The Akbarian Myths Vs Facts—Bitter Truths Of Mughal Dynasty

 History, I believed till a few years back, to be unadulterated relation of facts. Based on facts (written sources- which include official records, biographies or auto biographies) and also archeological sources. However, I would always be perplexed about different versions on similar topics. How could it be acceptable? How could historians twist facts to suit agendas of individuals? Why were different versions not challenged with facts and denounced? Questions which have not yet been answered to my satisfaction, today I will be taking up one such topic and hope will receive answers for my queries. I will lay before you all a much touted version and its counter.

Like many Indians, I too have grown up to the stories of Akbar-Jodhabai eternal love story but I few years back I came across a series of book written about the Mughal Dynasty written by Alex Rutherford (Empire of the Mughal). I was completely miffed after reading the complete series, the tales were very different from what I had read thus far.

Pic credit: Fineart

The true colours of Akbar

Be it Bollywood movies, story books or other academic books Jodhabai has been named as Akbar’s wife, his Pathrani (the main queen) and his one true love. Imagine my surprise when I read that his wife and the mother of his first child, was the princess of Amber but her name was Hirabai, as recorded in page 119 of Empire of The Moghul Ruler of The World. Intrigued, I read on, Akbar, who is portrayed as a benevolent, just and kind ruler had no remorse on the mayhem he undertook during his campaign in Chittorgarh. Many brave Rajputs lost their lives in the battle. He was satisfied with the outcome as he believed a strong message has to be sent to all the rulers of Rajputana. The women had undertaken Jauhar (self-immolation) en masse and this had enraged many across Rajputana. Many, on the other hand, were subjugated into accepting the suzerainty of the Mughals.

One of the Rajput kings who extended his hand in friendship to Akbar was Raja Bhagwan Das, the king of Amber and the father of Man Singh. Akbar wanted to consolidate his hold on Rajputana and knew that brute force would help him win territories but not the trust of his subjects. So, he had planned to forge matrimonial alliances with friendly Rajput clans. The very first Rajput wife he chose was Raja Bhagwan Das’s daughter Hirabai. The proposal was offered and eagerly accepted. Akbar had chosen shrewdly as Bhagwan Das was not only powerful but also ambitious, but the quality which enamoured him to Akbar was his known enmity with the Rana of Mewar. Sadly, this enmity was nothing new among the Indian kings and was the main reason for the establishment of foreign rule in Bharat.

Mewar

Hirabai’s revenge

Though both father and brother had accepted the marriage proposal, Hirabai had to accept without being able to register her protest. Those were days when a daughter had to agree to the dictates of the elders in her family, so no one really knew what the princess actually had in her heart. Ignorant about Hirabai’s state of mind the wedding was concluded. Little suspecting what was in store, Akbar, entered eagerly to his wife’s bedchamber. The first encounter can be read in page 132, and it was wrought with hatred on the part of Hirabai and extreme surprise on the part of Akbar. Akbar was able to save himself from any harm as he had been warned by the expression on his wife’s face, before she could attack him with the knife she had with her.

Pic credit: Pinterest

He could not for his life understand why she had tried to kill him and when he confronted her, she told him, she wanted to avenge Chittorgarh. She did not change her stance, even on being threatened with death sentence. She however, maintained silence and went through with the marriage on being reminded about the dishonour it would bring to her family. Their first and only child (Salim later known as Jahangir) was born after a long gap and with the blessing of Shaikh Salim Chisthi. Thereafter she refused to have any relation with Akbar and told him to beget more sons from other queens. She was not even the Padshah Begum (King’s favourite) and cared nothing for it. Ruquyya Begum was the Padshah Begum and the closest to Akbar.

Ruquyya Begum

I come back to my dilemma regarding the variance in the narratives and also wonder at the motive behind it. The mystery surrounding the so called Jodhabai is heightened by another version doing the rounds- that she was a Portuguese lady.

What has baffled me endlessly is the narrative highlighted via print media and also through movies and television. I fail to understand what did such people hope to achieve? I agree that a country as vivid as ours should have an atmosphere of trust and brotherhood, that most probably was the reason for the liberals of our country to bring in narratives to boost fraternity.However, non stop lopsided potboilers and unabashed biased versions have had just the opposite effect on the masses. Our liberals failed to understand that taking the side of the underdog and putting them on a pedestal would not endear them to people who have suffered enormously at the hands of invaders like Akbar. Akbar from all accounts was a shrewd politician and played to the gallery all his life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariam-uz-Zamani

If Akbar was really a religious liberal then why had he converted his Hindu wife? Why have the liberal seculars of our life never made this fact known ?Many unanswered questions, but I truly believe its time now to depict history as it is not some warpped version of misguided people.

