Congress Party

Dr. O. P. Sudrania

India has been rocked from time and again especially after the UPA II came in power again in 2009. There has been a spate of scandals involving even the satrap’s office viz. PMO (Prime Minister’s Office). The magnitude of fiscal involvements are mind boggling, to the tune of lacs of crores of rupees which could effectively help feed the millions of hungry and give shelter to the homeless further millions living both in rural as well as shanty ghettos in urban areas.

There is a report published by The Hindu daily that they have unearthed new documentary evidence in the alleged 2 G Spectrum allocation. The Hindu has carried this information under various news heads: “Will Manmohan distance himself from PMO officials as he did from Raja?”; “New papers show PMO analysed and agreed with Raja’s actions before 2G scam”; This facsimile has been published by mail Online in their post under a caption, “The PMO X-File: Documents prove PM knew about 2G issue but kept his silence”. Similar headline has been used by India Today also. “The 2G controversy may well be back to haunt the United Progressive Alliance government and its Prime Minister. With disgraced telecom minister A. Raja trying desperately to depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the matter, their hands may be forced with new revelations emerging to call him.

And Raja waiting for an opportunity may well recount what this hitherto unseen note (accessed by Mail Today) has now put into public domain.” States Daily Mail.

“New evidence shows that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, far from being “at arm’s length” from ex-Telecom Minister A. Raja’s controversial 2G decisions, had directed officials in the PMO to “examine urgently” Mr. Raja’s letters outlining his intended decisions which eventually led to the 2G scam on January 10, 2008. Investigation now reveals that senior PMO officials had supported several of Mr. Raja’s acts on file, well before the 2G scam.” The Hindu elaborates through their columnist Shalini Singh very extensively and sharply via her multiple posts in The Hindu.

She continues further, “These very same 2G decisions of 2008 were later, in February 2012, declared by the Supreme Court to be “wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest apart from being violative of the doctrine of equality.” Mr. Raja, his senior officers and industrialists were accused by the CBI of entering into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the exchequer of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore of revenue, as per the CAG’s estimates.”

After receiving a letter from Raja writen on 26 December 2007, Prime Minister directed on 29 December 2007, that the matter be “examined urgently”. Based on the PM’s directions, the then Principal Secretary, PMO, T.K.A. Nair and Secretary, PMO, Pulok Chatterji analysed Mr. Raja’s letter, discussed the implications and listed suggestions — while agreeing in writing with at least four of his actions ahead of the 2G scam.

Thus instead of maintaining an “arms’ length distance” from E. Raja, Prime Minister de facto acted very much in collusion.

Hindu goes on inimically unrestrained: “The new set of documents is at variance with the popular belief that Dr. Singh made weak attempts to caution Mr. Raja against his multiple illegal moves, but eventually failed to restrain him. File notings demonstrate not just agreement with Mr. Raja’s written intimations — but even a discussion on these specifications, between Mr. Chatterji and “the new Secretary DoT,” Siddharth Behura — nearly a week before the 2G scam.

On the Prime Minister’s directions, a detailed analysis on 2G was placed on file along with Mr. Raja’s six-page letter to the PM and a “Top Secret” note by the then External Affairs Minister (EAM) and Chairman of the GoM on Spectrum, Pranab Mukherjee, both coincidentally dated December 26, 2007. Mr. Chatterji, then a senior official in the PMO, on December 31, 2007, wrote on page 1/N of the file, in a “Confidential/Internal” note: “As desired by Pr. Secy., I have gone through the note of the EAM and the letter of Minister C&IT and an earlier note on the telecom issues. All these documents are placed below. I have prepared a comparative chart at F/X that gives various recommendations on each issue. The last col. gives certain suggestions. Pr. Secretary may like to see this.”

The PMO’s four-page “comparative chart,” which specifically deals with “Issues of new licenses,” establishes that the PMO was in agreement with the decisions for which Mr. Raja stands accused in the CBI charge sheet of April 2, 2011, the CAG report of November 16, 2010, and the Supreme Court judgment of February 2, 2012, which cancelled 122 licences.”

These are some of the extracts I have produced to highlight the propensity of this immense and grave dereliction on the part of normally shy looking innocent Prime Minister for presenting his image of Mr Clean, portending as Caeser’s Wife.

Notwithstanding the fact that there is another bigger “Coal Scandal” running to the tune of more than one hundred and eighty lacs Crores of Rupees ($ 37 billion) in the name of Mr Manmohan Singh directly when he was in charge of the portfolio.

It is obvious that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr P. Chidambaram must be probed thoroughly for their complicity or innocence until the truth has been known. Ms Sonia Gandhi as UPA Chairwoman and President Mr P. Mukherjee should also be examined in the interest of the truth that is so essential to bring out to uproot the corruption from the higher offices, and no immunity should be allowed in the greater public interests. Mr. Subramanian Swamy has presented lot of documentary proofs against Rahul Gandhi and Ms Sonia Gandhi to probe in 2 G scam as well as Commonwealth Games scam, besides her much maligned Boffors infamous scam and other clandestine perks that she had received via Iraqi oil-for-food deals, KGB, Swiss Bank, Opus Dei, ISI, LTTE, Madhav Rao Scindia and perhaps others also. Mr Swamy has multiples of court cases against her pending but cannot proceed due to noncooperation from the Government of India using official procedural glitches.

Caste or Class Systems versus India in Global Perspective – CHAPTER TWO

In a blazing and scathing opinion article, Soroor Ahmed chronicles his hate filled appetite in a highly casteist article – Fast and Furious; wherein he has grotesquely exercised his wit in selective sectarian bash following recent results of some Indian educational institutions. He hails from a caste ridden state of Indiawhere the first thing they want to know is your Caste – biraadari. His portrayal of the social bias could have been better projected constructively to emulate by his own Caste people than casting aspersions on others who are using their wits to rise above the normal social mores of an uneducated background and that too without any outside state support like grants, subsidies, reservations, quotas, preferences etc. I wish he could have exhorted his caste boys and girls to follow the suit of these brilliant youngsters. But Ahmed failed bitterly on this count, instead indulged in jealous venomous remarks which were unnecessary, grotesquely undesirable and superfluous in this shrinking but sensitive global scenario.

I am not quite sure, nor am I interested to know, but his writing indicates that he may belong to one of the subsects of Shia Muslim groups. Bihar is one of the eastern states inIndiawhich is typically beseeched with this caste monster. No doubt that Soroor Ahmed coming from such casteist milieu has used his literary intelligence in down grading his pious profession of responsible journalism derogatorily. This is highly unfortunate and unbecoming. Such literary work is neither paying for the individual nor does it help the society. It may project a profanely negative image. With such divisive and vested interests within the meritocratic elites, it is difficult to get rid of the caste stigma from Indian social life, be it Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or any other subsects, as a matter of fact. Ahmed could have utilised this opportunity to emulate by his own caste for better to rid them of intolerance, hate, jihad, kafirism, and the infamy it has attracted globally. Perhaps Macaulayism is working at his best.

The educational backwardness is an issue that state should have cared for those societies who are backward on that count. Muslims are given too much assistance despite their failure to use the resources constructively. Globally Muslims own the World’s majority riches, if they could use it constructively instead of promoting jihadi ideas, intolerance and extremist groups world over. These meritorious students, whom Ahmed is envious about, are the beacons for others to walk their trail. To join ‘trade’ is certainly far better than joining a ‘dirty trade’ in Muridke orBahawalpur.

Quoting him, “But what is more important than Haryana is that these girls and boys come from different trading communities of the country. Surnames like Agrawal, Gupta, Jain, Mittal, Jindal and the like are often found to adorn the merit lists of various exams. These students are posing a big challenge to those from castes like the Brahmin or the Kayastha, who were, till recently, considered more educated than the others. If the Brahmins, Reddys and students from the other backward classes of south Indian states, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, continue to perform well in various exams, uppercaste students, especially of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar andWest Bengal, are losing the race somewhat. And they are yielding ground to candidates coming from business communities, especially of Haryana,Chandigarh, Punjab andDelhi. However, inBiharand east UP, Bhumihars have, of late, been doing relatively better.

Unlike several other upper and backward castes, Marwaris, Jains and other trading communities have an all-India presence. In states like Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra,Delhi, evenChandigarh, they constitute a considerable part of the population. However, the trend of trading communities going for higher education is not confined to just one or two pockets in the country. It is almost an all-India phenomenon now.”

