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Imperial India celebrates 1857
16 May, 2007 l 1006 hrs ISTlTarun Vijay
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That the Prime Minister forgot Mangal Pande, the hero of 1857 in his Parliament speech but remembered Karl Marx, shows the pressures and the stress he is working under to keep his government afloat. Most of the MPs and MLAs too stayed home glued to their TV channels for the UP results rather than attending the 1857 function at Red Fort.
It's a shame to see how the 1857 150th anniversary has been turned into a sham sarkari jholawala function devoid of any life and vibrancy. In fact in the whole melee Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty got more coverage than the revolutionaries whose martyrdom we were supposed to recollect and tell our children "look this is how we got our Independence". Instead revenge and Page 3 gossip have overshadowed the steely resolve and the invincible fighting spirit shown by the real fathers of our freedom.
There is hardly any celebratory mood about it; the most that hogged the headlines was a nauseating statement only Arjun Singh could make - delisting a political party which has ruled India and is ruling in more states than Congress and CPM combined, from the invite list of the 1857 celebrations. That's how neo-Stalinism works. Listing, delisting, black listing and finally 'Siberiaisation'.
The year 1857 was a symbol of national unity, a collective resolve to throw out the yoke of the colonial masters, to assert our Dharmas, our Majhab's identity and to respect each other as Indians first and Indians last. An undivided society fought for an undivided India. Now, 150 years later India has been divided into three and the state power plans to divide sections of Indians on the basis of castes, sub-castes, political affiliations and religion, making the pan-Indian identity inferior to micro assertions and brazenly promotes hate against ideological adversaries and opponents.
The year 1857 saw Bahadurshah Zafar decreeing death to slaughterers of cow and respecting Hindu sensitivities. In 2007, the state power stands with any one insulting the Hindu sense of faith and pride. Hence, Hussain's right to paint nude Hindu goddesses is sacred and so is the right to butcher cows for a secular Constitution. A deliberate attempt is on to make us forget that while Hindus accepted Bahadurshah Zafar as their leader, with great stars like Laxmi Bai, Tatya Tope and Nana Saheb Peshwa, Awadh witnessed a unique solidarity where the Muslims promised to return the Ram Janma Bhumi temple to the Hindus.
The lotus, a religious symbol of the Hindus, was unitedly accepted as the icon of the revolution and the foreigner, firangi, was declared the enemy of Dharma or Majhab, as he had abused our religious sentiments. No sloganeering about Hindu-Muslim unity, because it stood there naturally. Every one fought the battle as a Hindustani, an Indian and that was just enough.
Today more than the British hated Indians, our own swadeshi fellows hate each other on ideological differences and try to annihilate the opponent through guns and fake media encounters, Naxals, NSCN, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar and blinkered reportage.
Despite the lack of a communications network, 1857 achieved a considerable amount of cohesion and pan-national support, but today in the IT age, all so-called national newspapers have turned into local village bulletins. Northern papers don't report north-east or south and vice versa. The idea of India seems to be shrinking in our global world view where London and New York get more space than Madurai, Leh or Aizawl.
In a bitterly dense colonised atmosphere we love to use language imposed on us by the colonial masters as a status symbol. Hence in Kanpur, a hub of the 1857 war, lala log still display the colonial spellings of the club the British left behind as Cawnpore Club and discard with the disdain a gora sergeant had for things Indian, even the desi spellings of their city. The Imperial Hotel in down-town Delhi proudly displays the photographs of British officers, Viceroys and their hunting missions with memsahibs , and the only Indians shown in the entire hotel are the black serfs, either polishing the boots of gora sahibs or organizing hukkahs or simply standing waiting for orders.
No one has objected, rather the antiquity of the photos get appreciated. Our jawans and brave contingents of the Army march past saluting the India Gate on every Republic Day. The India Gate was not erected in the memory of those revolutionaries who laid their lives for Indian Independence, but is a memorial to those who worked and died for the British Empire. When King George's statue was removed under compulsive patriotism from a canopy near India Gate and a Gandhi statue was suggested to be installed there, the aesthetic sense of the brown sahibs, with impeccable Oxbridge accent, opposed the Gandhi idea tooth and nail and poor Gandhi had to be satisfied with a place outside the Parliament's main gate. He was denied a Nobel first, and later Indians themselves denied him a place of honour where Republic Day is celebrated and from where he could have witnessed the progress of the democracy that officially reveres him as the Father of the Nation.
This is the patriotism of the rich and the famous. The new Rai Bahadurs.
Today, 1857 is understood through the eyes and writings of Marx and firangi writers; because that's what the western publishing houses based here have churned out. Romanticising the flirtations of the British officers and Viceroys and the debauchery and pusillanimous behaviour of the Rajputs licking dust before the white Mughals. We don't have our own historians, respected and honoured, except the ones who have abused and twisted the facts to suite their Marxist or colonial leanings.
Who stands for India after 150 years of the battle rightly called the First War of Independence? The man who re-christened the revolution as the war of Independence, Veer Savarkar, is the most hated person in the present regime; Muslims are given jobs and educational reservations to get their votes and Hindus feel they are being subjected to a situation where to live as Hindus has been made a matter of embarrassment. Shivaji is termed as a Kurmi leader in Maharashtra, Rana Pratap a Thakur icon, Gandhi a proud symbol of the business and sarkari class and Laxmi Bai's memory is a responsibility of the Uttar Pradesh government since Jhansi falls in its jurisdiction.
Marchers mobilized by the government to celebrate 1857 squat on the road demanding food and facility, forgetting what brought them there. Parties have more focus on the outcome of election results, Hindu organizations continue their hypocritical behaviour of high-pedestal preaching and still a God visiting the so-called low caste area makes big news as if a great step obliging them has been taken. It's not amazing at all why the barbaric behaviour towards Hindus of a different caste by their own co religionists never becomes a matter of a nationwide agitation or a firmly resolved movement while we keep on lamenting conversions and Jihadi attacks.
It's the high-caste Hindus who help fund conversion activities, help the easy flow of foreign contribution to fund hate campaigns against his own co-religionists, make a safe corridor for cows to be sent to Bangladesh for slaughter, run the highest number of butcher houses exporting beef to the Middle East, use Hindu issues to fool Hindus to get their votes for power, and very "methodically" keep temples the dirtiest places, pilgrim centres as a mall meant to disrobe gullible faithfuls, use state power financed by Hindu tax payers to ensure no school teaches the Vedas, Sanskrit, Geeta, Bhagwatam, Upanishads (though these are the books produced in this land that have dazzled and inspired the most celebrated intellect in the world). As if we are living in a Saudi colony, all in the name of secularism none understands. A dilapidated dargah in Surat or Madurai needs no historical proof to stop bulldozers for making way for a road, but a great heritage of the Hindus, the Ram Setu can be destroyed for a channel that would fetch money to corrupt ministers.
