Historicity Of Lord Ram

The below content is directly lifted from an article at Rediff.com.
This article was written by Dr.Satya Pal Singh, Police Commissioner of the city of Nagpur in neighboring state of Maharashtra.
Iam not sure how good is it to lift content but I thought it is worth it to share with my friends who take their valuable time out to read my blog.
I thank Dr.Singh for this valuable contribution.


Since thousands of years, not just in India but also all over the world, one of the greatest men who influenced and touched the hearts of millions � both common men and elite alike -- with his strength of character is Ram. His time was that of great kings and world empires. This was the era when the whole world understood one language and speech, as mentioned in the holy book, the Bible (Genesis 11.1). Then neither was the world divided into Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews etc, nor broken up on the basis of modern day caste barriers. Then there were only two divisions in human society � Arya and Un-Arya (asurs, rakshas). Those who were not strong of character and men of words were un-arya. All mankind had only one culture.

Literary work

The most authentic and original source of knowledge about Ram is the Valmiki Ramayana. This noble work of literature credits Valmiki as the earliest poet of the world. The story of Ram did not remain confined to the pages of Valmiki Ramayana, but it also finds a mention in various other scriptures of history and ancient literature. It is talked about in Muni Vyas's Mahabharata at four places -- Ramopakhayan, Aaranyak Parva, Drona Parva and Dashrath Kathanak; in Buddhist literature it finds mention in three Jatak parables, viz, Dashrath Jatak, Anamak Jatak and Dashrath Kathanak; in Jain literature many manuscripts were written on Ram, like Padam Charitra (Prakrit) by Vimal Suri; Padam Puran (Sanskrit) by Ravisen Acharya; Padam Charitra (Apbhransh) and Charitra Puran (Sanskrit) by Swambhu; and Uttar Puran (Sanskrit) by Gunbhadra. As per Jain tradition the original name of Ram was 'Padam'.

The story of Ram was also written in various other Indian regional languages. There are at least 11 versions of Ramayana in Hindi, eight in Marathi, 25 in Bangla, 12 in Tamil, five in Telugu and six in Oriya. Apart from these, more versions of the Ramayana have been written in Sanskrit, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Assamese, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, etc. The Hindi Ramcharitmanas authored by Tulsidas has achieved a very prominent place in northern India. More than 400 great poets and saints like Kalidas, Bhas, Bhatti, Praversen, Bhavbhuti, Kshemendra, Rajshekhar, Kumardas, Vishwanath, Somdev, Gunadutt, Narad, Lomesh, Guru Govind Singh, the Samarth Guru Ramdas, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Keshavdas and Saint Tukdoji etc, have written poems, prose and literature on Ram and other characters of the Ramayana.

Even in other countries we can find versions of Ramayana, like the Tibetan Ramayana, Turkistan's Khotani Ramayana, Indonesia's Kakbin Ramayana, Java's Seratram, Sairiram, Ramkeling, Patani Ramkatha; Indo-China's Ramkerti (Ramkirti), Khamer Ramayana; Burma's Ramyagan of Yuto; Thailand's Ramkiyen etc all narrate the story of Ram in a picturesque way. Scholars also believe that Homer's Illiad and the Dionysia of poet Nonus of Rome have surprising similarities with our Ramayana.

In world literature, no other historical person has been narrated with so much devotion on such a grand, magnified and detailed scale by so many poets and authors of varied countries.


Temples and terracotta

All over the world, not just hundreds but thousands of temples of Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman [Images], etc are being constructed since time immemorial. The walls of the 9th century Shiv temple Parambanan (Parambhram) of Java and the 11th century Angkorwat Temple of Cambodia are pictorially engraved with the scenes of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Hundreds of terracotta based on the Ramayana have been found from Sirma, Haat, Nacharkheda of Hisar; Jind, and Santhai (Yamuna Nagar) of Haryana; Koshanbhi (Allahabad), Aahichatra (Bareilly), and Katinghar (Etah) of Uttar Pradesh and Bhadra (Shriganganagar) of Rajasthan. They depict the major events of Ram's exile, mainly Ram, Sita and Lakshman's Panchvati gaman; Maareech Mrugh (golden deer); the dialogue of Tirshira with Khar-Dushan; the execution of 14 demons by Ram; Sita-haran by Ravan; Sughreev sighting Sita throwing down her ornaments from Pushpak (Ravan's plane); Sughreev welcoming Ram to his abode; Sughreev-Bali combat; Ram's assassination of Bali; Hanuman burning Ashok Vatika; Trishira Rakshas's killing; Indrajeet, the son of Ravan, going to war, etc. Some of the terracotta have the verses of Valmiki Ramayana written in the script of pre-Gupta age. They can be seen in the archaeological museum of Gurukul Jhajjar (Haryana). Apart from these, hundreds of terracotta can be seen in different museums of India as well as in the British Museum of London [Images].

Kushan emperor Kanishka had an engraving of the wind-god Hanuman on his regime's seal. Emperor Akbar had also similarly depicted Ram-Sita on one of his golden guineas. Scenes from Ramayana have been sketched in the Safdarjang Madarsa of Delhi. Central India's Dhar and Ratlam principalities had engraved Hanuman on their seals. Brass guineas introduced by the Sant regime also had the etchings of Ram and his three brothers, as well as Sita and Hanuman.

