To India with Love - “Jis desh mein Ganga baheti hai...”

To India with Love - “Jis desh mein Ganga baheti hai...”   - the land where Mother Ganges flows freely.

Thakur Ranjit Singh, Auckland, New Zealand.

INDIA REPUBLIC DAY: Celebrating, commemorating and marking anniversary of India’s Republic Day on 26 January of every year.

This article was originally written in 2007 for India’s Independence Day celebration and has been modified for its Republic Day.

As the Airbus 320 of Lufthansa Airlines nosed towards Delhi Airport on flight from Frankfurt Germany, around midnight of 20 October, 2003, I was filled with emotions and unprecedented feelings of delight. 

I had pledged on the burning pyre of my father that I would go around the world and visit my grandfather’s birth land, India to trace my roots, and also visit the places that we only read in Holy Scriptures.

Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai - the country where River Ganges flows-India. The great country where  this author went in 2003 to trace his roots in Rajasthan. This Raj Kapoor movie gave world a lesson on how to treat your visitors- Atithi Deva Bhava - visitors are our Gods. But do they really treat their visitors as they preach?

 I had traveled with my wife from Fiji to Los Angeles, Sacramento, Vancouver, Calgary, London, and Frankfurt and was on the final leg to my Girmitiya (indentured labourer) grandfather Bansi’s birthplace.

Thakur Ranjit Singh's Girmitiya (indentured) grandfather Thakur Bansi Chauhan, whose roots he went to trace in Karouli  Rajasthan, India in 2003.

From the aircraft I could see city lights and was filled with excitement and joy. After the touch down, we descended on the land that my deceased grandfather and parents had craved to visit at least once in their lifetime, but could not achieve this. I touched the Holy earth and rubbed to my forehead as greetings the land of sages and Ram and Krishn.

I had good and exciting memorable times in tracing my roots to my lineage and the land of Prithvi Raj Chauhan, near Jaipur in a small town called Karauli in Rajasthan. This is very close to Vrindavan, Mathura and Taj Mahal, but those things some other day.

Today I take this opportunity to congratulate my Grandfatherland, India on the occasion of its Republic Day celebration. The history of the Republic of India began on 26 January 1950. The country became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth on 15 August 1947. George VI was King until the Republic was proclaimed in 1950.

I post this on behalf of Indian Diaspora in Auckland to mark this auspicious day. I am third generation Fiji Indian, displaced from India when my grandfather was torn and tricked from his roots by British to slave in Fiji to fill their coffers. He went to Fiji in may, 1915 when he was only 19.

When the then Indian PM Indira Gandhi visited Fiji over three decades ago in 1981, she had good advice for descendants of indentured Indian labourers or Girmitiyas. She told Fiji Indians that Fiji was their country, they belonged there and they needed to have allegiance, loyalty and love for their country.

When Fiji’s racist and ethno-nationalist deposed Prime Minister Qarase visited India early 2000, he failed to learn anything from Indian hospitality.  The uncrowned father of Indian movies, Raj Kapoor immortalized this aspect of Indian culture in his film, “Jis Desh Mein Ganga Baheti Hai” (the land where Ganges flows) with this song….

 Mehmaan jo hamara hota hai, woh jaan se pyara hota hai, jyada ki nahin laalach humko thore mein gujara hota hai... hum us desh ke waasi hai jis desh mein Ganga baheti hai...

His song translates to say that we value our visitors more than our lives; we do not lust or greed for much as we manage in little that we have... We hail from the land where the Ganges flows…. And from that land if Qarase had learnt that language of Indian love, he may still be ruling Fiji today. But he failed to do so at his peril.

Uncrowned King of Bollywood movie, Raj Kapoor immortalised the Indian theme of Athi Deva Bhava-visitors are like our Gods. Unfortunately Fiji's deposed Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase could not learn any love or anything from Indian hospitality or this theme, and is lying on scrapheap of Fiji's history.

There was one very important lesson for Fiji’s Prime Minister and his group from the Indian visit. India is the only country on the planet where no Fijian Prime Minister would be able to sell the 'Indigenous Race Card' to justify Fijian nationalism, racism, and exclusive political control of the country.

Fiji’s nationalist’s leaders and others around the world should gain immensely from Indian history and way of life. Those Anglo Saxons, Europeans and other ignorant people who still regard India as a land of snake charmers and rope tricks need to see Akshay Kumar’s Bollywood movie Namastey London. (Greetings to London).

