Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Thursday, June 19, 2014
FIRST ARYA SAMAJ GURUKUL INAUGURATED IN KERALA ON 8TH JUNE
First ever Arya Samaj Gurukul named 'Pandit Lekhram Arsh Gurukul Mahavidyalay' dedicated to immortal Arya Missionary Pandit lekhram was inaugurated on 8 June 2014 at Arya Samajam, Vellinezhi by Swamy Pranavanand Saraswathi (Delhi). Dr.PK Madhavan (Noted Sanskrit scholar and President of Vidya Bharathi Dakshin Ksethra who is also a patron of this Gurukul) presided over the function, Acharya Dharampal and Sri. Vinay Arya (Sarvadeshik Arya Prathinidhi Sabha Dehi), Vanaprasthi Baleswar Muni of Rishi Udyan, Ajmer, Sri, Prem Kumar Arora (Represented on behalf of MDH Group), Prof.Sarojini Sankar,Sri.Vivek Shenoy and many dignitaries of Arya jagat attended the function. Sri.KM Rajan (Registrar of Gurukul) welcomed the audience and distinguished guests.Sri.V Govinda Das(Director of Gurukul) thanked all those in the function. 5 brahmacharis (student) initiated to Upanayanam (wearing of sacred thread) admitted to this Gurukul. The parents of the Students (Brahmcharis) were also attended and spoke on the occasion.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
VICISSITUDES OF INDEPENDENCE DAY AT RED FORT DELHI
=========================================================
AUM
AUGUST 15 FROM FORT RAMPARTS
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
Zee News
guest coordinator Editor called me to invite for doing the running commentary
in Hindi on the Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort Delhi on 15th August 2013 on their international
network. I gladly gave my consent to be a part of the 67th Independence Day of our Bharat as I
had been doing for over four decades heretofore. Indeed sometimes I did the
commentary on the Akashvani, sometimes on the Doordarshan, perhaps once for the
Sahara channel and for the last many years I have been doing it for the Zee
News. On the Zee News
network I am the monarch of all I survey and the camera focuses on me for a
fairly long time and carries my voice to all corners of the globe for the
entire ceremony except when the Pradhan Mantri is addressing the nation from
the ramparts of the Red Fort.
DOWN
THE MEMORY LANE
Jawaharlal
Nehru, our first Pradhan Mantri, had unfurled the national flag, our beloved
Tricolour, on 15 August 1947 at the dawn of the Independence after 190
years of the British rule in New Delhi. A special session of the Constituent
Assembly was held in the Council House, now Sansad Bhawan, on 14 th August 1947
from 11 PM onwards. Dr Rajendra Prasad, the President of the Constituent
Assembly had presided. Right at the beginning Dr Rajendra Prasad called upon
Sucheta Kripalani to sing the National Song, VANDE MATARM, WHICH WAS HEARD WITH
RAPT ATTENTION BY ALL MEMBERS INCLUDING THOSE OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE. Jawaharlal
Nehru had made his famous speech there” Tryst with Destiny” after all members had taken oath
of allegiance to the new nation, to Bharat, our motherland.
The next
day, on 15 August 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the first Governor General of
independent India had administered the oath of office and secrecy to Jawaharlal
Nehru as the Prime Minister of India in the Durbar Hall of the Viceroy’s House,
now the Rashtrapati Bhawan. In the afternoon Lord Mountbatten, his lady wife,
Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru the Prime Minister drove from the Raisina Hill
down the King’s Way, now Raj Path, towards India Gate as the national flag
hoisting was to take place in the Hexagon near the Princess Park ( now called
the August Kranti Maidan) for the benefit of and participation by the
citizenry. The all important people could not reach the venue of flag hoisting
as the milling crowd all over left no space on the road for the State Coach
driven by six horses to drive on. The Governor General, his consort, the Prime
Minister and senior Defence officers stood to attention wherever they were at
the appointed hour and Lord Mountbatten signaled to his ADC, standing near the
flagpole, to hoist the National Flag of India and he did it dutifully.
