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Mohini Ekadashi 2024: Date, Vrat Katha & Vrat Benefits

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(Image Source : Midjourney)
(Image Source : Midjourney)

मोहिनी एकादशी (Mohini Ekadashi 2024) भगवान विष्णु की विशेष आराधना का दिन है। यह हिंदू कैलेंडर के अनुसार वैशाख माह में आता है और इस वर्ष 19 मई को मनाया जाएगा। इस दिन भक्तगण उपवास रखते हैं और भगवान विष्णु की विभिन्न मूर्तियों की पूजा-अर्चना करते हैं। मोहिनी एकादशी को इसलिए विशेष माना जाता है क्योंकि इसी दिन भगवान विष्णु ने मोहिनी रूप धारण किया था।

Mohini Ekadashi 2024 Date

इस साल मोहिनी एकादशी 19 मई को पड़ रही है। हां, बस कुछ ही दिन बाकी हैं। मेरे घर पर तो पहले से ही इसकी तैयारियां चल रही हैं। मां रोज सुबह-शाम भगवान विष्णु की आरती उतारती हैं। भजन-कीर्तन की ध्वनियां गूंजती रहती हैं।

देशभर के हिंदू धर्मावलंबी आज मोहिनी एकादशी के शुभ अवसर पर भगवान विष्णु की विशेष पूजा-अर्चना में लीन हैं। यह एकादशी वैष्णव संप्रदाय में बहुत महत्वपूर्ण मानी जाती है क्योंकि इसमें भगवान के मोहिनी स्वरूप की विशेष आराधना की जाती है।

Mohini Ekadashi Significance 

देश भर में आज मोहिनी एकादशी धूमधाम से मनाई जा रही है। यह वैष्णव धर्मावलंबियों के लिए एक प्रमुख पर्व है जिसमें भगवान विष्णु की विशेष पूजा होती है। इस एकादशी का संबंध उस समय से है जब भगवान ने मोहिनी का रूप धारण किया था।

पौराणिक कथाओं के अनुसार, जब देवताओं और असुरों ने समुद्र मंथन किया था तो उससे अमृत कलश प्राप्त हुआ था। दोनों पक्ष इस अमृत पर कब्जा करना चाहते थे लेकिन असुर देवताओं से बलशाली थे। ऐसे में देवताओं को डर था कि वे अमृत पर असुरों का अधिकार हो जाएगा।

इसी बीच भगवान विष्णु ने अपना रूप बदलकर रूपांतरित हो गए। वे एक मोहक सुंदरी अप्सरा के रूप में प्रकट हुए जिन्हें मोहिनी नाम दिया गया। इस सुंदर रूप में उन्होंने असुरों को बहकाया और फिर उनसे अमृत छीनकर देवताओं को पिला दिया। असुर जीवन भर के लिए नरक में धकेल दिए गए जबकि देवता अमरत्व प्राप्त कर लिया।

यही कारण है कि इस दिन को मोहिनी एकादशी के नाम से जाना जाता है। भगवान विष्णु के इस चतुर रूप की स्मृति में विभिन्न मंदिरों में आज विशेष पूजा अनुष्ठान हो रहे हैं। देशभर से लोग श्रद्धा से मंदिरों में उमड़ रहे हैं और मोहिनी रूप की आराधना कर रहे हैं।

एकादशी व्रत को भी बहुत महत्व दिया जा रहा है। धार्मिक मान्यताओं के अनुसार इस व्रत से मनुष्य अपने पापों से मुक्त होता है और उसे मोक्ष की प्राप्ति होती है। लोग व्रत के साथ दान-पुण्य और जप भी कर रहे हैं।

इस तरह, मोहिनी एकादशी हिंदू धर्म और संस्कृति का महत्वपूर्ण पर्व है जिससे भगवान विष्णु की शक्ति और उनकी चतुराई की स्मृति बनी रहती है। यह अवसर भारतीय परंपराओं को निभाने का प्रतीक भी है।

Mohini Ekadashi Vrat Katha | मोहिनी एकादशी की व्रत कथा

हिंदू धर्म में मोहिनी एकादशी व्रत की एक प्रमुख परंपरा है। इस व्रत से जुड़ी एक रोचक पौराणिक कथा है जिससे इसकी महत्ता और भी बढ़ जाती है।

प्राचीन काल में भद्रावती नगर में धनपाल नाम का एक धनी व्यक्ति रहता था। उसके पांच बेटों में सबसे छोटा धृष्टबुद्धि बुरे रास्ते पर चल पड़ा था। वह दिन-रात कुकर्म करता और पिता का धन लुटाता रहता था। आखिरकार धनपाल ने उसे घर से निकाल दिया।

निर्वासित होने के बाद धृष्टबुद्धि पश्चाताप और शोक में डूब गया। इधर-उधर भटकते हुए वह एक दिन महर्षि कौण्डिल्य के आश्रम पहुंच गया। वहां उसने महर्षि से अपने दुखों से मुक्ति पाने का उपाय पूछा।

