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Tuesday,
March 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Stoking the fires Shame on the police Unsafe water |
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Gathering clouds of polarisation
The last words
VHP threat: winners and losers
Drug-coated stent for heart trouble
Eating organic food checks cancer
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Stoking the fires At a time when it is essential for every right-thinking citizen to douse the fires of communal hatred and put balm on the bruised psyche, the RSS has chosen to move in the opposite direction. The resolution adopted at the three-day conference of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the Sangh, which concluded its deliberations on Sunday, is unabashedly aggressive and misplaced. The governing body has all but condoned the violence that erupted in Gujarat and elsewhere in the country after the Godhra train massacre of Ram bhaktas calling it a "natural reaction of Hindus". Small wonder that it has no harsh words for Chief Minister Narendra Modi. To that extent, the RSS response is along predictable, if alarming, lines. But what follows is even more incendiary. Its advice to the Muslims that they would be safe in the country provided they won the goodwill of the majority community has an ominous tinge to it. What would happen if they don't has been left unsaid but is unmistakable. No less provocative is the other bit of advice urging Muslims to come out of the clutches of their "extremist" leaders and Hindu-baiters. As if the message is still not unambiguous enough, the statement spells out the agenda in so many words: "Don't misuse our generosity, strive to live in peace". That there are hot heads on the other side of the fence has apparently been factored in and the RSS appears geared for a showdown. The disappointment with the Vajpayee government has been expressed equally clearly through repeated digs at the "hesitation and nervousness of Ram bhaktas sitting on treasury benches". It is not difficult to read between the lines that the RSS wants to promote the Hindutva agenda come what may and if the BJP does not keep in step, it would not mind teaching it a lesson. The statement is bound to worsen the Prime Minister's headache. What such posturing can do on the ground has been proved by the attack on the Orissa Assembly and the violence against the minority community in Loharu. A cow slaughter rumour was enough to send a large mob on the rampage in the Haryana town, attacking places of worship as well as houses and shops belonging to the minority community. The police and the administration were tardy in coming to grips with the situation as is their wont, but since the targets belonged to the minority community, this lethargy is likely to be seen as a conspiracy. Indeed, somebody has to answer why adequate precautionary measures were not taken despite similar incidents having taken place in Kaithal recently. Those who are spreading communal venom must be happy at the turn of events. Mistakes committed by certain misplaced religious zealots have actually made the social setting explosive. The self-proclaimed protectors of the interests of the Hindus are missing the wood for the trees and failing to realise the extent of the damage they are unwittingly doing to their own cause. |
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Shame on the police The manner in which 500 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal and the Durga Vahini stormed the Orissa Legislative Assembly building at Bhubaneshwar and indulged in vandalism on Saturday needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. On the face of it, the deplorable incident demonstrates the general deterioration of law and order in the capital city. It is indeed surprising how so many people could enter the Assembly building in broad daylight and indulge in arson with impunity. The onus squarely lies on the police which has miserably failed in its duty to protect the Assembly from the hoodlums even when it was in session. There was total collapse of authority and responsibility. The failure of the police in anticipating the violence was obvious. Reports suggest that the VHP and the Bajrang Dal activists were staging a sit-in demonstration near the PMG Square close to the Assembly right from the morning. As they proceeded towards the Assembly side, they apparently encountered no resistance from the police. There was failure of intelligence too and even the normal roadblocks and traffic barriers were not deployed on the Sachivalaya Marg by the police in anticipation of a possible attack by the VHP activists. It is not known whether the decision to attack the Assembly by them was pre-meditated or sudden, but with hindsight, it could be presumed that they took advantage of the poor security arrangements in the Assembly building and stormed it. The incident also brings to sharp focus the lackadaisical attitude of the civil and police authorities on matters relating to security. There is a general impression that compared with