Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha of the Sangh Parivar*

Badruddin R. Gowani

Consonants
_
ka* for Kashmir, without which one of the reasons for our growth would disappear
kha for khar, whose madness achieved the desired goal, would now plan for Delhi
ga for Godse*, our apostle of ahimsA whose action somewhat avenged the partition         
gha for ghamraul, the "BhArat JalAo Party" has unleashed will engulf South Asia 
cha for Chandradhar, is at large, so beware: Christians, Muslims, and others
chha for chhAnbIn, others will do of our actions/reactions and we won’t publicize
ja for jAlA, of bAlshishu mandirs to produce new Singhals, Togadias, Thackerays, … 
jha for jhol, is left after the helpless victims were cut to death and burned
Ta for Toli, played a bloody holi, is now re-elected, with a democratic goli
Tha for The(n) The(n), of the Parivar, for fatally wounding the limping secularism
__Da for DanDA, of PoTO to enhance the Hindutva agenda and silence the opponents
Dha for Dhol, all the shameless drummers are beating to create a permanent divide
ta for trishUl, our trinity of creating hate, preserving enmity, destroying minorities
tha for thAnA, where many things happen except that of writing FIRs for minorities
da for dalit, a creature so worthless that even a dead cow is more precious
dha for dhwaj, or tricolor is a religious and not, as is believed, a national symbol
na for nAsh, of pseudo secularists and intellectuals by piercing ban into their brains pa for PApistan, the unholy entity that chopped off holy BhArat MAtA’s both hands 
pha for fascism, and terrorism we practice but under the garb of democracy ba for brAhman, the CEO of the Lord’s Mouth, Arms, Thighs, and Feet Corporation
bha for BhAratvarsha, has always existed, even prior to the creation of the Universe
ma for Muslims, Babur and Musharraf’s progeny that, like draupadi’s sari, never ends
ya for yAtrA, is a must either prior to or after committing every heinous crime
ra for rath, from Japan that helped us to rise like Sun after 7-decades of hate-work
la for lagAm-rekhA, which no Hindu should cross over to any non-Hindu religion
va for Vedas, our science, mathematics, archaeology, history, astrology, logic, …
sha for shAyr, is someone who writes sensitive poems and ignores ongoing massacre
Sha for ShatrAg, of GodhrA, Hindutva, RAmbhUmi, shuddhi, SomnAth, GomAtA, 
sa for SanghdhanuSh, which recently replaced the multi-cultural IndradhanuSh
ha for Hindutva Lab, where successful violent experiments are constantly conducted

Vowels

a for AyodhyA, a real city and a real birthplace of the mythical Hindu Lord Ram
A for Ata(n)wad, is our new national anthem – borrowed from the great US
i for itihAs, we are writing anew to propagate the greatness of Hindutva
I for I(n)Tai(n), we are collecting to build a temple on the grave of the Babri Masjid
u for urdUmedha, so the sacrificial blood can energize our Hindi bhAshA’s growth
U for Urmi, of hate, which after drowning a state is now looking for another state
ri for riShTi, we use to slit abdomen, to lift a fetus, and to throw it in the air
e for ek, rAshtra under one dharma, single sanskruti, managed by uni-Parivar
ai for ail-fail, like "Italian bitch" is now the language of the cultural custodians
o for orA, a severe one there is for human politicians – cause vultures are in power 
au for autAr, as Gujarati, Hitler has taken in the 21st century in the MahA AryansthAn

End Notes

A South Asian writer/friend Mukul Dube, after reading my "ABC of US," hinted that I should write "ka, kha, ga, gha, of the Sangh Parivar." Therefore, this is the effort.