करुणामय महर्षि ने उसे मोहिनी एकादशी का व्रत रखने की सलाह दी। उन्होंने बताया कि इस व्रत के पुण्य से मनुष्य कई जन्मों के पापों से मुक्त हो सकता है। महर्षि की बातों से प्रभावित धृष्टबुद्धि ने सम्पूर्ण विधि से व्रत रखा।

पूर्ण भक्ति और निष्ठा से किए गए इस व्रत का असर यह हुआ कि धृष्टबुद्धि निष्पाप हो गया। उसे मोक्ष की प्राप्ति हुई और वह श्रीविष्णु धाम सिधार गया।

यही नहीं, मोहिनी एकादशी का व्रत रखने से धन-धान्य में भी वृद्धि होती है और कई परेशानियों से मुक्ति मिलती है। इतना ही नहीं, इस व्रत के महत्व को देखते हुए धार्मिक गुरु इसे जन्म-जन्मांतरों के पापों को धोने वाला मानते हैं।

इस तरह मोहिनी एकादशी का व्रत आध्यात्मिक एवं धार्मिक दृष्टि से महत्वपूर्ण है। हर वर्ष इस दिन धर्मावलंबी भक्त पुरे हिंदुस्तान में इस व्रत को उत्साह पूर्वक मनाते हैं।

Mohini Ekadashi Benefits |मोहिनी एकादशी व्रत रखने का फायदा

हिंदू धर्म में मोहिनी एकादशी व्रत को विशेष महत्व दिया जाता है। धार्मिक मान्यताओं के अनुसार, इस व्रत के अनेक लाभ हैं जिनके कारण श्रद्धालु इसे बड़ी ही निष्ठा से रखते हैं।

धर्मगुरुओं का कहना है कि मोहिनी एकादशी का व्रत मोह-माया और पापों के बंधनों से मुक्ति दिलाता है। इससे मनुष्य को अपने पितरों के पाप और दोषों से भी छुटकारा मिलता है। साथ ही विवाह में बाधा आने पर भी इसके व्रत से राहत मिलती है।

लोक मान्यता है कि इस व्रत से भगवान विष्णु की विशेष कृपा प्राप्त होती है क्योंकि यह उनके मोहिनी स्वरूप से जुड़ा है। पौराणिक कथाओं के अनुसार, भगवान ने इसी रूप में असुरों को धोखा देकर देवताओं को अमृत दिलाया था।

मोहिनी एकादशी के व्रत को सुख-समृद्धि और शांति प्रदान करने वाला भी माना जाता है। विभिन्न ग्रंथों में इसके अनेक लाभ बताए गए हैं। जैसे चंद्रदोष और अन्य दोषों से भी मुक्ति मिलती है।

यही कारण है कि इस दिन पूरे देश में लोग उत्साह से व्रत रखते हैं। मंदिरों में भगवान विष्णु के मोहिनी रूप की विशेष पूजा-अर्चना के साथ ही मोहिनी मंत्र का जाप भी किया जाता है।

पुराणों में कहा गया है कि इस व्रत को शुद्ध भावना से रखना चाहिए। व्रत के साथ ही दान-पुण्य और भिक्षावृत्ति करने पर भी जोर दिया जाता है। ऐसा करने से इसके लाभों को और बढ़ाया जा सकता है।

इस तरह मोहिनी एकादशी व्रत न केवल भगवान विष्णु की कृपा पाने का माध्यम है, बल्कि यह जीवन में शांति और समृद्धि लाने का भी एक प्रतीक माना जाता है। धर्मावलंबी इन्हीं मान्यताओं के चलते हर वर्ष इस पर्व को उत्साहपूर्वक मनाते हैं।

Shree Giri 

Within 6 months PoK will become part of Bharat: Yogi Adityanath on Modi government’s third term

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Dalit

“Within 6 months PoK will become part of India: Yogi Adityanath on Modi government’s third term”, Opindia, May 18, 2024:

“Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that the Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir will become part of India within six months after Prime Minister Modi is re-elected for his third term. Addressing a rally here today, CM Yogi said that Pakistan is facing difficulties in saving PoJK.

“In the last 10 years, we have seen a new India. Borders have been secured, terrorism and Naxalism have been curbed. When the Mumbai blasts took place, the Congress-led UPA government used to say that the terrorists were from across the border. So what was the use of your missile then?” he said.

“A big British newspaper wrote that in the last three years, there were many terrorists in Pakistan who were killed and Indian agencies are behind it. We will not worship our enemy. If someone kills our people we will not worship them but give them an answer that they deserve. It has become difficult for Pakistan to save Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Let PM Modi become the Prime Minister for the third time and within six months PoK will become part of India. Courage is needed for such work,” CM Yogi added…..”

Read the full article at Opindia.com

West Bengal: Three Hindu mandirs desecrated in Dinajpur, BJP slams Trinamool Congress

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(Image Source : Opindia)
(Image Source : Opindia)

“West Bengal: Three Hindu temples desecrated in Dinajpur, BJP slams Trinamool Congress”, Opindia, May 18, 2024:

“On Saturday (18th May), the three Hindu temples were desecrated by unidentified miscreants in Dhupguri in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.

