Organiser Weekly

Editorial

Kashmir is slipping into the stone age, literally and metaphorically. Literally because the terrorists and their hired goons have taken to stone as the easiest weapon to fight the security forces. Metaphorically because their lack of sensitivity is exposed in the fact that the terrorists are pushing children and teenagers to the forefront to fight their messy fight against India.

Earlier the Kashmiri terrorists used to post women in the front, and attack from behind, thereby tying the hands of the security forces. Women have probably become wiser. Now they are pushing children to the front.Teenagers, kids who should be in schools, not in the streets are the latest victims of their so-called holy war. These children are let loose on the security forces. The picture of one policeman surrounded and being beaten by six-seven lathi wielding, masked teenagers, published in all the national dailies on June 29, 2010 explains a lot about these hot-heads of what is going on. The protesters take to the street, provoke the police and security men. When they retaliate, and if any of the protester is killed, it sets the stage for the demonstration the next day. The out-of-power politicians cheer the teenagers from the fringe, blame the security forces and demand their withdrawal.

If the government and the politicians are interested in the safety and welfare of the people of Kashmir and want to protect the so-called local identity then they should appeal to the terrorists not to stoop so low and throw the future generations into the mouth of the cannons. Which is what Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister has done now. There was a phase when the terrorists used the mosques as their base and attacked the security forces. In one such incident, one of the holiest mosques Char-e-Sharif was partially burnt and was restored by the security forces.

What is more appalling is the huge price the security forces are paying in this. According to the CRPF, 1600 men have been injured and grounded in the past two years in different parts of the valley because of stone pelting. Imagine the enormity, 1600 men, equivalent of 20 companies, injured in about 700 days. Over 200 vehicles have been damaged. According to reports, 52 personnel have been injured in the last one week. If one person is killed in police firing, the valley erupts as if on cue. But when the security forces are maimed or killed in dozens by the terrorist attacks, the government and the society do not even murmer.

We have said it in these columns before and we repeat: What is lacking in Kashmir is the political will. The security measures need to be supported by actions by the governments at the state and the centre. The political forces out of power in the state and inimical to the interest of the nation should be marginalised. There is hardly anything called functioning economy in the valley. The local elected bodies are defunct. People who have visited Kashmir before and recently speak of the huge ecological degradation that has taken place there, Dal Lake being the biggest example. Once the pride of Kashmir, it is now plagued by weeds and stinking water. The Rs 300 crore loan sanctioned by the World Bank for clean-up was spent on it, but with little result.

Omar Abdullah made a warming gesture in inviting the Kashmiri Pandits to worship at the Kheer Bhawani temple. Over 40,000 Kashmiris worshipped there on June 18, 2010. The state ensured their safety. Let this be a beginning. Such measures should be repeated oftener, which would send out a strong message of India’s determination to restore the valley to the Kashmiris.

Every time there is violence, the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti raise the bogey of excesses by the security forces. Her party has a myopic view, it does not wish to see the stress under which the security forces are. The Army Chief Y K Singh has categorically stated that time was not ripe to reduce forces in the valley as terrorists continue to operate from several hideouts. He is also of the opinion that political steps are needed in Kashmir.

Calming Kashmir is not an impossible task. After decades of violence that has taken them nowhere, the ordinary Kashmiri must be wanting to get on with life. People like Shah Faesal, who topped the IAS this year should be inspiration enough in the political, social and administrative processes to restore the system of local governance in the state. We have powerful instruments in our Constitution like the Panchayati Raj that can go miles in healing the situation there. The major stumbling block is the monetary and military help that the extremists and their hangers on receive from across the Western border, which needs to be addressed by Delhi. Pakistan has been following the diabolic Afzal Khan policy. The answer should be Shivaji’s.

Related stories:

1) India’s Stand Vindicated

2) Secret about Kashmir @ http://globeonline.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/secret-about-kashmir/

3) Unraveling India @ http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/unraveling-india/

4) India under Eclipse @ http://indiaview.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/india-under-eclipse/

M.V. Kamath

Organiser

What is even more sickening is Mayawati’s attempts to spend Rs 3.8 crore of public money on eight statues of hers and Rs 3.37 crore for seven statues of her mentor Kanshi Ram to be installed in Uttar Pradesh and worse still, to spend Rs 52.20 crore to set up 60 statues of elephants-the election symbol of the BSP-in the State. It is total misuse of public money in an obvious case of self-aggrandisement. But who cares?

IF there is one thing the average Hindu would want to feel proud of, it is that he is not intolerant.

Think of this: The ruling party is today headed by an Italian-born Roman Catholic who runs the country. The Prime Minister is a Sikh. The Vice-President is a Muslim and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, not to speak of the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are dalits.

The Speaker besides, is a woman, which other country, pray, can show such liberalism? Not a single country in the world. The so-called upper caste Hindu, besides, suffers from an enormous guilt complex vis-à-vis dalits, for treating them for centuries as untouchables, no matter what various social reformers like Dasaveshwara in Karnataka have striven to change the mind-set of people.

That is why, one suspects, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in her fourth term can get away with anything. Mayawati is a dalit and she has been exploiting the guilt-complex effectively. She must be one of the most corrupt Chief Minister India ever had, but she gets away scot-free. But it is time the truth about her assets is revealed even if, presently, she has got a reprieve. The CBI has already told the Supreme Court that it has ample evidence of her illegal wealth. Much of it is available in a remarkable biography of the lady, entitled Behnji, authored by Ajoy Bose and published by no less a firm than Penguin/Viking.

It must be remembered that Bose’s findings have never been challenged. But what are they? The CBI listed the immovable assets of Mayawati and her family as follows: 41 agricultural plots, 16 residential plots, 7 shops, three orchards, two shops-cum-residences located in and around Delhi; a mansion in her ancestral village of Badalpur, described by NDTV as a mini-Taj Mahal, buit on a sprawling 30,000 square yards estate.

According to a CBI list filed in 2003, Mayawati then had assets worth Rs 36.5 million in one bank account and Rs 2.345 million in another. In 2004 she had Rs 1.5 million in cash and Rs 97.8 million in bank accounts and jewellery worth Rs 3.09 million. In 2007 her moveable assets included Rs 5.02 million in cash, Rs 128.8 million in bank deposits and jewellery worth Rs 5.08 million. Giving further details of her jewellery, Mayawati listed 1035.260 grammes of gold 76.040 grammes of diamonds and 18,500 kgs of silver. She also admitted owning murals worth Rs 1.5 million. According to Mayawati’s own self-evaluation from two affidavits her financial worth including both moveable and immoveable assets jumped from Rs 160.7 million in 2004 to Rs 520 million in 2007.

