Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Ghar Vapasi

FYI

This was posted to a Hindu group. I don't how true or overstated it is. - Viji
Forwarded
we are working on it.......We donot want to show too many ghar vapsi cases in the public lest it becomes common knowledge and the anti hindu media calls it "saffronization".....Ghar vapsi rate of conversion is twice as high as conversion from hindu dharma.....

It is only the states of AP, Tamil nadu, Kerala, Bengal and NE where conversion is not checkmated enmasse but that loophole is being plugged as I type...

haindavakeralam.com gives you stories from south Indian states where mass reconversions are happening led by not one but thousands of individuals and organizations...

Swapan Das Gupta pontificates on NRIs - the question is why

Kosla Vepa says: August 19, 2009 at 05:51 AM IST

This is an interesting column, but i feel Swapan ji is scraping the bottom of the barrel, when he feels constrained to write about a group of people who have been generally exemplary in their conduct. I never did cotton on to the term NRI even when it first appeared 30 odd years ago. It seemed to imply a preocccupation with matters Indian. It is my opinion that few of the NRIs really had the time after a busy day and a long commute to concern themselves about India . My working days were 13 hours long including the commute, believe me that does not leave a lot of itme for 'pondering on the problems of India, much less indulge in 'do gooding' Furthermore if indeed the wily NRI is concerned about India why is it such a crime. After all he or she could be a lot worse . He could be a terrorist, but i forget there was a time when it was considered gauche and uncouth to call a killer of women and children a terrorist. Militant was oK but terrorist was not ok.

I used to be asked the question during the early years 'what was my life like' . i USED To reply that it was not all that different from living in one of the big metros of India. But my attempts to put life in perspective were not believed. if the NRI has fallen from grace it is because the resident Indian has put him or her up on a pedestal in the first place . It is merely a reflection of the coming of age of the resident indian and the fact that the middle class Indian has become far more confident with his affluence. But i too realize that generalizations are tempting and that in general the Indian, resident or otherwise is a very unique individual (in a land that celebrates individuality), that there are as many types of NRIs as there are Indians living in India , and that finally there are a greater variety of indians with far more drastic differences than there are between NRIs and their resident brethren.
Swapan ji, you can confide in me , i wont tell a soul, who was the NRI that got you so riled up ?


Swapan Dasgupta's Most Read Posts
Learn from past, focus on China How the Non-Resident Indian has fallen from grace A truth nobody will ever admit Scottish lessons in blending old and new with flair
See All

Swapan Dasgupta's Highest Rated Posts
Learn from past, focus on China
(4.6 out of 5)
Scottish lessons in blending old and new with flair
(4.2 out of 5)
A truth nobody will ever admit
(4.1 out of 5)
How the Non-Resident Indian has fallen from grace
(2.9 out of 5)

About Author

Well-known journalist and political commentator Swapan Dasgupta has worked for many leading Indian publications, including The Times of India. He thinks the Right is an endangered community in India's English-language media. "Right & Wrong" is one of the few voices of the community.

Browse by Topic

ayodhya china greencard independence india indian internal affairs jallianwalabagh liberhan nehr nri scotland travel whisky

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

HINDUS’ FATEFUL HOUR: ACT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE Dr. Babu Suseelan