In a tweet, the Bengal unit of the BJP shared visuals of the vandalism and wrote, “Shocking and outrageous attack on Hindu temples in Dupguri, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal! Extremists have desecrated 3 temples, including Maa Durga Mandir and Graha Raja Shani Maharaj Mandir.”

“This violent act is a direct consequence of TMC’s relentless appeasement politics, which perpetually endangers the Hindu community. Local residents are rightfully protesting against this blatant aggression. We demand immediate and uncompromising justice!” it emphasised…..”

Read the full article at Opindia.com

Pakistani media barks in favor Arvind Kejriwal – demonizes Bharat and Bangladesh

(Image Source : X)
(Image Source : X)

Based on a recent statement by Arvind Kejriwal, a corruption-plagued leader and intimate friend of enemies of Bharat, Pakistan’s leading English-language daily The Dawn has published an article by Jawed Naqvi, through which the newspaper has made notorious attempt of demonizing Bharat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Bangladesh.


Quoting Kejriwal, the beginning of the article says, “India once used to give the world lessons on democracy, but under Prime Minister Narendra Modi it has been ‘reduced’ to “imitating detractors of democracy” in Pakistan, Russia and Bangladesh, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal”.


Then it goes further by stating, “Kejriwal claims that Modi is ‘losing the election’. “Should he win by any chance; he would have stolen a leaf from President Vladmir Putin, who has jailed his opponents to win with a huge margin””.


Arvind Kejriwal has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin by saying, “he ‘locked up’ various political opponents and killed others to score high at the hustings”.

Terming Pakistan’s pro-jihad and anti-Semite politician Imran Khan as “the tallest leader of Pakistan”, Kejriwal said, Khan “was jailed by his opponents to contrive his defeat”.

Arvind Kejriwal similarly accused Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of “jailing political opponents to steal the election”.

Whilst pointing to opposition ‘INDIA’ alliance leaders, Kejriwal said, “If he wins, Modi will definitely jail Udhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar among others”.

Kejriwal further said, “the dictatorship that is going on in our country is not acceptable. India has never seen such a period in the past 75 years, putting opposition leaders in jail”. He further claimed that Narendra Modi’s government was “harassing leader of Indian National Congress, Mamata Banerjee’s TMP Party and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s DMK”.

He said, “Put everyone in jail. Then only one party and one leader will remain but democracy will not survive. We do not have to let this happen”.

It may be mentioned here that, following the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal by Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002, Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, a member of Al Qaeda-connected Bangladesh Nationalist Party and a so-called journalist asked US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, “What is your response to India’s summoning of the US diplomat over comments regarding the arrest of Delhi’s Chief Minister Kejriwal, and how do you view the recent political turmoil in India, including the freezing of the opposition party’s bank account? As Amnesty International described the situation, “Crackdown on opposition reaches a crisis point ahead of national elections”.

In response, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. We are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues. With respect to your first question, I’m not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations, but of course, what we have said publicly is what I just said from here, that we encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes. We don’t think anyone should object to that”.

This particular incident had evidently proved a deep-rooted connection between Arvind Kejriwal and ultra-Islamist forces as well as Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). Now through the latest article in a Pakistani newspaper, Kejriwal’s secret romance with Pakistan is once again proved.

Meanwhile, British newspaper The Guardian has published a lengthy article targeting India’s Internal Affairs minister Amit Shah stating “For 40 years, Amit Shah has been at Narendra Modi’s side – his confidant, consigliere and enforcer. Today he is India’s second-most powerful man, and he is reshaping the country in radical ways”.

In April, prior to ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Britain’s leading newspaper The Guardian published an editorial titled ‘Fixing a win by outlawing dissent damages democracy’, where it said, “The world’s largest elections begin this weekend in India, amid claims that the race to lead the country has already been won. If Narendra Modi were to secure a third term with a big parliamentary majority, his achievement would match that of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Whatever the outcome, the loser has been Indian democracy. Unlike Mr. Nehru, who anonymously criticized his own leadership, Mr. Modi has little time for his opponents.

“Democracies run best when there is a contest of ideas and equal treatment of citizens in everyday administration. These are in short supply in Modi’s India. The main opposition Congress party found its bank accounts frozen. It can’t be a coincidence that all the leading Indian politicians arrested by enforcement and tax authorities belong to the opposition and none to the ruling party. Weaponizing India’s prosecutorial apparatus seems unnecessary, as Mr. Modi can massively outspend his rivals. Since 2018, Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has received about £1.25 bn from wealthy donors, more than all other political parties combined”.

After reading this editorial, anyone can understand the ulterior agenda of the British daily. It wanted to achieve two goals with a single shot – spread dirt on Bharat’s democracy and portray Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a cruel dictator. For British and Western media, such attempts are nothing new. For years, there has been continuous propaganda targeting Mr. Modi and BJP. And of course, it is not difficult to understand, Indian National Congress has been behind such anti-Bharat propaganda. Rahul Gandhi has been doing this through his PR agencies in the West.

