Being denied the right to voice his concerns and points in the BJP national executive, Arun Shourie was forced to make his voice heard through the print media where he has written a series of 4 articles in the Indian express on the fall of Indian political parties. Of course all the points he raises are meant for the BJP and its leaders.
Here are the articles,
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/on-the-way-down/488780/
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-end-of-ideology/489390/0
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/how-the-party-withers-away/489889/0
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ring-out-the-old-ring-in-the-new/490631/
The response to these articles within the sangh and the BJP appears to be promising with the RSS looking forward to major changes in the leadership of the BJP,
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/RSS-for--larger-debate--on-issues-raised-by-Shourie/491060
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090719/jsp/nation/story_11255371.jsp
"Sources say that Arun Shourie’s piercing critique of the party’s functioning has reinforced the Sangh perception that the BJP needs an overhaul. Some senior Sangh leaders have said the issues Shourie has raised should be thoroughly discussed, indicating they favour change.
The sources said many Sangh leaders had congratulated Shourie for his analysis, in his newspaper articles, of the leadership crisis in the BJP.
Although the BJP has dismissed the criticism as Shourie’s personal views, many leaders do support his offensive. "
Showing posts with label Arun Shourie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arun Shourie. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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...
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.”
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."
Monday, April 27, 2009
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. "
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. "
Friday, April 3, 2009
Indian Historians
Another brilliant article by Arun Shourie from the hvk.org website. This one is a reply to the communist poseurs who claim to be honest sincere historians. He gives details of how the communists in Bengal have distorted history in school textbooks to paint a nice picture of Islam and communism!!
Title: OBJECTIVE WHITEWASH FOR OBJECTIVE HISTORY!
Author: by Arun Shourie
"This is an old charge which keeps surfacing now and then," wrote one of those "eminent historians", K. N. Panikkar, in an vituperative response to an article of mine -- the charge that close to two crores had been spent on the "Towards Freedom" project of the Indian Council of Historical Project, and little had been achieved. "About a year back Times of India carried a front page story on this. The historians had then clarified through a public statement published in several newspapers, that they have not drawn any money from the ICHR and that they worked for five years purely in an honorary capacity. When he [that is, me] gets the information from the ministry, if he does, that the editors have not taken any money, I would normally expect Shourie to tender a public apology. But given the intellectual honesty and cultural level reflected in his article, I do not think it would be forthcoming. The alternative of suing for defamation the likes of Shourie is below one's dignity. But I do expect at least the ministry to make a public statement on the factual position."
Strong stuff, and definitive, one would think. It turns out that on 17 July, 1998, in answer to a question tabled in the Rajya Sabha, the Ministry stated that only one part of the project has been completed and published since the original volume of Dr. P. N. Chopra. This is the volume -- in three parts -- by Dr. Partha Sarthi Gupta covering 1943-44. In answer to another question, the Ministry has reported that "After publication of the Volume he was paid an honorarium of Rs. 25,000/- in September, 1997."
Dr. Partha Sarthi Gupta, in other words, is the one editor who has completed the work which he had undertaken. For that he has been paid Rs. 25,000. The others have not completed the work they had undertaken, they have therefore not been paid the Rs. 25,000 which are to be paid to them only when their volumes are completed and published. That is how they go about proclaiming themselves to be social workers -- we have been working in an honorary capacity, we have not taken a penny !
And as bits and pieces about the ICHR at last start trickling out, we learn that the "Towards Freedom" project isn't the only one on which large amounts have been spent and which has not been completed. There is an "Economic History of India Project." Rs. NINETEEN LAKHS AND FIFTY FIVE THOUSAND have been spent on it. Nothing has been published as a result. Though, the Ministry told the Rajya Sabha that "according to the information furnished by the ICHR," two volumes of the project -- on Railways and Agriculture -- are "ready for the press".
