Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Rann’ has been run down by the media, particularly electronic, no end. The Amitabh Bachchan starrer has been rubbished as a figment of RGV’s imagination with an exaggerated story line and unreal characters. Yet, the fact also remains that even highly acclaimed movies such as ‘Three Idiots’ suffer from these very shortcomings – a technical person handling a pregnancy with an improvised suction and the new born responding only to a song ‘All is Well’ in a miraculous climax. Or for that matter, the Oscar winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ where an excreta enveloped Jamaal shakes hands with the Big B. But the media did not condemn the movies as they did with ‘Rann’ because RGV touched a raw nerve, rubbed where it hurt the most.
In a world where Rakhi Sawant and Raju Shrivastava are prime time and television ratings thrive on ghost stories, where trivia has become mainstream and professional ethics mere lip service, it is but natural that Varma becomes enemy number one for stating the unpalatable truth. The truth is that sensationalism rules the roost and paid news has become a harsh reality. The Indian Media Centre and its publication ‘Media Critique’ were the first to highlight this syndrome, which was later picked up by The Hindu and subsequently the Editors’ Guild of India. Yet, surprisingly, the Guild’s statements have been published extensively by none other than The Hindu.
Once upon a time, newspapers had the courage and conviction to publish even the counter point but today they have become a self-righteous lot. To cite a recent personal experience, the highly over rated The Hindustan Times recently published an article outrightly condemning former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda terming him as the worst Prime Minister India has ever had. Having covered Mr Gowda extensively as Prime Minister, I knew for certain that he may not have been among the best but was certainly not the worst. I have mentioned his contributions already in these columns earlier. I wrote a small piece for The Hindustan Times enumerating the contributions of the former Prime Minister in response to the critique. Forget its publication, they never bothered to even acknowledge its receipt.
It’s not just about self-righteousness but also vengeance of the highest order. CNN-IBN’s orchestrated campaign against Shiv Sena in the party’s spat with King Khan was apparently and evidently a response to the Sainik’s vandalisation of their studios last year. Whither objectivity? Agreed, Bal Thackeray is no paragon of virtue but SRK too is no messiah. He did not take a Pakistani player in his own Kolkata Knight Riders and painted the town red with his rhetoric generosity towards Pakistani players, ensuring in the process the success of My Name is Khan across the border and courtesy a self righteous media, we had the entire Mumbai police who could not prevent 26/11 protecting the commercial interests of Messrs Karan Johar and Khan.
Silver Lining among Dark Clouds
However, all is not dark and dingy. There are honest and committed journalists around who believe that they have to play the role of catalysts in a society where as per Government’s own figures 77 per cent of the population earn less than Rs 20 a day and for all you know that could even be Rs 2 or 5.
What a tragedy that in an agriculture dominated economy, we have only one P Sainath to boast of. Journalism in this country was born in the cradle of freedom struggle. Journalists were more of missionaries and less of mercenaries. While much water has flowed down the Ganga since then, ilsome of those missionaries are still around. Shivnath Jha is one of them.
The newspaper vendor turned senior journalist along with his wife educationist Neena have brought out a first ever compilation ‘Prime Minister of India – Bharat Bhagya Vidhata’. Nothing great except that proceeds from the sale of the coffee table book on the 14 prime ministers, would go to rehabilatate Sultana Begum, last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah's great grand-daughter-in-law who currently ekes out a living selling tea on the streets of Kolkata.
The 444-page hard bound 12x 12 illustrated book enlists the performance of the leaders as well as their achievements and the controverises they survived, starting from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh.
It is the fourth book in the "Andolan Ek Pustak Se" movement, which was launched by the duo in the year 2007 to publish one book per year aiming to honour and help "those who have brought laurels to the country."
"Sultana Begum runs a tea stall in Cowies Ghat slum in Bengal's Howrah district. She lives in dirtiest of conditions and earns a living to support her family. We hope we can help her through the royalty we earn from the book," says Jha.
The "Andolan Ek..." series was begun with a "Monograph on Ustad Bismillah Khan," to draw attention to the plight of the ailing shahnai maestro. Other books in the series include one on the then railway minister Lalu Prasad, "Lalu Prasad: India's Miracle," as well as "India calling -to commemorate India entering 60th year of Independence."
Jha had earlier used the sale proceeds of the book on Bismillah Khan to rehabilitate Vinayak Rao Tope, the great grandson of Tantya Tope, a front line leader of the 1857 uprising.
The book which is priced at Rs 8000, includes writings by eminent personalities including noted historian Bipan Chandra. Your truly too had the privilege of contributing a write-up.
Kudos to Shivnath and Neena for rediscovering that extinct Dodo called journalism with a mission in an era of commodification and commercialization of Media. One sincerely hopes that this modern day classic would inspire the media fraternity to come out of their ivory towers and work for the Sultana Begums and Kalavatis, lost and waiting for redemption in the dusty streets, lanes and bylanes of Hindostan.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Other Side of Deve Gowda
Once again the national media is after one its favourite whipping boys: Hardanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda. When he was named for Prime Ministership, he was the proverbial dark horse; once he was at the helm of affairs, the urban centric media went out of its way with apparent sadistic pleasure to show a sleeping Gowda. Recently, noted columnist Khushwant Singh described him as a ‘donkey’ or ‘ass’ among Prime Ministers India has had. Ironically, this child of fate, a donkey and sleeping politician is also often projected by the same media as scheming, calculating, shrewd old fox. Certainly, he can’t be both.
One cannot recall in post-independent India a politician who rose to become the Prime Minister and even 10 years later remains as active, if not more. He heads a political party which has considerable influence in Karnataka and is a ruling coalition partner in Kerala. He continues to be elected again and again and often with the highest margin to the Lok Sabha. He is at the forefront of popular agrarian agitations in the state and regularly attends and participates actively not only in Parliament but also in the different committees to which he has been nominated.
At 76, the Civil Engineer turned politician remains as active notwithstanding his diabetes and other health ailments. He is a vegetarian, teetotaler and a total family man. Yet, often he is isolated and targeted by what he himself called the ‘elitist Delhi media’, which only highlighted his rustic ways and background. Except allegations of general nature leveled against all politicians, the fact remains that there has not been a single specific charge of graft against him or the United Front Government that he headed at the Centre, unlike many who are eulogized as messiahs of poor and backwards. Except for the recent unfortunate swear word incident, which is undoubtedly indefensible, Gowda has never been accused of instigating violence or turning a blind eye to pogroms unlike some who are being hailed now as models of governance.
It is indeed sad that a nation has chosen to paint entirely in black an individual who climbed up the ladder the hard way and ignore whatever little contribution he made during his brief 10 month tenure. Even as small states have become a craze in the country now, it was Deve Gowda who as Prime Minister announced from the ramparts of the Red Fort plans to create the state of Uttarakhand.
