Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Bhajji, Srisanth, slap and Indian ethos - Cricket .

Mr. Bhajji has been banned for 11 IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket matches. This punishment has been meted out to him by IPL authority for slapping Mr. Srishanth , a fellow cricketer, during the hand shaking ceremony after a cricket match in which Mr. Bhajji’s team Mumbai Indians and lost out to Mt. Srishanth’s team , Punjab Kings Eleven. Both the players have played for Indian National Cricket at the international level as members. They have been partners, among others, to many wins and losses of Indian team. Both of them are aggressive on the field. But nobody thought that they would be involved in on the ground violence in front of a crowds in thousands.

In IPL matches both of them were representing different team. Punjab Kings Eleven won in a dramatic finish in the last moments. This seems to have annoyed Mr. Harbhajan Singh (aka Bhajji). Mr. Srishanth said something to Bhajji at hand shaking ceremony and got slapped. The authority have slapped a punishment on Bhajji.

But it seems that IPL has gone beyond Indian ethos established over a period of thousands of years. The ethos thus developed can not be questioned because they are part and part of the civilization of this subcontinent, even when millions of eyes are watching it at international level.

Bhajji is much senior to Srishant and hence like an elder brother to Srisanth and both of them , now, call each other so.

Now those who are aware of traditional ethos of this civilization (Indian) should know that elder brother carries a lot of respect and moral power over younger brother. It is uttermost disgraceful for a younger brother to even talk back to back to elder brother. He is duty bound to do so. Otherwise he should gain infamy as possessing rudeness and destroying the civilizational ethos. His job is simply to say “Aye Aye sir.” If you disagree with it, you may see the number of star cricketing personalities coming in defence of Bhajji for slapping Srishanth !!!

Such a reflection of ethos are found in such support. An international blot does not matter for such people.

Bhajji as elder brother has every right to beat the younger brother in front of public and media for the mistake he made. The punishment was just.

It was his right !! The rights are, here, relative as Amartyo Sen agrees.

It was not Srisanth’s right to object against or complaint against such beating.

So the task of going against Indian ethos was taken up IPL itself. It is like insulting Indian cultural values at the international level. Thousands of years have gone into developing such a culture and now some people who are afraid of international backlash take such action. Such cowards, buckling before the Eurocentric model of ethics. They are bringing shame to Indian traditions. For this they are going to take birth as worms and dogs and jackals in their next birth courtesy infallible law of KARMA.

Even Srisanth is no Saint. He has been very aggressive player on the cricket. And per reports he is quite used to use expletives on playing ground. He is said to have abused Bhajji at hand shaking ceremony.

A younger brother abusing elder brother?

Horror of horrors.

Bhajji replied back in true traditional convention of Indian ethos. These outsiders will never understand and some of Indians are also speaking their language. What is going to happen to rich great cultural heritage and ethos??

If one goes by Bhajji’s aggressive attitude and also using the language of choice then doubt may be cast upon the laundering of Bhajji’s racist remarks (“monkey”) against Andrew Symonds on Australian cricketing tour of Indian team, by Sachin Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar ???????

Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricketing, next only to legendry Australian batsman Sir Don Bradman, his bonafide are impeccable, his greatness proven. His sincerity was never in doubt. He is icon and role model for billion Indians. He is well respected at the international level. Then he is suspect of laundering the racist remarks!!!!!

The solidarity does strange things to people.

Long live traditional Indian ethos.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Nandigram and Communists – Is it Marxism?

Why the Bargadars were not made the owners???????????

This puts a question mark on the sincerity of CPI-M in no small measure. And for industrial reform the Bargadars (share-croppers) have to buy the land from landlord. Sire man it is Marxism. Where is the rehabilitation package???? Anybody who questions it will have to face the muscle power of communist cadre in West Bengal, if he is fortunate enough, otherwise fire power of cadre will take care of him. The result - Rest In Peace.

Nandigram is an area 70 km south-west of Calcutta, India. Calcutta was, during Britis colonial period, the biggest and most important city in India. Now it is a state ruled by a communist government for last 30 years but no change except a fraud called land reforms called Operation Barga (a Bargadar is share-cropper). The industry stagnated due to dictatorship of proletariat. The industries left Bengal because of non-cooperation of working force and violent attacks on mangers. So what happened was that the entire burden of economy fell on agriculture. This led enormous pressure on agriculture and exploding population. And then Nandigram happened. Violence erupted and people, defending their agricultural land under belated entry of industry with Govt. accent, were the victims; they opposed it. Well the communist should be happy. Wow, what a lesson has been taught to these Bargadars to share cropper who dared to form committee to defend their land which was supposed to be sold to the Salim Group industry from Indonesia for setting up a chemical hub. The introduction of industry in stagnating West Bengal was necessary and for this one needs lands. But from where this land should come from? Exactly, it should come from Bargadars and Zamindars. Zamindars (land lord)? That too in Communism? A class ideology acting according to caste and claiming contrariwise? No caste , they are communists please – a caste is merely a part of superstructure – is it not ? And a matter of no consequence? But the caste persists, spread around in Calcutta. The landlords exist in a state following Marxism? These non-working exploiters are allowed? The ruling party in West Bengal is called CPI-M. Here M stands for Marxist. The Salim group is closely related to Indonesian ex-president Suharto – shades of crony capitalism.

In 1977, the Communist Party of India – Marxist, came to power in West Bengal ,a state in largest democracy in the world, India. And it as remained in power till date and that too with a brute state legislative majority, so it thought it could do now wrong. Its long term in power was mainly due to Operation Barga in rural which aimed to redistribute he land, but the land was not distributed, the landlords remained landlords though they became smaller due to land ceiling act but the share-cropper could not own the land. The famed land reforms maintained the landlord. The only difference was that the share-cropper ( Bargadar) became a registered whom the landlord could not evict. But if the share-cropper did not sow the land then it could have gone to another share-cropper who could have reaped the crop. The share-cropper was permanently attached to land on heredity basis like Zamindar (landlord). The share-cropper and land lord were supposed to share the crop in 50-50 percent ratio. Here seems to be apparently in theses land reforms but there is. The people who carried out land reforms came from pre-partition east Bengal ( now Bangla Desh); these people were high caste and Bhodrolok. When carrying out land reform they saw to it that their landowning high caste brothers did not suffer and let the ownership of the land remained with them. Is it casteism or Marxism? The Upper Caste siding with Upper Caste and share-cropper belonging to lower castes were happy. This seems to be out of tune with class ideology of Marx. But who cares if caste is involved? The Operation Barga drove the people in droves to join the CPI-M. The membership was in such a number that it wiped out the other parties and especially the Indian National Congress. Because of Congress’ had with extreme brutality and cruelty suppressed the Naxalite (extreme leftist group –now the Maoist are the most extreme left oriented group in the country) movement in 1965 and onwards. The mindless killing that took place in suppressing the Naxalites made the Congress a much hated party; not only Naxalite but also their innocent friends were eliminated – no attempt was made to differentiate between extremist and their innocent friend and acquaintances. These friends and acquaintances may not even have known that the person they were talking was an extremist. The extremist were killed along with their innocent who were not aware of real identity of their Naxalite friends. And a large number of middle class families were affected. And this sealed the fate Congress forever because it was in power in West Bengal at that time. The Communist became more and more influential. Because of Operation Barga (land reforms?) the votes of CPI-M became a kind of permanent and rural, nearly all Bargadar became the member of CPI-M. They had to vote for CPI-M because their share-cropping right was not permanent and any other party could have removed it and also because of it was their benefactor and also because of cadre muscle power of CPI-M. West Bengal came be known as Red Ford which could not be broken by any national or local level parties. All the parties were unable to make a dent in this Red Fort for thirty years – from 1977 to 2007. And then came Nandigram incidents where blood was shade from both the sides – the ruling CPI-M and its opposing party – the TMC( Trinamool Congress headed by Miss Mamata Banerjee , a prominent leader in West Bengal.

