INDIAN INSTITUTE
FOR RESEARCH INTO TRUE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER NO. 67
OF 16 FENRUARY 2014
1. NEWS AND
CURRENT AFFAIRS
1.1 Savarkar
1.1.1 Savarkar Sahitya Sammelan
The right hand does know what the left hand is doing.
In April 2013 Maharashtra Mandal London co-sponsored a
Savarkar Sahitya Sammelan in
94-2277-3503. He wishes to take 100,000 people to Andaman. It is astonishing that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. Why blame Sonia and M M Singh?
1.1.2 On 24/25/26 January 2014 Savarkar Sahitya Sammelan was held in Badoda (Vadordara) in Gujarath. It was nice to see contribution of Gujarathis to the proceedings. Otherwise such programmes are limited to Marathi speaking people only.
Godbole asked Suresh Dange, one of the organizers to stress importance of translating thoughts and works of Savarkar into English for wider readership. Moreover these need to be easily understood by today’s youngsters. Merely translating from Marathi into English is of no use.
1.1.3 Research by Mr Shridhar Damle of
There are several aspects of Savarkar's life and work that remain unknown. Archival
documents related to Savarkar are available in
Mr Damle (co-author of Brotherhood in Saffron) is devoting
his time and energy for this cause. He has spent 10 weeks in
Funds permitting, grants could be given research scholars in history and proficient in Russian, Japanese, German, French, Czech and other languages to find material on
Mr Damle has already collected material from various archives which run into
more than 10,000 pages. Some of the material collected and planned to be
collected is as follows:
Highlights :
1.
Around 100 and 120 pages respectively of the arguments put forward by the
French and British Govts at
International court at
2.Around
100 pages in German on Savarkar's escape at
3 French book L'Affaire Savarkar
4 News from French, British, American, New Zealand, Singaporean and Swiss newspapers of 1910 regarding Savarkar's escape at Marseilles.
(i)
90 pages related to the confidential meeting of British Foreign Ministry,
Secretaries of Law Ministry, Home Ministry and Sir Winston Churchill regarding
the British Govt. stand on
5. Madan Lal Dhingra trial (1909) as well as Sardar Udham Singh Trial (1940)
6. Fifty unpublished confidential pages of the Rowlatt Commission Report
7 Three unpublished articles written by Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Varma's interview in the Irish American weekly 'Gaelic American'
8 Almost all issues of 'Indian Sociologist' magazine of Shyamji Krishna Varma.
9 Photo copy of First edition of Veer Savarkar " The Indian War of Independence, 1857" that was banned in 1909
10 Nashik Conspiracy Case
11
British confidential documents about activities of Indian revolutionaries in
12
Savarkar's interview (1944) with New York Times and
13
In 1944, the
Possibilities to find :
(a) Frenchman named Khorat wrote Savarkar's French biography (1912)
(b) Savarkar's associate, Dr Coutinho wrote critical analyses about his meetings with Gandhi, Nehru, Madam Cama, Barrister Rana, Sayaji Rao Gaikwad, Pandit Shyamji Krishna Varma and Lenin.
(c) The resolution of International Socialist Conference at
Much of this material has been scanned or photocopied or sometimes even written
by hand. The British Library charges £1 for 4 pages of printed material, £1 for
1 page of historical documents and £ 27 for historical rare photo documents in
addition to copyright fees. Shree Damle's stay in
Savarkar Darshan Pratishthan (Nyas), producer of Sudhir Phadke's epic feature
film on Savarkar has pledged a generous contribution of Rs. 200,000 towards
this research project. The Pratishthan shall also accept donations (tax exemption
u/s 80G Income Tax) from the public towards this cause. We appeal to the public
to generously donate to
'Savarkar Darshan Pratishthan Nyas'
501, Vasant Smriti,
Dadar (East),
Mumbai 400028.
savarkarmovie@hotmail.com or
admin@savarkar.org or
contact Ravindra Sathe (+91-9820007064) or
Shreerang Godbole (+91-9890024412);
For cheque/ draft, kindly write 'Towards research project on
Savarkar' on the reverse
Please contribute by donating to this cause and also to forward this appeal to
others.
Thanks,
Savarkar.org Team
1.1.4 Savarkaranchya buddhivadachi vaishitye
(Rationalism of Veer Savarkar in Marathi)
(a) Second edition of the book in Marathi was printed in Pune in January 2014.
Godbole has added pictures of punishments suffered by Savarkar in Andaman Jail.
These should have been in circulation for last 60 years!