Television journalist Rajdeep Sardesai had once commented, “That Gowda became PM may rankle those who feel that his ascent to the post devalued the august institution. His choice was pure luck, plucked out of obscurity to the highest post only because the other contenders eliminated each other. And yet, Deve Gowda will go down in history as one of the only two Indian Prime Ministers (Charan Singh being the other) with well-defined rural roots, a consciously non-elite leader, and in his case, the first to perhaps have no connection with the Delhi durbar. In a sense, he was the first genuine regional satrap to become PM, a politian who derived his sense of power and importance, not from his proximity to the national leadership of his party but from his control over a particular state.”
Though 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament remains a distant dream till date, it was the Deve Gowda Government which introduced the Constitution Amendment Bill to reserve 30 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha for women, as also the Lok Pal Bill to enquire into charges of corruption against public functionaries including the Chief Minister.
It was Gowda who set the peace process in strife-torn Kashmir rolling not only by visiting the state, the first by a Prime Minister in seven years, but also putting in place a popularly elected Government led by Farooq Abdullah after a lapse of nearly eight years and offering an economic package that included construction of 290 km railway line from Udhampur to Baramulla, linking the valley with the rest of India for the first time and completion of the long-pending Dulhasti and Uri Hydro electric projects.
In October 1996, Deve Gowda became the first Prime Minister to visit all the seven states of the North-East and announced s Rs 65,000 crore economic package asserting that “India as a whole cannot progress unless every state including the seven states of the North-Eastern region keep in step with the rest of the country.” He also extended an unconditional invitation to all insurgent groups to meet him saying, “I genuinely wish to understand their points of view and what exactly is troubling them”.
On the External Affairs front, Gowda peacefully resolved the long-pending Ganga water sharing agreement with Bangaldesh and the Mahakali Treaty with Nepal. He played a key role in resumption of stalled talks between India and Pakistan. Gowda set aside protocol and received Chinese President Jiang Zemin and the two sides agreed for Confidence Building Measures along the Line of Actual Control.
Gowda gave a free hand to his Foreign Minister I K Gujral to pursue his ‘Gujral Doctrine’ and to his Finance Minister P Chidambaram to implement his liberalization programes. It was Gowda’s determination to tap the “vast unaccounted money” for development purposes that led to the launching of the revolutionary Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS). The Mumbai sea link project and Delhi’s Metro too got their approval during his tenure.
Former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramaniam has narrated the following anecdote in his classic ‘Journey Through Babudom and Netaland: Governance in India’
“I called on Deve Gowda on the day I took over charge as Cabinet Secretary. He was busy that day, and asked me to see him the following evening at his residence, where he spent half an hour alone with me, discussing the things he wanted to accomplish as asking me to help him execute his plans. What he then said impressed me greatly and I am quoting as well as I can remember. "I have spent many years in state politics, seen a lot of things. I have enough money for my lifetime. God has given me the opportunity, unexpectedly, to serve the country as the prime minister. I will be completely honest, straightforward and will keep all politics out when national interest is involved. I want you and Satish Chandran to help me with my plans. My sons and my relatives will want to exploit my present position to their pecuniary advantage. They will use their proximity to me, through open and subtle ways, to influence you, and to put pressure on you. I want you to be completely fair and impartial and not oblige them. Sometimes, they may speak to you in my presence, giving the impression of my full agreement. I may not at that time be in a position to contradict them, because of my close relationship. Even then you should ignore them totally. If i need anything from you, i will ask you privately - but that will be very rare." Deve Gowda was true to his words. He never asked me to go out of the way in any matter, except on one trivial instance, when he explained the reason why he wanted me to stretch a point.”
We are taught to give even the devil its due. Certainly, Deve Gowda deserves better.
One cannot recall in post-independent India a politician who rose to become the Prime Minister and even 10 years later remains as active, if not more. He heads a political party which has considerable influence in Karnataka and is a ruling coalition partner in Kerala. He continues to be elected again and again and often with the highest margin to the Lok Sabha. He is at the forefront of popular agrarian agitations in the state and regularly attends and participates actively not only in Parliament but also in the different committees to which he has been nominated.
At 76, the Civil Engineer turned politician remains as active notwithstanding his diabetes and other health ailments. He is a vegetarian, teetotaler and a total family man. Yet, often he is isolated and targeted by what he himself called the ‘elitist Delhi media’, which only highlighted his rustic ways and background. Except allegations of general nature leveled against all politicians, the fact remains that there has not been a single specific charge of graft against him or the United Front Government that he headed at the Centre, unlike many who are eulogized as messiahs of poor and backwards. Except for the recent unfortunate swear word incident, which is undoubtedly indefensible, Gowda has never been accused of instigating violence or turning a blind eye to pogroms unlike some who are being hailed now as models of governance.
It is indeed sad that a nation has chosen to paint entirely in black an individual who climbed up the ladder the hard way and ignore whatever little contribution he made during his brief 10 month tenure. Even as small states have become a craze in the country now, it was Deve Gowda who as Prime Minister announced from the ramparts of the Red Fort plans to create the state of Uttarakhand.
Television journalist Rajdeep Sardesai had once commented, “That Gowda became PM may rankle those who feel that his ascent to the post devalued the august institution. His choice was pure luck, plucked out of obscurity to the highest post only because the other contenders eliminated each other. And yet, Deve Gowda will go down in history as one of the only two Indian Prime Ministers (Charan Singh being the other) with well-defined rural roots, a consciously non-elite leader, and in his case, the first to perhaps have no connection with the Delhi durbar. In a sense, he was the first genuine regional satrap to become PM, a politian who derived his sense of power and importance, not from his proximity to the national leadership of his party but from his control over a particular state.”
Though 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament remains a distant dream till date, it was the Deve Gowda Government which introduced the Constitution Amendment Bill to reserve 30 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha for women, as also the Lok Pal Bill to enquire into charges of corruption against public functionaries including the Chief Minister.
It was Gowda who set the peace process in strife-torn Kashmir rolling not only by visiting the state, the first by a Prime Minister in seven years, but also putting in place a popularly elected Government led by Farooq Abdullah after a lapse of nearly eight years and offering an economic package that included construction of 290 km railway line from Udhampur to Baramulla, linking the valley with the rest of India for the first time and completion of the long-pending Dulhasti and Uri Hydro electric projects.
In October 1996, Deve Gowda became the first Prime Minister to visit all the seven states of the North-East and announced s Rs 65,000 crore economic package asserting that “India as a whole cannot progress unless every state including the seven states of the North-Eastern region keep in step with the rest of the country.” He also extended an unconditional invitation to all insurgent groups to meet him saying, “I genuinely wish to understand their points of view and what exactly is troubling them”.
On the External Affairs front, Gowda peacefully resolved the long-pending Ganga water sharing agreement with Bangaldesh and the Mahakali Treaty with Nepal. He played a key role in resumption of stalled talks between India and Pakistan. Gowda set aside protocol and received Chinese President Jiang Zemin and the two sides agreed for Confidence Building Measures along the Line of Actual Control.
