1. FESTIVALS: The Kānvar Yatrā or Kavad Yatra is annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva, known as Kānvarias who travel on foot to, Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand to fetch holy waters of Ganges River, Ganga Jal, which is later offered at their local village Shiva temples on the day of Shravan Shivratri or Amavasya ( July 25 – 26 )
The Yatra used to be a small
affair undertaken by a few saints and old age devotees until the 1990s, when
it started gaining popularity. Today, hundreds of thousands of devotees from
surrounding states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and
reach these places to participate in Kanwar Mela.
The Yatra is named after the
kānvar, a single pole made of bamboo with two roughly equal loads dangling
from opposite ends. It is carried by balancing the middle of the pole on the
shoulders. -Top
2. PRESIDENT OF BHARAT
RECEIVES A COPY OF ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HINDUISM:
The President of Bharat, Shri Pranab Mukherjee
received a copy of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism at a function at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan Auditorium on 23rd June.
Speaking on the occasion, the President
complimented Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji of the Parmarth Niketan, who is the
founder chairman of India Heritage Research Foundation, for undertaking the
massive effort of bringing out the Encyclopedia of Hinduism. He said that
Hindu religious philosophy identifies Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksh, as the
foremost objectives of a human being. Striking a balance in human behaviour in
working towards these objectives has been prescribed as a key aim of human
existence.
Among the dignitaries present on the occasion
were Shri L.K. Advani, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sushri Uma Bharti, Dr. Karan
Singh and various other religious leaders.
-Top
3. HSS HINDU YOUTH
CONFERENCE 2014: From April 5th-6th
2014, 29 Yuvas from the NorthEast area gathered at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in
Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania for a two-day Hindu Youth Conference. The goal of
this conference was to provide a platform for young people between the ages of
18-35 to socialize, share ideas, and get more in touch with their identity as
Hindu Youth. Participants included some young working professionals, and
students from various Universities like Pennsylvania State, Drexel Rutgers
etc.
Shakha was conducted in a manner geared
towards new yuva and each agnya was explained before it was given. Many
activities were planned in the schedule to encourage teamwork, build
enthusiasm, and stimulate bonding. Boudhik activities were planned so that
they would be more interactive rather than lecture based and the topics chosen
were useful specifically for Yuvas. The varg ended on a high note with a
conclusion by Yelloji Mirajkar, highlighting the universal and all-inclusive
principals of Hinduism.
-Top
4. PM MODI ASKS ISRO TO
PLAN FOR SAARC SATELLITE: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said on 30th June that Bharat’s space
programme must be made available to developing nations, and the SAARC
countries in particular, minutes after witnessing the successful launch of
five foreign satellites on board the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO)
workhorse PSLV rocket.
The PM, who was on a two-day visit to space
facilities at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, witnessed the
successful launch of five foreign satellites on the PSLV-C23 rocket from the
space centre on Monday.
The PSLV-C23 carried a 714-kg French Earth
Observation Satellite SPOT-7 as its main payload with a 14-kg satellite called
AISAT of Germany, two 15-kg satellites from Canada CAN-X4 and CAN-X5, and a
7-kg Singapore satellite called VELOX-1 as piggyback payload.
Modi also asked scientists to extend space
technologies to map land records in the country on a regular basis to bring
about greater accuracy in land records which are often riddled with problems
which affect the poor.
-Top
5. BHARATIYA CONCEPT OF
NATION ASSIMILATES EVERYONE —DR KRISHNA GOPAL:
“The concept of nation in Bharat was not born
in 1947. It was developed through the ages and it assimilates everyone. All
from Buddha to Kabir and Shankar Dev to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu kept this concept
alive and going. There is a need to understand that the concept of nation for
Bharat is not a political concept rather spiritual,” said RSS Sahsarkaryavah
Dr Krishna Gopal. He was speaking at a seminar organized in Delhi on 75th
death anniversary of RSS founder Dr Hedgewar on June 21. Organized by India
Policy Foundation, New Delhi, the topic of the seminar was ‘Dr Hedgewar and
Indian Nationalism.’ IPF chairman Prof Kapil Kapur, director Dr Rakesh Sinha
and historian Dr Saradindu Mukherjee were also present on the occasion.
