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Socialism is immoralProtest the quota systemEnd entitlement benefits for freeloaders Support the death penalty for terrorists and anti-nationals Resist "Global Governance" |
| FAKE STINGS AND SECULAR GAMES: | |
| The deep rooted conspiracy to subvert the political process [link] |
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011 |
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The unbearable heaviness of secularism | |
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 Wednesday, January 12, 2011. In a couple of weeks time, the nation would celebrate its 62nd republic day with much fanfare. But here, the situation was grim, very different. In fact, the place looked like a mini battlefield. Large contingents of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and city Police personnel had been deployed. The police used teargas shells and had to resort to lathi charges; the mob armed itself with brickbats and set fire to random things. Stone pelting, vandalism. Dozens of people were injured. The main arterial road, a National Highway no less, was blocked for over a 3-km stretch, causing major gridlocks in the area. The entire neighborhood was locked inside their homes, too scared to come out. The protests continued for two days ... We wouldn't blame anyone for saying this sounds like a bad day in Srinagar. Only, it wasn't. It was right in the heart of our capital city, not far from where the rulers of the country, leaders of the designated secular/liberal party would participate in the Republic day celebrations. Only two weeks later. So, with a secular/liberal party ruling the country and the city-state itself being ruled by the same preferred political dispensation, why the unease, why the aggravation? Also, why are so many folks from the chatterati class yet to wise up about the incident? We will attempt to answer the second question first. Surely, the sheer scale of the incident rated a headline and a breaking story on the various TV news channels? But there was simply no mention of the incident on any of the news channels. Not a peep. This got us curious - we reached out to Barkha Dutt, senior editor of NDTV. She confirmed that all the TV channels decided to black out the incident and it was an NBA (News Broadcasters Association, a cartel of TV news channels) decision. Needless to say, this is highly disturbing. TV news dominates the world view of most literate Indians and drives much of the opinion business. Ms. Dutt herself hosts several shows on her channel. Now, if important items like this are completely blacked out, what does it do to the reference point in any debate on national policy? After all, information is the key driver in many debates. Aren't we essentially killing any effective "debate" if we do away with about half the information? This is hardly an isolated case - dangerous riots in Miraj, Bareilly, Deganga and many other places are unceremoniously dumped on the floors of the editing rooms. * * * Needless to say, the board leadership takes full advantage of this. Instead for putting the land to use for the benefit of the poor in the community, they do all sort of sordid deals. Every once in a while our secular nation then replenishes the land, from the common pool. Needless to say, any time an illegal religious structure comes up for demolition, it is an opportunity for the Waqf board to acquire more land. The easily excitable faithful create enough trouble for the local administration to back off. This is exactly what happened in New Delhi. * * * As you can see, all this makes the BJP's so called flag yatra to Lal Chowk rather redundant, no matter which side of the issue you are. By historical accident Kashmir just happens to be demographically skewed across one state. In every city, every hamlet, every corner of the country, we have thousands of mini Kashmirs. All these Kashmirs are really off limit for the state. The controlling elements of the community makes sure the larger population is held hostage to them. Progressive elements are hounded out, like they forced the newly elected leader of Deoband seminary to resign for going against the grain. Popular imagination is captured not by the likes of M. J. Akbar or Azim Premji, but by perpetual grievance mongers like Shabnam Hashmi. Human rights mafia led by the likes of Teesta Setalvad etc. ensure that the community remains in a state of constant paranoia. Secular politicians form the final link in this ecosystem - a community that prays together votes together. The cycle continues. We continue to have faux debates, armed with partial info. * * * So, what was the final outcome of the drama? We leave it as an exercise for the readers to figure out. It is there in the references. References: Mosque demolition causes protests, jams Waqf attempt to grab land Local Residents get threatening calls Jama Masjid - secular leaders rush to woo community leaders Demolished Mosque will be rebuilt - Sheila
posted by barbarindian at 7:42 PM Permalink
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 |
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21 years of exodus | |
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 Read more at: iKashmir.net
posted by barbarindian at 12:31 AM Permalink
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