A Prime Minister’s loss of sleep and a Chief Minister’s misfortune – the power of Muslim vote.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, quiet reminiscent of Manmohan Singh’s, “I did not sleep all last night” sigh upon hearing the news of Dr. Haneef’s arrest in Australia on terror charges, said, upon hearing that the mother of Rizwanur Rehman, who was allegedly murdered for marrying a Hindu girl, was not coming to meet him as scheduled because he has not agreed to a CBI probe, “We were scheduled to meet at my residence on Oct 10. Till Oct 9 I knew she was coming. But then I read in the papers that she does not want to meet me. This is really my misfortune.” To mitigate his misfortune, the next day the Chief Minister instead went to the house of the victim’s mother.

That a victim’s (the police say it was suicide) mother did not come to meet him became a misfortune for the Marxist Chief Minister and he had to make amends for it by going to meet her would of course seem to be a great humanitarian gesture. The secular press have lauded it thus too. But I wonder if the CM has had similar misfortunes before - maybe in the case of some Hindu victim? Unlikely, because Muslims account for 30% of West Bengal’s electorate and the majority Hindu votes are all secularized and nothing to worry about.

The Sethu of cultural unity

Former Indian High Commissioner to UK Shri L.M.Singhvi, who passed away a few days ago, was paid a rich tribute in an orbituary by Sudheendra Kulkarni in Indian Express online edition of 14.10.07, titling it "A Saraswati Putra who built many Sethus". Incidentally, it was Vajpayee who called him Saraswati Putra in condoling his demise.

I quote from Kulkarni's orbituary, which illuminates the depth of the word Sethu in the consciousness of India's culture:

Quote: To present a glimpse of his greatness, let me cite a small excerpt from his 1996 speech at Stanford University, titled ‘Building Bridges for India through a Global Indogenic Movement’. The term ‘Sethu’ is very much in discussion these days because of the controversy over ‘Ram Sethu’. But look at the profound sense that Dr Singhvi mined from the word.

"Sethu represents a very meaningful metaphor in the treasure chest of India’s heritage. Even at the risk of sounding archival, I would like to share with you an adage in Sanskrit, which illumines the functional-teleological range and rationale of building Sethus: Sethubandhanam Sarvaranjanam; Sethubandhanam Margasadhanam; Sethubandhanam Snehakaranam; Sethubandhanam Vihita-taram; Sadabhavyam Sadadivyam; Sadasatyam Sanatanam (May bridges be built to secure welfare and happiness of all; to blaze new trails and facilitate passages; for the cause of affection among individuals and groups and for goodwill among nations and peoples; for salvaging that which matters; let this Sethu ever be magnificent and always graced by divine purpose; let it always represent the eternal truths enshrined in the enduring and universal vision of India.)” Unquote

Islam is an idol worshiping religion.

I contend that Islam is an idol worshiping religion. When I say this, it would be surmised that I am out to create mischief because it is universally understood that Islam is dead against idol worship. But I do not level this charge to taunt the Muslims out of any spite. I love Muslims. They are as human as anyone else. But my problem is with the claim of Islam that it does not believe in idol worship.

In fact all worship is idol worship. It is not possible to worship except that worship be idol worship. The condition of idol worship is that there be a worshipper and a thing worshiped. Muslims might say that there is no “thing” that a Muslim worships. That what they worship is only the unimaginable power called Allah who created the universe. Be it so, except that they have a need to reduce that unimaginable power to a word “Allah”. A sound idol, I might say and the Muslim will say I am merely quibbling to provoke.

However, my deeper reason to accuse Muslims of being the idol worshipers they would rather die than admit is that Islam considers Allah, the creator, as separate from His creation. This means that when we, the creation or creature want to connect with Allah, we have perforce to turn outwards – ever so symbolically proved when the common Muslim raises his vision upwards when he wishes to thank Allah in ordinary conversation. Of course in formal prayers Muslims turn towards Mecca – which becomes the central point to which they direct their prayers. Add to this the fact that the central point contains a huge cube structure, which if the Muslims can get near enough they would lavishly kiss, completes the case that the Muslims are indeed idol worshippers.

The case becomes all the more apparent when we consider that there has been a successful ancient teaching called Adviata which even today continues to be the undercurrent of the oldest religion in the world – Hinduism. Advaita says that God is actually what we essentially are and is not a phenomenon separate from us whom we have to seek for outside and idolize concretely, as Hindu idol-worshippers do - or turn it into a faith, as Muslims do.

Muslims protest at any allegation that the Kaaba represents an idol through or with the help of which they worship Allah. They insist that they worship only Allah and pray directly to Allah. Which is why they find it impossible to even sing Vande Mataram because that would be tantamount for them to worshiping something other than Allah.

Therefore, we cannot ignore the basic question, “What is worship?” It would seem that worship, according to Islam, is the process taught by Mohammad which Muslims are expected to perform 5 times a day. However, it would surprise the reader to know that Mohammad himself was quoted in a hadidth to imply that worship is not merely an external form, its essence is indeed the internal state of mind. Mohammad went on to say that if the approach is right, even sex with one’s wife is worship and would be rewarded by Allah. This was said when his companions asked "How are we going to be rewarded for doing something we enjoy very much?" The Prophet asked them, "Suppose you satisfy your desires illegally, don't you think you will be punished for that?" They replied, "Yes." "So," he said, "by satisfying it legally with your wives, you are rewarded for it." The hadith or its commentary concludes, “This means, they - legitimate sexual intercourse - are acts of worship.”

While I am at present unable to vouch for the genuineness of the Hadith, but if true, it goes on to prove that for Mohammad the very act of living legitimately (as instructed by the Quran) is worship. It being so, and the Kaaba being the centre of the Hajj rituals, there is little doubt that kissing the blackstone embedded in the Kaaba forms a part of Islamic worship - idol worship, pure and simple.

