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Reader´s Forum
It happens only in India:
Are you a secularist? Then please answer these questions: There are nearly 52 Islamic countries. Is there any one Islamic country that provides Haj subsidy? Show one Islamic country where Hindus are extended special rights that Muslims are accorded to in India. Is there any one Muslim country that has a non-Muslim as its president or prime minister? Has any mullah or maulvi declared a fatwa against terrorists? Today Hindus are 85 per cent in India. If Hindus are intolerant, how come masjids and madrasas are thriving? How come Muslims offer namaz on the road? Why are temple funds spent for the welfare of Muslims and Christians, when they are free to spend their money in any way they want? Why is there no uniform civil code for all citizens? In what way J&K is different from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh to have Article 370? If Muslims and Christians are minorities in Maharashtra, UP, Bihar, etc., are Hindus not minorities in J&K, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, etc? Why are Hindus denied minority rights in these states? When Christian and Muslim schools can teach the Bible and the Quran, why can Hindus not teach the Gita or the Ramayana? Abdul Rehman Antulay was made a trustee of the famous Siddhi Vinayak temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai. Can a Hindu ever become a trustee of a masjid or a madrasa? When Haj pilgrims are given subsidy, why are Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath, Sabarimalai and Kailash Mansarovar taxed?
?Suresh Menon, harikartha@asianetindia.com
Illogical blame:
This refers to Shyam Khosla´s article No mudslinging, please (Organiser, 27-6-2004). Whatsoever may be the status of Atalji, but by giving a vent to his feelings in public and attacking the Gujarat Chief Minister, he has lowered his image in the eyes of Swayamsevaks. He has justified the position of Congress, the Left parties and even Muslims, who time and again projected Modi as persecutor of Muslims. Today when power hungry politicians are changing their stance to grab power, Narendra Modi is defending the cause of Hindus. A section of BJP leadership is infected by the virus of pseudo-secularism and has also started wooing Muslims in line with Congress and other ´secular´ parties. Therefore, the BJP leadership must introspect to identify the true causes of its defeat and stop attacking Modi.
?Dr Narayan Singh Rao, New Delhi
Millions were stunned
at Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee´s statement made at the cool Himalayan resort, Manali, that BJP lost because of Gujarat riots and Narendra Modi. Manali statement has done more harm to the BJP than the defeat in the recent election, not only to the ranks but also to an ordinary BJP-minded Hindu. Atalji´s opponents are no doubt gleefully saying at the moment, ?Didn´t we say so?? Like his opponents?political parties, media and others?Atalji too has ignored the cause-and-effect logic in delinking the Godhra carnage from Gujarat violence.
?Surya Narain Saxena, Delhi
Shri Vajpayee´s statement
that the Gujarat riots under the Modi government have contributed a lot to the defeat of the BJP is totally illogical. It may be recalled that in the elections to the Provincial Legislatures and the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi in 1945, less than 2 per cent of Muslims voted for the Congress; the rest voted for the Partition and Pakistan-demanding Muslim League. No mosque was then pulled down, nor were the Hindus massacring the Muslims. Why could the Congress not get the trust of the Muslims and why did India have to be partitioned? Any educated and analysing person should be able to understand the phenomenon of rejection of non-Muslims by a large section of Muslims?whether it be in Philippines (Mindanao), China (Sinkiang), Russia (Chechnya), Kosovo (Serbia), Northe-ast area (Cyprus), Kashmir (India) and so on.
?Parijatha, Hyderabad
Here is a man who is fighting
for the cause of Hinduism against all odds and he is being targetted by none other than the tallest leader of the BJP. Modi set the tone for BJP´s victory in Gujarat. The Gujarat riots did not affect the BJP´s prospects; otherwise the party could not have got the two-third majority in the Gujarat Assembly elections. It was the Muslim appeasement by the BJP-led NDA government that led to the BJP´s defeat in the recent elections.
?Anil Apte, Mumbai
Women power:
A brave woman warrior by Pramila Medhe (Organiser, 27-6-2004) was an article worth reading. It gives a new strength and confidence to the women to face all the problems courageously that come in their lives. Lakshmibai Kelkar did everything possible to empower women. She prepared them to play their roles in the process of nation building. It came as a surprise that she did not spend even a single paisa on herself. If each woman decides to walk in her footsteps then none can stop this nation from becoming the world´s most powerful nation.
?Urja Kumar, Yamuna Nagar
Remembering Apte:
This refers to the book review about Shri Babasaheb Apte (Organiser, 6-6-2004). In 1977, I was in India, studying Sanskrit. The textbook on the subject by Shri Apte impressed me a lot. Shri Apte served Bharat very well, indeed.
