Monday, January 4, 2010

India Retold: BJP'S RECIPE FOR DISASTER: 'BAGAL MEIN SOREN, MUNH MEIN RAM RAM'

  • tags: no_tag

    • If we base our analysis on the faulty understanding that the Ram temple movement was no more than a communal, anti-Muslim upsurge, then everything else that follows not only prevents us from understanding the phenomenon in all its dimensions but also leads us to a wrong path for the future. Yes it did lead to the tragic and unacceptable demolition of the Babri Masjid. But, for most Hindus, was the movement really against mosques or Muslims? Absolutely not.
    • At another and more fundamental level, however, it was about values of governance.
    • Ram was the God whose name was always on the lips of Mahatma Gandhi. But no one can call him communal. Because for Gandhi, Ram represented a set of values to live by. That is what Ram has always meant to most Hindus too. That is one reason why, when Rajiv Gandhi gave Doordarshan the go ahead to telecast TV serial Ramayan in 1987, what followed was unprecedented and remains unsurpassed. The TV serial became so popular that the entire country used to come to a virtual halt on Sunday mornings as everyone who could gain access to a TV set stopped doing what they were to watch the story of Ram, even though they already knew much of it.
    • Ram represented a set of values to live by. That is what Ram has always meant to most Hindus too.
    • Arun Govil brought Ram in flesh and blood into the homes and hearts of Hindus across India like never before in India's history. It is due to this phenomenon, and not Advani's Rath Yatra or the Sangh Parivar's efforts, that the movement to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya gained the tremendous momentum that it did.
    • In the event, it was the BJP that reaped the benefit of the resurgence of Ram in Hindu homes and hearts. But where its leaders made a fundamental error was in believing that they could exploit the sentiments of people in name of Ram solely to get and keep political power. They clean forgot that Ram was really about values and ethics of governance.
    • Perhaps, there is still a belief that the practical and dirty craft of politics can somehow be married with Ram san His values. Perhaps the logic is that if the Congress can con, so can the BJP.
    • "Bagal mein chhuri, munh mein Ram Ram"

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

Muslim Minister imposes Islamic Shariah on Indian Railways. He should be kicked out | Great Hindu

  • tags: no_tag

    ahmed
    • Union Minister of State for Railways E Ahmed should be kicked out of his portfolio.

      A cultural Taliban in secular India
    • The anti-Hindu ways of Ahmed were very well known in Kerala even before he became the Union Minister of State for Railways. After becoming the Union Minister of State for Railways, he is functioning like a Mughal chieftain. Many organisations like the Vishwa Hindu
      Parishad have already publicly condemned this Hindu-hating Minister for having issued instructions to Railways officers not to do Ganesha Puja, breaking of coconut, etc before starting of new trains, inauguration of tracks, bridges, etc. He has banned lighting of traditional oil lamps during inaugurations. Likewise, garlanding of
      trains, anointing them with sandal paste, sindoor, etc. have also been banned. Railway stations have been discouraged against doing puja to electronic panels etc. during ‘Vijayadasami’ and ‘Durga puja’.
    • He has ordered the closure of temples in Railway compounds and is planning their demolition. This anti-Hindu move of Ahmed has caused deep religious resentment and intense anger among the 25 lakh strong railway staff and Hindus at large.
    • – V. Sundaram
    • I am constrained to raise these questions.
      Are we living in Islamic Pakistan? Are we living in Islamic
      Bangladesh? Or are we living in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan? Let me
      move from this macrocosm to the microcosm. Are we living in the
      Muslim-majority Malappuram District in Kerala, rightly described by
      some journalists as a mini-Pakistan in India?

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

Coward Hindus or Failed Islam | Column - M. Lal Goel | M. Lal Goel

  • tags: no_tag

    • Islam's rapid rise from insignificance to vast international empire had a touch of the miraculous. How could the Muslims have attained all this if God was not on their side? The fabulous military victories demonstrated to the faithful God's pleasure with their ways and displeasure with the ways of the infidel.
    • The Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul (Beyond Belief, 1998) observed that the Arabs were the most successful colonizers in the world.  The Arabic language becomes the sacred language for over a billion people.  Arabic heroes become their heroes. Bowing towards Mecca five times a day must surely count as an ultimate symbol of Arab cultural imperialism.

    • When temples and shrines were being destroyed, Hindus turned within and produced the most lyrical devotional poetry.  Mirabai, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Surdas, Ravidas, Tulsidas, these and many more composed their poems during Muslim ascendancy in India.  It is easier to bring down temple walls.  How do you bring down the shakti encased in shlokas and bhajans?  Who survives after 500 years? Mighty Babar or Guru Nanak? 

      Hindus should give up the false notion that they performed miserably before the Muslim or British challenge.  Maharaja Shivaji defeated Muslim armies in 1660s; Europe followed in defeating the Turks at Vienna in 1683 (on 9/11/1683, mark the date).  India was the first country in all of Asia and Africa to throw off the British colonial yoke in 1947.  Independence in Afro-Asian countries followed.

    • The 21st century may well be an Indian century, not because of India's growing economic might, but because of its perennial philosophy.  The tide has begun to turn in favor of ideas that first took root in India some 2,500 years ago: Oneness of Godhead, inherent divinity of man, pluralism, religious freedom and non-violence.

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

|| Satyameva Jayate || » Blog Archive » Reading the Bhagavad Gita…

  • tags: no_tag

    mahabharat
    • Arjuna asked:

      Hey God, if you feel that, wisdom is superior to action,
      Why are you pushing me to do this savage war? 1

      You seem to enchant my brain by your conflicting words,
      Please tell me decisively that, by which I will get fame. 2

    • Lord said:
    • None can remain for even for a fraction of time,
      Without doing any action whatsoever,
      For by fundamental laws of nature,
      One is forced to indulge in some action or other. 5
    • All actions in this world are done,
      Due to innate property of nature,
      And only the self centered one,
      Who is ignorant thinks that he does it. 27
    • Dedicate all the work you do to me,
      And understanding that you are the soul,
      Do actions without desire and attachment,
      And undertake this war in the state of peace. 30

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

Sunday, January 3, 2010

शुरू होगी कटासराज यात्रा

  • tags: no_tag

    • पाकिस्तान स्थित हिंदूओं के ऐतिहासिक तीर्थ स्थल कटासराज की यात्रा महाशिवरात्री के अवसर पर आरंभ होगी।

      यह जानकारी कटासराज यात्रा के मुख्य संयोजक और केद्रीय सनातन धर्मसभा उत्तरी भारत के प्रधान शिवप्रताप बजाज ने दी। उन्होंने बताया कि भारत सरकार के विदेश मंत्रालय ने यात्रा के इच्छुक श्रद्धालुओं के पासपोर्ट और लिस्टें मंगाई है। उनका यह भी कहना है कि इण्डो-पाक प्ररोटोकोल अनुसार भारत से केवल २०० हिंदू तीर्थ यात्री पाकिस्तान भेजे जाएंगे। वर्ष में दोबार नवंबर और शिवरात्री के अवसर पर फरवरी मार्च में यात्रा करने का कार्यक्रम बनाया जाता है।

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