*My eight-year-old nephew, who occasionally reads, when I am typing, and plays the role of a sharp editor, commented that how would he know who Godse was and what his action was. I told him that in these kinds of writing, it is usually left to the reader to enjoy and if curious then to find out the thing(s) she/he is not aware of. He emphasized that I should put explanatory notes at the end. I am not sure if he will find time to read all the notes, as he is busy making a second booklet on the Gulf War inspired by a parody/ad on "Gulf Wars" in the "Mad" magazine, and a booklet on dinosaurs. The first booklet, "Gulf War’s Episode I" comprises of six chapters of a page each.

*The Sangh Parivar or Family of Associations is an umbrella organization made up of various Hindu fundamentalist outfits: 
RSS (Rashtria Swayamsevak Sangh or National Volunteer Corps),
VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council),
Bajrang Dal (Army of the monkey god Hanuman),
and others, including BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party or Indian People’s Party). 
The BJP, in coalition with Shiv Sena and some two dozen regional parties, is running the Central Government. 
The Sanghis should not gloat in pride that after the "ABC of US," I have honored them. I will also be writing "Alif, Bey, Pey of the Islamic Fundamentalists." The "ABC of Israel" is already out. For peace loving people, "ABC of World Peace" is out too.

*The notes are in alphabetical order. All the consonants have the same sound as the first Hindi vowel "a," which is similar to the English vowel "u" as in "fun" such as "ka," "kha," "ga". I had used the phonetic symbols, but it requires special fonts to decipher and so I changed it. The letters da, dha, ta, tha appears twice because in Devanagri script there are two different sounds for these letters: hard cerebral and soft dental. The letters with hard cerebral sound are presented as Ta, Tha, Da, Dha, where as the letters with soft dental sound appears as ta, tha, da, dha. The letters "sha" and "Sha" have almost the same sound. This idea of capital letters to differentiate, I have borrowed from an article on Urdu language in "Dawn" newspaper. Where necessary for pronunciations’ sake, I have avoided capital letters for manes of people and places.   
The vowels’ pronunciations are:
a as in fun.
A as in star.
i as in think. 
I as in reel.
u as in full.
U as in jUne.
ri as in Rigveda
e as in way
ai as in aishvarya.
o as in glow.
au as in aurangzeb