Confounded, I leave it to the jurisdiction of my readers to draw their own inferences.

Chhatrapatti Shivaji Maharaj-In Quest of Swaraj

                                 

Chhatrapati Shivaji, The Great Maratha, has not been accorded his due place in the annals of Indian History. In these times of receding moral values however, it becomes imperative to tell all the children as well as the youth, the stories of such illustrious Indian Kings. The “Kaliyuga” has descended on us and has brought in a degradation of goodness and every noble qualities in humans. Tilak had understood the importance of narrating these stories to the common man in the language of their comfort and level, to refurbish their lost self-esteem. He knew that a country could not stand up for their rights, if they are in the grip of inferiority complex. He awakened the society that had gone into the cultural hibernation for many generations He revived the Indian culture and reinstate it into sleeping masses via his write ups on Indian history and community celebrations of festivals like Ganpati Utsav. So instead of cribbing about our education system, let us, in our best individual capacity, narrate the history weaving anecdotes into our narration to make the intellectually underprivileged fellow Indians comfortable to understand the true value of our culture.

                            

Let me begin my efforts in this direction by devoting today’s article to to narrate a few motivating incidents from Shivaji Maharaj’s life.

After a difficult labour, Maa Saheb Jijabai gave birth to Shivaji on 19 February 1630 at Shivneri fort near Pune. Those were challenging times, Deccan was chaotic, so much so that his father Shahaji Raje Bhosle was on a campaign and could not remain present at the time of Shivba’s birth. The area was reeling under draught, the Mughals were trying to capture Deccan and the offshoots of the Bahmani Kingdom were busy fighting each other.

Under the guidance of Jija Mata Shivaba grew up dreaming about Swaraj. His close friends Netaji, Yesaji, Tanaji, Baji Prabhu, Balaji, Chimnaji, Dadaji Naras Prabhu, etc., looked up to him and shared his dream. They together had taken an oath in the Raireshwar Temple of achieving Swaraj   and freeing the Marathas from the tyrannical rules of the  Niazam Shahi, etc. A new threat from the Mughals was also looming large on the horizon. Neither Raje nor his friends were in any way intimidated by such adversaries, they stoically went on with their plans and preparations. Soon they began their campaign in earnest, won over major forts and territories.
                                                                                                                                 
                             

Due to the infighting among the descendants of the erstwhile Bahmani Empire plus the continuous attack of the Mughals, the once powerful Bijapur Kingdom became irrelevant. After the death of Adil Shah, his eldest wife Badi Begum wanted to restore Bijapur to its former glory. She began by deciding to bring Shivaji Raje to his knees. Once she decided, she set out to find a nobleman in her durbar brave enough to undertake the deed. She called all the Durbaris and asked them who was ready to defeat Shivaji Raje, capture him and bring him to the court of Bijapur. A ‘Paan cake’ was kept before them (it was customary then to keep a paan cake while issuing a challenge, whoever picked it up, automatically accepted the challenge) but except Afzal Khan no one came forward to pick it up. Afzal Khan had also heard about Raje’s exploits and was eagerly waiting to take him on. Afzal Khan had also been responsible for the death of Shambhaji Raje the elder brother of Shivaji. Afzal was a brute and had a huge, well-built body. He was very arrogant and overestimated his prowess.
                 

The Wai province was his jagir and he   was also appointed the Subedar of Bijapur. Khan set out with a huge army to crush Raje and win back all the forts Raje had captured. The news of the Khan’s advancing army reached Raje, he immediately started planning along with his coterie the steps that would be taken to not only defeat Khan but also save Swaraj. Raje was under tremendous pressure as his first wife Saibai was on death bed. She had not been able to gain back her health after giving birth to Sambhaji Raje. In spite of going through immense mental trauma, Raje did not allow himself the luxury of taking himself away from all the strategic parleys.

Wai was Khan's jagir and Shivaji was sure that he would stay there till the monsoon receded. Shivaji backed off into the fort of Jawali and decided to force  Khan for a showdown in this territory. Jawali was a difficult terrain and had dense jungles around it thus it was a safe haven to take on enemies not conversant with the narrow gorges and the thick forests. Moreover, the fort of Pratapgarh was also impregnable, so Raje decided to operate from there.
                

