Watch Modi Videos /enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6A91F2W7XM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDPJ5dK1Lp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw5W8mKAi44&feature=related
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Interlinking of Rivers Projects
Interlinking of Rivers projects estimated at Rs 4.44 lakh crore
New Delhi, UNI: Deccan Herald, Dec. 04, 2007
The Minister said the Task Force submitted Action Plan I and Action Plan II in April, 2003 and April, 2004 respectively and thus completed its assigned functions.
The Task force for the Interlinking of rivershas estimated the total cost of the project at Rs 4.44 lakh crore,the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
In a reply during Question Hour, Minister of State for WaterResources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav said,’’based on studies,the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) hasestimated that the cost of the ILR project would be Rs 4.44 lakh crore.The NCAER is of the view that the programme would take nearly35-40 years.’’The Minister said the Task Force submitted Action Plan Iand Action Plan II in April, 2003 and April, 2004 respectivelyand thus completed its assigned functions.
He said on the basis of a report from IIM Ahmedabad, a two tier institutional and organisational set up has been suggested for implementation of the programme on ILR with an apex body of the proposed set up.
‘’The Task force consulted ICICI for funding options which hasproposed that the funding should be partly through public, publicprivate and private inputs,’’the Minister said.
Expressing the Government’s commitment to implementing the ILR project, the Minister said,’’the project has been given due importance by the UPA government. No stone will be left unturned as we want to save the country from droughts and floods.’’
----- Original Message -----
From: K. R. Venkataramaiah
To: thehindu@vsnl.com
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 5:37 PM
Subject: Fw: Bring rivers Ganga and Bramhaputra to South India.
Subject: Bring rivers Ganga and Bramhaputra to South India.
Dear Sir / Madam:
So much of water from rivers Ganga and Bramhaputra is merging with the Bay of Bengal. Often, floods are causing havoc to populations and property.
Efforts should be made to harness this bountiful gift for the benefit of people who suffer so much without adequate rains and therefore not having enough water for basic needs and agriculture.
India's eminent engineer K. L. Rao had initiated proposals to bring river Ganga to the South decades ago. Apparently, the concept was not included in the five year plan at that time, may be due lack of required finances, or lack of required confidence or lack of will and or because of other priorities.
But the need for water has escalated owing to increase in population and changing rain patterns. On the other hand, economy of the country has improved multi-fold. The confidence level of the people of India has surged to much higher levels. The Engineering and technical skills of locals are no less to any outsiders. As a result, large and complicated projects can be initiated and completed as planned. What is needed is, from all quarters, the will and determination of the Leadership of the Nation to take on, such historical projects.
Ganga Water Way have to flow though the states of Uttarapradesh, Madyapradesh, Maharashtra, Andhrapradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Only, these states should share the costs of the project in proportion to the benefits acquired and in proportion to the complexities of the engineering tasks in its boundaries.
It is possible that this Ganga Water Way may have to cross rivers Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery.
Bramhaputra Water Way may have to flow through the states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisagarh, Orissa, Andrapradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
It is possible this Bramhaputra Water Way may have to cross rivers Kosi, Mahanadi and others.
If the concept is acceptable to the leadership, tabling the idea through Planning Commission and other committees should be avoided. Instead, an Engineering Group should be set up to draw the Conceptual Design, which when approved should lead to the final Detail Design.
This Engineering group should consist of the best engineers from each of the states having this water way. This group should directly report to the Water Way Ministers conference represented by the finance minister of each state having the water way, and headed by the Federal finance minister.
Such water ways will result in hydro electric power generation, enhance irrigation, provide recreational facilities, offer environmental beauty to birds, people and allow animals and vegetation to flourish and even could provide transportation means and improve tourism.
India has World-class engineers in all areas required for execution of this project-Civil, Structural, Seismic, Hydraulics, Dam Design as required, Surveying, Soil engineering, Tunnel engineering, Canal & Irrigation engineering, Electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer engineering.
India has also competent people in the associated areas of Scheduling, Procurement, Material Transportation, Configuration Control, Quality and Engineering Assurance, and Risk Management. All they need is the good will and support of the People of India and the blessings of their leaders.
The Ganga and Bramhaputra Water Way projects are achievable. All the like minded people should appeal to the leaders to make it happen. If these projects are undertaken, thousands of jobs will be created. This is good for the economy and good for India.
It is possible that many successful Indian companies and companies owned by Overseas Citizens of India and NRIs could assist.
The writer appreciates " The Hindu " very much for publishing the above information.
Dr. K. R. Venkatataramaiah, Ph. D., P.Eng.
Toronto, Canada
New Delhi, UNI: Deccan Herald, Dec. 04, 2007
The Minister said the Task Force submitted Action Plan I and Action Plan II in April, 2003 and April, 2004 respectively and thus completed its assigned functions.
The Task force for the Interlinking of rivershas estimated the total cost of the project at Rs 4.44 lakh crore,the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
In a reply during Question Hour, Minister of State for WaterResources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav said,’’based on studies,the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) hasestimated that the cost of the ILR project would be Rs 4.44 lakh crore.The NCAER is of the view that the programme would take nearly35-40 years.’’The Minister said the Task Force submitted Action Plan Iand Action Plan II in April, 2003 and April, 2004 respectivelyand thus completed its assigned functions.
He said on the basis of a report from IIM Ahmedabad, a two tier institutional and organisational set up has been suggested for implementation of the programme on ILR with an apex body of the proposed set up.
‘’The Task force consulted ICICI for funding options which hasproposed that the funding should be partly through public, publicprivate and private inputs,’’the Minister said.
Expressing the Government’s commitment to implementing the ILR project, the Minister said,’’the project has been given due importance by the UPA government. No stone will be left unturned as we want to save the country from droughts and floods.’’
----- Original Message -----
From: K. R. Venkataramaiah
To: thehindu@vsnl.com
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 5:37 PM
Subject: Fw: Bring rivers Ganga and Bramhaputra to South India.
Subject: Bring rivers Ganga and Bramhaputra to South India.
Dear Sir / Madam:
So much of water from rivers Ganga and Bramhaputra is merging with the Bay of Bengal. Often, floods are causing havoc to populations and property.
Efforts should be made to harness this bountiful gift for the benefit of people who suffer so much without adequate rains and therefore not having enough water for basic needs and agriculture.
India's eminent engineer K. L. Rao had initiated proposals to bring river Ganga to the South decades ago. Apparently, the concept was not included in the five year plan at that time, may be due lack of required finances, or lack of required confidence or lack of will and or because of other priorities.
But the need for water has escalated owing to increase in population and changing rain patterns. On the other hand, economy of the country has improved multi-fold. The confidence level of the people of India has surged to much higher levels. The Engineering and technical skills of locals are no less to any outsiders. As a result, large and complicated projects can be initiated and completed as planned. What is needed is, from all quarters, the will and determination of the Leadership of the Nation to take on, such historical projects.
Ganga Water Way have to flow though the states of Uttarapradesh, Madyapradesh, Maharashtra, Andhrapradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Only, these states should share the costs of the project in proportion to the benefits acquired and in proportion to the complexities of the engineering tasks in its boundaries.
It is possible that this Ganga Water Way may have to cross rivers Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery.
Bramhaputra Water Way may have to flow through the states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisagarh, Orissa, Andrapradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
It is possible this Bramhaputra Water Way may have to cross rivers Kosi, Mahanadi and others.
If the concept is acceptable to the leadership, tabling the idea through Planning Commission and other committees should be avoided. Instead, an Engineering Group should be set up to draw the Conceptual Design, which when approved should lead to the final Detail Design.
This Engineering group should consist of the best engineers from each of the states having this water way. This group should directly report to the Water Way Ministers conference represented by the finance minister of each state having the water way, and headed by the Federal finance minister.
Such water ways will result in hydro electric power generation, enhance irrigation, provide recreational facilities, offer environmental beauty to birds, people and allow animals and vegetation to flourish and even could provide transportation means and improve tourism.
India has World-class engineers in all areas required for execution of this project-Civil, Structural, Seismic, Hydraulics, Dam Design as required, Surveying, Soil engineering, Tunnel engineering, Canal & Irrigation engineering, Electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer engineering.
India has also competent people in the associated areas of Scheduling, Procurement, Material Transportation, Configuration Control, Quality and Engineering Assurance, and Risk Management. All they need is the good will and support of the People of India and the blessings of their leaders.
The Ganga and Bramhaputra Water Way projects are achievable. All the like minded people should appeal to the leaders to make it happen. If these projects are undertaken, thousands of jobs will be created. This is good for the economy and good for India.
It is possible that many successful Indian companies and companies owned by Overseas Citizens of India and NRIs could assist.
The writer appreciates " The Hindu " very much for publishing the above information.
Dr. K. R. Venkatataramaiah, Ph. D., P.Eng.
Toronto, Canada
Ramayana Action Figures
November 25, 2007
KIDS: American Company's Ramayana Action Figures
With the weekend after Thanksgiving being the busiest time for shopping each year, I figured some of you looking for South Asian-themed gifts this year might want to consider something unusual that came to our attention.
From a press release by the Pennsylavania-based Kridana Toys:
ARDMORE, PA: My name is Mahender Swami Nathan.
I am an Indian-American and the founder of Kridana.
We are a toy company focused on bringing the Great Indian Epics to new generations through the power of play.
We've just launched our first products: action figures of Lord Rama and Shri Hanuman from the Ramayana – one of the most popular epics both within India and across Asia – made with the involvement of some of the toy industry's top craftsmen. We've also published our first comic book issues.
These stories bring to life key vignettes for both Rama and Hanuman as first told in the Ramayana 2000 years ago and now retold through the inks and colors of today's top comic book artists, including the world-renown Mike Turner of Aspen Comics who drew our inaugural cover.Check us out at Kridana.com and don't hesitate to call me with pre-story questions for pitches. We're currently selling product in the U.S. and Canada, our first target markets. Our products are currently available at our own website, and in December we expect to be selling through select toy and comic book stores and also general food and merchandise stores catering to the Asian-Indian market.
The seven-inch-tall Rama and Hanuman figures sell for $15 each and are available at the site.
My first question, given all the news about toy recalls from big manufacturers was whether I'd be able to trust a tiny company making its first products. While the Kridana toys are made in China, its site goes out of its way to prove its safety credentials. From its "product safety" section:
Our toys are produced to the highest standards in a modern factory which we have inspected ourselves. They are tested rigorously by an outside, 3rd-party lab: SGS Group of Switzerland (learn more about them). And, when we say we test, we don’t test once or twice; we pull toys from throughout the actual production run to send to SGS, ensuring that the toys which pass SGS’s standards are the same ones your child is playing with at home.
We feel so passionately about safety that we’re taking the unusual step of putting our test results here, on kridana.com, for you to see. It’s true that some of these pages read like a chemistry report, but, we’re an educational toy company!
Take a look at the press release below (Nathan's contacts below, too) and post your comments below. Also see coverage at SepiaMutiny and Ultrabrown.
Press release
Kridana Toys Unveils First-Ever Action Figures Based On Great Indian Epics
Kridana (kree-da-na): Sanskrit, meaning toy or plaything.
ARDMORE, PA: My name is Mahender Swami Nathan. I am an Indian-American and the founder of Kridana. We are a toy company focused on bringing the Great Indian Epics to new generations through the power of play. We've just launched our first products: action figures of Lord Rama and Shri Hanuman from the Ramayana – one of the most popular epics both within India and across Asia – made with the involvement of some of the toy industry's top craftsmen. We've also published our first comic book issues. These stories bring to life key vignettes for both Rama and Hanuman as first told in the Ramayana 2,000 years ago and now retold through the inks and colors of today's top comic book artists, including the world-renown Mike Turner of Aspen Comics who drew our inaugural cover.
In the Ramayana, Lord Rama, an exiled prince, searches the world over for his kidnapped wife Sita. Hanuman becomes his most faithful assistant along the way. As a child growing up in India and the United States, I was captivated by this world of heroes, demons, adventures and intrigue.
While I treasured my Transformers and GI Joes, I longed to bring Hanuman to my friends' houses to save the day. As an adult, I'm excited to finally bring the Ramayana's incomprable heroism, honor, duty and love into childrens' everyday worlds in the ways that they enjoy and understand -- the 3-D play of toys and the 2-D stories of comics.
Our toys are collectible quality but durable enough to stand up to whatever kids can dish out. We choose to manufacture with a 30-year veteran of the toy industry, and all of our production runs are rigorously tested by independent, 3rd-party labs to ensure both the toys' mechanical safety and the absence of dangerous lead levels in their paint. Moreover, both Hanuman and Rama are made from non-phthalate PVC plastic, an environmentally friendly plastic that is safer for our children. (Many European countries, as well as California starting in 2009, mandate the usage of non-phthalate PVCs in children's toys for this very safety concern.)
Sometime in 2008 we plan to bring out another action figure: Ravana, the ultimate demon king. Over time we will expand our products to include not only an ever broader range of the characters from the Ramayana but also those from other Indian Epics.
Check us out at Kridana.com and don't hesitate to call me with pre-story questions for pitches. We're currently selling product in the U.S. and Canada, our first target markets. Our products are currently available at our own website, and in December we expect to be selling through select toy and comic book stores and also general food and merchandise stores catering to the Asian-Indian market. Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,Mahender Swami NathanCo-president & Founder,Kridana.commahender[at]kridana.com610-529-6701
KIDS: American Company's Ramayana Action Figures
With the weekend after Thanksgiving being the busiest time for shopping each year, I figured some of you looking for South Asian-themed gifts this year might want to consider something unusual that came to our attention.
From a press release by the Pennsylavania-based Kridana Toys:
ARDMORE, PA: My name is Mahender Swami Nathan.
I am an Indian-American and the founder of Kridana.
We are a toy company focused on bringing the Great Indian Epics to new generations through the power of play.
We've just launched our first products: action figures of Lord Rama and Shri Hanuman from the Ramayana – one of the most popular epics both within India and across Asia – made with the involvement of some of the toy industry's top craftsmen. We've also published our first comic book issues.
These stories bring to life key vignettes for both Rama and Hanuman as first told in the Ramayana 2000 years ago and now retold through the inks and colors of today's top comic book artists, including the world-renown Mike Turner of Aspen Comics who drew our inaugural cover.
The seven-inch-tall Rama and Hanuman figures sell for $15 each and are available at the site.
My first question, given all the news about toy recalls from big manufacturers was whether I'd be able to trust a tiny company making its first products. While the Kridana toys are made in China, its site goes out of its way to prove its safety credentials. From its "product safety" section:
Our toys are produced to the highest standards in a modern factory which we have inspected ourselves. They are tested rigorously by an outside, 3rd-party lab: SGS Group of Switzerland (learn more about them). And, when we say we test, we don’t test once or twice; we pull toys from throughout the actual production run to send to SGS, ensuring that the toys which pass SGS’s standards are the same ones your child is playing with at home.
We feel so passionately about safety that we’re taking the unusual step of putting our test results here, on kridana.com, for you to see. It’s true that some of these pages read like a chemistry report, but, we’re an educational toy company!
Take a look at the press release below (Nathan's contacts below, too) and post your comments below. Also see coverage at SepiaMutiny and Ultrabrown.
Press release
Kridana Toys Unveils First-Ever Action Figures Based On Great Indian Epics
Kridana (kree-da-na): Sanskrit, meaning toy or plaything.
ARDMORE, PA: My name is Mahender Swami Nathan. I am an Indian-American and the founder of Kridana. We are a toy company focused on bringing the Great Indian Epics to new generations through the power of play. We've just launched our first products: action figures of Lord Rama and Shri Hanuman from the Ramayana – one of the most popular epics both within India and across Asia – made with the involvement of some of the toy industry's top craftsmen. We've also published our first comic book issues. These stories bring to life key vignettes for both Rama and Hanuman as first told in the Ramayana 2,000 years ago and now retold through the inks and colors of today's top comic book artists, including the world-renown Mike Turner of Aspen Comics who drew our inaugural cover.
In the Ramayana, Lord Rama, an exiled prince, searches the world over for his kidnapped wife Sita. Hanuman becomes his most faithful assistant along the way. As a child growing up in India and the United States, I was captivated by this world of heroes, demons, adventures and intrigue.
While I treasured my Transformers and GI Joes, I longed to bring Hanuman to my friends' houses to save the day. As an adult, I'm excited to finally bring the Ramayana's incomprable heroism, honor, duty and love into childrens' everyday worlds in the ways that they enjoy and understand -- the 3-D play of toys and the 2-D stories of comics.
Our toys are collectible quality but durable enough to stand up to whatever kids can dish out. We choose to manufacture with a 30-year veteran of the toy industry, and all of our production runs are rigorously tested by independent, 3rd-party labs to ensure both the toys' mechanical safety and the absence of dangerous lead levels in their paint. Moreover, both Hanuman and Rama are made from non-phthalate PVC plastic, an environmentally friendly plastic that is safer for our children. (Many European countries, as well as California starting in 2009, mandate the usage of non-phthalate PVCs in children's toys for this very safety concern.)
Sometime in 2008 we plan to bring out another action figure: Ravana, the ultimate demon king. Over time we will expand our products to include not only an ever broader range of the characters from the Ramayana but also those from other Indian Epics.
Check us out at Kridana.com and don't hesitate to call me with pre-story questions for pitches. We're currently selling product in the U.S. and Canada, our first target markets. Our products are currently available at our own website, and in December we expect to be selling through select toy and comic book stores and also general food and merchandise stores catering to the Asian-Indian market. Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,Mahender Swami NathanCo-president & Founder,Kridana.commahender[at]kridana.com610-529-6701
2.3 Millions Hindus In America
STATISTICS: Nearly 2.3 million Hindus estimated in America
Hinduism Today estimates that there are more than 2,290,000 Hindus in the United States. The editors decided to use the percentage of Hindus in India - 81% of the population - and apply that against the total number of Asian Indians in America. Here's an excerpt from the Jan/Feb/March issue of the magazine:
"The 2006 [American Community] Survey, which was released in October, 2007, counted 2,482,141 Asian Indians.