Gowda gave a free hand to his Foreign Minister I K Gujral to pursue his ‘Gujral Doctrine’ and to his Finance Minister P Chidambaram to implement his liberalization programes. It was Gowda’s determination to tap the “vast unaccounted money” for development purposes that led to the launching of the revolutionary Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS). The Mumbai sea link project and Delhi’s Metro too got their approval during his tenure.
Former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramaniam has narrated the following anecdote in his classic ‘Journey Through Babudom and Netaland: Governance in India’
“I called on Deve Gowda on the day I took over charge as Cabinet Secretary. He was busy that day, and asked me to see him the following evening at his residence, where he spent half an hour alone with me, discussing the things he wanted to accomplish as asking me to help him execute his plans. What he then said impressed me greatly and I am quoting as well as I can remember. "I have spent many years in state politics, seen a lot of things. I have enough money for my lifetime. God has given me the opportunity, unexpectedly, to serve the country as the prime minister. I will be completely honest, straightforward and will keep all politics out when national interest is involved. I want you and Satish Chandran to help me with my plans. My sons and my relatives will want to exploit my present position to their pecuniary advantage. They will use their proximity to me, through open and subtle ways, to influence you, and to put pressure on you. I want you to be completely fair and impartial and not oblige them. Sometimes, they may speak to you in my presence, giving the impression of my full agreement. I may not at that time be in a position to contradict them, because of my close relationship. Even then you should ignore them totally. If i need anything from you, i will ask you privately - but that will be very rare." Deve Gowda was true to his words. He never asked me to go out of the way in any matter, except on one trivial instance, when he explained the reason why he wanted me to stretch a point.”
We are taught to give even the devil its due. Certainly, Deve Gowda deserves better.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Republic day Tableaux Ideas
Every year, different state Governments and Central Government departments and undertakings come up with tableaus on different topics at the Republic Day parade.
Here are some original and contemporary ideas as suggestions:
A Telengana tableaux with a fasting KCR and Osmania University students setting ablaze buses and cars and PC trying to pour water on it.
An IT tableaux with a relaxed Shashi Tharoor tweeting
A UP tableaux with Kum Mayawati as a statue
A Samajwadi Party tableaux with Amar Singh as pied piper walking out with Sanju baba, Jayaprada and Jaya Bachchan.
A BJP tableaux with Nitin Gadkari as Hanuman lifting the mountainous party.
A railway tableaux with Mamta Banerjee in the driver’s seat and Lalu Prasad running after the train.
And of course, an IPL tableaux with Pakistani players beating their chests in mourning as Shilpa, Preity and Nita Ambani engage in a jig.
Here are some original and contemporary ideas as suggestions:
A Telengana tableaux with a fasting KCR and Osmania University students setting ablaze buses and cars and PC trying to pour water on it.
An IT tableaux with a relaxed Shashi Tharoor tweeting
A UP tableaux with Kum Mayawati as a statue
A Samajwadi Party tableaux with Amar Singh as pied piper walking out with Sanju baba, Jayaprada and Jaya Bachchan.
A BJP tableaux with Nitin Gadkari as Hanuman lifting the mountainous party.
A railway tableaux with Mamta Banerjee in the driver’s seat and Lalu Prasad running after the train.
And of course, an IPL tableaux with Pakistani players beating their chests in mourning as Shilpa, Preity and Nita Ambani engage in a jig.
Friday, January 15, 2010
A Resolution for Peace
Like every year, this year too I have made my New Year resolutions, such as getting up early, going to bed early, taking food on time, exercising regularly, maintaining diet, spending more time with family, reading more books, meeting more friends, not getting angry, doing Yoga and meditation, not eating junk food etc etc, resolutions that have been made umpteen times in the past only to be broken within an hour, day, week or a month at the most.
Yet, when we look all around us, the agitation for Telengana, the Maoist violence along the Red Corridor, the insurgency in North East, the militancy in Kashmir, terrorists acts in different parts of the country and the world, only one desire comes to the fore – Peace.
But can peace be achieved merely by preaching? All religions have preached peace since time immemorial. Lord Buddha’s sermon was all about Ahimsa or non-violence yet in the past year, there couldn’t have been anything more violent and brutal than what the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese Sri Lankan Army perpetrated on the innocent Tamilian population in the island nation during the war against LTTE. Latest television footages of Lankan soldiers blindfolding the victims and shooting them at point blank range has only confirmed the open secret.
Most terror activities in India, USA, Israel, Pakistan and Afghanistan are being carried out by fundamentalist elements under the garb of Islam which itself means ‘Peace’. Certainly, such acts including against Mosques and Muslims themselves were never endorsed by the Prophet.
Jesus of Nazareth too taught the world to show the other cheek when slapped on one. Yet, neither the activities of pre-dominantly Christian insurgent groups in North-East India or the racist attack on Indian students in Australia conform to the peace and non-violence enunciated and espoused in the Holy Bible.
The irony of the times is that US President Barack Obama in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech justified both war and violence, of course, to establish peace.
Since time immemorial, there have been efforts to establish peace and harmony. From the World Parliament of Religions, where Swami Vivekananda made history, to the creation of League of Nations and the United Nations, history has been witnesses to umpteen such sincere and honest efforts to resolve conflicts. Yet, disharmony rules the roost, violence continues unabated.
With the conflict resolution models failing to succeed, the time has come to evolve conflict avoidance models. Resolution comes after the conflict take place whereas conflict avoidance is a preventive as against a curative step.
The need of the hour is paradigm shift in thinking from the now prevailing notion of tolerance of other faiths as the ideal to the ideal of acceptance of all faiths as valid and sacred to achieve peace and harmony based on mutual accommodation.
In fact, a silent revolution has been taking place. Religious leaders from the world over signed the historic inter-faith document, ‘The Faith Human Rights Statement’, on December 10, 2008. While emphasizing the importance of the freedom of expression, the leaders resolved to deplore the portrayals of objects of religious veneration which fail to be properly respectful to the sensibilities of believers (supporters of the Danish cartoonist and M F Hussein, please note). They also agreed the freedom to have, to retain and to adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice, without coercion or inducement to be an undeniable right. This declaration addressed a principal apprehension of faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism (in the Indian context) and Confucianism about the Abrahamic faiths. Interestingly, conversion has been a major bone of contention between Hindu and Christian groups in the country and both leaders of Abrahamic religions and Head of the Hindu Acharya Sabha Swami Dayananda Saraswathi were signatories to this agreement at Amsterdam.
The Swami also traveled to Israel and held a comprehensive dialogue with top Jewish leaders which helped remove theological misunderstanding that existed between the two faiths over the centuries, rather millennia. In a joint declaration after the dialogue, the Jewish leaders were convinced that the different idols and Gods in Hinduism were merely the form, but in substance, the Hindus accepted only one reality. This was a path breaking and illustrative endeavour to remove a basic and fundamental misconception about Hinduism in the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths.
This opens the gates for similar consensus with the other Abrahamic faiths, Islam and Christianity, which is particularly crucial, nay critical, in the Indian context.