They need to get a translation of episode where the hero shuts up the great grandson of an English East Indian Company employee who was running down India and its people.

Namastey London (Greetings to/from London), another Bollywood movie that speaks good things about India.

By clasping his hands, he says that when we Indians greet each other in the tradition of 5,000 year old civilization, we fold our hands close to heart in Namastey (greetings) because we believe that God resides in the heart of every human being.

We come from a nation where we allow a lady of Catholic Religion (Sonia Gandhi) to step aside for a Sikh (Manmohan Singh) to be sworn as the Prime Minister by a Muslim President (Abdul Kalaam) to govern a nation with over 80% Hindus.

It may also interest you to know that many versions of English language come from Sanskrit. For example, matr becomes mother, bhrata becomes brother, jamity become geometry and trikonmity becomes trigonometry.

English is spoken and read more widely in India than in England. India has 5,600 newspapers, 35,000 magazines and 21 major languages with combined readership of 120 million, many more than in England. We have reached the moon and back but yet many Anglo Saxons still feel that India has reached only as far as gourd flute of snake charmers. We have third largest pool in the world of doctors, scientists and engineers. All these are of the details of our intellectual might, now look at our physical might.

May be the English grandfather did not tell that we have the third largest army in the world, and even then I clasp my hand in humility because we do not believe that we are above or beneath any individual. 

Despite having the third largest army in the world, India still remains humble and clasps its hand in humility, saying "Namastey."

So next time you are confronted by an ethnocentric individual who runs down Bharat Mata (Mother India) then you repeat the above to shut him. Some good movies to enlighten you and your children on pride of India are Manoj Kumar’s Upkar and Poorab aur Paschim.

Purab aur Pachhim  (East and West)), Manoj Kumar's movie that tells an exemplary tale of Indian culture versus London Anglo Saxon culture. 

Unfortunately for many Indians abroad, the Indian pride is confined to Bollywood movies. They still speak English in their homes and look down on anything Indian.

As Indian Diaspora, I am proud to say we Fiji Indians, despite three to four generation and over 140 years apart, are still as much Indian as my third and fourth cousins in Karouli in Rajasthan. Jai Hind

Bharat Mata- Mother India  had exemplary and honoured leaders in the past. India has a proud history, and we hope the present leadership can emulate those great leaders.

E-mail: thakuji@xtra.co.nz

[About the Author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is a third generation Fiji Indian. He was born in Fiji Islands. His indentured grandfather, Bansi was from Karauli in Rajasthan, India. The author is also eligible to hold People of Indian Origin (PIO) passport that would allow him free access into India any time, just like an Indian citizen.]

  

Indian media in developed countries need to wake up:Time to remind India of its weaknesses and faults

Indian media in developed countries need to wake up: Time to remind India of its weaknesses and faults

Indian media in developed countries need to stand-up, shed undeserving patriotism, blinkered loyalty and nationalistic bias and become a medium of change for the better of the once proud and respected nation.

Fiji Pundit, in its media watch role reviews changing view of Indian media in Auckland, in particular Indian Newslink and its conservative editor Venkat Raman. Today we analyse its latest editorial on treatment of women in India.

Indian women need to unite, rise, and fight back male chauvinism in India, in form of Shakti

Indian Newslink's editor and the paper was seen by some sections of the community as a friend of NZ Labour party and apparently a spin doctor and public –relations arm of the Indian High Commission and Indian Government. Venkat became a self-appointed gatekeeper to filter and shut out the bad news of India from NZ public. He even went to the extent of censoring and editing out opinion pieces to show them in good light if something critical was written about his Bharat Mata, Mother India. This came to a head when the comments of yours truly (Thakur)  about India on Facebook posting on Independence Day 2012 was misinterpreted and publicized by his friend and Labour Party apprentice politician and MP-aspirant, Sunny Kaushal, and well-supported in agenda-setting character assassination by this veteran editor.

 [Read: http://fijipundit.blogspot.com/2012/12/mera-bharat-mahaan-thakurs-offending.html

Is Bharat Mata, as an epitome of a woman, is being disrobed by Indians today?

However, a pleasant and surprising change appears to have come to this supposedly veteran editor Venkat Raman. Despite the Indian lynch-mob calling me a refugee, uneducated Fijian and a failed journalist writing without research, it appears my articles on Fiji Pundit pricked his conscience and awoken the journalist in a blindly patriotic and nationalistic editor.

