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Readers' Forum
Extinct Hindus:
I, a Pakistan-born Indian resident Hindu, had a chance to visit my birthplace at Nara, District Attock, Punjab, Pakistan from March 28, 2005 to April 10, 2005. My observations during the visit are a harsh reality. I did not come across a single Hindu family except that of B. Muralidhar Reddy, Special Correspondent of The Hindu, in Islamabad. Evidently, hardly any Hindu family worth the name has been left in Punjab, Pakistan. I was able to see just one temple that too in discarded condition. The fate of the remaining temples is not known. Perhaps, these stand demolished now. Restoration of Katasraj temple and others in future is meaningless because both poojaris and devotees have become extinct in Punjab province of Pakistan. So who will worship the God and the bells of the temples will go without ringing. Also who will perform the aarti?
?Manmohan Sethi, A-777, Avantika, Sector-2, Rohini, Delhi
Misleading statement:
This refers to Don?t give Jinnah a second chance (Organiser, 19-6-2005). Serious objections are being raised over Shri L.K. Advani?s statement in Pakistan that Jinnah was secular. Because of the criticism, Shri Advani submitted his resignation, which was a sad development. In my opinion, what Shri Advani said at Karachi was for Pakistani public. He told them that Pakistan was not following Jinnah. Shri Advani had gone to Pakistan to promote good will and any person in his position would have said good about Jinnah.
?Anand Prakash, 72/Sector-8, Panchkula
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The aides of Shri Advani are reported to claim that he only quoted Shri Jinnah in his praise. Does it serve as an excuse? It should be borne in mind that Advani?s utterances were made at a time when the Kashmiri separatist leaders had chosen to ignore our government?s direction against their going to Pakistan and thus enabling Musharraf to make his claim that their disrespect towards the law of our land in the matter of passports vindicated his stand. Jinnah himself did not live by the utterances attributed to him either before or after the Partition.
?C.V. Krishna, 255, Agraharam Street, Erode
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I express concern over the statement given by Shri L.K. Advani in Pakistan, in which he has highlighted Shri Jinnah as a secular leader. I term Shri Advani?s statement as far away from the truth and facts of the history. Jehadi Islamic terrorists have never felt sorrow for the demolition of 30,000 temples in the past, then why should we be ashamed of it on demolition of so-called Babri mosque, which was built by Babur in 1528 by demolition of Sri Ramjanmabhoomi? It is not a case of shame, but of pride.
?B.L. Sharma ?Prem?, C-98, B.K. Dutt Colony, New Delhi
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Thousands of Hindus were massacred in Calcutta and Noakhali riots in 1946 following Jinnah?s call for Direct Action, which was nothing but Islamic Jihad against the unsuspecting innocent Hindus. It is to be noted that Noakhali riots would not have subsided and would have spread in other parts of Bengal as per Jinnah?s plans, had there been no anti-Muslim riots in Bihar as its repercussion. We, the relatives of the victims of Noakhali and Calcutta riots, fail to understand as to why Shri Advani is now adding insult to the injuries by projecting Jinnah as secular.
?Pradip Kumar Sarkar, 67, Gouri Bari Lane, Kolkata
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Shri L.K. Advani said at Pakistan that Jinnah created history. Does it mean that Kaikeyee and Ravana too created history, because without them the Ramayana would have been stale?
?B.V. Rao, No. 66, Netaji Layout, BCC Colony, Attiguppe, Vijayanagar, Bangalore
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Peace process would have been better strengthened, had L.K. Advani, after paying humble homage to ?secular? Jinnah, also issued a statement regarding Dawood Ibrahim. If Jinnah is secular why should we call Dawood a terrorist?
?Venkata Mangala on e-mail
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Shri Advani terming Jinnah as a secular leader is far from truth. Even the Indian National Congress clearly pointed out that Jinnah did not express even dubious respect for secularism. In Bengal, innumerable Hindus were massacred by the Muslims during the era of Partition of the nation, which Jinnah forced on religious ground. Not only this, Jinnah?s continuous and devilish slogan for Muslims was for Direct Action against innumerable defenceless Hindus. Therefore, to describe Jinnah as secular is not only unrealistic and unhistorical, it is also an insult to the lakhs of massacred Hindus, who bore the brunt of Islamic communalism under Jinnah.
?L.G. Chincholkar, Congress Nagar, Nagpur
Propagate Sangh works:
I have been a constant reader of Organiser for the last more than 25 years. Shri H.V. Seshadri wrote articles in Organiser about some Edgar Caycee, whom I do not know. Maybe, he is a foreigner. A stalwart like Seshadriji can write wonderful articles regarding RSS. To my small mind, it seems a waste of energy, paper and everything. Kindly see that Organiser publishes more aggressive articles regarding the Sangh and its works.
?C.G. Gupta, C/30, Konark Indraprasth, Jain Mandir Road, Sarvodaya Nagar, Mulund (West), Mumbai
Indecent decision:
This refers to How they forced the midnight coup (Organiser, 5-6-2005. Dissolution of the Bihar assembly at a time when the NDA was all set to stake claim to form a government is indeed a murder of democracy. The Prime Minister?s justification for the dissolution of the assembly can be seen as his helplessness rather than an attempt to prevent horse-trading. This decision has outraged all right-thinking people as they did not expect Dr. Manmohan Singh to stoop too low before Lalu?s pressure and threats.
?Romy Bajaj, Romy Gift House, Cinema Gali, Vikas Nagar Dehradun
Apostles of selflessness:
The elite writer rightly condemns the author?s view that Jawaharlal Nehru never wanted Netaji?s return, fearing a rival in him (Netaji an enigma, his death a mystery, Organiser, 29-5-2005). Both Nehru and Netaji were apostles of selflessness, not self-righteousness. Netaji?s initial destination was Moscow, not Berlin, after having read Main Kamph. It was testified by Shri Probodh Chander, who helped Bose in his escape from India during 1940. Azad Hind Fauj functioned from Japan after having been spurned by Hitler. Netaji?s hatred for Nazism was well known.
