July 31, 2009
तरुण विजय
Friday, July 31, 2009
असहिष्णु हिंदुओं का पाखंड
जड़तामूलक जातिवाद और अस्वस्थ रूढियों के जारी रहने पर निराशा जाहिर कर रहे हैं- तरुण विजय
दैनिक जागरण
27 July, 2009
तरुण विजय
दैनिक जागरण
27 July, 2009
तरुण विजय
पिछले दिनों हरियाणा में जींद के एक गाव में सैकड़ों ग्रामीणों ने बड़ी वीरता का प्रदर्शन किया। वहशियों की तरह उन्होंने अपने ही गाव के एक निहत्थे युवक को दौड़ा-दौड़ा कर इतना पीटा कि उसकी मृत्यु हो गई। वह युवक अपनी पत्नी को घर लिवा लाने के लिए पुलिसकर्मियों व अदालती अफसरों के साथ ससुराल पहुंचा था। राजनेताओं और भ्रष्ट पुलिस की साठगाठ के चलते इस मामले में किसी के प्रति न्याय होगा, इसका कोई भरोसा नहीं। जिस युवती से युवक का प्रेम विवाह हुआ था, उसके मा-बाप और गाव वाले शायद अपने गाव, घर और खानदान की इज्जत बचाने के नाम पर अब खुश भी होंगे और मामले को दबा भी देंगे। इस कोलाहल में क्या किसी का ध्यान उस बेचारी युवती की व्यथा पर जाएगा, जिसे घर में कैद कर उसके पति को बर्बरता से मार डाला गया।
व्यापक हिंदू समाज के भीतर विभिन्न जातियों और संप्रदायों में शादी करने पर अक्सर उत्तर प्रदेश, हरियाणा, पंजाब व राजस्थान में नवविवाहित दंपति की उनके ही परिजनों व धर्मरक्षकों द्वारा हत्या किए जाने के समाचार मिलते हैं। कोई हिंदू सामाजिक, धार्मिक नेता इसकी कभी निंदा नहीं करता। वास्तव में विवेकानंद, सावरकर और लोहिया के बाद हिंदुओं के भीतर पनप रहे पाखंड, जड़तामूलक जातिवाद और अस्वस्थ रूढि़यों के विरुद्ध कोई विशेष स्वर नहीं उठा। केवल राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ और गायत्री परिवार जैसे आध्यात्मिक आंदोलन सुधारवादी हिंदू मान्यताओं को जीवन में उतारने का प्रयास कर रहे हैं, लेकिन इसके बावजूद जातिगत क्षुद्रता का अहंकार बड़े-बड़े दिग्गजों के व्यवहार में दिखता है। यह राजनीति में जातिवाद की प्रतिष्ठा का विष फल है। बहुत कम लोग हानि-लाभ की चिंता किए बिना जाति भेद के विरुद्ध खड़े होते हैं। मा.स. गोलवलकर, बाला साहब देवरस, रज्जू भैया सदृश चिंतकों ने समरसता का व्यवहार प्रतिपादित किया, पर राजनीति में तो नाम से पहले जाति पूछने और फिर उसी आधार पर पद बाटने का चलन है।
सबसे ज्यादा दु:ख हिंदू तीर्थस्थानों और मंदिरों की दुर्दशा देखकर होता है। संस्कृत के सम्यक ज्ञान से शून्य केवल जाति के आधार पर पौरोहित्य कर्म करने वाले पंडों को राजनीति के वोटभक्षी नेताओं का जो तर्कहीन समर्थन मिलता है, उसी कारण मंदिर अस्वच्छ, पूजापाठ विधिविहीन, श्लोकों के गलत उच्चारण, देवपूजन में लापरवाही और श्रद्धालुओं को लूटने के केंद्र में बदल गए हैं। बहुत समय पहले रज्जू भैया से चर्चा हुई थी कि क्यों नहीं अखिल भारतीय स्तर पर पुरोहित कार्य के विधिवत प्रशिक्षण की ऐसी केंद्रीय व्यवस्था की जाए जो बहुमान्य शकराचार्यो एवं संत परंपरा के श्रेष्ठ धर्मगुरुओं के संरक्षण में चले। फिर जैसे आईएएस, आईपीएस अधिकारियों की नियुक्ति होती है, उसी प्रकार मंदिरों की देखरेख और वहां पूजा-पाठ के निमित्त भली प्रकार प्रशिक्षित पुरोहित ही नियुक्त किए जाएं। बदलते समय और जीवन की आवश्यकताओं को देखते हुए उनकी सम्मानजनक न्यूनतम आजीविका भी सुनिश्चित की जानी चाहिए। समाज में जो पवित्र कार्य जीवन, मृत्यु तथा अन्य अवसरों के लिए आवश्यक माने जाते हैं, उनके प्रति युगानुकूल चैतन्य व तदनुरूप उचित व्यवस्था हिंदू समाज के अग्रणी संतों और महापुरुषों की चिंता का विषय होना चाहिए। यदि राजनेता भी आपसी दलगत दूरिया भुलाकर हिंदू नव चैतन्य के लिए एकजुट होते हैं तो इससे उनकी प्रतिष्ठा और लोकमान्यता बढ़ेगी, साथ ही हिंदू समाज का भी हित होगा।
क्या हर की पैड़ी या चार धामों की पूजा व्यवस्था में अप्रशिक्षित और संस्कृत का कम ज्ञान रखने वाले ब्राह्मणों से सुप्रशिक्षित एवं पाडित्यपूर्ण अनुसूचित जाति के युवाओं को बेहतर मानना अधर्म होगा? क्या भगवान किसी वंचित (दलित) वर्ग के पुरोहित द्वारा अर्पित अर्चना अस्वीकार कर देंगे? देश के मंदिरों को एक अखिल भारतीय धार्मिक व्यवस्था के अंतर्गत अधिक स्वच्छ, विनम्रतापूर्ण श्रद्धालु-केंद्रित, पैसे के वर्चस्व से परे, भावना-आधारित हिंदू जागरण तथा संगठन का केंद्र बनाने के लिए हिंदू-संगठनों को ही आगे आना होगा। आज हिंदुओं की नई पीढ़ी में आधुनिकता और नवीन प्रयोगों के प्रति स्वाकारोक्ति दिखती है, जैसे गुजरात में पिता की मृत्यु पर बेटी द्वारा मुखाग्नि देना, अंतर्जातीय, अंतप्र्रातीय विवाहों का चलन, कुछ मंदिरों में पूजा व दर्शन की सुचारू व्यवस्था, लेकिन इसके बावजूद गंगा, यमुना के तीर्थ-घाटों पर गंदगी, गोमुख तक के पास कचरा, यात्रियों की पूजा व आवासीय व्यवस्थाओं में पंडों की लूटखसोट के कारण अराजकता जैसे दृश्य भी दिखते हैं। जातिभेद और अस्पृश्यता आज भी जिंदा है। क्या यह सब उस देश के लिए शोभा देता है जो आज दुनिया में सबसे युवा जनसंख्या वाला सभ्यतामूलक समाज है? क्या मंदिर देवता और श्रद्धालु के बीच केवल व्यक्तिगत लेन-देन तक सीमित रहना चाहिए या देवताओं के गुण श्रद्धालुओं तक पहुंचाने का सशक्त केंद्र बनना चाहिए? पूजा करेंगे महिषासुरमर्दिनी दुर्गा की, रावणहंता राम की, बलशाली हनुमान की और व्यवहार में दिखाएंगे कायरता, स्त्री-दमन तथा जातीय शोषण के लक्षण। ऐसे मंदिरों और पूजा का क्या अर्थ? मंदिर हिंदू सशक्तिकरण, भाव प्रबोधन, नूतन युग की माग के अनुसार जातिभेद, कन्या भ्रूण हत्या, दहेज आदि के विरुद्ध जागरण के लिए कायाकल्प करें।
आज विश्व में हिंदू समाज, धर्म और हिंदू प्रतिभाओं की प्रशसा इसलिए होती है, क्योंकि ये हजारों वर्ष पुरानी सनातन परंपराओं का अनुगमन करते हुए भी बदलते वक्त के साथ खुद को ढालने की अपूर्व क्षमता दिखाते हैं। सुधारों का अधुनातन प्रभाव गावों तथा शहरों के रूढिबद्ध अंधकार से घिरे लोगों तक भी पहुंचे तभी हिंदू जाति के उत्कर्ष पर लगा ग्रहण हटेगा।