 [Read: http://fijipundit.blogspot.com/2012/12/cry-beloved-india-rise-indians-rise.html

If one read his editorial of 15 January, 2013, one would wonder whether it is Venkat Raman or Thakur Ranjit Singh talking the truth about India.

“Corruption in high and low places, arrest of ministers and top officials and violence against women have placed the country in bad light….

But how and why did India degenerate into such a pathetic state of international ridicule and a system that appears to have failed at every stage of its execution? Why did the people, known for their political acumen and democratic values, elect and suffer mediocre or even substandard lawmakers?”

Bharat Mata -Our India is  still a great nation of great people. Are we keeping its pride as its past leaders did?

Who will he now apologise for degrading his Bharat Mata, as I was accused and punished and directed to apologise to some conceited and blinkered Auckland Indian leaders who wished to keep us in dark about real happenings in India? But then the nationalist and Indian patriot took the better of this veteran journalist when he became an apologist for what is happening, blaming it on a minority.

“We know that just a few thousand rowdies and despicable miscreants can create chaos in a land of billion plus people. But these are like a drop of poison that can desecrate a barrel of milk, just as a single cancer cell can destroy the entire body.”

Agreed, we have minorities in other countries committing crime, but nowhere is discrimination and atrocities against women as institutionalized as in India.

Despite being a country, “which has accorded women pride of place and honour as President, Prime Minister, Parliamentary Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, diplomats, leaders and captains of industry and as successful and leading entrepreneurs,” it appears majority of Indian women are still treated as paon ki juti (slippers on our feet) bereft of dignity and honour preached in scriptures and mythologies only, not in reality.. To a great extent some outdated shackles and stereotypes of women, preached by a Brahmin and male dominated Hinduism is to blame for this low status of women in 80% Hindu India because dignity and respect for women preached in scriptures, epics and mythologies are inversely related to reality of their downtrodden treatment there today. But that is another topic for Fiji Pundit to tackle.

Are women in India depicted as strong and respected only in epics, scriptures and mythologies?

Venkat ends his editorial with some hope for the future:

“We hope that the young men and women, who have begun a new age of intolerance towards political and corruption, sex offenders and moral turpitude will not rest until the right things are done in the right way in the right time.”

However, this hope can only be realized if Indian editors, commentators and journalists in developed countries (like New Zealand, Australia, UK, Canada and USA) can join their chorus of objections against rottenness in Indian men, their governments and a corrupt system. The blind loyalty and blinkered patriotism by NRI media people to an undeserving, unfair and discriminatory system in India will not help this hope become reality. 

Hope Indian media in Auckland can digest this.

THAKUR RANJIT SINGH

Indian women need to unite, rise, and fight back male chauvinism in India

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New gigantic Moto Bridge in Ba - a long awaited relief for rural Ba population

The dreamful Moto bridge: The reality that is shaping as an icon of Ba

Thakur Ranjit Singh

After spending last two weeks in Ba, Fiji Pundit is delighted to bring you stories and pictures that our Indo-Fijian Diaspora spread around the world do not get an opportunity to see or read in normal media.

The existing icon of Ba Town- soccer ball for a soccer -crazy town (This was in 2013. it may now be partly blocked because of commercial greed and advertisement)

I found Fiji very hot and that was also reflected in the warmth of people I have left behind some eight years ago.(in 2004) But I do get in touch with my country-yes my country, as I am a dual Fiji-Kiwi citizen and a registered voter. 

And if any Indian doubts my Indianness, I also hold Person of Indian origin (PIO) passport and am therefore an Indian citizen as well. So I have the best of three worlds.

The cyclone-damaged Govind Park Stadium at Ba

Now to Ba – thankfully the fury of recent cyclone was felt in Ba, but we were spared the floods that had devastated Ba in January of 2012. Despite the criticism of the current government by democracy-hugging has-been politicians and academics, Fiji was very proactive in the last cyclone (Cyclone Evans) when evacuation centres were opened up and operating well before the disaster stuck.

Thankfully, no lives were lost, unlike Samoa, a staunch critic of Fiji government but their democracy could not make them as proactive and prepared as military-led Fiji government which had set out security measures well in advance.

