Being “scarily bonkers” and “flirting with rabid sentiments”
Once again, M J Akbar says it like only he can:
The Urdu paper theory is, in brief, that 26/11 was organised to kill Hemant Karkare, a brave police officer, because he was on the verge of exposing Hindu zealots. This implies that Hindu zealots came to a deal with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose leader Hafiz Saeed was so delighted that, with the help of ISI, he armed and trained 10 young men, and sent them on Jihad to India so that Hindu zealots might be protected!
I am not a votary of the exclamation mark, but rarely has it been more necessary. You have to be scarily bonkers to believe such utter nonsense. It is one thing when an editor desperate for circulation takes recourse to stupidity.When a man who has been chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and could be home minister of India promotes such rubbish, we have to worry about the health of our politics.
A historic event such as 26/11 creates a national narrative that might blur at the edges but is essentially consistent with the truth. Digvijaya Singh compromised the Indian narrative in order to flirt with rabid sentiment.
The irony is the Congress is losing the Muslim vote because it no longer understands the Muslim vote. Indian Muslims have seen through the deception of decades. They are, at long last, rejecting the politics of fear and demanding development. Check out Bihar.
Somewhat related: Why Antulay should think before he speaks and First Shashi Tharoor, next Kathlal now Nitish Kumar and the NDA alliance…
Bingo
Jai Bharat!
True, to worry is health of politics! Congress by hook or crook wants to remain in power( most of them are greedy of power). If tomorrow people stop electing congress they can stoop to any level to come back to power.
Well, it is the greed that binds congress and it’s media geniuses. Loyalty to the dynasty will exist as long as the family can deliver goods to the greedy and the family knows this. The situation is similar to a pirate ship – as long as you have greed you are a member and captain must deliver booty to remain captain. So they will continue this politics, I want to see sensible politics from opposition though.
MJ Akbar’s claim that Muslims want to see development looks like a hyperbole to me. It is entirely possible that a small section of Muslims would like that but most would listen to their mullahs and ulemas before voting. In Bihar’s case, that vote bank was split. Wait for UP/Bengal/Assam elections.
Now wait for deluded Congress supporters to come and justify Diggy and clown prince.
I don’t see any problem with Digvijay Singh’s statements – he is a member of the secular party, and his statements are completely secular, thus above any criticism. Besides, those who point out how stupid those statements are, only have a communal agenda on their minds and want to divide people.
I am so offended by the title and the contents of your post ! Its is rabidly pro-Hindu ! 😀
The congress philosophy is similar to that of the British. Divide and rule.
Don’t agree with everything he says, but he is on the button here.
With the coming bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into 2 states and the split with Jagan Moron Reddy, the KKangress no longer rules as a single party anywhere. These are desperate times for a desperate party devoid of any form of leadership.
However, I still think that the “secular” garbage and anti-Hindu plank is not mere desperation: there is a vicious streak coming down from Nehru which has been internalized and legitimized within.
MJ Akbar as I understand is a nationalist. I recall when he took on that witness-tutoring evidence-concocting Teesta in a debate on BBC when she was sparing no effort to paint India as some sort of a totalitarian state.
The latest utterances of Rahul/Sonia/Digvijaty Singh make it a traitor party.
Trying to create a fictitious demon such as saffron terror, to appease certain hypothetical vote bank, is an insult to the intelligence of an average Indian, including that perceived vote bank, to all of us indeed. They have stooped to a level to which only desperate monarchs stop, which by all appearances the Congress is!
They will go down in the history as traitors!
ISI spy enrolled in Youth Congress as per the report in Mid day:
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/dec/211210-Pakistani-ISI-Javed-Mozawala-Rahul-Gandhi-Youth-Congress.htm
I don’t know what’s happened to the Congress party in general and Digvijay Singh in particular. He has been caught offguard not once but in several occasions over the last couple of months. To bring in this whole issue of Hindu terror is completely uncalled for and baseless. Add to this Wikileaks revealed about RG’s view on terror. The Congress party seems to have lost it. For heaven sake, let’s not make a mockery out of our martyrs.