Saying thus, I rest my case.

Heroic bridge and psychological damage

Someone recently asked me whether it has not been a fact that Hindus have down the millennia come to believe in Rama and the events associated with Rama’s story without seeking any physical evidence for it and would not the Hindus continue to believe in the story of Rama’s bridge even if the mythical bridge makes way for a canal? I told him the whole principle is one of background. Unless we are aware of the background of anything, we would not be able to do justice to the existence of that thing. For example, unless a doctor knows the background or history of the patient, he would not be able to properly treat the patient. It is our experience that if a person is drunk, he would tend to forget his background and may end up being violent to his own family members, though in normal circumstances he would never imagine attacking his own family.

Why, the entire thrust of Hinduism is to make man realize his own nature, his essence, his background, if you may, to solve all his problems (discovery of the atma and all that). This being so, it goes without saying that if Hindus are to forget or cease to be in connect with their past history and culture, as depicted in all their scriptures and literature of ancient times, then Hindus would only be all the easier to prompt to work against their own interests. Hence, the importance of Ram Sethu being saved. It is one of the very rare physical memories of those ancient times we have inherited and we have to ensure that it is left intact so that our progeny would not lose a tangible connection to their history.

Furthermore, just as the Hindus have cherished the story of Rama and events connected to Rama, including the heroic bridge, any slur on the story and events connected would cause irreparable psychological damage to the sense of sanctity of Hindus. This would be a greater damage than the physical damage.

My fellow Hindus, what a fall!

Hindu temples have long been game for the covetous eyes of secular political parties in India. Secularism, as is well known as practised in India, means non-interference in the affairs of Muslims and Christians and neutering Hindus in their affairs. This time when they came to power, the Marxists in Kerala decided to be the role model of secularism and leave competing Congress far behind and with no doubt in anyone's mind as to who is truly the secular champion of India. Their two pronged strategy was pandering to the religious minorities while simultaneously scorching the very ground of Hindu religious sentiments. For example, by bringing a purposely flawed education bill they ensured that minority institutions continued to thrive and favour the elite. However, in the case of the Hindus, they brought in a well thought out Devasom Bill and without any opposition captured the temples of Kerala. They ensured that the Bill would not be a mere legislation on paper by bringing a rabidly anti-Hindu marxist as Minister. This minister made it his daily practise to insult the Hindus and pour contempt on Hindu rituals. The latest is his minions granting the contract for making the famous Aravana payasam of the even more famous Sabarimala temple to a Muslim. The Marxists signaled that their conquest of the temples was complete and they would now run the temples on truly secular principles (that is, they would allow non-Hindus to run the temples) when the Minister said with a veneer of legality that he would not interfere in the questionable tendering process that gave the tender to a non-Hindu because the decision was taken by the Devasom Board and he is not the one to interfere in the rights of the Devasom Board. He could finally sound liberal because he has by now already packed the Devasom Boards with his nominees. With his henchmen in place, he has the opportunity to wash his hands off any blood.

My fellow Hindus, what a fall!

Kumaraswamy - a bout of fevicol-ingitis

I wonder what the Dad-son duo of Deve Gowda and Krishnaswamy are croaking about vis-à-vis the local election results being a mandate for them to continue with the Chief Ministership disregarding the power-sharing agreement entered into with BJP 20 months ago. While the JDS got 1499 seats (an increase of 360% over their previous 415 seats), the BJP got a no-less-impressive 1170 seats (an increase of 330% over their previous 351 seats). Moreover the Congress, getting 1581 seats (suffering a 30% decrease compared to their previous tally of 2232 seats) is still the largest single party. By JDU logic, the mandate actually went in favour of Congress! Would the JDU therefore hand-over the Chief Ministership to the Congress?

The fact of the matter is that Kumaraswamy is suffering from a bout of fevicol-ingitis, which makes it difficult for him to vacate his seat of power, stuck to it as he is. Here’s wishing him recovery without having to undergo operation removal in the election theatre.

Ram Jethmalani - nuked India better than nuclear India

Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer’s article on 28th Sept 07 in the Asian Age warned of the dangers of any nuclear deal with USA and emphasized the need for India to pursue independent non-nuclear options for self-sufficiency in power. While Iyer’s article reveals that he still carries his communist baggage of anti-Americanism (picked up from the days when he was a Minister in the first communist government in the world in Kerala), Ram Jethmalani’s response to Iyer (3rd October, Asian Age) was the response of an out and out rooter of Americanism. What is intriguing, however, is when Jethmalani says, “I say that India does not need bombs. If the Pakistanis or the Chinese have plans to destroy us with nuclear bombs, I would rather allow them to do so.” He continues, “Gandhi’s India will never plan the murder of the human race. Unfortunately Marxist philosophy neither sees the force of moral action nor respects the inscrutable forces of providence which ultimately destroy insane murderers of fellow beings.”

On one hand Ram says we are inadequate to the task of meeting our power needs and have necessarily to cooperate with the US, on the other hand he prefers India being nuked rather than possess even deterrent nuclear bombs.

Senility appears to have finally caught up with the great Ram Jethmalani.

Times of India - sack your copy writer.

Today, October 2nd, Times of India devoted its full front page to a write-up on Mahatma Gandhi, saying we needed a second October. It went on to say that Mahatma Gandhi created history and rewrote geography.

What is meant by "rewrote geography"? I condemn the insinuation that partition of India was a creditworthy event and the Mahatma's honourable legacy. Times of India needs to apologise for this slip and immediately sack its copywriter in contrition.