Some sticks yet more carrots for Pakistan

Some sticks yet more carrots for Pakistan: "

A fundamental shift in the failed U.S. policy approach that has inadvertently turned Pakistan into Ground Zero for global terrorism seems unlikely despite the bin Laden affair.

Brahma Chellaney

The Hindu, May 6, 2011

इंडियन नेवी का मुक्ति संग्राम और भारत की स्वतंत्रता

इंडियन नेवी का मुक्ति संग्राम और भारत की स्वतंत्रता: "नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस व आजाद हिन्द फौज द्वार भारत की स्वतंत्रता के लिए शुरू किये गये सशस्त्र संघर्ष से प्रेरित होकर रॉयल इंडियन नेवी के भारतीय सैनिकों ने 18 फरवरी 1946 को एचआईएमएस तलवार नाम के जहाज से मुम्बई में अंग्रेजी सरकार के विरूद्ध मुक्ति संग्राम का उद्घोष कर दिया था । उनके क्रान्तिकारी मुक्ति संग्राम ने भारतीय स्वतंत्रता संग्राम को एक नई दिशा प्रदान की ।
नौसैनिकों का यह मुक्ति संग्राम इतना तीव्र था कि शीघ्र ही यह मुम्बई से चेन्नई , कोलकात्ता , रंगून और कराँची तक फैल गया । महानगर , नगर और गाँवों में अंग्रेज अधिकारियों पर आक्रमण किये जाने लगे तथा कुछ अंग्रेज अधिकारियों को मार दिया गया । उनके घरों पर धावा बोला गया तथा धर्मान्तरण व राष्ट्रीय एकता विखण्डित करने के केन्द्र बने उनके पूजा स्थलों को नष्ट किये जाने लगा । स्थान - स्थान पर मुक्ति सैनिकों की अंग्रेज सैनिकों के साथ मुठभेड होने लगी । ऐसे समय में भारतीय नेताओं ने मातृभूमि की स्वतंत्रता के लिए लड रहे उन वीर सैनिकों का कोई साथ नहीं दिया , जबकि देश की आम जनता ने उन सैनिकों को पूरा सहयोग दिया । क्रान्तिकारी नौसैनिकों के नेतृत्वकर्ता ' श्री बी. सी. दत्त ' ने खेद प्रकट किया कि उनकों प्रोत्साहन और समर्थन देने के लिए कोई राष्ट्रीय नेता उनके पास नहीं आया , राष्ट्रीय नेता केवल अंग्रेजों के साथ लम्बी वार्ता करने में तथा सत्रों व बैठकों के आयोजन में विश्वास रखते है । उनसे क्रान्तिकारी कार्यवाही की कोई भी आशा नहीं की जा सकती ।
नौसैनिकों के मुक्ति संग्राम की मौहम्मद अली जिन्ना ने निन्दा की थी व जवाहरलाल नेहरू ने अपने को नौसैनिक मुक्ति संग्राम से अलग कर लिया था । मोहनदास जी गांधी जो उस समय पुणे में थे तथा जिन्हें इंडियन नेवी के मुक्ति संग्राम से हिंसा की गंध आती थी , उन्होंने नेवी के सैनिकों के समर्थन में एक शब्द भी नहीं बोला , अपितु इसके विपरीत उन्होंने वक्तव्य दे डाला कि -
' यदि नेवी के सैनिक असन्तुष्ठ थे तो वे त्यागपत्र दे सकते थे । '
क्या अपने देश की स्वतंत्रता के लिए उनका मुक्ति संग्राम करना बुरा था ? जो लोग देश की स्वतंत्रता के लिए अपने प्राणों पर खेलते थे , जो लोग कोल्हू में बैल की तरह जोते गये , नंगी पीठ पर कोडे खाए , भारत माता की जय का उद्घोष करते हुए फाँसी के फंदे पर झुल गये क्या इसमें उनका अपना कोई निजी स्वार्थ था ?
इंडियन नेवी के क्षुब्ध सैनिकों ने राष्ट्रीय नेताओं के प्रति अपना क्रोध प्रकट करते हुए कहा कि -
' हमने रॉयल इंडियन नेवी को राष्ट्रीय नेवी में परिवर्तित पर दिया है , किन्तु हमारे राष्ट्रीय नेता इसे स्वीकार करने को तैयार नही है । इसलिए हम स्वयं को कुण्ठित और अपमानित अनुभव कर रहे है । हमारे राष्ट्रीय नेताओं की नकारात्मक प्रतिक्रिया ने हमको अंग्रेज नेवी अधिकारियों से अधिक धक्का पहुँचाया है । '
