Muslims and RSS leaders meet in UP

When the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) leaders and Muslims including the Ulama meet, it should make a news but there was no report published in major newspapers published from Delhi.

The programme was held in Moradabad. Many Muslims were sceptical. Some called it political skulduggery though there were a few who welcomed the initiative. The occasion was Ittehad-e-Ahl-e-Watan conference.

The questions in the mind of Muslims were raised. Several Muslims asked direct questions and the RSS leaders replied to the charges. Though cynics would laugh at such an exercise and dismiss it as useless, I personally feel that social interaction with even your die-hard opponent is a welcome step.

Agreed that RSS has an agenda and its leaders have a different vision of India, a country where minorities are subjugated. Many Muslims say that it is hydra-headed RSS propaganda that has demonised the madarsas.

The current global geopolitics is also responsible for the situation. But it's always better to talk. I don't see any harm in that. When RSS leader Indresh told the gathering of Muslims that there should be joint monitoring committees to check riots and identity the rioters, it was nevertheless a heartening thing to hear for the audience.

"Many of you just said that you have a fear and suspicion about RSS. But today I'm standing amid you without police protection and we have talked, agreed on many issues and there is no discord", spoke Indresh, who asked the Muslims to think whether not all the major communal riots in India till 1992 were under the Congress rule.

There were Maulanas, Muftis and a large number of ordinary Muslims. Nobody should expect any change of hearts but at least, social contact will help improve the relations and also strengthen the unity.

Personally I feel that when you know a person of other religion and share a bond with him, the next time you are making a statement, the next time you may use a less harsh word for him or his religion.

Neither an RSS worker will change his world view overnight nor a Muslim become sympathetic to the cause of the lathi-wielding khaki-clad RSS swayamsevak. But meeting and eating together can soften hearts.

It happened in the City of renowned Urdu poet late Jigar Muradabadi. Moradabad district has the highest Muslim population in the entire country save for Kerala's Mallappuram and West Bengal's Murshidabad with nearly 25 lakh (2.5 million) Muslims.

It was Ali Sikandar 'Jigar' Muradabadi who had written the immortal lines:

unka jo kaam hai, voh ahl-e-siyasat jaaneN
meraa paiGaam mohabbat hai, jahaaN tak poNhche
Source : http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2009/03/muslims-and-rss-leaders-meet-in-up.html

A PAGE FROM HISTORY- Conversion by Force in China: Article by Brij Kishore Sharma

POPE John Paul II was friendly with dictators. He described Chile’s dictator Pinochet and his wife as an ‘exemplary Christian couple’. The Pope knew that Pinochet had murdered thousands of socialists and democrats. When the dictator was arrested in UK for crimes against humanity the Pope called for his release. He promoted the lie that condoms are useless in preventing HIV and AIDS. All rural African churches repeated this from the pulpit. God knows how many Africans were condemned to a slow and agonising death.

The Pope owns a bank called Banco Ambrosiano (Vatican bank). Its misdeeds were exposed in 1982. One director committed suicide after fleeing to London. Another fled to the USA but was caught and sent back for trial to Rome in 1996.

The Vatican supports its authority to rule in Rome on a document called Donation of Constantine also called Donatum Silvestri (Sylvester was the Pope at that time). This document was first relied on in 700 CE by Pope Stephen. Doubts were cast in the 15th century over the authenticity of the document. It was odd that Constantine gave authority over his capital New Rome (later known as Constantinople and now Istanbul) even before it was founded. By the 18th century it was generally accepted that the deed was a forgery. Voltaire called it the boldest and most magnificent forgery.

Conversion in China

In China the British, American and the French fought many battles with the Chinese. In 1724, the Chinese had prohibited conversion to Christianity. After winning the battles they dictated terms of treaties which invariably included a commitment to re-legalise Christianty in China. The French assumed responsibilities of the church. Till then the missionaries had their printing process etc. at nearby countries. They were swiftly planted in China by the London Missionary Society. Increasing number of missionaries were entering China and fanning out in the backward areas. In Beijing they removed the Chinese Gods from a temple and occupied it. This was an overnight surruptitous operation. Conversions mostly took place for economic benefits. The convert would give up local customs and traditions. This resulted in a reaction against Christianity. The tide of anger and resentment exploded as the Boxer rebellion of 1900. Thousands of foreigners well killed but ultimately the Chinese were defeated and humiliated. The retaliation by the western powers was extremely cruel and inhuman. Lacs of civilian Chinese were herded and exterminated.

India

India was a vast country with huge population so the British did not resort to conversion by sword as did the Muslims before them. But in the small enclave of the Portugese Goa things were quite different. Diago de Borda, a priest and his advisor Vicar General, Miguel Vazz prepared a 41-point plan for torturing the Hindus. The viceroy issued an order in 1566 to implement the plan. In 1567 a campaign was lodged and 300 temples were destroyed.

In the rest of India the Missionaries attempted to convert through English education. Macaulay’s minute expressly states that the purpose of English education is that there will not be a single idolator in the respectable classes of Bengal thirty years hence.

Government machinery including the judiciary was blatantly used for proselytisation. Choicest abuses and filthy language was used for Hindus and their Gods.

Americas

In the whole of North and South America crores of local inhabitants were mercilessly killed or converted. The ancient civilization of the Mayas, Incas and others were completely wiped out.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=417&page=38

News Analysis: UPA Complicity in Islamic Terror by Dr. Gautam Sen

THE UPA and regional Indian political parties, including the SP, BSP, Trinamul Congress, the CPM, RJD and the LJP cannot hope to succeed in elections without the Islamic bloc vote. This is a fact, not a communal sentiment though uttering it likely to be made illegal if the Communal Violence Bill is enacted. It is the UPA that is the big fish that competes with these regional political parties for the Islamic bloc vote and then collaborates with them opportunistically in Parliament after elections to keep Muslim voters in good humour.

None of these parties can afford to offend the Muslim bloc vote constituency on matters that will mobilise their votes against them. And all of them increasingly stoop to preposterous lengths to serenade this increasingly truculent and unreasonable bloc vote. Of such emaciated dental floss are the pathetic recommendations of Rajinder Sachar and his self-serving ilk.

On the vital issue of terrorism, none of these political groupings can afford to unleash the imperative intrusive search for Muslims engaged in acts of terror while remaining concealed within their communities. And with the possible active collusion of some within their own communities albeit the likely ignorance of most. Anybody with passing acquaintance of search operations for terrorists will know that seriously disconcerting a lot of innocent people would be unavoidable in order to apprehend the few terrorists hiding their midst. Parties utterly dependent on Muslim votes, who sanctioned such actions and they would need to be frequent, will be erased from India’s electoral map. Intrusive searches for terror suspects may prompt even more terrorist actions by new recruits to their ranks. It is this corporeal threat that could account for the insouciance of India’s nominally nationalist politicians when it comes to dealing with terrorists firmly. It would also explain the acquiescence of government agencies in allowing terrorists to roam free and plant bombs that kill innocent people. The instant resort to sketches of suspects and arbitrary arrest, followed by release, are all a part of the absurd theatrics designed to confound though it actually mocks the dead.

