C Sasikumar, remembering the late murdered Hindu Munnani spokesperson

Kill An Activist, Silence A Movement: The Gruesome Murder Of Coimbatore Sasikumar And Its Aftermath

by Swarajya Staff

- Jun 24, 2018, 11:27 am

This article published in https://swarajyamag.com/politics/coimbatore-hindu-munnani-trying-to-find-its-voice-after-the-killing-of-its-spokesman  - reproduced here only to popularise and make people more aware of crimes against Hinduism, which no state government is keen to deal with properly.

C Sasikumar, the late Hindu Munnani spokesperson

C Sasikumar was the charismatic spokesman of Hindu Munnani in Coimbatore who broke the silence of a ‘muted’ organisation, but his work was cut short when he fell victim to terror almost two years ago.

It’s a little less than two years since Hindu Munnani spokesperson C Sasikumar was hacked to death by a gang of four in Coimbatore, leaving a void that the organisation is struggling to fill.

A chain of events that Sasikumar led from the forefront to reinvigorate the organisation’s stifled activities helped him make friends and enemies, alike. The revelations of a special investigation team probing his killing shows that he had been pitted against treacherous fundamentalist forces against which he had no defence, but join the list of Hindu Munnani leaders (the third in Coimbatore) who were felled for believing in an ideology and working to further its cause.

Sasikumar who left behind his wife, an aging mother, four brothers and a sister, is now remembered on his death anniversary with floral tributes, by party leaders. It took a Twitter campaign by a friend to raise Rs 2 lakh that was offered as immediate support to his family reeling under the shock of his brutal death. Hindu Munnani sources, however, said, party workers are extended family, and the organisation gave a hand whenever they were in need, or assisted their families in their absence.

Months before his death, Sasikumar sensed that he was being watched and followed. He sought police protection and was provided, but which was withdrawn weeks before his killing. And his life, like many on the ground party workers was snuffed out – but no one seems to care.

Worse, there were attempts to trivialise the gravity of this incident with theories like “personal enmity” and “mistaken identity”. Sasikumar’s was an inter-caste marriage that his wife’s parents were not happy about, said his relatives, and soon after his death there were attempts to hush it up by shifting the blame on the girl’s family. “Shockingly, fears of a communal flare-up overshadowed any intention of getting to the bottom of the crime, and there was a deliberate effort to lead the case astray,” they said.

An outrageous Facebook post against a community by a namesake resulted in the ‘mistaken identity’ conjecture. “While there could have been some initial confusion with the names, Sasi anna was killed for doing what he was doing,” the relatives said.

Sasikumar, right, at a Ganesh Chaturthi celebration he organised in 2016.

The 1998 serial bomb blasts plunged Coimbatore in a pall of fear, scuttling cultural initiatives of Hindu organisations, stripping them of a purpose, and silencing their functionaries, said the current Hindu Munnani spokesperson C Dhanapal, also the slain leader’s brother. However, the organisation started showing signs of life when in 2001 a young Sasikumar began initiating a number of activities that restored temple rituals and cultural practices. One of the much reported achievements was resuming the defunct Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Sasikumar helped organise across the city 25 processions in 2015 and 36 in 2016, a few weeks before he was killed.

From organising vilakku (lamp) puja at temples to cultural events, Sasikumar was the “soft-spoken ideologue” whose “charisma” cut across party lines.

In his early days with the organisation, Sasikumar travelled the length and breadth of the city on his bicycle, co-ordinating activities and bringing like-minded organisations and their workers together to keep alive the purpose of Hindu Munnani, a Tamil Nadu-based religious and cultural setup, formed to defend Hinduism and protect Hindu religious monuments, and which comes under the umbrella of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The re-emergence of the organisation and Sasikumar’s much spoken of rapport with the media worried some. “He had an amazing way with the Press, and did his job as a spokesperson with alacrity,” said S R Sekhar, BJP’s state treasurer, who knew him closely.

This discreet Hindu Munnani strategist was not aggressive, not loud and not the regular chest-thumping leader, who pulled crowds. “This was his strength,” said Sekhar. He said Sasikumar was instrumental in promoting the organisation through the media far and wide, which helped in generating support for its work and cadre.