the Secretariat building, the Assembly building in Bhubaneshwar does not get the attention it deserves. On any given day, one does not find here the kind of security that is normally provided to the Secretariat building and the Secretariat Annexe building. This is all the more surprising because it was widely reported sometime ago that security had been beefed up in Bhubaneshwar in the wake of a countrywide red alert following the terrorist attack on Parliament. Very recently, the Union Home Ministry had also alerted all state governments to keep in view the general threat perception and tighten security in their respective states following the Gujarat carnage and the VHP’s threat to go ahead with its shila daan ceremony on the disputed land in Ayodhya on March 15. The law and order situation in Orissa has never been so bad and the Naveen Patnaik Government has obviously not learnt any lesson. Some policemen, including two DSPs, have been suspended for dereliction of duty. But will that help to improve law and order? |
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Unsafe water If efforts to clean the holy Ganga have failed, why should there be any expression of surprise over the scale of contamination of most of the water sources that feed Mandi in Himachal Pradesh? There is reason to accept the authenticity of the story because the fact and figures were provided by the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation and Public Health, who was asked to investigate the primary cause for the outbreak of jaundice in the region. He deserves a round of applause for requesting the people not to use water from the identified sources. However, he deserves a sharp rebuke for claiming that tap water was found to be free of any disease-causing bacteria. Even the water supplied to Rashtrapati Bhavan does not meet the globally recommended standards of safety. What the official meant was that tap water was relatively safe. Perhaps. But is it good enough? No. The increased popularity of bottled water, sold by unscrupulous firms as mineral water, is just one indication of the overall quality of water supplied through municipal taps. Most forms of hepatitis are caused by contaminated water. In fact, health statistics show that only a handful of Indians do not suffer from mild to extreme forms of water-borne diseases. The chances of the water sources not in only Mandi but elsewhere in Himachal Pradesh being made safe for use are remote. The reason for the scepticism has something to do with the lukewarm manner in which the much-hyped project for cleaning the Ganga was taken up. If the Ganga and the Yamuna between them remain the country's largest repository for sewage, faeces and dead bodies, what chance do the less divinely blessed sources of water have of meeting the international standards of safety? Of course, those handling the Ganga operations or the treatment of the water sources in Mandi can do much by simply following the example of the group of Englishmen who undertook the task of cleaning the Thames in London. The Thames was once among the most polluted rivers of the world. It was so smelly and dirty with pollutants that it often disrupted sittings of the British Parliament. In the early 19th century it was also known as the "great stink". It is now among the cleanest rivers and even boasts of 119 varieties of fish. The strategy was simple. Public mobilisation and discipline. Any takers for the Thames package for treating the dead rivers and water sources of India? |
Gathering clouds of polarisation Like the Dutch boy of the fable who put his finger in the dyke to hold back the flood, the Supreme Court has gained a breathing space without averting the cultural polarisation towards which we seem inexorably to be headed. The government, too, is only playing for time. The suggestion of a symbolic puja that it produced in court with every appearance of spontaneity was obviously meticulously prepared in the knowledge that it would be turned down. It served the political purpose of appeasing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s most lusty constituency. Its predictable rejection threw a lifeline to National Democratic Alliance opportunists who are frightened of being deprived of the loaves and fishes of office. The puja proposal also reflected the BJP’s true inclinations, though concern about what their new friend in Washington, President George W. Bush, would think might force Mr Lal Krishna Advani and Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee to dissemble their intentions. The most damning indictment of the otherwise plausible demand for a greater role for the majority faith is that the India of their dreams reduces a sublime religion to its most primitive folk level. This Hinduism is as meaningful as Section 2(1) of the 1955 Hindu Marriage Act which defines as If majority culture means such degrading tamashas, Winston Churchill was quite right to warn that independent (“Brahmin-ruled” was his term) India would “fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages.” Mercifully, the government has to keep up