The worst aspect of rivalry for the Muslim bloc vote is that it prompts competitive upping of the ante for their favours. In fact, much of the supposed articulated demands of the ordinary Muslim are created because of competition between secular (sic!) parties for their favours. And the fashioning of newly-minted Muslim demands by secular political parties acquires salience over time, fuelling a sense of Muslim victimhood and vengefulness while they remain unredeemed. This is how the Babri demolition, the alleged crimes of Gujarat CM, Narendra Modi and the implied venality of Hindu Gujarat acquired singular prominence. And they have become powerful motivation for the radicalisation of Muslim youth and their willingness to engage in acts of terror.

The attempted coup de grace of Indian secular politics is the shrill chorus alleging Saffron terror, emanating from India’s first family and its shameless minions. In reality, it has been instigated by US church organisations, seeking to take advantage of Hindu-Muslim tensions to curb Hindu resistance to their evangelical activities. And UPA leaders have given a fresh twisted lease of life to the infamous Emergency slogan that India is Indira and Indira is India, though without a vestige of plausibility, by insinuating that Sonia Gandhi’s person is sacral. But the Congress party and the national media cannot surrender India and its national interests by harrowing obeisance to their white Christian goddess.

Yet, in the final analysis, the competition for the Islamic bloc vote is actually not addressed to the ordinary Muslim voters, but the leadership able to mobilise them. This leadership can apparently deliver the bloc vote through a myriad of sectarian organisations active within the community and the ubiquitous injunctions of the mosque to the faithful. The faithful usually respond regardless of their immediate mundane secular aspirations because religious fealty to Islam remains primordial. And the leadership enjoys the fruits of their cynical labour even as the practical aspirations for their constituents for jobs, homes, health care, etc. are ignored although they may also be misused to provoke animus and, most of all, mobilise their votes; and with remarkable discipline.

The Muslim leadership itself is doing so much better than any comparable class in India in an echo of the privileges of the imperial Mughal nobility presiding in luxurious excess over the grimly impoverished masses of India. They are in determined collusion with India’s Islamised secular political parties that are becoming variants of the historic Muslim League, ever ready to mobilise, assert and precipitate militant action to enforce demands. They also enjoy the patronage of the Wahhabis, the fountainhead of mischief globally and the Pakistani establishment that guides the specifics of their miscreant activity in India.

The numerical preponderance of the Hindu voter is a pathetic fiction that lulls them into a false sense of security though it is a meaningless slogan. Despite every atrocity Hindu voters have not shunned political parties and leaders that shield terrorists and demand action against their very own security forces with outrageous accusations, of which the Batla House encounter and the ensuing shenanigans of the disgraceful, loyalist Digvijay Singh’s is one instance. Hindu voters did not revolt at the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, expelled en masse from their historic homeland, unlike the countless Muslims who sacrifice their lives in the cause of Palestine. Nor are they exercised by the ethnic cleansing occurring in the Indo-Bangladesh border regions of West Bengal and Assam at this very moment. The bombs that have killed so many in the past decade and ravaged Hindu religious sites have proven insufficient provocation too. But it is a moot question why no Hindu leadership has emerged, with solitary exceptions, to inspire Hindu and rally them to action. This is no longer the land of the inexpressibly brave Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Guru Gobind Singh, willing to embrace death for their faith. Hindus voters can now be bought with subsidised electricity and cheap laptop computers while the body parts of Hindus litter bombed cities with predictable regularity.

Source: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=417&page=8

Imam Mahdi aka Zakir Naik

by Ibrahim Lone

For those who are familiar with this name know already that I am talking about the greatest showman of our times. Let me brief a little about this mysterious showman those who are not familiar with him and his fields of specialization.

To begin with Zakir Naik is a Muslim apologist who is a proponent of the Wahabi sect of Islam. He happens to live in the Indian city of Mumbai (earlier called Bombay). The reason why I am not calling him an Indian Muslim is because he himself prefers his Muslim identity over Being Indian or anything else. This man is famous for his Pompous, unscholarly, illogical and gullible presentations. Zakir Naik has managed to fool millions of gullible Muslims. though his target audience are the south Asian Muslims, he has quite a fan following in Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Zakir Naik is the chief Honcho of an organization called Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). Besides luring the unsuspecting Kafirs into the Islamic cult and training Muslims into Da'wah techniques, IRF has diversified itself and is now undertaking various operations. (What would we do without Saudi Petro Dollars). IRF runs Islamic schools throughout India where Muslim children are caught young and are cast into the Wahabi Islamic mould.

Nothing special about this, there are various other Islamic organizations who are undertaking such endeavors you might remark. Well, here is the catch, apparently Zakir Naik , who probably believes that he is Imam Mahdi (the Islamic Messiah) has invented a new form of Salah (Obligatory Islamic prayers). However his narcissism does not end here as he forces all those associated with him to follow his newly devised prayer method. No exceptions are made.

Another interesting fact about this mysterious showman is that he loves to speak amidst large crowds. Every time he holds one of his flamboyant presentations the parents of children studying in his schools are told to be in attendance. Any parent missing out on even a single seminar has his children face the flank net day at school. I guess this pretty much explains for the large crowds that Naik is able to command in his Seminars.

Just about anybody with an average 10 who happens to see even a single video of Zakir Naik will know that the techniques that Zakir uses to fool those listening to him. His speeches are nothing but half-baked truths and complete lies well packaged. However what most people don't know about these seminars is that most of the questioners in the Q&A round are Zakir's own men. They have already been given a list of questions which they are supposed to ask and the great Scholar that Zakir Naik answers them. Outsiders usually are not allowed to asked questions and even if they are, their questions remain unanswered. people like these are told to come to the IRF office to get answers to their questions, which obviously is a bluff. The strategy is very simple, keep delaying till people would just get tired and fed up of waiting for the answer and would finally give up.

All said Zakir Naik is a sure intelligent fellow, as he has been able to start his own TV channel called Peace TV which in turn adds to his already overflowing revenues. I am sure that Zakir Naik must be laughing up his sleeves on his way to Allah's paradise

Source : http://www.islam-watch.org/Ibrahim.Lone/Imam-Mahdi-Zakir-Naik.htm

''Pro-Muslim' RSS irked radicals

The use of the term 'Pro-Muslim' for RSS may surprise a lot among us. Not just the section which feel that the Sangh is a nationalist organisation but also those who consider it an outright fascist group.

But perhaps that was the feeling among a fraction of right-wing radicals members when the former RSS chief made overtures towards the community--a shift from the Sangh's earlier position.

So was the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) really changing and aiming at improving its relations with Indian Muslims? We will discuss it later but first the latest reports about investigators suspecting Aseemananda's links with the Kanpur blast.

Indian Express report says that role of Aseemananda who is wanted in Ajmer Dargah and Malegaon blasts, is under scanner for the incident in Kanpur where two persons died, which was similar to Nanded where explosion occurred while assembling bombs.

A fringe group had established across North India, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and in parts of AP, Karnataka, that was willing to take on 'Islamic' terror. This Hindutva-inspired fringe group had targeted Muslim-dominated towns, mosques, graveyard, dargah, Muslim gatherings and several other places.

Apparently, these elements were unhappy. They felt that the RSS had diluted its core ideology, became softer and even pro-Muslim.

They must have felt that the RSS' political front, the BJP, was also going the Congress way by appeasing the Muslims.

2. It is true that at least publicly RSS hasn't taken a strong anti-Muslim stand for long. In fact, till the 70s and early 80s, Hindu Mahasabha used to be much more aggressive.



The RSS had been mulling over ways to get Muslims in its fold. It approached minorities, went to Muslim households in certain cities to explain its ideology. It gave handouts to Muslims. Even supported formation of an RSS wing for Muslims, which began functioning a few years back.