Politicians will say things that please most people and offend least. Judges are expected to be a little more truthful but politicians have tested these waters by watching people’s responses to Banerjee commission report on Godhra. That report went without much protest (the one that hurts – not the ivory tower discussions on secularism or nationalism), so the politician knows that similar utterances will not hurt much. In any case, Digvijay Singh does not have much to lose at the moment, and everything to gain with provocative utterances.
Congress politicians know the real danger, and that is the price of onions, grains, and milk. The inflation is hurting Congress. That has set the cat amongst pigeons, so to say.
Conspiracy theories are in general, always bonkers. The idea of “Hindu Zealots” teaming up with Muslim terrorists is ridiculous. But what to do? There are always fringe elements who’ll cook up some story or the other.
@BJP (#13),
Fringe elements? How do you reach the idea that Digvijay Singh is a “fringe element”?
Digvijay Singh’s wikipedia page is a good starting point if one wishes to know more about him. He is one of the more (perhaps, even in the top three) competent congress politicians. He was MP CM for 10 years, but after losing 2003 elections he “vowed publicly and repeatedly not to go for any elections for 10 years if he did not win the December 2003 elections and kept his words”. That speaks volumes for his resolve. We do need such politicians. He is certainly not a fringe element as Sid has rightly pointed out. His self-imposed moratorium on contesting elections ends in 2013 so he seems to be preparing for the upcoming re-entry.
That said, it is also true that he has used this ‘technique’ of ‘blaming the innocents or the victims’ before in the Jhabua nun’s rape case and a few other cases. He is not alone in using this technique. It works because of many reasons. The most important reason, I believe, is the inability of BJP, Hindus, and other right wing thinkers and activists to focus on a cause. I repeat, what Diggi Raja said about Karkare is 100 times milder than the Banerjee commission report that went unchallenged. Unfortunately, right wing thinkers and activists are busy figuring out what secularism is, and who is a nationalist and who is not, and the UCC, and many such academic issues while real threats, both physical and conceptual, are going unnoticed and unchallenged.
@Prakash,
About Banerjee commission, this is what Gujrat HC had to say:
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=75485
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/story/180656/
Why would any organization or activist whom you would call right wing waste their time after a state high court would declare it as “illegal” and “unconstitutional”?
When RahulG talks about ‘saffron’ terror – is he also a fringe element? When he says that ‘saffron’ terror is more dangerous than Islamic terror, what are his motivations?
You are absolutely right, Bhagwad. Digvijay Singh(ex CM of MP), Antulay(ex CM of MH), Aziz Burney(editor of Rashtriya Sahara-Urdu, and author of RSS ki Saazish-26/11) are all “fringe” elements.
@Prakash
“We do need such politicians.”
Did you happen to live in M.P. during the ten years of his reign?
#16 Sid, That is fine, then. Don’t waste time over Digvijay Singh’s statement. Perhaps, some court will take care of it.
Guys, Bhagwad Jal Park seems like and behaves like a typical Hindu-baiter – on purpose making outlandish and stupid statements (“fringe elements”) which even he knows are not backed by any facts, just to provoke others. There’s not much to be gained by roiling ourselves up over it – it is best to ignore him and his statements – unless one wants to waste time banging one’s head against a wall.
@Kaffir
You are right. A cursory glance at his blog proves that he willfully promotes agendas even he knows are not correct.
Better not waste time on likes of him. We will only get into outlandish arguments, and feigning ignorance when the going gets tough, or sudden dropping out of the discussion. This in itself is sufficient to tell the lies.
Time will be better spent on more constructive things.
I know my words are harsh, but sadly, true.
@Prakash (#20),
“Perhaps”? The facts that any court have not taken care of it and we can not depend on clauses like “Perhaps” make us indignant. If you want to depend on such logic, why did not you stay away from this particular topic? The entire court decision on Banerjee committee is the result of indignance of some people who did not wait on “Perhaps”, is not it?