Truth About Doctored CDs and Gita For Gandhis: Election Potpourri RK Ohri

The mysterious appearance of an allegedly ‘doctored’ CD is being used by our Hindu-bashing media to defame and condemn Varun Gandhi, the bright young B J P aspirant wanting to contest election for the Lok Sabha seat from Pilibhit. In this comical debate the media has conveniently forgotten that a number of similarly doctored CDs are being openly sold in hundreds across Pilibhit and several U.P. towns. According to a news published on March 22, 2009, in Hindustan Times, New Delhi, a CD of the so-called ‘hate’ speech of Varun Gandhi was being sold for Rs. 15,000 and several political parties and mediapersons were lapping up the coveted CDs.1 On top of it, the buyers are openly telling the CD seller, one Maqbool, to “delete this scene, it will not serve my purpose”. And such openly ‘doctored’ CDs are being unabashedly purchased by the election campaigners for three well known political parties. Yet not one media analyst has tried to fathom the origin of the ‘dubious’ CD, nor who prepared it and why, nor where is the original CD. All these questions have been left unanswered by the Indian media as well as the Election Commission.

How is it that the Election Commission and our voluble media analysts have not bothered to investigate what made the cyber café owner, Maqbool of Pilibhit, openly doctor and modify CDs of Varun’s speech for selling them like hot cakes to all and sundry ? Most mysterious, however, is the inaction of the somnolent Uttar Pradesh police who have neither caught Maqbool, nor interrogated him. One does not know either how many Maqbools across Uttar Pradesh have ventured into the dubious CD doctoring business and are busy hawking the modified CDs.

We are indeed living in bewildering times. True to their anti-Hindu agenda, some media mavericks have even tried to pitch Priyanka Gandhi against her cousin, Varun, by bringing into question Varun’s knowledge of Gita - a subject on which a lot can be said.

Frankly, not many media analysts appear to have any sound knowledge of Gita, nor of the bold message of recourse to karmic action it gives to Hindus like Varun. No wonder they fail to realize that in not too distant past the same message had fired the imagination of the renowned stalwarts like Lokmanya Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh, Ras Behari Bose and hundreds of revolutionaries and freedom fighters, including Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Ram Prasad Bismal and lakhs of foot soldiers of our freedom movement.

After conversion to the hollow western creed called ‘secularism’, most media WOGs (i.e., West Oriented Gentlemen) have lost their civilizational moorings. In their

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static minds ‘ahimsa parmo dharmo’, a truncated shloka popularized by Mahatma
Gandhi, remains etched as the central theme of Gita. They seem to be blissfully unaware that Gita goes far beyond ‘ahimsa parmo dharma’ and gloriously sanctions the use of violence as a sacred duty in the cause of righteousness, especially for protecting ‘Dharma’. As highlighted by Swami Chinmayananda in a soul stirring article, the correct Shloka in Gita is ‘Ahimsa Parmo Dharma, Dharmah Himsa Tathaiva Cha’, meaning thereby that recourse to violence for protecting ‘Dharma’ is an equally important duty enjoined upon all Hindus.2 The learned sage bemoans that frequent misuse of this truncated sacred verse has reduced us Indians (read Hindus) to the status of “poltroons and cowards”.3 By over emphasizing non-violence, says Swamiji, “we have reached the pathetic situation of today when thousands, in cowardly fear take to precipitate flight, leaving their innocent children to be butchered and their unarmed helpless women to be converted or killed”.4

The rousing speech of Varun Gandhi has to be understood in the context of the pitiable condition of Hindus of Pilibhit. In recent months there have been innumerable complaints by Hindus of Pilibhit alleging oppression by Muslim gangsters of the area, including scores of instances of cow slaughter which is forbidden by law. But no one listens to Hindus because the District Magistrate and Additional District Magistrate of Pilibhit, being Muslims, are perceived to be ranged against the majority community. In such a dismal scenario, the courage shown by Varun came like a whiff of fresh air for the beseiged Hindus of Pilibhit.

It is time that voluble journos and politicos realized that there is a healthy unanimity of views between what Varun Gandhi told the beleaguered Hindus of Pilibhit and what the learned Swami Chinmayananda upholds as our grand civilizational ideal, enshrined in Bhagvad Gita.

Though Priyanka Gandhi did not say anthing about her own understanding of Gita, apparently she does not know much about the bold and valorous message to fight the forces of evil given by Sri Krishna to Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Gita does not preach passivity or renunciation, nor submission to tyranny. It preaches action, bold and purposeful, for achieving victory against tyranny. Instead of faulting Varun, she would do well to listen to the sagely advice of Swami Chinmayananda when he says that “the only solution for the day’s internal chaos is to bring home to the people the significance of the much neglected teaching of ‘dharma-himsa’. Gita gives the message of victory through valour to every Hindu, loudly and clearly, exhorting them to join the battle when no other option is available.

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And that is what Varun Gandhi has been trying to do by relaying the wake up call to oppressed Hindu masses, besieged by jihadi terrorists and enemies of Dharma. It is time that our ignorant media analysts devoted a little bit of their time to re-reading of the Gita, instead of faulting Varun’s knowledge of the sacred Song Divine.





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References:

Rajesh Kumar Singh, ‘Varun speech a bestseller”, Hindustan Times, New Delhi,
March 22, 2009, p. 9.

Source: chinmayananda.org

Ibid.
Ibid.

India’s Security Concerns and Ongoing Jihad - RK Ohri

Before dwelling on the main subject of ISI sponsored Islamic jihad against India, it would be appropriate to briefly identify some major security concerns for the Indian nation. In view of the fast changing geopolitical scenario and growing impact of globalization across the world, in recent years the distinction between internal security perspectives and external threats has become somewhat blurred. For instance, the serious threat to our national security emanating from several foreign based non-State actors like Jaish-e Mohammad, Lashkar-e Tayeba, Harkat-ul Jihad-e Islami and Al-Qaeda, etc., has a tremendous bearing on the internal security of our country. And not surprisingly all these non-State actors based outside India for waging jihad against India have been promoted and nurtured by Islamic States like Pakistan and Bangladesh - even Saudi Arabia. For clarity of thought, however, it will be desirable to analyse the internal and external security concerns separately, as discussed below.