As expected the Khan descended on the Marathas with a mighty army and proceeded to ravage the countryside. Shivaji had asked his vassals to surrender before the Khan and even join him so that too many Maratha lives were not sacrificed. He attacked and ravaged the Tuljapur Temple, in fact he took sadistic pleasure to break the Moorti (idol) of revered Tulja Bhawani. He did not stop at that, next he destroyed the temple at Pandharpur and Vithoba Moorti was also not spared.  Khan    knew that Tulja Bhawani was Shivaji's family deity, and expected to draw out Shivaji Raje when this news spread like wildfire. Raje was no fool and did not leave Jawali to fall into the trap of Khan. Meanwhile he lost Saibai, yet had no time to mourn her. In the battle of Wai   Khan lost patience first and sent Krishnaji Bhaskar for negotiations to Jawali. This was what Shivaji had been waiting for all along. He sent Pantaji Gopinath, a  astute statesman with a letter to   Khan and also some valuable gifts. The greedy Khan now became impatient to lay hands on all the treasures under Shivaji. So, he agreed to come to Jawali to talk about settlements, in reality he had plans to capture Raje. Raje was no man’s fool and knew that Khan would betray him, so he made careful plans. He set up the meeting at Par, which was a relatively flat area. He allowed   Khan to enter Koyna Valley with a massive army, but he had already asked his men to surround   Khan’s army from all sides. The will Khan had no idea about these developments. His greed was getting the better of him, all he could think of was the immense treasure, which would come under his control after he had defeated the Maratha Forces.
                

Twenty soldiers from each side were allowed to come up to the meeting place. It was also decided that   Khan and Raje would be allowed to take two personal bodyguards along with them. Khan was a massive man and brought only one guard, Syed Banda, whereas Shambhaji Kavji and Jiva Mahala accompanied Raje. .After the customary greetings, all three guards stepped outside. Once alone, Khan pretended to be very benign and invited Raje forward to embrace him as a token of good will. The humongous Khan held Raje in a bear hug, at the same time he slyly took out his hidden dagger and tried to stab Raje. The ever cautious Raje had worn an armour below his shirt, and thus, was not injured. Simultaneously Raje tore opened Khan's stomach with his 'Wagh Nakh'. Khan let out a roar of pain and began shouting to alert his men. Khan had also hit Shivaji which broke the helmet he was wearing. Raje was saved because of the helmet, even though it broke. However, Raje was stunned by the blow and at this juncture Jiva Mahala, Shammbhaji Karvi and Syed Banda rushed into the tent. Jiva was quick to cut of Banda‘s hand and then follow the blow with another fatal blow. Thus Jiva saved Raje’s life, Karvi in the meantime had chased Khan, who had gone rushing out of the tent. He beheaded  Khan before he could escape in his palanquin.

The Maratha army was signaled and they descended heavily upon   Khan’s mighty army. Shivaji Raje had specifically ordered the capture of all the cannons and other arms and ammunition, this would enhance their artillery power. This was exactly what the Maratha soldiers achieved. Once inside the safety of his fort, Shivaji Raje sent the news of the Khan’s defeat to Maa Sahib Jijabai. The Maratha Kingdom rejoiced but Raje immediately went forth with his army and not only captured Wai but many other forts. He also freed all the territories, which had been taken over by   Khan.

This was a decisive win for Swaraj and now Raje had become a force not to be taken lightly. Even though the Khan was mighty yet minute planning and indomitable spirit helped Shivaji Raje win the battle against the mighty Afzal Khan. This also proved to be the turning point of Swaraj.

Jai Bhawani, Jai Shivaji.

               

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THE ETERNAL AND HAUNTING LOVE STORY OF MAHADEV AND SATI MAA

                                           
                                         

The eternal love between Mahadev and Sati Maa has been immortalized in this world and will be remembered till the end of times and beyond. I am writing this story on the basis of Puranik Kathas, Devon ke Dev Mahadev and Goswami Tulsidas’s  Shree Ramcharitmanas .

I believe it is time to spread such stories so that our youngsters do not remain ignorant about our religion, culture and heritage. With the blessings of Mahadev, I will begin my story.

Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu were hoping for Aadi Shakti and Aadi Purush (Mahadev) to unite and bless their creation even further. During these times Daksh Prajapati, a son of Brahma and Aditi  performed a severe penance to beget another daughter. He was the proud father of thirteen exceptional daughters before this (and would be having total of 24 daughters all in all), yet he always found something missing in his life, hence the penance. Aadi Shakti was very pleased with him and promised to be born as his fourteenth  daughter
                        

Overjoyed Daksh returned and soon Prasuti and he were blessed with a beautiful daughter. They named her Sati (the feminine form of truth) as per the wish of Aadi Shakti herself. Sati, from her childhood, showed all signs of greatness and was the darling of everyone around, especially her father. Daksh doted on her and pampered her to no end. Time seemed to fly and very soon Sati was of marriageable age, which set Daksh worrying about finding the perfect the groom. He wanted to give up his gems only to the most deserving groom. He approached his father Brahma, who told him, Aadi Shakti could only be married to Aadi Purush and Daksh agreed.