This includes those of Indian origin coming from countries such as Trinidad, Kenya, Surinam and Fiji. To update this figure for 2008, we must consider the average annual growth rate for Asian Indians.
In the year 2000, the decennial census counted 1,678,765 Asian Indians; the Survey estimated 2,482,141 in 2006, which works out to an annual growth rate of about 6.8 percent. Using that growth rate to extrapolate the 2006 Survey result two years, we calculate 2,831,190 Asian Indians in 2008. Assuming 81% of these Asian Indians are Hindus, just as in India, we conclude that of the 2,831,190 Asian Indians, 2,290,000 are Hindus--qed! But despite the compelling logic of this analysis, Hinduism Today has never seen it published elsewhere. What about the other estimates?"
The article then addresses the problem with the definitive figure, cited by the American Religious Identification Survey, or ARIS:
"This was a telephone survey involving 50,281 households. ARIS concluded that 0.4% of America's population, or about 1.2 million people in 2008, are Hindus.
In the absence of a more extensive study, this has become a semi-official number, sustained by the ARIS report's easy availability at the main US Census Bureau website. Before the advent of the American Community Survey, there was no way of challenging ARIS' conclusions. The ARIS report forthrightly acknowledges its limits.
It admits, "because the survey depends on telephone interviews, overcoming language barriers has proven prohibitively costly. In effect, this survey has interviewed only the English-speaking population of the US. In addition, many new immigrants originate in societies and states where responding to personal questions over the telephone is an alien experience, and discussions of one's religious beliefs and identification are deemed to be risky."
"The report's conclusion mentions the impressive growth of Hinduism in America, observing, "there are more than three times as many Hindus in the US today as there were in 1990. Undoubtedly, due to the limitations of this study, we have not picked up the full impact of those changes yet." Unfortunately, the ARIS estimate is typically quoted as fact, with no mention of these caveats."
Earlier on SAJAforum:
Hinduism Today estimates that there are more than 2,290,000 Hindus in the United States. The editors decided to use the percentage of Hindus in India - 81% of the population - and apply that against the total number of Asian Indians in America. Here's an excerpt from the Jan/Feb/March issue of the magazine:
"The 2006 [American Community] Survey, which was released in October, 2007, counted 2,482,141 Asian Indians.
This includes those of Indian origin coming from countries such as Trinidad, Kenya, Surinam and Fiji. To update this figure for 2008, we must consider the average annual growth rate for Asian Indians.
In the year 2000, the decennial census counted 1,678,765 Asian Indians; the Survey estimated 2,482,141 in 2006, which works out to an annual growth rate of about 6.8 percent. Using that growth rate to extrapolate the 2006 Survey result two years, we calculate 2,831,190 Asian Indians in 2008. Assuming 81% of these Asian Indians are Hindus, just as in India, we conclude that of the 2,831,190 Asian Indians, 2,290,000 are Hindus--qed! But despite the compelling logic of this analysis, Hinduism Today has never seen it published elsewhere. What about the other estimates?"
The article then addresses the problem with the definitive figure, cited by the American Religious Identification Survey, or ARIS:
"This was a telephone survey involving 50,281 households. ARIS concluded that 0.4% of America's population, or about 1.2 million people in 2008, are Hindus.
In the absence of a more extensive study, this has become a semi-official number, sustained by the ARIS report's easy availability at the main US Census Bureau website. Before the advent of the American Community Survey, there was no way of challenging ARIS' conclusions. The ARIS report forthrightly acknowledges its limits.
It admits, "because the survey depends on telephone interviews, overcoming language barriers has proven prohibitively costly. In effect, this survey has interviewed only the English-speaking population of the US. In addition, many new immigrants originate in societies and states where responding to personal questions over the telephone is an alien experience, and discussions of one's religious beliefs and identification are deemed to be risky."
"The report's conclusion mentions the impressive growth of Hinduism in America, observing, "there are more than three times as many Hindus in the US today as there were in 1990. Undoubtedly, due to the limitations of this study, we have not picked up the full impact of those changes yet." Unfortunately, the ARIS estimate is typically quoted as fact, with no mention of these caveats."
Earlier on SAJAforum:
Census USA South asian..
CENSUS: The top South Asian surnames in America (Patel et al)
According to a new Census study, based on returns from the year 2000 (Excel spreadsheet via the NY Times) the most common surname in America is... Smith.
No surprise there. So, what's the most common desi surname?
That would be... Patel. It's the 172nd most common surname in America (way up from its standing in 1990, when it was a mere #591). By these Census figures, there were 145,066 Patels in the country,
resulting in 54 occurrences per 100,000 people.
Just over 91% of all Patels are classified as Asians.
Between scrolling down the Excel spreadsheet and randomly plugging in other names into the Times page, here are a few other desi names I found in the Top 5000.
Singh - #396 (#1306 in 1990) - there were 72,642 Singhs in all
Khan - #665 (#1728)
Shah - #831 (#2194)
Kumar - #2293 (#5154)
Desai - #2540 (#5068)
Gupta - #3173 (#6863)
Reddy - #3313 (#3776)
Mehta - #3377 (#7589)
Rao - #3872 (#7375)
How's that for nominal (get it?) progress? I realize a couple of these names, like Khan or Rao, may also be found outside of South Asia but thought it better to err on the side of inclusion (although, controversially, I didn't accept Gay, #974, as a cognate of Ghai).
I also figure some names, like Chowdhury/Choudhry and other variations, might've been serious contenders if not for all the different spellings. Sorry, Bangla-philes. Sadly,
Venugopal didn't even receive an honorable mention;
nor did Screwvalla or Palaniappan.
Update: Thanks to Mitra Kalita for pointing out a name I'd missed -
Sharma - #2247
Any other suggestions? Plug in any other South Asian names here - if they make the Top 5,000 let us know below.
According to a new Census study, based on returns from the year 2000 (Excel spreadsheet via the NY Times) the most common surname in America is... Smith.
No surprise there. So, what's the most common desi surname?
That would be... Patel. It's the 172nd most common surname in America (way up from its standing in 1990, when it was a mere #591). By these Census figures, there were 145,066 Patels in the country,
resulting in 54 occurrences per 100,000 people.
Just over 91% of all Patels are classified as Asians.
Between scrolling down the Excel spreadsheet and randomly plugging in other names into the Times page, here are a few other desi names I found in the Top 5000.
Singh - #396 (#1306 in 1990) - there were 72,642 Singhs in all
Khan - #665 (#1728)
Shah - #831 (#2194)
Kumar - #2293 (#5154)
Desai - #2540 (#5068)
Gupta - #3173 (#6863)
Reddy - #3313 (#3776)
Mehta - #3377 (#7589)
Rao - #3872 (#7375)
How's that for nominal (get it?) progress? I realize a couple of these names, like Khan or Rao, may also be found outside of South Asia but thought it better to err on the side of inclusion (although, controversially, I didn't accept Gay, #974, as a cognate of Ghai).
I also figure some names, like Chowdhury/Choudhry and other variations, might've been serious contenders if not for all the different spellings. Sorry, Bangla-philes. Sadly,
Venugopal didn't even receive an honorable mention;
nor did Screwvalla or Palaniappan.
Update: Thanks to Mitra Kalita for pointing out a name I'd missed -
Sharma - #2247
Any other suggestions? Plug in any other South Asian names here - if they make the Top 5,000 let us know below.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Congress Trying to Divide India, Muslim First
UPA trying to divide India
Sandhya JainThe PioneerDecember 26, 2007
If the British used communal electorates to secure Partition in barely four decades, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance may succeed faster in eating the fruit of its desire to allocate 15 per cent of the funds for development and welfare schemes exclusively for minorities.
BJP president Rajnath Singh has done well to oppose this divisive munificence, which may or may not salvage the Congress's shrinking minority vote-bank, but will certainly intensify communal competitiveness and friction nationwide.
Such dangerously disruptive minority appeasement will not merely alter the definition of secularism, whose traditional meaning is state disinterest in the denominational affiliations of its citizens.
France, father of Western secularism, later extended this principal from Christianity to all religions.
In Nehruvian India, secularism began as apathy to the majority Hindu faith and solicitude towards Islam. Over the decades, this extended progressively to excessive minority appeasement and hatred of all things Hindu.
Now, under the UPA dispensation, secularism is synonymous with a 'Muslim first' policy, making it difficult to distinguish India from neighbouring Islamic countries
The BJP rightly fears that the Centre's special 15-point programme for minorities in the 11th Plan draft paper could trigger competitive communal demands for budgetary allocations. Worse, it may stimulate caste-based demands for resource allocation, with consequences one does not dare dwell upon.
Not only will this overturn the traditional holistic approach to national development, it may unravel the nation itself. The pre-programmed Sachar Committee report on the socio-economic conditions of Muslims, pretext for this dangerous step, militates against constitutional injunctions against discrimination on grounds of religion, and is a fit subject for public interest litigation.
Given these high stakes, the BJP States did well to oppose 'communal budgeting' at the recent National Development Council meeting.
Pointing to the threat to the social fabric, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wisely suggested that funds for various schemes and programmes be allocated solely on the basis of socio-economic criteria, leaving execution to the States.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh also insisted that rather than caste or religion, economic criteria alone should determine allocation of funds for welfare schemes.
With the challenge of poverty intact, the 11th Plan should resist the lure of a communal shortcut to development.
Amid the UPA's bid to heighten communal sensitivities, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes' chairman, Mr Buta Singh, has defused a high-voltage issue with finesse. An old Congressman, Mr Singh must have been under considerable pressure to endorse the recommendations of the Justice Ranganath Mishra National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The NCRLM had on May 15, 2007, recommended that Scheduled Caste status, hitherto restricted to groups among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists, be de-linked from religion by amending the Constitution (SCs) Order, 1950, and extended to "Dalit Christians" and "Dalit Muslims".
Possibly anticipating the Ranganath Mishra Commission's recommendations, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes had declared in February 2007 that the basic parameter for classification as Scheduled Caste was "untouchability", which does not exist in the theology of Christianity and Islam.
In October 2007, the NCSC said the proposed reservation for "Dalit Christians" should not poach upon existing reservation for Scheduled Castes. Finally, on December 7, 2007, it declared there was no evidence that "Dalit Christians" and "Dalit Muslims" suffered "untouchability"; hence, they were not entitled to Scheduled Caste status.
This flawless reasoning will make it difficult for the UPA to extend quota benefits to Dalit converts to Christianity and Islam. Any attempt to grant additional quota for 'minority Dalits' could violate the Supreme Court's 50 per cent ceiling on reservation.
The remaining option of carving Dalit converts a share out of the 27 per cent OBC quota is fraught with political danger; indeed, neither SCs nor OBCs will agree to share their quota pie. Mr Buta Singh's opinion is critical because a PIL in the apex court is seeking SC status and quota benefits for converts to Christianity.
Conversion lobbies in Christianity and Islam will find it difficult to overcome this roadblock. In order to procure a share of the coveted reservation quota for neo-converts, they will have to admit that Christianity and Islam practice untouchability in India! It will be difficult to do this without attracting penal provisions under the law for discrimination on grounds of caste or race (applicable to Islam). This will knock the bottom out of the moral high ground on which these two faiths stand and berate Hindu dharma and varna-jati for inegalitarian practices, violative of human dignity.
More importantly, it would have a deleterious impact upon both religions world-wide if they admit practicing and institutionalising discrimination in faith in any country. It may be pertinent that long before the collapse of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall, Stalin rang the death-knell of Communism with his proclamation of "socialism in one country". This may have been pragmatic and necessary to consolidate his hold upon Russia, but it militated against the very ethos of a totalitarian, millenarian ideology. After that, it was only a matter of time for Marxism to be recognised as the monotheist god that failed.
Christianity and Islam should be cautious about leaping into this well without application of mind. Any further insistence on a quota for Dalit converts should be met with a nationwide ban on religious conversion as such conversion is admittedly promoting communal ill will and caste discrimination!
Indeed, the demand for SC status for Dalit converts should be taken as a tacit admission of the wilful presence of untouchability in Islam and Christianity, and the conversions declared breach of trust, illegal, violative of human dignity, and detrimental to religious and cultural freedom. All converts suffering discrimination should immediately revert to their native traditions.
Interestingly, the Poor Christian Liberation Movement has condemned this church conspiracy to push 'Dalit Christians' into the Scheduled Caste list. PCLM president RL Francis says Dalits converted to Christianity to preserve their dignity, for which they sacrificed reservation benefits under the Constitution. Indian church authorities betrayed them on both counts and are guilty of collective sin, aggravated by the pernicious attempt to promote casteism in Christianity. Mr Francis's call for compensation for the 20 million 'Dalit Christians' who have suffered economic loss by converting deserves consideration as a class action suit by the apex court.
Sandhya JainThe PioneerDecember 26, 2007
If the British used communal electorates to secure Partition in barely four decades, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance may succeed faster in eating the fruit of its desire to allocate 15 per cent of the funds for development and welfare schemes exclusively for minorities.
BJP president Rajnath Singh has done well to oppose this divisive munificence, which may or may not salvage the Congress's shrinking minority vote-bank, but will certainly intensify communal competitiveness and friction nationwide.
Such dangerously disruptive minority appeasement will not merely alter the definition of secularism, whose traditional meaning is state disinterest in the denominational affiliations of its citizens.
France, father of Western secularism, later extended this principal from Christianity to all religions.
In Nehruvian India, secularism began as apathy to the majority Hindu faith and solicitude towards Islam. Over the decades, this extended progressively to excessive minority appeasement and hatred of all things Hindu.
Now, under the UPA dispensation, secularism is synonymous with a 'Muslim first' policy, making it difficult to distinguish India from neighbouring Islamic countries
The BJP rightly fears that the Centre's special 15-point programme for minorities in the 11th Plan draft paper could trigger competitive communal demands for budgetary allocations. Worse, it may stimulate caste-based demands for resource allocation, with consequences one does not dare dwell upon.
Not only will this overturn the traditional holistic approach to national development, it may unravel the nation itself. The pre-programmed Sachar Committee report on the socio-economic conditions of Muslims, pretext for this dangerous step, militates against constitutional injunctions against discrimination on grounds of religion, and is a fit subject for public interest litigation.
Given these high stakes, the BJP States did well to oppose 'communal budgeting' at the recent National Development Council meeting.
Pointing to the threat to the social fabric, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wisely suggested that funds for various schemes and programmes be allocated solely on the basis of socio-economic criteria, leaving execution to the States.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh also insisted that rather than caste or religion, economic criteria alone should determine allocation of funds for welfare schemes.
With the challenge of poverty intact, the 11th Plan should resist the lure of a communal shortcut to development.
Amid the UPA's bid to heighten communal sensitivities, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes' chairman, Mr Buta Singh, has defused a high-voltage issue with finesse. An old Congressman, Mr Singh must have been under considerable pressure to endorse the recommendations of the Justice Ranganath Mishra National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The NCRLM had on May 15, 2007, recommended that Scheduled Caste status, hitherto restricted to groups among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists, be de-linked from religion by amending the Constitution (SCs) Order, 1950, and extended to "Dalit Christians" and "Dalit Muslims".
Possibly anticipating the Ranganath Mishra Commission's recommendations, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes had declared in February 2007 that the basic parameter for classification as Scheduled Caste was "untouchability", which does not exist in the theology of Christianity and Islam.
In October 2007, the NCSC said the proposed reservation for "Dalit Christians" should not poach upon existing reservation for Scheduled Castes. Finally, on December 7, 2007, it declared there was no evidence that "Dalit Christians" and "Dalit Muslims" suffered "untouchability"; hence, they were not entitled to Scheduled Caste status.
This flawless reasoning will make it difficult for the UPA to extend quota benefits to Dalit converts to Christianity and Islam. Any attempt to grant additional quota for 'minority Dalits' could violate the Supreme Court's 50 per cent ceiling on reservation.
The remaining option of carving Dalit converts a share out of the 27 per cent OBC quota is fraught with political danger; indeed, neither SCs nor OBCs will agree to share their quota pie. Mr Buta Singh's opinion is critical because a PIL in the apex court is seeking SC status and quota benefits for converts to Christianity.
Conversion lobbies in Christianity and Islam will find it difficult to overcome this roadblock. In order to procure a share of the coveted reservation quota for neo-converts, they will have to admit that Christianity and Islam practice untouchability in India! It will be difficult to do this without attracting penal provisions under the law for discrimination on grounds of caste or race (applicable to Islam). This will knock the bottom out of the moral high ground on which these two faiths stand and berate Hindu dharma and varna-jati for inegalitarian practices, violative of human dignity.
More importantly, it would have a deleterious impact upon both religions world-wide if they admit practicing and institutionalising discrimination in faith in any country. It may be pertinent that long before the collapse of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall, Stalin rang the death-knell of Communism with his proclamation of "socialism in one country". This may have been pragmatic and necessary to consolidate his hold upon Russia, but it militated against the very ethos of a totalitarian, millenarian ideology. After that, it was only a matter of time for Marxism to be recognised as the monotheist god that failed.
Christianity and Islam should be cautious about leaping into this well without application of mind. Any further insistence on a quota for Dalit converts should be met with a nationwide ban on religious conversion as such conversion is admittedly promoting communal ill will and caste discrimination!
Indeed, the demand for SC status for Dalit converts should be taken as a tacit admission of the wilful presence of untouchability in Islam and Christianity, and the conversions declared breach of trust, illegal, violative of human dignity, and detrimental to religious and cultural freedom. All converts suffering discrimination should immediately revert to their native traditions.
