Vedic rituals
are not of simpler faith, and are advanced. The gods of the older
system - the dread Mother Earth, the dryads and the dragons, the dog-
star, even the moon the sun have been cast into the shade by the new
gods of the fire, the exciting drink, and the thunderstorm. The
mystery and the magic of the ritual of the sacrifice had complications
and expense. [Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 211 ff.]
Max Muller, who believed that thoughts in Rigveda were primitive, as
these thoughts are so bizarre and absurd that they cannot be
considered as advanced, and one is so accustomed to consider the
priesthood as the great obstacle to any way of reform in India, he
averred, that it is difficult to believe that the Brahmins could ever,
as a class have championed the newer views. Rhys Davids, disagreeing
with Max Muller, believed that the beliefs recorded in the Rig Veda
are not primitive or original, as proved by comparison with evolution
of religious beliefs elsewhere. These beliefs were in the view of the
men who formulated them, a kind of advance on the previous ideas. And
when the Rig Veda was finally closed there were many other beliefs,
commonly held among the Aryans in India, but not represented in that
Veda. [Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 211 ff.]
Social Control through language
The so called "purity" of Sanskrit makes it a dead language, may be
true, but that was the intention of the users, to safeguard their own
supremacy over the masses. Nair exclaims:
"... The maintenance of the purity of Sanskrit language since the days
of Panini until the present day is wonder of wonders that is largely
to be explained by the tenacity of the Brahmin to preserve it as such,
as the sacred language of status group even though their spoken
language was, by and large, the local languages or a mixture of the
two. This is not to admit that early Sanskrit before it reification
did not borrow words from Dravidian languages and made them its own.
As a matter of fact detailed research in the linguistic prehistory
India is bound to reveal many instances for such a fusion of Tamil
words into Sanskrit, especially that style of Sanskrit which came to
be used for limited secular purposes." [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic
Brahmin", p.68]
Sanskrit is static language
Ancient Tamil grammar Tolkapium, Nair says, was a "scientific treatise
on grammar" created to "safeguard the system of cultural definitions".
Brahmins maintained purity of their language because of the fear of
local language of masses. Why did the Brahmins try to keep their
language different than that of the masses? The reason is that they
wanted to maintain their supremacy through it. The process is
continuing even now. When elites speak of it a "pure" they actually
mean "static", and anything becomes static then it merits the title of
"dead". Mr. Nair explains the tendency:
"The purity of Sanskrit since the days it assumed its present
grammatical shape is to be explained by it static state, as the
restricted and sole vehicle of a sacerdotal class who jealously
preserved it from the corroding influence of non-Brahmin languages.
This they did out of fear as experience had already taught them that
in the mutual impact it was Sanskrit that stood the chance of loosing
its integrity and getting assimilated with the "Paisachi" language
which was widely prevalent in the subcontinent of India at the time of
their arrival. So then true to the spirit and apostolic motivation of
cultural conquerors they set about to conquer the speakers of the
language but also the latter's language itself. There is a hymn in the
Rig Veda which expresses this wish most solemnly and which may have
been recited by countless generations of Brahmins,"May we conquer the
ill-speaking man" [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.69]
Panini was ignorant about history: Rajwade
Itihasacharya Rajwade had done a lot of work not only in history but
also in linguistic field. He explained the code language of
Mahanubhavas as well as he explained origin of Sanskrit. He declared
that Panini had no knowledge of amalgamation and mixture of primitive
societies. He explained how the use of neuter gender in Sanskrit
originated from the mixture of two societies, one having a nasal twang
and other without it. While explaining grammar, Rajwade scientifically
uses the sociological concepts, and clarifies what Panini could not.
He declares boldly that Panini had no historical perspective and that
Panini's belief, that Sanskrit is the language of the devas and hence
anaadi, (having no beginning), as "eccentric". He avers that there is
not a single word or a phrase in whole of ashtadhyai of Panini, which
could suggest that Sanskrit originated from Vedic language. Panini
could not ever think that Sanskrit is the corrupt or hybrid form of
Vedic language. Because of this disregard of history, Panini thought
there was no world before Vedas, and no time before it. His thoughts
are thus opposed to progress and because of his ignorance, the society
became dejected about the future. There were many pre-vedic languages,
then Vedic, then Panini's Sanskrit, then Prakrit, and regional
languages like Marathi etc. is the progressive evolution, but because
of Panini's thoughts this was considered as degeneration. Panini's
ashtadhyai is the well known example of how the unhistorical attitude
causes the gross damage, he observes. [Rajwade V. K., bharatiya vivah
0sansthe cha itihas, marathi, introduction by S.A.Dange p. 21]
Ancient language of whole of India was Tamil
Rajwade acknowledges the Aryans have come from outside India and the
original indigenous residents were the Naagas. They were expert in
drawing pictures, they later married Vedic Aryans and it is customary
to include Naaga vamsha into the Aryan fold. He also acknowledges the
presence of non-Aryan languages like Asur bhasha, Dravida bhasha,
Chinese and Red Indian and African languages. [Rajwade V. K.,
bharatiya vivah sansthe cha itihas, marathi, p. 100]
Paishachi language was Tamil is the experts' view. Having made it
clear that Paishachi language was a very rich language, and very
widely spoken, let us see the experts' views on what was this
language. Before Aryans could influence things here, the language of
India was "Paishachi", which meant Tamil, and it was spoken from
Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Nair observes:
"According to Mr. Oldham there are ample evidences to show that the so-
call "Paisachi" language was spoken throughout India. He says "It is
evident that the old Sanskrit Grammarians considered the language of
the Dravidian countries to be connected with the vernaculars of
Northern India; and that in their opinion it was especially related to
the speech of those who as we have seen, were apparently descended
from the Asura tribes. Thus in the Shahasha Chandrika Lakshmidhara
says that the Paisachi language is spoken in the Paisachi countries of
Pandya, Kekaya Vahlika, Sahya, Nepala, Kuntala, Sudarsha, Bota,
Gandhara, Haiva and Kangana and there are Paisachi countries. Of all
the vernaculars the Paisachi is said to have contained the smallest
infusion of Sanskrit". [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.70]
Dr. K. M. Panikar has something equally interesting to say; "The
distribution of the indigenous races even today in the uplands of
South Bihar and in the eastern areas of Madhya Pradesh and the
persistence of the Bhils in the Aravalli and Vindhya ranges show that
as a population momentum the Aryan invasion ceased to have any
momentum after it reached the Gangetic valley. The gradual spread of
Hinduism all over India and with it the Aryan speech should not blind
us to the fact that even in North India outside the Punjab the Aryans
contributed only a racial strain. In Gujrat and in Maharashtra the neo-
Aryans were able to improve their language but in the Deccan and in
the South the Dravidian speech not only held its own but was able to
drive out the Austric and other linguistic elements. The spread of
Aryanism and Sanskrit, originally associated with Agastiyas' crossing
of the Vindhyas became, an accomplished fact only in the first
centuries of the Christian era as may be seen from the earlier
Paisachi tradition of the Satavahana Emperors of Pratishtan" [K. M.
Panikker, Geographical Factors in Indian History, 1955, quoted by Nair
B. N., "The Dynamic 0Brahmin", p.70]
Paisachi was Tamil
Nair confirms that Paishachi was Tamil.
"Now we may ask: what could have been this Paisachi language other
than the Tamil of pre-Tholkappian epoch? Indeed, the author of
Tholkappiyam (who is considered to be a Brahmin himself) felt as much
nervous about the vigour of Sanskrit or more possibly Prakrit as the
Brahmin Aryans felt consternation about the richness of this
"Paishachi" language. In spite of this, it is evident that the two
languages could not continue side by side in certain regions without
influencing one another for their mutual benefit. Hence it is that we
find that rules have been laid down in Tholkappiyam for the adoption
of Sanskrit words under certain conditions and subject to certain
rules while Prakrit itself normally absorbed certain Dravidian
0features." [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.70]
Ashokan India was speaking Prakrit and not Sanskrit Hindutwavadis like
to project that the main stream of Indian thought flows through
Sanskrit. This is totally false, as can be seen by historical
evidences of epigraphs. Original inscriptions were not Sanskrit. Apart
from Ashoka's edicts, the most ancient inscriptions of Arekmedu, which
talk of Buddha's teachings, were not in Sanskrit but in Prakrit.
Another European authority Dr. J. Filliozat is worth quoting in this
respect:
"Even much later, in the first half of the first century of Christian
era when appeared the first dated Tamil inscriptions, those of
Virapatnam - Arikamedu near Pondicherry, Sanskrit was not yet current
in Tamilanad as the inscriptions in an Indo-Aryan language found along
with the Tamil inscriptions are in Prakrit. These inscriptions are no
doubt very short and very few but we can at least be sure that they
are exactly comparable with those of Ceylon at the same epoch; here
also middle-Indian was employed and not Sanskrit. The characters of
these inscriptions around the beginning of the Christian era the same
and very similar in their shapes to the ancient Brahmi of Ashoka,
giving supplementary evidence of the importance of the contribution of
Ashoka's empire to the culture in the South. [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic
Brahmin", p.71]
As late as Pallava times, the earlier Pallava inscriptions were in
Prakrit and not Sanskrit.
Sangam literature
Not only the inscriptions, but even the classical Tamil literature of
second or third century was not Sanskrit, but Tamil. The same author
observes:
"If we now consider the ancient Tamil works, we find in almost all
some allusion to vedic or Brahmanic rites and the use of some Sanskrit
words though very few. When Indo Aryan words are adopted in Tamil in
Sangam literature they are more frequently borrowed form Prakrit forms
or with Prakritic features. Surely Sanskrit and Prakrit cultures were
known to some extent in Tamilanad but rather through Prakrit than
through Sanskrit. Massive influence of Sanskrit in Tamil literature
took place much later". [Dr. J. Filliozat on Tamil and Sanskrit in
South India, in Tamil Culture, vol. IV, No. 4, Oct. 1955 quoted by
Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.71]
Sanskrit gained ground because it was sonorous Nair explains why
Sanskrit could catch up:
"Now going back to the base of our theoretical structure viz. local
Hinduism we find that Sanskrit language spread through ritualistic
practices introduced by the Brahmins in the "Gramakshetra" or village
temple. Ritualistic Sanskrit was mostly poetry and it was poetry in
the form of Manthras and stotras that first caught the profane ears of
the non- Brahmin temple worshipper. These Manthras and Stotras were
resonant with sonorous words and phrases and so replete which imagery
that when recited aloud they seldom failed to evoke strong feelings of
devotion in the minds of the hearer who knew the mythology behind this
majestic poetry. Here lies the beginnings of the social control of the
Brahmin through a language which was reified and strengthened to suit
their purposes." [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.72]
Nair further explains:
"As was pointed out earlier the spread of Sanskrit began with the
recital of Sanskrit poetry rich in resonant poetic forms and phrases,
e.g. Vedic hymns, strotras such as that by Shankaracharya. These
verses with their suggestive and powerful words were so much in
contrast with the soft and liquid sounds of the non-Aryan speeches
that as compared to the former, the equivalents in the latter failed
to evoke any feeling in the crowd. [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin",
p.74]
Hindi was retaining Sanskrit Influence
At a time, when Brahmins decided to divide the country on the basis of
language at the time of fall of Buddhism, they were careful enough to
maintain superiority of Sanskrit influence. As Nair quotes:
"In fact historically also the growth of Hindi, despite its
variations, has taken place in the Gangetic valley in such a way as to
retain the purity of sense and meaning of Sanskrit words. This will be
further seen by a study of the semantic changes that have taken places
in Sanskrit words after their absorption in other regional languages.
Viewed in this way, it is also clear why many orthodox Hindus are not
willing to accept Hindustani as the national language because it
contains a large strata of words from Persian, Arabic and Turkish
which were spoken by former cultural conquerors. The adoption of
Hindustani as the official language in place of Hindi would not be in
keeping with the Brahmanical revival that is making itself prominently
felt in India during the post-Independence period." [Nair B. N., "The
Dynamic Brahmin", p.75]
Trick of trigger phrases
Nair explains how Sanskrit has been the effective vehicle for the
spread of trigger phrases in Indian thought. The average educated
Indian, especially a Hindu, cannot easily recognise these artificial
trigger phrases and words in his speech, as he is unconsciously
habituated for centuries to use these as a matter of second nature for
him. In fact without these trigger words and phrases, he cannot find
the correct word or a substitute word or phrase which is free from
Sanskritic influence." [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.76]
Spread of Sanskrit
Nair explains, in the initial period, how Sanskrit spread so rapidly
and influenced the thought processes of the masses while it started
only as the language of ritual.:
"...The answer is simple enough. With the growth in power of Brahmin
priests in their temples there was also the growth the growth in their
importance and influence in the courts of kings and chieftains. The
Dharma Shastras were incorporated in the puranas at a time (about the
middle of the 4th century A.D.) when the Brahmins acquired the
position of a status-group within the caste hierarchy. ... The gradual
stages by which Sanskrit became powerful in the South is best
described by Dr. Filliozat. [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.77]
Dr. Filliozat's views are summarized below. Sanskrit words were
borrowed but Tamil scholars continued the use their own grammar. Most
known Sanskrit texts were Ayurveda and Jotishya, apart from Gita.
Tamil saints, who were non-brahmins, used ordinary Tamil words without
technical meaning, though Sanskrit ideas are alluded to. Their
compositions were devotional and not philosophical. Tamil was used
more till Shankara wrote on upanishadas etc. in c. 800 A.D. Thus Tamil
received double dose of Sanskrit words from north and south. Tamil
works of religious import were reinterpreted as Vedantic, and awarded
status of Vedas. [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.78]
Non-brahmin dignitaries were coopted
Tamil saint poets attained great fame at a later stage, but though men
like Nammalwar were denied the status of Kulapati of Vaishnavas only
because he was a non-brahmin, these saints were made use of to further
the cause of chaturvana, by declaring them as their own. Nair explains
the tendency:
"However, every time a non-Brahmin attained remarkable stature in the
assimilation of Brahmanical culture and produced some work of
intrinsic merit in his own language for the use of his fellowmen, the
Brahmins lost no time in giving the work a Sanskritic interpretation
as to disallow it an independent existence of its own and continued
esteem in popular mind. It is clearly due to the insecurity in the
Brahmin mind that leads them to adopt this strategy as is evident from
many modern instances. In fact it is not quite a well-known fact that
the orthodox Brahmins had at one time offered to Mahatma Gandhi the
choice of the acceptance of Brahminhood which he characteristically
refused. The fact that he was finally assassinated by a fanatic
Chitpavan Brahmin of Poona is more than significant of the suppressed
hostility of those caste-conscious Brahmins all over India who could
not share the enlightened views of that great soul." [Nair B. N., "The
Dynamic Brahmin", p.78]
Brahmanism flourished due to British rule
Nair explains how the British helped spread of Brahmanism throughout
India, and exclaims that the Brahmin succeeded in utilising the
Britishers as an unconscious tool for the strengthening of his social
control over masses by four streams of activity by the British
administration which directly contributed to the strength of all-India
Hinduism under Brahmin leadership. Dr. M. N. Srinivas classified them
as follows.
(a)systematic reconstruction of Indian history
(b)development of mass communication media, films of mythological
themes and Brahmanical control over press. To this could now be added
electronic media and mythological serials.
(c)growth of movements against defects in Brahmanical religion like
untouchability, child marriage etc.
(d)study of Sanskrit literature and philosophy
Nair exclaims that, thus the Brahmin discovered his soul and saw with
clear eyes the beauty and ugliness of his own handiwork in India, and
the regrouping of social forces that took place under the British
regime. [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p. 80]
Christians not influenced by the sanskritisation
Concluding, Nair mentions another weakness of Sanskrit: "And this
concerns its failure to leave the psychological impress on the
Christian community in India. Christianity of the real proselytising
variety came to India and drew it strength only during the British
occupation so that it must be considered intrinsically as the religion
of a cultural and political conqueror. The conversions of Christianity
were mostly from people who were outside the pale of Brahmanical
Hinduism so that the cultural influences of Sanskrit were not felt by
these people to any extent before conversion or after it." [Nair B.
N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.81]
Sanskrit has no relevance with daily life
With rapid Sanskritisation, Nair feels, it lost relevance in daily
life of people, specially the non-Brahmins:
"... The 'weltanschauung' [i.e. outlook of world] of the South Indian
(non-Brahmin) was rendered highly unreal and abstract infusion of
Sanskrit words created a disjunction between the symbol and the
phenomenon. It was not merely the haphazard spread of Sanskrit or its
deliberate and principal use for sacerdotal purposes that brought
about this mental situation but also to a large extent the esotericism
that was imported in the use of the language, the word-meanings, etc.
And above all it was a leisure class (only) that used Sanskrit. As
Prof. Kosambi so aptly puts it "The language suffered from its long
monopolistic association with a class that had no direct interest in
technique, manual operations, trade agreements, contracts or surveys.
The class did have leisure enough to write their tenuous ideas in a
tortuous manner above the reach of the common herd and to unravel them
from such writings. Prose virtually disappeared from high literary
Sanskrit. Words that survived in literary usage took on so many
supplementary meanings that a good Sanskrit text cannot be interpreted
without a commentary. The glosses are often demonstrably wrong and
succeed in only confusing the text which has to be restored by
critical methods first developed in Europe. The older terms used in
administration (e.g. in Arathashastra and Copperplate charters) were
forgotten. In some cases, where obscurity was deliberately imposed
(i.e. the Tantric mysticism) cult and meaning of the text vanished
together. There were astounding mnenomic developments but they too
contributed to the same end by over-specialization and particular
jargons for every discipline". (An Introduction to the Study of Indian
History pp.225-266) [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.85]
Sanskrit has nothing to do with Computer
Some people, whose forefathers themselves were the sufferers of this
language, try to take pride and seek solace in believing that Sanskrit
is a good language for computer. The inventor of this myth seems to be
a person, not only with perverted sense of egotism about his heritage
and ignorance of his ancestral history, but also an urge to befool the
gullible masses of India. The minimum expectation from such scholars
would be to pause and think how a language which was not allowed to be
learned by a scholar like Dr. Ambedkar can ever be considered a good
language worth learning by masses. It is language of control by a few
over multitude. It is a language of oppression.
It has nothing to do with computer language, which is a binary
language, a language of 1s and 0s, a language of ON and OFF. After all
a computer is nothing but a collection of millions of fast acting
switches. It is by creating computer codes like EBCDIC and ASCII,
various alphabets can be assigned numbers, and these numbers
representing alphabets are converted into binary for computer
processing. Any language on the earth is equally good or equally bad
for the computer purpose. Those who claim that Sanskrit is a useful
language for computer have got a cruel and malevolent intention of
projecting the misdeeds of their forefathers. A scholar in them is
dead, only a caste superiority prejudice is seen in their such
statements.
Most unfortunate thing is that so called scholars from among the
sufferers of tyranny of this language, seem to have a liking of this
language through misconceived ideas about it. Their multiple degrees
are worth throwing away in a dust bin. Just by becoming learned in
Sanskrit does not qualify anybody to receive respect, you have to be
born. Read Dasbodh of Ramdas, if you have doubts. The language which
ruined this country, is respected by these so called scholars. It was
Ramdas himself, a Brahmanical social activist, who coined a phrase for
such people in Marathi- "padhat murkh", the nearest English rendering
of it should a learned fool.
What did the propagators of this language give to the people of this
country apart from disintegration and slavery of centuries. What kind
of society they have produced? A society full of discriminations where
more than half of people are unfit even for a touch, another one third
driven to forests and another group whose occupation is crime, a
society where prostitution is practiced in the name of God and
religion, a society where suicide is sacrosanct, a society where
uttering obscene abuses is a part of religion, a society where
daughters are murdered immediately after birth, a society where widows
are burnt on the funeral pyre of their husbands, a society where a
vast section of people are deprived from holding any property, holding
any arms, getting any education, a society where taking a marriage
procession on a public road brings atrocities, murder, rape and arson,
a society where nearly the whole country uses the public roads as a
toilet. And one expects these very people the sufferers of this
extreme exploitation to regard this language as holy and sacrosanct.
One only has to remember the words of Theludesus: It may be your
interest to be our masters, how can it be ours to be your slaves.
Still this is probably the only country in the world where the slaves
are enjoying their slavery and prisoners guard the prison gates and
display their fetters as ornaments.
There are people who try to propagate that the Sanskrit language is
the original language which was gifted by God (to Brahmins of India).
Despite all other languages in the world, to consider one particular
language as "god given" is the worst form of imprudence and arrogance,
to say the least; and is not only derogatory to the inventor of the
idea, but also marks the god with partiality to a caste.
Importance of Pali
After obtaining Buddhahood, the Buddha preached orally for the rest of
His life of 45 years, and these preachings were learned by heart by
the disciples. They were compiled into Tripitakas in various sangitis,
the first being 3 months after Mahaparinirvana, second 100 years
later, third in the reign of Ashoka, after which Bhikkus were sent to
various places. Mahinda and Sanghmitra went to Simhala. All these
years, all the preachings were preserved by oral tradition. It was
after this that they were reduced in writings, in Simhala during the
reign of Vattagamini (29 B.C.). This was fourth sangiti. The Buddha
did not insist for any particular language, and everybody learned them
in their own language. As a matter of fact, Tripitaka was preserved in
many languages. According to one famous Tibetan tradition, the
scriptures of Sarvasti-vadis' are in Sanskrit, those of Mahasanghikas
in Prakrit, those of Mahasammaitis in Apbhramsha and those of
Sthaviras in Paishachi. Today we know the word Pali as a name of
language. It contains whole of Tripitaka and Anupitaka of Thervada.
Originally, this word meant Original Teachings of the Buddha or
Tripitaka. Later it denoted the language of them. Thus the use of term
Pali as a name of language is rather new, and more in vogue since 19th
century. The language, we call today Pali is actually known
traditionally as Magadhi. It is well known that the Buddha had refused
permission to use Sanskrit as the vehicle of teachings, and declared
it as a minor crime. [Rahul Sankrutyayana, "pali sahitya ka itihas",
(hindi), 3rd ed., 1992, Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Lukhnow, p.5]
Dr. Bhagchandra Jain also mentions that, Pali literature is rendered
in writing in Srilanka in First Century B.C., in the reign of
Vattagamini. Before that it was prevalent by oral recitation. This is
the reason why we find the compilation of many references could not be
made in chronological order in Pali literature. Some references are
twisted to suit them, some are omitted and some are added. Even then,
the available material is historically and culturally important. The
valuation from this angle is still not done. ["Chatushatakam"
Translator Editor : Dr. Bhagchandra Jain, Alok Parakashan Nagpur 1971
(Hindi), p.4] The study of Aryan languages in the middle age is
complete only after scientific study of Pali Language. Pali has
affected not only the modern Indian Languages but it has enough
contribution in the development of modern languages in countries like
Sinhala, Burma, Thailand, China, Japan, Tibet, Magnolia etc. and Pali
literature has proved to be a greatest help in fixing the dates of
ancient history. [Jain, p.6] L. M. Joshi also describes the influence
of Buddhist language and script as follows:
"... Indian paleography and epigraphy owe a great deal to the original
and pioneer inspiration of Buddhism and its lithic records. The
earliest historical inscriptions of India are the Buddhist
inscriptions. The dhammalipi of Ashoka became the mother of all
subsequent varieties of Brahmi and its derivative Indian scripts." [L.
M. Joshi, Aspects of Buddhism in Indian History, p.32]
Study of Sanskrit
Rigveda is said to be the most ancient book. Study of language started
in west after William Jones translated Shakuntalam into English. In
India, modern study of languages started after Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
opined through "Wilson philological lectures" that Sanskrit is the
original language and all the Indian as well as foreign languages
originated from it. [Mishra, p.351] Greek Helenic language also has
some similarities with Sanskrit. ["Vangmay Vimarsha" by Pundit
Vishwanath Prasad Mishra, Hindi Sahitya Kutir, Varanasi - 1, v.samvat
2023, p.358]
Some relate the Dravidian languages with Australian languages. After
Mohonjodaro excavation, now they are being related with Sumerian
languages. [Mishra, p.355] Word "mund" is used in Vayu Purana and in
Mahabharata it is used for a caste. The word "shabar" is still
ancient, which is found in Ateriya Brahman. Their language is called
Munda, Kol, or Shabar. There is a great influence of these languages
over several Indian languages, various examples are quoted by the
author of this influence on Bihari, Gujarathi and Madhyapradesh
language. [Mishra, p. 363]
Dravidian languages
Kumaril Bhatt made only two divisions Dravida and Andhra, But the
modern scholars have made following classification of Dravidian
languages:
1. Dravida- with (a) Tamil (b) Kannada (c) Tulu (d) Kodagu (e) Tod
2. Andhra- (a) Telugu
3. Central- with (a) Gondi (b) Kurukha (c) Kui (d) Kolami Tamil has
two forms. A poetic language called "shen", the other is called
"kodun", Malayalam is supposed to be elder daughter of Tamil.
Influence of Sanskrit is less on Tamil contrarily Malayalam has great
influence. [Mishra, p.365]
Languages of Indian Branch
There are two views. The scholars of ancient school believe that
original language is Sanskrit, form which all Aryan languages
originated, Prakrit from Sanskrit, Apbhransha from Prakrit and
regional languages from Apbhransha. New linguistic scholars believe
that Vedic Sanskrit itself originated from some original Aryan
language. On one side Vedic language, modified or Sanskrit was used
and on the other hand, unmodified or Prakrit was being used as a
language of common speech. Both these originated from some common
root. Sanskrit, the spoken language of elite (shistas - meaning
Brahmins), and Prakrit, the spoken language of the masses are sisters
of each other. That Prakrit is termed by them as "Aadim Prakrit"
meaning original Prakrit. From this evolved all other Prakrit
languages. Some people believe that, from original Prakrit the
classical Sanskrit, i.e Sanskrit of literature, evolved. But some
believe that classical Sanskrit evolved from Vedic Sanskrit through
stages of Brahmanas, Upanishadas, Kavyas, and Gathas. The divisions of
Indian languages made in "pratisakhyas" are considered by them as
regional forms of the original Prakrit - "Oudichya" (Northern),
"Pratichya" (western), "Dakshinatya" (southern) "Madhya
Deshiya" (bichali) and "Prachya" (eastern). Late Dr. Bhandarkar
believed in Evolution of Prakrit from Sanskrit. He thought Classical
and Vedic Sanskrit together as the original source of Prakrits. But
scholars have discarded this old view and they now believe Original
Prakrit as the source. [Pandit Vishanath Prasad Mishra, "Vangamay
Vimarsha", (hindi), published by Hindi Sahitya Kutir, Varanasi - 1,
5th edition, Vikram Samat 2023, p.371]
Prakrit
Prakrit can be divided into three stages if we consider Apbhransha as
a late Prakrit. There were three periods in its evolution. They are
ancient, middle are late Prakrit. [Mishra, p.376] Why it is called
Prakrit? 1. Prakriti means nature, so Prakrit a language of more
people. 2. Comparing Sanskrit and Prakrit, Sanskrit is refined and
Prakrit is unrefined. 3. Jains have defined Prakrit as the most
ancient language. They divide the word into 'Prak' and 'krit', and
they believe all other languages originated from Prakrit
(Ardhamagadhi).
Some people term all the languages placed under ancient Prakrit as
Pali, but we find there are many ancient Prakrits other than Pali.
Edicts of Ashoka, Hinayani Tripitakas, Mahavamsha, Jatakas etc.,
ancient Jain Sutras, and Prakrits of ancient dramas are grouped under
this language. [Mishra, p.377]
The language of Ashoka's edicts and Hinayana Scriptures has come to be
known as Pali. The language of scriptures is considered by Buddhists
as "Magadhi". [Mishra, p.377]
Ashoka Edicts
The language of Ashoka's Edicts differs in different areas. At least
two different types can be discerned. As the Buddha was from Magadha,
and he preached in people's language, it should be Magadhi, but after
due consideration, it seems that it was not Magadhi but general
Prakrit, because later Buddhist scriptures do not show the traits seen
in Magadhi Prakrit. [Mishra, p.377] Therefore, His preachings were in
"Pacchahi" language from which was originated Shouriseni Prakrit of
the middle lands and Maharashtri Prakrit of the whole country. Ashoka
also considered it the main language. The language of Jain sutras is
considered Ardha Magadhi, which should mean that it has got traits of
both Shourseni and Magadhi thus it is clear that the language of
middle country was the basis of evolution of Prakrit. [Mishra, p.378]
Middle Prakrit consists of Maharashtri Prakrit, Prakrit used in
dramas, Prakrit of later Jain scriptures and Paishyachi i.e language
of Brihat Katha.
Maharashtri had more respect among the Prakrits. The Maharashtri name
could be because of region like Shourseni or Magadhi but, it should be
considered as Maha as vast and Maharashtri means language of the
greater part of the country as becomes clear from a verse of Dandin.
[Mishra, p.379]
Apabhransha
Apbhramsha originated from Prakrit. Grammarians consider two forms of
it, "Nagar" and "Brachad". Sindhi evolved from Brached and Gujarathi,
Rajasthani, Braji etc. evolved from Nagar. There are two types
according to time. Early and late. Avahatha can be considered a late
type. The Apbhramsha more nearer to modern regional languages can be
placed in late type of Apbhramsha. [Mishra, p.382]
Modern Regional Languages of India
They originated after Apbhramsha. It can not be said definitely when
the poetry in regional languages started. But looking at the late
Apbhramsha, it is clear that the words of modern regional languages
are seen in them. Therefore, the time of the origin of regional
languages must be placed in Tenth or Eleventh centuries of Vikram Era.
[Mishra, p.383]
Hindi
Hindi was the first regional language to originate. Its ancient roots
are in Shourseni and also Magadhi or Ardha Magadhi. Name Hindi
originated from Hindu. Others do not agree with this. Hindu is a name
given by Muslims.
There are four types, Khadiboli, Rekhata, Nagari, and high Hindi.
[Mishra, p.389] Urdu evolved from language soldiers spoke in the
market, and thus it is basically hindi only. [Mishra, p.391] After
Britishers came Hindi got mixed with words from all languages and was
called "Hindusthani". [Mishra, p.393]
Classification of Hindi
1. Western (paschimi) (a) Khadi boli -
(i) Urdu - of three types of Northern (Uttari) - Rekhati; Dehalvi; and
Lakhanavi. And one Southern (Dakhani)
(ii) Mixed
(iii)High Hindi (uccha hindi)
(b)Bangaru (c) Central (Madyavarti) with
(i) Braji (ii) Kanauji and (iii) Bundeli
2. Eastern (Purvi) : - (a) Avadhi - with (i) Western (Pashimi) and
(ii) Eastern (Purvi) (b) Bagheli (c) Chattisgadhi
Scripts of India
Only two scripts were in vogue at the time of Ashoka, Brahmi and
Kharoshti. On the basis of available Brahmi inscriptions, the time of
Brahmi script is considered to be from 500 B.C. to 350 A.D. Two styles
were visible in Brahmi in 4th century A.D. which are called Northern
and Southern. The scripts evolved from Northern are, Gupta, Kutil,
Nagari, Sharda and Bangala, and from Southern are Western, Madhya
Pradeshi, Telugu Kannad, Grantha, Kalinga and Tamil. [Mishra, p.454]
Script of Gupta kings is termed as "Gupta", from which evolved in
sixth to nineth century, a script called "Kutil". From tenth century
onwards, we find traces of "Nagari" in North India. In South, it was
called "Nanda Nagari" and appeared around 8th century. From Nagari
evolved the Bangala, Kaithi, Gujarathi, Marathi languages. Sharda of
Kashmir evolved from Kutil. From Sharada evolved, Takkari and
Gurumukhi. From early Bangala script originated, present Bangala,
Maithili and Udiya. [Mishra, p.454] Out of Southern Styles, script
found in Kathiyavad, Gujarath, Nashik, Khandesh, Satara etc. is termed
Western. That found in Madhya Pradesh, North Hyderabad and Bundelkhand
is called Madhya Pradeshi, and Telgu-Kannad script was precursor of
present Telgu and Kannad scripts. A different script called "Grantha"
was being used to write Sanskrit works, from it evolved Malayalam and
Tulu. Kalinga script was in Kalinga. [Mishra, p.455]
About origin of word Nagari, there are different views. One view is it
was Urban (meaning Nagari) script. Some connect it with Nagar
Brahmins. There are others who consider that, previous to image
worship, devas were worshiped in the form of Yantras, the symbols of
which were called "Devnagar" giving the name to the script. [Mishra, p.
455]
How India got divided into numerous linguistic areas
The picture of diversity of languages and scripts in India - past and
present. How India, which, during Buddhist period, had only one main
language and one or two main scripts, got divided into various groups
with their intrinsic rivalries? This is the main problem, which nobody
bothers to refer to. After the fall of Buddhism, Brahmanism not only
divided the people into numerous castes with graded inequality and
numerous tiny dynasties with rivalries due to sense of high and low,
but also divided the whole country into small segments. It taught that
each kingdom, though small, is a different country. The result was
that the feeling of oneness was never present among the Hindus. There
never arose a feeling on one India among them. In scriptures, we find
definitions of 'foreign' lands at many places. They denote the
mischief caused. [Surendra Kumar Adnyat - "hindu dharm ne bachaya ya
pitavaya", Sarita Mukta Reprint vol. 7, p. 24]
Brahspati says that if there is a big river or a big mountain in
between, or if the language differs, then the countries on either side
should be treated as foreign lands of each other. Some say after 60
yojanas, new country starts, some say 40 and some say 30 yojanas. (One
yojana equals 8 miles). Brahaspati mentions another opinion using the
word 'videsh' in place of 'deshantara', that the videsh is that where
one can not get messages within one day. [Surendra Kumar Adnyat -
"hindu dharm ne bachaya ya pitavaya", Sarita Mukta Reprint vol. 7, p.
24]
Dharmasindhu defines 'deshantara' or 'videsh' on the basis of caste.
For a brahmin distance of 20 yojanas from his residence, is
'deshantara', for ksatriya it is 24 yojanas, for a vaishya it is 30
yojanas and for a sudra it is 60 yojanas. If a big mountain or river
comes in way or if there is difference of language, then it is a
different country, as said by some people. It only means, in such an
event, even though the distance is less than 20, 24, 30 or 60 yojanas,
even then it is 'deshantara' for brahmins, ksatriyas, vaishyas and
sudras respectively. [Surendra Kumar Adnyat - "hindu dharm ne bachaya
ya pitavaya", Sarita Mukta Reprint vol. 7, p. 24]
Thus as per scriptures, at the most 480 miles is the limit of your
country, every thing beyond is a foreign land. Even today, we use the
word 'pardeshi' meaning a foreigner for a resident of a town, some
distance away. When the sastras declare all areas except in immediate
vicinity are alien lands, how can one expect the rajas and subjects
consider other fellow Indians as their own in this vast land.
Kalivarjya was the method of control
That the kalivarj is the method of Brahmins to tackle with the
Buddhist influence over the masses and impose their supremacy. They
changed their laws without actually condemning them. All laws and
rules, were amended including Civil, Criminal, Revenue and personal
laws. It is not properly realized by the masses, that King was not the
Law maker; he had no legislative powers, contrary to the popular
belief. He was only the executive head and had a responsibility to
implement the laws made by the Brahmins. At the most he could only
legislate on revenue matters, that too, as per the rules already laid
down. He had some judicial powers, but that too, he could not pass
judgment against the law given by the Brahmins.
Who suffered in Kalivarjya
In Kalivarjya, main law was against sea voyage. That is how the sea
worthy races of Pallava and Chola countries suffered. All the trade
that was being conducted through the sea stopped. Who suffered? Not
the Brahmins, surely. It will be clear, if we take a look at the
products of export. Most of the products of export were based on the
agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and forest economy. Even
the textile industry which had reached a high acclaim in foreign
lands, was based on cotton, silk and wool. All these occupations were
in the hands of working classes, who were all doomed to be shudras.
All these industries suffered. All these castes in the village economy
suffered. All these occupational groups, which were prosperous during
the Buddhist rule, were degraded into castes, due to rigid caste rules
imposed.
The mobility of the professions was stopped. Telis, who extracted oil
from oil seeds, Malis, who grew the vegetables, the Dhangars, who
reared the goats and lambs, Sutars, who made and repaired the farmers'
implements, Kumar, who suppled earthen pots to villagers and Mahars
and Mangs who protected the villages from strangers, all were
segregated. All these professions became hereditary and social
intercourse among them stopped. Not only this caused multiplicity of
castes, and regional variations in languages but also a different
language for various castes. This ultimately lead to present situation
of confusion, distrust and hostility among the people destroying
social fabric of country, for which we have only to thank the fall of
Buddhism and rise of Brahmanism.
Send e-mail to dal...@ambedkar.org with questions or comments about
this web site.
No Copyright © 2000 dalit e-forum Last modified: March 28, 2000
http://www.ambedkar.org/brahmanism/BRAHMANISM_CONTROLLED_MASSES_THROUGH_LANGUAGE.htm
Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade
Born 1863
Died 1926
Influenced
Datto Vaman Potdar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datto_Vaman_Potdar
Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade (Marathi: विश्वनाथ काशिनाथ राजवाडे) (24th
June,1863-31st December,1926), popularly known as Itihasacharya
Rajwade was an eminent historian, scholar, writer, commentator and
orator from Maharashtra. He is considered to be the first in real
sense to undertake an immense research of Maratha History by visiting
hundreds of villages and historical places allover India and gathering
thousands of genuine historical papers. He is also known to be the
notable commentator on the various aspects of world history. He was
the founder member of Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Pune. His disciples
include historians like Datto Vaman Potdar and G.H.Khare.
Eminent Historian, R.S. Sharma writes of him as, "With his
unadulterated passion for research, V.K.Rajwade went from village to
village in Maharashtra in search of Sanskrit manuscripts and sources
of Maratha history; which were published in twenty-two volumes."[1]
Historian Rajwade should not be confused with 'Ahitagni' Shankar
Ramchandra Rajwade; Ahitaagni Rajwade was a vedic scholar.
The Indian History Congress has constituted Vishwanath Kashinath
Rajwade Award for life-long service and contribution to Indian
history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itihas_Sanshodhak_Mandal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_History_Congress
Early life
Rajwade’s grandfather was the Killedar of fort Lohagad in the province
of Pune. He was Born in the village Varsai situated in Raigad district
of Maharashtra state. Since his father died in his childhood, he was
brought up by his uncle at Vadgaon near Pune. He did his matriculation
in January 1882 and graduation in 1890 from Deccan College, Pune.
During his graduation he came in close contact of the well known
scholar Dr. Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar who was then a professor in
Deccan College (Pune). Sooner or Later he was also impressed with the
works by Vishnushastri Krushnashastri Chiplunkar, Parshuram Tatya
Godbole and Kavyeitihas sangrahakar Sane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pune
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raigad_district
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramkrishna_Gopal_Bhandarkar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deccan_College_(Pune)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnushastri_Krushnashastri_Chiplunkar
Later Life & Contribution
After his graduation Rajwade got married but subsequently lost his
wife in early young age. Thereafter he chose to dedicate his life to
history and research. In 1895 he started a Marathi magazine called
‘Bhashantar’ (meaning ‘translation’) through which he brought works of
western historians and scholars like Plato, Aristotle, Edward Gibbon
and Indian scholars like Shankaracharya etc. in Marathi.
Simultaneously, by writing articles and delivering speeches he also
started educating Marathi people on several subjects like history of
Marathas, history of world, history of Marathi literature, grammar of
Marathi and Sanskrit languages. In 1910, he founded Bharat Itihas
Sanshodhak Mandal at Pune and kept all his works and historical papers
gathered by him in the custody of the Mandal. After his sudden death
in 1926, ‘Rajwade Sanshodhak Mandal’ was founded at Dhule and his
works and collection of his later life was kept there. Both the
institutions have been contributing in the field of history and
culture of India till the date.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankaracharya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhule
His works in Marathi as a Researcher / Historian / Editor
Marathyanchya Itihasachi Sadhane (History of Marathas) – 22 Volumes
Radha Madhav Vilas Champu (Biodgraphy of Shahaji)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahaji
Aitihasik Prastavana (Historical Prefaces)
Rajwade Lekhsangraha (Collection of essays) - 3 Volumes
Bharatiya Vivah Sansthecha Itihas (History of Indian matrimony)
Dnyaneshwari (Editor)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnyaneshwari
References
^ Sharma, R.S. (2009). Rethinking India's Past. Oxford University
Press. ISBN 978-0195697872.
‘Rajwade Lekhsangraha’ (Marathi) published by Sahitya Akademi
External links
Historian V K Rajawade's works to hit the stands at
www.indianexpress.com
Commentary on some of Rajwade's work
http://blogsearch.google.co.in/blogsearch?as_q=Rajwade&num=10&hl=en&ctz=&c2coff=1&btnG=Search+Blogs&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&bl_pt=&bl_bt=&bl_url=http%3A%2F%2Fsearchingforlaugh.blogspot.com&bl_auth=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=a&as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=2000&as_maxd=11&as_maxm=1&as_maxy=2008&lr=&safe=active
Dr.Jyotsna Kamat on V.K. Rajwade
http://www.kamat.com/jyotsna/blog/blog.php?BlogID=1181
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishwanath_Kashinath_Rajwade
Historian V K Rajawade's works to hit the stands
Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre
MUMBAI, DEC 31: A multi-layered look at the social, cultural and
intellectual making of Maharashtra will be on the stands soon. A 13
volume compilation of the writings of Itihasacharya V K Rajwade
(1863-1926), parts of which have been published as individual books,
has been put together by the Dhule-based Rajwade Sanshodhan Mandal,
comprising intellectuals, scholars and followers of Rajwade.
This was recently announced at a function held at Y B Chavan
auditorium here. Although the Mandal started work on the compilation
almost six years ago. the project languished due to lack of funds.
However, the editorial board, led by Dr M B Shah, persevered and
managed the task minus a government grant.
Each year, the Mandal commemorates Rajwade's death anniversary on
December 31. Originally from Pune, Rajwade spent the last years of his
life in Dhule. He is reputed for his 27 volumes on source material of
Maratha history. Rajwade's book on the history of the institution of
marriage is also considered a milestone. Hedied before realising his
dream of penning the history of the Aryas.
Rajwade's writings encompassed several themes, including a study of
the Marathi language, saint literature of Maharashtra as well as
different types of dictionaries. The Mandal chose specialists from 13
disciplines like Y D Phadke, Ram Shevalkar, Bhaskar Bhole and Kalyan
Kale from all over the state to pen the prefaces.
Rajwade's study of the Marathi language is considered a classic. In
the process of studying the colonial past of the state, he prepared an
exhaustive list of village names, surnames and caste names. The
Sanskrit origin of each name throws light on the sociological pattern
of the time. For instance, the origin of Vaishyagram and Yesgaon can
be traced to the Vaishya caste. He also recorded that several village
names originated from the Sanskrit terms for animals: Jalgaon from
Jaluka and Khanapur from Khanak (rat). He also prepared a list of
1,500 names of villages which originated from names of medicinal
herbs, like Erandolfrom Erand.
Rajwade also showed that the evolution of names was a benchmark of
social status. Bhishma graduated to Bhikham, Bhikhamsheth and even
Vikramsheth. Similarly, Bhikshu became Bhikkhu, then Bhiku.
Rajwade's vast scholarship even extended to a dictionary of verbal
roots (dhatu), tracing the origin of words. He also prepared a list of
150 key intellectuals of Maharashtra living in the period between 1898
and 1913. He shortlisted 45 persons from this list and compared them
to their contemporaries in Britain. It is recorded that he felt that
Indian `achievers' compared poorly in comparison!
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990101/0015060.html
Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Pune
Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, popularly known as Itihas Sanshodhak
Mandal or just ‘Mandal’, is an Indian institute providing resources
and training for historical researchers. It is located at Pune in
Maharashtra state. The institute was founded in 1910 by the veteran
Indian historian V.K. Rajwade and Sardar K.C. Mehendale.
Objective
The main objective behind setting up the Mandal was to provide ready
resources to the historians and researchers, to save their time and to
motivate them. Rajwade conceived this idea long back but could not
fulfill it until Sardar Mehendale met him and on his own expressed his
readiness to support him for anything that he wished to do for the
betterment of history.
History
The Mandal was founded on 7th July 1910 by the veteran Indian
historian Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade and Sardar Khanderao Chintaman
Mehendale at Sardar Mehendale’s palace at Appa Balwant Chowk in Pune.
To commence the activity Rajwade read an essay in the presence of the
only listener Sardar Mehendale. Later on, the Mandal moved to it’s
present building located in Sadashiv Peth area in the heart of the
city. In March 1926 the short tempered Rajwade left Pune due to
differences with the then Administrators of the Mandal and shifted to
Dhule to form another institute which was named after him as ‘Rajwade
Sanshodhan Mandir’. The Mandal at Pune, however, continued following
on it’s mission to help researchers and contribute to the progress of
historical study. It has since then been highly supported by the
people and scholars by way of donations and bequests of books and
papers. Rajwade’s disciples Datto Vaman Potdar and Ganesh Hari Khare
are believed to have played major role in prospering the Mandal and
it’s activities.
Resources
Founder of the Mandal : V.K.RajwadePresently, the Mandal maintains
more than 1500000 historical papers and 30000 scripts mainly in
Marathi, Modi, Persian, Portuguese and English language. Moreover, it
has also preserved over 4000 coins, 1000 paintings and a few
sculptures and inscriptions in it’s well equipped museum. The Mandal’s
library keeps a more than 27000 books written mainly in Marathi and
English which can be available to the researchers for free reading or
for a nominal fee on ‘Take Home’ basis. These resources hold sizable
volumes on the history of Maratha Empire, Maratha culture and Marathi
literature. They also contain a large collection of the material on
British Rule as well as Mughal Rule over India. The Mandal issues a
Quarterly Journal called ‘Trai-Masik’ wherein essays and articles on
new discoveries are presented. It has also published books written and
edited by veteran historians and reports of annual conferences and
historians' meets. The Mandal periodically organizes lectures,
workshops, training, seminars and study tours for the young
researchers and historians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modi_script
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rule
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire
[edit] Funding
It was reported in 2004 that the Mandal was insufficiently funded to
micro-film or digitise its collection.[1] In 2009, as it entered its
100th year, it plans to create a permanent fund of Ten Million Rupees
and use the interest from this fund to pay its expenses.[2]
Past Presidents
1910-1913 Ganesh Vyankatesh Joshi
1913-1926 Kashinath Narayan Sane
1926-1935 Chintaman Vinayak Vaidya
1935-1942 Narsinha Chintaman Kelkar
1942-1950 Malojirao Naik Nimbalkar
1950-1974 Datto Vaman Potdar
1974-1981 Ganesh Hari Khare
1981-1983 Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankaliya
1984-1986 Ramchandra Shankar Walimbe
1988-1991 V.T.Shete
Select Publications
Annual Research Reports
Proceedings of the Annual Conferences
Sources of Maratha History by V.K.Rajwade
Persian Sources of Indian History by G.H.Khare
Miscellaneous Sources of Indian History
Miscellaneous Articles on Indian History
Proceedings on Researches on Pune
Records of the Shivaji’s Period
Sources of the Medieval History of the Deccan
Vijayanagar Commemoration Volume
Album of Paintings
Bibliography and Index of Mandal’s Publications
Quarterly Journals
References
Quarterly Journal, January 1991 published by Bharat Itihas Sabshodhak
Mandal, Pune.