व्यापक हिंदू समाज के भीतर विभिन्न जातियों और संप्रदायों में शादी करने पर अक्सर उत्तर प्रदेश, हरियाणा, पंजाब व राजस्थान में नवविवाहित दंपति की उनके ही परिजनों व धर्मरक्षकों द्वारा हत्या किए जाने के समाचार मिलते हैं। कोई हिंदू सामाजिक, धार्मिक नेता इसकी कभी निंदा नहीं करता। वास्तव में विवेकानंद, सावरकर और लोहिया के बाद हिंदुओं के भीतर पनप रहे पाखंड, जड़तामूलक जातिवाद और अस्वस्थ रूढि़यों के विरुद्ध कोई विशेष स्वर नहीं उठा। केवल राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ और गायत्री परिवार जैसे आध्यात्मिक आंदोलन सुधारवादी हिंदू मान्यताओं को जीवन में उतारने का प्रयास कर रहे हैं, लेकिन इसके बावजूद जातिगत क्षुद्रता का अहंकार बड़े-बड़े दिग्गजों के व्यवहार में दिखता है। यह राजनीति में जातिवाद की प्रतिष्ठा का विष फल है। बहुत कम लोग हानि-लाभ की चिंता किए बिना जाति भेद के विरुद्ध खड़े होते हैं। मा.स. गोलवलकर, बाला साहब देवरस, रज्जू भैया सदृश चिंतकों ने समरसता का व्यवहार प्रतिपादित किया, पर राजनीति में तो नाम से पहले जाति पूछने और फिर उसी आधार पर पद बाटने का चलन है।
सबसे ज्यादा दु:ख हिंदू तीर्थस्थानों और मंदिरों की दुर्दशा देखकर होता है। संस्कृत के सम्यक ज्ञान से शून्य केवल जाति के आधार पर पौरोहित्य कर्म करने वाले पंडों को राजनीति के वोटभक्षी नेताओं का जो तर्कहीन समर्थन मिलता है, उसी कारण मंदिर अस्वच्छ, पूजापाठ विधिविहीन, श्लोकों के गलत उच्चारण, देवपूजन में लापरवाही और श्रद्धालुओं को लूटने के केंद्र में बदल गए हैं। बहुत समय पहले रज्जू भैया से चर्चा हुई थी कि क्यों नहीं अखिल भारतीय स्तर पर पुरोहित कार्य के विधिवत प्रशिक्षण की ऐसी केंद्रीय व्यवस्था की जाए जो बहुमान्य शकराचार्यो एवं संत परंपरा के श्रेष्ठ धर्मगुरुओं के संरक्षण में चले। फिर जैसे आईएएस, आईपीएस अधिकारियों की नियुक्ति होती है, उसी प्रकार मंदिरों की देखरेख और वहां पूजा-पाठ के निमित्त भली प्रकार प्रशिक्षित पुरोहित ही नियुक्त किए जाएं। बदलते समय और जीवन की आवश्यकताओं को देखते हुए उनकी सम्मानजनक न्यूनतम आजीविका भी सुनिश्चित की जानी चाहिए। समाज में जो पवित्र कार्य जीवन, मृत्यु तथा अन्य अवसरों के लिए आवश्यक माने जाते हैं, उनके प्रति युगानुकूल चैतन्य व तदनुरूप उचित व्यवस्था हिंदू समाज के अग्रणी संतों और महापुरुषों की चिंता का विषय होना चाहिए। यदि राजनेता भी आपसी दलगत दूरिया भुलाकर हिंदू नव चैतन्य के लिए एकजुट होते हैं तो इससे उनकी प्रतिष्ठा और लोकमान्यता बढ़ेगी, साथ ही हिंदू समाज का भी हित होगा।
क्या हर की पैड़ी या चार धामों की पूजा व्यवस्था में अप्रशिक्षित और संस्कृत का कम ज्ञान रखने वाले ब्राह्मणों से सुप्रशिक्षित एवं पाडित्यपूर्ण अनुसूचित जाति के युवाओं को बेहतर मानना अधर्म होगा? क्या भगवान किसी वंचित (दलित) वर्ग के पुरोहित द्वारा अर्पित अर्चना अस्वीकार कर देंगे? देश के मंदिरों को एक अखिल भारतीय धार्मिक व्यवस्था के अंतर्गत अधिक स्वच्छ, विनम्रतापूर्ण श्रद्धालु-केंद्रित, पैसे के वर्चस्व से परे, भावना-आधारित हिंदू जागरण तथा संगठन का केंद्र बनाने के लिए हिंदू-संगठनों को ही आगे आना होगा। आज हिंदुओं की नई पीढ़ी में आधुनिकता और नवीन प्रयोगों के प्रति स्वाकारोक्ति दिखती है, जैसे गुजरात में पिता की मृत्यु पर बेटी द्वारा मुखाग्नि देना, अंतर्जातीय, अंतप्र्रातीय विवाहों का चलन, कुछ मंदिरों में पूजा व दर्शन की सुचारू व्यवस्था, लेकिन इसके बावजूद गंगा, यमुना के तीर्थ-घाटों पर गंदगी, गोमुख तक के पास कचरा, यात्रियों की पूजा व आवासीय व्यवस्थाओं में पंडों की लूटखसोट के कारण अराजकता जैसे दृश्य भी दिखते हैं। जातिभेद और अस्पृश्यता आज भी जिंदा है। क्या यह सब उस देश के लिए शोभा देता है जो आज दुनिया में सबसे युवा जनसंख्या वाला सभ्यतामूलक समाज है? क्या मंदिर देवता और श्रद्धालु के बीच केवल व्यक्तिगत लेन-देन तक सीमित रहना चाहिए या देवताओं के गुण श्रद्धालुओं तक पहुंचाने का सशक्त केंद्र बनना चाहिए? पूजा करेंगे महिषासुरमर्दिनी दुर्गा की, रावणहंता राम की, बलशाली हनुमान की और व्यवहार में दिखाएंगे कायरता, स्त्री-दमन तथा जातीय शोषण के लक्षण। ऐसे मंदिरों और पूजा का क्या अर्थ? मंदिर हिंदू सशक्तिकरण, भाव प्रबोधन, नूतन युग की माग के अनुसार जातिभेद, कन्या भ्रूण हत्या, दहेज आदि के विरुद्ध जागरण के लिए कायाकल्प करें।
आज विश्व में हिंदू समाज, धर्म और हिंदू प्रतिभाओं की प्रशसा इसलिए होती है, क्योंकि ये हजारों वर्ष पुरानी सनातन परंपराओं का अनुगमन करते हुए भी बदलते वक्त के साथ खुद को ढालने की अपूर्व क्षमता दिखाते हैं। सुधारों का अधुनातन प्रभाव गावों तथा शहरों के रूढिबद्ध अंधकार से घिरे लोगों तक भी पहुंचे तभी हिंदू जाति के उत्कर्ष पर लगा ग्रहण हटेगा।
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Hillary Mission
Tarun Vijay
The Times of India.com/Indus Calling
Saturday July 18, 2009
The Times of India.com/Indus Calling
Saturday July 18, 2009
It's not just business. Secretary Clinton, getting a presidential security in Delhi, is seeking much more in India. The global power situation is in a flux. Hence the giants are following a hedging strategy - not to be seen siding with any camp but to feel the waters before the final polarization. At present, the currents are fast moving from G8 into the direction of a G2 situation, the two giants being the US and China. We are left behind and in Obama's strategic calculations; our role comes after Pakistan and China in this region. Immediately after her India visit, Clinton would be co-hosting on July 27 and 28 an inaugural meeting of an official strategic and economic dialogue with China.
Still, warmth between the two democracies is age-old and Obama has found a people here naturally inclined to his persona. This must come as the biggest asset for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was born just two months after India got her truncated independence. A Yale grad, she is a family-oriented person who showed great resilience and a deep commitment to save family during her most turbulent White House days. Once she said: "Our lives are a mixture of different roles. Most of us are doing the best we can to find whatever the right balance is . . . For me, that balance is family, work, and service." And truly her writings did reflect that depth, winning her worldwide laurels for her book "Other lessons children teach us".
