Shravana Adhik Amavasya Vik. Samvat 2080, Yugabda 5125 : 16 August, 2023: SM 5010 (For Private Circulation only)
1. FESTIVALS:
RAKSHA BANDHAN: Raksha Bandhan, which literally means “the bond of
protection, obligation, or care" is observed on Shravan Purnima (August 30 this
year). This festival is also known as Rakhadi, Saloni and Shravani. In the state
of West Bengal, this day is also called Jhulan Purnima. On this day. prayers and
puja of Bhagwan Krishna and Radha are performed there. The fishermen in
Maharashtra celebrate the festival of Raksha Bandhan/Rakhi Purnima along with
Narali Purnima (coconut day festival).
2. IT'S TIME FOR RISE OF BHARAT AND SANATAN DHARMA: DR.
MOHAN BHAGWAT: On August 6, RSS Sarasanghchalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat called on
Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Shankaracharya Swami Shankara Vijayendra Saraswati and
attended the Agnihotra sabha at Chet Singh Fort on the banks of the Ganga in
Varanasi.
Earlier, the RSS chief went to the 'Vedic kund' where the priests were performing yajna. A few religious books were also released on the occasion. -GoTop
3. THERE SHOULDN'T BE HATRED IN SOCIETY: DATTATREYA HOSABALE:
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarakaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale said that
though there might be ideological opposition and dissent, there should not be
personal hatred while living in society. Hosabale was addressing a gathering
during the inaugural ceremony of Dattaji Didolkar's birth centenary celebrations
in Nagpur on August 6.
Hosabale said that Dattaji maintained cordial relations and respected the views
of others without compromising on his ideology.
Speaking on the occasion, Union minister Nitin Gadkari recalled his long
association with Dattaji during his ABVP days. -GoTop
4. RASHTRAPATI MURMU’S ADDRESS TO THE NATION:
Rashtrapati Droupadi Murmu addressed the nation on August 14, the eve of the
77th Independence Day. She expressed pleasure over the festive atmosphere on the
eve of Independence Day and called on the citizens to move forward in a spirit
of harmony and brotherhood to realize the dreams of Bharat's founding
fathers. She said that we are not just individuals, but part of a great
community of citizens of the world's largest democracy.
Rashtrapati Murmu remembered women freedom fighters and said that women icons
like Sarojini Naidu, Ammu Swaminathan, Rama Devi, Aruna Asaf-Ali and Sucheta
Kriplani have set inspiring ideals for all generations to serve the country and
society with self-confidence. She urged everyone to take a pledge to fulfill our
constitutional fundamental duty and make continuous efforts to move towards
excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activities so that our
country attains new heights of diligence and achievements while progressing
continuously. She concluded by extending her greetings to everyone including the
soldiers guarding the borders, the police providing internal security and to the
members of the diaspora living in every part of the world. -GoTop
5. BHARAT CELEBRATED ITS 77TH INDEPENDENCE DAY: Pradhan
Mantri Narendra Modi hoisted the Tiranga at the Red Fort to mark Bharat’s 77th
Independence Day. Upon his arrival at the Red Fort, PM Modi was received by
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt,
Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, and the three service chiefs. Around 1,800
people from different professions - nurses, sarpanchs of Vibrant Villages,
teachers, farmers, and fishermen - were invited as special guests for the
programme in line with the government's vision of ‘Jan Bhagidari’.
6. ‘VYASA BHARATHATHILE YUDHISHTTIRAN’ BOOK RELEASED:
‘Vyasa Bharathathile Yudhishttiran’ (Yudhishttira in Vyasa Mahabharat), authored
by Ranga Hari - senior RSS Pracharak and former Akhil Bharatiya Bauddhik Pramukh
- and published by Kurukshethra Prakashan, was released on July 21 at Ottappalam,
Palakkad district, Kerala. Releasing the book, Metroman E Sreedharan stated that
Yudhishttira gave the message to uphold sathya and dharma and said that Ranga
Hari has accomplished the mission of introducing the greatness of Mahabharata in
the most appropriate style. Renowned Carnatic musician and playback singer
Mannoor Rajakumaran Unni received the first copy of the book.
