The Aga Khani
Farzana Versey April 26, 2002
#112 Posted by Prem on May 2, 2002 3:08:08 am
Fuzair, sigalph, ylh
You folks have made a convincing case. The way I look at it now, it appears that both Bose and Nazis were trying to use each other to advance their agendas, both sharing anti-British objectives. I have read somewhere that Nehru had warned Subhash against some of the methods Subhas was willing to employ.
Is there any evidence that Subhash actually believed in the Nazi theory or that he represented an anti-democratic threat to free India? I found the following intereresting information on Subhash but couldn`t decide where to place it in relation to other facts. The article appears to be a bit celebratory in its tone. What do you guys think?
Volume 18 - Issue 20, Sep. 29 - Oct. 12, 2001
India`s National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
An extraordinary story
The Sign of the Tiger: Subhas Chandra Bose And His Indian Legion in Germany, 1941-45 by Rudolf Hartog; Rupa, New Delhi; Pages 206, Rs.395.
SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE died on August 18, 1945 in a plane crash in Taiwan. Yet there is a body of his admirers who tenaciously believe that their beloved Netaji is alive. Today he would have been 104 years old. Regrettably, dead he is. He was 48 years old at the time of the fatal air crash at Taipei airport.
In his short, revolutionary, flawed and mismanaged political life, he inspired a mass loyalty and devotion that at its peak in early 1945 equalled that of Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhiji. I remember vividly how I followed with teenage passion the trail of the Indian National Army (INA) heroes, Shah Nawaz, Sehgal and Dhillon at the Red Fort during 1945-46. The literature on Subhas Bose is not extensive but it is considerable. Books on him keep appearing with remarkable regularity. Hugh Toye`s The Springing Tiger: A Study of a Revolutionary, appeared in early 1970. This was followed in 1982 by Mihir Bose`s The Lost Hero. Both were published in London. Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose by Leonard A. Gordon came out in 1990 (805 pages). In 1997, Sisir Bose and Sugata Bose edited An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography, which was published to mark Subhas Babu`s birth centenary. A few days ago we had yet another book on Bose - Sitansu Das` Subhas: A Political Biography (634 pages).
All these books fade away when compared to what Nirad C. Chaudhuri wrote about Bose in his monumental volume Thy Hand, Great Anarch. His delineation of Subash Babu`s character is both brilliant and detached: ``No other figure in the Indian nationalist movement presents the stark contrast he does between promise and legend on the one hand and performance and historic career on the other.``
Rudolf Hartog`s book first appeared in German in 1991. The author as a youngster of 18 was attached to the Indian Legion as an interpreter between 1941 and 1945. The Legion was Subhas Babu`s brainchild. Hartog writes:
The story of the Indian Legion in Germany in which former Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army volunteered to fight for the freedom of their country on the side of the Axis powers, in one of the strangest episodes of the Second World War... It was inspired by Subhas Chandra Bose, pre-independent India`s third outstanding politician besides Gandhi and Nehru, whose aim, after an adventurous escape from India (1941) to Berlin... was to declare an exile government and set up an army, which would advance into India from the west with the help of the Axis powers and to free India from British rule.
Subhas Chandra Bose`s two-year stay in Berlin was frustrating and at times vexatious. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the German Chancellor, did not receive him for a whole year after his arrival in Germany. They met on May 27, 1942 in Berlin. Hitler refused to make a statement in favour of India`s independence. Hitler still hoped to sign a separate peace treaty with England. The minutes of the meeting survived the War. These make astonishing reading. Bose was willing to go to any lengths to free India - collaborate with Germany, Italy and Japan. Hitler mentioned Nehru`s friendly opinion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which Hitler thought, was ``extremely questionable``. He advised Orlando Mazzotta (Bose`s allies in Berlin) to go to Japan and carry on his fight from nearer India. The mode of travel was discussed. Hitler discouraged an air journey, as ``Bose was too important a person to risk his life with such experiments``. Hitler also told Bose that in his judgment Nehru`s anti-Fascist, anti-Nazi approach or the passive resistance of Gandhi would achieve nothing.
The author states that the Bose-Hitler meeting was a fiasco. Hitler gave no assurance about backing Indian independence. Near the close of the meeting Bose said to Adam Von Trot, who was the interpreter, to ``Tell His Excellency that I have been in politics all my life and that I do not need advice from any side.``
The rest of the book deals with the formation of the Legion, its personnel, its secular foundations, the use of a common language - Hindustani - and the prolonged planning of Operation Tiger, which was to reach the borders of India, through Russia, Persia and Afghanistan. The German defeat at Stalingrad in 1942 put an end to that.
After Bose`s departure for Japan in a German submarine, morale in the region flagged, and the `Free India Centre` did not prosper. Nevertheless, the author`s conclusion is that the Indian Legion was something unique: ``There were many Foreign Legions in Hitler`s army, e.g. Cossacks, Turkmens, Georgians, etc., made up from defectors who wanted to rid themselves of the Soviet yoke. The uniqueness of the Indian Legion was that although it was no different on the surface, its structure and the terms on which it was set up were exceptional, for Bose was able to get extraordinary concessions from the German Government.``
Within a few days of German defeat in 1945, the Indian Legionnaires were taken prisoner and held under ``harsh conditions``. They were repatriated to India at the end of 1945, and kept in prison in the Bahadurgarh camp. They were finally released in 1946. Their fate was so markedly different from that of the INA. The Legion threw up no Shah Nawaz or Sehgal or Dhillon. The Legion and its history remained in oblivion until the appearance of Hartog`s sympathetic and engrossing book.
It is indeed an extraordinary story. The credit goes to Subhas Chandra Bose for creating and sustaining the Legion. However, he is not remembered for this particular creation but for his heroic role after he reached Japan and built up the INA and gave us our national salutation, Jai Hind.
Copyrights © 2001, Frontline.
You folks have made a convincing case. The way I look at it now, it appears that both Bose and Nazis were trying to use each other to advance their agendas, both sharing anti-British objectives. I have read somewhere that Nehru had warned Subhash against some of the methods Subhas was willing to employ.
Is there any evidence that Subhash actually believed in the Nazi theory or that he represented an anti-democratic threat to free India? I found the following intereresting information on Subhash but couldn`t decide where to place it in relation to other facts. The article appears to be a bit celebratory in its tone. What do you guys think?
Volume 18 - Issue 20, Sep. 29 - Oct. 12, 2001
India`s National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
An extraordinary story
The Sign of the Tiger: Subhas Chandra Bose And His Indian Legion in Germany, 1941-45 by Rudolf Hartog; Rupa, New Delhi; Pages 206, Rs.395.
SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE died on August 18, 1945 in a plane crash in Taiwan. Yet there is a body of his admirers who tenaciously believe that their beloved Netaji is alive. Today he would have been 104 years old. Regrettably, dead he is. He was 48 years old at the time of the fatal air crash at Taipei airport.
In his short, revolutionary, flawed and mismanaged political life, he inspired a mass loyalty and devotion that at its peak in early 1945 equalled that of Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhiji. I remember vividly how I followed with teenage passion the trail of the Indian National Army (INA) heroes, Shah Nawaz, Sehgal and Dhillon at the Red Fort during 1945-46. The literature on Subhas Bose is not extensive but it is considerable. Books on him keep appearing with remarkable regularity. Hugh Toye`s The Springing Tiger: A Study of a Revolutionary, appeared in early 1970. This was followed in 1982 by Mihir Bose`s The Lost Hero. Both were published in London. Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose by Leonard A. Gordon came out in 1990 (805 pages). In 1997, Sisir Bose and Sugata Bose edited An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography, which was published to mark Subhas Babu`s birth centenary. A few days ago we had yet another book on Bose - Sitansu Das` Subhas: A Political Biography (634 pages).
All these books fade away when compared to what Nirad C. Chaudhuri wrote about Bose in his monumental volume Thy Hand, Great Anarch. His delineation of Subash Babu`s character is both brilliant and detached: ``No other figure in the Indian nationalist movement presents the stark contrast he does between promise and legend on the one hand and performance and historic career on the other.``
Rudolf Hartog`s book first appeared in German in 1991. The author as a youngster of 18 was attached to the Indian Legion as an interpreter between 1941 and 1945. The Legion was Subhas Babu`s brainchild. Hartog writes:
The story of the Indian Legion in Germany in which former Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army volunteered to fight for the freedom of their country on the side of the Axis powers, in one of the strangest episodes of the Second World War... It was inspired by Subhas Chandra Bose, pre-independent India`s third outstanding politician besides Gandhi and Nehru, whose aim, after an adventurous escape from India (1941) to Berlin... was to declare an exile government and set up an army, which would advance into India from the west with the help of the Axis powers and to free India from British rule.
Subhas Chandra Bose`s two-year stay in Berlin was frustrating and at times vexatious. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the German Chancellor, did not receive him for a whole year after his arrival in Germany. They met on May 27, 1942 in Berlin. Hitler refused to make a statement in favour of India`s independence. Hitler still hoped to sign a separate peace treaty with England. The minutes of the meeting survived the War. These make astonishing reading. Bose was willing to go to any lengths to free India - collaborate with Germany, Italy and Japan. Hitler mentioned Nehru`s friendly opinion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which Hitler thought, was ``extremely questionable``. He advised Orlando Mazzotta (Bose`s allies in Berlin) to go to Japan and carry on his fight from nearer India. The mode of travel was discussed. Hitler discouraged an air journey, as ``Bose was too important a person to risk his life with such experiments``. Hitler also told Bose that in his judgment Nehru`s anti-Fascist, anti-Nazi approach or the passive resistance of Gandhi would achieve nothing.
The author states that the Bose-Hitler meeting was a fiasco. Hitler gave no assurance about backing Indian independence. Near the close of the meeting Bose said to Adam Von Trot, who was the interpreter, to ``Tell His Excellency that I have been in politics all my life and that I do not need advice from any side.``
The rest of the book deals with the formation of the Legion, its personnel, its secular foundations, the use of a common language - Hindustani - and the prolonged planning of Operation Tiger, which was to reach the borders of India, through Russia, Persia and Afghanistan. The German defeat at Stalingrad in 1942 put an end to that.
After Bose`s departure for Japan in a German submarine, morale in the region flagged, and the `Free India Centre` did not prosper. Nevertheless, the author`s conclusion is that the Indian Legion was something unique: ``There were many Foreign Legions in Hitler`s army, e.g. Cossacks, Turkmens, Georgians, etc., made up from defectors who wanted to rid themselves of the Soviet yoke. The uniqueness of the Indian Legion was that although it was no different on the surface, its structure and the terms on which it was set up were exceptional, for Bose was able to get extraordinary concessions from the German Government.``
Within a few days of German defeat in 1945, the Indian Legionnaires were taken prisoner and held under ``harsh conditions``. They were repatriated to India at the end of 1945, and kept in prison in the Bahadurgarh camp. They were finally released in 1946. Their fate was so markedly different from that of the INA. The Legion threw up no Shah Nawaz or Sehgal or Dhillon. The Legion and its history remained in oblivion until the appearance of Hartog`s sympathetic and engrossing book.
It is indeed an extraordinary story. The credit goes to Subhas Chandra Bose for creating and sustaining the Legion. However, he is not remembered for this particular creation but for his heroic role after he reached Japan and built up the INA and gave us our national salutation, Jai Hind.
Copyrights © 2001, Frontline.
reply to this interact
write a new interact
add to favorites
flag objectionable content
#111 Posted by Anika Zaidi on May 2, 2002 3:08:08 am
Many comments possible on this ,how can religion be a factor in such things?Arn`t Judiaism maily genetically inheritted unlike Islam & Christianity which is open to all ...dumb intelligent alike?
Hindus fourth on list of SAT toppers
Ganesh S. Lakshman (IANS)
New York, May 1
Hindus fare the fourth-best in scholastic aptitude tests (SAT), says a US College Board statistical finding that has ranked 10 religious affiliations on the basis of their test scores.
A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report says Hindus are fourth in a list of 10 religious affiliations that fare the best in college-entry level examinations. While the national average SAT score of college-bound seniors was 1,020, those belonging to the Unitarian Universalist Association figured the best with a score of 1,209.
Jews follow them with a score of 1,161, while those affiliated with the Quakers scored 1,153. Hindus figured fourth with a figure of 1,110. The board administers the SAT exam, a major component of most college rankings and admission decisions.
The WSJ report says Vanderbilt University, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is pursuing this ``elite strategy`` of wooing students of a particular ethnic background to boost academic standing. It circulated brochures at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in Boston last December with a view to enrolling Jewish students.
Vanderbilt University Chancellor Gordon Gee was quoted as saying: ``Yes, we are targeting Jewish students... There`s nothing wrong with that. That`s not affirmative action. That`s smart thinking.``
Apart from Vanderbilt University, some official Christian campuses like the Southern Methodist University and the Texas Christian University (TCU) are also ardently pursuing Jews. TCU, affiliated with the Protestant denomination Disciples of Christ, hired its first Jewish studies professor last year and has also reportedly initiated merit scholarships specifically for Jewish students.