If we carefully scrutinize the ongoing anti-Bharat propaganda in the British, American as well as Pakistani media – we can easily understand the degree of desperation of those hostile forces, which are attempting to plant their subservient elements such as Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and others with the notorious agenda of turning Bharat into a vessel state. Patriotic forces in Bharat need to confront this conspiracy in unison.

Drugs valued at Rs 7,887.76 crore seized; 2,943 held in 7 years in Manipur

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Various law enforcing agencies have seized various drugs worth Rs 7,887.76 crore and arrested 2,943 people during the last seven years in Manipur, an official said on Saturday, citing a document.

According to the document, since 2017, a total of 2,351 cases in connection with the drugs smuggling and illegal trading of various drugs have been registered under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985 and other laws.

“Sudden spikes in seizure of the staggering quantity of drugs trafficked from Myanmar in Mizoram since 2023 have been witnessed following the ethnic unrest in Manipur,” the official paper said.

According to the official document, around 16,161 acres of poppy cultivation in the Kuki-Zo community-dominated areas in the districts of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi were destroyed under the ‘War on Drugs’ campaign of the Manipur government.

The poppy has been used to manufacture various drugs. There has been continuous threat to the state’s heterogeneous population and demography due to the constant upsurge in the number of illegal migrants.

There was a massive influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar into Manipur, particularly in the years 1988 and 1962.

No measures were undertaken to collect their biometric data or identities. They were freely allowed to continuously encroach and settle upon the Protected Forest areas of Manipur, the official document said.

“The demographic changes taking place by the influx of immigrants and the adverse outcomes which have been taking place for years even before the measure for identification was launched. Even before the state government started the drive to identify and collect the biometric data of the immigrants, as many as 996 new villages had already mushroomed in Manipur as a result of years of illegal immigration which went unchecked and undetected.”

Since the military took over the administration in Myanmar in February 2021, at least 8,000 Myanmarese have taken shelter in Manipur’s Tengnoupal, Chandel, Churachandpur, and Kamjong districts and the Manipur government has already recorded the biometric details of the majority of the refugees.

“These fresh arrivals of illegal immigrants into Manipur, following the Military coup in Myanmar are just a tip of the iceberg,” the official document noted.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and leaders of other civil society organisations have often claimed that smuggling of drugs from Myanmar, illegitimate poppy cultivation and illegal immigration of people in Manipur from across the border are associated with the ethnic unrest and violence, that broke out in Manipur since May 3, 2023.

Biren Singh has said that 877 sq km of forest cover in the northeastern state were destroyed in 34 years (1987-2021), primarily for the illegal cultivation of poppy.

The eviction of unauthorised encroachers has been carried out ever since the BJP government led by Singh came to power in Manipur in 2017 and 291 encroachers were evicted from the Reserve Forest and Protected Forest throughout the state.

“The eviction drive was never targeted towards any particular community,” the Chief Minister pointed out.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)

Acharya Marathe College bans Hijab, Burqa and other religious attire in new Dress code: Mumbai

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college
Image Source: Indian Express

Acharya Marathe College in Mumbai’s Chembur has decided to implement a new dress code for its degree college students, for the academic year starting in June 2024. This new rule comes nearly a year after the college first prohibited junior college students from wearing burqas or hijabs on campus.

According to the new dress code, students will not be allowed to wear burqas, niqabs, hijabs, or any other religious identifiers such as badges, caps, or stoles inside the college. Students who arrive wearing these items must remove them in a designated common room on the ground floor before they can go about their day on campus. While the college administration has not released an official circular, detailed messages about the new dress code have been shared on WhatsApp groups for second and third-year students.

This decision has caused anger among many students, especially since a large number of them are Muslims from the surrounding area. Some students have requested the college authorities to reconsider the dress code. The messages sent to students also specify that everyone must dress modestly in formal attire. Male students are required to wear either full or half shirts with regular trousers, while female students are advised to wear modest Bharatiya or Western clothing. Principal Dr Vidyagauri Lele declined to comment on the matter. Last August, the college faced controversy when junior college girls wearing hijabs were not allowed entry for not following the uniform policy.

(Featured Image Source: The Indian Express)

Hindu population in Bharat declined by 7.8 percent, decline of Hindu population most shocking in Bangladesh and Pakistan where Hindus shrunk by 66 percent and 80 percent respectively: PM’s Economic Council

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(Image Source : India Blooms)
(Image Source : India Blooms)

A study by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has revealed shocking statistics regarding the alarming decline in the Hindu population in countries across the world.

The study titled “Share of Religious Minorities: A Cross-Country Analysis (1950-2015) analyzes the shifts in religious demographics in countries across the world, taking 1950 as the base year. The study calculates both the percentage of increase or decrease of religious minorities within the overall population composition from 1950 to 2015,and the percentage of increase or decrease of the majority religious practitioners of a country within the overall population composition.