RSS Ottappalam Zilla Sanghchalak Adv Jayaram presided the event which was
attended by RSS Sahsarkaryavah Dr Manmohan Vaidya. -GoTop
7. ‘REIMAGINING INDIA IN THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE 21’ST
CENTURY’ BOOK RELEASED: RSS Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini Sadasya, eminent
thinker and author Ram Madhav presided over the book launch ceremony of
‘Reimagining India in The Geopolitics of the 21’st Century’ at Bengaluru on July
30. Ram Madhav spoke about the various aspects of geopolitics, international
affairs and the evolution of Bharat’s foreign policy since independence.
Subsequent to his address, editor of the book Dr. Nanda Kishor initiated a
discussion on the topics in the book which was followed by a Q&A session. -GoTop
8. RASHTRA SEVIKA SAMITI NATIONAL EXECUTIVE MEET CONCLUDED:
The national executive and representative’s meeting of the Rashtra Sevika
Samiti was held from July 21-23, at Reshimbagh, Nagpur. 370 representatives from
38 regions attended this meeting. As per the statistics collected during the
meeting, Rashtra Sevika Samiti has presence in 784 districts with 484 daily,
3077 weekly and 519 monthly shakhas and milans. More than 1200 seva activities
are undertaken by sevikas in various fields like education, health and others.
More than 13000 sevikas attended the various Shiksha Vargs conducted at 188
places.
Addressing the volunteers at the closing session, Pramukh Sanchalika of the
Rashtra Sevika Samiti Shantakka urged them to prepare workers for societal
transformation by embracing the trio of Swaraj, Swadharma and Swadeshi. -GoTop
9. FIRST EAST AFRICA SSV CONDUCTED: The first Sangh
Shiksha Varg (SSV) for East Africa was held from July 29 to August 5 at the
Viraj International School, Mlolongo, Kenya. 80 shiksharthis including 62
swayamsevaks and 18 sevikas from four countries - Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and
South Sudan – participated in the varg. There were 31 shiksharthis in Prathamik,
21 in Pravesh and 7 in Praveen Varg. The shareeriks in the morning and evening
included niyudh, yashti, danda, sanchalan abhyas and other activities. Bauddhiks
on sangh personalities, sangh history, shakha and sangh karya-paddhati and Hindu
Dharma provided clarity to the shiksharthis.
10. HSS JAPAN BAL VARG: 47 children in the age group of
5 to 15 years participated in the Bal Varg organized by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
HSS Japan at Higashi Ojima, Tokyo, on July 22. The varg provided an opportunity
to get together, learn from peers and elders, and foster unity. The children
were divided into two groups aged 5-10 and 11-15. The younger age group had an
ice-breaking indoor games session followed by interactive stories about Bharat.
The older group had an introductory session followed by on-the-spot-skit based
on moral stories. Vishwa Vibhag Sah Samyojak Anil Vartak interacted with them in
the second session. 
11. HSS JAPAN SEVIKA VARG: The first ever Sevika Varg
of HSS Japan was conducted on July 22 in the presence of Vishwa Vibhag Sah
Samyojak Anil Vartak. 30 sevikas from different shakhas participated in the
half-day varg held at Komatsugawa Park in Tokyo.
Teams of three sevikas each, who did not know each other, were given a Sanskrit
subhashit one week in advance. The sevikas had to learn the pronunciation,
meaning and importance of the subhashit. In the second session, they presented
the subhashits using various tools like PowerPoint presentation and skits. Dr.
Archana Pandey, doctorate in Sanskrit and a Hindi schoolteacher, was the chief
guest and chaired the session. Khel, basic samata and sanchalan were practiced
in the third session. The varg concluded with the Vishwa Prarthana.
Most of the sevikas were new and attended varg for the first time. Overall, it
was a very fruitful varg which raised awareness, interest, and enthusiasm in
sevikas. -GoTop
12. NORTHWEST SAMBHAG KISHORE NIVASI VARG: The
Northwest Sambhag of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh HSS USA conducted the Kishore
Nivasi Varg on July 22-23 at Bellevue and Redmond, Seattle. 20 of the 24
registered kishores attended the varg. The event began at the Redmond Community
Center with ice breakers, debates on the strengths and weaknesses of 2nd
generation Hindu Americans and a charcha on why we do various practices as part
of our culture. This was followed by a session of khel, niyuddha and shikshana
vidhi for khel.