The Ministry also told the Rajya Sabha that "Professor Bipin Chandra was sanctioned a sum of Rs. 75,000/- during 1987-88 for the assignment entitled 'A History of the Indian National Congress'. A sum of Rs. 57,500/- [FIFTY SEVEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED] has been released to him till 23.6.1989. The remaining balance of Rs. 17,500/- is yet to be released because a formal manuscript in this regard is yet to be received." In a word, spare readers this social-worker stance -- "doing all this in a strictly honorary capacity". It is as if Bipin Chandra were to go about saying, "See, I have not even taken the Rs. 17,500/- which the ICHR still owes me." And do not miss that effort from the ICHR to help to the extent possible -- "The remaining balance of Rs. 17,500/- is yet to be released because a formal manuscript in this regard is yet to be received." Does that mean that some "informal" manuscript has been received, or that no manuscript has been received ?
As newspapers and magazines such as Outlook had done, Panikkar had concocted his conspiracy theory on the charge that the BJP Government had changed the word "Rational" into "National", and that it had suppressed three of the five objectives of the ICHR by changing the Memorandum of Association of the ICHR. I had reproduced relevant paragraphs from the Resolutions to show that the same wording had continued for at least twenty years. I had given the numbers and dates of the Resolutions. I had also reported that I had requested the Secretary of the Ministry to help ascertain the year since which the same wording had continued. And what was the response of this "eminent" historian who, as he said, writes signed articles in publications of the Communist Party "because I believe in the ideals it stands for" ? "Even if Shourie's contention is true (unlike Shourie who is a BJP MP, a resident of Delhi elected from UP, I have no means to ascertain from the Ministry)...."
That is a much favoured stance : when caught peddling a lie, insinuate that the other fellow is privileged ! And that as you are from the working masses, you cannot ascertain whether the facts he has stated are true. Therefore, what you stated must stand as fact -- Q.E.D.
Exactly the same dodge was used a day or so later by another of these progressives. Manoj Raghuvanshi had invited K. M. Shrimali and me to discuss on Zee Television's Aap ki Adalat the charge that history was being rewritten in communal colours. Raghuvanshi read out what Outlook had reported -- that the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education had issued instructions in 1989 that "Muslim rule should never attract any criticism. Destruction of temples by Muslim rulers and invaders should not be mentioned."
Raghuvanshi asked Shrimali, whether this did not amount to distortion ? True, that was a painful period of our history, Raghuvanshi said, but should it be erased from our history books ? Would that be objective, rational history? Shrimali's response was the well-practised script : firstly, he did not know that such an instruction was ever issued; if it was issued, he said, he was against it; but one must see what the context was in which the instruction had been issued....
Concerned teachers in West Bengal have been so kind as to send me the circular relating to textbooks for class IX. Dated 28 April, 1989, it is issued by the West Bengal Secondary Board. It is in Bengali, and carries the number "Syl/89/1".
"All the West Bengal Government recognised secondary school Headmasters are being informed," it begins, "that in History textbooks recommended by this Board for Class IX the following amendments to the chapter on the medieval period have been decided after due discussions and review by experts." "
"The authors and publishers of Class IX History textbooks," it continues, "are being requested to incorporate the amendments if books published by them have these aushuddho [impurities, errors] in all subsequent editions, and paste a corrigendum in books which have already been published. A copy of the book with the corrigendum should be deposited with the Syllabus Office (74, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Calcutta -- 16)." Signed,
"....Chattopadhyaya, Secretary."
The accompanying pages contain two columns : aushuddho -- impurity, or error -- and shuddho.
One has just to glance through the changes to see the objective the progressives are trying to achieve through their "objective", "rational" approach to the writing of history. Here are some of the changes.
Book : Bharat Katha, prepared by the Burdwan Education Society, Teachers Enterprise, published by Sukhomoy Das....
Page 140 : Aushuddho -- "In Sindhudesh the Arabs did not describe Hindus as Kafir. They had banned cow-slaughter." Shuddho -- "Delete, 'They had banned cow-slaughter'."
Page 141 : Aushuddho -- "Fourthly, using force to destroy Hindu temples was also an expression of aggression. Fifthly, forcibly marrying Hindu women and converting them to Islam before marriage was another way to propagate the fundamentalism of the ulema." Shuddho : though the column reproduces the sentences only from "Fourthly....", the Board directs that the entire matter from "Secondly.... to ulema" be deleted.
