Yahaan bhi hoga wahan bhi hoga
Ab to saare jahaan mein hoga
Kya… tera hi jalwa
You have seen her at many international forums, performing verbal item numbers for honorariums, regurgitating Chomskian rhetoric at fashionable venues, going around in the forests of Dantewada as part of the “Is Jangal Se Mujhe Bachao—the sponsored edition” and in general being bindaas in front of any open mic that she can get hold of (as long as there is a pressman with a notebook present).
Now India’s greatest reality intellectual queen, the darling of the classes, sedition-uctress supreme Arundhati is coming to your Brahminical Hindu 46 inch flat screen.
Arundhati ka Insaaf.
Music: Kar faislaa kar faislaa….kar jhooth aur sach ka faislaa….
Cutscene 1: Arundhati shouting, brandishing muscular arm:
Duniyaan thukegi India pe, aur har desh ki ma uska naam India rakhne se ghabrayegi.…..
Crowd consisting of bearded jholawalas (both men and women) shout: Chi Chi India, Chi Chi India….India badi minorities ke dushmaan Hai Hai Hai...
Cutscene 2: Arundhati on screen makes her eyes round as saucers:
Bhai life main taang kheechne waale bahoot hote hai (pointing to the Indian flag) lekin haath pakadne waale bahot kam (pointing to a red Communist flag), dhoka dene waale bahot hote hai (pointing to an Indian flag once again) par mauka dene waale[sly wink] bahot kam (pointing to the Pakistani flag).
Lekin abh kisi capitalist-imperalistic ki dadagiri naheen chalegi, kyon ki bhatke huye Maoist aur Islamic terrorists ko rasta main dikhayoongi, Kashmir ko azaadi dilwaane ki solution main dhoondongi, kyon ki yahaan pe insaaf hoga..
Crowd shouts: Arundhati ka insaaf hoga…
Arundhati smiles smugly.
Cutscene 3: Arundhati shouting yet again: Maroongi pakadke chata, aadmi naheen tu, hain tu Birla-Tata. India se shaadi aur Israel ke saath suhaagraat !
Helped in her mission of justice, will be her chaar mushtande bouncers— Navlakha (Mujhe navlakha maanga de re o saiyyan deewane), Geelani (Geela Geela Paani), Yasin Malik (video of Yasin Malik dancing to Jashn-e-Azadi) and Kobad Ghandy (Sab Ghandy Hai Par Handy Hoon Main).
Cutscene 4: Arundhati gently to Maoist terrorist: Kitna pyara hai tu, gaale naheen miloge mujhe [holding pose for a few seconds for camera]
So hold on tight to your seats. All Bramhin Hindus, all Indians and you effin bourgeois be scared very scared. Arundhati and her freakshow are in town. And this time they are handing out liberally their brand of insaaf.
Dont arrest her please. Cause that’s what she wants. Then the Nobel Prize for Peace is assured.
So just tune in. And try not to laugh. Too much.
[Picture courtesy: Outlook India]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
I was expecting a post. Thanks for it.
missed ipod i guess
curt & concise… well written.. point is, even after all these she won’t be running out of supporters..
Shocking — can happen only in Mera Bharat Mahan…where they arrested people shouting VandeMatram in the auditorium in Delhi to give more space for ‘Free Speech’ to people shouting Anti-India slogans???
Shocking that media and other sickulars who damned the Kashmiri Pandits for protesting against this anti-India gathering with mere slogans are the ones who are vocal on how ‘stone pelters’ in Kashmir have genuine concerns & deserve economic packages and healing touch.
And now you will have ArunDirtyRoy in more such shows – being made the next MG Hussain kind of martyr of FreeSpeech and then maybe even vying for a NobelPeacePrize…
After her careless comments about Kashmir, I was expecting a post. here. Afterall, you were the one who coined the “Rakhi Sawant with a Booker” phrase [:)]. Good job, GB
And this chap Gautam Navlakha is just nauseating in his selective love of the downtrodden. Who the hell awards these “Human Rights Activist” titles anyways???Where do u buy on such title/degree? Too many self-style HR walas’ in the streets…
This chap once said on TV
http://soulinexile.blogspot.com/2008/08/mr-gautam-navlakha-i-have-objection-to.html
—that he has an objection to anyone even mentioning the atrocities on Kashmiri Pandits in context of Kashmir – guess, since it gives his Kashmiri terrorists friends a bad name.