The biggest travesty of facts is that even after so many literary and archaeological evidence, Lord Ram is not universally accepted as a historical personality.


The time of Ram

According to ancient Indian chronology and Puranic tradition Ram was born in the 24th Treta Yuga (Great Age). Apart from the Valmiki Ramayana and other versions of Ram's biography, there are four important references to Ram, Ravan, etc in ancient scriptures.

1. Treta yuge chaturvinshe ravane tapseh shakshyat |
Ram dashrtathi prapiye sagane shakyamiyeewan || (Vayu Puran 70.88)

2. Sandho tu samanupraptre tretayaam dwaparisya cha |
Ramo daasrathirbhutva bhavishami jagatpati || (Mahabharata 348.19)

3. Chaturvinshe yuge chapi vishwamitra pure sare |
Loke ram iti khyate tejsah bhaskaropam || (Harivansh 22.104)

4. Chaturvinshe yuge vats tretayaam raghuvanshaje |
Ramo naam bhavishyami chaturvhayu sanatane || (Bhramand Puran 2.2.36.30)

On the basis of the given literary references and evidences it can be inferred that Ram, Ravan, Vishwamitra etc lived in the 24th Treta Yuga. According to the Mahabharata, Ram lived in the transition phase between Treta and Dwapar ages. It however does not mention the order of the Treta.

It will help to know that Satyug, Treta, Dwapar and Kalyug have a continuous cycle, like the cycle of the months in a year or the days in a week. As Monday is followed by Tuesday and January is followed by February, Satyug is followed by Treta and this cycle continues endlessly. Or these, Kalyug has the shortest span of 4,32,000 years, Dwapar is double the years of Kalyug at 8,64,000 years, Treta is triple the years of Kalyug at 12,96,000 years and Satyug is four-times the years of Kalyug at 17,28,000 years. Thus one unit of four yugas is called Chaturyugi, having a total of 43,20,000 years.

We are presently in the Kalyug of the 28th Chaturyugi and so far 5,108 years of Kalyug have lapsed. If we accept that Ram indeed lived during the last phase of the 24th Treta Yuga then it can be calculated that he lived 1,81,49,108 years ago. But if we accept that he lived in the Treta of the present 28th cycle of Chaturyugi then he lived 8,69,108 years ago.

After so many years it's impossible for any buildings, dwellings, statues, seals, coins, cloths, bones or weapons to exist. There also cannot be physical records or evidences of every person who walked this earth so long ago. Even if someone has passed away five generations ago without leaving his progeny behind, we have no natural or physical evidence to prove his life. Even if he had a house, without documentary evidence or word-of-mouth we cannot prove that it belonged to him. Even in modern times, the existence of the ruling presidents and prime ministers of today cannot be proved 1,000 years hence without any literary proof. Their story can be passed verbally from one generation to the next but no physical evidence of their existence will be available.

In the last few years, some highly motivated computer-literate group of people have designed a software called 'Planetarium Gold Software' which is generally used by scientists to measure the distance and locations of planets from earth and to predict lunar and solar eclipses. The Valmiki Ramayana (Bal Kanda 18.8.9) mentions (the planetary positions vis-�-vis zodiac constellations) at the time of Lord Ram's birth as 'the ninth lunar day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra, asterism Punarvasu was in the ascendant and (as many as) five planets (viz, the Sun, Mars [Images], Saturn, Jupiter and Venus) happened to be exalted (appeared in the zodiacal signs of Mesa or Aries, Makara or Capricorn, Tula or Libra, Karka or Cancer, and Mina or Pisces respectively) and Jupiter in conjunction with the Moon appeared in the zodiacal sign of Karka'.


'Ram was 39 years old when he killed Ravana'

The same details were entered in the Planetarium Gold software to determine the important dates in the life of Lord Ram vis-�-vis the present planetary positions and zodiac constellations and calculated that Ram was born on January 10, 5114 BC, which means to say 7,122 years ago. While they deserved all appreciation and thanks for this new approach, their ignorance of astronomical calculations and in the absence of any literary proof, their result cannot be relied upon. According to astronomy, the positions of zodiac constellations come back to their original place after a cycle of approximately 26,000 years.

For this reason, the exact same planetary position repeats itself every 26,000 years. So, Ram could have been born in any of the repetitive cycles in planetary positions. Even if we believe Ram to be born in the Treta of the present 28th Chaturyugi, as mentioned earlier, the position of constellations have completed 33 cycles and if, according to literary evidence, we believe Ram to be born in the Treta of 24th Chaturyugi, then the position of the constellations have completed 698 cycles.

The scientific interpretation of the photographs of the remains of Adam's Bridge (Ram Setu) taken by NASA's [Images] Gemini-11 spacecraft in 2002, reveals that this ancient bridge linking India to Sri Lanka [Images] was manmade, and it was dated to be at least 1.75 million years old. According to Valmiki Ramayana, it is true that Ram and his engineers constructed this bridge for transporting his army into Lanka. If we accept that it was indeed Ram who got this bridge constructed then he lived in the middle years of the 28th Treta, and not in the 24th, and neither in the transition between Treta and Dwapar of the 28th era (Chaturyugi). Even if we accept this, it doesn't alter the calculations based on planetary positions of the constellations. Then the constellations would have completed 66 cycles before coming back to its original position.

