1. FESTIVALS: Onam is predominantly celebrated by people from Keral. Onam day is decided based on
Solar Calendar. Onam is celebrated in Chingam
month on Malayalam Solar Calendar. The day when Nakshatra Thiruvonam prevails in month of
Chingam is considered for Onam celebrations. Onam falls on September 16 this
year. The festival commemorates the appearance of Vamana avatar of Vishnu and the subsequent home coming of the
legendary Emperor Mahabali. Onam
celebrates the Asura King Mahabali's annual visit from Patala (the underworld).
On Thiruvonam day, Asura King Mahabali is believed to visit every Malayali home
and meet his people. The celebrations of Onam start on Atham day (the day when Atham Nakshatra prevails) and continue for
10 days till Thiruvonam day. Atham Nakshatra is known as Hasta Nakshatra in
other Hindu Calendars.
2.
BALAGOKULAM CELEBRATES JANMASHTAMI IN KERALA: Balagokulam, an organisation
of children, celebrated Sree Krishna Jayanti/ Gokulashtami all across Kerala
with all its charm and devotion on August 28. Thousands of children, dressed up
as Sree Krishna, Gopika and other similar characters from Krishna's
life, were seen on the streets of each and every village and towns. Huge
processions of children, their parents and other devotees accompanied by
beautiful tableaus and ‘Chendamelam’ (a typical Kerala style drum set) were taken
out in many places. Dr. Debashish Chattterjee (Director, IIM-kozhikkode)
inaugurated the celebrations in Kozhikkode. Dr. G. Madhavan Nair (Former
chairman, ISRO and Secretory Department of Space) and Dr M. C. Dileep Kumar
(Vice Chancellor, Sree Sankara Sanskrit
University) inaugurated the
celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi
respectively.
3. SAVE HINDUS AND SIKHS IN PAKISTAN: US
HINDU GROUPS PROTEST: A powerful protest demonstration
was successfully organized on 14 August by Indian American Intellectuals Forum
(IAIF) in cooperation with Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Hindu Human Rights
Watch, Justice for Hindus, India Heritage Foundation, Lansing, Michigan; Human
Rights Coalition against Radical Islam, Probasi of Brooklyn and Hindu Mahasabha
of America (HMSA) in support of the victims of religious bigotry, hate,
intolerance and savagery, near Pakistan Consulate in New York.
The
Memorandum expressing outrage, shock and indignation at the horrific treatment
meted out to Hindus, Sikhs and Christians was submitted to the Consul General
of Pakistan. Addressing the audience, Narain Kataria, organizer of the protest
said that Hindus have been terrorized in Pakistan to such an extent that in
April-May this year, about 500 Hindus who crossed into Bharat under the
pretense of visiting a religious festival, refused to go back to Pakistan and
begged government of Bharat to give them political asylum.
A
similar demonstration was held outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Aug 17 by
Alliance of Pakistani and British Hindus. The protesters, carrying placards
reading "No More Forced Conversions", also handed over a petition to
the High Commission asking the Pakistani government to take immediate steps to
ensure the well being and safety of Hindus in the country.
4. BHARAT'S FIRST MILITARY
SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED: Bharat's first military satellite GSAT-7 or
"Rukmini", which will boost the Navy's blue-water combat capabilities
with a 2,000-nautical mile footprint over the crucial Indian Ocean Region
(IOR), was successfully launched from Kourou Island in French Guiana by
European space consortium Arianespace's launch rocket in the early hours on
August 30.
The
naval communication and surveillance satellite when placed in the geostationary
orbit, it will become "a potent force-multiplier", networking all Bharatiya
warships, submarines and aircraft with operational centres ashore through
high-speed encrypted data-links. This is the first time a high-power UHF (ultra
high-frequency) transponder forms part of an Bharatiya communication satellite
like INSAT or GSAT.
From
the individual "I see, I kill" operation, the entire Navy will now be
"seamlessly" networked to get "a composite, clear picture of all
the actors" in the IOR. It will transform from "a platform-centric"
Navy to "a network-enabled" force. Shorn of military lingo, this
means the ability to detect and share emerging maritime threats "in
real-time" so that a counter to "neutralise" them can be swiftly
launched, said sources.
