100,000 Indian diaspora marched through central London yesterday in support of Israel in the recent conflict
It is certain that these marchers were all Hindus, and not a single Muslim. They were waving Israeli and Indian flags.
They were condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7th October, but not simultaneouly condemning the horribly disproportionate Israeli response thereafter of bombing building apartments, hospitals, schools etc which left about 15,000 Gazans dead, two third of them women and children.
They were ostensibly anti-semitism, but in reality anti-Muslims.
In Canada there were similar marches by NRIs, obviously all Hindus, in support of Israel
In USA too there were pro-Israeli demonstrations by NRIs ( mostly Hindus )
In India too most Hindus whom I spoke to were Israeli supporters, obviously because they are anti-Muslim, like most Israelis. So the bond between Israel and India is that both have anti-Muslim governments and mostly anti-Muslim people ( India is 80% Hindu ).
On the other hand, most Indian Muslims are supporting the Palestinians
Many Indian politicians of ‘secular’ parties are lukewarm in their condemnation of Israeli atrocities, obviously with an eye on their Muslim vote banks.
For most Hindus, the important thing is that Muslims are getting a bashing at the hands of the Israelis, never mind the horrible atrocities inflicted on the poor Palestinians, who were deprived of water, food, electricity, and medicines.
And as for the Hindus living abroad, it shows that even after living for years in modern countries, their mindsets are still semi-feudal and communal.
There are today two stormy centres of turbulence, crisis, and confrontation in the world today, Gaza and Pakistan.
As regards Gaza I have already written several articles and posted a video interview on the origin and nature of the events leading upto the events of 7th October, so I am not repeating the same.
In Pakistan, the situation has not yet reached the same level of insurrection as in Gaza, but the situation is potentially explosive, and may soon become a rebellion against the army, which has, after the events of 9th May, ( which many Pakistanis believe were stage managed ) imposed a reign of terror in Pakistan, arresting and imprisoning over 10,000 people, torturing many, and even ‘disappearing’ some, muzzling most of the media, and rendering the judiciary impotent.
The Pakistan army is now trying to foist on the Pakistani people the hated and corrupt former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by a Pakistani court for massive corruption, as evidenced by the Panama Papers, but fled to England thereafter.
About 90% people of Pakistan solidly support former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been locked up in jail since early August, along with many of the leaders and supporters of his PTI party.
It is thus a Pakistani army versus the Pakistani people situation.
Presently many Pakistanis are lying low out of fear of being arrested ( though there have been massively attended meetings in KP and elsewhere in Imran Khan’s support ).
But this situation cannot last long. National parliamentary elections are scheduled for 8th February, and the Pakistan army will resort to every means of opposing Imran Khan’s coming to power ( which he certainly will if elections are free and fair, considering his popularity ), so the army will get the PTI banned, or resort to massive rigging.
This will not be tolerated by the Pakistani people, who will then devise means of combating the army, by Guerilla War or other ways.
A four day truce has come into effect in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Some people blame Hamas for starting the recent hostilities. But they need to be reminded of the words of the great Indian freedom fighter, Bal Gangadhar Tilak when India was under British rule.
In 1908, Indian revolutionaries launched a series of bomb attacks on British officials in Bengal, in which several Britishers were killed.
Soon thereafter Tilak, who was critical of the moderate approach to the fight for independence from British rule, wrote in his newspaper ‘Kesari’: “ Violence, however deplorable, becomes inevitable when the rulers, who have converted the entire nation into a prison, begin to overawe the people in an endeavour to create despondency among them by terrible oppression and unduly frightening them. Then the sound of the bomb is spontaneously produced to impart to the authorities the knowledge that the people have reached the limit of their tolerance of oppression ”.
The origin of the ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN dispute since 1948 has been explained by me in the video and articles below :
Israel had conquered and occupied Gaza and the West Bank after the Six Day War in 1967, and thereafter converted them into virtual prison camps. The Palestians there, many of whom were refugees or their descendants after the ‘Nakba’ of 1948, were living in hellish conditions, without proper food, water, electricity etc, and often with severe restrictions on their freedom of movement.
In the West Bank, Jewish settlers were often driving Palestinians from their land, though the UN had declared that illegal.