There was
no mention of a ceremony at the Red Fort on 15 August 1947. Many a commentator, including
yours truly had been committing that mistake year after year glorifying the Red
Fort flag hoisting by Pandit Nehru on 15 August 1947. Where ignorance is bliss,
it is folly to be wise. Fortunately a research paper published by the Lok Sabha
secretariat crossed my eyes and I was made wise. So were our colleagues. The
record was set straight and it was announced by us thereafter that the first flag hoisting at the Red Fort of the
national flag by Pandit Nehru was done on 16 August 1947. The first Prime Minister had the privilege of hoisting
the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort 17 times and he addressed
the nation on the national day as many times. The time allotted for the speech
of the Pradhan Mantri is just 20 minutes but I have yet to see a Pradan Mantri
adhering to it.
SHASTRI
ERA
Lal
Bahadur Shastri unfurled the national flag at the ramparts of the Red Fort just
twice. The diminutive man had risen tall in national stature after he ordered
the Indian Army to cross the international border and attack both Lahore and
Sialkot simultaneously. His decision worked like magic and the flamboyant
Pakistan President, General Ayub Khan was forced to loosen his stranglehold on
Jammu and Kashmir in the Chamb-Jaurian sector. Lal Bahadur Shastri had become
the darling of the Indian nation. Alas! Untimely death of that great man in
mysterious circumstances in Tashkent after he had signed an agreement with
General Ayub Khan under the Soviet pressure to withdraw to pre-war location in
all sectors.
We recall
the great Shastri Ji for raising the morale of the Indian nation from the
ramparts of the Red Fort and elsewhere when clouds of misfortune had gathered.
Shastri Ji always saw a silver lining around dark clouds and gave us the slogan “JAI JAWAN JAI KISSAN”. To get over the food shortage and stranglehold of PL
480 of the US government he exhorted the Nation to miss a
meal once a week and more, if feasible. He practiced what he preached and,
therefore, his words carried weight and all Indians followed his advice both in
letter and spirit.
HERE
COMES INDIRA GANDHI
Indira
Gandhi came on the scene after Shastri Ji’s sad and premature demise as a
compromise candidate of the warring factions of the Congress Party. The
regional satraps had chosen her because she had been known as the “ Goongi Gudiya” and lacked self confidence to
answer queries and supplementary questions on the floor of the Lok Sabha. She
always heaved a sigh of relief when the question hour was over without the
Speaker calling upon her to face the opposition volleys.
Indira
Gandhi had resilience and the more she was suppressed by satraps the more she
came on her own and developed self confidence to take on the mighty men who had
ridiculed her in the initial stages. As Prime Minister, she commanded the power
of the State and learnt her ropes to success gradually. Whenever she was unduly
hurt or harassed, be it Opposition parties in Parliament or the wily neighbor,
Pakistan in the international diplomatic arena, she counter-attacked like a wounded tigress and
carried the day. If one goes through the recording
of her addresses to the Nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the
Independence Day year after year, one will find that she grew tall as a
Statesperson bit by bit and grew taller inch by inch. The friend and foe both held her in awe after she
dismembered the arch-enemy of India, Pakistan in the 1971 war.
15 August
1972 – she ascended the stairs as her
father used to do, like a victorious Roman General fresh from a campaign where
the enemy was dissipated. By the way, the lift or elevator
was built in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s time to take him on the ramparts since he
had a heart condition. Now there are two elevators. The
speech that she delivered after her victory over Pakistan was superb. Atal Behari Vajpayee, a Jan Sangh leader sitting on
the opposition benches had likened Indira Gandhi to goddess Durga and lionized
her in her hours of glory. It was well reflected in her voice, tenor, mannerism and the
totality of impression of listeners was that Indira Ji has now come of age.
Indira
Gandhi addressed the Nation after unfurling the National Tricolour at the
ramparts of the Red Fort SIXTEEN times. Of course, it was in two instalments –
eleven in her first tenure and then she lost power. Gut within two years she
staged a triumphant return to power. She performed very well as the Prime
Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort FIVE times, taking the tally to
sixteen, a close second to her father, Pt Nehru.
Indira
Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 snatched her from the Nation rather prematurely.
