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The impotent dreams and shackled desires; memories of pre liberalization era

Mahesh Jagga
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The impotent dreams and shackled desires; memories of pre liberalization era

The year was 1975. As I, a 10 year old, diminutive & under nourished kid, clutching a princely sum of 80 Paise in my sweaty palm, walked into the coal depot to buy the family’s monthly quota of cooking coal, the depot owner looked at me with all the scorn & contempt and commented, “God knows how these beggars get wind of coal’s arrival. They land up before supplies are unloaded.” Ridiculed & derided, as I wanted my world to just disappear, or wanted to die of shame there and then, if I knew that this shame would later be termed as simplicity, I would have felt a lot better.

ration shop
Illustrative picture

In the same year, when the corner grocery store owner commented, “Whole family is educated but you come again with your 30 Paise to buy 100 grams of lentils.” I could have told him that it is not poverty that makes it difficult to afford buying lentils for entire month but austerity, as eloquently explained by Mukul Kesavan now, I could have felt better.

Or around the same time, dragging myself back home from the ration shop (Yes, they were called ration shops, back then, not the respectable ‘Fair Price Shops’ as they are called now), carrying only 1.6 kg of sugar, much less than monthly ration of 3.5 kg for the family of five, as the shop owner had, with all his imperial airs, declared that the sugar quota for the month had been cut, thinking how to face my mother back home, words like simplicity or austerity were not in any dictionary I had come across.

Or in 1978, when my brother succeeded in clearing written tests for State Civil Services and when during the interview, he was told that the bribe for clearing the interview would be Rs 1.5 lakhs, we realized in despair that our house, our only house, could fetch only around Rs. 40000. This, despite knowing  that the only way families could get out of the economic rut and join the company of haves was to have a government job, a powerful position at that. Then, we had to let go the opportunity of a lifetime, relegating a bright young man to a life of struggle & hardships. We did not know that we were doing it so that we could feel nostalgic about it around 40 years later.

Shall I continue with more examples of austerity as to why we did not buy a scooter even if we could afford it in 1980 or get a phone line till 1993? Simplicity & austerity?

No Mr. Kesavan, the pre reform era was not a period we remember for austerity, simplicity or with any kind of nostalgia.

We, and 99.999% of Indians, associate this period with the despairing rut of economic imprisonment, impotence of our dreams, subjugation to poverty and of servitude to the corrupt ruling elite.

We also remember this period for a clear distinction between haves and have not’s.

Typically haves were those who were born to or related to ruling party, controlling all the licenses, deciding who gets to eat, drink and wear what, making tonnes of money skimming off the supplies and quotas and are now romanticizing about Wrigley, Seiko or Parkers and the have not’s were those whose life was wasted running around ration shops, firewood depots., licensing authorities (even bicycles & radios needed licenses) and waiting for the day when one member of the family would get the most coveted position in the world; a job in with government, any department, any position.

Now, as I write this, with a Mont Blanc, bought from my own, honestly earned, tax paid income, I can say it with authority that for you, reforms might have been an event that brought you all that you coveted, from foreign lands, but for millions of us Indians, they changed our life, extracted us from sub human, extreme poverty, gave us imagination to dream, created an economic environment to realize those dreams and thinking beyond daily survival.

And we cannot continue with the charade of selling poverty as virtue, shortages as austerity, shackled dreams as simplicity and horrible, tormenting tribulations as nostalgia.

We have had too much of our history, contemporary and medieval, coloured by romanticized  outlook, directed by those with silver spoons and Khadi pothras, written by the court chroniclers, sung by the loyal bards. We should not make the same mistake again, history should not repeat itself and the court chroniclers should not be allowed to write this chapter of history from their standpoint only.

When the story of liberalization is written, it needs to be dominated by the life changing experiences of ordinary Indians.

Social media trashes MSM for softening and spinning attack at Ansbach in Germany

OpIndia Staff
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Social media trashes MSM for softening and spinning attack at Ansbach in Germany

One person was killed and at least 10 people were injured in what is reported to be a suicide-bomb attack at Ansbach in Germany. According to Bavarian authorities, a Syrian man who had been denied asylum blew himself up after being turned away from a music festival in southern Germany. He detonated an explosive device in his backpack, the contents of which would have been sufficient to kill and injure many more people.

While the exact motives of the attack and exact details are yet to emerge clearly, Mainstream media outlets had begun the spin that bordered on ridiculousness.