He continues further unabashedly posing his apology in favour of his perhaps own caste/religion, “Simplicity is not the hallmark of the trading communities of Hindus or Jains. But Bohra and Khoja (both are Muslim Shia castes – Author) traders and industrialists are known for such qualities. Azim Hashim Premji is an example.”

But simplicity is like beauty which lies in the eyes of the beholder. It does not have a set definition. Ahmed should have recapped himself that the Muslims have a global presence as well as a cause for global worry. He has trampled on a subject that is ab initio non causa pro causa. It would at best promote more hatred than fellowship. Even the word ‘Brotherhood’ has been tarnished in the global perspective due to its (mis)use by some groups who are known to have links to extremists.

How many Azim Hashim Premji has been produced to toe their exemplary line? Even he cannot escape the influence of proximity of the peace loving trading communities in Hindus. In contrast, the 57 nations in OIC have shown it by paradigm in utter lack of such luminaries like Azimji. Everything in the society is a trade when there is a transaction of money. Ahmed needs to update himself with the very basics of economics before misusing the words like ‘trading’. Take the money out of trade, politics, worship, administration, education and journalism, “What will be left”?  It is this corrupted mindset that is more to blame than the malice of caste itself in the Indian communities or globally de facto. I am sure he could better utilise his wit in promoting the caste and communal harmony, instead otherwise.

His full opinionated article for its worth, can be read here.

In fact in the name of reservations for various castes, it has created a backward affluent class who in themselves are the perpetrators of the same ailment of caste in the society for their vested interest. They know that as long as this witch hunt can be kept vibrant and alive, this is a milking cow for them in all aspects; votes, money and its all other antecedent benefits in kind e.g. lucrative jobs, perks and political lubrications etc. This amounts to a polluted and convoluted narrow social engineering by targeting a peace loving innocent and unaware class.

“Pictorial presentation of Gandhi visiting Chennai”

Gandhi visiting Chennai (erstwhileMadras) in 1933 on an India-wide tour for Harijan causes. His speeches during such tours discussed the discriminated castes ofIndiaand appealed for the eradication of untouchability. Peruse here.

Harijan was a term used by Gandhi for Dalits. Gandhi said it was wrong to call people ‘untouchable’, and called them Harijans, which means children of God. It is still in wide use especially in Gandhi’s home state ofGujarat.

The term can also be attributed to Dalits of Pakistan called the haris, who are a group of mud-hut builders.Pakistan is an “Islamic Republic of Pakistan” riddled with all its ills of variety of violent dogmatic societal feudal castes and sub-castes. Irony is that they feel no compunction or contrition about it.

Gandhi’s publications:

Harijans were also several weekly newspapers published by MahatmaGandhi. He created three publications, Harijan in English (from 1933 to 1948), Harijan Bandu in Gujarati, and Harijan Sevak in Hindi. These newspapers found the Mahatma concentrating on social and economic problems.

One has to appreciate that Vedic tradition aka Hinduism being the oldest known system of civilisation on the earth in human society, some instant noble wo/men must have thought of creating a system to bind the emerging human race together. This benevolent cause must have led them to penance to study to evolve the divine subtle knowledge to domesticate the then initial wild tribes with no civilisation to follow or adhere to. Thus the evolution of Vedic knowledge via Smrtis took place. There couldn’t have been any caste based discrimination in such a nascent society.

A Wikipedia source describes, “The Caste System in India is a system of social stratification, social restriction and a basis for affirmative action inIndia. Historically, the caste system inIndia defined communities into thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called J?tis.

The J?tis were grouped by the Braahminical texts under the four well known social categories, (the varnas): viz Braahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. Certain people were excluded altogether, ostracized by all other castes and treated as untouchables also called “Dalits” today.”

Caste is commonly thought of as an ancient fact of Hindu life, caste systems have been also observed among other religions in the Indian subcontinent as well as in other parts of the world. Various contemporary scholars have argued that the caste system was constructed by the British colonial regime. Caste is neither unique to Hindu religion nor to India; caste systems have been observed in other parts of the world, for example, in Muslim community of Yemen, Buddhist community of Japan and Christian colonies of Spain. The latter is similar to the caste system reported in the Igbo-Osu Christian community inAfrica.

“Since 1950, Indiahas enacted and implemented many laws and social initiatives to protect and improve the socio-economic conditions of its Dalit population. By 1995, of all jobs in India, 17.2 percent of the jobs were held by Dalits, greater than their proportion in Indian population. Of the highest paying, senior most jobs in government agencies and government controlled enterprises, over 10 percent of all highest paying jobs were held by members of the Dalit community, a tenfold increase in 40 years. In 1997, Indiademocratically elected K.R. Narayanan, a Dalit, as the nation’s President. In last 15 years, Indians born in historically discriminated minority castes have been elected to its highest judicial and political offices. The quality of life of Dalit population in India, in 2001, in terms of metrics such as access to health care, life expectancy, education attainability, access to drinking water, housing, etc. was statistically similar to overall population of modern India.” More here.

It must be appreciated that the word “Caste” has no semblance with the Indian society as understood today and it is not a correct translation for the prevailing social divisions in the Indian society. There is nothing equivalent to it in the contemporary Indian scriptures. J G Arora expresses it, “There is a misconception in some minds that Hindu scriptures sanction the caste system. But being based on Vedas, Hinduism does not permit any caste system, whatsoever.”

As Hindu American Foundation (HAF) has aptly suggested that this word caste may have been originally used by the Portuguese invaders as “Castas” in their tongue to denote the various classes in the instant indigenous culture, but it does not reflect the costumes of the Indian Hindu society and its civilisation. The reasons are obvious due to the very differing core values in the respective societies. HAF’s document on “Hinduism: Not Cast in Caste – Seeking an End to Caste-based Discrimination”; is worth perusing. Perhaps the word ‘Castas’ was later on Anglicised during the British occupation period into ‘Caste’! HAF has raised the pitch of its concern on Caste which the others in global societies have been misusing by creating social divisions to give the dog a bad name and then after kill it. More here.

Votebank Politics and Politicisation of Castes:

Indian politicians have tried to misuse the caste as trump card for their narrow sectarian votebank gimmicks right from the Nehruvian era. Some glaring examples of such a myopic short term political manoeuvrings are given hereby.

The Mandal Commission protests of 1990 were against giving government jobs to certain castes on basis of birth rather than merit of the candidate. These protests closed roads, highways, transportation services, government services, schools, and businesses ofIndia. Anti-reservationists protested. Student protests were planned publicly, and in advance. Protest events were photographed for many published articles of newspapers locally and nationally. Protests began during the year when the eleven-year-old Mandal Commission was opened to bring into effect new government employment opportunities, reservation for backwards classes.

Between the failure to effectively control the political cost of the protests escalating enough to close parts of the nation, and an eleven-year-old human rights improvement project, were causes that ultimately led to accepting the resignation of the Janata Dal party’s Prime Minister of India, V. P. Singh. Most likely, the protests were comparable to globally largest, unified national demonstrations of a labour union strike combined with a version of a race riot.

These protests were widespread and enjoyed support of common people. “There is reason to believe that the students’ protests in 1990 would not have been so ferocious if it were not for the covert support extended to them by certain political parties, such as the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.” More can be read here.

Open Letter to India (Part 2)

(CHAKRA) To The People of India, Greetings, I address you collectively as a nation, as nation builders, and as individuals capable of rationale and reasoning. Read PART 1 – Open Letter to India: Looking Back in Time

MINORITY OR NOT A MINORITY- THAT IS THE QUESTION:

Let us focus on the word ‘minority’. What exactly does it mean to be a minority? Take the example of a multi-national company, say, ‘McDonalds’, which has a franchise set up in India. Would one by any means consider McDonalds a “minority” company? Of course not, simply because its nexus lies abroad, and what is present in India is simply an off-shoot; a subsidiary branch of something large having its base outside.

Same is the case with Christianity in India; foreign nexuses around the globe have set up institutions in our country. These Christian Institutions in India are not a minority, they are simply connecting nodes, equipped and commandeered from abroad to serve a specific purpose.
So to get things clear, Christianity, as it exists in India in its current form, cannot be considered a minority.

Just as the funding for a multinational corporation in India comes from outside the country, a staggering amount of money running these organizations comes not from Christians living in India, but centers abroad, and most of them under the guise of providing service, which in reality are set up to convert as many Indians to their faith as they possibly can.

