26.01.2008
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr.Karunanidhi should stop wailing about the SethuSamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) at every public function pleading with the Centre to implement the project expeditiously ignoring the objections of others.
The SSCP is however now “clinically dead” and is surviving only on the oxygen of the rhetoric of Mr.Karunanidhi. Only formal cremation and final rites of the project now remains. Mr.Karunanidhi should realize that like Ravana, he too has been defeated by Lord Rama.
Instead of grieving for the dead project, Mr.Karunanidhi should, for the rapid development of the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu ask the Centre should build double broad gauge railway lines and a six lane National High connecting Kanyakumari to Kolkata along the coast. The Mannar Bay should be developed as a Marine Economic Zone, and as an export container port, while an international airport should be constructed in Tuticorin.
Therefore Mr.Karunanidhi should learn from the Bhagwat Gita and think positively about the future, instead of the dead past.
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Hindumatha convention to begin on Friday
22/01/2008 00:09:37 www.newindpress.com
PATHANAMTHITTA: The third Hindumatha convention, organised by Konni Haindava Seva Samithi, will be held at Vivekananda Nagar near Konni Chittoor Junction from January 25 to 27.
The preparations have been completed for the conduct of the meet, Samithi patron V K Karunakara Kurup, president R Ramachandran Nair and secretary R Ravindran Nair said. Swami Vidyananda of Varkala Sivagiri Math will inaugurate the meet at 5 p.m. on January 25.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad district president V P Manmadhan Nair will preside over the function. Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage director N Gopalakrishnan will deliver a discourse at 7 p.m.
The meet on the second day will be presided over by ex-MLA K K Nair at 5.30 p.m. VHP state prachar pramukh V R Rajasekharan and C P Gopalakrishnan will deliver discourse at 7 p.m.
Bhajan by Konni Satya Sai Samithi will be held at 4 p.m. on January 27. The valedictory function will be presided over by Brahmacharini Bhavyamrithachaithanya at 5.30 p.m. Principal of Kerala University College of Teachers’ Education, Adoor, S N Sukumaran Nair will deliver a discourse on the relevance of Sreemad Ramayana at 6 p.m.
PATHANAMTHITTA: The third Hindumatha convention, organised by Konni Haindava Seva Samithi, will be held at Vivekananda Nagar near Konni Chittoor Junction from January 25 to 27.
The preparations have been completed for the conduct of the meet, Samithi patron V K Karunakara Kurup, president R Ramachandran Nair and secretary R Ravindran Nair said. Swami Vidyananda of Varkala Sivagiri Math will inaugurate the meet at 5 p.m. on January 25.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad district president V P Manmadhan Nair will preside over the function. Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage director N Gopalakrishnan will deliver a discourse at 7 p.m.
The meet on the second day will be presided over by ex-MLA K K Nair at 5.30 p.m. VHP state prachar pramukh V R Rajasekharan and C P Gopalakrishnan will deliver discourse at 7 p.m.
Bhajan by Konni Satya Sai Samithi will be held at 4 p.m. on January 27. The valedictory function will be presided over by Brahmacharini Bhavyamrithachaithanya at 5.30 p.m. Principal of Kerala University College of Teachers’ Education, Adoor, S N Sukumaran Nair will deliver a discourse on the relevance of Sreemad Ramayana at 6 p.m.
Statement of Sri S.Vedanthamji, Working President (Intl), VHP
A Great victory for Ram Bakthas
For millions of Hindus Ramasethu was the bridge built by Nala & Neela under the instructions from Lord Ram to cross over the sea and redeem Sita Matha from
The so called secular Govt. in Bharath in the garb of development wanted to demolish the Ram Sethu and implement the SSCP project though alternate route is available. To establish their claim they even dared to challenge the existence of Bhagawan Rama and the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu has gone to the extent of calling Rama as a drunkard.
The VHP and parivar organizations jointly put up a fight against the pseudo secularists for hurting the Hindu sentiments.
After many agitations & programmes like fasting, public meetings and rallies, road roko, and Rath yatra with the floating stones taken from the Ram sethu which were conducted in the nook and corner of the country evoked a very great response from the public. In order to show the solidarity of Hindus on this issue it was decided to organize a mammoth rally in the capital of the country to send a strong message to the Government.
This Rama Setu Mahasammelan convened by Rameswaram Rama Sethu Raksha Manch a forum exclusively formed for this purpose by VHP, was held on 30 Dec. 2007 from 11 AM to 5 PM is a historic movement, unprecedented in the annals of Indian history.Over 10 lakh Ramabakthas had assembled on a 27 lakh sq. ft. ground of
The vast park which was 1 km in both length and breadth was filled to capacity and the participants had to find accommodation on the parks and pathways adjacent to the
Sri Sudarsanji-RSS , Sri Ashok Singhlaji, Sri Vedantamji, Sri Praveen Togadia, Sri Rajnath Singh, BJP leaders like Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, Sri Arun Jaitley, Smt Sushma Swaraj, all the Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states and many MPs and MLAs from BJP have attended the programme.
The programme was presided over by Sankaracharya of Jyotish mutt and attended by many sadhus and Sanyasis from all over Bharath. To name a few: Sri Vishveshteertha Swamigal of Pejawar Mutt Udupi, Sadvi Ritambaradevi, Mahanth Sri Nruthya Gopal Doss, Acharya Dharmendra, Sri Ramvilas Vedanthi.
The 27 lakh sq ft ground which was full of bushes and litter was cleaned and made available for use in just 7 days by the local BJP MLA and the municipal councilors.
The participants came from every nook and corner of
The message from the meeting was emphatic, loud and clear: declare Rama Setu as world heritage monument, declare Rameshwaram as divyakshetram and apologise for the comments made which have hurt the sentiments of crores of Hindus world-wide.
Due to this unexpected and unprecedented Hindu resurgence manifested in the form of such a vast congregation in the political capital of India the government is now scared to implement the Sethu Samudram Canal project fearing the backlash of Hindus.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Statement of Dr.Subramanian Swamy, President of Janata Party,
1. I shall be filing a new interlocutory application {IA} next week in the Supreme Court seeking the complete scrapping of the Sethusamudran Ship Channel Project [SSCP] on the following grounds:
[a] The SSCP was sanctioned by the Union Cabinet without the mandatory prior clearance by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. Post-sanction clearance by the TNPCB does not remove this legal defect, because retrospective environment clearance is not permitted under law.
[b] The project is in violation of the Ministry of Environment & Forest's binding advice contained in a letter dated April 8, 1999 to the Ministry of Surface Transport that the project is an environmental disaster and should be dropped altogether. There is no new fresh data that have been collected since that make it possible for the Ministry to revise its 1999 advice.
[c] The decision to select the Alignment No.6 channel route that requires cutting through the Rama Setu is illegal because NEERI has already submitted in a 1998 Report to the government that cutting through coral rocks and reefs would require blasting by using explosives and hence it will completely destroy the marine life in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Straits. On this binding recommendation, the Ministry of Shipping dropped the Alignment No.5 because it would have needed blasting coral rocks near Dhanushkodi. Now the Alignment No.6 favoured by the DMK leaders requires ten times more blasting hence even more illegal.
[d] Following the jallikattu revised decision of the Supreme Court, wherein it is observed that the Tamil Nadu government has accepted the principle that status quo has to be maintained if any change hurts the religious sentiments of the people, therefore the Rama Setu cannot be damaged in anyway. Jallikattu affects only one district of India, while Rama Setu is revered by nearly a billion Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains the world over. Hence the principle of religious sentiments applies even more.
[e] The SSCP's detailed project report[DPR] was prepared before the Tsunami hit the Tamil Nadu coast. Now world renowned experts consulted by the government have opined that Rama Setu had helped to reduce the virulence of the Tsunami. Hence the DPR is out of date and the SSCP should be scrapped unless a new DPR is prepared to show that the channel will have any funnel effect in a Tsunami.
2. The SSCP is a financial white elephant. The claim of the Shipping Minister Mr. T.R. Baalu that the project will be an economic boon the Tamil Nadu is based on bogus and cooked up data. This has been proved and presented in my forthcoming new book titled: Rama Setu--A Symbol of National Unity. Hence I shall write to the PM soon seeking sanction to prosecute Baalu under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 420 of the IPC.
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
[a] The SSCP was sanctioned by the Union Cabinet without the mandatory prior clearance by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. Post-sanction clearance by the TNPCB does not remove this legal defect, because retrospective environment clearance is not permitted under law.
[b] The project is in violation of the Ministry of Environment & Forest's binding advice contained in a letter dated April 8, 1999 to the Ministry of Surface Transport that the project is an environmental disaster and should be dropped altogether. There is no new fresh data that have been collected since that make it possible for the Ministry to revise its 1999 advice.
[c] The decision to select the Alignment No.6 channel route that requires cutting through the Rama Setu is illegal because NEERI has already submitted in a 1998 Report to the government that cutting through coral rocks and reefs would require blasting by using explosives and hence it will completely destroy the marine life in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Straits. On this binding recommendation, the Ministry of Shipping dropped the Alignment No.5 because it would have needed blasting coral rocks near Dhanushkodi. Now the Alignment No.6 favoured by the DMK leaders requires ten times more blasting hence even more illegal.
[d] Following the jallikattu revised decision of the Supreme Court, wherein it is observed that the Tamil Nadu government has accepted the principle that status quo has to be maintained if any change hurts the religious sentiments of the people, therefore the Rama Setu cannot be damaged in anyway. Jallikattu affects only one district of India, while Rama Setu is revered by nearly a billion Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains the world over. Hence the principle of religious sentiments applies even more.
[e] The SSCP's detailed project report[DPR] was prepared before the Tsunami hit the Tamil Nadu coast. Now world renowned experts consulted by the government have opined that Rama Setu had helped to reduce the virulence of the Tsunami. Hence the DPR is out of date and the SSCP should be scrapped unless a new DPR is prepared to show that the channel will have any funnel effect in a Tsunami.
2. The SSCP is a financial white elephant. The claim of the Shipping Minister Mr. T.R. Baalu that the project will be an economic boon the Tamil Nadu is based on bogus and cooked up data. This has been proved and presented in my forthcoming new book titled: Rama Setu--A Symbol of National Unity. Hence I shall write to the PM soon seeking sanction to prosecute Baalu under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 420 of the IPC.
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
Editorial
This is a great chance for the Hindus to rally and fight!
Cabinet note apart, the dilemma that has driven the government seeking postponement is the dreaded political consequence they face. They want to think it is surmountable but they are not sure and this is the dilemma!
Secondly, if they want to beat a retreat they are also evaluating the political implications of their various options of retreat. The fate of the matter is stuck at the Supreme Court.
Can they be proactive and say: "OK, this is not a good project and it was ill-conceived and was born of the political compulsion of a coalition government. Honestly, this isn't good and we wish to abandon it." - This is definitely the least possible scenario.
Secondly, they can say it is a good project but not so much as demand it in such a way that the SC would rule against it. That could bring about a resolution but then the Hindu outfits and the BJP could continue to charge them that they are anti-Hindus bent on destroying God's creation. And the DMK and the communists get turned off and kill the coalition.
The third option for them would be to play a Narasimha Rao and postpone resolution of this indefinitely. But then the SC should acquiesce to it and it would need Dr.Subramanian Swamy's consent but that would unlikely be forthcoming. Dr.SS wants it declared a heritage site and he knows he cannot play an Ayodhya Ram Janma Bhoomi here. Unlike Ayodhya case that brought religious conflict that the secular government could exploit to thwart a resolution, Ramasethu breach was conceived by greed of profiteering by an atheist outfit and Dr.SS would have only his political sucide to accede to an irresolution.
This is a great chance for the Hindus to rally and fight!