Reuters reported the story as: “Bomb-carrying Syrian dies outside German music festival; 12 wounded”

BBC too used a similar tone for one of its reports:

BBC Headline

Immediately social media users began rebuking the two media houses, and other media channels which used the same report as their source:


 


 


 


 

“You are gay, well educated, and still support Modi?” people ask me, and these are my reasons

Guest Author
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“You are gay, well educated, and still support Modi?” people ask me, and these are my reasons

I am a Hindu Bengali, well-educated man working in the West for over 10 years, and I’m gay.

I wanted to highlight these aspects of my profile upfront, because apparently these make me a classic left-wing. One who has been fed on West Bengal’s version of Marxism/socialism that espouses equality of power and wealth for all. One who celebrates Durga Puja with vigour (whole year’s wardrobe bought in a few days’ frenzy, long holidays in the middle of the term, among other peculiarities) while co-existing with a large Muslim community. One who has been educated to hold the principles of secularism, socialism and freedom with high regard. Life in the West strengthens such a belief system.

And to add to that, being from a sexual minority makes one cherish such principles even more.

So when I tell people that I am rooting for Narendra Modi, they are surprised (if not shocked)! After all Modi is supposed to be from that Right-Wing ecosystem that is said to be majoritarian in every way.

I don’t blame them for their assumptions. In fact, in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, my vote was for Mamata and I had wanted BJP to fall short of majority. I had feared that a BJP majority of its own would unleash a reign of terror in the form of mandatory Hindi, cow-worship, temple-construction, etc.

I haven’t had much exposure to the R-W ecosystem. When in high-school, I knew some guys from a RSS-run school; they were smart and didn’t come across as weird. We also had a politician in our home-town who campaigned for “swadeshi-bachao, videshi-bhagao”. This made real sense to me as a concept; although in practice we didn’t alter our grocery list.

But my most enduring and probably defining impression of the R-W ecosystem was due to the Babri Masjid demolition. My mother and I were travelling back home by train from a relative’s house in UP on 3rd December. I saw many saffron-clad men waiting in stations for trains in the opposite direction. Then after a few days until a very long time thereafter, there was constant TV and newspaper coverage on the incident and the ensuing riots. There was no ambiguity in the coverage that the R-W ecosystem was to blame for the mayhem. My young mind associated that blame to the saffron-clad men in the stations. Thus, I carried a negative image of the R-W ecosystem. Till 2014 elections.

So why am I rooting for Modi now?

First of all, I deliberately presented a selective profile of myself above to fit the classic L-W profile. I will now dig a level deeper into the simplistic statements I made above.

I am no supporter of West Bengal’s version of Marxism as I have no doubts that the CPI(M) led politics devastated the local economy. This is a topic in itself, but it is sufficient to say that job prospects in the 80s and 90s were horrible.  The tax-benefits offered to the IT industry brought in the big employers like Infosys, TCS, IBM, etc. This saved the likes of me with a technical education and fluency in English. But I would say this represented a small minority of the young job-seekers as the government had banished English education in the early 80s, thus rendering most young Bengalis unemployable.

I also have doubts if the practised secularism was really not a vote-catching ploy. It is true that the Muslims in West Bengal were emancipated, but from the early 90s there was a rising discomfort among the locals that the government was letting in Bangladeshis to strengthen its voter-base.

And regarding my education, I am lucky to have done MBA at IIM Ahmedabad. This place skilled me in thinking of solutions to new problems in a structured way. It was only after graduating from IIM-A that I slowly started making my own conclusions about various events from the presented facts, rather than taking anything at face-value. (Other factors like age, location, varied colleagues may also have contributed.) This helped in unlearning a lot of bunkum that is taught to us at a young age.

Currently I am in a civil-union with a man for over 4 years, living in a European capital city. Same-sex marriage is also legal here. In fact, living together without any union is also legal and allows the same benefits as a civil-union. It is refreshing to have the choice as an adult and not being judged.

Secondly, it is important to realise that while people support a leader they do not necessarily agree with every policy of the leader.

I am rooting for Modi because I want him to succeed in making India a 20$ trillion economy. I am sure this needs no elaboration that if the ensuing wealth creation is spread-out and not captured by a few individuals, this will lift a huge number of people out of poverty and create a bigger and richer middle class.

It is true that all previous Prime Ministers have also talked about reducing/eradicating poverty, but I find the current target of a completely different league. By announcing a number, Modi has made this target a measurable one. This makes it simpler for people to judge whether he reached his target or not – it is a simple binary.

