Sunday, February 25, 2024

Obituary: My oldest professiinsl Friend / Tragic news

A few hours ago I received the  tragic news of the passing away my oldest professional friend who was dear to both Annikki and me - Mohammad Noorani of Mumbai.

Mohammad (far right) and me (second from left) at a party
in Mohammad’s house in Leverkusen, Germany, in 1964

In 1964, when I went to Leverkusen in Germany to do my internship at the Farbenfabriken Bayer Rubber Research centre, I was greeted by an Indian, Mohammad Noorani, who was assigned to take care of my programme. 

Mohammad was a leather technologist who had shifted to the field of Rubber Chemicals. 

MRF Ltd. was one of the largest buyers of Rubber Chemicals in India. My uncle, K. M. Mammen Mappillai, Chairman and Managing Director of MRF Ltd.  thought it appropriate for me to be trained in Bayer for my professional life in India. 

I had just completed a year at the National College of Rubber Technology in London and needed to be exposed to the ins and outs of industrial rubber processing and research.

It was a training that changed my life in many ways, being supervised by Mohammad, as he took care of both my education and my social life and also ensured I could play hockey with the Bayer Leverkusen hockey team. He also took time to teach me German.

Mohammad was not a complete stranger because, as a student, I had been an addict to the writings of his brilliant journalist elder brother, A. G. Noorani, who wrote a powerful political column in The Indian Express. 

I was greatly moved to meet and become a friend of the younger brother of my favourite Indian journalist.

On my return to India in 1969, our friendship continued as Mohammad was given the responsibility of looking after MRF Ltd. as a customer. 

As soon as he landed in Madras, he would make a beeline to our house with small gifts for Annikki and the children. 

Later, during his visits, we would always have a private dinner.

When Nirlon launched its nylon fabric for tyre reinforcement, it was Mohammad who made sure that MRF Ltd. was given the topmost priority amongst the tyre producers in India. He set up private meetings with the Directors of Nirlon so I had all the information at my fingertips which I was able to communicate with the purchase and technical team in MRF. 

In 1973, my father was stricken by pancreatitis which took him to the doorstep of death. I had flown in from Madras for the final farewell.  

I told Mohammad the situation. 

Mohammad told me that Bayer had developed a new drug for pancreatitis and he would bring it immediately from Germany for my father. 

My father recovered from this very dire situation.

Later, I introduced my old school friend, Viney Sethi to Mohammad and they became fast friends. 

Mohammad's wife, Sartaj, is the daughter of a Hyderabaadi Nawab, who worked for the Indian Railwdys. He was also a professional dog breeder who trained Doberman Pinschers as guard dogs for the railway yards. One dog could do the work of 10 people

Sartaj was a classmate of my sister. Elizabeth in Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay.

Sartaj'a elder brother, Zafar Hai, was one year my senior in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He is a film and art director. Zafar went on to be the best short film director in India, producing films for Air India and other leading companies. 

Through Mohammad I also got to know another of his brothers, Mushtaq, who was managing a leading hotel in Bangalore. 

After a distinguished career in Bayer India as the Head of the Rubber Chemicals Division, he became the Editor and Publisher of the Indian Rubber Journal. Mohammad made the publishing of rubber news something which is his legacy to India.  

Photograph by Farzana Contractor

I was fortunate to speak with Mohammad a few weeks ago when he was discharged from hospital after a severe illness. He sounded terrible on the phone. His ever prevalent love still 
came through the phone lines. 

Ever since I have been saying a prayer for this dear friend.

Mohammad and Sartaj have been very private people.

I did come across one artcle, A Royal Repast,  by Farzana Contractor in a magazine called The Upper Crust, which defines what a wonderful, accomplished and distinguished couple Sartaj and Mohammad have been. 

I had my treasured photograph with Mohammad in Germany from 1964 (which graces the top of this obituary), but had no subsequent photos of him in my extensive photo archives.

Mohammad has been the finest example of a gentleman that has ever crossed my path. He was a fun person with an enormous sense of humour. He was always smiling and was an extremely loving caring personality.


Mohammad: 25th June 2023
Photo courtesy Viney Sethi


I will miss Mohammad deep in my heart. 

Our deepest condolences to his entire family.

I hope our Lord will bring comfort to his family members, his wife, Sartaj and their two children, Aida and Tabrez.

May our dear Mohammad rest in peace.




Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Ram Mandir , Ayodhya - The Great Controversy

I am an Indian Orthodox follower of Christ from Kerala. 

My paternal and maternal grandparents and both their families have contributed at the highest levels in the growth and stability of pre and independent India. 