Internal Threats (Perspective 10 to 20 years)

India has a long list of multiple internal security problems some of which are enumerated below.
1. The ongoing virulent jihad against the Hindu identity of India reflected in the growing attacks on temples, Hindu yatris and innocent worshippers plus
targeting of centres of scientific and economic excellence by jihadis.
2. Fast-paced demographic decline of Hindus, as revealed by Census 2001.
3. Diabolical dimensions of incessant illegal infiltration from Bangladesh.
4. Ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Jammu & Kashmir and border districts
of Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and other eastern States.
5. Shrinking borders of India, especially in the districts adjoining Bangladesh
and in Jammu region of Kashmir, particularly in Doda district.
6. Alarming increase in the number of ISI cells and fifth columnists across India, and their attempts at infiltrating the country’s defence forces, as hinted at by the National Security Adviser, sometime ago..


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7. The looming threat of increase in communal clashes spiraling into outbreak of
of civil strife, especially in eastern States, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
8. The growing menace of Maoist insurgency and their sinister plan to establish
a Compact Revolutionary Zone from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

External Threats (Perspective 10 to 20 Years)
Some of the major threats to national security from external sources are enumerated below:
1. Threat posed by the activities of several ISI sponsored non-State actors
like Lashkar-e Tayeba, Jaish-e Mohammad, Al Qaeda, Harkat-ul Jihad-e
Islami to India’s internal security. These threats have substantially increased in recent years and given a fillip to jihad against India..

2. Threat caused by the likely outbreak of war in the Middle East between Israel and a nuclear-powered Iran can have a major bearing on the internal
security perspective of India, especially in view of the recent nuclear agreement between India and he USA. . One has only to recall the massive mobilization of Muslim mobsters witnessed during the visit of the U.S. President, George Bush, to India in March, 2006, when violent demonstrations broke out in several cities.

3. Threat of outbreak of hostilities with Pakistan due to latter’s traditional
hostility and a sudden attempt to yank away the State of Jammu and Kashmir by large scale infiltration of Jihadis and launching of increased terror attacks in Kashmir and several States across the entire country.

4. The likely support to Pakistan by China in the event of an all out war,
including the possibility of a nuclear confrontation.

Global Jihad, Battleground India

Today India is trapped in the crosshairs of a virulent Islamic jihad. It needs to be realized that today jihad is by far the most globalised enterprise. To be candid, I refuse to agree with the commonly used nomenclature which describes the ongoing mayhem as ‘terrorism’. In fact, jihad is a far more comprehensive term to describe the savage phenomenon. It is time to understand what jihad is, and how it is a much bigger menace - far more diabolical than mere terrorism. Terrorism is only one of the several
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tools of jihad which aim at instilling terror into the hearts of the so-called infidels (read Hindus in the case of India). The other tools of jihad are repetitive predatory raids on infidels and their places of worship, planting spies in the enemy camp and across their homeland, laying in ambush for them, disorienting them spiritually and psychologically for forcing them either to convert to Islam, or to make them run away and retreat farther - as happened to Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Recourse to ‘taqiyah’ or deception is yet another sinister strategy used by the jihadis. We have a crop of young security experts and strategic analysts who have apparently neither read any non-sanitized version of holy Quran, nor studied the complex doctrine of ‘Jihad’, which is Islam’s permanent war against infidels. Please remember that throughout history Islam has been a long distance runner and its holy war, i.e., jihad, is continuum. Most Indian security experts are unaware of Islam’s grand strategy called ‘Taqiyah”, nor have they read Pakistani Brigadier S.K. Malik’s somewhat obscure, but highly strategic tome, The Quranic Concept of War. Interestingly, the Foreword of Brigadier Malik’s aforesaid book was written by the former fundamentalist dictator of Pakistan, late General Zia, who had masterminded the finer nuances of Islamic jihad against ‘Hindu’ India.
For comprehending the precise meaning of jihad all doubting Thomases, of whom there is no death among our sham-secular political class, media mandarin and middle class chatterati, are advised to read and understand Brigadier Malik’s lucid exposition of jihad. On pages 95-96 of his book he has proclaimed that “the Holy Prophet’s operations against the Pagans are an integral and inseparable part of the divine message revealed to us in the Holy Quran”. He adds, “They are, in addition, an ‘institution’ for learning the application of the art of war prescribed for us by the Almighty Lord”. Referring to the famous Battle of Badr on page 51, he has quoted Quran’s verse 8.12 (from Surah Anfal) in which the Prophet announced, “I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will strike terror into the hearts of Unbelievers”. Elucidating the doctrine of jihad, Brigadier Malik proclaims that the war which the Prophet planned and conducted “was total to the infinite degree.” It was “waged on all fronts, internal and external, political and diplomatic, spiritual and psychological, economic and military.” That is what makes jihad a highly strategic and comprehensive
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doctrine. May I point out that a recent study has revealed that one third of the Muslim students in the U.K. believe that killing the infidels in ‘holy war’ is a legitimate activity. They also believe in the need for establishing an Islamic caliphate. I am sure if a secret survey is made in India the results will be equally startling. What we are facing today is a grim war ; jihadis call it their ‘holy war’. No other religion preaches permanent war against people belonging to other faiths. In essence, the pacifism-doped religions like Hinduism and Buddhism have no antidote to the time tested concept of jihadist war which can be countered only by taking up arms – as was tersely told to a wavering Arjuna by Lord Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

My humble submission is, make no mistake, what we are facing today is not mere terrorism, but Islam’s holy war called ‘jihad’. It is the same jihad which had killed millions of innocents, plundered cities and countryside, razed temples and holy places and carried helpless women and children to the bazaars of Ghazni and Baghdad for sale. It is the same jihad which had ruthlessly oppressed millions of Indians and reduced them to the status of hewers of wood and drawers of water during one thousand years of savage alien rule.

