Demolition of Babri Masjid is a phony issue…

Muslim sentiments were hurt when Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992! What about the Hindu sentiments? Does anyone care? Can you imagine a Hindu temple in Mecca or Medina or for that matter in Vatican? The question does not arise. Hindus by and large stuck to the Indian sub-continent and did not go beyond their traditional habitat and try to conquer other cultures. They have been perceived as passive and so can be pushed around by anyone and everyone. Just imagine that Babri Masjid stands the way it did before 1992. Do you mean to say that ‘Godhra Kand’ would not have taken place? Do you really believe that all these terrorists are being produced because of Babri Masjid or the Gujarat Riots? THINK again!

Do I condone the demolition of Babri Masjid? Absolutely not! But then I do not support the renaming of Flora Fountain either. My view is that any monument built before August 15, 1947 should have been preserved as part of our history, including Babri Masjid. History can not be changed, good or bad. It is our heritage and only “jingoes” try to mess around with history. It is their insecurity and lack of self-confidence that prompts them to indulge in such irresponsible acts. Hindu Mahasabha, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Shiv Sena, Vishva Hindu Parishad and now Bajrang Dal, all of them are destructive groups that have done great damage to the Hindu identity. These riffraffs came together in response to the formation of Muslim League and subsequent militant outfits. Neither has served their followers in any meaningful way.

The Hindu-Muslim divide is actually civilizational that began with the reign of Aurangzeb in 1658. He openly discriminated against the Hindu majority and alienated the traditional Rajput support of the Mughal Empire. The orthodox Sunni Muslim minority has ever since espoused his cause and never reconciled to the majority Hindu rule. This dogmatic minority has divided a significant Muslim population into three countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and has reduced their influence on any part of the Indian sub-continent. Put together, a Muslim population of 500 million in Greater India would have governed the undivided country for at least 20 of the 61 years after independence. Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan would have been the Deputy Prime Minister of India and a Prime Minister of India after Jawaharlal Nehru!

Instead, the Aligarh Gang and the Sunni Mullahs have created two failed Muslim States and beggared the 150 million free Muslims of India. Do you blame Hindus for that? Is Babri Masjid bogeyman going to feed this population? What is the future of hundreds of millions of young Muslims on the Indian sub-continent? How many of them are going to be professional terrorists? How many Hindus do they plan to kill? Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates could very well afford to create a Harvard or Stanford University and Cambridge or Oxford; instead they created Wahhabi Seminaries, Deobandi Madrassas, Taliban and al Qaeda! Do you blame Narendra Modi (Chief Minister of Gujarat) for that? While all this self-pity is going on, their Hindu counterparts are busy competing for the IITs and IIMs and building a twenty first century economy! Muslims need to make their choice.

The legacy and stature of Somnath Chatterjee…

The current Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee, has made history for his country and in a strange way, for his party. Chatterjee, a veteran of the Communist party of India-Marxist since 1968, placed his duty towards his country before his party’s ‘Fatwa’. He refused to resign his position as Speaker of the House before the no-confidence vote on July 22, 2008, against the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) led government. This might be the first time in the history of free India that a communist chose his country before his party. Somnath Chatterjee has not only earned the gratitude of the people of India but he has made a contribution to the ranks of communists in India. I wonder if Prakash Karat and his wife Brinda Karat have the brains to understand that their personal ego has destroyed their party and whatever little support they enjoyed in some parts of India.

Somnath Chatterjee was born in Tezpur, Assam on July 25, 1929. He will be 79 years old tomorrow. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 as an independent, supported by the CPI (M). Somnath is the son of Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, the former president of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a forerunner of today’s BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Nirmal Chatterjee left Hindu Mahasabha to join the politics of the left parties. Somnath Chatterjee followed in his father’s footsteps and joined active politics in 1968. He became a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) that year. This veteran communist leader was expelled from the party on July 23, 2008 after 40 years of loyal and dedicated leadership. Somnath Chatterjee was unanimously elected Speaker of 14th Lok Sabha on June 4, 2004. This was the first time in Indian Parliament’s history that a Left Party member became the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Chatterjee received a standing ovation.