EXCLUSIVELY 'MY GOD' SYNDROME AND CONCEPT OF TALIBAN :
NOW AMERICAN TALIBAN !
The Afghan and the American Taliban are good examples of what happens when people take their respective scriptures literally and seriously .They provide a horrifying modern enactment of what life might have been like under the theocracy of old testament.Here are words of 'peace-love-tolerance' from American Taliban :-
Quotes from the The American Taliban
The web page called 'American Taliban' is a particularly rich source of obnoxiously barmy quotations beginning with a prize one from somebody called Ann Coulter:-

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

"Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."

Bailey Smith
"With all due respect to those dear people, my friend, God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew."

Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America)

"Yes, religion and politics do mix. America is a nation based on biblical principles. Christian values dominate our government. The test of those values is the Bible. Politicians who do not use the bible to guide their public and private lives do not belong in office."

Bob Dornan (Rep. R-CA)
"Don't use the word 'gay' unless it's an acronym for 'Got Aids Yet'"

David Barton (Wallbuilders)

"There should be absolutely no 'Separation of Church and State' in America."

David Trosch
"Sodomy is a graver sin than murder. – Unless there is life there can be no murder."

Fred Phelps (Westboro Baptist Church)
"If you got to castrate your miserable self with a piece of rusty barb wire, do it."

"Hear the word of the LORD, America, fag-enablers are worse than the fags themselves, and will be punished in the everlasting lake of fire!"

"You telling these miserable, Hell-bound, bath house-wallowing, anal-copulating fags that God loves them!? You have bats in the belfry!"

"American Veterans are to blame for the fag takeover of this nation. They have the power in their political lobby to influence the zeitgeist, get the fags out of the military, and back in the closet where they belong!"

"Not only is homosexuality a sin, but anyone who supports fags is just as guilty as they are. You are both worthy of death."

Gary Bauer (American Values)

"We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe."

Gary North (Institute for Christian Economics)
"The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church's public marks of the covenant–baptism and holy communion–must be denied citizenship."

"This is God's world, not Satan's. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians."

Gary Potter (Catholics for Christian Political Action)

"When the Christian majority takes over this country, there will be no satanic churches, no more free distribution of pornography, no more talk of rights for homosexuals. After the Christian majority takes control, pluralism will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not permit anybody the right to practice evil."

George Bush Sr. (President of the United States)
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."

FAILURE TO PROTECT ARTISTIC RIGHTS;
BOTH RIGHT AND LEFT HAVE FAILED MISERABLY TO UPHOLD IDEALS OF FREE EXPRESSION-AS ENSHRINED IN THE CONSTITUTION !
It is on the record that atheistic communists have not been far behind religious chauvinists.The left front Government of West Bengal banned the works of Taslima Nasreen,merely because a few angry men had claimed that they were 'unislamic'.Nasreen had been exiled from her native Bangla Desh and naturally wished to be based in a Bengali speaking region of India.But the communists refused even to provide protection for her in Kolkata,so that she had to leave the city to seek refuge elsewhere.
In this regard,Hindu bigots have matched and perhaps even outperformed,their Islamic counterparts.Before they trained their guns on Ramanujan and Doniger,they had set  about persecuting  Maqbool Fida Hussain.Exhibitions of his work were vandalized in several cities.Then, in a malevolent systematically orchestrated campaign,a series of cases were filed against him in many different locations. In desperation,Hussain moved overseas.India's best loved painter had been forced to flee his homeland.
And of late,it is a sad commentary on the state of our nation,that a bunch of narrow minded bigots [claiming to speak in the name of 'Hinduism']can so easily have well researched,very readable and deeply insightful works of internationally acclaimed author Doniger's works,withdrawn,banned or burnt.
How can this trend of persecution and harassment be reversed ?It would help if the lower courts do not so recklessly entertain cases so clearly mala fide in intent.It would also help if at least the bigger publishers show more courage in the face of intimidation.And it would help most of all  if the political class shows some commitment to upholding the ideals of free expression enshrined in the constitution.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONCE AGAIN JEOPARDIZED;
INDOLOGIST WENDY DONIGER'S BOOK TITLES-'HINDUISM AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY "WITHDRAWN" FROM INDIAN MARKET; LITERATI DISAPPOINTED !

