The curious case of Arun Shourie

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This is a quote of Harvey Dent in the popular DC comics superhero movie Batman. It describes the questionable nature of heroism through time, the fall from grace of a celebrity or a well-known public figure. I never thought there will come a time when a person like Arun Shourie would fit the description. 

Arun Shourie is a very well known name in Indian intellectual circles for a long time. He has donned various hats - as an economist, a journalist, a public intellectual. In my assessment, he's an intellectual giant in his own right. There are many people like me who have hero-worshipped him for his intellectual clarity and prowess, elephantine memory, assiduousness, depth of thinking and above all the fortitude to take on any opposition single-handedly. 

The so-called "right-wing" in India is hijacked or seems to be hijacked by the RSS types of intellectuals (with all due respect to selfless social work it does). These RSS types don't have ideological clarity or moral courage to carry on their mission. Worse, they don't even know what their mission is. At the drop of the hat, they dabble and babble on fancy ideas like Akhand Bharat, or Hindu Rastra, but they don't have a roadmap or conviction to carry on.

The indefatigable Abhas Chatterjee described RSS thus - It is like a lifeless monster of enormous proportions rather than a throbbing little bee with a sting. By its sheer size, it is huge. But when it comes to achieving its stated goals, RSS scores low. When it 's about developing the intellectual ecosystem, the so-called representative of the Right-wing does next to nothing. Contrast this with the left and how it has captured the Indian intellectual climate. The left has had a grip over intelligentsia much before Indian independence from the British. This has continued after independence to this very day.

The left ideology and its derision for native culture have continued to this day through various branches of its ecosystem - academics, institutions, media and the likes. The leftist ideology has infiltrated everywhere, its torchbearers are ubiquitous under different cloaks which suit different scenarios and situations. There is a huge gulf created thus, where leftists are everywhere and no one to respond or call out their lies. This is where individuals like Arun Shourie stand out. It's individuals like this who have contributed to the almost non-existent right-wing discourse in this country and challenged the leftist hegemony wherever they could. Sita Ram Goel, Ram Swarup, Koenraad Elst are some of the prominent names on top of my head. Arun Shourie belongs to the same league (He's done some outstanding work as a journalist, a minister and an economist which is beyond the scope of this write-up).

My first book of Arun Shourie was Eminent Historians (I've read more than 4 of his books since) - He had dismantled lies brick by brick in an unabashed way. It is a treat to read any of his work where polemics is laced with scholarly brilliance and filled with a large number of citations and anecdotes. Enough of the Shourie I loved. Let's come to his recent statements and press conferences.

Ever since the run-up to the general elections started in 2013, Shourie passively supported Modi and shown his inclination to join the government in whatever capacity he could. But it seems Modi had other plans. After his stupendous win of 2014, Shourie was not offered any positions befitting his stature. Although in many people's opinion, Modi govt. could have utilized a person like Shourie, I personally think Shourie could have been an asset for a ministry like HRD or finance, but that's the way it was. It looks Shourie had nurtured ambitions and Modi's actions might have embittered Shourie.

This bitterness has warranted some of his recent statements - the government is managing headlines, its economic policies are directionless, falsehood is the hallmark of this government etc. Also, he was repeating the bunkum of the opposition which couldn't hold any water like minorities are unsafe in India in the current political dispensation etc. 

Naturally, these positions have endeared him to the "secular" media and politicians (He has already met dangerous and treacherous politicians like Kejriwal and Mamta) He has given interviews to NDTV more than a couple of times. The "seculars" will use him as canon to take a shot at Modi, nothing more than that.

In his most recent statement, he calls opposition to come together & quotes Lenin "to give history a helping hand" to defeat Modi government. O tempora o mores! A lifelong critic of communists and their modus operandi quoting, of all the people Lenin! Per se, there is no harm in objective criticism. But criticism which is engendered by grouse and pettiness is harmful and it is also unbecoming of a towering intellectual like Shourie.

Book Review - How India's Intellectuals Spread Lies

The introduction of the book says:

This book takes a rare, hard look at India's leading public intellectuals whose greatness is taken for granted but whose sophistry is overlooked. Ravi Shanker Kapoor exposes them as cowardly thinkers incapable of challenging conventional wisdom.