Hillary Clinton is visiting India when the hopes are high and the roads are rough. She will have to show her best diplomatic skills better powered and confident than what we saw in her presidential campaign. Her visit is in the backdrop of India-Pakistan twitting in Sharm el-Sheikh, and the sound bites emerging from the Arab comfort zone have only confirmed Pakistan two-timing on taking Indian call on terror war. In spite of age and agility on his side, Pakistan's Gilani looked confusingly clever and our PM, though mild and soft, emerged as firmly speaking for Pakistan's cause. Quite strange and shocking indeed that we allowed Islamabad to include Balochistan without realizing that by a single 'B' insertion Pakistan will now always try to justify its bloody terrorism in Kashmir. No Indian government, whatever colour or party, ever conceded this kind of a severe self-goal which Manmohan Singh has done. Is there any explanation for this? And is there an American angle to it? What was the hurry to issue a controversial statement just on the eve of Secretary Clinton's India visit?
Before Hillary left for Mumbai, she said that her mission is to strengthen strategic ties with India. Good to hear that. It's in the interest of regional balance and to counter Islamic terror that a US-India friendship gets serious.
That she is not reaching Delhi first and would spend half her India visit at the Taj is a significant emotional statement to the people of India, deeply hurt with the 26/11 assault. It's also a bold support to those who fought the barbarians from Pakistan, boosting the morale of the Taj and its controllers capped with a lunch with Ratan Tata and other top Indian CEOs at an India-US CEOs forum. Once a rival to the presidential candidate Obama, she now represents his administration and there couldn't have been a better face.
The west has kept its region free from all strife while trying to control and guide the destinies of the other hemisphere for various reasons - oil, weapons market, energy and a geo-political hegemony. Ninety per cent of the contemporary tensions lie in our region, which has emerged as most volatile. Ethnic unrest, terrorism and separatist movements have engulfed millions from Iran to Xinjiang and Kabul to Mumbai and beyond. And with all that the US is at the centre blamed for flaming the fires or for not doing enough to extinguish them. Already trying to disentangle from Iraq, the US is keen to pursue a different strategy in Afghanistan and its commander Stanley is talking like a peace corps volunteer rather than an armed forces leader.
Most of our problems are a result of direct western intervention or its exploitative policies with a colonial mindset. Even carbon emissions, global warming and related ills are the results of the west's ruthless industrialization and annihilation of natural resources. Now they want us to share their burden and be an environmental-coolie for them.
Hillary and her bosses know well that India is different. There is a strong opposition, a vibrant democracy and a powerful presence of youth with high skills and ambitious dreams. A large section is suspicious of the nuke deal and the scenes created last summer while passing it in Parliament are reminders of a manipulative 'cash for vote' polity occurred, in common perception, under Washington's pressure. As Democrats, the Clintons were opposing the deal, though for a different reason, yet helped pass it with a hope that India will sign NPT. The US thinks nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty are important. We just can't take this piece of advice. Even the treasury benches and the opposition will unanimously reject any such suggestion.
It will be a tricky issue this time if Hillary chooses to touch it. None, in his senses will agree to it, whether in governance or in the opposition.
So she must concentrate on the mandate alone she has been given: bring business to the cash-starved US industry. Reactors, weapons and climate control programmes, all must fetch money to the US industry. Bringing buoyancy to the recession-hit American business community selling US nuclear reactors and weapons is the main course she would love to enjoy in Delhi. American lobbyists expect that the business for US industry may fetch export orders to India to the tune of $10 billion during this visit. At present US reactors are producing energy costing $4,000 per kilowatt, while India has been producing it at Tarapur and Kalpakkam at $2,000 per kilowatt. Still we need a huge amount of plutonium and hence the need for buying reactors. The other two anxieties include ensuring India accepts and makes a law for civil liabilities in reference to any nuke mishap and have a fool-proof arrangement for safeguarding nuclear fuel's end use in the civil sector.