In this regard, the Global Foundation for Civilizational Harmony (India), which was founded exactly two years back in the presence of a galaxy of spiritual leaders from all faiths in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, has been doing a pioneering work. Deviating from the popular and conventional models of seeking harmony among faiths and civilizations, the organization is engaged in the difficult path of persuading different faiths and civilizations to undergo an endogenous transformation and thereby bring about changes in the longstanding perceptions about them within and outside as an essential part of the process to bring about lasting harmony among faiths and civilizations.
In fact, GFCH India supported and worked with the Darul Uloom Deoband to hold rallies of Muslims against terrorism in different parts of India with a view to dispel the perception identifying terror with Islam. The Foundation felt that unless some visible initiative was taken from within the community and by a reputed and respected Islamic theological school to dispel this perception, it was bound to persist and even deepen.
Of late, GFCH organized a Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair in Chennai, in which about 100 Hindu spiritual organizations such as Ramakrishna Mission, Art of Living foundation, Patanjali Yogapeeth, Kanchi and Sringeri Mutts, Mata Amritanandamayi Math participated, with the objective of dispelling a long held perception that Hindu spiritual organizations were not socially conscious and they do not have a deep impulse for public service. Apart from the younger generation within the community, this perception had also greatly prejudiced the respect for Hindu faith in the minds of the followers of other faiths, as a socially insensitive faith. Needless to metion here that the fair, inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Governor S S Barnala, was a grand success with over 1.25 lakh visitors.
Next on the cards for the Foundation is an ‘Islam in the Service of Mother India’ fair, probably in Delhi, with the twin objectives of showcasing the service aspect of Islam as also the community’s unquestionable commitment to the motherland, unmindful over the controversy over Vande Mataram etc.
I am sure, there are other organizations doing equally good work. Let us strengthen such efforts, for at stake is global peace and harmony, which is crucial for progress and prosperity. Let our resolution this year be for creating a peaceful and harmonious universe. Amen, Inshallah, Tathastu!
Yet, when we look all around us, the agitation for Telengana, the Maoist violence along the Red Corridor, the insurgency in North East, the militancy in Kashmir, terrorists acts in different parts of the country and the world, only one desire comes to the fore – Peace.
But can peace be achieved merely by preaching? All religions have preached peace since time immemorial. Lord Buddha’s sermon was all about Ahimsa or non-violence yet in the past year, there couldn’t have been anything more violent and brutal than what the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese Sri Lankan Army perpetrated on the innocent Tamilian population in the island nation during the war against LTTE. Latest television footages of Lankan soldiers blindfolding the victims and shooting them at point blank range has only confirmed the open secret.
Most terror activities in India, USA, Israel, Pakistan and Afghanistan are being carried out by fundamentalist elements under the garb of Islam which itself means ‘Peace’. Certainly, such acts including against Mosques and Muslims themselves were never endorsed by the Prophet.
Jesus of Nazareth too taught the world to show the other cheek when slapped on one. Yet, neither the activities of pre-dominantly Christian insurgent groups in North-East India or the racist attack on Indian students in Australia conform to the peace and non-violence enunciated and espoused in the Holy Bible.
The irony of the times is that US President Barack Obama in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech justified both war and violence, of course, to establish peace.
Since time immemorial, there have been efforts to establish peace and harmony. From the World Parliament of Religions, where Swami Vivekananda made history, to the creation of League of Nations and the United Nations, history has been witnesses to umpteen such sincere and honest efforts to resolve conflicts. Yet, disharmony rules the roost, violence continues unabated.
With the conflict resolution models failing to succeed, the time has come to evolve conflict avoidance models. Resolution comes after the conflict take place whereas conflict avoidance is a preventive as against a curative step.
The need of the hour is paradigm shift in thinking from the now prevailing notion of tolerance of other faiths as the ideal to the ideal of acceptance of all faiths as valid and sacred to achieve peace and harmony based on mutual accommodation.
In fact, a silent revolution has been taking place. Religious leaders from the world over signed the historic inter-faith document, ‘The Faith Human Rights Statement’, on December 10, 2008. While emphasizing the importance of the freedom of expression, the leaders resolved to deplore the portrayals of objects of religious veneration which fail to be properly respectful to the sensibilities of believers (supporters of the Danish cartoonist and M F Hussein, please note). They also agreed the freedom to have, to retain and to adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice, without coercion or inducement to be an undeniable right. This declaration addressed a principal apprehension of faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism (in the Indian context) and Confucianism about the Abrahamic faiths. Interestingly, conversion has been a major bone of contention between Hindu and Christian groups in the country and both leaders of Abrahamic religions and Head of the Hindu Acharya Sabha Swami Dayananda Saraswathi were signatories to this agreement at Amsterdam.
The Swami also traveled to Israel and held a comprehensive dialogue with top Jewish leaders which helped remove theological misunderstanding that existed between the two faiths over the centuries, rather millennia. In a joint declaration after the dialogue, the Jewish leaders were convinced that the different idols and Gods in Hinduism were merely the form, but in substance, the Hindus accepted only one reality. This was a path breaking and illustrative endeavour to remove a basic and fundamental misconception about Hinduism in the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths.
This opens the gates for similar consensus with the other Abrahamic faiths, Islam and Christianity, which is particularly crucial, nay critical, in the Indian context.
In this regard, the Global Foundation for Civilizational Harmony (India), which was founded exactly two years back in the presence of a galaxy of spiritual leaders from all faiths in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, has been doing a pioneering work. Deviating from the popular and conventional models of seeking harmony among faiths and civilizations, the organization is engaged in the difficult path of persuading different faiths and civilizations to undergo an endogenous transformation and thereby bring about changes in the longstanding perceptions about them within and outside as an essential part of the process to bring about lasting harmony among faiths and civilizations.
In fact, GFCH India supported and worked with the Darul Uloom Deoband to hold rallies of Muslims against terrorism in different parts of India with a view to dispel the perception identifying terror with Islam. The Foundation felt that unless some visible initiative was taken from within the community and by a reputed and respected Islamic theological school to dispel this perception, it was bound to persist and even deepen.
Of late, GFCH organized a Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair in Chennai, in which about 100 Hindu spiritual organizations such as Ramakrishna Mission, Art of Living foundation, Patanjali Yogapeeth, Kanchi and Sringeri Mutts, Mata Amritanandamayi Math participated, with the objective of dispelling a long held perception that Hindu spiritual organizations were not socially conscious and they do not have a deep impulse for public service. Apart from the younger generation within the community, this perception had also greatly prejudiced the respect for Hindu faith in the minds of the followers of other faiths, as a socially insensitive faith. Needless to metion here that the fair, inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Governor S S Barnala, was a grand success with over 1.25 lakh visitors.
Next on the cards for the Foundation is an ‘Islam in the Service of Mother India’ fair, probably in Delhi, with the twin objectives of showcasing the service aspect of Islam as also the community’s unquestionable commitment to the motherland, unmindful over the controversy over Vande Mataram etc.