How do they go about doing it? It has been rampant for the past few centuries now. Right from the time the British set foot in India, seeds of conversion were already being sown.

DEBUNKING THE ARYAN INVASION THEORY:

There are several challenges involved in colonizing a nation. What makes it easier to accomplish is when you present yourself as their superiors, in some cases, even their saviors. Such an agenda gave rise to a very destructive and false notion known as the ‘Aryan Invasion Theory’ (AIT).
AIT basically postulates that the ancient Indians of Vedic times derived their civilization and Vedic religion from foreign invaders.

The word ‘Aryan’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘Arya‘ (????), which simply means ‘noble’. It has absolutely nothing to do with race. The Europeans had us believe otherwise.

It took many prominent historians decades of struggling against the inertia of false ideologies, created by colonist brainwashing- not to mention dissenting views of many biased anti-Indian historians- to finally drive the nail on this theory, and thankfully as a result it is losing its validity even in academic circles. You can find innumerable related studies on the internet or otherwise; few of which include ‘Solid Evidence Debunking Aryan Invasion’, by David Frawley; ‘History of Ancient India’, by Kamlesh Kapur; ‘The Collapse of the Aryan Invasion Theory’, by Professor Nicholas Kazanas- among others.

The AIT gave rise to many tragic conclusions. A known fact is that Hitler’s Nazism was heavily based on the AIT notion, and that led to the killing of millions of innocent people, due to a sense of racial superiority. Unfortunately the roots of lies run very deep; AIT is still running rounds, having re-packaged itself as the ‘Aryan Migration Theory’.

FALSE DRAVIDIAN PREMISE:

Another major and contemporary problem is the Dravidian identity. As mentioned, one of the postulates of AIT states that the Aryans came from the outside, and the Dravidians were the original inhabitants of India. This split the nation into two along the geo-politico-socio-cultural lines. Some in the southern states consider themselves Dravidians, and wish to carve a separate identity, even a separate nation for themselves. Unfortunately they bought into the AIT premise and do not understand that the people of India as a whole are an indigenous lot.

This topic has been masterfully dealt in the book ‘Breaking India’ authored by Mr. Rajiv Malhotra and Mr. Aravindan Neelakandan. This book is highly recommended for those who are interested in knowing about the various issues plaguing India today. I have spoken to one of the co-authors at length, and the situation does look very bleak at this point. I quote from their website:

The fabrication of South Indian history is being carried out on an immense scale with the explicit goal of constructing a Dravidian identity that is distinct from that of the rest of India. From the 1830s onwards, this endeavor’s key milestones have claimed that south India: is linguistically separate from the rest of India; has an un-Indian culture, aesthetics and literature; has a history disconnected from India’s; is racially distinct; is religiously distinct; and, consequently, is a separate nation.

 Tamil classical literature that predates the 19th century reveals no such identity conflicts especially with “alien” peoples of the north, nor does it reveal any sense of victimhood or any view of Westerners or Christians as “liberators.” This identity engineering was begun by British colonial and missionary scholars, picked up by politically ambitious south Indians with British backing, and subsequently assumed a life of its own. Even then it was largely a secular movement for political power (albeit with a substratum of racist rhetoric). In recent decades, however, a vast network of groups based in the West has co-opted this movement and is attempting to transform Tamil identity into the Dravidian Christianity movement premised on a fabricated racial-religious history

This rewriting of history has necessitated a range of archeological falsities and even epigraphic hoaxes, blatantly contradicting scientific evidence. Similar interventions by some of the same global forces have resulted in genocides and civil wars in Sri Lanka, Rwanda and other places. If unchallenged these movements could produce horrific outcomes in South India.

DALIT BRAINWASHING:

Dalits in India, who are very much a part of Hinduism, are being strategically trained to turn against Hinduism. This is a two-part process. The first step involves converting them to ‘Neo-Buddhism’, which has only a namesake association with Buddhism, but in reality is simply an anti-Hindu construct. While Buddhism itself is a beautiful religion, Neo-Buddhism is a part of a bitter two-step agenda of alienation and conversion.

In the second step, already drenched with anti-Hindu propaganda, these Neo-Buddhist Dalits fall easy prey to be converted to Christianity.

It is not uncommon to see pictures of Jesus shown sitting in Padmasana (lotus posture), and termed as a more “recent” Avatara, in an attempt to lure Hindus away. I was narrated incidents of school-bus drivers, who will stall the vehicle in the middle of the road, and ask the children to pray to their favorite God so they can get to school safely. The kids pray to their Hindu deities to no avail. Then they are asked to pray to Jesus, and voila, the engine purrs with life. Other methods include shamelessly offering food if one pledges their allegiance to Christianity. Some downright offer money and some even create intentional friction in different families, initiating them in the Church under the pretext of offering help.

Charity is when you provide something to the needy, with no strings attached. In the case of these missionaries, their strings tangle you up for good: families fall apart, lives are destroyed, and the entire social structure crumbles to the ground. As we already discussed, the money to fund these activities comes from abroad. This money goes to strategically aim at the poorest and most uneducated strata of society, to strip them away from their traditional roots.

There are many cases where the Christians bully or outcaste their Hindu neighbours to the point that they convert to Christianity just to be socially accepted.

These were just glimpses of the enormous scale on which such happenings occur. This is how these divisive forces accomplish the task of abducting people from their Hindu roots through a process of constant brainwashing and trickery.

Vote-bank politics works by disallowing the minorities from merging in with the mainstream culture, purposely segregating them, making them feel inadequately represented, and polarizing their votes to gain election victories. These vote-bank politics apply not only to Dalits, but also to Christians and Muslims, as stated earlier. Little do they know that the very politicians who claim to liberate them, are only caging them further. The principle is deceivingly simple- if you make someone believe they are handicapped, and offer an imaginary crutch, naturally you have their support.

If a common tragedy occurs, the news-heading will be sure to include that the victim was a Dalit. If it was a Brahmin or some other varna, it would certainly go unmentioned. Thus we helplessly witness the demonizing of Brahmins, and over time it becomes engraved in our cultural psyche, with these induced ideas becoming our own. Brahmin bashing is a long standing obsession of our media.

Contemplating a little, it is only natural that our politicians prefer to keep the class distinction alive, in order to scoop up their votes. This is the primary cause for these factions being underdeveloped compared to the rest of the nation. The only way to overcome this marginalization is through raising awareness and voting intelligently during elections.

A CALL TO ACTION:

So far we have discussed the disease that plagues our nation as well as the associated symptoms. The cure enjoins the active participation of each one of you.

Verily, it all begins and ends with the individual. Individuals make a family, families form a society, a society sets trends that become a part of our national psyche, and these trends steer the present into the future, through precedents for forthcoming generations to look up to.

If a few individuals shun their duties, others have to bear the weight of their dropped responsibility. When the count reaches a critical number, we fall as a nation, and everything we hold dear and sacred come tumbling down with us like a house of cards.

A democracy that was once of the people, by the people and for the people undergoes an ugly metamorphoses to become a dictatorship of the politicians, by the politicians and for the politicians- a la Congress. Here the pawns are the educated elite- especially in the media business, and the victims are all of us.

A ‘meme’ can be looked upon as a theoretical unit of an idea. It is the carrier of cultural themes, symbols and traditions that flow from mind to mind, generation to generation. What we consider socially acceptable or unacceptable, our likes and dislikes, fads, fashions, and thoughts prevalent in our society today; these are all prompted by memes. The huge nation-wide furor over corruption and support for Anna Hazare too latched onto the public through memes alone. Memes spread like viruses, with each individual mind being the host.

The most dangerous one unleashed is pseudo-secularism. This is nothing short of Intellectual Terrorism. What the divisive organizations and foreign nexuses do is smother our traditional memes and deliberately flood them with a barrage of introduced ideas to suit their own agenda. As a result, it has become common practice; even fashionable, for Hindus to disenfranchise themselves from their customs, rituals, and religion, all of which are resultant effects of an overdose of methodical brainwashing by the divisive forces covertly at work. This is done by soliciting and/or exploiting the System- comprising of the polity, the intelligentsia, the academia and the media.

As individuals, you have the power to influence. Simply by discussing these issues with your family and friends, you can effectively undo some of the damage done by popular media, by being a medium in your own sphere of influence. You can generate new Dharmic ideas, as well as resurrect old ones that are being methodically erased.

