Bidwai's Unadulterated Bullshit

By Ram Valmiki

There is a particular pattern in the way Hate Engineers spread their ill-conceived opinions and manufactured lies as real facts. They have mastered the art of pushing across their propaganda as “analysis” or “news reporting”. Be it in print media or in MSM, be it “sickular” activist champions of secularism or panelists, all of them spare no effort in misguiding the gullible audience/readers.

It is very important for us to understand the modus-operandi of these Hate Engineers so as to gauge the kind of damage they do to national interests. Since Narendra Modi is flavor of the season and every “sickular” worth their salt has been writing on his fast, I will attempt to breakdown the language of Hate Engineers by taking one recent article of Praful Bidwai as an example.  I would like to inform the readers that this is the same way how the Marxists/communist historians operate and misrepresent the historical events. Bidwai's rant is titled: 'Modi's nasty fast politics - Shifting the BJP rightwards'.

Praful Bidwai is supposed to be political analyst/commentator and “peace activist”. It is expected of him to provide just the analysis and not pass judgments. It is for his readers to draw the conclusions and his duty to provide unbiased analysis. But it is not surprising that so much like many other “sikculars”, he exhibits intellectual dishonesty.

“Through his contrived sadbhavana mission and outlandish three-day fast, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra 'Milosevic' Modi staged a grotesquely fraudulent act in ugly political theatre, which he hoped would catapult him to the apex of the Bharatiya Janata Party and make him the topmost contender as the prime ministerial nominee of the National Democratic Alliance”

The very first line in his lengthy article starts by asserting that Modi is Indian version of Milosevic.  This only shows how prejudiced Praful Bidwai is. Even before Praful starts analyzing the “fast”, he passes on judgment that Modi is as dangerous as Milosevic for the country.  Praful Bidwai seems to have great powers at mind reading. He seems to know what is on Modi’s mind.  Actually, it’s the fear of  Modi gaining national acceptance and may be even becoming the PM that forces the “sickulars” to try and derail something that does not exist. Its Modi Phobia. Internet is abuzz with the growing popularity of Modi at national level and he is no more limited to State of Gujarat as “sickulars” want us to believe. Modi is already national leader and a prospective PM candidate. That is hard to digest by Hate Engineers.

“Modi's shenanigans will certainly do nothing to make him acceptable to the Muslims, who suffered Independent India's worst state-organised butchery under him in 2002. The presence of skull-capped men and burqa-clad women at his fast means nothing.” The riot cases are in court. Supreme Court constituted SIT did not find any evidence against Modi. The case is back in trial court and Modi is not listed as accused. But that does not mean anything to the Hate Engineers. They go ahead and make such a bold statement as calling the riots as “sate-organized”. This is not allegation, not even accusation but blatant way of presenting manufactured lie as a FACT.  As in my previous post have stated, delinking Godhra with Gujarat riots would lead to wrong conclusions. It is well known that riots were started as a reaction to Godhra carnage. The local newspapers carried rumors and it ignited the suppressed anger. Does Praful Bidwai suggest here that Modi planned the train burning? It does not need great intelligence to imagine what the death toll would be if a state actually planned and decided to something as heinous as riots. This also undermines the Indian Judicial system.

For people who are not aware, Gujarat has had history of riots before 2002. Based on Praful Bidwai’s logic, we should blame all previous Congress governments for those riots. The intended suggestion of Praful Bidwai may be that the Muslims present at the fast are not real Muslims and it shows in the way he likes to term them just as “skull-capped men and burq-clad women”. Probably that’s why he sees no meaning it their presence. For Hate Engineers any Muslim not willing to accept “victimhood” bestowed upon them by “sickulars” are not real Muslims. Remember Vastanvi incident?

“Modi didn't express remorse at the violence or signal moderation. He came through as an arrogant, duplicitous and hubris-driven politician bent on further humiliating Muslims. His fast wasn't about sadbhavana (goodwill or harmony), but about hyping himself up as a politician” Modi was clear that his fast is about “Sadhbhavana”. It is Hate Engineers who linked it to riots. Why would Modi express remorse for something he has been saying he is not guilty of? Let the courts decide.  And I fail to understand how the hell it becomes humiliating to Muslims if he goes on fast? This is the way Hate Engineers try to create “victim” syndrome and suggest “humiliation” and “insult” to Muslims. This is naked way of poisoning the Muslim readers with perceived “insult”.  I guess only Hate Engieers saw the arrogance in Modi which does not surprise me anyways.