In 1857 we belonged to a united India, today we are divided into three nations and India, the residual one, stands being bled by the other two with jihadi hate. Even a truncated India has lost more than one lakh twenty five thousand square kilometers of land after 1947 and not a single leader finds it politically correct to announce that if he or his party is voted to power, the lost land would be taken back. That speaks about the 'courage and nationalist pride' of the free country's political movers and shakers.
We are more colonised today than we were then. We use the colonial language to rule people who do not understand, read or write English, impose an English-based IT culture on a people who still can't afford to study in English medium schools. Our attire, protocol, etiquette, behaviour within homes and outside, intellectual dialogues, club life, social interaction, small details on rail compartments to the labels on medicines and doctors' prescriptions to mobile phone instructions and restaurant bills to bus tickets - everything is in a colonial language that we fought against in 1857.
The period post 1857 saw social reformers and men of high scholarship who thought it quite natural to name their newspapers as the Hindu and the Hindustan Times . And the greatest of them unhesitatingly announced that Ram Rajya would be brought once Independence arrived.
Gone are those values and those days. Now Hindu assertion means "oh the RSS brand of communalism" and Hindus, who say all roads lead to one God, hardly ever read a single page of the Koran or know why Eid is celebrated. Similarly Muslims feel they just have nothing to do with the Geeta or the stories of Rama and Krishna because they are Hindu icons. And the leader means the corrupt thick-skinned investor who has to earn more than he invested to win the election.
That's 2007, the year that pronounces how we have dust-binned the precious 150 years passing through a renaissance and a revolution after the great war of Independence to save our civilisational identity and Indianness was fought in 1857.
While India plans to send astronauts to the Moon and our engineers, medical professionals, scientists and entrepreneurs are impressing the world immensely. But a soulless material progress is self-defeating and meaningless like the Soviet Union's march into oblivion. The war of 1857 began with Mangal Pande, a Brahmin taking a cue from what is known as a challenge from a Dalit. The year 2007 has also shown that Hindu consolidation and a solidarity of all castes brings power. That's the real one, away from the highly accented English-speaking chatterati which finds itself closer to the Manmohan-Sonia class, signals a yes to Husain's nudes of the Hindu goddesses, barters Kashmir under a "remove the head to get rid of the headache" formula , says no to Ayodhya but approves all efforts to convert Hindus.
This class shall very soon be history if a Dalit 's chances of ruling India from Delhi keep rising. Then it is quite possible that the artificially created colonised elite will be finally dust-binned and a new renaissance period will emerge seeing a re-assertion of our civilisational moors and contours. Then certainly the prosperity and security of the nation would be of prime concern.
A wholesome Hindu identity is not small, petty communalism but the ultimate flowering of the nation's quintessential character, which is the reassuring guarantee of equality to all faiths and streams of this land without compromising on the basic beliefs and spiritual heritage. India shall regain her lost place of glory when we stand on our own civilisational foundations with confidence and strength. Let that day be our day of resurrection and that would herald the logical culmination of the war 1857 had begun.
The author is the Editor of Panchjanya, a Hindi weekly brought out by the RSS. The views expressed are his personal.
Readers Opinion
Imperial India celebrates 1857
1
Comment:Dear Tarun, Your article was really thought provoking. I have read all your articles until now. What saddens me is the disclaimer that the Times Group puts at the end of your article which says the views expressed are your personal. Why have such disclaimers in the first place?
Name:hindu
Location:dubai
17 May, 2007 1422hrs IST
Comment:This is the best article I have ever read comparing social nature of pre & post independent India. Thanks for such articles. We expect more such articles from you.
Name:debashis prusty
Location:johannesburg, south africa
17 May, 2007 1357hrs IST
1
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Friday, May 11, 2007
Rediff interview with Arunachal Chief Minister Khandu
'We'll defeat any Chinese design to capture our land'
Tarun Vijay | May 10, 2007 | 18:50 IST
With India reiterating that China illegally claims approximately 90,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and 38,000 km in Jammu and Kashmir, a strange game of statements regarding the Chinese intrusion in the northeastern state is on.
Though officials in Beijing and New Delhi have denied the intrusion, people remember the bloody war in the same region in 1962. In later years though, negotiations on boundary disputes have been initiated between India and China, while engaging each other in trade and cultural exchanges quite vigorously.
The sudden eruption of the territorial dispute has revived bitter memories. It is noteworthy that on September 7, 1993, an accord to reduce tensions along the India-China border and to respect the Line of Actual Control was signed.
The National Democratic Alliance's defence minister George Fernandes had accused China of repeated violations of Indian territory, constructing a helipad on Indian territory in the disputed zone, aiding Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes and stockpiling nuclear weapons in Tibet. With this background the present controversy assumes significance.
Tarun Vijay spoke to Dorjee Khandu, Arunachal Pradesh's chief minister, at length about the controversy.
What is the truth about the allegation that the Chinese have intruded onto our land?
Independent MLA Lokam Tassar and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MP Kiran Rijiju had alleged that the Chinese have intruded up to 20 km in Arunachal territory. I immediately enquired about its veracity from the chief secretary, SIB (Special Intelligence Bureau), ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police), and the army authorities. The statements of both were found to be false and misleading.
Later, an emergency meeting of the concerned top officials was held in Itanagar. They also re-confirmed that no such intrusion has taken place.
It was found that Kiran Rijiju had based his statement on the 1986 intrusion across the LAC ( Line of Actual Control) by the Chinese in which they had taken a large chunk of our land in Tawang area occupying the Sumdorong Chu valley, Asapila and Lungur camps. These places fall in my constituency.
Did the Government of India accept the 1986 intrusion and the resultant occupation of our territory?
They had to. The Chinese had taken our land.
The Government of India accepted that and did nothing?
The Chinese took our posts, the government had to accept that. But there is no intrusion now.
What can be the reason that suddenly allegations about the Chinese intrusion have been made?
I can't say. It is not good. As far as the BJP MP's statement is concerned, it seems like a political ploy. How can he claim to know something, which is not in the knowledge of the defence authorities or the home minister?
His statement is a matter of political rivalry and nothing else. He was in Delhi for a long period, he couldn't have ascertained the facts himself, so it seems he gave his statement on the basis of what Lokam Tassar said.
Strange things are happening in Arunachal. The whole cabinet recently shifted its loyalties to you.
It happened due to the allegations of huge corruption charges against the former government. There were a number of cases regarding mismanagement in the Public Distribution System. People in the villages were not getting enough food allotted by the Centre. Cooperative rural banking scams affected small depositors like labourers and teachers. The hydel power sector was also in doldrums.