Bose says that in the late ‘90s, the BSP ran a year-long collection drive so that they could give birthday gifts of Rs. 6,50,000 to Kanshi Ram her mentor to celebrate his 65th birth-day and Rs 420,000 to her to celebrate her 42nd birthday. How nice. Comments Bose: “There is no credible explanation why these large donations, even if contributed by party workers, have been used for mansions, farm houses, commercial plots, jewellery and bank deposits in the name of Mayawati and her close relatives.” Bose adds: “Condemnation of Mayawati’s vast wealth and lavish spending must be tempered with the recognition of the general absence of any kind of moral code in Indian politics, when it comes to money- most of them, if investigated as rigorously as the BSP leader, would also stand exposed of accumulated properties, money and jewellery beyond their obvious means. It is a malaise that affects the country’s political system as a whole-”

And, by way of proving it, Bose credits the Tamil Nadu leader Jayalalithaa with assets worth Rs 240 million, followed by M Karunanidhi with Rs 220 million and Andhra Pradesh’s Chandrababu Naidu with Rs 210 million though Bose admits that none of them have even half the wealth that Mayawati who was born in a lower middle class dalit home of a government clerk with many dependents, has. How did she manage to accumulate that much wealth? Will the CBI kindly elaborate? What is even more sickening is Mayawati’s attempts to spend Rs 3.8 crore of public money on eight statues of hers and Rs 3.37 crore for seven statues of her mentor Kanshi Ram to be installed in Uttar Pradesh and worse still, to spend Rs 52.20 crore to set up 60 statues of elephants-the election symbol of the BSP-in the State. It is total misuse of public money in an obvious case of self-aggrandisement. But who cares? Fancy the Chief Minister spending Rs 1.55 crore a piece on a 24-ft high bronze statue of herself and another similar of Kanshi Ram! The issue may have been taken to the Supreme Court but by and large the people of Uttar Pradesh have taken the matter lightly.

After all Mayawati is a dalit, isn’t she? And dalits in the past have been ill-treated, haven’t they? So what is wrong with Mayawati taking her revenge? What is wrong, indeed. Our attitude is one of chaltha hai. Anything goes. Till recently the CBI was breathing down her neck in the disproportionate assets and Taj corridor cases but she has received a breather now because she has rushed to the UPA government’s support on the cut motion issue. If she had gone against the government the CBI would probably have got at her throat; she has now temporarily saved herself and never mind what the public thinks of the UPA.

The same thing happened in the case of Shibu Soren who ditched the BJP to keep the UPA government going. There has been a criminal case against Soren, but these can wait. After all, he is a tribal, isn’t he? Like Mayawati being a dalit, isn’t she? How can anyone blame them? But then we learn from an RTI failed by The Times of India that governments headed by leaders of various parties have withdrawn criminal cases against 51 political leaders in the past ten years, the beneficiaries including Ministers, MLAs, former Ministers and former MLAs. In most cases the State Government withdrew cases using its power under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code. We live in a sick society which provides political parties to forgive crimes if thereby they can continue to stay in power. It is as plain as that. Does the media have a role to play in this connection? Yes, it has. Does it play it? No, it doesn’t. Why should it when by playing it, it invites retribution? Mayawati saved the UPA government in time, she has been amply awarded. So what’s there to talk about?

Also Read:

UPA Cozy with Traitors @ http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=346&page=3

Organiser Weekly

Think of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. When I submitted a report on this aspect to the then Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, he first said it is a state subject how can the centre spend money on it? But he took a bold decision and sanctioned a Rs 60,000 crore scheme within eight days. The decision to expand the National Highways into four lanes was also taken by the Vajpayee Government. He gave credit cards to farmers. If Vajpayeeji can do it why not this government? I asked 14 questions to this government. But it failed to answer any of them. The nation has been ruined due to wrong economic policy and bad governance by the UPA.

We have to motivate the workers for serving the needy and downtrodden. There is a need to develop social consciousness and responsibility. If we are able to bring a positive change in the life of a needy person, it will be our biggest contribution in national development. We should get involved in politics as a sensitive social worker.

Our supporters are very emotional and they get disturbed with even minor problems. Apart from it, a section of the media runs a sustained campaign against us, which further demoralises us. Since we have to go a long way, we need to develop patience and tolerance. I tell the workers not to look at things through the prism of the media and have patience and trust.

The Congress-led UPA government is not eradicating poverty, it is eradicating poor people. This government cannot do anything better for the people or the nation. They just know how to divide the society in the name of caste, religion or community. They are indulging in vote bank politics through appeasement. Now they have started appeasing even the terrorists. Why is Afzal not hanged? This government has totally surrendered before the terrorists. They joined hands with Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.

NITIN Gadkari has an easy charm about him. His disarming simplicity, earnest, pro-active approach and down to earth manners have earned him many new admirers. He is essentially a professional trying a paradigm shift in politics. He talks of training the party workers on voluntary service activities, taking up rural reconstruction, taking care of unorganised sector, helping people displaced by rapid urbanisation and growth stand on their feet, and move along with the society marching forward, giving a refreshing sense of participation in the political odyssey.

The BJP president visited the editorial office of Organiser and Panchjanya as part of his hands on approach, to understand first hand the working of various institutions in the country. So far he has taken up many such visits in different parts of the country, which he characterises as very useful. He believes in making grass roots contact. During his visit he had a two-hour long chat with our editorial team. Organiser editor R Balashankar and Panchjanya editor Baldevbhai Sharma with correspondent Pramod Kumar, interviewed him on the occasion and elicited his plans of rebuilding the party. Given below is a brief account of the conversation:

As party chief now Delhi is your headquarters. How is your experience in Delhi?
The induction of younger workers in the organisational set up is a routine exercise in the BJP. Everyone has his role and importance. But the basic structure and the spirit remain the same. We all are party workers and we have to work with this feeling only.

I am new in Delhi. Experience-wise also, I am junior. In spite of all that, all the party workers and senior leaders accepted me wholeheartedly. We are working together. This change took place very smoothly in BJP because it is different from all other political parties. With the growth of the organisation there might have been some problems, but our original strength, structure and set up are qualitatively different from others. I am getting full cooperation of all.

Your appointment sent a positive message across the rank and file. What changes do you feel the party requires today?
We did not get expected results in the Lok Sabha elections. But BJP is still a strong political power and it has seen many ups and downs. There was a time when we had only two MPs and the Congress leaders used to ridicule us as ham do hamare do. Even Atalji lost the elections. But we recovered from all those situations. The Congress also was once reduced to 114 seats in the Lok Sabha. Once it had won 425 seats. We need to study all these ups and downs carefully. I have studied them. This is a fact that the Congress still retains some part of the ground that it gained before 1947. But after Independence it repeatedly divided the society in the name of caste and religion to keep its vote bank intact. This is the ground reality.

On the other hand our vote percentage is smaller compared to the Congress. We need to work hard in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and some other states. We did not lose the Lok Sabha elections due to any differences in the party. There might be some reasons at political level but the media gave them unnecessary twist as confusion in the party. But they were not the only reasons. We need to increase our strength with a positive approach. New people have to be associated with the party. The sections of the society which are still not with us have to be brought to our fold. I have appealed to the workers to concentrate more on the Scheduled Castes and weaker sections. We are also the followers of Baba Saheb Ambedkar, we are against untouchability and casteism, samata and samarasata are part of our life-convictions and we want to establish socio-economic equality in the society.

In Scheduled Tribes constituencies the BJP is the front runner already?
Many of our workers are doing admirable work among Scheduled Tribes. Deendayalji gave us this vision of serving the needy. We believe the day we are able to ensure roti, kapada and makan for all, the vision of Deendayalji will truly be fulfilled. We have to concentrate more on the issues related to both the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It should be done as a positive social work.

There are many areas in the country where the BJP is weak?
We believe in one nation, one people. We want to take this message to every corner of the country. We are opposed to terrorism. A criminal is a criminal, his religion has nothing to do with it. He does not belong to any caste, religion or language. Similarly, a terrorist is a terrorist; he does not belong to any caste, religion or language. We want to create unity and harmony. Love for the motherland is the only criteria. We don’t look at our people as vote bank. If we were anti-Muslim why would we have made Dr Abdul Kalam the President of the country? We are not against Muslims at all. I feel it is time to take all nationalist and patriotic people with the party.

