WHITE LIES

The war is on, although in a muted fashion till date. The recent pogroms in Iraq, Afghanistan and North African countries are a stark pointer to that. Whether we cite “weapons of mass destruction” or “fight against terrorism” as the reason, we all know the underlying raison d'être – it is not only a war but a battle to decide who will rule the world in the next century.

It has moved away from continents and has narrowed down to religions. It is a fight between Christianity and Islam for the throne to rule the world.

While Christianity is facing a decreasing population and also a decimation of global dominance due to emerging power of China and India (both countries who are non participating agents), Islam is gaining ground by shear rise in population and also power through their control of petroleum resources.

By definition of the constitution of the country we, Indians, are secular. But the grave question that surrounds us today is the fact how long we can remain secular. Another 50 years at the maximum? Once the parity in the population mix is destroyed can we maintain our secular credentials?

Noted journalist Mr. M.J.Akbar stated that “minorities” is independent of the state. Simply put, during the Moughal Empire the minorities were not Hindus, but the ruling classes themselves. Similarly in spite of ruling India for two hundred years, the British were a minority in the country they ruled. ⁽¹⁾

The Muslims who are considered to be the biggest minority in this country as per the 2001 census ⁽²⁾ constitute around 13.4% of the population and are growing at one and half times faster than the rate of growth of the Hindus. Between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh the Muslim community shares around 30% of the world Muslim population.

Of the 48 fastest growing countries by population today, 28 are majority Muslim or have Muslim minorities of 33% or more. ⁽³⁾

China has more Muslims than Syria, while Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined. ⁽⁴⁾

Between 1961 and 2001, in absolute numbers, the Hindu population has grown from 366 million to 827 million - a growth of 126% while the Muslim population in the same period grew from 47 million to 138 million - a growth of 193%. The Muslim population growth was consistent at about 50% higher than the Hindu population. What is more alarming is that Hindu population growth rate has declined from 25% in the previous decades to about 20% in the decade preceding the Census while the Muslim population growth, if not increased, as the initial data had indicated, it has almost remained constant, and if declined, only marginally so. It is still a high of around 30%.

Secularists argue that margilisation of the Muslims and lack of education has caused insecurity leading to the growth, but they conveniently forget that the same does not hold true for other minorities like Christians, Jains etc.

Sustenance of such a huge population (India is going to surpass China in population by 2050) in a country like India is not possible, but our politicians knowingly suppress the facts for their own benefit. The politicians are interested in their vote banks and they need spin doctors or change agents to spread their ideas. They have them handy and in plenty in terms of columnists, media and national newspapers and a bunch of pseudo secularists.

Europe and America has already realized the threat they are facing by their reducing population. That is why in spite of being secular; countries like France and Switzerland have started adhering to stricter laws (banning headscarf’s in educational institutions is one of them).

In 1905 the French government passed a law stipulating "the separation of churches and the state," thus enshrining secularism as a national principle (laïcité). The law, which barred the state from officially recognizing, funding or endorsing religious groups, represented a major shift in church-state relations in France. It has recently come under increased scrutiny in connection with the integration of Muslim and other religious minority groups in French society. ⁽⁵⁾

We are afraid to face the imminent truth or shy away from our own religion or in a show of embracing modernity we put up a brave face of “secularism” to subvert the truth. But facts cannot be shoved under the carpet for a long time.

“High Muslim population growth is in fact a part of a greater global plan to make Islam the dominant religion in the world by sheer demographics. In all fairness to Muslims, their religious leaders and the rank and file are quite open about why the Muslims want to increase their population at a faster rate. As many Muslim leaders have pointed out they are not interested in "quality of life" -- they are interested in "the quantity of the Muslim population". ⁽⁶⁾

The North African countries are a stark pointer to this fact. Even after centuries of being a colony to either France or Dutch they have shunned all forms of modernity and embraced the Islamic way of life.”

We have started seeing the effects of the Muslim growth in some parts of India, mostly in the bordering states of north and north east like in Assam where the Muslims have formed a separate party (AUDF) and act as the kingmaker. The Muslims where ever have outgrown the 33% population has formed their own party (Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, J&K) and have never ever bothered to join the mainstream politics. They try to create an identity of their own and they succeed as they have a coherency within themselves, unlike the Hindus.

Who will get a visa to visit the country is not decided by the GOI but by religious organisations (the Salman Rushdie issue). ⁽⁷⁾

We can shed as much of crocodile tears for our Muslim brethren, take out candle light processions when they are “oppressed” but it needs to be seen when the table turns after 50 years what treatment are the majorities of today mated with?

The ball is in the court of the pseudo secularists and the so called secular columnists of the Republic of India.

Source:

1. ⁽¹⁾ CNN-IBN
2. ⁽²⁾ Census of India, 2001
3. ⁽³⁾ Times of India – articles by Gautam Adhikari
4. ^{(4) & (5)}The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
5. ⁽⁶⁾ The Kashmir Herald
6. ⁽⁷⁾ The Times of India (04.01.2010)
7. An Independent Social Magazine
8. Wikipedia – general information

Is the Press failing us?

The columnists of Times of India have an uncanny penchant for picking up topics which has very little or no journalistic value. All that these articles do is to flare the passion of religiousness in the minds of the dogmatic or take the so called middle class, pseudo secularists for a ride.