3. RSS Sarsanghchalak KS Sudarshan repeatedly urged for the need to get Muslims closer to the Parivar. Sudarshan did the unthinkable, taking up the cause of Waqf properties in India, and expressing concern over poor salaries of Imams and Muezzins. No doubt it was a positive statement.

As more and more Muslims were getting into BJP across the country, the party members were also getting more acquained with Muslims at the grassroots. However, all this was not going down well with the hardened members.

The Nanded blast and similar incidents in Marathwada had roused the suspicion that there was a loose group that was at work. But Maharashtra ATS didn't act initially. It was later when Hemant Karkare took charge of the squad, that he investigated the cases and began unravelling the entire chain.

4. The list of terror attacks including Ajmer Dargah, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, blast in Jama Masjid Delhi, Malegaon, Modasa (Gujarat), Nanded, Parbhani, Jalna, Panvel, Vashi, targeting Bhopal Ijtima, Samjhauta Express, Goa and Kanpur among many others.

The groups ranging from Abhinav Bharat to Sanatan Sanstha were all consisted of fanatics who felt RSS had diluted its ideology. Dayanand Pandey [of Kanpur], Sunil Joshi [killed in Dewas], Samir Kulkarni {Maharashtra], Pragya Thakur [Gujarat] and Rakesh Dhawade [Maharashtra] are just a few of the names.

Aseemanand had earlier oranised a 'Virat Hindu Sammelan' in Jhabua. He played a vital role in anti-Christian violence in the Dangs district in Gujarat. While the police and intelligence agencies kept an eye on SIMI and other Muslim fundamentalist organisation, they initially remained indifferent to similar trends among Hindus.

5. One hopes that henceforth all fundamentalist groups would be dealt with a heavy hand. Hate-preachers of different religions should be booked under the law for promoting enmity among sections and all cases of terrorist attacks should be handed over to the NIA, so that there is credible investigation and a crackdown on all such groups.

Lately there has been a decline in terror activities, as SIMI, Indian Mujahideen, Abhinav Bharat and Sanatan Sanstha are all under cops' scanner. The bottomline is that if investigative agencies act strongly against fundamentalists of either community and take on radicals without any bias, it would send a positive message.

Source : http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2010/06/pro-muslim-rss-irked-radicals.html

Mahatma Gandhi and Makers of Constitution on Conversion

by Ram Gopal

In India, Christian missionaries of many shades had been at work for centuries, but they made major strides during the British Raj. However during the last ten -years of Independent India, their number, their financial resources (mostly from’ abroad), their propaganda material, their strategies, and their tirade against Hindu relation and Hindu deities have multiplied in a phenomenal Way, with political overtones.

Hindu reaction, on the other hand, had been nil upto the mid-nineteenth century. Some alarming bells started ringing through the Arya Samaj and the freedom fighters at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1921, in reply to a question, “What is the contribution of Christianity to the national life of India?”, from an evangelist of international fame, Dr John Mott, even Gandhiji had to say, “Christianity in India is inextricably mixed up for the last hundred fifty years With the British rule. It appears to us as synonymous with materialistic civilisation and imperialistic exploitation by the stronger White races of the weaker races of the world. Its contribution to India has been therefore largely of a negative character.” An extract from further conversation between Gandhiji and Dr, Mott is given below:

Dr Mott: “What has interested me most, is your work in connection with the removal of untouchability... What is the most hopeful sign indicating that this institution is, as you say, on its last legs?”

Gandhiji: “It is the reaction that is taking place in orthodox Hinduism and the swiftness with which it has come about. As a most illustrious example, I will mention Pandit Malaviya.... Today he takes pride in administering the mantra of purification to the untouchables by the bank of the Ganges, sometimes even incurring the wrath of unreasoning orthodoxy…”

Dr Mott: “But My impression was that Christians would be a great-help to you in this connection. Rev. Whitehead... made some very striking statements abut the effect of Christian mass movement in ameliorating the condition of the untouchables…”

Gandhiji: “I distrust mass movement of this nature. They have as their object not the upliftment of the untouchables but their ultimate conversion. Th is motive of mass proselytization lurking at the background vitiates missionary effort.”

Dr Mott: “There are some who seriously believe that the untouchables would be better off if ‘they turned Christians from conviction, and that it would transform their lives for the better.”

Gandhiji: “I am sorry I have been unable to discover any tangible evidence to confirm this view. I was once taken to a Christian village. Instead of meeting among the converts with that frankness which one associates with a spiritual transformation, I found an air of, evasiveness about them. They were afraid to talk. This struck me as a change not for the better but for the worse.”

Dr Mott : “Do you then disbelieve in all conversion?”

Gandhiji : “I disbelieve in the conversion of one person by another. My effort should never be to undermine another’s faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith. This implies belief in the truth of all religions and respect for them.....”

Dr Mott: “Is it not our duty to help fellow beings to the maximum of truth that we may possess, to share with them our deepest spiritual experiences?”

Gandhiji : “I must again differ from you, for the simple reason that the deepest spiritual truths are always unutterable... It radiates its influence silently as the rose its fragrance without the intervention of a medium.”

Dr Mott : “But even God sometimes speaks through His chosen prophets.”

Gandhiji : “Yes, but the prophets speak not through the tongue but through their lives. A have, however, known that in this matter I am up against a solid wall of Christian opinion.”

Dr Mott : “Oh, no. Even among Christians there is a school of thought-and it is growing which holds that the authoritarian method should not be employed, but that each individual should be left to discover the deepest truths for himself…. In other words they feel that propaganda in the accepted sense of the term is not the most effective method.”

Gandhiji: “I am glad to hear you say this. That is what Hinduism certainly inculcates.” (Mahatma, Vol. II, pp. 449-51, by D.G. Tendulkar)

Again in 1938, when some American and Indian Christian teachers went to Gandhiji and asked him about the role which the Christian missions could play in an independent India, Gandhiji expressed the same views that he had 17 years ago before Dr Mott. He added, “My personal view, therefore, is that if you feel that Indians have a message to give to the world, that India’s religions are true, although like all religions imperfect, for having percolated through imperfect human agency, and you come as fellow helpers and fellow seekers, there is a place for you here. But if you come as preachers of the ‘true Gospel’ to a people who are wandering in darkness, so far as I am concerned, you can have no place. You may impose yourself upon us.” (Mahatma by D.G. Tendulkar, Vol. V. pp 4-5, Publications Division, Government of India).

It would be observed that what the RSS, the VHP, or the BJP, says today about the Christian missionaries is, in no way, different from what Gandhiji himself said long before. Following the Gandhian thought on Hindu religion, untouchability, and Christian missionaries, the RSS, through its. Seva Bharati and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram is engaged in removing caste discrimination from the vast Hindu society, helping the poor SCs, STs to stand on their feet and also to withstand the religious onslaught of the Christian missionaries. They are reconverting only those who had a generation or two back adopted Christianity or Islam due to ignorance or other compelling reasons

In the Constituent Assembly, in 1947, there was a prolonged, and animated debate on the provision relating to religious freedom and conversion. The VHP, the BJP or its earlier version Jana Sangh did not then exist. Almost all Congress members were against the inclusion of the word “propagation” as part of religious freedom. Only the Christian and Anglo-Indian representatives, especially Frank Anthony, wanted it. The Advisory Committee headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Congress) had suggested in April 1947 the following two clauses:

1) All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience, and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion subject to public order, morality or health, and to other provisions of this Chapter (Fundamental Rights).

