The word "Hindu" has become a term
of contention if not abuse, and while a variety of enemies proclaim
that they are not against Hinduism but against Hindutva, or Hindu fundamentalists,
or against the RSS or BJP, we need to be careful at taking them at face
value. For what is being attacked is Hinduism as a way of life, and Hindus
as a political and social force. .....
By agreeing to negotiate with Naxalite
groups, the Government has only emboldened those who choose the path of
violence to meet their political ends. In my view, any state, community,
or a group of people who succumb to violence are abdicating their basic
commitment to a civilised society. .....
There is growing concern in Congressional
circles over the "credible prospect" that the Bush Administration will
move to supply F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan after the November election.
.....
It was the American intelligence
agencies probing into the 9/11 terrorist attacks that first intercepted
the rampant misuse of Indian banking channels for transferring huge
chunks of money from one country to another. .....
It is a biting coincidence. L.K.
Advani has resumed charge as BJP president in the same fortnight as Mughal-e-Aazam,
the black-and-white classic, is being re-released in colour. There must
be a message there. .....
On Oct. 7 and 8, 2004 the Franco-German
channel Arte, mostly paid for by the taxpayer, broadcast a very bad French-Egyptian
movie by Yousri Nasrallah called "Les portes du soleil". The fact that
it was very bad was actually a blessing, for the main purpose of the movie
was to show the founders of the state of Israel as moral equivalent to
the Nazis. .....
Ten-headed demon king Ravana of
the Hindu epic Ramayana actually had one head and the other nine were its
reflection on the nine large polished gems that he wore around his neck,
an American scholar of Sanskrit has reasoned. .....
Human Security Now. Heard of this
somewhat provocative expression? Yes, it is reminiscent of a rock concert
tour organised by Amnesty International in the eighties called "Human Rights
Now!" But no, it is not some kind of an alarmist counter-blast from security
junkies, to justify encroachment on human rights in this age of international
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. .....
There are times when one tragedy,
one crime tells us how a whole system works behind its democratic facade
and helps us to understand how much of the world is run for the benefit
of the powerful and how governments lie. To understand the catastrophe
of Iraq, and all the other Iraqs along imperial history's trail of blood
and tears, one need look no further than Diego Garcia. .....
It is an irony that those who conceived
and wrote the books now disown the products of their teachings as 'bad
Muslims' or 'not Muslims'. Whether they do so sincerely or out of political
expediency is a moot point. It seems that some pupils who learn their lessons
too well may become an embarrassment for their masters! .....
Ven. Shravasti Dhammika, an Australian
monk, is a regular contributor to newspapers and journals with perceptive
observations on matters related to Buddhism, Buddhist culture and Buddhist
practice. He is a distinguished lecturer who has spoken on Buddhism and
Asian religions in universities and on television and radio in Australia
and throughout Asia. .....
I am now mortally terrified at
the sight of Harkishen Singh Surjeet. The man is sharper than we all thought.
Wicked like any ageing communist should be, he even has the right global
connections: a son in Vancouver whom he visits. Except that Surjeet has
now become a comprehensive pain. I am worried that he will now exert influence
and not let me stand for the Friends Colony association elections. .....
There always is a way out, it seems,
for those who want to keep a harem of "wives" and escape prosecution
under anti-bigamy laws. A senior religious figure has been quoted
saying almost 4,000 Muslim men in Britain have got as many as four
wives. They have taken advantage of a loophole in the anti-bigamy
laws. .....
This old joke in Pakistan seems
particularly apt at a time when the country's national assembly is about
to pass a Bill asking President Pervez Musharraf not to shed his uniform
in the 'national interest.' .....
The U.S. Postal Service overstepped
its bounds when it told a North Carolina customer he couldn't mail Christian
literature to his son, who is serving as an Army National Guardsman in
the Persian Gulf, a legal watchdog group said. .....
