Attack on activists

The editorial in the latest issue of the Organiser not only offers unqualified support

The editorial in the latest issue of the Organiser not only offers unqualified support to the decision to raise the height of the Narmada Dam, but also launches a no-holds-barred attack on Medha Patkar, Arundhati Roy, the CPIM and other activists for taking up the cause of rehabilitating the displaced families. Accusing the protestors of being anti-development, the editorial notes: 8220;The activists lack credibility because they don8217;t practice what they preach. They live in posh colonies, lead a high-profile life and want to deny the fruits of development to the common man. They manage foreign funds, jaunts and high-sounding awards for themselves but the wretched of the earth they ensure should remain where they were, in the hunting fields of dacoits and Naxalites as cannon fodders sic for the revolutionary bandits of the 21st century.8221;

Sellout to Pakistan

Organiser columnist M D Nalapat continues his diatribe against Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh 8212; this time for their alleged sellout to Pakistan.

According to him, 8220;Sonia8217;s handpicked Prime Minister has offered Pakistan massive and damaging unilateral concessions on Sir Creek, Baglihar and Siachen, packaged as a 8216;settlement8217;.8221; The concessions were aimed at making the border between PoK and Kashmir irrelevant. Projecting an alarmist scenario, Nalapat claims, 8220;were Sonia Gandhi to succeed in her plan of dissolving the borders within Kashmir, the country would once again be exposed to a group of fanatical extremists intent on mayhem. And this time, it is not simply Kashmir that would burn, but the whole of India8221;.

Sonia8217;s 8216;perjury8217;

Nalapat is not alone in his animus against Sonia Gandhi. The Organiser8217;s other favourite columnist, Subramaniam Swamy, has taken his case against Sonia8217;s alleged perjury to court. A report on the March 28 hearing at Allahabad High Court says Swamy appeared in person as petitioner to pursue his charge that Sonia Gandhi 8220;had perjured per se8221; in claiming in her sworn affidavit filed as Lok Sabha candidate from Rae Bareli that she has been educated at the University of Cambridge.

Flashing letters from the university denying that Sonia had ever studied there, Swamy told the court that the Supreme Court had upheld dismissal from employment if an employee had made false claims of educational qualifications. 8220;There cannot be two standards, one for ordinary citizen and another for Ms Gandhi,8221; Swamy had asserted. The Court, says the report, did not uphold the objections raised by the Additional Solicitor General of India and fixed May 15 for the next date of hearing.

Hindu rate of growth

Besides fighting perjury cases, Subramaniam Swamy is also continuing his series on 8216;The search for a Hindu agenda8217; in the columns of the Organiser.

The need for a Hindu agenda rises, he says, 8220;because Hindus today are under siege and Hindus are not even cognisant of that siege8221;. To make Hindus cognisant, Swamy delves into demography. In 1000 AD, 8220;Akhand Hindustan8221; was 100 per cent Hindus, but the figure is down to 64 per cent today while Muslim population has gone up from zero to 33 per cent.

Sudarshan on prophets

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In contrast, RSS chief K S Sudarshan sounds like an unlikely votary of India8217;s composite culture. According to a report on his address at an Ajmer function last month, Sudarshan stressed the need 8220;to study the ways of worship of each other to understand each other properly8221; and praised Prophet Mohammad or his role as a social reformer and for giving direction to Arabic society. But , he said, just as Allah delivered the verses of the Quran, Lord Krishna delivered the message of the Gita. 8220;Therefore, Krishna may be regarded as one of the Prophets by Muslims, as Prophet Mohammad himself had said that Prophets were sent to every place8221;.

8212; Compiled by Manini Chatterjee