Writing in the June 2000 issue of Bharatiya Pragna, a Hyderabad-based publication, the well known Islamic scholar, Dr. Walid (now declared an apostate), has explained how because of the legitimacy conferred by Sharia and Islamic scriptures, the use of deceit, duplicity and bluff and bluster have been sanctioned by taking recourse to ‘Taqiyah’ for securing victory in jihad against infidels. Taqiyah is a fascinating strategy of subversion used for bluffing the ‘kaffirs’. Taqiyah entails that Mujahideen are authorized to infiltrate into Dar-ul Harb (enemy country defined as ‘war zone’) by deception, occupy vital places in cities and towns of Islam’s enemies, sneak into fora of the opponent’s strageists and intellectuals for planting seeds of discord and sedition in the ranks of infidels and thereby destabilize their social economic and military systems. Dr. Walid clarified that these infiltrators are to be treated as soldiers of Islam, or “Mujahideen” for all practical purposes, even if they denounce the basic tenets of Islam
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for bluffing and weakening the ‘kaffirs’. Among other activities, they are supposed to work for causing split and dissidence among ‘kaffirs’, while downplaying the issues relating to the true nature and aims of Islam. To quote Dr. Walid, they will say that “Oh,
that is not Islam, you are mistaken, there is so much misinformation.”, “Oh, it is in the interpretation.” “Brother, Islam is all about peace and love”. They will try to convince the gullible audiences “that jihad is not aimed at them”. Dr. Walid has explained by citing concrete examples from Islam’s history how in the formative years of Islam the Christians and Jews were befooled and outsmarted by poisoning the one against the other through clever use of taqiyah. The result was that within a short span of 4 to 5 decades Islam was able to overrun the entire Middle East.

Apparently the efforts of some leaders of Indian Muslims to use and set up some members of the Scheduled Castes against high caste Hindus by manipulating certain leaders, and also to use the Christians against Hindus by joining hands with the former, are clear instances of taqiyah. At the same time, recourse to taqiyah by proclaiming that Islam is the religion of peace is widespread across India. I have myself come across some taqiyah practicing peace-preaching Islamic scholars at many public discourses and fora, including the prestigious India International Centre in New Delhi.

Our security experts have totally forgotten that more than 65 years ago, in 1940s, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, a close associate of Jinnah, had issued a ‘Millat and Mission Statement’ containing “Seven Commandments of Destiny”, which makes interesting, but forboding, reading. The aforesaid Millat and Mission statement, issued in the wake of the passing of Pakistan Resolution, outlined a long term strategy. The most important objective of that Islamic plan was to convert the sub-continent of India into ‘Dinia’ which should ultimately form part of a bigger Muslim orbit called “Pakasia”. Rehmat Ali proclaimed that in future the Muslims must write “finis” to the “most deceptive fiction in the world that India is he sphere of Indianism”. That strategic goal has been followed systematically and assiduously by the ISI of Pakistan ever since the birth of Pakistan. In accordance with Rehmat Ali’s vision the single-minded resolve of ISI has
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been to torture, deceive and destroy the Hindu identity of India by waging a war of “a thousand cuts”. The question therefore arises that why and how did the Indians forget that historic declaration outlining the Islamic strategy to write ‘finis’ to the fiction called
India, as pompously declared by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali in 1940s. My one line answer is that the debilitating infection caused by the deadly, mind-benumbing, virus called secularism is by far the most important contributory factor for our near fatal forgetfulness and poor judgement in identifying the challenge of the ongoing jihad and meeting it head on No nation, no country can deal with a crisis situation unless they are able to identify it and then analyse the finer nuances of the problem.

It is time we stopped calling the ongoing jihad as “terrorism”. Let us display even now, though belatedly, the moral courage to call a spade a spade. What we are facing today is jihad proper, raw, savage and macabre, in its medieval form. We must therefore be honest enough to speak the truth. There are any number of ignoramuses, including a famous lady anchor of a prominent television channel, and some politicians too, who keep on reapeating, almost moronly, that terrorists have no religion. Anyone who cares to study the doctrine of jihad will know, almost instantaneously, that terrorist do have a religion. They also have the requisite scriptural sanction for killing the innocents, if they happen to be ‘kaffirs” like you and me. Then there are other analysts who routinely keep on mouthing that nobody should question the loyalty of Indian Muslims and try to hold them responsible for the fast escalating jihadi mayhem. They forget that no single ISI agent cming from Pakistan or Bangladesh can carry out even one single bombing in any city or town of India, without massive assistance of local modules and ISI moles. They fail to understand the even the elementary mechanics of multiple blasts regularly staged in Indian cities with increasing frequency. For every one Pakistani or Bangladeshi infiltrator to succeed in his mission a minimum local support of 10 to 20 persons, read Indians, is required. That is the stark truth.

In recent years the tempo of jihadi attacks across India has multiplied manifold. On August 15, 2004, there was a huge bomb blast in Assam on the Independence Day in
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which 16 innocents, mostly school children, were killed. On October 29, 2005, on the eve of Dashehra, 66 innocent persons were killed in three serial bomb blasts in Delhi and nearly one hundred were injured. On March 7, 2006, in serial bomb blasts in Varanasi,
15 persons were killed and 60 wounded, including several innocent worshippers at the historic Sankat Mochan Temple. Mumbai was rocked on July 11, 2006, by seven bomb blasts on railway stations and in suburban trains in which 180 persons were killed and more than 200 injured. The dastardly crime was followed by serial bomb blasts in Malegaon in which 32 persons lost their lives. On August 25, 2007, three serial bomb blasts rocked an amusement park and a busy roadside food shop in Hyderabad claiming 40 innocent lives and injuring scores of innocents. To cap these dastardly crimes, there have been serial bomb blasts in recent months in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Serial bomb blasts on May 13, 2008, rocked the pink city of Jaipur in Rajasthan causing death of nearly 63 persons. Till a few years ago jihadi attacks were limited to J & K State, northeastern India and parts of north India. Due to sheer collapse of governance steadily but surely the jihadis have now extended their reach all over the country by expanding the war zone in Dar-ul Harb called India, right upto the southernmost States and cities.

