Riotous Reportage: Gujarat 2002
Sandhya Jain
18 Apr 2009
If ever there was a case for invoking Section 495-A of the penal code – causing religious hurt with intent – it should be invoked against Begum Teesta Setalvad and her accomplices in the Citizens for Justice and Peace organisation, for viciously wounding the religious sentiments and communal dignity of both Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat.
Other relevant sections of the law need to be expeditiously invoked to punish the perpetrators of the most sadistic lies in the wake of the Gujarat 2002 carnage, which burst out after the burning of kar sevaks alive in the Sabarmati Express on 28 February 2002 at Godhra station.
It is well known that the Gujarat riots were a reaction to the well-planned Godhra train atrocity. Yet Begum Teesta et al accused Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the State Government of complicity, and defamed them before the international community, bringing a bad name to the nation and, as alleged by her own star-turned-hostile-witness Zahira Sheikh, filling her coffers in the process.
Both the Indian State and the Judiciary, specifically the Supreme Court, are in the dock of public opinion on this exposure of Begum Teesta et al, as both have willfully subordinated ordinary caution, discretion, and respect for legal process to give her and her cohorts a free run, in violation of law and all norms of decency.
If and when the government does move, it would do well to take action against foreign-affiliated ex-government servants like Harsh Mander, who compromised the dignity of the nation to titillate a western audience and finalize a lucrative employment; his pension must be cancelled forthwith and the amounts paid thus far recovered as arrears of land revenue.
Action is also due against novelist-activist Suzanne Arundhati Roy for her since-exposed lies about the rape-cum-murder of the daughter(s) of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, and her international defamation of the nation.
Sexing up Gujarat incidents
In a sensational development in the Supreme Court on 13 April 2009, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to investigate the Gujarat riots severely censured NGOs and Teesta Setalvad (Ansari) for cooking up macabre tales of wanton killings in the 2002 riots.
The SIT, led by former CBI director R.K. Raghavan, told the apex court that many incidents of atrocities were simply cooked up by the activists; false charges were levelled against the then police chief P.C. Pandey; and false witnesses tutored to give evidence about imaginary incidents. The SIT report was submitted before a Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam. Other members included former DGP C.B. Satpathy and senior IPS officers Geetha Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia. Their task was to enquire into post-Godhra riot incidents in Godhra, Gulbarga Society, Naroda Gaon, Naroda Patiya and Sardarpura.
# The SIT specifically found that in the Gulbarga Society case, the allegation that P.C. Pandey actually helped the mob instead of protecting the people (read Muslims) facing the wrath of rioters was completely false. At the time of the alleged incident, Mr. Pandey was helping with the hospitalisation of riot victims and arranging police bandobast.
# The SIT found that 22 witnesses, who had submitted identical affidavits before various courts relating to the riot incidents, were tutored and given pre-drafted affidavits by Begum Teesta, and had not actually witnessed riot incidents. On questioning, these persons revealed that they were not even aware of the incidents.
Certain incidents widely-publicised by NGOs were pure concoctions:
# A pregnant Kausar Banu was gang-raped by a mob, who then gouged out the foetus with sharp weapons
# Dumping of dead bodies into a well by rioters at Naroda Patiya
# Police botching up investigation into the killing of British nationals then visiting Gujarat and inadvertently caught in the riots
NHRC, Supreme Court: playing to an international gallery
The SIT findings are especially pertinent because hitherto there has been only ONE VERSION on Gujarat – that of NGOs with a Western audience. Sadly, agencies like the National Human Rights Commission and even the Supreme Court functioned as cheerleaders and facilitators, in utter disregard of their own mandate and ignoring emerging inconsistencies in the story, including victims who denied their victimhood.
The Supreme Court went so far as to dub the Modi administration as “modern day Neros” in the Best Bakery case. But when this mythology was challenged by star witness Zahira Sheikh, she was hauled up for perjury, while nothing happened to the Teflon Teesta.
The National Human Rights Commission felt no embarrassment when Zahira Sheikh proved that the documents upon which the NHRC recommended shifting the trial outside Gujarat were NOT signed by Zahira (who contemptuously referred to them as Teesta’s pamphlet-baazi).
It is a sad commentary on the functioning of the Supreme Court that it also accepted these unsigned documents as “evidence” in the most internationally-watched criminal case in Indian history. Further, the Court used these pamphlets to express lack of confidence in the entire Gujarat Judiciary and transfer cases to a fast-track court in Mumbai. Accountability cannot now be evaded.
Denial rebuffed
Following the sensational disclosures, Citizens for Justice and Peace issued a carefully worded statement trying to deny that any such exposé took place in court. A journalist who covered the court proceedings that day took umbrage at the attempted rebuttal and retorted that his story was based upon the SIT report to which he had access, and not on any claims or documents circulated by the Gujarat government that day
[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Report-based-on-SIT-findings/articleshow/4407437.cms]
To prove his point, he quoted directly from the report:
# Page 9, on the Gulbarga Society carnage of 28 February 2002: “'Insistence of 19 witnesses to take on record their signed statements which according to them were prepared by Smt Teesta Setalvad and advocate Tirmiji” (the reference here is to witnesses giving signed computerised statements which were not accepted by the investigating officer (IO) as under Section 161, the officer is required to write the statement of witnesses after interrogating them personally).
# Page 10: “All of them had brought with them ready-made statements prepared on computer and requested IO to take them on record. IO explained to them that according to law they had to be questioned and examined and their statements reduced in writing by the IO.” Further, “On questioning them in respect of the typed statements, all 3 of them stated that the computerised prepared statements were given to them by Smt Teesta Setalvad and advocate Tirmiji and that they had merely signed and initialed on such prepared statements.”
# The report adds, “There are discrepancies between the prepared statements and statements recorded by the IO. In respect of 6 witnesses, there are contradictory statements relating to the names of the accused they were linking with (the) crime.”
# Page 11 says that when “'questioned about the discrepancies,” the 6 witnesses “stated that they had prepared the statements and not Setalvad and advocate Tirmiji.” In other words, the latter witnesses changed their version about who had prepared their signed statements.
# Page 8, regarding the allegation about then Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P.C. Pandey visiting Gulbarga Society at 10.30 am and assuring police protection to Muslims but not following it up was wrong as “he was proved to have gone to Sola Civil Hospital to take care of the dead bodies of Sabarmati Express arson victims.”
# Lastly, the report cites some instances of police dereliction of duty: senior police inspector K.G. Erda of Maghani Nagar PS was found to be “falsely creating the record” and “allowing the destruction of evidence in order to screen offenders;” and pre-SIT IO was guilty of “preparing slipshod inquest reports.”
Chronicle of the Invented Epic Tragedy
# Zahira Shaikh sprang into the limelight after her June 2003 testimony in a Vadodara fast track court led to the acquittal of 21 accused persons in the Best Bakery case. Zahira claimed that the smoke, darkness, and fear which made her hide when the bakery was set ablaze, did not permit her to recognize any of the accused. Sounds truthful.
# This outraged the secular baiters of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and they were quick to retaliate. The Sheikh family was “contacted;” some “understanding” reached; tickets to Mumbai purchased...
# Zahira next made headlines when she surfaced in Mumbai in July 2003; newspapers splashed huge pictures of her being received warmly by poet Javed Akhtar – the secularists’ favourite spokesman for minority (read Muslim) rights. She made the sensational allegation that a BJP MLA had intimidated her and said she could not testify freely unless the Gujarat riot cases were transferred out of the BJP-ruled State.
# The derailment of justice began when the National Human Rights Commission, inspired by media ranting and an incurable desire to pander to a Western-International Gallery, jumped into the fray with energy unmatched by basic ability.
# Briefly, NHRC did not do its homework – at all. Buoyed by the wave of Media-NGO ranting, the Commission acted upon an UNSIGNED AFFIDAVIT (a point that needs emphasis because it has been willfully ignored by BOTH the NHRC and the Supreme Court despite being mentioned by this writer over two years ago) furnished by the ubiquitous Begum Teesta on Zahira’s behalf. Accordingly, NHRC asked the Supreme Court to order retrial in the Best Bakery Case outside Gujarat.
# In its enthusiasm not to be left behind in the Race for Political Correctness, the Supreme Court – also without scrutinizing documents – went ahead and established an amazing precedent on utterly non-existent premises! This cannot be the meaning of the term – Justice is Blind.
# The NHRC and the Supreme Court owe the nation a public explanation and a public apology. With its startling decision to transfer the Best Bakery case out of Gujarat, the apex court tarnished the reputation of the ENTIRE Gujarat Judiciary. And whichever way one looks at it, the transfer of cases from BJP-ruled Gujarat to Congress-NCP ruled Maharashtra was a LOADED POLITICAL STATEMENT. Was it warranted?
# Zahira Shaikh justly dismissed this as “pamphlet-baazi,” which indeed it was. The shoddy treatment meted out to her needs immediate redressal and compensation.
# It bears stating that even after Zahira stated that she had been intimidated in Vadodara, she was not given any police protection in Mumbai, but was left at the mercy of hitherto unknown NGO activists. As high-profile NGOs ALWAYS have a Political Agenda, the Supreme Court must tell us why it decided that this was an appropriate manner of protecting witnesses in such a sensitive case.
# Then in late 2004, Zahira suddenly accused Teesta of virtually imprisoning her (Zahira) in Teesta’s Mumbai home, forcing her to sign documents she could not read, pressurizing her to give a certain type of testimony after recognising persons from photographs, and generally threatening her in the guise of organizing her legal defense. This was the first sign that the wheels of Dharma were beginning to turn.
# It is shocking that the authorities refused to investigate this allegation. Who were the agencies that provided Begum Teesta with photographs of accused persons so that she could tutor witnesses under her control?
# Zahira further accused Teesta of making millions in her name and not fulfilling promises of financial help made to her (sounds credible).