2) Conversion from one religion to another brought about by coercion or undue influence shall not be recognised by law.

During discussions held in the Constituent Assembly on May 1, 1947, the first clause was passed without much debate, but the second clause relating to conversion faced stiff opposition. Shri K.M. Munshi suggested that minors under 18 years of age should also be included in the prohibited category. Frank Anthony agreed that conversions by coercion; fraud, or undue influence should not be recognised by law, but opposed to ban conversion of minors. Shri P. R. Thakur, a representative of the depressed classes, said :

“You know well, Sir, that the victims of these religious conversions are ordinarily from the depressed classes. The preachers of other religions approach these classes of people, take advantage of their ignorance, extend all sorts of temptations and ultimately convert them...”

Shri Purushottam Das Tandon said

“...Most Congressmen are opposed to the idea of ‘propagation’. But we agreed to keep the word ‘propagate’ out of regard for our Christian friends... But, now to ask us to agree to minors also being converted is, I think, Sir, going too far.”

Shri Algu Rai Shastri said:

“Wherever the Europeans or the White races have gone, they have as Missionaries. A study of Prosperous India by Digby shows that ‘Cross was followed by sword’... The missionary was followed by the batons, the swords and the guns. It was in this way that they employed coercion for spreading their religion and for extending their empire... The elders of the family are induced through prospects of financial gain to change their religion and with them the children are taken over to the fold of the new religion... Dewton writes that the Christian population of Assam has increased 300 times and attributes this increase to certain evils in Hindu society. The bitterness of the present is due to such activities... You tempt the innocent little ones whom you take in your lap, by a suit of clothes, a piece of bread and a little toy and thus you ruin their lives...”

Quoting the Swiss, Irish and Soviet constitutions, Shri Jagat Narain Lal said that no modern constitution in the world conceded right to propagate. He added, “This House has gone the farthest limit possible with regard to the minorities, knowing well the fact that there are a few minorities in this country whose right to carry on propaganda extends to the point of creating difficulties. Honourable Tondonji has rightly interpreted the mind of most of us... I want to appeal... not to press for too much... That would be taking undue advantage of the generosity of the majority.”

Dr B.R. Ambedkar opposed K.M. Munshi’s amendment on the ground that the question of minors would pose legal problem. He advised that the States could better make legislation with regard to conversions. On Sardar Patel’s suggestion, the House agreed to refer back the conversion clause to the Advisory Committee once again. Now, the Committee recommended its deletion altogether. When the matter again came up before the Constituent Assembly on August 30, 1947, Shri Ananthasayanam Ayyangar and Shri R.V. Dhulekar forcefully pointed out the dangers inherent in the policy of conversion. A Muslim member, Shri Hussain Imam, said: “Forcible conversion is the highest degree of undesirable thing. But, it is not proper, as the Sardar himself has admitted, to provide it in the justiciable fundamental rights.” Thus, on technical grounds, the Constituent Assembly kept the clause on conversion out from the Chapter of Fundamental Rights in the fond hope that necessary legislation in this regard would be framed by the State Legislatures and Parliament.

The conversion controversy arose once again in the Constituent Assembly on December 3 and 6, 1948, during the discussion on Article 19 (now Article 25) when Shri Tajamul Hussain said :

“Religion should be a private affair. Why should I ask you to attain salvation according to my way, or why should you ask me to attain salvation according to your way? If you accept this proposition, then why propagate religion? .... If you start propagating religion in this country, you will become nuisance to others. So far it has become a nuisance.”

Shri Lokanath Mishra (Congress) said : “To my mind if Article 13 of the Draft Constitution (Fundamental Rights) is a charter for liberty. Article 19 (right to propagate religious) is a character for Hindu enslavement. I do really feel that this is a disgraceful Article, the blackest part of the Draft Constitution. I beg to submit that I have studied -all the constitutional precedents and have not found anywhere any mention of the word ‘propagate’ as a Fundamental Right relating to religion.... tabooing religion and yet making propagation of religion a fundamental right is somewhat uncanny and dangerous... It can only mean paving the way for the complete annihilation of Hindu culture, the Hindu way of life... If people should propagate their religion, let them do so. Only I crave, let not the Constitution put it as a fundamental right and encourage it. Fundamental Rights are inalienable and once they are admitted, it will create bad blood. Drop the word ‘propagate’ in Article 19 (25 in the final version) at least. Civilisation is going headlong to the melting pot. Let us beware and try to survive.”

Few members, like Pandit Lakshmi Kant Maitra, Shri Krishnaswami Bharati, Shri K. Santhanam and Shri K.M. Munshi prevailed on the House not to be pessimistic, stressed on the need for a compromise with a small minority like the Christians, and, referring to the conditions, namely, public order, morality and health, attached to tile right to religious freedom and other coercive state powers to intervene, assured that them was no chance of the word “propagate” acquiring “that kind of cataclysm which we have seen (in the recent past).”

Thus, while the Christians got the right to “propagate”, there was no corresponding Article to stop conversions brought about by coercion or undue influence because the Constituent Assembly felt that the State Legislatures or Parliament (or both) could make detailed laws to meet the situation.

Islamic bank is like a boiled ice cream; it cannot exist in real life

By Subramanian Swamy

Islamic scholars argue that payment of interest is a bane on the society. What are the alternatives especially example, for old-aged people who live on the interest from deposits of their lifelong savings, if interest is prohibited? How will banks survive without charging interest on loans extended?

An Islamic banks cannot charge interest, but then what does it do to survive? By giving by one hand, and taking away twice as much or more by the other hand! Let us take an example: If you want to purchase a house worth Rs 10 lakh an Islamic bank will not give you a loan of Rs 10 lakh at a rate of interest and fixed maturity as non-Islamic banks would. Instead the Islamic banks will purchase the house and sell it to you at a higher price! This means they will make a profit and such profit is called halal, as per Sharia! They will ask you to pay this back in say 15 years or so. Of course, interest-free. This is back-door collection of interest.

Thus, an Islamic bank is like a boiled ice cream; it cannot exist in real life without tricking our confidence.

An Islamic bank, or even NBFC, that operates in India, would violate at least the following laws, rules and regulations:

1. Partnership Act (1932), which stipulates a maximum of 20 partners, since KSIDC says it will be an open partnership between it and private investors without limit.

2. Wagering (not permitted under Sharia) as per Section 30 of Indian Contract Act (1872).

3. Sections 5(b) & (c), 9 and 21 of Banking Regulation Act (1949) on prohibition of profit-sharing, buying and selling property, and for not charging interest.

4. RBI Act (1934)

5. Negotiable Instruments Act (1881)

6. Co-operative Societies Act (1961)

Islamic banks will not be permitted by Sharia to give loans for liquor manufacture, cinema, hotel, entertainment industry, etc. These however are under current laws of India legitimate and legal activities. When the government is a partner in the NBFC (as proposed in Kerala), how can an NBFC, which is partnered by KSIDC, deny loans for such legitimate activities, without violating Article 14 of the Constitution, a fundamental right of equality before the law?

It is clear that Islamic bank or NBFC cannot be started in India without violating numerous laws and regulations. Can Kerala legislature amend the laws to make it Islam-compliant? Not possible because under Article of the Constitution 246 only the central government is empowered to change banking and financial statutes. Moreover, Article 27 explicitly bars using tax money with government for furthering any religion.

