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Ayodhya: From secular to a Hindu state

Divyanshu Mishra
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Ayodhya: From secular to a Hindu state

I am a male brahmin from India in the US. These are ‘my’ opinions. This declaration is necessary as I want to declare my privileges. I am an upper-caste English speaking Hindu who gets certain unsaid, undeclared privileges. This thought of me repeating a ‘male upper-caste Hindu’ privilege is for you to understand the services you get just because of your surname and gender. Now, on the topic at hand –

On 6th December 1991, a mosque was demolished in the name of the lord. Our Honorable Supreme Court declared it a criminal act and rightly so; and after nearly two decades the court decided that the Government of India will own the land and a temple should be constructed, the land is then to be transferred to the Board of Trustees formed within three months of the verdict. This was a title dispute i.e. a land ownership dispute of which the Government of India is not a party. Well, lakhs of people were killed, jobs were lost and various other factors contributed to the requirement of a swift judgment based on facts. For all the talks of judiciary working on facts, it is my firm belief that in this case, the Justices considered the emotions of the republic and maybe rightly so; but to consider political sentiments involved with the case was probably a straw too heavy.

I am a firm believer in government and I believe that the people who run the country do consider all the scenarios and work for the general benefit of the public; some a bit more, some a tad less. Abraham Lincoln’s famous lines about the government of the people, for the people, and by the people is naturally the first thought when talking about the largest democracy in the world. A democracy that celebrates its elections like festivals, where democracy is the feature film, the rival sports match – the high-octane F1 race we crave so much.

A nation which is the birthplace of numerous religions, numerous languages – each religion and language with its own culture, history, and a set of noble religious books; has accepted, by choice, in its entirety, the Constitution. The first page and the very first words of this masterpiece are “We, the people of India,…” Somewhere, in our 72 years of freedom, we have remembered ‘the people of India’ but forgotten the required ‘We’. On 26th January 1950, we resolved to constitute our nation into a sovereign, socialist, democratic, republic; having assumed that the children of Gandhi can never be secular. However, saner heads prevailed and through the 42nd amendment, we agreed that our nation will be secular.

I have a few questions. The preamble of the nation clearly states that India is a secular country. India does not have a state religion. All the citizens of the state have the liberty to practice any faith, belief, and worship accordingly. However, when through the means of court, when it is decided that the Government of India will own a temple, then is it not declaring the government a Hindu state. My question is remarkably simple, and I want to be educated that on what basis did the Supreme Court of India allotted the land to the Government of India. Does the Government of India hold all the religious temples, mosques, churches, stupas, etc? Pandit Nehru, I have heard was never comfortable with his religion in the public domain, maybe this was the reason, but those were different days or so I hope.

The constitution granted the same privilege to worship but when you are in the public domain; when you are the Prime Minister of the country, you work for the greater good. You are so great that a majority of adults of this nation chose you to represent this nation and all its parts – all the religions, languages, regions, and genders. Your greatness is such that people emulate you and criticize when you are not held to a standard. Declaration of one’s religion and being proud of it is natural but to repackage it and market it in a way that it hurts others is wrong on all levels. The difference needs to be understood between the man and the post. When Narendra Modi falls to worship a deity on national television – it shows his pride and dedication towards the religion; at the same time, it also shows that the Prime Minister of this country has fallen on his face and hoping for some sort of miracle.

The other question I had was that the land was allotted to the Government of India. By what right did the Prime Minister of this country did the Bhoomi-pooja? Bhoomi-pooja is done by the owner of land according to the texts. The Prime Minister is not the owner instead it is the President and I think it because I have heard the President saying that the government on his direction that the government is functioning. Well, I do not need to explain how but the President is the representative of the country. It is in his direction that the government is formed or dissolved. The PM, for all the powers vested in him, runs the President’s country. But our PM is often described as, and I hate to use this term, and elected autocrat; but I see him as a strong, decisive, and revered rishi. Our current PM should abdicate the government and promote the Hindu religion. He has a travesty of knowledge and he is religiously ‘woke’. His struggle to travel to Kailash, his Ganga Darshan, I mean this is pure selfishness. He has struggled and achieved the knowledge; now that he has the means why is this not being promoted. And if I, an upper-caste Hindu who tweets, texts and watches Republic TV does not know about any scheme, it probably isn’t there.

In conclusion, the legal route through which the land was granted, and the temple is being constructed has set a dangerous precedent. Mobs, with support of political goons, can ransack, ravage and demolish any structure and a new ‘religious tourism spot’ will be constructed to promote welfare and development of public. On that note, thank you Prime Minister, for building a temple for which you struggled for nearly two decades but did not make a decent airport or even the high-quality roads which people travel on their way to Mecca. The problems are still there. Mr. Prime Minister, my final question is Ayodhya existed before the temple, will it cease to exist and be changed to RamJanmBhoomi or will it thrive despite the best efforts of politicians to ruin it?

Why my village celebrated Diwali on 5th August

Sharad Yadav
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Why my village celebrated Diwali on 5th August

My roots lie in my ancestral village located in South Haryana. In whichever city I reside, a flash of memories of its green fields, canopies of trees, chirping of sparrows, synchronized screams of peacocks, my grandmother feeding and caressing cows and buffalos have always evoked a  magically comforting effect on me. Whenever I make phone call or video call to my family members in village, if I hear the scream of peacock in background, I feel elated. On the late evening of 5th Aug when I made a video call to my 17 year old cousin residing in my village, I could see a several glowing Diyas (earthen lamp) in his house. I asked him the reason for lighting the diyas, he innocently replied “Today Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan is there” and every house in the village is lighting at least one diya.” He asked me how many diyas I had lit, one or five?

His innocent question took my attention away from the call and made me ponder. I knew very well about Bhoomi Poojan on 5th August. Here in my flat at Bangalore, I have been watching the News channels debating endlessly about issues such as whether it is appropriate to conduct Bhoomi poojan amid Covid -19, Muharat in Rahu kal, who is there and who should be on invitee list, grandness of the Pujan, colour of clothes of Ram Lalla, secular fabric of country, Whether ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is  intimidating to Muslims. I disconnected the call and wondered that in this era of 24 Hours of news channels, live debates, questioning and cross-questioning, we are getting absorbed in unnecessary commotion and distancing ourselves from simplistic and obvious reception of auspicious event like the present event being done in my village.

My mind took me to nostalgic trip down memory lane where I could feel the smell of soil my village. In my childhood, the trend of going on vacation to new cities was totally unheard of. For us summer vacations meant visiting my father’s village or my mother’s village, for which we eagerly awaited whole year. Spending time with my grandmother was the best part of vacations even better then break from studies. Every time I met her, I touched her feet and greeted her with “Ram Ram”, to which she always replied back “Ram Ram Beta”.  This is the way everybody greets there.