.
Kashmir is a disputed territory between Pakistan and India. British left it unresolved when they quit the Indian sub-continent after creating Pakistan out of India in August 1947.
Stupid or hot-tempered.
Nathuram Godse, a Hindu zealot, believed that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (usually known as "MahAtmA" or Great Soul), was doing favor to Muslims and Pakistan, when he would go to Muslim localities to protect them from Hindu communalists, or when he threatened to go on hunger strike when the Jawaharlal Nehru’s government was not releasing the money, which was Pakistan’s share. On January 30, 1948, Godse killed Gandhi when he was entering the garden of Birla House in Delhi for the daily evening prayer cum meeting. However, Godse is a hero to the Sangh Parivar. AhimsA means non-violence and was the policy pursued by Gandhi as a means to end British rule.
Turmoil. Bharat is another name for India. Probably, it was Laloo Prasad Yadav, former chief minister of Bihar, who once called the BJP as BhArat JalAo Party or Burn India Party.
Chandradhar, Chandrachud, Chandrashekhar, tanktik, are all names of the Hindu god Shiva. In the Hindu trinity, Shiva is the god of destruction. The other two are Brahma and Vishnu, the gods of creation and preservation, respectively.
Investigation. The Shrikrishna Report on the Mumbai riots, which claimed the lives of 2000 people, mostly Muslims, came out in 1998. The government has not done anything to arrest the people involved, such as Mumbai’s outer world don, Bal Thackeray. But then, many Sanghis who took part in the demolition of the Muslim Babri Mosque are now in power.
Web or spider’s web. The bAl-shishu mandirs, Islamic madrasa style schools, are on the rise, run mostly by the RSS, a close-knit fascist organization. The BJP government has also succeeded in changing some of the textbook materials to suit their "Hindutva" ideology. Ashok Singhal is the VHP president. Praveen Togadia belongs to the same organization. Thackeray heads Bombay based anti-Muslim/Pakistan Shiv Sena (or Army of the Shiv, named after the MarAthA Hindu king Chhatrapati Shivaji (1627-1680), who fought against the Muslim Mughal emperor Muhiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb (1618-1707)(1658-1707).
Ashes or dust. Excepting some, most Muslims bury their dead. In the Gujarat massacre, many Muslims were burned to death, and many others were cut to death and then were burned.
TolI means group, HolI is a Hindu spring festival (joined in by many non-Hindus too) in which people sprinkle powder and water colors on each other. GolI is a bullet. 
Malevolent or joyful laughter. 
DanDA is a Sanskrit word meaning staff, club, punishment, etc. For fine, the word is DanD. Both are common words in South Asia. The common phrase is, "DanDe ki zarurat hai," or needs a DanDA. PoTO (Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance) is a draconian law introduced recently as a replacement of TaDA (Terrorism and Detention Act). Thanks to Bush and Co, the Sangh Parivar’s kShatriyas or warriors have also joined the "war on terrorism."
Drum. The aim of the hardliners in BJP and other Sanghis is to widen whatever gap there is between Hindus and non-Hindus, particularly, the Muslims and the Christians.
Trident. It also is a weapon of Lord Shiva.
Police station. FIR (First Information Report) is a police report. In most of the cases related to the recent tragedy, the police refused to write FIRs. 
Dalit is the name given to low caste or untouchable people, both Hindus and non-Hindus. The caste apartheid is quite common in many places. A couple of months back, five dalits were murdered for skinning a dead cow. VHP’s Giriraj Kishore pronounced it appropriate. 
Flag. The Indian flag known as tricolor has become a religious symbol in the hands of the Sanghis.
Destroy. Adwani and other Sanghis are fond of accusing those who wants to maintain separation of religion and politics as "pseudo-secularists" or "intellectuals." However, recently Adwani himself faced such charges by some of the Sanghis for not being too tough. I guess, a communal irony. BAn means an arrow.
PApistAn means the Land of the Sinners. For less hateful readers, P for PavitrasthAn or Pakistan meaning the Land of the Pure. Pakistan consisted of two wings, east, and west, with 1,000 miles of India in between. The hateful exploitation of East Pakistan by the West Pakistan based leadership created another division in 1971; East Pakistan became Bangladesh. BhArat MAtA is Mother India.  
