INDIAN INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH INTO TRUE HISTORY

Newsletter No 32 of 16 February 1998

1 News and current affairs

1.1 An Apology

We are sorry for not being able to produce a newsletter on 16 October 1997, and this one is shorter than expected..

1.2 Internet

History was made on 16 July 1997. Our newsletter number 31 was sent by Internet to Prof Asnani of Pune, India. He has forwarded it to like minded Hindus all over the world.

It is hoped that we will use the Internet for other activities.

Our friend Mr Sardesai of America has informed that following steps lead to Mr Godbole's works:-

http://WWW.hindunet.org

Global Hindu Electronic Universe

URL ( Uniform Resource Locator )

History

Modern History

Tajmahal and the Great British Conspiracy or Why Rewrite Indian History ?

1.3 Around London Tour of places associated with our freedom fighters

* First tour took place on 12 July 1997. Eight people, including Col Sabyasachi Bagchi, a BJP member of Indian Parliament and his wife attended.

* Second tour took place on Sunday 3 August 1997. It was arranged for Dr & Mrs Devakule and their family from Gujarath. Mr Godbole is now familiar with roads of London and can guide any tour by coach/car.

* Dr and Mrs Bhole visited Mr Godbole in November 1997 on way to Canada. Mr and Mrs Thatte of Pune did so in December 1997. They all visited the house where Veer Savarkar lived during 1906-1909

* Ajit Ghorpade of USA contacted Mr Godbole to obtain details of the tour. He and his parents are interested in the tour whenever they visit London.

* A second video of this tour is being prepared. Mr Godbole has completed his outdoor shooting at last!

* Details of car route of the tour are now available.

* A slide show by Mr Godbole on above subject was arranged by Maharashtra Mandal, London during the Ganesh Festival on 9 September 1997. Some 25 people attended

* Mr Godbole used the topic for his first assignment for membership of the Chartered Institute of Transport. He was awarded 'A' grade.

1.4 Taj Mahal : Facts and Fantasies

A slide show on this subject by Mr Godbole took place in Hounslow West, Middlesex on 7 January 1998. Some 50 people attended.

1.5 Visitors

Mr Kalyankar, former Deputy Secretary to Government of Maharashtra, was in London in July 1997. He has promised to give publicity to our work through the newspapers and magazines with whom he is associated.

2. Work of our friends

* Sudesh Sangray's article Taj Mahal facts and fantasies was published in the December 1997 issue of the monthly staff newsletter of University of Luton .

* Due to re-organisation of Local Government, Luton now has its own local council and an education authority. They advertised for advisers on religious education in schools in the Luton & Dunstable Herald and Post of 27 February 1997.. Mr Sangray and Nandish Patel of Luton managed to get themselves elected to the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education

( SACRE ). They will advise on matters relating to Hindu Dharma. Mr Sangray strongly feels that we should use the word Hindu Dharma instead of Hinduism, which has got wrong connotations, and can be misinterpreted.

It is interesting to note that at the meeting between M/s Sangray, Patel and the Director of Education Muslim observers were present, but Hindu observers were absent from similar meetings with Muslim advisers.

3. Truth

3.1 Why we cannot speak the truth

On 25 July 1997 Daily Telegraph, in its editorial wrote: Tales out of school

Opinion will be divided over the conduct of Sarah Briggs of Queen Elizabeth's School in Nottinghamshire, who wrote to a local newspaper complaining of teacher absenteeism and low teaching standards. Her head teacher has excluded her from the school, accusing her of serious disrespectful conduct. Unless she apologises, which she declares unwilling to do, she faces expulsion. Those familiar with this particular school will incline to back Sarah, for there is substance in her complaints. Some of the teaching is below standard and discipline is poor. So are examination results. Earlier this year, after £150,000 had been spent on an Elizabethan garden, some 50 pupils boycotted a visit by the Queen. That well conveys the atmosphere of the place.