I am sure, there are other organizations doing equally good work. Let us strengthen such efforts, for at stake is global peace and harmony, which is crucial for progress and prosperity. Let our resolution this year be for creating a peaceful and harmonious universe. Amen, Inshallah, Tathastu!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
After Telengana, Why Not Mayur Vihar?
Mayur Vihar in East Delhi is a peaceful middle class locality. It has a mixed population, with a sizeable chunk coming from South India. But that peace is going to be shattered soon, for a section of the populace has taken a decision to seek a separate state. While apparently this may sound unreasonable, ridiculous and even outrageous, the proponents of the ‘Greater Mayur Vihar’ state have their own logic. One, being part of East Delhi, they are a neglected lot compared to their upmarket cousins in say, Greater Kailash, Golf Links, Vasant Vihar etc in South Delhi, not to talk of the denizens of Lutyen’s New Delhi. That’s a discrimination at par with the one faced by the Gorkhas in Darjeeling and Siliguri and worse than the citizens of Telengana. At least, they have a Hyderabad to boast of. Secondly, under a ‘deep-rooted’ conspiracy, Mayur Vihar has been split into three phases, I, II and III, each leagues away from each other. Now, if the Nagas can ask for parts of Manipur and other North-Eastern states for a Greater Nagaland, why not a Greater Mayur Vihar?
Thus, we are underdeveloped vis-à-vis the rest of the city, we have been ‘discriminated’ against and we have been split into three and therefore, the demand for Mayur Vihar as an independent state is fully justified. We will have the comparatively developed Phase-II as the capital city, since it is encircled by the Sanjay lake, possessed with wildlife in the form of monkeys, peacocks and snakes, equipped with its own telephone exchange, a couple of hospitals and banks and of course a bar-cum-restaurant, the symbol of any vibrant city with an active night life. And the protests are also going to be a smooth affair. Since, the sleek modern low-floor buses introduced in the national capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2010 are catching fire on their own, we don’t even need to set them ablaze. And since many people in the peripheral areas of Mayur Vihar, such as Kalyanpuri, Trilokpuri et al, find it difficult to get two square meals a day, sitting on fast too is not going to be a great problem. They need not escape from the hospital to have a binge and resume their ‘fast unto death’.
And of course, the Union Home Minister being a highly obliging and ‘sensitive’ person, within a day or two of the protest, we are expecting a midnight declaration to the effect that the process for the creation of Greater Mayur Vihar or Mayuranchal with Mayurabad as the capital as the 30th state of the Union of India, after the establishment of Telengana as the 29th state of the Union, if and when that happens, would soon get underway.
Figment of imagination or flight of fancy or an element of lunacy? But it’s for real. Look at the demands gathering momentum. Television shots of a Sikh gentleman and his supporters blocking railway traffic in support of Vidarbha, demands for Maru Pradesh, Vidarbha, Kodagu, Saurashtra, Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh, the list seems endless.
Is statehood the panacea for underdevelopment or regional imbalance? If today the argument is that large states are unmanageable and hence need to be broken up, tomorrow the same yardstick would apply to large countries too, including India.
So, are we heading for Balkanization, implementing ourselves what a Chinese think tank had contemplated few months back? Are we going back to the days of the principalities and provinces, for whose merger with the Indian Union, the Iron Man of India so assiduously worked. It’s an irony that the modern ‘Lauh Purush’, who claims to be an ardent devotee of the Sardar and even got his bosom pal Jaswant Singh expelled from the party for criticisng the icon, advocates the creation of small states.
Jharkhand and Uttarakhand are examples of how bad an idea small states could be. The recent fractured verdict in Jharkhand and the influential role of small but dubious political parties indicate how fragile and vulnerable their polity is. Except tourism, does small states like Goa and Kerala have anything else to boast of, except for Kerala, the highest liquor consumption, divorce rate etc. Look at the condition of women in small states such as Haryana and Punjab where male-female ratio is among the lowest in the country. Uttarakhand is totally dependent on central funds for its very survival and what is the guarantee that tomorrow the people of Kumaon and Garhwal, the two distinct regions of the state, do not feel discriminated against and demand separate statehood?
In Uttarakhand, every second MLA was given the status of a Minister with a beacon light and hooter in tow. Are not marginalized political leaders such as Chandrasekhar Rao and Ajit Singh behind such demands? Aren’t certain influential castes going to dominate the polity of these states at the cost of others? With her vote bank equally distributed across the state, Mayawati obviously wants her influence to span across three states, to realize her Prime Ministerial ambitions, since her attempts to expand the party beyond Uttar Pradesh has failed to take off so far.
Secondly, is statehood the only solution to under development and regional imbalance? No. There are other constitutional mechanisms such as creation of Autonomous Development Councils and Regions within different states. But the counter argument is that such council have failed, whether it be in Karbi Anglog in Assam or Ladakh or Darjeeling. But that’s not because the mechanism is wrong, but the mechanics. Both the Centre and the respective states gave these regions and districts only autonomy on paper. Rest was tokenism. No real financial or administrative powers. And the result naturally is continued under development and neglect.
So, what’s the solution? To begin with, the very concept of linguistic states was wrong. Had language been a unifying factor, there was no reason why the Telugu speaking people of Telengana should seek separation from their brethren in Rayalseema and Coastal Andhra. There is very little in common between the Tamils in Tamil Nadu and the ones in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa. Even the language they speak have a distinct flavour. The same holds true for Bengalis. The ‘Bhadralok’ from Kolkata used to dismiss the residents of Chittaranjan Park in South Delhi as ‘EDPD’ (East Pakistan Displaced Persons) and till sometime back, even marriage among them was taboo. The people in North Kerala hold the people in south in contempt and vice-versa.
The solution lies in decentralization and devolution of powers from the Centre to the states and the states to the regions, districts and right upto the Panchayats. The solution lies in strengthening and empowering Panchayati Raj institutions. The late Rajiv Gandhi had famously stated once that out of the every rupee sent from the Centre, only 15 paise reaches the target. And the reason for this is rampant corruption, absence of transparency, lack of powers of the local bodies, insincere monitoring and implementation and above all absence of sincere intentions.
Instead of spending crores and crores of rupees in setting up another huge administrative machinery for a state Government, the money could be effectively utilized to educate and employ lakhs of people, provide them a roof over their head and two square meals a day.
As for the growing demands for separate states, instead of rushing in where fools fear to tread, the Union Government should announce creation of another state reorganization committee, which like other commissions of its kind such as the Liberhan Commission, should take at least two decades to finalise its report, to be followed by a leak to a leading newspaper ahead of a parliament session to ensure an uproar and a quick burial, to be subsequently followed by another Commission to study the demands afresh to be followed by….