Besides, she must assure Indians that dollars to Pakistan do not get used up against India and focused engagement with China doesn't mean India appears less importantly on the US radar. We remain important to the US for our money and mind power. Pakistan and China are strategic necessities. Dollars to Pakistan are a "useful" investment for the US that secures it a foothold in an Asian Muslim land to oversee central Asian Islamic countries and contain Chinese aspirations. India emerges important strategically only to block Chinese expansion eating away US influence in the region. It's for the Indian leadership not to become a pawn between the two rivals but assert its legitimately bigger role in the region. What Pakistan is doing to Taliban in Swat is just to please Washington and grease the dollar-path. It's for India to make Pakistan take firmer actions against terrorists using Pakistan as a safe house against us.
It's in our interest to stop sending applications to the US to contain Pakistan-sponsored terrorism on our land and devise an independent and strong policy to make Islamabad behave. In any case the Clinton era was less helpful in realistic terms than the Bush period and we will be deceiving ourselves to think that the Obama regime will help us out of the way Obama's Bangalore to Buffalo statements, lavish grants to Pakistan and first diplomatic gestures to China have been noted here. The Obama administration has made it clear that it would to see to it that India signs the NPT. Obama' Af-Pak policy doesn't envisage any significant role for India, though the region logically belongs to us and we have a stake in every development taking place here. Obama has also kept a studied silence over jihadi terrorism in Kashmir that has killed more than 60,000 Indians, mostly Hindus so far.
Winner is the one who thinks in terms of a victory and can take risks. This government of ours is capable of doing just the opposite.
The India visit must have also made Hillary realize that this is also a great reservoir of human wisdom, leading today's planet in knowledge sector and representing the highest density of world's youth power, having the dreams to realize them too. This India, as the largest population of the youth under 40 on earth today has responded warmly to Obama's elevation to US presidentship and it's perhaps for the first time since the Kennedy days that common people look to America as a friendly, warm and cordial power, quite different from the Bush era. That brings the dangers inherent in the high expectations mode - even a small negative gesture may ruin the atmosphere.
Still, warmth between the two democracies is age-old and Obama has found a people here naturally inclined to his persona. This must come as the biggest asset for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was born just two months after India got her truncated independence. A Yale grad, she is a family-oriented person who showed great resilience and a deep commitment to save family during her most turbulent White House days. Once she said: "Our lives are a mixture of different roles. Most of us are doing the best we can to find whatever the right balance is . . . For me, that balance is family, work, and service." And truly her writings did reflect that depth, winning her worldwide laurels for her book "Other lessons children teach us".
Hillary Clinton is visiting India when the hopes are high and the roads are rough. She will have to show her best diplomatic skills better powered and confident than what we saw in her presidential campaign. Her visit is in the backdrop of India-Pakistan twitting in Sharm el-Sheikh, and the sound bites emerging from the Arab comfort zone have only confirmed Pakistan two-timing on taking Indian call on terror war. In spite of age and agility on his side, Pakistan's Gilani looked confusingly clever and our PM, though mild and soft, emerged as firmly speaking for Pakistan's cause. Quite strange and shocking indeed that we allowed Islamabad to include Balochistan without realizing that by a single 'B' insertion Pakistan will now always try to justify its bloody terrorism in Kashmir. No Indian government, whatever colour or party, ever conceded this kind of a severe self-goal which Manmohan Singh has done. Is there any explanation for this? And is there an American angle to it? What was the hurry to issue a controversial statement just on the eve of Secretary Clinton's India visit?
Before Hillary left for Mumbai, she said that her mission is to strengthen strategic ties with India. Good to hear that. It's in the interest of regional balance and to counter Islamic terror that a US-India friendship gets serious.
That she is not reaching Delhi first and would spend half her India visit at the Taj is a significant emotional statement to the people of India, deeply hurt with the 26/11 assault. It's also a bold support to those who fought the barbarians from Pakistan, boosting the morale of the Taj and its controllers capped with a lunch with Ratan Tata and other top Indian CEOs at an India-US CEOs forum. Once a rival to the presidential candidate Obama, she now represents his administration and there couldn't have been a better face.
The west has kept its region free from all strife while trying to control and guide the destinies of the other hemisphere for various reasons - oil, weapons market, energy and a geo-political hegemony. Ninety per cent of the contemporary tensions lie in our region, which has emerged as most volatile. Ethnic unrest, terrorism and separatist movements have engulfed millions from Iran to Xinjiang and Kabul to Mumbai and beyond. And with all that the US is at the centre blamed for flaming the fires or for not doing enough to extinguish them. Already trying to disentangle from Iraq, the US is keen to pursue a different strategy in Afghanistan and its commander Stanley is talking like a peace corps volunteer rather than an armed forces leader.
Most of our problems are a result of direct western intervention or its exploitative policies with a colonial mindset. Even carbon emissions, global warming and related ills are the results of the west's ruthless industrialization and annihilation of natural resources. Now they want us to share their burden and be an environmental-coolie for them.
Hillary and her bosses know well that India is different. There is a strong opposition, a vibrant democracy and a powerful presence of youth with high skills and ambitious dreams. A large section is suspicious of the nuke deal and the scenes created last summer while passing it in Parliament are reminders of a manipulative 'cash for vote' polity occurred, in common perception, under Washington's pressure. As Democrats, the Clintons were opposing the deal, though for a different reason, yet helped pass it with a hope that India will sign NPT. The US thinks nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty are important. We just can't take this piece of advice. Even the treasury benches and the opposition will unanimously reject any such suggestion.
It will be a tricky issue this time if Hillary chooses to touch it. None, in his senses will agree to it, whether in governance or in the opposition.
So she must concentrate on the mandate alone she has been given: bring business to the cash-starved US industry. Reactors, weapons and climate control programmes, all must fetch money to the US industry. Bringing buoyancy to the recession-hit American business community selling US nuclear reactors and weapons is the main course she would love to enjoy in Delhi. American lobbyists expect that the business for US industry may fetch export orders to India to the tune of $10 billion during this visit. At present US reactors are producing energy costing $4,000 per kilowatt, while India has been producing it at Tarapur and Kalpakkam at $2,000 per kilowatt. Still we need a huge amount of plutonium and hence the need for buying reactors. The other two anxieties include ensuring India accepts and makes a law for civil liabilities in reference to any nuke mishap and have a fool-proof arrangement for safeguarding nuclear fuel's end use in the civil sector.
Besides, she must assure Indians that dollars to Pakistan do not get used up against India and focused engagement with China doesn't mean India appears less importantly on the US radar. We remain important to the US for our money and mind power. Pakistan and China are strategic necessities. Dollars to Pakistan are a "useful" investment for the US that secures it a foothold in an Asian Muslim land to oversee central Asian Islamic countries and contain Chinese aspirations. India emerges important strategically only to block Chinese expansion eating away US influence in the region. It's for the Indian leadership not to become a pawn between the two rivals but assert its legitimately bigger role in the region. What Pakistan is doing to Taliban in Swat is just to please Washington and grease the dollar-path. It's for India to make Pakistan take firmer actions against terrorists using Pakistan as a safe house against us.