It was indeed a fight for turf but how and why did it come about?

May be it has to do something with the concept of dictatorship of proletariats following the workers in Corporate world face their managers with a violent and non-operative attitude. They were in fact behaving in rational manner. Their job was permanent and income assured; in that case they had to maximize their leisure (and thus avoiding the exploitation). Naturally leisure maximization means lowering of productivity. Every worker in factory was working at his on sweet pace nearly to zero. And those belonging to Communist cadre were loitering around and telling the management what is to be done and when. There were frequent disastrous and violent strike to establish the hegemony of Cadre and workers. It was to teach a lesson to capitalists. In these kinds of conditions, where industries could not make profit because of decline of productivity, led the industries out of the state. The results was that the industries moved out of state and nobody willing to establish factories in West Bengal because of labor problems which had the backing of the ruling party. The Capitalists had learnt their lesson. Everybody was happy until the stagnation started to pinch state, Govt and people. An army of unemployed youths is not a pleasant thing to look at, let alone face it.

Now nearly all the jobs were created in Govt sector and these went mostly to Cadre of the CPI-M. The Cadre became more and more powerful. Even to the extent that the police and other were supposed to report unofficially to local Cadre head. The Cadre were violent and nothing could be done. If one wanted to set a tea shop then he had to take the permission of local cadre head. The network of Cadre was spread everywhere. The represented the terror which had the unofficial backing of the police which did not register a single case against them. The police belonged to state and state belonged to CPI-M. All the new Govt went to educated cadre without question and joining CPI-M became a road to employment when jobs were and workers were happy in the absence of exploitative capitalists. And the same capitalists are back. Anyway doing anything without the permission of local cadre head was not possible and cadre had the unofficial right to decide everything and take their share. The muscle power of cadre caused everybody to fall in line. Some people voted out of fear for CPI-M because their area could have been singled out for not voting for the Red Party. The trouble for defying the dictates of cadre could have been of long duration. The police being a state organ sided with the organ of state govt, they also had to save their skin; the duty can go and take a walk. The cadre organized the strikes ad bandhs simply by force.

Over a period of thirty years the situation so bad in this heaven of workers ( please never mention the caste because simply the upper caste landlords were not removed out of caste consideration) that unemployment became rampant and govt could not provide jobs to all its educated cadre. It should be mentioned that really educated people and West Bengal are very few in number because the education system is in shambles. The people were going around without jobs because West Bengal had become industrially backward, relatively speaking. The state enterprises had become loss making units. And you just can not tax and tax to fill the state coffers. The people were hungry and unemployed and sole agriculture was unable to bear the entire burden when the industries been rendered unfit to operate under ideology and cadre muscle power.

So the alternative was to industrialize the state. The central govt. had opened the Indian economic for MNCs under the guidance of IMF (or pressure ). The IMF had agreed to give the loan to India to tide over its dollar problem to buy the oil. The Indian govt had to pledge its gold to get a short term loan. The full loan was by IMF only onconditions of opening of Indian economy for outsiders and withdrawal of state from business. This was agreed to and India was saved from a financial disaster.

But communists being communists abhorred the exploiting, in their terms, the Multi National Corporations. But abhorrence is no substitute for employment and production and add to this the leisure oriented attitude of workers with permanent jobs with assured income. They had the quality time to spend in gossip, loitering around and discussing how great is the communism despite its failure in Russia and China. Incidentally the CPI-M draws inspiration from China but still refused to go for privatization. Meanwhile, rest of the states were going ahead by encouraging private enterprises and West Bengal was lagging behind. Therefore Communist govt. also decided to embrace MNCs without any embarrassment. First thing to happen was Singrur fiasco. With a brute majority of winning 235 out of 297 made the govt. pretty confident. The Cadre muscle power was in their hand they could have evicted anybody they wanted but they were wrong. The communist survived in power because of Operation Barga which share-croppers out of cultivators where the landlords could not evict then and most importantly the muscle power of network cadre of authoritarian nature who had unofficial authority till village level. Nothing could move in their areas without areas otherwise the famed muscle power came in to force – the dictator of proletariats.

Then happened Nandigram.

The govt. decided to invite Salim Group of industries from Indonesia to set up a chemical hub in Nandigram which is 60 Km South-West to Calcutta. For this there was a need to acquire a land of about 14000 acres. This was to be acquired from landlord and cultivators-turned-share-croppers (Bargadars). The Bargdars rose against it and formed an association called Bhumi Uchheden Pratirodh Committee (BUPC). The landlords and share-croppers were to be compensated for it and an act was made to make the share-cropper owner of 50% of land while 50% ownership remained with landlord. And for this gracious act the landlord will get compensation for land as the Bargadar will pay the landlord to acquire the 50 of the land he is cultivating! Strange Bengal Marxists’ logic, indeed! Marx must have been turning in his grave!!! Why compensation to landlords – they contribute nothing to land and originally they were the land collector for British colonial govt. The exploiting class is being paid compensation by a Communist Govt. simply the landlords belong to upper castes as do the top of Communist Party. Long live the caste and there is no caste. Go and ask any communists in West Bengal and you will get the same answer – there is no caste which is actually a lie. Anyway they are going to fool all the people all the time. The landlords agreed to it because they live in Calcutta and they get the compensation for full land. The opposition came from share-croppers though one member from each family was assured a job in the chemical hub spread over 4000 acres. Anyway being illiterate they would have got only lowly paid class IV jobs, the peons, cleaners and guards etc. Govt thought this should have enough for them but these greedy share-croppers wanted nothing of it. The reason was very clear – the share-cropper knew nothing else then cultivation. To turn them suddenly into unskilled workers in the economy was lowering their status with the uncertainty of income. The majority of high skilled jobs were going to Calcuttans Bhodrolok – the educated upper castes in West Bengal. Education? What education? Eduction turns a man into a thinking one and that is disliked by such rulers – uneducated ruffians were enough for them. With no extra skills in their hands the share-croppers knew that the compensation to them was not going to last for a long time – they are being realistic. It is a country with 60% population depending on land. A little surplus labor from rural areas can only be absorbed.

