Is Ka'aba part of Allah?

Some Mullah has issued a Fatwa against Salman Khan for idol-worship by participating in Ganesh pooja. I would wish to ask the Mullah, what about the Ka'aba in Mecca? Why do the Muslim pilgrims get so thrilled upon seeing it that they kiss the black stone embedded in it? Muslims maintain that they worship only Allah and nothing else. If so, why do they keep the black stone in the centre of their most holy mosque? Just the way Hindus keep the idol at the centre of their temple. If Muslims kiss their idol, circumbulate around it, sip zam zam water - the Hindus bow to their idol, circumbulate it and sip theertha water. Any difference? And yet if the Muslims say they worship only Allah, it can only mean that the Ka'aba is part of Allah!

Advani, soldier of Hindutva

There is talk in newspapers about Advani once again taking the reins of BJP. While there will be no replacement of Rajnath Singh, Advani indeed needs to be the face of BJP once again. Except for the 'Jinnah fiasco', Advani has been an impeccable leader. Even the Jinnah episode was a misplaced one due to the unexpected immaturity shown by some leaders of the Sangha Parivar itself. Advani had only pointed out to the Pakistanis the secularism advised by Jinnah to his compatriots in the Pakistani Constituent Assembly. Which was such an irony, coming from a man who had just partitioned a nation on the basis of religion. Advani wanted eyes to open in Jinnah's own bastion. But some twisted reporting by the Indian media suggested that Advani was championing the arch villian of partition. The impluse of all who know Advani should have been to doubt such reports, but some of our own leaders preferred to go by newspaper reports and even went to the extent of calling Advani a traitor. The great man he is, Advani bore it all, without even once going for an ugly rukus over the issue within the Sangha Parivar. Thanks to his maturity, he saved Sangha from schisms over personality clashes.

Sangha no doubt must have gone over the whole episode dispassionately and concluded that Advani was more wronged than wrong. Hence, his deserving rehabilitation.

Carry on, soldier of Hindutva - we are with you.

M.F.Hussain and Karunanidhi - birds of a feather

DMK's Karunanidhi is surely kindered to M.F. Hussain. Both love to rubbish Hindu sentiments and both restrict their rubbish to Hinduism. If Karunanidhi finds it comfortable to quote Valmiki calling Rama a drunkard, would he also feel comfortable quoting the Hadiths pointing to Mohammad being a child-molester, what with his pre-puberty marriage and all that? No, not at all. Karunanidhi, like M.F. Hussain, practises freedom of expression only in the Hindu melieu. They need to be taught that Hindus will no longer tolerate being ridden roughshod upon.

The secular kowtow

A judge of the High Court wonders aloud if the famous Siddhi Vinayak Temple ought not to be relocated as a security measure, considering it could be subject to rocket launchers from nearby high-rise buildings. Probably he would recommend that it be relocated to a mountain in a deserted area! I think actually it is the judge who ought to be relocated to a mental hospice.

It is galling that such comments are passed nonchalantly, particulary in the wake of opinions that Rama is only a mere mythical character, a big white lie, a drunkard and what not. It is gratifying that Advani is being heard on this subject. With his sharp intellect, broad wisdom and great grasp of the nuances of political implications, he is not going to allow idiotic comments to go unchallanged in the name of secular perogative. (That is to say, the freedom to rubbish Hindu sentiments while kow-towing to Muslim sentiments.)