New Delhi : Expressing unhappiness over Penguin India's decision to withdraw US Indologist Wendy Doniger's book "The Hindu: An Alternative History" from the Indian market, the literati circuit Wednesday said such decisions encourage "self censorship" and undermine freedom of expression.

The withdrawal came Tuesday after the publishers went for an out-of-court settlement with Dinanath Batra of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Committee who had filed a civil suit and two criminal complaints.

"The decision to withdraw the book is both alarming and depressing, as are the complaints which led to the withdrawal. Hinduism is a resilient and enduring religion and a way of life and it is difficult to imagine how it might be under threat from an individual book, however much one might agree or not agree with the contents," novelist Namita Gokhale told IANS.

"The Indian tradition of 'samvad' (communication) and 'vad vivad' (debate), of dissertation through assertion and refutation, needs to be honoured. Banning books encourages a culture of self censorship that can be extremely harmful," she added.

The book was published in India in 2011, and a petition was filed saying it has "historical errors" and Doniger had given a pornographic twist to Hindu objects of worship.

Doniger is regarded as one of the finest scholars of Hinduism and is currently a professor of history of religions at the University of Chicago's Divinity School.

Throughout this debate, Penguin India remained silent, and came under severe criticism.

Members of PEN All-India Centre in Mumbai and the PEN Delhi Centre said decisions like these undermine freedom of expression.

"Choosing to settle the matter out of court, instead of challenging an adverse judgment, narrows India's intellectual discourse and significantly undermines freedom of expression," the statement said Wednesday.

"We do not know why Penguin took the decision and expect the publisher to be transparent about the circumstances in which it made the decision, which comes at a time when Indian publishers have faced waves of threats from litigants, vigilante groups and politicians," it added.

Author Manreet Sodhi Someshwar said it was a shame to curb freedom of expression in a democratic country.

"It is an excellent book and gives the perspective into the Hindu faith from the lens of minorities, Dalits, women and animals," Someshwar, author of "The Long Walk Home", told IANS.

"If you don't like a book, don't read it. Better still, come up with a superior argument," she added.

Author Anand Neelakantan, who has presented a reinterpretation of the Ramayana from Ravana's viewpoint and is now doing the same with the Mahabharata from the Kaurava perspective, said people are angry because it is written by an "outsider".

"This uproar has more to do with Indian sensibilities who feel anything written by a western (author) is flawed. There were no inaccuracies, it is just how you describe facts and are able to say things without tampering with history," he told IANS.

"Our culture has always had such criticism of history and mythology in Indian writings, especially regional. It has more to do with the 'outsider' image of the author," he added.

PEN All-India Centre also said removal of books from bookshops violates free speech and it strongly opposes these decisions.

POWERS AND PRIVILEGES OF A WOMAN IN AN ISLAMIC POLITY.
In Islam, two wise women are equal to one stupid man when it comes to appearing in a court of law as a witness or when there is a matter of inheritance.
A woman is privileged to stay at home, administer cooking, bear children and grow them as a sacred duty to utilize her genius in a so productive way. She is blessed with the role of acting as sexual object, decoration piece and child bearing machine until she gets clumsy. However she is encouraged to accompany her man to the war front in order to wage jihad against enemy.
In case a woman of enemy is captured during war, she is blessed with the right of either being distributed among Mujahideen or sold as a slave. Muslim forces are allowed to keep them as concubines also to facilitate the execution of erotic instincts of the captured women.
A Muslim woman is given the power to cover her body properly so that her modesty should help the erotic feelings of the innocent Muslim men to avoid raping her. In case she has the privilege to commit adultery, she embraces the divinity through availing herself of stoning to death.
It is a great privilege that her husband can have four wives at the same time if he is able to do 'justice' with all of them. Polyandry is not permissible in an Islamic society for it is totally 'unnatural'.
In case she is raped mistakenly by some misguided Muslim man under the influence of satanic forces, she is required to produce four adult pious Muslim witnesses in a court of law who patiently witnessed the actual penetration. If she is unable to make these pious adult male Muslim witnesses to show patience till the actual penetration occurs, she may be charged for adultery for not being able to show presence of mind, gather four pious adult male Muslims and make them stay to witness the penetration.
In case she chooses to work outside her home in an Islamic polity, she is expected to embrace sexual embarrassment with an examplary patience while working in a factory, office or a shop.
It is an inalienable right of a Muslim woman in an Islamic polity to get murdered in the name of honor. She also enjoys the facility of being exchanged as Vanni. It is the characteristic of an Islamic polity to practice acid throwing on the faces of women so that they may be able to undergo plastic surgeries time and again to keep up their beauty.