Hence, the MLAs were unhappy and chose me as their leader. (Congress president) Soniaji (Gandhi) is completely against corruption and wanted a clean and result oriented Congress government. I was reluctant to shoulder this responsibility, but when all insisted I had to accept it.
After taking the oath, when I sat in my office, one chief engineer came and handed a file to me, pleading to clear it immediately. When I opened the file, it contained five lakh rupees in cash. I was shocked. It must have been a routine matter for such officers to present money to the new CM or minister.
I deposited the money with the treasury and had the officer arrested. This is the situation, which we are determined to change.
What have you done so far?
My first priority is to improve the Public Distribution System. If people in the border areas are deprived of the basic requirements, it can create an unseemly situation.
Security in the border areas depends on the common people's commitment and patriotism.
We the Arunachalis are patriotic to the core, children of Bharat Mata, and shall defeat any Chinese design to capture our land. But corrupt governance destroys trust and breeds unpatriotic elements.
I came to Delhi and met the prime minister and several other ministers. I have revived the PDS and got instant clearance from the prime minister regarding the rates for PDS and the Food Corporation of India's contractors. It will help immensely.
Secondly, I shall also revive rural banking, which collapsed under a Rs 200 crore scam. All the small investors lost their hard earned savings. It is my duty to ensure that they get back their money. I am also formulating a new industrial policy to attract entrepreneurs from all over India.
Arunachal is immensely gifted with rich natural resources; we have not been able to use them properly for the benefit of the state's development and people's welfare.
We also have the capacity to generate 60,000 megawatts of power. The National Thermal Power Corporation, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and private agencies are being involved to generate power at the optimum level.
With Soniaji's blessings we have also started a mid day meal scheme for poor tribal students. We are also changing the educational employment policy, which binds us to recruit only 20 percent people from outside the state. We would like to have more qualified people from other areas too so that the level of teaching is improved.
We are also involving village elders in monitoring the work of teachers. Salaries will be released only after receiving letters from the elders that the teachers have done their jobs well.
What about preserving indigenous culture and values? There have been reports of conversions to Christianity of late.
We want indigenous traditions to be preserved and maintained. This is thousands of years old. Some Arunachalis are Buddhists like me; some belong to Dony Polo and other streams. Now we have decided to ensure that in every cultural festival, the government would encourage celebrations.
Instead of having politicians or ministers preside over such a function, a local village elder, who knows ancient wisdom, the history of the area and can also transfer that to the people, would be requested to chair the event, so that the traditional flow of knowledge and continuity in culture is honoured.
http://www.rediff.com///news/2007/may/10china.htm
Tarun Vijay | May 10, 2007 | 18:50 IST
With India reiterating that China illegally claims approximately 90,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and 38,000 km in Jammu and Kashmir, a strange game of statements regarding the Chinese intrusion in the northeastern state is on.
Though officials in Beijing and New Delhi have denied the intrusion, people remember the bloody war in the same region in 1962. In later years though, negotiations on boundary disputes have been initiated between India and China, while engaging each other in trade and cultural exchanges quite vigorously.
The sudden eruption of the territorial dispute has revived bitter memories. It is noteworthy that on September 7, 1993, an accord to reduce tensions along the India-China border and to respect the Line of Actual Control was signed.
The National Democratic Alliance's defence minister George Fernandes had accused China of repeated violations of Indian territory, constructing a helipad on Indian territory in the disputed zone, aiding Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes and stockpiling nuclear weapons in Tibet. With this background the present controversy assumes significance.
Tarun Vijay spoke to Dorjee Khandu, Arunachal Pradesh's chief minister, at length about the controversy.
What is the truth about the allegation that the Chinese have intruded onto our land?
Independent MLA Lokam Tassar and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MP Kiran Rijiju had alleged that the Chinese have intruded up to 20 km in Arunachal territory. I immediately enquired about its veracity from the chief secretary, SIB (Special Intelligence Bureau), ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police), and the army authorities. The statements of both were found to be false and misleading.
Later, an emergency meeting of the concerned top officials was held in Itanagar. They also re-confirmed that no such intrusion has taken place.
It was found that Kiran Rijiju had based his statement on the 1986 intrusion across the LAC ( Line of Actual Control) by the Chinese in which they had taken a large chunk of our land in Tawang area occupying the Sumdorong Chu valley, Asapila and Lungur camps. These places fall in my constituency.
Did the Government of India accept the 1986 intrusion and the resultant occupation of our territory?
They had to. The Chinese had taken our land.
The Government of India accepted that and did nothing?
The Chinese took our posts, the government had to accept that. But there is no intrusion now.
What can be the reason that suddenly allegations about the Chinese intrusion have been made?
I can't say. It is not good. As far as the BJP MP's statement is concerned, it seems like a political ploy. How can he claim to know something, which is not in the knowledge of the defence authorities or the home minister?
His statement is a matter of political rivalry and nothing else. He was in Delhi for a long period, he couldn't have ascertained the facts himself, so it seems he gave his statement on the basis of what Lokam Tassar said.
Strange things are happening in Arunachal. The whole cabinet recently shifted its loyalties to you.
It happened due to the allegations of huge corruption charges against the former government. There were a number of cases regarding mismanagement in the Public Distribution System. People in the villages were not getting enough food allotted by the Centre. Cooperative rural banking scams affected small depositors like labourers and teachers. The hydel power sector was also in doldrums.
Hence, the MLAs were unhappy and chose me as their leader. (Congress president) Soniaji (Gandhi) is completely against corruption and wanted a clean and result oriented Congress government. I was reluctant to shoulder this responsibility, but when all insisted I had to accept it.
After taking the oath, when I sat in my office, one chief engineer came and handed a file to me, pleading to clear it immediately. When I opened the file, it contained five lakh rupees in cash. I was shocked. It must have been a routine matter for such officers to present money to the new CM or minister.
I deposited the money with the treasury and had the officer arrested. This is the situation, which we are determined to change.
What have you done so far?
My first priority is to improve the Public Distribution System. If people in the border areas are deprived of the basic requirements, it can create an unseemly situation.
Security in the border areas depends on the common people's commitment and patriotism.
We the Arunachalis are patriotic to the core, children of Bharat Mata, and shall defeat any Chinese design to capture our land. But corrupt governance destroys trust and breeds unpatriotic elements.
I came to Delhi and met the prime minister and several other ministers. I have revived the PDS and got instant clearance from the prime minister regarding the rates for PDS and the Food Corporation of India's contractors. It will help immensely.
Secondly, I shall also revive rural banking, which collapsed under a Rs 200 crore scam. All the small investors lost their hard earned savings. It is my duty to ensure that they get back their money. I am also formulating a new industrial policy to attract entrepreneurs from all over India.
Arunachal is immensely gifted with rich natural resources; we have not been able to use them properly for the benefit of the state's development and people's welfare.