Most recently on two successive days, July 25 and 26, 2008, there were 24 serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The low-intensity bombings in Banglaore on July 25, 2008, claimed 2 lives and caused injuries to more than 15 persons. Next day Ahmedabad was rocked by 16 serial bomb blasts in which 49 persons were killed and more than 100 injured. The Ahmedabad bombings were marked by the savage strategy of staging bomb blasts in two prominent civil hospitals for targeting the patients admitted in Trauma Centre and doctors treating them. The executioners of twin blasts was executed with ruthless precision by synchronizing explosions in hospital vehicles with the arrivals of the injured. The brutal incident matches the morbid savagery which Indian masses had experienced in medieval times. Obviously the intention was to kill the injured persons being rushed to the two hospitals in a most inhuman and gory manner. The jihadis had also planned serial bomb blasts in Surat, often described as the diamond capital of India where two cars packed with bomb making material were found
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abandoned, apart from nearly 20 live bombs which were defused. Thus the jihadis, claiming to be Indian Mujahideen, had made plans for successive bomb blasts in three prominent cities of India, namely, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Surat in one single sweep.

The Prime Minister and the Home Minister routinely keep on condemning the killings of innocents by jihadi warriors of Islam. They dumbly indulge in inane praise of the courage and “resilient” spirit of Indians. Interestingly the clueless secularitis-benumbed media keeps on finding fault at the drop of a hat with the so-called fundamentalist Hindus groups by citing irrelevant reasons which they feel could have led to the growth of jihad. This routine drill has been perfected into an artless art of singing soothing lullabies for keeping the defenceless masses in stupor and fear. Just look around to assess the frightening collapse of governance. Hundreds of temples all over the country are being security protected and every Hindu festival is celebrated under the fearful shadow of jihadi bomb blasts. No city is safe, no citizen feels safe anywhere today. At this rate, the day is not far off when the jihadi modules spread all over India, presently running into quite a few hundreds, will succeed in staging multiple bomb blasts simultaneously in 8, 9 or 10 major cities thereby announcing the demise of the inefficient and pusillanimous Indian State. I fervently hope that this foreboding premonition of mine proves wrong ! But that possibility remains deeply etched in my mind because of the newly acquired “killer” capability of jihadis to strike at anyone and everyone at will.

We must understand that Islam has an ambitious goal of establishing a caliphate from Indonesia to the Balkans via Malayasia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and West Asia for capturing Europe, now being called Eurabia because of its terminal demographic decline. It is time to recall how immediately before and after July 7, 2005 bombings of the London Tube (underground metro), the capital of U.K. was being referred to ‘Londonistan’ by jihadi groups based in the United Kingdom. Though China has a very small Muslim population, confined mostly to its eastern region, it too is facing the threat of jihadi attacks during the forthcoming Olympics. Videotapes announcing the threat to
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bomb the games, purporting to be from the militant Turkistan Islamic Party, have surfaced during the last few days.

In entire South Asia, India is the only non-Muslim country, a bulwark of democracy, which constitutes a major impediment to the ambition of jihadis to convert the world into Dar-ul Islam. There is no point in mincing words, or hiding this simple truth. People must know what the Indian Mujahideen have been shouting from housetops and conveying through their repetitive e-mails, namely their resolve to destroy the Hindu civilization and “to demolish your faith in the dirty mud, in the name of Hanuman, Sita and Ram”. The latest e-mail, running into 14 pages hurls drivel and insults on Hindus, describes the Gujarat Chief Minister “a spineless coward” and openly exhorts the Muslims to fight the Hindu groups like VHP and RSS. In my humble opinion, any attempt to underplay the intimidatory language and tone down the open ultimatum served by jihadis will be downright foolish and and exercise in self-defeatism, especially with the backdrop of their recent spree of ruthless bombings.

Turning attention to the urgent task of suggesting an effective strategy for meeting the challenge of jihad, the first and foremost imperative is to create awareness across the country in cities, towns and far away villages that India’s civilizational identity is in grave peril due to relentless jihad unleashed at the behest of our hostile neighbours. Without waking up the masses in this hour of crisis, the menacing threat cannot be easily countered. People need to be reminded that we are facing the same ruthless jihad which our forefathers had fought against for more than 1000 years during which the entire country was ravaged and laid waste.

It is equally important to formulate and implement a national security doctrine based on ‘zero tolerance’ of jihad, routinely being described as terrorism by journalists and analysts. In doing so the government must work out a proactive approach by smashing up hundreds of “No Go” areas located in scores of cities and towns where police are unable to enter and enforce law, or carry out searches, because of the likely
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physical resistance by the fundamentalists and their political supporters. to police Most of the jihadi modules and ISI agents are able to operate from these ‘No Go’ areas where
they are sheltered and nurtured by criminals and anti-national elements. Unfortunately due to the prevalent culture of political correctness and minority appeasement, in recent years there has been a phenomenal growth in ‘No Go’ areas all over the country. As a retired police officer, I can confide in you that for all practical purposes the policing of these ‘No Go’ areas’ is virtually superficial - totally ineffective. The need for taking proactive and demonstrative measures to effectively police all pockets of anti national activities, is absolutely necessary for re-establishing the authority of the Indian State and reinforcing the sagging morale of security forces. It has become fashionable to find fault with police and security agencies. But I must humbly point out that no police officer can be stronger than the government which he serves. He is a strong as the government which supports him and as weak and ineffective as the government which lets him down because of political correctness ! Believe me, I hold no brief for the incompetent and the faint-hearted, who certainly deserve to be sidelined - or even sacked. The battle against the virulent jihad troubling the Indian nation can be joined and won only by those bravehearts who are willing to lead personally from the front.

