O P I N I O N S

THIS ABOVE ALL
The struggle to decode the divine
‘Since there were as many communities worldwide as were the contenders, each saint was accommodated and got the slot of God, but within their own communities.’
Khushwant Singh
Sarinder K Sabharwal from Gurgaon has sent me a piece on the existence of divine power which is very revealing. I reproduce it for my readers to help them in their beliefs. “We all believe that there is a divine power which controls the existence and movements of all the planets in our solar system and has also created life on the Earth.

Fifty Fifty
In search for meaning , they succumb to jihad
Young men fill up the emptiness of their lives by attaching themselves to false gods — expecting to attain immortality —because they are deluded into thinking that killing for a so-called 'just' cause is not murder.
Kishwar Desai
THERE was something really very bizarre and ghastly about the hacking of a soldier by civilians armed with knives and meat cleavers in broad daylight in London last week; especially because it was done on a busy street by two young men who had been brainwashed into thinking that this is a form of 'jihad'.

GROUND ZERO
UPA-II: Failing to control the narrative
If one gets that sinking feeling about the UPA government, it has largely itself to blame. Despite certain achievements, the UPA has never been able to control the discourse on the key issues that confronted it in the second term.
Raj Chengappa
For a Union Government that is now among the longest in power since India’s Independence, the UPA-II’s celebration of its ninth anniversary was a rather lacklustre affair. Apart from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the function held at the Prime Minister’s residence last Wednesday was attended by an assorted audience comprising Congress party leaders, Union Cabinet ministers, MPs, Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states and a few of the allies of the depleted coalition.

THIS ABOVE ALL
The struggle to decode the divine
‘Since there were as many communities worldwide as were the contenders, each saint was accommodated and got the slot of God, but within their own communities.’
Khushwant Singh

Sarinder K Sabharwal from Gurgaon has sent me a piece on the existence of divine power which is very revealing. I reproduce it for my readers to help them in their beliefs.

“We all believe that there is a divine power which controls the existence and movements of all the planets in our solar system and has also created life on the Earth. Since the answer has been unexplainable for millions of years, from the time life came into existence on this planet, all humans have remained in awe of the creation by the invisible divine power, and out of reverence emanating from intense fear, earthquakes, lightning, cyclones and the tsunami in Japan, christened the divine power as God.

Some have begun to drift away from their acclaimed Gods.

“Different communities worldwide have had different sages from times immemorial, who, after hundreds of years, were first transformed into ‘saints’ by their followers, crediting them with miracles as a result of their superstitious and beliefs. With the passage of time, they were further upgraded and their followers started worshipping them as ‘Gods’. Finally, there were hundreds of contenders to the single-coveted throne of the divine power of God. Since there were as many communities worldwide as were the contenders, each saint was accommodated and got the slot of God, but within their own communities, leaving out again, the question of the existence of the abstract divine power unanswered for posterity.

“Notable among the Hindu community, to which I also happen to belong, some have started drifting away from their acclaimed Gods for centuries, like Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva and Hanumanji. Many others have started finding solace in worshipping Sai Baba of Shirdi. Sai Baba and Sheranwali Mata of Vaishno Devi are catering to the growing popular demand. Somehow, it has now become a fashion statement among the new rich and the famous, especially the film fraternity, to proudly declare being a follower of some kind of a new religious sect, and thereby be able to prove having joining the league of like-minded, misguided, directionless and highly superstitious followers, devoid of any saner thinking. It is very shocking and disturbing to see even the educated flocking to such meaningless religious congregations arranged by self-styled demi-Gods. They do not believe in any reasoning. When confronted, the only answer they give is their ‘aastha’ (blind faith), which in a way is just a ‘vyavastha’ of getting away from being cornered.

“As for my personal faith, I firmly and very strongly believe in God — the invisible divine power, but at the same time having great regard and respect for all religions, I do not believe in any religion and strictly adhere to the philosophy of karma. I am also of the belief that the Gods we worship were not Gods, they were just sages but we should give them all the respect they deserve and look up to them for their wisdom and guidance.

“They were not Gods because anybody in flesh and blood, like all other human beings, inherent with all their shortcomings and weaknesses, can never be God. Religion does not come to us by choice but by default, depending upon our birth taking place in a particular community and since no religion professes hatred for other communities, why do we swear by our Gods or invoke them before attacking people of other communities with different religious faiths? In the present world order, we should give our religions a break and evolve a common religion based on compassion, love, understanding and brotherhood to check the growing intolerance towards other religions resulting in the menace of terrorism worldwide.

Who will be the PM?