Dr Rakesh Sinha said the modern historians
especially the Left and Nehruvians have done a great damage to the history of
Bharat. The role of RSS in the national movement was completely ignored and
deliberately swept under the carpet. Others who spoke include Dr. Sharadindu
Mukherjee and Professor Kapil Kapoor who proposed a vote of thanks. -Top
6. SANSKRIT CONFERENCE AT
MCGILL: Samskrita Bharati (Canada)
participated in the 10th Annual Sanskrit Conference held at McGill University
in Montreal on 30th May where they launched a unique product –
Sanskrit Greeting Cards with support of Prof. (Dr.) Arvind Sharma. Samskrita
Bharati wishes to make Sanskrit popular in daily lives through use of
innovative approaches like Greeting Cards for special occasions and have many
exciting future projects in the pipe line.
-Top
7.
7 Poor students
clear IIT-JEE via ‘TAPAS’:
Prashanth, son of a construction worker and Ragahavendra Valmiki, son of a
daily wage earner always dreamed of studying in Bharat’s premier technological
institutions like the IIT but their financial background and conditions at
home threatened to derail their dreams. Thousands of such bright young minds
have such dreams but are forced to hold back due to their financial and social
status. But today Prashanth, having secured the 255th rank and Ragahavendra
Valmiki getting the 1007th rank in IIT-JEE have ensured a promising future for
themselves. Thanks to ‘Tapas‘, a free residential programme initiated by
Rashtrotthana Parishat, an organization inspired by the RSS, which has avowed
to turn the dreams of the brightest among the underprivileged into reality.
As many as 34 students from very poor
backgrounds have completed second Pre-University (PU) this year from ‘Tapas’.
The students selected for the programme have fared well in CET, JEE Main and
JEE Advanced too. This year, 30 out of 34 students qualified in JEE Main and
were eligible to appear for JEE Advanced and 7 have qualified in the JEE-Advanced
and become eligible for entry into Indian Institute Technology.
“My father is a construction worker and that
is the only source of income for my family. Both my elder brother and sister
are studying too” says Prashanth. It was due to the encouragement of the
principal and good coaching by the teachers which enabled him to crack the
IIT-JEE, he says. He wishes to continue his post-graduate studies in IIT
itself.
“Reaching the unreached and bringing them to
main stream is the key objective of Tapas. We are humbled to see all 34
students of batch one will get into prestigious institutes and come out as
great engineers who will uplift their family and transform the society they
are part of. At Tapas we focus on building character along with sharpening
their skills for entering IITs,” said Dinesh Hegde, General Secretary,
Rashtrotthana Parishat.
Every year Tapas selects 30-40 most promising
boys, studying in Class X and offers them free PU Education and trains them
for the IIT-JEE. Details of the program and organization is available at
http://www.tapasedu.org/
-Top
8. STRIKE A POSE AT YOGA
EVENT IN TIMES SQUARE: Thousands of
sun-worshipping yogis lined their mats up in the middle of Times Square to
celebrate the summer solstice on 21st June. More than 11,000 people
followed the Athleta sponsored events “Solstice in Times Square: Athleta Mind
over Madness Yoga” as they gradually moved from pose to pose with their bare
feet.
“It’s the longest day of the year. In the yoga
tradition, this is the day you worship the sun,” told Christina Cielusniak,
25, a yoga instructor from Wayne, N.J. The sun is an important aspect of yoga.
In fact, one of the most familiar stances is Surya Namaskar, which means “sun
salutation” and represents a symbolic movement of the human reliance on the
sun.
“So it really is this metaphor for the larger
challenges of our lives. How do we stay present, how do we stay focused with
all the distractions,” Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance,
told CBS News.
Tompkins led the first of eight free classes
given on 21st. “I am struck at how it actually is possible in the
midst of all this busyness to get yourself into a different state of mind,” he
said.