The ramparts of the Red Fort missed Indira Ji on 15 August year after year. Her
gait as a lioness, her elegant sari with a broad border and the way she wrapped
her sari made Indira Ji a class apart. As a radio commentator I made a word
picture of Indira Ji’s personality, including her sari, not forgetting the
border and it made a lively word picture pleasing to listeners’ ears. I loved
the whole exercise immensely. I missed her every year when I climbed up the
stairs to the ramparts of the Red Fort year after year as a commentator of the
Akashvani. After her sad demise, things were
never the same. When I changed over to the Doordarshan at my own request, I
missed making the word picture. The cameras of the TV did that job that was so
dear to me.
SECURITY
CONSIDERATIONS
In 1985
the Lahori Gate, the Ghoonghat and the moat looked so different. The security
considerations were primary concern of the State and everything else played the
second fiddle. The Guard of Honour was also vivisected into two. The
Inter-Services and Police National Guard was positioned in front of the
ramparts for the National Salute and the band struck the National Anthem.
A small Inter-Services and Delhi Police Guard of Honour was positioned near the
small Lahori Gate well ensconced and hidden from public view by raising Kanats.
Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded his mother, Indira Gandhi, took the salute and
reviewed this mini guard. The glamour was gone, that is what I felt.
Everything
looked and sounded so different – a kind of hush-hush atmosphere. It was the
requirement of the security people. Rajiv Gandhi was not an orator and the
resonance of his voice on the ramparts was missing. Of course, we accorded him
due respect that ought to be given to a Prime Minister. Perhaps his staff that
wrote his speech or rehearsed him lacked the verve of a trainer. No wonder one
Independence Day was referred to by him as the Republic Day throughout his
speech. Swatantrata Divas was replaced by
the Gantantra Divas and I wonder why no one had courage to quietly show him the
correction slip.
May I be
permitted to skip some of the Prime Ministers who just made a debut and
disappeared forever. In the Army we have a saying,” Old soldiers never die,
they just fade away.” But for Morarji Desai who appeared on the ramparts twice
the one-timers were many like Chaudhary Charan Singh, DeveGowda, Indra Kumar
Gujral and so on. Chaudhary Ji kicked up a row by saying from the ramparts that
Israeli cows give good milk and the volume is satisfying. The Arab envoys
protested but to no avail. Chaudhary Saheb was dead right factually.
ORATORY
WAS REVIVED
Atal
Behari Vajpaye of the Bhartiya Janata Party, is a born orator. The gift of the
gab holds him in good stead. He revived the tradition of oratory and making
important policy announcements from the ramparts of the Red Fort as the Prime
Minister of India. Indeed his Hindi is worth emulating and many men and women
joined his Fan Club hearing him roar like a tiger in command of the situation
when he stood on the ramparts of the Red Fort behind the myriad mikes. Indeed
Atal Ji took his own time to make a beginning, develop the theme, throw in
healthy humour and gradually near the winding up operation. When he invited the
assembled school children, the NCC cadets and citizenry sitting in front of the
ramparts to join him in a chorus with a thunderous voice and say: JAI HIND. The assembly of young and old
responded with matching Josh or enthusiasm. Jawaharlal Nehru had started this
tradition of saying Jai Hind, as was the military tradition of the Indian
National Army under the leadership of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and it has
been going on for 66 years.
The 67th Indpendance Day will see Dr Manmohan
Singh climb up the rostrum on the ramparts the NINTH time. Some political
pundits predict that perhaps this will be the last opportunity to say to the
Nation what he has been briefed about.
His zeal
in making friends with Pakistan, notwithstanding that enemy country’s deceit,
deception and surreptitious cowardly attacks on India and pushing the Islamic
terrorists into India to indulge into bloodbath like the one in Mumbai, has certainly
not endeared meek Manmohan to the common man who loves Bharat. One wonders why
some of his ilk may not be loving Bharat less but they love Pakistan more.
We look
forward to seeing the Indpendance Day ceremony on the ramparts of the Red
Fort on 15 August 2014. Let us wait with Great Expectations to see and hear a
new Prime Minister roar from the Red Fort ramparts and elevate the morale of
the Nation and restore the Glory of the country called Bharat.
Monday, August 12, 2013
SECULAR BROTHERHOOD IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR IS A MYTH. BUST IT NOW.