# Unnerved at the looming exposé, Begum Teesta and her fellow travellers worked overtime on a vilification campaign, with help from an obliging media. A vicious witch-hunt was launched against the lonely orphan; it was alleged that Zahira had “sold” her testimony to a BJP legislator; worse, it was “suggested” that Zahira’s testimony had become valueless. A Judiciary with eyes-for-Teesta-only went along, though it is well-known that NGOs often enrich themselves after riots and do not pass on commensurate benefits to the victims. In fairness, there should have been an across-the-board examination of the accounts of all NGOs providing so-called relief in the Gujarat riots, and an investigation into the nature of relief and rehabilitation actually made available to victims. This must now be done if the Judiciary is to redeem itself.
# But when Zahira demanded that Supreme Court Registrar-General probe her allegations of offer of inducements, and persons responsible for inducements, she was ignored.
# Instead, Zahira was made the object of intimidatory investigations. Till date, no one has explained how a girl from Gujarat could open a bank account in Mumbai – someone must have introduced her – and how money was deposited in that bank account.
# The Supreme Court Registrar General was assisted by a Joint Commissioner of Police. Yet he failed to furnish evidence to prove his insinuation that Zahira received funds from a politically incorrect source (read BJP). In short, Zahira’s revolt against Begum Teesta was crushed with a judicial sledgehammer. An apology is due.
# Zahira asked the Vadodara Collector for protection from Setalvad and her NGO allies. Given the gravity of the charge that she was taken to Mumbai forcibly and the Mumbai police were unresponsive when approached for help; given the now-incontrovertible evidence collected by the SIT, the Supreme Court must IMMEDIATELY remove all witnesses from the care and possible intimidation of NGO-activists. Press reports that other witnesses were pushed underground by NGOs, which could well result in doctored testimonies, need investigation.
# Zahira alleged that a friend of Teesta threatened she would be “lynched” if she returned to Vadodara. There must be an enquiry into Zahira’s claim that Teesta and her colleagues told Zahira she must lie for the sake of her community. Courts must take cognizance of the assertion that Heena (wife of Zahira’s brother) was at her maternal home when the Best Bakery incident took place, and was falsely made an “eye-witness” by the NGO.
# After the SIT report, there can be no doubt that a well-funded and well-organized extra-constitutional caucus is serving ends remote from justice. Some of these elements are entrenched in political parties and the bureaucracy (which needs a drastic curtailment of its powers) and thus get undue indulgence from the political establishment and judiciary. Most disturbing in the present case is the brazenness with which they pursued an overtly communal agenda with the specific objective of demonizing the Hindu community.
# In March 2006, the Supreme Court FAILED to do justice, and was seen to perpetuate INJUSTICE.
# Zahira once demanded the right to cross-examine then NHRC chairman A.S. Anand because she visited the Commission with Teesta and made an oral submission which was recorded by Chairman and two members. Zahira said her oral testimony differed from the record NHRC placed before the Supreme Court. Today the NHRC is in the dock for a sensational “hijack” of justice.
# Actually, things began unravelling even earlier. A citizen, H. Jhaveri, found that the Citizens for Justice and Peace (represented by Begum Teesta) and the CPM (represented by MP Brinda Karat and Rais Khan Pathan) had distributed money to at least 10 witnesses in various post-Godhra trial cases. One Madina Pathan received Rs. 5 lakhs (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sc-affidavit-wrong-didnt-know-what-we-signed-riot-victim/399007/).
# Caught on the wrong foot, Pathan declared he had been following Teesta’s orders, and sought protection from ‘death threats’ from the Gujarat Police which he once vilified!
# Then there were some “rape” victims who told the court that they were astonished to know they were raped! The case is sub-judice and women’s honour is at stake, but still it needs to be said that Gujarat Muslim women DENIED BEING RAPED during the riots, and said they had signed affidavits written in English in good faith, but did not know the English language and what was written in the said affidavits! A familiar story...
Begum blossoms on International Circuit
Teesta Setalvad’s bold and innovative inventions did not go unrewarded. Over the years, the Begum picked up an impressive array of national and international awards (and we have no way of knowing the extent to which she battened her purse). The awards include:
2003 - Nuremberg Human Rights Award 2003
2004 - Parliamentarians for Global Action ‘Defender of Democracy’ Award, jointly with Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand
2004 - M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award from the Vigil India Movement
2006 - Nani A Palkhivala Award
2007 - Padma Shri
Bogus bleeding heart: Harsh Mander
On 13 March 2002, an hitherto unknown and undistinguished gentleman named Harsh Mander made his debut in the columns of a national daily; became a well-choreographed international celebrity; resigned from the IAS after completing 20 years of service and becoming eligible for pension; and became ‘permanent’ with an international NGO where he was on deputation.
As the IAS is already under a cloud as a corrupt and non-performing organisation, this would be an ideal opportunity for it to take in-house correctives and stop pandering to the culture of “the anti-national is truly international.” The nation is fast losing patience with these sleazy types.
Briefly, Mander’s execrable article was titled, “Cry, the Beloved Country. Reflections on the Gujarat massacre.” It was obviously a command performance, and someone well-placed got it positioned in the English language media.
Mander wrote claiming to have toured Gujarat for ten days after the riots, “My heart is sickened, my soul wearied, my shoulders aching with the burdens of guilt and shame.” He spoke glibly of “pitiless brutality against women and small children by organised bands of armed young men,” and YES:
“What can you say about a woman eight months pregnant who begged to be spared. Her assailants instead slit open her stomach, pulled out her foetus and slaughtered it before her eyes.”
Well, we now know that this NEVER HAPPENED, so Mander must explain his information-gathering techniques or admit he simply wrote what he was tutored to write by unknown persons, or that someone did the writing which he passed off in his name because he had an IAS tag and was going to “resign” from service in a manner that would gain instant lucrative international assignment + pension benefit intact.
In these circumstances, it would be a safe bet to conclude that the rest of his ‘true stories’ are similar Bedtime Tales for the Macabre-Minded.
This one is fit for Ramsay Brothers:
- A small boy of six in Juhapara camp described how his mother and six brothers and sisters were battered to death before his eyes; he survived only because he fell unconscious, and was taken for dead.
- A family escaping from Naroda-Patiya… spoke of losing a young woman and her three month old son, because a police constable directed her to `safety' and she found herself instead surrounded by a mob which doused her with kerosene and set her and her baby on fire.
Looking back, I am amazed one did not detect, then, the note of joyous triumphalism, the gloating “I got you” tone in which the piece was written:
“I have never known a riot which has used the sexual subjugation of women so widely as an instrument of violence in the recent mass barbarity in Gujarat. There are reports everywhere of gang-rape, of young girls and women, often in the presence of members of their families, followed by their murder by burning alive, or by bludgeoning with a hammer and in one case with a screw driver…”
Possible. But how does one explain the fact that nearly all surviving ‘raped’ women now say that they never complained of rape, and did not know that their affidavits claimed rape?
Everywhere he went, Mander met people who said Gujarat was not a riot, but a “planned massacre, a pogrom.” Of course, he felt “great shame at the abdication of duty of my peers in the civil and police administration.” And of course he blamed “civil society.” In other words, the whole of Hindu India in whatever guise – politicians, police, officers, citizens. The only true Samaritans he did encounter were Muslims (who else?)
[http://www.sabrang.com/gujarat/statement/nv2.htm]
What must be done?
# Harsh Mander was a SERVING IAS officer when he wrote those outright lies. He must be prosecuted under relevant laws for
1] Scandalizing the Gujarat government in the eyes of the nation and the world
2] Peddling false stories about the torture of Muslim women with the intent to humiliate and dehumanize Gujarati Hindu society in the eyes of the nation and the world
3] Inciting and provoking animosity and hatred among Hindus and Muslims by fanning fires of hatred instead of allowing the return of normalcy and communal harmony
# The Government of India must immediately revoke his pension and recover previous amounts paid by attaching his bank accounts or properties, if necessary.
# The National Human Rights Commission has evolved into a national disgrace and should be wound up expeditiously. It serves no public purpose and panders only to an international audience, which is definitionally anti-Hindu.
# On 23 November 2008, I was part of a citizen’s initiative to the Commission, to demand an enquiry into allegations of illegal detention and torture of Sadhvi Pragya by the Mumbai ATS. No action has been reported to us in this matter till date, and I am quite confident that after one formal notice to the Maharashtra Home Secretary – duly reported in the media – there has been NO follow up action at all.
# Since then, Sadhvi Pragya has been hospitalized for weakness after she refused food on finding non-vegetarian items in her jail food. Would NHRC have remembered that it had sent a formal notice to the Maharashtra Government and not got a reply? No. There seems to be a tacit understanding about what cases need to be followed and what are to be ignored.
# Since the cases taken up are ONLY those pertaining to the Minorities, and we already have a Minorities Commission, the NHRC is truly redundant.
# The Supreme Court must tell us if we need a Supreme Court? Because if the highest judicial institution of the country plays Second Fiddle to West-backed NGOs and activists with unknown agendas and sources of income, we may be better off institutionalizing a true jungle raj in which we Hindus have a better chance of surviving.
# If the Supreme Court does its job properly, what need is there of a National Human Rights Commission? It is not the job of the Indian taxpayer to provide retired judges with paid sinecures. These two organisations should stop their jugalbandi and tell us which of them should survive, and which should be wound up.
# The Supreme Court must immediately initiate steps to undo its own previous prejudicial and punitive treatment of Zahira Shaikh and give the poor orphan a fair compensation so that she can begin to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. The Registrar-General and Joint Commissioner of Police who demonstrated bias against her must be punished.
# All Gujarat witnesses currently being ‘held’ by NGOs must be immediately taken away and put under the custody of the Gujarat State.
# All victims must be given their sworn affidavits in a language they understand and asked if they stand by them or rebut the allegations therein. After that, action must be taken against those who got signatures through unfair means.