The event was held both June 21 and 22 to give
as many people as they could the opportunity to participate in the free
classes, which were live streamed on several websites.
-Top
9. SUSHMA SWARAJ PRAYS FOR
B’DESH, BHARAT PROSPERITY AT DHAKA TEMPLE:
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
visited the well-known Dhakeshwari temple in Dhaka on 27th June
saying it had capped a “successful” visit to Bangladesh. “I prayed for
prosperity of both India and Bangladesh,” she told Hindu community leaders and
devotees after offering the puja at the centuries old temple at the old part
of Dhaka as part of her private schedule.
Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad president
Kajal Debnath said that Swaraj was given a replica of the temple along with a
saree as a gift from the temple authority while Hindu women worshippers and
community leaders welcomed her with flowers.
Dhakeshwari means “Goddess of Dhaka” and the
temple is known to be the most important Hindu place of worship, earning it
the status of Bangladesh’s ‘national temple’. It was built by Sena dynasty
king Ballal Sen in the 12th century.
-Top
10. DR. MOHAN BHAGWAT
ATTENDS DEATH CENTENARY OF VASUDEVANAND SARASWATI:
RSS Sarasanghachalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat
addressed a gathering on an occasion to mark centenary death anniversary of
Maharashtrian spiritual leader Vasudevanand Saraswati Maharaj at Garudeshwar,
Gujarat on 28th June.
During his speech RSS Sarasanghachalak Mohan
Bhagwat stressed on the need of spreading the ‘values of religion’. Noted
Spiritual leader and Ayurvedic physician from Karla, Balaji Tambe also
attended the function along with Bhagwat. “A Hindu is the one who does
something passionately, without seeking anything for self. That becomes his
puja.” said Balaji Tambe.
Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati 1854–1914), also
known as Tembe Swami, is a saint who is regarded as an incarnation of Lord
Dattatreya.
He was an expert Sanskrit scholar and has
authored around 19 books like Dwisahastri Gurucharitra), Datta Puran etc. His
Samadhi has been built on the river bank at Garudeshwar, Gujarat. There is a
famous Datta Mandir in the same place.
-Top
11. ASTRA AIR-TO-AIR
MISSILE TESTED SUCCESSFULLY FROM SUKHOI-30:
Bharat's indigenous Astra BVR (beyond visual
range) missile, first home made air-to-air missile, was successfully tested
from a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft on June 20th from a naval range
off Goa at over six km altitude.
"It was a control and guidance flight which
successfully demonstrated interception of an electronically simulated target
at long range," the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
statement said.
The Astra is a single-stage solid-propellant
missile that is 3.57 m long and 178 mm in diameter, with a 154-kg launch
weight and a 15 kg conventional explosive payload. It has active radar
terminal guidance, electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM), and smokeless
propulsion.
The missile has been designed to be capable of
engaging high-speed targets at short range (up to 20 km in tail chase mode)
and long range (up to 80 km in head-on chase mode). At sea level it has a
range of up to 20 km but could have a range of 44 km from an altitude of 8,000
m and 80 km if launched from an altitude of 15,000 m.
-Top
12. WORLD HINDU CONGRESS
TO BE HELD IN DELHI: The inaugural
World Hindu Congress will be held in New Delhi later in the year. The November
21-23 conference has been organized by the World Hindu Foundation.
Leaders and representatives of various Hindu
organizations, temples and associations are invited to attend the congress.
The number of delegates is limited to 1500, of which foreign delegates are
limited to 750.
It is expected that the delegates will be
people of accomplishment and achievement, committed to working for the Hindu
resurgence.
The theme envisioned is the Hindu principle of
Sangachchhadhwam Samvadadhwam, which means ''Step together, Express
together''. The congress aims to take the movement for Hindu solidarity to the
next level.
“This task needs to be undertaken with a
single minded focus of rebuilding the spiritual and material heritage of
Hindus,” said Swami Vigyananand of the World Hindu Foundation.