It's in our interest to stop sending applications to the US to contain Pakistan-sponsored terrorism on our land and devise an independent and strong policy to make Islamabad behave. In any case the Clinton era was less helpful in realistic terms than the Bush period and we will be deceiving ourselves to think that the Obama regime will help us out of the way Obama's Bangalore to Buffalo statements, lavish grants to Pakistan and first diplomatic gestures to China have been noted here. The Obama administration has made it clear that it would to see to it that India signs the NPT. Obama' Af-Pak policy doesn't envisage any significant role for India, though the region logically belongs to us and we have a stake in every development taking place here. Obama has also kept a studied silence over jihadi terrorism in Kashmir that has killed more than 60,000 Indians, mostly Hindus so far.
Winner is the one who thinks in terms of a victory and can take risks. This government of ours is capable of doing just the opposite.
The India visit must have also made Hillary realize that this is also a great reservoir of human wisdom, leading today's planet in knowledge sector and representing the highest density of world's youth power, having the dreams to realize them too. This India, as the largest population of the youth under 40 on earth today has responded warmly to Obama's elevation to US presidentship and it's perhaps for the first time since the Kennedy days that common people look to America as a friendly, warm and cordial power, quite different from the Bush era. That brings the dangers inherent in the high expectations mode - even a small negative gesture may ruin the atmosphere.
Return to Ayodhya
Tarun Vijay
5 July 2009
Organiser
Ayodhya belongs to us all, like Ram. Having made the nation wait for 17 long years, the Liberhan Commission report hasn’t made even an iota of difference. The only course left for the government now is to approach the Guinness Book of Records to get an award for the longest procrastination to the commission and carry on with the national business. If the Congress, in its zeal to encash on its value for Muslim appeasement, wants to create a scene after it, it will be in for a shock. Ayodhya is a difficult issue for it - its hands are everywhere from opening the locks to laying the foundation stone and later the Rao era.
The fact is no power can now shift the temple built on Ram Janma Bhumi. Daily puja is going on uninterruptedly, notwithstanding a terrorist attack on it. The chargesheets and the case etc. have lost their relevance. Those who took up the cause politically are a divided house, some converting to the neo-‘secularism’ and have lost all credibility in the public eye. Even if the temple was a long-distance call, they could have at least taken care of the Ayodhya city, its protectors and the carriers of an invaluable flow of traditions - the sadhus and mathadhipatis. They didn’t do anything.
Take care of Ayodhya.
It’s a city of Ram and India would be less than a nation if Ram is taken away or left isolated like a post-Columbus American-Indian village.
Turn Ayodhya into an international city of grandeur like Thailand has done to its own Ayutthaya. It’s a city defining India, the heritage, the immortal literature woven around it, the dreams and aspirations of people sung keeping it in the centre, the river Sarayu and the dust turned holier because Ram had played in it. It’s incredibly Indian and unbelievably divine. It will earn spiritual solace. Those who think in terms of euros and dollars won’t be disappointed. That would come with a political mileage for all times without ruffling any feathers or denting a vote bank.
After all, Rajiv Gandhi had started his election campaign from there, promising Ram Rajya. For a devout Sikh Manmohan Singh, Guru Granth Saheb has most adorable references to Ram. And for others, Ram is India, which has given them so much of respect and power without bothering about their religion or origin. Mohammad Iqbal, the famous poet had said: Ram is Imame Hind - the greatest icon of India. They all owe a great deal to repay a debt to this land’s civilisational power that has been soothing and compassionate to all coming from diverse backgrounds and having different ideas.
Don’t deny Ayodhya this time. Die unsung but be honest once to your conscience. Ayodhya has been ditched immeasurably by her own small-time courtiers.
Ayodhya deserves to be developed as an international city of Ram, the Prince of Ayodhya, who fought the devils and gave us reason to celebrate Diwali, now the global festival of lights. And his return to Ayodhya makes us enact Ram Lilas and burn effigies of an unrepentant wicked demon. That’s why we have a Vijaya Dashami, the Dushehra. Ayodhya is unquestioningly intertwined into the lives of billions of Hindus who would prefer a Ram Ram or Jai Siyaram as a salutation than a Namaste. The joys and sorrows of Sita, the Janaki, the Van-gaman, exile to the forest, the Luv and Kush episodes. And the ultimate JalSamadhi, self-immersion by Ram in Sarayu. It's all Ayodhya. Later Luv established Lahore and even the Pakistan government feels proud about this fact in its travel literature and Kush established Bedi clan, to which belonged Guru Goovind Singh Saheb as per his Bani, the holy words.
That's us put together. That’s Ayodhya’s legacy.
Make Ayodhya a union territory. A city extraordinaire must be maintained under extraordinary dispensation - central government. Let NRIs design and fund it. Reward the pujaris and sadhus who had been keeping the flame of dharma and city’s sanctity alive, living in penury, ignored and isolated. They deserve warmth of belongingness and we owe it to them. The bungalow owners of metros and those who raise decibels in parliament for nothing never help in protecting the heritage. Those who do it must be recognized. Ayodhya is more than Ang Kor Wat, because from Korean princes to the builders of Ang Kor, they all took inspiration from this city on the banks of the Sarayu. It’s not just a parliamentary or assembly seat.
An International Rama University, a Janaki International airport, a Shabari University for Women, a Hanuman Academy for warfare, a think Valmiki thinktank to study invasions on India and the resultant socio-political changes, Luv-Kush panoramic garden of Indian culture and history on Sarayu bank, with a Pakistani contribution too, the city must resonate with elements that define and sustain Bharat that is India.
Think about it. Liberhan reminds you of smallness. Ayodhya is universal.
5 July 2009
Organiser
Ayodhya belongs to us all, like Ram. Having made the nation wait for 17 long years, the Liberhan Commission report hasn’t made even an iota of difference. The only course left for the government now is to approach the Guinness Book of Records to get an award for the longest procrastination to the commission and carry on with the national business. If the Congress, in its zeal to encash on its value for Muslim appeasement, wants to create a scene after it, it will be in for a shock. Ayodhya is a difficult issue for it - its hands are everywhere from opening the locks to laying the foundation stone and later the Rao era.
The fact is no power can now shift the temple built on Ram Janma Bhumi. Daily puja is going on uninterruptedly, notwithstanding a terrorist attack on it. The chargesheets and the case etc. have lost their relevance. Those who took up the cause politically are a divided house, some converting to the neo-‘secularism’ and have lost all credibility in the public eye. Even if the temple was a long-distance call, they could have at least taken care of the Ayodhya city, its protectors and the carriers of an invaluable flow of traditions - the sadhus and mathadhipatis. They didn’t do anything.
Take care of Ayodhya.
It’s a city of Ram and India would be less than a nation if Ram is taken away or left isolated like a post-Columbus American-Indian village.
