The Palestine Muddle

Readers’ Forum: Bharat Ratna

(Organiser, 4.1.2015); This refers to ‘The Man Who Reads Common Man’s Mind’ by Prasad Shivajirao Joshi and ‘ Emperor of the Fakirs’ by Rajesh Singh in Organiser. Both Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya should have been awarded the Bharat Ratna a long time back. That they were not, has to do with parochial politics more than any thing else. Therefore the Narendra Modi Government’s announcement to confer the nation’s highest civilian award upon these luminaries corrects the anomaly. Both men contributed significantly to our Freedom Struggle as well as to contemporary politics . In Shri Vajpayee’s case, the fact that leaders from across the political spectrum have welcomed the decision to give him the award, speaks volumes. As for Pandit Madan Mohan Malavia, it is distressing to see the manner in which some sections of the Left Liberal have painted him as an ‘Orthodox Hindu Leader’. But what I feel is that the recognition to one’s services must be given during one’s life time so as to make the award meaningful and the awardee proud. There is no point in awarding the most deserving ones when they are not around, since they are neither there to appreciate nor feel honoured. One’s talent or service to the country must be recognised when one is alive.
MC SHARMA,
Panki, Kanpur

(Organiser, 14.12.2014); This refers to ‘The Palestine Muddle’ under ‘A page from History’ and ‘Saga of Heroism & Betrayal’ in Organiser. Jews were slaughtered, enslaved and lastly driven away from their country Palestine, by the Arab Muslims. But now they are so powerful that all the Arab countries are afraid of Jews and Israel. The same thing has happened with Hindus. We the Hindus are also considered as enemy number one by the Muslim world. Muslim invaders finished Hindus in Central Asia and Afghanistan, long ago. Then in 1947, Muslims liquidated entire Hindu population from Pakistan and Bangladesh, reducing India to half of its original size. Still we are in much better position than the Jews. Pakistani army slaughtered 30 lakh Hindus in East Pakistan/Bangladesh during 1971 War and raped lakhs of Hindu girls. But our brave army men gave a befitting reply to Pakistan by capturing 93,000 Pakistani criminal solders as prisoners. But unfortunately Indira Gandhi instead of punishing them treated these criminals as special guest and sent them to Pakistan with honour, giving a copy of Quran to each of them. Most hopeless and shameful act indeed.
ANAND PRAKASH,
72/Sector: 8, Panchkula: 134 109

Hinduism: Mother of all religions

At a recent conference held at Tumkur, Karnataka, on ‘Ethics in the new millenium: Buddhist Perspectives’, where the seer of Siddaganga Mutt, Tumkur, Shri ShivaKumara Swamiji and Dalai Lama were also present. Shri T R JayaChandra, Karnataka State Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, made a statement that “the offshoots of Hinduism namely Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism should unite in to one fold in the interest of the country”. One among the audience remarked that Buddhism is a separate entity. We do agree that it has a separate entity, but it has its base and has emerged from Hinduism. Tracing down the doctrines of these religions one can come back to Hinduism, and there was nothing wrong in the Honourable Minister in making such a statement. Later Mr Anjaneya, Karnataka Minister of Social Welfare,endorseing the comment of the audience said that since Hinduism had loop holes, Dr Ambedkar had to embrace Buddhism. In this reference, we can say that if the so-called ‘Social-Reformers’ had made necessary amendments updating ‘Hinduism’ which was the sole religion practised for many thousands of years before in the world, instead of making their own religion, today we would have had only one religion in the world i.e. Hinduism. Here I would like to say that once when there was a conference of various religions in America way back when Swami Vivekanand had paid a visit to that country, books of various religions were placed one above other, and among them the book on Hinduism was placed at the bottom most. One person ridiculed Swami Vivekananda saying that the book on Hinduism is at the bottom and not at the top. Swami Vivekananda replied that Hinduism is the foundation of all the religions in the world. Since, Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world, which does not have a date of birth, unlike any other religions in the world the rest of the religions can be considered as descendants of this religion.
SETURAM ASPARI, By Email:rangeshk@rediffmail.com

Made in India Goods

The Prime Minister’s Office has done the right thing by asking all ministries to prefer ‘Made In India’ Goods. No doubt with the emergence of information technology, electronic items are the largest in demand. But then what about the core industries like power, steel, infrastructure and the like? The government would be well advised to issue instructions that the import of products in the core sector must be discouraged unless domestic firms express their inability to manufacture and supply power plants and equipments and steel of world-class quality. In fact, one public sector firm, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., has in a number of cases, bagged contracts against global companies from the US, and the UK, Germany etc. on the basis of track record in term of manufacture and supply of products. And now it is starved of orders mainly because of Government policy of all-out entry of private companies. The Government must do its duty of protecting heavy industries.
CK SARDANA,
Bhopal

Bloodbath and Aftermath

(Organiser, 11.1.2015); Apropos of the article ‘Bloodbath and Aftermath’ by NJ Thakuria in Organiser. The recent massacre of Adviasis by Bodoland militants casts a grim picture on the law and order situation in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts in Assam. It is shocking that even accurate intelligence inputs had failed to awake the Assam Government from its deep slumber. The killer hard line group has always opposed peace talks with the Government. It is also learned that this group has the backing of certain missionaries. The role of these missionaries should be investigated. Security forces should be given a free hand to defeat the evil designs of the Bodo terrorist.
MANOJ PARASHAR,
By Email

Scramble of Sub-Regionalism

(Organiser, 11.1.2015 ); This refers to the article ‘Scramble of Sub-Regionalism’ by Arvind in Organiser. Government formation in Jammu & Kashmir continues to remain elusive. There is some hope of a tie–up between the Bharatiya Janata Party, having 25 seats, and the Peoples democratic Party having 28 seats in the State Assembly, which can give a stable government. The problem is that some of the conditions the Peoples Democratic Party has laid down, may not be acceptable to the BJP. The PDP’s position on the Armed Forces (Special Power)Act is at complete variance with that of the BJP, just as the issue of Article 370 is. There has also been conflicting reports about the tie-up between the BJP and the National Conference, and even a PDP-NC-Congress alliance to keep BJP away from power. The significant fact is that the BJP has won all its seats from the Jammu region while the other three parties have won seats from the Valley. Any government which excludes the BJP will not represent Jammu and will not be in the interest of the State.
MC JOSHI,
Lucknow