The PLO ( Palestine Liberation Organisation, which had assumed power in the West Bank, no doubt protested against this, but only in words. Consequently, its leaders, such as Mahmoud Abbas, were perceived by most Palestinians as being covertly hand in glove with Israel and the Western powers.
On the other hand, Hamas, which assumed power in Gaza, resorted to armed struggle against the Israeli oppression, launching two ‘intifadas‘.
But this resulted in no basic change of the situation. Matters came to a head, however, on October 7th 2023 when Hamas launched an attack, and its soldiers entered southern Israel, killing many Israelis and taking many hostages.
No doubt the Hamas soldiers committed some atrocities ( though the exact amount is unknown, since in war truth is the first casualty ), but the Israeli response was totally disproportionate. Its air force destroyed many apartment buildings and hospitals, and together with its army killed about 15,000 civilians, two third being women and children https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15503.doc.htm
The Israeli authorities ordered residents of northern Gaza to move to the south, and the Israeli army entered Gaza, a tiny strip of coastal land 25 miles long and 7 mile wide, with only about 2.2 million people, thus starting a Second Nakba
Despite the onslaught of the well armed Israeli armed forces, and despite suffering heavy casualties, Hamas has bravely continued fighting, thus making their soldiers heroes in the eyes of the Palestinians, as well as of many people in the world. The people of Gaza are overwhelmingly supporting Hamas, and most Palestinians in the West Bank, Jordan, etc have switched their loyalties from the PLO to Hamas.
Under the four day truce Hamas has last night released 24 hostages, and Israel has released 39 Palestinians
More are set to be released on both sides in the next 3 days. of the truce.
Whether the truce will hold beyond 4 days is uncertain. But one thing is clear. It is a significant victory for Hamas, as it bravely fought the powerful Israeli forces, armed by modern Western weapons ( including aircraft ), and has compelled it to declare a truce, however temporary. It has also bargained with Israel on equal terms for release of prisoners.
USA and the European Union have no doubt declared Hamas a terrorist organisation.
But in the eyes of the Palestinians, and many people throughout the world, they are freedom fighters and heroes
All Indian politicians are panautis and pickpockets. They only seek power and pelf, and have no genuine love for the people’s welfare. They are mostly selfish rogues, rascals, looters, deceivers, and mafia type bandits, who have taken India to the verge of ruin.
In fact the worst panauti in our country is our parliamentary democracy and electoral politics, which runs largely on the basis of caste and religious vote banks ( as everyone knows ). Casteism and communalism are feudal forces, which have to be destroyed if India is to progress, but Parliamentary Democracy further entrenches them, as it largely runs on that basis.
Is Rahul Gandhi any less a panauti, a man who has only his arrogance of belonging to India’s ‘royal family’, but has nothing in his head about how to solve India’s huge problems of massive poverty, record and rising unemployment, appalling level of child malnourishment ( every second child in the country is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index ), and almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses ? And are any other of our politicians, who only have expertise in polarising the people, and spreading caste and communal hatred, any different ? They no doubt make a lot of tall promises to the people before elections, only to be forgotten once the elections are over.
Parliamentary elections of 2024 are fast approaching, and the BJP will no doubt step up religious polarisation. But our ‘secular’ parties will not be left far behind.
Nitish Kumar, who like the French politician Talleyrand kept changing sides, depending on which way the political wind was blowing, has played his gambit of the caste census, with an eye on the backward votes, and many of the other ‘secular’ parties have supported the move.
Owaisi is just the counterpart of the BJP, playing the Muslim card.
So what is the way out of this predicament for the Indian people ? I have explained in the articles below that the only way out is by waging a mighty, historical, united people’s struggle, rising above caste and religion, led by modern minded leaders, who are determined to create an alternative political and social system under which there is rapid industrialisation and modernisation, and all Indians get a high standard of living and decent lives.
This brief note is to acquaint the uninitiated about North Indian (Hindustani) Classical music ( there is also a south Indian classical music called Carnatac music ).
The main form of Hindustani Classical music upto about 250 years ago was dhrupad, whereas the main form thereafter has been khyaal. About the middle of the 18th century khyaal gradually replaced dhrupad as the main form of Hindustani classical music, and now dhrupad is largely out of vogue, though it still has some exponents e.g. the Dagar brothers. Tansen, the famous court singer in Emperor Akbar’s court, mainly sang dhrupad.
