Vacuous Media Sleazeballs Moralize Against Mohan Bhagwat

http://blog.genxdeals.in/index.php/vacuous-media-sleazeballs-moralize-against-mohan-bhagwat/

My dictum that the Indian English media is a whore with none of the ethics of a whore has been proven correct again. And so the latest proof of its venal whoredom happens to be a barefaced lie, a shameless hoax, which in the pre-Internet era would’ve gone unnoticed. Perchance that it was noticed, its exposure would’ve been buried by everybody starting with the gatekeepers all the way up to the CEO of the brothel. And this piece would’ve never been written.

That the media crossed all limits was proved by Radiagate. But when you abandon shame just once,you only want to better your previous record. I suppose it’s like drug addiction but I really don’t know. You need to ask Barkha Dutt, et al. The latest entrant into this Media Hall of Shame happens to be Asian News International (ANI), whose doctored and heavily editorialized reportage of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s speech at Indore on 6 January 2013 was portrayed as theactual view of the Sarasanghachalak. In other words: lying.

Of course, predictable consequences followed. The English media spontaneously erupted in simultaneous multipleorgasms nationwide. Here’s a sample from the uber spinmeister NDTV, which spun an already-twisted report (by ANI) as follows:

‘Women meant to do household chores’: another shocker from RSS chief…right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has done it again…

But what did Mohan Bhagwat actually say? Thanks to Newslaundry for the loose translation (the original Hindi transcript is here):

[Mohan Bhagwat] was commenting on the Western model of modernity. And in that context, he was articulating his view of their view. Get it? He said in the “modern” interpretation of marriage (not his), women are bound by contract to serve their husbands. He also said that husbands were bound to look after their wives. Much like women are supposed to look after household chores and keep their husbands satisfied, men are expected to provide for their wives and look after them, as per the modern version of the marriage contract. And if either the wife or husband didn’t manage to do so, the dissatisfied party breaks the contract and contracts a second or third, as per the modern version of the marriage contract. Get it?

Notice how it was reported. And how quickly it went viral in the media. Notice also how RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav’s defence of Mohan Bhagwat was carefully buried under layers of paragraphs by these news-twisters. Typical. Spit and run journalism thrives on this to survive. Moreover, since the RSS chief is himself directly involved, it’s the Golden Chance for journalists and reporters to inject more poison into the already toxic reporting.

However, what they didn’t bargain for is the avalanche of outrage that steamrolled against them on Twitter and elsewhere online. For once, these RSS-blood-baying news hounds were forced to lick their wounds. Even the normally giggly, dumb high-school girl like Old Monk Boy’s wife was forced to apologize.

That the English media vampires hate the RSS because of their Maculayite background is just a partial explanation. The truthful explanation is the fact that they are people with no integrity. You present them with mountains of evidence to the contrary, yet they chose to willfully ignore it. Their hatred of the RSS is not irrational. It is depraved. And like all hatred, it is rooted in fear.

The depravity begins with how they have historically characterized the RSS, again, taking a leaf out of Nehru’s book. The fact that the media has consistently ignored the exemplary social work that RSS has done since its inception is a measure of the media’s intentionally blinkered vision. It’s as if the RSS exists only to foment violence and make the ultra-pampered minorities shiver in their shoes. It’s as if the RSS is just waiting for tomorrow to declare India as a dreaded Hindu Rashtra complete with doomsday visions of unchecked tyranny and violent repression. But this kind of branding has indeed served the media well. The mention of RSS evokes derisive ridicule and laughter in large pockets of urban India today. And this ridicule isn’t based even on a cursory study of the RSS’ stellar contribution throughout its existence. The naked lie accepted as gospel truth, is actually handed down second hand by third-rate writers with a spurious agenda to push.

Yet, what is the actual record of the RSS?

Name a natural calamity. Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis…RSS workers reach the affected spot first and dive right in to help the victims. They care nothing for their own comfort, eating little and sleeping even less. They ask nothing in return unlike the Christian missionary vultures whose ugly soul-trading was on full display during the 2004 Tsunami that hit India. Yet what does the media report? Nothing. They simply bury the story of the work done by the RSS. What does that show? That the media is aware of the good work but chooses only to report some statements made by the RSS that are perceived to be regressive or inflammatory. If this doesn’t show a lack of integrity, what else does?

But perhaps the greatest strength of the RSS is its staggering number of voluntary workers or karyakartas. These are people who give up everything in life to serve the nation. They go where the RSS orders them to go and undertake any task, however arduous. And thousands of these karyakartas are qualified, intelligent and competent enough to earn six figure salaries had they not opted to serve India. Yet they go out to remote locations, to places where people desperately need help or to serve the nation in numerous other ways. They train and educate other people’s children by willingly forgoing the opportunity to start their own families. They put even their lives at risk in places like the violently Stalinist Kannur, Kerala. Indeed, I’ve even stopped reading news that reports the death of yet another Swayamsevak in that morbid State. Yet they are undeterred, and tirelessly lead such a near-ascetic life of national service propelled by the only hope that their efforts will bear fruit some day in the form of an India that had once led the world in high culture, refinement, arts, philosophy, and material riches.

It is this commitment that has earned it the goodwill and a firm place in the hearts of millions of Hindus (and thousands of non-Hindus) worldwide. A goodwill that has sustained and remained in tact over seven decades and continues to grow. It is this goodwill that unleashed the torrent of rage on social media yesterday against ANI and likeminded media charlatans. It is this goodwill that has made the RSS the largest network of its kind in the world. Name just one other voluntary organization in the world which has this awe-inspiring network of people dedicated only to serve a nation. Just one. What’s more, the kind of harassment meted out by the Dynasty to RSS at regular intervals, the kind of atrocities perpetrated against RSS workers by various Congress and Communist Governments would have broken the back of a lesser organization. The Emergency was truly the darkest period in the life of the RSS. An organization with even 1/10th of the RSS in terms of size, network, and influence in any other country would’ve reacted very differently. Yet how did the RSS respond? Its then Sarasanghachalak instructed thekaryakartas to forgive Indira Gandhi and the Congress party because “after all, they are one of our own. They are fellow Indians.”

And yet, what kind of sick minds find humour in vulgar descriptions of the effects of wearing “khaki shorts? The same Newslaundry that chided ANI & co for motivated reportage of Mohan Bhagwat’s speech also says this:

Bhagwat – whose main sin appears to be that he wears khaki bermudas despite the effect the vision might have on unsuspecting viewers

How would the reporter feel if I wrote something similar about the panties his/her mother or sister wear? Would he/she write the same thing about his father’s bermudas or whatever other shorts? Oh! I’ll write that in all good humour, of course. But knowing this breed, they’d say “ah! I knew you’d say this kind of stuff about my mother and sister.” This kind of response is the direct outcome of shamelessness becoming the norm. But I digress.

But yet, what kind of moral and mental pollution prompts the media sleazebags to depict nuns and fathers and brothers as saints—the actual parasites on the ground who prey on unsuspecting non-Christian souls and lead to civil wars—while they portray the genuine and selfless workers who serve the nation as dreaded goons?

One answer to all these questions is just one word: fear. The media fears the RSS. Here’s a vast organization made entirely of voluntary workers intent only on serving the country that has stood its ground amidst severe adversities and which takes the most strident criticism in its stride. Here’s an organization which has sustained for more than seven decades and despite best efforts, hasn’t budged or accepted defeat much less been broken. Courts have consistently taken its side. Every effort to tarnish its reputation has failed. All these are eminently plausible reasons for someone to fear its moral strength.

But look at the record of the lives, behaviour and character of the selfsame media men and women who’ve demonized RSS both through force and fraud. There’s nothing but filth there. From putting out doctored news reports, from making crass accusations, from indulging in vulgar jokes, there’s no depths of depravity the media has plumbed where the RSS is concerned. Even if we overlook this, what’s the kind of ethics and professionalism the media has displayed? Radiagate? Openly campaigning for the Congress party? Land grabbing? Paid news? Killing stories? Calling for the “sudden removal” of Narendra Modi?  What is the wager that these guys can’t lead the lifestyle of Mohan Bhagwat for even half a day? And yet they occupy some kind of a self-righteous moral high ground and criticize the RSS and Bhagwat. What world do they live in? More importantly, what bizarre nightmare are we living in, to tolerate this all-round sickness?

Everybody has the right to criticize the RSS but such criticism must be rooted in truth, honesty, and a thorough knowledge of what it stands for. But then we have a media that’s incurably allergic to such concepts. Whatever be the ideological or intellectual failures of the RSS, they are patriots of the highest order and their record of national service is both unparalleled and unbeatable anywhere in the world. And I say this as an outsider.

No wonder the media is full of people like the likes of Old Monk Boy who can’t sleep without alcohol.

Jihad in Assam: 2 parts – Sandeep

http://www.sandeepweb.com/

Soft Jihad in Assam was Waiting to Happen : Part 1

July 31, 2012

By Sandeep

Preface

Let’s call things by their proper name. What is continuing tounfold in Assam is soft Jihad. It isn’t an ethnic strife, much less ariot. It is soft Jihad not in terms of the scale or intensity of violence but because it is not explicitly unleashed by an Islamic state—or by an Islamic terrorist-superstar like Bin Laden—against a non-Islamic state. It follows a theological dictum from which emerged a time-tested pattern, which has been consistently repeated across both world history and geography.

I argue that:

1. What we’re seeing in Assam is “Soft” Jihad.
2. What we’re seeing in Assam has been seen in various parts of the world at various times in history with the same consequences.
3. That the soft Jihad in Assam is primarily the consequence of a mixture of Islamic theology and its history, the geopolitics of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and a host of other related factors.
4. That unless we have genuine, uncompromising political and military will, this soft Jihad will be replicated in other parts of India in future.
5. That we have to stop it and stop it now unless we want to invite comprehensive disaster.

The Prophet of Peace Sets the Pattern

We need to begin with the first year of the Islamic Calendar or Al Hijra (the Islamic New Year) set at 622 CE. This year marks the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. Contrary to what’s mentioned in the Quran and/or Hadiths, Muhammad wasn’t persecuted in Mecca—he simply fled Mecca because the populace of Mecca thought he was a dangerous man who had delusions of being Godlike.

Medina then was primarily a society of Jews drawn from various tribes who were more receptive to Muhammad’s self-proclaimed Prophethood. This reception is not dissimilar to any pluralistic society, which welcomes and honours all forms of God. However, in a masterly political move, Muhammad and his band of followers gained their confidence, then betrayed and massacred them. The history of the Banu Quraizya tribe’s massacre at the hands of Muhammad is very telling—especially the Battle of the Trench or the Ghazwah al-Khandaq, celebrated widely as one of the spectacular victories of Islam.

In any case, Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina is the earliest Muslim migration—where Muslims were in utter minority in terms of sheer numbers, ideology, power, and reach—which set the pattern for what was to follow—from the 7th Century till our own time. According to Koenraad Elst, the consequence of this migration

from the Medinese viewpoint was that the city lost its autonomy to Mohammed, who became its dictator and expelled or killed sections of its population.

Once he had Medina firmly under his grip, Muhammad rapidly expanded his power using every means at his disposal even if it meant that some of these means had to be invented on the fly by getting them as “revelations” of Allah. Soon, Mecca fell, and before long, he had the entire region of Arabia under his control.