Importantly, it's not the personal follies and foibles of these worthies that the author finds troubling but their unquestioning acceptance of failed Leftist theories, and slavish adherence to politically 'correct' ideas. Smug in their acceptance by an adoring Left-liberal media they are blind to empirical evidence which flies in the face of their positions, oblivious both to opportunities thrown up by changed times and to the clear and present dangers of the status quo, whether it be the scourge of socialism or the malevolence of Islamic terror. Thus the spreading of lies, a betrayal of both their own vacation and of the Indian people

The author uses his pen as a butcher wields his knife. In Kapoor's abattoir, no cow is holy enough to be spared - and no reputation hallowed enough to be revered. Combining journalistic experience with solid scholarship, Kapoor relishes in taking on some of the biggest icons in India's public discourse. His is an original voice.

True to its introduction, the book takes a rare hard look at the leading intellectuals of India in a never before manner and breaks the shallow theories they preach and exposes the sophistry they indulge in.

Public discourse in India is increasingly dominated by the people who are leftists or the people who are left-leaning. This book takes a hard look at the people who muddy already muddied discourse of India – how they insinuate and reduce the public discourse to the level of sloganeering and clichés.

Synopsis:

When the communist utopia was in the making in the erstwhile USSR, many human rights atrocities were a daily happening. Many intellectuals and journalists visited the USSR, but they failed to report things as they were due to their allegiance to an ideology. Lenin coined a term for such people – “Useful idiots”. These are the people who blindly and unquestioningly accept leftist lies. The author, Ravishanker Kapoor likens them to the Sheep in George Orwell’s Animal Farm and also to Gandhari of Mahabharata – who is not born blind but chooses to be blind. India has its own set of useful idiots. In his own words the author has exposed the intellectuals as the sheep in the animal farm, as descendants of Gandhari.

The liberals – that’s what most left leaning intellectuals call themselves as, have perverted the values for which liberalism truly stands for. For instance, liberals traditionally sought to limit the scope of the state action and to prefer non-governmental initiatives wherever possible. But the contemporary liberals would ask for just the opposite – favor an increased scope of state action in areas such as education, health care and social welfare.

In a country where sloganeering is confused with etiquette and platitude with wisdom, it’s hardly surprising shouting passes off as the cry of long-suffering, silent majority – If you ever happen to counter the leftist lies you will be shouted down, as the tyranny of decibels rule the roost. You will be abused - in fact abuse is used as the argument, and the name calling – the anti-poor, a Hindu fundamentalist, a lackey of MNCs. These are the time-tested techniques of the left. One more reason for the left’s success in having a great influence in public discourse is that, it has hijacked the pro-poor agenda. The reading habits of Indians and the intellectual bankruptcy of the so-called Indian right aggravates the matter. So, the leftists are free to spread their canards.

Then, the author takes the intellectuals to task – Arundhati Roy,Jawaharlal Nehru, Khushwant Singh, Kuldip Nayar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, P Chidambaram. And puchures their claims, some by empirical proofs and some by effective counter-arguments.

After this, the author explains how the intellectuals spread red propaganda – in most of the cases the liberals act as the B-team of commies. They have an inordinate influence in organizations like NCERT and likes and spread their propaganda and lies through the government prescribed text books and influence the kids at a very early age. The media – is full of liberals and commies - is used as a machinery to spread their canards. Some are born blind, some get afflicted with blindness, and some blindfold themselves. Communists belong to the first category ; liberals and intellectuals belong to the other two categories.

In the concluding chapters, the author explains how communists use guilt as the weapon of mass deception. The leftists saw the society as machinery which can be designed according to some dogmas – dialectical materialism, scientific socialism et al. - rather than as an organism. Communists and left wing intellectuals are the generals of mendacity. Human civilization is the target ; they are softening the target by using the technique of guilt-mongering. The bombardment of lies and white lies continues unabated. More often than not, liberals end up as accomplices of the Left in this war against civilization. They become useful for the commies. That is why Lenin called them “Useful idiots”.

In the final chapter, the author proposes a way out – A theory of Indian conservatism. First he clears off the myths surrounding conservatism. The three strands of conservatism are – open society, free economy and limited government. The origins of conservatism and the three strands are explained at some length. The author says there is a need to develop conservatism as an ideology in India and argues Indian conservatism is inherent and unspoken. In fact, Indian conservatism – based on individual liberty and focusing on open society, free market, and limited government – be in tune with will not only be in tune with the traditions, conventions, and intellectual history of the country but also allow them to grow in a healthy manner. And the final warning – The nation is doomed unless a sizable part of its Illuminati embrace conservatism wholeheartedly.

Conclusion – All in all, I found this book as one of the best reads in the recent times. This book should be read to understand the muddied waters of political discourse. The writing style of the author – holding no cows holy, calling spade a spade – endears him to the readers. This book sets the tone for the much needed alternative discourse in India.