Also importantly, he keeps on repeating this number at every major event. This shows that he is not shying away from this target and is not hesitant to be judged against this target. This is exactly how it works in the corporate world. A CEO would announce his company’s targets (dividends, profits, cost savings. etc.) for the next few years to the shareholders and would expect to be fired by the same shareholders if unable to meet those targets. To me, this sort of professionalism is a major change that Modi has brought.

I see this target-setting approach being percolated to the ground level – to the names of villages that remain to be electrified, to the locations from where untreated sewage is discharged into Ganga, to the districts that still have open-defecation, etc. all with a set deadline.

To be honest, Modi had me when he mentioned his goal of “Swachchh Bharat” by Oct 2019 at his inauguration speech in Varanasi on 14 May 2014 after winning the elections. Imagine the day for him. He had just won a huge mandate which was in many ways personal. He had run a campaign in his own name and had staked his political reputation. He could have thanked the people (which he did) and made some grand but hollow statements (like ‘making India great again’) and exulted in the adulation. But he chose to remind the people how Indian cities and towns were overflowing with garbage, how Indians appreciate the cleanliness when they travel abroad, and asked the people to promise to support him in making India clean in 5 years. I found that remarkable and the sign of a person who is familiar with the India beyond official bungalows.

With respect to the conventional wisdom about R-W’s views about society, I haven’t heard Prime Minister Modi say anything that is remotely Hindu supremacist. In fact, in a speech in Lok Sabha where he quoted many ancient texts to define his “Idea of India”, he explicitly mentioned atheism as a way of life equally important as various religions. It is true, that campaigner Modi, during Bihar elections, made some awful comments. I hope that was a one-off mistake. There are accusations of communal passions being flamed by stealth or its cow-vigilantism turning into dalit discrimination. I don’t know how much of it is true and if Modi is personally involved, but this identity based politics is an unfortunate reality in a limited-resource country with a history of identity-based discrimination. It won’t be fair to pin it all on Modi.

Still, I would put the government at a higher pedestal and expect that if and when any member of the government is involved in such politics (through words or actions), he/she is shown the door immediately. This will be Modi demonstrating that he lives by his “Sabka Saath” motto, and will only enhance his stature.

The aspect that I am disappointed with most is the one that affects me personally. Modi has never spoken a word about gay rights (whether in India or abroad). Congress, Trinamul Congress, AAP have officially favoured removal of Sec 377. Even Sonia Gandhi made an anguished statement after the Supreme Court ruling. RSS also seems to be in favour, although it continues to call homosexuality unnatural. Arun Jaitley in his personal capacity has time and again also favoured removing Sec 377. However, BJP Lok Sabha members voted against Shashi Tharoor’s proposal to introduce a private member’s bill. And they did it twice, which means the party does not want to officially disclose its position one way or the other. This is hugely disappointing especially if this has Modi’s sanction. But as I said before, a supporter does not necessarily agree with every policy of the leader. This is an aspect where Modi has disappointed me with his silence.

But I am hopeful. In the 2014 election campaign, he surprisingly called toilets more important than temples. Although it is possible that Modi stays silent on this topic throughout this term, I am hoping he will make a well-considered call on this topic sooner. After all, this is an even greater demonstration of his motto of “Sabka Saath” especially because the LGBTQ community can hardly make a sizeable vote-bank. If all else fails, there is a tiny hope of public opinion turning the tide.

Growing prosperity is said to make people more aware of human rights. I know that India has much ground to cover – what with cases of dalits having to use a separate well, parents killing own children for marrying outside community, hardly any respect for manual labour, etc.; sexual rights probably would be the last on anyone’s mind. Still, a richer and wider middle-class could surprise everyone. This is where economy matter. This is where creating wealth matters.

So in the meantime, I will continue to root for Modi in his quest to make India a 20$ trillion economy while hoping for him to keep to his motto of “Sabka Saath”.

(Note: I choose to stay anonymous as I am being open about my political views and am unsure about the blow-back on myself and my family back in India.)

Is Kejriwal sparking “no-mobile” controversy because he was ignored in the Inter-State council meet?

OpIndia Staff
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Is Kejriwal sparking “no-mobile” controversy because he was ignored in the Inter-State council meet?

