Why the notion of ‘Hindu Nation’ alone is chosen for criticism?

I sometimes wonder who influences whom: the Indian mainstream journalists influence the foreign correspondents or the other way round, as they always hold the same view. Or is there even a directive from the top of the media houses about who must be protected and who can be abused?

Obviously, Hindus can be abused. I was shocked when I recently checked articles in major newspapers like the New York Times on the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister in Uttar Pradesh. Like in the run-up to the general elections in 2014, when a Modi victory loomed large, the media went berserk. The gist was: By appointing Yogi Adityanath, Prime Minister Modi has finally shown his true face of a Hindu fundamentalist who wants to make India a ‘Hindu nation’ where minorities have no place. The articles peddled untruths and drew unacceptable conclusions. The Swiss NZZ for example wrote that it is hardly possible for Prime Minister Modi’s government to call itself the representative of all Indians after appointing a figure like Yogi Adityanath.

A Hindu nation is projected as the worst possible scenario by the wrongly called ‘liberal’ media. Yet, the same media don’t react when America or most other western countries are referred to as Christian nations. Nor do they get agitated about the numerous Muslim nations; not even about those which still have harsh blasphemy laws. Why are these ok, and a Hindu nation is not ok? They don’t explain; they just insinuate that minorities (read Muslims and Christians) will suffer in a Hindu nation.

Maybe they came to this conclusion because minorities like Jews or Hindus suffer in certain Christian or Muslim nations though the media hardly pulls those countries up for it. However, even otherwise, this conclusion is wrong, as Hindus have a different mind-set. They are open towards other views, unlike ‘good’ Christians and Muslims who feel obligated to make everyone believe what they believe, if necessary by deceit or force.

Hindus cannot be put into one single box. There are too many different ways to reach the goal of life. As it were, there are many minorities within Hinduism. But they all are based on the Vedic insight that everything, including our persons, is permeated by the same divine essence which is called by many names but is ultimately ONE. Our human consciousness (Atman) is one with the cosmic consciousness (Brahman) and to realize this, is the goal and fulfillment of life. “Satyam vada, Dharmam chara” the Veda exhorts – speak the truth and do what is right under the given circumstances. And find out who you really are: you are not a separate entity but in the depths of your being one with all.

From this follows that ‘good’ Hindus are those rare human beings whose dharma makes them regard all others as brothers and sisters. Their dharma makes them further respect nature and not harm unnecessarily any living being.

Hindus do not, unlike Christians and Muslims, divide humanity into those who are chosen by God and those who are eternally damned. Hindu children are not taught to look down on those who are not Hindus, unlike children of the dogmatic religions who are taught that their God does not love those others unless they join their ‘true’ religions.

Hindus are also comparatively kinder to animals. The great bulk of vegetarians worldwide are Hindus.

Hindus never fought crusades or jihads to establish their dharma in foreign lands. In fact, they didn’t need to, because they convinced most of Asia merely by solid arguments.  Yet, for the past thousand years Hindus were at the receiving end of jihads and conversion campaigns and millions of Hindus were killed in cold blood because they were Hindus.

It has to be held in favour of Hindus that they held on to their tradition and did not succumb to the pressure and even violence brought on them to adopt blind belief that only one particular person has revealed the full truth. Instead, they continued trusting their sages who never asked for blind belief, but asked to verify their insights through experience.

So why do media worldwide get so worked up about ‘Hindu fundamentalists’ and a possible ‘Hindu nation’. What is wrong with the fundamentals? There is nothing wrong with the fundamentals. But there is one major difference: For Hindus, the Divinity is in all and all is in the Divinity, whereas for Christians and Muslims the Divinity is separate from his creation watching us from somewhere.

The concept of Divinity is also different. For Hindus the best description for the absolute truth is sat-chit-ananda (it is true, aware and blissful). The many personal gods help the devotee to realize the Absolute. Christians and Muslims perceive Divinity in its highest form as a personal, superhuman entity who is jealous of other gods. The first commandment in Christianity and a very important issue in Islam is the claim that nobody must worship other gods except the ‘one true god’, which both religions claim is only with them.