When we talk about development, prosperity, progress, alleviation of poverty, employment generation, it is not for any particular section or community. It is for all the countrymen. I appeal to Muslims also to seriously think what has the Congress done for them in the last five decades? Our opponents have always tried to create misunderstanding about BJP.

Do you still swear by Common Civil Code, Article 370 and such issues which make you different from other parties?
Common Civil Code is for the betterment of all. But the continuation of Article 370 in Kashmir will benefit none. Where in the world is there special provision for the people of a particular region? If we all are one, why this special status to some? We all are part of a single society and we share the same legacy, culture, history and ancestors. Only moving ahead together will ensure our progress. I think if people are educated properly on the issue of Article 370, they will surely come with us. After assuming the office of party president I met many leading journalists, thinkers, literary persons and social leaders of the country and they all took it very positively. It is my experience that if the matter is explained in a proper way, misconceptions get cleared.

Making the nation prosperous from all angles is the agenda of our ideology and conviction. We have to concentrate on all the issues whether it is water, power, transport, communication, agriculture, industry, education, moral education, etc. We are preparing a vision document for development of the nation underlining our priorities for next 25 years.

What is the BJP’s development plank?
All elite sections of the society including Chartered Accountants, doctors, professors, lawyers, journalists, industrialists, traders, teachers-all sections are to be brought to the party fold. These are basically the people who understand information technology, bio-technology, economic policy of the 21st century and the factors of development well. We want to transform the present politics into the politics of national reconstruction, socio-economic transformation and social service for the benefit of the last person of the society. We believe that power politics cannot benefit the country and politics should be an instrument for socio-economic betterment.

The professionals and intellectuals should be brought to the party fold as Friends of BJP. This message should reach across the country. We are fighting against poverty, but many times I ask why the suicide by farmers not become an inspiration for us to save the agriculture? Since crores of people do not have food to eat, should it not become our inspiration to save Indian farmer! Crores of youth do not have employment, should granting them employment not be our priority? The Naxalites and Maoists are killing the innocent people and they have challenged our whole system. Should fighting against them not be our priority? Both our internal and external security are under threat. Should it not be our political priority? Instead of thinking about individual interest, ambitions, ego and career, welfare of the deprived people should become our priority. Doing all this, if in the process, we get power anytime in the life it is okay, otherwise also we will continue to work with the same spirit and dedication.

What are the other areas of concern for you? How do you propose to tackle urbanisation related issues?
The unorganised sector of the society also needs immediate attention. The number of such people has increased manifold in metro cities during the last few years. Many cycle rickshaw pullers suffer from TB. Can we not reduce their sufferings by organising medical camps for them? I have been working for non-conventional energy and agriculture for the last seven years. Can we not change the life of deprived people through this traditional energy and swadeshi science? Yes, we can do it and should do it as a priority.

Many of our workers are already engaged in such constructive activities. During the Indore convention, about 175 workers displayed their projects. This number is expected to increase up to 1000 by the next convention. We have to motivate the workers for serving the needy and downtrodden. There is a need to develop social consciousness and responsibility. If we are able to bring a positive change in the life of a needy person, it will be our biggest contribution in national development. We should get involved in politics as a sensitive social worker.

How do you plan to train your party workers for the kind of new politics you are aiming at?
It is a very important aspect. We have prepared a list of 17 subjects for it. We are in favour of modernisation not westernisation. We talk about e-learning. Education, training and research & development have to be emphasised. I am going to take some concrete steps for it. We have arranged two acre land in Delhi where we are going to set up a big project worth Rs 25 crore for research & development. We want that a committed work force should emerge from this centre.

Through this new orientation are you planning to make a shift away from issues like Sri Ramjanmabhoomi?
We don’t treat Sri Ram temple as a political issue. It is the issue which should be taken as a matter of faith of crores of people. It should be the national agenda of the country and not be treated as the agenda of a particular party. We want all political parties including the Congress find a solution together. We all believe in Sri Ram and his temple should be built in Ayodhya. It is a matter related to the sentiments of the countrymen and we don’t want to make it a political or election agenda. It should be above politics.

Do you see a solution in the near future?
The place where Sri Ram was born is one and cannot be other. Only Sri Ram temple should be built there. The Muslims can build a mosque at any other place than the janmabhoomi and we shall extend every possible help to them.

The BJP organised a very huge rally on price rise in Delhi recently. The BJP is talking of the whole country but the Congress concentrates on vote-politics. Will it work for you?
The Congress had promised to reduce price rise in 100 days. But they cheated the country on it. They have been talking about poverty alleviation but there has been total disappointment on it also. Rather the number of poor increased manifold. The reports of five committees-Tendulkar Committee, Sengupta Committee, Saxena Committee, World Bank and Asian Development Bank Reports, confirm it. The Planning Commission report also says the same thing. About 41 per cent population have been added to the BPL category. If the Congress has been claiming to alleviate poverty, why is the number of poor increasing?

The Congress disappointed the country on all fronts. Not only the number of poor increased, the inflation and price rise also touched sky high. Inflation is below 2 per cent in 25 countries of the world, but it is 11 per cent in India. The price of essential commodities is higher in India than many other countries of the world. During the Janata Party government there was no inflation or price. Similarly, during the Vajpayee government there was no inflation and price rise. But whenever the Congress came to power the inflation and price shot up. The poverty, farmers’ suicide, unemployment, inflation and price rise are not related to any caste, religion, community, language or region. These are related to wrong economic policy and bad governance. Today, we need better irrigation, seed management, loan on low interest, good technology, agro-processing industry, but the UPA government is busy in creating Special Economic Zones.

Think of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. When I submitted a report on this aspect to the then Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, he first said it is a state subject how can the centre spend money on it? But he took a bold decision and sanctioned a Rs 60,000 crore scheme within eight days. The decision to expand the National Highway into four lanes was also taken by the Vajpayee Government. He gave credit cards to farmers. If Vajpayeeji can do it why not this government? I asked 14 questions to this government. But it failed to answer any of them. The nation has been ruined due to wrong economic policy and bad governance by the UPA. The situation will not improve till they are in power.

The general belief is that there is no difference between the BJP and the Congress on Economic Policy?
There is a wide difference. It is basically a misconception. When Dr Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister some people thought that he would give a new direction to the nation. But the 14 questions that I had asked have not been answered till now. There is huge production of foodgrains in the country, but we do not have godowns and the wheat is rotting in the open. Why? Today we have only one third of the storage capacity required for storing the foodgrains. Why is the government not able to build the sufficient number of godowns? More than 100 godowns with one lakh MT capacity could have been built with the money that the UP Chief Minister wasted on her memorials. The nation wants answers to all these questions.

Irrigation comes under state subject. It should be brought to the centre and the way Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was started a similar national project should be started for irrigation also. If we are able to ensure more irrigation in the country our foodgrain production will increase three-fold. The Vajpayee government had formulated a detailed project for interlinking the rivers, but this government scrapped it. Even Dr Abdul Kalam wanted to give it a priority this government did not pay attention to it. Today there is no water in the Cauvery. If the water of the Ganga and Brahmaputra reached there, a big part of the country would have been benefited. The agriculture production would have been increased. If it happened, has the migration from villages to metro cities been there. They are migrating due to lack of employment. Fact is that the Congress repeatedly neglected the rural economy, agro industry and the poor right from 1947.