We also have the capacity to generate 60,000 megawatts of power. The National Thermal Power Corporation, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and private agencies are being involved to generate power at the optimum level.
With Soniaji's blessings we have also started a mid day meal scheme for poor tribal students. We are also changing the educational employment policy, which binds us to recruit only 20 percent people from outside the state. We would like to have more qualified people from other areas too so that the level of teaching is improved.
We are also involving village elders in monitoring the work of teachers. Salaries will be released only after receiving letters from the elders that the teachers have done their jobs well.
What about preserving indigenous culture and values? There have been reports of conversions to Christianity of late.
We want indigenous traditions to be preserved and maintained. This is thousands of years old. Some Arunachalis are Buddhists like me; some belong to Dony Polo and other streams. Now we have decided to ensure that in every cultural festival, the government would encourage celebrations.
Instead of having politicians or ministers preside over such a function, a local village elder, who knows ancient wisdom, the history of the area and can also transfer that to the people, would be requested to chair the event, so that the traditional flow of knowledge and continuity in culture is honoured.
http://www.rediff.com///news/2007/may/10china.htm
Not truly Asian
9 May, 2007 l 1437 hrs IST,www.timesofindia.com
Tarun Vijay
My last visit to Kuala Lumpur and its outskirts showcased a vibrant, futuristic society which boasted a booming economy and the strength to resist "western pressures", as they tried to put it. "We are different and more progressive than any other Muslim country in the world", said an official, presenting me with a souvenir model of the much-hyped Multi-Media Super Corridor and a heap of statistics which claimed, among other things, an "average annual growth rate of about 7%, while GDP doubled to reach an estimated RM219.4 billion (US $57.7 billion) in 2002. Exports and imports have almost quadrupled to reach RM349.6 billion (US $92.0 billion) and RM298.5 billion (US $78.6 billion) respectively, placing Malaysia among the world's top 20 trading nations. The manufacturing sector now accounts for 30.4% of Malaysia's GDP while exports of manufactured goods make up 86.5% of the country's total exports. From being the world's largest producer of rubber and tin, Malaysia is today one of the world's leading exporters of semiconductor devices, computer hard disk drives, audio and video products, and room air-conditioners." With 85.4 per cent women literacy rate and a separate ministry for women, Malaysia claims to be the most progressive Muslim majority country. Unfortunately, it has one again proved that high education, modernity or the rising standards of living have no direct bearing on human values or an egalitarian civil behaviour. Like the 9/11 "martyrs", who were born and bred in a free, democratic civil society, Malay rulers too have fallen victim to extreme forms of religious fanaticism, at the same time wishing to project their country as a "truly Asian" destination. Of late, minorities are subjected to persecution and barbarism that was unheard of a couple of years ago. Temples are razed, Islamic rites are forced through Sharia even on those who are non-Muslims, and freedom to worship and propagate one's religion has to pass through the laws of Mullahcracy, which has shown a power to undo any modernism and mullah-promised tolerance to a different view point and freedom of religious practices. On April 18, Associated Press released a news item which concerned Indians, as much as the Virginia Tech incident, yet none of the Indian newspapers carried it. It spoke about the breaking of an ethnic Indian family because of the strange law regarding Islamic belief and social life. It also highlighted the divisive confusion prevailing in Malaysia which wants to modernize on the western model as well as keep its Islamic character warped in the 12th century model intact and be visibly vibrant at the same time. And this has affected in a brutal fashion the lives of more than 1.7 million Hindus, mostly of Tamil origin, there. The story involves Revathi Masoosai, an ethnic Indian, who is being forced to live as a Muslim by the Islamic Religious Department in southern Malacca state, after it was discovered that although she was born to Muslim parents, she has chosen to live as a Hindu. In Malaysia, Islamic law forbids people born to Muslim families to change religion, hence not only was Revathi detained by the Islamic Religious Department and sent for "religious counselling in a rehabilitation Centre" (which translates to being forced to reconvert to Islam by the state authorities), her 15-month-old daughter too was taken away from her husband and handed over to Revathi's Muslim mother to be raised as a Muslim.
According to the report, "Revathi married Suresh in 2004 according to Hindu rites but the marriage has not been legally registered because Suresh would have had to convert to Islam first. Revathi's official identification documents state she is Muslim because Malaysians who are born Muslims cannot legally change their religion." So here is a state government which intervenes in citizens' private lives, forces them to choose a faith recommended by the state, and breaks a family if they refuse. If this can happen in a country which boasts of modern education, scientific and technological progress and propagates itself as representing the spirit of Asia through ad campaigns like –"Malaysia-Truly Asia", one can imagine what would be the situation in other lesser modern or educated Islamic countries. Democratic Action Party officials said that Revathi was born to Muslim parents who gave her a Muslim name Siti Fatimah, but she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and she changed her name in 2001 to Revathi. After her marriage to Suresh in 2004, she wanted to live happily, even though the law didn't allow them to register their marriage, as that would have necessitated Suresh converting to Islam. Why? Because the law prohibits a girl born to a Muslim family from marrying a non-Muslim. But they married, had a sweet girl child born out of this wedlock. Revathi was arrested this January and sent for "rehabilitation", but she refused to leave her newly chosen religion and her husband during her 100-day detention which expired last Wednesday (April 18), so the infuriated Sharia court has extended her detention by another 80 days and, meanwhile, her little daughter was "seized" by the police from Suresh's place and given to Revathi's Muslim mother to raise her as a Muslim. Parliamentary opposition chief Lim Kit Siang, who chairs the DAP has said in a statement that, "It is sad and tragic this heart-rending tale of the father, mother and baby girl being forcibly separated into three different locations by law and religion...when law and religion come together to break the family, it gives a bad name to our country. Something is very wrong and it must be put right." That's the latest from "Malaysia - truly Asia". And this is not the first case of brutal assault on Hindus in "modern" Malaysia. Some time back, a Hindu mountaineer was forcibly buried as per Islamic rites because the local court felt he had converted to Islam some time back. Malay Hindus have approached the UN to have such atrocities stopped and given a long list of the temples razed by local authorities since 1985. Temple destruction and forcible conversion to Islam have become a routine so much so that Waytha Moorthy, the chairman of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), had to give a warning to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to halt the temple destruction move and respect the rights of Hindus otherwise the Hindus would not just keep on waiting, wailing and pleading. There was a time when the Asian spirit was represented by Buddha and Gandhi. Now should we allow it to be expressed through Islamic terror?
