During the recent Gujarat elections, one of the (many) cheap barbs that Narendra Modi successfuly flung at Sonia Gandhi was the insinuation that she personally sat down, probably with the Pope by her side, and designed the new two-rupee coin to Roman Catholic specifications for the Reserve Bank of India to mint:
“Look closely at this 2-rupee coin. Till two years ago, when Soniaben‘s government was formed, the map of India was inscribed on the 2-rupee coin. Then she issued a new 2-rupee coin where the map was removed and a Christian cross inscribed on it. What are you up to Soniaben? You have erased the map of India? We are not telling you put an Om on India’s coins; we are not telling you to put an image of Lord Ram! My fight is against this, I object to this,” Modi thundered.
Perhaps, the injured feelings of Modi and his ilk will be assuaged by this very telling image of a genuine Indonesian currency note.
First issued in 1998 by Bank Indonesia, that country’s RBI, the 20,000 rupiah note has an image of Lord Ganesha.
Indians who are furiously chain-mailing the picture are quoting, perhaps apocryphally, Indonesia’s country’s finance minister as saying that the image was put in “to remove all obstacles from the financial development of the State, whose economy during the last ten years has suffered many a crisis.”
Perhaps, Modi & Co will soon be asking: If Lord Ganesha can adorn their currency notes, why can’t He ours?
For the record, Indonesia is the world’s largest Islamic country but not an Islamic State.
Churumuri,
Indonesia has Hindu traditions and they are proud of it. Even in Hong Kong, Indonesian consulate has a Ganesha statue in the foyer.
I think Modi made a valid argument. It is no business of Sonia Gandhi to go and introduce religious motifs like a Cross in our currency.
National airlines of Indonesia – Garuda airlines!
Great post !
Anything and everything tagged with ‘Modi’ is an issue. So, poeple are more into dragging him into each and everything. Poor publicity idea, churumuri..
If Indonesia has Hindu traditions, doesn’t India have Islamic or Christian or Parsi traditions and is it so shameful for us to admire it, respect it, celebrate it and accommodate it without getting abusive? It’s a disgrace that morons like Modi can only see Sonia Gandhi’s hand behind everything and are allowed to get away with slander and innuendo that reveals a deep xenophobic male chauvinism. It’s even sadder that DB should fall for it by saying “it is no business of SG to go and introduce religious motifs like a Cross in our currency”. How does he know? Was he the fly Sonia swatted when he sat on her half-eaten pizza?
Yashica
Practice what you preach, first!
DB had a papal vision about the Cross appearing on an Indian coin….
All the hype apart, the the currency with Ganesha image is no longer in circulation/ print in Indonesia…
ERG says: All the hype apart, the the currency with Ganesha image is no longer in circulation/ print in Indonesia…
Hmm, sums up my feeling as well.
I think this has to be viewed with the backdrop of the proselytisation, mostly by deceit, thats hapening in India(esp AP) after SG became the head of this state. I think the issue of indonesia is wholly unnecessary here and since india is avowedly a secular state, there should have been no religious symbols on any currency.And there werent any, until SG brought this in a sly surreptitious way. And even if Indonesia did, they have probably accepted that it is ganesha, unlike the RBI which has not given any justification as to what that meant
Indonesian Embassy in New Delhi has four 10 feet tall Ganesha idols. One can see it from Kautilya Marg in Chanakyapuri.
For those of you who are not aware of the recent developments (in the last 10-15 years) in Indonesia, please read V S Naipauls book Among Believers, which very lucidly describes what the Shoddy Arabian petro dollar is doing to the hindu heritage of this country by fostering and encouraging salafi/wahabi islam.
I remember reading an article somewhere that once an Indonesian head of state (probably Sukarno) presented a Pak head of state with a copy of the Ramayana. When asked why, he replied that it was symbol of the culture of his country.
Ah, how vulnerable the macho Hindutwits are beginning to seem when exposed to a thin slice of plurality in a corner of the world !
@ ETVR, SN: So what if the note is no longer in circulation. Are all the designs of of India’s currency notes issued since the nationalisation of banks in circulation? No. Ditto, Indonesia. The note was issued in 1998 and was in circulation till 2001.
@ Mayura: Since when did V.S. Naipaul, a man publicly honoured by the RSS and decorated with the Nobel Prize only after 9/11, become the last word on matters Islamic?
@ Faldo: When Biju Patnaik owned Kalinga Airways, he once landed in Djakarta and found that President Sukarno had been blessed with a baby girl. Sukarno asked if he had a suggestion for a name for his new daughter. Biju said it was cloudy as he flew in, and thus suggested Megawati.
Indonesia is not perfect, but neither is India. By decrying plurality, here or there, by refusing to acknowledge its place in our lives, we do little to elevate ourselves.
Richard Eaton in his book “Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier” has explained this anthropological process of Islamisation in three parts: Inclusion, Identification and lastly displacement.
To promote cult of Allah and associated lesser agencies in the religious universe of people of Indonesia, Muslim preachers needed local icons like Hindu Gods/Goddesses. Thus the initial Mosques set up in Indonesia 4-5 centuries back had Hindu God(ess) at its outside wall. Slowly, Allah and associated lesser agencies are “identified”, and gradually, Hindu agencies are excluded. Islamization as an anthropological method is always working- in some places it takes few years (like in Arabia during Muhamud’s time), or in Indonesia (where its taking many 100s of years).
Not only Ganesha in Indonesian Rupee, name of Indonesian Airlines is “Garuda”. The Ramayana an important cultural role. It’s because, Indonesia was following Hindu/Buddhist Culture for many centuries. However, with growing Islamization, things are changing and within few decades, these cease to exist.
When a new masque comes up in Indonesia these days, do we see Hindu God(ess) at its outer wall as used to happen before? Obviously, the answer is: No.
What Modi referred to is something else. We Indians were never Christian. Why would then, Christian symbols are being used in such a clandestine manner in our currencies?
Whatever it may be why the India map was removed? It is nt that everybody will talk of the Congress President. You cannot defend yourself after hurting the feelings of the people.
Dear all,
everyone thinks from his own angle. However, I agree with Sathya why Map of India removed? Why it was not allowed to continue in atleast one particualra denomination. All so called secularists why they will be in jetters whenever Mr.Modi’s name comes into any discussion?
See this is a peculiar country where majority of the people are Hindus and they were ruled by minority rulers for more than 1000 years that with tax like ‘Zejia’, for continued to be a Kafir under the muslim rulers. ANd Sachar Committee tells something else. Whom to be believed? please tell me, I am really confused.
@Aatmasaakshi, Yes I am aware of that story as well. However, the version I have heard mentions that this was when he flew sorties to help Indonesians in their freedom movement. Kalinga airways probably cam later.
yeah.. and when megawati sukarnoputri had a child, she asked biju patnaik to suggest a name… and he suggested Orissa.
Atmasakshi wrote
–@ Mayura: Since when did V.S. Naipaul, a man publicly honoured by the RSS and decorated with the Nobel Prize only after 9/11, become the last word on matters Islamic? —
The same day the hooker prize winner Arundirty Roy started pontificating about hindus and their evil ways :)