Mumbai: Mayor ask Commissioner to stop demolition of temples

Mumbai: Mayor ask Commissioner to stop demolition of temples: "Paying total disregard to the established rules, newly appointed Commissioner Mr. Subodhkumar has undertaken, for the past 8 days, demolition of religious sites in Mumbai branding them as unauthorized."

Narendra Modi speaking on Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Narendra Modi speaking on Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj: "

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RSS reclaims its roots, redefines its paradigm – Nancy Kaul

RSS reclaims its roots, redefines its paradigm – Nancy Kaul: "

The pseudo-secular streak that has engulfed the Indian political establishment and the intelligentsia has left a mark even on organizations aloof from this ethos, with consequences that did not augur well for them or for the Indian nation.

Dr K.B. Hedgewar, founder and first head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had certain fundamental principles and goals in mind when he established this unique body in the shadow of the failure of Gandhi’s Khilafat Movement and the communal riots into which it degenerated. But in just a few decades, slithering away from these ideals became a fashion, especially after Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishan Advani (who called themselves swayamsevaks) became Prime Minister and Home Minister respectively in the BJP-led NDA regime.

An unconsciatal biharionable compromise with Hindu interests, symbolized most prominently by the abject display of obsequiousness at Agra and also at Kandahar, became the signature tune of the regime. Later, Advani displayed an inexplicable love of Mohammad Ali Jinnah as his new USP.

bihari vajpayUnfortunately, the covert agendas of the BJP leaders and the needless appeasement of minorities became the party policy and even overshadowed the ideology of the RSS and the personality of its supreme leader or Sarsanghachalak. All policies and public announcements on crucial of issues of the Sangh Parivar as a whole began to be moulded from the perspective of L.K. Advani (and his coterie), and soon patronage-seeking journalists began to fill column inches with reams about the futility and irrelevance of Hindutva and the RSS. They took care to praise the compromising duo as more relevant than the Hindu soul of the nation.

In a land where once Sardar Patel termed the rebuilding of the Somnath temple – repeatedly destroyed and vandalized by Muslim invaders – as the regaining of national pride, there L.K. Advani who rode to power on the strength of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, sat in the office of that same Iron Man and Home Minister and repeated shamelessly the inanity that the removal of the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was the ‘black day’ of his life.

To its eternal shame, the RSS never chastised him or disowned this statement, and tried to use this subterfuge to exonerate itself from any role in the destruction of the disputed structure at the Janmasthan. This naturally raised questions in the minds of cadres and admirers about the ideological moorings of the RSS and its commitment towards the Hindu community and Hindu causes.

Now, after a prolonged limbo, the current Sarsanghachalak Mohanrao Bhagwat has with a single stroke negated this ideological paralysis and reaffirmed unambiguously the original paradigm – that RSS is meant to serve the Indian nation – specified as Akhand Hindu Bharat – and the Hindu native community in particular. Terming Dr Hedgewar the guiding force of the organisation, he said, “RSS is what Dr Hedgewar and Guruji (Golwalkar) thought it to be. There is no question of it being ‘secular’ (read non-Hindu or anti-Hindu). Let me reassure it cannot and will not deviate from its path and goal of Hindu interests which are at the heart of it.” “Bharat or India, whatever you choose to call [it], is a Hindu Nation, her soul is Hindu and we will protect that.”

Laying down the immediate twin agenda of the RSS – Jammu & Kashmir and Ayodhya – the plain speaking by Shri Bhagwat on 26 February 2011, before a select audience of concerned citizens in New Delhi, spelled out the revitalized role RSS intended to play in the Indian nation.

To a pointed question about RSS diluting its ideology by appeasing minorities like a political party, he clarified, “We have no sister concern, nor does Sangh have any morchas (fronts), we just have shakhas (branches).” Certain minority associations had requested the Sangh to depute some leaders to associate with them, he said, and had received such moral support; but RSS had no hand in setting up or running such bodies.

Questioning the intent of the government-appointed interlocutors and the way they were running to appease the separatists in J&K, he said, “these separatists are a bunch, there should be initiative to talk to and strengthen the nationalists in the State. We are looking at the policies and the way decisions on important issues are being taken by the government. Let me make it clear that we will not be mute spectators and will not allow any compromise on any issue including Jammu & Kashmir.” Describing the stakes of each Indian in Jammu & Kashmir, he warned there would be no tolerance for hoodwinking or repetition of wrong decisions as in the past.