Out of the Ivy League schools, about 23 per cent of students are Jewish, though Jews comprise two per cent of the US population.
http://hindustantimes.speedera.net/www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/images/blackpix.gif[Click to learn more...]
Hindus fourth on list of SAT toppers
Ganesh S. Lakshman (IANS)
New York, May 1
Hindus fare the fourth-best in scholastic aptitude tests (SAT), says a US College Board statistical finding that has ranked 10 religious affiliations on the basis of their test scores.
A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report says Hindus are fourth in a list of 10 religious affiliations that fare the best in college-entry level examinations. While the national average SAT score of college-bound seniors was 1,020, those belonging to the Unitarian Universalist Association figured the best with a score of 1,209.
Jews follow them with a score of 1,161, while those affiliated with the Quakers scored 1,153. Hindus figured fourth with a figure of 1,110. The board administers the SAT exam, a major component of most college rankings and admission decisions.
The WSJ report says Vanderbilt University, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is pursuing this ``elite strategy`` of wooing students of a particular ethnic background to boost academic standing. It circulated brochures at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in Boston last December with a view to enrolling Jewish students.
Vanderbilt University Chancellor Gordon Gee was quoted as saying: ``Yes, we are targeting Jewish students... There`s nothing wrong with that. That`s not affirmative action. That`s smart thinking.``
Apart from Vanderbilt University, some official Christian campuses like the Southern Methodist University and the Texas Christian University (TCU) are also ardently pursuing Jews. TCU, affiliated with the Protestant denomination Disciples of Christ, hired its first Jewish studies professor last year and has also reportedly initiated merit scholarships specifically for Jewish students.
Out of the Ivy League schools, about 23 per cent of students are Jewish, though Jews comprise two per cent of the US population.
http://hindustantimes.speedera.net/www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/images/blackpix.gif[Click to learn more...]
#110 Posted by fuzair on May 1, 2002 12:57:48 pm
Re: Tahmed`s post
I agree about the uselessness of ``race`` as a concept; much better to refer to ``ethnicity`` than to ``race`` in trying to distinguish between various groups. Every ethnicity is inherently `racist` to one degree or another as favoring the ingroup at the expense of the outgroup seems to be genetically hard-wired in us. However, this ingroup vs outgroup feeling can be very easily manipulated up or down the identification level (from family to clan to tribe to nationality or up to a purely artificial construct such as a battalion or even the entire US Marine Corp) and you can even create entirely artificial `ethnicities` fairly easily (such as the Soviet construction of a then-spurious Kazakh nationality or the modern-day creation of a proto-Israeli ethnicity).
However, there has to be some real common bond before artificial ethnicities become real ones. Look at the failure to create an effective Muslim ethnicity (no matter how much Panislamic babble we get from the religious whackos) or even a real Pakistani or Indian one.
On a slightly differnt note, I thought this fine old English saying might amuse you: ``Wogs begin at Calais [the French port closest to England].``
Regards.
I agree about the uselessness of ``race`` as a concept; much better to refer to ``ethnicity`` than to ``race`` in trying to distinguish between various groups. Every ethnicity is inherently `racist` to one degree or another as favoring the ingroup at the expense of the outgroup seems to be genetically hard-wired in us. However, this ingroup vs outgroup feeling can be very easily manipulated up or down the identification level (from family to clan to tribe to nationality or up to a purely artificial construct such as a battalion or even the entire US Marine Corp) and you can even create entirely artificial `ethnicities` fairly easily (such as the Soviet construction of a then-spurious Kazakh nationality or the modern-day creation of a proto-Israeli ethnicity).
However, there has to be some real common bond before artificial ethnicities become real ones. Look at the failure to create an effective Muslim ethnicity (no matter how much Panislamic babble we get from the religious whackos) or even a real Pakistani or Indian one.
On a slightly differnt note, I thought this fine old English saying might amuse you: ``Wogs begin at Calais [the French port closest to England].``
Regards.
#109 Posted by tahmed321 on May 1, 2002 11:43:04 am
Fuzair #103 ``Indians are brown and that doesn`t fit in too well with the Nazi ideology`` Nazi ideology was as deep as Mullah ideology or any other half-baked ideology. Race is a fluffy concept anyway. The Russians in WWII had a good joke about this: The Nazi superman is handsome like Goebbels (who looked a worn out clerk), slim like Goering (who was corpulent) and blond like Hitler (who had black hair).
Race has no universal meaning like the term ``species`` anyway, except when used in a very narrow space-time bound sense - e.g. as black-white in US (until the past couple of decades when large scale immigration of Asians and Latinos who come in all shades confused things); or as Brits vs. others (even Greeks and Italians were considered ``colored`` until at least the late 1970`s in the UK, as were Pakistanis and West Indians); and the concept did not exist in some cultures, e.g. Much of North African. Indeed, it is only 10,000 years ago that humans divided into different races, according to many anthropologists. And the concept is swiftly fading away with increasing social and sexual intercourse (excuse the graphic language, could not resist it since it sounded better than ``urbanization and intermarriages``).
Race has no universal meaning like the term ``species`` anyway, except when used in a very narrow space-time bound sense - e.g. as black-white in US (until the past couple of decades when large scale immigration of Asians and Latinos who come in all shades confused things); or as Brits vs. others (even Greeks and Italians were considered ``colored`` until at least the late 1970`s in the UK, as were Pakistanis and West Indians); and the concept did not exist in some cultures, e.g. Much of North African. Indeed, it is only 10,000 years ago that humans divided into different races, according to many anthropologists. And the concept is swiftly fading away with increasing social and sexual intercourse (excuse the graphic language, could not resist it since it sounded better than ``urbanization and intermarriages``).
#108 Posted by pmishra2 on May 1, 2002 11:43:04 am
oh, no, this progressive disease has moved to this discussion as well.
Sigh! I guess it is good to have a visible reminder that at least most of the discussion here is above this hate-speech ``jews destroyed the WTC`` level.
Sigh! I guess it is good to have a visible reminder that at least most of the discussion here is above this hate-speech ``jews destroyed the WTC`` level.
#107 Posted by bharatvaasi on May 1, 2002 11:43:04 am
the continuing saga of Yeewah Lifapha hadhamardi (YLH)...
The truth is out. Yeewah, whilst sitting in his bonking centre at his bor(n)king station, saw the light. He saw that the very mushied musharuff was netaji, and that the glorious netaji would rescue his lands. netaji bedecked in full dress uniform with all his medals shining appeared on yeewah`s screen(m) asking him to vast his vote in favour of netaji.
whilst all this was happening, hadhamardi realised that he stopped his diatribe on INA and it was leading nowhere. It dawned on him (its the second cumming here) then that the Indian Muslims were to blame for the plight they are in. They did not have the foresght to follow the great netaji. JInnah of the Indology of pakistan speech fame followed in netajis footsteps by breaking from the caste ridden bigotted INC. All these days ever since he majored in the JInnah speech on the resolution of the indology of pakistan speel, yeewah has been in the wilderness wondering, nay puzzling and burning the midnight oil, over the meaning of it all. The jigsaw pieces fell into place and it all made sense to him. That it was all the same, his world and land was wonderfully organised.
Thus it came about that Yeewah voted for netaji in the impressive dress uniform and those gleaming medals and pressed the send button in response to a post to Ms Varsey a journalist from the land his forefathers hailed from.
The truth is out. Yeewah, whilst sitting in his bonking centre at his bor(n)king station, saw the light. He saw that the very mushied musharuff was netaji, and that the glorious netaji would rescue his lands. netaji bedecked in full dress uniform with all his medals shining appeared on yeewah`s screen(m) asking him to vast his vote in favour of netaji.
whilst all this was happening, hadhamardi realised that he stopped his diatribe on INA and it was leading nowhere. It dawned on him (its the second cumming here) then that the Indian Muslims were to blame for the plight they are in. They did not have the foresght to follow the great netaji. JInnah of the Indology of pakistan speech fame followed in netajis footsteps by breaking from the caste ridden bigotted INC. All these days ever since he majored in the JInnah speech on the resolution of the indology of pakistan speel, yeewah has been in the wilderness wondering, nay puzzling and burning the midnight oil, over the meaning of it all. The jigsaw pieces fell into place and it all made sense to him. That it was all the same, his world and land was wonderfully organised.
Thus it came about that Yeewah voted for netaji in the impressive dress uniform and those gleaming medals and pressed the send button in response to a post to Ms Varsey a journalist from the land his forefathers hailed from.
#106 Posted by shankar on May 1, 2002 11:43:04 am
progressive,
You should trash hinduism all you want....
However, could you do all of us a favor? (I appeal to the muslim in you..since Islam is such a tolerant & respectful religion `an all..)
Could you please make your posts shorter? I mean it takes foreveeeeer to scroll past your posts (even on fast forward). Just when I think I`ve scrolled past your post, there`s another looooong post to scroll...then another....
You should trash hinduism all you want....
However, could you do all of us a favor? (I appeal to the muslim in you..since Islam is such a tolerant & respectful religion `an all..)
Could you please make your posts shorter? I mean it takes foreveeeeer to scroll past your posts (even on fast forward). Just when I think I`ve scrolled past your post, there`s another looooong post to scroll...then another....
#105 Posted by Harpreet on May 1, 2002 11:43:04 am
Please excuse me Farzana for distracting your board, but I just felt the need to vent my spleen, you know how it is, cant hold yourself back sometimes…
..................................................
Luke Harding in New Delhi
Guardian
Tuesday April 30, 2002
Lawyers for three British Muslims who were hacked to death during riots in Gujarat said they would press for a Milosevic style trial of India`s prime minister and other leading members of his government at the Hague.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4404055,00.html
..................................................
..................................................
THE CHICKENS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST
Today I feel so proud to be British.
They wont get anything on Vajpayee but hopefully they will make Modi sweat big time. My only fear is that it will enable the scum to claim “colonial” interference and strengthen them by playing to their paranoid delusional “Hinduism and India in danger” fallacies.
I saw a news report of the families of these murdered men returning to Gujarat to look for the bodies of their brothers. The only reason they could enter these areas was because there was a BBC television reporter with them. Unlike in India, the British government does not view the lives of its citizens as cheap and expendable. The greatest outrage of this situation is that it has even come to this, that there is no court in India capable of indicting the guilty parties involved, no will to punish the murderers and their puppetmasters within. The Hindutvaites need to wake up and realise that the world is not going to ignore what is happening in India anymore. All conscionable Indians of all creeds living in the west should beg, plead and implore the news media to highlight what has taken place in India recently as a matter of great urgency. Write to your Member of Parliament. Because like typical cowardly guttersnipes they seem to care more about “image” and India’s standing abroad than actual concern for the lives lost (Vajpayee fretting about “how will I ever show my face abroad again?” )
At last, these people have been well and truly sussed. They stand naked before the world in all their rancidity. Tony Blair, the EU, and even if they are keeping quiet, the state department, know their game and have their eyes on them.
We have reached a critical juncture in our history. The choices are clear. India has to decide now whether she will become a Mother that eats her own children or nourishes and succours them.
The BJP and their affiliates have sent Gujarat to Hell. A people that were once known for their famous sons, their industriousness and composite culture of Parsis, Jains, Ismailis as well as Hindus have had their name soiled. Gujarat has become a byword for savagery and rapine on a par with Rwanda in the eyes of the world. That is the BJP’s achievment in its “test tube”. Wake up and realise this is what they will do to the whole of India. This is just the first step in their reckoning.
All patriotic Indians, if an enemy attacked your motherland, would you not rise to defend her? So what are you waiting for? To talk of “foreign” terrorism when 2000 Indians have been turned into Halal meat by VHP vegetarians just beggars belief. We have suffered a September 11th on our own doorstep. How can we tolerate this?
Indian Muslims, I know it is patronising and superfluous you need words not actions, but I am really really sorry that these pigs were allowed to breed and run wild. Please do not turn away from your land because it is YOUR land. There are millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Christians that love you as your brothers and sisters. We have to administer this chemotherapy together.
If you are a religious Hindu think on this: Your dharam has been hijacked by rapists, baby burners and bigots of the worst kind.
If you are a secular, non practising Hindu, think on this: Everything you stand for, the advancement of India out of darkness, the alleviation of poverty, the things that really matter, the whole enlightenment experiment that was embarked upon on August 15th 1947 is being threatened right now by these demons. You have let these thugs run the agenda of the country for too long now. All the shiny hi-tech industry, oooh wow isn’t India great we have Booker prizes and silicon valley and beauty queens, does not mean a thing in the face of what these people will do. They will bring down India in flames with their kerosene cans. They have demonstrated this clearly. Gujarat was their electoral manifesto. They will destroy us all. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
-h-
..................................................
