Ram Sethu ..Dr Subramanian Swamy

Rama Setu: 'rational' DMK should abandon Setu Channel, set up Marine Economic Zone and coastal Railway lines in Tamilnadu – Dr. Subramanian Swamy

The tenor of speeches and the resolutions passed in the recent youth convention of the DMK at Tirunelveli, and which was attended by the DMK Chief and TNCM Mr. Karunanidhi, exhibits impotent anger and deep frustration of the DMK in not been able to get implemented the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP). The project is stalled because it calls for cutting a canal of 300 metres wide through the Rama Setu. On my petition, the Supreme Court has granted an injunction to prevent any damage to the Setu.


The DMK has been for the first time frustrated from doing what it wants. The party has always thought that if it is in power in the State and a coalition partner in the Centre then they can get anything implemented of their choice.

Unfortunately this time the DMK has failed because they went against Bhagwan Sri Rama. Earlier attempts to secretly break the Setu by dredger came to naught because the dredger itself broke instead of the Setu.

It is a bogus claim of the DMK that the SSCP will benefit the coastal residents of Tamil Nadu. On the contrary, 500,000 fishermen and their families will become unemployed if the SSCP is implemented.

• 
  The coastal regions of the State can be better benefited if we build a broad-gauge double railway line from Tuticorin Port along the Coast all the way to Chennai, thereby connecting to Kolkata. The Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait should be declared a Marine Economic Zone, and developed as a fishing industry.
• 
  The Rama Setu should be declared as a pilgrim centre and enable Hindus from all over India including from the DMK to come with facility to the area. Recently, DMK's Information Minister P. Illamvazuthi, a Dalit, quietly left the Tirunelveli DMK convention and with his wife, went to Rameshwaram to pray to Shiva and Lord Rama to forgive him for his party's demand to demolish the Rama Setu.

If Karunanidhi cannot bring 'rationality' in his own party, how can he expect the Tamils not to worship Lord Rama and the Rama Setu?

It is time for Mr. Karunanidhi to realize that his brand of Dravidian politics has failed. Tamil Nadu is largely of Hindu-minded people, and while other religious minorities live in harmony. Hence rationalism of the DK variety to which Karunanidhi claims legacy, has no future in the State. Time now for him to go into retirement.

Source: December 18, 2007, Statement of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party __._,_.___

Can Muslims become Secular..

Can Muslims become more secular?

Author: T Thomas Publication: Business Standard Date: April 26, 2002 Introduction:

In a secular country, there should be no special laws based on religion.

What was happened in Gujarat has once again brought into bold relief he two unfortunate characteristics of India society. Firstly there is the latent but strong anti-Muslim feeling among Hindus in several parts of this country. It erupts into cruel violence from time to time in several states. The antipathy towards Muslim is shared even by other minorities, like Christians and Sikhs. Secondly the Gujarat incidents and the reactions to them show how isolated the Muslim community has become.

There has been no rush of voluntary agencies to go to the aid of the Muslim victims of genocide in contrast to the response to last year's earthquake.

The purpose of this article is to examine with sympathy the steps the Muslim community can take to change the national perception about itself. My views are based on my experience as a member of another minority (Christian) community.

The first steps is to put an end to the separation of Muslim children from children of other communities while in school Muslims should ensure that their children go to school with children from other religious groups. That is where we all get to know about the beliefs and practices of other religious group. It is through the friendship we make in school and college, and through teacher of other faith whom we respect, that we begin to understand and respect the beliefs and practices of other groups.

It does not mean that Muslim children should not learn the Koran. These can be taught in a special class for Muslim children either in the school itself or in the mosques.

It will be like the scripture or moral science lessons in Christian school. It is not a compulsory subject but in many Christian school Hindu children join such classes out of intellectual curiosity. As a matter of fact, the scripture prize in Cathedral school in Mumbai is often won by Hindu students!

Muslims should consider opening up their School for the general education of children from all communities, and restrict classes on Islamic subjects as an optional item.

This change in the conduct of Islamic schools will go a long way to integrate the community.

Another useful step will be for Muslims charities to establish charitable hospitals accessible to members of all communities.

They present a face of compassion to the community in general. Rich Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia should be told by Indian Muslim leaders to direct their funds to building such hospitals rather than building more opulent mosques in India.

In fact the building of such affluent mosques in poor Muslim mohallas and fitting them with elaborate loudspeakers that blare out at odd times of the day and night are a source of irritation to many non-Muslim neighbours.

Islamic funds from abroad can be more usefully directed to less obstructive use.

A third step will be for Muslims to adopt in their business and professional life a dress code that does not mark them out as being different from the rest.

Is it really necessary for men to have a beard or wear caps and long shirts or for women to wear a burqa or head scarf to show that they are Muslims?


These dress and appearance codes were at one time probably appropriate for people who lived in the Arabian peninsula and in a community where women had to hide their form for their own safety.

Beards as a symbol of religious identity also belong to that era.

Is it relevant today in this country? Equally, is it not necessary for a Christian to wear a cross so prominently that everyone can recognise him as Christian, or for a south Indian Brahmin to wear a caste mark on his forehead to proclaim that he is a Vaishnavite or a Shaivite.