The rural icon of a horse and a farmer with yoked bullocks as you enter Ba Town from Kings Road (that was in 2012)

As you hit Ba Town from Lautoka, and on the junction of Kings Road to Tavua, at the intersection just after the bridge from Lautoka, the icon of Ba -a farming community with bullocks and horses, greets you.

The towering Moto bridge , nearing  completion (in 2012)

You drive back on Moto/Toge/Nukuloa/Balevuto route past Vatulaulau and Nasolo settlements; you will arrive at the notorious bridge that has been a major headache for the rich salad bowl of Ba-the Moto bridge.

This bridge, near Moto Sanatan School is the main link for areas beyond to Vatusui, Nacaci, Toge, Balevuto, Babriban, Jahannam and rest of Moto area. 

This bridge was washed away in 2012 floods, causing major transportation problem for this populous area.

Temporary low bridge on the right dwarfed  by the Titanic huge structure that replaces the troublesome old bridge.

This has been a problem for a long time and no government was able to tackle this problem. Thanks to Bainimarama Government, this bridge, through Chinese construction help and local support has taken shape now and developed into a Titanic non-destructible structure, towering very tall over the current temporary access far below the tall bridge.

When Fiji Pundit visited the bridge last week (10 January, 2013), much of the work had already been done and the upcoming icon of Ba had already taken shape. The structure seemed as strong as the resolute of the current government to take development to rural sectors to its people.

The new Moto Bridge being completed may turn out to be the new icon for this rural community in Ba

Indeed the people living in this main feeder to Ba town-many of our people spread around the world - in NZ, Australia, Canada and USA will be overjoyed to have this preview of the bridge. Hope those reading this can share this link to their relatives overseas- so they may have a nostalgic doze of what is happening in their Fiji, especially home town and village. Keep reading Fiji Pundit for what you do not read or see elsewhere – your Fiji Pundit blogsite that gives a new meaning to development journalism and social media.

The towering structure that now will be able to withstand big floods in Moto.

THAKUR RANJIT SINGH [Photos and story]

[About the Author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is a journalist, a community worker and a media commentator in Auckland where he lives. He is former Publisher of Fiji's Daily Post , and now runs his blog, FIJI PUNDIT. 

And he is proud to say he comes from BA, from, where many other great people have emerged, many of them aam aadmi-common citizens who made a lasting change to Ba through the legacy they left behind.]

Baby in the manger and homeless people: A Christmas Message - 15 years on

EDITORIAL –Fiji Daily Post – 24^th December, 2000

Baby in the manger and homeless people: A Christmas Message- 15 years on

Below is Editorial that I wrote for Fiji’s Daily Post newspaper when I was its Publisher in 2000 after George Speight's attempted-coup and atrocities on Indo-Fijian displaced cane farmers encouraged by hatred preached and propagated by the then Methodist Church in Fiji from their pulpits. The Church in Fiji in 1987 and 2000 coups had been a source of shame on Christianity, as it involved itself in politics and spread message of hatred, religious superiority and bigotry. 

This year 2015 marks 15 years to that date. This period hold great significance for Hindus where Lord Ram, after 14 years in exile, returned to establish Ram Rajya- a rule and governance of righteousness. He fought the ogres and demons to establish peace, security, justice and respect for all. This has got metaphorical significance for Fiji.

Fiji is thankful to Frank Bainimarama, who after an attempt on his life, fought hard to establish a democratic government in Fiji, and this has now been achieved earlier last year. While there are things that needs improvements and some questionable actions, however, overall things have improved remarkably. One great step was to have a home-grown solution rather than an imported Western-style democracy that has failed Fiji in the past. Certain other restrictions, including media, seen by outside world as imposing are necessary for Fiji to establish and stabilize  its democracy under positive circumstances. While the current arrangements may not be perfect, they however, are a good deal better than the past methods that have been failures.

Thanks to current Fiji’s Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama for clipping the wings of both Methodist Church and a very divisive and questionable Great Council of Chiefs, which, instead of being an advisory body, had become very politicized under past Fijian regimes. Fiji hopefully faces better future under the newly-elected democratic government. We just hope we have wise men in the government to fulfill the hopes of a nation embroiled in coup-culture.

Below is that Editorial that was more relevant in 2000 but equally true for Christmas message and theme today. This is a reflection that Fiji has come a long way since 14 years of "banvaas" or democratic wilderness. But it is also important not to forget what we have come through, and be thankful for what we have today. As as usual, the whingers and mourners, who have been pushed out from the past gravy-train, will continue to complain. But Fiji has to move forward from its coup culture.