The next important measure to meet the challenge of jihad is to upgrade our tottering legal system by enacting stringent laws and evolving an effective system of speedy trial of the culprits, including jihadi warriors and spies of foreign agencies. There is no scope for dillydallying in enacting a strong law for meeting the serious situation. The foolish argument often mouthed by some politicians, including some Ministers and some journalists, that even POTA could not prevent attacks by jihadis on Indian Parliament and Akshardham temple is a classic example of reductio ad absurdum. By the same reasoning can we argue that because The Indian Penal Code enacted in 1860 has failed to prevent even common thefts, leave alone the serious crimes of murder, rape and dacoity, now time has come to abolish it ? Laws are meant to act as deterrents to lawlessness and facilitate proper investigation and prosecution of crime and criminals. Let the government repeal the Indian Penal Code and see its consequences ! That will
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surely plunge the entire country into the abyss of anarchy. Frankly, the abolition of POTA has certainly added grist to the mill of jihadi violence. The enactment of a strong
Law should be accompanied by the establishment of special courts for speedy trial of the perpetrators of bombings and senseless killings. Attention may be drawn here to the large scale rioting in October-November, 2005, in suburbs of France in which nearly 30,000 cars were burnt and more than 200 public buildings, including several nursery schools, were damaged by rioting mobs of disgruntled Muslims who resented the attempt of police to enter their ghettoes which had become “No Go” areas for law enforcement officers. After 4 days of intense rioting, the situation was controlled only after the police were ordered to smash up all ‘No Go’ areas. In the operations carried out by police more than 3,000 mobsters and their leaders were arrested and after speedy trials nearly 400 of them were handed down prison sentences within a short span of 4 to weeks of trial. Additionally, some 20 ring leaders of rioting mobsters were stripped of their French nationality and externed. I often wonder if France can act so decisively, why cannot we do the same in our country. This example shows that the real solution to the problem lies in the realm of political leadership and not in the hands of security forces.

The proposal to set up a nodal federal agency as suggested by intelligence agencies, is most welcome. But that alone cannot overcome the crisis facing the country. There is a pressing need for reorganizing and upgrading the intelligence apparatus. Better training and more manpower are the two most important requisites for strengthening the collection and dissemination of intelligence, both covert and overt, in States as well as at the central level. Funds are usually a major constraint for augmenting the manpower, especially in States. The central government should allocate additional financial resources to States for reorganizing and upgrading their Intelligence departments. A regular mechanism for advance planning and continuous ‘risk analysis’ at central level is a must. For achieving better results, two important components of intelligence, namely, ‘Humint’ and ‘Elint’ need to be modernized from time to time. At the same time, there is a need for adopting a proactive approach, radically different from the current passivity,

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while planning counter measures to thwart the attempt of jihadis to overwhelm the Indian nation.

Only those who have studied the diabolical doctrine of jihad in depth will understand that fighting jihad is a daunting task. Many more measures, including some radical ones, can be suggested for countering the threat. But I must refrain from enumerating them here due to various reasons. The most important requirement is a ‘resolute political will’ to fight the menace boldly for winning this war. Unfortunately that happens to be the Achille’s heel of the Indian nation.
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Copyright @ R.K. Ohri

Existential Demographic Threat To India’s Secular Identity-RK Ohri (IPS Rtd)

During last several decades a lot of disinformation has been propagated across the world, especially in developing countries, that any increase in population per se is an impediment to economic development. Malthusian theory was used as the medium for spreading this disinformation. Truth, however, is altogether different. Manpower or human resource is a great asset for economic development. But there is an important caveat: the population must be educated and invested with professional skills. The real roadblocks to economic development are illiteracy and lack of skill. Youthful population, if it is educated and skilled, is the biggest harbinger of enhanced productivity and higher Gross Domestic Product .

It will surprise the Indian middle class that the latest threat to the humankind does not emanate from over population; it comes from too few new arrivals, a phenomenon which will soon lead to depopulation of many countries. After invention of contraceptives, all over world, except Muslim countries, fertility levels have sharply declined by more than half since 1972 - from 6 children per woman in 1972 to 2.9 in 1990s. According to the United Nations Population Report 2002, Europe's fertility rates are now far below the replacement level of 2.1. Population of Russia is decreasing by 7000,000 every year and President Vladimir Putin considers it a 'national crisis'. The population of Germany could go down by one-fifth in the next 40 years, Bulgaria's by 38 percent and Romania's by 27 percent. Muslim countries, however, are striking exceptions to the global trend of declining population. In Europe Albania and Kosovo are growing fast, and so are Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan in Asia.

Unfortunately a majority of middle class Hindu, Sikh and Christian elite and opinion-makers do not understand the weird phenomenon of demographic decimation which destroyed the secular and multicultural ethos of Lebanon, Kosovo, Bosnia, etc., solely due to fast growth of Muslim population which outpaced the Christian numbers. Finally these countries/territories were overwhelmed by Muslim majorities. A similar demographic change now threatens the pluralistic ethos of Macedonia and France. In Macedonia the Muslims were only 8 percent in 1900 A D, but now form nearly one-third of the country's total population. In France between 1970 and 1990 the Christian population declined by 2 millions, from 425,58,000 to 406,27,000, while Muslims multiplied 3 times, from 1,353,000 to 3,850,000 in the same period. The orgy of car-burning and violence by Muslim youth witnessed in France in October-November 2005, was rooted in the fast changing demography of France.

It is time to learn some lessons from the tragic fate of Christians of the Balkans and the three weeks long rioting in France in October-November 2005 which resulted in burning of 30,000 cars and damage to 200 public buildings, including many nursery schools. It led to more than 3,200 arrests. For controlling the spiraling violence large scale arrests had to be made and nearly 400 rioters were sentenced to prison terms and many stripped of their nationality and externed. The damages caused to property were estimated by the underwriters to be between 80 million and 150 million Franks.

To understand the long term implications of fast-paced demographic changes, it is necessary to consider the following facts gleaned from the data of last six censuses held in India since 1951:

Since independence in percentage terms there has been a relentless increase in the
population of only one community, inamely the Muslims, to the exclusion of every other religious group. The percentage growth of all other communities, e.g.,Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians have been in a declining mode. On top of it, since 1981 the Muslim population growth has gathered speed and is now in a massive fast forward mode. Even Sachar Committee Report has admitted that by the year 2101, the Muslim population of India is likely to be between 32 to 34 crores.