Under the World Hindu Congress, there will be
several conferences held. These include: The Hindu Economic Conference, Hindu
Youth Conference, Hindu Women Conference, Hindu Educational Conference, Hindu
Organizational Conference, Hindu Political Conference, and Hindu Media
Conference. For more information about the Congress, visit
www.worldhinducongress.org
-Top
13. BHARAT CONTINUES TO
PROMOTE CULTURE IN FIJI: The
Government of Bharat via its Indian Council for Cultural Relations continues
to assist people of Fiji with donations of musical instruments and educational
scholarships.
The latest arrival of musical instruments have
been donated in the northern division.
“The musical Instruments sent from Indian
Council for Cultural Relations were gifted by His Excellency the High
Commissioner Shri Vinod Kumar on June 7, 2014 in the Northern Division,” said
Director Indian Cultural Centre in Fiji, Kishan Lal Kanojia.
The Indian Cultural Centre in Fiji was the
first ever to be established by the Bharatiya government outside the
subcontinent and has to date provided thousands of scholarships for students
to study in Bharat over its 41-years of existence in Fiji.
-Top
14. SWAYAMSEVAKS IN
RESCUE & RELIEF: A Building having
11 floors was collapsed due to heavy rain at Moulivakkam – Chennai on 28th
June evening.
After hearing this sad news, over 50 RSS
Swayamsevaks immediately went the spot. They engaged themselves in the
activities like making paths to Cranes & Other rescue vehicles, helping in
disposal of dead Bodies, safeguarding the injured persons, providing drinking
water facilities etc till morning. In this accident, around 40 persons were
killed and 15 persons were injured and rescued.
At least four passengers were killed and 23
others injured 13 of them seriously, when 12 coaches of the Dibrugarh-bound
Rajdhani Express derailed near Chapra in Bihar’s Saran district on 25th
June.
RSS Swayamsevaks from the local area rushed to
the venue of the railway accident, helped in the rescue operation, helped the
passengers who were in a real need of help.
-Top
15. SENIOR PRACHARAK DHIR
JI PASSED AWAY in the wee hours
of June 20th at Yangon – Myanmar after a brief illness.
Mananeeya Shri Ram
Prakash Dhir ji @ Sayaji U Sein Tin was born in Monywa (Upper Burma) in 1926.
After graduating from Punjab University in 1947, he became a sangh pracharak.
He visited Burma briefly in 1948
and then again returned in 1956 at the behest of Dr. Mangal Sen ji for the
work of Sanatan Dharm Swayamsevak Sangh (SDSS, then Bharatiya Swayamsevak
Sangh ) which he continued to do till his last breath.
Ma Dhir ji is considered to be
the doyen of sangh work in Myanmar as he was instrumental in inspiring
countless youngsters to join and work for sangh, spreading shakha network and
other activities viz establishing hostels like Seva Ashram at Kyauktaga,
Preparing and disseminating religious and language education via Hindu Dharm
Shiksha Samiti etc.
His pioneering efforts in
organizing Buddha exhibition which traced the origin and spread of Bhagwan
Buddha and Buddhism were widely appreciated by Bhikkhus, Buddhist scholars and
general public alike.
-Top
16. LONDON: HSS NEW
KARYALAYA INAUGURATED: New office -
‘Karyalaya’ of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) UK, situated at Edgware,
Middlesex HA8 7HF, was inaugurated on June 21 remembering the legacy and life
message of Dr Keshava Baliram Hedgewar which was coincidentally the Punya
Tithi of the RSS founder. This year, 2014, also happens to be the 125th year.
17. YOGA IN SIERRA LEONE:
Sierra Leone may not be the kind of
place you expect to find yoga. But thanks to a group called Yoga Stretch, it
is becoming increasingly popular. The organization is headed by Tamba Fayia,
once a child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war, who in 2012 became the
country's first qualified yoga teacher. He says yoga transformed his life.