appearances. There is a strong safety valve in sections of the civil service, while the judiciary remains the ultimate guardian of the liberal vision of the founding fathers. Nevertheless, the Ayodhya drama seems to indicate that secularism is destined to go the way of Jawaharlal Nehru’s other dream of non-alignment. If ever it was a driving force in national life, it ceased to be so when parliamentary democracy substituted pandering to vote banks for rule by an educated elite. Whatever Nehru thought about nationalism and the scientific Whether Hindu revivalism preceded or provoked Muslim fund mentalism is the age-old chicken and egg question. The tenacity with which poorer Muslims — meaning the majority — cling to madarsa education which generates an exclusive consciousness — is one concern. The possibility of foreign Through the din rings Nehru’s warning against majority communalism as the greatest danger of all. Arguably, minority militancy can be contained. Not so, however, when the majority suffers from a minority complex and sees itself as denied its basic rights in its own homeland. There is no denying that many otherwise reasonable Hindus feel that Muslims are pampered, which means they think that Hindus are victimised. Many share Rajendra Prasad’s view that the Constitution and laws do injustice to Hindu sensitivities. Gujarat has been reduced to a state of siege. When I visited Godhra 35 years ago on the eve of a parliamentary election, every other front door seemed to shine with an illuminated five-pointed star. I could not believe that the Swatantra party’s Piloo Mody, whose symbol was the star, evoked such ostentatious support. Piloo’s American wife explained they were not Swatantra stars at all but stars of Bethlehem. Local Christians, of whom there were obviously a goodly many, had just celebrated Burra din or Chota din — I forget the time of year — and had not yet taken down the decorations. Today Godhra is a blood-drenched battlefield in a scarred state that has been described as the laboratory of Hinduism’s revival, and where inflammatory Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaflets demand that Muslims and their businesses should be strictly ostracised. It will be claimed that these are the views of only a lunatic fringe, and that most Hindus (like many Muslims) in the south and in West Bengal remain untouched by communal madness. Perhaps, but it is always the extremist tail that wags the moderate dog. If a silent secular majority does lurk somewhere, it has shown little sign of alarm during these weeks of crisis. On the contrary, almost every other television channel nowadays beams Illiteracy and poverty are grist to the mill of superstition. They are compounded by the logic of numbers. Even in 1936, when he wrote his autobiography, Nehru acknowledged the challenge of “a few” Hindu leaders who “hope that being in a majority their brand of ‘culture’ will ultimately prevail.” The “few” have multiplied and hold the reins of power. They are jealous of the Islamic ummah’s global reach, complain of “minorityism,” and, arguing that subcontinental Muslims have already carved two exclusive homelands out of what used to be India, they demand that the residual territory should resonate to the beliefs of the majority. The problem arises over what that should mean in practice. Is the sanatan dharma only legend, ritual and muscle-flexing? Are louts who are paid to carry ornamental bricks the most effective guardians of the sublimity of the philosophy of the abstract that underlies the Katha Upanishad? “Since not by speech and not by thought, /Not by the eye can it be reached, /How else may it be understood, /But only when one says, ‘It is’?” If Hinduism is an amorphous concept, so is the Greek version of the Persian variant of the Sindhu river that is “India that is Bharat”. The reality of each depends on what we make of it. Whatever the achievements of persons like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Keshavrao Baliram Hedgewar, their Hindu nationalism was not the religion of humanism. The rampaging mobs of Gujarat and Ayodhya do not represent even nationalism of the Savarkar-Hedgewar mould. Theirs is the frenzy of the lumpen out for blood, loot and excitement, and all the more dangerous for that since it can severely damage relations with Muslims who are aggrieved, apprehensive and ready to give battle. Twenty years ago Nirad C. Chaudhuri outlined three ways of ending what he called “the toxic Hindu-Muslim discord.” First, by eliminating Muslims, which he thought possible but inconceivable. Second, by reducing them to subordinate status like minority communities in Muslim countries, which, he admitted, “would be morally repugnant” to most Indians. And third, by accepting the Muslim demand “to retain their group identity in a parallel society.” There was once hope of a fourth choice — that the Hindu and Muslim identities would be subsumed in an all-embracing Indian label. But that hope is fading in the raucousness of the Ayodhya controversy. |
