Chetan Bhagat is the biggest ‘Bhakt’ as per his definition

At the risk of being repetitive, I would state that Chetan Bhagat is the most perfect example of a ‘Bhakt’ as he meets the following 4 necessary/sufficient conditions more than anyone

1.      He is a male (don’t know if he has any other covert gender)

2.      He is weak in English. He might have written a few English novels but mind you they have more grammatical mistakes than the number of copies they were sold. He suffers from an intrinsic inferiority complex as he admits in the article to which this response is written. He is ashamed of admitting the glorious past of ancient India as he might be mocked at, in his elite social circles for being a ‘proud’ Indian.

3.      He is as sexist and abusive towards woman as a worst man can be. His article, mocking women who preferred to be housewives (read women who make chapattis) draw criticism from all corners.

4.      Finally, he is someone who is ashamed of his country, leaves no stone unturned to paint a fake picture showing his country in the wrong light and is both ignorant and ashamed of Hindi and anything remotely related to Hinduism.

Way to treat women?

He again shows sexism when he talks about “proper way to behave with women”. I mean should his ‘bhakts’ behave with men differently from how they behave with women? So as per Bhagat, it is perfectly okay to give seventh hell’s abuse to a man, because a man can take it.

Hiding behind Low IQ Celebrity Trolls

If you need to hide behind someone of the intellectual level of Sagarika Ghose, who is extremely low in IQ but really high in propaganda, then it shows both your moral as well as intellectual bankruptcy. Time and again Sagarika Ghose has been caught red handed for lying, making contradictory statements on an issue, showing strong inclination towards a political party and ideology. She might have good English but when it comes to substance, Ghose’s articles and views would make a filthy garbage bin look like pure gold, in comparison. Shruti Seth likewise, other than her cute smile and some dumb TV appearances has little to offer on intellect. These elitists might be high and heavy on money and fame but when it comes to intellect, I would be willing to put my goat to compete with these self proclaimed intellectuals and it is my belief that the goat will win with flying colours. Mr. Bhagat what you have forgotten is that the message is important. It is not important who presents the argument, whether ‘Internet Hindus’ or Internet Bimbos like you or Sagarika. The real important thing is the message and the content of the argument. Play on the content, not the poster. Men and women die but the message (if worthy) lives through eternity.

Blind Support

If someone believes that Modi’s supporters on social media have been blindly supporting Modi then he/she is blinder than the word ‘blind’. Most, if not all of his known supporters in Social Media have been chasing Mr. Modi and have been asking him tough questions on his pre poll promises. A quick glance on Twitter Timelines of his know supporters (anon handles discounted) would reveal that these supporters who are wrongfully termed as ‘Bhakts’ by Internet Bimbos, have played the actual role of constructive opposition which this country so desperately needed. Also the issues raised by these people have been far more meaningful than the fake issues raised by mediocre opposition and Indian Media on an agenda

Fascist Mindset

Expression of free speech is our fundamental right and some celebrity trolls creating noise about it does not take this right away from an average Indian. You and your biases aside, no one can take away this right from Indians. Sagarika Ghose might have coined a farcial term ‘Internet Hindus’ but it is because of these social media users, her article gets hits and views and low IQ Internet Bimbos like her stay in business despite writing trash and junk

Ignore You

A part of me would urge everyone to ignore your article and the trash talk you posted in Dainik Bhaskar today. However I know that you have a reasonable Social Media clout and you can influence opinions, so it was important to nullify your lies and there was only 1 way to do it; to speak the truth.

You may be a bestselling author with lakhs of copies sold across the country but do not forget that we live in a country which gave 67 seats to AAP and 60 years to Congress after being ruled by much a smaller country for centuries; so numbers do not necessarily tell the true story. Perhaps you have more in common with Arvind Kejriwal than just an IIT degree.

Sincerely

Not a ‘Bhakt’

BJP has made many mistakes but allying with PDP isn't one of them

PDP-BJP alliance would be no different from an India-Pakistan alliance or a USA-USSR alliance. 2 extremely opposite poles but bound by a common axis. Many BJP supporters would have been perplexed by this decision. PDP's soft stand on terrorism and separatism is well known and the incumbent CM of the alliance made his intentions well known by his acts one after the another. He is clearly working on his agenda but what of BJP? BJP seems to lose the popular support of educated masses who are largely against any soft stand on terrorism or the draconian and controversial Article 370. BJP has made far too many goof ups and mistakes in its short rule of 9 months but sharing power with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir is definitely not one of them. I would try to list down a few reasons as to why it is really important for BJP to be in power in the northern state

Security - India has been attacked countless times through the northern corridor. It is important that the party which is ruling the centre, rules the state as well. It would be foolhardy to believe that India's incumbent NSA and former ace spy Ajit Doval wouldn't have had a say in this. He is a man who works behind the scenes. In his scheme of things it would have been really important to share power in Jammu and Kashmir to implement is plans in a prudent and pragmatic way, even if it came at the cost of BJP losing some popular support. Most (if not all) of BJP's supporters are not as wise and well informed as Ajit Doval. What he is doing is probably for the best and needs support, not outrage

Balance - As PDP represents 1 pole, BJP represents the other. With BJP in the alliance, the PDP's adventurous steps, like cosying up to separatists, appeasing Pro pakistani elements will be kept in check. Mufti govt. would realize the resistance he faces, as compared to the widespread support, he would have enjoyed from another posisble ally Congress in his adventurism. BJP was fast to dismiss Mufti's claims of terrorists having a role to play in free and fair elections in the valley.

Relevance -  PDP has a choice. It can choose NC or Congress or both and still keep on doing things which are not perceived to be in India's interests. So BJP's presence in this alliance is irrelevant as they would not have any control over this. PDP can well ally with Congress and still do those acts. BJP and its supporters can do nothing but gulp these things. However with BJP in power, it can pinch PDP regularly, act as a nuisance if not a strong resistance, which would ultimately bring down such embarrassing moments and possibly PDP may start behaving properly.

History - BJP, (even under [perceived softer leadership of Vajpayee) played a key role in neutralizing terrorism in Punjab, Assam and some of the other north eastern states. A 'more aggressive'  Modi would be equally good if not better than Vajpayee. They need to be given some time. Terrorism took some time to fade out in both Punjab and Assam. If the same can be done in Jammu and Kashmir, it would be an amazing feat.

The surface of the ocean is vast, but it is not the only truth. The great depths of truth, still lay undiscovered before everyone. Time needs to be given. It is a sensitive issue and requires the support. There are a LOT of issues where BJP needs to be cornered and questioned (not enough action on Economic front, no strong action on Corrupt and corruptions, adopting double standards on Secularism, using Congres sbrand of appeasement etc) but this is not one of those.

Delhi Polls - Why the Media backed 'Opinion' Polls are Misleading?