?Pran Salhotra, 574, Krishan Nagar, Gurdaspur
Meritorious propositions:
Dr S. Sharma?s article Prime Ministers donating territory for peace (Organiser, 15-5-2005) contains valuable suggestions. Such suggestions can be considered by the people who run the government. But those who govern the country, i.e. the Cabinet and Members of Parliament, will not read such articles or even if they happen to read, they will not find them worth consideration. These facts should be known to the voters so that they vote such representatives to Parliament who would like to consider these ideas for implementation.
?Narayan Singh, Village Bijwasan, Delhi
Indomitable culture:
Apropos of Bollywood and half-clad Indian girls (Organiser, 5-6-2005); the writer has left a question for the readers of Organiser by asking them, ?Is Bharat going to lose its culture?? Here I would like to refer A.L. Basham, a noted British historian, who in his book The Wonder That Was India made the world believe that the Hindu culture will never be lost. India has faced wave after wave of foreign influence and yet her spirit is unbroken and her culture is alive. Half-clad Indian girls, who belong to the so-called high society, do not represent the real Bharat. So we should not be so much pessimist.
?Rajendra Singh Tomar, 231-A, Mandir Lane, Vansthali, Ballupur, Dehradun
Some posers:
In response to the article, RSS is not a fundamental organisation (Organiser 22-5-2005), I want to raise the following points: Is RSS not convinced that it is not a fundamental organisation so as to seek a certificate from Baba Sayyed Hashmi Maharaj? Isn?t it true that Baba?s statement that Islam advises against abusing any religion has no relation to the realities, if one sees the legacy of Islam over the last 14 centuries in general and what has been happening to the non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir, in particular? Finally, I admire Baba?s patriotism for wishing and predicting that Bharat will be a superpower in due course.
?S.C. Panda, 1/2, HIG, BDA Colony, S.S. Pur, Bhubaneswar
Susceptible data:
The data given in the article, March of the minority (Organiser, 22-5-2005), needs to be rechecked precisely as there is an anomaly. The district headquarter of East Godavari is Kakinada, where 9230 and 5274 mosques respectively are shown. In Kakinada, the Muslim population might be twenty-five thousand. Hence, for every five Muslims a mosque is an impossibility.
?Shakeel Ahmed, 22-7-313, Chatta Bazar, Hyderabad
Feudal politics:
Sanjay Dutt, son of Sunil Dutt, says that his family would decide as to who inherits the membership of Parliament. Either he or somebody in the family would be claiming to be nominated by the Congress for election to the Lok Sabha. His claim to inheritance is exactly like that of Rajiv Gandhi for the prime ministership of India from his mother and later that of Sonia Gandhi for the presidentship of the Congress from her late husband.
?M. Nagender Goud, 4-1-74, Pragathi Nagar, Moosapet, Hyderabad
?Secular? reservation:
Shabana Azmi says that the reservation that the UPA?s ?detoxifying? HRD Minister Arjun Singh has introduced for Muslims in the Aligarh Muslim University will help ?benefit deserving candidates?. If they are deserving, why do they require reservation? Obviously, because they are undeserving and do not have merit superior to others. It appears that anything done for the benefit of Muslims is secular and that is done against Hindus is more secular.
?S. Krishnaveni, 34, Janakpuri, Karkhana, Secunderabad
Dynastic grip:
The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has been ruling the country since August 15, 1947. So, out of 58 years, they have ruled for about 50 years. How can India be free from this dynasty? It has been said that nothing grows under a banyan tree and the same applies to this dynasty, where no one can rise as long as they are at the top.
?Jan Ray on e-mail
Dismal evaluation:
One-year rule of UPA could not give a rosy picture in terms of political, social, cultural, economic or developmental progress of the country. The rule started with the steep rise in prices. In order to divert the attention of the people, six governors of various states on grounds of ideology were removed. It was more or less against the spirit of the Constitution and for the first time the government kept five ministers involved in scams. The UPA chief over-shadowed the Prime Minister and took all major decisions by herself. This shows its bankruptcy in ideology and style. The steep difference in the ideology of the Left and the Congress has been blackmailed in the name of secularism. Moreover, the developmental works started by the previous Vajpayee government were immediately stopped.
?Prof R.N. Pal on e-mail
One Date:
This refers to Why Hindu rights are not naturally protected in India? (Organiser, 5-6-2005). My humble opinion is that celebrations like Vinayaka Chaturthi should be on the same date throughout India. At present, it is celebrated in various parts of India on various dates. At least, this famous festival should be planned to celebrate on an all-India basis on a same date. This spiritual day is also associated with the efforts of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in the freedom movement.
?K.G.K. Vayalar, Alappuzha, Kerala
Unfounded fear:
The big problem with the BJP is that it has allowed itself to be influenced by what the media says. Some of the ?smart men? of the media say that the BJP must become a so-called ?centrist? party like the Congress if it wants to again come to power. In short, do away with its Hindutva image, some thing that the BJP did in 2004 election with disastrous consequences. The allies of the BJP similarly believe that if the BJP plays on its Hindutva past, they would ?lose? the minority votes. The question is: How many minority votes did they get anyway? In state after state, the minority votes have not gone to the NDA, i.e. not to the BJP or to its allies. Therefore, the fear of BJP?s allies that their vote-bank will feel threatened by BJP?s Hindutva is definitely misplaced and wrong.
?Rajesh Kumar Pandey, San Jose, USA
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