Important articles

http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/06/stories/2009080651690800.htm
(Congress is selling India away!)
"It is important to also note that all the three defence service chiefs have vehemently and repeatedly, verbally and in writing, individually and collectively conveyed to New Delhi at the highest levels their strong and total opposition to India entering into an EUMA with the U.S. because of its serious national security-compromising character. But the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by the Prime Minister brushed aside these acute concerns and went ahead and approved the EUMA."

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=303&page=33

(NGO's in J&K spreading lies about human rights abuses to get international attention!!)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=303&page=16

(Chidambaram avoids answering question on kandhamal incident)

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2008/11/2427

(Media least bothered about suffering of farmers and caters only to the new rich!)

http://www.merinews.com/article/abhinav-justice-of-bharat-phika-liberty-in-pak/15778387.shtml

(A comparison of Indian and Pakistani treatment of its own people)

More stuff on India and Indians

http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/06/ram-swarup-perversion-of-caste.html

(An essay on Caste perversion by Brits!)

http://vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=679

(Degradation of Indian history texts by communists)

http://news.rediff.com/column/2009/jul/10/guest-bjp-and-resurgent-india-are-they-incompatible.htm

(Pathetic Indian media wrongly analyses the election results on purpose!)

Then a surprisingly good article by Vir Sanghvi on Indian liberals and one about India getting a a new minority,
http://dailypioneer.com/186980/A-new-minority-to-appease!.html

http://dailypioneer.com/188090/Alienating-our-own-culture.html
(Alienating our own culture)

Brilliant articles by Shourie on Indian Politics and media

Found some old articles written by Shourie in the Indian Express,

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/shilpa-shetty-trumps-arunachal-again/271801/

(How the Indian media has mis-handles important issues and glorifies gossip)

"They drew even sharper attention to an incident that had occurred just three weeks earlier. For as long as anyone could remember, there had been a statue of the Buddha — well inside Indian territory. Local inhabitants used to go up to it — pray, make their offerings. The local commander of the Chinese troops had told Indian soldiers that the statue must be removed. Our soldiers had pointed out that the statue was well within Indian territory, and so there was no question of removing it. The Chinese had come, and blown off the statue..."

"‘But what did the NDA do about the incursions?’ another member of that clutch demanded. First, the head of the force at the border has spoken about the incursions that have taken place this year, in 2007, I pointed out. What could the NDA government have done about them? But assume that incursions were taking place then, and that the NDA government did nothing. Does that in any way become reason for not doing anything today? Please do have some mercy on our country, I said. Here is China claiming our territory; here it is, having begun that well-rehearsed series of steps which precede a grab. Are we going to divert ourselves from that reality by the usual ‘tu-tu, mein-mein, NDA vs UPA?’"

"‘But are you sure about the facts or is the BJP indulging in its usual fear-politics?’ the anchor asks. But why don’t you ascertain them from the two MPs who represent the area? I respond. Better still, why don’t you send your own correspondents and photographers to the area? I inquire. We will, we will, I assure you. I was just making sure...

In any case, look at what the ambassador of China has himself said, I remarked. Remember, just days before Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, was to come to India, the ambassador declared, right here on Indian soil, that Arunachal is a part of China...

‘But maybe he was saying it for rhetorical effect,’ said the anchor.

Rhetorical effect? I skipped a heartbeat. Is the Chinese Ambassador also running after TRP ratings like the TV channels? Would an ambassador say such things just for effect? And that too the ambassador of China, of all countries? You mean an ambassador, you mean the ambassador of China of all countries would claim the territory of the country to which he is accredited, that he would lay claim to an entire state of that country for rhetorical effect? I asked."

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hindutva-and-radical-islam-where-the-twain-do-meet/254969/0

(On how Hindus are being forced to become violent)

"There is a real vice here. The three great religions that originated in Palestine and Saudi Arabia — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — have been exclusivist — each has insisted that it alone is true — and aggressive. The Indic religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism — have been inclusive, they have been indulgent of the claims of others. But how may the latter sort survive when it is confronted by one that aims at power, acquires it, and then uses it to enlarge its dominion? How is the Indic sort to survive when the other uses the sword as well as other resources — organised missionaries, money, the state — to proselytise and to convert? Nor is this question facing just the Hindus in India today. It is facing the adherents of Indic traditions wherever they are: look at the Hindus in Indonesia and Malaysia; look at the Buddhists in Tibet, now in Thailand too."

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/necessity-is-the-mother-of-fabrication-too/248747/0

(An especially good article on how the media fabricated data on the nuclear deal to get public support for the congress)

"But that was not the end. Polishing up the deal further, the Hindustan Times informed its readers that by 2050, an astronomical “200,000 MW of nuclear energy can be produced”. We would presumably have more reactors by then than the whole world has today. As my friend T.C.A. Rangachari once said, “Jo hyper-bole so nihal.”

This has been one of the main strengths of the government over the past two years — the utter innumeracy of our media exceeded only by its utter willingness to put out anything. “Killer amendments dropped, India’s concerns taken care of,” the papers proclaimed — when, in fact, as even the most cursory glance would have shown, each and every one of the clauses was very much a part of the Act. “Objectionable clauses non-binding,” they proclaimed — when, in fact, neither our government nor that of the US was able to furnish any list of which clauses were binding and which were non-binding, and, of course, the Act itself made no such distinction.

But the enthusiasts had a ready reason for not studying the Act! “Laden with numbing bureaucratese and legalese,” The Times of India declared on its front page, in its — what else should one call it? — “analytical report” of the Hyde Act on December 9, 2006, “littered with sections, sub-sections, clauses, sub-clauses and footnotes, it has enough statements, caveats and requirements to make heads spin”.

How much easier then to just concoct! For it isn’t the precise figure that propagandists count on remaining in the mind, nor the precise assertion but the general impression — in this case, that the nuclear deal will light up the bulbs, that the concerns which had been expressed have been met. How much easier to abuse: those who were pointing to the provisions of the US legislation were charged with being “obsessed with clauses and sub-clauses”, to be “anti-deal jihadis”. And to put out stories, ‘Advani softens’ ‘Rajnath says if concerns met...’ I had attended every single meeting of the BJP leaders at which the nuclear deal was deliberated upon. At no meeting at all had the leaders felt that either new evidence or new argument had surfaced which required that the assessment be changed. And yet, ‘BJP softens...’ And this after written statements were put out repeatedly over the signatures of the principal leaders themselves."

Indian Media and History

http://satyameva-jayate.org/2007/07/19/lies-and-half-truths/

"A quote from Mrs. Coomi Kapoor, summarising the guidelines prepared by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in 1982. Mrs Kapoor is quoted as saying:
“History and Language textbooks for schools all over India will soon be revised radically. In collaboration with various state governments the Ministry of Education has begun a phased programme to weed out undesirable textbooks and remove matter which is prejudicial to national integration and unity and which does not promote social cohesion.""

http://www.indiamystica.com/Awake%20India%20---%202/why%20isnt%20the%20media%20accountable.html

"The issue here is the sheer irresponsibility of the media. Whether it is Godhra, Tehelka, petrol pump allocations or the Ansal Plaza killing of terrorists, our media seems to believe it will attract its audience only if it dresses to kill, or, as some newspapers have patented, it undresses models in colour. That it is not accountable to anyone in the country except to its proprietors' profit and loss account abets that belief. No wonder the ICE World section of Business Standard dated January 29, 2003, says The Times of India charges fees to PR agencies for publishing their releases. Are we then headed for editorials charged at so many rupees per column centimetre? Our media demands foolproof accountability from every institution in our land, including the judiciary. Why then doesn't it demand the same from itself?"

Revisiting the Dara Singh-Graham Staines incident

After seeing how the media handled the recent Kandhamal incident with blatantly biased (read anti-hindu) reporting and fabricated reports I thought I should check up on what might have actually happened in the Graham Staines incident. This time I went through news articles relating to that incident again to see how the media cooked up stuff to mould public and world opinion to paint anything Hindu as evil.

