Jai Shri Ram!

igh Court verdict on the controversial Ram Janmabhumi – Babri case is out. The court has established that the land on which the disputed structure and mosque stood, was the actual land on which Lord of Ayodhya, Raja Ram was born. First of all it’s a relief that the court verdict has finally come out. And I also believe that if the court verdict had come a bit sooner, there won’t have been any blot on the Hindu population with reference to the Babri demolition.
 

I have a few observations to make, which I think are far-reaching in consequences.
 

After Babri-demolition, the Hindu pride suffered hugely. For the secular Hindus who had never attacked or harmed people from other faiths in their history spanning ages, the blame of destroying a mosque, even if abandoned, was a shame. In fact the Hindus had even never attacked their violators by virtue of their faith; and their toleration and peaceful co-existence over a thousand year of atrocious rule by foreign faiths is a shining example for the world at large. Today’s court verdict, which establishes the fact that the disputed land was the place where Shri Ram was born, and the mosque which was built by invading fighters stood on the ruins of a Hindu temple, turns those painful accusations down. How would you feel if an invader demolishes your home and builds own, in its place? Attacking for self-defense is not totally wrong! Though I still believe demolition of Babri structure was not right, I hope from today, people would take the whole dispute in perspective instead of plainly blaming one side and turning away. Hindu pride is resurrected once again, in a way.
 

I also appreciate the mature and unprovocative manner in which the Hindu organizations have went about in the days before the verdict. I also note that the BJP’s take on it was very responsible, and Congress too acted just. I heard advocate Ravi Shankar Prasad speaking to media persons outside the HC sometime back and his appeal to the Indian Muslims to reinstate brotherhood was very apt.
 

We should also understand that had it not been the Hindu Organizations who relentlessly fought the case in the court, this decisive verdict won’t have happened. Many congratulations to them!
 

I guess another far reaching effect of this outcome would be that Hindus would start thinking fairly and highly of the Hindu social organizations. Even the skeptic of the lot would now wake up and realize that they were unintelligently believing in all the so called secular views aired for political convenience in our polity which is based on minority-appeasement at its core. The Muslim invaders did destroy Hindu temples, and we have to learn to accept our past history even if it is disgraceful. And the most important lesson: we can still get justice for us in our secular democracy, by fully democratic and non-violent means.
 

On a lighter note, I think it is not unfashionable to be a ‘Ram-Bhakt’ now :) It’s because the truth is on your side. Or should I say, better, you are on the side of the Truth…

Dilli aur Dil

Recently I was in Delhi. The amount of construction work half-completed for Commonwealth Games is startling. The whole of Connaught Place is dug up and gives the image of a war-wrecked area. Given the pace, it will take more than two months to paint the under constructed buildings, leave alone finishing them. And then we have heard enough of corruption and misappropriation in the finances meant for the games.
 

Another side of the same sad story is the outbreak of Dengu. Dengu in Delhi doesn’t only happen in slums or shady areas but also in posh areas and government hospitals! Tells much of government’s claims of Delhi being clean and beautiful! 
 

During the last state assembly elections, I had talked to some Dilli-wallas who were happy that a lot of works were being done. The fact that the work was being done for the games and not for the people’s convenience, didn’t matter to them. That is why they elected the previous Congressi government back to power, despite its dismal performance in issues like power, housing, or women’s safety. But now, after all this, will the public see, listen and speak out?
 

In matters like democratic elections, we should decide more by the head than by the heart. If Delhi has given its heart to non-performing Congressi governments due to some infatuation, it is time to evaluate the repercussions. There is no glory in getting exploited even by infatuating faces.

Movie: Black Friday

I watched Black Friday recently. This post is only about story; movie no doublt is excellent, from all angles of movie making. It is based on a novel by the same name, and claims to tell the shocking truth behind the Mumbai bomb blasts. I have changed the sequence of the events, as the movie is based on the flash back mode. The only question remained is that the time line for the movie starts from the Karsevaks breaking the old mosque structure, and not from Babar's controversial destruction of Hindu and other temples. 

