Musings of 1084

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and Vishwa Hindu Parishad international president Ashok Singhal at the Chidambaram temple on Tuesday.

Yesterday(23-08-09) Morning, i was filled with smile admiring the ’story’ that came up  in ‘The Hindu’, on Subramanian swamy, along with Ashok Singhal and Vedantham visiting Chidambaram Nataraja Temple .

This is how the story evolves.

Dr. Swamy along with Vishwa Hindu Parishad international president Ashok Singhal and VHP working president S. Vedantham offered worship at the Natarajar temple on Tuesday.

When they were going around the temple a group of women belonging to the Podhu Dikshithars’ families and members of the Hindu Temples’ Protection Committee, led by Geetha Anbalagan, with tearful eyes appealed to them to restore the temple to the Podhu Dikshithars.

The leaders categorically said: “We will win, we will win” (the matter is now before the Supreme Court).

I had a doubt about how the historical meeting of the group of women with Swamy took place. Whether Swamy announced he will visit the temple or it was an accidental meeting when he was going around the temple as mentioned in the story? But I immediately shrugged off my doubt since ‘The Hindu’ is known for it’s journalistic credentials, especially in it’s ‘originality’ and ‘creativity’  more than 100 years.

I’ll  summarise the issue for the better understanding of the readers. Chidambaram Lord Nataraja Temple situated in Tamilnadu is alleged as a ‘denomination’ temple, which means a community owns the temple, by the Dikshithar Community, a sect of Brahmins. Recently after years and years of legal battles, Tamilnadu Government appointed an Executive Officer for the temple, through the HR&CE (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments) Department on february 2009 on the basis of  verdict given by Justice Mrs. R Banumathi. Podhu Dikshithars, leading Priests of Dikshithars appealed again and recently on September 15, 2009, Madras High court division Bench dismissed the plea.

So, I was moved by the emotions of the above mentioned scene of the story, the tears of Dikshithars who lost the case and the cries of the ‘leaders’. I was relieved as the ‘leaders’ not once but twice said that they will win. I mean the count.

Swami and his friends at the Chidambaram Temple on Feb 13,2009.

Because, some time back,  When the appeal filed by the Podhu Dikshithars was in court, Swamy visited the temple and said that he will win the case in High Court on Feb 13,2009. He said the words,”We will win” only once at that time. He was showered with slohas and with the spiritual impetus, he entered the High Court at Chennai to implead himself in the case on the fateful day, 17 February 2009. Alas, he had to face rotten eggs allegedly thrown by the lawyers who were strike on Eelam Tamils issue. It’s alleged that they did the heinous crime of throwing eggs against Swamy’s support of Sinhala Chauvinism.

Ironically, there is a similarity with the present story. That time he was ‘going around the court hall’ and accidentally or incidentally, the meeting with the protesting lawyers happened. Swamy shouted for dismissing Tamilnadu Government as throwing eggs on him was a clear sign of  ‘law and order breakdown’ in Tamilnadu. Some strongly condemned the incident and admonished the advocates for ashaming eggs by throwing on Swamy which could have otherwise become hot omlettes or sweet chickens.

The attacks on lawyers by the police as a consequence flashed all television screens in the days followed. Some said this is the classical ‘law and order break down’ breaking the heads of protesting lawyers.

Coming back to the story, unrelenting ‘leader’ Swamy who was sure of winning the case, was allowed to implead in the case.  But unfortunately, he and his friends had a worst defeat as the Madras High court division Bench Categorically said that in view of the finding of the HR and CE Commissioner that there had been a large-scale misappropriation of temple funds, the court would be failing in its duty to safeguard and preserve the ancient temple if it interfered with the E.O’s appointment.

The Bench said in view of the admitted stand by the appellant, it was proved beyond doubt that neither the appellant nor their predecessors or forefathers were the founders of the temple and they were not entitled to have the benefit of protection under Article 26 (Freedom to manage religious affairs) of the Constitution.

Historical records indisputably proved the fact that the temple was established by Chola and Pandya kings and the rulers of Vijayanagaram between 10th and 13th century and worshipped by both Saivites and Vaishnavites. Hence, the Podhu Dikshidars could not claim it as a denominational temple.

