THE YEAR THAT WAS... THE YEAR THAT WILL BE...

For any rational being, the First of January is just another number. Just another day in the continuum. A small dot between birth and death. It is no different from the 31^st of December; or for that matter from the 5^th of March...

But then, human beings are not wholly rational. We like to compartmentalise things. And so the 1^st of January assumes significance. It is the first day of the New Year. And, therefore, the 365 days prior to that constitute the Old Year. Once we accept this fact, then a whole new meaning is added to the day. It becomes a day of stock-taking of events past. It becomes a day of hope as we look with anticipation at the kaleidoscope of events that would unfurl before us over the next 365 days...

Having occupied a ring-side seat to political happenings in Tamilnadu for well over three decades, I shall confine this blog to political happenings in Tamilnadu in 2014 and what could be in store in 2015. Since I firmly believe in the law of karma, my task is rendered a little easier. For, I strongly believe the events to unfold will certainly be the reactions to, or consequence of the actions that have taken place in the past.

The people of Tamilnadu will remember 2014 as the year of extremes for one of the towering personalities of the decade – the supremo of the AIADMK party, J Jayalalithaa, popularly referred to as Amma. In the month of May, she led the AIADMK party, contesting without any alliance, to a resounding, unprecedented victory, winning 37 of the 39 seats in Tamilnadu. It was apparent that the spectre of the 2G scam authored by Andimuthu Raja still haunted the DMK party, just as it had during the 2011 Assembly elections.

But Jayalalithaa’s hour of glory did not bring her the happiness she had prayed and hoped for. What would have suited the AIADMK supremo more would have been a hung Parliament scenario, where, with her party’s strength she could have bargained for some plum portfolios for her party including, maybe the Deputy Prime ministership, if not the Prime ministership, for herself. But, alas, that was not to be. As the BJP surged clearly ahead of the mid-way mark, Jayalalithaa’s mammoth victory just became a statistics.

The next important development that took place last year was on September 27^th. The case of disproportionate assets against Jayalalithaa and three others based on a complaint filed by Subramaniam Swamy on June 14^th, 1996, after 18 long years of twists and turns, finally came up for judgement at a special court in Bangalore. The Tamilnadu Chief Minister arrived in a pompous cavalcade at the court of John Michael de Cunha, a lowly magisterial-level judge. Before entering the court hall, she is said to have informed her driver to keep the vehicle’s AC running as she expected to come out in five minutes. But ironically, five hours later, she was escorted amid high security to the adjoining prison to serve a prison sentence of four years. She had been found guilty of the charges made out against her. Following the conviction, she was automatically stripped of her chief ministership. The Judge also ordered her to pay a fine of Rs 100 Crores. An unprecedented sentence, an unprecedented fine and an unprecedented event in Indian politics of an all powerful chief minister of a state being ignominiously imprisoned in a neighbouring state!!

Interestingly, Jayalalithaa’s conviction and imprisonment did not bring any cheer to the rival DMK party, which had been decimated in the earlier state elections and parliamentary elections. 2G’s Damocle’s sword still hangs over the heads of the DMK’s propaganda secretary and former Union Telecom Minister A Raja, Kanimozhi, DMK Supremo M Karunanidhi’s daughter by his third wife, and Karunanidhi’s second wife Dayalu.

Which brings us to what 2015 has in store.

Jayalalithaa, who is out on bail, has filed her appeal before the Karnataka High Court and a verdict is expected by March, 2015. Her fate literally hangs on a balance. Let us look at the various options before her :

1.      

         1. The trial court verdict is overturned and the High Court sets her free : This is the best thing that can happen to Jayalalithaa. It would enable her to contest a by-election and return to the helm of affairs as Chief Minister to lead her party from the front during the next Assembly elections which are due in 2016. But given the tough stand taken by the Supreme Court on the issue of political corruption and the even tougher contents of de Cunha’s judgement order, the High Court taking a contrary view in such a high profile case, which is being watched by all, appears unlikely. Subramaniam Swamy, the original complainant and the DMK party, which impleaded itself in the case through its general secretary, K Anbazhagan, are unlikely to let Jayalalithaa have things her way.

2.          2. The trial court judgement is upheld but the sentence is reduced : If the High Court indulges in tokenism and reduces the imprisonment by a year, it would do Jayalalithaa no good, as she still would have to go to prison and she would stay debarred from elections for a further  6 years. If, on the other hand, the sentence is reduced to a year, then Jayalalithaa stands a decent chance to come back to head the campaign for the next assembly elections. However, she will again have a tough decision to make. Whether to make an appeal or not. If she does not go on appeal, then she might have to serve out her sentence in jail. The experience could be nerve-shattering for one who has lived her life on the lap of the luxury. On the other hand, if she goes on appeal, the ban on her contesting elections would continue till the appeal is decided and this could well be after the next assembly elections...