Turn Ayodhya into an international city of grandeur like Thailand has done to its own Ayutthaya. It’s a city defining India, the heritage, the immortal literature woven around it, the dreams and aspirations of people sung keeping it in the centre, the river Sarayu and the dust turned holier because Ram had played in it. It’s incredibly Indian and unbelievably divine. It will earn spiritual solace. Those who think in terms of euros and dollars won’t be disappointed. That would come with a political mileage for all times without ruffling any feathers or denting a vote bank.
After all, Rajiv Gandhi had started his election campaign from there, promising Ram Rajya. For a devout Sikh Manmohan Singh, Guru Granth Saheb has most adorable references to Ram. And for others, Ram is India, which has given them so much of respect and power without bothering about their religion or origin. Mohammad Iqbal, the famous poet had said: Ram is Imame Hind - the greatest icon of India. They all owe a great deal to repay a debt to this land’s civilisational power that has been soothing and compassionate to all coming from diverse backgrounds and having different ideas.
Don’t deny Ayodhya this time. Die unsung but be honest once to your conscience. Ayodhya has been ditched immeasurably by her own small-time courtiers.
Ayodhya deserves to be developed as an international city of Ram, the Prince of Ayodhya, who fought the devils and gave us reason to celebrate Diwali, now the global festival of lights. And his return to Ayodhya makes us enact Ram Lilas and burn effigies of an unrepentant wicked demon. That’s why we have a Vijaya Dashami, the Dushehra. Ayodhya is unquestioningly intertwined into the lives of billions of Hindus who would prefer a Ram Ram or Jai Siyaram as a salutation than a Namaste. The joys and sorrows of Sita, the Janaki, the Van-gaman, exile to the forest, the Luv and Kush episodes. And the ultimate JalSamadhi, self-immersion by Ram in Sarayu. It's all Ayodhya. Later Luv established Lahore and even the Pakistan government feels proud about this fact in its travel literature and Kush established Bedi clan, to which belonged Guru Goovind Singh Saheb as per his Bani, the holy words.
That's us put together. That’s Ayodhya’s legacy.
Make Ayodhya a union territory. A city extraordinaire must be maintained under extraordinary dispensation - central government. Let NRIs design and fund it. Reward the pujaris and sadhus who had been keeping the flame of dharma and city’s sanctity alive, living in penury, ignored and isolated. They deserve warmth of belongingness and we owe it to them. The bungalow owners of metros and those who raise decibels in parliament for nothing never help in protecting the heritage. Those who do it must be recognized. Ayodhya is more than Ang Kor Wat, because from Korean princes to the builders of Ang Kor, they all took inspiration from this city on the banks of the Sarayu. It’s not just a parliamentary or assembly seat.
An International Rama University, a Janaki International airport, a Shabari University for Women, a Hanuman Academy for warfare, a think Valmiki thinktank to study invasions on India and the resultant socio-political changes, Luv-Kush panoramic garden of Indian culture and history on Sarayu bank, with a Pakistani contribution too, the city must resonate with elements that define and sustain Bharat that is India.
Think about it. Liberhan reminds you of smallness. Ayodhya is universal.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
No Lalgarh in red China
The Times of India--2 Jul 2009,
The Chinese hunger to gain more knowledge, more military power, more prosperity and definitely a decisive say in global matters has become one of the most significant stories of our times.
Tarun Vijay
The Chinese are patriotic people. They don't allow any Lalgarhs to emerge with Maoists of some sort championing the cause of the poor by killing security personnel.
They have a portrait of Mao at the Tiananmen square but have reduced his biographies in textbooks to almost a formal mention. It's nationalism everywhere, staunch, undiluted and single-minded "China first".
I am writing this column from Kolkata, once known as the red bastion. The home to Naxalbari, a fertile ground for violent Maoism and a hotbed of Bangladeshi infiltrators who have been sheltered by the Left Front leaders to get their votes. Can we, anyway, compare the Indian communists to the communists of China in their patriotism?
The Chinese hunger to gain more knowledge, more military power, more prosperity and definitely a decisive say in global matters has become one of the most significant stories of our times. Chinese cities are bubbling with unprecedented activities of resurgence, economy is booming, new city centres and SEZs are being created, students are finding new universities focused on special niche subjects, everyone from everywhere is invited to invest in China, make money and at the same time transfer technology, their entrepreneurs are set to take over even the US car industry replacing the Japanese. From African countries to the Indian region, their presence is increasing each day if not overshadowing others completely.
President Hu represents a major policy shift in China since Jiang Zemin's regime. He changed the earlier "city first" policy into rural area-focused planning, pumping millions of RNBs into the rural sector. If the "China first" policy and the undiluted dynamism to make China No. 1 in the world is their side of an unbelievable story, India's emergence on the world stage showing strength of knowledge and technology, prosperity and stability with an excellent record of multiparty democracy, secular pluralism and a living civilisation dating back 5,000 years is an amazing tale of mystery and curiosity for the dragon land.
India too has moved far ahead and with a strong China policy, which has not lost its continuity since Rajiv Ghandhi's days, China certainly looks at us with a bit of disbelief -- capable of springing a surprise any time.
With a shift in the global power centres imminent, China is yet to make up its mind for a new global strategy post-Deng era. Hence it is adopting a hedging strategy without siding clearly with any power centre and keeping its options open.
The only factor that China thinks will help it is a strong urge to remain nationalist. It was quite evident wherever I went in Beijing and around it.
Beijing has always looked shrouded in mystery. Yet, the misty afternoon looked a bit out of place in this new age of reforms sweeping China. It was 3 in the afternoon and the Beijing airport was enveloped in the winter haze.
Our Toyota took about 25 minutes to reach the hotel, not very far from Tiananmen Square. These minutes give a foreigner an elegant introduction to the brave new world of progress and power.
China is changing fast and with a great sense of patriotism. There is simply no trace of the old Communism here. The will to succeed and emerge a superpower has driven Chinese leadership to go full steam for reforms and market economy. It’s a real Laksmi Pujan going on there. The new path has been named "Socialism with Chinese characteristics". How does the name matter if it brings prosperity to the millions of people the most populated nation. The new policies have changed the face of this nation but have also brought new problems.
Though unlike India, China began opening up and implemented reforms only after having its agriculture and the manufacturing sector strengthened. Then it aimed to quadruple its GNP of 1980 by the end of 2000, which it achieved in 1995, five years ahead of the schedule. Now it has set an objective to double the GNP of 2000 by 2010 and reach the level of a fully developed nation by 2050.
It has controlled the population growth, increased the defence budget to $22.4 billion, has taken the industrial growth to 12.6% , remains as hard as ever on Tibet and other such issues, taken control of Hong Kong and Macao, doesn’t care about Taiwan’s gestures and indications to come back, in fact the biggest investors to China come from that land.
How real is this new incarnation of the old Maoist totalitarian regime?
China is facing challenges on two major fronts. First, finding a position geopolitically commensurate with its newly gained status on the diplomatic front and cultural and administrative reforms domestically.
