From: "Vrin Parker " Mailing-List: list vediculture@yahoogroups.com Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2003 02:11:33 -0000 Subject: [world-vedic] Arundati Roy EXPOSED FROM SULEKHA.COM Writing about the Gujarat riots, Arundhati Roy had this to say (Outlook, May 6,2002). "A mob surrounded the house of ex-Congress MP Iqbal Ehsan Jaffri. His phone calls to the director-general of police, the police commissioner, the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary (home) were ignored. The mobile police vans around his house did not intervene. The mob broke into the house. They stripped his daughters and burnt them alive. Then they beheaded Jaffri and dismembered him." The description is graphic; the veracity of the incident taken almost for granted coming from a writer of Arundhati Roy's reputation. But, alas, that's where we make the mistake. Fame and honesty are not interlinked as the following paragraph clearly indicates. Jaffri was killed in the riots but his daughters were neither 'stripped' nor 'burnt alive.' T.A. Jafri, his son, in a front-page interview titled Nobody knew my father's house was the target (Asian Age, May 2, Delhi edition), says, "among my brothers and sisters, I am the only one living in India. And I am the eldest in the family. My sister and brother live in the US. I am 40 years old and I have been born and brought up in Ahmedabad." So if Ehsan Jaffri had only one daughter (singular) who was safe and sound in the US, where did Roy get her facts about not one, but daughters (plural) being stripped and burnt? Was it the fantasy of a writer's mind? Or was it willful deceit aimed at maligning her ideological adversaries? Arundhati Roy did apologise for her mistake in a letter published in Outlook May 27, 2002. Could this have been a genuine mistake, one is tempted to ask? But when such 'mistakes' occur periodically, the chances of them being accidental appear remote. They appear to be in fact calculated machinations aimed at achieving a specific goal as the following incident further proves. In the same article, Roy claims. Last night a friend from Baroda called. Weeping. It took her fifteen minutes to tell me what the matter was. It wasn't very complicated. Only that Sayeeda, a friend of hers, had been caught by a mob. Only that her stomach had been ripped open and stuffed with burning rags. Only that after she died, someone carved 'OM' on her forehead." Disturbed by the thought of such a ghastly act, Balbir Punj (a BJP MP) had this matter investigated. In Outlook (Jul 08, 2002) he wrote. Shocked by this despicable 'incident,' I got in touch with the Gujarat Government. The police investigations revealed that no such case, involving someone called Sayeeda, had been reported either in urban or rural Baroda. Subsequently, the police sought Roy's help to identify the victim and seek access to witnesses who could lead them to those guilty of this crime. But the police got no cooperation. Instead, Roy, through her lawyer, replied that the police had no power to issue summons. Why is she hedging behind technical excuses?" So when asked to prove her allegations, Arundhati Roy developed cold feet; definitely not the attitude of a crusader for truth. Similarly you must have read some accounts of what preceded Godhra. There were wild accounts of an altercation between Ram sevaks and Muslim stall-owners, and of the abduction of a Muslim girl by Ram sevaks. All this emanated on the basis of a fictitious e-mail as revealed by Prem Shankar Jha (Outlook, March 25) From: "Vrin Parker " Mailing-List: list vediculture@yahoogroups.com Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2003 02:19:19 -0000 Subject: [world-vedic] Honolulu Weekly's Anti-Hindu Piece NOTE:Please print my response. I know its lengthy yet Arundati Roy's article needs to be challenged. As the VP of the Vedic Friends Association http://www.vedicfriends.org/affiliate_writers.htm I frequently visit India and have a close working relationship with the orgs and people that your paper is slandering. I recently got back from a tour of India and was previliged to see first hand the many wonderful and positive things the RSS is doing for India. If you need to call me to verify my credentials please do...at 808 879 5781. I can give you solid referances to confirm my knowledge in these issues. Dear Editor, As a longtime Hawaii Vedic/Hindu promoter, I was shocked to read Arundati Roy's virulent anti-hindu article. Your paper has always been very supportive of multiculturism. Therefore I feel it is only just to let your readers know some very valid information in regards to the credibility of Arundati Roy. As a wellknown Hindu-baiter she can not be trusted to accurately report the facts. She has a vested interest in supressing the Hindu renaisance. This renaisance represents the first time in 500 years that an indigenous culture has achieved political power on a global scale. To put it into a local perspective, imagine if the Hawaiian people were a majority and actually managed to acheive political control of Hawaii. That is what has happened in India. After 800 years of foreign rule, first by the (Muslims) Persians, Arabs and Mongols, then by the British and finally by the Westernized anti-hindu Indians like Arundati Roy, the Hindus, 85% of the population, have finally achieved political power. Amazingly this was done by the ballot and not the bullet. Arundati Roy's ludicrous attempt to tie the RSS and BJP