Anbu
Cabinet note apart, the dilemma that has driven the government seeking postponement is the dreaded political consequence they face. They want to think it is surmountable but they are not sure and this is the dilemma!
Secondly, if they want to beat a retreat they are also evaluating the political implications of their various options of retreat. The fate of the matter is stuck at the Supreme Court.
Can they be proactive and say: "OK, this is not a good project and it was ill-conceived and was born of the political compulsion of a coalition government. Honestly, this isn't good and we wish to abandon it." - This is definitely the least possible scenario.
Secondly, they can say it is a good project but not so much as demand it in such a way that the SC would rule against it. That could bring about a resolution but then the Hindu outfits and the BJP could continue to charge them that they are anti-Hindus bent on destroying God's creation. And the DMK and the communists get turned off and kill the coalition.
The third option for them would be to play a Narasimha Rao and postpone resolution of this indefinitely. But then the SC should acquiesce to it and it would need Dr.Subramanian Swamy's consent but that would unlikely be forthcoming. Dr.SS wants it declared a heritage site and he knows he cannot play an Ayodhya Ram Janma Bhoomi here. Unlike Ayodhya case that brought religious conflict that the secular government could exploit to thwart a resolution, Ramasethu breach was conceived by greed of profiteering by an atheist outfit and Dr.SS would have only his political sucide to accede to an irresolution.
This is a great chance for the Hindus to rally and fight!
Anbu
Rajnath: UPA is playing with fire
Reacting to the TIMES NOW story on the draft Cabinet note by the Shipping ministry terming Rama Sethu as a natural formation, BJP President Rajnath Singh has reacted strongly saying that the bridge was buit by Lord Rama is a matter of faith and the BJP will give the Centre a fitting reply after the former submits its affidavit to the Supreme Court.
“I believe questions of faith and belief cannot be answered with history and science. We are also waiting to see what kind of an affidavit the Government files in the Supreme Court. We will react only after that,” said Singh today (January 18).
Singh told TIMES NOW off the record however that the UPA was ‘playing with fire’ and would be engulfed by its heat if it chose to stoke the religious passions of the people. He said the Rama Sethu was a matter of faith and non negotiable, and any attempt to classify it as manmade which would entail the UPA dredging it, or cut through it, would not be allowed. The BJP will await the text of the affidavit before giving a fitting reply, added Singh.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Will SC do a jallikattu for Rama Setu?
http://kalyan98.wordpress.com
Madras HC judgement of 19 June 2007 on Rama Setu referred to hurting sentiments of a community as a cognizable offence under Section 295 of IPC. Former Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Krishna Iyer have eloquently argued that sentiments of Hindus should be respected and Rama Setu should be protected. Justice Krishna Iyer went on to say that no patriotic Indian can support the Setu project
Well, there are over 8000 pages of scientific evidence submitted to the courts explaining how Setu project is a disaster and why Rama Setu should be protected.
Will the Hon'ble Supreme Court do a jallikattu for Rama Setu?
We are beholden to Dr. Subramanian Swamy for bringing the decision on Jallikattu to the notice of the 3-judge bench hearing the Rama Setu issue on 16 Jan. 2008 when the Centre sought 2 weeks' time for submitting their long over-due affidavit. It is heartening to note that the Bench responded with good humour to this impassioned but correct remark of Dr. Swamy.
Is the Centre listening? Is the Committee of Secretaries who indulge in selective leaks to the media listening?
Thanks to Shri V. Sundaram for bringing out the imperative of uniform and consistent judicial standards for judging sentiments of common people.
Dr.Kalyananraman
What makes SC play Jallikattu with Hindus
V SUNDARAM | Wed, 16 Jan, 2008 , 02:19 PM
.The Supreme Court of India has been consistently inconsistent on vital issues affecting the long cherished hopes, emotions, feelings, sentiments and sensibilities of the common people of India. Yesterday the Supreme Court reversed the ban it had imposed on Jallikattu in the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu which it had imposed through an order on 11 January, 2008. This has been widely welcomed by the people of Tamil Nadu.
The Supreme Court issued the ban order on 11 January, 2008 terming it as barbaric and inhuman as bulls were tortured, administered chilli powder and local brew to make them charge in an enraged manner. Soon after this ban order was announced, there was a visible public uproar in Southern Tamil Nadu. The public consternation arose because of the public perception that the Supreme Court of India was trying to crush the age-old religious feelings and sentiments of the people. Thousands of them were determined to defy the ban order of the Supreme Court and the public slogan was "Ignore the Supreme Court order ! Come out into the open and participate in Jallikattu at any cost, without any fear. Hold fast to your Jallikattu convictions !" Many people in the rural areas of Madurai, Dindugal, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli Districts considered the Supreme Court's peremptory ban on Jallikattu as a direct religious and cultural attack on the Hindus of Tamil Nadu.
Surprisingly enough, the Government of Tamil Nadu came out with the argument that the ban on the 600 years old traditional event of Jallikattu would hurt peoples' religious feelings and sentiments. Referring to many intelligence reports, Government of Tamil Nadu stated "in most villages, the people have decided to defy the Supreme Court order and to go ahead with the celebration of Jallikattu as usual........This situation could create a major law and order problem in many places during the Pongal festival". Thus two basic issues were raised by the Government of Tamil Nadu for getting the earlier ban order revoked by the Supreme Court. They are : a) religious feelings of the people would get hurt. b) There will be a breakdown of law and order because the people are determined to defy the orders of the Supreme Court.
It is understood that the Supreme Court put two relevant and embarrassing questions to the Counsel appearing for Tamil Nadu Government : 1. Why is the Tamil Nadu Government invoking religious sentiments in this Jallikattu case ?. 2. What would be their stand in the Rama Sethu case pending before the Supreme Court ?
The Hindus of India in absolute majority expect the Supreme Court of India not to function as the fountainhead of religious and political discrimination at the apex level. When Dayananda Saraswathy, several other Madadhipathis and may others filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India in August 2006, seeking a ban on the demolition of more than 1.7 million years old Rama Sethu ( even according to NASA report ), the Supreme Court rejected it summarily. Now on a petition filed by Tamil Nadu Government for removing a ban on Jallikattu on the ground that it is an event which has been going on in Tamil Nadu for over 400 years and that a ban on it would hurt the religious feelings of the people, the Supreme Court has reversed its order of January 11, 2008 in just 5 days. If the religious feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu can get hurt by a ban on Jallikattu, the Supreme Court should not fail to take note of the fact that the deliberate attempt of UPA Government to destroy the timeless Rama Sethu bridge in Rameswaram will equally hurt ( if not more ! ) the religious feelings of nearly 900 millions of Hindus in India and also of millions of Hindus outside India in all the other parts of the world. Any court of law should be able to distinguish between Jallikattu which only has a local significance in Tamil Nadu and Rama Sethu which is of national and international significance.
If the Government of Tamil Nadu is concerned about the breakdown of law and order following the Supreme Court's ban on Jallikattu, it should not also ignore the fact that if the might of the State is deployed for the planned destruction of Rama Sethu, which has been in existence for centuries, all the Hindus of India would not hesitate to unite in order to take the matter to the streets for asserting and claiming their age old Hindu rights regarding Rama Sethu. In that event, there will be a greater breakdown of law and order not only in Tamil Nadu but throughout the nation.
I can do no better than conclude in the words of Anjana Suthan :
"The 'Bull' (Rishabam in Sanskrit & Kaalai in Tamil) is worshipped as 'Nandhi' Bhagwan by the Hindus. The Nandhi Bhagwan has exposed the hypocrisy of the Tamil Nadu government and the duplicity of Dravidianism through the 'Jalli Kattu' controversy. The rationalist Tamil Nadu government headed by an Atheist Chief Minister, which questioned the truth of Ramayana, historicity of Lord Rama and existence of thousands of years old Rama Sethu in the ongoing SSCP controversy, had shamelessly taken shelter under 'Hindu Religion' while arguing its case for the conduction of Jalli Kattu. While the 'Bull fight' has only cultural tradition and not any religiousness attached to it, the state government had presented to the Apex Court that, the Bull fight organized during the Pongal festival is an ancient traditional sports more than 400 years old and that the stopping of such a sport would hurt the 'religious' sentiments of the people. The government had requested the SC to lift the stay on the above grounds and the Supreme Court had obliged only after laying certain conditions such as, the organizers must obtain permission from the district Collector, registration must be made, Animal Husbandry officials must inspect the Bulls, participants must be registered, Medical facilities & presence of Veterinary teams must be ensured, the event must come under the observation of Animal Welfare Board Members and the event must be video graphed by government media like Doordarshan. The stay was lifted only late in the afternoon yesterday, but surprisingly the event is 'on' today itself in Alanganallur. One wonders how the District Administration could ensure all the above guidelines annexed by the SC within 24 hrs!..... In the process, the Supreme Court also stands totally exposed! The Supreme Court, which delayed to the maximum possible extent to grant a stay on the destruction of Sacred Rama Sethu, when arguments were made and hell of a lot of Proofs & authentic documents were submitted on Religious grounds, had yielded to the Atheist state government in just one sitting, on the same religious grounds. What an irony!"