The Bench said there was a startling revelation that the Dikshidars never maintained accounts either in receipt of 400 acres of fertile land or in respect of gold offering, hundial collections and cash donation for ages. Also, no account was maintained for fixing of rent and collecting them from tenants. These revealed that the Commissioner rightly concluded that the Podhu Dikshidars had continuously neglected to perform their duty. Had there been a proper administration and management of the properties, the temple would have become another rich temple like the ones in Tirupati and Palani, the Bench said.

Well, whatever the court may say, Dikshithars had been alleging the ownership on the basis of their popular theory known in Tamil as Dikshithar Moovayiram. They claim that 3000 Dikshithars came from Kailash, and the last and foremost Dikshithar was lord shiva itself. They along with lord shiva started maintaining the Temple. Now i really don’t know why the courts are not accepting this ‘historic and scientific’ fact.

Anyhow, coming back to the story, this time I am sure Swamy will win the case in Supreme Court as from what Swamy addressed a ‘gathering’ at the temple. I would prefer to call the event as ‘coming together’ rather than ‘gathering’.  Swamy said he and his friends will  join hands with ‘intellectuals’ to get back the temple from the government. I appreciate the statement as Ashok Singhal and Vedhantham,  whose ‘historical and intellectual’ contributions to the Indian society right from Babri Masjid to Ram Sethu, ofcourse with the ‘intellectual’ help of Swamy are remarkable.  I am sure they will enlighten us this time too. Swamy fought the Ram Sethu case on the basis of unquestionable ‘historical’ evidence, Tulsidas Ramyana. Yes, commoners like Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, ’some’ officials in Archeological Survey of India (ASI) may disagree the historical value of Swamy’s evidences. As a true Swamy fan, I would say, they should be ignored.

HRPC, PLF members agitation - 17.7.2009, against the fifth attack on Arumugasamy by Dikshithars.

Many say that now the entire news media in Tamilnadu is undermining the role of HRPC (Human Rights and Protection Council) and Arumugasamy, a shiv devotee who were also litigants in the case. They say Arumugasamy, an old shiva devotee was attacked by the Dikshithars for singing Tamil hymns before the sanctum-sanctorum in 2001. His arms were fractured by the Dikshithars and was thrown to the street. HRPC took up his case and fought for his religious right. It exposed the malpractices, murders and the immoral acts of Dikshithars, waging a long and ardous struggle  both in court halls and to the masses. They say, in a way,  HRPC and Arumugasamy waged the real struggle for the rights of ordinary Hindu devotees. Well, again as a true swamy fan, I have nothing to comment on any human rights organisation or any other samy or swamy.

Now coming back to the story again, Swamy further said that none could destroy the Hindu force that constituted 83 per cent of the total population. A death knell was now sounded against those who were undermining dharma. Siva Thandavam (the ferocious cosmic dance of Lord Siva) would render them powerless.

I started trembling with fear to read those words. An image of the ferocious cosmic dance of Swamy and his friends, the living avatars of Lord Shiva started filling my mind. “We will win, we will win”! “We will win, we will win”!

Some say Swamy is a mere political tout, a paid CIA agent whose at best political activity is to create confusions and commotion. Initially he was toppling governments with many other power brokers. now he has taken the avatar, the au savior of Hinduism. Well, again as a true swamy fan, I don’t pay attention to such allegations. My only sincere wish is that, there shouldn’t be any naxal or dravidian or eelam elements amongst Supreme court Lawyers, as rotten eggs are available in delhi too.

Image Courtesy: The Hindu

Beyond all the uproar of Kasab’s four hour long confession, there is a small incident which couldn’t find much importance.

The court took exception to a remark made in jest by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. In a jibe at Ajmal’s lawyer Abbas Kazmi, Mr. Nikam said Ajmal had not mentioned “Abu Abbas Kazmi.” The court immediately asked Mr. Nikam to withdraw his comment.

What made the well learned lawyer to pass such a demeaning remark? After all, Kazmi is performing his duty just as the over excited Nikam. Was that a simple joke? Didn’t we saw how humor started with Anjali waghmare forcing her to quit? Some time later, Kazmi was ousted by Islam Gumkhana for the ‘kaffir’ act. We heard the bar council resolutions in various north indian courts that no lawyer should defend ‘Terrorists’. We saw how some lawyers were thrashed inside court premises for the ‘crime’.

Things are moving in that direction. Like how an ‘ordinary middle class man’ want to pronounce sentences in ‘Wednesday’, a hindi movie, instead of wasting time. The hate and ultra patriotism is in air.. ‘Sunny Deols’ everywhere, intolerant towards all ‘traitors’. Rules are pretty simple. Just be with us. Don’t use words like democracy, rule of law etc., We will joke. We will ridicule. At times things may go out of control. We can’t help.