3.         3. The trial court judgement and sentence is upheld : This would effectively bring the curtains down on Jayalalithaa’s political career. Four years in jail, followed by a six year ban would effectively shunt her out of power politics for a decade. 75 would hardly be the right age for a woman of relatively poor health to restart a derailed political journey.

For the DMK, things are no better. A favourable verdict seems an unlikely event in the 2G case and the speculation today is only on the nature and quantum of punishment. To add to their woes, the squabble for control being fought by Karunanidhi’s younger son and heir apparent, M K Stalin and elder son and former Union minister, M K Azhagiri, has had a demoralising effect on the party’s rank and file. At 93+, Karunanidhi is certainly not in a fit condition to stem the rot, hold the party together and propel it to success in the hustings.

Interestingly, no political party in the state is in a position to take advantage of the cataclysms shaking the big two. Vaiko is so obsessed with Sri Lanka’s Tamils that he seems to have forgotten that this large ethnic group cannot vote for him in India. Actor-turned politician, Vijaykanth is yet to come out from under the folds of his wife Premalatha’s saree. With Bacchus as his constant companion, this reel-life hero has been relegated to the role of a real life comedian. The PMK with its frequent somersaults on alliances and issues, no longer holds the promise it once had for the backward communities. The BJP, which has been riding the Modi wave elsewhere in India, will be hard pressed to do a Jharkhand in Tamilnadu. Modi’s speechmaking capabilities will by and large be wasted in Tamilnadu, where almost half a century under the Dravidian parties has ensured the birth of two generations deficient in Hindi, the language in which Modi communicates. As for the Congress, riven by a multiplicity of factions, the lesser said the better...

Given these circumstances, 2015 promises to be O Paneerselvan’s year. Like Bharata (in the Ramayana), he has done an admirable job of warming the seat for his Amma. But if he does not come out of her shadow and assert himself as a chief minister on his own right, then the next election in Tamilnadu will deliver a verdict so fractured that it could send the state plummeting in all spheres of activity.

The reality will unfold in the days to come...

SCAMS INDIA INCORPORATED

India can be called a land of scams.  

In a country, where more than half the people live on less than Rs 100 a day, we have ministers and government officials siphoning off funds to the tune of thousands of crores! In a country which proudly calls itself the world's largest democracy, a government was clinging to power by paying legislator's to vote in its favour. In a country where fiscal deficit is causing growing worry among economists and policy makers, states lose Rs 32,000 Crores, at a conservative estimate, to a common counterfeiter with connections. In a country where more than 50 percent of the 120 crore population owns and uses a mobile phone, a loss of Rs 1,76,000 crores is caused by a few telecom companies in cahoots with an obliging telecom minister...

Corruption is not an aberration in India, but a way of life. You pay the municipal authorities when a child is born, to get a birth certificate. You pay the school for a pass certificate. You pay the college for a degree. You have to 'know' somebody to get a job. And even when you die, your dead body can be disposed off only after money changes hands. Between birth and death, you have to make illegal payments to get a driving licence. You have to pay to get a ration card... Why, after retirement, you have to pay to get a certificate every month stating you are alive in order to get your monthly pension...

Corruption has achieved the status of a true national institution in India. But then, this blog is not about corruption. It’s about scams.

Corruption on an organised scale, with the loot running to multiple crores, is a scam. A scam is defined as “a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation”. Indians, particularly the business class, have perfected the fine art of scamming by putting their contacts in politics and the in the bureaucracy to good use right from the time India became a free nation.

Scams are so numerous and come in such a wide variety of sizes and shapes that the average Indian has become impervious to them. Occasionally some shake us. As the 2G Scam did a few years ago. At that time, what really hit us was the sheer magnitude of the money involved. A stupendous One Lakh Seventy Six Thousand Crore rupees, according to the estimate made by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, who brought the scam into the public domain.

Just as an American greets a perfect stranger with a “Howdy”, or an Englishman opens a conversation with ‘Nice weather today”, “How many zeroes are there in 1,76,000 Crores”, became a familiar conversation opener in India. The figure was a statistical delight for the media as well. One TV channel estimated that if the money was drawn as 1000 rupee notes and packed into shipment containers, it would require 12 large containers to carry the booty. Another speculated if all the money was dumped inside a cricket stadium and set afire, the fire would burn for three months! But that was before Cricket’s very own betting and match-fixing scam erupted.