On the second day, a demo shakha was planned to showcase shakha for all the
families with whom sampark was done on the day before. Three new families joined
for the shakha. Two karyakartas who had gone as vistaraks shared their
experiences before the concluding bauddhik. -GoTop
13. AUM SPIRITUAL CENTER SEWA: On August 2, Pacific
Southwest Sambhag of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh HSS USA participated in the Pran
Pratishtha and 51 Kundi Havan event at Aum Spiritual Center, Hemet.
8 kishores, 5 kishoris, 9 swayamsevaks, 8 sevikas, and 4 balas participated in
the sewa activities which included pre-event arrangements and post-event
cleanup. -GoTop
14. KARMA KITCHEN HOSTS COMMUNITY DINNERS AT UNIVERSITIES:
Karma Kitchen is hosting dinner program for university students in New South
Wales and Western Australia. The dinner gives karyakartas an opportunity to
guide and support new students, both local and international. It was introduced
to complement the Hindu Counsellors (Chaplaincy) program in universities.
Currently, the community dinner is provided at the University of Western Sydney,
South Campus every Tuesday. Karma Kitchen is planning to extend this to other
Australian universities soon. -GoTop
15. BHARAT’S AYUSH VISA FOR TREATMENT: In a move aimed
at promoting Bharat as a destination for medical value travel, the Union Home
Ministry has officially notified the creation of a new visa category called
‘Ayush Visa’. This visa is specifically designed for individuals seeking
treatment under Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) and other
traditional Bharatiya systems of medicine.
The Ayush Ministry confirmed that appropriate amendments have been made to
various chapters of the visa manual, ensuring a seamless and efficient process
for applicants.
Union Minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal, expressed his satisfaction with the
creation of this new visa category, calling it a significant step towards
boosting Medical Value Travel in Bharat. With the introduction of the Ayush Visa
category, Bharat is poised to attract a broader spectrum of international
visitors seeking holistic and alternative healthcare solutions. -GoTop
16. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Visitors: -GoTop
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the
wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good. -Mahatma
Buddha. -GoTop
JAI SHRI RAM
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THE 1937 ACT DIVIDED INDIA. WILL UCC INTEGRATE IT?
The BJP’s articulators’ understanding of the UCC doesn’t seem to go to the
deep, sordid historical origins of the UCC.
S Gurumurthy
After the 1937 Act was passed, the
Muslim League emerged as a Muslim mass party and began challenging the
unchallenged Gandhi-led Congress, which had till then total mobilising power
over the Indian masses. The 1937 Act triggered powerful forces of Islamic
religious and communal passions outside the Congress's influence. As the British
and the League had intended, the Act helped the massive shift of the Muslims
from the Gandhi-led Congress. The shift was so huge and so swift that even the
League, which had till then thought of a federal government for Hindus and
Muslims with separation of powers, suddenly shifted gears and asked for
partition. The 1937 Act was passed in October 1937 and within just
two-and-a-half years, in March 1940, Jinnah passed the Lahore partition
resolution.
Article 44 as reaction to the 1937 Act
The UCC will not be written on a clean slate, it will be overwritten on the 1937
Shariat Act. What divided the Hindu and Muslim relations by a jhatka and
eventually India itself, was the 1937 Act. The partition could not bridge the
divide, and the continuance of the 1937 Act post Independence continues to make
the Hindu-Muslim relations drift towards a greater split. The UCC is an attempt
to arrest that drift. The BJP’s response to the Congress charge that the UCC
divides is, “Look at the Constitution, it says pass the UCC.” This is a poor
response given the seriousness of the UCC to arrest the drift caused by the 1937
Act. The BJP’s articulators’ understanding of the UCC doesn’t seem to go to the
deep, sordid historical origins of the UCC.
They do not seem to ask themselves the most obvious question — why did the
Founding Fathers of the Constitution engage in strenuous discourse on the need
for a Uniform Civil Code for India, which was after all within the legislative
power of the Parliament? Had the 1937 Act not been passed and subsisted, the
Constituent Assembly would not have wasted its time on the UCC. They could not
allow a separate religious law, that too a law that divided India, to subsist.