Shri Bhagwat also questioned the role and intent of international forces in India, and ruled out any third-party mediation in Kashmir. When the United States and China do not tolerate outside interference in their internal matters, why does the Indian establishment permit them to meddle in our internal affairs? “It was different and unfortunate in 1947, but now things are not the same, we are a much stronger nation and another partition or division of the nation will not and cannot happen.”

The RSS was not as strong in 1947 as it is now, he said, and regretted that those charged with the destiny of the nation then had not called the people to resist the partition of the motherland. Today people are far more aware, and another partition will not be tolerated. In fact, he pointed out, RSS has not even now accepted the first partition, but it is not yet in a position to do anything about it.

Recognizing that there was an urgent need for articulating Hindu political aspirations, he said a roadmap was being prepared and door-to-door campaigns conducted to create public awareness of the challenges before the nation.

yada yada hi dharmasya

glanir bhavati bharata

abhyutthanam adharmasya

tadatmanam srjamy aham

Sri Krishna: Wherever and whenever there is a decline in virtue, O Arjuna, and a predominance of irreligion, / Those many times do I descend and manifest myself as an embodied Being. - Bhagwat Gita: IV: 7

paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya cha duskritam

dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge

Sri Krishna: To deliver the pious and annihilate the miscreants, / And to reestablish the principles of dharma, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium. - Bhagwat Gita: IV: 8

This is the karmic trajectory to which the RSS is now pledged to return, to redeem the demoralized and oppressed Hindu Nation …

» Nancy Kaul is convener of Daughters of Vitasta

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) plans to celebrate Hindu Ekta Andolan Divas

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) plans to celebrate Hindu Ekta Andolan Divas: "from KatariaN



date Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 9:54 AM



subject VISHWA HINDU PARISHAD (VHP) PLANS TO
CELEBRATE HINDU EKTA ANDOLAN DIVAS

The message urging for ‘HINDU UNITY’ which is presented below, is from Sri Anand Shankar Pandya, a Gandhian, and a member of “Sampuran Kranti” (total revolution) of Jaya Prakash Narayan from the 1970s. Last year, Sri Pandya ji was honoured on ‘Hindu Unity Day’ in New York, for his lifelong services to the Hindu Samaj. He was highly impressed and inspired by the Hindu Unity Day Celebration in New York. After returning to Mumbai, he spoke to the prominent Hindu Leader, Sri Ashok Singhalji, about the importance of ‘Hindu Unity Day Celebration’ all over India. There is plan to celebrate “Hindu Ekta Andolan Divas” (Hindu Unity Movement) every year in most of the major cities in India. In this context, we should know that Hindu Unity is inclusive of Sanatana Dharmi, Jain, Baudh and Sikh communities.

In essence, Hindu Unity is ‘World Unity’, ‘World Peace’, ‘World Prosperity’ and ‘World Harmony’, because a Hindu believes that the whole world is one family, including Christians, Muslims, Jews and others, and ‘Sarvesham avirodhen’ i.e., it has no confrontation whatsoever with anybody in the world.

Reluctant admission of guilt is not ‘Redemption’ Mr. Chamcha In Chief.

Reluctant admission of guilt is not ‘Redemption’ Mr. Chamcha In Chief.: "

Reluctant admission of guilt is not ‘Redemption’

Suppose one commits a crime. Before He/She commits he/she is warned. Nevertheless He/She goes ahead and commits that crime he/she is warned against. He/She is caught and brought before the Court. Court finds Him/Her guilty of committing the Crime despite warning. Court sentences Him/Her to Jail. He/She has no other choice but to accept the Guilt. Or do they?

Will it be His/Her Redemption? Sure I am that your answer would be capital NO.

Haindava Keralam - global community of dedicated Hindu Keralites with a peace mission

Haindava Keralam - global community of dedicated Hindu Keralites with a peace mission: "Cambodia has sought the help of the Hindus worldwide to help safeguard the landmark Preah Vihear Shiva temple, which was reportedly damaged recently due to Thai-Cambodia border clashes."

The $110 Billion Question

The $110 Billion Question: "

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: March 5, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/opinion/06friedman.html?ref=opinion

When one looks across the Arab world today at the stunning spontaneous democracy uprisings, it is impossible to not ask: What are we doing spending $110 billion this year supporting corrupt and unpopular regimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan that are almost identical to the governments we’re applauding the Arab people for overthrowing?

