Massive Demonstration At New Delhi, India In Support Of The Struggling People of Palestine on International Quds Day!

Co-Written by Dr. P.S. Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal

As part of worldwide demonstrations for freedom of Palestinians over a thousand Muslims assembled at JantarMantar, New Delhi, India on 31 May, 2019 in solidarity with and support of the struggling people of Palestine. It was a two hour long protest dharna (sit-in) from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. under scorching heat with the day temperature hovering around 46.2°C. Delhi was actually reeling under a heat wave with a ‘red warning’ having been issued on Friday by the Indian Metrological Department. The protesters – men, women, children, teenagers – had come in buses from all over Delhi after offering the Friday afternoon Namaz (prayers) at their respective mosques. The Protesters were observing Roza (fasting) throughout the day. It was a well-planned protest and the entire space earmarked for protest at JantarMantar got filled up. Volunteers carrying walkie-talkie ensured that batches of protesters reaching the venue site walked to the space where they could sit on chairs or stand. Ironically the program started fifteen minutes ahead of time! There was heavy deployment of police and para-military forces at the protest site; a water canon vehicle was on standby. The whole area was cordoned off by Delhi Police road barriers.

The demonstration took place in the backdrop of a new government in the process of being installed in India for the next five years; this government is largely seen to be pro-Israel. Besides it is the first time in Israel’s history that the Prime Minister designate has failed to form a coalition government and fresh elections are to be held in September. Ironically Israeli Parliament had passed a controversial law characterizing the country as principally a Jewish state in 2018.

This was the first major demonstration at JantarMantar in which such large number of people participated after the results of the General Election in India were announced on 23 May, 2019 followed by a deathly silence in public spaces.

The protesters were carrying placards bearing messages written in Urdu, English and a few in Hindi language:

1. From the river to the sea; Palestine will be free
2. Death to Israel
3. Death to America
4. “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”, Nelson Mandela
5. Stand Against Israeli Occupation
6. Tell us who is terrorist; Tell us who is oppressor
7. Each one is more degenerate than the other; America and Israel

After the introductory speech a Dua (prayer) for Palestinians was recited in solemnity. Later several speakers highlighted the following points:

• Conscious attempt being made by vested interest to have the Palestinian problem out of the world gaze
• Palestine has been converted into a prison
• Palestine will eventually get freedom and its land back
• This generation of ours will see the freedom of Palestine; Israel will be wiped out in twenty-five years
• Confidant of eventual success
• Seventy years of exploitation by Israel will end
• The killing of Palestinian children by Israeli army will end
• The Israeli political establishment will cease soon
• India has always supported the cause of Palestinians
• Appeal to Government of India and the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel
• If sanctions are imposed against Israel, it will go out of existence in seven days
• There have been violation of human rights of Palestinians for seventy years, can we forget Palestine?

Near the end of the protest program an effigy of Israel and its flag was lit on fire. Posters of Netanyahu were stomped upon by protesters.

The following slogans were shouted with either the protesters having both hands raised or waving the National flags of India and Palestine. It was an emotional sight to watch:

America Murdabad (Death to America)

Israel Murdabad (Death to Israel)

Palestine KeMajroohmon, Hum TumhareSaathHain

(The Wounded and hurt people of Palestine, We are with you)

Hindustan Zindabad (Long Live India)

Attankvad Murdabad (Death to Terrorism)

The protest ended with the participants walking in a rally along the length of the protest site raising slogans and waiving flags.

As we left the protest site we remembered the 1999 poem titled “We Were Without a Present” by Mahmoud Darwish, poet of Palestine and the world.

Also at: https://countercurrents.org/2019/06/massive-demonstration-at-new-delhi-india-in-support-of-the-struggling-people-of-palestine-on-international-quds-day

How Do We Face Kashmiri Muslims Now?

by Shobha Aggarwal — February 23, 2019

The word Kashmir stands censored out at all three places on the entry gate!