WISDOM 0F THE EAST posted the below piece of  ‘wise information’ in his/her website.

Details about anti- Hindu media

All the efforts and conspiracies are part of a concerted attack on Hindu interests and institutions, organized by Christian groups and supported by the Congress. People, including those who should know better, ridiculed me when I said a couple of years ago that the Church with its peculiar historical sense see Sonia Gandhi in the same light as Constantine, who by his hospitality to early Christianity to take over the Roman Empire. To those who know history, the present conflict has an eerie similarity to the 4th century. Christians were less than 4 percent in the Roman Empire, but they managed to seize control.

Christian-Congress assault on the Bharatiya media and Hindu institutions

The most extraordinary item is F) The Hindu: A English Daily, started over125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne, Switzerland.

To this I would add the Malayala Monorama Group controlled by the Matthew family of Kochi, Kerala.

Which Media is controlled by whom and how does it derive benefit Which Media is controlled by whom and how does it derive benefit:

(A) NDTV: Funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan. NDTV’s CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat, Gen Secy of Communist party of India.Brinda Karat’s sister Radhika Roy is married to Prannoy Roy. Also Prannoy Roy is a cousin of the prominent media personality Arundhati Roy

(B) CNN-IBN: 100% Funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annually allocates 800 Million Dollars for Promotion of its channel. Its Indian Head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.

(C) TIMES GROUP LIST: TIMES OF INDIA, MID-DAY, NAV-BHARTH TIMES, STARDUST, FEMINA, VIJAYA TIMES, VIJAYA KARNATAKA, TIMES NOW (24 hr News Channel) & many more.

Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. 80% of the Funding is done by “WORLD CHRISTIAN COUNCIL”, and balance 20% is equally shared by an Englishman and an Italian. The Italian ROBERTIO MINDO IS A CLOSE RELATIVE OF SONIA GANDHI.

(D) STAR TV: Is run by an Australian, who is supported by St.Peters Pontificia l Church Melbourne.

(E) HINDUSTAN TIMES: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collobration with Times Group.

(F) The Hindu: A English Daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne, Switzerland.

(G) INDIAN EXPRESS: DIVDED INTO TWO GROUPS. THE INDIAN EXPRESS & NEW INDIAN EXPRESS (SOUTHERN EDITION). Acts Ministries has major stake in the Indian express and later is still with the Indian counterpart.

(H) EENADU : Still to date controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao.

(I) Andhra Jyothi : The MUSLIM PARTY OF HYDERABAD known as (MIM) along with a Congress Minister Has purchased this Telgu daily very recently.

(J) The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of India

(K) Kairali TV: It is Controlled by Communist party of India (Marxist)

(L) Mathrabhoomi: leaders of Muslim league and Communist Leaders have major investment.

(M) Asian Age & Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J.AKBAR

Source:http://www.newsanalysisindia.com/124012007.htm

P.S.- Dr. Prannoy L. Roy, an Indian media figure,is married to Radhika Roy (sister of Brinda Karat,CPI-M), and is the Director of NDTV. Prannoy L. Roy is also the cousin of award winning novelist and activist Arundhati Roy. Arundhati’s real name is Suzanna Arundhati Roy who was born to a Syrian Christian mother, Mary Roy. Explore Arundhati’s Info @ http://arundhati-roy-web.blogspot.com/2007/11/arundhati-roy-as-in-wiki.html

…
One Mr.wanderer has bombarded this piece of shit with his arguments in a google group called, soc.culture.indian which follows below.

It will if you continue to flood Usenet with the utterly fabricated bullshit that the saffron nitwits have used to carpet-bomb the internet!

NDTV is a publicly traded company with majority ownership by Prannoy and Radhika Roy. There is no “Gospels of Charity in Spain”, the purported “funder” of NDTV. Prannoy Roy is a neo-conservative, which is about as far from being communist or supporting communism that I could imagine. I would be delighted if you could provide me with verifiable information on this ethereal organization, “Gospels of Charity in Spain”, and its alleged links to NDTV.

