Misleading Rhetoric.

I saw Sonia Gandhi on the television shouting at the top of her voice denouncing the NDA government for exchange of the three dreaded terrorists for 200 Indian and foreign passengers on board IC 814 in Kandahar and claiming Manmohan Singh government having cleared the Mumbai terrorist attack in a jiffy (बस यूँ!).
It is pathetic to what extent our leaders including the ones of foreign origin can stoop to conquer. It is a national shame that one is trying to equate the two conditions. First of all let us see the score card of UPA. In the recent January encounters in Kashmir, the public was given various figures of the number of terrorists involved. We were told that the area had been surrounded and no one would be able to escape. Then we were told that the circle is being tightened. After several days of fighting we failed to neutralise 10 terrorists, as at the end only 2 dead from their side were found whereas we suffered serious loss of life. Just imagine nine days of fighting by the army of the emerging world power with these shameful results! And the encounter was in forests, not in a city where they could have the excuse of caution to protect the life and limb of the innocent citizens.
And was the operation completed in Mumbai in a jiffy? the commandos took 14 hous to get there. Three days of fighting compared to, for example, the Entebbe rescue by the Israelis? And nobody has as yet answered the inconvenient questions. How could the terrorist come by the sea route. There are numerous agencies such as Coast Guard, Indian Navy, Intelligence Bureau, RAW and undoubtedly many others that would be covert and lesser known. What has been done to punish them for this serious lapse? What has the Government done to investigate the matter and fix the responsibility for such serious lapses. India is so helpless? What do we need such a big navy for? And how will it help if the threat is from terror groups instead of another navy? We have a major naval base there in Mumbai at a stone's throw from the place they are supposed to have entered Mumbai. Could they blow up some of our facilities instead?
The truth is that the armed forces are in a poor state of preparedness, notwithstanding the grandstanding by Sonia and Chidambaram. India is more and more seen as a lame duck target by terror groups. Mammohan Singh has himself admitted to continuing government failure on the terror fight front and he is the man that Sonia Gandhi does not tire of deifying.
What would UPA have done in the case of hijacking of the plane to Kandahar. Everyone knows that Roopan Katyal had been killed and the enemy was not a government. They were irresponsible terrorists who could blow up the plane with 200 passengers without batting an eyelid and without any moral qualms. Would the UPA have sent the air force there? or the commandos in an Entebbe style operation? The plane was surrounded by gun toting Taliban and armoured vehicles. Is the UPA saying that the lives of 200 passengers dispensable? Is Sonia Gandhi saying that the then government should have withdrawn from the negotiations and the exchange and let the people die? I think it was very brave of Jaswant Singh to go there personally as in any case their could be betrayal and he himself could have been killed or held hostage. There was good diplomacy that this did not happen. One must also reflect on the negative role of the section of media that is loyal to congress and was so at that time too.
Nehru created the Kashmir problem. His descendants should not stand on wrong issues and mislead the nation in these difficult and dangerous times. The whole comparison is atrocious and vulgar.

Who is Congress?