5. Naperville-Aurora shakha of the Chicago
vibhag celebrated Rakshabandhan utsav: A team of volunteers from Naperville-Aurora shakha of
the HSS Chicago vibhag celebrated Rakshabandhan utsav with Congressman Bill
Foster who is a scientist and businessman representing the 11th Congressional
District of Illinois.
The
meeting lasted for close to 55 mins. This was the 3rd year of celebrating
Rakshabandhan utsav with congressman/woman.
Pragya
Maheshwari and Shreeraj Garkhedkar explained the Rakshabandhan utsav and tied
Rakhi to Congressman and his staff.
6. Balinese Hindus celebrate Pagerwesi: Balinese Hindu devotees
celebrated Pagerwesi on August 14 by performing prayers in temples throughout
the island. In some parts of the island, Pagerwesi is a minor religious
holiday, not on par with Galungan and Kuningan, during which the Balinese
Hindus celebrate the victory of virtues over vices.
From
early morning, people flocked to Kahyangan Tiga temples — the three temples
dedicated to Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa — in their villages. Together with family,
they also visited their ancestral temples.
For
Buleleng natives, the celebration always ends with a prayer performed in
cemeteries to pay homage to deceased relatives who have not yet been cremated.
The living present an offering of rice, cakes and fruit to the deceased and at
the end of the ritual they feast on the offering.
7. Sewa International gets Jefferson Awards for
Public service: Sewa International Houston was conferred with the prestigious 2013 Youth
Service Challenge Medallion for outstanding community service by Jefferson
Awards in a ceremony held at City Hall in Houston
on August 13. Presented by Houston Mayor Annise Parker, this award recognizes
Sewa’s monthly community service activities known as Sewa Local Events. From July
2012 Sewa International, Houston has been offering its volunteers a chance to
impact in their community and bring forth positive change.
Through
Sewa Local Events, over 120 volunteers have committed their time serving
various local organizations including the Houston Food Bank, Texas Children’s
Hospital, Star of Hope Mission, Habitat for Humanity, and the Huston Zoo. Sewa
also operates additional full-fledged programs including Refugee Empowerment,
Family Services, and their internship opportunities.
8. Empowering marginalised with quality
learning: With
the objective to provide quality education to meritorious students coming from
over 15 lakh tribal families of the State, the Gujarat Government has
established 80 world-class educational institutions for meritorious tribal
students throughout the tribal areas of the State.
These
special schools are residential in nature. Considerable investment is made on
educational facilities, teachers, students’ nutritional needs, teaching aids,
and co-curricular activities. The students are provided education in the
English medium in many of these schools in order to enable them to compete with
the non-tribal population, a senior officer from Gujarat State Government said.
Giving
an example of Vejalpur village
of Panchmahal district, a
senior officer from Gujarat State Government apprised that an English medium
school was established in the village in 2007-2008, which now imparts high
standard education. The school is from class six to 12. The school places a
great deal of emphasis on pedagogy and the teachers meet fortnightly to prepare
their teaching plans. In addition to classroom teaching, the teachers spend
extra time on students to enhance the latter’s knowledge repository. The
teachers at Vejalpur continue to work out strategies so that children take off
on a learning adventure every day.
9. Chandrayaan helps NASA detect water on Moon:
Using data
collected by Bharat’s Chandrayaan mission, NASA has detected magmatic water
locked under the surface of the Moon. NASA said scientists using data from the
Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research
Organisation’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, remotely detected magmatic water, or
water that originates from deep within the Moon’s interior, on the lunar
surface. M3 imaged the lunar impact crater Bullialdus, which lies near the
lunar equator.
“Now
that we have detected water that is likely from the interior of the Moon, we
can start to compare this water with other characteristics of the lunar surface,”
said Ms.Rachel Klima, a planetary geologist at the Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel.
