In his famous novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities‘ The British author Charles Dickens writes :
” It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. We had everything before us, we had nothing before us. We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way ”
This is precisely the situation in India today.
(1) The following articles ( supported by massive propaganda by the ‘godi media’ ) say everything is hunky dory in India, GDP is growing, the stock market is booming, India is shining, and soon rivers of milk and honey will flow in our country :
Even if there is GDP growth, the question remains : who is getting the fruits of this growth, the Indian masses, or a handful of big businessmen and corporates.?
The truth is that there is massive poverty in India. Global Hunger Index, an internationally renowned agency, has mentioned that half of India’s children suffer from malnutrition, and many are wasted and stunted. Out of the 121 countries it surveyed, India has slipped from position number 101 to 107, behind the poorest sub Saharan countries like Somalia, and behind neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Srilanka. Prices of essential commodities like food have skyrocketed. Recently a ₹50 increase in the price of cooking gas cylinders was announced. Unemployment in India is at a record high. For even 100 jobs of peons advertised by the government there are usually half a million applicants, many of them Ph.Ds, engineers, MBAs, MSc, etc, all begging for a menial job. Proper healthcare and good education is almost non-existent for the Indian masses (though there are state of the art hospitals and IITs for a few).
So is India going towards heaven or hell, as Charles Dickens asked ?
One feels one is like Alice in Wonderland when confronted with this question, and one’s mind boggles.
The Congress party has announced that Rahul Gandhi will undertake a ‘Bharat Nyaya Yatra‘ from Manipur to Mumbai from 14th January 2024 to 20th March, covering a distance of 6200 kms, passing through 14 states and 85 districts.
This Yatra is evidently with an eye on the coming 2024 Lok Sabha parliamentary elections.
Rahul Gandhi’s earlier Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanya Kumari to Srinagar from 7th September 2022 to 30th January 2023, covering about 4000 kms and passing through 12 states, and his Speeches In America about starting a ‘mohabbat ki dukan’ in a ‘nafrat ka bazaar’ were a flop show and a gimmick, despite all the fanfare and publicity, as they were followed by the defeat of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh ( though it won in Telangana ).
The whole aim of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi in all this is to get the large Muslim vote bank, for without that it has a bleak future. Congress, which was in power for several decades after Independence, feels like a fish out of water without power, and its corresponding loaves of office.
For a long time Muslims were Congress voters, but after demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992 Muslims left Congress in UP, the largest state in India, and went over to the Samajwadi Party ( SP ), and in Bihar to Lalu Yadav’s RJD. Now the Congress is desperate to get them back.
The problem for the Congress is that other non-BJP parties also want the Muslim votes. For instance, the SP wants their votes in UP, and the RJD in Bihar. So seat sharing in the INDIA alliance of opposition parties will not be easy.
Also, when a party goes to the polls it must have something positive to offer to the people. The BJP has Hindutva to offer ( whatever its worth ). But the Congress has nothing to offer, except harping on secularism, which is only a euphemism for a desire to get Muslim votes.
The Bharat Nyaya Yatra has proclaimed its objective as ‘aarthik nyaya‘ ( economic justice ) and ‘rajnaitik nyaya‘ ( political justice ), which really means nothing. Everybody in India know that Indian politicians have no genuine desire to give Indians economic justice, but only seek their votes by making all kinds of tall promises to the people, when in fact all they seek is power and pelf.
Rahul Gandhi has no clue how to solve India’s huge economic problems, so all his talk of ‘aarthik nyaya’ is claptrap and hot air.
In India politics runs largely on the basis of caste and religious vote banks, and when most voters go to vote they forget economic issues like poverty, unemployment, price rise, etc and only see the candidate’s caste or religion ( or the caste or religion his party claims to represent ).
The skilfully manipulated media hype over the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on 22nd January, and its inauguration on the 24th will certainly benefit the BJP, apart from the religious polarisation in recent years, in the coming elections.
I am afraid the Bharat Nyaya Yatra will be as much a stunt and a gimmick as the Bharat Jodo Yatra
Bill Tammeus is my American friend, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri. USA with his wife Marcia.
He had come to Allahabad with his parents and 3 sisters in 1957. Bill’s father was an agriculture expert from Illinois University who had come for 2 years to India to teach modern methods of agriculture in the Allahabad Agriculture Institute.
Bill was admitted to Boys High School, Allahabad (where the famous Indian filmstar Amitabh Bachchan had also studied ), and we were classmates from 1957-1958. He was then about 12 years old.