I remember walking with her in the streets of village and enthusiastically greeting each elderly woman met on the way with “Ram Ram Maa ji” and elderly Man with “Ram Ram Baba”. I remember how she related everything to Ram. She used to tell bedtime stories and when there was some incidence of Miracle in the plot of story, she attributed it to Ram. She thanked Ram for good rains and crop with her folded hands pointing towards the sky and saying “Ram Kripa”(Ram’s blessings). If rains were less, she used to pray “Ram Kripa Karo” (Ram please bless). If any person got appointed in Govt. job in the neighborhood she used to say “Ram ki Kripa hui uss par” (Ram blessed him). She used to take me to the village temple for Pooja where the Poojari of temple chanted “Siya-Ram, Siya-Ram, Jai Jai Ram” and each tile of temple wall had Sita-Ram written on it.

Once on the way back to home from temple she explained to me how in village most parents chose name for their kids with Ram in it like Ram Swarup, Ram Chandra, Daya Ram, Ram Kishan, Ramfal etc. so that they can recite Ram name while calling the kid as excruciating works involving their agricultural fields and cattle cattle would not leave tem much time for Bajan and Kirtan. Every Diwali, she would not leave any corner of house without a lighted up Diya. This is the not story only of my grandmother or only of my village but of every grandmother and every village of that region.  

Close relatives of my father and mother resides in various villages of Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Western UP. I visited them on the occasion of various family functions, marriage ceremonies, vacations ; I have never found a single village where “Ram Ram” is not way of greeting and Ram is not engrained in daily life, events of life whether good or bad.

Ram resides in the heart and soul of our country and Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan is indeed a great and auspicious event which needs to be celebrated. Every year whole India celebrates Diwali on Amavsya day of Karthik masa, when Ram returned to Ayodhya after completing Vanvasa of 14 years. But on 5th Aug 2020 Ram Lalla returned to his rightful abode after Vanvasa of more than 500 years that is a special Diwali which is bigger than what all of us celebrate annually.    

Ram Mandir has been a hot political issue since decades but should that reduce the glory of this auspicious day? If we speak in political terms, nobody can deny the fact that no govt., whatever may be the reason, could pull out the Ram Mandir out of legal labyrinth in last 70 years. It is correct, Honorable Supreme court gave the judgment in the favor of Ram Mandir but due credit should also go to Modi Led BJP govt. which pursued the case in apex court,with the genuine intent of solving it, till its conclusion and not to keep it hanging like previos governments did.

At this august moment, if grateful citizens of India are rightly thanking Modi for paving the path for Bhoomi Poojan ; the opposition parties, blinded by hatred for Modi, should not demean the importance of Ram in our life by questioning the requirement of Ram Mandir . For those, who are unable to access and admit the contribution of Modi led BJP govt. in making Ram Mandir Bhoomi Poojan possible, I have few questions. Had it been UPA or any govt. other than BJP at centre, would Bhoomi Pujan have been possible even after Honorable Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in favor of Mandir? Had it been Samajwadi govt. in UP, would the Bhoomi Pujan be possible even after Honorable Supreme Court ruling? Were it not for the 4 more years of Modi government’s tenure left, would we have any hope of completion of Ram Mandir construction even after seeing Bhoomi Pujan? I think answer to these questions will be “NO”.

As I was getting lost in the memories of my village with my phone lying near my pillow, a message alert ring on Whatsapp brought me back to my senses. I checked, my cousin had sent me a Picture of a glowing diya placed near the matka (earthen pot) on a rectangular platform in the centre of courtyard of house.

Marking my celebration

I do not know what guided me at that time, I started searching for the diyas used on last Diwali as I knew my mother, who is currently out of town, would have definitely kept them somewhere in the house. Finally I got diyas stacked between the two flowerpots in the balcony. I took five of them, filled with oil, lighted up at the entrance of my flat. I could not stop myself clicking a picture of diyas and sending it with a smiley and a caption “Ram Ram”  under it to my cousin in village.

This custom fills you with positivity and power to fight the evil,

I wished to tell him to show that photo to grandmother and say “Ram Ram” loudly near to her ear on my behalf as her hearing capacity was reduced. I knew seeing glowing diyas at the entrance of my flat and receiving my “Ram Ram” would have made her extremely happy. But it was a mere wishful thinking; I could not tell him so because suddenly reality dawned on me and tears started rolling down the cheeks. She had passed away in February this after a brief illness. I still regret I could not make it to my village for attending her last rites which involved chanting of  “Ram Nam Satya Hai”.

In fight between secularists and nationalists, journalism loses its purpose

Bimal Prasad Mohapatra
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In fight between secularists and nationalists, journalism loses its purpose

It is needless to remind, in democratic system of governance, the institution of media or the profession of journalism plays one of the most significant role as spokesman of issues related to national/ international politics, economy, society, culture, academy, constitutional, legal, etc. that Executives, Legislature and Judiciary either forgotten unknowingly or skip intentionally and give injustice for their personal or dynastic or party or ideology or all-put-together vested interests. But, what is noticed during the last few years (it is not that media/journalism was 100% professional/democratic before) that in fight between secularism and nationalism as the media houses have been divided into two groups, journalism loses its purpose which is the worst thing to happen to any healthy democracy. Now, it is found that media/journalism has been party to this conflict most vigorously almost ceding the respected position of neutral umpire in Indian democracy.

With some examples, I write what use to disturb me on the above aspects.

On 03 July 2020, in its editorial, popular Marathi daily Loksatta (Part of The Indian Express Group founded by late media baron Ram Nath Goenka, popularly known as warrior journalist, a renowned freedom fighter and Indira Emergency hero for whom ‘Indian Express was not an industry, it was a mission’), edited by eminent journalist Girish Kuber, writes, “Actress Kajol is presently on the board of Prasar Bharati. No one knows what the professional contribution of this ‘zara sa jhoom loon main’ half clothed skilful dancer lady is. But it is true that she is a ‘part time’ director of Prasar Bharati. This is precisely why professional journalists started staying away from this ‘Bharati’”.

To my biggest surprise, I could not understand why eminent journalist Mr. Kuber could not understand that Prasar Bharati is a media outlet which mandated to cater to the people’s need of the news, views, culture, development, education, entertainment (film, shop-opera), etc. and journalists are not masters in all the trades? And Kajol as a popular yesteryear Bollywood Star fit the bill in entertainment category. Or is it to accept Kajol or Bollywood stars does not have print media privilege that Kuber has, so later misused his privilege for vested interest? I don’t mean to say Kuber is wrong in criticizing Kajol so long as he restricted him with “No one knows what the professional contribution of this ‘zara sa jhoom loon main’”. But his mention of verbatim “half clothed skilful dancer lady” exposed his skilled yellow journalism or sick mindset, which needs Agra mental asylum urgent attention.