One could argue that Sikhs are recognisable by their turbans and that they do not face the same hostility and isolation as Muslims.

This may be because 1. Sikhs are much more integrated in many other ways with the rest of the community and 2. They are a much smaller community whose presence is mainly in and around Punjab.

A fourth step will be to disabuse the rest of the India that imams and mullahs do not represent or speak for the Hindus or Christians of this country.

There should be cadre of secular leader who will represent their views along with views of other communities.

• Namaaz several times during the day is another habit which sets Muslims Apart, and can prove to be an irritant where office team work is involved.

Can Muslims not offer their prayers briefly in silence without having to interfere with the activities of their team mates?

Flights to Mecca with concessional fares for Muslim pilgrims going on Haj is an irritant to others who do not obtain such concessions to go to Mansarovar or Tirupathi or Bethlehem.

• It may be advisable for Muslims voluntarily to give up this discriminatory privilege.

Let the intending pilgrims save and pay their way as others do for their pilgrimage.

• Another major step will be the voluntary adoption of the uniform civil code by Muslims, while at the same time campaigning for the abolition of special laws for other communities- like the Hindu Undivided Family provisions, or the Christian Marriage Act.

• If we are truly a secular country there should be no place for such special laws based on religious divisions.

The perpetuation of such laws will only lead to communal divisiveness.

What we need is the freedom to practice each one' s religion in a peaceful manner that does not interfere with other communities.

Since that is guaranteed under our constitution, what is the need for civil laws that perpetuate divisions along religious lines?

• Muslim women need to organise themselves more forcefully to demand greater freedom in their personal lives. Women are the best instruments for reforming any community because of their innate ability to influence children, husbands, brothers and parents. Leading activist among Muslim women should try and focus on this issue within their own community.

Lastly there is the question of religious conversions, which applies to Muslims as well as Christians. It is resented by Hindus because of the fear of being diminished in numbers. I believe it is wrong for any religious group, either through compulsion or through inducements.

• Christ was born a Jew and died a Jew. In fact he never founded a religion called Christianity. This was created by his disciples well after his death. He never asked anyone to convert his fellows Jews to Christianity. Coming nearer home, Mother Teresa never converted anyone; she merely set an example for others to follow.

I am Christian through accident of birth, not out of choice or after studying all available options. I am sure this applies to most of us - whether we are Hindus, Muslims or Christians. Once we recognise and accept this fact, viz that we belong to particular religious group (just as we belong to a particular racial group) purely by accident of birth, then our ability to tolerate others from a different religious affiliation will be much greater.

The majority Hindu community cannot wish away or even suppress 130 million Muslims. If they try to do so they will create domestic Al-Qaedas. Nor can the Muslims live forever as an embattled community that isolates itself through its superficial symbols of education, mode of worship and appearance - all of which have nothing to do with one's innate beliefs.

• With enlightened secular leadership these communities can exist peacefully. And that is essential for the progress and longer term prosperity of our country.

Hilarious Media will you TRUST them

http://secularindia.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/%20hilarious-media-articles-on-gujarat-elections/
Hilarious Media Articles on Gujarat Elections
Assembled here are a collection of articles from the mainstream media for your reading pleasure.
Some are plain mischievious, while others are devious, and a few genuinely erroneous.
All the same in retrospect they are all hilarious, especially the "profound insights" of the political analysts such as Praful Bidwai and (clueless) poll pundits like Yogendra Yadav and team. One cannot help feeling that these folks' analysis are heavily clouded by their sickular prejudices and arrogance which prevents them from grasping a basic understanding the voters' mind.

Opinion PiecesCongress speaksPolls/Satta/Media Analysis
Opinion Pieces

This one takes the cake – Modi's modus operandi failing in Gujarat — Praful Bidwai, (Indian journalist, political analyst, and activist!!??!), Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates - Dec 14, 2007
"IS THE tide turning in Gujarat? A month ago, most Gujarat politicians, social scientists, activists, bureaucrats, and citizens agreed on the dead certainty of the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the Assembly election - but with a smaller margin.

Today, they say, the BJP could lose - despite the Congress's timid campaign. The Congress skirted issues concerning the 2002 violence, didn't take on the BJP's "Glorious Gujarat" slogan, or gather the nerve to field more than half-a-dozen Muslims in a state where 20 Muslim MLAs used to get elected. But it might still get catapulted into power .

All exit polls after the first-phase voting in 87 constituencies (of a total of 182) forecast a vote-swing away from the BJP. NDTV forecasts a loss of 13 seats for the BJP, placing it behind the Congress. Such a defeat will be a seismic shock for the BJP and a historic setback for the Sangh Parivar. LK Advani's laughable anointment as the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate will only aggravate the shock. Even the party's assessment is reportedly that it's sure to win only 63 seats; and optimistically, another 15. The BJP is clearly on a downswing in Gujarat.. "


Modi's moment of truth Yogendra Yadav (political scientist and pollster) Eminent psephologist (??!!), Indian Express, India - Dec 9, 2007"Democracy is taking revenge on Narendra Modi. This election may well be the long deferred moment of truth for the man who invoked popular mandate to bypass norms, laws or the Constitution. We cannot yet say that he will lose this election. But a journey through Saurashtra is enough to suggest that the BJP is losing ground in this crucial region. "

Why Modi must go
Shiv Visvanathan (The writer is a social scientist currently based in Ahmedabad) The message is simple. Narendra Modi must go. He is bad for BJP, bad for democracy, bad for Gujarat..