AUM
COMMUNAL DIVIDE IN
J&K ALWAYS PLAGUED PEOPLE
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
Dr Karan Singh, a Congress member of
the Rajya Sabha made a candid short speech in the House throwing light on the
incompetence of State Administration in handling the volatile situation in
Kishtwar before9th August and thereafter too. A former Yuraj of the Hindu Dogra
ruling dynasty and a Sadre Riyasat of the J&K State during the Sheikh
Abdullah government, Dr Karan Singh knows the people and political under
currents like nobody else. He made a true analysis by saying that the
undercurrent of communal divide was always present there and he had represented
the parliamentary constituency of which Kishtwar was a part for fifteen years.
He deserves to be congratulated for telling the truth.
EYE OPENER
Dr Karan Singh further said in Hindi “
Agar aap samajhte hain ki gaadi wahan chal rahi hai to main bata doon ki gaadi
ekdam chal nahi rahi hai.” Apparently he was referring to incompetence of the Chief
Minister, Omar Abdullah, in general and criminal delay in handling the riots in
Kishtwar effectively in particular. Dr Karan Singh’s national credentials have
always stood the test of time. It was he who, as Sadre Riyasat of J&K had
signed the warrant of arrest of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953 when the latter had
strayed from the path of secular nationalism and had nurtured a dream of
becoming the Sultan of Kashmir. Sheikh’s ideas and speeches were more communal
than that of the Muslim League and he had become more anti-India than the
politicians of Pakistan. He had even raised doubts about the legality of that
state acceding to India.
Even Jawaharlal Nehru, a bosom friend
of the rebellious Sheikh was alarmed and perforce gave a nod to his removal
from the office of CM and arrest. It was Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the new Chief
Minister, who fully integrated that State with the Republic of India. Omar
Abdullah is the grandson of the same Sheikh Abdullah. No wonder he raises the
cry of J&K reverting to the pre 1953 constitutional status. Thus he
indirectly stokes the fire of separatists in their slogan for AZADI that was
raised every now and then in Kishtwar before the situation flared up.
Dr Farooq Abdullah, Sheikh’s son,
never took any action against the unruly and riotous Kashmiris who burnt the
Indian National Flag and raised pro-Pakistan slogans in his presence time and
again. He never came down on the separatists and pro-Pakistan elements among
Kashmiri Muslims with a heavy hand.
MAHARAJAH’S MUSLIM TROOPS REVOLTED
Going back to the partition days in
1947 when J&K was still an independent territoty under Maharajah Sir Hari
Singh, father of Dr Karan Singh, when the Muslim troops of his State Forces in
Gilgit and Chitral has revolted against His Highness on communal grounds and
hoisted the Pakistan flag. Thus a large part of the State was handed over to
Pakistan on a silver platter by the Maharajah’s Muslim troops. It was rank
communalism.
In the same year when Jinnah launched
the Pushtoon and other tribals, officered by Pakistan army officers, in an outrageous attack of the Maharajah’s
J&K, the Muslim troops of Sir Hari Singh revolted against the Hindu ruler
and joined hands with the raiding tribal Muslims. Wasn’t it a proof of
communalism that the Namak Haram soldiers joined hands with the invading enemy?
ETHNIC CLEANSING OF KASHMIR VALLEY
In 1989-90 terrorism of Islamic
Jihadis peaked. Many senior judges and bureaucrats belonging to the Kashmiri
Pundit community were killed by Muslims. The hate-Hindu campaign of rabid
communal forces was crysal clear when terrifying slogans were raised from
mosques on microphones asking the Kashmiri Pundits to quit Kashmir. They were threatened
with rape, loot and genocide. Almost all the self respecting Kashmiri Pundits
left the Kashmir valley and moved to Jammu, Delhi and other safe places. None
of the so-called secular Muslims of Kashmir came to their rescue. The vacant
houses, temples and other places of Hindu worship were burnt down. Who will say
that there is brotherhood between the Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir valley?
This kind of brotherhood and secularism is just a myth to lull the Government
of India into sleep and allow the inflow of Indian tax-payers money flow into
the pockets of communal Kashmiris.