As we know many yesteryear film stars such as Nargis Dutta, Shabana Azmi, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, etc. were nominated by Presidents/Governments to Rajya Sabha. What is their individual contribution as Law Makers concerning to National culture, theaters, films, etc.? Has any media outlet ever done any performance appraisals of them? Were any of them (Film stars) ever criticized with “half clothed skilful dancer lady” verbatim? Or Kajol is a victim of secularists because she was not member of Bollywood bandwagon known for secular candle-light march for brutal Kathua rape and murder while ignoring equally brutal Kanyakumari rape and murder. And media (both print and electronic) has different yardsticks for coverage of victims from two different religions?

Going further Loksatta editorial opines, “This is precisely why professional journalists started staying away from this ‘Bharati’”. The editorial instead of writing Prasar Bharati writes ‘Bharati’ highlighting with quotation mark which deserves to be interpreted keeping in mind PM’s speech which often have mention of ‘Maa Bharati’? And Kuber’s editorial says “professional journalists started staying away from this ‘Bharati’”. In my knowledge, no journalist worth their professional salt has left ‘Bharati’ but money-laundering accused owned NDTV’s journalist/anchor Nidhi Razdon, ill-famous for shouting “Get Out” to her invited a political party spokesman in her studio. Nidhi has just announced to leave for US’s Harvard University latter this year with an academic assignment. Between the announcement of intent-to-leave and actual-leaving, there are about six months gap. Why journalists should leave India when journalism is so lucrative with reference to Radia Tape? And when US billionaire George Soros promises $1 billion investment against Indian nationalists in Davos Business jamboree in 2020?

Has anybody ever heard or read any criticism by Indian media and journalists of US citizen Soros’s investment which is no less interference of India’s sovereignty? Is Indian democracy so weak that Indian Nationalism can pilot it to wrong side?

And no media house ever left ‘Bharati’ in my knowledge.

Many of us might have seen the belly dance of Sr. Journalist/Anchor and Consulting Editor of India Today Rajdeep Sardesai in India Today studio while he was announcing land-slide victory of AAP (branded secularist) over BJP (branded nationalist) in Delhi Assembly election 2020. What kind of media umpiring is this? Last year, Sr. Journalist and Editor of periodical ‘Caravan’ Mr. Vinod Jose told in London ‘1984 anti-Sikh riot was engineered by RSS’ when it is publicly available the riot sponsor and the then PM late Rajiv Gandhi’s statement “When big banyan tree, fails, earth shake” and investigation after investigation proved that it was Congress goondas who raped, looted and slaughtered innocent Sikhs in broad day-light on the streets of national capital for long two days. And many of these goondas (Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar accused of crime against humanity is now serving jail term) punished and Congress party owner has apologized for the riot.

Journalism objective is to tell the truth, not to perpetuate lies.

In 2018, within minutes of the murder of Kannada tabloid Lankesh Patrike editor Gauri Lankesh, eminent Gandhian historian-cum-media columnist Rama Guha accused Hindutva forces for murder. At the time of murder, Karnataka government which held the state police administration as per the provision of Indian Constitution was headed by secular Congress Party and after the 2018 state Assembly election secularist H. D. Kumarswamy supported by secularist Congress ruled the state till July 2019. But, they could not find out national/Hindutva killer of Gauri Lankesh. Yet nobody questions the Gandhian historian turn crime investigator Rama Guha finding. And what is Gauri Lankesh? Here find one of her tweet: “hey, you idiot modi, no one owns me. i owns myself. and I might not have gold but i have independence, self respect and freedom of thought, those are very special attributes. but i guess an rss man like you who think that women should be measured according to her husband, son, gold, etc. can never understand that.” From this, one sane mind can assess the mental stability of the lady who edited a newspaper and what kind of people are in media fraternity which was a ‘mission’ for freedom fighter, media warrior and Emergency Hero late Ram Nath Goenka. Were journalists enjoying the ‘freedom of abuse to establishment’ during secularists Indira and Rajiv time which is possible today despite nationalists rule?

It is not that all ills in Indian media lie with secularists. Now, it has been also noticed that nationalist media have also jumped to bandwagon of ‘destroy media credibility’. Anchor’s shouting and not allowing invited guests to complete their point-of-view in leading media house Republic TV is getting worst day by day. I can’t watch the same though there are somethings worth watching.

All the above are destroying the Indian democracy’s Fourth Estate, and unfortunately, there is no sight of media proprietor of Ram Nath Goenka kind, editor of G. Kasturi kind, cartoonist of R. K. Laxman kind, etc. at the distance horizon.

By Bimal Prasad Mohapatra

Slavers and Colonials – they haven’t left India as yet

Veeresh Malik
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Slavers and Colonials – they haven’t left India as yet

I try to take this subject of slavers and colonials in India further, especially in the face of the violently anti-India press coverage that the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple appears to be getting, mostly from the Anglo-Saxon media, and their cohorts in India. 

Luckily for us, the usually anti-India Bollywood gang has decided that they need to keep their otherwise available to highest bidder kind of open mouths tightly shut, otherwise they would have joined in the parade of litanies too. On that subject, by the way, it is the considered opinion of this writer based also on discussion with industry participants, that Bollywood is finished, and especially the star system is now history. 

And that all that is left, therefore, is the so-called mainstream news media. Which is doing its role as a last-ditch attempt to save the Slavers & Colonials and their descendants. So what is the reason for this sort of a media attack on us, what is the benefit to them? Some more background, first, and a bit of soul-searching on why it is also our fault that we let them get away with nonsense of the colonial and mughal invader sort – but using a keyboard this time.

If you go to Dakar, Senegal, on a cargo ship, probably the first guided tour that the tourist guides hanging around outside the dock gates shall suggest and almost push down your throat, will be a boat tour to the House of Slaves and its Door of No Return on Goree Island. Believe me, after a long voyage, the last thing you probably want is a boat ride – but I know very few people, if any, who have regretted taking up the option.

If you go to any seaport in Vietnam, Saigon, Ha Phong and Da Nang, you simply can not miss the pride with which the local taxi drivers and anybody else you meet tell you about how they beat the American Aggression and the Slavery from the French. They do it in a simple and straight manner, without any rancour, and some of their best clients are the French and American tourists including families of those who once they fought against.

