Manohar Parrikar takes on Dilli4

Goa’s BJP leader and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is not given to making off-the-cuff remarks. He is a grassroots level activist who has an impeccable (and enviable) record as a party member, leader and commitment to good governance. His integrity quotient is exceptionally high. His commitment to ideology is unimpeachable. He is a technocrat who understands the pulse of politics and popular aspirations. (I have commented on him in an earlier post.)

Parrikar told a local TV channel (and I am quoting PTI): “At present Advaniji's innings is matured. It is like Sachin Tendulkar. However matured innings he may play, sometime he will have to stop playing. It is like a pickle which takes a year to mature. But if it is kept for two years or so, it gets rancid.” He also said: "Advaniji's period is more or less over... Another couple of years and after that he should act as a guardian or mentor for the party. He should be available whenever we need him. His capability and experience should be available for BJP."

I presume Parrikar spoke in Konkan. And the reference must have been to a local idiom. But the gist of what he said is clear to all: Advani has had his innings; he should now retire; and, a fresh, young lot should take over the leadership of the BJP at the national level. He has stated the obvious, but he is the first to articulate it in so many words. By doing so, he has exhibited integrity and honesty. He has shown courage, which is now considered rare in a party increasingly consumed by sycophancy and factionalism.

Dilli4 will be most displeased with Parrikar. He has shown them up. Dilli4 worked the media all of Tuesday to give a twist to Parrikar’s statement and make him sound rancid. Dilli4 met with some success, which prompted Parrikar to issue a ‘clarification’ that is really a reiteration of what he said: "Advaniji is my icon. The media is distorting my comments. I only asked for a young person -- between 40 and 55 years of age -- to be the party president. I stand by my comments." To drive home his point, he added, "There is a lot of wrong projection about BJP which can be cleared with a new face."

Notice the emphasis on ‘young person’ and ‘new face’. He has been blunt and truthful. And absolutely right in his assessment. Dilli4 needed to be told where they get off.

But Dilli4 is not giving up without a fight -- not yet. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is among those in the BJP who suffer from an acute manifestation of foot-in-mouth disease, was deployed for ‘damage control’. Rudy told media: "Manohar Parrikar has compared Advani to Sachin Tendulkar and said that just as Tendulkar is progressing by and by and his game is improving with experience.... He has used the same metaphor for Advani. If beyond this some other words have been used for analysis, then it is wrong."

Really? Since when has Rudy been appointed arbiter of what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’? By whom?

Meanwhile, two associated developments in the BJP which reflect the prevailing state of affairs in the party and therefore merit mention.

First, Bishan Singh Chufaal has been appointed president of Uttarakhand unit of the BJP. Bachi Singh Rawat has been sacked for the party’s electoral performance in the Lok Sabha poll. We are now told Chufaal will lead the BJP to greater glory. Let’s wait and watch. 2012 isn’t too far off.

Second, Jaswant Singh has questioned why LK Advani kept quiet for a month on his expulsion from the party before saying that he had disfavoured disciplinary action against the author of Jinnah’s controversial biography. "It is to be examined in what context or reference he (Advani) has said this and that too after a month,” Jaswant Singh told mediapersons in Jaipur on Tuesday.

Interestingly, Jaswant Singh also said his son Manvendra is no more in the BJP. Asked whether Manvendra, former BJP MP from Barmer, was in the party, Jaswant Singh said "No he is not.” He said no member of his family was with the BJP now. Rajasthan BJP president Arun Chaturvedi told PTI, “It has to be ascertained whether Manvendra renewed his party membership during the recent membership drive in Barmer.”

Manvendra has not said anything on the issue.