They agricultural laborers also opposed since they lack the social network through which they could arranging for starting something, as if they knew something new! The opposition against govt. policies and use of its cadre muscle power was developed. The mere thought of giving up their land was unsettling them. This was the land their primary source of income because keeping the private capital out and loss making govt. units.

The Trinamool Congress (TNC), the main opposition (small) party with its own muscle power started to fish in the troubled power. Well the opposition is supposed to oppose the govt. Are they no? TNC cadre moved into area and organized people against party. The people were themselves were surprised that the govt who gave (?) the land to cultivators was prepared to tale that away from them. As it happened the govt was unable to convince the people of rational behind their anti-Marx policies. It was difficult also because people nurtured in workers’ politics could understand the capital politics. The Maoist, who believed in classless society, also entered the area to exploit the anti-govt. sentiment. Maoists are a separate and armed group of communists who believe in annihilation of enemy are also against the use of private capital. In January these people combined together threw out the goons and cadre of CPI-M. 11 persons were killed in the process and 1500 supporters were forced to stay in refugee camp, far away. The involvement of Maoists seems to be evident since the people Nandigram area were unable to oppose the muscle power of CPI-M cadre. Only the support of armed Maoist and TNC enabled them to throw out the CPI-M supporters.

The CPI-M lost control over Nandigram area. It was a great lost of prestige to the party which had gained 235 seats out of 295 assembly election. Small outfits, without, any reckoning, were able to throw them out Nandigram !

The reprisal must. It came in March 2008 when the police along with CPI-M tried to enter the Nandigram area. However, the people came to know about it and blocked the entry point were blocked by keeping the kids and women in front. 14 people were killed in police firing of majority belonged to dalits. Was it deliberate? It has happened many times. The untouchables are targeted above the waist – shoot to kill! Others are usually shot below the waist; only in extreme circumstances they are shot above the waist by the police.

Nandigram was included in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). A SEZ is an area where the development of industry is accelerated by excluding it out of the usual snail paced procedure of setting an industry in Indian. Those who have tried to set up an industry know that how tardy, frustrating, time consuming and tiring it can be. One has to keep running from ministry to ministry, office to office and desk to desk and facing the arrogant bureaucracy in India. Sometimes (?) unofficial transaction of money has to take place. One may require more than 20 certificates/licenses to run a factory. The idea of SEZ was to get rid of all these barricades and thus indirectly acknowledging their existence. These geographical areas (SEZ) are free from existing economic law in the country and in that place they have their own economic laws for rapid industrialization and to help the foreign investment. This means that the foreign investors will not have to face the country’s economic laws. IT is as if though the local businessman is dishonest and a foreign one is hones to the core. Is it so? Do not the irrational domestic laws are irresponsible for such a situation and responsibility for that goes straight to legislatures. So the Salim Group was to enter the Nandigram SEZ, acquire the land through Govt. and foster rapid industrialization without facing local laws. But the mood of people went against it and people threw out the CPI-M supporters out of Nandigram in January 2007.

The West Bengal being a populous state where these displaced persons wee supposed to go? Are the supposed to wonder from place to place in search of livelihood, with rudimentary skills, in the state? The govt made no provision for that. The compensation was supposed to be enough for them. They were supposed to buy a house with compensation with ever rising land prices? This scattering all over the state meant not only severing ties with land and also ties with their respective families. Who is going to earn his livelihood where? Nobody knows. But the geniuses in Writers’ Building must be knowing. After all they have the expertise which is backed by thirty years of experience.

Most of these persons to be displaced belong to Muslim community thus giving it a communal angle and taking the lid off anti-communal stand of CPI-M in opposition to BJP. And we have already that Scheduled caste person were killed in March 2007. So these two weak communities were the target of govt policies. These two communities do not have a social network to fall back upon.

So much so for equality of Marxism engulfed by muscle-power and fire power of communist cadre.

However, the govt announced that Nandigram would not declared a SEZ are but it was too late. By this time the Nandigram area was already under control of BUPC and govt declaration were not believed by anybody or rather the leaders of TMC and Maoist with local leaders were not prepared to believe it. Politics all the way – from both the sides. The CPI-M had lost the control of area and honor also. It had to regain both of them. But the police was not used for the purpose. Why? The righteous or unrighteous people opposing land acquisition policy could have been evicted using police and para-military forces. But that would have undermined the superiority of their cadre-muscle power and their hegemony. The hegemony of cadre and not that of politburo. A weak cadre essential means weak party which is cadre based. Thus the cadre-muscle power was to be used to restore its glory. 1500 CPI-M supporters were staying as refugees and that was insulting; the insult had to be avenged by teaching the opponents a lesson. And it was done.

The Communist Party of India collected its armed cadre, the harbinger/enforcer of peace in Nandigram from all over the state, in November 2007 and numbering about 3000. Some of them came on motor cycles with their face covered and holding the Red flag. Some of them were wearing police uniform without sleepers, the visionary govt could have arranged for police boots for them but it did not. These armed groups captured the people from around Nandigram who were supporters of BUPC and use the as shield to enter the Nandigram with the aim of recapturing it from enemy. These people cannot think of anything with considering enmity. The supporters of BUPC ran away from such a heavy assault from supporters of industrialization without any rehabilitation program. With this the area had been captured back (looks like it is their hereditary right to occupy area and show ideological and muscle power of cadre). The insult of January 2007 had been avenged. The peace (?) had been restored. And everybody was happy except the small opposition. There were reports of murder and rapes – but these are merely acts of war – a war on its people by the Govt. with its private force. And red flag fluttered on every house and supporters joined the rally of their opponents. Well one can say that they were made an offer which could not refuse at that time.

The police was asked to stand by and not to take any action. CRPF was supposed to arrive after a few hours. There was no hurry for such an act.

This was meant to give a free hand to attacking forces.

The media was not allowed to enter the area for a long time. It was interest of people that they do not get terrified in the face of terror. They should wait until the terror has subsided and forced peace has returned.