# The apex court must retrieve its honour by sending the Gujarat riot cases BACK to Gujarat.
# Action must be taken against ALL NGOs and activists who orchestrated the international opprobrium against the Gujarat state and the Hindu people of India.
# Zahira has exposed major holes in the ethical roofing of statutory commissions that play to an international gallery, and the Hindu-baiting media-NGO nexus. Her demand for a probe into Teesta’s post-Gujarat assets remains pertinent.
# Finally, as the riot cases were transferred on faulty premises, norms must be laid down to prevent the hijacking of justice in future.
Last word
Why were Gujarati Muslims quick to return to normal; why did they refuse to wallow in anti-Narendra Modi rhetoric to the anguish of the media-human rights wallahs; why did they insist that Gujarat was the best place to live and prosper; and why did even Qutbuddin Ansari – the face of the Gujarat riots – quit the safe environs of Kolkata and return to Ahmedabad where he was supposedly nearly hounded to death?
Could it be that Narendra Modi is not such a demon after all?
Monday, April 20, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
PANCHAAMRITAM 159
PANCHAAMRITAM 159
Pancha is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar
Poornima, Kali Yugaabda 5110, Sarvadhari Panguni 27 (April 9, 2009)
ONE
Dashrath Manjhi (born in 1934) of village Gehlour is a daily wage labourer. The nearest hospital was 80 kilometers away. In other words, a child in that village had hard time surviving. People with health problems found it nearly impossible to walk on a muddy road for 80 kms to get a pill or the doctor's advice. Some people even died on the way. One day Dashrath's wife fell down on that very path when she was on the way to meet Dashrath with his midday meal. It was at this point that Dashrath decided to build a tunnel through the Gehlour hills to make life easier for his village folk. Obviously the whole village thought Dashrath had gone insane. He earned his daily wages as a coolie, and then devoted a few hours everyday to this new challenge. He constructed a 360 feet long, 30 feet high and 25 feet wide passage through Gehlour hills with a hammer, chisel and nails working day and night for 22 years from 1960 to 1982. His feat reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district (Bihar, Bharat) from 75 km to just one km. The village was blessed with a new lifeline. People from his village could reach the nearest hospital in 10 minutes. He felt peace in his heart as he knew an entire village benefited. The then President Abdul Kalam honoured him with the Padmashree Award for this selfless act. The government offered to give him a piece of land and a house in Karjani village. He requested the government to build a hospital in the land. He was hit by cancer and died in August 2007 at the age of 78.
Based on a write up by Shri Sandip Pradhan, Chennai. Also www.patnadaily.com.
Idea: Shri Vasuvaj of Samskrit Bharati, Bengaluru
TWO
Of all the institutions that The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) runs, `Sravanam' is unique. Sravanam is an institute specially started for the children who are hearing impaired. This is very special because it takes children up to 5 years of age and trains them to speak, unlike most institutes that train them in sign language. Along with the child, the mother is provided free board and lodging until the completion of the training. The institute was started with the first batch of 6 children. Today it benefits 120 children. What is amazing is that the student to teacher ratio. It has one teacher for two students. When the first batch of 'graduating' children spoke from the dais during a function, every eye in the audience was moist with tears. I write this to specially ask the readers to refer children with hearing impairment (Age up to 5 years) to the Sravanam, TTD, Tirupati. They will be pleased to take as many, so the future generations can hear and chant the Divya Nama of Govinda.The first batch of these 6 children are fit for admission into the regular schools of the TTD. From a note by Shri S V Badri, Chennai
THREE
We have seen the shortcomings of capitalism, communism and socialism. Now is the time for humanism and spiritualism. Politics without humanism and spiritualism is bound to be dirty. Many people believe that spiritualism is not for this world, that it is not a practical tool to bring about societal transformation. But that's a misconception. Mahatma Gandhi was spiritual. He conducted satsangs every day and played an important role in bringing freedom for our country. That is why today we need leaders who have a spirit of sacrifice, and who are spiritual in their outlook, to enter politics. (Sri Sri Ravishankar, renowned spiritual exponent in his post on March 30, 2009 at IBN Politics.com)
FOUR
While some tourist destinations lure people with pubs and free flowing drinks, a small village of East Khasi Hills district (Meghalaya, Bharat) already a popular tourist hub, has decided to go alcohol free. The picturesque Laitkynsew village has been declared a no alcohol zone by the Dorbar Shnong (village council), with village authorities also announcing a penalty for violation. Village sordar (chief) Modi Basaiawmoit said, the decision to ban drinking and manufacturing alcohol was taken by the Dorbar after noticing many social evils because of the menace of liquor consumption. The Dorbar Shnong also prohibited carrying of alcoholic drinks into the village from outside and asked volunteers to keep a close vigil in this regard, a villager said. Women of the village have lent their support to the campaign by volunteering to check any attempt to sell or produce alcohol in the village, which has about 150 households with the majority of the villagers being farmers. Dorbar Shnong, in collaboration with various NGOs, has organized a campaign against alcoholic drinks in the village. (Shri.Prashant Mahamuni, Seva Bharati (an NGO), in an email on March 8, 2009).
FIVE
Shri Navinbhai M. Shah of Narayanpura, Ahmedabad (Gujarat, Bharat), carried a packet containing 50 tolas (580 grams) of gold ornaments to the locker section of the Ahmedabad Mercantile Cooperatve Bank. He took out all the contents of the locker and checked them. He placed all of them back into the locker, but in a hurry, left the packet that he had brought for keeping in the locker on the table there, locked his locker and went home. An hour later Smt Namrata Behn Patel of Asarwa came to the bank to operate her locker. She was taken aback on seeing a packet filled with jewellery lying on the table. After finishing her work, she contacted the locker manager Shri Dilipbhai Patel and handed over the packet. He at once called all the customers who came that day to the locker section and after inquiries, handed over the packet to Navinbhai in the presnce of Namrata Behn. On getting back his jewel packet worth Rs 7.5 lakhs, Navibhai heartily thanked the manager and Namrata Behn. (From a March 20, 2009 report by Shri.Prakash / Shri.Vinod of HINDUSTHAN SAMACHAR, New Delhi, the multi-lingual, co-operative news agency - www.hindusthansamachar.com).
OOOOOOOOOOOO
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Pancha is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar
Poornima, Kali Yugaabda 5110, Sarvadhari Panguni 27 (April 9, 2009)
ONE
Dashrath Manjhi (born in 1934) of village Gehlour is a daily wage labourer. The nearest hospital was 80 kilometers away. In other words, a child in that village had hard time surviving. People with health problems found it nearly impossible to walk on a muddy road for 80 kms to get a pill or the doctor's advice. Some people even died on the way. One day Dashrath's wife fell down on that very path when she was on the way to meet Dashrath with his midday meal. It was at this point that Dashrath decided to build a tunnel through the Gehlour hills to make life easier for his village folk. Obviously the whole village thought Dashrath had gone insane. He earned his daily wages as a coolie, and then devoted a few hours everyday to this new challenge. He constructed a 360 feet long, 30 feet high and 25 feet wide passage through Gehlour hills with a hammer, chisel and nails working day and night for 22 years from 1960 to 1982. His feat reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district (Bihar, Bharat) from 75 km to just one km. The village was blessed with a new lifeline. People from his village could reach the nearest hospital in 10 minutes. He felt peace in his heart as he knew an entire village benefited. The then President Abdul Kalam honoured him with the Padmashree Award for this selfless act. The government offered to give him a piece of land and a house in Karjani village. He requested the government to build a hospital in the land. He was hit by cancer and died in August 2007 at the age of 78.
Based on a write up by Shri Sandip Pradhan, Chennai. Also www.patnadaily.com.
Idea: Shri Vasuvaj of Samskrit Bharati, Bengaluru
TWO
Of all the institutions that The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) runs, `Sravanam' is unique. Sravanam is an institute specially started for the children who are hearing impaired. This is very special because it takes children up to 5 years of age and trains them to speak, unlike most institutes that train them in sign language. Along with the child, the mother is provided free board and lodging until the completion of the training. The institute was started with the first batch of 6 children. Today it benefits 120 children. What is amazing is that the student to teacher ratio. It has one teacher for two students. When the first batch of 'graduating' children spoke from the dais during a function, every eye in the audience was moist with tears. I write this to specially ask the readers to refer children with hearing impairment (Age up to 5 years) to the Sravanam, TTD, Tirupati. They will be pleased to take as many, so the future generations can hear and chant the Divya Nama of Govinda.The first batch of these 6 children are fit for admission into the regular schools of the TTD. From a note by Shri S V Badri, Chennai
THREE
We have seen the shortcomings of capitalism, communism and socialism. Now is the time for humanism and spiritualism. Politics without humanism and spiritualism is bound to be dirty. Many people believe that spiritualism is not for this world, that it is not a practical tool to bring about societal transformation. But that's a misconception. Mahatma Gandhi was spiritual. He conducted satsangs every day and played an important role in bringing freedom for our country. That is why today we need leaders who have a spirit of sacrifice, and who are spiritual in their outlook, to enter politics. (Sri Sri Ravishankar, renowned spiritual exponent in his post on March 30, 2009 at IBN Politics.com)
FOUR
While some tourist destinations lure people with pubs and free flowing drinks, a small village of East Khasi Hills district (Meghalaya, Bharat) already a popular tourist hub, has decided to go alcohol free. The picturesque Laitkynsew village has been declared a no alcohol zone by the Dorbar Shnong (village council), with village authorities also announcing a penalty for violation. Village sordar (chief) Modi Basaiawmoit said, the decision to ban drinking and manufacturing alcohol was taken by the Dorbar after noticing many social evils because of the menace of liquor consumption. The Dorbar Shnong also prohibited carrying of alcoholic drinks into the village from outside and asked volunteers to keep a close vigil in this regard, a villager said. Women of the village have lent their support to the campaign by volunteering to check any attempt to sell or produce alcohol in the village, which has about 150 households with the majority of the villagers being farmers. Dorbar Shnong, in collaboration with various NGOs, has organized a campaign against alcoholic drinks in the village. (Shri.Prashant Mahamuni, Seva Bharati (an NGO), in an email on March 8, 2009).
