If the terrorists bomb our temples, then send the army to take over the Mosque built on the Kashi-Vishwanath temple, and restore the entire area to Lord Shiva."

The Hindu Temple Society of North America, The Indian American Intellectuals Forum (“Forum”) and several other Hindu organizations joined hands to celebrate with pomp, pageantry and enthusiasm the Fourteenth Hindu Sangathan Divas (Hindu Unity Day) on August 10, 2008 at Hindu Temple Auditorium in Flushing, New York.

The upscale auditorium was packed to capacity, including the balcony.  Inside, there were more than 1000 Hindus present.  Putting aside their caste, creed, color, nationality, the Hindus from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Guyana, Trinidad and many other countries, participated in the most unique event of the times – the Hindu Unity Day – with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, zeal and gusto.  The assertion of the newly born Hindu pride and confidence had to be seen to be believed.

The high-profile dignitaries, who addressed the huge audience were:  Dr. Subramanian Swamy, the Chief Guest and President of Janata Party in India and the former Law Minister; Sardar Joginder Singh, the Keynote Speaker and former Chief of India’s Central Bureau of Intelligence; Rajeev Malhotra, the Founder of Infinity Foundation and a philanthropist; Sri Nithya Bhaktananda Swamy, the very successful business professional turned spiritual master, and Dr. Uma Mysorekar, the President of Hindu Temple Society of North America.

The fact that the event evoked so much of interest and involvement of so many Hindus from the tri-state area, and elsewhere, demolished the frequently propounded theory by the prophets of doom, and exploded their much-hyped myth that the Hindus simply cannot work in unison.

The Hindu public and the assembled leaders deliberated over the serious problems of the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, the terrorist bomb blasts in mega Indian cities such as Bangaluru, Jaipur and Ahmedabad, the forcible conversion of Hindus to other religions, the acquisition of Hindu temple lands by governments in India, the return of 100 acre land back to the Amarnath Shrine, widespread terrorism and rampant corruption in governmental agencies.  Numerous resolutions were proposed and were passed unanimously by voice vote, and are attached herewith. 

In his hard-hitting speech supported by facts, Dr. Subramanian Swamy stated that the anti-Hindu focus of the present UPA government in India has become abundantly obvious, especially in the case of Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project that was supposedly needed to accomplish certain maritime objectives. Here, all along, the government was insisting to follow one particular route that required destroying the historical Rama Setu, the ancient bridge built by the army of Rama in order to reach the island of Lanka.

That was despite the fact that there are five other alternative routes available to accomplish what was needed. Yet, the government was hell-bent on breaking the Rama Setu and hurting the sentiments of nine hundred fifty million Hindus. “Why?” Dr. Swamy asked. “Is that because Karunanidhi (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister) and Sonia (Congress Party Chairperson) hate the Hinduism?”

For the first time since 1947, Hindus have won a court case for Hinduism, by having the Supreme Court direct the national government look for another route because, as the Judges observed, "Where the faith is hurt, development project has to give way." Now the government is exploring an alternative route, which was Dr. Swamy's demand in his Writ Petition, to begin with.

Dr. Swamy argued that the terrorists have political objectives that we can act to nullify. For example, he cited the fact that terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir have killed the Hindu Pandits and driven out 375,000 Hindus to create a Caliphate there. "Retaliate," he thundered, "by sending one million ex-servicemen to settle in the Valley for good. Give them the necessary weapons to defend themselves and also an amount of Rs. 5 lakh each to build their homes."

Furthermore, Dr. Swamy said, “If the terrorists bomb our temples, then send the army to take over the Mosque built on the Kashi-Vishwanath temple, and restore the entire area to Lord Shiva." “If the Bangladeshis infiltrate into India as they have,” Dr. Swamy pointed out, “then demand the territory from Bangladesh.” "Let us send a column of Indian army from Khulna to Sylhet in Bangladesh and annex the top one-third of that nation as the compensation," he said.

The jam-packed auditorium roared with approval at every punch line and gave Dr. Swamy a standing ovation for five minutes when he finally finished his talk.

Speaking on the menace of terrorism, former CBI chief Sardar Joginder Singh said, “Nowhere in the world was the problem of terrorism ever tackled through talks with the terrorists.” Quoting Gulam Nabi Azad, a Congress veteran leader and an ex-Chief Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Joginder Singh said, “He (Azad) had once said that ‘bullet-for-bullet’ was the only way to solve the problem of terrorism.  You have to kill the terrorists or else they will kill you.”

“Thousands of innocent people have been killed in India due to terrorism,” lamented Joginder Singh, “We should follow the Israeli model to handle terrorism.  In Israel, citizens have been trained to be vigilant about the suspicious activities of anti-national elements.  Hence, it is the duty of government to encourage citizens to cooperate with it.  At the same time, it is the responsibility of every citizen to cooperate with security agencies in capturing terrorists.

Rajeev Malhotra, a highly acclaimed intellectual and a philanthropist, was honored at the Unity event for his exceptional services to the Hindu society. Mr. Malhotra emphasized the importance of maintaining our Hindu identity.

Sri Nitya Bhaktananda Swamy said that Hinduism believes in giving, loving, sharing and caring.  Temples play very important role in uniting the Hindu people.  Scriptures, Guru-shishya tradition, temples and society are the four pillars of Hindu Dharma.

Dr. Uma Mysorekar said, “It was wrong to say that Hinduism is merely a way of life.  Hinduism is a full-fledged religion and has its own scriptures, methodology and identity.”

Earlier in the event, Indira Narasimharajan welcomed the audience. Narain Kataria, the President of Intellectual Forum, while welcoming Sardar Joginder Singh, said that Hindus and Sikhs have suffered immensely at the hands of invaders while they have also rejoiced together. Hindus consider Sikhs as their blood brothers.  The system of “Roti” and “Beti” is still prevalent between the Sikhs and Hindus in Punjab. Guru Arjun Dev, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh and his four sons sacrificed their lives for the protection of Hindu Dharma. Contributions of Sikhs in the struggle for India’s freedom are unparalleled in the annals of history.

Arish Sahani, the Vice President of the Forum proposed a vote of thanks and Rene Lobo, a distinguished journalist, Director of Community News at television channel ITV and a budding politician emceed the event.