Vol. LIX, No. 20, New Delhi, November 23, 2008

Political vendetta to defame Hindus Baba Ramdev says Sadhvi Pragya seems innocent By Deepak Kumar Rath TAKING strong exception to Congress-led UPA government?s accusation against Hindu organisations, popular Yoga Guru Ramdev lashed out at the ?secular brigade? for making use of phrases like Hindu terrorism. Spiritual guru Baba Ramdev, the man behind the Yoga revolution in India, has also come out in support of Sadhvi Pragya, who has been framed in the September 29 Malegaon blast. Stating that Sadhvi Pragya seems innocent, Baba Ramdev said he supports her.    more > Hindu leaders being humiliated Statement of Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalanand Saraswati PURI Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalanand Saraswati said that the nation is passing through a crisis and saints are being wrongly humiliated and centres of faith are in the danger of being demolished. Speaking on the insults heaped on saints, he recalled how the Kanchi Shankaracharya was jailed and Swami Laxmanananda was murdered. After all, what was their fault? His only ?crime? was that he had been serving the Vanvasis for the last 41 years.    more > Media Watch One sided anti-Hindu reporting ADDRESSING a function held in Colombo on October 28 when he was awarded the Best Journalist of Asia Prize by the Sri Lanka Mass Media Society ( a government supported NGO to promote excellence in the media world), N.Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu made some very relevant observations. One was that the time has come for the media in South Asia Asia ?to seriously introspect on its role on how it could improve its performance in betterment of the welfare of the people and the peace processes in society?.    more > Editorial Fables from ATS R Balashankar MAHARASHTRA Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has all the powers. Maharashtra is the only state armed with such ?draconian? right to excesses on citizens under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). It is safe because it is under the UPA. It is doing a job that the UPA wants it to do. It is above the law of the land, it need not take the normal legal procedures, it can even violate the fundamental rights, human dignity, religious rights and sensibilities because it is fighting terror, about which the entire nation is concerned; and no nationalist in the country wants any leniency.    more > Affront to saints with false allegations?Ashok Singhal FOC ?JEHADI terrorism has not only spread its wings from Gujarat to Assam and from Jammu to Tamil Nadu and Coimbatore, but also has taken the whole of Bharat into its grip. Hundreds of bomb explosions and thousands of innocent deaths bear testimony to it,? said VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal in a press statement issued from Allahabad on November 12.    more > Don't frame Hindu leaders?Rajnath Singh THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) warned the Centre against any attempt to frame Hindu religious leaders and spiritual gurus in terror cases without evidence. Asking the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to come out with evidence against sadhus and sadhvis in this year?s Malegoan blast, BJP president Rajnath Singh on Thursday cautioned the Government against running a ?defamation campaign? against the majority community.    more > Sangh Samachar Hindu-Muslim Meet Cow is a sacred National Animal - FOC Focus on total, inclusive development?KS Sudarshan - FOC Maoists kill RSS worker in Kandhamal - FOC VHP serves legal notice on The Times of India - FOC Massive agitation by ABVP against Bangladeshi infiltration on December 17 - FOC D.B. Thengadi Memorial Lecture Save agriculture to save economy?Dr Joshi - FOC Orissa under Attack?II Church strategy during British period By Balbir K Punj THE broad picture put out by the `secular? media, (particularly at the national level) only mirrors the position of the church; that missionaries serve the underprivileged without any evangelical agenda. The Manuwadi vested interests (read Sangh Parivar) cannot stand the emancipation of the hapless poor and resort to violence against the church.    more > The challenges before Hinduism By RK Ohri, IPS (Retd) INDIA?S Hindu civilisational identity is in grave peril. After being a civilisation in retreat for more than one thousand years, we have become a civilisation under siege. Barely 1,200 years ago Afghanistan and today?s Pakistan were part of the great Hindu civilisation which extended from Bactria, Afghanistan, Gilgit in Kashmir, Seistan in Iran and Sindh to Indonesia.    more > CPM blame game and landmine blast By Asim Kumar Mitra SO long, Kolkata or for that matter West Bengal was free from terror kind of blasts for the simple reason that this part of the country was being used by the Islamic terrorists as corridor for the safe transit of infiltrators and migrates from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and even China.    more > Learn to work in a team, Madan Das at Surya Foundation training camp FOC SURYA Foundation recently organised the concluding ceremony of a training camp organised for 1000 teachers of Ideal Village Project at Police Grounds in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. ...    more > Pluralism in Indian religious tradition By Arif Mohammed Khan WHAT is religion (dharma)? The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad responds to this question by a thunderclap, da da da. It means dama, daan and dayaa, self control, charity and compassion. Indian tradition holds these values as three basic ingredients of religion.    more > An Eyewitness Account Bangladeshi terror forces a Hindu exodus From Ashish Bhave in Udalguri and Darrang THE clash between Bodos and Bangladeshi Muslims began on October 3 with the attacks on Bodo villages by Bangladeshi Muslims, just after the Id. Though, the attacks were retaliated by Bodos and Assamese together, the maximum casualties were reported from the Bodos, Assamese, Biharis, Santhalis, Garos, Bengali and Nepalese.    more > All Bodo Students? Union urges the PM Deploy army in Udalguri and Darrang districts of Assam By Jagadamba Mall ALL Bodo Students? Union and All Darrang District Students? Union have urged the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to deploy army in the entire stretch of Udalguri-Darrang District border in Assam and also in all the villages burnt down by the Bangladeshi Muslim terrorists so that the people can return to their respective villages.    more > Terrorists are mercenaries By Jagannath Dhar PAKISTAN President Asif Ali Zardari made a significant statement when he said Kashmiri freedom fighters are terrorists. India has, rightly, welcomed it. But there have been widespread demonstrations in Kashmir Valley against this statement. That is because truth is, sometimes, such a bitter medicinal pill that it is difficult to gulp it down the human throat.    more >