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has lately been in hyper active mode in the political arena. After she was placed on the sidelines in order to allow the Congress Yuvraj to move in, these elections have driven her to public contact again to bolster the flagging fortunes of Congress. Aptly so, as she is far more charismatic than Rahul Gandhi who would stand no chance at all should they ever be on the opposing sides. It is not something impossible. It has happened before in the ruling family of INC. Well known spats between Indira Priyadarshini and her aunt Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, the falling from grace of Maneka, the ongoing war of words launched by Priyanka against Varun are but some samples of what can happen. Nothing is permanent, especially in politics. Besides the utterances of the British foreign Secretary Milliband during his travels in Indian desitutes's homes and the entire circus at discovering by both Rahul and Milliband what everyone with his feet on the Indian soil anyhow knows, nay, grows up knowing, are proof that not only rahul wasted his time with the foreign emissary, he also showed him the soft underbelly of India instead of putting our best foot forward, and failed miserably to influence his anti - India viewpoints. He was so inept that not only he failed in all this, he failed even to restrain Milliband till he left Indian shores. Rahul couldn't muster the courage to even counter Milliband utterances during their travels together. Priyanka decidedly would have done better. interestingly, if India is as it actually is, the rulers must accept the blame for it. Let's not forget that the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has ruled the nation for most of the period after independence, including the rule of Manmohan Sing who is widely understood to be a puppet prime minister with the real strings of power in the hands of Sonia Gandhi. Rahul certainly does not seem to be the material to run the nation. No doubt he may eventually be able to do so what with the number games and rampant horse trading that goes on in Indian Politics. One doesn't have to be popular or elected to Lok Sabha to become a prime minster. One doesn't have to have a mandate in his favour. We have had our share of Charan Singhs, Deve Gowdas et al. Mulayam Singh was once at a hair's breadth from becoming PM through the cunning machinations of the Late Harkishan Singh Surjeet.
These are merely some of the counterpoints that came to my mind while trying to look at what Priyanka is doing. Priyanka's overdrive is without much substance. She recently advised Varun to read Gita. Gita was propounded in the battle field. What does she want him to learn? Various Yogas like Bhakti, Jnana, Sankhya etc.? The sceintific theory of creation proposed by Lord Krishna? The need to destroy the 'adhrma' even if it meant to annihilate the 'adharmis' who could even be the next of kin? I think she has taken some lessons (but none on the underlying philosophy) from it and is out to annihilate Varun politically notwithstanding he is family like Duryodhan was to Yudhishthir. The stark difference however is that this time she is against Dharma and her only Dharma is power to Nehru-Gandhis. Perhaps she needs to also learn the message of love, the permanence of Karma, the true nature of spirit and spirituality from the holy book. But she is a Buddhist according to a recent issue of Outlook. It is not necessary for her to learn it all from Gita. But it is also not necessary for her to preach it to others.
More recently, she retorted Modi's "Congress is an 180 years old woman" by asking if she (Priyanka herself) looks like an old lady. She doesn't! Even when she will look like one she would get the same polite answer if she posed the same question to decent citizens - that she doesn't. But the question it raises is - Is she the Congress?
I am sadly reminded of the arrogance of the dynasty in always believing that they were above the organisation they belonged, and, in fact that they were as big as the nation. It is widely understood that Mr. Nehru felt that he alone could run the country - a very arrogant belief that only he could bask in. We all remember the infamous Congress slogan "Indira is India, India is Indira." This was extreme arrogance for any person of any stature to equate oneself with the Nation. Are we experiencing the same streak of arrogance? Is Priayanka Congress that she asked the question? Or, is the Congress just Priyanka?

Are we making a mockery of democracy?

Mr. Chidambaram heroically said yesterday that we must keep our powder dry. It is amazing that it needed to be stated. The home minister doesn't seem to think that heretofore it was necessary and that it could be dried when needed, especially in this country which is threatened more from internal threats than external ones. The same newspaper carried the news of a successful assault by the Maoists inflicting heavy losses to security forces. Sometime ago Times of India published a map of India showing the areas under Naxal threat or control and that was covering well nigh 1/3rd of the landmass of this country. The successive governments have miserably failed to contain terrorism and insurgency in various parts of the country. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has admitted this in the same issue of Times of India today. Not that it needed to be said. All these news items make for some interesting reading for one day in the world's largest democracy. The moot question of course remains whether ours is actually any longer a truly functioning democracy at all. I don't think it is. Just because we go through the motions of elections at any odd time under the provisions of a constitution which itself seems outdated, craving large scale review, does not guarantee a popular government to rule the nation. In fact the unholy alliances that are cobbled together by an assortment of dishonest politicians just to grab power, with utter disregard to ideological platforms on which they sought the vote, got it and entered the parliament are an abuse of the constitution, the vote of the electorate and the sytem of democracy itself. It is destroying the very basis of and the ideology behind democracy. To say the least, it is betrayal of the nation. There are no untouchables and any and every dispensation is accepted after the representatives are elected whether or not the populace would have approved of it or not. There is no mechanism to find out the electorate's reaction or opinion, and approval or otherwise of the electors for such collaborations which are even so not stable and are standing on the shifting sands of self-interest of the leaders who are more aptly termed usurpers of power. We have often heard of 'Plum Postings' or plum portfolios. What does this euphemism stand for? A position that offers more power? Or more money? Or both? Does it smack of corruption with the approval of the ruling dispensations? Do they also benefit from all these favours? Why is there a clamour for grabbing certain ministries among the political class? What is on offer there? One can go on and on.
The whole country is facing unprecedented upheavals. Religious divide is deepening, fraying the sensibilities of people of different affiliations to a dangerous level. The mutual tolerance is at its nadir and every small remark, a light statement, anything at all becomes a cause of hurt to the 'feelings' of one or the other group. This was not so before. We have lost the ability to accommodate each other and religious fanaticism and chauvinism is now at its peak in all sections of the society. We are no longer able to laugh together or at each other, and worst of all - at ourselves. We can no more have fun as we have no idea what might become politically incorrect and lead to anything from demands for public apologies to full scale riots. Can anyone rightly believe that we are a nation as a nation should be or is understood to mean? We are probably unwilling to live with each other. This is a dangerous portent reflected in demands of many break away groups such as the Kashmiri Separatist Movements, JKLF, Khalistan Movement, Naxalite Movement, Assom Gana Parishad, in its original avatar, ULFA, Nagaland National Council, NSCN, Gorkhaland activists, Maoists... the list goes on. Even the state governments have demanded special rights from time to time, some of them tantamount to breaking away from the nation, even if they were rejected by public will. Many states are being subdivided not because of administrative reasons but by buckling of the governments under the pressure exerted by regional groups demanding separation on the basis of small populations and contiguity of the regions they inhabit. Is this not the way to eventual Balkanisation of the country?