It is as if AAP has got hold of some 'Bramhastra'. The party which was predicted to go into an oblivion post Delhi Assembly elections 2015, not 2 months ago, is now suddenly being hailed as a sure shot winner by its all time Cheer Leaders, the Indian mainstream Media. What exactly changed in the last 2 months? What trick did BJP miss? I would try to analyze how much of it is true and trustworthy, but before all of this a short note on who this election is really fought between.

Battle Royale

It will be quite incorrect to say this fight is between BJP and AAP (not because Congress is a non entity here). It would also be incorrect to say that this fight is between 2 individuals Bedi vs Kejriwal or Modi vs AAP or Kejriwal vs Shah etc. In real terms, BJP had lost the fight even before it began. BJP had no answer to AAP's carpet bombing. Thousands of energized AAP volunteers swarmed the city and visited every potential household, they assessed, might vote for them. In contrast BJP was relying on Modi rallies and eventually paid a good price for sitting idle. However their supporters were not silent and campaigned aggressively both in Social media and on Ground. On the other hand, AAP, despite having a strong campaign was not taken well by the voters. They had help, from the Media. Media played one giant role in negating the perception of 'Bhagoda' about Kejriwal. Moments back an 'independent' journalist in ABP news said AAP completed all its promises (free bijli, free water) except Lokpal and when it could not pass Lokpal, it left the govt. due to moral reasons. Now how true is that? Did AAP not leave for Kejriwal's Prime Ministerial ambitions? So in a way it would not be wrong to say that in effect, Delhi elections are between Indian Media and BJP supporters with AAP and BJP acting as the face of these two entities.

Lutyens dominated Media supports AAP as it is their last resort to undermine their nemesis, Modi. Not for no reasons have these opinion polls sprung up, hailing Kejriwal to be heading for a sweeping victory. Let's analyze these polls from an electoral viewpoint.

Story the numbers tell

How did the parties fair in last 2 polls
AS 2013 - BJP 33%, AAP 30%, Congress 25%
LS 2014 - BJP 47%, AAP 33%, Congress 15%

To naked eyes, it may appear that both BJP and AAP gained at the expense of Congress and Others, with BJP gaining more in the Lok Sabha elections, compared to the Assembly. However this is not true. Various sampling experiments reveal that AAP lost a SIGNIFICANT chunk of voters to BJP, especially the educated and/or middle class voters who were fed up with the AAP theatrics. This could be as high as 10% of the voters base. Some of these would also include voters who voted Kejriwal for CM but wanted Modi as PM. So the new figures should have been BJP 43%, AAP 20% and Congress 25% but the story does not end here. BJP would also gain some votes from Congress (~2% due to National Anti Incumbency) and Others (~2% due to BJP being a National party). On the other hand, many Congress floater voters (who were/are anti BJP) would not have voted AAP in Assembly thinking it to be a wastage would have considered AAP as a more viable Anti BJP alternative in Lok Sabha, so as high as 8% of them would migrate to AAP. AAP would also gain 5% from the 'Others' section as historically, these voters were neither fond of BJP nor Congress. So rightfully the number read 47%, 33% and 15%. So it is conclusive that AAP did lose a huge chunk of votes in the Lok Sabha.

The Loyal Voter Base

Each party has a dedicated votebase.
BJP - If one analyzes BJP's voteshare across elections, it has hovered around 33% to 52% in last few terms, and never went below 33% (at the peak of AAP wave) in the last two and a half decades decade. So it is safe to assume, BJP has a loyal vote base of 30% in Delhi

Congress - Congress has degrown since 2009 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. Their low of 25% in Assembly 2013 was soon eclipsed by a new low of 15% in Lok Sabha 2014. Despite that fact that Congress was a loser in Assembly and a sure shot loser in 2014, 15% still held on to it. However some of these may realize that voting a losing entity is going to be futile and except for a few scattered pockets, Congress' story is all but over this time, so atleast a 1/3rd of the voters, the educated and the less emotional one would desert Congress, pegged at around 5%. So the loyal votebase for Congress is 10%

AAP - There are very few elections to analyze AAP's loyal base but the 2 elections DO give a story. As mentioned earlier, a huge chunk (as high as 10%) deserted AAP in Lok Sabha. However 20% of them still hung on to the party, despite its failures, theatrics and over ambitiousness. So AAP loyal vote base forms of 20%

Others - Small parties like BSP, INLD, SP etc have their pockets of influence in the city. Add to it the independents. The others vote share was around 5% in Lok Sabha and 12% in Assembly, which is understandable given that voters tend to polarize towards known parties in Lok Sabha elections than in Assembly. Also due to the higher number of seats in Assembly (70 to 7), the number of Independents with localized influence increase in an Assembly election. Hence the others would have a Loyal vote base of 10%.

Total Loyal Vote Base = 30% + 10% + 20% + 10% = 70%

The Floater Voter Base

These are the voters who would decide the fate of this election or any election for that matter. In 2013 and 2014 and even before that, these voters have shifted their allegiances across parties. But who are these voters and who are they likely to vote this time and for what reason? Let us try to further segregate these voters into segments and try to analyze which way they would vote.

1. Young Urban women (3%) - Aged between 18 to 35, they are approximately 3% in number. This does not mean that there are just 5% women in Delhi between the age of 18 and 35. This means that those women who do not have any party loyalty are approximately 3%
Who did they vote in 2013? - Possibly AAP
Who will they vote in 2014? - Possibly BJP
Who will they vote in 2015? - Possibly BJP
Driving Reason - Face of Kiran Bedi and issues related to women
Is there a swing compared to 2014 - No

2. Non Anti BJP Minorities (6%) - This group comprises mostly of voters who are not hostile to BJP and can vote to any party which they perceive would raise there issues
Who did they vote in 2013? AAP, BJP, Congress in that order
Who did they vote in 2014? BJP, AAP, Congress in that order
Who will they vote in 2015? AAP BJP Congress in that order
Driving Reason - BJP govt. did some work for them bu not enough to be perceived
Is there a swing compared to 2014 - Yes

3 Rural Settlers population, working class (5%) - This is the group which comprises of rural class (excluding above 2 categories)
Who did they vote in 2013? Congress, BJP, AAP in that order
Who did they vote in 2014? BJP, Congress, AAP in that order
Who will they vote in 2015? BJP, AAP, Congress in that order
Driving Reason - BJP's promise of rehab and growing pro poor image
Is there a swing compared to 2014 - Yes for AAP, No for BJP

4 Poor and weaker sections (11%) - The group of people who represent the poorest of the poor who lack even the basic facilities.
Who did they vote in 2013? AAP, Congress, BJP in that order
Who did they vote in 2014? AAP, BJP, Congress in that order
Who will they vote in 2015? AAP, BJP, Congress in that order
Driving Reason - AAP has been successful in convincing this set of voters and hence will get a major chunk of it
Is there a swing compared to 2014 - No

5 Others (5%) - The remaining population who are mostly in the outer areas of Delhi.
Who did they vote in 2013? BJP, Congress, AAP in that order
Who did they vote in 2014? BJP, Congress, AAP in that order
Who will they vote in 2015? BJP AAP, Congress in that order
Driving Reason - AAP was limited to the city region in 2013 but has now penetrated into the outskirts
Is there a swing compared to 2014 - Yes

The above 5 categories are mutually exclusive among themselves and one is not present in the 2nd. However these 5 categories are not exhaustive and would also be present in the 'loyal' voter base of the respective parties.

