Jambavan reminds Hanuman!
It is worthwhile here to recount the story of Prithviraj Chauhan & Muhammad Ghori, because it has a strong moral for today.
Prithviraj Chauhan was born at Ajmer in 1166 A.D. & Muhammad Ghori in 1149 in Afghanistan. Ghori’s obsession was India, which he attacked savagely many times, though he was first routed in present day Gujarat by Rajputs and again in Kayadara near Mount Abu, in 1178 A.D. He then decided to enter India through the Khyber passe and first encountered Prithviraj Chauhan at the battle of Tarain in 1191. Prithviraj’s cavalry charged and routed the Muslim cavalry and captured Ghori. Ghori begged for his life & Prithviraj allowed him to go, despite his generals telling him not to do so.
And surely enough, the following year Ghori came again. Prithviraj advanced with his army and sent a letter to Ghori, asking him to turn back as he had been already defeated was spared his life. Ghori replied that he was in India on the orders of his brother, Ghiasuddin, and that he could only retreat after he got a word from him. This letter was sent in the evening and thereafter Ghori moved his camp back a few kilometres to feign retreat. On receiving this letter and seeing Muhammad move his camp back, Prithviraj assumed that Ghori got the message. But Ghori, knowing that Rajputs did not fight in the night, attacked in the early morning hours when Prithviraj and his army were sleeping and thus was able to win this one battle. 40, 00,000 Rajputs were taken prisoners and executed & 22,000 women and children were captured & enslaved.
Prithiviraj was beaten-up and taken in chains to Ghor in Afghanistan There, he was presented before Ghori and fearlessly looked straight into his eyes. Ghori who ordered him to lower his eyes, whereupon Prithiviraj told him how he had treated well Ghori as a prisoner and that the eyelids of a Rajputs are only lowered in death. On hearing this, Ghori flew into a rage and ordered that Prithviraj's eyes be burnt with red-hot iron rods. Prithiviraj was regularly brought to the court to be taunted by Ghori and his courtiers and ultimately put to death.
….(if) Mr Narendra Modi is going to become India’s next PM, (will) he, like a good Hindu, like Prithviraj Chauhan, forgive Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who has been mercilessly going after him for the last ten years, ruthlessly & shamelessly using the arms of the law, the CBI, the IB, the judiciary, compliant judges, the Election Commission, etc. ?
Don’t laugh: Mr Vajpayee did it before him. He came to power ….. but gave orders to leave Sonia Gandhi alone. His Friday man, Brajesh Mishra, is even said to have rescued Rahul Gandhi, when he was caught in the US with a suitcase full of dollars. Did it earn Sonia Gandhi’s gratitude? Not at all! The BJP lost the next elections, as Prithrivaj lost his next battle to Ghauri, and Mrs Gandhi mercilessly went all out after the BJP and Narendra Modi. …….
This is not about good or bad, as in the American cartoons. Certainly, …The values Mrs Gandhi stands for – westernisation, socialism, anti-Hinduism, Marxism - are values which are inimical to India and harmful to (India’s) interests. Even if she is not in power anymore, she will be there watching and waiting in her fortress of 10 Janpath, & the dynasty syndrome which grips India, could allow Rahul to take over. Even if Rahul is not there, Pryanka might become the darling of Indians, always in love with the scions of their rulers, however worthless they are. Then, incumbency , boredom, desire of change, might allow the Congress to come back another time.
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The danger is that once Mr Narendra Modi becomes PM and comes to Delhi, it’s a whole different game from Gujarat. Here in this luxury ghetto that is Delhi, there will be so many buffers between him and the people of India, not only because of security concerns, but also because of the Nehruvian power apparatus, which he won’t be able to get rid off so easily & finally because Delhi is an artificial capital, far away physically and psychologically from the South and Central India. Sonia Gandhi may then appear then the least of his problems.
This is why a couple of us friendly journalists have suggested to him that he should constitute an independent Advisory Committee of journalists, of twelve members, friendly to the causes of the BJP, but not affiliated to any party. They will provide him with an outside window on how the people of India feel about his government once he is in power. … the BJP’s last tenure has proved three things: 1) That the Indian (and foreign press) do not really reflect the people’s sentiments; 2) That at some point the BJP lost sight of the Indian voters’ sentiments. 3) That the BJP tried to please the Indian press & foreign media (and failed). This committee should meet with the PM and his Cabinet once a month and its criticism or suggestions should be taken (or not) into account. The mandate of each member is for one year, to be renewed at his discretion.
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François Gautier,
Correspondent South Asia Valeurs Actuelles,
Editor in Chief La Revue de l’Inde, Paris
On Facebook, May 11, 2014