On the cultural front China is encountering a vacuum created by the Cultural Revolution. There is no visible cultural inspiration left to the younger generation, which is fast getting Americanised. Mr. Jin Jianfan, chairman of the Chinese Academy to protect and promote national Culture told me that they are very concerned about the growing Americanization of the Chinese youth. Sudden prosperity has brought the youngsters to pubs, night clubs, and has made them discard old Chinese values. Money alone makes a society wayward and prone to the alien effects which may not be good for the country. So, the Chinese are devoting a great deal of time to make the new generation proud of their national heritage.
Civilisational and cultural pride in their national history and heritage has become so visible and underlined at every monument of the historical importance that one wonders whether one is in a land of believers or atheist communists. In this context it would be interesting to know that Buddha, though more in a political and a strategic way, is returning to China in a big way.
In the field of administrative reforms, corruption is rampant in the party, in the administration, in the entire state-run machinery. Several important functionaries, industrialists, party office bearers including a vice governor of Anhui province Wang Huaizhong were executed for taking bribes. Whether the anti-corruption would succeed or not is yet to be seen.
Indian communist should certainly take a lesson from their former ideological masters about how to love your nation. One must concede that China does not have a multiparty system of democracy and neither has it had freedom of the press that we enjoy here. There may be a few who attribute the astonishing progress of China to its totalitarian system of decision making, Yet, a democratic India guaranteeing freedom of speech and the right to exercise democratic privileges, remains a "mystifying threat" to the Chinese hagemonistic ambitions. Log on to : http://www.timesofindia.com
The Chinese hunger to gain more knowledge, more military power, more prosperity and definitely a decisive say in global matters has become one of the most significant stories of our times.
Tarun Vijay
The Chinese are patriotic people. They don't allow any Lalgarhs to emerge with Maoists of some sort championing the cause of the poor by killing security personnel.
They have a portrait of Mao at the Tiananmen square but have reduced his biographies in textbooks to almost a formal mention. It's nationalism everywhere, staunch, undiluted and single-minded "China first".
I am writing this column from Kolkata, once known as the red bastion. The home to Naxalbari, a fertile ground for violent Maoism and a hotbed of Bangladeshi infiltrators who have been sheltered by the Left Front leaders to get their votes. Can we, anyway, compare the Indian communists to the communists of China in their patriotism?
The Chinese hunger to gain more knowledge, more military power, more prosperity and definitely a decisive say in global matters has become one of the most significant stories of our times. Chinese cities are bubbling with unprecedented activities of resurgence, economy is booming, new city centres and SEZs are being created, students are finding new universities focused on special niche subjects, everyone from everywhere is invited to invest in China, make money and at the same time transfer technology, their entrepreneurs are set to take over even the US car industry replacing the Japanese. From African countries to the Indian region, their presence is increasing each day if not overshadowing others completely.
President Hu represents a major policy shift in China since Jiang Zemin's regime. He changed the earlier "city first" policy into rural area-focused planning, pumping millions of RNBs into the rural sector. If the "China first" policy and the undiluted dynamism to make China No. 1 in the world is their side of an unbelievable story, India's emergence on the world stage showing strength of knowledge and technology, prosperity and stability with an excellent record of multiparty democracy, secular pluralism and a living civilisation dating back 5,000 years is an amazing tale of mystery and curiosity for the dragon land.
India too has moved far ahead and with a strong China policy, which has not lost its continuity since Rajiv Ghandhi's days, China certainly looks at us with a bit of disbelief -- capable of springing a surprise any time.
With a shift in the global power centres imminent, China is yet to make up its mind for a new global strategy post-Deng era. Hence it is adopting a hedging strategy without siding clearly with any power centre and keeping its options open.
The only factor that China thinks will help it is a strong urge to remain nationalist. It was quite evident wherever I went in Beijing and around it.
Beijing has always looked shrouded in mystery. Yet, the misty afternoon looked a bit out of place in this new age of reforms sweeping China. It was 3 in the afternoon and the Beijing airport was enveloped in the winter haze.
Our Toyota took about 25 minutes to reach the hotel, not very far from Tiananmen Square. These minutes give a foreigner an elegant introduction to the brave new world of progress and power.
China is changing fast and with a great sense of patriotism. There is simply no trace of the old Communism here. The will to succeed and emerge a superpower has driven Chinese leadership to go full steam for reforms and market economy. It’s a real Laksmi Pujan going on there. The new path has been named "Socialism with Chinese characteristics". How does the name matter if it brings prosperity to the millions of people the most populated nation. The new policies have changed the face of this nation but have also brought new problems.
Though unlike India, China began opening up and implemented reforms only after having its agriculture and the manufacturing sector strengthened. Then it aimed to quadruple its GNP of 1980 by the end of 2000, which it achieved in 1995, five years ahead of the schedule. Now it has set an objective to double the GNP of 2000 by 2010 and reach the level of a fully developed nation by 2050.
It has controlled the population growth, increased the defence budget to $22.4 billion, has taken the industrial growth to 12.6% , remains as hard as ever on Tibet and other such issues, taken control of Hong Kong and Macao, doesn’t care about Taiwan’s gestures and indications to come back, in fact the biggest investors to China come from that land.
How real is this new incarnation of the old Maoist totalitarian regime?
China is facing challenges on two major fronts. First, finding a position geopolitically commensurate with its newly gained status on the diplomatic front and cultural and administrative reforms domestically.
On the cultural front China is encountering a vacuum created by the Cultural Revolution. There is no visible cultural inspiration left to the younger generation, which is fast getting Americanised. Mr. Jin Jianfan, chairman of the Chinese Academy to protect and promote national Culture told me that they are very concerned about the growing Americanization of the Chinese youth. Sudden prosperity has brought the youngsters to pubs, night clubs, and has made them discard old Chinese values. Money alone makes a society wayward and prone to the alien effects which may not be good for the country. So, the Chinese are devoting a great deal of time to make the new generation proud of their national heritage.
Civilisational and cultural pride in their national history and heritage has become so visible and underlined at every monument of the historical importance that one wonders whether one is in a land of believers or atheist communists. In this context it would be interesting to know that Buddha, though more in a political and a strategic way, is returning to China in a big way.
In the field of administrative reforms, corruption is rampant in the party, in the administration, in the entire state-run machinery. Several important functionaries, industrialists, party office bearers including a vice governor of Anhui province Wang Huaizhong were executed for taking bribes. Whether the anti-corruption would succeed or not is yet to be seen.
Indian communist should certainly take a lesson from their former ideological masters about how to love your nation. One must concede that China does not have a multiparty system of democracy and neither has it had freedom of the press that we enjoy here. There may be a few who attribute the astonishing progress of China to its totalitarian system of decision making, Yet, a democratic India guaranteeing freedom of speech and the right to exercise democratic privileges, remains a "mystifying threat" to the Chinese hagemonistic ambitions. Log on to : http://www.timesofindia.com
Maoists & Writers' Marxists are ideological comrades
The Times of India, Kolkata print edition, 1 July 2009
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata-/Maoists--Writers-Marxists-are-ideological-comrades/articleshow/4722318.cms
Tarun Vijay
It does not matter whether Lalgarh is 170 km from Writers' Buildings or just 17 feet away. The attitude and the apologetic defence of the central forces show it all.