Luke Harding in New Delhi
Guardian
Tuesday April 30, 2002
Lawyers for three British Muslims who were hacked to death during riots in Gujarat said they would press for a Milosevic style trial of India`s prime minister and other leading members of his government at the Hague.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4404055,00.html
..................................................
..................................................
THE CHICKENS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST
Today I feel so proud to be British.
They wont get anything on Vajpayee but hopefully they will make Modi sweat big time. My only fear is that it will enable the scum to claim “colonial” interference and strengthen them by playing to their paranoid delusional “Hinduism and India in danger” fallacies.
I saw a news report of the families of these murdered men returning to Gujarat to look for the bodies of their brothers. The only reason they could enter these areas was because there was a BBC television reporter with them. Unlike in India, the British government does not view the lives of its citizens as cheap and expendable. The greatest outrage of this situation is that it has even come to this, that there is no court in India capable of indicting the guilty parties involved, no will to punish the murderers and their puppetmasters within. The Hindutvaites need to wake up and realise that the world is not going to ignore what is happening in India anymore. All conscionable Indians of all creeds living in the west should beg, plead and implore the news media to highlight what has taken place in India recently as a matter of great urgency. Write to your Member of Parliament. Because like typical cowardly guttersnipes they seem to care more about “image” and India’s standing abroad than actual concern for the lives lost (Vajpayee fretting about “how will I ever show my face abroad again?” )
At last, these people have been well and truly sussed. They stand naked before the world in all their rancidity. Tony Blair, the EU, and even if they are keeping quiet, the state department, know their game and have their eyes on them.
We have reached a critical juncture in our history. The choices are clear. India has to decide now whether she will become a Mother that eats her own children or nourishes and succours them.
The BJP and their affiliates have sent Gujarat to Hell. A people that were once known for their famous sons, their industriousness and composite culture of Parsis, Jains, Ismailis as well as Hindus have had their name soiled. Gujarat has become a byword for savagery and rapine on a par with Rwanda in the eyes of the world. That is the BJP’s achievment in its “test tube”. Wake up and realise this is what they will do to the whole of India. This is just the first step in their reckoning.
All patriotic Indians, if an enemy attacked your motherland, would you not rise to defend her? So what are you waiting for? To talk of “foreign” terrorism when 2000 Indians have been turned into Halal meat by VHP vegetarians just beggars belief. We have suffered a September 11th on our own doorstep. How can we tolerate this?
Indian Muslims, I know it is patronising and superfluous you need words not actions, but I am really really sorry that these pigs were allowed to breed and run wild. Please do not turn away from your land because it is YOUR land. There are millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Christians that love you as your brothers and sisters. We have to administer this chemotherapy together.
If you are a religious Hindu think on this: Your dharam has been hijacked by rapists, baby burners and bigots of the worst kind.
If you are a secular, non practising Hindu, think on this: Everything you stand for, the advancement of India out of darkness, the alleviation of poverty, the things that really matter, the whole enlightenment experiment that was embarked upon on August 15th 1947 is being threatened right now by these demons. You have let these thugs run the agenda of the country for too long now. All the shiny hi-tech industry, oooh wow isn’t India great we have Booker prizes and silicon valley and beauty queens, does not mean a thing in the face of what these people will do. They will bring down India in flames with their kerosene cans. They have demonstrated this clearly. Gujarat was their electoral manifesto. They will destroy us all. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
-h-
#104 Posted by fuzair on May 1, 2002 7:52:30 am
Re: Prem`s question on Netaji
There is no doubt that Bose was an avowed Axis ally during WWII (first Hitler`s and then the Japanese; the story of how he got from Germany to Singapore--via German submarine and then a midocean transfer off Madagascar to a Japanese sub is a fascinating one) and in favour of a violent war of national liberation against the British. Obviously it is difficult for him to BE a Nazi (Indians are brown and that doesn`t fit in too well with the Nazi ideology) or Japanese (for obvious reasons given the virulent racism of the Japanese) but both Axis powers were happy to use him as a willing stooge.
Its clear that he was willing to head a puppet Indian administration of India (i.e., to play the same role there as Pu Yi did in Manchuria) and so his Indian nationalism is pretty much a sham, just a cover for his attempt to seize personal power.
I think the Indians should get down on their knees and thank God he went over the edge and didn`t stay on in India as the President of the Congress. If he and not Nehru had becomet the first Prime Minister of India, India would have gone the same route as Zimbabwe, Ghana or Indonesia after Partition: one-party banana republics.
Regards.
PS: I don`t put Pakistan in this category for the simple reason that Pakistan started out with military coups, not civilian dictators heading a one-party state.
There is no doubt that Bose was an avowed Axis ally during WWII (first Hitler`s and then the Japanese; the story of how he got from Germany to Singapore--via German submarine and then a midocean transfer off Madagascar to a Japanese sub is a fascinating one) and in favour of a violent war of national liberation against the British. Obviously it is difficult for him to BE a Nazi (Indians are brown and that doesn`t fit in too well with the Nazi ideology) or Japanese (for obvious reasons given the virulent racism of the Japanese) but both Axis powers were happy to use him as a willing stooge.
Its clear that he was willing to head a puppet Indian administration of India (i.e., to play the same role there as Pu Yi did in Manchuria) and so his Indian nationalism is pretty much a sham, just a cover for his attempt to seize personal power.
I think the Indians should get down on their knees and thank God he went over the edge and didn`t stay on in India as the President of the Congress. If he and not Nehru had becomet the first Prime Minister of India, India would have gone the same route as Zimbabwe, Ghana or Indonesia after Partition: one-party banana republics.
Regards.
PS: I don`t put Pakistan in this category for the simple reason that Pakistan started out with military coups, not civilian dictators heading a one-party state.
#103 Posted by progressive on May 1, 2002 12:13:52 am
Women in Hinduism
Oh You Hindu Awake !
by
Dr. Chatterjee
WOMEN IN HINDUISM
Inequity and degradation of women are sanctified in the Hindu religion. Manu Smriti says:
`` Never trust a woman.
Never sit alone with a woman even if it may be your mother, she may tempt you.
Do not sit alone with your daughter, she may tempt you.
Do not sit alone with your sister, she may tempt you.
Again the same Manu Smriti continues:
``Na stree swadantriya marhathi``.
``No liberty for women in society``.
HINDU WOMEN VS MUSLIM WOMEN
The Brahmin media made a big campaign recently out of the Shah Banu case and they blew it out of all proportion. They implied that Islam restricted the freedom of women. Let us compare the positions of the Hindu woman and the Muslim woman. See the following facts for comparison and then try to bring these Brahmins to their senses.
HINDU WOMAN
The Hindu woman has no right to divorce her husband.
She has no property or inheritance rights.
Choice of partner is limited because she can only marry within her own caste; moreover her horoscope must match that of the intending bridegroom/family.
The family of the girl has to offer an enormous dowry to the bridegroom/family.
If her husband dies she should commit Sati (being cremated with her dead husband). Since today`s law forbids Sati, society mainly punishes her in other ``holy`` ways (see below).
She cannot remarry.
The widow is considered to be a curse and.must not be seen in public. She cannot wear jewellery or colourful clothes. (She should not even take part in her children`s marriage!)
Child and infant marriage is encouraged.
THE MUSLIM WOMAN
The Muslim woman has the same right as the Muslim man in all matters, including divorce.
She enjoys property and inheritance rights. (Which other religion grants women these rights?). She can also conduct her own separate business.
She can marry any Muslim of her choice. If her parents choose a partner for her, her consent has to be taken.
The dowry in Islam is a gift from a husband to his wife (not the other way round as is practised by some ignorant Muslims).
A Muslim widow is encouraged to remarry, and her remarriage is the responsibility of the Muslim society.
Mixed marriage is encouraged and is a means to prevent racism creeping into society.
A Muslim mother is given the highest form of respect.
The living revolutionary Mr. Rajashekar questions what right have the Hindus to criticise the Muslims? Have you ever heard of a Muslim burning his wife? Every day we read in the paper about dowry deaths, Hindu women being burnt by the husband or in-laws. It is a fact that upper caste Hindus ill-treat their women. The Brahmin press has brainwashed all of us saying that Muslims do not give freedom to their women. He again questions, ``Do the Hindus respect their women?`` You be the judge!
`SATI`` - HINDU WIDOW BURNING!
If the Hindu man`s wife dies, he is free to go and find another beautiful woman when he wants. But if the Hindu woman`s husband dies, not only is she prohibited to remarry but she should be cremated along with her dead husband (``Sati``).
According to the Haria, the woman who follows her husband in death purifies three families - her father`s, her mother`s and her husband`s. These Brahmin theologians propagate the theory based in the Vedas that a woman who did not burn herself would never become free of being born as a woman again.
If a woman`s husband was guilty of the murder of a Brahmin or guilty of ``ingratitude`` - then the wife who died clasping his body was said to purify him of his sins.
When His ``Holiness`` Puri Shankaracharya was asked about the fate of the widow`s children, he replied - ``it is fate! Let the children suffer or die without a mother. But SATI has to be performed according to Hinduism``.
``SATI MATA Kl JAI``
The Times of India reported (14-9-87): Jaipur- In what appeared to be a revival of a centuries-old custom of ``Sati``, a young woman belonging to a warrior caste of Rajasthan climbed into the funeral pyre of her husband, police said yesterday. Eighteen-year old Roop Kanwar`s husband, Mansingh, had died in a hospital in Kikar district on Friday, His body was later taken to his home village at Diwrala for cremation. Roop Kanwar sat on the funeral pyre while it was lit by one of Mansingh ` s relatives. Hundreds of villagers who knew of her ``Sati`` well in advance gathered at the spot shouting slogans in praise of the burning widow. Police, who claimed to have received the information late, registered a case against four close relatives of Mansingh for having ``HELPED`` Roop Kanwar commit ``Sati``.
Roop Kanwar`s husband, Mansingh took more than Rs. 100,000 worth of dowry in the form of money, 25 tola of gold, a TV, a radio and a refrigerator. Though Mansingh had demanded dowry worth of 200,000 rupees, her father had success- fully negotiated and reduced the amount to Rs. 100,000/=. So far in the same village more than 23 dowry killings have occurred in the last 3 years as recompense for not bringing the promised dowry in time.
The paper continues that the most revealing statement came from Mr. Cheeta Singh, a village teacher who said: ``After all, she had no life to took forward to. As a widow, remarriage was out of the question in the Hindu tradition bound community``.
The teacher continues: ``The society treats a widow as a ``kulachani`` (an evil omen) and a economic liability. She has to remain barefoot, sleep on the floor and is not allowed to venture out of the house. She is slandered if seen talking to any male. It was better that she died, than live such a life ``he said.
COMPULSORY ``SATI``
A report from REUTER (25-9-87): said that Roop Kanwar was forced onto the funeral pyre against her will and struggled to save her life. Some villagers alleged that Roop Kanwar was forced onto the pyre and that she cried piteously as she died. A police report established conclusively on 4-10-87 that Roop Kanwar did try to escape from the pyre before it was lit. But she was unable to do so as logs of wood were stacked up to her neck. Her screams, which the villagers insist was the recital of ``Gayatri mantra,`` were drowned in the slogans of ``Sati mata kijai`` (long live the lady of ``Sati``). Although neighbours claimed that she was 18, the Times of India quoted school records as showing her date of birth as August 15th 1971.
A survey by a Calcutta Women`s Association reveals that most of the ``Sati`` are conducted because of the compulsion of the dead Hindu husbands close relatives, irrespective of the young widow`s protests to commit suicide. Though the Indian Law prohibits such a cruel act, never in Indian history have any of the dead Hindu husband`s close relatives been punished for forcing such crimes. Had Roop Kunwar died in an accident instead of her husband, Mansingh would have sat as the groom in yet one more marriage ceremony with another beautiful girl. He would also pick up one more dowry worth 100,000 rupees and as a result Mansingh`s parents would have gained another colourful income.
THE FATHER`S REACTION
Knowing that Kanwar`s father would not allow such a cruel murder, Mansingh`s parents had not even informed her father, he came to know of the incidents only through newspaper reports the next day. Roop Kanwar`s father has lost his beautiful, young and only daughter in a cruel forceful murder in the name of Hinduism. Look at the atrocities to the Hindu women. BEING A HINDU WOMAN IS A CURSE.
DR. LAKSHMFS ADVICE TO BRAHMIN WOMEN
Dr. Lakshmi, a well known gynaecologist and social worker from Delhi, and who herself is a Brahmin (and married to the age of 37), suggests that Brahmin women should come out of their shells and act their own since she claims that their corroded thoughts won`t save them at all.
Dr. Lakshmi again claims that most of the women who get married after 25 are not virgins. (Most Brahmin women do not get married until they are 30. For this long delay the Brahmin male is responsible for finally getting a SECOND HAND SPOUSE. She challenges that abstention from sexual activity is against the nature of the human physical body. She also says that it is the responsibility of the society to get them married quickly as in other religions.
