Narendra Modi speaks at the 29th Annual Session of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO)

By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant, VSM

FICCI is a powerful entity and its women’s wing wields more political and economic power than the main body. At their Annual General Meeting, Narendra bhai Modi was the Chief Guest on Monday, 8th July 2013. The sessiom was so successful that everyone connected with it was patting his or her back. Of course, it was Modi’s show from Aye to Zee, he was on the centre stage all along and every word that left his lips was heard by one and all with rapt attention, never mind the politico-economic views of the listeners. The members and guests kept standing in the auditorium of a five-star hotel in New Delhi as the hall was packed beyond capacity. Of course, the venue was shifted twice to accommodate the unexpectedly large numbers of economists wishing to hear Narendra Modi.

The 42 year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family had addressed the CII audience a couple of days earlier and both the content and the style did not have much to write home about. Indeed that factor aroused people’s imagination and they were rather over keen to hear Narendra Modi and have his speech saved for narration as a bed-time story for adults.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the great socio-religious reformer of the 19th century India did a yeoman’s service to Mankind in general and the Hindus of Bharat in particular by unlocking the divine knowledge, VEDAS, and undertaking to take them to commoners in its Hindi translation to empower them, especially the women folk. He achieved tremendous success and the commoners, women folk in particular, felt that they had acquired a place in the Hindu society, under the sun, and the Vedic empowerment enabled them to walk erect and hold their heads high.

EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

Narendra Modi was given a theme and it goes to his credit that he had woven his stories around the main there only. He did not go astray nor did he sound irrelevant at any time in his hour and a half speech. The anecdotes that he narrated were from the soil of Gujarat and pointed to the down to earth purpose of the talk. The real life story of Jesuben Ka Pizza as opposed to the fictitious story of Kalavati that his arch rival had narrated and thus had brought himself in the line of fire of his critics, was appreciated by one and all. The stories of how Narendra bhai created a place for the women folk in the financial system went well with the audience. These were real life stories and sounded as such. No one raised an accusing finger at them then or later.

The entire speech can be viewed here:

Humour played an important role in Modi’s address and the audience loved it. Of course, the Congress party was directly being criticized and the ignorant 42-year old young man who is not yet a grown up man bore the brunt in absentia. Chief Minister Modi chose not to spare his state’s governor, Kamla Beniwal, for her constitutional impropriety in sitting over a women’s 50 per cent representation in all elected bodies of the state despite its having been passed by the state legislature with a thumping majority. Modi had an appreciative audience and won bouquets as the man who led a charge for women’s political empowerment but it is a woman governor of the Congress party that has been playing the villain all along.

Peals of laughter of the woman folk could be heard every now and then. When Modi ji volunteered to have a break to enable the women entrepreneurs go out for lunch, there was a loud NO to the proposal and the vast audience wished to sit through without taking lunch. When the speaker said that he could go on and on since his next engagement was scheduled for four pm, the women entrepreneurs took it with wit and indicated their wish to continue listening to Narendra bhai as long as he wished to speak. Never a dull moment right from the word GO and until the celebrated Speaker thanked the audience for coming and also for their patience. All said and done, it was a good show and was enjoyable indeed.

A sign held by a Muslim saying ALLAH WILL DESTROY THE TERRORIST STATE OF INDIA

A Critique of de-compos mentis by Dr. O. P. Sudrania

Modi Whiff Wharton Miff – Wharton  Soiled its Rugs?

The blunt knell via Wharton sting: “The rescission now is perceived internationally as an indicator of an institutional position in the vigorous ongoing political debate over upcoming elections in India.” Profs. Aseem Shukla and Saswati Sarkar

How more political or ideological? “We do not endorse any political views and do not support any specific ideology. Our goal as a team is only to stimulate valuable dialogue on India’s growth story,” the statement added.” Student Organisers of WIEF2013

Vilifying Narendra Modi (centre right) in a forum where Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Milind Deora (centre left and representatives of political arch rivals UPA II) were co-invitees, will be seen paying politically to humiliate their most hated opponent and a rival Prime Ministerial aspirant at every available stance. He is also a biggest stumbling block in the uphill road for the ‘Khurshid’s Cameo’ Prince Rahul Gandhi, the cynosure of the dynasty of Nehru-Gandhi (1^st) family loyalists; has been crucified in the media dock, is left permanently scarred, bruised and vilified. “Is Modi vilified or vindicated in this imbroglio, I feel time will prove him stronger”?

The Wharton India Economic Forum at Wharton Business School has created flutters over the disgusting invitation scandal using Modi as a petty scapegoat to please the centre-leftist political forces in India. The invitation was rescinded on March 4, 2013; Wharton declared, “As it stands currently, Mr. Modi’s keynote address at Wharton India Economic Forum has been cancelled.”

Modi never asked for in the first place. TOI quipped, “Interestingly, one of WIEF’s speakers in previous years who did not attract the attention of Ghose and his associates was BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who was accused of hate speech and more recently acquitted of the charges.”

“… The model that Narendra Modi has put forward is seriously flawed and is based on some extremely egregious flouting of human rights. That is his economic model” Ghosh said. He further added that contrary to public opinion “Gujarat has some of the worst (no data) human development index report. We need to unpack this rhetoric what development is and we will continue to do that,” he added. Read here the full text of their letter.

“In 2007, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University. Needless to say, Ahmadinejad is not exactly a popular figure and was even booed at the event, but Columbia President Lee Bollinger staunchly defended inviting the divisive figure, saying the event was “an enormous benefit in terms of advancing public understanding.”

In a candid sarcasm, “An Indian Politician’s Past Proves Too Hard to Shake”, Chandrahas Choudhury has rightly critiqued the travail of Mr Narendra Modi in the aptly worded phrase. It is less with the said Indian politician (Narendra Modi) than the paranoid current Indian biased media, with no ethics and morality are working as paid news under the patronage of patriarchal glitch.

The Modi Glitch:

In 2002, there were 58 Kar sevaks burnt in the Sabarmati Express including 38 children, infants and women by dousing the S6 bogie after stopping it just past the platform by a strong mob of thousands of Muslims preplanned, laced with all the incendiary material. It is also widely learnt that the said incidence was masterminded, funded, manned through the local Islamist groups knowing that the Hindu pilgrims were returning in the concerned compartment. This has a historical background behind it.

Historical Background: Hindus Live an Exiled Life in Their Home –

Godhra is a well known place where Ghanchi Muslim activists have always been volatile and violent as usual per their Pavlovian reaction. “The court recorded the history of communal riots in Godhra – there were incidents in 1965, 1969, 1971, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1992.”

Firstly the Hindu community has been a most peace loving docile masses termed “Hindu banya” in the pejorative hate phraseology of the most dreaded outlawed Islamist Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed, chief of banned organisation Lashkar-e Taiba Vis a Vis Muslims or any other sections of people.

Secondly Hinduism has traditionally believed in tolerance and considers the entire living being as sacrosanct, equivalent to human life. Thus Hinduism has always advanced the philosophy of “Vasudev Kutumbakam” – universal brotherhood. This further translates into their practice of non conversion or proselytisation; predation is out of question. Advertisements are seen for becoming a Muslim or a Christian but never saw any such attempt by any Hindu organisation thus far. This ‘Hindu tolerance’ is being equated sadly with coward ‘Hindu baniya’.