The fact that the state government did nothing to prevent conversion in Orissa even thought it is illegal only shows how useless naveen Patnaik really is. I now strongly suspect that Dara Singh is innocent and what actually happened was a trial by media which forced the State government to take action against innocent people.

Here are some articles which I found quite interesting,

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=317172

(The latest on Dara Singh-2008 article)

"The conviction of Dara is solely on the basis of mere presumption, which is contrary to the principles of criminal justice and devoid of law," the petition filed by his counsel Sibo Sankar Mishra said. "However, the High Court had acquitted 11 others who were awarded life terms by the trial court in the case that had sparked worldwide outrage in 1999. Does that mean the trial court was totally incompetent?"
Pointing out loopholes in the evidence, the High court had said it was "risky" and "dangerous" to convict so many accused on the basis of speculative evidence of a witness who did not disclose the matter to anyone except a CBI officer five months after the incident."

http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20000522/interview.html

"No. I didn't kill them. But I spearheaded the movement against missionaries. I was also actively involved in the movement against illegal trade in cows and cowslaughter. Since I was possibly the most famous name in the region, the police implicated me in the killings. The day the Staines were killed at Manoharpur, I was at least 12-13 km away from the place. But yes, I did not like Graham Staines. For that matter, I never liked missionaries."

http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/aug/07oris.htm

"Instead he digresses on the Commission's report on Staines' character: ''Who says he was a good man? Ask any local person. There was forcible conversion and Dara is popular and yet to be nabbed because the local people shield him for fighting such conversion," he fumes."

http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/mar/29dara.htm

(He seems to have had a huge support from the local people! How would that be possible if the local people did not approve of his activities. Is it possible that he is innocent? Also, he actually surrendered to the police since the cops were torturing the innocent tribals!!)

http://www.hindu.com/2003/10/11/stories/2003101102021300.htm
(We know how reliable the CBI is!!)

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/03/25/stories/2003032501741300.htm

"However, Mahendra Hembram, another accused in the case, stood by his earlier statement before the court. In a written statement in February last year, Hembram, a resident of Manoharpur, had claimed that he had set fire to the vehicle in which the victims were sleeping.The remaining accused were innocent, he said."

http://us.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/22staines.htm

"The case had come under intense media scrutiny considering that foreign citizens and the issue of religious conversions were involved. (Not at all surprising is it?)."

http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19990402/ige02012.html

(So no one is supposed to have a different opinion)

Notice that the BJP raised its tally from 9 seats in 1995 to 38 seats in 2000 (a year after this happened-shows the public opinion)

I found a comment from the internet in a forum requesting signatures for a petition in Singh's name,
"Bhaskar, I don't know if you are joking or are you serious? The whole Indian press has already made him guilty even before proving if he's innocent or guilty. And there's enough evidence to prove that he was not there at the scene of the crime but the courts don't want to know, all they want to do is convict him and make him the scape goat for the murder of one WHITE Christian missionary. So many Hindus get killed all the time, but do ever see the Indian media highlight those crimes?? Never!! For example, last week a Hindu priest was killed while praying in Tripura by Christian backed militants, did the Indian media give it any coverage?? None at all !! I bet you don't even know about it yourself?? Signing the online petition may be the least we can do at the moment but at least, the pseudosecularists in India will get the message that Hindu's around theworld are watching and will act against injustices on Hindu's like Dara Singh."

The best of the lot is this brillaint analysis on the subject by Arun Shourie:

http://arunshourie.voiceofdharma.com/articles/wadhwa.htm

The Wadhwa commision which was set up to investigate the killing came up with very interesting conclusions. Here are some excerpts from Shourie's analysis of the commission's report.

"On the face of it, the report of the Wadhwa Commission on the murder of the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons should have been very welcome to our secular friends. Justice Wadhwa has concluded that the main person who organised the attack was Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, and that his motive in doing so was "misplaced fundamentalism", namely his conviction that conversions by missionaries were threatening Hinduism. He also records evidence to the effect that Dara Singh had been involved in an activity which, in the eyes of secularists, is as deplorable as an activity can get: protection of cows from slaughter.
But no, the secularists are all in rage. "A stained report," "A whitewash," "A politically tutored report" -- they have been shouting. Justice Wadhwa has failed the litmus test: if only he had included a sentence -- a single sentence! -- imputing -- howsoever obliquely -- that Dara Singh was in some way affiliated to some organization that can be linked to the RSS or the BJP, what applause would have greeted the Report! "

"The second incident occurred on 7 February, 1999. Two children, aged 10 and 19, were found murdered, a third had sustained injuries. "This incident again attracted a great deal of publicity in the media, including electronic media," writes Justice Wadhwa. "Newspapers came up with the headings, 'Two Christians killed, one injured in Orissa,' '2 tribal Christians done to death in Kandhamal,' and 'Orissa hunts for Christians' killer'. Additional D. G. P. John Nayak reportedly said that the communal angle to the attempted rape and murder could not be ruled out...." "A certain political party even blamed the State and Central Governments," Justice Wadhwa recalls, "and stated that the inaction of the State Government in the Manoharpur missionary killing incident (the killing of Staines and his sons) and the alleged rape of the nun in Baripada encouraged miscreants to commit yet another crime in Kandhamal." "In short," he concludes, "as per various reports that appeared in the newspapers, the incident was taken as an attack on the Christians."
And what turned out to be the truth? "Ultimately investigation revealed that the crime was committed by a relative of the victims who was also a Christian," the Commission notes. "

"That is one lesson, and Justice Wadhwa draws special attention to it: the press should not rush to conclusions before it has investigated the facts. The facts he has recorded urge that the caution be made specific: the press should be particularly wary of going by allegations of communalism-mongers.
The second institution which comes out most poorly is the Minorities Commission. For quite some time now, this Commission has been putting out patently partisan reports, reports so partisan as to appear to be designed to inflame. It is all too the good, therefore, that in the course of his inquiries into the incidents, Justice Wadhwa has given us a glimpse into the way it goes about its work. The incident I postponed mentioning is typical. "

"B. B. Panda, who was then Director General of Police, Orissa, told the Commission that the New Indian Express -- that is, the southern editions of the Indian Express -- of 25 January, 1999, quoted him as saying, "over 50 people suspected to be activists of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad were involved in the incident, and so far 47 persons have been arrested." He told the Commission that as he had not said this, he sent the paper a contradiction. The paper did not publish the contradiction. "

Why I like Modi

Narendra Modi, the CM of Gujarat, is much vilified by the pseudo-secular ELM but he is one man who is just so high in stature and character that all the the shit they throw at him just lands on their own faces!

Here is one of his superb interviews he has given to rediff. He is one of the very few people who gives perfect interview and who the ELM cannot frustrate however hard they try.
Here are some excerpts,

Do you think the development debate in this country has turned pro-business? And that ordinary people are feeling left behind?

You've asked a very good question, and I will be pleased to answer this one.
In my Gujarat I hold the Vibrant Gujarat global investor summit once in two years, on January 13-14. Some 700-800 government officers of mine are involved in it, and I invite industrialists and businessmen to come for the summit and invest in the state.
Also in my state, for one month every year, we hold an agricultural festival in which about a lakh government servants go to the villages in May-June, braving the 44 degree temperatures, sit down with the farmers and work towards agricultural development. You remember what we do for two days out of two years, but where the government travels to the countryside for a month every year and promotes agriculture, you are not interested.

Is it because of rural migration to the cities?
Not because of rural migration. In my Gujarat we have the Jyoti Gram Yojana thanks to which rural migration to cities has ended, all arrangements have been made. Very few of our villagers go to cities, which is a very interesting development about Gujarat.
If you provide urban amenities in villages, they will not go to the cities.