Thus, we are underdeveloped vis-à-vis the rest of the city, we have been ‘discriminated’ against and we have been split into three and therefore, the demand for Mayur Vihar as an independent state is fully justified. We will have the comparatively developed Phase-II as the capital city, since it is encircled by the Sanjay lake, possessed with wildlife in the form of monkeys, peacocks and snakes, equipped with its own telephone exchange, a couple of hospitals and banks and of course a bar-cum-restaurant, the symbol of any vibrant city with an active night life. And the protests are also going to be a smooth affair. Since, the sleek modern low-floor buses introduced in the national capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2010 are catching fire on their own, we don’t even need to set them ablaze. And since many people in the peripheral areas of Mayur Vihar, such as Kalyanpuri, Trilokpuri et al, find it difficult to get two square meals a day, sitting on fast too is not going to be a great problem. They need not escape from the hospital to have a binge and resume their ‘fast unto death’.
And of course, the Union Home Minister being a highly obliging and ‘sensitive’ person, within a day or two of the protest, we are expecting a midnight declaration to the effect that the process for the creation of Greater Mayur Vihar or Mayuranchal with Mayurabad as the capital as the 30th state of the Union of India, after the establishment of Telengana as the 29th state of the Union, if and when that happens, would soon get underway.
Figment of imagination or flight of fancy or an element of lunacy? But it’s for real. Look at the demands gathering momentum. Television shots of a Sikh gentleman and his supporters blocking railway traffic in support of Vidarbha, demands for Maru Pradesh, Vidarbha, Kodagu, Saurashtra, Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh, the list seems endless.
Is statehood the panacea for underdevelopment or regional imbalance? If today the argument is that large states are unmanageable and hence need to be broken up, tomorrow the same yardstick would apply to large countries too, including India.
So, are we heading for Balkanization, implementing ourselves what a Chinese think tank had contemplated few months back? Are we going back to the days of the principalities and provinces, for whose merger with the Indian Union, the Iron Man of India so assiduously worked. It’s an irony that the modern ‘Lauh Purush’, who claims to be an ardent devotee of the Sardar and even got his bosom pal Jaswant Singh expelled from the party for criticisng the icon, advocates the creation of small states.
Jharkhand and Uttarakhand are examples of how bad an idea small states could be. The recent fractured verdict in Jharkhand and the influential role of small but dubious political parties indicate how fragile and vulnerable their polity is. Except tourism, does small states like Goa and Kerala have anything else to boast of, except for Kerala, the highest liquor consumption, divorce rate etc. Look at the condition of women in small states such as Haryana and Punjab where male-female ratio is among the lowest in the country. Uttarakhand is totally dependent on central funds for its very survival and what is the guarantee that tomorrow the people of Kumaon and Garhwal, the two distinct regions of the state, do not feel discriminated against and demand separate statehood?
In Uttarakhand, every second MLA was given the status of a Minister with a beacon light and hooter in tow. Are not marginalized political leaders such as Chandrasekhar Rao and Ajit Singh behind such demands? Aren’t certain influential castes going to dominate the polity of these states at the cost of others? With her vote bank equally distributed across the state, Mayawati obviously wants her influence to span across three states, to realize her Prime Ministerial ambitions, since her attempts to expand the party beyond Uttar Pradesh has failed to take off so far.
Secondly, is statehood the only solution to under development and regional imbalance? No. There are other constitutional mechanisms such as creation of Autonomous Development Councils and Regions within different states. But the counter argument is that such council have failed, whether it be in Karbi Anglog in Assam or Ladakh or Darjeeling. But that’s not because the mechanism is wrong, but the mechanics. Both the Centre and the respective states gave these regions and districts only autonomy on paper. Rest was tokenism. No real financial or administrative powers. And the result naturally is continued under development and neglect.
So, what’s the solution? To begin with, the very concept of linguistic states was wrong. Had language been a unifying factor, there was no reason why the Telugu speaking people of Telengana should seek separation from their brethren in Rayalseema and Coastal Andhra. There is very little in common between the Tamils in Tamil Nadu and the ones in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa. Even the language they speak have a distinct flavour. The same holds true for Bengalis. The ‘Bhadralok’ from Kolkata used to dismiss the residents of Chittaranjan Park in South Delhi as ‘EDPD’ (East Pakistan Displaced Persons) and till sometime back, even marriage among them was taboo. The people in North Kerala hold the people in south in contempt and vice-versa.
The solution lies in decentralization and devolution of powers from the Centre to the states and the states to the regions, districts and right upto the Panchayats. The solution lies in strengthening and empowering Panchayati Raj institutions. The late Rajiv Gandhi had famously stated once that out of the every rupee sent from the Centre, only 15 paise reaches the target. And the reason for this is rampant corruption, absence of transparency, lack of powers of the local bodies, insincere monitoring and implementation and above all absence of sincere intentions.
Instead of spending crores and crores of rupees in setting up another huge administrative machinery for a state Government, the money could be effectively utilized to educate and employ lakhs of people, provide them a roof over their head and two square meals a day.
As for the growing demands for separate states, instead of rushing in where fools fear to tread, the Union Government should announce creation of another state reorganization committee, which like other commissions of its kind such as the Liberhan Commission, should take at least two decades to finalise its report, to be followed by a leak to a leading newspaper ahead of a parliament session to ensure an uproar and a quick burial, to be subsequently followed by another Commission to study the demands afresh to be followed by….
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Remembering 6/12
Remembrance has become a national hobby. Earlier, it was a Government prerogative. From Pandit Nehru to Babu Jagjivan Ram and Chaudhury Charan Singh, not to speak of Birsa Munda, Tiruvalluvar, Subramaniam Bharatu, G V Mavalankar and umpteen others, the Government would dutifully remember their birth and death anniversaries, garland their statues dirties through the year by pigeons and pay floral tributes before their freshly polished portraits in Parliament. Every state, every community, every political party has to be satisfied. The Lok Sabha Secretariat would religiously publish their pen portraits carrying the same grammatical and typographical errors carried over the past decades (it’s a sin to fiddle with legacies).
Much before Akshardham and now the Commonwealth Games village, the banks of Yamuna were usurped by these departed souls for the benefit of the love birds in the capital who find peace (and other incidentals) in thesespacious memorials. We also have a Chief Minister, known for receiving lavish birthday gifts, who decided to inflict her memory on her people by installing larger than life statues of herself across the state.
It was but natural therefore, that the media too has joined the bandwagon. In the past couple of months, we have seen the 25th anniversary of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the anti-Sikh carnage across North India, the first anniversary of 26/11 etc and now December 6, the day the disputed structure was demolished in Ayodhya 17 years ago.
As usual, there will be pandemonium in Parliament. On a revival drive after the Ferozabad defeat, the Samajwadi Party will raise a hue and cry; to re-establish its Hindutva credentials, the BJP will stage a walkout; Congress spokespersons Manish Tiwari and Abhishek Singhvi would be on all television channels tearing apart the ‘communal’ face of the Jinnah-smitten BJP. Communal and secular outfits would stage demos at Jantar Mantar followed by dosa and idli at the popular stall there. Barkha Dutt would have a ‘We the People’ programme based on it and Sagarika Ghose a ‘Face the Nation’ and of course Arnab Goswami would play it out 24X7/. India TV would interview the ghosts of the post-1992 riots and Syed Shahabuddin and Praful Goradia would be at each other’s throat on different television channels simultaneously.