Secure in his political and military power, Muhammad began to aggressively lay out his Dar-ul-Islam andDar-ul-Harb ideas, nay, strategies. In brief, they included using every means possible to convert the whole world into a United Islamic World. Every human endeavour came in its ambit—military, political, economic, social, and individual. Needles, that also included the family. The only goal of every true Muslim was to live—and die, if necessary—to spread Islam.

Muhammad’s early defeats in Mecca taught him a valuable lesson—of biding his time pretending to be peaceful till he gained tactical advantage and then, to strike mercilessly when his time came. This is the answer to millions of people in today’s Europe and America’s who ask “why do they hate us?” Seekers of asylum and peaceful migrants never abandoned their Islam—once they were numerically strong, they began to prove that they were true followers of Islam.

The strategy of overwhelming a native culture with the sheer force of numbers is thus rooted in Muhammad’s own deeds, which later were codified in Islamic theology. Much has been written about the “progressive” and “modern” character of Islam because it allows for birth control. Indeed, all the four schools of Islamic law allow for birth control in one or the other form. However, this allowance was made because Islam cannot be separated from Muhammad, and because we can trace this allowance to an event in Muhammad’s life.

Mohammed’s men had captured women from Mecca in the raid on a Meccan caravan at Badr…intending to sell them back to their families for a handsome ransom, but asked Mohammed if they could use them for their sexual gratification.  Considering that the ransom would go down if the women were not returned in their original condition, the Prophet told his men that they could freely go and rape them as long as they practised coitus interruptus(Arabic azl).

As much as this is telling on the character of Muhammad—that he condoned rape and slave-taking—it is a selective reading. Muhammad’s injunction of coitus interruptus occurred at a specific time and context: it was very early in his journey to full-fledged Prophethood. It happened on the occasion of the Battle of Badr, his first decisive victory against the Meccans. The subsequent Ahadis or episodes of his life based on which all Islamic law schools are derived, are unanimous in prohibiting birth control of any sort. This too, is rooted in an event in Muhammad’s life, specifically in his injunction issued after the campaign against Banu al-Mustaliq.

…the Muslims wanted to rape the hostages and asked Mohammed whether they should practise azl [coitus interruptus], but the Prophet replied… “It does not matter if you don’t do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born.”

He followed this up with other prohibitions against birth control: knowingly marrying a sterile woman, non-vaginal intercourse, sterilization and voluntary celibacy. Indeed, Muhammad shrewdly laid down pronouncements that were explicitly designed to enlarge the Ummah. A couple of very telling verses that say that Muhammad variously enjoined thus:

“Marry women who will love their husbands and be very prolific, for I want you to be more numerous than any other people [Book 13, Mishkatu'l Masabih, a compilation of Sunni traditions by the 12th-century Imam Husain al-Baghawi]

In my Ummah, he is the best who has the largest number of wives. [Tabaqât Ibn Sa'd by Katib al-Wâqidî]

The Prophet’s Pattern Revived

This seeming contradiction between Muhammad’s Badr-injunction favouring birth control and his later injunctions opposing it is easily explained if one studies Islamic law. According to Islamic law, later laws invalidate earlier laws. The other historical reasons are that once Muhammad’s power became unchallenged and he saw rapid conversions to Islam, and even after his death, when Islam went on an unchallenged rampage of domination, the issue of birth control didn’t really matter. However, this changed in two areas. First, in India, the only place where it met with a fierce and permanent confrontation, something which continues till date. Second, in a post-Renaissance and colonizing Europe, which easily overran the Middle East. The latter event came as a near death-blow to Islam, which was till then enjoying centuries of unchallenged domination. It suddenly found itself subservient and worse, with no means to resist let alone revolt. This situation remains more or less intact even today. No matter what, Islam with its roots in the oil-rich Arabian region is militarily powerless against the West if push comes to shove. This is one of the primary reasons it has embarked on various strategies to take over the West from within. Of course, the fact that most Western democracies have lost their will to fight, have become corrupt and lazy and have been used to comfortable living, also helps Islam’s cause.

However, Muhammad’s idea of a permanent struggle—Jihad—to establish Islam on all of humanity is a stroke of visionary, if perverted, genius. The overwhelming-by-numbers idea, which was a minor issue in history, has now assumed threatening proportions. Nevertheless, it was still Muhammad who gave the idea. The thrust to using it is fairly recent.

Which brings us to the current geopolitical situation—the world over, Muslim nations are known for inequities of all kinds, and most “pure” Islamic nations are tyrannies. Islamic democracies are nothing but coup-a-day nations. Islam as a religion, especially in the post 9/11 world, is viewed with suspicion if not open hostility. The treatment of women under Islam is being increasingly subject to no-holds-barred and honest criticism. The fact that something as commonplace as women obtaining a driving license is the subject of a huge debate and angst in Saudi Arabia is also very telling. Most importantly, the whitewashing of Islam in the West with the active collusion of dishonest intellectuals and media houses simply bolsters these facts.

What these things point to is the fact that Islam is fighting for survival in the modern era. If women were granted driving license in the Mecca (pun unintended) of Islam itself, it’d open up other “outrageous demands,” a fact that goes against how Muhammad ordered women to be regarded and treated. For a more detailed exposition of these and other factors concerning Islam’s efforts for survival, this piece is highly recommended. Which is why the demographic route was espoused by and remains an effective technique of choice for several powerful Islamic organizations to ensure Islam’s survival and its continuing, onward march. In Koenraad Elst’s words,

in the present geopolitical circumstances, certain powerful Islamic organizations have added…a deliberate strategy of strengthening the position of Islam by multiplying its numbers.  Though they do not have a monopoly on Islamic orthodoxy, they do influence Muslim collective behaviour to a substantial extent, especially in (what is to Islam) a frontline state like India.

In plain language, this “deliberate strategy of strengthening the position of Islam by multiplying its numbers” is known as the demographic siege, something I have witnessed first hand. It is the strategy that gives birth to what’s now widely-known as Londonistan. The fact that even an apologetic report like this one by the BBC uses the term “Muslim communalism” shows the extent to which this demographic siege damages society (to be sure, the BBC report completely whitewashes the aspect of demographic siege but leaves telltale clues as to the real problem).

There’s no doubt that the pattern that the Prophet of Peace set, and which was codified in Islamic theology, worked not just in Medina but provided the blueprint for much of what’s happening today in the name of asylum-seeking, multiculturalism, and accommodation and fair treatment of immigrants.

http://www.sandeepweb.com/2012/07/31/soft-jihad-in-assam-was-waiting-to-happen-part-1/

The Ongoing Jihad in Assam: Part 2

August 11, 2012

By Sandeep

There is a reason I went into such detail in myearlier post tracing the soft Jihad in Assam to its roots. Apart from showing that it is rooted in Islamic scripture, it was also a foundation of sorts to show how, historically, the world over, this scripture has killed and displaced entire geographies, a process that continues till date and what will happen if it is allowed a free run. What happens in the long run is this: it breeds Dhimmitude, and once that stage is reached, this Dhimmitude feeds on itself.

And so, even as we speak, here’s what the heartless, Islamism-appeasing, Dhimmi government led by the Congress party said today:

Amid continuing violence in Assam, the Centre has told the Supreme Court that it would not be possible to delete names of 40 lakh doubtful voters from the state on the basis of their religious or linguistic profile as it would be unconstitutional.

Not too different from what the politicians in Eurabia or the Islamist universities in the US say. This, when they witness first-hand the fact of neighbourhoods changing their once-middle class character to that of an all-out Muslim ghetto with all the attendant attributes of violence, crime, squalor and the rest. Denial. If it’s not out of sheer fear, then motivated by greed and fancy theories about inter-religious peace and the spin about the Religion of Peace itself. Any which way, these appeasers of violence are united by their whitewash of Islam-inspired violence or even the mere threat of it.

And so it is with Assam. Actually, let me correct that. The Indian state from the time of Nehru has activelyencouraged the spread of the Religion of Peace in all spheres of public life. Muhammad Ghaznavid demolished Somanath? Why did the Hindus show off their wealth, which they accumulated as offerings to idols? Hindus taking out festival processions are attacked? Who asked them to piss off the Religion of Peace adherents whose religion abhors this kind of thing? Illegal encroachers belonging to the Religion of Peace penetrate Indian borders in large numbers? They’re more than welcome! Their country treats them badly. And moreover, India has always had a hoary history of welcoming people of all faiths….you know how the justification goes. You do you’re dead. You don’t you’re really dead.

Back to Assam.

The inevitable emergence of Bangladesh-which we postulated- presented India with fierce long-term problems. For Bangladesh was in effect East Bengal, separated only by religion FROM INDIA’S MOST FRACTIOUS AND MOST SEPARATIST STATE, WEST BENGAL. They share language, tradition, culture, and above all, A VOLATILE NATIONAL CHARACTER. Whether it turned nationalist or radical, Bangladesh would over time accentuate India’s centrifugal tendencies. It might set a precedent for the creation of other Moslem States, carved this time out of India. Once it was independent, its Moslem heritage might eventually lead to rapprochement with Pakistan.

Henry Kissinger was a war criminal but a perceptive and far-sighted war criminal. These lines occur in hisWhite House Years memoir. He wrote this more than 30 years ago, and as we note today, it is prophetic. The West Bengal-Bangladesh border is almost entirely Islamic in character today. What began as small settlements of a few  Muslim families over time has metamorphosed into a mini Dar-ul-Islam today. Attacks of all kinds on Hindus by Muslims are routine. The police takes no action. The administration takes no notice. And the West Bengal government actively suppresses such news. And as we see, Bangladesh has suddenly found a new friend who shares its Jihadi zeal against India.

But Assam is an even gorier story. Encouraged by their successes in Bengal, Bangladeshi Muslims migrated almost en masse—their numbers growing by the years—into Assam. The results are predictable, and as I noted in my previous piece, these results were waiting to happen. The whole dirty detail is recorded in meticulous detail—with dates, tables, and numbers, all assembled from primary sources like the Union Home Ministry’s reports—in Arun Shourie’s A Secular Agenda, published in 1989, in a chapter aptly titled A Country or a Wastepaper Basket? For a shorter version, this is a good source.

India is indeed a wastepaper basket. And we do have laws, including immigration laws. Tough laws. Except that the lawmakers actively collude, if not directly preside in breaking them. The story of creating overnight vote banks by “legalizing” illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is too well-known to waste more words here. The bottom-line only needs to be said: this wastepaper basket-nation is now overflowing with at least FOUR crores of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and it is well-nigh impossible to flesh out and deport even 30% of them even if a separate ministry is created for the purpose. Forget our media. Even formerly-sensible folks prescribe solutions derived out of out-of-the-tank thinking: work permits. What these out-of-the-tank-thinkers forget is that a few lakhs of such illegal immigrants have already been provided morethan just work permits—they have been made Indian citizens by politicians who broke laws.