“ He even belittled his former mentor L K Advani by making him sit in a smaller chair than his own at the venue of the fast, thus symbolically challenging conservative notions of hierarchy.”

Filled by hate towards Modi, Praful Bidwai finds hidden meanings in travail things. Was not Modi the one who was undertaking the fast and is he not the CM of the state? Why should Advani be given bigger chair? Oh sorry! I understand Mr Praful Bidwai. May be it is difficult for you to accept challenge to “conservative notions of hierarchy” due to your loyalty to a dynastic political party.

“However, the Supreme Court by no means exonerated Modi or the Special Investigation Team's report which holds that there is no prosecutable evidence against him and 61 others named by Jafri. Although the court sent the case to a trial court in Gujarat, it directed it to examine that report, as well as the comments made on it by amicus curiae (friend of the court) Raju Ramachandran, and to give the petitioners a hearing.”

One should focus on the word “prosecutable”. Praful Bidwai suggests though Modi is guilty, as per his earlier assertions in the article, there are no “prosecutable” evidences. This is an attempt to present Modi in media and public as “Guilty” and also part acceptance that Modi may come out clean in courts. Hence an attempt to brush aside any Judicial clean chit in future as just lack of “prosecutable” evidences. We already know that former IPS officer is alleging that Gujarat government destroyed the evidences.

“Of course, how the court acts within Gujarat's vitiated political climate remains an open question, but it cannot simply bury the case or accept a closure report without hearing the petitioners, and summoning witnesses if necessary.” Here comes the expected. This is the attempt to cast doubts on fairness of Trial Court should the court verdict go against Hate Engineers expectations. This is also suggesting to the readers that justice is doubtful in the state of Gujarat. Well hate mongers' definition of justice is– Hang Modi.

“Meanwhile, Modi's credibility has been further damaged by the disclosure by dancer-activist Mallika Sarabhai, based on an affidavit filed by former top police official R B Sreekumar, that his government tried to scuttle her writ petition for prosecuting him for the violence by paying a Rs 10-lakh bribe to her lawyer. This showed that the Modi regime could stoop to the rock bottom to suppress efforts to bring the culprits of the 2002 communal violence to book.”

This is half-truth. Praful Bidwai posted his article on 23^rd Sep 2011. But long before that, the lawyers had called Mallika Sarabhai as liar and denied any bribe was offered or taken. It serves good for Praful Bidwai not to mention this fact as it would put question mark on the credibility of Sarabai. The fake petitions of Teesta Stelvad have dented her credibility but Praful Bidwai would not acknowledge the level his “Brigade Brothers/Sisters” would stoop to in their hate towards Modi.  Sarabhai had option to go to court and accuse her lawyers. What stops her from taking the path of Judicial Process?

“Modi hasn't overcome even an iota of the stigma he earned by presiding over the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002. It is of course utterly shameful that he hasn't been criminally prosecuted, and worse, even politically punished, for his role in falsely communalising the Godhra train fire, and systematically organising and colluding in the ensuing violence.” Praful Bidwai finally expresses his frustration. All “sickulars” have their own definition of “Justice”. Anything that does not satisfy their definition is by default wrong. “Sickulars” way of thinking is “my way or highway”. If a muslim supports Modi, he is not a muslim. If a court does not make Modi accused, court’s ability for fair trial is doubtful. Modi does not lose the elections, people live in fear. They fail to accept that the very facts that Modi has been elected by a democratic process by the people of Gujrat is itself the evidence that people have accepted him and rejected the lies spread by Hate Engineers. The fact that court has no evidences to make Modi as accused is itself evidence that Hate Engineers stand defeated.