Recall The Goa Inquisition

Vatican owes us an apology

Coffee Break Kanchan Gupta

His Majesty the king has ordered that there shall be no Brahmins in his land and that they should be banished.”“In the name of his Majesty I order that no Hindu can or shall perform marriages…” “The marriages of the supplicants are superstitious acts or functions which include Hindu rites and ceremonies as well as cult, adoration and prayers of Hindu temples…” “I order that no Hindu temples be erected in any of the territories of my king… and that Hindu temples which already have been erected be not repaired…' Anybody familiar with the brutalisation of Hindu customs and practices, indeed Hindu faith and belief, could mistakenly believe these extracts have been taken from royal decrees issued during Muslim rule. The harshness with which suppression is prescribed in these decrees, the callous disregard that is advocated for the other’s sentiment, the cruelty that is so palpable in both thought and action, suggest that these firman could have been issued by one of the “shadows of god” who ruled this land, laying to waste Hindu lives and temples.But these are not extracts from firman issued by the Mughal court of, say, Aurangzeb. They have been taken from firmans issued by the Portuguese who ruled Goa and recognised no religion other than Christianity as the legitimate means of communion with god. It was no secular rule that they imposed, but a ruthless system of pillage disguised as trade and a cruel administration for whom Hindus were nothing more than “supplicants” to be crushed into submission or exiled into oblivion. The horrors inflicted on Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition — the Vatican has now admitted that the Church was wrong and Galileo was right — are well known. Not that well-known, and tragically so, are the horrors inflicted by the Goa Inquisition. Every child reads about Galileo’s trial and how it is symbolic of the triumph of science over faith. But there is no reference — indeed, all reference is scrupulously avoided — to the brutal attempts of the Church to stamp out Hinduism in the territories controlled by the Portuguese in India. And this silence is not because there exists no evidence: There exist, in full text, orders issued by the Portuguese Viceroy and the Governor. There exist, in written records and travelogues, penned not by the persecuted but by the persecutors, full details of the horrors perpetrated in the name of Christ. Hindus who dared oppose the persecution were punished, swiftly and mercilessly. Those who were fortunate, got away with being banished. The less fortunate had their property seized and auctioned — the money was used, in large measures, for furthering proselytisation. The least fortunate were forced to serve as slave labour on the galleys that transported loot from Indian shores to Portuguese coffers. Viceroy D Constantine de Braganca issued an order on April 2, 1560, instructing that Brahmins should be thrown out of Goa and other areas under Portuguese control. They had a month's time to sell their property — it is obvious who gained from such distress sale. Those found violating the viceregal order, it was declared, would have their properties seized. Another order was issued, this time by Governor Antonio Morez Barreto, on February 7, 1575, decreeing that the estates of Brahmins whose "presence was prejudicial to Christianity" would be confiscated and used for "providing clothes to the New Christians". The attitude of the Portuguese administrators in India and the Church hardened over the years, to a point where each fiat, each decree, each order, each letter, became an instrument of religious persecution. The Third Concilio Provincial — a gathering of bishops and other clerics — met in 1585 to review, among other things, the progress of converting the “heathens” to the “only faith”. The Concilio adopted a resolution which said, ‘His Majesty the king has on occasion ordered the Viceroys and Governors of India that there should be no Brahmins in his lands, and that they should be banished therefrom together with the physicians and other infidels who are prejudicial to Christianity, after taking the opinion of the Archbishop and other religious persons who have experience in the matter. As the orders of His Majesty in this regard have not been executed, great impediments in the way of conversion and the community of New Christians have followed and continue to follow.” One can quote from many other orders, resolutions and instructions that resulted in the hideous Vatican-backed Goa Inquisition. The details are not unknown to most of us; they are definitely well known to the Vatican. The reason I have raised the issue of the Goa Inquisition is two-fold. First, Pope Benedict XVI should bear in mind the horrors inflicted on Hindus in the name of Christianity before he berates them for being intolerant towards Christians. Second, the Vatican owes an apology for the crimes committed during the Goa Inquisition; it must apologise and repent for its misdeeds against Hindus and gross attempts to stamp out Hinduism. Not to do so would amount to continued endorsement of the crimes and the unfair practices of missionaries. Ten years ago, the Vatican issued a 14-page document, ‘apologising’ and ‘repenting’ for not doing enough to save Europe’s Jews from the Holocaust. While it is common knowledge that Pope Pius XII did not feel particularly appalled by Hitler’s ‘final solution’, the Vatican claimed in its 1998 document that he was unaware of the concentration camps, the mass slaughter, the gas chambers and the furnaces. The document, understandably, failed to impress Jews who have made it clear that Pope Benedict XVI is not welcome to visit Israel unless he offers an unqualified apology and makes public documents of that period which are now stored in the Vatican’s archives. The Vatican may have eliminated the phrase “perfidious Jews” from its liturgy and Pope John Paul II may have made it fashionable for the Pontiff to refer to Jews as “older brothers”, these are seen as no more than meaningless, insincere gestures. The purpose of securing an apology for the Goa Inquisition is not to belittle the Vatican, but to drive home the point that it cannot seek to occupy the moral high ground till such time it has apologised and atoned for the sins committed against Hindus. If the Vatican can say sorry to others, there is no reason why it cannot say sorry to Hindus. Their faith is no less than those of the Book.
The Pioneer Coffee Break Sunday, November 16, 2008

TalkBack

COMMENTS BOARD ::