HINDUS’ FATEFUL HOUR: ACT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
Dr. Babu Suseelan
Hindus in India, especially in Kerala, Kashmir, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh are heading for disaster. Jihadi terrorism, coercive religious conversion, economic deprivation, cultural pollution, phony secularism and powerlessness and a feeling of hopelessness—these are only few in the complex web of problems confronting Hindus. In Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal the anti Hindu governments are extorting billions of rupees-worth of Hindu wealth. Because its total onslaught on Hindus, these anti-Hindu governments wrought complete havoc on Hindu culture and halted/or retrogressed the onward march of Hindu civilization.
For several years, western intelligence agencies and missionaries have been financing, directing and managing the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu. Their goal is to destroy Hindu culture and the Indian political-economic-social-spiritual and educational values and to erase the memory of Hindu culture from the annals of Indian history. Western subversive agents in the guise of academicians and religious leaders as well as psychological warfare experts use planned communication techniques to influence Tamil people’s attitude and behavior-to create target groups behavior, emotions and attitudes that support the attainment of devious objective-the creation of a separate Tamil Elam. The form of communication they use to spread disinformation covertly and overtly by word of mouth or through any means of multimedia is against Hindus and to balkanize India.
In Tamil Nadu, under the anti Hindu DMK government, missionaries with foreign support disseminate anti-Hindu information by face-to-face communication, audio-visual means (TV) audio-media (Radio), visual media (leaflets) and/or posters. The weapon is not how it is sent, but the message it carries and how the message affects the minds of Tamil Hindus. The ultimate objective is to convert Hindus and force them to take actions against Hindu value system and to establish a separate Tamil nation favorable to Christians.
In Andhra Pradesh, the Seventh Day Adventist Missionary leader Samuel R. Reddy, the Chief Minister is heading A-team for intellectual/political/cultural subversion in the state. Their hidden and ulterior goal is to reduce the moral efficiency within Hindu organizations, promote confusion, chaos and create social crisis among Hindus. The Seventh Day Adventist movement is closely associated with foreign intelligence agencies to destabilize India and to convert Hindus. The Seventh Day Adventist leader and Chief Minister Samuel R. Reddy is promoting mass dissension and defections in Hindu Temple society and intimidate its leaders in order to loot temple wealth including precious jewelry worth billions of rupees from the Thirumala Thirupathy Sri Venkateswara Temple, the richest in the world.
What is going on? We know converted Muslims and Christians, the Marxist party, and the bogus secular anti Hindu Congress party headed by the Italian Catholic Sonia is betraying Hindus and India. They behave like a social virus in the body of Hindus. They infect collective consciousness and mutate producing complex illnessess and social decay. When measured by the standard of present political realities, general Hindu attitude and amused indifference seems suicidal.
Hindus are paying heavily for the failure to perceive and deal with these life threatening problems. The severity and interrelatedness of these problems that singly and in combination threaten Hindu existence, culture, spiritual tradition and the future. Compounding the difficulty is that certain problems are such magnitude and that they are no longer solvable unless Hindus are united, become politically active and assertive using all available means including positive violence. Indeed, the Hindu tendency towards indifference and apathy-a propensity most clearly in evidence in their refusal to react vehemently against Jihadi terrorism, deceptive religious conversion, Hajj subsidy for Muslims to visit Saudi Arabia and to participate in animal slaughter and the takeover of Hindu temples. This deadly indifference is due to obsequious sycophancy.
Hindus have defined themselves as pacifists and secularists. How we interpret our history of brutal Islamic invasion, Christian colonialism, oppression, subjugation, Jihadi terrorism, Christian conversion and political exploitation by the bogus secularists-deeply affects how we understand modern conflicts and social crisis created by the dark hands. If we accept passivism, and practice tolerance of intolerance, when there is no reason to be believed it is beneficial, it is just credulous. And if Hindus will not reject something when there is no reason to believe in it, we are escaping from freedom to slavery. This way of thinking is completely deadly, or put it another way, don’t be so open-minded that we may fall into a deep it. A quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s (noble prize winner for literature) acceptance speech in 1970 amplifies the deadly danger of passivity. “There are many people in today’s world elect passivity and retreat, just so as their accustomed life might drag on a bit longer, just so as not to step over the threshold of hardship today and tomorrow, you ‘all see, it will be all right. (But it will never be alright). The price of cowardice will only be evil; we shall reap courage and victory only when we dare to make sacrifices”.
Hindus are unaware of the ulterior motives of missionaries and the workings of Muslim and Christian politics as well as the evil designs and criminal thinking of phony secular politicians. They simply do not know that in the national and international arena, decisions are influenced by the forcefulness with which demands are made. For Hindus, weakness is psychological. What is needed is strengthen the will, free them from submissiveness and march ahead with a fighting spirit. Inspiring slogans must be impressed on the national consciousness so as to rouse the people to the bold deeds that would make history.
The best hope for Hindus for the future is a radical social revolution from which Hindus can gain a fresh understanding of our past, present and future and their role in the scheme of things. If Hindus can free themselves from the psychological and political chain created by bogus secularists, Muslim mafia and the missionary mischief mongers—and unite, they can contribute-no matter, to the good of Hindus and for our motherland in these troubled times.
Adequate Hindu response to the threats and challenges at this decisive turn in our history must not be delayed much longer. The danger that current crisis may become much graver is very real. It is absolutely unjustifiable to neglect any longer the immense opportunities Hindus have as a consequence of Hindu awareness created by organizations such as RSS, VHP and Bjarang Dal. Hindu leaders and laymen must prompt that awakening to do more before it is too late.
Hindus need a bold will. A bold will can shatter the fetters of circumstances and overcome all obstacles. The strength of collective will can overcome all obstacles. Proud Hindus with self-esteem can rebel against current crisis and determine their own destiny. We need to act before it is too late.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