Having said, this rampant religious evangelism and proselytisation is bound to incite Hindu retaliatory reaction, as existential threat increases in the competitive global God market. If this backlash does ever take place, it will be most unfortunate and sad news for the peaceful co-existence of the global fraternity in an already factionally torn society.

Origin of fiasco in Wharton campus:

Few names must be studied threadbare, e.g. 1. Angana Chatterjee and her live-in partner Richard Shapiro, cynosure of radical Muslims in Kashmir where he goes with his contubernal partner frequently for Jewish-Muslim interfaith promotion (?), what a travesty 3. Suzzane Arundhati Roy, 4. Ania Loomba, 5. Toorjo Ghosh, 6.Catherine Bryson, 7. Suvir Kaul 8. A M Rosenthal, etc.

These videos describe who opposed Modi’s invite and caused pressure on Wharton’s WIEF organizers via their ‘furious’ petition.

Why a blogpost relating to Jammu and Kashmir and sympathiser of Pakistan advanced by some Muslim anonymous authors (New Red Indian) have sympathy with Ms Angana and her contubernal partner? Let us examine the following extract: “Stop the termination of Chatterji and Shapiro at CIIS” October 25, 2011 by newredindian

“… the suspension of two core faculty of the Social and Cultural Anthropology (SCA) Department, Chair Richard Shapiro and Professor Angana Chatterji.” Thus far they both remain suspended. It is noteworthy that this post at this anonymous Muslim blog comes soon after their dismissal in July 2011; smacks of some complicity and is not without a vested interest.

This Pakistani sympathy and their (Angana duo) heartfelt deep conviction of Human Rights violation against the Kashmiri Muslims Vis a Via Kashmiri Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and even those Muslims who these Pakistani sponsored Islamist terrorists consider “Kaffirs”; cannot be brushed aside lightly. They were also in the best books of infamous ISI and its notorious spy Ghulam Nabi Fai, who is now behind bar for his illegal activities and tax evasion in USA. He received millions of dollars from ISI to throw lavish parties and bribe the suspected conduits and lawmakers in USA, besides the rogue elements like Angana and her unconventional contacts and partners in this murky corrupt practice. Hence her interest against Narendra Modi fiasco is extremely business related quid pro quo for Islamist cause directly against India and Hindus equivalent to treason against her nation of birth. People like hers usually engage in such attention seeking mean and cheap activities irrespective of its gravity and sensitivity.

“Her family included mixed-caste parents and grandparents, and aunts who were Muslim or Catholic.” Peruse the link for more of her biographical details here.

Angana Chatterjee’s Playback Singings:

It is noteworthy to peruse this statement and a rebuttal here. “A Rebuttal to Angana Chatterji’s Misinformation Campaign against India; 22/08/2008 20:41:53

LETTER TO OFFICE OF HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, IN RESPONSE TO INDIA BAITER ANGANA CHATTERJI’S LETTER. This letter is an eye opener as back as 2008.

Sandeep writes, “I first heard about Angana Chatterji in connection with the Narendra Modi U.S Visa denial episode. That was some six years ago at which time her name was one among the numerous folks who had ruthlessly worked behind the scenes to make sure that the US didn’t give Modi the visa.”

Sandeep further exposes her: “Angana Chatterji is one of the leading lights of the radical Leftist outfit called Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL), which lends support to violent and banned organizations that regularly carry out guerilla wars against the Indian state. FOIL has been highly controversial ever since its inception. For a detailed account, see this chapter in NGOs Activists and Foreign Funds, a seminal volume that has found a place in the Indian Parliament’s library.

The Star of FOSA

Far more dangerous than FOIL is Friends of South Asia (FOSA)—an offshoot/offspring/sibling of FOIL—with which Angana has been associated from the beginning. Very briefly, FOSA is a combination of FOIL and the Pakistan-American Association, with very apparent sponsorship from the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence, per the Pakistani media. Led by Gera, Ra(h)man, Vinay Lal, Mainland Chinese CIIS graduate student(s) working for Chatterji, and several Pakistanis. FOSA with the Pakistan American Association (PAA) are the worthies seen on San Francisco streets holding signs saying: Sometime in April-May 2005, FOSA, which had gotten sponsorship from the Pakistan American Alliance (PAA), took out a public demonstration jointly in San Francisco. One of the “highlights” of that demonstration includes a prominent placard that proclaimed “ALLAH WILL DESTROY THE TERRORIST STATE OF INDIA.” (Original Picture here)

When outrage ensued at this appalling, open call for destruction, FOSA resorted to blatant cover-up by removing all references to PAA from its website. The complete account of FOSA’s chicanery in this connection is available in these documents: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

Indeed, all prominent events that FOSA has held under its banner have a distinct tinge of anti-America, anti-India and pro-Pakistan and/or pro-Islamism written all over. And Angana Chatterji is at the forefront of almost all these events. An illustrative example is the “SELF DETERMINATION IN SOUTH ASIA: South Asia’s Struggle against US-led Imperialism” panel discussion, …featuring Vijay Prashad, Angana Chatterji, Abdul Nayyar, and Snehal Shingavi…”

Showing Solidarity with FeTNA

Angana’s association with sympathizers, advocates, and supporters of violence and terror is as wide as it is far-reaching. Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA) is just another outfit in her long list of terror-friendly associations. FeTNA is a front of the now-decimated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), an outfit that finds a place in the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Angana’s association with FeTNA is primarily in connection with the California Textbook Controversy where she wrote a letter, under FOSA’s banner, to the California State Education Board expressing solidarity with FeTNA, which opposed the proposed textbook revision on grounds rooted in Tamil chauvinism —the same chauvinism that led to the decades-long LTTE-perpetrated bloody civil strife in Sri Lanka.” More here.

Sandeep continues in his Part 2: “…The fact that she finds America, not Saudi Arabia or Pakistan a very conducive place to pontificate on the liberating virtues of terrorism says a lot: use their money, their infrastructure, their media, and their government to help those who’ve sworn to destroy the US (Israel and India).”

Sandeep exposes her links with ISI, LTTE, FeTNA, Maoists and Naxalists, Left-winger political organisations, which involve against the ‘imperialist interests of India, Israel, USA but she finds no fault in ethnic cleansing of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, christians, in radicalised Kashmir valley, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia including the fortyfour terrorist training camps in PoK.

Sandeep states further, “And so there we have it: the ISI agent Ghulam Nabi Fai who parrots His Master’s Line and Angana Chatterji also known as “Mary,” his associate/friend/co-activist, who takes the exact same line. But let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth: the FBI charge sheet mentions a certain Mary who “would be testifying in front of a United Nations working group. Mary is a human rights activist; Major General Mumtaz Ahmad Bajwa had requested that Fai introduce him to Mary in July 2009.” Major General Bajwa was the head of ISI’s Security Directorate, which was responsible for nurturing and helping Kashmiri terrorist groups.