In the preface to 2nd edition Godbole explains extensive
information on Savarkar available in
Annual Indexes of Times (of
Google’s Times online (1785 to 1985)
Secret files received from
Secret files generated by Government of India Act 1935
(these were destroyed in
Microfilms of English Newspapers of
Godbole has given examples from such sources.
* Copies of the 2nd edition are now available through Book-Ganga.
(b) Rationalism of Veer Savarkar
Recognition at last!
In January 2010
Godbole’s
book Rationalism of Veer Savarkar is included in the Bibliography. Details are
-
Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar’s ‘Strategic Agnosticism’:
A
Compilation of his Socio-Political Philosophy and Worldview
by
Siegfried O. Wolf
Working
Paper No. 51
January
2010
South
Asia Institute
Department
of Political Science
We are
grateful to Dr Shreedhar Vaidya for this discovery.
INTRODUCTION
This article seeks to
critically examine some elements of the ideas, ideals, and principles behind
the philosophy of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1985-1966) and his attempts to move
towards the constitution of a coherent worldview.
The author is Lecturer in
the Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute (SAI) and research fellow at the Institute for Political Science,
both
At the end author states-
“Savarkar’s personal link with the people
implicated in the assassination of Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi and his
breaching of religious sentiment have made him an object of unquestioned
judgements in the public as well as in the academic sphere. This, in
combination with a highly stringent and one-dimensional criticism of him
arising from his philosophy, have metaphorically turned Savarkar and his
thought into a persona non grata in society as
well as
academia. Yet it is high time now to make him the
object of renewed analytical and scientific study in order to discern what
foundations Savarkar’s vision of the Indian nation-state was and continues to
be grounded upon.”
It is
gratifying to note that the author Mr Wolf quotes extensively from Godbole’s
book.
This
could happen only because the book is in English.
* Book-ganga have agreed to sell copies of above English version of Godbole’s book.
1.1.5 Andaman Jail (Kalapani)
On YOUTUBE there is a documentary called Kaalaapaani Jail in Andaman by Gopalakrishnan Narayan. It is in Malyalam and English.
See what the British did to the freedom fighters ion Andaman island cellular jail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2edhU9Wn6hE
After viewing this Godbole commented to a South Indian friend – “This is just a talk, no pictures - many irrelevant issues are mixed up. Not very satisfactory.”
His friend replied-
“Strange you say that. What is
important is the feeling behind the talk and the enthusiasm to the current
younger generation. This is not a contest - nor has he claimed to show
pictures. Perhaps it is not to your liking - no issues. Sure we are all
entitled to our opinions.”
Godbole replied -
“Please do not get carried away by mere emotions. My book Rationalism
of Veer Savarkar contain photos of punishments suffered by Savarkar and
others. Those would have been far more effective on YOUTUBE.”
Moreover, the narration has many pieces of information missing -
>Where is Andaman located?
* When was the construction of Cellular jail completed?
+ This jail was meant for the most dangerous criminals, but Political Prisoners
were treated worse than criminals
++ How changes were forced by actions of Savarkar and others
The narrator is blissfully unaware of the fact that Congress big-wigs had
visited Cellular jail. There is a long list in the entrance hall.
Among Prime Ministers we find -
Lal Bahadur Shastri – February 1963
Indira Gandhi 1968 and 8
March1981
Rajiv Gandhi 27 December1986
Narasingh Rao 14 April 1994
Among Presidents / Vice Presidents who visited Cellular jail
we have
Rajendra Prasad 1954
B D Jatti February
1975
Reddy 27 November 1979
Zail Singh 23 February 1985
Venkatraman 23 January
1988
Shankar Dayal Sharma 10 February 1995
** It was Indira Gandhi who prevented conversion of Cellular Jail into a
In front of the cellular jail is a plaque which reads – “As a mark of respect
to the freedom fighters the cellular jail was dedicated to the nation by the
then Prime Minister Shree Morarji Desai on 11 February 1979 and now it stands
as a national memorial of great historical importance.”
Please THINK.
1.2 Marathi Vishvakosh now online
In late 1950s when Yashvantrao Chavan was Chief Minister of
It is now available on internet.
On 17 November 2011 we had received following E Mail from Jagdish Kher of Pune
Subject: Marathi encyclopaedia goes online...good news for Marathi speaking people!
Dear all,
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has developed an online encyclopaedia of Marathi words. The first volume of the digitised version is available on a portal dedicated for the encyclopedia and users can just click on the word and get its history and meaning. A set of 18 volumes will be released in the coming months and each volume will contain over 1,000 pages.