Arvind Kejriwal loves controversies more than controversies love him. On 16th July 2016, when PM Modi chaired the 11th meeting of Inter-State council in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal was also present, but he couldn’t make headlines apart from being part of a joke on social media: “Narenda Modi ignored Arvind Kejriwal”

4 days after being completely sidelined in the event, Arvind Kejriwal has ignited a fresh controversy. At the launch of a book ‘Arvind Kejriwal and The Aam Aadmi Party — AnInside Look’ authored by his batchmate from IIT Kharagpur, Arvind Kejriwal told reporters that:

They made few a Chief Ministers, including me, to leave our phones outside. It was very strange. They kept phones of a few Chief Ministers outside while others were allowed to take their phones inside. I raised the issue in my speech as well. I asked the Prime Minister whether a few Chief Ministers pose security threats to him

Arvind Kejriwal, who missed to grab attention in the Inter-State council, finally managed to get into headlines. Many media houses, including Janta Ka Reporter – the alleged mouth piece of AAP — portrayed Arvind Kejriwal as a victim who was purposefully forced not to carry the phone.

Modi-Kejriwal

The insinuation was soon rejected by celebrities and journalists who have been to PM meetings earlier. Some of them also talked about security protocols which allows invitees to carry electronic gadgets only under special circumstances



OpIndia also talked to many individuals who were invited to meet the PM in the past. They all confirmed that mobile phones were not allowed when they met the PM.

It is noteworthy that neither Arvind Kejriwal nor the media is mentioning that the meeting was held in Rashtrapati Bhavan and not at PM’s residence. Rules and regulations for the building are not set by PMO, but by the President Office.

It is interesting to see that Arvind Kejriwal wisely kept his remarks in subjectivity by claiming “a few Chief Ministers, including me had to leave our phones outside”. Unlike his usual style, he didn’t mention names of CMs who were allowed to carry mobile phones without any interruptions. Moreover, only last year when AAP organized National Council Meeting, mobile phones were not allowed. Were his own party people posing a security threat to him? Arvind, who likes to call him an Aam Aadmi, should ponder why is he so uneasy when he is kept under similar rules. 

Six excuses given by Congress and friends to save ‘sleeping’ Rahul Gandhi

OpIndia Staff
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Six excuses given by Congress and friends to save ‘sleeping’ Rahul Gandhi

The life of a “youth icon” can be hard. Work hard(ly), party harder, and the result is catching up with sleep at any possible time. Of course Rahul Gandhi is no youth icon anymore, being on the wrong side of 40 years, so the above doesn’t apply to him. But such debates may arise because if media is to be believed, Rahul Gandhi was caught sleeping in the Lok Sabha.

Almost exactly 2 years back as well, the crown prince was caught dozing off in the Lok Sabha, in the midst of a debate. One would imagine he would have realised he needs to wake up and smell the coffee but apparently he has been caught napping again.

This time the media claimed to have caught him “sleeping” during a debate in the Lok Sabha on the issue of atrocities on Dalits. Ironically the same Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit Una, the place where Dalits were allegedly thrashed, to show “solidarity” with them.

Untitled
“sleeping”

While the video of Rahul “sleeping” was itself not enough to pronounce him guilty, members and supporters of the Congress party were seen getting all tongue tied in explaining what Rahul Gandhi was doing. By the end of the day, we had six different explanations for what Rahul Gandhi was doing:

1. Congress leader Renuka Chaudhary: “How can anyone sleep in so much noise? When we go in to the cold atmosphere of the Lok Sabha from so much heat outside, we close our eyes to provide relief to our burning eyes, so that some moisture soothes the eyes”


2. Vadra family member Tehseen Poonawala: “Rahul is into meditation and using a breathing and listening technique”


3. Congress leader Oscar Fernandes: “If an MP gets tired he would like to relax. Nobody does this deliberately”


4. Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi: “Rahul wasn’t sleeping, seeing a cell phone isn’t a crime”

A M Singhvi
A M Singhvi

5. Congress leader Renuka Chaudhary (again): “Rahul wasnt sleeping, his eyes were downcast, he was looking down at something in his lap”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvHnJRHVEAQ]

6. Congress sypathiser appearing often on TV debates, Sanjay Hegde: No problem in sleeping, even I sleep in courts


And a bonus, from some guy who is said to be a “Political analyst”:


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While only Rahul Gandhi knows what he was really doing, his sycophantic fans and followers have made it even tougher for him to explain.

Is NDTV using fake “bot” accounts on social media to push up their stories?

OpIndia Staff
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It is now a well known fact that as far as viewership and TRP is concerned, NDTV’s television channel is in doldrums. Once known as the prime channel for erudite viewers, NDTV has slipped far below. Recently, we also highlighted how Barkha Dutt was possibly forced to move her show to an earlier slot so as to avoid a clash with Arnab’s show on Times Now.