These families boast among many accomplishments, two Padma Bhushans, four Padma Shris, a Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation,  CEO of the Integral Coach Factory, Madras and Bharat Heavy Electricals, Ramachandrapuram,  CEO of Tata Engineering Consultancy Service (TECS), 10 MRF Ltd. factories located all over India,  the largest circulating regional newspaper, Malayala Manorama, in India, with over 40 different publications.

I was born in pre-independence India. I was brought up through schools and college in independent India. 

I have lived and worked in Bangalore, Mysore, Kottayam, Bombay, Delhi, Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam, Baroda, and was educated in higher studies the UK , worked in England, returned to India and contributed to the development of the country till corruption and judicial harrassment brought my stay in the country to a standstill.

In India, prior to my leaving, I had worked across all political parties during my life in India.

After working in India and having contributed substantially in the industrial development of India, I could not take the degree of corruption any longer and moved to Finland, one of the best countries to live and work peacefully. 

Here I have been able to contribute to the Finnish economy but continued to promote honest Indian tradition and culture to the Finns. 

From a population of one Indian with two Indian children, the Indian diaspora in my small home town, Oulu, of 80000 people, it has grown to over 500 in a population of now 180000.

After 40 years, it is time to reevaluate the situation after witnessing what is going on in present day India. 

As I may sound critical, a Modi Bhakth may say to me - "Go to Pakistan!".

I have no need to go to Pakistan  as I am accepted as an equal in Finnish Society. Despite my colour and continued Indian nationality, I am equal in all respects with the Finns. 

I have worked to ensure that all Indians coming to live and work in Finland were treated well and with respect.

Compare the situation on the major indicies of Finland and India! 

Would anyone make a retrograde step of going to a “mismanaged” country which only gets worse, year-by-year?



I have worked closely with over half a dozen Indian Ambassadors to Finland, many Indian cultural artistes and Indian scientists, and ensured they were accorded the greatest respect.

As I look back, I think whether it was worth it.

What has promoted this change of heart in the late stage of my life.

To me, earlier, whatever the political spectrum, India was a secular country where persons of all religions were treated equally. 

The rot started when the Industries Minister of Karnataka, S. M. Krishna,  in 1970 put forward his theory of the "Sons of the Soil" policy, which was then the starting point of the breaking of India into factionalism on every ground possible!

Indians expect to be treated equally when they go to foreign lands.

India, is a country where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the minority communities live on a knife edge, not knowing what bad fortune will befall them tomorrow. 

Lynching a muslim man accused of taking a banana at a Hindu temple, ex-MP public murder on live TV when in the custody law enforcement , muslim homes and shops bull-dozed, killing of 258 farmers protesting against Indian farm laws, ignoring molestation complaints by women wrestlers in India by political personnel, raping and assaulting women and children, etc. 

Or are these only in my dreams?

India begs foreign enterprsises to invest in India. Yet they molöest women who "look" foreign!

Today, I would be careful of asking anyone with a sane mind to invest in India!

What is happening in India has been prophesied many thousands of years ago. 

That is why I used "The Great Controversy" , a book by Ellen G. White, as the title of this blog entry

Those who have eyes, let them see, those who ears, let them hear. 

Open the Biblical books of Daniel and the Revelations and you will see the unveiling of prophesy on a day-to-day basis.

The opening of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is an example of the prophetic words of several prophets, taking us closer to the "end times"

This is part of the prophesy of unification of "church" and "state"

This it is not a coincidence, but an act of God. 

I do not believe in coincidences. 

I have in my life several coincidences, too many of them to be coincidental! 

But that subject is for another day. 

Today I will concentrate on the topic of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir.

Before progressing further, as an Indian, it is necessary to put in front of you, the first page of the Constitution of India.


If the Prime Minister of India deems it necessary for him, in his capacity of Prime Minister, to take part in the inauguration of a "Hindu" temple, then he must also take part in the inauguration of Buddhist, Jain or Parsi Fire temples, mosque, synagogues,  churches or gurduwaras!

If he has taken parrt in the openings of Ram Mandir in his own capacity as a practicising Hindu, that is a different issue. 

It is with great interest that a few days before I started to write this piece, there was a Facebook post by a friend, Professor A. N. Balakrishna (Bala),  formerly of the Agricultural University of Bangalore, who had visited Oulu a couple of decades ago to help in the localisation of Nokia Mobile Phone software into Kannada. We have been friends since. Bala is also a superb cartoonist, I have a wonderful collection of his cartoons in English.

Bala was rummaging an used book sale in Bengaluru when he came across a treasure find. It was a book given as a gift to Karnataka Justice H. G. Balakrishna by the editor of The HINDU newspaper with an inscription by N. Ram.

The book was “Anatomy of Confrontation - The Babri Masjid Jhanmabhumi Issue” edited by Sarvepalli Gopal, one of the sons of former Indian President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a brilliant philosopher.




All the chapters in the book are interesting.


