January Month Articles
In the edit 'Jhanda & Agenda'
(Jan 23), it is stated that Hindutva’s main props are Ayodhya, Article
370 and Common Civil Code. Agreed that Ayodhya is a prop of Hindutva; but
a Common Civil Code is a directive principle of our Constitution. .....
What a week it's been! Heaven sent
opportunities for any parliamentary rebel to show their mettle. What with
proposals for "top up" university fees, the funeral of a police officer
killed on anti-terrorist duty, the raid on a mosque, and the BBC investigation
of "Asian" gangs parading their fast cars and violence to corner the trade
in hard drugs from Pakistan and Afghanistan in British cities. Enough to
raise the heckles of any rebel, and certainly one whose constituency is
impacted by such events. .....
Last weekend was going pretty swimmingly
for me. All over the TV, the news shows reported on the "peace" demonstrations
"sweeping" America, though you couldn't help noticing the cameras
always stayed in tight, no wide shots, just close-ups in some cases,
because there were only six "peace" lovers present; in others, to
avoid showing the vast numbers of nutters. .....
This refers to Mohbooba Mufti’s
visit to Mumbai to garner financial gain for J&K. As a person, she
has every right to say, “I can’t stand Anupam Kher”, but as
the vice-president of the controlling party of
India’s most troubled state she has no right to make such an immature declaration.
.....
Traffic jams and chaos are a small
price to pay for an event which is a ‘symbol of national pride’ and ‘celebrates
our glorious past’, say The Indian Express readers. .....
Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid
Kasuri ended a fruitless and possibly disastrous Washington visit with
the Bush administration publicly rejecting Islamabad's plea to exempt Pakistanis
from a special registration process and ignoring requests for resumption
of arms supply. .....
US immigration authorities on Tuesday
detained a prominent Pakistani journalist on minor visa violation charges,
causing further disquiet in a relationship that is in turmoil over new
rules requiring men from Pakistan to be fingerprinted and registered. .....
Defence Minister George Fernandes'
recent warning that Pakistan would be wiped off the map if it dared launch
a nuclear attack on India should not be seen as the rambling of a loose
cannon in the government. .....
How fares freedom of speech at
Canadian universities? It looked pretty grim back in September 2002, when
a mini-intifada prevented Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister of
Israel, from speaking at Concordia. .....
Pakistan warned the Bush administration
on Wednesday that any mass deportation of illegal Pakistani immigrants
under new US security requirements would have a severe impact on relations.
.....
A Section of the ulema in the city
has appealed to the Indian government to oppose the proposed American military
action against Iraq. Speaking at a press conference called by the Raza
Academy yesterday, Maulana Musanah Miyan of the All India Aimmae Masjid
said that ulema (religious heads) in India and abroad would be issuing
a fatwa for a boycott of American and British goods. .....
Russia has deported an American
woman who allegedly tried to contact Islamic extremists to give them advice
on terrorism. .....
The trains arrive with a whisper,
speak with a computerized voice and at times are driven by women. Passengers
board quickly and quietly at stations that are clean and airy, with graceful
30- foot arched ceilings and computerized entryways. .....
Marriage and divorce laws in Islam
have a profound effect on the family unit and consequently on Moslem society
as a whole. I personally lived in and witnessed many Moslem families and
saw the impossible family dynamics resulting from these laws. I realized
that a woman finding herself happy and secure in a Moslem marriage happens
rarely and only through extraordinary good luck. I will explain why this
is so. .....
Parampoojniya Sh. K.S. Sudershan,
Sarsanghchalak of RSS today lambasted the forces which were opposing
the Shauraya Smriti Samaroh and had launched a disinformation campaign
against the RSS. He said that they were posing meaningless
questions, why was the function being organized and why now? He said
that this opposition was part of the campaign against the Sangh,
its workers and its sister organization. .....
While Canadian leftists were front
and center in demonstrations last week against America's war preparations
in the Gulf, shouting their usual hatred against the United States from
long-entrenched habit, they have been conspicuously silent about Muslim
fundamentalists in their own backyard. .....
Six people were killed and 12 injured
when suspected insurgents of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura
(NLFT) on Sunday night opened indiscriminate fire at a village in West
Tripura district, police said. .....
The 27 student missionaries serving
in 10 Muslim-dominated regions sent a letter urging Southern Baptists to
moderate their criticism of Islam and its founder because it hurts Christian
evangelism and endangers missionaries. .....
The All-India Democratic Women's
Association (AIDWA) State secretary, P.K.Sreemathi, MLA, has alleged that
the State has become a grazing ground for sex racketeers and anti- socials,
leaving it in a shameful state of sexual anarchy. .....
A harangue from Bollywood on human
rights was the last thing J-K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and
his daughter Mehbooba expected. .....
Over 200 representatives of pre-Christianity
ancient cultures like Maya, Inca, Maori, Druid etc from 40 different countries
will participate in a unique international conference at the newly-launched
Rambhau Mhalgi Prabhodhini complex at Uttan, Bhayander from February4-9,
2003. .....
In a forceful attempt to make Britain
too hot to hold radical Islamists and inflammatory preachers from around
the globe, the authorities are arguing for life imprisonment of a Muslim
cleric significantly named by the White House as “linked with Al Qaida”.
.....
In an apparent karmic conundrum
few have been able to solve so far, Britain's 1.3 million Indians are newly
revealed to be doing better than all other community groups, but are still
poorer than the white mainstream population. In other words, the Hindujas,
Mittals and Swraj Pauls cannot hide the community's real poverty at the
bottom end. .....
A harangue from Bollywood on human
rights was the last thing Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammed
Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba expected. .....
The Digvijay Singh regime seems
determined to needle the RSS-BJP by forcibly acquiring temple land (wherever
possible) either directly in its possession or owned by its supporters.
.....
The police in riot gear burst into
a London mosque on Monday in Britain's biggest anti-terror operation since
the September 11 attacks, arresting seven people as part of a wider probe
into the discovery of ricin poison. .....
The Pakistani Christian community's
sense of being a beleaguered group must have been assuaged to some extent
by President General Pervez Musharraf visit to the Lahore Diocese recently.