In all likelihood the Hindu view comes closer to truth. When the first translations of Vedic texts appeared in the west, the greatest minds in Europe were greatly impressed by Indian thought. It did spread among scientists, too, who used it to push the frontiers of science further. It is no coincidence that modern science discovered that all is one energy after Vedanta became known in the west. It is also no coincidence that the Church lost much of its power in Europe when some of India’s wisdom filtered down to the masses

Why then are the media worldwide so worried about a nation where the Hindu roots are fostered? Where Sanskrit is taught, which is the most perfect, dignified, powerful language on earth? Where yoga is practised in schools, which is an ideal means for all-round development and which, on a deeper level, helps to find fulfilment in life? Where Vedic philosophy is studied, which inspired the new scientific discoveries for example in nuclear physics? Where the amazing wisdom of Mahabharata and Ramayana becomes common knowledge, which is already taught in business seminars abroad? Where children chant “Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu” (let all be happy) instead of Humpey dumpey, which happens already in certain schools in the west?

Yet as soon as Hindus make suggestions for India to keep its Hindu character or rather, to gain back its Hindu character, as even after Independence, the youth was encouraged to abandon it, there is an outcry by the media that “Hindu fundamentalists” want to make India a Hindu nation and exclude religious minorities. Ironically, ‘Hindu’ is a geographical term, with the same root as Indian – people who lived beyond the Sindu or between the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean.

So why would Indians who rather recently converted to Islam or Christianity not be proud of the achievements of their ancestors? India was the cradle of civilization, a knowledge hub and the richest country on earth. It was known for its wisdom. Greeks, including Pythagoras, are said to have come to India for knowledge and today everybody knows his name, but not the name of the Indian mathematician (Baudhayana) who originally discovered the Pythagoras theorem. Surely Christians and Muslims cannot have any objection that students are taught this fact or the fact that the Rishis of the Rig Veda (10.22.14) knew many thousand years before Copernicus that the earth goes around the sun. Surely they also cannot have any objection that students chant “May all be happy” in Sanskrit, the language of their forefathers. If someone calls such teaching communal, it is malicious. If someone objects to this teaching, should not he be shouted at by the media instead of those who want to revive their ancient culture? Is not he the one who tries to divide society and not those who say “vasudhaiva kutumbakam” (all is one family) due to their philosophical outlook?

Hindus are the exemplary role model for ‘how not to exclude others’? Where else have religious minorities flourished and grown like in India? Is not the relative harmony in this amazing diversity in India generally admired abroad? Media persons need only to look around in the world to realize this fact.

Why then are Hindus of all people accused of excluding others?

The reason may be this: neither the west nor Muslim countries want a strong India.  India was the cradle of civilisation and over most of the known history economically very powerful. They may fear that based on her ancient culture, India may rise again to the top. Is it the media’s job to put Hindus perpetually on the defensive by spreading this bogey of Hindu fundamentalism and prevent a better education policy which would give India an edge?

“Imagine, India would become a Hindu nation!” the media shout infuriated. The problem, however, is that they don’t imagine it and don’t ask basic questions. If they only imagined what a Hindu nation looks like, they might start propagating Hindu nations all over the globe.

One day, when people have become tired of blindly believing strange things, and when nobody is threatened any longer with dire consequences if he stops believing in those strange things, the world may be grateful to Bharat Mata that she has conceived and preserved over millennia those eternal, precious insights for the benefit of humanity.

Disclaimer: The facts and opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. IndiaFacts does not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article.

My elder Sister  Ms Maria Wirth

Hindutva is the cure for corruption

Corruption in India is now a major concernfor all patriotic citizens because of scams galoresuch as Satyam, IPL, CWG, and 2G Spectrum etc., etc..By all objective criteria, India today has by far one of the most corrupt governance.It is fueled by greed and single-minded adherence to materialism.

 

Corruption generally is any inducement, or bribe, to do or not to do anything that the bribe giver wants from the bribe taker who otherwise will not do or will do. By this broad definition even dowry payments is corruption. We are however concerned here with misuse of public office for private gain either for oneself, family or friend. This represents a governance failure and hence of primary national concern. Corruption is therefore inherently bad for the efficient functioning of any economic system. It blurs the incentive to perform and discourages relying on merit as a means to success.