This year, both the media and the political class have a new whipping boy – the report of the Liberhan Commission.
It is most unfortunate that a golden opportunity to debate on issues as varied and as significant as secularism, communalism, appeasement et al turned into a slanging match to score political brownie points, by the Congress to divert attention from spiraling prices, telecom and Koda scam and problems faced by sugarcane farmers; by the main Opposition BJP to revive its fortunes and regain lost Hindutva grounds and by the Samajwadi Party to regain the Muslim vote bank after its short-lived dalliance with Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when the demolition took place.
If you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger, seems to be the policy adopted by our political class. The emphasis was more on how the report leaked rather than the contents of the report. At stake is the credibility of such inquiry commissions, which was given three months time and submitted a dud report 17 years later and after sending crores of rupees. Justice delayed is justice denied. And are we any wiser?
Let us face it. As of now, rebulding a mosque at the same place after removing the makeshift temple would be catastrophic, so would be building a grand temple over the rubbles of the mosque there. Moreover, neither the Hindus nor the Muslims seem to be obsessed with the issues as is being made out both by leaders of the VHP and the Babri Masjid Action Committee. They want to move on. Their priorities have changed. They are bothered more about bread and butter issues, in this era of recession and rising prices.
Let the status quo remain till both the communities arrive at a mutual understanding to resolve the issue. Time is a great healer and this wound too shall be healed, sooner or later.
And let not the BJP and Samajwadi Party seek to gain political mileage and inflame communal passions. They should not and they cannot. Talking about such issues would be just being out of sync with a resurgent, modern, young India. BJP should not forget the damage done by one speech of Varun Gandhi. They won Pilibhit but lost India. Let them not lose India once again for Uttar Pradesh.
The Muslims have seen through Mulayam’s game plan too. Ferozabad was only a trailer.
And yes, let not the Congress party rejoice over the divisons within Opposition ranks. Sugar cane farmers brought together the Opposition before the Liberhan report and the ‘Aam Admi’ can do an encore if the prices of pulses and other essential commodities continue to hit the roof.
We should remember these events not to deepen our wounds further but to introspect what went wrong and to ensure we don’t repeat them. The Muslims cannot be wished away, the Hindus will remain idolators, India will never become a Hindu Rashtra nor will the days of Mughal glory return. So, why not accept these harsh realities and work together for our tryst with destiny. Let a Hindu batsman break all cricket records as a Sikh Prime Minister is feted around by a US President while a Muslim musician bags the Oscars and a Christian Bollywood Hunk rides into every Indian heart on his bike. This would be the ultimate tribute on 6/12. Jai Hind!
Much before Akshardham and now the Commonwealth Games village, the banks of Yamuna were usurped by these departed souls for the benefit of the love birds in the capital who find peace (and other incidentals) in thesespacious memorials. We also have a Chief Minister, known for receiving lavish birthday gifts, who decided to inflict her memory on her people by installing larger than life statues of herself across the state.
It was but natural therefore, that the media too has joined the bandwagon. In the past couple of months, we have seen the 25th anniversary of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the anti-Sikh carnage across North India, the first anniversary of 26/11 etc and now December 6, the day the disputed structure was demolished in Ayodhya 17 years ago.
As usual, there will be pandemonium in Parliament. On a revival drive after the Ferozabad defeat, the Samajwadi Party will raise a hue and cry; to re-establish its Hindutva credentials, the BJP will stage a walkout; Congress spokespersons Manish Tiwari and Abhishek Singhvi would be on all television channels tearing apart the ‘communal’ face of the Jinnah-smitten BJP. Communal and secular outfits would stage demos at Jantar Mantar followed by dosa and idli at the popular stall there. Barkha Dutt would have a ‘We the People’ programme based on it and Sagarika Ghose a ‘Face the Nation’ and of course Arnab Goswami would play it out 24X7/. India TV would interview the ghosts of the post-1992 riots and Syed Shahabuddin and Praful Goradia would be at each other’s throat on different television channels simultaneously.
This year, both the media and the political class have a new whipping boy – the report of the Liberhan Commission.
It is most unfortunate that a golden opportunity to debate on issues as varied and as significant as secularism, communalism, appeasement et al turned into a slanging match to score political brownie points, by the Congress to divert attention from spiraling prices, telecom and Koda scam and problems faced by sugarcane farmers; by the main Opposition BJP to revive its fortunes and regain lost Hindutva grounds and by the Samajwadi Party to regain the Muslim vote bank after its short-lived dalliance with Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when the demolition took place.
If you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger, seems to be the policy adopted by our political class. The emphasis was more on how the report leaked rather than the contents of the report. At stake is the credibility of such inquiry commissions, which was given three months time and submitted a dud report 17 years later and after sending crores of rupees. Justice delayed is justice denied. And are we any wiser?
Let us face it. As of now, rebulding a mosque at the same place after removing the makeshift temple would be catastrophic, so would be building a grand temple over the rubbles of the mosque there. Moreover, neither the Hindus nor the Muslims seem to be obsessed with the issues as is being made out both by leaders of the VHP and the Babri Masjid Action Committee. They want to move on. Their priorities have changed. They are bothered more about bread and butter issues, in this era of recession and rising prices.
Let the status quo remain till both the communities arrive at a mutual understanding to resolve the issue. Time is a great healer and this wound too shall be healed, sooner or later.
And let not the BJP and Samajwadi Party seek to gain political mileage and inflame communal passions. They should not and they cannot. Talking about such issues would be just being out of sync with a resurgent, modern, young India. BJP should not forget the damage done by one speech of Varun Gandhi. They won Pilibhit but lost India. Let them not lose India once again for Uttar Pradesh.
The Muslims have seen through Mulayam’s game plan too. Ferozabad was only a trailer.
And yes, let not the Congress party rejoice over the divisons within Opposition ranks. Sugar cane farmers brought together the Opposition before the Liberhan report and the ‘Aam Admi’ can do an encore if the prices of pulses and other essential commodities continue to hit the roof.
We should remember these events not to deepen our wounds further but to introspect what went wrong and to ensure we don’t repeat them. The Muslims cannot be wished away, the Hindus will remain idolators, India will never become a Hindu Rashtra nor will the days of Mughal glory return. So, why not accept these harsh realities and work together for our tryst with destiny. Let a Hindu batsman break all cricket records as a Sikh Prime Minister is feted around by a US President while a Muslim musician bags the Oscars and a Christian Bollywood Hunk rides into every Indian heart on his bike. This would be the ultimate tribute on 6/12. Jai Hind!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Remembering 26/11
It’s one year since those horrific terror attacks in Mumbai. Pictures of a burning Taj Mahal hotel near the Gateway of India and NSG commandos slithering down from choppers to rescue the trapped hostages and eliminate the enemies of the nation shall remain etched in Indian public memory for a long time to time. First anniversary is certainly a time to pay homage to the victims and tributes to the brave hearts who died fighting to save Mumbai, Mumbaikars and India.
