Arrogance, Thy name is Karunanidhi!

It is not new for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to hate-speak and hurt religious Hindus. But his speech at the recent DMK convention in Erode is a new chapter in his continuing saga of hatred against the Hindu religion.

“We will explore alternative channels, preventing damages to the Ramar's Bridge” - this assurance by the Central government to the Supreme Court has chafed him greatly. He is more interested in getting the Ramar Bridge demolished than completing the Sethusamudram project. That’s what makes him angry at the very hint of exploring alternative channels. But, is there any use by this anger?

At the centre, the Congress is vote fearing, and so the nagging "repeal of support" has become worthless. That’s why the Centre so explicitly declared its reverence for Rama in the Supreme Court and also asked for three months of time to explore an alternate way. In the said function the Chief minister declared "they are gaming with us hoping that the people would accept these foolish, dumb, and idiotic religious sentiments by dragging Rama's name....to defeat the presently-affecting-us, darkening in future conspiracy I place before you this resolution” speaking thus, conveyed in the resolution "the central government fearing the communal groups.... must not yield to the attempts to stop Sethusamudram project".

What use such a call has? Haven’t the Congress and the central government already started resorting to the “foolish, dumb and idiotic religious sentiments”? Even the Central law minister has remarked, “Rama is a part and parcel of Indian culture. It is not the matter to be disputed. Existence of Rama cannot be doubted. As Himalaya is Himalaya, Ganges is Ganges, Rama is Rama! No need to prove this.”

The central government filed an affidavit “Ramayana is sacred; the government fully respects all religions, and, in this case, the Hindu religion”.

Therefore, the “conspiracy” that the CM warns about has got sanctioned by the central government. The Central government has come forward to “darken the future”. Despite these, why the CM has to support this central government? Why the DMK ministers still hold posts in the government that darkens the future? How can the DMK rule in Tamil Nadu with the support of Congress that ally with the “conspirators”? Is it not betraying ‘Periyar’?

Isn’t it absolutely necessary for the DMK to quit the central government, withdraw support to it, and even reject the support availed from the Congress in Tamil Nadu, to defeat this conspiracy? Why is the CM not determined to do this? What else can be the reason for this, other than the power-hunger?

By not opposing the central government, which voluntarily got eligible to be added in his list of people he described as "frauds, cunning jackals" - is he a supporter of frauds? Is he the patron of cunning jackals? The CM, who never hesitates for a moment to sacrifice Periyar’s ideology for the sake of power for himself and his family members, displays his courage with just rants. “Bravery only in words” indeed! The lust for power held by him and his family members blocks him to anger at the central government. Poor man, whom can he direct his anger at? There they are, the Hindu beliefs, always.

In his outrage, the CM has spewed venom using the Tamil singular phrases indicative of disrespect, “Who is this Raman? In which engineering college did he study to become an Engineer? When did he build that bridge? Is there any evidence?” Hatred filled, he has, in reality, blabbered, thinking that he is talking smart.
Common sense will infer that “Rama built the bridge” does not mean that Rama actually put stones one over the other and built it with his own hands. When we say, “An emperor built a temple” or “created sculptures”, does that mean he actually chiseled the stones with his hands? All it means is that on his command, or at his desire, craftsmen completed those works. But, those works are not known by the names of the sculptors involved, but are renowned only by the names of the kings.

Same applies to Rama’s Bridge. The CM only knows insulting Ramayana, but he never misses to make mistakes while quoting from the epic (I had pointed these on several earlier occasions too). It was the king of the oceans, Samudra Raja, who guided Rama in making the bridge. It is he who also suggested the name of the expert Nala. “Nala is the expert son of divine craftsman Vishwakarma; bestowed with divine powers and knowledge of the profession from his father; He came forward and requested Sugriva, ‘O great among Vanaras, let the materials be collected for the construction of the bridge’.

Vanaras spread out to collect the materials requested by Nala. (“Vanaras” do not mean what the English word “monkey” means; they are not monkeys. As per Valmiki Ramayana, they are great warriors; learned men; built palaces and lived in the city). “With the help of Vanaras, boulders are made, trees were uprooted and brought. Trees, boulders and other such material were all brought to the seashore. To keep the boulders upright during the construction of the bridge, strong ropes were used. As per Nala’s command, Vanaras worked swiftly, pushing the boulders into the ocean and placing the wood over them. The constructed bridge resembled that of the galaxy of stars on the celestial sky. From the sky the bridge looked like the parting that splits a lady’s longhair into two parts, on which the Vanaras and others climbed and crossed the ocean”.

