Thursday, October 18, 2007

Open Reply To Anwar Manippady

Anwar Manippady is the Chairman of Karnataka State Govt. Minorities Development Corporation and has written an open letter to Ms Sonia Gandhi, widely publicized by the Hindutva mouthpieces. (See) I received a copy of this on my e-mail, forwarded by a friend of mine. And I thought it deserved a reply and here it is:

Anwar Manippady is the latest in the list of people who have inadvertently glorified Sonia Gandhi by blaming her for things she has done and not done. Even Sonia would feel proud to know that there are people who feel terrified by the mention of her very name and over estimate her abilities! Keep up the good work Mr. Manippady!While you have tried your best to argue about the spiritual, religious, environmental and such other hazards of cutting the Adam’s bridge, you have conveniently forgotten the fact that the brains behind this propaganda are masters in double speak and cowardice. All this heroism is only to cover up the cowardice. Here are the examples:

  • The people who killed the Mahatma and justify it even today (See The Sunday Indian) opposed Sonia Gandhi lecturing on Mahatma at the UN under the pretext of upholding the Indian dignity (See report, advt). It is however another thing that it was Sonia who had suggested to UN to observe Oct 2 as Non violence Day and Arun Gandhi, Mahatma’s grandson, stood by Sonia (See report). The same people are now using Mahatma’s idea of Rama Rajya in their election campaign in Gujarat! (See Modi ‘believing’ in Gandhi!)
  • The erstwhile NDA govt. initiated the civil nuclear deal with the US (See); but when it was finally concluded by the present UPA govt, the same group started opposing it and got into a lot of confusion ( See)!
  • Mr. Manippady, It is ditto Ram Setu! It was planned and approved by the NDA Govt (See) and no one in that ministry ever thought of Ram or his setu then! Now when it is UPA’s turn to govern and implement it, the same party is opposing it in the name of Ram! And you join the chorus!
  • Mr. Jaswanth Singh, the external affairs minister in Vajpayee’s govt., shamelessly accompanied the terrorists to exchange them with the hijacked plane in Kandahar (See). These terror masterminds then unleashed unprecedented attacks on India, and even attacked our parliament, all during NDA rule! And the same party is now accusing UPA of being soft on terror!
  • These forces had Bhagath Singh on their posters and calendars. But soon after Why am I an atheist was published (written by India’s great revolutionary while in jail and stored in British archives), they dumped him and with no other freedom fighter worth the name among their ranks, embraced VD Savarkar, the man who wrote an apology to the British empire to escape the difficulties in the Andaman jail. He remains their hero even now! (See 1, 2, 3)

This list can be much bigger, Mr. Manippady. Let’s go back to the Ram Setu. If the objections are about the genuine concerns of environmental impact etc., say it so, do not bring in Ram and Adam. There is no proof for these things and that’s why these are beliefs and not facts. I hope you know the difference between the two. Please read this from Romila Thapar, an authority on ancient Indian history.(Where fusion cannot work — faith and history). I hope you have read Avarana by SL Bhyrappa and the same author said at a conference in the US that mahabharatha was Itihasa and Ramayana was a Kavya. (See http://thatskannada.oneindia.in/nri/spotlight/) A Kavya cannot be a proof for the existence of its characters! And that’s what the ASI said in its affidavit!

Sonia’s mistake was indeed suggesting to the Govt. to withdraw this scientific affidavit and not in filing it, Mr. Manippady! And Rama as a character is neither adorable nor venerable for many Indians, the simple proof is that there are hardly any temples for Rama in this country compared to the other deities. And as for Manippady’s suggestion of making Ram Setu a tourist attraction that can bring in huge revenue, I only wonder as to how many have ever visited this place until now in veneration of Rama and how many will go in future? I indeed pity you for falling prey to the stunts of the Hindu chauvinists. They neither represent the great Indian heritage nor have any respect for it.