Interestingly, the Poor Christian Liberation Movement has condemned this church conspiracy to push 'Dalit Christians' into the Scheduled Caste list. PCLM president RL Francis says Dalits converted to Christianity to preserve their dignity, for which they sacrificed reservation benefits under the Constitution. Indian church authorities betrayed them on both counts and are guilty of collective sin, aggravated by the pernicious attempt to promote casteism in Christianity. Mr Francis's call for compensation for the 20 million 'Dalit Christians' who have suffered economic loss by converting deserves consideration as a class action suit by the apex court.
Shame on Congress
Shame on Congress: Swamy
24.12.2007PRESS RELEASE
The impressive victory at the polls of the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi was a result of a potent combination of his first rate development record, unalloyed Hindutva, and unreticent anti-Sonia exposure.
The same combination will work in other States going to polls in 2008, and finally in the Lok Sabha elections.
Instead of recognizing that the people of India are rejecting Ms.Sonia Gandhi and her dumb son Rahul Gandhi in state after State including from where they both were elected to Parliament, namely, Uttar Pradesh, the Congress Party is quoted to have stated gracelessly (New Indian Express, Chennai, today) that "Fascist do sometimes win, sometimes more than once". This crude remark is however more applicable to Ms.Sonia Gandhi whose father Stefano Maino had volunteered and joined Hitler's fascist German army in 1941 and landed in a Soviet prison in Vladimir, near St.Petersburg. There, seeing the German army being routed, he defected to another version of the Fascists, viz., the Soviet KGB, Ms.Sonia Gandhi's mother Paola is even today a member of the National Front in Italy which adores Mussolini and fronts for the Fascists.
Hence, seeing the trend in India, Ms.Sonia and her family should pack up their bags and leave for Italy. In the time of 1971 War and 1977 JP victory, she had fled with her children temporarily. But now she should do so permanently. (SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
24.12.2007PRESS RELEASE
The impressive victory at the polls of the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi was a result of a potent combination of his first rate development record, unalloyed Hindutva, and unreticent anti-Sonia exposure.
The same combination will work in other States going to polls in 2008, and finally in the Lok Sabha elections.
Instead of recognizing that the people of India are rejecting Ms.Sonia Gandhi and her dumb son Rahul Gandhi in state after State including from where they both were elected to Parliament, namely, Uttar Pradesh, the Congress Party is quoted to have stated gracelessly (New Indian Express, Chennai, today) that "Fascist do sometimes win, sometimes more than once". This crude remark is however more applicable to Ms.Sonia Gandhi whose father Stefano Maino had volunteered and joined Hitler's fascist German army in 1941 and landed in a Soviet prison in Vladimir, near St.Petersburg. There, seeing the German army being routed, he defected to another version of the Fascists, viz., the Soviet KGB, Ms.Sonia Gandhi's mother Paola is even today a member of the National Front in Italy which adores Mussolini and fronts for the Fascists.
Hence, seeing the trend in India, Ms.Sonia and her family should pack up their bags and leave for Italy. In the time of 1971 War and 1977 JP victory, she had fled with her children temporarily. But now she should do so permanently. (SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
Say With Pride , We Are Hindus
We are in denial Negating identity causes inaction, sloth and lethargy
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
If you come across a Communist, with a Hindu name, and ask him about his identity, he will deny being a Hindu.
Yet, a Muslim Communist often claims his identity without hesitation.
One wonders what causes this difference in attitude. It is interesting to probe into the psyche of identity, which often is a source of security, insecurity, conflict and comfort.
Perhaps the following reasons would answer the identity crises of the Hindus.
The broadmindedness of Hinduism, its inherent inclusiveness and secularism, makes Hindus feel guilty about claiming their identity, as it is embedded in their philosophy that it is wrong to exclude others. Claiming a religious identity makes them feel they are excluding others and so they shy away from doing so. Hindus have been traditionally groomed by the Vedanta to drop all identities. This has deeply influenced the Hindu psyche. Hindu philosophy is woven around egolessness.
Let alone their religion, some sadhus don't even say their name; they would say, "What's in a name?" Sanyasis are even shy to talk about their parentage.
A renowned ascetic in Rishikesh would meet with everybody, but not his own mother and family. When asked, he would say, "I am Vedanti; once I have taken sanyasa, I have dropped all my identities." This is an erroneous understanding of Vedanta.
Why do we fear the identity so much? Seeing identity as stumbling blocks for one's growth is ignorance. Sanyasa is transcending identity; it is being in that centredness from where you have equal love and compassion for all. It is the unshakable light and richness that one has found in one's Being which is universal. Transcending identity is different from denying identity.
When religious leaders themselves denounce their identity, the community follows suit. This is akin to the thought that secularism is anti-religion. Caste identity is in some places much stronger than religious identity.
The normal tendency is to go for one single identity than for a dual one.
So, between caste and religion, many Hindus seem to go for caste. Hindus feel ashamed of the ills of Hinduism — its superstition, untouchability, and practices like sati are usually highlighted in the media, rather than its unparalleled philosophy and scientific temperament.
Thus, for several centuries Hindu bashing has been a fashion. The media seems to have given the prerogative of Hindu identity to the RSS and VHP and secular-minded Hindus would not like to associate with these two organisations.
As a result they shy away from their own identity. Within India itself, we witness a great deal of ignorance about the Hindu religion and its scriptures. Although Hindus form 80 per cent population of India, there is still only one university which teaches Hinduism — whereas there are five which teach Islam, five which teach Christianity, two which teach Sikhism and one that teaches Jainism.
You would find every Muslim would know a couple of verses from the Quran; you can hardly find a Christian who has not read the Bible.
But Hindus who know Sanskrit or a few shlokas are rare.
Most educated Hindus know the Bible; they know Christmas carols.
When they know nothing about their religion, how can they take pride in it?
There are 1.25 billion Hindus in the world, a little over one-sixth of the world's population, but you hardly find a single Hindu lobby at international forums.
You will find a Christian lobby, a Muslim lobby or a Jewish lobby, but you can't find a Hindu lobby.
Just 12 million Jews in the world are such a powerful voice.
Buddhists also have a voice and make their presence felt at world forums.
In countries of south and central America and in Europe, although they are secular democracies, they are not shy to proclaim their allegiance to Christianity.
You will find the religious symbol of the Cross placed in their parliaments;
chaplains offer prayer before every official dinner.
While associations like YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) have gained wide acceptance. Why then is it that Hindu associations are viewed with scepticism?
A strong community is an asset to any nation. A weak community will always be in fear and because of insecurity will become aggressive. It is the pride in one's identity which strengthens the community. Identity is in no way contradictory to universality.
People often ask, "Will not the concept of global family, Vasudhaiva Kutambakam, contradict patriotism? Similarly, will your religious identity not conflict with your universality?'' The answer is "No". Your duty as a family man is not a hindrance for your realisation that you are Brahman.
You don't need to run away to the forest to realise "All this is Brahman". Your being spiritual in no way contradicts your being a socially responsible citizen. In fact, it enhances your ability to care and share.
The conflict in the world is because people are either stuck in their identity, and die for it, or shy away from their identity and lose their roots. One has to opt for a middle path. The ideal situation will be when every religion transcends its identity.
Until that time, it is unwise for the Hindus to let go of their identity. We cannot, and should not, eliminate differences on this planet. We need to celebrate the differences. And this is the uniqueness of Bharat — from the atheism of Charvaka to Bhakthi Panth and Sufism, it's one beautiful bouquet. An identity is related to an action.
Denial of identity will dump you in inaction, sloth and lethargy and hence Krishna reminds Arjuna of his Kshatriya identity even while giving "Brahma gyan" to remind him of his duties and responsibilities.
Otherwise while giving this High knowledge of the Self, why would Krishna remind him again and again of his limited identity. The limited identity in no way contradicts the universal one.
A policeman cannot perform his duties — steer the traffic — if he fails to acknowledge his identity.
Similarly, if a businessman shies away from his identity, he cannot function. The same is the story of Hindu identity.
India cannot make a distinct mark on the world if it ignores its religious and spiritual heritage.
...................
Say with pride, We are Hindus
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
If you come across a Communist, with a Hindu name, and ask him about his identity, he will deny being a Hindu.
Yet, a Muslim Communist often claims his identity without hesitation.
One wonders what causes this difference in attitude. It is interesting to probe into the psyche of identity, which often is a source of security, insecurity, conflict and comfort.
Perhaps the following reasons would answer the identity crises of the Hindus.
The broadmindedness of Hinduism, its inherent inclusiveness and secularism, makes Hindus feel guilty about claiming their identity, as it is embedded in their philosophy that it is wrong to exclude others. Claiming a religious identity makes them feel they are excluding others and so they shy away from doing so. Hindus have been traditionally groomed by the Vedanta to drop all identities. This has deeply influenced the Hindu psyche. Hindu philosophy is woven around egolessness.
Let alone their religion, some sadhus don't even say their name; they would say, "What's in a name?" Sanyasis are even shy to talk about their parentage.
A renowned ascetic in Rishikesh would meet with everybody, but not his own mother and family. When asked, he would say, "I am Vedanti; once I have taken sanyasa, I have dropped all my identities." This is an erroneous understanding of Vedanta.
Why do we fear the identity so much? Seeing identity as stumbling blocks for one's growth is ignorance. Sanyasa is transcending identity; it is being in that centredness from where you have equal love and compassion for all. It is the unshakable light and richness that one has found in one's Being which is universal. Transcending identity is different from denying identity.
When religious leaders themselves denounce their identity, the community follows suit. This is akin to the thought that secularism is anti-religion. Caste identity is in some places much stronger than religious identity.
The normal tendency is to go for one single identity than for a dual one.
So, between caste and religion, many Hindus seem to go for caste. Hindus feel ashamed of the ills of Hinduism — its superstition, untouchability, and practices like sati are usually highlighted in the media, rather than its unparalleled philosophy and scientific temperament.
Thus, for several centuries Hindu bashing has been a fashion. The media seems to have given the prerogative of Hindu identity to the RSS and VHP and secular-minded Hindus would not like to associate with these two organisations.
As a result they shy away from their own identity. Within India itself, we witness a great deal of ignorance about the Hindu religion and its scriptures. Although Hindus form 80 per cent population of India, there is still only one university which teaches Hinduism — whereas there are five which teach Islam, five which teach Christianity, two which teach Sikhism and one that teaches Jainism.
You would find every Muslim would know a couple of verses from the Quran; you can hardly find a Christian who has not read the Bible.
But Hindus who know Sanskrit or a few shlokas are rare.
Most educated Hindus know the Bible; they know Christmas carols.
When they know nothing about their religion, how can they take pride in it?
There are 1.25 billion Hindus in the world, a little over one-sixth of the world's population, but you hardly find a single Hindu lobby at international forums.
You will find a Christian lobby, a Muslim lobby or a Jewish lobby, but you can't find a Hindu lobby.
Just 12 million Jews in the world are such a powerful voice.
Buddhists also have a voice and make their presence felt at world forums.
In countries of south and central America and in Europe, although they are secular democracies, they are not shy to proclaim their allegiance to Christianity.
You will find the religious symbol of the Cross placed in their parliaments;
chaplains offer prayer before every official dinner.
While associations like YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) have gained wide acceptance. Why then is it that Hindu associations are viewed with scepticism?
A strong community is an asset to any nation. A weak community will always be in fear and because of insecurity will become aggressive. It is the pride in one's identity which strengthens the community. Identity is in no way contradictory to universality.
People often ask, "Will not the concept of global family, Vasudhaiva Kutambakam, contradict patriotism? Similarly, will your religious identity not conflict with your universality?'' The answer is "No". Your duty as a family man is not a hindrance for your realisation that you are Brahman.
You don't need to run away to the forest to realise "All this is Brahman". Your being spiritual in no way contradicts your being a socially responsible citizen. In fact, it enhances your ability to care and share.
The conflict in the world is because people are either stuck in their identity, and die for it, or shy away from their identity and lose their roots. One has to opt for a middle path. The ideal situation will be when every religion transcends its identity.
Until that time, it is unwise for the Hindus to let go of their identity. We cannot, and should not, eliminate differences on this planet. We need to celebrate the differences. And this is the uniqueness of Bharat — from the atheism of Charvaka to Bhakthi Panth and Sufism, it's one beautiful bouquet. An identity is related to an action.
Denial of identity will dump you in inaction, sloth and lethargy and hence Krishna reminds Arjuna of his Kshatriya identity even while giving "Brahma gyan" to remind him of his duties and responsibilities.
Otherwise while giving this High knowledge of the Self, why would Krishna remind him again and again of his limited identity. The limited identity in no way contradicts the universal one.
A policeman cannot perform his duties — steer the traffic — if he fails to acknowledge his identity.
Similarly, if a businessman shies away from his identity, he cannot function. The same is the story of Hindu identity.
India cannot make a distinct mark on the world if it ignores its religious and spiritual heritage.
...................
Say with pride, We are Hindus
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Know The Truth Behind Sonia Gandhi
: Sonia Gandhi, By Dr. Subramanian Swamy
Do You Know Your Sonia? By Dr. Subramanian Swamy
Ms. Sonia Gandhi's background as is publicized by her and her Congress Party today, is based on three lies to hide the ugly reality of her life.
First, her real name is Antonia not Sonia.
The Italian Ambassador in New Delhi revealed this in a letter dated April 27, 1983 to the Union Home Ministry which letter has not been made public.
Antonia is Sonia's real name in her birth certificate.
Sonia is the name given to her subsequently by her father, Stefano Maino [now deceased] following his return from Russia where he had been a prisoner of war.
Stefano had joined the Nazi army as a volunteer.
Sonia is a Russian not Italian name.
While spending two years in a Russian jail, Sonia's father had become quite pro-Soviet; especially after the liberating US army in Italy had confiscated all fascists' properties including his.
Second, she was not born in Orbassano as she claims in her bio data submitted to Parliament on becoming MP, but in Luciana as stated in her birth certificate.
She perhaps would like to hide the place of her birth because of her father's connection with the Nazis and Mussolini's Fascists,
and her family's continuing connections with the Nazi-Fascists underground that is still surviving since 1945 in Italy.
Luciana is where Nazi-Fascist network is headquartered, and is on the Italian-Swiss border.
There can be no other explanation for this otherwise meaningless lie.
Third, Sonia Gandhi has not studied beyond High School.
She has falsely claimed in her affidavit filed as a contesting candidate before the Rae Bareli Returning Officer in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, that she qualified and got a diploma inEnglish from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK.
The truth is that Ms. Gandhi has never studied in any college anywhere.
She did go to a Catholic nun run seminary-school called Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno [15 kms from adopted home town of Orbassabo]. Poverty those days forced young Italian girls to go to such missionaries and then in their teens go to UK to get jobs as cleaning maids, waitresses and au pair.
The Mainos were poor those days.
Her father was a mason and mother a share cropper. Sonia thus went to the town of Cambridge and first learnt some English in a teaching shop called Lennox School [which has since 1970 been wound up].
That is all her "education" is--learnt enough English language to get domestic help jobs.
But in Indian society education is highly valued. Thus, to fool the Indian public, Sonia Gandhi willfully fibbed about her qualifications in Parliamentary records [which is a Breach of Ethics Rules] and in a sworn affidavit [which is criminal offence under IPC, severe enough to disqualify her from being MP]. In popular parlance, this is >called 420 or 10 "numberi" [not to be confused with 10 Janpath].
These three lies indicate that Ms. Sonia Gandhi has something to hide, or has a hidden agenda for India. We need to find out more about her.
III Ms. Sonia Gandhi upon learning enough English became a waitress in Varsity Restaurant in Cambridge town.
She first met Rajiv when he came to the restaurant in 1965.
Rajiv was a student in the University, but could not cope with the academic rigour for long.
So he had to depart in 1966 for London where he was briefly in Imperial College of Engineering as a student.
Sonia too moved to London, and according my information, got a job with an outfit run by Salman Thassir, a debonair Pakistani based in Lahore, and who has a export-import company headquartered in Dubai but who spends most of his time in London.
This fits the profile of an ISI functionary. Obviously, Sonia made enough money in this job to loan Rajiv funds in London, who was obviously living beyond his allowances [Indira herself expressed anguish to me on this score in late 1965 when she invited me to a private tea at the Guest House in Brandeis University]. Rajiv's letters to Sanjay, who was also in London then, clearly indicate that he was in financial debt to Sonia because he requested Sanjay who obviously had more access to money, to pay off the debt.
However, Rajiv was not the only friend Sonia was seeing those days.
Madhavrao Scindia and a German by name Stiegler are worth mentioning as other good friends of Sonia.
Madhavrao's friendship continued even after Sonia's marriage to Rajiv.
Scindia in 1982 was involved in a traffic accident near IIT, Delhi main gate while driving a car at 2 AM. Sonia was the only other passenger. Both were badly injured. A student of IIT who was burning midnight oil was out for a cup of coffee. He picked them up from the car, hailed an auto rickshaw and sent an injured Sonia to Mrs Indira Gandhi's house since she insisted in not going to a hospital. Madhavrao had broken a leg and in too much pain to make any demand. He was taken to hospital by the Delhi Police who had arrived a little after Sonia had left the scene.
In later years, Madhavrao had become privately critical of Sonia, and told some close friends about his apprehensions about Sonia. It is a pity that he died in mysterious circumstances in an aircrash.
The circumstance under which Rajiv hastily married Sonia in a Church in Orbassano is controversial but that was his personal matter that has no public significance.
But what is of public significance is that Indira Gandhi who was initially dead set against the marriage for reasons known to her, relented to hold a registry marriage with Hindu ceremonial trappings in New Delhi only after the pro-Soviet T.N. Kaul prevailed upon her to accept the marriage in "the larger interest of cementing Indo-Soviet Friendship".