“When Sasikumar was killed, the organisation lost a thinking functionary who had an extraordinary foresight,” said Sekhar, adding, “it rudely shook its operations that were steaming ahead”.

While fighting to regain the space for Hindu Munnani, Sasikumar questioned the despotic acts of other religious organisations. With the help of authorities, he successfully brought down the flagpoles bearing religious insignia that were displayed at “sensitive” public areas. Another brother of the Sasikumar and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Yuva Morcha district president, C Sudhakaran, said the areas running from Sai Baba Colony to K K Nagar, and from Town Hall to Podanur had pockets, where trouble brewed, so there was a clamp on an overt display of religious symbols in order to restrain any communal flare-ups.

Sasikumar at a cow shelter.

In 2016, he brought the attention of the media and authorities to illegal cow slaughter. Under Sasikumar’s initiative, vehicles transporting cows without the ‘fit-for-slaughter’ certificate were seized by authorities and the animals were handed over to shelters. “The certificate is issued based on the age and health of the cattle, so those transporting the animals without it, were stopped,” said Sudhakaran, adding, “the vehicles that disregarded rules that required the cattle to be transported humanely in prescribed spaces, were also confiscated”.

Located at the Coimbatore Railway Junction between the Town Hall and Ukkadam is a mosque – another bone of contention. Sudhakaran said the mosque on Kottaimedu area was built on government land set aside for religious purposes, but traders misused this privilege by setting up shops – at least 50 of them, he said. Sasikumar petitioned against this non-chalance for the law, demanding compliance with government orders. “The government offered alternative sites, not one but four, but they never vacated, instead, occupied all the land provided as alternatives as well.”

Sasikumar was 36 years old when he was killed in cold blood in the late hours of 22 September 2016 near the Chakra Vinayakar Temple in Subramaniyampalayam near Thudiyalur. He was found in a pool of blood by his family, and later died in hospital. His death sparked communal clashes and a spate of violent incidents that had the city on edge for days. His death was condoled and condemned by all party leaders, another instance of the standing Sasikumar enjoyed across party lines.

A week after the Crime Branch-CID Special Investigation Division took over the case, four suspects were arrested, with two out on bail now.

A year and half after the incident, on the central government’s orders, the Sasikumar murder case was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in January.

“The NIA chargesheet on the case runs to 5,000 pages,” said Dhanapal, adding, “two bail applications filed by the accused – one in April and one this month – were rejected by the NIA special court in Poonamallee, Chennai.

Last Thursday, the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet before the Supreme Court against Syed Abuthagir and Abdul Rasaq, disclosing a likely Popular Front of India-Zakir Naik link.

A close friend, who raised funds for Sasikumar’s family on Twitter, and vice-president of BJP’s youth wing, S G Suryah, said when Sasi anna’s ashes were immersed in the Noyyal river in Perur, yet another Hindu party worker’s life had ended so abruptly leaving many questions unanswered.

The whole world celebrates World Yoga Day and Commies & Dumeels are enraged.

The whole world celebrates World Yoga Day and Commies & Dumeels are enraged.

Commie rat appearing on Tamil sickular channel is enraged that PM Modi is doing yoga when according to them, there are thousands of problems in the country. Commie gutter rats are always full of problems cos they cant see good in anything. The reality is - only commie rats and their companions are full of problems. The rest of India is spirited and looking forward to a dynamic future.

Commies are the ones who wont do anything themselves but are always enraged about everybody else not doing things for them, that too exactly the way they want. In their minds most Indians other than a few corporates are suffering. The reality is amongst 1.3billion Indians, even the proportion of beggars is negligible nowadays and every new generation is doing better than the previous. 

Commies hate it when people get rich and are happy. They simply can not digest both these aspects. They can not accept any life beyond their drab existence. Hence the concept of Sanatana Dharma that urges the individual to be free and aspire for the highest possibility of humankind itself is their anti-thesis. 

With sheer dedication, their all consuming passion in life is to influence as many people as possible to remain agitated, poor and oppose Hinduism. Combining with their natural allies the Dumeels they have succeeded in brainwashing some 20% of the people in Tamilnadu and succeeded in keeping them at the lowest financial strata. 