Congress Speaks
Sonia's gloves off: 'Gujarat run by liars, peddlers of religion and death… Indian Express, India - Dec 1, 2007 "Sachchayee yeh hai ki aj Gujarat ki sarkar chalane wale jhoothe, beimaan aur dharm aur maut ke saudagar hain"

Cong confident, rejects exit poll predictions Hindustan Times, India - Dec 17, 2007 Exit polls giving the BJP an edge in Gujarat have been dismissed by the Congress. The party exuded confidence of raising its tally substantially and even

Congress claims to win 110 seats in GujaratNDTV.com , India - Dec 15, 2007"After finishing campaign in towns, villages and streets of Gujarat, we feel that Congress will get about 110 seats in the elections", Gujarat Pradesh

If we win we will book Modi: CongNDTV.com, India - Dec 2, 2007The Congress party on Sunday said it would not hesitate in taking action against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra.

Get rid of double-faced Govt, says Sonia Hindustan Times, India - Dec 4, 2007 Maganbhai Patel from Mandvi was confident that the success of the rally proves that the Congress would win all six Assembly seats in Kutch

Fear in Gujarat dangerous for country: PMNDTV.com, India - Dec 7, 2007Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked about fear in Gujarat and minced no words as he took on Chief Minister Narendra Modi in his own turf

PM says no rule of law in Gujarat Hindustan Times, India - Dec 7, 2007 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed his first election rallies in Gujarat on Friday, lashing out at the BJP government for subverting the rule of law

Sibal says Modi is anti-development and anti-Gujarat TopNews, India - Dec 8, 2007 Sibal described Modi as anti-development, anti-Gujarat, anti-people and the man in whose name and at whose behest most of the fake encounters in the state had taken place.

In Gujarat, if you are not with CM, God save you: ManmohanTimes of India, India - Dec 7, 2007RAJKOT/SURAT: Coming down heavily on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was keeping people in the dark by talking

Rahul Gandhi attracts huge crowds in his road show in Gujarat Gujarat Global.com, India - Dec 9, 2007 If crowd is any criteria to judge the success of an event, maiden road show of young Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in diamond city Surat was a great

Modi Govt a regime of 'falsehood': Rahul Gandhi Hindustan Times, India - Dec 9, 2007 Santosh K Joy, PTI Joining the election campaign in Gujarat for the first time, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday termed the Narendra Modi government as
Polls/Satta/Media Analysis

Satta rates show Modi slipping Times of India, India - Nov 25, 2007 AHMEDABAD: Forget opinion polls, which are giving a clear majority to the Narendra Modi-led BJP in Gujarat elections

Satta bazaar trashes Modi, swings in favour of CongCNN-IBN, India - Dec 21, 2007In a dramatic last-day swing in the satta bazar, bookies there have swung suddenly against Narendra Modi. In fact 24 hours before the vote count, they now give Congress the edge over Modi in the race for power.

In what is seen as a dip in confidence on the BJP in the satta market, the bookies now say there is a positive vote swing towards the Congress. It is, however, not clear if this vote swing will be enough for the Congress to come to power.

Psephologists not sure if Modi in indeed winning – *****must read*** The results of the CNN-IBN-Indian Express-Divya Bhaskar-CSDS Exit poll on Gujarat Assembly Elections are out. Eminent psephologist (" the man who has seen it all"), Yogendra Yadav led the CSDS team which carried out the post-poll survey.

Yogendra Yadav: I would still wait for 23rd to be sure if Mr Modi is indeed winning the elections. The consensus of exit polls is still not the actual outcome.

Modi will scrape through in Gujarat, surveys predict KalingaTimes, India - Dec 16, 2007According to a survey conducted by the TV channel NDTV 24×7, the BJP was set to win 90 to 110 seats, while the Congress was tipped to win between 70 and 95

First round cause for Modi to worryTimes of India, India - Dec 14, 2007 NEW DELHI: The exit polls done for the first phase of elections in Gujarat seem to suggest that BJP will at worst win 13 seats fewer in this phase

Exit polls predict BJP setback in Phase 1 Hindustan Times, India - Dec 11, 2007 Up to 60 per cent of the registered voters turned out to stamp their choice in the first phase of assembly polls in Gujarat on

Punters root for a coalition in Gujarat Times of India, India - Dec 3, 2007 The successful public meetings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Saurashtra and south Gujarat is what is said to have brought about

The Modi poll mystery Economic Times, India - Dec 10, 2007 Political observers are going only so far as to say Modi might win by a vastly reduced majority this time. It is this paradox which make

Why good turnout in polls is bad news for Modi —- Experts give their pseudo views. Must read CNN-IBN, India - Dec 11, 2007"So is Saurashtra going to be the region where Modi meets the big defeat? "

"It's possible. There is a big shift from the BJP stronghold in the region in 1998. From the 56 seats the part won out of 58, it could now go down to even 28-29 seats. Reports now suggest from the ground, that the Kolis, who have come in big numbers to vote, could be an important factor in determining the result. The Saurashtra Kolis are angry and rebellious and that could hurt Modi. The Patels, who have also come out in large numbers, however, seem to be staying with Modi," said Rajdeep Sardesai.