With such strong evidence that nail Angana Chatterji’s credentials as a willing stooge of the ISI, it’s unsurprising that she has consistently hushed up and/or whitewashed Pakistan-backed terrorism in Kashmir and has repeatedly taken an anti-India line, a chilling echo of the ISI’s words, and guns and bombs set off by the terrorists it backs. What’s worse is the fact that her claims about India’s alleged human rights abuse in Kashmir are based on gross fabrications.”

The extent of Ghulam Nabi Fai’s lobbying success is evident when Congressman Joseph “Joe” Pitts from Pennsylvania “introduced a resolution in 2004 calling for peace between Pakistan and India in the disputed territory of Kashmir – just days after he had received a $2,000 campaign contribution from Zaheer Ahmad, one of two men charged with distributing Pakistani money to U.S. politicians.”

Pitts has donated that money to charity since Fai was discovered to be an ISI agent but the question remains: didn’t he do due diligence before accepting said $2000? … The same applies in equal measure to Indiana Congressman Dan Burton, who took $10,000 from Fai. Dan Burton already carries the tag of being too pro-Pakistan on the exact same Kashmir issue.

“…But that’s not all there is to Franks. He’s associated with the Dalit Freedom Network, a group that claims to work for the Dalits of India but is engaged in rather shady activities. It’s actually a group run by White people and everything about it starting from its address is fake. A few years ago, when a subpoena was served on them and the person serving the subpoena went to the address, he found that it was actually a Church! One wonders why an organization that claims to be a human-rights NGO needs to indulge in this kind of falsification. (It also exposes the heinous church complicity in castes in India.)

In May 2007, Trent Franks introduced a resolution on untouchability as an unacceptable practice, a move aimed at furthering the cause of the Dalits. Except that this selfsame resolution was pasted verbatim on a website that talks about the prowess of Pakistan’s defence establishment! The reach of Trent Franks is as truly amazing as it is mysterious.”

“The picture that emerges of Trent Franks is gravely disturbing: a Republican Congressman who is associated with a shady “human-rights” outfit, who supports a Communist professor (and her live-in-partner), who is herself the stooge of ISI, which has nurtured Al Qaeda, the group responsible for 9/11. Even more disturbing is the fact that Trent Franks sits on the Committee on Armed Services, and Committee on the Judiciary in the House of Representatives. It’s not too farfetched to conclude that the American people … were unaware that the Jihad-mongers in ISI were skillfully manipulating … Franks.”

One commentator in this post furnished: “Here is a link to the testimony, where you can access full-text documents submitted by witnesses, as well as video of the hearings, which included a Q&A session with U.S. congressmen in which ties to GN Fai were discussed and Angana featured eminently.”

Following excerpts from Angana Chatterjee’s blog narrating a long babble of her indulgent biographical details:

Chatterji is convener, Co-founder and Co-convener of the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir, which she instituted with Parvez Imroz in 2008. The first such civil society-based effort in Kashmir, the (self styled) People’s Tribunal has documented witness/survivor testimonies, investigating legal-political states of exception, disappearances, gendered and sexualized violences, torture, extrajudicial killings, and unknown and mass graves. Parvez Imroz is also convener of International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir (IPTK) alongside Angana Chatterji, Gautam Navlakha, Zaheer-Ud-Din, Mihir Desai, Khurram Parvez – Liaison IPTK and Programme Coordinator, Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.

Queries may be directed to:
Khurram Parvez
E-mail: kparvez@kashmirprocess.org
Phone: +91.194.2482820
Mobile: +91.9419013553

Chatterji has received support, including scholarships and research awards, for her work from various institutions, including the Planning Commission of India, Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development, Ford Foundation, Wallace Global Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, SwedForest, Marra Foundation, and the University of California, Berkley.

She received grants from American and Indian official organisations, only to back stab them!

Also peruse Facebook Link on Facebook developed by a group of patriotic youngsters with their own Website first developed it on 3 March 2013 following the Wharton Narendra Modi Fiasco. The Facebook link has a good collection of material relating to this episode. It sites a number of videos trying to expose this loathingly disgusting episode.

Rajiv Malhotra on Angana Chatterjee

“While she finds US intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan to be a violation of those countries’ rights and calls George Bush ‘a man who himself should be charged with crimes against humanity,’[iv] she still wants US intervention in India’s affairs, for example through the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Chatterji provided testimony before the United States Congressional Task Force on International Religious Freedom on violence in Orissa,[v] chaired by Congressmen Trent Franks and Joseph R. Pitts, both with strong right-wing evangelical connections.[vi]

Malhotra cites several names like: Martha Nussbaum, Lise McKean, Romilla Thapar, Meera Nanda and Vijay Prasad besides off course the ubiquitarian Angana Chatterjee. He also states: “A closer look at these scholars will illustrate their funding, their connections and their agendas.”

“For almost a decade Chatterji, … had worked tirelessly to build up a body of work that took a critical record of India’s human rights violations in Kashmir. Today, most of her work has been stigmatized by her association with Fai.

Alongwith Angana, others involved were: Gautam Navalakha, journalist Ved Bhasin, Sonia-MM Sigh’s choice – Kashmir interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar, justice Rajinder Sachar, former chief justice of Delhi High Court (who was commissioned by UPA II in 2005 to prepare a report on the latest social, economic and educational condition of the Muslim community of India, headed by the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar, including other six members), Kuldip Nayar.

Angana acclaimed pretentiously, “It was embarrassingly bad judgment on hindsight,” … adding that she found “the news of Dr. Fai’s alleged actions on behalf of the ISI to be highly disturbing and disillusioning.” Navalakha had a similar reaction.

Intelligence shared by the US with India indicates that Fai also sought money from the ISI using the names of these prominent Indians. “At one point Fai sought $50,000 from them using the names of Indian intellectuals like Chatterji and Padgaonkar,” a senior Indian official familiar with the case said.

More Angana Stage Facade:

Uploaded on Nov 20, 2009

The first of two panel discussions spnsored by the CarrCenter’s Kashmir Initiative. This event took place November 11, 2009 at HarvardUniversity’s Kennedy School of Government.
Panelists included: Dr. Sugata Bose, Dr. Ayesha Jalal, Alexander Evans, John Halpern and Dr. Angana Chatterji; Suvir Kaul, Parvez Imroz, Dr. Ahmad Faruqui, Robert Nickelsberg.

Suzzane Arundhanti Roy:

Angana is also close to another known Indian lady Suzzane Arundhanti Roy, also a bird of the same flock but mostly flies in Delhi. They have both co-authored a book on Kashmir and both of them are heavy weight darlings of the Kashmiri separatists and Fai Inc. aka Pakistan/ISI.

Suzzane Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya, India, to Ranjit Roy, a Bengali Hindu tea planter and Mary Roy, a Malayali Syrian Christian women’s rights activist.

Suzzane is more vibrant in her than Arundhati Roy, ought to be taken note of.

She is a spokesperson of the anti-globalization/alter-globalization movement and a vehement critic of neo-imperialism and of the global policies of the United States. She also criticises India‘s nuclear weapons policies and the approach to industrialisation and rapid development as currently being practised in India, including the Narmada Dam project and the power company Enron‘s activities in India.