FIVE
Shri Navinbhai M. Shah of Narayanpura, Ahmedabad (Gujarat, Bharat), carried a packet containing 50 tolas (580 grams) of gold ornaments to the locker section of the Ahmedabad Mercantile Cooperatve Bank. He took out all the contents of the locker and checked them. He placed all of them back into the locker, but in a hurry, left the packet that he had brought for keeping in the locker on the table there, locked his locker and went home. An hour later Smt Namrata Behn Patel of Asarwa came to the bank to operate her locker. She was taken aback on seeing a packet filled with jewellery lying on the table. After finishing her work, she contacted the locker manager Shri Dilipbhai Patel and handed over the packet. He at once called all the customers who came that day to the locker section and after inquiries, handed over the packet to Navinbhai in the presnce of Namrata Behn. On getting back his jewel packet worth Rs 7.5 lakhs, Navibhai heartily thanked the manager and Namrata Behn. (From a March 20, 2009 report by Shri.Prakash / Shri.Vinod of HINDUSTHAN SAMACHAR, New Delhi, the multi-lingual, co-operative news agency - www.hindusthansamachar.com).
OOOOOOOOOOOO
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Friday, April 10, 2009
Religious conversion is God’s work, but is it?
Religious conversion is God’s work, but is it?
Hilda Raja
05 Apr 2009
The new Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Sr. Mary Prema, made two revelations - that religious conversion ‘is God’s work’ and that - if she received divine inspiration, she would go to Kandhamal. The first statement, of describing conversions as God’s work, is the usual cliché, handy to all those involved in conversion. Conversion is to Christianity what jihad is to Islam.
Sr. Prema explained, ‘Every human being has the right to believe. Each person is born with dignity. Religious conversion is God’s work.’ The contradictions galore within these sentences are glaring. If every person has the right to believe, then where is the need to initiate that person to something new and strange, in which that person is not born in?
Should one god be exorcised out of the person and another god be installed to uphold the dignity with which this person was born? This is actually what conversion is all about. Why this rupturing of the person from what he/she was?
God of Invasions
What Sr. Prema really means is that every person has a right to be converted and hence the right of the person to believe is conditioned and restricted to only believing in the god in whom Sr. Prema and her church believes. This is what Sr. Prema articulated when she so naively asserted that every person has a right to believe and every person is born with dignity. That this god is only 2000 years old and somehow seems to be always in the company of those who invade the land of others, is another dimension which needs a longer treatise.
If conversion is God’s work, then whose work is re-conversion? Sr. Prema, the Superior General of the MoC, and the whole armies of Christian missionaries involved in conversion, have failed this god miserably - because their god has failed them. If conversion is God’s work, he seems to be rather slow and inefficient. The Catholic Church has the biggest army of nuns and priests and the Christian evangelical churches have their own brand of evangelists; the Southern Baptists alone as a group has nearly 100,000 career missionaries in North India.
It is the simple unarmed, poverty-stricken tribals and passive Hindus that this God and his divine inspired missionaries target. Yet it is not so easy; despite the enormous funds that flow and the armies at the disposal of this god, he had to give divine inspiration to massacre an unarmed poor Swamiji whom he found a great hurdle to the spread of his kingdom.
Conversion is Violence
Sr. Prema has unwittingly exposed the bluff of the Congress and UPA leaders. We are told that conversion is not taking place. Conversion takes different forms - globally, it is disguised as a military coup, violence, and very often a deception of service and development is given to this violent conversion. Yes, conversion is violence wrought on a person - to deprive the person of his/her dignity, which according to Sr. Prema, every person is born with - to tear the person off his affinity, his religious heritage and make him/her an alien; a psychological bleeding to death.
Christianity and conversion are two sides of the same coin. Wherever Christianity went, it was bloodshed-destruction, and a hidden agenda of political power, economic aggrandizement, and pauperization of the victims. In the words of Jomo Kenyatta (of Kenya) “when the missionaries came they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray,’ We closed our eyes, when we opened them, they had our lands and we had the Bible.”
This is true not only in Africa, but all over the globe. Those countries which broke away from the stranglehold of the Vatican became progressive - like Canada, Australia, England. But those colonized by Catholic powers like Spain, Portugal Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Italy are mired in military rule and church tyranny. Christianity today likes to be seen as a peace loving, compassionate religion of brotherhood. But far from it - the religion was born in blood and grew in bloodshed. Economic and political powers are its hidden agenda, covered with service organizations, education institutions etc.
Perhaps Sr. Prema is too naïve to understand and she and all nuns and priests are ignorant of church history. These nuns and priests are brainwashed into this service and love of the poor mission. Many soon realize, but then it is too late, especially in India, to be courageous and pull out. They become voices in the wilderness and the church is too powerful for ordinary innocent and truthful persons to fight against.
Kandhamal – Wither Justice?
This brings me to Sr. Prema’s pious wish - that she would visit Kandhamal if she receives ‘divine inspiration’ and would definitely intervene. One wonder what intervention is she talking about - intervene for whom and with whom? Sr. Prema would do a greater service if she visited the ex-nun Jesme in Kerala and listened to her tale of sexual harassment within the convent - how she was betrayed by her own and even had to submit physically to priests.
This is nothing new and not a singular case, but happenings that have been on for ages. These sexual escapades, including rape and murder, have been happening within the confines of the convents and the church compound. Only when a nun is raped outside these confines, then all hell breaks loose. Sr. Prema could direct her divine inspired mission to empathize with Sr. Jesmy and many like her, and intervene with the church authorities. The Superior General of the MoC should be aware that nuns are on contraceptives, nuns have begotten children of bishops and priests, whole dioceses have been sold in the USA to pay the compensation for the sexual violation of alter boys by priests.
A Jesuit province in the USA has declared itself insolvent because it cannot garner the huge funds to pay the compensation to the sexual victims of priests. Be it in India or in other parts of the world, all this pales into nothing - only Kandhamal occupies and covers the whole vision of the pious Christians, and Sr. Prema is no exception. I suggest she first visit the ashram of Swami Laxmanananda and soothe the terror-stricken children in whose presence the 84-year-old Swamiji was brutally butchered. Three sanyasis present were also killed. Will Sr. Prema intervene with those murderers and see that justice is done?
Why Income Tax Exemption?
One last request, Sr. Prema and her MoC work for the poor, she claims. Then why should the money meant for the poor of this country find its way to the confers of Rome? It is very difficult to divest conversion and money. Are the accounts of the MoC being audited? If not, why?
Why should the lands and church properties be exempted from tax and auditing? This is something anti-national. Money cannot change its value simply because it is held in the hands of a particular community - all monies must be accounted for. Is it not strange that those working in Minority education institutions and drawing UGC payscales are Income tax assesses, but priests and the nuns working in the same institutions are exempted from paying Income Tax? They too draw the same salaries, if not more for less work, and hold individual bank accounts and draw pensions till death, all from taxpayer monies. Why should they be exempted from paying Income Tax? This is just one area to show that the workings of Sr. Prema and all missionaries are a big money-spinning business.
Power to Hurt
A special vocabulary must be coded to understand the language of the Christians. Power is sugar-coated and called service. Forgiveness is easily extended to those who hurt them - to show how compassionate they are. But they refuse to stop hurting others - they refuse to stop dehumanizing the tribals and the poor. Why don’t they leave the poor alone?
If despite the enormous funds which have flowed and are flowing from abroad, combined with the government’s Five Year Plans and a globally powerful God by their side, missionaries are not able to diminish poverty, to reduce hunger and assetlessness, then is it not time to pause and take stock of what is fundamentally wrong? Who is swindling whom? Why are the poor kept in poverty? Why should the poor continue to be poor, why should backwardness be ever growing?
Account for the work that has been so far carried on and stop the pauperization and plunder of this country and its poor. Should we wait for Sr. Prema and the likes of her for divine inspiration to be just logical and sensible?
Tailpiece
Even the Pope has lost his ability to pray and has now assigned the Archbishop of Guwahati to script prayers for him! The Catholic Church needs prayer scripters - for it is unable to turn the hearts and souls of its followers to that spirit within themselves and seek redemption and justice.
(The author is a retired Professor from Stella Maris College, Chennai, and lives in Vadodara)
Hilda Raja
05 Apr 2009
The new Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Sr. Mary Prema, made two revelations - that religious conversion ‘is God’s work’ and that - if she received divine inspiration, she would go to Kandhamal. The first statement, of describing conversions as God’s work, is the usual cliché, handy to all those involved in conversion. Conversion is to Christianity what jihad is to Islam.
Sr. Prema explained, ‘Every human being has the right to believe. Each person is born with dignity. Religious conversion is God’s work.’ The contradictions galore within these sentences are glaring. If every person has the right to believe, then where is the need to initiate that person to something new and strange, in which that person is not born in?
Should one god be exorcised out of the person and another god be installed to uphold the dignity with which this person was born? This is actually what conversion is all about. Why this rupturing of the person from what he/she was?
God of Invasions
What Sr. Prema really means is that every person has a right to be converted and hence the right of the person to believe is conditioned and restricted to only believing in the god in whom Sr. Prema and her church believes. This is what Sr. Prema articulated when she so naively asserted that every person has a right to believe and every person is born with dignity. That this god is only 2000 years old and somehow seems to be always in the company of those who invade the land of others, is another dimension which needs a longer treatise.
If conversion is God’s work, then whose work is re-conversion? Sr. Prema, the Superior General of the MoC, and the whole armies of Christian missionaries involved in conversion, have failed this god miserably - because their god has failed them. If conversion is God’s work, he seems to be rather slow and inefficient. The Catholic Church has the biggest army of nuns and priests and the Christian evangelical churches have their own brand of evangelists; the Southern Baptists alone as a group has nearly 100,000 career missionaries in North India.
