Political correctness - rabble rousing - current affairs..

[irir123]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8ejSUftm-A


All the self-righteous morons returning the awards - while staying silent during the Emergency, during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots etc..

The divisive morons should go on a vacation to Syria or Mosul, Iraq and experience the taste of liberty and then come back..

[NOV]

I read a story about a man and his son. The son, though in his mid--20s was jobless and refused to do any work.
In frustration, the man told the son to go find at least Rs1,000 or he would have no meals in the house.

As always, the mother came to his rescue and secretly gave him the money.

In the evening, he gave the money to his father, who suspecting foul-play threw away the money saying that it wouldn't have been honestly earned. The son looked embarrassed and went to bed hungry.

The next day, the father said the same thing - no money, no meal.
This time the son went out, did many odd jobs and returned with the money.

Again, the father threw away the money, saying that he didn't work for it.
This time the son got angry and took back the money, saying that it was his sweat and he deserved the money.

Moral of the story: Deserving money (or awards) will not be rejected.

[irir123]

Nov sir - what is happening now is way beyond the simplistic situation you are portraying..

Under the pretext of citing growing intolerance in India, a bunch of self-righteous people are doing something, while for more than 50 years, they had no problems with riots after riots, mass murders happening all the time..

The level of self-indulgent smug arrogance at display is something the leftist elitists have for long been known for.

Now that the entire Indian public has brought to power a party/govt showcasing their collective intent, this 'intellectual' gang cannot stand the present scenario and hence all of this 'award returning' nonsense..

[rajeshkrv]

Nov sir - what is happening now is way beyond the simplistic situation you are portraying..

Under the pretext of citing growing intolerance in India, a bunch of self-righteous people are doing something, while for more than 50 years, they had no problems with riots after riots, mass murders happening all the time..

The level of self-indulgent smug arrogance at display is something the leftist elitists have for long been known for.

Now that the entire Indian public has brought to power a party/govt showcasing their collective intent, this 'intellectual' gang cannot stand the present scenario and hence all of this 'award returning' nonsense..

People are not returning awards just based on riots. forget awards. it's the right which is in question. if you want to march the way they are saying fine , but do not force others.

[kirukan]

In a positive note at least now they have an environment now to raise their voice fearless which they couldn't do for 50 years being spineless....

[irir123]

"....As the jihad heats up in the West, the media is becoming more clumsy and desperate in its attempts to deflect attention away from the jihad and back to its favorite bogeyman, "right-wing extremists." - Pamela Geller.

The level of cognitive dissonance + political correctness + self-abuse + censorship throughout the liberal media - is the reason why right wing fascism is on the rise in Europe.

In India, how much blood has been spilt recently since 1993??

Yet the world never cared - meanwhile the liberal media chose every opportunity to highlight their sense of perceived intolerance in the subcontinent - what is unfolding in Europe was all waiting to happen but nobody would listen even when someone screams out the inevitable - and yet watch out for homilies from the liberals & blaming everything other than the real set of reasons/threat..

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/11/14/455760097/five-ways-to-look-at-the-paris-attacks

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/14/455977728/photos-friday-nights-attacks-in-paris

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/14/455988722/paris-attacks-what-we-know-right-now

[irir123]

And wait - it won't be long before the likes of Arundhati Roy et al, come out with sugar-coated bull sh*t about this incident

[raagadevan]

In India, meat and murder threaten Modi's inclusive agenda

-By Rupam Jain Nair; Reuters: Oct 5, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/05/us-india-religion-killing-idUSKCN0RZ08E20151005

Asgari Begum, mother of Akhalaq Saifi, who was killed by a mob, mourns his death inside her house at Bisara village in Uttar Pradesh, India, October 2, 2015.

The murder by a Hindu mob of a Muslim man rumored to have slaughtered a cow has thrown a spotlight on the hardline, polarizing agenda of some followers of Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi, undermining his promise of development for all.

On a tour of Silicon Valley last month where he was feted by U.S. tech gurus and Indian emigres, Modi won a pledge from Microsoft to provide low-cost Internet for 500,000 villages to back his vision of a globally networked "Digital India".

One such village is Bisara, 50 km (30 miles) from the capital New Delhi, where a crowd of assailants broke into Mohammed Akhlaq's home last Monday night, beat him to death and dragged his body out into the street.

The local member of parliament, Mahesh Sharma, is also Modi's culture minister and has hit the headlines of late with statements that show a different side to their ruling Hindu nationalist party. In one recent speech, Sharma vowed to cleanse public life "polluted" by Western influences.

Visiting Bisara this week to pay his respects to Akhlaq's family, Sharma said the killing could have been an "accident".

"How can the leader call my husband's murder an accident?" Akhlaq's widow Ikraman, who suffered facial injuries, told Reuters at the family home. "I don't think the minister knows the difference between an accident and murder."

Critics say Sharma's comment implicitly condoned Akhlaq's lynching and pandered to fringe Hindu militants who have recently become active in the district.

Eating beef is a taboo for many Hindus, who make up 80 percent of India's population of 1.25 billion people, but not for the country's 175 million Muslims.

BLOOD ON THE WALLS

Communal clashes had never erupted in Bisara, home to 400 landowning Hindu and 35 Muslim families, even when religious riots have broken out in the region. In 2013, 65 people died in sectarian strife around the northern town of Muzaffarnagar.

But an announcement by a Hindu priest over his temple loudspeakers that Akhlaq had butchered a cow and that his wife was cooking beef for dinner brought a sudden end to the village's tradition of tolerance, according to family members and villagers who heard the call.

Within minutes a mob stormed into Akhlaq's house, vandalized the kitchen in search of beef and beat the 56-year-old blacksmith to death with bricks and stones. His body was dragged out in front of his family.

Akhlaq's youngest son, who suffered severe head injuries, is fighting for his life in a hospital intensive care unit after undergoing two brain operations.

His widow says he was killed for a crime he did not commit.

"Even now I can't believe that my Hindu neighbors killed my husband. My neighbors were like my extended family," said Ikraman, who will spend a month in mourning in a room near the bloodstained murder scene.

PREMEDITATED ATTACK?

Local Muslims say Akhlaq's killing was a pre-meditated attack aimed at polarizing the village on religious lines by militant Hindu groups loyal to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won power in the May 2014 general election.

Sharma and Modi are both members of an umbrella group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that is the BJP's ideological parent. The movement propagates an ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu-ness, which asserts that India is a Hindu nation.

Police have arrested seven Hindu youths over the murder and one paramilitary soldier accused of planning the attack. Investigators are also searching for Hindu activists who spread rumors and online posts stating that Akhlaq had stored 6 kg (13 lbs) of beef in his refrigerator.

The region holds village council elections next week and Bisara has, in the wake of the killing, become a magnet for campaigning politicians. One BJP lawmaker accused of instigating the Muzaffarnagar riots came to Bisara on Sunday and warned of a "befitting reply" if the suspects were prosecuted, according to news reports.

Many Indian states, including the country's largest Uttar Pradesh, where Bisara is situated, have banned cow slaughter for more than two decades.

Modi's party has, in states where it rules, clamped down further on eating beef - even though India is the second largest exporter and fifth biggest consumer in the world. In recent months, government leaders have advocated a national ban on cow slaughter.

BEEF VIGILANTES

Critics say tougher anti-beef laws discriminate against Muslims, Christians and lower-caste Hindus who rely on the cheap meat for protein.

The crackdown has, meanwhile, provided cover for the rise of Hindu vigilante groups.

Such groups attack cattle trucks, track religious conversions in villages and towns, and warn Hindu girls against falling in love with Muslim boys. Modi has expressed no disapproval towards them.

"Those who spread this poison enjoy his (Modi's) patronage," political analyst Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote in the Indian Express. "This government has set a tone that is threatening, mean-spirited and inimical to freedom."

​Sharma's office said the minister was demanding an independent federal investigation into Akhlaq's murder. ​Calls on Sunday to three officials in Modi's office went unanswered.

At least 16 men from Bisara joined a new militant Hindu outfit called the Samadhan Sena (Solution Army) in August. The group is not formally tied to the RSS but two members told Reuters they would enforce its agenda in every village.

"Akhlaq should not have butchered a cow," said Ajay Singh, a member of the Samadhan Sena in Bisara. "He should not have forgotten that India belongs to Hindus first."

(Editing by Douglas Busvine and Alex Richardson)

[raagadevan]

Indians slam murder of 'rationalist' intellectual

http://www.newsfultoncounty.com/world/news/318201-indians-slam-murder-of-rationalist-intellectual

By Drew Parker on August 31, 2015

– Murder of academic who had angered right-wing Hindu groups sparks anger in India

MUMBAI, India – The killing of an outspoken Indian academic has prompted angry reactions a day after he was shot dead on Sunday.

Malleshappa Madivallapa Kalburgi, who was shot on his own doorstep, was known for views that had angered some right-wing Hindu groups.

Since 1989 he had been the target of death threats over writings that were accused of being blasphemous and calls for his own Lingayat beliefs to be considered separate from Hinduism.

“The assassination is deplorable and condemnable,” author Subhash Gatade, who has written on right-wing groups, told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

“It is a part of larger pattern unfolding in South Asia,” Gatade said, comparing Kalburgi’s murder to the killing of four secular bloggers in Bangladesh this year and the assassination of politician Salman Taseer in Pakistan in 2011.

TV anchor Sagarika Ghose also made the link, tweeting: “Those who gloat about killing of Bangla bloggers: what about killing of rationalists Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi on India’s streets?”

Kalburgi’s killing was the third such murder in the past two years in India, allegedly by right-wing Hindu groups.

In 2013, another intellectual, Narendra Dabholkar, who had campaigned against superstitions, was killed in the western state of Maharashtra.

In February, Govind Pansare, a communist leader and social activist was killed in Maharashtra for holding protests against toll-tax collection.

Kalburgi’s last rites were performed on Monday noon in the south Indian town of Dharwad with television images showing mourners shouting “we want justice.”

[raagadevan]

Don’t let Hindu fanatics dictate India’s future

-AMRIT DHILLON; The Globe and Mail, Oct. 08, 2015 6:00AM EDT

(Amrit Dhillon is a journalist based in New Delhi.)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/dont-let-hindu-fanatics-dictate-indias-future/article26709705/

What Indians eat for dinner became a matter of life and death last week. A Hindu mob, hearing rumours that a Muslim family was keeping beef in their fridge, descended on their home in Bisara village, near the capital, and dragged out a man and his son. Using bricks and rods, the attackers killed the father, Mohammed Akhlaq; his 22-year-old son was left with severe brain injuries.

The mob formed after the village priest announced on the temple loudspeaker that the Akhlaqs had slaughtered a cow and kept the meat in their fridge. Hindus worship the cow and most do not kill it (although millions of Hindus do eat beef), but the Akhlaqs are Muslim, for whom beef is not prohibited. And although the slaughter of cows is banned in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the attack took place, consumption of beef is not. In any event, the family insisted they had not killed a cow and that the meat in the fridge was mutton, not beef.

In a bizarre move, the police have taken the meat to a laboratory for testing to see if it is beef or mutton – a ridiculous act that effectively legitimizes the mob actions; even if it were beef, the mob had no right to murder a man because of his eating habits.

This is the kind of India that right-wing Hindu fanatics want to create – a place where their religious beliefs dictate what Indians wear, what rights women are allowed, what you can eat for dinner, a place where the minorities (mainly Muslims and Christians) know their “place,” which is to cower before the Hindu majority.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has always been closely affiliated with jingoistic Hindu groups aiming to usher in Hindu rule. Ever since Mr. Modi came to power almost 18 months ago, they have sensed that this is their big opportunity to push their conservative cultural agenda. One crucial aspect of this agenda is to ban beef throughout India, depriving millions – Muslims, Christians and millions of Hindus, too – of their right to eat it.