This is not what has been shown in Devon Ke Dev Mahadev, however, so I beg the indulgence of my readers. This is written in the Purans. After many hurdles they were arrived but were never, wholeheartedly blessed by Daksh. Soon after their wedding the couple was invited to attend a ceremony, which they attended in all their splendor. Daksh too was an invitee and was received very warmly by everyone present. In respect to his prominence, everyone but Mahadev stood up in greeting. Daksh was very annoyed and pledged to organize a huge ‘Yajñá (यज्ञ)’ and invite all prestigious people to the most common people to the ‘Yajñá’ but not Mahadev and Sati Maa.

Mahadev is ‘Trikaal Darshi’ and he had seen this future event and the outcome too, that was exactly the reason why he had not been ready to wed Sati Maa (as Aadi Shakti had been born as a human and had no recollection of her original form). As destiny would have it, Sati Maa was adamant about attending the ‘Yajñá’ invited or not. She refuted all advice, and told Mahadev in no uncertain terms that she could not  think of any discomfort in her own father’s house and go she must. All appeal fell on deaf ears, as even Gods are not spared by destiny when they are born as humans.

There is another tale too, which I have read in Shree Ramcharitmanas and seen in Devon Ke Dev too. Once, Mahadev was relating the story of Shri Ram to Sati and he told her that even in his human form Ramji knew that he was an incarnation of Lord Visnu and was able to recognize all the Gods. This was very perplexing for Sati, maybe because she had not yet been connected to her real self and so she decided to test Shri Ram. However when she disclosed her plans before Mahadev, he was horrified and forbade her to do so. The human trait within Sati did not pay heed nor did she try to understand  why she had been asked to desist. She soon went to the sea shore where Shri Ram was searching for Sita in Dandak Aaranya.  Here Sati Maa made her second and an unpardonable mistake, to test Shri Ram she disguised herself as Sita Maa. She was not able to fool Shri Ram, he immediately recognized her and asked her to bless him, and he also addressed her as mother.

The enormity of her folly struck Sati but the deed was already done and she could do nothing to undo what was already done. Mahadev not thought it fit to disturb Shri Ram, so after Sati Maa came back, both returned to Kailash. An infuriated Mahadev informed Sati that she had lost the right to sit on his left side (Vamangi) as his wife because she had taken the form of Sita, whom he worshiped as mother. This further saddened Sati Maa and she resolved to go to her father’s ‘Yajñá’ come what may. It is believed that Sati Maa had lost her purity and thus had to shed her human form to become Mahadev’s true partner in life.

Sati Maa was insulted by Daksh on her arrival and when he abused Mahadev in the vilest of language, she could bear it no more. She took her real form (Aadi Shakti) and self-immolated herself. The wrath of Mahadev could not be withstood by anyone and Daksh had to pay with his life. However, Mahadev brought him back to life at the ardent prayers of Prasuti and all the people who were present at the venue.

So deeply did Mahadev love Sati that he carried away her body and roamed about in abject misery? At last to stop his anguish from destroying “Shristi”, Vishnu Bhagwan parted the body of Sati Maa into 51 parts  and scattered them in different places on the earth. These places were converted into Shakti Peeths by Mahadev and then he went away to an unknown place to meditate and pledged never again to be pulled into any relationship. He wanted to meditate and teach himself to be an ascetic from there on. Who among us can hold a candle to this colossal love? No one ever can.

HAR HAR MAHADEV!!!

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Hey Woman Bear It All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAjnqg7OeE&t=10s

How many of you have heard the above song? Every time I hear it, tears well up in my eyes, very few songs have depicted the plight of women so explicitly. Through centuries, woman has borne the brunt of inhuman debasement. Today she has carved out a niche for herself after a very long and excruciating battle. She not only is excelling at academics but also in every field she is stepping into. In all walks of life, she is proving her mettle but if we seek an honest reply from her male counterparts about their acknowledgement of her achievements, a completely different story enfolds before us.

I would like to make it clear that I do not favour the so called FEMINAZI. I think they are actually, harming the real challenges that women are trying to surmount. Women have, by the sheer dent of their hard work and persistence, overcome all odds and are scaling new heights every day. What I find affronting , is the male attitude of generalizing women, even after she has proved herself again and again. (Of course, I am equally uncomfortable generalizing men too.) Wherever she has found a foothold, she has conquered, she has beaten men too. Why then do we still find crude jokes on women, referring to her intelligence as far below her male counterparts, portraying her as a shrew still doing the circles? I will  showcase a few such wisecracks:

           

Such inane jokes are circulated on a daily basis but no one ever tries to question these. Why do women have to put up with such degradation? What have they done to deserve such ridicule?