BJP worried over poor turnout at poll ralliesKhaleej Times, United Arab Emirates - Dec 2, 2007By Mahesh Trivedi ( Our correspondent)

Stunned by poor turnout at public meetings of even bigwigs like BJP leader L.K. Advani, the 51-member election coordination committee of the BJP went into a huddle yesterday to discuss urgent steps to attract crowds. While a powerful orator like Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has been addressing three rallies daily, has also failed to draw a wall-to-wall audience, television stars like Smriti Irani who toured Saurashtra yesterday, could rope in only 200 people. As one frustrated BJP leader told Khaleej Times, for the past five years, Modi has used the government machinery and sops to ensure jampacked meetings, giving no chance to the partymen to show their crowd-organising skills with the result that the saffronites have turned lethargic. In sharp contrast to the lukewarm response at BJP leaders' speeches, each of Sonia Gandhi's rallies on Saturday, were a sell-out.

IBNlive Chat: Gujarat Elections 2007, beyond ModiCNN-IBN, India - Dec 10, 2007As Gujarat heads towards polls, CNN-IBN's Political Editor Bhupendra Chaubey answers questions on everything you wanted to know about Gujarat Assembly Elections 2007 in a live chat on IBNLive. Here is the full transcript of the chat:

Bhupendra Chaubey: It's a million dollar question. Honestly I think he is on a weak wicket. The only thing that can really take him past the post is a solid turnout. But how will that happen, given the fact that his own party is against him?

Bhavesh L Kookani Do you honestly think that IBN has been objective in its Gujarat poll coverage? Isn't there an obvious anti-Modi/pro-Congress flavour in the reporting?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Not at all Bhavesh, in fact on the contrary I feel that we have been the only network which has dared to show the actual reality of Gujarat. The reality is that the situation on the ground for an ordinary Gujarati is much better. We have tried to move away from the horror of 2002 and talk about the Gujarat that's supposed to be a vibrant Gujarat in 2007.

Interesting Snippet – on Rajdeep Sardesai/ CNN IBN
"The English news channels are now obsessed with the Gujarat election. On CNN-IBN they are mindful of the fact that Rajdeep Sardesai made his reputation by trashing Narendra Modi during the Gujarat riots. So the coverage is curiously sympathetic to the BJP, presumably in an effort to demonstrate 'objectivity'. Times Now has the advantage of the relative anonymity of its anchors and so there's less baggage to contend with"

Must read Interview: Compare and ContrastBlast for the Past Gujarat Elections 2002 – The Rediff Interview Achyut Yagnik, " I don't see Hindutva upsurge" Yagnik, who met Senior Editor Sheela Bhatt in Ahmedabad, says there is no Hindutva wave in the state. What is the ground reality in Gujarat? Except in central Gujarat and some part of north Gujarat, I don't find any Hindutva upsurge. In Saurashtra and Kutch, people are not talking about Hindutva. Of course, in urban areas you will find people talking about it. In Surat, the second largest city in Gujarat, you will find many people talking anti-Muslim Full article:
http://www.rediff.com/election/2002/dec/04inter.htm

Here he completely contradicts himself:

"Last time there was a wave. There was the emotive issue of Hindutva. Hindu organisations were out on the streets working for the victory of Modi. This time there was no wave. The voter has been quiet about his preference," Yagnik said.
BEST PIECE OF ADVICE

One Birju gives to Yadav, but it is applicable to all these pseudo-sec quacks masquerading as experts.

Birju: Yogendra, your tribe tried hard to project Modiji as losing the election, and now when polling is finally over, you have now knit up stories about how it is Modiji's win and not BJP's. You never adopted these lines for other parties, which are Maino or Maya or Mulayam-centric. Your shady role in NCERT syllabus is another proof of your utter bias and double talk. Why don't you seek retirement from your pseudo talk?
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/psephologists-not-sure-if-modi-is-indeed-winning/54566-3.html
http://www.secularindia.wordpress.com/

Congress against Hinduism

Congress’ soft-Hindutva is destroying pluralism

By Kuldip Nayar (Deccan Chronicle, Dec. 31, 2007)

Cassius told Brutus that the fault was not in their stars but in themselves. After losing Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in a row the Congress Party should realise that the fault lies with them, their strategy, not in their campaign. In both the states, it is the Congress that has lost. The party should analyse why. I concede that there was the incumbency factor in Himachal Pradesh. But the same factor did not help the Congress in Gujarat. The party has become too uncertain.

I do not know why the Congress changed its strategy not to take on the communalists in Gujarat. Party president Sonia Gandhi rightly characterised chief minister Narendra Modi and his supporters as maut ke saudagar (merchants of death). How else can they be described when they have fattened themselves on the sufferings of and denials to Muslims? After having effected an ethnic cleansing in Gujarat, Modi and the BJP continue to ostracise the Muslim community. It is boycotted economically and socially, and is treated in a manner that it seems as if the nine per cent Muslim population in the state does not exist. It is the best specimen of the BJP’s best governance.

