Saffron: The colour of sacrifice, spirituality and saints. If there is a color which symbolizes all aspects of Hinduism, it’s saffron – the color of Agni, which reflects the Supreme. It has been representing Bharat, its people and there values since time immemorial. Till recently before we acquired ‘Tricolor’ as our national flag, saffron represented India’s national color. It was an important tool for Poets and writers in awakening of nation against foreign rule with songs like “मेरा रंग दे बसंती चोला“! (How saffron came into being)

Terrorist?

Past two years have been all about maligning ‘Saffron’ with all means possible. People who time and again protested against association of a particular color with terrorism have been the front-runners in promoting this new born concept. Just because Green was so long associated with ‘Islamic Terrorism’, the origination of ‘Saffron terror’ has become a cause of celebration among such people. Last days, parliament had to be adjourned twice because our Home Minister made remarks about so called ‘Saffron Terror’ .

There are not many takers yet but there will be soon. As the govt. seems to be in an overdrive to prove its secular credentials by trying to show that it will take ‘Hindu Terror’ as seriously as it has taken ‘Islamic Terror’! If i let aside the fact that the basis of this ‘Saffron Terror’, Malegaon blasts, are not yet solved and why to talk about getting them solved when even after 18 months ATS is not even able to file a mere chargesheet against the accused who are rotting in custody, there is not a shred of evidence linking terror to entire Hindu Dharma. No Hindu organisation, political party or individual has come up and supported the cause. Then how and why is the term ‘Saffron terror’ so much into vogue by the TRP hungry media channels. The basic difference between Saffron Terror and Islamic terror is, whenever their is an incidence of mass terror, one or the other organisations like LeT, Al Quaida or Hijbul comes up and takes the responsibility claiming that it was done to save Islam.

Late Hemant Karkare said just a few hour ago of embracing martyrdom that 90% of ATS had been involved in seeing through the Malegaon Bomb blasts. What about the other blasts? Why such Pin-pointing? If Abhinav Bharat is a shady organisatio, it should be banned-no questions asked. Similarly, if Jehadi terror is gripping the country, it should be dealt with severely. Just because you can’t deal with the Jehadi monster does not mean that you will create a new terror and pretend to fight it.

If we take a small detour and look at the Sohrabuddin case. He was a famed gangster who had more than 2 dozen police cases against him, had the honour to work by the side of great Dawood Ibrahim and was jailed due to anti-India activities. In a 1994 case investigated by the Ahmedabad crime branch, he was co-accused along with Dawood Ibrahim and convicted for five years, for waging war against the Government of India, planning an attack on the Jagannath rath yatra in Orissa, and other offences under the IPC, Arms Act, etc. During the investigation, 24 AK-56 rifles, 27 hand grenades, 5250 cartridges, 81 magazines and more were seized from his family home in Madhya Pradesh. In 2004, a fourth crime was registered against him by Chandgad police station of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra under sections 302, 120 (b), and 25 (1) (3) of the Arms Act, for the killing of Gopal Tukaram Badivadekar. As fear of him often silenced people from reporting his whereabouts, let alone deposing against him, the Rajasthan government had to announce a reward on his head after he killed Hamid Lata in broad daylight in the heart of Udaipur, on December 31, 2004. So much for Sohrabuddin’s innocence.(Indian Express). Despite the facts in hand, enlightened people stand against his encounter. I for one feel that such people should be killed and not given a chance to repeat their mistakes but lets see what supreme court of India thinks. jurisprudential principles of salus populi est suprema lex (the people’s welfare is the supreme law) and salus res publica est suprema lex (the safety of the nation is supreme law). Even the Supreme Court of India, in the case of D.K. Basu vs. State of West Bengal [1997 (1) SCC 416] accepted the validity of these two principles and characterised them as “not only important and relevant, but lying at the heart of the doctrine that welfare of an individual must yield to that of the community.”

Nonetheless, the question asked by Ajit Kumar of Indian express is, while the govt. pursues Sohrabuddin’s case so doggedly, has it seriously done anything to stop fake encounters in the country? They have been going on and will continue to go on if things remain the same.

Between 2000 and 2007 there have been 712 cases of police encounters in the country with UP topping the list at 324, and Gujarat figuring almost at the bottom with 17.