Textile secretary Wajahat Habibullah's
'Mission Kashmir' is bad news for Home Minister Shivraj Patil. Mr
Habibullah, who is known for his close links with 10, Janpath, has
been roped in by the Prime Minister's Office to resume the deadlocked
talks with the separatist leaders. .....
The 16 Pakistani journalists' visit
to Kashmir early this month was historic, as has been generally described,
but it is doubtful if the reports to their newspapers helped remove some
of the incorrect impressions ingrained in readers' minds by the Pakistani
propaganda machinery about the situation in Kashmir. .....
Away from the spotlight on the
Andhra-Naxal talks and the merger of People's War and Maoist Communist
Centre, Andhra police officials who led the crackdown have been quietly
shunted out. And neighbouring Maharashtra, reeling under a wave of Naxal
attacks from the time the Hyderabad talks were announced, has borrowed
an anti-mines vehicle from the police in Warangal who have no use for it
now. .....
A Mumbai-based Pastor Karl Silva
and four Catholic missionaries have been arrested and sent to custody for
preaching in a tribal area during the Durga Puja festival. Their bail application
has been rejected too. .....
Donkeys have long been the subject
of ridicule and mirth. Considered stupid animals of drudgery, they are
often beaten by their masters and abandoned once they have served their
purpose. .....
There's no point arguing with Comrade
Harkishen Singh Surjeet. What he wrote in People's Democracy was perfectly
in order, really, considering what the Left has always been doing. The
practice of listing and de-listing people has been an inseparable part
of communist purges everywhere. .....
Anu Aga, former chairperson of
the Pune-based Thermax, built her company into a Rs 830-crore energy and
environmental major. She has now handed over the baton to her daughter.
Dubbed as India Inc's 'Ms Conscience' she tells SHEKHAR GUPTA, Editor-in-Chief
of The Indian Express, on NDTV 24X7's Walk The Talk that humanity must
never be lost in the search for profit .....
China's 1962 invasion of India
was indeed a very unhappy event not only for the civilian population, but
also for the members of the defence services, some of whom even today describe
it as "a sad day" for the Indian Army. .....
The Territorial Army has been infiltrated
by Al-Qaeda suspects, giving the Islamic terrorist group potential access
to military bases, explosives and fuel dumps. .....
Why is our government soft with
Bangladesh? It has been giving shelter to the gangsters of the United Liberation
Front of Assam (ULFA) and it is an open secret that the Directorate General
of Field Intelligence (DGFI) of Bangladesh is backing ULFA to the hilt
and yet Delhi is behaving that it does not really matter much. .....
"Maharashtra revealed how important
the Muslim factor has become in Indian elections. The key to success lies
in a party's ability to mollify the community and persuade its towering
individuals to give out advisories to their co-religionists in the hope
that such intervention would reduce the chances of a split in the Muslim
vote. .....
While the city council announced
its Christmas events, scores of Hindus across Birmingham have been visiting
temples and community centres to celebrate the nine-night religious festival
of Navaratri. .....
Tripura rebels have called for
a ban on Durga Puja celebrations. Four Hindus have been killed by
suspected separatist rebels in the north-eastern Indian state of
Tripura. Police say six other Hindus were injured in the attacks.
.....
Today we were invited to make a
presentation on the 'Issue of conversion' at the Swaminarayan Temple in
Neasden, London. The auditorium was filled to capacity with nearly 2000
people present. .....
The present socio-political condition
of Kerala compelled once its former Chief Minister, Shri A. K. Anthony,
to accept certain realities on the economic front. In the reading of the
former Chief Minister, the religious minorities are more organised politically
and also as an economic force in the state than anywhere else in the country.
.....
Even as the nation observed Jai
Prakash Narayan's birth anniversary on Sunday, Doordarshan chose to air
the' 70s blockbuster Mehbooba on prime time instead of a bioepic on the
leader-Lok Nayak Jai Prakash by noted filmmaker Prakash Jha. .....
Mother Teresa was the 20th century's
chief propaganda guru for the Catholic faith, the very concept of Christian
charity and the chaotic compassion of a newly- independent Indian state,
a bold new book has claimed. .....