But why are we so seemingly lax about our national security? Not seemingly. We are lax. Let’s re-welcome the Chinese avatar of chacha Nehru. This white-dress wearing apostle of world peace thought that Indian national security had to play second fiddle to China’s oh-so-sensitive sensibilities. This is the only way to characterize his blind-eye to repeated and severe warnings regarding Chinese designs over Indian territory. His daughter was a million times better in this respect but she, short-sighted as she was, and power-drunk as she got, erred when she created Bangladesh and thought the problem was over. In any case, after her death, with the exception of P V Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee, we’ve never really been serious about guarding our borders. Illegal immigration therefore, is an inconsequential issue not to mention the mother-selling MLAs of the Congress party who “legalized” the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants for obvious reasons. This, even when they knew that the Bangladesh government had an official policy that encouraged such immigration to India.

Now what is the record of Bangladesh’s treatment of illegal immigrants? In the 1990s when Myanmar was under military rule, about 250000 Rohingya Muslims fled to neighbouring Bangladesh only to be turned away. Those who stubbornly refused to do that were summarily shot and/or imprisoned. Even in the recent clashes between Rohingya Muslims and Burmese Buddhists, about 1500 Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh were turned back. But what does India do? It not only legitimizes lakhs of illegal Bangladeshi Muslims, it also has set a new record by providing “shelter” in Hyderabad to 300 illegal Rohingyas.

What’s also interesting to note is how the Islamic Ummah shouts itself hoarse whenever fellow Muslims anywhere in the world are attacked and/or are killed. Everybody from Muslim nations to the Taliban expressed sympathy, support, and anger for what was happening to Rohingya Muslims in Burma. But what is the extent of their support? We’ve already seen a ready sample: how Bangladesh has turned back Rohingya Muslims.

Which brings us to a related point. What is the record of all-Muslim nations or Muslim-majority nations in  dealing with illegal Bangladeshi immigrants? Sometime in 1995-1996, the Malaysian government realized that their nation had some 100000 illegal Bangladeshi Muslim migrant workers. In February 1997, it expelled all of them. Malaysia is a country, which has increasingly become Islamized, a phenomenon which V S Naipaul has insightfully, painstakingly traced in his books describing his journeys into Islamic lands. What’s even more telling is the fact that the Malaysian government entered into a treaty with Bangladesh to accept 50,000 skilled workers into the country annually. However, when large numbers of Bangladeshis entered Malaysia illegally using this treaty as an excuse, Malaysia unilaterally cancelled this treaty. Interestingly, around the same timeframe, Saudi Arabia and Qatar expelled 50,000 illegal Bangladeshis. Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar are Muslim Absolute Monarchies. Did they spare a moment’s thought before expelling their Muslim brothers and sisters from Bangladesh?

Unlike India. Because India is a wastepaper basket. No filth is too filthy for it.

And therefore, Assam happens. Learn to live with it because you can’t deal with it.

http://www.sandeepweb.com/2012/08/11/the-ongoing-jihad-in-assam-part-2/

Future Of Hinduism – Big Debate

Ahmedabad: Four temples razed in 2 days, more to go

AHMEDABAD: It was a shocker for the regular commuters passing by IIM-A road on Friday. The famous Bhidbhanjan Hanuman templeadjoining IIM wall was missing. The temple, frequently thronged by senior bureaucrats, IPS and police officials and thousands of devotees during Tuesdays and Saturdays, was demolished midst tight police security late on Thursday night.

Police officials said that they anticipated trouble but no untoward incident was reported either on Thursday or Friday. In principal, the temple managers have been given permission to keep a small place for the deity at the original spot.

Akka Bharwad, one of the caretakers of the temple, showed displeasure at the gesture of AMC. “In earlier talks, the civic officials had said that they would raze around 9 feet of the construction due to expansion of the adjoining road. However, when the demolition team arrived late on Thursday, they razed the entire structure. The officials have, however, assured that we can keep the idol at the same place and perform daily pooja. We have been promised space for the small temple under the flyover that will be constructed soon,” he said.

The temple was a thriving place due to nearby kitlis where the youngsters would throng in the night for a cup of tea. On a regular Saturday evening, there would be 15 to 20 cars parks on the opposite side of the road at any given time with travelers getting down for ‘darshan’ at the temple that would be open till late in the night.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Ahmedabad-Four-temples-razed-in-2-days-more-to-go/articleshow/12026145.cms

Communalism and Terrorism: Delhi blast & NIC agenda

Hari Om

13 Sep 2011

In the interregnum between May 2004 when the Congress-led UPA first came to power, to the present September 2011, India has suffered umpteen attacks at the hands of Islamic radicals, mostly trained and funded and backed by Pakistan and its dreaded Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). Now, there are enough home-grown terrorists to serve as handmaidens to the ‘religion of peace’.   The terror strikes have taken hundreds, indeed thousands of innocent lives. Numbers are meaningless to a numbed people. Still, we may count some instances that readily come to mind:   -        70 innocent civilians lost their lives in the three powerful blasts in New Delhi on October 29, 2005; -        21 in the three terrorist attacks on Shri Sankatmochan Mandir and Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station on March 7, 2006; -        37 on September 8, 2006 in the Malegaon mosque attack; -        68 perished on February 18, 2007 in the Samjhauta Express bombing; -        13 died in the Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad, blast on May 18, 2007; -        42 died on August 25, 2007 in the two bomb blasts in Hyderabad Lumbini Park; -        63 liquidated in the nine bomb blasts caused by terrorists in Jaipur on May 13, 2008; -        29 killed on July 26, 2008 in the seven bomb blasts in Ahmadabad; -        3 on September 27, 2008 in Delhi flower market bombing blast; -        171 in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks; -        17 in the Pune bombing on February 13, 2010; -        18 in Mumbai serial blasts on July 13, 2011; and -        13 on September 7, 2011 in the Delhi High Court terror attack.   During the NDA regime also India witnessed several terror attacks, including the December 13, 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament that had left seven persons dead and many wounded.   The objective behind these attacks was not only to provoke communal riots in the country, but to destabilize the Indian polity itself. Those who planned and executed these attacks did everything meticulously. But they failed to destabilize the polity and polarize Indian society on caste, communal and regional lines. Instead, the violence united all communities, barring a few vested interests.   Thus the nation frustrated the sinister designs of the Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers and supporters in and outside India, especially Pakistan, and sent a message across the world that Pakistani-sponsored terrorism or terrorism exported from other countries would never derange India and achieve its nefarious goals.   Yet the besieged citizens of India also tried repeatedly to impress upon the government the need to tackle terrorism with seriousness, to enact stringent anti-terror laws and implement existing laws rigorously so that the terrorists and other anti-India elements were isolated, nabbed and brought to justice. But the suffering citizenry was abandoned to god and anarchy by the irresponsible, arrogant and well-protected ruling elite, interested only in votebank politics and fulfilling its insatiable lust for power and pelf.   The Congress-UPA combine in fact taunted the citizenry by propagating zero tolerance for alleged human rights violations. The regime humiliated the men responsible for internal security and the safety and security of the nation by directing those involved in anti-insurgency operations to maintain utmost restraint, even in the face of grave provocation as the terrorists were on a killing spree.   The government itself audaciously, and mindlessly, described the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) as “inhuman” and “draconian” and held out assurances to a certain community that it would give a “human touch” to the anti-terror law that the Army and paramilitary forces needed utmost to bring the situation under control, and protect the territorial integrity of India.   The UPA repeatedly tried to communalize the cult of terror by saying, “Hindu terrorism is more dangerous than Islamic terrorism” (read Rahul Gandhi and flunkies like Digvijay Singh). The political elite hobnobbed, and continues to hobnob, with those denouncing the institution of the Army and demanding demilitarization. All this to appease a particular community, overlooking the grave evils that followed, including direct encouragement to separatists and terrorists.   Matters came to such a pass that the Indian Prime Minister took the astounding position that Pakistan, epicenter of global terrorism, was, like India “also a victim of terrorism”. He humiliated the nation by resuming the composite dialogue process with Pakistan, overturning his own government’s stand that terrorism and talks could not go on simultaneously. The Congress’ preeminent general secretary told the US Ambassador to India that “Hindu terrorism is worse than Islamic terrorism”. Another Congress general secretary openly sided with those with dubious credentials. Previously in 2004-2005, the UPA had repealed POTA.   The terror attack outside the Delhi High Court should have served as a wake-up call for the UPA and Congress leadership. But nothing of the sort happened.   Oblivious to public suffering, the Congress-UPA tried to deflect national attention from the scourge of terrorism.   So, after a hiatus of three long years, the government and party leadership decided to convene a meeting of the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Integration Council (NIC). The agenda – unbelievable as it sounds – was to solicit support of all political parties and state governments for the Sonia-led National Advisory Council drafted “Communal Violence Bill”!   As terrorism returns to the national capital, a conscience-less leadership tries to enact a law to pamper the minorities, especially Muslim and Christian minorities, which have been anyway setting the agenda for the Union Government! Perhaps this was a ‘Welcome Home’ gift to the party president, who could not attend the September 10 meeting as she is still recuperating from her undisclosed illness that took her out of the country for five long weeks.   This pathetic move to shift the focus from Terrorism to Communalism boomeranged with the Prime Minister and Home Minister finding themselves in a piquant situation. At least five chief ministers showed the Congress leadership its rightful place by not attending the meeting at all (Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat). The first four states return to the Lok Sabha more than 200 members out of a total of 542. In fact, the Tamil Nadu chief minister, Ms. J. Jayalalithaa, even took the lead in the weeks preceding the meeting to write to her counterparts, warning them of the perils of this legislation, and urging them to oppose it with all their might. In fact, most of the delegates at the meeting rejected the draft “Communal Violence Bill”.   The chief ministers of BJP-NDA-ruled states, without exception, denounced the draft as reactionary, communally-motivated and a deliberate move of the Congress-UPA to weaken the federal structure of the polity and snatch powers legitimately belonging to the States. Some chief ministers rejected the draft saying it would endanger national unity and help fissiparous forces to implement their nefarious break-India agenda.   The Congress-UPA isolation could be gauged from the fact that all opposition parties, barring the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav (who is desperate to find a berth in the Union Cabinet), vehemently opposed the draft bill. The BJP, Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Biju Janata Dal, Akali Dal, CPI-M, to mention a few, united against the proposed bill.   What came as a real shock was the unexpected support extended to the anti-draft bill forces by Paschimbanga chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The Railway Minister, who belongs to her Trinamool Congress party, told media persons on the eve of the controversial meeting that his party would not support the proposed draft in its present form.   Significantly, Congress’ Andhra Pradesh chief minister also did not support the draft. He suggested the Centre should take the state governments into confidence before any such proposal was discussed in the NIC. Thus, he actually opposed the draft in a sense. The speech of the Bihar chief minister (read out at the meeting) was stark – the draft bill, if adopted, would outrage the majority community (read Hindu community) as it would come to believe that it is the majority community that fans communalism and causes communal riots.   So, the Prime Minister, Home Minister, NAC and Congress leadership had to eat humble pie.   The nation needs a relentless fight against terror. It will not listen to such irritating inanities as – what happened outside the Delhi High Court was a “cowardly act” and “we will do our best to bring the perpetrators of terror to justice”.   We have already suffered enormous losses and citizens are at the end of their tether. We want concrete action on the ground. The time for fooling around is over; the time for action has come. This is the national consensus.     The author is former Chair Professor, Maharaja Gulab Singh Chair, University of Jammu, Jammu, & former member Indian Council of Historical Research http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nia-probing-role-of-7-people-in-delhi-blast-case/184103-3.html

Capitalist inroads changes the caste equations in India

India On Verge of Major Upheaval – Subramanian Swamy

August 5, 2011

By K.B.NAIRCERRITOS , CA – In a hard hitting speech Janata Party Leader, Dr Subramanian Swamy lashed out at the Congress administration and its role in the several corruption scandals which are rocking India and proclaimed that the country is on the verge of a major upheaval in which by the end of the year many in the present Government would find themselves out of power and behind bars. He made this statement at a public meeting organized by the Bhartiya Vichar Manch in the Sierra Room of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on July 31. He went on to state that the strong movement against corruption is gaining momentum and predicted it would lead to elections being called early next year.