CNN is owned by Time-Warner, a publicly traded company. IBN is an Indian  publicly traded company. It’s parent company is Network 18, a media group owned 51% by Raghav Bahl. Rajdeep Sardesai is a Saraswat Brahmin and the son of Test cricketer Dilip Sardesai. The Southern Baptists have no connection to CNN-IBN or to Network 18 that I could find. I would be delighted if you could provide me with verifiable information on this ethereal connection and/or evidence to the effect that Raghav Bahl, Rajdeep Sardesai et al are Christians.

Bennett & Coleman is a publicly traded company majority owned by the Sahu Jain Group. “WORLD CHRISTIAN COUNCIL” has no involvement with it, and neither do the mystery Englishman or the mystery Italian. I would be delighted if you could provide me with verifiable information that the Sahu Jain group is a family of Christians/Catholics and that this “WORLD CHRISTIAN COUNCIL” is in cahoots with them.

Star TV is owned by News Corp, which was founded by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is an American citizen, born in Australia to a Presbyterian family, and therefore not a member of a Catholic church. I would be delighted if you could provide me with verifiable information that Rupert Murdoch is or ever was a member of “St. Peters Pontificial Church Melbourne.”

Neither the large stakeholders of the Times Group nor the Birla Group are Christians, as far as I have been able to ascertain. I would be delighted if you could provide me with verifiable information that the Birlas or the Jains are in fact Christians.

There is no “Joshua Society, Berne, Switzerland.” Also, please explain
what the Joshua Society does, and who its office-bearers are. Ownership of The Hindu, as far as I have been able to ascertain, remains with the family of the late Kasturi Ranga Iyengar. I would be delighted if you could provide me with verifiable information that the descendants and controlling heirs of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar are indeed Christians, and also verifiable information pertaining to the “Joshua Society, Berne, Switzerland.”

Failing to provide verifiable information as above, I would expect you
to apologize for spreading untruths, falsehoods, lies and slander.

Yesterday got a chance to watch ‘Shaurya’ (Courage), a Hindi Movie by Samar Khan. It seems to have got released on April 2008, and worth to mention, a disaster in Box office. This unnoticed movie has only got mention about the alleged plagiarism with ‘A Few Good men’ in web and it’s surprising to see no other analysis on its subject. ApunKaChoice.com is only worried about the plagiarism and puts the tag as fairly watchable without any justification.

Samar Khan is not Manirathnam to hide the inspiration of the movie. He puts it quite honestly in his interview to NDTV.

Yes, the skeleton of the film is A Few Good Men. But I’ve changed everything around. Where in A Few Good Men did they talk about Kashmir and the Muslim identity? It’s like comparing Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. They’re both about the end of the world. But so different.

I think what he is says perfectly fine. Not only the plot but the treatment and the message are different and the movie sounds truely indigenous and creative. I would say the allegation is primarily motivated to do away the disturbing questions raised by the movie. Even if the movie is a copy of something it is thousand times better than the so-called originals of Bansalis, Johars and Chopras. The plot of the movie as given in imdb follows.

Shaurya, revolves around the lives of two close friends, both lawyers in the Indian army.Maj. Siddhant Chaudhary(Rahul Bose) and Maj. Akash Kapoor(Javed Jaffrey).Siddhant is defending and Aakash is prosecuting a soldier,convicted for killing his commanding officer.An unwilling participant at first, Siddhant only begins to take his role as a defence lawyer seriously when he meets a spirited journalist Kavya who makes him realize that the case is not as simple as it seems and that the life of the soldier lies in his hands.

In the course of his investigation Siddhant encounters Brigadier Pratap(Kay Kay Menon), a highly decorated officer with a narcissistic sense of power and fixed ideas.The convicted soldier, Javed Khan, remains mysteriously silent while incidents and testimonials pile up against him. Making a just resolution to the case seems unattainable.

When Siddhant unravels the mystery behind the silence of Javed Khan, he finds that Javed is not a murderer but the saviour of a 6 year old girl from the hands of a monstrous Army Officer Rathore who fell to the bullet of Javed. What follows is a crusade for truth which demands courage and getting the real culprits punished. But it confines within the limits of court hall. In a subtle manner, for the first time in silver screen, the movie underlines the atrocities of Indian army in Kashmir and the arrogant justifications of officers like Brigadier Prathap. The composed argument of the movie on the prejudice against Muslims and the credibility of the so-called fight against Terrorism in Kashmir discomforts ordinary Hindi movie viewer who is showered with Jingoistic filth like Gadar etc.,