Vijaya Wad, chairperson of the Marathi Vishwakosh Mahamandal, said: "The encyclopedia could be of tremendous use for people studying Marathi literature. But it was not quite being used by common man since it was in print format. Hence, we put up a proposal before the state government to digitise the encyclopedia in Unicode and the chief minister agreed to it."
The Mahamandal commissioned the job to the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and, within eight months, the first volume was released by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in Mumbai on October 25. The C-DAC will be releasing one volume every month. The next volume will be released by scientist Vijay Bhatkar in Pune on December 1. The project is funded by state government and Rs 65,000 will be granted for every volume released.
Mahesh Kulkarni, programme coordinator, multilingual computing, C-DAC, said: "We started with the word 'ank' (number). Once the user clicks on the word, its history and a short description of how the word is being used over a period of time is explained. Besides, its usage in other countries has also been given on the website. Some words are even supported with pictures and illustrations."
"Since the digitisation of the encyclopedia is done in Unicode format, there is no issue with its display or font. Anybody can open it on any machine. Users have also been given the search option for any particular word," Kulkarni added.
The first volume of the encyclopedia is available on the portal www.marathivishwakosh.in
Now other volumes are available
Research that needs to be done -
(1) Likes of Ambedkar and his followers only talk about Scheduled Castes, but NOT about Scheduled Tribes.
These are the tribal people who were rendered destitute by the British and then forced to convert to Christianity. If we know the name of the tribe we can look at the Vishvakosh and get the true picture. - AND that is official information.
(2) Maharajas of
They were also pro-British.
(3) One is surprised to know that P N Oak's work IS mentioned under Taj Mahal.
1.3 Mumbai restaurant shut down for criticizing UPA Govt
On 24 July 2013 we received an interesting E Mail
From – Yashwini1@yahoo.com
To: media_monitor5@yahoogroups.com
http://zeenews.india.com/news/maharashtra/mumbai-restaurant-shut-down-for criticising-upa-government 863979:htm
Zee Media Bureau / Mumbai:
Protests
and dissents are something that politicians cannot digest easily. A blatant
example of this was seen in Mumbai after Congress leaders forced an eatery in
Parel to shut down because the owner had printed bills with a note slamming the
UPA government.
The owner of the eatery, Srinivas Shetty, had printed the note on food bills as
a mark of protest on tax on AC restaurants. The note on bill receipts read:
"As per UPA government, eating money (2G, Coal, CWG scam) is a necessity
and eating food in an AC restaurant is a luxury".
On
getting to know of the matter, Congress workers barged into the restaurant
Aditi Pure Veg, located on
Later, a non-cognisable complaint (NC) was slapped on the proprietor. He has been
booked for printing matter known to be defamatory (Section 501 of IPC). The central government had introduced service
tax on eating at air-conditioned restaurants recently.
However, the eatery reopened today. But the notes on the bills have been
removed.
Meanwhile, talking exclusively to Zee News Ganesh Kumar Yadav said, "We
did not do anything. We complained to the police regarding the matter. We did
not break anything or trouble anyone in the restaurant. We took legal recourse.
We have a right to do that. No case has been slapped against us."
1.4 Taj Mahal
(i) It is interesting to see how
Godbole’s short article written in April 2007 is in circulation. It was sent by
Suhas Kawade to Govind Naik to Ramesh Shinde back to Godbole on 7 November 2012.
(ii) Six persons have promised to
visit Taj Mahal with Godbole’s Tourist Guide and confirm many details. One of
them is also going to Taj Gunj Market on the south side. We wait results.
(iii) In January 2014 a Gujarathi gentleman
from
1.5 Importance of English
Once again, lots of foolish thoughts are being branded about. It was the English language that brought us Indians together. We all started talking in English and realized that we are all Indians. That falsehood is still spreading. Let us two examples in 17th century.
(i) There was anarchy in villages surrounding Pune until
arrival Shivaji’s mother Jijamata in 1635. In a village named Aasavali, Damaji
Dhamal was headman (Patil). He was murdered by his relative Dattaji to get the
rights as headman. Damaji’s wife who had two sons was terrified. In course of time the sons grew up. The
younger son argued that the family must protest and his mother should get
rights of headman. Elder son Janoji said, “Brother, if we complain, our
relatives will kill us.” But the younger son Suryaji was angry. He went
straight to Shahaji Raje (father of Shivaji) in
An enquiry was held, guilty parties were punished and rights of headman were restored to the widowed woman.