to the current anti-Bush and anti-America mood is illogical. The USA has been one of the biggest obstacles towards India acheiving political power. At this moment, America is building up Pakistan at the expense of India's security. Her statement about India's government selling off India is innacurate. The fact is the RSS completely disagrees with Privatization in most cases. The current privitization issue is actually causing a major rift amongst the Hindu leadership. Arun Shourie, the goverment minister heading the privatization effort, has fallen out of favor with the RSS because of this very privatization drive A.Roy accuses the Hindu leadership of. Finally, do the Hindus have any legitamate grievances? Lets see....the British based constitution gives Muslims the right to live outside the civil code so a Muslim male can marry upto 4 wives, divorce any of them on a whim and pay alimony for only 3 months. Hindus marry only one wife and can not divorce whimsically. Muslim and Christian schools and organizations do not have to report any of their finances. The Government of India funds all Muslim and Chrsitian schools while Hindus must pay fees and go thru excessive red tape to open schools. Hindu organizations and Temples must explain every single cent they have. No Hindus receive free pilgramage trips while the Government pays for every Indian Muslim to visit Mecca. This is all done in the name protecting minorities. All Muslim and Christian religious centers are run independently while all ancient Hindu temples are controlled by the Indian Government. All donations recieved at these Hindu temples are taken by the government and in many cases used to fund non-Hindu interests. When the BJP/RSS tried to create a uniform civil code that treats all Indians equally, the USA threatened India with sanctions for threatening the religious rights of Muslims. To this day, the Indian government has not been able to correct the injustice of the current Indian constitution. Below is some very relevant information we have to share on Arundati Roy's lack of credibility on these issues.Please click link below. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vediculture/message/4102 From: "Vrin Parker " Mailing-List: list vediculture@yahoogroups.com Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2003 03:53:42 -0000 Subject: [world-vedic] Arundhati Roy's Allegations Debunked Note this is my updated,very detailed and referanced rebuttal to Arundhati Roy's Article.Vrin Dear Friends, I have put together a rebuttal to Arundathi Roy's defamation of the RSS-The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangam or the National Selfless Service or Volunteer Association. http://www.rss.org/ Arundathi writes: India - the world's biggest democracy - is currently at the forefront of the corporate globalization project. Its "market" of one billion people is being prized open by the WTO. Corporatization and Privatization are being welcomed by the Government and the Indian elite. My response:This is a blatantly false statement. India has been at the forefront of battling the WTO for a fair deal. So much so that "Several African countries want India to lead the campaign to safeguard the interests of the developing nations, encouraged by New Delhi's tough stand at the recently-concluded Geneva parleys on agriculture at World Trade Organization (WTO). More than a dozen African countries including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Morocco have urged India to take a lead in all future WTO negotiations on agriculture to build a common strategy against flooding of farm items from advanced nations threatening their domestic agriculture." source http://www.indiaexpress.com/news/business/20030202-0.html A.Roy labels the BJP as "the men who signed the deal with Enron in India." Actually they battled Enron relentlessly and saw the collapse of Enron as a great victory for India. Being a political issue, its not as simple as that. "Even US Vice-President Dick Cheney has intervened with Indian leaders on behalf of Enron and so must have others." http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020121/edit.htm : http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/95/0818/nat1.html Manohar Joshi, chief minister of Maharashtra, India's richest state, scrapped a controversial $2.9 billion power project by the U.S. multinational, Enron Corp. Joshi, whose two-party Hindu nationalist alliance defeated Rao's Congress (I) party in state elections in March, said his government was canceling the second phase of the project and rejecting the first-phase contract already in force. According to Joshi, the project was too expensive, environmentally hazardous and "militated against the self-esteem of the people of Maharashtra." The repeal of the Enron deal, India's largest foreign investment project ever, was a major blow to Rao's four-year drive to open up India's economy. And it revealed just how vulnerable Rao's free-market reforms are to the nation's shifting political winds. Enron's 2,015-megawatt power plant was sanctioned in 1993 by a Maharashtra government headed by Sharad Pawar, a powerful Congress party satrap. The project was also approved by the Congress-led federal government, whose endorsement is mandatory by law. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1351100.stm But it was not the experts, it was the politicians who took the decisions on Enron. The project became a political football that was kicked into touch by the right wing Hindu Bharatya Janata Party or BJP when they were in opposition, but was revived after fresh negotiations when they were elected. Now that the BJP no longer rules Maharashtra, the government is anxious to rid itself of the burden of purchasing Enron's expensive power. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1351100.stm http://www.bjp.org/pomi.htm The BJP speaks for itself on the issue. Arundathi writes:The RSS is a right wing, ultra-nationalist Hindu guild which has openly admired Hitler and his methods. My reply:This is such an outrageous statement but ignoring it won't settle the issue. First, believing in Race or body type above and beyond the Soul is completely against Hindu philosophy. So there is no question of racism on the part of the RSS. The RSS was founded in 1925 long before Hitler assumed power and there is no connection. Hitler despised Indians and glorified the rule of millions of Indians by the British. The Nazi movements abuse of the sacred Hindu/Buddhist Swastika and the term Aryan is considered a horrible travesty by the Hindus. The word Aryan is actually Arya and has nothing to do with race but is rather the term applied to those of noble character regardless of race or social status. The British were the first to invent the idea of an Aryan race. This idea was seized upon by the Nazis and to this day two of Hinduism most sacred ideals are now seen as racist and hateful. I challenge anyone to find one positive quote by any Hindu leader about Hitler's philosophy. Of course, during WWII many colonized people around the world saw Hitler as a great man, not for his philosophy but because he was the first person to finally punish the arrogant British Empire. After the truth about the Holocaust was revealed, no Hindu supported Hitler. The founder of the RSS, Dr Hedgewar passed away in 1940 long before the end of the war and therefore he never knew about the effect of Hitler on the world. He however has never been on record in support of Hitler. Hitler's book Mein Kamph is very derogatory about Hindus and he refused to remove these statements when requested by the Anti-British Indian leader Netaji Subash Bose. Arundathi Roy's arrogance assumes that her statements are reality without offering any proof. This is pure slander at its lowest level. Its like calling the NAACP KKK admirers just because you don't agree with them. A. Roy claims: Hundreds of impoverished farmers are committing suicide by consuming pesticide. Reports of starvation deaths are coming in from all over the country. I reply: This is nonsense and another blatant lie. Rather than a lack of food, for the first time in hundreds of years, India is completely self sufficient in grain production. There have been distribution issues but they have been blown out of proportion by an anti-hindu elite that is dedicated to discrediting the amazing success of the BJP Central Govt. Also the BJP only controls the Center and Gujarat and being a real democracy India's states have almost total control of their individual regions. So to blame the Central Government for all of India's problems is highly unjust. I would like to see any other country manage over a billion people, have over 70,000 citizens killed by terrorists, an ancient infrastructure, surrounded by enemies and still progress democratically. China couldn't do it so they chose the genocidal path of Maoism and still India has nearly caught up with them.The fact is the current BJP government of India has been one of the most beneficial for India in hundreds of years. This very fact outrageous anti-Hindus like A.Roy, thus the campaign of slander and demonization. Here is a verifiable list of the BJP Government's Agricultural achievements. Achieved a record foodgrain production of 208.88 mt in 1999-2000. Largest fruit producer (48 mt), coconut (13 billion nuts) and second largest producer of vegetables (67.28mt). Largest producer of milk in world (78.1 mt). Second in production of rice (89.4 mt). Wheat production 75.57 mt (1999-2000). Largest area in world under pulses. First to evolve cotton hybrid. Largest producer of sugarcane (309.31 mt). Possesses more than 56% of the buffaloes in world (8.42 million) and ranks first in respect of cattle and buffalo, second in goats, third in sheep and seventh in poultry population (31,320 million egg production during 1999-2000). Sixth largest producer of fish in world (55.81 lakh tonnes). First place in global production of bananas, mangoes, coconuts and cashew. Horticulture production-fruits, vegetables, flowers, cashew, spices account for 25% of total agri-exports. National Agriculture Policy announced to attain an annual growth rate of 4% plus. States consulted in preparation of Action Plan for implementation of Policy. Launched regionally differentiated growth strategy for doubling food production in 10 years to ensure food and nutritional security. Under macro-management, 27 on going centrally sponsored schemes integrated to promote decentralised planning in agriculture. National Agriculture Insurance Scheme introduced to cover more farmers, more crops and more risks. Basis to be Panchayat level. Network of agri-clinics and agri-business centres by agriculture graduates taken-up to extend self-employment opportunities and reach of agriculture research upto farmers. 