And many of them have not so much as of a police record to their name. Using CBI and other govt. agencies for vindicating one’s opponents is not only bad politics it is destructive politics as well. It has been conveyed to people that Sohrabuddin was targeted because he belonged to a particular community. It has misled the nation and confused it even more. More and more muslims feel alienated and Hindus feel guilty. It is very little known fact that many of Sohrabuddin’s victims were Muslims and his close aides were Hindus, namely, Tulsidas Prajapati, who was killed in a similar encounter. So why this projection that minorities are targeted?

If a name comes up we need to swiftly collect evidence and try the accused. Our judicial system should be strong enough so that nobody could escape unscathed. What is happening here is, if people/opposition or other groups are trying to pressurize the govt. to hang terrorists like ‘Afzal Guru’, govt. mechanism is creating another pseudo-monster to rationalize its claim of not prosecuting the former. This is Insane and will lead the nation to a further mess. If not today but in future i can see many young boys getting radicalized. 80% of India is Hindu and are peace loving by nature. Can we risk radicalizing this mass just to rationalize and in turn trying to neutralize genuine anguish?

How can the govt. cover it’s mistakes by committing another ghastly mistake? Let us not destroy national pride by maligning national symbols of reckoning like ‘Saffron’ and ‘Vande Matram’ or even Vishwanathan Anand. This is the least we can do.

JAI HIND

(Image credit- here)

Just a few days ago i was watching David Cameron mesmerize his audience at the Infy campus and i must say that he was good. I was impressed for a moment. And i was ought to, after all the media Blitzkrieg which we faced “Biggest British delegation ever”, “Cameron wins Indian hearts” etc. He ashamedly stated that he wanted financial cooperation from India and that he got. Bharat is supposed to do business with BAE, Rolls Royce and other British companies in the field of Aerospace and defence. Like his predecessors he also looked India as a market and nothing else.

Many of my dear friends have argued time and again that if Britishers would have not educated India, we would have not seen the light of civilization. We were illiterate fools who knew nothing before they came to tame us and blessed us with technology and integrated us in one. If the Brits wouldn’t have come, we would have not been introduced to modern marvels like Railways, Aircrafts, Bridges and what not, they argue. I do not blame them as they say what they have read and understood.

On 15th August India will complete 63 years of her Independence from United Kingdom. British empire in India proved that they were one of the most savage civilizations on the face of Earth. It will be very tough for people to believe that till 18th century, India was so rich that commercial pirates of west could not resist setting shops here. (Yes, it may sound boastful and cliched to many of you but i also accept the political weakness of our nation which lead us to be captives.) This wealth was created by Hindu’s vast and varied industries. Almost every product known to the civilized world was manufactured here. Bharat had great architecture. Will Durant writes:

Nearly every kind of manufacture or product known to the civilized world — nearly every kind of creation of Man’s brain and hand, existing anywhere, and prized either for its utility or beauty — had long, long been produced in India……. She had great architecture — equal in beauty to any in the work. She had great engineering works. She had great merchants, great businessmen, great bankers and financiers. Not only was she the greatest ship-building nation, but she had great commerce and trade by land and sea which extended to all known civilized countries. Such was the India which the British found when they came.

And how did the white man relieve himself of his burden? By 1918, for 24 crore people the expenditure on public health was reduced to $5,000,000! Approximately 2 cents per capita! Durant goes on to say, “Sir William Hunter, once Director-General of Indian Statistics, estimated that 40,000,000 of the people of India were seldom or never able to satisfy their hunger.  Weakened with malnutrition, they offer low resistance to infections; epidemics periodically destroy millions of them. In 1901, 2,72,000 died of plague introduced from abroad; in 1902, 5000,000 died of plague; in 1903, 800,000; in 1904, 1,000,000. In 1918 there were 125,000,000 cases of influenza, and 12,500,000 recorded deaths… We can now understand why there are famines in India. Their cause, in plain terms, is not the absence of sufficient food, but the inability of the people to pay for it. Famines have increased in frequency and severity under British rule.    From 1770 to 1900, 25,000,000 Hindus died of starvation;  15,000,000 of these died in the last quarter of the century, in the famines of 1877, 1889, 1897, and 1900.”