But they will present it a shame and instill doubts in Muslim readers that they have been denied Justice.  These “sickulars” are greatest threat to India. There cannot be any better example of selective propagation of views as stated in my previous post other than the way Praful Bidwai makes a statement  - falsely communalizing the Godhra train fire. Excuse me Mr Bidwai, it was not just any other train fire. It was not accident. It was preplanned gruesome murder of 57 kar sevaks that included women and children. I suggest you update yourself on the reports on Godhra carnage. Secondly, what do you mean by “falsely communalizing?”. If a crowd of hundreds of Muslims with previously stored petrol cans and weapons burning a train coach full of Hindu kar sevaks is not communal, what else is? These are the same sikculars who call genocide of Kashmiri pandits as freedom fight and not communal. 

“Arguably, had the secular opposition, including the Congress's Sonia Gandhi, the Communist parties' Harkrishan Singh Surjit, Jyoti Basu and A B Bardhan, and centrist leaders like Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and others, insisted on its dismissal through a sustained agitation, the NDA might have had no choice but to impose President's Rule.” Now we know what definition of secularism Praful Bidwai follows. We call it in our language as just appeasement politics.“His presence has been poisonous, not just in Gujarat. No one has brought as much international disrepute to India. No other Indian chief minister has been denied a visa in numerous countries for complicity in gross human right violations.”

Praful Bidwai again indulges in half truths.. But would Praful Bidwai care to tell the readers how much lobbying the “sickulars” did? Would he please let the readers know how false stories were planted in western media? While we are at it, does Praful Bidwai know that recent report on Modi by USA think tank? They do not agree that Modi was poisonous to Gujarat.

“The BJP could soon find that Modi, with his insufferable arrogance, megalomania and obnoxious ultra-individualism, is more a liability than an asset both for itself and its allies. It stands warned

Mr Praful Bidwai, I would like to thank you for providing this article so that I could present the modus operandi of Hate Engineers to spread half-truths, ill-conceived opinions as facts. The time for all the “sickulars” and “Hate Engineers” to pack their bags and shut down their shops is nearing as more and more people are realizing the crooked ways they operate in. Before it’s too late and they lose any bit of credibility left, they should express remorse. They stand warned.

Get Swamy

Seema Mustafa, in response to Subramanian Swamy’s article in DNA wrote: “The language that the politician who heads the one-man Janata Party has used is reprehensible to say the least and I am sure there are laws in this country that can be invoked to take him to task for inflaming passions through complete falsehoods.” There you are, a veiled invitation to trigger happy secularists to drag Swamy into FIRs and court cases over what he has written. Did she manage to have the desired effect? You bet!

Now, if the statement Mustafa made had come from some ‘secular’ politician it would have been understandable. Unfortunately, it comes from a journalist. Journalists are usually the ones to shout themselves hoarse over freedom of speech and ironically it is a journalist who tries to invoke the law to prosecute someone who has expressed his views. This is not just true for Seema Mustafa, this is true for all the so called secular media which doesn’t hesitate to drag The Gita into concocted controversy but doesn’t have the balls to ever even mention the Koran. If the secularists will somehow and someday learn honesty then the likes of Swamy wouldn’t need to write provocative articles. Swamy also exposes how thin and flimsy the tolerance of these secularists are. I had the privilege of going to school but had to learn in later life that the moghuls that our school textbooks glorified were actually villains and enemies of Hindus. You can now expect all the self-righteous nonsense to flow from the minorities commission and other groups to follow.

Here’s the first one from a petition by constituents of Harvard University:

“Swamy proposes a truly shocking set of "strategies" for "deter[ring] terrorism" in an op-ed appearing in the July 16th edition of the Daily News & Analysis, an Indian newspaper. These include "declar[ing] India a Hindu Rashtra in which non-Hindus can vote only if they proudly acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus"; "[r]emov[ing] the masjid in Kashi Vishwanath temple and the 300 masjids at other temple sites"; "[e]nact[ing] a national law prohibiting conversion from Hinduism to any other religion"; and "[p]ropagat[ing] the development of a Hindu mindset…..Writing in the wake of the July 13, 2011, bombings in Mumbai, Swamy has exploited this event not only to promote a vision of Indian society based on Hindu supremacy, but to disparage and cast suspicion on the entire Muslim community in India. "Muslims of India," he states, "are being programmed by a slow reactive process to become radical and thus slide into suicide against Hindus."