Where has the 'Idea' of India gone?

अभी कुछ दिनों पहले नेहरू-गाँधी परिवार के एक लड़के को गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया और उसे NSA (रासुका ) लगा कर जेल की सलाखों के पीछे धकेल दिया गया। कांग्रेस के कुछ लोगों ने यहाँ तक कह दिया कि बेटा अपने पिता के ही सामान है। यह वही लोग हैं जो संजयजी के सामने उनकी खुशामद करते नहीं अघाते थे। राजीव गाँधी की हत्या करने वाले संगठन लिट्टे की पैरवी में वाइको ने जो भी कल और इससे पहले कहा वह सब इस देश को स्वीकार्य है। पीराभाकरन (प्रभाकरन) एक अलगाववादी आतंकवादी है और यदि भारत की सरकार उसका समर्थन करती है तो वह किस सदाचार की दुहाई दे कर से काश्मीर के या दूसरे बहुत से अलगाववादी गुटों के विरुद्ध निर्णायक नीतियाँ ले कर कार्यवाही कर सकेगी और कैसे संसार के समक्ष अपना दुखड़ा रो सकेगी? पर वाइको रासुका के लिए सही अभ्यर्थी नहीं हैं। राष्ट्रपति बुश की भारत यात्रा के समय उनके सर पर इनाम की घोषणा करना भी शायद कांग्रेस को भारत के हितार्थ लगा होगा जिस से घोषणा करने वाले के लिए भी रासुका उचित नहीं बैठा और न ही किसी और कानून के तहत कोई कार्यवाही की गई। ऐसे लोग अब लोक सभा के लिए उम्मीदवार हैं। और जिस लड़के ने किसी जाति या धर्म विशेष के लोगों या किसी स्थान या प्रान्त विशेष के लोगों या किसी नागरिक विशेष के विरुद्ध टिप्पणी न करके कुछ कहा और जिसका केवल अपने धर्म की रक्षा ही विषय था तथा देश विरोध कहीं नहीं था, उसके लिया रासुका को ठीक समझा गया और देश में कोई भी प्रतिक्रिया नहीं दिखाई पड़ी। भारत का बुद्धिजीवी समाज अब विचारों और भाषण के स्वातंत्र्य का पक्षधर नहीं रह गया जो हुसैन द्वारा सनातन धर्म को अपमानित किए जाने पर उसकी ज़बरदस्त पैरवी करता नज़र आता था। अब अचानक बुद्धिजीवियों को सांप क्यों सूंघ गया? क्या दमन चक्र की राजनीति अब भारत के बुद्धिजीवियों को उद्वेलित नहीं करती? और क्या दमन से राज्य धर्म का सही निर्वाह हो सकेगा?