 

It is prosecutable in India under the Prevention of Corruption Act which was re-cast in 1988, or Money Laundering(Prevention) Act, which any citizen can set into motion subject to some safeguards such as Sanction. A more drastic law sought by the civil society at large, to be known Lok Pal Act obviates the requirement of Sanction, and institutes an independent prosecutor who can order a CBI inquiry without government permission. Corruption under the case laws of the Supreme Court is also sue-able such as under the Doctrine of Public Trust, for malfeasance in office.Hence, attach or confiscate the properties public officials once they are convicted of the crime.

 

However, India although is a signatory to the UN Convention Against Corrupt adopted by the General Assembly in October 2003, it has not yet ratified the Convention. The Convention however came into force on December 14, 2005 when the 38 countries ratified it. Its asset recovery provision is very appealing, and yet the Indian government is not yet moved to ratify the Convention. Switzerland was therefore compelled to enact a law called Restitution of Illicit Assets Act[2010] especially of “Politically Exposed Persons”. It was by this Act that Egypt’s Mubarak’s and Libya Gaddafi’s accounts in Swiss Banks were frozen.

An international watchdog committee conducted a study on the illicit flight of money from India, perhaps the first ever attempt at shedding light on a subject steeped in secrecy, and concluded that India has been drained of $462 billion (over Rs 20 lakh crore) between 1948 and 2008. The amount is nearly 40% of India's gross domestic product.

One of the worst problems with corruption in India is the creation of “black money,” i.e., money that is used in such transactions which is neither taxed nor is spent openly. It travels to and from secret bank accounts abroad, or, worse, is used by the corrupt to indulge in gross luxurious consumption and bribery. Black money also funds elections and there is no proper accounting. It tempts the receiver to stash and salt away part of the campaign funds. Since elections leads to political power of those thus funded and enriched, future governments become bribe-compliant and therefore protect the crooked.

This money enables politicians and business persons to carry cash around the world for pleasure, and sometimes even be caught with it. For example, on September 27, 2001, Rahul Gandhi and his live-in girlfriend were arrested by the FBI at Boston’s Logan airport with $ 160,000 in cash, for declaring it to the US Customs. US law requires cash at hand of more than $10,000 to be so declared. But he was let off after nine hours in FBI custody at the intervention of the then BJP- led government, which for some mysterious reason had played guardian to Ms.Sonia Gandhi and her family throughout their tenure.

 

2. Impact of Corruption : Corruption impacts on economic development of a nation in five dimensions:

1. Decisions taken for corrupt motive sub-optimises the allocation of scarce national resources and hence in the long run lowers the rate of growth in GDP. It also encourages buccaneers and robber barons to flourish instead of innovative entrepreneurs.

2. By the use of bribe money which escapes the tax net and is mostly stashed away in banks abroad or in trunks in safe houses, is deployed in luxury goods purchase, ostentatious life, splurging in five star hotels, real estate, and on partying. This raises demand for luxury production and services, and in turn distorts investment priorities. In India 70 percent of the investment goes directly or indirectly to sustain the luxury sector.

3. Unaccounted bribe money is lent to hoarders and speculators who then cause artificial shortages and thus inflation and property bubbles.

4. Since the most in corrupt activities would be in public office, they enact laws to not only to safeguard the booty by lax criminal investigations and prosecutions, but to enable earning interest or return on the bribe money. The invention of Participatory Notes (PNs) and the Mauritius Tax & Capital Gains exemption treaties is aimed at that sordid objective [see below].  

5. Corruption enables beneficiaries to involve foreign governments seeking influence and criminal gangs resident abroad to launder money and provide protection.

 

Hence, as a country becomes industrialized, its governance and corruption challenges do not disappear. They simply morph and become more sophisticated: It becomes a complex phenomenon than just transfer of a briefcase stashed with cash in a Swiss bank. The formation of shell companies in tax haven islands, for example, makes the tracing of the money trail very difficult.