As we step into the New Year, this blog attempts to identify and record for posterity some of the major scams that shook India over the last 6 decades. Lest we forget. And to be more vigilant in the future. For it is our money that is at stake.

 Jeep Purchase (1948)

Free India's corruption graph begins. V K Krishna Menon, then the Indian high commissioner to Britain, bypassed protocol to sign a deal worth Rs 80 lakh with a foreign firm for the purchase of army jeeps. The case was closed in 1955 and soon after, Menon joined the Nehru cabinet.

BHU Funds (1956)

In one of the first instances of corruption in educational institutions, Benaras Hindu University officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh.

Mundhra Mess (1958)

The Life Insurance Corporation of India, under the Centre's pressure, bought shares worth Rs 1.2 crore in firms owned by Haridas Mundhra to bale him out of a crunch. The case compelled T T Krishnamachari to resign as finance minister.

Teja’s Ships (1960)

Shipping magnate Jayanti Dharma Teja took loans worth Rs 22 crore, taking advantage of his closeness to Jawaharlal Nehru, to establish the Jayanti Shipping Company. In 1960, the authorities discovered that he was actually siphoning off money to his own account, after which Teja fled the country.

In-laws and Out-laws (1963)

Pratap Singh Kairon became the first Indian chief minister to be accused of abusing his power for his own benefit and that of his sons and relatives. He quit a year later.

Patnaik's Tube Racket (1965)

Orissa Chief Minister Biju Patnaik was forced to resign after it was discovered that he had favoured his privately-held company Kalinga Tubes in awarding a government contract.

Maruti Scandal (1974)

Well before the company was set up, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi's name came up in the first Maruti scandal, where her son Sanjay Gandhi was favoured with a licence to make passenger cars in India.

Quid Pro Kuo (1976)

Indian Oil Corporation signed a Rs 2.2-crore oil contract with a non-existent firm in Hong Kong and a kickback was given. The petroleum and chemicals minister was directed to make the purchase.

Antulay’s Trust (1981)

A R Antulay, then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, had garnered Rs 30 crore as bribe from businesses dependent on state resources like cement and kept the money in a private trust of which he and family members were trustees.

Bofors Pay-Off (1987)

The Bofors scam that took place between 1980s and 1990s had stirred a big controversy in the country as then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from the now defunct Swedish arms company Bofors AB  for clearing a contract to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer.

In March 1986, a $285 million contract between the Govt of India and Bofors was signed for supply of 410 155mm Howitzer field guns. About a year later, in April 1987, Swedish Radio alleged that Bofors paid kickbacks to top Indian politicians and key defence officials to seal the deal. It led to Rajiv losing power when the people overwhelmingly voted against him in the elections that followed.

The middleman associated with the scandal was Ottavio Quattrocchi, was believed to be a major player in the scam. However, after years of legal battle, the Bofors saga came to an end on July 13, 2013 with Quattrocchi's death.

Securities Scam (1992)

Popularly known as the Big Bull, stock broker Harshad Mehta engaged in a massive stock manipulation scheme financed by worthless bank receipts, which his firm brokered in "ready forward" transactions between banks. Mehta was convicted by the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court of India for his part in a financial scandal valued at Rs 5000 Crores, which took place on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). He was tried for 9 years, until he died in the late 2001.

Sugar Import (1994)

As food minister, Kalpnath Rai presided over the import of sugar at a price higher than that of the market, causing a loss of Rs 650 crore to the exchequer. He resigned following the allegations.

Indian Bank Rip-off  (1992)

Aided by M Gopalakrishnan, then the chairman of the Indian Bank, borrowers -- mostly small corporates, film producers and exporters from Tamilnadu -- were lent a total of over Rs 1,300 crore, which they never paid back.

JMM Bribes (1995)

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shailendra Mahato testified that he and three party members received bribes of Rs 30 lakh to bail out the PV Narasimha Rao government in the 1993 no-confidence motion.

Telecom Scam (1996)

Former minister of state for communication, Sukh Ram, was accused of causing a loss of Rs 1.6 crore to the exchequer by favouring a Hyderabad- based private firm in the purchase of telecom equipment. During a raid, several crores in cash was recovered from Sukh Ram’s puja room at home. He, along with two others, was convicted in 2002.

Fodder Scam (1996)

The accountant general's concerns about the withdrawal of excess funds by Bihar's animal husbandry department unveiled a Rs 950-crore scam involving Lalu Prasad Yadav, then the state chief minister. The scam involved fabrication of fictitious livestock for which fodder, medicines and animal husbandry equipment was supposedly procured. The animal husbandry department is said to have embezzled Rs950 crore through the scheme.