Likewise, on the other side, where slaves were received and “processed”. Slave Museums, displaying the Truth dispassionately, and each one a memorial as well as tribute and at the same time sending the main message across – Never Forget, Never Again.

And it is this message that we refuse to accept in India. Because our Slavers and Colonials are still in fervent hope that, once again, they shall make slaves out of us.

We do not have a single Museum dedicated to Indian slavery in India. It is almost as though we do not wish to tell our own people about those who enslaved us. The British, the Portugese, the Moghuls and more. We are not just shy about this Truth, but we appear to take great care in making sure that the narrative about our erstwhile slavemasters is diverted into literally being thankful to them, and in many ways perpetuating their atrocities as great gifts to us.

What we urgently need are Museums to the Truth about Slavery in India, especially as practised by the Colonials and the Mughals – and the best place to start would be to convert the Foreign Correspondent’s Club on Mathura Road in Delhi to one. Those of us who have gone to the FCC will understand why I seek this step forward, urgently.

Those of you who have not been to the Foreign Correspondent’s Club (FCC) on Mathura Road in Delhi – here’s a crash course. Apart from now being full of all sorts of people pretending to be journalists, for whatever reason, including largely Western ex-pats looking for some action, the FCC is everyone’s idea of what a neo-colonial relic should look like, loaded as it used to be with black-and-white photographs mostly reflecting the typical Western media fascination with sadhus and elephants as well as random departing Britishers.

In addition, and I personally knew one of the boss-ladies there, the Managing Committee was, to put it mildly, heavily skewed towards correspondents from the European and English speaking countries, preferably shiny white or burnt red in colour, take your pick. With the random coconut thrown in to add to the melange’. 

The FCC website has now not been updated since 2016 and from I hear, is like a library book that has not been returned, so the fine on it exceeds the value of the book. Which is why I suggested that it be converted into India’s first slavery museum. All the photographs are already in their records.

Why Hindu youth hate their own practice, culture and civilization

Ishita Tripathi
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Why Hindu youth hate their own practice, culture and civilization

Hinduism is the 5000-year-old religion, and it is the most accepting way of life. Ignoring this, today’s generation thinks Hinduism is more regressive, orthodox and conservative religion. Without reading or putting any efforts most of the youngster carries very negative thoughts about Hinduism. There are various reasons, which are following:-

  • Glorification of Invaders: Since school life Hindu children read various textbooks of history including NCERT where there is more about invaders, showing them in the positive manner rather than criticizing them. Less description of greatness and achievements of Indian kings. In textbooks Mughals mentioned as a great ruler their improvement in the infrastructure sector, social reform, culture and economics changes but nowhere it is written that all they did for their own convince and beneficial interest. Even not mentioning about rape, forcefully conversion, extra charges & high taxes to non-Muslims. Intention behind printing of misguiding textbook of the political party was to spread pseudo secularism.
  • Less Highlighting of Indian kings, freedom fighters: There is a chapter of Bhakti & Sufi movement in NCERT but here there are fewer details about the proper practice of Bhakti. There is a lot of manipulation and misguiding about patriots like Veer Savarkar or even the information of revolt of 1857 is misleading which will shows the greatness of Hindus. Recently in class 7th history e-textbook of Rajasthan State Secondary Board irrespective to mention about greatness about Maharana Pratap they mentioned manipulative and wrong facts as because of his lacked patience, control or planning they lose the battle of haldighati. In Marathi textbook of Maharashtra State Secondary Board of class 8th out of 3 revolutionary leaders Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, Sukhdev’s name has been replaced by Kurban Hussain. Such activities destroyed the history of the nation and create a false impact on the future generation.
  • Bollywood Industry: Nature of most of the movies in Indian Film Industry are anti-Hindu. Scenes which showed are not true about Hinduism. That is against the principles & ethics of Hinduism but still released through fake sponsored propaganda and still called Hindus as intolerant. That put questions on Central Board of Film Certification about releasing of such films which glorify the violence and hurting the sentiments of people. Not only in movies but such glorification is also in T.V serials, Web series & so on. Doing their commercial in the name of Arts is not justifiable.
  • Urban Naxals: Person who have nexus with Maoist which can be in any field they are invisible internal enemy of the nation. They can be intellectuals, influencer, activist, author, teacher, feminist they target all the regressive religious practice of ancient history like Prada paratha, sati paratha and child marriage etc. but never talks about triple talaq, muta marriage, polygamy, burka paratha. Even when British remove child marriage through legislation but after pressure by Muslims later sharia law allowed Muslim child marriages. But no one highlight it. Ultimately, they can be called as hypocrites.  
  • Education System: When there was a British raj, Macaulay who was scholar who changed the traditional way of education in India, inserted English language in place of Sanskrit, removed Meta-physics, Vedic Mathematic and so on. This is the first step of failure of Hindu Culture or practice and the reason today’s generation don’t know about their own roots and history and bowed down towards western culture and their way of life.   
  • Consciousness: The most ignorant problem of such negative thoughts is even the follower of it don’t take initiative to read about it they present themselves as Hindu but don’t read the religious text or just read for sake of it but do not genuinely follow it which shows lacks of unity in Hinduism which is very essential. Various case where majority beat minority when they refuse to chant “Jai Shree Ram” this give opportunity to leftist to put question against Hindu beliefs. Rest of the religion even in today’s time they read their religious text and their mother language like a Muslim in the childhood of their kids they make sure he or she know the Urdu language plus promote them to read Hadith which emphasis on how Muslim should live their life like an Islamic Prophet.

All these point subconsciously attack to the mindset of youths they have negative thoughts about their own religion many of them unaware about the above facts. They created the ecosystem which makes our history is nothing but a myth, and if a person follows Hindu culture, then that human became communal but same if minorities does than that is secular. Hence youngster should take responsibility to first read about their history and roots before judging. And should know the difference between modernization and westernization, changes with requirement of time differs from unknowingly influenced by other’s way of life.  

The Chinese and the slow cook of the Indian industry

ajaveri100
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The Chinese and the slow cook of the Indian industry

The situation of the Indian Industry today is similar to that of the frog which is placed in normal water and the heat is gradually cranked up. Before the frog realizes this, it is already boiled and dead. The Chinese since the days of Deng Xiaoping and the Open Door policy which began with the Ping Pong Diplomacy in 1971 have followed the doctrine of “Bide and Hide” (Bide your time and hide your strength and never take a visible leadership position in any of the World Affairs).

Since the early 2000s the Chinese had gathered enough confidence through their business and economic growth  that they started dumping goods at unbelievably attractive prices in the various world markets, India being no exception. They started penetrating sector by sector and market by market. 