The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
10. Bharat to play key role in building world’s
largest telescope: Bharat will play a key role in building the world’s
largest optical and infrared telescope — the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT),
which is expected to be completed by 2022 at Mauna Kea
in Hawai. This island in the US
is among the best astronomical sites in the world. Institutes from Bharat, Canada,
Japan, China, and the universities in the USA signed the
master partnership agreement on July 25 to build and operate the world’s
largest optical and infrared telescope.
11. 25 years in making,
Encyclopedia of Hinduism unveiled in US: "It is a deep honor to be participating
in the American release of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism. This is a remarkable
work of scholarship and research. I hope that many in academia and in everyday
life will turn to it as a resource to better understand the characters, the
tenets, and the impact that Hinduism has had, and is having in the
world," said Dr Harris Pastides,
President of University of South Carolina on launching the comprehensive 11
volume encyclopedia of Hinduism. The encyclopedia covers Hindu
spiritual beliefs, practices and philosophy, and is the culmination of a
25-year academic effort.
The
work deals with Bharatiya history, languages, art, music, dance, architecture,
medicine, and women's issues. It contains more than 1,000 illustrations and
photographs.
12. ‘Reforms in Education System is need of the
hour’: Parikkar: “Schooling system makes
kids literate but not really educated. Today we get literate people but not
educated people. Unless we make people understand issues and go into depth of
issues, education is useless”, said Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar
addressing an Intellectual meet for vision and thought leaders at CMR Institute
of Technology, Bangalore, organised by ‘Swami Vivekananda 150 Birth Anniversary
Celebration Committee, Karnataka’
Noted
Writer Madhu Kishwar, Social Activist and founder of SVYM – Swami Vivekananda
Youth Movement Dr Balasubramaniam also addressed the meet. The talk was
followed by a interactive Q & A session. A total of 506 select intellectuals
from various professions participated in the seminar. An inspirational solo
song was sung before the speeches.
13: MRM adds new dimension to
‘Rakshabandhan’: Addressing a massive congregation of over 2500 Muslim and Hindu women
gathered on the occasion at a specially erected shamiyana in the premises of
Khandelwal College in Shastrinagar, Delhi, Indresh Kumar, a senior Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Executive Committee member and Patron of MRM, said that
this program was historical in the sense that never in the history of Bharat
such a grand program was held.
Senior
BJP leader, former Union Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Swami Yatindranath of
Haridwar, Maulana Jafrul Hasan ‘Ayodhyavasi’, MRM National convener Mohd Afzal,
Co-Conveners Shahjad Ali, Abu Bakr Naqvi, Reshma Hussain, senior RSS activist
Ramprasad and others were present.
Muslim
women tied Rakhis to Hindu brothers while their Hindu counterparts tied Rakhis
to Muslim brothers in the program presenting a novel concept of Hindu-Muslim
unity and harmony.
14. Prestigious Janmashtami
Puraskaram Conferred on Guru Chemancheri Kunjiraman Nair: The prestigious Janmashtami Puraskaram
instituted by Balasamskarakendram has been bestowed upon renowned Kathakali
maestro, the reverential Guru Chemancheri Kunjiraman Nair. Chemancheri
Kunhiraman Nair began his Kathakali voyage at the age of 15, which still
continues relentlessly. Age has never been a restraining barrier for this great
maestro. The award was presented at a function inaugurated by head seer of
Advaithashramam Kolathur, Swami Chidananda puri and presided over by Dr. KP
Prabhakaran Nair.
The
Balagokulam the most famous Children’s organisation of South
Asia gave away the Janmashtami Award to the veteran Guru of
Kathakali Art form of Kerala, for his lifelong achievement and dedication on
Art and preservation of the culture.The key address was delivered by KC Kannan,
Sahasarkaryavah of Rashtreeya Swayamsevak Sangh.
15. From a hut
in Nasik village,
15-yr-old girl runs to gold in China: Anjana Dhavalu
Thamake won gold for Bharat by winning the girl's 800m race in the second Asian
Youth Games held at Nanjing,
China. Thamake
clocked a personal best of two minutes 11.47 seconds to bag the gold ahead of
Savinder Kaur of Malaysia
and Sri Lanka's
K Dilhani Fernando. 15-year old Anjana Thamake led the eight-athlete field all
through and won the race comfortably. Anjana belongs to a small village,
Ganeshgaon, in Nasik
district of Maharashtra.