The partywise takeway of floater base would be

BJP - 1.5%+2%+2.5%+3%+2.5% = 11.5%
Congress - 0%+1%+0.5%+0.5%+0.5% = 2.5%
AAP - 1.5%+3%+2%+7.5%+2% = 16%

AAP would walk away with the majority of floater vote base as per my analysis, BJP a close 2nd and Congress not in the picture. The total voteshare would hence look like
BJP - 30+11.5 = 41.5%
Congress - 10+2.5 = 12.5%
AAP - 20+16 = 36%
Others - 10%

At a this vote share (BJP 41.5%, AAP, 36%, Congress 12.5%, Others 10%), the seats tally should hover around
BJP - 50-54
AAP - 12-16
Congress - 1-5
Others - 0-2

Hence the Media run Opinion Polls with the story of sudden surge of Kejriwal should be taken with a sack of salt.

To conclude, this is just an individual analysis without backing of any segregated sample survey. So it is possible that the analysis might not hold true during the counting day and results are quite different from what is stated here. However if logic is to be believed, the results should not be much different from what is stated here. What happens eventually will be known that day, for Indian voters have a knack of giving surprising results.

10 Reasons to vote out AAP forever

Elections are back in Delhi but the daily dosage of AAP 'tamasha' continued after May 2014 Polls and as AAP does, it has continued to be in election mode, whether or not there was an election around. A significant percentage of AAP's support, across India has been disillusioned even after the Lok Sabha elections in last May. Their free fall which started in January 2015, has continued till date. It was evident from the Assembly Bye Polls in Punjab later in 2014, when AAP lost deposits in all the seats, just a few months after stunning everyone by winning 100% of their (4) Lok Sabha seats from the state. But what would become of Delhi? Only Time will tell if Delhites are willing to correct their mistakes of 2013 or not but here are 10 reasons why they should strongly consider voting out AAP this time and making it irrelevant forever so that no other opportunist thug dares to fool people in the name of revolution.

1. Surrender to Kiran Bedi  - Not once but thrice, has Arvind Kejriwal offered Ms. Bedi, AAP's CM candidature and she has rejected it all the 3 times. Each time during elections, Kejriwal would offer her CM post, after getting nervous by the news of Bedi joining BJP. In doing so he acknowledged that Bedi was and is a far better face for CM than Kejriwal himself and why not? Afterall Kiran Bedi was receiving honours as a fearless IPS officer when Kejriwal was playing peekaboo as a child.
2. No Cliche No story - Last time one used to hear cliched terms like 'Lokpal', 'Swaraj', 'RTI', 'Raw Data', 'Raw Video' etc. Kejriwal had fed these terms to his Troll army who had mugged up these key words to answer any question that came their way. This time these words are missing but there are new sets of cliches, "Free Bijli" "Free Pani", "No Corruption". Well these new cliched terms like Free Bijli, Free Pani et all are as useless as the previous ones in solving the problems of Delhites which are (or were), high food inflation, Law and order, women security, Jobs for youth, business environment. Not to mention the Free bijli was never free and there was no water for many of them, let alone free water
3. More hypocritical than the word hypocrite - Kejriwal wanted every one to resign from Reliance, HSBC and other corrupt companies. On his nomination, to flex his muscle, he appealed to all his blind followers to take leave and descend to his nomination venue. He, then cribbed about how his wife could not join him because she was unable to take leave. So the paid time offs or resignations apply to everyone else but to him and his holy family. He has a different set of rules for him, compared to others. This was just an example. My intention is to finish this blog and hence would not give more examples of his hypocrisy
4. Camera fever - Not many of you would have read the story of the 'evil' aunt who was jealous of the beauty of her niece the princess and her obsession never let our out of her makeup room. Kejriwal has a similar obsession with the Camera. He wants to remain in news. Being in news is as important to him as breathing or drinking water. No other politician has ever been so publicity hungry as Kejriwal. He will do itemgiri even if he becomes CM again. to remain in news. A man whose chores are appearing for interviews will never find time to work for those who elected him
5. What LIES beneath. - In my previous blog, I already highlighted how AAP ran deceitful campaigns about increasing prices of Cancer drugs. There is not a day which has gone by, when Kejriwal has not uttered a plethora of lies. To mention one of the many million lies, he had said during Lok Sabha elections, " I will never leave Varanasi. Even if I lose i will stay here and work". Any child would know how many times Kejriwal has gone to Varanasi since his one sided loss. If one can lie shamelessly in the name of his children, there is no reason to believe him when he says; "I promise to work for you now and not repeat mistakes of last time" or for that matter when he says ANYTHING.
6. AAP School of certification - Well some have already faced it, but soon, everyone will. Once people start questioning AAP, they will be branded as Traitors, corrupts and agents of every industrialist to have walked this planet. Just moments back I saw AAP Trolls were abusing Bhushans (both Shanti and Prashant) for questioning Kejriwal. I have no sympathy for Bhushans for their stand on various issues but those who couldn't even stand by the Founding fathers and chief Chanda Donors of the party, will they stand with anyone else? Be ready to get a Certificate from AAP on anything you say against them
7. Corruption - Yes you read it right. AAP is as corrupt (if not more) than any of the other mainstream party. Just because they give some fictional donor list on their website does not make them 'honest'. Their sources of funds are as grey as it can get. Fictional names like Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru have donated to AAP. This is the transparency they talk about. It is a pity that other parties like BJP are too incompetent to highlight their fraud.
8. Chaos -  AAP believes in creating chaos, dharnas and jams. If you do not remember those Dharna days of last January-February, you will do well to remember how their rowdyism and hooliganism affect day to day life of city dwellers. It is not a faking news that AAP Trolls descended in a hospital, when they were in power and forcefully administered TB medicines to patients who were not even TB patients. You surely do not want to face a situation where an AAP volunteer forces you to take Diabetes medicine, when you do not suffer from Diabetes just out of good intention.
9. Ambani Agent - Guess which government gifted Rs 300 Crores to Ambani from the taxes you pay? It was a government which keeps calling everyone Ambani agent. They had promised to make Electricity cheaper by acting against 'corrupt' power distribution companies but instead what they do? Take a portion of the money from the taxes you pay, meant to build schools, hospitals, roads etc and give it to Ambani, in the form of Subsidy. And TV channels like Aaj tak, CNN-IBN which have significant stake of the Ambanis do give immense coverage to Kejriwal. Surely one has to be an Ambani agent to get so much of footage from his channels. It would be interesting to find out what Kejriwal and Co. did in 2013 after which TV channels lifted the 8 month black out on him. (Kejriwal was blacked out by TV channels from December 2012 to Mid 2013, but all of a sudden he started to get abysmally high coverage)
10. And More lies - By now if anyone still doubts that Kejriwal is not a 'Jhooth ka Pulinda';, he needs to see a Psychiatrist and not keep browsing internet for consoling self about his innocence. Last month I saw posters of a survey by Total TV which claimed AAP to win with thumping majority, only to be thrashed by the Channel's Chief editor who refuted such claims to be 'imaginary'.