BJP ministers have made scandalous remarks in public and in Parliament that have been designed to incite hatred of Christians and Muslims. Mr. Modi didn’t condemn the ministers, let alone sack them. He has allowed a climate of fear to be created. Muslims and Christians wonder what they will be targeted for next.

It is time for Mr. Modi to speak out and stand up for tolerance and basic freedoms. He has made a couple of broad remarks indicating that, for him, all Indians are equal, but these comments have been so sweeping as to be meaningless. He needs to address his ministers’ poisonous comments specifically and make clear where he stands. Otherwise, Hindu extremists will, understandably, assume that they have his tacit concurrence and feel emboldened.

Last week, Mr. Modi was in the United States to drum up the foreign investment India needs for development. He is wasting his time if he fails to realize that a country that allows mob killings and medieval witch hunts is not an appealing place for foreign investors.

If he is serious about development, he needs to stamp out ideas that are inimical to development, because being modern involves more than just swanky airports and swish restaurants. It’s also about the mind.

[raagadevan]

I will eat beef, who are you to question me: Karnataka CM

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/i-will-eat-beef-who-are-you-to-question-me-karnataka-cm/story-dWpJhRO8GlEaEd4oaCP8mJ.html

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said it was his right to eat beef and nobody can stop him, a statement aimed at Hindu right-wing parties which are campaigning for a complete ban on cow slaughter.

Speaking at a Youth Congress event, Siddaramaiah targeted the BJP and the Sangh Parivar and said, “I will eat beef now. Who are you to question me?”

He added, “I have not eaten beef till now but now I will. It’s my right.”

The lynching of a 55-year-old Muslim man, Mohammad Ikhlaq, by a mob in Bisada village of Uttar Pradesh last month following rumours that he slaughtered a calf brought the issue back into the limelight and triggered a wave of protests against attacks on freedom of choice.

“The killing of a Muslim man in Dadri for eating beef, the murder of Kalburgi, Pansare, Dabholkar the Dalit children in Haryana have thoroughly exposed the communal and casteist agenda of the BJP and the RSS,” Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah asked Youth Congress leaders to work for communal harmony and uphold the secular values of the party.

Around 40 writers and 12 filmmakers have returned their government awards in protest against the “growing intolerance in the country” and the murders of Kannada writer and Sahitya Akademi Award winner MM Kalburgi and anti-superstition activists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.

Over 50 historians , including Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, KN Pannikar and Mridula Mukherjee, on Thursday came out strongly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, castigating him for not making any reassuring statement following concerns over the “highly vitiated atmosphere” prevailing in the country.

Eminent scientist PM Bhargava, who is set to return his Padma Bhushan in protest, has called for a ban on the RSS and alleged it is against minorities and Dalits.

[raagadevan]

BJP leader threatens to behead Karnataka CM over beef remark

-Sudipto Mondal; Hindustan Times, Bengaluru - Nov 03, 2015

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/bjp-leader-threatens-to-behead-karnataka-cm-over-beef-remark/story-nMaiQpIJP7Vn2iu7QoIBCI.html

A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Karnataka’s Shimoga has threatened to “behead” chief minister Siddaramaiah and “play football” with his severed head over the latter’s statement that he will eat beef.

SN Chanabasappa, BJP district secretary and close aide of former CM BS Yeddyurappa, made the statement at a protest meeting organised by the saffron party on Monday. The agitation was called to condemn Siddaramaiah’s remarks last Thursday on the Dadri lynching incident.

In a statement aimed at Hindu right-wing parties, which are campaigning for a complete ban on cow slaughter, the chief minister had said it was his right to eat beef and nobody can stop him.

Repeating his threat on Tuesday, Channabasappa told Hindustan Times, “If Siddaramaiah has guts, let him come to Shimoga and eat beef. If he thinks we will spare him, he’s wrong. Let him kill a cow and show, we will separate his head from his body and play football with it.”

Channabasappa, a former president of the Shimoga city council, said he doesn’t fear for his own life and challenged the state government to arrest him.

“What is wrong with what I am saying? Who is issuing provocative statements, me or the CM? Action should be taken against Siddaramaiah not me,” he said.

However, when asked if he was serious about killing Siddaramaiah, he said, “I did not say I will kill him. It is just a figure of speech. The people of this land who pray to the cow will do the job if he dares to provoke them.”

The BJP leader also said that it was Siddaramaiah’s duty to uphold the Constitution.

“The Constitution clearly says that cows are holy and need to be protected. By saying he will eat beef, he is insulting the Constitution,” he said.

Shimoga Police registered a case of criminal intimidation against Channabasappa based on a complaint by district Congress president, Prasanna Kumar.

The chief minister also said he has asked the police to look into the BJP leader’s comments and that action will be taken if his statement is true.

“It is a provocative statement... The BJP is known for such things that’s why we are opposing them. These people are known for intolerance. The government will take action against those who make provocative statements and spread intolerance. Nobody can threaten me,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

The lynching of a 55-year-old Muslim man, Mohammad Ikhlaq, by a mob in Bisada village of Uttar Pradesh last month following rumours that he slaughtered a calf has brought the issue back into the limelight and triggered a wave of protests against attacks on freedom of choice.

Around 40 writers and 12 filmmakers have returned their government awards in protest against the “growing intolerance in the country” and the murders of Kannada writer and Sahitya Akademi Award winner MM Kalburgi and anti-superstition activists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.

Over 50 historians and scientists, including Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, KN Pannikar, Mridula Mukherjee, PM Bhargava and others have come out strongly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, castigating him for not making any reassuring statement following concerns over the “highly vitiated atmosphere” prevailing in the country.

[Adox]

"....As the jihad heats up in the West, the media is becoming more clumsy and desperate in its attempts to deflect attention away from the jihad and back to its favorite bogeyman, "right-wing extremists." - Pamela Geller.

The level of cognitive dissonance + political correctness + self-abuse + censorship throughout the liberal media - is the reason why right wing fascism is on the rise in Europe.

In India, how much blood has been spilt recently since 1993??

Yet the world never cared - meanwhile the liberal media chose every opportunity to highlight their sense of perceived intolerance in the subcontinent - what is unfolding in Europe was all waiting to happen but nobody would listen even when someone screams out the inevitable - and yet watch out for homilies from the liberals & blaming everything other than the real set of reasons/threat..

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/11/14/455760097/five-ways-to-look-at-the-paris-attacks

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/14/455977728/photos-friday-nights-attacks-in-paris

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/14/455988722/paris-attacks-what-we-know-right-now

Feel sorry for Europe as such with their liberal and open borders policy ... UK has 1st/2nd gen from Pakistan raised and living in UK working against the same country which made them. They have zero nationalism and operate freely from their own pockets within London.

Now with refugees arriving from Syria it is said that some 800000 will reach Germany this year. I wonder how many jihadis are in the making. I'm not kidding here. Paris attacks were master minded by a someone raised in Europe (Belgian) and ones taking advantage of recent refugee influx.

Paris terror attacks: Belgian-born Abdelhamid Abaaoud 'identified as mastermind'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Paris-terror-attacks-Belgian-born-Abdelhamid-Abaaoud-identified-as-mastermind/articleshow/49802383.cms

All this in the name of political correctness ?

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Feel sorry for Europe as such with their liberal and open borders policy ... UK has 1st/2nd gen from Pakistan raised and living in UK working against the same country which made them. They have zero nationalism and operate freely from their own pockets within London.


It is not just Pakistanis but a vast number of Nigerians who are born and bought here go against this country , I remember the 07/07 attack back in 2005, I was on my way to work in the underground, when I got to work, every one was so relieved to see me, I had no idea as to what was going on, until they told me that there were bomb explosions in the underground and on a bus ... since then there has been racial tensions here, people used to think I was Pakistani and I used to get funny looks from people.

On the other hand I was terrified of travelling in the underground , at some point I was so paranoid, I tried to be extra vigilant ... the aim of these terrorist is to embed "fear" in your mind and they are successfully doing that!

another incident was when Kamal's Visvaroopam had all these controversy from the so called "Fringe" group I really wanted to see it to know what's all the fuss about.. I wanted to see it in cinema , but I was bit reluctant about it amidst security concerns, as to what these fringe Group can do, still I went to watch in cinema .. but rather than concentrating on the movie, I had to constantly look around to see who is sitting in front/beside/and back of me, such is the fear created by these people

[irir123]

Sam Harris - as usual - nails it - http://bit.ly/1MQrbSO

I have very good friends from the Jewish and Christian communities - their personal beliefs can range from either the extreme orthodox to the extreme liberal - many of them are either ONLY culturally Jewish/Christian - meaning they celebrate Hanukkah, Chanukkah, Christmas, Easter or Rosh Hashanah - as a cultural thing - more than as a belief..

However, there is one thing that connects them all - a capacity to be rational, understanding, .. value freedom of expression, thinking positively about womens rights etc...

But the Islamic community is simply not doing enough to reform their centuries old barbaric doctrines...

There is absolutely no honest conversation amongst their educated class about why their youth is getting increasingly radicalized..

Unless a renaissance happens from within, their capacity to reform is zero/nil/zilch..

In this scenario, 1000s of refugees from Syria and Iraq - are perceived as potential threats to other countries - in fact one of the suicide bombers in the Paris attack slipped in as a refugee - already 4-5 states in the United States have said 'no' to refugees from Syria -http://abcnews.go.com/US/michigan-alabama-texas-refuse-accept-syrian-refugees-wake/story?id=35231800

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6881/paris-attacks-lessons

Meanwhile, Islamic countries in the Middle-east refuse to accept Syrian refugees!

[lord_labakudoss]

People are not returning awards just based on riots. forget awards. it's the right which is in question. if you want to march the way they are saying fine , but do not force others.
So suddenly, the atmosphere has turned tolerant again overnight? Where are all the protesters now?
The answer: they will spring up in time for the next elections!

During Delhi elections, "Christians in danger" was the topic - it mysteriously went away after Kejriwal won. Alert social media users have posted proof that EVERY single incident showcased then had a non-Hindutva culprit behind it.

For Bihar, it was the "Intolerance"...

For UP, wonder what the theme would be....

When you see how naive the general public is, you can very well understand how seemingly weak groups/countries could easily run over and loot this country.

[lord_labakudoss]

Sam Harris - as usual - nails it - http://bit.ly/1MQrbSO

I have very good friends from the Jewish and Christian communities - their personal beliefs can range from either the extreme orthodox to the extreme liberal - many of them are either ONLY culturally Jewish/Christian - meaning they celebrate Hanukkah, Chanukkah, Christmas, Easter or Rosh Hashanah - as a cultural thing - more than as a belief..

However, there is one thing that connects them all - a capacity to be rational, understanding, .. value freedom of expression, thinking positively about womens rights etc...

But the Islamic community is simply not doing enough to reform their centuries old barbaric doctrines...

There is absolutely no honest conversation amongst their educated class about why their youth is getting increasingly radicalized..

Unless a renaissance happens from within, their capacity to reform is zero/nil/zilch..

In this scenario, 1000s of refugees from Syria and Iraq - are perceived as potential threats to other countries - in fact one of the suicide bombers in the Paris attack slipped in as a refugee - already 4-5 states in the United States have said 'no' to refugees from Syria -http://abcnews.go.com/US/michigan-alabama-texas-refuse-accept-syrian-refugees-wake/story?id=35231800

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6881/paris-attacks-lessons

Meanwhile, Islamic countries in the Middle-east refuse to accept Syrian refugees!

Whether it is the atheists (Dawkins etc) or social commentators (Harris, Maher), what stands out is the euro-centric blinkers.
There are quite a few 'modern' states that have codified Christian law that is as misogynistic & anti-gay; but they never get mentioned.
There does exist a wide spectrum of muslims - ranging from mystical, highly tolerant ... all the way to the fanatic. It is just that the West has systematically supported the fanatic over the moderate whenever there is a civil war... Notice how the moderate muslims (in India for eg.) never get any mention at all - except as victims...