Census 2001 disclosed that the decadal growth rate of Muslims was around 36 percent, while the Hindu growth rate had declined from 23 percent to 20 percent. An unseemly political controversy was raised on the ground that since no census had taken place in J. & K. state in 1991, the conclusions drawn in terms of census 2001 data were faulty. It led to a very clumsy fudging of census 2001, by omitting from the census 2001 headcount, 3.67 crore people living in Jammu & Kashmir and Assam, the 2 states having high Muslim population. It may be recalled that no census could be held in Assam, too, in 1981 due to disturbed conditions, but that did not result in any political ruckus or fudging. The most extraordinary aspect of this exercise (undertaken in the year 2004) was the deletion with retrospective effect of the population of these 2 sensitive States from every census held since 1961- something never done in any democratic country.

It was highlighted in a lucid article by two well known professional demographers, P. N. Mari Bhat and A. J. Francis Zavier, that "the fertility of Muslims, which was about 10 per cent higher than that of Hindus before independence, is now 25 to 30 per cent higher than the Hindu rate". [Source: Role of Religion in Fertility Decline: The Case of Indian Muslims, Economic & Political Weekly January 29, 2005]. It means that Muslim population is now growing at a rate nearly 45 percent higher than the Hindus.

Mari Bhat and Francis Zavier pointed out that the assertion made in a section of
English media that census 2001 revealed a higher reduction in the growth rate of
Muslims than Hindus was incorrect. The decline in Hindu growth rate was higher at 12.2 percent as against 10.3 percent decline in Muslim growth, they reiterated.

There is no truth in the assertion that higher Muslim fertility was due to their
poverty or illiteracy. Since 36 percent Muslims live in urban areas, as against
only 26 percent Hindus, and Muslims have a higher life expectancy at birth than Hindus (by 1.2 years according to 2 NFHS Surveys as analysed by Mari Bhat and Francis Zavier),logically their fertility should have been lower than Hindus. But the fact remains that fertility of Muslim continues to be higher despite their greater urbanization.

The acceptance of family planning by Muslims is lower at least by 25 percent than Hindus and other communities. The real reason is 'religion'. The two professional demographers described the community's higher fertility as "Muslim effect", a somewhat colourful, but truthful, expression. [Source: p.397 of Eco. & Pol. Weekly of January 29,2005].

Interestingly Mari Bhat and Francis Zavier have highlighted the fact that in non-
Muslim countries there is a general trend towards higher growth rate of Muslim
populations.

8. According to NFHS Survey-2 (National Family Health Survey-2 of 1998-99)
in Kerala where the literacy level of 2 communities is almost equal (and due to
large Gulf remittances economically Muslims are better off than the Hindus) the
growth rate of Muslims is much higher than Hindus by a whopping 45 percent.
No wonder in August 2006 Archbishop Verky of Syro-Malabar Church though it
Fit to warn his co-religionists that in another 20 years Kerala was likely to become
an Islamic state.

9. The National Family Health Survey-2 (1998) had revealed that on an average every
Muslim woman was giving birth to 1.1 more children than her Hindu counterpart.

It may be clarified that Mari Bhat and Francis Zavier are not, repeat not, the so-called 'right wing' Hindu fundamentalists, as is evident from their occasionally chiding the Hindu "right" at one or two places in their research study. At least one of them is a Christian - even both could be. Shri Mari Bhat is no more.

It is time that Indians understood the mindboggling import of the highly revealing Statement 7 of Census 2001 Religion Data Report (page xlii) which gives the religion-wise breakup of children in the 0-6 years age group. It shows that the percentage of Muslim cohorts (a term commonly used in demographic parlance) is 21 percent higher than Hindu cohorts. Although according to census 2001 Muslims constitute only 13.4 percent of India's population, their population in the crucial 0-6 years age group is 21 percent higher than Hindus, giving Muslims a headstart advantage of 7.6 over the Hindus, as and when these cohorts enter reproductive age, say roughly between 2011 and 2016. This single page of Census 2001 Report gives a total clue to the demographic crisis likely to engulf India, say anytime after 2011 or latest by 2021. These 0-6 yrs old cohorts (enumerated in 2001) will become reproductively active between 2011 and 2016 and then continue to reproduce for the next 30-40 years. With a 21 percent higher cohort population and at least 25-30 percent less acceptance of family planning, the growth in Muslim population during the next 4 decades is likely to become even more fast paced. It is simple arithmetic - even a high school student can understand it and do it.

The biggest quantum jump in Muslim population (in terms of percentage) in the coming decades will take place in Haryana where the ratio of Muslim cohorts is almost
60 percent higher than the Hindu cohorts! Next in descending order will be Assam, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Delhi, Nagaland, Bihar and so on.

A further analysis of the 0-6 years cohorts data reveals that out of 35 States and Union Territories listed in Statement 7, the percentage of Muslim 0-6 years cohorts is higher than Hindus in as many 31 States and U.Ts. The percentage of 0-6 yrs Hindu cohorts is marginally higher than Muslims only in two states of Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh and two Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. It means that in the coming decades the Muslim population will grow at a rate higher than that of Hindus in 31 States and Union Territories.

Statement 7 of Census 2001 Religion Data Report is self explanatory and vividly depicts the looming dark shadow of the future demographic changes across the country. I must reiterate that future demographic trends, based on the data given in Statement 7, are totally unalterable, because these children are already born and will enter reproductive age between 2011 and 2016 and continue to reproduce for the next 30 to 40 years. No one, except God Almighty, can add to, or subtract from, these numbers.