It is also not wrong to state that an email message was sent by NASA officials in July 2007 to N K Raghupati, chairman of the Setu Samudram Ship Canal Project, stating therein that the remains of the bridge do not appear to be connected to any human activity. Why NASA differed from its original stand is unknown. Even if Adam's Bridge is a natural geological formation, it could have been beautifully used by Ram to construct a temporary bridge for his army to cross over to Sri Lanka. No scientific test has yet been carried out to measure the ascending or descending contours of Adam's Bridge. Moreover, after millions of years since its construction, no human activity can be linked to this or any other structure.


False propagation by foreign scholars

Most foreign scholars and Indologists believe that Indians taught and learnt their lessons verbally, without the aid of any written material. Indians did not even know how to write. They were not inclined towards maintaining any historical records, nor did they have any notion of placement of events in its proper sequence in time. They believed that the Aryans came from abroad, defeated the original inhabitants of India, the Dravidians, and settled here. The Harappan civilisation was destroyed by invading Aryans. The human history they know is only 5,000 years old. The ancestor of man was an ape or a chimpanzee.

In brief it can be stated that all the above assertions of foreign scholars are unscientific, illogical, untrue and pure false propaganda. It has been revealed across the world today that scholars like Max Muller, H H Wilson, A A MacDonell, Rudolph Roth, Albrecht Weber, Ralph T H Griffith, M Winternitz, Monier-Williams, all had the same basic objective which is expressed in Max Muller's words which he wrote in a letter to his wife: 'This edition of mine and the translation of the Veda will, hereafter, tell to a great extent on the fate of India. It is the root of their religion and to show them what the root is, I feel sure is the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last three thousand years.' (Life and Letters of F Max Muller, Vol I, Chapter XV, Page 34).

Similarly, Monier-Williams wrote in the preface of his Sanskrit-English dictionary: 'I must draw attention to the fact that I am only the second occupant of the Boden Chair and that its founder Colonel Boden stated most explicitly in his will (dated August 15, 1811 AD) that the special object of his munificent bequest was to promote the translation of scriptures into English so as to enable his countrymen to proceed in the conversion of the natives of India to the Christian religion'. Prof Goltuster had revealed that Roy, Weber, Whitling, Fuhan, and other scholars were determined because of some mysterious reason to ruin the prime glory of India in any way possible.

More recently, in July 2007, a book titled Invading the Sacred: An analysis of Hinduism studies in America edited by Krishna Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee was released in Mumbai. The book states, 'Unlike in India, the academic study of religion is an important undertaking for intellectuals in America and a few hundred scholars study Hinduism and other Indian religions. Many of them have continued to perpetuate myths and biases about Indian culture and religion through misinterpretation and mistranslations. These are in line with the colonial and missionary caricature of India.' The book is the product of a multi-year research project that uncovered shoddy and biased scholarship driven by certain power cartels, its authors said.

Let us also know the fact that McCaulay did not know even one Indian language but he commented on all Eastern wisdom, James Mill never visited India but he wrote on Indian history. None of the foreign Indologists like Max Muller, Winternitz and Griffith had any knowledge of Vedic grammar , astronomy, metre (chhand) etc but they all translated Vedas and assumed the status of authorities.

As per Vedic time computation and tradition, the age of creation is 4.32 billion years, and the sankalp mantra 'Om tatsat adhay bharamano dutya parardhey swetvarahakalpe saptmein vaivasvat manvantare astahvinsatitame kaliyuge kaliprathme charne _____ gatabde'. They have kept intact the history of the time of creation and the advent of man on earth till today. Man arrived on earth exactly 1,97,29,49,108 years ago (approximately two billion years ago). Some Vedic scholars also believe that man was created on earth only in the seventh manmantar of Vaivasvat Manu. The sun, planets, stars, earth, sea, vegetation, flora and fauna were created in the earlier six manmantars in a very scientific manner. If we accept this theory, then man was born about 12,05,33,108 years ago. At least this much is certain, that the history of mankind is indeed very long.

Indians always knew the art of writing. The Rig Veda (10.71.4) says speech has two forms -- one which can be heard (shravya) and one which can be seen (drishya). Script was in vogue since ancient times in India. Bhojpatra and tadpatra (papyrus) were abundantly available in nature before man walked the earth. Like paper, even these forms of recording scripts was not permanent. Manuscripts were copied onto new papyrus if they got damaged due to climatic conditions. How else would we find thousands of ancient manuscripts in India? How else would we remember the Vedas, epics, scriptures, and other astronomical subjects?

Yes, there were definitely a few people who felt pride in memorising one or more of the Vedas. If we believe that at that point in time the intellect and memory of the people were very sharp and elephantine compared to the modern man, then this logic also goes against the evolutionary principles of Darwin. The truth is that Indians knew how to write -- and wrote a lot! No other country in the world has such a rich and vast literary treasure. What other proof can be asked for to say that the Indians could write?

Darwin's unnatural and unscientific theory is now also being rejected by many scientists and scholars world-wide. Because of their religious faith some Western scholars who earlier believed that the age of the earth was approximately 6,000 years, now agree that the earth is aged between 3.96 and 4.3 billion years. If earth is so old then how can man inhabited it after such a gigantic time gap?