Indian industrialists (traders by nature) slowly but surely started shutting down factories and began importing these goods out of China and traded them. The reaction of the Indian government was extremely slow and in fact did not even realise what was happening which allowed an erosion of both capacity and capability.

In the beginning, this did not seem like a big problem. However as more and more sectors were taken over by the Chinese, the issues of Loan defaults, excess capacity and large scale unemployment reared their ugly heads. A few examples of sectors that I am aware of are as follow:

Large size hand moulded Castings for the Wind Turbines:

India in 2003-04 was one of the largest producers of Wind Turbines in the world in terms of Installations / year and had a thriving component market as well. In 2004 two new large foundries were established by the Chinese  funded by the Chinese government which started offering casting  at below production cost to the Indian Wind turbine manufacturers. Over the period of the next 10 years, this market was completely taken over by the Chinese. Foundries that survived in India either diverted or reduced capacity or went bankrupt. This is the same story for many other component manufacturers as well. To say that this complete sector is controlled by the Chinese would not be an understatement.

Our government at the time, in spite of many representations and evidence, did nothing for the longest time. It took them 10 years to impose anti dumping duty by which time, it was too late. Also it is interesting to note that the Chinese government started giving subsidies to their manufacturers equivalent to the antidumping duty imposed by the Indian Government, within one month of the imposition of duty.

Injection Moulding machines :

Indian injection moulding machine manufacturers also decided to abandon their Indian suppliers and went to China for components, but in doing so they drew the interest of Chinese Injection moulding Machine manufacturers. This led to the Chinese dumping complete machines in India, and when anti dumping duty was imposed on the machines, they started round tripping their machines through FTA countries such as Thailand. When belatedly the Indian government realised the same, these companies set up so called assembly shops in India where they import complete machines in knocked down parts and show as if they are assembling in India to evade the anti dumping duty. 

There are many such examples across sectors right from Road Construction, Earth Moving Equipment, Transformer Manufacturers, Toys, Electronics, Paper, Agarbatties, Steel, Forgings, Rare Earth Minerals, Permanent Magnet Industry, Foundry Chemicals, Cables, Electrical Cabinets, Bearings, Hydraulic Seals, Solar Cells, Power Tools, Measuring Instruments, Industrial Chemicals, Power Plants, Idols of our Gods, Fire Crackers etc  to name a few.

Further Chinese government uses all and any measures to ensure that their payments are realised under any circumstances promptly unlike in India

What makes China such a dangerous adversary:

  1. It has a large population. 
  2. They are members of the International Community and ask all the other members to follow the law, but when it comes to them they shamelessly refuse.
  3. They have no ideology and for them everything is expendable (even their own citizens )
  4. Their narrow world view. Historically Chinese have seen everything and everyone on the other side of the Chinese wall as their enemies. Even today they do not have any friends, only stooges, example is that of Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal, a large part of African countries. In all these countries they have created debt traps which ultimately has resulted in them giving up critical infrastructure to China and China has used them to establish significant military presence in these regions . Therefore they will always see India, which has a strong Democracy and a country with a similarly large population as a country that they have to dominate and humiliate and keep in check no matter how much we do to accommodate them and no matter how much business we do with them.
  5. They are an authoritarian regime where there exists no labour laws, no contract laws and whatever laws may exist may be changed as per the wish of the CCP. 

How has the world dealt with them?

USA 

The USA has by far, the largest military apparatus in the world and the way they may see it is that they do not import goods from China but they export $. If push comes to shove, the USA knows that they can beat the Chinese militarily and since all their debt is in dollars they can always do what the Chinese did to them in 1950( Refuse to pay the debt). Also the USA leads the world in cutting edge technology in IT and electronics and software and even though China is catching up,they still have a long way to go . Even so they have now belatedly acknowledged the flaw in the foriegn policy in which, the lure of cheap Chinese goods and so called big market, allowed the theft of trillions of Dollars worth of trade secrets. Their assumption that with prosperity, the Chinese will become more transparent was greatly misplaced  and in fact with prosperity and technology the CCP has made China , a surveillance state with their citizens allowed only to read and see  that what the CCP wants them to see.

Europe 

Europe has set up various trade, tariff and non tariff barriers which blocks cheap and undesirable imports from China, which enables them to protect their industry and their way of life. Their populations are also not very large and as a result unemployment is not a problem 

Japan 

Japanese people by their nature are extremely nationalist. They will always patronize Japanese products.  Even when Japanese set up factories abroad they continuously promote Japanese suppliers in their supply chain.By policy, government companies and private corporations  manufacture some portion of their critical supplies in Japan no matter the cost. This, in a way protects their industry 

India’s Situation 

India, it seems has never fully understood the Chinese threat and in spite of past wars and their open adversarial behavior on various occasions, be it in Doklam, their various incursions into our territory, their blocking our entry in various international forums,  openly supporting Pakistan to the detriment of our interest, we have granted them open and unfettered access to our citizens and market and critical Infrastructure, without getting the same access in return.

Slowly and steadily our trade deficit with China has increased to almost 5,00,000 crores/ year. 

Our critical industries stand dependent on them, our industrial capacities and capabilities stand significantly diminished. 

While I did not expect much from the Dr Manmohan Singh dispensation which was more interested in the personal gain of one family rather than the country, it now seems that even the present government under Shri Narendra Modi has failed to fully grasp the severity of the problem. It has taken them 6 years of soft diplomacy (failed attempts), a full blown Pandemic and the loss of 20 of our Soldiers for the government to realise the extent of the damage caused. Hopefully, now the government will realize the singular truth that Chinese can never be trusted.

Fortunately for Mr Modi it is still not too late and there is a growing Global call to contain China. The other good thing that has happened under Xi Jingping, China has also abandoned their old doctrine and has openly started dominating and bullying weaker nations and started challenging the developed nations be it US or Australia, Norway, Canada and India. This has also forced these democracies to understand and acknowledge the threat that is China .

Also while there is no doubt that China has embedded itself deeply in the global supply chain, I believe China has greatly overestimated its importance to other countries and has greatly underestimated the threat and effects of alienating markets like India, Australia ,UK ,Vietnam , Philippines on its own economy. One must remember the fact that the Chinese people have given up their freedoms in lieu of the promise of a perpetually growing Economy and when countries like India realise the problem and step up their game, their population will not just sit by when their economy takes a hit .