Up to a point, Sonia Gandhi stuck to her remark of maut ke saudagar and told the Election Commission of India that calling a spade a spade did not violate any code of election. But then she herself watered down her stand. Whoever advised her, did great harm to the party and its cause.

Even if Sonia Gandhi had not made the remark, Modi would have turned the polls into a Hindu-Muslim conflict. Communalism is the only field in which he and his kind excel. The person-to-person propaganda against Muslims had already begun in Gujarat. Sonia Gandhi’s observation gave Modi a chance to bring it out in the open a day or two earlier than the timing he had in view. The Congress needs no introspection. It needs courage to challenge the Hindutva forces within and outside the party. It is shirking a confrontation with the communal forces, without realising that at stake is our pluralistic society, the bedrock of our democratic polity.

In fact, Modi and the BJP’s ideology of Hindutva are dividing the country into two communities, Hindus and Muslims, or maybe three, because the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a front organisation of the RSS, like the BJP, is also targeting the Christians. It is a shame what the VHP did in Orissa with the connivance of the state government, an ally of the BJP.

Communalism is bad enough, but worse is the BJP’s attack on the ethos of our freedom struggle. India’s independence was won on the resolve to keep it pluralistic and democratic. Muslim leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (the Frontier Gandhi) and Sheikh Abdullah (the Kashmir Gandhi) made as much sacrifice as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel did. Pluralism is our proud heritage. The Congress is diluting this heritage. For improving chances in elections it has even embraced erstwhile BJP members. This has harmed the Congress most.

A Pakistani friend has written to me, "The Gujarat election debacle should open our eyes. I mean the eyes of those who ask for vote on the basis of abstract values and value system." I beg to differ with him. Election is the means, not an end in itself. Even if you may win elections without adhering to values, you are creating a society where there would be no elections one day. The value system is what distinguishes a democracy from other systems. There can be no letting down of the fight against communalism, because if it succeeds, fascism is bound to emerge.

Gujarat is not a state anymore. It has become an ideology. It is a "Hindutva laboratory" as chief minister Narendra Modi had put it when the state went to polls. He reduced the whole campaign to a single point: if you are a Hindu, you vote for me. In fact, it is a slur on Gujaratis, because he sells them Hindutva in the name of Gujarat pride.

The development part is all right. The Gujaratis inside or outside the state are pouring so much money and skill into the state that a new Gujarat was emerging despite the government. The credit is due to him that he did not come in their way, something which is happening in many states. Yet, his whipping boy is a Muslim. During the election campaign, he went on emphasising on the fake encounter death of Sohrabbudin Sheikh, although the case is pending before the Supreme Court of India. At different gatherings he brought the crowd to such a pitch of frenzy that they said in response, "Kill him, kill him." These are fascist tactics.

I sympathise with the Gujaratis, for Modi has fouled the atmosphere in the state so much that any liberal thinking or dissent is difficult. He has made them believe that India is part of Gujarat. I heard the slogan, "Gujarat is India." This is reminiscent of the Emergency days when India was Indira. Modi has done great harm to Gujaratis by mixing their achievements with Hindutva. Their economic progress has been dwarfed by Modi’s large-size anti-Muslim bias. I feel that Gujaratis need to be retrieved. Modi has given them a bad name in the country and abroad, as if they are a community of fanatics, totally opposed to pluralistic thinking.

L.K. Advani, the prime minister-in-waiting, has said that Gujarat will be a turning point in national politics. He is mistaken. The turning point is going to be the re-thinking on the part of BJP’s allies. Except the Shiv Sena from Maharashtra, there does not seem to be any party agreeing to BJP’s Hindutva. They have, by and large, secular credentials. They cannot go to the voter with Modi who is the BJP’s mascot.

The Congress is still learning its lesson from Gujarat. Sonia Gandhi is a crowd-puller, but not a vote-catcher. No use re-emphasising that Rahul Gandhi is not making any impact. Younger leaders in the Congress and persons like Lalu Prasad Yadav who are on the side of the Congress might have done better if they had campaigned.

Yet the biggest drawback with the Congress is that — this is not in Gujarat alone — it does not come across as an unequivocal exponent of pluralism, as it should. The party gives the impression of being Hindutva’s soft version. Expected to carry the ethos of the freedom struggle, the Congress should not compromise with the ideals. The BJP is understandably against secularism, but a diluted, half-hearted Congress can only do harm. It is sad that the party is not conscious of this.

SHIVA In KHABA

“As you are aware, that al-Quran (Koran) states that knowledge is the lost property of the believer and he should gather it wherever he can.

So what I am about to relay to you is enlightening and already known to true scholars of Islam.

However if you are a faithful Muslim then it will be a revelation which will change your entire outlook on the world and Islam. Feel free to forward this testimony to your fellow brethren.

A recent archaeological find in Kuwait unearthed a gold-plated statue of the Hindu deity Ganesh. A Muslim resident of Kuwait requested historical research material that can help explain the connection between Hindu civilisation and Arabia.

Glancing through some research material recently, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a reference to a King Vikramaditya inscription found in the Kaaba in Mecca proving beyond doubt that the Arabian Peninsula formed a part of his Indian Empire.