So, how did this Marathi speaking boy travel to
(Raja Shivachhatrapati by Babasaheb Purandare, 2010, pp 128/129)
(ii) On 6 April 1663 Shivaji carried out a daring attack in
Pune on Shahistekhan, maternal uncle of Aurangzeb. Shahistekhan escaped but his
fingers were cut. He was frightened and fled to
(Shivacharitrache pailu, Kesari Prakashan, Pune 1980, p 52)
We Hindus did communicate with each other before the British Raj. There is interesting information in writings of Historians Setu Madhavrao Pagdi and Datto Waman Potdar. It will take some time to translate those into English.
Let us look at today’s world.
Hassan Rowham became elected President of Iran in June 2013.
He is supposed to be a moderate leader. He went to
No.
Did Ayatollah Khomeni of Iran ever speak in English?
No
Did Stalin speak in English?
No.
Does Vladimir Putin speak in English
No.
1.6
http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=3023
Ashok
B Sharma
Follow us on Twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/vijayvaani
http://www.sandhyajainarchive.org/
http://www.girilaljainarchive.net/
Godbole responded -
What do you expect with Gandhi's photo on every rupee note?
All our Prime Ministers have followed his Mantra - give / give / give to our enemies.
Only Savarkar stood against this folly and asked, "Why do you always give in to Muslim demands?
Why don't you insist on taking something from them?"
Alas, we deserted him and followed Bapu.
1.7 Godbole’s visit to Pune (Hindusthan)
In January / February 2014 Godboles with their two daughters and their families visited Pune for a religious function. Despite the hectic schedule Godbole managed to attend four public meetings.
(1) In the evening of 25 January, met eight contributors to Savarkar web-site. Godbole expressed his thoughts on functioning of the web-site, what needs to be done and how it should be done.
(2) In the evening of 26th January Godbole made a PowerPoint
presentation on Taj Mahal at a private function arranged by Shree Prakash
Kulkarni of
(3) In the morning of 1 February Godbole delivered a lecture in the series – How we did not understand Savarkar. He reviewed the book My Transportation for life. This was attended by eighty members of retired employees of Maharashtra Bank.
(4) In the evening of 9th February Godbole repeated his PowerPoint presentation on Taj Mahal. This was for a group of eighty senior citizens of Pinak Memories of Kothrud, Pune.
Once again Godbole has sent his Tourist Guide to Taj Mahal to the organisers
Some observations –
(a) Disposal of domestic waste is a very serious problem and it is not being handled properly. Villagers outside Pune where the wet waste is being dumped are up in arms against any further dumping which is affecting their health. In many places waste is overflowing from collection areas on the streets.
(b) Local rivers in Pune have become sewers.
(c) Massive construction works are being carried out but no thought is given to wellbeing of citizens of adjoining properties, pedestrians and car drivers. Access to your property will be suddenly cut off. No thought is given on how you will get in and out of your accommodation. Of course, no consideration is given to old and disabled people. There is no excuse for this.
Moreover, excavations are repeated in the same locations for various utilities.
(d) In Mumbai, Metro has started running on elevated structures.
(e) In ancient monuments like Ajantha, Verul and Devagiri Fort there are no clear paths for pedestrians. Just because the monument was 700 years old is no excuse for not providing suitable access to visitors.
(f) One feels lack of handrails all over. They can be easily provided. Moreover buses, taxis coaches, and hired cars are not easily accessible to old people. Getting in and out is a struggle. In some hotels handrails on stairs are useless because of flower-plants kept on steps.
In some locations it is desirable to have handrails on both sides of steps.
(g) Despite increased prosperity people have no sense of public duty. They throw away rubbish everywhere. Godboles always carry any rubbish home. Why can’t others do the same?
(h) Obesity in young children is frightening. They have much food but no exercise! Godbole remembers days in the 1970s when his nephew used to play cricket on the street
in front of the house.
(i) Experience at Mumbai airport – some one mistook our suitcase, realized his mistake, but instead of putting it back on the conveyor belt he put it to one side. It got pushed and pushed. Eventually it was 50 yards from the conveyor belt. Why passengers behave in this way?
On our return journey, noticed same old chaos at the airport as two year ago. No one to guide. Trolleys were kept far away from drop off point. No announcements / no directions
(j) Godbole has donated Rs 10,000 to
(k) People travel extensively by air.
(l) It was disgusting to see Jains celebrating their status as a minority community, distributing sweets and praising Sonia Gandhi and M M Singh.