What India needs to do 

  1. First Accept and acknowledge the fact that China will never, if given a choice, allow the peaceful rise of India and will do all in its power to hinder and pinch our growth .
  2. The Political class needs to publicly acknowledge that China is a hostile nation and public policy should reflect the same.
  3. We also need to understand that we are a democracy and there are certain costs that we must pay to remain a democracy. For example while running an industry there are costs of compliances to labour laws, state laws, procedures, Logistics, bureaucracy, right to rule of law, legal costs, unions  so on and so forth . Every company in India is subjected to the rule of the land (rightly so ) and there are direct and indirect costs associated with it. We are also a free nation so each owner is responsible for his own profit and losses.Hence our price of products can never be compared to that of state subsidised products which are manufactured in places which do not have transparent laws, human rights such as right to expression, freedom of speech, right to information,  right to form unions, right to criticize their government . 
  4. Also we must understand that China will never play fair in business, when push comes to shove,  if they are allowed to be in a position where they can control critical infrastructure they will use that position against us .
  5. It is the job of the government to protect its citizens and companies and protection is the most essential aspect for which we pay them taxes .The government needs to immediately ban and bar entry of Chinese companies and products which are of the following nature, Critical to Security of the country and those sectors which have the potential to employ large number of people. We cannot let our market be used to create employment in China at the expense of our people. This is more true in a post Covid world where unemployment will be a big problem. The government needs to do this in a synchronized manner and not on a ministry to ministry basis. There is more than enough capacity and capability in the country to meet our needs and wherever there may be not enough capacity the government has to trust Indian businesses to either develop those capacities here or find non-Chinese alternatives.
  6. Exit all FTAs post haste,especially with east Asian countries ,which have not yielded any benefit to us and are being used by the Chinese to round trip their products
  7. On the strategic and military front we must be prepared to take sides which are in our interest ,we must shed the hangover of the past of non-alignment and this needs to reflect in our foriegn policy. We must also, as a people, be ready to bear certain hardships and expect that in our competition with China, there will be blood. But this should not deter us from our path of self reliance .
  8. We as citizens also need to make a conscious choice as regards our buying habits and must refrain from buying Chinese products wherever possible and we also need to trust our fellow countrymen that the products that they make are good enough for us and we need to stop our fascination for all things foriegn. We also need to be ready to pay a cost of being a democracy and understand that these freedoms do not come for free. 
  9. Finally as business owners and manufacturers it is our responsibility to produce goods and products which are of equivalent quality and in the required quantity .

Finally in conclusion, our salvation as a country and as people and the solution to all our domestic issues be its bad loans, unemployment, economies of scale etc will come only and only if we shamelessly pursue our national interest and aim to replace all things Chinese not only in India but also provide the world with an alternative that they are so desperately looking for.

This Corona Pandemic has given us a golden opportunity to make our space. If we don’t do it now we might as well write our future as being subservient to the Chinese. Time to select whether we will be toads or lions. I would like to end by quoting a poem by Wahid:

कब तक बोझ संभाला जाए
द्वंद्व कहां तक पाला जाए
दूध छीन बच्चों के मुख से 
क्यों नागों को पाला जाए
दोनों ओर लिखा हो भारत 
सिक्का वही उछाला जाए
तू भी है राणा का वंशज 
फेंक जहां तक भाला जाए 
इस बिगड़ैल पड़ोसी को तो 
फिर शीशे में ढाला जाए 
कब तक बोझ संभाला जाए
युद्ध कहां तक टाला जाए 
तू भी राणा का वंशज 
फेंक जहां तक भाला जाए

JAI HIND
Abhishek K Javeri 

Learnings from Galwan Valley- Part II. Implications of conflict with the strongest neighbour

Shalin Divatia
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Learnings from Galwan Valley- Part II. Implications of conflict with the strongest neighbour

In Part I, we discussed the similarities in the rise and advancement of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Communist China. Both, Hitler and Xi Jinping blundered in provoking open conflict with their respective immediate neighbours. Why were these a blunder? Read on.

There are certain important reasons which make China’s provoking conflict with India in 2020, a turning point in its vaulting global ambitions.

a. Opponents having similar or more population and size: Soviet Union was the largest neighbour that Germany had after its occupation of Poland, in terms of geographical mass and more importantly in the size of population. In 1939, German population (including sympathetic Austria being of German ethnicity) was estimated at 79 million as against France and England having a population of around 40 million each. It was only the Soviet Union which had a larger population of around 170 million. Wars initiated before the era of Weapons of Mass Destruction, intended to defeat the adversary by physically occupying its land mass and controlling its population. This needed, amongst other things, a large army of able-bodied men. In Europe only Russia had the human population to raise an army to match the size of the German army.  By bringing Soviet Union into the war, Hitler, provoked a conflict with a potentially larger army.

China has a population of more than 1.40 billion. Of all the Asian countries, only India has a population (1.30 bn approx.) to raise and sustain a large army to match the numbers of the Chinese army.

b. Capability to sustain an armed conflict: Equally importantly, was the capability to sustain a military conflict. After the initial setbacks, Russia activated its manufacturing base to produce military hardware in large quantities for its war effort. Though generally of a lower quality as compared to that of the German armed forces, it was of a large enough quantity to fight a prolonged war with Germany.

India has the largest economy in Asia with a robust industrial base which can produce everything from a pin to planes. These may not be of the best quality, or made at the cheapest price, but if needed can produce enough military hardware to sustain, in conjunction with a large army, a prolonged conventional land-based war.

c. Common Land Border: There is a saying in the armed forces, “Amateurs think War, Professionals think Logistics”. Having a common land border with the adversary, makes it easier to sustain a war in terms of providing adequate logistical support to sustain a fighting army. Germany and Soviet Union were on the same land mass of mainland Europe. The Soviets won back a far larger land mass than the Western allies who had the far more difficult task to launch a sea-based invasion. The area of the land mass covered by military conflict off the western borders of Germany was much lesser than the geographical area of conflict across its eastern borders.

China’s main adversaries are separated from it by the sea. Of all its neighbours, only India has a large army capable of a long drawn armed conflict with China. The fact that India and China share a common land border means that the logistics of supporting the Indian army can be conveniently managed in case of an armed conflict with China.

d. International Support: Countries have to, almost invariably, fight their battles alone. But the support and supplies they receive in various forms from other countries can go a long way in a military conflict. Nazi Germany may have been able to sustain a war in Europe for a much longer time. But it was unable to match the combined resources of the Allied forces, especially after the USA entered the war to support the allies. Germany’s allies were inconsequential and of no assistance.