Unite Hindus and protect yourselfBy Swabhimaan on 11/18/2008 5:39:25 PMAll those who are tired of UPA like governments and pseudo secular media, please join Swabhimaan - a movement launched to unite Hindus of India and encourage them to voice their opinion. Interested members please send a mail to swabhimaan2008@gmail.com
DIABOLICAL POPEBy AJAY TYAGI on 11/17/2008 12:06:51 PMStray cases of breaking of window-panes in Managalore churches was blown out of proportions by bishops of Karnataka. English media also lapped up the far fetched theory of hindu terror. Happenings in Orissa and Karnataka are nothing in front of debausherry of perpetrators of Goa inquisition.
Vatican owes us an apologyBy S Kiran on 11/17/2008 11:31:02 AMThe Indian mindset has been tuned in such a way, by decades of rubbish churned out by the spineless, secular media, that they question the authenticity of reports like these. They conveniently believe that the religions from the desert are superior, many of them believing that civilization is a gift of these religions!
This is always been the caseBy Jignesh Shah on 11/17/2008 11:15:47 AMThis is the central truth, we are keen to dwell upon the attrocities committed by the Mughal rulers and we conveniently choose to forget the Christian attrocities committed on our people.The fact remains that the Christian missionaries are on the offensive yet again in garb of EVENGELISTS, this is akin to terrorism. It is indeed a shame, that all crimes committed by the Christians are forgiven.
Missionaries in IndiaBy Narain on 11/17/2008 12:07:14 AMKanchan Gupta is spot on. The old Pope must apologise to the Hindus in Goa for their past crimes. While the Pope is making up his mind, Roman Catholic Sonia Gandhiji could apologise to the Hindus in India.People should read the excellent report, published in the fifties, by Madhya Pradesh Ch. Justice-Neogi, on 'Activities of Christian Missionaries in India'. It was a damning report but Nehru, surprise, surprise, sat on the report. The Christiam Missionaries convert our innocent & poor people.
We are still prisoners of the past!By Sajeev Painunkal on 11/16/2008 10:56:31 PMIt is surprising how even the so called intellectuals try to hold on to events that took place hundreds of years ago, in an effort to justify their present mistakes and atrocities. If the Vatican owes an apology to the Hindus, then how much more the caste Hindus of India should apologize to the so called outcastes of India for the centuries long oppression and humiliation. Just like there is an advancement in science and history, there also an advancement in religious consciousness.
Vatican owes us an apologyBy N.S.Sankaran on 11/16/2008 7:24:42 PMI fully agree with Mr.H.R.Reddy's comments. Even if the Pope is graceful enough to apologise, the secularists will rush to stop him and apologise to him for the article instead.
VATICAN OWES US AN APOLOGYBy H.R.REDDY on 11/16/2008 12:47:20 PMIt is highly humiliating after reading this article. The so called secularists of India who take great objections and comment on Hindus whenever a church is vandalized. They go on to insult the swamis and frame charges of murder. The way the secular leaders in this country betray the faith they practice at home and in public is suicidal and make easy the faild attempts of ex rulers to destroy hinduism.