Page 141 : Aushuddho -- The logical, philosophical, materialist Mutazilla disappeared. On the one hand, the fundamentalist thinking based on the Quran and the Hadis...." Shuddho -- "Delete, 'On the one hand, the fundamentalist thinking based on the Quran and the Hadis'...."
Book : Bharatvarsher Itihash, by Dr. Narendranath Bhattacharya, published by Chakravarty and Son....
Page 89 : Aushuddho -- "Sultan Mahmud used force for widespread murder, loot, destruction and conversion." Shuddho -- "There was widespread loot and destruction by Mahmud." That is, no reference to killing, no reference to forcible conversions.
Page 89 : Aushuddho -- "He looted valuables worth 2 crore dirham from the Somnath temple and used the Shivling as a step leading up to the masjid in Ghazni." Shuddho -- "Delete 'and used the Shivling as a step leading up to the masjid in Ghazni.'"
Page 112 : Aushuddho -- "Hindu-Muslim relations of the medieval ages is a very sensitive issue. The non-believers had to embrace Islam or death." Shuddho -- All matter on pages 112-13 to be deleted.
Page 113 : Aushuddho -- "According to Islamic law non-Muslims will have to choose between death and Islam. Only the Hanafis allow non-Muslims to pay jaziya in exchange for their lives." Shuddho -- Rewrite this as follows : "By paying jaziya to Allauddin Khilji, Hindus could lead normal lives." Moreover, all the subsequent sentences "Qazi....", "Taimur's arrival in India...." to be deleted.
Page 113 : Aushuddho -- "Mahmud was a believer in the rule of Islam whose core was 'Either Islam or death'. Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharuter Itihash, by Shobhankar Chattopadhyaya, published by Narmada Publishers.
Page 181 : Aushuddho -- "To prevent Hindu women >from being seen by Muslims, they were directed to remain indoors." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Itihasher Kahini, by Nalini Bhushan Dasgupta, published by B. B. Kumar.
Page 132 : Aushuddho -- According to Todd [the famous chronicler of Rajasthan annals] the purpose behind Allauddin's Chittor expedition was to secure Rana Rattan Singh's beautiful wife, Padmini." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 154 : Aushuddho -- "As dictated by Islam, there were three options for non-Muslims : get yourself converted to Islam; pay jaziya; accept death. In an Islamic State non-Muslims had to accept one of these three options." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 161 : Aushuddho -- "The early Sultans were eager to expand the sway of Islam by forcibly converting Hindus into Islam." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharuter Itihash, by P. Maiti, Sreedhar Prakashini.
Page 117 : Aushuddho -- "There is an account that Allauddin attacked the capital of Mewar, Chittorgarh, to get Padmini, the beautiful wife of Rana Rattan Singh." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 139 : Ashuddho -- "There was a sense of aristocratic superiority in the purdah system. That is why upper-class Hindus adopted this system from upper-class Muslims. Another opinion has it that purdah came into practice to save Hindu women from Muslims. Most probably, purdah came into vogue because of both factors." Shuddho -- delete.
The most extensive deletions are ordered in regard to the chapter on "Aurangezeb's policy on religion". Every allusion to what he actually did to the Hindus, to their temples, to the very leitmotif of his rule -- to spread the sway of Islam -- are directed to be excised from the book. He is to be presented as one who had an aversion -- an ordinary sort of aversion, almost a secular one -- to music and dancing, to the presence of prostitutes in the Court, and that it is these things he banished. The only allusion to his having done anything in regard to Islam which is allowed to remain is that "By distancing himself from Akbar's policy of religious tolerance and policy of equal treatment, Aurangzebe caused damage to Mughal rule."
Book : Swadesho Shobhyota, by Dr. P. K. Basu and S. B. Ghatak, Abhinav Prakashan.