COVER PAGE The Moving Finger Writes What now with Obama as new US President? By M.V. Kamath IT has been a long, long way from the time when Abraham Lincoln fought a bloody Civil War (1861-1865) to liberate the blacks, a long way since the blacks in Montgomery, Alabama rose in anger on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks was refused a front row seat in a public transport bus because of her colour, leading the way for a till-then unknown Martin Luther King to make a powerful plea for the true liberation of his people.    more > Think It Over Evolution of the Semitic faiths By MSN Menon THE Bible remains an interesting document on how the idea of God evolved. The Bible presents us with a succession of gods, each a striking improvement on the previous ones, making it possible for us to have a nobler and deeper vision of God.    more > Thinkpad Indian encounter with two occupations By Dr Vijaya Rajiva INDIA experienced two back to back occupations lasting a thousand years, the Muslim and the British. Of these two, with the passing of time, the British occupation has become less problematic than the other one.    more > Kids? Org Destruction of evil By Manju Gupta KRISHNA used to help his father Nand to take the cows for grazing in the fields and forest. As Krishna was invariably accompanied by his brother Balram and other cowherd friends, they would all get down to playing hide and seek or listen to Krishna play his flute while they danced around him.    more > Keep greed at bay ?MG A tiger once attacked a group of bandits who were camping in the forest after looting some travellers. The tiger kept a golden bangle from the loot for himself, as it glitter and somehow pleased his senses. As days passed, the tiger found his strength waning and ability to catch prey decreasing.    more > Pravasi Bharatiya Saraswati Statue in Belfast Gardens By Mukesh Sharma ArtsEkta, Northern Ireland first and only Multi-Ethnic arts organisation, last week unveiled a wood carving of Saraswati Mata, Hindu Goddess of Arts and Knowledge.    more > Bookmark Literature from Maupassant and O Henry By Vaidehi Nathan The Great Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant, Jaico Books, pp 264, Rs. 195.00 Book Reviews By Manju Gupta Modernity and Chinese society Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China, Pallavi Aiyar, HarperCollins, pp 274, Rs. 395.00 A novel on colonial brutality Onitsha, JMG Le Clezio, Rupa & Co, pp 206, Rs 295.00 Warner letters on 1857 War of Independence The Warner Letters, June Bush, Rupa & Co., pp 414, Rs. 395.00 Changing face of Indian Muslim Muslims of India Since Partition, Balraj Puri, Gyan Publishing House, pp 246, Rs 540.00 A textbook on upbringing ABCs of Parenting, Gouri Dangem, Jaico Books, pp 123, Rs 175.00 Opinion When will the Christians accept the reality?-II The crux of the matter is intolerance By MG Vaidya THE entire story of the cruelties perpetrated by the Portuguese Christians will be revealed in front of your eyes. Violence was let loose in the 16th century, with the principal aim of converting the Hindus of Goa into Christianity.    more >

Opinion A pernicious nexus Maoists, evangelists and jehadis By Dr Babu Suseelan PROSELYTISING Christism, Marxism and jehadi Islamism are totalitarian and rigid empire-building political systems for invasion, expansionism, plunder, oppression, exploitation and destruction of ?non-believers? and their traditional cultures and dogmas. These ?closed? systems compete and oppose one another in many parts of the world.    more >

Feedback An answer to a thousand questions Why are we opposed to conversions? By Raghvendra Singh INDIAN state and politics are going through the most decisive phase in post Janata movement era. How the state responds to the ongoing crises will be interesting to see. Whether the state is able to formulate and implement an independent policy for internal affairs is another serious matter that we need to observe...    more >

Readers? Forum A Matter Of Economics (Organiser, 19-10-2008); ?VANI NAGARAJ, 613, Boudhnagar, Secunderabad Shri R Balashankar has attempted to focus on parallel appeasement of the UPA government with that of US government. But the act of benevolence on the part of finance and aviation ministers to bail out the ailing aviation industry and melting capital markets are uncalled for.    more >

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