Firoze Hirjikaka
They say: Scratch a politician and you will uncover a warren’s nest of self-serving lies. Scratch an Indian politician and you are kept guessing about what will emerge from his/her mouth. The only certainty is political expediency. Narendra Modi is, of course, a master at this art, but his recent transformation has left many scratching their heads in befuddlement. Continue reading
N. S. Venkataraman
“Is Hindu religion discriminated in India?”
It is strange that in a country where around 80% of the population follows the Hindu religion, many Hindus still feel that their religion is discriminated in various ways by successive governments in India. Although the BJP, described as “the Hindu nationalist party” by the western media, has been in power for more than four years, such a feeling of discrimination persists.
The following few instances highlight this discrimination. Continue reading
Kusum Choppra
Kashmir and Doklam were enough to keep the Forces on their toes. Perhaps the Defence Minister too? Then, add one more front, and …? Continue reading
Keshav Rau
By the time these words appear in print, the euphoria associated with the country’s Independence Day celebrations would have died down. Every Independence Day is an occasion for a lot of high-sounding pledges being taken by all to safeguard the long and hard-fought independence achieved through the sweat and toil of our forefathers. Each Prime Minister, since independence, addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort (nowadays within the confines of a fortified enclosure) announcing freebies and policy proclamations to the downtrodden and poor. Continue reading
Firoze Hirjikaka
It is now more or less official. The Congress Party is virtually defunct. The Grand Old Party, whose stalwarts fought for India’s independence, laid the foundation of genuine democracy in a region that had never experienced it, ensured equal representation for all minorities in a complicated and diverse nation, experimented with and then discarded Nehruvian socialism; and put India on the path of economic liberalization in 1991, is now a diaphanous shell of its former self. Continue reading
Our last post “Swarna Bharat Party Emulates Swatantra Party” published on September 6, 2016 has generated a debate and we reproduce below the gist of e-mails exchanged between Dr. Zareer Masani and Mr. Naozer Aga. Continue reading
Aas Mohammad
The Swarna Bharat Party (SBP), India’s only Liberal Party, registered in 2014, held the annual conference of its National Executive at Delhi on July 30, 31 and August 1, 2016.
SBP is committed to defending liberty and promoting prosperity.
Mr. Sanjeev Sabhlok (I.A.S. – resigned), currently economist with the Government of Victoria, Australia, is one of the founders and driving force of SBP. He, along with Mr. Anil Sharma, a consultant residing in London participated in the conference with other National Executive members from Delhi and various parts of India. Continue reading
N. S. Venkataraman
Twenty-seven years ago, Chinese military tanks rolled into the Tiananmen Square in Beijing to crush pro-democracy protests in China. Thousands of unarmed activists and civilians were killed. While the world was shocked at this ruthless and merciless act, the communist leadership in China remained unconcerned about world opinion and did not care what the world thought regarding its actions. Continue reading
Dr. T. Hanuman Chowdary
Under the Government of India Act 1935, elections were held to provincial (now state) legislatures in 1937. At that time, Muslims were a separate electorate and had reserved seats, roughly one-third more than their proportion in the provinces where they were in a minority. However, not a single nationalist Muslim of the Congress could win a seat reserved for the Muslims. In the six Hindu dominated provinces – Madras, Orissa, Bihar, UP, Bombay and Central Province – the Congress secured a majority and formed its ministries. But no Muslim was found in those Ministries as no Congress Muslim won in the constituencies reserved for Muslims.
Hindu Raj in the Congress-ruled provinces
The Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah criticized the Congress governments for having ushered in Hindu Raj. Every Hindu-Muslim riot was alleged to have been initiated by the Hindus and it was believed that the Hindus were abetted by the Congress’s Hindu Raj. Among the charges levelled by the Muslim League against the Congress’s Hindu Raj were – singing of Vande Mataram made compulsory, hoisting the tri-colour flag on all buildings, discouraging the use of the Urdu language which led to its decline and ban of cow-slaughter. Muslim culture and life were becoming insecure and their mosques, mazars and shrines were being desecrated.
Muslim League’s Riposte
To counter the atrocities by Hindu Raj and bring to the fore the grievances of the Muslims, the Muslim League set up three committees which issued three reports – the Pirpur Report (1938) under the chairmanship of Raja Syed Mohammed Mehdi of Pirpur, “Muslim Sufferings under Congress Rule” (1939) by A. K. Fazlul Huq and the Shareef Report (1939) giving an account of the grievances of the Muslims in Bihar.