(The writer is a retired IAS officer)
e-mail the writer at
vsundaram@newstodaynet.com
Friday, January 11, 2008
Nursery rhyme of an experts’ committee
Friday, 11 January, 2008 , 03:20 PM | |
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At last, the Committee of Experts, politically nominated by T R Baalu, has submitted its report saying that the Ramar Sethu (Ramar Paalam) is not man-made. In this context, I am only reminded of the following hilarious and popular nursery rhyme which I learnt in my Ist standard. Here is the rhyme which speaks for itself. Rub-a-dub-dub | |
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The origin of this rhyme seems to be from an old English side-show attraction including three maids in a tub. The rhyme depicts the scurrilous behaviour of some members of a group lacking self-control. The Members of the Committee of Experts have behaved like those ‘Rub-a-dub-dub three men in a tub’ Immediately after the Committee of Experts with Dr Ramachandran, Vice- Chancellor, University of Madras, as chairman was appointed by the government of India, in these columns in October 2007, I had observed as follows: under the headline: SSCP VS RAMA SETHU: THE GAME OF SINISTER PAWN BROKERS, there is enough documentary evidence to show that Dr Ramachandran is a biased and prejudiced person who does not seem to have even ordinary belief, much less faith, in the processes of equity and natural justice. He has already gone on record several times publicly espousing the government’s stand on the existence of the Rama Sethu and on the viability of the said project. Hence, unless he has undergone an opinion change and now has an open mind, the committee’s deliberations would be vitiated by pre-judgemental bias of the chairperson, which under settled law would negate any claim of the committee of having reached a conclusion after fairly and impartially considering all objections and suggestions. In the same article in October 2007, I had even then observed that having spoken to the press several times that the Rama Sethu is not a ‘man-made structure’ and that it is a natural formation, Dr Ramachandran can not be expected to take a different view on the subject in his new capacity as chairman of this committee. On the deplorable want of procedural probity and decorum on the part of Dr Ramachandran, I had concluded as follows: Any other self-respecting man placed in a similar situation would have rescued himself with courage and conviction declaring that justice should not only be done but seem to be done. I had also correctly foreseen in advance when I referred to that committee as ‘Sham Committee of Eminent Persons’ and clearly stated that it does not require extraordinary crystal gazing powers to appreciate the contents of the conclusions and recommendations that ‘Their Eminences Committee’ will be submitting. It’s a foregone conclusion. It will be a ‘command performance’ in pursuance of ‘THEIR MASTER’S VOICE’!! (Sonia, Ambika Soni, T R Baalu and Karunanidhi). As I had correctly anticipated and forecast in October 2007, the disgraceful and fraudulent committee of ‘Dubious Eminences’ has given a political ruling to the effect that the Rama Sethu Bridge is a natural formation only to suit the political and commercial interests of Baalu. It is understood that the government has decided not to file their counter affidavit on 16 January, 2008, in the controversial Sethu case filed by Dr Subramanian Swamy and others in the Supreme Court. I also understand that having come to the categorical conclusion that Baalu will not be in a position to handle this case in a statesman-like manner in the Supreme Court; the Prime Minister has taken upon himself the onerous responsibility of steering this controversial ship across the swirling waters of tortuous and turbid litigation. It is understood that this matter came up before the Union Cabinet meeting yesterday that was presided over by Dr Manmohan. I reliably understand that Baalu failed in his attempts to convert the Union Cabinet meeting into a ‘DMK Kitchen Cabinet Meeting’. Pranab Mukherjee led the attack on Baalu and told him in clear and unmistakable terms that what was politically expedient and reasonable for the DMK party would be totally unacceptable because it would be disastrous from the point of view of the Congress party. Union Law Minister Bhardwaj, the newly turned ‘Rama Bhakta’ and prodigal son of the Congress, told Baalu that the massive report submitted by the Committee of Eminences a few days ago has to be scrutinised carefully by the Ministers concerned and the Ministries and therefore there can be no question of hurrying and scurrying through the finalisation of any counter affidavit of the government for being presented on 16 January 2008. I also reliably understand from my sources in New Delhi that the Union Minister for Culture Ambika Soni came out with a classical cover drive in the true manner of a Sir Jack Hobbs (1882-1963) when she seems to have told Baalu at the Cabinet meeting yesterday. ‘We cannot file the counter affidavit in the Supreme Court on 16 January. We require more time for more detailed study, discussion and analysis. Both my Congress party and I have got into unnecessary trouble with millions and millions of people in northern India, though I am in no way responsible for it. You seem to be the chief architect of all this trouble and mischief.’ Thus, it has been reported to me that Baalu found himself in splendid and insular isolation at the Union Cabinet meeting, with none of the Ministers from his own DMK present at the same meeting, supporting him openly on this issue. The UPA government, ever since it came to power in 2004, has consistently shown an unprecedented contempt for constitutional proprieties and procedural safeguards, both in letter and spirit. Talking about America, Justice Felix Frankfurter said, ‘The history of liberty in USA has largely been the history of observance of procedural safeguards.’ The same view was also taken by another great American Judge Justice Francoise Brandeis: ‘And in the development of our liberty insistence upon procedural regularity has been a large factor. Respect for law will not be advanced by resort, in its enforcement, to means which shock the common man’s sense of decency and fair play.’ I am of the view that the ‘Committee of Eminences’ through their final report have only succeeded in shocking the common man’s sense of decency and fair play. V.Sundaram in News Today |
Dr. Subramanian Swamy's letter to the Prime Minister
January 7, 2008
Dr.Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister
South Block
New Delhi 110011.
Dear Manmohanji:
I learn from a media report that you are being apprised of the draft counter affidavit to be filed in the Supreme Court in my Writ Petition on the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project. In an earlier hearing of the Court, my prayer for injunction against the demolition or damaging of the Rama Setu, while dredging, was granted.
Your Government’s earlier counter affidavit rubbishing Bhagwan Sri Rama and the Ramayana was also withdrawn. An assurance in writing was then given by the Government’s counsel that an amicable way would be found after due consultation with the petitioners, and a fresh counter affidavit would be filed.
If indeed media reports on your interest in the matter are correct, then I urge you to take an active lead to find an amicable way out which would entail not touching the Rama Setu. If indeed Rama Setu is to be regarded as a national heritage and an inalienable site of Hindu reverence and faith, the Rama Setu cannot be then touched since it will be entitled to be fully protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites & Remains Act (1958).
Hence, it would be appropriate that, and a proper way, if the claim of all Hindus on the Rama Setu site is researched by the newly proposed National Heritage Commission that is to be set up soon according to un-contradicted media reports. Till then your Government may adhere to the status quo on the Rama Setu matter. Your Government’s counsels may then ask for an adjournment on January 16th when the case is to be listed. I am taking this cooperative approach because my petition is in the nature and form of a PIL and hence non-adversarial. Please therefore do not permit divisive actions for a project which is economically unsound, environmentally disastrous and national security-wise risky. You may have seen Prof.T.A.D.Murthy’s paper submitted to the Indian Science Congress presently in session in Vishakapatnam wherein he has warned of dire consequences from the next Tsunami if Rama Setu is breached.
The SSCP is a foolish venture doomed to failure. Do not allow your reputation sink with it. I am enclosing a copy of a letter dated April 8, 1999 of the Ministry of Environment to the Ministry of Surface Transport urging the scrapping of the Project.
Warm Regards,
Yours sincerely,
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
Dr.Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister
South Block
New Delhi 110011.
Dear Manmohanji:
I learn from a media report that you are being apprised of the draft counter affidavit to be filed in the Supreme Court in my Writ Petition on the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project. In an earlier hearing of the Court, my prayer for injunction against the demolition or damaging of the Rama Setu, while dredging, was granted.
Your Government’s earlier counter affidavit rubbishing Bhagwan Sri Rama and the Ramayana was also withdrawn. An assurance in writing was then given by the Government’s counsel that an amicable way would be found after due consultation with the petitioners, and a fresh counter affidavit would be filed.
If indeed media reports on your interest in the matter are correct, then I urge you to take an active lead to find an amicable way out which would entail not touching the Rama Setu. If indeed Rama Setu is to be regarded as a national heritage and an inalienable site of Hindu reverence and faith, the Rama Setu cannot be then touched since it will be entitled to be fully protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites & Remains Act (1958).
Hence, it would be appropriate that, and a proper way, if the claim of all Hindus on the Rama Setu site is researched by the newly proposed National Heritage Commission that is to be set up soon according to un-contradicted media reports. Till then your Government may adhere to the status quo on the Rama Setu matter. Your Government’s counsels may then ask for an adjournment on January 16th when the case is to be listed. I am taking this cooperative approach because my petition is in the nature and form of a PIL and hence non-adversarial. Please therefore do not permit divisive actions for a project which is economically unsound, environmentally disastrous and national security-wise risky. You may have seen Prof.T.A.D.Murthy’s paper submitted to the Indian Science Congress presently in session in Vishakapatnam wherein he has warned of dire consequences from the next Tsunami if Rama Setu is breached.
The SSCP is a foolish venture doomed to failure. Do not allow your reputation sink with it. I am enclosing a copy of a letter dated April 8, 1999 of the Ministry of Environment to the Ministry of Surface Transport urging the scrapping of the Project.
Warm Regards,
Yours sincerely,
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Interview of a Christian Evangelist in India
- Bandyopadhyay Arindam ( ivarta blogs)
10/2/2007
The world today could have been a much better place for all of us, had we all refrained from trying to prove the superiority of our own religion………..
This is a model interview of “Father Johnson’ after his award by the Government of India for his exemplary work in India in enlightening the people in the path of the ONLY God. Father Johnson returned to the USA after 10 years of service, to uplift the people of India in the name of God. The interview was taken in July 2005 by a journalist in Houston, USA……
Welcome home Father. You have been in India for 10 years, where “our mission’ is still going on. Tell me Father, how is India?
India is a fascinating country, a land of contrasts. Modern India is the largest democracy, the budding economic superpower, with the second-largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world. India is also the only surviving ancient civilization with over one sixth of the world population. At one time, not so long ago, when Europe was in the “dark ages’ and America was not even “discovered’, India was a far advanced and developed country with a contribution of over 25% of world GDP till the 17th century and far advanced in all aspects of life, be it knowledge, philosophy, science, mathematics, arts, astronomy or navigation.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, (1850-1919), American poet and journalist, wrote “India – The land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all were known to the seers who founded the Vedas.”
Dick Teresi, American author of “Lost Discoveries’ mentioned “Some one thousand years before Aristotle, the Vedic Aryans asserted that the earth was round and circled the sun….
Two thousand years before Pythagoras, philosophers in northern India had understood that gravitation held the solar system together, and that therefore the sun, the most massive object, had to be at its center….
Twenty-four centuries before Isaac Newton, the Hindu Rig-Veda asserted that gravitation held the universe together…..
The Sanskrit speaking Aryans subscribed to the idea of a spherical earth in an era when the Greeks believed in a flat one…..
The Indians of the fifth century A.D. calculated the age of the earth as 4.3 billion years; scientists in 19th century England were convinced it was 100 million years…
”Despite all its riches, history says that India never invaded any country. On the contrary, India has been repeatedly assaulted and conquered by numerous invaders and has been ruled by “foreigners’, first the Muslims and then the British for over a thousand years. India, before the advent of the British rulers, was a rich and prosperous country.
Rev. Jabez T. Sunderland (1842-1936), Unitarian minister and reformer, wrote that “…when the British first appeared on the scene, India was one of the richest countries of the world; indeed, it was her great riches that attracted the British to her shores. For 2,500 years before the British came on the scene and robbed her of her freedom, India was self-ruling and one of the most influential and illustrious nations of the world …..
This wealth was created by the Hindus’ vast and varied industries.
”What about Hinduism as a religion?
Hinduism has a deep philosophical and spiritual heritage that has repeatedly mesmerized the world including western scientists, leaders and philosophers. Despite propaganda to the contrary, Hindus, like us, believes in one Supreme God but they do so in many forms, that helps to develop personalized relations.
Hinduism is the oldest major religion in the earth with 900 million followers. Unlike monotheistic institutionalized, religions like Judaism, Islam or Christianity, it is not based on any single prophet or scripture, but allows its followers all the freedom to pursue God and Truth in their own way, while living harmoniously with all creation.We know that the Hindus are tolerant of other religions.
Recently, UNESCO pointed out that out of 128 countries where Jews lived before Israel was created, only one, India, did not persecute them and allowed them to prosper and practice Judaism in peace.
Similarly the Zoroastrians, when driven out of Persia by Islam were given shelter by the Hindus in India and still coexist in India peacefully. Very recently, the Dalai Lama, driven from Buddhist Tibet, has been accepted with open arms. Such is the ethos of Hinduism and India.
I have heard that Mark Twain once said that “In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire’. I have also read Arnold Toynbee’s writing “…at the religious level, India has not been a recipient; she has been a giver. About half the total number of the living, higher religions are of Indian origin’. What do you think about it?
We know India gave birth to religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Hinduism, though the predominant religion, has, to quote Aldous Huxley, “never been a persecuting faith, have preached almost no holy wars and have refrained from that proselytizing religious imperialism which has gone hand in hand with political and economic oppression of colored people.’
What many do not know and I will not elaborate further for obvious reasons, is that there are researchers who think that the teachings of Jesus Christ have something to do with the ancient wisdom of Vedas. The Hindu concepts of “karma’, and “reincarnation’, which are part of the New Age Movement that we see today, were not unknown to Jesus.
Then Father, why do we need to convert people in India?
You see, we in the western world, have the “white man’s burden’ of civilizing the rest of the world. We also have the need and desire to spread the message of Christ, since we believe that it is the ONLY way to salvation and all other nonbelievers will go to hell. The faith in Christianity is being eroded in Europe and America.
That is why our Pope on his visit to India said, “Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent.’
Why do you target India?
India is the right country because Hindu Indians are generally peace-loving tolerant, law abiding people who are truthful and virtuous. India”s devotion to being good rather than being clever comes nearer the heart of a true civilization, said W. J. Grant, in his book, “The spirit of India’.
The unsuspecting Indians have always welcomed everybody on their shore and still keep on doing so. You cannot say the same about a Muslim country or of communist China. You see Hindus are such naive – they go out of their way to say that “all religions are same – they all lead to God’. Christians and for that matter, no other religion, says that.
Where does your resource come from?