In the online world though, NDTV’s website is doing much better than its peers. The graph below does show some slippages in terms of rank in recent times, but it is fair to say NDTV is still doing well online.

NDTV's rank
NDTV’s rank

But is this performance of NDTV’s site thanks to real views? A social media user has uncovered something which might make us question the ethics of NDTV.


In the above tweet, the user claims to have found many accounts which tweet out only NDTV articles! Either these are die-hard fans of NDTV or these are “bots” i.e. fake accounts which are automated and are usually paid for. The user further goes on to show some examples of such accounts:


When we checked the above accounts and their tweets, and the claims were validated. These accounts only share NDTV articles, from various portals such NDTV Profit and Gadgets NDTV. What is even more interesting is that all the accounts share the same story at the exact same time:

Coordinated tweets
Coordinated tweets

Again, such coordinated tweeting can either be a huge coincidence or this may be pointing flatly to the allegation that these are in fact automated bot accounts.

Such “fake” shares get accumulated and add up to the total shares an NDTV post gets, which gives the impression to an average reader that the post was indeed viral, making the real user also read the post.

At this stage, it is not known whether these fake accounts are paid for by NDTV itself or they are operated by some “friendly” Samaritans. Knowing that NDTV has far too often been caught in immoral practices such as fake news, incorrect reporting, tax scandals, murky deals etc, NDTV’s involvement in this issue also cannot be ruled out. So much for “paid Sanghi Right Wing trolls”!

Updates:

1. After this post was published, as expected, CTO of NDTV claimed that NDTV did not have any such bots, and at the same time tried to claim that other sites like Times of India and Hindustan Times also had similar bots sharing their pieces (which was found to be incorrect). He also blamed Twitter for this issue saying “Twitter is full of such bots”

2. Within hours of publishing this story, all the accounts mentioned above were found to be suspended.

Kashmir’s hero Shah Faesal has got the Kashmir problem wrong

Gaurav
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Kashmir’s hero Shah Faesal has got the Kashmir problem wrong

Kashmir and its issues are a very complex topic. There are multiple facets to it, one extreme of which was terrorist Burhan Wani who propagated the use of violence to “free” Kashmir. This extreme is being fought by the Indian armed forces on a daily basis, which results in some big ticket encounters, such as that of Wani himself. The polar opposite of Wani, as social media and later mainstream media portrayed, is Shah Faesal. Faesal became the first Kashmiri to top the Indian Civil Services Examination and the first candidate from Kashmir in several years to be selected to the Indian Administrative Service through open merit. These two youths provide just a glimpse into the vallet, but are indeed a very simplistic and binary view.

Faesal, in an article published in the Indian Express, has sought to figure out a solution to the Kashmir problem, and his solution to the current problem of unrest is this: “to convince these media houses to tone down their jingoistic rhetoric and pay heed to the feedback from the ground.”

Before one comes to this point, we must understand where Faesal is coming from. Faesal says he is disturbed and perturbed by the use of his image vis-a-vis Wani, by media. He claims that the media has shown “sheer insensitivity and shallowness” and also created a “security risk” for his life, due to which he roams incognito.

There are multiple issues here. Firstly, Faesal fails to realise that even though the terrorists of Kashmir, the stone throwers, the people who storm army bases, consider themselves as anybody but Indians, the rest of India has openly glorified Faesal, one who lives among them, as their hero. This shows the contrasting attidude of the two factions, and you do not need any media jingoists to show this, Faesal himself unwittingly exposes his friends in the valley.

Further, it is odd that now Kashmiris have a problem with rest of India supporting other Kashmiris too. They can be surely aggrieved that a section maybe demonising Kashmiris, but here you have a Kashmiri youth saying “please India stop acknowledging me as one of your own!”. Damned if Indians condemn terrorists, damned if Indians praise role models. Faesal’s reasons though are understandable. It is not that he hates India, it is just that he fears for his life:

Next day, I left for my office, incognito, wearing a kurta-pyjama and a farmer’s cap, hopping across check posts like a thief, knowing well that if a group of enraged youngsters recognised me, I might be in trouble, and rightly so, for falling on the wrong side of the Kashmiri vs Indian binary at such a critical juncture.