I am not here to support any BJP or Congress. This post is solely against AAP and urges the readers (especially those who are from Delhi) to vote out AAP and make this party irrelevant forever.. There are a lot of bad politicians around, we do not need more of them. We need those who can clean the mess, not those who spread 'Rayata' and 'Gandagi'. 

Media Terrorism overwhelms PM Narendra Modi

For 12 years, current Indian Prime Minister defied numerous bouts of Media's propaganda and deliberate campaign by a group of powerful Media Editors across electronic channels and print editions, who were infamously termed as 'News Traders' by the PM himself during his run up to the election for the office of the Prime Minister. The more they attacked the man, the stronger he grew. Thanks to a vast army of Online supporters who were well informed, rebellious and aggressive towards every Media misreporting for they had found an alternative channel (Social Media) to counter the propaganda. They would have expected that the Media misreporting would come to a halt once Modi assumes the office of the Prime Minister. They were soon proved wrong.

In the last few months, the kind of rumour mongering undertaken by Indian Media would ace bring fiction writers to shame. This report  gives only a small percentage of hit jobs undertaken by the Indian Media. The main targets for these reports other than the PM himself have primarily been HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Former Health Minister Harshvardhan and even non political entities which have a leaning towards the Modi govt. Scores of examples are there when Media tried to either blow any particular issue out of proportion, creating a mountain out of a molehill or completely misreport a particular item. I will select a few of these and analyze them.

Some critical issues, grossly mishandled by Indian Media recently

1. Conversion Row - The conversion row which stormed the Parliament was the umpteenth instance where one could see a clear nexus between Opposition parties and the Media Terrorists working in tandem. Lopsided debate would hog the limelight of the prime time shows. The same would be used to create an uproar in Parliament and that in turn would feed media reporting subsequently. This was a vicious cycle of sorts. Media got exposed here on 2 counts. First, their desperate attempt to link the Conversion row with the rise of Hindu extremism. Anyone who knows how to use Google would know that such events are mundane stuff. Even in 2013, 2012 and the years before that, the Hinduwadi organizations have been executing 'reconversions' of people who mostly followed Christianity or Islam. Media cannot get benefit of doubt on this for not knowing about this because ordinary citizens like me know about these 'reconversions' through Archived articles of Media websites so it is a foregone conclusion that those who have reported these events in the past (albeit with far lesser coverage than now) would definitely know about these events and their attempt to link it to the rise of Hindu extremism, at best reeks of some foul play. Second, their silence on similar conversions over the last 60 years from Hinduism to Christianity/Islam and not question the conversions of other institutions , Christian Missionaries to be specific and there much ambitious PROJECT JOSHUA, using Money, Power and deception; is enough to infer that Media is playing to the agenda and not reporting properly
2. Black Money Handling - To be honest, I have not been very happy about the way, Modi govt. has gone about the Black Money issue. However there is no reason to question their integrity and honesty at this point. The process they have adopted is slow and bureaucratic in nature and there might still be a long way to go before black money is retrieved. However the Media reporting on this was something which BJP never promised. They have allowed opposition parties to highlight a fake claim of bringing money within 100 days, which PM or any of his colleagues never promised. Moreover, they tried to blow the Supreme Court's comments on this issue out of proportions, without showing the actual official judgement from the Hon'ble Court. The Media again, appears to be working on an agenda and would somehow want to make it appear that the current Govt. has been a failure in just 100 days of assuming office.
3. HRD & Health Ministries hitjobs - From running stories like "Health Budget has been cut mid year" to "Prices of essential drugs have been raised by 10 times", Media has pioneered the art of 'Fiction News reporting, because none of these news were true. Coming to HRD Ministry, Media's ill intentions were discovered at an early stage when they tried to create a non existent fire of 'Saffronization of Indian Education". From reports like "Non Veg food banned in IIT" to "Schooling compulsory on Christmas Day", not only has the media indulged in false reporting, but also deliberately trying to give issues a communal colour. For example 25th December was chosen as 'Good Governance Day' because it happens to be former PM and BJP patron AB Vajpayee's birthday along with the birthday of Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, but many renowned journalists and editors tried to give it a communal colour by linking it with 'Christmas being hijacked by Hinduwadis'. It can only be left to one's imagination as to why did Media choose these 2 ministers. One of them fought Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, while other fought Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi 2013, both of them were pushed and publicized by the Media beyond measure during Elections. Was there any agenda behind hitting these 2 ministers, is something only they can tell
4. Attack on the Security Apparatus - The lesser said about this issue, the better. Media wanted Press conferences to be conducted by PM on Chinese incursions and Pakistani ceasefire violations on the Border. Such a situation becomes a devil-ditch situation for the governments. They cannot say anything publicly on acts against rival nations to maintain plausible deniability and simultaneously, they cannot deny inaction before their public as well. Under such a situation, it is the duty of the Media to play along with the govt. However Media made multiple attempts to trap the govt. on these issues. The admission of such acts would lead India to a war like situation before Chine/Pakistan. The deniability of such acts would make the local populace fill with agony against Govt's inactions. Again Media chose to dictate agenda, for entities best known to them.

Almost 8 months have passed but the Indian Media, by and large continues to present views as news. The shift of regime at the centre has had little affects on their loyalty. One can think of 3 possible reasons for this

1. Media Leanings -  The example (1) above gives the feeling that Indian Media by and large is Left leaning, Anti Hindu and Anti Development. There may be Nationalist elements in its fold but in the current situation, the important and powerful positions in the Media is being occupied by Leftists who want to create the fear psychosis of 'Hindu Fundamentalists' destroying their 'Idea of India'
2. Link with Enemies -  Media's tie ups with foreign agencies, especially of Pakistan cannot be ruled out. If one carefully analyzes the stand taken by prominent Indian Journos and Anti India forces such as Lashkar -e- Taiyabba, JuD, ISI etc, they are found to be exactly the same. Be it the plight of forcefully exiled Kashmiri Hindus, Indian Army, War on Terrorism or Narendra Modi
3. Pressure of the Powerful -  It is possible that Media is not doing these intentionally but out of threat and pressure from those who would lose politically, monetarily and otherwise if such sort of reporting is not done.