भारतीय राष्ट्रीय नेताओं के विश्वासघात के कारण नौसैनिको का मुक्ति संग्राम हालाँकि कुचल दिया गया , लेकिन इसने ब्रिटिस साम्राज्य की जडे हिला दी और अंग्रेजों के दिलों को भय से भर दिया । अंग्रेजों को ज्ञात हो गया कि केवल गोरे सैनिको के भरोसे भारत पर राज नहीं किया किया जा सकता , भारतीय सैनिक कभी भी क्रान्ति का शंखनाद कर 1857 का स्वतंत्रता समर दोहरा सकते है और इस बार सशस्त्र क्रान्ति हुई तो उनमें से एक भी जिन्दा नहीं बचेगा , अतः अब भारत को छोडकर वापिस जाने में ही उनकी भलाई है ।
तत्कालीन ब्रिटिस हाई कमिश्नर जॉन फ्रोमैन का मत था कि 1946 में रॉयल इंडियन नेवी के विद्रोह ( मुक्ति संग्राम ) के पश्चात भारत की स्वतंत्रता सुनिश्चित हो गई थी । 1947 में ब्रिटिस प्रधानमंत्री लार्ड एटली ने भारत की स्वतंत्रता विधेयक पर चर्चा के दौरान टोरी दल के आलोचकों को उत्तर देते हुए हाउस ऑफ कॉमन्स में कहा था कि -
' हमने भारत को इसलिए छोडा , क्योंकि हम भारत में ज्वालामुखी के मुहाने पर बैठे थे । '
( दि महात्मा एण्ड नेता जी , पृष्ठ - 125 , लेखक - प्रोफेसर समर गुहा )
नेताजी सुभाष से प्रेरणाप्राप्त इंडियन नेवी के वे क्रान्तिकारी सैनिक ही थे जिन्होंने भारत में अंग्रजों के विनाश के लिए ज्वालामुखी का निर्माण किया था । इसका स्पष्ट प्रमाण ब्रिटिस प्रधानमंत्री ' लार्ड ' एटली और कोलकात्ता उच्च न्यायालय के पूर्व मुख्य न्यायाधीश ' पी. बी. चक्रवर्ती ' जो उस समय पश्चिम बंगाल के कार्यवाहक राज्यपाल भी थे के वार्तालाप से मिलता है । जब चक्रवर्ती ने एटली से सीधे - सीधे पूछा कि ' गांधी का अंग्रेजों भारत छोडो आन्दोलन तो 1947 से बहुत पहले ही मुरझा चुका था तथा उस समय भारतीय स्थिति में ऐसा कुछ भी नहीं था जिससे अंग्रेजों को भारत छोडना आवश्यक हो जाए , तब आपने ऐसा क्यों किया ? '
तब एटली ने उत्तर देते हुए कई कारणों का उल्लेख किया , जिनमें सबसे अधिक महत्वपूर्ण कारण ' इंडियन नेवी का विद्रोह ( मुक्ति संग्राम ) व नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस के कार्यकलाप थे जिसने भारत की जल सेना , थल सेना और वायु सेना के अंग्रेजों के प्रति लगाव को लगभग समाप्त करके उनकों अंग्रेजों के ही विरूद्ध लडने के लिए प्रेरित कर दिया था । ' अन्त में जब चक्रवर्ती ने एटली से अंग्रेजों के भारत छोडने के निर्णय पर गांधी जी के कार्यकलाप से पडने वाले प्रभाव के बारे मेँ पूछा तो इस प्रश्न को सुनकर एटली हंसने लगा और हंसते हुए कहा कि ' गांधी जी का प्रभाव तो न्यूनतम् ही रहा । '
एटली और चक्रवर्ती का वार्तालाप निम्नलिखित तीन पुस्तकों में मिलता है -
1. हिस्ट्री ऑफ इंडियन इन्डिपेन्डेन्ट्स वाल्यूम - 3 , लेखक - डॉ. आर. सी. मजूमदार ।
2. हिस्ट्री ऑफ इंडियन नेशनल कांग्रेस , लेखिका - गिरिजा के. मुखर्जी ।
3. दि महात्मा एण्ड नेता जी , लेखक - प्रोफेसर समर गुहा ।
- विश्वजीतसिंह

"

Lisa Blue swimsuits with Hindu gods' graffiti: HC issues notices to MEA, Australian Embassy

Lisa Blue swimsuits with Hindu gods' graffiti: HC issues notices to MEA, Australian Embassy: "The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has issued notices to Union external affairs ministry, Australian Embassy, Press Council of India and an editor of a national Hindi daily in connection with the photographs of models wearing swimsuits with graffiti of Hindu goddesses, published in a newspaper on May 6."