‘Rajwade Lekhsangraha’ (Marathi) published by Sahitya Akademi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahitya_Akademi
External Links
Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//Cities/250-ayurveda-related-manuscripts-digitised/articleshow/4549108.cms?
Sakaal Times
^ Damle, Manjiri; Neil Pate (23 January 2004). "Libraries struggle to
preserve books". The Times of India (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Libraries-struggle-to-preserve-books/articleshow/440420.cms.
Retrieved 2009-10-29.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Libraries-struggle-to-preserve-books/articleshow/440420.cms
^ Deshpande, Devidas (October 25, 2009). "History in the making
money". Pune Mirror (Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd).
http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2009102520091025234719934ab5176a§xslt=.
Retrieved 2009-10-29.
http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2009102520091025234719934ab5176a§xslt=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Itihas_Sanshodhak_Mandal
Monday, February 04, 2008
Viswanath Kashinath Rajwade
Viswanath Kashinath Rajwade -(1863 –1921 CE)
Mr. V.K. Rajwade was a rare combination of a researcher, history
grammarian, social scientist and etymologist. Born in an orthodox
family, he lost his father at the age of three. His mother with two
children-both boys, came and stayed with her father at Warsai
Maharashtra. For schooling the brothers went to Pune. Viswanth passed
matriculation examination in 1882. He could not pursue college
studies, due to poverty. He became a trainer for second division
clerks in Public Service Department. After earning some money, he
joined Deccan College, and became a graduate in 1997. Though he was
greatly influenced by scholarly teachers like R.G. Bhandarkar, he came
to know the futility of higher education in India, which did not help
original thinking or research. He did not seek government employment,
which was indirect slavery according to him.
As was the practice, he was married at 15, and when his wife died
after giving birth two children, he did not remarry, though he was
only 30. He started translating world classics in Marathi and started
a Monthly called "Bhashantar". He brought out 15 translations
including Plato's "Republic".
He was unhappy with Maratha history books written by Grant Duff and
others, which try to establish conquerors' view of subjugated people,
and wanted to present unbiased point of view. A student’s letter
informing about discovery of a trunk full of old records at Wai
(Satara District. Maharashtra) made him rush to the spot. The dormant
researcher in him came out with full vigor.
There were 202 records pertaining to battle of Panipat in that trunk.
1st volume of these edited records came out in no time (1896). 22
books on ‘Sources of Maratha History’ followed.
He now started touring the whole of Maharashtra region. No item
pertaining to art, architecture, iconography, social life, language,
literature, customs, folk traditions escaped his inquisitive eye. As
soon as news about the possibility of getting fresh material reached,
he would dash off to the place by any available transport or on foot,
taking with him minimum clothing and cooking utensils. In those days
no eateries existed in remote areas for orthodox Brahmins. Self-
cooking was the only way, to survive.
He got the oldest commentary on Jnaneswari and brought out its
earliest grammatical form. He edited "Radha Madhav Vilas Champu" of
Jayaram Pindye of Shahaji’s (father of Shivaji) time, which has
special bearing on the history of contemporary Karnataka. Another book
of original source he edited was Mahikavatichi Bakhar. He explored one
more important source of history i.e etymology (study of origion of
words), led to several archaic rituals & practices of man-kind and he
proved it on the basis of ancient texts. His incomplete work on the
"History of Indian Marriage - Institution" shows his sound knowledge
of Sanskrit (including archaic and Vedic Sanskrit) as also vast
reading of world literature in English of the period. His unbiased
interpretation of hoary mantras, and Mahabharata and Puranic episodes
regarding man-woman relation & evolution of marriage custom led to
storm of protests. He was far ahead in rational approach towards study
of history.
A sage like scholar, known for austere habits and long hours of work
and incessant traveling, he died of high-blood pressure on 31st of
December 1921.
Amma's Column by Jyotsna Kamat
http://www.kamat.com/jyotsna/blog/blog.php?BlogID=1181
20th June, 2003
Ministry of Communications
COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP ON V.K. RAJWADE
The Department of Posts (DoP) will be bringing out a commemorative
postage stamp on V.K. Rajwade on 23rd June, 2003. The stamp is in the
denomination of Rs.5/-
Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade (1863-1926), one among the pioneering
historians of India. He was a multifaceted personality who left his
imprint in many other disciplines like Linguistics, Literature,
Geography, Oleography and Sociology also. Meticulous in his research
and prodigious in output, he is remembered most for his path breaking
work in historiography. His writings inspired many research scholars
in Maharashtra and other parts of India to pursue the subject at a
time when works of European historians dominated the academic
discourses in Indian history. It is no exaggeration to say that his
work revolutionised the way the subject of history was perceived in
India and helped to advance an Indian view of history.
By founding the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal at Pune in 1910, he
institutionalised his research procedures. He had stressed five
aspects in his research methodology, viz., collection of original
historical records, preservation of records, examination and
classification of records, editing and publication of records and
interpretation of sources and writing of histories.
The First Day Cover alongwith the information sheet will be available
on sale at all Philatelic Bureaux/Counters and at selected Post
Offices.
http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/rjun2003/20062003/r2006200311.html
Horseplay in Harappa: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/f9b738e079fef9fb/29e89ff9c3ac525d
Troubled Tribal: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/e728acc31e0d52d7#
Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/ec479835613abd41#
Hindus'Tantrum: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/8a1efe054a3bf157#
I Write, Therefore I am: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/4cb1ce65c9d8f4c5#
Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/37334fb34fbe6d7c#
Sex and CD Scandal: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3f5e2a3be4798e7d#
Not Required Indian, NRI: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/672c3ae8cc9b567c#
Why 'Marathi'?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/4be9d2a2e20ab43f#
Telangana Tempest: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/b7da74ebd932a5fa#
Of States and Statesmanship: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/73c89074ecfe9966#
Sa for Sanskrit Pop: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/9f6d369c7793990f#
Black Money Monster: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/109aa8a66442ca6d#
Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/85f8a222fd275c15#
Indian Power-Pow-Wow, Wow!: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/54cba427083f4e4f#
26/11 Saga Continues: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/20d42cd9546b852b#
Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/008ed3e81dbcd9cc#
Of Justice and Injustice: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/dc3ba7935f641e60#
Sangh Parivar Pageant: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/a91a817395e54639#
Stop this terroristic activities of Shiv Sena
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/93908482518b9228#
BJP RIP: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/20def0d930fc511f#
Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/b6aa5a8a1b675046#
Sangh Parivar Pageant: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/9c4ff65e38c4b924#
Sudharma, Sanskrit Newspaper: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/51f22c78acbc72b1#
Hindu Worldview: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/c8a515cc34f18a5a#
Shimla Shenanigans: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/64bddaf4fb04bac5#
chhotemianinshallah
@ the Complete Review
A Literary Salon & Site Review
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
James Laine’s Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
and the attack on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Background - Chronology - Reactions
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
James Laine’s Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
and the attack on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Background - Chronology - Reactions
For more information, please also see in this issue of the crQ:
James Laine’s Controversial Book by Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and
Amodini Bagwe
Attacking Myths and Institutions: James Laine’s Shivaji and BORI
- the Editors, the complete review
Introduction
On 5 January 2004 a group calling itself the Sambhaji Brigade
attacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune, in
the state of Maharashtra, India. There was considerable damage done to
the holdings of this significant cultural repository, including to
irreplaceable and unique objects of historical and literary
importance. While not on the same scale, it was a catastrophe
comparable to the recent destruction and looting of libraries in
Sarajevo and Iraq, or the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in
Afghanistan, a devastating blow to contemporary civilization and to
the preservation of what remains of previous ones.
The attack was the preliminary culmination in a series of
increasingly disturbing and destructive events that were triggered by
the publication of James W. Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic
India (Oxford University Press, 2003). Laine's book sparked
controversy in India, leading Oxford University Press India to
withdraw it from the local market in November 2003. This did not
sufficiently appease those upset by the book. American professor Laine
had done some of the research for his book at BORI, and he thanked the
institute and some scholars affiliated with it in his
acknowledgements; the institute and its members were then targeted by
those angered by the book. In December 2003 one of those thanked by
Laine, historian Shrikant Bahulkar, was assaulted, his face blackened
by Shiv Sena activists. Then, in January, came the attack on the
institute itself.
While the attack was widely condemned, and over 70 of the
participants were arrested, Laine and his undertaking continue to be
denounced. Shivaji has now been banned, and Laine has been charged by
the authorities and appears to be subject to arrest if he returns to
India. Laine and his book -- and BORI -- continue to be used in what
appears to be an increasingly politicised debate.
These events are particularly disturbing because, unlike most
other recent incidents of large-scale cultural vandalism, they
occurred in a country at peace, and in a democracy -- a system that
depends on a tolerance for a plurality of opinions and on free
expression to properly function. Also striking -- and worrisome -- is
that the conflict has been framed as one centred around questions of
historical (in)accuracy and and (ir)responsibile scholarship, but
there has been little interest from many of those challenging Laine's
book to debate these questions, as they have answered them with mob-
rule and violence instead of counter-argument.
There has been much discussion about these events in India,
but, despite the supranational issues at stake, as well as the roles
played by an American professor and the world's largest -- and one of
the most respected -- university presses, international press coverage
has been very limited. The conflict is a complex one, and it is both
politically and religiously highly charged, centred around an
historical figure -- Shivaji -- who is not well known outside India.
In this introductory overview we try to present the necessary
background information to allow some understanding of the events that
have taken place. Other pieces in this edition of the complete review
Quarterly devoted to the subject are Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and
Amodini Bagwe 's essay on James Laine’s Controversial Book and our
commentary, Attacking Myths and Institutions: James Laine’s Shivaji
and BORI
A guide to what's at issue
Shivaji
Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj (also known simply as Shivaji or
Sivaji) lived 1627/1630 to 1680. A Maratha leader, he was fiercely
opposed to the Mughals that at that time controlled much of what is
now India, and was instrumental in establishing Marathi independence.
Crowned the first Maratha king in 1674, he is a founding-father figure
who is still highly revered in India, especially in the state of
Maharashtra (major cities: Mumbai (Bombay) and Pune); see, for example
the official Maharashtra state site, where a page is devoted to
Shivaji: the Maker of the Maratha Nation
Shivaji is also perceived as a specifically Hindu hero, having
established a Hindu empire in opposition to the Mughals (who were
Muslim, and foreign). While widely revered in India, Hindu-nationalist
groups have been particularly vociferous in allowing no criticism of
the man, his accomplishments, and the legends around him.
His name, of great symbolic value, is often invoked, especially
in recent years as a Hindu-focussed nationalism (and political
polarization) in India has been resurgent. So, for example, Mumbai
(formerly Bombay) airport has apparently been re-named: Chhatrapati
Shivaji International Airport.
For additional information, see:
Chhatrapati Shivaji - The Legend
http://www.chhatrapati-shivaji.com/
Shivaji at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji
Shivaji at Freeindia.org
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatlkings/shivaji/
The Complexities of Shivaji by Vijay Prashad, at Proxsa (also at
HVK.org, where -- scroll down -- there is a response from
Bhalchandrarao C. Patwardhan)
http://www.foil.org/history/shivaji.html
James W. Laine
James W. Laine is the Arnold H. Lowe Professor and Chair of
Religious Studies at Macalester College; see his faculty page. He got
his B.A. from Texas Tech, and his M.T.S. and Th.D. from Harvard. See
also his Curriculum vitae.
James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India was
published by Oxford University Press. It apparently appeared in the US
and the UK in early 2003, and was then published in India in the
summer of 2003.
In describing the book Oxford University Press writes:
The legends of his life have become an epic story that everyone in
western India knows, and an important part of the Hindu nationalists'
ideology. To read Shivaji's legend today is to find expression of
deeply held convictions about what Hinduism means and how it is
opposed to Islam.
They also suggest:
Different sub-groups, representing a range of religious persuasions,
found it in their advantage to accentuate or diminish the importance
of Hindu and Muslim identity and the ideologies that supported the
construction of such identities. By studying the evolution of the
Shivaji legend, Laine demonstrates, we can trace the development of
such constructions in both pre-British and post-colonial periods.
It appears that Laine's focus on a shifting legend -- rather a
fixed-in-stone image of the man some groups insist upon -- and the
notion that the legend has been adapted for other purposes is among
the aspects of the book that has proved most controversial.
(Ironically, reactions by some groups that tolerate only their current
notion of the legend would appear to support at least Laine's
underlying thesis.)
The statement in the book that appears to have provoked the
greatest outrage is the mention that it has been suggested that
Shivaji's father was not Shahaji, Laine writing: "Maharashtrians tell
jokes naughtily that Shivaji’s biological father was Dadoji Kondeo
Kulkarni" (quoted, for example, in The Telegraph, 18 January). This
statement -- indeed, even the mere suggestion -- is apparently
considered an outrageous insult and defamation of Shivaji, Shahaji,
and Shivaji's mother, Jijabai (all highly revered). The claim is also
widely considered unfounded and gratuitous; apparently this particular
'naughty joke' is not familiar to most Maharashtrians (or at least
none appear to have come forward acknowledging that they've heard this
sort of banter).
In his acknowledgements Laine thanked numerous people, writing
also:
In India, my scholarly home has been the Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute in Pune, and there I profited from the advice and assistance
of the senior librarian, V. L. Manjul. I read texts and learned
informally a great deal about Marathi literature and Maharashtrian
culture from S. S. Bahulkar, Sucheta Paranjpe, Y. B. Damle, Rekha
Damle, Bhaskar Chandavarkar, and Meena Chandavarkar. Thanks to the
American Institute of Indian Studies and Madhav Bhandare, I was able
to spend three productive periods of research in Pune.
Laine's thanks were apparently interpreted as a declaration of
scholarly complicity, and those named were among those targeted by the
groups opposed to Laine's work -- despite the fact that several
scholars attached to BORI distanced themselves from the book and were
among those demanding that OUP India withdraw the book.
Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India has not been
widely reviewed (in part likely because it is a scholarly work of the
sort generally mainly reviewed in academic journals, many of which
take longer to review titles than the mass media does). Among the few
reviews is V.N. Datta's in The Sunday Tribune (7 December), An image
that might be disturbing
For additional information see:
The OUP-USA publicity page ((Updated - 29 March): The book is no
longer listed in the OUP-USA catalogue)
http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Hinduism/?view=usa&ci=0195141261
The OUP publicity page ((Updated - 29 March): The book is barely
listed in the OUP catalogue)
To purchase Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
from Amazon.com
from Amazon.co.uk
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute is located in Pune. It was
founded in 1917 and is a leading repository of Indological manuscripts
and a renowned centre for scholarship.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040119/asp/frontpage/story_2802420.asp
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031207/spectrum/book4.htm
For additional information see:
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Shivaji.html
BORI at virtualpune.com
A learning house with a world-wide appeal, at the Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/407198.cms
Sambhaji Brigade
A small, previously little known group affiliated with the
Hindu-nationalist organisation, Maratha Seva Sangh
Chronology
(Based on Ketaki Ghoge's chronology in his article, Rape of
culture leaves city in shock (Indian Express, 5 January), and other
mentioned sources. See also Anupama Katakam's article, Politics of
vandalism in Frontline (issue of 17-30 January) for a good overview
(and pictures).)
June, 2003: James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
published in India by Oxford University Press India.
November, 2003: Scholars affiliated with the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute (BORI), historians (including Jaysinhrao Pawar,
Babasaheb Purandare, Ninad Bedekar, and Gajanan Mehendale), and others
(including city MP Pradeep Rawat) called for the withdrawal of the
book. (See Scholar destroys own work on Shivaji, Manjiri Damle, Times
of India, 27 December)
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130003802800.htm
21 November 2003: Oxford University Press India apologised and
withdrew the book from the Indian market. (The book continued to be
listed in the OUP India catalogue until mid-January, but has since
been removed. The book remains in print and available outside India.)
22 December 2003: Shiv Sena activists confronted and attacked scholars
attached to BORI over their role in assisting Laine with his book.
Sanskrit scholar Shrikant Bahulkar was physically assaulted and his
face blackened (an act meant to shame him). (See Scholar destroys own
work on Shivaji)
25 December 2003: Gajanan Mehendale, who had previously called for the
withdrawal of Laine's book, went to the Shiv Sena offices to demand an
apology for the assault on Bahulkar. When none was forthcoming he
destroyed several hundred manuscript pages of his own unpublished
biographical study of Shivaji. (See Scholar destroys own work on
Shivaji)
28 December 2003: Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray personally apologised
to Bahulkar. The Times of India reported (29 December) that:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/388216.cms
Raj assured Bahulkar that such incidents would not be repeated and
that Sena activists would have to get a "clearance" from the toprung
leaders before embarking on such "aggressive campaigns" in the
future.
late December, 2003: James Laine faxed a statement apologising to some
Pune scholars. The Times of India reported Laine says sorry for
hurting sentiments (30 December), quoting:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/394299.cms
"It was never my intention to defame the great Maharashtrian hero. I
had no desire to upset those for whom he is an emblem of regional and
national pride, and I apologise for inadvertently doing so," he said
in a faxed message to some city scholars. "I foolishly misread the
situation in India and figured the book would receive scholarly
criticism, not censorship and condemnation. Again I apologise," the
American author said.
5 January, 2004: Over 150 activists from the Sambhaji Brigade attacked
BORI, ransacking the building, defacing books and artworks, and
destroying property. The extent of the damage is not clear at this
time -- especially regarding the irreplaceable manuscripts and
historical artefacts -- but appears to be considerable . Seventy-two
of the hooligans were arrested. (See also: 'Maratha' activists
vandalise Bhandarkar (Times of India), Helping Laine: Books, powada,
poem (Express News Service), and Mob ransacks Pune's Bhandarkar
Institute (Rupa Chapalgaonkar, Mid-Day))
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/407226.cms
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=72609
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=38796
6 January: Mid-Day published Pune institute's desecration shocks
author, in which Laine comments on events and explains, inter alia:
My goal was not to establish my version of the true history of
Shivaji, but to examine the forces that shaped the commonly held
views. In so doing, I suggest that there might be other ways of
reading the historical evidence, but in making such a suggestion, I
have elicited a storm of criticism. I am astonished.
7 January: In the Indian Express Shailesh Gaikwad reports MSS chief’s
clout keeps govt away. Illustrating the government's disturbing
priorities (and a continued interest in appeasing populist elements)
State Home Minister R.R. Patil is quoted as saying:
We condemn the attack and also distorting of the history of
Chhatrapati Shivaji. The government is seeking legal opinion to
ascertain if any action can be taken against the author and also
whether the book can be banned.
9 January: At a press conference Sambhaji Brigade spokesman Shrimant
Kokate is reported (in the Times of India) to have expressed
pleasantries such as:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/416173.cms
"In fact, scholars should be happy that Bori is still intact," he
remarked. Kokate said that the brigade was "most unhappy" that
scholars who had helped Laine were "still alive" and demanded that
they face an inquiry or be handed over to the Brigade. Kokate
expressed his displeasure about the fact that the media had labelled
them as goons. "We will deal with the media later," he threatened.
In another report (Express News Service) he is quoted as saying:
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=38950
Those who fed him [Laine] with the offensive information should be
hanged by the government. If the government is unable to do so they
should be handed over to us.
Kokate was apparently not arrested for these inflammatory remarks.
Instead:
9 January: Charges were filed against James Laine and OUP India by the
Deccan Gymkhana police. The charges are registered under Sections 153
and 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code. (As A.G. Noorani notes in
Chhatrapati or bust (Hindustan Times, 27 January), Section 153A has
frequently -- but selectively -- been invoked over the past decade and
more, writing: "Section 153A is not invoked to suppress the VHP or the
Shiv Sena’s hate campaign but to suppress scholarly books unacceptable
to them.".) These sections read:
153. Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot (...)
153A. Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of
religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing
acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony
(See also Case against Laine, OUP (Express News Service)
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=72977
and Pune police book American writer Laine (Times of India))
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/417192.cms
12 January: James Laine published a commentary piece, In India, 'the
Unthinkable' Is Printed at One's Peril in The Los Angeles Times; it
is, unfortunately, not freely accessible on the Internet. In it he
describes his interest in Shivaji, his book, early reactions to it,
and then the events that unfolded. He relates how, initially, the book
"even ranked up with Hillary Rodham Clinton's in the local list of
English-language bestsellers in Pune", and mentions:
Back in Pune this summer, I saw a couple of bland but positive reviews
in the Indian papers. I thought, "As long as they don't get to the
last chapter."
He concludes the piece:
The vast majority of Indians are appalled at what happened in Pune.
And yet no one has stepped forward to defend my book and no one has
called for it to be distributed again. Few will read it for
themselves. Instead, many will live with the knowledge that India is a
country where many thoughts are unthinkable or, if thought, best kept
quiet.
13 January: Mid-Day reports -- in an article with a very understated
headline -- OUP asked to shut Pune office. As the article explains:
Maratha organsisations supporting Sambhaji Brigade have now forced the
Oxford University Press showroom in Pune to down shutters. (...) They
told the employees there that (...) they should down their shutters or
else face consequences.
No arrests were reported.
http://www.mid-day.com/404.htm
14 January: Despite the fact that OUP had already withdrawn Laine's
book from the Indian market two months earlier, the Maharashtra
government moved -- eventually successfully -- to have Laine's book
banned, again citing Sections 153 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code.
(See reports from the Times of India (14 January) and Reuters (16
January).)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/421394.cms
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=27624
16 January: Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee admirably spoke
out against the book-ban. The Times of India reported PM shoots from
the hip, upsets Shiv Sena, NCP, and quotes the Prime Minister as
sensibly stating:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/428426.cms
He said the "right way" to express disagreement was through
discussion. "Countering the views in a particular book by another good
book is understandable," Mr Vajpayee said, adding that he did not
approve of the ban on Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India by American
writer James Laine.
The Express New Service report, PM flags off Mumbai campaign, opposes
ban on Shivaji book, had it a bit differently, quoting the PM as
saying:
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=39370
"If you do not like anything in a particular book, then sit and
discuss it. Banning a book is not a solution, we have to tackle it
ideologically ... If differences of opinion remain after a issue is
discussed, the best way would be to come out with another good book on
the subject"
As the Times of India report also notes: "Ironically, the PM made this
observation at a function to unveil a majestic statue of Chhatrapati
Shivaji in the Sahar airport precincts."
Vajpayee's comments were immediately denounced, including by groups
allied with the PM's party. Indifferent to principles, at least one
person shifted the focus to what is really at issue:
"He should have kept mum, especially since elections are round the
corner," a senior Sena leader present at the function told TNN.
(See also PM not happy with ban on book on Shivaji in Mid-Day)
(Updated - 29 March): Unfortunately, once election time rolled
around, Vajpayee began singing a different tune; see entry of 20
March.
January 18: Politicians continued to seek to outdo one another in
their defence of Shivaji. Express News Service reports Antulay calls
for legal action against Laine (17 January), as senior Congress leader
A.R.Antulay attacked Laine, "urging the government to take all
necessary legal steps to punish him." He is also quoted as saying:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=73576
"How can a dialogue be held if somebody is abusing your father and
mother ?" Antulay asked. (...) He said Shivaji was the pride of India
and Indians should not tolerate any humiliation of their heroes.
Meanwhile, The Hindu reported (18 January) that Chief Minister
Sushilkumar Shinde: "said it was 'not fair' to write such 'bad things'
about Shivaji."
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/434030.cms
19 January: The Times of India reported (20 January) that MSS
threatens more attacks on BORI: apparently the Maratha Sewa Sangh
warned that: "the ‘Sambhaji Brigade’, would resort to more attacks if
students were made to collect money for rebuilding Bori." Despite such
threats, no arrests were reported.
21 January: The Times of India reported that Maratha group flays
Sambhaji brigade, describing a newly-formed group, Maratha Yuvak
Parishad (MYP), opposed to the use of Shivaji by activists "to further
their own political ends".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/437087.cms
22 January: The Times of India reported that Maratha outfit files
petititon against BORI. Maratha Vikas Sangh has apparently set its
sights even higher, having:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/439070.cms
filed a petition in the Bombay high court demanding that all documents
at BORI be seized by the union government. Refusing the let the James
Laine controversy die down, MVS has also demanded censorship on all
books that would be written on historical figures.
(This demand for a quasi-Soviet approach to ensure that the historical
record is kept ... straight apparently has not been widely embraced;
nevertheless, despite suggesting such a thing, the MVS is, amazingly,
still taken seriously.)
28 January: The Times of India reports 'Silent’ majority lodges
protest at BORI:
On Republic Day, inspired by a chain e-mail circulated over the last
two weeks, citizens made a beeline for the institute to register a
silent protest against the vandalism. This, despite a police warning
against gathering at the institute on R-Day. Every protestor dropped a
rupee coin in specially placed urns, as a token contribution towards
the restoration of the institute.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/448086.cms
March: Oxford University Press apparently withdraws all references to
Laine's book from all its online catalogues (previously information
had been available both at OUP-USA and the main OUP site). It is
unclear whether this is a move to remove the book from the market
entirely (including the US and the UK), or merely a defensive legal
maneuver (to preclude any liability claims).
16 March: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani bravely maintained: "that
he was against banning any controversial publication". (See Advani
against banning controversial books (The Hindu, 16 March) and Advani
against ban on Laine's book on Shivaji (at NDTV).) This, of course,
led to:
http://www.ndtv.com/news/error.php
17 March: The Times of India reported of the Uproar in house as DF
defends ‘Shivaji’ ban:
Proceedings in both houses of the state legislature were stalled for
over two hours on Wednesday after the opposition Shiv Sena-BJP members
objected to the ruling coalition members’ suggestion that Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister K Advani
should apologise for disapproving of the state’s ban on the
controversial book Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, penned by
American scholar James Laine.
20 March: The pressure -- and election politics -- finally got to
Prime Minister Vajpayee as he kicked off the BJP election campaign in
Maharahstra, as he suddenly decided the government ban on Laine's book
was a pretty darn good idea after all. Not only that: he also felt it
necessary to assure his listeners: "We are prepared to take action
against the foreign author", and that this was "a warning to all
foreign authors that they do not play with our national pride".
See reports in Mid-Day (Shivaji is my ideal, says Vajpayee) and
Newindpress.com (Vajpayee kickstarts campaign with warning to foreign
authors).
late March: Seeing how well the fervent pro-Shivaji attitude played to
the crowds, and seeking to outdo all those who were satisfied with
merely bashing James Laine, state BJP president Gopinath Munde decided
he could profit by going after bigger fish closer to home and:
demanded a ban on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s classic Discovery of India
on the ground that a 1986 edition of the book contains remarks highly
derogatory of the Maratha king.
(See Ban Nehru's Discovery of India: State BJP, The Times of India, 19
March).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/568894.cms
Unfortunately, the overeager Munde apparently never looked at the book
in question: as The Times of India reported (21 March), Nehru's book:
"contains no such derogatory remark."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/572510.cms
A few days later even Munde had to admit as much -- excusing his zeal
on the grounds that: "I am a politician and not a scholar". But, just
so nobody would think he was going soft, he added: "there is no change
in my party’s stand -- it will not tolerate any insult to national
heroes like Shivaji". (See: Munde wriggles out of Nehru gaffe, The
Times of India, 25 March).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/580909.cms
late March: Another crowd-pleasing, debate-stifling stunt: Pune police
commissioner D.N.Jadhav:
told reporters today that he was writing to Laine to summon him to
India for questioning. If Laine refuses the "request," the police
chief plans to move court. And if Laine ignores the summons, the
police will seek the help of CBI and Interpol, Jadhav said.
(See Day after showing off liberal face, Cong hounds US professor, The
Indian Express, 23 March.)
This at least got some international attention -- see the BBC's
report, India seeks to arrest US scholar -- and again seems to have
played very well in India, where everybody seemed to get really
excited about possibly involving Interpol (despite the fact that
Laine's whereabouts are well-known); see, for example, State to seek
extradition of Shivaji author (The Times of India, 23 March)
Unfortunately, as Vijay Singh noted at Rediff (27 March): Bringing
Laine back: Easier said than done. (In fact, it is clear that Laine
has not been charged with any extraditable offense.)
As usual, there was far more bluster than action: by 25 March the
headline was: No letter to Laine as yet (Indian Express, 25 March), as
(sensibly):
Police Commissioner D N Jadhav today said the police will not be
sending a letter to James Laine, the author of Shivaji: Hindu King in
Islamic India asking him to come to India till April 5 since a
petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court.
See also: Criminal action stayed against Laine (Mid-Day, 27 March).
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=43617
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3561499.stm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/576118.cms
http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/mar/27laine.htm
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=79907
Reactions
Almost no attention has been paid to the controversy
surrounding Laine's book or the attack on BORI outside of India.
Laine's opinion piece, In India, 'the Unthinkable' Is Printed at One's
Peril, in the 12 January issue of The Los Angeles Times, and an
article by Martha Ann Overland ("Vandals Attack Research Center in
India in Retaliation for Help It Gave to American Scholar") in the
Chronicle of Higher Education (issue of 23 January), neither of which
is freely available on the Internet, and a Star Tribune article by
Mary Jane Smetanka, Macalester professor's book incites a riot a world
away ((Updated - 29 March): now only available at WCCO), were among
the very few mentions in the American press.
((Updated - 29 March): With the calls for Laine's arrest at the
end of March there has again been some international coverage, most
notably Scott Baldauf's article, How a US historian sparked calls for
his arrest - in India, in the Christian Science Monitor (29 March).
See also Sara Rajan's A Study in Conflict (Time (Asia), 5 April).)
What reactions there have been in the academic community do not
appear to have made any impact or found any resonance outside those
limited circles. There also appear to have been no calls to withdraw
Laine's book, or ban it, anywhere outside India.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0329/p01s04-wosc.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501040405-605550,00.html
In India , the attack on BORI has been widely (though far from
universally) condemned. The destruction of property, especially that
which is unique and of historical significance, and the threats
against scholars have been denounced in the press and in public. Prime
Minister Vajpee's approach, as reported in the Times of India, seems
to be the preferred one: "He said the "right way" to express
disagreement was through discussion" -- though even some of his
political allies denounced him for these statements and his opposition
to the book-ban.
Disturbingly, a significant minority has been willing to excuse
even the attacks on BORI as justifiable under the circumstances, and
while 72 of those responsible were arrested and charged, there have
been continued threats (both legal and physical) against BORI,
scholars associated with it, and against author James Laine.
As Laine noted in his 12 January piece in The Los Angeles
Times:
The vast majority of Indians are appalled at what happened in Pune.
And yet no one has stepped forward to defend my book and no one has
called for it to be distributed again.
Indeed, most of these events took place after Laine's book had
officially been withdrawn from the Indian market, i.e. essentially no
longer existed. The banning of the book and the attacks on BORI and
various scholars were thus clearly aimed not only at this specific
case, but at the whole enterprise of scholarship, and of freedom of
expression. Concerns about this have been raised in the media, but
Laine's book has received little support: there still appear to have
been almost no calls for it to be made available in India again.
Surprisingly, there has also been almost no criticism of Oxford
University Press' self-censorship and withdrawal of the book from the
Indian market. A rare mention can found is in the "Weekly Organ of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)", People's Democracy, who properly
note (25 January):
The media have criticised the Shiv Sainiks’ pranks but not the
hastiness of the Oxford University Press in withdrawing the book even
before the matter became public or the government for banning the book
even before the matter was discussed in public fora.
There have been numerous opinion pieces regarding these
incidents. Among the disturbing trends they make note of is the uneven
use of Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code to limit expression, and
the politicising of what should be academic debates.
Among the opinion pieces are:
Dileep Padgaonkar on Myth against history (Times of India, 25
January), who finds these events: "drive home the point yet again that
in this country it is myth, not history, that ignites popular
imagination."
A.G. Noorani's Chhatrapati or bust (Hindustan Times, 27 January),
where he writes of what happened: "It was not an aberration. It is
part of a practice, connived at and condoned, during the past decade
and more."
Ananya Vajpeyi's Everything Foul and Unfair (The Telegraph, 19
January), where he suggests the most critical question is: "(A)re we
prepared to defend acts of violence perpetrated in the name of our
identity, our beliefs and finally, our sentiments ?"
An editorial in The Indian Express (7 January), in which the authors
argue: "We cannot have the mob write our history for us. Every time we
compromise on this principle, every time a publishing house allows
itself to recall a book, every time the authorities fail to punish the
vandals, every time politicians seize such issues for narrow political
gains, every time the barbarian at the gate is accommodated, we fail
not just our academics but our historical legacy of open
scholarship."
Rajeev Dhavan's Burn, Burn, Destroy (available at the Outlook India
site, 23 January), where he notes: "In the last decade or so, new
emerging patterns of social censorship seem to have eclipsed the
framework of legal censorship that has been bequeathed to India by the
British."
Nalini Taneja on Politics of Rightwing Sectarianism (People's
Democracy, 25 January), arguing: "In what has been happening today by
way of policing and censorship of culture, and to history teaching and
research, by way of verbal and physical attacks on democratic
expression, our state and media have a very definite role to play."
Sandhya Jain on Demeaning Shivaji, denigrating dharma (The Pioneer, 27
January, published here at HVK.org), who finds: "Having purchased and
read James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India only after it
was officially withdrawn by the publishers, I cannot view the events
at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) as totally
unjustified."
Swapan Dasgupta on Reclaiming the Hindu Gods (The Telegraph, 30
January), who reports that: "Beginning sometime last year, American
Hindus have mounted a spirited attack on the bastions of Indology in
the North American universities" and believes: "The battle to reassess
Indian heritage in keeping with the achievements of Indians involves a
long haul. It will not be won by bans on offensive texts or McCarthy-
ite purges of the infuriatingly perverse. It has to be fought with
civility, argument, rigour and a sense of strategy."
Manu Dash, wondering: Feel-shame factor, anyone ? (The Statesman),
noting: "Our country has time and again failed to stay true to its
credential of tolerance."
Vaishnavi K. Sekhar finding: Historians rue attack on freedom of
expression (The Times of India, 24 March), noting that: "The casualty
of cultural censorship may be scholarship".
(Note that in considering reactions in India we are limited to
English-language material that is freely accessible via the Internet.
It should be clear that this material may well not be representative
of broader opinion, or even of media opinion. The Hindu and Marathi
language press may well have responded entirely differently.)
Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and Amodini Bagwe's piece, James
Laine’s Controversial Book, published in this issue of the complete
review Quarterly, offers a somewhat different perspective, focussing
on what exactly it is about Laine's book that many find so upsetting.
There has also been some coverage of these events on weblogs,
most notably at Kitabkhana and Ryan's Lair (as well as at the Literary
Saloon).
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol5/issue1/laine0.htm
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
Attacking Myths and Institutions
James Laine’s Shivaji and BORI
commentary at the complete review
On 5 January 2004 a leading research institute in India, the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), was attacked (see here
for details). The mob that ransacked it ostensibly acted in reaction
to a book allegedly insulting one of India's great historical figures,
a 17th century leader named Shivaji (despite the fact that the book --
James W. Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India -- had been
withdrawn from the market by its publisher almost two months earlier).
In researching his book, Laine had worked at BORI years earlier, and
he thanked the institute and a number of scholars associated with it
in his acknowledgements -- reason enough for the Sambhaji brigadeers
to physically threaten and attack these men, and to destroy important
bits of Indian history.
What has happened with Laine's book and BORI is a terrifying
glimpse of intolerance and mob rule. It is particularly worrying
because it has happened not in a theocracy like the Taliban's
Afghanistan or a revisionist dictatorship such as Turkmenistan or
North Korea, but in a culturally diverse democracy.
It is some comfort that these events are being freely and
openly debated in India, and that the attack on BORI has been widely
(though, unfortunately, far from universally) condemned. Nevertheless,
events both before and after 5 January suggest that open debate and
tolerance for alternative viewpoints and opinions are far from welcome
by all.
It does all come back to Laine's book. It's title alone -- the
suggestion that there was ever an "Islamic India" -- has outraged many
(see Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and Amodini Bagwe's James Laine’s
Controversial Book for this and other objections to the book). The
subject matter is one of India's revered historical figures, a 17th-
century king who managed to assert independence from the Mughals. In a
contemporary India that is again increasingly polarised by religion he
has become a particularly potent symbolic figure among some Hindus
groups. (India is subject to many possible divisions, including along
caste and linguistic lines, but the most prominent remains religion;
while a large majority of Indians are Hindu, it must be remembered
that the Muslim population in India exceeds that in any Arab or Middle
Eastern nation.)
In a commentary piece, In India, 'the Unthinkable' Is Printed
at One's Peril, published in The Los Angeles Times (12 January), Laine
describes his book as one about the: "narrative process, an account of
three centuries of storytelling that produced a tale that lived in the
minds of people celebrating Shivaji's legacy today". In the last
chapter he also: "entertained what I called 'unthinkable thoughts' --
questioning 'cracks' in the Shivaji narrative". It is these
unthinkable thoughts -- these different possible readings of Shivaji,
or rather the Shivaji-legend -- that were found so objectionable.
Blind, fanatical devotion to a set narrative is not unheard of,
though it is generally reserved for stories about religious figures.
In some circles, to hypothesise about Mohammed or Jesus, -- even when
one relies on sound historical evidence -- is still impossible (and
has led to similar book bans and physical assaults). Laine's alleged
blasphemy is more complex, because Shivaji is simply an historical
figure. While such figures are often also revered to an extent that
blinds some to their faults (there are those who are outraged by
discussion of the womanising ways of, say, Thomas Jefferson and Martin
Luther King junior), it is generally accepted that speculation about
such figures is permissible or even laudable. Indeed, if set
narratives weren't constantly questioned, if they were considered
inviolable, history -- written by those in power -- would be both
useless and, generally, grossly inaccurate.
Of course, Shivaji isn't 'simply' an historical figure, his
story having also been appropriated by Hindu-nationalist elements
using it for their own purposes. To question the legend as they would
see it is to question their entire cause. And, like flag-wavers
elsewhere, politicians have found that the Shivaji-name can
effectively be used in rallying the masses who pay attention only to
the glorious name and don't consider all the implications behind the
words. So deeply does the cry of 'Shivaji' resonate with a large
segment of the population (specifically in the state of Maharashtra,
but also elsewhere in India) that almost everything except the most
uncritical stance has been attacked.
Laine describes the initial reception of his book in India, in
the summer of 2003, as unremarkable. The book "ranked up with Hillary
Rodham Clinton's in the local list of English-language bestsellers in
Pune" and there were "a couple of bland but positive reviews in the
Indian papers". Eventually, controversy erupted -- but Laine's sins
had clearly not been self-evident: it took someone to point out the
implications of what he had written (i.e. to offer a particular
reading of his reading) to upset people. (As is often the case in such
situations, it also appears that most of those who were upset did not
actually read the entire text.)
What happened then is also disturbing: numerous people,
including scholars attached to BORI (and some who were thanked in the
acknowledgements) not only distanced themselves from the text but
called for it to be withdrawn from the market. Amazingly, Oxford
University Press India obliged, withdrawing the book in November.
Too little has been made of this self-censorship. While
publishers often practice some sort of self-censorship in not
publishing certain books in certain markets, it is usually in response
to clear, legal prohibitions: art books depicting nudes are
inappropriate for the Saudi market, Nazi propaganda for the German
one, etc. But in most such cases there are clear guidelines and
outright legal bans, meaning that any attempted publication would be
met with legal action by government authorities. Nothing about Laine's
book suggested it contravened any local laws, or public standards of
decency or morality. The fact that for several months it sold
reasonably well locally and received some review attention without
causing much uproar or even complaint reinforces this notion.
Laine's Shivaji was, ultimately (months after the book had been
withdrawn from the market), banned, the author and the publisher
charged under Sections 153 ("Wantonly giving provocation with intent
to cause riot") and 153A ("Promoting enmity between different groups
on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language,
etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony ") of the
Indian Penal Code. Yet the charges can only be made because groups
have chosen to use the book to promote enmity. This case -- and, as
commentators have shown, it is not a unique case of the application of
153 and 153A -- is, among many other things, one of political
correctness run amok. By engaging in criminal violence, but claiming
to have been provoked by someone else's pronouncements -- regardless
of how these were meant -- it seems any statement can become a
criminal one, with the determination whether it is or isn't resting
solely with the allegedly aggrieved.
Such an interpretation of the law does not foster dialogue or
harmony, but rather is an actual incentive for violence and discord.
Dislike what someone says ? Just go out and riot and then blame it on
the other's words. This is patently what happened in the case of
Laine's book.
The attacks on scholars and then on BORI, and then the banning
of the book, would have been disturbing under any circumstances, but
they are particularly so given that the book had been withdrawn from
the market and was no longer readily accessible. Oxford University
Press India backed down in the face of some pressure and withdrew the
book in November, 2003, not because it had been ordered to do so or
was legally required to do so, but because public sentiment (or at
least vociferous elements) seemed to oppose allowing the book to
remain available.
This gesture of appeasement (or rather wholesale abandonment of
Laine's book) did not have the (presumably) intended effect. Surrender
to irrational forces rarely does (odd that that's a lesson that people
just don't seem to learn). OUP India might have merely wanted to keep
the peace, and sincerely believed that withdrawing the book from the
market was the best way of doing so. Indeed, events might have
escalated had they not done so. Still, it is troubling that a leading
academic publisher was willing to be intimidated by a mob (prominent
and respected though some of those among it were) and not stand up for
freedom of expression. (Interestingly, there appears to have been no
effort to make any legal determination as to the permissibility of
this publication -- i.e. no one suggested at the time that, for
example, the book promoted legally actionable enmity, etc. Funny how
that only became a viable option after groups decided to riot.) In any
case, far from resolving the issue, OUP India's withdrawal of the book
appears to have pleased absolutely no one, dismissed on the one hand
as a token gesture that came far too late, on the other as an obscene
abridgement of academic freedom.
Physical attacks followed: first scholar Shrikant Bahulkar was
assaulted, then, two weeks later, came the attack on BORI. What
appears to have upset the factions involved in these acts is not
merely the dissemination of the ideas found in Laine's book (which had
been practically stopped with the withdrawal of the book) but the very
existence of such thoughts. The targets include some who had actually
distanced themselves from the book and argued for its withdrawal; in
the case of those who had been thanked in Laine's acknowledgements
even such repentance wasn't enough to protect them from being
attacked.
The attack on BORI was an assault on the whole scholarly
enterprise, suggesting that inquiry and speculation are inappropriate
or even unacceptable, and that instead only a single account and
interpretation of history (one, apparently, decided on by today's mob)
is permissible. From those academics that called for the withdrawal of
Laine's book, to OUP India doing just that, to the attack on BORI and
the continuing actions against Laine and his book, everything has been
done to stifle and suppress dialogue, when it is just the opposite
that is needed. Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee admirably said that the
proper way to counter objectionable ideas in a book was with other
books and open debate. The local government -- and the local thugs --
have instead closed off debate wherever possible.
The United States is an exception when it comes to freedom of
expression, and most countries have far stricter limits. It might seem
entirely reasonable that, much as Nazi literature is banned in
Germany, writing which might incite readers to violence (directly or
in response thereto) is suppressed or banned. At the very least,
however, the general approach (and the specific application of the
law) in India regarding freedom of expression over the past decade or
more is of concern.
It is clear that expression that actually exhorts to violence
is far more objectionable than expression which causes offence which
causes violence. In other words, Nazi tracts calling for the killing
of Jews are far worse than Jewish tracts which upset Nazis (by, say,
claiming that their ideas are foolish and based on unfounded premises)
and lead them to attack Jews. Laine's book proved upsetting (arguably
even: justifiably so) to a significant segment of the population, and
action was taken against it (first voluntarily, then physically, and
finally legally). Those responsible for the physical attacks were, at
least, charged with crimes, but the newspapers continue to be filled
with quotes from often prominent politicans and public figures with
what are clearly threats (against persons and property) -- expression
that is blatantly far more dangerous than anything Laine wrote and yet
that has gone largely unchallenged. This double standard is completely
unacceptable -- and very dangerous.
To outsiders the case for why Laine's book should be read,
discussed, and debated likely seems self-evident. Arguments that India
or its citizens are somehow too immature to consider Laine's
statements, or that the issue itself is simply too inflammatory, are
unconvincing. People do no need to to be protected from challenging,
foreign, or even unsupportable ideas; they do need protection from
those who answer any statements they find unpleasant or objectionable
with violence.
Events as they have unfolded teach all the wrong lessons:
rather than showing how difficult texts and ideas might be approached
and dealt with (admittedly not always an easy task), they suggest that
complete denial and obliteration (and the use of force to achieve
these) are acceptable. The result can only be intellectual and social
stagnation and decline. Threats and brute force, encouraged by self-
serving politicians (looking only towards the next election) and
political groups, can easily win the day -- they have here--, but the
long-term costs could be devastating to India.
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol5/issue1/laine2.htm
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
James Laine’s Controversial Book
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
(New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2003)
by
Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan & Amodini Bagwe
Please note that the views expressed herein are those of the
authors and not of the complete review.
While condemning the attacks on the BORI Archives in Pune and
on Prof. Bahulkar in the strongest possible terms, we wish to share
our views about Laine's casual scholarship on Shivaji as presented in
his latest book.
Some of his remarks suggest willful, calculated sensationalism
than honest scholarship. Despite his apology issued last month after
the OUP quietly withdrew the book from the Indian market (LINK), which
he has practically withdrawn as of now (LINK), there are many issues
that need both examination and comment. As Laine himself admits in the
book, he has cavalierly presented gossip and innuendo without an iota
of documentary substantiation, and then on that basis, proceeded to
construct his flawed argument. Naturally, we must question his motives
in undertaking such an exercise. This is important since next to
nothing has appeared in the media by way of comment on the actual
contents of the book.