Dr Swamy started his address following the screening of a short video titled “ India- Republic of Scams” which briefly outlines the state of affairs in India resulting from alleged large scale scams and urges people to get involved in saving the country from disaster. Against this background Dr Swamy broke down his speech into three broad headings starting with what is corruption, followed by how it negatively impacts the country and finally what is the solution to the problem.

In defining corruption as a crime when a public office is misused for private gain, Dr Swamy said he was not referring to the small sums of money which changes hands at lower administrative levels which he thinks is unpreventable. What he finds disturbing is the scale to which corruption has escalated depriving the Government of several million dollars of revenue and thereby seriously undermining the financial stability of the nation. He went into the details a couple of such cases where ministers had used their positions for their personal financial gain or their kith and kin. The first he touched on related to the construction of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project which proposed to link the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Manar. Dr Swamy alleges the project was aggressively promoted with the intention of benefiting the companies of family and relatives of the then Shipping Minister through construction, shipping and dredging contracts related to the project.

Swamy speaks to his admirers after his address
The second was the most volatile and recent 2G scam over which controversy is still raging across the country. A significant part of his address was devoted to this subject in which after explaining its technical details he went on to describe how the then Telecommunications Minister A. Raja, by twisting the rules, masterminded the sale of spectrum to Swan and Unitech in which he had a stake, at throwaway prices on account of which the nation lost a staggering $ 40 billion in revenue.

This apart, he added the complex international financial transactions involved in the process would in itself pose immense security risks as anti national individuals and organizations had stakes in the foreign companies associated with the scheme, which in turn could be utilized to finance and support its own terrorist activities in India. Dr.Swamy named individuals who had connections to the gangster Dawood Ibrahim and the ISI.

Every time Dr Subramanian Swamy quoted how he had thwarted efforts by those in power to cover the scams by moving the Courts, he was met with thunderous applause from the audience.

Among the more serious ramifications of accumulation of such huge quantities of unaccounted wealth Dr Swamy stated was the lavish life style of those possessing them because of which there is an alarming shift from production of consumer goods for the average general public to the catering of luxury goods to the rich where the margins are far more attractive. Also inevitable is the skyrocketing prices of real estate and the illegal trade in food items and necessities resulting in inflation shooting to 16%. Another is the stashing of undeclared wealth in foreign banks which not only do not pay interest but charge a 2% service fee thus depriving the country of crores of rupees of revenue for its social programs. He also went on to explain procedures through which by the use of “participatory notes” the payment of Capital gains tax is cleverly avoided in transactions involving foreign currency.

The impressive audience at the talk.
In providing solutions to the colossal corruption problem Dr Swamy expressed the prevailing laws are sufficient but time consuming but in the short term he suggested the appointment of an independent prosecutor with sufficient powers to proceed legally against those who break the law so swift justice is arrived at. As an example he quoted the case of Bernie Madoff in the US who was convicted and incarcerated within 6 months whereas Ramalinga Raju’s case in the Satyam scandal is still pending mired in the Indian legal system for years. In the long term he called for a Renaissance of Indian traditional social values of Sanatan Dharma and by giving up the current trend of the relentless pursuit of making money ushered in by the hunger for material prosperity and globalization. He pointed out that money alone does not bring happiness as it proven by the fact that droves of wealthy individuals are arriving in India to find peace and purpose in their lives.

The low key organizers were content to let the speaker of the day take center stage and the event was pleasantly free of photo ops making it easy for the audience to focus on Dr.Swamy’s talk. Earlier Hari Pothulu had made the welcome and housekeeping remarks before Dr Subramanian Swamy was introduced by Ram Kumar. Dr Vinod Ambastha moderated the lively Q & A session that concluded the event.

Kalyanaraman

https://sites.google.com/site/indianoceancommunity1/
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com

 