Urea Deal (1996)

CS Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, National Fertiliser Corporation, and a group of businessmen close to the PV Narasimha Rao regime fleeced the government and took Rs 133 crore from the import of two lakh tonnes of urea, which was never delivered.

Jain’s Hawala Diaries (1996)

The scandal surfaced following CBI raids on hawala operators in Delhi in 1991. But it was SK Jain's diaries that had heads rolling.

Match Fixing (2000)

Mohammed Azharuddin, till then India's cricket captain, was accused of match-fixing. He and Ajay Sharma were banned from playing, while Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar were suspended for five years. Years later, with the introduction of IPL, match-fixing,betting and insider trading have become the heart and soul of cricket.

Stockmarket Scam (2001)

The mayhem that wiped off over Rs 1,15,000 crore in the markets in March 2001 was masterminded by the Pentafour bull Ketan Parekh. He was arrested in December 2002 and banned from accessing the capital market for 14 years.

Home Trade Scam (2002)

Under the pretext of gilt trading, Rs 600 crore was swindled from over 25 cooperative banks in Maharashtra and Gujarat by a Navi Mumbai-based brokerage firm Home Trade. Sanjay Agarwal, CEO of the firm, was arrested in May 2002.

Stamp Paper Scam (2003)

The sheer magnitude of the racket was shocking -- it caused a loss of Rs 30,000 crore to the exchequer. Disclosures of the mastermind behind it, Abdul Karim Telgi, implicated top police officers and bureaucrats.

Scorpene Deal Scam(2005) 

One of India's largest bribery scandals, in which Rs 500 crore is alleged to have been paid to government decision makers by Thales, the makers of the Scorpene submarine. The amount was channeled through middlemen such as Abhishek Verma. The sacm also involved Ravi Shankaran, a relative of the then chief of navy staff Arun Prakash. He is also the prime accused in the Navy War Room spy scandal.

Cash-for-votes scandal (2008)

The scandal exposed the rampant corruption that prevails at all levels in the country. It involved the Sonia Gandhi-led UPA, which bribed MPs in order to survive a confidence vote on July 22, 2008. The confidence vote was triggered in the Lok Sabha after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front withdrew support from the government, which wanted to pursue the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Bellary mining scam (2008)

The scandal in Karnataka, which led to the resignation of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa,  involved mining barons, the Reddy brothers. It was alleged that G Karunakara Reddy and G Janardhana Reddy had paid money to bag contracts for their Obulapuram Mining Company, in Bellary. The then Lokayukta of Karnataka, Justice Santosh Hegde said that Yeddyurappa and his family members had accepted bribes in the form of donations to  trusts from mining companies in exchange for issuing mining leases. The Karnataka government suffered a loss of Rs16,085 crore.

Lies and Deception at Satyam (2009)

In the biggest scam ever to hit India’s IT sector, Chairman of Satyam Computers, B Ramalinga Raju, admitted to doctoring the company’s balance sheets. In a letter written to the board, Raju admitted that he inflated the balance sheets to show Rs 5,361 crore at the end of September 2008, which was  300 crore more than the actual amount.

Raja’s Spectrum (2010)

Telecom bandwidth tender was undervalued and offered to a preferred few on a 'First-Come-First-Served' basis at the behest of the then Union Telecom Minister, Andimuthu Raja, instead of a transparent auction system, as advised by the PMO. While the CAG pegs the scam amount at Rs176,000 crore, the CBI estimates it at Rs30,984 crore.

Raja was forced to resign  and booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting illegal gratification. Apart from Raja, Kanimozhi, the daughter of the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi has also been named in the case.

Bureaucrats whose names surfaced in the case were former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications PJ Thomas, bureaucrat Pradip Baijal and Raja's private secretary RK Chandolia. 

Making Common Wealth of the Games (2010)

Among all the scams in India, the CWG scam is perhaps the only one that drew the attention of media worldwide. A day after the conclusion of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, the Union Government announced formation of a special committee to probe allegations of corruption and mismanagement against the Organising Committee.

Organising Committee chairman and Union Minister Suresh Kalmadi's name surfaced as the main accused for awarding a contract to install Timing, Scoring and Results (TSR) system to Swiss Timing at inflated rates causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer, despite having a cheaper option.

Antrix Devas Deal (2011)

ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and three other scientists were accused of entering into a controversial contract between Antrix Corporation and Devas Multimedia Private Limited on January 28, 2005. Under the deal, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz of S-Band wavelength to Devas for broadcasting purposes. This was to be done by ISRO leasing out S-band transponders in two satellites (GSAT6 and GSAT6A) to Devas. A CAG report revealed that the department of space (DoS) had violated rules and policies for approving the agreement. The audit report pegged the loss at Rs 2,00,000 crore.

