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Thoughts on issues of current interest [my comments - as an Indian citizen - within square brackets], including instances of some double standards of our public figures, especially in the construction of Indian identity (all those Macaulayan myths, and the hypocrisy that is Nehruvian secularism) - Krishen Kak
[Did you know that the Justice Banerjee of the Godhra railway's departmental enquiry was the illegal beneficiary of former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu's discretionary allotment of a plot on the Salt Lake (DN Mishra, "Not all above board", The Pioneer, Jan 30, 2005)?
Did you know that on the basis of this dishonest judge's interim report in a departmental enquiry (V'mala 80), 75 distinguished Nehruvian secularists, including Shyam Benegal, Shubha Mudgal, Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Githa Hariharan, Swami Agnivesh, Rahul Roy, Mallika Sarabhai, Shabnam Hashmi and Zoya Hasan, wrote to the prime minister for the release of all the Godhra accused ("An open letter to Manmohan on Banerjee report", The Hindu, Jan 31, 2005)? This is notwithstanding that the statutory Nanavati commission has cast a serious doubt on the veracity of the Banerjee "accident".
Now, can you recall how many of these Nehruvian secularists wrote to the then prime minister when RK Dhawan was made a union minister though indicted by the Justice Thakkar enquiry into the Indira Gandhi assassination? Or when the Congress government itself was indicted by the Justice Verma enquiry into the Rajiv Gandhi assassination? Or when the Congress government pulled down the Gujral ministry on the basis of the Jain enquiry into the same assassination? (A Surya Prakash, "Avoid the political thicket", The Pioneer, Feb 1, 2005).
Or how many of them have written to the prime minister to make public the recently-released Nanavati report into the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom enabled by the Congress Party and defended by then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi? Remember, this is the same prime minister with his Newtonian justification of the killing of the Sikhs ('when a big tree falls, the earth will shake"). Or why the report is not being made available to the National Minorities Commission even after the Commission asks for it though, within 24 hours of receiving it, the union home minister unhesitatingly goes to the house of the extra-Constitutional Super PM to tell her all about it (The Pioneer, Feb 11, 2005)?
Arundhati Roy and her ilk, and the People's Union for Civil Liberties and their ilk, condemn the attack on Muslim separatist SAR Geelani, pointing fingers of suspicion at the Delhi Police (The Hindu, Feb 10, 2005), but not noting with any suspicion at all the twists and turns in the statements of his lawyer Nandita Haksar who appears to be attempting to do with the Supreme Court (where her client Geelani's case is pending) what the notorious Teesta Setalvad did in what is now being called the Best Fakery case (V'mala 77). Remember how the Supreme Court, responding to Nehruvian secularism and its trial by media "rather than perusing the legal record before them" transferred from Gujarat that case only to discover that "Zaheera had not signed a single page presented to the NHRC or the apex court! In other words, there is no legal basis for taking the trial outside Gujarat" (S Jain, "Godhra: Judiciary under cloud", The Pioneer, Feb 8, 2005). There never was, but as V'mala repeatedly evidences, Nehruvian secularism standards are not just double but anti-Hindu. So now the Supreme Court directs Shaikh to produce details of her assets (The Hindu, Feb 22, 2005) - but does not ask Setalvad, against whom Shaikh has made allegations of mercenariness.
Did you know that according to Islam (and, for that matter, Christianity) no non-believer, not even Mahatma Gandhi, can enter Heaven? All Hindus, without exception, must go to Hell. And that your favourite film star Shashi Kapoor had no hesitation promoting this interpretation when he played the angel in the Pakistani film "Jinnah" (KRN Swamy, "Is Gandhi in Heaven?", The Pioneer, Jan 30, 2005)?
Did you know that the so-called Babri Masjid was built by a Shia for Shia worship only and that today's Shias formally stated that they had no objection to its re-location? But the Sunnis (historically enemies and oppressors of Shias - note the recent setting-up by Shias of their own personal law board) grabbed the mosque, ousting Shia moderation and control (R Zakaria, "Communal Rage in Secular India", Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 2004). Now the Barelvi Muslims have set up their own law board.
Did you know there are 50 women members in the 201-member All India Muslim Personal Law Board? And you never heard them speak! Perhaps Muslim women should set up their own law board too!
And did you know that there are Muslims who support the Constitutional directive of a uniform civil code, noting that "The recent formation of a number of Personal Law Boards proves that the All India Muslim Personal Law Board was never needed" (The Hindu, Feb 13, 2005)?
Did you know that our national anthem is in fact a tribute to a British king? That the real anthem, the one "always on the tongue of the common man during the freedom struggle" was Vande Mataram? And that this choice of the overwhelming majority of Indians was, to appease Muslim sentiment, rejected by JL Nehru (and Maulana Azad) in favour of the paean to George V (MG Kapahy, "Anthem of issues", The Pioneer, Jan 26, 2005)?
Did you know that the Congress government of Karnataka considers it communal and criminal to hoist the national flag (V'mala 75), but secular to open a defence-operated airport for "miracle-working" by a Christian evangelist? And have you asked (as B Punj did) why any of these "miracle-workers" does not go to cure Pope John Paul II, by definition the holiest human in Christendom, of his Parkinson's disease? Instead, they are welcomed and feted at the public cost in our country.