American scholar Michael Cremo's recent books Forbidden Archaeology and Devolution of Man based on scientific discoveries prove that the Darwin theory has hardly any truth and that man came on earth at least two billion years ago. Cremo and his co-author Richard Thompson have quoted a lot of archeological evidences which undoubtedly prove that scientists in the last 150 years have collected so many facts which disprove many fundamental theories in history, linguistics and science. Many scientific journals had also published these discoveries but the mental block created by the evolution theory of Darwin and the limit of 5,000 years of human history did not pay due attention to the new discoveries. These scientific discoveries and facts prove that the history of mankind is billions of years old.

Ignorance in faith

The foreign scholars and their Indian followers who have spread the mythological canard that Ram and Ramayana are historically untrue, figments of imagination and only a fable are no more responsible than some of our Indian poets and writers. The preachers and exponents of Ram Katha and the directors and actors of Ramlila have inadvertently and ignorantly further contributed to the doubts about the genuineness of Ram. Devoid of true faith and unaware of the true glory of God, we have turned Ram into God and God-incarnate.

Like the fables of Panchtantra we have metamorphosed the erudite scholar of Vedas and a guru of grammar, Hanuman, into an ape; the architect of Ram Setu, Jambavan, into a bear; the famous doctor-surgeon Sushen and his colleagues Angad, Bali, etc into monkeys; the brave Jatayu who was the former king of Gridhkoot who fought Ravan in the sky after the abduction of Sita, into a vulture. The most shocking belief is that the most beautiful scholar lady Tara was married to the monkey Bali. Sita was believed to be born of the earth and ultimately returned to Mother Earth. Our imagination knew no bounds.

Valmiki knew Ram to be a human, a noble man, the best of his era and in his time wrote Ramayana as both were contemporary. He has also shown Ram to possess human traits and emotions, just like any ordinary person. We, in our blind faith, have accentuated the question marks on the historicity of Ram and Ramayana by treating Ramayana like a fable and depicting its noble characters as birds and animals.

Our foolish beliefs did not end here. We spin strange new stories which ultimately maligned the noble character of Ram. Ram never disowned Sita or exiled her to the forest in a pregnant state. Valmiki never wrote this. We got the Seer Shambook executed by Ram, calling him a shudra. Valmiki never mentioned this. No intellectual scholar or tapasvi could be a shudra, at least in Vedic times. But through interpolations and additions in the modern day Ramayana we have made Maryada Purshottam Ram into a person inflicting injuries and harassment on women and low-borns. Valmiki's Ram was the bravest among the brave, the noblest among the noble, but not God.

Analysis and conclusions

1. Can our saints and seers, who have from birth till death spoke the truth, acted with truth and preached only the truth, become the liars today and their writings unbelievable and false, whereas the foreign scholars and their native modern followers are truthful? Were our ancient visionaries and authors like Rishi Valmiki, Muni Vyas, Kalidas, Bhas, Bhavbhooti, Ashvaghosh, Samarth Guru Ramdas, Guru Govind Singh, Swami Dayanand, Swami Vivekanand, the leading lights of Buddhist and Jain traditions, etc were liars, selfish and believed in the imaginary, whereas today's professors and scholars of our colleges and universities, writing about history and culture are more learned, committed to truth and missionaries of humanism?

2. Man first wrote true stories and history, and later learnt how to write fiction. India never had a tradition of writing about imaginary characters, as our country was never short of real-life heroes.

3. Are our history, puranas, smritis and Upanishadic parables fables and fairy tales, and Western legends and mythologies all true?

4. Has any community in the world ever celebrated the birth or death anniversaries of any fictitious person? If this is true, then how can the birth anniversary of Ram, Ram Navmi, be celebrated since thousands of years, year after year, in many countries of the world?

5. Has any fictitious character been written about repeatedly even by 10 to 20 writers? The story of Ram has been told and retold since time immemorial by thousands of seers, poets, writers and authors in different languages and in different countries of the world.

6. Even if by default we accept that Ram and Ramayana are the imagination of a poet, then at least we accept that the poet was real and lived on this earth, and was not imaginary. No one has ever doubted that Valmiki lived. His life has been chronicled in detail in Skand Puran, Bhavishya Puran and Adhyatma Ramayana. When Valmiki meets Ram for the first time, he says, as given in Valmiki Ramayana (7.96.19):

Prachetsoahem dasmey putroh raghavnandany |
Ne ismarahmeanritam vakyamimo tu tav putroko ||

Valmiki proudly says to Ram, 'I am the 10th son of Pracheta, and I never remember speaking even one untrue sentence'. How can such a missionary and follower of truth could have written an imaginary story of Ram?

7. Has anyone given a detailed description of generation after generation of a fictitious, imaginary person? Kalidas has described 19 generations of Raghuvansh, Ram's ancestors and descendants, in his book Raghuvansh. Shabdakalpdrum has mentioned the 11 names of Ram's lineage as Bahuk, Sarg, Anshuman, Asamjas, Dilip, Bhagirath, Aja, Dashratha, Ramchandra, Kush and Luv and has mentioned these kings were the world rulers in that era. Even after all this if we don't accept Ram as a historical figure it is beyond the realm of wisdom.

