DIVINITY
IICC celebrates Guru Nanak’s birthday
The India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) in New Delhi lit up its building to celebrate Guru Nanak Dev’s birthday this week. Top Sikh leaders from Delhi were welcomed by the IICC president Sirajuddin Qureshi, who has been heading this unique organisation for a record 15 years.
A businessman, Qureshi spoke at length about the brotherhood teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and his travels to Mecca, Iran and Iraq and his close association with Muslim philosophy and that he had many Muslim disciples who always moved with him.
Qureshi has organised major festivals of all the faiths at the IICC, like Diwali, Guru Parv, Christmas, etc., besides Eid and other Muslim festivals.
FITTING REPLY
‘Radio Kashmir countering Pak propaganda’
National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, at the launch of Congress leader Manish Tewari’s new book, Fables of Fractured Times said, “The fax machine in our Governor’s office doesn’t work. Then how would we receive instructions from Pakistan?” This was in context of BJP’s Ram Madhav’s comment that the NC and PDP were receiving instructions from Pakistan. “It is not a secret that for long Pakistan has been interfering in internal affairs of the Kashmir valley,” Dr Jitendra Singh. Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space told The Sunday Guardian. Singh cited a well-documented book, Radio Kashmir: In Times of Peace & War released by him, to illustrate Islamabad’s nefarious designs.
The book has revealed how Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI, launched more radio stations, mostly along the Indo-Pak border to bombard airwaves with hostile ranting. It has been written by Dr Rajesh Bhat, a senior official in the Policy Division of Directorate General, All India Radio, New Delhi.
In Singh’s opinion, “It has become fashion to churn out a book after visiting J&K for a couple of weeks. Instead of doing detailed research, these fly-by-night authors end up doing more damage, showing their utter ignorance about the real issues. Their abstract intellectualism, like such paintings, makes these authors intellectual terrorists.” A BJP MP from Udhampur, Singh said that “Bhat’s book is an exception.”
The DG, AIR, F. Sheheryar and many senior officials from AIR and Doordarshan, including ADG AIR Rajshekhar Vyas and former DDG, Doordarshan, Sharad Dutt, were present at the release of the well-researched book. Bhat in his book has traced the role played by Radio Kashmir since its inception in 1947 in weaving a cohesive social and cultural fabric. It depicts how Radio Kashmir has countered incessant malicious propaganda by various underground and FM stations that operate round-the-clock from across the border.
Bhat has incorporated rare pictures, transcripts and documents from the archives of J&K. It reveals how Radio Pakistan and its notorious Radio Trarkhal beamed vicious misinformation against India to create unrest in the minds of people of Kashmir. It also discloses how under Operation Topac, the ISI launched more radio stations, mostly along the Indo-Pak border to bombard airwaves with hostile ranting.
PRAYERS
Yagna for Ram temple
A Netherlands-based Hindu organisation has now jumped into the Ayodhya cauldron. “Ram temple is a sure shot thing now going to happen in Ayodhya,” claims the Vishwa Vedant Sansthan’s founder, Anand Maharaj. “The movement to build Ram temple in Ayodhya is getting sharper with every passing day; and soon it will become a mass movement. People from India and Hindu devotees across the world have already geared up for it.” He regretted that “although, the BJP has faith in God, their leadership is in an utterly confused state.”
“Our six-day Ashwamegh Yagnya from 1 December is the first step towards building the Ram temple,” he said, adding that the Vishwa Vedant Sansthan is based in the Netherlands. The organisation, he claimed, has more than 10 lakh people associated with it from 21 Indian states.
Currently in India, Anand Maharaj told The Sunday Guardian that “for the first time in Kalyug, post the Tretayug in the divine land of India where Rama was born, Ashwamegh Yagnya is being organised. We will chant Lord Vishnu’s and Ved mantras. We will unite all Hindu priests across the country for the building of Ram temple.”
“There is no time to wait for the Supreme Court’s nod in the matter,” he declared. “Development of Ram temple is a matter of prestige. All Hindus must support the drill to make Ram temple.”
TAKING IT EASY
Fewer rallies because of official duties
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s critics always see motives in his style of functioning. If he is noticed doing “carpet bombing” by addressing back-to-back public rallies in poll-bound regions, they say that “it is not befitting his status”. And now that it has been observed that he held fewer rallies in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, they ask why Modi is “exposing” himself less this time. To drive their point home, they say, in 2014, Modi addressed 10 rallies in Haryana. He addressed just four rallies in Chhattisgarh. Both states have 10 Lok Sabha seats and 90 Assembly seats. A senior Congress leader, says, “If the BJP gets the desired results, the credit will go to Modi, and if the saffron party goes down, the blame will go to the party ruled Chief Ministers. The BJP says that the party has not “exposed” Modi too much this time, thus giving more time to official duties.