But if it were a war then Maoists do not seem to be less than ready. There are troubled times ahead.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Aaja Nachle - Caste controvrsy

Controversy and controversy – a controversy erupted about the lyrics of a song from a Hindi film – Aajaa Nachle – it stars Madhuri Dixit the leading actress who occupied top position in Bollywood. The lines which have caused the trouble and much heart burn is as follows –

“Bole Mochi Bhi Khud Ko Sunar” - it means that a shoe mender (Mochi) is claiming to be a gold smith (Sunar).

It means that a man of untouchable caste (Mochi – a subcaste of cobblers – the makers of shoes and skinners of dead animals ) claims to be a member of relatively higher caste which is Sonarwhihc is a Shudra artisan caste making the jewelry out of gold or silver. So the situation is created in the movie so that an untouchable hides his identity and changes it to Sonar so as to be acceptable to heroine. It automatically means that untouchables are not acceptable to the heroine of the movie which is in fact a general fact – the untouchables are not acceptable in the society. It is despite the fact that the anti-untouchability Act is in existence in Indian Constitution for more than 50 years. The lyrics are an indirect reference to untouchability and remind the cobblers of their degraded and despicable position.

The hue and cry was understandable but banning the movie was too drastic steps. The writer of lyrics one honorable Shri Piyush Mishra said that he was shocked at such a reaction by cobbler caste in Uttar Pradesh. He also claimed that he knew the caste equation very well. He has used the word Mochi and Sonar as occupations and not as castes. He is innocent enough to not know that in India the caste is known by heredity unchangeable occupations. His kind of innocence knows no bound – this kind of Sarswati is living in him from time immemorial. Incidentally he is Brahman, the highest caste, in Hindu society and retains the unofficial right to degrade others through direct and indirect comments. As one of my friends says about Brahmans –

"And they were scum and that trait is in their genes. So, there is no way that they are changed now. Give them a half a chance and they will show their true colors."

I hope Mr. Puyush Misra, from Gwalior, has no malafide intentions only his ancestors and traditions were speaking through him. I also think that he is not showing his true colors as opined my friend as above. He may have found the present environment of democracy and absence of his caste privileges as suffocating and thus came the lyrics.

Before public screening the movie went to Censor Board headed by honorable Miss Sharmila Tagore who said that the line in question was “slightly overlooked” and some “miscalculation” was made. She took the Mochi and Sonar as professions and not as castes. Innocence after innocence – no end to innocence - all these complex personalities are feigning ignorance after ignorance. They consider it a small issue. And racism in Britain against Shilpa Shetty , the Bollywood actress" was a serious issue!!!!!!

And Mahuri Dixit would not have danced to the tunes if she had found the lines objectionable. She feign ignorance. How many ignorances are there if these knowledgeable people are to be believed? And producers, musicians and directors all have feigned ignorance. Piles of piles of ignorance and sometimes the hidden hatred for untouchables come out of it. Fortunately it was very small this time.

These despicable and hated people are fit to live in their hamlets outsides the villages – that is the message.

Then there is issue of freedom of artistic expression. I fully agree that. But use of creative freedom for a regressive cause? As here noble laureate Amartyo Sen would say that each society has its relative inherent culture and concept of rights and that should not be interfered with. Great noble thoughts.

Anyway I am not against his creative freedom in what ever way he wants to use it. And I also think that banning the book was not the correct solution. In fact, it is small enough factor to make really any difference; it could have been ignored. Those who want to see the movie should see it and those who do not want they should not see it. Simple. It was a flop film and the song bereft of any quality would have died a natural death.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Murder of low caste-son-inlaw in America

The India Diaspora takes the caste with from its Indian roots. How can one alienate himself from his roots? It is impossible. The leopard does not change it spots whether in India or America. The roots of caste superiority are very strong. Strong enough to kill the low caste relative. Subhash Chander , a resident of Illonis, United States of America, killed his son-in-law, his pregnant daughter and his young grand child by their apartment by dousing petrol and then setting afire. It was done so because the son-in-law belonged to a low caste – the perverted cruel mind of 57 years old Subhash Chabbnder could not bear it any longer and took the step to redeem the situation by killing th pregnant daughter and her low caste husband. After setting fire to his son-in-law’s apartment he did not make any attempt to save them. Why should he have done it? It would have tormented his soft psyche. Similarly he neither called he police and fire brigade. He watched them dying and he can move in the casteist Diaspora with his head held high.

The caste showed its ugly and cruel face in a far away land that too when the civil society in India and Indian Diaspora are under constant state of denial of caste and casteism among them. But the believers in caste system do not want to destroy their faith in caste because doing would be akin to destroying themselves. A lesson should be drawn from this incident – the caste rules should not be flouted otherwise be ready to pay with your life. It keeps on happening in India – nobody is bothered. If any outsider objects then a fig leaf taken out of Indian Constitution is flapped before his well and all is well. Well now there is proof that Indian Diaspora s also follows Caste rules but constantly denies it but such incidents happen and their claim is proved hollow but the liars stick with lying – there is no caste – there is no caste – it is only in the minds of low caste people. They deliberately ignore because monster of caste helps the upper caste.

An unborn child in the deaths of Monika Rani, 22, her husband, Rajesh Kumar, 36, and their son, Vansh died and one can be sure not a single upper caste Hindu would shade any ters – not even artificially. For them it is way of putting lower castes in their limits.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Tehelka, Modi, Gujarat Carnage- Hindu response

Tehelka has created quite a stir but it died down eventually. It exposed the people behind the Gujarat carnage in 2002. At that time nearly 750 Muslims were killed in a state sponsored arson in the state in retaliation to Godhara incident in which 55 Kar sevak died in the burning of a bogey of a train. These Kar Sevaks (volunteers) were returning after offering their services at Ayodhya, where a mosque built by Musllim ruler Babar, was demolished by Hindus in 1991.In response to Godhara incident , allegedly Mr. Narendra Modi , Chief Minister of Gujarat, let loose the forces of arson on Muslims in the state holding them responsible for Godhara carnage. The entire Muslim community was held responsible for killing of Hindu kar sevaks in the train. For three days the state administration did not take any strict action and the Hindu goons had their field day. But it is not that simple – 250 Hindus also died in three days, indicating a violent retaliation by Muslims goons and a firing by the police. The army was also called out. After some days reports were lodged with police and cases went on tortuous journeys in Indian court famous for their legendry delays. However not more then 15 convictions have taken place in Gujarat carnage case due to usual lack of evidences and witnesses.