Isn't the nuclear deal an achievement?
The issue is, India has uranium. Earlier the government would make budgetary allocation for uranium exploration. What was the reason for Dr Manmohan Singh, as finance minister, to make it zero budgeting for uranium exploration?
What was the reason when he became PM to halt research into uranium? And what is the reason for him enter into a restrictive agreement with foreign nations for the same uranium? Now the question arises.

Will you deny that you have no ambition whatsoever to become the prime minister?
I have a mission, not ambition. I was not born to become something, I was born to do something.
I did not have a desire to become somebody when I was a child, I don't have it now, nor will I have it in the future.
I have a dream, to do something. I want to do something for the nation. I am part of the mission, not ambition.
Ambition doesn't inspire me, mission does.

Facts about Gujarat 2002

A very interesting update on the Gujarat riots. It clearly shows how so called social activists like Teesta Setalvad are nothing but fronts for anti-India organizations such as the ISI.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/169490/Gujarat-riot-myths-busted.html

"The so-called human rights activist, Teesta Setalvad — who paraded the Gujarat riot victims before the Supreme Court and claimed they had been denied justice — suffered embarrassment on Monday after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) gave sufficient grounds for the apex court to doubt the authenticity of incidents highlighted by her NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace.

The SIT, headed by former CBI Director RK Raghavan along with former DGP CB Satpathy and three senior IPS officers — Geetha Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia — had been entrusted with the enquiry into post-Godhra riot incidents in Godhra, Gulbarg Society, Naroda Gaon, Naroda Patiya and Sardarpura.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the State, read out portions of the report that refuted the petitioner’s charge of the State’s complicity in the riots.

Pointing out a specific instance, the SIT report stated how the evidence of 22 witnesses was “suspect” owing to the identical submissions made in their affidavits submitted to the court. On enquiry, the SIT found that all the 22 affidavits were drafted, typed and printed from the same computer, giving sufficient grounds to believe they were “tutored”. When the SIT questioned those who signed the affidavits, it was shocked to learn that these complainants were not even aware of the incidents.

Referring to another instance that exposed the Citizens for Justice and Peace’s much ‘trumpeted’ charges, Rohtagi said the SIT investigation found untrue allegation about a gangrape of a pregnant woman Kauser Bano, whose stomach was allegedly pierced by sword and her foetus killed.

Even the instance of dumping of bodies into a well at Naroda Patiya and a charge of the police allegedly shielding accused persons in murder of a British national was found to be untrue, Rohtagi said.

Firing a salvo at the NGO, Rohtagi said, “It is clear from the report that the horrendous allegations made by the NGO were false. Cyclostyled affidavits were supplied by a social activist and the allegations made in them were untrue,” he added, with an obvious reference to Setalvad."

I hope there is a strong legal process initiated against her to prevent her from doing any more "social" activity.

EC crossing limits again

Ashok Sahu is a retired Police Officer contesting from the Kandhamal region in Orissa. He has been slapped with an EC notice which has also directed the District Magistrate (DM) to book cases against him that would lead to his arrest. The reason for this is said to be because of his "hate" speech.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200904122025.htm

"The Election Commission on Sunday asked the authorities in Orissa to add two more sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the criminal case filed against Ashok Sahu, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency, who has been booked for an inflammatory speech.

The Election Commission, which examined a CD recording of Mr. Sahu's speech, also issued notice to him for violating the model code of conduct and asked him to reply by 3 p.m. April 15.

"The Election Commission today directed the Kandhamal district magistrate that in the criminal case filed by him against Ashok Sahu for adding two more sections 505 and 295 of IPC along with existing 125 of RPA and 153 IPC," the commission said in a statement here.

"This decision was taken after examination of the CD today," it said.

While section 505 of the IPC deals with the "statements conducing to public mischief", section 295 deals with "injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class".

At a public meeting at Raikia town on April 5, Mr. Sahu had accused the church of indulging in conversion.

Kandhamal district superintendent of police S. Praveen Kumar said on Saturday that a case was registered against Mr. Sahu and the matter was under investigation.

Kandhamal district, about 200 km from Bhubaneswar, witnessed widespread communal violence after the murder of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader in August 2008."

In what way is stating the fact that the church is involved in conversions qualify as "hate" speech?!!!

The EC has not bothered to direct the DM's to arrest Congress, Smajwadi party, RJD, Commies, MDMK................ leaders who have threatened to kill and seccede from India!!

Indian Media Bias

Found a good post on one of topics (Understanding media bias and other white lies) in L.K. Advani's website forum made by a person called "TheRightIndian" questioning the Indian Media

"I’ve been struggling to understand the media bias against the BJP. I have spent painful days and nights just trying to understand what these so called media fellows and the purported ‘progressives’ really represent. I always failed, simply because the test of reason and logic did not seem to work with them. So, what does it mean? Does it mean that these ‘progressive Jhollawalahs’ and media folks are anti national? This question has troubled me for many nights. How can I sleep knowing that the fourth pillar of our democracy has been compromised? Why do they have such a hatred towards India being ‘itself’?

Advani does'nt stand for the 'founding principles' ??!!!!

As I was watching a TV program tonight, I heard one of those Congress spokespersons speak that Mr. Advani does not stand for what India is about and does not stand for the ‘founding principles’ on which this country was ‘founded’. That really set me thinking. Yeah? Oh really? Is that how it is? Then the realization just struck me like a thunderbolt:

It is very simply because these media folks and the JNU fellows believe that India came into existence in 1947!! They don’t think that India was ‘liberated’ from ‘external’ powers in 1947. They think it was ‘born’ in 1947! For them, (the nowadays, often quoted term) the ‘Idea of India’ occurred in 1947! AND THEREFORE THEY PROPOSE ALL THE OTHER JUNK AS A COROLLARY TO THIS HYPOTHESIS. They suffer from a civilizational and cultural amnesia compounded and abetted by their alien education.


Were we an Australia or a US of A? Where there was no human inhabitation (or whatever was existing, was conveniently extinguished), and the conquerors got to phrase the ‘founding principles’ in a piece of paper in 19th / 20th century. Is that what our country is? A piece of barren land in 1947? A clean slate that could be written on in 1947? Did the millions in our country offer that clean slate to Congress/Nehru? They just don't realize that India has existed for as long as one can remember. And the 'founding principles' of India are much more ancient, pervasive and pervasive than what a few English educated lawyers could articulate in 1940s and 50s.

Thousands of years of history and achievements in every field of human progress including (but not limited to) art, literature, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, political science and spirituality becomes ‘mythical’, ‘surreal’ and ‘supposed’ at the ‘stroke of a midnight’! And imitating the past aggressors in their dressing, world view, shallowness of intellect and abhorrence of spiritualism (which did not exist in either of the two aggressive systems) has become contemporary, modern, secular and more than anything else fashionable!

Can thousands of years of history, culture, values and accomplishments be rubbished as dust on the slate one fine day? Can hundreds of years of external aggressions, wars, religious crusades, submission and subjugation be wiped out by ‘mere stroke of the midnight’ and made available to ‘tryst with destiny’? Is that it?

If the Hindu society can offer amends, offer apologies, constitutionalised affirmative action and reprieve to our Dalit brothers who were wronged (from) hundreds of years back and if the contemporary German society can do the same for the (recently wronged) Jews, is it not fair to expect that aggressors against Hindu civilization do the same? At least do not completely deny that those atrocities ever took place! That’s not just denial but negationism.

An ancient pluralistic civilization with rich culture was plundered by two quasi-political, quasi- religious regimes for hundreds of years, and today we are told that to represent and believe in that age-old pluralism is being ‘communal’ or worse ‘fascist’ ! What a farce!

I am no big fan of Karl Marx. But he’s spoken a prophetic line :

History always repeats itself. First time as a tragedy and the second time as a farce!

Who should we blame? The ‘progressive media’ Jaychands? Or the even the Prithiviraj Chauhans who forgave Mohamad Ghori 18 times? (Only to be cheated by him the 19th time!)

Say both?