Inquisition: The burden of Goa's past

Church of St Francis

The burden of Goa's past
Goa is dotted with charming little grottos dedicated to Mary and her son, shaded by ancient trees with gnarled trunks. Some of these are believed to have mystical powers to heal the sick and ensure a safe journey for motorists. The devout stop by every day to remove yesterday's floral offerings, light candles and place fresh flowers -- crimson hibiscus, fragrant frangipani, bright yellow honeysuckle or a clutch of flame of the forest -- while whispering prayers and seeking salvation. I was told that for many Hindus these grottos are on a par with neighbourhood temples -- the burning joss sticks are often their contribution; at some of the grottos there are earthen diyas.
Of course, these humble grottos, often crafted out of stone, pale in comparison to Goa's majestic, lime-washed churches that tower above everything else and bear testimony to its colonial past when it was an outpost of Portugal. That's how it would have remained had the Indian Army not marched in and liberated Goa on December 19, 1961. This was preceded by a surge of nationalism among Goans of all faiths who were eager to break free of Portugal and throw in their lot with India. Khwaja Ahmed Abbas was to later capture this mood in his film, Saat Hindustani, which also marked Amitabh Bachchan's entry into Mumbai's film industry. Abbas won the 'Best Feature Film' award; Bachchan was honoured with the National Film Award for the 'Best Newcomer'. And so was history made.
The departing Portuguese offered to take home their loyalists. But only a handful of Goans boarded the ship to Portugal. Some years ago, during a visit to Lisbon, I met a few old Goan families who had migrated to the 'King's country', opened up small businesses, usually corner shops, and then began to miss their 'mother country'. Their children have sort of integrated with Portuguese society, but the elderly women and men still feel left out, their printed knee-length cotton frocks and crisp linen suits a bit of an oddity in today's Portugal.
But let's not digress from the majestic churches of Goa. A slim pamphlet meant for tourists informs visitors, "Church-building was one of the main occupations of the early Portuguese and in fact one of Vasco da Gama's main missions for finding the sea route to India was to 'seek Christians and spices'." It goes on to add, "Christianity was forced upon (Goans) with religious fervour by the Portuguese during the period of the 'Inquisition' with wide scale destruction of temples and this continued till the official end of the 'Inquisition' in Goa in 1812. Most of Goa's churches were built on the very site of former temples. The confiscated lands of the temples were handed over to the Church and the communidades. In fact, the first Hindu temple allowed to be constructed by the Portuguese in 300 years was in 1818 at Panaji."
I have yet to come across credible information about churches being built on the site of razed temples, but thanks to the late Sita Ram Goel, I have had the opportunity to read an excellent treatise on the Goa 'Inquisition'. The contents of the eponymous book are extremely revealing; since they are based on Church and Portuguese documents, they cannot be outright denied or repudiated by those, both at home and abroad, who would like to gloss over that period of Goa's history when Hindus were disadvantaged on account of their faith.
"His Majesty the king has ordered that there shall be no Brahmins in his land and that they should be banished."
"In the name of his Majesty I order that no Hindu can or shall perform marriages..."
"The marriages of the supplicants are superstitious acts or functions which include Hindu rites and ceremonies as well as cult, adoration and prayers of Hindu temples..."
"I order that no Hindu temples be erected in any of the territories of my king... and that Hindu temples which already have been erected be not repaired..."
Anybody familiar with the brutalisation of Hindu customs and practices, indeed Hindu faith and belief, could mistakenly believe these are extracts from firmans issued by India's Muslim rulers. But these are not extracts taken from firmans issued by the court of Aurangzeb. They are from firmans issued by Goa's Portuguese rulers who recognised no religion other than Christianity as the legitimate means of communion with god. It was no secular rule that they imposed, but a ruthless system of pillage disguised as trade and a cruel administration for whom the heathens, especially Brahmins, unless they embraced Christianity, were nothing more than "supplicants" to be crushed into submission or exiled into oblivion.
Nobody talks of the Goa 'Inquisition', but that does not mean it never happened or there is no evidence to prove that it happened. There exist, in full text, orders issued by the Portuguese Viceroy and the Governor. There exist, in written records and travelogues, penned not by the persecuted but by the persecutors, full details of the horrors perpetrated in the name of the Church.
Hindus who dared oppose the religious persecution by the Portuguese administration or the Church were punished, swiftly and mercilessly. Those who were fortunate got away with being banished from Portuguese territory. The less fortunate had their property seized and auctioned -- the money was used, in large measure, for furthering the interests of the Church. The least fortunate were forced to serve as slave labour on the galleys that transported riches from India to Portuguese shores.
These are events that occurred in the distant past and should not be allowed to influence relations between Christians and Hindus in today's Goa. This is all the more so because the post-colonial Church in Goa has been deeply nationalist and refrained from aggressive proselytisation or offending Hindu sentiments. Nothing illustrates this better than the work done by Fr Agnel's mission to promote education and nationalist values. It would, however, be in order for the Vatican to offer an apology and thus close a bitter chapter of Goa's -- and, therefore, India's -- history. If he were to take the initiative, Pope Benedict would demonstrate that he is a man of courage and conviction, apart from being a man of god.

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Coffee Break / Sunday Pioneer / June 8, 2008