Women are very emotional by nature and this makes them very vulnerable. Thanks to the changing norms of the modern world a new breed of cockroaches have emerged in our midst, what am I referring to? Well it is not what but who am I referring to. I am referring to a very large number of roadside ROMEOS who can be found hanging around the houses of girls. These loafers come in all ages and their only aim in life is to beguile girls into accepting them as their sweethearts. They choose the girls who are vulnerable and once assured of their affection, they take disadvantage of the girl’s feelings. Many such girls are exploited, made to go into prostitution, change their religion, join terrorists and some are dumped after they have been sexually exploited. Even lonely, hapless middle-aged women also fall into these traps.

Case 1. https://www.asianage.com/india/crime/090919/19-year-old-girl-steals-rs-10-lakh-from-home-to-help-boyfriend-held.html

Case 2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/girl-detained-for-theft-of-rs-6-6l-to-fund-boyfriends-bike-phone/articleshow/76431706.cms

Case 3. https://www.opindia.com/2020/06/love-jihad-ludhiana-meerut-ekta-deshwal-shakib-aman-murder-chopped/

Google has n number of such cases, where n is very huge, people read these gory tales but society does not try to do away with this malaise.

Things have come to such pass that women are viewed as objects of pleasure, no one bothers about the destruction one leaves behind. So many lives have been sacrificed at the altar of lust and male ego. Voices are raised but the public memory is too short and who actually has time for silly women.

Another sad and disgusting stigma a woman has to live with is the general tendency of people that she has no credit to her success. A successful woman has to put up with a lot of aspersions about her character. The moment a woman makes a mark in her chosen field, tongues start wagging and filth is spread about her. The tendency is that a woman cannot reach the pinnacle as she does not possess enough abilities. A lady I admire a lot is Smriti Irani, she has admirably handled the rogues but the fact cannot be denied that she has had to face public humiliation.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ATLCg9ajfU

Watch the video, in some corridors the male ego is so bloated that they brazenly spew venom and think nothing of it. Will there ever be a change in this type of sick attitude? When will women be treated as equals by everyone? How long will she have to put up with being treated as inferior to men or their toys? There are many men who regard women are extremely courteous, look up to them and also worship the path woman walk on. However, these men constitute a miniscule number. Women are the worst enemy of their own kind, the day every mother, sister and wife teaches the men of her family to respect women this prevailing unfairness will come to an end. Let us begin now, stop taking women for granted, stop using them and don’t just spout platitudes about loving and caring about them, follow it up with actions. Be loyal to them and see how they blossom.

Women too need to be sterner, not get carried away by their emotions and they should never believe to the extent that they take leave of their gut feeling. Women stop being used, stand up for your dignity.

#INDIA CHINAFACEOFF

Let me at the onset clear a fact, I am no Defense expert, I have gone through various reports on the issue and tried to summarize what I have read. In other words made it simple for others to read and get an idea about the escalation in the Galwan Valley. I will of course stick to facts and not try to impose on them.

History

Since India and China gained independence and began a scrutiny of the borders, China refused to agree to it in toto. In fact, after gaining Nation status China had redrawn many borders and refused to accept what they believed to be injustice inflicted on them in a step motherly manner over decades. Thus, began the chapter of long drawn out disputes, which has already witnessed one major war. During the British period, Aksai Chin had been shown as an Indian territory, however, this was not accepted by the Chinese, strangely, and till 1933 Aksai Chin was accepted as a British Indian territory. During the 1950s the “so-called” romance and camaraderie between the two countries was touted and slogans like “HINDI CHINI BHAI BAHI” and adhering to “Panchsheel” was very much in the air. 

The fact, that China had very different plans became evident only after they became more aggressive. Even the correspondence between the Premiers of the two countries was not able to douse the fires of war. 

 More details can be found at:-https://www.jatinverma.org/india-china-border-conflicts

Controversies

 Who is to blame, who went wrong, what went wrong are questions which have a lot of answers but not one duly making the scenario crystal clear. To date, the accusations and counter-accusations are doing the rounds. I earnestly hope that all details of the matter should be laid open to the citizens of India.

I am not going to elaborate on these controversies, as they are already hotly debated on the SM and TV channels.

Present Scenario

India constructed a road to Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) in the Galwan Valley, this seems as one reason for the recent standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). 

China accused India of trying to change the status co and moved its troops and equipment to stop the construction activity which India was undertaking. India however, refuted the charge and stated that it was well within India’s side of LAC, where the construction was being undertaken.