How do you assess the prospect of your party now?
The BJP is still a good party. Deterioration has been seen in every field. The people active in BJP too are part of the society. When the mass base of the party expands and people from different sections come, there may be some deterioration in quality. It does not mean that there is change in our basic structure and ideology. We have to think that the basic structure of the party should be strong and the ideology as well as the organisation are given priority. The unique nature, culture and mission are our identity and they should be maintained. We will be able to maintain it through extensive training programmes, research and development activities. There will be a positive change once again. The legacy that we inherited from Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya, Dr SP Mookerjee will remain intact.

On the issue of price rise the NDA is seen united inside the House but not outside it. Why?
All the constituents of the NDA are united. We are different political parties. Therefore organising all functions together is not possible. We are definitely one in Parliament on this issue. The question of price rise is not a political one, it is a problem related to the survival of the poor man of this country. We all are fighting for getting relief for the people.

What are the three biggest mistakes of Dr Manmohan Singh Government?
First, their Foreign Policy is wrong. Nepal is our friend, but the UPA is not able to nurture it. Despite repeated terrorist attacks our dialogue with Pakistan under US pressure is going on which is wrong. Russia was our friend since long, our dealing with it also not fair, again under the US pressure. The government has totally failed on Kashmir issue. As far as the Economic Policy is concerned it is a total failure. They are not eradicating poverty, they are eradicating poor people. This government cannot do anything better for the people or the nation. They just know how to divide the society in the name of caste, religion or community. They are indulging in vote bank politics through appeasement. Now they have started appeasing even the terrorists. Why Afzal is not hanged? This government has totally surrendered before the terrorists. They joined hands with Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. They are not only extending red-carpet welcome to Bangladeshi infiltrators, but ensuring voting rights also for them. The nation is not safe till they are in power.

Once the BJP used to have a committed vote bank but now there appears a dent in it also. How will you regain it?
I think it is the problem of mindset. We still have very committed voters across the country. Today we have governments in nine states. We also have 165 elected MPs, almost equal to the Congress. Then, why this mindset only about the BJP? When the family increases, certain problems definitely occur. We should not get disturb due to them. Our supporters are very emotional and they get disturbed with even minor problems. Apart from it, a section of media too runs a sustained campaign against us, which further demoralises us. Since we have to go a long way, we need to develop patience and tolerance. I tell the workers not to look at things through the prism of the media and have patience and trust.

It appears that the Congress has launched a campaign against Shri Narendra Modi and some other CMs of BJP ruled states. What do you think?
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has today become the Congress Bureau of Investigation, which is being misused to blackmail the opposition parties. The CBI and other agencies are being misused with bias against Shri Narendra Modi. It is a political conspiracy. Many people are involved in it. BJP does not believe in this kind of negative and vindictive politics. We will fight against it with our full might. Shri Modi is an exceptional Chief Minister. He has set an ideal on the front of development. There were riots in Mumbai also in 1992. Why there was no SIT then? The innocent Sikhs were inhumanly killed in 1984, why no SIT came for investigation? It is total misuse of power by targeting Shri Modi and the other Hindutva leaders. By doing it the CBI has lost its credibility and sanctity. The judiciary is also being misused against opposition leaders.

Source: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=344&page=19

A  Surya Prakash

Pioneer

Speaking at a function to mark the 125th foundation day of the Congress last month, party president Sonia Gandhi said that over the next year, the party “will recall those remarkable men and women without whose sacrifices and contributions, we would not be where we are today; we will also mark those events that have defined contemporary India, events shaped by our leaders that have left an indelible imprint on the nation’s social, political and economic history”. According to her, the party has been extraordinarily fortunate “to have had men and women of courage, integrity, sagacity and dedication to lead us”.

During her speech, Ms Gandhi showered fulsome praise on Jawaharlal Nehru, Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, ‘generously’ devoted two lines to Lal Bahadur Shastri (lest her partisanship become obvious) but made no mention of PV Narasimha Rao, who was one of our greatest Prime Ministers. Since we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of our republic, all citizens who take pride in India becoming an economic powerhouse in the 21st century will be doing a signal disservice to the real heroes of India if they allow Ms Gandhi’s deliberate omission of Rao’s name to go unchallenged.

The facts are as follows: Rao became the Prime Minister on June 21, 1991. The country’s economy was in a shambles when he entered office. Foreign exchange reserves had plummeted to precarious levels and the rate of inflation was 13 per cent and eventually rose to 17 per cent. The predecessor Government, headed by Chandra Shekhar, had pledged gold to the Bank of England to raise $ 200 million because India was on the verge of defaulting on payments. We had just Rs 2,100 crore in foreign exchange — barely enough to pay the import bill for two weeks.

When Rao passed away in 2004, the country’s foreign exchange reserves were $ 140 billion (Rs 6 lakh crore). In the last week of December 2009, when Ms Gandhi felt that Rao was not worthy of a mention at the Congress’s 125th anniversary, India’s forex reserves were close to U.S $ 285 billion (Rs 13 lakh crore !). Apart from this remarkable turnaround on the forex front, the country has achieved spectacular results in terms of per capita income and GDP growth. The media and communication boom that one sees today has its origins in Rao’s decision to end the Government’s monopoly in these sectors. India is now the second fastest growing economy and every nation in the world is keen to have a slice of the action. In short, Rao was ahead of Mr APJ Abdul Kalam in igniting the minds of Indians.

The second but equally commendable achievement of Rao was the grit and sagacity with which he tackled the problem of militancy in Punjab. The seeds of separatism were sown in Punjab during the tenure of Mrs Indira Gandhi and continued unabated during Rajiv Gandhi’s prime ministership. The situation in Punjab appeared to be spiralling out of control when Rajiv Gandhi demitted office in 1989. It needed a cerebral and gutsy Prime Minister like Rao to retrieve ground. But for the firmness displayed by him, Punjab could well have become the first State to secede from India. Yet, Rao is not worthy of a mention by the Congress president.

The Nehru-Gandhis have always been parsimonious in acknowledging the contributions of national leaders other than those who belonged to their family. This is a trait that is obvious from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, when everything was done to suppress the contribution of Sardar Patel, who successfully integrated 564 princely states and gave us a united India, and BR Ambedkar, who presided over the Constitution Committee.

The same trend continued when Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were at the helm. Ms Sonia Gandhi is obviously carrying forward the family tradition. That is why although she says the party will remember leaders who have left “an indelible imprint on the nation’s social, political and economic history”, she makes no mention of Rao.

Further, although she says that the party has been fortunate “to have had men and women of courage, integrity, sagacity and dedication to lead us”, she lacks the grace to acknowledge the contribution of a man who displayed both courage and sagacity at a crucial time.

But, the suppression of Rao’s achievements is not the only thing as far as this speech is concerned. The bigger problem is the attempt by her to credit Rao’s signal achievements on the economic front to Rajiv Gandhi. There is another family trait, it appears, to appropriate the achievements of others, be they those of Sardar Patel, Ambedkar or Rao. She makes the extraordinary claim that Rajiv Gandhi ushered in the information revolution and that the party’s manifesto of 1991 became the basis for economic policies over the next five years, “which imparted new strength and direction to our economy and society”, meaning thereby that Rao deserved no credit at all for what he achieved as Prime Minister.

We need to examine this claim. Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister for five years from October 31, 1984. Just a year after he demitted office, India was desperately pledging gold to the Bank of England for a measly $ 200 million and Ms Sonia Gandhi wants us to believe that he ushered in our economic recovery! Yet another claim made by her is that “he brought peace to troubled parts of our country”. Nothing can be more fatuous. Rajiv Gandhi defended the pogrom against Sikhs in his infamous speech at the Boat Club in New Delhi in November 1984. During his prime ministership, Punjab militancy was at its height and there were scores of killings and bombings. In those days, it required real courage to venture into a cinema hall or to travel by public transport in Punjab and Delhi. The man who saved Punjab for India and brought back peace to that State was Rao.