As householders, you can ensure that your children grow up in a cultured setting by re-instating Hindu values at home. Taking them to the temple, keeping ancient family practices alive, and the studying of Indian philosophies is a great way to start. It is a fundamental economic principle that demand facilitates supply. Once a market is created it acts as a feedback mechanism, so demand the incorporation of yoga as part of Physical Training (PT) in school, demand Sanskrit to be taught in class, encourage extra-curricular activities like classical dance and singing. If these aren’t offered in school, kindly enroll your child in some independent institution for the same. In due time, your dissatisfaction with the system will compel the schools to cater to these needs. All these things will go a long way in re-discovering our long lost cultural ethos, both in our homes and in society.

As citizens, please vote responsibly in elections. Make your voice heard through the ballots. Politics isn’t dirty; it is people who exploit it because the well intended ones do not take interest in it. Every citizen of the world should be politically aware as a minimum social responsibility.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

-Martin Niemöller

These statements reference the inaction on part of the German intellectuals, in the face of rising Nazism. They remained silent and allowed injustice to sweep the nation. Our national discourse has been polluted and we are all equally responsible for cleaning it up.

Facts by themselves are lifeless, but when clothed as ideas, they come alive. Ideas cannot be contained- they are self-illuminating, they always find a way to shine even through the smallest crevices, given the faintest sign of hope. Each point discussed in this analysis is an idea worth sharing. The time has come to reclaim our roots through a new wave of interest. Let this be an intellectual awakening. First make it yours, and then share it with others. This revolution can either begin or end at your doorstep, I fervently appeal to you to carry the torch forward.

By Prashant Parikh

Time for Indians to Reflect

(CHAKRA) To The People of India, Greetings, I address you collectively as a nation, as nation builders, and as individuals capable of rationale and reasoning.

As human beings we are endowed with an enhanced intellectual faculty, which is really the only thing that confers us a distinct position in the animal kingdom. Genetically, we are 99% similar to chimps, but that 1% sets us apart. This difference manifests itself in a very special place- the human mind.

Our choices define us, and it is the mind where all choices are made. In the mind alone, transformations that shape the external world are first conceived before being put into action. Indeed, it is a powerful tool, but with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately, we have been shirking our responsibilities for a long time now.

Today, we live in an age of social crisis. The trouble isn’t lack of intelligence or some debility; rather it is the lack of knowledge, and the subsequent inaction on our part that follows. Without knowledge, we cannot make informed decisions- crucial decisions that shape our future, and that of our nation.

A region having seismic fault-lines is most prone to geological disturbances- more commonly known as earthquakes. India too is replete with its own fault-lines, but on the political, educational, cultural, social, economic and intellectual fronts. These fault lines disintegrate the country from within, making it susceptible to exploitation in one form or another. I cannot possibly address all of the issues here- that would require a voluminous tome, not an essay. I will however give a bird’s eye view of it, touching upon the general ideas, providing the impetus to do your own subsequent research where required.

Time and time again we hear about “India rising”; sweeping remarks about its financial success, or last year’s GDP growth, at par with- at times even overtaking- China. In short, we hear only about the things that make us feel good as a nation, seldom do you hear about what goes about behind the scenes; the foreign and domestic forces at hand in demolishing the national structure, one day at a time, one unit at a time. These keenly neglected newsreels are precisely what we will present here, but first a brief history lesson.

LOOKING BACK IN TIME:

The Hindu/Indian culture was the cradle of advanced civilization. Everything flourished in this ancient land- Philosophy, Mathematics, Science, Literature, Commerce, Arts, Yoga, Ayurveda, Architecture, Governance, Logic, Astrology, Astronomy, Medicine- you name it, we had it. We even came up with the same postulates of Pythagorus’ theorem before he did, presented in Vedic scriptures, detailing the size and shapes of yajna altars. Thus the cornerstone of every great thought found its epicenter in India.

Being a highly evolved and peace-loving culture, we knew the value of our values. We gave birth to some of the most profound luminaries that walked this earth:- Vyasa, Vashishta, Adi Shankaracharya, Mahavira, Buddha, Valmiki, to name a few, and an endless, unbroken lineage of enlightened Acharyas in this Guru-Shishya Parampara (student-teacher tradition). Then things went awry.

When the Islamic invaders attacked India, there was large scale cultural dishevelment. Wealth was plundered, women were defiled, ancient religions were displaced, and scores of temples were demolished. It would be fitting to term the Mughals- perhaps with the exception of Akbar- as less of rulers and more of barbarians. Long lapses of time make us routinely forget that first it was Babar, who destroyed the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, creating an long-standing legacy of temple destruction throughout erstwhile India, which ended only with the demise of the last Mughul ruler, the ruthless Aurangzeb. Thus India underwent a painful transformation from being the most prolific producers and inventors, to passive ones, because we had to direct our minds and resources toward resisting the onslaught.

The next blow came from the Europeans, when they landed ashore under the pretext of trade. We did not them for an extended stay-back to sample more of our curry dishes- they invaded us. Already weakened by the Mughuls, and thus falling technologically behind, we did not put up much of a challenge to the British, and were once again at the mercy of another foreign power.

It is a well recognized fact that India was the world’s economic superpower for the most part of recorded history. However, due to the Islamic and British invasions, contrasted by the Industrial revolution hitting Europe, India fell behind in the GDP race in the early 19th century, and we never again regained our lost position again

It is crucial to note that in spite of our numerous successes, Indians never set out to conquer other nations, we have always been self sustaining and self satisfied. Even with the outsiders who ruled us, we tried to form amicable relationships, allowing them to assimilate into our way of living, despite their best attempts to extricate us from our own. It is in our cultural DNA to always be accommodating, and therein lies the greatness of our Hindu/Indian culture.

The Hindu-Jewish Summit was held in New Delhi, in 2010. The Jewish Rabbis graciously admitted that the Hindus alone gave them shelter when they were chased into exile by everyone else. Whether it was being ousted from their homeland by the Muslims in Arabia, the anti-Semitist movements of the Christians, or facing the holocaust at the hands of the Nazi regime; Jews have faced a long history of persecution. It is in India where they found their long awaited peace.

The same applied for Parsis- the Zoroastrians now integrated in India. Like the Jews, they too were harassed away from their native Persia by the Arabic Muslims, and thus made their way into the Hindu/Indian culture upon their arrival at Gujarat, into which they were peacefully assimilated.

A NEED FOR INTEGRATION OF CULTURES:

Today, India is a potpourri of many world religions, but it is fast losing its culture due to many eroding factors which we will explore. As we made abundantly clear above, historically, it is the Hindu/Indigenous culture alone that has allowed for the peaceful integration of people in our nation. The cultures associated with the major western religions- with all due respect- do not allow for this plurality in India, as they wish for others to do and believe in the same things that they do.

A sparkling example of this is Dr.Zakir Naik. If you have seen him on television or ‘Youtube’, you would know exactly what I mean. For those who haven’t, he is Islam’s answer to Televangelists, performing his theatrical antics on stage believing that the public is comprised of incompetents. Unfortunately that is true, as most of his audience consist of yes-men. The same applies to Christian Missionaries in India, whose primary motive for the most part is to convert the nation to their faith. That will be further discussed as we proceed.

Pre-Independence, Hindus and Muslims co-existed side-by-side in relative peace, until the seeds of divisiveness had been planted into the Indian soil by the colonizers. Almost all Muslims living in India are converts, and culturally are still very much Indian, but today they are being led astray with the solid influence of figures living in the Arab world, and their dialectics are contrary; even antagonistic to the Indian culture. Over time, those figures are transforming the psyche of Indian Muslims to that of the Arabic world. This breaks the nation from within.

Similarly, the Christian Missionaries who “work” in India are trying to mould India from a very Western angle and that has been causing a lot of friction in rural villages, which is responsible for scores of families falling apart.

In India, family has been the most important social unit, and these domestically implanted “push factors” coupled with foreign influenced “pull factors” are causing massive damage to the social structure of India.

The Hindu religion on the other hand does not require its followers to convert anybody; it prescribes a way of living for the adherents alone, and for no one else. We neither wish to be converted nor are we looking to convert, which is what makes the associated Hindu/Indian culture the most pluralistic and accommodating of all.

As a Hindu, one has no personal restrictions against entering a Church or a Mosque, just as freely as he worships in his own temple, but today it is some fundamentalist sitting in the Middle-East, who determines what Indian Muslims should and should not do.