16. ParameswarANji's appeal: To commemorate 150th
birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanandaand and his Chicago
speech 120 years ago, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has agreed to the appeal
of Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari and Sri Ramakrishna Mutt, Thiruvananthapuram
to install a life-size bronze statue of Swamiji at Kowdiar Palace
Park.
The
total outlay for the Statue and the over-arching structure with proper
landscaping is estimated to be about One
Crore Rs. Honorable Vice-President of Bharat M. Hameed Ansari has agreed to
unveil the statue on 11th September 2013, day of Swamiji’s speech at Chickago.
Kindly
contribute generously for the venture.
Your
contributions can be sent in favour of ‘Vivekananda Kendra’ or can be directly
remitted to the A/c No- 822201002059, IFSC – CNRB 0000822, Canara Bank, Puthenchantha
Branch Thiruvananthapuram.Kerala.
17. Maharashtra signs anti superstition ordinance:
Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan signed an Ordinance on August 24 which will curb practices like black magic,
witchcraft and award stringent punishment, up to seven 7 years in jail, for the practioners of such superstitions. Maharashtra is the first state in the country to enact
such a law. The move comes five days after the killing of rationalist Narendra
Dabholkar, the founder-head of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti
(MANS) which fought against these practices.
18. Seminar on ‘Dreams of Bharat-Role of
Media’: Samachar
Bharati conducted a seminar on “Swamiji‘s Dreams of Bharat-Role of Media “on
24th Aug 2013 at Hyderabad on the eve of the 150th Birth anniversary of Swami
Vivekananda.
This
seminar was inagurated by Justice L.Narsimha Reddy of the AP High court, called
for a closer reading of Swami Vivekananda’s message and it’s appropriateness
for our current times.
Mr
Chandan Mitra, Editor Daily Pioneer New Delhi and Member of Parliament (Rajya
Sabha)who was guest speaker on this occasion stressed the continuing relevance
of Swami Vivekananda and said his ideas were far ahead of their times.
Mr
MVR.Shastry Editor, Andhra Bhoomi , Smt Nivedita Bhide Vice-President of
Vivekanada Rock Memorial Kanya Kumari and Justice Sri Ramlu of the AP High
Court (Retd) also spoke at the occasion.
19. Tributes to Dilip Singh Judeo, The pioneer of
Ghar Wapasi movement: Dilip Singh Judeo, BJP leader and MP from Bilaspur parliamentary
constituency in Chhattisgarh died on August 14at Medanta Hospital Gurgaon. He
was known for his daring personality in Chhattisgarh politics and ‘the Ghar
Vapsi Abhiyan’ (reconversion of tribals) on the front of social work. He was 64
and is survived by his wife and two sons.
20. Madison
Hindu community begins big expansion: Ground breaking ceremony of a “Hindu Temple &
Cultural Center of Wisconsin” was permormed on a seven acre site 2138 S Fish Hatchery Road
in Madison Wisconsin. A cultural center and temple building to cost between
$350,000 and $400,000 will be built at the site.
For
a Midwestern city, Madison has a relatively high concentration of Hindus, with
most of them natives of Bharat, “UW-Madison is a big factor,” said Sharma, 57, a native of New Delhi, Bharat,
moved to Madison in 1992. “There are a lot of researchers here and professors
and assistant professors. You also have a lot of doctors because of the medical
facilities, and a lot of people working for technology companies.”
21. NATION-WIDE PROTEST BY VHP AGAINST BANNING AYODHYA
PARIKRAMA YATRA: After a nation-wide protest, which also reverberated in the Parliament,
VHP Veteran Ashok Singhal, Dr Togadia were released from Police arrest on
August 26. However UP Govt did not lift
the ban on Ayodhya Parikrama Yatra of VHP. Vishwa Hindu Parishad & Bajrang
Dal workers protested across the nation at places like Deharadoon, Kasargod –
Keral, Bangalore, Hyderabad
and Jantar Mantar in New Delhi
against the ban imposed by UP government on 84 kosi parikrama which started on
August 25 and arrest of Hindu Saints & VHP activists in and around Ayodhya.