Tatra Truck Scam (2011)

Top officials of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), a defence public sector undertaking,  and the defence ministry siphoned off Rs 750 crore in bribes and commissions over 14 years in the purchase of components for Tatra trucks. BEML flouted defence procurement guidelines and sold Tatra trucks to the army at an inflated price.

No action was taken by the government until former Army Chief General VK Singh, in an  interview, admitted that he was offered bribe of Rs14 crore for clearing the purchase of 600 substandard Tatra-all-terrain vehicles. Following this revelation, the then Defence Minister AK Antony was forced to order a CBI probe into the scam.

Adarsh Housing society scam (2011)

The scam involves the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society. The building, which was originally meant to be a six-storey structure for Kargil war heroes and war widows, was converted into a 31-storey highrise. The complex now houses members including relatives of former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan and other politicians, military officials and bureaucrats, who got the flats at a lower price. Former Army chiefs Generals Deepak Kapoor and NC Vij and former Navy chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh and Vice-Chief Gen Shantanu Choudhary also got flats in the society.

An inquiry by the CBI, IT department and the Enforcement Directorate unearthed Sushilkumar Shinde, Late Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan's involvement in the scam, leading to Chavan’s resignation.

Coal Block Allocation Scam (2012)

Dubbed as Coalgate by the media, the scam once again exposed corruption in the highest echelons of power in the country. The scandal involves allocation of the country's coal deposits to public and private sector companies by India’s Mr Clean Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a draft report in March 2012, accused the government of allocating coal blocks in an arbitrary manner during the period 2004–2009, causing a loss of Rs1,86,000 crore.

The scandal caused a furore both inside and outside Parliament due to its sheer magnitude. The scandal got murkier when 43 files containing crucial information on how the coal fields were allocated to private firms went missing.

Chopper scam (2013)

Better known as Choppergate, the scam involves several politicians and defence officers, who have been accused of having accepted bribes from  AugustaWestland to clear a contract to supply 12 AW101 helicopters to India in February 2010. The Rs 3600 crore scam came to light on February 12, 2013, when Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of Finmeccanica, was arrested by Italian authorities for bribes allegedly paid to secure the sale of helicopters to India. Finmeccanica is the parent company of AgustaWestland.

Investigations revealed that three persons related to the then Air Force chief Shashi Tyagi had bent the rules in the tender to help AgustaWestland secure the contract. Tyagi is the first chief of the Indian Air Force to be named in a corruption or criminal case by the CBI.

Saradha Group Chit Fund Scam (2013)

This financial scam was caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, a consortium of companies which was believed to be running a wide variety of collective investment schemes (popularly referred to as chit fund) West Bengal. The group collapsed in April 2013, causing an estimated loss of Rs 200–300 billion to over 1.7 million depositors.

Group chairman Sudipto Sen, in a letter to the CBI,  admitted that he had paid large sums of money to several politicians. He also stated that Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh had forced him to enter into money-losing media ventures and blackmailed him into selling one of his channels at below market price. Sen fled after posting this letter on April 10. He was arrested in Kashmir on April 23, 2013. His close aide Debjani Mukhopadhdhay was also arrested for her involvement in the scam.

Uttar Pradesh NRHM Scam (2013)

Top politicians and bureaucrats are alleged to have siphoned off Rs10,000 crore from the National Rural Health Mission, a central government scheme, meant to improve health care delivery in rural areas. The CBI is investigating several former ministers of the Bahujan Samaj Party, the then ruling party, in the case. The scam came to the limelight after two Chief Medical Officers (CMO) were shot dead outside their houses. Deputy-CMO, YS Sachan, who was suspected to have had a role in the murders, was arrested, but died mysteriously in prison.

This is by no means an exhaustive compilation. Yet they throw up several interesting issues. The scamsters have not spared any part of India – from North to South, East to West. No department has been immune – be it defence, health, agriculture, education, communications or sports.  Both the Central and State Governments have been equally guilty. Similarly, both national parties and regional satraps have fallen with the trend. The money looted, if totalled, runs to Trillions – enough to position India as one of the richest nations in the world.

Three institutions deserve to be complimented for their vigilantism that has brought these scams to light and for ensuring, in the end, that justice was meted out – the Media, the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and the Courts of Law. Efforts have taken place to subvert these institutions as well. Some individuals have fallen on the wayside to the lure of lucre. 

Yet the majority has stood upright. Signalling hope for the future.