Let me be very clear here. Adopting a Hindu culture does not mean one needs to adopt the Hindu religion, one can practice their own faith, just as the Jews, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs and the Vedic followers have merged seamlessly into a unified Hindu/Indian culture, and quite successfully too. This alone can save our country from internal fragmenting.

Our Ex- President Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam serves as a perfect example of this. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that he has been one of the greatest modern contributors to our national structure, and in his capacity has done more for the nation than credited for. His interest at heart has always been India, and despite being born in a Muslim family, he has shown no hesitation in appreciating his Indian roots.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, it only makes perfect sense that those living in India follow the same principle, without having to give up their religious beliefs and practices. Thus we see that adopting an indigenous culture alone can stop the country from the internal fragmentation envisioned by divisive forces.

In this kind of unity alone lies strength. No one loses their identity; they simply become part of a greater Indian story.

UNDERSTANDING PSEUDO-SECULARISM:

When an organization or entity, in their pretentious bid to be overly secular, behaves in a totally un-secular fashion, this behaviour is termed as ‘Pseudo-Secularism’. When such pseudo-secularism is put into practice, the ones who primarily suffer are the majority inhabitants of the country; in our case, Hindus.

A functioning democracy should reflect the interest of the people, providing equal rights to all and sundry.  As we will discover, the major institutions in our country such as the government, media and educational system are severely crippling the nation through their non-secular practices. Let’s take them on one by one.

PSEUDO-SECULARISM IN THE GOVERNMENT:

Sonia Gandhi, born in Italy, under the name Edvige Antonia Albina Maino, and the rest of the Congress Party have time and again proven that their governance is detrimental to the development of our nation.

It is entirely frightening that in a country of nearly 1.2 billion people, most are oblivious to the facts surrounding the people they elect to power.

Dr. Subramaniam Swamy has collected plenty of incriminating evidence against the Congress officials on many counts, yet the proceedings are moving at a snail’s pace. It would appear that some are in fervent hope of outliving the prosecutor. The media too has unnecessarily been giving him a hard time, despite his efforts to expose corrupt individuals in power. The supporting evidences for Dr. Swamy’s claims are up for display on his website. You may draw your own conclusions from the same.

I can understand that we didn’t really have that much of a choice thwarting the British; what’s done is done, but honestly, must we make the same mistake with the Italian born as well? We need to wean off this colonized mentality and learn to elect one of our own; someone who understands the nation better, someone who is interested in its well being, and someone who can effectively govern it.

Trivia: The family name, ‘Gandhi’, has merely been adopted to play to the sentiments of the masses; sadly it worked. The lesser said about Mrs. Gandhi’s not-so- illustrious child, Rahul Gandhi, the better. One may also want to do some inquiry into what his real name is, as the family has a long history of adopting names that resonate well with the public.

Dressed in white, smiling and waving at the camera does not qualify one to run a nation of 120 crore people, competence does. On all counts, the Gandhi scion is unfit to bear this impending responsibility. It would be a shame to see him as our next Prime Minister in the 2014 General Elections.

MINORITY APPEASEMENT:

Now, the Congress Government partakes in an activity called ‘Minority Appeasement’, which you may consider one of the package deals under the provisions of Pseudo-Secularism.

Here is how and why it works to their advantage, and this will directly tie in to the need for Hindus to be more organized socio-culturally and politically.

In the process of Minority Appeasement, the Government will be extra nice to the Muslim and Christian populace, but they will conveniently ignore other minorities such as Sikhs, Jews, Jains etc. The reason is very simple. Muslims and Christians in India are highly organized in their joint decision making strategies. There is a very high level of agreement amongst them; hence if you can win the confidence of a few, you win them all. That is why an overwhelming majority of Muslims and Christians will vote for Congress alone, which is the reason they are appeased in the first place.

In the case of Hindus, our votes are divided. We cannot reach consensus even over regional MLAs- let alone electing a National Government. This is the reason why the Government must stoop to the level of Minority Appeasement, because the minorities are highly homogenized in their collective decisions. They have no reason to be nice to Hindus; hence the Hindus lie at the suffering end. This absolute lack of socio-political unity among Hindus is the main cause for anti-Hindu parties running the country.

Even Church and Mosque funds are mainly handled by their respective autonomous religious institutions, but when it comes to Temple funds, for some reason the Government often wants to interfere and take control.

Year 2011 presented a shameful incident regarding the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple. It is a matter of pride that the members of the Travancore Royal Family were the caretakers of an estimated US$26.76 billion; not having used it for themselves, and a matter of shame that the State Government wished to manage this fund.

For a very long time, Indian Muslims were being provided a Haj subsidy by the government to go to Mecca. In 2007 the government spent Rs. 47,454 per passenger. In December, 2011, Christians were accorded a subsidy to pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was only after much struggle that the Tamil Nadu Government extended the same rights to Hindus to visit Mansarovar.

United we stand, divided we fall. As Hindus, our lack of consensus on issues is one of the primary reasons for our downfall as a nation.

I once read a joke on the internet: “The second stupidest thing America did was elect Bush as President, but the stupidest thing they did was elect him again.” I sincerely hope our nation does not make the same mistake with the present Government, because if it does, we cannot blame anyone but ourselves. As the saying goes, “fool me once; shame on you, fool me twice; shame on me”.

PSEUDO-SECULARISM IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM:

Educational centers are the most important places to begin shaping our understanding of the world. What we learn in school and college is often what we develop a life-long affinity for.

When you infect the educational system, you are infecting minds; not one, but many. It spreads like an epidemic. Horizontally; it grows by infecting the contemporary population, and vertically; through the generations of culturally deprived children.

It should not come across as much of a surprise, that a large portion of our school and college syllabus is patterned after Western thought, but before I get into that I’d like to point out a fundamental flaw in the modern Indian Education System.

In ancient times, there was equal emphasis on the sciences as well as cultural ethos. Sanskrit Literature abounds with rigorous treatises on logic which would make the Greek philosophers look juvenile in comparison. For sampling purposes, please study one of our Nyaya Shastras. On the other hand, our texts also painted a gentler, more picturesque view of life. The ancients understood the importance of striking this balance and with good reason too.

The brain is divided into hemispheres; the left and the right. The right side is concerned with aesthetics, languages, emotions, intuition, empathy, self image, inter-personal relationships, and a holistic appreciation of things. The left side deals with logic, analysis, objectivity, goals, and is detail oriented. Too much of right with very little left would leave behind a sentimental wreck; irrational and lacking objectivity. Too much of left with little right would give rise to an automaton; a flesh and blood robot with no sentiments or appreciation of the finer side of life. Neither one of these individuals is socially fit.

A well developed person is adequately developed in both hemispheres. He caters to both his emotional and analytical needs as and when required. Unfortunately, our educational system is primarily focused only on the left, turning children into mechanical zombies before every exam, giving no chance to develop their creative side. Parents and teachers need to address this problem. The formative years of children are their school going years, and will vastly determine their future personality.

As the decades pass, we are giving lesser importance to value education and appreciation of Indian culture. The Board of Education needs to recognize this problem, and focus on finding a way to incorporate cultural activities into their education.

Introducing Indian dance forms such as Bharat Natyam, Oddisi, Kuchchipudi, Kathak etc- depending on the State you hail from; Yoga, for a sound mind and body as part of Physical Education, and Carnatic and Hindustani Sangeet, are good steps to take.

These need to find their way into the lives of children. If you are a parent concerned about negative influences on your little ones, try enrolling them into these Indo-cultural activities and mark the difference for yourselves. Even if the schools do not offer them, find a nearby cultural center for Indian arts; every major city in India has at least a few.

Small efforts on your part will turn them into well rounded children, and that can only happen if they are familiar with their cultural ethos.

PRESERVATION OF SANSKRIT:

For several reasons, attempts to bury Sanskrit as a language have been made. One of the primary reasons being that the majority of Hindu literature and scriptures have been written in Sanskrit, so when the language dies, automatically there are fewer people taking interest in these ancient works, so the associated religion and culture start dying along with it, leaving plenty of room for those with ulterior motives to take advantage of this situation.

If there exists an option between Sanskrit and a foreign language offered in school, opt for Sanskrit. It is only the pseudo-secular mentality in our heads that we feel something “foreign” is better, or “cooler”- well it isn’t, nor is it going to impress anyone. It is simply an idea that has been fed to us for a very long time, which we have digested quite successfully.

The good news is that Sanskrit is not a dead language yet. The bad news is it will be if you allow it to happen. Please don’t. We should be just as proud of it as we are of English. It is an important part of your heritage, and its preservation lies in your hands.