RAHUL GANDHI :PANACEA OF EMPOWERMENT ALL THE WAY !

Arnab Goswami: Specifically speaking how is Narendra Modi, your party criticised him for the 2002 Gujarat riots, and how can you do that when he has been given a clean chit…. Do you believe that strategy of your party is fundamentally wrong?  

Rahul Gandhi: The strategy of the party is very simple. Everything we have done over that last 5-10years, in fact if you look all the way back to the freedom movement, every single thing we have ever done is empower people. We empowered people in the freedom movement, we empowered farmers in the Green revolution, and we empowered the citizens of India when we did the telecom revolution. We have empowered millions and millions of people through frankly the most powerful legislation that has ever taken place in this country called the RTI- Right to information. Things that used to be closed, things that were in closed doors which nobody knew about.

those who advocate Modi do not realise that the problem is not so much the man himself, but his party, the BJP, and the ideological and social baggage he will bring with him as PM. Modi has signalled that he would moderate his Hindutva stand and concentrate on economic policy and improved governance as in Gujarat. Much of his campaign has been along these lines. But Modi’s appointment would immediately encourage the RSS and a host of extreme rightwing fringe organisations belonging to the Sangh Parivar, such as the VHP and Bajrang Dal among others, who would be more difficult to control than in the past.

The RSS, of which Modi has been a pracharak, has supported his candidature. It is doubtful he will be able to resist them if he wins— something that even Atal Bihari Vajpayee found difficult. The VHP has taken up sensitive issues such cow slaughter, converting Christian tribals to Hinduism, including some reports of forced conversion and violence in 2004 and 2008, and played a role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It has threatened to find and expose those involved in “Islamic terrorism” in the country. The VHP, in decline in Uttar Pradesh, received a new lease of life from the religious Chaurasi Parikrama Yatra it tried to organise in Ayodhya in August last year, which contributed to the growing polarisation between the Hindu and Muslim communities in the state, and the Muzaffarnagar riots.

The Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini constitute the youth wings of the VHP and claim large membership across many states. Their activists together with the Sri Ram Sene have indulged in numerous acts of moral policing leading to violence. The Bajrang Dal has invaded gift shops and restaurants on Valentine’s Day, and threatened young couples. In 2008, the Ram Sena vandalised an exhibition of M.F. Husain’s works, claiming that the nude depiction of gods and goddesses was “indecent” and offensive to Hindu culture; in January 2009, its workers barged into a pub in Mangalore and attacked young men and women, alleging that the latter were violating traditional Hindu values.

The question is whether Modi, heading a BJP-led coalition, will be able to control these various Hindu Right organisations and their leaders and withstand their pressures to introduce changes that could affect the secular fabric of Indian society and create dangerous polarisation among communities. Bhalla considers the economic and governance benefits that Modi as PM might provide, but does not take into account the social divisions and anarchy it might introduce. Sections of the party are still wedded to a fundamentalist Hindutva ideology and it is this danger that looms if Modi succeeds in becoming PM. The BJP today is facing a generational change, and is in a post-Vajpayee, post-Advani phase. It is not clear in which direction it will move.

The writer   Sudha Pai                       is professor at the Centre for Political Studies and rector, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.