Tarun Vijay
My last visit to Kuala Lumpur and its outskirts showcased a vibrant, futuristic society which boasted a booming economy and the strength to resist "western pressures", as they tried to put it. "We are different and more progressive than any other Muslim country in the world", said an official, presenting me with a souvenir model of the much-hyped Multi-Media Super Corridor and a heap of statistics which claimed, among other things, an "average annual growth rate of about 7%, while GDP doubled to reach an estimated RM219.4 billion (US $57.7 billion) in 2002. Exports and imports have almost quadrupled to reach RM349.6 billion (US $92.0 billion) and RM298.5 billion (US $78.6 billion) respectively, placing Malaysia among the world's top 20 trading nations. The manufacturing sector now accounts for 30.4% of Malaysia's GDP while exports of manufactured goods make up 86.5% of the country's total exports. From being the world's largest producer of rubber and tin, Malaysia is today one of the world's leading exporters of semiconductor devices, computer hard disk drives, audio and video products, and room air-conditioners." With 85.4 per cent women literacy rate and a separate ministry for women, Malaysia claims to be the most progressive Muslim majority country. Unfortunately, it has one again proved that high education, modernity or the rising standards of living have no direct bearing on human values or an egalitarian civil behaviour. Like the 9/11 "martyrs", who were born and bred in a free, democratic civil society, Malay rulers too have fallen victim to extreme forms of religious fanaticism, at the same time wishing to project their country as a "truly Asian" destination. Of late, minorities are subjected to persecution and barbarism that was unheard of a couple of years ago. Temples are razed, Islamic rites are forced through Sharia even on those who are non-Muslims, and freedom to worship and propagate one's religion has to pass through the laws of Mullahcracy, which has shown a power to undo any modernism and mullah-promised tolerance to a different view point and freedom of religious practices. On April 18, Associated Press released a news item which concerned Indians, as much as the Virginia Tech incident, yet none of the Indian newspapers carried it. It spoke about the breaking of an ethnic Indian family because of the strange law regarding Islamic belief and social life. It also highlighted the divisive confusion prevailing in Malaysia which wants to modernize on the western model as well as keep its Islamic character warped in the 12th century model intact and be visibly vibrant at the same time. And this has affected in a brutal fashion the lives of more than 1.7 million Hindus, mostly of Tamil origin, there. The story involves Revathi Masoosai, an ethnic Indian, who is being forced to live as a Muslim by the Islamic Religious Department in southern Malacca state, after it was discovered that although she was born to Muslim parents, she has chosen to live as a Hindu. In Malaysia, Islamic law forbids people born to Muslim families to change religion, hence not only was Revathi detained by the Islamic Religious Department and sent for "religious counselling in a rehabilitation Centre" (which translates to being forced to reconvert to Islam by the state authorities), her 15-month-old daughter too was taken away from her husband and handed over to Revathi's Muslim mother to be raised as a Muslim.
According to the report, "Revathi married Suresh in 2004 according to Hindu rites but the marriage has not been legally registered because Suresh would have had to convert to Islam first. Revathi's official identification documents state she is Muslim because Malaysians who are born Muslims cannot legally change their religion." So here is a state government which intervenes in citizens' private lives, forces them to choose a faith recommended by the state, and breaks a family if they refuse. If this can happen in a country which boasts of modern education, scientific and technological progress and propagates itself as representing the spirit of Asia through ad campaigns like –"Malaysia-Truly Asia", one can imagine what would be the situation in other lesser modern or educated Islamic countries. Democratic Action Party officials said that Revathi was born to Muslim parents who gave her a Muslim name Siti Fatimah, but she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and she changed her name in 2001 to Revathi. After her marriage to Suresh in 2004, she wanted to live happily, even though the law didn't allow them to register their marriage, as that would have necessitated Suresh converting to Islam. Why? Because the law prohibits a girl born to a Muslim family from marrying a non-Muslim. But they married, had a sweet girl child born out of this wedlock. Revathi was arrested this January and sent for "rehabilitation", but she refused to leave her newly chosen religion and her husband during her 100-day detention which expired last Wednesday (April 18), so the infuriated Sharia court has extended her detention by another 80 days and, meanwhile, her little daughter was "seized" by the police from Suresh's place and given to Revathi's Muslim mother to raise her as a Muslim. Parliamentary opposition chief Lim Kit Siang, who chairs the DAP has said in a statement that, "It is sad and tragic this heart-rending tale of the father, mother and baby girl being forcibly separated into three different locations by law and religion...when law and religion come together to break the family, it gives a bad name to our country. Something is very wrong and it must be put right." That's the latest from "Malaysia - truly Asia". And this is not the first case of brutal assault on Hindus in "modern" Malaysia. Some time back, a Hindu mountaineer was forcibly buried as per Islamic rites because the local court felt he had converted to Islam some time back. Malay Hindus have approached the UN to have such atrocities stopped and given a long list of the temples razed by local authorities since 1985. Temple destruction and forcible conversion to Islam have become a routine so much so that Waytha Moorthy, the chairman of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), had to give a warning to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to halt the temple destruction move and respect the rights of Hindus otherwise the Hindus would not just keep on waiting, wailing and pleading. There was a time when the Asian spirit was represented by Buddha and Gandhi. Now should we allow it to be expressed through Islamic terror?