Three wise men

A BLAST FROM THE PAST: Daily Post editorial 15 years ago-24 December, 2000

Tomorrow  (25 December) we will celebrate what Christians regard as the birth of the Saviour, Lord Jesus Christ.

Apart from praising the lord and singing in His honour, Christmas is also a time for reflection.

Joseph and Mary were virtually homeless in Bethlehem, as all the inns were full. They had to seek refuge in a manger with animals. Just as Jesus did not become an animal or a horse by being delivered in a manger, similarly those Christians in Fiji who are born to Christian parents or in Christian homes do not simply become Christians. Christianity is more than an accident of birth and baptism. It is a way of life, manifested in your actions.

Baby Jesus in the manger with three wise men

Fiji has gone through a great deal in seven months after the attempted coup on 19 May, 2000 by george Speight. Tomorrow, or from midnight tonight as Churches throughout the country fill up with those who proclaim to be Christians to praise the lord, we wish to remind many of them about their behavior and conduct during the crisis facing the country.

How many of them can honestly emulate the goodwill, compassion, forgiveness and neighbourly love that Lord Jesus has been preaching as a simple person born in a manger to a carpenter father? Christianity is not about shouting at the top of your voices in loud speakers without trying to understand Christ and his teachings. Neither is it about causing misery to other people six days of the week only to come to Church on Sundays to ask for Lord’s forgiveness. 

Our reports in the papers give tear jerking situation of displaced farmers and other tenants who have nowhere to go or call a home. This Christmas they will be as homeless and in as hostile atmosphere as Mary and Joseph were on the day the Lord was born.

A displaced Indo-Fijian cane farmer wiping his tears in front of his burnt house during racially-inspired 2000 coup [Photo Courtesy of Rajendra Prasad, Author TEARS IN PARADISE-Suffering and Struggles of Indians in Fiji 1879-2004]

This Christmas as those who call themselves Christians pray to the lord, please reflect on the misery that you may have knowingly or inadvertently inflicted on others in the name of one cause or the other. Please also reflect whether your conduct has been a pride to the religion that was founded around a very simple person with no worldly possession whose biggest virtue was love for His fellow beings.

When one reflects on the recent events springing up from 1987 and repeated since May [2000] this year, one of the biggest casualties of those events have been Christianity and Churches which have not entirely been used as the medium to spread the Lord’s message. There has been immense loss of goodwill from people of other beliefs when the teachings and deeds and actions of their followers went in complete opposite directions.

 Another Indo Fijian victim of racially-inspired coup of 2000 supported by Christians, Methodist Church and Great Council of Chiefs.[Photo Courtesy of Rajendra Prasad, Author TEARS IN PARADISE-Suffering and Struggles of Indians in Fiji 1879-2004]

 The custodians and guardians of the Churches need to reflect on the actions of their flock and indulge in damage control to redeem the Churches and the religion from any wrongdoing.

Christianity is about behaving like Christians. Tomorrow when the Churches fill up, please spare a moment for the victims of hatred, envy and racism that have taken root in this country. Please pray to Lord to spare all of us from the evils that we have in us.

Hope love and respect preached by Christianity and Christmas theme is shared amongst us.

Only when the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ becomes a way of life for all those who call themselves Christians can we say that we are honestly in a position to merrily celebrate His birth and praise His glory.

May the blessings of lord shower on you this Christmas and may we all become better people through His teachings. Merry Christmas to you all.

[FIJI PUNDIT wishes all its readers a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year throughout the world, as we look forward to a better future with a democratically elected government. While not being perfect, it is a good recipe to unity, peace, progress and prosperity in Fiji.]

Cry, Beloved India- Rise Indians, Rise: Your women need protection

Where is my India?  Cry, Beloved India- Rise Indians, Rise: Your women need protection

We pray and revere lifeless Devi, Deity and Mata, yet rape and mistreat out living Goddesses-our women. Is mera Bharat Mahaan? (Is India really that great? If rapists become Members of Parliament, then law and justice are really blind.

Indian Gurus and Swamis visiting civilised and developed countries should go back home and spread message of respect for women in India FIRST. Has Hinduism failed Indian women? Sadhus and Swamis roaming world, collecting foreign dollars need to answer this.