She says that if you are a Hindu woman you cannot love anyone you like and you cannot marry anyone whom you choose. Your birth sign (stars) should match your mate`s birth sign. In addition you should meet the unbearable dowry demand.
From the Skanda Purana
The Goddess then entered the palace of the god who bears the moon as his diadem. When the three eyed god saw her he said, ``Damn `women,`` and she bowed to him and said, ``You have spoken truely, and not falsely. This portion of Nature is senseless; women deserve to be reviled. It is the grace of men which brings release from the ocean of existence``. Then Hara rejoiced and said to her, ``Now you are worthy, and I will give you a son who will bring renown to you who are fair and glorious``. Hara, the abode of various wonders, then made love with the Goddess.
Oh You Hindu Awake !
by
Dr. Chatterjee
WOMEN IN HINDUISM
Inequity and degradation of women are sanctified in the Hindu religion. Manu Smriti says:
`` Never trust a woman.
Never sit alone with a woman even if it may be your mother, she may tempt you.
Do not sit alone with your daughter, she may tempt you.
Do not sit alone with your sister, she may tempt you.
Again the same Manu Smriti continues:
``Na stree swadantriya marhathi``.
``No liberty for women in society``.
HINDU WOMEN VS MUSLIM WOMEN
The Brahmin media made a big campaign recently out of the Shah Banu case and they blew it out of all proportion. They implied that Islam restricted the freedom of women. Let us compare the positions of the Hindu woman and the Muslim woman. See the following facts for comparison and then try to bring these Brahmins to their senses.
HINDU WOMAN
The Hindu woman has no right to divorce her husband.
She has no property or inheritance rights.
Choice of partner is limited because she can only marry within her own caste; moreover her horoscope must match that of the intending bridegroom/family.
The family of the girl has to offer an enormous dowry to the bridegroom/family.
If her husband dies she should commit Sati (being cremated with her dead husband). Since today`s law forbids Sati, society mainly punishes her in other ``holy`` ways (see below).
She cannot remarry.
The widow is considered to be a curse and.must not be seen in public. She cannot wear jewellery or colourful clothes. (She should not even take part in her children`s marriage!)
Child and infant marriage is encouraged.
THE MUSLIM WOMAN
The Muslim woman has the same right as the Muslim man in all matters, including divorce.
She enjoys property and inheritance rights. (Which other religion grants women these rights?). She can also conduct her own separate business.
She can marry any Muslim of her choice. If her parents choose a partner for her, her consent has to be taken.
The dowry in Islam is a gift from a husband to his wife (not the other way round as is practised by some ignorant Muslims).
A Muslim widow is encouraged to remarry, and her remarriage is the responsibility of the Muslim society.
Mixed marriage is encouraged and is a means to prevent racism creeping into society.
A Muslim mother is given the highest form of respect.
The living revolutionary Mr. Rajashekar questions what right have the Hindus to criticise the Muslims? Have you ever heard of a Muslim burning his wife? Every day we read in the paper about dowry deaths, Hindu women being burnt by the husband or in-laws. It is a fact that upper caste Hindus ill-treat their women. The Brahmin press has brainwashed all of us saying that Muslims do not give freedom to their women. He again questions, ``Do the Hindus respect their women?`` You be the judge!
`SATI`` - HINDU WIDOW BURNING!
If the Hindu man`s wife dies, he is free to go and find another beautiful woman when he wants. But if the Hindu woman`s husband dies, not only is she prohibited to remarry but she should be cremated along with her dead husband (``Sati``).
According to the Haria, the woman who follows her husband in death purifies three families - her father`s, her mother`s and her husband`s. These Brahmin theologians propagate the theory based in the Vedas that a woman who did not burn herself would never become free of being born as a woman again.
If a woman`s husband was guilty of the murder of a Brahmin or guilty of ``ingratitude`` - then the wife who died clasping his body was said to purify him of his sins.
When His ``Holiness`` Puri Shankaracharya was asked about the fate of the widow`s children, he replied - ``it is fate! Let the children suffer or die without a mother. But SATI has to be performed according to Hinduism``.
``SATI MATA Kl JAI``
The Times of India reported (14-9-87): Jaipur- In what appeared to be a revival of a centuries-old custom of ``Sati``, a young woman belonging to a warrior caste of Rajasthan climbed into the funeral pyre of her husband, police said yesterday. Eighteen-year old Roop Kanwar`s husband, Mansingh, had died in a hospital in Kikar district on Friday, His body was later taken to his home village at Diwrala for cremation. Roop Kanwar sat on the funeral pyre while it was lit by one of Mansingh ` s relatives. Hundreds of villagers who knew of her ``Sati`` well in advance gathered at the spot shouting slogans in praise of the burning widow. Police, who claimed to have received the information late, registered a case against four close relatives of Mansingh for having ``HELPED`` Roop Kanwar commit ``Sati``.
Roop Kanwar`s husband, Mansingh took more than Rs. 100,000 worth of dowry in the form of money, 25 tola of gold, a TV, a radio and a refrigerator. Though Mansingh had demanded dowry worth of 200,000 rupees, her father had success- fully negotiated and reduced the amount to Rs. 100,000/=. So far in the same village more than 23 dowry killings have occurred in the last 3 years as recompense for not bringing the promised dowry in time.
The paper continues that the most revealing statement came from Mr. Cheeta Singh, a village teacher who said: ``After all, she had no life to took forward to. As a widow, remarriage was out of the question in the Hindu tradition bound community``.
The teacher continues: ``The society treats a widow as a ``kulachani`` (an evil omen) and a economic liability. She has to remain barefoot, sleep on the floor and is not allowed to venture out of the house. She is slandered if seen talking to any male. It was better that she died, than live such a life ``he said.
COMPULSORY ``SATI``
A report from REUTER (25-9-87): said that Roop Kanwar was forced onto the funeral pyre against her will and struggled to save her life. Some villagers alleged that Roop Kanwar was forced onto the pyre and that she cried piteously as she died. A police report established conclusively on 4-10-87 that Roop Kanwar did try to escape from the pyre before it was lit. But she was unable to do so as logs of wood were stacked up to her neck. Her screams, which the villagers insist was the recital of ``Gayatri mantra,`` were drowned in the slogans of ``Sati mata kijai`` (long live the lady of ``Sati``). Although neighbours claimed that she was 18, the Times of India quoted school records as showing her date of birth as August 15th 1971.
A survey by a Calcutta Women`s Association reveals that most of the ``Sati`` are conducted because of the compulsion of the dead Hindu husbands close relatives, irrespective of the young widow`s protests to commit suicide. Though the Indian Law prohibits such a cruel act, never in Indian history have any of the dead Hindu husband`s close relatives been punished for forcing such crimes. Had Roop Kunwar died in an accident instead of her husband, Mansingh would have sat as the groom in yet one more marriage ceremony with another beautiful girl. He would also pick up one more dowry worth 100,000 rupees and as a result Mansingh`s parents would have gained another colourful income.
THE FATHER`S REACTION
Knowing that Kanwar`s father would not allow such a cruel murder, Mansingh`s parents had not even informed her father, he came to know of the incidents only through newspaper reports the next day. Roop Kanwar`s father has lost his beautiful, young and only daughter in a cruel forceful murder in the name of Hinduism. Look at the atrocities to the Hindu women. BEING A HINDU WOMAN IS A CURSE.
DR. LAKSHMFS ADVICE TO BRAHMIN WOMEN
Dr. Lakshmi, a well known gynaecologist and social worker from Delhi, and who herself is a Brahmin (and married to the age of 37), suggests that Brahmin women should come out of their shells and act their own since she claims that their corroded thoughts won`t save them at all.
Dr. Lakshmi again claims that most of the women who get married after 25 are not virgins. (Most Brahmin women do not get married until they are 30. For this long delay the Brahmin male is responsible for finally getting a SECOND HAND SPOUSE. She challenges that abstention from sexual activity is against the nature of the human physical body. She also says that it is the responsibility of the society to get them married quickly as in other religions.
She says that if you are a Hindu woman you cannot love anyone you like and you cannot marry anyone whom you choose. Your birth sign (stars) should match your mate`s birth sign. In addition you should meet the unbearable dowry demand.
From the Skanda Purana
The Goddess then entered the palace of the god who bears the moon as his diadem. When the three eyed god saw her he said, ``Damn `women,`` and she bowed to him and said, ``You have spoken truely, and not falsely. This portion of Nature is senseless; women deserve to be reviled. It is the grace of men which brings release from the ocean of existence``. Then Hara rejoiced and said to her, ``Now you are worthy, and I will give you a son who will bring renown to you who are fair and glorious``. Hara, the abode of various wonders, then made love with the Goddess.
#102 Posted by progressive on May 1, 2002 12:13:52 am
Hinduism Exposed
by Dr. Robert A. Morey
Introduction
Hinduism is one of the oldest pre-Christian pagan religions still viable in the world today. While we think of it as the faith of Mother India, it actually traces it origins to a mysterious tribe of Europeans called the Aryans who invaded and conquered Northern India from 1500 BC to 500 BC. The light-skinned Brahmins of Northern India claim to be their physical and spiritual descendants.
The Aryans
The Aryans brought with them their sacred writings called the Vedas. They were originally fire worshippers and this is why they believed in cremation instead of burying their dead. They also invented the theory of soul-transmigration in which at death you do not go to heaven or to hell but you are reborn into another body on earth. This next body could be animal, vegetable or human depending on whether you were good or bad. Your past behavior catches up with you in your present life due to the law of karma.
You could in your next reincarnation end up a clam, a carrot, a bush or a human being. The highest rebirth you could wish for was to be born as one of the white-skinned Brahmins who by virtue of their color were considered the “higher” class.
The Ugly Reality of Racism
The inherent racism of historic Hinduism is thus blatant. You were judged by the color of your skin, not the content of your character, skills or talents. The darker your skin, the lower your caste and rank in Hindu society. The whiter your skin, the higher your caste and rank. The Brahmins prided themselves on their white skin while despising the darker skinned untouchables who were often viewed and treated as sub-humans.
This explains why Hindu gurus are more than willing to travel to the West to convert rich white Europeans to Hinduism BUT never travel to black Africa to make converts. The truth is, they don’t want black people whose skin color is an indication of bad karma. As long as they can sucker rich white people into giving them money (“Money is evil. So give it all to me.”). Why bother with darker skinned people?
This can be documented by the statements of many of the gurus who have reaped riches in the West. When one guru was asked on TV what he was doing to help the poor, he responded, “Let the Christians take care of them. I am here to help the rich.”
The Caste System
The terrible caste system was invented in order to protect the white Brahmins from polluting their sacred whiteness with black blood. You had to marry and to labor in the caste into which you were born. The lines were clearly drawn and on one was allowed to move from one caste to another by marriage or trade.
The mechanism of the caste system is tied to the Hindu theory of soul-transmigration in which your rebirth determines your caste. Your rebirth was predetermined by your karma. Your karma was in turn was determined by how you lived in your past life. For example, if you were born with a dark skin to untouchable parents, your life of misery and poverty is your punishment for being evil in your previous life. In other words, you are getting what you deserved.
The poor, the sick, the disabled, the dark-skinned, etc. are what they are because of their own fault. They deserve their suffering because they did something bad in a previous life and their karma has caught up with them. We should not interfere with their suffering because if we do, we will doom them to experience it in the next life. Thus the kindest thing to do is to let them alone so they get their suffering over and hopefully have a better rebirth the next time around.
On the other hand, if you were born with white skin to Brahmin parents, your life of wealth and pleasure is your reward for good deeds done in your previous life. You deserve to be rich and white. You earned it. Thus you have no moral obligation to help those less fortunate them you.
The social inequities of Hinduism ultimately led millions of lower caste Indians to abandon Hinduism for Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism or Christianity because those religions did not lock them into a rigid caste system. Social and financial mobility required a change of religion. Of course, if you were a rich white Brahmin, why would you convert to a religion that would strip you of your social status and wealth?
Social Evils
Being originally fire worshippers, Hinduism developed the grisly practice of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband (suttee). If she did not willing jump into the fire, she was often thrown into it by the mob gathered to watch her burn to death.
Child sacrifices to animal gods such as sacred crocodiles were common until this Hindu practice was criminalized by the British. The ritual murder and burial of travelers by the Kali cult (the thugees) is another example of Hinduism’s inherently demonic nature and inspiration.
Other immoral practices of Hinduism included using children as sex slaves in Hindu temples. They not only served the sexual perversions of the priests and gurus but were used as prostitutes to bring in money. The poorest of the poor who often could not afford to keep a new child, left the baby in a temple assuming that the child would have a better life with the priests than with its parents. They doomed their child to a life of pain and misery.
The tourist who travels to India’s many temples is often shocked by wall art that depicts sodomy, child sex, orgies and bestiality of the grossest kind. Yet, all this is part of what lies at the core of Hinduism.
