Leopards, spots, hawks, doves..
Arch hawk while in power, vehemently pro-nuclear, and all for the Hindu-state, Mr Advani was quite the belligerent #2.. Now as leader of the Opposition Advani goes to Pakistan and suddenly discovers his roots, making statements like:
"But when the country one is visiting is Pakistan... ... how can that experience be described?
Pleasure? Great pleasure? Delight?" - that from his speech in Karachi, which you can find here. This is accompanied by some wishy-washy statements describing the demolition of the Babri Masjid as the "saddest day of my life" - this is no acceptance of culpability, just a watered down expression of grief. He proceeds to get the Sanghis all hot and bothered by describing Jinnah as "secular", comes home - dramatically resigns, and then retracts his resignation after the miffed Sangh is suitably placated - what a farce.. The BJP resolution states:
"..the state [Mr Jinnah] founded is theocratic and non-secular, the very idea of Hindus and Muslims being separate nations is repugnant to [the BJP]...
...there can be no revisiting the reality that Jinnah led a communal agitation to achieve his goal of Pakistan, which devoured thousands of innocent people in its wake and dispossessed millions of their homes and livelihood " - that from here.. And they top it all by saying " The BJP has always condemned the division of India on communal lines and continues to steadfastly reject the two-nation theory championed by Jinnah and endorsed by British colonialists" - that quote from here
At the risk of being branded "pseudo-secular" and maybe even an "Anti-India Marxist individual" - just how does a party of a such a despicable character as Narendra Modi, make statements like this with a straight face? Do they really think India's a nation of morons?
"There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the National Race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the National Race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the National Race.
From this standpoint, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, that is, of the Hindu Nation, and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment -- not even citizen's rights." - This from Mr. Golwalkar, RSS guru of yore, indeed partition of the country among communal lines was first propounded by V.D. Savarkar in his essay "Hindutva" dated 1923, way before the Muslim League and Jinnah.. Golwalkar and Savarkar are revered as "great leaders" by the rank and file of the RSS cadre - lest we forget, these are men that subscribe to Nazi ideas of "Aryan race pride" and "race purity"..
Humour me, let us contrast this with Jinnah's speech to the Constituent Assembly:
"If you will work in cooperation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work in a spirit that every one of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.
I cannot overemphasise it too much. We shall begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and Muslim community,… will vanish. Indeed, if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain its freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long ago.
Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free, you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed; that has nothing to do with the business of the State.…You will find that in course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State." - who's the fundamentalist here? Islam may have become rather fundamentalist under the Wahhabist influence, but Jinnah's own brand of Islam is in stark contrast to the Taleban's, indeed he was once derided as "Pandit Jinnah". Never thought I'd see the day when I agreed with L.K.Advani.. For a discussion of the whole issue, do check this excellent opinion piece in Outlook magazine.
Big Brother still very much calls the shots at the BJP - once a Sanghi, always a Sanghi.. This whole fracas to me conjures up of images of a school head-master punishing an errant pupil with a rap on the knuckles, and making him kneel with a finger on his lips, imagery helped in no small part by the Sanghs penchant for khaki knicker-boxers.. :) Should probably use this opportunity to learn more about Partition - evidently a tumultuous and controversial time in India's history, shall put that on the to-do list..
"But when the country one is visiting is Pakistan... ... how can that experience be described?
Pleasure? Great pleasure? Delight?" - that from his speech in Karachi, which you can find here. This is accompanied by some wishy-washy statements describing the demolition of the Babri Masjid as the "saddest day of my life" - this is no acceptance of culpability, just a watered down expression of grief. He proceeds to get the Sanghis all hot and bothered by describing Jinnah as "secular", comes home - dramatically resigns, and then retracts his resignation after the miffed Sangh is suitably placated - what a farce.. The BJP resolution states:
"..the state [Mr Jinnah] founded is theocratic and non-secular, the very idea of Hindus and Muslims being separate nations is repugnant to [the BJP]...
...there can be no revisiting the reality that Jinnah led a communal agitation to achieve his goal of Pakistan, which devoured thousands of innocent people in its wake and dispossessed millions of their homes and livelihood " - that from here.. And they top it all by saying " The BJP has always condemned the division of India on communal lines and continues to steadfastly reject the two-nation theory championed by Jinnah and endorsed by British colonialists" - that quote from here
At the risk of being branded "pseudo-secular" and maybe even an "Anti-India Marxist individual" - just how does a party of a such a despicable character as Narendra Modi, make statements like this with a straight face? Do they really think India's a nation of morons?
"There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the National Race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the National Race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the National Race.
From this standpoint, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, that is, of the Hindu Nation, and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment -- not even citizen's rights." - This from Mr. Golwalkar, RSS guru of yore, indeed partition of the country among communal lines was first propounded by V.D. Savarkar in his essay "Hindutva" dated 1923, way before the Muslim League and Jinnah.. Golwalkar and Savarkar are revered as "great leaders" by the rank and file of the RSS cadre - lest we forget, these are men that subscribe to Nazi ideas of "Aryan race pride" and "race purity"..
Humour me, let us contrast this with Jinnah's speech to the Constituent Assembly:
"If you will work in cooperation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work in a spirit that every one of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.
I cannot overemphasise it too much. We shall begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and Muslim community,… will vanish. Indeed, if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain its freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long ago.
Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free, you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed; that has nothing to do with the business of the State.…You will find that in course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State." - who's the fundamentalist here? Islam may have become rather fundamentalist under the Wahhabist influence, but Jinnah's own brand of Islam is in stark contrast to the Taleban's, indeed he was once derided as "Pandit Jinnah". Never thought I'd see the day when I agreed with L.K.Advani.. For a discussion of the whole issue, do check this excellent opinion piece in Outlook magazine.
Big Brother still very much calls the shots at the BJP - once a Sanghi, always a Sanghi.. This whole fracas to me conjures up of images of a school head-master punishing an errant pupil with a rap on the knuckles, and making him kneel with a finger on his lips, imagery helped in no small part by the Sanghs penchant for khaki knicker-boxers.. :) Should probably use this opportunity to learn more about Partition - evidently a tumultuous and controversial time in India's history, shall put that on the to-do list..