(m) One feels sorry for stray animals. It would be humane to kill them instead of letting them starve to death.
(n) It is usual tactic for politicians to transfer efficient administrators. But people are taking to streets against such harassments. This happened in case of one officer named Pardeshi of Pimpri- Chinchavad Corporation. His transfer led to large scale public protest. It will only be effective if the ruling Congress Party loses next election.
(o) With heavy traffic, it is a headache to cross roads. It was interesting to see school girls banding together when crossing roads. It is effective.
(p) In restaurants it is difficult to know how full and big the dishes are. It is worth to try some dishes first instead of wasting food.
(q) Cereals like wheatabix, cornflex are easily available
(r) People use mobile phones quite often. It helps communication.
(s) Malpractices of doctors are frightening.
(t) Pollution is having its effects on health of people
(u) It was astonishing to find Indian style toilets when urinals are not provided.
(v) There is frightening prospect of Mega cities on the older parts of the cities where people have lived in two or three storied houses for generations.
1.8 Persecution of innocent Hindus
On 31 December 2013 we received following news from Dattatraya Vaidya of Thane
All seekers of Sanatan Sanstha acquitted in Madgaon bomb blast case
Congress Government has given a free hand to haters of Sanatan Sanstha
to defame Sanatan by needlessly entangling our 6
seekers in the 'Madgaon bomb blast' case.
Congress Government had made efforts to finish 'Sanatan Sanstha', a spiritual
organisation through various means, with the help of Goa Police. Six seekers of
Sanatan Sanstha had to undergo needless persecution for 4 years due to
investigation by the Police in a wrong direction, and unfortunately, 4 years in
their prime life have been wasted due to their stay in prison.
The Police has not found any participation of Sanatan Sanstha in this
case. Even the
Virendra Marathe,
Managing Trustee, Sanatan Sanstha
On 6 January 2014 Shree R Shinde of Hindu Jagruti sent us
the following news.
A bench of justices B S
Chauhan and S Bobde set aside the order of the
Swamy contended that an
attempt was made after
Referring to the
provisions of Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, Swamy
had submitted, "Section 107 specifically bars the application of the Act
to institutions coming under the purview of or enjoying the protection of Article
26 of the Constitution."
He contended that if
there were allegations of misappropriation of temple's property then it should
be dealt with under the provisions of Indian Penal Code and not by taking over
the temple administration.
The state government in
1987 had appointed an official to manage the endowments and considerable assets
and property owned by the temple.
One wonders how many other funds of temples are being misused in this way.
1.10 Secret files kept by Government of
Netaji’s family observes ‘Declassification Day’
/ press trust of
Scores of admirers of
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose today visited
Netaji's grandnephew Surya Kumar Bose, who has recently visited
Renkoji temple where Netaji's purported ashes are kept, said, “His
admirers from different parts of
“So far, we have never observed the day as we
don't believe that he died on August 18. There is circumstantial evidence to
prove that he was in
To mark the occasion, they held a public meeting in Kolkata where they
appealed all political parties to come forward and support the cause. Under
house arrest by the British, Netaji had escaped from
After organising the Indian National Army with Japanese help he went missing in
1945, giving birth to
He was last seen at the
Godbole replied -
Dear friends,
We should demand that Government of India should declare which files they are
keeping secret and why? (at least we should force them to give us a list)
This should cover ALL the files, NOT just those relating to Subhash Babu.
Such a move will have mass appeal.
On 4 September 2013 Sakti
Nath Maitra wrote -
It should come under " Right to information
". But some one has to ask for it. I shall try to find ways how to do
this. If you have information please inform me.
Tapan Chatopadhyay
responded
Dear Mr. Godbole,
I wholeheartedly agree.
On this subject we received
following E Nail from Gopal Ashtekar on 19 January 2010 To: media_monitor5@yahoogroups.com
Title:
Declassify documents
Author: Editorial /Publication: The Pioneer/ Date: January 19, 2010.
1.11 Needless secrecy serves no
purpose
In asking all Union Government Ministries to declassify and transfer to the
National Archives of India 90,000 old documents and records by the middle of 2010;
the Cabinet Secretary has taken only a first step.
When the Right to Information
Act came into being, it was expected that the Government, which has stubbornly
refused to abide by the rules regarding declassification of records, would be
expeditious in placing its contemporary files as well as archives in the public
domain. This would allow scholars and researchers access to valuable material.
It would facilitate the work of journalists and ordinary citizens. Most
important, it would enhance the credibility of Indian democracy.