Fight India’s secular British Liberals & strengthen the Northwestern Frontier

Ramtanu Maitra

28 Jul 2011

India’s northwest frontier will remain a security threat for years, if not decades, to come. Any effort from any quarter to slacken up on that area’s security instead of further strengthening it, at the behest of India’s secular and internationalist crowd who are still under the spell of their former British Liberal masters, will inevitably lead to a war and the eventual dismemberment of Kashmir from the Republic. In effect, the British Empire’s objective, carried out partially by Louis and Edwina Mountbatten when they seduced Nehru and his ilk into the breaking up of Kashmir, will be fully attained if New Delhi continues its mumbling and deliberately refrains from doing what needs to be done. What has happened in the Kashmir Valley since the early 1990s is not a matter of conjecture. The Muslims of Kashmir – controlled by the British imperialists working through a gaggle of Mirpuris based in London, Birmingham, Bedford, Dewsbury and elsewhere in the UK and through Pakistan’s zamindar, the Pakistan military – have become virulently anti-India across the board. All these anti-India operatives are facilitated by a number of terrorist groups, such as Hizbul Mujahideen Islami (HuJI), Harkatul Mujahideen (HuM) and a horde of others unleashed from Pakistan and funded by Saudi Arabia, drumming out the British mantra that Kashmir will be separated from India. What these terrorists provide is the killing power to weaken the will of the population. The British are not altogether off their rocker. The kind of leadership that has existed in New Delhi for decades, and the support the British have garnered from Indians who advocate “secularism” and some such mumbo-jumbo religion, has weakened India’s northwest frontier. If the trend is allowed to continue, it will only be a matter of time until things get out of control. At that point, the “peace-loving secularists” will openly advocate separation of Kashmir from India. That is the British plan; it would satisfy not only the zamindars of Pakistan, but also the Kashmiri Muslims who have guided the situation on this dangerous path. Though brimming with vim and vigor but virtually void of grey matter, Pakistan’s zamindars do not understand the long-term British plan to take Kashmir from its native inhabitants. Witness the Pakistan military’s ineptitude in handling the Pushtun crisis along the Durand Line in Pakistan’s west. First, by changing the Northwest Frontier Province to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, they laid the foundation for an independent Pushtunistan. In addition, in acceding to the Saudi plan to spread Wahabism, and by promoting the madrassa-trained Taliban and training them with arms, they have groomed these militant Pushtuns to break up Pakistan itself. Many Pakistani military officials, enamored by Islamic zealotry and Saudi money, have joined the jihadis and are undermining the zamindari establishment. One must also note the role of the Pakistan military over the years in turning Karachi into another Beirut, where the law of goons and killers prevails over the law of the land. If, and when, Kashmir is separated from India and becomes a part of Pakistan, the British imperialists will move in to make it an “independent” country dependent on Britain.   Setting up the Game Board There is no doubt in my mind that the dismemberment of Kashmir militarily is out of the question. However, what could bring it about is continuation of the present policy by New Delhi. That the game plan is to separate Kashmir from India is not hidden. It is a stated objective and most, if not all, Kashmiri Muslims endorse that plan. What should have been visible to all, but has been deliberately ignored over the years, is how the game board was being set up. To begin with, since the 1990s, more than 500,000 Hindu Kashmiris, under physical attack from the local Muslims and their controller terrorist group members from Pakistan, have left the Valley. As of now, less than 100 Hindu families live in the Valley. What did New Delhi do about it? Not much, other than dispensing substantial compensation to the departing Kashmiri Hindus. The size of the compensation is large enough to shut the mouth of these “refugees in their own country.” Barring a handful, these Kashmiri Hindus, feeling safe and comfortable outside of the Valley, have virtually given up speaking out against their former neighbours, despite what was done to them and their families. The de-Hinduization and Pakistanization of the Valley began on February 27, 1990, when Tej Krishan, a Hindu, was hanged to death at Yachikot Lidder near Pahelgam in the Anantnag district. That was the opening salvo. But under the pretext of serving their secular masters, New Delhi’s response was that of the three monkeys: I see no evil, I hear no evil, and I speak no evil. New Delhi, in effect said: I embrace evil. But the game board had been set up long before that. In the 1980s, Pakistan’s then-new zamindar, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, hands dripping with former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s blood, began relocating Wahabi-indoctrinated Saudi-funded militant varieties to Gilgit, Baltistan and the Pakistani-part of Kashmir along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The militants were sent to these areas not only to gain control of that territory by subjugating the locals, but also because they were imbued with the British-Saudi-Pakistani mantra of “liberating” the Muslims of Kashmir as their principal mission. Gen. Zia, who lived by violence and met his death through violence as well, was a hand-held puppet of the Saudi Wahabis. One of the reasons he was so eager to kill Bhutto was because Bhutto’s wife was an Iranian Shia and the Bhuttos were Shias. Besides setting up the game board that led to the exit of Hindus from the Kashmir Valley, Gen. Zia was involved in sectarian cleansing within Pakistan, also at the behest of his masters in Riyadh, during his more than a decade rule of the country. During Zia’s rule, dozens of terrorist training camps, inhabited by such violent Sunni terrorist groups as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and supervised and monitored by Pakistan’s zamindars, operated for years close to the LAC. Again, the objective was to unleash hordes of terrorists inside the Kashmiri Muslim-dominated Valley with the message: “We will liberate you from the Hindu Indians.” The game plan was unfolding right before the eyes of any who chose to keep their eyes open. But New Delhi was busy misinforming the population about Kashmir and the Kashmiris; when too much blood had flown to keep the situation under wraps, New Delhi would indulge in mindless and sporadic retaliation, giving the false impression that they were putting things back on an even keel. Things were never on an even keel because the very leaders – Kashmiri Muslims, of course – who were kept in power in Srinagar to amuse New Delhi’s powers-that-be, were hand-in-glove with the same crowd that was crowing for Pakistan.   What must be done… even now If Indians do not want the Kashmir Valley to become a part of Pakistan, they must take a leaf out of China’s policy book. In Tibet, a sparsely populated area inhabited wholly by Tibetans practicing Buddhism, China, after moving into that area in the late-1950s, systematically migrated people of Chinese origin to change Tibet’s demography. The central government of the People’s Republic of China followed an active policy of migration of Chinese to Tibet, luring them there with attractive bonuses and favorable living conditions. Since the end of the 1990s, there are more Chinese than Tibetans in Greater Tibet (but still a minority in the designated Tibetan Autonomous Region). As of 2003, the population consisted of an estimated 6 million ethnic Tibetans and 7.5 million non-Tibetans of different ethnic groups. In 2008, the capital Lhasa had 400,000 people with a majority still being Tibetan Chinese. In contrast, it had only 5,000 inhabitants in 1959. In the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, where various ethnic groups from different religious traditions reside, a majority of the population follows Islam. Among various ethnic groups of the Muslim faith residing there, Muslim Turkic people – including Uyghur, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tatars, Kazakhs, and some Muslim Iranian peoples including Tajiks and Sarikolis/Wakhis (often mixed as Tajiks) and Muslim peoples such as Sino-Tibetan and the Hui (Chinese Muslim that is) – are the principal ones. Many among the Muslim Turkic population do not accept Chinese rule. There were violent incidents against the Chinese, and some of this violence was triggered by Uyghur terrorists sheltered and trained in Pakistan. As a result, Beijing has moved in with the policy it has successfully exercised in Tibet. Beijing began migrating Han Chinese from the eastern part of the country to populate Xinjiang. The proportion of ethnic Chinese in Xinjiang increased from 6 percent in 1949 to an official count of more than 40 percent today. This figure does not include military personnel or their family members, or a lot of people without papers. Demographic changes have been carried out to undermine the threatening Uyghur independence movement and the demand by other non-Han people for the preservation of their culture. At the same time, minorities in Xinjiang have been freed from the one-child policy carried out in the eastern and southern part of China. This by itself will change the demographic pattern over the next decades in a direction more satisfactory to Beijing. It should also be noted that China did not merely shift the population. Beijing’s leaders built extensive and modern infrastructure that laid the foundation for burgeoning manufacturing and commercial sectors in these provinces. The leadership in these provinces was in the hands of Han Chinese brought in from other provinces, and it was that, along with Beijing’s drive, that allowed these developments to take place. Taking a leaf out of the Chinese policy book, India must flood the Kashmir Valley with non-Kashmiris from other states of India. They must be provided with security, and that means flooding the state with security people as well. Over a period of time, such a large migration of non-Kashmiris into the Valley will shift political and other powers away from the pro-Pakistan Kashmiri Muslims to the hands of individuals who identify themselves with India. Simultaneously, building up manufacturing and commercial sectors on extensive infrastructural development, as the Chinese did, will be a necessary step. Meanwhile, educational opportunities should be opened up for the next generation of Kashmiri youth. Each of India’s 270-plus universities must provide scholarships to at least 20 Kashmiris for higher education. It is important to change the outlook of the next generation of Kashmiris and relieve them of the misery of living like frogs in a well with only one objective – to become a Pakistani. India’s future security needs call for strengthening its porous northwestern frontier, which means strengthening Indian military and intelligence capabilities in the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Ladakh. With the stakes becoming higher, the business-as-usual attitude and knee-jerk reactions to Kashmiri Muslims’ and Pakistani terrorists’ violent activities should now be pushed aside. What New Delhi needs to do at this point in time is set up large permanent military bases along its borders with Pakistan and China in the north and thus develop a very powerful overall physical presence in the state, which is India’s northwestern frontier. That would put an end to the continuing violence perpetrated by anti-national Kashmiris who are puppets in the hands of terrorists bred, indoctrinated, armed and under orders from Rawalpindi, to push India to the brink of yet another fruitless war. To put this policy in place, New Delhi and the Indian population generally will have to acquire a whole new mindset. Besides acknowledging the fact that running a self-destructive, upside-down policy in Kashmir for the past six decades has brought about nothing but chaos and violence there and has allowed all Kashmiri Muslims to turn pro-Pakistan, it is time to recognize that New Delhi’s responsibility is to protect the interests of India and Indians. Since New Delhi’s practice is to tell all and sundry in every forum that the Indian-part of Kashmir is legitimate, it is time that the Indian people demand that Kashmir be treated as part of India, and not as an adjunct or a disputed area. At the same time, New Delhi should make clear to Islamabad that the part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan, and identified by Pakistan as Azad Kashmir and Northern Territory, is in fact an illegal occupation of India’s land by Islamabad. New Delhi does not have to go to war over that, but it must make clear to Islamabad – and anyone else who would like to bring this issue up – that Kashmir is not up for negotiation and New Delhi is not interested in entertaining any discussion that is not based on the premise that the Kashmir Accession in 1947 was absolute. This should be told to the Brits, as well, and to anyone else who would like to propose a discussion on the propriety of Kashmir.   Kashmir is part of India, and Pakistan occupies a part of it Pakistan should be told forthwith that there is no question of holding discussions on Kashmir. The state had lawfully acceded to India; Pakistan invaded Kashmir in 1947 with the intent to grab it, and that is all there is to it. When and if Pakistan breaks up, New Delhi may choose to tell the new leaders of the new country the facts of life and move militarily to get back what was lost. The single biggest mistake that Indian leaders continue to make is to respond to Islamabad and a bunch of western countries that have a vested geopolitical interest in the region, whining that India-Pakistan relations cannot be improved unless the Kashmir “issue” is resolved. While there is no question that India-Pakistan relations must be improved, since it would help both countries immensely in many ways, Kashmir has nothing to do with it; and New Delhi must realize that no one knows this better than Pakistan’s zamindars, the military. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Why My Father Hated India,” Aatish Taseer, the son of slain Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, pointed out that “the primary agent of this decline (of Pakistan: ed.) has been the Pakistani army. The beneficiary of vast amounts of American assistance and money – $11 billion since 9/11 – the military has diverted a significant amount of these resources to arming itself against India. In Afghanistan, it has sought neither security nor stability but rather a backyard, which – once the Americans leave – might provide Pakistan with ‘strategic depth’ against India. “In order to realize these objectives, the Pakistan army has led the US in a dance, in which it had to be seen to be fighting the war on terror, but never so much as to actually win it, for its extension meant the continuing flow of American money. All this time the army kept alive a double game, in which some terror was fought and some – such as Laskhar-e-Tayyba’s 2008 attack on Mumbai – actively supported,” states Taseer. He continues: “The army’s duplicity was exposed decisively this May, with the killing of Osama bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad. It was only the last and most incriminating charge against an institution whose activities over the years have included the creation of the Taliban, the financing of international terrorism and the running of a lucrative trade in nuclear secrets. This army, whose might has always been justified by the imaginary threat from India, has been more harmful to Pakistan than to anybody else. It has consumed annually a quarter of the country’s wealth, undermined one civilian government after another and enriched itself.” The problem with those who occupy office at New Delhi’s South Block is that they cannot think the way Indian nationals do. Those who come to power in New Delhi, whether they are proclaimed “secularists” or “chauvinist Hindus,” are all imbued with the ideology of British liberals. British liberalism and secularism consider nationalism as a principle embraced only by “uneducated” people belonging to the lower strata of society. Perhaps for this reason the so-called Indian leaders do not consider Kashmir an integral part of India – although they debate vigorously like British debating society members in various fora arguing that Kashmir “should belong” to India. The leaders in New Delhi cannot even say out loud that Kashmir is as much a part of India as Arunachal Pradesh is, or Sikkim is. Since New Delhi does not consider Kashmir a part of India, and that is evident in the way New Delhi’s “leaders” have handled Kashmir for 60-plus years, it follows that those who reside in Kashmir are not Indians. Hence, the Kashmir mess. Is it their mental screw-up, or are Indian leaders protecting their ideological religion, a heady mix of secularism and liberalism?   Kargil War: How to fool New Delhi  Remember the Kargil catastrophe? At the time, India’s prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was representing the so-called adherents of a chauvinist Hindu Rashtra. The Indian secularists, who have been meticulously inculturated over the years in the thought patterns and reflexes of British liberals, hated intensely the political group Vajpayee represented. But look what Vajpayee did when it came to dealing with Pakistan vis-á-vis Kashmir. He did exactly what a non-Indian would have done. After letting the country’s guard drop on the northwestern frontier and thus weakening India’s security position along the northern borders, Vajpayee got sucked into believing that Islamabad wanted to resolve the Kashmir issue. He dreamed he would accomplish what his mentor, Jawaharlal Nehru, could not do – “resolve” the Kashmir issue to smooth the feathers of India’s neighbour, Pakistan. How many mistakes were involved in his assessment? Vajpayee, as well as Jawaharlal Nehru and all those others who carried Nehru’s torch in later days to project themselves as fair-minded, cricket-playing Indian secularist-liberals, never really believed that Kashmir belongs to India. Yes, Mr. Vajpayee, Kashmir belongs to India and Pakistan occupies a part of it! It is not the other way around, and it is time someone in power in New Delhi realized this fact and stopped dancing to the British liberals’ tune. You do not have to appease anyone in Kashmir, whether he or she is a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Buddhist. It has nothing to do with any religion. That land belongs to India because the Letter of Accession says so. Vajpayee did not know it. What he also did not know – and present premier Manmohan Singh doesn’t either – is so fundamental that one wonders what kind of mental damage they had incurred during their formative years of education in British India. For instance, the Pakistan military’s zamindari over Pakistan centers around the hoax – which a highly-divided Pakistani community has swallowed hook, line and sinker – that India is the mortal enemy of Pakistan. The majority “Hindus” of India never accepted the two-nation theory–based partition that the British Raj had imposed – the zamindars told their subjects in Pakistan – citing Kashmir as a vivid example. Their argument is that since Kashmir is a Muslim-majority state, it should have been a part of Pakistan. What then follows is that it is incumbent upon the Pakistani military, the zamindars, to bring Kashmir into its fold. In order to do that, Pakistan’s military needs to dominate the entire power-spectrum in Pakistan until the goal is achieved.   Kabhi apni shakal dekhi hai? Vajpayee and others also did not realize what the so-called resolution of Kashmir would mean to these zamindars. “Resolution” of Kashmir  - if that pertains to partitioning Kashmir and making the borders an international border – means an end to the self-proclaimed mandate of the Pakistani military to rule that land. When that happens, even the most spineless of the Pakistani elite would be able to challenge the military. It is widely known, and one would hope the “leaders” in New Delhi are aware of this fact, that no matter which civilian leader was allowed to occupy the prime minister’s office in Islamabad, for whatever length of time, Rawalpindi made clear to these civilians that Kashmir and nuclear weapons are not part of their portfolio. Those were the red lines no civilian could dare cross. Those two issues rest exclusively with the brass in Rawalpindi. Vajpayee was in Lahore in 1998 issuing the “historic” Lahore declaration along with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was sent packing to Saudi Arabia by the zamindars a year later, promising to bring about a “fair” resolution of the Kashmir dispute. What was the Pakistani military under Gen. Pervez Musharraf doing at the time this “historic” declaration was being touted as a solution to all conflicts between the two countries? Musharraf was busy sending “Kashmiri freedom fighters” – yet another hoax in the tradition of the 1947 Kashmir invasion, which was carried out by Pakistan military personnel wearing tribal garb under the command of a colonial left-over British commander – to occupy strategic heights in the Kargil sector of Kashmir within Indian territory. They were directing Pakistani artillery fire to the arterial National Highway 1A, which connects Leh and Srinagar. Musharraf who dazzled the hapless simpleton, American President George W. Bush in the post-9/11 years with his lying skills, perpetrated this hoax. Later, after presiding over the Kargil disaster, he awarded two soldiers with the Nishan-e-Haider (Pakistan’s highest military honour). Another 90 soldiers were given gallantry awards, most of them posthumously, confirming the Pakistan army’s role in the episode. Notably, no “Kashmiri freedom fighter” received any award! Later, in 2006, in his book, In the Line of Fire, this two-faced Musharraf said five units of the Pakistan Army were involved in crossing the border. The objective of the Pakistan Army was to cut off the road from Srinagar to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, the northernmost part of Jammu and Kashmir, and then run over Ladakh, which was very lightly guarded by New Delhi. What the powers-that-be in New Delhi do not comprehend that while all Kashmiri Muslims want Kashmir to be a part of Pakistan, disregarding the fact that Kashmir is a part of India, the Pakistanis also believe that Kashmir belongs to them. Feisal Naqvi, in an article, “Kabhi apni shakal dekhi hai?” (July 11, 2011, The Express Tribune) said: “We need to take a look at ourselves, ask how we have gotten to where we are, and perhaps reconsider our assumptions. Starting from the belief that the Kashmiris want to be Pakistanis and that the ‘loss’ of Kashmir is somehow fatal to our national existence – we have dedicated ourselves to winning back what is ‘rightfully’ ours. In pursuit of that victory, we have developed only one arm of the state: the army. And in order to justify the continued pursuit of militarism, we have distorted our ideology to the point that any and all steps taken toward the larger goal of a Kashmir restored to our anxious arms are deemed to be worthy of any sacrifice by us, irrespective of the consequences. Accordingly, we have supported the forces of hate in Kashmir because they fight our wars even though that same hate then drips back into Pakistan and poisons our own bloodstream. And all of this is because the Kashmiris can supposedly conceive of no better future than to be a part of Pakistan. Kabhi apni shakal dekhi hai?”   Dragging the Army down Then again, neither Kashmiri Muslims nor Pakistani zamindars are alone to be blamed for the Kashmir mess. New Delhi is perhaps more at fault, because they have betrayed the Indian people and are willing to barter away the land that lawfully belongs to India. There are two specific aspects of India’s policy on Kashmir that have weakened the country’s northwestern frontiers. To begin with, appeasing the Kashmiri Muslims, allowing them to carry out religious cleansing in the Valley, and then creating a situation where they openly proclaim themselves as pro-Pakistan, has turned millions who are Indians residing in Kashmir into what amount to citizens of  a foreign country, Pakistan. That is the outcome of a dangerous policy that has created millions of subversives working to break up the country. It is likely that these subversives have also helped others to set up terrorist networks in other parts of India. Good job, New Delhi! In addition, the Indian policy of using the military to maintain law and order in Kashmir has turned out to be a disaster. What the Indian military faces are unwilling and compromised Kashmiri Muslim rulers working hand-in-glove with pro-Pakistani Indians, whose sole identity is that they are Kashmiri Muslims and cherish to be Kashmiri-Muslim-Pakistanis. Facing such an adverse situation, and not trained to deal with citizens who have been given the right to act as anti-India foreign citizens, army personnel deployed in Kashmir resort to violence. In reality, pushed into a situation like that, the army personnel were left with few options. Terrorists from Pakistan and jihadis within and outside of Kashmir consider engaging these military personnel to be by itself a political victory. They know that the killing of any Kashmiri Muslim, whether that individual is a terrorist or a civilian, by the military can be played back into the pro-Pakistan Kashmiri Muslim community evoking a high level of emotion, lay the foundation for many anti-India activities, and generate support among the British liberal ideologists with access to the corridors of power in New Delhi. Meanwhile, the secularists, who label the military personnel as “rogues in uniform shielded by the Indian government,” will continue to do their bit to weaken the Indian military. There is, however, no question that the Indian military has been repeatedly forced into a most difficult environment in Kashmir. Unable to cope with such difficult situations, military personnel not only committed an unacceptable level of violence, causing the loss of many lives, but they also exposed the nature and viciousness of those in power in New Delhi. The reality is that instead of implementing a concrete policy (such as recommended in Part I of this article) to stabilize Kashmir and treat it as yet another Indian state, New Delhi has forced the Indian military to do the work that New Delhi refuses to do and take the blame for all that has gone wrong in Kashmir. While Indian military personnel encounter daily attacks from jihadis and pro-Pakistan Kashmiri Muslims, New Delhi  indulges itself in “dialogues to accommodate” those who do not even consider themselves Indians. http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1894  http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1895

