Tengku Adnan's (Ku Nan) standing up against Perkasa's hate message is commendable. This is what moderate Malay Muslims ought to do, regardless of their political affiliation he must have a reason why he is suddenly so supportive of this one temple in Putrajaya. for making such strong comments supporting the building of the Hindu temple in Putrajaya.
Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor is looking for a Hindu brigde
Having a Hindu temple in Putrajaya does not turn the entire population there into Hindus.
700 years of islamic rule (turks, mughals etc..) over south asia has resulted in genocide / holocaust of hindus, buddhists and sikhs in afghanistan, pakistan, bangladesh, kashmir and north east. this will be followed by west bengal, up, kerala, hyderabad followed by rest of the remaining bharat. even taj mahal, qutub minar, red fort, humayun tomb and other such ancient monuments were infact built by followers of vedic culture much before islam was even born. but islamic invaders captured these monuments and re-wrote their own history full of lies. google 'stephen knapp on taj mahal' to know more about this truth. there are many other sites which contain sufficient evidences about these facts. we have been studying fake and distorted history in schools and colleges regarding barbaric islamic invaders. but the corrupted and coward pseudo-seculars of india don't want the public to know these truths. hence media and politicians never talk about them and never let the public to know the truth. let us hope newly formed modi govt. is able to find time in the future to think about it and do something about it !! sati was started by hindus during islamic rule to save hindu widows from the predatory muslim males. but in contrast britishers did plenty of good things for india as well. electricity, railways, airways, telecommunication, phone, television, motor cars, flyovers etc...are all gifts from britshers. britishers also strictly banned evil practice of sati. computer, internet and mobiles are also the gift from the west.
You will not find me adorned in saffron and shouting hoarse in a crowded market place or at a public gathering that I am a proud Hindu. Neither will you hear me speak of the hidden truth of the great Hindu scriptures or sermonize an unwilling entity on the Vedanta philosophy over buttered scones and tea. I have never found a reason to do any such thing simply because I lack adequate knowledge and even if I were to possess enough of it for arguments sake, I would not see a reason to blow my trumpet unless I am ‘pushed’ to do it. When would I be ‘pushed’ to do such things? If somebody scorns or mocks at the tenets of which Hinduism is based upon, I would then deem it necessary to argue rationally on the merits of the case without making a spectacle of myself. But, this is a highly individualistic display and there are many who well and truly cannot help but make a spectacle of themselves simply because their emotions get in their way. Frankly, even I am not sure as an educated individual if I could garner the gumption to be rationally argumentative and not emotionally argumentative. There is something about religion that always touches the ‘ raw’ nerves. At some point or the other, each one of us have fallen victims to this ‘soft’ spot and even borne the brunt of being termed a bigot.
The fundamental tenets of Hinduism are based on pluralism. In a 1995 judgment, theSupreme Court of India ruled that “Ordinarily, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind and is not to be equated with or understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism … it is a fallacy and an error of law to proceed on the assumption … that the use of words Hindutva or Hinduism per se depicts an attitude hostile to all persons practicing any religion other than the Hindu religion … It may well be that these words are used in a speech to promote secularism or to emphasize the way of life of the Indian people and the Indian culture or ethos, or to criticize the policy of any political party as discriminatory or intolerant.” Crystal clear in my opinion, what more needs to be explained. When somebody talks of how intolerant Hindus are, I simply say to them that they cannot be following the Hindutva way of life, the one that universally embraces the same values and aspirations.
There is a group that raises its powerful head quite often; lets call them the Illuminati for now. This is a highly educated, influential and affluent group. You will find this group in all walks of life, influencing behavior of others with an agenda best known to them. They pretend they are not religious, they pretend to be democratic and yet they carry with them a sword that tears into every audible murmur that a Hindu will make and will try to take him to the gallows at every given opportunity. The Illuminati at the same time turns a blind eye to reason, facts and factualism are usually relegated to the back burners. If their target so as to dares to substantiate a point of view with credence, the target is immediately zeroed in and labeled as an enthusiastic member of the saffron brigade. They are also termed as the bigots who are tearing down the very fundamentals on which the constitution of this country is drafted upon. You will never hear the last of the logic of the Illuminati; usually blaring at you from those tiny squares on prime time lop sided TV debates. Pretty much like the Illuminati of the yesteryears who were however more productive, this not so secret society conspires to establish a new world order. You will find them peeping in movies, magazines, newspapers, television shows and yes, you will find them pulling the strings. More recently, you will also find them laughing and jeering at the ongoing Science Congress which until recently has probably not even dared to rake up the science of the Vedas. It is not about examining into evidences of flights of fantasy that were taken by Indians a long time before Pratibha Patil took them, it is about debunking, refuting the probability of this concept entirely without examination. To the Illuminati, Hinduism is a myth; the sacred texts of the Ramayana and Mahabharata are a mythology in its exact sense even if all other sacred texts that bear no relation with Hinduism are factual Science. But what is their agenda one may ask and the reason for this rather well organized and well funded display of solidarity against all things Hindutva? For one, the core agenda is to shake the roots of which the principles of Hindutva are based upon and to stunt the growth of Hinduism. I must agree with Shashi Tharoor who rightly stated – “To mock the credulous exaggerations of the Hindutva brigade, you don’t need to debunk the genuine accomplishments of ancient Indian science!”