It is the simple unarmed, poverty-stricken tribals and passive Hindus that this God and his divine inspired missionaries target. Yet it is not so easy; despite the enormous funds that flow and the armies at the disposal of this god, he had to give divine inspiration to massacre an unarmed poor Swamiji whom he found a great hurdle to the spread of his kingdom.
Conversion is Violence
Sr. Prema has unwittingly exposed the bluff of the Congress and UPA leaders. We are told that conversion is not taking place. Conversion takes different forms - globally, it is disguised as a military coup, violence, and very often a deception of service and development is given to this violent conversion. Yes, conversion is violence wrought on a person - to deprive the person of his/her dignity, which according to Sr. Prema, every person is born with - to tear the person off his affinity, his religious heritage and make him/her an alien; a psychological bleeding to death.
Christianity and conversion are two sides of the same coin. Wherever Christianity went, it was bloodshed-destruction, and a hidden agenda of political power, economic aggrandizement, and pauperization of the victims. In the words of Jomo Kenyatta (of Kenya) “when the missionaries came they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray,’ We closed our eyes, when we opened them, they had our lands and we had the Bible.”
This is true not only in Africa, but all over the globe. Those countries which broke away from the stranglehold of the Vatican became progressive - like Canada, Australia, England. But those colonized by Catholic powers like Spain, Portugal Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Italy are mired in military rule and church tyranny. Christianity today likes to be seen as a peace loving, compassionate religion of brotherhood. But far from it - the religion was born in blood and grew in bloodshed. Economic and political powers are its hidden agenda, covered with service organizations, education institutions etc.
Perhaps Sr. Prema is too naïve to understand and she and all nuns and priests are ignorant of church history. These nuns and priests are brainwashed into this service and love of the poor mission. Many soon realize, but then it is too late, especially in India, to be courageous and pull out. They become voices in the wilderness and the church is too powerful for ordinary innocent and truthful persons to fight against.
Kandhamal – Wither Justice?
This brings me to Sr. Prema’s pious wish - that she would visit Kandhamal if she receives ‘divine inspiration’ and would definitely intervene. One wonder what intervention is she talking about - intervene for whom and with whom? Sr. Prema would do a greater service if she visited the ex-nun Jesme in Kerala and listened to her tale of sexual harassment within the convent - how she was betrayed by her own and even had to submit physically to priests.
This is nothing new and not a singular case, but happenings that have been on for ages. These sexual escapades, including rape and murder, have been happening within the confines of the convents and the church compound. Only when a nun is raped outside these confines, then all hell breaks loose. Sr. Prema could direct her divine inspired mission to empathize with Sr. Jesmy and many like her, and intervene with the church authorities. The Superior General of the MoC should be aware that nuns are on contraceptives, nuns have begotten children of bishops and priests, whole dioceses have been sold in the USA to pay the compensation for the sexual violation of alter boys by priests.
A Jesuit province in the USA has declared itself insolvent because it cannot garner the huge funds to pay the compensation to the sexual victims of priests. Be it in India or in other parts of the world, all this pales into nothing - only Kandhamal occupies and covers the whole vision of the pious Christians, and Sr. Prema is no exception. I suggest she first visit the ashram of Swami Laxmanananda and soothe the terror-stricken children in whose presence the 84-year-old Swamiji was brutally butchered. Three sanyasis present were also killed. Will Sr. Prema intervene with those murderers and see that justice is done?
Why Income Tax Exemption?
One last request, Sr. Prema and her MoC work for the poor, she claims. Then why should the money meant for the poor of this country find its way to the confers of Rome? It is very difficult to divest conversion and money. Are the accounts of the MoC being audited? If not, why?
Why should the lands and church properties be exempted from tax and auditing? This is something anti-national. Money cannot change its value simply because it is held in the hands of a particular community - all monies must be accounted for. Is it not strange that those working in Minority education institutions and drawing UGC payscales are Income tax assesses, but priests and the nuns working in the same institutions are exempted from paying Income Tax? They too draw the same salaries, if not more for less work, and hold individual bank accounts and draw pensions till death, all from taxpayer monies. Why should they be exempted from paying Income Tax? This is just one area to show that the workings of Sr. Prema and all missionaries are a big money-spinning business.
Power to Hurt
A special vocabulary must be coded to understand the language of the Christians. Power is sugar-coated and called service. Forgiveness is easily extended to those who hurt them - to show how compassionate they are. But they refuse to stop hurting others - they refuse to stop dehumanizing the tribals and the poor. Why don’t they leave the poor alone?
If despite the enormous funds which have flowed and are flowing from abroad, combined with the government’s Five Year Plans and a globally powerful God by their side, missionaries are not able to diminish poverty, to reduce hunger and assetlessness, then is it not time to pause and take stock of what is fundamentally wrong? Who is swindling whom? Why are the poor kept in poverty? Why should the poor continue to be poor, why should backwardness be ever growing?
Account for the work that has been so far carried on and stop the pauperization and plunder of this country and its poor. Should we wait for Sr. Prema and the likes of her for divine inspiration to be just logical and sensible?
Tailpiece
Even the Pope has lost his ability to pray and has now assigned the Archbishop of Guwahati to script prayers for him! The Catholic Church needs prayer scripters - for it is unable to turn the hearts and souls of its followers to that spirit within themselves and seek redemption and justice.
(The author is a retired Professor from Stella Maris College, Chennai, and lives in Vadodara)
This Church is a Cruel Joke
This Church is a Cruel Joke
George Augustine
08 Apr 2009
The rotting ills of the Catholic Church have been evident in India for a long time, attracting nation-wide attention in the mid-1960s with Kerala’s infamous Madatharuvi murder case, when a Catholic priest, accused of murdering a woman, escaped the noose with the aid of an expensive, flamboyant lawyer imported from Delhi.
In those days, much like today, nobody cared, nor had the time, to listen to the woes of the women slaves (called nuns) of the most autocratic, misogynistic and scandalous organisation in the world. The devious polity of modern India put a blanket on the rightful debate on alien and criminal religious practices, and their ethical and moral effect on the indigenous people and society.
Numerous unreported suicides
There are no available figures on the number of suicides of nuns till now, but the writer personally knows of a number of suicides of nuns in Kerala that never got reported in the press. Only those cases in which the victims had some relative to question the unnatural death ever got into the newspapers. Otherwise there were just obituaries.
Sr. Abhaya's case would have been written off as suicide, as many murders of nuns have been dismissed, but for her cousin, Jomon Puthenpurakal, who himself came close to becoming a victim. On 11 August 2008, Sr. Anupa Mary committed suicide in St. Mary's Convent, Kollam, leaving a suicide note that accused a senior nun in the convent of sexual harassment.
A few days later, two girl inmates of an orphanage run by the Holy Cross Order in which Sr. Anupa was ordained, tried to commit suicide and later accused an apprentice priest Benedict of harassment. On 11 February 2009, Sr. Josephine who lived in the Daughters of Mary Convent in Thiruvananthapuram, committed suicide. Harassment was alleged initially, but that too went up in smoke. None of these cases deserved investigation because the accused is the Catholic Church, one of the few untouchable organisations in modern Indian polity.
The sexual abuse of nuns by Catholic priests is no rare news and not restricted to Kerala. It is as common and virulent worldwide as Catholic paedophilia. In a report, quoted in the Catholic National Reporter in the USA in the 1990s, Sister Maura O’Donohue, a medical doctor, said the sexual abuse of nuns by priests had been documented in 23 countries. The detailed report would inspire only fantasy porno writers, for such is the ingenuity exercised by the sworn, supposedly ascetic, clergymen to satiate their perverted sexual urges with their helpless women slaves and wives of men congregating in the churches.
Would you blame the hormone-driven human beneath the cassock, or the irrational, sexually aberrant Catholic Church, which is polluting the entire world with its perversions? No wonder, the head of the Church, Ratzinger alias Benedict, the present Pope, is blaming condoms for HIV/AIDS!
Suicide is not the solution
However, the tide seems to turning back; the slaves are garnering strength and slowly beginning to escape the holes and caves where they are psychologically and physically imprisoned. They are beginning to understand that suicides are not the right solution. Ex-sister Jesme’s autobiography, “Amen”, published by DC Books, is a revelation of the sexual exploitation of the vulnerable women in the possession of the Catholic Church.
The publication of this book came close on the heels of an allegation by a nun in her 60s, from the Congregation of Daughters of Mary Convent in Anchal, accusing the Church of forced abortions of young nuns in the convent. According to her nephew, the nun is still being kept in a Church-owned mental hospital near Thodupuzha. Some nuns in Njarakal near Kochi openly rebelled against the Church in February 2009 for trying to move them forcibly from the convent where they have been living for years.
Acting on complaints received by it, the Kerala State Women’s Commission submitted a recommendation to the government last year to stipulate the minimum age for joining nunnery at 18 years. The Church raised a furore, typically making a mockery of the Commission, and the government back-pedalled without further notice, probably due to the imminent national elections.
The Women’s Commission also could not act with any direction on the complaint of the nun (from the Daughters of Mary Convent in Anchal) forced into the mental asylum, even though its Chairperson had gone to meet her. There seems to be nothing the Kerala citizens can do, because these nuns are the possession of the richest private organisation in India and the world.
What does the Kerala Catholic laity say about the hardships of nuns? Nothing! They keep mum, so that they are blessed and buried in the right hole in the cemetery when they die! A brief survey conducted by this writer in Kerala among the Catholic community in Kochi showed that about 80% believe they will go to hell if they are not buried by weirdoes. All are worried about what their neighbours talk and leave everything, including dispensation of justice, to god. A small percentage believes that accusations against clergymen and Church are the workings of Satan.
Straight from whose heart?