8. Has anyone ever questioned the character of any writer when the hero and writer were contemporary? Rishi Valmiki was a contemporary of Ram and has used the present tense in the Ramayana, not the past and future tense. Then how can we question the historicity of Ram and other characters of the Ramayana?

9. Even in modern times if we want to know the age of any person, we first look for his/her school or college certificates or his horoscope. If someone has no papers or documents to know his age then he is subjected to an ossification medical test. But when the question is of any ancient historical person, why do we ignore the writings and literary evidences and instead search for archeological evidences in buildings, statues, seals and bones found buried in earth?

10. When the foreign Indologists and historians and their blind Indian followers want to search for history in the divine revelation the Vedas, they quote the Rig Veda (10.60.4.4) where there is a mention of Iksvaku, the ancestor of Ram and the founder of Ayodhya. The Atharva Veda mentions Ayodhya as having nine gates. The Atharva Veda (18.3.16) mentions the name of Vishwamitra, Vashista the preceptor of Ram, and Bhardwaj. But when it comes to Ram and Ramayana, they claim it is all mythological and fictitious. Is it not hypocritical?

11. Even today, some of the Asian countries believe in Ram, Ravan, Lakshman, Sita and Hanuman. Sri Lanka believes in the Ramayana and therefore till date has proudly shown the coronation of Vibhishan in its parliament; Ashok Vatika has been converted into a famous tourist attraction and not only that, the Sri Lankan government is still paying pension to the descendents of Ravan. Thailand has a place Ayodhya, and the king there is still called Ram, even though a Buddhist. The most important event took place in the history of Indonesia. In November 1949, the Dutch government agreed to give independence and sovereignty to the Indonesian Islands, except Erian (New Guinea). The Indonesian public launched an agitation, asking also for the inclusion of New Guinea, but the Dutch government asked for any irrefutable proof to prove that New Guinea was an integral part of Indonesia.

Then the people of Indonesia, who have a tradition of reciting the Valmiki Ramayana quoted the following verse 'Yatanvanto yavdweepam ______ shishiro naam parvat' (Kiskindha Khand, Sarg 40, Verse 30-31), which meant that 'Sughreev had advised the leaders in his army to visit the eastern frontiers, in search of Sita, to go to Yavadwipa (Java) -- the conglomeration of seven kingdoms, and from there to visit Swarnadeep (Sumatra) and after Sumatra to visit Shishir mountain (New Guinea) inhabited by gods and demons, which kisses the sky with its summit'. After reading this ancient irrefutable evidence, the Dutch handed over New Guinea also to Indonesia. New history was created in Indonesia just because of the Ramayana.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, it would not be wrong to say that not believing in the historicity of Ram and Ramayana would be obstinacy and an act of scholastic arrogance. Whether someone has faith or not, history is history. We might not have faith in Ayodhya, Saryu, Ganga, Sri Lanka, Ram, Sita, Hanuman, but how can we doubt their historical existence? I would like to recall the words of Swami Vivekanand to Indian writers of history and every scholar of our soil: 'When a man has begun to be ashamed of his ancestors and his past, the end has come'. The birth anniversary of Ram, Ram Navmi, may awaken in us a true faith, which is devoid of ignorance and myopia. And let us inculcate the richness of character and righteousness of Ram in our midst.

Here is the original URL for the above article - Proving The Historicity of Lord Rama.

Require Good Leaders For Telangana

On Sunday, I went to a house warming ceremony of a relative here in Hyderabad and I was chitchatting with some of my relatives and naturally, the discussion moved to the issue of separate Telangana state. Most of my relatives present there have moved to Hyderabad from Andhra after their adulthood and they still have that penchant for a single state even though they sold off their lands there and settled down here for good.

Initially, I could able to justify separate Telangana to be carved our of Andhra Pradesh. But, when the topic moved towards the leaders, I became defensive and in the end had to admit defeat. Defeat not for separate state but who are the leaders who have the will and who can strive for the economic development of Telangana.

Of all the list of leaders who are in the picture right now, none of them are eligible enough to lead Telangana. If one person has started the separate movement because he was not made Deputy Chief Minister, other person is into this only to try to prove a point and get himself as "President" of India while other person is trying to become Governor of a State and the list continues. None of them are here for the development of the state. They are here only to cash in the sentiments of Telangana people.

Then I started looking at political parties on a whole. While the TRS, BJP and CPI are staunch pro-Telangana parties, Congress Party is in a "fighting mode" among its leaders while TDP and CPI(M) are completely against a separate state. TDP is saying that they will take "right decision at right time".

Then I started narrowing on each party. Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was formed when its leader K. Chandra Sehkar Rao (KCR) was denied the post of Deputy Chief Minister by Chandrababu Naidu Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Government. Some opportunistic leaders from other parties jumped into TRS. TRS leader, Narendra (he has a RSS background and he jumped from BJP into TRS) started a militant wing thus scaring people on region wise. KCR distanced himself from this as he saw some hidden Hindu agenda and he is not ready to sacrifice important Muslim votes as almost 30% of Telangana is Muslim. Narendra broke away from this party and started a separate party. Latest update is that he is trying backhand to make a comeback to his parent party, the BJP. People consider TRS as more militant and violent since its inception. TRS leaders are said to be open boozers which doesnt give a good name to the party.