Support for Kashmiri separatism by both Roy and Chatterjee.

In an interview with the Times of India published in August 2008, Arundhati Roy expressed her support for the independence of Kashmir from India after massive demonstrations in favour of independence took place—some 500,000 separatists rallied in Srinagar in the Kashmir part of Jammu and Kashmir state of India for independence on 18 August 2008, following Amarnath land transfer controversy. According to her, the rallies were a sign that Kashmiris desire secession from India, and not union with India. She was criticised by Indian National Congress (INC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for her remarks.

“…she also crusaded against India’s massive hydroelectric dam projects in the central and western states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.”

Roy has raised questions about the investigation into the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and the trial of the accused. She has called for the death sentence of Mohammad Afzal to be stayed while a parliamentary enquiry into these questions are conducted and denounced press coverage of the trial. The Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar criticised Roy for calling convicted terrorist Mohammad Afzal a ‘prisoner-of-war’ and called Arundhati a ‘prisoner of her own dogma (and conscience too if not the loyalty)’.

Roy’s criticisms about Mumbai terror attack are no less impressive. In her estimation, Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab are war heroes. “In an opinion piece for The Guardian (13 December 2008), Roy argued that the November 2008 Mumbai attacks cannot be seen in isolation, but must be understood in the context of wider issues in the region’s history and society such as widespread poverty, the Partition of India …, the atrocities committed during the 2002 Gujarat violence, and the ongoing conflict in Kashmir. … Roy warns against war with Pakistan, arguing that it is hard to “pin down the provenance of a terrorist strike and isolate it within the borders of a single nation state”, …”. Her remarks were strongly criticised by Salman Rushdie and others, who condemned her for linking the Mumbai attacks with Kashmir and economic injustice against Muslims in India; Rushdie specifically criticised Roy for attacking the iconic status of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower. Indian writer Tavleen Singh called Roy’s comments “the latest of her series of hysterical diatribes against India and all things Indian.”

In November 2010, Roy (along with Syed Ali Shah Geelani and five others) was brought up on charges of sedition by the Delhi Police. With such diverse perversive personality defect, the role complicity against Modi is perhaps too little. Look here for further perusal.

Professor C I Isaac dismisses her, “But Arundhati’s are masqueraded in bogus arguments of secularism and democracy.”

The right to free speech is not simply the right to talk — it is the right to have an audience. You cannot have true dialogue and advance public knowledge without a rigorous discussion involving both sides of the story.”

Allowing Modi to speak at the Forum would not have legitimized him, but the result has legitimized, to an extent, suppressing the speech of those we disagree with (by disinvite).

Blowback from Wharton Scandal

Now, Mohandas Pai drops out of Wharton show By NitiCentral Staff (Excerpt)

Pai said he was upset at the way India had been treated by a section of the international community at the forum.

WIEF has been hit by a string of keynote speakers dropping out, after its controversial decision to first invite Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to the forum, and rescind the invitation.

…He is the latest in the list of panelists and sponsors who have opted out of the forum, after Wharton’s controversial decision to rescind its invitation to Modi.

Gautam Adani from the Adani Group, and Atul Nishar from Hexaware Technologies have dropped off as key sponsors of the WIEF.

Columnist Sadanand Dhume, who is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, an American think-tank, withdrew from the conference.

Dr Preetha Reddy, managing director of Apollo Hospitals, and Dr Ashwin Naik, CEO and co-founder of Vaatsalya Healthcare too, are no longer among the listed speakers at the forum.

Your Voice | Modi should have stayed: by Aseem Shukla is an associate professor at the Perelman School of Medicine. Saswati Sarkar a Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering professor (Excerpt)

As members of the Penn faculty, we have shared our views … Our concern is not whether Modi should be feted or condemned, but that capriciously silencing an invited speaker without (cogent) explanation wrought the following:

a) The rescission now is perceived internationally as an indicator of an institutional position in the vigorous ongoing political debate over upcoming elections in India. Extending an entirely avoidable discourtesy to Modi and the largest opposition party alliance effectively galvanized his legions of supporters. The citizens and press in India are indignant that the conference would seem to endorse the current ruling coalition. The move also fosters the perception that the University is corroborating a particular ideology, rather than considering the perspectives and aspirations of the greater Penn Indian-American community.

b) We must neither be supporters nor detractors of Modi to condemn extremist rhetoric and categorically false accusations to vitiate dialogue here at Penn. After a special investigative team appointed by India’s fiercely independent Supreme Court held that Modi did not launch a “pogrom” in Gujarat to target its Muslim minority, the United Kingdom and European Union lifted a ban on his diplomatic credentials — the United States has yet to follow. Gujarat under Modi enjoys the most economic freedom in India and, … it showed the most rapid decline in malnutrition among all Indian states between 2007 and 2011. Most certainly, neither Modi nor any mainstream politician in pluralistic India is either an anti-Muslim or an anti-Semite. Modi has resoundingly won democratic mandates of several Muslim-dominated constituencies in Gujarat, and currently, Gujarat enjoys the strongest relationship with Israel in its history.

The Wharton India Economic Forum was right to invite Modi to join its prestigious forum. His is an influential voice in the Indian polity and relevant to any dialogue on the convergence of business, policy and governance. The public disinvitation of a thrice-elected leader of a state of 60 million people invited unprecedented international censure, loss of nearly all of the forum’s corporate sponsorship and several distinguished speakers.

However, the saddest consequence of the rescission is capitulation on the value that constitutes the core of a vibrant academic ecosystem — that of encouragement of a plurality of discourse.

More reactions against the Wharton Scandal: Important reads

(1) Your Voice | Attacks on Hindus play out in the theater of the absurd

Arvind Kumar can be reached at arvind@classical-liberal.net.

(2) There were serious protests against the Wharton decision, “Members of the protest called the march a memorial to free speech”

(3) Wharton Pulls Away Narendra Modi’s Invite, Creates Controversy by Archana Chaudhary

(4) Modi Effect: Wharton Loses Main Sponsor Gautam Adani

USA House of Representatives and Business delegation meet Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on March 28, days after Wharton’s WIEF event.

By Janice C.

(CHAKRA) In 2013, the prestigious  school of Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania had its annual Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF). The event organizers invited Narendra Modi to be their keynote speaker via live telecast, but due to later cancelled his invitation due to pressure from non-Wharton staff with opinionated and furious bias of Modi’s involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots where hundreds of Hindus and Muslims both died.

More details on the ‘furious’ anti-Modi petition that prevented Modi from speaking at the event can be read here. Ironically, a few days after Wharton’s WIEF event, Modi was visited by a USA delegation in Gujarat. The delegation consisted of 3 USA Congress Representative (Cathy Rodgers, Representative Aaron Schock and Representative Cynthia Lummis) with prominent business persons also present.

