Sunday, January 24, 2010

Vijayvaani.com - Future of Indian Politics

  • Vijayvaani.com

    tags: no_tag

    • Future of Indian Politics
    • Amitabh Tripathi
    • Hindu nationalist ideology comprises the third segment in Indian politics and was very much in existence before independence when the British replaced the Mughals. The whole freedom struggle and fight for independence was part of an unfinished Hindu renaissance carried out by several sages, political personalities and organizations. Even Mahatma Gandhi adopted the methods of the Bhakti movement with his Ramdhun in order to reach out to the masses. His call for swadeshi was mixed with emotions of economic independence, political independence as well as cultural independence. When India got freedom it was able to get only political freedom, and the ongoing Hindu renaissance was frustrated without political clout, but the unfulfilled desire for Hindu Rashtra did not die and it is very much alive.  

    • Hindu nationalism in India has always been a romantic idea. The recent defeat in the general elections led some senior Congress leaders to taunt the BJP defeat as a mandate against its idea of the nation. Certainly the BJP lost two consecutive elections; but BJP paid the price for not being able to translate Hindu subconscious aspirations into political constituency. Hindu nationalism does not depend on the survival of any particular political group, and even after independence some leaders in the Nehruvian Congress dared to sustain Hindu nationalism and their efforts were more commendable than those of the BJP which played a crucial role in putting Hindu nationalism on a ventilator.

       

      In future Hindu nationalism will find its place in the Indian political system not because of the BJP’s efforts, but because of natural developments.

    • The theory of Hindu nationalism rests on the aspirations of Hindus to sustain the continuity of spiritual, dharmic and cultural identity. Indians follow the principle of plurality but are not ready to shed their unique identity, and in the last two decades Hindus have become more assertive about their identity and more worried for their future generations. This concern for the future will make them more active and Hindu nationalism will gain much attention in fields of academia and power centers.

       

      The unique phenomenon which will emerge, and the liberal-leftists will be unable to digest, is the evolution of Hinduism as a fashion with political clout in domestic politics and in global politics.

       

      India is synonymous with the Hindu Nation, but for long was unable to express herself because staunch Hindus lacked the political clout to convert it into a modern phenomenon. But the last two decades have made a difference and coming years will witness some radical change in Indian assertion and politics.    

    • The writer is a Hindu social activist and promoter of the Indo-Israel Friendship Forum  

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Vijayvaani.com - J & K: the unfinished colonial agenda

  • Vijayvaani.com

    tags: no_tag

    • J & K: the unfinished colonial agenda
    • Nancy Kaul

    • The Greater Kashmir of Srinagar on 10 Dec. 2009 wrote, “The High Court Association President, Mian Abdul Qayoom today described Kashmir struggle for freedom as an Islamic struggle, saying ‘if we want to achieve freedom we should have clarity about our goal.’”

       

      This statement is crystal clear; terrorists and Kashmiri Muslims are part of an Islamic struggle. If this is so, then the terror spillover from the Valley too is a spillover of Islamic struggle. Pakistan’s oft made remark is to bleed India through a thousand cuts. Kashmir Valley is the first step towards the realization of this Islamic goal.

    • Three important questions arise. First, is policy-making happening at the behest of these seminars and platforms which propagate the rabble rousing of the separatist elements? Two, why in the garb of such talks and discussions is the agenda of furthering the balkanization of India inching forward? Third, why are political parties giving legitimacy to these peaceniks by either calling them closer to the corridors of power, or allowing them to become the sole decision-makers and policy-definers in the country? Otherwise what can explain the presence of feminist-turned-political-event-manager Madhu Kishwar, an ardent advocate of Mufti Sayeed’s self-rule formula, at a function on Kashmir Exodus Day hosted by the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation? Predictably, she seized the opportunity to propagate the devolution of Indian sovereignty in Jammu & Kashmir!
    • The author is convener, Daughters of Vitasta

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Vijayvaani.com - Whither J&K: Praja Parishad to Syama Prasad Mookerjee Foundation

  • Vijayvaani.com

    tags: no_tag

    • Whither J&K: Praja Parishad to Syama Prasad Mookerjee Foundation
    • Sandhya Jain
    • Is New Delhi suffering Elite Fatigue Syndrome?

    • This article is prompted by a deeper concern that well-entrenched ‘secular under my saffron skin’ sections of the Hindutva Brigade may be Uncle Sam’s last hope in re-opening the failed Track II and III that was supposed to give some ‘concessions’ to Islamabad.

       

      The suspicion arises because, despite unequivocal espousal of the old commitment to Akhand Bharat by the new Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat, the local RSS and BJP boycotted the Madhya Pradesh chief minister when he was facilitated in Jammu recently for passing a resolution declaring the entire state an inalienable part of India.
       