‘Kashmir Handicrafts Exhibition’is put up on Baba Kharak Singh Marg (BKS Marg)at a venue sandwiched between a Masjid and Pracheen Shiv Mandir every year in winter. BKS marg has all the state emporiums and is a street in Delhi with places of worship of all the major religions. It has few Hindu temples (Hanuman mandir, Shiv mandir and Ganesh mandir), Bangla Saheb Gurudwara, and a Church at the end of the marg. Behind the emporiums stands a Jain temple.

BKS marg also houses a Coffee Home, operated by Delhi Tourism – said to be a home away from home – adjoining Shiv Mandir. Across the road next to Ganesh Mandir is a multi-storied building,Mohan Singh Place which houses the Indian Coffee House on its terrace. The Coffee house has been the meeting point of many political, social and cultural activists for over six decades. If you take a walk down the state emporiums chances are that you may still meet some non-party political and socio-cultural activists who frequent the place.

Every year I buy some dry fruits, spices, honey from the ‘Kashmir Handicrafts Exhibition’ which lasts till at least the end of first week of March. A small vendor outside the ‘Kashmir Handicrafts Exhibition’is frequented by people like us to have a cup of steaming hot Kashmiri Kahwa poured from a huge silver kettle pot. Like most Indians I was waiting for the last days to do my shopping from the exhibition at a bargain price.

On 20 February, 2019 I read a news item in the Times of India: “Meghalaya guv backs boycott of everything Kashmiri”. He had tweeted the same message a day earlier. I resolved to prepone my shopping at the ‘Kashmir Handicrafts Exhibition’ to that day itself in support of the Kashmiris. I reached there in the afternoon where I met half a dozen of my co-activists already assembled there and in animated discussion. To my horror I saw the whole wooden and canvas structure housing the various vending outlets at the ‘Kashmir Handicrafts Exhibition’ being pulled down. Since it was raining we took shelter under the remaining part of the yet-to-be pulled down structure. We were sipping tea obtained from a roadside tea vendor. A fellow activist,Babu Munna expressed anguish that the exhibition which was to last two more weeks was suddenly forcibly closed.

As the rain stopped we– Vijay Gautam, Salman Qureshi, Dr. P.S. Sahni, Mohammad Umar, SubhashBharati– stepped out and looked at the sign board. We realized that the first word Kashmir in ‘Kashmir Handicrafts Exhibition’ had been covered overnight by a wall paper with flowery pattern on it. Everywhere the word Kashmir had been so covered. There appeared to be a conscious effort to remove Kashmir out of our existence. The flowers designed on the wall paper covering the word ‘Kashmir’ looked like a floral tribute to a place considered paradise on earth.

I felt wretched. I cursed my Bania instinct to save small amounts of money by deciding to wait till March for my shopping. I had failed to do my little bit for Kashmir. The Government claims that Kashmir is an integral part of India. But at the same time it is trying to obliterate not just Kashmir but everything Kashmiri from the daily existence of every Indian. If this is allowed to happenwithin a radius of two kilometers from the Indian Parliament, Supreme Court of India, on a street with all the State emporiums and a tourist hub for foreigners, the horror Kashmiris must have facedelsewhere in India in the last one week petrifies me. By advocating a boycott of Kashmiri goods – through it minions – is the Indian state imposing sanctions on Kashmir, à la Trump on Venezuela?Why are thousands of Kashmiri students studying in various universities in India; the Kashmiri workers employed in factories; and the individual vendors selling shawls and phirans being criminalized? What, then, should we do?

Telugu Poet Varavara Rao presently incarcerated in jail for alleged anti-national activities has aptly summed up:

“If crime itself assumes authority and power

And hunts down people holding them criminals,

Everyone endowed with a mouth who keeps silent,

Becomes [a] criminal himself.”