What Steps should the Narendra Modi government take to counter Media terrorism?

In my views, Narendra Modi should stop acting like Vajpayee or Nehru and start acting like Sardar Patel for which he was elected. Some of these steps would be to.

1. Pass strict laws and impose laws on Media, allowing government to take stern action on cases pertaining to Internal Security threats due to misreporting
2. Set example by acting against Corrupt channels (for example shutting down a TV channel for its Tax Frauds will make other channels fall in line)
3. File a horde of lawsuits against all those who have indulged in Media Terrorism and make them pay for it financially.
4. Do not allow Cabinet Ministers to give random interviews. Ministry should have only 1 official press briefing channels with no direct access of any Minister to any journalist

Other steps would include

1. Ensure that PM Modi, does not play to the agenda of Media. In a survey Modi was described as 'loved by millions and hated by hundreds'. He would do well to not risk the love of these millions by trying to impress those hundreds who hate him
2. Use the mandate to take stern actions and set examples. Play it smart and not allow Media to force actions of rogue elements to officials
3. Modi has got votes not just for Development, but to strengthen Secularism of the country. He should make honest efforts to bridge the disparity by working on the real agendas of majority community (Kashmiri Hindus, bringing equal laws for all)which has been oppressed for centuries
4. Also break the backbone of Media by starting investigations against the Corrupt politicians who act as lifelines to the Media terrorists.

Modi did not reach where he is because of the Media. he reached there, in spite of it and with the support of millions of his followers. Riding 2 boats may not bring him to shore. He has to choose wisely and the one which has been a proven success formula for him.

A Sarcasm on Indian Secularism

It has been almost 66 years; we celebrated freedom from the British. But how bad things still are, can be ascertained by the fact that, 95% of the Indian population still lives in Malaria endemic areas. The problem persists now in all seasons, for the mosquitoes have acclimatized themselves in extreme weather conditions. In the holy city of Haridwar, a billion strong swarm of mosquitoes started to wreck havoc on the local citizens. Large scale diseases such as Malaria, Dengue etc started to spread. The citizens were concerned about their health and deteriorating hygiene conditions in the city. A group of 5 self appointed people decided to meet CM Akhilesh Yadav as the Municipal Corporation had proved to be ineffective in dealing with the situation and seek a permanent solution to this menace. They hoped that the CM would provide them an apt solution, but instead he gifted them a Mosquito Spray (which had already proved ineffective) with pictures of CM and his father below the nozzle. CM also said that he had promised to work for the development of Minorities of the State, since the area of Haridwar which was mosquito affected, hardly had any minorities, the young CM wasn't too keen on addressing those issues.

The group then decided to meet PM Manmohan Singh, hoping for a solution. In order to fix a meeting, they took help of an online petition form, requesting the PM to allot his precious time for a meeting with the group. The online petition was signed by 1.5 million citizens of Haridwar. When this information came to Shashi Tharoor, he tweeted "There cannot be 1.5 million Indians whose blood would have been sucked. I am sure either that the people are fake or their blood is fake". After a lot of struggle the group was able to meet PM. There was a long discussion, where the group explained in lengths, the problems faced by them. The PM listened patiently without opening his mouth; then signalled the group to call on his mobile. When one of them called, the ringtone was a song with the words, "Hazaron Solutions se achhi hai meri khamoshi" The group hoped that now only God could help them and God did help them. Winter descended in Haridwar. Most of the mosquitoes died due to the chill, the remaining went to hibernation. Only 1 mosquito whose name was 'M' remained; M too migrated to Azamgarh, as Haridwar was too cold for it to survive.

'M' was hungry for days as it had spent days without food (blood) and water on its way to Azamgarh. Once it reached Azamgarh, it started feasting upon the local populace. It also started breeding and once again the population of Mosquitoes started increasing. The 'majority' of the population in Azamgarh was 'Minority'. The mosquito started gaining popularity for its seemingly immortal life, as it never died of anything and just kept feasting on people's blood. Famous news anchor Sagarika Ghose wanted to cover the story, but was too scared of 'M'. Hence she let her cameraman go there alone and record the video of 'M' biting people and upload it on YouTube. Ms. Ghose used internet to see the video of 'M' on YouTube and gave 'M' a new name, 'Internet Mosquito'. Thanks to the intense media coverage, the news spread across the country like a wildfire and also reached Delhi & Hyderabad. Home Minister Shinde felt that this mosquito had been bred in RSS terror camps, as it left Haridwar and started sucking the blood of people in Azamgarh. He called the mosquito a 'Saffron mosquito'. Although he could not do anything to get that mosquito eliminated. Down south in Hyderabad, MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi was furious on Home Minister Shinde's inaction. He called upon the 150 Crore Muslims across the world and asked them to spare '15 minutes' each, so that this enemy could be eliminated.

Digvijay Singh and famous Bollywood film director Mahesh Bhatt, called it an RSS conspiracy and demanded elimination of mosquito by using Nuclear Bomb. Amaresh Mishra tweeted that, the mosquito was a rapist and a murderer as it had sucked the blood of many innocent women and must be eliminated. Meanwhile, CM Akhilesh Yadav, upon instructions of his father created a special task force to end the nemesis of 'M'. Laloo Yadav advised him to use a poisoned 'fodder' as a bait, but 'M' consumed only blood, so it would mean poisoning someone's blood, leaving him dead. Hence this option was ruled out. NDTV reporter Barkha Dutt saw unimaginable things. She saw the mosquito getting inside human bodies. "The mosquito also sucked the blood of an unborn foetus by getting inside the mother's womb", she reported. Student activists in JNU started protesting against this. They started a 'Mosquito elimination' campaign in New Delhi. They went on streets of Delhi to kill the Delhi mosquitoes as UP mosquito 'M' was beyond their reach. Suddenly one of the Comrades crushed a fat mosquito and red blood spilled out. They got confused seeing the 'Red' colour and abandoned their campaign midway. A day later, there was a sensational leak from cable Wiki leaks. It said that Congress PM aspirant Rahul Gandhi considered the threat of 'M' in India to be bigger than any form of terror, law & order, healthcare, defense, internal security and the worsening economic situation of the country. After a lot of efforts, 'M' was captured and was to be presented before a Court of Law, for spilling so much Blood. Years went by but Police was yet to file a charge sheet and present 'M' before a court of law.