The muslims in modern day India are not responsible for any of the past. But those denying the past and wilfully ignoring the aspirations of some Islamic agenda are clearly living in denial. Some of these honourable men and women come from the stock of the JNU, the Congress and the Communist ideology which glorifies the Islamic atrocities as secular rule in India. It takes rare character and courage to be as outspoken and honest as Swamy is. Sure, tar him as a maverick, call him names as Seema Mustafa does, ignore his multi-religious family as the media does and peddle lies about the history of India as the JNU lot do and you have a concoction for a heady clash of religions sooner or later.

Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today, a bright journalist who is a rising star had this to tweet:

Rahul Kanwal:

Strange Twitter logic. When we do story against Cong, we are hailed as patriots. When we expose BJP, we are called Cong agents & traitors.

August 3 – 22.30

Oh yeah? Who exactly called you agents and traitors? What Rahul forgets is that he tends to ridicule the BJP and Hindutva at every step of the way. Every political party has factions and each faction has their leader. That is why we have elections too. Is that logic lost on journalists? If Rahul Kanwal was sensible enough he would find an answer to his tweet in his own stupid tweet he made earlier:

Rahul Kanwal

How can hand picked nominee of tainted CM be expected to prosecute boss to whom he owes elevation & existence. #MoralHighGroundOnCorruption

August 3 – 16.26

There, that stone-throwing, calling someone a hand-picked nominee ignoring the fact that there was a secret ballot held to elect the leader of the Karnataka BJP is not the doing of the Twitterati but Kanwal’s own way of casting aspersions. The election by secret ballot of a CM is one of the finest things to have happened in Indian democracy and a practice that should become more frequent and common and yet media brokers like Kanwal ridicule that process and then wonder why the twitterati are against him or his channel. No, they aren’t against you but the severe bias with which you report events and colour news items.This same bias colours every aspect of the Hindu-Muslim reporting that the media indulges in. Hindus are fair game, muslims are victims. That's the media line.Those who die are the aggressors!

Forget temples that Swamy talks about, I am not even willing to accept all the crap about even the Taj Mahal. If you go through the writings and investigation by Stephen Knapp there are lies that have been peddled through the centuries. Would the secularists dare and be open to a detailed investigation of the Taj Mahal? When Swamy talks about temples being destroyed, let’s start with the Taj Mahal itself. The rest can wait. Knapp’s site has sufficient evidence and photographs to warrant a detailed investigation. You may want to go through his site and many others who claim it to be a Shiva temple.

One needs go through the roads less travelled across this country through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and many other states to notice the many small Islamic townships that have come up. Many of them resplendent in their riches and well-built houses and shops. You have to wonder in amazement where all that money and wealth comes from to set up such mini Islamic colonies. The radicalisation of those willing muslims who may wish to overthrow democracy and our way of life is not unique to India. Take a look at this little poster and the related news item:

Daily Mail: "Islamic extremists have launched a poster campaign across the UK proclaiming areas where Sharia law enforcement zones have been set up. Communities have been bombarded with the posters, which read: ‘You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone – Islamic rules enforced.’

The bright yellow messages daubed on bus stops and street lamps have already been seen across certain boroughs in London and order that in the ‘zone’ there should be ‘no gambling’, ‘no music or concerts’, ‘no porn or prostitution’, ‘no drugs or smoking’ and ‘no alcohol’. Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has claimed responsibility for the scheme, saying he plans to flood specific Muslim and non-Muslim communities around the UK and ‘put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term". The media in UK suggests it’s the work of sick minds but those living there have already wound up their shops and many others have exited the area and moved to other places where they aren’t threatened by these Islamists.

I have read news reports which mention Hindu homes were marked with yellow paint for slaughter in the erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Swamy sort of warns you not to wait for such a day to arrive in India. Subramanian Swamy, I think, only alludes to the fact that there might be many stray muslims and muslim organisations in India who wish to emulate or secretly dream the dream that Anjem Choudary has. Are all muslims involved in that dream? Certainly not, but there are no muslim voices against those who nurture that dream. Their voices only come up when provoked by writers like Seema Mustafa to invoke stupid laws which should not exist in the first place.