According to the study, the population share of the majority religion in Bharat, that is Hindus witnessed a sharp decline of 7.8 percent between 1950 and 2015. While the Hindu population of Bharat shrunk significantly within this time period, the population share of minorities like Christians and Muslims witnessed growth, according to the report.

Between 1950 and 2015, the Muslim population share of Bharat increased by 43.15 percent, while the Christian population share in the country saw a 5.3 percent rise, according to the study.

What emerges as most alarming from the findings of the report is that the population share of Hindus in many countries has come down drastically, irrespective of whether they are in the majority or minority. The study itself says that as a general trend, the population of the majority has gone down over the years in most countries, reflecting a greater degree of heterogeneity in population composition, and government policies conducive to the flourishing of minorities. However, if one looks at the country-wise data, the Hindu population in many countries, where they are already a minority, has gone down even further.

The sharpest decline in the Hindu population can be seen in Bangladesh, according to the study. The report itself terms this decline as “abnormal”. It says that the Hindu population of Bangladesh declined by 66 percent from 1950 to 2015, that is, Hindus who constituted 23 percent of the population of Bangladesh in 1950 shrank to 8 percent in 2015. This, as the study itself says, “helps us understand the scale of demographic shock that the Hindu population in Bangladesh was subjected to over the 65-year-period from 1950-2015”. Yet, the Western media rarely talks about the persecution and forced conversion of Hindus in Bangladesh. All it does is create propaganda regarding the ostensible mistreatment and oppression of minorities in Bharat, whereas, as the findings of this report clearly show, minorities like Christians and Muslims are thriving in Bharat.

Interestingly, in the case of Bangladesh, says the report, the “fate of other minorities in Bangladesh was markedly different”. According to the study, while the Hindu population of Bangladesh witnessed an alarming decline, the Buddhist population of the country remained stable at 0.63 percent while the share of the Christian population tripled to 0.53 percent.

In Bhutan, Hindus who constituted the second largest population group in 1950 at 23 percent shrank to a mere 11 percent in 2021, says the report. That is, the Hindu population of Bhutan witnessed a 50 percent decline during the period.  

In Sri Lanka as well, the Hindu population reportedly comprised the second-largest demographic group in 1950. Hindus comprising 20 percent of the country’s population in 1950 shrank to around 15 percent by 2015, a stark decline of 28 percent, says the report.

Pakistan witnessed the greatest percentage of decrease in Hindu population by 80 percent from 1950 to 2015, says the report. Hindus who constituted 13 percent of Pakistan’s population share in 1950 shrank to barely 2 percent in 2015. These findings are alarming. In fact, the nature of the decline in the Hindu population in countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan, as demonstrated by this study, is so worrying that the word alarming would be an understatement. Yet, the international organizations seem more concerned about the supposed violation of human rights of Kashmiri Muslims post the abrogation of Article 370 rather than the horrendous plight of Hindus in Muslim majority countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Nepal and Bharat are the only Hindu-majority countries in the world, and in both countries, as the study demonstrates, the Hindu population has gone down sharply over the years.

Nepal witnessed an approximately 4 percent decrease in the share of its majority Hindu population from 1950 to 2015, says the report. That is, Hindus who constituted 84 percent of Nepal’s population in 1950 shrank to 81 percent in 2015. While the majority community of Hindus witnessed a decline in their population share, the share of minority communities Muslims and Christians in the overall population of Nepal increased from 1950 to 2015, according to the report.

Another important finding of the study is that even though the general trend observed is that of a decrease in the majority religion’s population share in most countries, in the case of Muslim-majority nations, the trend is of the majority religion’s population going up. 25 out of 38 countries that reported being Muslim majority in 1950 have witnessed an increase in share of the majority religious group, says the study.

In all SAARC countries included in the study, all Muslim-majority countries witnessed an increase in the share of the majority religious group, except Maldives where the share of the majority group (Shafi’I Muslims) declined marginally, according to the report.

The analysis raises valid concerns about the dwindling demographics of Hindus, particularly in South Asia. The report doesn’t specifically talk about the percentage of increase or decrease of the Hindu population in Western countries, but the overall trends demonstrate that the Hindu population even in countries where Hindus are in a minority, has been shrinking. It’s alarming and calls for urgent interventions in the form of recognition of Hinduphobia and creating a conducive atmosphere globally for a fair discussion on issues concerning Hindus.

Nepal and Bharat are the only two Hindu-majority countries in the world. Yet, the Western media portrays the championing of the rights of Hindus as some kind of exercise in promoting “fascism” and “violent majoritarianism”. The West goes on amplifying its rhetoric against the Modi government by calling it a “Hindutva majoritarian” regime promoting saffron terror and what not. Yet, ironically enough, the minorities are flourishing in Bharat, as the report shows. It is, on the contrary, the majority community in Bharat that is struggling to protect its identity in the face of blatant anti-Hindu propaganda and the sophisticated conversion industry facilitated by the Abrahamic ecosystem.