It must be asserted that at no time in history has India been
Islamic. Indeed, how could it have been so, when it has always had a
majority of non-Muslims in its population ? True, following the waves
of Islamic invasions that began in right earnest around the 12th
century CE, certain parts of the country did have Muslim rulers who
imposed Islamic law on the entire populace they governed, but that
does not make India Islamic, since a non-Muslim majority continued to
follow their own religious tenets, come what may.
As for Hindu regimes, unlike Christian or Islamic ones, the
king could have no religion according to time-honoured mores. As an
individual, like any one of his subjects, he was free to profess and
practise his version of any one of myriad indigenous doctrines that
together constitute Hinduism; but as king, he necessarily had to be
secular, regarding all forms of religious expression with due
impartiality. Even a cursory study of Indian history clearly shows how
indigenous States encouraged even antipodal doctrines to flourish.
Therefore, with no king (including Shivaji) who was Hindu, and an
India that was never Islamic, the astonishing title -- ‘Hindu King in
Islamic India’ -- leaves one wondering about the extent of Laine’s
understanding of the subject he addresses with such authority !
Moreover, Laine himself must be aware that various Muslim
dynasties in India, whether Mughal, Bahamani, Adilshahi, Nizamshahi,
or many of the fragmented Sultanates, were then ruled by alien
invaders from Central and Middle Eastern Asia, analogous to Islamic
invasions of Europe. A major portion of the invading armies
constituted mercenaries with extra-territorial loyalties, including
Mongols, Turks, Arabs, Persians, Afghans, and Siddis from Ethiopia.
Viewing the book title from this perspective, the effort seems to be
more of a hasty hatchet job with questionable historical validity,
seeking to cash in on the post-9/11 global upsurge of interest in
Islam.
Coming to the most incendiary part of the book, leading to the
recent turmoil in Maharashtra, Laine reports outright hearsay on p.93:
"Maharashtrians tell jokes naughtily suggesting that his guardian
Dadaji Konddev was his biological father" ! The reader may well wonder
whether such seemingly casual inclusion of injurious gossip related to
one's chief protagonist is a convention in serious cross-cultural
scholarship ! As a matter of fact, love and adoration of Shivaji is
the bottomline truth in the state, and we have never come across such
a motivated rumour until Laine’s book was published ! Outsiders fail
to understand that while Shivaji’s rugged forts stand testimony to his
great heroism in an all-too-brief tenure of forty years as a warrior
and strategist of epic proportions, it is upon the very hearts and
minds of the common populace that these nearly four centuries old
magical legends are etched to eternity: a testimony to the greatness
of a culture that has survived untold depredations and chicanery. In
fact, this is what makes the "Shivaji story" immune to fabrication to
suit contemporary designs of a handful of elite scholars and their
political instigators.
From the scholarly perspective, the wholly unsubstantiated
insinuation that Shahaji was not Shivaji’s "biological father" is
implausible, incredible and outrageous ! Unlike lax norms of familial
or marital propriety that characterize ‘civilized’ Western societies,
loose speculation about someone’s ancestry is a very serious matter
indeed even in contemporary Indian ethos, not to speak of conditions
almost four centuries ago. At that time, societal sanctions were
immensely more rigid and the consequences of their transgression, all
too tragic. A scandalous event like that implied by Laine would
scarcely escape immediate detection, judgment and censure. Anybody
indulging in such conduct would have courted severe social stigma,
especially someone like Jijabai who both hailed from and was married
into aristocracy. The progeny of an allegedly adulterous relationship
would never be accepted as king by a tradition-bound people who looked
up to the monarch as an incarnation of Divinity !
It must be asserted that Shahaji, who is superciliously alluded
to by Laine as an "absentee father", was forced to lodge his expecting
wife and yet-to-be-born child in the safe haven of the Shivneri fort
because of untold political uncertainty prevailing around the time
Shivaji was born -- and not, it must be mentioned, on account of any
estrangement between husband and wife. (Laine is in grave error when
he attempts to rewrite one of the most significant chapters in Indian
history, essaying an inappropriate imposition of a contemporary
Western paradigm upon the medieval Indian scenario).
Shahaji, who was practically ruling the Nizamshahi as Regent on
behalf of the minor Murtaza Nizamshah, was actively engaged in fending
off threats from both Shah Jehan and Adilshah, being constantly on the
run as a direct result. He was accompanied by his first son, Sambhaji,
who was killed at a young age in the Battle of Kanakgiri. After the
dissolution of the Nizamshahi in 1636, Shahaji’s subsequent service in
the Adilshahi took him to Bangalore, but he continued holding and
administering his old land titles in the Pune region through his
trusted Brahmin aide, Dadoji Konddev. Obviously, Shahaji was unable to
cover all the distance to Pune on a regular basis in those uncertain
times and the additional responsibility of bringing up the young
Shivaji devolved upon Dadoji. Shahaji took another wife in Bangalore,
as was customary in those days. From this second marriage, he sired
Vyankoji, the founder of the Thanjavur Bhosale dynasty, distinguished
by its patronage of both Tamil and Marathi culture and arts.
Shahajiraje thus bequeathed to India two distinct dynasties of
visionary rulers. All these facts are well documented and should
suffice to prevent irresponsible speculation on account of his absence
from the Pune region.
On page 91, Laine asks with an unnecessary soupçon of
dramatization,
Can one imagine a narrative of Shivaji’s life in which, for example:
Shivaji had an unhappy family life ? Shivaji had a harem ? Shivaji was
uninterested in the religion of bhakti saints ? Shivaji’s personal
ambition was to build a kingdom, not liberate a nation ? Shivaji lived
in a cosmopolitan Islamicate world and did little to change that
fact ?
Had Laine really read and gleaned anything from the references
listed at the end of the book, such perturbing questions would not
have arisen. For instance, it was practically de rigeur for men of
status in Shivaji’s time to have more than one wife. To go even
further back in history, let us recall that Lord Rama’s father too had
several queens. The custom had nothing whatsoever to do with practices
prevailing in a "cosmopolitan Islamicate world". However, isn’t having
several legally wedded wives very different from keeping a harem,
which latter may even include several official and unofficial
concubines ? Surely, Laine appreciates the essential difference !
Also, as revealed by numerous treasured documents of the era,
including correspondence between Ramdas and Shivaji, the latter was
spiritually surrendered to the former, of which fact Laine feigns such
complete ignorance ! With adequate answers to each one of Laine's
questions easily obtainable in his references, is his pretence
indicative of a deeper, sinister motive to compromise, restrain and
perhaps even destroy the extraordinary reverence in which Shivaji is
held ?
For a presumably accomplished scholar (LINK), who has spent
several decades in close contact with Maharashtra, it is amazing --
even distressing -- that Laine has understood almost nothing about the
veneration Shivaji commands in ‘native’ consciousness. In that sense,
his scholarship may well have been wasted ! For him to say now that he
had "foolishly misread the situation in India and figured the book
would receive scholarly criticism, not censorship and condemnation" is
appalling, at the very least. You can hardly foolishly misread a
situation that has existed for nearly four centuries, the study of
which is the declared intention of your scholarship, not to mention
the "love of the Shivaji story" you avowedly evince !
A similar exercise, as confessed by Laine in the case of a
Jesus Christ or a Thomas Jefferson (LINK), is entirely incapable of
provoking as vehement a reaction because these exalted personages do
not command the kind of supreme reverence in their specific locales
that Shivaji does in his.
No doubt Laine is aware how Christ’s popularity in the West has
been steadily on the decline, what with Church attendances falling
alarmingly, and the paucity of preachers needing imports from ‘third
world’ countries to supplant the dwindling numbers of octogenarian
White clergymen ! This observation is further supported by demographic
statistics indicating the exponential growth of the followers of
alternative philosophies, which cannot be attributed to new immigrants
alone.
As for Jefferson, in an exercise very reminiscent of the
present one, his greatness as a rationalist, especially his radically
piercing views on Christianity and its Church, (for example: "The
Christian God is a being of terrific character -- cruel, vindictive,
capricious, and unjust."), was sought by disadvantaged parties to be
compromised by the exposition of some tenuous incident in the
statesman’s life. But it is necessary to ascertain whether such
detractors, who authored the "widely varying accounts" about Jefferson
and Christ that Laine claims to have "seen", could be considered
persons of established scholarly reputation. Since serious scholars
would hardly ever countenance rumour or gossip as evidence, it was
more than likely that such criticism was penned by critics who had no
compunctions about relying on tittle-tattle to score a point.
Because Laine has indirectly questioned Shivaji’s paternity
without a shred of documentary evidence, he sadly gets categorized in
the latter class and his claim to a "love for the Shivaji story" falls
to pieces ! Incidentally, there are certain to be "other ways of
reading the historical evidence", but only if historical evidence, and
not malicious fabrication, is offered in the first place.
Laine ought to have grasped the reality that there just can be
no comparison between Shivaji and the likes of Christ and Jefferson
from the Indian, especially Maharashtrian, point of view ! The learned
author, in spite of his protracted contact with the region since 1977,
failed to realise that the "Shivaji story", as narrated in every
Maharashtrian home, has far more significance and enjoys immensely
greater credibility than all history taught in academia. And, by his
own admission, was it not the development of this "Shivaji story" that
he had set out to study ? Moreover, the growth in recent years of a
strong and eminently justifiable public perception that a vast
majority of academics have been indulging in wanton politicization of
scholarship at the expense of truth bolsters this awareness.
Furthermore, Shivaji is not merely a "Maharashtrian" hero, as
Laine not so subtly avers in his facetious apology. Shivaji was the
first Indian leader in relatively recent history to contemplate
political self-determination and successfully put it into practice at
a time when all others were blissfully unaware of both the existence
and possibility of such a thing ! This visionary quality elevates
Shivaji to a pioneering ‘national’ stature, head and shoulders above
all his peers and contemporaries. His exploits had obviously become
the stuff of legends in the course of his lifetime. Bhooshan, hailing
from the environs of the Mughal capital wrote epic poetry about him,
while Chhatrasal who traveled from Bundelkhand to seek employment with
him was bade to return to his territories and there establish his own
independence. The slant in Laine’s apology to localize and thus limit
Shivaji’s influence is not as innocuous as it appears, and is not
likely to be overlooked by discerning readers !
Indeed, since it takes the ‘authority’ of a White man to
convince us of the greatness of things indigenous, it would be
pertinent to quote historian Bamber Gascoigne:
"He (Shivaji) taught the modern Hindus to rise to the full stature of
their growth. So, when viewed with hindsight through twentieth century
glasses, Aurangzeb on the one side and Shivaji on the other come to be
seen as key figures in the development of India. What Shivaji began
Gandhi could complete …… and what Aurangzeb stood for would lead to
the establishment of the separate state of Pakistan." (The Great
Moghuls, London: Constable), (emphasis ours).
It is sad to see how all the years Laine spent in India were so
utterly in vain, if he has failed to note and appreciate this, the
most distinguishing and vital aspect of the "Shivaji story" !
There seems to be more to the book than mere scholarship. One
is reminded of what Thomas Paine wrote, in a slightly different
context perhaps, in the opening lines of his The Rights of Man about
Edmund Burke’s unwarranted interest in French affairs. It amply
illustrates a tendency to dabble that Laine evidently shares with
Burke:
"Among the incivilities by which nations or individuals provoke and
irritate each other, Mr. Burke’s pamphlet on the French Revolution is
an extraordinary instance. Neither the people of France, nor the
National Assembly, were troubling themselves about the affairs of
England, or the English Parliament; and why Mr. Burke should commence
an unprovoked attack upon them, both in Parliament and in public, is a
conduct that cannot be pardoned on the score of manners, nor justified
on that of policy." (London: J.M.Dent, 1993, p. 7).
With suitable substitutions, the sentiments expressed by Paine
could apply rather well to Laine’s avoidable blundering foray into
Indian culture and history. If, "as an American and a Christian",
Laine had, for instance, devoted more time to finding out why
enthusiasm for Christ is petering out so rapidly in his home country,
he might have been spared the pain of living through "the saddest day"
in his career ! But, prudent apprehension of censorship by the Moral
Majority and cessation of grants by funding bodies might perhaps have
served as an important deterrent in the case of similar misadventures
closer home !
It is the "Shivaji story" that transcends every conceivable
faction of Maharashtrian society and has always served as an
efficacious uniting factor, the demolition of which can be perceived
to serve powerful interests in present times. India in general and its
Maharashtrian Hindu population in particular have traditionally been
ultra-soft targets for a sundry assortment of deluded Indophiles
anyway, and the once-correct belief that one can get away with almost
murder has motivated several similar ‘research’ exercises in the
past.
Constituents of the more impulsive but perhaps less
sophisticated majority in Maharashtra are more likely than not to
smell in Laine’s dissertation the same intellectual chicanery
attempted through the purchase by British colonial masters (for a
princely sum of £ 3000, paid in easy installments, may it be noted !)
of Friedrich Max Muller’s erudition a century ago with the studied
intention of demoralizing a whole nation by denigration of its
antiquity, pre-eminence, culture, religion and history. It might be
perceived by the populace that one of its greatest cultural heroes is
being put under an iniquitous microscope with precisely that same
objective. Such heinous strategies may have worked beautifully under
colonial rule, but are less than likely to work now -- a reality Laine
appears to have dangerously overlooked. A significantly large
proportion of the Indian polity has begun ‘thinking independently’,
albeit to the detriment of brokers of international geopolitical
stakes. In this sense, the book might well qualify as yet another
attempt at fragmentation of the steadily developing strength of a
society that is waking up to a realization of the many historical
frauds perpetrated on itself for centuries.
If, unfortunately, promoting social discord was indeed a
purpose of the book, the attempt may have partially succeeded with
what happened at the Bhandarkar Institute; the first salvo has been
fired by pitting Maratha (whom Laine gratuitously refers to as being
from Shivaji’s own community) against Brahmin. Unless we desire lumpen
elements to take undue advantage of the fallout of the regrettable
BORI incident, concerted and well informed public opinion needs to be
nurtured to arrest and neutralize machinations of a wildly
proliferating class of pliable political paid pipers and their cohorts
in an amenable media ! Because Laine has blatantly used, in the matter
of Shivaji’s parentage at least, sources that cannot pass the test of
reliability even by a long shot, it is necessary for scholars to
scrutinize the entire work for its truthfulness, especially the
development of communalised identities upon which he dwells at great
length. All frivolous ‘scholarship’ needs to be unequivocally
discredited and disowned by intellectuals in the interests of veracity
and probity in academia.
While undeniably condemning the attack on the Bhandarkar
Institute archives with the plea that the guilty should not go
unpunished, should we not also examine the role of the so-called
'thinkers' who might perhaps unwittingly have assisted if not actually
set up Laine's mischief in the first place ? Laine mentions in his
Acknowledgments (p. viii) that his "scholarly home has been the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune" where he "profited
from advice and assistance". Once the BORI administration realised the
explosive nature of the book's contents, and how they were sitting on
a time bomb for all these months, it might have been appropriate for
them to issue a strong public denial and condemnation of the author,
in no uncertain terms, for his highly objectionable effort to convert
innuendo and gossip into a matter of documentary record.
It is up to Laine to inform his readers as to how and where he
dug up this disgusting rumour casting aspersions upon the character of
Shivaji’s mother, herself a figure of great veneration to all. She was
a single mother of great character and substance, the very
fountainhead of inspiration for Shivaji’s life’s work.
Needless to state, all this only applies if the real intention
behind the book was more than what Laine declares. But from even its
very title, the book comes through more like an exercise in
skullduggery, which is unfortunate !
If scholarly research funded through institutional grants is
undertaken with the altruistic aim of benefiting humanity, one wonders
how the present book can achieve that end! Scholars ought not to
forget that all institutions supporting them are rooted in their
particular indigenous ethos to which they must be accountable,
especially when the results are sought to be commercially exploited
through book sales.
The body fabric of a resurgent India, and particularly that of
a progressive state like Maharashtra, can well do without such vicious
‘scholarship’. We hope saner counsel will prevail in the currently
disturbed scenario, as a fitting tribute to its chief architect,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
- Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan & Amodini Bagwe
Note: an earlier version of this text was also posted at Hindu Vivek
Kendra.
About the authors:
Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan is a metallurgist and chartered
engineer; he can be reached at: kuru...@eth.net.
Amodini Bagwe is a research scholar and student of Yoga.
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol5/issue1/laine1.htm
The Complexities of Shivaji
Our modern consciousness harbors within itself rather peculiar ideas.
We pride ourselves on our tremendous advances from a pre-modern In
1668, Shivaji's repeated petitions to Aurangzeb won him the title
'Raja' and Chakan fort. After the Mughal treasury refused to reimburse
him for a trip he took to Agra, he took up arms again. With Aurangzeb
the battle was over power and resources, rather than on religious
grounds.
past which we almost universally see as depraved (at the very least in
economic and political terms). On the other hand, we turn to the past
for our heroes: and these heroes are absorbed without criticism (in
fact, criticism is tantamount to heresy in some circles). Thus,
America lauds its Founding Fathers (Jefferon, Madison, Hamilton,
Washington) even though these gentlemen practiced a form of slavery
which does not square with their genteel image. The Indian Republic
has immortalized Gandhi, which is one of the tragedies of our
contemporary world: Gandhi, the mischievous radical, is reduced to
being a statue rather than a living presence in our corrupt and
battered body politic. The Pakistani state has hallowed Jinnah, whose
virulent criticisms of theocracy are now not allowed to inform the
citizens of a state wracked by avarice and hypocrisy. The Rashtriya
Sevak Sangh and its American kin, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS),
have taken Shivaji as their icon (India West, 21 June 1996): that
adoption needs to be criticised for what it does to the historical
record.
At their 16 June Hindu Sangathan Diwas, the HSS hosted Shripati
Shastry (RSS) who recounted the life of Shivaji who (as India West
reports) "fought Mughal emperor Aurangzeb." "Hindu civilization,"
Shastry said, "had been battered by the constant brutal assaults of
foreigners. Shivaji challenged that attack." HSS also presented a play
by Bal Bihar students entitled 'Shivaji and Afzal Khan.' Reading this
story, I was startled by the ease with which our media allows such
presentations to pass by without comment. At the very least, the
historical record should be scoured to check if Shivaji indeed did
fight Aurangzeb to constitute 'Hindu civilization' and if he made it
his purpose to cleanse the subcontinent of 'foreigners.'
(1) Shivaji and Aurangzeb.
Shivaji Bhonsla (1627-1680) came from a family of Maratha aristocrats
and military bureaucrats. The first half of his career (until 1660) as
a fief-holder was consumed by his battle with the rather powerless
Sultanate of Bijapur. He was able to extend his power by making
alliances with Maratha hill chiefs and by ensuring that the Mughal
overlord was given a wide berth: Shivaji was not interested in taking
Delhi, only in forming a fiefdom in Aurangabad and Bijapur. In
November 1656, Aurangzeb and his amir, Mir Jumla, went ahead with an
old plan to take Bijapur at the death of the Sultan, Muhammad Adil
Shah. Shivaji was not a factor in the equation (for he was only one of
many factious nobles and zamindars). Shivaji was able to rout the
Bijapur army and Afzal Khan, commander of a Mughal force. of 10, 000.
In Shivaji's second phase (1660-1674), he extended his holding,
notably by destroying Baharji Borah who was reputed to be the world's
richest merchant. At Purander in 1665, Shivaji capitulated to Jai
Singh and Aurangzeb. In 1668, Shivaji's repeated petitions to
Aurangzeb won him the title 'Raja' and Chakan fort. After the Mughal
treasury refused to reimburse him for a trip he took to Agra, he took
up arms again. With Aurangzeb the battle was over power and resources,
rather than on religious grounds. Shivaji very comfortably petitioned
Aurangzeb to recognize him as a 'Raja,' a feat which would not sit
well with the HSS rendition of the man as a fighter for Hinduism.
(2) Shivaji and 'Hindu civilization'
In June 1674, Shivaji was crowned as a Hindu monarch. Since he came
from Shudra stock, the chief sent for Gagga Bhatta (the notable
Brahmin from Benares) to declare that Shivaji's ancestor's were truly
Kshatriyas who descended from the solar line of the Ranas of Mewar. He
was invested with the janeau, with the Vedas and was bathed in an
abisheka. A Shudra became a Rajput, but the bulk of the other dalits
remained in their misbegotten position at the bottom of society.
Shivaji's investiture was a political move which allowed him to exert
his power over hill chiefs who were not under his military control.
One would imagine that Shivaji would now eschew alliances with
Muslims, however, the first major alliance made by the monarch was
with Abul Hasan, the Qutb Shah Sultan. They began a campaign against
the Bijapur Karanatak, including the monarch's own half-brother,
Vyankoji Bhonsla. The Mughal r‰gime was left untouched by this 'Hindu'
king. The later Shivaji did not consolidate 'Hindus' to fight
'Muslims,' but he continued his trajectory of securing power in the
Konkan region. One might add that Shambhaji, Shivaji's son, raped a
Brahmin woman in December 1678: such facts often get lost in the blind
valorization of historical figures.
I have offered all these details for the simple reason that one must
not allow our contemporary politicians (and the HSS/RSS are
politicians) to define our historical record. There is a tendency to
simplify, which is tantamount to distortion. Shivaji claimed to be a
'Hindu' king when it suited him, but he acted (most of the time) as a
rebellious zamindar and hill-chief. History must remain more than
propaganda. The tragedy of the communalization of history is that
those who write these false histories are less interested in the past
and more interested in organizing people into bigoted groups.
Vijay Prashad
Vijay Prashad
Assistant Professor, International Studies
214 McCook Academic Building
Trinity College, Hartford, CT. 06106.
Ph: 860-297-2518.
http://www.foil.org/history/shivaji.html
Bonfire of cupboard of history
- Pune institute continues to count the losses from attack by Sambhaji
Brigade
ANAND SOONDAS
Satish Sangle among the ruins
Pune, Jan. 18: A bonfire crackles to life as the winter night descends
on the cheerless group of policemen guarding the ravaged library at
the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Drawn by the sudden
flicker, a firefly rushes in.
“That was sad,” says the institute’s Man Friday, Ganesh Bagade, who
calls himself assistant pressman, watching the insect perish.
“They tried to snuff out the institute’s life, too,” Bagade says,
recalling the Sambhaji Brigade’s attack on January 5.
Marauders belonging to the group, which champions the Maratha cause
like the Shiv Sena but was started to counter Bal Thackeray’s outfit,
ransacked the library in protest against American historian James
Laine’s book, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India.
They believed Laine had indirectly questioned Shivaji’s parenthood in
a passage. The institute was targeted because the author had
acknowledged the assistance of some historians working there.
The damage to books and furniture has been estimated at Rs 1.5 to 2
crore, but scholars at the institute say each day’s search yields
realisation of further loss.
“It will take us about two years just to catalogue and piece together
the old books,” says Satish Sangle, the librarian.
“Each of us here cried that day. We felt so violated and abused,” says
Bagade as a policeman replenishes the fire with parts of a library
cupboard, breaking it with kicks at the joints.
Sanskrit and Pali texts — some of them 500 years old — were stored in
that cupboard.
On a visit to Mumbai on Friday, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
condemned the attack and the ban on the book announced by the Congress-
led coalition of Maharashtra.
Pune cried as one after the attack. Schoolchildren marched and writers
called it the darkest day for a city known for its scholarship and
liberalism. A group of ragpickers, mostly children, collected Rs 165
and gave it to the institute.
Their 15-year-old leader said: “We were not privileged to get an
education but we know the worth of books.”
The Sambhaji Brigade has shown no remorse. “It is a Brahmin conspiracy
to malign Marathas and Shivaji,” says Pravin Gaikwad, the Pune unit
president of the Akhil Bharatiya Maratha Mahasangh, the brigade’s
parent organisation.
Gaikwad and his organisation are not done yet. Yesterday, he handed
over a four-point charter of demands to chief minister Sushil Kumar
Shinde.
It’s a “Brahmin conspiracy” because the so-called offending passage
says: “Maharashtrians tell jokes naughtily that Shivaji’s biological
father was Dadoji Kondeo Kulkarni.”
Kulkarni, Shivaji’s limbless servant, was a Brahmin. The publishers
withdrew the book in November, the author sent an apology, but these
were not enough to stop the pillaging.
“We will not tolerate it when an American says that Shivaji’s
parentage is questionable and that because he was intelligent he
couldn’t have been a Maratha and was a Brahmin,” Gaikwad fumes.
Monetary estimates of loss leave the librarian distraught. “How do you
calculate the worth of a rare 6th century BC idol of the headless
Ganesha. Or the miniature silver photo album gifted by the Nizam of
Hyderabad. Or, for that matter, a 1648 AD treatise on the Bhagwad
Gita?” Sangle asks.
The institute specialises in ancient history, ancient Indian thought
and philosophy. It produced a Bharat Ratna in P.V. Kane who wrote
seven volumes of the Dharmashastra. After 50 years of labour, the
institute completed the first critical edition of the Mahabharata,
with its scholars poring over more than 1,000 manuscripts in different
languages.
“We never wrote anything on Shivaji or medieval history,” says M.G.
Dhadphade, a former honorary secretary at the institute.
The explanation cuts no ice with the brigade. “We want those who
helped Laine to be hanged and a CBI inquiry into the role of
organisations and individuals who passed blasphemous information on
Shivaji,” Gaikwad says.
The organisation now plans to take out a Shivaji rath yatra across
Maharashtra in February, threatening the institute with more
“punishment” if its demands are not met.
Apart from the “hanging” and the inquiry, it is demanding the freedom
of the 72 activists of the brigade rounded up after the incident.
“The fault is with us,” says Dhadphade. “We have lost our culture’s
most precious jewel — pluralism. Unknown to us, the Taliban had been
festering in our midst.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040119/asp/frontpage/story_2802420.asp
Sunday, December 7, 2003
Off The Shelf
An image that might be disturbing
V.N. Datta
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
by James W. Laine. Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Rs 295. Pages
127.
THE reputation of leaders rises and falls like share prices. Heroes of
yesterday become the villains of today and vice-versa and so it is
with Shivaji, who is being subjected now to fierce controversies by
politicians and academicians in this country. To his admirers, Shivaji
was a nation-builder, a constructive genius and a brilliant military
general, who had crumbled the Mughal Empire in the most trying
circumstances weighted against him.
He is also credited with inspiring his countrymen with a fiery spirit
of patriotism and religious tolerance, but to his enemies, Shivaji
remains a "mountain rat", a guerrilla of the hills and a narrow-minded
fanatic Hindu rebel who, animated by vaulting ambitions and animus,
had indulged recklessly in plunder for the gratification of his
vanity.
The net result of his nefarious activities, his critics argue, was
anarchy and disintegration of the country, and paving the way for the
British colonial rule. James W. Laine addresses himself to answering
these two opposing views. Lane has two objects-to understand the 17th
century Shivaji, the kind of hero he was in the context of the
Maharashtrian culture, and to examine critically the growth of his
legend as it relates to narratives of the Maharashtrian, Hindu and
Indian cultures.
The author focuses himself primarily on the second object of
reconstructing the Shivaji legend on the basis of various types of
evidence such as ballads, poems, fiction, and some historical works.
In other words, this work is of historigraphical nature, which
examines the legend of Shivaji that has grown during the last 300
years.
The book is divided into five chapters with an appendix and notes.
Laine begins his story by showing how Shivaji after his defeat against
the Mughal army led by Mirza Raja Jai Singh became a Mughal vassal and
went to the Agra fort to enroll his son, Sambhaji, in the Imperial
service. Due to his own tactical skills, he escaped from the Agra
fort. Three years after the death of Jai Singh, he took the fort of
Simhagarh.
The author questions the general view that Shivaji's Maratha Hindu
nationalism was at war with the Muslims in the 17th century India.
According to Laine, Shivaji had employed pan-Indian symbols, not the
regional ones; and further, identities were fluid then and not
crystallised as separate. Sufis and Hindu saints walked a common
ground, and there was not a distance between the Hindus and the
Muslims.
Only some Muslim rulers did create ethnic trouble. The author asserts
that pre-modern Marathas did not understand identities and allegiances
in terms of Hinduism and Islam. Hence, Laine concludes, that to regard
Shivaji as an Indian is absolutely wrong and that myths woven round
him give a distorted picture of the reality.
The 17th century Maratha ballad writers based the heroic legend of
Shivaji as a heroic Chhatrapati of an independent Hindu kingdom on his
escape from the Agra fort, his killing of Afzal Khan, his encounter
with Shaista Khan, his conquest of Simhagarh, his coronation in 1674
and his dedication to his patron Goddess, Bhivani. Laine argues that
the ballad writers had deliberately skipped Shivaji's military service
under Adil Shah, his defeat against the Mughals, his loss of Poona,
his surrender to Aurangzeb, his readiness to become a Mughal vassal
with the aspiration of being designated Viceroy of the Deccan and
enlisting his son in the Mughal army. These omissions give a false
image of Shivaji, the author maintains.
Shivaji's image of an epic hero is further buttressed by another
Ballad writer, Permanand, who by tracing some genealogical evidence,
projects him a kshatriya of the Sisodia clan of the Rajputs. Laine
shows how the chronicles, the Bhakars, relate Shivaji's commitment to
Vaishnavism to Hinduism and his close association with the 17th
century saints, Tukaram and Ramdas. On the contrary, the author thinks
that the role of Maharashtra saints was more significant in the 18th
rather than the 17th century and that Ramdas was never Shivaji's
spiritual guide.
Despite Jotirao Phule's emphasis on Shivaji's low-caste heritage, the
ballads composed between 1869-2001 put Shivaji in a different
category. Except Grant Duff, who in his History of the Mahratta,
described Shivaji a plunderer and a freebooter, most Indian historians
and writers, including justice M.I. Ranade and B.G. Tikak, laud him as
the father of Indian nationalism and a liberationist. Ranade portrays
Shivaji as the architect of Maratha independence, who promoted
religious tolerance and the egalitarian status of women.
In justification of Shivaji's actions, Tilak cites Arjuna's example
from The Mahabharata. Tilak comments that great men are exempted from
following the strict standard of conventional morality. Indian leaders
such as Lala Lajpat Rai, Tilak, Annie Besant, Aurobindo Ghosh and poet
Tagore have paid eloquent tributes to Shivaji as a great national
leader and the builder of the country. The author treats such views as
flippant.
In the last chapter, the author acknowledges that there are different
ways of reading and writing the biography of Shivaji. History writing
is not a one-point programme; it is an interim report. Nor is it wise
to be a debunker. Laine maintains that there is no standard biography
of Shivaji. Rightly, the author asserts that the primordial view that
the Hindus and the Muslims were pitted against each other and ever
fighting is false.
It is regretted that despite inner inconsistencies, the narratives of
Shivaji' s life represent him in the BJP regime as a grand nationalist
Hindu symbol and ideology. Regrettably, the line between fact and
fiction is blurred. The fact is that Shivaji had lived in a
cosmopolitan Islamic world where identity formations were in the
making but not crystallised. This intellectually stimulating and
neatly textured book is disturbing. It questions the commonly held
views and opens a new ground for fresh thinking and research.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031207/spectrum/book4.htm
learning house with a world-wide appeal
TNN, Jan 6, 2004, 03.36am IST
PUNE: The renowned Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Bori) is a
veritable treasure trove for scholars, researchers and students of
Indology and Orientology, which attracts scholars not only from India
but also from France, Germany, Korea and Japan.
The institute has over 1.5 lakh books in its library, 80,000 rare
manuscripts and the personal book collection of Ramkrishna Gopal
Bhandarkar, in whose memory the institute was founded. The institute
building is also a grade I heritage structure, listed for protection.
Although the state government gives an annual grant to the institute,
it has to depend on donations and earning from its publications to
make both ends meet.
At present, the state government owes Rs 28 lakh to the institute, the
annual expenditure of which is Rs 40 lakh and income, Rs 35 lakh.
At a meeting of people interested in Orientology on July 6, 1915, it
was decided to build an institute in commemoration of Bhandarkar's
outstanding work in the field.
He can be justifiably regarded as the foremost pioneer of scientific
Orientology in the country. The institute was finally founded on July
6, 1917. The event was intended to synchronise with his eightieth
birth anniversary.
The institute is a public organisation registered under Act XXI of
1860 and is administered by a regulating council.
It is partially supported by annual earmarked grants from the state
government, which nominates five representatives on the regulating
council and two on the executive board.
The institute has also received grants from the Centre and the
University Grants Commission for specific research projects.
The institute normally works through its four main departments —
Mahabharata and research unit, manuscripts, publication and
postgraduate teaching and research.
In 1919, the institute undertook a project to prepare and publish a
critical edition of the Mahabharata.
This enormous literary project (19 volumes containing 13,000 demi
quarto pages) was completed in 1966, and this historic event was
formally announced by the then president, S. Radhakrishnan, at a
special function held at the Mahabharata Institute on September 22,
1966.
Subsequently, the institute also prepared and published a critical
edition of the Harivamsa (two volumes containing 1,711 pages).
This was followed by the Pratika-Index (six volumes containing 4,805
pages) and the critically constituted text of the Great Epic, and the
Harivamsa (five volumes containing 3,150 pages).
The institute is now occupied with the last item in the great project
of the Critical Edition, namely, the Epilogue. The institute is also
preparing an exhaustive cultural index of the Mahabharata.
When the institute was founded in 1917, the then government of Bombay
handed over its entire collection of manuscripts (nearly 20,000) to
the institute.
The institute has, all these years, been looking after the
preservation, lending out and cataloguing of these manuscripts, and,
as government reports would testify, the work of the institute in this
connection has been most exemplary.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/407198.cms
Volume 21 - Issue 02, January 17 - 30, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
THE STATES
Politics of vandalism
ANUPAMA KATAKAM
in Pune
Invaluable books and artefacts have been destroyed in an attack on the
Bhandarkar Institute in Pune by members of the `Sambhaji Brigade'.
PHOTOGRAPHS: ANUPAMA KATAKAM
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
ON January 5, the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in
Pune became the target of a horrific act of vandalism. A 150-strong
mob protesting against the institute's alleged involvement in
maligning the name of the Maratha king Shivaji barged into its
premises, ransacked the library, destroyed thousands of rare books,
ancient manuscripts, old photographs and priceless artefacts, and took
away some invaluable historical texts. The institute, one of the
country's premier research centres for Orientology, has become a
victim of what is now known as cultural terrorism and also the
politics of a caste feud in Maharashtra.
The attackers were reacting to a derogatory remark on Shivaji's
parentage, made by the American author James Laine in his book
Shivaji: A Hindu King in an Islamic Kingdom. In a biographical account
on the Maratha warrior, Laine writes that "the repressed awareness
that Shivaji had an absentee father is also revealed by the fact that
Maharashtrians tell jokes naughtily suggesting that his guardian
Dadoji Konddev was his biological father... ."
Apparently, unable to tolerate such a statement, the attackers - owing
allegiance to the "Sambhaji Brigade", a splinter group of the Maratha
Seva Sangh, an organisation active in "promoting the cause of the
Marathas" - targeted the BORI because one of the institute's research
scholars, Shreekant Bahulkar, is acknowledged in Laine's book. They
held him responsible for Laine's comment.
The controversy over Laine's book began in November 2003, when a group
of historians led by Dadasaheb Purandare, well known for his biography
of Shivaji, asked the publishers, Oxford University Press (OUP), to
withdraw the book. Their letter to OUP states: "Though we do believe
in freedom of expression, we cannot subscribe to the practice of
maligning the life and character of any person, especially of one who
commands the love, respect and admiration of crores of people and is a
source of inspiration to them, by casting baseless aspersions."
According to another historian of the group, "Laine's remark on
Shivaji' parentage is factually incorrect and there is not a shred of
evidence to support it." He told Frontline that if Laine were a
responsible historian, he would have realised that such a statement
without substantive evidence backing it would have serious
ramifications.
Furniture destroyed by the mob.
The OUP withdrew the book immediately and issued an apology. The
matter seemingly ended there. However, the historians reportedly held
a meeting to condemn the book and celebrate their victory in having
the book taken off the shelves. Shiv Sena activists, quick to react to
any disparaging remark on Shivaji, stormed into the BORI building and
blackened the face of Bahulkar.
Later Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray apologised to Bahulkar and the
Sainiks have since been trying their best to disassociate themselves
from the controversy. Laine too faxed an apology to the Sainiks and
the media, stating that neither Bahulkar nor the BORI was responsible
for the text in his book. On his part, Bahulkar explained that while
Laine was at the BORI 15 years ago, he had helped him translate some
Sanskrit and Marathi texts but had nothing to do with Laine's
conclusions.
"The Sambhaji Brigade came out of nowhere," says Bahulkar. "Obviously
there are some anti-social elements who wanted to create trouble and
they used the controversy as a tool to further their cause." The
attack appeared to have been planned meticulously. The attackers
barged into the premises, cut the telephone lines, broke up into small
groups of 10 and 15 and finished their task in half an hour. "This was
not a spontaneous reaction to a derogatory remark," he told Frontline.
But why did they react so late? It is hardly likely that any of these
people would have read the book. Who backed them or who organised
them?
THE Maratha Seva Sangh, which has claimed responsibility for the
attack, is an organisation that is extremely anti-Brahmin, says Ajit
Abhyankar, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Its
members wait for any opportunity to strike at the Brahmin community.
Many of them believe that the scholars of the State belong to this
community.
The battle between Brahmins and Marathas is very much part of
Maharashtra's history, and it now dominates its politics. Pune has
traditionally been a hotbed of such caste politics. It is alleged that
using the anti-Brahmin slogan, the Sangh instigates unemployed youth
to undertake anti-social acts such as the attack on the BORI.
In spite of the acceptance of blame, the police are yet to pick up any
key member of the Maratha Seva Sangh. Informed sources in Pune say the
Sangh's leader Purushottam Khedekar, a Public Works Department
engineer, is close to several Ministers in the ruling Democratic Front
government and, therefore, is unlikely to be touched. Khedekar
allegedly wields so much clout that his career in the government
remains on course though he has been arrested on corruption charges.
His wife Rekha Khedekar is a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of the
Legislative Assembly from Buldana district.
For the past six or seven years, says the source, Khedekar has been
working on the "Maratha cause". He and his band of followers went to
the various forts of Shivaji in the Sahyadris and placed Maratha Seva
Sangh signboards and flags - probably indicating some sort of
proprietorship over the area, says the source. Until the attack on the
BORI, Khedekar remained relatively unknown. Although there has been a
backlash, with several groups, political and non-political, condemning
the attack, Khedekar has managed to make some gains from the
publicity. The incident has given the Sangh an identity.
Volunteers help clean up the institute.
IRONICALLY, the Sambhaji Brigade destroyed a huge collection of books
on Shivaji and damaged a portrait of him, which the BORI had received
from the British Museum. "Is this any way to revere a king?" asks a
visibly shaken Saroja Bhate, honorary secretary of the BORI. Also
irreparably lost are: a 15th century, 10-inch idol of mundkata
Ganapati and Syrian clay tablet dated to 600 B.C. found in
Maharashtra. A version of the Mahabharata from Kashmir dated to A.D.
1000, is damaged partly.
The outpouring of help to the institute has been overwhelming.
Donations have poured in and students from all over have volunteered
to reorganise the library and clean up the mess. The much-needed funds
will be spent on buying furniture and computers, which were also not
spared by the attackers. "We are going to rise from the ashes," says
Bhate.
In 1917, R.G. Bhandarkar, a historian, founded the BORI as a
charitable institution with the aim of collecting rare and ancient
historical books and preserving manuscripts to help in research. The
then Government of Bombay handed over 20,000 manuscripts to the
institution, which it preserved and catalogued. Many of these were
destroyed in the attack. In 1919, the institute undertook an exercise
to publish a critical edition of the Mahabharata. The final outcome of
the project was a 19-volume, 13,000 demi quarto page publication,
which was completed in 1966. President S. Radhakrishnan formally
launched the publication that year.
The BORI attracts scholars from across the world seeking to research
topics in Indology and Orientology. It is unfortunate that such an
institution is caught in a controversy over what is apparently a non-
issue.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130003802800.htm
Shivaji
Hindu King in Islamic India
James W. Laine
ISBN13: 9780195141269
ISBN10: 0195141261
Hardback, 144 pages
Jan 2003,
In Stock Price:$65.00 (06)
Shivaji is a well-known hero in western India. He defied Mughal power
in the seventeenth century, established an independent kingdom, and
had himself crowned in an orthodox Hindu ceremony. The legends of his
life have become an epic story that everyone in western India knows,
and an important part of the Hindu nationalists' ideology. To read
Shivaji's legend today is to find expression of deeply held
convictions about what Hinduism means and how it is opposed to Islam.
James Laine traces the origin and development if the Shivaji legend
from the earliest sources to the contemporary accounts of the tale.
His primary concern is to discover the meaning of Shivaji's life for
those who have composed-and those who have read-the legendary accounts
of his military victories, his daring escapes, his relationships with
saints. In the process, he paints a new and more complex picture of
Hindu-Muslim relations from the seventeenth century to the present. He
argues that this relationship involved a variety of compromises and
strategies, from conflict to accommodation to nuanced collaboration.
Neither Muslims nor Hindus formed clearly defined communities, says
Laine, and they did not relate to each other as opposed monolithic
groups. Different sub-groups, representing a range of religious
persuasions, found it in their advantage to accentuate or diminish the
importance of Hindu and Muslim identity and the ideologies that
supported the construction of such identities. By studying the
evolution of the Shivaji legend, Laine demonstrates, we can trace the
development of such constructions in both pre-British and post-
colonial periods.
Reviews
"A succinct, cogent study that is admirably well organized and
consistently insightful. Though brief, it makes a significant
contribution to the study of Indian history and religious studies."--
Journal of the American Academy of Relgion
"Shivaji is a succinct, cogent study that is admirably well organized
and consistently insightful. Though brief, it makes a significant
contribution to the study of Indian history and religious studies. In
one of the first studies to trace the longitudinal developments in the
biography of a major precolonial figure of India, Laine employs an
innovative approach that could well be adapted to other figures. In
addition, Laine makes valuable observations about the precolonial
history of 'Hinduism'"-- Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Product Details
144 pages; 5-1/2 x 8-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-514126-9
ISBN10: 0-19-514126-1
About the Author(s)
James W. Laine is a Professor of Religious Studies at Macalester
College.
http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Hinduism/?view=usa&ci=0195141261
Danny Yee's Book Reviews
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
James W. Laine
Oxford University Press 2003
A book review by Danny Yee © 2004 http://dannyreviews.com/
In the second half of the 17th century, Shivaji rose from a minor
chieftain to an independent king, founding the Maratha kingdom. In
this study Laine looks not at Shivaji directly, but at the stories
that have been told about him and their development over the last
three and a half centuries. These have become entwined with the
construction of Maharahstrian, Hindu, and Indian identities, and Laine
begins with these, and with the risks of attributing anachronistic
self-identifications to Shivaji.
The earliest stories of Shivaji's life, from the 17th century, present
him as an epic hero. Along with stories of his birth and boyhood, key
episodes include the killing of Afzal Khan, the encounter with Shaista
Khan, the escape from Agra, and his coronation.
"when [Shivaji] could, he attempted to rule as an independent Hindu
monarch, to be a patron of his religious traditions, and to challenge
the hegemony of the Islamicate world around him. His predecessors and
successors were more accommodationist, less heroic, and less well
remembered. Moreover, the stories of their bravery were nowhere near
as good."
In the 18th century Shivaji became linked with the saints Ramdas and
Tukaram, though "stories of the saints' role in Shivaji's life have
more to do with eighteenth-century concerns than with actual events
from a century before". The complex intertwining of the religious and
political in the present encouraged the construction of a simpler
past, as "part of a general tendency to oppose a single universalistic
Hinduism to a single monolithic Islam".
In the last hundred and fifty years, biographies of Shivaji have
expressed "a host of different political and cultural interests".
Jatirao Phule used Shivaji's story as "a way of advancing an
antibrahmin reading of Maratha history", emphasising his low-caste
status, but "virtually every Maharashtrian writer after Phule saw
Shivaji as the father of a nation, a liberationist". K.A. Keluskar
downplayed his connection with the saints and emphasized his appeal to
followers of every caste, Lokmanya Tilak used him to support
opposition to British rule, and M.G. Ranade wedded his story to bhakti
("devotion"). Laine also looks at the presentation of Shivaji in
school texts, in the fictional works of Babasaheb Purandare, and on
web sites.
Looking at "cracks in the narrative", Laine explores the things left
out of traditional stories — and what these absences show about the
concerns of those who produced them. Shivaji came from a "broken
family", with separated parents, he probably had a harem, he showed no
interest in the bhakti saints, his ambition was to build a kingdom,
not liberate a nation, and he did little to change the "cosmopolitan
Islamicate world" he lived in.
The Shivaji stories have played a key role in the construction of
"Islam" and "Hinduism" in Maharashtra.
"The narrative of Shivaji's life, already reshaped by bhakti writers
by 1800, was thoroughly overtaken by the nationalist narrative in 1900
and has been sustained as a grand narrative of Hindu nationalist
identity, despite all the inner inconsistencies, anachronisms, and
communalism that imaginative enterprise has entailed."
It is hard to approach Shivaji without being influenced by the
political furor the book has inspired. It has been withdrawn from the
Indian market and banned in Maharashtra, while a scholar was assaulted
and the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune ransacked just
because of mentions in Laine's acknowledgements. This thuggery is a
depressing illustration of the extent of communalism in Indian
politics, but also demonstrates the continuing significance of the
Shivaji stories — and the need to understand their evolution and
history.
Laine's openness may explain some of the animosity: his introduction,
for example, explicitly states his hope to "rescue [Shivaji's]
biography from the grasp of those who see India as a Hindu nation at
war with its Muslim neighbors". Shivaji is undeniably a scholarly
work, however, and few of Laine's critics have engaged with its actual
content. Though too slender to be entirely self-contained, it includes
enough background to be accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of
modern Indian history.
March 2004
External links:
- buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195141261/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook-20
Related reviews:
- books about India + Indian history
http://dannyreviews.com/s/India.html
- more historiography
http://dannyreviews.com/s/historiography.html
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http://dannyreviews.com/s/history.html
- books published by Oxford University Press
http://dannyreviews.com/p/Oxford_University_Press.html
Books at Amazon.com (more, Amazon.co.uk)
- Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India - James W. Laine
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195141261/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
- The Life of Shivaji Maharaj, Founder of the Maratha Empire -
Nilkanth Sadashiv Takakhav
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1151535478/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
- The Life of Shivaji Maharaj: Founder of the Maratha Empire -
Nilakantha Sadasiva Takakhav
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0030A0CI2/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
- Shivaji and Facets of Maratha Culture - Saryu., ed. Doshi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0022TPFMK/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Shivaji.html
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thuggee (or tuggee, ठग्गी ṭhagī) (from Hindi ठग ṭhag ‘thief’, from
Sanskrit स्थग sthaga ‘cunning’, ‘sly’, ‘fraudulent’, ‘dishonest’,
‘scoundrel’, from स्थगति sthagati ‘he conceals’)[1] is the term for a
particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in India.