It is surprising how and why the Indian intelligentsia do not try to understand the reasons which prompted the former Prime Minister of U.K., Tony Blair, to discreetly advise all British couples to opt for the 5 children norm, why in recent years most European countries have announced liberal cash bonuses to those couples who opt to have more children, why Peter Costello, Australia's Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave a clarion call to his countrymen that every couple must have at least 3 children, preferably many more, stipulating "one child for father, one for the mother and one for the country". Apprehensive of the population growth of jihad-infested Indonesia, he announced an incentive of 2,000 Australian dollars for every child born after June 2004. [Source: Hindustan Times, May 13, 2004, p.1]. Prima facie many keen observers of global population trends like Niall Ferguson, Bernard Lewis, Robert Costello, Bruce Bawer and Mark Steyn (a Canadian strategic analyst), are now alerting their countrymen about the threat posed by demographic changes across the world. Incidentally in the U.K. and Australia no one laughs at or ridicules Tony Blair, Niall Ferguson or Peter Costello. As a nation the British and the Australians appear to be much more rational and sagacious than us, the Indians.

Some doubting Thomases might ask why this global panic, what is the problem, where is the problem? The answer is that in the year 1900 the Muslims constituted only 12 percent of the world population; they grew to 18 percent in 1992-93 (when Huntington published his first thesis on the clash of civilizations); by 2003 the Muslims became 20 percent of the global population. And by 2025, barely 18 years away from now, they will constitute 30 percent of world population.[Source: Spangler, The Decline of the West, cited by Samuel Huntington]. According to some demographic estimates, Muslims might constitute anything between 37 to 40 percent of the world population by 2100 AD. Correspondingly in recent years the numbers of jihads worldwide have also
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multiplied in tandem with the growth in Muslim population, our next door neighbour Thailand being the latest entrant to the growing list of faultline conflict zones.

Niall Ferguson (a strategic analyst who teaches contemporary history at Harvard) wrote in The Sunday Times, London, in April 2004, that in 50 years time Europe was likely to become a Muslim majority continent. And his warning has alerted most countries of the continent. Some enterprising futurologists have re-named Europe as 'EURABIA'. According to a write up in The Economist, London, in October 2004, acutely fearful of the growing Albanian clout in the Balkans, many well-to-do Macedonians are migrating out and the destination of choice is New Zealand. Apparently they no longer consider Europe safe for their children and grand children. Niall Ferguson has drawn further attention to the fact that due to low fertility rates and increasing life expectancy by 2050 one in every three Italians, Spaniards and Greeks is likely to be 65 years or older. So the 'old Europe' will become much more older. He pointed out that the birth rates of Muslim societies (i.e., including those Muslims who live in non-Muslim countries) are more than double the European average. And that appears to be coming true even in India where the Hindu birth rate is fast approaching the European average. According to census 2001 the decadal TFR, or birth rate of Hindus of Kolkata district (West Bengal) was barely 1 child per woman which was much lower than birth rates of Germany, Italy and Spain. In the southern state of Kerala too the Hindu TFR at 1.64 is below the replacement level of 2.1. Citing the example of Yemen, Niall Ferguson has pointed out that by 2050 its population could exceed that of Russia (based on United Nations forecast and assuming the current fertility rate).In the far away Norway the Muslim population quantum jumped 75 times within 23 years (from 1980 to 2003), rising from 1000 in 1980 to 75,000 plus in 2003 ! The plight of Christian Europe is reflected in an article written by Mark Steyn, 'It is the Demography, Stupid' which reads almost like Dirge of the Dying Europe.

It is time that the Indian middle class and opinion makers understood the long term climactic consequences of the existential demographic crisis writ large across the Indian horizon. In a different context, while analysing socio-economic aspects of the
latest census, the well known demographer, Prof. Ashish Bose, has estimated that presently in 49 districts Muslims already constitute more than 30 percent of population. [Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Mumbai, January 29, 2005, p.371 (table 4)]. A
back-of-the envelope calculation made in the light of the Muslim growth rate of the last two decades shows that Muslims will attain majority status in all these 49 districts, any time between 2091 and 2111, perhaps even earlier. Just now Muslims are in majority in 12 districts to which another 37 may be added by the end of the century, even earlier. What might happen thereafter is anybody's guess. In the light of Kashmir experience, it has the potential to give a massive fillip to the jihadi fervour in the sub-continent. It is estimated that any time between 2051 and 2061 the total Muslim population of the sub-continent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, all counted together) will exceed the total Hindu population. The denouement could come even earlier, say around 2047, when India should be celebrating one hundred years of freedom. Interestingly even Sachar Committee has unwittingly admitted that by 2101 the Muslim population of India was
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likely to range between 32 to 34 crores. According to Census 2001 the population of Muslims was 13.4 crores in that year.

The foregoing cold facts should ring a loud alarm bell to wake up all those who want to ensure long term survival of secularism in India. Demography is the key to every democracy because elections are won and lost in terms of the numbers game called adult
sufferage. India will remain a secular and democratic nation only so long as it remains a Hindu majority country. That is the bottom line.

The problem has global dimensions, too. It is unfortunate that while the world has woken up to the threat of rapidly changing demography, we Indians have remained comatose.

A detailed analysis of the percentage of 0-6 years old cohorts, along with explanatory comments, given below, highlights the long term dimensions of the fast approaching demographic crisis.

PROPORTION OF 0-6 YEARS COHORTS TO TOTAL POPULATION OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES, BASED ON STATEMENT 7 ON PAGE xlii OF CENSUS 2001 RELIGION DATA REPORT (INDIA, STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India/States All religious Hindus Muslims Christians Sikhs Buddhists Jains Others
U/Territories communities
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All India 15.9 15.6 18.7 13.5 12.8 14.4 10.6 18.0