The below video describes who opposed Modi’s invite and caused pressure on Wharton’s WIEF organizers via their ‘furious’ petition.  Some of the names indicated in the video are Ania Loomba, Toorjo Ghosh, Anjali Arondekar,  who all have some type of connections to Angana Chatterji, a key player in the opposition of Modi’s 2005 USA visit, based on the video below. The video also highlights how some of the anti-Modi petitioners have been associated with other common campaigns in the past.

It seems even in modern America it is possible for some academics  that are accused by many to be biased against a  religion and community can help stop a respected 3-time democratically elected official from speaking at an economic conference, even though hundreds of professionals and students protested the decision to ban Modi from speaking at the event. More details about the pro free-speech, pro freedom of thought, pro democracy and pro-Modi protests can be read here.

Please take 10 minutes to watch the below video describing some not-so-public details around the whole anti-Narendra Modi petition that influenced the Wharton WIEF from hosting the Gujarat Chief Minister and potential next PM of India.

2012 Time 100 - Narendra Modi

Voting is on for the 2012 Time magazine Top 100 list. Time’s 100 list consists of leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes you think are the most influential people in the world. Several Indians are among the contenders in this list.

They include IAC leader Anna Hazare, touted as the Future PM of India by a section of Indian public and acclaimed worldwide for his exemplary development, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Bihar Chief Minister and another icon of development, Nitish Kumar, Bollywood actress Vidya Balan, Salman Khan founder and executive director, Khan Academy and the ‘God’ of World Cricket for his fans and others, Sachin Tendulkar.

Voting is on till April 6th. You can vote both in favour of and against a person with “Definitely” or “No way”.

To vote for/against Narendra Modi

To vote for/against Anna Hazare

To vote for/against Nitish Kumar

Switch onto any American fundamentalist Christian programme such as the notorious CBN and its 700 Club run by Pat Robertson and you will be asked for donations to help spread the true faith among the wretched and pathetic poverty stricken masses of India who are enslaved by a socio-economic condition created by the caste system and the demonic faith of Hinduism. Robertson’s Operation Blessing operates in many countries and as well as spreading hardcore intolerant Christianity through aid projects also provides Robertson with a lucrative income to help ‘fund’ his private helicopter and other nice little perks. Of course Robertson is far from alone and he does not just target Hindus.

KP Yohannen was born in India and from his adopted homeland of America launched the uncompromising message of conversion and vilification of heathen faiths in Gospel for Asia . Like Robertson, Yohannen is very keen that freedom of religion is pushed in all countries, especially India . Yet at the same time both men foam at the mouth at the very idea of even yoga coming to America . So perhaps we should take their freedom of religion with the unhealthy scepticism it deserves.

In the gallery of Hindu-hating Christian preacher types Yohannen is joined by fellow Indian immigrant Dinesh D’Souza now veteran of the American conservative scene. He is however a comparative latecomer to religious apologetics, even though one his early forays into writing involved a gushing eulogy for Jerry Falwell, a vile character who defended racial segregation. No surprise that on hearing of his death Christopher Hitchens referred to Falwell as a “carcass”. But D’Souza is quick to praise Christianity for bringing equality especially to Hindu converts like his own ancestors. He even praises Christianity for being responsible for India ’s recent economic rise and Hinduism as the reason for its backwardness for, yes, you guessed it, the caste system. The interesting thing is that Christian hardcore preachers like the delightful people just mentioned in my introduction seem to ignore their own backyard. This is not surprising. An estimated fifty million Americans are uninsured which means they lack basic health care. This year a documentary by BBC1’s Panorama exposed the raw reality of what this means. No job means no health care, something which is becoming an increasingly grim daily subsistence for the growing numbers if poor and unemployed.

And what exactly are the god-fearing doing to tackle this? Well in a disturbing article from the Digital Journal in 2009 entitled ‘Religious Right: Health Care Reform is Against God’s Plan’ Carol Forsloff exposed Christian groups such as Olive Tree Ministries, Minnesota family Council, Focus on the Family, The Christian Coalition of America and the American Family Association as calling for town hall meetings to be swamped in order to defeat health reforms being enacted to help the country’s least well off.

Obama was even called the anti-Christ for his efforts to tackle the simple fact that poor Americans simply cannot afford adequate health care which people in Europe take for granted. Southern Baptists meanwhile, a group that Obama would have been barred from even joining until the 1970s because of his part-African origins, claim that the president’s health reforms will fund an increase in abortions. While they are so keen to prevent the death of the unborn they remain unwilling to prevent the needless death of their fellow citizens from preventable diseases. In 2006 Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention brushed off the idea of equality saying that not everyone can afford Cadillacs.

It is not simply that Christian hardcore groups are against equality of health care because while they fulminate against India ’s poverty being the result of the ‘caste system’ and above all that idol-worshipping false creed of Hinduism, the Christian fundamentalists sit upon a very dirty secret. Americans have always felt that god himself blessed their nation with special favour, making the United States a beacon to all mankind. An increasingly secular Europe has become irked at trans-Atlantic religious observance and moral superiority. Into the twenty-first century, bucking the trend in the developed world, Americans remain famous for their religious observance. There are two hundred Christian television channels, 1500 Christian radio stations, and Christian road signs everywhere. In many small towns the churches outnumber bars. It is impossible to avoid Christianity completely in America . In this the most powerful nation on earth, ninety-five percent of people believe in god, forty percent attend church at least weekly, and three out of four people belong to a church. Religious observance is at its deepest in the southern states where two thirds of people claim they have undergone a religious experience. George Bush Jr was in fact a radical evangelist who was enacting his vision of American exceptionalism, a nation whose destiny had been ordained by god.

The Bible

America ’s creation myth states that the nation was founded by free men and women who created a democratic and egalitarian model society from scratch. In reality the freedoms taken for granted by modern America evolved only gradually from a harsh system of forced labour, penal servitude and black slavery. The Puritan origins of what became America remain evident in that nation’s culture and psyche, withstanding the diverse immigrant groups that have settled in what is now the United States . In 2006, George Walden, former private secretary to British foreign secretaries David Owen and Lord Carrington, reported that sixty per cent of Americans are Protestant Christians, of whom one quarter are evangelicals. Puritan ethic continues to infuse American society. The stress on individual virtue and personal development as a sign of one’s worth, hard work as an indication of merit, material success as a reward for diligence are legacies of the Puritan theocratic ethos.

The English Puritans who came to American shores wanted to build a utopia, and were heavily influenced by Calvinist ideas of predestination. With its concept of the “elect”, Calvinism held that god has decided our fate in advance, and only the fittest souls were predestined for salvation. The rest are damned as George Walden explained in his 2006 book ‘God Won’t Save America’:

Outlandish as its theory seems, the idea of predestination is by no means foreign to the contemporary American psyche. ‘A loser’ is a very American term, as is ‘a born loser’, with its implication that society is divided into losers and winners from the start. . . . We think of genetics as stark in its implications, but Calvinist predestination was starker, if only because Puritans made no allowance for what we would call environmental factors in deciding who was to be damned.