MARXIST CURRICULUM:

Every country having a rich and varied heritage would be proud of it. It is disparaging that in spite of living in the land of the Ramayana and Mahabharata; two of the lengthiest and culturally meaningful historical epics, they do not find their way into the school curriculum despite having some very good English translations, yet we find mention of Shakespeare, Gilgamesh and Rumi. Furthermore, we learn tales from Aesop’s Fables, for “Value Education”, but not beautiful ones from the Puranas or Panchatantra.

To illustrate, there is a story in the Puranas, where Ganesha and his brother Karthikeya decide to have a race to see who can go around the world the quickest. Karthikeya sets off like a bolt of lightning, while Ganesha slowly encircles his parents- Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati- 3 times before Karthikeya returns. Ganesha states that his parents mean the world to him, and is declared the winner.

This is what India is about; there is so much to learn from these little stories. It is painfully evident that however good things are, Pseudo-Secularism will always undermine the greatness of our culture.

Dance and music in India have always been hinged on devotion to the Lord, one cannot separate the means from the end, yet we find just that happening. In Kalakshetra, a renowned fine arts school in India, most Ganesha images on which (as per tradition) pooja would be performed, were removed in an attempt to be a more secular.

It gets even worse at University level; pointedly in the case of Liberal Arts majors. Now their entire syllabus not only ignores Hindu Literature, but is often antagonistic to it. Once again, it is very becoming of them to read philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Marx, Descartes and other Westerners, but not any Indian school of philosophical thought such as Vedanta, Tarka, Nyaya, Sankhya, Vaisheshika and etc. If they do happen to read ancient Indian texts, many do so only with a critical eye, not with the reverence that they were intended for, and how can they, when their schools did not provide them any appreciation of these texts via culture based value education? So they end up writing acidic papers on the Hindu culture in the light of their warped understanding of contexts and perspectives.

In summary, you have little kids that have grown up, all ready to be sent off to college, still traditionally impoverished in their thought process. Then due to their inadequate supplementary education, they set themselves up for more more-of-the-same, and get sucked right into the game of rebelling against their own culture, scoring self goal after another. It is truly a no-win situation for them.

These sadly misplaced students find their way into popular media by becoming Journalists, News Reporters, Authors, Historians, Social workers or Western styled Lobbyists. Several of them take up teaching positions, and they teach their students the same things that they had been taught. Thus the vicious circle completes itself, with another generation getting ready for the same treatment. It should be noted that there are still a few exceptional people that I appreciate in each of these disciplines cited above, who do have their understanding in right place; however the general trend is still downhill.

PSEUDO-SECULARISM IN THE MEDIA:

As mentioned, some of the graduating batches of pseudo-secular individuals are likely to pick careers in media/broadcasting, and here is where they wreak wide-spread havoc.

Already steeped in Marxist thought, having only a perfunctory academic knowledge of Indian tradition, and completely removed from our cultural ethos, these media men and women think they understand what is good for India better than many Indians who have fortunately not undergone such a cultural alienation as them.

So far we uncovered the mechanism at work, but who is pushing the buttons? As a common civilian lacking access to inside information, I will refrain from making any statements I cannot fully substantiate, so as an exercise, I do encourage typing the phrase ‘Who Owns the Indian Media’, and performing an internet search on it, from which you can draw your own conclusions.

It isn’t surprising that the vocabulary of some media personalities is replete with mocking adjectives for Hindus taking up some prominent public position; be it a Swami or a Politician. In other words, it is okay if you are a devout Christian or a Muslim, and taking part in politics, but if you are a Hindu, you are automatically associated with one or more of the following terms: “God-men”, “saffron brigade”, “fundamentalist”, “Right-winged terrorist”, “communal’ and more.

There are deviants found everywhere, but for every scandal one can associate a Hindu figure with, ten or more scandals could be pointed out connected to the Church. Would the Indian Media dare extend the same disrespect to Christian Clerics or Muslim Imams, as they do towards Swamis? Not by a long shot.

Another favorite pass-time of the Media is R.S.S. (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) bashing. We have all heard it on television and read it in the papers; the media spends more time dogging after R.S.S. than it does chastising real terrorist organizations.

However not everyone is that biased, here is what a former SC Judge, K.T. Thomas, has to say:

“There is a smear campaign that RSS was responsible for Gandhi’s assassination just because the assassin was once an RSS worker,” he said, adding that the organisation had been “completely exonerated” by the court. “This smear campaign must end against RSS,” he said.

“I am a Christian. I was born as a Christian and practise that religion. I am a church-going Christian. But I have also learnt many things about RSS,” he said.

“During the Emergency, RSS was the only non-political organisation which fought against it, he said. “We owe very much to RSS for sacrificing many lives for regaining our fundamental rights,” said Thomas.

That should put the matter at rest. Plenty more could be said about the media, but this gives the general idea.

Read PART 2: Open Letter to India: A Call to Action

By Prashant Parikh

Jawaharlal Nehru lighting a cigarette for the then British high commissioner's wife

“One must beware of ministers who can do nothing without money, and those who want to do everything with money. “ - Indira Gandhi

Disclaimer notice: First and foremost, the author seeks your invaluable blessings. The views in this article are those of the author only. Any and all faults of understanding the topic at hand are the shortcomings of the author. A healthy debate is always encouraged and all criticism (both constructive and destructive) is welcomed. The author and the readers should never lose sight of the main goal: seeking TRUTH.

Introduction – As a follow up to one of my previous articles, Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, 2011, I’ve decided to focus my grievances with the unscrupulous subversion of India’s population as perpetrated by the Nehru-Gandhi clan and its minions. I am quite upset by watching India celebrate the failures of the Nehru-Gandhi clan and its continued erosion of the country’s social, religious, political and economic fabric. You know, we usually hear people say things like: “you don’t give this woman or this man enough credit for all the good things he/she has done”. My task in this modest essay is to shed light on what we don’t hear people say enough: “you don’t give this woman or this man enough credit for all the bad things he/she has done”. So be forewarned, I’ll be quite negative in the following paragraphs. If you are a diehard fan of the Nehru-Gandhi family (the clan), then be prepared to get the wakeup call of your life. I will briefly highlight the failures of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and that imbecilic brat unofficially known as Rahul Gandhi. Following the failures of the Nehru-Gandhi clan will be a brief list of present day malaises of India which can be attributed to the clan. I shall conclude with a juxtaposition of Mahatma Gandhi’s insights with the failures to live by those insights by the Congress Party figures and their corporate allies as one final jolt of reality.

Chacha Nehru my foot! Chacha Blunder is more befitting

I get really upset with some arrogant and stubborn historians who attempt to shove the belief that there is no “if” clause in history down my throat. This, to me, is the highest form of subversion! All disciplines should be analysed and reassessed based on the tweaking (up or down) or insertion/omission of certain variables (characters/events – for historical studies) in a model which explains a certain phenomena or occurrence. With your kind permission (dear readers), I shall use the “if” clause to better explain my grievances with the Nehru-Gandhi clan. So let us begin with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (affectionately known as Chacha Nehru). My own take on the fellow is that he was a power hungry cry baby. Nehru exhibited questionable morality – as his affairs with Lady Mountbatten and others are well documented. He was more at ease with experimenting with unproven foreign policy alternatives such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which went on to weaken Sino-Indian, Indo-American, Indo-Pak relations while it strengthened Indo-Soviet relations.

And now, let us insert my ‘if’ clause and look at Nehru’s tenure as Prime Minister (PM) of India. If Nehru was not such a cry baby, then he would have conceded his defeat to Sardar Patel in the Congress leadership vote. If Sardar Patel was the PM of India, then we could bet with a high degree of confidence that the map of India would be quite different (I’m alluding to Kashmir and other territorial disputes). If Patel was PM, then India would not be governed by the idiotic and experimental foreign policy dictates of Nehru’s “Pancha Sheel – Five Pillars” framework within the Non-Aligned Movement. Nehru’s idiocy is perfectly exemplified by his turning down of the American offer of a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council in 1955. Instead, our beloved Chacha Nehru chose to be the ‘chamcha’ of our shrewd and realistic neighbours, the Chinese. Nehru vouched for China to have a permanent seat on the council. Nehru’s arrogance in avoiding border discussions and over-confidence in his experimental ‘chamchagiri’ caused India to pay a heavy price on the battlefield in 1962. Nehru never recovered from this blunder and neither did India’s foreign policy. In addition, we should not forget that Nehru (at the insistence of Lord Mountbatten) even put the offer of a plebiscite on the table at the UN in order to resolve the Kashmir dispute. This stupid move is still costing India a high price! Thank you, Chacha Nehru! Next, we analyse Nehru’s daughter.