Whitewashing the accumulating dirt in the house has become an increasingly regular, but difficult, task for the Catholic Church. This time the attempt was quick, but not very effective. The stains show miserably. Kerala's grand old extremist, who two years ago exhorted the Kerala Catholic laity to reproduce like rats to combat the rising Muslim population, and who is now President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, released a book, “Straight from the Heart”.
“Straight from the Vatican’s Heart” would have been more appropriate for its content. The 82-year-old Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil rues over the state of Catholic nuns and says they are compelled to do menial jobs for priests, but keeps mum on sexual exploitation. According to The Times of India, 17 March 2009, he writes, “I would say to a great extent our nuns are not emancipated women. They are often kept under submission by the fear of revenge by priests. That’s how the priests get away with whatever humiliation they heap upon them. It is a pitiable situation from which somebody has to liberate them.”
In an autocracy, in which he is a senior and top regional official, what has he done so far to reverse this situation? He also doesn’t mention that Kerala Church is an exporter of menial female labour for European convents and Church institutions, and that their pay packets are entirely confiscated by the Church.
It is very clear that Vithayathil’s mention of the pathetic nuns in his book is a last-minute knee-jerk response to Jesme’s “Amen”, hurriedly appended to a finished book intended for something else – to meddle in electoral politics to garner votes for UDF candidates.
Indigestible reforms
One recommendation, which is a particularly indigestible bit of meat in the Catholic stomach, pertains to the handover of Church properties to Christian trusts consisting of ordinary lay people. In a press statement (17 March 2009), the Chairman of the Commission, V.R. Krishna Iyer, said this recommendation was based on “representations made by sincere Christians” and that leading thinkers like Justice K.T. Thomas and Dr. K.V. Pylee, former Vice Chancellor of Cochin University, fully supported the Commission’s recommendations.
The bills, if made into laws, will take away Vatican’s control over Church properties in Kerala and discourage Catholics from mindless reproduction. “Canonical papal control over Church properties in Kerala will be a new imperialism repugnant to the secular character and sovereign authority of ‘we the people of India’,” said Mr. Iyer, while asking the Church to withdraw a pastoral letter circulating in churches and chapels all over Kerala that trashed the Commission's recommendations. Mr. Iyer added, “The vast properties of the Church in the State were the product of parishioners' contributions and naturally the management of the estate must have democratic dimensions giving a voice to the Christian parishioners.”
Vithayathil’s book takes Catholic hypocrisy to a pinnacle. He literally grinds his teeth when speaking of Marxists, whom he refers to as “atheists,” and loses control over logic: “Where is the logic of democracy if they are convinced atheists? ...Democracy is based on respect for the individual and the rule ‘of the people, by the people, for the people.’”
The Catholic Church is the most undemocratic organisation in India or elsewhere, but Vithayathil is following the footsteps of his chief Ratzinger, who invariably combines insipid erudition with stupid logic, a kind of language to fool his dim half-wit sheep. But the Cardinal has a good word for the BJP for their – guess what – “promoting certain moral values for which they would opt for stricter media censorship.” He tries to woo Hindus in the traditional Christian esoteric language that can be deciphered only by those who have seen the proverbial “underbelly of the beast.”
He writes tongue-in-cheek, “Catholics of the country also regard Indian culture, philosophy, literature and science as their heritage. The Catholic Church will certainly protect them just as it has responsibly protected and preserved Greek and Roman cultures.”
What these words mean is that Catholics have a claim on Indian tradition and will protect it in Vatican-franchised museums, just like they had reduced (“protected and preserved”) ancient Greek and Roman cultures. In reality, it was the Arabs who redeemed the leftovers of the Greek and Roman traditions from the obnoxious padres who did their best to destroy them. Are there still takers for this grotesque faith?
The author previously wrote under the name George Thundiparambil; he is the author of Maya, a novel on Kerala’s turbulent past.
George Augustine
08 Apr 2009
The rotting ills of the Catholic Church have been evident in India for a long time, attracting nation-wide attention in the mid-1960s with Kerala’s infamous Madatharuvi murder case, when a Catholic priest, accused of murdering a woman, escaped the noose with the aid of an expensive, flamboyant lawyer imported from Delhi.
In those days, much like today, nobody cared, nor had the time, to listen to the woes of the women slaves (called nuns) of the most autocratic, misogynistic and scandalous organisation in the world. The devious polity of modern India put a blanket on the rightful debate on alien and criminal religious practices, and their ethical and moral effect on the indigenous people and society.
Numerous unreported suicides
There are no available figures on the number of suicides of nuns till now, but the writer personally knows of a number of suicides of nuns in Kerala that never got reported in the press. Only those cases in which the victims had some relative to question the unnatural death ever got into the newspapers. Otherwise there were just obituaries.
Sr. Abhaya's case would have been written off as suicide, as many murders of nuns have been dismissed, but for her cousin, Jomon Puthenpurakal, who himself came close to becoming a victim. On 11 August 2008, Sr. Anupa Mary committed suicide in St. Mary's Convent, Kollam, leaving a suicide note that accused a senior nun in the convent of sexual harassment.
A few days later, two girl inmates of an orphanage run by the Holy Cross Order in which Sr. Anupa was ordained, tried to commit suicide and later accused an apprentice priest Benedict of harassment. On 11 February 2009, Sr. Josephine who lived in the Daughters of Mary Convent in Thiruvananthapuram, committed suicide. Harassment was alleged initially, but that too went up in smoke. None of these cases deserved investigation because the accused is the Catholic Church, one of the few untouchable organisations in modern Indian polity.
The sexual abuse of nuns by Catholic priests is no rare news and not restricted to Kerala. It is as common and virulent worldwide as Catholic paedophilia. In a report, quoted in the Catholic National Reporter in the USA in the 1990s, Sister Maura O’Donohue, a medical doctor, said the sexual abuse of nuns by priests had been documented in 23 countries. The detailed report would inspire only fantasy porno writers, for such is the ingenuity exercised by the sworn, supposedly ascetic, clergymen to satiate their perverted sexual urges with their helpless women slaves and wives of men congregating in the churches.
Would you blame the hormone-driven human beneath the cassock, or the irrational, sexually aberrant Catholic Church, which is polluting the entire world with its perversions? No wonder, the head of the Church, Ratzinger alias Benedict, the present Pope, is blaming condoms for HIV/AIDS!
Suicide is not the solution
However, the tide seems to turning back; the slaves are garnering strength and slowly beginning to escape the holes and caves where they are psychologically and physically imprisoned. They are beginning to understand that suicides are not the right solution. Ex-sister Jesme’s autobiography, “Amen”, published by DC Books, is a revelation of the sexual exploitation of the vulnerable women in the possession of the Catholic Church.
The publication of this book came close on the heels of an allegation by a nun in her 60s, from the Congregation of Daughters of Mary Convent in Anchal, accusing the Church of forced abortions of young nuns in the convent. According to her nephew, the nun is still being kept in a Church-owned mental hospital near Thodupuzha. Some nuns in Njarakal near Kochi openly rebelled against the Church in February 2009 for trying to move them forcibly from the convent where they have been living for years.
Acting on complaints received by it, the Kerala State Women’s Commission submitted a recommendation to the government last year to stipulate the minimum age for joining nunnery at 18 years. The Church raised a furore, typically making a mockery of the Commission, and the government back-pedalled without further notice, probably due to the imminent national elections.
The Women’s Commission also could not act with any direction on the complaint of the nun (from the Daughters of Mary Convent in Anchal) forced into the mental asylum, even though its Chairperson had gone to meet her. There seems to be nothing the Kerala citizens can do, because these nuns are the possession of the richest private organisation in India and the world.
What does the Kerala Catholic laity say about the hardships of nuns? Nothing! They keep mum, so that they are blessed and buried in the right hole in the cemetery when they die! A brief survey conducted by this writer in Kerala among the Catholic community in Kochi showed that about 80% believe they will go to hell if they are not buried by weirdoes. All are worried about what their neighbours talk and leave everything, including dispensation of justice, to god. A small percentage believes that accusations against clergymen and Church are the workings of Satan.
Straight from whose heart?
Whitewashing the accumulating dirt in the house has become an increasingly regular, but difficult, task for the Catholic Church. This time the attempt was quick, but not very effective. The stains show miserably. Kerala's grand old extremist, who two years ago exhorted the Kerala Catholic laity to reproduce like rats to combat the rising Muslim population, and who is now President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, released a book, “Straight from the Heart”.
“Straight from the Vatican’s Heart” would have been more appropriate for its content. The 82-year-old Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil rues over the state of Catholic nuns and says they are compelled to do menial jobs for priests, but keeps mum on sexual exploitation. According to The Times of India, 17 March 2009, he writes, “I would say to a great extent our nuns are not emancipated women. They are often kept under submission by the fear of revenge by priests. That’s how the priests get away with whatever humiliation they heap upon them. It is a pitiable situation from which somebody has to liberate them.”
In an autocracy, in which he is a senior and top regional official, what has he done so far to reverse this situation? He also doesn’t mention that Kerala Church is an exporter of menial female labour for European convents and Church institutions, and that their pay packets are entirely confiscated by the Church.
It is very clear that Vithayathil’s mention of the pathetic nuns in his book is a last-minute knee-jerk response to Jesme’s “Amen”, hurriedly appended to a finished book intended for something else – to meddle in electoral politics to garner votes for UDF candidates.
Indigestible reforms
One recommendation, which is a particularly indigestible bit of meat in the Catholic stomach, pertains to the handover of Church properties to Christian trusts consisting of ordinary lay people. In a press statement (17 March 2009), the Chairman of the Commission, V.R. Krishna Iyer, said this recommendation was based on “representations made by sincere Christians” and that leading thinkers like Justice K.T. Thomas and Dr. K.V. Pylee, former Vice Chancellor of Cochin University, fully supported the Commission’s recommendations.