Later, he went back with his parents to America, and became a journalist in the Kansas City Star (where the great writer Ernest Hemingway had once worked). However, we remained in touch since then, through letters which would take 10 days or more to reach ( there was no such thing as email then ).
Thus, we have been friends for about 66 years, quite a record !
Bill has since retired, and does social work, including serving as a part time preacher in his Presbyterian Church ( for which reason I call him ‘Reverend’ ).
I had requested Bill to be one of the speakers in the recent Christmas special global online webinar of the organisation Ibaadatkhana, which promotes inter faith harmony. I am the patron of this organisation, Tasawar Jalali, who lives in San Jose, California is its Chairman, Irfan Ali, who lives in Princeton, New Jersey is its Vice Chairman, Naren Singh, who lives in California is its Gen Secy, and Ritu Jha who lives in California, and is the editor of indicanews.com, is the head of publicity and public relations.
The video recording of the webinar can be seen on my facebook page.
Bill had to decline my invitation due to prior commitments. He explained that this is the holiday season in America, and everyone’s calendar, including his own, is jampacked well in advance.
However, he sent this video recorded Christmas and New Year greetings.
Ibaadatkhana is a global organisation for promoting communal harmony, of which I am the Patron, Tasawar Jalali, who lives in San Jose, California, USA is the International Chairman, Irfan Ali, who lives in Princeton, New Jersey, USA is the International Vice Chairman, Narendra Singh, who lives in California, is the international General Secretary, and Ritu Jha, editor of indicanews.com, is the head of publicity and public relations
Majeed Memon, senior advocate Indian Supreme Court and Bombay High Court, and former MP, is the President of the Indian Chapter, Ms. Husnara Salim, grand niece of Maulana Azad, and Chairperson of Maulana Azad Foundation, is the Indian VP, and Dr Arshi Malik is the Indian Gen Secy
We have been holding regular global online webinars in pursuit of our objective, as given below
Since Christmas is approaching, we have decided to hold a global online webinar to celebrate it and promote inter faith harmony, on the date and time mentioned in the schedule below :
A fierce controversy has erupted in India over the proposal to rename Mysore airport as Tipu Sultan airport, made recently by a Congress MLA, Prasad Abbaya, in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
Tipu Sultan
This has once again stirred up a heated debate in India, particularly in Karnataka, about Tipu’s legacy. Is he a national hero, or a bigoted villain ?
The BJP is strongly opposing the move, saying it was only to appease Muslims in the state of Karnataka.
A BJP spokesperson said that Tipu was a butcher of Hindus, and a communal bigot, who forcibly converted Hindus to Islam.
He should certainly be regarded a villain if he persecuted Hindus. But what is the truth about him ? Did he commit atrocities on Hindus ?
Here is the truth about Tipu : far from being anti-Hindu, he gave annual grants to 156 Hindu temples, had very cordial relations with the Shankaracharya of Sringeri math to whom he sent regular grants, and helped him when he was in dire distress, his Prime Minister, Punaiya, army commander, Krishna Rao, and numerous top officials were Hindus, etc.
Can such a person be described as anti -Hindu and communal ?
During British rule, pursuant to the British policy of divide and rule, Indian history text-books were so falsified and distorted as to give an impression that the medieval period of Indian history was full of atrocities committed by Muslim rulers on their Hindu subjects, and the Hindus had to suffer terrible indignities under Islamic rule. The same was done about the image of Tipu Sultan.
Here is what Prof BN Pande, Professor of History in Allahabad University ( who later became Governor of Odisha ) said in his speech in the Rajya Sabha ( the upper House of the Indian Parliament ) in 1977 :
” While I was doing some research on Tipu Sultan in 1928 at Allahabad, some office bearers of a college Students Union approached me with a request to inaugurate their History Association. They had directly come from the college with their text-book.
I opened the chapter on Tipu Sultan. One of the sentences that struck me deeply was: ‘Three thousand Brahmins committed suicide as Tipu wanted to convert them forcibly into the fold of Islam’. The author of the text-book was, Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Har Prashad Shastri, Head of the Department of Sanskrit, Calcutta University.
I immediately wrote to Dr. Shastri for the source of his information. After many reminders came the reply that he had taken that from the Mysore Gazetteer.
I contacted Prof. Srikantia of the Mysore University in this connection.