So Sarah was right in what she said. Whether she was right in what she did raises another question altogether. Schools are required to maintain discipline. When they fail to do so, pupils suffer, indeed. No school under any dispensation can be expected to permit pupils to attack it publicly through letters to the local press. If this became standard practice by aggrieved pupils the outcome would not be improved standards, but anarchy. No institution will long survive if its members send letters to the press as a means of redressing grievances,.defenders of the accused may agree that no other course was open to her. That we doubt. She could with greater propriety have addressed herself to the head teacher, the school governors or the local education authority. Other pupils who subscribed to the letter have apologised. If she is wise, Sarah will now do the same, reject any exciting offers that may come her way, and resume concentration on her seven GCSEs

The advise from the right wing paper is Keep Quiet. Life is complicated. Admissions to Universities or future employment prospectus will be affected by a report from one's headmaster. It is not easy to criticise him/her

3.2 Do we want to know the truth ?

on 6 October 1997 BBC1 tackled one taboo subject in the PANORAMA programme. It dealt with child sexual abuse by mothers. A horrifying thought, but it is true. Those who gave evidence were women doctors and women social workers.

3.3 Did Mr Pagdi change ?

Mr Godbole, in his booklet Why Rewrite Indian History ? strongly criticised historian Mr Setu Madhavrao Pagdi. That was in 1984. Mr Pagdi died in 1992. But did he change till his death ?.The answer is NO. While in India in 1997 Mr Godbole came across a book by Mr Pagdi entitled " Bharatiya Musulman " published in 1992. From an article in the book it is clear that he took delight in trying to prove that Padmini did not exist, It was all a figment of imagination. But he said not a single word about Taj Mahal!. Even on his death bed he was afraid of speaking truth about Taj Mahal and wanted to disguise the fact by repeating his work on the existence of Padmini

One should now understand why the Indian historians are still too scared to tell truth about Taj Mahal.

4. Behaviour of Christians and Muslims today.

4.1 Leeds Muslims riot over ' burnt Koran ' video

Clare Garner reported for the Independent on 20 June 1997

" A Hindu video shop owner's plans to stock a controversial Bollywood film about the India-Pakistan war of 1971 prompted 300 Muslim youths to riot outside his shop, it emerged yesterday.

Gewal Krishna, who has run Krishna Video, on Harehills Road in Leeds, West Yorkshire, for the past seven years, announced yesterday that he had decided not to stock the film, called The Border, which includes a scene where the Koran is shown in flames, after Wednesday night's violence.

' It is not worth losing my business for and if losing my business for and if I knew all this trouble would be caused I would never have considered it.' he said. ' I have not even seen the film and I can't see why these young Muslims should be picking on my shop.'

Mr Krishna insisted that he had a good relationship with all his customers, 90 per cent of whom are Muslims. 'The younger generation seem to be using the video as an excuse to start trouble, though I don't know who planted the idea into their heads' he added.

When The Border was screened in New Delhi last week the cinema was burnt to the ground, with the loss of 90 lives. Shubra Gupta, film critic for the Indian Express, had noted in her review, ' The anti-Pakistan sentiments, which had the crowd roaring in approval .... made me uncomfortable". The five people, including three juveniles, who were arrested during the riot were yesterday released on police bail

Mr Krishna had called police to the scene at 7.45 p.m. after he had been threatened by some Muslim youths. Superintendent Frank Farmer, of West Yorkshire Police, said that bricks were thrown at officers, four of whom sustained minor injuries. The crowd dispersed after about five hours.

Javed Aktar, a local Labour councillor, criticised the officers' " heavy-handed " tactics. " The police presence was very high profile and that made the situation worse" he said. " A gentler approach would have calmed things down."

Mr Farmer said : " The dilemma faced by police .... is one whereby initially you must have enough police officers to respond and deal with the incident as it is taking place. You then have to leave sufficient police officers in the area to reassure the public and be able to respond to any further outbreaks."

Dr Ghayassuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament said : " I can understand the frustration of Muslims at the constant attacks on them and their religion which they feel powerless to do anything about. Bollywood is now following in the footsteps of Hollywood in producing films totally insensitive to Muslims and Islam.

4.2 Plight of young Pakistani girls in Saudi Arabia

Cathy Evans reported in The Observer on 15 June 1997

Saudi Justice : Two British nurses will be defended at a murder trial today but others are denied this privilege

If these girls have reached puberty, they are old enough to be beheaded

The two British nurses, whose trial for murder resumes today and could end in their public beheading, are the first Westerners in Saudi Arabia's 63 year history to face charges of this gravity. But they are also the first to be given the fundamental right of having their defence lawyers in court to represent them and question witnesses. A family of Pakistanis, including children, who are facing the death penalty for drug smuggling have not been so fortunate.