Christian conversions in Bharat are happening at an alarming pace. Yet, the mainstream media rarely covers these stories. You get to hear about Christian conversions either through individual testimonies, social media accounts and testimonies, or through niche nationalist publications. Be it the issue of love Jihad or Christian conversions, the mainstream media always tries to discredit these issues, even if it covers them.

One can see many biased and one-sided stories in social media where people belonging to Hindu outfits are accused of threatening the Church or people who converted, etc. But the background context of such happenings is never given. That is, the media never reports on what actually happened initially that triggered such a backlash. The background stories silenced by the mainstream media are of coercive tactics adopted by the missionary ecosystem in facilitating the conversion of hapless Hindus. Such background stories are rarely reported. What one gets to see instead are biased half-truths where Hindus are portrayed as villains for resisting the conversion mafia.

According to a report published in Organizer in February 2024, Hindu organizations intervened in an event being held in Bharatpur, Rajasthan within the premises of a hotel, as reports surfaced of an alleged attempt to convert hundreds of people to Christianity. Upon learning about the event, “Hindu organizations swiftly mobilized and converged at the hotel escalating tensions between the two groups”, reported Organizer.

Hindupost itself has done a series of stories on busting various Christian conversion rackets. In April 2023, the income tax department raided the properties of self-styled pastor Ankur Narula in Punjab over irregularities in cash transactions, Hindupost reported.

“Ankur Yoseph Narula, the self-styled ‘healing’ pastor founded “Church of Sign and Wonders” at Khambra village in 2008, after leaving his family business. He gained fame by claiming to exorcize evil spirits and perform miracles of healing diseases through prayers. In his own words, he started off with 3 followers in 2008 and had 3 lakh followers with the church spread over 60 acres in 2018. His church has 15 branches across Bharat and other countries”, says the article.

Hindupost earlier conducted an interview with Jerome Anto, a practicing Christian, who is a politico-religious observer and an anti-conversion campaigner. Jerome Anto alerted the readers to the dangers of the Christian conversion industry and said that the only way possible for peaceful coexistence in Bharat was the creation of a Hindu Rashtra.

Jerome Anto had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court questioning fraudulent conversions allegedly being undertaken of Hindus and minor children. The PIL requested the apex court to issue directions to the government to bring a law to control religious conversions in Bharat. The Supreme Court however dismissed the PIL saying that if there were a live challenge and someone was prosecuted, we could have entertained but what kind of PIL is this.

Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has also in the past filed many petitions requesting the courts to instruct the government to pass a central anti-conversion law. However, since the court directed the government to come up with data regarding the status of religious conversions in Bharat, there has been no concrete action to date.

The biggest obstacle to curbing the rampant religious conversion of Hindus is the lack of concrete data. There are numerous testimonies and accounts of fraudulent conversions of Hindus to Christianity or Islam available online. However, due to the lack of a formal study, it’s hard to construct a valid case and argue.

That is because most sophisticated research projects concerning Bharat are sponsored by elite Western think tanks and educational institutions that have no stake in this topic. Therefore, if you google the term “Christian conversions in India”, you’ll get a plethora of articles claiming that Christian minorities in Bharat are being tortured by Hindu nationalists. Such is the ecosystem; it doesn’t encourage an impartial academic investigation into the slimy underground of Christian conversions in Bharat.

Thus, the government of Bharat must undertake an exhaustive study documenting all evidence related to fraudulent conversions in Bharat. If not directly, the government should at least sponsor concerned research organizations to undertake such a study. Unless we have concrete data laying out systematic evidence regarding the fraudelent conversion of Hindus to Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Islam, we can do little to change the ground reality of the dwindling Hindu population.

Hindus under attack: a weekly roundup of hate crimes, persecution, and discrimination against Hindus

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Attacks on Hindus and Hindu Dharma, both in Bharat and overseas, are frequent and unrelenting. In many regions of the world, this persecution is like a genocide slowly unfolding before our eyes. For decades, the world has ignored the actual depth and breadth of these attacks, driven by disturbing anti-Hindu bigotry. From murders, forced conversions, land grabs, assault on festivals, desecration of temples and murtis, hate speech, and sexual violence to institutionalized & legal discrimination, Hindus are facing an increasing assault on their very existence along with an unprecedented Hindu hatred.

In this weekly summary for the period from 12 May to 18 May 2024, we hope to provide a snapshot of such crimes and hopefully awaken more people around the world to this human rights crisis:

Bharat

1) The Rajasthan police apprehended a man named Salman Khan for the heinous crime of raping a 25-year-old Hindu woman under the guise of love. Salman Khan, who operated a mobile repair shop in Jaipur, deceived the victim by pretending to be Hindu. He then proceeded to sexually assault her, record obscene videos and subsequently blackmail her into paying him 2-4 lakhs of rupees.

2) It has been discovered that an unauthorised Islamic structure has been built at the Ranjit Sagar Dam, the source of livelihood for the residents of the Jamnagar area of Gujarat. What is astonishing is that the dargah (shrine) continues to exist there even after the administration issued a written order in 2022 to remove it.