Shastri proved that a poor man can be the PM, Indira Gandhi proved that a woman can be PM, Morarji proved that ‘pisscholic’ can be PM, Rajiv Gandhi proved that being a PM is an inheritable disorder, VP Singh proved a raja can be PM, Narasimha Rao proved that a psycophant can be PM, Deve Gowda proved that anybody can be PM, Atalji proved PM does not have to do anything at all, Manmohan Singh proved that we do not need a PM at all! So, what is the cacophony about who the next PM will be?

DLF

The real acronym of DLF, as disclosed by Sonia Gandhi, is: “Damaad Loan Fund”.

Contributed by Vipin Buckshey, New Delhi

How truthful

A boy said to a girl: “I love you”.

The girl said to the boy: “I love you, too”, and aside, “Besides another two”.

Contributed by SC Mehta, Delhi

Fifty Fifty
In search for meaning , they succumb to jihad
Young men fill up the emptiness of their lives by attaching themselves to false gods — expecting to attain immortality —because they are deluded into thinking that killing for a so-called 'just' cause is not murder.
Kishwar Desai

THERE was something really very bizarre and ghastly about the hacking of a soldier by civilians armed with knives and meat cleavers in broad daylight in London last week; especially because it was done on a busy street by two young men who had been brainwashed into thinking that this is a form of 'jihad'. So, absolute was this mental manipulation that they showed no empathy for their victim, and actually believed that by brutally assaulting another human being the message could be sent out to the wider community that they should reject the British policy of 'intervention' in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Their act of brutality was, thus, (for them) not only justified, but also the proposed catalyst for a changed global environment. If only things were so simple.

Self-made jihadists swallow everything they find on the Net.

Undoubtedly, and frighteningly, present-day self-made jihadists swallow everything they find on the Internet, perhaps because through Google they are also searching for a meaning to their existence. They fill up the emptiness of their lives by attaching themselves to false gods — expecting to attain immortality — because they are deluded into thinking that killing for a so-called 'just' cause is not murder. There are also some reports that one of the two terrorists might have been suffering from mental health problems.

Nonetheless, this week's macabre death of drummer Lee Rigby, a young 25-year-old soldier, who had his whole career in front of him, can never be condoned. There are some in the UK who have tried to equate the killing with the trauma of the daily body count inflicted by the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere. They are unwittingly siding with those who would prefer to use violent means and resist democratic dialogue. What is worse is that those who 'convert' boys like this to violence by telling them they are fighting a 'holy war' probably will get away without any punishment — even though it is their fingerprints, in many ways, which were on the machete and the knives that were driven into the soldier's body.

Sadly, much of this hatred is taught by those who pretend to be 'religious'. Studies and undercover reports have also shown for a long time that apart from some mosques, a few British universities are also becoming hubs for recruiting those ready to indulge in acts of terror. In fact, some newspapers tried to look at the university career of Michael Adebolajo to find a link between his radicalisation and the time he spent there. Unsurprisingly they discovered a strong possibility that some of his ideas might have begun to take shape during this period. He converted to Islam from Christianity after he began attending Greenwich University, and may have come under some Islamist influences, subsequently.

Though he apparently had no previous records of the extreme violence which he demonstrated this week (apart from a stray incident), there are some Muslim leaders who, in the past few days, have been rather swift to claim he had been 'around' a few of the more militant organisations. They said it not with sorrow, but almost it seems with a sense of pride. The founder of one such banned Islamist organisation Al Mahajroun, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad, even admitted that Michael Adebolajo was already being hailed as a hero in other parts of the world, especially the Middle East. He said in an interview to a newspaper: "He was being very courageous. Under Islam this can be justified. He was not targeting civilians. He was taking on a military man in an operation".

To indicate that this was an 'operation' is worrying as there are far too many deluded people who believe that political, ideological or religious murders are justified. Can murder for a questionable 'higher cause' be forgiven? What about the anguish it leaves behind, especially for those who lose a beloved family member? These kinds of incidents will actually make life for the Muslim community much more difficult in the UK in the long run. Already, according to some reports, nine mosques have been attacked and there is little doubt that racist attacks on the community will probably increase, even though the government is already taking the utmost precaution. The fact that this barbaric act was perpetrated by two men of Nigerian descent can be no consolation either because, thanks to the Internet, the jihadis can now belong to any country in the world, and yet claim allegiance to a particular community.

Undoubtedly, there will be renewed pressure on the Muslim community to mind their flock better. There will also be demands to shut down websites which are contributing towards radicalisation.

But Britain had received a body blow with the death of Lee Rigby. And one worries that there might be, sadly, yet again a backlash. The only plus point coming out of this tragedy is that the country has come together to support its soldiers, and the charity for wounded soldiers, Help for Heroes, has seen an enormous surge in donations. There is a poignant symbolism behind it because the victim was wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt when he was murdered.

www.kishwardesai.com