Those “shocked” at this, please do not be. Under the current regime, with media sold out to Saudi money, be prepared to be lynched / hounded out of your country if you are anywhere right of “extreme left”
The extreme left – ah well, they have already fallen in line
After I read the news on Geelani and Ms. Roy, I knew that there would be a post. Needless to say, both have gone senile.
??????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?? ?? ??-????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ???????? ?????. ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?????.
If Nobel Committee says to Arundhati Sister that “If you come with Al-Qyeda, we will give you Nobel Prize”. Next day she will in photo with Osama Bin Laden.
@Ghulam – and she will claim that Osama is actually a misunderstood man.
And actually Osama is “her type of a guy” – destroys signs of capitalism (WTC) – like Maoists destroy schools and railway stations, is anti-“imperialism” (USA in this case), represents a certain hardline ideology (like Geelani). Also, this would give her an opportunity to spend time “in the caves of Tora Bora, Afghanistan”.
Only in this case, her American liberal backers (who sponsored her Jungle trip in Mao-land), would be wiped off by US-Israel
Ok, GB-da, if the number of “Glenn Beck” references by “liberals” on this discussion forum >5, do I get an I-Pod?
Isnt it better that Arundhati Roy is being honest and coming out openly in support of Jihad?
Atleast the confused lot of pseudoseculars (including a few who post here) will find it more and more difficult to sleep at night, supporting her.
Credits to Kashmiri Hindus for leading the fight against Jihad sympathizers in Delhi.
And for all that crap she spouts, Pak press(obviously!) lauds her.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/26-Oct-2010/Arundhati-exposes-India
Apart from the enormous praise heaped on her, loved the way this article brings Islamabad into picture and banishes US at the same time!
@Rishi Khajur,
most of those pseudos, will now target you, as they do anyways. But these “brave” people will remain anonymous 🙂 (our “Liberals” are a bunch of “real brave men” :))
But what I fund really funny is the fact that a bunch of “liberals” support hardliners in Kashmir, some of whom, like Malik, are known criminals under IPC (read Sarla Bhatt)
Khujur Rishi isnt anonymous? That’s his real name ? Har Har ! Kaushik Saha, think awhile before commenting.
“Geelani (Geela Geela Paani)”.
Ha ha ha. Amazing humour. Simply brilliant!
[how does non-geela paani look?]
when will the govt of India act? letting her go scott free will be costly.
This is the farce of democracy..freedom of speech, freedom of this and freedom of that! Look what all things we can do with our freedom. She blames india’s governance of being dictatorial, tyrannic and ‘evil’; does she even realize for the same set of comments in Saddam’s regime or Iran’s regime she would have been first tortured and then murdered by the state’s secret police…even in the US when a kid wrote something stupid on a website about wanting to hurt the president of the United States he was picked up by the FBI and thrown behind bars…she has no idea how tolerant our system is towards uncouth and shameless people like her. as Greatbong said please do not arrest her, lest the cerebral international community (which talks about nuclearization of India in the same breath as North Korea, Iran and Pakistan acquiring Nuclear Weapons) gifts her the long pending Nobel Peace Prize!
@ Apratim, please read Kaushik’s comment again, you will realise your mistake…
Somewhere shobha de is rolling on her bed. planning her moves for her share of attention.
Isn’t an arrest exactly what Ms Roy wants?
No fan of the Congress, but spokesperson Manish Tewari wondered on NDTV the other night why we are interested in giving more publicity to a “bunch of losers”. Which I feel is an apt description.
If the political noise that was made, did not happen, how many media outlets would have cared to report on a conference titled ‘Azadi – the only way’? Ms Roy, Geelani and bunch blow hot air all the time. At best the reaction of the national and international community (who have the time to pay an attention to this wannabe Jane Fonda) is ho-hum, and the impact on national policy is zilch.