India as well as China thereafter brought in reinforcements to Demchok, Daulat Beg Oldie, and around the Galwan River, as well as at Pangong Tso Lake in Ladakh. Before this, we have also witnessed skirmishes at Depsang plain in northern Ladakh during 2013, Chumar In eastern Ladakh in 2014, and Doklam on the east at Bhutan’s border with China in 2017. 

Honest Political intervention is required with immediate effect to bring back peace in the area. Summit level talks have been undertaken without much result and expectations of a solution had been raised, but going by the present situation it certainly seems that China is not inclined to agree to all the settlements.

 Escalation

At the beginning of May the Chinese side tried to stop the patrolling pattern which was prevalent. Thereafter in mid-May, the Chinese side attempted to infringe the LAC in Western Sector. MEA informed the country that appropriated action had been taken there and then. On June 6 a Senior Commanders meet was held, and de-escalation and disengagement were agreed upon on reciprocal actions. However on June 15 the Chinese troops took violent actions to alter the status quo. EAM S Jaishankar and Chinese FM Wang Yi spoke on the phone, where EAM asked China to reassess its actions and take corrective steps.

The faceoff had turned violent when the Chinese had attacked the Indian army boys in the zone where it was mandatory not to use weapons. Clubs had been used by the Chinese and “Colonel B Santosh Babu” was martyred along with 20 Indian brave hearts which created an uproar across the country. On one hand, the Indian masses registered their anger, demanding for an immediate boycott of all Chinese products, apps, etc., in short Indians now wanted a complete shutdown of interaction between the two countries, but on the other hand, a seething populace across India watched the opposition especially the Congress and CPI (M) asking irrelevant and weird questions. God alone knows what their compulsions are? Only a thorough investigation in the matter might bring to light the reason behind this atrocious behavior.

I am not ready to buy the arguments given by the opposition parties that they have the best interests of the country in their hearts and the GOI is floundering. They questioned the authenticity of the news, but the country, mourning its brave hearts, felt proud to learn that our boys had inflicted greater damages on their Chinese counterparts. The number of Chinese soldiers who had been killed by our boys is said to be more than 40, which is indeed gratifying. The news worked as a balm on the wounded hearts, who took consolation from the fact that our boys had outshined their rivals, that too even though they had used no arms. It was a proud moment for the country. The opposition, even today is hell-bent on questioning everything stated by the GOI, creating unrest and trying to sully the name of the government. They are coming across like bumbling fools, whose steps are extremely anti-national, to say the least.

One wonders what are their compulsions, why are they hell-bent to spoil the image of the motherland? They are accusing the GOI of surrendering our land and bowing before the Chinese might. Hard-core facts are being furnished before them yet they are refuting these and making wild accusations which certainly are unsubstantiated. This is a long-standing dispute and the party which ruled the country for almost six decades is trying to wash its hands off from their inefficiency.

Why are they shrilly accusing the GOI? Why had they not resolved the issue long back? What will they achieve by not standing by the country in such times? It cannot only be their wish to grab power, this seems to be far beyond power games and needs to be investigated with immediate effect. 

Waiting for the day when all outstanding issues will be cleared, the opposition investigated and the Dragon stop trying to bully its neighbors into giving up land which is lawfully theirs.

The GOI under Shri Narender Modi is certainly a different proposition altogether and will not let the martyrdom of its sons go unpunished.

Jai Hind 

NEPOTISM AND POLITICS - A LETHAL COMBO

The world woke up to the poignant news of a promising and talented star from Bollywood ending his life in abject misery. 

A numb descended over all his fans and well-wishers. His family was devastated, a gloom engulfed all movie buffs and the predominant question in all hearts was why. Here was a star whose latest movie had been a blockbuster, he was successful, was handsome and well-loved, then why had he taken this extreme step? No one had any answers but the spontaneous outpour of grief was not unexpected.

Sushant Singh Rajput, yes I was referring to his unfortunate suicide, as we all were waiting for information in the matter, slowly news started trickling in, which was pointing to a conspiracy of the worst kind. A gory tale of Nepotism, Professional jealousy, and politics in the film industry. Sushant had started proving his mettle in an industry, which was not very kind to outsiders. He had acted in 12 movies and had a success rate of 66.6 % which speaks a lot about his potential. This was precisely the reason why he was slowly being pushed out of the industry.

If this is authentic then, the obvious question to be asked is why the bigwigs of Bollywood were after his life. I am not a movie buff, yet whenever, while surfing channels, I came across Sushant, he seemed like a genuine, simple person with a captivating smile, which reflected in his eyes. It is hard to believe the stories being floated about him on SM that he had an attitude that was alienating the big production houses. Very, very hard to believe, isn’t it?