We were traditionally literate people, but all our indigenous ways of education were systematically eradicated which had made India a superpower in trade, arts, navigation, architecture, language and what not. At no time in history was India without a civilization. Our education system was explained by Macauley to parliament of UK as,

The question now before us is simply whether, when it is in our power to teach this language, we shall teach languages in which, by universal confession, there are no books on any subject which deserve to be compared to our own; whether, when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems which, by universal confession, whenever they differ from those of Europe, differ for the worse; and whether, when we can patronise sound Philosophy and true History, we shall countenance, at the public expense, medical doctrines, which would disgrace an English farrier [note: a horse shoer] -Astronomy, which would move laughter in girls at an English boarding school, History, abounding with kings thirty feet high, and reigns thirty thousand years long, and Geography, made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter. (Here)

The philosophies from Vedas and Geeta made philosophers like Schoepenhauer, Bergson, Thopea and Keyserling who openly admit the contribution of these ancient literature in developing their though process. Keyserling goes on to say, “India has produced the profoundest metaphysics that we know of.” And this education system had produced astronomical giants like Bhaskaracharya and Aryabhatta. But we were subjected to live in darkness. In 1915, when Gopal Krishna Gokhale introduced a bill for universal compulsory primary education in India, it was defeated by the representatives of Queen. In 1916, Patel introduced a similar bill which again was turned down by the govt. representatives. The money allocated for education was given to build colleges and secondary schools where the language used was English, Literature, arts, history, customs and morals taught were English. Young Hindus (Indians) had to be de-indianized if they had to earn bread and butter. After the eradication of industries only work left was to go in govt. service.

Durant writes, “Everything and anything in India was on sale. During the five years which followed the departure of Clive from Bengal, the misgovernment of the English was carried to such a point as seemed incompatible with the existence of society… The servants of the Company … forced the natives to buy dear and to sell cheap … Enormous fortunes were thus rapidly accumulated at Calcutta, while thirty millions of human beings were reduced to the extremity of wretchedness. They had been accustomed to live under tyranny, but never under tyranny like this … Under their old masters had they had at least one resource: when the evil became insupportable, the people rose and pulled down the government. But the English Government was not be  so shaken off. That Government, oppressive as the most oppressive form of barbarian despotism was strong with all the strength of civilization .”

“Let the late President of Union Theological Seminary, Dr. Charles C. Hall, speak:  The obvious fact stares us in the face that there is at no time, in no year, any shortage of food-stuffs in India. The trouble is that the taxes imposed by the British Government being 50% of the produce, the Indian starves that India’s annual revenue may not be diminished by a dollar.  80% of the whole population has been thrown back upon the soil because England’s discriminating duties have ruined practically every branch of native manufacture. The final item is the death-rate. In England the death-rate is 13 per 1000 per year; in the United States it is 12; in India it is 32. Half the children born in Bengal die before reaching the age of eight.  In a recent year (1921) the infant mortality in Bombay was 666 per 1000.” And i am not yet taking into count the countless massacres which my people had to face just to be civilized. People were killed, maimed and tortured by millions just in the name of civilization. God knows that the white man’s burden has been heavier for us than for them to carry. We still are carrying the legacy of fake accents, lack of self-confidence and Infant mortal deaths.

But i also understand the fact that we need to stop thumping our chests on our past or blame the past for our misfortunes and look at our present condition. The British ruled us for 200years and are probably responsible for the status that we are in. But it has been 63years since they left. Who will we hold responsible for the dismal state of our primary education now? Its not the Britishers for sure. Who is responsible for the dismal state of our primary health care? Who is responsible for the decaying beurocracy where nothing moves without greasing some palms? Is it still the British? Have we failed as a nation? I hope not.

I would request all to take a leaf out of our History and set a goal for our future. Let us try to make our country a place where no body has to sleep starving. Let us create a ‘Bharat’ where humanity and bravery go hand in hand. Let us not wait but create a new dawn…   And as far as i am concerned, my bias against Britain is here to stay!

JAI HIND

(Image courtsey- here)

Kashmir is in turmoil.

