The Centre must explain why the army was used for Sri Sri Ravishankar's event

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

The Centre must explain why the army was used for Sri Sri Ravishankar's event
Especially when it was for a private organisation that could cause lasting damage to the Yamuna floodplains.
Ipsita Chakravarty · Today · 02:30 pm

Why did the government feel the need todeploy the army to build pontoon bridgesacross the Yamuna for a religious event held by a private organisation?

Nobody in the Central government has a satisfactory answer.

The ambitiously named World Culture Festival, which celebrates 35 years of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation, has run into trouble for flouting environmental regulations. In the latest instalment of the controversy, President Pranab Mukherjee, who was to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday, has pleaded “unavoidable circumstances” and opted out.

The grand plan

The three day festival has been planned on a mammoth scale, sprawling across 1,000 acres of the Yamuna flood plains. A massive, 40-feet high, multi-storeyed stage has been raised on steel rods, built to accommodate thousands of artists at the same time. Large white portable cabins and makeshift huts dot the grounds, and a temporary parking lot has also been set up.

Five pontoon bridges were to be built over Yamuna in order to ferry an estimated 35 lakh people coursing in and out of the venue.

There were also reports that the organisers were to inject an “enzyme” into the drains flowing into the Yamuna, in order to clean them.

The fragile ecology of the Yamuna is already under threat and experts feel that this latest jamboree will leave a permanent impact on the floodplains.

After environmentalists raised questions about the event, two fact-finding teams were sent to investigate. They returned with wildly differentfindings. While the team sent by the Delhi Development Authority said that no digging had taken place, the team headed by AK Gosain of IIT Delhi found a vast tract of land cleared of all natural vegetation and evidence of rampant construction.

After activist Manoj Misra of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan took the matter to the National Green Tribunal, a third investigative committee was set up. Based on its findings, the panel recommended that the Art of Living Foundation pay Rs 100-120 crore as reparations for damage caused. The NGT is toruleon the recommendations today.

Centre must speak

What cannot be explained is why the government chose to support this act of hubris and why it used the army instead of going to private contractors.

The army hadreportedlyasked why it should be put to such a task, to which officials were quoted as saying that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had replied that such arrangements were necessary to regulate crowds and prevent a stampede. Since the government had given permission for it, Parrikar was quoted to have said, it had to ensure that things ran smoothly. The defence ministry has sinceclarifiedthat such measures were taken for “security reasons”.

But why did the government give permission in the first place? And what imperative of “security” calls for such heavy construction? In the absence of a reasoned voice from the Centre, all we have heard are justifications from the Art of Living team and Sri Sri Ravishankar.

Some are unacceptable – the Art of Living festival is just like the Kumbh Mela, where thousands of people come together for the “greater good”. The greater good evidently does not include farmers who survive on the land andclaimthey were forced to move to make space for the event.

And some, put forward by the god man himself, must be mystical:

https://twitter.com/x/status/705430036774400000

By failing to make a case for itself to the public, the government has reinforced the impression that it does not prioritise environmental concerns, that it is a willing partner in the process of public commons and resources being cornered by powerful private interests. If it wants to dispel this impression, the Centre must speak.

 

[Samudra Manthan]

The Centre must explain why the army was used for Sri Sri Ravishankar's event
Especially when it was for a private organisation that could cause lasting damage to the Yamuna floodplains.
Ipsita Chakravarty · Today · 02:30 pm

Why did the government feel the need todeploy the army to build pontoon bridgesacross the Yamuna for a religious event held by a private organisation?

Nobody in the Central government has a satisfactory answer.

The ambitiously named World Culture Festival, which celebrates 35 years of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation, has run into trouble for flouting environmental regulations. In the latest instalment of the controversy, President Pranab Mukherjee, who was to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday, has pleaded “unavoidable circumstances” and opted out.

The grand plan

The three day festival has been planned on a mammoth scale, sprawling across 1,000 acres of the Yamuna flood plains. A massive, 40-feet high, multi-storeyed stage has been raised on steel rods, built to accommodate thousands of artists at the same time. Large white portable cabins and makeshift huts dot the grounds, and a temporary parking lot has also been set up.

Five pontoon bridges were to be built over Yamuna in order to ferry an estimated 35 lakh people coursing in and out of the venue.

There were also reports that the organisers were to inject an “enzyme” into the drains flowing into the Yamuna, in order to clean them.

The fragile ecology of the Yamuna is already under threat and experts feel that this latest jamboree will leave a permanent impact on the floodplains.

After environmentalists raised questions about the event, two fact-finding teams were sent to investigate. They returned with wildly differentfindings. While the team sent by the Delhi Development Authority said that no digging had taken place, the team headed by AK Gosain of IIT Delhi found a vast tract of land cleared of all natural vegetation and evidence of rampant construction.

