Some may recall that in Oct 2003 I had written about this distressing fact while on my last visit to Rajasthan High Court , Jaipur. It is now clear that Vishwa Hindu Parishad is hand in glove with this.
As I was telling yesterday at ISKCON's Annual Chariot festival in DC's National Mall - to a white American couple -- ISKCON is diferent from Hinduism since in ISKCON"s Vaishnavism anyone can be a priest whereas in Hinduism casteism has made it near impossible for anyone except so-called Brahmins (ISKCON's Brahmins are of any race -as long as the get up at 4am and pray all day) --photos being forwarded.
More to follow -- we weren't even aware that the chariot fest was on July 4th till by accident we reahed the temple --were going somewhere esle but befre leaving home decided to visit this temple (my second visit after nearly one year) -and found the route on Google Map.
After half and hour there while leaving I found a leaflet there telling us abou the Chariot fest. I was at the 30th fest of LA on July 30th, 2006 with my ex-roommate Ramesh - now back in DC.
God's ways are mysterious!! We weathered a tornado and saw the 4th of July fireworks from there.
Umesh
PS: 4th of July ISKCON Photos being forwarded. Ya Ali Song (of Zubin-da Garg ) is famous in Afghanistan as well 0 in each car -- as per one of our new friend - in the photo
Rajen & Ajanta Barua <barua25 at hotmail.com> wrote: Is there not a separation of State and Religion in the seculiar Indian Constitution which prohibits such display of Hindu religeous figures in public place? How can the symbol of Manu harmless?
I think he is the cause of the overall deteriation of the Indian civilization.
RB
----- Original Message ----- From: "Chan Mahanta" <cmahanta at charter.net>
To: <assam at assamnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 2:01 PM
Subject: [Assam] From Tehelka---Manu's Memorial
> **** Is it a simple, harmless symbol of cultural heritage? Or is
> there a whole lot more to it?
>
> cm
>
>
>
>
> THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS
>
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main31.asp?filename=Cr070707shadow_lines.asp
>
> When a new building was constructed in Jaipur for the state High
> Court, the local Bar Association put forward a proposal for the
> installation of a statue of Manu to beautify the premises. From
> proposal to completion, the entire plan was kept a close secret,
> never made public until the statue was in place. Manu was the creator
> of the varna system under which Hindu society for centuries denied
> all basic human rights and dignity to Dalits. For us, a statue of
> Manu can only symbolise the unjust social structure imposed on us
> from time immemorial. All the oppression we continue to suffer is
> because of Manu and his treatise, the Manudharma Sastra.
>
>
> We turn to the courts when we are in trouble. Can we ever expect
> justice from a court which we enter looking at Manu's idol?
> The Constitution has attempted to improve the condition of Dalits
> through law, but Manu's words have been an unwritten stricture the
> law cannot touch. Had Manu's statue been installed anywhere else,
> perhaps we would not have cared to react. But to see such homage paid
> to a figure who represents all that is unjust in this society, and
> that too standing proud in the premises of the Rajasthan High Court,
> is shocking. It is beyond acceptance. We turn to the courts when we
> are in trouble, which for us is almost perennial. What worse message
> could we receive? Can we ever expect justice from a court which we
> enter looking at Manu's idol? It only tells us that even the High
> Court subscribes to Manu's ideology. On the other hand, the statue of
> Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of our Constitution, has been shunted to
> an invisible corner. It says a lot about the mentality of the
> judiciary and the government in Rajasthan. How is such a system to
> contribute to the constitutional ideal of a casteless society?
>
> The statue was installed on June 28, 1989, and we have been fighting
> it ever since. There were huge protests all over the state soon after
> it was put up, and a full bench of the High Court ordered that it be
> removed within 48 hours. We were all happy, but soon after that the
> Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Acharya Dharmendra filed a writ petition in
> the court of Justice Mahender Bhushan, who passed a stay order on
> July 27, 1989 - as a result the statue is there till date. There are
> many cases dating back to 1989 that have seen their final hearings,
> but not this one. Each time this case comes to a final hearing, the
> bench postpones it on the grounds that it is a very sensitive issue.
> But we will not give up easily - we haven't so far, and we will not
> in the future. We will continue to file applications asking for a
> final hearing in this case. We want to see how they will justify
> their deliberate delays.
>
> We install statues of Ambedkar because that's our way of reclaiming
> our lost dignity. But why is the government installing a statue of
> Manu? The very government which is supposed to have no biases towards
> any religion or caste. Let there be Manu statues wherever anyone
> pleases, but the government should not be a party to it.
>
> Mimroth is a Jaipur-based advocate
> As told to Praveen Donthi
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>_______________________________________________
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Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
---------------------------------
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