Public beheading, once rare, has become routine under Saudi Islamic law by executing convicted murderers, smugglers and rapists. Fifty people have been beheaded this year, 21 of them foreigners, including an Afghan man found guilty of smuggling heroine and executed on Friday. None of them was defended by lawyers. So numerous have executions become that they no longer occur only on Fridays. They usually take place after midday prayers outside the major mosques, watched by several thousand men.

There has only been one partial precedent for legal representation in court - a recent case involving an American who killed an intruder in his house. His lawyer was in court but was not allowed to speak. When the British nurses, Lucille McLauchlln and Debrorah Parry, go on trial today before three judges in a nondescript office block in Al Khobar, their lawyers will be able to put questions through the judges to challenge police evidence, according to which Yvonne Gilford was stabbed 13 times, battered with a hammer and suffocated. There is also the charge of theft : McLaughlin was found with Gilford's credit cards in her purse one week after the murder. Some £3500 had been withdrawn from Gilford's account after her death. In confessions written in their own hand and authenticated by a panel of judges, the two women admitted the murder. Three months later, they maintained they had confessed after being stripped and threatened with sexual abuse by Saudi police officers.

Few in Saudi Arabia believe the two women will be executed. They are white, they are women, they are British. They may have murdered and they may have stolen, but nobody around here believes they will be executed commented a local journalist who has been following the case. ' Foreigners who are from Europe or the US are given preferential treatment.'The case contrasts starkly with that of 19 Pakistanis, who are arrested for drug trafficking three weeks after Parry and McLauchlin.

They arrived on the same flight from Pakistan and are said to come from one extended family. Among them are 9 women, five children and a number of infants. Two of the women were pregnant when arrested. All were found to be carrying heroin in their stomach, vagina or anus. Three of the children are girls - Nargis 13, who was said to be carrying 152 grams of heroin in 'eggs', Mushrefah, 8, and Anem,5, who had allegedly been forced to swallow 71 grams of heroin. Because the family had hidden the heroin in their bodies, their guilt is clear and the Saudis see no mitigating circumstances - drug trafficking, without exception, is punishable by public beheading. Unlike the nurses, who have five lawyers working on their behalf, the Pakistanis will not be represented in court. And unlike that of the nurses, their case has attracted no publicity, either in their home country or in Saudi Arabia, since their arrest on 22 January.

Under Islamic law, juveniles are not considered to know right from wrong, and therefore, there is a good chance the children will be deported. But adulthood is held to begin at puberty, interpreted as the age of menstruation for girls and the midteens for boys.' These are very poor people, ignorant villagers who were probably paid a very small fee to carry the drugs into Saudi,' said Rahimullah Yousefazai, a leading expert on Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, a region notorious for its heroin-trafficking barons.' They were working for someone else who paid their airline tickets and told them they would get a job in Saudi Arabia. Going to Saudi is every Pakistani's dream.'

Human rights lawyers in Pakistan point out that tribal tradition in the North-West Frontier Province would oblige women and children to obey the head of their family.

But such considerations cannot outweigh Pakistan's national priority of maintaining good relations with the Muslim world's wealthiest most powerful state. Saudi Arabia is the source of billions of dollars of much needed remittances and foreign currency, and a key supplier of its policies in Afghanistan. Asked for her reaction to the possibility of nine women being executed in Saudi Arabia, Abeda Hussein, Pakistan's minister with special responsibility form women's affairs, said, ' Crime is not gender based and neither should justice be. Women, just like men, have the intellect and the ability to determine the difference between right and wrong.' Mrs Hussein added that under Islamic law there were certain offences which carried ' a finality of punishment' - and Pakistan would not in any way interfere with legal system of another/ The children . she added, would receive a different sentence from the adults, but this would largely depend on the stance taken by the Saudi Judges. With no lawyer to argue for mitigation, the route to the execution block seems unavoidable for the adults in this case.