.....
After a year of relative silence,
militant organisations are rearing their heads again in Pakistan, especially
in the print media. Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JD), formerly the Lashkar-e-Taiba,
which is headquartered at Muridke near Lahore, has set up offices at Chauburji
and in the military-administered upscale Defence Housing Authority neighbourhood
in Lahore. Likewise, Maulana Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammad is now known
as the Tehrik Khuddam ud-Din and is establishing new centres. .....
A New book has documented the cultural
heritage of India's three Jewish communities. The book, authored by nine
writers, explores in pictures and prose the rituals, architecture and contributions
of the Bene Israelis, the Cochinese and the Baghdadis, miniscule communities
who, while retaining their Jewish identity, absorbed the culture and customs
of their adopted land. .....
Shri V.K. Malhotra, MP and Parliamentary
Spokesperson of the BJP along with a delegation of BJP functionaries from
the State of Nagaland met the Chief Election Commissioner and Election
Commissioners and presented a petition on the subject of pre-poll rigging
and manipulation of Enrolls in Nagaland. .....
Secularization was first used at
the end of thirty years war in Europe, 1648, to refer to the transfer of
Church properties to the exclusive control of the premises. George Holyoke,
in 1851 coined the term 'secularism' and led a socialist movement of protest
in England. .....
The Congress election strategy
in this crucial election is incomprehensible, even if one uses nothing
more esoteric than common sense. Who advised Sonia to begin her campaign
from Ambaji, a pilgrimage center? What signal was she sending? That She
was a devout Hindu? That the Congress was a party of only devout Hindus?
.....
Italian politicians of the right,
left and center called for the recognition in the European Constitution
of Christian values which form part of the continent's identity. .....
The convention that will define
Europe's constitutional future runs the risk of forgetting the continent's
religious and spiritual heritage, warn representatives of the Holy See.
.....
Now that we know that the Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister owes his political and physical health to the regular
intake of cow urine, it may finally be possible for us to maturely discuss
hitherto neglected issues that have a vital bearing on our nationhood.
I say this because the purpose of this revelation was to establish Mr.
Digvijay Singh’s credentials as a devout Hindu, and thereby deflect a future
RSS-BJP attack on his secular persona in the run-up to the next assembly
elections. .....
A serious confrontation is building
up between India and Bangladesh on the question of deportation of Bangladeshis
from India with both countries sticking to their positions. .....
Former US senator Larry Pressler
on Monday urged the US to give up its policy of balancing India and Pakistan
while reducing military aid to Islamabad and accepting New Delhi as a "key
ally". .....
The United States and India face
the threat of possible attacks by terrorists or "rogue states" armed with
weapons of mass destruction, the US ambassador said Monday. .....
In Pakistan, last year became famous
by its dramatic democracy. The first thing is President Parvez Musharraf
managed to get majority of people behind him and made a record in
the history of dictatorships by getting 97 % votes in the referendum.
He made many changes in the Constitution of 1973 in order to have the President's
post. How a person can use the Constitution for his selfish ends like an
ordinary book has been a puzzle for the citizens of Pakistan. But who is
to stop him? Taking advantage of exactly this factor, Musharraf has been
doing anything that he wants. .....
Frustrated that his troops are
still not aggressive enough in hunting down terrorists, FBI Director Robert
Mueller has launched a potentially controversial initiative aimed at making
sure that field agents finally get the message--and are held accountable.
.....
A serious confrontation is building
up between India and Bangladesh on the question of deportation of Bangladeshis
from India with both countries sticking to their positions. .....
Two-year-old Saurabh, son of a
Surat-based kirana shopkeeper Dinesh Kumar Shah, who was kidnapped from
the Mahesh Nagar area under the Sachin police station of the Surat district
of Gujarat on December 25, was rescued from a village in the Nalanda district
on Sunday. .....
One woman was killed and 25 persons
injured on Monday evening in a blast near Vile Parle station in suburban
Mumbai. .....
A woman, who was allegedly forced
to consume cyanide, by her in-laws and husband died at a private hospital
here on Sunday. .....
The arrest of two activists of
the Students Islamic Movement of India in Lucknow on Saturday has sounded
warning bells for the state police, that is now convinced that the banned
Islamic outfit had begun to flex its muscles again in Uttar Pradesh. .....
A day ahead of Prime Minister Vajpayee's
visit to Mumbai, a powerful explosion ripped through an auto-rickshaw,
killing a woman and injuring 25 others, near a crowded market at suburban
Vile Parle on Monday night, police sources said. .....
In a new twist to the Graham Staines
murder case, a Central Bureau of Investigation officer on Monday told a
court that none of the 18 persons chargesheeted in the case belonged to
the Bajrang Dal. .....
Swami Vivekananda was energy personified.
Freedom was his passion; he never liked subjugation. To him it was a badge
of shame. He asked, "What would you do if someone insulted your mother?"
One reply was, "I would fall upon him, and teach him a good lesson". .....
Out of my 466-word piece, Query
for Lady Naipaul (HT, January 11), Lady Naipaul chose to focus on the last
three words alone and made it to the headlines. I should have known that
nobody likes to be a Pakistani these days. Ironically, she adopted an old
communist practice: to sidetrack the main issue and label the person seeking
answers. Unfair, indeed. .....
The Iraq war is over! Saddam Hussein
is gone (Somewhere?)! We won! U.S. troops return to ticker- tape parades,
the world bows to America's superpower with our citizens living in homeland
peace forever after. Right? No, unfortunately, probably wrong. .....
On the eve of the 54th Republic
Day of India I greet all the billion people of our country living in India
and abroad. I also greet the members of the armed forces and paramilitary
forces who guard our frontiers on the land, the sea and the air. .....
Two recent incidents have exposed
the chinks in the armour of the 'secular' cabal and put a question mark
on its credibility, which was never high any way. One is the nabbing of
a former Director General of Police-turned-Human Rights' activist from
outside a college in Delhi for eve teasing. The other is the quit notice
served on an American Protestant preacher in Thiruvananthapuram district
of Congress-led Kerala for indulging in a conversion campaign against the
stipulations of a tourist visa. .....