100 percent centrally sponsored National Project for Cattle and Buffalo breeding cleared, to preserve and improve important indigenous breeds of cattle and buffalo and to upgrade non-descript breeds. Seafood exports crossed Rs 4,500 crore. Amendment to multi-State Cooperative Act to provide more autonomy and powers to cooperative sector on the anvil. Draft of National Policy on Food Processing prepared to ensure waste reduction, remunerative prices to farmers, price stability, employment potential and to simplify and harmonize existing multifarious laws. Launched - Jai Vigyan National Science and Technology Mission on Conservation of Agro-biodiversity, and on household food and nutritional security. 27 Mission mode projects operationalised under National Agricultural Technology Project, for focussed research on issues of critical importance. A total of 61,015 samples of diverse germplasm procured from 63 countries. Data on all conserved accessions computerized in National Gene Bank. A.Roy writes: Hindu nationalism and religious fascism. It is conducting nuclear tests, rewriting history books, burning churches, and demolishing mosques. Censorship, surveillance, the suspension of civil liberties and human rights, the definition of who is an Indian citizen and who is not, particularly with regard to religious minorities, is becoming common practice now. I reply: The only thing Hindus do not tolerate is demonizing their ancient culture. No one will tolerate this. The fact is of all the world's major religions only Hinduism and Buddhism have a record of tolerance. That's why the Fire worshipers of pre-Islamic Persia ran to India and are now called Parsis and are some of the most successful people in India. The Jews stated that one of the only countries in the world that they have never been persecuted in is India. http://www.shashitharoor.com/articles/hindu/research.html India has been a Nuclear power since 1974. The program was begun under the very secular Indira Gandhi and headed by a Muslim so to portray it as a Hindu fundamentalist backed project is another ludicrous statement. As concerned leaders of a threatened country, India's leaders had no choice but to carry out and develop a powerful arsenal. China invaded India and feels threatened by the Dalai Lama issue. Pakistan invaded India 4 times. Unlike the United States, China, and Pakistan, India has a `No First Use Policy' and has agreed to end nuclear tests. Surrounded by aggressive neighbors with a record of violence: China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India has no choice but to defend itself. To do otherwise would mean the end of India as a nation. She calls the RSS/BJP right-wing, ultra-nationalists. These are just terms used to discredit anyone with traditional values and goals. If the great American Indian leaders Tecumseh, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Chiefs Joseph and Seattle were alive today, A.Roy would probably label them as ultra right-wing nationalists as well. The RSS are modern Indian traditionalists and like the great American Indian leaders, the RSS struggles to promote, protect, and preserve their ancient Hindu culture. Rather than the horrific image being fabricated by A. Roy and her allies, the Marxists, Maoists, Jihadi's and anti-Hindu secularists, the RSS represents India's role in the global indigenous renaissance. By having been elected to the Central Government of India, the RSS/BJP have achieved something wonderful - Indigenous power on a global level for the first time in five hundred years. China's adoption of genocidal Marxist/Maoism is an abandonment of its ancient traditions and subservience to a Western Ideology. Japan's consumerism and capitalism is also not a traditional Asian value system. Only India, under the RSS/BJP rule can claim to be confronting modern problems within a native Hindu civilization context. People like A. Roy, in the guise of concerned Humanism, are trying to strip India of its right to be Indian. The values of traditional Hindu India are the reason India can have over a billion people and still have room enough for tigers, the last population of Asian lions, rhinos, and elephants plus take in hundreds of thousands of Tibetan and Bangladeshi refugees. Roy says Nationalism as if it's a vulgar word, but it is simply the logical reality of a people wanting to keep their own house in order. Is the family that focuses on its own needs and issues to be considered morally corrupt? No, rather the family that does not tend to its own needs becomes a burden to society. In the same way, a nation that loses its identity and can not defend or progress itself disrupts the planet as a whole. Thus Nationalism is a healthy and necessary function. A. Roy's claim of dismantling democracy as a goal of the RSS is illogical. It is actually her attempt to disrupt democracy by using her name and fame to instill fear in the Indian electorate. It is ancient Hindu India that is on the record as the World's first democratic system. http://www.infinityfoundation.com/ECITdemocracyindiaframeset.htm As a dedicated Hindu organization, the RSS is naturally promoting Hindu India's ancient democratic values. As for changing History books - that's what happens when new information is discovered. I'm sure A. Roy isn't demanding India's children to be force fed outdated and incorrect information? India's secular Supreme Court agreed the changes are valid, correct and necessary. She mentions burning churches, demolishing mosques as if that is all it takes to prove her case. Is she