4.3 $120m for altar boys molested by priest

On 25 July 1997 Daily Telegraph reported , " The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Texas was ordered to pay nearly $120 million dollars ( £80 million ) damages yesterday for allowing a priest to molest altar boys and then conspiring to cover up assaults."

" It dwarfs anything else we've ever heard of " said Bill Ryan, spokesman for the American Catholic Conference. Ten of the men priest and the family of another man who committed suicide brought the lawsuit. Their lawyers contended that the diocese had ignored evidence that Rudolph Kos was molesting boys. The diocese did not dispute the molestation claims but denied it was negligent or engaged in a cover-up." " I'am overwhelmed " said Nancy Lemberger, the mother of the victim who killed himself.

The state district court jury heard that the abuse occurred between 1977 and 1992 while Kos was a seminarian at Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas and while he was assigned to three churches. The jury agreed that the diocese was negligent in its handling of Kos, lied about him and inflicted " emotional distress" on the plaintiffs. Sylvia Demarest, lawyer for one of the victims said, " For many years the people who run this diocese have acted as if they were above the law."

But Randal Mathis, diocesan lawyer, said Catholic officials were " good people" who wrongly concluded that Kos was not engaged in sexual misconduct. Kos, who now lives in San Diego, California, is awaiting a criminal trial for sexual contact with one child and indecency with another.

Colin Adamson reported for the Evening Standard on the same day, " ....This verdict comes exactly one year after cover-up allegations were made against the Scottish Catholic hierarchy over the case of Aberdeenshire priest Desmond Lynagh, who was jailed for three years for abusing pupils at Blairs College. The Church in Scotland, which was reported to have a secret off-shore fund for compensation has already paid one of Lynagh's victims £42,000, but others are now likely to review potential claims in the light of the historical US judgement.

In the case of Kos " What we had was a negligent institution letting rage out of control a sick paedophile" Windle Turley, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, told the jury. Jurors agreed, finding that the Dallas church leaders were negligent in their handling of Kos, lied about him, inflicted "emotional distress" on the plaintiffs and committed fraud.

The compensation included almost £11 million in punitive damages. The diocese is now planning an appeal. " ...The victims, who had sought £87.5 million damages, alleged the abuse while Kos was a seminarian at Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas and while he was assigned to three churches.

4.4 Moscow reopens the door to religious intolerance

On 23 September 1997 The Independent reported :-

Boris Yeltzin is poised to pass a law giving minority religious fewer rights than they have in any secular society. Only two months ago, following protests from the Pope, the United States and international civil rights groups, he vetoed similar legislation, casting himself as the defender of the freedom to worship. Phil Reeves in Moscow investigates what went wrong.

The other day Vadium Touneyev had a nasty shock. He and his colleagues had been invited to a jubilee celebration in a small town outside Moscow. They decided to have a huge cake to give to local officials. Their offering, all 850 sticky kilos of it, was accepted happily enough by the community elders when they arrived at the town. Orekhevo-Zuyevo. Yet they were not. Organisers told them that they could attend the festivities, but -- as members of a Hare Krishna society in Moscow - they would not be allowed to speak publicly. Any attempt to preach or proselytise would be against the law, the officials declared. Legally, the officials were wrong. But for Mr Touneyev, the incident was ominous. " This is what will happen in the future. This is the kind of discrimination we can expect from local authorities when the law goes through."

The law in question is a bill sharply curtailing freedom of worship in Russia. It was overwhelmingly passed by the lower house of parliament in Moscow last week. Every sign suggests in the next few weeks it will breeze through the upper house and on to the desk of the president himself, who will sign it. Thus will religious intolerance, one of the deepest evils of the Soviet state, be restored to Russia reversing one of the triumphs of glasnost.

Supporters of the legislation say it is merely an attempt to protect Russia from the onslaught of extremist religious cults which have thrived in the aftermath of Communism. But it has far more to do with a fierce drive by the Russian Orthodox Church to protect its turf against inroads from rivals, such as Catholics, Protestants and Mormons, who have all been increasingly active in the former Soviet Union. For opponents of the legislation, this has a grim familiarity. Two months ago, a similar bill landed in Mr Yeltsin's in-tray. prompting an appeal from the Pope and a threat by the US Senate to withhold $200m in aid if it was passed. To cheers from the West, the president vetoed it, issuing a long statement in which he portrayed himself as a champion of civil rights. It was, he said his duty " to observe the constitution and protect the legitimate rights and freedoms of the individual." He promised to find a compromise.