He has left a legacy behind him within the short span of his career, he has immortalized “M.S.Dhoni”. With all due credit to Dhoni, I would like to go a bit askew from the topic and state a fact. I have seen many cricketers who were the darling of the masses but with time their space has always been taken over by fresh talents. Not that, they have been completely wiped out from the memory of their fans, but the fact cannot be denied that they no longer are in the limelight. 

Comparatively, with his sterling portrayal of Dhoni, Sushant has immortalized him and been a part of the team which will always be credited for the same.

Coming back to Sushant, all the news related to his career is very disturbing, to say the least.SM has been flooded by videos of other stars, positively humiliating him and talking rubbish about him for no reason at all. 

Kangna Ranaut is one of the stars who has, in various videos that are in the public domain, directly accused Bollywood of Nepotism and being responsible for sabotaging his career. 

Below is a link to her latest statement in support of Sushant.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/kangana-ranaut-blasts-blind-items-in-wake-of-sushant-singh-rajput-s-death-asks-why-they-re-never-written-on-nepo-kids/story-h2TKVuFZlAnSceEWQ48vJK.html

Netizens have come out in large numbers in support and have called out the hypocrisy of the Bollywoodians, who on camera have said derogatory things about him but are now shedding crocodile tears. As I have already stated, it is said that he was being blocked by a coterie, his latest movie Drive was forced to release on NETFLIX, and this resulted in the movie faring very badly. A big Bollywood star has been accused of willfully trying to sabotage his career. The same star was indirectly also accused by no other than Govinda, of stopping his movies from being financed and also wrecking his career. 

Youtube links to his press conference: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqzR8MLEqlQ
and an interview given to the BBC:-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83l28vrb5wg

Many such videos are available wherein many stars are found accusing Bollywood Bigwigs of Nepotism. Nothing is shocking in this news as we have witnessed firsthand the farce which is undertaken in award functions. Movies that have bombed at the box office walk away with rewards whereas hit ones are neglected.

On closer scrutiny, one can observe that either the Director, Producer, or Stars are Bollywood insiders hence the movie was acclaimed at the awards function. 

Will furnish two examples in support one is the song “Teri Mitti” from the movie “Kesari” an Akshay Kumar starrer, being bypassed for a disgusting song from “Gully Boy”, frankly speaking, I don’t know the lyrics and am in no mood to google it. My point is one of the finest patriotic song received no accolades even though it was linked to a big star. This does not leave any scope for imagination about the clout of Nepotism prevalent in this industry. The second example I would like to cite is Sushant’s movie “Chhichhore” which was nominated but did not receive any Filmfare award but “Gully Boy” swept away most awards, why? Isn’t the answer obvious? 

“Student of the year 2” bombed at the box office yet won a couple of awards again a question how? 

These are silly questions for people who are out to spread a narrative that Sushant was suffering from depression and am sure they will come up with many more such flimsy reasons to divert the investigation from Nepotism.

So many people from the industry have come forward with their tales of woes, meted out to them because they are not considered industry insiders, nor do they have any “Godfather” in the industry. We also, from time to time have seen stars accused by newcomers of forcing them to be a part of the abominable casting couch practice. God alone knows how many more skeletons will fall out from the cupboards during this investigation. 

Thousands of starry-eyed kids from all over the country converge to Mumbai to make it big in Bollywood. Little do they know that they are getting into a maze with no path out of it. 

Many like Kangna Ranaut have the gumption to take on the mighty and stand on their feet firmly in the face of the toughest obstacles but hapless ones like Sushant buckle under the disappointments, public ridicule and in many cases bullied at every possible occasion. Entertainment has turned into a joke! In the name of FOE, nowadays we have a bunch of jokers, who love to deride Hindus and Hindu Gods, use double meaning dialogues (which are very vulgar), deride upcoming stars who do not belong to the coterie and publicly humiliate them.

We Indians have become an immoral society, by and large, we don’t even bat an eyelid when we set out to destroy the lives of others. The people who are supposed to take up the cudgels to uphold the moral values of society are the ones, who for material gains gladly stifle their integrity. Why blame the high and mighty of Bollywood or society? It is our acceptance of everything mutely which has brought things to such a pass. 

In the case of Bollywood, it is our unadulterated adulation that has turned them into many faced Jason. We Indians come in large numbers to protest on SM or the streets but we soon forget our outrage and latch onto the next issue. Today the people have rallied around in big numbers in support of two raging issues, one being Sushant’s unfortunate death and the other is the spontaneous anger in favor of martyred soldiers due to Chinese betrayal.