KISHTWAR REVISITED
When the Hindu houses and shops burnt
by Muslim mobs of hooligans, the district police, civil administration and even
the State’s Home Minister, Sajjad Kitchloo were just mute spectators. They did
not swing into action to douse the fire of communal frenzy. Why? When accusing
fingers of partisan attitude and of inciting mobs to loot and plunder, commit
arson and murder were raised, he had little option but to resign. It is
reported that the Governor, Shri N.N. Vohra has accepted his resignation on the
recommendation of the Chief Minister.
By the way no arrests of murderers
and arsonists were made from 9th August to 12th August
when Parliament discuss the Kishtwar mayhem and put the Central government on
back foot. It was only then that the State Administration swung into action and
made some arrests.
When Rome was burning Nero was
fiddling. In J&K when Kishtwar was burning Omar Abdullah was tweeting. He
derives comfort in waging a tweet war with the BJP leaders rather than take
action on the Intelligence inputs about simmering situation in Kishtwar.
Because of his inaction against the separatist elements, the latter have grown
from bold to bolder and preach anti-India philosophy. On the pubic and private
walls in downtown Kishtwar, posters of condemned traitors like Maqbool Bhatt
and the hanged attacker of Sansad Bhawan were posted and the traitors were eulogized.
When the nationalist Hindus protested, the large crowd of Muslims from Eidgah
came down with a heavy hand on them. The teenage son of the President of
Kishtwar Bahujan Samaj Party president was brutally killed. The goons pumped as
many as seventeen bullets into his body. The police remained an inactive
spectator. The district administration and the Minister of State for Home,
Sajjad Kitchloo were gripped with inertia. Or were they a part of deeper and
sinister conspiracy to cleanse Kishtwar of the Hindus?
An impartial inquiry by an
unimpeachable individual or a body of civil society must probe the sisnister
Kishtwar episode to find out the truth.
The blame must be laid at the door of culprits whosoever they may be. Further
those who have suffered the loss of loved ones and whose property has been
burnt or destroyed must be compensated adequately.
It is heartening to
note that Shri P Chidambaram, officiating Union Home Minister, has assured the
Indian nation that the events of 1990 when the Kashmiri Pundits were hounded
out by communalist Muslims would not be allowed to be repeated in Kishtwar.
Thus the ghost of anti-national conspiracy to cleanse Kishtwar of the Hindu
community has been laid at rest. Let us hope and trust that what Shri
Chidambaram said were not mere words but a solemn promise made to the
Parliament and the Indian Nation and the Central government would now swing
into action to keep the Minister’s word.
Email : sawantchitranjan@yahoo.com Mobile:
9811173590.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
MAHASHAY VISHWANATH JI WAS A MAN OF MANY PARTS
AUM
MAHASHAY VISHWANATH
REFLECTED OLD WORLD CHARM
By Brigadier
Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
Vishwanath Ji was uprooted from his
home and hearth at the age of 27. He was born in Lahore in 1920, brought up in
an Arya Samajist home, imbibed the old world charm in company of poets and men
of letters who worshipped the Muse irrespective of the Faith their families
professed. And yet he lost everything that he had stood for, for the last quarter
of a century plus. He saw his literary real crumble like a house of cards,
friends turned foes, worshippers of the poetic culture turned killers
overnight. The young man who had inherited the profession of publication from
his late lamented father, Mahashay Rajpal Ji, a martyr for the cause of freedom
of expression, of which right to publish was an integral and unalienable part,
burnt the midnight oil to rank among the first and the foremost. Alas! Partition
of India at the behest of vested interests raised a unbreakable wall against
which our young man’s hopes were dashed.
SHOW MUST GO ON
Young Vishwanath, all of six, had
seen his father, Shaheed Rajpal Ji breathe his last after being stabbed by an
illiterate Muslim, coached and trained by bigoted Mullahs. By exercising the right
of freedom to publish and actually letting a booklet based on Truth see the
daylight, Rajpal Ji was dragged to various courts of Lahore but was eventually
acquitted with honour by the Punjab High Court. Vishwanath Ji had stood by his
father and even penned his thoughts on how lonely his dad had been in fighting
the legal case for years.
