AKHILESH MITHAL
December 3, 1810, saw the British invade Mauritius to safeguard the sea route to India. Pushing out the French and acquiring the island of Mauritius for themselves, enabled the British to plug a hole in the defence of their Indian possessions. The French under Napoleon had shown interest in India. Tipu Sultan (killed May 4, 1799) had cultivated the “enemy’s enemy” and even had a Jacobin Club in Seringapatam where he was addressed as Citizen Tipu.
It is hoped that 2010 (two hundredth anniversary) will see India and Mauritius strengthen their fraternal bonds by taking some significant step such as common nationality.
Another anniversary that falls on December 3 is that of the poison gas tragedy in Bhopal. 1984 saw some twenty thousand people killed in what was perhaps the worst industrial accident in history. The Madhya Pradesh government led by Arjun Singh (now minister for human resources) came to a settlement with the company responsible, Union Carbide, a United States based company.
The price of an Indian life was assessed at a cheap rate and was nowhere near that of a white life in the US. This settlement has not stood the test of time and continues to be a cause for unhappiness and strife. The US whites have to grow up and become “modern” if they wish to become respected and beloved members of the world community. The mind set of the dominant whites in the US continues to be pathological and absurd.
This was exhibited on television in America during the recent elections there. Senator George Allen of Virginia was seeking re-election. This senator is said to display a Confederate flag in his living room. As readers will recollect the American Civil War was fought between the Unionists and the Confederates. The Confederates were fighting to retain slavery while the Unionists wanted it abolished.
The senator also displays a rope fashioned into a knotted noose in his house. This is a symbol of the lynching mobs. Black or African-Americans were the victims of the lynching mobs less than a hundred years ago.
During the re-election campaign, on August 11, 2006, George Allen spotted a photographer recording the proceedings on video. His dark visage appears to have offended George Allen. Although an American by birth and nationality, the offender was of south Asian (Indian) origin. This prompted the senator to call him “Macaca”.
The reference is to monkeys. Macaca Mulotte means Rhesus Macaque. The video clip of the episode was shown on television. The voters must have thought that the senator has crossed the limits of decency as he lost the election. The blatantly racist attitude of George Allen is obviously not shared by majority of the Americans in the Virginia constituency.
What makes George Allen significant is his being thought of the most likely successor to George W. Bush for the Republican nomination for the presidential candidacy in 2008. It is obvious that the Republican leadership do not believe in all human beings being brothers and equals. They also ignore Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” published November 24, 1859. As George Allen is obviously a man of consequence in the US, perhaps some attempt should be made to help him become India-literate.
India is a multi-faith society of over a billion people of whom 85 per cent are Hindu. For many Hindus, a monkey god, Hanuman, is an object of adoration and worship. The Hanuman Chalisa, a fortyverse elegy dedicated to Hanuman by the 16th century sage and poet Goswami Tulasidas, is memorised by millions. Temples with the icon of the monkey god can be found under trees on busy roads as well as in temples specially constructed to worship him. Many Indians are called “Hanuman Prasad” (Gift of Hanuman) and also by his other epithets such as Pawan Kumar (son of the Wind God).
The Indian Council of Cultural Affairs should make the spreading of India literacy as its major task. Dr Karan Singh is the head of this body. As health minister during the Emergency, Dr Karan Singh allowed family planning to be pushed beyond the limits.
When B.K. Nehru visiting from abroad and asked him about the excesses committed, he replied, “You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs.” The same dedication is needed in making Americans understand India.
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