From 1647, The Westminster Confession became the most authoritative English text for Calvinism and greatly influenced American Puritans in this idea of foreordained bifurcation of humanity into the saved and the damned. From this idea it is a linear development to the unscrupulous businessman offering products to the poorest, least educated and least intellectually endowed, designed to appeal to immediate emotional, sexual and instant gratification, or a drug dealer disclaiming all responsibility for supplying his addicts, who do are inherently incapable of knowing any better:

“In cold logic – and Puritan logic could be very chilly – both Calvin and the least scrupulous business folk of today have a point. If the consumers in question are hopeless profligates who will never get a grip of their lives, little harm can be done by trading on their vices. What sticks in the craw is the idea that of Christians acting on the premise that some human souls are irredeemable, and profiting from the knowledge. Basing itself on Puritan habits of thought, the American business conscience appears to be able to accommodate things that, to the non-Christian or agnostic, seem deeply impure. Puritan talk about the fecklessness of the poor can sound remarkably like the thinking of economic ultra-conservatives today, in which whole sections of society are overtly or tacitly written off. The fact that America has become a less socially mobile society than it was (according to a recent study only Britain is less meritocratic), and that educational opportunities are becoming as widely differentiated as incomes, makes this an even less Christian attitude.”

The individualism which sprang from settler America is a direct result of this Puritan ethos. Southern evangelicism in particular endorses the social status quo and has always defended social privilege, believing that government interference makes no difference to progress and prosperity. This conservative ethic is now spreading across the rest of the country. Its origins of course lie in the Puritan ethic of the original English settlers. The Religious Right has always insisted that America was meant to be a Christian nation. Exactly what this meant in terms of the poverty gap has been made abundantly clear. The Christian fundamentalist business empires took root in the 1960s but their roots went back much further.

In 1927 Bob Jones University was founded and became the largest national producer of fundamentalist preachers. By 1930 there were already fifty fundamentalist Bible colleges. Billy Graham rose to prominence from 1950 with his lucrative mega crusades. In 1960 Pat Robertson founded his Christian Broadcasting Network. In 1973 Paul and Jan Crouch founded what was to become world’s largest Christian broadcasting network, Trinity Broadcasting Network. In 1971 Jerry Falwell founded Liberty University in Lynchburg as a private educational institution. Liberty would grow into the world’s biggest Christian university. To this end the dominant and largely white Protestant preachers have opposed far-reaching social activism in the name of Christ.

In the 1980s Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority which promoted family values, anti-abortion, and patriotism. Falwell held that capitalism had been ordained by god. Property ownership, competition and commercial success was Biblical. He therefore argued for cuts in social welfare but increasing the defence budget. After 1988 Falwell’s fellow Christian fundamentalists Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed married pro-business with a socially conservative agenda to build the Christian Coalition which was actively courted by George Bush Jr. The Christian Religious Right denounced Medicare and supported cuts in government spending, even as it was willing to use power of government to enforce their fundamentalist values and intrude into the private lives of others notably abortion and homosexuality. A vice-like grip of history, ideology and theology now hold the monopoly of power in Washington . As America polarises the privileged top twenty per cent have tightened their grip on elite universities. The bottom twenty per cent are locked into a vicious cycle of low wages, few skills, indifferent schools and lack of health care which means that they are far less likely to exit poverty than the poor in Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and even Britain.

This underclass has developed its own subculture of alienation and disaffection as it is locked into a desperate struggle for survival and is all too familiar with the corrosive gun culture. By contrast the “overclass” is sheltered not only from gun culture, but is actively opting out of the American way of life using the conservative and anti-statist philosophy to justify its detachment. Just as the elite British schools of Westminster and St. Pauls dominate intake onto the universities of Oxford and Cambridge , Andover and Exeter pupils predominate in Yale and Harvard. By 1997 Warren Buffet was so concerned by this aristocracy of the rich that he organised the Campaign for Responsible Taxation. But he was up against George Bush’s plans for tax cuts and the huge support which he had from an elite who live in exclusive gated communities such as Hidden and Rolling Hills in California and are fierce critics of any state intervention in helping the poor. The growth of this Selfish Capitalism has been helped by the influence of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism which decries altruism as evil and raises individual selfishness to be a virtue and has gone mainstream as seen by the Tea Party Movement. Therefore Christian fundamentalists have not hesitated to employ the ideas of the staunch secularist, atheist and virulently anti-religious Ayn Rand to argue that god helps those who help themselves. Most of America ’s wealthy do not accept resultant social responsibility that was common in the past with ruthless tycoon barons such as Rockefeller and Carnegie.

They follow the dictate of Cornelius Vanderbilt who was against philanthropy because giving away money meant losing power, and power was of course the key motivation for acquiring wealth. Downsizing has meant more part-time work and an impermanent labour market, better for employers as they can avoid paying for health insurance. Once in poverty few manage to leave since there is lower social mobility than Britain , Italy , Germany or France and will get worse. Although a flexible labour market is held to be the key to economic success, America has been very inefficient in placing poorly skilled workers into jobs. With lack of affordable housing trailer park communities have mushroomed as the poor have in effect become the serfs of the wealthy nobility. Is America still an economic and social model to emulate? Will Hutton of the Work Foundation has written on the Leninist inflexibility and dogma which surrounds much of American discourse on socio-economic inequality:

The journalist Barbara Ehrenreich conducted her own social experiment, spending 1998 working in a series of low-wage jobs as a waitress, hotel maid, cleaning woman, nursing-home aide and Wal-mart sales clerk. The result of her year, documented in Nickel and Dime, is an extraordinary, Orwellian testimony to how tough American working life is for the bottom 20 per cent. She had absolutely no financial margin beyond paying the rent and what she needed to survive; saving or finding the time for any training to upgrade her status was beyond her. ‘Most civilised nations compensate for the inadequacy of wages by providing relatively generous public services such as health insurance, free or subsidised housing and effective public transport,’ she writes. ‘But the United States , for all its wealth, leaves its citizens to fend for themselves – facing market based rents on their wages alone. For millions of Americans, that $10 – or even $8 or $6 – an hour is all there is.’

In ‘Civilization’ Niall Ferguson found that Christianity was strong in America because it has become part of the commercial landscape not an alternative. Churches resemble shopping malls and the parallels are not coincidental. While correctly stating that unlike in Europe the lack of state religion meant that churches had to, and still do, compete for worshippers like any commercial venture, he could have mentioned something else. This is that churches provide essential social work. There is much greater degree of private philanthropy in America due to the lack of a welfare state on the lines of Europe . Churches help the poor with outreach programmes such as homeless shelters and free lunches. For that reason a fully comprehensive health care would negate the need for Christian organisations to play such a role to show how ‘good’ they are.

Hence it is not belief that draws people to the Christianity, but as with India , the exploitation of poverty and distress to create dependant automata. Full access to basic health care would thus be an unmitigated disaster to these organisations who assuage and compromise their selfish Objectivist perspective on life with a few crumbs for the less deserving human lice.