The root cause of this carnage may traced to Ayodhya demolition of Babri Masjid. This also makes holes in the theory that the Hindus and Muslims lived peacefully with each other under Muslim rulers for 600 years. Actually they lived with each other as rulers and subject with hegemony of Muslims. In 1947, India got the independence from British empire with bifurcation of the land between Hindu and Muslim communities. One part was Hindu dominated India and other was Muslim dominated Pakistan. Pakistan was further divided into two part in 1971 – Pakistan and Bangla Desh. The very reason for partition of India was the unwillingness of Muslims to live with Hindus in a democracy where they would be ruled by majority Hindu community. They could not be subordinates to their earlier subordinates!!!! A proof of ever existing general social harmony between Hindus and Muslims!

Both the communities have hidden hatred for each other due to past. And people talk of composite culture!!!!!!

The destruction of Babri Mosque was the result of hidden resentment of Hindus against their former rulers, the Muslims. It was for British to end the rule of Muslims over Hindus and establish India as a colony for themselves. India got independence in 1947 with bifurcation which turned into trifurcation in 1971 with recognition of Bangla Desh as a separate country which was carved out of the then Pakistan.

The resentment against Muslims started to come to surface with the development of theory of Hindutva by Savarkar in 1936 and Guruji Golwalkar who formed RSS (Rastriya SvyamSevak Sangh ) in 1936 also. The RSS was started as non-political party as a social organization but the sole aim was to oppose the Muslims not to oppose the British rule. The Hindutvavadi were ready to cross swords with a community no longer in power but not with the colonizers! It is similar with the case of Tulsidas , the great poet of Avadhi (a dilect of Hindi), who wrote the Hindu epic of Lord Ram in Avadhi. His creation is known as Ramcharit Manas. Tulsidas wrote openly against lower castes with a vengeance but not a single word against the rulers, the Muslims. Both the time powerless communities were targeted !! Nothing was written against the powerful people!!!

Anyway the political branch of RSS kept growing and emerged as BJP ( Bhartiya Janata Party) at national level in 1990s. The forces unleashed by history and exploited by BJP and RSS demolished the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. This mosque was looked at by the Hindus as symbol of insult and subjugation. It may be noted that the Hindus never gathered the courage to demolish this assumed piece of insult during last 400 years. Only when they came to power in a democratic system they dared to do this. The Muslims came to be a weaker community because they were in a minority in a democratic system.

The central govt looked on in silence and BJP govt in Uttar Pradesh orchestrated the demolition of the mosque turned into an insult symbol for Hindus. The same mosque was a religion and honor symbol for Muslims. This Babri masjid was built by the first Mughal king Babar from Chagtai lineage of Tamerlen and Genghis Khan . Both are known as blood thirsty tyrants with Gengis Khan having no parallel in the world history. He had Tatar blood from maternal side. He came to India at the invitation of Rana Sanga, a Rajput King in Rajasthan, to defeat the then Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi with whom Rana Sanga was having a running enmity. Ibrahim Lodhi, an Afghan, was ruling over the Muslim Kingdom over north India; this kingdom is known in history as Delhi Sultnat. Babar defeated Lodhi in the famous first battle of Panipat and captured Delhi throne. Rana Sanga was under the impression that Babar would leave after defeating Lodhi and that would leave Delhi sultnat free for him with he could capture with ease. But Babar came for good and also defeated Rana Sanga in a subsequent war of Kanhwa. He established a dynasty in India known as Mughal dynasty which was destined to last for full 200 years. The mosque at Ayodhya which is regarded as a holy place by millions of Hindus being the supposed birth place of Lord Ram (an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) was built by Babar.

Though the advocates of harmony between Hindus and Muslims harp on its ever existence the destruction of Hindu temples belies this. Following the law of the land under the coercive powers of state can not really be called a socially harmonious state. The Hindus compromised and got accustomed to their second class citizen status. But underlying antagonism was always there. And this underlying current of antagonism based on insults heaped upon Hindus erupted in 1991 in Ayodhya under the state govt. headed by BJP, the Hindu party. The philosophy of Hindutva grants second class citizenship to Muslim population. This can be stated to be direct confrontation to Indian Constitution which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion.

The opposition to demolition of Babri mosque from Hindus was by and large limited. It was limited to so called secular mainstream media consisting a few television channels and five –six major English newspapers. By and large the Hindu majority remained neutral or remained silent supporter of cause of Hindutva.

The absence of any opposition to demolition of this ancient relic (or cultural heritage) by Hindus, points towards clash of civilization in terms of Samuel P. Hutington. And this happened before Mr. Samuel P. Hutington could formulate his famous thesis about such confrontations.

In India the clash is not between Western Civilization and Muslim Civilization but between latter and Hindu civilization. The Hindu religious opposition to Muslim religion is now open and just not buried under the surface. The demolishers of cultural heritage (Babri mosque) have their own silent supporters which is clear in the absence of any outburst against this act of vandalism. The vandalism is actually supported by Hindus though nobody goes on record to say so, except very few. The Muslims on their side are not able to come out of their cocoon of holy Koran. They vehemently oppose the vandalism like all right minded people should do but their opposition is based on religious feeling which brings out the existence of fault lines along the religious frontiers. This also indicates absence of any general social harmony between these two religious communities. It is already said before that following the law of land under state’s coercive powers does not constitute a mutually harmonious way of living. The Hindu side refers it to as a demolition of disputed structure not an act of vandalism. This is in direct contravention to the concept of common culture.

One thing to be noted here is that generally the English media in India was anti-Hindutva and opposed the demolition of mosque. In doing so it opposed the Hindu thought of underlying current. Here we see Hindus against Hindus. Shall we call it an internal clash of civilization which is internal to Hindu society? We might as well do so.

Again with the sting operation by Tehelka led to repeat of the earlier sequences . Some supposedly vehement opposition by the secular media and secular forces and a feeble voice of protests by right minded people. And everything soon died out. The culprits or foot soldiers are, by and large, safe. There is no really effective demand for justice. Indeed this demolition and subsequent violence eruptions are not seen as a crime by Hindus. The state sponsored violence in Gujarat in aftermath of Godhara train buring incident is called as reaction to action. Thus any violence action by Muslims (planned or unplanned) will have a similar reaction. And the justice system has to look on as a bystander. The culprit/hero of the Gujarat carnage Modi is again likely to win the Gujarat election. His popularity among Gujarati Hindus has not gone down which indicates that his supporters look at the violent incidence against Muslims with vindication. The fault lines are complete along the religious lines. All the Muslims can do is to follow the law of land and give out an illusion of social harmony! No political party like Congress (ruling at the center) or any other party has come openly and vehemently in support of Tehelka sting, the Supreme Court is not interested in pursuing the case. The isolation of Muslims has come above the surface instead of lurking under it. All are like minded people!!!