The G.O issued by the Kerala government explicitly states that the Islamic bank and NBFC would be Sharia-complaint.

Why then is the CPM-led Kerala government so keen? Because the government of Kerala, through KSIDC, is out to placate Muslim voters by promising Islamic bank, voters that the Nandigram incident in West Bengal drove away from CPM. This shows how bogus is CPM’s commitment to what they call secularism.

And why does the Congress not protest? Because they do not want to annoy rich Dubai-based industrialists and hawala operators. Moreover, since the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary TKA Nair is the Chairman of the KSIDC, and Dr Manmohan Singh believes that Muslims must get first charge on our resources, they are keeping silence, much as Bhisma and Drona kept quiet when Draupadi was disrobed. Hence, now patriots in Kerala must rise and protest to save Kerala from fast-creeping Islamisation. And rest of India must help.

(The writer is former Union Law & Justice Minister.)

Silent invasion of India

http://www.dailypioneer.com/362363/Silent-invasion-of-India.html

By Joginder Singh

Illegal immigration from Pakistan and Bangladesh poses a serious threat to our internal security. Thanks to vote-bank politics, our politicians are indifferent.

Our international border is around 15,318 km long, of which our boundary with Bangladesh is 4,000 km long, running along West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. It is the Government of India’s responsibility to guard the country’s international border and prevent foreigners from entering our territory illegally as well as control the entry of those travelling with valid documents. This is a responsibility that the Government has clearly failed to fulfil as was evident from a statement by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs: “As per information available, 1,283 Pakistani nationals (who presumably entered India legally) remain untraced/missing as of June 30, 2011.”

A month earlier, while replying to a query under the RTI Act in July, the Government had said: “It is not possible to estimate the total number of such foreign nationals, including Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals, who have entered into the country without valid travel documents and are staying in the country since entry of such foreign nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious.” The response also added that over 73,000 people from various countries have stayed on even after their visas expired; nearly 50 per cent of these people were from Bangladesh and about 10 per cent were from Pakistan, according to data available as of December 31, 2009. In 1996, the then Union Minister for Home Affairs, Indrajit Gupta, had informed Parliament that over 25 million Bangladeshis were illegally living in India.

The fact remains that despite the threat of cross-border terrorism faced by the country from illegal immigrants, the Ministry of Affairs does not maintain a centralised source of information on people crossing the border to enter India from Pakistan and Bangladesh without valid documents. Except where it suits its own concerns, the Union Government refuses to act even in the face of judicial pronouncement. The Supreme Court held in 2005 that provisions of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983 were ultra vires to the Constitution and were accordingly struck down. The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Rules, 1984, were also determined to be ultra vires and hence were struck down.

The issue of illegal immigration has and continues to figure in high-level meetings related to internal security. It has figured prominently at the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security and Law and Order held in New Delhi . At this conference serious differences emerged among the north-eastern States on the issue of illegal immigration — some States openly accused Assam of contributing to the mounting problem of illegal immigration in the region.

The then Chief Minister of Nagaland virtually charged Assam with not taking any steps to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh. He said, “Assam has almost become a breeding ground for illegal immigrants as they are procuring documents like ration cards in that State and then coming to the hills. This is very dangerous.” He also claimed that such immigrants were being settled in areas that were under dispute between Assam and several other States. He even urged Assam to settle its decades-long boundary disputes with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur in an accommodative spirit as it was the largest State in the region.

According to a former Governor of Assam, “57 of Assam’s 126 constituencies were found to have more than a 20 per cent increase in the number of voters between 1994 and 1997, whereas the all-India average was just 7.4 per cent.” This dramatic increase indicated the addition of a large number of voters who were really illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. He added that a revision of electoral rolls in Mongoldoi parliamentary constituency in Assam in 1979 detected the names of thousands of Bangladeshi nationals and the entire population of Assam revolted against this development.

The former Governor also felt that without knowing the long-term effects of the issue, Indian Muslims by and large were sympathetic to Bangladeshi immigrants. Thus, the illegal immigrants now have a much larger say in the political affairs of the country. For instance, when the Government of Maharashtra tried to deport a few hundred illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, several parties started a chorus of protests that were politically motivated.

There is a direct relationship between the voting patterns of illegal immigrants and the freebies given by political parties to win their votes in elections. This unholy nexus creates roadblocks at different levels, especially when it comes to checking the continued problem of illegal immigration which also gives rise to the possibility that such elements could possibly become sleeper cells of terrorist organisations and help them launch terror attacks within India.

The truth is that even though all politicians realise the enormity of this problem, their craving for electoral gains and desperation to secure the votes of illegal immigrants make them ignore the imminent dangers of the problem. Politics in our country has become hostage to political expediency which is often disguised as ‘principles’. These ‘principles’ are frequently tailored to suit the occasion.

The trouble is that politicians world over are essentially the same. Most will say anything to get themselves elected to office. Later, they hope that they can escape scrutiny on account of the fact that the people have a short memory and tend to forget pre-election promises. Thus, all of us who participate in the electoral process (as well as those who don’t come out to vote on polling day) are responsible for the rise of bad politicians to power. The time has come to tell people who don’t vote that they can’t complain about the quality of politicians who are elected to office.

A senior politician who has served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha once pleaded for identity cards to be given to all people in the North-East, including illegal immigrants from Bangladesh living in Assam. A former Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal holds that at least five million Bangladeshis who entered India illegally have settled in Assam. They constitute a fourth of the State’s population of 22 million people. According to estimates prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Intelligence Bureau, Assam’s alien population from Bangladesh stands at about four million.

These statistical details not only indicate the magnitude of the problem of illegal immigration but also reflect the enormity of the security threat that the country is facing on account of this. This is apart from the fact that illegal immigration deprives Indian citizens of employment opportunities. All countries, including Western nations, especially the US, ensure and protect their citizens’ job opportunities and, unlike our Government, are not apologetic about doing so .

Machiavelli, Hobbes and others have defined man as a lump of matter whose most politically relevant attribute is a form of energy called “self-interestedness.” In this context, it means that the issue is simply not one of changing religious demographics or illegal immigration; it is not about being remorseful or repentant for taking a stand wherein we do not protect our own self-interests. As the former Australian Prime Minister, Mr Gough Whitlam, once said: “The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the winning post, whereas the horse named Self-Interest always runs a good race.” The Government should know one horse from another

Mahatma Gandhi's Assassination

by Rajinder Puri



Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948. Godse was accompanied by Narayan Apte. Both were hanged. The two traveled from Bombay to Delhi via Gwalior to perform the murder. Some of the named conspirators in the murder were already under police surveillance because they owned small arms. The authorities therefore must have been aware of the impending danger.

Despite India's independence the administration remained under British control, run by officers in key posts appointed by the British, with Lord Mountbatten as Governor-General and General Boucher as the Army Commander in Chief. Total British control becomes evident from the Mountbatten Papers in which Home Minister Sardar Patel is quoted repeatedly complaining to Lord Mountbatten that the police and army were abetting the communal riots. Clearly the Sardar was powerless.

After the assassination a leading freedom fighter alleged that the Home Ministry was criminally negligent by allowing the murder to occur. The leader blamed the government and Sardar Patel for allowing the murder to happen. That leader was Jaya Prakash Narayan.