Prof Srikantia informed me that the episode of the suicide of 3,000 Brahmins is nowhere in the Mysore Gazetteer and he, as student of history of Mysore, was quite certain that no such incident had taken place. He further informed me that the Prime Minister of Tipu Sultan was a Brahmin named Punaiya and his commander-in-chief was also a Brahmin, named Krishna Rao.
He supplied me with the list of 156 temples to which Tipu Sultan used to pay annual grants. He sent me 30 photostat copies of Tipu Sultan’s letters addressed to the Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Srinageri Math with whom Tipu Sultan had very cordial relations.
Dr Shastri’s book was approved as a course book of history for high schools in Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, U.P., M.P. and Rajasthan.
I approached Sri Ashutosh Mukherjee, the then Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, and sent him all the correspondence that I had exchanged with Dr Shastri, with Mysore University Vice-Chancellor, Sri Brijendra Nath Seal, and Prof. Srikantia, with the request to take proper action against the offending passages in the text-book.
Prompt came the reply from Sri Ashutosh Mukherjee, that the history book by Dr Shastri has been put out of course.
However, I was amazed to find the same suicide story was still existing in the history text-books which had been prescribed in 1972 for Junior High Schools in U.P. ”.
Tipu was branded as communal by the Britishers who wanted to demonise him as he fought against them, and allied himself with their rivals, the French. The truth is that Tipu never practiced religious discrimination, nor was he for domination of Muslims over the Hindus. He was not an idol breaker or a temple destroyer.
On the contrary, he saw to it that all the Hindu temples flourished in his Kingdom by extending to them active encouragement and financial support.
That Tipu was non-communal is evident in the fact that a number of top officials in his government were Hindus. Purnaiya was the Mir Asaf (in charge of Revenue and Finance). Krishna Rao was his Treasurer. Shamaiya Iyengar was Minister of Police and Postal department. Subba Rao was his chief Peshkar (Chief Secretary). Srinivas Rao and Appaji Ram were his close confidantes. His agents in the Moghul court in Delhi were Mool Chand and Sujan Rai. The Faujdar of Coorg was Nagappayya, a Brahmin.
The Asafs (revenue officers) at Coimbatore and Palghat were Brahmins. The chief of Tipu’s irregular cavalry was Hari Singh. Rama Rao and Sivaji, a Maratha, commanded his regular cavalry. Another of his generals was a Hindu named Sripat Rao
In 1916, the Mysore government’s Director of Archeology, K.Narasimhachar, discovered a bunch of letters in the Sringeri Shankaracharya Math (monastery) which showed that Tipu had greatly helped the monastery, whose head was the Sringeri Shankaracharya.
In 1791, the monastery was raided and pillaged by a Maratha chieftain, Raghunath Rao Patwardan, and the Shankaracharya asked Tipu for help. Deeply grieved, Tipu Sultan wrote back saying: “ People who have sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds at no distant date”. He sent his army which drove off the Marathas from Sringeri.
He then asked his officials to send cash and grains so that the idol of Goddess Sharada could be consecrated. He also donated a palanquin to the Shankaracharya and requested him to pray for the prosperity of his domain.
Tipu had contributed to the Lakshmikanta temple at Kalale in Nanjangud taluk; the Narayanaswami temple at Melkote; the Srikanteshwara temple at Nanjangud and to the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangapatna all in Karnataka.
The greenish shivalinga at the Nanjundeshwara temple is known as Padsha linga because it was donated by Tipu, the ruler. According to a sanad, Tipu ordered the continuation of worship at the Thirupathi Venkatachalapathi temple.
One wonders if Tipu would have allowed the Ranganatha, Narasimha and Gangadhareswara temples to function in the Srirangapatnam fort, his capital, if he was an Islamic bigot.
These temples still exist today, and I have myself seen them.Whether the name of Mysore airport is changed or not, the truth is that Tipu is a national hero, not a villain
I am writing to you with a plea for mercy to the young folks ( probably all students or unemployed youth ) who entered the Lok Sabha yesterday ( 13 December ) and created a pandemonium.
I learnt from the internet that 4 of them have been arrested and charged under the stringent UAPA ( Unlawful Activities Prevention Act ) which carries a punishment of upto 7 years imprisonment, vide section 13.
They did not have any weapons on them, and the gas they used was not harmful. Thus it is evident that they were not terrorists or ordinary criminals, but were only protesting for social causes ( though their manner of protest was certainly not correct ).
In this connection I may narrate to you an incident which happened in England, and has been referred to by Lord Denning, the celebrated BritishJudge, in his book ‘The Due Process of Law’.