[lord_labakudoss]

Don’t let Hindu fanatics dictate India’s future

-AMRIT DHILLON; The Globe and Mail, Oct. 08, 2015 6:00AM EDT

(Amrit Dhillon is a journalist based in New Delhi.)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/dont-let-hindu-fanatics-dictate-indias-future/article26709705/


This is the kind of India that right-wing Hindu fanatics want to create – a place where their religious beliefs dictate what Indians wear, what rights women are allowed, what you can eat for dinner, a place where the minorities (mainly Muslims and Christians) know their “place,” which is to cower before the Hindu majority.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has always been closely affiliated with jingoistic Hindu groups aiming to usher in Hindu rule. Ever since Mr. Modi came to power almost 18 months ago, they have sensed that this is their big opportunity to push their conservative cultural agenda. One crucial aspect of this agenda is to ban beef throughout India, depriving millions – Muslims, Christians and millions of Hindus, too – of their right to eat it.

...
[/I]

So Modi has started this trend of controlling what's on your plate?

Here is the true story:
http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-no-beef-nation/
Kerala, West Bengal and the North East are the only places where these are completely legal. All other states have at least some kind of restrictions on killing healthy cows. and these laws have been on the books for quite a while now...

[irir123]

Whether it is the atheists (Dawkins etc) or social commentators (Harris, Maher), what stands out is the euro-centric blinkers.
There are quite a few 'modern' states that have codified Christian law that is as misogynistic & anti-gay; but they never get mentioned.
There does exist a wide spectrum of muslims - ranging from mystical, highly tolerant ... all the way to the fanatic. It is just that the West has systematically supported the fanatic over the moderate whenever there is a civil war... Notice how the moderate muslims (in India for eg.) never get any mention at all - except as victims...




Valid points - but look at what Sam Harris says - it is not about painting the 1.6 billion muslims black - its about Islam as a set of doctrines not congruent with modern humanistic values which while most Muslims may/do not blindly literally follow, several well-laid out research polls have shown majority of ppl in countries like Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan support some very heinous practices that were in vogue centuries ago, but not anymore in a modern society - it is about dogma that has no bearing in todays world - he does not spare Christianity or Judaism either if you have read 'Letters to a Christian Nation' or 'The End of Faith'..

What is Islam in the middle-east today is what Christianity was 500 years ago.. but the two Judeo-Christian religions have moved on, constantly reforming themselves..

Here is a very recent dialog with reformist Maajid Nawaz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTd4-WXw2SM

[raagadevan]

So Modi has started this trend of controlling what's on your plate? Here is the true story:
http://indianexpress.com/article/exp...o-beef-nation/
Kerala, West Bengal and the North East are the only places where these are completely legal. All other states have at least some kind of restrictions on killing healthy cows. and these laws have been on the books for quite a while now...

Modi didn't start "this trend of controlling what's on your plate", but the extreme manifestations of intolerance started after Modi became the Prime Minister. The killing of an innocent man by fanatic hooligans (instigated by a temple priest), threat to decapitate the democratically elected Chief Minister of a State in the Democratic Republic of India because he said he might eat beef, and the police (controlled by the Central Government) raid of a canteen in New Delhi owned and operated by the Government of a State in India [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3292372/Delhi-Police-raid-loved-restaurant-Samrudhi-famous-beef-fry-staff-insist-s-buffalo.htmlare] are some of the manifestations and examples of what appear to be "sanctioned" actions by "kar sevaks" of Modi's party.

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Modi didn't start "this trend of controlling what's on your plate", but the extreme manifestations of intolerance started after Modi became the Prime Minister. The killing of an innocent man by fanatic hooligans (instigated by a temple priest), threat to decapitate the democratically elected Chief Minister of a State in the Democratic Republic of India because he said he might eat beef, and the police (controlled by the Central Government) raid of a canteen in New Delhi owned and operated by the Government of a State in India [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3292372/Delhi-Police-raid-loved-restaurant-Samrudhi-famous-beef-fry-staff-insist-s-buffalo.htmlare] are some of the manifestations and examples of what appear to be "sanctioned" actions by "kar sevaks" of Modi's party.


This is highly condemnable !!!

[lord_labakudoss]

Modi didn't start "this trend of controlling what's on your plate", but the extreme manifestations of intolerance started after Modi became the Prime Minister. innocent man by fanatic hooligans (instigated by a temple priest), threat to decapitate the democratically elected Chief Minister of a State in the Democratic Republic of India because he said he might eat beef, and the police (controlled by the Central Government) raid of a canteen in New Delhi owned and operated by the Government of a State in India are some of the manifestations and examples of what appear to be "sanctioned" actions by "kar sevaks" of Modi's party.
My problem is with "started after Modi" part. Lynching is QUITE COMMON in certain parts of the country for intercaste elopement, robbery or road accidents. 2 of the Rationalists were killed in cong-ruled states when ManMohan Singh was in power.
As far as threats of decapitation or murder - you must be completely new to the culture of political speeches in India!!!

[irir123]

Honor killings do happen in many parts - sporadically - it is not as if they all increased in number after Modi came to power - but that is how the liberal media loves to portray things - the commies know their ideology is a dead horse, the congress party knows that the people know they f*cked the country for 4 decades or more - so now the ppl unanimously voted a party into power - and they have to find something to taint the govt

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Honor killings do happen in many parts - sporadically - it is not as if they all increased in number after Modi came to power - but that is how the liberal media loves to portray things - the commies know their ideology is a dead horse, the congress party knows that the people know they f*cked the country for 4 decades or more - so now the ppl unanimously voted a party into power - and they have to find something to taint the govt

yes, exactly ! Even in London two Bangladeshi parents were convicted of murdering their daughter (in the name of honor killing), simply because she refused to follow their cultural values !

[ajithfederer]

Honor Killing/Lynching has been happening in India for quite some time which happened mostly for caste related incidents but not for the below.

Please correct me if i am wrong but killing somebody for eating beef(it was mutton by the way) and threatening to behead a state cm for his " i will eat beef do whatever you can" remarks are happening only recently. I would say "NICE TRY" for anyone trying to convince me of the opposite. Classic Intolerance.

Plus, comments like if BJP loses, there will be crackers bursting in Pakistan & altering reservation remarks are digging your own grave. BJP just made it too easy for Laloo/RJD. On the whole day of election results Nitish was smiling like a happy fool. Why wouldn't he?

[ajithfederer]

Buffalo meat mistaken as beef and the thoroughly incompetent dilli police who never prevented rapes/crime in the capital were immediately present in Kerala House in Delhi for enquiry.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/raid-at-kerala-house-triggers-row/article7811280.ece?ref=relatedNews

[ajithfederer]

Pakistan travel agents working in India. Classic Intolerance from BJP MP's.

http://wap.business-standard.com/article/elections/nitish-and-lalu-should-go-to-pakistan-bjp-mp-115110400576_1.html

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Buffalo meat mistaken as beef and the thoroughly incompetent dilli police who never prevented rapes/crime in the capital were immediately present in Kerala House in Delhi for enquiry.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/raid-at-kerala-house-triggers-row/article7811280.ece?ref=relatedNews Lol, I found this quite hilarious!!

[raagadevan]

An example of how other countries, governments and prime ministers deal with similar situations...

Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the fire that took place at the mosque in Peterborough

http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2015/11/16/statement-prime-minister-canada-fire-took-place-mosque-peterborough

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement today on the fire that took place at the mosque in Peterborough:

"I am deeply disturbed by the fire that took place at the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association’s mosque in Peterborough on November 14, 2015.

"The values that make our country great are values that celebrate our diversity and our religious tolerance. Canada is a country that is strong, not in spite of our differences, but because of them. Muslim-Canadians contribute enormously to the social and economic fabric of our nation, and Canadian authorities will not abide innocent and peaceful citizens being targeted by acts of vandalism and intolerance.

"The recent terrorist attacks in Paris have shocked peace-loving people in all countries around the world. We must remain focused on those responsible for the atrocities committed in France. It is equally important for Canadians to understand that Muslims around the world are also being persecuted regularly by these violent extremists. We are in this together.

"To the families who attend the mosque for prayer every week, the Government of Canada and our law enforcement agencies will protect your rights and make every effort to apprehend any perpetrator. I hope your mosque will be open for prayer again very soon.”

[rajeshkrv]

Honor Killing/Lynching has been happening in India for quite some time which happened mostly for caste related incidents but not for the below.

Please correct me if i am wrong but killing somebody for eating beef(it was mutton by the way) and threatening to behead a state cm for his " i will eat beef do whatever you can" remarks are happening only recently. I would say "NICE TRY" for anyone trying to convince me of the opposite. Classic Intolerance.

Plus, comments like if BJP loses, there will be crackers bursting in Pakistan & altering reservation remarks are digging your own grave. BJP just made it too easy for Laloo/RJD. On the whole day of election results Nitish was smiling like a happy fool. Why wouldn't he?

exactly.. All un warranted and no focus on what was told in the electio campaign.. rather PM has time to have 12 rallies in bihar and investigate Nithis's DNA .. Wow!!

[rajeshkrv]

Pakistan travel agents working in India. Classic Intolerance from BJP MP's.

http://wap.business-standard.com/article/elections/nitish-and-lalu-should-go-to-pakistan-bjp-mp-115110400576_1.html

it's funny that so called bharatiya janata party thinks bharath is only theirs .. (they called others puppets while they themselves are puppets in the hands of RSS ) .. and they like to send everyone to Pakistan.. whoever opens their mouth they will pack them to Pakistan .. funny :)

[irir123]

Meanwhile, a prominent (Muslim) leader in India - Azam Khan, has outrageousy given tacit support to the Paris attackers:

http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/azam-khan-stokes-controversy-says-paris-terror-attacks-due-to-actions-of-global-superpowers_1822445.html

The same dude had no problems visiting France/Europe and wining, dining and living 'the life'!

Another bleeding heart liberal Mani Shankar Aiyar has openly condemned the French for inviting the attacks!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Congress-MP-Mani-Shankar-Aiyar-calls-Paris-attack-obvious-backlash-to-war-on-terror/articleshow/45815928.cms

The French Ambassador to India has apparently expressed deep concern and regrets over these absolutely irresponsible remarks, while the entire world and the rest of India stands behind France..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsWI-IVJZ98

[irir123]

it's funny that so called bharatiya janata party thinks bharath is only theirs .. (they called others puppets while they themselves are puppets in the hands of RSS ) .. and they like to send everyone to Pakistan.. whoever opens their mouth they will pack them to Pakistan .. funny :)



Even the most apolitical observer will note that - compared to the four plus decades of atrocious (non)governance of the Congress party, with criminals like Tytler, et al directly orchestrating not one, but several riots - killing 1000s - besides, the 100s of scams bankrupting the country, and continuously appeasing certain minority communities, etc - the one year old BJP, despite some obvious nut cases in its ranks, and a few stray incidents aside, have not done anything even 1/10th as bad as the Gandhi family's cronies have done..

[lord_labakudoss]

Honor Killing/Lynching has been happening in India for quite some time which happened mostly for caste related incidents but not for the below.

....
I don't know how you think one kind of intolerance is worse than the other... And you are wrong - people have been killed in India over pig carcasses in front of mosques, cattle carcasses in front of temples, defaced statues, burnt holy books etc. I will have to say "Nice Try"!


Plus, comments like if BJP loses, there will be crackers bursting in Pakistan & altering reservation remarks are digging your own grave. BJP just made it too easy for Laloo/RJD. On the whole day of election results Nitish was smiling like a happy fool. Why wouldn't he?
We can deal with political parties & their vote banks later in a separate argument ..... But the least you can expect from "distinguished" award-winning Intellectuals is some basic intellectual honesty!