Another post in reply to a person exhibiting the typical dhimmi attitude he gives a very nice analogy of the Indian situation.

"China captured Tibet in the 50's. The Buddhist monasteries are thousands of years old and are an inseparable part of Tibetan identity. Now suppose (god forbid), Chinese government, to intimidate and humiliate the Buddhists, destroys those magnificent monasteries as it believes in atheism and builds Communist party offices there. The people of Tibet are terribly humiliated and upset but helpless in front of the Chinese might. Their very identity is shattered to smithereens. The Chinese stay in power for many many years. And then, India (hopefully) captures Tibet. By this time, Tibet is made up of mostly Buddhists and some communists (apparently the Chinese converted quite a few Buddhists into Communism). To stay in power, and to not to disturb the equilibrium, Indians do not touch the issue of monasteries and maintain status-quo for for many many years. Because of a freedom movement in Tibet and India's own other pressures, India decides to give freedom Tibet. But the minority communists do not want to be part of Tibet; they want their own country 'Communistan'. India agrees and Tibet is divided.The communist majority northern Tibet is made into a new country 'Communistan' and the Buddhist majority Tibet is now free. A new 'Tibetan' government is formed. The Tibetan Buddhists are kind hearted people. They don't want to impose their religion on the remaining communists and other minorities. Therefore the country adopts a secular constitution. But the Tibetan Buddhist identity has been severely dented because of the destruction of their most sacred monasteries and then by the partition of their beloved motherland. It is now demanded by many Tibetans that the monasteries be rebuilt at the same place and if the communist offices need to be preserved for archeological reasons, those communist offices can be 'scientifically shifted' in toto ( yes, it is possible) to some nearby location.

Now what should the Tibetan government do ? Two options :

1. Agree to the demand, rebuild the monasteries, restore the Buddhist pride, restore the place for the millions of Buddhists to pray and perform their other religious ceremonies. Shift the communist offices elsewhere.

2.Take the pitch of

"And why do we want to destroy structures because we believe it is standing on something else that existed at the same spot in the past? For that matter, everywhere that we are standing or sitting, we are doing so on some history!!"

, and keep staring at those communist offices everyday.

(As I type, there's a third ,very very Indian option that comes to mind)
3. Question the existence of Buddha. Ask for his birth certificate. Write history text books which do not talk about the destruction of monasteries by the communists. Ask for proof that monasteries once stood there. Create a media culture where those Tibetans asking for the monasteries to be rebuilt are branded as 'communal' and fascists. Create a political culture where the minority communists are appeased to the extent of giving subsidy to the communists for their pilgrimage to Beijing!! Blame the Tibetans totally for everything that happened in the past (Remember?, it's because of disunity among Tibetans that the Chinese and the Indians were able to gain control over Tibet !!).

Which of the above three options suits Tibet the best? I leave it to the readers to decide.

Shocking sops in AP

PRP chief Chiranjeevi and TDP president C. Naidu promise poll sops to Christians in AP. The media hasn't given any importance to these promises!!

http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20090129/1164315.html

"Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) President Chiranjeevi today anounced that the party would set up a special Board to safeguard the properties of Christians if it was voted to power in the ensuing assembly elections.

The Board would be formed on the lines of Endowment Boards created to protect the properties of Muslims, he said, addressing the devotees at the three-day 70th annual Bible Mission convention here.

He said the PRP would strive to thwart any attacks on Christians.

The party would also provide financial assistance to Christians who wish to visit Jerusalem in Israel.

The PRP would strive to maintain peace among people of all religions, he said and added he entered politics only to serve the people with the inspiration provided by Mother Theresa.

He later sought the blessing of the preachers."

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/28/stories/2009012859250800.htm

"A separate corporation will be opened in the State to provide protection to all the Christian properties, renovate churches, and provide amounts to larger number of Christians to travel to Bethlehem, said Telugu Desam Party President Nara Chandrababu Naidu.

Addressing a gathering of more than a lakh of people on the inaugural day of the Bible Mission Annual Conventions opposite Acharya Nagarjuna University, the TDP leader said that the attacks on Christians all over the country had increased multi-fold and were never seen during his regime.

Promising to scrap the new Government Orders 746 and 747 amid loud cheers, as the GOs were allegedly being used to attack Christians, Mr. Naidu promised to provide additional land for the burial grounds.

Thanking the organising secretary Jerripothula Samuel Kiran for making efforts to help people have faith in the Jesus, who had only promoted peace in the world, he said conversions were not the route for reaching out to the disadvantaged.

Asking the devotees and the preachers gathered at the massive Bible Mission Convention venue at 4.30 p.m., he asked them to continue to pray for the world peace and end of terrorism.

All TDP leaders including party district president Prattipati Pulla Rao, Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, former Mayor Yesuratnam, and Mangalagiri in-charge Madala Rajendra received him at the Helipad arranged at Kantheru."

AP Congress in hate speech

I wonder why the media is not going full steam with this news piece where the Congress leader spews venom against Hindus!!


http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15765033

THE CONGRESS, which is jubilant with the arrest of BJP young campaigner Varun Gandhi for his alleged remarks against Muslim minorities, is now facing the same music with its Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas facing similar charges.

The Chief Electoral Officer of the Election Commission in Hyderabad Dr IV Subba Rao viewed the video-footage of the speech made by Srinivas in Nizamabad, from where he is seeking re-election to the State Assembly. He later submitted a report to the Election Commission for suitable action.

On the line of Varun Gandhi, the Election Commission is expected to issue a notice to Srinivas. However, it will be interesting to observe whether the EC makes a similar move by advising the AICC to withdraw him from the contest.

The BJP, which feels isolated with regard to Varun Gandhi episode, is now challenging Congress government in the state to arrest Srinivas on the lines of Varun Gandhi. But interestingly all Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy are silent.

In an obvious riposte to BJP leader Varun Gandhi, the APCC chief reportedly stated that he would sacrifice his head for the minorities if need be and would cut off the hands of those who pointed a finger at them.

This prompted the BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal to submit separate representations to the Chief Electoral Officer demanding disqualification of Srinivas and action against him under the National Security Act.

Senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu slammed the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president D. Srinivas for making “highly objectionable” remarks relating to minorities and demanded that the party high command respond whether the National Security Act (NSA) should be applied.

Accusing the Congress of adopting “double standards” on the issue, he said that his party had already complained to the Election Commission. He was not advocating that the NSA should be invoked, but wanted the Congress leadership to respond. Srinivas was not a “political greenhorn” like Varun Gandhi and his remarks that he became PCC chief due to the “mercy” of minorities were tantamount to appeasement.

BJP state spokesperson N Ramchander Rao said the statement had hurt the religious sentiments of the majority community and was liable to cause tension between communities. He charged the PCC chief with making a “very overt attempt’’ to divide the people on communal lines for the sake of votes.

Meanwhile, learning of the complaints pouring in at the CEO’s office, the Congress rushed its representatives to the CEO to explain that the remarks by D Srinivas were misquoted by the print media and it was on the basis of these that complaints were lodged by the BJP, VHP and the Bajrang Dal.

Cracking the whip against police officials, the Election Commission on Tuesday suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police of Adoni in Kurnool district, TS Krishna Murthy, and ordered an inquiry against him for “negligence of duty.”

The EC also shifted Y Nagi Reddy from East Godavari district where he is serving as Superintendent of Police, following a similar report by the DGP accompanied by comments by the CEO. Ms Charu Sinha has been appointed in his place.

Barkha Dutt beats a retreat

This is from a discussion on the nuclear deal that the UPA government passed through parliament without giving out any details on the deal and also paid crores of rupees to buy votes from opposition MP's!

This video is a must watch to understand what the controversy over the nuclear deal was all about.

Shourie very nicely cuts Barkha Dutt down to size and puts her in her place! 8 minutes into the discussion he tells Barkha to stop shouting and tells her to first read the document and questions her on her stupid comments. She quickly beats a retreat saying its not her comments but the oppositions.