Also at: https://countercurrents.org/2019/02/23/how-do-we-face-kashmiri-muslims-now/

Post-Truth Vedic Mathematics: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam = (Whole World – UAE).K

Post-Truth Vedic Mathematics:

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam = (Whole World – UAE).K

Key: K signifies in relation to Kerala 

 by

Dr. P.S. Sahni

The incumbent occupying the seat of the Prime Minister of India may live under the delusion that the aforementioned equation – a product of his politics – is at par with Einstein’s E = mc² and which lets him erroneously experience a eureka moment in the Archimedean spirit. Nevertheless Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is a Sanskrit phrase found in Hindu texts such as the Maha-Upanishad which means the world is one family. This verse is engraved in the entrance hall of the Parliament of India and is said to be the “loftiest Vedantic thought”.

Ever since he has come to power, the Prime Minister of India has invoked the term Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (VK) umpteen times. On 27 September, 2014 while addressing the 69^th U.N. General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, he referred to the term as India’s philosophy. This was his maiden speech at the U.N. Next on 24 November, 2015 in Singapore he reminded the audience that Indians believe in VK. He again invoked VK on 9 July, 2016 in South Africa. Once more on 23 November, 2017 while inaugurating the two day Global Conference on Cyberspace in Delhi he said that technology breaks barriers and it validates the Indian philosophy of world is one family. As recently as 23 January, 2018 he stressed on VK at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in solving the global problems … to bridge the existing gap in humanity.

When ‘Operation Maitri’ was launched as a rescue and relief operation in Nepal – with a predominantly Hindu population – by the Government of India in the aftermath of April, 2015 earthquake, around Rs. 7000/- crores were given in aid. India pledged this amount for the reconstruction efforts. (This is ten times the amount which the UAE government is said to have offered presently for the Kerala flood victims). The Indian aid was duly accepted by Nepal during its hour of need.

Now the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam by no stretch of imagination can be seen to be only emanating from India in a centrifugal direction towards the rest of the world. It could be that due to the constant invocation of the philosophy by the Prime Minister of India, the head of the UAE is convinced of its universality. It is in this spirit that the UAE aid should be seen. Only this time around the philosophy is gravitating towards India in a centripetal direction. In physics, as in life, action and reaction are equal and opposite.

The interconnectedness of the world cannot be denied. The whole world is a global village. Those in power who have been chanting the mantra of VK would do well to remember Krishna’s discourse in Bhagwad Gita:

“There are some people who do not see whether or not the world is connected. For them it is meaningless, because they always live in a self-created darkness, devoid of knowledge. These are tamasik people who are lazy, slothful, inert and blind to reason and truth.”

The powers that be cannot wish UAE out of the global village.

The real issue which is getting obfuscated is the hatred which the present rulers in India based in New Delhi have towards Muslim people and Muslim majority countries; the latter gets seen as enemies in relation to the ideology which permeates the Sangh Parivar. No doubt since 1992 the invocation of Ram and Ram temple at Ayodhya has thrown up at least two prime ministers from within the BJP fold. The right wing forces would do well to remember that when Sita was abducted, Ram had no hesitation in accepting aid and help from birds and animals in locating her whereabouts. Ram even enlisted the help of Vibhishana, younger brother of Ravana, the latter being perceived as the enemy of Ram.

The legend in Ramayana where the then Prince Dashratha unleashed an arrow on a boy Shravan Kumar who had come to a lake to collect water for his sick and aged parents, who were both blind and whom he had been carrying on a sling, needs to be remembered by those ruling India. When Dashratha went to tell about Shravan’s death to his parents, the latter cursed Prince Dashratha who later suffered in life. Dashtratha’s kingdom too suffered.

By killing the foreign aid the puffed up bullies in Delhi have done ‘a Dashratha’ act on the needy, hungry and thirsty people of Kerala devastated by the recent floods. Keralites would never forgive the rulers of India for their betrayal.

