Prime Minister Modi on Sunday inaugurated the third private IRCTC run train Kashi-Mahakal Express via video conferencing, and berth no. 64 in coach B5 of this train was reserved for Bhagwan Shiva. The train will connect three jyotirlingas – Omkareshwar near Indore, Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain, and Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi – and will start commercial run from 20 Feb onwards.

The berth reserved for Bhagwan Shiva has been irking many ‘secular’ media houses. Their questions and objections have been sputtering like wet mustard in hot oil. Nishtha Grover, of India Today, is tearing her hair apart trying to solve the mystery of berth no. 64. So, we thought of helping her a little.

Though we have answers for all her queries, we must begin by pointing out the blatant abrasiveness with which she repeatedly refers to Bhagwan Shiva. She must have thought she sounds very cool & intelligent, but with her condescending attitude, Nishtha Grover has only exposed the upbringing she has received – rather, the lack of it. Wonder if this journalist has ever summed up the guts to be just half as rude towards revered figures of faiths other than Hindu Dharma.

Varanasi: Seat number 64 of coach B5 in Kashi Mahakal Express (Varanasi-Indore) has been turned into a mini-temple of Lord Shiva. The train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conferencing yesterday. pic.twitter.com/X5rO4Ftbl6

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 16, 2020

The second thing she exposes with this list of 10 questions, is the utter lack of knowledge about the basics of Sanatan life or Hindu faith. Though some would justifiably feel offended with the tone of her questions, her ignorance forces us to pity her.

Bhagwan Shiva has been seated on Kashi-Mahakal Express’ Berth no. 64. It is a ‘private’ train not managed by Indian Railways but its subsidiary Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) which recently also had a blockbuster IPO. IRCTC has started these private trains on routes covering business, religious and tourism sites, wherein tour packaging, ticketing, catering and housekeeping is contracted to private players under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

So, how the private operator responsible for Kashi-Mahakal Express chooses to promote a train clearly designed for religious tourism shouldn’t be anyone’s business. But secular-liberals with scanty knowledge love to poke their noses in Hindu matters because no other faith will tolerate their interference. If not Bhagwan Shiva, were libtards expecting to see a shrine dedicated to their presiding deity Jawaharlal Nehru on the train instead?

The photos of Bhagwan Shiva are placed on one seat, not the whole compartment or the entire train. Hence, the question of treating the entire train like a temple, walking barefoot in the train, women on periods being allowed in the train, eating non-veg in train arise out of severe lack of understanding. Only when one’s mind fails to comprehend the simplest logic, one comes up with questions like the ones listed by Nishtha Grover.

Most Hindu homes have a dedicated pooja aasan, if not a pooja ghar. Do they treat the entire house like a temple, roam barefoot in all the rooms? Don’t their homes have toilets because there is a pooja aasan? Are women pushed out of the house during their periods because there is a pooja aasan in the home? Do non-vegetarian Hindus not cook chicken and fish in their kitchen and relish them in the dining room, because… pooja asan?

Again, the ‘learned’ journalist wonders why berth no. 64 is nearer the toilet. She forgets that she is talking about the Smashana natha who meditates in cremation grounds and smears himself with ashes. He doesn’t get bothered by toilets.

The India Today reporter takes a dig at Bhagwan’s Shiva’s fondness for Bhaang (cannabis) and asks whether the same would be made available on the train. We would like to ask her which Shiva temple has she been visiting where Bhaang is handed out as prasad? We would also remind her that Bhagwan Shiva is as easily pleased with cow’s milk, Bel leaves, honey or curd too.

Grover worries about burning incense sticks on a train, and claims “Lighting of any kind of fire is prohibited inside trains”. We seriously wonder if she has ever travelled on a train – because if she had, she would have heard of something called a ‘pantry car’ where train staff prepares food for passengers. If trained train staff can be trusted to safely operate gas stoves on trains, surely they can manage lighting an incense stick at the beginning of the journey? We are sure Grover and her ilk fretting over incense sticks will jump on the bandwagon if some liberal group starts a ‘right to smoke on trains’ movement.

She further states, ‘Temples also follow a strict dress code’, and that it will be tough for women to always have pallus on the head while travelling. Clearly, this lady has never been to any temple in her life. Hence, we decided to show her some pictures of women in temples.

Where is the pallu covering their heads, pray tell, Ms. Grover? Did you mistake Hindu temples for the Golden Temple where everyone is required to cover their heads or were you thinking of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, while scribbling, ‘strict dress code’?

It is interesting that the section of liberal women who market the hijab as a sign of empowerment, keep looking for excuses to damn the Hindu Ghooghat or Pallu.

You know what else is interesting?

Bharat has public roads, parks, platforms and footpaths that turn into Muslim prayer grounds every Friday. Bharat has airports with prayer rooms for its second largest religious majority. There are dargahs mushrooming on railway property and bang in the middle of public roads. But the likes of Nishtha Grover could never sum up the fortitude to prepare a list of questions on those. This ill-informed journalist with laughable knowledge could only go as far as jotting down 10 ridiculous questions that any informed Hindu child could give a befitting reply to.

And it is because of such shoddy journalists that closet-jihadis like Asaduddin Owaisi get to preach ‘secularism’ over Berth No. 64 in Kashi-Mahakal Express, because they know no one in Lutyens’ media will ever question them on the crores of public money spent all across Bharat on Hajj pilgrimage, Hajj houses, madrasas etc.

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