India is presently heralded as a rising economic star so can it provide any alternatives? This will no doubt be laughed off. After all people leave India in droves in order to come to America and many do very well indeed. The converse is not true. With its cheek-by-jowl poverty with super-rich how can a country like India hope to teach anything to America ? But looked at from another perspective it is perhaps rather surprising that with all its extremes of wealth India does not suffer even more fractious labour relations and social dysfunctionality. That is now changing as India imports some of the worst aspects of western civilisation, notably its glitzy false veneer, the now derided ‘bling-bling’ of fast cars, designer goods and half-naked girls which have saturated MTV watched by the mindless automata of a generation X. Yet at the same time there is also a revival of ancient Indian spirituality and philosophy with figures such as Swami Ramdev. This is key to understanding why wide disparity in wealth and status has not degenerated into an anti-social apocalypse.
American society would never tolerate such disparity and it is ominous how as the BBC Panorama programme exposed, you now have Americans driven by poverty to live in the drains of Las Vegas and the collapse of Detroit to eke out an existence in woodland tents because even the homeless shelters are overcrowded. America could grow on uninhibited capitalism because in the nineteenth century this was a vast hinterland with massive resources just waiting to be exploited. That is no longer the case as America is dependent on Arab oil and the economic generosity of China .

India is poor because the very free market laissez-fair system which brought prosperity and national clout to America and its former colonial master of Britain was disastrous to India . Just like the advent of the constitutional monarchy after the 1688 Glorious Revolution was a progressive stride for Great Britain but an unmitigated disaster for Ireland, so India’s first brush with capitalism involved weavers having their hands amputated and logistic controls placed in order that India’s industry could not compete with Britain.

India poverty

Dinesh D’Souza may give ‘Two Cheers for Colonialism’ and stress the imperial legacy of rule of law, parliamentary democracy and the sonnets of Shakespeare as beneficial legacies. But at the time the harsh reality was poverty, starvation and destitution on a mass scale just as it was in Ireland in 1846 during the Potato Famine. What has been derided after independence as the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ by Lord Desai was in fact the result of state planning and interference based upon the very same bankrupt Marxist philosophy which this failed academic desperately clings to like a limpet. In doing so he ignores the very real ‘Hindu’ rate of growth which has powered the economic engine that is an Indian success story, namely the state of Gujarat under the vision of BJP Chief minister Narendra modi

BJP- Narendra Modi

Following reforms by Narasimha rao in 1991 India has of course opened up. While its growth has been impressive there is no doubt that stark contrasts in wealth remain making the BJP appear foolish, insulting to millions and certainly very premature with its slogan of ‘India Shining’. But beyond all the MTV style generation X mindless glitz there has indeed been a Hindu rate of growth. India has remained comparatively cohesive because of its pervading Hindu ethos. It is this deep ancient philosophy which made India a pioneer in the very elements which have become essential to western civilisation, notably decimal numbers and the invention of zero. Now that very same ethos is providing the foundation in revolutionary standards in health care. In a complete contrast to both the selfish fundamentalism of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism and the Puritan-Calvinist castigation that some people are born damned and inferior, Hindu Dharma needs to be seen within the framework of the traditional extended Hindu family, which plays the role of a surrogate welfare state. In this context, and in stark contrast to both Ayn Rand and Pat Robertson,

Krishna & Arjuna

The wealth a person acquires is not for just their own benefit but for the welfare of the extended family and others. One has a responsibility towards those members of one’s family who cannot maintain themselves. In another stark contrast to Objectivism any giving that is motivated by selfish considerations loses its value from the spiritual point of view: which of course has no place in the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Selfish Capitalism or America ’s Religious Christian Right.

The Bhagavad Gita speaks of three types of giving:

• A gift that is given without any expectation of appreciation or reward is beneficial to both giver and recipient.
• A gift that is given reluctantly and with the expectation of some advantage is harmful to both giver and recipient.
• A gift that is given without any regard for the feelings of the recipient and at the wrong time, so causing embarrassment to the recipient, is again harmful to both giver and recipient.

Before being despoiled by colonialism India had these very values as the norm. The Chinese scholar Hiuen-Tsiang visited India in the seventh century during the period of the Indian king Harshavardhana. He recounted the king’s generous sharing of his wealth with his people. Similarly, the kings of Thanjavur in the nineteenth century were renowned for establishing chatrams, centres of hospitality located along the road to pilgrim centres, which took care of the needy, the sick and those who died in their care.But with the advent of colonialism, chatrams were deprived of this important role and as a result today ithese traditional institutions of hospitality are scenes of hunger, starvation and deprivation. Raja Sarfoji, the king of Thanjavur, in a letter to the British colonial masters in 1801, implored them to ensure that this tradition of hospitality would not be curtailed or done away with.

However for India ’s colonial masters these traditional institutions of hospitality were seen as a wasteful use of resources. The Indian kings were warned against directing funds to their maintenance, and elite Indians were quick to internalise this attitude. With the Famine Commission Report of 1880, an elaborate state-controlled bureaucratic management of supply and distribution of food was introduced, thus discouraging the existing centres of hospitality and undermining the religious and cultural values underpinning them. Dana includes selfless service or seva to those in need. Most Hindus are familiar with the story of King Rantideva, who was known for his generosity. When his kingdom was struck by a devastating famine, he wanted to share the suffering of his subjects and so fasted for 48 days until all his people were fed. When he was about to break his fast with a glass of water he heard the cry of a thirsty man. He gave his glass of water to the man. As he was about to take a morsel of food, there appeared an unexpected hungry guest to whom he gave it.

Fortunately the materialist neo-feudalism as exhibited most dramatically in American Christian fundamentalism, Selfish Capitalism and Objectivism could not kill off ancient India ’s spirituality completely.

On 23 November 1990 Sathya Sai Baba announced the building of super speciality hospital in Puttaparthi in south India . This was inaugurated a year later by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. In 2001 a sister facility was opened at Whitefield in Bengalaru. These hospitals have 500 beds, 19 operating rooms, 11 ICUs, 4 Cardiac Cath Labs and speciality departments of cardiac sciences, urology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, plastic surgery, and neurosciences.

Thousands of operations take place every year. But the most amazing thing about these medical facilities in India is that they are all free for those who cannot afford to pay. Thousands of volunteer staff provide top quality medical care for India ’s most deprived and poverty stricken. Under the Sri Sathya Sai Healthcare Project private hospitals offer a specific number of beds for the free treatment of patients. In addition mobile medical centres now operate across villages in India .

“But it is not just in India . In 2009 the Sri Sathya Sai International Centre for Medical Services was established with its main hub in Los Angeles . From here world class medical caps are run around the globe. This does not halt at mere medical care. In Africa and South-East Asia the organisation had distributed mosquito nets impregnated with insecticide in order to combat malaria with 85,000 distributed in Kenya alone reducing the incidence of malaria by half. Mass immunisation programmes are processed along with education on hygiene and healthy living to reduce illness in the first pace. Unlike America where rapacious pharmaceutical firms and health insurance companies use their allies in the churches and legislature to ensure that adequate health care becomes only the preserve of the wealthy, Sai organisations work to prevent actual disease and sickness appearing in the first place so that those from deprived backgrounds are not reduced into further debt from exorbitant medical expenses or forced to go in desperation to the well funded American backed fundamentalist Christian churches which operate in India, and indeed in their home countries, to use forms of ‘miracle’ cures: effectively medieval style witchcraft and quackery to cure everything from AIDS to unemployment”. Sai Baba emphasised treating the patient and not merely the disease. In the words of David F Moxam, president and CEO of Authentic Inc, in Texas :

“The vision, compassion and professionalism of yourself and the members of the Sri Saithya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences is, and remains, an inspiration for all of us. It makes us all feel good to be human and be a small part of such a wonderful dedication to our fellow man.”