HR & CE: Rogue Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu

T R Ramesh

27 Jul 2011

 

It is a great irony that a secular Government should deeply embroil itself in the administration and running of Hindu temples and institutions in the guise of supervising the secular aspects of temple administration. This grotesque policy of the Government to supervise religious institutions applies only to Hindu Religious institutions.

 

Viselike grip on Religious Institutions

 

By its own account the HR & CE Dept administers (or rather mal-administers):

-        36,425 temples

-        56 Mutts

-        47 temples belonging to Mutts

-        1721 Specific endowments and 189 Trusts

 

This has been possible due to Tamil Nadu being ruled continuously by atheists and unscrupulous persons, a corrupt bureaucracy, a debased High Court and above all, stark apathy, indifference and ignorance among Hindus. In recent times, the covert and overt designs of Christian missionaries and agencies have added to the plight of Hindu temples.

 

Around 1840, the then British Government started giving up administration of temples. They asked some of the prominent mutts in Tamil Nadu to look after some of the important temples and endowments. The Heads of Mutts who were happy to takeover the administration of these temples so that they are run as they ought to be run, were careful enough to get written documents or “Muchalikas” from the British Government, which assured them that they would not take back the temples from the Mutts.

 

Thus some very important temples came under the complete control and ownership of these Mutts and the Mutts ran them ably and efficiently. The primary purposes of worship and utilization of funds meant for the upkeep of temples and conduct of rituals were never lost sight of by the Heads of Mutts or officers. While a few temples were thus brilliantly administered by the Mutts, thousands of other temples in the then Madras Presidency were handed over to the respective trustees with the then Government playing little or no role in supervising them.

 

 In 1925, the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1923 (Act I of 1925) was passed by the local Legislature with the object of providing for better governance and administration of certain religious endowments. The Act divided temples into what are known as Excepted and Non-excepted temples. Immediately after the Act came into force, its validity was challenged on the ground that the Act was not validly passed. For this reason, the legislature enacted the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1926, Act II of 1927 repealing Act I of 1925. 

 

This Act was amended from time to time. It is unnecessary to refer to the changes introduced later. Suffice it to say that the Act was amended by 1946 by as many as ten Acts I of 1928, V of 1929, IV of 1930, XI of 1931, XI of 1934, XII Of 1935, XX of 1938, XXII of 1939, V of 1944 and X of 1946. A radical change was introduced, however, by Act XII of 1935. The Government was not satisfied with the powers of the Board then existing and they clothed the Board with an important and drastic power by introducing a new Chapter, Ch. VI-A, by which jurisdiction was given to the Board to notify a temple for reasons to be given by it.

 

Thus, it can be seen that even in the pre-independence era, the Board had systematically consolidated its powers to take over and administer temples. Of course, this despicable intervention by Government applied only to Hindu Institutions.

 

Hindu Religious Endowments Board

 

Shri Krupananda Vaariar had undertaken to build the Vadalur Ramalinga Swami’s Sathya Gnana Sabha in the 1940s and had gone around Tamil Nadu collecting funds from devotees and spending such collection with great care. The Hindu Religious Board, of which one Chinnaiah Pillai was president, intervened in the selfless work of Shri Vaariar and tried his best to scuttle it. Thanks to the just intervention of the then Chief Minister of Madras State, Omandur Ramaswamy Reddiar, his evil designs fell flat.

 

Omandur Reddiar also intervened to stop the unjust takeover of Chidambaram Sabhanayagar Temple in 1947. But Chinnaiah Pillai and his cronies in the HRE Board were not to give up.

 

The 1951 Act

 

Notwithstanding the clear directions of the Madras Government in 1947 to drop notification proceedings and the clear direction of the Hon’ble Madras High Court in 1939 that the Board cannot undertake notification process on frivolous grounds, the Board started the notification process of the Chidambaram Shri Sabhanayagar Temple in 1950 and the then Madras Government issued a Government Order (G.O.) Ms. 894, Rural Welfare Dept. dated 28-8-1951 published in the Fort St. George Gazette on 4-9-1951.

 

Meanwhile, India after gaining independence from British rule had become a Republic on 26 January 1950, with its Constitution guaranteeing certain fundamental rights to its citizens. Special religious and administrative rights were guaranteed to Religious Denominations or sections thereof.

 

The Board also tried to take over the famous Shri Guruvayurappan Temple in Guruvayur, Udupi Shri Krishna Temple under the management of Shri Shirur Mutt of Udupi and Shri Venkataramana Temple belonging to the sect of Gowd Saraswath Brahmins in Mulkipetta of South Kanara district.

 

All the above religious institutions challenged the takeover by the HRE Board. In the meantime, a new Hindu Religious Act was passed by the Madras Government, known as the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1951. The Board was now replaced by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department, headed by a Commissioner who was given vast powers under the Act.

 

The Government facing stiff opposition in the Kerala region against its order on Guruvayur temple, withdrew the order. Shri Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar of the Shirur Mutt, the Podu Dikshitars of Shri Sabhanayagar Temple and Devaraja Shenoy representing the community of Gowd Saraswat Brahmins in Mulkipetta filed Civil Miscellaneous and Writ petitions challenging the Government Orders.

 

Landmark Judgments

 

On 13 December 1951, a Division Bench of Hon’ble Madras High Court presided by the Learned Judges Justice Satyanarayana Rao and Justice Rajagopalan passed two landmark judgments.

-        1952 I MLJ 481 – Devaraja Shenoy vs. State of Madras – quashing the Government order to takeover the administration of the Shri Venkataramana Temple in Mulkipetta.

-        1952 I MLJ 557 – Shri Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar of Shri Shirur Mutt vs. State of Madras quashing the Government order to takeover the administration of Shri Udupi Krishna Temple and Shri Sabhanayagar Temple in Chidambaram.

 

In the Shirur Mutt Case, many provisions of the new HR & CE Act of 1951 were held ultra vires of the Constitution. The Division Bench clearly defined a Religious Denomination, their rights – religious and administrative. It also explained how these rights were intermingled and could not be separated in the case of a Mathathipathi and since it was the same with the Podu Dikshitars of Chidambaram Temple, it equated them to Mathathipathis.

 

Equally important were the findings of the Division Bench that the attempt of the Board and the Commissioner HR & CE to takeover the temples were not only unconstitutional but bad on merits.

 

Appeals to Supreme Court

 

The Government of Madras filed three appeals against these two landmark verdicts. On 9 February 1954, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dismissed the civil appeal 39/1953 after recording the statement of the Advocate General of the Madras Government that the G.O. passed to takeover the Chidambaram Shri Sabhanayagar Temple would be withdrawn. The Government sought no leave and none was granted.

 

Similarly the Government’s Civil Appeal no.15/1953 filed against the verdict of Hon’ble Madras Court in the Shri Venkataramana Temple Mulkipetta was also dismissed after the Government offered to withdraw the G.O. appointing the Executive Officer.

 

The Government of Madras contested only the Civil Appeal 38 of 1953, pertaining to the Shirur Mutt Case and even in that appeal did not contest on merits. The Advocate General argued only on constitutional grounds. This was clearly recorded in the Supreme Court judgment.

