Well I didn't mean the appraisal times. I just mean the times we are in.
We claim to be a democracy , but arrest people for Facebook 'Like' while still allowing blatantly anti national editorial content as well as political speeches that result in discord among different religious and ethnic groups.
While a blatantly anti- Hindu and specifically anti-Brahmin content is allowed as matter of editorial policy of the daily 'Viduthalai' , a Facebook "like" results in imprisonment.
An Arundati Roy is not booked for sedition for her speech sometime back in Srinagar and P.Chidambaram the then home minister said that not taking action was also an action. Thus he proclaimed his siding with "secularism" and announced his arrival on the stage of the "progressives". If say, an ordinary tax paying mortal Indian had uttered such a speech he would be cooling his heels in Tihar. It is another matter that most of the powerful politicians are in Tihar and hence Tihar is the most happening place in India.
How did a Karunanidhi get away with his anti-Ram speech when he inquired about. Lord Ram's engineering degree and made fun of The Lord ?
Likewise many of EVRs' books would have to be banned for their blatantly anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin content. None of his books can ever be published in, say The UAE just in case we were to replace the word "Hindu" with "Muslim". I don't mean to say that the UAE is a democracy but the universal acceptability of EVRs thoughts that is often proclaimed by the "rationalists" would prove to be false if the words were replaced and still the books cannot be published in the UAE How come India, being a secular democracy , allows this venomous campaign of EVR and his followers? It is a different matter that EVR has stopped being relevant in current times as every political party proclaiming to be EVRs ' follower chooses candidates based on caste that EVR had sought to do away with.
Sound strange, don't they ?
We claim to be a democracy , but arrest people for Facebook 'Like' while still allowing blatantly anti national editorial content as well as political speeches that result in discord among different religious and ethnic groups.
While a blatantly anti- Hindu and specifically anti-Brahmin content is allowed as matter of editorial policy of the daily 'Viduthalai' , a Facebook "like" results in imprisonment.
An Arundati Roy is not booked for sedition for her speech sometime back in Srinagar and P.Chidambaram the then home minister said that not taking action was also an action. Thus he proclaimed his siding with "secularism" and announced his arrival on the stage of the "progressives". If say, an ordinary tax paying mortal Indian had uttered such a speech he would be cooling his heels in Tihar. It is another matter that most of the powerful politicians are in Tihar and hence Tihar is the most happening place in India.
How did a Karunanidhi get away with his anti-Ram speech when he inquired about. Lord Ram's engineering degree and made fun of The Lord ?
Likewise many of EVRs' books would have to be banned for their blatantly anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin content. None of his books can ever be published in, say The UAE just in case we were to replace the word "Hindu" with "Muslim". I don't mean to say that the UAE is a democracy but the universal acceptability of EVRs thoughts that is often proclaimed by the "rationalists" would prove to be false if the words were replaced and still the books cannot be published in the UAE How come India, being a secular democracy , allows this venomous campaign of EVR and his followers? It is a different matter that EVR has stopped being relevant in current times as every political party proclaiming to be EVRs ' follower chooses candidates based on caste that EVR had sought to do away with.
Sound strange, don't they ?
Last statement sums up everything I feel about Indian politics. It is strange. I have a neighbour back in Trivandrum (where my grandparents are), who is a BJP 'thondan'. (Volunteer).
ReplyDeleteI don't think he has a job. All I ever see him doing is deliver blistering dialogues about the evils of Islam and the benevolence of Ram. But when we quiz him about our elected member of parliament not doing anything to fix the potholes in the road, he goes curiously quiet.
There was the one time I got impatient and told him "Maama- no one gives a flying fart about religion except for religious nutcases. When is your BJP going to stop all the talking and actually do something?"
He looked really offended. He refused to serve me a glass or water when I asked. I just rolled my eyes and headed back home. We never spoke again. I'm not sure if that's such a bad thing though. LOL