Together, in the absence of a strong leader in Tamilnadu after the passing away of Jayalalitha, the gutter rats are active in strength now and infesting the Holy Land and causing a plague. Pea brained half baked activists have appeared and are attempting to destroy what ever is left of all that was created and to prevent further progress and creation in the land that hosts one of the oldest Vedic civilization of Sanatana Dharma. 

On World Yoga day, unmindful of the fact that some of the greatest exponents of Yogasanas are Tamil and the Yoga Sutras are written by Tamil Saint Patanjali and the Tamil Chola dynasty is a direct decendent of the Surya Vamsam and Tamils can trace their direct lineage to Sage Agasthya, Lord Muruga and hence Lord Shiva; the gutter rats are enraged now that a new man has appeared on the horizon to inspire and resurect the Hindus of the Land to aspire for a better stronger nation. All their energies are now focussed on bringing down the government of PM Modi. To achieve this, they will align with anyone.

All temple going Hindus shold be aware of this unholy evil nexus of the commies with chrislamists and all the negative forces in the country. They must join together to vote and defeat this evil nexus. 

The truth is this nexus is running their last lap. By joining together, they hope to stay alive. If they stay alive, it will be at the expense of several tens of thousands of years of Hindu Tradition. It is everybody else against PM Modi now. Its every body else vs Hinduism. Hindus should stand together and vote for PM Modi in 2019 to ensure the complete destruction of this evil nexus. 

Death by a Thousand Cuts and Narendra Modi

Death by a Thousand Cuts and Narendra Modi

An exceptional article describing the horrific alliance that is happening in India now and its real purpose and the possible catatrophic effect it can have on our country.

 Source-https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/death-by-a-thousand-cuts-and-narendra-modi09:23 AM, Jun 10, 2018 Rajat Mitra

Death by a thousand cuts to bleed your enemy till he is finished is a time honored tactic of guerillas from all over the world against an enemy whom they don’t want to face and can’t defeat in a straight fight. The same seems to have been adopted as the strategy against Narendra Modi by the present opposition, intellectuals and a section of the media. 

As shared by Barkha Dutt in her article that lets fight him locally, sets the stage for a battle that to me reeks of plain hypocrisy. Perhaps the only difference is that here the opposition is fighting as a guerilla force. Their enemy is not an outsider but someone within, rooted in our soil, in our motherland.

Throughout history, when an ill-trained, ill-disciplined and sometimes morally bankrupt group of motley fighters have faced an enemy whom they couldn’t face directly, they fell back on giving the enemy a thousand cuts so that he bleeds to death. They attack violating all ethical rules in order to win. Mostly they fail but not always. When they do succeed and win, it is after a saga of deceit, betrayal and help from a common enemy. In the present scenario is it difficult to see if all this is true?

The death by thousand cuts seems to be coming from every direction for Narendra Modi, from every quarter, everyone who is opposed to him. The goal is to tire him out and exhaust him so he gives in. 

Today everywhere there are articles denouncing him, intellectuals write narratives denigrating him in a language as vile as possible. He is blamed, abused for everything going wrong in the country even if those wrongs existed before their birth. 

He is called virulent, vitriolic names not so far used for any prime minister of our country or any other I know in the world. Some of his opposition seems to have joined forces with Pakistan and China to call for his ouster, a reminder of the early days of Islamic and British invasion. Is history repeating itself?

I am not a supporter of any person. As a psychologist I believe idolizing any leader has many pitfalls and as a nation we need to limit ourselves to issues, not personalities. If at all, my outrage is from the hypocrisy that is being passed on in the name of “secularism is in danger” theory in present day India and asking us to oust him in that name. 

Isn’t there an inherent secularism that has been rooted in the soul of India since time immemorial and present in every Hindu that has led to shelter, acceptance of the others? Isn’t the present so called secularism of India alien and imported? Why is it paraded by those who never talk about the inherent secularism of India?

The hypocrisy around being secular and treating the other as more than equal is what I believe has divided my motherland into pieces after pieces down the centuries. I wonder if it is not being repeated again and feel one shouldn’t be silent and speak up against this hypocrisy.

Will Barkha Dutt or any congress leader mention the secularism of Hindus down the centuries ever as India the land of shelter and absorption of others that Hindus have built up?

Meanwhile the strategy to bleed Narendra Modi seems to have started full swing in coming national elections of 2019. Will the opposition of Narendra Modi succeed this time? The opposition is not my enemy but the method they have adopted to bleed him through a thousand cuts is what I oppose.