Even as Pakistan's Northern Areas
emerge as a major safe haven for Al-Qaida and Taliban elements, the two
million-plus people of the mountainous region, who insist on calling the
area Gilgit-Baltistan, have stepped up their campaign for independence
from Islamabad's rule. .....
Chief Election Commissioner JM
Lyngdoh is misusing his constitutional position and crossing all lines.
He is causing immense damage to the country's democratic polity and openly
abusing people. He is acting in his discretion and taking decisions which
can be legitimately dismissed with a shake of head as politically motivated,
partisan and highly discriminatory and outrageous. .....
Prime Minister José María
Aznar said today that Spanish police officials had arrested 16 militants
suspected of links to Al Qaeda, breaking up two cells and confiscating
electronic material and containers of unidentified chemicals. .....
P R Brahmananda, renowned economist
and president of the International Economic Association, died here today
following cardiac arrest. A bachelor, Brahmananda was 77. .....
For those who think that that other
war - the one in Afghanistan - is over and done, think again. The characters
and currents responsible for triggering the war on terror are as dedicated
as they were a year ago, but the more likely battleground for years to
come will be next door - in Pakistan, where much of the problem began.
.....
Asserting that Pakistan had become
a 'center' for terrorist activities, Prime Minister AB Vajpayee on Monday
voiced concern that no action was being taken against that country and
urged the international community to put a stop to this. .....
A political cartoon of the early
'80s had Indira Gandhi gravely inspecting a queue of Congressmen and then
tell one of them, “You are the chief minister of Maharashtra, what's your
name?” That joke, as good jokes always do, had a serious subtext. Under
the then powerful Congress 'high command', it was the lot of the regional
satraps to be used like pawns on a chessboard. .....
In a strategy to encircle India,
Pakistan has entered into a clandestine agreement with Bangladesh for "joint
security cooperation" which is aimed at funneling fresh wave of terrorism
into India's troubled North-East where more than 16 insurgent outfits are
waging guerrilla battles for over two decades. Pakistan has been taking
advantage of the ethno-cultural turmoil and assisting most of the outfits
by way of financial help, arms supply and training of their cadres in camps
set up inside Bangladeshi territory. .....
Declassification by George Washington
University's National Archives has made documents of Nixon presidency
accessible to public. These documents show extreme disappointment
of U.S. consular personnel in Dhaka and of their diplomats in New
Delhi with the administration' s pro-Pakistan policies. .....
Thank you for sending me a copy
of your letter (below) to Dr. Rochunga Pudaite. It helps me understand
another great man - the Apostle Peter. Peter's influence on world history
has been at least as great as Gautam Buddha's and certainly greater than
Constantine's. I am praying that you will become India's Peter. In a massive,
spontaneous rally in Jerusalem, Peter led 3,000 Jews (who had been mocking
him) to become followers of Jesus Christ. .....
Mohammed Altaf Ismail, the main
conspirator in the Ghatkopar bomb blast of December 2, was deported by
Dubai last night. An Indian Airlines flight brought Altaf to Mumbai's international
airport at 11.30 p.m. where he was taken into police custody. DCP Pradeep
Sawant of the Crime Branch confirmed that Altaf was now with the Mumbai
police. He is likely to be produced in the designated POTA court at 2.30
o'clock this afternoon where the police will seek his remand. .....
One more person was deported from
Dubai last night and taken into custody by the Mumbai police in connection
with the Ghatkopar bomb blast on December 2. .....
Like derailed Indo-Pak talks, Train
to Pakistan is showing less and less signs of returning on track. According
to reports, portions of the rail track on which the Samjhauta Express (from
Attari to Lahore) used to run on the Pakistani side have been dismantled.
.....
Politicians universally enjoy terrible
reputation. As a class they are widely considered synonymous with
sleaze and scam. Not a day passes without someone in some part of
the country ferreting out tales of wrongdoing by politicians. Whether
they are local, municipal-level or operate at the state or central levels,
our 'netas' without doubt have a rotten public image . And deservedly
so. .....
Both partners insist all is well,
but the diplomatic marriage of convenience between Pakistan and the United
States is under serious strain, 16 months after it was consumated after
September 11. .....
A Pakistani judge on Thursday refused
to try Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad,
on charges of making a speech against India, saying Indian Deputy Premier
L.K. Advani "threatens Pakistan daily" but a case against him was never
instituted by the Indian government. .....
Ireland's representative to a convention
aimed at framing a European Constitution wants a reference to the importance
of Europe's spiritual and moral heritage included, the Sunday Times reported.
.....
Rasila's father was one of the
25,000 people that the quake consumed, driving her terrified pregnant mother
to despair and psychological problems. .....
Police sources claim that Ghatkopar
blast accused Sayyed Khwaja Yunus Sayeed Khwaja Ayub (28) really escaped
and took shelter in an Ahmednagar madrassa. .....
A 20-member women’s football team
sent under the auspices of the Indian Football Association (IFA) from West
Bengal has returned from Bangladesh cutting short its three-match tourney
there. .....
The United States has downplayed
calls by Pakistani Islamic leaders for the expulsion of its Ambassador
to that country Nancy Powell for her remarks on infiltration across the
Line of Control. .....
Over 15 people, including two priests,
were injured on Saturday when police used force to evict members belonging
to a faction of Malankara Church who 'forcibly' entered a church near Kochi
and began to hold services. .....
Less than a week after terrorists
threatened Muslim women to quit government jobs or face death, Lashkar-e-Taiba,
a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, has asked teachers in Army schools in
Jammu and Kashmir to leave their jobs or face consequences. .....
In 1941 the State Bank received
30.9 tons of gold and about 60 tons of silver. Religious chalices,
icom lamps and statues alone accounted for more than 60,000 pieces
and the number of saddles, harnesses, traditional knives, smoke pipes
lavishly decorated with silver, gold and precious stones simply is
not available. .....
A women's football team from India,
invited to play exhibition matches with their Bangladesh counterparts,
had to leave home without playing the last game in the face of stiff resistance
by some religious fanatics. .....