Thuggery
The English word "thug" comes from the Hindi word "thag", meaning
"conman". It is one of many Indian words borrowed into English during
the British colonial period. The English connotation of 'thug' is
synonymous with terms like hoodlum and hooligan, indicating a person
(who may or may not be anti-social) who harasses others, usually for
hire.[citation needed] People regarded as thugs might commit assault
(or 'menace'), battery, even robbery and grievous bodily harm, but
they usually stop short of murder. Additionally, "thugs" usually
travel in pairs, though they can work alone or in groups of four to
six members, and are typically open about their presence (except to
law enforcement officials); while "Thuggee" were covert and operated
as members of a group, often called a "Thuggee cult" by the British.
Hence, the word "Thuggee" is capitalised while the word "thug" usually
is not; which enables distinction of a "Thug" (here, a short form of
"Thuggee") from a "thug".
In the heyday of Thuggee activity, travellers were typically part of a
travelling group, so the term Thuggee typically referred to killing of
a large number of people in a single operation. This aspect
distinguishes Thuggee from similar concept of dacoity, which means
simple armed robbery.
Dacoity has similarities with the terms brigand and bandit from
European and Latin American experience, but there appear to be no
exact Western parallels for Thuggee. Perhaps the closest concepts
would be the format of piracy, though this is solely maritime robbery
(usually with murder), and the earlier, but similar, format of raids
on coastal settlements by Viking seafarers. Some aspects, however, are
reminiscent of the Mafia group of organisations.
Between them, these classes of criminal activity illustrate some of
the mystique that attached to the Thugs and the complex mixture of
fear and dread of these murderous men that was felt by the ordinary
people who might well be their victims.
There is some question as to the extent of the religious dimension of
Thuggee. Most contemporary sources described Thuggee as being a
religious cult, but some modern sources feel it was merely a
specialized form of organized crime or paramilitary activity, with no
particular religious dimension beyond the normal piety of the
villagers from whom its members were recruited.
Time period
The concept of Thuggee is known from the 17th century, though the term
and/or activity possibly dates back as early as the 13th century.
Thuggee was actively practiced at least through the end of the 19th
century. If remnants of the Thuggee tradition survived into the 20th
and 21st centuries, they did so very covertly. The film Indiana Jones
and the Temple of Doom is based on the premise that Thuggee cults
survived covertly into the early 20th century.
Stern suppression by the British was important in reducing Thuggee
activity but more significant was the introduction of modern methods
of travel, in particular the displacement of travelling on foot or by
horse in groups by the railway, which effectively rendered Thuggee
obsolete.
The nature
The particular groups, as well as the general concept, were often
equally durable and would outlive the 'careers' of individual members
to develop into a crime family lasting generations. These groups
progressed from being simple gangs into becoming 'fraternities' or
even 'cults', featuring the initiation of new members, either through
the heredity of a criminal underclass, or through an apprenticeship,
such as normally associated with skilled or learned professions or the
training programs of elite military units. Other sources describe the
Thugs as a criminal 'tribe' or caste. Over the course of generations,
the secrets must be kept within the 'family'. The marriage of
offspring within the group both safeguards the secret knowledge,
allowing it to be imparted steadily to the children without the risk
of uninitiated neighbours overhearing, and reinforces the exclusive
and selective nature of the organisation. This preserves the mystique,
which is in itself part of the formula of success, and creates an
elite aura around it. At the moment of attack, the sudden revelation
of the identity of the assailants produces a shock that disables
defensive manoeuvres, at least for a few, vital moments, while the
reputation for invincibility engenders a defeatism that results in a
fait accompli.
The practice
Thugs were active all over the Bengal region of the Indian
subcontinent. Maps showing the possessions of the British East India
Company in 1765 and 1805Thuggee is described as a cult of people
engaged in the multiple murder and robbery of travelers. At the time,
most travelers in India would travel in caravan for mutual support and
security, since travel meant the crossing of difficult terrain before
the coming of metalled roads, the passing among different races,
religions and castes, at a period before police forces were formed. In
order to attempt the massacre of an entire caravan, the Thugs needed
to be numerous and well-coordinated. They also needed to be
sufficiently stealthy, at least in the early stages, to begin their
slaughter without rousing all at once. This required a high degree of
planning, organization – including props and patter – timing, teamwork
and discipline. With anything less than complete success a survivor
could escape to raise a hue and cry. These horrendous but
sophisticated operations lay somewhere between organized crime and
paramilitary activity and were far removed from the ordinary criminal
in the audacity, magnitude, and ruthlessness of the enterprise.
The modus operandi was to join a caravan and become accepted as bona-
fide travelers themselves. The Thugs would need to delay any attack
until their fellow travelers had dropped the initial wariness of the
newcomers and had been lulled into a false sense of security. The
Thugs first needed to befriend the travelers and win their trust. Once
the travelers had allowed the Thugs to join them and disperse amongst
them (a task which might sometimes, depending on the size of the
target group, require accompaniment for hundreds of miles), the Thugs
would wait for a suitable place and time before killing and robbing
them.
There were obviously variations on a theme. When tackling a large
group, a Thuggee band might disperse along a route and join a group in
stages, concealing their acquaintanceship, such that they could come
to outnumber their intended victims by small, non-threatening
increments. If the travelers had doubts about any one party, they
might confide their worries to another party of the same Thuggee band.
The trusted band would thus be the best placed to deal with these
members of the caravan at the appropriate time, but might also be able
to advise their colleagues to 'back off' or otherwise modify their
behavior, to allay suspicion.
The killing place would need to be remote from local observers and
suitable to prevent escape (e.g., backed against a river). Thugs
tended to develop favored places of execution, called beles. They knew
the geography of these places well—better than their victims. They
needed to, if they were to anticipate the likely escape routes and
hiding-places of the quicker-witted and more determined of the
travelers.
The timing might be at night or during a rest-break, when the
travelers would be busy with chores and when the background cries and
noise would mask any sounds of alarm. A quick and quiet method, which
left no stains and required no special weapons, was strangulation.
This method is particularly associated with Thuggee and led to the
Thugs also being referred to as the Phansigars, or "noose-operators",
and simply as "stranglers" by British troops. Usually two or three
Thugs would strangle one traveller. The Thugs would then need to
dispose of the bodies: they might bury them or might throw them into a
nearby well.[2].
The leader of a gang was called the 'jemadar': this is an ordinary
Indian word and is now used as the rank of an Army officer
(Lieutenant), who would command a similar number of men to a Thuggee
gang-leader. An English equivalent term might be 'the Boss' or 'the
Guv'nor' (Governor).
As with modern criminal gangs, each member of the group had his own
function: the equivalent of the 'hit-man,' 'the lookout,' and the
'getaway driver' would be those Thugs tasked with luring travelers
with charming words or acting as guardian to prevent escape of victims
while the killing took place.
They usually killed their victims in darkness while the thugs made
music or noise to escape discovery. If burying bodies close to a well-
traveled trade-route, they would need to disguise the 'earthworks' of
their graveyard as a camp-site, tamping down the covering mounds and
leaving some items of rubbish or remnants of a fire to 'explain' the
disturbances and obscure the burials.
One reason given for the Thuggee success in avoiding detection and
capture so often and over such long periods of time is a self-
discipline and restraint in avoiding groups of travelers on shorter
journeys, even if they seemed laden with suitable plunder. Choosing
only travelers far from home gave more time until the alarm was raised
and the distance made it less likely that colleagues would follow on
to investigate the disappearances. Another reason given is the high
degree of teamwork and co-ordination both during the infiltration
phase and at the moment of attack. This was a sophisticated criminal
elite that knew its business well and approached each 'operation' like
a military mission.
Use of garotte
The garotte is often depicted as the common weapon of the Thuggee. It
is sometimes described as a rumal (head covering or kerchief), or
translated as "yellow scarf". "Yellow" in this case may refer to a
natural cream or khaki colour rather than bright yellow. Most Indian
males in Central India or Hindustan would have a puggaree or head-
scarf, worn either as a turban or worn around a kullah and draped to
protect the back of the neck. Types of scarves were also worn as
cummerbunds, in place of a belt. Any of these items could have served
as strangling ligatures.
Religion and Thuggee
Thuggee groups might be Hindu, Sikh or Muslim, but Thuggee is
particularly associated with followers of the Hindu Goddess Kali (or
Durga), whom they often called Bhavani.[3][4][5] It was noted, even at
the time, that only a very small minority of the followers of Kali
were Thuggees. Many Thuggees worshipped Kali but most supporters of
Kali did not practise Thuggee.
Some Thuggee groups claimed descent from seven Muslim tribes[citation
needed], but the majority of Hindu followers only seem to be related
during the early periods of Islamic development through their
religious creed and staunch worship of Kali, one of the Hindu Tantric
Goddesses. At a time of political unrest, with changes from Hindu
Rajput rulers to Muslim Moghul emperors and viceroys, and possibly
back again, a wise group would display allegiance to both creeds, but
its ultimate loyalty was probably only to itself.
"There seem to have been very few Sikh Thugs. But Sahib Khan, the
Deccan strangler, 'knew Ram Sing Siek: he was a noted Thug leader - a
very shrewd man,' who also served with the Pindaris for a while and
was responsible for the assassination of the notorious Pindari leader
Sheikh Dulloo." Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 239-40.
Some sources view the Thugs as a cult or sect. Given the extent of the
problem, in geographical scale and in the duration of time, it is
likely that many groups would wish to keep their secrets from betrayal
from within and from intrusion by outsiders and would have evolved
into secret criminal fraternities. It also follows that if they were
repeatedly successful, then they must have 'divine blessing' and would
wish to give thanks to, and worship, the deity to whom they ascribed
their support. In the West, as well, criminality and religious
observance are not always mutually incompatible.
Origin and recruitment
A group of thugs, ca. 1863The earliest recorded mention of the Thugs
as a special band or fraternity, rather than as ordinary thieves, is
found in the following passage of Ziau-d din Barni's History of Firoz
Shah (written about 1356):
In the reign of that sultan (about 1290), some Thugs were taken in
Delhi, and a man belonging to that fraternity was the means of about a
thousand being captured. But not one of these did the sultan have
killed. He gave orders for them to be put into boats and to be
conveyed into the lower country, to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti,
where they were to be set free. The Thugs would thus have to dwell
about Lakhnauti and would not trouble the neighbourhood of Delhi any
more." (Sir HM Elliot's History of India, iii. 141).
Membership was sometimes passed from father to son, in what would now
be termed a criminal underclass. The leaders of long-established Thug
groups tended to come from these hereditary lines, as the gang
developed into a criminal 'tribe'. Other men would get to know a Thug
band and would hope to be recruited, in the way that one might aspire
to join an elite regiment or university: they were the best operators
in "the business" and, like a regiment or college fraternity, once in
the group, there was a camaraderie of numbers and shared experience.
The robbery became less a question of solving problems of poverty and
more a profession, like soldiering.
Sometimes the young children of the travelers would be spared and
groomed to become Thugs themselves, as the presence of children would
help allay suspicion. A fourth way of becoming a Thug was by training
with a guru, similar to an apprenticeship for a guild or profession,
during which the candidate could be assessed for reliability, courage,
discretion and discipline.[2]
The magnitude of the problem
Estimates of the total number of victims vary widely, depending on the
author's idea of the length of existence of the Thugs (for which there
are no reliable sources). According to the Guinness Book of Records
the Thuggee cult was responsible for approximately 2,000,000 deaths,
while British historian Dr. Mike Dash estimates that they killed
50,000 persons in total, based on his assumption that they only
started to exist 150 years before their eradication in the 1830s.
Yearly figures for the early 19th century are better documented, but
even they are inaccurate estimates. For example, gang leader Behram
has often been considered the world's most prolific serial killer,
blamed for 931 killings between 1790 and 1830. Reference to
contemporary manuscript sources, however, shows that Behram actually
gave inconsistent statements regarding the number of murders he had
committed. While he did state that he had "been present at" 931
killings committed by his gang of 25 to 50 men, elsewhere he admitted
that he had personally strangled "only" around 125 people. Having
turned King's Evidence and agreed to inform on his former companions,
furthermore, Behram never stood trial for any of the killings
attributed to him, the total of which must thus remain a matter of
dispute.[6]
Suppression
The Thuggee cult was suppressed by the British rulers of India in the
1830s.[2] The arrival of the British and their development of a
methodology to tackle crime meant the techniques of the Thugs had met
their match. Suddenly, the mysterious disappearances were mysteries no
longer and it became clear how even large caravans could be
infiltrated by apparently small groups, that were in fact acting in
concert. Once the techniques were known to all travellers, the element
of surprise was gone and the attacks became botched, until the hunters
became the hunted.
Civil servant William Henry Sleeman, superintendent, 'Thuggee and
Dacoity Dept.' in 1835, and later its Commissioner in 1839.Reasons for
British success included:
the dissemination of reports regarding Thuggee developments across
territorial borders, so that each administrator was made aware of new
techniques as soon as they were put in practice, so that travellers
could be warned and advised on possible counter-measures.
the use of King's evidence programmes gave an incentive for gang
members to inform on their peers to save their own lives. This
undermined the code of silence that protected members.
at a time when, even in Britain, policing was in its infancy, the
British set up a dedicated police force, the Thuggee Department, and
special tribunals that prevented local influence from affecting
criminal proceedings.
the police force applied the new detective methodologies to record the
locations of attacks, the time of day or circumstances of the attack,
the size of group, the approach to the victims and the behaviours
after the attacks. In this way, a single informant, belonging to one
gang in one region, might yield details that would be applicable to
most, or all, gangs in a region or indeed across all India.
The initiative of suppression was due largely to the efforts of the
civil servant William Sleeman, who started an extensive campaign
involving profiling and intelligence. A police organisation known as
the 'Thuggee and Dacoity Department' was established within the
Government of India, with William Sleeman appointed Superintendent of
the department in 1835. Thousands of men were either put in prison,
executed, or expelled from British India.[2] The campaign was heavily
based on informants recruited from captured thugs who were offered
protection on the condition that they told everything that they knew.
By the 1870s, the Thug cult was extinct, but it led to the
promulgation of the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. Although it was
repealed upon independence of India, the concept of 'criminal tribes'
and 'criminal castes' is still prevalent in India.[7][8] The
Department remained in existence until 1904, when it was replaced by
the Central Criminal Intelligence Department (CID).
Possible misinterpretation by the British and scepticism about the
existence
In her book The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs
of India (2002), Martine van Woerkens suggests that evidence for the
existence of a Thuggee cult in the 19th century was in part the
product of "colonial imaginings" — British fear of the little-known
interior of India and limited understanding of the religious and
social practices of its inhabitants. For a comparison, see Juggernaut
and the Black Hole of Calcutta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta
Krishna Dutta, while reviewing the book Thug: the true story of
India's murderous cult by the British historian Dr. Mike Dash in The
Independent, argues:[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent
"In recent years, the revisionist view that thuggee was a British
invention, a means to tighten their hold in the country, has been
given credence in India, France and the US, but this well-researched
book objectively questions that assertion."
In his book, Dash rejects scepticism about the existence of a secret
network of groups with a modus operandi that was different from
highwaymen, such as dacoits. To prove his point Dash refers to the
excavated corpses in graves, of which the hidden locations were
revealed to Sleeman's team by thug informants. In addition, Dash
treats the extensive and thorough documentation that Sleeman made.
Dash rejects the colonial emphasis on the religious motivation for
robbing, but instead asserts that monetary gain was the main
motivation for Thuggee and that men sometimes became Thugs due to
extreme poverty. He further asserts that the Thugs were highly
superstitious and that they worshipped the Hindu goddess Kali, but
that their faith was not very different from their contemporary non-
thugs. He admits, though, that the thugs had certain group-specific
superstitions and rituals.
Aftermath
The discovery of the thuggee was one of the main reason why the
Criminal Tribes Act was created.
In popular culture
This "In popular culture" section may contain minor or trivial
references. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's
impact on popular culture rather than simply listing appearances, and
remove trivial references. (November 2009)
In literature
The story of Thuggee was popularised by books such as Philip Meadows
Taylor's novel Confessions of a Thug, 1839, leading to the word "thug"
entering the English language. Ameer Ali, the protagonist of
Confessions of a Thug was said to be based on a real Thug called Syeed
Amir Ali.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Meadows_Taylor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_a_Thug_(novel)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonist
John Masters' novel The Deceivers also deals with the subject. A more
recent book is George Bruce's The Stranglers: The cult of Thuggee and
its overthrow in British India (1968). Dan Simmons's Song of Kali,
1985, features a Thuggee cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Masters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Simmons
The 19th century American writer Mark Twain discusses the Thuggee
fairly extensively in chapters 9 and 10 of "Following the Equator:
Volume II", 1897, THE ECCO PRESS, ISBN 0-88001-519-5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain
Christopher Moore's novel, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff,
Christ's Childhood Pal, describes a Thuggee ritual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb:_The_Gospel_According_to_Biff,_Christ%27s_Childhood_Pal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Moore_(author)
The 1976 science fiction novel Strangler's Moon by E.E. "Doc" Smith
and Stephen Goldin is based on the Thuggee (book #2 in the Family
D'Alembert series).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangler%27s_Moon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Goldin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_D%27Alembert
Sci-Fi/Fantasy author Glen Cook uses an India-like setting and Thuggee
as a plot vehicle in his books Shadow Games (June 1989), and Dreams of
Steel (April 1990). The books and later ones that continue the
storyline form part of Cook's Black Company series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Cook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_of_Steel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Company
The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey has a Hindu villain, whose
minions are Thuggee, almost without exception.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Lackey
Author William T. Vollmann draws upon Sleeman in his story The Yellow
Sugar, which is one of two tales in his collection The Rainbow Stories
dealing with the colour yellow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._Vollmann
In the pre-Holmes short story "The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy's
Household" (1887), Arthur Conan Doyle centres the narrative on a
beautiful female Thuggee in England who has "occasional fits of
fanaticism" and "horrible conceptions of religion".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle
Italian writer Emilio Salgari (1862–1911) wrote about thugs in I
Misteri della Jungla Nera (1895) and Le Due Tigri (1904) and other
short stories.
George Macdonald Fraser's novel Flashman in the Great Game (1975)
makes references to the "cult" of Thuggee, while the phrase: "pass the
tobacco" is used as a verbal signal for the killing to begin.
The DC Comics character Ravan is a Thuggee assassin who kills to delay
the return of Kali. He is the enemy of Kobra who seeks to bring about
her return.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Comics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravan_(comics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobra_(comics)
In the novel The Thirteenth Manifestation: the Song of Kali Ma (2006)
by Josephine Dunne, thuggees appear as assassins who operate from an
ancient subterranean Kali temple under the mountains between the
Pakistan and Indian line of control in Kashmir.
In film
The two most popular depictions of the cult in film are the 1939 film,
Gunga Din, and the 1984 film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The Indiana Jones movie is notable for Amrish Puri's villain, who is
shown chanting lines such as "maaro maaro sooar ko, chamdi nocho pee
lo khoon" - literally "Kill, Kill the pig, flay his skin, drink his
blood". Temple of Doom was temporarily banned in India for an
allegedly racist portrayal of Indians. Both films have the heroes
fighting secret revivals of the cult to prevent them from resuming
their reigns of terror, although Temple of Doom included features that
were never part of the Thuggee, such as cardiectomy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Temple_of_Doom
In the 1956 film Around the World in Eighty Days, starring David
Niven, Passepartout rescues a princess captured by the Thuggee and
sentenced to burn to death in the funeral pyre with her deceased
husband. (In the original Jules Verne novel, Thuggee are mentioned
only briefly, and not directly in connection with this princess.)[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days_(1956_film)
In 1960 British horror studio Hammer Film Productions released The
Stranglers of Bombay. In the film, Guy Rolfe portrays an heroic
British officer battling institutional mismanagement by the British
East India Company, as well as Thuggee infiltration of Indian society,
in an attempt to bring the cultists to justice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_East_India_Company
The 1968 Bollywood film Sangharsh, based on a story by Jnanpith Award
winner, Mahasweta Devi, presented a fictionalised account of vendetta
within a Thuggee cult in the holy Indian town of Varanasi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunghursh_(1968_film)
The 1988 film version of The Deceivers, produced by Ismail Merchant
and starring Pierce Brosnan, is a fictionalised account of the initial
discovery and infiltration of the Thuggee sect by an imperial British
administrator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deceivers
The 1954 film I Misteri della Giungla Nera directed by Gian Paolo
Callegari and starring Lex Barker, where a group of religious fanatics
in India, the Thugs, prey upon European and natives alike by capturing
and offering them up in sacrifice to their frightful goddess, Kali
(from imdb.) Adapted from Emilio Salgari's book by the same name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Salgari
The 1965 film Help! directed by Richard Lester and featuring The
Beatles parodies the thuggee as the cult that tries to steal Ringo's
sacrificial ring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help!_(film)
In television
In an episode of Highlander: The Series, "The Wrath of Kali", Duncan
MacLeod deals with immortal Kamir (played by Indian actor Kabir Bedi),
last of the Thuggee.
The fifth episode of the short-lived Clerks: The Animated Series
featured a plot twist where the Little League World Champions were
kidnapped by the Thuggee, where they were forced to chip rock away
from walls (much like the Thuggee in Temple of Doom).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_League
In the episode "The Yellow Scarf Affair" of the series The Man from
U.N.C.L.E., Agent Napoleon Solo uncovers a revival of the Thuggee cult
while investigating a plane crash in India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_U.N.C.L.E.
On It Ain't Half Hot Mum series 2, episode 8, "The Night of the
Thugs", the concert party take refuge from a rainstorm in a ruined
Thuggee temple. NB - Rare unscripted "giggle" from Captain Ashwood
when Colonel Reynolds discuss stealing the ruby from the statue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodes_of_Highlander_(season_4)#The_Wrath_of_Kali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Ain%27t_Half_Hot_Mum
See also
Highwayman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highwayman
Notes and references
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica,
Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/T/THU/thugs.html
^ Thugs 1902 Encyclopædia Britannica'.Pali-sthag.
^ a b c d Dash, Mike Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult
ISBN 1-86207-604-9, 2005
^ Dash, pp. 284-286 in the Dutch translation of the book
^ Dash, pp. 247 in the Dutch translation of the book
^ Dash, page 329 of the UK edition - notes to Chapter 16
^ James Paton, 'Collections on Thuggee and Dacoitee', British Library
Add. Mss. 41300
^ "Thugs Traditional View" (shtml). BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/thugs.shtml.
Retrieved 2007-09-17.
^ Sinister sects: Thug, Mike Dash's investigation into the gangs who
preyed on travellers in 19th-century India by Kevin Rushby, The
Guardian, Saturday, June 11, 2005.
^ Dutta, Krishna (2005) The sacred slaughterers. Book review of Thug:
the true story of India's murderous cult by Mike Dash. In the
Independent (Published: 8 July 2005)text
^ Verne, Jules (August 18, 2005). Around The World in Eighty Days.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=34998. See
page 38, where the Thuggee chief is mentioned, and page 46, where the
bride is referred to as a suttee.
Bibliography
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica,
Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition
Dash, Mike Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult ISBN
1-86207-604-9, 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Dash
Dutta, Krishna (2005) The sacred slaughterers. Book review of Thug:
the true story of India's murderous cult by Mike Dash. In The
Independent (Published: 8 July 2005) text
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/thug-the-true-story-of-indias-murderous-cult-by-mike-dash-497902.html
Paton, James 'Collections on Thuggee and Dacoitee', British Library
Add. Mss. 41300
Woerkens, Martine van The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and
the Thugs of India (2002),
External links
Acting in the "Theatre of Anarchy": 'The Anti-Thug Campaign' and
Elaborations of Colonial Rule in Early-Nineteenth Century India by Tom
Lloyd (2006) in PDF file format
http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/fichiers/LLOYD.pdf
Parama Roy: Discovering India, Imagining Thuggee. In: idem, Indian
Traffic. Identities in Question in Colonial and Postcolonial India.
University of California Press 1998. (in html format)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee"
Discovering India, Imagining Thuggee
Acknowledgments
This book owes a great deal to the critical perspicacity and
generosity of friends, colleagues, mentors, and institutions, whom I
am grateful to be able to name and thank. These pages would have been
impossible to bring to fruition without the encouragement and
intellectual support of Sandhya Shetty and Carole-Anne Tyler, who
consistently asked the difficult questions and who taught me through
the inspiration of their own scholarship. I am also grateful to
Lalitha Gopalan, who so often told me what I was thinking before I
knew it myself. I am grateful too to the many other friends and
colleagues who read the manuscript, either in full or in part, or who
responded to my work at conferences: Katherine Kinney, Joe Childers,
R. Radhakrishnan, Inderpal Grewal, Vincent Cheng, Daniel Boyarin, Kim
Devlin, Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks, Bette London, Ron Inden, Robert
Goldman, Aditya Behl, Gayatri Spivak, Jennifer Brody, George Haggerty,
Lawrence Cohen, Sue-Ellen Case, Philip Brett, and Susan Foster. I am
indebted to the readers for the University of California Press,
especially Caren Kaplan and Sangeeta Ray, for their meticulous,
constructive, and sympathetic evaluation of the project. My editor,
Doris Kretschmer, has been unfailingly helpful and patient. I am also
grateful to Dore Brown and Diane Jagusiak of the University of
California Press, and to Sarah Myers, for their scrupulous editing. I
am indebted above all to my parents, Amalendu and Ramola Roy, as well
as to Bharat Trehan for (among other things) his recall of a youth
productively spent watching Bombay films.
This project has been funded by a University of California President’s
Research Fellowship in the Humanities in 1991–1992, a fellowship in
the University of California, Riverside’s Center for Ideas and Society
in the spring of 1994, and by two pretenure faculty-development awards
from the University of California, Riverside. I am grateful for this
support.
2. Discovering India, Imagining Thuggee
I am a Thug, my father and grandfather were Thugs, and I have thugged
with many. Let the government employ me and I will do its work.
He had met hundreds of other Deceivers, and the notes were a complete
tale of all he had seen and heard and done; of all the Deceivers who
had engaged in any action, with their descriptions, habits, and homes;
of each murder, and how it had gone, and how it might have been
prevented—or improved upon. The words could be read for either
purpose, according to the spirit of the reader.
At the time that Burton was impersonating Mirza Abdullah in the
bazaars of Sind, another important narrative of disguise,
surveillance, and racial crossing was being written in the
subcontinent, this one under the auspices of the Thuggee and Dacoity
Department of the East India Company’s government. This was the
narrative of the exposure and extirpation of a form of hereditary
criminality called thuggee; it was to form a significant constitutive
component of the authoritarian and interventionary reform of the 1830s
and 1840s and to contribute to the still-emerging project of
“discovering India.” “It was with the flourish of mystery unveiled and
mastered,” writes a contemporary historian, “that a group of officers
of the Political Department had lobbied for special operations against
[a] ‘murderous fraternity’ and for special laws to deal with it.” [1]
It is that tale of thuggee that this chapter will take up, at least in
part as a counterpoint to the Burtonian record of the Englishman as
native. It examines the phenomenon designated thuggee by colonial
authority in nineteenth-century India, a phenomenon whose emergence,
codification, and overthrow was to become perhaps the founding moment
for the study of indigenous criminality, as a problem of
impersonation, visibility, and the transactions of reading. I use the
example of thuggee to explore one of the various and often mutually
discontinuous kinds of identities that were created, fixed, or
rendered ambivalent for Indian colonial subjects. In approaching the
problematic of thuggee in the colonial context through the optic of
identity formation and subjection, I broach a nexus of concerns that
cohere around the epistemes of representation and knowledge: the
problematic of the formation of colonial knowledge, the contested,
changing, and uneven definitions of law, order, criminality, and
reform in early-nineteenth-century India, the theorization of colonial
identities (Indian and British), and the discursive problems
associated with generating the moral subject of the civilizing mission
of British colonialism.
This chapter has three sections, with significant amounts of overlap.
The first examines the official records of the Thuggee and Dacoity
Department (first established in the 1830s), a cluster of documents
that I have perhaps rather arbitrarily designated the thuggee archive.
This includes first and foremost the files on thuggee and dacoity in
the India Office Library and the National Archives of India. Also
incorporated in this thuggee archive are the works (Ramaseeana, or a
Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language Used by the Thugs [1836]; Report
on Budhuk Alias Bagree Dacoits and Other Gang Robbers by Hereditary
Profession [1849]; Report on the Depredations Committed by the Thug
Gangs [1840]) of William Henry Sleeman of thuggee fame, as well as of
other officials associated directly or indirectly with the antithug
campaign: James Sleeman, Thug, or A Million Murders (1920); Charles
Hervey, Some Records of Crime (1892); Edward Thornton, Illustrations
of the History and Practices of the Thugs (1837); and the anonymously
authored The Thugs or Phansigars of India (1839), an abridged version
of the Ramaseeana for an American audience. This inventory of thuggee
materials also includes a number of biographies, fictionalizations,
and nonofficial accounts of the “discovery” of the phenomenon and its
eradication: James Hutton, A Popular Account of the Thugs and Dacoits,
the Hereditary Garroters and Gang-Robbers of India (1857); A. J.
Wightman, No Friend for Travellers (1959); George Bruce, The
Stranglers: The Cult of Thuggee and Its Overthrow in British India
(1968); Francis Tuker, The Yellow Scarf (1961); and Philip Meadows
Taylor, Confessions of a Thug (1839). These are collectively
designated the archive in this chapter, despite the incommensurability
in their generic status; this has been done because there appears to
be very little significant difference between one text and another in
this collection. Each seems to repeat the others in an uncanny
fashion; each narrates the same incidents in almost exactly the same
rhetorical mode; and each looks to W. H. Sleeman’s productions as the
founding texts of the thuggee narrative. (Meadows Taylor’s novel
differs from these only in its focus on a single thug and its
accumulation of additional [fictional] detail.)
The second section focuses on the special juridical procedures that
had to be instituted in order to deal with some of the most
intractable problems associated with a bizarre and enigmatic variety
of criminality. The final section provides a reading of the 1952 work
on the thugs by John Masters, The Deceivers, a novel that was
popularized in the 1980s in a film of that name by Merchant Ivory.
What sets this novel apart from the rest of the archive is the turn it
gives to the always already familiar narrative of thuggee through its
focus on the tensions of the investigating subject and its interest in
the English impersonation of Indianness and Englishness. It allows us
a way of (re)visiting and (re)inflecting the thuggee archive through
its stress on the colonizing male’s desires and identifications, and
thus forms an apposite corollary to the accent on Indian impersonation
that informs the discourse of criminal law.
At this point I should add a note about the limits of the enterprise
undertaken in this chapter. In the first place, I do not wish to
furnish another account of thuggee or to enter the traffic in
competing narratives of what might have constituted a material thug
organization or practice. Nor am I interested in reinscribing the
practices of the thugs in the register of subaltern insurgency,
though, given that subalternity is most properly construed as a
relational rather than an essential category,[2] I am not unwilling to
grant the thugs’ subaltern status. I am certainly sympathetic to
Ranajit Guha’s model of reading subaltern insurgency (as a “turning
things upside down”) through the texts of counterinsurgency.[3] But,
given the exclusions listed earlier in this paragraph, for me to read
thuggee as resistive, anticolonial, protonationalist, or even
antistate may be philosophically not discontinuous with the reading
practices that produced the thug as a demonized and completely
irrational entity. My object here is not to recuperate a subaltern
consciousness, even one that is acknowledged to be ineluctably
discursive, “a theoretical fiction to entitle the project of
reading,” [4] though I concede that the question of “subaltern
consciousness” cannot be completely bypassed.
I shall confine myself instead to examining the performative
subjectivity of the thug, as it is constructed in the discourse of
thuggee, as a way of teasing out, extending, and transforming some of
the implications of representation, mimicry, and visibility in the
colonial context. What I will engage are the models of reading that
are provided by the thuggee archives—how they are formed,
consolidated, or (partially) interrupted. And what I do argue is that
the reading of the uncovering of thuggee as an enabling moment for the
colonial state in its quest for the consolidation of judicial power
needs to be, if not displaced, at least complicated, by the
acknowledgment that thuggee forms an especially intransigent moment
within the colonial construction of criminality; it is a moment that
confounds and unsettles the received wisdom about identity formation,
truth production, and meliorative possibilities in early-nineteenth-
century India. What I also argue is that the discourse on and around
thuggee can be instrumental in opening up our present understanding of
the theorization of colonial identity, especially as it engages
questions of familiarity, visibility, and reproducibility. The text of
thuggee provides, for instance, a point of entry into a wider range of
mimic desires, identifications, and positions than someone like Bhabha
explicitly engages[5]—for instance, the colonizer’s fascination with
going native, the English miming of Englishness, or the indigenous
miming of indigenous subject positions—as well as foregrounding
questions of class, gender, and sexuality.
• • •
The Thug
The first thugs were not arrested by the British until 1799, after the
defeat at Seringapatam of Tipu Sultan, one of the most potent threats
to the expansionist ambitions of the East India Company; it was not
evident to the British at the time, though, that the stranglers were
thugs or hereditary killers. The first mention of the law-and-order
problem posed by thugs occurs in 1810, in the commander-in-chief’s
instructions to sepoys proceeding on leave about the dangers of
traveling at night and carrying large sums of cash instead of bills of
exchange;[6] but thuggee as a significant social arrangement or
discursive formation does not feature in this caution to the sepoys.
Thornton reproduces some correspondence between British magistrates
and police officials of the Western Provinces in the years 1814–1816
on the subject of thugs; at this point knowledge about them appears
very fragmentary, with no reference to shared religious rituals or
language or an idiosyncratic form of murder. It appears that the
notion of thuggee as a system rather than a disarticulated set of
violent acts was first broached in 1816 by Dr. Richard Sherwood, who
wrote an essay detailing its genealogy, organization, and argot for
the Madras Literary Gazette.[7] It proved, however, enormously
difficult to compel belief in the existence of such a fraternity (this
was to remain a problem in the decades to come), even among British
political officers, magistrates, and law-enforcement officials.
Meadows Taylor describes the capture of large numbers of thugs in
Bundelkhand and Malwa in the 1820s, an event that failed to “[excite]
more than a passing share of public attention.” [8] It was not until
Captain W. H. Sleeman undertook the exercise of decoding and exposing
thuggee in 1830, after the unexpected confession of the captured
bandit Feringheea, that a grand narrative of thuggee began to emerge.
Despite this relatively recent discovery, however, thuggee as praxis
and as identity was always represented as being of almost
inconceivable antiquity, conceived in the precolonial past and
sanctioned by long duration and popular Hindu mythology, if not
textual doctrine. A. J. Wightman, echoing his nineteenth-century
predecessors, asserts that though evidence of the existence of thuggee
is first found in records of the late thirteenth century, “it is
obvious that they must have been well-established at a much earlier
date.” [9] Some writers, like Sherwood, traced its origins to the
Arab, Afghan, and Mughal conquests of India of several centuries
earlier; James Sleeman and others traced the thugs back to the times
of Herodotus. The thug Feringheea is said to have claimed that the
sculptures at Ellora, which included representations of all the
professions on earth, featured a depiction of a thug plying his deadly
trade.[10] All the reports without exception demonstrate a tenacious
need to generate a creation myth, to locate not just a point of
discovery but a point of origin, and to establish a precolonial
genealogy. But at the beginning, as Geoff Bennington has said about
national histories, is also the myth of a beginning; and the origins
of thuggee keep receding into a more and more distant historical/
mythological point of inauguration.[11] In fact, several of the
accounts end up locating its beginning in a Hindu myth of creation.
The thugs, as they are represented in nineteenth- and twentieth-
century colonial representations, were a cult of professional
stranglers who preyed on travelers—though never on Englishmen—as an
act of worship to the popular Hindu goddess Kali. They were
represented as hereditary killers drawn from all regions, religions,
classes, and castes, united by their devotion to Kali and the act of
strangulation, which was, in this reading, quite literally sacralized.
The thugs were bound to their calling—and to each other—by shared
signifying systems: a language, a belief in the divine origin of the
practice, and a dizzying array of minutely observed rituals,
prohibitions, and superstitions. The thuggee system functioned as a
quasi-religious fraternity that, paradoxically, would accommodate just
about every Indian. It was defined as a compelling and
characteristically Indian form of social (ir)rationality, and the
practice was represented as resting upon an interlocking network of
constitutive contradictions.
Though the thugs robbed their victims and the confessions usually
demonstrate a very lucid recall of the division of the plunder,
thuggee was not conceived as having any economic base, particularly
because those involved in it appeared to have fixed abodes, peaceful
occupations, and a respectable place in the social and caste
hierarchies during those times when they were not engaged in killing
and plunder. While Sherwood does speculate, albeit briefly and
unevenly, on the proximate material causes of thuggee, the question
becomes progressively leached out of subsequent, and more hegemonic,
exegeses of thuggee. All the writers on the subject are insistent, to
greater or lesser degrees, that the thugs must not be regarded as
exigent, dispossessed, or rebellious subjects; they are unlike the
bandits of folk myth in being devious, unmartial (“cowardly” is the
adjective most often used), and almost obscenely respectable.[12] They
are characterized instead as hereditary killers whose “joyous
occupation” was, paradoxically, not only a matter of caste duty and
therefore ontological necessity but also a prime instance of
unalienated labor. By the time we come to James Sleeman’s hagiographic
account of his grandfather’s exploits, the act of strangulation has
not only been uncoupled from the usual motives for murder but has
acquired a quasi-libidinal charge: “The taking of human life for the
sheer lust of killing was the Thugs’ main object: the plunder, however
pleasant, being a secondary consideration.…Here was no body of amateur
assassins, driven to crime by force of circumstance, but men of
seeming respectability and high intelligence, often occupying
positions of importance and responsibility in their normal lives,
secretly trained from boyhood to the highest degree of skill in
strangulation.” [13] Sleeman is not alone in this reading of the
combined erotic and religious investment in murder. Taylor, in
Confessions of a Thug, hints at the homoerotic subtext of a thug’s
murder of a handsome lad; and George MacMunn explicitly couples the
left-hand Tantrism (including exorbitant and unauthorized sexual acts)
of Kali worshipers with behaviors like thuggee and nationalist
violence:
The murder trials that have followed on the sedition and secret murder
cult in Bengal, and indeed throughout India, show in their records how
the Hindu student depraved and often injured by too early eroticism,
turns to the suggestiveness of the murder-monger, and worships the
nitro-glycerine bomb as the apotheosis of his goddess [Kali].…The
student and the assistant editor of the rag, that but exists to
inflame students and pays its way by advertising the potent
aphrodisiacs among them, are the nidus of the bomb-cult.[14]
Katherine Mayo also locates the worship of Kali, premature and
excessive sexual activity, and acts of anticolonial terrorism within a
single perceptual grid.[15] This confluence of violence, illegitimacy,
and homoerotic desire is to resurface in The Deceivers.
Some twentieth-century scholars of colonial history have sought to
posit alternative, materialist histories of the phenomenon called
thuggee. Hiralal Gupta traces the development of thuggee or banditry
in the early nineteenth century to the success of the East India
Company’s expansionist policy, speculating that a significant number
of people captured as thugs by the Thuggee and Dacoity Department in
the 1830s and 1840s were erstwhile soldiers or officials in the employ
of rulers whose states had recently come under British control. These
people were among those who had lost their employment or fallen from
favor as a result of the annexation or reconfiguration of the Indian
princely states.[16] Sandria Freitag on the other hand points to the
displacement of peripatetic groups as a result of the ousting of local
settled rulers who had traditionally provided some protection to such
groups and to the establishment of the land-revenue-based state as a
possible explanation for the instances of collective acts of violence.
She also glosses the violence of dacoits—as of similar groups—as bids
for power and upward social mobility that would have been acknowledged
as such and accommodated by precolonial Indian state formations.[17]
Stewart Gordon argues that the large number of marauding groups that
were jockeying for political power in Malwa (where most of the thugs
seemed to be based) in the late eighteenth century posed a threat to
the stable sources of revenue in the region and necessitated the
creation of external sources of revenue. Those designated thugs were
“locally recruited, locally based” marauders hired to plunder outside
the neighborhood, as it were, in order to make up for revenue that
might have been lost to larger marauding groups.[18]
As I have already mentioned, Englishmen were never targeted by the
thugs; a few of the written accounts attribute the unsolved murder of
a Lieutenant Maunsell (or Monsell) in 1812 to thugs (as does the film
version of The Deceivers [1987], which opens with that killing), but
most of the thuggee texts point to the fact that the British had no
personal investment in the problem. Almost unfailingly these accounts
point to the antithug campaigns as exemplary instances of the active
benevolence of British rule, so often unjustly maligned or compared
unfavorably with indigenous rule. James Sleeman, who is particularly
apoplectic on this issue, argues that twentieth-century Indian demands
for independence were in effect a call for a return to the days of
thuggee: “Had this small handful of British officials, scattered like
poppies in a corn-field, shown the slightest timidity in grappling
with this gigantic task, they would surely have fallen victims to the
Thugs at the outset, in which case millions of Indians alive to-day
would never have been born, including possibly those who now agitate
for a restoration of the conditions under which Thuggee thrived and
battened.” [19]
Colonial accounts thus represent thuggee as outside a realm of
political and economic rationality (since it is religiously
sanctioned, grounded in caste, and linked to exorbitant pleasures).
Nonetheless, as the obsessive invocations of the Mutiny of 1857 and of
the Bengal revolutionaries of the twentieth century indicate, thuggee
was simultaneously addressed (even if not overtly acknowledged) as a
peculiarly potent threat to the authority and benevolence of the
empire in India. “To the colonial regime,” writes David Arnold, “crime
and politics were almost inseparable: serious crime was an implicit
defiance of state authority and a possible prelude to rebellion;
political resistance was either a ‘crime’ or the likely occasion for
it.” [20] Freitag points to the departures of British police action
from those of their Mughal predecessors; while the Mughals delegated
responsibility for containing collective crime to local functionaries,
the British felt such corporate criminal behaviors were nothing other
than a defiance of the state itself.[21] She points to the fundamental
distinctions, in terms of both the allocation of resources and the
formulation of legal procedures, that the Raj made between crimes
committed by individuals (“ordinary crime”) and those committed by
collectivities (“extraordinary crime”):
Elaboration of legal codes and police establishments to deal with
individual crime conveyed the impression that “the rule of law” had
been introduced into British India; yet the annual compilation of
crime and police statistics makes clear the minimal state resources
committed to policing individual crime. Unless such crime grew
alarmingly in a short period, or its policing fell significantly short
of what came to be seen as the norms of efficiency (for an inefficient
force), the state did not reckon individual crime to be of great
importance. By contrast, however, the British perceived collectively
criminal actions to be either directed against, or weakening, the
authority of the state. As a consequence, the British repeatedly felt
the need to launch centralized police forces against “extraordinary”
crime and viewed their inefficacy as a measure of the Raj’s impotence.
[22]
The thuggee records (including the confessions of thug approvers)
endeavor to provide—through the dominant tropes of ritualized,
religiously ratified, and libidinally charged slaughter—a tightly
knit, seamless, and self-validating account of an exceptional Indian
criminal practice. Yet, even as the record invokes the unvarying
trademarks of thug practice, it inescapably registers the
provisionality of its own categorization. The thug’s signature—murder
by strangulation, using a (silk) handkerchief—does not appear in every
act labeled thuggee; swords and poison feature as agents of
destruction quite as much as the talismanic rumal (handkerchief). Such
wide variations along a continuum of criminal activity were to lead,
after the 1830s, to an expansion of the provenance of thuggee: the
term came to include all kinds of organized and corporate criminal
activity (including poisoning and the kidnapping of children) that was
understood to be hereditary and/or itinerant. The confessions also
seem to demonstrate that at least some thugs were initiated into
professional practice not in adolescence or early manhood by older
male family members but later in life, most typically in response to a
situation of financial exigency.
Not only was it difficult to isolate certain crimes as the acts of
thugs, it was never easy either to establish the exceptional and
profoundly aberrant character of thuggee. The common complaint in all
the thuggee accounts without exception is that the activity of the
thugs seemed to mesh with exasperating ease into existing indigenous
networks of wealth and power, since they were supported by zamindars
(landowners), Indian princes, law-enforcement officials, merchants,
and even ordinary people. As Freitag suggests, “among organized
criminals the thags may have been the group most thoroughly embedded
in local society.” [23] The worship of Kali (also called Devi, or
Bhawani) could not easily be coded as an eccentric religious practice
either. Though some narratives do interpret the thugs’ invocation of
the goddess on the scaffold as proof positive of guilt (“Their
invocation of Bhawani at the drop was a confession of their guilt, for
no one in such a situation invokes Bhawani but a Thug, and he invokes
no other deity in any situation, whatever may be his religion or sect”)
[24], they also point to the widespread adoration of Kali across
regions and religions, among those identified as law-abiding as well
as those constituted as criminal.[25] Finally, while Thug beliefs and
rituals, especially those enacted at the start of an expedition, were
elaborately detailed, it was also asserted that in India expeditions
in quest of plunder were qualitatively no different from expeditions
undertaken for territorial aggrandizement; rulers and robbers alike
took the auspices after the Dasehra festival, before setting out on
their badshashi kam (kingly work).
Hence at least two contesting readings emerge: one defines the thugs
as a community apart, existing in enmity against law-abiding,
scrutable, and locally anchored subjects; the other identifies them as
natural to indigenous society, aided and abetted by all, and mirroring
and reproducing that society’s values. The uneasy fit between the
contextualizing move and the essentializing one was productive of an
aporia, which could only be resolved by invoking that most powerful of
all Indological epistemes—that of caste.[26] All the contradictions
and the seemingly endless heterogeneity of the subject category of the
thug are subsumed within that category, which is reified as coherent
and inflexible and emptied of any possibility of subjective freedom.