For those petitioners in the US who want Harvard University to get rid of Swamy I have to say that they must constitute the greatest gathering of useful idiots who neither know the law nor the idea of freedom. The US supreme court once dismissed even a suit by religious leader Jerry Falwell who was featured in a silly ad by Larry Flynt (Of Hustler magazine) which was outrageous and even allowed a Nazi march through a predominantly Jewish area in Chicago. That is the kind of freedom of speech that democracies need.

The stupid hate speech laws should be removed. You don’t need freedom to say nice things. Real freedom of thought cannot be stopped by laws. You can stop speech but you CANNOT stop thought. And I wish our politicians would wake up and alter such laws. Whether you agree with Swamy or not, give him the space to utter whatever he wants. Let’s not forget that joker from Samajwadi party who announced a prize for the head of the Danish cartoonist who made the Mohammad cartoons. That man still roams free despite encouraging murder in public. Swamy hasn’t incited or encouraged any violence whatsoever. Those who can’t stand his writings are free to write against him. If not, they can shut themselves in their bathrooms and weep.

The best part of the whole drama is that Subramanian Swamy loves a court battle. Anyone dragging him to court would only be stupid enough to oblige him and when they do, there will be more worms crawling out of the secular can. These fools should realise that the ‘Get Swamy’ campaign will not work.

The Gita - Modi Untouchable, Let's Get Yeddy!

Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who headed the Manhattan Project that created the Atomic Bomb, kept the Bhagwad Gita by his side throughout the project. On being asked if this was the first ever atomic explosion he had replied “Yes, in modern times”. His response was interpreted to suggest that such a test may have been already carried out in Vedic times. Following the test he remarked later that he was reminded of Krishna’s words to Arjun to take up the just war: “Now I am become death, the destroyer of the worlds”. In a figurative sense the secularists will use that line against Hindus themselves. And they have willing partners too. You don’t need to do a google search to find the identity of these ‘useful idiots’. They are all around you.

Not surprisingly, many early westerners who trashed Hindu culture eventually embraced the profound spirit and wisdom that the Bhagwad Gita enshrines. Even modern day scientists, like the late astronomer Carl Sagan, have found inspiration, truth and scientific accuracy in the Vedas. Philosophers through the centuries relied on the Gita for inspiration and solace. It is only in modern day India that those who call themselves ‘secular’ find a volcano of joy in trashing Hinduism and dragging this spiritual guide into an avoidable cacophony of controversies. Yes, I am referring to the Karnataka (non)controversy of teaching Gita in schools.

Who else to lead the brigade against the Karnataka government but NDTV, with its secular cheerleader Barkha Dutt? She, who has come to unwittingly represent the worst of Indian news media. Creating a controversy where there was none. All this because some minister’s statements which supported teaching of the Gita in schools. Before you could say ‘Allah’ there were reports all over that a circular has been issued by the Karnataka government to mandate teaching of the Gita in schools. I am yet to see the actual circular or the actual text of it. Christians and Muslims in the public responded with righteous anger but why should the news media fuel the nonsense? Well, don’t be misled by the media’s Gita delusions. The blog Offstumped has pretty much chronicled it neatly and I don’t find the need to repeat. It would be fair to say that in the current context of Indian politics and media ‘Secularism’ means and must involve Hinduism-bashing. It is not an untruth to state that Christianity, Islam, Judaism are foreign religions. India has absorbed these as her own and we should be proud of our culture of absorbing other religions and cultures. But this is not about religion or about the Bhagwad Gita.

The plan is much bigger than that. It’s a secular strategy.

For almost a decade the Congress and other ‘secular’ parties along with media channels like NDTV, CNN-IBN, Star News and many more have tried to demonise Narendra Modi. To destroy him politically. To join this gang of secular brigade there were those from the Scotch circuit and so-called humanitarians and activists. You will lately find some of these humanitarians on the invite list of Ghulam Nabi Fai. They called him a mass murderer, threw fictitious affidavits at him, produced false stories and even outright lies. Didn’t work! They called him fascist, compared him to Hitler, tarnished those who associated with him. Didn’t work! Anyone praising Modi was a lamb ready for slaughter. Remember Amitabh Bachchan? Remember Ghulam Vastanvi? Remember Anna Hazare? Watch out, soon Narayana Murthy who has accepted an assignment in Gujarat will be consigned to the trash bin. Murthy’s career which has been praised and has been an inspiration to many will now be peppered with controversies, accusations of corruption, nepotism and a lot more. The secular dirty tricks department will be activated to throw mud at Murthy. He better watch out. But none in the ‘secular’ spectrum, not even gutter-mouth Digvijay Singh has been able to bring down Narendra Modi. He has simply proved to be untouchable!