Why are they trying to bleed him to death like a group of wolves in the name of secularism? I believe if they don’t, they will face annihilation. But if they do succeed in the name of their so called secularism, I also see them like a herd, a pack of animals who after a kill will fight over every morsel. 

The nation is being damned, all in the name of removing Narendra Modi. The mantra seems to be ‘just remove him at any price’, even if one has to shake hands with the enemy. It is said things will automatically take care of themselves and come back to normal once we do it. They didn’t five years ago and that is why he is here. 

The loser will be us, the ordinary Indians. Our motherland will witness perhaps another vivisection. What will it do to the soul of our nation? Will it even leave us as a nation anymore?

I wonder why is it that all of them who are expert politicians, who have fought many elections at a national level and won with massive margins can’t stand up to him individually? Why is it he grew into a larger than life figure while they didn’t? Why do they have to fall back into joining hands with each other when just the other day they hated each other? Why did they not grow into goliaths to face him with courage? Why do they act like a pack of rats peeking out of a hole to see if the coast is clear? Does the answer lie in the death of conscience they brought about in the nation after they gained power? Why is it that they have lost the moral courage needed to face him and do so now collectively? Is it their corruption, their greed and looting their motherland that has made it impossible for them to stand alone and face a single man?

As a psychologist I realize that giving death by a thousand cuts is what describes the relationship between the opposition and Narendra Modi in present day India. I wonder why is there no opposition leader who is not so morally bankrupt that he or she can face him alone with courage and fortitude. Why do they have to create an alliance whose only aim is to see him ousted, sorry destroyed? Has their hatred for each other being taken over by their fear of annihilation? Is a vacuous rambling of a forty nine year old man or a narcissistic hysterical antiques of a woman going to lead us from now on?

As an ordinary Indian I am both saddened and pained today. I haven’t ever been the supporter of any political party in the past. But I feel anguished when I see a chosen prime minister of my country being abused in a cheap and mindless language without decency. 

Four years ago, like millions of others I was surprised and shocked when Narendra Modi had come to power. My friends had predicted a doomsday for the country within a year. The doomsday has passed. When I remind them, they point out the harm he will do now if he is voted back to power. It will be nothing less than an apocalypse this time in their opinion. I guess it will be announced soon by all the intellectuals together. Any takers this time?

Meanwhile the man himself seems to be facing it with calmness and equanimity. He faces abuses but neither hits back nor abuses back.

Many years ago, I had lost my favorite school teacher because of an infighting. He was popular amongst students and it was said that it had created immense jealousy amongst the rest of the teachers by wanting to bring changes in the school. The Principal had succumbed to their demands to oust him. He had to answer many false charges that the school leveled against him and had to leave. We were bewildered at first with the intensity of hatred shown against him. Had he paid for his outspokenness? For wanting a reform? When he had said goodbye to us, we had asked him why so many people were against him for wanting changes and reforms and if he felt wronged by them. I remember he had smiled ruefully and looking at us said, “I am in the majority of one.”

Many a times when I faced conflict and crisis later in life I remembered that last encounter with him. I learnt to repeat to myself that issues like reform, truth always speaks in the majority of one.

The other teachers had behaved as if it was a coup to remove him and had tried to tell us that he was unfit to be a teacher. But we knew in our heart of hearts the truth and I believed some of them knew it too. I remembered and saw the contrast, the calmness, the equanimity on his face and the marauding mob of teachers who bayed for his blood. Who do we students respect and remember today? A man standing alone and facing a group baying for his blood.

My father had told me on hearing this, “When you see a single man against a system wanting to reform, know that the man will face the vilest criticism.” He had told me the story of Socrates who stood alone and wanted to speak the truth.

Moral courage, I also learnt, resides in the human heart alone. It is in the majority of one, not as a collective.

Many decades later now as I have studied many conflicts across the globe, to decide who is on the side of truth is a challenge I face often? When people speak in different voices, when some people become a group and denounce one of them, how do you know whom to stand for?

Now one memory of mine emerges, crystalizes in my mind and shows me the answer. It is always where many scream aloud blaming an individual for all their ills.