 

Thus, it is amply clear that the HR & CE Department and the Government never had any case right from the beginning on merits, and they simply wanted to takeover the administration of large and famous temples to pave way for the takeover of all other temples in the Presidency.

 

The 1954 Supreme Court judgment in the Shirur Mutt Case

 

The judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the appeal related to the Shirur Mutt (AIR 1954 SC 282) and the judgment by another Constitution Bench in the Venkataramana Devaru vs. State of Mysore (1958 SCR 895) are landmark judgments that Courts in India are expected to follow regarding Article 26 of the Indian Constitution and Denomination rights.

 

The Hon’ble Supreme Court agreed with the Hon’ble Madras High Court that many of the sections of the 1951 HR & CE Act were ultra vires the Constitution.It also clearly observed that while the legislature could seek to regulate the administration, it must always leave the administration to the denomination. It struck down the sections of the 1951 Act which sought to appoint Executive Officers to religious institutions as arbitrary andultra vires the Constitution. The Advocate General of Madras agreed with the Court and said he could not defend those sections.

 

Major Fraud by the Madras Government in the 1959 Act

 

Left with no choice but to come up with an amended Act in light of the above judgments of the Madras High Court and Supreme Court of India, the Government of Madras passed a new Act known as the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Act of 1959 (Act 22 of 1959).

 

In that amended Act, it committed serious frauds which till today continue unchallenged. To understand these frauds we need to know more about the 1954 Supreme Court judgment in the Shirur Mutt Case.

 

Under the 1951 Act, the HR & CE Dept. had powers under sections 56, 58(3)(b) and 63 to 68 to appoint an Executive Officer to religious institutions including Mutts. Of these, sections 56 and 63-68 were held ultra vires the Constitution of India and were struck down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the above-mentioned judgment. The same judgment upheld Sec. 58(3)(b) as valid (this section was earlier struck down by the Division Bench of Madras High Court) since there were adequate appeal safeguards and since the Executive Officer so appointed could only be a servant of the Trustee and could not be empowered to act as the Trustee himself.

 

Any honest and law-abiding person would imagine that the Madras Government, in deference to the Supreme Court of India and to meet the ends of justice, would have deleted the two sets of sections struck down and retained the section upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

 

What happened was exactly the opposite.

 

The Government of Madras introduced a new section [section 45] in the 1959 Act which was even more arbitrary and draconian than Sec. 56 of the 1951 Act. It also retained the Sections 63-68 in the new Act which now carried the numbers 71-76.

 

The only section relating to appointment of Executive Officer that was upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court was not carried in the new Act. But this would not seem strange if we understand that the intention of the Government and the Department was that no appeal safeguards should be provided to the Trustees of Hindu Institutions against the Department’s illegal and arbitrary orders. Sec. 58(3)(b) of the 1951 Act had earlier afforded such safeguards – it was therefore removed by the Government.

 

More intriguing is the fact that this rogue department continue to appoint Executive Officers under Sec. 64 of the 1959 Act (the equivalent of Sec. 58 in the 1951 Act) without any power to do so. For example, the Deputy Commissioner in 1963 modified the scheme for Shri Kamakshi Amman Temple of Kachipuram, which is under the ownership of the Kanchi Mutt. While proceeding to modify the scheme under Sec. 64 of the Act, the Deputy Commissioner appointed an Executive Officer and this is an illegal act.

 

These frauds show there were adequate number of scoundrels and scalawags in the HR & CE Department sixty years ago, and we all know the Dept. has no dearth of such people now.

 

Going against the dictum of the Hon’ble High Court and the Hon’ble Supreme Court did not stop here. One classic example of the arrogance of the Government is the amendment they brought out soon after the Full Bench judgment in the Rajan Kattalai Case in the Supreme Court (1965 SCR (3) 17). In this case, to get over the quashing of the Extension of the Executive Officer’s appointment, the Government amended the HR & CE Act introducing Sec. 75-A which gave such extensions retrospective effect notwithstanding any judgments by any courts including the Supreme Court. This attempt to retain control over Rajan Kattalai of Tiruvarur Thiagarajaswami Devasthanam in utter contempt to the judgment of the Highest Court of the land in that case was thwarted by the Hon’ble Madras High Court. The Hon’ble High Court of Madras, held:

 

-        “by introducing Section 75-A the Legislature has simply directed the Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments and Executive Officer of Sri Thiagarajaswami Temple to disobey or disregard the decision of the highest court of the land in S.D.G. Pandara Sannadhi v. State of Madras (1965) 2 M.L.J. 167. The obvious purpose of Section 75-A extending the impugned notification is to nullify the effect of this decision of the Supreme Court.” (emphasis added).

 

In view of this judgment of the Madras High Court, the Government could not succeed in retaining administration of Rajan Kattalai Endowment, but this and other illegal sections 75-B and 75-C are still part of the HR & CE Act, not only in utter disregard of the dictum of the Supreme Court of India, but also in violation of Article 31A(1)(b) of the Constitution.

 

What Hindus should know

 

HR & CE Dept. officials carry out of a lot of illegal activities in temples and other religious institutions. Most of their orders replacing Trustees or interfering in temple matters are without jurisdiction or in abuse of it. The general impression of Hindu devotees is that these officials have the power under law to do such acts. Nothing can be farther from truth. Every Hindu Devotee should be aware of the following facts:

 

(1)      HR&CE Dept. or Government cannot appoint Executive Officers to any religious institution without valid reasons and without following natural justice:

As per the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Velur Devasthanam Case 1965 SCR (2) 934, a case must be always made out for an appointment of an Executive Officer. Government or HR & CE Department or even Courts cannot appoint Executive Officers without strong justification. This is the position in the case of non-denominational temples. In case of denominational temples like Chidambaram Shri Sabhanayagar Temple, the HR & CE Dept. has no rights at all, in view of the special status accorded to denominations by Article 26 of the Constitution and by Sec. 107 of the HR & CE Act.

 

Further, the Commissioner or the Department need to follow the principles of natural justice while seeking to appoint an Executive Officer and failing to do so would invalidate the appointment. This has been the dictum of a Division Bench of Hon’ble Madras High Court in D. Nagarajan vs. Commissioner, HR & CE AIR 1971 Mad 295.

(2)      General Policy or “Better Management” cannot be reasons for takeover of temple administration: HR&CE Dept. cannot appoint Executive Officer to any religious institution stating it is Government policy to appoint Executive Officers for most temples. Better or efficient management too cannot be reasons for takeover of temples from the Trustees.

 

(3)      Executive Officer can be given powers only to look after the properties of the temple. He cannot interfere in religious matters or other matters of administration: Even in cases where Courts have approved the appointment of Executive Officer due to presence of mismanagement in the religious institution, the Commissioner can give powers pertaining only to the properties of the temple or institution to the Executive Officer. No other powers, administrative or religious can be assigned to the Executive Officer.

 

(4)     Executive Officer’s office premises should not be within the temple premises: As per rule 8 of the Temple Entry Authorization Act, 1947, “the temple buildings and premises shall not be used for purposes not connected with or arising from the worship, usages and observations of such temples”.

 

(5)      Any notice issued by the HR & CE Dept. appointing Executive Officer should state the reasons for appointment and should provide reasonable opportunity to reply or refute the notice.

 

(6)      Executive Officer or any other HR & CE official cannot introduce innovations concerning the time, place or mode of worship in the temple or stop or discontinue any religious practice followed in the temple.

 

(7)      Executive Officer has no authority to fix archana or darshan charges: This may come as a surprise to many but it is only the Trustee or Trustees who can fix these charges and not the Executive Officer or any other official in the HR & CE. This is as per Sec. 57 of the HR & CE Act, 1959.

 

Frauds committed by HR & CE in appointing Executive Officers to Hindu Religious institutions

 

In 1970, a division bench of the Hon’ble High Court of Madras came down heavily on the practice of HR & CE in not following natural justice while appointing an Executive Officer for a temple. If one imagined that the Department would have corrected itself and adhered to the principles of natural justice after this judgment one could not be more wrong.

 

To this day, the practice of the HR& CE is to begin by issuing “an order” appointing an Executive Officer to a religious institution. If the institution receiving the “order” does not seek any legal remedy, the Executive Officer takes over immediately. If the Trustees file a suit or writ against the arbitrary takeover attempt, HR&CE would state in the Court that this memorandum can be treated as a notice and the trustees can reply to it. Trustees and institutions naïve enough to fall for this stratagem would accept this in the Court and start replying to the HR & CE Dept to the “notice”. HR&CE Dept. would usually pass a “final order” appointing an Executive Officer while the purported “enquiry” is still on.

 

If the trustees file a case against this “final order”, HR&CE Dept’s stand in the Court would be that there is an alternate remedy available to the petitioners by way of review petition to the Government. Courts usually are inclined to tell the petitioners to avail this alternate remedy, which in reality is no remedy at all as the Government is known to uphold all the illegal and unethical orders of the HR&CE Dept.

 

There have been instances in recent times where HR &CE officials demanding bribes to cancel takeover proceedings were arrested. In 2009 a Joint Commissioner of HR & CE Dept was caught accepting bribes for this purpose.

 

Commissions and Omissions

 

HR & CE Dept. claims it is administering only the secular aspects of Temple Administration and ensuring that the moneys due to the institution are realized and used for the purposes for which the endowments were made. Lofty sounding, but if one were to analyse what really happens in the temples administered by this rogue department one would find corruption and looting not found even in traditionally corrupt Government departments.

 

Temple Properties

 

Temples and Mutts in Tamil Nadu own 500,000 acres of agricultural and other lands. The tenancy laws in Tamil Nadu and the non-functioning Revenue Courts make it almost impossible for landowners to realize any rent or revenue from the leased lands. The HR&CE Dept., which is hand in glove with the Government, takes no credible action to realize these rents or arrears of rents. The Dept. gave a shocking reply to a recent query under the RTI Act that it has no records of the ageing arrears or amount due to the temples. This admission alone is enough to boot out this rogue department from the temples.

 

Temples in Tamil Nadu also own about 22000 buildings and about 33,000 sites. These buildings and sites are leased out at values much below the market value. The corrupt HR & CE officials and Tamil Nadu Government officials and Ministers pocket huge sums for favouring leaseholders. These buildings are also leased out to non-Hindus especially Christian missionaries and charities which carry out their anti-Hindu activities from these places. This is against the intent and dictum of the people who had donated these places to the temples.

 

Huge corruption money flowing out of such transactions is the main reason Government does not want to give up its hold on Hindu Temples and institutions. Highly inflated project costs are another way by which HR & CE officials loot temple moneys. For example, Podu Dikshitars of Chidambaram had dismantled the Paniya Nayagam temple dedicated to Lord Subramanya, within the Chidambaram temple precincts, as the roof and pillars were bound to cave in due to loose soil in the basement. This was done as per advice of engineers and stapathis; a new construction plan drawn at a cost of Rs. 90 lakhs and work begun. The Executive Officer after assuming office in the Chidambaram temple stopped the sponsors from continuing the work. He has now given a proposal for the same work at a cost of Rs. 10 crores!

