Perhaps no other State Assembly election in the recent past has generated so much heat as the Gujarat poll. After Emergency, this is the first election when an individual is ranged against a battery of opponents -- a hostile media, a fairly united Opposition, 'eminent' intelligentsia and hordes of party defectors. But unlike post-Emergency, Mr Narendra Modi, the protagonist of the Gujarat election, remains hugely popular with the people of the State. Never before have we witnessed such an openly partisan campaigning by a prominent section of the media as in the present case. A host of television crews shooting in Gujarat has been jeered by hostile crowds that rightly believe that the media has gone completely overboard. Is it that this brigade of 'secular' mercenaries, comprising journalists, filmmakers, social 'scientists' and activists, has descended on Gujarat merely to rid it of Mr Modi? There is a kind of intellectual snobbishness associated with the phenomenon too. Some 'brown sahib' graduates from JNU, AMU and DU have arrogated upon themselves a Thomas Macaulay-like urge to 'civilise' Gujarat's entrepreneurs whom the Nehruvian socialists see as less evolved educationally. For, the most of post-independence period, the jholawala's writ has run unchallenged. It, therefore, frustrates them to see Gujarat refusing to yield to their wisdom. Despite socialism having lost its case worldwide, the JNU-type jholawalas notice a clear threat in the success of Gujarat's capit
RE:RE:Modi-bashing is season's fashion
by Srinivas KS on Dec 19, 2007 09:40 AM Permalink
Oh man, why dont start writing for redff other magazines? Keep it up!
RE:Modi-bashing is season's fashion
by ved prakash on Dec 18, 2007 02:14 PM Permalink
WELL SAID,but the jholawalas are so booged down by their commitments being anti Indian anti Hindu and anti progress & develoment that they will never read this piece just skip it lest thye get hurt where it pains most.
RE:Modi-bashing is season's fashion
by Calspadeaspade on Dec 18, 2007 07:19 PM Permalink
Is it possible India will devide with this kind of anarchy introduced by congress/commies and media?
RE:Modi-bashing is season's fashion
by Kalyanraman Venkataraman on Dec 18, 2007 03:07 PM Permalink
Excellent Nagesh Singh. The same jholawalas justify what happened in Nandigram and the secular mafia is mum about it. I feel communal Modi is more safer than secular jholawalas, as we do not know where we stand with the secular mafia. They are indeed secular fundamentalists!
.......So we say it is fine to have caste-based political parties but not religion-based ones...
We in India still have plenty, e.g., Owaisis MIM in hyderabad is a muslim based National or rather regional party and it still prouds on that as a beholder of muslim minority rights upholder.
India is a pluralistic country and for that reason, we can have pluralistic thinking and attitudes which had generated such a wide variety of castes (castes b/c they are considered to be part of Hinduism but had it been any other religion, it would have been sectarianism such as sunni/bahai, catholic/protastants etc)b/c they don't completely accept pluralism. According to "The Survey of Hinduism" byKloss..., It was most developed and most assimilating of all religions until it came into contact with monotheistic and non-compromising religions of the western world. We have to understand Hinduism and its followers in this context.
The observation from Raghavan is absurd in the present day context as he is talking about moral absolutes and contextual morals. The fact remains that their is no morality in the functioning of our country. People are questioning the very existance of our religious and moral beliefs cannot be contextual morality.[Sonia, CPM and DMK questioning the very existance of Lord Rama]. It can only be termed as contextual as this statement of theirs would amass non-hindu votes. Questioning the encounter of Sohrabuddin is contextual because we are seeing and reading what progress is happening in the Abu Salem and Telgi's cases.Every kid on the road now knows who they are [which can be argued by saying that the image is created by people] what their crimes are etc.We can see how our legal system is crawling and making a good reporting medium for filthy news channels like AAj Tak and the likes of it. So knowing what sohrabuddin was and knowing what his acts were,an encounter was a befitting judgement-This can be termed as contextual Morality.Upholding Afzal Guru's hanging can be termed as contextual only but not moral. In Gita its mentioned that contextual morality is achieved when the act or acts termed contextually moral are correct when it benefits a larger section.So does Chankya Neeti. So westerners moral absolute,if any,is a dumb way of doing things,because in a dynamic environment you need situation based morality. Lakeer Ke Fakheer-Moral Absolutism.
This is absolute crap, I havent seen any Indian justify caste based injustice neither has anyone justified creation of Pakistan nor have anyone ever aceepted the attacks on other faiths especially the Hindus.