Europe's civilian revolt against
the stranglehold of the Catholic Church was won by resurrecting its
Pagan heritage as exemplified in Greek philosophy and Roman law.
The resultant duality of religious and secular authority provided
space for individual liberty, science, and material progress. .....
Thirteen persons who had given
misleading information to public about the Bajpe Shanishwara temple in
December 1999 have been awarded three months rigorous imprisonment, said
advocate PP Hegde. .....
It's a problem of plenty for many
members of Parliament. How should they spend the Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million)
given to them as part of MPLADS -- the Member of Parliament Local Area
Development Scheme? .....
Human life in India is woefully
cheap, but some lives, it would seem, are cheaper than others. Last week,
on Gandhi Jayanti, there were serial bomb blasts and terrorist attacks
all over Assam and in Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland. In just
two days, some 60 people added their names to the unending list of victims
of terrorism. .....
Amidst growing pressure to check
underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his ISI masters in Pakistan have directed
him to carry out attacks in India or support would be extended to a new
group led by his detractors. .....
This week's column has an unlikely
hero. Anupam Kher. As the latest victim of ''detoxification'', he was sacked
from the Censor Board last week but decided not to go gently. He called
a press conference to speak out against the Marxian machinations of Comrade
Harkishen Singh Surjeet whom he charged with being the man behind his dismissal.
.....
No Indian should forget that our
beloved Avatar Shri Ram abolished the caste-division at least 3500 years
ago. One of his most intimate friends was lord Guhaka Chandala in whose
house Ram became a guest and partook of the meals served by Gahaka. Lord
Ram ate the half eaten fruits offered to him by the Vanavasi Shabari because
they were offered with ecstasy of love. .....
"Vanvasis who contributed immen-sely
in preservation of Hindu culture since centuries, are today facing acute
onslaught on their culture, identity and existence. Merely organising functions
and extending support to them is not enough. If we really want to bring
back Ramrajya and save the Hindu culture, we must go to the Vanvasis. .....
It is now fifty-six years since
Pakistani armed forces under the guise of tribesmen attacked Jammu and
Kashmir in the hope of detaching the state from India and failed in their
dishonourable purpose. Since then, Pakistan and India have fought three
wars and suffered countless casualties, both civilian and military. Pakistan
has tried everything possible to wound India and has nothing to show except
abject failure. .....
The Election Commission intervened
to keep politics out of the Ganesh Puja in Maharashtra. It banned cassettes
and CDs of the Shiv Sena, citing violations of the code of conduct. Uma
Bharti's Tiranga yatra was watched by the EC with a magnifying glass. .....
The insider's account is always
considered the most authentic. Czech writer Milan Kundera's fiction offers
deep insights into the totalitarian communist regime that rifled his homeland.
.....
The pattern of population growth
in India is glaringly uneven which needs a cool, dispassio-nate, and deeper
analysis with special reference to its political implications. .....
It is no matter of surprise that
a controversy erupted over the statistics released by the Registrar-General
and Census Commissioner, J.K. Banthia, of demographic data based on religion.
Nor is it a matter of surprise that the issue has been politicised. .....
Europe's civilian revolt against
the stranglehold of the Catholic Church was won by resurrecting its
Pagan heritage as exemplified in Greek philosophy and Roman law.
The resultant duality of religious and secular authority provided
space for individual liberty, science, and material progress. .....
Thirteen persons who had given
misleading information to public about the Bajpe Shanishwara temple in
December 1999 have been awarded three months rigorous imprisonment, said
advocate PP Hegde. .....
It's a problem of plenty for many
members of Parliament. How should they spend the Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million)
given to them as part of MPLADS -- the Member of Parliament Local Area
Development Scheme? .....
Human life in India is woefully
cheap, but some lives, it would seem, are cheaper than others. Last week,
on Gandhi Jayanti, there were serial bomb blasts and terrorist attacks
all over Assam and in Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland. In just
two days, some 60 people added their names to the unending list of victims
of terrorism. .....