The text of the crucial Vikramaditya inscription, found inscribed on a gold dish hung inside the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, is found recorded on page 315 of a volume known as ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ treasured in the Makhtab-e-Sultania library in Istanbul, Turkey. Rendered in simple English the inscription says:

"Fortunate are those who were born (and lived) during king Vikram’s reign. He was a noble, generous dutiful ruler, devoted to the welfare of his subjects. Nevertheless, at that time we Arabs, oblivious of God, were lost in sensual pleasures. Plotting and torture were rampant. The darkness of ignorance had enveloped our country. As the lamb struggling for her life in the cruel paws of a wolf us Arabs were caught up in ignorance. The entire country was enveloped in darkness as intense as on a new moon night.

However, the present dawn and pleasant sunshine of education is the result of the favour of the noble king Vikramaditya whose benevolent supervision did not lose sight of us- foreigners as we were. He spread his sacred religion amongst us and sent scholars whose brilliance shone like that of the sun from his country to ours. These scholars and preceptors through whose benevolence we were once again made cognisant of the presence of God, introduced to His sacred existence and put on the road of Truth had come to our country to preach their religion and impart education at King Vikramaditya’s behest."

If you would like to read the Arabic wording, I reproduce it hereunder in Roman script:

"Itrashaphai Santu Ibikramatul Phahalameen Karimun Yartapheeha Wayosassaru Bihillahaya Samaini Ela Motakabberen Sihillaha Yuhee Quid min howa Yapakhara phajjal asari nahone osirom bayjayhalem. Yundan blabin Kajan blnaya khtoryaha sadunya kanateph netephi bejehalin Atadari bilamasa- rateen phakef tasabuhu kaunnieja majekaralhada walador. As hmiman burukankad toluho watastaru hihila Yakajibaymana balay kulk amarena phaneya jaunabilamary Bikramatum".

A careful analysis of the above inscription enables us to draw the following conclusions:

1. That the ancient Indian empires may have extended up to the eastern boundaries of Arabia until Vikramaditya and that it was he who for the first time conquered Arabia. Because the inscription says that king Vikram who dispelled the darkness of ignorance from Arabia.

2. That, whatever their earlier faith, King Vikrama’s preachers had succeeded in spreading the Vedic (based on the Vedas, the Hindu sacred scriptures)) way of life in Arabia.

3. That Indians to the Arabs imparted the knowledge of Indian arts and sciences directly by founding schools, academies and cultural centres. The belief, therefore, that visiting Arabs conveyed that knowledge to their own lands through their own indefatigable efforts and scholarship is unfounded.

Having seen the far reaching and history shaking implications of the Arabic inscription concerning king Vikrama, we shall now piece together the story of its find. How it came to be recorded and hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. What are the other proofs reinforcing the belief that Arabs were once followers of the Indian Vedic way of life and that tranquillity and education were ushered into Arabia by king Vikramaditya’s scholars, educationists from an uneasy period of "ignorance and turmoil" mentioned in the inscription.

In Istanbul, Turkey, there is a famous library called Makhatab-e-Sultania, which is reputed to have the largest collection of ancient West Asian literature. In the Arabic, section of that library is an anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. That anthology was compiled from an earlier work in A.D. 1742 under the orders of the Turkish ruler Sultan Salim.

The pages of that volume are of Hareer – a kind of silk used for writing on. Each page has a decorative gilded border. That anthology is known as Sayar-ul-Okul. It is divided into three parts.
The first part contains biographic details and the poetic compositions of pre-Islamic Arabian poets.
The second part embodies accounts and verses of poets of the period beginning just after Prophet Mohammad’s times, up to the end of the Banee-Um-Mayya dynasty. The third part deals with later poets up to the end of Khalif Harun-al-Rashid’s times.
Abu Amir Asamai, an Arabian bard who was the poet Laureate of Harun-al-Rashid’s court, has compiled and edited the anthology.

The first modern edition of ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ was printed and published in Berlin in 1864. A subsequent edition is the one published in Beirut in 1932.

The collection is regarded as the most important and authoritative anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. It throws considerable light on the social life, customs, manners and entertainment modes of ancient Arabia.

The book also contains an elaborate description of the ancient shrine of Mecca, the town and the annual fair known as OKAJ, which used to be held every year around the Kaaba temple in Mecca. This should convince readers that the annual HAJ of the Muslims to the Kaaba is of earlier pre-Islamic congregation.

However, the OKAJ fair was far from a carnival. It provided a forum for the elite and the learned to discuss the social, religious, political, literary and other aspects of the Vedic culture then pervading Arabia. ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ asserts that the conclusion reached at those discussions was widely respected throughout Arabia. Mecca, therefore, followed the Varanasi tradition (of India) of providing a venue for important discussions among the learned while the masses congregated there for spiritual bliss.

The principal shrines at both Varanasi in India and at Mecca in Arvasthan (Arabia) were Shiva temples. Even to this day ancient Mahadev (Shiva) emblems can be seen. It is the Shankara (Shiva) stone that Muslim pilgrims reverently touch and kiss in the Kaaba - black stone (al-Hajar-ul-Aswad).