Khyaal is regarded more melodious than dhrupad. It permits greater improvization, and is freer and more flexible than dhrupad. It has greater variety of embellishment and ornamentation than dhrupad, which was relatively much more rigid.
Khyaal is modal, each mode being called a raag. It is the most popular genre of Hindustani classical music today, though there are other forms like thumri, tappa, taraana, ghazal, qawwali, bhajan, etc.
The shift from dhrupad to khyaal is often attributed to Niamat Khan ( also known as Sadarang), the court singer in the court of the Mughal Emperor, Mohammed Shah Rangila, who ruled from 1719 to 1749. Even now many of the bandishes (songs) in khyaal music mention the names of Mohammed Saheb ( this is Mohammed Shah Rangila and not Prophet Mohammed) and Sadarang.
Hindustani classical music had several gharanas (literally ‘households’), e.g. Gwalior gharana (regarded by some as the parent of all gharanas), the Jaipur gharana, Kirana gharana, Agra gharana, etc. These gharanas had slight differences in their mode of presentation of music. The cause of the growth of these gharanas was that in the old days there was not much interaction between musicians in different parts of the country, because in those days there were no aeroplanes, trains and motor cars. Musicians were isolated from each other, and so could not create a mode common to everyone. Musicians usually taught their sons or close relatives only, and were patronized by feudal princes.
The two persons who made the greatest contribution to the development of Hindustani classical music towards the end of the 19th century were Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, the former’s contribution being in the realm of theory, while the latter’s being in the practical field.
Bhatkhande travelled extensively in India to visit singers of the various gharanas. He carefully studied their methods, and found slight defects (ashuddhis) in many gharanas. In the old days the disciple had to copy his master exactly, and hence if there was some ashuddhi in the master’s style, it was repeated by the disciple, and then his disciple in turn replicated the same. This way many defects were perpetuated.
Bhatkhande studied all this and then wrote books explaining and removing these defects. He also sought to create a coherent theory of Hindustani classical music.
Paluskar’s contribution, as mentioned before, was in the practical realm. Upto the 19th century singing was not regarded a respectable occupation by the genteel society. Paluskar made it respectable. He opened up music schools in various parts of India, often sending his disciples to head the new school., He set up the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in 1901 in Lahore (later transferred to Bombay), for teaching Hindustani classical music. He organized music conferences in various places for popularizing Hindustani classical music.
Great names in Hindustani classical music are D. V. Paluskar, Faiyyaz Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Malikarjun Mansur, Bhimsen Joshi, Kumar Gandharva, Pandit Jasraj, Rashid Khan, Girja Devi, etc. Of the singers in recent times Malikarjun Mansur, was regarded by some as a shade above others.
The communities which have made the greatest contribution in Hindustani classical music are Maharashtrians and Pathans ( the Khans).
Hindustani classical music is often close to nature. For example, the malhar raag ( there are many forms of malhars, each having slight differences from the others e.g. mian ka malhar, megh malhar, sur malhar, gaud malhar, ramdasi malhar, shudh malhar, nat malhar, etc) is a raag of the monsoon season. On hearing it one feels that the clouds are coming, the lightning is flashing, and then it is raining.
In the morning please hear raag jaunpuri, and enjoy the ambience of the early morning, and at night please hear raags malkauns or darbari.
I have deliberately not gone into greater detail on the subject as I thought the uninitiated should first be presented a broad outline. Later when he develops more interest in Hindustani classical music he can go into further details.
The architect of modern India was the great Mughal Emperor Akbar who gave equal respect to all religions, the only policy which can keep India, a country of tremendous diversity, united. He appointed people of all communities to the highest offices on their merits irrespective of their religion, caste, etc, e.g. Todar Mal ( the Finance Minister ), Man Singh and Birbal ( army commanders ).
The Emperor Akbar held discussions with scholars of all religions and gave respect not only to Muslim scholars, but also to Hindus, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, etc. Those who came to his court were given respect, and the Emperor heard their views, sometimes alone, and sometimes in the Ibadatkhana (Hall of Worship), where people of all religions assembled and discussed their views in a tolerant spirit.