The three world conquerors, their doctrines

As Koenraad Elst & a few others clearly observed, there are three world conquerors that have ambitions which will be satisfied only when the world becomes theirs. The three world conquerors are Communism, Christianity and Islam. Though their ideologies and modus operandi may differ, they travel towards the same goal: total world conquest; and they will not rest until their stated goal is reached. Although one can discount the effect of communism over the world compared to the other two owing to the collapse of Soviet Union and failed states which had embraced communist ideology, it still has not died totally. Certain offshoots of communism still persist strongly especially in India. Their history and effects are too elaborate to be discussed in a book let alone a blogpost. I try to touch them at least superficially.

Communism

Though the idea of communism can’t be traced back to one particular era or one particular individual, communism found concrete shape from the theories of Marx and Engels. Though the words socialism and communism are used interchangeably, there is a difference between socialism and communism. Socialism is just a transitional phase on the road to communism. The aim of communism is to create a class-less society which is based on common ownership. Communism theory says every society has to pass through five stages of development: class-less primitive society, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and communism.[1]

No nation, no master, no class: This is the stated goal of communists. There will be no classes at the culmination of communism. The power is equally distributed among the masses; so there is no master. The entire world would have embraced the idea. So, there are no divisions among the nations. Communists defined peace as the lack of opposition; thus peace could only be attained once everyone had surrendered and fallen under the control of the World-Wide Communist State. Everyone will consume according to their needs not for their greed. This is the ideal propounded by Marx.[2] Sounds pretty good! But, it’s utopian, and hence impractical.

The main aim of the communists is to seize power of the state. They never sway away from their stated goal. They plan meticulously and execute the plans with mathematical certainty. The utopian world that’s envisaged by communism has beckoned many intellectuals to embrace the ideology. So, even today most of the people who are branded as intellectuals have a tilt towards leftist ideology. Especially in India, most of the intellectual sphere is ruled by communists.

If people voluntarily take up the idea of communism, it may create a beautiful world. If it is enforced, it is nothing short of tyranny. So, naturally the states which are under the rule of communism are totalitarian. Even today, most of the human rights violations all over the world are reported from either communist countries or Islamic countries.

As far as India is concerned, communists have hijacked the intellectual, public discourse. They hold key positions so that they can twist and turn the institutions of national importance according to their whims and fancies. All the terrorist organizations like Maoists, Naxals or ULFA are all inspired from the grand idea of communism. With the fall of Soviet Union, communism has got a death blow. But still, it hasn’t perished.

Islam

The youngest of the Semitic religions, Islam was founded in 7th century in Arabia. Like Judaism and Christianity, it is also a revealed religion. In all the revealed religions, it is mandatory to believe in god as well as in his prophet to be able to get any rewards. Prophet Muhammad claimed that he was the prophet chosen by the god Allah for the benefit of the entire humanity and he received the messages of Allah through Angel Gabriel. He put himself in the line of Abraham, Jesus, Moses and the likes. But Muhammad abrogated all the previous prophets including Jesus and claimed he was the last prophet send by god for the benefit of humanity. A close study of life of Muhammad shows us how he intelligently maneuvered ignorant Arabs and built an empire of Islam.

Islam is more of a set of beliefs and political ideology masquerading as religion than a religion in the real sense. A close look at Quran and Hadith reveals the true nature of Islam. The intention is to conquer the whole world. It is similar to communism in its intention but it is with god-attached. For all the heinous acts that Muslims commit all over the world in the name of Islam there is sanction from the god. So, moral dilemmas seldom arise in them. Islam divides the whole world into Dar-al-harb(Land of war) and Dar-al-salaam (Land of peace).[3] Dar-al-harb is the place where Islam is not the official religion. So, war should never stop in those places until and unless it is completely converted to Islam. Then alone it becomes land of peace, Dar-al-salaam. And it is the duty of every Muslim to take part in this ‘holy’ mission in some way or the other. The concept of Jihad is central to the Islamic doctrine and is considered to be the most sacred.