All the news channels prime time were devoted to 'M' and lots of discussion went by to suggest what should be done with 'M', so that such an act is never committed in future. Mamta Bannerjee demanded passing a special law in the Parliament, which would block the entry of Mosquitoes in 'Special Minority Zones'. While all the intellectuals of the country were busy thinking an apt punishment for the mosquito 'M', there was a sudden turn of events. Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, issued a Fatwa, saying that the mosquito 'M' had drank a lot of Muslim blood and hence more muslim blood flew in his veins than any other and therefore, should be considered one among the Minority. Leader of Opposition, Ms. Sushma Swaraj said that mosquito had no colour. It was neither saffron, nor green, it was just black and she cursed Home Minister Shinde for painting the issue with any particular colour. Home Minister Shinde was looking for corners, and retaliated that it was Manishankar Aiyer who filled his mind with that crap. He regretted his statement of 'saffron mosquito' and by mistake, instead of saying black, said that the mosquito was 'red' in colour. Upon hearing this, the Communists started raising Anti Shinde Slogan. A confused and apologetic Shinde didn't realize what just happened. So the parliament got adjourned for 1 week. Justice Katju wept a lot and wrote an emotional letter to the President of India. In his letter, he requested the President to pardon the mosquito as it had suffered a lot in prison. Further it had a family and 'M' was immature so it should be pardoned. Social Activist Arundhati Roy suddenly woke up from her slumber and started protesting over violation of 'Mosquito Rights' of 'M'.

Ram Vilas Paswan, who last won any kind of election over 2 decades ago backed Katju and went a step further ahead. He gave an interview to Dainik Jagran and said that his party LJP, which had zero MPs in parliament and zero MLAs in Bihar Legislative Assembly would support that party which fielded 'M' as the Prime Ministerial Candidate in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Laloo Yadav who once had devised a plot to eliminate 'M', now welcomed Paswan's statement and said that the next PM should be someone with Secular credentials. Nitish Kumar, opposed him on naming 'M' as the next PM candidate, but supported that the PM must have Secular credentials. Later on he gave conditional support to 'M' saying that if 'M', provided a special status for backward state Bihar, his party would support his PM candidature. Mulayam Singh Yadav neither supported, nor opposed 'M'. He just said that the next PM would be from Uttar Pradesh (Interestingly both 'M' and Mulayam are from Uttar Pradesh). His son, CM Akhilesh Yadav, released all the mosquitoes who were captured by the UP police earlier, as a mark of respect to 'M'. Mayawati wanted to hoist the Indian flag from Red Fort, but sacrificed her pursuit for power and supported 'M' under the conditions that, 'M' would appoint a 'Dalit' as his deputy PM and that he would carve an elephant statue made of pure marble and bigger than the Taj Mahal in the city of Agra. TDP chief and former Andhra CM Chandra Babu Naidu, started joining forces with various regional parties to form a 'Third Front' with 'M' as its PM face. No sooner did he start the process than his dreams were deflated by Digvijay Singh, who said that in past and in future, no Third Front can stand without Congress support.

Arvind Kejriwal conducted a press conference and exposed seventy thousand politicians who were corrupt. He then said that 'M' was innocent and his party workers would do an indefinite fast in Jantar Mantar to protest M's arrest and name him the unanimous PM without any elections. His party colleague, Prashant Bhushan voiced similar opinions and blamed intelligence agency RAW for maligning 'M' which was innocent. Sagarika Ghose was sweating in a TV program and was quite nervous, if 'M' became PM, he might trouble her as she had once named him 'Internet Mosquito'. Well known 'Historian' Ramchanda Guha fully supported 'M' to be the PM candidate. He said that there was only one criterion which he wanted to see in a PM was; "He must neither be from the Gandhi family nor Narendra Modi". Social Activist Arundhati Roy too supported 'M' for the top job but she had a long list of demands. She wanted that as soon as 'M' becomes the PM, he must give away; Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan to Pakistan; Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to China; entire North East to Myanmar; West Bengal to Bangladesh; Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka and Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh as a separate country to the Naxalites. Whatever remained could be considered as the territory of India. When we last heard from Rahul Gandhi, he was practicing to develop some wings on his body. Someone told him that a bee could become a PM, a mosquito could become a PM but he could not. He thought both bee and mosquito had 1 feature in common, 'wings', hence this urgency to develop wings on his body. 'M' was slowly and steadily gaining popularity and was on course to become India's next PM; While he continued to suck the blood of Hindus and Muslims alike, no one seemed to have a problem with this.

I saw this all and went to sleep after tuning on my radio, which was playing my favourite Nana Patekar song, "Ek Secularization S**** Machhar ko PM bana deta hai".

Author : Suyash Bharadwaj | Follow the writer twitter.com/Suyash75 | Disclaimer: This story is just a work of imagination. While the characters exist in real Life, they are just used here to strengthen the course and connect of the story. Any character mentioned in this story has no relation with this story in any form. The story is just a comic analysis of the various problems we face as a society.

An Ideal Worship

Some of us believe in God while others don’t. For those of us who believe, we try to meet Him and attain ‘Moksh’ (Salvation). One of the ways to reach God is to pray/worship. Different Religions do practice different forms of worship. Sanatan Dharm (Hinduism) is arguably the oldest religion of this world but what sets it apart from others is not its antiquity but its rich cultural heritage and the diverse and flexible methods of practice. There are several ways to reach God in Hinduism. As per the Hindu belief system, each living organism has an ‘Aatma’ (Soul) which is immortal while its body is mortal. A soul undergoes periodic cycle of Life and death. While the soul remains immortal, the body is mortal and once its time is up, the soul leaves the body and acquires a new one, very much in the same way as we replace our old clothes with new ones. The cycle of acquiring new bodies and leaving it continues until the Soul attains salvation from this Life-Death cycle and merges with the Paramatma (The Eternal Soul). Each living being has its own way of attaining Salvation from the earthly affairs and to reach and merge with The Eternal Soul (God).

Atheists and Monotheists worldwide have joined hands together to criticize the concept of Hinduism. The chief reason for this criticism is that, unlike other religions, there is no founder of Hinduism; there are no written Laws, no set of codes and conducts, no prescriptions or proscriptions which are radical. Ironically the non fundamentalist nature of Hinduism is criticized which should be a matter great pride. Truth is, Hinduism is one of the most flexible and adaptable religion in this planet. As someone said, “Hinduism is a way of life, not a mere religion”. It means that one can choose whatever he/she wants., one can take any path he/she wants to tread and still can be a Hindu, even if it is different from majority. Compared to this flexibility, in case of monotheist religions particularly the Abrahamic religions, one can be termed as infidel to the religion even if he slightly deviates from the ‘prescribed’ beliefs of One God. In Hinduism, the flexibility is so high that one can be an Atheist and still be a Hindu. Very few know about the concept of ‘Samkhya Karika’, an old philosophical school in Hinduism, started by Sage Kapil. Samkhya recognizes that salvation is achieved when the Purush (Human) dissociates himself from the Prakruti (Nature) and the earthly affairs.