The author is using some high sounding terminology to bash Hindus , blame them for caste based injustice, anti-Muslims sentiments etc.
Has it ever occurred to this esteemed author that we need to work out the root causes and eliminate them rather than bash a certain faith.
Caste based injustice existed from both sides its was not always the upper caste oppressing the lower but rather the people in power oppressed others. This happens even today.
Same was the case with religion, how then can we blame just a few sets of "upper castes" and blame them for everything related to caste based injustice. Same applies to religious riots too.
What these authors conveniently forget is that Islam has had a very violent and terrorizing track record in this country and even today we are at the receiving end.
Modi bashing is ok but you have to realize that justice has to work for all not just one religion. You are trying to convict certain people and claiming that others are blameless whereas the evidence from press shows otherwise.
At least if you want to make a call for prosecution of Modi and his ilk have the guts to ask for the prosecution of other religious criminals too.
Dont use smart sounding terminologies to make your case look polished, ignorance cannot be masked.
I don't know what to say about Mr.Raghavan terming Western morality as "absolutism" and Indian ethics as "contextual". Trying to use AKR's writings to hide behind a tenuous wall of reasoning with the intent of hijacking it as his own intellectual output, if viewed favorably and appreciated by the readership, seems to be the motive behind this article!To begin with,to talk of western morality as "absolutism" is the most laughable and naive conclusion any one can come up with, be it AKR or Raghavan.AKR, after all, was a poet,an idealist who found his 'home' in Chicago while his 'heart' remained in Karnataka,or even old Mysore,to be precise.Having achieved economic success while also gaining academic freedom to carry out his own intellectual pursuits in the new-found 'home',he could not fault his benefactors,the US and the western world.What did he think of western world's involvement in Vietnam,Korea,Cuba,Nicaragua,Bolivia,Peru and of course,the middle-east?Were those based on moral absolutism?Even within their own society,could anyone equate permissiveness and crumbling family ties with moral absolutism?To misrepresent Gita as having exhorted "killing of brothers" is the wont of westernised Indian journalists.The Gita also says about the absolute and unchanging Dharma (i.e., morality and ethical conduct and not religion as purposely misinterpreted by these pseudo-intellectuals)irrespective of time place or age is completely ignored by Raghavan and his ilk.Hence my question!
Mr TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan, you're contradicting your own statements. It is not us who are the problem as the real problem is the existance of multi-culture environment in our country.History has it that if a leader from a particular caste or religion becomes powerful,he or she becomes synonomous with the development and growth of that particular group.So all the other people who are unable to copy it or achieve that level or growth emulate the leader of another group and try to achieve similar results for his or her own community. What we are seeing today is history being copied and repeated in a manifolded manner,which is trying to empower each and every sect and community to their best of ability.Calling the partition a moral act is a farce,as it was evident during the time of partition and is proven now that ppl who thought partition would be good for their community are suffering in Pakistan whereas back here it is life as usual if not better. By talking about partition as a contextually moral decision,you are trying appreciate all the minor disruptions occuring for a separate state or to the extent of a different nation altogether.[kashmir,AP-Naxalities,Maoists etc]. People like Modi have tried to break from this tirade of he past,as it seems,but have worn the mask of hindutva instead because without this cover his political presence would become weak. We need people who are not afraid about breaking moral grounds for the upliftment of the soceity on the whole.
RE:Jeapardy
by venkatachalam iyer on Dec 18, 2007 07:01 PM Permalink
It is the indent of the whole community in India to wipe-off the Hindu community which is existing in India for the 2 millions years. Mr Mody wants this community should not be the exint specious and wants this community to live in dignity. Except BJP all other political parrties are having in one principal to destroy Hindus and their culture. Unless Hindus unite to protect themselves even God cannot help them.
A gradual drift from Centrist Politics to rightist is the result of wrong policies adopted by our Netas for decades in independent India. Minority appeasement and Majority abuse have caused such a damage to the Indian Polity that majority community feels comepletely let down by the state and the law makers. Majority (read Hindus) community have become second grade citizens in their own country and have no voice at all. The Intellectuals, Politicians, Media have been practicing psuedo secularism and have completely mislead the nation and the new generation into believing that abusing Hindus is true secularism. This destrucive approach has lead to religious polarization and the rise of right wing politics in India. People, in general are not communal, but prolonged neglect and abuse of the majority community have given rise to what we see today...