Once thuggee as social alliance was taxonomized as homologous to, if
not identical with (and the slippage from homology to identity occurs
without any apparent discursive strain), a caste, the thug could
simultaneously inhabit what had earlier been discrepant subject
positions: he could simultaneously be an exceptional criminal and a
representative Hindu, or Indian, since in the colonial imaginary the
territory of Hinduism is often coextensive with that of India.[27]
Even this reconciliation was not without its tensions, of course,
since thuggee as a philosophical system and a social formation seemed
to work strongly against the grain of the received colonial view of
India as irrevocably fractured along the fault lines of caste and
religion.
Nor was the caste explanation completely adequate to the great and, as
it seemed, illogical hybridity of thuggee. As a socioreligious
formation thuggee seemed to colonial investigators to be aligned with
popular, indeed demotic, forms of Hinduism in its reverence for Kali,
except that it attracted a large number of Muslim adherents, who
seemed to pay homage quite unproblematically both to the goddess and
to the strictures of the Koran. Here it is important to point to the
varied, contingent, and often irreconcilable constructions of Hindu
tradition in colonial discourse; the representation of Hinduism in the
discourse of thuggee is, for instance, quite discontinuous with that
which is operative in the discourse on sati, which was formulated in a
roughly contemporaneous moment. In the case of sati, as Lata Mani has
argued, colonial officials made energetic and systematic attempts to
establish Hinduism as a religion of the book; and Brahmanical readings
and textual authorities were privileged over custom and local
religious and social practice.[28] But in the instance of thuggee,
Hinduism is defined entirely as and by custom. Moreover, at the
popular or subaltern level, Hindu and Muslim forms of worship and
systems of belief may well have been less distinct than they were to
become (especially for more elevated castes and classes) later in the
century. The whole question in fact of Hindu doctrine and praxis and
its relation to thug identity is notoriously murky and ill defined.
Further complicating this discursive construction of thuggee was the
fact that professional thugs cultivated the appearance of the most
civic-minded of citizens and were conscientious about the discharge of
familial, social, and religious obligations. The very characteristics
that made them successful con men—their polish, their social and
rhetorical skills, their extraordinary capacity for duplicating
identities—also ensured their immense respectability in civil society.
But what rendered thuggee particularly elusive and frustrating to
British observers was its relative invisibility, its skill at
camouflage, and the difficulty of establishing it as a pervasive yet
eccentric form of lawlessness. Thug murders were typically performed
without shedding blood and without using identifiable offensive
weapons of any kind: they were performed far from the victims’ homes,
and the bodies were carefully buried. Because of the care exercised in
the killing and the disposal of the corpses (victims were buried with
great dispatch, and their graves were filled with rocks to keep out
any marauding animals) and the hazards attendant upon travel in
nineteenth-century India, these murders generally failed to register
as murders. Local landowners, rulers, and policemen connived at these
murders for their own benefit, or because they were prompted, it was
argued, by the heavy demands of superstition; and the peasantry, we
are told, simply ignored the bodies that occasionally appeared in
fields and wells. This raised the question of how far the circuit of
criminality actually extended: if local officials and the police
tolerated and even encouraged thuggee and ordinary folk made no
complaint about it, who could be said to remain unimplicated in it?
Under the circumstances, everything and everyone was liable to
suspicion, since the system of thuggee was both remarkably inclusive
and remarkably discreet in its operations. Hence British thuggee
inspectors were in the discomfiting position of focusing on crimes
that no one else acknowledged, certainly not (from the evidence of
these writers) most Indian princes or zamindars or even common folk
and generally not even the majority of the British magistracy or the
civil service. British scholars of thuggee were thus involved in a
detective project hobbled by an almost-fatal lack of empirical detail.
All natives were potentially thugs, since the system of thuggee was
remarkably inclusive; and the most seemingly innocent objects, like
handkerchiefs or gur (unrefined sugar, ritually consumed at the
commencement of an expedition), could participate in a diabolical
signifying system. And while British ignorance of thuggee (at least
until the 1830s) might contrast favorably with Indian knowledge—and
therefore complicity—it was susceptible of more objectionable
interpretations; in Masters’s novel, there is the danger that British
“ignorance” of thuggee can be read by the natives in a particularly
unflattering light: “In the nine years of the English Company’s rule
nothing had been done against the Deceivers. But William realized now
that most Indians knew at least of the existence of the Deceivers;
and, knowing, they could not believe the English did not also know;
therefore the English officials too were sharing in the spoils; so
what was the use of informing?” [29] (In the film version, the Indians
have good reason to be suspicious: George Angelsmith, the exemplary
servant of the East India Company, has full knowledge of the
activities of the thugs and profits from it.) Here it is not simply
the natives who are the object of investigation, codification, and
supervision; an alternative modality of interpretation is imaginable,
in which colonial authority is itself open to variant readings,
including those it has not authorized.
All these factors made the retrieval of information and the policing
of thuggee particularly vexing. And creating an archive and
standardizing reader response was not easy either. Though each thuggee
expedition and each act of thuggee was performed by the book, attended
by minutely detailed rituals and scrupulously observed omens, and was
immediately identifiable as such to those who could read the signs, it
was not immediately visible as such to those who could not or did not
see thuggee as a semiosis. Even in the 1860s, when knowledge about
thuggee had been codified, circulated, and reproduced and was
underwritten by wide-ranging institutional and legal support, Charles
Hervey complained that his subordinates were yet imperfect readers of
the complex and mysterious text of thuggee,
some correctly recognizing Thuggee in instances which were palpably
the deed of experts, although death should not have taken place;
others only doing so where death had resulted; some classing certain
murders as cases of “Thuggee” without reference to the means resorted
to in the perpetration thereof; others who wholly pass by cases of
poisoning whether followed by death or not, although they bore
evidence of being the acts of class criminals; some who restrict their
notice to selected cases only of its occurrence, passing by other
similar instances; some who endeavour to distinguish between different
degrees of poisoning, some calling “murder by poison” Thugee [sic],
others not doing so[;]…others who lump all such kindred offences under
round numbers without any narration of the attendant circumstances,
contented only with quoting against them the sections of the Penal
Code under which they were triable or were tried.[30]
With all the discrepant valences of this discourse, one factor
remained crucial in the determination of thuggee: the idea of
hereditary criminality. This was not a particularly novel reading of
corporate criminal activity in colonial India; as far back as 1772,
the dacoits of Bengal were strenuously and repeatedly characterized
not as individual or collective subjects responding to socioeconomic
transformations engendered by the sudden ascendancy of the East India
Company or indeed to any other material circumstance, or even to
chance, but as fulfilling a hereditary calling, if not a genetic
predisposition.[31] And, as Sanjay Nigam has convincingly
demonstrated, the colonial reification of caste as coherent and
inflexible, combined with the received notion of hereditary
criminality (most fully exemplified in the instance of thuggee), was
to have a long and ominous history in colonial and postcolonial India;
the Criminal Tribes and Castes Act of 1872 was to designate (without
any possibility of appeal) a number of vagrant and impoverished
“communities” as “criminal by birth” and thus subject to surveillance,
control, and attempted rehabilitation.[32] I am struck here by the
considerable (though not complete) overlap of this discourse with
Michel Foucault’s description of the emergence of the homosexual as a
distinct ontological category in the nineteenth century:
The nineteenth-century homosexual became a personage, a past, a case
history, and a childhood, in addition to being a type of life, a life
form, and a morphology, with an indiscreet anatomy and a mysterious
physiology. Nothing that went into his total composition was
unaffected by his sexuality. It was everywhere present in him: at the
root of all his actions because it was their insidious and
indefinitely active principle; written immodestly on his face and body
because it was a secret that always gave itself away. It was
cosubstantial with him, less as a habitual sin than as a singular
nature.…The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual
was now a species.[33]
Because thuggee was such a slippery issue, a kind of legal,
disciplinary, and discursive apparatus was brought to bear on it that
did not occur in the case for instance of sati, another retrograde and
horrific practice apparently authorized by Hinduism. This is not of
course to assert that sati as a discursive formation was unproblematic
for colonial administrators and reformers; Lata Mani has pointed that
the abolition of sati in colonial India was preceded by its
legalization and has drawn attention to the valorization of the
“voluntary” sati in colonial and nationalist discourses. But thuggee
was not so much spectacular—as sati was (at least until 1829)—as
invisible. As a result it was much more difficult to discursively
track its trajectory and to determine the success of the pacification.
Sati was abolished in 1829, and there are no official records after
that date of the practice; it was presumed that it had simply been
legislated out of existence. But in the instance of thuggee, such
faith in the efficacy of legislative sanction is much more uncertain.
In the juridical domain, thuggee was defined as an “exceptional case”
in the name of a colonial contingency, since thuggee by definition was
exorbitant to standard law-and-order discourse and marked at all
points by immoderation.[34] This enabled the establishment of a
discursive and juridical system that was entirely self-referential and
self-validating, in which it was sufficient to be identified as a thug
or “hereditary criminal” through an approver’s testimony, without
actually being convicted of a specific crime, to be liable to arrest,
trial, and, almost inevitably, conviction. I will return to this
shortly.
Knowledge of thuggee as an essence then had to be constructed,
crucially, around an absence; and all the confessions, all the subject
effects produced by the testimony of approvers, were a strenuous
effort to recover a “consciousness,” a consciousness that would
provide the foundation for the revelations that ratified the antithug
campaign. But if thuggee was as far-reaching and as subtle as W. H.
Sleeman and his associates insisted, and if thug ontology and practice
was determined by birth, how could an Englishman ever hope to know the
whole truth and nothing but the truth? How could one verify the
confessions of the approvers and establish checks over their control
of the official record? Thornton registers exasperation at the
contaminated nature of the confessions: “Few things are more difficult
to a native of India than to tell the truth, under any circumstances;
and the confessions of criminals, in all countries, may be expected to
contain a mixture of truth and falsehood. The deposition of Moklal is
not consistent with the rest; nor even with another statement made by
himself, made in conversation with Captain Sleeman.” [35] He also
cites (as do other accounts of thuggee) the instance of an approver
who functioned as a double agent, beguiling his English employer into
believing him committed to the capture of thugs while providing
information and English passes [documents authorizing unimpeded travel
within, and between, designated territories] to his criminal comrades.
[36]
While James Sleeman claims that W. H. Sleeman and his colleagues, in
the 1830s, “resolved that this trade of Thuggee should no longer be
any more a mystery than tailoring or carpentering, began to initiate
themselves into all the secrets of the craft, and were soon, in their
knowledge of the theory of the profession, little behind the
professors themselves,” [37] the “secrecy” of thuggee never
disappeared as a threat. W. H. Sleeman—speaking of course with the
superior wisdom of his newfound knowledge—records a state preceding
revelation with combined horror and incredulity:
While I was in the Civil charge of the district of Nursingpore…no
ordinary robbery or theft could be committed without my being
acquainted with it; nor was there a robber or a thief of the ordinary
kind in the district, with whose character I had not become acquainted
in the discharge of my duty as magistrate; and if any man had then
told me, that a gang of assassins by profession resided in the village
of Kandelee, not four hundred yards from my court, and that [in the]
extensive groves of the village of Mandesur, only one stage from me…
was one of the largest Beles, or places of murder in all India; and
that large gangs from Hindustan and the Deccan used to rendezvous in
these groves, remain in them for many days altogether every year, and
carry their dreadful trade along all the lines of road that pass by
and branch off them, with the knowledge and connivance of the two
landholders by whose ancestors these groves had been planted, I should
have thought him a fool or a mad man; and yet nothing could have been
more true.[38]
Indeed, the entire discourse of thuggee is troped by figures of
darkness, mystery, inscrutability, unpredictability, and unexpected
menace, even as W. H. Sleeman and his assistants are inserted into a
heroic narrative of battle against evil. “Secrecy is indispensable”
for thug ceremonies, and “[a]n impenetrable veil of darkness is thrown
over their atrocities”;[39] “danger was everywhere, unseen and
unexpected” [40] for the Englishmen involved in the anti-thuggee
enterprise (even though Englishmen were known never to be attacked by
thugs); they were like “men isolated in the midst of a dangerous,
trackless and gloomy jungle, without map or compass”;[41] and “[the]
old Thug Associations, which have been now effectually put down in all
parts of India,…would assuredly rise up again, and flourish under the
assurance of religious sanction,…were the strength of the special
police, employed in the suppression, hastily reduced, or its vigilance
relaxed.” [42] Once again, Foucault on the discourse of sex and
sexuality is apropos: “What is peculiar to modern societies, in fact,
is not that they consigned sex to a shadow existence, but that they
dedicated themselves to speaking of it ad infinitum, while exploiting
it as the secret.” [43]
This very obscurity, this elusiveness that characterizes the thug as
discursive object, could and did function as an enabling moment for
the colonial law-and-order machine. Since it could never be decisively
established—given the terms of the discourse—that thuggee had been
extirpated, the need for endless vigilance was ratified. The moral
viability of the civilizing mission, indeed the very ground of its
possibility, is the never-satisfied, endlessly proliferating need for
reform. In the case of thuggee, colonial officials were confirmed in
their belief that the work of civilizing is never done. Thus many
writers warn repeatedly of the dangers of celebrating the demise of
thuggee prematurely; in 1893, Charles Hervey, successor to Colonel W.
H. Sleeman of thuggee fame, was still chasing after thugs. These
officers point not only to the hypnotic lure of thuggee for its
practitioners but also to the fact that native policemen and landlords
are only too anxious to conceal evidence of thug crimes from credulous
British officials overeager to congratulate themselves on the
cessation of this practice and overoptimistic about the all-
encompassing vigilance of colonial power. Thuggee never really goes
away as a present problem as sati might be said to do; it may almost
be said to function as a trope for all that is uncontrollable in the
law-and-order situation. In fact, the construction of hereditary,
pervasive, and socially or religiously sanctioned criminality
inaugurated in the discourse on thuggee reappears throughout the
nineteenth century in the discourse on dacoits, buddhuks, dhatoora
poisoners (all of whom came to occupy the same criminal category as
the thug), and specifically designated criminal tribes and castes.
How else might we understand this absence or unknowability that tropes
the discourse of thuggee? Certainly this simultaneous fear of and
pleasure in the duplicity and omnipresence of the thug deserves some
consideration, especially in light of the questions it raises about
the status of knowledge, subject positions, and representation in the
colonial state. Bhabha’s model of the emergence of shifty civil
subject of the colonial polity through mimicry can be extended here,
it seems to me, to some of the other possibilities of mimicry in the
colonial theater.[44] The situation of the thug is analogous to but
certainly not identical to that of the not quite/not white native—the
thug after all is not mimicking colonial ontology—though his capacity
for traffic in identities and positions is staggering. The instance of
thuggee intimates, I think, that the colonized subject’s mimicry need
not necessarily have the colonizer as its focus in order to function
as menace; mimicry, even if it is mimicry of indigenous subject
positions, frustrates the colonial desire for homogenized, duplicable,
and knowable native subjects in whom subalternity is sought to be
reproduced through the authorized version of mimicry. If there is one
thing that characterizes the thug of the archives, it is the
multiplicity and unpredictability of his manifestations. As we have
seen, it was what was perceived as this faculty for disguise and
invisibility that had to be criminalized by the laws designed to
convict thugs; theoretically there was no such entity as an honest
thug, and many so-called thugs were convicted who were, according to
the official records, engaged in “honest labour.” There is an ongoing
and strenuous endeavor in the discourse of thuggee to interpellate the
thug as an essence, a move which attests to the anxiety of rupture
that subtends the totalizing epistemologies of colonialism. Yet the
thug as discursive object is strikingly resistant to such fixity; he
is all things to all people. If native identity can be staged, can be
plural, then what are the implications for colonial authority and
colonialism’s project of information retrieval? Thuggee, I would
suggest, introduces a disturbance in the paradigm of information
retrieval that often seems dominant in texts like Kim and A Personal
Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, as well as the
notion of native authenticity and ontological purity that is a
governing trope of colonial discourse. The thug, through his capacity
for disguise and impersonation and his skill at negotiating multiple
and competing identities, usurps the colonizer’s privilege of complex
subjectivity and of movement between subject positions and thus can be
read to assume some control over both the construction and flow of
colonial knowledge. So he never becomes fully naturalized as the
disciplinary subject or, in other words, the knowable subject, of the
colonial polity. And thuggee, later rewritten as dacoity, continues to
function within the law-and-order context in the colonial and
postcolonial state formations as a trope for the unruly and
unreformable energies that cannot easily be accommodated to the needs
of the civilizing mission.[45]
• • •
The Law
The writings and reports of W. H. Sleeman, which form the core texts
around which the tale of thuggee is orchestrated, represent a
concerted and monumental effort to illuminate and classify the
obscurity of thuggee. Sleeman emerges, in both nineteenth- and
twentieth-century accounts of thuggee, as the hero of his own story.
Even those works, like George Bruce’s The Stranglers and James
Sleeman’s Thug, or A Million Murders, that purport to be histories of
the thugs rather than biographies, present the account of thuggee as
coextensive with the life of Sleeman. Sleeman emerges from these texts
(and his own, of course) as an exemplary figure in nineteenth-century
criminal and judicial procedures, who undertakes a self-appointed
messianic task of uncovering and reading. Nothing in his story happens
by chance. The discovery of the scope of thuggee as a result of
Feringheea’s confession is (re)written as an inevitability in the task
of reconstructing thuggee, and Sleeman’s anti-thuggee efforts traced
back to the moment of his arrival in India in 1809. All of Sleeman’s
life and work before 1830 is thus written as a prelude to the
climactic scenes of thug hunting and as a preparation for reading the
mysteries of this esoteric Indian cult. Sleeman above all is
transformed in this telling into an almost Saidean figure of
knowledge; he is the shikari (hunter) who, with his gift of languages,
long residence in India without being “Orientalized,” and experience
in war and in settling newly conquered territories, can present an
ideal model of the exegete. Though a crime like thuggee is quite
literally inconceivable to those “living under an efficient
government,” Sleeman is no Inspector Clouseau, no naive Englishman who
stumbles unaware upon a vast organized conspiracy. He knows what he is
looking for; indeed, Tuker’s biography imagines Sleeman becoming the
butt of his colleagues’ jokes during his early years in India because
of his eagerness to “discover” thuggee.[46] In this telling, thuggee
predates Sleeman; indeed, it is as old as India itself. Yet the text
of thuggee remains unread until Sleeman, the reader-as-savior,
provides the hermeneutic key to the mystery. He establishes the
exceptional quality of thuggee, distinguishing it from outlawry,
banditry, and other illegalities necessitated by privation; he
establishes the story of thuggee as a moral narrative and embeds it in
the culture of an Orientalist India.
The man whose ideal was, like that of a Sherlock Holmes, “to be
everywhere, and to see everything,” [47] proved phenomenally successful
—in his own terms—at cracking the code of thuggee. He showed a
remarkable capacity—far greater than that of Sherwood or even that of
the few officers who had harassed the thugs in the early decades of
the century—to globalize and codify discrete accounts of crimes in
different times and places into a metanarrative of hereditary crime.
On the evidence of approvers, he created gigantic and detailed “family
trees” of captured and uncaptured thugs that provided copious details
of each man’s crimes, place of origin, place in the caste hierarchy,
and personal and professional antecedents; he also mapped out all the
bhils (places of slaughter and burial) in central India. Every thug
could then be located on Sleeman’s gigantic grid, and information and
operations were centralized. The local knowledge of the approvers now
became part of a giant signifying chain. For the thug, there was no
escape: his history and his nature were always already known to the
all-seeing eyes of the colonial bureaucracy and criminal-justice
system; his experience formed a narrative even before he made his
confession and was in no way dependent on it. As Ameer Ali says in
Confessions of a Thug, “The man unfolded a roll of paper written in
Persian, and read a catalogue of crime, of murders, every one of which
I knew to be true; a faithful record it was of my past life, with but
few omissions.” [48] Sleeman also prepared a dictionary of Ramasee,
the secret language of the criminal fraternity, with a vocabulary made
up entirely of descriptions of criminal actions. This linguistic,
geographic, and genealogical grid left out little that was germane to
the needs of criminal justice in colonial India:
I have, I believe, entered in this vocabulary every thing to which
Thugs in any part of India have thought it necessary to assign a
peculiar term; and every term peculiar to their associations with
which I have yet become acquainted. I am satisfied that there is no
term, no rite, no ceremony, no opinion, no omen or usage that they
have intentionally concealed from me; and if any have been
accidentally omitted after the numerous narratives that I have had to
record, and cases to investigate, they can be but comparatively very
few and unimportant.[49]
The doctrine of thuggee was not simply a novel yet apposite way of
reading Indian criminality at a moment when the pressures to reform
the East India Company by reforming India were particularly marked.
The consequences of the discovery of thuggee were, in other words, not
simply a philosophical reconstellation of Indian criminality. Thuggee
also gave rise to a veritable cottage industry of policing and
surveillance techniques, as well as ethnographic documentation. Like
the system it purported to study, the discourse on thuggee was
totalizing in its scope. In the juridical domain, thuggee was defined
as an “exceptional case”; this enabled the establishment of a
radically new machinery of arrest, conviction, and punishment in thug
trials. The production of penal truth in thug trials proved, as we
have seen, notoriously difficult. Since thugs were peripatetic
operatives, who always committed their crimes far from home and
disposed of their plunder quickly, evidence was not only destroyed but
questions were raised about jurisdictional authority. Local
functionaries were not just uncooperative; many were allegedly bound
by a utilitarian calculus to thug gangs. In addition, the relatives of
the putative victims displayed no zeal in the punishment of crime or
the redress of wrongs; the vast majority refused to identify those
missing as murdered at all. This uncooperative behavior was attributed
to their fatalistic acceptance of all disasters (including,
apparently, cholera, poisonous snakes, and sudden death). Even when
thugs were captured, convicting them was rendered even more
troublesome by the fact that Muslim criminal law disallowed the
testimony of approvers.
The lack of independent witnesses, the unavailability in many cases of
both bodies and booty—the sheer paucity of positivist evidence, in
other words—could only be resolved in one way. The most important
criminal conspiracy of the century (of all time, some of the authors
claimed) could be adequately engaged only by a new conception of law.
Many of the tactics adopted by those spearheading the antithug drive
were not novel but had been pioneered earlier in Bengal; however, it
was the Thuggee and Dacoity Department’s use of these tactics that
proved not only successful but replicable.[50] Since the law as
currently defined made the complicity of individuals in particular
crimes almost impossible to establish, specific criminal acts were no
longer punishable as such. Instead, it was a subject position, or
rather, an ontology, that was criminalized. It was enough to be a
thug, without actually being convicted of a specific act of thuggee,
to be liable to the exorbitant measures of the Thuggee and Dacoity
Department. As Radhika Singha wrote, “The strangest feature of this
enactment was the use of a cant term ‘Thugs’ without explaining what
precisely the offence of ‘Thuggee’ was. That such a term was
acceptable at a time when a penal code upholding precision and
exactness was on the agenda is an indication of the success of a
publicist campaign in official circles.” [51] Act XXX of 1836 directed
that any person who was convicted of “having belonged to a gang of
Thugs, [was] liable to the penalty of imprisonment for life; and
[that] any person, accused of the offence, made punishable by the Act,
[was] liable to be tried by any Court, which would have been competent
to try him, if his offence had been committed within the district
where that Court sits.” [52] (Act XXIV of 1843 extended the punitive
sanctions of the thuggee laws to those found guilty of belonging to
dacoit gangs.) Act XXX also dispensed with the last vestiges of Muslim
criminal law (which is said to have provided greater protections for
the accused and greater clemency for the convicted than the Thuggee
and Dacoity Department thought advisable for those standing trial as
thugs) by doing away with the necessity for the fatwa (formal legal
opinion) of the Muslim law officer. It applied with retrospective
effect, and it established special courts for the trial of thugs—
including those captured outside company territory, within the
kingdoms of the Indian princes—often with special magistrates
appointed by the governor-general. It permitted the arrest of entire
families, including women and children, as legitimate means of
entrapping active (male) thugs; since thuggee was supposed to be a
family affair anyway, transmitted in the genes and passed on from
father to son, wives and children were also fit targets for the
colonial state’s punitive and corrective measures. The act admitted
the testimony of approvers in lieu of the testimony of independent
witnesses (which had been disallowed under Islamic law), a move which
created a remarkable mechanics of truth production and conviction.
(Act XIX of 1837, under the direction of Macaulay, did away with this
“dual standard of evidence” in criminal law by making the testimony of
approvers admissible in all courts of law, not just those prosecuting
cases of thuggee.)[53] Yet it is by no means to be assumed that
empiricism and observation were peripheral to the process, though it
was observation of a very carefully demarcated kind; there is in the
colonial archive an overwhelming weight given to the experiential
dimension of the knowledge of such canonical figures as Sleeman. All
disagreements encountered on the British side are attributed to
inexperience, to the lack of a proper interpretive framework within
which to place certain kinds of discoveries, or to a willful
ingenuousness about the success of British rule.
The definition of thuggee as a form of hereditary, corporate, and
religiously sanctioned identity allowed for no appeal by a thug
convicted under its special decrees; in theory—and in practice—there
was no such entity as an innocent thug. All those identified as thugs
by approvers’ testimony were automatically guilty, even if no specific
crimes could be proved against them and even if there was no (other)
evidence of their ever having associated with other thugs. Once the
thug hunts began, criminal activity was not always necessary for
arrest and conviction; even those “thugs” engaged in “honest
labour” (a theoretical impossibility, given the terms of the
discourse) were rounded up, tried, convicted, and imprisoned since the
compelling, hereditary lure of thuggee was always latent in the thug.
An overwhelmingly high proportion of those arrested were convicted, a
fact which validated, the Thuggee and Dacoity Department believed, the
thoroughness of its efforts and the justice of its cause.
Confessions were key to the discursive constitution of thuggee; not so
much at the actual thug trials as in the manifold accounts of thuggee
that were produced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Meadows
Taylor’s novel, as far as structural organization is concerned, reads
not very differently from the nonfictional official accounts of
thuggee: a brief introduction followed by hundreds of pages of
confession, interspersed more and more intermittently by the
narrator’s moral commentary. The confessional mode lent itself nicely
to the narrative conventions and imperatives of the nineteenth-century
English novel, which encompassed both the Newgate novel and the
spiritual autobiography.
One of the best approvers, Bukhtawar, provided a confession (which I
quoted at the beginning of this chapter) that was a model for all thug
confessions: “I am a Thug, my father and grandfather were Thugs, and I
have thugged with many. Let the government employ me and I will do its
work.” [54] The confessions serve not to elicit what is not already
known but to authenticate and authorize official knowledge of thuggee
in general and specific crimes in particular, as well as to produce
the thug as (colonial) criminal subject. For Foucault, the confession
“transcend[s] all other evidence; an element in the calculation of the
truth, it [is] also the act by which the accused accept[s] the charge
and recognize[s] its truth; it transform[s] an investigation carried
out without him into a voluntary affirmation. Through the confession,
the accused himself [takes] part in the ritual of producing penal
truth.” [55] In the eyes of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department, a
failure to confess was evidence less of innocence than of hardihood
and an acquaintance with the byzantine ramifications of Indian
criminal law.
And yet these confessions that dominate and drive all accounts of
thuggee are not confessions as such, but approver’s testimonies; the
two, as Shahid Amin so appositely reminds us, are not identical. For
while the confession proper seeks to dilute the guilt of the
confessing subject, the approver’s testimony, to be fully credible in
the eyes of the law, must implicate its speaker as fully as possible
in the illegality being described.[56]
The fact that approvers’ testimony was “tainted” and that they might
either wittingly or unwittingly implicate the innocent was undeniably
an issue, though anxiety on the score was aired only to be promptly
shown up as unfounded. The thuggee records continually stress the ways
in which the truth of each approver’s testimony was tested against all
the others. But even in these official accounts, it does not escape
remark that the approvers’ testimony regarding dates and other details
do not always match,[57] though all discursive contradictions are
always sought to be smoothed away. Bruce, who is the only one to raise
overtly the possibility of the conviction of the innocent, blames not
the system but its most visible instruments, the approvers: “Were
innocent men convicted upon the evidence of revengeful informers?.…
Those Thugs who were no longer free to strangle on the roads may have
conspired together to send victims to the gallows instead, for by
killing in this way they could at once show Kali their continued
devotion and save their own lives.” [58] These testimonies were not
required, under Act XXX, to be matched against the reports of
independent witnesses or against the weight of circumstantial
evidence; and none of the accused had the benefit of counsel, so the
approvers were never cross-examined by anyone other than the officers
of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department.
Even though the approvers were indispensable for forming the text of
thuggee and for prosecuting thugs, their own status remained somewhat
nebulous. On making “a full and ingenuous confession,” an approver
would be eligible to have his sentence of hanging or transportation
commuted. But an approver could never be released, since the lure of
the rumal made him irreclaimable for honest society. It was also
necessary that all approvers be convicted (not just arrested) thugs,
since it was contrary to the nature of British justice to hold its
subjects indefinitely without trial. How, though, could the government
convict approvers when it had no evidence except for what they
provided? The solution was to advise approvers to plead guilty to the
general charge of being thugs, under the provisions of Act XXX, rather
than to plead guilty to the charge of committing specific capital
crimes (which could result in the death penalty); this would ensure
their conviction, and then they could be held for life without
questioning the authority that held them.[59] It was easier and more
useful to hold approvers than to hang them; and they needed to be held
forever in order to ensure the uninterrupted production of truths
about thuggee. The above proceeding did away with the necessity of a
regular trial (that is to say, one conducted under the special courts
established by Act XXX) by having one whose outcome was known in
advance; and it guaranteed that there would be no escape from the
government’s mercy.
Truth production and conviction was only part of the job of the
Thuggee and Dacoity Department. Rehabilitation was also part of the
program, though the official wisdom on rehabilitation was marked by
considerable ambivalence. To be a part of a moral narrative, the
antithug campaign could not be purely punitive in nature, especially
in the instance of those prisoners who had not been convicted of
particular capital crimes. At the same time, if thugs were hereditary
murderers who found the call to blood irresistible, they were not
reformable subjects. The government’s response to the problem of
identity and rehabilitation was, even in its own terms, a markedly
uneven and patently hierarchized one. Some of the most distinguished
among the thugs were recruited into the police force. Some others were
rewarded by W. H. Sleeman by being allowed to live near him with their
families and followers in his compound, an arrangement about which
Freitag observes: “The similarity between the spatial and
psychological configurations of his compound and those of thag-
landlord relations in a village is not coincidental.” [60] Other thug
approvers and prisoners and their families were settled in colonies
and put to manual labor; from being dishonest and itinerant, they were
compelled to be poor and settled. The focus of reform was the children
of the thugs: they were taught various skills, though not taught to
read and write (because it would make them dissatisfied with their
condition). The sexuality of the sons of the thugs was strictly
regulated; they were not allowed to marry and breed a new generation
of thugs. (A female thug was a rarity and was, presumably, a less
potent conduit of the genetic material of hereditary criminality than
was a male.)
Mature thugs, however, were less easily assimilable into a regime of
morality and normalcy. Even captured thugs and informers emerge in the
reports as notoriously impervious to all efforts at moral
transformation. They repudiate repentance and reform, ascribing their
cooperation entirely to pragmatic motives and describing their
activities in professional terms, without the obligatory change of
heart normally central to the confessional narrative. Not only that,
they understand their present circumstances in terms of their failure
to observe omens and follow proscriptions and to be fully professional
about their work; the official success against themselves is simply
the result of the East India Company’s iqbal (good fortune), not its
moral or religious superiority or even its greater strategic skill.
They seem to refuse in other words to be drawn into the moral
narrative of the civilizing mission (though it must always be
remembered that the production of the thug as unreformable subject was
not necessarily contrary to the aims of the discourse on thuggee). The
following is a typical exchange; the questioner is presumably W. H.
Sleeman, the respondents thug informers:
Q:
If Davey’s displeasure visits all who punish Thugs, how is it that you
all escape so well?
Moradun:
Davey’s anger visited us when we were seized. That was the effect of
her resentment; she cast us off then and takes no notice of us now.
Q:
And if you were to return to Thuggee, she would still guide and
protect you?
Moradun:
Yes, but what gang would now receive us?
Q:
And are you not afraid to assist in suppressing Thuggee?
Moradun:
No; we see God is assisting you, and that Davey has withdrawn her
protection on account of our transgressions. We have sadly neglected
her worship. God knows in what it will all end.
Q:
True, God only knows; but we hope it will end in the entire
suppression of this wicked and foolish system; and in the conviction
on your part that Davey has really nothing to do with it.
Nasir:
That Davey instituted Thuggee, and supported it as long as we attended
to her omens, and observed the rules framed by the wisdom of our
ancestors, nothing in the world can ever make us doubt.[61]
• • •
The Englishman
This section, on The Deceivers, John Masters’s novel about thuggee,
serves as a (deconstructive) supplement to the official narrative of
the thug, in taking up some of the questions and figures that occupy a
recessive status in that account. Here we see that if the thug of the
archive provides one (admittedly slippery and fixed at the same time)
model of staging identities, there is another model that is crucial
for a comprehension of the thug-English engagement. This model is the
obverse of the process that generates the mimic man of colonial
discourse; it is the lure of going native. The term here both
resonates with and fails to correspond to the mimetic model provided
by Burton in the last chapter.[62] The will to mimicry governs
(Indian) thug and Englishman alike, as we shall see in The Deceivers,
where the plot is driven—as is the thug archive—by a fascination with
the absent and never fully recuperable thug. In engaging this
scenario, the novel also recasts the paradigmatic narrative of
mimicry, in which the native may mimic the colonizer but without any
access to essential Englishness, while the colonizer can trade
identities freely, with no strings attached, without actually being
interpellated as a colonized subject. The Deceivers makes manifest the
precariousness of such self-possession.
The dialectical dependence of the fantasy of complete knowledge on the
paranoid fear of native inscrutability is staged in this novel, where
there is a suturing of the ostensibly antithetical figures of the
English policeman and the thug approver. This novel allows for an
examination of the tension between the received wisdom about thuggee
and some of the marginal issues located at the pressure points of the
official discourse. This novel tells the story of William Savage, a
mediocre and distinctly unheroic English magistrate. Wracked by sexual
and professional anxieties, an alienated subject of the British
colonial machine in India, and sneakingly sympathetic to such Indian
customs as sati, he transforms himself into the exemplary colonial
officer by taking on—albeit temporarily—the calling of the thug. At
the urging of his young wife, Mary, he initially takes on the persona
of the absent Gopal the weaver in order to save Gopal’s wife from
sati; he, however, meets the renegade thug Hussein and decides to
continue as Gopal in order to track down the thugs. Once he assumes
the role, he finds himself powerfully drawn to the practice and goes
on to become a noted thug leader. He does not continue as a thug, of
course—even though at one point Hussein suggests to Savage that the
East India Company become a sponsor of thugs, like the other rulers of
the land; with a little help from his newly (re)constructed
Englishness and his friends, he returns to propriety at the end. (The
Merchant Ivory film production is even more skeptical than the novel
is of the progressivist teleology of the civilizing mission, as well
as of its “success”: in the film, George Angelsmith is led off in
chains, but Savage, estranged from his wife and his Christian god and
unable to prevent the sati that he has actually made possible, is
destined to be perpetually haunted by Kali.)
The Deceivers considers the unspoken and unspeakable possibility that
subtends so much of colonial discourse: what if identity can be
unhinged from race and national origin? And if (racial/national)
identity is unstable and subject to negotiation with each crossing of
a frontier, then in the name of what telos or destiny does Englishness
speak? What if, as R. Radhakrishnan so compellingly asks, on the
subject of diasporic, transnational culture, “identities and
ethnicities are not a matter of fixed and stable selves but rather the
results and products of fortuitous travels and recontextualizations?…
Is ethnicity nothing but, to use the familiar formula, what ethnicity
does?” [63] In the more lurid enactments of this alternative history,
a Kurtz, representing the loftiest intellectual and ethical
possibilities of the Enlightenment, can “go native” in the Dark
Continent. But, closer to “home,” there were, as Arnold has revealed,
more troubling English subjects—those poor white orphans and vagrants
(who were to have their own moment of glory in Kim) who lived lives
not often distinguishable from those of lower-class Indians.[64]
William Savage, the protagonist of The Deceivers, is located somewhere
between these two subject positions.
Despite the putative restoration to wholeness, Englishness, and
legality of William Savage at the close of the story, the narrative
nonetheless opens up a space for investigating the “double and split
subject” of the colonial enunciation, for what Bhabha calls—in the
context of the nation’s fissured enunciation—“dissemi-nation”: “a
space that is internally marked by cultural difference and the
heterogeneous histories of contending peoples, antagonistic
authorities, and tense cultural locations.” [65] As in the case of so
many other Englishmen, Savage will have to turn to Indianness in order
to return to or consolidate or improve his English self; in doing so,
he will come back as a new and more English Englishman, but he will
also, temporarily at least, be transformed into a border subject,
changed by his experience of Indianness, surrendering illusions of
full autonomy and Englishness in the crossing of boundaries. Here I
invoke Burton again as a point of reference. Burton had an
occasionally vexed relationship with national identity: his ancestry
was partly Irish and Welsh, and he grew up on the Continent, only
coming to live in England in his late teens. Yet for him identity,
whatever guises it might assume and however far it might roam, is
usually more persuasively anchored than is that of Masters’s
protagonist in an imperial Englishness. Burton can be, at different
times, a West Asian merchant or a Muslim hajji, but his identities are
clearly hierarchized and more manipulable than Savage’s. While the
success of his passing is always, in a sense, conditional upon his
being a man from elsewhere/nowhere, he can also claim nativeness as
his own production, wrenching an (imaginary) autonomy from the
dominion of necessity. Savage passes through Indianness en route to
Englishness, but, unlike Burton, he cannot pass in and out without
constraint. Indianness, while indispensable to Englishness, must also
be violently cast out if Englishness is to be secure(d). In The
Deceivers, identity is the locus of strain and contradiction. For
Savage, identity cannot be expansive, assimilationist, and pluralist;
each new identity competes with and displaces the last. That is why
Savage can at the end afford to take no prisoners or recruit any
approvers from among his erstwhile comrades; the thugs whom he has led
and who are now pursuing him must be wiped out in an act of punitive
and frenzied brutality that not only precludes the need for approvers
but also does away with any witnesses against, and rem(a)inders of,
his own thug self.
The Deceivers stages, indeed foregrounds, the positionality and
politics of that ordinarily self-effacing hero of thug narration, the
investigator, and the plurality of determinations that produces him.
In this context, Gayatri Spivak’s cautionary reminders about the
urgent necessity of disallowing the neutrality of the intellectual or
investigator should be borne in mind. In “Can the Subaltern Speak?”
she proffers a critique of the sanctioned myopia of the Foucault and
Deleuze of “Intellectuals and Power,” who are unable or unwilling to
acknowledge the complicity of the intellectual in the mechanisms that
produce representations of subaltern subjects and groups and who fail
to recognize that subaltern subjects are constrained to fashion
themselves in terms of already scripted epistemologies.[66] Her
introduction to Mahasweta Devi’s “Draupadi” resonates with, and
provides another useful point of entry into, this problematic of
reading and engagement; the usefulness of deconstruction, she tells
us, lies in “the recognition,…of provisional and intractable starting
points in any investigative effort; its disclosure of complicities
where a will to knowledge would create oppositions; its insistence
that in disclosing complicities the critic-as-subject is herself
complicit with the object of her critique; its emphasis upon ‘history’
and upon the ethico-political as the ‘trace’ of that complicity—the
proof that we do not inhabit a clearly defined critical space free of
such traces.” [67] Where in the archives the English scribe was
progressively effaced from the scene of the crime as well as the scene
of writing, no such modesty is permitted the protagonist of Masters’s
novel. The novel accents above all his position of enunciation. He
cannot be, as in the normative thug account, the neutral conduit of
something clearly identified as a thug consciousness: the thug’s voice
cannot but inscribe Savage as both subject and object of his own
discourse.
The central aspect of Savage’s mission is not merely to bear witness;
he must above all produce a record, transform that irreducible
obscurity, that absence that is Indian corporate criminal activity,
into what Spivak terms an “interpretable text.” This of course was the
primary gift of Sleeman and his associates to the criminal justice
system in colonial India—to synthesize various and discrepant
occurrences as a semiosis under centralized control; against thuggee—
conceived of as a vast, well-articulated, and centralized conspiracy—
could be opposed the concentrated power/knowledge of the state. What
is required is a text and a model of reading that is reproducible in
the different temporalities and contexts of the colonial polity in
India. However, the novel intimates the limitations and complexities
of authorial intention. Savage produces his account in a condition of
profound subjective instability, opening his text up to multiple and
mutually contentious readings: “He had met hundreds of other
Deceivers, and the notes were a complete tale of all he had seen and
heard and done; of all the Deceivers who had engaged in any action,
with their descriptions, habits, and homes; of each murder, and how it
had gone, and how it might have been prevented—or improved upon. The
words could be read for either purpose, according to the spirit of the
reader” (p. 223). Above all, Savage’s account draws attention to the
transactional nature of reading. What ought to be a classic of
information retrieval and a master text on thuggee for colonial
authority is also a text for other thugs, a manual for reproducing
thug practice. Savage’s text (within the text of the Masters novel),
even though cast in the model of strict representational realism, is
susceptible of an Other reading; its meanings are ambushed, deflected,
and augmented en route to a destination it can never reach. The
Thuggee and Dacoity Department strove to produce, in its extensive
records on thug affiliation and activity, a text without nuances or
fissures, something that was not susceptible of any misreadings or
contesting interpretations. It sought, in its meticulous record
keeping and its attempts to square all the approvers’ testimonies with
each other and make them speak with one voice, to produce a record
that would have what was presumed to be the authority of material
fact. But for Savage, at least, it is impossible to engage in such an
enterprise without also inscribing his own complicity in his
testimonial. In this respect, he does approximate the classic approver
of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department, who cannot bear witness against
others without simultaneously bearing witness against himself.
While the novel insists that only impersonation can yield the truth,
it also illuminates the heterodox desires that underlie the exercise
of going native. Moreover, this impersonation is quite detached from
any agency on the part of William Savage and from any sense of
originary identity. Forced into the disguise of the Indian weaver
Gopal (by the patel [village headman] Chandra Sen) in an unwilling and
ultimately fruitless attempt to save a would-be sati, he is recognized
as an impostor by Hussein. Hussein is ideal material for an approver:
he has brains, courage, and resourcefulness, and he is remarkably
eager to undo the institution of thuggee, but his testimony alone is
not enough to compel belief in the practice. So he recruits an
Englishman to the anti-thuggee cause, knowing that only he can be
fully convincing as a figure of knowledge. And this knowledge can only
be acquired experientially, and by going outside the law as currently
constituted, as Savage learns when he follows the more conventional
methods of information retrieval. As Hussein says,
Several times some English official or other has got hold of
information about us. Then he has chased us out of his district, and
reported, I suppose. But they’ve never worked together, and it always
blew over. They’ll never destroy us until one of them finds out
everything, and forces the Lat Sahib [the governor-general] to believe
everything, and plans a campaign to cover all India. And that one who
finds out must fear Kali, or he will not understand her. But he must
not love her. (p. 208)
Unable to ignore the thugs as the other English functionaries are
ready to do, eager to discard the Englishness he so uncomfortably
inhabits, and pressured by Hussein and Mary, Savage decides to
continue as Gopal the weaver, who, as it turns out, is also Gopal the
thug. For an unsuccessful and insecure man like Savage, wracked by
anxieties about (heterosexual) masculinity and Englishness, it is the
very abdication of authority involved in playing a thug that is
peculiarly attractive; inhabiting the subject position of the most
criminalized and most scrutinized indigenous subject holds out the
promise of psychic satisfactions not ordinarily available to colonial
authority.
The novel dallies with the idea (as many crime fictions often do,
though less explicitly) of the fragility of the barriers that separate
the custodian of law and morality from the criminal. It actually makes
available the proposition (though it has to drop it at the end) that
Savage is at heart a thug and that his initiation into thuggee by
Hussein is no accident. He takes naturally to the trade, is attended
by good omens, and enjoys a facility of thought, speech, and action
that is alien to his English self. The idea of mimicry itself is
transformed in his performance of it and begins to assume to assume
the contours of possession, if not those of originary identity. There
is no difference for him between the mimicry of an identity and the
identity itself.
In order to pass for an Indian or a thug (ultimately these two
categories are collapsed, as we have seen in the other narratives of
thuggee) Savage must slough off certain normative aspects of
Englishness in the tropics—the militant Christianity, the revulsion
against disease and cruelty, the reforming impulse. He must instead
embrace what is described as the nondualistic moral economy of
Hinduism that sees both creation and destruction as suffused with the
divine. Needless to say, the psychic territory of “India” is always
coextensive with Hinduism, despite the fact that Muslims as well as
other religious groups are shown to practice thuggee as much as do
Hindus; and this Hinduism is consistently and exclusively fetishized
as blood lust and hyperbolic sexuality. As an Indian, and Hindu, and
thug, Savage must participate in a series of paradoxes. He must be
Indian, and thug, to return more securely to Englishness, and
legitimacy; he must allow evil to be done in order to do good; and,
since the contexts of legality are always shifting and are
particularly in need of redefinition in India, he must go outside the
law in order to uphold the law. Always relatively indifferent to the
finer points of legal procedure and defendants’ rights (here written
as an inaptitude for “paperwork”), the antithug drive allows him to
rethink the concepts of justice and legality in the colonial context,
where it is notoriously difficult to punish crime anyway:
“What does justice mean?”…“Fair trial, the rules of evidence, no
double hazard, no hearsay, and so on and so on? Or protection against
injustice, against violence? The means, or the end?.…Oh, I know we
have no evidence about them yet. That’s just what I mean. I tell you,
sir, they cannot be run down within our rule of law. Indians aren’t
English. “No man dies by the hand of man,” they think, so they won’t
give evidence because they are not angry with the murderers. They
think men who kill are driven by God to kill. And there are too many
jurisdictions, too far to go to give evidence, too long to wait. We’ve
got to go outside the law to catch them, to prevent more
murders.” (pp. 128–29)
Caught between a colonial government and an Indian populace unwilling,
for different reasons, to do what is necessary to end thuggee and
pressured, moreover, by Hussein, Savage becomes Gopal again, only more
completely in earnest this time. In his new role Savage discovers that
passing for a thug involves a radical (re)contextualization of his
once and future Englishness. Moreover, as Gopal he has to inhabit a
role and a history that is already in place. Impersonation involves
not freedom but strict adherence to a scripted identity; he cannot
start afresh, or make himself up as he goes along. He discovers that
as Gopal, he is already an expert strangler and strategist, destined
to be “the greatest the Deceivers have ever known” (p. 218). And once
he participates in the sacramental ritual of gur-sharing and tastes
the transubstantiated body of the goddess, his allegiance and destiny
are fixed. Savage is born to thuggee, as his comfort in his role of
thug demonstrates; indeed, his story undoes the usual weighting of
“self” and “role” in the Englishman’s subjectivity, since he is more
convincing (to himself, and apparently to Indians and Englishmen
alike) and comfortable as Indian and thug than as Englishman and
Christian. Hussein, who is more percipient than he about the
complexities of subject formation, reminds him that “free will” is an
adjunct (or an illusion) of Englishness alone. Savage must find out
that intentions guarantee nothing; not even the Englishman, once he
has decided to play the Indian, can escape the formulaic constraints
of Indian/thug ontology: “You are a Deceiver, from this dawn on for
ever. A strangler. Only stranglers may stand on the blanket: you stood
on it. Only stranglers may take the consecrated sugar of communion:
you took it. It doesn’t matter what a man thinks he is. When he eats
consecrated sugar, on the blanket, in front of the pick-axe, he is a
strangler, because Kali enters into him.” (p. 182)
Such a script also demands of course that he confront his double, the
original Gopal. In order to protect himself and in order to wrest some
autonomy for himself, Savage strangles Gopal and thus becomes Gopal
himself. But strangling the “real Gopal” only makes him more fully
Gopal, for he can now develop into his predestined role. From this
point on, all paradoxes are held in abeyance. From being complicit in
murder through inaction Savage proceeds to strangulation himself and
becomes, in an extraordinary take on the man-who-would-be-king vision
that tropes so much colonial discourse, a noted leader of thugs. Like
Burton the Muslim, Savage the thug is characterized not simply by
mastery but by an extraordinary surplus of subject effects. (Unlike
Burton, though, he is tempted, and he is corrupted—although not
irredeemably.)