The US intelligence agency FBI,
which has been tracking Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan, would
be collecting complete information about three million Pakistanis including
criminals, politicians, industrialists and businessmen, officials were
on Friday quoted as saying. .....
With her dimpled smile and wholesome
good looks, Preity Zinta has danced and lip-synced her way into the top
ranks of Bollywood stardom. But nothing prepared the 28-year-old daughter
of an Indian army officer for the critical acclaim that greeted her latest
performance, on the witness stand in a Bombay courtroom. .....
By one of those happy coincidences
in which no Iranian ever really believes, both The Economist and the New
York Times have discovered that Iran's religious leaders are not happy
with the way things are going in the Islamic Republic. As readers of my
columns have known for some time, many of the country's leading ayatollahs
have figured out that when the Islamic regime is finally brought down,
the people's rage is likely to be directed against the clerics as well
as the political tyrants. .....
A Muslim preacher incited his followers
to murder Jews, Hindus, Americans and all "unbelievers" by any means after
the September 11 attacks, an Old Bailey jury was told yesterday. Abdullah
El-Faisal even suggested fuelling power stations with the bodies of slaughtered
Hindus, it heard. .....
The United States says Pakistan
is serving as a "platform for terrorism" and that this must stop. The US
ambassador to Islamabad, Nancy Powell, also urged Pakistan to ensure that
militant groups are no longer able to cross into Indian-administered Kashmir.
.....
This has reference to the spate
of media reports on the Naipauls who were in India for Bharatiya Pravasi
Divas. Aren't we giving them too much importance? Agreed, Mr. Naipaul is
a brilliant writer, but I find his unconcealed contempt for India and Indians
a little difficult to digest. My advice to Mr. Naipaul would be either
to come back to India and use his wisdom for our betterment, or else make
the V.S. in his name stand for Very Silent. .....
The premier geopolitical thinker
and writer of Pakistan, Gen. Aslam Beg, the former chief of army staff
after President Zia-ul-Haq was killed in a suspicious air crash in 1988,
has apparently taken leave of his critical faculties. .....
Tension prevailed near a hotel
on Dhanwantri Road in the city today following allegations of “forcible
conversions” which resulted in a controversy. Police have arrested 20 persons
in this connection. .....
RSS Chief K S Sudarshan has said
the word "Hindu" was not linked with any religion and maintained that it
stood for all those who considered India as their motherland. .....
Hindu villagers in India's restive
northeastern state of Tripura have pledged to fight alleged extortion demands
by a Christian separatist group, community leaders said. Militants of the
outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have served extortion
notices to hundreds of Hindu tribals and threatened them with death if
they do not pay up. .....
The newspaper report that about
a fortnight ago my eldest son Harilal, now nearing fifty years, accepted
Islam and that on Friday last 29th May in the midst of a large congregation
in the Juma Masjid at Bombay he was permitted to announce his acceptance
amid great acclamation and that after his speech was finished, he was besieged
by his admirers who vied with one another to shake hands with him. If his
acceptance was from the heart and free from any worldly considerations,
I should have no quarrel. For I believe Islam to be as true a religion
as my own. .....
I on behalf of HRCBM and Lily Foundation
went out to Northern part of Bangladesh yesterday and reached for relief
operation at Serajgan and Pubna to-day(Janunary 24, 2003) and distributed
two bundles of sweaters containing 600 pieces of sweater clothes to the
cold affected victims of those area. We came back to-night at 1.30 hrs
and taking rest at night. Our team consists of 4 volunteers namely 1)
Advocate Rabindra Ghosh, 2)Professor Ashoke Taru, 3)Engineer Mridul Talukder
and 4) Dlilip Das. .....
Ever since the Supreme Court delivered
its judgement, on Dec.11, 1995, setting aside the decision of the Bombay
High Court which had earlier held the election of the Maharashtra Chief
Minister, Mr. Manohar Joshi, void, a number of articles have been appearing
in the Press criticising the verdict in one form or the other. .....
The Nobel laureate is walking straight
into the trap set by Hindutvawadis and those wretched fascist BJPwallahs.
.....
A student-run centre at York University
in Toronto has blocked a pro-Israeli academic from speaking at its facility,
fearing that it may lead to Concordia University- style protests. .....
The day after 9/11, Texas police
arrested two Indian Muslim men riding a train and carrying about $5,000
in cash, black hair dye and boxcutters like those used to hijack four planes
just one day earlier. .....
Pakistan is the 'most dangerous'
country in the world right, according to New Yorker magazine. Quoting noted
investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, the magazine said if the US is
'incinerated' any time it will be because of the highly enriched uranium
that was supplied to the al Qaida by Islamabad. .....
The state BJP leadership has been
asked by the RSS chief to concentrate on strengthening morning shakhas.
.....
Jyoti Basu had owned up the communist
blunder. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday took it forward
by publicly apologising for the blemish communists had put on Netaji. Saluting
the Netaji statue at Red Road, Bhattacharjee saw in Netaji a great freedom
fighter, though he was a "quisling" to his predecessors during the Second
World War. .....
The Thursday haat at the border
hamlet of Phansidewa had only one topic of discussion, besides business:
the letter handed over by a Bangladesh Rifle jawan last week, asking the
villagers to demolish the annexe to an old Shiva temple that stands near
the zero line. .....
The terrorists arrested in Europe
for planning to carry out attacks there with ricin are part of the vicious
Algerian network behind the millennium bomb plots in the United States,
sources say. .....
Last June, four months before the
current crisis over North Korea became public, the Central Intelligence
Agency delivered a comprehensive analysis of North Korea's nuclear ambitions
to President Bush and his top advisers. The document, known as a National
Intelligence Estimate, was classified as Top Secret S.C.I. (for "sensitive
compartmented information"), and its distribution within the government
was tightly restricted. .....
Immediate after the earthquake,
along with hundreds of politicians, bureaucrats, media representatives,
another hundred of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) also had made their
presence felt in the quake-hit villages and towns in Gujarat amid much
hype. .....
Calling for an aggressive defence
policy, former Chief of Army Staff Gen VP Malik on Thursday termed as bad
India's policy of no first use of nuclear weapons. .....