The Emperor declared his policy of Suleh-e-Kul, which means universal tolerance of all religions and communities. He abolished Jeziya in 1564 and the pilgrim tax in 1563 on Hindus, celebrated many Hindu festivals, and permitted his Hindu wife to continue practising her own religion even after their marriage. This is evident from the Jodha Bai Palace in Fatehpur Sikri which is built on Hindu architectural pattern.
In 1578, the Parsi theologian Dastur Mahyarji Rana was invited to the Emperor’s court and he had detailed discussions with Emperor Akbar and acquainted him about the Parsi religion. Similarly, the Jesuit Priests Father Antonio Monserrate, Father Rodolfo Acquaviva and Father Francisco Enriques etc. also came to the Emperor’s court on his request and acquainted him about the Christian religion. The Emperor also became acquainted with Sikhism and came into contact with Guru Amar Das and Guru Ram Das (see ‘The Mughal Empire by R.C. Majumdar).
Thus, as stated in the Cambridge History of India ( Vol.IV-The Mughal Period ), Emperor Akbar conceived the idea of becoming the father of all his subjects, rather than the leader of only the Muslims, and he was far ahead of his times. As mentioned by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in ‘The Discovery of India’ Emperor Akbar’s success is astonishing, for he created a sense of oneness among the diverse elements of India.
In 1582, the Emperor invited and received a Jain delegation consisting of Hiravijaya Suri, Bhanuchandra Upadhyaya and Vijayasena Suri. Jainism, with its doctrine of non-violence, made a profound impression on him and influenced his personal life. He curtailed his food and drink and ultimately abstained from flesh diet altogether for several months in the year. He renounced hunting which was his favourite pastime, restricted the practice of fishing and released prisoners and caged birds. Slaughter of animals was prohibited on certain days and ultimately in 1587 for about half the days in the year.
As mentioned in Dr. Ishwari Prasad’s ‘The Mughal Empire’, the Jains had a great influence on the Emperor.
Having heard of the virtues and learning of Hir Vijaya Suri in 1582 the Emperor sent an invitation to him through the Mughal Viceroy at Ahmedabad, which he accepted. He was offered money by the Viceroy to defray the expenses of the journey to the then Moghul capital Fatehpur Sikri, but he refused. The delegation consisting of Hir Vijaya Suri, Bhanu Chandra Upadhyaya and Vijaya Sen Suri started on their journey and walked on foot to Fatehpur Sikri and were received with great honour befitting imperial guests.
When introduced to the Emperor he defended true religion and told him that the foundation of faith should be ‘daya’ (compassion) and that God is one though he is differently named by different faiths.
The Emperor received instruction in dharma from Suri, who explained the Jain doctrines to him. The Emperor was persuaded to abolish the Sujija Tax (Jeziya) and a Sulka ( a tax on pilgrims) and to free caged birds and prisoners. He stayed for four years at Akbar’s court, and left for Gujarat in 1586. He obtained various concessions to his religion. The Emperor is said to have taken a vow to refrain from hunting and expressed a desire to leave off meat eating for ever as it had become repulsive to him. On Suri’s departure, the Emperor presented to him Padma Sundar scriptures which were preserved in his palace. He offered them to Suri as a gift and was pressed by the Emperor to accept them. The killing of animals was forbidden for certain days.
Emperor Akbar was a propagator of Suleh-i-Kul (universal toleration) at a time when Europeans were indulging in religious massacres e.g. the St. Bartholomew Day massacre in 1572 of Protestants, (called Huguenots) in France by the Catholics, the burning at the stake of Protestants by Queen Mary of England, the massacre by the Duke of Alva of thousands of people of Holland for their resistance to Rome, and the burning at the stake of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition. We may also mention the subsequent massacre of the Catholics in Ireland by Cromwell, and the mutual massacre of Catholics and Protestants in Germany during the thirty year war from 1618 to 1648 in which the population of Germany was reduced from 18 million to 12 million.
Thus, Emperor Akbar was far ahead of even the Europeans of his times. It was because of the wise policy of toleration of the Great Emperor Akbar that the Mughal empire lasted for so long, and hence the same wise policy of toleration alone can keep our country together, despite our diversity.