 

A luxury Toyota car was bought for Sri Maasaniamman Temple near Pollachi at a cost of Rs. 11.5 lakhs. The first question that comes to mind is why a luxury car is required for a temple.  It has come out in newspapers and through RTI queries that this car was used for private purposes of the HR &CE Secretary in the Tamil Nadu government. It is also now known that the monthly petrol bills of this corrupt official were taken from Temple funds.

 

Funds accumulated in fixed deposits in the accounts of rich temples would suddenly be transferred for flood relief, tsunami or Chief Minister’s relief fund. Funds were repeatedly taken from Tiruverkadu Mariamman temple to conduct free marriages by the Tamil Nadu government. This temple which had huge deposits of money became almost bankrupt.

 

Temple Jewels

 

Since the HR & CE stopped having external audit from 1985, it is almost impossible to gauge how many antique and valuable temple jewels have been looted. There is widespread belief that valuable diamonds and stones in jewels have been removed and replaced by ordinary stones in many temples. Missing Maragatha lingams worth thousands of crores have not been recovered. Jewels from 215 temples have been stolen and this rogue department does not even reveal the actual value of the jewels stolen. In many cases the loss of jewels is not known to the outside world at all.

 

On 22 December 2010, devotees discovered that about 156 globes made of gold and 108 globes made of silver, in the palanquins of the God and Goddess in the Perur Temple, were missing. This came to light only when the Golden and Silver palanquins were taken out in procession.

 

Temple Icons

 

More than 400 antique metal icons have been stolen from temples under the administration of the HR&CE department, which has not taken any credible follow up actions to recover the valuables. Instead of installing closed-circuit cameras, burglar alarms and modern safety locks, the Department keeps many icons belonging to various temples at one safe room in a big temple. These icons are thus deprived of poojas and maintenance. Continuous neglect of these icons can result in irreparable damage. Further, these sacred icons were meant for worship and this Department willfully ignores this primary purpose. While millions are wasted and looted by Dept. officials no care is taken to protect these treasures.

 

Festivals, etc

 

Another crime commonly perpetrated by the department officials is soliciting sponsors to celebrate festivals even for temples that have sufficient and surplus income. Two things are achieved in this manner. One, the unscrupulous officials are not called upon to show the incomes realized from specific endowments meant for such festivals. Soon the endowments or their existence would be soon forgotten and those properties can be sold or leased out for a pittance. Two, bribes can be taken from competing sponsors or accounts can be easily fudged when there are multiple sponsors.

 

Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore has many income generating properties. Still, the Department takes more than 80% of the money required for the Arupathi Moovar festival from sponsors who are given undue positions of importance during festivals ignoring devotees whose families and communities have contributed for generations.

 

Prasadam Stalls

 

Prasadam stalls are amongst the biggest frauds openly committed by this rogue Department. Only food prepared piously in the temple kitchen and offered to the deities in the temple in traditional manner can be termed as prasadam. However, Prasadam Stalls are auctioned by the Department (needless to say many improprieties are committed in these auctions and allotments) to the public and supposedly the stalls are allotted to the highest bidder. This means the Department openly allows third parties to produce food items to be manufactured outside the temple premises and packages them to be sold at temples. This is an act which is at once blasphemous and anti-religious besides being a huge fraud on devotees visiting the temple.

 

Besides, prasadam shops and stalls, other shops and commercial activities are permitted by the Department. These acts of the Department are detrimental to the serene atmosphere that needs to be maintained in temples and commercialises Hindu religious institutions.

 

Hundies

 

Hundies serve the Department in two ways. One, they generate income which the Department fails to realize from the properties of the temple it is administering. Two, they are the easiest source of income that can be looted. In most temples, the real amount generated by hundials is never accounted for. The only exception to this story is the tale of the Hundies illegally installed in Chidambaram Shri Sabhanayagar temple.At Chidambaram the Department is trying to prove a point by showing a big collection of hundie monies. In the first place, the Hon’ble Division Bench of Madras High Court in 1951 had clearly ruled that the Podu Dikshitars are justified in not having any Hundie in the temple and further stated installing Hundies and introducing archana tickets commercialises the temple.

 

But after assuming office in the Chidambaram Temple, the Executive Officer came with a posse of policemen and installed Hundies in the temple that never had Hundies in its entire history. This is against the law, temple tradition, and in contempt of the Hon’ble High Court of Madras.

 

After installing Hundies, the Department did two things to ensure it is able to show good collection in the Hundies. It did not handover the second key of the Hundies to the Trustees and they do not seal the Hundies each time after they open it for counting. When it was pointed out the Podu Dikshitars’ collection in gold and other valuables far exceed the Hundie collections even today, and the public have not contributed a single gram of gold to the Executive Officer like they do to the real owners of the temple, the Podu Dikshitars, about 4 gms of gold suddenly appeared among the hundie collections!

 

What Hindus should do

 

Hindus should question any attempt to takeover temples in their respective areas by HR & CE Department. They should remember that HR & CE officials have no right to takeover temples that are run by devoted trustees. HR & CE Dept. is only a supervisory department even for temples under its administration, and cannot decide matters pertaining to rituals and religion.

 

Devotees should ask HR & CE Dept. pertinent questions regarding the temple properties, the income realized, in whose presence Hundies are opened, what are the procedures followed in making and distribution of prasadams, salary arrears of temple employees, income arrears for the properties, why Executive Officer was appointed for each temple, for what period the appointment has been made, order copies of the appointments, arrears of income pending from temple properties, action taken by the Executive Officer, the festivals celebrated in the temple regularly 25 years ago, festivals celebrated now, vehicles bought for the temple, who uses the vehicles and for what purposes, etc. under the Right to Information Act.

 

Hindus should remember that it is not the duty of a secular government to manage the affairs of Hindu Temples or institutions. They should also remember that the same Government keeps away from mosques and churches.

 

Hindus should join together and petition the Government and the Courts to bring back outside agencies to audit the HR & CE Dept.

 

Hindus should take legal action against the Government to restore the temples back to the Trustees or to appropriate Hindu associations.

 

 

The author is a banking professional and research scholar on Hindu religious affairs

http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1887

NACs Bill will kill harmony

July 25, 2011 11:39:21 PM

A SURYA PRAKASH

The proposed Communal Violence Bill, which paints Hindus as criminals and minorities as their victims, is downright dangerous.

Determined to promote its minority-appeasement agenda, the United Progressive Alliance regime is readying itself to introduce an obnoxious Bill that could disturb communal harmony, wreck the federal features of the Constitution and give the Union Government a fresh set of excuses to interfere in the governance of States.

The aim of this Bill — called the Prevention of Communal and Targetted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill — is ostensibly to curb communal violence and hatred, but it rests on the flawed premise that in all situations the religious majority perpetrates violence and members of the religious minority are the victims. Therefore, ab initio it treats the Hindus, who constitute the majority in 28 of the 35 States and Union Territories, as the offenders and Muslims, Christians and other religious minorities as the victims of communal hatred and violence. The draft of this abominable law has come from the National Advisory Council, which has among its members some pseudo-secularists, Hindu-bashers and Nehru-Gandhi camp followers, all of whom have been hand-picked by its chairperson, Ms Sonia Gandhi.

The Bill describes “Communal and Targetted Violence” in Section 3 ( c ) as “any act or series of acts … knowingly directed against any person by virtue of his or her membership of any group”. The biggest mischief is in the definition of the word “group” that occurs in Section 3(e). It says a “group” means “a religious or linguistic minority, in any State in the Union of India, or Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes…”. This means that Hindus, who today constitute the majority in most States and Union Territories, will not constitute a “group” under this law and, therefore, will not be able to invoke its provisions, even if they are victims of Muslim or Christian communalism, hatred or violence.

In other words, if this law had been in force in 2002, the relatives of the 59 Hindus who were burnt to death by a Muslim mob at Godhra Station in Gujarat would not have had the right to lodge an FIR under this law because Hindus constitute a majority in that State, but the Muslims would have used its provisions to prosecute the perpetrators of the post-Godhra violence. If enacted, this Bill will amount to treating Hindu victims of communal violence as second class citizens and would approximate to the kind of anti-Hindu laws that prevail in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The Bill describes a “victim” as a member of a religious minority who has suffered “physical, mental, psychological or monetary harm or harm to his or her property as a result of the commission of any offence under this Act, and includes his or her relatives, legal guardian and legal heirs, wherever appropriate”. Going by this description, a Muslim or Christian in most parts of India who is aggrieved with a Hindu neighbour over some issue can turn around and accuse him or her of causing “psychological harm”. Further, if the “victim” is not inclined to deploy this mischievous provision, the Bill allows his or her relatives to do so.

Hindu-bashing appears to be the primary aim of this exercise. The Bill says once enacted the law will extend to the whole of India. However, when it comes to the only Muslim-majority State in the Indian Union — Jammu & Kashmir — it says that “the Central Government may, with the consent of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, extend the Act to that State”. One must see what other caveats will be put in place in respect of the only Muslim-majority Union Territory — Lakshadweep — where Hindus constitute just 3.7 per cent of the population.

However, though Hindus will bear the brunt of this Bill’s obnoxious provisions, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs could also find themselves in trouble because the State is the unit to determine the issue of majority-minority. As per the religion data in the 2001 Census, Sikhs constitute 59.9 per cent of the population in Punjab, whereas the Hindu population in that State is 36.9 per cent. If this law comes into force, the Sikhs (constituting the majority) will face the music if Hindus begin accusing them of promoting communal hatred and anti-secular policies. Similarly, Christians, who have an overwhelming majority in three States — Nagaland ( 90 per cent ), Mizoram ( 87 per cent) and Meghalaya (70.3 per cent ) — will find themselves in deep trouble if the Hindu minority in these States begins to leverage this law and lodge complaints against the religious majority.

Therefore, citizens who are Muslims, Christians or Sikhs should not be taken in by the claims of the Congress that this Bill will strengthen secularism. Because this law does not treat all perpetrators of communal violence and hatred equally, these citizens will face the heat in all States where they are in a majority. Also, the demographic reality in some States will place the Hindus at a disadvantage. For example, there are States like Manipur (46 per cent Hindu) and Arunachal Pradesh (34.6 per cent Hindu) where no religious group has a clear majority. So, who is the “culprit” and who is the “victim” in these States?

Further, if you exclude the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from the Hindu population, what will be the percentage of Hindus in these States? Kerala, with 56.2 per cent Hindus, is also a case in point. If you exclude Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (22 per cent approximately), what is the percentage of the Hindu “majority” in that State? Can this so-called “majority” be seen as the oppressor of the Muslim “minority” (24.7 per cent) or the Christian “minority” (19 per cent)? The Bill also tends to intimidate the bureaucracy and the police in the States. These provisions, which are repugnant to the federal features of our Constitution, will have to be discussed separately.

Finally, far from being a “Prevention of Communal and Targetted Violence Bill”, this is a “communal” and “targetted” Bill because it empowers only religious minorities and targets not all communalists but only the religious majority. Should Ms Gandhi and her cohorts have their way, the country’s unity and integrity will be in peril. Instead of promoting communal harmony, this law will promote communal strife. Such a Bill could only have come out of the Devil’s workshop! It could not have been drafted by persons who care for India’s unity and integrity. Where has the original draft come from? We must investigate.

Kalyanaraman

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com