The desire for Gopal, which is closely articulated with the desire to
be Gopal, is mediated, interestingly enough, through the figure of the
sati who frames the novel and who foregrounds the question of gender
that has been bypassed or placed under erasure in the thuggee
archives. I find the entry into thuggee through sati to be a
particularly productive conjuncture for the problematic of mimicry,
identity, and the colonizer’s desire. The sati, most obviously,
provides an occasion for access to Gopal. The sati has to be set up in
the beginning so that Savage can play Gopal; and then it has to be
deferred so that he can continue to play Gopal and go in search of
Gopal. Her presence in the novel displaces homoerotic desire and
returns Savage to heterosexuality. It also ensures his successful
miming of Indianness and Englishness. But the consolidation of
heterosexuality, masculinity, and Englishness demands not simply her
presence but her death. She is insistently narrativized as a voluntary
sati; she is a romanticized figure, whose sacrifice Savage has no
desire to thwart. He desires her, and his desire for her takes the
form of wanting her to die for him, which he ensures by killing Gopal.
In this way, he can enjoy the satisfactions of Indian as well as
English masculinity. As an Indian, he can have the woman die for him
(and deliver him of his sexual anxieties); but being fully Indian also
means that he himself must die, for the sati requires a dead husband.
As an Englishman, therefore, he can distance himself from the violent
implications of Indianness. The sati’s death releases him from the
exigent identity of the Indianness into which he had temporarily
descended and frees him to enact the rituals of Englishness with
greater plausibility. The most convincing Englishman—as indeed the
most expert thug—turns out to be the mimic man after all.
• • •
Afterword
Masters’s novel serves in many ways as the most apt of epilogues to
the colonial accounts of thuggee, given its excavation of the erotic/
affective and metaphysical seductions of that institution—and of the
thug—for English masculinity in the tropics and given its suggestion
that the lure of the thug for the Englishman may be as compelling as
that of thuggee for the (Indian) thug. It charges the project of
unveiling and chastisement with a profusion of guilty, even delirious,
appetites and obsessions that call for continual incitement and
consummation. It does not, of course, fail to play upon the received
colonial narrative of thuggee as timeless Indian duplicity; but it
also reconfigures it as an erotic tale of the fraternal, closeted, and
homicidal desire that drives Indian and English impersonation. Perhaps
most remarkably, it showcases the seamless self-referentiality of the
discourse on thuggee (as evidenced in an archive composed of
biographies, histories, novels, legal records, and rumors) by
collapsing the thug and the thug hunter into a single figure; with a
literalism quite unprecedented in any of the other texts it confirms
that wherever there is an Englishman there is a thug.
Notes
1. Radhika Singha, “‘Providential’ Circumstances: The Thuggee Campaign
of the 1830s and Legal Innovation,” Modern Asian Studies 27 (February
1993): 83.
2. Guha, “Historiography of Colonial India.”
3. Ranajit Guha, “The Prose of Counter-Insurgency,” in Subaltern
Studies II: Writings on South Asian History and Society, ed. Ranajit
Guha (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983). Also see Ranajit
Guha, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India
(Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983).
4. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Deconstructing Historiography,” in In
Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (New York and London:
Routledge, 1987), 204.
5. This is not to suggest that Bhabha forecloses on any of these other
possibilities.
6. James Hutton, A Popular Account of the Thugs and Dacoits, the
Hereditary Garroters and Gang-Robbers of India (London: W. H. Allen,
1857), 90–91.
7. Reproduced in George Bruce, The Stranglers: The Cult of Thuggee and
Its Overthrow in British India (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World,
1968), 13–26.
8. Philip Meadows Taylor, “Introduction,” in Confessions of a Thug
(London: Richard Bentley, 1858 [1839]), 5.
9. A. J. Wightman, No Friend for Travellers (London: Robert Hale,
1959), 15.
10. See Francis C. Tuker, The Yellow Scarf: The Story of the Life of
Thuggee Sleeman (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1961), 197–98.
11. Geoff Bennington, “Postal Politics and the Institution of the
Nation,” in Nation and Narration, ed. Homi K. Bhabha (London and New
York: Routledge, 1990).
12. Sandria Freitag argues that thugs were—in contrast to members of
criminal castes and tribes—regarded as “admirable and awesome
opponents.” See her “Crime in the Social Order of Colonial North
India,” Modern Asian Studies 25, no. 2 (1991): 227–61. While some of
this horrified admiration does inform Wightman and Meadows Taylor’s
representations, such admiration is more usually carefully repressed;
there is, in fact, an interesting tension between the awe-inspiring
(if damnable) thug of these texts and the contemptible figure that the
other texts strenuously accentuate.
13. James Sleeman, Thug, or A Million Murders (London: Sampson Low,
Marston, 1933 [1920]), 5.
14. Sir George MacMunn, The Religions and Hidden Cults of India
(London: Sampson Low, Marston, 1931), 172–73. See, too, Meadows
Taylor, “Introduction,” i:
At the present time it [the novel] may deserve a more attentive study;
recent events will have too well prepared the Reader’s mind for
implicit belief in all the systematic atrocities narrated.…It will
scarcely fail to be remarked, with what consummate art such numerous
bodies of men were organized, and for a long time kept absolutely
unknown, while committing acts of cruelty and rapine hardly
conceivable;…Captain Taylor’s Introduction…may…furnish some clue to
the successful concealment of a rebellion, in the existence of which
many of our oldest and most experienced officers, and men high in
authority, absolutely withheld belief, till too late and too cruelly
convinced of their fatal error.
15. Katherine Mayo, Mother India (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1927).
16. Hiralal Gupta, “A Critical Study of the Thugs and Their
Activities,” Journal of Indian History, 37, part 2 (August 1959),
serial no. 110: 169–77.
17. Sandria B. Freitag, “Collective Crime and Authority in North
India,” in Crime and Criminality in British India, ed. Anand Yang
(Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1985), 158–61.
18. Stewart N. Gordon, “Scarf and Sword: Thugs, Marauders, and State-
Formation in 18th Century Malwa,” Indian Economic and Social History
Review 6 (December 1969): 403–29. It should be noted that Gordon does
not ascribe the activities of the marauding groups to “Oriental
anarchy” or oppose “marauders” to “states,” arguing that both entities
had the same ends in view and were using the same methods of
legitimation, though with differing degrees of success.
19. J. Sleeman, Thug, 108.
20. David Arnold, Police Power and Colonial Rule: Madras 1859–1947
(Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986), 3. He notes the transformation
of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department into the Central Intelligence
Department in 1904; this body shifted its initial focus on wandering
gangs and criminals to “the collation of political intelligence,
relaying information about political leaders and organizations to the
various provinces concerned” (p. 187).
21. Freitag, “Collective Crime and Authority,” 142.
22. Freitag, “Crime in the Social Order,” 230.
23. Ibid., 234.
24. Fanny Parks, Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque
(Karachi and London: Oxford University Press, 1975 [1850]), 1: 153.
25. Kali became a figure of increasing respectability in the
nineteenth century; before this she was a deity adored (in Bengal at
least) largely though not exclusively by tribal and other subaltern
subjects, including thugs and dacoits. It is not clear if Kali was
identical with other female deities addressed as Devi or Bhawani.
26. See, for instance, Nicholas B. Dirks, “Castes of Mind,”
Representations 37 (Winter 1992): 59: “It is increasingly clear that
colonialism in India produced new forms of society that have been
taken to be traditional, and that caste itself as we now know it is
not a residual survival of ancient India but a specifically colonial
form of civil society. As such it both justifies and maintains the
colonial vision of an India where religion transcends politics,
society resists change, and the state awaits its virgin birth in the
postcolonial era.”
27. This had not, of course, been entirely true for Burton, perhaps
because of his sojourn in Sind or his early studies in Arabic. As
might be expected, the particular discourse being engaged would
determine the Hinduness, or otherwise, of the territory designated
“India.”
28. Lata Mani, “Contentious Traditions,” in The Nature and Context of
Minority Discourse, ed. Abdul JanMohamed and David Lloyd (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1990).
29. John Masters, The Deceivers (New York: Carroll and Graf, 1952),
240. All further references to this novel will be incorporated
parenthetically into the text.
30. Charles Hervey, Some Records of Crime (Being the Diary of a Year,
Official and Particular, of an Officer of the Thuggee and Dacoitie
Police) (London: Sampson Low, Marston, 1892), 1: 50–51.
31. Ranjit Sen, Social Banditry in Bengal: A Study in Primary
Resistance, 1757–1793 (Calcutta: Ratna Prakashan, 1988), 2–3.
32. Sanjay Nigam, “Disciplining and Policing the ‘Criminals by
Birth,’” Indian Economic and Social History Review 27, no. 2 (1990):
131–64; 27, no. 3 (1990): 259–87.
33. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, trans. Robert Hurley
(New York: Vintage Books, 1978), 1: 43.
34. Radhika Singha argues that “the introduction of laws dealing with
ill-defined ‘criminal communities’ introduced certain fissures into
the ideology of the equal, abstract and universal legal
subject” (“‘Providential’ Circumstances,” 86, n. 10).
35. Edward Thornton, Illustrations of the History and Practices of the
Thugs (London: W. H. Allen, 1837), 145–46. This frankness is
relatively rare in the writings on thuggee; the issue of the
genuineness of the confessions, though, is an issue in all, judging
from the unfailing vehemence with which the method of conviction
through approvers’ testimony is defended as just, if not
unexceptionable.
36. Ibid., 374.
37. J. Sleeman, Thug, 120.
38. William H. Sleeman, Ramaseeana, or a Vocabulary of the Peculiar
Language Used by the Thugs (Calcutta: G. H. Huttmann, Military Orphan
Press, 1836), 32–33.
39. Thornton, Illustrations, 70, 11.
40. Wightman, No Friend for Travellers, 112.
41. J. Sleeman, Thug, 106.
42. William H. Sleeman, Report on Budhuk Alias Bagree Dacoits and
Other Gang Robbers by Hereditary Profession (Calcutta: J. C. Sherriff,
Bengal Military Orphan Press, 1849), 2–3.
43. Foucault, History of Sexuality, 1: 35.
44. Homi Bhabha, “Sly Civility” and “Of Mimicry and Man,” in The
Location of Culture.
45. See Mala Sen, India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi
(New Delhi: Indus/HarperCollins, 1991) for an example of the way in
which the colonial discourse of thuggee (in this instance, Tukar’s
Yellow Scarf) continues, in contemporary India, to frame the way in
which certain forms of collective violence are understood by the law-
and-order machinery of the state.
46. Tuker, Yellow Scarf, 38.
47. William H. Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections of an Indian
Official, ed. Vincent A. Smith (London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford
University Press, 1915), 555.
48. Taylor, Confessions of a Thug, 330.
49. W. H. Sleeman, Ramaseeana, 3.
50. Freitag, “Collective Crime and Authority,” 146.
51. Singha, “‘Providential’ Circumstances,” 84.
52. W. H. Sleeman, Report on Budhuk, 173. The thuggee act had the
following provisions:
1.Whoever shall be proved to have belonged, either before or after the
passing of this Act, to any gang of Thugs, either within or without
the Territories of the East India Company, shall be punished with
imprisonment for life, with hard labour.
2.And…every person accused of the offence…may be tried by any court,
which would have been competent to try him, if his offence had been
committed within the Zillah where that Court sits, any thing to the
contrary, in any Regulation contained, notwithstanding.
3.And…no Court shall, on a trial of any person accused of the offence…
require any Futwa from any Law Officer.
53. Singha, “‘Providential’ Circumstances,” 136–37.
54. J. Sleeman, Thug, 117.
55. Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, trans. Alan Sheridan (New
York: Vintage Books, 1979), 38.
56. Shahid Amin, “Approver’s Testimony, Judicial Discourse: The Case
of Chauri Chaura,” in Subaltern Studies V: Writings on South Asian
History and Society, ed. Ranajit Guha (Delhi: Oxford University Press,
1987).
57. William H. Sleeman, Report on the Depredations Committed by the
Thug Gangs of Upper and Central India (Calcutta: G. H. Huttmann,
Bengal Military Orphan Press, 1840). [BACK]
58. Bruce, Stranglers, 154.
59. W. H. Sleeman, Report on Budhuk, 303–5.
60. Freitag, “Crime in the Social Order,” 236. It is said that thugs
had routinely existed in a symbiotic relationship with landlords,
providing military protection and supplying booty from expeditions in
return for land and respectability. [BACK]
61. W. H. Sleeman, Ramaseeana, 186–87.
62. I should add here that the phrase going native is vested in my
paper with a multiplicity of valences; for instance, it encompasses
both the colonialist desire to “pass for” the native and the condition
that signifies racial regression.
63. R. Radhakrishnan, “Ethnicity in an Age of Diaspora,” Transition 54
(1991): 106.
64. David Arnold, “European Orphans and Vagrants in India in the
Nineteenth Century,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 7,
no. 2 (1979): 104–27.
65. Homi K. Bhabha, “DissemiNation: Time, Narrative, and the Margins
of the Modern Nations,” in Nation and Narration, 299.
66. Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” See Michel Foucault,
“Intellectuals and Power: A Conversation between Michel Foucault and
Gilles Deleuze,” in Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected
Essays and Interviews, by Michel Foucault, trans. Donald F. Bouchard
and Sherry Simon (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1977), 205–
17.
67. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Translator’s Foreword to ‘Draupadi,’
by Mahasweta Devi,” in In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics
(New York and London: Routledge, 1987), 180.
http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8s20097j&chunk.id=ch2
turn of the century, is a highly unusual diary of one disciple’s
encounters with his guru and with other disciples over the last four
years (1882–1886) of Ramakrishna’s life. In this text, which is
written in Bengali, Ramakrishna is referred to as thakur, which is
both a common way of designating a Brahman as well as a word meaning
god; “M,” who was a schoolteacher, is called “master” in this work. In
the English translation of 1942 by Swami Nikhilananda, The Gospel of
Sri Ramakrishna (New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1973
[1942]), “the Master” is the standard appellation for Ramakrishna;
this usage may have been popularized by Vivekananda.
3. Partha Chatterjee, “A Religion of Urban Domesticity: Sri
Ramakrishna and the Calcutta Middle Class,” Subaltern Studies VII:
Writings on South Asian History and Society, ed. Partha Chatterjee and
Gyanendra Pandey (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992), 65.
4. Tapan Raychaudhuri, Europe Reconsidered: Perceptions of the West in
Nineteenth Century Bengal (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1988),
219.
5. Quoted in ibid., 231. For further details, see Swami Saradananda,
Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master, trans. Swami Jagadananda, 2 vols.
(Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1978 [1952]).
6. There were many references to the Paramhansa in Keshab’s journal,
the New Dispensation, and in the late 1870s Keshab published
Paramhanser Ukti, a ten-page Bengali booklet of Ramakrishna’s sayings.
7. Christopher Isherwood, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (London:
Methuen, 1965), 141. [BACK]
8. Quoted in ibid., 124.
9. Cited in Brian K. Smith, “How Not to Be a Hindu: The Case of the
Ramakrishna Mission,” in Religion and Law in Independent India, ed.
Robert P. Baird (New Delhi: Manohar, 1993), 343–44.
10. Sumit Sarkar, “The Kathamrita as Text: Towards an Understanding of
Ramakrishna Paramhamsa,” Occasional Paper 22 (New Delhi: Nehru
Memorial Museum and Library, 1985), 21 and passim. Also, see Sumit
Sarkar, “‘Kaliyuga,’ ‘Chakri’ and ‘Bhakti’: Ramakrishna and His
Times,” Economic and Political Weekly, 18 July 1992, 1543–66.
Ramakrishna’s disciples claimed that he had gone through his “Muslim”
and “Christian” phases before he met Keshab; please note that all the
dates in Ramakrishna’s life are culled from accounts by devotees and
admirers.
11. The term heterosexuality is here used catachrestically, since
Ramakrishna seems to be obviously outside the formations within which
we would situate “modern” Indian subjects, including Vivekananda. The
very terms homosexuality/heterosexuality (and, indeed, transsexuality,
which may also be said to resonate for Ramakrishna) are too western
and modern to be completely adequate to the task of analysis. I use
them very provisionally, in the absence of another vocabulary and
epistemology that might enable me to understand premodern, Indian/
Hindu conceptualizations of sexuality. In this context, I am reminded
of Diana Fuss’s generous and sensitive reading of Fanon’s claim (in
Black Skin, White Masks) that there is no (male) homosexuality in the
Antilles (“Interior Colonies,” 33):
Fanon’s insistence that there is no homosexuality in the Antilles may
convey a more trenchant meaning than the one he in fact intended: if
by ‘homosexuality’ one understands the culturally specific social
formations of same-sex desire as they are articulated in the West,
then they are indeed foreign to the Antilles.…Can one generalize from
the particular forms sexuality takes under Western capitalism to
sexuality as such? What kinds of colonizations do such discursive
translations perform on ‘other’ traditions of sexual differences?
Such a caution must be borne in mind, even as one cannot but deploy,
however hesitantly, the idioms of modern western sexualities. See
Jeffrey Kripal, Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life
and Teachings of Ramakrishna (Chicago and London: University of
Chicago Press, 1995) for a careful and fascinating reading of the
relationship of Ramakrishna’s “homosexuality” to his mysticism. I
regret that I have not been able to make fuller use of the Kripal
text, which was published after this chapter was written.
12. Chatterjee, “Religion of Urban Domesticity”, 60–61.
13. S. Sarkar, “Kathamrita as Text,” 50–71.
14. Chatterjee, “Religion of Urban Domesticity”, 45. Sumit Sarkar
claims, moreover, that the period of Ramakrishna’s popularity
coincided with a “kind of hiatus in bhadralok history,” when dreams of
social reform had been frustrated, official racism was marked, and
liberation through the overthrow of British rule not really
conceivable (“‘Kaliyuga,’ ‘Chakri’ and ‘Bhakti,’” 1547).
15. It is interesting to note that the disciples of Ramakrishna,
notably Vivekananda, preferred the term kamkanchan, “lust-and-gold,”
over the Master’s kaminikanchan and went to great lengths to explain
that the sage’s “symbolic” use of the term did not imply any
misogyny.
16. Nikhilananda, Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, 701. All subsequent
references will be incorporated parenthetically into the text.
17. This insight derives in a general way from Carole-Anne Tyler’s
reading of the ambivalent politics of gay drag (“Boys Will Be Girls:
The Politics of Gay Drag,” in Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay
Theories, ed. Diana Fuss [New York: Routledge, 1990]) as well from
Kaja Silverman’s account of the mastery permitted by T. E. Lawrence’s
reflexive masochism (“White Skin, Brown Masks”). In The Inner World: A
Psychoanalytic Study of Childhood and Society in India (Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1978), 103, Sudhir Kakar characterizes Hindu
transvestism thus: “Rituals such as these represent not only the boy’s
attempt to identify with his mother but also the man’s effort to free
himself from her domination. By trying to be like women—wearing their
clothes, acquiring their organs, giving birth—these men are also
saying that they do not need women (mothers) any longer.” For a
sympathetic psychoanalytic reading of Ramakrishna’s assumption of
femininity, see Kakar, “Ramakrishna and the Mystical Experience,” in
The Analyst and the Mystic: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Religion and
Mysticism (New Delhi: Viking, 1991), 1–40.
18. Cited in S. Sarkar, “Kathamrita as Text,” 9.
19. D. S. Sarma, Studies in the Renaissance of Hinduism in the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Benares: Benares Hindu University,
1944), 237.
20. I am grateful to Gayatri Spivak for pointing out to me the
numerous, and discontinuous, ways in which the English term woman
translates into Bengali (and/or Sanskrit). Even so, it is interesting
to note how often other forms of femininity threaten for Ramakrishna
to collapse into the figure of the kamini. Hence his warning to one of
his young male disciples to beware of women who claim to be actuated
by maternal feelings towards him.
21. Isherwood, Ramakrishna and His Disciples, 113.
22. I put this term in quotation marks to indicate that is placed
under erasure. One cannot assume that transvestism was inflected in
the same way for a nineteenth-century (straight?) Hindu male as it
might be for, say, a contemporary straight North American male. One
has to concede that his masculinity might have been constituted
differently, and in a different relationship to femininity, than might
be the case for our hypothetical North American male.
23. I am thinking here of N. T. Rama Rao’s assumption of feminine
attire, makeup, and jewelry, on one-half of his body in the days of
his chief ministership of Andhra Pradesh, apparently in a bid to
consolidate his political/spiritual power. Philip Spratt also provides
detailed anthropological evidence of religious transvestic ceremonies
all over India (Hindu Culture and Personality [Bombay: Manaktalas,
1966]). See, too, Kathryn Hansen’s splendid essay, “Making Women
Visible: Female Impersonators and Actresses on the Parsi Stage and in
Silent Cinema” (unpublished manuscript).
24. Ashis Nandy, At the Edge of Psychology: Essays in Politics and
Culture (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990), 38.
25. Wendy Doniger, Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts
(Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 319.
26. Ibid., 331.
27. Women could, on occasion, function as gurus; the Bhairavi
Brahmani, for instance, was Ramakrishna’s first guru. Other historical
and contemporary figures like Andal, Mahadeviakka, Mirabai, and
Anandamoyi Ma come to mind as well. Sharada Devi (Ramakrishna’s wife)
herself had several (female and male) disciples. I do not think,
however, that this militates against my understanding of the guru-
disciple relationship as functioning for the most part for and among
males nor against my reading of its gendered significance in early
nationalism.
28. I am obliged to Sandhya Shetty for pointing this out to me. The
gurudakshina (the gift to the guru) is situated outside (economic)
exchange and functions in a symbolic capacity only. The instance of
Drona the archer and his low-caste disciple Eklavya, who had to
sacrifice his thumb to ensure the superiority of the guru’s favorite
pupil Arjuna, only demonstrates that in the guru-shishya configuration
what is offered by the disciple is incommensurable with what is given
by the guru.
29. Life of Sri Ramakrishna, Compiled from Various Authentic Sources
(Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1964), 296.
30. Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda: The Yogas and Other Works, ed.
Swami Nikhilananda (New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1953),
13.
31. There is no “secular,” critical biography of Ramakrishna except
that by Max Mueller, Ramakrishna: His Life and Sayings (New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899). While this inveighs against the
miraculizing tendencies of Ramakrishna’s disciples, not excepting
Vivekananda, and refuses to take Ramakrishna’s avatarhood seriously,
it is nonetheless entirely reverential about the man himself.
32. Life of Sri Ramakrishna, 117.
33. Ibid., 144–45.
34. Ibid., 294.
35. Swami Chetanananda, ed. Ramakrishna as We Saw Him (St. Louis, Mo.:
Vedanta Society of St. Louis, 1990), 110.
36. Sumit Sarkar notes: “Girish Ghosh confessed that seeing
Ramakrishna ‘playing’ with a young disciple made him recall a
‘terrible canard’ that he had once heard about the saint” (“Kathamrita
as Text,” 103).
37. Sister Nivedita [Margaret E. Noble], The Master as I Saw Him
(Calcutta: Udbodhan Office, 1910), 64.
38. Isherwood, Ramakrishna and His Disciples, 204.
39. This is not, of course, to assert that the conflicts were unique
to Naren; as we have seen, in terms of class position and intellectual
training he appears to have been no different from the majority of the
disciples. The others, however, appear to have been less outspoken in
their skepticism than he was. I hardly need add that the memory and
the narrative of these conflicts is overdetermined; if Naren had not
become Vivekananda, we would probably have heard far less of his
interactions with his guru. As it is, in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
his iconoclasticism is not as evident as that of, say, Bankim or Dr.
Mahendralal Sarkar (neither of whom was a disciple). Nonetheless, he
does seem to have been the unequivocal favorite of Ramakrishna. And it
also seems clear that he was accorded a degree of freedom of speech
and behavior not permitted most of the other disciples. (Girish Ghosh,
who was notorious for his drinking, patronage of prostitutes, and
occasional foul-mouthed invectives against the guru, was one of the
very few others who was granted such a license.)
40. Chatterjee, “Religion of Urban Domesticity.” Sumit Sarkar
emphasizes the saint’s determined pursuit of bhadralok disciples as
well as his reticence about religious practices (of the Baul,
Kartabhaja, and vamachari Tantric varieties) that might have offended
their sensibilities (“The Kathamrita as Text,” 36).
41. Chetanananda, Ramakrishna as We Saw Him, 385–90.
42. My thanks to Inderpal Grewal for suggesting this possibility to
me.
43. Hervey De Witt Griswold, Insights into Modern Hinduism (New York:
Henry Holt, 1934), 58.
44. Nationalism’s dependence on colonialism has been extensively
documented, to some degree by Nandy, Intimate Enemy, but most notably
by Chatterjee, Nationalist Thought. Certainly nationalism-and-
colonialism seems to function as one category for Vivekananda.
45. Not all Brahmos were as skeptical as Shibnath Shastri, who, much
though he admired Ramakrishna, believed that the saint’s austerities
at the beginning of his spiritual career had had deleterious effects
on his mental state; Keshab for one seems to have been less
incredulous of the spiritual nature of the saint’s trances. Sumit
Sarkar points out, interestingly, that while Ramakrishna’s family and
neighbors in Kamarpukur and Dakshineshwar attributed the trances to
madness or “possession,” his bhadralok disciples and admirers
described them as the samadhi state extolled by high Hindu doctrine.
46. Ramakrishna himself made conflicting assertions about his own
avatarhood; at points he dismissed the possibility derisively, while
at other times he claimed to be an avatar of Krishna, Chaitanya, and/
or Kali.
47. Swami Nikhilananda, Vivekananda: A Biography (New York:
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1953), 42.
48. It is not possible to establish whether any of the swami’s
supporters were simply admirers or actually disciples. It is not
inconceivable that they may have become disciples retroactively,
following Vivekananda’s success in the west.
49. Sankari Prasad Basu and Sunil Bihari Ghosh, eds., Vivekananda in
Indian Newspapers 1893–1902 (Calcutta: Dineshchandra Basu
Bhattacharya, 1969), 9.
50. It should be noted that the swami’s Indian reputation was—to some
degree, at least—induced by himself, as a defensive measure no doubt
against the criticisms he encountered not only from Christian
ministers in the United States but also from members of the Brahmo
Samaj and perhaps the Theosophical Society as well. His early letters
to his disciples in Madras were full of exhortations to them to hold a
meeting in his honor and to proclaim him to the west as a true
spokesperson of Hinduism. He was also careful to keep them informed
about favorable reviews in the U.S. press.
51. Rakhal Chandra Nath, The New Hindu Movement 1886–1911 (Calcutta:
Minerva, 1982), 126.
52. Ibid., 129.
53. Chatterjee, “Religion of Urban Domesticity.”
54. Nath, New Hindu Movement, 115.
55. Vivekananda was rarely consistent in this view; this was typical
of him. At times he deployed the rhetoric of free trade to imply
mutual and equal advantage to east and west; at other times he
insisted that Indians were superior to the west in their indifference
to material things and that in fact the west called out for spiritual
conquest by an “aggressive Hinduism.” In this vacillation Vivekananda
was not untypical of the bourgeois neo-Hindu nationalists of his time.
[BACK]
56. He also enjoined his brother monks in India not to insist on the
acceptance of Ramakrishna’s avatarhood in would-be devotees and
disciples of the new order.
57. Harold W. French, The Swan’s Wide Waters: Ramakrishna and Western
Culture (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1974), 58.
58. Raychaudhuri, Europe Reconsidered, 230.
59. Chatterjee, “Religion of Urban Domesticity.”
60. Nath, New Hindu Movement, 114.
61. Ibid., 17. Note that Bankim’s novel was undoubtedly the product of
a distinctly westward-looking nationalism. Nath describes Aurobindo’s
“Bhawani Mandir” as derived from Anandmath (and remarkably similar to
Vivekananda’s own cult of the warlike monk) in its emphasis on
manliness and in its devotion to Kali. [BACK]
62. Chatterjee, “Religion of Urban Domesticity,” 61.
63. Vivekananda, Vivekananda: The Yogas and Other Works, 151.
64. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s cult of physical fitness and
martial arts training has a great deal in common with Vivekananda’s
endorsement of “beef, biceps, and Bhagavad-Gita.”
65. Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, by His Eastern and Western
Admirers (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1964 [1961]), 347.
66. At this point in Indian history, bourgeois and Hindu nationalisms—
the first represented by “moderates” in the Congress Party calling for
secular and constitutional reforms, the latter by Tilak, Bankim, and
others—have assumed the status of two distinct categories, though
quite often they function as one. I bear in mind also Sudipta
Kaviraj’s important caveat against the conflation of distinct
nationalisms (his own concern is with “early” and “mature”
nationalisms), which must be seen as disjunct rather than articulated
phenomena in Indian history; see Sudipta Kaviraj, “The Imaginary
Institution of India,” in Subaltern Studies VII: Writings on South
Asian History and Society, ed. Partha Chatterjee and Gyanendra Pandey
(New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1991).
67. Basu and Ghosh, Vivekananda in Indian Newspapers, 27.
68. Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him, 231.
69. Ibid., 388 (emphases in the original). [
70. Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, 252. The speaker in this
instance was a woman, Constance Towne.
71. Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda in America: New Discoveries
(Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1958), 16.
72. Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, 14.
73. Swami Vivekananda and His Guru (London and Madras: Christian
Literature Society for India, 1897), iv.
74. There is, to the uninstructed viewer, little if anything of the
disarrangement of limbs or clothing that normally marked the sage’s
experience of samadhi.
75. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “A Literary Representation of the
Subaltern,” in In Other Worlds (London and New York: Routledge, 1987),
264.
76. Nivedita functions here as a type of the western female disciple.
77. Mary Ann Doane, “Dark Continents: Epistemologies of Racial and
Sexual Difference in Psychoanalysis and the Cinema,” in Femmes
Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis (New York and London:
Routledge, 1991), 244.
78. Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda: His Second Visit to the
West; New Discoveries (Calcutta: Advaita Ashram, 1973).
79. Kakar, Inner World, 160.
80. See, for instance, Romila Thapar: “[The ascetic] is celibate and
yet, at the same time, the most virile of men. The ascetic’s
demonstration of sexual prowess is not a contradiction in terms: it is
in fact a demonstration of his complete control over body functions,
since ideally the emission of semen is prohibited to
him” (“Renunciation: The Making of a Counter-Culture?” in Ancient
Indian Social History: Some Interpretations [Delhi: n.p., 1978], 94).
Also see Joseph Alter: “The whole purpose of brahmacharya [celibacy]
is to build up a resilient store of semen so that the body—in a
holistic, psychosomatic sense—radiates an aura of vitality and
strength” (“Celibacy, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Gender into
Nationalism in North India,” Journal of Asian Studies 53, no. 1
[1994]: 51).
81. Steve Neale, “Masculinity as Spectacle,” in The Sexual Subject: A
Screen Reader in Sexuality (London and New York: Routledge, 1992), 277–
87.
82. Ibid., 286.
83. Swami Vivekananda, “The Future of India,” in Lectures from Colombo
to Almora (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1956), 267.
84. Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, 196. Sister Christine
(Christine Greenstidel) goes on to remark on the companionship of
Sadananda and Vivekananda on their North Indian pilgrimage: “Both were
artistic, both were poets by nature, both were attractive in
appearance. Artists raved about them.”
Nivedita also confesses, though far more discreetly, that she was
drawn to the swami by his “personality” rather his philosophy, which
she initially found unoriginal. Her “biography” of him, The Master as
I Saw Him, is remarkable for its reticence about his corporeality.
85. That such a construction of femininity was not necessarily
exclusive to Hindu reformers/revivalists is borne out by Faisal
Fatehali Devji: “[Muslim] reformist literature replaces the aggressive
sexual woman with the pathetic or suffering woman-as-mother” (“Gender
and the Politics of Space: The Movement for Women’s Reform in Muslim
India, 1857–1900,” South Asia, 14, no. 1 [1991], 151).
86. Partha Chatterjee, “The Nationalist Resolution of the Women’s
Question,” in Recasting Women: Essays in Indian Colonial History, ed.
Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
University Press, 1990), 237.
87. Sister Nivedita, The Web of Indian Life (London: William
Heinemann, 1904), 32–45.
88. See, among others, Lata Mani, “Contentious Traditions: The Debate
on Sati in Colonial India,” in The Nature and Context of Minority
Discourse, ed. Abdul JanMohamed and David Lloyd (Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 1990); Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid, eds.,
Recasting Women: Essays in Indian Colonial History (New Brunswick,
N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1990); Chatterjee, Nation and Its
Fragments; and Madhu Kishwar, “Gandhi on Women,” Economic and
Political Weekly, 5 October 1985, 1691–1702.
89. Monier Monier-Williams, Religious Thought and Life in India (New
Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1974 [1883]), 184–85. Also
see David R. Kinsley, “Kali: Blood and Death Out of Place,” in Devi:
Goddesses of India, ed. John S. Hawley and Donna M. Wulff (Berkeley
and London: University of California Press, 1996); and Ajit Mookerjee,
Kali: The Feminine Force (New York: Destiny Books, 1988).
90. Sumanta Banerjee, “Marginalization of Women’s Popular Culture in
Nineteenth Century Bengal,” in Recasting Women: Essays in Indian
Colonial History, ed. Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (New Brunswick,
N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1990), 158.
91. Ramakrishna was married at the age of twenty-three to Sharadamoni
Debi, a child-bride of five. According to custom, she remained in her
natal home, while Ramakrishna continued his spiritual disciplines at
Dakshineshwar, forgetful of her existence. At eighteen she sought him
out at Dakshineshwar and acceded to his request that their marriage
remain unconsummated. Over the remaining decade and a half of
Ramakrishna’s life, she spent extended periods at Dakshineshwar, doing
his housekeeping and cooking and (usually) living in a separate
building in the temple complex. [BACK]
92. Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him, 65.
93. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “A Literary Representation of the
Subaltern,” in In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (New York
and London: Routledge, 1987), 244. [BACK]
94. Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him, 83.
95. Raychaudhuri, Europe Reconsidered, 242.
96. Swami Vivekananda, Letters of Swami Vivekananda (Calcutta: Advaita
Ashrama, 1964), 167–68.
97. Pandita Ramabai Saraswati (1858–1922) was a notable scholar and a
Hindu widow who converted to Christianity during a visit to England
and dedicated her life to the uplift of young Hindu widows. Her book,
The High-Caste Hindu Woman (London: George Bell and Sons, 1888), as
well as her travels in England and the United States, gained her
sympathy from feminists as well as Christian missionaries abroad and
censure from Hindu conservatives at home. Her shelter for widows, the
Sharda Sadan in Pune, was supported in large part by funds raised by
Ramabai Circles in the United States and England. Her travels in the
United States in the 1880s received extensive coverage in the U.S.
press.
98. Basu and Ghosh, Vivekananda in Indian Newspapers, 421–68.
99. This is necessarily a simplification of Vivekananda’s very
complicated responses to the issues of (gender and other) reform,
nationalism, and colonialism. The split was not simply between
“home” (where reform had to endorsed) and abroad (where Hinduism had
to be defended); even at “home” he had decidedly mixed responses to
reform and (religious and social) orthodoxy.
100. The phrase is Nivedita’s (The Master as I Saw Him, 124). In an
interesting departure from the hagiographical tradition in which
accounts of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda are produced (and in which
tradition Nivedita’s own work uneasily belongs), she emphasizes not
the continuity of their respective “gospels” but their distinctness
from each other. She does this, besides, in a fashion that highlights
the swami’s struggles and doubts: “Sri Ramakrishna had been, as the
Swami himself said once of him, ‘like a flower,’ living apart in the
garden of a temple, simple, half-naked, orthodox, the ideal of the old
time in India, suddenly burst into bloom, in a world that had thought
to dismiss its very memory. It was at one the greatness and the
tragedy of my own Master’s life that he was not of this type. His was
the modern mind in its completeness.…His hope could not pass by
unheeded,…the hope of men of the nineteenth century” (The Master as I
Saw Him, 124–25).
101. Chatterjee, “Nationalist Resolution,” 237–38.
102. She was not, however, recognizably a nineteenth-century British
feminist—at least from the evidence of her early writings—even though
much has been made in the biographies of her feminism and other
“excesses.” Apparently Vivekananda himself made fun of her putative
feminism.
103. Quoted in Barbara Foxe, Long Journey Home: A Biography of
Margaret Noble (Nivedita) (London: Rider, 1975), 32–33.
104. Quoted in Vron Ware, Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism and
History (London and New York: Verso, 1992), 121.
105. Sharada Devi seems to have been a figure who was not
unequivocally reverenced by the followers of Ramakrishna. Many
devotees visited her at Jayrambati and Kamarpukur, and she initiated
several people into discipleship. She was sometimes spoken of as an
avatar—like her husband—and the heiress to his spiritual kingdom. But
she was also often accused of being excessively worldly. Ramakrishna’s
most prominent disciples visited her only rarely; Swami Nikhilananda
says that this was because they hesitated to “[make] a display of
their spiritual fervour.” See his Holy Mother: Being the Life of Sri
Sarada Devi, Wife of Sri Ramakrishna and Helpmate in His Mission
(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1962). Spivak speaks of the way in
which her official biographer, Swami Gambhirananda, staged her as “a
counter-echo to what he perceived as the strong voice of the Western
Narcissus” (“Asked to Talk about Myself…,” Third Text 19 [Summer
1992]: 17). I would argue that this could only happen retrospectively,
and at a later moment from the one that Vivekananda inhabits.
106. See, for instance, Meredith Borthwick, The Changing Role of Women
in Bengal, 1849–1905 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1984), esp. chaps. 8 and 9; Ghulam Murshid, Reluctant Debutante:
Response of Bengali Women to Modernization, 1849–1905 (Rajshashi,
Bangladesh: Sahitya Samsad, 1983); and Kumar, History of Doing, esp.
chaps. 2 and 3.
107. The Indian woman was, obviously, recast in the nationalist moment—
as was the Indian man; but recast and fixed, with little room for
negotiation after the recasting had been effected. For an analysis of
a nationalist woman’s struggles with gendered identities in
nationalism, see chapter 5.
108. Romain Rolland, The Life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel,
trans. E. F. Malcolm-Smith (Mayavati, India: Advaita Ashrama, 1947),
152, n. 2.
109. Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him, 136–37.
110. Quoted in Pravrajika Atmaprana, Sister Nivedita of Ramakrishna-
Vivekananda (Calcutta: Sister Nivedita Girls’ School, 1961), 30.
111. Foxe, Long Journey Home, 128.
112. Rakhal Nath maintains that the Ramakrishna Mission was the only
non-political body to come out of the “New Hindu” or Hindu revivalist
movement (Nath, New Hindu Movement). [BACK]
113. Foxe, Long Journey Home, 136.
114. Ibid., 150–51.
115. Barbara N. Ramusack, “Cultural Missionaries, Maternal
Imperialists, Feminist Allies: British Women Activists in India, 1865–
1945,” in Western Women and Imperialism: Complicity and Resistance,
ed. Nupur Chaudhuri and Margaret Strobel (Bloomington and
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992), 130.
116. S. B. Mookherjee, “Nivedita and Indian Womanhood,” in Nivedita
Commemoration Volume, ed. Amiya Kumar Majumdar (Calcutta: Dhiraj Basu,
1968), 244.
117. She met Gandhi briefly in Calcutta, in the early years of the
century. Gandhi (who in so many ways would grow to resemble the figure
of Ramakrishna) admired her Hindu partisanship but was unable to agree
with her on nationalist politics. The Congress Party under Gandhi had
a profoundly uneasy relationship with militant nationalist women like
Nivedita and the Rani of Jhansi.
118. Lizelle Reymond’s The Dedicated: A Biography of Nivedita (New
York: John Day, 1953) also helped disseminate this image, though its
factual claims have since been contested. Kumari Jayawardena’s chapter
on Nivedita (“Irish Rebellion and ‘Muscular Hinduism,’” in White
Woman’s Other Burden) describes the contradictory ways in which the
disciple of Vivekananda is remembered.
119. My thanks to Carole-Anne Tyler for sensitizing me to this
possibility. [BACK]
120. Foxe’s biography, Long Journey Home, is particularly derisive in
this regard. What had been admirable “manliness” in Vivekananda was
forwardness in the female disciple. [BACK]
121. Ibid., 205. [BACK]
More to follow...
"We're in the Money": Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3bc67593a8a0ac5b#
Madam I 'm Adam: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/fbe56c67d373c696#
It's the Economy, Stupid: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/a46d86d4a3976279#
BRIC-a-BRAC: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/1d0dab2a874d0f26#
Big Bang: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/293ffa6b644467ef#
Indian Economic Survey: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/83574501e1c1ee72#
World's Baked Billionaires: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/42a9c3eca9882e80#
Below Poverty line, Line: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/097e4867b8baf22a#
Outsourcing Sorcery: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/topics?start=300&sa=N
Globalization Gobbledigook: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/bea6b5954e7332f4#
Indian Budget Bonanza: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/40cc05563d71e4a4#
Pranab Mukherjee, my Main Man: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/0ce38c4203700750#
bademiyansubhanallah
Watch Video
http://vodpod.com/watch/3274755-beautiful-people-with-nitin-gadkari-part-1-20310
Beautiful People with Nitin Gadkari Part 2 - 20/3/10
Watch Video
http://vodpod.com/watch/3274756-beautiful-people-with-nitin-gadkari-part-2-20310
MS - Believe in IK OANKAAR Member since:May 12, 2006
Total points:12001 (Level 6)
Resolved Question
How is team Nitin Gadkari?
So far I did not pay attention on his team but after reading comments
from Shotgun, I started reading and critically analyzing this national
counsel.
Karuna Shukla : niece of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajapayee
Varun Gandhi, Of course benefited because of his family background and
his provocative and controversial speeches.
Vasundhara Raje Scindia, daughter of late smt Rajmata Vijayaraje
Scindia, who else can trouble party leadership more than her.
Thavarchand Ghahlod, Vijay Goel both lost parliamentary elections and
Dharmendra Pradhan lost assembly elections, and all three general
secretory, but Yashwant Sinha missing from the list and Bihar
elections are approaching.
No general secretory from UP, only one member from Karnataka in team
Gadkari where BJP is in power.
Of course, Mr. Advani and RSS are never ignored in BJP.
From parliament to team Gadkari every where one can see, Mr. Advani's
team more than Mr. Gadkari's team, may it be leader of opposition, or
leader of NDA, or leader of BJP in Rajyasabha, or in team Gadkari
Anant Kumar, and Vasundhara Raje though Arun Shourie and Yashavant
Sinha did not find place.
And for RSS, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ram Lal, Varun Gandhi, Vinay
Katiyar, Thavar Chand Gahlot.
Mr. Gadkari had to leave out the deserving candidate like Shahnavaz
Husein from being General Secretory and accommodated as spokes person,
though he is three times MP and more deserving than many others.
And by the way there are 3 general secretaries from Lok Sabha and 6
from Rajya Sabha, and I am emphasizing more on general secretaries
because that position is considered as most important in BJP.
Now according to media news the Yuva morcha president will be Anurag
Thaukur, HP CM Prem Kumar Dhumal's son.
Yes lot of Young faces and more than 33% females in the team. A
positive sign, but I don't see lot of people with grassroots and mass
support.
What is your opinion on Team Gadkari? Would this team take BJP to Mr.
Gadkari's target to increase vote base to +10%? Did he keep his
promise that "People who work will be rewarded in BJP?"
2 weeks ago
Additional Details
Mr. Bull, I don't my question was how is team Gadkari as compared to
team Congress because that is already proven. But to answer your
question.
For your kind information, these just few examples, more you want, I
can produce a long list but I don't think that is the question here:
Late Madhavrao Scindia joined politics with Bharatiya Jan Sangh and he
was son of Late Rajmata Scindia. So it goes like this:
Late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia
=======================
Daughter: Yashodhara Raje Scindia
Son: Madhavrao Scindia
Daughter: Vasundhara Raje
Grandson: Dushyant Singh
I already mentioned about Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's family, now see
few more:
Rajnath Singh:
===========
Son: Pankaj Singh
Jaswant Singh
===========
Son: Manvendra Singh
B. S. Yeddyurappa
===============
Son: B. Y. Raghavendra
Madan Lal Khurana
===============
Son: Vimal Khurana
Daughter In law: Vandana Khurana
2 weeks ago
by Vijay D Member since:February 15, 2007Total points:9900 (Level 5)
Best answer 11%2613 answers
Member Since: February 15, 2007
Total Points: 9900 (Level 5)
Points earned this week: 54
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
This is team RSS with head quarters based in Nagpur. Full BJP has been
taken over by Marathi culture. The reason for fall of BJP in north
India is only because of the prevalent Marathi culture.
2 weeks ago
Asker's Rating:Asker's Comment:10/10
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100318173007AAvUPsH
A thought to ponder
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
“No true Muslim can kill a Hindu, no true Hindu can kill a Muslim.