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
New rise of the Hindu
2 May, 2007 l 1816 hrs IST,www.timesofindia.com
Tarun Vijay
Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, must be a long place from India's Sanskrit learning centres and if a “fun-filled” spoken Sanskrit residential camp named Shraddha (devotion) for teenagers alone gets booked three months in advance, there must be something extraordinary about it. The interesting part is that the youth who have grown up in the US and made Sanskrit a part of their daily lives shall teach at the camp. In China there is a renewed interest to know and learn about Hindu dharma and when I was there on a fellowship from Sichuan University, the vice-president of the university asked me to help them understand Hindu movements and write a book on the contemporary Hindu scene. While the richest steel man of this planet Laxmi Mitttal is a devout Hindu so is the firebrand icon of entrepreneurial dynamism Anil Ambani , who took 17 friends on a special jaunt to Kailas Manasarovar , including the charming Adi Godrej family; and he told me once that his mornings begin with a puja to Ambaji. Hindus are on an unprecedented rise all over the globe and they have startled the world with their prowess in mathematics, science, technology, industry and medical sciences. An average Hindu in the West is considered an honest, persevering, talented and compassionate vegetarian with an extraordinary capacity to adjust with the local societies and serve the adopted land with unquestionable loyalty. Hence Vodafone, Citibank, Pepsi have them preside at top positions. The new Hindu is assertive and sensitive, not aggressive or a silent spectator to the assaults of the secular Taliban. So he stands up against a Durga being painted with whiskey bottles in her hands by an Amsterdam ad agency, or a Ganapati on the toilet cover, and voices strong protest against the destruction of the ancient Ram Sethu down south. Faithful to his roots yet free from ritualistic blind dogmas, he gets angry at hypocritical religious behaviour. So while Indira Nooyi would dazzle the audience in the Ashok Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan receiving the coveted Padma award in a South silk saree, she may not be an exhibitionist and declare that she is an ambassador for Hindu dharma or go to a temple in the full glare of the media. Dharma is a very personal and valuable theme for a modern Hindu, not to be worn on the sleeve. And to make corrections and improvements is an ongoing process for every devout that makes his faith – Sanatana , meaning always with the times, ever-changing yet eternal in its basic message. The message of love, compassion and respecting (not tolerating please, that word spells negativism) the other viewpoint. That's the attitude and a belief distinguishing us from the Semitic streams. All roads lead to one God and all prophets have spoken well for humanity - that's a Hindu speaking at home or in a congregation without hesitation. He won't mind bowing his head before the inspiring and the compassionate altar, a picture of Jesus or an Islamic place of reverence, without compromising his own convictions. That's the reason he hates the politically-charged groups, parties and so-called ideological war horses, which have hardly done anything to correct or make amends in the caste-ridden structure or in the attitude towards women. See the Provoked and decide which society you belong to. The Hindu who worships Durga during Navratra but kills the same Devi when she arrives in the womb? Or the Hindu who claims to see Ram in every creature, but refuses to dine with his co-religionist if he happens to be from a so-called “lower caste”? Hence the anger within in the new, real Hindu. Against the loot of the pandas in pilgrim centres, mismanaged temples and a complete control of the so-called high castes on every decision-making body of the society. The reservation issue may be a difficult one, but pray who stops the high and mighty of the Hindu “high caste” to start centres of excellence for their disadvantaged sections so that they never ever feel the need to use the reservation ladder? While the stereotype basks in the meaningless repetition of the old dogmas, the newly-risen Hindu has started working on such development themes bringing Laxmi and Saraswati on the same platform. For a Hindu, the spread of his vast entrepreneurial empire has to be greeted with the Gayatri Mantra (Videocon ad) and Vande Mataram (the Kumarmangalam Birla campaign) but nevertheless the biggest challenge comes from within and not from outside “enemies”. Job reservation for non-Hindus, the arrest of Shankaracharya on Diwali night and refusing to execute a non-bailable warrant against the Imam, the temple takeover spree by the state power, stopping of morning bhajans in trains, subsidy to Haj and silence on Hindu pilgrimages, biryani for terrorists and no hope for patriotic Kashmiri Hindus uprooted from their homes in the Valley -- all these issues make him uneasy. This anger for the inner corrections and a will to excel has given a unique hue to the new rise of the Hindu which is the only assuring factor in spite of the cacophony of various interest groups working to confuse the march of the Sanatana Dharma .
-- Readers Opinion New rise of the Hindu. Tarun Vijay
Name:Name:raj Location:denmark 3 May, 2007 1946hrs IST Comment:Osho has been criticized for a lot of things, but he sometimes hits the nail square on the head. Dividing peple on the basis of religion is the first step towards fundamentalism. The best way to avoid all kinds of discrimination is to make the government strictly secular, without any respect for any public display of religion. The government and its affliaited bodies should totally eschew all forms of any leniency or favour to anybody or anyting in the name of religion. This would forever put to rest all kinds of religious discrimination. Name:suneil Location:iift delhi 3 May, 2007 1158hrs IST Comment:It is a great article by Tarun Vijay. We Hindus need to introspect & do something good for our own brothers/sisters who have been left behind in Indian progress. We must empower them and make them so strong that they are not lured by others and are active participants in progressive India. My suggestion to all fellow Hindus is to devote some time for the upliftment of all downtroden people so that this coutry becomes a great one again and we do not see such a wide gulf in prosperity.
Name:dilip Location:usa 3 May, 2007 0018hrs IST
Comment:The secular government apparatus has declared a war on the Hindu religion. The benefits given to minorities and the clipping of Hindu bhajans in trains, plight of Kashmiri Hindus, takeover of Hindu temples is nothing but a crime. Even the foreign rulers were not so vicious. This is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed quickly. Patience is running out.
Readers Opinion New rise of the Hindu 1 Comment:Very nice article
Name:adsad Location:usa 4 May, 2007 2040hrs IST Comment:Dear Editor, Thanks for publishing this article. Dear Mr. Vijay, this is an excellent article and makes us all proud of our way of life. I am glad english media has published this. Keep up the excellent work. Jayant.
Name:jayant Location:usa 4 May, 2007 2002hrs IST Comment:Excellent Kudos to Tarun Vijay for penning this article. Whatever the 'secular Taliban' may say, Hindus have begun to assert and that is good for humanity at large.
Name:vishvaksenah Location:bangalore 4 May, 2007 1019hrs IST Comment:Due to scribes like you I still have faith in English media otherwise things look so gloomy.
Name:anil kumar Location:canada 4 May, 2007 0728hrs IST Comment:The so-called 'secular' politician blatantly practises minorityism in the name of secularism, thus making a mockery of the word. No 'secular' journalist, howsoever 'seasoned' he may be, has ever questioned this bias against the Hindus in India.The National Commission for Minorities is arbitrarily appropriating more and more privileges for the so-called 'minorities' at the expense of the majority Hindus.There should be a national debate on the issue of 'minorities'. Those who were born and bred in India, who have their roots here, cannot be considered as minorities. Just because the Muslim and Christian invaders 'converted' some locals by force, marriage or rape, how can these sons and daughters of the soil get preferential treatment in a secular democratic state?The Govt is guilty of the policy of 'divide and rule' which they inherited from the British, to keep the people perpetually divided. The present UPA Govt has polarized society on caste and communal lines.The media seems to be blissfully oblivious of these schemes.They have to play a constructive role in nation-building.
Name:vijayalakshmi Location:chennai 4 May, 2007 0012hrs IST Comment:This is an excellent article. It was a great pleasure to read it. Mr. Tarun Vijay has shown his writing capabilites and the research seems exquisite.
Name:raj Location:denmark 3 May, 2007 1946hrs IST Comment:Osho has been criticized for a lot of things, but he sometimes hits the nail square on the head. Dividing peple on the basis of religion is the first step towards fundamentalism. The best way to avoid all kinds of discrimination is to make the government strictly secular, without any respect for any public display of religion. The government and its affliaited bodies should totally eschew all forms of any leniency or favour to anybody or anyting in the name of religion. This would forever put to rest all kinds of religious discrimination.
Name:suneil Location:iift delhi 3 May, 2007 1158hrs IST Comment:It is a great article by Tarun Vijay. We Hindus need to introspect & do something good for our own brothers/sisters who have been left behind in Indian progress. We must empower them and make them so strong that they are not lured by others and are active participants in progressive India. My suggestion to all fellow Hindus is to devote some time for the upliftment of all downtroden people so that this coutry becomes a great one again and we do not see such a wide gulf in prosperity.