Any keen student of the history of the idea of the UCC in India would have known
that the very thought of the UCC in the Constituent Assembly was clearly to undo
the 1937 Shariat Act. The trigger for Article 44 mandating UCC under the
Directive Principles was the 1937 Act, which divided India. The Founding Fathers
did not want to leave it to the political discretion of the lawmakers later to
pass or not to pass the UCC, but made it their constitutional duty. The BJP
should be pointing to the 1937 Act as the cause that split India and that was
why the Founding Fathers had to mandate the UCC as a stitch on the split. The
BJP should be charging those who ruled the country for 70 years with having kept
the split and wound open, which made Hindu-Muslim relations deteriorate instead
of improve in secular India. If the BJP can’t tell the nation about the
historical background of the UCC, which is the 1937 Act, why will the detractors
of the UCC not ask what is the need for a Uniform Civil Code now when there are
scores of other problems facing the nation?
Ambedkar’s challenge to Muslim League
The man who fought the case for the UCC in the Constituent Assembly was Dr B R
Ambedkar. He lambasted the League members who argued in the Constituent Assembly
against a common civil code saying Sharia was immutable for Muslims. He
challenged them to deny that up to 1935, the North-West Frontier Province
followed not the Sharia Law, but the Hindu Law, and up to 1937 in the rest of
India, the United Provinces, the Central Provinces and Bombay, Muslims were
largely governed by the Hindu Law in matters of succession. He cited that the
Muslims in North Malabar were till that day following the Hindu Marumakkathayam
(matrilineal) law.
He concluded that no Muslim could say that the framers of the idea of a common
civil code had done great violence to the sentiments of the Muslim community.
Here are the details of the common bases of civil code among Hindus and Muslims
which Dr Ambedkar spoke about.
Common civil law base of Hindu-Muslim society till October 1937
Go back to 1937. From Kerala to UP, from Bengal to North-West Province, whether
it was the Hindu-ruled Ajmer-Merwara or Muslim-ruled Awad (Ayodhya), the rules
of Inheritance, Succession, Adoption, or Wills were common for Hindus and
Muslims. See the list.
In Kerala, the local Hindu law of Marumakkathayam prevailed over the Sharia
among Moplah Muslims. In the succession to Tarawad in Malabar in Kerala, in
Muslim families that followed Hindu customs, the Sharia was not applied.
In Punjab and the North-Western Province, now part of Pakistan, local Hindu
customs prevailed over the Sharia. In Punjab, the heart of today’s Pakistan, the
Hindu custom of allowing widows life estate in property prevailed over the
Sharia that give her an absolute share. The customary law of East and West
Punjab did not recognise the Sharia on Iddat, which provided for a divorced
wife’s maintenance only for three months.
In Oudh (Ayodhya) — Muslim-ruled province till 1856 — the custom among the
Muslims for the widows to take a life interest as per Hindu law prevailed over
the Sharia that gave her specific, absolute share. In East and West Punjab, the
custom of adoption prevalent among the Muslims that was contrary to the Sharia,
was recognised by courts. The custom of writing Wills among the Muslims in East
and West Punjab, which was contrary to the Sharia, too, was recognised by
courts. In East Punjab, customs having the force of law were expressly allowed
to prevail over the Shariat.
The Oudh Estates Act passed by Muslim rulers expressly exempted Muslims from the
application of the Sharia. The Nawab of Oudh legislated local customs to prevail
over the Sharia, as in East Punjab. It was identical in Ajmer-Merwara also. In
Madhya Pradesh, too, local customs conflicting with the Sharia prevailed.
Kambojis of Malerkotla state who were predominantly agricultural, were governed
by local custom and not the Sharia in matters of inheritance.
When a large section of people converted from Hinduism to Islam, like the Kutchi
Memons and the Khojas, they continued to be governed by Hindu laws. The same
principle of Hindu law, as in the case of Memons and the Khojas, was applied to
the Sunni Bohras and Molisalam Giriasias in Gujarat. Halai Memons, like the
Kutchi Memons, were governed by Hindu law.
In Madras province, courts refused to apply the Sharia principle that mandated
Muslims to sell their properties only to Muslims. In the Presidency towns of
Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, local Hindu customs prevailed over the Shariat. In
the mofussil areas of Madras, local customs and usages were allowed to prevail
over the Shariat.