After activist Manoj Misra of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan took the matter to the National Green Tribunal, a third investigative committee was set up. Based on its findings, the panel recommended that the Art of Living Foundation pay Rs 100-120 crore as reparations for damage caused. The NGT is toruleon the recommendations today.

Centre must speak

What cannot be explained is why the government chose to support this act of hubris and why it used the army instead of going to private contractors.

The army hadreportedlyasked why it should be put to such a task, to which officials were quoted as saying that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had replied that such arrangements were necessary to regulate crowds and prevent a stampede. Since the government had given permission for it, Parrikar was quoted to have said, it had to ensure that things ran smoothly. The defence ministry has sinceclarifiedthat such measures were taken for “security reasons”.

But why did the government give permission in the first place? And what imperative of “security” calls for such heavy construction? In the absence of a reasoned voice from the Centre, all we have heard are justifications from the Art of Living team and Sri Sri Ravishankar.

Some are unacceptable – the Art of Living festival is just like the Kumbh Mela, where thousands of people come together for the “greater good”. The greater good evidently does not include farmers who survive on the land andclaimthey were forced to move to make space for the event.

And some, put forward by the god man himself, must be mystical:

https://twitter.com/x/status/705430036774400000

By failing to make a case for itself to the public, the government has reinforced the impression that it does not prioritise environmental concerns, that it is a willing partner in the process of public commons and resources being cornered by powerful private interests. If it wants to dispel this impression, the Centre must speak.

Thank God for Art of Living World Culture Festival being held on the Yamuna flood plains. At least due to this event, the river will get cleaned. This is how it normally looks otherwise.

 

[ranjeet]

https://twitter.com/x/status/707142891940892673

 

[Lokanath]

Ipsita Chakravarty

Bengali Brahmin Strikes again.

I dedicate this thread to "raja" ram mohan roy........... one of the original "bong" sell out.

 

[Samudra Manthan]

Ipsita Chakravarty

Bengali Brahmin Strikes again.

I dedicate this thread to "raja" ram mohan roy........... one of the original "bong" sell out.

Even Rabindranath Tagore seems to be in the same category. Every single person who lived or studied in Shantiniketan seems to have come out with a severely atrophied brain. Check out Mrinal Pande's article to verify.

 

[Lokanath]

Even Rabindranath Tagore seems to be in the same category. Every single person who lived or studied in Shantiniketan seems to have come out with a severely atrophied brain. Check out Mrinal Pande's article to verify.

You have to understand where Rabindranath Tagore came from.

His Grandfather Dwarakanath Tagore was a real Scum and good friend and contemporary of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

Both of them were Bong Brahmins who sold out to the British and converted to Christianity and made their Money by selling Opium to the chinese. In other words they were super rich and powerful Drug Dealers.

They infact started the "Brahmo Samaj" in an attempt to dilute hinduism and highlight the "shameful" practices of Hinduism and encourage people to convert to christianity. And their target was other Bong Brahmins.

Due to their enormous power and wealth they were able to influence far too many Bong Brahmins and was able to "modernise" them to accept the British overlorship. In fact the Brahmo Samaj was solid behind the british during the 1857 Independence and abused and blamed the Sepoys who ironically was Majority Bong Brahmins.

Dwarakanath Tagore died but his Son Debendranath Tagore (rabindranath's father) rejected Christianity but also Hindu practices. But he did try to bring Brahmo Samaj back into Hinduism, only to end up splitting it in 1857.

So all the children (total 11) of Debendranath Tagore did not grow up as Hindus but as Brahmo samji's who vasilated between Christianity admirers and Hindu Haters. They were all schooled in "proper english" lifestyle and behaviour. (like our Nehru)

In fact Debendranath Tagore first insisted that Brahmo Samaj priests should only be "Brahmins" and then went on to reject the Hindu practice and tradition of the sacred thread ceremony and practice (apparently such rejection of Hindu practices is what passed for "Modern" in those days). For him the brahmo samaj was one way of keeping the British happy and sucking up to them while trying to hold on to the power that the Bong Brahmins held.

His children too all sort of paths, from loving the British and christianity by Satyendranath Tagore who was a Civil servant loyal to the British to Dwijendranath Tagore who actually started Shantiniketan as a "Brahmo samaj" Ashram and then later on turned it into a school.

Of course, today Shantiniketan is wrongly credited to Rabindranath Tagore.

But you can see how the British has managed to subvert the supposed intellectuals a.k.a the Bong Brahmins to first become drug traders, then adopt christianity and then hate hinduism. This is the tradition that continued in Shantiniketan disguised as "Modern Hinduism" and from there we can see it destroy the society to adopt Communism and then spread to JNU to make it into the mess it is today.

Rabindranath Tagore no doubt wrote the National anthem in praise of the British King George during his visit to Culcutta but later on he modified his thought to become more loyal to India. Same is true for Gandhi so we really have to see their life in totality and the end result.