When I visited California a few years back, a gentleman,. Tasawar Jalali, a Kashmiri who is an M.Tech from Harvard, and has been living in USA for about 25 years, met me. I explained to him about the tremendous religious polarisation taking place in India, and the need to promote inter faith harmony if we wish to keep our country united. He agreed, and we formed an organisation called ‘Ibaadatkhana’.
Tasawar organised a meeting of some NRIs settled in the Bay Area to discuss formation of this body. One gentleman objected to the name Ibaadatkhana, saying it had a Muslim flavour. I explained that it was the name of a building ( which still exists in Fatehpur Sikri, the new capital of the Mughal Empire which Akbar built ), in which scholars of all religions, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, etc met frequently to discuss the good points in their religion amicably. This was a unique building in the world, which brought all religions together, instead of fighting one another.
Hence the name had a historical significance and background. Thereupon everybody agreed, and we held an inaugural of the organisation in Fremont, California.
Thereafter also we have held several global webinars, which can be seen on youtube.
As explained in my article ‘What is India‘, India is a country of tremendous diversity, as it is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America
Hence to keep it together and on the path of progress we must give equal respect to all religions, as envisaged by the great Emperor Akbar. In fact it was because of this wise inclusive policy that the Mughal Empire lasted so long, and India became the most prosperous country of the world, with 25% of the world’s GDP and foreign trade
I was sad to see on youtube many Pakistani’s celebrating India’s defeat in the World Cup Cricket final by Australia, as if Pakistan had won the World Cup.
Naseem Shah delivering a crucial over in the Pakistan vs. Afghanistan cricket match
Many Pakistanis distributed sweets, danced, and did other foolish things
These silly and misguided people did not realise that it was their own defeat too, since India and Pakistan are really one country, with a common culture, and were one for 500 years ( since the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar ). We were temporarily and artificially divided by that British swindle called Partition in 1947, on the basis of the bogus two nation theory, to keep Hindus and Muslims fighting each other, and thus to keep us weak and backward. But we are sure to reunite one day, like West and East Germany, or North and South Vietnam, under a secular government with modern minded leaders determined to transform our subcontinent into a highly modern, highly industrialised, and highly prosperous region, with its people enjoying a high standard of living, and leading decent lives.
When Pakistan was defeated by England in the T20 World Cup cricket final on 13th November 2022, I called Indians who celebrated it stupid, since it was really India’s defeat too ( since we are one nation )
Babar Azam addresses the Pakistan cricket team – Motivation and unity for success.
Former Supreme Court Justice Katju Advocates for Dignity and Support for India's Sex Workers, Urges Implementation of Vocational Training Programs
Prostitution is a taboo word in India. It is hardly ever mentioned among people, in the public discourse, among politicians, the so called ‘intellectuals’, in the educational institutions, or in the media, as if the unfortunate sex workers do not exist, or live on another planet, to be given a wide berth, like lepers in the past.
And yet the truth is that in 2007 the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development reported that there are over 3 million female sex workers in India, ( unofficial estimates are there are upto 10 million, many of them children ). India has one of the largest sex industries in the world, a 1 billion dollar one, and fast growing. In perhaps all cities in India there are ‘red light areas’, e.g. G.B. Road in Delhi, Sonagachi in Kolkata, Sonapur in Mumbai, and Meerganj in my home town Allahabad.
There is massive poverty in India, and most women and girls enter the flesh trade not because they enjoy it but due to abject poverty, to fill their stomachs, and once in it they are stigmatised forever, and can never get out, and have to live forever beyond the pale of ‘civilised’ society, which shuns them.
They live horrible lives, the brothel owners giving them little to eat or wear, and they are often brutally beaten by the latter or their customers.