The compromise has, however, stunned the opposition camp in Russia and abroad - particularly in Washington. But for a few changes, it is almost as draconian as the first draft, prompting speculation that Mr Yeltsin has either changed his mind dramatically to appease the powerful church and Russian nationalist lobby, or was doped by an aide. Rumours abound that Mr Yeltsin

( who, revived from drink and illness, is going through a hyper-active stage in his presidency ) allowed the new version to pass across his desk without bothering to read it. But as it came from the Kremlin itself, he has little choice but to sign it; to veto his own law would make him look foolish.

" He has got himself in a very difficult situation," said Diederik Lohman of Helsinki Human Rights, which has vowed to take the issue to Russia's Constitutional Court, if he signs. " If he vetoes it, he will be accused of not being in control of his own administration. If he signs, there will be another big outcry."

The offending law divides religious bodies into categories, which clearly favour Russia's dominant religion, Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism.

Those churches that can provide documentary evidence that they had a legal status in Brezhnev's Soviet Union 15 years ago ( when religious persecution thrived ) will be recognised legally, and allowed to function normally. Those that cannot must wait until 15 years have elapsed since they were first registered. During that time, they will be deprived of a tranche of basic rights. They will not be able to publish religious literature, run schools, hold services in public places such as hospitals or crematoria, invite foreign preachers or receive charitable status. The list of those which may face restrictions long - from Baptists and Seventh Day Adventists to Jehovah's Witness. The losers

" would have fewer rights than minority believers anywhere outside openly theocratic states such as Saudi Arabia" said Lawrence Uzzell of the oxford based Keston Institute, which monitors religious freedoms in the former Soviet Union.

The law blatantly violates Russia's 1993 constitution, under which all faiths are equal before the law. At risk are a large number of congregations which did not register 15 years ago because of Soviet religious repression.

" Even congregations that have existed continuously for decades especially among the Old Believers founded in the 17th century or the independent Baptists who arrived in Russia in the 19th century, often lacked legal recognition until recently because they refused to compromise with a totalitarian state." said Mr Uzzell.

Underlying this, there is a deeper worry. Laws in Russia rarely observed by the letter. The fear of human rights groups and others is that Mr Yeltsin's

" Compromise Law " will deepen prejudice in a culture which already treats outsiders with suspicion. In Bedgood, 400 miles south of Moscow, local officials recently told a Catholic parish that it could not register because it was a foreign religious organisation. The priest was reportedly blocked by police from entering the city. Yet his parishioners were all Russians, seeking to reclaim a Catholic Church that was built under the Tsars. More such outrages loom on the horizon.

4.5 US accuses China of suppressing religious freedom

Hugh Gordon reported from Washington for Daily Telegraph on 23 July 1997. He says, " America condemned religious persecution in China, Russia and elsewhere yesterday in its first world-wide reviews of repression faced by Christians.

The publication of the report, examining 78 countries, reflects the increasing concern about freedom of worship among American foreign policy makers, particularly wince the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994. Last year, Congress demanded a 'detailed summary of US policies designed to reduce and eliminate today's mounting persecution of Christians throughout the world' and yesterday's report by the State Department was the result. China routinely violates its constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, the report says, banning Mass except in the state approved official Catholic Church, which rejects the authority of the Pope. Beijing has suppressed hundreds of Catholic and Protestant congregations this year, sometimes raiding them during worship in private homes, and has arrested, imprisoned and beaten religious leaders. Police have detained four Catholic bishops and seized religious artefacts, the report adds. China angrily rejected these findings, saying the report was both wrong and an impertinence. A Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington said, " Reports like this are not helpful in promoting good relations between the two countries. These things are internal affairs into which we do not think it appropriate for foreign countries to interfere. " Freedom of religious persecution are not based on fact."

Republicans cited Beijing's assault on Christianity earlier this summer in opposing President Clinton's decision to renew normal trading relations with China.

