Most God-concept "frauds" promote the "virtues" of humility, egalitarianism, selflessness, "higher" causes and sacrifice. Such 'precious' virtues are used to generate guilt and to humble the self-esteem of the producers down to the level of the non-producers.

The title of that cover story was: IS GOD DEAD? I would like to pose the same question today. Of course, it is meant for those who have clean consciences and whose god is not the manager of a vote bank.

The issue posed by that social-political investigation was "THE GOD CONCEPT IS A TOOL OF DESTRUCTION. The God concept and religions are products of mysticism and altruism. Mysticism is the opposite of reason and underlies most unjust and destructive actions. Mysticism undermines the capacity for reasoning, which is every human being’s tool for survival and happiness."

Everyone can come to his own conclusions in this age-old controversy, but I would like to raise the controversy again in the interest of the survival of human sanity, peace and of humanity itself.

I cannot resist the temptation of quoting extensively from some of the findings and formulations of that cover story of June 1987 because it hit very hard at "God frauds"—not frauds committed by God but frauds committed by fake messiahs and Rasputins in the name of god. The fraudulent "god business", "god politics" and "violence and loot in the name of god" are still going on today, more virulently, viciously and bestially.

Our cover story had pointed to things which are still prevalent today and still dogging humanity. We had said: "For over two thousand years, the God concept has been the most effective tool of the non-producers, neo-cheaters and mystics for usurping a material and psychological living from the producers. The God concept is such an effective tool because it manipulates most major thinking, errors or defaults into convenient packages of specious "truths". Professional non-producers, in order to deceive, cajole or force the producers into sacrificing their earned values to "higher" causes (to the non-producers). Most God-concept "frauds" promote the "virtues" of humility, egalitarianism, selflessness, "higher" causes and sacrifice. Such ‘precious’ virtues are used to generate guilt and to humble the self-esteem of the producers down to the level of the non-producers. Once burdened with guilt, the producer will more readily hand over or sacrifice his earned values to the non-producer...The God-concept, religion and mysticism are also the philosophical tools needed to establish totalitarianism and dictatorships, including both theocratic and atheistic dictatorships"

The story had pointed to headlines of death and destruction like "Meerut Death Toll Rises to 107", "The Night of Terror in Maliana" and "Army Alerted in East Delhi Areas", as a sequel to one of the several communal clashes which occur day in and day out in this country and in others. The report had ended with the message "It is time that people themselves took up the responsibility of unmasking the real string-pullers, bring their holy chastity under the searchlight and struggle against this hidden, communal colonialism. Will the people of India have the courage to start this struggle against unholymen of religion and their crooked conspirators in politics, the press and the bureaucracy?"

That issue also carried stories like "The Death of A Crusader", a tribute to Chaudhari Charan Singh, the Kisan Pita, the first peasant’s son to become the Prime Minister of India. The DayAfter was one of his favourite journals because it, too, was and is a crusader for causes of the people, particularly of the peasants and the victims of tyrannies of various kinds of bureaucratic and criminal establishments. We carried excerpts from his speeches and writings under the title THOUGHTS OF CHARAN SINGH. One of these thoughts concerned THE POLICE. Charan Singh had said: "It cannot be gainsaid that next to good constitution and a sound system of general laws, what a nation needs is a good and efficient system of law enforcement. Do we in this country have the type of police which can render efficient and honest service to the community? Are the police aware of their true role and the manner in which the role has to be performed? If not, what are the reasons for this and what can be done about it. To answer this question, it seems necessary to have a close look at the growth of the police in this country." On CORRUPTION, he had said, "It is sad to find that corruption which has been holding our society in an octopus-like grip, is now sought to be rationalised and belittled as a lesser crime, as something that calls for low-key and neutral action. I think corruption cannot be eradicated from this country unless it is dealt a mortal blow at the top echelons of both the Government and the bureaucracy." Has much changed since Charan Singh died on May 29, 1987 ?

The same issue carried a historic interview by poet-journalist Dr. K. L. Nandan with Rajiv Gandhi under the title "Rajiv Speaks Out." That time Nandan was also the features editor of the Hindi daily Navbharat Times. Nandan had asked for Rajiv’s views on criticism against some of his friends like Amitabh Bachchan clouding the image of his government and Rajiv had said that "work is one thing and friendship another". He had pointedly said: "Please note that I keep friendship and work, that is politics and Prime Ministership, apart. A friend’s role in friendship is one thing, his work in politics is another. Friendship will not be a barrier if a person is not pulling his weight in politics or whatever responsibility we have given him, never mind how much a friend he is. He will not be utilised to do that work. But that would not diminish friendship. Friendship has its own place and work has its own place." The question was in the context of a wave of media criticism against Amitabh Bachchan, a great friend of Rajiv Gandhi.