A stone Ganesha cannot drink milk and plastic surgery on the elephant God is labeled ludicrous. Yet a stone Mother can weep blood and the veritableness of Immaculate Conception is not debated upon. Our texts state that even many Hindu Gods and Goddesses had their holy offspring’s via immaculate conception. Why not discuss the significance of these events so carefully drafted in religious scriptures as the foundation for modern day reproductive techniques like IUI and IVF? But, will it be discussed? I am a proud and devout Hindu. I enjoy debating and I strongly encourage multiple narratives, I am a liberal, I am not ashamed of my religion and I will not permit my religion to be made a mockery of and will air my ‘limited’ knowledge without fear of being run down. But how many do?
When the famous Pakistani cricket player-turned-playboy Imran Khan married Jemima Goldsmith in 1995, she converted to Islam. She was brought up as a Jew. She was just one example. In the first decade of the 21st century, more than one lakh people converted to Islam in Great Britain alone. Add to this the figures of other European countries, and you will get an idea of how conversions are becoming very normal, especially among non-Muslims.
But let me ask the difficult question that most people dare not ask in India. How many Muslims from Muslim countries are converting from Islam to another faith? And even those who dare convert are forced to keep it to themselves or escape the country in order to avoid persecution and penalty. In many cases, citizens are awarded some of the harshest punishment for what is considered a human right in most non-Muslim countries of the world.
The problem in India is not that a few dozen Muslims have decided to convert to Hinduism, but the fact that, historically, we have told sweet lies to ourselves and pacified ourselves in order to forget the traumatizing experience of the first Islamic colonization and later the British colonization. Millions of Hindus have been forcibly converted, and the British have forced Indians to sit in third-class compartments while they themselves travelled first class. Winston Churchill thought that we Indians did not deserve to get the life-saving grain, even though he had the powers to redirect the supply to India. It caused the death of millions in the ensuing famine. We have forgotten all that. But they are still facts of India’s historical life.
When Salman Rushdie was in Denmark a few years ago, he was interviewed by a leftist writer, Carsten Jensen. To one of the questions asked about India, Rushdie told a beautiful story of modern-day India. He said that he had researched very well the life of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and his conclusion was that the Indians have told fairy tales and made Bollywood films like Mughal-e-Azam about the life of Akbar. It is not true that Akbar’s wife remained a Hindu or Rajput. No, she converted and that can be proved, but Indians still want to believe that at least one Mughal emperor was wise, secular and interested in promoting the rights of all religious minorities.
No matter how much deeper we poke the ostrich’s nose into the sand, we cannot always avert the desert storm. So it is with some historical facts. We can tell some sweet lies that the Indian history is full of periods when all kinds of kings ruled softly and their subjects enjoyed most of the freedoms that we know of in the modern world. But it is a simple lie. Just as it is a lie that ostriches bury their heads in the sand. We have been told that and we keep telling that to others without thinking of how that poor bird would breathe.
What we should not do, of course, is blame the present-day Muslims for the evils of the past. Nor should we blame the present-day Hindus for the bad arithmetic of the caste system. A few Muslims converting to another faith is no big deal, especially when most of the Muslims of Southeast Asia are simply all converts. It is funny how they still use words like “Bhumiputra”, a Sanskrit word, to justify their demands for more rights in Malaysia.
By confronting the past, we should start making efforts to reconcile our history. The chance we are given at the present historical moment is to make the miracle of secular India work. An India where all are free to convert, marry and divorce. An India where the freedom of religion and conscience is a fundamental pillar whose existence is accepted by all.
But for Hanuman’s sake stop telling lies. Modern-day secularism is an unprecedented moment in our history. Let us cherish it. And let us be thankful that we do not have to live by the brutal standards of the previous centuries.
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