Panchayats did exist in certain parts of Bharatvarsha, but these were not national institutions.
On 10 May, the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, the distinguished Shrimati Dhulipudi Pandit, according to newspaper reports said that India did not learn “democratic values” from the British. From where did we learn these values? Who introduced the democratic electoral process in India? Burma was a democracy till 1962. In that year, General Ne Win overthrew Thakin Nu’s democratic government.
Did the Cholas really run a democracy, did they have a Parliament, was the ruler elected by the people. Indian cultural nationalism? The culture of Tamil Nadu is different from the culture of the Braj region, where I come from.
India was ruled by Muslims for nearly a thousand years. They were a minority. The Muslims ruled over us with the help of us Hindus. No democracy during the Mughal rule, leave alone the Guptas or Harsha.
Ghazni looted the Somnath Temple many times, did any Hindu ruler challenge him? Does historical evidence exist that Ghazni was ever effectively challenged?
Who said government of the people, for the people, by the people? Not Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
Yes, panchayats did exist in certain parts of Bharatvarsha, but these were not national institutions.
Can the erudite Vice Chancellor produce facts about Draupadi and Sita being real historical persons? Read Gandhiji, he categorically states that they were mythological figures.
Incidentally, the Cholas did not rule this country for 2,000 years.
Shrimati Pandit is quoted in the Indian Express thus: “Many people believe that feminist or women’s rights movement began only with Marx and ended there.” I have read a fair amount of the writings of Marx. He treated his wife abdominally. The greatest Marxist historian of the 20th century Eric Hobsbawm, nowhere mentions Marx’s feminism. As far as I can recall, Karl Marx was not a feminist. Gandhiji was. He had Sarojni Naidu elected president of the Congress in 1925.
I sincerely hope that the erudite Shrimati Dhulipudi Pandit has been misquoted. However, the fact cannot be denied that Brahmins had till very recent times were addressed as gurus. All spiritual, intellectual and scholarly activity in Bharatvash from the beginning of time was solely under the supervision and control of this extraordinary community. I am subject to correction.
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Navjot Singh Sidhu was, in his youth a world class cricketer. Had he been a less unpredictable and centrifugal individual, he would have captained our Test team. Unfortunately, his cricket career ended rather abruptly.
His TV programme was hugely popular. He is a naturally witty person. His TV audiences ran into millions. He had to give up his TV occupation after joining politics.
1988 has finally caught up with him. In that year he had a fracas with a car driver at a car parking lot. Sidhu, in a fit of temper, hit the man who died on the spot.
On Friday, 20th May, Navjot Singh Sidhu was sentenced to one year’s rigorous imprisonment. He is now in Patiala jail.
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Climate change has arrived. Never has the summer temperature in Delhi been higher and for so many weeks. The Met predicts the monsoon in Delhi will break towards the end of June.
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The post Chintan Shivir scenario must worry serious minded Congress men and Congress women.
Sunil Jakhar has been an active member of the party for decades. He could have been president of the Punjab Congress Committee, if a nasty female had not pronounced that a Hindu could not become PCC president. This was incredible. Nowhere has it been written in the Congress Constitution that a Hindu cannot become PCC president of Punjab because he is a Hindu.
Sonia Gandhi should have overruled the woman. She did not. Jakhar naturally was upset and spoke up critically of the so-called high command. A show-cause notice was sent to him.
This was the breaking point. He resigned from the Congress party and joined BJP. The loss of the Congress was the gain of the BJP. Sunil’s father was Speaker of the Lok Sabha twice and Governor of Madhya Pradesh.
Hardik Patel, the very young and active Patidar leader too has resigned and lambasted the unsavoury activities going on at the Udaipur Shivir. He was particularly hard on Rahul Gandhi. Not a happy situation for the Congress.