Islam, the imperialism: The imperial nature of Islam is such that all the converts have to change their lives to fit into the Islamic mould. It places the idea of Arab, Arabic culture (Islamic culture) and Arabic language as superior to all the rest and expects all the followers to emulate.[3] It is so much of an exclusivist ideology that it intends to completely obliterate the rest. So, when the countries were conquered and converted by Islamists, their ancient culture and history are stamped out of their lives. So, they never merely conquered a country but destroyed its history and civilizations. For instance: Iran and Egypt had great civilizations going back thousands of years, but they have been totally wiped out. This is what’s happened to Afghanistan in recent times and also what the Jihadists are trying to do to Kashmir.[4]

Indian context: India being the biggest land of polytheists became their targets in as early as 10th century. It is sanctioned in Quran to destroy the places of worship of other religions and to build mosques in their places. It was faithfully implemented in India as well. Millions of people were killed, converted and temples were destroyed. Of course, our ‘eminent’ historians invent economic reasons for this plundering of temples. Although economic reasons were a part of it, the biggest reason was religious one. Nalanda, Vaishali, Sarnath, Vikramashila, Takshashila, and many more centers of learning which attracted students from all over the world were mercilessly destroyed by the Islamic bigots. But amidst all these we have to acknowledge among all the nations and civilizations that Islamists have attacked, India alone remains unconquered till date. So, they consider India as an unfinished chapter in their global Jihad expeditions.

A commentator writing by the pen name KaffirPagan wrote about the entire history of conquest of Islam in India so succinctly and beautifully in the website Jihadwatch.com of Robert Spenser.

"It has been coming at us for 1400 years in Islamic tides that have ebbed and flowed. And our boundaries are still receding.
Christian Byzantium- Syria, Jordan, Turkey have been lost to the enemy camp. Also, North Africa has been lost by Christendom.
Similarly Hindus have lost Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. Buddhists lost all of Central Asia (The Central Asian republics- the Stans). Persian Zoroastrians lost their entire possession- Iran.
At least we still have India and Europe proper. But do we? The Muslims in both places continue to multiply disproportionately and encroach more ground.India had a beautiful civilization before the newly converted Turkish, Persian hoards goaded on by their Arab masters with promises of booty and women of Hindustan completely wrecked India. They raped India again, again and again for centuries.
According to the words of Islamic court chroniclers that often accompanied the Muslim warlords-- "Hindu civilization was wrecked, ground to dust, the inhabitants of Hindoostan became like atoms scattered..." This theme of wanton and cruel pillage reoccurs again and again and again from 800 AD till 1700 AD. It is a telling story of how civilization can be overwhelmed by barbarians hovering on its borders.
The Muslim barbarians appropriated not only India's riches, but also its accumulated knowledge for themselves.And no, the modern number system, the decimal, the concept of zero, arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, geometry, chess, astronomy, medicine, speculative philosophy, metaphysics were not "invented" by Arabs. They were stolen from India and claimed for the Ummah. Ditto- Greek and Roman philosophies.
But at least the Europeans were aware of their own heritage and reclaimed it back. Why? Because Europe was not fully conquered, only partially ravaged till Anatolia, Iberia and the Balkans. The rest of Europe was relatively free from the scourge of Islam.But India? Not so fortunate. The entire land which was India (which consists of present day Pakistan, Afghanistan) was enslaved by the Mohammedans and that too for 800 years! The land that gave birth to the most "progressive, creative and imaginative civilization known to man," according to the words of a Western scholar, was not only physically, but also mentally yoked to Islamic slavery for 8 millenniums. No wonder that Indians are neither aware of the achievements of their ancestors, nor are proud of their heritage.
It is the same India that had the biggest universities of the world of its time like Nalanda (Bihar, India) and Taxila (present day Rawalpindi-Pakistan) where students from all over the world: China, Greece, Persia traveled to learn sciences, speculative metaphysics, philosophy, economics, mathematics. Some have said that noted Greeks like Archimedes himself came to India to study geometry. India was also been China's teacher for centuries, and in the words of a Chinese general-- "India has conquered China for a millennium without sending a single soldier over the Himalayas." This empire of ideas, of learning, of knowledge was reduced to the pitiful state of today because of a long and dark intervening period of Islamic plunder.
But the Hindus never gave in, nor gave up. They retreated into the forests and into the inaccessible Himalayan Mountains with whatever memories of their civilization they could salvage. The Hindu population in the middle ages decreased by 80 million! Many were slaughtered, many died of hunger and disease when transported over the Hindu Kush mountains (literally means "killer of Hindus") to be sold as slaves in the bazaars of Central Asia and Baghdad, many died of famine when the entire socio-economic structure of the land was shattered.
But I am mighty glad that despite all the unimaginable sufferings the collective will of our ancestors didn't sink and they did not join the enemy ranks. I am mighty glad the unassailable sword of Islam the overpowered the Persians, Byzantines, North Africans and Central Asia Turks was blunted in India.
Otherwise, today I too would be the nemesis of civilization, I too would be calling for the triumph of Islam, I too would be the enemy like the converted Albanians, Persians, Syrians and Turks."