Fascism originated in Italy in the 1920s under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Germany adopted it under Adolf Hitler. The rough criteria to be a fascist state is that it should be a right wing totalitarian system under a strong leader which is based on racial, religious, nationalist, and/or other such superiority. Gujarat is the first state/province in South Asia, which can be called a fascist state/province. Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi is authoritarian, he is outright hostile to the state’s Muslim minority, he has exploited religion and nationalism openly, he has presided over the rapes and massacre, and he has used the killing of 58 Hindus by the Muslim terrorists on February 27 as an excuse to terrorize his Muslim subjects. One can always think of East Pakistan’s treatment by the West Pakistan based leaders who controlled power. It was exploitative, racist, and inhumane. Nevertheless, it lacked the fascist tendency of murdering and raping on the base of race, religion, or nationalism. It was more like imperialism, where the western wing treated the eastern wing as a colony. The West Pakistani leaders went on a killing and rape spree only when the East Pakistan said enough is enough and opted for separation. The scale of barbarity is comparable to the US war on the Indo-Chinese people.    
In the Hindu caste hierarchy, the BrAhmans or the priestly class is at the top, followed by the KShtriyas or the warrior class, then the third layer is the Vaishyas or the trader and professional class, and in the end it is the ShUdras or the menial working class. The Laws of Manu (the progenitor of the human race, according to Hindu mythology), states that from the mouth of the Lord came the BrAhman, from the arms came the KSHhatriya, from the thighs came the Vaishya, and from the feet came the ShUdra.
Ancient name of India. The strategy of the proponents of Hindutva theory has always been to prove that the Aryans have been native to India, whereas the Christians and Muslims have been the malechhas or "foreigners." Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Aryans came from outside, took over land from the AdivAsIs or the tribal people (the original inhabitants of India), and subjugated them in the same way as Muslims and Christians or British did latter on. Please note: the victims of Aryans are still in miserable state, however, the victims of Muslims and British are in power now and are committing atrocities.
Zahiruddin Mohammad Babur (1483-1530), a Muslim, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in India. General Pervez Musharaff is Pakistan’s president. It is a communal taunt. Sanghis also shout: "BAbur ki aulAd ke do hi sthAn/ Pakistan yA QabristAn". (There are only two places for Babur’s progeny/ either Pakistan or Graveyard.) In the epic MahAbhArata, draupadi is the wife of five brothers, the PAndavas. Their cousins, the Kauravas, in their plan to snatch the portion of the kingdom (divided initially between them and the Pandavas to avoid a feud), challenges Yudhishthira to a dice match. At one point, Yudhishthira, who is losing,
bets his brothers and then himself. Finally, he bets their joint wife and loses her. Draupadi is humiliated, but when DuhshAsana tries to disrobe her, new sArIs keep appearing. Her husbands are saved from servitude, when she questions as to how could a loser bet her. No hope in today’s India: there are no DuhshAsanas’ but the Sanghis.
Pilgrimage. The BJP’s rise to power started with Lal Krishna Adwani’s bloody rath yAtrA (chariot pilgrimage or campaign) in 1990 when many people died. Now this has become a potent weapon to rouse the nationalist/communalist/religious feelings of the people for political gain. In the epics, the raths are used in
wars. Even after the recent tragedy in Gujarat, the Sanghis did not put a stop to the yAtrAs.
Chariot. The rath used in Adwani’s 1990 yatra was a Toyota van covered up with decoration.
Bridle-Line. Refers to the restrictions Sanghis are trying to impose on those low-caste Hindus who (having lost the power to suffer anymore the atrocious and inhumane caste apartheid of the upper-caste) are converting to other religions, particularly Buddhism. Even non-Sanghi Jaylalita, the Tamilnadu Chief Minister, has imposed restrictions on conversion to Christianity. 
In the epic "RAmAyana," there is a "Lakshman RekhA" to protect SitA. When Lord Ram went into exile, his brother Lakshman and SitA (Ram’s wife) also joined him. For her safety, Lakhman drew a line known as Lakshman RekhA and asked her not to cross the line in order to avoid RAvan, the demon king of (Sri) Lanka. When she is alone, RAvan disguises himself as a mendicant and abducts her by prompting her to cross the line. 