Page 126 : Ashuddho -- "Some people believe that Allauddin's Mewar expedition was to get hold of Padmini, the wife of Rana Rattan Singh." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 145 : Ashuddho -- "Apart from this, because Islam used extreme inhuman means to establish itself in India, this became an obstacle for the coming together of Indian and Islamic cultures." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharat Katha, by G. Bhattacharya, Bulbul Prakashan.
Page 40 : Ashuddho -- "Muslims used to take recourse to torture and inhuman means to force their religious beliefs and practices on Indians." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 41 : Ashuddho -- "The liberal, humane elements in Islam held out hope for oppressed Hindus." Shuddho -- The entire paragraph beginning with "the caste system among Hindus.... was attacked" is to be deleted. Instead write, "There was no place for casteism in Islam. Understandably, the influence of Islam created an awakening among Hindus against caste discrimination. Lower caste oppressed Hindus embraced Islam."
Page 77 : Ashuddho -- "His main task was to oppress non-believers, especially Hindus." Shuddho -- This and the preceding sentence to be deleted.
Book : Bharuter Itihash, by A. C. Roy, published by Prantik.
Page 102 : Ashuddho -- "There is an account that Allauddin attacked Chittor to get the beautiful wife of Rana Rattan Singh, Padmini." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 164 : Ashuddho -- "It was his commitment to Islam which made him a fundamentalist." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharut Kahini, by G. C. Rowchoudhury, published by A. K. Sarkar and Co.
Page 130 : Ashuddho -- "That is why he adopted the policy of converting Hindus to Islam -- so as to increase the number of Muslims. Those Hindus who refused to discard their religion were indiscriminately massacred by him or his generals." Shuddho -- Delete.
In a word, no forcible conversions, no massacres, no destruction of temples. Just that Hinduism had created an exploitative, casteist society. Islam was egalitarian. Hence the oppressed Hindus embraced Islam !
Muslim historians of those times are in raptures at the heap of Kafirs who have been dispatched to hell. Muslim historians are forever lavishing praise on the ruler for the temples he has destroyed, for the hundreds of thousands he has got to see the light of Islam. Law books like The Hedaya prescribe exactly the options to which these little textbooks alluded. All whitewashed away.
Objective whitewash for objective history. And today if anyone seeks to restore truth to these textbooks, the scream, "Communal rewriting of history."
But there isn't just whitewash of Islam. For after Islam came another great emancipatory ideology -- Marxism-Leninism.
The teachers furnish extracts from the textbook for Class V.
".... in Russia, China, Vietnam, Cuba and in other East European countries, the workers and peasants are ruling the country after capturing power, whereas in U.S.A., England, France and Germany the owners of mills and factories are ruling the country."
".... after the Revolution in Russia the first exploitation-free society was established."
".... Islam and Christianity are the only religions which treated man with honour and equality...."
Thus, not just whitewash, there is hogwash too.
Title: OBJECTIVE WHITEWASH FOR OBJECTIVE HISTORY!
Author: by Arun Shourie
"This is an old charge which keeps surfacing now and then," wrote one of those "eminent historians", K. N. Panikkar, in an vituperative response to an article of mine -- the charge that close to two crores had been spent on the "Towards Freedom" project of the Indian Council of Historical Project, and little had been achieved. "About a year back Times of India carried a front page story on this. The historians had then clarified through a public statement published in several newspapers, that they have not drawn any money from the ICHR and that they worked for five years purely in an honorary capacity. When he [that is, me] gets the information from the ministry, if he does, that the editors have not taken any money, I would normally expect Shourie to tender a public apology. But given the intellectual honesty and cultural level reflected in his article, I do not think it would be forthcoming. The alternative of suing for defamation the likes of Shourie is below one's dignity. But I do expect at least the ministry to make a public statement on the factual position."
Strong stuff, and definitive, one would think. It turns out that on 17 July, 1998, in answer to a question tabled in the Rajya Sabha, the Ministry stated that only one part of the project has been completed and published since the original volume of Dr. P. N. Chopra. This is the volume -- in three parts -- by Dr. Partha Sarthi Gupta covering 1943-44. In answer to another question, the Ministry has reported that "After publication of the Volume he was paid an honorarium of Rs. 25,000/- in September, 1997."
