Buddha statue in New jersey to be inagurated on 26'th September

Sep. 21, NJ-USA : The Buddha Statue Development Committee of the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara in Franklin, New Jersey announces with humility and great joy the unveiling of a statue of the Buddha in seated Samadhi (meditation) posture on the serene temple grounds located at 4299 Route 27, Franklin, New Jersey. The land is also being developed as a future meditation retreat.

The statue measures 30 feet in height making it the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The Buddha Samadhi Statute symbolizes the serenity, peace, tolerance, and compassion, which are integral to the Buddhist doctrine. The statue was sculpted by a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, with the financial assistance from Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike from around the United States and Sri Lanka. There were many volunteers who also donated their time and physical energy to help with the construction of the statue.

The statue will be unveiled at 3 p.m. on September 26, 2009. Several honored guests, including N.J. Governor Jon Corzine will be in attendance.

BSP releases first list of candidates for Haryana polls

Chandigarh: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which is contesting the October 13 Haryana assembly polls on its own, tonight releasedits first list of 63 candidates.
BSP general secretary Man Singh Manhera said the names of the candidates had been cleared by Uttar Pradesh chief minister and party president Mayawati.

He said winnability of candidates had been kept in mind while selecting them. Care had also to be taken that different sections of society got adequate representation, he said.

Among those allotted tickets in the first list are BSP state unit president Parkash Bharti (Mullana), legislator Arjan Singh (Naraingarh), former ministers AkramKhan (Jagadhri), Dervinder Sharma (Thansar), Narender Sharma (Pundri) and Ram Bhaj (Narwana).

Former MLA Zakir Hussein, son of late leader Tayyib Hussein, has been given ticket from Sohana, while former MP Gurdyal Saini will be contesting from Ladwa constituency.
Industrialist Vijay Somani will be contesting from Rewari.

The party recently announced its decision to fight on all 90 seats on its own after it broke its two-month-old alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress.

Music was dear to Babasaheb Ambedkar, says his violin teacher

Amravati: Former violin teacher of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Bal Sathe today said that Babasaheb was a dedicated man for any task and music was dear to him.

"His love for music reflected through his desire to learn violin," Sathe said at a felicitation programme here.

Sathe had the honour to teach Dr Ambedkar violin between 1951 and 1953 and is among those few alive who was in contact with the Dalit icon.

"I was 40 when I began giving violin lessons to Dr Ambedkar who was 60 then," he said.

"On the first day, when I told him that learning violin is the toughest task, he asked me to give all the literature regarding violin and I gave him the book 'Violin: How to Master It'," Sathe said.

Nepal Prez prays for peace in Lumbini

BHAIRAHAWA: President Dr Ram Baran Yadav today visited Lumbini — the birth place of Lord Buddha.
Dr Yadav, who was accompanied by his sister-in-law, grandchildren and a niece, reached the birthplace of Lord Buddha amid tight security. He offered pooja at the Ashok Pillar and visited Shantideep, Thai and German Lotus Temples.
‘’I prayed for peace and prosperity of the country,’’ President Yadav told reporters. He also urged all the stakeholders to move ahead forging consensus. “All Nepalis should live harmoniously,” he added. “All
the political parties should also move ahead overcoming disputes.’’
The President said the achievements of the political transformation should be institutionalised. He emphasised that the anarchic activities should end in the country.
Yadav had reached Lumbini by a special Nepal Army chopper. Cadres of the UCPN-Maoist demonstrated outside the temple premises and showed black flags to the president.

Mayawati warns against demolition of monuments and memorial sites of Bahujan Naik

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday warned that if the monuments and memorial sites dedicated to the Bahujan Samaj Party icons here were demolished, a serious law and order situation would arise in the country.

President’s Rule would have to be imposed. “The Congress and the Samajwadi Party would be responsible for this,” she said.

She was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone for the Manyavar Shri Kanshi Ramji Green (Eco) Garden here.

Denying that her government violated the Supreme Court’s orders on suspending construction work at the memorial sites, Ms. Mayawati accused the Samajwadi Party and the Congress of indulging in a “malicious and mischievous propaganda.”

“Wrong facts”


She also accused a section of the media of presenting “wrong facts” pertaining to work at the memorial sites and cautioned the media against becoming a tool in the Opposition game plan.

The Chief Secretary had submitted an affidavit in the court.

She said work was going on only at those sites against which no writ petition had been filed and no stay granted by the court.

The Chief Minister dubbed the Congress ‘anti-Dalit’ and said thousands of crores of rupees were spent on building memorials, parks, statues and museums in the name of members of the Gandhi and Nehru families.

“It seems eminent persons belong only to these two families and when crores have been spent on building memorials for them the Congress does not say that money has been misused.”

The Green Eco Garden is being developed on 160 acres on which the old Lucknow jail once stood.

'Austerity measures a drama', said Mayawati

Lucknow: Mayawati was at her acerbic best on Thursday as she lashed out at the Congress' austerity drive and hit out at her detractors over parks, statues and memorials.
"Sonia is travelling economy class, Rahul is taking a train... this is nothing but a natak (drama) to fool the people," she said. "The Congress is guilty of maximum misuse of government funds," she told a BSP workers' convention.

On the statue front, she said, "Nobody raised a finger when previous Congress governments spent thousands of crores to put up statues and memorials in honour of Gandhi-Nehru family members."

"The Congress has again proved it is anti-Dalit by opposing memorials for Dalit leaders." Regarding the Shivaji memorial the Maharashtra government proposes to build in Mumbai, she said, "Though we are not opposed to it, won't it also cost crores of rupees?"

Wednesday's function was held to mark the foundation-laying ceremony of the Kanshi Ram Green Eco Garden near the Kanshi Ram Memorial where work has been stopped following a recent Supreme Court order."My government has never flouted any SC order. A section of the media misled the court," she said. She also blamed the Samajwadi Party (SP) for getting writs filed against her government.

She also lashed out at the UPA for deliberately stalling the Ambedkar Park project in Noida. "Environment-related concerns are being used with ill intention to stop this project," she said.

Referring to SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav's statement that her statues would be demolished once the SP came to power in UP, Mayawati warned: "If anybody dares to do any such thing, the law and order would be so badly disturbed that president Rule would have to be imposed in the entire country."

Mayawati visits flood-affected districts

Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today directed officials to launch relief and rescue operations in flood-hit areas of the state on a war footing, assuring that dearth of funds would not be allowed to hamper their efforts.

Reviewing the floods caused by incessant rains during the last two days and water released by neighbouring Nepal at her official residence here, Mayawati asked the administrative machinery of the concerned districts to keep round-the-clock vigil and provide prompt relief to the affected people.

Directing the officials to relocate the people to safer areas, Mayawati asked for keeping the flood companies of the PAC in a state of high alert and sending them to marooned areas for providing medicines and other necessary relief material.