Amidst growing pressure to check
underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his ISI masters in Pakistan have directed
him to carry out attacks in India or support would be extended to a new
group led by his detractors. .....
This week's column has an unlikely
hero. Anupam Kher. As the latest victim of ''detoxification'', he was sacked
from the Censor Board last week but decided not to go gently. He called
a press conference to speak out against the Marxian machinations of Comrade
Harkishen Singh Surjeet whom he charged with being the man behind his dismissal.
.....
No Indian should forget that our
beloved Avatar Shri Ram abolished the caste-division at least 3500 years
ago. One of his most intimate friends was lord Guhaka Chandala in whose
house Ram became a guest and partook of the meals served by Gahaka. Lord
Ram ate the half eaten fruits offered to him by the Vanavasi Shabari because
they were offered with ecstasy of love. .....
"Vanvasis who contributed immen-sely
in preservation of Hindu culture since centuries, are today facing acute
onslaught on their culture, identity and existence. Merely organising functions
and extending support to them is not enough. If we really want to bring
back Ramrajya and save the Hindu culture, we must go to the Vanvasis. .....
It is now fifty-six years since
Pakistani armed forces under the guise of tribesmen attacked Jammu and
Kashmir in the hope of detaching the state from India and failed in their
dishonourable purpose. Since then, Pakistan and India have fought three
wars and suffered countless casualties, both civilian and military. .....
The Election Commission intervened
to keep politics out of the Ganesh Puja in Maharashtra. It banned cassettes
and CDs of the Shiv Sena, citing violations of the code of conduct. Uma
Bharti's Tiranga yatra was watched by the EC with a magnifying glass. .....
The insider's account is always
considered the most authentic. Czech writer Milan Kundera's fiction offers
deep insights into the totalitarian communist regime that rifled his homeland.
.....
The pattern of population growth
in India is glaringly uneven which needs a cool, dispassio-nate, and deeper
analysis with special reference to its political implications. .....
It is no matter of surprise that
a controversy erupted over the statistics released by the Registrar-General
and Census Commissioner, J.K. Banthia, of demographic data based on religion.
Nor is it a matter of surprise that the issue has been politicised. .....
Swami Vivekananda at the parliament
of religions in Chicago (1893) mentioned in his speech, that he was proud
to belong to a Nation that gave safe refuge to several persecuted communities
of the world. In history we find examples of the Jews, Syrian Christians,
Zoroastrians, and in recent times the Tibetan Buddhists who after being
driven out of their homeland sought safe refuge in India. .....
The Pakistan government has warned
the national print and electronic media against "glorifying terrorists
as heroes" and threatened to take action under anti-terrorism laws if they
failed to fall in line. .....
A militant group released a video
on Friday showing insurgents slicing off the head of a man identified as
Kenneth Bigley, the British engineer who was kidnapped here last month
and later pleaded with the British government to negotiate with his captors.
.....
We woke up today, my wife and I
with news about terrorism against Israelis in the tourist resort town of
Taba in Egypt's Sinai peninsula. This time of the year is one of the two
peak holiday times for Israelis. Mnay of us travel on holidays at this
time and this holiday resort town in Sinai is a favorite vacation place
for Israelis. .....
It is the usual story, but now,
the Stalinist commissar, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, has inserted himself
to wreck the remains of India-Taiwan relations. Taiwan-India trade was
$1.4 billion last year and $1.8 billion in six months since and could close
at $2.5-3 billion, but the CPI-M is bringing enormous pressure on the UPA
to clamp down on ties with the breakaway republic. .....
by David Pallister, Paul Kelso,
and Brian Whitaker
Throughout 2000 and 2001 a large
network of supporters of Osama bin Laden, thousands of them young Saudi
men, were working on schemes to kill westerners. This culminated in the
attacks on the US of September 11. .....
I hope that my story will shed
light on the truth in the Middle East to every American, especially to
those who subscribe to the erroneous idea that US policy in that region
must have caused Islamic and Arab hatred of the West. .....