IN SEARCH OF TRUE SECULARISM

I am proud to be an Indian. Not because India can be considered a developed nation. Certainly not because Indians as a nation are anywhere near being honest or corruption free. My pride does not arise from the fact that India is the birthplace of one of the oldest civilizations in the world with an unbroken, continuing tradition even today... I am proud for the sole reason that the founding fathers of our Constitution, in their infinite wisdom, decided to describe India as a secular country. I was born a Hindu. I studied in a Christian institution. I have visited churches and mosques, Gurudwaras and Buddha Viharas. I enjoy sweets for Deepavali. I relish the mutton biriyani dished out by my Muslim friends for Ramzan. The plum cake is a favourite during Christmas season...

While this is so, my tranquil, “secular” world was suddenly shaken up yesterday through a series of messages on WhatsApp!

We have this group of about 100 odd old students of Madras Christian College School – Batch of 1975 on WhatsApp. We were all batchmates in school. We have played together, eaten together, worked mischief together, been punished together... There were no Hindus or Christians or Muslims amongst us. Just friends.

Yesterday, one in the group – Sudhakar – forwarded a video. A Christmas greeting, rather naughtily made. It was a good laugh.

But Anand Issac took umbrage. “This video is in bad taste as it makes Christmas look like some vulgar festival...”, he griped. Benedict tried to soften things up. “There goes Anand... Hey, just look at the talent...”, he reasoned. But in the process, he only managed to stir the hornet in Anand. “Would you guys take the same liberties with other religions?” he snapped. “Would you ever have the guts?” he challenged. “What have jingle bells and Santa got to do with Christmas, anyway/” Benny reasoned. But Anand was only warming up. “What has bhangra dance to do with the Sikh religion?” he asked. “Try posting a Bangra dance PLC with your middle finger up...”

Gurdeep Singh chipped in sarcastically : “No, they use the index finger...” Now it was Anand’s turn to be defensive. “I am sorry if I had hurt my Sikh brothers by using that example”, he said. Meanwhile Sudhakar, who had started the chain of texts with his video post, came in with his apology “Sorry Issac, my apologies. No intention of hurting anybody’s sentiments. I just forwarded what I got. Cool please...”

And what  threatened to break into a communal flare-up on WhatsApp cooled down.

This really got me thinking. If educated, mature, above-middle-aged, greying men could squabble like this over a virtual non-issue, how would things be like in slums and ghettoes where people of diverse religious groups and of varying temperaments, incited or egged on by vested interests? Little wonder in a multi-religious country like India, communal flare-ups occur at the drop of a hat.

True secularism, obviously was a far cry away.

I looked up the world wide web for a definition of secularism. It threw up many answers :

According to one definition, secularism meant being irreligious. Another said a secularist is one who does not believe in God -- an atheist. The American concept of secularism is one where the separation of the Church and the State is absolute...

None of these definitions fitted into my concept of secularism. To me, secularism is acceptance of all religions. Secularism is the acceptance of all faiths as true. A secular nation is one where I should have the freedom to pursue any religion. I should have the freedom to visit a temple one day, a mosque the next, a church the day after... I should have the freedom to quote freely from the texts of all religions... I should also have the freedom to criticise, without being derogatory and abusive.

The only problem lies in the fact that here in India, as elsewhere in the world, the true meaning of the word tends to get distorted, to suit different perspectives; to suit individuals; to suit multifarious communal groups; to suit certain political interests...

How else can we condone the demolition of a mosque to build a temple on the specious claim that a temple had been desecrated centuries earlier to build the mosque? This certainly would not have happened if we had considered all faiths as one. How else can we condone the offer of money and gifts as inducement to illiterate tribal masses to convert them to a different religion and then sowing the seeds of religious hatred between brothers merely to create a hostile atmosphere for them to fish in troubled waters? How else can we accept the mass killings of innocent men, women and children in public places and even schools and places of worship as part of a jihad or holy crusade? How else can we accept orgainsed mass re-conversion programmes grandiosely described as ghar wapsi or “homecoming” ?

Every religious denomination or communal sect has been guilty at some time or other of being insensitive to the other communities. It’s sad that the true secular fabric of India is being torn asunder by narrow politico-religious interests – mostly with an eye on consolidating vote banks on religious or communal grounds.

If India is to move forward, it is necessary for Indians to truly understand the concept of secularism.

Over the ages, mankind had created multiple religions. And religions gave birth to a multiplicity of Gods. Today, we are fighting over these religions and Gods, forgetting that we all hail from the same common stock. In the beginning there were no religions. We merely followed certain codes of living, which were refined and modified from time to time. This is what the Indians termed as Sanathana Dharma or an eternal way of life. Dharma cannot be translated as religion. Dharma goes beyond religion. It is an Indian word that defies literal translation in English.