[Dr. P.S. Sahni is a member of PIL Watch Group and can be contacted at: pilwatchgroup@gmail.com]

  

Also At: https://countercurrents.org/2018/08/30/post-truth-vedic-mathematics-vasudhaiva-kutumbakam-whole-world-uae-k/

Kerala Floods: Operation Chlorine Tablet, Operation Bleaching Powder Needed

 by Dr P S Sahni — August 20, 2018

I am making a few suggestions in the wake of monumental tragedy caused by floods in Kerala. Apart from whatever the administration is doing to contain epidemic of water borne diseases, stress should be on two very simple steps:

1. The Kerala government could announce and initiate on a war footing ‘Operation Chlorine Tablet’
2. The Kerala government could announce and initiate on a war footing ‘Operation Bleaching Powder’

These should be distributed at the relief camps/medical centers so that it reaches every household. If implemented these two steps alone could save thousands of lives in Kerala. The chlorine tablet would take care of the water being made drinkable; the bleaching powder would ensure that the surroundings are disinfected. These two steps are very cost effective & could be done even by financially strained municipalities.

Of course the services of WHO, UNICEF and NICD (National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Delhi) could be availed of, but their advice should be questioned on scientific grounds before their prescription is implemented on the masses.

These suggestions emanate through work in areas/situations where water borne diseases become imminent. I was a member of one of the first medical team which reached Indo-Bangla border in 1971 where almost ten million refugees had landed. The camp where I worked had housed twenty-five thousand refugees. The stress was on vaccination against cholera and typhoid, use of bleaching powder as a disinfectant and distribution of Sulfaguanidine tablets at our makeshift clinic. Those in severe dehydration were given intravenous glucose saline solution – which was always a scarce commodity. Since we worked during the months of June, July and August the monsoon rains as also the overflowing small nearby rivers played havoc in the spread of epidemic diseases.

During the 1988 cholera epidemic in Delhi half the citizens were vaccinated by the Rajiv Gandhi government even though WHO had concluded by then that vaccination is both useless as well as dangerous once the epidemic has started. Over 1500 people had died in this epidemic. It is well known that governments resort to mass vaccination since those in power want to appear to be doing something during the crises – and vaccination offers the best mask as if something effective is being done for the masses. Majority of the deaths had occurred because people were being shifted to infectious diseases hospitals whereas they should have been treated right at the local treatment centers at the relief camps.

(In recent years the WHO has again changed its stance and is now seen to be advocating cholera vaccination even when there is a full blown epidemic; perhaps the WHO, too, wants to be seen to be doing something just as politicians in power do worldwide.)

I had a chance to work among the tribals in Nilgiris in 1973 where Dr. Narasimhan Rao had devoted his whole life for the cause of the tribals. He impressed upon us through experience that where intravenous glucose saline solution is not available, one could directly inject green coconut water; all one needs is the intravenous tubing set. In fact this method is of use in remote areas of some countries along coastal areas. But its use is limited to severe dehydration cases.

Dr. P.S. Sahni is a member of PIL Watch Group Email: pilwatchgroup@gmail.com

https://countercurrents.org/2018/08/20/kerala-floods-operation-chlorine-tablet-operation-bleaching-powder-needed/

Campaign Against Aadhaar

For news and updates on the on the challenge to Aadhar and information on the cases in the Supreme Court, please sign on to <https://rethinkaadhaar.in/>

There is silence in the mainstream media on the growing resistance to Aadhar in various parts of the country. But a lot is happening on the ground.

For instance, the opt-out campaign started by the  Meghalaya People's Committee on Aadhar. 

Please consider signing and mailing the attached opt-out letter to UIDAI, starting a sign-on petition or putting it on your social media pages to get it out to others who might also feel the same way. 

(Information courtesy Rev K Pyrtuh)

The Meghalaya Peoples Commiittee on Adhaar had a public meeting today at the Khasi National Dorbar, Mawkhar Shillong from 11 AM

The meeting was attended by more than a thousand people who jam packed the  hall, the verandah, compound and even the footpaths of Mawkhar Main Road outside the venue hall. (Copy of picture attached)

The meeting was chaired by Auguster Jyrwa (Ex GS KSU) and the meet began by a minute silence to condole the death of a young girl in Jharkhand who was allegedly died of starvation for want of Adhaar.