There are only 15 specialised doctors
available for six Kashmiri migrant camps currently operating in Jammu
Division. Catering to a population of over 43000 Kashmiri migrants,
most of the camps either do not have the required number of medical
experts or do not have enough. .....
The oligarchic "opposition" and
its national mass media have no respect for anything: currently, Radio
Caracas TV (RCTV) is preparing commercials for its mind-controlled adherents
to celebrate "Día de la Raza" (Colombus Day) next Tuesday -- October
12, 2004. .....
The destruction of yet another
Baha'i holy place in Iran has prompted an outcry by Baha'is around the
world, who see that the Iranian Government is persisting in a campaign
of persecution so extreme in the fanaticism driving it that it even jeopardizes
invaluable assets of the country's cultural heritage. .....
Supporters of Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez celebrated Columbus Day on Tuesday by toppling a statue in
Caracas of the explorer whom Chavez blames for ushering in a "genocide"
of native Indians. .....
The U.S State Department issues
two significant reports annually - one on international religious freedom
and the other on global terrorism. The report on terrorism is titled "Patterns
on global terrorism" and is issued normally in the first week of May. .....
Muslim girls at a co-educational
high school in Madhya Pradesh have started appearing for their classes
in veils, leaving school authorities in a dilemma. .....
Barely two months after serial
rapist Akku Yadav was lynched in a Nagpur court, two extortionists have
met with the same fate at the hands of village women who were reportedly
inspired by the Akku episode. The incident occurred in Kharbi near Nagpur
on Monday. .....
A sex scandal that has already
claimed a whole family and left a teenage mother traumatised has exploded
on the CPM in Kerala just months before the party's scheduled state conference
in February. .....
People's War Group State secretary
Ramakrishna on Wednesday said that uprooting Hinduism would provide
a solution to social ills. Asked whether the PWG would agree with
Ambedkar's philosophy of uprooting Hinduism, Ramakrishna said Hinduism
was being nurtured by feudals and overthrowing these forces would
automatically lead to Hinduism being rooted out. .....
Women in Kharbi village, in Nagpur
(western Maharashtra), lynched Fahim Pathaan (26) and his younger brother
Naem (22). The two had been terrorising the villagers for nearly 4 years.
The two extorted money from local residents and small businessmen. They
were also were into kidnappings and sexual abuse, especially of young women
and girls. .....
The Mata Vaishno Devi shrine board
has come out with a series of new measures that will go down well with
the devotees. The measures are timed for the Navratras, which start today.
.....
Filmmaker Prakash Jha Thursday
stood firmly by his refusal to make any "politically correct" changes in
his film on socialist messiah Jayaprakash Narayan, stating it was up to
the government to "mutilate" it. .....
On the eve of talks with the Andhra
Pradesh government, two prominent Naxalite outfits officially announced
their merger and their intention to raise "police harassment" of Muslims
in the state. .....
The dispute over Kashmir should
be settled between the governments of Pakistan and India, with the latter
representing Kashmiris, said former Indian prime minister IK Gujral on
Thursday. .....
It is not the first time that the
state has attempted to subvert an artist's creative endeavour. This time
the players are filmmaker Prakash Jha and Prasar Bharati. .....
I am a foreigner of course, but
a pravasi not a pardesi. One has to be careful nowadays, what with the
battle raging in and around Yojana Bhavan. I have had a ringside seat watching
the dharmayuddha since I landed a fortnight ago in Mumbai. .....
Given the stakes in Maharashtra,
Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar would have been expected to give visible
proof of the working peace they brokered before the Lok Sabha elections.
At a joint rally in Nashik on Tuesday, their constant reference to the
Congress Parivar thus comes as no surprise. However, one point of commonality
in their campaign does raise eyebrows. .....
I watched the first round of the
presidential debate between President Bush and Senator Kerry with a lot
of interest. I am not an American but I believe the outcome of this election
will affect not just America but the entire world. If you don't accuse
me of being hyperbolic I dare to say that this is the most important election
in the history of mankind. .....