Pro-Hindu activists hoist saffron flag despite opposition from police !

Pro-Hindu activists hoist saffron flag despite opposition from police !: "Ichalkaranji (Maharashtra): Police opposed hoisting of saffron flag in ‘Janata Chowk’ and took 11 pro-Hindu activists into custody. The enraged Hindus paid no heed to the opposition by the police and went ahead with hoisting of saffron flag."

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

http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=13785

 

Thrissur: Vatican agents agents from Kerala  have enough clout in the centre and that is the reason why there will be Postal stamps and Coins in the name of all Vatican Saints in India. The very same agents now want streets in Kerala to be name after Pope.

The move to rename Sakthan Tampuran Nagar in Thrissur by these Vatican agents has invited wrath of Public. Hindu organisations under Hindu Aikya vedi gave petition to Thrissur Mayor I P Paul and warned of severe agitation if the move to destroy the cultural heritage of the city is not withdrawn.

The Hindu Aikya Vedi has said that such a move to name major junctions and roads in Sakthan Thampuran Nagar after Pope will harm the cultural heritage of Thrissur. They also said that it is their duty to protect the culture of Thrissur and they are totally against the decision of the corporation. Hindu Aikya Vedi district general secretary P Sudhakaran, secretary ET Balan, Vishwa Hindu Parishad district president PR Prabhakaran, secretary Mohanan Parayil and Temple Protection Committee district president PR Prabhakaran were present.

Sakthan Thampuran Nagar was named after King of the Cochin, Sakthan Thampuran, the very architect of Thrissur. Sakthan Thampuran Nagar

Wimpish India may lose the Great Game

Wimpish India may lose the Great Game: "

By Swapan Dasgupta

A week after the 9/11 attacks, when an angry United States was planning fierce retribution against Osama bin Laden and his Taliban hosts, General Pervez Musharraf made a televised speech on the choices facing Pakistan. In a rambling address, Musharraf drew inspiration from the early history of Islam. The Prophet, he reminded viewers, had negotiated the Treaty of Hudaibiya with the Quraish of Mecca. The truce may have seemed a climbdown and an admission of weakness but it offered the army of Islam the elbow room to spread the faith throughout the Arabian Peninsula. It was an invigorated Islam that finally regained Mecca.

The implication was obvious: confronted by a superpower that bluntly demanded Pakistan should choose between Us and Them, Musharraf was effecting a tactical retreat. To Musharraf, the U-turn in Afghanistan didn't signal any strategic shift or emotional conversion; it suggested dissimulation based on expediency—the al taqiyya or deception that is theologically sanctioned for the larger good of the faith.

Abbottabad has nullified this script. It was one thing for Pakistan to be harbouring Mullah Omar in Quetta, but Osama was another matter altogether. Pakistan's perfidy hasn't merely made the US angry; it has been shown to be a sucker. In normal circumstances, India should have been jubilant and telling the world 'we told you so'—a sentiment echoed by the media and society. Tragically, the latest confirmation of Pakistan's habitually duplicitous conduct has left Singh strangely unmoved. He has instead reaffirmed his faith in Pakistan's innate goodness—a gesture of monumental magnanimity that is prone to being misconstrued.

India's wimpish official response to Pakistan's double-dealing isn't likely to generate oodles of gratitude. A beleaguered Pakistan has reacted to its own embarrassment with a heady cocktail of victimhood, nationalism and anti-Americanism. Such an outburst can't be delinked from that country's pet hates. When it comes to India, Pakistan is often loath to even practice al taqiyya—so profound is its fear of India's skills of absorption. This may explain Islamabad's calculated over-reaction to notional threats of Indian special operations. For Pakistan, anti-Indianism is the national adhesive.