It appears that some students of Wales were very enthusiastic about the Welsh language and they were upset because the radio programmes were being broadcast to Wales in the English language and not in Welsh. Then came up to London and invaded the High Court. They were found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to prison for three months by the High Court Judge. They filed an appeal before the Court of Appeals.
Allowing the appeal, Lord Denning observed :-
“I come now to Mr. Watkin Powell’s third point. He says that the sentences were excessive. I do not think they were excessive at the time they were given and in the circumstances then existing. Here was a deliberate interference with the course of justice in a case which was no concern of theirs. It was necessary for the judge to show – and to show to all students everywhere – that this kind of thing cannot be tolerated. Let students demonstrate, if they please, for the causes in which they believe. Let them make their protests as they will. But they must do it by lawful means and not by unlawful. If they strike at the course of justice in this land – and I speak both for England and Wales – they strike at the roots of society itself, and they bring down that which protects them. It is only by the maintenance of law and order that they are privileged to be students and to study and live in peace. So let them support the law and not strike it down.
But now what is to be done? The law has been vindicated by the sentences which the judge passed on Wednesday of last week. He has shown that law and order must be maintained, and will be maintained. But on this appeal, things are changed. These students here no longer defy the law. They have appealed to this court and shown respect for it. They have already served a week in prison. I do not think it necessary to keep them inside it any longer. These young people are no ordinary criminals. There is no violence, dishonesty or vice in them. On the contrary, there was much that we should applaud. They wish to do all they can to preserve the Welsh language. Well may they be proud of it. It is the language of the bards – of the poets and the singers – more melodious by far than our rough English tongue. On high authority, it should be equal in Wales with English. They have done wrong, very wrong, in going to the extreme they did. But, that having been shown, I think we can, and should, show mercy on them. We should permit them to go back to their studies, to their parents and continue the good course which they have so wrongly disturbed.”
[ Vide : Morris Vs. Crown Office, (1970) 2 Q.B.
In my opinion, Mr Speaker, you should display the same wisdom as displayed by Lord Denning. Youth sometimes commit indiscretions, which are often condoned by elders. After all, youth will be youth. What these youth did was not such a serious offence like murder, dacoity or rape, and hence a lenient view should be taken by you in the matter.
These youth have been charged under the harsh UAPA which carries a punishment of upto 7 years jail for unlawful activities, vide section 13.
Section 2(o) of the UAPA defines an ‘unlawful activity’ as follows :
“unlawful activity, in relation to an individual or association, means any action taken by such individual or association (whether by committing an act or by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise),— (i) which is intended, or supports any claim, to bring about, on any ground whatsoever, the cession of a part of the territory of India or the secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union, or which incites any individual or group of individuals to bring about such cession or secession; or (ii) which disclaims, questions, disrupts or is intended to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India; or (iii) which causes or is intended to cause disaffection against India ”.
These youth have clearly not committed any ‘unlawful activity’ as defined in the UAPA. They have not done anything to bring about cession of any part of the territory of India, or done anything to disrupt the territorial integrity of India. or cause disaffection for India. They have only advocated some social causes, for which in fact they may be applauded.
I therefore respectfully submit that you should call them to your office, offer them a cup of tea and some snacks, and tell them that while one can understand their motivation, their method of expressing it was not acceptable.
You should then let them off, withdraw the charges against them, but with a stern warning that while they can hold lawful protests, a repetition of what they did will not be condoned.
I worship all Rajputs and Yadavas in India, because I regard all Rajputs as descendants of Lord Ram, just as I regard all Yadavas as descendants of Lord Krishna.
So I was very happy when a Rajput, Yogi Adityanth, became Chief Minister of UP ( my home state ).
And now I am very happy because a Yadav, Mahant Balaknath, is likely to be Chief Minister of my ‘nanihal’ Rajasthan.
My mother was from Alwar in Rajasthan ( Mahant Balaknath’s constituency ), and I have many maternal relatives in Jaipur, and other cities of Rajasthan.
I think this idea of having sadhus or mahants as Chief Minister of states is a great idea. Such a Chief Minister will ensure that the people remain on the righteous path, and not go astray. If they do go astray, a bulldozer or two will soon set them right. And if even that doesn’t work, an encounter will surely solve the problem, once and for all.
So one by one in all states we must install as CM some descendant of some god ( or if a descendant is not traceable, a sadhu or mahant will do ).