Josh Haner/The New York Times

Thomas L. Friedman

Ever since 9/11, the West has hoped for a war of ideas within the Muslim world that would feature an internal challenge to the violent radical Islamic ideology of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. That contest, though, never really materialized because the regimes we counted on to promote it found violent Muslim extremism a convenient foil, so they allowed it to persist. Moreover, these corrupt, crony capitalist Arab regimes were hardly the ideal carriers for an alternative to bin Ladenism. To the contrary, it was their abusive behavior and vicious suffocation of any kind of independent moderate centrist parties that fueled the extremism even more.

Now the people themselves have taken down those regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and they’re rattling the ones in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Oman and Iran. They are not doing it for us, or to answer bin Laden. They are doing it by themselves for themselves — because they want their freedom and to control their own destinies. But in doing so they have created a hugely powerful, modernizing challenge to bin Ladenism, which is why Al Qaeda today is tongue-tied. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Al Qaeda’s answer to modern-day autocracy was its version of the seventh-century Caliphate. But the people — from Tunisia to Yemen — have come up with their own answer to violent extremism and the abusive regimes we’ve been propping up. It’s called democracy. They have a long way to go to lock it in. It may yet be hijacked by religious forces. But, for now, it is clear that the majority wants to build a future in the 21st century, not the seventh.

In other words, the Arab peoples have done for free, on their own and for their own reasons, everything that we were paying their regimes to do in the “war on terrorism” but they never did.

And that brings me back to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Last October, Transparency International rated the regime of President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan as the second most corrupt in the world after Somalia’s. That is the Afghan regime we will spend more than $110 billion in 2011 to support.

And tell me that Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI, which dominates Pakistani politics, isn’t the twin of Hosni Mubarak’s security service. Pakistan’s military leaders play the same game Mubarak played with us for years. First, they whisper in our ears: “Psst, without us, the radical Islamists will rule. So we may not be perfect, but we’re the only thing standing in the way of the devil.” In reality, though, they are nurturing the devil. The ISI is long alleged to have been fostering anti-Indian radical Muslim groups and masterminding the Afghan Taliban.

Apart from radical Islam, the other pretext the Pakistani military uses for its inordinate grip on power is the external enemy. Just as Arab regimes used the conflict with Israel for years to keep their people distracted and to justify huge military budgets, Pakistan’s ISI tells itself, the Pakistani people and us that it can’t stop sponsoring proxies in Afghanistan because of the “threat” from India.

Here’s a secret: India is not going to invade Pakistan. It is an utterly bogus argument. India wants to focus on its own development, not owning Pakistan’s problems. India has the second-largest Muslim population on the planet, more even than Pakistan. And while Indian Muslims are not without their economic and political grievances, they are, on the whole, integrated into India’s democracy because it is a democracy. There are no Indian Muslims in Guantánamo Bay.

Finally, you did not need to dig very far in Egypt or Jordan to hear that one reason for the rebellion in Egypt and protests in Jordan was the in-your-face corruption and crony capitalism that everyone in the public knew about.

That same kind of pillaging of assets — natural resources, development aid, the meager savings of a million Kabul Bank depositors and crony contracts — has fueled a similar anger against the regime in Afghanistan and undermined our nation-building efforts there.

The truth is we can’t do much to consolidate the democracy movements in Egypt and Tunisia. They’ll have to make it work themselves. But we could do what we can, which is divert some of the $110 billion we’re lavishing on the Afghan regime and the Pakistani Army and use it for debt relief, schools and scholarships to U.S. universities for young Egyptians and Tunisians who had the courage to take down the very kind of regimes we’re still holding up in Kabul and Islamabad.

I know we can’t just walk out of Afghanistan and Pakistan; there are good people, too, in both places. But our involvement in these two countries — 150,000 troops to confront Al Qaeda — is totally out of proportion today with our interests and out of all sync with our values

"

Return of the Caliphate

Return of the Caliphate

The recent ‘successful’ uprisings in the Arab Islamic world point to only one thing – return of the Caliphate system of governance. The latest Caliphate that was abolished in 1920s’ in Turkey is going to be re-established in a federal form with countries from Tunisia to Pakistan becoming members. The threat to world peace is going to be increased many fold with the coming together all fanatic fundamentalists under one roof for the final battle of Jihad vs. Crusade. Ramifications of the direct conflict on the two frontiers, Europe and South Asia, will have far reaching consequences.