If someone daydreams about the end of Islamic terrorism, they have to remember that Islam is fundamentally unchangeable. In the words of Geert Wilders, a controversial politician from Netherlands (controversial because of his open criticism of Islam) "There might be moderate Muslims, but there is no moderate Islam. Islam will never change, because it is built on two rocks that are forever, two fundamental beliefs that will never change, and will never alter. First, there is the Quran, Allah's personal word, uncreated, forever, with orders that need to be fulfilled regardless of place or time. And second, there is al-insal al-kamil, the perfect man, Muhammad the role model, whose deeds are to be imitated by all Muslims. And since Muhammad was a warlord and a conqueror we know what to expect. Islam means submission, so there cannot be any mistake about its goal. That's a given. It's a fact"!

Christianity

Compared to the previous two, Christians operate in a softer but a very organized manner. Christians have prophet in the form of Jesus and they believe him to be the chosen one of god among all men & was sent to earth to elevate humanity. The principal founders of Christianity include Peter, James, Matthew and John who were all the disciples of Jesus. As with any other Semitic religion, Christianity is an exclusive path.

Christians sincerely believe Jesus to be the son of god and salvation can be attained only by following him. The ones that don’t follow him are doomed. So, to ‘save’ the souls from the doom, they do religious conversions. They do it zealously and they think it as a pious work. Perhaps the proverbial ‘missionary zeal’ originated from the Christian missionaries.

Theologically, Christianity had a tendency towards intolerance, but had to adopt the policy of "live and let live" because in its formative period, it was but one of the numerous sects in the pluralist Roman Empire.[5] But much unlike Islam, it seldom directly plunders civilizations but attacks very core of civilizations and over a period of time it uproots them. Christianity has contribution in destroying Inca, Mayan civilizations. The unassailable Roman Empire could not stand the incoming wave of Christianity. Though there were many reasons for the downfall of Roman Empire, Christianity was a main factor.[6] Many indigenous African cultures were destroyed when a large part of Africa was converted to Christianity. There is an African proverb which captures the pulse of that point “"When the white man first came to this land, we had the land and they had the bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them again, we had the bible and the white man had the land."”

India, a natural target: when the European invaders like Portuguese, Dutch, and British came to India, they all came with missionaries to ‘save’ millions of souls. India was the largest pagan-land and naturally attracted all the missionaries who were interested in saving souls and planting crosses everywhere they could.

Even to this day, India remains the best destination, an attractive location for ‘soul-harvesting’. The reason being a large part of non-Christian population resides in the lands of India, China and all the Islamic republics. In all the Islamic countries and communist China, the missionary activities and hence the religious conversions are completely banned. So, thus India became a natural destination and target for the soul harvesters. And they have successfully harvested many souls in North-Eastern parts of India, tribal areas, Southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

They are doing a few things covertly, a few things unabashedly. The Joshua Project,a mega-plan they have made for soul-harvesting is really telling of their evangelical activities. They have made a detailed plan for soul-harvesting across the world. They have segregated people by their religion, language, ethnicity and various other parameters.They have separate plans for each segment of people. The whole exercise looks like a huge project of some multi-national company.The project is global, well-networked, well-funded. Needless to say, the main targets in India would be tribals and backward castes.This is just a tip of the iceberg.

In November 1999, the then Pope John Paul II visited India and he did not hide any intentions when he made the statement “Just as in the first millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the Third Christian Millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent” He was referring to Asia. With china out of equation, the only largest remaining country is India.

Conclusion: Even if the rest of the groups except these three get obliterated from the face of the earth, these three conquerors would still fight among themselves for supremacy. (For instance, Muslims are persecuted in communist china; communists were persecuted in Iran; historical crusades between Muslims and Christians.) As far as India is considered, all three are very much present in India. Though each one is the nemesis of the other, the common animosity towards Hinduism brings them all together. All are fervently pursuing their respective missions, and have damaged the civilization significantly but I still believe India’s soul is intact.

References

1) Marx and Engels, The German ideology

2) Karl Marx, The communist manifesto

3) Anwar Shaikh, Islam-The Arab imperialism

4) Navaratna Rajaram, An article by name Tortured souls create twisted history

5) Koenraad Elst, Negationism in India

6) Edward Gibbon, The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire

My Books Review: May '12

1) Eminent Historians – This work of Arun Shourie is an eye-opener for all to the wrongdoings of the leftist historians of India from decimating the institutions of national importance to tampering the history. Arun Shourie’s style of writing is described to be based on rigorous analysis and meticulous research. You have all the reason to vouch for it once you’ve completed the book.