Another thing which is to be seen that casteist Indian media is apparently taking sides of Muslim under the cover of secularism, anti-communalism and justice etc. The same casteist media does not provide any support to people suffering due to castesim. It blatantly denies the existence of caste discrimination but practices it nevertheless. When Mr. Kanshiram , the most notable leader of untouchables after B.R. Ambedkar died, it did not deserve a mention in the media. The political party he established , BSP bahujan Samaj Party, now hold the power in the larges state of India, Uttar Pradesh having a population of 160 millions. This man was supported by at lease 10 millions untouchables alone in Uttar Pradesh. And such a man gets one line mention on Television and Radio! And one line mention in newspapers on 9th or 14th page! And people of high castes get ream and reams of newspaper length and hour and hour on Television!

It is a strange case where a society does not like one of its members and flaunts the principles of secularism, equality and justice etc.

What shall we call it a case of clash of civilizations (Hindu and Muslim), along with a case of internal clash of civilization (traditional Hindus and secular Hindus) and a case of internal fractures of civilization (caste Hindus against untouchables.) ! Hindu response has such a convoluted structure!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Trent Frank and dalit bill in America - reservations?


Trent Frank, a Republican who represents the 2nd District of Arizona in the U.S. Congress, introduced a bill supporting the cause of dalits (former untouchables) in India in May 2007. The bill focuses on caste discrimination in India which to some people is like interference in internal matters of India. But the bill uses value of human lives to do so. In doing so America is acknowledging the existence of untouchability which the Indian Government has been white washing under the pretext Anti-untouchability law it has enacted. It is another thing this law is buried under the dust in rural India. The American bill internationalizes the issue of caste discrimination in India. It also speaks of dealing the issue through various International bodies.

Further people receiving funding from American government in India should be aware of this policy of stopping caste discrimination. Such people should not discriminate on the basis of caste. However, this bill is limited to people or groups receiving funds from United States of America government and not to private funding.

It also advises the American citizen dealing in India to not discriminate on the basis of caste.

Then we have the resolution of European Union (EU) which demand that the Council and the Commission give priority to promoting equal opportunities in employment in private EU-based companies and encouraging EU-based companies to implement the "Ambedkar Principles" (Employment and Additional Principles on Economic and Social Exclusion Formulated to assist All Foreign Investors in South Asia to Address Caste Discrimination).

Really speaking this has not caused much stir in India but it has wide potential.

Now American Multinational Companies, after establishing themselves firmly in India can demand to know the caste of applicants in order to implement affirmative action on American lines in India. The Microsoft, Oracle and Google etc. are candidates for this kind of action. The day the MNC start implementing affirmative action it will be a bad day for business corporations in India. This would amount to gross interference in Varna dharma of Hindu society and highly adharmic. But as people know this is Kaliyug the upper castes will have to bear with it. Even they my also join the process to show the world , especially USA and EU, their main business areas, that they are not inhuman or backward people and really believe in promoting equality in the society.

Even Infosys, the software giant in India, has taken up to train the untouchable candidates in their institutes in contrast to its earlier stand of counting only merit! It may be due to USA bill or threat of Indian govt. of forcing reservations in private sector of India.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Hindu ethos - Indian media

The India mainstream media which does not give a place to the views of untouchables and Shudras, is very much angered about the treatment given to Hindu religion in Californian school textbooks for the VI graders. In Indian media all the views about untouchables are given by upper caste Hindus journalist, reporters. Columnist and editors. May be their ethos prevent them from giving space to these people; all are ingrained in purity of Hindu religion.

However the same logic is not employed in case of study by Americans. As per their ways of working the American themselves are entitled form a view about Hindu religion which is required to be taught in American schools.

However, as we have seen in previous posting dated 7 October 2007 that certain aspects of Hindu religion are too inhuman and cruel to be taught to VI graders with impressionable minds. Actually untouchability and sati system should not be taught to anybody below 18 years of age anywhere. However, in India the untouchability can be taught to both upper caste and lowest caste children right from childhood; no schooling is needed here; the sick society is itself the teacher. Such a thing is integral part of Hinduism. Nobody in rural India can challenge it! It is a truly rich and spiritual heritage of which everyone is pride of whether in India or abroad. To show this Indian diaspora is divided into many castes, the society structure taken from their roots, the great spiritual land - the India, and taken to materialistic West. But these Western people are not willing to leave India’s internal matters as it is and mind their own business.

However, Pioneer Columnist Sandhya Jain is very critical of the role of Witzel and his role in Californian school textbook controversy. She alleges that all this is an agenda of Hindu haters and Christian converts. It looks like speaking against Hindu religion essentially means hating, not the criticism or protest or dissent. The pure Hindu religion should not be criticized even if for the practice of sati and untouchability. Both depict the inhuman cruelty inherent in the structure of Hindu society.

Further she warns of bad effect Western world on Hinduism as follows,

“Any attempt to accord primacy to secular education and employment (Mammon) is counter to the Hindu ethos wherein the hierarchy of values (varnas) ranks mercantile and wealth-generating groups (Vaishya varna) as third, well after spiritual preceptors (Brahmin) and those who uphold the power of the state (Kshatriya).”


The concept of secularism and materialism (Mammon) will destroy the inhuman hierarchy of Hindu religion!!!! Its civilizational ethos of hierarchy are in grave danger if lower castes learn about equality and if they castes are given the jobs which make them financially well off. With the concept the lower castes will challenge the varna (values!) system and with material success they will not obey the upper three Varnas! She does not want the wealth, power and lawmaking (the Brahmins are the lawmakers of Hindus) to go to lower castes. So evidently hates the concepts of equality and elimination of poverty. Well if that is true then she hates 80% of Hindus. Of course she belongs to mercantile class and looks down upon lower castes with contempt and hate. This is founding principle of Hinduism which should essentially pass as great virtuous quality of Hindu religion.

It seems like that she is really an integral part of privileged upper castes in ancient sense and not so ancient, Hindu civilization is still a continuous Civilization where there is no place for 1/5 of the society.!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

California school books - righteous Hindu way !

The Indian Diaspora takes the image of Hindu religion very seriously. In 2006 it tried to get the changes made in the school textbooks for VI standard in California, United State of America. California is one of the biggest and trend setting states in America. It creates a demand for 12-15 % of books in America. So it is quite influential.

The alleged negative image of Hinduism has been a matter of grave concern to high caste Hindus in America. The image created by these school textbooks has been such that it had a negative psychological impact on Hindu school children. The white students are said to be making fun of Hindu student over casteism, untouhcability, sati , widows and women?s right etc. As it happened many times the 11 years old Hindu American school children came to their homes almost in tears and complained that they were being taunted in the class for coming from a culture where untouchability is practiced and women have fewer rights than men. This isolation and taunting was allegedly having an adverse effect on children of impressionable age.