Let us now look into some of the many ways which can be chosen to attain Salvation

Bhakti (Devotion) – Dedicate yourself to God and the God will find you, which effectively means you will find God. Bhakti means complete devotion to God and establishing interconnection between the God and your innerself. So what exactly does God mean in Hinduism? As already explained above, God is simply the concept of Paramatma (Eternal Soul). There are more than 350 million Deities in various Hindu schools of philosophies combined together and one can devote self to any one of them. Critics inadvertently criticize this concept of Polytheism saying there is no Fixed God. They forget that this flexibility offers them millions of path (chosen as per self will) to reach God, than a fixed unique path prescribed and bonded with several sets of prescriptions and proscriptions.

Karm (Kerma/Duty) – Each individual has been assigned duty. If he performs his actions duly, morally and legitimately, he can attain Salvation, For God himself says “Perform your Kerma and don’t bother about the results”. You will get what you rightfully earn. To put things simpler, here goes an interesting story. Once Sage Deity ‘Naarad’ a bhakta (Devotee) of Lord Vishnu, asked him. “God, who do you think is your biggest devotee? I think it is me, because I chant your name every now and then”. God replied “Son, it is not you; it is a farmer who stays on Earth”. Interested in this farmer, Sage Narad, went to see him. He observed his actions and to his surprise, he found the farmer chanting God’s name just once in the morning, when he began his day. Astonished, he went to see God and asked him how come someone who took his name in prayer just once, was a bigger devotee than himself who prayed to God 24 hours a day. To this God gave him a simple test and asked him to take a cup fully brimming with oil and do 3 Parikramas (Circumbulation) of the earth. Sage Narad would be declared the biggest devotee if he successfully completes 3 revolutions of Earth without spilling a single jot of oil. Sage Narad took the test. With his heavenly powers, he travelled as fast as the Sun and completed the journey in 3 days. With his remarkable concentration in the job, he was successful and not even a tiny drop of Oil spilled. Happy he went to God to claim his title. Upon his arrival, God asked, “Son how many times you took my name when you were busy concentrating not so spill the oil”? Narad was astonished and realized that it was not merely praying to god or taking his names that mattered, one also had to responsibly carry out what has been assigned to him. The way of Kerma, which simply means “What goes around comes around”.

Dharm (Rightful Action) - Many people think Dharm is same as Religion. It is slightly different. Dharm means following the Rightful methods. It means performing Noble actions and having Noble thoughts. So you can reach the God by your Noble deeds. If you serve the needy, the poor, the destitute, it is same as serving God. If you take care of any creation of God Living or Non Living, you are directly taking care of God and hence it is no different than Serving God himself.

There are multiple other ways to attain Salvation. Right now we will limit ourselves to the 1st one, ‘Bhakti’ or Devotion. The 1st stage of Bhakti is worshipping God and the final stage is Spirituality. None of us have actually seen or met God (except for in imagination).  So in the initial stages you need some sort of representation which helps you to focus during your prayers. There are several detractors of the concept of Idol worship belonging to various faiths and/or philosophies. It is unfortunate that they criticize Idol worship without putting all the facts to the fore. Zakir Naik, the know Wahabi ideologist has been forthcoming in criticizing Idol worship and many other facets of Hinduism without putting things into a neutral perspective, if not Pro Hindu. There are always three sides of a description: Your side, My Side and the Correct Side. Mr Naik does not present atleast 2 of them when it comes to answering questions on matters related to Religion, especially Hinduism. There are far too many such detractors but we do handpick Naik because of two reasons. 1st, he is an Indian which is the Homeland of almost all the Hindus across the world and he is running a smear campaign against Hinduism. 2nd he is an Islamic supremacist with millions of followers and hence can influence a lot of Muslims towards the wrong direction. We would try to demystify a lot of myths being propagated against the Idol worship by the likes of Zakir.

Positives of Idol Worship

Focus & Concentration – You concentrate on an object (Image/Picture/Statue). While you pray all your energy is centred towards a point. The point where you can ‘see’ your God. You can easily articulate and direct your feelings towards it. You feel a sense of completion. This concentration and focus helps you to have a sense of satisfaction. It appears as if your mind is interacting with God.

Value System – The Hindu form of Idol worship asks you to respect and revere an object as if it is God. You try to see the image of God in almost everything Living or Non-living. You start respecting everyone. You start caring for things you wouldn’t care otherwise. You do a Naman (bow) to an unknown person, an idol and you believe it to be God. The famous line “Atithi Devo Bhava”, (Guest is God) finds its root from this value system wherein even a guest who is an unknown is respected. Everyone gets respect, a thing which is not seen in the modern day ‘liberal mindset’.  One bows before his elders and again this respect stems from the Idol form of worship. We show our gratefulness to parents, teachers, elders etc by bowing before them.

Care for Nature –Hindus also worship various forms of Nature such as Sun, Moon, Trees Rivers, and Mountains etc. Mockers and Jokers act like a stuck record and attack Hinduism by questioning, Hinduism preaching worship of Non-Living things. The fact is, it is this worship which makes us respect the various forms of Nature, a thing quite important these days. One can see the condition of River Yamuna, see how other Rivers are being treated, trees being cut ruthlessly. Ecologists and Environmentalists run several campaigns costing billions to create awareness of not polluting the River, Soil, animal, and forests. Imagine if people rightfully consider these rivers, mountains and trees as God and respect them would there be any pollution? A problem which is slowly and steadily killing millions and destroying the planet. Take the case of River Ganges. It feeds half a billion people and nurtures trillions of other life forms as if it is their mother. Does it not deserve the reverence of highest kind? Why should you have a problem with revering something which is sustaining so many Lives? Anything which sustains so many lives deserves reverence and of the highest kind.

Unfortunately Hinduism has been the target subject of lot of people and has been criticized unduly. I will now compare Hindu Idol worship to the worship of other religions and try to expose that not much is different. In fact a careful observation makes one realize that the Hindu form of Idol worship is quite flexible and not assertive.

Representation – We consider Idols as representation of God. Slowly and steadily the phase transforms into more of Spiritual phase when we start doing meditation and try to connect with God. As such the images and pictures of Gods/Deities are used by us to focus, Monotheistic religions, particularly Muslims and Christians too use similar techniques if not the same. In churches you can see crucifix with Jesus Christ. They also wear cross across their neck. Isn’t it same as representation in Idol worship? Many Christian homes have pictures of Jesus Christ. Muslims too have images of Holy Kaba in their homes. One can see the image of Mecca in most of the muslim households. Also when Muslims offer scheduled ‘Namaz’ (prayer), they do form some kind of image in their mind. Forming an image in mind and considering it a representation of God is not much different than worshiping and idol which is considered to be a representation of God. So in hindus the ultimate form of devotion is Spirituality. Once you realize knowledge you migrate to next level. In other religions the process remains the same: unchanged and unchangeable.