Kaul would not have intervened unless the Soviet Union had asked him to. IV Such has been the extensive patronage from the beginning extended to Sonia Gandhi from the Soviets. When a Prime Minister of India's son dates a girl in London, the KGB which valued Indo-Soviet relations, obviously would investigate her and find out that she was the daughter of Stefano, their old reliable Italian contact.
Thus, Sonia with Rajiv meant deeper access to the household of the Indian Prime Minister. Hence cementing the Rajiv-Sonia relations was in the Soviet national interest and they went to work on it.
And they did through their then existing moles in the Indira Gandhi camp.
After her marriage to Rajiv, the Soviet connection with the Mainos was fortified and nurtured by generous financial help through commissions and kickbacks on every Indo,Soviet trade deal and defence purchases. According to the respected Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate [November 1991 issue], Rajiv Gandhi had about $ 2 billion in numbered Swiss bank accounts,which Sonia inherited upon his assassination.
Dr. Yevgenia Albats, Ph.D [Harvard], is a noted Russian scholar and journalist, and was a member of the KGB Commission set up by President Yeltsin in August 1991. She was privy to the Soviet intelligence files that documented these deals and KGB >facilitation of the same. In her book,The State Within a State. The KGB in Soviet Union, she even gives the file numbers of such intelligence files, which can now be accessed by any Indian government through a formal request to the Kremlin. The Russsian Government in 1992 was confronted by the Albats' disclosure; they confirmed it through their official spokesperson to the press [which was published in Hindu in 1992], defending such financial payments as necessary in "Soviet ideological interest".
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, things changed for Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Her patrons evaporated. The rump that became Russia was in a financial mess and disorder.
So Ms. Sonia Gandhi became a supporter of another communist country to the annoyance of the Russians. The national security ramification of this 'annoyance' is now >significant: The President of Russia today is Putin, a former dyed-in-the-wool KGB officer.
Upon Dr. Manmohan Singh's government taking office, Russia called back it's career diplomat Ambassador in New Delhi and immediately posted as the new Ambassador a person who was the KGB station chief in New Delhi during the 1970s.
In view of Dr. Albats confirmed >revelation, it stands to reason that the new Ambassador would have known first hand about Sonia's connections with the KGB. He may have in fact been >her "controller". The new Indian government which is defacto Sonia's, cannot afford to annoy him or even disregard Russian demands coming from him? They will obviously placate him so as not to risk exposure.
Is this not a major national security risk and a delicate matter for the nation? Of course, all Indians would like good normal and healthy relations with Russia.
Who can forget their assistance to us in times of need? Today's Russia is the residual legatee of that Soviet Union which helped India. But just because of that, should we tolerate those in our government set up having clandestine links with a foreign spy agency?
In the United States, the government did not tolerate an American spying for Israel even though the two countries are as close as any two countries can be.
National security and friendship are as different as chalk and cheese.
In December 2001, I had filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court with the photocopies of the KGB documents, and sought a CBI investigation, which the Vajpayee Government was refusing. Earlier, Minister of State for CBI, Vasundara Raje [now Rajasthan CM], on my letter dated March 3, 2001, had ordered the CBI to investigate.
But after Sonia Gandhi and her party stalled the proceedings of Parliament on this issue, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee cancelled Vasundara's direction to the CBI.
The Delhi High Court issued a direction to the CBI to ascertain from Russia the truth of my charges. The CBI procrastinated for three years, and finally told the Court without an FIR registered the Russians will not entertain any such query. But who stopped the CBI from registering an FIR? The next hearing of the case is on September 8th.> ---------> V>
After Sonia married Rajiv, she went about minting money with scant regard for Indian laws and treasures. Within a few years the Mainos went from utter poverty to billionaires.
There was no area that was left out for the rip-off. On November 19, 1974, as fresh entrant to Parliament, I asked the then Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi on the floor of the House if her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company [Oriental Fire & Insurance], giving the Prime Minister's official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to insure all the officers of the PMO while remaining an Italian citizen [thus violating FERA]?
There was uproar in Parliament, but Mrs. Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare >admission that it was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had >resigned from her insurance agent status [after my question]. But Sonia was >incorrigible. Her contempt for Indian law continued to manifest.
The Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies >Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never >prosecuted, but can be still prosecuted because under Indian law, economic >crimes not subject to the statute of limitation.
In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the >press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted >in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter! Such >is her revealed disdain for Indian laws and that is her mindset even today.> VI The bottom line observed in Sonia's mindset is that she can always run back to Italy if she becomes vulnerable at anytime. In Peru, President Fujimori who all along claimed to be "born Peruvian", faced with a >corruption charge fled to Japan with his loot and reclaimed his Japanese >citizenship.>
In 1977, when the Janata Party defeated the Congress at the polls, and
the government, Sonia with her two children, abandoned Indira Gandhi
and ran to the Italian Embassy in New Delhi and hid there. Rajiv Gandhi was >a government servant then [as an Indian Airlines pilot], but he too tagged >along and hid in that foreign embassy ! Such was her baneful influence on >him. Rajiv did snap out Sonia's influence after 1989, but alas he was >assassinated before he could rectify it.
Those close to Rajiv knew that he was planning set things right about Sonia after the 1991 elections. She did too know of it because he had told her. Ever wonder why Sonia's closest advisers are those whom Rajiv literally hated?
Ambika Soni is one such name. Ever wonder why she asked the President of India to set aside, on a mercy petition, the Supreme Court judgment directing that Rajiv Gandhi's LTTE killers be hanged to death, when she was not similarly moved for >Satwant Singh who killed Indira Gandhi or recently for Dhanajoy Chattopadhyaya?
The explanation for this special consideration for the LTTE lies in what Rajiv had told her in 1990. Those who have no love for India will not hesitate to plunder her treasures. Mohammed Ghori, Nadir Shah, and the British scum in the East India Company made no secret of it.
But Sonia Gandhi has been more discreet, but as greedy, in her looting of Indian treasures. When Indira >Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were PrimeMinisters, not a day passed when the PM's >security did not go to the New Delhi, or Chennai international airport to >send crates and crates unchecked by customs to Rome. Air India and Alitalia >were the carriers. Mr. Arjun Singh first as CM, later as Union Minister in >charge of Culture was her hatchet man. Indian temple sculpture of gods and >goddesses, antiques, pichwai paintings, shatoosh shawls, coins, and you >name it, were transported to Italy to be first displayed in two shops owned >by her sister [ i.e., Anuskha alias Alessandra]. These shops located in >blue-collar areas of Rivolta [shop name: Etnica] and Orbassano [shop >name:Ganpati] did little business because> which blue collar Italian wants Indian antiques? The shops were to make >false bills, and thereafter these treasures were taken to London for >auction by Sotheby's and Christies. Some of this ill-gotten money from >auction went into Rahul Gandhi's National way into the Gandhi family >account in the Bank of America in Cayman Islands. Rahul's expenses and tuition fees for the one-year he was at Harvard, was paid from the Cayman Island account. What kind of people are these Gandhi-Mainos that bite the very hand of Bharat Mata that fed them and gave them a good life?
How can the nation trust such greedy thieves? Since I failed to persuade the Vajpayee government to defend India's treasures from plunder by the Mainos, I approached the Delhi High Court in a PIL.
The first Bench of the court issued notice to the Government, but since the Indian government dragged it's feet, the Court directed the CBI to seek Interpol's and Italian government's help. The Italian government justifiably asked for a Letter Rogatory for which a FIR is a pre-requisite.
But the Interpol did oblige and submitted two voluminous reports, which the Court directed the CBI to hand over to me. But CBI has refused, and has claimed privilege! The CBI has also been caught lying in court by telling the judges that Alessandra Maino is a name of a man, and Via Bellini 14, Orbassano is a name of a village [not the street address of the Maino's residence].
Although the CBI counsel had to apologise to the court stating he made a mistake, he has been promoted to Additional Solicitor General by the new government! The Vajpayee-Sonia mutual assistance pact is in full view. The case now comes up on September 8th. But the most sinister aspect of Sonia Gandhi's character is her connection with terrorists. I am still working on it, but she has had long >connection with the Habash group of Palestinian, and has funded Palestinian >families that lost their kith and kin in a suicide bombing or hijacking >episode.
This, Rajiv Gandhi himself told me and was confirmed to me [the funding] by Yassir Arafat when I met him in Tunis on October 17, 1990 at the request of Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi and I were good friends from >1978, but became very close buddies after V.P. Singh had betrayed him in >1987. We met practically every day, mostly in the early hours from 1AM to 4AM. It was at my suggestion that he made Chandrashekhar the PM. And >contrary to public impression, he was not mainly responsible for the fall >of Chandrashekar government in which I was a Minister. Besides the Palestinian extremists, the Maino family have had extensive business dealings with Saddam Hussein, and surprisingly with the LTTE ["the >Tamil Tigers"] since 1984.
Sonia's mother Paola Predebon Maino, and businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi were the main contacts with the Tigers. The mother used the LTTE for money laundering and Quattrocchi for selling >weapons to earn commissions.> Sonia's conduit to the LTTE has been and is through Arjun Singh who uses >Bangalore as the nodal point for contact. There is a string of >circumstantial evidence pointing to the prima facie possibility that the Maino family may have contracted the LTTE to kill Rajiv Gandhi. The family may have assured the LTTE that nothing would happen to them because they could ensure it is blamed on the Sikhs or the evidence so much fudged that no court would convict them. But D.R. Karthikeyan of the CBI who led the SIT investigation got the support of Narasimha Rao and cracked the case, and got the LTTE convicted in the trial court, and which conviction was upheld in the Supreme Court.
Although on the involvement of Congress Party in the assassination, DRK soft peddled on a number of leads perhaps because he did not want political >controversy to put roadblocks on his investigation as a whole. The Justice >J. S. Verma Commission, which was set up as the last official act of the Chandrashekhar government before demitting office on June 21, 1991, did find that the Congress leaders had disrupted the security arrangements for the Sriperumbudur meeting.
The Commission wanted further probe into it but the Rao government rejected that demand. In the meantime under Sonia's pressure, the Jain Commission was set up by the Rao government, which tried to muddy the waters and thus exonerate the LTTE. But the trial court judgment convicting the LTTE came earlier, and that sinister effort too failed. Nowadays, Sonia is quite unabashed in having political alliance with those who praise Rajiv Gandhi's killers. No Indian widow would ever do that.
My investigations into Sonia's involvement in Rajiv's assassination is therefore still on. I am also author of a best seller titled Assassination Of Rajiv Gandhi,Unasked Questions and Unanswered Queri
Do You Know Your Sonia? By Dr. Subramanian Swamy
Ms. Sonia Gandhi's background as is publicized by her and her Congress Party today, is based on three lies to hide the ugly reality of her life.
First, her real name is Antonia not Sonia.
The Italian Ambassador in New Delhi revealed this in a letter dated April 27, 1983 to the Union Home Ministry which letter has not been made public.
Antonia is Sonia's real name in her birth certificate.
Sonia is the name given to her subsequently by her father, Stefano Maino [now deceased] following his return from Russia where he had been a prisoner of war.
Stefano had joined the Nazi army as a volunteer.
Sonia is a Russian not Italian name.
While spending two years in a Russian jail, Sonia's father had become quite pro-Soviet; especially after the liberating US army in Italy had confiscated all fascists' properties including his.
Second, she was not born in Orbassano as she claims in her bio data submitted to Parliament on becoming MP, but in Luciana as stated in her birth certificate.
She perhaps would like to hide the place of her birth because of her father's connection with the Nazis and Mussolini's Fascists,
and her family's continuing connections with the Nazi-Fascists underground that is still surviving since 1945 in Italy.
Luciana is where Nazi-Fascist network is headquartered, and is on the Italian-Swiss border.
There can be no other explanation for this otherwise meaningless lie.
Third, Sonia Gandhi has not studied beyond High School.
She has falsely claimed in her affidavit filed as a contesting candidate before the Rae Bareli Returning Officer in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, that she qualified and got a diploma inEnglish from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK.
The truth is that Ms. Gandhi has never studied in any college anywhere.
She did go to a Catholic nun run seminary-school called Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno [15 kms from adopted home town of Orbassabo]. Poverty those days forced young Italian girls to go to such missionaries and then in their teens go to UK to get jobs as cleaning maids, waitresses and au pair.
The Mainos were poor those days.
Her father was a mason and mother a share cropper. Sonia thus went to the town of Cambridge and first learnt some English in a teaching shop called Lennox School [which has since 1970 been wound up].
That is all her "education" is--learnt enough English language to get domestic help jobs.
But in Indian society education is highly valued. Thus, to fool the Indian public, Sonia Gandhi willfully fibbed about her qualifications in Parliamentary records [which is a Breach of Ethics Rules] and in a sworn affidavit [which is criminal offence under IPC, severe enough to disqualify her from being MP]. In popular parlance, this is >called 420 or 10 "numberi" [not to be confused with 10 Janpath].
These three lies indicate that Ms. Sonia Gandhi has something to hide, or has a hidden agenda for India. We need to find out more about her.
III Ms. Sonia Gandhi upon learning enough English became a waitress in Varsity Restaurant in Cambridge town.
She first met Rajiv when he came to the restaurant in 1965.
Rajiv was a student in the University, but could not cope with the academic rigour for long.
So he had to depart in 1966 for London where he was briefly in Imperial College of Engineering as a student.
Sonia too moved to London, and according my information, got a job with an outfit run by Salman Thassir, a debonair Pakistani based in Lahore, and who has a export-import company headquartered in Dubai but who spends most of his time in London.
This fits the profile of an ISI functionary. Obviously, Sonia made enough money in this job to loan Rajiv funds in London, who was obviously living beyond his allowances [Indira herself expressed anguish to me on this score in late 1965 when she invited me to a private tea at the Guest House in Brandeis University]. Rajiv's letters to Sanjay, who was also in London then, clearly indicate that he was in financial debt to Sonia because he requested Sanjay who obviously had more access to money, to pay off the debt.
However, Rajiv was not the only friend Sonia was seeing those days.
Madhavrao Scindia and a German by name Stiegler are worth mentioning as other good friends of Sonia.
Madhavrao's friendship continued even after Sonia's marriage to Rajiv.
Scindia in 1982 was involved in a traffic accident near IIT, Delhi main gate while driving a car at 2 AM. Sonia was the only other passenger. Both were badly injured. A student of IIT who was burning midnight oil was out for a cup of coffee. He picked them up from the car, hailed an auto rickshaw and sent an injured Sonia to Mrs Indira Gandhi's house since she insisted in not going to a hospital. Madhavrao had broken a leg and in too much pain to make any demand. He was taken to hospital by the Delhi Police who had arrived a little after Sonia had left the scene.
In later years, Madhavrao had become privately critical of Sonia, and told some close friends about his apprehensions about Sonia. It is a pity that he died in mysterious circumstances in an aircrash.
The circumstance under which Rajiv hastily married Sonia in a Church in Orbassano is controversial but that was his personal matter that has no public significance.
But what is of public significance is that Indira Gandhi who was initially dead set against the marriage for reasons known to her, relented to hold a registry marriage with Hindu ceremonial trappings in New Delhi only after the pro-Soviet T.N. Kaul prevailed upon her to accept the marriage in "the larger interest of cementing Indo-Soviet Friendship".
Kaul would not have intervened unless the Soviet Union had asked him to. IV Such has been the extensive patronage from the beginning extended to Sonia Gandhi from the Soviets. When a Prime Minister of India's son dates a girl in London, the KGB which valued Indo-Soviet relations, obviously would investigate her and find out that she was the daughter of Stefano, their old reliable Italian contact.
Thus, Sonia with Rajiv meant deeper access to the household of the Indian Prime Minister. Hence cementing the Rajiv-Sonia relations was in the Soviet national interest and they went to work on it.
And they did through their then existing moles in the Indira Gandhi camp.
After her marriage to Rajiv, the Soviet connection with the Mainos was fortified and nurtured by generous financial help through commissions and kickbacks on every Indo,Soviet trade deal and defence purchases. According to the respected Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate [November 1991 issue], Rajiv Gandhi had about $ 2 billion in numbered Swiss bank accounts,which Sonia inherited upon his assassination.
Dr. Yevgenia Albats, Ph.D [Harvard], is a noted Russian scholar and journalist, and was a member of the KGB Commission set up by President Yeltsin in August 1991. She was privy to the Soviet intelligence files that documented these deals and KGB >facilitation of the same. In her book,The State Within a State. The KGB in Soviet Union, she even gives the file numbers of such intelligence files, which can now be accessed by any Indian government through a formal request to the Kremlin. The Russsian Government in 1992 was confronted by the Albats' disclosure; they confirmed it through their official spokesperson to the press [which was published in Hindu in 1992], defending such financial payments as necessary in "Soviet ideological interest".
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, things changed for Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Her patrons evaporated. The rump that became Russia was in a financial mess and disorder.
So Ms. Sonia Gandhi became a supporter of another communist country to the annoyance of the Russians. The national security ramification of this 'annoyance' is now >significant: The President of Russia today is Putin, a former dyed-in-the-wool KGB officer.
Upon Dr. Manmohan Singh's government taking office, Russia called back it's career diplomat Ambassador in New Delhi and immediately posted as the new Ambassador a person who was the KGB station chief in New Delhi during the 1970s.
In view of Dr. Albats confirmed >revelation, it stands to reason that the new Ambassador would have known first hand about Sonia's connections with the KGB. He may have in fact been >her "controller". The new Indian government which is defacto Sonia's, cannot afford to annoy him or even disregard Russian demands coming from him? They will obviously placate him so as not to risk exposure.
Is this not a major national security risk and a delicate matter for the nation? Of course, all Indians would like good normal and healthy relations with Russia.