Few days back there was an article on TOI by Jug Suraiya based on an article,” Religious freedom experts put India on 'watch list'” published by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Without going through the fact what the original article states, the article in TOI devoted half the space in lambasting the Hindu zealots and shading tears for the Muslim and Christian brethren.
It gravely stated that we as a nation (read Hindus) are becoming intolerant and are being incited at the flimsiest of reasons. It went on to detail the exploits of Hindu extremists (read BJP & Shiv Sena, RSS etc. with an emphasis on Narendra Modi) and the inconceivable pains undergone by the minorities (read Muslims), who already have the legacy of being oppressed for since independence. Then it went on to state about how a secular democratically elected government should tackle such issues and ended with a big moral question,” Are we playing in the hands of the zealots?”

Any reader of Hindu origin (please exclude the secularists – they form an alternate religion by themselves) who has gone through that article is bound to feel a bit restrained and embarrassed. After all it does not speak well about the oldest religion in the world, and which, if truth to be told is not a religion but a way of life.

The article was a clear subterfuge for bashing Narendra Modi, digging up the 2002 Gujarat riots. That is the sadistic pleasure the columnist derived and we helpless readers have to bear through his more than 200 words article. And sometimes we also tend to believe in these articles, the very reason why we subscribe to newspapers to get to know about the happenings of the world and to get expert viewpoint on current socio, economic and political affairs.
If we were to search and dig out information on our own it would be a difficult exercise and in that case newspapers will come to an early exit than predicted.

Pew Forum is a research foundation based in U.S.A (mostly supported by government and religious bodies of that country) and publishes research on a myriad of issues relating to the affect of religion on politics, law, world affairs and domestic policy.
The article on Pew forum was based on a rating given by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Has anyone ever heard of such an organisation let alone paying heed to their ratings?
But if your main aim is to instigate or to take a sardonic view on someone you detest, you have to burn the midnight oil to find your source, however obscure it may be.

The link to the article is given, go through the same and find out how vulnerable we are in hands of such national newspapers. They twist facts, events and make us believe in things that have never happed and they do it without checks and balances.
From the day Thomas Carlyle coined the term “Fourth Estate” in 1841 to represent the press, we have had our firm belief in them.

But it seems what Oscar Wilde said few decades back holds good even today.

“In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralizing. Somebody — was it Burke? — called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time no doubt. But at the present moment it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three. The Lords Temporal say nothing, the Lords Spiritual have nothing to say, and the House of Commons has nothing to say and says it. We are dominated by Journalism.”

The original article in the Pew forum can be found here:
http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=18553

Note: The Government of India has refused to grant visa to USCIRF for doing any study; much to the annoyance of Mr. Jug Suraiya (the fact he conveniently forgot to mention in his article)

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

The starting of 2010 was quite interesting with the “idiotic” producer telling the errant press and media to “shut up”. Mr. Bhagat has written a long blog (if it ran a few more lines, it could well be his fourth novel called “License Fee”) accusing the “idiotic” group of cheating him. He wanted to be the named as the first “idiot” who created the “3 Idiots”.
I feel the timing is not on your side, Mr. Bhagat. You only realized what you are missing after the “3 Idiots” became quite a rave. You were very apprehensive like your last installment of “Hello” which you strongly denied has got anything to do with “A night at call centre”.
You misjudged on the capability of Mr. Amir Khan, who may not be an IIT, IIM alumni but knows a thing or two about his business, which is unfortunately filmmaking. To meddle with a veteran of twenty years on his own ground needs a lot of strength and more than lateral thinking.
There has been a contract between you and the movie makers – you never told us what was about it? It is pure monetary hue and cry or a try for a quick shot to fame.

What is a sure shot recipe for higher TRP? A powerful person (it is a prime time catch if the person is a politician) misusing the law and getting merrily away with it. The Ruchika Girhotra fits the bill to the word R, when the person in question was himself the upholder of justice.
Just today I got an invitation to sign an online petition for justice for Ruchika. I did not sign, not that I do not want the molester to be tried, but I do not want to carry the feeling of guilt with me.

In Bangalore last week, a working couple poured hot oil on a sixteen year old housemaid. She came all the way from the poorest part of West Bengal for a livelihood. She did not want to play tennis; she never dreamed of studying in an English medium school, all she wanted was to work hard for two square meals a day and some clothes to cover her shame. What she got in return was exploitation, harassment, sexual abuse and hot oil spilled over.
News for one week and there goes in oblivion another “common man”.

The sun has already set on the maid who was raped by the small time movie star. He is away in Delhi on a bail and within a year will resurface in a movie, maybe depicting the same real life experience. Who else could play the role better than the maniac?

Such cases are aplenty, but we bury our head like an ostrich and are only selective when we see a potential blockbuster. Burning candles adds a bit to the economy so I do not condemn it, but sorry, I cannot join the bandwagon, because my conscience hurts.

The Nithary killings, the molestation of the orderly’s wife by a Rajasthan Police officer and dozens of such cases needs to be ‘candle lighted’ first, signatures to be taken for them and then only we can move forward. Last In First Out seems to work only in India.
We should not take sadistic pleasure in bringing only the mighty and powerful to justice, justice is for all and more so if we call India as a democratic system.