There are five major aid-giving countries, viz., USA, Germany, Britain, Italy and the Netherlands. According to the available data, in the last decade alone, foreign aid organizations received more than 2.5 billion dollars.
This is only official statistics. According to the record and report of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the statistics about the foreign aid being received by Indian Non Government Organizations shows that 80% of it is meant only for the Christian organizations that have been buying their ways into the Indian society and converting unsuspecting people under the guise of social service.
How powerful is Christianity in India?
Oh, though we are only 2.4% of the population officially, we have a large control over the country because of our economic invasion. You see, the present leader of the main political party of India is a Roman Catholic with close contact with the Vatican. There are Christian Chief ministers in 5 out of 29 states. Because of the British rule of India, we have a large section of the leaders of India who look up to us. Believe me, we are the second largest land owners in India. We own and control 80% of the Indian media and newspapers. We overtly or covertly have alliance with key political associations. So it is very easy for us to influence the right people.
You must have a very organized system?
Yes, we do. Have you heard about the Joshua Project? It identifies and highlights the people groups of the world that have the least exposure to the Gospel and the least Christian presence and shares this information to encourage pioneer church-planting movements among every ethnic group. The Joshua Project has identified the North India Hindi belt as “the core of the core of the core” because of its population density (40% of the Indian population- the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh lies in this region); it is the religious hub of India; and it has the smallest Christian presence in India. Thus detailed plans have been drawn up to target India’s 75,000 Pin Codes.The Seventh Day Adventists owes its Indian success to Canadian evangelist Ron Watts, President for the South Asian Division. When he entered India, in 1997, the Adventist Church had 225,000 members after 103 years of operations. In five years, he took it to 700,000.Some methods used include the 10-Village and the 25-Village Programs, which involve five sets of laymen, under guidance from a regular pastor, who identify 10 or 25 villages in close proximity. Once the villages were selected, the teams would approach the leaders of each village and invite them to send two leaders to a 10-day seminar at a nearby resort, at the organization’s expense. It is before no time that the local leaders will then start working for our faith and organization. In 1998, there were seventeen 10-Village Programs and 9,337 were baptized. In 1999, forty programs were held and nearly 40,000 people baptized. Under the Christian Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Samuel Reddy, the Adventists shifted to a 50-village plan. They began baptizing at the rate of 10,000 persons per month. The US-based Maranatha Volunteers International provides buildings for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They are committed to build 750 churches in 2 years in India. The Oregon based, Fjarli family have a goal to build 1000 churches at a rate of 1 per day.
How do you carry out conversion attempts?
You see the local people are so simple and naïve that they do not have any clue as what out motive or means are. We target mostly the poor, illiterate, tribal people because they are the easiest to convert. We do that by various means – we establish schools, hospitals that overtly or subtly promote our faith, we allure them with money or goods to the needy when they convert, we “stage’ miracle cures, we use our influence on the media, we use our experts in propaganda, we promote the influential people and so on. We use the money sent to us by unsuspecting religious and faithful Christians from all over the world. We have numerous NGO and AID organizations to funnel the money into the country. There are a great number of missionaries of various denominations who are working there, all literally competing for the most number of converts. The Southern Baptists alone are a group that has nearly 100,000 career missionaries in North India, all working to spread our “good word.”
We convince the “natives’ by our appearances and even use their own culture. A native converted person will continue to use his Hindu name so as not to alienate himself. Some of the numerous Catholic priests in Southern India dress like “sannyasis’ (monks), and call their organizations “ashramas’ (hermitage). This is to make Christianity more similar to the Vedic traditions. Bharat Natyam, the classical dance of India, is also taught in the Christian schools, but with Christian symbols and meanings replacing the Vedic. This is all in the attempt to actively sway Hindus over to Christianity. The Evangelical Church of India (ECI), established in 1954, targets the slums, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, in cities and villages. Its logo depicts a cross struck deep in a lotus, the seat of Hindu divinity.
Is the so called caste system in India an advantage?
The “Caste-ism in India’ is a boon to us. Though Varna or caste was once an essential part of the culture, based on occupation and vocational skills, which kept the civilization going for over 5000 years, caste-ism is a degenerated socio-political system now that has been declared illegal. However it is one big weapon against Hinduism. We have learnt from the colonial British that it is very easy to divide the population on the basis of caste and religion based politics and we use it to our own interest to the maximum. We join the anti-Hindu forces and help to keep the stigma of caste-ism alive for our own benefit. We target the “untouchables’ (the unprivileged people, that has so marvelously crafted to be a result of the Hindu religion and not the social system) and convert them in the lure of “liberating’ them. However I must confess that we maintain their “untouchability’ by not allowing them to mix with the general Christians, maintaining separate entry to churches and even giving them separate churches and cemeteries.
We also use opportunities that God gives us. During natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and the recent Tsunami, taking advantage of the need, we were able to convert successfully entire low caste villages in Tamil Nadu to Christianity with the lure of money and aid.
How successful are you in your conversion attempts.
Oh we are doing a good job. The Northeast Indian states like Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, have witnessed a surge of nearly 200% in their Christian population in the past 25 years. Their grasp is so strong now that practicing Hinduism is forbidden in some areas. Hindus can no longer do worship or “puja’ in the open because of our influence. In another northeast state, Tripura, where there were no Christians at the time of India’s independence, 55 years ago, there are now over 120,000 today. The figures are even more striking in Arunachal Pradesh, where there were only 1710 Christians in 1961, but over 1 million today, along with over 780 churches. In the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, churches are coming-up every day in far flung villages and there is an attempt to set-up one near Tirupati, the world famous Hindu temple. Many of the North-East separatist movements, such as the Mizo or the Bodos, are not only Christian dominated, but also sometimes function with the covert backing of the missionaries. Christian Nagaland terrorists have been killing non-Christians for decades on end. More than 20,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam and Manipur in the past two decades. We understand that there are some social problems that crept up – the northeast states are the highest in India in terms of drugs and AIDS related problem – but we accept that as “casualties of war’ –that should not deter us from our goal.
Do you face any resistance?
Of course we do. But we brand any resistance as “Hindu fundamentalism or militancy’ and the media and our favorite leaders take care of the rest. We have set the mind of the unsuspecting population in a way, that whenever any of our people are harassed, attacked or killed, from any reason including their own faults, the blame automatically goes to these so called “Hindu fundamentalist’ and even though almost all of these instances are later proved to have nothing to do with these Hindu groups, the initial hue and cry that is raised makes sure the memories persist in the mind of the populace and the sympathy stays with us. There are instances when nuns have been proved to be raped by Christians, but the blames continues to stay with the Hindus.
Is there any legal barrier?
Yes there are some rules and laws that sometimes impair our activities. The Indian Supreme Court had declared that: “The right to propagate religion does not mean the right to convert… Conversion done under allurement, use of force and fraud in which the poverty or ignorance of the individual is taken advantage of, is not only undemocratic but also unconstitutional…Respect for all religions is the foundation of secularism whereas the seeds of conversion lie in religious intolerance.”. Anti conversion laws have been passed in various states. But as I said, we have our ways.
Sometimes the law does get us though. We had some instances where members of our faith have been convicted with resultant imprisonment or expulsion. As in churches all over the world, some clergymen have been penalized for cases of sexual exploitation, including pedophilia. But that does not deter us from our goal and our almighty Lord takes care of our soul.
How satisfied are you with the progress of the missions?
It is really satisfying. We find enormous pleasure in converting the Hindu “pagans’. However I wish we could do more. I wish I could say like St Francis Xavier, during the Goa Inquisition in 1560, “When I have finished baptizing the people, I order them to destroy the huts in which they keep their idols; and I have them break the statues of their idols into tiny pieces, since they are now Christians. I could never come to an end describing to you the great consolation which fills my soul when I see idols being destroyed by the hands of those who had been idolaters.”
Thank you, Father for your time and honesty.
Thank you, my son. God bless you.
Epilogue
“Christianity offers nothing that is not already available somewhere in the many forms of Hinduism. Hinduism never rejected the teachings of Jesus. Those who have converted either agreed with a gun pressed at their skulls as in Goa, or because it provided an escape from caste tyranny, as well as a guaranteed professional advancement. Through its Vedic legacy, Hinduism respects all faiths. It clearly states that God is one, but has many forms. The Christian message must sound preposterous: that God is indeed one, but has only one recognized form, his son. The “savages” of India were sophisticated - so sophisticated that the imperialist mixture of church and state in Europe could not grasp such sophistication….”
(Paul William Roberts, author of, “Empire of the Soul: Some journeys in India’)
Offensive proselytisation @ http://indiaview.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/...roselytisation/
10/2/2007
The world today could have been a much better place for all of us, had we all refrained from trying to prove the superiority of our own religion………..
This is a model interview of “Father Johnson’ after his award by the Government of India for his exemplary work in India in enlightening the people in the path of the ONLY God. Father Johnson returned to the USA after 10 years of service, to uplift the people of India in the name of God. The interview was taken in July 2005 by a journalist in Houston, USA……
Welcome home Father. You have been in India for 10 years, where “our mission’ is still going on. Tell me Father, how is India?
India is a fascinating country, a land of contrasts. Modern India is the largest democracy, the budding economic superpower, with the second-largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world. India is also the only surviving ancient civilization with over one sixth of the world population. At one time, not so long ago, when Europe was in the “dark ages’ and America was not even “discovered’, India was a far advanced and developed country with a contribution of over 25% of world GDP till the 17th century and far advanced in all aspects of life, be it knowledge, philosophy, science, mathematics, arts, astronomy or navigation.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, (1850-1919), American poet and journalist, wrote “India – The land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all were known to the seers who founded the Vedas.”
Dick Teresi, American author of “Lost Discoveries’ mentioned “Some one thousand years before Aristotle, the Vedic Aryans asserted that the earth was round and circled the sun….
Two thousand years before Pythagoras, philosophers in northern India had understood that gravitation held the solar system together, and that therefore the sun, the most massive object, had to be at its center….
Twenty-four centuries before Isaac Newton, the Hindu Rig-Veda asserted that gravitation held the universe together…..
The Sanskrit speaking Aryans subscribed to the idea of a spherical earth in an era when the Greeks believed in a flat one…..
The Indians of the fifth century A.D. calculated the age of the earth as 4.3 billion years; scientists in 19th century England were convinced it was 100 million years…
”Despite all its riches, history says that India never invaded any country. On the contrary, India has been repeatedly assaulted and conquered by numerous invaders and has been ruled by “foreigners’, first the Muslims and then the British for over a thousand years. India, before the advent of the British rulers, was a rich and prosperous country.
Rev. Jabez T. Sunderland (1842-1936), Unitarian minister and reformer, wrote that “…when the British first appeared on the scene, India was one of the richest countries of the world; indeed, it was her great riches that attracted the British to her shores. For 2,500 years before the British came on the scene and robbed her of her freedom, India was self-ruling and one of the most influential and illustrious nations of the world …..
This wealth was created by the Hindus’ vast and varied industries.
”What about Hinduism as a religion?
Hinduism has a deep philosophical and spiritual heritage that has repeatedly mesmerized the world including western scientists, leaders and philosophers. Despite propaganda to the contrary, Hindus, like us, believes in one Supreme God but they do so in many forms, that helps to develop personalized relations.
Hinduism is the oldest major religion in the earth with 900 million followers. Unlike monotheistic institutionalized, religions like Judaism, Islam or Christianity, it is not based on any single prophet or scripture, but allows its followers all the freedom to pursue God and Truth in their own way, while living harmoniously with all creation.We know that the Hindus are tolerant of other religions.
Recently, UNESCO pointed out that out of 128 countries where Jews lived before Israel was created, only one, India, did not persecute them and allowed them to prosper and practice Judaism in peace.