Finally, although Ms Gandhi’s speech at her party’s anniversary is loaded with omissions, it may have its uses. It can enter textbooks dealing with the law of evidence as a classic example of ‘suppressio veri, suggestio falsi’!

1)Dynasty vs. Democracy @

http://indiasecular.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/dynasty-vs-democracy/

2) Demonarchy of India  @

http://indiaview.wordpress.com/2007/08/01/de’mo-narchy-of-democratic-india/

Organiser Weekly

The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The Ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.

This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their charges.

In Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers, Sita Ram Goel describes the Christian missionary strategists’ plan to infiltrate Hindu society and gain the confidence of the people: “Christianity has to drop its alien attire and get clothed in Hindu cultural forms. In short, Christianity has to be presented as an indigenous faith. Christian theology has to be conveyed through categories of Hindu philosophy; Christian worship has to be conducted in the manner and with the materials of Hindu puja. Christian sacraments have to sound like Hindu samskaras; Christian churches have to copy the architecture of Hindu temples; Christian hymns have to be set to Hindu music; Christian themes and personalities have to be presented in styles of Hindu painting; Christian missionaries have to dress and live like Hindu sannyasins; Christian mission stations have to look like Hindu Ashrams. And so on, the literature of Indigenisation goes into all aspects of Christian thought, organisation and activity and tries to discover how far and in what way they can be disguised in Hindu forms.”

The late Sita Ram Goel wrote this in 1988, and he would not be surprised to learn that Christian priests and monks in America have adopted these very tactics to attract a whole generation of American youth interested in Hindu spirituality, back to Christianity. The leader in this movement today is Abbot George Burke of Atma Jyoti Ashram in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. He is better known on the Internet as Swami Nirmalananda Giri.

Isha Jyoti to Atma Jyoti
Atma Jyoti Ashram was originally called Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas Ashram and was located at Borrego Springs, California. Fr. George Burke is a Greek Orthodox Christian priest, and if reports are correct, most or all of the community of brothers attached to him are Christian priests.

On a visit to India, Fr. George met the Bengali saint Ananda Mai Ma. She is said to have instructed him to remain in the Christian religion and continue his Christian practices. This is not unusual advice from a Hindu guru. In spite of their enlightenment, most are grossly ignorant of Christianity’s ideology and imperial designs, its triumphant, sectarian prayers and bloody rituals. Hindu gurus advise their foreign followers to remain in the religion of their forefathers, not realising the negative consequences of their thoughtless words.

This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their charges.

Ananda Mai’s alleged instruction suited Fr. George and his followers and they quoted her later as their authority to don the ochre robes of Hindu sannyasis and adopt the Sanskrit titles and names of Smartha Dasnami monks. The fact that Ananda Mai Ma was not an initiated Dasnami sannyasin and had no authority to give them ochre robes or Dasnami titles did not deter them in the impersonation drama.

They continued to perform the bloody sacrifice of the Christian Mass in secret, even as they presented themselves in public as simple, unaffiliated Hindu monks. It was the old fraud of Robert de Nobili and Henri Le Saux being repeated on an unsuspecting public, only this time it was an American and not an Indian public being duped by persuasive snake oil salesmen.

Om on Cross
At one point in their career, while still the Sri Isha Jyoti Sannyas community in Borrego Springs, they were caught out in their charade by none other than the Shaiva Siddhanta Church in Hawaii. The brothers did carpentry for a living, being followers of the Carpenter, and one of the items they produced for sale was a Roman cross with the sacred Hindu word-symbol ‘Om’ nailed to its cross bars. They sent a sample to Hinduism Today with the hope of attracting sales. They got instead a negative response and a return of the obscene article. Hindus, even modern American Hindu converts, are deeply offended by this kind of syncretism and do not understand the appeal it has for New Agers and gay Christian priests who flaunt it on their cassock fronts as a sign of their radical universalism.

Catholic writer S. Kulandaiswami said vis-à-vis Fr. Bede Griffiths and his bastardised Om-on-Cross iconography: “Ritual, rites, and ceremonies in Hinduism have not been changed to suit the whims of modern innovators. Griffiths, by superimposing the sacred word ‘Om’ on a Cross, imagines he has created a new spiritual phenomenon. On the contrary, he confuses and insults both Hinduism and Christianity. He fails to realise that by such acts he is neither enriching Christianity nor honouring Hinduism. One has to respect the unique rites and rituals of each religion, which placed in another context, will be meaningless and confusing.”

In a later debate published in the letters column of The Indian Express, Chennai, in 1989, The Hindu correspondent S Venkatachalam wrote: “It is highly outrageous and objectionable to compare … Hindu leaders and religious heads with the Christian missionary experimentalists like Bede Griffiths, Hans Staffner and the Christian missionary Fr. Henri Le Saux, the so-called Abhishiktananda. Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji, Ramana Maharshi and Paramacharya of Kanchi never resorted to such experimentation of a “cocktail religion” or “masala and kichidi religion” by mixing religious symbols, donning the dress of a Christian father or Muslim mullah, building church-like or mosque-like temples, fabricating Bible or Quran-like Hindu shlokas, or asserting that Rama or Krishna or Shiva is the only God and by accepting Him alone one can get salvation.”

The Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas Ashram brothers did not succeed in pedalling their original handcrafted ‘Om-on-cross’ to the Hindus of Hawaii then, but in their new incarnation as sadhus of Atma Jyoti Ashram they have succeeded in getting advertising space in Hinduism Today and the sponsorship of Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. Yet they remain, so far as we know, Christian priests in orange robes with false Sanskrit names and titles, the usual New Age bells and beads added. They are quite a success in Christian duplicity, if not in true Hindu spirituality.

The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.

Theosophists and Benedictines
Though Ramanan is the editor of Mountain Path as required by law, the de facto editor is the Australian theosophist Christopher Quilkey, a disciple of the anti-modernist French Sufi Rene Guenon. Quilkey is assisted by the American Catholic Benedictine monk Brother Michael.

Brother Michael divides his time between Shanti Vanam near Tiruchirappalli, the Benedictine hermitage of the notorious Christian missionary Fr. Bede Griffiths, and Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. He is a Catholic priest and will say, Mass whenever and wherever the Catholic spirit moves him, including Ramana Ashram and other places of Hindu pilgrimage and worship. His other duty is to vet articles sent to Mountain Path and forward them to Christopher Quilkey in Kodaikanal for acceptance and publication. Ramanan shows little or no interest in the articles selected for publication, and though the ashram follows Vedic Brahminical traditions and can afford to employ a professional, it is not able to find and keep a responsible and dedicated Hindu editor for its magazine.

Ramanan appears to be in a state of denial regarding Christians in his own ashram and missionaries in general. He writes, “There is no doubt that Christianity has, over centuries been a proselytising religion and some of the preachers had indulged in scurrilous propaganda against Hindu beliefs and mores. But there is nothing to worry. The worst is over and the Vedantic Truth is eternal and imperishable. I know a number of Christian priests who revere Hinduism and Vedanta. It is well known that Westerners are increasingly being drawn to Yoga and Vedanta which Swami Vivekananda called the ‘Religion of the Future.’”

Nothing to worry, eh? The worst is over, eh? Either Ramanan is a fool or he is in league with the Christian missionaries who publish in the ashram journal.