[ajithfederer]

Correction. He did 30 rallies. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/bihar-elections-2015/news/PM-Modi-addressed-31-rallies-in-Bihar-nearly-twice-of-Sonia-Rahul-duos-16/articleshow/49662699.cmsThe 2 times I've seen him opening his mouth were in election rallies and in foreign tours.

I, for the life of mine cannot remember a sitting PM being this involved in state election rallies. He did the same in Delhi campaign and now in Bihar.


exactly.. All un warranted and no focus on what was told in the electio campaign.. rather PM has time to have 12 rallies in bihar and investigate Nithis's DNA .. Wow!!

[ajithfederer]

Please quote me such instances. Please show me an instance where a mob went to an Muslim's house dragged and killed him over an allegation of eating beef before. I am surprised that you don't see this as intolerance. Statements like people who oppose modi should go to pakistan. People who eat beef should go to pakistan or arab countries haven't been heard until the present BJP Govt came to power. Who are these idiots to tell anyone in this country to go anywhere? :huh:

And yet you haven't answered me on a Karnataka BJP Leader giving a stmt like beheading a state cm. If you don't see this as intolerance i can't help.


I don't know how you think one kind of intolerance is worse than the other... And you are wrong - people have been killed in India over pig carcasses in front of mosques, cattle carcasses in front of temples, defaced statues, burnt holy books etc. I will have to say "Nice Try"!


We can deal with political parties & their vote banks later in a separate argument ..... But the least you can expect from "distinguished" award-winning Intellectuals is some basic intellectual honesty!

[irir123]

3500 Sikhs butchered in less than a month's time in New Delhi - after Indira Gandhi's assassination..

100s of Sikhs incarcerated culminating in the Golden Temple violation..

Under direct command from IG and co, the IPKF indulged in atrocities in Sri Lanka against Sri Lankan tamils..which further fueled the ethnic strife..and distanced/angered the militant groups..

Riots after riots in major cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad, Lucknow and other cities - all directly managed from the center..

Be it the Shah Bano case, where a Muslim woman was deliberately denied matrimonial justice - the culture of minority appeasement was turned into an ugly national habit - fracturing the Indian society along communal lines for good..

We are talking about 4-5 decades of gross abuse of power and total disregard for human rights..

All under the Congress rule - nobody is justifying the incidents that have happened last one year - but putting moral equivalency in perspective, all of that pales in comparison when one puts up the cumulative list of atrocities of the last 40-50 years..

[rajeshkrv]

and the funny part is BJP was part of BSP coaliton in UP and toppled the government after their term of CM'ship.. now they go on claiming RJD-JDU combination as opportunistic etc..

and why to deal with political parties later, when their arrogance and bad mouth blabbering keeps continuing .. are we in some barbarian era where people have to be forced to follow some stupid ideology.. and ironical statements like if you dont vote for us go to pakistan .. what kind of statements are these .. and who is this Amit shah .. all people who did favor the hitler in gujarat are the ones who speak and kindle such things ..


please let's not talk about non governance.. there are millions of such instances in so called BJP governed states as well..in past & present ..

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Under direct command from IG and co, the IPKF indulged in atrocities in Sri Lanka against Sri Lankan tamils..which further fueled the ethnic strife..and distanced/angered the militant groups..



Not just one or two but 100's atrocities by the so called "Indian PEACE keeping force" to protect the Tamils ? 100,000 troops to an island with population of around 18 million ? Seriously ? No Eezha Tamilain will ever forget this in their lives ! http://www.tchr.net/reports_commission_IPKF.htm :evil:

[raagadevan]

In a spin over intolerance

By G. Sampath; The Hindu, November 19, 2015

The real issue is not ‘societal intolerance’ — society does not change wholesale in 18 months — but state tolerance

A lot of ink has been spilled over what has been described as a suffocating atmosphere of intolerance in India. The ‘intolerance’ bug has followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi all the way to the U.K., with 200 writers, including the likes of Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie, writing an open letter to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, urging him to raise the issue with Mr. Modi.

‘Intolerance’ in this context has come to serve as a shorthand for the unending series of, to borrow Mr. Modi’s words, “unfortunate incidents” — the murder of M.M. Kalburgi; of Mohammad Akhlaq; of a Toyota showroom employee, Yakub Shaikh; the repeated petrol bomb attacks on Kashmiri truck drivers; the burning of two Dalit children in Sunpedh. And this is just a partial enumeration of one kind of intolerant behaviour.

Short of killing those you disagree with, there exists a range of strategies for making intolerance the new normal. We have, for instance, an entire pantheon of Parivar-accredited rabble-rousers — many of them are office-bearers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party — who seem to follow a roster system for coming up with hate speech. Another strategy is to erect a new regime of intolerance by packing state-funded cultural institutions with pro-Hindutva mono-culturists, often at the expense of qualification for the post in question. Then there are the seemingly random incidents that are, in part, an outcome of the message of impunity sent out by the state’s extreme tolerance of majoritarian intolerance: disruptions of book launches, ghar wapsi, love jihad, and so on.

Pattern of excessive tolerance

All these taken together reveal a pattern not of intolerance but of too much tolerance — of hate speech, of sectarian violence, of violation of freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. It was this toleration of the intolerant that prompted writers, academics, students, and scientists to protest in whichever ways they could: by returning state awards, writing open letters, and so on.

Unfortunately, defining the current crisis as one of ‘intolerance’ has made it easier for the government — by making it seem like a culture war rather than one of life and death, which is what it really is.

At first, therefore, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could brush off the wave of protests as ‘manufactured rebellion’. Then it attempted to discredit the protestors as proxies of the Congress. But Moody’s Analytics could not be dismissed as a Congress supporter, nor could the American press or the Reserve Bank of India Governor, or, for that matter, Arun Shourie, who has branded the NDA regime as “Congress plus cow”.

As evidence of the state’s divisive tolerance mounted, the BJP fell back on its strategy of last resort: make it all about Mr. Modi, the victim.

In a recent Facebook post that received extensive media coverage, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a sharp counter-attack, asserting that “since 2002, the Prime Minister himself has been the worst victim of ideological intolerance”. This was such a surreal spin on reality, and on the very idea of intolerance, that even his opponents were left dumbstruck by its sheer audacity.

Indeed, its rhetorical cunning needs some unpacking.

First, Mr. Jaitley contorts the meaning of the term ‘intolerance’ to imply criticism, but it is much more than that — it is the curtailment of another’s right to political and social equality, and a violation of their freedom of belief and expression.

In other words, only those who wield power, such as the state, or those who enjoy the support of the state’s coercive apparatus, can exercise intolerance in a society governed by a state. Mr. Jaitley’s notion of “ideological intolerance”, therefore, makes no sense in this context. Or it makes as much sense as the slave’s intolerance of his master’s ideology.

In the present scenario, the real issue is not ‘societal intolerance’ — society does not change wholesale in 18 months — but state tolerance. It is not about ideology, but about this simple thing known as law and order, whose custodian is the state. In a functional state, intolerant, non-state actors cannot get away with perpetrating unlawful violence. It is only when the state tacitly empowers them by tolerating, and perhaps encouraging, them that they are able to exercise their intolerance to lethal effect.

Second, what also gives the lie to Mr. Jaitley’s assertion that the Prime Minister has been a victim is that he seems to have done rather well for a victim. A lot of people would love to be similarly victimised if only it would fetch them the most powerful post in the country.

Third, even if we take Mr. Jaitley’s claim literally, what exactly is the nature of the “ideological intolerance” that Mr. Modi has faced? To answer that question, we need to first state what his ideology is. It is now a truth universally acknowledged that Mr. Modi’s real ideology is, and always has been, development. Nothing but development. Is Mr. Jaitley suggesting that writers, filmmakers, and a visa-denying United States have all along been intolerant of Mr. Modi’s pro-development ideology? Well, yes, no, maybe.

This is why his mention of 2002 is a masterstroke. At one level, it’s just a number, denoting the year of commencement of Mr. Modi’s supposed victimisation. But at another level, it’s a dog-whistle aimed at those who admire him for whatever he did or did not do in 2002. The irony is that even as the Prime Minister’s supporters have wanted the nation to ‘move on’ from 2002, it is not a Teesta Setalvad or a Romila Thapar but supposedly the most liberal-minded minister of Mr. Modi’s Cabinet who is reminding us in 2015 of 2002.

For all we know, Mr. Jaitley’s ingenious claim about Mr. Modi being a victim of intolerance could well end up as a self-fulfilling prophecy, though not in the sense he intended. It is not the intolerance of his ideological opponents but that of his own party members and Parivar affiliates that could victimise Mr. Modi’s political future. The drubbing that the BJP received in the Bihar assembly polls is an unmistakable warning. The alienation of every entity that refuses to play ball with the Parivar’s agenda is bound to diminish, if not victimise, the office of the prime minister.

Protesting the protestors

Apart from the Modi-as-victim card, the other strategy to counter the protestors has been to paint them as a bunch of elitists who are crying wolf because they’ve been evicted from their cosy club of pelf and influence in Lutyens’ Delhi. Even if this is true, it does not detract from the fact that the illiberal brigade feeling emboldened under NDA rule is authentic and in earnest.

In fact, the real victims in all this are the Prime Minister’s media managers and their amplifiers in the press, who have struggled to provide answers to some straight questions: Is our Prime Minister a strong leader or a weak leader? Is he in control or is he not in control? Is he still for development or is he no longer for development?

If he is a strong leader who is in control and is for development, then he should be able to take a public stand against the Parivar elements sabotaging his development agenda with their divisive one. But if, as has been the case so far, he cannot open his mouth against them, then he is a weak leader who is not in control and doesn’t care for development. So which one is it? As Aristotle pointed out a long time ago, A cannot be ‘A’ and ‘not A’ at the same time. Clearly the Prime Minister’s spin doctors have tough times ahead.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/in-a-spin-over-intolerance/article7892739.ece?homepage=true

[irir123]

and the funny part is BJP was part of BSP coaliton in UP and toppled the government after their term of CM'ship.. now they go on claiming RJD-JDU combination as opportunistic etc..

and why to deal with political parties later, when their arrogance and bad mouth blabbering keeps continuing .. are we in some barbarian era where people have to be forced to follow some stupid ideology.. and ironical statements like if you dont vote for us go to pakistan .. what kind of statements are these .. and who is this Amit shah .. all people who did favor the hitler in gujarat are the ones who speak and kindle such things ..


please let's not talk about non governance.. there are millions of such instances in so called BJP governed states as well..in past & present ..



You still have not gotten the point, have you?

Do you have any idea what it was to be a Sikh, or a Sri Lankan Tamil during the early 1980s? If you knew, you would then realize how tyrannical the previous govt was - there are some bad-mouthing idiots in the ranks of the BJP, no doubt about that - there is a huge difference between someone yelling at someone, and a stray incident here and there, over one year's timeframe, than someone actually committing atrocity after atrocity over 40 plus years - moral equivalency

[PARAMASHIVAN]

You still have not gotten the point, have you?

Do you have any idea what it was to be a Sikh, or a Sri Lankan Tamil during the early 1980s? If you knew, you would then realize how tyrannical the previous govt was - there are some bad-mouthing idiots in the ranks of the BJP, no doubt about that - there is a huge difference between someone yelling at someone, and a stray incident here and there, over one year's timeframe, than someone actually committing atrocity after atrocity over 40 plus years - moral equivalency

Congress Government ( except when Indira Ghandi was in power) is hated by Eezha Diaspora especially Sooniya Ghandi!

[rajeshkrv]

You still have not gotten the point, have you?