It was the Greeks who first referred to the people who lived on the banks of the River Sindhu (Indus) as Hindus. Over time, the entire country came to be known as India (a derivative of the word Hindu) and the Sanathana Dharma followed by the people of the region came to be known as Hindu religion. Nowhere in any Indian religious text is the word Hindu used.

The highly refined tenets of Sanathana Dharma contained in the Vedas and Upanishads, over time got clouded, leading to misunderstanding and misinterpretations. And they required to be simplified or annotated. Such interpretations were made from time to time by men of learning and vision, who stood out as glorious examples of righteous living; to the extent that they were extolled, often worshipped, not merely as Messiahs, but as God almighty. Veda Vyasa, Valmiki, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Adi Sankara... all interpreted the mores of right living according to the need of the times.

The tenets of Sanathana Dharma had also spread westward beyond the Persian Gulf, right up to Europe. In the West too, the need for interpretations and explanations arose over time. And the likes of Moses, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed did the job admirably. Some of their followers were so taken up by their interpretations of the tenets of righteous living that they formed new religions... Over time, man got so obsessed with their respective religions that they lost sight of the original dogmas.

The import of what I am saying will become clear if we care to compare some of the tenets of Sanathana Dharma (or Hinduism as we know it today), the most ancient of religions dating back about 10,000 years and Islam, which came into existence in the fifth century AD. Many similarities exist between the Quran and the Vedas.  Maulana Shams Nawed Usmani,  an avid scholar of Islamic, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh scriptures has brought out some of these similarities in his book “Agar ab bhi na jage tho. The English translation of this wonderful work which espouses the cause of inter-religious unity, is NOW OR NEVER.

Let us look at some of them.