Similarly the Zoroastrians, when driven out of Persia by Islam were given shelter by the Hindus in India and still coexist in India peacefully. Very recently, the Dalai Lama, driven from Buddhist Tibet, has been accepted with open arms. Such is the ethos of Hinduism and India.
I have heard that Mark Twain once said that “In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire’. I have also read Arnold Toynbee’s writing “…at the religious level, India has not been a recipient; she has been a giver. About half the total number of the living, higher religions are of Indian origin’. What do you think about it?
We know India gave birth to religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Hinduism, though the predominant religion, has, to quote Aldous Huxley, “never been a persecuting faith, have preached almost no holy wars and have refrained from that proselytizing religious imperialism which has gone hand in hand with political and economic oppression of colored people.’
What many do not know and I will not elaborate further for obvious reasons, is that there are researchers who think that the teachings of Jesus Christ have something to do with the ancient wisdom of Vedas. The Hindu concepts of “karma’, and “reincarnation’, which are part of the New Age Movement that we see today, were not unknown to Jesus.
Then Father, why do we need to convert people in India?
You see, we in the western world, have the “white man’s burden’ of civilizing the rest of the world. We also have the need and desire to spread the message of Christ, since we believe that it is the ONLY way to salvation and all other nonbelievers will go to hell. The faith in Christianity is being eroded in Europe and America.
That is why our Pope on his visit to India said, “Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent.’
Why do you target India?
India is the right country because Hindu Indians are generally peace-loving tolerant, law abiding people who are truthful and virtuous. India”s devotion to being good rather than being clever comes nearer the heart of a true civilization, said W. J. Grant, in his book, “The spirit of India’.
The unsuspecting Indians have always welcomed everybody on their shore and still keep on doing so. You cannot say the same about a Muslim country or of communist China. You see Hindus are such naive – they go out of their way to say that “all religions are same – they all lead to God’. Christians and for that matter, no other religion, says that.
Where does your resource come from?
There are five major aid-giving countries, viz., USA, Germany, Britain, Italy and the Netherlands. According to the available data, in the last decade alone, foreign aid organizations received more than 2.5 billion dollars.
This is only official statistics. According to the record and report of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the statistics about the foreign aid being received by Indian Non Government Organizations shows that 80% of it is meant only for the Christian organizations that have been buying their ways into the Indian society and converting unsuspecting people under the guise of social service.
How powerful is Christianity in India?
Oh, though we are only 2.4% of the population officially, we have a large control over the country because of our economic invasion. You see, the present leader of the main political party of India is a Roman Catholic with close contact with the Vatican. There are Christian Chief ministers in 5 out of 29 states. Because of the British rule of India, we have a large section of the leaders of India who look up to us. Believe me, we are the second largest land owners in India. We own and control 80% of the Indian media and newspapers. We overtly or covertly have alliance with key political associations. So it is very easy for us to influence the right people.
You must have a very organized system?
Yes, we do. Have you heard about the Joshua Project? It identifies and highlights the people groups of the world that have the least exposure to the Gospel and the least Christian presence and shares this information to encourage pioneer church-planting movements among every ethnic group. The Joshua Project has identified the North India Hindi belt as “the core of the core of the core” because of its population density (40% of the Indian population- the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh lies in this region); it is the religious hub of India; and it has the smallest Christian presence in India. Thus detailed plans have been drawn up to target India’s 75,000 Pin Codes.The Seventh Day Adventists owes its Indian success to Canadian evangelist Ron Watts, President for the South Asian Division. When he entered India, in 1997, the Adventist Church had 225,000 members after 103 years of operations. In five years, he took it to 700,000.Some methods used include the 10-Village and the 25-Village Programs, which involve five sets of laymen, under guidance from a regular pastor, who identify 10 or 25 villages in close proximity. Once the villages were selected, the teams would approach the leaders of each village and invite them to send two leaders to a 10-day seminar at a nearby resort, at the organization’s expense. It is before no time that the local leaders will then start working for our faith and organization. In 1998, there were seventeen 10-Village Programs and 9,337 were baptized. In 1999, forty programs were held and nearly 40,000 people baptized. Under the Christian Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Samuel Reddy, the Adventists shifted to a 50-village plan. They began baptizing at the rate of 10,000 persons per month. The US-based Maranatha Volunteers International provides buildings for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They are committed to build 750 churches in 2 years in India. The Oregon based, Fjarli family have a goal to build 1000 churches at a rate of 1 per day.
How do you carry out conversion attempts?
You see the local people are so simple and naïve that they do not have any clue as what out motive or means are. We target mostly the poor, illiterate, tribal people because they are the easiest to convert. We do that by various means – we establish schools, hospitals that overtly or subtly promote our faith, we allure them with money or goods to the needy when they convert, we “stage’ miracle cures, we use our influence on the media, we use our experts in propaganda, we promote the influential people and so on. We use the money sent to us by unsuspecting religious and faithful Christians from all over the world. We have numerous NGO and AID organizations to funnel the money into the country. There are a great number of missionaries of various denominations who are working there, all literally competing for the most number of converts. The Southern Baptists alone are a group that has nearly 100,000 career missionaries in North India, all working to spread our “good word.”
We convince the “natives’ by our appearances and even use their own culture. A native converted person will continue to use his Hindu name so as not to alienate himself. Some of the numerous Catholic priests in Southern India dress like “sannyasis’ (monks), and call their organizations “ashramas’ (hermitage). This is to make Christianity more similar to the Vedic traditions. Bharat Natyam, the classical dance of India, is also taught in the Christian schools, but with Christian symbols and meanings replacing the Vedic. This is all in the attempt to actively sway Hindus over to Christianity. The Evangelical Church of India (ECI), established in 1954, targets the slums, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, in cities and villages. Its logo depicts a cross struck deep in a lotus, the seat of Hindu divinity.
Is the so called caste system in India an advantage?
The “Caste-ism in India’ is a boon to us. Though Varna or caste was once an essential part of the culture, based on occupation and vocational skills, which kept the civilization going for over 5000 years, caste-ism is a degenerated socio-political system now that has been declared illegal. However it is one big weapon against Hinduism. We have learnt from the colonial British that it is very easy to divide the population on the basis of caste and religion based politics and we use it to our own interest to the maximum. We join the anti-Hindu forces and help to keep the stigma of caste-ism alive for our own benefit. We target the “untouchables’ (the unprivileged people, that has so marvelously crafted to be a result of the Hindu religion and not the social system) and convert them in the lure of “liberating’ them. However I must confess that we maintain their “untouchability’ by not allowing them to mix with the general Christians, maintaining separate entry to churches and even giving them separate churches and cemeteries.
We also use opportunities that God gives us. During natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and the recent Tsunami, taking advantage of the need, we were able to convert successfully entire low caste villages in Tamil Nadu to Christianity with the lure of money and aid.
How successful are you in your conversion attempts.
Oh we are doing a good job. The Northeast Indian states like Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, have witnessed a surge of nearly 200% in their Christian population in the past 25 years. Their grasp is so strong now that practicing Hinduism is forbidden in some areas. Hindus can no longer do worship or “puja’ in the open because of our influence. In another northeast state, Tripura, where there were no Christians at the time of India’s independence, 55 years ago, there are now over 120,000 today. The figures are even more striking in Arunachal Pradesh, where there were only 1710 Christians in 1961, but over 1 million today, along with over 780 churches. In the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, churches are coming-up every day in far flung villages and there is an attempt to set-up one near Tirupati, the world famous Hindu temple. Many of the North-East separatist movements, such as the Mizo or the Bodos, are not only Christian dominated, but also sometimes function with the covert backing of the missionaries. Christian Nagaland terrorists have been killing non-Christians for decades on end. More than 20,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam and Manipur in the past two decades. We understand that there are some social problems that crept up – the northeast states are the highest in India in terms of drugs and AIDS related problem – but we accept that as “casualties of war’ –that should not deter us from our goal.
Do you face any resistance?
Of course we do. But we brand any resistance as “Hindu fundamentalism or militancy’ and the media and our favorite leaders take care of the rest. We have set the mind of the unsuspecting population in a way, that whenever any of our people are harassed, attacked or killed, from any reason including their own faults, the blame automatically goes to these so called “Hindu fundamentalist’ and even though almost all of these instances are later proved to have nothing to do with these Hindu groups, the initial hue and cry that is raised makes sure the memories persist in the mind of the populace and the sympathy stays with us. There are instances when nuns have been proved to be raped by Christians, but the blames continues to stay with the Hindus.
Is there any legal barrier?
Yes there are some rules and laws that sometimes impair our activities. The Indian Supreme Court had declared that: “The right to propagate religion does not mean the right to convert… Conversion done under allurement, use of force and fraud in which the poverty or ignorance of the individual is taken advantage of, is not only undemocratic but also unconstitutional…Respect for all religions is the foundation of secularism whereas the seeds of conversion lie in religious intolerance.”. Anti conversion laws have been passed in various states. But as I said, we have our ways.
Sometimes the law does get us though. We had some instances where members of our faith have been convicted with resultant imprisonment or expulsion. As in churches all over the world, some clergymen have been penalized for cases of sexual exploitation, including pedophilia. But that does not deter us from our goal and our almighty Lord takes care of our soul.
How satisfied are you with the progress of the missions?
It is really satisfying. We find enormous pleasure in converting the Hindu “pagans’. However I wish we could do more. I wish I could say like St Francis Xavier, during the Goa Inquisition in 1560, “When I have finished baptizing the people, I order them to destroy the huts in which they keep their idols; and I have them break the statues of their idols into tiny pieces, since they are now Christians. I could never come to an end describing to you the great consolation which fills my soul when I see idols being destroyed by the hands of those who had been idolaters.”
Thank you, Father for your time and honesty.
Thank you, my son. God bless you.
Epilogue
“Christianity offers nothing that is not already available somewhere in the many forms of Hinduism. Hinduism never rejected the teachings of Jesus. Those who have converted either agreed with a gun pressed at their skulls as in Goa, or because it provided an escape from caste tyranny, as well as a guaranteed professional advancement. Through its Vedic legacy, Hinduism respects all faiths. It clearly states that God is one, but has many forms. The Christian message must sound preposterous: that God is indeed one, but has only one recognized form, his son. The “savages” of India were sophisticated - so sophisticated that the imperialist mixture of church and state in Europe could not grasp such sophistication….”
(Paul William Roberts, author of, “Empire of the Soul: Some journeys in India’)
Offensive proselytisation @ http://indiaview.wordpress.com
How to destroy a people in god's name
A fearful and persistent chorus of hostility is widespread on numerous Internet sites. They purvey rancid hatreds that amount to a call for the ?destruction? of Brahmins. Virtually all of it is ultimately orchestrated intellectually and financially by the American Christian Right. However, the demand for the elimination of Brahmins cannot end with their ethnic cleansing and legal restrictions on their human rights, which are already enshrined in the Indian Constitution and successive amendments to it. These policies and attitudes have become so deeply entrenched that very few, including Brahmins themselves, question their wider connotations and intrinsic legitimacy. Eventually, pogroms and mass murder are the most effective way of expelling large numbers of people because only the better off flee in response to mere legal discrimination and threats alone.
On the latter course of action, south India has become the experimental laboratory of the Church where it now has a political leadership of its choice ensconced in most places, i.e. Hindu-baiters one and all. The Church is therefore able to pursue the first element of a broader strategy of severing India from its Vedic Hindu past that it associates with India?s upper castes in general and Brahmins in particular. This is the same way polytheistic pluralism was violently extirpated in Byzantium, Europe and Latin America. And mass murder to achieve Christian ascendancy was not merely a medieval stratagem. The ?final solution? occurred in the twentieth century and the ancient aspiration to end the Jewish presence in the midst of Christian communities was largely achieved. The shedding of copious tears now that Jews are largely gone adds insult to injury. It doesn?t seem to prevent unctuous concern for those seeking to destroy what remains of Jewry, tragically incarcerated in the midst of the Arab world.
