Shankaracharya

Shastri then issued a whip, causing the KVP meeting to be cancelled. But Shukla, Upadhyay and Pachauri formed a parallel body -- the Varanaseya Vidvat Parishad -- and went ahead with Amritanand’s abhisheka (anointment) as shankaracharya. “I have issued a charge-sheet against the erring KVP members. It is parallel bodies like these that have so denigrated eminent institutions like the KVP. The matter calls for a thorough probe and the culprits’ prosecution.”

Swami Aviroopanand, however, disapproves of the KVP’s activities as well. “Of late this organisation has lost all dignity and prestige. No less than five persons in Varanasi claim to be its president or general secretary,” says the swami who is deputy of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Badrinath and Dwarka.

Now as the murky side of Hindutva is coming to the fore, most of those who were involved in “anointing” Sudhakar Dwivedi feel safer underground or in finding alibis to deny their complicity. “Pachauri put my name on the invitation without my consent. I attended the function in my capacity as pro-vice chancellor of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. The allegations that I took money for this are false,” claims Shivji Upadhyay. He also accuses Batuk Shastri of dividing the KVP.

The convener of the function, Ram Yatna Shukla, says he doesn’t know Amritanand “personally” and had protested against his anointment. Pachauri, meanwhile, has been untraceable since the ATS arrested Amritanand alias Dwivedi.

Such is the murky world of these new age shankaracharyas! There is no hierarchy and absolutely no checks and balances. For a price, anyone can claim to be a pandit, an acharya, a ramanujacharya, a mahandleshwar or a shankaracharya.

But no matter! Hindutva’s torchbearers are in no great hurry to look within. Their foremost concern, in the words of VHP leader Dr Surendra Jain, is to prevent the “vilification” of Hindu leaders by “pseudo-secular” politicians and “pliable” organisations like the ATS. Says Jain, “We will pay attention to this aspect too ."...Continue

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The Sunday Indian

A positive match

Often the making of a marriage is seen in the light of everything but love. Even in times when instances of courtship following marriage in order of chronology are becoming rarer, arranged marriages still don’t raise many an eyebrow. But what are the implications of swapping medical histories in addition to the material reconnaissance that is a staple precursor to these alliances? Although “there are no conclusive evidences that prove pre-marital HIV testing has reduced the number of AIDS cases in places that have introduced this law”, according to Tripti of Lawyers Collective Mumbai (organization dedicated to solving cases related to HIV), it is largely the dominance and popularity of arranged marriages in our culture that has stirred debates about the viability of mandatory pre-marital HIV testing for both the parties. However perfect the idea of matching a HIV negative with a negative and rejecting a HIV positive might sound to the ears, there are some compelling contentions and reservations against making it a law that can’t be ignored.

While of all the causes of contracting the infection, “unprotected sex is the most prevalent form,” says Anil, a government employee (from his seven years of experience of creating awareness about the disease), it is the taboo attached to being a HIV+ that makes people refrain from getting tested. “I came close to this struggle that an HIV+ person goes through in terms of the way society treats them and the trauma that the family goes through only when my best friend went through it. Sadly, despite being in the medical profession, he made the mistake of visiting prostitutes. Even though his family stood by him, he remained without a marital partner until his death”, regretfully recalls Anil who after his friend’s demise started a portal www.positivesaathi.com to facilitate matrimonial alliances between HIV+ people across the world. His one and a half year old portal has already registered more than five hundred people and has helped many positive people find partners, the most recent being Chaya Tope of Pune and Yogesh of Canada....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Scared countries stay cool

The government of India may have triumphed and brought home its boys, the sailors from the pirated Japanese ship MV Stolt Valor, but there’s little to celebrate, as yet another Yemeni ship was hijacked on November 25, infuriating the world. In fact, the bigger challenge at present is to rescue ships like MV Fiana, a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 combat tanks and Sirius Star, Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying over two million barrels of oil which is worth over $100 million. Astoundingly, nearly 17 ships are being held to ransom in the region at present.

No one knows where these pirates get their support from. However, the US has ruled out any al-Qaeda support to these pirates. US Army Gen William "Kip" Ward said the chaos on the high seas is a reflection of the country's political chaos. Somalia has had no functioning government since 1991.....Continue

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The Old Testament tells how Cain killed his brother Abel and God’s wrath felled him. Is Andhra Pradesh’s Christian CM, YSR, ...