Shouries arguments are so well thought out and detailed that it is a joy to listen to him analyze the nuclear deal.

Indian media makes mountains out of molehills

A very nice article from the organiser on how the media blows things totally out of proportion.

"In the twenties, thirties and forties of the 20th century, Charlie Chaplin was a name to be reckoned with in the cinematic world. He was not just a comedian, as many have taken him to be. He was an intense humanist who could mock at the frailties of life. His greatest achievement was in turning Hitler into a joke in his famous film The Dictator. There was no one like him before and there has never been one like him following his death. He was reportedly born in Britain, made his mark in the United States and spent the evening of his life in Switzerland. Has any of these countries put up a 67 ft statue in his honour? For that matter even a 6 ft statue? Not that one is aware of, though one could be wrong or ignorant.

There are many great celebrities in the world of medicines, science, art, culture, literature, dance, drama and music. There is only one Bach, one Beethoven, one Picasso, one Darwin, one Einstein. How many of them have had statues raised in their honour in the western world? In India we have literally dozens of great men worthy of honour. They remain in our hearts, loved, honoured and worshipped. They don’t need statues 67 ft high built at a cost of over Rs 35 lakh. Certainly, nobody in the Konkan coast, especially close to the temple town of Udupi, would object to a statue for Swami Vivekananda or CV Raman or Rabindranath Tagore. But to raise a statue for Charlie Chaplin, who is totally irrelevant to the ethos not just of the Konkan coast but even of India, is to make a mockery of homage.

Chaplin has no relevance to India, great though he may have been as an actor. But for everything there is a time and place. One can’t think of a statue to Chaplin in Banaras or Thirupathi or for that matter even in Rome. In the first place, one can imagine the ruckus that would be raised; in the second place, it would reduce personal homage into an absurdity. The Bangalore edition of The Times of India, however, has its own ridiculous views on the subject. It has dismissed the anger raised in the coastal areas as the “latest act of culture policing”, which is nothing of the sort. The paper has quoted certified intellectuals of the stature of Girish Kasaravali, Mahesh Dattani, UR Ananthamurthy as damning those who have strongly objected to the planned Chaplin statue. They are welcome to their views.

This is a free country with a free press, but one begins to wonder whether the freedom of expression is used in sensible way. In the first place, the beach is not a private property. It cannot be used for personal whims and pleasure. In the second place, one is told that the proposed statue was supposedly to be raised close to a temple showing poor taste. If the gentleman willing to spend over Rs 35 lakh had any sense, he would have thought twice before attempting to hurt Hindu sensitivities.

The Times of India obviously does not know what ‘culture’ means. A cultured person will never hurt the feelings of his fellow men. The individual who has sponsored the statue obviously has no understanding of culture. And it saddens one to think that The Times of India has even less. And the less said about our intellectuals, the better. The media champions of culture seem more anxious to sensationalise an event than to understand it in its proper perspective. And that is something to worry about. “Culture policing” is a serious charge that cannot be taken lightly. It is becoming fashionable to take people’s sensitivities as irrelevant, and to charge them with offences they never dreamt of. When will our newspapers and our intellectuals stop making asses of themselves? Fancy an NRI in the United States raising a statue to one of our comedians on a California beach? Or raising a statue to Shiva next to a Cathedral in Italy! When will our intellectuals stop their tomfoolery? There has been no vandalism. No statue has been razed to the ground. People revolted when they heard that raising a statue was in the planning stage. And, surely, they have every right to do so? The point has been made that the protestors object to raising a statue to Chaplin because he happens to be a Christian. That seems to be a false accusation. The Times of India seems hell-bent on damning the BJP. A report on March 15 says: “Has the BJP’s nine-month rule in Karnataka created an atmosphere wherein just about anybody with a very narrow, bigoted view of culture and religion finds it not only easy to air their extreme and highly harmful views in public but also to act on it, to the detriment of society at large?” In what way is objecting to raising a 67 ft statue to Chaplin, whose life has no relevance to India, detrimental to society? Have we all gone mad?

The Times of India, incidentally, carried a report of a railway station in North England putting up a ‘no kissing zone’ sign because departing passengers were holding up traffic with their long and passionate farewells at a crowded drop-off point. Public demonstration of affection is all very well, but one has to draw the line somewhere. It is not cultural policing. Schools across the US often take a dim view of students hugging and hand-holding. The Times of India itself says in its report: “The student handbook of an Illinois school declares that ‘displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time’ and that ‘it is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved’.” Would that be cultural policing? Restricting the rights of an individual to show his or her emotions?

It is bad enough to have self-appointed judges on what is right and what is wrong. But when the media starts dictating what is right and what is objectionable, as if it is the prerogative of the occupant of the editorial chair to lay down law, it is time to sit up. One hasn’t heard much from the media on a whole range of shortcomings that the UPA government suffers from. Senior army officers are returning their medals in protest against the government’s indifference towards their pensions. The pensions of some officers is in some cases as low as Rs 900, when a peon these days gets a wage of some Rs 5000 p.m. The media probably couldn’t care less. What it revels in is to turn irrelevant issues into catchy stories, molehills into mountains. That is poor journalism. But just think what Rs 35 lakh can do to help the needy in the very society whose welfare the media pretends to defend! We can do without a self-righteous media. Society can on its own settle controversial issues without the moral hectoring of an irresponsible media."

Arun Shourie on how the Indian media lies

Here is a brilliant article from Arun Shourie, I found on the hindu vivek kendra website on showing how the Indian media fabricates lies and twists the truth to fit their nefarious designs. Willing collaborators are the Indian communists who hate anything indigeneous.

Title: Fabrications On The Way To The Funeral
Author: Arun Shourie
Publication: India Connect website
Date: June 27, 1998.

"Rational vs. National," screams the headline of the new pall-bearer of secularism, the magazine Outlook. "Fresh evidence available with Outlook," the story announces, "reveals that not only has the ICHR [the Indian Council of Historical Research] been packed with 'sympathizers' but a new statement of objectives or resolution [sic.] has been added, changing certain keywords from the original Memorandum of Association of1972, legitimised by an Act of Parliament. While the original Memorandum of Association states that ICHR's aims would be to give 'rational' direction to historical research and foster 'an objective and scientific writing ofhistory', the new resolution, which will be included in the Gazette of India, states that ICHR now seeks to give a 'national' direction to an 'objective and national presentation of history'. So, 'rational' has been changed to 'national', and 'scientific' too has been changed to 'national'...."

"Tampering with history," proclaims the old pall-bearer, The Hindu. "Apprehensions of this kind [that the fabled 'Sangh parivar' is out to rewrite history] have been substantiated by a related decision. The resolution by the Ministry of Human Resource Development -- nodal Ministry under which the ICHR comes -- that details the new nominations carries with it an amendment to the Memorandum of Association by which the ICHR was setup; while the institution was set up 'to foster objective and scientific writing of history such as will inculcate an informed appreciation of the country's national and cultural heritage,' the new Government's mandate is that the ICHRwill give a 'national direction' to an objective and national presentation and interpretation of history'. This amendment is certainly not just a matter of semantics. Instead, one can clearly see in this an intention on the part of the BJP-led Government to rewrite history...."

The next issue of the CPI(M) mouthpiece, Peoples Democracy, reproduces this editorial ! And carries with it an article by one of the ring-leaders, K. N. Panicker."Saffronization of historical research," proclaims the heading. Panicker repeats the charge of the word "rational" having been replaced by "national". He adds another : the Memorandum of Association of the ICHR mentions five objectives, he says, but the Resolution put out by theSaffron-brigade mentions only two.

Thus, the charge rests on three bits of "evidence" :that the Memorandum of Association of the ICHR has been changed; second, that a word -- "rational" -- in the Resolution announcing the new members of the ICHR hasbeen surreptitiously replaced by another word -- "national"; third, that while the original Memorandum of Association specifies five objectives for the ICHR, the new Resolution cuts out three of these.