I was particularly interested in the chapter by my ever favourite journalist, A. G. Noorani, now 93 years old, who, in the early sixties had taken Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, to the cleaners with his brilliant analytical approach in the “White Papers” post the 1962 invasion of India. (A. G. Noorani is the elder brother of my dear friend, Mohamed Noorani.)

I asked Bala to send me this particular chapter as it was of significance how a leading muslim journalist, well versed in law, politics and journalism, viewed this subject.

I reproduce his chapter here.



Published : Oct 22, 2010 

A.G. NOORANI

 Muslims wronged
MUSLIMS OFFER PRAYERS at a mosque in Allahabad on October 1, a day after the verdict.-PTI
MUSLIMS OFFER PRAYERS at a mosque in Allahabad on October 1, a day after the verdict.-PTI

The judgment is a crowning act on consistent judicial injustices to Muslims since December 23, 1949.


THE judgments delivered by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on September 30 on the Babri Masjid cases not only flagrantly violate the law and the evidence but a binding unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court on the Babri Masjid case itself (M. Ismail Faruqui and Others vs Union of India and Others (1994) 6 Sec 360). It sanctified the conversion of a historic mosque, which had stood for 500 years, into a temple.

The country showed maturity by receiving the judgments with calm and dignity despite an obscene attempt by some members of the Bharatiya Janata Party to demand instant Muslim submission to the wrong, a fact which was noted pointedly by a distinguished political scientist on television where, for the most part, loud ignorant anchors had a field day with guests no better-equipped. Stability is important in nation building. As important is justice to all. On the Babri Masjid, for 60 years from 1950 to 2010, Muslims have been woefully wronged by every single court ruling, including that of the Supreme Court after the demolition of the mosque on December 6, 1992. One of the leaders of the Bar remarked more than once that the Bench of the Supreme Court that heard the case split along communal lines.

On one point all the three judges of the Lucknow Bench Justices D.V. Sharma, Sudhir Agarwal and S.U. Khan were in remarkable and laudatory agreement idols of Ram were placed inside the mosque on the night of December 22-23, 1949. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's Organiser of March 29, 1987, said they miraculously appeared there. The BJP's White Paper on Ayodhya said they had appeared there. L.K. Advani used the same expression. The court has confirmed a truth which was known to all and confirmed the Parivar's contempt for the truth.

But the three judges do not realise the legal implications of the truth they themselves acknowledged. Here are some incontrovertible and uncontroverted official documents:

1. Two reports dated 10 and 23, December 1948, by the Inspector of Waqfs, Mohammed Ibrahim, after visits to the Babri mosque. He recorded the harassment and stoning of the namazis going to the mosque. Yet prayers continued to be offered just before dawn and on Fridays (Chapter IV, Doc. 5).

2. Official support to an application by Hindus in 1949 to build a Ram temple on the Chabutra near the mosque. The City Magistrate's Report of October 10, 1949, recorded: Mosque and temple are situated side by side and both Hindus and Muslims perform their rights and religious ceremonies. The Hindu population is very keen to have a nice temple at the place where Bhagwan Rama Chandra Ji was born. The land where the temple is to be erected is of Nazul' (Chapter IV, Doc. 6).

3. The First Information Report on December 23, 1949, lodged by Sub-Inspector Ram Dube, Police Station, Ayodhya, reads thus:

According to Mata Prasad (paper no. 7), when I reached to [ sic] Janam Bhumi around 8 o'clock in the morning, I came to know that a group of 50-60 persons had entered the Babri mosque after breaking the compound gate lock of the mosque or through jumping across the walls (of the compound) with a stair and established therein, an idol of Shri Bhagwan and painted Sita, Ram, etc. on the outer and inner walls. Ram Das, Ram Shakti Das and 50-60 unidentified others entered the mosque surreptitiously and spoiled its sanctity. Government servants on duty and several others are witness to it. Therefore, it is written and filed (Chapter V, Doc. 2).

4. Radio message on December 23, 1949, by District Magistrate K.K. Nayar to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and Home Secretary: A few Hindus entered Babri Masjid at night when the Masjid was deserted and installed a deity there. Police picket of fifteen persons was on duty at night but did not, apparently, act (Chapter V, Doc. 3).

5. December 26, 1949, Nayar to Chief Secretary: Installation of the idol was carried out in the night between 22 and 23 instant (Chapter V, Doc. 5).

6. Ramchandra Das Paramhansa's admission to The New York Times on December 22, 1991, that he had installed the idol (Chapter V, Doc. 16).

7. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's wire and letters to Chief Minister G.B. Pant (Chapter V, Doc. 18).

8. Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel's letter to Pant on January 9, 1950 (Chapter V, Doc. 19).

9. Akshaya Brahmachari's letters and memorandum to Home Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri (Chapter V, Doc. 21).