क्या हम सेकुलर नहीं हैं? क्या सर्व धर्म समभाव में इस देश की आस्था नहीं है? क्या सनातन धर्म पर आघात करना ग़लत नहीं हैं और बुद्धिजीवियों का केवल और एकमात्र प्रिय शगल है? क्या उसके बचाव की बात करना राष्ट्रीय संकट को बुलावा देना है?
मैं किसी समुदाय की भावनाओं को ठेस पहुंचाए जाने का हामी नहीं हूँ। इन समुदायों में सनातन धर्मानुयायी भी एक हैं। उनकी भावनाओं का भी सम्मान होना चाहिए। वरुण ने यदि किसी समुदाय के विरुद्ध कुछ कहा है तो वह अनुचित हो सकता है पर जो टीवी क्लिप्स दिखाए गए हैं उनमे ऐसा सामने नहीं आया। मैं न्याय का पक्षधर हूँ और ऐसा मानता हूँ की न्याय सभी के लिए एक सा होना चाहिए। ऐसा न होने से देश में अनचाही और विघटनकारी प्रतिक्रियाएं होती हैं और लोगों के बीच आपसी मनमुटाव को बढ़ावा मिलता है। हम क्यों सम भाव हो कर न्याय नहीं करते? हम क्यों समाज के किन्ही तबकों को इतना patronise करते हैं, चाहे उन्हें अल्पसंख्यक कहके ही क्यों न या उनके भले की दुहाईयाँ दे के ही क्यों न सही, कि उनमें हम हीन भावना ही भर दें? क्या उनके आत्मसम्मान का भी हमें विचार नहीं करना चाहिए? क्या अवसरवादिता की अंधी दौड़ में राष्ट्रीय हितों का कोई स्थान नहीं रहा गया है? क्या राजनेताओं ने राष्ट्र को अन्दर से खोखला करने का ही बीड़ा उठा रखा है? तो फिर वे राज किस पर करेंगे? राष्ट्रीय एकता तार - तार हुई जा रही है और हर छोटी बात का बवंडर बन जाता है जब की देश की असली समस्याओं को समझने और इनसे जूझने की इच्छा शक्ति पूरे राजनितिक प्रतिष्ठान और शासन तंत्र में कहीं नज़र नहीं आती। कुर्सी की अंधी दौड़ या उस पर आसीन होने की मदान्धता के कारन राजनीतिकों ने देशवासियों को इतना विभाजित कर दिया है कि कई बार मैं अपने उस भारत के लिए तरस जाता हूँ जिसका दर्शन कभी मुझे अपने अलीगढ में और मेरी मादर-ऐ-इल्म अलीगढ मुस्लिम यूनिवर्सिटी में ६० के दशक में होता था। असल में अब वहां भी सब कुछ बदल गया है। क्या हमारा भारत हमसे कहीं खो गया है?
मैं सोचता हूँ। सभी के लिए यह विचारणीयहै।

India in a drift?

India is a unique country which has begun to fragment on regional and caste lines even before it attained true nationhood. We have become a house and no longer home to our billion plus people, and that too-a house divided. This is a unique democracy where the true voice of the peoples is of no consequence any longer.
The representatives win their elections based on selling certain manifestos (dreams) and touting certain ideologies. After being elected they start political realignments, often involving practices that are often at the fringes of law, or even outside it. They throw all ideology and promises to the people to the winds and start blatant and ugly power games with no regard to the very basis of their being in the parliament or legislatures. And, the law lets them do so. The voters who are used only to legitimise the rotting political system have no influence and worse - they do not even seem to mind these dirty politics. This is the sad and bitter truth of our democracy.
I sometimes wonder whether we are at all a functioning democracy. Are we a monarchy as represented by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, now being populated by assorted fiefdoms of politicians of all hues across ideological divide and the whole gamut of professed principles. There are the emperors and there are the regional satraps, rulers, self styled kings who brazenly advance their sons and assorted next of kin to succeed them in the seats of power. Dangerously, we even have seat warmers or surrogate rulers like Manmohan Singh and Rabri. We are a special democracy where a Prime Minister has no political standing and has loyalty to a certain family as the only claim to fame and surrogate power. Are we ruled by an unholy alliance of seemingly opposed oligarchs who divide the spoils of power amongst themselves while pretending to be doing so in the interest of the 'people', and actually have a common agenda of plundering the nation and controlling its resources as well as people? Are we ruled by despots and power centres who divide the country and exploit the very people that send them to the parliament or legislatures? Are they dividing India like Russia and USA did Europe and the world after WW II?
Question, questions, questions!
After the ascendancy of Charan Singh the Prime Minister's position has become almost stripped of all its grace with the exceptions of Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After the presidency of VV Giri, the Presidency of India became graceless and shamelessly partisan. It lost its dignity. Abdul Kalam did redeem the past glory to a great extent but the ascendancy of Pratibha Devi - a non-entity with a criminal case behind to Presidency (which has been reduced to no more than a rubber stamp post) destroyed all that again. It is dismaying that she has no standing even within he country and even today Abdul Kalam is the favourite President of the people.
We are playing in the hands of people who have divided the society, have created caste and religious conflicts, probably stage managed strife and riots. And we are being sold the fallacious Mera Bharat Mahan idea self arrogated to us on the back of mere populist propaganda.