Jammu & Kashmir 14.6 13.3 15.4 11.6 10.6 11.7 10.9 15.5
Himachal Pradesh 13.0 13.3 16.2 12.8 12.1 10.6 10.5 13.2
Punjab 13.0 13.2 16.3 16.1 12.8 13.4 10.2 13.5
Chandigarh 12.8 13.4 17.1 12.1 9.1 7.7 10.0 9.7
Uttaranchal 16.0 15.4 21.2 11.7 14.8 9.1 9.8 14.7
Haryana 15.8 15.4 24.5 12.4 13.0 16.2 11.3 11.7
Delhi 14.6 14.3 18.5 11.4 10.8 13.5 11.3 10.1
Rajasthan 18.8 18.8 21.0 14.6 15.1 18.2 10.7 15.9
Uttar Pradesh 19.0 18.6 20.9 14.6 14.1 19.9 11.9 17.0
Bihar 20.2 19.9 22.0 14.8 14.2 19.4 11.0 20.3
Sikkim 14.5 14.6 13.2 14.6 2.0 14.4 11.5 15.0
Arunachal Pradesh 18.8 17.1 18.8 20.5 7.6 19.8 15.7 19.1
Nagaland 14.6 12.7 19.2 14.6 8.3 11.9 11.7 12.8
Manipur 14.2 13.2 19.8 14.0 8.5 18.4 10.1 14.8
Mizoram 16.2 9.2 10.1 16.1 9.8 20.5 16.8 15.8
Tripura 13.6 13.0 18.6 15.7 4.5 17.9 11.9 12.1
Meghalaya 20.2 14.2 21.2 21.1 12.3 14.4 13.5 21.5
7

Assam 16.9 14.5 21.8 17.6 9.9 14.3 10.5 15.5
West Bengal 14.2 12.7 18.7 13.4 10.1 10.6 9.6 15.4
Jharkhand 18.4 17.9 21.2 16.2 11.1 16.8 11.1 19.0
Orissa 14.6 14.4 16.5 17.8 10.8 13.3 10.8 17.8
Chhatisgarh 17.1 17.2 15.5 15.3 12.3 13.4 11.7 19.0
Madhya Pradesh 17.9 18.0 17.9 13.3 12.9 14.5 11.3 18.1
Gujarat 14.9 14.9 15.8 12.8 12.7 17.3 9.2 12.7
Daman & Diu 13.0 13.2 12.3 9.8 11.0 13.5 10.8 8.7
Dadra & Nagar
Haveli 18.2 18.3 16.1 19.3 11.4 18.6 13.8 13.3
Maharashtra 14.1 14.0 16.2 10.3 11.6 14.1 10.1 13.1
Andhra Pradesh 13.3 13.2 14.9 12.3 12.4 16.2 11.3 13.8
Karnataka 13.6 13.3 16.1 11.1 11.9 15.3 12.0 13.8
Goa 10.8 10.9 15.2 9.6 10.0 12.0 11.5 11.9
Lakshadweep 15.0 3.6 15.5 3.1 - - - -
Kerala 11.9 10.8 15.0 11.2 10.0 12.7 9.7 15.9
Tamil Nadu 11.6 11.5 12.9 11.2 10.4 12.0 10.8 11.1
Pondicherry 12.0 12.0 13.1 11.0 8.3 5.5 11.6 12.6
Andaman & Nicobar
Islands 12.6 12.7 11.3 12.7 12.4 5.9 13.0 15.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes: 1. Population figures for India and Manipur exclude those of Mao Maram,
Paomata and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur.

2. The column All religious communities includes 'Religion not stated'

The above data of cohorts in the 0-6 years age group reveals the following alarming facts

i) Although presently Muslims constitute only 13.4 percent of India's population, their percentage in 0-6 years children was as high as 21 percent in 2001 - i.e., 6 years ago. It clearly shows a headstart advantage of 7.6 percent to Muslims in the matter of reproduction, say after the year 2011 and beyond, when these cohorts attain the age of 17 years.

ii) It is well known that on an average the acceptance of family planning among
Muslims is at least 25 percent lower than the Hindus. That means from 2011
onwards for the next 30-40 years the population growth rate of Muslims will
be faster than what has been witnessed during the last 2-3 decades.

iii) Out of 35 States and Union Territories, the percentage of Muslim cohorts is higher than the Hindu cohorts in as many as 31 States/UTs. In all these States Muslim population will grow much faster. Only in 2 States of Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim and two Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands
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and Daman & Diu the percentage of Hindu cohorts in 0-6 yrs. age group is marginally higher than that of Muslims.

iv) The biggest quantum jump in Muslim growth percentage will be in Haryana where the Muslim 0-6 yrs age cohorts are higher by 60 percent than the Hindus! Next to follow suit will be Assam, W. Bengal, Uttaranchal, Chandigarh, Delhi, Kerala, Nagaland, etc.

v) The story of the future climactic demographic changes likely to overwhelm the secular identity of India is written on this single page of Census 2001 Religion Data Report. No one, except God Almighty, can substract from or add to these 0-6 yrs cohorts who are already born and are being brought up. They will enter reproductive age during the years 2011- 2017 and then remain active for the next 30-40 years. Every economist knows that the long term statistical trends are not easily reversed unless there are some radical changes
in the basic determinants of such long term trends. As a general rule, it requires two generations of 'Baby Boomers' (i.e., a span of 50 years) to counter and reverse the skewedness of adverse demographics facing a country, or a civilization. The Christians of Lebanon and the Balkans discovered it too late and now the whole Europe is in serious trouble.!

vi) It further follows that in the coming decades the percentage of youthful component of the Hindu society will continue to decline year after year, while the proportion of old people (mostly pensioners, inactive and non-earning sedate men and women) will continue to rise. But among the Muslims the youthful component will remain higher than the Hindus for many years, as is evident from the census 2001 data about 0-6 years cohorts. As a rule, the youth are more adventurous, more aggressive, more demanding and violence-prone. That could be a dangerous prospect for the fast ageing non-Muslim society of India, comprising Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians. The pitfalls of ageing societies have been highlighted by Samuel Huntington in his famous tome on the Clash of Civilizations. The Christian Europe is in trouble because it is rapidly growing older and becoming functionally effete, finding it difficult to meet the challenge of growing jihadi militancy.

----------------------


P. S. The intention of this research paper is not to ruffle the sensitive feathers of our
friends, the self-styled secular intellectuals and middle class chatterati, but to
present the truth based on a clinical analysis of Census 2001 and contemporary
writings on the subject of demographics.


Copyright@ R.K. Ohri