The last words God does not believe in seniority. And so he lifted my youngest brother, Vijay, to heaven recently. He was a great flower lover. He used to be where there was a workshop on floriculture, a nature walk, a lecture or a slide show. He was silent but active, modest but firm, humble but resolute, taciturn but a keen observer. By my side always. He was proud of his reddish hydrangea and glossy foliage begonia. “These are sure prize-winners in any flower show,” he used to claim but never competed. No wonder a few of Vijay’s delirious utterances related to flowers and their aroma all around. His last words, however, were: “Take me out. I do not want to die in a hospital.” And he breathed his last, in great relief, outside the gate of PGI, Chandigarh. He who has come to this world must go. He says something as his end approaches and all are eager to know what he had said in the last. There are recorded last words of the great and known. I have made an attempt to collect these and am presenting here. Many of them may be apocryphal or have survived in inaccurate versions. But these were recorded as such. Mahatma Gandhi’s last words “Hey Ram” are etched in his Samadhi at Rajghat. Jawaharlal, probably, said: “What’s the matter?” But more than his utterance, his jottings of Frost’s, “I have promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep.” Kept by his deathbed became famous. The following are the last words uttered by other known persons: Francis Bacon: “My name and memory I leave to men’s charitable speeches, to foreign nations and to the next age.” Henry Ward Beecher: “Now comes the mystery.” Beethoven (deaf music composer): “I shall hear in heaven.” Edmund Burke: “God bless you.” Byron: “I must sleep now.” Julius Caesar: “Et tu, Brute?” (You too Brutus? On being stabbed by Brutus, Caesar’s confidant). Columbus: “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Copernicus: “Now, O Lord, set Thy servant free.” Darwin: “I am not in the least afraid to die.” Sir Samuel Garth: (A doctor himself to his physicians) “Dear gentlemen, let me die a natural death.” Goethe: “Light, more light.” William Hazlitt: “Well, I’ve had a good life.” Hobbes: “I am taking a fearful leap in the dark.” Joan of Arc: “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Blessed be God.” Keats: “I — lift me up — I am dying — I shall die easy; don’t be frightened — be firm and thank God it has come.” Nelson: “I thank God, I have done my duty. Kiss Me, Hardy.” Nero: “Qualis artifex pereo.” (What an artist the world is losing in me!) Pope: “Friendship itself is but a part of virtue.” Earl of Roscommon: “My God, my Father, and my Friend, Do not forsake me at my end.” Sir Walter Scott: (To members of his family) “God bless you all. I feel myself again.” Thoreau: “I leave the world without a regret.” Voltaire: “Do let me die in peace.” John Wesley: “The best of all is, God is with us.” It is God whom most of the dying people remember. Why don’t we remember him when we run after the materials in the world? I do not know. I recollect a story of an atheist who had the line printed on the wall, “God is nowhere”. At the time of his death, he called his son and asked him to put a space between now and here of nowhere. He died peacefully after saying ‘God is now here.” That is all. |
VHP threat: winners and losers The VHP’s confrontation with the NDA government has exploded many political myths built by the Hindutva brigade and its opponents alike. Until a few months back, it was widely believed that the Ayodhya agitation has been a movement sponsored by the RSS parivar with the twin objective of constructing its majoritarian base on a highly emotional issue and thus helping the BJP raise a dependable vote bank. Now the VHP seems to have demolished both assumptions. It has not only outgrown the RSS but built its own organisation independent of the RSS network. The RSS workers and the BJP in states do provide it the necessary backup. But the VHP has now begun relying more on its own machinery drawn from the local-level Rambhakts. Unnoticed by most of us, more sections of devout Hindus who otherwise are broad-minded, are being sucked into this communal vortex. Local temples, even the waysides ones, have been turned furtile ground for this kind of communalisation of the devouts. They display the VHP posters and distribute its colourful publicity materials. The pundit and pujari may not have links with the RSS but their constant advocacy of the Ram Temple does influence the devouts’ mindset. Of late, those doing religious discourse at temples and outside gatherings freely talk about the need for restoring the janmasthan as part of their devotion to Lord Vishnu. The emphasis of such small time pundits have now shifted from the universality of the bhakti and essence of devotion to pure hatred of other religions. Any one who cares to listen to such discourse can spot this difference. Earlier preachers never derided the “other”. Instead, they exemplified the Indian spirit of cooption. In a way, this is comparable to what has been happening to the new generation of madrasas which have become centres of hatred generation. While this parallel