 

[Samudra Manthan]

You have to understand where Rabindranath Tagore came from.

His Grandfather Dwarakanath Tagore was a real Scum and good friend and contemporary of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

Both of them were Bong Brahmins who sold out to the British and converted to Christianity and made their Money by selling Opium to the chinese. In other words they were super rich and powerful Drug Dealers.

They infact started the "Brahmo Samaj" in an attempt to dilute hinduism and highlight the "shameful" practices of Hinduism and encourage people to convert to christianity. And their target was other Bong Brahmins.

Due to their enormous power and wealth they were able to influence far too many Bong Brahmins and was able to "modernise" them to accept the British overlorship. In fact the Brahmo Samaj was solid behind the british during the 1857 Independence and abused and blamed the Sepoys who ironically was Majority Bong Brahmins.

Dwarakanath Tagore died but his Son Debendranath Tagore (rabindranath's father) rejected Christianity but also Hindu practices. But he did try to bring Brahmo Samaj back into Hinduism, only to end up splitting it in 1857.

So all the children (total 11) of Debendranath Tagore did not grow up as Hindus but as Brahmo samji's who vasilated between Christianity admirers and Hindu Haters. They were all schooled in "proper english" lifestyle and behaviour. (like our Nehru)

In fact Debendranath Tagore first insisted that Brahmo Samaj priests should only be "Brahmins" and then went on to reject the Hindu practice and tradition of the sacred thread ceremony and practice (apparently such rejection of Hindu practices is what passed for "Modern" in those days). For him the brahmo samaj was one way of keeping the British happy and sucking up to them while trying to hold on to the power that the Bong Brahmins held.

His children too all sort of paths, from loving the British and christianity by Satyendranath Tagore who was a Civil servant loyal to the British to Dwijendranath Tagore who actually started Shantiniketan as a "Brahmo samaj" Ashram and then later on turned it into a school.

Of course, today Shantiniketan is wrongly credited to Rabindranath Tagore.

But you can see how the British has managed to subvert the supposed intellectuals a.k.a the Bong Brahmins to first become drug traders, then adopt christianity and then hate hinduism. This is the tradition that continued in Shantiniketan disguised as "Modern Hinduism" and from there we can see it destroy the society to adopt Communism and then spread to JNU to make it into the mess it is today.

Rabindranath Tagore no doubt wrote the National anthem in praise of the British King George during his visit to Culcutta but later on he modified his thought to become more loyal to India. Same is true for Gandhi so we really have to see their life in totality and the end result.

Wow, lots of info

 

[Lokanath]

Wow, lots of info

Well here is some more.

The Rot in the system starts with Kulin Brahmins from where pretty much all the protagonists from the earlier write up comes from.

The Kulin Brahmins were the highest caste brahmins in bengal (hirachy even among brahmins) and they were also thick with those in Power. They pretty much sucked up to anyone in power.

In that sense they Kulin brahmins were pretty similar to Namboodri's in Kerala. Only it was a LOT worse among the Kulin brahmins who usually had upto 36-40 wives. There are recorded instances of Kulin Brahmins having upto 100, 82, 72, 65, 60, and 42 wives.

The Kulin married only to keep their property within their control. Like the parsis they could only marry into their own community and hence they had polygamy to ensure the wealth did not go out. if anyone married outside the community they lost the inheritance which was substantial and India was generally very poor in those days. This resulted in old men marrying many young brahmin girls which is what gave rise to "Hindu reforms".

Because there were so many wives, the chances of one of the wives poisoning her husband was very real. Which is why the Kulin Brahmins forcibly implemented "Sati" for their wives to ensure no wife would kill her husband because then she too would be burnt alive. This was very unique to Bengal brahmins.

The Sati could only be stopped by other Kulin Brahmins and they usually took a Hefty fee from the other wives and family members to wave this away. Families who wanted to kill their surviving daughter in Law so that they could inherit the wealth would refuse to pay the "fee" and condemn the girls to Sati. This of course was exceedingly rare. In fact after the "reform" only two such Sati practices was ever stopped in bengal.

Raja Ram Mohan roy wanted to cut off the income the other brahmins (who opposed him) made from this sophisticated extortion and hence he petitioned the British to "Reform hinduism" and Ban "sati". The British of course did this to please their new slavish collaborators and proclaimed that they have "saved the hindus from their barbaric practices". It was a win win for the Brits.


During the Muslim rule, these same brahmins learnt Persian and continued to serve the kings in oppressing the general masses and when they British came, they just learnt English and started serving their new masters.

When the communist came they started serving the communist masters and now with TMC they will serve mamata Banerjee.

The more things change, they more they remain the same.

 

[Samudra Manthan]

Well here is some more.

The Rot in the system starts with Kulin Brahmins from where pretty much all the protagonists from the earlier write up comes from.