Dr. Partha Sarthi Gupta, in other words, is the one editor who has completed the work which he had undertaken. For that he has been paid Rs. 25,000. The others have not completed the work they had undertaken, they have therefore not been paid the Rs. 25,000 which are to be paid to them only when their volumes are completed and published. That is how they go about proclaiming themselves to be social workers -- we have been working in an honorary capacity, we have not taken a penny !
And as bits and pieces about the ICHR at last start trickling out, we learn that the "Towards Freedom" project isn't the only one on which large amounts have been spent and which has not been completed. There is an "Economic History of India Project." Rs. NINETEEN LAKHS AND FIFTY FIVE THOUSAND have been spent on it. Nothing has been published as a result. Though, the Ministry told the Rajya Sabha that "according to the information furnished by the ICHR," two volumes of the project -- on Railways and Agriculture -- are "ready for the press".
The Ministry also told the Rajya Sabha that "Professor Bipin Chandra was sanctioned a sum of Rs. 75,000/- during 1987-88 for the assignment entitled 'A History of the Indian National Congress'. A sum of Rs. 57,500/- [FIFTY SEVEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED] has been released to him till 23.6.1989. The remaining balance of Rs. 17,500/- is yet to be released because a formal manuscript in this regard is yet to be received." In a word, spare readers this social-worker stance -- "doing all this in a strictly honorary capacity". It is as if Bipin Chandra were to go about saying, "See, I have not even taken the Rs. 17,500/- which the ICHR still owes me." And do not miss that effort from the ICHR to help to the extent possible -- "The remaining balance of Rs. 17,500/- is yet to be released because a formal manuscript in this regard is yet to be received." Does that mean that some "informal" manuscript has been received, or that no manuscript has been received ?
As newspapers and magazines such as Outlook had done, Panikkar had concocted his conspiracy theory on the charge that the BJP Government had changed the word "Rational" into "National", and that it had suppressed three of the five objectives of the ICHR by changing the Memorandum of Association of the ICHR. I had reproduced relevant paragraphs from the Resolutions to show that the same wording had continued for at least twenty years. I had given the numbers and dates of the Resolutions. I had also reported that I had requested the Secretary of the Ministry to help ascertain the year since which the same wording had continued. And what was the response of this "eminent" historian who, as he said, writes signed articles in publications of the Communist Party "because I believe in the ideals it stands for" ? "Even if Shourie's contention is true (unlike Shourie who is a BJP MP, a resident of Delhi elected from UP, I have no means to ascertain from the Ministry)...."
That is a much favoured stance : when caught peddling a lie, insinuate that the other fellow is privileged ! And that as you are from the working masses, you cannot ascertain whether the facts he has stated are true. Therefore, what you stated must stand as fact -- Q.E.D.
Exactly the same dodge was used a day or so later by another of these progressives. Manoj Raghuvanshi had invited K. M. Shrimali and me to discuss on Zee Television's Aap ki Adalat the charge that history was being rewritten in communal colours. Raghuvanshi read out what Outlook had reported -- that the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education had issued instructions in 1989 that "Muslim rule should never attract any criticism. Destruction of temples by Muslim rulers and invaders should not be mentioned."
Raghuvanshi asked Shrimali, whether this did not amount to distortion ? True, that was a painful period of our history, Raghuvanshi said, but should it be erased from our history books ? Would that be objective, rational history? Shrimali's response was the well-practised script : firstly, he did not know that such an instruction was ever issued; if it was issued, he said, he was against it; but one must see what the context was in which the instruction had been issued....
Concerned teachers in West Bengal have been so kind as to send me the circular relating to textbooks for class IX. Dated 28 April, 1989, it is issued by the West Bengal Secondary Board. It is in Bengali, and carries the number "Syl/89/1".
