“The BJP, instead of trying to craft a secular face and hoping to regain the 8 per cent of the minority vote it lost in 2004, needs to consolidate its Hindu equity by 2014. Inclusive secularism is redundant. Obama won by polarising America. Narendra Modi is sure to polarise the Indian popular vote. Those who [...]
February 21, 2015
HHR
Analysis/Insights
Is the Christian community in Delhi under threat now that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power? Many people would like you to think so. Since December 2014, six specific incidents, all in Delhi, of alleged attacks on churches and, most recently, on a Christian school have been widely reported and commented upon by [...]
February 16, 2015
HHR
Archives, Articles, India
Bothell, Wash. — A Pacific Northwest Hindu temple finds itself on the receiving end of hate. Words of anger are written on a place of worship, just a day before big event planned at the Hindu Temple Cultural Center in Bothell. Leaders from the temple discovered the graffiti on the side of their building Sunday [...]
The BJP’s thundering defeat in Delhi was not due to any sudden merits of the Aam Aadmi Party, but to several problems inside the BJP itself. That much is not controversial. The debate is all about what exactly were the mistakes made. Campaign strategy – We need not spend many words on the poor campaign strategy, contrasting [...]
February 15, 2015
Dr Koenraad Elst
Analysis/Insights
I know cricket is a passion in India, even amongst many of my fans. But not only has the IPL scandal ( 2013 )shown that there is something rotten in cricket, but unless cricket goes down, other sports in India will never come-up. Here is a game which is a colonial legacy of the British. [...]
February 15, 2015
HHR
Analysis/Insights, India
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As much as 266 kg gold is missing from the famed Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here, says former chief government auditor Vinod Rai in his audit report submitted to the apex court. The highlight of the report that has been obtained by media reveals that out of the 893 kg gold that was given out [...]
February 15, 2015
HHR
Archives, Articles, India
(Speech given at the Dharma Civilization Foundation’s Strategic Retreat, SVYASA, Jigani/Bengaluru, 5-7 February 2015) A knife is sharpened by shaving away all the superfluous material that makes it dull. A sharp knife is a live case of “less is more”: less material means more sharpness. At an action-oriented “strategic retreat”, our knife should be sharpened [...]
February 11, 2015
Dr Koenraad Elst
Analysis/Insights
In this fourth in the series, we look at how France has politically and intellectually nurtured and fostered the forces of radical Islam. At first glance this may seem incongruous. It was France after all which pioneered a radical form of secularism, a total separation of religion and state. The source of this secularist dogma [...]
February 8, 2015
Ranbir Singh
Analysis/Insights, World Focus
President Obama as with any national leader comes in for criticism and attack. The duties of office require the navigation of many conflicting and contradictory interests. However a large proportion of this has degenerated into conspiracy theories which bring out the worst in racial and cultural stereotypes. The recent massacres in France over the publication [...]
“In 1964-65, all shankaracharyas, mahants and saints of the religion met in Udupi in Karnataka and decided to allow re-conversion. This was the first public declaration made by the leaders of the Hindu society. Before that there was almost a social ban on conversion in the Hindu community.” – M. G. Vaidya In a surprising revelation, [...]
January 17, 2015
HHR
Analysis/Insights, India