Mangaluru, Mar 28: “Today we have reached a state where politics is right and national growth is balanced. I do not regard our country as a Hindu country anymore even though 80 percent are Hindus, but I would like all Indians to admit that their ancestors were the same, the Hindus,” said BJP leader and economist Dr Subramanian Swamy.
He was delivering a talk on ‘Politics and national growth’ organized at Alva’s Institute of Engineering and Technology, Moodbidri near here on Saturday March 28.
He further elaborated, “The famous Journal of Genetics published by the University of Cambrige analysed the DNA of Indians and came to the conclusion that all Indians, be it Brahmins or scheduled castes, have the same DNA. We have the same ancestors. We did not come from somewhere else. The British wanted to divide us, so they cooked up the story of Aryans and Dravidians, and after that the Muslims and Christians. We are all one community – all are Hindustanis and our ancestors were Hindus. Even when it comes to Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists, all have the same DNA.
“The colour of skin has nothing to do with race; it is pigmentation. Near the equator the sun rays are direct, so it affects the pigmentation of people living in that region. For example, when Michael Jackson’s pigmentation was removed, he became white-skinned,” he added.
Speaking on national growth, he said, “National growth takes place when the quality of living of the people goes up. The western world thinks that progress lies in material prosperity. The Hindu thinks material progress should be harmonized with spiritual values in order to be happy. More material prosperity leads to greed. When there’s greed, moral character will be ruined and you will be unhappy. To be at the highest position, sacrfice your material greed and acquire knowledge.
“There is no difference in the intellectual level of a Brahmin and a person of the scheduled caste, but the question is what you perceive. For example, take Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr B R Ambedkar. Dr Ambedkar acquired degrees and did his PhD in economics in 1916 from Columbia University and later completed law and headed the Constituent Assembly and drafted the finest Constitution. But Nehru was born rich, went to England and entered Cambridge and he failed in exam, still, when he came to India he was venerated as a great scholar and termed as ‘Panditji’. When Dr Ambedkar came back to India, Congressmen called him Bhimrao though he had completed his PhD. This is because of prejudice in the system. Caste system still exists and is harming our politics. Mental revolution should be part of politics. If you want national growth then your job is not to make money but to tranform the country, by which process you can earn money,” he said.
“All caste and varna differences are articifial. Originally the varna system came into existence to decentralize the economic system,” he added.
“Boycott books that tell lies. Intellectuals of the west are scared of me and they have cancelled my lecture at Oxford University stating that I would give a hate speech.
Learn from history
Earlier in his talk, Dr Swamy emphasized the richness of Indian civilization and said, “India is the only country considered by UNESCO as having unbroken continuing civilization out of the 46 civilizations in the world. Even the Greece is not what it was in the past, nor is Egypt or Iran. Forty-five civilizations have disappeared due to invasions and conquers. Ony 46 civilizations are surviving though they have been attacked or ruled for centuries.
“Though there were attacks on India we did not surrender but fought back. Look at the history books written by the British for you – they have separate chapters for each Moghul emperor from Akbar to Aurangazeb, but there is only one page on Vijayanagara empire. We should learn from history about how developed India was thousand years ago. People from all over the world came here to learn, study and buy goods. Even a large number of books were written on the greatness of India. But somewhere in the middle we lost it, and we are yet to recover that glory.
Be a rational risk taker, transform India
Calling upon everyone to join in the process of transforming the country, he said, “Find an alternative for fuel and help your country, because 86 percent of our oil depends on Arab countries. We should think of how we can make India a great economic power. You need economic well being to survive, and if you accumulate a lot of wealth, build educational institutions and donate to society and do not hide it in Swiss bank. Many suffer because of degeneration of society, especially the SC/STs. There are people who for centuries were suppressed. We have to uplift them. Mind is most important and it tells us how to deal with a situation. If you have conservative mind you will not achieve anything. Every Indian should be a rational risk taker to achieve national growth.”