Hindu scriptures, believed by many to contain all the knowledge. 
Poet. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is a poet too. Some time back, his book of poems, "SamvednA" or Perception came out. The massacre began on February 28 and lasted well into April. He found time to visit the western state of Gujarat in April. However, the atmosphere is still full of terror with no end in sight, especially after the recent reelection of Modi. 
ShatrAg stands for the six rAgas in the South Asian music: Bhairav, MalAr, ShrIrAg, Hindol, MAlkos, and DIpak. However, the Sanghis’ ragas are different. It was at Godhra train station that one of the bogey carrying Hindus back from AyodhayA was burned down by Muslims after provocations. Fifty-eight Hindus died. The Forensic Department report says the fire was set from within the compartment. Social activist Shabnam Hashmi who visited the train station said "the fans in the bogey did not melt." (During her US visit in August 2000.) The RAmbhUmi or RAmjanmbhUmi means Ram’s place or Ram’s birthplace. Shuddhi means purification, that is, purification by means of reconversion of Muslims, Buddhists, and others who or whose ancestors were originally Hindus. Muslim ruler Mahmud Ghazni (reigned 998-1030) raided and sacked many Hindu temples, including the famous SomnAth Temple in KAthiAwAr (now part of Gujarat). Temples then were "depositories of vast quantities of wealth, in cash, golden images, and jewellery – the donations of the pious." Historian Romila Thapar points out, "Mahmud’s greed for gold was insatiable." ("A History of India," vol. 1, London: Penguin Books, 1966, p. 232.) Today, Muslims are being punished for a cruel plunderer who became a food of the insects and worms long time ago! GomAtA means Cow Mother or in a proper English structure, Mother Cow. Many Hindus venerate cow. It is a good thing to respect animals and to be vegetarians. However, it was not always like this. Hindus used to eat cow-meat. In August 2001, historian Dwijendra Narayan Jha of University of Delhi wrote a book, "How Cow: Beef in Indian Dietary Traditions." His academic publisher cancelled the publication. Another publisher tried but it was banned by the Hyderabad Civil Court. Some Hindus still eat beef. In the Bengal (both Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal) Hindus, including Brahmans, eat fish. Basically, it is one more weapon against Muslims and Christians, otherwise why would the Sanghis’ who are in power at the center allow our Dear Sam Kaka’s (Dear Uncle Sam’s) Gandhis and Modis (that is McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and others) in India. (Gandhis and Modis mean traders or grocers.) It would be wonderful to see India being declared a vegetarian country – no animal or human killing. First step should be to provide food, shelter, and respect to all those sick or sick looking cows and the human beings strolling all over India.   
The Sangh Parivar’s bow. IndradhanuSh means rainbow or the war-god Indra’s bow.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966), headed the Hindu communalist organization the Hindu Mahasabha between 1937-1948, then he retired following Gandhi’s assassination. In his book "Hindutva," he wrote: "A Hindu means a person who regards this land of BhAratvarsha from the Indus [River] to the Seas, as his Fatherland as well as his Holyland." (Quoted in Craig Baxter, "The Jana Sangh: A Biography of an Indian Political Party," Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1969, p. 6.) The difference between Hinduism and Hindutva or Hinduness he wrote is that Hinduism dealt "with the salvation of life after death, the concept of God, and the Universe," whereas Hindutva means "a nation bound by a common culture, a common history, a common language, a common country and a common religion." (Virendra Prakash, "’Hindutva’ Demystified," New Delhi: Virgo Publications, 2002, p.14.) The Sanghis call Gujarat a "Hindutva lab." In the beginning of this year, they killed more than 2000 Muslims and raped hundreds of Muslim women in retaliation for the killing of 58 Hindus by alleged Muslim terrorists. The "culture," "history," "language," and "country" of Muslims (and for that matter, the Christians) are "common," but not enough for state protection because they do not share the "common religion."  