The gist of the book is given in these lines: “Tarnish every person, Institution, Period, Confidence...Ascribe tolerance, magnanimity to the intolerant...Portray the inclusive, Open tradition as the one out to swallow others, and the exclusivist, totalitarian ideology as the ideology of broad-mindedness, of peace, tolerance...Denounce as 'communal' anyone who demands proof...Blame victims for the consequence of the ideology of the oppressors...Suppress the role of comrades in aiding imperial rulers...Tarnish leaders, reformers who led the nationalist movement...All the while control institutions, hog patronage, exercise power, and have a good time...”! They have denied the idea of India, Hinduism and have shown ruthless invaders (who were actually religious fanatics) as emancipators, they have employed their intellectual faculties to whitewash the Islamic rule in India which was characterized by loot, violence and conversion all in large scale, they have hushed up all the facts of communists who played treacherous role in the freedom struggle with covertly allying with the British. They have belittled the ancient religion of India, used scorn profusely wherever they can to describe ancient India.   

            What the Marxist historians have made an institute like ICHR is given in detail by their partisanship and nepotism by taking Ayodhya issue as an example. A huge amount of public fund is misused by the eminent historians in the name of big projects which are never completed. Shourie gives various instances of tens of historians with many high sounding projects but are never completed. Their various techniques of falsifying history and countering the opinions of others are listed with solid examples.

            In 1989, West Bengal board of secondary education had issued instructions that “Muslim rule should never attract any criticism. Destruction of temples by Muslim rulers and invaders should not be mentioned”. The instruction was faithfully implemented and thus history was distorted. This is just an example. The Marxist or communists historians have been doing such mischievous acts for decades. It’s just that their nexus and network are so strong that they attract no trouble. 

“In regard to our religion, the trick is threefold. The textbooks denigrate religion, attributing to it the evils which it serves the progressives’ purpose of highlight. Second, in each of these instances the examples they give are linked by them to Hinduism. Third, among religions, Islam is always presented as the one, progressive, emancipatory religion. Of course, the final emancipation comes in the form of the soviet revolution of 1917! ”

            They have bequeathed the legacy of Macaulay’s education. What if Marx, Macaulay and Missionaries come together? How would their design be? Simple: “Make them ashamed of the things that they revere- their god, their scriptures, their language, Sanskrit; and make them hate the one group which has been charged with the task of continuing their religion and culture.” If we see the present day India, we have to admit their design has been greatly successful.

            The party line remains the same of the school: “There is no Hinduism, it is brahminism; brahminism equals intolerance and persecution – of Buddhists, Jains and of course the Shudras; Islam equals peace, equality, brotherhood, the ascent towards monotheism; the left, means equality, freedom and everything nice; revolution means the rule of workers and peasants!” dissecting many of their assertions and proving them false, Shourie writes “Each of these assertions is a blatant falsehood. But these historians, having, their control of institutions, set the standards of intellectual correctness, the one who questions the falsehoods, even though he does so by citing the writings of the best known Islamic historians of those very times, he is the one who is in the wrong.”

            To counter the fact that Muslims destroyed thousands of temples of Hindus, a lie of Hindus destroying Buddhist viharas is invented. ‘A lie repeated many times becomes a truth’ is standard technique used in the Marxist school of thought. The lie is completely exposed in the book by citing many works. Before the advent of Islam, Buddhism was the religion of Bactria, Parthis, Afghanistan, Gandhar. It was Islam which destroyed Buddhism in all these places.  

            The eminent historians take liberty in denigrating the Indian gods by saying like ‘Indra is amoral’, ‘Lord Krishna has rather questionable personal record’, ‘and Lord Shiva is just a development of phallic cults’. They assume Hindus could not have done anything worthwhile and original and develop their theses in those lines. According to them even true geniuses like Aryabhata, Varahamihira are unoriginal. Their contempt is reserved only for Hindu culture and Hindu culture alone.

            Engels propounded a theory according to which all the societies should pass through these stages: classless primitive society; slave economy, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and finally communism and he said it was a universal law that no country or society was an exception to this sequence. A few writings of Lenin say that all the spheres of the society like economic, spiritual, political, religious can be understood and analysed by having the aforesaid sequence of development in mind. So, our eminent historians of India who are well-versed with the writings of Marx, Engels and Lenin have religiously tried to see our history through the lenses of class and class struggle.  This sometimes gets preposterous when they try to give explanation of concepts like Bhakti, karma and reincarnation through class, class struggle and oppression. But that’s how they are conditioned to see the entire society, history and in short the whole world. That’s why communism is sometimes called quasi-religious.