“Garibi Hatao” – Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi

Indira Gandhi

Where to start with Indira Gandhi? We give lots of credit to Mrs Gandhi for having chopped Pakistan in two pieces. She gave the green light for “Smiling Buddha” to make India a nuclear state. And she brought over to India the Green Revolution (a new age of agricultural best practices and research) which was to alleviate India’s food shortages.  That is where the positive vibes end. Mrs Gandhi was elected as PM for three consecutive terms from 1966-1977 (the third of which was rendered invalid by the courts) and came back to power from 1980-1984 until her assassination by a bodyguard.

Indira Gandhi holds two distinctions: 1) She was the only Indian Prime Minister to have declared a state of emergency so that she could ‘rule by decree’ and 2) She was the only Indian Prime Minister to have been incarcerated after holding the office (Mrs Gandhi committed election fraud in 1971 during her ‘Garibi Hatao’ campaign and was found guilty in 1975). The only ‘Garibi’ that Mrs Gandhi was concerned with was her own. Mrs Gandhi’s ‘rule by decree’ during the state of emergency was simply for two reasons: 1) to eliminate dissidents, and 2) to maintain her stranglehold on the country.

Mrs Gandhi’s son, Sanjay, was instrumental in implementing draconian measures in order to eliminate Congress and anti-Indira dissidents as well as to ravage slum dwellers and poor people during the state of emergency. The infamous ‘family planning’ campaign spearheaded by Sanjay is still fresh in the minds of many Indians. Sanjay’s mass vasectomy campaigns were not conducted under proper sanitary conditions and one can only imagine the pain of infection and death that some of the lured patients felt.  Also, to win the blessings of the Gandhis, many public officers and doctors performed more-than-necessary amounts of vasectomies in order to meet the quota prescribed by Sanjay. Mrs Gandhi failed the Indian people by ruling like a tyrant. She took away the rights and freedoms of Indians while projecting a persona of “Mother” of the nation. For what did she do this? For power!

Indira Gandhi’s failures also hit the Punjab. She let Bhindranwale and his followers get to the point where they could assassinate anyone that they deemed heretics (Nirankaris etc.) as they pleased. At the same time, Bhindranwale’s friends received training from the ISI and they all jointly devised a plan to create Khalistan by taking over the Golden Temple. Indira Gandhi was left with no choice but to show Bhindranwale who was boss. Operation Bluestar and the subsequent actions of India’s supercop, KPS Gill, virtually eradicated the Khalistan movement from India. However, there were some very negative consequences. Sikhs were alienated and violated as their holiest shrine was ravaged. We also had the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. As well, I would like to share that this conflict also took the lives of over 329 passengers of Air India flight 182 in 1985. The passengers of that flight were brutally killed by a time bomb placed in the aircraft planted by Canada-based Khalistanis. 291 innocent Indo-Canadians lost their lives due to Indira Gandhi and the Khalistanis!

As a final criticism, many foreign policy experts suggest that Mrs Gandhi did not push hard enough on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to make the LoC a permanent border between India and Pakistan (with respect to Kashmir). But that is a dwarfed issue as her victory in carving Pakistan in to two pieces overshadowed this criticism.

Indira Gandhi’s legacy is nothing short of tyranny. However, her assassination gained her sympathy and it seems that many people have forgotten all of the bad that she had committed. We now move on to her elder son, Rajiv.

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi was a mixed bag. He came in to politics after the assassination of his mother. She had initially planned to push Sanjay (her younger son) in to the top seat of Prime Minister, but he died in an airplane accident. However, Sanjay did rule the country under his mother’s name. Oh, and what a horrific job he did. Rajiv Gandhi came in to politics by accident but left his mark on India’s history. He started off by promising to modernize India, to press for global nuclear disarmament, to decentralise power, to clean up the Holy Ganges and many other promises. However, he was only partially successful in keeping some of his promises. Rajiv Gandhi helped to pave the way for India’s modern economy and peace with China, but that is where the glory stops. He was voted out of office due to his role in the Bofors scandal.

Rajiv Gandhi’s glories of institutionalising peace with China and modernizing India’s economy were overshadowed by his failures. I’ll list some of TK Arun’s thoughts on Rajiv Gandhi’s failures verbatim:

• “The foremost failure is the contempt he showed for the Indian people….The strategy of serially appeasing first Muslim fundamentalists and then Hindu fundamentalists reflected cynical contempt for the people and their intelligence.”
• “A related failure was his tendency to see people as objects of development, rather than as its subjects, the driving force. This led Rajiv Gandhi to trust technology missions to deliver clearly defined development goals.”

Rajiv never got the opportunity to rectify his mistakes and was brutally assassinated by LTTE terrorists in a suicide bomb blast. Rajiv Gandhi had just started to show some political wisdom while in the opposition but never got the chance to prove himself. I suppose the torch needed to be passed on and his time on earth had come to an end.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi (real name - Antonia Edvige Albina Maino Gandhi)

Take a moment to bow your heads in reverence to Dr Subramanian Swamy. If it wasn’t for his swift actions, then Sonia Gandhi would be the Prime Minister of India (instead of Manmohan Singh). This one man has singlehandedly taken down political powerhouses. Many of the corruption scandals that we hear of and which were perpetrated by the Nehru-Gandhi clan were exposed and brought to the Supreme Court by Dr Swamy’s petitions. I don’t have anything positive to say for Sonia Gandhi and her silly son, Rahul. They both have slapped the small positive legacy of Rajiv Gandhi in the face with the record-breaking levels of corruption and sheer incompetence. Sonia doesn’t speak English or Hindi well. She can only do one thing well, and that is corruption. It must have been something she learned from the infamous Mafia of Italy, her motherland. Sonia is going to be brought to justice eventually. Her role in the numerous scams of the day is being exposed. Her son-in-law, Robert Vadra, became a billionaire out of thin air due to the connections that she had. That is just the tip of the iceberg.

One should understand very carefully that Sonia runs and operates India and her Congress party much the same way as a Grand Patriarch in a Mafia of Italy would do. Sonia is the Grand Matriarch of the Congress party and not a single decision is made without her stamp of approval and cut in the share of profits. Politicians and business people know damn well that they must pay respects and hefty tributes to the Grand Matriarch, Sonia in order to rape and pillage the country. I’ll share an example of how desperate some lowly politicians are to get in to Sonia’s inner circle. A few years back, Amar Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar were attending a function in Delhi. Both gentlemen enjoyed their drinks but Aiyar had one too many. In a drunken stupor, he provoked Singh in to a mini-brawl. What was the reason? Aiyar was jealous that Singh and his leader (at the time) Mulayam Singh was gaining much clout with Sonia while Aiyar was struggling to get a berth in the Congress Working Committee. Enough about Sonia let us briefly discuss the brat, Rahul.

Sonia’s dear son Rahul does speak Hindi but he is a walking buffoon who has shown absolutely no political maturity. Rahul’s idea of being a man of the people is to roll up his sleeves and sit down at a villager’s home (near his constituency of Amethi) and eat puri-sabzi while NDTV and CNN-IBN report his every move as “Breaking News”. His staged humility is a sham!

Both Sonia and Rahul have dubious education records. However, Rahul takes the prize for the worst Gandhi as he is also an alleged rapist. If India elects Rahul Gandhi as its next PM, then nothing can save the country from pure and utter disaster. Also, what message will India be sending to the world if it elects an uneducated and alleged rapist to the posting of PM?

To sum up, the culture of failing the Indian people has been well preserved by Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul. One doesn’t even feel like wasting one’s time by discussing the endless list of failures that are attributed to these people. Let us now focus on the social, economic and political malaises that India suffers due to the aggregated efforts of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.

Thank you, Congress! You created the vote bank Beast!

Reservations

It is without doubt that reservation has helped the scheduled castes and tribes (SCST) ameliorate their social status – albeit at a snail’s pace. But there are some real positives that we should focus on: India has had an SCST President, Chief Justice, and female Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh (the most populous state). So to an extent, India’s affirmative action project has been working. However, the sticky point is where there are other groups which desire reservations including: Brahmins (the poor ones), poor Hindus of other castes, Muslims, and Christians. These groups have also had the desire to derive some utility from the reservation system so that they could also land public jobs and send their children to IIMs and IITs to be competitive in the Indian market. However, countless governments on both ends of the political spectrum have been able to accomplish nothing for these unfortunate groups. There has been campaign promise rhetoric here and there by tyrants like Mayawati, but that holds no value unless some changes are made.