Who can forget their assistance to us in times of need? Today's Russia is the residual legatee of that Soviet Union which helped India. But just because of that, should we tolerate those in our government set up having clandestine links with a foreign spy agency?
In the United States, the government did not tolerate an American spying for Israel even though the two countries are as close as any two countries can be.
National security and friendship are as different as chalk and cheese.
In December 2001, I had filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court with the photocopies of the KGB documents, and sought a CBI investigation, which the Vajpayee Government was refusing. Earlier, Minister of State for CBI, Vasundara Raje [now Rajasthan CM], on my letter dated March 3, 2001, had ordered the CBI to investigate.
But after Sonia Gandhi and her party stalled the proceedings of Parliament on this issue, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee cancelled Vasundara's direction to the CBI.
The Delhi High Court issued a direction to the CBI to ascertain from Russia the truth of my charges. The CBI procrastinated for three years, and finally told the Court without an FIR registered the Russians will not entertain any such query. But who stopped the CBI from registering an FIR? The next hearing of the case is on September 8th.> ---------> V>
After Sonia married Rajiv, she went about minting money with scant regard for Indian laws and treasures. Within a few years the Mainos went from utter poverty to billionaires.
There was no area that was left out for the rip-off. On November 19, 1974, as fresh entrant to Parliament, I asked the then Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi on the floor of the House if her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company [Oriental Fire & Insurance], giving the Prime Minister's official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to insure all the officers of the PMO while remaining an Italian citizen [thus violating FERA]?
There was uproar in Parliament, but Mrs. Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare >admission that it was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had >resigned from her insurance agent status [after my question]. But Sonia was >incorrigible. Her contempt for Indian law continued to manifest.
The Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies >Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never >prosecuted, but can be still prosecuted because under Indian law, economic >crimes not subject to the statute of limitation.
In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the >press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted >in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter! Such >is her revealed disdain for Indian laws and that is her mindset even today.> VI The bottom line observed in Sonia's mindset is that she can always run back to Italy if she becomes vulnerable at anytime. In Peru, President Fujimori who all along claimed to be "born Peruvian", faced with a >corruption charge fled to Japan with his loot and reclaimed his Japanese >citizenship.>
In 1977, when the Janata Party defeated the Congress at the polls, and
the government, Sonia with her two children, abandoned Indira Gandhi
and ran to the Italian Embassy in New Delhi and hid there. Rajiv Gandhi was >a government servant then [as an Indian Airlines pilot], but he too tagged >along and hid in that foreign embassy ! Such was her baneful influence on >him. Rajiv did snap out Sonia's influence after 1989, but alas he was >assassinated before he could rectify it.
Those close to Rajiv knew that he was planning set things right about Sonia after the 1991 elections. She did too know of it because he had told her. Ever wonder why Sonia's closest advisers are those whom Rajiv literally hated?
Ambika Soni is one such name. Ever wonder why she asked the President of India to set aside, on a mercy petition, the Supreme Court judgment directing that Rajiv Gandhi's LTTE killers be hanged to death, when she was not similarly moved for >Satwant Singh who killed Indira Gandhi or recently for Dhanajoy Chattopadhyaya?
The explanation for this special consideration for the LTTE lies in what Rajiv had told her in 1990. Those who have no love for India will not hesitate to plunder her treasures. Mohammed Ghori, Nadir Shah, and the British scum in the East India Company made no secret of it.
But Sonia Gandhi has been more discreet, but as greedy, in her looting of Indian treasures. When Indira >Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were PrimeMinisters, not a day passed when the PM's >security did not go to the New Delhi, or Chennai international airport to >send crates and crates unchecked by customs to Rome. Air India and Alitalia >were the carriers. Mr. Arjun Singh first as CM, later as Union Minister in >charge of Culture was her hatchet man. Indian temple sculpture of gods and >goddesses, antiques, pichwai paintings, shatoosh shawls, coins, and you >name it, were transported to Italy to be first displayed in two shops owned >by her sister [ i.e., Anuskha alias Alessandra]. These shops located in >blue-collar areas of Rivolta [shop name: Etnica] and Orbassano [shop >name:Ganpati] did little business because> which blue collar Italian wants Indian antiques? The shops were to make >false bills, and thereafter these treasures were taken to London for >auction by Sotheby's and Christies. Some of this ill-gotten money from >auction went into Rahul Gandhi's National way into the Gandhi family >account in the Bank of America in Cayman Islands. Rahul's expenses and tuition fees for the one-year he was at Harvard, was paid from the Cayman Island account. What kind of people are these Gandhi-Mainos that bite the very hand of Bharat Mata that fed them and gave them a good life?
How can the nation trust such greedy thieves? Since I failed to persuade the Vajpayee government to defend India's treasures from plunder by the Mainos, I approached the Delhi High Court in a PIL.
The first Bench of the court issued notice to the Government, but since the Indian government dragged it's feet, the Court directed the CBI to seek Interpol's and Italian government's help. The Italian government justifiably asked for a Letter Rogatory for which a FIR is a pre-requisite.
But the Interpol did oblige and submitted two voluminous reports, which the Court directed the CBI to hand over to me. But CBI has refused, and has claimed privilege! The CBI has also been caught lying in court by telling the judges that Alessandra Maino is a name of a man, and Via Bellini 14, Orbassano is a name of a village [not the street address of the Maino's residence].
Although the CBI counsel had to apologise to the court stating he made a mistake, he has been promoted to Additional Solicitor General by the new government! The Vajpayee-Sonia mutual assistance pact is in full view. The case now comes up on September 8th. But the most sinister aspect of Sonia Gandhi's character is her connection with terrorists. I am still working on it, but she has had long >connection with the Habash group of Palestinian, and has funded Palestinian >families that lost their kith and kin in a suicide bombing or hijacking >episode.
This, Rajiv Gandhi himself told me and was confirmed to me [the funding] by Yassir Arafat when I met him in Tunis on October 17, 1990 at the request of Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi and I were good friends from >1978, but became very close buddies after V.P. Singh had betrayed him in >1987. We met practically every day, mostly in the early hours from 1AM to 4AM. It was at my suggestion that he made Chandrashekhar the PM. And >contrary to public impression, he was not mainly responsible for the fall >of Chandrashekar government in which I was a Minister. Besides the Palestinian extremists, the Maino family have had extensive business dealings with Saddam Hussein, and surprisingly with the LTTE ["the >Tamil Tigers"] since 1984.
Sonia's mother Paola Predebon Maino, and businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi were the main contacts with the Tigers. The mother used the LTTE for money laundering and Quattrocchi for selling >weapons to earn commissions.> Sonia's conduit to the LTTE has been and is through Arjun Singh who uses >Bangalore as the nodal point for contact. There is a string of >circumstantial evidence pointing to the prima facie possibility that the Maino family may have contracted the LTTE to kill Rajiv Gandhi. The family may have assured the LTTE that nothing would happen to them because they could ensure it is blamed on the Sikhs or the evidence so much fudged that no court would convict them. But D.R. Karthikeyan of the CBI who led the SIT investigation got the support of Narasimha Rao and cracked the case, and got the LTTE convicted in the trial court, and which conviction was upheld in the Supreme Court.
Although on the involvement of Congress Party in the assassination, DRK soft peddled on a number of leads perhaps because he did not want political >controversy to put roadblocks on his investigation as a whole. The Justice >J. S. Verma Commission, which was set up as the last official act of the Chandrashekhar government before demitting office on June 21, 1991, did find that the Congress leaders had disrupted the security arrangements for the Sriperumbudur meeting.
The Commission wanted further probe into it but the Rao government rejected that demand. In the meantime under Sonia's pressure, the Jain Commission was set up by the Rao government, which tried to muddy the waters and thus exonerate the LTTE. But the trial court judgment convicting the LTTE came earlier, and that sinister effort too failed. Nowadays, Sonia is quite unabashed in having political alliance with those who praise Rajiv Gandhi's killers. No Indian widow would ever do that.
My investigations into Sonia's involvement in Rajiv's assassination is therefore still on. I am also author of a best seller titled Assassination Of Rajiv Gandhi,Unasked Questions and Unanswered Queri
Know the facts on these structures in India
1. Name of the structure:Quwwat al-Islam MasjidLocation: Delhi in Uttar Pradesh Inscription:
"This fort was conquered and the Jami Masjid built in the year 587 by the Amir(*), the great, the gloriuous commander of the Army, Qutub-ud-daula wad-din, the Amir-ul-umara Aibeg , the slave of the Sultan, may Allah strengthen his helperes. The materials of 27 idol temples, on each of which 2,000,000 Delhiwals(** ) had been spent were used in the construction of the mosque."
*The Amir mentioned above was Qutubud-Din Aibak, slave of Muhammed Ghori. **"Delhiwal" was a high denomination coin current at that time in Delhi.
2. Name of the structure:Mansuri MasjidLocation: Vijapur in GujratInscription:
"The Blessed and Exalted Allah says, 'And verily, mosques are for Allah only; hence invoke not anyone else with Allah.' This edifice was originally built by the infidels. After the advent of Islam, it was converted into a mosque.
Sermon was delivered here for sixty-seven years. Due to the sedition of the infidels, it was again destroyed. When during the reign of the Sultan of the time, Ahmad, the affairs of each Iqta attained magnificence, Bahadur, the Sarkhail, once again carried out repairs. Through the generosity of Divine munificence, it became like new."
3. Name of the structure:Masjid at ManviLocation: Manvi in KarnatakaInscription:
"Praise be to Allah that by the decree of the Parvardigar, a mosque has been converted out of a temple as a sign of religion in the reign of the world- conquering emperor, the Sultan who is the asylum of the Faith and the possessor of the crown, who's kingdom is young, viz. Firuz Shah Bahmani, who is the cause of Exuberant spring in the garden of religion, Adu'l-Fath the king who conquered. After the victory of the emperor, the chief of chiefs, Safdar (the valiant commander) of the age, received the fort. The builder of this noble place of prayer is Muhammad Zahir Aqchi, the pivot of the Faith. He constructed in the year 809 from the Migration of the Chosen (prophet Muhammdad) this Ka'ba like momento."
4. Name of the structure:Mausoleum of Shykh 'Abdullah Shah ChangalLocation: Dhar in Madhya PradeshInscription:
"The centre became Muhammadan first by him(*) (and) all the banners of religion were spread... This lion-man came from the centre of religion to this old temple with a large force. He broke the images of the false deities, and turned the idol temple into a mosque. When Rai Bhoj saw this, through wisdom he embraced Islam with the family of his brave warriors(**) . This quarter became illuminated by the light of the Muhammadan law, and the customs of the infidels became obsolete and abolished."
*Shykh 'Abdullah Shah Changal **In this case the Hindu King was Bhoj II and during his reign Jalalu'd-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296) of Delhi invaded Malwa. Changal was the Muslim missionary who accompanied Khalji's army. This army after plundering and looting the kingdom of Bhoj II converted a Hindu temple into a mosque and forced the ruler and his subjects to accept Islam.
5. Name of the structure:Jami' MasjidLocation: Malan in GujratInscription:
"...(The Prophet), on him be peace, says 'He who builds a mosque in the world, the Exalted Allah builds for him a palace in Paradise.' In the auspicious time of the government and peaceful time of Mahmud Shah, son of Muhammad Shah, the sultan, the Jami', mosque was constructed on the hill of the fort of Malun (or Malwan) by Khan-i-Azam Ulugh Khan...at the request of the thandar Kabir, (son of Diya), the building was constructed by the son of Ulugh Khan who is magnimonius, just, generous, brave and who suppressed the wrteched infidels.
He eradicated the idol-houses and mine of infidelity, along with the idols... with the edge of his sword, and made ready this edifice... He made its walls and doors out of the idols; the back of every stone became the place for prostration of the believer..."
6. Name of the structure:Jami' MasjidLocation: Amod in GujratInscription:
"Allah and His grace. When divine favour was bestowed on Khalil Shah, he constructed the Jami' Masjid for the decoration of Islam; he ruined the idol-house and temple of the polytheists, (and) completed the Masjid and pulpit in its place. Without doubt, his building was accepted by Allah."
7. Name of the structure:Shrine of Shah MadarLocation: Narwar in Mdhya pradeshInscription:
"Dilawar Khan, the chief among the king's viceroys, caused this mosque to built which is like a place of shelter for the favourites. Infidelity has been subdued, and Islam has triumphed because of him. The idols have bowed to him and the temples have been razed to the ground along with their foundations, and mosques and worship houses are flowing with riches."
8. Name of structure:Hamman Darwaza MasjidLocation: Jaunpur in Uttar PradeshInscription:
"Thanks by the guidance of Everlasting and the Living Allah, this house of infidelity became the niche of prayer. As a reward for that, the Generous Lord constructed an abode for the builder in paradise..."
9. Name of structure:Jami MasjidLocation: Ghoda in MaharashtraInscription:
"O Allah O Muhammed ! O Ali ! When Mir Muhammed Zaman made up his mind, he opened the door of prosperity on himself by his own hand. He demolished thirty-three idol temples and by divine grace laid the foundation of a building in the abode of predition."
10. Name of structure:Gachinala MasjidLocation: Kurnool District of Andhra PradeshInscription:
"He is Allah, may be glorified..During the august rule of...Muhammed Shah, there was a well established idol-house in Kuhmum...Muhammed Salih...razed to the ground, the edifice of the idol-house and broke the idols in a manly fashion. He constructed on its site a suitable mosque, towering above the building of all."
The above was a presentation of inscriptions on mosques and other Islamic structures in India. These inscriptions, as you clearly read, glorify and justify the acts of the barbaric Muslim invaders by invoking Allah and the Koran.
Thus this leads us to the conclusion that Islam openly supports the criminal acts of loot, plunder, rape, murder, torment, torture and destruction! !
"This fort was conquered and the Jami Masjid built in the year 587 by the Amir(*), the great, the gloriuous commander of the Army, Qutub-ud-daula wad-din, the Amir-ul-umara Aibeg , the slave of the Sultan, may Allah strengthen his helperes. The materials of 27 idol temples, on each of which 2,000,000 Delhiwals(** ) had been spent were used in the construction of the mosque."
*The Amir mentioned above was Qutubud-Din Aibak, slave of Muhammed Ghori. **"Delhiwal" was a high denomination coin current at that time in Delhi.
2. Name of the structure:Mansuri MasjidLocation: Vijapur in GujratInscription:
"The Blessed and Exalted Allah says, 'And verily, mosques are for Allah only; hence invoke not anyone else with Allah.' This edifice was originally built by the infidels. After the advent of Islam, it was converted into a mosque.
Sermon was delivered here for sixty-seven years. Due to the sedition of the infidels, it was again destroyed. When during the reign of the Sultan of the time, Ahmad, the affairs of each Iqta attained magnificence, Bahadur, the Sarkhail, once again carried out repairs. Through the generosity of Divine munificence, it became like new."
3. Name of the structure:Masjid at ManviLocation: Manvi in KarnatakaInscription:
"Praise be to Allah that by the decree of the Parvardigar, a mosque has been converted out of a temple as a sign of religion in the reign of the world- conquering emperor, the Sultan who is the asylum of the Faith and the possessor of the crown, who's kingdom is young, viz. Firuz Shah Bahmani, who is the cause of Exuberant spring in the garden of religion, Adu'l-Fath the king who conquered. After the victory of the emperor, the chief of chiefs, Safdar (the valiant commander) of the age, received the fort. The builder of this noble place of prayer is Muhammad Zahir Aqchi, the pivot of the Faith. He constructed in the year 809 from the Migration of the Chosen (prophet Muhammdad) this Ka'ba like momento."
4. Name of the structure:Mausoleum of Shykh 'Abdullah Shah ChangalLocation: Dhar in Madhya PradeshInscription:
"The centre became Muhammadan first by him(*) (and) all the banners of religion were spread... This lion-man came from the centre of religion to this old temple with a large force. He broke the images of the false deities, and turned the idol temple into a mosque. When Rai Bhoj saw this, through wisdom he embraced Islam with the family of his brave warriors(**) . This quarter became illuminated by the light of the Muhammadan law, and the customs of the infidels became obsolete and abolished."
*Shykh 'Abdullah Shah Changal **In this case the Hindu King was Bhoj II and during his reign Jalalu'd-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296) of Delhi invaded Malwa. Changal was the Muslim missionary who accompanied Khalji's army. This army after plundering and looting the kingdom of Bhoj II converted a Hindu temple into a mosque and forced the ruler and his subjects to accept Islam.
5. Name of the structure:Jami' MasjidLocation: Malan in GujratInscription:
"...(The Prophet), on him be peace, says 'He who builds a mosque in the world, the Exalted Allah builds for him a palace in Paradise.' In the auspicious time of the government and peaceful time of Mahmud Shah, son of Muhammad Shah, the sultan, the Jami', mosque was constructed on the hill of the fort of Malun (or Malwan) by Khan-i-Azam Ulugh Khan...at the request of the thandar Kabir, (son of Diya), the building was constructed by the son of Ulugh Khan who is magnimonius, just, generous, brave and who suppressed the wrteched infidels.
He eradicated the idol-houses and mine of infidelity, along with the idols... with the edge of his sword, and made ready this edifice... He made its walls and doors out of the idols; the back of every stone became the place for prostration of the believer..."
6. Name of the structure:Jami' MasjidLocation: Amod in GujratInscription:
"Allah and His grace. When divine favour was bestowed on Khalil Shah, he constructed the Jami' Masjid for the decoration of Islam; he ruined the idol-house and temple of the polytheists, (and) completed the Masjid and pulpit in its place. Without doubt, his building was accepted by Allah."
7. Name of the structure:Shrine of Shah MadarLocation: Narwar in Mdhya pradeshInscription:
"Dilawar Khan, the chief among the king's viceroys, caused this mosque to built which is like a place of shelter for the favourites. Infidelity has been subdued, and Islam has triumphed because of him. The idols have bowed to him and the temples have been razed to the ground along with their foundations, and mosques and worship houses are flowing with riches."