Ms Roy is but on the fringes of an imagined leftist brotherhood, which itself is a fringe community on the national/world stage with Chomsky as its hero (who, as we ALL know, is the driving force behind US foreign policy, much like Ms Roy is behind ours).
A well publicized arrest on the eve of the US President’s visit and accompanying media frenzy is, of course, the reason why this ‘conference’ has been organized at this time and at Delhi.
I’m sure GOI is not blind to this fact.
Nobody is going to get arrested. And if political parties in the opposition have any sense, they are quietly going to let this slip. For now.
A couple of weeks after Obama leaves, Delhi Police can ‘complete their assessment’ of the meeting transcripts and take action.
Wishful thinking. I know.
@Brijesh:
ROTFL!!
Arundhati Roy is a bitch and thats actually insulting the dogs of the world.
She thinks Kashmir is not an integral part of India just like her brain is not an integral part of her body.
Earlier she was supporting the Maoists, before that opposing Narmada dam , she proclaimed that 26/11 attack on Mumbai was justified and now she wants Kashmir to secede ?
She thinks India is not democratic and liberal. Ok then people lets show her what she wants to see…arrest her and her kinds ( including her slave gautam navlekha) and let them shout slogans from behind the bars of Tihar Jail.
Not surprisingly, her usual supporters and fan-boys/girls will give this post a skip. Amazing the kind of myopia the ‘liberals’ display…..
You never disappoint, GB! Lovely post.
And Oh btw, Rahul Bose here thinks (and Konkona agrees) that the author of “God of Small Thongs” is the sexiest woman in the world!
http://tinyurl.com/22tsuzo
Ulyaaakthu!
This one is quite poorly written. You ususally do a better job when it comes to Arundhuti and her dramabazi. Anyways, Communist Red flag is not exactly what she is very fond of or is depending upon for support. I mean if you consider the Left Front as the Communists in India, flawed to what degree is another issue; her brothers in arms would be the Indian Maoists who are more into the Pol Pot-Khemer style that say spare a thought on what people like poor Rosa Luxemburg or Lenin for the matter ever said!
She’s such a cow (okay, maybe not looks wise but yeah).
I hope she marries a misogynistic maoist. Then we’d all be happy.
Also, she’s no liberal. Liberals don’t believe in armed struggles, for god’s sake.
Here’s swapan@thepioneer http://www.dailypioneer.com/291828/Deny-Arundhati-claim-to-fame.html
every dog has its day. ArunDHOTI is having her’s now. Ignore her.
btw, superb post GB.
I get into some sort of self-flagellation mode every time I read about this woman. Isn’t this typically Indian, over-hyping someone the moment they get an International award? And then have these semi-talented half-wits take repeated dumps all over our sensibilities, with the media sensationalizing every self-important word that they spout.
We just bring it upon ourselves, with this attitude of celebrating everything phoren! We go nuts over an Oscar to what was Rahman’s 20th best composition (maybe), and he gives us a pile of dung (fittingly) for CWG. How does this change?
ha ha. hilarious.
Nobel Peace Prize thing was well pointed out. I guess iski bhook ek Booker nahi mita sakta. Nobel (or is it Oscar?) chahiye.
Seriously, where do such characters emerge from?!!!!! Lovely post. Biting humour!
Excellent and timely post, GB.
” The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize is jointly shared by two eminent thinkers and activists of their generation, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri. The Nobel Prize for Literature goes to none other than Arundhati Roy for her epoch making landmark ‘Booker Troll FTW'” Gonna happen ppl! 😀
This lady has some problem with India. I could some how understand her sympathy with Maoists. But with kashmiris.?
I think she has lost her mental balance after smoking some good quality ganja in the maoists jungles.
I am just saying.
On second thought I think she just wants to be in lime light. siding up with Maoists was not getting her enough attention, so now Kashmiris, Very soon, like some one pointed it out here, she will side with al quida. That will get her some attention sure.
May be a American drone will find her.