Pakistan is still unsure of the extent of Western retribution over its sanctuary to Osama. It is banking on a temporary frostiness that will dissipate in the face of the imminent departure from Afghanistan. Pakistan has reposed faith in the two aces it has up its sleeve: its nuclear assets and its firm alliance with China. The West, it believes, will bark but won't dare bite.

In the normal course, India would have been an additional pressure point on Pakistan. Having abandoned that option, India has made itself redundant in the Great Game. Singh may yet get to visit his native village in Pakistan. In craving for that privilege, he may also secure India's banishment from Afghanistan and the onward march of China in South Asia.

Sunday Times of India, May 8, 2011

"

HAIL THE REVOLUTIONARIES OF 1857! INQUILAB ZINDABAD!!

(title unknown): "

HAIL THE REVOLUTIONARIES OF 1857! INQUILAB ZINDABAD!!

V.SUNDARAM I.A.S.

Today (Tuesday the 10th of May 2011) our beloved Bharatvarsha from Himalayas to Kanyakumari, from Rann of Kutch to the Bay of Bengal, will be paying its homage to the freedom fighters, martyrs and revolutionaries who started the First War of Indian Independence at Meerut in the then United Provinces of Agra and Oudh on the 10th of May 1857. Many of them boldly came forward to lay down their lives in the sacred cause of India’s freedom and became immortal martyrs. The saga of their sacrifice, famed in song and legend, will continue to gleam and glow with deathless and resplendent glory for centuries to come.

Mangal Pandey

Symbolically at 6.57 p.m. tomorrow, all patriotic Indians should come forward to light a lamp or kuthuvillaku in their respective homes and observe a minute’s silence as a mark of respect and reverence to great freedom fighters like Mangal Pandey, Nana Saheb, Bahadur Shah, Tantia Tope, Rani of Jhansi and many others who heroically and cheerfully offered their lives for the sacred cause of freedom of India from deathly colonial British yoke in 1857—58.

Most of the British historians like Charles Ball, G.W.Forrest, T.R.Holmes, M.Inns, J.W.Kaye, G.F.Macmunn, G.B.Malleson, C.T.Metcalfe, Earl Roberts and others have mischievously used the white man’s colonial term “MUTINY” to describe the FIRST WAR OF INDIAN INDEPENDENCE. Sir John Lawrence was of the opinion that the Mutiny had its origin in the Army and its cause was the greased cartridges and nothing else. Sir John Seeley said that “The Mutiny was a wholly unpatriotic and selfish ‘sepoy mutiny’ with no native leadership and no popular support.”

VEER SAVARKAR (1883-1966), the incomparable patriot and a great son of Bharat Matha was the first historian who in his great work “War of Indian Independence” called the War of 1857 as the “THE FIRST WAR OF INDIAN INDEPENDENCE”.

The sequence of events leading to an open rebellion and revolt at Meerut on 10th of May, 1857, can be summarised as follows. Several months of increasing tension and inflammatory incidents preceded the actual rebellion. Fires, possibly the result of arson, broke out near Calcutta on 24 January 1857. ON FEBRUARY 26, 1857 THE 19TH BENGAL NATIVE INFANTRY (BNI) REGIMENT CAME TO KNOW ABOUT NEW CARTRIDGES WHICH ALLEGEDLY HAD A CASING MADE OF COW AND PIG FAT, WHICH HAD TO BE BITTEN OFF BY MOUTH. THE COW BEING SACRED TO HINDUS AND PIG HARAM TO MUSLIMS, BOTH HINDU AND MUSLIM SOLDIERS REFUSED TO USE THEM. THEIR ENGLISH COLONEL CONFRONTED THEM ANGRILY WITH ARTILLERY AND CAVALRY ON THE PARADE GROUND, BUT LATER ACCEPTED THEIR DEMAND TO WITHDRAW THE ARTILLERY, AND CANCEL THE NEXT MORNING’S PARADE.