(From the movie…)

Volunteers from across the India, called Karsevaks, reached Ayodhya in thousands of numbers despite government's attempts to block their way. They broke the structure of the old mosque with their hands and hammers and constructed a small temple there. Country erupted in flames. There were religious riots, between Hindus and Muslims in many parts of India.

There were two major riots in Mumbai, one in December and other in January. The first one was natural, but the second one seemed to be propelled by politicians, a party to be precise. The casualties were majority amongst the minorities, of course in proportion with their population. But, what was shameful was that the police and the administration helped the majorities. Police were seen even shooting the minorities, who fled the city in large numbers in whatever train they could catch.

After the riots, a powerful group of mafia, and rich people funding them, belonging to the Muslim faith, met in Dubai, and discussed how their religion was "insulted". How it was now very difficult for the Muslims to live in India. They felt the need to "do something", something that can "terrorise" the majority Hindus, in their words, something because of whose terror, whenever a Hindu saw a Muslim, he won't dare to look into his eyes, and will wet his pants. Tiger proposed that Mumbai being the financial capital of India, would be targeted, and a serial blast across the prime locations will tell the whole world that the Muslims have taken revenge against the atrocities they suffered in the riots. Barriers of the Islamic flag, in the richness of Dubai, sealed the fate of India, and agreed to support and fund.

Tiger Memon was the individual with a large following in the city, plus he had the support of Dawood Ibrahim. His office was burnt in the last riots, and he wanted revenge. He formed his team. They brought in suppliers of RDX (called black soap, or kala sabun) and AK-56s to India by bribing custom officials and police. Selected persons were sent to Pakistan, where they received training under the personnel of Pakistani Army. They were brain washed by numerous stories of how Hindus raped their wives and daughters. The team waited to take their revenge, to teach lessons to the Hindus. They returned back, and according to the plans of Tiger Memon, they planted RDX across prime locations including Air India building, BSE stock exchange building, inside a bus, near a petrol pump and Dadar railway station. The bombs blasted at timed intervals. More than 300 innocent Indians were killed, and thousands injured.

The team went underground. Tiger Memon and his entire family had already shifted to Dubai a day before the proposed blasts. Mumbai police started enquiry under experienced and honest personnel. Police was ruthless; they got the suspects behind the bars, and in series of arrests got hold of some of the team members. They got their mouth opened. One after the other, police made headway, as their accumulated information about the blasts increased. The team members ran from Delhi to Jaipur to some towns in UP, to Kolkata and so on. But in the end, they were tracked and caught. Human rights activists protested, and the police's reply was: "What about the human rights of the 300 people who are dead in the blasts?" Most of the team members got caught. Tiger Memon remained out of sight. Several years after the blasts, court announced verdicts to the convicts.

The message from the movie: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind: Mahatma Gandhi"

Why I like Narendra Modi

Whatever be the respective ideologies, I like the men who are men: those who stand by whatever they believe in and take on the whole world if needed. My earliest memory of Narendra Modi is in a discussion hosted on a television channel. Mr. Modi was then the BJP spokesperson, I guess. There was a Congress leader besides him and the host was throwing questions at them, more often they passed comments on each other's party. What I liked about Mr. Modi was his clear, precise, direct, and disciplined use of words. And above all: his honest belief in whatever he said. It was around 10 years back, and much water has flown in Narmada since then. Modi got more than his share for whatever happened in Gujarat. But he never bent; never released is vent on other leaders, or never complained in frustration. You need real guts to be a Narendra Modi!

Mr. Modi spoke at the recently concluded HT Leadership Summit. In his speech, he declared: "I am obsessed with my state's welfare. And then, they did the question and answer session on him. Here are the left over:

Do you fear your past? Do you regret the riots?

The truth will finally dawn on the people. Its the people who will decide my fate and I am answerable to none but them.

On the fate of Muslims under your regime, what percentage of people backs you?

See for yourself: When the Narmada waters reached Sabarmati, the whole city benefited. But you ask what percentage got the benefit. You see a division. You have to change your mindset.