Here again unwittingly Faesal reveals another issue. Is Faesal, a thoroughbred Kashmiri, afraid of the people who he calls “Kashmiris”? Is he afraid of his “own people”? Doesn’t he demonise the “enraged youngsters” of Kashmir far more than any jingoistic channel could? And to add to all this, he believes he would “rightly” be “in trouble”? Instead of condemning rest of India for holding up his example, shouldn’t he be explaining to the “enraged Kashmiri youngsters” that they should not be attacking him for being Indian, especially since he has earned all his money and fame solely due to being a topper in the “Indian” Civil Services exam?

Yes, these things are easier said than done. Faesal, or anyone else, sitting in the arms of “enraged Kashmiri youngsters” cannot be expected to summon courage to stand up to gun-toting “enraged Kashmiri youngsters”. Hence, most of Faesal’s article as mentioned above, is not a nuanced, world-view take on Kashmir’s issues, but is a plea of help from a Kashmiri who is feeling threatened by “enraged Kashmiri youngsters”, and hence should only be treated as that, am understandably selfish article. One cannot and should not grudge Faesal for worrying about his safety.

Moving on, Faesal targets Indian media: “It has also been projecting lies about Kashmir to rest of the country. ” he says. Yes there is a lot wrong with Indian media. Just a couple of days back we highlighted how Cobrapost was using 5 year old videos to stoke tensions in Kashmir. Or how a MSM and NDTV regular, Rana Ayyub was using similar tactics. Faesal though was probably not referring to these instances.

Faesal’s post then descends into the absurd:

In the Indian tradition, the state is supposed to communicate with its people through accommodation, not harangue, and through welfare, not violence……………….In the Islamic tradition, too, truth, patience and perseverance are central to communicating.

The first line is utterly confusing. Is the Indian state supposed to follow “Indian tradition” with “enraged Kashmiri youngsters”, considering them “its people”, while they themselves, in Faesal’s own words, are ready to attack a fellow Kashmiri, not because he supported India, but because India supported him? Are Burhan Wani and his fellow Hizbul terrorists, or the thousands who went to pay respects to this terrorists, or the hundreds who throw stones and ransack army depots, India’s people? Even if they are to be considered as India’s people, the only “tradition” the Indian state should follow, is that which is prescribed by law, which tells the state how to deal with similar criminals in other parts of India.

The only people who can be considered as Indians, are those who had faith in the Indian Constitution, those who have voted for so many years, and in turn, the Indian state has communicated with these voters with accommodation and welfare. Only when law-abiding voters turn into “enraged Kashmiri youngsters” who take law into their own hands, does the state have to step in. Also, it seems Faesal has forgotten the services extended by the armed forces of the Indian state to Kashmiris of all hues (including “enraged youngsters”), when they were battling floods.

The second statement of Faesal probably stems from being ignorant or feigning ignorance. Only a person who hasn’t seen the rise of Radical Islamic terrorism in Kashmir, as evidenced by this interview of Wani’s father, can claim that Kashmiris are following the tradition “patience” as advocated by Islam.

There are other issues in Faesal’s article: His sweeping generalisation that “all these years India has been communicating to Kashmiris through rigged elections” (The Election Commission must take cognisance of such a claim). How he laments that Kashmiris feels “India has become synonymous with a military bunker or a police vehicle”, but fails to dig deeper and address why such a military presence is needed in Kashmir.

But the biggest issue here is Faesal, either deliberately or unknowingly is missing the forest for the trees. He blames television channels, social media, the usage of his image vis-a-vis terrorists, jingoistic anchors, approach of Indian state, the huge presence of armed forces, but fails to acknowledge the root problem which has led to all of this: Terrorism backed by Islamist and salafist ideology, which was earlier getting support from Pakistan and now finds a common cause with terrorist organisations like ISIS and which unfortunately has the support of “enraged Kashmiri youngsters”. The same terrorism and attitude which drove away lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits (of course Faesal makes no mention of them), has reared its ugly head far too often, and then the Indian state is blamed for doing what it must to fight against such violent, unconstitutional forces.

A really thought provoking piece by a Kashmiri would address this core problem first, how to rid Kashmir of violence perpetuated by terrorists, but since Faesal doesn’t even touch upon this, his impassioned plea is nothing but that of a young man worried about his safety because he does not trust his neighbours, the “enraged Kashmiri youngsters”, who may bay for his head, only because India liked, and continues to like him.