The entire world is unhappy with the aggressive and adversarial Chinese approach. However, in the absence of size, strength or proximity and importantly, certainty of a quick victory, no country in today’s times would ever enter into military conflict. If, however another country has a military conflict with China, there are enough number of strong military powers who would render all possible support in terms of equipment, arms and ammunition. While China doesn’t have to fight a two-front war, it has to reckon with the fact that in any military conflict, India would be supported militarily by powerful Western powers who feel threatened by the growing aggression and rise of China. USA for one, has openly indicated its support to India and so have other western powers, directly or indirectly. China, on the contrary, is likely to have no support beyond, Pakistan and North Korea, both of little consequence.

e. Motivation:  Hitler’s motive in invading Russia was out of revenge, and partially out of contempt for the Russians as an inferior race. The Russians on the other hand were fighting for their survival and to protect their land. The Chinese motivation in land grabbing in Ladakh is largely economic to secure its land connectivity to Pakistan. The predominantly Han Chinese, conscription based, army lacks sufficient motivation to fight, other than their military orders.

India on the other hand has a nationalistic government which remembers the defeat in the 1962 war and has been tremendously antagonised by aggressive landgrab attempt and subsequent events in Ladakh. The Indian army is one of the most highly motivated armies in the world, especially when the call is to fight for the motherland. In an armed conflict, high motivation levels can do wonders as has been seen by seemingly impossible acts of bravery of Indian soldiers, against unsurmountable odds, during the Kargil war.

To sum up, it may be disastrous for China to enter into an armed conflict with India, irrespective of which country initiates it. India can match China in terms of the strength of the army and capability to sustain a conflict over a long border. International support in terms of superior quality military hardware can negate China’s advantage of possessing larger quantity of military hardware. And most importantly, the highly motivated personnel of the India’s armed forces can tilt the balance against China.

At the same time a peaceful withdrawal by China, irrespective of the optics it may seek to create, will reduce its aura considerably. A perceived negative outcome for China, will embolden its adversaries to stand up against Chinese domination.

India, on the other hand, has no choice but to ensure that China vacates the territorial encroachments  of 2020, peacefully or by force. Indian sentiment respects honourable death rather than a dishonurable living. Its a matter of  pride and honour for the nation and  an issue which will define Prime Minister Modi’s legacy for generations.

By provoking India into displaying its military strength and political resolve, China has managed to put itself between a rock and a hard place. 

Possible Outcome of the Ladakh conflict of 2020

In view of the factors set out above, it is unlikely that China will want military conflict with a firm and determined India. Communist China has a history of short military conflicts with far weaker opponents. Any adverse outcome of a military conflict with India will hugely dent China’s aura and clout internationally. It is likely, that the shrewd Chinese will look for a face saver, trying to retain whatever advantage they can. If India displays readiness  and willingness to go for military action, the chances are that China will buckle down and avoid conflict. It is up to India to display a resolve of steel to its adversaries, notwithstanding any adverse economic impact of a potential military conflict. This will also send a long overdue message to India’s other neighbours who continuously play the China card to India’s detriment. The Ladakh conflict of 2020 is a battle of minds.

Shalin S Divatia

What is a Time Capsule, what it may contain and why “Kaalpatra” was controversial

Mukesh Choudhary
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What is a Time Capsule, what it may contain and why “Kaalpatra” was controversial

What is time capsule?

Time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, deliberately buried to communicate with future generation and help archaeologist or historians to gain knowledge about our recent events or history of any particular important building, temple etc. It is a container of any size or shape, it requires special engineering so that the contents don’t decay, even if pulled out after a century. Mainly made of aluminium and stainless steel for encasing, and documents are often reproduced on acid free paper that is being protected by a vacuum tube.

Term ‘time capsule’ was coined in the 20th century, among the earliest examples of one dates back to 1777, found by historians inside the statue of Jesus Christ in a church in Spain during restoration work in December 2017.

According to the International Time Capsule Society (ITCS), USA estimated number of time capsules worldwide is around 10,000-15,000.

Time capsule in Ram Temple

Lately many reports were circulating in the media about a time capsule being placed beneath the site of the Ram temple, Ayodhya were baseless. Since construction of Ram Temple has been started and our PM Narendra Modi ji laid first brick. Nothing like any time capsule placed at Temple site. So now things are obvious news were just rumours.

Kaalpatra the Time capsule in India and controversy

During the initial year of 1970’s, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was at the peak of her career and Sanjay Gandhi was her strength. To glorify 25 splendid years of country’s independence, she decided to bury a time capsule in the Red Fort complex.

1973 Indira Gandhi at Red fort burying Kaalpatra

The government wanted to document the first 25 years of the country — its developments, struggles — in the capsule. It also wanted to manuscript important events in history, along with contemporary achievements.

The Indira Gandhi government named this time capsule Kalpaatra. The task was given to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) of drawing out significant events from the past. A professor of History from Madras Christian College, S Krishnawamy, was to get ready manuscript. But before any of this could materialise, the project gained controversies.

Krishnaswamy had sent a copy of the document to Archives Commissioner and historian T Badrinath for his opinion. But after a brief assessment, Badrinath said openly that the manuscript mispresented historical facts.

The political circle, meanwhile, opposed Indra’s initiative, accusing her of glorify herself and her family in the time capsule. Despite all these allegations, on August 15, 1973, Kalpaatra was buried inside the Red Fort.

In 1977, the Congress government was overthrown and the Janata Party came to power under the leadership of Morarji Desai. Before elections BJP promised to people that they will spring out time capsule and evaluate it’s content.

A few days after the government was formed, the time capsule was disentombed. A few veteran journalists claim the capsule’s content was gravid with details about the accomplishments of Indira Gandhi and her father Jawaharlal Nehru.

It was unearthed was known to all, but what happened to the capsule after that is not known. And nobody, till this day, is fully aware of its contents.

The Janata Party too, never revealed what was written inside the capsule. This capsule again came to news in 2012, when the editor of Manushi Patrika, Madhu Kishwar, sought information on it from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). In its reply, the PMO said it did not have any details. Kishwar approached the National Information Commission too.

The Indira Gandhi government had set a time frame of 1,000 years for extracting the copper capsule. It wanted the forthcoming generations to have a rendezvous with India’s magnificent past. But nobody know was it a political gimmick to glorify Gandhi family or not and why Janta Government didn’t disclosed in information about what was inside this capsule.