some divine being whose words weigh more than the truth? Investigation after investigation has shown that all the `supposed' RSS backed anti-Christian attacks were all based on individual vendettas and grudges, and had nothing to do with religion. http://www.sulekha.com/articledesc.asp?cid=3D290065 However, the media, without any proof, prints allegations against Hindus and then refuses to publish the facts once the investigation is over. If there is anyone to blame for the violence, it is the secular media and people like A. Roy who abuse their fame to stir up fear, anger, hatred, and violence by maliciously slandering the innocent. The one mosque that was demolished ten years ago had not been in use for forty-five years and not one person died. Meanwhile, over seventy thousand Indians have been massacred by terrorists and A. Roy sees that as trivial compared to the demolition of an old, unused mosque considered unusable by most Muslims. Even the `big evil boogey-man' Saddam Hussein considers it a trivial issue compared to the real dangers facing Muslim civilization. Roy claims censorship. This is probably in regard to various books and movies that have been made to slander and pervert the image of India's ancient culture. Even these instances were done in order to stop people from rioting, rather than thought control. The government has been censoring anti-Muslim and Christian publications on a much more frequent basis than it censors anti-Hindu items. This is done in the name of protecting the sentiments of the minority. Meanwhile, India's real minority, its Tribal people, are being subject to cultural and physical genocide by conversion and terrorism. Roy mentions surveillance and suspension of civil rights. Well, too bad Roy, that's what a country must do when groups like SIMI (Student Islamic Movement of India) have declared Jihad against India until every Hindu is either dead or converted. "The SIMI was said to be closely associated with the Saudi Arabia, Riyadh-based World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY).' http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/09/28/stories/0228000a.htm http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/simi.htm http://www.kashmirherald.com/profiles/simi.html Such groups gave up their own civil rights and demand surveillance by repeatedly engaging in aggressive violent behavior. The innocent citizen's rights must be protected and thus India's government was forced to act. A.Roy faults the RSS on their definition of who is an Indian citizen. That's quite ironic when their definition is extremely broad and all encompassing. They see all Indians, regardless of religion, to be Hindus, because Hinduism is a way of life and not a religious belief system. A.Roy casually mentions two thousand victims of a "state sponsored pogram." Again she seems to demand our acceptance of her statement as fact just because she said it. She has already publicly apologized for making false statements in this regard. None of the horrific claims made have been proven, but actually it's quite the opposite. All of these outrageous claims have been proven false. No doubt riots happened as they have ever since the British instituted their divide and rule policy, but to blame it on Narendra Modi CM of Gujarat is legal slander and libel. Actually, over eighty percent of Gujarat was peaceful and the claims of organized pogroms are pure propaganda originating from the offices of Pakistan's Secret Service: ISI, the infamous founder of the Taliban. Roy ignores the burning alive of nearly fifty Hindu women and children that precipitated the riots. This proves her bias. The only difference between March 2002's Gujarat riots and many other riots is the political spin it has been given by the Ideological adversaries of India's Hindu Renaissance. It is quite shameful and beneath the dignity of one such as A. Roy to take advantage of suffering and death to enhance her reputation. The fact is, she is assuming the role of the wise Indian Guru and talking down to us Westerners as if we are ignorant fools. She is taking advantage of the sincere efforts of the alternative western culture's ideals and hopes to belittle our intelligence with her unverifiable accusations. Forgetting the democratic value of innocent until proven guilty, she has crowned herself judge, jury, and executioner, and she lets the facts be damned. She sees herself as an elite above and beyond the ignorant Indian masses that have dared to democratically elect her ideological opponents, the BJP, into office. To her horror, once in power, the BJP has managed to make India one of the world's most empowered nations on earth. She thus closes her anti-India tirade by using the same threat often voiced by Al-Qaeda, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, "There are 100,000,000 Muslims in India, a time bomb threatening to go off." The question is, why is the supposed champion of equality, justice, and truth parroting the global Jihadi terrorist movement? Why doesn't she mention that India's Muslims enjoy more rights and privileges than those living in any Muslim country? She also neglects to mention that the current President of India is a Muslim. In conclusion, the verifiable facts have exposed Arundhati Roy's prejudiced nature and lack of integrity. It is always a shame to lose a hero, but Arundhati Roy's campaign against her own people and country are a great discredit to her reputation.END