The same shock is received when tourists see Hindus drinking urine from animals and humans and smearing dung in their hair and on their body. The smell that emanates from the gurus, monks and holy men of Hinduism is enough to warn us that Hinduism is rotten to the core.
Why are we beginning our discussion of Hinduism with such ugly topics as racism, the caste system, burning of widows, ritual child abuse and gross immorality? To see the true nature of Hinduism we must study what it produces in those societies where it is the dominant religion. Thus a mere abstract philosophic presentation of Hinduism in the classroom will give a false view of it. Hinduism is far more than a list of abstract dogmas. It is actually a social program that seeks to organize a culture according to Hindu concepts of soul-transmigration, karma, race and caste.
The Philosophic Failures of Hinduism
1. Hinduism denies the existence of the infinite/personal triune God of the Bible who exists independent of and apart from the universe which He created out of nothing. It is atheistic in this sense.
2. Hinduism never solved the problem of the One and Many or the infinite/personal dichotomy.
3. Those Hindus who emphasize the One over the Many teach Monism (All is One) and pantheism (All is God), erasing any distinction between Creator and creation. “God” is an impersonal infinite force or power which manifests itself as the universe around us. The “things” we see around us do not really exist per se. They are only illusions of the One. This is what the high caste Hindus teach the Westerners who come to India in search of “enlightenment.”
4. The vast majority of Hindus do not follow the Brahmin doctrine of monism. Instead of emphasizing the One over the Many, they emphasize the Many over the One and practice the most vile forms of polytheism imaginable in which they worship millions of gods and goddesses. It is said that the Hindus worship more gods and goddesses than the total number of Hindus who exist today. They worship snakes, monkeys, elephants, crocodiles, cats, insects and other absurdities.
5. As a world view, Hinduism fails to answer crucial questions:
a. Why does the Universe exist as opposed to not existing? Since it cannot answer this question, Hinduism simply denies the existence of the world around us. It is an illusion (maya) or dream.
b. Is the universe eternal or did it have a beginning? Hinduism has always taught that the universe is eternal. But this has been successfully refuted by modern science. This also exposes an inherent contradiction within Hinduism. If the universe does not exist but is illusionary in nature, how then is it eternal? How can Hinduism speak of the universe going through eternal cycles if the universe does not exist?
c. Why does the Universe exist in such a form that predictability and science are possible? By denying the existence of the world around it, Hinduism did not develop science and cannot exist why it works.
d. What is evil? Once again, since Hinduism could not answer this question, it simply denied that evil existed.
e. Why does evil exist? Hinduism cannot answer this question.
f. What is man? Hinduism denies that we actually exist.
g. How can we explain the uniqueness of man? Hinduism cannot explain why man is distinct from the world around him.
h. Why do we do evil? Hinduism cannot answer this question.
i. What is sin? Because it does not have a concept of a personal/infinite Creator, Hinduism has no concept of “sin” per se.
j. How do we obtain forgiveness for our sins? There is no forgiveness in Hinduism. You will have to suffer in the next life for the evil you do in this present life. This answer exposes an inescapable contradiction within Hindu philosophy. If the universe, evil, and man do not actually exist but are only illusions (Maya), then on what grounds does karma exist? If it does not actually exist either, then on what grounds does reincarnation happen?
k. On what basis can we explain man’s desire for meaning, significance, justice, morals, truth and beauty? Hinduism has no answer to these questions.
l. How can we provide a sufficient basis for meaning, significance, justice, morals, truth and beauty? Hinduism cannot provide a philosophic basis for any of these things.
Conclusion
Hinduism cannot answer the essential philosophic questions that always arise wherever and whenever the human intellect matures. It has been weighed in the scales of truth and has been found lacking.
Even more importantly, Hinduism has no concept of a Creator God, the Creation, the Fall of man into sin and guilt, a Day of Judgment, atonement or forgiveness, or a Savior who redeems us from our sins by the sacrifice of Himself in our place.
It did not produce democracy, science or equality among different races and racks of mankind. Instead it produced great social evils, which afflict the Indian people to this day. As a religion and a philosophy, Hinduism is a complete failure and cannot provide a basis for meaning, significance, justice, morals, truth and beauty.
by Dr. Robert A. Morey
Introduction
Hinduism is one of the oldest pre-Christian pagan religions still viable in the world today. While we think of it as the faith of Mother India, it actually traces it origins to a mysterious tribe of Europeans called the Aryans who invaded and conquered Northern India from 1500 BC to 500 BC. The light-skinned Brahmins of Northern India claim to be their physical and spiritual descendants.
The Aryans
The Aryans brought with them their sacred writings called the Vedas. They were originally fire worshippers and this is why they believed in cremation instead of burying their dead. They also invented the theory of soul-transmigration in which at death you do not go to heaven or to hell but you are reborn into another body on earth. This next body could be animal, vegetable or human depending on whether you were good or bad. Your past behavior catches up with you in your present life due to the law of karma.
You could in your next reincarnation end up a clam, a carrot, a bush or a human being. The highest rebirth you could wish for was to be born as one of the white-skinned Brahmins who by virtue of their color were considered the “higher” class.
The Ugly Reality of Racism
The inherent racism of historic Hinduism is thus blatant. You were judged by the color of your skin, not the content of your character, skills or talents. The darker your skin, the lower your caste and rank in Hindu society. The whiter your skin, the higher your caste and rank. The Brahmins prided themselves on their white skin while despising the darker skinned untouchables who were often viewed and treated as sub-humans.
This explains why Hindu gurus are more than willing to travel to the West to convert rich white Europeans to Hinduism BUT never travel to black Africa to make converts. The truth is, they don’t want black people whose skin color is an indication of bad karma. As long as they can sucker rich white people into giving them money (“Money is evil. So give it all to me.”). Why bother with darker skinned people?
This can be documented by the statements of many of the gurus who have reaped riches in the West. When one guru was asked on TV what he was doing to help the poor, he responded, “Let the Christians take care of them. I am here to help the rich.”
The Caste System
The terrible caste system was invented in order to protect the white Brahmins from polluting their sacred whiteness with black blood. You had to marry and to labor in the caste into which you were born. The lines were clearly drawn and on one was allowed to move from one caste to another by marriage or trade.
The mechanism of the caste system is tied to the Hindu theory of soul-transmigration in which your rebirth determines your caste. Your rebirth was predetermined by your karma. Your karma was in turn was determined by how you lived in your past life. For example, if you were born with a dark skin to untouchable parents, your life of misery and poverty is your punishment for being evil in your previous life. In other words, you are getting what you deserved.
The poor, the sick, the disabled, the dark-skinned, etc. are what they are because of their own fault. They deserve their suffering because they did something bad in a previous life and their karma has caught up with them. We should not interfere with their suffering because if we do, we will doom them to experience it in the next life. Thus the kindest thing to do is to let them alone so they get their suffering over and hopefully have a better rebirth the next time around.
On the other hand, if you were born with white skin to Brahmin parents, your life of wealth and pleasure is your reward for good deeds done in your previous life. You deserve to be rich and white. You earned it. Thus you have no moral obligation to help those less fortunate them you.
The social inequities of Hinduism ultimately led millions of lower caste Indians to abandon Hinduism for Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism or Christianity because those religions did not lock them into a rigid caste system. Social and financial mobility required a change of religion. Of course, if you were a rich white Brahmin, why would you convert to a religion that would strip you of your social status and wealth?
Social Evils
Being originally fire worshippers, Hinduism developed the grisly practice of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband (suttee). If she did not willing jump into the fire, she was often thrown into it by the mob gathered to watch her burn to death.
Child sacrifices to animal gods such as sacred crocodiles were common until this Hindu practice was criminalized by the British. The ritual murder and burial of travelers by the Kali cult (the thugees) is another example of Hinduism’s inherently demonic nature and inspiration.
Other immoral practices of Hinduism included using children as sex slaves in Hindu temples. They not only served the sexual perversions of the priests and gurus but were used as prostitutes to bring in money. The poorest of the poor who often could not afford to keep a new child, left the baby in a temple assuming that the child would have a better life with the priests than with its parents. They doomed their child to a life of pain and misery.
The tourist who travels to India’s many temples is often shocked by wall art that depicts sodomy, child sex, orgies and bestiality of the grossest kind. Yet, all this is part of what lies at the core of Hinduism.
The same shock is received when tourists see Hindus drinking urine from animals and humans and smearing dung in their hair and on their body. The smell that emanates from the gurus, monks and holy men of Hinduism is enough to warn us that Hinduism is rotten to the core.
Why are we beginning our discussion of Hinduism with such ugly topics as racism, the caste system, burning of widows, ritual child abuse and gross immorality? To see the true nature of Hinduism we must study what it produces in those societies where it is the dominant religion. Thus a mere abstract philosophic presentation of Hinduism in the classroom will give a false view of it. Hinduism is far more than a list of abstract dogmas. It is actually a social program that seeks to organize a culture according to Hindu concepts of soul-transmigration, karma, race and caste.
The Philosophic Failures of Hinduism
1. Hinduism denies the existence of the infinite/personal triune God of the Bible who exists independent of and apart from the universe which He created out of nothing. It is atheistic in this sense.
2. Hinduism never solved the problem of the One and Many or the infinite/personal dichotomy.
3. Those Hindus who emphasize the One over the Many teach Monism (All is One) and pantheism (All is God), erasing any distinction between Creator and creation. “God” is an impersonal infinite force or power which manifests itself as the universe around us. The “things” we see around us do not really exist per se. They are only illusions of the One. This is what the high caste Hindus teach the Westerners who come to India in search of “enlightenment.”
4. The vast majority of Hindus do not follow the Brahmin doctrine of monism. Instead of emphasizing the One over the Many, they emphasize the Many over the One and practice the most vile forms of polytheism imaginable in which they worship millions of gods and goddesses. It is said that the Hindus worship more gods and goddesses than the total number of Hindus who exist today. They worship snakes, monkeys, elephants, crocodiles, cats, insects and other absurdities.
5. As a world view, Hinduism fails to answer crucial questions:
a. Why does the Universe exist as opposed to not existing? Since it cannot answer this question, Hinduism simply denies the existence of the world around us. It is an illusion (maya) or dream.
b. Is the universe eternal or did it have a beginning? Hinduism has always taught that the universe is eternal. But this has been successfully refuted by modern science. This also exposes an inherent contradiction within Hinduism. If the universe does not exist but is illusionary in nature, how then is it eternal? How can Hinduism speak of the universe going through eternal cycles if the universe does not exist?
c. Why does the Universe exist in such a form that predictability and science are possible? By denying the existence of the world around it, Hinduism did not develop science and cannot exist why it works.
d. What is evil? Once again, since Hinduism could not answer this question, it simply denied that evil existed.
e. Why does evil exist? Hinduism cannot answer this question.
f. What is man? Hinduism denies that we actually exist.
g. How can we explain the uniqueness of man? Hinduism cannot explain why man is distinct from the world around him.
h. Why do we do evil? Hinduism cannot answer this question.
i. What is sin? Because it does not have a concept of a personal/infinite Creator, Hinduism has no concept of “sin” per se.
j. How do we obtain forgiveness for our sins? There is no forgiveness in Hinduism. You will have to suffer in the next life for the evil you do in this present life. This answer exposes an inescapable contradiction within Hindu philosophy. If the universe, evil, and man do not actually exist but are only illusions (Maya), then on what grounds does karma exist? If it does not actually exist either, then on what grounds does reincarnation happen?
k. On what basis can we explain man’s desire for meaning, significance, justice, morals, truth and beauty? Hinduism has no answer to these questions.
l. How can we provide a sufficient basis for meaning, significance, justice, morals, truth and beauty? Hinduism cannot provide a philosophic basis for any of these things.
Conclusion
Hinduism cannot answer the essential philosophic questions that always arise wherever and whenever the human intellect matures. It has been weighed in the scales of truth and has been found lacking.
Even more importantly, Hinduism has no concept of a Creator God, the Creation, the Fall of man into sin and guilt, a Day of Judgment, atonement or forgiveness, or a Savior who redeems us from our sins by the sacrifice of Himself in our place.
It did not produce democracy, science or equality among different races and racks of mankind. Instead it produced great social evils, which afflict the Indian people to this day. As a religion and a philosophy, Hinduism is a complete failure and cannot provide a basis for meaning, significance, justice, morals, truth and beauty.
#101 Posted by progressive on May 1, 2002 12:13:52 am
FLUSH out the brahmin
Varnashrama Dharma
(The Taproot of Racism in the World)
A few years ago, a group of Brahmins filed a petition with the Backward Commission at Mylapore, Chennai, India, requesting backward community status. On October 8th, 1995 the Tamilnadu Brahmin Association organized a rally ``Demanding 20% Exclusive Reservation for hitherto neglected Forward Communities in Tamilnadu``. These are unusual happenings in the Brahmin community, and why are these things transpiring?