First, Marxist rulers resisted banning the Maoists. Then, the ruling front is at pains to issue daily statements that the central forces will not be allowed to commit excesses on the tribals (read CPM workers). Does the chief minister think that the security forces love to commit excesses on tribals that he had to state in public about being vigilant on them? Was he vigilant against the excesses of the Maoists in the last 10 years? Did he ever issue any statement against their violence and reign of terror? Did he ever think of banning the organization before the Centre exerted pressure on him? Has he issued any one-liner appreciating security jawans for the excellent work they have done risking their lives?
The fact of the matter is, there is hardly any difference between the Maoists and the Marxists ruling from Writers'. Both are invariably ideological comrades one operating from the jungles and the other enjoying urban amenities. Both have alien heroes and adore Lenin, Stalin and Mao, who were responsible for the killings of millions of people. They all have an extra amount of love and loyalty for the alien powers and have no qualms accepting their support. They have never condemned China for 1962 and still have no clear policy on its claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin. And the poor tribals remain cannon fodder for demonstrations, with half-clad villagers wielding indigenous weapons and singing international for a CPM magazine.
One has to go and see the abject poverty and nothingness in areas adjoining Lalgarh. Jungle, soil, leaves, small huts completely synchronizing with the nature and tribal men and women, semi-clad, working day and night to eke out an existence. You will be amazed, what meticulous design it takes to keep your own people so low? It becomes a vested interest for the Red revolutionaries and their art-paper magazine producers to keep people poor, backward, so that they are always ready to provide the crowd and the boys for mass struggle and revolutionaries zeal while the leaders enjoy Padma's Ilish. And then the usual page 3 clique in metros, would say with an oomph: "Oh, these Marxists are fighting for the poor, like Buddha ji, a very nice man'." If votes were not diverted in this Lok Sabha election to other non-CPM parties, the CPM tally would have come down from 30 MPs to just one under Mr Nice.
Trinamool, Congress and BJP kept Kolkata Corporation out of CPM's reach by a clever strategy in 1995 and with a Congress mayor; BJP had its deputy mayor. One must revive that spirit in national interest and make sure that CPM is ousted in the next Assembly election. Only then will Bengal begin to regain pride, ending the era of goli and garibi.
It's interesting to know how the Marxists reacted to Lalgarh. Was it in consonance with the way they had reacted to other such incidents of violence? It was a sort of a battle to recapture the lost ground by the CPM from local tribals, who had formed a committee against police repression aided by Marxist workers. Hence the ghost of Maoists helped. The newspapers writing fearlessly against Buddha's partisan regime were stopped ads and the other Bangla paper had to proclaim it feared none but god and hence it will continue to expose Buddha's helping hand to the Lalgarh's red Stalins. The historical truth is Marxism has always been rude to its own people and deceit and doublespeak have been ingrained in it since the early formations of the Bolsheviks when bread and dictatorship of the proletariat were assured.
Now, what will happen to the tribals when the security forces leave Lalgarh? Someone needs to ask what has been the contribution of the government in West Bengal swearing by an ideology that binds it into a psychological camaraderie with Maoists both promising the rule of the proletariat? What the poor got except bullets and backwardness?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata-/Maoists--Writers-Marxists-are-ideological-comrades/articleshow/4722318.cms
Tarun Vijay
It does not matter whether Lalgarh is 170 km from Writers' Buildings or just 17 feet away. The attitude and the apologetic defence of the central forces show it all.
First, Marxist rulers resisted banning the Maoists. Then, the ruling front is at pains to issue daily statements that the central forces will not be allowed to commit excesses on the tribals (read CPM workers). Does the chief minister think that the security forces love to commit excesses on tribals that he had to state in public about being vigilant on them? Was he vigilant against the excesses of the Maoists in the last 10 years? Did he ever issue any statement against their violence and reign of terror? Did he ever think of banning the organization before the Centre exerted pressure on him? Has he issued any one-liner appreciating security jawans for the excellent work they have done risking their lives?
The fact of the matter is, there is hardly any difference between the Maoists and the Marxists ruling from Writers'. Both are invariably ideological comrades one operating from the jungles and the other enjoying urban amenities. Both have alien heroes and adore Lenin, Stalin and Mao, who were responsible for the killings of millions of people. They all have an extra amount of love and loyalty for the alien powers and have no qualms accepting their support. They have never condemned China for 1962 and still have no clear policy on its claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin. And the poor tribals remain cannon fodder for demonstrations, with half-clad villagers wielding indigenous weapons and singing international for a CPM magazine.
One has to go and see the abject poverty and nothingness in areas adjoining Lalgarh. Jungle, soil, leaves, small huts completely synchronizing with the nature and tribal men and women, semi-clad, working day and night to eke out an existence. You will be amazed, what meticulous design it takes to keep your own people so low? It becomes a vested interest for the Red revolutionaries and their art-paper magazine producers to keep people poor, backward, so that they are always ready to provide the crowd and the boys for mass struggle and revolutionaries zeal while the leaders enjoy Padma's Ilish. And then the usual page 3 clique in metros, would say with an oomph: "Oh, these Marxists are fighting for the poor, like Buddha ji, a very nice man'." If votes were not diverted in this Lok Sabha election to other non-CPM parties, the CPM tally would have come down from 30 MPs to just one under Mr Nice.
Trinamool, Congress and BJP kept Kolkata Corporation out of CPM's reach by a clever strategy in 1995 and with a Congress mayor; BJP had its deputy mayor. One must revive that spirit in national interest and make sure that CPM is ousted in the next Assembly election. Only then will Bengal begin to regain pride, ending the era of goli and garibi.
It's interesting to know how the Marxists reacted to Lalgarh. Was it in consonance with the way they had reacted to other such incidents of violence? It was a sort of a battle to recapture the lost ground by the CPM from local tribals, who had formed a committee against police repression aided by Marxist workers. Hence the ghost of Maoists helped. The newspapers writing fearlessly against Buddha's partisan regime were stopped ads and the other Bangla paper had to proclaim it feared none but god and hence it will continue to expose Buddha's helping hand to the Lalgarh's red Stalins. The historical truth is Marxism has always been rude to its own people and deceit and doublespeak have been ingrained in it since the early formations of the Bolsheviks when bread and dictatorship of the proletariat were assured.
Now, what will happen to the tribals when the security forces leave Lalgarh? Someone needs to ask what has been the contribution of the government in West Bengal swearing by an ideology that binds it into a psychological camaraderie with Maoists both promising the rule of the proletariat? What the poor got except bullets and backwardness?
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