The first articles to appear in Mountain Path by an Atma Jyoti Ashram member were by a Catholic priest who resides in Tiruvannamalai and calls himself Swami Sadasivananda Giri. The articles were inoffensive enough, but because it was known to a number of sadhus and Ramana Ashram devotees that the author was in fact a Christian priest masquerading as a Hindu sannyasi, the matter was brought to the Ramana Ashram president’s attention with the request that Sadasivananda be identified by his real Christian name and titles to Mountain Path readers.

The letter was ignored, and when the April-June 2009 issue of Mountain Path appeared, it was discovered that not only did Swami Sadasivananda’s article appear without proper identification, but an article by Fr. George Burke, Greek Orthodox abbot of Atma Jyoti Ashram, New Mexico, was also included under the name Swami Nirmalananda Giri. The request to identify Christian contributors to the journal was not only denied by the Ramana Ashram president Ramanan, but a strong message of contempt and scorn for Hindu sannyas traditions was given out by the Mountain Path editor and his dubious, uncommitted assistants.

Infiltration by Impersonation
The problem of Christian priests and missionaries masquerading as Hindu sannyasis is an old one in India. The impersonation drama was first carried out by Robert de Nobili in Madurai in the 17th century.

It was continued and made notorious by Fr. Bede Griffiths (aka Swami Dayananda) in the 20th century, though his collaborator, the French Benedictine monk Fr. Henri Le Saux, was without doubt the most successful Hindu sadhu impersonator. He is known to this day by his assumed Sanskrit name Swami Abhishiktananda, and had none other than the late Swami Chidananda Saraswati of Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh as a patron.

Also Read:

1)  Fooling Hindus 2) Shlokas on Mount 3) Hybrid Bible

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=298&page=33

Nicole Elfi,  jaia-bharati.org

 Godhra, a city of the Indian State of Gujarat, was the lead story in all Indian newspapers on February 27th-28th, 2002.

A shattering piece of news: 58 Hindu pilgrims had been burned alive in a train. “57 die in ghastly attack on train” ran the Times of India’s headline; 

“Mob targets Ramsevaks [Devotees of Rama] returning from Ayodhya”; “58 killed in attack on train with Karsevaks [volunteers]” (The Indian Express);

“1500-strong mob butcher 57 Ramsevaks on Sabarmati Express” (The Asian Age).

But the BBC’s announcement had a very different tone: “58 Hindu ‘extremists’ burned to death” …

or Agence France Press on March 2nd: “A train full of Hindu ‘extremists’ was burnt.”

     A deluge of anguished news followed about a “Muslim genocide”: “Mass killings of Muslims in reprisal riots” (NYT, March 5th),

“The authorities … share the prejudices of the Hindu gangs who have been busy pulping their Muslim neighbours” (The Observer, March 4th).

We were told that Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, intended to eradicate Muslims from the State — more than 9% of Gujarat’s population, in other words five million people.

We read that the police was conniving in the mass slaughter and did nothing to prevent it. Narendra Modi was compared to Hitler, or Nero. We shuddered reading the reports describing rapes and various horrors, supposedly inflicted on Muslims by Hindus.

     Today, six years later, with the noises and cries of the wounds having fallen silent, what emerges from those events? What are the facts?

     At 7:43 A.M. on February 27th, 2002, the Sabarmati Express rolled into the Godhra station, fortunately with a four-hour delay, in broad daylight. This train transported more than 2,000 people, mainly karsewaks on their way back to Ahmedabad after participating in the Poorna Ahuti Yagya at Ayodhya, a ritual at the traditional birthplace of Rama.

     As it pulled out of the station, the train was pelted with stones and bricks, and passengers from several bogeys were forced to bring down their windows to protect themselves.

Someone pulled the emergency chain: the train came to a halt about 100 metres away from the platform, surrounded by a large crowd of Muslims. The railway police managed to disperse the crowd, and the train resumed its journey.

     Within minutes, the emergency chain was simultaneously pulled again, from several coaches.

It halted at about 700 metres from the station. A crowd of over 1,000 surrounded the train, pelting it with bricks, stones, then burning missiles and acid bulbs, especially on the S-5, S-6 and S-7 coaches.

     The vacuum pipe between coaches S-6 and S-7 was cut, thereby preventing any further movement of the train. The doors were locked from outside. A fire started in coach S-7, which the passengers were able to extinguish. But the attack intensified and coach S-6 caught fire and minutes later, was in flames. Passengers who managed to get out of the burning compartment were attacked with sharp weapons, and stoned. They received serious injuries, some were killed. Others got out through the windows and took shelter below the coach.

     Fifty eight pilgrims were burned alive, including twenty-seven women and ten children. The whole attack lasted 20-25 minutes.[1]

     What transpired then, in the Indian press? Let’s imagine a coach of French pilgrims coming back from Lourdes, burned alive.

     Strangely, instead of clearly, straightforwardly condemning the act, the Indian English-language press tried to justify it: “Pilgrims provoked by chanting pro-Hindu slogans” (they were not slogans but bhajans, or devotional songs, ending with “Jai Sri Ram” (Victory to Sri Rama). “It’s because they were returning from Ayodhya, where they asked for the reconstruction of a temple at the traditional birth place of Rama; this offends the feelings of the Muslims.”

In sum, the victims, roasted alive, were guilty.

The Anger

     Numb with shock, the people of Gujarat did not react straightaway. They remained calm at first. Till that afternoon, when the charred bodies started arriving at their respective families — with no comforting voice sounded, either from the government, or from the media, no condemnation for this barbaric act, but an indifferent, deafening silence — then these people known for their non-violent nature and exceptional patience, burst into a frenzy.

     There was a revolt in the whole of Gujarat. For three days, tens of thousands of enraged Hindus set fire to Muslim shops, houses, vehicles: They came out from all sides, all parties, all classes, uncontrollable — one cannot control a revolution (except in China maybe).

The fatalities: 720 Muslims, 250 Hindus, according to official figures.

     We read all over about a “genocide of Muslims.” Do we remember a single report on the Hindus who heroically helped save Muslims in their neighbourhood? Was even one family of Hindu victims interviewed following the criminal burning of the Sabarmati Express?

One fourth of the dead in the ensuing riots were Hindus. How to classify those 250 victims? Who evoked the dead on the Hindu side? According to reports, Congress Party councillor Taufeeq Khan Pathan and his son Zulfi, notorious gangsters, were allegedly seen leading Muslim rioters.

Another such character, Congress member of the Godhra Nagarpalika [municipality], Haji Balal, was said to have had the fire-fighting vehicle sabotaged beforehand.[2]

Then, he stopped the vehicle on its way to the Godhra Station and did not allow it to proceed any further. A man stood in front of the vehicle, the mob started pelting stones, … The  headlights and the windowpanes of the vehicle got damaged … Fearing for his own and his crew’s life, the driver drove the vehicle through the mob, as it was not possible to move backwards. The mob gave in but 15-20 precious minutes had been lost.[3]

Some enemy of mine has done this to make life difficult for me, do you understand, sir? I did not write this at all. I am a PTI correspondent. Yes, that is my phone number, but it is not my writing.

… A mob surrounded the house of former Congress MP Iqbal Ehsan Jaffri. His phone calls to the Director-General of Police, the Police Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) were ignored. The mobile police vans around his house did not intervene. The mob broke into the house. They stripped his daughters and burned them alive. Then they beheaded Ehsan Jaffri and dismembered him …

Among my brothers and sisters, I am the only one living in India. And I am the eldest in the family. My sister and brother live in the US. I am 40 years old and I have been born and brought up in Ahmedabad.

