RSS in Process of Preparing a Booklet
The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) eyes “Hindutva push to counter OBC blows”. RSS has taken upon itself to reach out to the electorate in UP through Hindutva and highlighting the BJP’s success stories, the Ram temple at Ayodhya and the Kashi Vishwanath Dham project in Varanasi.
Sanjay Pandey in his article “UP polls: RSS aims to counter ‘forward vs backward’ narrative with Hindutva, nationalism” (Deccan Herald, January 21) informs that RSS is also in the process of preparing a booklet on renovation and beautification of some important Hindu religious places. The booklet will also mention about Janmashtami being celebrated at police stations across the state. An interesting feature of booklet is that it has sought to expand its Hindutva agenda by including Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism also. The booklet will also mention scrapping of Article 370, surgical strike and the issue of foreign funding to some NGOs. This booklet will be distributed among the electorate.
Nazeer Ahmed Kazi
Prof Secab
Vijaypur (Karnataka)
The People of the Book
Kaukab Siddique, in his Editorial (New Trend, 23 January 2022), writes that the Qur’ān calls Christians and Jews with the highly respectable title of People of the Book. Islam teaches Muslims to defend the places of worship including Synagogues. When the Prophet ﷺ migrated from Makkah to Madinah, he set up a Constitutional Charter which gave equal rights to Jews.
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph and Jesus, peace be to them all, who are venerated by Jews and/or Christians are described by the Qur’ān as the Messengers of Allah who brought the truth from Allah Almighty.
The religion of Islam also prohibits its followers from saying ill of other religions and their symbols.
This shows how Islam lays the foundation of human brotherhood and peace on earth.
Khurshid Alam
Meerut, UP
Prevent K-shaped Recovery of the Economy
Noted economist and former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, in an email interview to PTI on January 23, said the Indian economy has “some bright spots and a number of very dark stains” and the government should target its spending “carefully” so that there are no huge deficits. He advised the government to do more to prevent a K-shaped recovery of the economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
“My greater worry about the economy is the scarring to the middle class, the small and medium sector, and our children’s minds, all of which will come into play after an initial rebound due to pent up demand. One symptom of all this is weak consumption growth, especially for mass consumption goods,” he said.
He maintained that the bright spots are the health of large firms, the roaring business the IT and IT-enabled sectors are doing, including the emergence of unicorns in a number of areas, and the strength of some parts of the financial sector. While “dark stains” are the extent of unemployment and low buying power, especially amongst the lower middle-class, the financial stress small and medium-sized firms are experiencing, “including the very tepid credit growth, and the tragic state of our schooling”.
Here Rajan has shown the mirror to the government and now it is up to the government to work hard to recover economy.
Biswas Chaudhury
Kolkata