Vedas	Quran
Praise be to the Creator of this world                                      (Rig Ved 5.81.1)	Praise be to Allah the Cherisher and Sustainer of the world         (Al Fateha V-1)
Who is the Bestower and is Merciful                                      (Rig Ved 3.34.1)	Most Gracious and most Merciful                                             (Al Fateha V-2)
For our benefit show us the right path                                      (Rig Ved 40.16)	Show us the right path        (Al Fateha V-5)
He is the Owner of the great heavens and the earth. That Ishwar only will help us.                                      (Rig Ved 1.100.1)	Knowest thou’ not that to Allah belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth and beside Him ye have neither patron or helper                           (Al Baqarah V-107)
Parmatma created everything                                                                                  (Athur Ved 7.19.1)	It is He who created every existing thing                                                (Furqan V-2)
God is only one. He the Benevolent gives His bounties to those who give charity                                     (Rig Ved 1.84.7)	And spend in charity for the benefit of your own soul                                                                                                                                  (Al Tagabun V-16) If ye loan to Allah a beautiful loan, He will double it to your credit                                          (Al Tagabun V-17)
Parmatma does not eat but He gives others to eat                          (Rig Ved 1.164.20)	And it is He that feedeth but is not fed                                        (Anam V-14)
There can be no idol for this Parmeshwar                                   (Yagur Ved 32.3)	There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him                                         (Shura V-110)
All directions are His.                                   (Rig Ved 10.131.4)	To Allah belongs the east and the west                                      (Al-Baqarah V 115)
Creator of the world. He is in the east, west, above and below. (Rig Ved 10.36.14) God’s eye is everywhere and his face everywhere.                  (Rig Ved 10.81.3)	Whither so ever ye turn there is Allah’s face; for Allah is All embracing and All knowing                                                                                                                       (Al Baqarah V-115)
You are nearest to us and our Protector                                       (Rig Ved 5.24.1)	And We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein                             (Kahf V-16)
Neither the earth nor the heavens can reach the limit to which God encompasses, neither can the spheres of the sky nor the rain from the sky. Except for God no one has power over His creation.                                   (Rig Ved 1.52.14)	Nor shall they encompass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth.                                   (Al-Baqarah V-255) It is He who sends down rains                                   (Luqman V-34)
He knows the ship sailing in the oceans                                   (Rig Ved 1.25.7)	Seesth thou not that ship sail thro’ the ocean by the grace of Allah.                                  (Luqman V-31)
The God who has power over all living creatures has established the system of the day and night        (Rig Ved 10.190.2)	Seesth thou not Allah merges night into day and merges day into night, that He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law) each running its course for a term appointed and Allah is well acquainted with all that ye do.      (Luqman V-29)
O’ Parmatma You give goodly reward to the pious. This is Your real attribute.                                     (Rig Ved 1.1.6)	This is a grace from Us: thus do We reward those who give thanks.                                     (Khamar V-35)
It is incumbent on man that he should tread the path of truth with humility.                                      (Rig Ved 10.31.2)	Allah loveth not the arrogant and the vain- glorious.                        (Nisa V 36)
That Ishwar knows very well the world.                                      (Rig Ved 10.187.4)	Allah knows all that is in the heavens and the earth. He has full knowledge of all things.                           (Hujrat V -16)
He who stands, walks, he who cheats, he who harms others and those two who are in secret discourse, Ishwar the third knows all.                                (Athur Ved 4.16.2)	He knows what you hide and what you reveal and He knows (the recompense) which you earn (by your deeds)                                           (Anam V-3) He is with you where so ever you may be; Allah sees well all that you do.                                         (Al Hadid V-4)
He is powerful over all living creatures                                      (Rig Ved 10.190.2)	He is irresistibly Supreme over his servants                                         (Anam V-18)
That which is on earth and the sky or over them, Ishwar sees.        (Athur Ved 4.16.5) He knows the routes of the pleasant wind and He knows all those things, which depend on it.                  (Rig Ved 1.25.9)	He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of the earth, what comes down from heaven and what mounts up to it.                          (Al Hadid V-4) And He is who sends the wind as herald of glad tiding before His mercy.                                        (Furqan V-48)
He made day and night.                                                                          (Rig Ved 10.190.2)	And it is He who made the day and night to follow.                            (Furqan V-62)
The Creator controls the sun and the moon as He did the earlier creations                                      (Rig Ved 10.190.3)	He makes the night for rest and tranquility; and the sun and the moon for the reckoning.                       (Anam V-96)
Supplicate with humility and outstretched hands to the Parmeshwar who guides the earth and the heaven on the right path.                                       (Rig Ved 2.16.46)	Verily His are the creation and the command. Blessed be Allah the Creator and the Sustainer of the worlds. Call on your lord with humility and in private, for Allah loveth not who trespass beyond bounds                            (Aaraf V-54 & 55)
Indeed God is very great.                                   (Athur Ved 20.58.3)	He is the great the most high.                                         (Raad V-9)
The laws of God are not changed                                   (Rig Ved 1.24.10) Nobody can change the laws of God                                   (Athur Ved 18.1.5)	No change can there be in the word of Allah                                 (Yunus V-64) No change will thou find in the practice of Allah                                 (Fatah V-23)
O’ God the heavens and the earth tremor with your power. O’ God with your terror You annihilate the guilty; and to the pious You establish spiritual greatness                                                                  (Rig Ved 1.80.11)	Yea, to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth so that He rewards those who do evil according to their deeds and rewards those who do good with what is best.                              (Najam V-31)
O’ Parmeshwar You are the first and greater in knowledge over everyone else.                                      (Rig Ved 1.31.2)	He is the first and the last, the evident and the hidden and He has knowledge over all things.                               (Hadid V-3)
God separated the truth from falsehood and ordained ‘O, People bring faith in truth and do not bring faith in falsehood’                                       (Yagur Ved 19.77)	Truth stands out clear from error. Whoever rejects Tagud and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold                                           (Baqarah V-257)
People without brains do not see the book inspite of seeing it and do not hear inspite of hearing.                     (Rig Ved 10.71.4)	Yet you study the scripture? Will you not understand?                                         (Baqarah V-44)
O eternal All Powerful God, You are so valuable that I will not leave you at any cost, neither for thousand, lakhs or crores of worldly bounties.      (Rig Ved 8.1.5)	And do not sell my signs for a small price and fear Me, and Me alone.                                         (Baqarah V-41)
You only act and You only reap the fruit                                       (Yagur Ved 23.15)	And no bearer of burden can bear the burden of another            (Najm V-38)
O all Powerful and greatest Sustainer we went astray due to our ignorance. Be kind to us.                              (Rig Ved 7.89.3)	Verily Allah will not deal unjustly with man in aught, it is man that wrongs his own soul                              (Yunus V-44)
He who eats alone out of his earning, he eats sin.                          (Rig Ved 10.117.6)	By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you give of that which you love.                                        (Al-e- Imran V-92)
He who spends on charity over the poor and the needy, he alone is philanthropic, he earns goodness.                                                                                                                  His enemies become his friends.                       (Rig Ved 10.117.3)	Those who spend in prosperity or adversity, who restrain anger and pardon men for Allah’s love are those who do good                             (Al-e- Imran V-134)
He who does not give bread to a deserving orphan inspite of possessing it and with hard-heartedness eats it himself, he does not live in comfort when adversity comes to him                        (Rig Ved 10.117.2)	Such is the one who repulses the orphan and encourages not the feeding of the indigent; so woe to the worshipper                                       (Al Maun V-2, 3,4)

    

How I wish there were more of Maulana Shams Nawed Usmanis in every faith...