The Nobel laureate
is walking straight into the trap set by Hindutvawadis and those wretched
fascist BJPwallahs. .....
It was the world according to K.S.
Sudarshan, now RSS sarsanghchalak and once eastern region kshetra sanchalak.
In a speech that slammed all in sight and outside, Sudarshan - atop a chariot-like
structure pulled towards the "Hindu rashtra" by wooden horses - expounded
his theory about communists and Americans, Muslims and madarsas, Christians
and missionaries, "Macaulay-putras and Marx-putras" and even the President
and Jesuits. .....
The stage is set for converting
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birthplace, Janakinath Bhavan, into a museum
with the shifting of the maternity home functioning there for nearly 50
years. The chief minister will inaugurate a building to house the maternity
home tomorrow on the occasion of Netaji's 106th birth anniversary. .....
Pakistan is the 'most dangerous'
country in the world right now the New Yorker magazine, quoting an American
non-proliferation expert, said. .....
The CPM high command has accused
the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government of treating the Bangladesh government
with kid gloves even after the Left Front government of Tripura supplied
the Centre with detailed information on terrorist camps operating from
the neighbouring country. .....
It was red turning redder at the
sight of saffron. Even as RSS chief K. Sudarshan branded ‘‘Marxists’’ as
a curse on India at a rally here today, West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattachrya
described him and VHP’s Praveen Togadiya as ‘‘unwanted guests’’ in the
state. .....
Now that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
Digvijay Singh’s deep affinity for holy mother cow has been loudly proclaimed
— chiefly his reported taste in gau mutra (cow’s urine) and his belief
in gau dung as excellent fertiliser — you would have to be dumb cattle
not to realise that the cow has always been a potent political instrument
in the hands of India’s rulers. .....
Religion, said Karl Marx, is the
opiate of the masses. He might well have described it as the laddoo of
the masses. Especially since the prophet of communism found all forms of
religion and religiosity odious. Communist trade unionists have declared
war on Lord Venkateswara in His own home. .....
Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has told
the Russian Channel 1 Network that he would have been in the Congress even
today if it had not agreed to Partition. .....
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani
yesterday signalled to NDA allies that Hindutva will remain the central
issue of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for the forthcoming
Assembly elections. .....
What right do you have to judge
governments and committees in being fair and of sound purpose when you
yourselves often indulge in unashamed, biased reviewing of books? In this
instance getting Christophe Jaffrelot to review A.G. Noorani’s book Savarkar
and Hindutva: the Godse connection (The Germination of Insecurity, December
30). Why not Francois Gautier? The last time Noorani’s book was assessed,
it was done by Khushwant Singh, a known Sangh-baiter! .....
Standing at an excavation site
at Sanjan in Gujarat, S.P. Gupta, chairman of the Indian Archaeological
Society (IAS), studies the earth that holds chunks of history in its many
layers. A metal shard at the bottom of the trench brings a glint to his
eye as does a piece of ceramic weighed down by centuries-old dust. The
man who has struck "jackpot" at Sanjan has ever since been deliriously
piecing together the Parsis' India calling more than 1,400 years ago. .....
Throw them out. When Deputy Prime
Minister L.K. Advani says so about Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals
who have overstayed in this country, it is easy to see it as extreme right
wing xenophobia. It is not. He has only given voice to a dangerous national
reality. For, India, the classical soft state with occasional hardcore
instincts, has been extremely tolerant towards illegal immigrants from
less-than-friendly neighbours-a socially as well as politically untenable
humanitarian approach. .....
"SUCH A SILLY debate," my Saudi
dinner partner volunteered one evening, nursing a drink in a dry country.
"My wife exercises all she wants in our gym at home." And the millions
of ordinary Saudis without home exercise equipment? Not mentioned that
night. Nor were the women who are forced to wear the veil and barred from
driving, nor the guest workers intimidated by creepy anti-vice police into
praying five times a day while the princes party in London and Aspen. The
topic instead was why the American media have it out for Saudi Arabia.
.....
"When you kill one person, you
go to the prison. When you kill one hundred persons, you are a hero. And
when you are responsible for the killings of hundreds of persons you are
invited to peace talks." .....
Like others elsewhere, Muslims
in Singapore are swept up by the tide of Islamic fundamentalism and some
are retreating into their own comfort zones. .....
Pakistani President General Pervez
Musharraf has caused a stir with remarks that his country could be
attacked by Western forces once Iraq has been dealt with, highlighting
once again potential dire consequences flowing from Islamabad's support
of the US in the war on terror. .....
If you raise the issue of Arab
or Muslim anti-Semitism with the average Arab/Muslim leader, you will,
with just a few exceptions, get a predictable set of responses. Some of
them will shamefacedly acknowledge that the problem exists, and having
done so, will then abruptly change the subject to racial profiling, American
imperialism, or the evils of Israel. Others will admit the existence of
the problem, but insist that it survives only on the "fringes" of Arab/Muslim
society, and is thus an issue of marginal concern. .....
A Judge took the unusual step step
yesterday of banning Jews and Hindus from sitting on a jury which is to
try a Muslim cleric accused of calling for the murder of followers of the
two faiths. .....
"For almost a year," observes Edward
Said in this week's edition of Cairo's Al-Ahram Weekly, "American politicians,
regional experts, administration officials, journalists have repeated the
charges that have become standard fare so far as Islam and the Arabs are
concerned. . . . To today's practically unanimous chorus has been added
the authority of the United Nation's Human Development Report on the Arab
world which certified that Arabs dramatically lag behind the rest of the
world in democracy, knowledge, and women's rights." .....
Can Ram undergo the Rameses-synthesis?
This question chased me like a breeze from the Nile valley to the Ganges.
I am afraid the answer is not blowing in the wind. The question assumed
renewed significance when Lady Nadira, Sir VS Naipaul's wife, stood up
after Deputy Prime Minister's LK Advani's speech during the Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas to ask if India's Muslims and Christians needed to prove their patriotic
credentials by ripping open their chests a la Lord Hanuman to reveal images
of Ram and Sita. .....