Whether Hindutva would take a back seat to development this poll season?

Gandhiji's Ram Rajya and issues like Hindutva are also relevant.

Define Ram Rajya.

Ram Rajya to me is nothing but the concept of a welfare state.

Why did you take five days to compliment Irfan Pathan on his performance in the T20 final?

I wanted the people to debate why no one had bothered to reward the policemen who gave up their lives thwarting Pakistan-backed terrorists in Ayodhya.

Reference 

Silence of the lambs

We Indians have learnt to forget real miseries in our lives but are over reactive on hypothetical issues. Remember some of the recent controversies. Be it the debate over existence of Rama, debate over 123 nuclear deal, rocketing share market, or some older issues like Adavani's remarks over Jinnah, Shankaracharya's prosecution, etc, all are the controversies made out from trivial issues; mundane issues blown out of proportion. While the real issues are hardly discussed; e.g. farmer suicides, rapes in Delhi, mob justice, corruption in judiciary, perils of political alliances and misuse of governors by centre. In fact, there are some journo who have made a brand of themselves by highlighting such issues which are left in the dark by the mainline media; but they are few. The lures of coming back in the main stream are strong; justifications of being politically correct are many.

Everyone loves conspiracies. So came the scoops and "caught on camera" scandals. Each TV news channel was put on the field with hidden cameras and team of sacrifices; casting couch was the buzz word then. We laughed at Shakti Kapoor's perversions; some felt sorry for him, some enjoyed. Everyone was happy, the viewers, the journo, the TV anchors, the editors; except the humans inside the celebrities. We also witnessed the (self proclaimed) breaking news oftener than ever! Even the terrorists became media savvy and started bringing themselves to news studios to surrender, with clean suits and just-made beards.

Also came the highly self-celebrated attempt of media to show off themselves as saviour of civil rights. Everything was fine, but one incident shook my faith. Somewhere in Punjab, women activists were carrying out protests. The police came to disperse them. And police are generally male, we all know. Four policemen reached out to two girls and in the name of escorting them out, one policeman inserted his hand inside the shirt of one of the girl. The two girls cried and wept. Now, the TOI cameraman snapped a great picture; the next day paper came out with the picture and a great story. The irony; the picture clearly showed the faces of the two horrified girls, but the turban-sporting policeman's face was hidden. TOI followed up the case for some days, and informed that a case has been registered against the molesting policemen. And then, everything became normal. The paper had hotter issues to discuss. I kept waiting for a follow-up, but the day never came. Every time I remember that incident, and I feel the same anger and hatred equally at the corrupt police and the corrupt media men.

Our media keeps discovering that Indians adore celebrities. See the manner in which Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's visit to India, or the marriage of Abhishek and Aishwarya was covered by the media. It also brings some glamour back to the media men; they get to discuss Angelina's T-shirts and AB's sideburns.

Now we are witnessing a new trend: media won't cover unattractive news, no matter how grave are the consequences. And government makes sure that it makes its wrong doings unattractive enough; let the conspirators starve… The term "murder of democracy" has lost its charm a long ago. When governors act as puppets and everything starts being dictated by "the" family, no one raises a brow. Our media hardly debated, forget protesting, the way Goa state government was thrown out. Many issues are branded humdrums and reduced to three liners on the 28th page.

But one clan seem to enjoy it all: the advocates and the judiciary. Public hate politicians like plague, and the administrative machinery have long ago lost trust. Therefore, all eyes look up to the judiciary  only hope of justice! And they seem to enjoy the limelight. I hope you read about the manner in which the Mid Day journo was punished. And the way SC still doesn't agree to bring in checks and balances within the judiciary. An overall fallout, finally.

Another trend: virtual world is becoming a reality. There is a completely new world out there. They challenge the unchallenged. They are over reactive on the issues which deserve the treatment. They prosecute the culpable everyday, in their writings. They debate, argue, throw out, tell stories, sing, groan, console, boost, or spread the word. They are "Citizen Journalists". And hence I say:

Silence of the lambs is challenged

on the

blogosphere.