Many countries in Europe are already 25-40% Muslims and it would be very difficult for them to win a direct fight with the Jihadis. Fundamentalist Muslims, which a good majority of them are, consider their religion much above their motherland and the Calipha will require not much effort to annex countries like England and Italy . But the combined might of Europe with the direct support of USA might make things difficult and much bloody than we can expect. Arabs are no more illiterate aborigines and decades of petro-dollars have made Arab imperialism a reality. There are many Arabs who want to rule over the world like the British and their deadliest tool is Islam.

However, there is some respite for India in the short run. With the formation of a Caliphate again, the opportunities for Indians in the Gulf is going to be shot lived. Fellow Muslims from Egypt , Jordan , Pakistan , Afganistan etc., will soon replace the entire Indian workforce in the oil-rich Gulf states . Less of Indians in the Gulf means less of petro-dollars for fuelling terrorism in India . Unlimited flow of money to the coffers of SIMI, NDF, Jamats, Madaani, IUML etc., will end and so also their bomb-making capabilities. But in the long run India and Israel will have to take the major brunt of Islamic attacks. Only the combination of USA- Israel and Sanatana Dharma Rashtra (more appealing than a Hindu Rashtra) can withstand the rabid fundamentalists.

Anna Hazare Fasts Unto Death Against Corruption.

Anna Hazare Fasts Unto Death Against Corruption.: "

S.Kalyanaraman

Anna Hazare has given an ultimatum to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to enact stringent anti-corruption law – the peoples “Jan Lokpal Bill”! Jail to the corrupt must happen! We have been betrayed by those that are leading us!

When & Where?

From 5th April at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

Who is Anna Hazare?

A soldier, lone survivor in his unit in 1965 Indo-Pak war, Anna dedicated his life to the well-being of society. A bachelor, an ascetic, he has no possessions, no bank balance and lives in a temple. He is a living Mahatma Gandhi!

In Maharashtra, Anna has single handedly transformed barren and dry regions into green and food surplus areas. He has fasted unto death on several earlier occasions. He forced the Maharashtra government to dismiss the corrupt – 6 ministers and 400 officers. Due to his fast, the govt enacted the Maharashtra RTI Act. In 2006, when government of India tried to amend the Central RTI Act, he again went on an indefinite fast and forced the Indian government not to amend RTI Act.

Leaders, organizations and the common man from across India will be with him. This is a do or die moment – let us make it happen!

Salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill

Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, this Bill has been refined on the basis of feedback received from public on website and after series of public consultations. It has also been vetted by and is supported by Shanti Bhushan, J M Lyngdoh, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare etc. It was sent to the PM and all CMs on 1st December. However, there is no response.

1. 
   

   An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up

   
   


2. 
   

   Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.

   
   


3. 
   

   Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.

   
   


4. 
   

   The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.

   
   


5. 
   

   How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.

   
   


6. 
   

   So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.

   
   


7. 
   

   But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.

   
   


8. 
   

   What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.

   
   


9. 
   

   What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

   
   

Black White

Black White: "

By Sarika Murty

07 Mar 2011 04:41:06 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The talk delivered by Subramanian Swamy, president, Janata Party and S Gurumurthy, commentator touched upon several facets of illicit wealth stashed in tax-haven countries by Indians.

“Only 15 percent of the total black money from India goes abroad. The money that stays in India cannot be used in fixed assets so it is used for luxurious consumption. Throughout the recession, the prices of air-conditioning industry was not affected.

Consequently, investment priorities get affected,” said Subramanian Swamy, Janata Party president, during his address.

“There is high inflation in the country partly because black money is being loaned out to hoarders,” added Swamy. Citing the example of Hasssan Ali who was found with large number of participatory notes, Swamy said that participatory notes are having an adverse affect on the Indian economy. On the 2G Spectrum Scam, Swamy said that Raja should be put behind bars.

“The essence is quick conviction.

If I am the public prosecutor, by September, Raja would be in jail,” said Swamy. The 2 G spectrum case will mark the beginning of a new India, opined Swamy. “Supreme Court was shocked as to how licences where given to Etisalat DB which is controlled by the Pakistan government, despite a report by the Home Ministry against it on grounds of national security.” The 2G scam will reveal several big names, added Swamy.

“There are big names that will come out including Rober t Vadra. The documentation is complete” said Swamy.