The Minister of State for Home,
Ch.Vidyasagar Rao, today said the recent instance of the American missionary,
Joseph Cooper, overstaying in the country should serve as an `eye-opener'
to all States. .....
The BJP President Venkaiah Naidu
has once against got pseudo-secularists in a tizzy. Naidu has set
the agenda for the party's campaign in the forthcoming elections in several
States. Much to the chagrin of the leftists and other fellow travellers
who hate to take an unequivocal stand on vital issues raised by him, the
BJP chief seems set to push ahead with what in one word constitutes the
party's nationalist agenda. .....
With national dailies sticking
up unabashedly for illegal aliens for the simple reason that they happen
to be 'secular missionaries', the communal outfield in the country does
seem totally queer. So, asking an inveterate overstayer, a tout of a faith
masquerading as a tourist, to get out tantamounts to impingement of religious
freedom, or so say the screaming edits. .....
US missionary Joseph W Cooper,
who was ordered to leave the country for preaching religion in violation
of visa rules, left Thiruvananthapuram for Mumbai by a flight on Wednesday
morning, police sources said. .....
'Do Muslims have to have Ram and
Sita in their hearts to show they belong to this land?" was Nadira Naipaul's
interjection during deputy prime minister L.K. Advani's speech at the Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas (Non Resident Indian Day) function on January 10. .....
Putting an end to controversy,
sankaracharyas across the country today unanimously accepted April 3, 509
BC as Adi Sankara’s exact date of birth. .....
Forty years ago, a team of French
archaeologists decided that the best way to save the Baphuon temple was
to destroy it. .....
1. The ancient temple of Sharada
is located in Neelam (Kishanganga) valley just beyond the line of control
in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The temple is located in a small village
called Shardi near the confluence of Kishanganga and Madhumati rivers.
As far as I can gather from my maps, its location seems to be 74.2 E and
34.8 N. .....
It is common knowledge that Hinduism
pervaded several countries of South--east Asia which witnessed the rise
and fall of several Hindu dynasties. The rulers of these dynasties got
constructed many temples for Hindu gods and goddesses, Shiva and Vishnu
including. Along with Shiva and Vaishnava religions, Buddhism also penetrated
the land between Myanmar and Indonesia and flourished side by side as twin
brothers, sometimes in one and the same temple complex. .....
In 1947, Gandhiji had expressed
a desire to meet Guruji. So when Guruji came to Delhi he went to see Bapu
in Birla House. Gandhiji requested Guruji to issue an appeal for peace.
Guruji said that Gandhiji's appeal was enough but that if he wanted his,
it was always available. Thereupon an appeal was issued which was duly
published in the Press the following day, and also broadcast by All India
Radio. .....
Cow is suddenly cool. Struggling
to tackle the hardline Hindutva onslaught, cow belt's Congressmen, led
by Digvijay Singh, are rediscovering the 'gau mata'. .....
The State Government has issued
an order prohibiting exorcism in temples following a recommendation made
by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) in August last year. .....
Vishwa Hindu Parishad secretary-general
Praveen Togadia demanded President's Rule in West Bengal on Tuesday to
stop the large-scale infiltration of Bangladeshis from across the border.
.....
The real story behind the attack
on US Missionary Joseph Cooper, who was injured and operated upon, is somewhat
different from what was reported. .....
The editor of this rag [TheStranger.com]
told me of your upcoming "Potlucks for Peace" event and invited my comments,
and at first I couldn't think of a thing to say. For one thing, why should
I address a Seattle audience (or even suppose that I have a Seattle audience,
for that matter)? I daresay that I can claim a tenuous connection, because
I have always had a good crowd when reading at the splendid bookstores
of the city, and because it was in Seattle that I stayed when grounded
on September 11, 2001, a date that now makes some people yawn. .....
A US state legislator, who recently
visited Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, has sent a resolution to the New Hampshire
Legislature urging the US government to help resolve the Kashmir issue.
.....
It was always thought that the
statewide Police Karmachari Union, formed under CPI-M's umbrella, when
the first United Front assumed power in 1967, would not permit action against
the five constables who killed the chivalrous Sergeant Bapi Sen. Union
pressure caused even the Commissioner of Police, to be irritated enough
to answer our questions with the now famous words - do you want us to hang
them? What price gestures like the chief minister laying a wreath on Bapi's
body on its way to the crematorium? .....
Naxalbari, home to the movement
that sired the word Naxalite, will occupy pride of place on a progress
report that awaits RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan when he arrives here tomorrow.
.....
A delegation of British parliamentarians
has strongly advocated that international pressure should be brought on
Pakistan to end cross border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir where a 'proxy'
war by 'mercenaries' is being waged. .....
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Kerala
has prepared a list of 50-odd foreign missionaries, who are allegedly engaged
in forced religious conversion or attending religious functions in blatant
violation of their visa provisions. "We have the names of 50 foreign missionaries
who at present are violating visa provisions, and our local units are gathering
more information," VHP state organising secretary Kummanam Rajasekharan
said. .....
Temple priests in Madhya Pradesh
need not wait for divine intervention to improve their lot. The approaching
footfall of elections will do, especially if the state is ruled by a party
dogged by taunts that it is tinkering with "soft Hindutva". .....
He is big enough to have them for
breakfast, they worry, and growing bigger every day. What can they do to
stop him? .....
Last week some research scholars
from Delhi University came avisiting. They had a grouse against the Delhi
Police for not acting in a case of dowry death. They said that the victim
was a woman activist and the possibility of the said person committing
suicide looked remote. .....
The BJP leader in charge of party
affairs in Kerala, Padmanabhacharya, has condemned the "provocative statement''
of an American pastor, Joseph Cooper, at Kilimanoor. .....
Controversial novelist, Salman
Rushdie, has emerged as an unlikely hawk to support forcible removal of
the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, breaking ranks with a host of other
prominent British writers who have denounced American moves and warned
that a war would be catastrophic. .....
Police here are verifying whether
there has been any visa violation on the part of the American missionary,
Joseph Cooper, who was attacked by suspected RSS workers at a Protestant
convention near a tribal colony at Puliyam in Kilimanoor, on Monday last.
.....