8. Name of structure:Hamman Darwaza MasjidLocation: Jaunpur in Uttar PradeshInscription:
"Thanks by the guidance of Everlasting and the Living Allah, this house of infidelity became the niche of prayer. As a reward for that, the Generous Lord constructed an abode for the builder in paradise..."
9. Name of structure:Jami MasjidLocation: Ghoda in MaharashtraInscription:
"O Allah O Muhammed ! O Ali ! When Mir Muhammed Zaman made up his mind, he opened the door of prosperity on himself by his own hand. He demolished thirty-three idol temples and by divine grace laid the foundation of a building in the abode of predition."
10. Name of structure:Gachinala MasjidLocation: Kurnool District of Andhra PradeshInscription:
"He is Allah, may be glorified..During the august rule of...Muhammed Shah, there was a well established idol-house in Kuhmum...Muhammed Salih...razed to the ground, the edifice of the idol-house and broke the idols in a manly fashion. He constructed on its site a suitable mosque, towering above the building of all."
The above was a presentation of inscriptions on mosques and other Islamic structures in India. These inscriptions, as you clearly read, glorify and justify the acts of the barbaric Muslim invaders by invoking Allah and the Koran.
Thus this leads us to the conclusion that Islam openly supports the criminal acts of loot, plunder, rape, murder, torment, torture and destruction! !
Save Temples Of India
GHHF] Amendment to Endowment Act Passed -
Freed 30,000 Temples from the AP government Control;
Fight Continues to Free all Hindu Temples Significant VICTORY for Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi and Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, November 19, 2007.
Dear Friends: It is every Hindu's responsibility to fight for justice, fairness, equality, freedom, independence from the government control of Hindu Temples, their lands and revenues.
The Temples should be allowed to be managed by the Hindus themselves.
The outrageous discrimination against Hindu must stop. Hindu should take full responsibility to manage their Temples.
Every single action counts. Every single person can bring change if we have commitment, faith and determination. We should not be disheartened with roadblocks and hurdles as we take up any task to bring about changes.
Success would not come easy. It only comes through hard work, perseverance, patience, resolve, and endurance. Let us all resolve ourselves to do some thing to bring change.
As Edward Everett Hale says: I am only one,But still I am one.I cannot do everything,But still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do .
It is our dharma (duty) to protect the impending danger to Hinduism from within and without.
By ignoring and being indifferent, we are encouraging the injustice to prevail, evil to take it's roots, and authoritarianism to prevail in the society.
Our greatest treasure, Ramayana talks about our responsibility in Ayodhya Kanda as follows:
If we not fulfill our duty "the ignoble would resemble the noble, and he who is devoid of honor would resemble a man of integrity; he who is unworthy would be deemed worthy and he who is depraved would be considered to be a man of virtue.
Hinduism. Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda 109. The Passage of the Amendment November 19, 2007. The Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments (amendment) bill moved by Endowments Minister J Rathnakar Rao was passed unanimously (UNI reports). The Andhra Pradesh State Assembly has unanimously passed the Temple Amendment Bill "Hindu Endowments Act" (Devadaya Savarana Bill).
Over 30,000 temples that are seeking Deepam (lamp) and Naivedyam (offering to God) are now out of the control of the Endowment Department (Devalaya Shaka), Andhra Pradesh government.
Even the temples with income less than Rupees 2 Lakhs per annum are released from their control.
It is for the first time in India that a Dharmic Parishat, an autonomous body consisting of heads of Mathas and Pithas along with Dharmic thought leaders will take charge of the temple affairs.
This is a grand victory for the Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi (HDPS) and its supporters. Incidentally this has occured on the day that Sri Kamal Kumar and his entourage has reached Hyderabad on this padayatra. This is proof that the Lord himself has participated in this padayatra.
This padayatra originated in Basra, Adilabad District (a border town of Mahrashtra and Andhra Pradesh) and will complete at Tirumala-Tirupathi Devasthanam, Chitoor District.
The padayatra has covered 760 temples, 6 districts and 1400 kilometers over the past 66 days. He has met over 300,000 people on this padayatra so far.
This mail is being sent on behalf of Sri Kamal Kumar Machavolu, General Secretary, Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi. About Sri Kamal Kumar: Sri Kamal Kumar has been spearheading the effort to bring awareness amongst the Hindus, and a change of mind in the government with matters governing the Hindu temples. This padayatra has reached many hearts and woken us from the slumber. Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi is supported by several enthusiasts in India, USA, Canada, UK and other countries. (Please read below how the Employees tried to oppose it) Employees of Endowment Department Opposed http://www.hindu. com/2007/ 11/18/stories/ 2007111853290400 .htm
HYDERABAD: November 18, 2007. Employees of the Endowments Department, serving temples and other religious establishments in the State, went on a pen-down strike for the second day on Saturday, demanding that the Government give up its proposal to amend the existing Endowments Act of 1987. The Endowments Employees' Welfare Association, which is spearheading the agitation, is of the view that the proposed amendments will work against their interests, apart from jeopardising the system of maintaining the temples in the State. The association president and general secretary, K. Shobharani and B. Krupavaram, said they would organise a 'Chalo Assembly' on Monday when the Bill seeking to amend the Act was expected to be passed in the House. They said one of the amendments is aimed at reviving a Section scrapped earlier. Once this was revived, a total of 32,558 temples whose annual income was below Rs 5 lakhs, would to archakas as a "hereditary right" together with the funds accruing through hundi/ plate collections, arjita seva/tonsuring fees, darshan tickets etc. Another change would seek to pay salaries to employees through a welfare fund and not through Treasuries as now. They said if the hereditary system came in, no opportunity would be available to other archaka families in the State. Even trustees would claim hereditary rights as the definition of "founder" (of temple) was sought to be changed. M. V. Soundara Rajan, vice-president, Andhra Pradesh Archaka Samakhya, on the other hand, described the Bill as "excellent" as the amendments had been proposed after taking into consideration, the ground realities of the temple maintenance. He said the existing Act had "grossly failed" to protect temple system.------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ------- DONATIONS: Your finacial help to defray the cost of Pada Yatra is highly appreciated. The budget for the four month Pada Yatra is roughly estimated at $40,000. Your generous donation is essential to make Pada Yatra a grand success. Please send your donations to: Global Hindu Heritage Foundation , and mail your check to 548 Silverstone Drive , Madison, MS 39110. Please indicate "Pada Yatra" on the check next to memo. INVITATION TO PUBLIC FORUM You are cordially invited to participate in the Public Forum which will take place on January 25, 2008 in Tirupathi, the abode of Lord Venkateswara Temple WEBSITE:
Please visit our website for more information on the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation and Pada Yatra. http://savetemples. org FORWARD.
Please FORWARD this information to your circle of Friends and seek their support and participation in the movement QUESTIONS/QUERIES :
Please call us if you have any questions or need clarification on Pada Yatra to awaken the Consciousness of all Hindus about the government's plans to dismantle the Hindu Temples and culture. Dhanyavad, Global Hindu Heritage Foundation
V. V. Prakasa Rao, Ph.D; 601-918-7111 Cell; 601-856-4783 Home
Prasad Yalamanchi, 630-832-2665; 630-359-5041 Satya 732-939-2060
Vinay 248-842-6964
Srinivas Murthy 212-538-8716
Dr. K. R. Venkatramaiah (Canada) 416-925-8167
Sri Kamal Kumar, Leader of Pada Yatra (Hyderabad) 011-91-9440896915__._,_.___
Freed 30,000 Temples from the AP government Control;
Fight Continues to Free all Hindu Temples Significant VICTORY for Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi and Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, November 19, 2007.
Dear Friends: It is every Hindu's responsibility to fight for justice, fairness, equality, freedom, independence from the government control of Hindu Temples, their lands and revenues.
The Temples should be allowed to be managed by the Hindus themselves.
The outrageous discrimination against Hindu must stop. Hindu should take full responsibility to manage their Temples.
Every single action counts. Every single person can bring change if we have commitment, faith and determination. We should not be disheartened with roadblocks and hurdles as we take up any task to bring about changes.
Success would not come easy. It only comes through hard work, perseverance, patience, resolve, and endurance. Let us all resolve ourselves to do some thing to bring change.
As Edward Everett Hale says: I am only one,But still I am one.I cannot do everything,But still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do .
It is our dharma (duty) to protect the impending danger to Hinduism from within and without.
By ignoring and being indifferent, we are encouraging the injustice to prevail, evil to take it's roots, and authoritarianism to prevail in the society.
Our greatest treasure, Ramayana talks about our responsibility in Ayodhya Kanda as follows:
If we not fulfill our duty "the ignoble would resemble the noble, and he who is devoid of honor would resemble a man of integrity; he who is unworthy would be deemed worthy and he who is depraved would be considered to be a man of virtue.
Hinduism. Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda 109. The Passage of the Amendment November 19, 2007. The Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments (amendment) bill moved by Endowments Minister J Rathnakar Rao was passed unanimously (UNI reports). The Andhra Pradesh State Assembly has unanimously passed the Temple Amendment Bill "Hindu Endowments Act" (Devadaya Savarana Bill).
Over 30,000 temples that are seeking Deepam (lamp) and Naivedyam (offering to God) are now out of the control of the Endowment Department (Devalaya Shaka), Andhra Pradesh government.
Even the temples with income less than Rupees 2 Lakhs per annum are released from their control.
It is for the first time in India that a Dharmic Parishat, an autonomous body consisting of heads of Mathas and Pithas along with Dharmic thought leaders will take charge of the temple affairs.
This is a grand victory for the Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi (HDPS) and its supporters. Incidentally this has occured on the day that Sri Kamal Kumar and his entourage has reached Hyderabad on this padayatra. This is proof that the Lord himself has participated in this padayatra.
This padayatra originated in Basra, Adilabad District (a border town of Mahrashtra and Andhra Pradesh) and will complete at Tirumala-Tirupathi Devasthanam, Chitoor District.
The padayatra has covered 760 temples, 6 districts and 1400 kilometers over the past 66 days. He has met over 300,000 people on this padayatra so far.
This mail is being sent on behalf of Sri Kamal Kumar Machavolu, General Secretary, Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi. About Sri Kamal Kumar: Sri Kamal Kumar has been spearheading the effort to bring awareness amongst the Hindus, and a change of mind in the government with matters governing the Hindu temples. This padayatra has reached many hearts and woken us from the slumber. Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi is supported by several enthusiasts in India, USA, Canada, UK and other countries. (Please read below how the Employees tried to oppose it) Employees of Endowment Department Opposed http://www.hindu. com/2007/ 11/18/stories/ 2007111853290400 .htm
HYDERABAD: November 18, 2007. Employees of the Endowments Department, serving temples and other religious establishments in the State, went on a pen-down strike for the second day on Saturday, demanding that the Government give up its proposal to amend the existing Endowments Act of 1987. The Endowments Employees' Welfare Association, which is spearheading the agitation, is of the view that the proposed amendments will work against their interests, apart from jeopardising the system of maintaining the temples in the State. The association president and general secretary, K. Shobharani and B. Krupavaram, said they would organise a 'Chalo Assembly' on Monday when the Bill seeking to amend the Act was expected to be passed in the House. They said one of the amendments is aimed at reviving a Section scrapped earlier. Once this was revived, a total of 32,558 temples whose annual income was below Rs 5 lakhs, would to archakas as a "hereditary right" together with the funds accruing through hundi/ plate collections, arjita seva/tonsuring fees, darshan tickets etc. Another change would seek to pay salaries to employees through a welfare fund and not through Treasuries as now. They said if the hereditary system came in, no opportunity would be available to other archaka families in the State. Even trustees would claim hereditary rights as the definition of "founder" (of temple) was sought to be changed. M. V. Soundara Rajan, vice-president, Andhra Pradesh Archaka Samakhya, on the other hand, described the Bill as "excellent" as the amendments had been proposed after taking into consideration, the ground realities of the temple maintenance. He said the existing Act had "grossly failed" to protect temple system.------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ------- DONATIONS: Your finacial help to defray the cost of Pada Yatra is highly appreciated. The budget for the four month Pada Yatra is roughly estimated at $40,000. Your generous donation is essential to make Pada Yatra a grand success. Please send your donations to: Global Hindu Heritage Foundation , and mail your check to 548 Silverstone Drive , Madison, MS 39110. Please indicate "Pada Yatra" on the check next to memo. INVITATION TO PUBLIC FORUM You are cordially invited to participate in the Public Forum which will take place on January 25, 2008 in Tirupathi, the abode of Lord Venkateswara Temple WEBSITE:
Please visit our website for more information on the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation and Pada Yatra. http://savetemples. org FORWARD.
Please FORWARD this information to your circle of Friends and seek their support and participation in the movement QUESTIONS/QUERIES :
Please call us if you have any questions or need clarification on Pada Yatra to awaken the Consciousness of all Hindus about the government's plans to dismantle the Hindu Temples and culture. Dhanyavad, Global Hindu Heritage Foundation
V. V. Prakasa Rao, Ph.D; 601-918-7111 Cell; 601-856-4783 Home
Prasad Yalamanchi, 630-832-2665; 630-359-5041 Satya 732-939-2060
Vinay 248-842-6964
Srinivas Murthy 212-538-8716
Dr. K. R. Venkatramaiah (Canada) 416-925-8167
Sri Kamal Kumar, Leader of Pada Yatra (Hyderabad) 011-91-9440896915__._,_.___
Be A Proud Hindu
http://www.national geographic. com/).
Indians and Pakistanis have the same ancestry and share the same DNA sequence.
Here's what is happening in India:
The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare.
The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare.
The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.
In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.
In November, comes Neeta's birthday. Neeta turned forty-four three weeks ago.
Look what she got from her husband as her birthday present: A sixty-million dollar jet with a custom fitted master bedroom, bathroom with mood lighting, a sky bar, entertainment cabins, satellite television, wireless communication and a separate cabin with game consoles.
Neeta is Mukesh Ambani's wife, and Mukesh is not India's richest but the second richest.
Mukesh is now building his new home, Residence Antillia (after a mythical, phantom island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean). At a cost of $1 billion this would be the most expensive home on the face of the planet.
At 173 meters tall Mukesh's new family residence, for a family of six, will be the equivalent of a 60-storeyed building. The first six floors are reserved for parking. The seventh floor is for car servicing and maintenance. The eighth floor houses a mini-theatre. Then there's a health club, a gym and a swimming pool.
Two floors are reserved for Ambani family's guests.
Four floors above the guest floors are family floors all with a superb view of the Arabian Sea. On top of everything are three helipads. A staff of 600 is expected to
care for the family and their family home.
In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct investment destination.
Pakistan wasn't even in the top 25 countries.
In 2004, the United Nations, the representative body of 192 sovereign member states, had requested the Election Commission of India to assist the UN in the holding elections in Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah and Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan. Why the Election Commission of India and not the Election Commission of Pakistan? After all, Islamabad is closer to Kabul than is Delhi.
Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin;
38 percent of doctors in America are Indian;
36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians;
34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and
28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.
For the record: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail.
Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla.
The Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham.
Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project.
Four out of ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians.
Bollywood produces 800 movies per year and six Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.
For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in Bangalore.
India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan has none (not a single dollar billionaire) .
The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is creating wealth.
In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father, left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion.
In 2007, their combined wealth stood at $94 billion.
On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).
Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. We have the same genetic sequence and the same genetic marker (namely: M124). We have the same DNA molecule, the same DNA sequence.
Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. What is it that Indians do and we don't: Indians elect their leaders.
> _____________________________________________
Indians and Pakistanis have the same ancestry and share the same DNA sequence.
Here's what is happening in India:
The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare.
The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare.
The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.
In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.
In November, comes Neeta's birthday. Neeta turned forty-four three weeks ago.
Look what she got from her husband as her birthday present: A sixty-million dollar jet with a custom fitted master bedroom, bathroom with mood lighting, a sky bar, entertainment cabins, satellite television, wireless communication and a separate cabin with game consoles.
Neeta is Mukesh Ambani's wife, and Mukesh is not India's richest but the second richest.
Mukesh is now building his new home, Residence Antillia (after a mythical, phantom island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean). At a cost of $1 billion this would be the most expensive home on the face of the planet.
At 173 meters tall Mukesh's new family residence, for a family of six, will be the equivalent of a 60-storeyed building. The first six floors are reserved for parking. The seventh floor is for car servicing and maintenance. The eighth floor houses a mini-theatre. Then there's a health club, a gym and a swimming pool.
Two floors are reserved for Ambani family's guests.
Four floors above the guest floors are family floors all with a superb view of the Arabian Sea. On top of everything are three helipads. A staff of 600 is expected to
care for the family and their family home.
In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct investment destination.
Pakistan wasn't even in the top 25 countries.
In 2004, the United Nations, the representative body of 192 sovereign member states, had requested the Election Commission of India to assist the UN in the holding elections in Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah and Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan. Why the Election Commission of India and not the Election Commission of Pakistan? After all, Islamabad is closer to Kabul than is Delhi.
Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin;
38 percent of doctors in America are Indian;
36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians;
34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and
28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.
For the record: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail.
Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla.
The Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham.
Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project.
Four out of ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians.
Bollywood produces 800 movies per year and six Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.
For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in Bangalore.
India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan has none (not a single dollar billionaire) .
The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is creating wealth.
In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father, left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion.
In 2007, their combined wealth stood at $94 billion.
On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).
Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. We have the same genetic sequence and the same genetic marker (namely: M124). We have the same DNA molecule, the same DNA sequence.
Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. What is it that Indians do and we don't: Indians elect their leaders.
> _____________________________________________
Know all about Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, you can’t practice any other religion than Islam.
You cannot even take a Bible or any other non-Islamic holy books when you enter the country.