The bills, if made into laws, will take away Vatican’s control over Church properties in Kerala and discourage Catholics from mindless reproduction. “Canonical papal control over Church properties in Kerala will be a new imperialism repugnant to the secular character and sovereign authority of ‘we the people of India’,” said Mr. Iyer, while asking the Church to withdraw a pastoral letter circulating in churches and chapels all over Kerala that trashed the Commission's recommendations. Mr. Iyer added, “The vast properties of the Church in the State were the product of parishioners' contributions and naturally the management of the estate must have democratic dimensions giving a voice to the Christian parishioners.”
Vithayathil’s book takes Catholic hypocrisy to a pinnacle. He literally grinds his teeth when speaking of Marxists, whom he refers to as “atheists,” and loses control over logic: “Where is the logic of democracy if they are convinced atheists? ...Democracy is based on respect for the individual and the rule ‘of the people, by the people, for the people.’”
The Catholic Church is the most undemocratic organisation in India or elsewhere, but Vithayathil is following the footsteps of his chief Ratzinger, who invariably combines insipid erudition with stupid logic, a kind of language to fool his dim half-wit sheep. But the Cardinal has a good word for the BJP for their – guess what – “promoting certain moral values for which they would opt for stricter media censorship.” He tries to woo Hindus in the traditional Christian esoteric language that can be deciphered only by those who have seen the proverbial “underbelly of the beast.”
He writes tongue-in-cheek, “Catholics of the country also regard Indian culture, philosophy, literature and science as their heritage. The Catholic Church will certainly protect them just as it has responsibly protected and preserved Greek and Roman cultures.”
What these words mean is that Catholics have a claim on Indian tradition and will protect it in Vatican-franchised museums, just like they had reduced (“protected and preserved”) ancient Greek and Roman cultures. In reality, it was the Arabs who redeemed the leftovers of the Greek and Roman traditions from the obnoxious padres who did their best to destroy them. Are there still takers for this grotesque faith?
The author previously wrote under the name George Thundiparambil; he is the author of Maya, a novel on Kerala’s turbulent past.
15th annual function held
15th annual function held
BHUBANESWAR:(visakeo) The fifteenth annual function of Dharma Vihar Saraswati Sishu Mandir held amid a colorful cultural show in the School premises. Utkal Chambers of Commerce and Industries Dr Niranjan Mohanty, Sikhya Vikash Samiti State president Prafulla Chandra Mohapatra, Deputy secretary, Council of higher secondary Abhaya Kumar Mallick were among those noted personalities attended and high lighted the concept of Saraswati Sishu Mandir.
School vice president Swapna Kumar Swain presided over the meeting while head teacher coordinated. School secretary DK Das given vote of thanks. Among others, Raghunath Mohapatra, Jitendra Kumar Hota, GS Kundu, SK Das, KP Pradhan, Susmita Rout, Urbasi Nayak, PT Mohapatra, S Mohanty, Chandra S Parida and Dharitri Mohanty were present. Earlier, school students staged a cultural show
BHUBANESWAR:(visakeo) The fifteenth annual function of Dharma Vihar Saraswati Sishu Mandir held amid a colorful cultural show in the School premises. Utkal Chambers of Commerce and Industries Dr Niranjan Mohanty, Sikhya Vikash Samiti State president Prafulla Chandra Mohapatra, Deputy secretary, Council of higher secondary Abhaya Kumar Mallick were among those noted personalities attended and high lighted the concept of Saraswati Sishu Mandir.
School vice president Swapna Kumar Swain presided over the meeting while head teacher coordinated. School secretary DK Das given vote of thanks. Among others, Raghunath Mohapatra, Jitendra Kumar Hota, GS Kundu, SK Das, KP Pradhan, Susmita Rout, Urbasi Nayak, PT Mohapatra, S Mohanty, Chandra S Parida and Dharitri Mohanty were present. Earlier, school students staged a cultural show
Triage: A winning strategy for the BJP
Triage: A winning strategy for the BJP
Rajeev Srinivasan
April 08, 2009
The concept of triage first arose in field hospitals, where doctors had to decide what to do with large numbers of war wounded and very limited resources. Over time, they developed an empirical method of optimisation, by dividing up incoming patients into three groups: Those who were hopeless, those who could wait for attention, and those who could only be saved if they got immediate care.
The medical staff would pursue appropriate methods with each of these groups. The hopeless cases they would give painkillers to, make them comfortable, and let them die in peace. Those who were lightly wounded they would give first aid to and prepare them for further care, not immediately, but as soon as feasible. The last group, for whom emergency surgery could mean the difference between life and death, they would prioritise and operate on immediately.
This rough-and-ready method has been proved to be rational, in a utilitarian way -- it provides the maximum benefit to the maximum number of people. Many companies have also adapted this principle, because it turns out that there is a natural ordering in rough triads -- one third of the people agree with an arguable decision, a third oppose it, and another third can be convinced either way.
The mistake that the BJP made in 2004 -- and presumably will not repeat in 2009 -- is to ignore this rather universal principle. Thus, there exists one group of people who fundamentally agree with the BJP, one group who will never vote for them, and then there is the prize: The fence-sitters, who are liable to be convinced by rational argument or appeals to sentiment.
Naturally, there is a proper approach to each of these groups. The first, your natural constituency, should be kept happy with rhetoric and substance that appeals to them -- you surely do not want to lose your allies. The second you should simply ignore, and give them up for lost. The third, the undecided, that is where you should use the full force of your resources, to convince them to vote for you.
In 2004, the BJP, for reasons best known to itself, ended up doing things that simply didn't work. They alienated their friends through distancing itself from their agendas. They attempted to pander to their staunch enemies, with foreseeable results, and ended up looking foolish, and further alienated their friends. As far as the undecided were concerned, they did try -- they came up with the relatively truthful 'India Shining' slogan but were surprised when the staunchly anti-BJP media trashed it.
In other words, their efforts and good work went in the wrong direction. It remains to be seen whether the lessons from this failure have been fully internalised. The fact of the matter is that there are certain groups in India that have a knee-jerk antipathy towards the BJP. This is either rational (in the case of some entities which are part and parcel of imperial cults seeking world conquest) or the result of brainwashing (in the case of innumerate social sciences types who have been fed a steady diet of disinformation throughout school and college).
There is absolutely no point in appeasing these groups. Any effort spent on them is a waste. So the best tactic is to completely write them off. There is no need to condemn them -- speak softly but carry a big stick, as the American said -- but no need to cozy up to them either. This is especially true of the English-language media (ELM for short). A case in point is the editor who promised the then-dictator of Pakistan some years ago that they (the media) would ensure that the BJP would be out of power. Instead of trying to win the approval of such people, the BJP should consider them irrelevant, which in large measure they are.
As for other incorrigible enemies, such as media people with ideological rigor mortis, it appears as though the BJP is not actively pandering to them as they did in 2004. The fact is that the media is easily swayed through certain carrots, and especially, certain sticks. A few discreet prods in sensitive spots will easily bring the media back into line, once the BJP gets into power. The ELM will crawl, grovel, do somersaults, sit up and beg like a trained dog -- all that is required is the application of a little judicious pain to their bottoms.
Secondly, there are certain groups that seek guidance from outside, from their handlers in various foreign countries. They may smile fetchingly and coo sweet nothings in the BJP's ear, but it must steel itself against sweet talk, because all this conceals -- to mix metaphors wildly -- an iron fist inside the velvet glove. They have vested interests diametrically opposed to India's national interests.
The BJP should not trust their honeyed words, and certainly should not promote their interests, however nice their siren songs, over those of its friends. This has been a failing on the part of the BJP before -- susceptibility to flattery, an unfortunate and common Indian fault.
The BJP has to treat its friends better. Its core constituency will never vote for the others, but they will be dispirited and demoralised if the BJP does not take care of their needs. Given the demographics and the proliferation of single-agenda, personality-cult regional parties, perhaps this core constituency alone cannot bring the BJP to power (although that is a debatable assumption). However, their absence in the game, including their refraining from voting, will guarantee defeat. They are necessary, but perhaps not sufficient.
There are a few points on which the friends of the BJP feel alienated from the party. One is the furious backpedaling on Hindu issues. There are several emotive issues: For instance, the unfair treatment of Hindus as second-class citizens in almost all spheres of life. An example is the downright unparliamentary language used by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in reference to Sri Rama. There is a considerable feeling of hurt religious sentiments among many Hindus. The fact that they do not riot or cause a law-and-order problem does not mean people do not care.
Similarly there is the Ayodhya issue, the Amarnath issue, the Article 370 issue, the murder of Swami Lakshmanandana, the increasingly bold vilification of Hindus by various missionaries, the virulent Hindu-bashing by Communists and the DMK, the continued diversion of funds from and pauperisation of Hindu temples, and the feeling that the Indian state has set out to deliberately support Christianisation -- including the covert release of coins with Christian symbols.
The BJP counters this sentiment by saying that these are things that will cost it support from the various splinter parties that it will need to form a government, and that the key thing is to capture political power. They will point to how the Congress -- let us note they only got about 10 seats more than the BJP in the 2004 election -- nevertheless were able to vault into a position of almost dictatorial power through astutely using alliances. Let us win first, the BJP says. They do have a point, but BJP leaders and allies must be muzzled from saying things that unnecessarily estrange or discourage the core constituency: and they do say these things.
And finally, the real battleground: The vast uncommitted. A few years of increasing material wealth, as well as a burgeoning population of youth who have come of age with no particular inferiority complex vis a vis the rest of the world -- this has resulted in a cadre of people who have an enduring personal interest in the well-being of India as a nation and a civilization. They are not aspiring for foreign passports.
Many of them, who are apolitical and apathetic, can see that the changes in the economy have come not because of, but despite, the Nehruvian agenda. They realise that State control of the 'commanding heights of the economy' has been a monumental disaster everywhere. They understand that the Congress can only imagine a Stalinist, interfering State. They are not natural allies of the Congress, and much less of the Communists.