Now subtler forms of "legal corruption" also exist e.g., an expectation of a future job for a regulator in a lobbying firm, or a campaign contribution with strings attached. In many countries this may be legal, even if unethical. In industrialized nations undue influence is often legally exercised by powerful private interests, which in turn influence the nation's regulations, policies and laws.

2.Subversion of the Indian Financial System by Corruption : As I have pointed out in my earlier writings, the Participatory Notes (PN) which account for 55% of the foreign funds into the Stock Market in India have no requirement to comply with even the SEBI disclosure rules, and are obviously meant for laundering black money of politicians, industrialists and even including those of terrorists. Even after Tarapore Committee ridiculed the PNs, the SEBI had to keep silent because the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram favoured P-Notes to launder ill-gotten money of his own and of his political masters. The lack of ethics and patriotism thus appears maximum inside the government today.

Investments through the P-notes route are believed to be largely responsible for sudden, unexplained fluctuations in the stock-market indices, including the huge falls which have even resulted in suicides in Dalal Street. The Finance Ministry however has failed to answer why this special exemption to P-Notes is being provided. The Ministry has refused to publish the list of P-note holders, along with their details and the amount of investment, on its website, or on the website of SEBI, or anywhere else. The Finance Ministry does not track the names of the owners/promoters of beneficiaries of that company. Hence company using P-notes in the BSE could well be promoted or funded by an Osama bin-Laden, a Dawood Ibrahim orthe late VelupillaiPrabhakaran?

 

Corruption as a Grave National Security Threat : In his address to the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy on February 11, 2007, M.K.Narayanan, the National Security Advisor to the Government of India, listed out the various ways by which terrorists in India were funded. He admitted: “Instances of terrorist outfits manipulating the stock markets to raise funds for their operations have been reported. Stock exchanges in Mumbai and Chennai have, on occasion, reported that fictitious or notional companies were engaging in stock market operations. Some of these companies were later traced to terrorist outfits”. This is a truly shocking admission.

Thus, the Government of India is well aware that terrorists are parking funds in Indian ventures. Yet the Finance Ministry has done nothing about the system of P-notes, which gives terrorists the additional benefit of anonymity while making hefty investments in the Indian market, which could later be used to fund terrorist activities against the Indian people in India!

According to conservative estimates, there are over Rs.2,50,000Crore Rupees worth of P-notes issued abroad by FIIs and brokers being actively traded in the Indian market! At present P-Notes fuels about 53% of all foreign investments in the stock markets of India.

While an Indian citizen in India has to provide his/her address proof, photo ID proof, PAN details, etc to open even an ordinary savings bank account in a local bank, foreign investors can hide their identity under a sub-account by making use of Participatory Notes to route their investments, often running into hundreds of crores in a single transaction. In one transaction about the time the 2G spectrum licences were given, Ms. Sonia Gandhi had issued a single certified cheque of Rs 18,000 crores to Ketan Parikh at his London Office to buy P-Notes! The main reason thus for the popularity of a P-note is in fact the anonymity it provides to crooks and terrorists.

Indians have about $ 0.5 trillion to $ 1.5 trillion in Swiss banks alone, not to mention Liechtenstien, Isle of Man, Cayman Islands, Macao etc.,etc.. They are the largest deposit holders in Swiss Banks! In 1991 the respected Swiss magazine Schweitzer Illustrate published the by-product revelations of the Marcos investigation from which,Sonia Gandhi,it can be seen had been a legatee of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination to Rs.10,000 crores(in 1991 exchange rate) in illegal Swiss bank deposits. Earlier this money used lie in the Swiss Bank vaults, but now thanks to Participatory Notes[PNs] and the Mauritius route, this money is returning to India and in the BSE to earn windfall profits. All this money can be brought back by legal methods within two months, but the UPA government has shown its brazen determination to block that by dragging its feet in the Supreme Court or by brutally beating the satyagrahis at the Swami Ramdev gathering in Ramlila grounds.

Then what is the cure ? In the short run of course, prosecuting and convicting the corrupt big fish of society is the way of curbing the greed by setting these crooks and traitors as examples. But the cure for the long run is that we must imbibe Hindutva by a national movement and political churning, and without hesitation or obfuscation.