So, what do we do now? Ever since the unmasking of Digvijay Singh by a saffron-clad Uma Bharati he has gone colour-blind. He has tried every trick to tarnish the RSS, BJP and through that Hindus themselves. The Congress, Sonia Gandhi, the media collectively failed to poison the minds of Gujaratis against Narendra Modi. NaMo could not be accused of corruption, of nepotism or of non-performance. In contrast, B.S. Yedyurappa, CM of Karnataka presents a much easier target. From the governor Bharadwaj to the Congress to the media there has been a consistent and concerted orchestration of mud-slinging and skulduggery. CNN-IBN has already accused him of corruption in the mining scandal when the Lokayukta has simply asked the CM should be probed for involvement in mining contracts. In contrast you won’t find much noise about Shiela Dikshit’s indictment by the Delhi Lokayukta. Previously the JD (Secular) and Congress connived to bring down the BJP led government in Karnataka. To their utter shock and dismay the people voted the BJP back to power with a clear majority.

Unlike Modi, Yedyurappa has a large family and the temptation to dish out favours will always exist. And, yes, he must be probed and if corruption is established he must be removed. But the manner in which he and his government or ministers are being loudly discussed on TV channels indicate only one thing. He is a safer and easier target when compared to Narendra Modi. And the other threat is that the BJP is increasingly becoming popular in Karnataka if one were to go by the results of the last few by-elections. For the secular brigade that is the serious threat that must be averted at any cost. Even if it takes dragging the Bhagwad Gita into it.

If all that is not enough, target some Hindu activists and leaders in terror cases and equate them with Al-Qaeeda and LeT. Drag the Shakaracharya and file murder cases against him. Enter temples with impunity. Attempt to seize the wealth of temples. You go figure.

To a smaller extent the media has already started raising volumes over the BJP CM of Uttarakhand on mining scandals. But Karnataka is always a bigger catch and therefore higher the temptation to bring down the BJP government there. The Gita controversy should be viewed in the light of that effort and not as a religion issue. Imagine the kind of gains the secular brigade would make if Muslims and Christians are told about the threat that their religion is in danger under a BJP government. And the ever willing NDTV is always there to expand the discourse on the threat to minorities. Tempting, isn’t it? The JD(S), the Congress and the media have only stopped short of saying “Islam is under threat” or “Christianity is under threat”! But make no mistake, that is exactly what they wish to imply.

They aren’t done yet. The job is to manufacture hate and outrage against BJP governments. It’s not finished yet. Await more mud-slinging. Yes, Narendra Modi has proved to be untouchable. Let’s get Yeddy!

Freedom Of Speech – Geert Wilders Not Guilty!

Before you read further I would recommend you read the following posts:

Freedom Of Expression: The Geert Wilders case & Why we can neverhave peace with Pakistan

Why Liberal’ Media Is Scared of The Religion Of Peace!

On June 23 Dutch politician Geert Wilders was pronounced not guilty on accusations of hate speeches and hate crimes against Islam and muslims. He  is a politician who spoke out openly against Islamisation of his country and appeasement of muslims. He was accused of "hate speech" crimes for comparing the Koran to Mein Kampf and Islam to Nazism. Mein Kampf is banned in Netherlands and therefore Wilders demanded that the Koran be banned too. The accusations also included the documentary he made, FITNA, which includes graphic images of Islamic terror juxtaposed with verses from the Koran. It is strange that those mullahs who made, and keep making, violence-inciting speeches against non-muslims, were never put on trial but Wilders, who protested, was put on trial.

No religion should be above questioning, debate and even ridicule. Some of it may hurt the sentiments of religious people. That does not mean issuing death threats or killing people. We have seen people being killed for even questioning blasphemy laws.Wilders was even prevented by the UK government in January 2010 from screening his documentary on an invitation by members of the House of Lords. This was later overturned by the courts. Such is the length to which appeasers will go.

