[Assam] From Hindustantimes :: How Racist we can be

Fri Mar 2 12:12:40 EST 2007

CONTEXT! CONTEXT!!!

>You and I may have liberated ourselves from the religious shackles 
>but the >average citizen in Assam has not

*** Are you suggesting that thus it is legitimate or excusable to 
give the incident respectability? That the average Assam Hindu ought 
to pledge allegiance to such bogotries?

>even after 35 years of living abroad I feel very connected to Indian 
>culture >and Assamese sub culture.

*** What does that have to do with the ISSUE in point--the hollowness 
of Hinduism as demonstrated in the incident in question?

At 8:58 AM -0800 3/2/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
>If you are thinking that severing the political and administrative 
>link to India will also isolate Assam from the religious and 
>cultural links to India, you must have "pol-potian" designs in your 
>mind.
>You and I may have liberated ourselves from the religious shackles 
>but the average citizen in Assam has not. As for culture, I do not 
>want to comment since even after 35 years of living abroad I feel 
>very connected to Indian culture and Assamese sub culture.
>
>To answer your question in the email below, religious and cultural 
>connections are the big reasons why Assam chose to be with India and 
>not Pakistan in 1947. Remember Assam's people and its leaders 
>struggled to remain in India.
>
>You use the word "servitude to India" a lot. What do you really 
>mean? By constitution Assam had and has the same status as any other 
>state. In reality if it has changed, it is due to how Assam's 
>leaders have represented the state to the center and the other 
>states.
>Dilip
>==============================================================
>
>Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
>  >I hope people don't jump up and down, and use this as a show case 
>to show why >Assam should gets its independence (because of rampant 
>bigotry in Puri, >Jagananath) :).
>
>
>*** And why not :-)?  It does underscore, once again, the hollowness 
>of the Hinduism that SOME proponents of Indian servitude for Assam 
>wave as a reason.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>At 9:24 AM -0600 3/2/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>
>>Hi Utpal
>>
>
>
>First the HT is not correct in terming this as "racist". Its more 
>religious bigotry, intollerance, and simply blind faith than 
>anything else.
>
>
>
>Years ago, Indira Gandhi was allowed into the Trupati Temple in 
>spite of the fact that widows were not allowed - but then she was 
>the Prime Minister.
>
>
>
>I hope people don't jump up and down, and use this as a show case to 
>show why Assam should gets its independence (because of rampant 
>bigotry in Puri, Jagananath) :).
>
>
>
>Hope you and Malabika are doing fine.
>
>
>
>--Ram da
>
>
>
>
>
>On 3/2/07, Malabika Brahma 
><<mailto:malabikabrahma at yahoo.co.uk>malabikabrahma at yahoo.co.uk> 
>wrote:
>
>Food destroyed at Jagannath temple after foreigner's entry
>
>Indo-Asian News Service
>
>Bhubaneshwar, March 2, 2007
>                 
>         
>                 
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>
>In a country where millions go to bed hungry, food worth Rs 1 
>million, meant for holy offering at Orissa's Jagannath temple was 
>destroyed on Friday because a foreigner had entered the shrine, an 
>act seen as defiling the premises.
>
>Priests at the temple in Puri, 56 km from here, also performed 
>rituals to cleanse the shrine after Paul Rodgier, a 55-year-old 
>American Christian, visited it on Thursday afternoon.
>
>The priests fined him Rs 209 when he pleaded that he was not aware 
>of any restriction on the entry of foreigners to the temple. Rodgier 
>had reportedly come to the government-run National Thermal Power 
>Corp in Angul district on official work a few days ago.
>
>The shrine administration then decided to destroy the food that was 
>prepared for offering to the deities, temple official Laxmidhar 
>Pujapanda told the agency. A mud pit was dug inside the premises and 
>the holy offering was thrown in it.
>
>The priests, who had stopped all the rituals of the temple since 
>Thursday afternoon, also performed purification rituals on Friday, 
>he said. The kitchen areas of the temple were also washed 
>thoroughly, he added.
>
>Foreigners are not allowed to enter leading Hindu temples in Orissa, 
>including the Jagannath temple at Puri and the Lingaraj temple here.
>
>An American woman, Pamela K Fleig, who had converted from 
>Christianity to Hinduism after marrying an Uttar Pradesh resident, 
>was denied entry into the 11th century Lingaraj temple in 
>Bhubaneswar in 2005.
>
>Thailand's Crown Princess Sirindhorn was also not given permission 
>to visit the Jagannath temple the same year because she is a 
>foreigner and a Buddhist.
>
>Even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a born Hindu was not 
>allowed to enter the temple when she was in power because she had 
>married a Parsi.
>
>
>The 
><http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/nowyoucan/free_from_isp/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=40565/*http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html>all-new 
>Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your 
>Internet provider.
>
>
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