to pave the way for those who want to destroy it, unhindered, would perhaps go down as the most ridiculously bizarre act, not only in the history of our nation, but in the history of botany.
One cannot even imagine that a true Indian could actually conceive such a horrendous act, let alone promulgate an Act to that effect. The so-called nationalists would do well to remind their deviant compatriots about the significance of the Kalpavriksh – the tree of heaven – and its purnaphal (perfect nut) – Prakriti’s complete source of nutrition, that is used in everything from curries and dodol to prasada and offerings to the Gods. They could also enlighten them about the true meaning of ‘vriksha in Sanskrit – whether it is tree, shrub or grass….and also about the meaning of vann – whether it means forests to be plundered or an eco-system that we’re part of.
The degree of one’s nationalism is to be gauged not by one’s external attire or the decibel level of one’s empty Vande Mataram sloganeering, but by how much one has truly imbibed the Indian ethos, and by what one actually does to protect our dear Bharat Mata and her glorious traditions.
This is a tree that has been literally worshipped as being the singularly magnificent gift of nature, of which every part has some use or the other. Yet, today, in this age in which the blatant lies about the purported ill-effects of coconut on human health, being spread by the multinationals in order to promote their own products, are being exposed, and virgin coconut oil is being marketed as the most healthy edible oil worldwide, it is utterly deplorable, to say the least, that shameless attempts are being made to destroy this wonder of nature, by the very people who should be promoting its extensive cultivation, in order to cash in on the international demand for the oil. No amount of technical jargon can justify this reprehensible act, the reasons for which are obvious.
At a time when, nationwide, so-called nationalists and other governments have been implementing bans on the production of alcohol, realizing that the huge social costs of alcohol consumption far outweigh any revenue generation, it is ludicrously ironical that their local counterparts are poised to allow the chopping down of around a thousand Kalpavrikshas to facilitate the setting up of an alcoholic beverage industry….in the very land that, as legend would have it, Lord Parshuram once reclaimed from the Arabian sea for the purpose of meditation!
In terms of ravaging the environment, what the erstwhile colonialists did not succeed in doing in nearly five centuries of colonial rule, our own successive governments have done in just over five decades since liberation. Is this development or DEVILopment? Is this what our freedom fighters fought for? Where are they today, at a time when our beloved Bharat Mata is being savagely raped by the very people she has so lovingly nurtured?
The best way to protect the coconut tree would be to declare it as the State Tree. Kalpavriksha Zindabad!