?Arati Banerjee, England
Valued views:
Apropos of Dr D.B. Thengadi´s article Hindu view of socio-economic order (Organiser, 13-6-2004); had his valued views and advices been considered to be followed by the BJP-led NDA government, perhaps election debacle could have been avoided. Neither the economic policy, nor the social policy can achieve any good for the common man and the country, unless such policies are based on spiritual, moral and human values or framed with the ´object of serving society´ by meeting the basic needs of every citizen while accepting the ´society to be manifestation of God´, etc., as has been stated by the writer. The writer has hit at the root cause of corruption and shortcomings vis-?-vis failures of such policies so far.
?Subodh Chandra Dutta, Kolkata
Role of revolutionaries:
Apropos of the article Prison-cell turned into place of worship (Organiser, 30-5-2004). It is unfortunately true that the role of revolutionaries and also of INA in the freedom movement and the naval uprising in 1946 have not been properly documented. All the credit for getting freedom from the British rule is given to the non-violence movement launched under the leadership of Gandhiji. But such movement made only a marginal impact on the British. When Churchill asked the then PM Attlee in the British Parliament as to why they wanted to leave the ´jewel in the British crown´ (as India was known at that time), Attlee is reported to have remarked: ?If armed forces of a country revolt, we cannot keep that country under subjugation.?
?Dr Vidya Sagar, Delhi
Real reasons:
Various reasons have been given in Organiser (23-5-2004) about the BJP´s defeat in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections. Other newspapers also gave various reasons. But the real cause behind this unexpected defeat lies somewhere else. It goes without saying that BJP´s share in the Muslim votes is almost zero, and BJP has to manage its success from the Hindu votes, which are badly divided on the basis of caste, language, and various social and economic lines. BJP must accept this reality as a permanent feature of Indian politics, and stop competition with ´secular´ parties in appeasing Muslims.
?Anand Prakash, Panchkula
I think the main reason
was that Atalji accepted one advice of the party leaders and rejected the other. I am referring to the report that BJP leaders advised the PM to appoint a senior person of their choice the Chief Election Commissioner and then dissolve the Lok Sabha. The PM rejected the first one and accepted the other. If he had rejected both or accepted both, then such a debacle might not have occurred.
?B.V.R. Rao, Bangalore
Hindu-Muslim unity:
Apropos of Say no to violence (Organiser, 23-5-2004); Muslims do seem to mingle with Hindus and Hindus give them equal treatment. It does not mean that they also give Hindus the reciprocal treatment. Real change in Muslims will make them realise that Hindu dharma has been treating them as equal, in spite of a long history of atrocities committed by their co-religionists against Hindus. No realisation of this sort is visible as yet.
?S.D. Laghate, New Delhi
Change the format:
Shri A.Y. Ghaisas´s suggestion that Organiser should be changed into a ´magazine format´ and priced at Rs 10 (Readers´ Forum, Organiser, 2-5-2004) deserves consideration, not only because of its becoming handy but also because very often, we require to preserve?preferably a zerox copy?interesting and informative articles. But, the present format of the weekly makes the task difficult. A handy and attractive format will also draw the attention of a generally indifferent reader.
?Bimalendu Ghosh, Kolkata
Selective secularism:
I am an NRI who spent most of my life in USA. I recently came to India and am surprised at the loose talk about secularism in this country. USA claims to be a secular country and the whole world accepts it as such, but, in practice, is a Christian country, where all the important State functions are preceded by prayers by a Christian priest. Yet the US claims to be secular because it does not discriminate on the basis of religion or of worship. There are uniform laws for all religion. On the other hand, even after fifty years of freedom and introduction of the present Constitution in India, the provisions of the Constitution regarding uniform laws for all citizens have not been implemented. Muslims here continue to have the right to have four wives and divorce any wife by orally declaring talaq three times. This is preposterous.
?Sanjay Sehgal, Noida
Whiz kids:
Recently, I read one British school´s report, which says that Chinese children are the best, then second are the Hindu kinds, third are mixed kids, fourth are white kids, and fifth are Pakistani and Bangladeshi kids. Last year the US picked the top 30 high school kids; out of 30, six were Indian kids. That comes to 20 per cent; however, the Indian population is less than 1 per cent. Indian kids excel; one of the reasons is that the family is very stable and cases are very few of divorce.
?Prof Bharat J. Gajjar, Hockessin (USA)
Congress´ double-talk:
The Central Law Minister of India, Shri Bhardwaj recently addressed the Islamic Centre of India in Delhi. He declared that those who demolished the Babri Masjid and were rioters in Gujarat would not be spared. The Minister further assured that the services of law experts of outstanding calibre would be utilised to secure justice for Muslims. Will the Law Minister exert similar determination to secure justice for several lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits and victims of massacres at Chittisinghpura, Akshaydham, Raghunath Mandir, Amarnath pilgrims and others? Otherwise the Congress will be playing the communal card, of which it hypocritically accuses others.
?B.K. Chaudhari, UK
Confusing designations:
The designation ´minister of state´ causes confusion, as they are all ministers of Centre and not of states. Hence, this designation needs to be modified. The ministers of state with independent charge may be called ´associate ministers´ and those without independent charge ´deputy ministers´.
?M.M. Gupta, New Delhi
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