While Sierra Leone has long been at peace,
many still suffer the mental effects of its 11-year civil war. With just one
psychiatrist and poor mental health facilities in the country, Mr. Fayia wants
to use yoga to help them, as well as ordinary people, overcome their trauma
and stress.
-Top
18. HINDU COMMUNITY
DEDICATES FIRST AREA HOUSE OF WORSHIP IN DAYTONA BEACH:
Wearing saris and carrying offerings of
flowers and coconuts, women and girls processed from North Beach Street to the
Hindu Cultural Association building on Madison Avenue east of Mulberry Street
in Daytona Beach in Florida USA.
The procession on June 7 marked the beginning
of a weeklong series of rituals that would consecrate the Hindu Cultural
Association building into a religious temple or “mandir,” the first Hindu
temple for Volusia County, members said.
On 9th June, in a nine-hour
ceremony from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., statues were imbued with religious
significance as believers “put the soul to the statues,” believing them to be
living representations of deities.
Locally, there are about 250 followers in
Volusia and Flagler counties. The mandir has a reception hall, an auditorium
and other facilities.
-Top
19. SANJAYA RAJARAM NAMED
WINNER OF 2014 WORLD FOOD PRIZE:
Bharat -born plant scientist Sanjaya Rajaram has been named the winner of the
USD 250,000 World Food Prize for his breakthrough achievement in increasing
global wheat production by more than 200 million tonnes following the Green
Revolution.
More than 480 high-yielding wheat varieties
bred by Rajaram have been released in 51 countries on six continents and have
been widely adopted by small- and large-scale farmers alike. “Rajaram’s work
serves as an inspiration to us all to do more, whether in the private or
public sector,” said US Secretary of State John Kerry at an event where he
delivered the keynote address.
Rajaram followed Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Norman E Borlaug at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center,
CIMMYT, leading its Wheat Program from 1976 to 2001. The World Food Prize was
established in 1986 by Borlaug in order to focus the world’s attention on
hunger and on those whose work has significantly helped efforts to end it.
-Top
20. EMERGENCY REVISITED:
Akhil Bharatiya Loktantra Senani
Parishad had organised a panel discussion to discuss “Emergency in Context of
Politics” on completing 39 years post Emergency in the Constitution Club New
Delhi on June 26.
The Panel was held by Dr Subramaniam Swamy,
Former Union Minister with Shri Ram Bahadur Rai, Editor-Yathavat; Shri Raj
Kumar Bhatia, Former National President-Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP);
Shri Laxminarayan Bhala, Conserver- Hindustan Samachar and Shri Rajendra
Agarwal, MP-Lok Sabha.
While speaking on the occasion Dr Subramaniam
Swamy said, “We are thankful to those who fought and were imprisoned during
the Emergency. I will request the Central Government to provide them all the
special status of being revolutionaries and freedom fighters.”
-Top
21. SINGAPORE CONSERVES
179-YEAR-OLD HINDU TEMPLE: A
179-year-old Hindu temple in Singapore, which is among the 75 heritage
buildings proposed for conservation, will reopen this month after a $5.6
million makeover.
The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple was built as a
small shrine in 1835 by early Tamil immigrants. The temple in the Little India
precinct has undergone SGD 7 million ($5.6 million) renovations and is
scheduled for reopening on June 22, 2014.
A dozen craftsmen from Tamil Nadu have been
doing restoration work to the temple's 640 statues and deities, depicting
scenes from Hindu mythology. The craftsmen have also restored and painted the
temple's eight domes and decorative cement fixtures on its ceilings and
facade.
The URA spokesperson said the temple was both
historically and socially significant. It is one of the 15 places of worship
listed for conservation. The temple is popular among Singapore's Tamil
community and migrant workers from Southern
Bharat who spend their weekend and day off in Little India.