These are the details found in Valmiki Ramayana. Wishing to make a smart talk, the blabbering chief minister, could at least have asked a little more sensible question, “In which Engineering college did Nala study?” If thus asked, our answer would be “Nala learnt it from his father and he was renowned as an expert in his field”.

Let that be aside. The CM, who asks, “in which Engineering college did Rama study to build the bridge?” would ask similar questions about some other identical beliefs?

“They say that the legendary lady Kannagi plucked out one of her breast and threw it to burn the city of Madurai. Will the CM ask, “In which college did she study that technique? Was it biology or a bomb making art?” We won’t question it, because we accept that Kannagi showed the power of chastity.

The CM wrote commentary for the ancient Tamil grammar treatise Tholkappiyam. Will he ask, “In which college did Tholkappiyar study grammar? Who taught grammar to the one considered as the very originator of Tamil grammar?”. We won’t question it, because we understand that there lived great sages in ancient times, endowed with wisdom and expertise that might not be comprehensible to our limited knowledge.

“It is said that Thiruvalluvar authored the Thirukkural. Where did he learn the methods of composing poetry? Where did he learn Tamil? Where did he learn the philosophical querying known as philosophy?” will the CM ask such questions? We won’t question, because we know that Thiruvalluvar is a divine blessed saint.

Ok. Leave these aside. Has the CM questioning the existence of Rama, ever made even a minor comment about the beliefs of other religions, even by a slip of tongue?

Has the CM spoken anything about the much revered hair of Prophet Mohammed that is claimed to be present in the Hazratbal Mosque of Kashmir? Will he ask, “How do you know it is the hair of Mohammed? What is the evidence?” We won’t question it, because we have learnt to respect the beliefs of other religions; and we believe that speaking insolently about sages revered by people of other religions is a crass and mean act.

“It is said that Jesus Christ died at the cross and then came alive. In which laboratory did he learn that art? Or the one who brought him alive, through which scientific research did he learn this medical procedure? Is there evidence?” Will the CM ask these questions? We won’t question this, because we know it is barbaric to abuse the messiahs and beliefs of other religions.

Why to go this extent? "The ochre Buddha wore was yellow in color, that is why I always wear this yellow shawl" is one of the reasons the CM gave for his yellow effectualness. “What is the evidence to prove that Buddha’s garments were yellow? Were did he dye his garment?” will the CM ask these questions? We wont ask these questions, because we feel that it is utter stupidity to make such dim-witted comments about Avatars, the human manifestations of the Divine.

The big evidence that the CM shows is the Nehru’s remark that Ramayana is a myth. Any opinions by atheists, Nehru included, on Ramayana or Hindu beliefs do not qualify to become pronounced judgments on the subject.

It appears that the CM considers Nehru’s words as sacred lore, err.. pardon.., ‘Periyar’ lore - what does he have to say about another opinion of Nehru? When Nehru rubbished DMK as “nonsense” in one word, why did the DMK cadre conduct a big struggle? When Nehru himself has pronounced the judgment, where is the case for appeal? Shouldn’t they just accept themselves as “nonsense”?

The CM talks erratically about the beliefs of Hindu religion only. Because his decisive opinion is that Hindus are all gullible idiots. If not so, will he dare to tirade so abusively about the Purushottama worshipped by crores of people?

Money induced pride, power induced madness, political-fame induced arrogance - when all these come together in a person, his mouth will speak like this. This speaker of Rama’s engineering qualification, on what qualifications, hold the office of the Chief Minister? By the votes of the people; the very same three fourths who worship Rama as the Divine manifestation.

“I don’t want these votes, I don’t want at all the votes of the fools who think Rama is Divine!”, Will the CM declare? Does it matter? We shall declare it. It will be an utterly shameful act if Hindus who worship Rama and other Divinities vote for him and the party that he associates with.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the editorial by Sri. Cho Ramaswamy in the Tamil Weekly Tughlak, 20-Sep-2007
(Reproduced at
http://aanipidunganum.blogspot.com/2007/09/saturday.html)

Translated by
Bliss (bliss192@gmail.com) &
Jataayu (http://jataayu.blogspot.com)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------