Do you have any idea what it was to be a Sikh, or a Sri Lankan Tamil during the early 1980s? If you knew, you would then realize how tyrannical the previous govt was - there are some bad-mouthing idiots in the ranks of the BJP, no doubt about that - there is a huge difference between someone yelling at someone, and a stray incident here and there, over one year's timeframe, than someone actually committing atrocity after atrocity over 40 plus years - moral equivalency

i did get your point but things changed.. How PVN dealt with the sikh fear everyone knows. IT's all changed and dont talk past .. What state are we in now? Even to voice out something even in FB is scary.

Srilankan tamil issue is not just because of one person or one party. Every party wants that issue to be resolved but the srilankan govt is also part of the problem .. So you cant just blame it on 1 party or 1 single person..

what did so called tamil favors do (be it dmk or admk) . people like nedumaran scream their lungs out (including vaiko ) but that issue is still un resolved..

blaming one person or one party is meaning less

i'm not talking about bad mouthing.. it's the arrogance saying "go to pakistan" my foot.

Committing atrocity... yeah go and read how many atrocities happened in the name of Hindu .. how many were burnt, how many Christian missionaries were set to fire .. in early 90's all youngsters were brainwashed by the hindu myth and everywhere riots were kindled.. even today they make it a big deal in maharashtra (both RSS & thackery) so dont talk about atrocities...


anyways let's see what your so called guy can do to india ... already once india shining went to shit .. so let's see what happens now

[Bipolar]

.






Gentlemen, Gentlemen!

Ever heard the story of The Blind Men And The Elephant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant)?


.

[ajithfederer]

I asked about single incidents where people get murdered over silly things such as eating beef and you quote riots and genocides. Even there I see you conveniently ignore the 1993 Mumbai riots/ 2002 Gujarat riots and the recent Muzzafarnagar riots which both BJP/SP leaders are accused directly. How convenient!.

What is your point now?. Nobody should question anything?. If anyone has to talk about anything now they should have talked about everything in the past?/. So if i forget to say something now I'm not entitled to criticize anything in the future?. What is the logic here?/


3500 Sikhs butchered in less than a month's time in New Delhi - after Indira Gandhi's assassination..

100s of Sikhs incarcerated culminating in the Golden Temple violation..

Under direct command from IG and co, the IPKF indulged in atrocities in Sri Lanka against Sri Lankan tamils..which further fueled the ethnic strife..and distanced/angered the militant groups..

Riots after riots in major cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad, Lucknow and other cities - all directly managed from the center..

Be it the Shah Bano case, where a Muslim woman was deliberately denied matrimonial justice - the culture of minority appeasement was turned into an ugly national habit - fracturing the Indian society along communal lines for good..

We are talking about 4-5 decades of gross abuse of power and total disregard for human rights..

All under the Congress rule - nobody is justifying the incidents that have happened last one year - but putting moral equivalency in perspective, all of that pales in comparison when one puts up the cumulative list of atrocities of the last 40-50 years..

[ajithfederer]

One thing I find entirely funny is BJP walas claiming they are scam free/corruption free unlike Congress. The only difference between both the parties is the percentage of corruption. Both are fucking corrupt/opportunistic and will not hesitate to loot the country.


and the funny part is BJP was part of BSP coaliton in UP and toppled the government after their term of CM'ship.. now they go on claiming RJD-JDU combination as opportunistic etc..

and why to deal with political parties later, when their arrogance and bad mouth blabbering keeps continuing .. are we in some barbarian era where people have to be forced to follow some stupid ideology.. and ironical statements like if you dont vote for us go to pakistan .. what kind of statements are these .. and who is this Amit shah .. all people who did favor the hitler in gujarat are the ones who speak and kindle such things ..


please let's not talk about non governance.. there are millions of such instances in so called BJP governed states as well..in past & present ..

[raagadevan]

India is being ruled by a Hindu Taliban

By Anish Kapoor; The Guardian - International Edition

"The Hindu god Vishnu has several incarnations, many of them human. The latest of these appears to be Narendra Modi. All over India there are images of the man, right arm raised in the benevolent gesture of good fortune. But this strong-but-enlightened-man image hides the frightening and shrill reality of an increasingly Modi-led Hindu dominance of India". "The country’s openness to social and religious minorities (more than 500 million people) and regional differences is at serious risk. Of late, Modi’s regime has effectively tolerated – if not encouraged – a saffron-clad army of Hindu activists who monitor and violently discipline those suspected of eating beef, disobeying caste rules or betraying the “Hindu nation".

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/12/india-hindu-taliban-narendra-modi

[irir123]

India is being ruled by a Hindu Taliban

By Anish Kapoor; The Guardian - International Edition

"The Hindu god Vishnu has several incarnations, many of them human. The latest of these appears to be Narendra Modi. All over India there are images of the man, right arm raised in the benevolent gesture of good fortune. But this strong-but-enlightened-man image hides the frightening and shrill reality of an increasingly Modi-led Hindu dominance of India". "The country’s openness to social and religious minorities (more than 500 million people) and regional differences is at serious risk. Of late, Modi’s regime has effectively tolerated – if not encouraged – a saffron-clad army of Hindu activists who monitor and violently discipline those suspected of eating beef, disobeying caste rules or betraying the “Hindu nation".

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/12/india-hindu-taliban-narendra-modi



The author has his head buried somewhere the sun dare not shine..

Selective reporting through a prism of pseudo-secularism does not make it authentic

[irir123]

I asked about single incidents where people get murdered over silly things such as eating beef and you quote riots and genocides. Even there I see you conveniently ignore the 1993 Mumbai riots/ 2002 Gujarat riots and the recent Muzzafarnagar riots which both BJP/SP leaders are accused directly. How convenient!.

What is your point now?. Nobody should question anything?. If anyone has to talk about anything now they should have talked about everything in the past?/. So if i forget to say something now I'm not entitled to criticize anything in the future?. What is the logic here?/



How about the Mandal commission as well that completely divided and continues to divide the entire country? It is irrelevant in this context..

You still dont get it - people have a right to protest - but moral equivalency - what, a million missionaries have been killed so far?

What led to the Gujarat riots? Godhra - there are intellectuals in India who stooped down to the level of calling it a suicide of the passengers on the train to incite communal disharmony!

When serious efforts are being made to get a uniform civil code, it is met with stiff resistance from certain religious communities - only because such a code goes against certain religious doctrines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP_o6i06HN8

You may go directly to 26:55 when that 'intellectual' Inayatullah openly claims it IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT AND JUSTIFIED for a MAN TO HAVE MULTIPLE WIVES because his religion says so!!

None of this gets reported or given footage elsewhere..

And yet, when the Western media reports on poverty in Mumbai, for instance, its large-scale characterization of the entire country as being poor and slums driven - well, how about the 1 million plus refugees from Bangladesh in Mumbai? Not a word about how they have been illegally imported by the Communist govt in West Bengal and given ration cards/citizenship pronto (no wonder the govt gets voted into power time and again)...

The infamous media coverage of the rape in Delhi - to begin with the British journalist shamelessly, disgracefully - released footage of the perps giving gory details of the incident - despite the requests by the victim's family not to do so - sensationalism guaranteed.. and btw the name of the minor/juvenile, was deliberately kept from the public eye, why? only because he belongs to a certain minority community - political correctness for you..

Only last week, a gentleman here challenged me with questions about how religious minorities are being treated in India and I gave him a nice dressing down.. because he HAD NO IDEA ABOUT certain historical facts (such as how the congress party has ensured communal divide over decades of misrule in states like Gujarat etc)..

Since then, he is stumped and cannot counter argue - because when one puts things in perspective, people dont like it!

The moment I present counter questions with facts, ppl either st*ve off the questions, or disappear - because, lying down and taking punches uncomplainingly- is a mindset driven by 100s of years of servitude from the time of the Umayyad Dynasty (711AD) isn't it?

[rajeshkrv]

it's ironical that Gujarat riots have been burried and forgotten while 1984 is being brought up again & again.
every body had their share in either kindling or not managing riots time & again but nothing like Godhra.. (if not for L.K.Advani he wouldnt be here)

anyways .. i'm out of here.. thought only India is ruled by a dictator but this thread too has a dictator... forcing the opinion .. so enjoy the discussion and i'm out of here

http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/child-development-kerala-tops-gujarat-flops-bihar-hops-1244716

[irir123]

it's ironical that Gujarat riots have been burried and forgotten while 1984 is being brought up again & again.
every body had their share in either kindling or not managing riots time & again but nothing like Godhra.. (if not for L.K.Advani he wouldnt be here)

anyways .. i'm out of here.. thought only India is ruled by a dictator but this thread too has a dictator... forcing the opinion .. so enjoy the discussion and i'm out of here

http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/child-development-kerala-tops-gujarat-flops-bihar-hops-1244716


Good luck! and of course, India is such an intolerant country surrounded by countries that give absolutely equal rights to all and sundry - what a sad state of affairs

[lord_labakudoss]

Raagadevan:
"the extreme manifestations of intolerance started after Modi became the Prime Minister."
LL:
'My problem is with "started after Modi" part.
....

I don't know how you think one kind of intolerance is worse than the other...'

AjithFederer:
"I am surprised that you don't see this as intolerance."

I should be the one throwing up his hands in the air in frustration! Did I say anywhere that this is NOT intolerance?

Every country needs to find the balance between "Not hurting sensibilities" & "Freedom of speech". India leans towards the 1st one.
India has a long track record of censorship (Freedom at midnight, Satanic Verses, Shivaji's biography, MF Hussain's paintings, Last Temptation, DaVinci Code)
and suppression of basic rights of expression are very prevalent.

The law and order track record in India has always been dicy.

Once again, I am NOT TALKING about political parties and leaders. I am talking about the media and intellectual commentators - It is a sin to keep silence when "your side" guys indulge in these crimes and atrocities just because they are "your side".

Second, just for the sake of elections, dont be ready to sell your country out in the international arena. If you take the law and order situation out, India is a model for every other country in the world for diversity of thought & belief systems.
There is not just "TOLERANCE", but active interaction with multiple systems that has been integral to our civilization.

Regards,
LL

[raagadevan]

Raagadevan:
"the extreme manifestations of intolerance started after Modi became the Prime Minister."
LL:
'My problem is with "started after Modi" part.
....

I don't know how you think one kind of intolerance is worse than the other...'

Regards,
LL

lord_labakudoss:

"Intolerance" of any kind is bad. The answer to your question is in the part of my posting that you did not quote! Here it is, in its entirety:


Modi didn't start "this trend of controlling what's on your plate", but the extreme manifestations of intolerance started after Modi became the Prime Minister. The killing of an innocent man by fanatic hooligans (instigated by a temple priest), threat to decapitate the democratically elected Chief Minister of a State in the Democratic Republic of India because he said he might eat beef, and the police (controlled by the Central Government) raid of a canteen in New Delhi owned and operated by the Government of a State in India [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3292372/Delhi-Police-raid-loved-restaurant-Samrudhi-famous-beef-fry-staff-insist-s-buffalo.htmlare] are some of the manifestations and examples of what appear to be "sanctioned" actions by "kar sevaks" of Modi's party.

When we are discussing current events, what is/was happening in other countries and what others have done in the past cannot be used as an excuse or justification for the governing party and its volunteers continuing to harass, attack and and kill people for their way of life. What happened in the past was bad; but we don't correct that situation by doing more organized atrocities on people we don't like.

Regards to you too! :)

-RD

[raagadevan]

Pakistan leaders vow to protect Hindus

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-leaders-vow-to-protect-Hindus/articleshow/49796129.cms

In an inherently adversarial political culture, very rarely do rival Pakistani politicians speak in one voice. Diwali was one such rare occasion when leaders of three top political parties, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, echoed each other in supporting minority rights at separate festivities. Sharif flew to Karachi on Wednesday to take part in Diwali festivities amid war of words with military establishment after it put him under pressure again by publically ticking him off over tackling terror. An unfazed Sharif spoke passionately about minority rights, insisting all religions in Pakistan enjoyed equal rights while pledging to safeguard them at a function, where Gayatri Mantra was recited along with the Quran. He told Hindus he will stand by them if they are in distress. "Even if a Muslim commits an injustice, I will stand with the victim," said Sharif... Sharif called Diwali a celebration of struggle against evil while announcing the construction of a hospital named after spiritual leader Bhagat Kunwar in Hyderabad (Sindh).
.................................................. ................