To a large degree, the RTI
legislation has been successful. It has made civic bodies more responsive and
key departments and Ministries, particularly at the local level, have been
forced to open up. However, in the upper echelons of the Indian state,
obfuscation remains. For example, the Ministry of Defence has been very
slothful when it comes to releasing information, hiding behind the mask of
‘national security’. In three years, the Prime Minister’s Office has
declassified only 62 files. As a result, the country knows as little about its
wars and their history as it did in the pre-RTI age. It is likely the Cabinet
Secretary’s recent orders will also meet the same fate.
Documents on rate of utilisation of irrigation funds in the
1950s will be released by the Ministry of Agriculture but not, for example, details
of specific tax write-offs and which individual companies they benefited in,
say, the 1970s. An information order is a reflection of the value of the
information it releases. Inundating websites with reams of useless data will
not serve the purpose of an RTI culture.
Indeed, the Central Information Commission and the Prime Minister need to sit
down and reappraise the lessons learnt from the RTI Act and its application in
the past few years. From the Government to the higher judiciary, so much that was
earlier hidden is now out for the public to read and absorb. Yet, RTI
provisions have also been misused for what can only politely be called
corporate espionage and settling scores. In December 2009, an Information
Commission gave a shocking verdict in which it ruled that an individual’s
income tax returns constituted a public document and could be released to a
third party and perhaps be uploaded on the IT Department’s website. This was a
ridiculous ruling, in breach of the right to privacy and of specific clauses in
the IT Act. The Delhi High Court has placed a stay on this verdict. Yet, it is
worth noting the mindset behind such a decision. Right to information must
begin with the Government opening its doors and de-cluttering itself of a
culture of secrecy. It is necessary to study and abolish those laws and rules
that come in the way of the broader free access to information environment —
including regulations going back to World War II that prevent photography at
several public locations. It is equally necessary to make declassification the
norm, the regular thing to happen after a certain number of years have passed,
rather than the exception. Most important, the Ministries of Defence, External
Affairs and Home Affairs, too, have to embrace the cause of open Government.
Without old documents being declassified by them, declassification would be
meaningless.
1.12 Play on Jinnah in public ?
On 5 February 2014 Ramesh Shinde
of Hindu Jagruti wrote to us.
Chennai based EVAM group is
staging Play "ALI J" Based on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the person
mastermind for India's Partition and Slaughter of Lakhs of Hindus.
Now it is craze for cheap
Publicity & Popularity. For that these people can sell their Mother also.
HJS has strongly opposed this
Play and filed Police Complaint at 2 police Stations against Play & also
Issued Legal Notice to organisers of Kala Ghoda Festival and Theater Owner.
With Immediate effect of this Kala Ghoda Festival issued written Letter of
Cancelling "ALI J" show.
Thanks to those all, who
supported us in this Protest Campaign.
Now Next show is in Chennai and
we must be vigilant for not allowing them to Play to go there.
.___
1.13 British role in world affairs – what arrogance!
In August 2013 it was clear that chemical weapons were used
in the civil war in
Is it not time to realize true state of
5 million do not get a living wage.
9 million people have debt problems.
2 million pensioners can’t afford food they need.
Public toilets have vanished from
Why worry with our image in the world?
Vicky Pryce, is a Greek-born economist,
and former Joint Head of the
She was Deputy Head of the Government's
Economic Service from 2004 to 2007, and Joint Head from 2007 to 2010. She was
appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath
(CB) in 2009, but was removed from the Order of the
In April 2010, it was announced that
she would be leaving the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills where she was
Director General, Economics, and Joint Head of the Government Economic Service,
to become senior managing director at the finance consultancy firm FTI
Consulting.
In 2010 she became the Master of the Worshipful Company of Management
Consultants.
In 1984, she married Chris Huhne,
who later became an MEP and then the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh and Secretary of
State for Energy and Climate Change. They had three children
together. They divorced in January 2011.
Prison life
Pryce initially started
serving her sentence in HM Prison Holloway. After four days' prisoner assessment,
Price was moved to HM Prison East Sutton Park, an open prison near
Maidstone, Kent.
Price and Huhne were both released from
prison on 13 May 2013, subject to electronic tagging.
Pryce has published a book based on her prison experience in October 2013. The
book, Prisonomics, analyzes the economic and human costs of imprisoning
women. Royalties
will be donated to Working Chance, a charity helping former women
prisoners find work.