In one of his great poems ( called Chakle ) the Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi writes poignantly about their plight :
” Ye Kooche Ye Neelaam-Ghar Dil-Kashi Ke
Ye Lutate Hue Kaarvaan Zindagi Ke Kahaan Hain Kahaan Hain Muhaafiz Khudi Ke Sanaa-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Ye Pur-Pench Galiyaan Ye Be-Khwaab Baazaar Ye Gumnaam Raahi Ye Sikkon Ki Jhankaar Ye Ismat Ke Saude Ye Saudon Pe Takraar Sana- Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Ta’ffun Se Pur Neem-Raushan Ye Galiyaan Ye Masli Hui Adh-Khuli Zard Kaliyaan Ye Bikti Hui Khokhli Rang-Raliyaan Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Wo Ujle Dareechon Mein Paayal Ki Chhan-Chhan Tanaffus Ki Ulajhan Pe Tabale Ki Dhan-Dhan Ye Be-Rooh Kamron Mein Khaansi Ki Dhan-Dhan Sanaa Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Ye Goonje Huwe Qah-Qahe Raaston Par Ye Chaaron Taraf Bheed Si Khidkiyon Par Ye Aawaazen Khinchte Huwe Aanchalon Par Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Ye Phoolon Ke Gajre, Ye Peekon Ke Chheente Ye Be-Baak Nazaren, Ye Gustaakh Fiqre Ye Dhalke Badan Aur Ye Madqooq Chehre Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Ye Bhookhi Nigaahen Haseenon Ki Jaanib Ye Badhte Huwe Haath Seenon Ki Jaanib Lapakte Huwe Paanv Zeenon Ki Jaanib Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Yahaan Peer Bhi Aa Chuke Hain Jawaan Bhi Tano-Mand Bete Bhi, Abbaa Miyaan Bhi Ye Beewi Bhi Hai Aur Bahan Bhi Hai, Maan Bhi Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Madad Chaahti Hai Ye Hawwa Ki Beti Yashodha Ki Ham Jins Raadha Ki Beti Payambar Ki Ummat Zulaikha Ki Beti Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain
Zara Mulk Ke Rah-Baron Ko Bulaao Ye Galiyaan Ye Kooche Ye Manzar Dikhaao Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Ko Laao Sana-Khwaan-E-Taqdees-E-Mashriq Kahaan Hain ”.
The plight of sex workers has been depicted in Indian and world literature, as mentioned below :
In the facebook post below I referred to a case, Buddhadeb Karmaskar vs State of West Bengal, which my bench ( with Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra ) decided in the Supreme Court. The ghastly facts of the case are mentioned in the fb post, hence I am not repeating hem.
In that decision I said that sex workers are also entitled to a life of dignity, in view of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, and directed the central and all state governments to frame schemes to give some vocational training to them, so that they could earn their bread by some vocation instead of by selling their bodies.
I retired from the Supreme Court soon after passing the above order, but another bench of the Court hearing the same case gave further directions in the matter
Things being as they are in India, I doubt my order will be implemented ( except paying some lip service to it ), but at least I have the satisfaction of doing my little bit, and creating some awareness in the public about the plight, tribulations and travails of these unfortunate women and girls
Christians believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God, that he was resurrected to life after the third day of his death by crucifixion, that he performed miracles, etc, etc.
As an atheist I obviously cannot believe all this. When there is no God, how can there be a son of God ? How can a dead person come alive after being dead for 2 days ? And since I believe in science, how can I believe in miracles ?
What I believe is this : at the time of Jesus, the Jewish priests in Palestine, and particularly in Jerusalem, had become corrupt, and the Jewish religion had become a means of deceiving the gullible Jewish people. Jesus, being a good man, was horrified seeing all this.
Most people who see wrong things going on all around them, remain silent, fearing that if they raise their voice against it, the powerful vested interests profiting from these wrongs will retaliate and do them harm.
However, there are some sensitive and good people who simply cannot tolerate this state of affairs, and become determined to expose and oppose it, whatever the risk. Jesus was one of these. His aim was certainly not to create a new religion, but to reform the Jewish religion and practices, particularly the crooked practices of the Jewish priests. This so infuriated the latter, who fearing that their vested interests would be adversely affected, got him crucified.
Now it seems that when he grew up, Jesus had become some kind of ‘sadhu’ ( like many who abound in India ). He claimed to be getting revelations and messages of God ( like Prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H 600 years later ), and had gathered numerous disciples and followers, particularly since he himself set very high personal moral standards of conduct. After his death, Jesus’ message was spread to many parts of the Roman Empire, particularly by Paul of Tarsus, who could do so because the Roman Empire provided security to travellers.
Jesus’ message was, in a nutshell, this : the Kingdom of God is at hand, i.e. it is imminent, and will come into existence very soon, within one’s lifetime, not in the remote future. So people should repent of their sins and become good, turning over a new leaf, and that will thereby send them to paradise when they die, where they will live a comfortable life, otherwise they will be sent to hell fire.