The Dutch MP is surely not the first one to question Islam or the verses in the Koran. In 1985 Chandmal Chopra and others filed a case in the Calcutta High Court seeking a ban on the publishing and distribution of the Koran. This is commonly known as The Calcutta Quran Petition. The reasons cited by Chopra were similar to those of Geert Wilders – that the Koran contains hate and violence-inciting verses against members of other communities or non-believers. The Calcutta petition thoroughly exposes the ‘pseudo-secular’ credentials of the Congress, the Communists and the media. The Koran doesn’t need to be banned nor should those who question any religion or religious book be prosecuted. Freedom of thought, speech and expression is more important than any religion.

British PM, David Cameron, is on record for stating ‘multiculturalism’ has failed in the UK. So is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The reasons are all too well known. The Dutch are known to be a very liberal and tolerant people. But when intolerance and violence visits you because you question faiths it is bound to start a movement against the intolerant. Theo Van Gogh, related to the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh, was brutally murdered on the streets of Amsterdam for making a documentary on the sufferings of muslim women. Our government and media who hyper ventilate on issues of women are too scared to even talk about this subject. The greatest response to the plight of muslim women was the Shah Bano verdict reversal by a constitutional amendment by the Congress. Another clip from Religulous further demonstrates the hypocrisy. (Caution: Some images are graphic)

That is a high price to pay for freedom of thought and speech. Salman Rushdie had an international ‘fatwa’ on his head. Closer home MF Hussain had seen violent protests, threats and court cases. I condemn Hussain’s painting of India as a nude woman with names of states written on the nude body. Hussain was also selective in his pornography and his paintings were not banned in India. If he managed to annoy some Hindus it is more because his own community is incapable of taking the slightest offence or questioning of their religion. But that is as far as I will go. I am even more opposed to a media and a government that is selective in its defence of freedom of speech. In India, freedom of speech in the media and government, where religion is concerned, almost means you can offend Hinduism as much as you want but other religions are untouchable. 

Sonia Gandhi’s NAC has currently proposed a draconian Communal Violence Bill. Well, anyone reading India’s long history may understand that religious violence was brought into this culture by Islam and Christianity and not by Hinduism. They were minorities then too. We cannot alter history but we can attempt to ensure it doesn’t repeat itself. In the meantime, let’s celebrate Geert Wilders’ victory. It’s a victory for all those who stand for democracy and freedom.

Religulous Secular Channels

So on Headlines Today there was a report about someone called Isaac Tigrette who claims to be the ‘heir’ of  Satya Saibaba’s (Puttaparthi) legacy. He claims Saibaba spoke to him in secret telling him what to do when he passes away. This always amazes me. That baba spoke to people, interacted with them and yet wanted to tell only Tigrette, that too in secrecy, what should be done after his death. Throughout history we have had God almighty always whisper to Moses or Mohammad what they should tell people. One would have thought God is so powerful that in one stroke he could have directly spoken to all the people in the world in one stroke. Well, I suppose God also tells our secular channels what to report where religion is concerned. He specifically tells them what news to broadcast!

Pastor Shantaraju

I did not coin the word ‘Religulous’ but we will come to that later. Take a look at the picture on the left and this related report : Bangalore Mirror, June 17  “A city pastor has been accused by his own wife of being a paedophile and of misappropriating church funds. The charges against K Shantaraju, the 45-year-old pastor of the Bethel Church and Bethel Student Centre in Siddhartha Nagar, Jalahalli West, are being probed by the police after a complaint was filed by his wife Priyalatha at Gangammanagudi police station on Wednesday….. Minor children are being used for sexual activities in the centre. He has sexual relationships with many girl children… I have witnessed these activities. When questioned, he threatened to kill me and my two children”

Imagine if this were a report about some Hindu swami (like a Nityananda or someone) and your NDTVs, CNN-IBNs, Headlines Todays etc. would be all over the place with the news. By now the swami would have been roasted by these news channels and there would be debates on all news channels on how Hindu godmen are cheating the masses, are rapists and so on. Not surprisingly, this Bangalore pastor was hardly to be found anywhere on these secular news channels.