BJP is the first national party which supported separate Telangana in their National Executive Meeting held at Kakinada (Coastal Andhra Pradesh) couple of years back. All their leaders are unanimous on the separation and they did their ground work really well. Their problem is they have only one legislature representing them in the 292 strong AP Assembly and they need to work hard in that direction. This party looks to have a better opportunity than other parties. Their parent, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) is pretty strong in Telangana. If they want to push Telangana, then they need to start conducting meetings and awareness campaigns to keep the momentum till the assembly elections slated next year.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is only strong in couple of pockets in Andhra Pradesh and it cannot play a very important role in pushing for Telangana.

The less said about Congress Party is the better. Recently, Telangana political heavy weights went to New Delhi for an audience with Sonia Gandhi (Congress Party President). She kept them waiting for a whole week inspite of the fact that some of the leaders worked with Congress since the days of Nehru and Indira Gandhi. They had to come back to Hyderabad fuming (??). After lot of pestering, she allowed them audience last week and reports said that she gave a class to them and told them to stop bickering and talking about Telangana as it would give a negative impact on the prospects of Congress in the next elections. These so called leaders have now started fighting among themselves.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo, Nara Chandrababu Naidu rules it with an iron hand and doesnot let anyone to be second in command. There is no second rung leadership in the party and he never allowed dissidence in the party. While he balks about Democracy outside, he never let it happen inside his own party. Devender Goud, the TDP leader from Telangana had recently started to talk about Telangana. He is one of the most senior leaders of TDP. He was severely criticized by leaders from Andhra and Raayalaseema regions and even Naidu took a class of him. Internal democracy is completely put down in TDP and one day, it would only explode.

The Communist Party of India (Marxists) are against smaller states. They worry that if they support small states, someday, they have to give away Gorkhaland - part of West Bengal state which is ruled by the communists with an iron hand past couple of decades. They are not ready to give away their strong hold.

Before we expect a separate state, we need a good Leader to Lead us. The leader has to come out with a plan of action after achieving Telangana. Achieving Telangana is not a difficult task. What lay ahead is how to make sure it survives and beat the critics claims that separate Telaganites would eat rocks from the Deccan Plateau.

Till then, asking for Telangana (leave alone demanding) looks to be like shooting ourselves in the foot.

Kosovo Declares Independence

Kosovo, which is a part of Serbia declared independence from Serbia on 17th February 2008 with active support from America and its European allies France, Britain and Germany.

This has divided the opinion  of lot of world capitals and countries like Russia and China protesting and countries like Indonesia and Srilanka criticizing the independence declaration.

Kosovo's contains 2 Million Muslim population of which 10% is Orthodox Christian. During the middle ages, Christian Serbia was on the borders with Muslim Turks and in the war, Turks converted Bosnians into Islam and crushed Serbs at the battle of Kosovo in 1389.

The former Yugoslavia has crumbled and it is torn apart by internal strife and ethnic cleansing during the 1990's. Present day Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and now the declaration of Independence by Kosovo !!

While Serbia is right at getting pissed off as one part of it has broken the country, Russia is particularly angry as this independence declaration was immediately authenticated by the US and its cronies in Europe.

Kosovo's declaration of independence has opened a Pandora's box where disputed regions throughout the world might start declaring independence and irresponsible countries like the US and its feet lickers in the Europe like Britain, France and Germany okaying whatever the US does.

While China is worried by a similar action by Taiwan (China pledged that its army would walk into Taiwan the day it declares independence) and Xinziang area where Uighur Muslim rebels are fighting for a separate country and Tibet too is a problematic area. Srilanka is worried that LTTE might declare independence and even some world capitals okaying it. Indonesia had already lost East Timor and it's on the verge of losing Aceh too. Thailand is fighting its Muslim rebels in three of its southern provinces. Similar situations exist in Darfur region of Sudan and the Shan, Kachin and Rakhine (Arakan) provinces of Myanmar.

Russia is already fighting a war with Muslim rebels in Chechnia, Dagestan and Ingusetia. While the Georgian and Armenian enclaves like Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh are fighting to merge with Russia. Pakistan is fighting with Pakhtoon Nationalists who want independence from Pakistani suppression.

Closer Home, India is already fighting with Muslim extremists in Kashmir, Sikh extremists in Punjab , Christian and other ethnic extremists in the north east India.

India has a lot to worry with this Independence declaration by Kosovo as this is been endorsed by the US and other European countries. What happens if in the future Kashmiri Separatists declare independence and some Muslim countries recognizing it ?

Would US allow separation of Iraq along ethnic Sunni / Shia / Kurd regions ? Would England allow Northern Ireland to separate and give full political rights to the Catholic Irish community ? Sametime, would the US give separate country to its Indigenous Indians whom the Whites suppressed past many centuries ??

If they cannot do that, whey are they supporting separatist movements across the world ??

Did India forgot its North-East Part ??

Whenever I read news either in the daily newspapers or online, I hardly encounter news regarding the North-East India.