On June 3 1947 the Congress Working Committee passed the resolution accepting the Partition of India. There was communal tension but no communal riots to speak of in Punjab. Gandhi observed 'maun vrat' (day of silence) on that occasion. He was reportedly isolated by Nehru and Patel and was unhappy. Mountbatten visited him and said he hoped that Gandhi would not oppose the Partition under the Mountbatten Plan. Mountbatten also noted that he was surprised that Gandhi should have observed his day of silence on such a crucial occasion. Gandhi wrote on a scrap of paper his reply: 'Have I ever opposed you?' Mountbatten preserved that paper as historical evidence and it is still there in the Mountbatten papers.

But as India became independent on August 15, 1947 Gandhi became increasingly unhappy. He was sidelined by Nehru and Patel who moved about in ministerial flagged cars. Gandhi was a marginalized figure. The riots that escalated after Independence brought about the biggest transfer of populations in recorded history. Inder Gujral's father and Bhimsen Sachar, who opted to stay on in Pakistan, along with millions of Hindus, were forced to flee to India. An estimated million people were slaughtered in the engineered riots while the police and army stood aside. Over ten million were rendered homeless as they fled their homes to uncharted territory to become refugees.

Gandhi became restive and realized his blunder in compromising. He started plans to undo his mistake. The intelligence that kept watch on all activities in Birla House, where Gandhi stayed, was aware of his unhappiness. That is why Mountbatten met Gandhi and advised him not to oppose the Partition. By doing so he would harm the future of Nehru and Patel who were his creations and disciples. But Gandhi persevered with his plans. He gathered 50 Punjabi refugee families, most of them housed in Delhi's Purana Quila camp, and finalized plans to travel to Lahore and settle down there to create peace and harmony between India and Pakistan. Gandhi had already written to Jinnah about his desire to settle down in Pakistan. Jinnah said Gandhi was most welcome and invited him to come to Karachi. But Gandhi decided to travel by road to Lahore and settle down there. Plans were finalized for Gandhi and the fifty families to start their journey to Lahore on February 14, 1948. Exactly one fortnight earlier Godse assassinated Gandhi.

Did Gandhi suspect he would be killed? On the day he was killed he finalized his last will and testament by which he recommended that the Congress Party should be dissolved and converted into a social organization named the Lok Sevak Sangh. Had Gandhi carried out his plan he would have been a nuisance for Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel because he would have worked for Indo-Pakistan reconciliation. He had already been totally marginalized in the Congress thanks to his erstwhile loyalists, Nehru and Patel. But the same Gandhi after death became the global brand image for the Congress Party. Surprisingly there is little or no mention by historians of Gandhi's plans to settle down in Lahore. Why? Because his assassination aborted the plan?

For some strange reason Godse's trial was held in camera. Godse's defence was not allowed to be publicized by the Indian government. It was whisked away to Britain. One British weekly published it. Years later it was available to those who searched for it. It is now available on the Internet. The demands for truth about Netaji Subhash Bose are still resonating. Should not the truth about Gandhi's assassination also be reappraised? Godse's legal defence, which counters several allegations of the prosecution regarding the assassination, could provide a starting point.

Source : http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=4393

THE MAN WHO KILLED GANDHI

by M P Ajithkumar

Reality always differs from ignorant popular beliefs brought in by propaganda. This is what happened in the general belief regarding the Mahatma Gandhi murder case. Brought down to the level of an election propaganda subject, the issue of Gandhi murder case has been exploited by the very party, which though garlanded the photo of Gandhi, had treated him (to quote Gandhi himself) like a ‘sweeper’. Ceased to be even a four ana member of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi turned out to the leading Congress workers something moth-like to be brushed aside with indifference. And had he lived for more years than he did he would have been spurned with vengeance by his own party workers to whom the Gandhian ideals would have proved real hindrance in their unscrupulous way to eke out a recklessly luxurious life. By the time India got independence Congress had changed so much, had been irreparably damaged to the state of being not only non-Gandhian but anti-Gandhian too. The prestigious patriotic outfit of India, which enjoyed the leadership of the leonine figures like Lajpatroy, Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, C R Das, Sri Aurobindo, and Gandhi later, became the asylum of unscrupulous politicians with no regard for the people or democratic values. Naturally in a party wherein bandicoots abounded Gandhi became an odd man deservedly to be out. The Congress had thus completed the ideological murder of the Mahatma prior to his being physically assassinated by Godse. And even the physical assassination, the Congress workers and leaders have been exploiting at the hustings as a political bullet against their enemies. Those who have defiled his ideals are capitalizing on his death for defiling the nation he made independent of foreign domination. But still they pretend to be the followers of Gandhi and the champions of Gandhian values! The devil is audaciously quoting the Bible!

False propaganda had always an ample bearing upon the political psyche of the people with the result that political parties tried to tarnish the image of their opponents by blackmailing them with allegations, which may bring national chorus of disapproval upon the latter. No example would be more fitting for this than the allegation the Indian National Congress leveled against its most implacable foe, the Bharathiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the present BJP, which was backed by the RSS, that an RSS man had murdered Mahatma Gandhi. The BJS spearheaded in Indian politics and Parliament by Dr. Syama Prasad Mookherji was a terror to the leaders with their heads sparse of both hair and ideas. His personal integrity, pugnacious patriotism and the undaunted sincerity in regard to each and every issue that adversely affected the national cause were qualities the Nehruvians hated. And it became a political imperative that the rightist wing of Indian politics was to be cowed down, and they designed many weapons to this end. One of them, indeed the most powerful, was the story of RSS and Gandhi murder. Otherwise what was the need of the Congress workers’ stereotyping the allegation even as all the evidences regarding the Mahathma’s murder ran in contrast to the cooked up story of the RSS involvement?

Or was it indeed an RSS man that killed Gandhiji? Evidences rule it out. Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the then Home Minister of India wrote to Jawaharlal Nehru on 27 February 1948 that amidst many findings regarding the Mahathma’s murder “It also clearly emerges from the statements that the RSS was not involved in it at all” (Sardar Patel’s Correspondences, Vol. VI, 1945-50, edited by Durga Das). It is interesting to note that Sri. C K Daphtary, the then Advocate General, Bombay who was in charge of the prosecution did not involve RSS in the controversy. The prosecution did not even hint, much less prove even the remotest connection of RSS with the murder of the Mahathma. RSS is not blamed anywhere in the judgement delivered in the case.

Not even a single inquiry the Government of India later made into the Mahatma murder case involved the RSS in it. In 1966 the government set up a commission under Sri. J L Kapur, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, to make a fresh and thorough inquiry into the conspiracy that led to the murder of Gandhiji. The Commission, which sat at different places and examined about 101 witnesses and 407 documents, published its reports in 1969. It nowhere blamed RSS as the Gandhi assassin, and cleared the organisation of any connection with the crime. One of the important witnesses, Sri R N Banerjee, ICS (witness 19) who was the Home Secretary of the Central Government at the time of Gandhi murder had given the evidence that “It has not been proved that they (the accused) were members of the RSS” (Kapur Commission Report, Part I, p. 165). The witness further says that even if the RSS had been banned earlier, it would not have affected the conspirators or the course of events, “because they have not been proved to have been members of the RSS nor has that organization been shown to have a hand in the murder” (Kapur Commission Report, Part I, p. 186). R N Banerjee further stated, “ Although RSS was banned it should be taken to be an acceptance by the Government of the allegation that the murder of Mahatma Gandhi was by the members of RSS as such” (Kapur Commission Report, Part II, p. 62). The Commission further comments: “In Delhi also there is no evidence that the RSS as such was indulging in violent activities as against Mahatma Gandhi or the top leaders of the Congress” (Kapur Commission Report, Part II, p. 66). The facts are thus by all means self evident and more eloquent than all the propaganda by the interested parties.