All the Sadhus and Swamis roaming the developed world, collecting foreign dollars and teaching us about manners and god-fearing ways should go back to India and civilise Hindus in India first. We in developed countries have laws protecting our women. India does not have that. There have been accusations that in a military dictatorial Fiji, court system in is unfair. However, it still delivers justice swiftly. But the justice system in the largest democracy has become a laughing stock of the world. The supposed oldest civilisation in the world has to learn good manners, social justice and human rights from Anglo Saxon countries like USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia

Outrage in Delhi and India-wide against treatment of women  by men and law enforcement agencies, including a slow and corrupt justice system.

In the aftermath of gang-rape in New Delhi and ensuing eruption of smouldering volcano of protests, what came out loud and clear is that INDIAN JUSTICE SYSTEM HAS FAILED WOMEN, IS VERY JAUNDICED, SLOW-PACED AND MALE-CHAUVINISTIC. One protester carried a banner which said “Justice is dead” and how India treats is women substantiates this.

Are honest, conscious, loyal and non-corrupt police officers in India like Chulbul Pandey and Singham only limited to Bollywood screens?

Existing laws have failed to serve as a deterrent, coupled with questionable and slow-paced corrupt justice system, equally corrupt, unprofessional, ill-trained male-chauvinistic police force and corrupt elites and politicians who can buy justice, police and freedom from crime. It is a dying shame for a country which claims to be doing well economically, which treats half its population with such contempt. It appears the only honest policemen in India like Singham and Chulbul Pandey, exist only in Bollywood movies.

Are women safe in India?

Especially hypocritical is the fact that India has festivals, rituals and mythologies glorifying honour and power of women. The most powerful deities have been our Shakti Mata, and Durga, but only in stories and mythology. Hindus pray reverently to lifeless statues of Mata, Durga, and Shakti made of imported plastic and masonry made in China or Brazil. Yet we treat our living women in India with such contempt and indignity. It speaks volumes for Hindu religion, which theoretically respects women but really treat them like dirt. One twitter message read: A woman who has been raped has NOT lost her honour. A society that treats her as expendable is the one that's lost its honour

It is more important in India now to protect its women rather than tigers.

Another read: We can save the 1441 tigers later ... if we don't act fast ...there won’t even be those many Women Left in Delhi

This is a call on migrant Indian population in developed world with more civilised rules, regulations, norms and customs about treatment of women- USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Britain. Is it true that had it not been for British civilisation, the supposedly oldest civilization in the world would still be burning its widowed mothers, sisters and daughters of the pyre of their dead husbands?

They may or may not be doing that, but Indians in general and Hindus in particular (over 80% of India is Hindu) treat statues of Devis and female deities with respect and reverence, but rape and kill (many before birth) our living women. Fortunate Indian migrants and Diaspora in more civilised developed nations owe a duty of care to the unfortunate and oppressed women in Mother India

A call to hang rapist and faster closure of cases of rape and other crime against Indian women.

New Zealand is one of the “cleanest” and non-corrupt countries in the world, including Australia, USA and Canada. Our blind and misplaced nationalism and loyalty cannot replace the fact that today’s India is at the bottom of the ladder of “clean” countries. Hence as NRIs residing is such countries, we can work as pressure for change in India, even in a small ways. We owe an obligation in our fortunate positions to do this and raise voices against the rot in India so widely documented and unearthed by Indian media which tend to be more neutral and impartial than Indian media in NZ.  We NRIs – former Indians migrated to developed countries, normally pray in Diwali to deliver us from darkness into light, and praise truth. However, we appear to show silence, in fact tacit approval of the rot in our former home. This goes against the grain of Diwali message and Hinduism to deliver us from darkness to light.

Cry from Indian women from a heartless and ineffective justice system that has become a shame on the largest democracy on earth.

This is a call to all women organisations, Hindu organisations and all others migrated to developed world, which have been beating the slogan of “MERA BHARAT MAHAAN” to stand up and be counted. Join Indian revolution now initiated by brutal rape in Delhi, and call for better governance on treatment of women in India. Let the Indian High commissioners busy in cocktail circuits in your respective countries to carry the message to India that actions of Indians and its corrupt governance shame all People of Indian origin throughout the world. Economic prowess may be there, but as nation, India has failed to protect its women. It appears to be country without a heart.

Rise for your India, and cry, beloved India.