The political instincts for the Nuremberg laws enacted by the Nazis, against alleged Jewish ?pollution?, are resurfacing virulently in India in a distinctive guise against the upper castes, irrespective of their socio-economic status. It is being propelled by the global Christian Right and a swathe of Indian studies departments in universities across the world, especially the US and the UK. And these machinations coincide with the dreams of world imperial domination and racial primacy that are the historic hallmark of European empires. The Church and the imperial State have always been engaged in an embrace that may not be readily apparent today, but it has ancient roots. Underlying the mundane dispute over the portrayal of Hindus in California?s school textbooks the crude message of the Church and its academic co-conspirators was the determination to destroy Hinduism, which they openly describe as an abomination. The descendants of those who invented the grim cruelties of plantation slavery and established the Southern Baptist Convention to provide it with Christian justification should have hesitated to preach equality.
The Church is the most lethal enemy of Hindus precisely because it is conjoined politically with powerful imperialist nations, led by the US, but including Russia and most European Union countries. The virulent hatred for Hindus being displayed by the contemporary Russian Orthodox Church is in striking contrast to the official Russian penchant for dialogue with Chechens terrorists, ultimately responsible for the murder of hundreds of Russian school children in Beslan. The Church in its various denominational incarnations worldwide astutely concluded long ago that the enslavement of Hindus requires the destruction of their intellectual leadership, identified as Brahmins by them. There is a vast corpus of Christian writing against Hindus in general and Brahmins in particular that dates back to the colonial conquests of the Portuguese, the British and the French. Hunting and murdering upper caste Hindus, with priority being accorded to Brahmins, was a sport that Islamic invaders and Christian proselytisers engaged in with great gusto. As the astute Sir V. S. Naipaul observed, you cut off the head of a conquered people by first killing its leadership. This is why, presumably, the Portuguese unfailingly engaged in feasts of blood lust for which their imperial ventures were notorious.
Nevertheless, in the end, the campaign against Brahmins will need to encompass a much wider swathe of Hindu society. Brahmins are only a part of the problem identified by the Church because of their historical importance. Many others are active as Hindus and will have to be dealt with in turn. Of course attacking your enemy in sequence rather than simultaneously is a logical tactic. And Andhra Pradesh is their principal experimental laboratory right now, where irreversible facts are being created on the ground with barely a response from supposed Hindu leaders. But a ?final solution? to the world?s Brahmin problem could be achieved in much the way Europe ?solved ? its Jewish problem through mass murder and expulsion. For the present, the flight of some of these Hindu communities is the dominant reality. Like that of the post-WWII Jewish Diaspora it is deviously portrayed as ?voluntary?.
Sowing seeds of discord among Hindus has remained a diabolical ploy of the Church from colonial times. The determined dissemination of vicious propaganda about upper caste perfidy continues unabated, with various racist academics active in the fray in recent months. A numerically insignificant, but influential group of mainly Dalit Christians have become the standard bearers of the criminal enterprise of the global Church to sort out upper caste Hindus once-and-for-all. They are now being actively abetted by various organs of the Indian State. A significant minority of Brahmins themselves have also turned collaborators in this project at the destruction of Brahmins and the alleged horrors of Hinduism they nurture. Many Hindus are eager to sell their grandmothers for money and recognition accorded to them by whites, no matter how demeaning it is in reality. Significantly, every renowned Indian radical alarmed by oppression of what they pathetically describe as ?the people? ends up finding a well-paid niche in some US university.
Yet, the very idea that Brahmins and other supposedly high caste Hindus constitute a homogenous national group is plainly inaccurate. They are more distinguished by their internal divisions, indeed rivalries. They are deeply divided politically and socially by sub-caste and ethnic identities that are likely to become their epitaph. Yet this deliberately misleading depiction, which has an old colonial origin, is an axiom of self-knowledge in independent India. Researchers like Nicholas Dirks have pointed out that it was colonial efforts to classify Hindu communities, presumably to discover exploitable divisions useful in ruling over them that enhanced insular caste cleavages and heightened caste oppression. The sense of Hindu identity became much more polarised directly as a result of such British colonial policy, undermining, in the process, the greater interaction between castes and the pluralism that previously existed. In the same vein, some sacred texts like the laws of Manu have been misused absurdly to claim the prevalence of reactionary legal precepts across India. The independent-minded feminist writer, Madhu Kishwar, no supporter of Hindu political aspirations, has eloquently shown such a situation to be highly implausible in a society largely dominated by local custom and practice.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the campaign to eliminate Brahmins, the largest groups of intellectual opponents of white Christianity in the modern world, other than Jews, is ensnaring Hindu groups in a fraudulent dialogue with the Church. Such Hindu groups in the UK, generally dominated by nondescript, small businessmen, unduly vulnerable to minor inducements, have been largely captured by the Anglican Church. These dialogues amount to an effective diversionary strategic manoeuvre the Church has adopted successfully to lull Hindus into a false sense of apparent legitimacy in the eyes of their racial superiors. By whispering sweet nothings over tea and biscuits into the ears of greedy Hindu businessmen looking for opportunities for their own private advancement the Anglican Church acts as master puppeteers.
Intellectually vacuous, vain, inarticulate and morally corrupt self-elected Hindu leaders were on the verge of signing an accord with the Church on ?legitimate conversions? a few years ago and only desisted when a demarche was issued by the late Seshadri-ji of the RSS from India. It is also almost certain that prominent community leaders are habitually compromised by the British security services. Their very prominence within the community itself stems from being invited to various silly dialogues by the British authorities, including the Church, which have effectively selected the Hindu interlocutors they find useful. The ardent desire of such community leaders for intimacy with the British authorities is cause for serious concern and a sign of a profound Hindu malaise.
The sophisticated and articulate public relations conducted in the UK and elsewhere by apologists of Islamic terror and their brazen assertiveness cannot but elicit some admiration. By contrast, virtually no major Hindu community spokesman in the UK can engage in a grammatically correct conversation in English, which happens to be the necessarily unavoidable medium in which spokesmen need to be articulate. The sole exception I have encountered in the UK in over twenty years is a practising monk and his sheer brilliance made me weep in despair at the rest. Those who have heard him will remember him as Bimal Krishna Das of the Hare Krishna movement, himself the object of not a little envy within the Hindu community. Since utter mediocrity is the reigning principle in every Hindu organisation one encounters his presence causes resentment. By and large, Hindus seem to want to please their tormentors in exchange for brief exposure on any public platform and perhaps modest financial consideration as well.
Dr. Gautam Sen
6th July 2006।
http://www.india-forum.com/essay/138/1/How-to-destroy-a-people-in-god?s-nameWe are on a roll! The enemies are getting crushed under the wheels!!
SRI RAM! JAI RAM! JAI JAI RAM!!
January 9, 2008
It is becoming clear that Lord Rama is the biggest nightmare to the ’sick’ular Sikhandi govt and the Ravana vaarisu. (See my posting under the thread “Dr Swamy has been authorized to carry on the crusade”). There is a clear admission that “Support for saving Rama Setu has also increased within Tamilnadu.”
DMK was actually isolated by its allies when MuttaaL Kizhavan embarked on his tirade against Lord Rama because they were sure that all those who support this Rama hater would bite the dust.
If we can keep up the pressure then this MuttaaL would not be able to sew another formidable alliance like the one he did last time. He would probably left with just the communists! Birds of the same feather!
I understand Sri Rama Gopalan has already drawn up schemes to get the people on the street singing Rama Japam. Friends, please write, talk, sing and dance Rama with all the people that you can muster! THIS IS OUR DHARMA!!
RAMA RAMA RAMA ALONE!
SRI RAM! JAI RAM! JAI JAI RAM!!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
http://kalyan98.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/scientists-pundits-converge-on-vedic-science/
Scientists, pundits converge on Vedic science
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Sunday , January 06, 2008 at 2024 hrs IST
Visakhapatnam, January 6: Scientists and pundits were of the view that essence of scientific truth in ancient Vedic and post-vedic Sanskrit literature was still relevant in modern times. Particularly the prescriptions of life style away from today's consumerism and deep insight into reality can be of help to the society.
The vacuum state described in quantum physics can be compared to the Brahman of Hindu metaphysics.
This was for the first time in the history of the Indian Science Congress that vedic science got recognition and two successive plenary sessions were held on the issue on Sunday. The plenary session on Vedic Science was chaired by the Chancellor of the Tirupati-based Rashtriya Sanskrit University, VR Panchamukhi. The other plenary session on `Brahman of Physics: Interface Between Physics and Vedanta was chaired by SS Rama Rao Pappu of Miami University, US.
An exclusive exhibition was arranged to display scientific insight of Vedic rishi and scholars.
Panchamukhi spoke about the essence of social science like economics, law, political science found in ancient texts. PV Arunachalam from Triupati highlighted the simple formulae of calculation in Vedic mathematics developed by the former Puri Shankaracharya, Swami Bharatiya Krishna Tirth from Atharva Veda mantras. However, VLS Bhimasankaram of Osmania University was of the view that the scientific knowledge contained in many Sanskrit texts cannot to termed as Vedic as these literatures were written in post-Vedic periods.
The keynote speaker of the second plenary session, ECG Sudarshan of the University of Texas said; "Physics deals with existence and change. As per quantum physics, an observer is an active agent in the process of change, while as per Adwaita Vedanta philosophy, he can be the presiding intelligence ie the Brahman of Physics." Sudarshan who is a professor in Physics is also reputed for discussing the relevance of Adwaita Vedanta philosophy in the West. He had been awarded Padma Vibhushan.
P Venugopal Rao from the US-based Emory University said: "the vacuum state described in quantum physics is nothing but Brahman of Hindu metaphysics." SS Rama Rao Pappu of US-based Miami University said; "Newtonian physics is similar to the Hindu Sankhya philosophy."
BD Nageswar Rao of Indiana University said: "the biological molecules cannot be explained without the help of bio-physics. In physics there are four force fields – ultimate substratum – namely gravitational field, electromagnetic field, weak interaction field and strong interaction field. Attempts are being made to find out whether electromagnetic and weak interaction
Scientists, pundits converge on Vedic science
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Sunday , January 06, 2008 at 2024 hrs IST
Visakhapatnam, January 6: Scientists and pundits were of the view that essence of scientific truth in ancient Vedic and post-vedic Sanskrit literature was still relevant in modern times. Particularly the prescriptions of life style away from today's consumerism and deep insight into reality can be of help to the society.
The vacuum state described in quantum physics can be compared to the Brahman of Hindu metaphysics.
This was for the first time in the history of the Indian Science Congress that vedic science got recognition and two successive plenary sessions were held on the issue on Sunday. The plenary session on Vedic Science was chaired by the Chancellor of the Tirupati-based Rashtriya Sanskrit University, VR Panchamukhi. The other plenary session on `Brahman of Physics: Interface Between Physics and Vedanta was chaired by SS Rama Rao Pappu of Miami University, US.
An exclusive exhibition was arranged to display scientific insight of Vedic rishi and scholars.
Panchamukhi spoke about the essence of social science like economics, law, political science found in ancient texts. PV Arunachalam from Triupati highlighted the simple formulae of calculation in Vedic mathematics developed by the former Puri Shankaracharya, Swami Bharatiya Krishna Tirth from Atharva Veda mantras. However, VLS Bhimasankaram of Osmania University was of the view that the scientific knowledge contained in many Sanskrit texts cannot to termed as Vedic as these literatures were written in post-Vedic periods.
The keynote speaker of the second plenary session, ECG Sudarshan of the University of Texas said; "Physics deals with existence and change. As per quantum physics, an observer is an active agent in the process of change, while as per Adwaita Vedanta philosophy, he can be the presiding intelligence ie the Brahman of Physics." Sudarshan who is a professor in Physics is also reputed for discussing the relevance of Adwaita Vedanta philosophy in the West. He had been awarded Padma Vibhushan.
