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Kashmir conflict-revisited

In early1980s, walking through the lush green fields, on crisp spring and summer mornings, on my way from the student hostel to the chemis...

Friday, March 24, 2017

Clueless liberals

Clueless liberals in India seem to be utterly flabbergasted these day in the aftermath of incarnation of a god man cum common thug as chief minister of the largest Indian state and  developments thereafter. Curiously, what exactly shocks them now? Wasn't that shocking, when Maqbool Fida Husain was forced into exile by the same forces without being anywhere near power? An amiable decrepit dunce used to argue with me endlessly in defense of those crooks.

And how many still remember that incidence when Prashant Bhushan, an advocate was pulped in his own office by the ruffians belonging to one of the Hinduvta outfit? Curiously, a crew from Times Now was at hand to film humiliation of Prashant Bhushan and the thug leading the assault was recently elevated in Delhi hierarchy of BJP. At the time of that incident, Prashant Bhushan was part of that Anna Hazare circus against corruption and still not a single charge was ever filed against the assailant.

And what about an incident in Meerut, a few years back when police went berserk to beat couples sitting in a park mercilessly in full view of TV cameras? Did liberals pursue any of those cases? 

And biggest of all frauds that has been perpetrated in India happened already in 1949, when officials of Hindu Mahasabha had an idol surreptitiously placed in Babri Masjid, which was followed by a deep collusion between local administration and the state government to present that as a fait accompli. The communal forces being aware of limited intellects and attention spans of liberals utilize that to hilt to forward their agenda. Elevation of Modi at the center stage and now Yogi in the state represents only the culmination of the process they long started. Modi could become prime minister after presiding over genocides; compared to him Yogi is only initiating. Who knows what larger disaster he presides over?

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Communal genesis of Advani

Keeping in with tradition of that vile organization, Lal Advani came into politics via RSS, a rabid organization famous for celebrating murder of Gandhi. Advani remained part of Jan Sangh, a forerunner of current BJP in various capacities. When that organization joined Janata Party and won the elections in 1977 in the aftermath of internal emergency, Advani became minister for information and broadcasting. While that Janata experiment lasted two years, the Jan Sangh constituent of Advani did lasting damage through facilitation of infiltration by communal elements into every strata of government. Following its reincarnation as BJP after break up of Janata Party, Advani assumed mantle of leadership following its rout in the first election after assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. Advani as a leader of BJP turned out to be a vintage communalist and unleashed hitherto unseen bigotry. He cynically turned a dormant issue of disputed Babri Masjid into a communal frenzy that left thousands dead in its trail. For the sake of historical accuracy, that structure was never a temple; an idol was placed in the mosque through surreptitious machinations involving Hindu Mahasabha, local bureaucrats and state government of Uttar Pradesh. None of that mattered to Advani, who in a single quest of narrow political gains vitiated the entire country. Even the congress government of Rajiv Gandhi did not lack behind in utilizing the communal polarization. Serial broadcast of Hindu epics on national television in 1980s played no less part in communalization of the country from one end to another.
 
When Advani’s march of rabid communalism in 1989 was interrupted in Bihar, BJP brought down the national government. In the meanwhile, electorally, the communal antics of Advani had started paying dividend. It would be still be some time before BJP would come power at the center; in the interim he presided over one of the most shameful episode that befell India. In December 1991, Lal Advani over saw the total demolition of Babri Masjid. It was not just destruction of that national monument rather the entire communal fabric of the country came apart on that day of national disgrace in which Advani played the foremost part. The irony remains that every single vile act brought BJP ever-increasing share of votes; Advani’s politics of cynicism had turned entire country into rabid and cynical. That was ground created by Advani that bred the rise of ultra-communalists and opportunists like Modi. Once BJP came to power, Advani assumed portfolio of home minister charged with internal security. His tenure as minister would always be remembered for the hijacking fiasco in which that government shamelessly handed over three terrorists in exchange for the hostages. Advani shamelessly feigned ignorance about the transpirations of hijacking saga in his memoirs despite being the minister in-charge of the internal security at the time. Everything else, however, pales in comparison to his reckless defense of Modi, which makes Advani equally accomplice in the mayhem that was carried out in Gujarat. And in many ways the current state of hyper communalism can be traced back to the cynical politics authored by Lal Advani. All Modi has done is to prove himself to be the true protégé of Advani.