Some people decided to do something about and started protesting. Texas based VF (Vedic Foundation) and HEF (Hindu Education Foundation) complained against this stating a bias the textbooks against Hindus. The portrayal of Hindu religion was supposed to be faulty and prejudiced. According to them the changes should be made according to wishes of the practitioners of Hindu religions. The Hindu religions should not be taught in a bad light. The good things of Hindu religion should also be emphasized. The California Department of Education and State Board of Education entertained their requests and agreed to make the changes (edits) suggested by them.

The California State Law states.

?1. Adverse Reflection. No religious belief or practice may be held up to ridicule and no religious group may be portrayed as inferior.?

2. Indoctrination. Any explanation or description of a religious belief or practice should be present in a manner that does not encourage or discourage belief or indoctrinate the student in any particular religious belief.?

Here the Hindu Americans claim the textbooks emphasize on the negatives of Hindu religion. Thank goodness they do not claim that there are no problems within Hindu society. And discrimination based on caste and untouchability does not prevail in India because there are laws against them in India.

The books for VI graders are supposed to be a negative influence by teaching them the gross and inhumane disabilities imposed on untouchables. Such a thing may not be digestible to American children since they are brought up in an environment of equality. It is country where whites fought against whites to end the slavery and about 5 to 7 millions lost their lives in the process. Such a thing can not be seen to happened in Hindu society. Freedom and liberty of untouchables are suppressed by the upper castes who are protesting against the school textbook portrayal of oppressed untouchables. These people or Indian Diaspora practice casteism in America, Britain and other places and want a clean picure of Hindu society. They do not their children to get taunted in class over untouchability but teach them casteism in social behavior in their own circle. There are separate temples for different castes in foreign countries. These people anyway deny the existence of caste in India. To show this they do not have single Dalit in their hallowed circle. These people shielded by caste system find nothing wrong with the system. Even Mahatama Gandhi was a staunch supporter of caste system though he opposed untouchability.

An 11 year old feels shameful on learning negative things about his religion, his glorious heritage.

But what about the shame which the Hindu religion thrusts upon million of untouchables since birth to death? At least in California they wait for 11 years to tell a person a thing here in India they start right at the birth. This creates stunting of personalities among untouchables and an inferiority complex which become an embedded part of their personalities. The advocates of changes in history books are actually favoring telling of lies! And of course nobody should utter a word about human rights.

The upper caste parents always lie to their children and present a glorious picture. They never talk about negative things but ingrain negative feeling about low caste people in them! The traumatic lives of untouchable never mattered to these people who are sensitive to their own portrayal in negative terms with accuracy.

The biased academics were said to be asked to give their views and unbiased people from Hindu sides (many of those who have opinion that caste system and untouchability never existed in India.)

In practice Hinduism is polytheism but in theory it is monotheism.

In fact the casteism and associated untouchability are in fact too inhuman to be taught to VI graders. These should be removed from the school textbook meant for them. However their parents can teach them this since these young and impressionable minds are 5 or 6 years old. Again sati system is also too inhuman to be known by such young and soft minds. Inhumanity in Hinduism is too much for VI graders but not bad enough to be taught at home.

Then we have the philosophy of Hinduism such as Karma, birth and rebirth. and the philosophy given Upnishids. These philosophy are too abstract and complex to be taught to such young minds. So these should also not be taught to them. There should be no mention of polytheism and monotheism because these are again complex and debatable points.

There should be no mention of coming of Aryans and also the fact that they leaned agriculture from natives of India. Otherwise how the gloriousness of Hinduism can be shown?

So what remains is the mention of four Vedas, Varna system without heredity aspect and Hindu holy trinity BrahmA , VishnU and Mahesh. With this the introduction to Hindu religion should be over. It should not take more than one page.

The major part of Hinduism is not fit for VI graders and should be removed from the syllabus of the Californian schools. Actually the Hinduism should not be taught to students below 18 years. Its inhuman aspects are strictly meant for adults though in Indian villages an untouchable child learns them at a tender age of 4 or 5 when he faces derogatory remark about his caste and learns that voluntary submission is the best way to deal with these people whose kith and kin protest a lot in America! Disowning the heritage is very quick when you are dealing with Americans and a matter of pride when dealing with untouchables either in India or abroad. It is all fair with absence of justice.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Everybody is casteist in Hindu Society

Caste is what decides the fate of a hindu . Caste decides what should be his social circle

What should he eat. With whom he should eat. With whom he should marry. To whom he should respect. And whom he should treat with contempt. And of course this system is heaven for some and hell for some. The hindu society is divided into five broad social groups. Graded in descending order they are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas , Shudras and Antyajas. The last group is also known as untouchable group. The untouchable now call them selves Dalit ( Crushed people ) . The untouchability has been abolished in law but it still persist beyond cities’ limits. The law is helpless, in this it has the help of disinterested law-upholders.

The caste discrimination is rampant in villages but in cities it takes sophisticated ways.

This so called timeless wretched system has made the lives of millions of dalits hell. They are the ultimate victims. Though there is government support to them in form of reservation in educational and government institutions.

We will examine the extent of prevailing of casteism in Hindu society. Is it limited to only upper strata or the others are also its practitioners? The upper strata consist of three higher varnas also called twice-born for they are eligible for thread ceremony. The lower two strata are not eligible for thread ceremony indicating their lower status as compared to twice-born. The fourth stratum of Shudras is superior to Dalits. The dalits are condemned to live a wretched life. Nobody bothers because it suits everybody’s ends.

As it happened after India received independence , most of the upper caste people moved to cities. It was mainly due to land reforms under which the land was given to tillers. These tillers were the Shudras or what is now called landed backward castes. Now these castes are evidently oppressing the Dalits.

Now the question is that why should the Shudra who were earlier poor should commit atrocities on landless Dalits. In this regard it may be seen that poor upper caste people are never at the receiving end of this kind of exploitation. It is reserved only for the Dalits.

Now what ails the society? How come the victims of the system ( Shudras – the fourth Varna) are not ready to fight it out and demolish it? In the line of their earlier exploiters (upper castes) the new landed Shudra castes are behaving in a similar manner. These newly landed Shudras were tillers not long ago and thus a victim of the system and were living at the mercy of upper castes.

The reason for this is very simple. It is not very perplexing. The idea about elimination of caste is the same for all the castes and individuals. This common idea can be described as follows. But before that let us see what the caste structure is. The caste system in India is a hierarchal system of different castes which are endogamous in nature. Each caste has a given heredity occupation and a heredity based purity and social standing. The purity decreases downward the caste scale and increases upward the caste scale.