P Venugopal Rao from the US-based Emory University said: "the vacuum state described in quantum physics is nothing but Brahman of Hindu metaphysics." SS Rama Rao Pappu of US-based Miami University said; "Newtonian physics is similar to the Hindu Sankhya philosophy."
BD Nageswar Rao of Indiana University said: "the biological molecules cannot be explained without the help of bio-physics. In physics there are four force fields – ultimate substratum – namely gravitational field, electromagnetic field, weak interaction field and strong interaction field. Attempts are being made to find out whether electromagnetic and weak interaction
Indian origin US town council member takes oath on Gita
Indo-Asian News Service
New York, January 06, 2008
First Published: 07:44 IST(6/1/2008)
Indian origin US town council member takes oath on Gita
Sudhanshu Prasad, a doctor of Indian origin who has been elected as a member of the town council of Edison, New Jersey, took his oath of office on the Bhagvad Gita, Hinduism's sacred text, and says he aims to improve relations between Indian Americans and other groups in the US town.
While being sworn in as a member of the Edison Township Council on Jan 1, Prasad chose to take the oath of office on the Bhagvad Gita, which he said he grew up believing in.
The Bhagvad Gita "is where my conscience is", said Prasad who belongs to the Democratic Party.
Prasad, an internal medicine specialist and former chairman of the J.F.K. Medical Centre's department of medicine, has lived in New Jersey for almost 18 years.
"I've always been involved in the affairs of the township. I was involved in the election process in the past two elections, so it was almost like a natural progression," he said when asked about his plunge into politics.
He said he was not desirous of holding office, "but my team almost pushed me into candidacy".
Edison, named after Thomas Alva Edison and home to his laboratory, has a population of more than 100,000 people, according to the township's official website.
Prasad said among the issues that will top his agenda is improvement of relations between the Indian-American community and other groups in Edison.
Hinting at a few incidents that have strained relations between the Indian American community and the police, he said: "Indian Americans are by and large law-abiding people and so are the others. We have a good police department and we want to work with them to bring more understanding of our issue."
Prasad, who now has private practice, said he has been asked many times how he plans to balance a physician's life with council responsibility.
"It is a matter of priority and commitment. People play golf, they go to Atlantic City, they go to see shows and they volunteer. My interest, of course, is public service. If you have an interest, you make a commitment and you keep it," he said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=ff21e214-758f-4e15-860d-92877271b18
New York, January 06, 2008
First Published: 07:44 IST(6/1/2008)
Indian origin US town council member takes oath on Gita
Sudhanshu Prasad, a doctor of Indian origin who has been elected as a member of the town council of Edison, New Jersey, took his oath of office on the Bhagvad Gita, Hinduism's sacred text, and says he aims to improve relations between Indian Americans and other groups in the US town.
While being sworn in as a member of the Edison Township Council on Jan 1, Prasad chose to take the oath of office on the Bhagvad Gita, which he said he grew up believing in.
The Bhagvad Gita "is where my conscience is", said Prasad who belongs to the Democratic Party.
Prasad, an internal medicine specialist and former chairman of the J.F.K. Medical Centre's department of medicine, has lived in New Jersey for almost 18 years.
"I've always been involved in the affairs of the township. I was involved in the election process in the past two elections, so it was almost like a natural progression," he said when asked about his plunge into politics.
He said he was not desirous of holding office, "but my team almost pushed me into candidacy".
Edison, named after Thomas Alva Edison and home to his laboratory, has a population of more than 100,000 people, according to the township's official website.
Prasad said among the issues that will top his agenda is improvement of relations between the Indian-American community and other groups in Edison.
Hinting at a few incidents that have strained relations between the Indian American community and the police, he said: "Indian Americans are by and large law-abiding people and so are the others. We have a good police department and we want to work with them to bring more understanding of our issue."
Prasad, who now has private practice, said he has been asked many times how he plans to balance a physician's life with council responsibility.
"It is a matter of priority and commitment. People play golf, they go to Atlantic City, they go to see shows and they volunteer. My interest, of course, is public service. If you have an interest, you make a commitment and you keep it," he said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=ff21e214-758f-4e15-860d-92877271b18
Vedas: The Hidden Power of Ancient Indian Scriptures
http://www.greatandhra.com/ganews/viewnews.php?id=297&cat=9&scat=19
Vedas: The Hidden Power of Ancient Indian Scriptures
The rituals prescribed in the ancient Indian Scriptures, particularly
the Vedas, are capable of reducing atmospheric pollution by
controlling the pollutants (evil energy). Several studies conducted
by the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas, Hyderabad, showed
that pollution could be checked by spreading "positive energy"
generated through Vedic rituals like Homas and circumambulation of
holy trees and plants.
The human "aura" could be increased to a considerable extent for
positive signs through intervention of Vedic rituals and holy trees
and plants mentioned in the Indian Scriptures.
According to Sri Kuppa Krishna Murthy of the Vedic Research
Institute, Vedic rituals not only fight pollutants in the atmosphere
but also cleanse the harmful elements like bacteria, virus and
protozoans living as parasites in the human bodies.
Vedic research scholar Dr Mannem Murthy, who conducted a series of
studies on the positive aspects of Vedic rituals, points out "these
experiments can be an eye opener to present scientists and critics of
the ancient Indian system. Medicinal plants, gems and precious
stones, regular usage of sacred flowers and organising homas and
Vedic rituals are a few ways of protecting environment and minimising
pollution levels both inside and outside our bodies".
Research studies by the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas at
different places in Andhra Pradesh recently showed that a few trees
mentioned in the ancient texts like Tulasi (holy basil), Jammi
(Bulrush tree), Ravi (Peepul tree) and Neem exclusively possess and
emit positive energy through which negative energy of man can be
swiped away. There are some trees, which many people worship, has
aura extending beyond human aura. "It is surprising to know that a 5
feet and five inches and 60 to 70 kgs man would have 2.5 metres aura
whereas 1ft and 5 inches height Tulasi plant, weighing hardly 150
gms, gives 6.11 metres of aura," Dr Mannem Murthy points out.
In an experiment conducted through a universal scanner on Neem and
Peepul trees in a Shiva temple in Eluru recently. Before the start of
the experiment, the aura of a person was scanned and it was found to
be extending to 2.5 mts. Later, he was asked to stand for five
minutes near the Peepul and Neem trees and his aura was noted again.
This time it was 3.35 mts. He was asked to make 11 rounds
(circumambulation). He did so and his final aura was recorded as 4.0
mts. There was an increase in the person's aura from 2.5 mts to 4 mts
i.e. 1.5 mts.
In another experiment in Eluru in Balaji temple on a fig tree, a
person's initial aura was measured as 2.58 mts. His aura was 5.01 mts
after circumambulating 11 times around the fig tree. There was an
increase of 2.58 mts in his aura.
Says Krishna Murthy, "like a needle obtains magnetic properties after
being rubbed against a magnet, we humans too get our aura increased
after standing or sitting in the shade of certain trees. By moving
around some species of trees or sacred objects, man absorbs some
quantity of positive aura".
In several experiments the aura of sacred trees mentioned in Hindu
epics was measured using a universal scanner. The results (in metres)
are: banyan 10.10; Kadambam 8.40; Tulasi (Osmium 6.11; jammi
(Prosobis spicegera) 5.90; neem and raavi 5.50; Maredu (Aegle
marmalus) 4.80; Medi (Ficus carcia) 4.55; Usiri (Amla) 4.30; Raavi
(Ficus religiosa) 3.50; Mango (mangifera indica) 3.50 and neem 3.50.
Like trees, even flowers too emit aura and increase the positive
energy of man. The fragrance and colours of flowers have different
wave lengths. The floral aura of different flowers in metres are:
Deva ganneru (Divine oleander) 7.2; Lotus 6.8; Rose 5.7; Mandaram
(Hibiscus) 5.5; Yellow ganneru (Oleander) 5.0; Marigold 4.7; Lilly
4.1; Yellow chrysantemum 3.6; Violet chrysantemum 3.1; Jasmine 3.3;
Jajulu 3.1 and Kankambaralu 3.0. White calotrophis, which is used for
Shiva puja, has maximum aura of 15 mts. But they are poisonous
(positive high aura).
Vedic experiments also showed that the aura energies of precious
stones are useful for human health. The auras of precious stones
measured in metres are: emerald (mercury) 3.20; diamond (Venus) 7.5;
white pearl (moon) 3.48; yellow sapphire (Jupiter) 3.20; ruby (sun)
3.30; red coral (Mars) 8.80; Cat's eye (Ketu) 3.60; Blue sapphire
(Saturn) 2.4; Gomeda (Rahu) 3.00.
In a Vedic ritual at Jillelamudi in Guntur district, dry stems of
raavi, rice grains, cow ghee and the idols of Lakshmi, Ganapathi and
Subrahmanya were used. The initial aura was 5.10 mts and the final
aura was 62.0 mt. The atmosphere purified was 4988220 cu.m. In
another experiment at Palacole, a square shaped homagundum was formed
and the leaves of Raavi, Medi, Jammi, Garika, Darbha, Jilledu,
Tendla, cow ghee, maredu and nine varieties of grain were used. The
initial aura was 6.5 mts and the final aura was 102 mts.
Vedas: The Hidden Power of Ancient Indian Scriptures
The rituals prescribed in the ancient Indian Scriptures, particularly
the Vedas, are capable of reducing atmospheric pollution by
controlling the pollutants (evil energy). Several studies conducted
by the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas, Hyderabad, showed
that pollution could be checked by spreading "positive energy"
generated through Vedic rituals like Homas and circumambulation of
holy trees and plants.
The human "aura" could be increased to a considerable extent for
positive signs through intervention of Vedic rituals and holy trees
and plants mentioned in the Indian Scriptures.
According to Sri Kuppa Krishna Murthy of the Vedic Research
Institute, Vedic rituals not only fight pollutants in the atmosphere
but also cleanse the harmful elements like bacteria, virus and
protozoans living as parasites in the human bodies.
Vedic research scholar Dr Mannem Murthy, who conducted a series of
studies on the positive aspects of Vedic rituals, points out "these
experiments can be an eye opener to present scientists and critics of
the ancient Indian system. Medicinal plants, gems and precious
stones, regular usage of sacred flowers and organising homas and
Vedic rituals are a few ways of protecting environment and minimising
pollution levels both inside and outside our bodies".
Research studies by the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas at
different places in Andhra Pradesh recently showed that a few trees
mentioned in the ancient texts like Tulasi (holy basil), Jammi
(Bulrush tree), Ravi (Peepul tree) and Neem exclusively possess and
emit positive energy through which negative energy of man can be
swiped away. There are some trees, which many people worship, has
aura extending beyond human aura. "It is surprising to know that a 5
feet and five inches and 60 to 70 kgs man would have 2.5 metres aura
whereas 1ft and 5 inches height Tulasi plant, weighing hardly 150
gms, gives 6.11 metres of aura," Dr Mannem Murthy points out.
In an experiment conducted through a universal scanner on Neem and
Peepul trees in a Shiva temple in Eluru recently. Before the start of
the experiment, the aura of a person was scanned and it was found to
be extending to 2.5 mts. Later, he was asked to stand for five
minutes near the Peepul and Neem trees and his aura was noted again.
This time it was 3.35 mts. He was asked to make 11 rounds
(circumambulation). He did so and his final aura was recorded as 4.0
mts. There was an increase in the person's aura from 2.5 mts to 4 mts
i.e. 1.5 mts.
In another experiment in Eluru in Balaji temple on a fig tree, a
person's initial aura was measured as 2.58 mts. His aura was 5.01 mts
after circumambulating 11 times around the fig tree. There was an
increase of 2.58 mts in his aura.