RSS was thus not the organization that assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. Then who killed him physically and later ideologically? It was as Vallabhai Patel’s letter stated a “wing of the Hindu Maha Sabha that hatched plot and saw it through”(Sardar Patel’s Correspondence, Vol, 6, 1945-50, edited by Durga Das). But it is also important that one may take into account many unknown aspects of this most serious case, which shuddered the conscience of our nation as well as the entire world. First, Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the first accused in the case was never guilty conscious of what he did and which he firmly believed was for the sake of his nation. He justified his action in his one hundred and fifty points statement presented to the jury wherein he accused Gandhiji as having “proved to be the Father of Pakistan” instead of the “Father of the nation – an epithet of high reverence”. Gandhiji, Godse accused, through the successive policies like the support given to the extra territorial and purely communal issue of Khilaphat, the moral support to Suhrawardy, the final silence over the plan of partition, the post-partition days’ fasting to mobilize money to Pakistan and many such pro-Muslim policies was pampering the venom of Muslim communalism. The Father of the nation forgot his “paternal duty”, he said in his statements. And to the very time of his being hung to death he stuck to his own convictions. We may also look into the statements of Justice G D Khosla who was involved in the Gandhi murder case trial. Concluding his book

The Murder of the Mahatma, Khosla wrote, “I have … no doubt that had the audience of that day been constituted into a jury and entrusted with the task of deciding Godse’s appeal, they would have brought in a verdict of ‘not guilty’ by an overwhelming majority” (G. D. Khosla, Murder of the Mahatma, Jaico, Bombay, 1977, p. 306). But to quote Godse, his life also came to an end simultaneously with the shots fired by him at Gandhiji. And the reasons for the trial done in secrecy and the authorities’ reluctance to reveal before the public Godse’s replays to the charges leveled against him still remain something enigmatic. And, he walked away to the world of the dead, carrying with him in his hands the Bhagavad Gita, the map of undivided Hindustan and a Saffron flag.

No doubt it was Godse who physically assassinated Gandhiji. But he did not continue to kill Gandhiji and his lofty ideals, like the political bandicoots falsely claiming to be the descendents of Gandhian tradition.

It is an irony of history that the Mahatma who led India’s pilgrimage to freedom ceased to be even an ordinary member of the Indian National Congress in the evening of his life. It may not be surprising to hear that it was Gandhi’s suggestion to give the Prime Ministerial chair to Jinnah as the last ditch attempt to avoid the partition, a suggestion that dashed itself on the rock of Nehru’s power hunger. Such an act, Gandhiji knew, would make Jinnah’s contention that in a Hindu ruled India Muslims would be a suffering lot untenable. But by that time Gandhiji had become an archaic object to be defied and defiled at will to the new leader who claimed himself as the great disciple of Gandhiji. However, it would surely be most surprising to know that the very Father of the nation was the only individual who never saluted India’s National Flag! It was perhaps one of his last desires that his most trusted disciple threw to winds. India’s old man with no desires however had the desire to see the national emblem representing the working class of India. A hard worker, Gandhiji identified himself with the working community of the nation whose toil and sweated labour formed the national life and vitality. He had given the masses a symbol of their work, which they were advised to work on while chanting the spell of freedom from the alien rule. The spinning wheel thus became a household instrument in each Indian family whose members were pugnacious freedom fighters. The humming sound of the spinning wheel imparted music to the patriotic slogans. It was this wheel that speeded up India towards freedom. Naturally Gandhiji’s desire to see the National Flag of India designed with spinning wheel was born out of his strong conviction that India and her new emblem should symbolize the toiling masses that formed the main stay of the nation he made free. But to Nehru it appeared a cranky old man’s mad dream. India’s National Flag was to him not an object upon which Gandhi’s ‘toy’ was to be placed! Thus the Asokan wheel, the wheel of law that rolled in with the imperial orders of an ancient monarch became the new national symbol instead of the Gandhian wheel, which was not the symbol of imperial force, but of the soul-force. But nothing could be done to correct an incorrigible dilettante whose readings about the heartbeats of an ancient culture Gandhiji had represented fell wide off the mark. No wonder, when requested to pay his obeisance to the National Flag the Mahatma had his clear reservations. He would not salute it ‘however artistic’ it might be. But whether Gandhiji saluted it was not the concern of the new generation of the Leaders of the Congress who swept him to the dustbin of history and trod a totally anti-Gandhian track to feather their nest. In their squalid fight for power and their lust to cut a figure for them in the modern world Gandhiji turned out to be an archaic object of little relevance. And he remained as irrelevant as dead till he breathed the last though in later time he continued to be politically capitalized by the very people who assassinated his ideology. The issue of Gandhi murder lubricated the Congress’ wheel in its march against the opposing political parties at the hustings. It gave political mileage to the Congress, an organization, which Gandhiji wanted to see dispersed after achieving independence. But that the means which Gandhiji used to reach the end, the national independence, became an end in itself turning out to be the means to mock even his memory with the new ‘Gandhis’ with no Gandhism stealing the Congress show, remains an irony.

(The author of this article is a Lecturer in History, Sanathana Dharma College, Alappuzha)

Source : http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=2162&SKIN=l

Padmanabha Temple treasure and British loot

Senthil

We are rediscovering the wealth of India. And the immense beauty in which it was gathered and preserved and protected for the common good in times of trouble is truly uplifting to our tired spirits. Suddenly this seems an exciting country to live in …

But, as the Supreme Court-ordered public accounting of hitherto unknown treasures in secret chambers in Kerala’s famed Padmanabha Temple gets underway, the Sanatana Dharma, the world’s oldest and greatest living civilisation, offers unprecedented insight into the integrity, consistency, and continuity with which its ancient rulers upheld its civilisation mores and values, and harvested and preserved wealth in trust for future generations. This should serve as a lesson in humility to the Western world, where bankers in connivance with unscrupulous politicians are busy robbing the common man so that the rich can continue their profligate ways, destroying all values of civilisation the world over.

This should serve as an antidote to the arrogance of the Marxist and anti-Hindu parvenus that Nehruvian Stalinism imposed upon the nation as ‘intellectuals’ as part of its determined quest to deconstruct Hindu Dharma as the nation’s foundational ethos and engineer a rootless, culture-less entity that could satisfy the arid intellect of the country’s first prime minister. We may call this the quest for what a former Polish communist writer designates as Homo sovieticus, a soulless denudation of all the values of a nation and nullification of all its glories and triumphs.

The Hindu king was a critical pillar of Hindu Dharma, its mainstay and defender. Is it any wonder that independent [Nehruvian] India’s intellectuals – funded and feted by the State to the exclusion of all other thinkers – never found merit in any of our erstwhile rulers, even when the kingdoms that they managed to hold on to during the British Raj where in so many respects superior in administration to the Crown-ruled provinces, and the subjects happier?

As we see in the case of the Padmanabha Temple, even though the Travancore royal family had lost political power, the ruler remained the official king of the Padmanabha Temple, which is deeply revered by the people of the region. And when the king and his successor kings feared that the loss of political power could translate into the loss of economic control over the immense wealth of the kingdom to the British who had come only to plunder and loot the nation, they swiftly and wisely transferred huge parts of the royal treasury into secret chambers in the Padmanabha Temple, whose priests then served as guardians of this public treasure. To their credit, they have upheld this trust. Mind you, the wealth thus hidden by the king would have been the kingdom’s surplus after paying the handsome tributes extracted by the British Crown!