It is certainly a lesson which should be well-heeded by Moxam’s fellow Americans. As the debate of health care provision rages and America’s self-righteous ‘Christocrats’ join Objectivists in averting their gaze from those less fortunate than themselves it may well be Hindu organisations such as that of Sathya Sai Baba which will need to make the world’s most powerful and richest nation reassess its moral and spiritual values. While Robertson, Yohannen and D’Souza rage about India and demonic Hinduism, one can at least say that India is a poorer country and hence one can expect the mass poverty which is encountered. But in America ?

Image of Sai Baba serving the poor

This is the richest and most powerful nation on earth, arguably the most successful society ever. Yet as Panorama revealed children go to school, hungry as their parents are forced to rely on free food handouts or eat rats. People live in drains literally beneath the glitzy glamour of Las Vegas . An operation for a hernia can mean losing one’s home to pay for the cost. A British medical charity that operated in the Amazon jungles now offers free medical and dental surgery to ordinary Americans who queue up in the bitter cold of an early morning just to be checked over for conditions such as rotting teeth because they simply cannot afford a visit to the doctor or dentist. How can a civilised society tolerate this in the name of ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’? Perhaps it is time that India returned the ‘favour’ bestowed upon it by missionaries so eager to exploit poverty and desperation by guiding the richest nation in the world in the concepts of Hindu sewa and dana: terminology which it has yet to learn.

By Ranbir Singh, Hindu Human Rights

Sonia Gandhi - Leader of the Indian Congress Government

By Sam Yadav

Narendra Modi was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Supreme Court of India of the Godhra 2002 riots. However, the anti-BJP and anti-hindu media constantly blames him. If they blame Modi for the 2002 Godhra riots, then why don’t they constantly remind us of all the riots that took place under Congress Government?

Most of the victims in the below riots were members from the Hindu community, but the media doesn’t feel they need to remind us about these riots and will continue to blame anyone associated with BJP or that has relations with Hinduism.

To be fair, the media should remind us of the ruling governments in these riots and make sure that they do not stop until the Supreme Court of India has cleared them just as they did for Modi.

(1) 1964 Communal riots in Rourkela & Jamshedpur | 2000 Killed | Ruling party CONGRESS

(2) 1947 Communal riots in Bengal | 5000 Killed | Ruling party happened to be CONGRESS

(3) August 1967 | 200 Killed | Communal riots in Ranchi | Party ruling again CONGRESS

(4) 1969 | Communal riots in Ahmedabad | More than 512 Killed | Ruling party happened to be CONGRESS

(5) 1970 | Bhiwandi communal riots in Maharashtra | Around 80 killed | Ruling party CONGRESS

(6) April 1979 | Communal riots in Jamshedpur , West Bengal | More than 125 killed | Ruling party CPIM (Communist Party)

(7) August 1980 | Moradabad Communal riots | Approx 2000 Killed | Ruling Party CONGRESS

(8) May 1984 | Communal riots in Bhiwandi | 146 Killed , 611 Inj | Ruling party CONGRESS | CM – Vasandada Patil

(9) Oct 1984 | Communal riots in Delhi | 2733 Killed | Ruling party CONGRESS

(10) April 1985 | Communal riots inAhmedabad | 300 Killed | Ruling party CONGRESS

(11) July 1986 | Communal violence in Ahmedabad | 59 Killed | Ruling party CONGRESS

(12) Apr-May 1987 | Communal violence in Meerut , UP | 81 killed | Ruling party CONGRESS

(13) Feb 1983 | Communal violence in Nallie, Assam | 2000 killed | PM – Indira Gandhi (CONGRESS)

Bollywood Composer Ismail Darbar

Vadodara, Gujarat (CHAKRA) — Originally from Gujarat, Ismail Darbar, a music composer has requested to join the BJP party and is waiting for an answer from the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.

Ismail was reported to have said he met the BJP Chief, Nitin Gadkari in Nagpur and himself had met to discuss the plans Ismail sees for the future in terms of his involvement with politics. He further reported that Gadkari blessed his plans and vision and that now he is waiting for signal from Modi before he can put his plans out to action.

Ismail’s inspiration to join the BJP party arises from being born and brought up in Surat. In addition to Gujarat being close to his childhood heart, he commends the states recent development under Modi which cannot go unnoticed and wants to be apart of history in making change. His goals relate to making change for the city of Surat and the state and he hopes to be able to share his plans with Modi soon. Ismail first became famous after his music in Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam.

The CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi with the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama

Ahmedabad, Gujarat (CHAKRA) – The BJP government of Gujarat has prioritized its efforts to preserve sites that are going to be apart of the Buddhist tourism circuit in the Central Gujarat region. The tourists sites are going to include the caves of Saurashtra as well as the remains of the Buddhist monastery.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been excavating the ancient Buddhist caves and surrounding sites. In response to this the Gujarat government has expedited its work on the preservation of such sites although it is still waiting for approval from the central government to go ahead with the planning of the Buddhist tourism circuit proposal.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi, has eagerly taken interest in this in these activities and as a result visited the excavation sites in Vadnagar of Mehsana district in North Gujarat to take a look at the work being done at the sites.

During his visit, Mr. Modi spoke highly of the excavation activities taking place. He brought to light the visits made in the past by Buddhist monks who came in search of spiritual knowledge and their influence in the eastern belt of India. He further stated that because the eastern belt of India is so influenced by the Buddha, the Buddhist relic findings serve as an opportunity to study his influence on the western belt.

According to an official of the Department of Youth and Cultural Affairs, they plan to build a shed made out of special fibre to protect the excavation site from rain and other damaging materials.

The official at the site also stated that the plan is to build a cultural wall to display the relics found at the site, for which 40 lakh rupees has been set aside. Furthermore, there is a long-term plan to build the area into a museum in Vadnagar because of the number (7000) of relics they have discovered since over five years ago. Most of these findings are from the Ghaskol Darwaja excavation site in the town of Vadnagar.

Some of the findings include clay utensils, beads, ornaments, silver coins, sculptures, tablets, plaques depicting Buddha and parts of a vessel with descriptions relating to Buddhism.

The Tourism Secretary, Mr. Vipul Mitra, said that the Buddhist caves found in various locations of Saurashtra region will also become part of the circuit.

Security has been dispatched in all areas of the site along with signs up displaying information charts about the history of the caves.

The caves are located in various places including, in the Shiyot village of Lakpat taluka, in Kutch district, the Ranpur village of Jamnagar, in Sana, in Prabhas Patan, in the Savangiri villages of Junagadh, and in Gondal taluka or Rajkot.

Many in the international community have praised this initiative by the Narendra Modi government after many ancient Buddhist monuments have been destroyed by Islamic extremists in countries such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh in recent years.