Madeleine Albright, the Secretary of State, has told all American embassies to develop closer ties with local religious leaders and to pay more attention to the issue of religious freedom in reports to Washington. Concern about freedom of religion in Russia focused on new legislation passed by the Duma which restricts the rights of some minor Protestant churches, Mormons and Pentecostalists. Most important, it is aimed at Baptists, who are perhaps the most powerful religious conservatives in America and are the backbone of the Christian Coalition. Moscow's aim is to protect the Russian Orthodox Church, which feels vulnerable now that Soviet barriers have been dismantled and well financed foreign missionaries have access to the Russian people. President Yeltsin refused last night to sign the restrictions into law, saying that as framed, the bill could trigger religious strife. But he said that " such a law is necessary to protect the moral and spiritual health of the Russian people" and did not kill it. Instead he sent it back to parliament with proposals for changes in the text.

Mr Clinton has raised the issue with Mr Yeltsin several times, but some legislative curtailment of freedom is expected to pass. In America, the Christian bias of the report on religious persecution has triggered unease within the government. Discomfort among State Department officials sampling the survey prompted the inclusion of other example of persecution, such as the crushing of Tibetan Buddhism by China and the forcible conversion of pagans to Islam in Sudan.

5 Research Findings

5.1 Falsity of Indo Saracenic Architecture

Mr Godbole typed up his ideas and thought running into 100 pages on above subject three years ago. He hopes to complete this work as soon as possible.

5.2 Savarkar's Rationalism

Mr Godbole's book in Marathi on the subject is now likely to be published sometime in 1998. It runs into 450 pages. The contents are :-

Freedom of expression

Sense of justice and fair play

Fraternity / Humanism

Six reasons for misconceptions about Savarkar

Savarkar - the social reformer

Untouchability

High and low castes among untouchable

Savarkar - a doer.

God

Realism.

Eternal change inherent in nature

Reforms does not mean blind following of the Europeans

Religion and religious books

Utility of all our activities and resources

Mr Godbole has started its translation in English. It will progress as time permits. It is expected that the preface will sent by Internet in June 1998

5.3 Savarkar's Memoirs

Veer Savarkar was interned in Ratnagiri from 1924 to 1937. He started to write his memoirs in 1931. Parts of his prologue were published in Hutatma Shraddhanand monthly of Mumbai. British took objection to it. Savarkar's house was searched, but the police could not find remaining pages. Collector of Ratnagiri told Savarkar, " It is highly objectionable for you to write these memoirs. They contravene your condition of internment - namely that you shall not take part in politics! " British considered the memoirs so provocative. Unfortunately that prologue has still not been translated in English.

6. We Hindus are treated badly, but do we deserve better ?

6.1 Behaviour at marriage ceremony.

Mr and Mrs Godbole attended a marriage ceremony of a daughter of one of their friends on 5 July 1997. There was a delay in the starting of the ceremony. The main reason was that the invitation card gave no indication of difficulty of access to the hall. The road was a narrow one way system. People lost time in finding entry to the road and hall. That was understandable. But the priest, in front of the white attendants said, " We are staring one hour late. That is what we call Indian standard time."

What an impression he must have created on their minds!!

The noise made at such functions is intolerable. If the people have no interest in the ceremonies, they should go outside the hall and discuss their private affairs. Would they behave in this fashion during a Church wedding ?

6.2 Visitor from India

One of Mr Godbole's relatives from India stayed with him in August 1997. He made a phone call to India. First thing he had to say was " Lady Diana died."

He fully supported state funeral given to Mother Terreasa by Government of India. But he could not say that Veer Savarkar should have been given a state funeral.

While visiting Madam Tussads he got photographed with the statue of Beneziar Bhutto!

During his stay one of Godbole's close friends invited them all to his house, and he said, " every one who visits England must visit a pub. If Mr Godbole has not taken you to a pub I will. " This friend, because where he lives gets number of visitors every year. But he NEVER said to them, " You must at least visit the house where Savarkar lived." Oh, that is something Mr Godbole does. It has nothing to do with me.

6.3 Divali function at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

During the 1996 Diwali celebrations bow tie was compulsory!!

Food was supposed to be appropriate for the occasion. In fact meat dishes were provided to please the British guests.