In one royal stroke, the new-found wealth in the abode of Sri Padmanabha shatters the myth assiduously nurtured and propagated by Christian missionaries and their Western Christian mentors that India is and has ever been a poor country. Were that true, the White Man would have taken his rapacious presence elsewhere. When a small princely state could accumulate so much wealth – that too, on the basis of an agricultural economy, mind you – even after 150 years of British loot, then how much wealth would we have had in the original? It is a question worth pondering over.

A related issue that rises in my mind is that the missionaries always cite the ‘poverty of India’ as their justification for conversion. This stands exposed. And as the assets of the Christian missionaries are products of the loot of India by the British colonial regime (and the continuing neo-colonial world order), we may safely say that the wealth of missionaries rightfully belongs to Hindus.

The gold and precious jewels now being unearthed from underground chambers of the Padmanabha temple have conservatively been estimated at around Rs One lakh crore; their antique value will take much more time to evaluate. The temple is privately owned by the royal family of Travancore, just one of the small Princely states of India.

The question naturally arises – if this is just a portion of the wealth of one small, albeit immensely wealthy, state, what would be the true estimate of how much the British Raj had looted India? At independence there were more than 500 princely states, with some major kingdoms like Mysore, Jaipur, Gwalior, Jodhpur, and so on.

So when small princely states like Travancore had so much of wealth, how much would the British looted from all other Princely States, and the regions they governed directly under what they called British India? If we assume that on an average, 1/10th of this treasure (10,000 crore) was possessed by each of the 500 small Princely States, it comes around 500 x 10,000 crore = 50,00,000 crore. This is just as per current market value of the valuables; the antique value is unlimited. The temple jewels fall under the category of antiques, and hence the values are far, far higher.

In 1857, the British destroyed innumerable rajyams and took over their treasuries. The estimate of this loot is beyond comprehension, and is not included in this article. What we may do well to remember, however, is that the British created a class of civil servants whose main responsibility was to extract revenue from our thriving agriculture (hence, Collectors), and levy tax on everything else they could think of, like the humble salt. So the loot from British India would closely parallel the loot from Princely India.

Some pertinent questions arise:

· The temple is under the control of the Travancore Royal Family. It would prima facie seem that the treasure found in the temple belongs to them. If the Government of India forcefully acquires these treasures, what is the difference between colonial loot and the present government loot?

· Or did the royal family transfer the wealth considering it as State Wealth, a trust held on behalf of the subjects as it derived from the tax revenues of the subjects?

· Was there a clear distinction between the Royal Treasury as an institution of the Kingdom and the personal property of the ruler? Did members of the Royal Family derive specific monthly or annual incomes from the Treasury, which could be called their personal money? (I recall that in the larger princely kingdoms, certain articles of jewellery were the private property of the royal queens and princesses; but large quantities of very precious jewellery were not assigned to individuals, but held in the Treasury separately. The reigning king’s spouse could select items to wear by signing a register, and these had to be scrupulously returned to the treasury thereafter).

· Then, who is Sunderrajan who has filed a petition before Supreme Court seeking Government takeover of the wealth. This seems malicious, and it would be interesting to know the religious denomination and locus standi of the petitioner, and the motives behind filing the petition.

· Given the fact that the wealth has resided for over a century in the safe possession and custody of the Padmanabha Temple, should not this wealth now be considered the legitimate possession of the Temple?

· Can we protect this wealth as owned by the Temple but belonging to the people of State and indeed the entire Nation by declaring that it cannot be sold under any circumstances?

· Can we use it to generate wealth for the Hindu people to whom it ultimately belongs by housing it in a special ultra-safe museum and earning income from the proceeds of the display?

· Can we ensure that the wealth is not misused to benefit non-Hindu communities with the agenda to destroy the Hindu nation and its religion, culture and customs?

· The petitioner before the Supreme Court has alleged that the temple management is not proper. I think the irony today is that the Government and the Judiciary are scam-ridden and tainted with corruption. What makes them better custodians of wealth that they did not even know existed? Historically, we have always found that native Indian kings governed their region more efficiently than any colonial or national government.

· Padmanabha temple presents a perfect case study to judge who is the rightful owner of a temple. Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple belongs to the royal family, and it is they who have been maintaining this rajya temple for generations. It is they who decide whom to allow and whom NOT allow inside the temple. The Temple is NOT public property. The public can worship there, but cannot claim any rights over it.

· It must be clarified here that a Temple is NOT like a church. While a church is a place of gathering for worship [the Christian god lives in heaven], a temple is the residence of the God Himself; hence the sanctity of the temple has to be maintained. Neither Government nor courts have any business to meddle in its affairs.

In non-monotheist cultures, the king is the protector of dharma. Kings always governed our country far, far better than the rest of the world. As distinct from western culture, the king is subservient to the presiding deity of the kingdom, as we find at places like Puri and also the Padmanabha temple. The Travancore kings calls themselves Padmanabha dasa (Servant of Padmanabha). When they commit wrong, the presiding deity will restore dharma. Thus, they are not absolute monarchs, nor dictators of the kind we commonly find in the West. This is true of most Indian kings; we find instances of such rajya temples in all desams. Modern Indian intellectuals need to understand that there is no dharma without a king.

Unlike the modern westernised urban ghettos (which we call towns, cities, metros) the temple is the centre of our bharatiya nagaras, around which the nagara is designed and built. I do not know the old architecture of the city of Tiruvananthapuram, or even the history of the Padmanabha temple, but the whole city was administered and regulated by the royal family before independence and Tiruvananthapuram seems to be a planned city. The present colonial Indian Government seized control from them after independence, and left the city to degrade itself. This is how our culture and our religion had declined, which Hindu (Marxist and fellow travellers) intellectuals are refusing to understand.

I strongly feel that the temple jewels should remain in the custody of the Royal Family and the Royal Temple. The wealth it generates must be used as per dharma. This means that Hindu temple wealth cannot be used to finance Hajj or repair churches, as in Karnataka. Any effort to seize the Temple by the government must be strongly resisted.

We may recall that Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa have in the past publicly accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi of stealing antiques from India. The present move in the Supreme Court appears to be a grim conspiracy to steal the assets of Padmanabha Perumal. His devotees must resist with all their might.

Notes

· The findings reported so far include gold coins dating back thousands of years; gold necklaces nine feet long and weighing about 2.5 kg each; one tonne of the yellow metal in the shape of rice trinkets; sticks made of the yellow metal; sack full of diamonds; gold ropes; thousands of pieces of antique jewellery studded with diamonds and emeralds; crowns and other precious stones in chamber ‘A’.

· 17 kgs of gold coins dating back to the East India Company period; 18 coins from Napolean’s era; precious stones wrapped in silk bundles; over 1,000 kg of gold in the form of coins and trinkets and a small elephant made of the yellow metal.

· Sovereigns bearing the 1772 seal indicating the reign of then native king Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma.

· With chamber ‘B’ and ‘E’ yet to be opened, the shrine would pip Tirupati Balaji, assessed at over Rs 50,000 crore.

The writer is a software professional engaged in grassroots study of native traditions in the south

Courtesy : http://www.vijayvaani.com/