Long years ago, DeendayalUpadhyaya had in his seminal work:Integral Humanism had warned the nation of this greed driven materialistic society. He said that our cultural values are based on Sanatana Dharma, thus embodied as Hinduness or Hindutva. This means that while we pursue material growth it has to be harmonized with our spiritual values to prevent it lapsing into greed. Greed legitimizes corruption because then acquisition of wealth becomes an end objective of life.  

Such a life can never assure happiness as now many rich Americans converting to Hindu faith are declaring openly. The richest and famous Oscar winning Hollywood actress Julia Roberts recently converted with her husband and children to Hinduism, and declared that in seeking personal contentment, Hindu values showed her the way. This why our Swamijis are attracting so many rich Westerners to their ashrams.

In a society based on Hindutva, wealth cannot determine a person’s social status. It is vidya andtyagaleading to vairagyathat merits the highest social status. Even wealthy persons by philanthrophy can get social status. Rishis Bhrigu and Bharadwaja thus devised the Varna system of society which regrettably now has degenerated into a birth-based vested interest of communities. Thus, Hindutvarenaissance culled from Vedanta is the cure for greed and of corruption in the long run. This should be every patriotic Hindu’s battle cry for the coming war against corruption.

Sabhar from Dr swamy's blog and writeup.

The Watershed moment in the history of Indian politics

Let us ponder  that how  Congress has started damaging secular fabric of the BharatVarsha. The Sachchar committee report was implementted and MSDS ( multi sectoral developement scheme) was launched by the Ms Maino for minorities specially Muslims. The Anti Communal Bill was in Fray after highlighting Godhra and Gujrat Riots to its core among Indian public.   The 2002 Godhra train coach burning has given enough fuel to the Hindus for consolidation and other side  Shree Ram Mandir issue and Gujarat riots were giving opportunities to anti nationals to prosper and design their best warfare against Nationalist. if some thing was still left  the words of then PM were sufficient to fuel the fire with words like Muslims have first right to use Indian resources.

It was a mild September day in 2011, in the state of Gujarat. Modi was entertaining guests on the stage, in a public program. A mullah approached him and offered him a skull-cap; a symbol of hardcore and fundamentalist Islam, ironically offered as a symbol of ‘secularism’ to a Hindu leader.

So far nothing out of ordinary had taken place. It was the norm of Indian politics; of ‘Indian secularism’. A mullah offers a skull-cap, and the Hindu leader proudly and thankfully accepts this ‘secular’ token with obsequious humility and dons it to showcase his ‘secular’ credentials.

But then the unthinkable happened. Modi denied wearing the skull cap, the symbol of Islam in general and the very symbol of Indian ‘secularism’.

Narendra Damodardas Modi, a Hindu leader, had turned down the skull cap!

The most basic assumption of Indian secularism broke down in an instant. A prominent Hindu leader dared to publicly defy the Islamic offer of wearing a skull-cap. The most fundamental rule of ‘Indian secularism’, that every Hindu has to accept the Islamic symbols with no promise of any such gesture from the Islamic side, was broken.

It was a very small gesture, but with very great and far reaching implications. For the first time, a Hindu leader had dared to defy the secular thekedars of Indian democracy. For the first time, a Hindu leader had broken convention and defied the aggressive patronizing of Islamic leadership. For the first time, a leader had shown that Hindus too can stand up to tyranny; to bullying, and have a voice of their own, even in mainstream politics.

Here was a leader who had constantly shown spine in the face of a furious anti-Hindu onslaught by the Congress-communist eco-system, right from the aftermath of Gujarat riots to the skull-cap incident. Narendra Modi had proven that he was willing to stand up to the rights of the Hindus, under any circumstances. He had shown that he was willing to fight for them to the last mile. His turning down of the skull-cap had cemented his reputation as such a leader.

This was the moment which galvanized the Hindus. The collective Hindu psyche which had been hurt, suppressed and marginalized for centuries rose up in defiance and in defense of its leader. Until that point in independent history of India, dissent was just a dream for the Hindus. Now it had become a reality.

The suppressed, the downtrodden, and the marginalized Hindu had risen.

Jay Shree Ram!!! 

 Bharat Mata Ki Jay!!!