Last night a friend from Baroda called. Weeping. It took her fifteen minutes to tell me what the matter was. It wasn’t very complicated. Only that Sayeeda, a friend of hers, had been caught by a mob. Only that her stomach had been ripped open and stuffed with burning rags. Only that after she died, someone carved ‘OM’ on her forehead.

The police investigations revealed that no such case, involving someone called Sayeeda, had been reported either in urban or rural Baroda. Subsequently, the police sought Roy’s help to identify the victim and seek access to witnesses who could lead them to those guilty of this crime. But the police got no cooperation. Instead, Roy, through her lawyer, replied that the police had no power to issue summons.[6]

Justice Mahida of the High Court observed that:

1) There has been an inexcusable delay in the First Information Report (FIR). The so-called FIR of Zahiribibi (Zaheera) was sent to the Magistrate after four to five days. So there is every reason to believe that factually this FIR was cropped up afterwards in the manner suitable to the police.

2) The arrested persons had nothing to do with the incident.

     “We all knew these accused persons and because of them, our lives are saved,” reported Lal Mohammed Shaikh, a witness before the court. … “There were cordial relations between my family members, the persons residing in the compound of Best Bakery and all the accused persons before the court … The 65 persons who are saved in this incident are all before the Court and all these were saved by and due to the accused and their family members … These persons had called us, in darkness we silently came out of our house, and they saved our lives.”

3) The police is trying to put as accused passers-by at the place of incident, innocent persons gathering there or persons residing in the neighbourhood (in confidence that the police wouldn’t do anything to them).

4) No legal or acceptable evidence at all is produced by the prosecution against the accused involving them in this incident. In this case, … it has come out during the trial … that false evidences were cropped up against the present accused to involve them in this case. The case … is not proved and hence the accused are acquitted [7].

What happened in Gujarat was not a spontaneous uprising, it was a carefully orchestrated attack against Muslims … planned in advance and organized with extensive participation of the police and state government officials.[13]

• The attack on Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 was pre-planned and pre-meditated. It was the result of a criminal conspiracy hatched by a hostile foreign power with the help of local jehadis … carried out with the evil objective of pushing the country into a communal cauldron.

• The plan was to burn the entire train with more than two thousand passengers in the wee hours of February 27th, 2002.

• There were no quarrels or fights between the vendors and the Hindu pilgrims on the platform of Godhra Railway Station.

• Firebombs, acid bulbs and highly inflammable liquid(s) were used to set the coaches on fire that must have been stored [the day before] already for the purpose.

• The fire fighting system available in Godhra was weakened and its arrival at the place of incident wilfully delayed by the mob with the open participation of a Congress Councillor, Haji Balal.

• Fifty-eight passengers of coach S-6 were burnt to death by a Muslim mob and one of the conspirators was a Congress Councillor, Haji Balal.

• Someone used the public address system exhorting the mob “to kill kafirs and enemies of Bin Laden.”

• Police was on many occasions overwhelmed by the rioting mobs that were massive and carried more lethal weapons than the police did.

• [They] did not have the training and know-how to manage situations of communal strife witnessed in the state in recent weeks.

• In many places, … [they] made a commendable work in protecting life and property. Barring a few exceptions, it was not found to be communally motivated.

• Available information shows that the Army was requisitioned and deployed in time.

After Godhra

     The involvement of the “tribal” communities or Vanavasis, in the post-Godhra riots added a new dimension to the communal violence, as Justice Tewatia’s report reveals:

• In rural areas the Vanvasis attacked the Muslim moneylenders, shopkeepers and the forest contractors. They used their traditional bows and arrows as also their implements used to cut trees and grass while attacking Muslims. They moved in groups and used coded signals for communication. Apparently, the accumulated anger of years of exploitation … had become explosive.

• Gujarati language media was factual and objective. Yet its propensity to highlight the gory incidents in great detail heightened communal tension.

• English language newspapers … appeared to have assumed the role of crusaders against the State [Gujarat] Government from day one. It coloured the entire operation of news gathering, feature writing and editorials. They distorted and added fiction to prove their respective points of view. The code of ethics prescribed by the Press Council of India was violated … with impunity. It so enraged the citizens that several concerned citizens in the disturbed areas suggested that peace could return to the state only if some of the TV channels were closed for some weeks.[16]

 A few healing voices

     It would be unfair not to mention a few voices that rose from among the journalists themselves, against this enormity.

The most eloquent one was Vir Sanghvi’s, usually part of the “secular” establishment, ever ready to portray Muslims as victims, Hindus as aggressors. Vir Sanghvi’s crisis of conscience suddenly gave him intellectual clarity. Some extracts from his article “One-way ticket” in The Hindustan Times of Feb. 28th, 2002:

There is something profoundly worrying in the response of what might be called the secular establishment to the massacre in Godhra. …

There is no suggestion that the karsewaks started the violence … there has been no real provocation at all … And yet, the sub-text to all secular commentary is the same: the karsewaks had it coming to them.

Basically, they condemn the crime; but blame the victims …

Try and take the incident out of the secular construct that we, in India, have perfected and see how bizarre such an attitude sounds in other contexts. Did we say that New York had it coming when the Twin Towers were attacked last year? Then too, there was enormous resentment among fundamentalist Muslims about America’s policies, but we didn’t even consider whether this resentment was justified or not.

Instead we took the line that all sensible people must take: any massacre is bad and deserves to be condemned.

When Graham Staines and his children were burnt alive, did we say that Christian missionaries had made themselves unpopular by engaging in conversion and so, they had it coming? No, of course, we didn’t.

Why then are these poor karsewaks an exception? Why have we de-humanised them to the extent that we don’t even see the incident as the human tragedy that it undoubtedly was …

I know the arguments well because — like most journalists — I have used them myself. And I still argue that they are often valid and necessary.

But there comes a time when this kind of rigidly ‘secularist’ construct not only goes too far; it also becomes counter-productive.

When everybody can see that a trainload of Hindus was massacred by a Muslim mob, you gain nothing by blaming the murders on the VHP[17] or arguing that the dead men and women had it coming to them.

Not only does this insult the dead (What about the children? Did they also have it coming?), but it also insults the intelligence of the reader.

There is one question we need to ask ourselves: have we become such prisoners of our own rhetoric that even a horrific massacre becomes nothing more than occasion for Sangh Parivar-bashing?[18]

There is absolutely no evidence to show that either the Chief Minister and/or any other Minister(s) in his Council of Ministers or Police officers had played any role in the Godhra incident or that there was any lapse on their part in the matter of providing protection, relief and rehabilitation to the victims of communal riots or in the matter of not complying with the recommendations and directions given by National Human Rights Commission. There is no evidence regarding involvement of any definite religious or political organization in the conspiracy. Some individuals who had participated in the conspiracy appear to be involved in the heinous act of setting coach S/6 on fire.

The policemen who were assigned the duty of travelling in the Sabarmati Express train from Dahod to Ahmedabad had not done so and for this negligent act of theirs an inquiry was held by the Government and they have been dismissed from service.

