(Article written in 2010) A historic agitation came to an end with eloquent symbolism. Terror struck in the heart of Jammu city around the time the Jammu Accord is being penned between the leaders of Sri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) and the representatives of the Governor. Terrorists held several people, including children, captive in […]
Articles
Ram in Hindu Belief – Immortality is Historicity
(Article written in 2010) It was Rosh ha-Shanah or the Jews on that day, 12-13 September – when I visited Jerusalem, the ancient capital city of the State of Israel. It is from there that the Government of Israel functions to this day, although for the outside world Tel Aviv is the capital. Many Jews […]
Russia – The Country that we chose to forget
(Article written in 2010) “Medvedev practises Yoga everyday”, announced Moscow Times, the prominent English daily of Russia the day I landed in Moscow in mid-April for meetings with various Government and non-Government agencies. Quoting the wife of the 42-year old President-elect the paper went on to add that over 10% Russians have been attracted to […]
Terrorism in India: Democratic Dilemmas
(Paper presented at a conference in Israel in 2008) “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?”–Mahatma Gandhi. The following litany of death covers major incidents in the last decade in […]
Dismantle Evangelical Establishment
(Article written in 2009) Do religious conversions – especially the Missionary conversions to Christianity – affect nationally unity? Do the loyalties of a citizen really change after conversion to Christianity? These questions can be answered only through experience only. When one looks at the first Christians who have entered India’s southern state of Kerala in […]
Tibet: Resumption of the Dialogue is the Only Way
(Article written in 2008) China reacted predictably. It insisted that the Buddhist monks in Lhasa and elsewhere had indulged in arson and violence. It reiterated its resolve to ‘crush’ the voices of independence. It accused His Holiness Dalai Lama of masterminding the uprising and described him a ‘wolf’. The Communist Party of Tibet called him […]
Vaishno Devi Tomorrow
(Article written in 2010) The Government of Jammu & Kashmir didn’t stop at revoking the land allotment. It actually affected status quo ante by taking over the Yatra arrangements from the Amarnath Shrine Board and placing them under the Tourism Ministry. This issue, which is tantamount to literally dismantling the Shrine Board, has somehow been […]
Samajik Samarasata (Social Harmony) – Sri Guruji (MS Golwalkar)
(This article was written in 2008 during the Birth Centenary Celebrations of the second Sarsanghachalak of the RSS PP Shri Guruji – MS Golwalkar) Three famous ideals that inspired the French Revolution i.e. Liberty, Equality and Fraternity have subsequently found place in almost all the democratic constitutions of the world including ours. Liberty and Equality […]
Kandhamal Raises the Big Question on Conversions Yet Again
(Article written in 2009) For days, one TV Channel ran visuals of how the Christians have been targeted for violence in Orissa’s Kandhamal district. Several other so-called national channels too joined the chorus sufficient enough for Mombattiwalas (Candle-Light Activists) to plunge into the ring and declare that ‘entire Orissa’, if not ‘entire India’, is in […]
Foreign Policy with National Interest as the Touchstone – Key to National Security
(Article written in 2009) It was a couple of days after the deadly Israeli attack on a Lebanese village Kfar Kana that killed scores of innocent children, on the 31st of July 2006, that the Prime Minister of Israel chose to come out with a statement. And what a statement it was! “There are no […]