Nearly 600 displaced Kashmiri Pandit
families living here and in the satellite towns of Mohali and Panchkula
today observed `Holocaust Day'. .....
Setting January 25th as the deadline
for Muslim women in Jammu and Kashmir to quit government jobs, a pro-Pakistani
militant outfit today threatened to kill those who did not obey their orders,
official sources said in Jammu. .....
A terrorist outfit on Saturday
asked all Muslim girls in Jammu and Kashmir to get married at the age of
15. .....
A representative from a Muslim
advocacy group offered greetings to tens of thousands of anti-war protesters
gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday in the name of the "Mujahideen,"
a term that has come to be closely associated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
terror network. .....
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharya on Thursday said that the modernisation of madrassa education
had been delayed because of opposition from some sections of the community.
.....
After using innovative means ranging
from candle-light marches to beauty contests in Dharamsala, Tibetan groups
have now hit upon a new strategy to raise awareness about Tibet's occupation
by China - a boycott of Chinese goods flooding Indian markets. .....
RSS has been the most maligned
and most misunderstood organization in India. Its most critics have developed
extremely prejudicial views against it mainly from the motivated false
propaganda. One such person was Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayana (JP) who
had started off with a strong prejudice against RSS in the forties. But
his contacts with RSS workers and leaders made him understand RSS in a
positive way, and he started appreciating its work and ideology. .....
National integration should mean
integration with the nation. But what is a nation? Who constitute a nation?
These questions are to be primarily addressed. .....
“The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) believes that the political power alone cannot be a tool for bringing
an expected social change. It is wrong to always depend upon the government
for everything. The society has a role to, play in resolving its problem
on the own and also making the nation strong in all spheres. Need of the
hour is to make people aware of their duties and encourage them to contribute
in national reconstruction,” said the RSS Sarsanghchalak, K. S. Sudarshan.
.....
The Marxists' lust for the blood
of the RSS swaymsevaks is never quenched. After a brief lull of three months,
the Marxists barbarians butchered Shri Pottakadan Shaji, 25, to death on
November 16 at Paduvilayi near Koothuparamba in Kannur district. An eight-member
hit squad of Marxist goons waylaid Shaji and his friend as they were returning
from the RSS shakha at 9 p.m. and attacked them with daggers, axes and
bombs. .....
Contextualisation. Synthesis. Adaptation.
Indigenisation. Localisation. What an impressive array of innocent terminology
to couch what should actually be described as 'impersonation'! Christianity
in India is no longer the 'phoren' European stuff that would raise the
hackles of potential converts who are averse to changing their practices
that a change of faith would automatically entail. .....
The very talk of separating Jammu,
Kashmir and Ladakh is falling in line with the two-nation theory,' said
Omar Abdullah to PTI as reported in The Asian Age, Mumbai, of July 1, 2002.
He also said, 'These leaders [of the RSS and VHP] do not know anything
of Kashmir.' .....
The National Minorities Commission,
the apex government body in charge of the welfare of minority communities
in the country, has been drawing flak from church leaders for quite some
days. Christian groups argue that the NMC's fact finding reports on the
continuing attacks against missionaries and church institutions have been
flawed and partial. .....
The National Minority Commission
member, Mr. John Joseph, has alleged that certain quarters in the Christian
community itself are torpedoing the Commission's efforts to end the attacks
on the Christians in various parts of the country. .....
The recent terrorist strikes in
the USA on September 11, 2001, in which the World Trade Centre and Pentagon
were "crash-bombed" by large airplanes, have brought a new resolve in the
global community to root out terrorism from all parts of the world. The
Americans are playing a leading role in building a world coalition against
terrorism. .....
The contrasting receptions rolled
out for Pravin Togadia within a span of few months narrate the story. In
his earlier trips to Orissa, the international secretary of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) had evoked little or no fervour. His whirlwind visit
last fortnight, though, was markedly different. Near hysteria broke out
and Togadia was treated like a VVIP. As supporters of Hindutva followed
him deliriously, so did a star-struck media. .....
Pakistan prime minister Mir Zafrullah
Khan Jamali enjoys the unique distinction of being the only prime minister
in the world today who can be sacked by his army chief. .....
Police are questioning seven people
after anti- terrorist officers raided a mosque in Finsbury Park, north
London. .....
A former Bajrang Dal leader was
stoned to death by some members of a minority community over "personal
rivalry" in Surat, leading to tension in the city, police said on Sunday.
.....
The Church has not given up its
"evangelizing mission," which is stronger in that Southeast Asia nation
because it is "close to the poor, those who suffer, and the oppressed,"
says Father Vito del Prete, secretary of the Pontifical Missionary Union.
.....
Thousands of Hindu migrants are
crossing the Indo-Bangladesh border near Habra - risking their lives, leaving
everything including their near and dear ones behind - to save themselves
from large-scale attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. .....
I have been glancing at the Indian
newspapers to see if they ever retracted their stories that the RSS
had attacked the American Pentecostal Preacher and his companion,
Sam Benson, who it turns out had been absconding for pedophilia.
.....
An obscure Indian trading company
has provided the first clear evidence that Iraq obtained materials over
the past four years to produce or deliver weapons of mass destruction.
.....
Terrorism has made France consider
changing one of its fundamental principles of keeping state and religion
separate and accept the proposal for the state to fund the building of
mosques in the country. .....
Pakistani intelligence blocked
the vehicle of India's top diplomat in Islamabad several times as he headed
to official engagements, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said Sunday. .....
I wrote in a previous message that
the Saffron Scare is parallel to the Red Scare in the USA fifty years ago.
Here is an example of how that manifests in India. This group of environmental
and social activists forcibly entered the Union Carbide plant site in Bhopal
to take samples and to send a strong international message that the victims
of the 1984 disaster have not been adequately compensated and, importantly,
the toxic materials contaminated when the plant blew up, still have not
be cleaned up. .....
The battlelines have been drawn
though the outcome is now almost certain. The IDRF, a charity that provides
funding for Hindu causes in India is to be investigated on charges that
it has duped Indians into contributing money which is used for fomenting
religious violence in India. A study conducted by eleven NRIs in the United
States was published by the Mumbai based Sabrang Communications and The
South Asian Citizens Watch. .....