Having been educated by The Hindu that the "nodal ministry" for the matter is the Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment, I ring up the Secretary of that Ministry. Has the Memorandum of Association of the ICHR been changed?, I ask. No, he says. It has not been changed, he says.

And then about the Resolution announcing the new members. The allegation, you will recall, is that the aim which in the Memorandum of Association is, "to give a national direction to an objective and RATIONAL presentation and interpretation of history....," has been altered in the Resolution to read, "to give a national direction to an objective and NATIONAL presentation and interpretation of history...."

I have before me the statement of the Ministry ofHuman Resources Development [No. F 30-28/86-U3] dated 6th October, 1987, that is of eleven years ago. It gives the text of the Resolution of the Government of India announcing the new members -- announcing, among otherthings, that Irfan Habib is being appointed as Chairman with retrospective effect from 9 September, 1986. Thecorresponding expression in it is, "to give a national direction to an objective and NATIONAL presentation and interpretation of history...."

I have before me the statement of the Ministry of Human Resources Development [No. F. 30-13/89-U3] dated15th May, 1991. It gives the text of the Resolution of the Government of India announcing the new members --announcing, among other things, that Irfan Habib is being re-appointed as Chairman with retrospective effect from 12 March, 1990. The corresponding expression in it is, "to give a national direction to an objective and NATIONAL presentation and interpretation of history...."

To test my hypothesis yet again, I look for and obtainthe immediately preceding statement of the Ministry. It bears the number F. 30-3/94-U.3, and is dated 8th September, 1994. Like the others, it furnishes the text of the Resolution of the Government of India announcing the new members -- announcing, among other things, thatRavinder Kumar, another "historian" of the same hue, is being appointed as Chairman with retrospective effect from 8 September, 1990. The corresponding expression in it is,"to give a national direction to an objective and NATIONAL presentation and interpretation of history...."

That is how far I am able to get on my own. I request the Secretary of the Ministry : can he please request someone to look up the Resolutions of the earlier years, and see whether they contain anything different ? Can he help me trace when this "alteration" got made ?

Till the time of my dispatching this article, the Secretary has been able to trace Resolutions going back upto 1978 -- that is, twenty years. Each of them carries the very same words !

The research of the Secretary and his colleagues establishes that -- to reproduce the word the Secretary uses-- the whole mystery has arisen from a "typographical error" : some typist banging away on his typewriter sometwenty-odd years ago typed "rational" as "national". As each typist, when asked to type out the subsequent Resolution, copied the preceding one, that word continued to be typed as "national" year after year. The leftists inferred no conspiracy. But, lo and behold, now that a BJP Government is in power, inferring conspiracies -- to use their favourite phrase -- is a historical necessity. It is objective history ! It is progressive methodology ! Perhaps they will put on their Sherlock Holmes caps again, and establish that the Governments of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, of Rajiv Gandhi, of V. P. Singh, of Narasimha Rao have all been in league with the RSS, and therefore parties to this grave conspiracy !

I then ring up Mr. Vinod Mehta, the editor of Outlook. "But the reporter says she has the text and everything," he says. I narrate what I have found. He promises to check and get back to me. When we talk again he says he has sent me the text of the Resolution. But that is the current one. My point was that the "change" which Outlook had built its story on has existed in all Resolutions for at least twenty years. He says he will get back to me.That is where matters stand.

The exact same thing holds for that fabrication of K.N. Panicker : about five objectives having become two. In every single one of the Resolutions -- including the 1994 Resolution under which this man was himself nominated tothe ICHR, a Resolution he can find printed at page 342 ofThe Gazette of India, October 22, 1994 -- the exact samesentences are used : only those objectives are mentioned as are mentioned in the Resolution issued this year ! And another thing : if an RSS publication publishes even an interview with me, that is further proof of my being communal; but so tough are the hymen of these progressives that, even when they contribute signed articles to publications of the Communist Party, their virginity remains in tact !

Maneka Gandhi on the Varun issue

Maneka Gandhi is interviewed by NDTV. She very calmly points out the facts behind the issue and reprimands the media for blowing things out of proportion.

Myth of Mother Teresa -II

Found all three parts on youtube of the documentary made by Christopher Hitchens and telecast on the BBC.


Part-1


Part-2



Part-3



Another video which shows that the millions of dollars donated for the missionaries of charity does not manifest as benefits to the children!! It also exposes the sheer hypocricy and utter lack of intelligence of the "sisters" of charity with Sister Nirmala justifying the burning the hands of 4 little girls, by one of the sisters as punishment, as an act of GOD!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30XdrOLT7J4

The great Indian media

Found some very good videos on youtube which shows the level of our Indian media.



(P. Sainath, a famour journalist talks about the low standards of Indian media)




(Sagarika Ghosh (a.k.a. the shrieking banshee) of CNN-IBN fame gets a proper tongue lashing from Ram Jethmalani)



A very good interview of Modi (in Hindi) where he analyzes the treasonous Indian media

Another Gautier Gem

Found another brilliant article written by Gautier while searching for more information on the new Indian school of journalism. It is crazy that foreigners are trying so hard to revitalize India while majority of our stupid brain dead educated natives dont seem to care!

Be Aware of your roots

By Francois Gautier

As a Frenchman, I was coached right from childhood that logic, what we in France call Cartesianism, is the greatest gift given to man. Thus, I taught my students in a Bangalore school of journalism that the first tool of a good reporter is to go by his or her own judgment on the ground, with the help of one’s first-hand experience — and not by second hand information: what your parents thought, what you have read in the newspapers, what your caste, religion, culture pushes you into.

Yet in India, logic does not seem to apply to most of the media, especially when it touches anything Hindu.

One cannot, for instance, equate Muslim terrorists who blow up innocent civilians in market places all over India, with angry ordinary Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody.

We know that most of these communal incidents often involve persons of the same caste, Dalits and tribals, some converted to Christianity and some not.

Then, however reprehensible the destruction of the Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process.

Compare this with the ‘vengeance’ bombings of 1993 in Mumbai, which killed hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet Indian and western journalists keep matching up the two, or even showing the Babri Masjid destruction as the more horrible act of the two.

How can you compare the RSS, a bunch of harmless daddies, with the Indian Mujahideen, a terrorist organisation? How can you make of Narendra Modi a mass killer, when it was ordinary middle-class, or even Dalit Hindus, who went out on the streets in fury when 56 innocent people, many of them women and children, were burnt in a train? How can you lobby for the lifting of the ban on SIMI, an organisation which is suspected of having planted bombs in many Indian cities, killing hundreds of innocents, while advocating the ban of the Bajrang Dal, which burns churches when an 84-year-old Hindu swami and his Mataji are brutally murdered? There is no logic in the perspective of journalists in this country when it comes to minorities. Christians are supposed to make up two per cent of the population in India, but last Sunday many major television channels showed live the canonisation ceremonies of sister Alphonsa, an obscure nun from Kerala.

Union minister Oscar Fernandes led an entire Indian delegation to the Vatican ceremony along with the Indian ambassador. It would be impossible in England, for instance, which may have a 2 per cent Hindu minority, to have live coverage of a major Hindu ceremony, like the anointment of a new Shankaracharya.What was NDTV, which seems to have deliberately chosen to highlight this nonevent, trying to prove? That it is secular? But it is absolutely disproportionate.

Some might even call it antinational.

The headline, ‘India gets its first woman saint’, in many newspapers, Indian and western, is misleading.

India has never been short of saints. The woman sage from over 3,000 years ago — Maithreyi, Andal, the Tamil saint from early in the first Millennium CE and Akkamahadevi, the 15th century saint from modernday Karnataka, are but a few examples.

What many publications fail to mention in this story is that this is the first woman Christian saint, not the first Indian woman saint.

Such a statement is OK when it comes, for instance, from the BBC, which always looks at India through the Christian prism, but when it comes to the Indian media, it only shows their grave lack of grounding in Indian culture and history.