            In the next part Shourie contrasts the writings of Soviet historians and our own historians on Ancient India. He conclusively proves that soviet historians are more objective and loyal to true history than our own eminences.

            “These intellectuals have over years captured an array of institutions and professions. Through this dominion they have controlled public discourse in general. They have set the intellectual fashion; they have determined what is politically correct and what is not. The effects are all around us.” Though their number is not great, they have managed to occupy key positions in journalism, history, arts, theatre . They decide what book should be reviewed in their newspaper and who should review it needless to say the person who advocates their lines would be given such an opportunity. In this way they have hijacked the entire political discourse.

In the concluding remarks, Shourie proposes the way out, what needs to be done to control the damage that’s already been done and not to further that damage.

This is the first ever full scale book that I read of Arun Shourie. His style of writing is indeed a marriage of extensive research and rigorous analysis. It’s a highly recommended book which should be read by all who wishes to know the misdoings of our eminent historians, the techniques that they employ, the ramifications of their deeds and the way out.

2) Chitadanta - It’s a kannada novel written by K.N. Ganeshiah. It’s a suspense thriller which revolves around a murder but explores many historical incidents like Alexander’s invasion, Buddha’s tooth mystery etc. For further details go to 
http://blogesha.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/%E0%B2%9A%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%A4%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%82%E0%B2%A4/

Nazism, Communism and Islam – The ideological parallels

All political ideologies aim to create a perfect society. The claims of the people who propound those ideologies are very lofty and promising so that people are lured to embrace them. But after some time, they turn totalitarian and they exert control through iron hand. They then turn tyrannical and instead of being boon to the masses, they become worst nightmares. Millions of people are massacred around the world because of the ideologies. Some ideologies (like Nazism, fascism) have existed in limited geographical areas at limited time but a few ideologies (like communism, Islam) have spread across the globe. 

The commonality in all the political ideologies is that they are totalitarian. In a totalitarian system, democracy won’t have any voice. The basic thing that every human being yearns, freedom will be completely taken away from the people and they are subjugated for the ‘greater’ cause. Some may wonder how a religion like Islam could be classified alongside some totalitarian ideologies like Nazism or communism. But a close study of it reveals the political motivation, ambition the religion has got and also some startling similarities it has with Nazism and communism. 

Communism and Islam:

1) In communism, the state is superior. In case of Islam it replaces the state with its god Allah and the laws of the state with Quran, Sharia’h and hadith.

2) In communism one is expected to surrender to the dictates of the state. In Islam, one should unconditionally surrender to the will of Allah and defined laws that are attributed to Allah.

3) Communists are convinced that their doctrine is superior and would inevitably spread throughout the world. Muslims are convinced that their religion is the greatest and it is to be spread throughout the world until every person has surrendered to Allah. In fact, Islam divides the world into two parts: the World of Islam (Dar al-Islam) and the World of War (Dar al-Harb). The parts of the world which is Dar al-Harb, wars should continue until it is converted into Dar al-Islam. Then alone peace prevails.

4) For both ideologies, ends justify the means. Communist countries misrepresent and break the treaties whenever it served their purposes especially with non-communist countries. In Islam, same is followed and called Taqiyya. Taqiyya closely translates into lying. It gives license to Muslims to break treaties (the peace treaty between non-Muslim nations is called hudna) with non-Muslim nations when it served their purpose.

5) In communist countries, the party leaders are considered unerring and their say is final. They have the power to change the rule and execute any person if they perceive him as a threat to the state. In Islam, the Imams are considered infallible and have the power to give judgments interpreting their holy books.

Nazism and Islam:

1) Severe hatred for Jews: Both ideologies abhorred Jews. Hitler said Jews are to be hated because they are Jews. Quran turns Jews into apes and swine.

2) Brainwashing at a very young age: Nazis had young scouts, trained them, brainwashed them. It happens in Islam especially in the Middle Eastern countries where small children are turned militants and they are fed and brainwashed to become suicide bombers. Though this doesn’t happen in all Muslim countries, it exists in a large scale. Any ideology requires constant indoctrination for its survival.

3) Hitler believed his party would win war and rule over the world for thousand years, Muslims believe to this day that world belongs to Allah and his apostles and they have to continue to fight the infidels until the promised land becomes theirs.