Name:shanker Location:mumbai 3 May, 2007 1134hrs IST Comment:The secular government apparatus has declared a war on the Hindu religion. The benefits given to minorities and the clipping of Hindu bhajans in trains, plight of Kashmiri Hindus, takeover of Hindu temples is nothing but a crime. Even the foreign rulers were not so vicious. This is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed quickly. Patience is running out. Name:dilip
Location:usa 3 May, 2007 0018hrs IST Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 12:48 pm Post subject:
Discussion, taken offline from yahoogroups -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In response to Tarun Vijay's article http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/New_rise_of_the_Hindu/articleshow/1993903.cms There were some emails sent to the yahoogroups by the members... However since the group is not intended for discussion, these have not been approved, and they have been taken offline Members are free to express their views about the article, here in this forum, as long as the usual standards of debate are kept Here is one of the responses, pasted below -------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Dr. John T. Eapen" Date: Wed May 9, 2007 11:01 am
Excellent article! Congratulations! There is a saying, the elephant does not know its strength and that is what happend to us Indians. We do not know our strength and our spirituality. I am glad that the author has clearly brought out how the west views Indians as mild people with great inner strength, moving with times. This is what Swami Vivekananda recorded in his writings a centuary ago. Today also it is the same. India has a distinct identity in this world. The word Hindu is always seen as a religion by the west. But the truth is that it is a geographical identity. Unfortunately, out of all countries in the world, only in India the geographical identity and sanatana dharma got mixed up and formed Hinduism. So, let us redefine the word hindu as a geographical identity. That is why I prefer to call myself as a "Christu Bhakt Hindu" than a Christian. This is the message I spread to my fellow Indians and I encourage them to pray in sanskrit language. Let us keep our culture and keep our relationship with God as very personal one. Let us keep away from the gangs, mafias and groups who want to control the world politically in the name of God. After all God is Sovereign and we Indians strongly believe that God does not require any human help to control the world. Para Atma Pithahi Namaha
1 comments:
Ed Vis said...
The new Hindu is assertive and sensitive, not aggressive or a silent spectator to the assaults of the secular Taliban. So he stands up against a Durga being painted with whiskey bottles in her hands by an Amsterdam ad agency, or a Ganapati on the toilet cover, and voices strong protest against the destruction of the ancient Ram Sethu down south. Very well written. Almost all the e-mails I get reflect what you wrote. After Pearl Harbor invasion, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is quoted as saying "I fear that all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve." Exactly that is what is happening to Hindus around the globe. "The Sleeping Giant" is finally awaken.
June 13, 2007 11:19 AM
Tarun Vijay
Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, must be a long place from India's Sanskrit learning centres and if a “fun-filled” spoken Sanskrit residential camp named Shraddha (devotion) for teenagers alone gets booked three months in advance, there must be something extraordinary about it. The interesting part is that the youth who have grown up in the US and made Sanskrit a part of their daily lives shall teach at the camp. In China there is a renewed interest to know and learn about Hindu dharma and when I was there on a fellowship from Sichuan University, the vice-president of the university asked me to help them understand Hindu movements and write a book on the contemporary Hindu scene. While the richest steel man of this planet Laxmi Mitttal is a devout Hindu so is the firebrand icon of entrepreneurial dynamism Anil Ambani , who took 17 friends on a special jaunt to Kailas Manasarovar , including the charming Adi Godrej family; and he told me once that his mornings begin with a puja to Ambaji. Hindus are on an unprecedented rise all over the globe and they have startled the world with their prowess in mathematics, science, technology, industry and medical sciences. An average Hindu in the West is considered an honest, persevering, talented and compassionate vegetarian with an extraordinary capacity to adjust with the local societies and serve the adopted land with unquestionable loyalty. Hence Vodafone, Citibank, Pepsi have them preside at top positions. The new Hindu is assertive and sensitive, not aggressive or a silent spectator to the assaults of the secular Taliban. So he stands up against a Durga being painted with whiskey bottles in her hands by an Amsterdam ad agency, or a Ganapati on the toilet cover, and voices strong protest against the destruction of the ancient Ram Sethu down south. Faithful to his roots yet free from ritualistic blind dogmas, he gets angry at hypocritical religious behaviour. So while Indira Nooyi would dazzle the audience in the Ashok Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan receiving the coveted Padma award in a South silk saree, she may not be an exhibitionist and declare that she is an ambassador for Hindu dharma or go to a temple in the full glare of the media. Dharma is a very personal and valuable theme for a modern Hindu, not to be worn on the sleeve. And to make corrections and improvements is an ongoing process for every devout that makes his faith – Sanatana , meaning always with the times, ever-changing yet eternal in its basic message. The message of love, compassion and respecting (not tolerating please, that word spells negativism) the other viewpoint. That's the attitude and a belief distinguishing us from the Semitic streams. All roads lead to one God and all prophets have spoken well for humanity - that's a Hindu speaking at home or in a congregation without hesitation. He won't mind bowing his head before the inspiring and the compassionate altar, a picture of Jesus or an Islamic place of reverence, without compromising his own convictions. That's the reason he hates the politically-charged groups, parties and so-called ideological war horses, which have hardly done anything to correct or make amends in the caste-ridden structure or in the attitude towards women. See the Provoked and decide which society you belong to. The Hindu who worships Durga during Navratra but kills the same Devi when she arrives in the womb? Or the Hindu who claims to see Ram in every creature, but refuses to dine with his co-religionist if he happens to be from a so-called “lower caste”? Hence the anger within in the new, real Hindu. Against the loot of the pandas in pilgrim centres, mismanaged temples and a complete control of the so-called high castes on every decision-making body of the society. The reservation issue may be a difficult one, but pray who stops the high and mighty of the Hindu “high caste” to start centres of excellence for their disadvantaged sections so that they never ever feel the need to use the reservation ladder? While the stereotype basks in the meaningless repetition of the old dogmas, the newly-risen Hindu has started working on such development themes bringing Laxmi and Saraswati on the same platform. For a Hindu, the spread of his vast entrepreneurial empire has to be greeted with the Gayatri Mantra (Videocon ad) and Vande Mataram (the Kumarmangalam Birla campaign) but nevertheless the biggest challenge comes from within and not from outside “enemies”. Job reservation for non-Hindus, the arrest of Shankaracharya on Diwali night and refusing to execute a non-bailable warrant against the Imam, the temple takeover spree by the state power, stopping of morning bhajans in trains, subsidy to Haj and silence on Hindu pilgrimages, biryani for terrorists and no hope for patriotic Kashmiri Hindus uprooted from their homes in the Valley -- all these issues make him uneasy. This anger for the inner corrections and a will to excel has given a unique hue to the new rise of the Hindu which is the only assuring factor in spite of the cacophony of various interest groups working to confuse the march of the Sanatana Dharma .