In Evil Orders, The Economist wrote: (on child-abuse by Church): ‘The scandal is more widespread than the one that swept through the United States in recent years, costing the church up to $2 billion in compensation payments. In recent weeks at least 350 victims have come forward in the Netherlands, along with around 300 more in Germany and Austria. In Brazil a priest and two monsignors have just been suspended from their church duties following allegations of involvement in the making of a sex video involving a youth”. Do our secular channels ever discuss that?

India constitutionally became a  ‘secular’ country in 1976 during the Emergency. There is, however, no clear definition of secularism in the constitution. So unlike the West which largely defines it as the separation of state and church, many Indian experts (like Shashi Tharoor for example) suggest it means all religions are equal or the state will ‘treat’ all religions equally and respect their freedom? But is that really true? Practically, over the years, inspired by communist ideology,  many in the media, the Congress and some more political parties have practiced secularism as the right to ridicule or abuse Hinduism. To the Congress it also meant practically take control of temples and Hindu religious institutions and fund minority group activities. Wait and watch what happens to Saibaba Trust (Puttaparthi) funds.

While all this is happening there are reports that politicians and state governments are directly helping Christian outfits. Well, sure these are reports from predominantly Hindu sites but they do quote sources that are not necessarily Hindu. This is from Vijayvaani.com: Christianisation of Andhra Pradesh: “With YSR’s advent in 2004, evangelical activities increased alarmingly and mass conversions were witnessed in rural areas on a large scale. His open pandering to Church and missionaries emboldened evangelists to go all out in their conversion activities. They dared focus on Hindu pilgrimage sites such as Badrachalam, Simmachalam, Srisailam, Ahobilam, Mangalagiri, Kalahasthi, and didn’t spare Thirumala-Thirupathi! YSR aided the Church and missionaries in many ways. He sanctioned Rs. 80, 000/- per Church for repair works in August 2006 as per GO MS. No: 21 dt 22/08/2006 (CM Reddy okays public money for Churches – Deccan Chronicle, 23 August 2006) and an aid of Rs. 1.5 lakhs for the construction of each Church. This is done while the government is controlling over 30,000 Temples and taking all their revenue. Only 15% of temple revenue is given back for temple maintenance and salaries of priests. Over 40,000 Priests earn a salary of only Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/- per month. The rest of the revenue is being used for other government schemes and minority welfare schemes, as in Tamil Nadu..”

So why do our TV channels think it is only funny stuff about Hinduism or Hindu god-men that should be reported. All religions have enough of funny stuff that will provide a good laugh any day. Religulous, a combination of Religion + Ridiculous, is a 2008 movie by American comic Bill Maher. Maher was born Jewish-Catholic but is now an atheist. The movie is meant to poke gentle fun and have a good laugh at the funny side of religion. However, many parts of the movie are actual interviews and the movie itself is non-fiction.

So let’s first start by meeting the descendant of Jesus Christ himself: (Jose Miranda actually claims to be a direct descendant of Jesus Christ and that there were angels who informed him so - Caution: clip contains some offensive language)

Well, what do you think now? Do you feel better now that you've met the direct descendant of Jesus Christ? Now, that isn’t all. Here is one more clip from the movie where Bill Maher is at the Vatican.

A senior Vatican Priest, Father Reginald Foster, himself believes Jesus wouldn’t have stayed at that mansion where the Pope lives. Secondly, Father Foster also suggests, hypothetically, Jesus could have been born on July 3 and all that midnight birth on December 25 could be a myth. There’s more, he mentions that in a crisis situation Jesus is the sixth man that Italians pray to.

So you see, there are enough funny things in religion. The good part about Hinduism is that there is no rule of blasphemy. You can make fun of the god-men and Hindu rituals and customs. That our secular channels are able to debate so much about everything in Hinduism is a credit to Hindu culture itself. Would they dare to debate Christianity or Islam that much?

This post or the video clips aren’t put up here to offend anyone. I believe if we could laugh a bit about religion then we wouldn’t need the stupid and much-abused concept of ‘secularism’. There’s more in Religulous, watch this space!