Did you know that Christianity has between 1991 and 2001 grown by 22.6% in our country's north-east - that Nagaland and Mizoram are close to being fully Christian, and Meghalaya is catching up (S Ghildiyal, "NCM seeks Church's explanation", The Pioneer, Feb 17, 2005)?
Did you know that it is simply not true that "satyagraha was the tool used to win our freedom" (K Gahlaut, "The yippie generation", India Today, Jan 31, 2005)? That, in fact, what got the British out of India was the fear raised in them by the naval mutiny in Mumbai, for which Netaji Bose was responsible (V'mala 71)?
And did you know that, in regard to Netaji Bose, "classified records in the South Block in New Delhi have either unlawfully been destroyed or not been disclosed. All that has come to light hints at something sinister. Beginning with the irresistable proofs that Netaji did not die in 1945" (Anuj Dhar, "Back from Dead: Inside the Subhas Bose Mystery", 2005)*. And that prime minister JL Nehru lied to Parliament about Netaji's death, with the Congress Party systematically opposing honour to Netaji (U Namboodiri, "`Subhash is alive and Nehru knows it'", The Pioneer, Feb 14, 2005).
Did you know that the President of India approved the transfer from the Patna High Court of a Hindu judge who was called a "fanatic" and "RSS stooge" by Muslims because he asked for the implementation of "an agreement on not using loudspeakers in a mosque near the High Court" ("Justice mobbed", editorial, The Pioneer, Feb 8, 2005)? Neither the Prime Minister of India, nor the Chief Justice of India, nor the President of India is concerned that a judge cannot function in "secular" Bihar and "secular" India because of Islamic abuse against him. Must Muslims have only Muslim judges? Do "secular" laws and rulings `not apply to Muslims? Recall how Muslims shot dead Justice NK Ganju in Srinagar (K Gupta, "When Kashmiri Pandits fled Islamic terror", http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/19kanch.htm ).
Did you know that RV Paswan promised the Muslims of Bihar a Muslim chief minister for Bihar if they voted him to power (though later he decided to prefer himself for that position - S Dasgupta, "Unpredictables of Bihar". The Pioneer, Feb 20, 2005)?
Did you know that Ramachandra Guha, Gandhian hagiographer, approvingly quotes for post-Godhra Gujarat "the veteran Gandhian Amrutbhai Modi as the `second assassination of Gandhiji" ("Defacing the Mahatma", The Hindu Magazine, Jan 30, 2005). And have you asked why neither Guha nor any veteran Gandhian ever refers to the genocide of the Kashmiri Hindus as anti-Gandhian? Because, friends, as V'mala repeatedly shows, it isn't!
Did you know that Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia recently opened its Centre for West Asian Studies, with the Jamia's vice-chancellor Mushirul Hasan making clear - in the acquiescing presence of the prime minister of India - the pro-Muslim/anti-Jew agenda of the Centre ("Jamia Millia gets a new Centre for West Asian Studies", The Hindu, Jan 30, 2005)? This, said Hasan, is an initiative towards secularism ("W Asian studies centre launched", The Pioneer, Jan 30, 2005). Muslim secularism? The Mahatma's secularism? Nehruvian secularism? Did you know this university already has a Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies and recently opened too a Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies? Muslims and Christians are now clubbed with Dalits? The religions that oppressed our land for hundreds of years and where the laws still favour these religions over the dharma are oppressed?
Did you know that LP Yadav, the kirttimukha of Nehruvian secularism (V'mala 82), said "Bihar ka kabja ho gaya hai Delhi mein. Ab Bihar badlega (Bihar has captured Delhi. Now Bihar will change)" (The Hindu, Feb 13, 2005). Indeed, yes, Bihar has captured Delhi - but it is Delhi that is changing!
Did you know that our prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was so concerned about ethics in politics (V'mala 73), is now concerned about "corruption in public life", calling for a broad national consensus to curb it (The Hindu, Feb 13, 2005). Wonderful! But have you asked why, just as with ethics, he wants others to lead - and he's the prime minister! Why doesn't he set the example by tackling the corruption of his own ministers who accuse each other publicly of looting the public exchequer?? What prevents him from doing so? The fact that these colleagues are "secular". Nehruvian-secular?
Did you realize how the Padma Shri for "social work" to a foreigner Gladys Staines is the Republic of India abasing itself before Christianity? Her husband was a professional missionary; he was murdered, and his murderer has been brought to book. The wife did no "social work" other than forward her husband's conversions agenda, and the Padma Shri to her not just rewards proselytisation but slaps the Hindu dharma. It is on a par with the Tamil Nadu chief minister officially awarding Rs 5 lakhs to the widow of the person allegedly murdered by the Kanchi Shankaracharyas. Have you asked why the Padma awards have never recognised as "social worker" any Hindu bringing converts back to the dharma, just as TN State has never so compensated the widow of any other murder victim?.
And while on the subject of awards, did you know that while the Nehru-Gandhis had no hesitation arranging Bharat Ratnas for themselves (three Ratnas in as many generations), Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi consistently vetoed a Bharat Ratna for Sardar Patel - the mother doing so 18 times! (V Bhat, "Does Bharat have no Ratnas?", The Pioneer, Feb 4, 2005).
In an ironic, but entirely apt, twist of fate, MK Gandhi is not a Bharat Ratna!]
*published by and available from
Manas Publications, 4858 Prahlad Street, 24 Ansari Road, New Delhi 110002.
Tel 23260783, 23265523. Fax 23272766.
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