2014 More on Ranjit Singh aka TRS: Fiji Sun columnist Thakur Ranjit Singh retracts his false claim that his grandfather had fled to Fiji in 1915 from poverty-stricken India New Zealand Indians condemn his offensive views of India on his Facebook fijitoday.wordpress/2012/09/20/the-thakur-ranjit-singh-facebook-saga/ What Thakur Ranjit Singh wrote on Facebook First Comments on August 11, 2012 As every Indian man and his dog talk about India’s Independence celebration on 15 August, we need to stand back, away from misnomer and misplaced tagging of “Mera Bharat Mahaan” and reflect on our achievement as the largest democracy on earth. Tagged as the worst country in the world for a woman to live, with largest amount of black money hoarded in Swiss Banks, with most corrupt politicians and officials, with very lucrative businesses and businessmen worldwide, but bereft of human kindness that goes with it. As a business community, we have done well, how about as human beings? Look at the Olympic medal tally. China with the same population is in top three, while India with a billion people has become a laughing stock. Do we still have corrupt officials like Kalamadi leading our sporting team? How Is Our Bharat Mahaan? So this Independence Day, bow your head and pray for a miracle to salvage the name of a once proud country, so once again we can say, we are proud to be an Indian. Food for thought for all those suffering from ostrich syndrome. I am proud to be Fijian, and thank my grandfather for running away from India in 1915 for a new home in Fiji. On this Independence Day, we could not pray for anything more for a prosperous, honest, conscientious and caring nation where all have equality and share in the economic cake. The “Apology” On August 15, 2012 (Edited Version) On this India’s 66th Independence Day, I very humbly request to all my offended Face book friends, and all offended Indians, to forgive me, because I am sorry to have spoken lies about India, and retract everything I said in my posting. I apologise for bringing any disrepute to the country of Gandhi, Subahash, Tagore, Tilak, Hari Singh Nalwa, Bhagat Singh, Sivaji, Jhashi ki Rani and my ancestor Prithvi Raj Chauhaan. I also regret bringing any tension between good friendship of Fiji and India by talking untruths about India. In retracting and apologising point by point, I now proudly say as an Indian that Women have full rights, equality and respect as men in India, which is the best country in the world for women to be born in. Indian politicians and businessmen do not have any black money in Swiss Banks. India has very honest, non-corrupt and conscientious politicians. India is a very compassionate nation where the economic growth and growth in wealth has filtered down to common people in ghettoes. As a populous nation, we are proud to have achieved the equivalent fame in Olympics. My grandfather Bansi did not run away from India in 1915 because of poverty in Rajasthan, but wanted a free ride to Fiji on HMS Ganges ship, and hence I ended up in Fiji as an Indentured offspring. Journo’s comments rile Indian community By Venkat Raman 29/08/2012 16:27:00 The comments made by popular journalist and media specialist Thakur Ranjit Singh have attracted widespread criticism from a large number of people from the extended Indian community in New Zealand and abroad. His original comments on Facebook were condemned as ‘outrageous, unwarranted and vicious’ by Members of Parliament and others (three of which appear separately in this section), while many community leaders and readers have said that Mr Singh had ‘condemned a Nation and its people.’ Our editorial appearing under Viewlink reflects the opinions of a majority of our readers. The following contains the views from the community. The Waitakere Indian Association, of which Mr Singh is the Vice-President, distanced itself from his comments, saying that they did not represent either the views of the organisation or those of any of its executive committee members. Credibility questioned President Sunil Chandra told this newspaper that the Executive Committee at its emergency meeting held on August 13 decided to suspend him from the post of Vice-President, since “there are questions about his personal credibility and commitment to the advancement of the Indian community in New Zealand.” “All of us are proud of our Indian ancestry and the progress made by India since its independence on August 15, 1947. Our Committee was shocked by the comments made by Mr Singh. They are clearly unacceptable,” Mr Chandra said. Magsons Hardware Mitre 10 Mega Chairman & Managing Director and the Hindu Council of New Zealand President Vinod Kumar described Mr Singh as a ‘failed journalist.’ “His remarks and comments are always without any base and research. Let alone that, his thoughts are of hatred. We as Hindu Council of New Zealand totally condemn his remarks on the Facebook,” he said. Muslim community leader Ahemad Bhamji said he wished to disassociate himself completely from the comments of Mr Singh. “I am disappointed that Thakur Ranjit Singh had chosen to write derogatory remarks about India and Indians. I am proud that my ancestors were from India and I want the future generations to have the same sentiments. I am sure that my disappointment with Mr Singh is shared by a majority of Indo-Fijians,” he said. Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust Chairman Jeet Suchdev said that he was “utterly disappointed” with such remarks. “I agree with all the respondents who condemned the senseless remarks about our Mother India. His knowledge of a great country is poor and his bad attitude towards the people of India is deplorable,” he said. Manukau Indian Association President Balu Mistry said that Mr Singh’s comments amounted to treachery. “I have known Thakur Ranjit Singh and I am surprised by his ‘rejection of being Indian’ and running away from India. Many people did not run away from India to Fiji, but were forced to being indentured labourers,” he said. Insensitive remarks V4U Entertainments Limited Director Viraf Todywalla said Mr Singh’s remarks against India and Indians were very disturbing. “Every country has its positive and negative factors and nobody has the right to highlight the negatives of any country or its people the way Mr Singh did, that too taking Independence Day as a subject. What kind of a person does that? It was also disturbing that he had a few like-minded people liking and praising his comments,” he said. Apurv Shukla, who is in the media, said that Mr Singh had expressed his own views and that no self-respecting person would agree with them. “But in a country where Freedom of Speech is a fundamental right and the press is considered the fourth pillar of democracy, there is room for everyone’s views. India has shown to the world that it is a truly secular country, where religion never came in the way of merit. Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption has brought that scourge to the forefront of public discourse,” he said.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 04:43:33 +0000
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