China Should break up the Indian Union, suggests a Chinese Strategist

an approach of panic towards such outbursts will be a mistake, but also
ignoring them will prove to be costly for India.
http://www.c3sindia.org/india/719

CHENNAI CENTRE FOR CHINA STUDIES

China Should break up the Indian Union, suggests a Chinese Strategist

D.S.Rajan, C3S Paper No.325 dated August 9, 2009

Almost coinciding with the 13th round of Sino-Indian border talks (New
Delhi, August 7-8, 2009), an article (in Chinese language) has
appeared in China captioned “If China takes a little action, the
so-called Great Indian Federation can be broken up” ( Zhong Guo Zhan
Lue Gang, www.iiss.cn , Chinese,8 August 2009). Interestingly, it has
been reproduced in several other strategic and military websites of
the country and by all means, targets the domestic audience. The
authoritative host site is located in Beijing and is the new edition
of one, which so far represented the China International Institute for
Strategic Studies (www.chinaiiss.org).

Claiming that Beijing’s ‘China-Centric’ Asian strategy, provides for
splitting India, the writer of the article, Zhan Lue (strategy), has
found that New Delhi’s corresponding ‘India-Centric’ policy in Asia,
is in reality a ‘Hindustan centric’ one. Stating that on the other
hand ‘local centres’ exist in several of the country’s provinces
(excepting for the U.P and certain Northern regions), Zhan Lue has
felt that in the face of such local characteristics, the ‘so-called’
Indian nation cannot be considered as one having existed in history.

According to the article, if India today relies on any thing for
unity, it is the Hindu religion. The partition of the country was
based on religion. Stating that today nation states are the main
current in the world, it has said that India could only be termed now
as a “Hindu Religious state’. Adding that Hinduism is a decadent
religion as it allows caste exploitation and is unhelpful to the
country’s modernization, it described the Indian government as one in
a dilemma with regard to eradication of the caste system as it
realizes that the process to do away with castes may shake the
foundation of the consciousness of the Indian nation.

The writer has argued that in view of the above, China in its own
interest and the progress of whole Asia, should join forces with
different nationalities like Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris and
support the latter in establishing independent nation-states of their
own, out of India. In particular, the ULFA in Assam, a territory
neighboring China, can be helped by China so that Assam realizes its
national independence.

The article has also felt that for Bangladesh, the biggest threat is
from India, which wants to develop a great Indian Federation extending
from Afghanistan to Myanmar. India is also targeting China with
support to Vietnam’s efforts to occupy Nansha (Spratly) group of
islands in South China Sea. Hence the need for China’s consolidation
of its alliance with Bangladesh, a country with which the US and Japan
are also improving their relations to counter China. It has pointed
out that China can give political support to Bangladesh enabling the
latter to encourage ethnic Bengalis in India to get rid of Indian
control and unite with Bangladesh as one Bengali nation; if the same
is not possible, creation of at least another free Bengali nation
state as a friendly neighbour of Bangladesh, would be desirable, for
the purpose of weakening India’s expansion and threat aimed at forming
a ‘unified South Asia’.

The punch line in the article has been that to split India, China can
bring into its fold countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, support
ULFA in attaining its goal for Assam’s independence, back aspirations
of Indian nationalities like Tamils and Nagas, encourage Bangladesh to
give a push to the independence of West Bengal and lastly recover the
90,000 sq km. territory in Southern Tibet.

Wishing for India’s break-up into 20-30 nation-states like in Europe,
the article has concluded by saying that if the consciousness of
nationalities in India could be aroused, social reforms in South Asia
can be achieved, the caste system can be eradicated and the region can
march along the road of prosperity.

The Chinese article in question will certainly outrage readers in
India. Its suggestion that China can follow a strategy to dismember
India, a country always with a tradition of unity in diversity, is
atrocious, to say the least. The write-up could not have been
published without the permission of the Chinese authorities, but it is
sure that Beijing will wash its hands out of this if the matter is
taken up with it by New Delhi. It has generally been seen that China
is speaking in two voices – its diplomatic interlocutors have always
shown understanding during their dealings with their Indian
counterparts, but its selected media is pouring venom on India in
their reporting. Which one to believe is a question confronting the
public opinion and even policy makers in India. In any case, an
approach of panic towards such outbursts will be a mistake, but also
ignoring them will prove to be costly for India.

(The writer, D.S.Rajan, is Director of Chennai Centre for China
Studies, Chennai, India, email: dsrajan@gmail.com).