The article by Barkha Dutt that all fight him locally to defeat him nationally is the final straw that points towards that age old dictum of guerillas. It seems the opposition is determined to see him finished and end his journey. Her statement alone, I believe, represents the collective voice of the crowd. Is their mentality any different from that of a herd who come together for a kill and fight amongst themselves afterwards. 

But one thing I wonder, if they are able to do that, having done so, will they not then turn to the country and do the same to it?

Aryan Invasion Theory Demolished again

Aryan Invasion Theory Demolished again: Harappan site of Rakhigarhi: DNA study finds no Central Asian trace, junks Aryan invasion theory

Source - https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/harappan-site-of-rakhigarhi-dna-study-finds-no-central-asian-trace-junks-aryan-invasion-theory/articleshow/64565413.cms

The Aryan invasion theory holds forth that a set of migrants came from Central Asia armed with superior knowledge and arms and invaded the existing settlements to establish a more sophisticated civilisation in India and pushed the original inhabitants down south.

The much-awaited DNA study of the skeletal remains found at the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi, Haryana, shows no Central Asian trace, indicating the Aryan invasion theory was flawed and Vedic evolution was through indigenous people.

The lead researchers of this soon-tobe published study — Vasant Shinde and Neeraj Rai — told ET that this establishes the knowledge ecosystem in the Vedic era was guided by “fully indigenous” people with limited “external contact”.

“The Rakhigarhi human DNA clearly shows a predominant local element — the mitochondrial DNA is very strong in it. There is some minor foreign element which shows some mixing up with a foreign population, but the DNA is clearly local,” Shinde told ET. He went on to add: “This indicates quite clearly, through archeological data, that the Vedic era that followed was a fully indigenous period with some external contact.”

According to Shinde’s findings, the manner of burial is quite similar to the early Vedic period, also known as the Rigvedic Era. The pottery, the brick type used for construction and the general ‘good health’ of the people ascertained through the skeletal remains in Rakhigarhi, he said, pointed to a well-developed knowledge system that evolved further into the Vedic era. The study has, in fact, noted that some burial rituals observed in the Rakhigarhi necropolis prevail even now in some communities, showing a remarkable continuity over thousands of years.

Shinde, who is the vice-chancellor of the Deccan College, Pune, was the lead archaeologist in the study while Rai, who is the head of the ancient DNA laboratory at Lucknow’s Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, did the DNA study.

MINOR TRACES OF IRANIAN STRAINS 

According to Rai, the evidence points to a predominantly indigenous culture that voluntarily spread across other areas, not displaced or overrun by an Aryan invasion. “The condition of the human skeletons, the burial...all show absence of palaeo-pathology symptoms which could indicate ailments due to lack of medical care. The persons here were healthy; denture morphology showed teeth free of any infection; bones are healthy, as is the cranium,” Rai told ET.

He also discounted the notion of any violent conflict. “There are no cuts and marks which would be associated with a population subjected to warfare. All this indicates that the people were receiving well-developed healthcare and had full-fledged knowledge systems.” The excavations in Rigvedic phase, he said, corroborate this. “This points to greater continuity rather than to a new Aryan race descending and bringing superior knowledge systems to the region,” Rai said.

The Rakhigarhi study, he said, while showing absence of any Central Asian/Steppe element in the genetic make-up of the Harappan people, does indicate minor traces of Iranian strains which may point to contact, not invasion.

The Aryan invasion theory holds forth that a set of migrants came from Central Asia armed with superior knowledge and arms and invaded the existing settlements to establish a more sophisticated civilisation in India and pushed the original inhabitants down south. Rakhigarhi is one of the biggest Harappan civilisation sites spread across 300 hectares in Hisar, Haryana. It’s estimated to be 6,000 years old and was part of the mature phase of the Harappan period.

Rai disclosed that 148 independent skeletal elements from Rakhigarhi were screened for the presence of DNA molecules at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad. Of the 148 skeletal remains, only two samples yielded any relevant DNA material.

Meanwhile, hectic last-minute efforts are on to get additional genetic details of the DNA material. One of the DNA samples recently faced contamination in a Seoul laboratory and efforts are on to segregate it. Samples were sent to laboratories in Seoul and Harvard for establishing accuracy. The contamination, Rai said, is unlikely to have any major bearing on the study’s primary findings.