3) The Andhra Pradesh Council of Churches has allegedly issued a press release urging its members to back YS Jagan as the state’s next chief minister, describing him as a devout Christian. This official statement came just days before the state’s elections.

4) Syed Imtiaz Jalal, a former NDTV reporter and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said that Muslims are my first constituents and I will still prefer calling Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Aurangabad.

5) In a significant development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has made a crucial breakthrough in the investigation concerning the tragic murder of Karnataka BJP Yuva Morcha member, Praveen Nettaru, perpetrated by two Islamist assailants, which occurred in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district’s Bellare in 2022. NIA arrested prime accused Mustafa Paichar from Karnataka’s Hassan district.

6) Abdul Rashid Abdul Latif, who posted morphed, derogatory images of Hindu Gods, was booked by Navghar Police after a complaint.

7) A case of Love Jihad was reported from Deesa town in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district. The police arrested the accused bus driver, Imran Qasam Hussain Dhori, who hails from Vadodara. It was reported that the accused raped the victim several times, including on a running bus, by blackmailing and threatening the victim. The whole incident came to light when the victim got tired of Dhori’s torture and tried to commit suicide. The police have registered a case against the accused and arrested him.

8) The body of Ankit, also known as Neelu Meena, was found in a vacant plot in Rajasthan’s Gangapur City. The 27-year-old’s face and head were crushed with stones, and his throat was slit. The main accused, Salman, along with his two minor associates, has been detained by the police. The murder is believed to be the result of a long-standing dispute between Salman and Ankit.

9) In a harrowing and shameful incident reported from Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Saharanpur district, Mohammed Sameer kidnapped a 4-year-old Hindu girl from a Bhandara being held at a temple and raped her. After carrying out his despicable act, he threw her into a sugarcane field, believing her to be dead and escaped. During the investigation, the police came to know about the accused, Mohammed Sameer and subsequently, the girl was recovered from the sugarcane field. The blood-soaked girl has been admitted to the hospital.

10) Another case of abduction has been reported from the Sepahijila district of Tripura. Sabbir Ahmed and his father allegedly abducted a minor Hindu girl (15) and trafficked her to Bangladesh. However, the Police recovered the girl but couldn’t arrest any accused. 

11) The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Bombay has come under scrutiny after allegations surfaced that anti-Hindu professors openly insulted Hindu Dharma during a PhD. Entrance Exam in Sociology.

12) Radheshyam Pathak, a priest from UP’s Kushinagar, was brutally hacked to death by miscreants over a political debate that turned violent. According to the victim’s wife, a group of men supporting the Bahujan Samaj Party, killed her husband after their son said he would be voting for the BJP in the current elections.

13) In a shocking incident, a large mob of Islamists, numbering around 10,000 people, attacked a village in Telangana’s Adilabad district. The incident occurred in the Asifabad village in Adilabad, where a mob of radical Islamists brutally attacked the village with weapons.

14) A Hindu girl has reportedly eloped with a man from the Islamist community in Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Anuppur, sparking allegations of love jihad and manipulative tactics by the Islamists. The incident has sparked uproar in the local community, with concerns raised over the girl’s safety and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. The Hindu family resides in the Bhaalumada police station area of Anuppur district.

15) Calls for “vote jihad” are now being made, first in UP and now in Maharashtra, with Muslim Personal Law Board and Kul Jamat-e-Tanzeem leaders giving a clear call to Muslim voters to defeat Modi and BJP.

16) In a sad turn of events, a teacher forced a Hindu student to remove his sacred thread ‘Janeu’. Citing the rules, the teacher removed kalava, rings and other things. However, the removal of the ‘Janeu’ sparked huge controversy. The incident was reported from the Barpeta district of Assam. 

17) In Dehradun, two men were arrested by Rajpur Police for raping two minor sisters. The incident came to light when the accused, Ahtasam Khan and Mohammad Sahil, were arrested from Sahastradhara Road. After questioning, they were presented in court and sent to jail. The minor victims have been placed with their relatives.

18) Cow smuggler Jamiruddin Qureshi, who was arrested in connection with Journalist Ashutosh Srivastava’s murder case, escaped from police custody.

Pakistan

Abduction, rape, forced conversion, and marriage of minor Hindu girls are common occurrences in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. At least 1000 minority girls suffer such sex slavery every year in Sindh province alone. Apart from this, Pakistani Hindus face systemic and institutionalized discrimination and neglect, such as frequent attacks on Hindu temples, demonization of education curriculum, police and judicial antipathy, denial of fundamental rights, and even untouchability. This latest instance of the brutal rape and murder of a Bheel woman in Pakistan is yet another proof of the pitiable condition of Hindu minorities in Pakistan.