       
      And now, an important RSS think tank, the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Foundation, decided to offer its platform on Kashmir Exodus Day (19 Jan) to a dubious activist going by the title of Editor, Manushi, though the publication is long extinct! The lady’s USP is her association with terrorist Yasin Malik and self-rule proponent Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Indeed, it was to promote the Self Rule Document of the People’s Democratic Party that she conducted a seminar at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library on Nov. 7, 2009, where Yasin Malik was the star attraction (see accompanying report).  

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Vijayvaani.com - Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha – Piece on a global chess-board 2

  • Vijayvaani.com

    tags: no_tag

    • Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha – Piece on a global chess-board 2
    • Radha Rajan
    • International meetings and declarations: What’s in it for Hindus on Hindu bhumi?

    • “It was not from the people of India that India was won by Moghul or Briton, but from a small privileged class” - (Aurobindo, Bande Mataram, April 29, 1907).

       

      Aurobindo’s perspicacious analysis of how the Hindu nation was enslaved, first by Jihadis and then by the Crusaders who co-opted a section of the privileged class to enslave us, may well apply to the small privileged class manipulating the HDAS, the highest body of Hinduism’s traditional religious leaders.

       

      The HDAS is in very real danger of becoming a piece on the global chess-board not because any one or even a few of the mathathipathis have turned their inward-looking eyes to view foreign shores, but because “a small privileged class” has monumental ambitions to be seen by “inside and outside agencies” as being the face and voice of Hindu dharma – “well educated and trained to face the modern world, engage in scholarly debates and to participate in international conferences” (HDAS Resolutions, January 11, 2010)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Vijayvaani.com - Malaysia torments Hindu Diaspora

  • Vijayvaani.com

    tags: no_tag

    • Malaysia torments Hindu Diaspora
    • Sandhya Jain

    • A fourth generation descendant of Tamil indentured labour, P. Uthayakumar, HINDRAF legal adviser and secretary general, Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP), has returned from New Delhi’s Pravasi Bharatiya Divas jamboree to face trial for ‘sedition,’ a charge made by the ruling United Malay National Organisation regime.

       

      Advocates Uthayakumar and M. Manoharan spent 514 days in Kamunting Jail under the draconian Internal Security Act, for leading the spectacular one lakh strong HINDRAF rally of 2008, which demanded equal citizenship rights for Malaysian Hindus and opposed the ethnic cleansing of Tamil Hindus in that Islamic country. If convicted, the duo could face a three year prison term, a real possibility given the nature of the Malaysian Judiciary and the studied indifference of the token creamy layer of establishment Hindus.

       

      Hindraf has been banned since, though it poses no threat to Malaysian social or political stability.

    • Sadly, the HINDRAF leaders who came here to present the Malaysian Indian Minority & Human Rights Violations Annual Report 2009 Malay-sia Truly Racist, received only a perfunctory hearing by Official New Delhi.

       

      The HINDRAF & HRP leaders urged Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna to diplomatically espouse the cause of the Indian minority which the Malaysian government is subjecting to systemic racist, religious extremist, and supremist policies that keep 70 percent of Indians desperately poor and outside the national mainstream development. As Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak is coming to India with a trade mission on Jan. 19, a firm word from New Delhi could have a timely impact.

    • Meanwhile, the BJP has a long way to go in its quest to rediscover traditional political values. Uthayakumar unhappily observed that New Delhi only cares for the rich Diaspora, from whom it solicits investments. Thus, it came as no surprise to learn that while the savvy Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi assured Hindraf he was “aware” of the plight of poor and working class Malaysian Indians and would champion their cause in India and with Kuala Lumpur, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, expressed astonishment at their plight, though Hindraf had come to India with a human rights violations report in 2008 as well.  

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

steps to second partition: kettle calling pot black

  • steps to second partition: kettle calling pot black

    tags: no_tag

    • It is worth wondering what the Pak response would be if the Sri Ram Sene or some such outfit bombed the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, or the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad? The very thoughts are outrageous, but they could, after all, be considered the equivalent of the attacks on India’s Parliament and on Mumbai’s iconic buildings.
    • The only way to deal with a difficult neighbour is to encourage its saner elements, while dealing appropriately with forces that stand in the way of better bilateral relations. From that perspective, India has scored a self-goal. It has strengthened the hands of those who do not want better ties with India, and it has denied the country the use of an important arena of people-to-people contact.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Hindu Samajotsava urges government to enact anti cow slaughter act

  • Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World!

    tags: no_tag

    • Absence of Varun Gandhi disappoints crowds
    • Pics: Rajesh Shetty
    • MANGALORE

    • The Hindu Samajotsava today drew over 50,000 crowd from all over the Southern districts of Karnataka. But their 'apple of the eye' Varun Gandhi was missing, which disappointed the crowd to a great extent. However the Samajotsava went on with the usual fanfare and copious speeches over the Hindu unity rolled out from the speakers, thrilling the crowd.