22. HINDU'S OF SINDH,
PAKISTAN CELEBRATE JANAMASHTMI : Despite threats from Talibans, fundamentalists
and persecution and migration to Bharat
from Pakistan, the Hindu's of Sindh celebrated Janamashtmi festival with
religious fervor.
President
of Pakistan Hinduh Seva Welfare Trust, Sanjesh Dhanja informed that trust in
collaboration with Shri Naval Ekta Committee celebrated the event of Sri Krishna
Janamashtmi at Hyderabad, Pakistan. "It is amazing and
indicates that how much Hindu's are aware of their religious rights" he
said. Stating that it was the unity among the community that they were able to
celebrate the event in such a big way, advocate Ramesh Kumar of the trust
said," Hindu's realize their strength and despite all odds they are united
to celebrate their religious festivals"
In
a similar incident, Hindus and Sikhs from the restive northwest gathered at
three temples in Peshawar
to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. Arrangements were made at the historic Kali Bari
and two other temples in Lower Courts and Gor Ghatri for the celebration where
Hindus and Sikhs from cities like Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan travelled
to Peshawar.
23. HINDUS LAUD OREGON PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR
OFFERING YOGA: Hindus have applauded Crescent Valley High School (CVHS) in Corvallis
(Oregon, USA) for offering yoga, and have urged all schools in Oregon to do the
same for their pupils.According to reports, a week-long yoga summer camp is
currently being held in the school and a yoga class will be offered after the
school opens on September 4.
24. Bharatiya professor reports first
human-to-human brain interface: A Bharatiya Rajesh PN Rao, Associate Professor of Computer and Science
Engineering, at University of Washington in Seattle
and his American research colleague have successfully performed the first
non-invasive human-to-human brain interface over the Internet. Using electrical
brain recordings and a form of magnetic stimulation, sent a brain signal to
researcher Andrea Stocco on the other side of the UW campus, causing Stocco’s
finger to move on a keyboard.
Rao
has been working on brain-computer interfacing for more than 10 years. He has
just published a textbook on the subject. For the demonstration, the team had a
Skype connection set up so the two labs could coordinate, though neither Rao
nor Stocco could see the screens.
On
his home page on the university website, Rao says the primary goal of his
research is “to discover the computational principles underlying the brain’s
remarkable ability to learn, process and store information, and to apply this
knowledge to the task of building adaptive robotic systems and brain-human
interfaces”.
25. Bharat lures back 500 NRI scientists: Over the last seven years,
initiatives such as the Ramanujan and Ramalingaswamy fellowships and the
£160-million India Alliance between the UK’s Wellcome Trust and Bharat’s
department of biotechnology have prompted over 500 scientists doing research
overseas to shift to their homeland. The first two‘re-entry’ fellowships —
started in 2006 and 2007 respectively — are granted for five years and come
with a monthly salary of Rs. 75,000 in addition to handsome research grants. A
large number of their fellows are absorbed in the institutes where they do
their research. The government is now trying to increase both the emoluments
and research grants under the fellowship so it becomes more attractive, says
department of science and technology secretary Dr T Ramasami.
26. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN:
Pravas: Dr.Ram Vaidya, sahsamyojak
Vishwa Vibhag is touring Guyana
and Suriname.
Visitors: Ujjwal Bharadwaj – UK,
Rajesh - Singapore
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: I am sure, if our mothers
make a resolve to uplift the society, then there is no power, either in this
world or the other, which can defeat them. The ideal of Savitri, before whom
even the Lord of Death accepted defeat, is before them. May they all invoke
within themselves such single-minded devotion to the ideal, such purity of
character and such peerless heroism! Once we do this, I am sure, the long night
will pass and a new dawn will spread its golden hue over the horizon of not
only Bharat but over the entire world with the renewed effulgence of our Dharma.
– Sri Guruji M S Golwalkar.