चुन्नू और मुन्नू पढ़ते नहीं थे। उनके लिए ट्यूशन रखा गया। कई ट्यूटर उनकी शैतानियों से हार कर मैदान छोड़ चुके थे। नए ट्यूटर समझदार थे और उन्होंने इन लोगों को खेलने में लगाया क्यूंकि यह पढ़ने को तो तैयार थे ही नहीं। वे उन्हें खेल के मैदान में ले गए। वहां कुछ कबूतर बैठे थे। गिनने पर वे आठ थे। मास्टरजी ने कंकड़ फेंका और दो उड़ गए। उन्होंने चुन्नू-मुन्नू से पूछा बताओ आठ में से दो कबूतर उड़ गए तो कितने बचे? चुन्नू ने फ़ौरन मुन्नू से कहा "बतइयो मत, यह हमें खेल - खेल में पढ़ा देंगे।"

ऐसे surrogate तरीकों से भी किनही धर्मों का प्रचार प्रसार हो रहा है। आप ध्यान या अन्तरावलोकन या अन्तः दर्शन को विपश्यना जानते हैं। योग की पुरानी और जानी मानी पद्धतियाँ नई पैकेजिंग में लुभावनी लगती हैं। सनातन धर्मियों को ऐसे भगवानों के कीर्तनों को fashionable बना कर प्रस्तुत किया जाता है जो वैदिक धर्म के विरुद्ध सदा से सक्रिय रहे हैं। साधारण योगिक प्रक्रियाओं को किसी धार्मिक पद्धति से जोड़ कर पढ़े लिखे लोगों को stress busters के रूप में बेचा जाता है। उसे stress buster होने से ज़्यादा निर्वाण का मार्ग मान लिया जाता है। और फिर धीरे से उनकी कच्ची और अधकचरी आस्थाओं को भंग करके उनको दूसरे धर्म में परिवर्तित करने की भूमि तैयार हो जाती है।

खेल में, फैशन में, साथी-संगियों की सःअनुभूति और उनके स्वीकार्य के लिए बहुत से लोगों ने बिना यह जाने की वे क्या छोड़ कर क्या अपनाने जा रहे हैं दूसरे धर्मों को स्वीकारा है। मुझे इससे आश्चर्य होता है कि हम चुन्नू-मुन्नू से भी भोले बन जाते हैं और खेल-खेल में कुछ भी सीख या मान लेते हैं। अपनी सभ्यता, अपने धर्म, अपनी विरासत, अपने मूल्यों, अपने मत के संचित ज्ञान और दर्शन की लेशमात्र भी जानकारी लिए बिना हम यह कैसे जान सकते हैं कि हमारा trade-off क्या है?