What a servile attitude !!

6.4 Diwali Brochure of Maharashtra Mandal, London. for 1997

This one contains a tribute for Princess Diana, and a 2 page tribute to Mother Terresa of Calcutta. Of course, it is the same Mandal which does not celebrate Veer Savarkar's birthday.

6.5 Ganesh Puja at Marathi Mitra Mandal, Leicester

The Puja on the first day was programmed to start at 11 a.m. It was postponed till 3 p.m. as a mark of respect for Princess Diana.

6.6 Handover of Hongkong

British Royal insignia was removed in first few minutes and replaced by Chinese one. ( It is still intact on Indian High Commission's office, London )

Chinese counterpart Li Pang refused to shake hands with Chris Patten, the last British Governor of the colony. He was forced to fold his hands as we do when we say Namaste.

6.7 Queen's visit to India

Indians are insulted by British immigration officers in Mumbai. When they call you for an interview they sit on chairs but you have to stand! And yet no one feels insulted!! But when Queen Elizabeth visited India she was requested to go to Amritsar. Independent reported on 21 August 1997 :-

Sikhs request Amritsar visit

Indian Sikh leaders said that they wanted the Queen to visit Amritsar. Prakash Singh Badal, chief minister of the state of Punjab, in which Amritsar lies, said : " If the Queen visits Punjab but does not go to Amritsar, it will be a great misunderstanding." The visit had been under cloud of controversy since Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral said he did not want Amritsar included in the visit to avoid bitterness over the 1919 massacre.

Are Sikhs treated any differently by British Immigration officers ? NO. But they consider a great honour that British queen should visit them.

Why should others treat us with respect ?

7. Hindu awakening at last ?

7.1 Recognition of Mr Godbole's work

RSS Chief Golwalkar Guruji's Bunch of Thoughts. In the preface to the third edition the editor says, " Shri V S Godbole has made a detailed study of the book and made suggestions for improvement. These have been incorporated in this edition."

Thus we find that footnotes have been added on following pages :-

18. 120, 137, 156, 162,164, 192, 220, 222, 236, 242, 249, 289, 295, 315, 338, 344, 360, 367, 378, 398, 408, 466, 478, 489, 494, 524

At the end there is an index

However, this is not sufficient. For example, on page 220 we are told that Beruari was a place in West Bengal and the episode took place in 1959. What does this mean to you ? NOTHING..

7.2 Fiftyth anniversary of Bharat's independence

Our friend Hemant Padhya arranged a function at Milton Keynes on 12 October 1997. The main theme was to remember and pay tributes to the unsung heroes of our freedom struggle i.e. our revolutionaries. The function took place at Stantonbury campus.

Mr Modi explained how our lives are affected by events in Bharat. He gave the example of the Jews - who realised that unless they have a nation of their own they will never have respect in any society in the world

Mr Shah of Birmingham told the audience that the map of Bharat on the screen is a divided land. That is not what the revolutionaries died for. Our ultimate aim must be a united Bharat ( which includes present Pakistan and Bangladesh )

Well done

8 Obituary

We very much regret to announce that Balarao Savarkar died in Mumbai

(Bombay) in November 1997. He was personal secretary to Veer Savarkar

(1950-1966). In his will Veer Savarkar gave all rights of publication of his works to Balarao. He was devoted to that work ever since February 1966. We will miss him very much.

9 Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the following for their help :-

For transmitting our newsletter 31 on the Internet

Sudesh Sangray of Luton

For delivering a parcel of our newsletters to India.

Mr Gupte of Wembley, Middlesex.

For organising a slide show on Mr Godbloe's Around London Tour

Mrs Kibe President of Maharashtra Mandal, London. .

For organising a slide show Taj Mahal Facts and Fantasies by Mr Godbloe

Mr Subodh Thakar of Hounslow, Middx

For making copies of our newsletter and distributing them to friends :-

Dina Nath Behl of London, Dr Godbole of Rochdale.

For making six copies of our newsletter and posting them to our friend in

America -- Dr Ramesh Bambal

For donating money for publication of Mr Godbole's book on Veer

Savarkar's Rationalism.