-- Readers Opinion New rise of the Hindu. Tarun Vijay
Name:Name:raj Location:denmark 3 May, 2007 1946hrs IST Comment:Osho has been criticized for a lot of things, but he sometimes hits the nail square on the head. Dividing peple on the basis of religion is the first step towards fundamentalism. The best way to avoid all kinds of discrimination is to make the government strictly secular, without any respect for any public display of religion. The government and its affliaited bodies should totally eschew all forms of any leniency or favour to anybody or anyting in the name of religion. This would forever put to rest all kinds of religious discrimination. Name:suneil Location:iift delhi 3 May, 2007 1158hrs IST Comment:It is a great article by Tarun Vijay. We Hindus need to introspect & do something good for our own brothers/sisters who have been left behind in Indian progress. We must empower them and make them so strong that they are not lured by others and are active participants in progressive India. My suggestion to all fellow Hindus is to devote some time for the upliftment of all downtroden people so that this coutry becomes a great one again and we do not see such a wide gulf in prosperity.
Name:dilip Location:usa 3 May, 2007 0018hrs IST
Comment:The secular government apparatus has declared a war on the Hindu religion. The benefits given to minorities and the clipping of Hindu bhajans in trains, plight of Kashmiri Hindus, takeover of Hindu temples is nothing but a crime. Even the foreign rulers were not so vicious. This is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed quickly. Patience is running out.
Readers Opinion New rise of the Hindu 1 Comment:Very nice article
Name:adsad Location:usa 4 May, 2007 2040hrs IST Comment:Dear Editor, Thanks for publishing this article. Dear Mr. Vijay, this is an excellent article and makes us all proud of our way of life. I am glad english media has published this. Keep up the excellent work. Jayant.
Name:jayant Location:usa 4 May, 2007 2002hrs IST Comment:Excellent Kudos to Tarun Vijay for penning this article. Whatever the 'secular Taliban' may say, Hindus have begun to assert and that is good for humanity at large.
Name:vishvaksenah Location:bangalore 4 May, 2007 1019hrs IST Comment:Due to scribes like you I still have faith in English media otherwise things look so gloomy.
Name:anil kumar Location:canada 4 May, 2007 0728hrs IST Comment:The so-called 'secular' politician blatantly practises minorityism in the name of secularism, thus making a mockery of the word. No 'secular' journalist, howsoever 'seasoned' he may be, has ever questioned this bias against the Hindus in India.The National Commission for Minorities is arbitrarily appropriating more and more privileges for the so-called 'minorities' at the expense of the majority Hindus.There should be a national debate on the issue of 'minorities'. Those who were born and bred in India, who have their roots here, cannot be considered as minorities. Just because the Muslim and Christian invaders 'converted' some locals by force, marriage or rape, how can these sons and daughters of the soil get preferential treatment in a secular democratic state?The Govt is guilty of the policy of 'divide and rule' which they inherited from the British, to keep the people perpetually divided. The present UPA Govt has polarized society on caste and communal lines.The media seems to be blissfully oblivious of these schemes.They have to play a constructive role in nation-building.
Name:vijayalakshmi Location:chennai 4 May, 2007 0012hrs IST Comment:This is an excellent article. It was a great pleasure to read it. Mr. Tarun Vijay has shown his writing capabilites and the research seems exquisite.
Name:raj Location:denmark 3 May, 2007 1946hrs IST Comment:Osho has been criticized for a lot of things, but he sometimes hits the nail square on the head. Dividing peple on the basis of religion is the first step towards fundamentalism. The best way to avoid all kinds of discrimination is to make the government strictly secular, without any respect for any public display of religion. The government and its affliaited bodies should totally eschew all forms of any leniency or favour to anybody or anyting in the name of religion. This would forever put to rest all kinds of religious discrimination.
Name:suneil Location:iift delhi 3 May, 2007 1158hrs IST Comment:It is a great article by Tarun Vijay. We Hindus need to introspect & do something good for our own brothers/sisters who have been left behind in Indian progress. We must empower them and make them so strong that they are not lured by others and are active participants in progressive India. My suggestion to all fellow Hindus is to devote some time for the upliftment of all downtroden people so that this coutry becomes a great one again and we do not see such a wide gulf in prosperity.
Name:shanker Location:mumbai 3 May, 2007 1134hrs IST Comment:The secular government apparatus has declared a war on the Hindu religion. The benefits given to minorities and the clipping of Hindu bhajans in trains, plight of Kashmiri Hindus, takeover of Hindu temples is nothing but a crime. Even the foreign rulers were not so vicious. This is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed quickly. Patience is running out. Name:dilip
Location:usa 3 May, 2007 0018hrs IST Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 12:48 pm Post subject:
Discussion, taken offline from yahoogroups -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In response to Tarun Vijay's article http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/New_rise_of_the_Hindu/articleshow/1993903.cms There were some emails sent to the yahoogroups by the members... However since the group is not intended for discussion, these have not been approved, and they have been taken offline Members are free to express their views about the article, here in this forum, as long as the usual standards of debate are kept Here is one of the responses, pasted below -------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Dr. John T. Eapen" Date: Wed May 9, 2007 11:01 am
Excellent article! Congratulations! There is a saying, the elephant does not know its strength and that is what happend to us Indians. We do not know our strength and our spirituality. I am glad that the author has clearly brought out how the west views Indians as mild people with great inner strength, moving with times. This is what Swami Vivekananda recorded in his writings a centuary ago. Today also it is the same. India has a distinct identity in this world. The word Hindu is always seen as a religion by the west. But the truth is that it is a geographical identity. Unfortunately, out of all countries in the world, only in India the geographical identity and sanatana dharma got mixed up and formed Hinduism. So, let us redefine the word hindu as a geographical identity. That is why I prefer to call myself as a "Christu Bhakt Hindu" than a Christian. This is the message I spread to my fellow Indians and I encourage them to pray in sanskrit language. Let us keep our culture and keep our relationship with God as very personal one. Let us keep away from the gangs, mafias and groups who want to control the world politically in the name of God. After all God is Sovereign and we Indians strongly believe that God does not require any human help to control the world. Para Atma Pithahi Namaha
1 comments:
Ed Vis said...
The new Hindu is assertive and sensitive, not aggressive or a silent spectator to the assaults of the secular Taliban. So he stands up against a Durga being painted with whiskey bottles in her hands by an Amsterdam ad agency, or a Ganapati on the toilet cover, and voices strong protest against the destruction of the ancient Ram Sethu down south. Very well written. Almost all the e-mails I get reflect what you wrote. After Pearl Harbor invasion, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is quoted as saying "I fear that all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve." Exactly that is what is happening to Hindus around the globe. "The Sleeping Giant" is finally awaken.
June 13, 2007 11:19 AM
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