An interesting tailpiece. Despite the Shariat Act 1937, the Muslims of Cooch
Behar were governed only by the Hindu law till, believe it, as recently as July
1, 1980. Only from that date did the government of West Bengal notify the
application of the Shariat Act.
Can anyone deny that the aim of the 1937 Act was to cut off the umbilical links
that existed between the Hindus and the converts?
Economic integration, social diversity
It was this commonality between Hindus and converted Muslims at the local levels
that made them feel like each other was the target of the 1937 Act. The Islamic
Sharia consists of two broad aspects. One, the religious and cultural part; and
two, the economic part. That part of Sharia which consisted of marriage, divorce
and other cultural and social aspects was followed by the converted Muslims even
before 1937.
So, cultural diversity that enabled the converts to follow their own religious
rules existed even before 1937. But the second part, the economic part,
consisted of property rights and inheritance rules.
As in almost the whole of India, local Hindu customs and usage laws of property
and property rights were common to Hindus and Muslims till 1937, which acted as
a powerful social and economic link and kept the converted Muslims integrated
with their ancestral Hindu society. The idea behind the 1937 Act besides giving
separate and formal communal and religious identity to the Muslims, was
psychologically to snap the common rules of property and property rights. The
strategy behind the Shariat Act 1937 was to break that societal bond. The 1937
Act turned two brothers with differences into enemies without a common base in
just under a decade. See the most powerful example of how this transformation
worked.
1937 Act turned brothers into enemies
Jinnah belonged to the Khoja Muslim community, also known as Ismailis. Who were
Khojas? Even as late as just a few decades before Jinnah sounded the Islamic
partition bugle, the Holy Book of the Khojas, was not the Quran but Dashavatara.
In Dashavatara, nine Avatars up to Krishna were common between Khoja Muslims and
Hindus. Only the 10th Avatar is different. The tenth Avatar for the Khojas was
Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed. In their work, The Aga Khan Case:
Religion and Identity in Colonial India [p55] Purohit, Teena (2001) citing the
famous Aga Khan succession case [1866] in the Mumbai High Court confirm that
fact. In Dashavatara, part of the Ismaili devotional hymns known as Ginans was
the work of Pir Sadruddin, founder of the Khojas and descendent of Prophet’s
son-in-law, Ali. This was cited as Aga Khan’s previous connection with the
Prophet through Ali Pir Sadruddin. As Khojas converted, not as individuals, but
as a community, it was the Hindu law of succession that applied to them, not the
Sharia.
Jinnah, who was born within 10 years of the Bombay High Court judgment that
Khojas did not have Quran as their Holy Text, might not have read the Quran but
perhaps only Dashavatara as he grew up. He himself followed only the Hindu law
till 1937. He ensured even in the 1937 Act he would have the rights of a Hindu
to adopt and also to write a Will. And yet he turned the bitterest enemy of the
Hindus and unleashed a bloodbath when he called for direct action in 1946 to
achieve partition. Like Jinnah, later the grandson of Aga Khan [Aga Khan III]
played a prominent part in the Muslim League and in the creation of Pakistan.
Like in the case of Khojas, Kutchi Memon Muslims who, too, were similarly
converted as a group, the Hindu law, not the Islamic one, applied. Tiger Memon
and Yakub Memon, whose parents and grandparents would have only followed the
Hindu laws, bombed and killed as many as 900 innocents and maimed 2000 in 1993.
The trigger for this massive shift to hostility and enmity was the 1937 Shariat
Act.
The UCC was conceptualised by the Founding Fathers to ensure that post
Independence, Hindu-Muslim relations are not ruined like in the pre-partition
days by the continuation of the 1937 Act. Contrary to the constitutional
mandate, the 1937 law has been allowed to fester for too long. The law that
divided Bharat into India and Pakistan and which the Constitution makers wanted
undone, is now being glorified by pseudo-seculars as integral to the religious
rights of Muslims. This is an utter perversion. The UCC is an attempt – a
belated one though – to right that historic wrong. It calls for deep national
introspection dating back to 1937. Undoubtedly the 1937 Act divided India. Will
the UCC integrate it?
(S Gurumurthy: Editor, Thuglak, and commentator on economic and political
affairs )
https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/columns/s-gurumurthy/2023/jul/07/the-1937-act-divided-india-will-ucc-integrate-it-2592189.html
-GoTop
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