Mr & Mrs Kulkarn of Farnham, Surrey £40

Mr Manohar Rakhe, of London £20

Dr Kalpana Wilson of Leicester £20

Mr Kadam of Brocking, Essex £20

Mr & Mrs Raste, of Croydon £80

Dr Bambal of USA £60

Mr R N Datye of Pune Rs 1001

Mr Deodhar of Kolhapur Rs 1200

Mr Satyanarayan of London has donated £25 for the publication of the English translation, whenever that is published.

10 Publicity and Appreciation

10.1 Taj Mahal

Mr Godbole was in India in May 1997. Due to efforts of Dr Bedekar Mr Mani of Press Trust of India ( P T I ) interviewed Mr Godbole. It made news in national English newspapers .

The HINDU reported on 29 May 1997: Delve into origins of Taj Mahal

Scholars should delve into the origin of Taj Mahal at Agra in view of the discrepancies in historical records and evidence regarding the existence of Raja Mansingh's Palace at the site. according to a London based researcher Mr V S Godbole.

Mr Godbole, a civil engineer with London Underground Railways, told reporters here on Tuesday that most historians relied on a 17th century French Traveller J B Tavernier's book on his voyages to India in which he had apparently described how 20,000 men worked for 22 years to erect the Taj Mahal.

However, Mr Godbole said Tavernier first visited Agra in the winter of

1640-41, almost 10 years after Sultana Begum, who came to be later known as Mumtaz Mahal, had passed away. Logically, therefore, Tavernier could not have seen the start of construction of the Taj Mahal in 1632 on the orders of the Moghal emperor Shahjahan.

Likewise, since Tavernier's second visit to Agra was in November 1665, he could not conceivably have been a witness to the completion of Taj Mahal in 1653, the researcher noted.

Mr Godbole, who was on a brief visit here, said a book by Syed Mohammed Latif, a Fellow of the London based Royal Asiatic Society, on the history of Agra published in 1896 had categorically mentioned that the site chosen for the mausoleum in memory of Mumtaz Mahal, was originally the palace of Raja Mansingh, a contemporary of emperor Akbar.

A reference to the palace could also be found in the Badshah Nama Persian text dated 1867, he added.

Times of India also printed the same news from PTI

10.2 Around London Tour of places associated with Indian freedom fighters

* Mr Godbole's interview was broadcast by Thane Varta - a local cable TV network in May 1997.

* Mr Joginder Singh of East Ham, London wrote an article about our tour. It was published in India Weekly of London of 1-7 August 1997

*Dr Jyoti Deokule of Dhansura, Gujrath province of India was impressed by Mr Godbole's Around London Tour. She delivered lectures at local schools and colleges. These were well received. She also wrote a 3 page summary in Gujrathi. She was promised that it will be published in the local paper Gujrat Samachar.by its chief correspondent Mr Devendra Patel

10.3 Savarkar's Rationalism

Mr Godbole's lecture at Savarkar Memorial, Mumbai on Savarkar's Rationalism was reported in Marathi newspapers on 26 May 1997. It was also broadcast on Duradarshan.( Indian TV )

10.4 Following books are available from Mr Godbole :-

1. Taj Mahal : Simple Analysis of a Great Deception.

2. Why Rewrite Indian History ?

3. Taj Mahal and the Great British Conspiracy.

This book has 338 pages and describes our mental bankruptcy over last 200 years. Price £6 including postage, or £5 if you collect personally in London.

4. Chhatrapati Shivaji by Setu Madhavarao Pagdi

English biography of Shivaji. Price £3 plus postage.

5. Vedic Mathematics

10.5 Please help by :-

* acknowledging the receipt of this newsletter to the following address

Mr V S Godbole

14 Turnberry Walk

Bedford

MK 41, 8 AZ

U K

If you receive the newsletter by E Mail please acknowledge receipt to the sender.

If you want to ring, Mr Godbole's phone number is 01234-357388

* sending money to Mr Godbole ( in pound sterling or Indian rupees )

* making 5 copies of this newsletter and sending them to your friends.

* circulating this newsletter among your friends.

* trying to get parts of this newsletter published in various newspapers,

magazines and periodicals.

* arranging slide shows by Godbole at various social functions.

* purchasing books from Mr Godbole.