His arch-rival, Imran Khan, promised equal citizenship for minorities at a rally amid fireworks in Hindu-dominated Umerkot a day after Diwali. He said treatment of minorities would be exemplary in the 'New Pakistan' he promises to build. "We will take such care of minorities; make them equal citizens that Narendra Modi would be ashamed of himself over what is happening in India,'' he said amid loud cheers.
.................................................. ................

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari joined the Hindus for Diwali festivities in Hindu-dominated Mithi in Tharparkar, where he cut a cake and enjoyed dandia performance. Bilawal expressed happiness that every house was lit up with diyas for Diwali while claiming religious freedom and harmony was being destroyed in India. He said the PPP considers Diwali as its own festival, but Modi does not even celebrate Eid while assuring his party would not discriminate on the religious basis. "We will continue to celebrate Eid and Diwali together, all under the flag of the PPP and the flag of Pakistan."

[raagadevan]

Hindustan is for Hindus: Assam governor

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hindustan-is-for-Hindus-Assam-governor/articleshow/49876275.cms

[Assam Governor PB] Acharya added that Assam has nothing to fear about 'Hindu refugees' from Bangladesh settling in the state and there is nothing wrong in Hindus from other countries taking shelter in India. "Hindustan is for Hindus. There is nothing wrong with that. Hindus from different countries can stay here. They cannot be outsiders. There is nothing to be feared about that. But how to accommodate them is a big question and we should think about that," he said... But he added, "We shouldn't allow a single Bangladeshi to be included in the NRC [National Register for Citizens] list."

[lord_labakudoss]

lord_labakudoss:

"Intolerance" of any kind is bad. The answer to your question is in the part of my posting that you did not quote! Here it is, in its entirety:



When we are discussing current events, what is/was happening in other countries and what others have done in the past cannot be used as an excuse or justification for the governing party and its volunteers continuing to harass, attack and and kill people for their way of life. What happened in the past was bad; but we don't correct that situation by doing more organized atrocities on people we don't like.

Regards to you too! :)

-RD
You are still missing my point - I have not said ANY OF THESE are excusable because of the past. All I have said is if some one selectively raises their voice & ignores certain events, their credibility will be questioned. The first step to preventing these atrocities is to have a consistent standard.

(The sad story of corruption in TN is precisely because of these - Even in the general public, you'll see this - only bad behavior by one party will be criticized, not the other.)

The reason that other countries are relevant is: our people are raising these issues in other countries. Newspapers in other countries are publishing articles on these happenings - so we are perfectly within our rights to compare our track record vs these other countries.

Regards,
LL

[raagadevan]

Stringent punishment for cow slaughter, eating beef, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar says

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Stringent-punishment-for-cow-slaughter-eating-beef-Haryana-CM-Manohar-Lal-Khattar-says/articleshow/49884594.cms

And at the same time...

Haryana education dept magazine says beef source of iron

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Haryana-education-dept-magazine-says-beef-source-of-iron/articleshow/49574245.cms

Ayurveda prescribes beef for several disorders: Scientist

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ayurveda-prescribes-beef-for-several-disorders-Scientist/articleshow/49743126.cms

[raagadevan]

You are still missing my point

I give up! I still can't see any relevant "point" in the current discussion!

[raagadevan]

Wife suggested moving out of India: Aamir on intolerance

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/aamir-khan-on-intolerance-in-india/article7909340.ece?homepage=true

“As an individual, as part of this country as a citizen, we read in the papers what is happening, we see it on the news and certainly, I have been alarmed. I can’t deny. I have been alarmed by a number of incidents,” he said while speaking here at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards.

The actor said he also felt that the sense of insecurity and fear had been growing in the past six or eight months.

“When I chat with Kiran [Kiran Rao] at home, she says ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day.

LL: This is the "point" I am trying to make here. If a person like Aamir Khan and his wife feel insecure living in India because of the ongoing atrocities that I listed in my previous postings, imagine how an ordinary person who does not belong to the ruling party and/or the "majority" religion feels in the "democratic republic" of India!

[raagadevan]

The reason that other countries are relevant is: our people are raising these issues in other countries.

Read the report on Diwali celebrations in Pakistan (reported in the Times of India) and the Assam Governor's statement (again from the Times of India) that I posted above. Isn't it ironic?

[ajithfederer]

http://www.abplive.in/videos/does-aamir-s-wife-want-to-live-in-taliban-or-iran-questions-sakshi-maharaj-249406

Empire strikes back!!!!

[lord_labakudoss]

Read the report on Diwali celebrations in Pakistan (reported in the Times of India) and the Assam Governor's statement (again from the Times of India) that I posted above. Isn't it ironic?
What is ironic is that you have chosen to post the exceptions :)
There is a saying that when a dog bites a man, it is not news; when a man bites a man, it is news!

Dissent & blasphemy happens every day in India without repurcussions. Pakistan is an Islamic state with specific punishment for Blasphemy.

Have you heard a DK speech in your life? These happen routinely in India. Movies like 'PK' can happen only in India.

[lord_labakudoss]

Wife suggested moving out of India: Aamir on intolerance

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/aamir-khan-on-intolerance-in-india/article7909340.ece?homepage=true

“As an individual, as part of this country as a citizen, we read in the papers what is happening, we see it on the news and certainly, I have been alarmed. I can’t deny. I have been alarmed by a number of incidents,” he said while speaking here at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards.

The actor said he also felt that the sense of insecurity and fear had been growing in the past six or eight months.

“When I chat with Kiran [Kiran Rao] at home, she says ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day.

LL: This is the "point" I am trying to make here. If a person like Aamir Khan and his wife feel insecure living in India because of the ongoing atrocities that I listed in my previous postings, imagine how an ordinary person who does not belong to the ruling party and/or the "majority" religion feels in the "democratic republic" of India!
Did you read his full speech - he mentioned newspapers and TV channels, not ANY FIRST_HAND EXPERIENCES - which is what I am trying to say.
I remember in one of his programs, he showcased an instance of Kashmiri muslims protecting a Kshmiri Pandit family; Maybe, he needs to do some research about such instances of tolerances all over India!

It is funny that we are constantly warned not to stereotype an entire religion because of some acts; but here every newspaper/TV channel is stereotyping an entire country because of some speeches. (YES - Aamir implied he would not feel safe ANYWHERE IN INDIA, which means he tarred the entire country with that insinuation).
Regards,
LL

[raagadevan]

It is funny that we are constantly warned not to stereotype an entire religion because of some acts; but here every newspaper/TV channel is stereotyping an entire country because of some speeches. (YES - Aamir implied he would not feel safe ANYWHERE IN INDIA, which means he tarred the entire country with that insinuation).
LL

After Aamir and Shahrukh, pressure on Salman to say something about ‘intolerance’

Published on November 24, 2015

Mumbai: Bollywood star Salman Khan is under pressure and it has nothing to do with the rash driving case against him. Apparently, bhai’s latest headache is related to statements made by Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan surrounding the rising intolerance in the country.

Sources close to the actor say that there is ‘immense pressure’ on the actor to say ‘something’ about intolerance as other two Khans have said something and it would look bad if Salman had absolutely nothing to say on this issue.

[irir123]

A lot of people were terribly scared/frightened when the following happened:

the Godhra train burning incident,
the Mumbai attacks in 2008,
the Coimbatore blasts in 1998,
the protest against Vishwaroopam in 2013,

The fears above - if experienced by a common man - though illegitimate at the outset - were far more legitimate than those of Aamir Khan and co, who, btw, given their celebrity status are less likely to be directly affected and are merely pandering to a politically correct vitiative atmosphere...

but did any of us voice our fears? even if we did, would it have mattered?

now all these celebrities have succeeded in making India look like a land of human pit vipers where every day, as if our national pass time is harassing minorities...

sorry I couldn't care less if Aamir Khan decided to migrate elsewhere..

[raagadevan]

Relax my friends; the above posting (about Salman) is from one of my favorite web pages titled "Faking News"! :) I wrote about the page in the "Picked from the papers today - Volume 3" section of mayyam.com on March 26, 2013 (posting #2708)!

Here it is...

http://www.fakingnews.com/

[raagadevan]

A lot of people were terribly scared/frightened when the following happened:

the Godhra train burning incident,
the Mumbai attacks in 2008,
the Coimbatore blasts in 1998,
the protest against Vishwaroopam in 2013,

The fears above - if experienced by a common man - though illegitimate at the outset - were far more legitimate than those of Aamir Khan and co, who, btw, given their celebrity status are less likely to be directly affected and are merely pandering to a politically correct vitiative atmosphere...

Why stop there? Keep on reading...

"Two central ministers of Modi Sarkar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Giriaj Singh made very insulting and humiliating remarks about non Hindus and the color of skin of UPA chief Sonia Gandhi. Niranjan Jyoti stated that all those who are non Hindus are illegitimate, Haramzade. Giriraj Singh had earlier said that those not voting for Modi should go to Pakistan. Interestingly he said this before the elections and despite such a record he was elevated to the level of minister in the Modi sarkar. He made racial comments about Sonia Gandhi recently. Sakshi Mahraj also held Godse as a patriot, while his another party colleague from Kerala, one Gopal Krishnan wrote in RSS mouth piece Keasri that Godse chose a wrong target in killing Gandhi, he should have killed Nehru instead. Subramaniam Swamy, one of the very senior leaders of BJP, said that God lives in temples alone, not in mosques and Churches, The hidden implication of this statement is fraught with danger. These are few of the samples from what all has been stated during this year. Its impact in increasing the sense of fear amongst religious minorities is more than obvious. BJP ally Shiv Sena’s MP Sanjay Raut went to the extent of demanding that the voting rights of Muslims should be revoked."

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/One-year-of-Modi-government:-Hate-Speech-to-eliminate-religious-minorities-34269.html



sorry I couldn't care less if Aamir Khan decided to migrate elsewhere..

Sorry; I have to disappoint you! Aamir Khan and people who are against what is happening in India today are not going anywhere!!! See what happened in Bihar? History has a bad habit of repeating itself... :)

[raagadevan]

"I stand by everything that I have said in my interview. To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that." - Aamir Khan

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/aamir-khan-says-neither-he-nor-his-wife-have-any-intention-of-leaving-the-country/article7915958.ece?homepage=true

Full text of Aamir Khan's statement:

"First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying.

Secondly, I stand by everything that I have said in my interview.

To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that.

To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point.

To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it's concept of ekantavada, it's love, sensitivity and its emotional strength.

I would like to end my statement with a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, it's a prayer really :

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free,
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments,
by narrow domestic walls,
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection,
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way,
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit,
Where the mind is led forward by thee,
Into ever-widening thought and action,
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

Jai Hind."

[irir123]

"I stand by everything that I have said in my interview. To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that." - Aamir Khan

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/aamir-khan-says-neither-he-nor-his-wife-have-any-intention-of-leaving-the-country/article7915958.ece?homepage=true

Full text of Aamir Khan's statement:

"First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying.

Secondly, I stand by everything that I have said in my interview.

To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that.

To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point.

To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it's concept of ekantavada, it's love, sensitivity and its emotional strength.

I would like to end my statement with a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, it's a prayer really :

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free,
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments,
by narrow domestic walls,
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection,
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way,
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit,
Where the mind is led forward by thee,
Into ever-widening thought and action,
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

Jai Hind."