The first hero and the first martyr of the War of Indian Independence in 1857 was MANGAL PANDEY. He was a Brahmin by birth, but he had the spirit of a true Kshatriya –-- the unquenchable spirit of an undaunted warrior. He loved his RELIGION and his MOTHERLAND more than his Life. For the sake of these sacred CAUSES, he was ever willing to sacrifice his life without any hesitation of any kind. On March 29, 1857 at the Barrackpore (now Barrackpur) parade ground, near Calcutta (now Kolkata), 29-year-old Mangal Pandey of the 34th BNI, angered by the recent actions by the British, declared that he would rebel against his Commanders. When his Adjutant Lt. Baugh came out to investigate the unrest, Mangal Pandey opened fire against him but hit his horse instead. Mangal Pandey called upon his colleagues in the Army to rise in revolt at once. But his friends were not prepared to join him. Mangal Pandey impulsively jumped into the parade ground and told his fellow soldiers that they should rise up in revolt and drive away the treacherous English enemies out of our Holy Land. One English Sergeant Major Hughson tried to arrest Mangal Pandey. But before he could do so, Mangal Pandey’s bullet made him fall on the ground. Soon Lieutenant Baugh came on the scene and Mangal Pandey, with his sword, killed him also. Immediately thereafter, Colonel Wheeler arrived and ordered his soldiers to arrest Mangal Pandey. But Indian soldiers refused to do so. Colonel Wheeler was joined by Major General John B. Hearsey, Commanding Officer, Bengal Presidency Division.

Thus Mangal Pandey was surrounded by English soldiers on all sides in unbeatable numbers. Mangal Pandey vowed that he would rather die than fall into the hands of the enemy. Therefore he shot himself before the English soldiers could come near him. Unfortunately, he was only wounded and he fell on the ground. Mangal Pandey was arrested. The Britishers tortured Mangal Pandey in order to get exact information about the other revolutionaries who were behind him. But Mangal Pandey was not prepared to reveal their names. He decided that he would rather die than reveal their names and betray his Holy Motherland. So Mangal Pandey was ordered to be hanged by Major General John B. Hearsey and his execution was carried out at Barrackpur on 8th of April 1857

Copy of the orders issued by Major General, John B. Hearsey on 18th of April 1857 confirming the execution by hanging of Mangal Pandey

WITHIN ONE MONTH OF THE EXECUTION OF MANGAL PANDEY AT BARRACKPUR IN BENGAL, THE NEWS ABOUT HIS EXECUTION SPREAD TO ALL PARTS OF INDIA. Everywhere there was unrest among the soldiers. At Meerut there was a large military cantonment. 2,357 Indian sepoys. Besides, 2,038 British troops, armed with 12 British-manned guns were also stationed there. On April 24, 1857 the arrogant Commanding Officer of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry at Meerut ordered 90 of his soldiers to parade and perform firing drills. All but five of the men on parade refused to accept their new greased cartridges. On May 9, 1857 the remaining non-co-operating 85 soldiers were court martialled. 74 of them were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour. 11 comparatively young soldiers were given five years’ imprisonment. The entire garrison was paraded and made to watch the condemned men who were stripped of their uniforms and placed in shackles. As they were being marched off to jail, the condemned soldiers raised slogans against their comrades for betraying them by failing to support them.

THE VERY NEXT DAY, ON THE 10TH OF MAY 1857, AN OPEN REBELLION BROKE OUT AT MEERUT. THE REVOLTING MEERUT SOLDIERS REACHED DELHI NEXT MORNING. THE LOCAL INFANTRY JOINED THEM, AND TOGETHER, THEY KILLED THEIR OWN EUROPEAN OFFICERS AND SEIZED THE CITY OF DELHI FROM THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY. DELHI BECAME THE CENTRE OF THE REVOLT AND BAHADUR SHAH, THE MUGHAL EMPEROR, BECAME ITS NATURAL AND LEGITIMATE SYMBOL.

Thus began the First War of Indian Independence on 10th of May, 1857. We, as a nation, are paying our homage to the hereos and martyrs of this First War of Indian Independence today.

The rebellions sepoys all over the country turned towards Delhi and all the Indian Chiefs who took part in the revolt proclaimed their loyalty to the Mughal Emperor. THE MUGHAL EMPEROR BAHADUR SHAH also wrote letters to all the Indian Chiefs and Rulers of India, asking them to organize a confederacy of Indian States to fight and replace the British Regime. He gave the clarion call for driving the British colonial and imperial rulers out of the soil of India on September 10 1857. I am presenting below a copy of the proclamation issued by Bakht Khan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Rebel Mughal Army of Emperor Bahadur Shah on September 10th 1857.

Proclamation by Bakht Khan, the Commander-in-Chief of the rebel army in Delhi. He fears that the English may enter the town and exhorts Hindu and Muslim troops to fight the enemy with zeal. (National Archives of India, Collection No. 57, Serial No. 461, dated September 10, 1857.)