For Everyone's information, North East India contains 7 sister states namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. These states are connected to the rest of India by a very small area of land, called as the Chicken Neck Area near Siliguri. This part is very very important for India as the Chinese border is just a few kilometers away. If they could able to choke this point, India loses its Eastern part.


Is the Government of India serious about the Chinese incursions in the state of Arunachal Pradesh ? As the facts show, I dont think so !! There has been zero development in the area of infrastructure and the nearest border post is 4-5 walking days away. India deliberately kept these areas under developed so that there would be minimal outside traffic in these areas and it would be easy to identify outsiders.

The Government had banned sale of lands to outsiders - "outsiders" means Indians who are not from the state !! There are lot of areas which are off limits to Indians themselves. Why is the Government doing this and thus alienating the people of North East ? This is a failed policy which every Government since the 1962 lost war with China has been following.

On the other side, China had built huge infrastructure and most importantly, Railway Lines right near the McMahon Line bifurcating India and China. During future war, China can transport heavy military machinery within a day or two whereas India would be least prepared and has to forget about its north east part.

Because of poor infrastructure, most areas of Tawang District are not been provided by essential commodities. Chinese Rice and grain is found in the possession of Indian grazers in the border areas provided by the Chinese authorities. Since India is not able to provide them, they are accepting it from the Chinese.

The UPA Government is concentrating more on building up relationship with the US than China. Iam not saying we should move away from US but we have a real problem with China which sits on our borders. We need to quickly resolve all our conflict areas with China through constructive dialogue.


Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh but he shied away from visiting Tawang as China considers Tawang as its territory in India's possession and thus "disputed". The Prime Minister was trying to please China.

On one side, we are closely falling into the trap of United States in containing China and at the same time, we are trying to please China. This is a very bad foreign policy and it would some day affect us in a very negative manner.

India should not become a pawn in containing China but India needs to compete with China in all aspects - Economic and Military !!

Sametime, we need to develop our border areas by improving the infrastructure,Schools, Hospitals and Telecom Facilities.

We should realise that if we lose Arunachal, we can forget about Kashmir. Look at the map of Jammu and Kashmir. Half is not in our possession (Aksai Chin, Azad Kashmir, etc). Within the other half, half is Ladakh and one third Jammu. What is left is an 80 km valley between Anantnag and Baramulla. This small territory (12 percent of the state), takes all the energies of the politicians and our resources. For, 60 years our minds have been devoted to this small area.


At the same time, it is very unfortunate that a state of 84,000 sq km with the potential to provide 30 percent of the nation's energy is today ignored. It is unfortunate and it frustrates the youth of North East. Don't forget that Kashmir is claimed by a small country which does not economically or militarily match India, while Arunachal is claimed by a nation far superior to India.

It is time to wake up. Once you lose Arunachal, you can forget Kashmir. If Arunachal goes, the damage will be irreparable.

The people of India need to know the reality on the ground, they need to know China, the Himalayan region, the northeast and Arunachal. The rest of India does not pose any challenge for the nation. Unless we know what China is, India is not safe.

It is hightime our policy makers in Delhi take a hard look at the facts and would help in developing the forgotten North East India.

TRS MP's and MLA's Resign

Losing trust on Congress Party and putting pressure on the Telangana Leaders of Congress Party, the Members of Parliament of Telangana Rashtra Samithi resigned from the Lok Sabha yesterday at New Delhi and the Members of Andhra Pradesh State Legislature resigned today at Hyderabad.

Please view the map of Nizam State (Hyderabad State) which was broken down into parts and some parts added into Maharashtra (Parbhani, Osmanabad and Aurangabad) while some parts merged with Karnataka (Raichur, Gulbarga and Bidar) and the remainder merged with Andhra State.


Sonia's Meeting Canceled:
On March 14th, Sonia Gandhi is opening the new Hyderabad Airport - longest runway in Asia. The name of the airport is Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. It has become common for the Congress Party regime in Andhra Pradesh naming every small building or project on the names of Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi as if there are not state leaders of high stature.

The Congress Party planned to organize a massive public meeting addressed by Sonia Gandhi. But the high command today sent a message from New Delhi informing the State Congress that the meeting stood canceled. They are expecting trouble from TRS members coming to the meeting in the guise of Congress party members. Also, questions would be raised by congress members from Telangana region about separate statehood. To run away from answering awkward questions, the Congress Party canceled the public meeting.

Instead, Sonia would be addressing a public meeting in Andhra region and flying directly to inaugurate the new airport and then taking a direct flight back to New Delhi. Such is the situation of the ruling party that its all India leader is fearing to address a public gathering in Hyderabad.

This shows the pitiable situation the party is in.


Why have the brought it to this extent ?? They fought previous elections cohabiting with TRS for a separate state. When they came into power, they are shying away from it, thus fooling those who voted them to power.

This time round, people from Telangana Region should ensure a resounding defeat to Congress Party in Telangana. Then they will understand that they should never play with the sentiments of people.

Jai Telangana !!

Israeli Army Kills 5 Children

Yesterday, responding to rocket attacks on Sderot, Israeli Army launched almost a dozen air strikes killing 20 Palestinians. The dead include members of the rocket squads who are shooting the Qassam Missiles into Sderot and Ashkelon. The dead also include 5 children between 8 and 12 years who were playing soccer.