Saturday, August 01, 2009

A great Chinese Indologist’s death goes unnoticed in India

A great Chinese Indologist’s death goes unnoticed in India

Jaswant Singh

Ji Xianlin was doubtless an outstanding scholar.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/07/31/images/2009073155721101.jpg Ji
Xianlin’s greatest scholarly accomplishments were in the realm of “the
history of Indian Buddhism and comparative linguistics.”

Just the other day Mathew Rudolph sent me a mail from the U.S.
informing me of the death of Ji Xianlin. He was a greatly venerated
Chinese scholar who had “secretly translated the Sanskrit-Hindu text
of the Ramayan into Chinese during the Cultural Revolution”. Ji
Xianlin died on July 11 at the age of 98.

This news saddened me greatly, and for a variety of reasons. Foremost
amongst them was, of course, the passing away of such a great scholar.
He was foremost amongst those responsible for keeping alive the
delicate plant of “South Asian studies in China between the
Sino-Indian War of 1962 and the revival of popular Chinese interest in
India in the late 1990s.”

What I found as even more remarkable was the spontaneous outpouring of
popular grief and the official Chinese sentiment at Ji’s passing away.
Obviously this grief cannot be attributed to Ji’s lifelong connection
with India, but his great scholarship of Indian languages was
renowned, and I do not know that for those Chinese who think of Ji and
India together “it is largely the romantic view of India as the land
of Buddha’s birth.” Also, certainly for some Chinese, “the spiritual
elements of ‘Hindu mythology’ and thought”.

Timothy B. Weston of the University of Colorado, paying his tribute,
writes to say: “It has been moving to watch the response in China to
the July 11 death of renowned scholar, Ji Xianlin (1911-2009). While
Ji’s unsurprising departure at the ripe old age of 98 has not brought
quite the same flood tide in China as [say] Michael Jackson’s
unexpected death a few weeks earlier at age 50 [did] in the United
States” (or around the world) the manner in which this venerable
scholar is being remembered in Beijing is truly remarkable. The
Communist Party paid handsome tributes and leaders followed suit. Long
lines of people wishing to “pay their last respects waited for hours
to gain entrance to a memorial ceremony held on the Beijing University
campus where Ji taught”. The press was full of tributes “to the man
from academe.”

This is the other aspect that saddens me; the knowledge that Ji’s
death went almost entirely unnoticed in India. I certainly came across
no reference to it. And this made me reflect whether an “elderly
Indian scholar” would receive similar attention (or any) in India?

Ji was doubtless an outstanding scholar. His career was “noteworthy
for its singular achievements and cosmopolitan dimensions.” Originally
a student of Western literature at Quinghua University, Ji travelled
to Germany in 1935 for study. At the “University of Gottingen he moved
in a new direction, choosing to major in Sanskrit and other ancient
Indian languages under the direction of Ernst Waldschmidt and Emil
Sieg.” Ji received his Ph.D. in Germany and after World War II
returned to China where he took a position at Beijing University and
founded the Department of Eastern Languages. He chaired that
department for the next three decades and built it into one of the
most important academic departments and China’s premier centre for the
study of Eastern languages.

Ji’s greatest scholarly accomplishments were really in the realm of
“the history of Indian Buddhism and comparative linguistics.”
According to his former student Zhang Baosheng, now a professor in the
Department of Foreign Languages at Beijing University, Ji’s academic
achievements “represented the next wave of greatness within the long,
proud tradition of Chinese evidential scholarship.” Whereas Chen
Yinke, Ji’s patron and celebrated historian, used “literary works as a
means of verifying history”, Ji pioneered a method of “using
comparative linguistics to verify historical events and to track
changes over time.” Ji’s scholarly findings over the course of his
career won for him “academic prizes in India, Iran and Japan”.

In his later years, Ji had become a “living symbol of the ideal
Chinese scholar, and as such of a type of person who it is ever more
difficult to find in today’s fast-paced, money-crazed Chinese
society.” Here was a man who had been born and raised in “the old
society, who knew the classics, who had attained great fame and yet
who did not attempt to convert his glory into power, wealth, or
celebrity, who in fact talked down his achievements and continued to
work hard at his research as long as he was able.” He was not a
Confucian philosopher but he did come to be seen as a “Confucian sage”
who personified the committed life of the scholar. His integrity and
wisdom, not just his outstanding scholarly achievements, led to his
being recognised as a “national treasure,” though he himself rejected
such labels.

I pay my homage to this great Indologist from China.

(The writer is a Lok Sabha MP for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a
former External Affairs Minister.)

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/07/31/stories/2009073155721100.htm