The first thing such a CM should do would be to paint all cities and villages in his state in saffron or bhagwa ( the beginning can be made with the ‘Pink City’, Jaipur, which can be renamed as ‘Gerua City’ ). This will keep the minds of the residents permanently fixed on higher, spiritual, matters, thus ensuring moksha for them, instead of wasting time focusing on useless, mundane matters like poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, price rise, etc.
Thereafter, the next step should be to build in every town, mohalla, village etc in India a ‘bhavya mandir’ ( like the Ram Mandir being built in Ayodhya ) for whichever god or goddess the local people have faith in, whether Ram, Krishna, Hanuman, Shiva, Parvati, Sita, Ganesh, Murugan, Kali, Durga etc. This will ensure work for everyone in the country, thus wiping out unemployment.
Thereafter, to check population growth, bhajan kirtan sammelans, akhand hawans, and melas should be organised everywhere, and these should continue all night, so that the minds of men and women are diverted from carnal desires to higher spheres. The virtues of ‘brahmacharya’ can also be propagated.
‘Ghar waapasi’ and ‘shuddhikaran’ squads should be organised and set up everywhere to bring back to the fold those whose forefathers went astray. In this connection help can be taken from experts like Yati Narsinghanand of Dasna temple, Ghaziabad, who converted Wasim Rizvi ( now Jeetendra Narain Singh Tyagi )
The Muslim names of all cities, roads, villages, etc in India should be changed to Hindu names ( as was done to my home town Allahabad )
And lastly, demolition and restoration drives should be started on a massive scale everywhere to demolish Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, Shahi Masjid in Mathura, Jama Masjid and Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi, Taj Mahal in Agra, Teele Waali Masjid in Lucknow, Atala Devi mosque in Jaunpur, and the 50,000 or more other former Hindu temples which were forcibly converted, and restore these sites as Hindu temples ( preferably by using the Babri Masjid modus operandi ).
Once we have done all this, India will truly become free
Before the Industrial Revolution which starting from England in the 18th century spread to many parts of the world, there were feudal societies everywhere. The means of production in feudal society were so primitive and backward that little wealth could be generated by them, and so only a handful of people ( kings and aristocrats ) could be rich, while the rest had to be mostly poor.
Global Unity
In sharp contrast to this situation, after the Industrial Revolution modern industry has become so big and powerful that enough wealth can be generated by it, and now no one on earth need be poor, and everyone can have a decent life.
Yet the situation in the world today is that there are actually two worlds
(1) the world of the developed countries i.e. North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and now China, where most people are relatively rich, and
(2) the world of the underdeveloped countries, which comprise the majority of the world’s population, where the vast majority of the people are poor.
I have explained in the articles and video below that there is a secret, unwritten, and unspoken rule in the developed countries that underdeveloped countries must not be allowed to become developed, for if they do, the industries of the developed countries, which have expensive labour, will not be able to withstand the competition from those of the underdeveloped countries, which have cheap labour, and then the former will have to close down, throwing millions of workers out of employment.
The developed countries no doubt have disputes amongst themselves, such as the present one between USA and Europe on the one hand, and China and Russia on the other. But when it comes to the underdeveloped countries they gang up, to prevent these countries becoming developed, for the reason abovementioned.
And how do they prevent it ?
They prevent it by making the people of these countries fight each other in the name of religion, caste, race or language, using their local agents e.g. the political leaders in these countries, who polarise society and incite hatred between local communities.
The basic struggle in the 21st century will therefore be the struggle between the underdeveloped countries to rapidly industrialise and modernise, for only then can they hope to escape from grinding and massive poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of proper healthcare, etc, and the developed countries which will oppose this transformation tooth and nail.
India is the most developed of the underdeveloped countries. It will therefore have to give leadership to the underdeveloped countries in this historical struggle.
Indians must therefore do their duty to the rest of the underdeveloped countries, and prepare for a long, arduous struggle, in which tremendous sacrifices will have to be made
In view of the recent political developments in India, bad days seem to be ahead for Indian Muslims.
Indian Muslim Community
Indian Muslims, who are about 213 million or 15% of India’s population of about 1400 million ( according to Pew Research Centre ) are today totally confused and perplexed about what they should do. After 2014 they have been politically totally sidelined in India, and atrocities and discrimination against some of them have increased.
Justice Katju Urges Progressive Reform for Indian Muslim Community
Some feel that their problems will end once the BJP is ousted from power, which can be done by forming an anti-BJP alliance of Opposition secular parties and defeating the BJP in the forthcoming 2024 Indian parliamentary elections. I have expressed my view on this idea in my articles, in which I have pointed out that it is superficial and will solve nothing.