The Kulin Brahmins were the highest caste brahmins in bengal (hirachy even among brahmins) and they were also thick with those in Power. They pretty much sucked up to anyone in power.

In that sense they Kulin brahmins were pretty similar to Namboodri's in Kerala. Only it was a LOT worse among the Kulin brahmins who usually had upto 36-40 wives. There are recorded instances of Kulin Brahmins having upto 100, 82, 72, 65, 60, and 42 wives.

The Kulin married only to keep their property within their control. Like the parsis they could only marry into their own community and hence they had polygamy to ensure the wealth did not go out. if anyone married outside the community they lost the inheritance which was substantial and India was generally very poor in those days. This resulted in old men marrying many young brahmin girls which is what gave rise to "Hindu reforms".

Because there were so many wives, the chances of one of the wives poisoning her husband was very real. Which is why the Kulin Brahmins forcibly implemented "Sati" for their wives to ensure no wife would kill her husband because then she too would be burnt alive. This was very unique to Bengal brahmins.

The Sati could only be stopped by other Kulin Brahmins and they usually took a Hefty fee from the other wives and family members to wave this away. Families who wanted to kill their surviving daughter in Law so that they could inherit the wealth would refuse to pay the "fee" and condemn the girls to Sati. This of course was exceedingly rare. In fact after the "reform" only two such Sati practices was ever stopped in bengal.

Raja Ram Mohan roy wanted to cut off the income the other brahmins (who opposed him) made from this sophisticated extortion and hence he petitioned the British to "Reform hinduism" and Ban "sati". The British of course did this to please their new slavish collaborators and proclaimed that they have "saved the hindus from their barbaric practices". It was a win win for the Brits.


During the Muslim rule, these same brahmins learnt Persian and continued to serve the kings in oppressing the general masses and when they British came, they just learnt English and started serving their new masters.

When the communist came they started serving the communist masters and now with TMC they will serve mamata Banerjee.

The more things change, they more they remain they same.

In their blood it seems.

 

[Lokanath]

In their blood it seems.

That would be generalization, but it has an element of truth in it.

As I said before, the 1857 Independence was primarily led by the Brahmins since they constituted the majority of the sepoys back then. I would suspect they initially joined the British to fight the Muslim rules of Bengal.

Kulin Brahmins had some good eggs too. Ishwar Chandra Vidasagar was one of the better bloke from the Kulin Brahmins. But even he allowed the british to station a garrison inside the Sanskrit college during 1857.

But unlike the Mohan Roys and tagors, he chose to reform the Hindu society from within. Not by using British laws.

Vidyasagar was also a member of Brahmo Samaj but he spoke up against the christian agenda of the Samaj.


BTW are you aware that the "Brahmo samaj" has asked the Supreme court to grant it "Minority Status" ? .... the SC has referred it to the NDA govt. Let us see how that plays out.

 

[Samudra Manthan]

That would be generalization, but it has an element of truth in it.

As I said before, the 1857 Independence was primarily led by the Brahmins since they constituted the majority of the sepoys back then. I would suspect they initially joined the British to fight the Muslim rules of Bengal.

Kulin Brahmins had some good eggs too. Ishwar Chandra Vidasagar was one of the better bloke from the Kulin Brahmins. But even he allowed the british to station a garrison inside the Sanskrit college during 1857.

But unlike the Mohan Roys and tagors, he chose to reform the Hindu society from within. Not by using British laws.

Vidyasagar was also a member of Brahmo Samaj but he spoke up against the christian agenda of the Samaj.


BTW are you aware that the "Brahmo samaj" has asked the Supreme court to grant it "Minority Status" ? .... the SC has referred it to the NDA govt. Let us see how that plays out.

They could very well be granted minority status. It revolts me to consider them as Hindus considering their philosophy. There are hardly a few thousand Brahmo Samajis at best I guess.

 

[Lokanath]

They could very well be granted minority status. It revolts me to consider them as Hindus considering their philosophy. There are hardly a few thousand Brahmo Samajis at best I guess.

Well all this while they at least pretended to be hindus. Now they have thrown away the veneer completely.

What it shows is that they do not see the value in pretending to be hindus anymore. They see more benefit from being a Non Hindu. That is the worrying trend because it tells its own story of hindu emasculation in Bengal.


On the topic of Kulin Brahmins, these are the most popular surnames of Kulins. So the next time you hear these names, you know who or what you are dealing with.

Banerjee
Bhattacharya
Chaterjee
Mukherjee
Ganguly

Chatopadhyay
Bandopadhyay
Bhattacharjee
Gangopadhyay
Mukhopadhyay

Their diluted versions are,

Chakraborty
Roy
Choudhury
Majumdar
Moitra


You can be pretty sure the "secular" variety you meet in PDF or elsewhere will carry one of these names.