UPA's jazia through backdoor

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>UPA’s jaziya through backdoor

>Sandhya Jain

>

>The Pioneer

>August 24, 2004

>

>“How shall freedom be defended? By arms when it is attacked by arms; by

>truth

>when it is attacked by lies; by democratic faith when it is attacked by

>authoritarian dogma. Always and in the final act, by determination and

>faith."

>– Archibald Macleish, poet

>

>Unbeknownst to most of us, we are perilously close to the final act of our

>existence as a living civilization. Never before has the imperative for

>determination and faith in defence of our existential ethos been so urgent,

>as

>it is now. A rag-tag anti-Hindu coalition is playing with the dharma and

>cultural sensitivity of the people, even as a pusillanimous BJP juggles

>with

>political vocabulary to evade the legitimate concerns of the Hindu

>community in

>its infatuation with an ephemeral Muslim vote.

>

>Implementing a specific though unstated agenda, the phantom-like regime led

>notionally by Dr. Manmohan Singh has moved stealthily to corrode one of

>India’s

>most important institutions – the Army. In an order undermining the spirits

>of

>soldiers and officers alike, all Commanders have been instructed to enforce

>certain measures to ensure that the Army’s “secular credentials” are not

>questioned (whatever that might mean).

>

>The instructions have caused deep disquiet, causing some perturbed officers

>to

>request National Defence College of India alumni Abhijit Bhattacharyya to

>expose the matter, a job he has done admirably (Pioneer, 18 August 2004).

>In my

>view, the issue deserves wider debate, as it is part of a concerted attack

>upon

>India’s autochthonous civilizational values and heritage. It is a shame

>that

>the media, political parties and vociferous academic-activists have

>silently

>acquiesced in this vandalization of cultural identity.

>

> To those who are sensitive to issues of cultural expression,

>the

>instructions are obnoxious; a portent of more ominous things, should this

>government last. The directives prohibit officers and soldiers on active

>duty

>from sporting any kind of religious symbols, such as sacred threads,

>vibhuti,

>tilaks, even birthstone rings. The statues of deities are banned.

>

> The instructions specifically target Hindu officers and

>soldiers,

>who no doubt comprise the majority of the forces, since this is still a

>Hindu-majority country (though for how long is now an open question). Hindu

>women officers are prohibited from wearing earrings and jewellery; the sole

>concession is permission to use sindoor, which must be “veiled” by a beret

>or

>peak cap. Secularism has thus taken a great leap forward, invading the

>private

>person of the (Hindu) individual and denying the right to observe customary

>forms of dharma.

>

>Perhaps sindoor was spared by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who harped upon

>her

>“maang ka sindoor” when seeking political legitimacy from a bemused people.

>It

>is inconceivable that an order of such magnitude could have been issued

>without

>her knowledge, since every decision is taken at meetings presided by her.

>She

>must therefore clarify her stand on these measures and their purpose.

>

>Dr. Manmohan Singh would be aware that Sikhs comprise a healthy section of

>the

>Indian Army. Will Sikh officers and soldiers be forcefully divested of

>their

>hair (kesh), iron bracelet (kada) and ceremonial dagger (kirpan)? Or will

>there

>be a special order for Sikhs, on grounds that they constitute a religious

>minority (a subterfuge invented by the British to fragment Hindu society)?

>Will

>minority exemptions be extended to Christians and Muslims, with Parsis and

>Jains thrown in as a balancing act? Will we then circuitously achieve the

>true

>objective, viz., the purging of all Hindu symbols of cultural identity from

>public life?

>

>This is no exaggeration given the fact that in just three months of UPA

>governance, we have witnessed a move to ban Dr. Karan Singh’s book on

>Vedanta

>(for school children), along with the Tamil Jaina classic, the Thirukural.

>A

>cabinet minister has made unseemly remarks against famed revolutionary,

>Veer

>Savarkar, to the embarrassment of his own party government in Maharashtra.

>And

>presently, a shocking criminal case has been launched against Madhya

>Pradesh

>Chief Minister Uma Bharati for attempting to hoist the Tricolour at the

>Kittoor

>Rani Chennamma Maidan (also known as Idgah Maidan as Muslims offer communal

>prayers there twice a year) on 15 August 1994.

>

>

>Secularist dogma has so terrorized contemporary Hindus that they hesitate

>to

>take up cudgels on behalf of their dharma and culture for fear of being

>branded

>“communal.” Personally, I to Sir Winston Churchill’s profound

>admonition – “If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win

>without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and

>not

>too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all

>the

>odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a

>worse

>case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is

>better to perish than to live as slaves.”

>

>

>The Hubli Maidan issue is being falsely given a communal flavour, and

>readers

>may benefit from a summation of the facts. An organization, Vigil, held a

>public meeting at Madras on 30 August 1994, where Karnataka BJP MLC, Mr.

>D.H.

>Shankara Murthy, detailed the facts.

>

>The Maidan is public land officially owned by the Municipal Corporation of

>Hubli-Dharwar. At some stage, a trust laid claim to the land and began

>constructions upon it. The civil court declared the land was public, but

>could

>be used for communal prayers twice annually, which was upheld by the

>Karnataka

>High Court in 1992. The Supreme Court admitted a Special Leave Petition

>(SLP)

>regarding demolition of the structure erected, but gave no relief in the

>matter

>of ownership.

>

>In 1990, after Hindus in Jammu & Kashmir were rendered homeless and the

>Pakistani flag hoisted in Lal Chowk, Srinagar, the BJP decided to hoist the

>national flag everywhere. In 1992, Hubli residents decided to hoist

>national

>flag at Kittoor Rani Chennamma Maidan. The Congress Chief Minister S.

>Bangarappa said this would hurt minority sentiment and ordered the police

>to

>prevent it. When the flag was hoisted on Republic Day, the police removed

>it.

>This is the genesis of the dispute over the flag and Hubli Maidan.

>

>Thereafter, the Rashtra Dhwaja Rakshana Samiti was formed to hoist the flag

>on

>every Republic and Independence Day. The Congress government resisted and

>made

>arrests. On the Republic Day of 1994, the arrested included the 75-year-old

>retired Director General of Police of Karnataka, Mr. Veerabadrayya.

>

>In this backdrop, Ms. Uma Bharati decided to hoist the Tricolour on

>Independence

>Day, 1994. The Chief Minister, Mr. Veerappa Moily, spread the canard that

>the

>Maidan was Wakf property and hoisting the flag could inflame passions. A

>BJP

>worker, Ramesh, managed to hoist the flag at 6.47 am, before being

>arrested.

>Ms. Uma Bharati was arrested some hours later. Sometime afterwards, there

>was

>an incident of police firing in Deshpande Nagar, where some persons died.

>

>The court will no doubt decide if Ms. Bharati can legitimately be held

>responsible for murder when she was not present at the scene of the alleged

>crime. But it is obvious that something deeper is afoot, and its purpose is

>the

>cultural annihilation of the Hindu people. We are facing a pincer attack

>from

>sinister quarters; pusillanimity will only take us to extinction. It is

>time to

>rise and validate our culture and our history.

>

>

>

>

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>

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