Foreign missionary organisations
that fight for human rights in India, has drawn flak from the Bengal Chief
Minister, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharjee. .....
It is common knowledge that Hinduism
pervaded several countries of South--east Asia which witnessed the rise
and fall of several Hindu dynasties. The rulers of these dynasties got
constructed many temples for Hindu gods and goddesses, Shiva and Vishnu
including. Along with Shiva and Vaishnava religions, Buddhism also penetrated
the land between Myanmar and Indonesia and flourished side by side as twin
brothers, sometimes in one and the same temple complex. .....
I welcome this opportunity to "take
my turn" and herald the advent of a new millennium in Hinduism Today. This
allows me to take stock of some of the major historical events that have
affected Sanatan Dharm and to anticipate what the new millennium holds
for Hinduism and its adherents, both in India and beyond. .....
As hundreds of IIT alumni gather
here in Silicon Valley this weekend to mark the golden jubilee of their
celebrated school, they have just heard of a fancy new equation being bandied
around in the US: IIT=Harvard+MIT+Princeton. .....
The probe by the National Commission
for Minorities (NCM) has revealed startling facts about the attack
on US missionary Rev Joseph Cooper in Kerala. The report stated that
the attack was not pre- planned but was a public outcry against the "wrongdoings
and immoral acts by Rev Sam's family in the area" and the US missionary
was an unwitting victim. .....
Over centuries, the percentage
of Hindus in the world and even in India has been declining. Hindus formed
84.98% of the Indian population as per the 1951 census. It came down to
82.7% in 1971, 82.6 in 1981, and 82.41 in 1991. The 2001 census report
nails the figure further down at 82%. .....
The Navi Mumbai police on Wednesday
night rounded up 43 Bangladeshi nationals illegally living in the country.
They will soon be deported to Bangladesh. .....
A new book has documented the cultural
heritage of India’s three Jewish communities. The book, authored by nine
writers, explores in pictures and prose the rituals, architecture and contributions
of the Bene Israelis, the Cochinese and the Baghdadis, miniscule communities
who, while retaining their Jewish identity, absorbed the culture and customs
of their adopted land. .....
Bhishma K. Agnihotri has served
as India’s Ambassador At Large for Non-Resident Indians and Persons of
Indian Origin for barely one-and-a-half-years but his tenure has been pockmarked
by controversy right from the word go. His very appointment was seen as
cutting into the mandate of Lalit Mansingh, India’s Ambassador to the US.
His RSS membership was waved about as further proof that the Sangh Parivar
was plonking its men into key positions of influence. .....
An armed clash broke out between
members of two communities in Munger district today in which two people,
including the imam of a local mosque, were shot dead. .....
Taking on the Noble laureate V
S Naipaul for siding with Tehelka, Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitley has
asked "Sir Vidia and his Pakistani wife not to play politics in India on
behalf of Tarun Tejpal." .....
In a sensational revelation, intelligence
officers have come to know that militants of Assam's National Democratic
Federation of Bodoloand have close links with ISI operatives. .....
Pundits and policy-wallahs in New
Delhi engage in a great deal of teeth-gnashing over the fact that while
the economies of India and China were roughly the same size in the 1950s
and 1960s, China's market reforms since the 1970s have pushed it well out
in front. This "India-China gap" reflects Beijing's greater ability to
expand exports and attract direct foreign investments. Measured in terms
of purchasing-power parity, China now ranks as the world's second-largest
economy. India trails at No. 4. .....
Despite the "ceasefire" agreement
purportedly reached in London yesterday, Hamas announced today that it
would continue to murder Israelis. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a leading Hamas
figure in Gaza, denied today that all the terror organizations had agreed
to call off attacks until after the Israeli elections. Yasser Arafat was
reported yesterday to have agreed to enforce a "no attack" period until
the elections, during which civilians of pre-1967 Israel would be exempt
from being murdered. .....
Early in January a very senior
member of the US administration, addressing the CII Partnership Summit
in Hyderabad made some stunning statements on Indo-American relationship
that were largely ignored by the English media. Speaking at the Summit
on January 7, Richard N. Haass, Director, Policy Planning Staff, US Department
of State pointedly said that the LoC's status in Jammu & Kashmir won't
be changed unilaterally or by violence and, in the absence of a jointly
agreed alternative, its sanctity should be ensured. .....
The Centre is planning a legislation
to regulate activities of places of worship and religious instruction.
The legislation, if it is introduced and passed, will provide the government
with a legal sanction to regulate the activities of madrasas and other
institutions being funded and maintained by other religious groups. .....
The 'secularist' cabal generally
talks with a forked tongue. One of its heads works along the argument:
while Hinduism is noble, Hindutva stinks of communalism and blood. Hindus
are generally good and tolerant, but it is the RSS variety which is rotten
and deserves to be squashed. .....
Amidst fears of money being siphoned
off for terrorist organisations including Al-Qaeda, Pakistan's Auditor
General has disclosed that millions of dollars donated by expatriate countrymen
vanished without a trace while being transferred to Islamabad from overseas.
.....
The U.S. government dramatically
increased the deportation of people from Muslim nations in the year after
Sept. 11, 2001, even as it eased up on illegal immigrants from Mexico and
other countries. .....
Whenever a voice on the airwaves
generalizes about Pakistan, I want to ask, "Which Pakistan do you mean?"
Beyond the facade of a flag and customs officers at major airports, there
is no integral, unified state behind the name. Does the pundit mean the
feudal territories east of the Indus river, which resemble 15th century
England with electricity? Or the tribal lands to the west, where the blood
feuds and clan rule of medieval Scotland are supercharged by religious
ferocity? .....
A 60-year-old American national
and Protestant missionary, Joseph Cooper, was grievously injured when he
was attacked by a 10-member armed gang of suspected RSS activists near
a gospel convention venue at the Koppam Harijan colony in the Kilimanoor
police station limits near here, late on Monday night. .....
An Asian bride murdered on her
wedding day was killed in a family feud after she rejected an arranged
marriage to marry her "first real love", police said yesterday. .....