One sympathizes with the Brahmin community in the problems that they face, but to understand the cause of these things we have to look at history and comprehend certain facts from it. The Brahmin community is generally classified as from the mythical Aryan race that entered India sometime after the 1st millennium BC. The word Aryan is derived from the Sanskrit word `arya` which means noble. They were the first of the so called Aryans that came into India for survival. However, they were a very small minority compared to the Dravidians who were the local inhabitants of India. The Dravidians were an advanced civilization as evidenced by the archaeological excavations in the Indus Valley.
This minority Brahmin community to preserve self interests, resorted to deceptive ways. As nomads passing through West Asia, they had gathered much of the religious beliefs of the local inhabitants. With this background, they portrayed themselves as priests and used religion to gain political and economic control of India. They devised the ``Varnashrama Dharma or Manu Dharma`` (caste system) which teaches that God did not create all men equal, but in a hierarchy. Of course Brahmins were at the top of this hierarchy and established themselves as mediators between God and Man.
Over the years the caste system has been used to cause divisions and conflicts amongst the Dravidians while Brahmin control of India was maintained. However, there was a heavy price for this, and that price was not paid by the Brahmins, but by the Dravidians. Many innocent lives have been either seriously hurt or killed, and certain people are living under the most oppressive circumstances. Few years ago a five year old child in Salem district was blinded in one eye by a teacher because she dipped her cup in the drinking water pot at the Government school where she was a student. It is interesting to note that such caste prejudiced practices do not occur in private schools. Two circulars of the Brahmin Samaj and RSS (recently published in various magazines) show the horrifying extent to which some Brahmins would go to preserve their own self interests. Certainly even though every Brahmin may not be individually involved, the general Brahmin community reaction has been one of indifference to these things.
The Deivanayagams in their newsletter, Dravida Samayam, dated June, 1998 write,
When the Europeans came to India, the Brahmins supported and assisted them to capture the political power of India and enslave the Indians. This is not new since when we analyze the history of India, it is revealed that the Aryan Brahmins have acted as the traitors through the ages. The Europeans were made to believe that they and the Aryan Brahmins were from the same stock, and since the Aryan Brahmins supported and assisted the Europeans to capture the political power of India, they made the world believe that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu Religion. Thus they have attributed special achievements and qualities to the Brahmins and have deceived the whole world.
Though history reveals the fact that Hindu Religion is of the Dravidians and the Aryans have nothing to do with Hindu Religion, it was made to believe that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu Religion. The Europeans who coined the term `Hinduism` to denote all the Indian religions, made the world to believe that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu religion. Hence, international scholars often write that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu religion.
The question immediately arises as to why the Europeans propagated this ideology to the world, and the Deivanayagams give the answer.
There are many similarities between the Aryan Brahmins and the Europeans. Both of them were proud of their light complexion and followed color discrimination. They came from the outside into India and were involved in activities with the motive of exploiting and enslaving the Indians. They prided themselves as superior over the Indians, the Dravidians, though the divine thoughts and philosophies originated from the Dravidians, and looked upon others as inferior to themselves. However, the concept of the Dravidians is `Every country is my country and all are my kith and kin` and they wanted to be affectionate and friendly with everyone. The Aryan Brahmins pretended that they were spiritualists (soulists) and claimed that the Vedas, which were compiled by a Dravidian, Veda Vyasa, belong to them and enslaved the people in the guise of religion. Similarly the Europeans claimed that the Bible belonged to them, and showed themselves as the leaders of Christianity, while involved in activities which enslaved others.
Even though the Aryans claim that the Vedas belong to them, no correlation can be seen between the Vedas and the Hindu Religion. In the Vedas the names of Saivite and Vaishnavite Gods and Goddesses do not occur, and there is no place for these deities. Nature worship is predominant in the Vedas and they are Agni (Fire), Varuna (Water), Vayu (air)...etc. Since they are fire worshippers, during their special family occasions, as the Saivite and Vaishnavite priests instead of worshipping Siva or Vishnu, they worship and give importance to Agni (Fire), and they degraded Siva as the God of Sudras.
Thus, the Aryans developed the Manudharmasasthra in order to bring racism into Indian society. They elevated themselves as a superior caste by birth and degraded the Dravidians as a lower caste by birth. The Deivanayagams write,
In Northern India after the reign of Harsha, that is in the 7th c.A.D., the reign of ‘Huns’ started spreading and they are referred to as demonic hordes by the historians. Huns were the cruel rulers who tyrannically suppressed and oppressed the Dravidians in northern India from 7th c.A.D. to 12th c.A.D. During this period the 1) Persians 2) Greeks 3) Sakas 4) Romans 5) Kushans and the 6) Huns who came to India in different periods without any religion were united as Aryans (Sanskrit word for noble) and were ruling. During this time, the Aryan laws like Manudharma Sasthra, which elevate the Aryans (foreigners) and degrade the Dravidians (Indians) were devised.
Another interesting fact is brought out by the Deivanayagams,
In the book titled ‘Sacred books of the East’ the author Maxmuller expounded the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Manusmrthi etc. However, he did not mention any one of the Tamil literatures of the east viz. Tevaram, Thiruvasagam, Nalaira Divya Prabhandham etc., which are the foundational sacred books for Saivism and Vaishnavism.
Why did he neglect the other sacred books of the east? The Deivanayagams write,
The Aryans have an international organization known as ‘International Aryan league’ and they work tirelessly together irrespective of religion, nation, language etc. Since their prime motive is to establish their supremacy and enslave others in their thinking and social life, they are united together in their efforts to achieve their purpose.
Racism, based on one`s skin color or varna, as a well-developed theory in the world society is a fairly recent phenomenon. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that,
The 18th century was predominantly environmentalist in its outlook; the science of that day tended to attribute social behavior either to climatic and geographical environment or to sociocultural factors. Racism as a widely accepted ``scientific`` theory of behavior did not appear until the 19th century, which was the age of racism par excellence. Although Charles Darwin himself was not a racist, his theory of biological evolution was extended to social evolution, giving birth to the theory of social Darwinism. Mankind was regarded as having achieved various levels of evolution, culminating in the white-European civilization. These stages of evolution were thought to be related to the innate genetic capabilities of the various peoples of the world. By the second half of the 19th century, racism was accepted as fact by the vast majority of Western scientists, and various forms of it were popularized through the writings of Joseph-Arthur, comte de Gobineau. Houston Stuart Chamberlian, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Rosenberg, and Adolf Hitler.
A question naturally rises as to why racism arose in the world society in the 19th century, though it has been prevalent in India from about the 8th century, that is from the time of Adi Sankara. The answer is found in the fact that in 1794 William Jones started publishing his translation of Manu Dharma which was in Sanskrit into English. The British Dictionary of National Biography states,
As a great Jurist Jones understood that the power of England in India must rest on good administration, and that the first requisite was to obtain a thorough mastery of the existing systems of law in India, and to have them codified and explained. In short, in his own words, `he purposed to be the Justinian of India` (TEIGNMOUTH, ii. 88). With this idea in his mind, he decided to prepare a complete digest of Hindu and Muhammadan law, as observed in India : and to assist him in the colossal labor he collected round him learned native pundits and Muhammadan lawyers. He did not live long enough to complete this task, but he was enabled to publish the first stages in his masterly rendering of the `Institutes of Hindu Law, or the Ordinances of Menu (Manu), 1794.........
The Brahmins were quick to portray Manu Dharma as the Hindu law, and through the translation of William Jones this poison entered the society of the world. As stated earlier racism was accepted as fact by a vast majority by the second half of the 19th century and many European scholars under it`s influence started identifying with the Brahmins. A.A. McDonnell in his book titled `India`s Past` (Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1927) writes,
``This work summarizes India`s intellectual history, which in its various aspects has been the subject of my studies for slightly more than half a century (1875 to 1926). It sets forth in nine chapters the mental development of the most easterly branch of Aryan civilization since it entered India by land till it came in contact by sea with the most westerly branch of the same civilization after a separation of at least 3,000 years. The four centuries that have since elapsed (1498 to 1926) are here touched upon only as showing the most recent distribution of the Indian vernaculars and the rise of their literature, as well as the process by which the development of the purely indigenous period gradually became known to the new-comers from the west....These two civilizations, starting from a common source, have after a separation of at least 3,000 years again become united during the last four centuries, representing together a quarter of the total of the earth`s inhabitants. During these four centuries the new-comers from the west have gained acquaintance with and recovered the history of India`s past mental development. At this, as set forth in the following pages, will, I trust, contribute something to clearer mutual understanding by two civilizations which in their origin were one and the same``.
Remember Hitler who identified himself with the mythical Aryan race, and the world is yet to recover from Nazism. If racism was to be eradicated, there must be specific and coordinated action both within the organizations themselves and society at large, particularly through the educational system from pre-primary school, upwards and onwards (Case of Stephen Lawrence). In India presently the reverse of this is happening. Religious organizations like the VHP raise massive funds at home and abroad under the guise of charity, but use it to promote violence, communal hatred and historical deception
Varnashrama Dharma
(The Taproot of Racism in the World)
A few years ago, a group of Brahmins filed a petition with the Backward Commission at Mylapore, Chennai, India, requesting backward community status. On October 8th, 1995 the Tamilnadu Brahmin Association organized a rally ``Demanding 20% Exclusive Reservation for hitherto neglected Forward Communities in Tamilnadu``. These are unusual happenings in the Brahmin community, and why are these things transpiring?
One sympathizes with the Brahmin community in the problems that they face, but to understand the cause of these things we have to look at history and comprehend certain facts from it. The Brahmin community is generally classified as from the mythical Aryan race that entered India sometime after the 1st millennium BC. The word Aryan is derived from the Sanskrit word `arya` which means noble. They were the first of the so called Aryans that came into India for survival. However, they were a very small minority compared to the Dravidians who were the local inhabitants of India. The Dravidians were an advanced civilization as evidenced by the archaeological excavations in the Indus Valley.
This minority Brahmin community to preserve self interests, resorted to deceptive ways. As nomads passing through West Asia, they had gathered much of the religious beliefs of the local inhabitants. With this background, they portrayed themselves as priests and used religion to gain political and economic control of India. They devised the ``Varnashrama Dharma or Manu Dharma`` (caste system) which teaches that God did not create all men equal, but in a hierarchy. Of course Brahmins were at the top of this hierarchy and established themselves as mediators between God and Man.
Over the years the caste system has been used to cause divisions and conflicts amongst the Dravidians while Brahmin control of India was maintained. However, there was a heavy price for this, and that price was not paid by the Brahmins, but by the Dravidians. Many innocent lives have been either seriously hurt or killed, and certain people are living under the most oppressive circumstances. Few years ago a five year old child in Salem district was blinded in one eye by a teacher because she dipped her cup in the drinking water pot at the Government school where she was a student. It is interesting to note that such caste prejudiced practices do not occur in private schools. Two circulars of the Brahmin Samaj and RSS (recently published in various magazines) show the horrifying extent to which some Brahmins would go to preserve their own self interests. Certainly even though every Brahmin may not be individually involved, the general Brahmin community reaction has been one of indifference to these things.
The Deivanayagams in their newsletter, Dravida Samayam, dated June, 1998 write,
When the Europeans came to India, the Brahmins supported and assisted them to capture the political power of India and enslave the Indians. This is not new since when we analyze the history of India, it is revealed that the Aryan Brahmins have acted as the traitors through the ages. The Europeans were made to believe that they and the Aryan Brahmins were from the same stock, and since the Aryan Brahmins supported and assisted the Europeans to capture the political power of India, they made the world believe that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu Religion. Thus they have attributed special achievements and qualities to the Brahmins and have deceived the whole world.
Though history reveals the fact that Hindu Religion is of the Dravidians and the Aryans have nothing to do with Hindu Religion, it was made to believe that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu Religion. The Europeans who coined the term `Hinduism` to denote all the Indian religions, made the world to believe that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu religion. Hence, international scholars often write that the Brahmins are the leaders of Hindu religion.
The question immediately arises as to why the Europeans propagated this ideology to the world, and the Deivanayagams give the answer.
There are many similarities between the Aryan Brahmins and the Europeans. Both of them were proud of their light complexion and followed color discrimination. They came from the outside into India and were involved in activities with the motive of exploiting and enslaving the Indians. They prided themselves as superior over the Indians, the Dravidians, though the divine thoughts and philosophies originated from the Dravidians, and looked upon others as inferior to themselves. However, the concept of the Dravidians is `Every country is my country and all are my kith and kin` and they wanted to be affectionate and friendly with everyone. The Aryan Brahmins pretended that they were spiritualists (soulists) and claimed that the Vedas, which were compiled by a Dravidian, Veda Vyasa, belong to them and enslaved the people in the guise of religion. Similarly the Europeans claimed that the Bible belonged to them, and showed themselves as the leaders of Christianity, while involved in activities which enslaved others.