Yet the pseudo-secularists insist on indentifying terrorists with
religion.
The state should be secular, the government should be secular but an
individual cannot be secular.”
sd/Nitin Gadkari
Life Sketch
A Visionary Performer
A visionary with great ideas and an innovative approach, an able
administrator who believes in attaining results , an iconic leader for
the party workers, a Leader of Opposition who keeps the government on
its toes when in opposition; a performer par excellence as a Minister
are the words that best bring about the profile of Nitin Gadkari. In
other words, here is a leader who has the ability to make democracy,
deliver!
For him politics was never confined to gaining power. He always looked
at it as an instrument for bringing about all round development of the
people. He believes that “Seva and Vikas”, (service and development)
lead the way for better public service, which in turn expands and
strengthens the base of the party, at the grass root level.
A Swayamsevak of the RSS to the core, for Mr Gadkari, social justice,
harmony and equality are matters of commitment. His skills in social
engineering , withstood the litmus test of electoral politics in the
recent Maharashtra assembly elections especially in the Nagpur
district.
His clear vision and perfect understanding of the needs of the masses,
has helped him to bring effective changes that have benefitted the
common man. In political as well as the social spheres Mr. Gadkari,
has always adopted an all encompassing approach. Antyodaya, (to reach
out to the last person on the social ladder) has always been the focus
of his development agenda. His willingness to accept suggestions and
implement the viable ones helped Mr. Gadkari to change the face and
functioning of the Public Works Department (PWD) of Maharashtra
Government during his very illustrious tenure as its Minister..
A Sincere Party Soldier
Mr. Gadkari began as a grass root level worker and has successfully
led from the front, several agitations and other programmes of the
BJP . He has worked in different capacities and has held varied
positions within the party, before taking up the post of Maharashtra
BJP President in 2004. As a true party soldier, he has all along
accepted whatever responsibility the party wanted him to shoulder and
has carried it out to the best of his abilities.
After taking over as Maharashtra BJP President in November 2004, Mr.
Gadkari visited almost every tehsil and knows countless party workers
by name. Due to his dynamism, development-oriented approach and
openness, the BJP has been able to bring various new sections of
society in its fold.
Early Days of Activism
Nitin Gadkari learned his initial lessons in nationalism and
patriotism at a very young age. He entered the political arena as a
student activist. He joined the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad
(ABVP) in 1976 and took active part in university elections. In 1979
he became the Secretary of Vidharbha region. Under his stewardship
ABVP won the elections for all positions in the Nagpur University
Students' Council. During his tenure he successfully organized the
28th National Convention of ABVP.
At the age of 24, he was elected as the Nagpur City President of
Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). In 1985 he became secretary of BJP
Nagpur City and he worked relentlessly to strengthen the party
organization in urban and rural areas of the district.
At the age of 32, Nitin Gadkari successfully contested elections for
Maharashtra Legislative Council from Nagpur division Graduates
Constituency, spread over five districts, and became an M.L.C. He
repeated his successful performance four consecutive times in 1990,
1996, 2002 and 2008. Notably, he was elected unopposed in 2002.
Mr. Gadkari's success in the legislative politics runs parallel with
his organizational achievements in BJP. At the age of 35, he became
the General Secretary of BJP in Maharashtra. Under his leadership the
party organization spread its tentacles all over the state. The
party's spectacular victory in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation in
1992 elections, established his organization prowess beyond doubt. At
the age of 38, Mr. Gadkari was inducted in the Maharashtra Cabinet as
the Minister for Public Works. High level of result orientation and
performance marked his ministerial inning. He was Leader of Opposition
in Maharashtra Legislative Council at the age of 42. As a responsible
leader of opposition, he took up various important issues such as
farmer’s suicides and made the government listen to. He also came out
with out-of-box suggestions and viable solutions to address these
issues.
In 2004, Mr. Gadkari at the age of 47, became the President of BJP
Maharashtra State.
Mark on Governance:
Gadkari’s stint as Public Works Minister of Maharashtra (1995-99) made
him world-famous thanks to his resoluteness in swiftly completing mega
projects like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway or the network of 55 flyover
bridges in Mumbai at the costs way below the estimated expenditure.
During these four and a half years he left an indelible mark of his
style of governance on his department. He played a key role in shaping
the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana. During the NDA rule, the
Central PWD was revamped as per his suggestions. Mr. Gadkari
transformed Nagpur, making it one of the most beautiful cities of
India. His lasting contribution is his work for uplifting the poor and
the deprived.
His thrust area always has remained the economic and social upliftment
of the have-nots. A case in point is his work for the educated
unemployed. When he was Minister, he launched a scheme for qualified
unemployed civil engineers. They were allowed to register with the PWD
and undertake its assignments, estimated to cost up to Rs.15 lakh. Mr.
Gadkari provided work to around 30000 engineers through this bold
initiative. At the same time, Gadkari started a campaign to reward the
employees doing good work and penalise those shirking their
responsibilities. Every year since, the State Governor distributes
awards to outstanding PWD engineers on the birth anniversary of Sir M.
Visvesvaraya. Such pioneering efforts instilled a confidence among the
PWD personnel. Under Mr. Gadkari, they completed several prestigious
assignments in record time.
Mr. Gadkari’s two achievements stand out in particular. He pioneered
the concept of Public-Private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure
development. The BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model has the basis of
this concept. It is now implemented widely in India, thanks to this
initiative large budgetary funds were made available for rural road
development. The other is the up-gradation of norms for the
construction industry. Completion of mega projects in a time bound
frame, too, is his initiative. Establishment of a Maharashtra State
Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was one of his innovative
initiatives through which funds were raised from open market for
infrastructure projects for the first time in India
One of the first tasks Mr. Gadkari planned was to provide all-weather
road connectivity to the 13736 villages in Maharashtra. He noted that
they had remained unconnected even after 50 years of independence. He
remarked that it would take 350 years to complete the work through
annual budgets. As finances could not become available from government
coffers, he persuaded NABARD officials and obtained a soft loan of Rs.
700 crore for rural connectivity. Mr. Gadkari approached Naxalite-
infested areas where no road work was allowed by Naxalites. He secured
the assistance of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) to construct
roads and bridges, thus providing the tribals with easy and permanent
road access.
As Guardian Minister for Nagpur District, Mr. Gadkari changed the
complexion of Nagpur and the district. Low cost housing schemes for
economically weaker sections, Markets for hawkers. Development and
beautification of prominent places like Deekshabhoomi, where Dr.
B.R.Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, were some of his noteworthy
achievements.
Social Outlook, Professional Approach
A successful entrepreneur, Mr. Gadkari tops the list of progressive
leaders who have profound concerns for socio-economic development and
environmental protection. His personality is a perfect mix of
entrepreneurship and social leadership. This has helped him in
creating organisations with social outlook and professional approach.
He has successfully utilized urban resources for creating employment
opportunities in rural areas. His sincere and deep interest in tapping
the conventional and non-conventional energy sources, to their
optimum, is visible through the various projects he has launched,
through his Purti Group of companies, in the region.
A co-operative supermarket competing with private malls and mega
markets; successful implementation of first private sector composite
2500TPD sugar factory in an area where even stalwarts rejected the
idea of starting a sugar factory; Ethanol plant of 1,20,000 ltrs; 26
MWT of Power Generation unit and Bio-fertiliser with the country's
first biodiesel pump are all examples of his commitment to implement
social schemes in a professional manner. His business group is also
running a solvent extraction Soyabean plant and a cogeneration power
plant of 8 mw capacity. Being an agriculturist, Mr Gadkari is the
first facilitator of solar fencing. He firmly believes in improving
the financial status of the farmers by increasing their purchasing
power, to bring about their all round development.
Mr. Gadkari has a taste for everything that is modern. He initiated a
process of setting up Software Technology Park in Central India. The
project of reusing the sewage water for Power Generation and
industrial use thereby saving clean water, speaks of his practical and
modern approach.
An Empathic Communicator
A powerful orator from his college days winning several awards has
evolved into communicator where he presents issues in a very point
wise logical fashion. He is perhaps the only politician who enthralls
lakhs of youth telling them importance of entrepreneurship and
development. Gadkari has established a record by attracting lakhs of
young people to watch his presentations on the theme of development.
Stadiums were overflowing with thousands of teenagers and youngsters
when he made public presentations on the potential of MIHAN
(Multimodal international cargo hub and airport at Nagpur) complex at
various places. There was not a word of politics in any of the
speeches or any appeal to instigate passions. On the other hand when
he is handling all important issues like fair prices for farm produce
he is very fierce and takes laks of farmers with him. The ability to
address diverse issues concerning to urban youth to the farmers to the
forest dwellers with same empathy and passion makes him very effective
in bonding with people at large..
A firm believer in Antyodaya :
Gadkari firmly believes in the concepts of Antyodaya, Integral
Humanism and trusteeship. More importantly, he has established that he
can walk the talk and make his commitment to the cause of people's
welfare reflect through his governance. It was under his leadership
that Maharashtra BJP contributed in the Annadata Sukhi Bhava Yojana of
a Voluntary Organisation and reached out to the widows of those
farmers who have committed suicides. Mr. Gadkari gave top priority to
constructing roads to tackle the problem of tribal malnutrition in
Melghat - Dharni belt of Amaravati district and provided all- weather
connectivity to the 91 remote villages of the belt. This connectivity
has changed the socio-economic profile of this belt with the incidence
of malnutrition coming down dramatically. It is his conviction that
each position and authority must have only one objective: welfare of
the public.
His Social Activities include
Adoption of 500 orphans of farmers who committed suicides due to
agrarian crises in the region.
Support for over 2000 BPL families for heart operations
Providing low cost housing for workers and the poor
A Globe Trotter
As someone who believes in learning things first hand, Mr. Gadkari has
traversed the globe in his quest to gain latest knowledge in varied
fields in which he is active. From water utilization in Israel to
water management in France, to sugar production in Brazil, to
infrastructure development in China, he has visited different
countries to understand the developmental processes going on in
different parts of the world. He has so far visited Israel, Italy,
France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, China, Hong
Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, United States, Canada, Brazil and Sri
Lanka.
Personal
A sports enthusiast, Mr. Gadkari has particular interest in Cricket.
Married to Kanchan, the couple has three children – Nikhil, Sarang and
Ketaki.
Born - 27 May 1957 Nagpur, India.
Educational Qualification: - M. Com., L.L.B., D.B.M.
Positions Held in Public Sphere In Organisation :
1976-77 :Active member of ABVP and active participation in ABVP's anti-
Emergency work
1977 :Coordinator for Purogami Lokashahi Aghdadi's Vidarbha region
after Emergency was lifted.
1979 :Elected as Vidarbha region secretary of ABVP
1980 :Re-elected as Vidarbha region secretary of ABVP
1981 :Nagpur city unit President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
1985-86 :Nagpur city unit Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party
1988-89 :General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party's Nagpur city
unit
1989 :Elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Nagpur
graduate constituency.
1992-94 :General Secretary of the state unit of BJP
2004 :President of the BJP Maharashtra State unit
1995-99 :Government Cabinet Minister for Public Works Department of
Maharashtra State.
1999-2004 :Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislature Council.
1995-99 :Member of the High Power Committee for Privatization,
Government of Maharashtra.
1995-99 :Founder Chairman, Maharashtra State Road Development
Corporation Ltd.
1995-99 :Guardian Minister for Nagpur District, Govt. of Maharashtra.
1995-99 :Chairman, Mining Policy Implementation Committee, Govt. of
Maharashtra.
1995-99 :Chairman National Rural Road Development Committee, Govt. of
India. Chairman, Review Committee of CPWD, Govt. of India.
1995-99 : Chairman, Metropolis Beautification Committee, Govt. of
Maharashtra.
http://nitingadkari.org/lifeskectch.html
Youth leader
Nitin Gadkari was inspired to join the students’ movement by late
Dattaji Didolkar and Yashwantrao Kelkar, the two stalwarts who shaped
the avante garde students’ organization called Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). As a fiery and sensitive youth leader, he
showed a typical aversion to injustice –be it in the form of fee hikes
or increasing political interference in education. His distaste for
lowering of standards of education and inertia of the youth became
visible during the various movements and agitations that he led, In
the very early stages of his political career, Gadkari exhibited his
capabilities to shoulder the higher responsibilities, which he would
be entrusted with in the future.
The young firebrand student leader made his foray into active politics
in the post Emergency era. He became the President of BJP Yuva Morcha
at the age of 26, which marked his entry into active politics. He
became the member of Maharashtra State Legislative Council at age of
32. And from here on, there has been no looking back. From the first
stint as a member of the Council in 1989 till date, Gadkari has left
an indelible mark on the politics of Maharashtra, his home state.
http://nitingadkari.org/youthleader.html
Minister
Driven since childhood by the philosophy of nationalism, Antyodaya and
concern for the underprivileged, Nitin Gadkari led various agitations
as a student leader in ABVP. He entered active politics after the
Emergency, which was imposed in 1975. In 1983 he was made president of
BJP Yuva Morcha. His attempt to enter the Maharashtra state Assembly
in 1985 was unsuccessful. He became the Member of Legislative Council
in 1989 and since then there has been no looking back.
Since 1989 till today, Mr. Gadkari has continued to be member of
Maharashtra Legislative Council, getting elected 5 times in a row from
the Graduate Constituency, comprising of over 2 lac voters, spread
across 5 revenue districts. He has worked his way up the ladder of
progress as State Secretary, PWD Minister, leader of Opposition, and
the State BJP President.
As PWD Minister for Maharashtra, from 1995-99, Gadkari left an
indelible mark on the development map of India. He was instrumental in
introducing and effectively implementing PPP (Public Private
Partnership) popularly known as BOT, by completing many development
projects. This unique concept, popular in western countries, but
frowned upon by Indian politicians, not only made the major artery
roads connecting cities better and well maintained, but also helped to
release huge amount of budget funds earmarked for such roads, to be
utilised for rural road development. The concept grew into what we see
today as “Golden Quadrilateral” and many more projects by NHAI on one
side and “Pantpradhan Gram Sadak Yojana” on the other.
In a lighter vein a politician is described as a person who promises
to build bridges in his pre-election speech and is able to convince
the people after 5 years why they could not be built. Far from all
this the most remarkable and outstanding feature of the tenure of
Nitin Gadkari as Minister for Public Works Department, in the
Government of Maharashtra, was that he delivered even those things
which he had never promised or rather he delivered much more than what
he had promised. He completed development works worth Rs 6000 crores
and provided employment to 10 lakh educated jobless youths of the
State.
Today lots of flyovers and bridges in Maharashtra stand testimony to
what Nitin Gadkari delivered through his vision and confidence by
completing all the projects within the deadline, with utmost adherence
to quality and standards., And he could achieve all this in the most
cost efficient manner. In a span of four years nearly 98% of the total
population in Maharashtra got road connectivity and many districts
completed the target of 100% road connectivity. He raised loans for
rural connectivity also. This aimed to connect 13736 remote villages
of the state, which had remained unconnected by road since
independence.
He took up the target of completing the “Sagari Marg” which was a long
awaited dream of the people of Konkan region. During the four years of
his regime, this dream became true and Konkan got the link of “Sagari
Marg” barring two large bridges in the sea creek.
He wanted fast track projects to be completed in a time bound manner.
He established Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, (MSRDC)
a fully Govt. owned company. MSRDC went to the capital market and
raised Rs. 1180 crores. This was the first and the largest offering in
the capital market by any govt. owned corporation in those times. Thus
MSRDC could undertake large projects like constructing 55 flyovers in
Mumbai at a cost of Rs. 1500 crores, Mumbai Pune Expressway at a cost
of Rs.1500 crores and many other bridges, roads and bypass projects in
various parts of Maharashtra. The prestigious Worli-Bandra Sea Link
project, was initiated during his tenure as a minsiter,
Always open to and aggressive in adopting new technology, he undertook
complete computerisation programme for his department. P.W.D. was the
first governmental department to do so. Mr. Gadkari implemented a
scheme of self employment for the civil engineers. These unemployed
engineers were registered as contractors and PWD gave them work upto
Rs.15 lakh through tender along with an advance of Rs. 40,000/- .
Through this scheme 18000 civil engineers got the opportunity to work
independently. He promoted the concept of new technology in
construction field thereby, encouraging contractors to bring in state
of the art construction equipment, which improved the quality of work
as well as the economics.
http://nitingadkari.org/minister.html
Leader of Opposition
As a leader of Opposition in the Council, Nitin Gadkari was never
observed as lagging behind in raising the issues of public interest.
As a true democrat and fiery orator he made it a point to remain
present in the House and take part in the proceedings during the
business sessions. He was always proactive in exposing the lapses of
the government on various issues of public interest. He was corrective
and suggestive in his criticism and all his criticism was embedded in
profound concern for the welfare of the people. He raised as many as
over 5000 queries through starred and un-starred questions and call
attention motions in the House. He developed a style of taking all the
members of Opposition with him irrespective of party or ideological
affiliations in the House.
Nitin Gadkari has a magnetic personality. Even his adversaries on the
treasury benches appreciate his sincerity and commitment in a most
friendly manner. His book “Sabhapati Mahodaya” which depicts his
select speeches in the house reflects his concerns for issues cutting
across the wide spectrum of society.
A very alert and aggressive about injustice Mr. Gadkari keeps the
Government on his toes. He exposes number of irregularities and flows
in Government functioning and suggested practical solutions to rectify
it. Mr. Gadkari continues his zeal for infrastructure development
during his tenure of opposition leader. His tireless efforts for
getting development funds for needy and desirer areas are well
appreciated not only in Maharashtra but nearby states.
http://nitingadkari.org/oppositionleader.html
Party President - Maharashtra
Mr. Gadkari was elected as President of Maharashtra Pradesh Bharatiya
Janata Party in 2004 and was reelected in 2006, December. The faith,
which the party has reposed in him was due to his hard work and his
ability to keep the party workers spirited, active and united. He has
always guided the elected members effectively, so that they can act as
agents of change in their respective constituencies, by undertaking
SEWA (Service project) and VIKAS (development works).
He travels extensively to establish first hand contacts with the party
workers in the state. His personal touch to the relations, which he
has developed, has earned him the faith and goodwill of the party
workers all over Maharashtra.
In a span of thirteen days, Mr. Gadkari addressed 114 election
meetings in the nook and corner of the state, during the recently held
elections. This shows how much he was in demand to campaign for the
party candidates.. He is direct and straight forward in his approach
and never hesitates to launch a scathing attack on his opponents, but
his high level of maturity prevents him from launching personal
attacks. He is ruthless in exposing the divisive forces working within
the country. His oratory skills and clarity of purpose attract
students and youth.. His thorough understanding of public issues,
knowledge of facts and figures, and the skill of juxtaposing things in
an appealing manner, with humour and sarcasm laced in his election
speeches, make him a very popular leader of the masses.
During the Lok Sabha elections Nitin Gadkari addressed a total of 146
election meetings in Maharashtra and neighbouring states of Madhya
Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.
Nitin Gadkari was on Saturday, December 19th 2009, appointed the BJP
National president at a meeting of the Parliamentary Board of the
party.
http://nitingadkari.org/president.html
Links
Title Links
Bharatiya Janata Party - The Party with a Difference www.bjp.org
Friends of BJP www.friendsofbjp.org
Bharatiya Janata Party - BJP 25 Years RAJAT JAYANTI www.bjp25.org
© Copyright 2009 - 2010 Nitin Gadkari | All Rights Reserved.
BJP HISTORY : Its Birth and Early Growth
Bharatiya Janata Party is today the most prominent member of the
family of organisations known as the "Sangh Parivar". And RSS has
always been dubbed "communal", "reactionary" and what not by its
detractors. Sanghs of swayamsevaks have of course always shaken off
that criticism like so much water off a duck's back. They have never
had any doubt that the organisation is wedded to national unity,
national integrity, national identity and national strength through
individual character and national character. And today this
organisation is poised for a great leap forward. Even its long- time
detractors think and say that now BJP is "unstoppable".What is the
story of this national epic?
Bharatiya Janata Party is today the most prominent member of the
family of organisations known as the "Sangh Parivar". And RSS has
always been dubbed "communal", "reactionary" and what not by its
detractors. Sanghs of swayamsevaks have of course always shaken off
that criticism like so much water off a duck's back. They have never
had any doubt that the organisation is wedded to national unity,
national integrity, national identity and national strength through
individual character and national character. And today this
organisation is poised for a great leap forward. Even its long- time
detractors think and say that now BJP is "unstoppable".What is the
story of this national epic?
History is the philosophy of nations. And the Sangh Parivar has a very
clear and candid conception of Indian history. Here was a great
civilization whose glory spread from Sri Lanka to Java and Japan and
from Tibet and Mangolia to China and Siberia. While it weathered the
storms of Huns and Shakas and Greeks it wilted before the Islamic
storms of the Turks. However, a 1000-year resistance saw this country
bloodied but unbowed. Its civilization survived through the heroic
efforts of the Vijayanagar Empire and of Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru
Govind Singh and countless heroes and martyrs
In more recent times this torch was picked up by Swami Dayanand and
Swami Vivekanada. And in the present century the good work has been
carried on by Sri Aurobindo, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and
others. The RSS, founded by Dr Hedgewar in 1925 and consolidated by
Shri Guruji after 1940, is the heir to this heroic, historic heritage.
It has nothing against Muslim Indians - as distinguished from Muslim
invaders. Its position on this issue has all along been: "Justice for
all and appeasement of none". But it has no doubt that we were and are
a Hindu nation; that change of faith cannot mean change of
nationality.
http://nitingadkari.org/bjpHistory.html
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The RSS entirely agrees with Gandhiji's formulations that "There is in
Hinduism room enough for Jesus, as there is for Mohammed, Zoroster and
Moses" and that "majority of the Muslims of India are converts to that
faith from Hinduism through force of circumstances. They are still
Hindu in many essential ways and, in a free, prosperous, progressive
India, they would find it the most natural thing in the world to
revert to their ancient faith and ways of life."
Due to the British policy of "Divide and Rule" and the politicians'
proclivity to compromise and temporise the country suffered the trauma
of the partition. But the Sangh Parivar has no doubt that before very
long the unities, the varieties and the strengths of our ancient
civilization will prevail. RSS has been continuing the task of nation
building since its inception. It did it through the tumultuous period
of 1930s and 40s. But it was rudely shaken by Gandhiji's killing and
the Government's political exploitation of that national tragedy.
The RSS, along with millions of people, did not approve of Gandhiji's
Muslim appeasement policy - starting with support of the Khilafat
movement - but it had the greatest respect for the Mahatma. Indeed,
Gandhiji had visited the RSS winter camp in Wardha in December 1934 -
and addressed the Delhi RSS workers in Bhangi colony, in Spetember
1947. He had deeply appreciated the "noble sentiments" and
"astonishing discipline" of the RSS. He had never spoken even one word
of criticism of the RSS. But after his killing, 17000 RSS workers -
including Shri Guruji - were accused of "conspiracy of murder" the
Mahatma Gandhi and the RSS workers offered Satyagraha. But during all
this time not one MLA or MP raised the issue in any legislature. For
the RSS, it was the moment of truth. And this truth, as enunciated by
Gokhale, was that "What cuts deep in politics cuts deep all round" and
that unless the RSS grew political teeth and wings, it would always be
at the mercy of unscrupulous politicians. This was the context in
which Shri Guruji blessed the birth of Bhartiya Jana Sangh under the
leadership of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. And in the very
first General Elections the BJS emerged as one of the four nationally
recognised parties. The Party has never looked back since then.
http://nitingadkari.org/bjpHistory.html
The First Decade
The first decade was a period of steady growth organisationally and
policy evolution and elaboration ideologically. It took up the issues
of territorial integrity like Kashmir, Kutch and Berubari - and in the
process suffered the martyrdom of its founder-President Dr Mookerjee
in a Kashmir jail. It demanded cow protection as per Article 48 of the
Constitution and Gandhiji's declaration that "Cow protection is more
important than even Swarajya". It came out against Zamindari and
Jagirdari. It criticised permit- licence-quota Raj. And it came out
for the nuclear option to reinforce national defence. The 1962 China
war and 1965 Pakistan war put Sangh Parivar on the center-stage as the
conscience of the country. When the RSS Parivar was entrusted with
police duties in 1965, and it performed the same to the satisfaction
of all-even Muslims began to join Jana Sangh. Shri Guruji was
specially invited to the National Integration Council. General Kulwant
Singh said at the time: "Punjab is the sword arm of India and RSS is
the sword arm of Punjab."
In all countries, parties associated with the freedom movement enjoy
long years of power. So did the Congress - for 20 years. But the 1967
elections ended the Congress monopoly of power. From Punjab to Bengal
there were non-Congress coalitions everywhere. As a political wit put
it: "You could travel from Amritsar to Calcutta without setting foot
in Congress territory."
In most of the States Jana Sangh and the Communists worked together.
They seemed to be guided by the dictum: "We are all children of Bharat
mata and we are all products of the 20th century."
However, this was more than the monopolistic Congress could stand. It
used its vast money power and its capacity for intrigue to topple
government after state government.
But even so Jana Sangh did not lose heart. Under the leadership of Pt.
Deendayal Upadhyaya it held a tremendous session in Calicut. Here it
clarified its language policy of "All encouragement to all Indian
languages" to the delight of all linguistic groups. The Mathrubhumi,
leading Malayali daily, described the BJS session "the Ganga flowing
South."
However, within days of this historic session Deendayalji was found
murdered near Mugalsarai railway station. In good faith the BJS asked
for a CBI enquiry. But the way CBI drew blank made it clear that
Central Agency has been politicised and that it would never unravel
political crime.
Although the murder of Deendayalji was a stunning shock the BJS was
too big and too strong to be stopped in its tracks. Under the
leadership of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, it enthussiastically joined
the movement for the libera- tion of Bangladesh. Its agitation for a
higher procurement price for cereals gave the country food sufficiency
and food security. Its election manifesto for 1971 was titled "War on
Poverty". The Congress stole that slogan and hindi-ised it into
"Garibi hatao" and swept the 1971 and 1972 polls. But once again Jana
Sangh was too good and strong to be overwhelmed by the ebb and tide of
politics.
http://nitingadkari.org/bjpHistory.html
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Press Statement issued by BJP President Shri Nitin Gadkari at his
first press conference as National President of the BJP in New Delhi
February 17 at 9:32pm
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February 9 at 11:58pm
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Pranav Gupta Congress sympathy towards Terrorists comes clear when
they supported J&K Chief Minster stand to WELCOME BACK the terrorists
from Pakistan or Pakistan Occupied Kashmir . Home Minister of India
Mr. Chidambram in a Press conference in Jammu extends full party
support towards the issue ignoring the facts that these elements are
responsible for the ...
killing of thousands of people in state & other parts of India.
I will ask Mr. Chidambram, that he must go and visit the home of
people died in bomb attacks, open firing by these elements. Also go to
the houses of our GREAT COPS & ARMY MEN who sacrificed their lives to
safe guard the country from such anti national elements. WHY CONGRESS
IS PLAYING WITH THE SECURITY OF COUNTRY.
March 5 at 4:03pm
RECENT ACTIVITY
Nitin Gadkari changed his Location.
Nitin Gadkari edited his Country, Currently Running For and Website.
Contact Info
Email:resp...@nitingadkari.org
Phone:(0712) 2727127Cell:9821080522
Location:Gadkari Wada Upadhye Road Mahal
Nagpur, India, 440002
Nitin Gadkari indirectly targets Shatrughan Sinha
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Friday asked
party leaders to raise any complaints about his choice of a new team
with him and not with the media.
"Those who have complaints about the new team should speak to me, not
the media," Gadkari told the NDTV news channel, a day after actor-
turned-party MP Shatrughan Sinha's remarks on the composition of the
new team of office-bearers announced Tuesday.
Sinha Thursday recited the lyrics of an old Hindi film song in answer
to a question about the new team. "Uff na karenge, lab see lenge,
aansu pee lenge (I will not sigh, will seal my lips and swallow my
tears)," he said, expressing disappointment that leaders like Yashwant
Sinha had been left out and the team had not been able to give a
message of dynamism.
"It's wrong to say that Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were excluded
because they are Advani detractors... It's not possible to include
everyone on the team," Gadkari said.
The BJP president also justified the appointment of Nehru-Gandhi
family member Varun Gandhi as party secretary, saying: "Varun Gandhi
should be given a chance, why hold the past against him?"
The party had sought to distance itself from Varun Gandhi after he
allegedly made inflammatory remarks during the Lok Sabha election
campaign last year.
Date : 19/03/2010. News by Newsofap.com
Volume 25 - Issue 10 :: May. 10-23, 2008
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU • Contents
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE STATES
Brief revolt
LYLA BAVADAM
The truce worked out in the Maharashtra BJP following Gopinath Munde’s
resignation drama may be temporary.
MANVENDER VASHIST/PTI
BJP president Rajnath Singh (second from left) with Nitin Gadkari,
Venkaiah Naidu and Gopinath Munde in a show of unity after a meeting
at his residence in New Delhi on April 22.
GOPINATH MUNDE took back his resignation as party general secretary.
The Mumbai unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a new chief.
The Shiv Sena-BJP partnership remains intact. And so, all seems well
with the Maharashtra BJP after four days of turmoil. But the truth is
that this is only a lull. Political observers predict trouble in the
run-up to the forthcoming elections.
The hostility, now much publicised, between Munde and Nitin Gadkari,
the BJP’s Maharashtra State unit chief, began four years ago when the
latter one-upped Munde to get to his present post. Since both were
leaders of some standing, the party never quite favoured one over the
other and the two men were left to sort out the rivalry on their own.
Over time, it grew worse and neither was prepared to give up. If Munde
could draw crowds in Marathwada, Gadkari could hold his own in
Vidarbha. If Munde could appeal to Other Backward Class (OBC) voters,
Gadkari could play on the regional pride of Vidarbha voters. It was
inevitable in this clash that factions would form, and faction-
fighting led to Munde’s resignation.
The nomination of a chief for the party’s Mumbai unit was pending for
a year. The outgoing chief, Prakash Mehta, should have stepped down
last year, but Munde was against the appointment of Madhu Chavan, who
was a nominee of Gadkari. Munde stood his ground despite the decision
of a committee comprising senior leaders Ram Naik, Ved Prakash Goyal
and Bal Apte favouring Chavan.
On April 19, the party’s prime ministerial candidate and Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, was in Mumbai and Gadkari
informed him about the stalemate. Advani gave the go-ahead for
Chavan’s appointment. An enraged Munde submitted his resignation the
next day, saying he objected to the undemocratic manner in which the
appointment was carried out.
The post of the BJP’s Mumbai unit chief is a prestigious one. With the
upcoming elections, it is also a crucial post for the party. A party
source said, “The Mumbai party chief has to be a man with the ability
to motivate and mobilise workers. He can only do this if he has gained
their respect and if he is known to them.”
Munde’s recommendations were Kirit Somaiya, a former Member of
Parliament, and Raj Purohit and Prakash Mehta, both Members of the
Legislative Assembly, on account of their proven track record. Mehta
was also the outgoing chief.
The BJP has strong support among traders and the business community,
and Munde believed that these candidates would be able to connect well
with this section. Gadkari, it seems, backed Chavan because he is a
Maharashtrian, a factor that he thought would help cement relations
not only with the Shiv Sena but also with party workers. A party
source said, “When Chavan was named chief, Munde resigned since he saw
this as a win for his rival Gadkari.”
The first round in what surely is going to be an ongoing war has
definitely gone to Munde. Stunned by his resignation and the reaction
it provoked – 4,000 BJP workers reportedly quit their posts – the
party headquarters in Delhi moved immediately to repair the damage.
To win back a reportedly intractable Munde, the party offered him a
carte blanche with regard to nominations for key posts. The post of
the party’s Mumbai chief went to Gopal Shetty, another Gadkari
nominee, but Munde seemed placated enough to take back his
resignation.
Why did the BJP capitulate to Munde? Much weighed in his favour.
Practically the entire legislative wing backed him. The party’s major
city units in Mumbai, Pune, Nasik and Aurangabad stood by him.
Functionaries in the Latur, Beed and Sangli units also registered
their support for him. Munde, bolstered by the support he got, went
for the jugular.
It was a smart move on his part to go and meet Sena supremo Bal
Thackeray to “seek his blessings”. The message for the BJP was that
Munde was ready to raise his own flag and take the coalition partner
with him.
Thackeray had his own reasons to entertain Munde. His son Uddhav lacks
his charisma and political acumen, and nephew Raj’s breakaway party,
the Navnirman Sena, is eating into Sena territory by claiming the
Sena’s agenda as its own.
A visibly weakened Sena was certainly going to give its “blessings” to
Munde. In any case Thackeray had reason to be wary of Gadkari who had
been calling for a severing of ties between the Sena and the BJP.
Gadkari felt that the Sena and its errant ways were holding the party
back in Maharashtra.
However, the single most important factor that made the BJP buckle was
probably Munde’s status as an OBC leader. He has a wide mass base and
the party relies on him to mobilise the Bahujan votes.
One of the things that did not draw much comment during the fiasco was
Munde’s assertion that it was the lack of “democracy” in the party
that had made him resign. He seemed to have conveniently forgotten
that his own rise from a district politician to being a State-level
player was partially fuelled by his late brother-in-law, Pramod
Mahajan.
A knowledgeable source said that Munde “always had a chip on his
shoulder because he was overshadowed by Mahajan. It is true that
Pramodji was responsible in large part for pushing Munde forward but
it is not as if Munde was a baby in politics. Don’t forget he has had
his education in the [Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh] shakha. He knows
how to play the game and he would certainly have risen on his own. But
let us just say, he rose faster with Pramodji’s help.”
While Munde’s abilities cannot be denied, there is no doubt about the
role Mahajan played in his grooming. When Mahajan died, Munde’s career
was expected to “deflate”, an expression used by a BJP functionary at
the time. Two years later, Munde has shown that he can get along on
his own.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2510/stories/20080523251011100.htm
olume 21 - Issue 20, Sept. 25 - Oct. 08, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
Election-eve patriotism
LYLA BAVADAM
in Vidarbha
The Uma Bharati-led Tiranga Yatra's six-day-long journey through
Maharashtra raising emotive issues fails to strike a chord among the
people despite the flaunting of the tricolour.
K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
Uma Bharati garlanding the statue of freedom fighter Kittoor Rani
Chennamma before she started the Tiranga Yatra.
DESPITE affirmations to the contrary, the Uma Bharati-led Hubli to
Jallianwalla Bagh Tiranga Yatra evidently formed the vanguard of the
Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign for the Assembly elections in
Maharashtra. During her six-day tour of the State, Uma Bharati
repeatedly said that the yatra was meant only to express her personal
beliefs that one should have pride in one's country and its flag and
that "all other outcomes of the yatra are God's gift". Importantly,
the Idgah controversy itself was not about disrespect to the national
flag, but about Uma Bharati and others disobeying prohibitory orders
issued by the Hubili police. That was the legal reason for her arrest.
At no point was the right to raise the flag questioned. `Disrespect to
the flag' is a convenient pre-election political ploy.
However, the yatra itself - the way it was organised and the issues it
raised - left no room for doubt regarding the BJP's intentions. The
bus used for the yatra was decorated with portraits of an array of
important figures, past and present: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, M. Venkaiah
Naidu, Bhagat Singh, V.D. Savarkar, Chandrashekar Azad, L.K. Advani,
Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
Ashfaqullah Khan, Shivaji, the Rani of Jhansi and Kittur Rani
Chennamma, a freedom fighter. Interestingly, the BJP preferred to
refer to the Idgah Maidan in Hubli as the Chennamma Maidan. This has
sparked a controversy with allegations that the BJP's insistence on
calling it Chennamma Maidan was meant to provoke another conflict.
If, as Uma Bharati said on numerous public occasions, the yatra was
meant to "satisfy personal beliefs and feelings about the tricolour"
why was it an official yatra of the BJP? If it were a yatra to defend
her right to raise the tricolour then why did her public speeches
invariably turn to issues such as water scarcity, power shortages and
unemployment, all election campaign points that the Democratic Front
government in Maharashtra might find difficult to counter. There were
exhortations at every public meeting to "cast your vote to topple the
Congress and bring back the BJP". Equally noteworthy was the fact that
the Tiranga Yatra in the State was organised by State BJP president
Gopinath Munde, Legislative Council leader Nitin Gadkari and party
leader Eknath Kadse, who together formed the core of the campaign
committee for the Lok Sabha elections.
At a public meeting in Akola, Uma Bharati reaffirmed her commitment to
build the Ram mandir at Ayodhya. Significantly, Akola has a history of
communal strife and a minor communal riot had occurred a few days
before Uma Bharati's arrival. The Muslim voter was directly addressed,
first by a warning not to be fooled by the "vote bank politics" of the
Congress and then to be reminded about the old points of dissent
between the community and Hindu fundamentalist parties - Family
planning, education levels and the singing of Vande Mataram. Also
raised were issues relating to Sonia Gandhi's "foreign origins". Uma
Bharati said: "Why do we have this foreigner craze? Marxism may have
been a new idea for Europe but our philosophers have been speaking of
the same ideals from as far back as the 12th century. Why not follow
them instead of Marx? This foreigner craze has resulted in us being
ruled by the Italian Mafia mind. And the minds that thought of making
Sonia the head of the party are also minds that are leftovers of
foreign thinking." Karnataka BJP president H.N. Ananth Kumar, who was
travelling with the yatra, defended its aims: "Any campaign is the
bouquet of many issues. This is not an election campaign. It is a
national yatra to show how the Congress is degrading the flag. It is a
yatra for national detoxification of secularism."
The Tiranga Yatra was a manoeuvre to position Uma Bharati, the BJP,
the saffron flag and the tricolour on the same platform. Projected as
a simple emotional device meant to touch people's hearts it was
actually a political platform to harp on the party's pet issues. But,
apparently, the intended message of the yatra did not quite get across
to the masses. While Uma Bharati alleged that the Congress had an
"unethical advantage" since its party flag bore a striking resemblance
to the tricolour, there is no doubt that one of the expected outcomes
of the yatra was to blur the distinction between the tricolour and the
saffron flag. Numerous attempts were made to link the tricolour to the
Hindu fundamentalist parties. At a public meeting in Risod in
Vidarbha, a local BJP leader said: Hindutva ka josh rashtra ka
tiranga, Dono ko saath leke bhagwa vapas aayega (the tricolour
expresses the strength of Hindutva. If the two march together it will
ensure the return of the saffron flag). In the Varvat Bakaal village
in Buldhana district, Uma Bharati advised the people to keep the
saffron flag, strength of spirit and the tricolour as their
priorities. Her message was not lost on a small section. At a roadside
reception in Washim, a small crowd presented Uma Bharati with a five-
foot high brass trishul on which a saffron ribbon bound together two
crossed tricolours.
However, indications are that the response of most of the people who
attended her public meetings ranged from mild confusion to anger at
being told that the national flag had to be respected. At a public
meeting in Risod, a policeman on duty said he and his colleagues had
been discussing the yatra and concluded that the BJP was trying to
appropriate the flag. He asked: "What else can we think? We cannot
figure out what Umaji is trying to prove with this yatra. Is she
saying we don't respect the flag? Every school going child salutes the
flag."
In any event, Maharashtra formed a focal point of Uma Bharati's yatra.
On her way to Hubli to surrender before a court that issued a non-
bailable warrant against her in the Idgah maidan case, she travelled
through the State by train addressing people on station platforms at
strategic places such as Pune, Sangli, Miraj and Daund in western
Maharashtra, a Nationalist Congress Party stronghold. On her return,
she undertook the Tiranga Yatra. Thus, she effectively covered the
crucial areas of western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha.
"Unprecedented response" was how Ananth Kumar described the reaction
of the people. However, the attendance was paltry when compared, for
example, to her earlier visit to Akola 15 years ago. In that sense,
the public's response was unprecedented, to the disappointment of the
BJP.
One reason for the poor turn out is the failure of a faction-ridden
State BJP to rally unitedly behind the yatra. At her point of entry
into Maharashtra Uma Bharati was met only by Gopinath Munde who
remained with her while she travelled in Marathwada. Then she was
accompanied by Nitin Gadkari, who has a strong support base in
Vidarbha, and later by Eknath Khadse. At no point was former Union
Minister and senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan publicly involved with
the yatra. This is curious, considering his well-acknowledged
organisational abilities and his place in the party power structure.
The State BJP attributed the absence of many senior functionaries in
Uma Bharati's entourage to their preoccupation with the Assembly
elections. The explanation was unconvincing. The real reason,
according to some, was that it was too early to start the election
campaign and the party leaders were wary of overstepping the Election
Commission by bringing the national flag into the campaign.
Then why undertake the yatra when there is no consensus in the party
on the matter, especially in Maharashtra? The answer seems to lie
partially in the fact that Uma Bharati wishes to redeem herself with
the party's top leadership and regain her position in Madhya Pradesh.
When queried about this, she declined to reply saying: "I will not
answer anything pertaining to me, mine, myself. I am not important."
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2120/stories/20041008006200900.htm
Volume 26 - Issue 23 :: Nov. 07-20, 2009
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
Win by default
LYLA BAVADAM
in Mumbai
In Maharashtra, the Congress-NCP combine returns to power, thanks to a
weak and divided Opposition.
PTI
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan with Union Minister and former Chief
Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh (left) in Mumbai, on October 22.
AS Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan begins a new term in
office, one cannot help but contradict his claim that his government
returned to power on account of its achievements in the past year.
That the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine managed a
victory by default is something even staunch party supporters will
find difficult to dispute. The fact is that the victory was thanks to
a weak and divided Opposition.
The Congress-NCP coalition managed a hat-trick despite a strong anti-
incumbency sentiment brought on by a poor economy, staggering rise in
food prices, and absence of emphasis on strengthening security, a
drought-like situation, and various problems in the agricultural
sector including suicide by farmers.
Its main rival, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was left
far behind; the latter conceded defeat even before the counting of
votes ended. The final results showed the Congress had come first with
82 seats, followed by the NCP with 62 seats. The BJP and the Shiv Sena
could manage only 46 and 44 seats respectively.
Noticeable features of the elections were the low-key campaign
compared with the robust electioneering that preceded earlier
elections, and the sidelining of major issues. It was as if the public
and the politicians were separate elements and the former was just
expected to be onlookers. Unmindful of the people they were to
represent, politicians haggled over seats and fitted the ‘right’
candidate into the ‘right’ constituency.
This time around too, dynastic politics, cronyism and dissidence were
on open display. Some secure seats were lost to parties as a result of
the free-for-all that followed ticket allocation. One significant
example is that of four-time BJP legislator Dr Vinay Natu, who had to
forgo his Guhagar seat in the Konkan region. The BJP had agreed to
part with the seat in order to get two more seats allocated to it as
part of its seat-sharing deal (169-119) with the Shiv Sena. Natu was
forced to give it to Sena man and Leader of the Opposition Ramdas
Kadam, whose Khed seat was amalgamated into Guhagar during
delimitation.
The decision caused an uproar in the region, especially from Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) supporters. Before Natu, his father Shridhar
Natu of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh had held the seat since 1972. The BJP,
however, extracted the Ghatkopar West seat in north Mumbai from the
Sena for the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam. Natu
and his supporters refused to support Kadam, and the Guhagar seat
slipped away from the saffron combine to the NCP. In Ghatkopar, Poonam
Mahajan, a political novice, lost to Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena (MNS).
The issue also exposed the old feud between the BJP’s State chief
Nitin Gadkari and national secretary Gopinath Munde. Gadkari wanted
Natu to retain the seat, whereas Munde wanted to make the sacrifice in
exchange for the party ticket for Poonam, his niece. The latter also
ensured that his daughter, Pankaja Palve, won the ticket for Parli in
his home district of Beed. Another relative of his was given a seat in
a neighbouring district.
The most interesting case study, however, in the State elections is
that of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. He has once again emerged
unscathed and is riding a wave. When he was unceremoniously removed
from chief ministership last year after terrorists attacked Mumbai,
some observers said it was the end of his career. Others, who had seen
him bounce back from sticky situations earlier, predicted he would do
so again. Vilasrao is now ensconced in Delhi as a Rajya Sabha member.
He worked aggressively to destabilise the NCP and quell the influence
of his arch enemy and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. His own ‘nest’ is safe.
His son, Amit, who had managed his campaigns earlier, contested from
Latur City and won.
Dynastic politics
SANTOSH HIRLEKAR/PTI
Congress workers celebrate the party's victory in the Assembly
elections, in Mumbai.
Amit Deshmukh is a symbol of Maharashtra’s new shift towards dynastic
politics. The others are Rajendrasingh Shekhawat, son of President
Pratibha Patil, who won on the Congress ticket from Amravati; Union
Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti, who won from Solapur
City Central; Pankaja Palve, Munde’s daughter; and the Sena’s Om Raje
Nimbalkar, son of murdered Congress leader Pawan Raje Nimbalkar.
The Maharashtra Assembly will have two father-son duos representing
the NCP – Chhagan Bhujbal and Pankaj Bhujbal, and Ganesh Naik and
Sandeep Naik. Pankaj, who won from Nandgaon, and Sandeep, who won from
Airoli, are both first-time MLAs, and they fought from constituencies
adjacent to their parents’. Interestingly, Chhagan Bhujbal and Ganesh
Naik started their political careers in the Shiv Sena.
All offspring were not so lucky. Ashish Deshmukh, son of former
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ranjeet Deshmukh; Shekhar
Shende, son of outgoing Deputy Speaker Pramod Shende; and Rahul
Pugalia, son of Naresh Pugalia, the former MP from Chandrapur, all
lost the elections.
PTI
NCP chief Sharad Pawar at an election rally in Thane.
Among the prominent losers were 12 State Ministers. Former Textile
Minister Satish Chaturvedi, Textile Minister in the outgoing
government Anees Ahmad, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramesh Bang,
and former Minister of State Dharamrao Baba Atram were among the big
losers from Vidarbha. Other Ministers and former Ministers who were
among the losers are Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, Digvijay Khanvilkar, Dr
Sunil Deshmukh, Surupsinh Naik, Siddharam Mhetre, Ranajagjitsinh
Patil, Shobha Bacchav and Dr Nitin Raut. In Ulhasnagar, sitting MLA
Pappu Kalani, a former detenu under the Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities (Prevention) Act, was defeated by the BJP’s Uttamchand
Ailani. The gangster Arun Gawli, who contested from prison, also
lost.
The worst-affected party was Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. Its seats
dropped from 62 in 2004 to 44 this time. The main reason for this was
the rise of the MNS. Headed by Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray,
the MNS won 13 seats in its maiden attempt to the Assembly. Sena’s
current chief and Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav Thackeray’s lack of touch
with the grass roots also reportedly affected his party’s performance.