Vishwanath Ji had inherited the grit
and determination of his fighter-father and in his young mind was sown the seed
of “ rebellion against oppression” and he let the seed germinate and blossom
into a banyan tree. For him to become an independent publisher was the best
course of action, that is karma of the
rightful order. What better stage there could be to carry on the Mission of
Truth than the Arya Samaj. He chose just that. As a matter of fact he had
inherited that too from his father too in ample measure.
CITADEL OF ARYA SAMAJ
Lahore was the citadel of the Arya
Samaj and Dayanand Anglo Vedic school and college. On the sad demise of Swami
Dayanand Saraswati at Ajmer on the Diwali evening in 1883, the Aryas of Punjab
made a decision to open educational institutions charged with the mission of
Dayanand to carry forward his principles and practices to groom the youth for
future. Indeed a correct decision it was. The DAV School and later DAV College
did see many young men pass out of its portals who were second to none in
patriotism, scholastic and administrative achievements and what have you. Vishwanath
Ji was one of them who turned out to be a shining star in the firmament.
Linguistics was his forte. He was
equally at home in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. A voracious reader, a
prolific writer, Vishwanath Ji was fond of attending poetic symposia both in
Hindi and Urdu. He would compose, recompose until he was fully satisfied with
his own finished product. Generally speaking, the audience applauded him and
boosted his morale on stage. Just before our motherland was vivisected and that
factory of Islamic terror called Pakistan was born, the poetic symposia in
Lahore were sometimes overladen with lines that eulogized communal philosophy
in political and literary writings and speeches but Vishwanath Ji kept aloof.
He was an Arya patriot and fought for the causes that were so dear to Swami
Dayanand Saraswati but he had no rancor for men of other religions who did not
see eye to eye with the philosophy of Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
I recall an incident in connection
with presentation of Merit Awards to writers of eminence on rolls of the DAV
Colleges in Delhi and elsewhere. He had written to me to compere the function
being held in honour of Shaheed Rajpal Ji. I immediately accepted the offer and
prepared my notes of compering accordingly. Just at the eleventh hour, as the
honoured guests were being seated on the dais, he walked over to me and said”
Please see that you do not overplay your criticism of the assassin and his
co-religionists who had assassinated my father”. I just smiled. Mahashay
Vishwanath Ji was a changed man. He had mellowed a lot and did not want to
associate with rabble rousers. The time for VAJRA
PRAHAR ON OPPONENTS OF VEDIC DHARMA WAS OVER. The era for winning them over
with love and compassion has begun. The perception had undergone a discernible
change.
Arya Samaj was his First Love and he
stuck to his Vedic guns till he breathed his last. I always addressed him as Mahashay Vishwanath. He did not resent
and I carried on with this form of address for years. He was almost fourteen
years senior to me in age but never let it be reflected in our interaction. A
chat or a discussion on a Vedic topic or on a political subject always ended up
without any conclusion. But never did he raise his voice to denote disapproval
of a point, an issue or the manner of delivery. Having lived in Lahore in the
pre-partition days when the Indian youth was sucked in by the freedom movement,
he just could not afford to remain untouched by the political TSUNAMI against the British Raj. As far
as I know Vishwanath Ji was not a part of the Satyagrah movement but he did
admire Mahatma Gandhi. Indeed that was a point of disagreement between him and
me because I had several reasons to blame Gandhiji for all the troubles that
the Hindus had suffered. We may keep the issue in reserve for another day used
to be our finale on the issue.
Vishwanath Ji was an enthusiastic Ved
pracharak too in his youth in the rural areas of undivided Punjab. After
alighting the railway train at Multan, he hired an Ekka on a sharing basis to go to a remote village where an Arya
Samaj activity had been organized. As they entered the interior of the backward
rural area, came melodious singing sound of Punjabi women and the song was in
Hindi promoting spinning wheel as harbinger of SWATANTRATA. Vishwanath Ji was very pleasantly surprised to hear a
Hindi song in a backward area where even Punjabi was not correctly spoken. Of
course, he gave the credit for this awakening to Gandhiji. On hearing this
anecdote, I had little option but to go in for a pucca Maun Vrat.