Says Krishna Murthy, "like a needle obtains magnetic properties after
being rubbed against a magnet, we humans too get our aura increased
after standing or sitting in the shade of certain trees. By moving
around some species of trees or sacred objects, man absorbs some
quantity of positive aura".
In several experiments the aura of sacred trees mentioned in Hindu
epics was measured using a universal scanner. The results (in metres)
are: banyan 10.10; Kadambam 8.40; Tulasi (Osmium 6.11; jammi
(Prosobis spicegera) 5.90; neem and raavi 5.50; Maredu (Aegle
marmalus) 4.80; Medi (Ficus carcia) 4.55; Usiri (Amla) 4.30; Raavi
(Ficus religiosa) 3.50; Mango (mangifera indica) 3.50 and neem 3.50.
Like trees, even flowers too emit aura and increase the positive
energy of man. The fragrance and colours of flowers have different
wave lengths. The floral aura of different flowers in metres are:
Deva ganneru (Divine oleander) 7.2; Lotus 6.8; Rose 5.7; Mandaram
(Hibiscus) 5.5; Yellow ganneru (Oleander) 5.0; Marigold 4.7; Lilly
4.1; Yellow chrysantemum 3.6; Violet chrysantemum 3.1; Jasmine 3.3;
Jajulu 3.1 and Kankambaralu 3.0. White calotrophis, which is used for
Shiva puja, has maximum aura of 15 mts. But they are poisonous
(positive high aura).
Vedic experiments also showed that the aura energies of precious
stones are useful for human health. The auras of precious stones
measured in metres are: emerald (mercury) 3.20; diamond (Venus) 7.5;
white pearl (moon) 3.48; yellow sapphire (Jupiter) 3.20; ruby (sun)
3.30; red coral (Mars) 8.80; Cat's eye (Ketu) 3.60; Blue sapphire
(Saturn) 2.4; Gomeda (Rahu) 3.00.
In a Vedic ritual at Jillelamudi in Guntur district, dry stems of
raavi, rice grains, cow ghee and the idols of Lakshmi, Ganapathi and
Subrahmanya were used. The initial aura was 5.10 mts and the final
aura was 62.0 mt. The atmosphere purified was 4988220 cu.m. In
another experiment at Palacole, a square shaped homagundum was formed
and the leaves of Raavi, Medi, Jammi, Garika, Darbha, Jilledu,
Tendla, cow ghee, maredu and nine varieties of grain were used. The
initial aura was 6.5 mts and the final aura was 102 mts.
BJP seeks Congress' apology on Ram Setu
BJP ask Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to apologise on Setu affidavit, hurting Hindu sentiments
Press Trust of India
Monday, January 7, 2008 (New Delhi)
Taking exception to Parliamentary Affairs Minister's demand that Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen apologise to the Muslim community, BJP on Monday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi should also apologise on government's controversial affidavit on Ram Setu.
''Union Minister PR Dasmusni has been reported asking Tasleema Nasreen to apologise for the comments in her book. We in-turn would like to ask the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi why have they not apologised for Centre's stand on Lord Ram,'' party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said in a press conference in New Delhi.
The government, in its affidavit in the Supreme Court on Setusamudram project last year, had said that there was no evidence of existence of Lord Ram.
Rudy said ''Taslima is being treated as a football by the West Bengal and the Union government. The government should not hurt the honour of a women''.
''The secular credentials of the nation have been hurt by the Congress,'' he said.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence
Friday, January 4, 2008
Save Ram Sethu: Dr. Kusum Vyas at Bali
"As world leaders contemplate upon the ways to save the earth's environment, all responsible citizens of the global community must recognize that dredging and destroying Ram Sethu to create a ship channel in the region of the Gulf of Mannar translates into an ecological disaster" is the concern expressed by Dr. Kusum Vyas, the founder of "Save Ram Sethu Campaign" here on Saturday December 15.
She was delivering the keynote address at the seminar "Save Ram Sethu" sponsored by the Bali-India Foundation and held at its beautiful facilities in Denpasar, Bali. The Foundation's head, Dr. Somvir, an Indian professor living in Bali, provided the translation in Bahasa Indonesian. Members of the audience included delegates from the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Balinese Hindu scholars and young Balinese professionals who are active in Hindu organizations.
Through a well-researched and interesting power presentation about Ram Sethu and the Sethusamudram Shipping Project followed by a question and answer session, Dr. Vyas captivated the attention of the audience for over two hours. In her presentation, Dr. Vyas explained the sacred aspects of Ram Sethu, its presence in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the Ramayana & the Puranas and references to Ram Sethu in historical records of the European and Islamic visitors dating back to the 12th century. Dr. Vyas provided a brief overview of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, the effect of the project on the ecology and environment of the region. She outlined the negative impact of the proposed shipping channel on the economic, environmental and social composition of the Sri Lankan and Indian coastal areas. Dr. Vyas covered in great detail the ecological damage the construction of a ship channel and the dredging associated with the project would cause to the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, the first marine protected area to be declared in South and South East Asia and established by the Government of India in 1989. The Reserve harbors marine biodiversity of global significance and is renowned for its coral reef, sea grass and algal communities in its marine, intertidal and near shore habitats. Public access inside the Park is prohibited.
Many in the audience were visibly moved by the presentation and expressed grave concern about the damage such as project would do to the environment as well as to the religious sentiments of the Hindus. Dr. Shalaby, an environmentalist from an international development bank who was in Bali as a delegate to the Climate Change Conference expressed his disbelief that any responsible government could conceive such a project especially in today's climate where all concerned individuals are searching for answers to the problems which threaten the Earth's environment.
"Ram Sethu is important to all of humanity and 3.5 million Hindus of Bali will support its preservation as a sacred monument," is the hope expressed by Shri IGN Arya Wedakarna MWS, a prominent leader of the Hindu Youth in Bali. He went on to add that he would be willing to play an active role in helping to preserve Ram Sethu and would create awareness among the other Hindus of Indonesia.
Dr. Ngurah, Chairman of the Department of Religions, inaugurated the seminar with a lamp lighting ceremony. Several members of the audience, such as Dr. Nyoman a leading Hindu scholar from the Udayana University, expressed their appreciation of Dr. Vyas' efforts and promised their full support of the initiative. The event received prominent coverage in the local media such as "Bali Post" and "Tokoh" whose reporters interviewed Dr. Vyas.
Earlier in the day, Dr. Vyas and her family met the King of Ubud, Ir. Tjok. Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati at the Royal Palace in Ubud. Over a sumptuous array of Balinese tea and snacks, she briefed the King about Ram Sethu and the impending danger it faces from the Sethusamudram Shipping project. She expressed her sentiments to the King that at the time when the entire world is concerned about the dangers from the Earth's changing climate, Ram Sethu is a reminder from our Gods to all of humanity that bridging the divides and working in unity is the key solution to many of the problems that we face today.
Dr. Vyas will continue to liaise with the King and leaders from the Bali Hindu community about the future activities of the campaign. The King expressed his full support for the "Save Ram Sethu Campaign" and promised to attend the "International Ram Navmi Festival" being organized by. Dr. Vyas in collaboration with Hindu organizations from around the world. The festival will mark the first anniversary of the launching of the "Save Ram Sethu Campaign" by Esha Vasyam & others on Ram Navmi of 2007.
http://lankaguardian.blogspot
STATEMENT OF DR.SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY, PRESIDENT OF JANATA PARTY MADE IN CHENNAI ON JANUARY 4, 2008
1. The Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSC) will now have to be scrapped because it is illegal. According to earlier Supreme Court judgments, prior environmental clearance of State Government Pollution Boards is necessary before the project can be inaugurated. But in the SSCP case, the PM inaugurated it on January 2, 2005 when the Tamil Nadu Pollution Board had not cleared the project. This fact was revealed by the then CM Ms.Jayalalitha in her message to the Rama Setu Rakksha Manch’s mammoth rally in Delhi on December 30th.
2. The SSCP is also illegal because the Ministry of Environment & Forests in a letter dated April 9, 1999 had advised the Ministry of Surface Transport to drop the project altogether because it is an environmental disaster. The NEERI had also stated in a report of 2002 that environmental clearance cannot be given if explosives are to be used to break through the Rama Setu, and hence the NEERI had rejected Alignment No.5, since it would have required using explosives near Dhanushkodi. Rama Setu however cannot be breached by dredging, and hence the Government was planning to use RDX when I obtained a stay from the Supreme Court. The SSCP thus is doomed to fail, and must be scrapped.
3. It is better therefore to develop Tuticorin and coastal areas of Tamil Nadu by developing a Marine Economic Zone, and by laying a double broad gauge railway line *beep* National Highway, connecting Tuticorin to Kolkata via Vishakapatnam.
4. The doctors of Gangaram Hospital must reveal the truth about the condition of Ms.Sonia Gandhi. The truth is that she had over-eaten infected lobsters imported from Italy during her New Year’s celebration dinner on December 31st. This had resulted in food poisoning.
5. The abolition of the monarchy in Nepal even before holding of the General Elections, on the demand of the Maoists, is serious blow to Nepal democracy and a major set back to India’s national interest.
The Government of India should ensure that present King Gyanendra is protected from mob violence and offered sanctuary in India till better times come for democracy in Nepal.
6. The Government of Tamil Nadu should make arrangement for Veeramani, Nedumaran and Vaiko to migrate to Mullaitheevu in Jaffna area because their patron, V.Prabhakaran is in dire straits. These three persons should show some loyalty to their benefactor whose ill-gotten narcotics trade cash has funded their activities in India so far. India can do without them.
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
1. The Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSC) will now have to be scrapped because it is illegal. According to earlier Supreme Court judgments, prior environmental clearance of State Government Pollution Boards is necessary before the project can be inaugurated. But in the SSCP case, the PM inaugurated it on January 2, 2005 when the Tamil Nadu Pollution Board had not cleared the project. This fact was revealed by the then CM Ms.Jayalalitha in her message to the Rama Setu Rakksha Manch’s mammoth rally in Delhi on December 30th.
2. The SSCP is also illegal because the Ministry of Environment & Forests in a letter dated April 9, 1999 had advised the Ministry of Surface Transport to drop the project altogether because it is an environmental disaster. The NEERI had also stated in a report of 2002 that environmental clearance cannot be given if explosives are to be used to break through the Rama Setu, and hence the NEERI had rejected Alignment No.5, since it would have required using explosives near Dhanushkodi. Rama Setu however cannot be breached by dredging, and hence the Government was planning to use RDX when I obtained a stay from the Supreme Court. The SSCP thus is doomed to fail, and must be scrapped.
3. It is better therefore to develop Tuticorin and coastal areas of Tamil Nadu by developing a Marine Economic Zone, and by laying a double broad gauge railway line *beep* National Highway, connecting Tuticorin to Kolkata via Vishakapatnam.
4. The doctors of Gangaram Hospital must reveal the truth about the condition of Ms.Sonia Gandhi. The truth is that she had over-eaten infected lobsters imported from Italy during her New Year’s celebration dinner on December 31st. This had resulted in food poisoning.
5. The abolition of the monarchy in Nepal even before holding of the General Elections, on the demand of the Maoists, is serious blow to Nepal democracy and a major set back to India’s national interest.
The Government of India should ensure that present King Gyanendra is protected from mob violence and offered sanctuary in India till better times come for democracy in Nepal.
6. The Government of Tamil Nadu should make arrangement for Veeramani, Nedumaran and Vaiko to migrate to Mullaitheevu in Jaffna area because their patron, V.Prabhakaran is in dire straits. These three persons should show some loyalty to their benefactor whose ill-gotten narcotics trade cash has funded their activities in India so far. India can do without them.
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)
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