सांस्कृतिक सूत्र, जिनमें पिरोयी हैं विविधता की मनकाएं

Meenakshi Dikshit
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सांस्कृतिक सूत्र, जिनमें पिरोयी हैं विविधता की मनकाएं

परिदृश्य 1: श्री राम जन्मभूमि स्थल पर समस्त बाधाओं के निवारण के पश्चात मंदिर निर्माण हेतु भूमि पूजन विगत 5 अगुस्त को संपन्न हो गया। उत्तर से दक्षिण और पूर्व से पश्चिम तक सम्पूर्ण भारतवर्ष दीपमालिकाओं से जगमगा गया। हर्ष और उल्लास की ऐसी सहज और अद्भुत अभिव्यक्ति देश ने दशकों से नहीं देखी थी। गौरव और संतुष्टि के अनोखे संगम की भाव गंगा जन जन के मन में उतर आई थी। सनातन से उद्भूत और माँ भारती की गोद में विकसित लगभग पैंतीस मत मतान्तरों के प्रतिनिधि इस अवसर के साक्षी बने। राष्ट्रीय एकात्मता का एक मनोरम दृश्य भारत भूमि पर रचा गया ।

परिदृश्य 2: स्वाधीनता दिवस निकट है। स्वाभाविक रूप से स्वाधीनता दिवस या गणतंत्र दिवस निकट आने पर विविध संचार माध्यमों में अवसर अनुकूल सामग्री का प्रस्तुतीकरण प्रारंभ हो जाता है। स्वाधीनता संघर्ष की कथाएं, महापुरुषों के विचार, क्रांतिकारियों की अमर गाथाएं, स्वाधीनता के पश्चात भारत का विकास और इनमें सबसे महत्वपूर्ण होता है, भारत की अनेकता में एकता का वर्णन।

समय समय पर “अनेकता में एकता” की अभिव्यक्ति के लिए गीत/ लघु चलचित्र आदि का विकास शासकीय और निजी क्षेत्रों की विभिन्न संस्थाओं द्वारा किया जाता रहता है। कुछ तो इतने लोकप्रिय हो गए हैं कि सभी देशवासियों की स्मृति में बस गए है, जैसे – अनंत गगन एक है, दिल की धड़कन एक है या मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा। इस प्रकार के कई उदहारण हैं।

इतनी सुन्दर और लोकप्रिय प्रस्तुतियों के बाद भी ऐसा क्या रह जाता है, कि कहीं भाषा के नाम पर तो कहीं क्षेत्रीय पहचान के लिए, कभी किसी व्यंजन के लिए तो कभी किसी मत में अपनी आस्था के कारण हम एकता की इस दीवार पर आघात करते रहते हैं?

एकता के सामान्यतः प्रसारित संदेशों पर चिंतन करें तो एक बात स्पष्ट रूप से उभर कर आती है, पहले ये सन्देश अनेकता पर बहुत बल देते हैं, – भाषाएँ अलग हैं, बोलियाँ अलग हैं, रीति रिवाज अलग हैं, जाति- धर्म अलग है, वस्त्र –आभूषण अलग हैं, भोजन पद्धति है अलग है, फिर कहते हैं – अपना चमन एक है, दिल की धड़कन एक है। हम सब एक हैं।

यहाँ एक स्वाभाविक प्रश्न उठता है, भाषा से लेकर भोजन तक सभी कुछ अलग होने के पश्चात भी वो क्या है, जो हमें जोड़ता है? हम सब क्यों एक हैं?

संवैधानिक मर्यादाओं से निर्मित एक देश के नागरिक होने के कारण हम सब एक हैं। यह प्रथम उत्तर है।

किन्तु भारत जैसे बहु विधि परम्पराओं और जीवन पद्धतियों वाले राष्ट्र में राष्ट्रीय एकता के लिए संवैधानिक मर्यादाओं के साथ साथ सांस्कृतिक सूत्रों का भी उतना ही महत्व है।

यदि विभिन्न भाषाएँ और बोलियाँ, विभिन्न भोजन व्यवहार, विभिन्न वस्त्राभूषण, विभिन्न जीवन कौशल इस भारत भूमि पर पाए जाने वाले अमूल्य मनके हैं तो हमें उन सांस्कृतिक सूत्रों की पहचान, संरक्षण और संवर्धन करना होगा  जिनमें हमारे सहस्त्रों वर्षों के इतिहास ने ये मनके पिरो कर रखे  हैं।

गंगोत्री के पास छोटे से पहाड़ी गाँव में जन्मा व्यक्ति, एक आस लेकर जीता है, जीवन में एक बार गंगा सागर देख ले और गंगा सागर के पास जन्मा व्यक्ति एक बार गंगोत्री से जल लाकर रामेश्वरम में शिव को अर्पित करना चाहता है।

वृन्दावन में जन्मा व्यक्ति एक बार कृष्ण की द्वारिका जाकर उनके द्वारिकाधीश रूप को प्रणाम करना चाहता है और द्वारिकाधीश की धरा पर जन्मा व्यक्ति माखनचोर की बाल लीलाओं की माटी से भाल पर तिलक करना चाहता है।

देश के किसी भी भू भाग में जन्मा व्यक्ति देश के मध्य में स्थित कुरुक्षेत्र के कृष्ण से जीवन दर्शन प्राप्त करना चाहता है।

अयोध्या में जन्मे राम, वनवास काल में सम्पूर्ण मध्य भारत में विचरण करते हुए सुदूर लंका तक जाकर रावण से युद्ध करते हैं। इस पूरी यात्रा में अनेक पड़ाव हैं,अनगिनत कथाएं हैं। निषाद से शबरी, जटायु से हनुमान तक राम का प्रेम सम्बन्ध है।

ये सारे पड़ाव, देश के ये समस्त क्षेत्र श्री राम रूपी सांस्कृतिक सूत्र में बंधे हुए हैं।

सुदूर उत्तर में बद्रीनाथ श्री विष्णु का धाम है तो दक्षिण में श्री पद्मनाभ, इसी प्रकार उत्तर में शिव केदारनाथ में विराजमान हैं तो दक्षिण में रामेश्वरम में।

ये श्रीराम, कृष्ण और शिव रुपी  सांस्कृतिक सूत्र हैं जो जन जन को जोड़ते हैं। यही हैं जो हमारी विविधता की मनकाओं को एक सूत्र में पिरोते हैं।

जब तक एकता की बात करते हुए इन सांस्कृतिक सूत्रों पर बल नहीं दिया जायेगा तब तक एकता के गीत गाए जाने के उपरांत भी कहीं न कहीं भाषायी, क्षेत्रीय या अन्य ऐसे  विवाद पनपते ही रहेंगे।

तो क्या श्री राम जन्मभूमि पर भव्य राष्ट्र मंदिर के निर्माण के भूमि पूजन के उजास से आलोकित इस स्वाधीनता दिवस पर उन सांस्कृतिक सूत्रों पर बल देना समीचीन नहीं होगा जिन्होंने हमें बहुविध होने पर भी एकात्मता प्रदान की है?

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