EDITING NO JOKE
Vishwanath Ji was a born editor. He
took to editing as fish takes to water. When He and his brothers shifted their
book shop and publishing outfit to Delhi from Lahore, teething troubles were
experienced. He and other members of the family took it in the normal stride of
life. With hard work, customer care, literary drives, launching Pocket Book
edition with his brother Dina Nath and many such steps produced positive
results. Rajpal and Sons made a name for themselves and were back in business
in the right way.
Arya Samaj, DAV School and College,
Lahore left many indelible impressions on the personality of Vishwanath Ji. His
love of Hindi always remained undiluted. Even as a student of the DAV School,
Lahore he had opted for Hindi and Sanskrit. This held him in good stead in
later life. When he wished to please the Muse, it was Hindi language that he
chose to write poems in. ANTARA is a book containing his new poems in Hindi.
He mentioned to me that it was opposition of
the Arya Samaj to casteism that prevented him and his brothers from adding the
caste name as a suffix. Just VISHWANATH.
That was it. Commendable indeed. We loved him for that. Today we miss him more
than ever before. His departure from this world is forever. When his soul
enters a new body, he will have another opportunity to complete the mission
that remained unfulfilled in this life.
He remained attached to the DAV group of
institutions in one way or the other. He remained Vice-President of the DAV
College Management Committee till he breathed his last. His reverence for
Mahatma Hansraj Ji was next to that for Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati. He
preached the Vedic Dharn, he practiced the Vedic Dharm and he wielded his pen
for propagating the Vedic Dharm.
Email: sawantchitranjan@yahoo.com Mobile: 9811173590
Friday, July 5, 2013
CHINA THREATENS BUT INDIA COWERS NOT
AUM
CHINA THREATENS BUT
INDIA COWERS NOT
By
Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
A.K.Antony, India’s Raksha Mantri is
now in Beijing leading an official delegation. China knows all about the mild
personality of the man from Kerala who never gets provoked and always keeps his
cool. What he says carries weight because the world knows that he is Sonia
Gandhi’s man. He is an honest man. So he has not purchased any type of guns for
the Indian Artillery in the last quarter of a century. Bofors was the last of
the long range effective howitzers bought by Rajiv Gandhi before his fall from
grace and loss of his Congress party at the polls. Antony is against the concept of history repeating
itself. Keep smiling is his motto. Never mind what the Chinese PLA General, Luo
Yuan said in public and our press corps interpreted it as a warning.
China is a powerful country both
economically and militarily. Much water has flown down the Ch’ang Jiang river
between the colonial days more than two centuries ago when eight nations,
including USA, UK, Japan etc had divided China among themselves and controlled
both economy and governance. That was the time when China lost the Opium war
and was forced to cede large territory around Hong Kong to the United Kingdom.
The wheel of history has turned full circle and the Chinese have recovered lost
ground diplomatically without firing a shot.
ART OF WAR
Sun Tzu was a great philosopher and
past master of strategy who wrote treatises on Art of War. His concept is
taught and discussed in colleges of combat in many countries including India.
Acharya Chanakya wrote and practiced the Chanakya Neeti and became a
famous philosopher in both civil and
military circles. Unfortunately Acharya Chanakya did not come in the limelight
as his present day compatriots slavishly followed the former British masters
and the latter had degraded every thing that was Indian in origin.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu as practiced
in China emphasizes brow beating the enemy to such an extent that he loses will
to fight and surrenders. The Chinese generals of today dutifully follow the
philosophy of life, the art of war etc as enunciated by their ancestors many millennium
ago. Ancestor worship is a part of Dharma in China.
With a view to browbeating the Indian leadership before the
arrival of Antony led delegation in Beijing, a Major General of the People’s
Liberation Army issued a public statement to be carried by the global media,
warning the Indian authorities to desist from provoking the Chinese government
and their powerful military lest it boomerangs and harms the Indian interests.
It would be appropriate to recall that just before the arrival of the Prime
Minister of China in India, the Chinese PLA troops had intruded almost nineteen
kilometers into the Indian territory, destroyed some hutments, had threatened
the local cowherds before withdrawing on a reciprocal basis. Their aim was to
put the Indian Prime Minister, meek Manmohan Singh on the backfoot and
psychologically dominate his thinking so that he accepts whatever the Chinese
Prime Minister dictates. The Chinese strategy was a success.