The Old Testament tells how Cain killed his brother Abel and God’s wrath felled him. Is Andhra Pradesh’s Christian CM, YSR, about to do the same to his brethren and invite the wrath of voters, the God of all politicos? asks TSI’s Nageswara Rao Thamanam

This ascribed identity to these groups has been debated for decades. "Being in the Hindu fold, the Dalit families are deprived of entry into the Hindu temples, and now the state government prevents us from using the welfare scheme to go to the birth place of Christ," said a Dalit Christian leader. Although YSR wants to win the hearts of the Christian community, his move has raised many questions on the genuineness of his commitment.


With the majority of Christians being excluded from the new scheme, it is unlikely their hearts would melt when he next coming pleading for votes. Contrarily, it will definitely provide ammunition for the demogogic Hindutva brigade in the state. The problem with this policy is that it did not recognise the fact that if Dalit Christians are excluded from the reservations for Christian community, it will only fuel their anger against the segregation. YSR government's exclusion of Dalit Christians’ to Holy Lands would permanently damage the sympathy YSR has among the Christian community: he himself comes from a Christian community, whose majority he is now alienating. The scheme will fuel the old fire of caste within the Christians and would split the community's loyalties.

With the general and Assembly elections approaching, this gesture by the ruling Congress government is seen as another ploy to turn every possible group into their prospective supporters. As a matter of fact, Andhra Pradesh is the only state in South India that is under Congress rule and from where Congress has 30 Lok Sabha members. Coming back to power in AP will ensure its strength in the next LS. With its sentimental opposition to separate statehood to Telangana, and being the only major political party to oppose it, the Congress is looking for alternatives to raid the vote bank. But it remains to be seen if YSR will succeed in winning the hearts of minorities.

Precisely at a time when attacks on Christians by the Hindutva forces in Orissa and Karnataka are rising, the populist initiative by the AP government will make the Christian community more vulnerable to the Hindutva forces. On the face of it, the CM is doing a great service to his own Christians brethren but in effect it will perhaps repeat the story of Cain killing Abel!...Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Poll wars in cyberspace

Just as the hi-tech, high-pitch Barack Obama-John McCain campaign drew to a close, news arrived that India’s mainline political parties had lined up similar smart tools for the forthcoming Assembly elections. In at least four states in the Hindi heartland the contestants have migrated to highly sophisticated campaign methods. They no longer rely exclusively on banners, posters, hoardings, cut-outs and graffiti -- and those old-fashioned sound amplifiers are swiftly being discarded for neater stuff. Indeed even the rural voters, long accustomed to politicians making their point through folk songs and local dances and art forms, are this time round being wooed in true firangi style.

While the Congress has fitted its campaign vehicles with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to track their movement, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using social service networks, mobile telephony and FM radio stations to woo young voters. The Congress has also been aping the BJP’s 2004 campaign strategy by launching the appeals of its president Sonia Gandhi, Youth Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in recorded messages relayed through telephones. So don’t for a moment be surprised if your phone rings and the caller says, Main Sonia Gandhi bol rahi hoon (This is Sonia Gandhi).

Congress’s central unit has hired Crayon Advertising to push its campaign, leaving the state units to pick their own favourites. Another departure from earlier campaigns is to get comedians like Ehsan Qureshi and Raju Srivastava commanding high TRPS to pitch in. “With them we hope to make our campaigns livelier and thus hit the right cord among the electorate,” says AICC Media Committee chairman Veerappa Moily.

BJP’s campaign armour is being overseen by an unassuming IIM Ahmedabad alumni, Prodyut Bora, who is head of the party’s IT cell. Bora had quit his top job at a software company four years ago to join the party fulltime. He has not only updated the BJP’s website (he can’t hide his admiration for Barack Obama’s campaign website), but has also designed his party’s e-mail system with instant messenger (IM) facility. All of the party’s primary members are issued special e-mail ids to enable uninterrupted online chats with their leaders.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Oman, Muscat

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The credit, for Muscat being a rather handsome city, undeniably goes to the present Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Apart from the great looking, low-lying urban landscape, the Grand Mosque near the international airport is worth visiting for its grand chandeliers, hand woven carpets and splendid interiors. And, visiting this area is incomplete if one doesn’t visit Istanbuli, a Lebanese food joint popular for chicken and beef shawarmas with a slightly tangy chick peas based dip – hommus.

While Muttrah and Ruwi are the core multi-ethnic districts of the city, nearby destinations such as Nakhal (popular for misty waterfall), Nizwa (to experience the real Omani culture and history), the centuries-old Muscat Souq (a centuries-old market) and Bahla (for pottery and witchcraft) must not be missed. And the cherry on the cake really is that you can see all of that at a very relaxed pace, just the way the Omanis prefer it! ...Continue

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The Sunday Indian