A shakha (unit) leader in South Mumbai remarked, “If Uddhavji had
concentrated on grassroots work, we would have retained our lead. It
is good he is trying corporate-style management techniques in the
party, but the fact is that the cadre want their leader to have more
josh [being street-savvy] and mingle with them.”
While Uddhav’s leadership may not be openly questioned, he has
definitely lost ground to his more experienced cousin. The MNS won six
of Mumbai’s 36 seats, and the party helped the Congress-NCP bag 20
seats in the city. The three-year-old MNS now has the largest number
of seats in Mumbai after the Congress and the NCP.
The Election Commission statistics showed that 23 per cent of Mumbai’s
votes went to the MNS. The party spoilt the chances of the Sena in
more than a dozen seats – the most notable being Mahim, a Sena
stronghold, where MNS candidate Nitin Sardesai beat Sena candidate
Adesh Bandekar as well as Sena rebel-turned-Congress candidate Sada
Sarvankar. The Sena’s mistake was in taking this seat away from
Sarvankar, who had held it. Bandekar, a novice in politics, was chosen
because he is a television personality.
The MNS seems to have expanded its support base in the six months
after the Lok Sabha elections. The difference was most visible in Pune
where the party got 1.5 lakh votes more than it polled in the Lok
Sabha elections. This is an indicator that the MNS may no longer be
just a spoiler; it has found its political niche. In Kasba Peth
constituency in Pune, a BJP stronghold, BJP candidate Girish Bapat
faced a stiff fight from the MNS candidate. Bapat, who had held the
seat for three terms, finally won by a margin of just 8,162 votes.
VIVEK BENDRE
Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP, who became Deputy Chief Minister.
The results are bound to affect the Sena’s partnership with the BJP.
After one term in power, from 1995 to 2000, the alliance has not had a
fruitful political relationship. And now the Sena, with a lower seat
tally than the BJP, has had to relinquish the Leader of the Opposition
post.
The BJP, too, does not seem to have recovered from the loss of Pramod
Mahajan. Neither Munde nor Gadkari seems capable of providing
inspirational leadership. They are known for squabbling over party
policies. The turmoil in the party at the Centre has also left its
mark on the State unit.
The latest election has exposed a new phase in Maharashtra politics,
one in which strategic – but fluid – partnerships, coalition
governments and creation of dynasties are more important than issues.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2623/stories/20091120262301100.htm
Volume 17 - Issue 08, Apr. 15 - 28, 2000
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
Maharashtra manoeuvres
Politics in the State has been on the boil for some weeks now, and the
Democratic Front Government is very much on the defensive.
LYLA BAVADAM
PRAVEEN SWAMI
in Mumbai
LATE last month, Bal Thackeray proclaimed that the Shiv Sena would be
back in power on Gudi Padwa day, the Maharashtrian New Year. At least
one of Deputy Chief Minister Chaggan Bhujbal's staff did not seem too
concerned. As a group of journalists discuss ed the Shiv Sena-
Bharatiya Janata Party strategy to come back into office, the
secretary listened quietly. Then he walked away from his chair,
humming a popular Hindi film tune which made clear just what he
thought of the Sena-BJP's chances. 'Sapne me in milti hai' (you'll
only get it in your dreams) - the line resonated through the office
long enough for even the most film-illiterate to get the point.
Indeed, on Gudi Padwa day, Shiv Sena leader and former Chief Minister
Narayan Rane quietly withdrew a cut motion his party had introduced in
the Assembly on the State Government's budgetary demands for the Food
and Civil Supplies Department. The decision to withdraw the motion
marked the end of the fourth Sena-BJP attempt to bring down the
Democratic Front Government. After a week of hectic lobbying, it had
become clear to Sena-BJP strategists that they simply did not have the
numbers. But the month-lon g political theatre that preceded Gudi
Padwa made clear that the Democratic Front alliance will soon have to
make hard political choices if it wants to keep its six-month long
government going.
MUCH of the recent political skirmishing had been on the Sena-BJP's
chosen terrain. Both parties have been attacking the Nationalist
Congress Party-Congress(I) on communal grounds, arguing that the
government has been compromised by Islamic fundamentalis ts. One major
component of the campaign has been allegations that Mumbai's Samajwadi
Party (S.P.) chief Abu Asim Azmi had made an anti-national speech at
Mastan Talao on February 24. A tape handed over to the State
government by the Sena-BJP records Azmi as proclaiming that if Islam
were to be attacked, he would not be bothered if India broke into
pieces. The Sena has long charged Azmi with having connections with
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), although he was
acquitted by the Supreme Cou rt of his alleged role in the Mumbai
serial bombings of 1993.
When the Assembly session began on March 13, however, Sena-BJP MLAs
brought proceedings to a halt with demands for Azmi's arrest. As their
party colleagues shouted slogans, Shiv Sena members led by former
Ministers Home Prabhakar More and Bala Nandgaonka r occupied the
podium with banners condemning the S.P. leader. They were joined by
Dinaz Patrawala, recently elected on the Shiv Sena ticket after the
Congress(I) denied her the ticket after the death of her husband
Marzaban Patrawala. Two days later, Se na-BJP MLAs blockaded the
Vidhan Bhavan. Violence began when Democratic Front MLAs pushed their
way inside. Eyewitness accounts of the fighting suggest that, for
once, the Sena got as good as it gave.
Matters snowballed outside the Assembly as well. Women Shiv Sena
members of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation assaulted S.P.
corporator Waqarunissa Ansari on March 16, some stripping her and
others trying to strangle her. Ansari, whose crime was a s peech she
made against Thackeray, only escaped serious hurt because of the
intervention of her party colleagues. In this violently anti-Muslim
political climate, Azmi responded with some maturity, insisting that
he had been quoted out of context and that the thrust of his speech
had been misrepresented. Even as a jittery Democratic Front government
initiated criminal proceedings against the S.P. leader at the J.J.
Marg police station, he issued a statement apologising if he "had
inadvertently hurt the f eelings of my countrymen".
It was left to Bhujbal, however, to point out the obvious. The
Democratic Front, he said, had no intention of shielding Azmi, and the
tape made available by the Sena had been sent for tests to establish
its authenticity. But peddling hate, Bhujbal pointe d out, was not an
S.P. monopoly. "Cases against Bal Thackeray for inciting communal
hatred," he says, "were not registered for five years, even though he
was found guilty of having made inflammatory speeches and punished by
the Election Commission." Thac keray was last year stripped of his
right to vote by the Election Commission for speeches he made asking
for votes on religious grounds. "I have called for the files, and will
take action," the Deputy Chief Minister told Frontline.
POSSIBLE legal action against Thackeray forms a second element of the
Sena-BJP campaign. The State government is internally divided over the
consequences of pushing ahead with implementing the recommendations of
the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry into the Mumbai
riots of 1992-1993. Although both the Congress (I) and the NCP are
committed to implementing its findings, which could mean Thackeray's
arrest for his well-documented role in the riots, elements in both
parties believe that this c ould lead to violence. It is clear,
however, that should ongoing proceedings in the Supreme Court result
in directions to the Maharashtra Government to act on Justice
Srikrishna's findings, this would provide adequate cover to begin
criminal proceedings against the top leadership of the Sena.
PUNIT PARANJPE
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane along with Shiv Sena-BJP members
blockading the Vidhan Bhavan during the Assembly session on March 23.
Anticipating this eventuality, the Sena has been charging the
Democratic Front in general, and Bhujbal in particular, with weakening
security for Thackeray and his family. Surplus police personnel posted
with Thackeray were withdrawn on the basis of reco mmendations made by
a review panel led by Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar. Protected
persons in the 'Z+' category are to be guarded by 43 personnel. The
Shiv Sena-BJP Government in the State had assigned Thackeray 206
personnel, 11 vehicles, a closed circ uit television system at his
residence, and a further 103 guards for his extended family.
Bongirwar's recommendations lowered Thackeray's security cover to 115
personnel and seven vehicles, far in excess of the 43 personnel and
three vehicles prescribed in the security manual.
It is unlikely, given the facts, that Thackeray's security was what
concerned the Sena. The issue in fact presented a political
opportunity. Sena leaders began to charge Bhujbal with ISI and mafia
links, a smear campaign of obvious utility in the event o f
Thackeray's arrest. In early February, as the Srikrishna Commission
issue had begun to re-emerge in political discourse in Maharashtra,
Leader of the Opposition Nitin Gadkari had charged Bhujbal with
meeting at his residence two of those accused of a r ole in the 1993
serial bombings. The meeting, Gadkari said, had been arranged by Azmi.
Gadkari is himself involved in ongoing criminal proceedings relating
to murder.
Perhaps to Gadkari's surprise, Bhujbal promptly accepted that the
meeting had indeed taken place. Eminent lawyer and Azmi's deputy in
the city unit of S.P., Majeed Memon, then delivered the coup de grace.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Mund e, Memon said, had led a
delegation along with him and the blast accused to meet Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee and Minister Pramod Mahajan. The Prime Minister
had indeed met the accused, who complained about a series of attacks
by the Rajendra Nikh alje group which had left dead people who were
under trial for their role in the bombings. The two accused had
demanded official security, and also complained about prolonged delays
in their trial. Vajpayee, Memon said, had promised action. "Why didn't
t he Opposition protest when I took these men to meet the Prime
Minister," Memon asks.
If the Sena-BJP leadership had an answer, it was not made public. An
unembarrassed Rane simply pretended that his party's case had not
crumbled. On March 10, he asserted that the Thackeray family had been
made an easy target for the underworld. "The Chho ta Shakeel and
Dawood Ibrahim gangs," he said, "had directed their guns at several
Sena leaders to take revenge for the numerous encounters that took
place when we were in office." The government's decision to scale down
Thackeray's security, he said, "l ends credence to allegations that it
had deliberately made the move."
A fortnight later he insisted that the Mumbai Police had evidence to
link Azmi to Dawood Ibrahim, a claim which left open the question of
why he as Chief Minister had not taken action against the S.P.
leader.
A FURIOUS Bhujbal did what he could, initiating defamation proceedings
against Rane. The State Police too was asked to compel the former
Chief Minister to make available what evidence he had. Rane refused to
do so, perhaps because he had none. These lega l proceedings are
certain to punctuate Maharashtra politics in the months, perhaps even
years, to come. But the Sena has achieved one useful objective through
its campaign of agitation. The Democratic Front has been pushed into a
defensive posture, and h as been able to do little to address
Maharashtra's crippling financial problems, which have been provoking
widespread discontent, particularly in the rural areas.
PUNIT PARANJPE
Shiv Sena leader Bal Nandgaonkar bars the entry of Democratic Front
MLAs into the Vidhan Bhavan.
The government owes dues to cotton and onion farmers, among the
State's most important crops. Procurements in several areas are made
directly by the state, and the Democratic Front faced a major
embarrassment in February when news broke that cheques issu ed to
cotton farmers had been bouncing. Bhujbal now says that the nearly-
bankrupt government, reeling from massive borrowing by the previous
government, has taken loans to clear its dues to farmers. Payments of
some Rs.3,700 crores have already been made , he says, and all cotton
growers covered by the State's procurement scheme will be paid by
early April. Onion farmers' dues will be met by the third week of
April.
This in itself may not be enough to contain discontent in the
countryside, and farmers are not the only ones who are angry. Workers
in Mumbai are protesting against the plans of the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation to sell mill land. Massive illegal tr ansfers of
land have taken place over the years, and funds raised from sales to
private developers have seldom been pumped back to revive factories.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has announced that the sale of land
would be allowed in order to set up software businesses, a move that
will do little to meet the needs of workers who have not been paid for
years. Twenty-three mills were closed down during Shiv Sena rule, even
while rules designed to revive them were flouted with official
connivance. The Democratic Front seems hardly interested in protecting
the interests of tens of thousands of workers.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Front's plans to make job cuts to reduce the
fiscal deficit could provoke further unrest. In his recent Budget
speech, Finance Minister Jayant Patil described how the revenue
deficit had risen over the last four years from Rs.1, 591 crores to Rs.
9,484 crores. Patil said he planned to make the revenue balance
positive over a five-year period by reducing the revenue deficit by 20
per cent each year for the next five years. Curbs have been placed on
salary expenditure, and plans ar e on in several government
departments to review staff strengths. Five per cent of the posts in
the Finance and Planning Departments have been abolished. But
sustained cuts in expenditure will mean less money for development and
jobs, which in turn could provoke a backlash.
In the months to come, the Democratic Front will have to define a
clear economic agenda to undo the damage caused through five years of
Shiv Sena-BJP rule. Formulating an alternative agenda that does not
alienate farmers and workers may prove a difficult task. More
important, the alliance will have to find ways to engage with the Sena-
BJP's renewed communal onslaught. With the NCP busy expanding its
cadre strength in Maharashtra, and the Congress(I) becoming a victim
of the conflicts in its central lead ership, neither grouping appears
to have any clear understanding of how to bring about mass
mobilisation to challenge the Opposition. Bhujbal is perhaps the sole
important figure in the State government arguing for a clear offensive
strategy. The failure to create one could mean serious trouble for the
alliance.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1708/17080410.htm
Opinion - Leader Page Articles
Was Indian nationalism inclusive?
K.N. Panikkar
One of the weaknesses of the national movement was that it did not
have an effective programme to ensure the inclusion of the depressed
and socially excluded classes into the nation.
Inclusiveness is the catchword in the current political and economic
discourse, following the 11th Plan prescription to incorporate those
who have remained outside the margins into the mainstream of
development. This is a confession of the failure of democratic
governance, on the one hand, and of caste-class partisanship in the
process of nation building, on the other. It also testifies that a
substantial section has not yet come under the ‘benevolent' umbrella
of the nation. In a highly differentiated society, inclusiveness is
indeed a process which takes place in three ways: politically through
common struggles, socially by overcoming internal social barriers and
culturally by identifying a common past by invoking indigenous
cultural consciousness.
The attempt at inclusiveness is riven with internal contradictions,
which account for the complexity, weaknesses and limitations of the
inclusive process and tensions within nationalism. The concept of
nationalism, in the Indian colonial context, becomes meaningful only
when looked at beyond the overarching relationship between colonialism
and the people, and the mutual relationship among different segments
of society is taken into account. Overcoming these differences was
integral to nationalism.
Inclusiveness, therefore, is a necessary strategy of nationalism, even
with contradictory interests finding a place in it. The attempts to
resolve the secondary contradiction within the umbrella of nationalism
do not overlook the primary contradiction with colonialism. In this
sense, the aim of nationalism was not limited to the attainment of
freedom but, as Gandhiji envisaged, had to lead to the creation of a
qualitatively different society, devoid of caste and religious
antagonism. To a deputation of students in 1934, Gandhiji said: “The
two things — the social reordering and the fight for political swaraj
— must go hand in hand. There can be no question of precedence or
division into watertight compartments here.” Nationalism was thus
conceived as a combination of political freedom and social
emancipation.
What nationalism sought to achieve was togetherness. The very first
session of the Indian National Congress recognised it by identifying
its purpose as providing a platform for people to come together. What
brought people together were political struggles and public
agitations. The various streams within the movement with different
strategies and modes of struggles were efforts to ensure their
rightful inclusion in the nation. People, however, consisted of
diverse groups, castes, classes and religions with widely differing
interests. What was conceived as nationalism, therefore, was bringing
the people together, regardless of the differentiations. Although the
anti-colonial sentiment ironed out some of these differences and
interests, they were so diverse and sharp that the national movement,
functioning within a liberal framework, was not able to find an
effective solution. Therefore, India emerged not only impoverished due
to colonial exploitation but also socially divided.
That India was economically backward was not surprising, but the fact
that nationalism did not succeed in ushering in social and cultural
solidarity left a deep scar. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, architect of the
Constitution, underlined this failure in 1949: “We must make our
political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy
cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy… What
does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognises
liberty, equality and fraternity as the principle of life … On the
26th of January 1950 we are going to enter into a life of
contradiction. In politics we will have equality and in social and
economic life, we will have inequality.” While pointing out the
political success of the movement by which ‘people' became members of
a nation-state with democratic rights, Dr. Ambedkar was conscious that
nationalism did not succeed in creating inclusiveness in the social,
cultural and economic domains.
The roots of this failure can be traced to the early phase of national
awakening, which suffered from a disjunction between political and
socio-cultural struggles. To begin with, the renaissance which
prepared the ground for the emergence of nationalism dissociated
itself from political problems and, therefore, was unable to provide a
critique of colonialism which warped the nature of Indian modernity.
Most of the early renaissance leaders idealised development in the
West. Hence, their ability to envision an alternative was limited.
Later on, the national movement attributed primacy to political
struggles, despite Gandhiji's constructive programme and
untouchability campaign. Although both he and Tagore advocated the
importance of cultural politics, the national movement concentrated
its energies on political mobilisation.
Despite these early limitations, the importance of incorporating the
marginalised sections and thus creating an inclusive society was on
the agenda of nationalism. The different political formations which
participated in anti-colonial struggles with different programmes and
different social base were engaged in incorporating different sections
into the mainstream of national life through participation in the anti-
colonial struggles. Even when contradictions existed among them, they
were struggling for inclusiveness in the nation. The social and
cultural inclusiveness was sought through socio-cultural emancipation,
economic inclusiveness through class struggles and political
inclusiveness through political mobilisation. These three engagements
of the national movement cover the history of the liberation struggle
which was not limited to a direct confrontation with colonialism, but
also aimed at the modernisation and democratisation of society
although with limited success.
A major concern of the national movement was social inclusiveness. The
divisive and oppressive character of the Indian caste system was
antithetical to the spirit of nationalism and it was quite natural
that only social awakening could address this question. Gandhiji gave
equal, if not greater, importance to social issues and cultural
struggles. In Gandhian programme, therefore, abolition of
untouchability occupied a central concern. The ashrams Gandhiji set up
and lived in became a symbol of social equality and also meant a
subversion of the traditional, unequal social system.
The national movement was quite conscious of the importance of
inclusion of the traditionally deprived groups for the actual
realisation of the nation and initiated steps in social, economic and
cultural fields to create conditions conducive for them to identify
their interest with the nation. In pursuance of that, a series of
struggles was conducted covering social, cultural and economic lives.
Each one of them had the effect of creating a community, eventually
forming a part of the nation. Although these struggles increased their
social consciousness, none of them was sufficiently effective to
transform the life conditions of the marginalised, possibly because
these efforts were bridled by the interests of the ‘upper' castes and
classes. The marginalised sections, could not, therefore, identify
themselves with the nation. They were sceptical and distrustful.
The consequence of this marginality was the emergence of movements
among the traditionally subordinated groups fighting to gain their
rightful place in society. That happened in all parts of the country
and among all depressed communities. Satyasodak Samaj in Maharashtra
in the 19th century, the Dravida Kazhakam in Tamil Nadu, the Sadhu
Jana Paripalana Sabha in Kerala and, indeed, the movement led by Dr.
Ambedkar are some examples. Emerging out of the oppressed sections,
they did not subscribe to the ‘upper' caste urge for reform, of either
caste or religion, but stood for abolishing caste and superstitions
based on religious sanction. In the vision of Dr. Ambedkar, the
annihilation of caste was a necessary pre-requisite for social
inclusiveness.
One of the weaknesses of the national movement was that it did not
have an effective programme to ensure the inclusion of the depressed
and socially excluded classes into the nation. Whatever was attempted
in this field was very superficial inasmuch as it did not frontally
contest the power of the ‘upper' castes and classes, the legacy of
which continues even today. That anti-colonial Indian nationalism was
not sufficiently inclusive is possibly one of the reasons why a
substantial section of the population is still not a part of the
nation.
The making of the Indian nation, as Surendranath Banerji envisioned,
can be complete only when nationalism becomes inclusive on a
democratic, secular and socialist foundation. In post-independent
India, this has remained an unrealised dream. Given the capitalist
hegemony over society and middle-class control over administration,
the present urge for inclusion may yet end up as another popular
slogan.
(Based on the Foundation Day lecture delivered at Assam Central
University, Silchar. Author can be reached at knpan...@gmail.com)
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/23/stories/2010022355540800.htm
THe Lord’s Army: The Shiv Sena
Posted March 30th 2010 at 5:36 pm by Harry
"A burning bus? Perhaps over there."
There exists in Mumbai a nearsighted and rather unpleasant bunch of
radicals who revile my very existence within their beautiful city.
They are the Shiv Sena – Lord Shiva’s Army – a political group by
name, violently quarrelsome by nature.
It behooves a writer to remain apprised of the legal ramifications of
writing anything at all in India, because sedition laws are
arbitrarily enforced and rather ambiguously defined as anything that
“excites or attempts to excite hatred contempt or dissaffection“( -
Wikipedia)
If anyone reading this gets excited or feels a smidge of contempt,
then I’m going to jail for life – so please don’t. Sedition, in my
opinion, is the most dangerous law in India – for exposure of real
wrongs often leads detention or expulsion, as was the case with my
friend who wrote of the Dalit murders in Gujarat and was summarily
deported.
Let’s be mindful of that and carry on…
Bal Thackeray started the Shiv Sena and ran for a while a respectable
right-wing, religious political party concerned with supporting the
local Marathi people in whose state Mumbai stands. He was about
ensuring jobs, health systems, pensions and education exclusively to
Marathis, his ‘Sons of the Soil’.
They have a hard-line Hindu and regional agenda, and dislike all
things non-Marathi – including shop signs spelled in English.
The Shiv Sena love whacking day
Bal’s son Uddhav Thackeray took over the Shiv Sena which used to riot
against migrant workers from other states, bash North Indian rickshaw
drivers and the like, pelt stones at police headquarters, voice
support for accused Hindu terrorists, they’ve smashed shops and torn
down billboards and generally caused a ruckus in order to get in the
media, at which point they invariably react against the channel for
the negative coverage. It’s a wonderful self-perpetuating cycle.
The Shiv Sena started going mainstream to gain support from a larger
nationwide Hindu party, the BJP – which meant they had to stop bashing
migrants (but not necessarily Muslisms). As a result, Bal’s nephew Raj
Thackeray started a splinter organisation seeking more radical reforms
– they are called the ‘Marathi Manoos’ – the MNS.
So now there are two crews both seeking votes from the same people,
they attract attention to themselves by engaging in more and more
brazen public displays of brute power – often leading to in-fighting
between the two groups.
The BJP: Perhaps education should be higher on their agenda
Then the BJP lost a national election, probably because they were
corrupt and their policies were near-sighted and focused more on
oppressing Muslims than running the country…
So the BJP and the Shiv Sena rioted against Australians for being such
prejudiced and bigoted violent morons. They were helped along by the
Indian media, which much prefers to be spoon-fed its sensationalist
propaganda rather than doing real reporting.
Funny thing that only a few months before, the same group were beating
North Indians for migrating to Mumbai, and now they’re upset because
North Indians are being beaten in Australia. The group that revile
outsiders and assault newcomers are also angry when degenerate,
disorganised, drunk youths in Australia do exactly the same thing. Are
they scared their jobs have been outsourced?
Now they’re back to being racist: The Manoos want all us foreign
actors out of Bollywood – get this: Because we’re stealing Indian
jobs. I have not yet met an Indian that can do my job, because my job
is to be not Indian. I’m not a particularly exceptional actor, I’m not
wildly attractive, I’m not even that skilled, I don’t dance or sing.
I’m a single-threat: I’m just white. Who’s job do I steal?
Make up your minds, which do you despise: Racism or foreigners?
Their current claim is against Hazel Crowney because they claim she’s
dancing in a provocative way that Indian girls wouldn’t, and tugging
at the threads of Indian moral fibre. It’s clear that they know this
already, but you might not: Indian movies don’t show sexy white girls
flouncing about because Indian girls won’t do it, they show foreigners
because that’s what Indians like to watch. The women watch it and
think: “Ugh, sluts” and the men pitch pants tents – behaviour neither
gender like to associate with good Indian girls.
Indian girls will do a multitude of things to get their beautiful,
sensual bodies onto the big screen – and dancing provocatively
definitely comes under that broad and intentionally ambiguous banner.
Rakhi Sawant started the protest, but clearly her interests aren’t
value-based:
Hazel Crowney: They're calling for her head
Rakhi Sawant: Principled instigator
Tell me again – which Indian values were they protecting?
The Shiv Sena recently charged onto the set of a shoot for the film
‘Crooked’, and demanded to see employment visas from the 136
foreigners on the shoot. I know every Bollywood Gora that has a visa –
and there ain’t 136 of us. Bollywood runs on making its scenes exotic
and foreign with cheap tourist labour extras. It can’t run without
them.
These riots will serve to send more films overseas to shoot to avoid
them, taking money right out of the pockets of all Mumbaikars who
drive and light and serve chai and food to those who paint sets and
clothe Bollywood. Their campaign would be short-sighted and flawed, if
it were legitimately aimed at improving the lives of Marathis – but it
isn’t, it’s aimed at getting publicity – and it’s working.
I love this country – but sometimes it gives me the shits (pun
intended).
Perhaps it is me.
Perhaps my desire to become a part of the Indian fabric is mislaid. I
had always seen India’s best values were the welcoming and inclusive
nature of the people, how peaceful they are. I’d always felt that the
laid-back, near-enough’s good enough, slow life seemed more ecological
than ours – far more interested in things like a good laugh, an
engaging (and intrusive) conversation or even silent company. They’ll
stare, they’ll care, they’ll help even if they can’t.
This country holds the greatest potential of all on this earth. With
some tweaks to turn the knowledge based education system to teach
skills, a good corruption enema and a bit of cultural progression (in
terms of womens rights and that stuff) – it will be the next
superpower. Indians almost always speak more languages than you do,
speak English better than you do, they wrap their agile brains around
new languages, new concepts and new ideas with envy-inspiring speed,
they have open hearts and kind minds, and there are a billion of them.
That was what I thought India was about, generosity, hospitality and
intelligence – but apparently these guys are the last word on what’s
Indian and according to them it’s all about the violence, stupidity
and racism.
Perhaps it’s time for me to move on.
http://www.harrykey.com/blogs/the-lords-army-shiv-sena/
Congress and BJP in tussle over Big B as CWG brand ambassador
Congress too has started playing cheap political games. Amitabh
Bachchan is their target and all for the sin of getting some unasked
for BJP attention. Now Kalmadi has even dropped Amitabh as an option
for CWG brand ambassador.
CJ: Shubhra Prakash Tue, Mar 30, 2010 21:21:29 IST
Views: 13 Comments: 1Rate: 0.0 / 0 votes
KEEPING INTACT its posture of cold shouldering the Bachchans, the
Congress once again entered in a row with Amitabh Bachchan becoming a
brand ambassador of the up coming Common Wealth Games. Suresh Kalmadi,
Congress MP and the Chairman of Commonwealth Games Organizing
Committee said that they would need a young Brand Ambassador to
promote the game.
The decision came as a backlash when BJP leader and also the vice-
president of Indian Olympic Association suggested Bachchan's name as
an ambassador for the event in a letter to Kalmadi.
The 'Bachchan parivar' is under fire from Congress party leaders ever
since he came to inaugurate a lane on the Mumbai Sea Link. The matter
stretched up to a limit that on the Earth Hour Day in Delhi the video
carrying a message from Abhishek Bachchan was blacked out as also the
posters of the actor from the venue.
At both the events Congress party leaders like Ashok Chavan and Sheila
Dikshit were present maintaining a hush over the happenings. The state
of events has popped up in the backdrop of Amitabh Bachchan agreeing
to promote tourism for the BJP ruled Gujarat.
While the war of words is on between the Bachchan's led by BJP and
Congress. Manish Tiwari, a Congress MP has suggested that it is high
time that Amitabh Bachchan clears his stand on Modi and the Gujarat
government.
Posted comments (1) Mr. Kalmadi is absolutely right. Actually
government (Delhi/Center) needs to re-think about this, how an old man
could like Mr. Kalmadi/non-sports, declared as Commonwealth Games
Organizing Committee chairman. Not only in Commonwealth, but also we
don't need any oldies like Delhi's CM Mrs. Dixit, BCCI Chief Mr.
Power, and so on….
Will Dawood’s facing law be a favour? Congress asks BJP
By IANS
March 30th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Congress Tuesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) for lauding Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s appearance
before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2002 Gujarat
riots, and asked if underworld fugitive Dawood Ibrahim will be doing a
favour by facing the law.
“The BJP is projecting it (Modi’s appearance before SIT) as if it is a
favour to the judicial system. If Dawood Ibrahim is brought before the
law, will he be doing a favour?” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said
reporters here.
He said the BJP was talking in “an immature manner”.
Tewari said that Modi had to face the SIT because he had not followed
“rajdharam (his duty as a ruler)”.
On the BJP’s criticism over party president Sonia Gandhi having been
again made National Advisory Council chairperson, Tewari said that she
could have become prime minister in 2004 and 2009 but chose not to
take the high office.
“Her entire public life is characterised by one principle, that of
sacrifice,” he said.
Tewari noted that NAC had worked for some path-breaking legislations
during its previous term, among these the Right to Information Act,
the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Gram Nyayalaya
Act.
The BJP said Tuesday that Gandhi’s appointment as chairperson of the
NAC had created a “psuedo-constitutional power centre” which would
lead to “redundancy” of the post of the prime minister
Sonia to again head National Advisory Council (Second Lead)
By IANS
March 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi was Monday again named
chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), four years after
she quit on being accused of holding an office of profit.
“She will hold the rank and status of union cabinet minister with
immediate effect. The salary, allowances and other terms and
conditions of the chairperson and members shall be such as the
government may specify from time to time,” an official statement
said.
Her term will begin from the date she assumes charge, it said.
“It will be co-terminus with the term of the NAC or until further
orders whichever is earlier. The chairperson shall be entitled to the
same salary, pay, allowances and other facilities to which a member of
the union council of ministers is entitled.”
According to the statement, the term of NAC members will be for one
year but this could be extended. They will draw salary and allowances
determined by the central government.
Gandhi had resigned from the NAC in March 2006 after the opposition
alleged that she had violated the office of profit principle requiring
MPs not to hold offices that carry wages, salaries or allowances
during their tenures. She had also resigned her Lok Sabha seat of Rae
Bareli but won it back in a re-election.
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government subsequently came up
with a bill seeking to exempt 56 posts, including the NAC chairperson,
from being considered as office of profit. The bill was approved in
May 2006 by parliament amid opposition by the Bharatiya Janata Party-
led opposition.
The NAC was first formed during the earlier tenure of UPA government
and had played a role in the enactment of Right to Information Act,
Forest Rights Act and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
The reconstituted NAC is expected to take up the food security bill
over which there are differences between social activists and the
government. The activists, some of whom were part of the previous NAC,
have differed with the government on draft food security bill cleared
by the cabinet, saying its provisions were “minimalist”.
The reconstituted NAC is also expected to keep a watch on the existing
flagship welfare schemes such as the rural employment guarantee
programme and scrutinise other proposed legislations dealing with
social sector.
BJP says people will make Sonia Gandhi resign as NAC chief
By ANI
March 30th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has cried foul over
Congress President Sonia Gandhi again taking charge as the head of the
National Advisory Council (NAC).
BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay said this time the people of the country
would make Gandhi resign from her post.
“It has been a history of the Congress party to hold an office of
profit while being an MP. Last time, it was a show by Sonia Gandhi of
‘tyag’, but the fact is that under the pressure of whole country, she
had to resign,” said Vijay.
“This time also, the people of this country will make her resign from
this post,” he added.
The Union Government on Monday constituted the National Advisory
Council (NAC), which will be headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi
as its Chairperson.
She will hold the rank and status of Union Cabinet Minister with
immediate effect.
The term of appointment of the Chairperson of the NAC will be with
effect from the date of assuming charge of the office as the
Chairperson.
It will be co-terminus with the term of the NAC or until further
orders which ever is earlier.
The term of the members of the NAC shall be for a period of one year
with effect from the date of their appointment, which may be extended.
The Chairperson of the NAC shall be entitled to the same salary, pay,
allowances and other facilities to which a member of the Union Council
of Minister is entitled.
Under the special provision for a Member of Parliament appointed as
the member of the NAC, it has been provided that the member shall not
be entitled to draw any remuneration, allowances or perks as such
member from the NAC other than the compensatory allowance as defined
in clause (a) of the section 2 of the Parliament (Prevention of
Disqualification) Act, 1959.
Sonia Gandhi quit the NAC in March 2006 after the BJP- led Opposition
alleged that she had violated the office of profit principle.
Gandhi had also resigned from her Lok Sabha seat. But later despite
winning the Rae Bareilly by poll, she kept herself away from the NAC.
(ANI)
BJP MLAs marshalled out of Delhi Assembly
By ANI
March 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - Amidst high drama 22 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs were
marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly on Monday, for trooping into the
Well and sloganeering against the price rise and demanding a roll back
of subsidy cut on LPG and increase in VAT on various items.
As soon as the House assembled, the Leader of Opposition V K Malhotra
raised the price rise issue.
He demanded a clarification from Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on the
use of water canons by police during a protest rally near the
Assembly.
Several BJP activists, including Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD)
members, were injured during the incident.
Soon, all the BJP MLAs started sloganeering and gathered before the
Speaker’s podium.
Speaker Yoganand Shastri had to adjourn the House for 15 minutes when
he failed to convince opposition members to calm down and resume their
seats.
When the House met again after 15 minutes, all BJP MLAs trooped to the
Well and sloganeered again.
Speaker Shastri tried to pacify the members, but when they continued
their protests, he asked marshals to remove senior BJP members H S
Balli, Karan Singh Tanwar, Ravindra Bansal, Subhash Sachdeva and Harsh
Vardhan from the House.
After their removal, BJP MLAs continued with their sloganeering
forcing Shastri to name the BJP MLAs one by one and ask marshals to
remove them from the House.
After all the MLAs had left, Malhotra said he was the only opposition
legislator present and asked that he be thrown out also.
The BJP members continued their protests outside the Assembly and
courted arrest. (ANI)
http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/03/29/bjp-mlas-marshalled-out-of-delhi-assembly-26024/
BJP warns against talks with Taliban
By IANSMarch 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday asked the
government to explain if India was planning to talk to the Taliban, as
suggested by some media reports, and warned against any compromise
with anti-India elements.
“If true, as the report suggests, the shift in Indias Afghan policy
must be explained to the people and the foreign minister must answer
the raison dtre of showing a willingness to have a dialogue with the
regressive elements, said Tarun Vijay, BJP spokesperson.
These elements, Vijay pointed out, have been working for Pakistan’s
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and their anti-India operations
“have bled us for the last two years”.
Vijay was alluding to media reports which quoted government sources
saying that India wanted to reach out to Taliban leader Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami and keep its doors open in case of a
reconciliation effort by the Taliban.
Warning against the pitfalls of such a dialogue with blood thirsty
elements”, Vijay stressed: Talking to Taliban reverses all that India
has stood for so far.
“They are Osamas men, they push their women behind veils and stop them
from going to schools, their world is a world of darkness, far removed
from that of democracy and pluralism, bringing the society to medieval
ages.
“Indian strategy, if there exists one for Afghanistan and Pakistan
must be primarily to safeguard Indian interests and to ensure
annihilation of anti-Indian terror groups, he said.
Accusing the government of failure in getting access to David Coleman
Headley, an American-Pakistani accused of plotting the Mumbai attacks,
and pursuing a “meaningless dialogue” with Pakistan under US pressure,
Vijay contended that engaging the Taliban comes as another shocking
feature of UPA’s unending compromises with the anti-India elements”.
India has refused to recognise any distinction between the good and
bad Taliban, but has indicated that it could support reintegration of
the Taliban in the Afghan mainstream provided they agree to renounce
violence and abide by the Afghan constitution.
The Indian government is, however, opposed to any reconciliation with
the Taliban to bring them into the political structure. India had
agreed to go along with the reintegration proposal endorsed at the Jan
28 London conference, but is wary of any deal that could reinstall a
medieval and anti-New Delhi regime in Kabul.
http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/03/29/bjp-warns-against-talks-with-taliban-26014/
Modi’s Taliban comments a frustrated outburst: Congress
By IANS
March 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Congress Monday hit back at Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi for his “Taliban” comments, saying it was a “frustrated”
outburst after his long questioning by the Special Investigation Team
(SIT) over the 2002 riots.
“Modi is feeling very frustrated because for the first time, a chief
minister was made to stand before the Special Investigating Team for
about 10 hours in a question and answer session,” Union Information
and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said on the sidelines of a
Congress Seva Dal function here.
Responding to questions about Modi describing those critical of
Amitabh Bachchan’s decision to be brand ambassador of Gujarat as
Talibans of public life in his blog, Soni said Modi should not use the
word Taliban in a “light and flippant manner” as those who had lived
under the rule of the fundamentalists know what it is like. She said
Modi should make statements only after due deliberation.
Modi wrote in his blog that “a great artist with legendary humility
and even taller achievements” like Amitabh Bachchan has “chosen to
celebrate the glorious heritage of Gujarat while facing a lot of
criticisms”.
“These people, while brandishing Mahatma Gandhi’s name are busy
creating a new viciousness in the flow of our public life. These
‘Talibans of Untouchability’ have lost all their sensibilities in
their pursuit of anti-Gujarat attitudes,” he said.
Congress leaders in Maharashtra had protested over the presence of
Bachchan at the inauguration of the Bandra-Worli seak link extension
function last week, saying they were upset over “his association with
Modi”.
Bachchan had accepted Modi’s offer to be the brand ambassador of the
state.
Chaos in Rajasthan Assembly over Rathore’s expulsion
By ANI
March 19th, 2010
JAIPUR - Chaos took place inside the Rajasthan Assembly on Friday when
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs got into a brawl with marshals
inside the House over the expulsion of BJP leader Rajendra Rathore.
At least three BJP leaders were injured in the incident, when they
clashed with the marshals attempting to control the situation.
They were protesting against Rathore’s expulsion. (ANI)
Varun targets Maya, Rahul, calls cow slaughter crime
By Sarwar Kashani, IANSMarch 29th, 2010
SAHARANPUR - Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi delivered a fiery
speech here Monday, calling for a ban on cow slaughter. He also
targeted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and his cousin Rahul
Gandhi whom he called a “handsome face”.
Hundreds of men, women and even children sweated it out to listen to
the 30-year-old Gandhi’s 20-minute high voltage speech at Gandhi Park
- his first public rally after being appointed the BJP secretary this
month.
The MP from Pilibhit called for a “more intense war” against cow
slaughter. “It is a social crime. It is a legal crime. Why don’t you
wake up and fight this more intense war against cow slaughter? It is
not for Hindus only, but for the nation’s pride,” he said.
“Jai shri ram” was his slogan. And the crowd of men, women and
children, some of whom had been waiting since 8 a.m., repeatedly
responded likewise.
“I know people in western Uttar Pradesh don’t compromise with self-
esteem. I am asking you, don’t stay calm, don’t tolerate. Wake up and
fight. I want warriors in my troupe, who can fight for your self-
esteem.”
Gandhi, who stirred a political storm with a communal speech during
the Lok Sabha election campaign last year, this time chose to weigh
his words carefully.
The young BJP leader thundered: “If somebody targets my mother, what
would I do? I will stand and save her, isn’t it? Likewise, you should
get up, gather and save our mother cow.”
He criticised Mayawati over her garlands of currency notes and said
the cash should have been used for the welfare of poor farmers and
unemployed youth of Uttar Pradesh instead.
“But don’t worry, two more years to go,” he said, pointing to the 2012
assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh which, he added, the BJP was
confident of winning.
“Then there is another party which has young handsome faces. They have
a mission, but don’t worry, we will win,” he said, referring clearly
to his estranged cousin Rahul Gandhi and the Congress.
“I know, I am also on this stage with my Gandhi surname. Had I been
Varun Chowdhury or Sharma, I would not have been here. But this name
comes with responsibility, responsibility towards the poor, towards
you,” he said.
Fighting for the poor of the nation is a long struggle that people
from “well-off families” are not interested in, he said. “I want to
produce at least one lakh Varun Gandhis who will fight that war,” he
said.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections: It's advantage BJP
Hemant Kumar / DNA
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 8:43 IST
Bangalore: The exit polls and the pre-poll surveys may have predicted
a hung house in the 198-seat BBMP council, but the BJP is not worried.
And they have a good reason to be happy. A tally of 96 seats is good
enough for the BJP to reach the magic figure of 125, while the
Congress, which is warming up to the JD(S), needs to score 108 to have
its man as the mayor.
With MLAs, MLCs and MPs from Bangalore being part of the BBMP council,
any aspirant for the mayor’s post would need at least 125 votes.
Sitting MLAs, MLCs and MPs from constituencies falling under the BBMP
jurisdiction have the voting right to elect a mayor in the BBMP
council. The BJP already has 29 such captive votes in the form of its
city MLAs, MLCs and MPs. So all it needs is just 96 seats to reach the
magic figure of 125 to grab the mayor’s post.
The JD(S) has just 4 captive votes. However, the Congress and JD(S)
together could spoil BJP’s plans. But it is a tall order as the
combine would have to bag at least 104 of the 198 seats. “We are
comfortably placed. Even under the worst situation of BJP winning just
about 88 or 90 seats, we can have our way as all that we need is the
support of just a few independents,” said BJP city unit spokesman S
Prakash.
Congress practising fascism: BJP
Special Correspondent
“Modi has proved his critics wrong”
“Congress only making half-hearted attempts to interrogate Headley”
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of practising
fascism by the kind of its attack against actor Amitabh Bachchan and
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress was increasingly betraying signs of frustration with each
of its attempt to tarnish the Opposition parties and leaders going in
vain, the BJP said.
The Congress was unabashedly practising untouchability and targeting
the Bachchan family only because it had differences with “one Congress
family,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said. “The entire party
and even its State governments are keen not even to be seen on one
platform with him.”
The the Bandra-Worli sea link belonged to people and not to “that
family” or the Congress. The withdrawal of invitation to Mr.
Bachchan's son by the Delhi Chief Minister and violence indulged by
Congressmen, tearing posters and banners, was condemnable, Ms.
Sitharaman said.
The country had not forgotten the way noted singer Kishore Kumar was
targeted during the Emergency when All India Radio banned his songs
for almost a whole year, she said.
Ms. Sitharaman charged the Congress with encouraging and rewarding Mr.
Modi's baiters in a bid to defame a duly elected Chief Minister. She
warned that this misplaced energies of the Congress would spell danger
to the country.
Mr. Modi had proved his critics wrong by displaying his responsibility
and cooperating with the SIT (Special Investigation Team) and
underlining his belief that the Constitution and the law of the land
were supreme, she said.
The Congress was only making half-hearted attempts to interrogate
Lashkar operative David Headley. No attempt was being made to
interrogate him and one attempt had even shamefully failed, she said.
The BJP accused the UPA of not showing any enthusiasm in implementing
the Supreme Court verdict on hanging Afzal Guru “though he is a proven
offender against India.”
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032955371300.htm
BJP govt protected anti-socials: Dhariwal
TNN, Mar 31, 2010, 05.14am IST
JAIPUR: Discussion on crime in the city rocked the House on Tuesday
when home minister Shanti Dhariwal, while answering a question,
alleged that the erstwhile BJP government had given protection to anti-
socials.
BJP whip Rajendra Rathore immediately registered a protest and was was
joined by deputy leader of Opposition Ghanshyam Tiwari and former home
minister Gulab Chand Kataria.
Claiming personal responsibility in the event the former BJP
government had protected any criminal Kataria said, "I was the home
minister then and if anyone was protected then I am responsibile but
can the home minister cite any example to prove his allegation or give
the names of such criminals."
Tiwari, on the other hand, blamed Dhariwal personally for the rising
incidents of crime in the city.
The hullabaloo arose after BJP MLA Nirmal Kumawat had inquired on the
number of cases registered in the state between January 2009 and
December 2009. Kumawat also wanted to know how many such cases were
registered in Phulera and if Jaipur had registered a rise in the
crime.
"The state has registered 1,66,565 cases between January 2009 and
December 2009, out of which in 9,5397 cases challans have been filed
in court," the minister said.
He added that Jaipur South had registered the maximum rise in crime
rate with 686 cases amounting to 12.62%. The zone, as compared to
5,435 cases in 2008, has seen 6,121 cases till December 2009. Next
came Jaipur North for which the figures for 2009 stands at 3,905
compared to 3,517 in 2008 ---- an increase of 11.03% with 388 cases.
Jaipur East recorded 6,762 cases in 2009 compared to 6,455 in 2008, an
increase of 307 cases at 4.76% while Jaipur rural has seen the least
increase at 0.01% with figures of 9,052 in 2009 as compared to 9051 in
2008.
"Therefore on an average Jaipur has registered an increase of 5.65%
while Rajasthan has seen a increase of 10.10% which is well below the
average of other states at 15.7 %," the minister said.
However, Kumawat, who had asked the question, stated if the negligible
rise in Jaipur rural is taken into account then Jaipur city has seen
10% rise in the crime rate.
Dhariwal explained the increase in crime figures are due to reasons
like an increase population ,in powers of the land mafia, tourism
mafia, Lapkas, unemployment, horizontal growth of the city, the
linking of Jaipur with the broad gauge rail lines, increase in land
prices, increase in the number of vehicles, immigration from other
states etc.
"In fact, it is because of the fact that the previous government had
given protection to criminals that such a situation has arisen today,"
he said.
That was enough to incite the Opposition and the blame game began.
While the BJP wanted the minister to table the names of such
criminals, Dhariwal continued with his allegations.
In another question related to rising crime in Jaipur, Dhariwal
claimed in comparison to 2007 crime had plunged in 2008. However, in
2009 there has again been a rise in the crime rate specially in cases
like attempted murder, loot, theft though cases like dacoity and armed
robbery has seen a decline.
But the minister refused to acknowledge that on the whole there has
been an increase in crime in the city.
"We're in the Money": Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3bc67593a8a0ac5b#
Madam I 'm Adam: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/fbe56c67d373c696#
It's the Economy, Stupid: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/a46d86d4a3976279#
BRIC-a-BRAC: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/1d0dab2a874d0f26#
Big Bang: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/293ffa6b644467ef#
Indian Economic Survey: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/83574501e1c1ee72#
World's Baked Billionaires: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/42a9c3eca9882e80#
Below Poverty line, Line: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/097e4867b8baf22a#
Outsourcing Sorcery: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/topics?start=300&sa=N
Globalization Gobbledigook: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/bea6b5954e7332f4#
Indian Budget Bonanza: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/40cc05563d71e4a4#
Pranab Mukherjee, my Main Man: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/0ce38c4203700750#