10. The Imam of the Babri Masjid, Abdul Ghafar's interview in 1987 (Chapter V, Doc. 11).

11. Written statement in court by the State of Uttar Pradesh, signed by Deputy Commissioner, Faizabad, J.N. Ugra, on April 25, 1950 (Chapter V, Doc.13).

Paragraphs 12 and 13 read thus:

 

(12) That the property in suit is known as Babri Mosque and it has for a long period been in use as a mosque for the purpose of worship by the Muslims. It had not been in use as a temple of Shri Rama Chandraji.

(13) That on the night of December 22, 1949, the idols of Shri Rama Chandraji were surreptitiously and wrongly put inside it.

In The Statesman of October 26, 1986, Chandan Mitra, now eminence grise of the BJP, quoted an official as saying, Obviously the guard had been bribed heavily.

From July to September 1949, there were efforts to build a Ram temple on the chabutra (platform) outside the mosque but within its complex. The City Magistrate, Faizabad, went to the spot on October 10, 1949, and submitted a favourable report. Abdul Ghafar, the imam of the mosque, testified that until the end we used to offer namaz inside the mosque and the Hindus prayed on the chabutra ( Sunday Mail, July 2, 1989). Litigation in the 19th century for permission to build a temple was confined to the chabutra not the mosque (1883-1886).

The Gandhian Akshaya Brahmachari's detailed memorandum to Lal Bahadur Shastri recorded the campaign on the capture of the mosque that was mounted in November 1949: There is terror in the hearts of the Muslims of Faizabad.

The law is not impotent in such cases. Sections 295 and 297 of the Penal Code make the acts offences in law. Section 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1898 empowers the magistrate to require the parties to file their claims, not on title to the property, but as respects the fact of actual possession of the subject of dispute. He decides which of the parties was in possession. If a party has been forcibly and wrongfully dispossessed, the magistrate may treat it as if it had been in possession. It is then restored in possession, leaving it to the aggressor to file a civil suit to establish his title to the property.

In Ayodhya this very Section was used to sanctify the Muslims' dispossession. Markandey Singh, Magistrate First Class, ordered the attachment of the said buildings and appointed Priya Dutt Ram, Chairman of the Municipal Board, as receiver of the mosque. This was on December 29, 1949. He took charge on January 5, 1950, and submitted a scheme. On January 19, 1950, a Civil Judge, Bir Singh, issued an injunction restraining removal of the idols from the mosque and from interfering with the puja carried on in the mosque since December 23, 1949. On April 26, 1955, the Allahabad High Court confirmed the injunctions.

Losing battle

 

The conversion of a mosque into a temple was now complete. The Muslims lost, and were fated to lose, every round in the battles in the courts of justice for correction of the wrong perpetrated on December 22-23, 1949.

Contrast this with the order of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Parliament Street, New Delhi, A.G. Cutting, of February 7, 1972, in The State vs Sadiq Ali and Others and S.D. Sharma and Others under Section 145. He ordered restoration of possession of 7 Jantar Mantar Road (Congress House) in New Delhi to Congress (O). Not because it was the real' Congress but because it had been forcibly dispossessed by Congress (R) on November 13, 1971. That order was also made under Section 145 of the CrPC. A similar order should have been made in the Babri Masjid case in 1949. The contrast is glaring. As Magistrate Cutting said, the Congress (O)'s men were dispossessed. They are therefore entitled to be put back into possession until they are evicted from the said premises by an order of a competent court (in a regular civil suit on title).

In the Ayodhya case, the Receiver's scheme, predictably, said the most important item of management is the maintenance of Bhog and Puja in the condition in which it was carried on when I took over charge. There were to be at least three pujaris who should be allowed free access to the installed idols. Under the scheme, Muslims were altogether forbidden to pray in the mosque; Hindus were permitted to offer puja and have darshan of the idols from a side gate and make offering through four pujaris employed by the Receiver who was appointed by the Magistrate.

Civil suits on title were filed by the parties which were decided on September 30, 2010. The next round was on January 25, 1986, when a lawyer filed an application for removal of restrictions on the puja. On February 1, 1986, District Judge K.M. Pandey ordered the opening of the locks after 45 minutes' hearing. The Muslims were not impleaded in the application and were not heard by the judge. On January 3, 1986, the Lucknow Bench of the High Court ordered maintenance of the status quo.

The next step was the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. On January 7, 1993, the President promulgated the Acquisition of Central Area at Ayodhya Ordinance acquiring the site of the mosque later enacted as an Act of Parliament and asked the Supreme Court for its advisory opinion on this question: Whether a Hindu Temple or any Hindu religious structure existed prior to the construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid (including the premises of the inner and outer courtyards of such structure) in the area on which the structure stood?