      The air was charged with Hindutva feelings as the crowd roared at every call the speakers made to forge Hindu unity and defeat communities that try to destabilize India. The speakers in unison said that India belonged to Hindus and non Hindus should join the mainstream of the society and try to build a nation that portrays absolute integration, "let us not forego our nationality and help enemies of India to make our country weak".







Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

MP rewrites history: RSS’s Golwalker jailed in 1949 for ‘freedom struggle’

  • MP rewrites history: RSS’s Golwalker jailed in 1949 for ‘freedom struggle’

    tags: no_tag

    • Milind Ghatwai
    • Bhopal
    • RSS ideologue M S Golwalkar spent nearly six months in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni Jail after the organisation was banned following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. An official publication of the state government now says he was jailed for being a freedom fighter.

       

      An article in the latest issue of Madhya Pradesh Sandesh has listed Golwalkar as one of the 41 freedom fighters who were imprisoned in Seoni Jail, built in 1925-26 in the then Central Provinces and Berar, by the British. The RSS ideologue is third on the list, behind Subhash Chandra Bose and Acharya Vinoba Bhave.


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Bengal | US surprise

  • The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Bengal | US surprise

    tags: no_tag

    • US consul- general Beth A. Payne was seen at the RSS’s Shahid Minar rally today.

      The rally was Mohanrao Bhagwat’s first in Calcutta after he became the Sangh chief.

      Payne was seen taking photographs for about 10 minutes but left before Bhagwat started speaking.

      Ranendralal Bandopadhyay, the Sangh’s chief in the eastern zone, said: “We did not invite the US consul-general. It was a surprise for us.”

      A US public affairs department official said Payne was an outgoing person who loved to meet people. “She (Payne) has also visited many Muslim institutions and met Muslim clerics. There is no need to read too much into her presence at the rally,” he added.

    • Calcutta

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Draupadi’s unending circle of suffering

  • Draupadi’s unending circle of suffering

    tags: no_tag

    • C Mrunalini
    • Poor Draupadi. The end of the Kurukshetra war did not bring an end to her suffering. Not even the end of Dwapara yuga. She seems to be suffering even in Kaliyuga. Of course, she is, by far, the most interesting female character of Hindu mythology with all her strengths and weaknesses. And thus, very tempting to authors who run out of subjects. The latest novel by Padma Shri Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad, a former Member of Parliament, has now portrayed her as a woman whose life revolves around romantic (I am being very gentle and polite) endeavours. In an otherwise prosaic rendition of the Mahabharata (which, of course is not his), the only places he deviates are those describing her nights with the five husbands and her obsession with Krishna. Both these interpolations are tasteless to say the least, and improper, too.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Controversial ad: Was it meant to be Rajyavardhan Rathore?

    • Who did the creators of the controversial ad have in mind when they in an apparent goof-up pasted a former Pakistan Air Force chief's photo along with those of Indian heroes in a government advertisement? Could it be Olympian Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a sports icon from the Indian Army?

      "The ad makers must have been looking for someone from the Indian armed forces who has also made a mark in sports. You see, the other two photographs are of sports icons - Kapil Dev and Virender Sehwag," said Deepak Sharma, a Delhi government employee.

    • Former Pakistan Air Force chief Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, who retired in March last year, clad in a uniform with medals, shared the ad space with Indian cricket stars Kapil Dev and Virender Sehwag and sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, causing people much surprise and consternation to the powers that be. The controversial ad almost became the talk of the town with many laughing it away.



Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Tribute to Neta Ji Subhash Chandra Bose on His Birthday 23 Jan. 2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Agent Provocateur: To forget would be to forgive

  • Agent Provocateur: To forget would be to forgive

    tags: no_tag

    • Nandimarg massacre of Pandits: Even toddlers were not spared by Islamists.
    • Srinagar, January 4, 1990. Aftab, a local Urdu newspaper, publishes a Press release issued by Hizb-ul Mujahideen, set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1989 to wage jihad for Jammu & Kashmir’s secession from India and accession to Pakistan, asking all Hindus to pack up and leave. Another local paper, Al Safa, repeats this expulsion order.

      In the following days, there is near chaos in the Kashmir Valley with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his National Conference Government abdicating all responsibilities. Masked men run amok, waving Kalashnikovs, shooting to kill and shouting anti-India slogans.

