Sorry Ganesh, I forgot to complete the previous reply:
The points you missed are:
A: the egregious politics of religion as is being played out in Gujarat.
B: Tyranny of the religious majority.
C: Religious terrorism, as demonstrated in:
"The main objective is to put a full stop
to conversion of tribals."
The second paragraph there is a denunciation of the
Christian church. You learn that the slogan Hindu
jagao, Christi bhagao has become 'popular' in the Dangs
I have come here to drive away those who have come here to serve."
Dharmantran aur jehad ke vichaar ko
vishwa se nirmool karenge (We will remove conversions and the jehadi
mentality from this world).
E: Fake public service:
Oh, but plenty of village homes were lit by fires and
oil lamps. Some families used to have electricity and meters but
could not pay their bills. Why? One farmer told us that bills only
came once in two years, thus for large amounts like Rs 12,000. Unable
to pay - they could have managed smaller monthly bills - their meters
and supply were taken away.
So I have no idea what shabarikumbh.org means by claiming that all
352 villages have been electrifi
And later, as we drive past dark villages like Mukhammal and Jarsol
where meters were installed, then ripped out, we can see brightness
on that hill. Yes, the not-yet-finished temple has lights at night.
The villages don't
At 2:49 PM -0800 2/14/06, Ganesh C Bora wrote:
>C'da:
>
>I was trying to find what message the writer wants the
>reader to get. Is it
>- The Shabari Kumbh mela should not be there?
>- The only backward place in India?
>- The organizer is RSS or affiliated organizations?
>
>Have the writer ever visited 'Sahitya Sabha Odhibexon'
>in Assam? It is the same case. The place gets a
>face-lift. That is the reason why a place wants to
>organize such a MELA.
>
>Ganesh
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>--- Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> When It Comes To Power The RSS Knows Its Gods
>>
>> Why this hostility around an inspirational story
>> from a great epic?
>>
>> By Dilip D'Souza
>>
>> Dilip D'Souza
>> The road to Ahwa gets worse as we get closer to the
>> little town. We
>> can tell as much by the light of a full Sankrant
>> moon, playing
>> peekaboo as we wind through the hills; brilliant
>> burnt orange when we
>> first see it low on the horizon, gleaming silver
>> high into the sky as
>> the night wears on. Though really, I don't need the
>> moon to tell me
>> how bad the road is. The bumps suffice.
>>
>> On the right along one stretch, there's nothing
>> between us and the
>> dull gleam of a river. But wait, what are those
>> flickers of orange
>> just beyond the road's edge? Small fires. We've seen
>> plenty of those,
>> clumps of people huddled around them warding off the
>> January Dangs
>> chill. But here the fires seem...well, constricted.
>> These are fires
>> inside small shacks.
>>
>> These are labourers working on the road, living
>> beside it for the
>> duration, as migrant labour does. Labourers, come
>> 'home' for the
>> night. Shacks like these, all over the Dangs.
>>
>> So what's cooking here? The Shabari Kumbh mela,
>> 500,000 pilgrims
>> expected. Roads are being improved, but there's
>> more. Long tracts of
>> empty fields have sprouted poles, by the thousands,
>> for tents to
>> house pilgrims. Troughs have been dug and lined with
>> multi-coloured
>> toilets. Large plastic water tanks stand on concrete
>> platforms.
>> Electricity is making its way all over the district.
>> The Purna river
>> has had 22 check dams built on it to form
>> Pampasarovar, where
>> pilgrims are supposed to bathe.
>>
>> All this, because for years, tribals in the Dangs
>> have quietly
>> venerated a spot on top of a hill near dusty Subir.
>> Kumbh organisers
>> say this is where Shabari sat Ram and Lakshman while
>> she fed them
>> berries. So they are building a temple here, and
>> decided to hold this
>> celebration.
>>
>>
>> Hyper-reality: Shabari Kumbh poster
>>
>> Witness this inscription: We will remove
>> conversions and jehadi mentality from this
>> world...What does such
>> hostility have to do with
>> a tender story from a
>> great epic?
>> February 11, 12, 13, 2006: likely the most crowded
>> days the Dangs
>> will ever see. Yet, if faith is to be served, if
>> pilgrims are to find
>> spiritual fulfillment in the gentle waters of
>> man-made Pampasarovar -
>> why the things you hear about the event? An RSS
>> activist at the mela
>> office, Mahesh Daga said, "The main objective is to
>> put a full stop
>> to conversion of tribals."
>>
>> The Kumbh mela's website, shabarikumbh.org, has a
>> section, 'About
>> Kumbh'. The second paragraph there is a denunciation
>> of the Christian
>> church. You learn that the slogan Hindu jagao,
>> Christi bhagao has
>> become 'popular' in the Dangs. You learn that Swami
>> Aseemananda, one
>> of the moving spirits behind the mela, told
>> Christians here, "I have
>> come here to drive away those who have come here to
>> serve."
>>
>> What does such hostility have to do with a tender
>> story from a great
>> epic? 'About Kumbh' has more of interest.
>> "Organising a Kumbh in a
>> remote, heavily forested area is a nightmare," it
>> says. "The 352
> > villages in Dang district had no electricity or
>> roads ... There are
>> no medical facilities or eateries in the vicinity.
>> ... Realizing the
>> importance of (the Kumbh) the state government of
>> Shri Narendra Modi
>> has extended full cooperation (and) has undertaken
>> construction of
>> roads on a war footing. All the 352 villages of Dang
>> have got
>> electrification."
>>
>> Good. But consider: if the state government has
>> done so much since
>> the idea for the Kumbh, why was the Dangs deprived
>> before? After all,
>> Modi has been in power for several years. Why did it
>> need a Kumbh for
>> his government to bring electricity here, to
>> construct roads "on a
>> war footing"?
>>
>> The irony goes deeper. We drove between the
>> Navsari border and Ahwa
>> one night, between Pampasarovar and Ahwa the next
>> night. If you
>> discount Ahwa, the number of electric lights we saw
>> could be numbered
>> on two hands. Oh, but plenty of village homes were
>> lit by fires and
>> oil lamps. Some families used to have electricity
>> and meters but
>> could not pay their bills. Why? One farmer told us
>> that bills only
>> came once in two years, thus for large amounts like
>> Rs 12,000. Unable
>> to pay - they could have managed smaller monthly
>> bills - their meters
>> and supply were taken away.
>>
>> So I have no idea what shabarikumbh.org means by
>> claiming that all
>> 352 villages have been electrified.
>>
>> What is electrified, of course, is the temple.
>> Sited on top of a
>> hill with a magnificent view of forested slopes, the
>> Shabari Dham
>> temple promises to be a spectacular tribute to a
>> charming story. Yet
>> here too, there is hostility. To one side is a large
>> concrete water
>> tank, with this inscription: Dharmantran aur jehad
>> ke vichaar ko
>> vishwa se nirmool karenge (We will remove
>> conversions and the jehadi
>> mentality from this world).
>>
>> And later, as we drive past dark villages like
>> Mukhammal and Jarsol
>> where meters were installed, then ripped out, we can
>> see brightness
>> on that hill. Yes, the not-yet-finished temple has
>> lights at night.
>> The villages don't. Welcome to the Kumbh mela.
>>
>>
>> The writer is a Mumbai-based journalist
>>
>>
>> Feb 18 , 2006
>>
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