What General Luo Yang said and did is
a repeat performance of the previous script that was successfully enacted by
the Chinese in the Ladakh region that had its direct effect in Delhi. Let not a
shot be fired and force enemy psychologically to surrender. Men like Manmohan
Singh and his foreign minister are ever keen to walk into the Chinese lap to avoid
an aggressive argument. After the Chinese intrusion into Ladakh, when the
Indian Foreign Minister visited Beijing he cared not to raise the intrusion
issue with his Chinese counterpart as he did not believe in grave digging to
unravel the past. A wek kneed policy that brought shame to India.
ROBUST RESPONSE NOW
Antony may be what he is but
certainly not to be compared with the personality of Mark Antony of Rome and
Cleopatra fame. One need not worry in New Delhi now. As members of the Indian
delegation are Lt General Dalbir Singh, an Army Commander slated to be Army
Chief in due course of time, and,of course, Admiral Kohli already nominated to
be the next Chief of the Naval Staff. These two Chief material officers know
how to stand their ground in a discussion on military strategy and not allow
the Chinese generals to have the upper hand. India in the year 2013 is much
different from India of 1962 that the PLA of China had defeated in NEFA, now
Arunachal Pradesh. Even then Ladakh was a different story. More about that on a
later date and not now.
Suffice it to say that the Indian
troops in 1962 were ill clad, ill armed and ill trained for mountain warfare.
There was more politics practiced in the corridors of power and the Army
Headquarters than military strategy. The situation is so different now that the
Chinese generals would not like to launch a probing action and burn their
fingers. Just issuing a public statement warning Indian generals to desist from
war mongering would be good enough for the time being. Nevertheless India must
not lower its guards and must be ever ready to go to war. Prepare for war and
look for Peace to enjoy life.
KNOW THY ENEMY
In the diplomacy of today we meet
diplomats and strategists of every nation and say, Good Morning with a smile.
Even when armies have moved forward and stand deployed in the battle zone in
battle order, never lose a chance to negotiate Peace. We all know that Peace
brings Prosperity but war brings destruction and devastation. However, to talk
to enemy, we must know the enemy. Let us assume for a moment that the Chinese
nation would be India’s adversary, if not a declared enemy. With a view to
dealing with the adversary effectively, a thorough knowledge of his culture,
language, people at large and behavior of common man or average citizenry in
war and peace is an absolute must. Lack of knowledge about the enemy may be
suicidal. So, before knowing yourself and your allies, make an endeavour to
know the enemy.
The Chinese are an enigmatic people.
Everything in China is an enigma. One has to understand nuances of a particular
question or reference made before answering it. It does not matter if answering
a query takes time; take your time but understand it well before answering it.
It is said that the Chinese diplomats and leaders are, generally speaking,
non-committal even on issues of normal conversation, what to say of matters
military and issues of international diplomacy. If you meet a Chinese person in
the morning and after saying Good Morning, just ask him, out of courtesy, how
is the weather today?, he will look up and down, look at your face and just
smile rather than committing about the state of weather. No wonder it takes a
lot of time in discussing an issue of international diplomacy and preparing a
document for signature of political or military representatives of both India
and China.
The present delegation of India in
China knows how to stand firm and not yield ground to wily opponents. The
Indian delegation comprises of seasoned army and navy officers who know what is
what and are not to cower before an empty threat of a Major General of the
People’s Liberation Army. Indeed we know very well that even innocuous
statements issued for public consumption or just for the crowd back home, are
read, scrutinized and cleared by the Intelligence people and accorded political
approval before being used.
In the present case, the Chinese
leaders wished to assess the reaction of an average citizen in the cosmopolitan
cities before proceeding further. Now they know that India of today is
different and must not be put to test by firing paraflares. Our compatriots
must rest assured that there is no imminent danger of a shooting war and normal
life should go on.
Let there be business
as usual.
Email: sawantchitranjan@yahoo.com Mob.
9811173590
Sunday, April 7, 2013
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