JAI SHREE RAM
50 YEARS OF HINDU EMPOWERMENT
Dr Pravin Togadia
Recently
while traveling a young suited booted professional approached me and said, ‘Jai
Shreeram’. I pleasantly looked up and he continued, “I studied in VHP run High
School, did well in the board exam and with VHP support I went on to be an MBA
and now I am holding a good post in an FMCG.” The passenger sitting next to us
exclaimed, “Oh! VHP is in education too? I thought that you guys did only
agitations.” Before I give him the details of our service work in education,
health, vocational training, the same smart youth rattled the details of VHP’s
total educational projects 50628, 1257 schools, 608 health projects including
hospitals, mobile dispensaries and health care centres; girls hostels 32, boys
hostels 108, orphanages 45, Self-Help Groups for women 633, vocational skills
for youth centres 257 and other social help projects such as legal aid, old age
homes, etc are 1205.” And then he added,
“This large-scale social service by VHP is important and equally important are
the agitations that are done to defend Hindus and Hindu Dharma. I am proud to
be associated with VHP.”
This
is not the one off incident. Over 50,000 students who have studied in VHP High
Schools, are now placed at various respectful places in various fields like
science, technology, corporates, health etc. When they came to our schools,
they were either from very poor families or from Vanvasi areas. Now various
high schools have over 6000 students. When nobody dared to enter Nagaland, VHP
opened hostel in Halflong area of Nagaland 40 years back and now 10,000 Nagas
proudly call themselves Naga Hindus. This has prevented massive conversion in
the area. The same is for Odisha to Chhattisgarh and Tripura to Maharashtra.
When
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) begun on Janmashtami on August 29, 1964 in Mumbai
in a simple Sandipani Ashram, Hindu well-being, restoring dignity for Hindu
Dharma, protection of Hindus, spreading Hindu Dharma glory nationally and internationally
etc were part of the goals. The objective of the VHP was to organise –
consolidate the Hindu society and to serve – protect the Hindu Dharma. A
strong, effective, enduring and an ever increasing presence of VHP is now seen
in lakhs of villages and towns in Bharat as well as globally.
Today
when VHP will be completing 50 years coming year, VHP is present in all 450
(Government) districts in Bharat and also in 5868 Prakhands (Taluk, etc)
working through its 51,374 committees. VHP has activities of similar types in
over 100 countries. This is not mere data; people work here day and night for
Hindu well-being. VHP has always treated untouchability as a big social evil.
Through the consistent efforts at eradication of social evils like
untouchability, VHP is absolving the Hindu society and rejuvenating it to
express its inherent Hindu Unity and Dignity. Respected Shankaracharyas and
Sadhu-Saints in VHP conclave have passed a resolution to eradicate
untouchability. As a part of it Pujya Shankara-charyaji went to Kashi’s Domb
King’s home and ate with him. Today, VHP has a special social equality project
named ‘Samarasta’ in which VHP workers make people from other castes ‘Hindu
Mitra (Friends)’ who are invited for all religious functions and treated like
close family members. Globally, with VHP’s efforts, Hindu Dharma is taught as a
part of school syllabus in Australia
and UK
with Government sanction there. This helps others to know facts about Hindu
Dharma and also helps Hindus settled there for generations to get their
children know of their glorious Hindu traditions. VHP runs interactive summer
camps in many countries including the USA for the children and youth to
tell them about Bharat’s glorious culture and Hindu Dharma.
Cow
protection is an important part of VHP activity. Bajrang Dal workers are always
ahead in Gou Raksha. Many states now have law prohibiting cow butchering. VHP
has worked tirelessly to get them pass this law. A lot needs to be done to get
other states and Centre even pass the law now. To save non-milking cows which
are unaffordable for poor farmers, VHP runs over 515 Goshalas all over Bharat.