He further added, “India should be transformed back to where we were – a prosperous, spirirtual, scientifically advanced country. Our rishis (sages) described the movement of sun and stars. In Europe they believed that sun revolves around the earth, and when Galeleo opposed this, all Italians beat him and made him apologize. In contrast, though there were different views in India, there was freedom of expression. This country should be transformed through new innovations. US moves forward because of innovations. Nearly 70 percent of the Indian population is below the age of 35. We are the youngest nation in the world. The average age of the population in India is 26 years, in China it is 35 years, in USA 37 and in Europe 46. There is no shortage of anything in India. This country has numerous alternative sources of generating funds.”
Two major flaws in politics
Dr Subramanian Swamy said politics today suffers from two major flaws. “Politics is suffering today because people vote on the basis of region, caste and religion. Politics is today suffering from two major flaws – one, people do not vote on merit; and two, the quality of people entering politics is so low.
“Politics is the most efficient and effective way for transforming Indian society. In other democratic countries the best educated people go into politics. Here (in India) politics is entirely different.”
“Recently the PM offered me the post of president of Brics Bank with an annual salary of Rs 50 crores, but I rejected the offer because I do not want to leave India,” he added.
“Abolish income tax”
Calling for abolishition of income tax, he said, “Abolish income tax because the rich do not pay tax and the poor are not qualified to pay, so only the middle class suffers. Till 1991, Dhirubhai Ambani did not pay even one rupee as income tax.
“Instead of collecting tax, auction 2G spectrum an you will get more than Rs 2 lac crore, auction coal blocks and you will get Rs 11 lac crore, auction oil fields – which are given free to Ambanis – and you will get Rs 24 lac crore. Bring illegal money which is in Swiss Bank and you will get 120 lac crore,” he suggested.
“Mosque not a religious place”
During the interaction with the audience, he was asked several questions related to various issues.
When a question was asked about his recent statement that ‘mosque is not a religious place and can be demolished anytime, he said, “I was told that in Saudi Arabia mosques are demolished regularly to build roads and apartments. Even the mosque in Mecca where the Prophet performed namaz is demolished, and so also mosques in Qatar, Turkey and Pakistan. I enquired from Saudi Arabia and got the answer that mosque is a place to offer namaz, and namaz can be offered anywhere, even in an airport. Mosque is a centre to facilitate namaz. It is not a religious place but only a place to perform namaz.
“Temples built through prana prathishta cannot be demolished. Even Babri Masjid was built after demolishing a temple, so it is still remains a temple. The Allahabad court also accepted this fact and requested Muslims to build a mosque near Sarayu river in Ayodhya.
“VHP has bought a church in US and converted it into temple. When I enquired about this, I was told people were not coming for Mass and there was no donation to the church either, and so it was sold. In Britain one church is converted into bar,” he added.
To a question regarding allegations that Sangh Parivar was targetting minroties, he said, “So far I have not come across a single Sangh Parivar office-bearer or leader who has been prosecuted for attacking minorities. This is a media creation. When a nun was gang-raped in West Bengal, the media blamed the Sangh Parivar, but it turned out that it was done by Bangladeshi Muslims. Vatican is going to send a delegation to India regarding this case. If I send a delegation to the Vatican, I can write a book on what is going on there, and my book may even be banned.”
On his opinion regarding the contentious Land Bill, he said it should be scrapped as it has no scope.
To a question on whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi has bank accounts abroad, he said, “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have two illegal bank accounts in Zurich and one in Vatican. I have already writted to SIT on black money about this. I have also informed the Enforcement Directorate and urged it to confiscate their money, but no action has been taken so far. I am hoping that later this year action will be taken. I am not giving up this issue. Even in the case of Jayalalithaa, I was told it would not work, but after 18 years she was convicted.”
On the issue of caste reservation he said, “Once you give reservation, you need pursuation to take it back. I support reservation to Jats as it was promised to them. Reservation should be only for the category of people who suffer and have imposed social disabilities. SC/STs suffered socially imposed disabilities and hence reservation is provided to them.”
To a question on the ban on Nirbhaya documentary ‘India’s Documentary’, Dr Swamy said, “It is a scandolous version of a human being who is depraved. He (convict) is telling that if the girl had not fought back nothing would have happened – what kind of a human being is he? But who are the English to give lecture on freedom of expression, when my talk in Oxford University has been cancelled saying it would be communal? Democratic rights are only for the white people but not for others.”