What the Hajj?

‘The Law of Double Standards’ is my term for the Congress Party’s special treatment given to our fellow Indian sisters and brothers of the Islamic faith. By special treatment, I mean that our Muslim sisters and brothers have huge, government sponsored subsidies which support and encourage them to go on their Hajj pilgrimages (to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina). Conversely, there are no such luxuries for Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Hindus of India. India bends over backwards to protect only one group’s religious identity. I am sure that all jurists who are truly secular would not let any such luxury be enjoyed by any religious community. Also, these same jurists should also believe that there is no room for Sharia law in India’s legal system. All Indians should have to go through the same processes in order to file for divorce etc. I hold all political parties which have ever governed India responsible for this. It does not matter if we are talking of Congress or the BJP. The entire political spectrum is guilty of this double standard.

Biased Indian Media

Media Bias

If there is the Congress Party in the political realm, then its propaganda wing consists of most of the media outlets in the country. All leading news agencies are guilty of pro-Congress rhetoric. I will lash out on one specific individual who stands out the most. I must admit my endless disdain for the likes of Barkha Dutt and her Congress-biased colleagues in print and TV media. Barkha Dutt’s crocodile tears at the suffering of Hindu groups are not only wretched but quite comical. Ms Dutt will openly cry genuine tears of sorrow for the pain and suffering of our Muslim sisters and brothers in India and across India’s borders. Ms Dutt is also more pro-Kashmiri independence than the Hurriyat, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Sajjad Lone, Sheikh+Farooq+Omar Abdullah, and Syed Geelani combined! If I was Ms. Dutt’s career advisor, then I’d advise her to join hands with fellow sell-out Arundhati Roy to completely liquidate India’s borders!

The Scams

I won’t even elaborate on the exact details of the following scams. The list is actually much larger, but please have a quick peek at the table to get an idea of some of the high profile scams perpetrated by the Nehru-Gandhi clan and its minions.

• Jeep 1947
• ISRO spectrum Scam, Coal Scam and 3G scam
• Bofors
• Adarsh
• CWG
• IPL
• 2G
• Various Land Scams
• Rajiv Gandhi Trust

Disaster

India’s economy is growing at a fast rate and the demographics of the country are promising. However, corruption, lousy infrastructure, and poor governance are all great reasons for concern! Failure to plug these holes may pose the risk of devastating the country. You can thank the Nehru-Gandhi Clan + Congress for the majority of this mess. However, there is a way out.

A homeless young boy waves the Indian flag

Solutions

The first step to improving from the status quo is awareness. I’m not so sure if all Indians are aware of what is truly going on in the country. Media subversion (funded by Congress and its industrialist friends) has played a very negative role in misinforming the public. Alternative media must be further nurtured by the civil society to fight this subversion! It is fast, cheap, democratic, and self-policing. It will be the game changer!

Solutions to India’s problems will only be formulated and executed when the entire population of India knows about the current state of affairs and feels that enough is enough. A collective effort is needed to bring about positive and sustainable change in the Motherland. I would like to offer some food for thought and action:

Mahatma Gandhi gave his grandson, Arun Gandhi, a list of the Seven Blunders of the World that lead to violence. Arun Gandhi added his own idea to the list. Steven W. Gilbert has added four more blunders to the list which focus on teaching, learning, and technology. I’ve added some names beside each blunder (in the Indian context). You be the judge and decide whether my opinions carry any merit or not.

1. Wealth without work [Mahatma Gandhi]  –> Robert Vadra became a billionaire due to Sonia Gandhi’s connections (there are more cases but let us stick to one for now).
2. Pleasure without conscience [Mahatma Gandhi] –> Jawaharlal Nehru (womanizer), Rahul Gandhi (alleged rapist).
3. Knowledge without character [Mahatma Gandhi] –> Manmohan Singh (what use is your education when you have no spine to make decisions?).
4. Commerce without morality [Mahatma Gandhi] –> 2G and CWG Scandals (in recent times). Let us not forget Natwar Singh’s payoffs in the Iraq oil-for-food program!
5. Science without humanity [Mahatma Gandhi] –> Montek Singh Ahluwalia who is lobbying for Monsanto and European/American Pharmaceutical firms to destroy India’s food supply and affordable access to medication!
6. Worship without sacrifice [Mahatma Gandhi] –> All the vote bank seeking politicians who simply pay lip service to communities but are not true to their word.
7. Politics without principle [Mahatma Gandhi] –> P.Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Amar Singh, Salman Khurshid, Digvijay Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi (let’s stick to contemporary politicians only – or else the list will never end).
8. Rights without responsibilities [Arun Gandhi] –> The Apathetic voters who don’t stand up to corruption and tyranny but who complain that their lives are destroyed.
9. Technology without direction [Steven W. Gilbert] –> Nandan Nilekani’s UIDAI government venture has ballooned from Rs 3,023 crore to Rs 17,863 as Nilekani wants to increase his biometric capture mandate. Hmmm, this sounds like a typical consulting engagement which was agreed at one rate and then finalized at a rate which is grossly over budget. It builds dependence of the client on to the consultancy. Typical business model!
10. Connection without community [Steven W. Gilbert] –> Political or business leaders may have Social Media followers or may meet the common man or woman at a face-to-face public event, but that does not translate into true community building. Need I offer examples? I think not.
11. Teaching without joy [Steven W. Gilbert] –> Education is no longer a noble profession in India and elsewhere. It is simply a business! Not to discount the noble educators in the country.
12. Learning without hope [Steven W. Gilbert] –> All of those young students who are working so hard but feel that they have no future due to reservations, corruption, slow job creation, nepotism, and a lack of meritocracy in India!

With that, I sign off wishing you all peace, health, righteousness, self-awareness, and endless resolve to clean up the homeland and the world!

Your humble servant,

Abhaya Shanker Dube

Rahul Gandhi, member of Indian National Congress party and Sonia Gandhi's son relaxes outside of India with his Columbian girlfriend much of the year

By N. Rastogi

New Delhi, India (CHAKRA) - Today, many nations of the world take immense pride in having a stable democratic society with secular values.  One such country is India which is acclaimed around the world for being the largest democracy—but this is only at the surface.  The “democratic” name for India has remained over the years at the cost of the poor and illiterate in rural India as well as at the cost of the majority Hindus in this so called democracy.  The Congress Party has been kept in power for years due to its connection with the Gandhi name and it is up to people living or connected to this nation to question why this party stays in power regardless of unfixed problems related to malnutrition, high illiteracy rates, and corruption.India had enormous potential due to its huge population, rich culture and heritage, fertile river deltas and much more.  It is a great thing for countries to meet the needs and appease their minority populations, but the extent to which India has put its resources into such causes, has caused them to ignore the illiterate and poor population, in addition to treating Hindu’s unjustly.

Now it makes you wonder why a country with so much potential would take such unreasonable action.  The gap between the rich and poor is only advancing and illiteracy rates are going up or remaining constant.  It is a given that any democratic country or a country that calls itself a democracy will put a vast amount of resources into education and a universal education plan but instead the Congress government has focused on other issues related to secularism and appeasement.

It is using these values of secularism to appease the minority and gain more votes to stay in power.  Not only does the government do this for their own gain but allows for missionaries to enter the country and constantly take advantage of the poor to feed them provided that the aided convert.  This forms an equation of minority appeasement plus missionary projects equalling to a positive for the Congress led government. Not only do the appeased minorities now keep the Congress in power for their help, but the poor Hindus who have been aided by missionaries are too uninformed to realize which party to vote for so they go with what they are told to vote for.

Thus keeping the uneducated—uneducated allows for the government to take advantage of them and use their fragile minds to vote for Congress in the name of the one and only Gandhi.

More leadership is needed at the grass roots level where local leaders can have more of an influence on its people, so that at the least people can be taught what their rights are and how they can go about exercising them.  In addition, a government willing to consider universal education needs to be voted into power.  It’s a cycle though that will have a rippling effect.   If more leaders can help at the local level and teach India’s rural population to decide what is right for them, then only can a higher vote bank result in education for example, and greater change for the better.