-Top
22. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN:
Pravas: Shri Ravikumar sahsamyojak
Vishwa Vibhag visited Myanmar to take part in shraddhanjali program for
Swargiya Dhir ji. Visitors: Brahmanand, Suresh Giri –
Thailand
-Top
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
The moment you have in your heart this
extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy
of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed. - Jiddu
Krishnamurti
-Top
JAI SHREE RAM
LAW RULES OUT PARTY STATUS OR PERKS FOR
THIS OPPOSITION
Subhash C Kashyap
An uncalled for controversy over the leader
of the opposition (LOP) in the 16th Lok Sabha (LS) has been created by those
with vested interests, and it refuses to die down.
The position in regard to recognition of
parliamentary parties and of LOP is crystal clear in parliamentary procedure
and practice, as also under the statute law. To make a sitting of the House,
the LOP and his party requires a minimum of 10 % of total membership of the
House. This requirement of 55 members is based on a deeper principle of
parliamentary polity and history going back to British Parliament.
In the first LS in 1952, the single largest
party in opposition was the Communist Party (CP) with 30 members. It was
recognized as a group, not a parliamentary party. No party had even the
required minimum number of 30 for recognition as a group in the second LS. In
the third, the largest party in opposition was again the CP, this time with 34
members; the fourth LS, the Swatantra Party emerged as the largest party in
opposition with 45 members — one more than the Congress in the present House.
Both terms, the parties were recognized only as groups, along with Jan Sangh
which had 31 members.
For the first time, in 1969, after the split
in the Congress Party, Congress (O) with 60 members was recognized as the
opposition party and its leader as the LOP.
This lasted for about one year only. In the
fifth LS again, no parliamentary groups; in 1977, the sixth LS, Janata Party
with 153 members became the ruling party while the Congress sat in opposition.
Following splits in Congress and Janata Party, Congress (I) with 58 members
and Janata Party (S) with 68 members were recognized as parliamentary parties.
There were no recognized parliamentary parties
in opposition in the seventh and eighth LS (1980-89); parties with 30 members
or more like Janata-S (41 members) in 7th LS and Telugu Desam (30 members) in
8th LS were all recognized as groups only. The 9th to 15th LS, spanning
1989-2014, parties in opposition and LOP were duly recognized because the
mandate of a party having a minimum of 55 members was fulfilled.
In as much as a parliamentary system works on
precedents and practices, it should be seen that right from the first LS in
1952 till now there has been no occasion when any party with less than 55
members has been recognized as a political party and there have been long
periods when there has been no LOP. Laws enacted by Parliament in this regard
make the position clearer. The Salaries and Allowances of Leaders of
Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 provides for the leader of the party in
opposition having the greatest numerical strength and recognized as such by
the Speaker/Chairman being recognized as the LOP. Those advocating grant of
LOP status in LS with salaries, allowances etc of a cabinet minister to the
Congress with only 44 members selectively quote the Act ignoring the
requirement of the Speaker's recognition. And, Speaker's recognition cannot be
arbitrary or even discretionary. It has always been and has to be subject to
Direction 121(c) which categorically stipulates the 10% membership condition.
It makes no sense to argue that the Direction is dated, belongs to (first LS
speaker) Mavalankar's times and is not relevant after the 1977 Act. If that
were so, there would have been LOP in the 7th and 8th LS which came after the
1977 Act, with the Congress in power.
If that was not enough, the Leaders and Chief
Whips of Recognised Parties and Groups in Parliament (Facilities) Act, 1998
clinches the issue decisively when it refers to a recognized party in LS as a
party which has a strength of not less than 55 members. It also provides for
political parties in LS having strength of 30-54 members being recognized only
as parliamentary groups.
The law gives actual numbers, leaving no onus
on the Speaker in the matter. The established practice is that the Speaker on
his own does not make any declaration in the matter of recognizing
parliamentary parties or groups. He/she decides only when a formal request is
made by members concerned.
It is insensitive poppycock for some party
lobbyists to suggest that the Modi government or Speaker should show
large-heartedness and, at the expense of the public exchequer, extend to
someone the salary, allowances and perks against the law. If this is done, it
is bound to be questioned in a court of law and declared null and void.
So far as the important role of LOP in the
appointment of NHRC, CVC, CIC, Lokpal etc is concerned, it is for the
government to bring in necessary amendments.