VEER SAVARKAR (1883-1966)

When we remember the revolutionaries and martyrs of 1857, we should not fail to recall the fact that it was VEER SAVARKAR (1883-1966) who immortalized the names of these great freedom fighters in his brilliant and pioneering book “WAR OF INDIAN INDEPENDENCE” published in the first decade of the 20th century. This book was proscribed by the British Government in India. I am presenting below the front page of this revolutionary book.

In Great Britain, from 1906 to 1908, Veer Savarkar organized all the Indian students to come forward to launch an armed struggle to throw the British out of India. Keeping this larger, noble goal in view, he founded the FREE INDIA SOCIETY, Veer Savarkar thus organised the Indian students studying in England at that time for starting a movement for achieving the goal of INDIAN INDEPENDENCE THROUGH ARMED REVOLUTION. Veer Savarkar gave this bracing and rousing message to his fallen countrymen then in the bonded labour of British Imperial yoke.

“WE MUST STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS BRITISH OFFICER OR THAT OFFICER, THIS LAW OR THAT LAW. THERE WOULD BE NO END TO THAT. OUR MOVEMENT MUST NOT BE LIMITED TO BEING AGAINST ANY PARTICULAR LAW, BUT IT MUST BE FOR ACQUIRING THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE SUCH LAWS OURSELVES. IN OTHER WORDS, WE WANT ABSOLUTE INDEPENDENCE.”

I have already referred to the fact that Veer Savarkar wrote his historic book on the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny (so named by the Colonial British Rulers), which he called as India’s First War of Independence, a terminology the Indian Government accepted after our Independence on August 15th 1947. Veer Savarkar envisioned a type of guerrilla war for Indian independence in the first two decades of the 20^th century, along the lines of the famous armed Independence Movement of 1857. Thus Veer Savarkar became one of the first writers to describe the Revolt of 1857 as the “First War for Independence.” Karl Marx is also said to have referred to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 as the India’s First War of Independence.

Banned from publication throughout the British Empire in 1908, VEER SAVARKAR managed to smuggle his work on the First War of Indian Independence to expatriate Indian revolutionary MADAME BHIKAJI CAMA (1861-1936), who obtained its successful publication in the Netherlands, France and Germany. The second edition was published by Indians in the US.

Later the great revolutionary martyr Bhagat Singh (1907-1931) printed the third edition of Veer Savarkar’s “Indian War of Independence (National Rising of 1857)” Widely smuggled and circulated, Veer Savarkar’s book attained great popularity in all parts of the world. This great work influenced rising young Indians and future revolutionaries, including Subhash Chandra Bose, Chandrashekar Azad, Rajguru and many others. Translations of Veer Savarkar’s book on the 1857 War into many Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali and Tamil were a big success. The Punjabi and Urdu translations of his book travelled far and wide while the Tamil translation became mandatory reading for the Tamil soldiers (who were in majority) of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army between 1943 to 1945.

The War of 1857 was the first nationwide, organized and well-planned attempt to overthrow the British rule, launched by the people of India under the leadership of various kings, rulers and feudal lords from Kandahar to Kamakhya and Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

As R.C. Majumdar has rightly pointed out, the fire of revolution spread from Kolhapur in the South to Peshawar in the North, Gujarat in the West to Bihar in the East. And it was ‘continual upsurge of a popular character’. Azimullah Khan, the right hand man of Nana Saheb Peshwa, and Rangoji Bapu, the emissary of Satara Kingdom met in London to chalk out a detailed plan. Rangoji travelled to Turkey, Russia, and Egypt to seek support for the revolution in India. Azimullah and Nanasaheb travelled throughout the country to contact various kings, chieftains and feudal lords for a nationwide uprising. He travelled to Varanasi, Prayag, Bateswar, Gaya, Puri, Panchavati, Rameswaram, Dwaraka, Nasik, Abu, Ujjain, Badri and Kamrup and visited army camps to inspire the soldiers. Nana Saheb also wrote hundreds of letters to the kings and feudal lords regarding the preparations for the revolution. Nana had also raised a fund of five lakh pounds and deposited in British Banks for the purpose of revolution. The circulation of ‘LOTUS’ among the self-respecting and patriotic soldiers in the army camps of the British rulers and ‘CHAPPATIS’ among rural people all over the country TO ALERT THEM FOR THE UPRISING WAS AN AMAZING FEAT.