On the basis of the facts and circumstances proved by the evidence the Commission comes to the conclusion that burning of coach S/6 was a pre-planned act. In other words there was a conspiracy to burn coach S/6 of the Sabarmati Express train coming from Ayodhya and to cause harm to the Karsevaks travelling in that coach. All the acts like procuring petrol, circulating false rumour, stopping the train and entering in coach S/6 were in pursuance of the object of the conspiracy. The conspiracy hatched by these persons further appears to be a part of a larger conspiracy to create terror and destabilise the Administration.[21]

It is unfortunate that libels upon nations and religions cannot be punished as can libels upon individuals.[23]

Nithin Sridhar, ivarta

In early 1982, Father Joseph Parekatil of the Catholic Church of Parasahi, Madhya Pradesh, destroyed the sacred murthi of the Goddess Visweshwari Siddheswari enshrined on the nearby Nawain Tekdi hill and erected a small wooden cross. Later, the father erected a 31 – foot high concrete cross illegally on the hill on February 18th, 1983. Enraged villagers destroyed the cross a month later on March 17th.

On February 20th, 1985, with the intent once again of trying to gain possession of the hill, Father Parekatil put on the orange robes of a Hindu sannyasin, built a hut on the hill, sat on a tiger skin and began performing worship in the Hindu style. As a result, thousands of simple Hindus came to the hill on Fridays, unaware of the deception they were witnessing.

On May 18th, a complaint was registered, but to no avail. Again there was agitation in the area, and this time, on October 1st, 1985, the villagers tore down the priest”s hut and tossed away the remaining pieces of the concrete cross. Father Parekatil only gave up when he was arrested a week later for breaking the peace and released on bail with instructions to behave [1].

This tactics used by Father Parekatil of adopting Hindu symbols, to further his missioanry goal is called as “Inculturation” or “Indigenization”. Christianity has always been following a policy of “Inculturation.”

This means that it adopted Pagan elements in Christianized form in order to ease the transition from Paganism to Christianity. Pagan gods became Christian saints. Pagan Festivals became Christian festivals.In this process of inculturation, the Christian Church adapted old forms to its new message, but made sure that through the Pagan veneer the Christian doctrine was impressed upon the converts [2]. “Indigenization,” says Kaj Baago, “is evangelization. It is the planting of the gospel inside another culture, another philosophy, another religion [3]“. In Indian case, “Inculturation” or “Indigenization” means “the incorporation of Jesus in Indian spiritual tradition”.

Fr. Bede says “In India we need a Christian Vedanta and a Christian Yoga that is a system of theology which makes use not only of the terms and concepts but of the whole structure of thought of the Vedanta [4].”

Shantivanam Ashram on the banks of the sacred Cauvery River at a forested place near Trichy in South India appears Hindu. It has a Hindu shrine; saffron-robed “swami” seated cross – legged on a straw mat; devotees practising yogic meditations, even chanting Hindu scriptures. But these impressions gradually prove false. First, the eye detects that the courtyard shrine is for Saint Paul and that “puja” is actually, a daily Mass, complete with incense, arati lamps, flower offerings and prasadam. Finally, one meets the “swami”, learning he is Father Bede “Dayananda” Griffiths, a Christian “sannyasin”. This is a Christian ashram, one of more than 50 in India, which are variously described as “experiments in cross-cultural communication,” “contemplative hermitages that revolve around both Christian and Hindu ideals.

Fr. J. Monchanin [5], one of the founding members himself defines his mission in these terms: “I have come to India for no other purpose than to awaken in a few souls the desire (the passion) to raise up a Christian India. It will take centuries, sacrificed lives and we shall perhaps die before seeing any realizations. A Christian India, completely Indian and completely Christian will be something so wonderful the sacrifice of our lives is not too much to ask.” His words clearly show the motive behind these ashrams.

Lausanne Movement (for world evangelization) published a paper “Christian witness to Hindus [6]” (1980). In the report, under the title “Methodology Issues” lists some of the methods to be implemented to convert Hindus.

Some of them are-

(1) We should enunciate theology in Indian categories so that the Hindu can understand the gospel.

(2) We must develop a truly Christian world view consistent with the Indian context.

(3) While presenting the gospel, we must be aware of the fact that the Hindu understands the doctrine of God, man, sin, and salvation in a way entirely different from the biblical doctrine.

(4) Communicate the gospel through indigenous methods such as bhajans, drama, dialogue, discourse, Indian music, festival processions, etc.

Sita Ram Goel, in his book “Catholic Ashrams [7]“, lists 108 such Christian ashram in India, 4 in Nepal and 8 in Sri Lanka. His list includes Asha Niketan, Bangalore, Karnataka, Bethany Ashram (1938), Channapatna, Karnataka, Christa Sevakee Ashram (1950), Karkala, Karnataka, Christian Institute for the study of Religion and Society, Bangalore, Karnataka, Yesu Karuna Prarthanalaya, Kote, Mysore District, Karnataka. The present Catholic ashrams have inherited a history of intrigue and subterfuge.

Here is a description from the “Madhya Pradesh Report(1956) [8]“: “Robert De Nobili (A Catholic Jesuit priest) appeared in Madura in 1607 clad in the saffron robes of a Sadhu with sandal paste on his forehead and the sacred thread on his body. He gave out that he was a Brahmin from Rome. He showed documentary evidence to prove that he belonged to a clan that had migrated from ancient India. He declared that he was bringing a message which had been taught in India by Indian ascetics of yore and that he was only restoring to Hindus one of their lost sacred books, namely the 5th Veda, called Yeshurveda (Jesus Veda). It passed for a genuine work until the Protestant Missionaries exposed the fraud about the year 1840. This Brahmin Sannyasi of the “Roman Gotra”, Father De Nobili, worked for 40 years and died at the ripe age of 89 in 1656. It is said that he had converted about a lakh of persons but they all melted away after his death“.

This is the situation the Hindu finds himself in. Christian missionaries have adopted Hindu ways of life, Hindu religious symbols, architecture, worship forms and declared themselves as Swamis. A Catholic priest who calls himself “swami” instantly attains the status and authority of a holy man in Hindu society, which he can use to make converts.

By using Sanskrit terminology in his sermons he implies a close relationship of Hindu theology to Catholic theology, a relationship which does not really exist. Such missionaries speak authoritatively on Hindu scriptures and argue that their [Christian] teachings are consonant with everything Hindu, but add a finishing touch, “fullness” to the traditional faith.

Related stories:

Shalokas on Mount @ http://indiaview.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/slokas-on-the-mount/

What’s in Name? @ http://indiasecular.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/what-is-in-name/

What Made Hindus Angry @ http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/what-made-hindus-angry

http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/Inculturation-Fooling-Hindus-Christian-India-Goal/blog-194.htm —

Outlook India Magazine

May 12, 2008

Om Namah Jesu could well reverberate inside hundreds of Catholic churches in India very soon, if the changing physical face of these places of worship is anything to go by.

The Vatican-blessed process of ‘inculturation’ being implemented by the 168 Catholic dioceses in India has already seen Jesus acquiring the form of a Hindu sage, St John the Baptist with a ‘kamandalu’, grottos in the shape of conch shells, and a church in Bangalore that can easily be mistaken for a temple. 

‘Inculturation’, broadly speaking, is the indigenisation of the Church through the process of assimilating local culture and symbols in construction, layout, interior design, furniture and religious fixtures like the tabernacles. 

What’s in a Name? @ http://indiasecular.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/what-is-in-name/

Interview of Evangelist @ http://indiasecular.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/interview-of-anevangelist/

Evangelism for Sikhs @ http://www.info-sikh.com/PageChris1.html

Tsunami Muslims Christianized @ http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-01/13/article05.shtml

Religious Harmony @ http://www.crusadewatch.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=928

Inculturation Danger @ . http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=29