"All the West Bengal Government recognised secondary school Headmasters are being informed," it begins, "that in History textbooks recommended by this Board for Class IX the following amendments to the chapter on the medieval period have been decided after due discussions and review by experts." "
"The authors and publishers of Class IX History textbooks," it continues, "are being requested to incorporate the amendments if books published by them have these aushuddho [impurities, errors] in all subsequent editions, and paste a corrigendum in books which have already been published. A copy of the book with the corrigendum should be deposited with the Syllabus Office (74, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Calcutta -- 16)." Signed,
"....Chattopadhyaya, Secretary."
The accompanying pages contain two columns : aushuddho -- impurity, or error -- and shuddho.
One has just to glance through the changes to see the objective the progressives are trying to achieve through their "objective", "rational" approach to the writing of history. Here are some of the changes.
Book : Bharat Katha, prepared by the Burdwan Education Society, Teachers Enterprise, published by Sukhomoy Das....
Page 140 : Aushuddho -- "In Sindhudesh the Arabs did not describe Hindus as Kafir. They had banned cow-slaughter." Shuddho -- "Delete, 'They had banned cow-slaughter'."
Page 141 : Aushuddho -- "Fourthly, using force to destroy Hindu temples was also an expression of aggression. Fifthly, forcibly marrying Hindu women and converting them to Islam before marriage was another way to propagate the fundamentalism of the ulema." Shuddho : though the column reproduces the sentences only from "Fourthly....", the Board directs that the entire matter from "Secondly.... to ulema" be deleted.
Page 141 : Aushuddho -- The logical, philosophical, materialist Mutazilla disappeared. On the one hand, the fundamentalist thinking based on the Quran and the Hadis...." Shuddho -- "Delete, 'On the one hand, the fundamentalist thinking based on the Quran and the Hadis'...."
Book : Bharatvarsher Itihash, by Dr. Narendranath Bhattacharya, published by Chakravarty and Son....
Page 89 : Aushuddho -- "Sultan Mahmud used force for widespread murder, loot, destruction and conversion." Shuddho -- "There was widespread loot and destruction by Mahmud." That is, no reference to killing, no reference to forcible conversions.
Page 89 : Aushuddho -- "He looted valuables worth 2 crore dirham from the Somnath temple and used the Shivling as a step leading up to the masjid in Ghazni." Shuddho -- "Delete 'and used the Shivling as a step leading up to the masjid in Ghazni.'"
Page 112 : Aushuddho -- "Hindu-Muslim relations of the medieval ages is a very sensitive issue. The non-believers had to embrace Islam or death." Shuddho -- All matter on pages 112-13 to be deleted.
Page 113 : Aushuddho -- "According to Islamic law non-Muslims will have to choose between death and Islam. Only the Hanafis allow non-Muslims to pay jaziya in exchange for their lives." Shuddho -- Rewrite this as follows : "By paying jaziya to Allauddin Khilji, Hindus could lead normal lives." Moreover, all the subsequent sentences "Qazi....", "Taimur's arrival in India...." to be deleted.
Page 113 : Aushuddho -- "Mahmud was a believer in the rule of Islam whose core was 'Either Islam or death'. Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharuter Itihash, by Shobhankar Chattopadhyaya, published by Narmada Publishers.
Page 181 : Aushuddho -- "To prevent Hindu women >from being seen by Muslims, they were directed to remain indoors." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Itihasher Kahini, by Nalini Bhushan Dasgupta, published by B. B. Kumar.
Page 132 : Aushuddho -- According to Todd [the famous chronicler of Rajasthan annals] the purpose behind Allauddin's Chittor expedition was to secure Rana Rattan Singh's beautiful wife, Padmini." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 154 : Aushuddho -- "As dictated by Islam, there were three options for non-Muslims : get yourself converted to Islam; pay jaziya; accept death. In an Islamic State non-Muslims had to accept one of these three options." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 161 : Aushuddho -- "The early Sultans were eager to expand the sway of Islam by forcibly converting Hindus into Islam." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharuter Itihash, by P. Maiti, Sreedhar Prakashini.