Fruit of crime

 

The demolition squad of the so-called kar sevaks had built a temporary structure after the demolition and kept the idols there. On December 9, West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu asked the Centre to demolish this fruit of crime. The Union Home Secretary Madhav Godbole refused to pray there. God could not reside in that temple, the construction of which was associated with so much deceit and wanton violence ( Unfurnished Innings, pages 406-407).

Alarmed at the sheer absurdity of the President's query to the Supreme Court, the country's foremost lawyer N.A. Palkhivala wrote a devastating critique in The Times of India. It has acquired added relevance after the judgment of September 30. He wrote:

It is to my mind absurd to suggest that the highest Court in the country should be asked to decide questions of history or archaeology. But the government has now asked the Supreme Court to give its opinion under Article 143 of the Constitution, whether a temple existed centuries ago on the site where the Babri Masjid stood before its demolition.

Historians have expressed widely divergent views on the issue whether there was a pre-existing temple on the site on which the mosque was built by Babur. Much less are they agreed that Rama was born at that place. There is even a greater difference of opinion on the question whether Rama actually lived as a human being or whether he was the supramental ideal created by mythology to represent the perfect man. To ask the Supreme Court or the Allahabad High Court to decide such questions of mythology or history, or mixed questions of mythology and history, is to bear witness to the bankruptcy of our political institutions.

It is a measure of the degradation to which we have reduced our third-rate democracy that we have lost all sense of propriety, and are not only willing but eager to call upon the Courts to decide questions of opinion or belief, history, mythology or political expediency. Never in the history of any country have Courts been approached to deal with the type of questions which are now suggested as fit to be referred to the Courts in connection with the incidents at Ayodhya.

The consequences of asking the Supreme Court or the Allahabad High Court to deal with the type of questions which are suggested for reference would be disastrous in the long run.

It would thrust upon the Court a task for which it is not qualified by training or experience. Courts can deal with questions of law or of fact. They are not qualified to deal with questions in other fields like archaeology or history. A judge can decide only upon documentary evidence or evidence given by a witness as to what he himself saw or heard. It is well established that hearsay evidence is inadmissible in a Court of law under the Indian Evidence Act.

If the Court is pushed into the political arena, it would impair the image and undermine the status of the Court.

Archaeology is the study of the art, customs and beliefs of ancient times. It can afford a ground for belief or an opinion but never for universal certainty. Cannot two minds come to different conclusions on the same archaeological evidence? How can a conclusion reached by a judge be binding on people whose opinions or beliefs go counter to those of the judge?

Palkhivala was vindicated by the Supreme Court, while his warnings have been proved all too sound now by the Lucknow Bench.

Presidential reference

 

A five-member Bench of the Supreme Court Justices M.N. Venkatachaliah, J.S. Verma and G.N. Ray in the majority upheld the Act, bar one provision which abated the civil suits in the High Court. Justices A.M. Ahmadi and S.P. Bharucha held the entire Act to be void. All agreed that the Act and the reference for an advisory opinion were an integral whole. But while Justice Verma, who spoke for the majority, belittled the moral and legal significance of the mosque's demolition, an offence in law, and did so as judges tend to do in high-flown rhetoric, Justice Bharucha, who spoke for the minority, reckoned with the crime fully and, unlike the majority, refused to perpetuate the situation it had created. Section 7 (2) of the Act asked the government to ensure that the position existing before the commencement of this Act is maintained.

Justice Verma ruled shockingly that this affected both communities equally since the Muslims had not been offering worship at any place there after December 1949 a right they had only lost by deceit and force. Justice Bharucha subjected logic to deserved and withering scorn.

However and this is very relevant to the Lucknow Bench's ruling the judges unanimously ruled that Section 4(3), which abated the civil suits, was void. Why? Because it was one-sided and deprived the Muslims of the defence valid in law that a 500-year-old mosque by sheer adverse possession extinguished any claims to title based on history, real or imagined.

This is what Justice Verma said: This also results in extinction of the several defences raised by the Muslim community including that of adverse possession of the disputed area for over 400 years since construction of the mosque there in 1528 A.D. by Mir Baqi. Ostensibly the alternate dispute resolution mechanism adopted is that of a simultaneous Reference made the same day under Article 143(1) of the Constitution to this Court for decision of the question referred. It is clear from the issues framed in those suits that the core question for determination in the suits is not covered by the Reference made, and it also does not include therein the defences raised by the Muslim community. It is also clear that the answer to the question referred, whatever it may be, will not lead to the answer of the core question for determination in the pending suits and it will not, by itself, resolve the long-standing dispute relating to the disputed area. Reference made under Article 143(1) cannot, therefore, be treated as an effective alternate dispute-resolution mechanism in substitution of the pending suits which are abated by Section 4(3) of the Act. There can be no doubt, in these circumstances, that the Special Reference made under Article 143(1) of the Constitution cannot be construed as an effective alternative dispute-resolution mechanism to permit substitution of the pending suits and legal proceedings by the mode adopted of making this Reference. In our opinion, this fact alone is sufficient to invalidate sub-section (3) of Section 4 of the Act.