Those who spoke in the meeting are Rev. K.Pyrtuh, Rev PBM Basaiawmoit, Donald Thabah General secretary KSU and Kong P.Sohshang from west khasi hills district. Kong P.Sohshang had been facing harassment and ridicules from various quarters for her stand against the dangers of the project Adhaar.

The meeting resolved the following:

1. The people welcome the 9 Judge Bench verdict on the Right to Privacy and repose their faith in the judiciary especially the Supreme Court and pray that the pending cases and the final verdict to be pronounced soon will be in favour of the people and that  the Adhaar project be done away with and settle the issue once and for all.

2. The meeting strongly urge upon the Authorities not to confuse matter or force people to enroll into UID, but to abide by the various interim orders of the Supreme Court which had from time to time passed orders that Adhaar is not compulsory but voluntary.

3. The Meeting resolved to start an Opt-Out campaign for those who had already enrolled but who wish to withdraw their consent and with draw from the Central Data Storage which they believe that both their Bio-metric and Demographic Information are stored. The Opt-Out campaign is based on an informed opinion that the adhaar project is inherently flawed/dangerous and it is also based on the fact that now Privacy is a Fundamental Right as guaranteed in Part III of the Constitution of India so therefore the Adhaar Project infringes upon this Right and as citizens we resolved to protect our Right to Privacy by opting out of Adhaar. A sample Opt-Out Letter was drafted both in English and Khasi and distributed so that people can read, understand and decide. The Meghalaya Peoples Committee on Adhaar had fixed 30 October as a date to collect all those individual opt-out letters and send them to authorities concerned and the Committee firmly believed that this opt-out campaign will have long lasting impact on the fight against intrusion by the Power of the State on individual citizens. (Copies of sample opt-out letter attached the opt-out letter was also translated into vernacular language i.e khasi). Individuals who wish to withdraw their consent are requested to come to KSU office at Jaiaw Shillong on the 30 October 2017 and submit their opt-out letters from 11am to 3pm. 

Rev.K.Pyrtuh Rev PBM Basaiawmoit and Bah Auguster Jyrwa

  

KALYANI MENON-SEN Feminist Learning Partnerships
J-1229 Palam Vihar
Gurgaon 122017 INDIA

I ask that my demographic, biometric, authentication records and any other information about me which is with the UIDAI be deleted from the UIDAI data base. Kindly delete all the information from the UIDAI data base and communicate to me when this exercise is complete.

I did not enrol on the UIDAI data base voluntarily; i was coerced/misled into enrolling because i was warned that i would lose my rights as a citizen, and that i would be excluded from my rights and entitlements and from various services that the state is obliged to provide to me unless i enrolled on the data base. I have since been apprised of the various concerns about the data basing of people. I am aware too that the coercion has been in deliberate contempt of the orders of the Supreme Court of India.

I did not consent to have my data shared with any service provider or any other third party. If it is so recorded in the UIDAI data base, i make it clear that by this letter i withdraw any consent that you may have recorded on your data base. All transactions which have been carried out on the basis of such consent may kindly be communicated to me; and also such actions reversed, by informing the third party of the withdrawal of consent.

The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016, in section 3(2), requires that every person enrolling should be informed about the use of the information, the persons with whom it may be shared and that there is a right to access information; none of this was done when i enrolled. This makes the whole exercise illegal, and against the interests of the citizenry.

Please delete all the biometric, demographic, authentication and any other data that is on the UIDAI data base, and inform me when this is done inform me of any places where my UID number has been `seeded' inform any agency where my UID number has been seeded that they are to delete the number from their data base in the meantime, be informed that i do not consent to my data being used by you or any third party, or be shared with any third party, and any consent that may be recorded as having been given by me stands withdrawn forthwith.