Taking a dig at Kapil Sibal’s views on 2G Spectrum, Swamy said that the former has no credibility.

“Kapil Sibal need not be taken seriously. He has been pulled up by the Supreme Court but he is genetically incapable to be responsible,”said Swamy.

The country needs to strike a balance between material progress and spiritual values, opined Swamy. “I agree that black money is used in elections as well.

But we must remember that in 1977, Mrs Indira Gandhi lost the election. So if there is a serious issue, people will rise above money,” said Swamy. “Removing Manmohan Singh is no solution.

Sonia Gandhi would appoint somebody else and nothing better will come,” added Swamy.

Elaborating on the issue of black money stashed abroad, Gurumurthy said that there is a movement against tax-haven countries. “Peru recovered 186 million, Nigeria recovered 505 million. In G20, the first two meetings discussed how to contain tax havens,” said Gurumurthy.

However, there has been no sincere response from the Indian government, opined Gurumurthy.

“There has only been a protocol response so far,” said Gurumurthy.

While media was fairly honest in 1987, when the battle against Bofors began, the media is corrupt today, added Gurumurthy.

“The stock market generated the tax-haven phenomenon. Also, the concept of ‘notional wealth’ was also generated due to the same,” said Gurumurthy adding that the intelligentsia in the country must gather courage and act. “The manner in which the Supreme Court has taken on corruption in the past 6 months, has given me a lot of hope. It is sending a message to itself,” said Gurumurthy.

On L K Advani’s ‘apology’ to Sonia Gandhi on the task force report on black money , Gurumurthy said that it is not an apology for the report mentioning Sonia Gandhi’s family’s alleged Swiss accounts. “Advani took a principled stand. It was not an apology,” said Gurumurthy.

http://expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=254078

"

The Pioneer :: Home : >> Thomas wipes out Manmohans sheen

The Pioneer :: Home : >> Thomas wipes out Manmohans sheen

Chandan Mitra

By arrogantly dismissing the spirit of consensus-building in appointing persons to critically important offices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has brought misery upon himself

Now that Mr PJ Thomas has finally been removed from the post of Central Vigilance Commissioner, albeit kicking and screaming, the question must be asked why it needed a tough-talking judiciary to get him out of office. First, he should never have been chosen by the Government for this sensitive position, given the pendency of the palmolein case. Second, even if the Prime Minister and Home Minister jointly overruled the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Thomas should himself have stepped down once the heat mounted during arguments in the Supreme Court.

Apparently, the former Kerala Chief Secretary swears by his personal integrity and is outraged at being described as a man tainted by corruption. In the palmolein case too, the charge against him is not of personal aggrandisement but causing loss to the exchequer through an improper decision. Mr Thomas may well be squeaky clean in personal conduct. But when a person is appointed to an office of such importance, he cannot argue that the pending case against him is of no substantive consequence. As Central Vigilance Commissioner, tomorrow he might well have been called upon to pronounce a verdict in a similar matter involving someone else’s appointment to a high office. Could he be trusted to give an impartial and objective opinion?

Apart from this there is a political dimension to what has just transpired. Clearly, the Prime Minister’s stars are not well disposed towards him at present. His image as a man of impeccable integrity has been severely dented by a succession of scams. His claim of ignorance of scandals happening right under his nose or naïve faith in the goodness of his Ministers (such as A Raja, who Mr Singh believed would not do anything improper despite oodles of information that he was circumventing every rule to benefit his ‘clients’), or helplessness forced by pursuit of coalition dharma, is wearing thin. People have begun to ask what good is Mr Singh’s integrity if he turns a blind eye to a cabal of crooks and carpetbaggers who are busy brazenly looting the country? At this time, the Supreme Court’s indictment in a matter to which the Prime Minister is directly a party is bound to rob his image of whatever sheen it still retains.

Perceptions often matter more than facts in politics. And the Prime Minister seems to have entered a cul-de-sacfrom which he cannot get out. The Indian middle class did not buy the BJP’s argument in 2009 that Mr Singh was the weakest Prime Minister India ever had. In fact, the campaign proved somewhat counter-productive because many people disapproved of personal attacks on a man they thought was too decent and upright to deserve stinging criticism. But opinion is changing fast. Increasingly I find the chatterati volubly arguing that Mr Singh is too weak, too much under the high command’s thumb and too self-centred to steer the country effectively.