Page 117 : Aushuddho -- "There is an account that Allauddin attacked the capital of Mewar, Chittorgarh, to get Padmini, the beautiful wife of Rana Rattan Singh." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 139 : Ashuddho -- "There was a sense of aristocratic superiority in the purdah system. That is why upper-class Hindus adopted this system from upper-class Muslims. Another opinion has it that purdah came into practice to save Hindu women from Muslims. Most probably, purdah came into vogue because of both factors." Shuddho -- delete.
The most extensive deletions are ordered in regard to the chapter on "Aurangezeb's policy on religion". Every allusion to what he actually did to the Hindus, to their temples, to the very leitmotif of his rule -- to spread the sway of Islam -- are directed to be excised from the book. He is to be presented as one who had an aversion -- an ordinary sort of aversion, almost a secular one -- to music and dancing, to the presence of prostitutes in the Court, and that it is these things he banished. The only allusion to his having done anything in regard to Islam which is allowed to remain is that "By distancing himself from Akbar's policy of religious tolerance and policy of equal treatment, Aurangzebe caused damage to Mughal rule."
Book : Swadesho Shobhyota, by Dr. P. K. Basu and S. B. Ghatak, Abhinav Prakashan.
Page 126 : Ashuddho -- "Some people believe that Allauddin's Mewar expedition was to get hold of Padmini, the wife of Rana Rattan Singh." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 145 : Ashuddho -- "Apart from this, because Islam used extreme inhuman means to establish itself in India, this became an obstacle for the coming together of Indian and Islamic cultures." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharat Katha, by G. Bhattacharya, Bulbul Prakashan.
Page 40 : Ashuddho -- "Muslims used to take recourse to torture and inhuman means to force their religious beliefs and practices on Indians." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 41 : Ashuddho -- "The liberal, humane elements in Islam held out hope for oppressed Hindus." Shuddho -- The entire paragraph beginning with "the caste system among Hindus.... was attacked" is to be deleted. Instead write, "There was no place for casteism in Islam. Understandably, the influence of Islam created an awakening among Hindus against caste discrimination. Lower caste oppressed Hindus embraced Islam."
Page 77 : Ashuddho -- "His main task was to oppress non-believers, especially Hindus." Shuddho -- This and the preceding sentence to be deleted.
Book : Bharuter Itihash, by A. C. Roy, published by Prantik.
Page 102 : Ashuddho -- "There is an account that Allauddin attacked Chittor to get the beautiful wife of Rana Rattan Singh, Padmini." Shuddho -- Delete.
Page 164 : Ashuddho -- "It was his commitment to Islam which made him a fundamentalist." Shuddho -- Delete.
Book : Bharut Kahini, by G. C. Rowchoudhury, published by A. K. Sarkar and Co.
Page 130 : Ashuddho -- "That is why he adopted the policy of converting Hindus to Islam -- so as to increase the number of Muslims. Those Hindus who refused to discard their religion were indiscriminately massacred by him or his generals." Shuddho -- Delete.
In a word, no forcible conversions, no massacres, no destruction of temples. Just that Hinduism had created an exploitative, casteist society. Islam was egalitarian. Hence the oppressed Hindus embraced Islam !
Muslim historians of those times are in raptures at the heap of Kafirs who have been dispatched to hell. Muslim historians are forever lavishing praise on the ruler for the temples he has destroyed, for the hundreds of thousands he has got to see the light of Islam. Law books like The Hedaya prescribe exactly the options to which these little textbooks alluded. All whitewashed away.
Objective whitewash for objective history. And today if anyone seeks to restore truth to these textbooks, the scream, "Communal rewriting of history."
But there isn't just whitewash of Islam. For after Islam came another great emancipatory ideology -- Marxism-Leninism.
The teachers furnish extracts from the textbook for Class V.
".... in Russia, China, Vietnam, Cuba and in other East European countries, the workers and peasants are ruling the country after capturing power, whereas in U.S.A., England, France and Germany the owners of mills and factories are ruling the country."
".... after the Revolution in Russia the first exploitation-free society was established."
".... Islam and Christianity are the only religions which treated man with honour and equality...."
Thus, not just whitewash, there is hogwash too.
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 !
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 !
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