At that time, there were no communists (like Sitaram Yechuri), no social activists (like Teesta Setalvad or Arundhati Roy), no casteist secularists (like Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav) or Nehruvian secular-socialists (like Digvijay Singh) or secular intellectuals (like Js. Rajender Sachar) and Marxist eminent historians (like Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar) or self-styled secular fundamentalists (like Mani Shankar Aiyar) to take up the cause of the minorities and propagate the cry of their religion being in danger under Hindu Raj of 1937-39.
The then Viceroy Linlithgow, who was no friend of the Congress or the Hindus, had received the three reports submitted by the Muslim League on the atrocities of the Congress’s Hindu Raj, got them studied and investigated, and absolved the Congress governments of all charges of atrocities and persecution levelled by the Muslim League.
Day of Deliverance
On 2nd September 1939, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Viceroy Linlithgow declared India too to be at war against Germany without consulting the Indian leaders and Provincial Governments. This led to the resignation of the Congress Ministries; and that delighted the Muslim League. Grabbing the opportunity, Jinnah called upon the Muslims all over India to observe 22nd December 1939 (incidentally it was a Friday) as the Day of Deliverance – deliverance from Hindu Raj.
Cut to the Present
As in 1937-39, since May 2014, we hear the “minorities” cry of them being in danger. Their religion, lifestyle, food – in short, their identity – are all in danger. The BJP governments at the Center and in the states are “saffronising” governance, and educational and cultural institutions. Sanskrit is being promoted, yoga, Surya Namaskarams and the compulsory singing of Vande Mataram are being imposed and the minorities are even deprived of having their staple foods (the beef ban).
In short, it appears that their very existence is threatened. So we have persons like Mohammad Azam Khan, Samajwadi Party MP from U.P. petitioning the UN to stop the saffronising Modi government from persecuting Muslims in India. This is reminiscent of the Nizam of Hyderabad petitioning the U.N. Security Council in 1948 that the Indian government was committing war-like acts and aggression on his peaceful sovereign state.
The minorities (i.e. Muslims) are now joined by their congenital allies – the Communists (eight so-styled parties in India), the secular intellectuals, the progressive writers, the casteists, the vote-begging regional Samajwadis, and of course, eminent historians (many of them Marxists) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and finally, the (Sonia) Congress which, by now, is a captive of the minorities and claiming itself to be their sole protector.
Under the Congress rule, many government-patronized and funded institutions like ICHR (Indian Council of Historical Research), ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations), NMM&L (Nehru Memorial Museum and Library) and the humanities faculties of Central Universities were infiltrated by anti-Hindus of various faiths, ideologies and interests. It is these groups and the beneficiary writers and artists who, in league with the minorities, are echoing the 1937-39 cry of Congress’s Hindu Raj and raising the slogan of BJP’s Saffron Raj.
To say that minorities in India are in danger is a totally unabashed charge. The BJP and its allies must unswervingly tread the path of justice for all, no favour for or discrimination against any faith, religion or Dharma. The government should not retreat from actions that would make Bharat a prosperous, powerful, intellectual and ethical nation-state.
In conclusion, let me quote from Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s book “Pakistan or the Partition of India” published in 1940.
“I do not think the demand for Pakistan is the result of mere political distemper, which will pass away with the efflux of time. As I read the situation, it seems to me that it is a characteristic in the biological sense of the term which the Muslim body politic has developed in the same manner as an organism develops a characteristic. Whether it will survive or not, in the process of natural selection, must depend upon the forces that may become operative in the struggle for existence between Hindus and Musalmans.”
Dr. T. Hanuman Chowdary is Chairman, Pragna Bharati, Andhra Pradesh, Director, Center for Telecom Management and Studies and former Chairman and Managing Director, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited. E-mail: hanuman.chowdary@tcs.com
“Can corrupt politicians ever be punished in India?” Mr. N. S. Venkataraman questions and writes about the cancer that is eating up our country’s core. As if on cue, some days later we receive Mr. Firoze Hirjikaka’s essay on the state of our 66 years old Republic.
We put the two articles in one post as the underlying theme is the same. Mr. Hirjikaka, inter alia, touches upon corruption, which has become an integral part of the state of the Republic.
We invite comments from readers. You can “Leave a Reply” in the column at the end of the post. Let’s have a lively debate on this topic of corruption which has affected all of us in some way or the other and also how you feel our Republic has fared. Continue reading
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