If you ever dare to do so, they will promptly imprison you, and you will not even know what will happen to you after that!
Not a single Moslem around the world voices an opinion on the utter inadmissibility of any non-Islamic tradition and practice in Saudi Arabia.
Indeed, the western countries including USA never even dare or care to do something about it.
In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to work, and obviously are also not allowed to drive.
In the process, many young teenagers die in auto accidents as they speed on the busy streets to fulfill their mother’s wishes for some household grocery shopping, due to their sheer driving inexperience at that young age.
In the capital city Riyadh, women in burqas/veils are commonly found begging in the busy street corners with their young children, as many of them are widows in dire financial need, with no other way of supporting their young ones as it is illegal for a woman to seek work.
Perhaps, Moslems should ponder on the issue with an open mind – the widow could have been their own mother, or sister, or daughter, or some other close relative. Where is their compassion , which is considered a central theme in Islam?
When something happens to one Moslem anywhere, every other Moslem in the world vehemently condemns it, and is followed by fatwas by the Islamic clergy.
On the other hand, when mass killings and mutilations are perpetrated by Moslems anywhere in the world, not a single Moslem raises a voice; indeed, there is open rejoicing of these barbaric acts on many occasions.
Moslems use the freely available, non-discriminative western legal and administrative systems to their benefit whenever it suits them – they are free to express their opinion, women work and drive, a Florida Moslem woman insisted and got her driver’s license with a picture of her face behind a veil (how in the world can you identify this woman from her driver’s license?),
Moslem women smoke, and so on.
At the same time, Moslems also insist on bringing in the Sharia laws administered by the Mullahs, rather than western laws administered through the courts.
It’s a blasphemy to interpret the holy Koran, but Moslems feel it’s their birthright to criticize and denigrate non-Islamic religious texts and scriptures.
Mullahs have the full freedom and authority to issue fatwas as they deem fit. (It would amount to inciting people to commit barbaric and inhuman acts as per western laws.) There is no concept of democracy in Islam, while in the west, Moslems misuse democracy as and when it suits them.
If you are not a Moslem, you are considered an infidel; a Moslem is thus free to use his religious text to treat you appropriately – convert you forcibly, punish you, or perhaps even finish you up, as you are after all an infidel, and Islam guarantees him bonus points in his next life for his supposedly solemn acts towards the infidel in this life!
How can anyone reconcile with the Moslems? Perhaps, only by converting to Islam – Their way or Highway! Seriously, is there an option? We all would like to know.
From: hindiUSA@yahoogroup s.com [mailto:hindiUSA@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of svr95@yahoo. comSent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:14 AMTo: hindiusa@yahoogroup s.comSubject: [hindiUSA] The Changing Face Of Religion in Switzerland
You cannot even take a Bible or any other non-Islamic holy books when you enter the country.
If you ever dare to do so, they will promptly imprison you, and you will not even know what will happen to you after that!
Not a single Moslem around the world voices an opinion on the utter inadmissibility of any non-Islamic tradition and practice in Saudi Arabia.
Indeed, the western countries including USA never even dare or care to do something about it.
In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to work, and obviously are also not allowed to drive.
In the process, many young teenagers die in auto accidents as they speed on the busy streets to fulfill their mother’s wishes for some household grocery shopping, due to their sheer driving inexperience at that young age.
In the capital city Riyadh, women in burqas/veils are commonly found begging in the busy street corners with their young children, as many of them are widows in dire financial need, with no other way of supporting their young ones as it is illegal for a woman to seek work.
Perhaps, Moslems should ponder on the issue with an open mind – the widow could have been their own mother, or sister, or daughter, or some other close relative. Where is their compassion , which is considered a central theme in Islam?
When something happens to one Moslem anywhere, every other Moslem in the world vehemently condemns it, and is followed by fatwas by the Islamic clergy.
On the other hand, when mass killings and mutilations are perpetrated by Moslems anywhere in the world, not a single Moslem raises a voice; indeed, there is open rejoicing of these barbaric acts on many occasions.
Moslems use the freely available, non-discriminative western legal and administrative systems to their benefit whenever it suits them – they are free to express their opinion, women work and drive, a Florida Moslem woman insisted and got her driver’s license with a picture of her face behind a veil (how in the world can you identify this woman from her driver’s license?),
Moslem women smoke, and so on.
At the same time, Moslems also insist on bringing in the Sharia laws administered by the Mullahs, rather than western laws administered through the courts.
It’s a blasphemy to interpret the holy Koran, but Moslems feel it’s their birthright to criticize and denigrate non-Islamic religious texts and scriptures.
Mullahs have the full freedom and authority to issue fatwas as they deem fit. (It would amount to inciting people to commit barbaric and inhuman acts as per western laws.) There is no concept of democracy in Islam, while in the west, Moslems misuse democracy as and when it suits them.
If you are not a Moslem, you are considered an infidel; a Moslem is thus free to use his religious text to treat you appropriately – convert you forcibly, punish you, or perhaps even finish you up, as you are after all an infidel, and Islam guarantees him bonus points in his next life for his supposedly solemn acts towards the infidel in this life!
How can anyone reconcile with the Moslems? Perhaps, only by converting to Islam – Their way or Highway! Seriously, is there an option? We all would like to know.
From: hindiUSA@yahoogroup s.com [mailto:hindiUSA@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of svr95@yahoo. comSent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:14 AMTo: hindiusa@yahoogroup s.comSubject: [hindiUSA] The Changing Face Of Religion in Switzerland
Hindus love Modi
Why Modi appeals to Hindus all over the world?B RamanDecember 24, 2007rediff.com
Maut ka Saudagar', 'Liar', 'the Ugly Indian' etc etc etc.All the kind of epithets, the likes of which till now used to come easily out of President George Bush's mouth and the pens of his neo conservative supporters.
Mr Bush should be worried that he has now a growing number of competitors in the coining of demonising epithets in the community of the self-styled secularists of India.
What epithets they did not use against Narendra Modi for the last five years and particularly in the weeks before the election to the Gujarat legislative assembly, in which the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party won a spectacular victory despite the best (or worst) efforts of these self-styled secularists to demonise him day in and day out! The pathological dislike -- even hatred -- that some of our journalists -- particularly in the electronic media -- have for Modi could be seen or sensed as one watched the television coverage of the counting of votes on December 23.
Initially, as it appeared that the BJP might not do well in the final tally, there was excitement among many television anchors. They thought they had tasted blood. After an hour, the BJP candidates started racing ahead and it became clear the the Congress was in for a drubbing.
The disappointment on the faces of some of the anchors was to be seen to be believed. A star lady anchor could not help remarking: 'Modi might be able to win the elections in Gujarat, but he still can't get a visa to go to the US and other Western countries.' Some consolation!
Instead of spending their time searching for abusive expressions in the dictionary and in their copy-book of such expressions, if these self-styled secularists had only visited the Web sites, discussion groups and blogspots of members of the Hindu community not only in India, but also in other countries of the world -- particularly in the US -- they would have noticed something, which might have given them cause for introspection. They would have noticed that Modi is becoming the icon of a growing number of Hindus not only in India, but also in the Hindu Diaspora spread across the world.
The support for him is not confined only to the Gujarati-speaking Hindus of the world. It is spread right across the Hindu spectrum -- whatever be the language or ethnicity or place of origin of the Hindus concerned.
They would have noticed that in the Hindu Diaspora in the West, more young people admire Modi than grown-ups. Many of his young admirers in the US were born and brought up there and had the benefit of the best of secular education. In spite of this, there is a sense of pride in them that the Hindu community has at long last produced a leader of the calibre of Modi.
What is it they see in him?His simple and austere living of the kind associated with the late Kamaraj of Tamil Nadu, but not seen in the leaders of today?His reputation as an incorruptible politician, the likes of which is not found anywhere in India, not even in his own party?
His style of development-oriented governance, which even his detractors do not hesitate to praise?The fruits of his policy, which Gujarat and its people are already enjoying?His tough stance on terrorism?
His lucid-thinking on matters concerning our national security?His defiance in the face of the greatest campaign of demonisation mounted against him, the likes of which only Indira Gandhi had faced from her political opponents and sections of the media in the 1970s?
All these are factors, which influence their favourable perception of him, and which have already been highlighted and analysed in the articles on his impressive election victory.But there is one factor, which is more important than these and which has not found mention in the analyses.
That is, for large sections of the Hindus -- young and old, even more among the young than among the old -- he gave them a sense of pride in their identity as Hindus.They feel that he removed from their minds long habits of defensiveness as Hindus carefully nurtured by the self-styled secularists. As if to proclaim one's Hindu identity and to assert one's rights as Hindus in their own homeland in which they are in a vast majority (80 per cent of the population) is to be communal, is to become an ugly Indian.
For these self-styled secularists, a pretty Indian is a Hindu, who is all the time on the defensive, fights shy of proclaiming his Hindu personality and asserting his rights as a member of the majority community.
These self-styled secularists would not address their sermons of secularism to the Islamic countries, where for a Muslim to convert a non-Muslim into Islam is an act blessed by Allah, but for a non-Muslim to convert a Muslim into his religion is a crime calling for the death penalty.
For them, secularism is a virtue which a Hindu should practise towards others, but not others towards him.
It is Modi's rejection of this hypocrisy of the self-styled secularists, which makes him stand apart as a Hindu leader with a difference in the eyes of his admirers. Bharathiyar, the Tamil poet who inspired millions of Tamil youth to join the independence struggle under Mahatma Gandhi, wrote: Tamizhanenru Chollada, Talai Nimirndhu Nillada (Say You Are a Tamil, Hold Your Head High).
The growing legion of Modi's admirers in the Hindu community all over the world are saying: Hindu Enru Chollada, Talai Nimirndu Nillada (Say You Are A Hindu, Hold Your Head High).
They are no longer prepared to be defensive in proclaiming their Hindu idenity, in asserting their rights as Hindus. They are secular in the genuine sense of the word, but for them secularism does not mean developing a guilt complex about being a Hindu and all the time conceding the rights of others. They do not accept the argument that a Hindu, who asserts his rights, ceases to be a secularist.
Maut ka Saudagar', 'Liar', 'the Ugly Indian' etc etc etc.All the kind of epithets, the likes of which till now used to come easily out of President George Bush's mouth and the pens of his neo conservative supporters.
Mr Bush should be worried that he has now a growing number of competitors in the coining of demonising epithets in the community of the self-styled secularists of India.
What epithets they did not use against Narendra Modi for the last five years and particularly in the weeks before the election to the Gujarat legislative assembly, in which the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party won a spectacular victory despite the best (or worst) efforts of these self-styled secularists to demonise him day in and day out! The pathological dislike -- even hatred -- that some of our journalists -- particularly in the electronic media -- have for Modi could be seen or sensed as one watched the television coverage of the counting of votes on December 23.
Initially, as it appeared that the BJP might not do well in the final tally, there was excitement among many television anchors. They thought they had tasted blood. After an hour, the BJP candidates started racing ahead and it became clear the the Congress was in for a drubbing.
The disappointment on the faces of some of the anchors was to be seen to be believed. A star lady anchor could not help remarking: 'Modi might be able to win the elections in Gujarat, but he still can't get a visa to go to the US and other Western countries.' Some consolation!
Instead of spending their time searching for abusive expressions in the dictionary and in their copy-book of such expressions, if these self-styled secularists had only visited the Web sites, discussion groups and blogspots of members of the Hindu community not only in India, but also in other countries of the world -- particularly in the US -- they would have noticed something, which might have given them cause for introspection. They would have noticed that Modi is becoming the icon of a growing number of Hindus not only in India, but also in the Hindu Diaspora spread across the world.
The support for him is not confined only to the Gujarati-speaking Hindus of the world. It is spread right across the Hindu spectrum -- whatever be the language or ethnicity or place of origin of the Hindus concerned.
They would have noticed that in the Hindu Diaspora in the West, more young people admire Modi than grown-ups. Many of his young admirers in the US were born and brought up there and had the benefit of the best of secular education. In spite of this, there is a sense of pride in them that the Hindu community has at long last produced a leader of the calibre of Modi.
What is it they see in him?His simple and austere living of the kind associated with the late Kamaraj of Tamil Nadu, but not seen in the leaders of today?His reputation as an incorruptible politician, the likes of which is not found anywhere in India, not even in his own party?
His style of development-oriented governance, which even his detractors do not hesitate to praise?The fruits of his policy, which Gujarat and its people are already enjoying?His tough stance on terrorism?
His lucid-thinking on matters concerning our national security?His defiance in the face of the greatest campaign of demonisation mounted against him, the likes of which only Indira Gandhi had faced from her political opponents and sections of the media in the 1970s?
All these are factors, which influence their favourable perception of him, and which have already been highlighted and analysed in the articles on his impressive election victory.But there is one factor, which is more important than these and which has not found mention in the analyses.
That is, for large sections of the Hindus -- young and old, even more among the young than among the old -- he gave them a sense of pride in their identity as Hindus.They feel that he removed from their minds long habits of defensiveness as Hindus carefully nurtured by the self-styled secularists. As if to proclaim one's Hindu identity and to assert one's rights as Hindus in their own homeland in which they are in a vast majority (80 per cent of the population) is to be communal, is to become an ugly Indian.
For these self-styled secularists, a pretty Indian is a Hindu, who is all the time on the defensive, fights shy of proclaiming his Hindu personality and asserting his rights as a member of the majority community.
These self-styled secularists would not address their sermons of secularism to the Islamic countries, where for a Muslim to convert a non-Muslim into Islam is an act blessed by Allah, but for a non-Muslim to convert a Muslim into his religion is a crime calling for the death penalty.
For them, secularism is a virtue which a Hindu should practise towards others, but not others towards him.
It is Modi's rejection of this hypocrisy of the self-styled secularists, which makes him stand apart as a Hindu leader with a difference in the eyes of his admirers. Bharathiyar, the Tamil poet who inspired millions of Tamil youth to join the independence struggle under Mahatma Gandhi, wrote: Tamizhanenru Chollada, Talai Nimirndhu Nillada (Say You Are a Tamil, Hold Your Head High).
The growing legion of Modi's admirers in the Hindu community all over the world are saying: Hindu Enru Chollada, Talai Nimirndu Nillada (Say You Are A Hindu, Hold Your Head High).
They are no longer prepared to be defensive in proclaiming their Hindu idenity, in asserting their rights as Hindus. They are secular in the genuine sense of the word, but for them secularism does not mean developing a guilt complex about being a Hindu and all the time conceding the rights of others. They do not accept the argument that a Hindu, who asserts his rights, ceases to be a secularist.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Watch Chanakya On web
Chanakya @ http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Chanakya
1) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4866985958627904403&q=Chanakya
2) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1610598193176594296&q=Chanakya
3) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3598863955372327972&q=Chanakya
Chanakya Speech @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7V0w9u1CsI
5) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5299766967301909169&q=Chanakya
6) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4271495610684319773&q=Chanakya
7) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1618326946398316421&q=Chanakya
8) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2363384995025688933&q=Chanakya
Rashtra Aradhan: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5400627457371871580&q=Chanakya
SPEECH of Chanakya @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7V0w9u1CsI
1) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4866985958627904403&q=Chanakya
2) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1610598193176594296&q=Chanakya
3) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3598863955372327972&q=Chanakya
Chanakya Speech @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7V0w9u1CsI
5) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5299766967301909169&q=Chanakya
6) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4271495610684319773&q=Chanakya
7) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1618326946398316421&q=Chanakya
8) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2363384995025688933&q=Chanakya
Rashtra Aradhan: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5400627457371871580&q=Chanakya
SPEECH of Chanakya @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7V0w9u1CsI
Arise 'O' INDIA By Francois Gautier
ARISE ‘O’ INDIA by Francois Gautier- K. RamakrishanThe author of book ‘Arise O India’,
Francois Gautieris a celebrated French journalist and writer and was the political correspondent in India and South Asiafor ‘Le Figaro’, France’s largest circulatednewspaper. A devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Motherhe lives in Auroville, the city of dawn, theinternational city founded by the Mother. He is anavid observer of happenings in India.
He has published his impressions in leading newspapers and magazines.The book is dedicated ‘To India who gave me so much’contains the author’s 17 thought provoking essays.
In the essay ‘who are Hindus?’ he analysis the originof Hindus and Hinduism and writes; ‘Finally, it isdifficult to understand Hinduism if you do not graspthe concept of Shakti, the divine feminine energy.
Because of the influence of British thought, it isnowadays fashionable in India to always highlight the downtrodden condition of Indian women and itsunderprivileged place in Indian society.
As a result,Western correspondents are always keen to do storieson female infanticides in Bihar, child marriages, orsati cases in Rajasthan. But who knows that no countryin the world has granted such an important place towomen in its spirituality and social ethos? Thus inIndia-and its true that it is often a paradox, as
women, because of later Muslim influences, have oftenbeen relegated to the background-the feminine conceptis a symbol of dynamic realization.
She is the eternalMother, who is all Wisdom, all Compassion, all Force,Beauty and Perfection.’Gautier argues that to understand India and Hinduism,‘one then has to go beyond the cliches of paganism andthe accusations of sects that have been applied toHindus, particularly after the coming of Christianmissionaries to India who had a vested motive to showHinduism in a light....’ He Alexandra David-Neel, theFrench explorer, writer and mystic about theremarkable role that gods play in India: “because theimages or statues are like a battery which is chargedover the ages by the adoration of the devotees, who inturn can draw energy, inspiration, or grace from thesestatues.” She continues “As battery, the energy in thestatue will not get discharged, as long as thefaithful continue to worship it by their cult andadoration.’’ And she concludes: “Gods are thus createdby the energy given out by the faith in theirexistence.”Quoting Sri Aurobindo, Gautier irrefutably places theGenius of Indian politics “There always was a strongdemocratic element in prevalent. -Muslim India, whichcertainly showed a certain similarity with Westernparliamentary forms, but these institutions wereIndian”.