The martyrdom and self-sacrifice of the great heroes and heroines of 1857 War of Independence has been written in golden letters in the annals of Indian history. Even today, the children in the remotest villages of northern India sing the glory of the heroes and martyrs in ballads and folk songs. Among them, the name of Jhansi Rani Lakshmibai has been immortalized by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan whose immortal song, “Khoob ladee mardaanee…Vah tho Jhansi wali Raanee thee” is on the lips of every Hindi speaking child of Bharat.

NATURE RENEWS HERSELF AND COVERS YESTERDAY’S BATTLEFIELD WITH GREEN GRASS AND FLOWERS AND THE BLOOD THAT IS SHED FEEDS THE SOIL AND GIVES SUSTENANCE AND STIMULATION TO NEW LIFE.

Sadhu Rangarajan and R.Vivekanadan, in their great and inspiring book titled ‘SAGA OF PATRIOTISM, Revolutionaries in India’s Freedom Struggle’ have rightly said: ‘Everyone sings the glory of Hinduism, the Vedas and Upanishads and the Puranas and Itihasas, but keep away when it is a question of fight to protect the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya or the Ram Setu in Rameswaram or for the rights of the Hindus in this Hindu Nation. When will Mother Bharat give birth to valiant sons and daughters and true sadhus and sants once again? When will Hindu society learn the lessons from past history and when will they proudly proclaim that this is their Eternal Motherland, the Hindu Nation, Bharatavarsha? Time alone could answer! Vande Mataram!’

Now it can be asked: Is it necessary at all to celebrate the Festival of Historic Personalities and Historical Events? I can answer this in the following words –----aglow with light and aflame with fire----of VEER SAVARKAR:

“Why, then, should the historical functions be celebrated? To pay national gratitude we owe to those heroic souls. They should be celebrated as a mark of reverence and remembrance of the immense good those benevolent men have done to the world, because they have sacred sanction of ancient traditions. They are the clouds which shower the nectar of instruction. They are the monuments of virtues. They are the chemicals that act as an incentive to human thoughts and feelings. They are the preceptors who impart virtuous instruction to the youths. They are the living history of the deeds of noble heroes. Functions in their honour should be celebrated because of this. There are so many advantages and definitely no disadvantages. Especially we, Hindus, should take to these functions for emerging out of the present degraded state which was the result of want of self-respect and dutifulness. For, that is the only easy and sure path to the prosperity of the nation.'

THOMAS CARLYLE, IN HIS ‘HEROES AND HERO WORSHIP’ WROTE FOR ALL TIME WHEN HE DECLARED: “CONSIDER ALL THAT LIES IN THAT ONE WORD PAST! WHAT A PATHETIC, SACRED, IN EVERY SENSE POETIC, MEANING IS IMPLIED IN IT; A MEANING GROWING EVER THE CLEARER, THE FARTHER WE RECEDE IN TIME---THE MORE OF THAT SAME PAST WE HAVE TO LOOK THROUGH! HISTORY AFTER ALL IS TRUE POETRY. AND REALITY, IF RIGHTLY INTERPRETED IS GREATER THAN FICTION.”

It is the detailed study of history that makes us fully aware of the poetry and music of the history of the Past! If we study the past with enthusiasm, sympathy and understanding, then the Past comes back to us alive, with many past events taking form, colour, gesture, passion and thought. Here the words of G.M.Trevelyan come alive: “the appeal of history to us all is in the last analysis poetic. But the poetry of history does not consist of imagination roaming at large, but of imagination pursuing the fact and fastening upon it. That which compels the historian to scorn delights and live laborious days is the ardour of his own curiosity to know what really happened long ago in that land of Mystery which we call the Past. To peer into that magic mirror and see fresh figures there everyday is the burning desire that consumes and satisfies him all his life, that carries him each morning as a lover, to the library and the muniment-room. It haunts him like a passion of almost terrible potency, because it is poetic. The dead were and are not. Their place knows them no more and is ours today. Yet they were once as real as we, and we shall tomorrow be shadows like them……In the realm of history, the moment we have reason to think that we are being given fiction instead of fact, be the fiction ever so brilliant, our interest collapses like a pricked balloon. To hold our interest you must tell us something we believe to be true about the men who once walked the earth. It is the FACT about the PAST that is POETIC; just because it really happened it gathers round it all the inscrutable mystery of LIFE and DEATH and TIME. Let the science and research of the historian find the FACT and let his IMAGINATION and ART make clear its significance”.

"