(c) CMYK Printech Ltd

Tourism is killing Goa

Punjabi munda despoiling Goa
It's hot and muggy in Goa this time of the year. The enervating heat hangs languidly in the still air. The rustling of the drooping fronds of coconut palms, heavy with ripening fruit, that accompanies the occasional gust of blistering wind, laden with pre-monsoon humidity, breaks the mid-morning silence. In the distance, the harsh cackle of sea gulls rises and falls in a rhythmic chant.
But despite the heat and the humidity, Goa, where I spent most of this past week attending a seminar, was a welcome break from life in the country's dust bowl, also known as Delhi, which has now grown to become the National Capital Region. Here summer means scorching heat that leaves your head throbbing, negotiating traffic jams made worse by rising tempers, infuriating dust storms that make breathing next to impossible, and an endless wait for what most years is an elusive monsoon.
By mid-April, the little foliage that dots the barren city from where India is ruled begins to turn shades of brown. By mid-May, plants and shrubs begin to shrivel, while the trees, or what remains of them after Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's gross act of chopping thousands of them down for a bogus bus rapid transit scheme for which responsibility is yet to be fixed (this never happens in this wondrous 'democracy' of ours), barely survive till the monsoon and its scattered rain. Delhi looks dusty, grey and dirty in summer.
In sharp contrast, Goa is verdant and lush. The hibiscus shrubs and the honeysuckle creepers are in full bloom. The air is redolent with the fragrance of flowers that we get to see in Delhi for a brief while during what passes for spring. The evenings are cool and the sea breeze is energising.
The only disconcerting distraction is the screeching of children and the uncouth, loud chatter of their parents - Delhi families visiting Goa courtesy incentive schemes offered by Papaji's office. They wrinkle their noses at the sight of sea food platters and noisily look for dal makhni and chicken butter masala. The distant cackle of sea gulls is replaced by the strains of bhangra, snatches of whose lyrics float in with the sea breeze. It's about a 'Punjabi munda' and a 'kudi Gujarat di'. Mr IK Gujral would say it's about national integration; Mr Narendra Modi would be alarmed.
The local newspapers in Goa are refreshingly different from Delhi's so-called 'national' newspapers, which reflect the concerns of politicians and their lackeys. In Goa, the concerns are more related to the people and their daily lives. For instance, a spurt in school dropout rates, which would be ignored by most 'national' newspapers, merits sufficient concern to make it to the day's top slot on the front page. At the moment, Goans are deeply worried about the garbage piling up in designated dumping grounds with no disposal system in place.
According to news reports, Goa produces 300 tonnes of garbage every day. This is apart from the bio-medical waste generated by hospitals and nursing homes. Given the size of the State, it's a huge amount of festering garbage and unless a disposal system is put in place, could begin to have an adverse impact on both Goa's environment as well as the health of Goans.
Obviously the tourism industry contributes to the accumulating garbage in a big way, as it does to the blighting of Goan culture and way of life. Contrary to popular opinion, not every Goan is excited by the sight of foreign back-packers and desi 'incentive scheme' holidaymakers. While it is true that tourism does create jobs and gives a boost to the State's economy, it also upsets those who just wish to be left alone.
It is, therefore, not surprising that there should be an incipient anti-outsider backlash building up among Goans. Last Thursday, the local edition of The Times of India front-paged the findings of a survey conducted by Synovate India, a leading market research agency, which clearly point to Goans beginning to resent the intrusion into their lives. This intrusion is most manifest in outsiders buying land and developing it into hotels and resorts, as well as increasing number of migrants seeking jobs in the service sector.
The survey's findings suggest that 64 per cent Goans, nearly all of them young, want a law banning the sale of land to non-Goans. The 34 per cent opposed to this law are elderly people, probably those whose children have migrated to other shores, are unable to look after their property, and thus have no compelling reason to cling on to home and hearth.
"Ban the sale of land to non-Goans, is the overwhelming response," the report says, and goes on to explain, "Our cultural identity - old ways of life, language, food and dress - is being diluted by the flow of migrants that has swelled in the last few years. Indeed, the fear of the Goan minnow being swallowed by the migrant whale is a recurrent theme... There is a reaffirmation of pride in the land's natural and manmade attributes. Both these sources of pride, say youngsters, are under threat." Most Goans feel that the tallest thing in their States should be a coconut palm.
It's easy to scoff at such resentful feelings and brand them as parochial. But it would be unwise to callously demand that Goans yield cultural and physical space just because tourists and migrants contribute to Goa's economy. There's no reason to be insensitive to local sensibilities. Yet, this is precisely what is on display. The outsider is disdainful of the insider; the despoiling of Goa does not bother those looking for cheap thrills or jobs by undercutting local rates.
Of course, the DJ at the nightclub will turn up the volume and play bhangra and the chef at the hotel will churn out maa ki daal and sarson da saag and tandoori roti for Delhi's Philistines. On the beach, vulnerable teenagers working in shacks that sell vindaloo and beer will be amenable to the illicit demands of the flotsam and jetsam from Europe and America looking for inexpensive nirvana or willing to trade sex for drugs. And owners of hotels and resorts will hire migrants because it costs less than hiring Goans.
But that does not mean everybody's happy about it. On the contrary, the unhappiness is fast morphing into anger. We can either wake up to this reality now or pay for wilfully ignoring it later.