While Justice Bharucha said: The provisions of Section 4 of the Act, inasmuch as they deprive the Sunni Waqf Board and the Muslim community of the right to plead and establish adverse possession as aforesaid and restrict the redress of their grievance in respect of the disputed site to the answer to the limited question posed by the Reference and to negotiations subsequent thereto, and the provisions of Section 3 of the Act, which vest the whole bundle of property and rights in the Central government to achieve this purpose, offend the principle of secularism, which is part of the basic structure of the Constitution, being slanted in favour of one religious community as against another.

He added: The Act and the Reference, as stated hereinabove, favour one community and disfavour another; the purpose of the Reference is, therefore, opposed to secularism and is unconstitutional.

He pointed out another flaw. The Court being ill-equipped to examine and evaluate such material (on archaeology and history) it would have to appoint experts in the fields to do so, and their evaluation would go unchallenged. Apart from the inherent inadvisability of rendering a judicial opinion on such evaluation, the opinion would be liable to the criticism of one or both sides.

The Supreme Court gave this unanimous ruling on October 24, 1994. On March 5, 2003, the Allahabad High Court ordered excavation of the land and ruled that it did not violate the Supreme Court judgment. Why? Because one of the important issues in the suit is whether there was any temple/structure which was demolished and mosque was constructed on the disputed site.

But this was the very issue which had been referred by the President to the Supreme Court for its advisory opinion and the Court declined to answer it because of its irrelevance. The issue was whether adverse possession by the mosque extinguished other titles. The excavation order revived this irrelevant issue in breach of the Supreme Court judgment. The rest followed inexorably until September 30, 2010.

The Court's order was criticised by archaeologists of the highest distinction in a statement on March 10, 2003. The task of excavation was assigned to a controversial agency. The Archaeological Survey of India's report has been widely criticised (vide Ayodhya: Archaeology After Excavation by D. Mandal and Shereen Ratnagar, Tulika Books, 2007).

In his judgment on the land acquisition case, delivered on December 11, 1992, Justice S.H.A. Raza of the Allahabad High Court rightly said that an article of faith cannot be stretched to such an extent which threatens the Rule of Law. The contention that faith is beyond the jurisdiction of the Court is centred around the application of theocratic ideas. Still less can the faith of one community become the law of the land by a judicial ruling because it happens to be the majority community.

But what if judges themselves rely on their own religious faith in their judicial orders? Justice D.V. Sharma's remarks on Ram and the spirit of divine in this context are eloquent enough. Courts can try only suits of a civil nature (Section 9 of the Civil Procedure Code) in matters of faith. Remember the Evidence Act permits expert evidence only on a few limited matters (Sections 45 to 50). History and archaeology are not among them. The Act itself is misread by Justice S.U. Khan, who held that both the parties have failed to prove commencement of their title. Hence by virtue of Section 110 of the Evidence Act, both are held to be joint title holders on the basis of joint possession.

Section 110 says no such thing. It says, on the contrary, that when the question is whether any person is owner of anything of which he is shown to be in possession of, the burden of proving that he is not the owner is on the person who affirms that he is not the owner in this case, the Sangh Parivar vis-a-vis the Babri Masjid. The Supreme Court has held that a presumption of an origin in lawful title could be drawn... in order to support possessory rights, long and quietly enjoyed, where no actual proof of title is forthcoming. The longer the possession, the stronger the presumption. (1991 Supp (2), SCC 228 at pages 243-244).

Records of the 19th century litigation disprove Justice Khan's inference of joint possession. From such errors flow the bizarre order of a tripartite partition, which the media and others have so readily lapped up as an act of judicial statesmanship.

The record since December 23, 1949, shows the judgment of September 30, 2010, to be a crowning act on consistent judicial injustices to Muslims in 1950, 1955, 1986 and 1994.

In the Shahidganj masjid case, there was incontrovertible proof of a 1722 waqf (trust) to build a mosque. But it came under the possession of Sikhs after 1762. In the 20th century from the District Court, the High Court of Lahore and the Privy Council ruled against the Muslims on the ground of adverse possession. The Premier of Punjab Sikander Hyat Khan rejected pleas for legislation to overturn the verdict. Jinnah supported him fully. The mosque, now a Sikh gurdwara, still stands in Lahore undemolished.