Taslima's response to Aamir Khan

[raagadevan]

Shiv Sena offers Rs 1 lakh ‘reward’ to anyone who slaps Aamir

The Punjab unit of the Shiv Sena on Wednesday announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh per slap for anyone slapping actor Aamir Khan over his recent remarks on “intolerance” in India.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/shiv-sena-offers-rs-1-lakh-reward-to-anyone-who-slaps-aamir/

[raagadevan]

Aamir Khan’s right to speak

-The Hindu; Editorial, November 26, 2015

In the Bharatiya Janata Party Parivar’s revised reckoner, actor Aamir Khan is now a villain giving India a bad name. It happened the day he joined forces with writers, actors and scientists and re-opened the debate on intolerance in the country by voicing his own concern and his wife’s anxiety and thoughts, perhaps fleeting, of relocating elsewhere. It was not long before that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre had made him the brand ambassador of Swachh Bharat while continuing with him as the face of Incredible India. The underlying subtext to the criticism being heaped on Khan is that while the Narendra Modi government has been gracious to the actor, known for his contrarian positions taken in the past, Khan has been churlish, ungrateful and unmindful of the gestures made to him. The criticism of Khan, therefore, falls into an all-too-predictable pattern. If the writers who returned their awards were lampooned by fellow-writers for being unpatriotic, anti-national and motivated, Khan has been at the receiving end of his fellow-actors, some of whom have been vocal supporters of the current political leadership. In the clamour, Khan’s concerns are typically given short shrift, particularly his comment that it is important to have a sense of security and justice, essential underpinnings of any democratic society. It is the perceived lack of both that prompted writers/scientists/artists and filmmakers to question the government and return their national awards in protest. Like them, Khan too has underlined the importance of both for the political leadership — in particular, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by reminding him that he is the elected leader of the people of the country and must connect with their concerns.

In many ways, the Prime Minister’s silence continues to cause anxiety among civil society members, particularly in the minority community. Mr. Modi’s comments on the minority community during the Bihar campaign, without directly referring to them, have led to significant disquiet. The political leadership in the Central government and in the BJP remains resistant to addressing these anxieties by taking questions, reinforcing apprehensions. There is also something deeply disturbing in the suggestion of the BJP’s ally, the Shiv Sena, that Aamir Khan be sent to Pakistan, for Khan is a Muslim, and the coding in the formulation is not intended to be subtle. Bollywood, of which Khan is an integral part, has never traded on religious identities. The actor has been forced to clarify that neither he nor his wife has any intention of leaving India. Forcing citizens to abjectly clarify their patriotism is not the sign of a liberal democracy. Every Indian must have the right to critique her country. When fellow-citizens receive the critique as a sign of betrayal, it is a sign of illiberalism. When those fellow-Indians happen to be connected to power, directly or politically, democracy is truly in trouble.


http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/aamir-khan-remarks-actors-right-to-speak/article7916371.ece?homepage=true

[PARAMASHIVAN]

sorry I couldn't care less if Aamir Khan decided to migrate elsewhere..


Well said, only in India such importance and values for cine personalities / sportsmen are given !!!

[raagadevan]

The importance of being honest

- Baradwaj Rangan; The Hindu, November 26, 2015

"Nothing sums up this whole ridiculous 'controversy' better than a sad little joke floating around, where a doctor says, 'There is pollution in the city. Therefore your lungs...' And Anupam Kher cuts in angrily, 'How dare you! This city has given you job, name, fame. How can you call it polluted? You traitor!!!'"

"Moral of the story? Do not speak your mind in public. Be diplomatic, wave, sign autographs, keep smiling."

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-importance-of-being-honest/article7916332.ece?ref=sliderNews

[vikatan]

That is not the correct summary of Anupem Kher ....His response was " The city's pollution has not deteriorated recently or suddenly. it has been polluted since a long time. How come the people who are complaining now... were keeping quiet for so long ?...Were they not breathing until now ?"

[PARAMASHIVAN]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34971759

This was indeed a Hindu temple(Shiva) called "tejo mahalaya" ! It is one of the thousands of temples destroyed by our "Persian" cousins!!

[PARAMASHIVAN]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34971759

This was indeed a Hindu temple(Shiva) called "tejo mahalaya" ! It is one of the thousands of temples destroyed by our "Persian" cousins!!

Intha Azgahila "intolerance" pathi discussion vera !

[raagadevan]

Tamil Movie Star Singers to Sing For Kashmir Flood Relief

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUq3dEteFw8

If you switch "Kashmir" to "Chennai", this video would be appropriate for what is happening now
in Chennai and surroundings. This proves my point that India and Indians are one and the same;
we are all human beings irrespective of the language we speak, the culture we are born into,
the state we live in, and the rituals and religion that we practise...

[raagadevan]

Sharia courts in Britain lock women into 'marital captivity', study says

Judges at the courts "uphold the theory and practice of the strong hold men have over women", and set out to frustrate women whose husbands do not want them to leave, according to the study seen by The Independent. The findings, which are to be unveiled in the Houses of Parliament next month, are based on the most detailed and informed analysis of the workings of British sharia courts ever undertaken by an independent researcher.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Sharia-courts-in-Britain-lock-women-into-marital-captivity-study-says/articleshow/50051493.cms

[lord_labakudoss]

Hypocrisy exposed:

Amid rising anti-muslim rhetoric.... Editorials asking Obama to speak out: ZERO

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/muslim-forced-plane-anti-islam-rhetoric-rises-151125200650016.html

[venkkiram]

Tamil Movie Star Singers to Sing For Kashmir Flood Relief

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUq3dEteFw8

If you switch "Kashmir" to "Chennai", this video would be appropriate for what is happening now
in Chennai and surroundings. This proves my point that India and Indians are one and the same;
we are all human beings irrespective of the language we speak, the culture we are born into,
the state we live in, and the rituals and religion that we practise...

If you switch "Kashmir" to "Chennai", this video would be appropriate for what is happening now
in Chennai and surroundings. This proves my point that India and Indians are one and the same;

சரி.. ஸ்ரீநிவாஸ் சொன்னமாதிரியே சென்னைக்கும் வெள்ளம் வந்திடுச்சி. இனி வரும் காலங்களில் இதுபோன்ற காணொளிகள் ஏதேனும் வட மாநிலங்களில் நிகழ்ந்தால் இங்கே பதிவு செய்யுங்கள். இந்தியன் என்ற ஒட்டாமல் ஒட்டிக்கொண்டிருக்கும் பசையை இன்னும் நன்றாக மனதில் ஒட்டிக்கொள்ள உதவும்.

[ajithfederer]

Will turn Hyderabad into Dadri if beef fest is held: BJP MLA Raja Singh

http://dd508hmafkqws.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_node_view/public/MLA_Raja_Singh_0_0_0_0_0.jpg

Hyderabad: Goshamahal BJP MLA Raja Singh said on Tuesday that if the beef festival was held at Osmania University on December 10, he would turn Hyderabad into another Dadri, where a man was lynched for allegedly storing beef.

Mr Singh also said that he and his men would stop the beef festival at any cost. Speaking to media here on Tuesday, the BJP MLA said, “The beef festival was held earlier too and we had tried to stall it. But at that time my strength was not that much, but this time you will see how I mobilise people to Osmania University to stall the event.”

He also criticised state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy for ignoring party activities and demanded his immediate ouster. He accused Mr Reddy of commenting in favour of the OU beef festival.

Singh said the Kishan Reddy did not object to the beef party being organised at Osmania University.

“In our party meeting, Kishan Reddy said that the party did not have any objection if someone hosted a beef festival; our party is very much for the protection of the cow, but here he says he is for holding the beef festival; I have already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our party president Amit Shah giving all these details and demanding the immediate removal of Kishan Reddy from the state party president’s post,” Mr Singh said.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/151202/nation-current-affairs/article/will-turn-hyderabad-dadri-if-beef-fest-held-mla-raja-singh

[ajithfederer]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfl1/v/t1.0-9/11905786_1667681450157105_2189767203591467004_n.jp g?oh=ac75a18c269651781d6580ffed34ed1e&oe=56E78034&__gda__=1458201201_08c6b16909029726df8e60b6a3f98b8 b

The same MLA with no intolerance in India his highness the Apolitical Anupam Kher.

[ajithfederer]

Modi’s minister visits Muzaffarnagar jail, assures all help to murder and rape accused

http://www.jantakareporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/union-sanjeev-baliyan-threaten-to-kisan-leaders-55295d53b3edd_l.jpg

A senior minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet at the centre recently visited Muzaffarnagar jail to meet a group of riots accused chargesheeted for serious crimes in the communal riots of 2013.

Sanjeev Baliyan, who himself was issued bailable warrant for violating prohibitory orders, deterring public servants from discharging their duties and also that of wrongful restraint, reportedly assured the Muzaffarnagar riots accused all help.

Quoting the jail officials, Indian Express reported that during his half-an-hour stay in the jail, Balyan reportedly discussed the problems faced by the accused from Fugana area of Muzaffarnagar facing charges of murder and rape during the riots.

More than 60 people had died while nearly 40,000 people displaced in the 2013 riots of Muzaffarnagar.

“The minister met riot accused Indrapal, Kapil, Pushpendra and Gaurav,” said A N Tripathi, jailor, Muzaffarnagar district jail.

According to police records, Indrapal is an accused of killing Azamuddin and his wife Haleeman. The couple were allegedly attacked and killed after violence erupted at Lisad village on 8 September, 2013.

An FIR regarding the murders was lodged at Fugana police station against seven persons, including Indrapal, on 24 September, 2013.

Gaurav, Pushpendra and Kapil arrested for gangraping a Muslim woman at her house in Fugana police station area after the riots broke out on 8 September, 2013. The victim had got a case registered against seven persons, including Gaurav, Pushpendra and Kapil. Special Investigation Cell, which is probing the riot cases, has filed chargesheets in both the cases.

Balyan was not available for his comments on the visit.

Balyan’s visit the jail and assure riot and murder accused will pose serious questions to his integrity as a union minister.

Not so long ago, Balyan was in news for using his official position as a minister to write to venture capitalists requesting them to fund his niece’s start-up.

http://www.jantakareporter.com/india/31905/31905

[ajithfederer]

A slight digression. Please read and watch the video below to understand how bhakts mind work. Pahlaj Nihalani is the censor board chief of india.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP-l_JY2Vng


Pahlaj Nihalani’s ‘Ode to Modi’ is so embarrassing, it should be banned
We are treated to the hilarious image of the PM meditating on a rock, followed by odious comparisons with Gandhi.

I watched the Mera Desh Hai Mahaan video finally. Had to summon up a lot of courage to expose my sensibilities to this atrocity but as I was already laid up in bed with a terrible flu I assumed things could not possibly get worse. Or could they?

Enough has been written about Pahlaj Nihalani’s “Ode to Modi” and I might be a day late and a dollar short, but allow me to vent.
http://media2.intoday.in/dailyo//story/embed/201511/modi_380-1_112115094239.jpg
Narendra Modi in the video.

So this cringe-fest of a video opens with a visual of the snow-clad Himalayas, or was it the Alps, in keeping with the theme of borrowing footage from countries more advanced than us? We are treated to a visual of Modi performing Shiv arti, followed by a quick introduction to a kohl-eyed, jali cap and ganji donning overfed Muslim chap offering namaz and a young Christian man, also in Maganlal dresswala costume, looking intensely at the camera while crossing his heart. It reminded me of Chandler from Friends, and I am carbon-dating myself by mentioning Friends but what the heck, where he has just the one scene to prove his calibre as an actor and display his intensity.
modi_380-1_112115094239.jpg
A still from the video.

I can almost hear this actor say, “Boss I must look fiercely deep in my introduction shot, so I get a good break after this crappy video.”

Moving on, we are treated to the incongruous and slightly hilarious image of Modi meditating on a rock, wearing nothing but a simple kurta pajyama in a snowy Himalayan landscape. This is his “Modi as Shiva” moment with hints of “Modi as Gandhi” as the strains of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram begin to play in the background.