Social media users troll Sidhu and AAP after Sidhu resigns as RS MP

OpIndia Staff
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Social media users troll Sidhu and AAP after Sidhu resigns as RS MP

Be it cricket, television commentary, TV shows or politics,  Navjot Singh Sidhu has always maintained a high entertainment value. Sidhu is in news after it was reported that he resigned from the Rajya Sabha and his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This whole episode turned more interesting when AAP leaders hinted that Sidhu may be joining AAP.


Social media users soon found ways to troll both Sidhu and AAP, based on their past animosity. Videos were dug up where Sidhu was seen publicly attacking Kejriwal and AAP

In another video posted on twitter, Sidhu is seen questioning the ethics  and ideology of Arvind Kejriwal


Poet and AAP leader Kumar Vishwas who opened his arm for Sidhu in “Cha Gaye Guru”style, had once called Sidhu a Farzi Rastravadi and Farar MP.


 

An open letter explaining the meaning of being an Indian, to a Kashmiri

kryptonite
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An open letter explaining the meaning of being an Indian, to a Kashmiri

Dear Ms. Shazia Bakshi,

This is going to be a long letter, so please forgive me. I had to write to you following your factually incorrect emotional rejection of my country, titled “I am a Kashmiri, but am I not Indian? ” which I found here.

I am an Indian. I was proud of my identity yesterday, and I remain ever so proud today. Today and everyday, the criteria for being an Indian remains the same – be proud of your roots and carry its love in your heart.

Now before you dismiss my post as the rantings of a delusional woman sitting safely abroad and holding strong opinions about a place she probably hasn’t visited, let me inform you Ms. Bakshi, that my world lays shattered thanks to the violence in your state. I have lost two of the most important men in my life to innocent peaceful stone throwers in the valley.

A good Indian by default Ms. Bakshi, is one who aims to live in harmony with one’s neighbours without bothering to drive them out of their homes and make them refugees in their own country just because they don’t pray facing Mecca. A good Indian by default is one who aims to be kind and empathetic to the feelings of others in the community, even if the others don’t necessarily enjoy constitutional special benefits just because they are more in number. A good Indian would be one who understands that a man has been democratically elected by the people of India whether one likes him or not and moves on, waiting for the next time an election comes about. A good Indian by default is one, who doesn’t pelt stones to make a point and if that point isn’t heard god forbid, fires a gun. A good Indian by default, is one who would use constitutional avenues available for grievance redress.

I hope this still goes with your bigger picture of the country since you quote the preamble of the constitution. You have quoted the preamble Ms. Bakshi, but in my humble opinion, you need to look up what those words you have highlighted mean. You are probably busy shedding tears for the fallen terrorist, so let me help you a little bit there.

The preamble states “WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the UNITY and INTEGRITY of the Nation”. (Sorry for highlighting 2 extra words Ms. Bakshi, but they were important to me)

Secular, Ms. Bakshi, actually means separation of state and religion. If India were to be truly secular, there would be no religion based reservations or special status for minorities or haj subsidies or money taken away from temple coffers while allowing masjids and churches to keep their money for themselves, and there would be a uniform civil code in place. It has nothing to do with that fact that the Prime Minister of this country does not attend Iftar parties. Why should he Ms. Bakshi? He is a Hindu, he is not observing a fast, why should he partake in Iftari? For symbolism? I firmly believe your actions should reflect your thoughts. Now if the Prime Minister, attends an Iftar party, he should do so after observing roza, to break his fast; if he attends one without observing a roza, he would be a hypocrite. Besides, he is a Hindu ma’am. He should not be forced to celebrate an Islamic tradition just to soothe your mind; that would be an infringement of his right to follow his religion. As long as he is not infringing upon your right to follow your religion, you should have no problem.

Democracy is defined as a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Last time I checked, India was still a democracy and Narendra Modi is its democratically elected Prime Minster much to your chagrin apparently. Now you say this is a joke and that I should ask Hardik Patel (leading “peaceful” agitations for Patel! reservations), Kanhaiya Kumar (organizer of “peaceful” demonstration for Kashmiri azadi and conveniently changed the subject to gareebi se azadi when caught) and Umar Khalid (of the “peaceful” bandook ki dum pe lenge azadi fame). Thanks but no thanks! I don’t think I need to take lessons on democracy from such “peaceful” icons who urge youth to take up arms against the state, while receiving a state subsidized education.