Calm has been preserved, creditably, but the pain inflicted on Muslims is not concealed. This is not how a secular edifice is built. It was left to Mohammed Hashim Ansari, the oldest living petitioner, to express the anguish, Masjid bahut banegi, lekin desh nahi banenge (Many more mosques will be built, but the nation will not be built this way). The Supreme Court can prove him wrong. Those who rushed to acclaim the order of September 30 revealed worse than ignorance. Their enthusiasm reflected indifference to right and wrong.

We are not an island unto ourselves. What impression of our judiciary will courts elsewhere form?”


The entire article is of great interest but of significance is that the Suprrme Court of India erred in its function by ruling on a historical event, considered by many as mythology.
 
Next, will the Supreme Court of India rule on the virgin birth of a Christ?

It showed the agenda of the Supreme Court of India and the pressure of the Hindutava faction on its conduct.






































Above this, I go one step further on how the four leading seers of the Hindu faith spoke on the subject (See picture above, Ref: The WEEK), by refusing to attend the function which had been organised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP political party and the RSS, a racist fascist organisation propping up the present Prime Minister.

None of the major political opposition parties in India chose to attend this event calling it primarily a political event to influence the 2024 Indian elections by appealing to base sentiment of “Hindus”!

While Manipur is burning, was it appropriate for the Prime Minister of India to ignore the plight of Indians and focus on his personal election strategy.

What influenced the Ptime Minister is obviously his fascination with the “science” of numerology which is evident from the contents of this article which appeared in Hindustan Times?

Is the future of India going to be run on numerology or on true scientific and humanitarian principles and the Indian Constitution?

From the above it is obvious that from the viewpoint of the Indian Constitution, from the point of view of a legal opinion, from the point of view of religious practice, the construction and inauguration of the Ram Mandir was totally a politically motivated process which was why all the aggrieved parties considered this unconditional, anti-secular and totally anti-Indian ideology!

The basis of numerology used in the article quoted above does not hold water in determining the date of the "inauguration"  as this is based on the Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Gregory III in 1582 to replace the Julian calendar?  

It is not based on the  Vikram (57 BC) or Shaka (78 BC) samavat (calender).  

Numerology is not an Indian invention, so it is completely an untenable premise.

In a country filled by Modi Bhakths, it is like Trumpians who would like to elect a President who has 91 indictments against him, an egoistic maniac.

In India, we have an uneducated Prime Minister (with a degree in Entire Political Science which course does not exist in any University in the world) with a narcissistic personality where his blind followers line up in parallel with Trump.



As a follower of Christ, what is likely to happen to Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Sindhis, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Dalits, OBCs, in the Modi Bhakth country is summed up in the poem of Pastor Martin Niemöller:


I certainly do not want to be in India when the process of eradication starts!



Monday, January 22, 2024

Hindu Astrology - Author: Late Dr. Anthony Stone



This blog entry is in two parts, the first on the book "Hindu Astrology" by my late friend Dr. Anthony Stone (Tony) and the second part of the blog is the inauguration of the Ram Mandir Temple in Ayodhya by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22nd January 2024.


The first part is being cross-posted on all my major blogs while the second part is only being posted on my main blog - Jacob’s Blog.



Late Dr. Anthony Stone


Tony was my teacher of Mathematics in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and my good friend. His book on Hindu astrology is to be shortly released as a paperback and I wanted to give you a look into the facts behind Indophile, Tony, and our relationship pre the release oif the paperback edition.


I was sent the details of this book by the publisher, another dear friend and alumni of St. Stephen’s College, Professor Prabhu Guptara.  


Tony was the teacher of Mathematics in St. Stephen’s College in 1962-63, my final year. He took over the duties of Principal S. C. Sircar in the Mathematics Department and joined Professors S.R. Nagpaul, S. B. Mathur,  and Ranjit Bhatia (Rhodes Scholar and of Indian Olympic fame) in the college Mathematics Department.


I lost touch with Tony till he turned up on my Kooler Talk Blog in the late 1990s. We established a close  relationship. When his wife Bertha was hospitalised and he had a short holiday in 2000, as he was then caring for Bertha, he decided to visit Annikki and me in Oulu, Finland. He stayed with us for a week and we had wonderful reunion, and discussed many of his projects.


He was well versed in Indian culture and he was working on a few projects, one of which was Hindu Astrology.


He was also working on a special area of mathematical research which coincided with the interest of a Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, friend of mine, Bhupinder Singh Anand (Bhupi).


Bhupi was a couple of years senior to me but stayed on in School to do the 12th standard HSC qualification. He was also from Savage House and in our final year, he was the Head Boy of the school while I was the Savage House Captain.  



Bhupi, the School Captain is sitting third from the left, while I am sitting second from the right.


I did keep in touch with Bhupi as he joined my “Seventh Heaven” Cathedralite Heaven Google Group although he was not technically a 59er. I had great respect for dear Bhupi as he was a sincere individual and a true Cathedralite.