1) A Hindu minor girl named Shumaila, daughter of Kishan Kumar Odd, a resident of Hub Karachi, was abducted from Karachi and brought to Daharki, which is 580 km away from her home. Shumaila was reportedly converted to Islam by Javeed Ahmed Qadri, a Peer of Bharchundi Sharif Dargah, Daharki district, Ghotki, Sindh, which is a hub of the Islamic Conversion mafia and known for converting minor Hindu girls in Pakistan.

Bangladesh

Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are relentless and designed to cleanse the religious minority from the country gradually. According to a study by Prof. Abul Barakat of Dhaka University, no Hindus will be left in Bangladesh by 2050 due to systemic and institutionalized persecution. Temple desecration, land grabbing, mob attacks after false blasphemy charges, rape/forced conversion of women, and hate speech are tools used to intimidate and drive Hindus out.

1) Tithi Sarkar was sentenced to five years in jail over blasphemy charges. She was a student at Jagannath University. Muslim students of the university alleged that Tithi made derogatory comments about Muhammad on the social media platform Facebook.

2) Jihadi Pinaki, known on social media platforms and on YouTube as Pinaki Bhattacharya, an ex-Hindu who continues to use his previous name, left Hindu dharma several years ago after he was brainwashed by Jamaat-e-Islami. Following his religious conversion, Jihadi Pinaki reportedly pressured his father, Shaymol Bhattacharya, mother, Shukrity Bhattacharya, brother Avro Bhattacharya and sister, Lopa Mudra Bhattacharya as well as his wife, to leave Hindu dharma and become Muslims.

3) ISKCON-managed temple in Krishnapur village under the Shivbari Upazila of the Sylhet district was attacked. A group of Islamists came and tried to grab the land of the temple. Priest and Sadhus tried to resist. But, Islamists allegedly dragged Sadhus and beat them. The Islamists also hurled obscene language at the Sadhus.

Most hate crimes are driven by anti-Hindu bigotry encoded in certain religious teachings and political ideologies. While the anti-Hindu hate in Islamic countries is evident, there is another subtler form of anti-Hindu sentiment within institutions and the public sphere of ostensibly secular states (like India) that provides an enabling environment for Hinduphobia and hate crimes. This subtle, everyday discrimination can be missed unless one studies prevailing laws and patterns. The gradual ban on firecrackers during Diwali is a good example – it might seem pollution-related on the surface. Still, the double standards at play become apparent when one looks at the larger picture of restrictions on Hindu festivals and the lack of sound reasoning behind the ban.

We request all readers to share other anti-Hindu hate crimes that we might have missed in this period in the comments below or by emailing hindupost.in@gmail.com. We also solicit support in maintaining the Hindu human rights tracker database.

Smuggler nabbed with 4 gold biscuits in Tripura; GRP detains 4 Bangladeshi nationals

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(Image Source : IANS)
(Image Source : IANS)

The Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday arrested a smuggler and recovered four gold biscuits from his possession, while the Government Railway Police (GRP) detained four Bangladeshi nationals and an Indian middleman from the Agartala railway station.

BSF sources said that acting on a tip-off, its troops arrested Prashant Rai (36), a resident of Amtali on the outskirts of Agartala, from Nischintapur, a bordering village in western Tripura.

“Later, four gold biscuits (weighing 466 gm) valued at Rs 36.6 lakh were recovered from Rai’s possession. He has admitted his involvement in trans-border smuggling of gold and revealed that the consignment was handed over to him by a Bangladeshi smuggler named Iqbal, a resident of Brahmanbaria,” a BSF official said.

In a separate incident, the GRP detained four Bangladeshi nationals and an Indian middleman from the Agartala railway station, who were about to board a Secunderabad-bound train.

The Bangladeshi nationals told the police that they came to Tripura via a clandestine route and were attempting to reach Hyderabad in search of jobs.

The detainees have been identified as Jahangir Alam, M.N. Hussain, Omran Hossain, and Riyad Hossain. The Indian middleman has been identified as Rofiqul Islam.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)

Girl kidnapped by Muslim boy pretending to be Hindu, freed after three months: UP

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Image Source : Jagran

A 15-year-old girl from the Hata police station area in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Kushinagar district was kidnapped by a Muslim boy she met online. The boy, who lived in Gauribazar, Deoria district, pretended to be Hindu to befriend her. After chatting and exchanging mobile numbers, he lured her to Gorakhpur on February 22, 2024, and kidnapped her.

Despite her family’s efforts, the Hata police did not take action for three months even after the case was registered on March 16. The case was only moved forward after the girl’s mother approached the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), who transferred the investigation to the ASP/CO Cantt, Anshika Verma, on May 12.

Using surveillance, police caught the accused near a railway station on Tuesday (May 14) afternoon and rescued the girl. The investigation revealed that the accused had also kidnapped another Hindu girl in Azamgarh district, leading police to suspect a case of Love Jihad. The police are thoroughly investigating this angle.

The accused’s family claims he is a minor, which the police are verifying. During interrogation, the accused revealed that his sister, who lives in poor conditions, also pretends to be a Hindu. She is also involved in illegal activities.

(Featured Image Source: Dainik Jagran)