And states ‘It is to be noted that these Indian Republics existed long before the Greek ones,although the world credits the Greeks with havingcreated democracy; but as usual History is recordedthrough the prism of the Western world and is veryselective indeed.
One should also add that none ofthese Indian republics developed an aggressivecolonizing spirit and they were content to defendthemselves and forge alliances amongst them.’The author states that the four masterpieces to embodyIndia’s Genius in literature are the Vedas, theUpanishads, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharatha.
Describing the Bhagawad Gita as ‘the supreme work ofspiritual revelation in the whole history of our humanplanet, fir it is the most comprehensive, the mostrevealing the highest in its intuitive reach, hewrites, ‘no religious book ever succeeded to saynearly everything that needs to be known on themystries of human life: why death, why life, whysuffering” why fighting? Why duty?’In the essay ‘Islam and the Muslim Invasions”, Gautierraises pertinent questions such as:
What is the Geniusof Islam?
What is the strength of Islam?
Why did Islamcrush Hinduism so mercilessly?
The limitation ofIslam, etc.
He cites two reasons for the decline ofIndian civilization; ‘the foremost is that in India,spirit failed matter.
At some point her yogis startedwithdrawing more and more in their caves, Her gurus intheir ashrams. Her sannyasins in their forests.
Thusslowly great tams overtook matter, an immensenegligence towards the material, an intense inertiaset in, which allowed for the gradual degradation ofthe physical, a slackening of the down to earthvalues, an indifference towards the worldly, which inturn permitted successive invasions, from Alexander tothe Muslim and finally the European, the repe of theland of the Vedas.
‘The second reason and the one which has been mostcommonly invoked, including by Muslim apologistsbecause it is so obvious, is the fossilization of thecaste system and the gradual take over of India by anarrogant Brahmin and Kshatriya society.’
About the Muslim invasions of India he categoricallystates ‘Let it be said right away: the massacresperpetuated by Muslims in India are unparalleled inhistory, bigger than the Holocaust of the Jews by theNazis; or the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks;more extensive even than the slaughter of the SouthAmerican native population by the invading Spanish andPortuguese.’Quoting American Historian Will Durant, Gautier sumsup the incredible damage done to Indian culture,civilization, human population and environment duringthe Muslim invasions which spanned nearly tencenturies:
“The Islamic conquest of India is probablythe bloodiest story in History. It is a discouragingtale, for its evident moral is that civilization is aprecious good, whose delicate complex order andfreedom can at any moment be overthrown barbariansinvading from wothout and muliplying within”However these atrocities were ‘negated’ in a thousand ways: ‘gross, clever, outrageous, subtle so that inthe end, the minds of people are so confused and muddled, that nobody knows anymore where the truth is.’ What is Negtionism? ‘Negationism means that this whole aspect of Indian History has been totally erased not only from text books, but also from the memory,from the consciousness of Indian people.’
He argues.He wonders how Hinduism has survived the onslaught of Muslim savagery: ‘it shows how deep was her faith, how profound her karma, how deeply ingrained her soul inthe hearts of her faithfuls.
The seeds planted by theMoghuls, by Babar, Mahmud, or Aurangzeb, have matured:the 125 million Indian Muslims of today have forgottenthat they were once peaceful, loving Hindus, forciblyconverted to a religion they hated. And they sometimestake-up as theirs a cry of fanaticism which is totallyalien to their culture.’About the E uropean invasions, particularly that ofthe Missionaries, the author states, ‘Thesemissionaries indeed poisoned the minds of the peoplethey converted, making them hate their own religion,their own country sometimes, cutting the from theirown cultural roots’..........’Everywhere theChristians went, they stamped mercilessly on cultures,eradicated centuries old ways of life of the peoplethey conquered.
They were thus able to radically altercivilizations, change their patterns of thinking. Andthree generations later the children of those who hadbeen conquered, ahd forgotten their roots, adaptedChristianity and often looked upon their conquerors astheir benefactors’.Analyzing the Indian Independence movement, the authorwrites ‘Hinduism, true Hinduism was for Sri Aurobindothe basis for India’s and greatness, it was also theessence of nationaliam, the MEANS of liberating Indiaand ultimately the foundation of the future if India.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the Indian NationalCongress did not have the same vision.’ AboutGandhiji, he says ‘ultimately, it must be said thatwhatever his saintliness, his extreme and somehowgijid asceticism, Gandhi did enormous harm to Indiaand this harm has two the European element in his lifeand his Non-violence was the greatest violence to hisown body.
‘In true Christian fashion he punished hisbody to back mail others.’In the essay ‘India Today’ the author quotes SriAurobindo “India of the ages is not dead nor has Shespoken Her last creative word. And that which She mustseek now to awake, is not an anglicised orientalpeople, docile pupil of the west and doomed to repeatthe cycle of the Occident’s success and failure, butstill the ancient immemorial Shakti recovering Herdeepest self, lifting Her head higher towards thesupreme source of light and strength and turning todiscover the complete meaning and vaster for of HerDharma.” and hopes that BJP will help fulfill theprophecy of the great Maharshi.Elaborating the dangers facing India today,
Gautierwrites that India’s upper-class the cream of thisnation appear to enjoy Indeia-bashing “Theirparameters appear to be set by what the West thinksabout India, by amnesty International’s comments ontheir nation. They want to apply to India the samenorms, which are used in the Industrialised world.
And extraordinarily, many of India’s elite ridicule whatmakes this country unique in the world, what no othernation in the world possesses; Dharma, true Hinduism;the knowledge passed down by thousands of sages,saints, yogis, sadhus of the Eternal Truth, that whichpassed down by thousanda of sages, saints yogis,sadhus of the Eternal Truth, that which gives meaningto this otherwise senseless life and which the
Westhas totally lost: the Wheel of life, the endless rebirths and ultimately the evolutionary Ascension ofman towards the Ultimate Truth.’The author foresees India emerging as a spiritualleader of the world. In the 17 essays the reader hasbeen taken through all the ‘dangers, threats,aggressions, pitfalls, perils, mistakes, that the landof Bharatha went through in the aftermath of theglorious Vedic epoch.’The author appreciates the role of Hinduism, purely because of his conviction that it offers somethingeternal which no other religion can. He is, t the sametime quite critical of its current plight and exhorts Hindus to awaken and realize the glory their Motherland.Through these essays, the reader has been harpedconstantly of the fact that the Gratness that WASIndia is not something of the past, that India’sSanathana Dharma, her boundless reserves ofspirituality are infact, ready to manifest themselvesagain.‘India has to wake up to Her destiny, recoup herspiritualized outlook. stop looking at Herself and atthe world through the Western prism of understanding,which is an artificial view, out of touch with theinner reality and which has been imposed to India byits colonizers for three centuries.’ That is the finaldeam of Francois Gautier.He has done a great service to Bharat Mata through hiswritings, which deserve serious study.--
------------------------------------------------http://www.haindavakeralam.org/HKProcess.aspx?MODULE=HA&RID=39
Unite; believe you are blessed and Hindu Bipin Balakrishnan Thousands of names, idols and traditions Still deep in heart your prayers are unitedYour soul, convivial and purged of hatred O’ tolerant being you are blessed and Hindu!Your epics depict wars of truth and dharmaAnd define the meaning of earthly existenceYour Vedas guide with knowledge of ages Illuminate gloomy souls of ignorant beings My pen could never rest if on you I writeFor there you stay in this globe’s historyBut where are you? Lost in clueless world-Of mortal beliefs and selling your heritageYour glorified tolerance is now a weaknessAnd had paid enough to all those intrudersHave you not yet learned from those wounds?Deep and bleeding; on your mother’s heart They all had their fortune, your conquerorsMissionaries, comrades and now terroristsAnd for few silver coins you sold your faithWhen you could join hands and unite for good But not anymore, if you can hear these linesAnd feel your mother’s fading but sweet callChant those mantras that bond shivering handsUnite and believe you are blessed and Hindu
Francois Gautieris a celebrated French journalist and writer and was the political correspondent in India and South Asiafor ‘Le Figaro’, France’s largest circulatednewspaper. A devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Motherhe lives in Auroville, the city of dawn, theinternational city founded by the Mother. He is anavid observer of happenings in India.
He has published his impressions in leading newspapers and magazines.The book is dedicated ‘To India who gave me so much’contains the author’s 17 thought provoking essays.
In the essay ‘who are Hindus?’ he analysis the originof Hindus and Hinduism and writes; ‘Finally, it isdifficult to understand Hinduism if you do not graspthe concept of Shakti, the divine feminine energy.
Because of the influence of British thought, it isnowadays fashionable in India to always highlight the downtrodden condition of Indian women and itsunderprivileged place in Indian society.
As a result,Western correspondents are always keen to do storieson female infanticides in Bihar, child marriages, orsati cases in Rajasthan. But who knows that no countryin the world has granted such an important place towomen in its spirituality and social ethos? Thus inIndia-and its true that it is often a paradox, as
women, because of later Muslim influences, have oftenbeen relegated to the background-the feminine conceptis a symbol of dynamic realization.
She is the eternalMother, who is all Wisdom, all Compassion, all Force,Beauty and Perfection.’Gautier argues that to understand India and Hinduism,‘one then has to go beyond the cliches of paganism andthe accusations of sects that have been applied toHindus, particularly after the coming of Christianmissionaries to India who had a vested motive to showHinduism in a light....’ He Alexandra David-Neel, theFrench explorer, writer and mystic about theremarkable role that gods play in India: “because theimages or statues are like a battery which is chargedover the ages by the adoration of the devotees, who inturn can draw energy, inspiration, or grace from thesestatues.” She continues “As battery, the energy in thestatue will not get discharged, as long as thefaithful continue to worship it by their cult andadoration.’’ And she concludes: “Gods are thus createdby the energy given out by the faith in theirexistence.”Quoting Sri Aurobindo, Gautier irrefutably places theGenius of Indian politics “There always was a strongdemocratic element in prevalent. -Muslim India, whichcertainly showed a certain similarity with Westernparliamentary forms, but these institutions wereIndian”.
And states ‘It is to be noted that these Indian Republics existed long before the Greek ones,although the world credits the Greeks with havingcreated democracy; but as usual History is recordedthrough the prism of the Western world and is veryselective indeed.
One should also add that none ofthese Indian republics developed an aggressivecolonizing spirit and they were content to defendthemselves and forge alliances amongst them.’The author states that the four masterpieces to embodyIndia’s Genius in literature are the Vedas, theUpanishads, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharatha.
Describing the Bhagawad Gita as ‘the supreme work ofspiritual revelation in the whole history of our humanplanet, fir it is the most comprehensive, the mostrevealing the highest in its intuitive reach, hewrites, ‘no religious book ever succeeded to saynearly everything that needs to be known on themystries of human life: why death, why life, whysuffering” why fighting? Why duty?’In the essay ‘Islam and the Muslim Invasions”, Gautierraises pertinent questions such as:
What is the Geniusof Islam?
What is the strength of Islam?
Why did Islamcrush Hinduism so mercilessly?
The limitation ofIslam, etc.
He cites two reasons for the decline ofIndian civilization; ‘the foremost is that in India,spirit failed matter.
At some point her yogis startedwithdrawing more and more in their caves, Her gurus intheir ashrams. Her sannyasins in their forests.
Thusslowly great tams overtook matter, an immensenegligence towards the material, an intense inertiaset in, which allowed for the gradual degradation ofthe physical, a slackening of the down to earthvalues, an indifference towards the worldly, which inturn permitted successive invasions, from Alexander tothe Muslim and finally the European, the repe of theland of the Vedas.
‘The second reason and the one which has been mostcommonly invoked, including by Muslim apologistsbecause it is so obvious, is the fossilization of thecaste system and the gradual take over of India by anarrogant Brahmin and Kshatriya society.’
About the Muslim invasions of India he categoricallystates ‘Let it be said right away: the massacresperpetuated by Muslims in India are unparalleled inhistory, bigger than the Holocaust of the Jews by theNazis; or the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks;more extensive even than the slaughter of the SouthAmerican native population by the invading Spanish andPortuguese.’Quoting American Historian Will Durant, Gautier sumsup the incredible damage done to Indian culture,civilization, human population and environment duringthe Muslim invasions which spanned nearly tencenturies:
“The Islamic conquest of India is probablythe bloodiest story in History. It is a discouragingtale, for its evident moral is that civilization is aprecious good, whose delicate complex order andfreedom can at any moment be overthrown barbariansinvading from wothout and muliplying within”However these atrocities were ‘negated’ in a thousand ways: ‘gross, clever, outrageous, subtle so that inthe end, the minds of people are so confused and muddled, that nobody knows anymore where the truth is.’ What is Negtionism? ‘Negationism means that this whole aspect of Indian History has been totally erased not only from text books, but also from the memory,from the consciousness of Indian people.’
He argues.He wonders how Hinduism has survived the onslaught of Muslim savagery: ‘it shows how deep was her faith, how profound her karma, how deeply ingrained her soul inthe hearts of her faithfuls.
The seeds planted by theMoghuls, by Babar, Mahmud, or Aurangzeb, have matured:the 125 million Indian Muslims of today have forgottenthat they were once peaceful, loving Hindus, forciblyconverted to a religion they hated. And they sometimestake-up as theirs a cry of fanaticism which is totallyalien to their culture.’About the E uropean invasions, particularly that ofthe Missionaries, the author states, ‘Thesemissionaries indeed poisoned the minds of the peoplethey converted, making them hate their own religion,their own country sometimes, cutting the from theirown cultural roots’..........’Everywhere theChristians went, they stamped mercilessly on cultures,eradicated centuries old ways of life of the peoplethey conquered.
They were thus able to radically altercivilizations, change their patterns of thinking. Andthree generations later the children of those who hadbeen conquered, ahd forgotten their roots, adaptedChristianity and often looked upon their conquerors astheir benefactors’.Analyzing the Indian Independence movement, the authorwrites ‘Hinduism, true Hinduism was for Sri Aurobindothe basis for India’s and greatness, it was also theessence of nationaliam, the MEANS of liberating Indiaand ultimately the foundation of the future if India.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the Indian NationalCongress did not have the same vision.’ AboutGandhiji, he says ‘ultimately, it must be said thatwhatever his saintliness, his extreme and somehowgijid asceticism, Gandhi did enormous harm to Indiaand this harm has two the European element in his lifeand his Non-violence was the greatest violence to hisown body.
‘In true Christian fashion he punished hisbody to back mail others.’In the essay ‘India Today’ the author quotes SriAurobindo “India of the ages is not dead nor has Shespoken Her last creative word. And that which She mustseek now to awake, is not an anglicised orientalpeople, docile pupil of the west and doomed to repeatthe cycle of the Occident’s success and failure, butstill the ancient immemorial Shakti recovering Herdeepest self, lifting Her head higher towards thesupreme source of light and strength and turning todiscover the complete meaning and vaster for of HerDharma.” and hopes that BJP will help fulfill theprophecy of the great Maharshi.Elaborating the dangers facing India today,
Gautierwrites that India’s upper-class the cream of thisnation appear to enjoy Indeia-bashing “Theirparameters appear to be set by what the West thinksabout India, by amnesty International’s comments ontheir nation. They want to apply to India the samenorms, which are used in the Industrialised world.
And extraordinarily, many of India’s elite ridicule whatmakes this country unique in the world, what no othernation in the world possesses; Dharma, true Hinduism;the knowledge passed down by thousands of sages,saints, yogis, sadhus of the Eternal Truth, that whichpassed down by thousanda of sages, saints yogis,sadhus of the Eternal Truth, that which gives meaningto this otherwise senseless life and which the
Westhas totally lost: the Wheel of life, the endless rebirths and ultimately the evolutionary Ascension ofman towards the Ultimate Truth.’The author foresees India emerging as a spiritualleader of the world. In the 17 essays the reader hasbeen taken through all the ‘dangers, threats,aggressions, pitfalls, perils, mistakes, that the landof Bharatha went through in the aftermath of theglorious Vedic epoch.’The author appreciates the role of Hinduism, purely because of his conviction that it offers somethingeternal which no other religion can. He is, t the sametime quite critical of its current plight and exhorts Hindus to awaken and realize the glory their Motherland.Through these essays, the reader has been harpedconstantly of the fact that the Gratness that WASIndia is not something of the past, that India’sSanathana Dharma, her boundless reserves ofspirituality are infact, ready to manifest themselvesagain.‘India has to wake up to Her destiny, recoup herspiritualized outlook. stop looking at Herself and atthe world through the Western prism of understanding,which is an artificial view, out of touch with theinner reality and which has been imposed to India byits colonizers for three centuries.’ That is the finaldeam of Francois Gautier.He has done a great service to Bharat Mata through hiswritings, which deserve serious study.--
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Unite; believe you are blessed and Hindu Bipin Balakrishnan Thousands of names, idols and traditions Still deep in heart your prayers are unitedYour soul, convivial and purged of hatred O’ tolerant being you are blessed and Hindu!Your epics depict wars of truth and dharmaAnd define the meaning of earthly existenceYour Vedas guide with knowledge of ages Illuminate gloomy souls of ignorant beings My pen could never rest if on you I writeFor there you stay in this globe’s historyBut where are you? Lost in clueless world-Of mortal beliefs and selling your heritageYour glorified tolerance is now a weaknessAnd had paid enough to all those intrudersHave you not yet learned from those wounds?Deep and bleeding; on your mother’s heart They all had their fortune, your conquerorsMissionaries, comrades and now terroristsAnd for few silver coins you sold your faithWhen you could join hands and unite for good But not anymore, if you can hear these linesAnd feel your mother’s fading but sweet callChant those mantras that bond shivering handsUnite and believe you are blessed and Hindu
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