The same thing is true of Sonia Gandhi, who seemed, even though the Congress should by all means have already collapsed with 12 per cent inflation, scandal after scandal, a nuclear deal with the US that leaves India vulnerable to the Chinese and Pakistani nuclear threat, and bomb blast after bomb blast, still ruling India with an iron hand. Yet newspapers and TV channels keep praising Sonia Gandhi.

And the question must be asked: how is it possible that a nation of a billion people, with some of the best minds on this planet, allows itself to be governed by a non-Indian lady, who, however sincere she may be, is actively overseeing the dismantling of whatever is good and true in India? It would be impossible in France for a Hindu woman, or for that matter a non-Christian person, who is just an elected MP, to govern our country from behind the scenes like an empress. Why is it allowed in India and why is the Indian press so selfrighteous about it ? Finally, when will Indians start being proud of themselves and their own culture and stop looking down on their own society ? This inferiority complex, as expressed by NDTV’s live coverage of the canonisation of sister Alphonsa, is a legacy of the British, who strove to show themselves as superior and Indian culture as inferior (and inheritor of the ‘White Aryans’, a totally false theory). Is it not time to institute schools of journalism, both private and public, where not only a little bit of logic is taught, but where students are made aware of Indian history and the greatness of Indian culture, so that when they go out reporting, they use their own judgment and become Indian journalists, with a little bit of feeling, pride and love for their own country?

fgautier@rediffmail.com

Indian School of Journalism

I found an old article in the express while browsing where I learnt that there is a school of Journalism, started under the aegis of Francois Gautier, in Bangalore. I had never heard of it before but it seems very promising.

Monday, November 8, 1999

Journalism as the art of living

By Francois Gautier

In a year or so, a unique and revolutionary new Indian school of journalism is going to be inaugurated in Bangalore. In this school, students will not only be taught the complete art of journalism. They will also learn to look at India through an Indian perspective, to cast an eye on the world which will carry some of the knowledge and wisdom of a civilisation -- their own -- which is five thousand years old.

They will, for instance, be taught pranayama, the ancient technique of breathing devised thousand of years ago by Indian sages, so that they know how to regulate their breath in time of stress and thus control their emotions. They will be taught the art of meditation, so that they can get their inspiration from a quiet, strong and silent mind. They will be taught asanas, so that their body is strong and resilient and can endure any physical situation. They will be taught a unique cleansing technique called Sudarshan Kriya, which eliminates toxins and stress from the mind and body.

They will study the Vedas, which contain the ultimate truth, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and India's great philosophers like Sri Aurobindo. They will even be taught to sing and dance, so that there is joy and spontaneity in their life and not the dry, intellectual pompousness of the pipe-smoking, Oxford English-speaking journalist, or the chain-smoking pseudo-Marxist... In short, they will be taught the Art of Living.

Sounds preposterous? But these methods should be applied to all aspects of education in India, from the kindergarten onwards, so that schools and universities do not churn out western clones, who have no idea about the greatness and the immense wealth of their own country. And the first thing which should be taught to all students, whether they are toddlers or aspiring journalists, is that there exists a Knowledge - spiritual, occult, yogic - still alive in India, which has died all over the world, where only churches and dogmas survive, although this knowledge was once prevalent in ancient civilisations -in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece etc. They should also understand that if this knowledge, which is not Hinduism, which is not religious, is left to die in India, it will be gone forever from this world which might slowly drift towards pralaya.

At the moment, India is still living under Nehru's legacy, who had chosen to turn its back on anything which had a spiritual connection and had espoused the Marxist way of life, which produced an immense bureaucracy, corruption and the kind of politicians we see today. It also bred many generations of Indian intellectuals and journalists, who kept running down the greatness of their own country and aped anything that came from the West -- the good and the bad. Today many of Indian newspapers and magazines do not reflect a true Indian point of view, but constantly look at India through a western prism which contains none of the wisdom and knowledge of ancient India.

Take the Pope's visit for instance. Instead of defending India's point of view - as it would have beennormal practice in any other country - by doing some background research on the atrocities committed by the Portuguese in Goa, or about the economic incentives wh-ich missionaries have used -- and are still using - to convert entire chunks of the Northeast and Central India, most of the Indian press went on its usual VHP-RSS-Bhajrang Dal bashing. It is too easy to repeat ad infinitum that Christians in India are only two percent (a nearly ten years old census), because the influence which Christians exert in India is tremendous. Not only do they control the best schools (and hospitals), thus shaping the minds of India's future elite, their sometimes alliance with Marxists make them redoubtable adversaries.

Furthermore, very few newspapers and magazines chose to publish extracts of the Southern Baptist Church's prayer books (the second largest Christian organisation in the US, of which President Clinton is a member) which call Hinduism "satanic" and say that "Hindus live in the darkness of their hearts,which no lamp can dispel". Some of the Christian leaders (the majority of Indian Christians are nice and peace-loving people) have thus been able to take full advantage of this hatred of the Indian press -- which is mostly composed of Hindus -- against any organisation or individual who dares to defend Hindus, and their softness for anybody who attacks Hindus.

It is in this way that the Vatican was able to lecture India on the "atrocities" committed against Indian Christians, without mentioning the much greater atrocities committed against the Hindus who had welcomed so wholeheartedly Christians centuries ago. It is also sad that the BJP, which not so long ago was the target of attacks by these very same journalists, chose to arrest a few of the leaders of those groups who had the courage to stand up for their own ideas. Do you remember, Mr Advani, when you were arrested and branded a "Nazi" by the Indian press, who stood by you then?

So what is needed is a new generation of Indian journalists who will be proud of their country without being chauvinists, who will be brilliant without being superficial, who will take the best of the west, without being western clones, who will draw inspiration from the knowledge alive in this country, without being bigots. They will be Indian journalists.

Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

Alternative news media in India

I found a very interesting article on the internet on the dis-satisfaction many journalists feel when they work for the main stream media (MSM). It is heartening to know that there are some of them who speak out. We really need an alternative news channel/paper which is big enough so that they attract quality journalists.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/indian_conservatives_struggle.html

(I disagree with the axis of evil part - I believe the real axis of evil is China-Pakistan-Saudi Arabia)

Indian Conservatives Struggle to Build Alternative Media

by Richard L. Benkin

Amitabh Tripathi is convinced his nation of India is under attack; so he did something few people are willing to do. He abandoned a promising freelance career with India's mainstream media (MSM), so he could he could write openly as a conservative about Indian leftists, Islamists, and government policies that play into their hands.

"You cannot write about the leftists," he told me, "because the Congress [Party] government is dependent on them"; and if you identify the terrorist threat as Islamist, "you are called anti-Muslim and a racist." But, Tripathi said, that is not what worries him the most. "The major threat to Indian sovereignty is government policies that are based on pseudo-secularism and Muslim appeasement." For journalists, that translates into a rigid political correctness that forces them to adhere to the MSM's left-wing bias or look for employment elsewhere.

"After meeting Dr. Daniel Pipes and Dr. Richard Benkin," Tripathi said, "I came to know the gravity of the Islamic threat, what the whole world is facing, and the ignorance people have about the Israel-Palestine struggle. India is entering the most critical period in its history and that the current government and other elites are handing our enemies a victory." Since most of what we hear about the world's largest democracy centers on its new role as an economic giant, its nuclear status, and perhaps its ties with Israel, we might think Tripathi is exaggerating; but there is a great deal that our own MSM does not report.

I was in India for the better part of February this year, when almost every day saw radical action: "road strikes" where separatists and other protesting radicals closed major thoroughfares; a thwarted cyber-terrorist attack by Islamists; communist agitation and demonstrations against India's proposed nuclear deal with the United States; and a military operation by Maoist terrorists against a police station that killed dozens.