Nothing new in this statement. It has seen nothing other than turmoil in the recent days. People on road pelting stones, CRPF and other security forces getting beaten up, curfews and inevitable deaths. This has been the chain of events. If the news channels are to be believed, more than 20 people have been killed in last 4 days. Times of India on Aug.4 reports that ‘Violence may continue till Obama visit’ as Pakistan wants J & K to be on world map which it is doing with the help of ISI and separatist leaders of Kashmir. So who are these ‘Separatists’?

I have been thinking since some time, how is it that we so gleefully tolerate somebody who calls himself a separatist? Correct me if i am wrong but is a separatist a ‘Hostile’ word? Last i checked these separatists agenda was to carve a new country called ‘Azad Kashmir‘. Everybody knows how much they support and breed Jihadi terror. Newspapers have time and again published stories how these ‘separatists’ have derailed the peace process. Weather its the Amarnath Yatra or a death whose causes are yet to be known, they leave no stone unturned, literally, to create a ruckus in the valley. The major separatist force in the valley is Hurriyat conference- a group of many separatist parties. One of the primary hurriyat leaders in talk with Indian govt. is Yasin Malik- A sentenced terrorist who has one to one meetings with Pakistani President and prime minister more than once. None of the parties wants Kashmir to be a part of India. And hence the question, Why the hell are we talking to them?? Not only talking, our Prime-Minister repeatedly appeals to keep peace in the valley! Do we lack the might to crush these forces? Why does our Prime Minister have to appeal beg infront of a group of people who want nothing other than violence? I was wondering if i would be wrong in stating that before talking to Pakistan, we should get rid of these bloody ‘Separatists’. It is said about the Hurriyat that it has two factions- one extremist and one liberalist. Be under no illusion. There are no factions between them. Whether it is Geelani’s group of Sheikh’s, both are Pro-Pak. These separatists are given money, protection and even medical care by the Govt. of India. Why? Just to get an over-agitated Kashmiri crowd in return? Then back in delhi, you will not find a single intellectual doing a story on development in Kashmir but they will be the first to air their views on “Why Security forces should be reduced in Kashmir” and “Why India should talk to Pak”.

Our desire to have peace has made us bleed profusely. We have always been lenient just to give peace a chance. We have broken all rules and codes just to accommodate the whims and fancies of a few fanatics. The state has been given special privileges, special economic packages, special treatment but to no avail. This only leaves us with one option. Taking the lynch-pins of this entire debacle out. Separatists need to go and no compromise should be made with national security. Air your concerns but atleast have the decency to keep them reasonable. Valley has been burning continuously since last three summers. Shopian murder case or Amarnath yatra controversy- They have crippled the valley at the slightest of hint.

My solutions may be Hitleresque but if you think hard you will find no other solution to this problem. Talking hasn’t helped and nor has giving the state leaders a free run. We need to act quickly and do so fast. We need to do it and it should have been done a long time ago.Sri-Lanka finally had to fight the LTTE and crush it so that it has long term peace. Someday we will have to give a similar treatment to our enemies too. I propose the following solutions:

• Start rapid development in Kashmir. Invest in commercialization and tourism.  It will create employment and keep people’s mind of stone-pelting.
• Keep the schools, colleges and businesses running. They are the pillars of any society. Give extra protection to them so that they may not be disturbed by this ‘below the belt’ style of politics. An educated man is far more likely to think clearly and hence see what is going on.
• Tighten the security. Up it by a notch. Once the security forces come out of there, ISI will get a free hand and will start disrupting again.
• Abolish Article 370. Bring Kashmir closer to rest of India. Why in world does it need a separate flag and constitution? Why should every Indian law be okayed by J&K parliament before being implemented there? A Kashmiri child since he is born is made to think that he is different from rest of his countrymen. Why?
• Stop giving importance to Hurriyat conf. and if possible charge everybody who dares to call himself a separatist.
• And finally, get above this vote-bank politics of yours! Its making the nation hollow.

We need to take a tough stance to curb this section of people who proudly call themselves separatists! we have fed these snakes and they are biting us now. Our nation is bleeding and their is no harm in eliminating the factor which is making our lives tough.

VANDE MATRAM

[Image credit-blogs.reuters.com]