Even though the Aryans claim that the Vedas belong to them, no correlation can be seen between the Vedas and the Hindu Religion. In the Vedas the names of Saivite and Vaishnavite Gods and Goddesses do not occur, and there is no place for these deities. Nature worship is predominant in the Vedas and they are Agni (Fire), Varuna (Water), Vayu (air)...etc. Since they are fire worshippers, during their special family occasions, as the Saivite and Vaishnavite priests instead of worshipping Siva or Vishnu, they worship and give importance to Agni (Fire), and they degraded Siva as the God of Sudras.
Thus, the Aryans developed the Manudharmasasthra in order to bring racism into Indian society. They elevated themselves as a superior caste by birth and degraded the Dravidians as a lower caste by birth. The Deivanayagams write,
In Northern India after the reign of Harsha, that is in the 7th c.A.D., the reign of ‘Huns’ started spreading and they are referred to as demonic hordes by the historians. Huns were the cruel rulers who tyrannically suppressed and oppressed the Dravidians in northern India from 7th c.A.D. to 12th c.A.D. During this period the 1) Persians 2) Greeks 3) Sakas 4) Romans 5) Kushans and the 6) Huns who came to India in different periods without any religion were united as Aryans (Sanskrit word for noble) and were ruling. During this time, the Aryan laws like Manudharma Sasthra, which elevate the Aryans (foreigners) and degrade the Dravidians (Indians) were devised.
Another interesting fact is brought out by the Deivanayagams,
In the book titled ‘Sacred books of the East’ the author Maxmuller expounded the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Manusmrthi etc. However, he did not mention any one of the Tamil literatures of the east viz. Tevaram, Thiruvasagam, Nalaira Divya Prabhandham etc., which are the foundational sacred books for Saivism and Vaishnavism.
Why did he neglect the other sacred books of the east? The Deivanayagams write,
The Aryans have an international organization known as ‘International Aryan league’ and they work tirelessly together irrespective of religion, nation, language etc. Since their prime motive is to establish their supremacy and enslave others in their thinking and social life, they are united together in their efforts to achieve their purpose.
Racism, based on one`s skin color or varna, as a well-developed theory in the world society is a fairly recent phenomenon. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that,
The 18th century was predominantly environmentalist in its outlook; the science of that day tended to attribute social behavior either to climatic and geographical environment or to sociocultural factors. Racism as a widely accepted ``scientific`` theory of behavior did not appear until the 19th century, which was the age of racism par excellence. Although Charles Darwin himself was not a racist, his theory of biological evolution was extended to social evolution, giving birth to the theory of social Darwinism. Mankind was regarded as having achieved various levels of evolution, culminating in the white-European civilization. These stages of evolution were thought to be related to the innate genetic capabilities of the various peoples of the world. By the second half of the 19th century, racism was accepted as fact by the vast majority of Western scientists, and various forms of it were popularized through the writings of Joseph-Arthur, comte de Gobineau. Houston Stuart Chamberlian, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Rosenberg, and Adolf Hitler.
A question naturally rises as to why racism arose in the world society in the 19th century, though it has been prevalent in India from about the 8th century, that is from the time of Adi Sankara. The answer is found in the fact that in 1794 William Jones started publishing his translation of Manu Dharma which was in Sanskrit into English. The British Dictionary of National Biography states,
As a great Jurist Jones understood that the power of England in India must rest on good administration, and that the first requisite was to obtain a thorough mastery of the existing systems of law in India, and to have them codified and explained. In short, in his own words, `he purposed to be the Justinian of India` (TEIGNMOUTH, ii. 88). With this idea in his mind, he decided to prepare a complete digest of Hindu and Muhammadan law, as observed in India : and to assist him in the colossal labor he collected round him learned native pundits and Muhammadan lawyers. He did not live long enough to complete this task, but he was enabled to publish the first stages in his masterly rendering of the `Institutes of Hindu Law, or the Ordinances of Menu (Manu), 1794.........
The Brahmins were quick to portray Manu Dharma as the Hindu law, and through the translation of William Jones this poison entered the society of the world. As stated earlier racism was accepted as fact by a vast majority by the second half of the 19th century and many European scholars under it`s influence started identifying with the Brahmins. A.A. McDonnell in his book titled `India`s Past` (Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1927) writes,
``This work summarizes India`s intellectual history, which in its various aspects has been the subject of my studies for slightly more than half a century (1875 to 1926). It sets forth in nine chapters the mental development of the most easterly branch of Aryan civilization since it entered India by land till it came in contact by sea with the most westerly branch of the same civilization after a separation of at least 3,000 years. The four centuries that have since elapsed (1498 to 1926) are here touched upon only as showing the most recent distribution of the Indian vernaculars and the rise of their literature, as well as the process by which the development of the purely indigenous period gradually became known to the new-comers from the west....These two civilizations, starting from a common source, have after a separation of at least 3,000 years again become united during the last four centuries, representing together a quarter of the total of the earth`s inhabitants. During these four centuries the new-comers from the west have gained acquaintance with and recovered the history of India`s past mental development. At this, as set forth in the following pages, will, I trust, contribute something to clearer mutual understanding by two civilizations which in their origin were one and the same``.
Remember Hitler who identified himself with the mythical Aryan race, and the world is yet to recover from Nazism. If racism was to be eradicated, there must be specific and coordinated action both within the organizations themselves and society at large, particularly through the educational system from pre-primary school, upwards and onwards (Case of Stephen Lawrence). In India presently the reverse of this is happening. Religious organizations like the VHP raise massive funds at home and abroad under the guise of charity, but use it to promote violence, communal hatred and historical deception
#100 Posted by progressive on May 1, 2002 12:13:52 am
The UGLY face of the brahmin
Aug. 26, 2001
INDIA`S `HIDDEN APARTHEID`
NEW YORK - In a uniquely Indian version of Romeo and Juliette, a teenage girl and boy were publicly lynched earlier this month in rural Uttar Pradesh. The girl`s parents and hundreds of villagers watched and applauded.
The crime? The girl was a Brahmin, Hinduism`s highest caste; the boy, a Jat, a somewhat lower, though still respectable, farming caste. The girl`s family had been `defiled` by their daughter crossing the `pollution barrier` to consort with a lower caste boy. The appropriate punishment was death.
At the end of August, India, a self-professed champion of human rights, will attend the UN`s conference on racism in Durban, South Africa. While the US is frantically trying to shield its protégé, Israel, from charges of racism at Durban, India is just as frantically trying to prevent its caste system, which is often called `hidden apartheid,` from being put onto the conference`s agenda.
For decades, India loudly denounced discrimination against blacks in the US and South Africa. But hidden from the world`s gaze, India, according to many human rights groups, continues to practice and condone the world`s largest, most pernicious system of institutionalized racism and discrimination, the caste system.
Of India`s 1 billion people, 160 million are untouchables, or `Dalits`(meaning: `broken people`). Untouchables are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system of segregation; light-skinned Brahmins at the top. In between are a myriad of castes and sub-castes. Untouchables, India`s poorest people, are forced to perform society`s most menial, degrading tasks.
Untouchables are barred from sections of villages inhabited by higher caste Hindus. A Dalit`s `unclean` shadow must never fall upon that of a Brahmin, lest he be defiled. Dalits may not draw water from higher caste wells, nor touch food implements of their betters. They may not enter higher caste temples, nor own land. Their children sit in the back of classrooms, or are simply denied schooling.
The ancient Hindu caste system dates back to 1500 BC when fair-skinned Aryan tribes invaded northern India. The newcomers conquered India`s dark-skinned indigenous Dravidian inhabitants. Though occupation and rank originally determined caste, over centuries caste came to be associated with skin color. Even in overseas Indian communities, including Canada, caste still reigns. Marriage solicitations routinely request `light-skinned` boys or girls.
Fair-skinned Brahmins, 3.5% of the population, are India`s ruling elite, holding 78% of judicial positions and half parliament`s seats. In recent tests, Indian scientists discovered that high-caste Hindus, particularly Brahmins, are genetically closer to Europeans than they are to dark-skinned, Dravidian Indians. Caste became a rigid system whereby India`s fair-skinned ruling class kept lower and swarthier orders in their places - as laborers, landless peasants, and servants - exploiting them in the name of religion.
The Sikh religion and Islam both reject the Hindu caste system. Millions of low caste Indians found refuge from racial oppression as Sikhs, Muslims, and, more recently, Christians. All three religions have been and remain subject to varying forms of persecution by India`s Hindu majority.
Dalits are forced to clean public toilettes and remove human feces, usually with their hands. They sweep up after Indians defecate in the streets and move dead animals. According to an extensive report on caste by the respected Human Rights Watch, large numbers of Dalit women are routinely raped and forced to become sex slaves for Hindu priests and land owners. Of India`s estimated 40 million indentured laborers - a modern form of slavery - most are Dalit children, often sold into lifelong servitude by starving parents.
When Dalits try to defend themselves from abuse and exploitation, they are attacked by higher-caste gangs and local police. Their shanties are burned and their women gang raped. Dalits, like Muslim Kashmiris, are frequently subjected to beatings, rape, torture and arson by India`s brutal police, says Human Rights Watch. The recent case of India`s famed `Bandit Queen,` a Dalit woman who killed a score of higher caste men who had raped her, is but one dramatic example of the suffering inflicted by India`s cruel caste system, which makes South Africa`s former apartheid look benign by comparison.
Modern India`s father, the great Mohandas Gandhi, struggled against caste and called for liberation of Dalits. India outlawed discrimination against untouchables in the 1950`s, and has enacted affirmative action programs for Dalits in education, voting, and government jobs. Nepal just followed suit this summer. India`s president, a ceremonial post, is a Dalit, though most of its leaders, like PM Vajypee and Home Minster L.K. Adveni, are high-caste, fair-skinned Hindus.
`The Indian government has been very successful at manufacturing an image as the world`s largest democracy,` says Smita Narula, author of the Human Rights Watch report, …`but none of its (anti-discrimination) laws are implemented and the Constitution is not enforced.`
Delhi simply winks at the widescale oppression of Dalits across India, remembering them only at election time. India appears unlikely to make a major national effort to root out the deeply ingrained caste system until worldwide outrage shames India`s elite into taking drastic action. Durban would be a good start. India won`t achieve the international respect and great power status it so craves until the evil of caste is ended for good.
Copyright: Eric S. Margolis 2001
Aug. 26, 2001
INDIA`S `HIDDEN APARTHEID`
NEW YORK - In a uniquely Indian version of Romeo and Juliette, a teenage girl and boy were publicly lynched earlier this month in rural Uttar Pradesh. The girl`s parents and hundreds of villagers watched and applauded.
The crime? The girl was a Brahmin, Hinduism`s highest caste; the boy, a Jat, a somewhat lower, though still respectable, farming caste. The girl`s family had been `defiled` by their daughter crossing the `pollution barrier` to consort with a lower caste boy. The appropriate punishment was death.
At the end of August, India, a self-professed champion of human rights, will attend the UN`s conference on racism in Durban, South Africa. While the US is frantically trying to shield its protégé, Israel, from charges of racism at Durban, India is just as frantically trying to prevent its caste system, which is often called `hidden apartheid,` from being put onto the conference`s agenda.
For decades, India loudly denounced discrimination against blacks in the US and South Africa. But hidden from the world`s gaze, India, according to many human rights groups, continues to practice and condone the world`s largest, most pernicious system of institutionalized racism and discrimination, the caste system.
Of India`s 1 billion people, 160 million are untouchables, or `Dalits`(meaning: `broken people`). Untouchables are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system of segregation; light-skinned Brahmins at the top. In between are a myriad of castes and sub-castes. Untouchables, India`s poorest people, are forced to perform society`s most menial, degrading tasks.
Untouchables are barred from sections of villages inhabited by higher caste Hindus. A Dalit`s `unclean` shadow must never fall upon that of a Brahmin, lest he be defiled. Dalits may not draw water from higher caste wells, nor touch food implements of their betters. They may not enter higher caste temples, nor own land. Their children sit in the back of classrooms, or are simply denied schooling.
The ancient Hindu caste system dates back to 1500 BC when fair-skinned Aryan tribes invaded northern India. The newcomers conquered India`s dark-skinned indigenous Dravidian inhabitants. Though occupation and rank originally determined caste, over centuries caste came to be associated with skin color. Even in overseas Indian communities, including Canada, caste still reigns. Marriage solicitations routinely request `light-skinned` boys or girls.
Fair-skinned Brahmins, 3.5% of the population, are India`s ruling elite, holding 78% of judicial positions and half parliament`s seats. In recent tests, Indian scientists discovered that high-caste Hindus, particularly Brahmins, are genetically closer to Europeans than they are to dark-skinned, Dravidian Indians. Caste became a rigid system whereby India`s fair-skinned ruling class kept lower and swarthier orders in their places - as laborers, landless peasants, and servants - exploiting them in the name of religion.
The Sikh religion and Islam both reject the Hindu caste system. Millions of low caste Indians found refuge from racial oppression as Sikhs, Muslims, and, more recently, Christians. All three religions have been and remain subject to varying forms of persecution by India`s Hindu majority.