phenomenon calls for a closer study, there are enough evidence to show that the VHP’s bhakta-based recruitment is proving more effective than the traditional shakha route of the RSS. The former’s use of religious subtilities and ritual jargon like shila puja, purnaahuti, Ramnam jap, etc seems to establish new emotional cord with the steadily swelling temple goers. This should convincingly explain the VHP’s independent existence and challenge to its own political big brother. So far Vajpayee has been able to silence other offending parivar outfits like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the BMS. The present RSS chief himself has been a known Swadeshi proponent. If the VHP draws up its own programmes and insists on forcing them on the government irrespective of Vajpayee’s resignation threats, it has been due to this parallel growth. The other assumption that you cannot encash a political cheque twice has also been proved wrong. By using innovative tools and through its crudely abrasive styles, the VHP saints have been able to reactivate the temple stir even in the face of stiff opposition from its power-wielding elder sibling. The RSS itself could not revive the cow agitation for four decades. A special advantage being enjoyed by the VHP activists makes them less vulnerable to the punitive pressure and arms twisting. Tax raids and probe threats are of no use against its leading lights. True, a couple of mahants owing religious properties were won over to support the PMO’s dictum. But that was not much of use. Watch the nonchalant manner in which the mainline VHP leadership has defied every fraternal authority. Vajpayee had used all political tricks to make them serve his interests. Some had offers of membership in official panels. The VHP’s defiance epitomises the steady erosion of the RSS authority on its subordinate bodies. Under the PMO pressure, several RSS stalwarts had unsuccessfully tried to silence the VHP. Then Kanchi Shankaracharya was approached for a patchup. Finally, they had to seek the court’s intervention to settle what is essentially a problem within the parivar. What makes the RSS position more untenable has been the growing VHP hold on the parivar ranks. Essentially, the RSS is more at home with the VHP politics. More and more within the parivar have been getting disillusioned with the Vajpayee line of clinging to power as the ultimate political goal. The recent election results have further established the futility of using the power at the Centre to winover wider sections. This factor too seems to have contributed to the RSS leadership’s reluctance to take the issue to the brink with the VHP. If it is really so, that reflects a gradual mood change within the parivar. The ranks of those preferring a return to the Hindutva programmes are swelling. Three years of stable power and able leadership at the Centre has only led to further erosion of the BJP in state after state. During the crucial days of the VHP threat this week, several BJP MPs had written to Vajpayee seeking a “constructive” approach to the shilanyas. Sections of the BJP MPs and some within various RSS outfits had made oblique moves to get the leadership passed on to Advani. However, Advani, though disturbed at the turn of events, himself came out against any such move. Critics of Vajpayee’s coalition route within the BJP have put forth some curious proposals to limit the damage. Even BJP chief Jana Krishnamurthi claims that the BJP is free to revert to the temple issue when the NDA government’s term ends. Successive electoral setbacks and the increasing response to the VHP’s agitation seem to have inspired partymen to draw a line between the government policies and the approach of the BJP as a lively organisation. According to this view, while the BJP should honour its commitment to the NDA agenda, outside the government its members should be free to join the VHP stir. On the same token, the NDA agenda is applicable to the coalition governments. But where the BJP is in power on its own (like Gujarat), it is not bound to honour policies set by the coalition. In fact, this is already happening in various forms. The position taken by at least two Union ministers, including Uma Bharti, is widely known. Recently, two central office-bearers were reprimanded for having been seen in the VHP crowd. At the lower levels, BJP activists are openly participating in the VHP buildup. It is taken as an insurance in case the Ayodhya agitation catches up. It was under such compulsions that Vajpayee had climbed down on the issue of the symbolic puja. The PMO was aware of the consequences. But it thought it a fit case to test the NDA waters. In case it evoked protests from the secular allies, he could always pacify them with further assurances and offer of more spoils of power. The BJP’s effective leadership has been confident that the allies will not topple the coalition so long as the NDA serves their provincial interests of fighting the local adversaries. But for Chandrababu Naidu’s prompt moves, there would not have been even a murmur from the allies against the government proposal for the ‘symbolic puja’. Thus the real challenge to Vajpayee will come from the secular allies. He will be more vulnerable to the rising demands from within his parivar when bigger sections of its ranks fall for the VHP’s Ram hysteria. |