The Open Door Church is one of
the largest buildings in the tiny agricultural village of Khojewala. With
a large cross on top, it stands boldly in the majority-Sikh region in northwestern
Punjab state. A sign on the gate reads, "Christ be praised." Inside, villagers
sit cross-legged on cotton sheets spread over the cement floor of the main
hall. Under the whir of overhead fans, they are calling out, "Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!" .....
Despite pious proclamations to
the contrary, political discourse in a media-driven society invariably
centres on personalities. Consequently, governments and their ministers
tend to be judged by their projection rather than their policies or performance.
When feeble image management is coupled with disasters on the ground, the
effects are potentially catastrophic. .....
Yes. It can. For, India has been
for ages all about the art of living in peace and harmony-in co-existence
of races and religions and cultures. In short, in creating the perfect
man. .....
A proposal to build a Hindu temple
and a cultural centre, tipped as the largest in southern California, is
causing much disconcert in the Chino Hills area, a media report said here
on Tuesday. .....
A V Ramana Dikshitulu, the main
archaka of the famed Sri Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala, gets Rs
200 per day as wages for serving the Lord. He only gets this money
on the days he performs the rituals. But he is definitely better
off compared to thousands of other archakas across the State who
lead a hand-to-mouth existence. .....
Kolkata has added another glory
to its cultural heritage. Just before the 'Puja', the renovated ancestral
home of Swami Vivekananda at 3, Gourmohan Mukherjee Street, in North Kolkata,
was opened to the public amidst much fervour and devotion and the cultural
centre adjoining has been formally inaugurated by the President of India,
Shri A.P. J. Abdul Kalam. .....
India today suggested that Pakistani
intelligence agency ISI could be "behind" the serial blasts in North-East
and said it has asked Bangladesh and Myanmar to take action against the
militants who had taken shelter in those countries. .....
VS Naipaul today talks to the BBC
World Service about his new book, the threat to Britain from "council estate
culture" and why writing has become harder with age. .....
Human life in India is woefully
cheap, but some lives are cheaper than others. Last week, on Gandhi Jayanti,
there were serial bomb blasts and terrorist attacks all over Assam and
in Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub. In just two days, some 60 people
added their names to the unending list of terror victims. Last Independence
Day, an explosion in Dhemaji led to the death of 16 schoolchildren. .....
To say that Manmohan Singh is fast
learning politics on the job will be to miss the point. Which is that he
was all along a politician who for long did what his political masters
wa nted him to do so that he could keep on their right side; after becoming
the Prime Minister he was still doing what his new masters in the Congress
and Communist parties want him to do. .....
US security officials believe that
Al Qaeda, which had earlier recruited only Arabs, is now recruiting people
from other ethnic groups, including many Pakistanis. .....
As the presidential election moves
into its final weeks, neither candidate has mentioned a vital threat to
national security: the vulnerabilities of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Iraq's
supposed nuclear program proved to be non-existent, but Pakistan's nuclear
weapons and technology are very real. .....
Raising doubts over the Centre's
move to allow Pakistani journalists to visit Jammu and Kashmir, separatist
leader Syed Ali Geelani told them that his Hurriyat faction want Kashmir
to be part of Pakistan. .....
European Union Parliament Committee
on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy which
was sent to both parts of Kashmir with a view to formulating inputs to
future EU policy on the region and on Jammu and Kashmir has recently asserted
that, "Human rights abuses by the Indian troops in the occupied Kashmir
continue to feed a cycle of violence and the average custodial killings
of innocent Kashmiris stands at 17 per day." .....
Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati is
a grand old man, who has served tribal people, specially Kandhs, in undivided
Phulbani district of Orissa in the last couple of decades. Saffron-clad
Swamiji, with his Ashram at Chakapad, has spread his wings through seva
and sanskar among the tribal people in the region. .....