1.15 Budget cuts – disastrous side effects.
Sitting on front benches in Parliament it is easy for Ministers to announce budget cuts, but in practice it has disastrous consequences. Some time in October 2013 it was announced that Crown Prosecution Service prefers court cases in Magistrate’s courts rather than in Crown Courts to save money. As a result, criminals are getting away with serious offences. The argument is this – if we charge criminals with lesser charges (actual bodily harm instead of grievous body harm) they are likely to plead guilty, saving us time and money. At times even judges have to criticize CPS for this practice.
1.16 Unreasonable detention of Swami Ramdevbaba
We all have heard about detention of Swami at Heathrow airport by Immigration Officers
for eight hours as a terror suspect on 22 December 2013. This was on the suggestion of Indian P.M. MM Singh and Sonia Gandhi. Godbole protested to his local M.P and also to the Home Secretary Theresa May.
The replies he got were evasive. Usual line is – “we cannot comment on individual cases”.
But how many others protested to their local M.Ps? No point in blaming others if we are so lethargic.
On the other hand when one Labour M.P from
1.17 X’Mas madness
(i) Godbole has always opposed Hindus celebrating X’mas and Christian
New Year’s eve.
He has always suggested that we should celebrate
Makar-Sankrant in January instead.
We are pleased to note that Midlands Marathi Association,
did have such a gathering on
1 February 2014. Organiser was Subodh Deshmukh. Profit made
at the function went to a charity called Arogya Sena of Pune. Vande Mataram was
sung at the end of celebrations
We wish others should follow suit.
(ii) Our slavish mentality
On receiving X.Mas greetings in December 2013 Godbole wrote
to a friend.
“As we
are both Hindus I would have appreciated a greeting at the time of Diwali.”
Nothing
objectionable in this, but wife of this friend was furious. She wrote
Dear Mr.Godbole,
I was astounded and offended to read this reply you sent my husband following the season's greetings he sent you. I thought it was extremely rude of you to send such a reply If you don't believe in the Season's greetings, you should have just ignored them or deleted them.
We are very liberal, secular, forward looking people & believe in a 'humanist' religion.
Kind regards.
------------
So, would the lady send us Diwali greetings? NO.
(iii) Hindu society in
The basic question was, “Why should a HINDU society
celebrate Christian New Year?”
2. AROUND
Godbole
conducted one tour on 19 October 2013. Eight persons participated.
Part II - It
is impossible to visit all the places in one day as
Rajiv
Malhotra of
3. BEHAVIOUR OF
CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS TODAY
3.1 The Christians
3.1.1 Child abuse by Roman
catholic Priests
On 6 February 2014 Times of
India reported on pages 1 and 11
UN committee slams
In an unprecedented report for a UN body, the committee on the rights of
the child slammed the
"The committee expresses
serious concern that in dealing with child victims of different forms of abuse,
the Holy See has systematically placed preservation of the reputation of the
Church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims," it
said.
It urged the
Committee head Kirsten Sandberg
said that despite the
In a terse response, the
Geneva/Vatican City:
The United Nations demanded that
the
known or suspected child abusers
and turn them over to civil authorities, in an
unprecedented and scathing
report on Wednesday
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
said church officials had imposed a "code of
silence" on clerics to
prevent them reporting attacks to police, and moved abusers from
parish to parish "in an
attempt to cover up such crimes". It said the Holy See must hand over an archive
of evidence about the abuse of tens of thousands of children, and take measures
to prevent a repeat of cases such as the scandal of
The exceptionally blunt paper —
the United Nations' broadest critique of the Church hierarchy — followed its
public grilling of
"The Committee is gravely
concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes
committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child
sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices
which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the
perpetrators," the report said. It urged the
"Due to a code of silence
imposed on all members of the clergy under penalty of
excommunication, cases of child
sexual abuse have hardly ever been reported to the law
enforcement authorities in the
countries where such crimes occurred," it said.
Barbara Blaine of the Survivors
Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said the report was a "wake up
call": "For the safety of children, we hope every head of state on
the planet reads and acts on it."
At a public session last month,
the committee pushed
delegation, answering questions
from an international rights panel for the first time since the scandals broke more
than two decades ago, denied allegations of a
up and said it had set clear
guidelines to protect children from predator priests. Wednesday's report called
for an internal investigation of the Madalene laundries and similar institutions
so that those were responsible could be prosecuted, and "full compensation"
could be paid to victims and families.