This message may not make sense to us today, but it made a lot of sense to people living 2000 years ago, when most people were superstitious and unscientific. And it made a lot of sense to the slaves, artisans, and poor people of Rome, who together constituted about 90% population of Rome, and who toiled day and night, doing hard, continuous, unending, nerve wracking work of crushing drudgery, which stultified and degraded them. while the rich senators and merchants of Rome lived in great magnificence and luxury.
To escape from their miserable existence, the former readily accepted a religion which gave them a hope and prospect of leading a happy, comfortable afterlife, devoid of their sufferings. The preachers of this new religion were men who led austere, unblemished, very high personal moral lives, which made their words readily acceptable to the populace.
Once Christianity became well established in Rome, it rapidly spread to other parts of the Roman Empire, steadily gaining more and more converts, and this process was greatly accelerated by Constantine the Great, who became Roman Emperor in 306 A.D. and supported Christianity
I respect Christianity because it gave a degree of social emancipation ( even if mostly in imagination ) to the suppressed sections of society, and I respect it for its ethical teachings. But beyond that, being a scientific person, I regard its metaphysics, etc as mostly unscientific nonsense.
In 1908 Indian revolutionaries launched a series of bomb attacks on British officials in Bengal, in which several Britishers were killed.
As a result, the great Indian freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who was critical of the moderate approach to the fight for independence from British rule, wrote in his newspaper ‘Kesari’ :
” Violence, however deplorable, becomes inevitable when the rulers, who have converted the entire nation into a prison, begin to overawe the people in an endeavour to create despondency among them by terrible oppression and unduly frightening them. Then the sound of the bomb is spontaneously produced to impart to the authorities the knowledge that the people have reached the limit of their tolerance of oppression ”.
This explains the Hamas attack on Israel on 7th October and the continuing war since then.
Many people have condemned the Hamas attack, but they overlook the 75 year long history of atrocities and oppression of the Palestinian Arabs.
Before the state of Israel was created ( on the pretext that the persecuted Jews of Europe needed a homeland, but really to ensure safety of Middle East oil supplies for Western industries ), about 90% people living there were Palestinian Arabs. In 1948 Israeli attacks began on them, many of them including women and children were killed, and most of the remaining fled from their homeland out of fear ( an exodus known as the Nakba )
As a result, today only about 20% people living in Israel are Palestinian Arabs, the remaining 70% having been driven out of their homeland, and still living in horrible conditions in neighbouring Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, often without employment, food, water, electricity, and medicines.
After the Six Day War of 1967 Israel conquered the West Bank, the territory west of the Jordan river, which was part of Jordan, and is still occupying most of it, and building Jewish settlements there, thus driving out more Palestinians from their homes.
This was bound to create a reaction one day, for, as the adage goes, ‘wherever there is oppression there is resistance’, and the Hamas attack of 7th October must be understood in this context. It was an outburst of long existing grievances of Palestinians
Of course Hamas committed some atrocities ( the true extent of which is still unknown, since in war truth is the first casualty ), but the Israeli response was horrific, and totally disproportionate
Upto 20,000 Gazans have been killed in Israeli air strikes ( including many on apartment buildings, hospitals, etc ) and the Israeli army has occupied north Gaza, driving out the people there to the southern part of this congested strip of land.
Many Israeli leaders say they will destroy Hamas, but they forget that most Palestinians are supporting it, and have identified themselves with it. Even in the West Bank, part of which is under the administration of the PLO ( Palestine Liberation Organisation, headed by Mahmoud Abbas ), most Palestinians have shifted their support to Hamas, giving up their earlier support to the PLO, whose leaders are perceived as Western puppets.
If the Israelis thought that with the enormous fire power of their military they would easily and swiftly destroy Hamas and the Palestinian resistance, as in the Six Day War, by now they must be having second thoughts. It is not six days but six weeks since the hostilities began, with no sign of abatement. It is going to be a long haul, as the Americans found in Vietnam, or the Russians in Afghanistan, and there is no ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, as Gen Westmoreland, the US commander in Vietnam, proclaimed.
This time it will not be a short war. It will not be another 1948 war, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur war, or the ‘intifadas’.
It will be a long drawn conflict with huge casualties, until justice is done to the long suffering Palestinians