It is not only in India that the
´secular´ writers shoot their bolt to defame Hindus, but in
the Western world too there are of their likes who have launched a campaign
of calumny against Hindus. One such example is an article, entitled "Indische
Sittenwachter" (Indian Moralisers) by Jochen Buchsteiner, published in
a German national weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) in
the June 20, 2004 issue. .....
"The critics of RSS, many times,
try to implicate it on several issues. But the fact is that the ideology
or work, which after completing four genera-tions is now entering the fifth,
cannot make progress on negative thinking. Therefore, criticising RSS for
negative thinking is an injustice to it. .....
The RJD boss and railway minister
is not all that innocent as he would like you to believe he is. For, behind
that rustic exterior lies a very crafty mind. Now, from the moment he joined
the government Yadav, the foremost target of the opposition ire over the
tainted ministers, has been single-mindedly engaged in wiping off the stain
of corruption and criminality against him. .....
This must be the only country in
the entire world where the President is a Muslim, the prime minister is
a Sikh, the party head is a Christian, all of whom are accepted by the
Hindu majority .....
Even before he had uttered a single
word, the September 29 appearance of Ram Madhav, spokesman of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh, at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced
Inter-national Studies generated much contro-versy. A petition was circulated
protesting the South Asia Studies Department's invi-tation, and asking
that it be rescinded. .....
The Left government of West Bengal
has been in power for over two decades and its administrative record is
about the worst in the country. Among the most socially developed states
according to an India Today poll, are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh,
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. West Bengal does not figure among the ten
most literate states nor among the ten states which have the highest per
capita income. .....
Arch Nehru-sycophant Mani Shankar
Aiyar's outburst against Veer Savarkar and the refusal of the Congress
government to restore the original plaque containing Veer Savarkar's quotation
from the Cellular Jail Memorial in Port Blair has generated a wave of anger
amongst all patriotic Indians. .....
A recent survey shows that only
six lakh students manage to appear in the Secondary Examination in West
Bengal out of a crore students who enter primary education. The endemic
ills in education in the state are evident alongwith rural poverty, as
can be seen from this simple fact that 94 per cent students are forced
to opt out before reaching Class X. .....
The 'challenges before Hindutva'
came up for some high-level contemplation at the informal inauguration
of India First Foundation's new office in New Delhi on August 29. The auspicious
occasion was graced by the presence of three scholars from the United States
who, being lifelong Swayamsevaks, have dedicated their careers to the propagation
of Hindutva among Indian Americans. .....
If the first 100 days of the Manmohan
Singh government hit headlines only for the wrong reasons, the Congress
has only itself to blame. Its other partners in the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) of course, only worsened the situation. .....
A high-ranking IPS officer, believed
to be close to a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) politician in Maharashtra,
was responsible for getting Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother Iqbal Kaskar
to withdraw his nomination for assembly elections. .....
A shrinking group of eminent thinkers,
authors and progressives are aggrieved and angry. They thought they would
be brought back at the speed of lightening and installed ceremoniously
in the seats of power they had occupied for decades together without any
interruption. Alas, that was not to be. Whatever little they have gathered
so far is naturally unsatisfactory, not up to their expectations and stature.
.....
As an act of blackmail, the left-instigated
removal of a foreign consultants from ad hoc review committees of
the Planning Commission as few parallels. In their unedifying triumphalism,
and in blaming Planning Commission deputy chairman Montel Singh
Ahluwalia for the controversy, the communist parties can't
hide their absolute, unadulterated hypocrisy. .....
As I wandered the Mumbai suburb
of Mumbra last week in search of moderate Islamic voices a line by Ghalib
kept going through my head. Khuda key vaastey purdah na kaabey sey utha
zahid, kahin aisa na ho van (vahan) bhi yahi kaafir sanam nikley. Translation
will lose the beauty of the poetry and the subtlety of the sacrilege but
I hope keep the profundity of the idea. .....
For the past few weeks these questions
have prompted much debate throughout the Muslim world. The emerging answer
to both questions is: Anyone you like! .....