These professionals should be willing to concede that the future lies in liberalisation, privatisation and infrastructure building that the National Democratic Alliance embarked on during its stint. Congress rule in 2004-2009 has brought nothing but the same old-same old in new bottles -- subsidies, sops to vote-banks, deficit financing, corruption. The Rs 200,000 crore that they printed out of thin air is going to be a huge albatross around India's neck going forward. While the Congress will blame the global recession for India's plummeting fortunes, the fact is that they have put in systemic hurdles.
These people also have security concerns that have been worsened by the Congress' fecklessness. The invasion of Mumbai , the virtual takeover of most of Afghanistan and Pakistan by the Inter Services Intelligence and its friends the Taliban , the overthrow of the Hindu kingdom of Nepal and its annexation by forces friendly to China and Pakistan, the failed State of Pakistan, the military coup that almost overthrew the new government in Bangladesh, the ongoing end-game in Sri Lanka -- all this demonstrates that the situation in India's near-abroad is getting to be catastrophic.
Furthermore, the evidence suggests that India's internal security issues are grave. There are clearly sleeper cells that are providing succour and sustenance to enemies of the state. They strike at random civilian targets, their blood-lust spent on innocent bystanders. No big city -- Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi , Hyderabad, Ahmedabad -- is safe for ordinary citizens. The average person can see that a lot of this has come about because of the implicit abdication of its responsibility by the Congress, including the emasculation of anti-terrorist laws. Terrorists trained in Kerala, for instance, have been found attacking Indian security forces in Jammu & Kashmir.
Given the bleak economic climate, the security issues and the general anti-incumbency sentiment, it should be possible for the BJP to appeal to the large class of undecided and new voters. Besides, many of them are probably not averse to the appeal of cultural nationalism. It is an observed fact that affluence brings about a certain pride in one's roots and background and civilisation.
Thus, by wasting no energy on the naysayers, ensuring that the faithful do not stray, and spending more of their efforts on the undecided, the BJP should be able to successfully work a triage strategy and ride it to power in 2009.
Rajeev Srinivasan
April 08, 2009
The concept of triage first arose in field hospitals, where doctors had to decide what to do with large numbers of war wounded and very limited resources. Over time, they developed an empirical method of optimisation, by dividing up incoming patients into three groups: Those who were hopeless, those who could wait for attention, and those who could only be saved if they got immediate care.
The medical staff would pursue appropriate methods with each of these groups. The hopeless cases they would give painkillers to, make them comfortable, and let them die in peace. Those who were lightly wounded they would give first aid to and prepare them for further care, not immediately, but as soon as feasible. The last group, for whom emergency surgery could mean the difference between life and death, they would prioritise and operate on immediately.
This rough-and-ready method has been proved to be rational, in a utilitarian way -- it provides the maximum benefit to the maximum number of people. Many companies have also adapted this principle, because it turns out that there is a natural ordering in rough triads -- one third of the people agree with an arguable decision, a third oppose it, and another third can be convinced either way.
The mistake that the BJP made in 2004 -- and presumably will not repeat in 2009 -- is to ignore this rather universal principle. Thus, there exists one group of people who fundamentally agree with the BJP, one group who will never vote for them, and then there is the prize: The fence-sitters, who are liable to be convinced by rational argument or appeals to sentiment.
Naturally, there is a proper approach to each of these groups. The first, your natural constituency, should be kept happy with rhetoric and substance that appeals to them -- you surely do not want to lose your allies. The second you should simply ignore, and give them up for lost. The third, the undecided, that is where you should use the full force of your resources, to convince them to vote for you.
In 2004, the BJP, for reasons best known to itself, ended up doing things that simply didn't work. They alienated their friends through distancing itself from their agendas. They attempted to pander to their staunch enemies, with foreseeable results, and ended up looking foolish, and further alienated their friends. As far as the undecided were concerned, they did try -- they came up with the relatively truthful 'India Shining' slogan but were surprised when the staunchly anti-BJP media trashed it.
In other words, their efforts and good work went in the wrong direction. It remains to be seen whether the lessons from this failure have been fully internalised. The fact of the matter is that there are certain groups in India that have a knee-jerk antipathy towards the BJP. This is either rational (in the case of some entities which are part and parcel of imperial cults seeking world conquest) or the result of brainwashing (in the case of innumerate social sciences types who have been fed a steady diet of disinformation throughout school and college).
There is absolutely no point in appeasing these groups. Any effort spent on them is a waste. So the best tactic is to completely write them off. There is no need to condemn them -- speak softly but carry a big stick, as the American said -- but no need to cozy up to them either. This is especially true of the English-language media (ELM for short). A case in point is the editor who promised the then-dictator of Pakistan some years ago that they (the media) would ensure that the BJP would be out of power. Instead of trying to win the approval of such people, the BJP should consider them irrelevant, which in large measure they are.
As for other incorrigible enemies, such as media people with ideological rigor mortis, it appears as though the BJP is not actively pandering to them as they did in 2004. The fact is that the media is easily swayed through certain carrots, and especially, certain sticks. A few discreet prods in sensitive spots will easily bring the media back into line, once the BJP gets into power. The ELM will crawl, grovel, do somersaults, sit up and beg like a trained dog -- all that is required is the application of a little judicious pain to their bottoms.
Secondly, there are certain groups that seek guidance from outside, from their handlers in various foreign countries. They may smile fetchingly and coo sweet nothings in the BJP's ear, but it must steel itself against sweet talk, because all this conceals -- to mix metaphors wildly -- an iron fist inside the velvet glove. They have vested interests diametrically opposed to India's national interests.
The BJP should not trust their honeyed words, and certainly should not promote their interests, however nice their siren songs, over those of its friends. This has been a failing on the part of the BJP before -- susceptibility to flattery, an unfortunate and common Indian fault.
The BJP has to treat its friends better. Its core constituency will never vote for the others, but they will be dispirited and demoralised if the BJP does not take care of their needs. Given the demographics and the proliferation of single-agenda, personality-cult regional parties, perhaps this core constituency alone cannot bring the BJP to power (although that is a debatable assumption). However, their absence in the game, including their refraining from voting, will guarantee defeat. They are necessary, but perhaps not sufficient.
There are a few points on which the friends of the BJP feel alienated from the party. One is the furious backpedaling on Hindu issues. There are several emotive issues: For instance, the unfair treatment of Hindus as second-class citizens in almost all spheres of life. An example is the downright unparliamentary language used by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in reference to Sri Rama. There is a considerable feeling of hurt religious sentiments among many Hindus. The fact that they do not riot or cause a law-and-order problem does not mean people do not care.
Similarly there is the Ayodhya issue, the Amarnath issue, the Article 370 issue, the murder of Swami Lakshmanandana, the increasingly bold vilification of Hindus by various missionaries, the virulent Hindu-bashing by Communists and the DMK, the continued diversion of funds from and pauperisation of Hindu temples, and the feeling that the Indian state has set out to deliberately support Christianisation -- including the covert release of coins with Christian symbols.
The BJP counters this sentiment by saying that these are things that will cost it support from the various splinter parties that it will need to form a government, and that the key thing is to capture political power. They will point to how the Congress -- let us note they only got about 10 seats more than the BJP in the 2004 election -- nevertheless were able to vault into a position of almost dictatorial power through astutely using alliances. Let us win first, the BJP says. They do have a point, but BJP leaders and allies must be muzzled from saying things that unnecessarily estrange or discourage the core constituency: and they do say these things.
And finally, the real battleground: The vast uncommitted. A few years of increasing material wealth, as well as a burgeoning population of youth who have come of age with no particular inferiority complex vis a vis the rest of the world -- this has resulted in a cadre of people who have an enduring personal interest in the well-being of India as a nation and a civilization. They are not aspiring for foreign passports.
Many of them, who are apolitical and apathetic, can see that the changes in the economy have come not because of, but despite, the Nehruvian agenda. They realise that State control of the 'commanding heights of the economy' has been a monumental disaster everywhere. They understand that the Congress can only imagine a Stalinist, interfering State. They are not natural allies of the Congress, and much less of the Communists.
These professionals should be willing to concede that the future lies in liberalisation, privatisation and infrastructure building that the National Democratic Alliance embarked on during its stint. Congress rule in 2004-2009 has brought nothing but the same old-same old in new bottles -- subsidies, sops to vote-banks, deficit financing, corruption. The Rs 200,000 crore that they printed out of thin air is going to be a huge albatross around India's neck going forward. While the Congress will blame the global recession for India's plummeting fortunes, the fact is that they have put in systemic hurdles.
These people also have security concerns that have been worsened by the Congress' fecklessness. The invasion of Mumbai , the virtual takeover of most of Afghanistan and Pakistan by the Inter Services Intelligence and its friends the Taliban , the overthrow of the Hindu kingdom of Nepal and its annexation by forces friendly to China and Pakistan, the failed State of Pakistan, the military coup that almost overthrew the new government in Bangladesh, the ongoing end-game in Sri Lanka -- all this demonstrates that the situation in India's near-abroad is getting to be catastrophic.
Furthermore, the evidence suggests that India's internal security issues are grave. There are clearly sleeper cells that are providing succour and sustenance to enemies of the state. They strike at random civilian targets, their blood-lust spent on innocent bystanders. No big city -- Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi , Hyderabad, Ahmedabad -- is safe for ordinary citizens. The average person can see that a lot of this has come about because of the implicit abdication of its responsibility by the Congress, including the emasculation of anti-terrorist laws. Terrorists trained in Kerala, for instance, have been found attacking Indian security forces in Jammu & Kashmir.
Given the bleak economic climate, the security issues and the general anti-incumbency sentiment, it should be possible for the BJP to appeal to the large class of undecided and new voters. Besides, many of them are probably not averse to the appeal of cultural nationalism. It is an observed fact that affluence brings about a certain pride in one's roots and background and civilisation.
Thus, by wasting no energy on the naysayers, ensuring that the faithful do not stray, and spending more of their efforts on the undecided, the BJP should be able to successfully work a triage strategy and ride it to power in 2009.
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