The very fact that in the absence of a
recognized LOP, the leader of the single largest group in opposition has been
asked to perform the role shows the situation has been envisaged. --
(The author is former secretary general of
Lok Sabha and president of the Indian National Bar Association)
-Top
A TRIBUTE TO CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION
Anirban Ganguly
The so-called intellectual mainstream
relegated SP Mookerjee to an ideological corner and suppressed his
versatility, his national acceptance and his vision for national progress
Sixty one years after he was consigned to a
confined and lonely death by free India's first democratically elected
Government on June 23, 1953, Syama Prasad Mookerjee's dream and vision of
creating an alternate political stream and narrative in India has finally
achieved fruition. The question as to why a personality of his stature and
dimension, who had nothing but India's supreme national interest in mind and
who strove to establish the democratic experiment in India on a firm footing,
met with such an end is one of those lingering and unexplained episodes in
India's history which still await their moment of truth. Ironically, this
unraveling of the truth was suppressed simply because the self-professed
democrats of that era, belonging to a particular ideological hue, all
Mookerjee's contemporaries and colleagues in national politics, displayed a
staunch aversion to unraveling the truth behind his death in detention.
Mookerjee's evaluation in the field of
politics has somewhat been done, but even here the so-called intellectual
‘mainstream’ relegated him to an ideological corner and suppressed his
versatility, his national acceptance and his encompassing vision for national
progress. Rarely was there a leader who displayed such dexterity in varied
fields such as education, culture, politics, parliamentary affairs and
administration. Generations today would perhaps scarcely believe that in each
of these fields Mookerjee attained the pinnacle and that too in such a short
and action packed life.
Leaving his politics aside here, it is indeed
fascinating to see the civilisational vision that Mookerjee exuded. As
president of the Mahabodhi Society of India, he had long anticipated the need
to revive India's civilisational ties in her neighbourhood. Long before the
‘Look East Policy’ had been conceived, Mookerjee looked to South-East Asia and
as the carrier of Buddha's message sought to bind the region in a civilisation
knot with its mother country, India. In his reminiscence, Dr Syama Prasad
Mookerjee in Indo-China, JM Majumdar, for example, describes how the then
Cambodian monarch, Norodom Sihanouk, welcomed Mookerjee and the Relics of
Buddha's chief disciples as an “immense ‘Kusala’ for our country and people to
have henceforth a direct bond with Lord Buddha owing to the arrival of the
sacred relics.” In reply Mookerjee spoke of how despite passing through
“varying fortunes, good and bad”, the “ancient land of Cambodia and many other
adjoining countries still bear the indestructible signs of the heritage that
have come from our Motherland, Bharat, since time immemorial.”
But his action was not limited to these
exchanges alone, one of the legends in the study of Indian art, Stella
Kramrisch, in her assessment of Dr. S.P. Mookerjee and Indian Art, mentioned
how he worked indefatigably to establish the study of Indian history and
culture in the University of Calcutta and set up one of the earliest museums
of Indian art and supported some of the best scholars of the epoch to carry
out research on India's past. As Kramrisch noted, “art mattered to him and he
in turn left his mark not on the history, but on the future of art in India.”
The deeper objective of Mookerjee's cultural activism, however, was to bring
about a larger cultural reconstruction in India, as he spelt it out once in
one of his presidential addresses to the Asiatic Society, “Let me emphasise
that I do not at all minimise the need for a radical reorientation of the
economic and industrial policy of India. A country whose educational and
economic backwardness is a standing disgrace to human civilisation has got to
be placed on her feet again and its people must get fullest advantage of its
inexhaustible raw materials. But let me state at the same time that neither
can India attain her full strength and glory nor can she contribute worthily
to the cause of stabilising human civilisation, if we ignore the need for a
proper cultural reconstruction in India.”
The eventual working out of that ‘cultural
reconstruction in India’ would perhaps be another lasting tribute to Mookerjee
and to his fascinating life and legacy. -- (Daily Pioneer, 23 June 2014)
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