It is a well-known, implicit rule that Indian army seldom admits Muslims in its ranks. we often hear Sangh enthusiasts proudly proclaiming it. There comes the the last lengthy dialogue of Kay Kay Menon or the ‘Hitlerian’ speech, which brings the Col.Purohit of Malegaon blasts in flesh and blood to your eyes. Kay Kay Menon reminds Daniel Day lewis with his acting par excellence and at times hijacks the entire movie with his strong persona. I am not convinced with the portrayal of Siddanth as all the innocence that are shown very well gets washed away in the training years itself but that is negligible . But the story has a lacunae as its narrative grows on expected lines which makes it seem lagging at times but it has got to do with form and not the content. These technical black spots cannot be the reason to neglect the strong, loud and clear political message of the movie.

Samar Khan cries out his soul in the Interview, which is the message that echoes in the movie and shocks the Hindutva conditioned psyche.

We don’t confront anything that’s uncomfortable. But the fact of the matter is that the Indian Muslim is living in a very real crisis. What you see in Shaurya is born of a very private anguish. It may not be on an obvious level. But it’s there. If I praise the performance of the Pakistani cricket team, a look would pass around the room. But if anyone else said it, it wouldn’t be noticed. I don’t want to be known as a Muslim. I want to be known as an Indian. Unfortunately in these troubled times that we live in, it’s become embarrassing to be Samar Khan. Why is it that a Khan is asked to prove his patriotism in this country while a Jha is not? Why do I’ve to wear my patriotism on the sleeve? Isn’t it enough that I am an Indian? These are questions that have always troubled me.

The accused Javed khan in the movie puts the above in one line to Siddhanth.

“Sir, mein apne naam ka karz chuka raha hun”(I am paying the price of my name.)

We are happy to see that atleast in Hindi film industry such bold measures are in shape which tell the stories revolving around muslims as lead characters and deals with views contrary to the official line. Thanks to my bong friend who recommended the movie or else watching the poster, i would have simply skipped it as yet another Military melodrama. Samar ends his Interview with these lines.

I honestly feel if we keep closing our eyes to what happened to Gujarat then the Muslims in India will end up getting a dose of Nazism. Yes, Shaurya has made me a more politically aware creature.

We are ended up with doses and doses of Nazism and Counter-Nazism. And yes, Shaurya definitely helps us too to be more politically aware.

While watching the blood boiling images of Mumbai, cynically I got reminded of Vidya Balan saying “Good Morninnnnnnng Mumbai” in Lage Raho Munnabhai and sadly sighed on the bad and horrific morning mumbai is facing with. I have least intetions to vent out my angst as i don’t believe in such writing. But what has happened is really breathtaking. I am not much concerned about the elites who got killed or about the praised uniformed men whose credibility is debatable, but i was shocked to see the images of the indiscriminate shooting in the street from the hijacked police vehicle and a man shouting writhing in pain with his bullet pierced hand.

This callous and brazen act of the so-called terrorist organisation and the way in which this drama has unfolded reminds me of the Parliament attack of BJP rule. I couldn’t help myself getting the doubt whether it can be an act to do away the focus the recent malegaon blasts trial is drawing. The trial first of its instance by which for the first time in their history, Indian media houses are touching the henceforth untouchable word, Hindu Terrorism. The timing, the precision of targets, for example the killing of Hemant Karkare, the chief investigator of malegoan blasts, and the unofficial reports of CBI officers getting killed which wouldn’t have been possible with out an intelligence link and leak tempt this guess. But we cannot pursue more in this guess, as we don’t belong to the goebbels school of thought efficiently practised by golwalkar school of barbarism.

Now we are in a fix. It has become extremely tough to expose and attack the Hindutva venom in the minds of majority hindus with the overshadowing recent attacks, which are in real, the political as well as physical suicidal attempts of so-called mujahideens. The so-called holy warriors are indeed putting the lives of crores of muslims in danger for whom they claim to revenge which is sheer rubbishness. we can very well guess the lok sabha elections will definitely favour Lal Krishna Advani and  with the glooming world economic crisis, saffron will darken the country atleast temporarily. Tough days are ahead and with resent we need to accept that we can expect more bad mornings. Hope progressive forces of Mumbai will help the ordinary people in this troubled day and it’s time the real revolutionary forces of this country switch the gears and fight against the fascist backlash that is to follow.

Image Courtesy: Mumbai Metlogs