The basic problems of Indian Muslims are the same as that of most Hindus viz massive poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, etc.
Indian Muslims must now also look within themselves, instead of just blaming the BJP for their plight.
A large part of the blame for their plight rests on most Muslim political leaders and most maulanas/muftis in India, who for their own vested interests have been, like leeches, sucking the blood of the innocent but gullible Muslim masses for a long time.
Consider just one example. In 1985 the Indian Supreme Court gave the Shahbano judgment that a Muslim man must give maintenance to his divorced wife. One would have expected every reasonable person to have supported this progressive, humanitarian judgment. In almost every country in the world a husband has to give maintenance to his divorced wife if she is unable to maintain herself and her children. But no, almost all maulanas and Muslim political leaders raised a hue and cry, and vehemently denounced the judgment as being in conflict with sharia law, and ultimately Rajiv Gandhi got the judgment legislatively nullified, as he was told that otherwise Congress would lose its Muslim vote bank.
Take another example, the practice of triple talaq is clearly inhuman and retrograde, because by triple talaq a Sunni Muslim husband can simply throw out his wife ( with her children, if any ) for no rhyme or reason, and without going to Court. Yet the All India Muslim Personal Board, which includes many arch reactionary Maulanas and other like minded arch reactionaries, in its affidavit before the Supreme Court, strongly opposed its abolition.
In fact the entire sharia law is outdated, and needs to be abolished. After all, a law is usually a reflection of existing social customs in a society at a particular stage of its historical development, and so when society changes, the law too must change. How can a law made in the 7th or 8th century in Arabia be relevant or applicable in India in the 21st century ? It is like applying Manusmriti to Hindus today. And to say that if sharia is abolished Islam will be abolished is nonsense. Almost the entire old ( uncodified ) Hindu law was abolished in 1955 and 1956 by the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, etc but Hinduism was not thereby abolished.
In fact a uniform civil code would benefit Muslims by putting an end to the feudal, outdated sharia law, but the reactionary leeches, viz. most of the Indian Muslim political leaders and maulanas will not permit this.
The practice of wearing burqa too must be banned, as it is a feudal, barbaric custom degrading to women, and it has been banned in many countries ( including some Muslim majority countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan and Chad, and partially in Turkey and Tunisia ).
The Quran only says women should be modestly dressed, but nowhere requires them to wear burqa.
It is now high time for Muslim society, particularly the Muslim youth, to get rid of these leeches, who for their own vested interests, have kept the Muslims backward and have been sucking their blood. Muslims should now demand abolition of sharia, burqa, and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, and suppression of maulanas. Failure to do so will only give a handle to the reactionaries among the majority Hindu community, and be disastrous for Indian Muslims.
Many Hindus regard Indian Muslims as anti-national. But is that true ?
I have often stated that unity of Indians is vital at this stage of our country’s history, and the real anti-nationals are those who polarise our society, and divide our people.
Does this show that Tipu hated Hindus, wanted to polarise society, and was therefore anti-national ? On the contrary, he gave annual grants to several Hindu temples in his kingdom, sent help to the Shankaracharya of Sringeri when the latter was in difficulty, his Prime Minister and commander-in-chief of his army were Hindus, etc.
On the other hand, what is the truth about ‘Veer’ Savarkar ? The truth is that except in his early years he was highly communal and anti-Muslim
So being a nationalist or anti-national has nothing to do with being Hindu or Muslim. It depends on whether one is keeping people united, or is polarising them.
The great Mughal Emperor Akbar, though a Muslim, was a nationalist, as he united the people
But Jinnah, another Muslim ( though non practising ), who was earlier a secular nationalist, later became highly communal and anti-national, serving the British policy of divide and rule, and advocating partition of India on the basis of the bogus two nation theory
Maulana Azad, a practising Muslim ( unlike Jinnah who was Muslim only in name, and yet claimed to champion the cause of Muslims ), was a nationalist, as he strongly opposed Partition of India
Casteist and communal people are the real anti-nationals, and must be exposed as such, and combated.
Today, a true nationalist is one who wants to abolish the massive poverty, unemployment, malnourishment, lack of proper healthcare and good education, etc among our masses, and wishes india to arise as a mighty modern industrial giant, like another China, with our people enjoying a high standard of living and leading decent lives.
This is possible only if our people rise above casteism and communalism, become united, and wage a historical people’s struggle under patriotic, modern minded leaders determined to set up a political and social order under which India rapidly modernises and industrialises, so that our people get prosperous lives.
