far more black people die in rwanda than in baltimore. yet, guess which one is more egregious? (hint – the one where democratic institutions purportedly exist)

you don’t have to believe in organized religion to be ‘right wing’. hitler was a vegetarian, socialist, animal lover. which proves little. just like the channel v slur to smear rakesh sharma’s cred. does little except make you sound petty.

you’re more like a garden variety right leaning soc-economic libertarian who for some reason likes to flag wave every now and then. not to mention pander to the dominant Indian hegemonic social group i.e. hindus.

i do like your movie posts, which are quirky and sometimes genuinely funny. and it’s scary because i come from a fairly similar background as you, knew dozens of people like you, yet reading your hyper nationalist screed makes me want to take a shower.

For one, I can’t quite figure what is that you are attacking? Or defending?. Rakesh Sharma could well be a prick out to sell his motherland off for scraps from the white-skinned, but why even for a moment defend something as despicable as the Gujarat Riots? (You did say you wanted Modi behind bars, but nothing in your post backed that up) To top it, you sounded to be in silent awe of Pakistan for the deft handling of their minority problem. That is what I get when I read about “shattering silence” and the lack of “Mir Jaffers”, and you seem to be recommending the same solutions to us in India.

Secondly, if Rakesh Sharma chooses to create a movie out of an event such as this and screen it wherever he chooses, what makes him a traitor? Just because he used the term “Final Solution” and you know a few things more about “Final Solution” than him. How do you define patriotic parameters? In all probabilities, wanted to but could not (a) Censor Board, you see – these guys wont even let you smoke in celluloid (b)Our moral policing brigade – they wouldn’t let Fanaa be shown, how the heck do you think this piece would have been screened? (c) or plainly, fear for his life. What he did surely makes him an opportunist, and a coward maybe, but no Traitor. That was pure pop-patriotism gurgling out of you. The kind we see marketed by the cola brigades on Cricket Grounds when India takes on Pakistan which evaporates even before the fizz in the cola goes off.

Your view that Modi sure deserves a rap on his knuckle but does not deserve being compared to Hitler beats me.. Heart of the matter is, Modi, if left by himself could have done exactly what ‘Mein Führer’ ended up doing. Not just Modi, but any individual set upon violence as a means to express his / her racial or religious hatred carries the same virus as those that inflicted the cranky old man. Countless numbers across the globe including Arabs, Indonesians, Rwandans, Israelis, Croats, Boznians, Chechens.. endless.. and unfortunately, a few Indians as well. That is the fact, an irrefutable fact. (Any omission in this is not by design, but because of limitations of my historic perspective, I do not intend to raise a debate on this point).Hitler managed better numbers in the end, conditions were ripe for him. We at least have the benefit of hind-sight, and shouldn’t be making the same errors.

Again, before you bring upon me the entire weight of your wrath using your considerable literary skills, may I submit that I am no pseudo-liberal, I have no political alignments, and I stand for nothing but my conscience here.

After all, as Atticus Finch says in To Kill a Mockingbird – ” The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. .”

did you tell ms. hashmi that she should have packed her bags and fled from religious persecution and joined pollywood? if not, you should’ve.

needless to say, i really agree with this post. on the other hand, at one location, your response to kashyapeya’s comment states that you are not parochial, but each time i come across your support of ganguly, i doubt it.

on a lighter note: “I agree with you on Hinduism. It is a remarkable philosophy which never ever says “Hinduism is the ONLY way to God.” Islam and Christianity say so.” when did they say that?!! lol!

yourfan2:

thanks for redirecting me to this excellent post. came from amit verma’s (yet another mirjafferian – he has approached uk instead of usa) article in the guardian.

- s.b.

@Shadows: I have real issues with the use of the word “genocide” with respect to Gujrat 2002 simply because the word has a very specific meaning. And by using it loosely and if I may so mischievously, these traitors are responsible for getting India into all kind of human rights watchlists.

@Gaurav: Thank you….and yes the stereotyping is definitely disappointing.

I think dishonesty and reluctance on part of guardian of public conscience (i.e media) is one of the fundamental reasons behind so much rot in India.

Regards

PS. Thanks for standing for us “bhayyas” . I think the kind of stereotyping (thoughtless and narrow minded) some people indulge in is a dissservice to our countless ancestors who sacrificed for this country.

These people should ask themselves did Gandhi serve for Gujarat or Netaji fought for Bengal only.

Great post, Arnab. Wonderful. So clearly put. Expect to be attacked by the seculo-liberal terrorists.

I think there is an equivalent of Godwins Laws at work in Indian forums and blogosphere. Modi takes the place of Hitler in the Indian version of Godwins laws. Alas…. there is no justice.

@gamesmaster
You are right. Rather than forcing us to take action, the calumnous exaggerated shrill barkings of these liberal fundamentalists actually irritates.
I call them seculo-liberal terrorists. I use this term commonly on my blog.

Let us for a moment assume that you are an award winning athlete. You have won several Olympic medals. Now one day a young historian wants to study your childhood . He goes to your ancestral home, a dilapideted but proud building and looks around for souveneirs of the great person on whom he is writting a story. But the neighbours and people around say the same things which are already known- the historian is looking for something unique, something hidden in time and something which the world has hitherto not seen.

Then he moves up the old building, finally reaches a small room beside the terrace and decides to look inside. In the most unlikeliest of places he finds a gold medal which you had won when in high school beating your arch rival whom you again had the better of in the olympics several years later.
—
My analogy may seem obscure but this post of April 2005 is something like that. Now in June 2006, the world knows you more for desibaba, 1-900 and those film reviews, not to forget the andaman and birthday posts. But just like classics of poets hitherto unpublished , this post stunned me into silence. True why does not mainstream media have writers like you. Why dont i find writings like this elsewhere? I ask myself. The reply that comes from within is “He is the best blogger. Others cannot write like that.”

To the casual reader, this post may seem like just like any other post (like the plethora of medals that the athlete has won ), but to the historian in me, this one is priceless.

I wont go specific parts of your post as each line is a gem. Even stunning is the reply to others. My blood pressures now racing and Im feeling so good now.

Why only 8 responses? This ought to be taught to all the schoolchildren in India. Awesome. You are one of the greatest Indians of this century.

Suffice it to say that even by your standards this ones a classic. Seldom can such levels of blogging be achieved. A classic is a classic is a classic is a classic is a classic.

-yourfan2