Vedic Dharma, Sanatan Dharma

मैं अक्सर यह चर्चा सुनता हूँ की हिंदू धर्म रुढिवादी है (Dogmatic) और कई नए धर्म वैसे नहीं हैं और यह हिंदू धर्म की कमजोरी है। लोगों को इस बारे में विचार करना चाहिए और विशेषकर हिन्दुओं को इन भ्रांतियों को दूर करने का प्रयत्न करना चाहिए। परन्तु प्रयत्न तो तभी किया जा सकता है जब कोई पहले उस विषय के बारे में थोड़ा जाने। कितने हिंदू घरों में धर्म या उस से सम्बंधित किसी विषय पर कोई रचनात्मक या विवेचनात्मक चर्चा होती है? यह एक चिंता का विषय है। केवल इसलिए नहीं की सनातन धर्म का ह्रास हो रहा है और यह अब जल्द ही शायद अपनी सनातन प्रकृति को त्याग दे। इसलिए कि इस के साथ ही धरा पर से एक विशाल, अत्यन्त सुंदर, विस्तृत और वैज्ञानिक संस्कृति का भी लोप हो जाएगा और लोग इसके सद्विचारों और विशाल विश्वरूप से सदा के लिए वंचित हो जायेंगे। हिन्दुओं का यह परम कर्तव्य है कि वे अपने धर्म को समझें, अपनी आस्थाओं को सुद्रढ़ करें और अपनी संस्कृति को तिलांजलि दे कर यहाँ - वहां नए धर्मों या मत-मतान्तरों के पीछे न भागते रहें।
यदि हम आज के भारत पर द्रष्टि डालें तो हम पाएंगे कि जो बड़े पैमाने पर धर्म परिवर्तन हो रहे हैं उनमें बौध सबसे अधिक प्रयत्नशील हैं। उसके बाद इसाई और फिर इस्लाम आते हैं। इन सभी धर्म प्रचारकों को यह पूरी फसल केवल हिंदू (सनातन धर्मी) समाज से ही प्राप्त होती है। इसमें उनकी कोई गलती नहीं है। यह हमारे धर्म की भी कमजोरी नहीं है। यह हमारे समाज में धर्म को तिलांजलि देने का नतीजा है। हिंदू प्रचारक, धर्मगुरु और शंकराचार्य सभी दर्शन और ज्ञान की आड़ ले कर धर्म प्रचार और धर्म रक्षा और प्रसार के बजाय कोरी भ्रांतियों को ही फैलाने में लगे रहते हैं। प्रवचनों में मैं कभी नहीं सुनता की लोगो को धर्म पालन और धर्म रक्षा का आह्वान होता हो। ऐसे आह्वान किसी के विरुद्ध न होकर केवल अपनी आस्थाओं को दृढ़ करने और अपने लोगों को अपने धर्म में रहने के लिए प्रेरित करने तथा बिछुडे हुए लोगों को वापस अपने साथ लाने के लिए हो सकते हैं और इसमें किसी को कोई ऐतराज़ नहीं होना चाहिए।
जहां तक वैदिक या सनातन धर्म की बात है तो यह कहा जा सकता है कि यदि कोई धर्म pragmatic है या रूढीवाद से ऊपर है तो वो यही धर्म है। हम यदि इसमें से राम, कृष्ण और अन्यान्य अवतार पुरुषों को हटा भी दें यह धर्म इतिहास के इस सन्दर्भ के बिना भी जीवंत है क्योंकि यह ज्ञान, दर्शन, सत्य की  खोज और उसकी समझ पर आधारित है। इस धर्म का न तो कोई एक प्रवर्तक है और न ही यह किसी एक भगवद दूत पर निर्भर है। जो धर्म एक प्रवर्तक के चलाये हुए हैं उनका अस्तित्व इस सुबूत पर निर्भर है कि वह प्रवर्तक था और वह वही था जिसे उसका श्रेय दिया जा रहा है। वे बिना उस व्यक्ति के प्रमाण के आधारहीन हो जायेंगे। और प्रमाण तो माने हुए हैं। उन पर प्रश्न चिन्ह लग सकते हैं। ये तो वेदों पर आधारित है और वे किसी एक अवतार, स्वरुप या विग्रह के मोहताज नहीं है। इसीलिए इसमें लगातार लिखा जाता रहा, ऋचाएं जुड़ती रहीं और इसका विस्तार होता रहा। मैंने इस के वैज्ञानिक स्वरुप पर बहुत विचार किया है जो मैं आगे चल कर लिखता रहूँगा। इस धर्म में विचारों के स्वातंत्रय के पूरा स्थान है। अन्य धर्मों में ऐसा न के बराबर है या नहीं है। तो फिर dogmatic कौन है और क्या है?