From being an asset he is on the way to becoming the Congress’s liability. Given his track record, I don’t see what the Prime Minister can do to salvage his image. It seems Ms Sonia Gandhi’s calculation that her son would romp to Race Course Road after the next election, riding on Mr Singh’s management skills, is ebbing faster than even her critics would have thought.

The Hindu : Today's Paper News : Interceptor missile test-fired successfully

The Hindu : Today's Paper News : Interceptor missile test-fired successfully: "

T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

In yet another confirmation of its ballistic missile defence capability, India on Sunday fired an interceptor missile, which intercepted an incoming ‘enemy' ballistic missile at an altitude of 16 km and pulverised it in “a direct kill.”

While the ‘hostile' missile took off at 9.32 a.m. from a launch complex at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Orissa, the interceptor blasted off at 9.37 a.m. from the Wheeler Island, off the Orissa coast.

The interceptor had a specially designed directional warhead, “which will go towards the target, look at it and cause the maximum damage.” The attacker ended up in a shower of fragments over the Bay of Bengal, “confirming a very good kill.” Both the missiles were made by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)."

“Our BMD programme has matured, and it is really ready now for integration into the air defence assets of the country. India is next only to the U.S., Russia, France and Israel, which have the BMD capability,” said Dr. Sarawat, who is also the DRDO Director-General and architect of India's interceptor missile programme.

Asked about China's capability, Dr. Saraswat replied: “China is still developing it.”

Avinash Chander, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory, DRDO, Hyderabad, called it “a fantastic mission, with a perfect hit and a 100 per cent confirmation of a direct kill.”

The Pioneer :: Home : >> At JNU Arundhati renews offensive against India

The Pioneer :: Home : >> At JNU Arundhati renews offensive against India

Author Arundhati Roy has again created controversy by attending a function where the National Emblem was put to disrespect. According to reports, the Maoist sympathiser attended a function organised by the banned Democratic Students’ Union at Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on Saturday night, where pamphlets showing Lion Capital (the National Emblem) as part of a shoe’s sole were distributed.

The same organisation is known to have carried out macabre celebrations at the JNU campus about six months ago when 75 odd CRPF jawans were killed by Maoists in Chhattisgarh.

Roy was in JNU to address a seminar on ‘War on People’. The Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested against this.

At the seminar, Roy said the State was waging a battle against the people — be it in Jammu & Kashmir or Chhattisgarh. Justifying anti-national movements in the two States, she said, “Killing of security forces was justified as they were being used against the people by the State.”

This led to protests at Koyna Hostel from a section of students belonging to the ABVP, who objected to the author equating the subversive moment in Kashmir and Maoist activity in Chhattisgarh with a people’s struggle for freedom.

ABVP members at JNU said they would submit a memorandum to Vice-Chancellor SK Sopory on Monday, demanding the banning of DSU and other ‘anti-national activities’ on campus. ABVP is also planning to register an FIR against those who have published the ‘disrespectful pamphlets’.

JNU chief security officer Major Pradeep Kumar Sangwan said, “There was no fight but ABVP students had staged a protest against the DSU’s public meeting function late on Saturday night, in which Arundhati Roy was also called as a speaker.”

Roy had earlier given an anti-national hate speech at the LTG auditorium near Mandi House on October 21, 2010, saying, “Jhootha nanga Hindustan, jaan se pyara Pakistan.” Police registered sedition charges against her only after the court’s intervention.

JNU Registrar Professor VK Jain said, “There was a small fight on Saturday between a few students but everything is alright.”

ABVP members at JNU campus on Sunday said they had boycotted the function as well as Roy on Saturday because they were totally against any anti-national activity or any anti-national elements on campus.

JNU ABVP joint secretary Abhinandan Verma said, “We boycotted DSU’s public meeting because they were trying to bring down the values of our nation. They were distributing pamphlets showing our National Emblem as part of a shoe’s sole. This is totally unbearable.”

Verma added, “Our former Vice-Chancellor had also banned DSU about six months ago. I wonder how this group has been reactivated and with whose permission?”

Vivek Vishal, another ABVP member, said, “Another major reason for boycotting the programme was because of the presence of Roy. We do not agree with her anti-national views and her infamous remarks on Kashmir. We showed her the black flag.”

Sources at JNU said Roy had to leave the programme much before the stipulated time because of the opposition she faced. Verma said, “Roy was unable to answer our questions. She got so irritated that she went to the extent of saying, ‘You are young, so you are stupid’.”