Arabic tradition has lost trace of the founding of the Kaaba temple. The discovery of the Vikramaditya inscription affords a clue. King Vikramaditya is known for his great devotion to Lord Mahadev (Shiva). At Ujjain (India), the capital of Vikramaditya, exists the famous shrine of Mahakal, i.e., of Lord Shankara (Shiva) associated with Vikramaditya. Since according to the Vikramaditya inscription he spread the Vedic religion, who else but he could have founded the Kaaba temple in Mecca?

A few miles away from Mecca is a big signboard that bars the entry of any non-Muslim into the area. This is a reminder of the days when the Kaaba was stormed and captured solely for the newly established faith of Islam. The object in barring entry of non-Muslims was obviously to prevent its recapture.

As the pilgrim proceeds towards Mecca, he is asked to shave his head and beard and to don special sacred attire that consists of two seamless sheets of white cloth.

One is to be worn round the waist and the other over the shoulders.

Both these rites are remnants of the old Vedic practice of entering Hindu temples clean- and with holy seamless white sheets.


The main shrine in Mecca, which houses the Shiva emblem, the black stone (al-Hajar-ul-Aswad) and the entire cuboidal structure, is known as the Kaaba (from Sanskrit Garbha). It is clothed in a black shroud. That custom also originates from the days when it was thought necessary to discourage its recapture by camouflaging it.

See image http://www.stephen-knapp.com/art_photo_one.htm

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Kaaba has 360 images.

Traditional accounts mention that one of the deities among the 360 destroyed when the place was stormed was that of Saturn; another was of the Moon and yet another was one called Allah. That shows that in the Kaaba the Arabs worshipped the nine planets in pre-Islamic days. In India the practice of ‘Navagraha’ puja, that is worship of the nine planets, is still in vogue. Two of these nine are Saturn and Moon.

In India, the crescent moon is always painted across the forehead of the Shiva symbol. Since that symbol was associated with the Shiva emblem in Kaaba it came to be grafted on the flag of Islam.

Another Hindu tradition associated with the Kaaba is that of the sacred stream Ganga (sacred waters of the Ganges River). According to the Hindu tradition, Ganga is also inseparable from the Shiva emblem as the crescent moon.

Wherever there is a Shiva emblem, Ganga must co-exist. True to that association, a sacred fount exists near the Kaaba. Its water is held sacred because it has been traditionally regarded as Ganga since pre-Islamic times (Zam-Zam water).
[Note: Even today, Muslim pilgrims who go to the Kaaba for Haj regard this Zam-Zam water with reverence and take some bottled water with them as sacred water.]

Muslim pilgrims visiting the Kaaba temple go around it seven times. In no other mosque does the circumambulation (tawaf) prevail.

Hindus invariably circumambulate around their deities.

This is yet another proof that the Kaaba shrine is a pre-Islamic Indian Shiva temple where the Hindu practice of circumambulation is still meticulously observed.

Since "Makha" means fire, the seven circumambulations also prove that Mecca was the seat of Indian fire-worship in the West Asia as even now the sacred fire (havan/makha/yajna) is circled by Hindus SEVEN times.

Pilgrims (hajjis) endeavour to touch or even kiss the black stone (Shiva linga-emblem of Shiva) and the tribe of the Prophet Mohammed, the Qureshis are the custodians of the this black stone and tend to it daily and apply scented oil to it.


It might come as a stunning revelation to many that the word ‘ALLAH’ itself is Sanskrit.

In Sanskrit language Allah, Akka. Ilah and Amba are synonyms.

They signify a goddess or mother.

The term ‘ALLAH’ forms part of Sanskrit chants invoking goddess Durga, also known as Bhavani, Parvati (Illa).

The name of the consort of the mother goddess is Shiva, since ancient times known as Il. The Islamic word for God is therefore, not an innovation but the ancient Sanskrit appellation retained and continued by Islam. Allah means mother goddess and Shiva. (Il + Illah= Allah).

Finally, rather than denigrate any other faith, try to see the commonality between all faiths.

The Shiva lingam cannot be understood through rudimentary logic and your crude references to women mounting it for fertility is repugnant (just as the kissing of the black stone by faithful hajjis as representing the male organ).

Shiva linga (Shiva emblem/sign) represents the regenerative aspect (Shiva) of the Almighty. We are all the creation of the universal being and all faiths are paths to the same destination, the sooner we agree on this matter, the better for all humanity.
Wishing you a peaceful and enlightening new year.
Khuda-hafis (peace be with you)”

Learn GeoGraphy use Blog

Suryaveer Singh, a geography teacher at SD Public School, was at his wits’ end trying to get his students excited about his subject. But ever since he started his blog

(http://mygeographylearning.blogspot.com) in April 2007, not only are students enjoying his classes, but they are also performing better.

“I was not doing well in Geography. But after sir started his blog, I’m coping with it well. The video links are most interesting,” said Chirag Singal, a class XI student. From videos on whale-watching in Kaikoura, New Zealand, to slide-shows on volcanoes and natural wonders, the blog is full of interesting visual tours. Singh says: “Students can talk to me by simply posting their queries or comments on the blog.”

About 36 teachers from six schools — including Darbari Lal DAV Model School, Pitampura, Kulachi Hansraj Model School and Ved Vyasa DAV Public School, Vikaspuri — have started such blogs. The idea and technical training came from a voluntary group CII-Shiksha, an initiative by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The blogs have slide shows, animation, great visuals, puzzles, interactive message boards, links to latest happenings in the world and more. Students can read assignments online, download notes and update themselves on what happened in class.