Yet, anniversaries are also solemn occasions to engage in self-introspection as to what all lessons we learnt from the past to ensure that such crimes do not occur in the future. Reams have been written about the efficacy (or inefficiency) of our police and intelligence machinery, the loopholes therein and the possibility of similar attacks.
Nevertheless, one must give full credit to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for ensuring that no major terror strikes took place thereafter. But that is no reason to celebrate, While Pakistan-backed terror attacks may have abated, due to increased vigilance and partly due to the international pressure on Islamabad, Naxalite attacks have increased manifold. Terrorism is terrorism. Let us not segregate it. Killing of innocents is unacceptable in a civilized society. There are democratic means of protests, howsoever genuine the grievances are.
If the Naxalite problem can be justified on the plea that the tribals face genuine problems, when we condemn terrorism, do we mean to say that the people in Kashmir are not facing problems? The million dollar question is whether in a civilized and democratic polity, is violence the answer to problems people face and the answer is an emphatic NO.
Coming back to Mumbai, television shots have shown us the miserable conditions in which policemen guarding the prestigious Gateway of India are living. Few sophisticated weapons and automobiles cannot do what motivated men can. While machines are important, the men behind the machines are more important. A demotivated security force with all the security paraphernalia just won’t be able to deliver.
Equally important is what Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari pointed out at a recent International Conference of Jurists on Terrorism in Delhi. He described corruption as the gravest threat to national security. Let us not treat anyone as holy cows. Let us accept that corruption exists not only among politicians and bureaucrats but also among our security forces personnel. There are black sheeps deployed along the nation’s porous borders who won’t blink an eye selling the nation’s security for a price. All the terrorists, their sophisticated weapons and the loads of counterfeit currency gaining free access into the country is certainly not reflective of the competence of the anti-India forces alone. Rather, they speak volumes of the incompetence and corruption among the people entrusted with guarding the nation’s frontiers and maintaining law and order across the country.
As they say, one bad fish can spoil the entire pond. Let us draw out an action plan to weed out such corrupt and anti-national elements from our patriotic forces. The war against corruption has to be an integral and inalienable part of our war against terrorism.
Last but not the least, has the media learnt any lessons? Again, an emphatic No. We only slammed those who dared to criticize us, such as the Naval Chief. We have become so touchy and hypersensitive that we consider even a mild criticism as an assault on freedom of speech and expression. This is another threat to democracy and free speech and exposes the double standards of Indian media, among the free-est, if one may describe so, in the democratic world. Carrying live commando operations, to the advantage of the enemy, was nothing short of irresponsibility. It only reminded one of the Himalayan blunders committed by some of our television journalists during the Kargil conflict wherein they exposed our forces to enemy fire, just for the sake of exclusive shots. Sad that instead of being condemned to the dustbins of the profession, they went on to acquire the halo of Christian Amanpour of Indian media.
The scare the Indian media created following the outbreak of H1N1, which happened after the Mumbai attacks, showed that we have not learnt any lessons. They succeeded in shutting down Mumbai, its markets, malls and movie halls, something Ajmal Kasab and his accomplices could not. More people have died of Dengue in Delhi alone over the past couple of months than the people killed by H1N1 across the country put together.
It’s high time the media too did some introspection. While pointing a finger at others, it must remember that three fingers are pointed inwards. As an eminent thinker said, you may disagree with me but I shall defend your right to disagree.
Let us all pledge to be a little less corrupt, a little more patriotic, a little less talkative and a little more hardworking. That would be the real tribute to the martyrs of Mumbai, not just candlelight and flowers.
Yet, anniversaries are also solemn occasions to engage in self-introspection as to what all lessons we learnt from the past to ensure that such crimes do not occur in the future. Reams have been written about the efficacy (or inefficiency) of our police and intelligence machinery, the loopholes therein and the possibility of similar attacks.
Nevertheless, one must give full credit to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for ensuring that no major terror strikes took place thereafter. But that is no reason to celebrate, While Pakistan-backed terror attacks may have abated, due to increased vigilance and partly due to the international pressure on Islamabad, Naxalite attacks have increased manifold. Terrorism is terrorism. Let us not segregate it. Killing of innocents is unacceptable in a civilized society. There are democratic means of protests, howsoever genuine the grievances are.
If the Naxalite problem can be justified on the plea that the tribals face genuine problems, when we condemn terrorism, do we mean to say that the people in Kashmir are not facing problems? The million dollar question is whether in a civilized and democratic polity, is violence the answer to problems people face and the answer is an emphatic NO.
Coming back to Mumbai, television shots have shown us the miserable conditions in which policemen guarding the prestigious Gateway of India are living. Few sophisticated weapons and automobiles cannot do what motivated men can. While machines are important, the men behind the machines are more important. A demotivated security force with all the security paraphernalia just won’t be able to deliver.
Equally important is what Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari pointed out at a recent International Conference of Jurists on Terrorism in Delhi. He described corruption as the gravest threat to national security. Let us not treat anyone as holy cows. Let us accept that corruption exists not only among politicians and bureaucrats but also among our security forces personnel. There are black sheeps deployed along the nation’s porous borders who won’t blink an eye selling the nation’s security for a price. All the terrorists, their sophisticated weapons and the loads of counterfeit currency gaining free access into the country is certainly not reflective of the competence of the anti-India forces alone. Rather, they speak volumes of the incompetence and corruption among the people entrusted with guarding the nation’s frontiers and maintaining law and order across the country.
As they say, one bad fish can spoil the entire pond. Let us draw out an action plan to weed out such corrupt and anti-national elements from our patriotic forces. The war against corruption has to be an integral and inalienable part of our war against terrorism.
Last but not the least, has the media learnt any lessons? Again, an emphatic No. We only slammed those who dared to criticize us, such as the Naval Chief. We have become so touchy and hypersensitive that we consider even a mild criticism as an assault on freedom of speech and expression. This is another threat to democracy and free speech and exposes the double standards of Indian media, among the free-est, if one may describe so, in the democratic world. Carrying live commando operations, to the advantage of the enemy, was nothing short of irresponsibility. It only reminded one of the Himalayan blunders committed by some of our television journalists during the Kargil conflict wherein they exposed our forces to enemy fire, just for the sake of exclusive shots. Sad that instead of being condemned to the dustbins of the profession, they went on to acquire the halo of Christian Amanpour of Indian media.
The scare the Indian media created following the outbreak of H1N1, which happened after the Mumbai attacks, showed that we have not learnt any lessons. They succeeded in shutting down Mumbai, its markets, malls and movie halls, something Ajmal Kasab and his accomplices could not. More people have died of Dengue in Delhi alone over the past couple of months than the people killed by H1N1 across the country put together.
It’s high time the media too did some introspection. While pointing a finger at others, it must remember that three fingers are pointed inwards. As an eminent thinker said, you may disagree with me but I shall defend your right to disagree.
Let us all pledge to be a little less corrupt, a little more patriotic, a little less talkative and a little more hardworking. That would be the real tribute to the martyrs of Mumbai, not just candlelight and flowers.
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