Islamic radicals are flexing their muscles, too, building radical madrassas (or Islamic schools) throughout the country, especially in Muslim-dominated villages. Darul Uloom Deoband, the seminary that produced the Taliban's Mullah Omar, is located less than 100 miles from the capital and continues to issue regular fatwas. Muslims are demanding autonomy in several areas; and three Indian states have communist governments. The most entrenched of them, West Bengal, sits less than 15 miles from a barely-patrolled border with China.

So Tripathi started Lokmanch, a Hindi-language web site that features frank criticism of what he and others call the government's "ostrich-like behavior." He also has translated articles on Israel, the US war against Islamist terror and extremism, Barack Obama, and other topics. They provide Indians with information that their media simply does not report. Quietly, Tripathi is attracting more and more Indian journalists, including bona fide members of the MSM. Several of them offered me their candid opinions about the media's leftist bias, the center-left government, and the severity of the Islamist threat facing their country. They work for major newspapers and broadcast channels; English and Hindi-language outlets, purely Indian companies, and some with an international reach. Their concern was genuine; their passion intense.

But because, they told me, they "would surely be sacked" if their editors or colleagues heard those candid opinions, we met in out of the way hotels, coffee shops, and other inconspicuous places. So concerned were they that only some agreed to let me tape our conversations. And all of them-with the exception of Amitabh Tripathi-agreed to speak openly only so long as they remained anonymous. They hoped our interviews would garner support for their cause, especially in the United States. "At the very least," one told me, "perhaps it will help people know just how dangerous things here are."

"India is regarded as a very soft state."

Every journalist echoed the sentiments expressed by this one. "The US and India are two great democracies. We [India] must support the US War on Terror. It is the only thing we should do!" They are frustrated and concerned, however, at India's reticence to do so whole heartedly. The ruling parties "fear a negative response from Muslims [and a loss of votes even though] more people believe India should openly ally itself with the US in the war on terror...the politicians are afraid to be seen as anti-Muslim."

Muslims make up about 20 percent of the Indian population, and their interest groups and organizations are united and vocal. In the media, reports must adhere to a certain formula "because they feel that these kinds of [anti-terror] reports will build up feelings against Muslims." Thus, they attribute things to generic "terrorists, but they are not terrorists. They are Indian Muslim institutions getting money from the Saudis...to create mosques that look like five-star hotels."

In the lead up to this year's Indian budget, Muslim groups rolled out statistics showing their constituents lagging behind in education and income and demanded subsidies and government commitments. No one challenged their assumption that the lag was due to prejudice or that the Indian taxpayers had to shoulder the burden. They simply caved and acceded to most of the demands. Hence, the budget contains large sums for Muslim pilgrimages to Jerusalem's Al Aqsa, but not a penny for stateless Hindu refugees from Islamist terror in Bangladesh. "If you are pro-Hindu, you are called a racist."

India's parliamentary system also complicates things. The ruling Congress Party had to ally itself with Indian Communists (CPIM) to oust the right wing Bhatariya Janata Party (BJP). The CPIM is part of the ruling coalition and holds the balance of power. "If they believe their demands are not being met, they can bring down the government. This is why India still has not ratified the nuclear deal with the US." Many Congress leaders recognize its critical security role and want to sign it, but their communist partners have made the deal's rejection key to their remaining in the coalition. This also helps explain India's puzzling reaction to the recent Maoist takeover in neighboring Nepal. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukharjee hailed the communist victory as a new era in South Asian politics even after the new Nepalese commissars vowed to end "Indian dominance" in Nepal. "He comes from West Bengal...and cannot represent his state without support of communists," which drives Indian foreign policy.

"Israel is our role model; America is our ally."

The wedge issue separating the Old Left elites from today's Indian conservatives is Israel. The MSM reports Israel as the villain in the Middle East and the Palestinians as victims. For the first half century of their existence, India and Israel did not even have diplomatic relations. It was not until the 1990s that common security concerns prompted a thaw; and relations did not really take off until 2003 with a visit by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Previous Indian politics built on the late Jawaharlal Nehru's union with Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito and Egypt's Gamal Nasser to form the non-aligned bloc of nations. The anti-US and anti-Israel course they charted set the basis for the UN's endemic hatred of both nations and dominated Indian policy for decades. That is why, one journalist told me, "there is something of a generation gap between the [established and generally older] editors and publishers" and people today.

Media coverage remains biased, which is why, according to Tripathi, it came as a tremendous surprise to many Indians when they saw evidence that Israelis were the victims of Arab terror. They began wondering at MSM condemnation of actions that were no less self-defense than their own. "We must give people the real picture of Israel-Palestine struggle" as parallel to our own struggle for existence. "The network of madrassas and imams in India, holds that the entire subcontinent was once under Muslim rule and still would be were it not for the British. That is how they look at Israel, as darul Islam"; that is, as a land once under Muslim hegemony and so by rights always under it. They opposed Indian partition in 1947 and the partition of Palestine in 1948, because it would recognize the legitimacy of the non-Muslim state on land they consider their own.

Many Indians "are enraged" by their nation's "soft policy" and have begun holding up Israel as a role model publicly. They also point to Israel's development in areas like agriculture and defense. "Despite adversities, Israel progressed a lot but we Indians were far lagging behind." "Without a doubt," another said, "if Israel did not say to hell with those who wanted it to be soft, it would be gone. And if India does not do the same thing, it will be gone because the official philosophy of the [Muslims] is the same."

A couple days after Tripathi and I parted, I found myself addressing a journalism class at the University of Lucknow in Upper Pradesh province. I spoke about the role of journalists, the war against Islamist terror, and about Bangladeshi Hindus living in India-victims of ethnic cleansing. The students were lively and engaged on a variety of topics, but their eyes really lit up when I mentioned that I am a Zionist and had been to Israel. Their thirst for knowledge and analysis seemed unquenchable; their questions non- stop. "How has such a small country like Israel been able to defeat all of the Arabs and their terrorists?" "How can we [India] be more like Israel?" Even the one student who took a vocal, anti-Israel position addressed admitted to the class that "I have to do more work to check my information."

"Axis of evil and axis of terror in this world are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran"

"There is not a single democracy between Tel Aviv and New Delhi, and if we keep taking the road of weakness, our enemies could easily defeat us...Our foreign policy is to have friendly relations with our neighbors. But our neighbors are all radical Islamists and dictators." These journalists freely admit that they are not "completely objective, but at least we say so" in contrast to the MSM. They believe that the vast majority of India's 1.1 billion people see things the way they do but that their nation has been hi-jacked by "leftists, weaklings, and corrupt people." For instance, one said, "it's a crime that the communists are still in power. They use intimidation and voter fraud, but Congress lets them because they want to stay in power. If BJP and Congress would come together and force a fair election, the Communists will lose."

Providing Indians with good information, uncensored by a fearful and rigid MSM is what Amitabh Tripathi hopes to accomplish with Lokmanch. "The web site is only the first step," he said. "Small, local papers publish in huge numbers and they are not part of the mainstream media. They are just as frustrated with things as we are. We want to channelize (sic) them to become an alternative media." He estimates it will take "two to three years perhaps" to build a news network and mobilize opinion makers in India. Several small papers already have joined Tripathi's network. We can help by providing them with access to news and opinion and original articles (much as I did with Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury in Bangladesh). And like all such endeavors, this one is struggling to find funds, as well.

Mandhol Kalan is a small village about 50 miles from Delhi where Deoband imams banned television, radio, photography, even singing. One Hindi TV network did a story exposing it, which forced the government to react. But instead of addressing the issue it raised, the Ministry responded by distributing new television sets. Not surprisingly, the Deobandis returned, confiscated the TVs, and re-instituted the ban. But now, the government does not return calls, and networks have not returned to Mandhol Kalan. Thus, just outside the Indian capital is a village that makes Afghanistan look like Las Vegas. Worse, said one of the journalists involved in the original report, the media's silence "allows [the Islamists] to impose their views exclusively and produce more terrorists."