The publisher of this book on Hindu astrology is Professor. Prabhu Guptara, from St. Stephen’s College, junior to me but also a good friend now living in Cambridge in the UK.





Prabhu had done an chapter in the book "Malayali Diaspora" several years ago about the oldest Malayali in Continental Europe (not the UK), which was about me. 


Frank Raj was the editor of "The International Indian till 2017".



Frank Raj (Picture from LinkedIn)


This was later published in his magazine with pictures of us and our family in the Dubai publication “The Indian International” edited by Frank Raj.


In 2014, when for several reason, I was stranded in New Delhi, which is explained in Annikki and my book “The Titanic Called India”, Prabhu put me in touch with Ivan and Silvia Kostka.




Ivan and Dr.Silvia Kostka (Picture from LinkedIN)


I had the pleasure of dining with them and a couple of friends. Just a couple of months after they were harassed by the Hindutava faction because they were practicing Christians devoting their their life to uplifting the OBC Community. They were raided by the Delhi Police in October 2014 for supposedly saying derogatory statements about Goddess Durga. Their publication FORWARD Press was being targeted by the Hindutava faction of Narendra Modi’s BJP/RSS wing claiming that Ivan and Silvia were converting Indians to Christianity.


Here I must make a point that I went to Christian schools in Mysore, Bangalore and Mumbai. In my class in Mumbai we were just 4 Christian’s while the rest of the students were Hindus, Jews, Muslims Parsi, Sindhis and Sikhs, from all parts of the world, not just India. I did not even know or even care, what religion the students in my class were.


60 years later, I am still the fulcrum of keeping the surviving classmates together and there is not one single student who has changed his/her religion. They all subscribe too a secular education which has broadened their attitude to life and there is no discrimination on any grounds whatsoever. 


Christians lead by example of the two principles laid down by Christ. . 


There is only one God (different names: Jehovah, Allah, Brahma). Secondly, we must love our neighbour as ourselves. 


All the other laws are man-made derivatives of these two fundamental principles.


Thefollowing year, I had the good fortune to get an email from Silvia (a noted plastic surgeon) that she and Ivan were likely to transit through Helsinki and they were likely to be delayed in their return trip to India. She was interested in meeting up with me.


I did offer to put them up in one of the apartments that Annikki and I had in Helsinki during their stay but we lost contact after that.


Ivan was the Founding Editor of FORWARD Press and it was likely to be shut down by the intolerant society which had spread its wings under Narendra Modi. Silvia had told me then that the last edition of FORWARD Press was likely to be in March of that year (2015).


However, FORWARD Press has survived and is thriving even today under Anil Varghese who is the current editor-in-chief.


So that is my personal background to the book on Hindu Astrology penned by Tony.


Until a few years ago, interest in astrology was widespread - but thin. 


Now the astrology market is growing by leaps and bounds.

In the US, over the four years to 2019, revenue from the top 10 astrology apps market saw an astonishing  compound growth rate of 72.8 percent per year! In India, ten astrology firms in 2021 raised INR 1300  million -300% the combined amount raised by ALL such start-ups over the previous five years!!


No figures for the UK are available, but here is a BBC report:


 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210205-why-astrology-is-so-popular-now


Into this burgeoning international demand, Prabhu Guptara’s “Pippa Rann Books” imprint is publishing the paperback version of Tony’s book, Hindu Astrology.


The hardback came out some decades ago, but only in India.


The author, late Tony, was an Oxford PhD in Mathematics who went as a university teacher to India, where he was so intrigued at finding most highly-educated people allowing their lives to be ruled by astrology that he learned Sanskrit for the specific purpose of reading the texts in the original language, and writing an adequate history of Indian astrology as well as evaluation of it. 


Brief information on the book is attached below, in form of the full cover the book.


But of course the field is highly contested!  


The honourable Supreme Court of India proclaimed in 2004 that astrology is a SCIENCE.


On the other hand, Madhavankutty Pillai argued in OPEN magazine (2011) that astrology is a HOAX - 


openthemagazine.com/features/living/the-scientific-case-against-astrology/


In a 2018 article in The Guardian, “I was an astrologer”, Felicity Carter concludes that astrology is a form of ENTERTAINMENT.


And here is a recent article arguing that astrology is a SCAM: Digital ‘Vedic Astrology’: The $40 Billion Scam | Madras Courier


Naturally not with reference to the articles mentioned immediately above but, in general, Tony concludes: “…it is a pity that many critics of astrology argue at a very superficial level. My purpose in this book is to shed some genuine light on the subject.  I hope the book will stimulate serious discussion about astrology.”


Do we need to start more knowledgeable debates and discussions on astrology?


Read the book and come to your own conclusions.