For many Hindus, AyodhayA is the birthplace of the mythical Hindu god Ram. The Hindu fundamentalists claim that the Muslim Mughal ruler Babur built Babri Masjid or Babur’s Mosque in 1528 after demolishing a Hindu temple situated on the exact spot where the Lord Ram was born. On December 6, 1992, a group of Hindu fanatics in front of journalists and TV cameras from all over the world, flattened the whole mosque within few hours proving that the religious violence is not the monopoly of Muslim fanatics. It does not mean that there was no Hindu violence before, it was just that the world was not interested. Anyway, after that it was back to normal for the world media until the recent Gujarat massacre. Most of the world media’s attention is focused on the "Muslim terrorists."
Terrorism.
History. The Sanghis are changing the school and college text-books to suit their ideology. Praful Bidwai points out that the "Vedic culture is made contemporary with Harappan civilization, although it comes much after the Bronze Age," changes have drastically shortened the Mughal period, last century’s religious communalism is restricted to the Muslim League ("as if Savarkar did not father the Two-Nation Theory!") "Verdict on NCERT Textbooks: Setback to Secularism," ‘South Asia Citizens Wire," September 24, 2002. www.mnet.fr/aiindex to subscribe, write to :  act-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Bricks. Many in the Parivar have been collecting the bricks and are waiting for an opportune time to build the temple.
Medha means sacrifice. During the Vedic period, the kings used to perform horse sacrifices, known as aShvamedha. (See Hymns clxii & clxiii in "Sacred Writings – Hinduism: The Rig Veda," trans. Ralph T. H. Griffith, New York: Book-of the-Month Club," 1992.) It was discontinued under the Mauryas. However, when Pushyamitra Sunga (185 bce?), the last Mauryan king Bruhadratha’s Brahman general, became a king after killing Bruhadratha, he revived horse sacrifice, along with other sacrifices. It lasted till the 11th century. (A. L. Basham, "The Wonder that was India," London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985, pp. 57, 85.)
Like division of land, people, and history, the Hindu/Muslim animosity perpetrated by communalists and opportunist politicians and continued by their inheritors have also divided the language and color. Somehow, urdU language and green color now belongs to Muslims, and the HindI language and saffron color to the Hindus. HindI and urdU are quite similar; but they use different scripts, the former uses the devanAgri script with more Sanskrit words, whereas the later uses the Arabic/Persian based script with more Arabic and Persian words. HindustAnI, a mixture of HindI and urdU – not heavily Sanskritised or Arabised or Persianised – is used by most of the people. However, PTV (Pakistan Television) uses pure UrdU and India’s doordarshan TV uses pure HindI. Private Zee TV and others do the same. The Mumbai films uses simple HindustAnI understood by most of the South Asians. 
BhAShA or zabAn means language. 
The views of Hindu fanatics on urdU can be gauged as expressed by the 1933 Ajmer session of the Hindu Mahasabha, the ancestor of the present Sanghis:
"urdU is a foreign language which is a living monument to our slavery. It must be eradicated from the page of existence. urdU is the language of the malechhas [i.e., foreigners] which has done great harm to our national ends by attaining popularity in India." (Baxter, pp. 19-20.)
The Muslim fanatics in Pakistan have the same amount of hatred for HindI language. For those not familiar with South Asia, a note of caution: both HindI and urdU are very poetic languages and most of the people have no problem. Former Indian prime minister Narasimha Rao writes poetry in urdU. Another former premier, I. K. Gujral had the great Urd_ poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz as his teacher.
Wave. The activities of Sanghis in other states are gradually gaining momentum.
Sword. In one instance, a pregnant Muslim woman’s abdomen was slit open, the fetus was lifted up on the point of a sword, and was tossed in the air.
One. RAshtra means Nation. Dharma means duty, law, religion. Sanskriti means culture. The Sangh Parivar’s tactic is to impose its own idea of nation, religion, and culture on all of India ignoring its multi-cultural and multi-religious background, and thus pushing it towards disaster.
Rubbish or vulgar talk. Recently, Praveen Tagodia called the Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi "itAlI nI kUtrI" or "Italy’s bitch." Narendra Modi called her "Italy’s daughter". Sonia is the wife of late prime Rajiv Gandhi. She is of Italian origin but has been living in India for a long time now. Every now and then, her Italian background is exploited by the Sanghis to divert people’s attention from its communalist policies. The Congress Party is like the Democratic party in the US: on the defensive and using the same tactics as the ruling party. In the recent Gujarat elections, Sonia Gandhi was making rounds of the Hindu Temples.
Scarcity.
Incarnation. MahA means great. AryansthAn or the Land of the Aryans. The group of people who migrated from Central Asia to India about 2000 bce called themselves "Arya" or noble. (Aryan is an anglicized version.) For Hindu fanatics, the Aryans are not invaders or "foreigners;" it is only Muslims and Christians. The word "Aryan race" also contains a superiority complex vis-à-vis other races. One reason behind the German leader Adolf Hitler’s mass murder of Gypsies, Jews, communists, and others was this notion of racial purity. Many Sanghis have openly praised Hitler and Mussolini.

December 31, 2002