The late Moropant Pingleji had a great vision of making consumer products made
from gomutra (cow yrine), gomay (cow dung) and also from cow ghee, curd and
milk. These panchgavya products are now made by many Goshalas. Products like
soaps, shampoos, medicines etc at par with any MNC are now being used by
millions of Hindus. Moropantji always felt that as many consumer products from
panchgavya are used as many liters of gomutra and as many kilos of gomay would
be used, farmers can earn from them and cows would be saved. VHP Gouseva Gou
Raksha also holds interesting exams for school kids on Gou Mata!
Defending
Hindus and Hindu rights have been VHP’s one of the objectives. Ayodhya’s Ram Temple,
Kashmir’s Amarnath, South Bharat’s Rameshwaram
Ram Sethu and stopping reservations to Muslims in jobs / education, / loans are
the larger agitations VHP did and have been following up. Amarnath pilgrimage
now gets over 10 lakh people annually where no Hindu was safe earlier.
Rameshwaram Ram Sethu has been protected with VHP’s continued legal and social
fight. Hon. Supreme Court of India has discarded all proposals and committee
reports on Muslim Reservations terming them ‘unconstitutional’ due to VHP’s
constant socio-legal fight.
Apart
from these national agitations, VHP also takes up local issues of Hindus from
all states. Recently when a Scheduled Caste minor girl was gang raped and
killed by Muslims in Pratapgarh district of UP, VHP dared the Uttar Pradesh
government and got the police file an FIR and arrest the culprits. They did it
after 15,000 Hindus of all castes from surrounding villages did democratic
peaceful march to the police station.
There
are umpteen such examples like Kokrajhar Assam where Bangladeshi
infiltrators attacked local original Vanvasis and burnt their houses. VHP not
only opened the relief camps but also pushed the polity to agree that 1951
would be Citizen Registry cut off and not 1971 as the infiltrators came in
then. When North East Indians were being chased away from all parts of Bharat
after Kokrajhar incidents, VHP, RSS together stood with them, protected them
and those who still wished to be at their homes in NE, helped them with special
trains, protection and food supplies on way. From Marad, Kasargoud at Kerala to
recent Kishtwar incident in Jammu & Kashmir all states, VHP has been
holding Hindu hands many ways.
To
help Hindus in routine emergencies like medical, travel, legal etc Hindu Help
Line runs a 24X7 call cantre through which Hindus get emergency help all over
Bharat. We wish to extend it to globally now. Recently when Hindus from Pakistan fled
and came in Bharat, VHP helped them settle and now taking up the issue of their
safety and status. ‘Hindu Ahead’ project has excellent youth participation with
the appeal of ‘Aware Hindu and Active Hindu’.
Before
VHP was established in 1964, Hindus did give fight on their own globally and in
Bharat. Now nationally and globally VHP has become a rallying point for Hindus
for protection, prosperity and dignity as a Hindu. Many other Hindu
organisations followed VHP footsteps and are now active to help Hindus. VHP
works with many of them when it comes to Hindu issues.
With
43000 primary schools in Vanvasi areas, VHP has achieved what many governments
could not. Preventing mass conversions and not letting separatist movements in
are the big successes of this. Over 5 lakh Hindus did voluntary Home Coming
(paravartan) from forced Muslim and Christian practice.
It
is said that life begins at 50. VHP has come leaps and bounds ahead to spread
and protect Hindu Dharma. An apolitical socio-religious movement has become a
support hand for Hindus, which now has strength to express in one voice the
issues of Hindus and influence the polity so that Hindu rights are protected.
We all have many many miles to go. Vicious efforts to malign the image and work
of VHP will continue by the so-called anti-Hindu and pseudo secular forces.
VHP
will move ahead for Hindus all the tie irrespective of individuals as we
believe that ideology is prime. To multiply VHP’s efforts in all the fields of
socio-legal, socio-religious and socio-economic aspects for Hindus, VHP is
gearing up with the ‘VHP Vision’ which was announced in Kerala meeting in 2011
when a young team had been announced (The detailed VHP Vision document is
available on www.vhp.org Or one can
simply give search on Google: VHP Vision – Kerala). Past 2 years much has been
charted out and achieved. Much more is to be done. Let us together make a
difference! (Contact: drtogadia@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/HinduNewsNetwork)
(Published in Organiser 1 September 2013)