Hizb ut-Tahrir (Liberation Party),
an international Islamic group with roots from England to Central Asia,
is a recent addition to myriad radical organisations striving to enforce
"true Islam" in Pakistan. They are considered a new breed of Islamic fundamentalists,
who study at top British and American schools yet abhor Western values,
advocate a pan- Islamic state and favour the removal of Pakistan's pro-U.S.
government. .....
Sonia Gandhi by design or default
has picked the same financial team that Manmohan Singh's first political
boss P.V. Narasimha Rao had chosen, the team that ensured misery
for India's farming, working and manufacturing classes, resulting
in the 1996 electoral defeat. An ominous sign. This time around,
the team has a dangerous problem to tackle: the unfolding Telgi scam.
It is partly an inheritance from 1995. .....
In Le Figaro daily dated Feb 1,
2002, Lucienne Bui Trong, a criminologist working for the French
government's Renseignements Generaux (General Intelligence - a mix
of FBI and secret service), complains that the survey system she
had created for accurately denumbering the Muslim no-go zones was
dismantled by the government. .....
In each passing century there are
a few defining moments of which it can truly be said: here history was
made or here mankind's passage through the ages took a new direction or
turned towards a new horizon. Such a moment occurred on the 29th day of
April 1954 when an "Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between China and
India" was signed in Beijing. .....
It is bad enough to have a problem
with Pakistan over Jammu & Kashmir, or with Nepal over Maoist rebels.
Pakistan has been worrying India since 1947 and is apparently in no mood
to relax. General Musharraf is sounding harsher by the day. Perhaps he
should be told that if he continues on these lines India may given up further
talks with Islamabad and reserve the right to bomb terrorist training camps
in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir territory. .....
Jaya Bachchan, Samajwadi MP and
wife of superstar Amitabh Bachchan, has finally learnt the ropes of politics.
She has targeted the Congress for its step motherly treatment to UP and
accused the Gandhi family of betrayal. .....
Pakistan's military ruler Pervez
Musharraf brazenly lied that the world community had not asked for access
to nuclear proliferator A Q Khan, fresh disclosures by the International
Atomic Energy Agency has indicated. .....
Denouncing forcible conversion
as a "very bad" strategy to spread religion, Supreme Head of Syrian Church
Ignatius Zakka I Iwas today said some sections were trying to "buy" people
to their fold. .....
The CPM's latest rant against some
so-called 'foreign' experts in the Planning Commission is reminiscent of
the cosmic phenomenon whereby even a non-descript star suddenly attains
gigantic, if tenuous, significance (rather like the party led by Mr Jyoti
Basu). .....
According to a professor at the
Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, we are currently witnessing
an "ideological leap" of "Muslim fundamentalism, of extremist groups and
terrorists," who see the West as the enemy. .....
The archaeological expedition,
which carried out excavations near the Indian settlement of Mohenjo-Daro
in the beginning of the 1900s, uncovered the ruins of a big ancient town.
The town belonged to one of the most developed civilizations in the world.
The ancient civilization existed for two or three thousand years. However,
scientists were a lot more interested in the death of the town, rather
than in its prosperity. .....
Amjad Farooqi, 30, was shot dead
in a township in Sindh, Pakistan, after a five- hour gun battle on Sunday,
September 26. Two of his associates were arrested along with arms, a computer,
maps and a few CDs. President Pervez Musharraf, in Geneva, said it was
just another victory in his war on terror. .....
So Jyoti Basu has called the Deputy
Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a `World Bank
man'. And that may be why, the veteran Communist leader seems to argue,
Singh insisted on the participation of the World Bank-IMF experts in the
on-going consultative process undertaken by the Commission to review the
progress of the 10th Plan. .....
Four years of BJP-led rule after
coming to power in 1998 had been very disappointing for India's secularists,
for they had been predicting for years that "a BJP Prime Minister would
prove to be Hitler and Khomeini in one, and that the Muslims would be thrown
into the Arabian Sea if not into gas chambers". .....