3.1.2 Americans are interfering again
On 20 August 2011 we had received an interesting E Mail
From Dr Richard L Benkin
To: breakingindia@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [breakingindia] Senate
Bill 1245
On July 29, 2011,
the US House passed HR440 with overwhelming bi-partisan support. The bill calls
for the appointment of a “Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of
Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.” The Special
Envoy would carry the rank of Ambassador. This is an important position
through which the
I urge all
Why is it important
that to do this?
This bill will pass
and be signed by the President; there is little doubt about that, given its
wide bi-partisan support. President Obama and his successors will in fact
appoint individuals to fill that role, address issues of religious freedom, and
recommend
Right now, we have that opportunity. If we
do not seize it, we will be leaving the field open to organizations with
agendas contrary to US interests and career diplomats. This Special Envoy
can be a person who turns US focus to those issues that we know are most
critical for the survival of our own values; those victims who need a morally
strong United States to stand with them, like my own focus: the Hindus of
Bangladesh, the perfect example of a religious minority under an attack that
becomes more overwhelming day by day.
Our comments – On the face of it this sounds a good idea,
but in practice it will be used by
3.1.3 Protect
On 21 November 2013 Aditya Tyagi sent us an alarming E Mail to RajivMalhotraDiscussion@yahoogroups.com
"The resolution, sponsored by Representative Joseph
Pitts, Republican of Pennsylvania, was co-sponsored by 14 other Congressmen
from both parties, including Democrats Keith Ellison and John Conyers, and
Republican Steve Chabot, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on
It is interesting to note that Congressman Keith Ellison is the only Muslim in
the US Congress.
Our comment -This is blatant interfering in internal affairs
of a sovereign country! How about protecting Hindu minorities in
3.1.4 Nixon turned a blind eye to Hindu genocide by Pak
Army
While in Pune (January/ February 2014) Godbole was handed over a paper cutting of Pune supplement of an English newspaper. It read
PRESS TRUST OF
Ahead of
While the Indian government was aware of the situation, it tried to play it down and instead referred to it as genocide of the Bengali community in Bangladesh so as to avoid an outcry from the leaders of the then Jan Sangh, the predecessor of Bharatiya Janata Party,
says Gary J Bass, author of the book The Blood Telegram: Nixon Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide, which recently hit bookstores.
"Rather than basing this accusation primarily on the
victimisation of Hindus,
"The Indian foreign ministry argued that
As the Pakistan Army continued with the systematic targeting of the Hindu community, the book says, Indian officials did not want to provide further ammunition to the irate Hindu nationalists in the Jan Sangh party.
"From Moscow, D P Dhar, India's ambassador there, decried the Pakistan army's pre-planned policy of selecting Hindus for butchery, but, fearing inflammatory politicking from rightist reactionary Hindu chauvinist parties like Jan Sangh, he wrote, 'We were doing our best not to allow this aspect of the matter to be publicised in India'," Bass writes in his book.
The then US Consul General in Dhaka, Archer Blood, according to the book, thought there was no logic to this campaign of killings and expulsions of the Hindus, who numbered about 10 million — almost 13 per cent of East Pakistan's population.
"They were unarmed and dispersed around
"Lieutenant General Tikka Khan the military governor
leading the repression, argued that East Pakistan faced enslavement by
homeland for Muslims after great sacrifices," the book said.
Our comment – and yet many Hindus regard Indira Gandhi as
Rana Chandika. If she would not give monkeys to massacre of Hindus, why should
Nixon?Moreover, why should we feel sorry for 9/11?
.
3.2 The Muslims
Pak Officials Want
On 3 February 2014 we read an interesting news item in The
New Indian Express (
Islamabad: At a time when a controversial festival organized by PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has drawn the attention of people to Sindh's ancient culture, Pakistani authorities are planning to ask India to return the famous 'Dancing Girl' from Mohenjodaro.
"We are writing to the federal government to help us
repatriate our exiled heroine back to us from
The 10.8-cm bronze statue, made in 2500 BC, is on display at
the
The demand comes at a time when Bilawal has organised the
Sindh Festival at Mohenjodaro amid fears among archaeologists that the event
would damage the ruins. Unnamed officials were quoted by Dawn as saying that
the Dancing Girl and Priest King were transported by British archaeologist Sir
Mortimer Wheeler to
After Partition in 1947,
The Pakistanis chose the King Priest made up of soapstone. Perhaps they were hesitant to get hold of a naked teenager to avoid a possible backlash from religious quarters," one official said.
The Priest King – a bearded man wearing an ajrak-like cloth
with hair neatly combed back – is currently on display at the National Museum
of Pakistan in
Our comment – But isn’t anything pre-Islamic despised as
Pagan by Muslims?