Then follows the “Modi as Nehru” moment in which exuberant children chanting “Modi kaka, Modi kaka” appear on the scene from nowhere and point joyfully in the direction of “Modi on the rocks”. But Modi kaka, a picture of serenity himself, at this point, remains unmoved by the sight of children behaving as if they had spotted a unicorn and continues with his penance.
pahlaj_nihalani_2290_112115094608.jpg
Pahlaj Nihalani.

And then lo and behold, he does a “Modi as Houdini” and disappears, leaving both the children and the masochistic viewer wondering. This must be Nihalani’s way of telling us that Modi disappears often on his foreign visits, fostering diplomatic ties and giving Sushma Swaraj a severe complex while he is at it.

Several images of Modi with different heads of states later we are shown the poor and hamming cousins of Amar, Akbar and Anthony all joyously singing paeans of Modi and talking about his “kamaal” in making the Emaar buildings in Dubai, flyovers in Tokyo, organising Tour de France and launching NASA space shuttles.

We are also shown silhouettes of Modi and Mahatma Gandhi together at regular intervals and reminded that we have to fulfill the dreams of Bapu-Modi because we know that they are both one and same.

The Muslim chap deserves a special mention here for looking like, and there isn’t a more polished way of saying this, a saand (bull). So much so that each time the camera trained its lens on him, I could not help but think of beef and for that alone this video ought to be banned.


http://www.dailyo.in/humour/narendra-modi-pahlaj-nihalani-mahatma-gandhi-ode-bapu-himalayas-censor-board-secularism-muslims/story/1/7517.html

[raagadevan]

Chennai rain survivors name baby after Muslim samaritan

-The Times of India, December 8, 2015

Last Tuesday, a heavily pregnant Chitra was writhing in pain at her Chennai home. Adding to the misery was the swirling waters and her Urapakkam residence was on the verge of getting inundated. Her husband Mohan was at her side, but he was as clueless as her. With most neighbours deserting the locality, the couple were staring at death.

It was then that Mohamed Yunus, 26, along with his friends, appeared from nowhere in a boat and took them to a hospital. For the record, Yunus, CEO of a start-up, hired four boats --he spent Rs 1 lakh from his own pocket -to rescue the marooned in floodhit areas in Chennai, where there was little or no help from the state government.Chitra was in panic and Yunus narrated a story to calm her down.

On Saturday, Chitra delivered a baby girl at a hospital in Perungalathur. It was a moment to celebrate amid all the water-induced destruction around, but the couple did not forget Yunus who saved them in the nick of time.

In gratitude, the Hindu couple chose to name their bundle of joy after Yunus. It is not yet clear what name the couple will prefix or suffix for the babygirl. When told about the couple's gesture, Yunus, who is now involved in rescue operations in Cuddalore, said, "What can be a greater bliss?"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Chennai-rain-survivors-name-baby-after-Muslim-samaritan/articleshow/50087355.cms

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Can some one explain these two comedies outlined below ?

1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-32661658

2) People are debating about beef consumption , yet India is the Largest Beef ( for meat / leather) exporter in the Globe ?

[irir123]

Ode to Modi is no different than an Ode to Allah, or an Ode to Krishna!

Sycophancy is embarrassing but definitely not the same as a set of doctrines that ensures / actively encourages that women are in burqas, infidels/kafirs are slaughtered..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IZY1mt0e-Q

Of course, the mainstream media will never highlight incidents like the above when Taslima Nasrin - after fleeing Bangladesh - for fear of death in the hands of the mullahs as punishment for her blasphemy of writing a book (aaha, thats tolerance for you) - comes to India - only to be manhandled by Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in Hyderabad..

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/08/world/bangladesh-seeks-writer-charging-she-insults-islam.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/06/opinion/censorship-by-death.html

The regressive left - as in the West is so blinded by their blood thirst for the mainstream majority, they would stop at nothing when it comes to putting down every single tradition, religion, etc, but stop short at the doorstep of the 'religion of peace', whose followers continue to kills 1000s of their own..

btw, nice photoshop with Anupam Kher..

[ajithfederer]

Vengaayam. Not if it is done by a public servant with a reputed post. A walking embarrassment he is


Ode to Modi is no different than an Ode to Allah, or an Ode to Krishna!



It's not. The above person has indeed taken a picture with Tolerant Kher as admitted by Kher himself. A twitter user merged these both to point that there is intolerance right under his nose in the party he supports of tolerance.

https://twitter.com/AnupamPkher/status/673072309196951552




btw, nice photoshop with Anupam Kher..

BTW, Nicely dodged all the tough questions. Throw anyone in jail who threatens another man/woman's life. I could give a rat's ass about them.

[ajithfederer]

1) That's because most dalits/minorities eat beef. So screw them.

2) It brings in good foreign exchange cash.

Other hubbers are welcome to add more points.

Can some one explain these two comedies outlined below ?

1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-32661658

2) People are debating about beef consumption , yet India is the Largest Beef ( for meat / leather) exporter in the Globe ?

[ajithfederer]

Meanwhile our PM's BFF in Bollywood gets away with Murder. Damn, 2002 must be the year to do crimes and get away with it.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12373309_10153258792748372_3371665949282376863_n.j pg?oh=9ae0f6d657ac0e72ee6db11ffa1f46d2&oe=56E20D37&__gda__=1458370947_ecf383536e04d3da0c436c3b8170278 c

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Please enlightenment me !!4776

[irir123]

Paramashivan - that looks like the halal way of slaughtering a cow...

Way back in the early 1990s, a slaughterhouse was being built near Hyderabad - that had plans tp buy cattle from farmers in AP and export the beef - many of the villagers didnt like the idea of their cattle being sold abroad which may give them short-term benefit but fail long-term..

Therefore they appealed to a local MLA who didn't bother much - thus, they approached the People's War Group which promptly warned the slaughter house owners to stop operations - they didn't listen initially and after a couple of bomb threats, they stopped operations - but later on when the PWG lost steam, I think they resumed operations..

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Paramashivan - that looks like the halal way of slaughtering a cow...

Way back in the early 1990s, a slaughterhouse was being built near Hyderabad - that had plans tp buy cattle from farmers in AP and export the beef - many of the villagers didnt like the idea of their cattle being sold abroad which may give them short-term benefit but fail long-term..

Therefore they appealed to a local MLA who didn't bother much - thus, they approached the People's War Group which promptly warned the slaughter house owners to stop operations - they didn't listen initially and after a couple of bomb threats, they stopped operations - but later on when the PWG lost steam, I think they resumed operations..

Yes, I am aware of this so called halal way of animal slaughter... but look at the Flags in the picture, clearly it is some kind of sarcastic joke after the beef ban in India ?

Sickening, cant even look at the poor animal .. :(

[raagadevan]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/12049407/Australian-racist-cartoon-shows-starving-Indians-trying-to-eat-solar-panels.html

[raagadevan]

Sickening, cant even look at the poor animal .. :(

http://pl-pl.ohmagazine.com.auwww.fb.me/abplive/videos/1135617146456308/

[PARAMASHIVAN]

http://pl-pl.ohmagazine.com.auwww.fb.me/abplive/videos/1135617146456308/

Kali yuga! :(

[PARAMASHIVAN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egPR1c9Qj_0&feature=player_embedded

[PARAMASHIVAN]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-35259793

[irir123]

SO it comes to India:

Several people have been arrested - over the last 10 days - in Karnataka, Hyderabad etc - for their direct connections with Al-baghdadi and the ISIS..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCF1fMzdz3w

And yet again,

(1) Muslim leaders cry of persecution.

(2) Muslim leaders continue to deny the existence of the Indian mujahideen, despite repeated evidence showing its existence as well as its links with Pakistan based terror outfits.

[Adox]

Pakistan’s Hand in the Rise of International Jihad

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/opinion/sunday/pakistans-hand-in-the-rise-of-international-jihad.html?_r=0

Highlights Pakis complicity with all the islamic terrorism not just India but other parts of the world as well along with ISIS.

Worthy recognition as the "Managers of the mujaheddins around the world"

[raagadevan]

Nationalism that’s progressive

By Srinivasan Ramani - The Hindu, February 25, 2016

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/nationalism-thats-progressive/article8276637.ece?homepage=true

[raagadevan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1at3RQHnQo

[raagadevan]

Bombay HC asks Nagpur civic body: ‘Is India only for Hindus?’

The Bombay high court has rebuked the Nagpur civic body over plans to organise a mass recital of Hindu text ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ at an AIDS awareness camp.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/bombay-hc-asks-nagpur-civic-body-is-india-only-for-hindus/story-CxcEKVV8qajJEkETlJZjiJ.html

[raagadevan]

Intolerance in India rose in 2015, says USCIRF [US Commission for International Religious Freedom)

"In 2015, religious tolerance deteriorated and religious freedom violations increased in India," the report said. "Minority communities, especially Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs, experienced numerous incidents of intimidation, harassment, and violence, largely at the hands of Hindu nationalist groups," the report alleged.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Intolerance-in-India-rose-in-2015-says-USCIRF/articleshow/52084846.cms

[raagadevan]

Ban Nigerians from entering India, says former Goa CM Ravi Naik of Congress

Referring to Nigerians as ‘negros’, the former Goa Home Minister also said that Nigerians have been causing "problems" in Goa as well other metros. "The government of India should ban them. They should be probed. It should be checked whether many of them are here to study or for picnics or to sell drugs,” said Mr. Naik.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ban-nigerians-from-entering-india-says-former-goa-cm-ravi-naik-of-congress/article8700913.ece?w=alauto
________________________________________________

25 Indian students asked to leave US university

At least 25 Indian students in their first semester of computer sciences programme at Western Kentucky University have been asked to return to India or find placement in other schools, because they did not meet the admission standards of the varsity, The New York Times said on Tuesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a US visit. The chairman of the Indian Student Association at Western Kentucky University, Aditya Sharma admitted that some of the students had adopted what he called a "casual" approach to their studies. "They could not meet their GPA (grade point average), so the university had to take this decision."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/25-Indian-students-asked-to-leave-US-university/articleshow/52635521.cms

[raagadevan]

Former External Affairs Minister and BJP leader Ms. Sushma Swaraj passed away in New Delhi on August 6, 2019. May her soul rest in peace!

Here are excerpts (translated to English) from a speech that she gave in the Indian Parliament on June 11, 1996:

“Mr. Speaker, our definition of secularism is that a Hindu should be a good Hindu, a Muslim should be a good Muslim, a Sikh should be a good Sikh and a Christian should be a good Christian, and everyone should follow their religions while simultaneously respecting each other…

"I respect Mr. Murasoli Maran but today he said that we are different and you are different, which Indian culture are you speaking of? What is Bharat, Bharatiya and Bharatiyata? (India, Indians and Indian-ness)…

“Mr. Speaker, I want to say to my friend Mr. Murasoli Maran with all due respect, that he doesn't need to go anywhere to understand the meaning of Bharatiyata. Bharatiyata means that from Bhangra to Bharatnatyam, all dances are Indian and belong to India. Bharatiyata means that from Jammu's Rajma Chawal and Punjab's Makki Roti to South's Idli Dosa, all delicacies are Indian delicacies. Bharatiyata means that from Amarnath in the North to Rameshwaram in the South, all pilgrimages are Indian pilgrimages. You ask, what are the aspects of this culture?

“Yes Mr. Speaker, we are communal, because we advocate the singing of Vande Matram, Yes, we are communal, because we fight for the respect of the national flag, we are communal, because we want to abolish the 370 [Article 370 of Indian Constitution granting special status to Kashmir], we are communal, because we want to put an end to discrimination based on caste and creed in this country, yes we are communal, because we want to get the Uniform Civil Code (Saman Nagrik Samhita) implemented in this country.”