100 Days - 100 Pages

Copyright © 2016 RAGHUBIR LAL ANAND. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-4828-6952-1 (sc)

978-1-4828-6951-4 (e)

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www.partridgepublishing.com/india

02/18/2016

Table of Contents

My Thoughts for This Book…

Foreword

Navratras

Narendra Modi – May 26, 2014

Line of Control (LoC)

ISLAM - Ali’s Moharram

Pakistan Today

Dedicated to my beloved Wife

Who left for heavenly abode on 05/08/2014. Her memories have always inspired my journey of life.

Rich tributes were paid to Smt. Sarla Anand wife of Sh. Raghubir Lal Anand on 7th December, 2014 by Udbhav, various scholars, journalist and thinkers. The same was telecast in over 40 counties.

She was a propagator and demonstrator of Solar Energy in India. She had devoted her life to the cause of woman and child rights. She had great faith in Srimad Bhagawad Gita and the chanting of the Holy names of God (Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare). On her behest and in the interest of entire nation, incredible India, one copy each of Srimad Bhagawad Gita and IS GOD DEAD?????: The Truth About Jammu & Kashmir (written by Raghubir Lal Anand and ‘Bhilash, published by Partridge a Penguin Random House Company, London) was gifted to Hon’ble President, Vice President, Prime Minister of India and all the Hon’ble members of the Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha. A request was also made to declare Srimad Bhagawad Gita as the national book of India.

Jug Jug Jive Mere Jammu e da Raja.

Maharajadhiraj Dr. Karan Singh

My Thoughts for This Book…

My Incredible India is beautiful in all its aspects. We have natural paradise on earth called Jammu & Kashmir. It is the abode of Bharat Mata (Maa Vaishno Devi); a valley full of vibrant natural beauty and large inventories of flora & fauna which is not found anywhere else on this mother Earth. We have a variety of climate types like summer, pre-winter (Hemant Ritu), winter, spring, autumn and monsoon. My beautiful country has rich geography and history. The unique Indian culture is not found anywhere in the world. If you look at anything you will find something divine; you can never hurt or harm anything, either in nature or in human beings. The people of India are known as Hindi (as told by the Arabs to Hindus). This country is called Hindustan and people living here are called Hindus as they believe that people of India have Hinduism as their religion. But I say this country is Bharat Khande and people living here are Bharatiyas. Englishmen termed this country as India and people living here as Indians. Hinduism gives a message that of Satya and Ahimsah (truth and non-violence), meaning Hindus can never hurt or harm anything either in nature or in living beings. Thus, the Hindus had never wanted to conquer, or control, anything except their own brains. India has never invaded any country in the last 10,000 years of its history. This shows its genius.

As commonly known, Hinduism has been patient, tolerant and welcoming of all religions. It has never persecuted others merely because they had different theological faiths. Hinduism always wanted to live side by side peacefully with the followers of other religions, whether they originated in India like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism or elsewhere like the foreign religions of Islam or Christianity.

Hindu India has been the sole nation on the earth where the Jewish Community has never been persecuted even though they have been living here for more than 2,000 years. Zoroastrians escaping the destruction of the Persians at the hands of Islam were warmly welcomed in India more than a thousand years ago. This community known as Parsis has prospered and lived amicably with their Hindu neighbours in peace and dignity. When China invaded Tibet, India was the only country that gave shelter to the Dalai Lama and allowed Tibetans to come and settle on the Indian soil without any hindrance, with freedom to practice their own religion – Buddhism.

Some people are confusing the long held Hindu tradition of tolerating other religions with the notion that Hinduism encourages us to believe that all religions are exactly the same. The leap from tolerance of other faiths to a belief that all religions are equal is neither a leap that is grounded in logic nor in history,

Hinduism has its own uniquely independent religious tradition, different and distinct from any other religion on the earth. This distinction has been assented all over by great saints who used to have debates with the protagonists of non-Hindu traditions like Buddhism, Jainism and Charvakins (Atheists). The sages (sadhus), saints of Hinduism countered all philosophical challenges and succeeded in defeating their philosophical opponents in open assemblies. Adi Shankaracharya, the founder of Advaita Vedanta, went all over the island defeating his learned opponents in open debates. This was known as his digvijay or conquest of all directions. Indeed, Shankaracharya is attributed as being partially responsible for the decline of Buddhism in India due to his great ability to debate. He used to totally annihilate his opponent’s arguments and prove the superiority of Vedantic doctrine. Madhvacharya, the founder of Dvaita School of Vedanta, is similarly seen as being responsible for the sharp decline of Jainism in South India. He used his intelligence and great debating skills to encourage the Vedic Dharma.

As all pre-modern Hindu sages and philosophers recognised and celebrated the unique vision that Hinduism has to offer to the world. They clearly distinguished between Hindu and Non-Hindu religions, and defended the former to almost their formidable intellectual and spiritual abilities. They did so unapologetically. The followers of this original Dharma will survive only if we celebrate Hinduism’s uniqueness today.

Narendra Modi emerged as the Prime Minister of India. The elections were held at various places and dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) except in Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power.

Elections were also held in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), where People’s Democratic Party (PDP) got 28 seats and the BJP 25 seats. They tied their faith together and declared the formation of the government on March 1, 2015. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed became the Chief Minister and Dr. Nirmal Kumar Singh, a historian and scholar teaching in Jammu University, was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister. Immediately after swearing-in, Mufti Sahib thanked terrorists, Hurriyat and Pakistan for the peaceful elections in J&K with such a high percentage of polling. Our foreign secretary S. Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan rekindled the hope of peace after six long months of stalemate. On March 3, 2015, the foreign secretary landed in Islamabad to kick off a new effort to engage with Pakistan. Indian officials have downplayed the visit as a routine SAARC Yatra instead of a dedicated peace dialogue. In other words, the trip had been designed with special covert objectives. This signifies two things:

1. The decision to cancel talks in July 2014.

2. That engaging Pakistan is the norm.

During the interim 6 months, there were significant incidents inside Pakistan and the Indian foreign secretary might have had a tough time dealing with the complexities of Pakistan.

Shift in Power Balance

There is an obvious shift in the power balance at the core of Pakistan: It is clear that Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has a new National Action Plan (NAP) with primacy on all non-military issues as well. Special efforts to curb terrorism have gained centre stage after the Peshawar school massacre. The government of Pakistan on 6th January, 2015, announced that military courts would take over many of the terror trials because civilian courts are slow and judges are easily influenced. However, the government has come to terms with the shift, and the Nawaz Sharif government is enjoying a spell of stability. At a Track–II conference organized by Jinnah Institute and Centre for Dialogue Reconciliation (JICDR) in Islamabad diplomats stated that the army’s Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) was taking over many of the foreign office’s functions. This shift in power equation is important for India. In Pakistan, the Army G.H.O. in Rawalpindi has always had a veto on India–Pakistan relation. There has been a marked increase in the number of statements from the ISPR. The Pakistani General’s visit to the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) just before the visit of the Indian foreign secretary cannot be ignored. The general released statements in the press wherein he accused India of indiscriminate firing along the Loc and warned India of a befitting response.

There have been dramatic changes in the Afghanistan–Pakistan relations from the date of swearing–in of President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. Former President Hamid Karzai’s had maintained that Pakistan’s continual support for the Taliban was the source of Afghanistan’s problems. Instead, Mr. Ghani visited Pakistan directly after his