      Reports of killing of Kashmiri Pandits begin to trickle in; there are explosions; inflammatory speeches are made from the pulpits of mosques, using public address systems meant for calling the faithful to prayers. A terrifying fear psychosis begins to take grip of Kashmiri Pandits.

      Walls are plastered with posters and handbills, summarily ordering all Kashmiris to strictly follow the Islamic dress code, prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks and imposing a ban on video parlours and cinemas. The masked men with Kalashnikovs force people to re-set their watches and clocks to Pakistan Standard Time.

      Shops, business establishments and homes of Kashmiri Pandits, the original inhabitants of the Kashmir Valley with a recorded cultural and civilisational history dating back 5,000 years, are marked out. Notices are pasted on doors of Pandit houses, peremptorily asking the occupants to leave Kashmir within 24 hours or face death and worse. Some are more lucid: “Be one with us, run, or die!”

      * * *

      Srinagar, January 19, 1990. Mr Jagmohan arrives to take charge as Governor. Mr Farooq Abdullah, whose Government has all but ceased to exist, resigns and goes into a sulk. Curfew is imposed as a first measure to restore some semblance of law and order. But it fails to have a deterrent effect.
    • And thereby hangs a tragic tale of callous Hindu indifference.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

इस्लामिक फंडामेंटलिज्म सबसे खतरनाक

  • इस्लामिक फंडामेंटलिज्म सबसे खतरनाक

    tags: no_tag

    • जयपुर साहित्य उत्सव के चौथे दिन विवादित लेखिका अयान हिर्सी अली ने कहा कि सभी तरह के फंडामेंटलिज्म में सबसे ज्यादा खतरनाक इस्लामिक फंडामेंटलिज्म है। उन्होंने कहा कि इस्लाम के नाम पर कुछ लोग दुनिया भर में आतंकवाद को बढ़ावा दे रहे हैं। उन्होंने कहा कि क्रिश्चियन फंडामेंटलिज्म और हिंदु फंडामेंटलिज्म की इस्लामिक फंडामेंटलिज्म से तुलना करना सही नहीं है।

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Multilingual Taliban operative stuns cops

  • Multilingual Taliban operative stuns cops

    tags: no_tag

    • PATNA
    • An Afghan national with links to the Taliban continues to shock police officials in Bihar's Purnia jail. After threatening to go on hunger strike unless given two kg of mutton and one kg of chicken daily, the man told police he can speak several Indian languages.

       

      Ghulam Rasool Khan alias Khan Mirza was arrested in Purnia district for trying to sneak into Bangladesh and is currently in police custody for two days.

       

      "Ghulam Rasool Khan told us he can speak many Indian languages including Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and English," a police official who took part in the interrogation at Purnia jail told IANS. "He can also speak Persian."
    • On the basis of intelligence inputs, Khan was arrested in Purnia district Jan 13 while planning to cross the India-Bangladesh border. A Pakistani passport and other important documents were recovered from him.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Trail Of The Unexpected: The root masters of India - Asia, Travel - The Independent

One, two, tree: Local villagers line both levels of the 200-year-old Umshiang double-decker root bridge

    • "They're Meghalaya's Taj Mahal," said Denis Rayen, the owner of the Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort, as we sipped cold drinks on the front lawn and watched a band of local musicians perform a medley of folk tunes and Bollywood favourites for the guests.

      The six bridges are the creation of the tribe who live in the area's isolated valleys: the Khasi. They, or rather their forefathers, dreamt up the idea of coaxing the roots of the Ficus elastica tree (otherwise known as the Indian rubber tree) along hollowed-out trunks of betel palm and bamboo in order to cross rivers. The bridges take 25 years or so to become functional, but they can bear the weight of up to 50 people at a time, and last for five centuries or more.

    • One, two, tree: Local villagers line both levels of the 200-year-old Umshiang double-decker root bridge

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

A peek into your past life - Self Help - Spirituality - Life - The Times of India

people
    •  
    •  
    • The modern sage of past-life therapy, Dr Brian Weiss, was a robust sceptic himself until a patient stunned him with details of his family life which she could not have possibly known. This intermingling of her life and his is the basis for the analogy that he uses most often to explain the mystery of multiple lives and crossover memory: "We are like ice cubes, which are made from water. The water melts and now there's no individuality anymore... We melt into a spiritual sea. Love is the organising spirit of it all. God is in all of us. We are all souls and we are all connected." That is why, says Weiss in his best-selling book Many Lives, Many Masters, in a journey into past lives one changes race, religion, colour and gender. As the great Swiss psychotherapist Carl Jung explained, we are all inheritors of a collective mythology.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)