Dalits are forced to clean public toilettes and remove human feces, usually with their hands. They sweep up after Indians defecate in the streets and move dead animals. According to an extensive report on caste by the respected Human Rights Watch, large numbers of Dalit women are routinely raped and forced to become sex slaves for Hindu priests and land owners. Of India`s estimated 40 million indentured laborers - a modern form of slavery - most are Dalit children, often sold into lifelong servitude by starving parents.
When Dalits try to defend themselves from abuse and exploitation, they are attacked by higher-caste gangs and local police. Their shanties are burned and their women gang raped. Dalits, like Muslim Kashmiris, are frequently subjected to beatings, rape, torture and arson by India`s brutal police, says Human Rights Watch. The recent case of India`s famed `Bandit Queen,` a Dalit woman who killed a score of higher caste men who had raped her, is but one dramatic example of the suffering inflicted by India`s cruel caste system, which makes South Africa`s former apartheid look benign by comparison.
Modern India`s father, the great Mohandas Gandhi, struggled against caste and called for liberation of Dalits. India outlawed discrimination against untouchables in the 1950`s, and has enacted affirmative action programs for Dalits in education, voting, and government jobs. Nepal just followed suit this summer. India`s president, a ceremonial post, is a Dalit, though most of its leaders, like PM Vajypee and Home Minster L.K. Adveni, are high-caste, fair-skinned Hindus.
`The Indian government has been very successful at manufacturing an image as the world`s largest democracy,` says Smita Narula, author of the Human Rights Watch report, …`but none of its (anti-discrimination) laws are implemented and the Constitution is not enforced.`
Delhi simply winks at the widescale oppression of Dalits across India, remembering them only at election time. India appears unlikely to make a major national effort to root out the deeply ingrained caste system until worldwide outrage shames India`s elite into taking drastic action. Durban would be a good start. India won`t achieve the international respect and great power status it so craves until the evil of caste is ended for good.
Copyright: Eric S. Margolis 2001
#99 Posted by subroto on April 30, 2002 10:50:55 pm
Farzana so you are one of the Ismaili`s People (Sorry no offence meant, just couldn`t resist that one, God knows I`ve been restraining myself for how long). So forget about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, any community that makes such fantastic biryani (and other yummies) has got to be smiling.
#98 Posted by progressive on April 30, 2002 8:11:25 pm
Some glimpses into the barbarity of Britto Babboons
__________________________________________________
The high handed ways of the East India Company made it unpopular amongst the Indians. The pent up feelings snowballed over the use of cow and pig fat in bullets, which hurt the religious sentiments of the Indian troops. Just a century after the Battle of Plassey, in 1857, Mangal Pandey, shot his Sergeant Major in the Parade Grounds at Barrackpore, a cantonment near Calcutta. He was hanged and his infantry was disbanded. This was one of the first events of what is known as the First Battle of Independence or the Sepoy Mutiny depending on the perspective of the concerned historian. The revolt soon spread throughout the country in various forms but the Company was able to put down the struggle. The end of the struggle also ended the remnants of the once mighty Mughal empire. The last emperor of the Mughal Dynasty - Bahadur Shah II was deposed and died in Burma. The revolt of 1857 led to the British Crown assuming complete control of the Indian territories. Queen Victoria assumed the Government of India on 1st November 1858. Calcutta became the Royal Capital of India ruled by a Governor General and Viceroy. Queen Victoria became the Empress of India on 1st January 1877 and Calcutta became the Imperial Capital.
The World War I didn`t have much effect on Calcutta, except when a German cruiser ,Emden, forced the closure of Calcutta port for a month. During this time Bagha Jatin (Jatindranath Mukherjee; 1879-1915) with the help of Germany tried to smuggle in arms from the Maverick ship. However he was injured in a police encounter near Balasore, Orissa and succumbed to his injuries. Calcutta`s importance as a trading center attracted the enterprising Marwaris of Rajasthan. The Birlas set up jute mills followed by other Marwaris. The control of business and commerce started a slow shift from the British companies towards the Marwaris. With the end of World War I, the British soon began to face resistance from all regions of India. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Bose charged up the independence movement. At a special Congress session in Calcutta in 1920, Gandhiji decided to start the Noncooperation Movement, adhering to the principles of ahimsa (nonviolence). The theory of ahimsa had its critics and around the same time many political leaders from Bengal and Calcutta toed a different line from the Congress movement. The Congress started the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930 - 1934) and the Quit India Movement in 1942. Parallel to this terrorism and rebellions against the British rule continued.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945)
World War II saw the forcible alliance of India on the side of the Allies. Indian troops fought side by side with allied troops in various parts of the world. One of India`s greatest leaders, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945), wanted to fight the British by taking help from its enemies. In 1939, differences between him and Mahatma Gandhi on this issue led to him contesting for the presidentship of the Congress Party. Despite the Mahatma`s opposition Netaji won the elections. Later he resigned from the post and formed his own party the Forward Bloc. In 1940 he was arrested by the British and was later placed under house arrest in Calcutta. He escaped to Germany in 1941 and later on to Japan. During World War II, the Azad Hind Fauj or the Indian National Army was set up by Rashbehari Bose and General Mohan Singh. 1942 saw the launch of the Quit India Movement by Mahatma Gandhi at a meeting in Bombay. Calcutta became the headquarters of the Southeast Asia Command of the allies and the allied troops landed in the city. The Howrah Bridge was built in 1943 to improve communication. The Japanese managed to bomb the city several times. In 1943 due to mismanagement by the British administration, Bengal faced a great famine and 1.5 million people died in the Bengal Presidency. Netaji took the leadership of the Indian National Army on July 4, 1943 and gave the famous clarion call of ``Delhi Chalo`` (March to Delhi). On October 21, 1943 a provisional government with Netaji as the head was proclaimed in Singapore. War against the UK was declared. The Japanese handed over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the provisional government. The Indian National Army advanced towards north east India through Burma but was defeated in 1944 . Several INA officers were arrested and put on trial. This led to nationwide resentment which spread to the army, air force and naval forces. The naval mutiny in Bombay shook the foundations of British administration. Jawaharlal Nehru defended the case of the INA officers. The INA officers were found guilty but were set free.
__________________________________________________
The high handed ways of the East India Company made it unpopular amongst the Indians. The pent up feelings snowballed over the use of cow and pig fat in bullets, which hurt the religious sentiments of the Indian troops. Just a century after the Battle of Plassey, in 1857, Mangal Pandey, shot his Sergeant Major in the Parade Grounds at Barrackpore, a cantonment near Calcutta. He was hanged and his infantry was disbanded. This was one of the first events of what is known as the First Battle of Independence or the Sepoy Mutiny depending on the perspective of the concerned historian. The revolt soon spread throughout the country in various forms but the Company was able to put down the struggle. The end of the struggle also ended the remnants of the once mighty Mughal empire. The last emperor of the Mughal Dynasty - Bahadur Shah II was deposed and died in Burma. The revolt of 1857 led to the British Crown assuming complete control of the Indian territories. Queen Victoria assumed the Government of India on 1st November 1858. Calcutta became the Royal Capital of India ruled by a Governor General and Viceroy. Queen Victoria became the Empress of India on 1st January 1877 and Calcutta became the Imperial Capital.
The World War I didn`t have much effect on Calcutta, except when a German cruiser ,Emden, forced the closure of Calcutta port for a month. During this time Bagha Jatin (Jatindranath Mukherjee; 1879-1915) with the help of Germany tried to smuggle in arms from the Maverick ship. However he was injured in a police encounter near Balasore, Orissa and succumbed to his injuries. Calcutta`s importance as a trading center attracted the enterprising Marwaris of Rajasthan. The Birlas set up jute mills followed by other Marwaris. The control of business and commerce started a slow shift from the British companies towards the Marwaris. With the end of World War I, the British soon began to face resistance from all regions of India. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Bose charged up the independence movement. At a special Congress session in Calcutta in 1920, Gandhiji decided to start the Noncooperation Movement, adhering to the principles of ahimsa (nonviolence). The theory of ahimsa had its critics and around the same time many political leaders from Bengal and Calcutta toed a different line from the Congress movement. The Congress started the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930 - 1934) and the Quit India Movement in 1942. Parallel to this terrorism and rebellions against the British rule continued.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945)
World War II saw the forcible alliance of India on the side of the Allies. Indian troops fought side by side with allied troops in various parts of the world. One of India`s greatest leaders, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945), wanted to fight the British by taking help from its enemies. In 1939, differences between him and Mahatma Gandhi on this issue led to him contesting for the presidentship of the Congress Party. Despite the Mahatma`s opposition Netaji won the elections. Later he resigned from the post and formed his own party the Forward Bloc. In 1940 he was arrested by the British and was later placed under house arrest in Calcutta. He escaped to Germany in 1941 and later on to Japan. During World War II, the Azad Hind Fauj or the Indian National Army was set up by Rashbehari Bose and General Mohan Singh. 1942 saw the launch of the Quit India Movement by Mahatma Gandhi at a meeting in Bombay. Calcutta became the headquarters of the Southeast Asia Command of the allies and the allied troops landed in the city. The Howrah Bridge was built in 1943 to improve communication. The Japanese managed to bomb the city several times. In 1943 due to mismanagement by the British administration, Bengal faced a great famine and 1.5 million people died in the Bengal Presidency. Netaji took the leadership of the Indian National Army on July 4, 1943 and gave the famous clarion call of ``Delhi Chalo`` (March to Delhi). On October 21, 1943 a provisional government with Netaji as the head was proclaimed in Singapore. War against the UK was declared. The Japanese handed over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the provisional government. The Indian National Army advanced towards north east India through Burma but was defeated in 1944 . Several INA officers were arrested and put on trial. This led to nationwide resentment which spread to the army, air force and naval forces. The naval mutiny in Bombay shook the foundations of British administration. Jawaharlal Nehru defended the case of the INA officers. The INA officers were found guilty but were set free.
#97 Posted by sigalph235 on April 30, 2002 8:11:25 pm
re prem 86
They`re on track. One of the most shameful features of Bengali consciousness is its knee-jerk adulation of a Nazi/Fascist sympathizer like `Netaji` Subhas Bose, the chap that started the INA nonsense. The first formation was made up of traitors caught during the Nazi campiagns in 1940 in France and Belgium. The SS organized them into something called the IndesKorps though it was no more than a few hundred. Many were later shifted to MAlaya where they joined a larger group of namak-harams in Jap prisons to form the Azad Hind Fauj, later renamed INA. Their hallmarks were torture of loyalist POWs, apologia for Japanese brutality, and invasion of their own country. These were the same men who provided info to the Japanese airforce to bomb Chittagong over two weeks.
Fortunately for the honor of the institution that was called the British Indian Army, a vast majority of men and officers not only remained loyal but suffered enormously for that loyalty to King and Empire. It is a testament to the political acumen of both Mr Jinnah and Mr Nehru that they refused any INA traitors readmittance into their respective Dominion armies. That both defended the accused at the Red Fort trials perhaps only shows that those two gentlemen, like most constitutional lawyers worth the name, believed that the nastiest rascals deserved the best legal defence in a system based on Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.
They`re on track. One of the most shameful features of Bengali consciousness is its knee-jerk adulation of a Nazi/Fascist sympathizer like `Netaji` Subhas Bose, the chap that started the INA nonsense. The first formation was made up of traitors caught during the Nazi campiagns in 1940 in France and Belgium. The SS organized them into something called the IndesKorps though it was no more than a few hundred. Many were later shifted to MAlaya where they joined a larger group of namak-harams in Jap prisons to form the Azad Hind Fauj, later renamed INA. Their hallmarks were torture of loyalist POWs, apologia for Japanese brutality, and invasion of their own country. These were the same men who provided info to the Japanese airforce to bomb Chittagong over two weeks.
Fortunately for the honor of the institution that was called the British Indian Army, a vast majority of men and officers not only remained loyal but suffered enormously for that loyalty to King and Empire. It is a testament to the political acumen of both Mr Jinnah and Mr Nehru that they refused any INA traitors readmittance into their respective Dominion armies. That both defended the accused at the Red Fort trials perhaps only shows that those two gentlemen, like most constitutional lawyers worth the name, believed that the nastiest rascals deserved the best legal defence in a system based on Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.
Interact Index
Latest Interacts
- masadi: And for the 1000th... Why is Karachi Turning
- masadi: In the right wing... Why is Karachi Turning
- masadi: Btw, no present day... Why is Karachi Turning
- masadi: tahmed writes "now i... Dhokha and Being a
- masadi: #348 laddu writes "Re:... Dhokha and Being a
- pakistan3: Re: # 90 Tahir, Your post... Government Wins Manmohan Singh
- masadi: Anil don't hide behind... Why is Karachi Turning
- peonofthewest: masadi saab, howcome they... Dhokha and Being a