The common idea of abolishing the caste of each caste is that the each caste wants to be equal to castes higher than it and maintain its superiority in comparison to still lower castes. Like a Jat wants to be equal to twice-born but at the same time maintain his superiority over lower castes to him. And same likewise Yadavs or a Reddys or even Chamars. Ironically the Chamars are untouchable themselves. So everybody wants to solve the caste system for himself only. Everybody wants a change where he is not badly affected but gains out of it. Everybody demands equality for himself but denies it to those below him.

This same common idea full of self-interest prevents the people of castes on higher scale to unite with the people with castes on lower scale. Since everybody is doing it, no unity against caste system is achieved. And in the absence of such united opposition the caste system thrives on.

Such a common idea actually means down ward discrimination by all the castes including Chamars. The Chamar discriminates against Bhangi but wants equality and respect from castes higher to him. There is inherent inner contradiction in such a selfish solution to abolish the caste. The lowest caste in the system ( Bhangi) can not do it because it does not get a chance. Therefore it is futile to say that only upper caste practice caste discrimination while others are not the culprit.

This kind of behavior is the reason for which the landed Shudras discriminate against still lower caste and so on downward. The discrimination is pushed down and down till it engulfs whole of the society and all the castes.

Thus it can be said that all the people in Hindu society are casteists whether they belong to the higher most caste or the lower most caste. And with such a situation and thinking there is little hope for equality in the society.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Ram Sethu - man made or natural ?


The politics of India sometime moves along with religious lines.

Seemingly a bridge (or a chain of islands) between India and Ceylone ( Sri Lanka) which joins these two countries under the sea is a bone of contention between political parties like Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and DMK. Between religious forces and secular forces.


BJP is know for Hindutva ideology which says India is for Hindus only and others are second class. Congress takes pride in its secular credentials and DMK and it leader M. Karunanidhi are very well known for theirs anti-hindu-scripture stance. BJP and Congress are national level political parties and DMK is a regional level party; its influence is limited to the state of Tamilnadu.

The bridge, at the southern tip of India, is known as Ram Sethu or Adam’s bridge.

The sea along the bridge is shallow and it makes it difficult for ships to cross this bridge. Only small boats can cross this structure. There is project known as Sethusamandrum which is for dredging the sea and make it deeper by breaking this bridge. This is supposed to make short the travel time of ships when going from east to west or vice versa. Otherwise the ships have to take a longer route going via the southern end of Sri Lanka. This deepening of sea will result in saving of fuel and man days.

However , Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy approached Supreme Court Of India urging it to stop the destruction of bridge or shoals . The reason for this was that this tombolo or bridge (or a chain of islands ) according to popular religious belief was made by armies of Lord Ram of Ayodhya to attack Lanka to get back his wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana. Ravana was a demon king who had kidnapped Sita to avenge the insult done to his sister Superanakha at the hands of Lakshman. Lakshmana was the younger brother of Lord Ram who cut off the nose of Superanakha when the latter expressed her love for Lakshmana. This story is given in Ramayana which is a Hindu religious epic. The mainstream historians consider this epic to be a part of Hindu mythology since so far no evidence of such a ruler or event had been discovered. However the fringe historians with a religious faith considers it to be a true story and a part of Hindu history. They consider Lord Ram to be historical figure where no evidence exists in favor of such a view.

Now this bridge built according to religious belief of Hindus by Lord Ram , the sixth Avtar of Lord Vishnu has caused turbulence in India and it has become national and political issue.

But whether this bridge is really man made. This bridge seems to be a hydromechanical structure of Coral and sand. Carbonated mounds are found along with marine sand. Sand is supposed to be on the top most layer then there are corals then again sand and below them are the hard rocks. Now this sand in between corals and hard rock seems to have created some confusion. According Dr. Badrinaryan , the noted geologist, the former director of Geological Survey of India and former coordinator of the survey division of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Ministry of Earth Science, in Chennai (NIOT), this type of formation is possible only when the boulders have been brought from some where else and planted on the sand because corals grow only on hard rocks. Thus according to him the structure is man made. Please see his interview here .

Further it coincides with the time when the war of Lord Ram with Lanka king Ravana is supposed to have taken place.

Regarding the layered structure of this tombolo ( a strip joining two land mass divided by sea) it may be stated that it is not necessary to have a thick impenetrable core for a reef or corals. The corals do have some porosity. Where the porous part is filled up by the carbonated materials then we have a compact structure. Otherwise we have a porous core though a little bit. When this porous core is eroded due to waves and accumulation of marine sand then a more porous structure is born. As a result caves in coral reefs are not unknown. Further variation of these porous cores are the development of large voids in them due to hydromechanical forces . The carbonated debris erode and give way to voids. Sometime a structure is created which is known as pillar and roof structure of reef or corals.

So first there is hard rock and then corals grew over it. These rocks and coral growth is near to a land mass. The corals die and a thick carbonated structure is created over the rocks. Then hydromechanical forces erode the lower part of the carbonate stones and wash away the carbonated debris. This creates voids large enough to make a pillar and roof structure. Then strong sea waves bring the sand and deposit it in the void and fill it up completely. Then under hydromechnical pressure the carbonated pillars break down and mix with the sand. It happens slowly and the top most carbonate stones do not have time to come down. It rests on the pillars till the sand fully takes the place of pillars after they turn into debris. After sometime the sand is deposited on the top of carbonated stones or boulders. Then a team under our Dr. Badrinarayan goes to drill the structure and finds the layered structure with marine sand in between hard rock and corals and proclaims, unscientifically, that the bridge is a man made structure. Whereas it is totally due to natural forces and a structure of sand, shoals, carbonated boulders and hard rock. It is completely nature made with no artificial hand in it.

Then one more thing is that the corals are found on the side of Gulf of Mannar to the west side of Sethu and not on the side of Palk strait to the east of Sethu. It is so because the waves in Gulf of Mannar are calm and quiet and corals grow only in peaceful sea. The sea in Palk Strait is rough and tough so the corals do not grow there because they can not survive there.

The above is also in line with the natural forces and not the artificial forces. If the bridge or tombolo was man made then the coral or carbonate boulders should have been on both the side not only one natural side. They lie on natural side which is proof of their natural build up.

But Dr. Badrinarayan ignores all this and claims it to be a man made structure. This blows up the religious feeling of the people. Or the elites of Hindus and their followers want to claim it as an astonishing engineering feat of their forefathers where there is none.

Then it was all started by photograph taken by NASA which clearly show a tombolo between India and Sri Lanka. NASA has already said that it is not possible to say whether this was man made or natural. However it prefers to call it a tombolo which is joining strip between two land masses divided by sea.

Thus it can safely be concluded that Adam’s bridge is natural structure and not man made.

But this rational reasoning is not enough to calm the religious voices of unreason and a resultant chaos in India both in political and religious terms. Truly the Indians do not have the scientific temper.