As far as Nepotism, corruption and taking recourse to politics, to destroy other people who may be a deterrent to your career or future endeavors is concerned, it is high time to put an end to all nefarious enterprises undertaken in all walks of our lives. The time has come to stick to our guns and demand for a thorough investigation and severe punishment should be meted out to the perpetrators, who covertly or overtly abated the suicide. We need to remember that reel life heroes are not real-life heroes. The society needs to be cleansed and only our strong resolve to rid the society of all ills will be the factor to carry this resolve out. So this time around let us not move on but demand for justice.

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ARE SANATANIS FANATICS?

    

Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!
Karl-Marx

Socialism took the world by storm, it had every ingredient to become successful for the masses, who had long been exploited by the ruling class it was God sent. However little did anyone imagine that it too would, ruthlessly stamp out all opposition? Years after all the mayhem that had been undertaken in the name of changing the world order, for the downtrodden is being stripped of all its Halo. Men after men and country after country are disowning this philosophy and the ugly truth behind the curtain is being enfolded. I am not here to you talk to you about Socialism, it’s a vast topic and a lot has already been written about its pros and cons, I want to tell my readers about my own journey from LW to RW.

Why did I all of a sudden chose to write on such a bizarre topic, well just this Sunday while talking to a cousin of mine, I asked her a few pointed questions about what exactly has she done to enhance her knowledge of SANATAN DHARMA ? First she put up a counter asking me what was DHARMA and then called me a FANATIC, as I told her to read the scriptures, instead of making sweeping statements based on her Macaulay designed,  leftist propagated education system, she reminded me that I too belonged to the same background. That, really set me thinking and I decided to write about my journey and asking the readers to judge me.

I was educated in convent school and belonging to a Bengali family I was a home bred communist. I remember distinctly how Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Karl Marx, in short the complete motley crowd, was idolized at home.  Being convent educated I, of course looked down upon all the people who could not speak in English. I considered myself elite, though now I can’t stop wondering why I had thought so. I was so arrogant, back in those days that I would not even interact with people who did not share the same ideology. I don’t remember, ever been called a fanatic by anyone who opposed my upbringing or my ideals.

It was much later, during my sophomore year in college that I came face to face with my warped   ideologies. Many in the college were from Hindi Medium schools, but I did not find any of them deficient at anything, in fact they were much better than me at almost everything. The only thing, I found myself good at was speaking English fluently, which too, did not cut much ice with my college mates. On closer scrutiny I found out that they were kids no different from me, then why had I grown up with the idea that I was a class above them. This was the point from where I started analyzing my upbringing and also all the socialism ideologies I had been taught to believe in. Extensive study unfolded a new perception on the topic, frankly speaking I did not like what I was reading at all.

It was during this phase that I married and got the second shock of my life, I belonged to an English speaking Bengali family and my in-laws were from an orthodox but simple God fearing background. Here their faith in God was unwavering, they accepted their fate  believing it to be their KARMA, whereas I had grown up questioning the existence of God, calling out his deeds, making fun of the RAMAYANA and believing Sita had been a victim of male chauvinism. Silently, I observed my new family and my thoughts underwent a massive change. I learnt to respect rituals and their necessity, respect God and not try to act to smart. None of the females in my family were restricted from either wearing the clothes of their choice or living their life the way they wanted to.

I had been under the impression that staunch followers of Sanatan Dharma were bigots, chauvinists and extremely backward in their beliefs. This I found out to be the complete untruth, here again observation and analysis made me understand that a massive disinformation had been undertaken by the leftists to divide and confuse the masses of India. Among the questions which rose in my mind was, “Who stood to benefit by this type of misinformation?” This question remained unanswered till I joined Twitter and gradually joined the RW. The “Rath Yatra” undertaken by L.K.Advani and the fiery speeches of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had already begun my tentative journey towards the RW and BJP. Many facts opened up before me, how the press had been hand in glove with the powers which ruled the country for such a long time, and had twisted facts and incidents to demean Sanatan Dharma and  its followers, how a conversion mafia was working overtime to convert gullible downtrodden people. I will elaborate some other time on this topic. The long and short of my findings is that I now strongly believe in my religion, am trying to know about, reading a lot of books one by one, so that I do not remain ignorant.

I no longer buy the stories by the so called great journalists, some of whom have gone on record to own up to their wrong doings, which by the way is all in the public domain. After witnessing their falsehood first hand on Twitter and other social media sites and their utter shamelessness I have come to the conclusion that we have been misled for a very very long time. That was the exact reason why I had crossed my cousin in the first place, as I wanted her to also try and see both sides of the story and then come to her own conclusions, but all I got was the tag of being a FANATIC!!!

FRIENDS I now leave it up to you to deliver my judgement.