There would have been a world wide condemnation if this has happened in any western country but since this has happened in Palestine, who cares !! Till how many more years Palestinians have to suffer like this.

While one person died due to the rockets from Hamas, Israel killed 31 Palestinians including 14 civilians, among them 8 children.

I do understand the problems these Qassam Rockets create but how effective are these rockets ? Our of 50 rockets, one rocket would hit the target causing injuries or at the maximum a casualty. Compare that to Israel's heat seeking missiles, multiple barrel rocket launchers, most advanced Tanks, Fighter Planes like the US built F-16's, Apache Helicopters, Drones and not to forget the spy satellites.

Israel also attacked democratically elected Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. The US says it supports democracy but why are they keeping quiet when Israel has attacked the personal office democratically elected Prime Minister of Palestine ?

Israel lost the previous war with Hamas when Hamas snatched two Israeli soldiers from the border. Israel could able to only hit civilian targets like buildings killing innocent people and Israel, with all its high end weaponry was targeting infrastructure like bridges and electric stations. With electricity gone (check my previous post on Collective Punishment By Israel, it effected emergency health services.

Israel should understand that it is achieving nothing except create more militants by targeting civilians. It has to start building Confidence Building Measures for a peaceful future before Hamas lays its hands on more sophisticated weaponry from Iran or Syria. It is learned that during the recent border breach with Egypt, Hamas militants have smuggled in Iran's long range Grad Missiles. Looks like options are narrowing down for Israel before world forces it to make peace.

End Of Road For Musharaff ??

The way things are going on, I dont think this is the end of Pakistan President, Mr. Parvez Musharaff.


While every newspaper and media channel is shouting from the roof tops that Musharaff is given a drubbing defeat, the reality is that he is "almost" in the same position with a verdict divided among parties and giving no one a clear majority.

The assassinated Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) got the highest number of seats - 90 out of 270, surprisingly Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)under former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif did well and settled for 70 seats.


The Kings Party, PML-Q got around 40 seats while Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) of the self-exiled leader, Altaf Hussain got around 20 seats. North West Frontier Province based Awami National Party (ANP) got around 10 seats. Surprisingly, along with PML-Q, the major losers are the Islamic parties like MMA.
Pakistanis gave a splintered verdict because of which Musharaff cannot be impeached as it requires a 2/3 votes in the National Assembly to impeach him. And, no party is in a position to put it into practice. But, chances of the powers of Musharaff been curtailed are there.

Even though not a politician himself, wily Musharaff knows ways to stay in power as he has been proving for the past 5 years. He had sent delegations to PPP Vice-Chariman, Asif Ali Zardari (Benazir's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is formally made as Chariman of the PPP) not to team up with Nawaz Sharif. Zardari has not given any commitment but it has to be noted that Benazir Bhutto and Zardari have come back to Pakistan after a commitment from Musharaff that their cases would not be re-opened.


Zardari is meeting Nawaz Sharif tomorrow to sort out the modalities of formation of a coalition government.
The next one week would change the face of politics in Pakistan.
It would be for the good of everyone that Pakistan would be back to normalcy and grab the democratic opportunity it has got.

Inshallah !!

Iran Is Not A Push Over

Media and Intelligence reports suggest that US is planning for a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. But, how much feasible is anyone's guess taking into consideration the vast land mass Iran consists of and the secrecy in which it maintains its nuclear and other military facilities.

But a question arises - Why cannot Iran have a Nuclear Weapon when countries like India, Israel and Pakistan who have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have ??

Pakistan has given a completely new meaning to Proliferation as it manages a huge Nuclear industry supplying nuclear material to countries like North Korea and Iran clandestinely through its infamous Nuclear Scientist, A.Q. Khan. Countries who have nuclear capabilities have either openly or clandestinely been transferring nuclear technology to its friendly countries. So, NPT has lost its meaning - the main reason why India didn't sign it.

Coming to the main issue - when a country like Israel, which is just around 500KM from end to end can possess a nuclear weapon, why cannot Iran ?? Israel is been actively aided by US in its pursuit for nuclear and other military hardware. Now, Israel is in a position to export military hardware to countries like India. Incidentally, Israel occupies second position with regard to military imports by India, just after Russia, India's closest friend since the cold war years.

If US or Israel attacks Iran, it would lead to wide spread protests from many countries - including India. Majority of India's oil imports come from Iran and when the economy is on a high, India cannot risk losing it's vital input for driving its economy.

On September 6th,Israeli jets attacked Syria and destroyed a building. There is no official word on the incident from Israel and Syria also retaliated with very mild protests. So, what did Israel bombed ?? Analysts say that it might be a nuclear facility which is in its initial stages of construction or either a Chemical Bomb related facility. Syria concluded that it is an un-used military facility.
Israel had sent a message to Iran through the bombing that it would not let any country in its periphery which develops weapons that might lead to its destruction.

How many more years should Israel live like this - attacking its neighbors, occupying their lands, living in danger and waiting for another suicide blast ?? Since Israel is the occupier, it has the responsibility to make peace with its neighbors.
The only solution looks to me is a Free Palestine !!
Because of this one reason, Muslims all over the world hate Israel and US. If this problem is solved, then there would be no hatred.

Let us all give peace a chance !