And then Ms. Bakshi, you question the justice in the death of youth protesting the killing of a terrorist. Burhan Wani is a terrorist Ms. Bakshi, nothing less. He is a commander of the Hizb-ul Mujahideen – a terrorist organization and he recruited for it. Whether he fired a bullet or not is up for speculation; but by your definition, “Shri” Hafeez Saeed is also innocent because he only incites others to wage war against India, right? And Osama Bin Laden is also innocent because he only urged his followers to do his bidding, he was not the one to fly those planes into the World Trade Center. Right? And yes, those youth who were killed were only showering flowers at Burhan, but the great soul of Burhan turned those flowers into stones directed at his demonic slayers – the armed forces. Right?

Then you question the existence of liberty in India because a curfew has been imposed. I think you have the likes of Burhan and the Hurriyat to blame for that ma’am. These people were nowhere to be seen when the valley needed help during the floods recently. It was the satanic army which helped ma’am, the help which the valley gratefully received and ungratefully forgot. I don’t see you mention the Hurriyat and the militants in your emotional post – I am forced to wonder why.

As for your allegations about equality, I have to agree with you. Constitutionally sanctioned inequality exists where the Hindus are discriminated against just by virtue of being the majority. Let’s not forget about Kashmir here. Though the state unequivocally joined the Indian Union, article 370 prevents its integration with the rest of India. It prevents outside investment in the state and hampers economic growth. It also guarantees unequal representation of the people of other regions of the state in the legislative assembly and ensures only a representative from the valley becomes the state’s Chief Minister. Could you remind me why this is necessary?

Lastly you question the sense of fraternity in the Indian society because people are not standing in solidarity with the protests against the Indian state. As a person who has lived in countries spanning every inhabitable continent on Earth, let me tell you something definitively Ms. Bakshi, India is the only country where you can sympathize with a terrorist and still walk free. Ask Zakir Naik or Kavitha Krishnan or their ilk, and they will tell you.

Let me ask you an honest question Ms. Bakshi, did you ask why USA did not prosecute Osama Bin Laden and killed him instead? I know that Kavitha Krishnan wanted mercy for Yakub Memon and some of her ideological partners even signed mercy pleas for Kasab; so I can understand their pain at Burhan’s slaying. Are you one of them? I hope not, because otherwise I would have wasted my time writing to you.

Furthermore Ms. Bakshi, in the entire discourse about the Kashmiri community being drummed up today, why do the exiled Kashmiris remain forgotten? Is there a single voice in the valley that talks against the blatant vandalism of temples in the state? When the UNSC Resolution of Kashmir clearly states that to hold a plebiscite, Pakistan must first demilitarize, following which India will demilitarize while retaining the presence of its army to defend itself; why isn’t there a push for demilitarization by Pakistan? Do the separatists really want an end to this violence? Let me be very clear ma’am, the rest of India does not condone the violence happening in Kashmir right now; that being said, the rest of India also wonders why there are no protests against the separatists who oppose the proposed townships for the exiled religious minority groups. Is Kashmir only for the Muslims? Isn’t this religious bigotry in the garb of a freedom struggle? Why should any sane Indian stand in solidarity with this farce?

Thank you,

An idiot who tolerates terrorist sympathizers.

Rana Ayyub slammed on social media for spreading lies about Kashmir violence

OpIndia Staff
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Rana Ayyub slammed on social media for spreading lies about Kashmir violence

We have often seen mainstream media outlets and people associated with the mainstream media blame “trolls” on social media for spreading wrong information. Although media itself has gotten far too many things wrong, sometimes some of the information circulated on social media also is not accurate.

For example we had just posted how an “investigative news portal” called Cobrapost, picked up a random video from social media and publicised it as if it was a recent happening. The video showed the Indian army killing a Pakistani terrorist in 2011, but Cobrapost presented that as a recent video, and did not mention that the man killed was in fact a terrorist.

Just today Rana Ayyub, who is commonly seen on mainstream media debates used her twitter account to spread gross untruths. Last year Rana Ayyub was involved in falsely naming RSS chief in a nun rape case, whereas the actual culprits were Bangladeshis. Ayyub posted this tweet:


Even as her tweet was being shared among her followers and beyond, some others, including some from her own fraternity, were busy correcting her:



Yes, on both the counts, Rana Ayyub was wrong. Not only does the army not use pellet guns, even the photo used by this “investigative journalist” was from 2015.

Even after being called out and criticised by many including her media colleagues, Rana Ayyub did not yield. The tweet remains as it is, there is no apology. Will the Information and Broadcasting ministry take action? Will the Army take note of this defamatory tweet? Will any action be taken for a tweet which tried to spread discontent towards the Indian army by using inaccurate information?

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