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Drug-coated stent for heart trouble A new approach to keeping heart arteries flowing smoothly after angioplasty shows astonishing success in early testing, apparently solving a major shortcoming of this common procedure. Doctors on Sunday released the longest follow up with the new technique — the drug-coated stent. In testing on 43 patients over two years, they found it to be 100 per cent effective, an accomplishment almost unheard of in medicine. The new approach is likely to be used on most new operations if these promising early results hold up in further testing. They could be on the market as early as next year. “This is a very hot topic, potentially revolutionary in the treatment of coronary artery disease,” said Dr Spencer King III of Emory University. During angioplasty, doctors fish tiny balloons through clogged heart arteries, then inflate them briefly to open up blood flow. Frequently, though, the arteries squeeze shut again. In recent years, doctors have often left behind tiny wire coils, called stents, to prop the arteries open. However, about one-quarter of the time, reopened artery closes off, a condition called restenosis. It usually occurs when fast-growth scar-like tissue fills the artery, and it must be fixed with a repeat angioplasty or a coronary bypass. The solution to this dilemma appears to be a new kind of stent that is coated with medicines that gradually ooze into the artery. The drugs keep cells from growing. The first hint of their potential was made public last September at a European heart conference, and more data were released on Sunday at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta.
AP |
Eating organic food checks cancer Eating organic food may help prevent cancer, heart attacks and strokes, a team of scientists in Britain has claimed. Researchers at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary in Scotland have found organic vegetable soup contains six times as much of a natural acid which helps combat bowel cancer and hardening arteries as non-organic soups. Biochemist John Paterson said: “The higher levels of salicylic acid in organic food means eating organic may be good for you”, New Scientist magazine has reported. He added: “I’m not an evangelist for the organic food movement, but there was a fairly substantial difference.” Salicylic acid occurs naturally in plants, which could explain why levels are higher in organic vegetables grown without protection from pesticides”. Earlier research by the team discovered significantly higher concentrations of the acid in the blood of vegetarian Buddhist monks compared with that of meat-eaters.
DPA High cholesterol hits brain High level of cholesterol can impair the ability to think clearly in women over 65, besides damaging the heart. A study published in the Archives of Neurology found women with cholesterol levels 235 and above significantly more problem with memory and thinking. Doctors recommend a cholesterol level of less than 200. But lowering of the level can reduce the risk of memory problem by 50 per cent. Experts suspect cholesterol damages the brain the same way it does the heart-collecting on the walls of tiny blood vessels and reducing the flow of blood.
PTI |
Repeat three times the following resolution: I feel compassion for all, and I practice the six precepts: - Charity - Morality - Patience - Effort - Meditation - Wisdom — Daniel Odier, Nirvana Tao, chapter VI. “Contemplative techniques of Vajrayana” *** Blood stains cannot be removed by mere blood; resentment cannot be removed by more resentment; resentment can be removed only by forgetting it. — Bukkyo Deno
Kyokai, The Teaching of Buddha, chapter III.I.5 *** He who does not injure anybody is received respectfully in the abode of the Lord. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, var Gauri M5, page 322 *** One should be merciful towards all jivas from his heart of hearts. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ramkali M1, page 940 *** Violence is never part of nature. Nobody is born violent; one learns it. One is infected by a violent society, by violence all around... Otherwise every child is born absolutely nonviolent. —
Osho, A Rose is a Rose is a Rose *** Man has lived very violently; he has not lost his inner animality. Man is still wild inside; only on the surface does he look civilised. ...And you have to learn to live without violence in such a violent world. It is difficult to live sanely in an insane world. All that we can do is to never become violent against violence, because that is not going to help. Have deep compassion. If one has to suffer one should suffer through compassion. And people who are violent are completely unaware; they do not know what they are doing. — Osho, The Open Secret |
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