4) Nazis did hero worship (Hitler) and believed he was appointed by fate , Muslims do hero worship (Muhammad) and believe he was appointed by Allah

5) Islam or the invaders who followed Islam religiously classified the human into three categories
                I. The Muslims, for whom Allah has promised the whole world
               II. Christians and Jews who could live under Muslim rule but only as third-class citizens
              III. Thirdly, the real pagans who have to be eliminated completely from the world.
    Nazism classified people into
                   I. The Herrenvolk : The people whose race is superior to all
                  II. Slavic Untermenschen: These are inferior people in Hitler’s planned future world order.

6) Nazism divides the world solely on the basis of the race. Islam divides the world on the basis of religion.

Apart from all these striking similarities, there are many qualities that all these ideologies share, like: They are totalitarian, intolerant, xenophobic, aggressive, and self-righteous. There will be no scope for free thinking or freedom of speech. Totalitarian ideologies that are based on religion are more dangerous because they can sustain for a very long period and they achieve a very strong psychological grip over its followers. 

Followers of a totalitarian doctrine with no god attached to it may have some doubt at some point of time but the followers of totalitarian religious doctrines don't face that problem because that void of doubt is readily filled by the 'will of god' or rather the doubt never raises in them. That's why we can see almost all Islamic terrorists are supremely confident about their doctrine and they don't have a shred of remorse in their violence. Totalitarian ideology without religion or god attached to it will die once their leaders are defeated. But those which are based on religion will continue even after the death of the founders and continue to grip the followers through their holy books. 

All ideologies are equally dangerous. Anyone wishing to live in a free world where there is a democratic process and where freedom of speech is celebrated can never support any of the totalitarian doctrines to usurp their societies.

Sources:
"Islam: Arab Imperialism" by Anwar Sheik
"Negationism in India" by Koenraad Elst

A fake historian can damage a nation for generations

Tarnish every person, Institution, Period, Confidence...
Ascribe tolerance, magnanimity to the intolerant... 
Portray the inclusive, Open tradition as the one out to swallow others, and the exclusivist, totalitarian ideology as the ideology of broad-mindedness, of peace, tolerance...
Denounce as 'communal' anyone who demands proof... 
Blame victims for the consequence of the ideology of the oppressors...
Suppress the role of comrades in aiding imperial rulers...
Tarnish leaders, reformers who led the nationalist movement...
All the while control institutions, hog patronage, exercise power, and have a good time...wrote Arun Shourie in the introduction to his book Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud. Well, he was absolutely right in his observation about the history writers in India.

History writing in India is very difficult unlike history writing in say Europe. Writing of Indian history in a large scale happened at the time of the British. The Indian history writing is in near absolute control of the writers with Marxist ideology. The underlying tone of Marxist approach towards history can be summed as: ancient societies are primitive, all kinds of social evolutions are class struggle, and India absorbed great things from invaders rather than producing great things on its own. In Marxist version of history, Hindu society is always portrayed as regressive, many Islamic rulers (who were actually religious fanatics) are portrayed as tolerant, a great lie of Aryan-Dravidian division theory is invented to create divide amongst Indians, a great warrior-saint like Guru Tegh Bahadur is called a bandit, freedom fighters are called as terrorists (I clearly remember studying this), great patriots like Aurobindo Ghosh, Swami Vivekananda are touted communal.

Marxists never had scantest respect for the spiritual heritage of India which is actually its core strength. If it did not process that strength, it could never have attracted the greatest minds like Albert Einstein or Mark Twain. Students never study India’s contribution to the world in art, science, metallurgy or various other technologies. Students who receive this kind of education can never know the great heritage of India and they will grow devoid of pride in their country and some of them have contempt for it as well. All the ‘great’ historians that can be listed from the present day India like Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, R.S.Sharma, Bipin Chandra are heavily inclined towards leftist ideologies. Anyone who tries to correct some gross errors is termed ‘communal’. The Marxist historians are doing such a great harm to the country that it can put Macaulay’s dream to shame!

When someone tries to mend these mistakes (as it happened when Murali Manohar Joshi was HRD minister and the attempt was a failure), and present history as it is, then there will be a big hue and cry of ‘saffronization’. When did saffron enter the scene! The lobby of Marxists is very strong that they will make such attempts to fail. They enjoy a strong patronage from the government and support from media as well. This is a hard nexus which may take many decades to break. It may be true that the history writing should not have hold of any ideologies but if an ideology is inevitable, let it be a nationalistic one rather than the putrid communist one.

You may build a magnanimous building. But if it is built on quick sand, the glory is transient. Sooner or later, the building has to fall & will fall. As the old saying goes: truth ultimately triumphs.