Protest against treatment of women is now reaching the seat of governments. Indians in civilised and developed countries need to have their objections heard by their motherland. Blind and jaundices slogan of Mera Bharat Mahaan now sounds hollow in light of the way Indian system treats its women.

[You will never read this in Indian media, especially in NZ, controlled and influenced by supposedly experienced, some veteran and ageing Indians, who censor any bad publicity about Bharat Mata, and act as spin doctors and public relations arms of Indian government]

Mera Bharat Mahaan? Thakur's "offending" Facebook Posting

Thakur Ranjit Singh: India Independence Facebook Posting and Hypocritical Indian leadership in Auckland

Birth of FIJI PUNDIT blogsite is directly attributable to my Facebook posting on India independence, telling of few home truths that angered some male-chauvinistic Indian leaders in Auckland and Indian Newslink’s Editor. They ganged up on me, apparently had an Indian lynch-mob after me and forced Waitakere Indian Association to sack me as its Vice President.

When on an overseas in USA in August, I was sickened by euphoria of Indians towards their 65^th Independence, and wrote some truths about once proud nation. I wrote this posting from capital city of California, Sacramento and addressed to my friends only. That was seen by one of my ‘friends” at Aotea Centre in Auckland and spread like wildfire. In emotional frenzy, some Indian leaders lost all sense of reality. Blinded by misplaced loyalty for their former country, they always try to sweep rottenness, corruption and other vice under carpet and glorify business acumen, as if making money is all that matters for India as a nation and to Indians.

Some people may be wondering what Thakur wrote on his Facebook that triggered the wrath of Indian leaders.

THIS IS WORD BY WORD WHAT I HAD POSTED ON MY FACEBOOK

“As every Indian man and his dog talk about India's Independence celebration on 15 August, we need to stand back, away from misnomer and misplaced tagging of "MERA BHARAT MAHAAN"[Our India is great] and reflect on our achievement as the largest democracy on earth. Tagged as the worst country in the world for a woman to live, with largest amount of black money hoarded in Swiss Banks, with most corrupt politicians and officials, with very lucrative businesses and businessmen worldwide, but bereft of human kindness that goes with it. As a business community we have done well, how about as human beings? Look as Olympic medal tally. China with the same population is in top 3 while India with a billion people HAS BECOME A LAUGHING STOCK. Do we still have corrupt officials like Kalamadi leading our sporting team? HOW IS OUR BHARAT MAHAAN? So this INDEPENDENCE DAY, bow your head and pray for a miracle to salvage the name of a once proud country, so once again we can say, we are proud to be an Indian. FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR ALL THOSE SUFFERING FROM OSTRICH SYNDROME. I am proud to be Fijian, and thank my grandfather for running away from India in 1915 for a new home in Fiji.”

Subsequent to the above posting, I was forced to apologise to Indian leaders in Auckland. These among other included Venkat Raman, Editor of Indian Newslink, Jeet Suchdev of Bhartiya Samaj, Balubhai Mistry of Manukau Indian Association, Sunny Kaushal, Labour party politician Vinod Patel of Hindu Council of New Zealand. I was defamed and misquoted in Indian Newslink by both its editor Venkat Raman and politician Sunny Kaushal.

Just a note, subsequent to my posting above, India has been suspended from International Olympic Committee. [Read FIJI PUNDIT: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=207937644965682419#editor/target=post;postID=7654402821953823988 ]

In light of recent gang rape in Delhi, there is renewed awakening about mistreatment of women in India with protests spreading like wild fire in all states of India. The protest is against male chauvinistic justice system where rapists are neither caught, if caught, not punished and laws are so lopsided against women. As I write, there are nationwide protests in India where our mothers and daughters do not feel safe in buses. In fact there have been calls for death penalty for rapists and protests and awakening from this gang rape will hopefully deliver some respect for women from Indian males.

Fiji Pundit will carry further writings on this subject as New Zealand public may not get the true story from spin doctoring Indian media which endeavours to hide news on vice of India under the carpet. Or Indian leaders silence and bully people telling truth about India, as they did to me. No wonder we hardly have any Indian journalists or commentators, writing without fear or favour, as Rajendra Prasad and yours truly do.

YOU BE THE JUDGE ON WHAT WAS OFFENSIVE AND DEROGATORY THAT I WROTE. Now, WHO SHOULD APOLOGISE TO WHOM. Is our Bharat mahaan?

[I suspect many Indian leaders do not correctly comprehend what the phrase “every man and his dog” means]