Rashmi Kathuria, a Math teacher at Kulachi Hansraj Model School, says: “Students wait for my post. Sharing comments encourages even shy students to express themselves,” says Kathuria, who has eight blogs on her subject!

Bhutto's Deadly Legacy

January 4, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Bhutto’s Deadly Legacy
By WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
New Delhi
WHEN, in May 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India was killed by a suicide bomber, there was an international outpouring of grief. Recent days have seen the same with the death of Benazir Bhutto: another glamorous, Western-educated scion of a great South Asian political dynasty tragically assassinated at an election rally.
There is, however, an important difference between the two deaths: while Mr. Gandhi was assassinated by Sri Lankan Hindu extremists because of his policy of confronting them, Ms. Bhutto was apparently the victim of Islamist militant groups that she allowed to flourish under her administrations in the 1980s and 1990s.
It was under Ms. Bhutto’s watch that the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, first installed the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was also at that time that hundreds of young Islamic militants were recruited from the madrassas to do the agency’s dirty work in Indian Kashmir. It seems that, like some terrorist equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster, the extremists turned on both the person and the state that had helped bring them into being.
While it is true that the recruitment of jihadists had started before she took office and that Ms. Bhutto was insufficiently strong — or competent — to have had full control over either the intelligence services or the Pakistani Army when she was in office, it is equally naïve to believe she had no influence over her country’s foreign policy toward its two most important neighbors, India and Afghanistan.
Everyone now knows how disastrous the rule of the Taliban turned out to be in Afghanistan, how brutally it subjected women and how it allowed Al Qaeda to train in camps within its territory. But another, and in the long term perhaps equally perilous, legacy of Ms. Bhutto’s tenure is often forgotten: the turning of Kashmir into a jihadist playground.
In 1989, when the insurgency in the Indian portion of the disputed region first began, it was largely an amateur affair of young, secular-minded Kashmiri Muslims rising village by village and wielding homemade weapons — firearms fashioned from the steering shafts of rickshaws and so on. By the early ’90s, however, Pakistan was sending over the border thousands of well-trained, heavily armed and ideologically hardened jihadis. Some were the same sorts of exiled Arab radicals who were at the same time forming Al Qaeda in Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan.
By 1993, during Ms. Bhutto’s second term, the Arab and Afghan jihadis (and their Inter-Services Intelligence masters) had really begun to take over the uprising from the locals. It was at this stage that the secular leadership of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front began losing ground to hard-line Islamist outfits like Hizbul Mujahedeen.
I asked Benazir Bhutto about her Kashmir policy and the potential dangers of the growing role of religious extremists in the conflict during an interview in 1994. “India tries to gloss over its policy of repression in Kashmir,” she replied. “India does have might, but has been unable to crush the people of Kashmir. We are not prepared to keep silent, and collude with repression.”
Hamid Gul, who was the head of the intelligence agency during her first administration, was more forthcoming still. “The Kashmiri people have risen up,” he told me, “and it is the national purpose of Pakistan to help liberate them.” He continued, “If the jihadis go out and contain India, tying down their army on their own soil, for a legitimate cause, why should we not support them?”
Benazir Bhutto’s death is, of course, a calamity, particularly as she embodied the hopes of so many liberal Pakistanis. But, contrary to the commentary we’ve seen in the last week, she was not comparable to Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms. Bhutto’s governments were widely criticized by Amnesty International and other groups for their use of death squads and terrible record on deaths in police custody, abductions and torture. As for her democratic bona fides, she had no qualms about banning rallies by opposing political parties while in power.
Within her own party, she declared herself the president for life and controlled all decisions. She rejected her brother Murtaza’s bid to challenge her for its leadership and when he persisted, he was shot dead in highly suspicious circumstances during a police ambush outside the Bhutto family home.
Benazir Bhutto was certainly a brave and secular-minded woman. But the obituaries painting her as dying to save democracy distort history. Instead, she was a natural autocrat who did little for human rights, a calculating politician who was complicit in Pakistan’s becoming the region’s principal jihadi paymaster while she also ramped up an insurgency in Kashmir that has brought two nuclear powers to the brink of war.
William Dalrymple is the author, most recently, of “The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857.”

Petition to UN Stop Suicide Bombers

Please sign petition and forward to your friends and relatives.

Dear Friends

See Advertisement In New York Times dated jan4 2008 page A9

Suicide Terror
What more will it take for the world to act ?

We call on the United nations General assembly to hold a special session to deal exclusively with the scourge of suicide terror.

Suicide Bombing should be designated Crime against HUMANITY
Religious leaders must act. They can no longer ignore the fact that most suicide terrorists are believers.

Suicide terrorists believe they act in God’s name and enter paradise as holy martyrs.
Religious leaders must use every sermon an d every publication to denounce this belief.
As nothing less than an abomination of faith and perversion of all that is godly.


Act Now
Go to www.wiesenthal.com
To sign our petition
Urging the UN to take action against suicide terror
Message forwarded by Indian American Intellectual forum,USA,NY
katarian@aol.com