Timeliness – Muslims have scheduled times for praying (5 per day), whereas Hindus can choose whatever suits them, although mostly they worship in Morning /evening, it is not mandatory for them to worship every day. They can do as and when it suits them.

Flexibility – In Hinduism, you are free to worship any God anywhere. There is no prescription or proscription on how to pray. Each one can use his own methods to worship.

Assertiveness – Once an Idol is established, you do ‘Pran Pratishtha’ (invoke God). You believe that God has come and is residing in the idol you have kept. You give it utmost respect. When ‘Visarjan’ (Departure of God) day arrives, you submerge the idol in Waters. Compare this to other religions, Muslims or Christians would never submerge the idols/images they worship. In fact it would be considered blasphemous and one can get publically executed. In Hinduism even if you do not worship in the generally followed methods, no one will burn you alive.

Now we will try to counter some generic questions which detractors use to malign Idol worship and Hinduism.

Q) I believe in God, but I don’t think it is wise to bow before non living things such as Paper, wood, plastic etc. They are mere token symbols. Why shouldn’t we just pray to God in imaginary form?

A) As told repeatedly, idols are representatives and not actual Gods; hence you should revere and respect them. Many of us carry the photographs of our loved ones. Even they are non living things, then why do you carry them in your valets, preserve them in Albums? Same thing goes for trophies and medals, you win in sports and earn trophy, and you do well in your studies and earn a medal, why do you showcase them in your shelves? Even they are merely a token of appreciation of your good work. It is not the actual good work done by you, but just a representation of your work or your feelings. Same way idols are representation of God. They remind you that there is a Supreme power existent in this universe which is the Almighty omniscient and omnipotent. These representations at times help you gain hope at troublesome hard times.

Q) I am a modern and liberal youth of 21st century. I do not believe in Gods, Deities etc. I believe in Science. Shouldn’t I stamp these wooden and plastic dolls beneath my feet?

A) Atheism is very well acceptable in Hinduism. You won’t be termed as Infidel or a sworn enemy of Hinduism; such is the flexibility of Hinduism. Unfortunately the believers cannot prove to you the existence of God, but you also cannot prove the non existence of God to the believers either. Science is a good thing and has change the Lives of many by removing Superstition, but there are far too many questions left unanswered. Everything cannot have a scientific explanation. Do not be superstitious, but do not be ignorant either. It is not as simple as you think. If you can’t think of it as a fact, think of it as someone’s opinion that God exists. A true liberal respects others’ opinions. A liberal person would not begrudge someone’s cultural freedom to worship any God in which he/she believes in. Remember it is not a Binary world that you have to take an extreme stand. You can be an Atheist and still respect others thoughts about worshipping. You don’t need to stamp the images or destroy temples to prove your atheism.

Q) Zakir says that if you are in trouble, you would be confused as to which God to call for help and you might get killed. My friend John concurs him. Do you think I should not believe in more than 1 God?

A) NO! If you do believe in God and/or worship him to avoid death or troubles, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. First of all death is an inevitable truth in Life. Anyone who has been born will die. It is a process. Some die earlier than others, but everyone and everything dies. As per Hinduism only the Soul is immortal, not the body. And also Life is full of ups and downs, it is not monotonous, you will have troubles while you live. Troubles of different kinds! If you pray to attain immortality, it won’t happen. Secondly it is not that if you believe in only one God, He will come at every call of yours to drive you out of trouble. Those who are monotheists also fall in trouble and die. Have you not heard of any muslim or Christian meeting an unfortunate accident? Do muslims or Christians not die? Are they immortal? How many natural calamities have hit countries like Iran, Indonesia and USA? You do pray/worship for Salvation not so that God will appear every now and then

Q)People say that we have multiple books, multiple ideologies. It is a confused and chaotic state of affairs. How do I know what to follow?

A) I do not consider it as chaotic. I consider it as flexible. You are not bound by any book or any person. You can choose what you want to follow. You are only suggested to work on a value system. There is no prescription or proscription here. Modern world democracies have understood the ‘Right to freedom of Cultural expression’ in the last 2 centuries; Hinduism has this since time unknown. So don’t be confused, pick whatever you like and begin your journey

Q) Westerners are the masters of Modern Science. We owe so much to them and their scientific inventions; shouldn’t we follow them and their religion?

A) You will be surprised to see that not many scientists are Atheists. Many of them do pray to God. They might have made our lives better by their inventions and we should be grateful to them, but if you scan History, you will see that our contribution to the world is no less either. When we started to use metals for pottery and craft, Europeans were still in Caves, Roman Empire was yet to be born, America was an unknown land and Asians were still in their dark ages. The phenomenon today is ‘westernization of East and easternization of West’. Lots of westerners have realized the importance of Spiritual Hinduism and are practicing it. Yoga has now become famous in India, only after the west endorsed it. India’s/Hinduism’s contribution to the world is unparalleled. So do not have any inferiority complex. You do not need the endorsement of a White Caucasian male to realize that your religion is good.

Q) I am curious to know what Paramatma looks like, is he male or female. How do I know?

A) It is not at all important. Paramatma is eternal. You can imagine him to be whatever you like. It is all in your beliefs.

Q) If I am a true devotee and worship God daily does that give me the license to do other bad activities and can I mistreat others?

A) Servicing God’s creation Living or Non-living is same as servicing the God. In the same way, disservice to God’s creation is disservice to God Himself. So even if you worship God, it does not mean that you can do other things which are wrong. Worship God and do your duties. Do not worship him out of fear. The methods of attaining salvation are not mutually exclusive. It is not that you have to choose strictly one method while be opposed to other methods.

Q) Don’t you endorse superstition by saying that Idol worship is justified?

A) No. Superstition is a bad thing and should not be followed. Many people fall prey to it. Remember there are two types of events in this world; one which is controllable and the other uncontrollable. You can alter the results of the first but not the second. It is not in your hands and never will be, come what may. Best thing is to have faith in God and not be superstitious. You are advised to rightfully do your duty and do not bother about the results.

Q) Are all the religions same?

A) No, they aren’t. If all religions were same, there wouldn’t be different religions in the first place. However all religions lead to God. It is the path which is different, so all the religions should be respected. Two religions are not one and the same; foundation, ideologies, practices differ. You are free to choose whichever path suits you best. If you feel that you want to travel a path and reach God which offers you flexibility, Hinduism is the answer. If you do not want to use much of the brain given to by God and would rather want to follow a prescribed set of norms, you can choose other religions. But all religions would lead to God if followed in right spirit

There are many other questions which detractors use to criticize Hinduism and Idol worship. But I hope most of them have been covered. In our efforts to share knowledge we would continue to share knowledge with you so that Crooks and Conmen do not damage your faith and value system.

An ideal worship is what you feel the best way to pray to God and connect with him. It does not matter what other say. It is just the faith you have that connects you to God. So if you practice Idol worship and feel that this is what will connect you to God, practice it with pride and without hesitation.