Zaid hamid of India Arundhati roy
I think that this one time booker wonder watches TV all night long..ticks off the big ticket news and comments against popular logic during the day. Why doesnt she stick to one cause and fight for it in real earnest? Instead she sticks her head into every other cause. I guess her next novel is on the way (and she has learnt it from the khans how to go all out on promotion on the TV)
Well, like the most predictable of tv soaps, now she’s going all martyr on us…
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Pity-the-nation-that-silences-writers-Arundhati-Roy/Article1-618021.aspx
Arundirty Roy is an Indian agent.
First she joins the Narmada protests and poor Medha Pathkar loses all legitimacy.
Then she show common cause with Mao-vadis and suddenly everybody wants to hump them.
Then she show takes stage with Geelani and now everyone wants to set his beard on fire.
Arundirty maata ki jai!
The nation demands that Arundhati Roy be brought before Rakhee Ka Insaaf.
Arundirty is the only (publicity ki) bhookhi, (charitra se) nangi Indian.
will somebody please go and sew her mouth please…I knew that empty vessels make the most noise…but this vessel is making really obnoxious noise (somehow obnoxious seems to be the right word here)…so she must be shut off….an asylum will be better you think?
will somebody please go and sew her mouth please…I knew that empty vessels make the most noise…but this vessel is making really obnoxious noise (somehow obnoxious seems to be the right word here)…so she must be shut off….an asylum will be better you think?
Do whatever you want to her but lets not make that publicity seeking b*tch, a martyr…
We need our own version of Jon Stewart to show these people their right places by exposing their true colors.
How can she get Nobel before Chomsky does?
what’s with the casteist reference?
Casteist?Its not casteist for Arundhati to call India a Bramhin Hindu country. But it is casteist for GB to call her out for it?Waah.
Great Bong should actually take pains to copyright immortal ideas like “what Arundhati Roy is to the (fake) intellectual scenario/ Rakhi Sawant is to reality TV” and such. These are immortal concepts and these GB-isms are easily finding their way to facebook status messages and then getting too many “likes” and/or spawning a series of comments as the Roy-ists and the “humans” battle it out- without any citation! (yes, too long as a grad student, I know).
I have decided to do my part. The moment I see these or other GB-plagiarized notions, I am going to ask that apparently-dull-farmviller-hillybilly to “explain” his/her sources. Hunh.
@ Shubs
Arrest Gilani.
Do not arrest Arundhati Roy.
Educate the common man to humiliate AR in everyday life, wherever she goes. The goal of AR and other overground ultra-left Naxals, is to promote violent sedition and subversion using the public podium and use propaganda to create doubt in the minds of the average people.
Public isolation and public humiliation is the biggest antidote to people like AR. If that is done successfully, AR and her type will be forced to get shriller and shriller in their support for sedition, until they reach a point where the public platform becomes unfeasable for them to hold on to, and they either have to throw themselves with the underground, or they fade away from public opinionmaking.
Gilani, on the other hand is a hardened Islamist, and is the political face of the Mujahids. He needs to be treated with the same love and care as a Mujahideen needs to be treated with, in a Godfearing/freethinking, democratic world.
Well said Bong,
Completely agree to what you said…Dont arrest her. it would add more RDX to fire already present in Valley.
Leave her in seclusion, She is best when left alone.
Also, havong said this, I would comment on what she said as “Pity the nation that silences writers”. She must have forgotten our neighbours “haath pakdne waale aur mauka dene waale” can’t even tolerate freedom of speech, where you are jailed if you ask for democracy, the social rights are still in pityful state.
Alas, We haven’t yet realised the freedom we have is prerogative bestowed on in very few nations.
Dear GB,
I completely agree with you that she is trying to pulloff a huge publicity stunt which has the potential to land her in jail thus one step closer to the Nobel Peace Prize. I do not know what she thinks about the rights of the Kashmiri Pandits who have been driven out of J&K or the rights of the wife and children of the cops who have been killed by the Maoists. I guess she is a egotist and hypocrite of the highest order trying to gain publicity at the cost of the unity of the nation.
And about the Kashmiri cause, what happens to the rights of the men in uniform to protect themselves when people are pelting stones?? Are they supposed move around with white roses instead of guns??? She is one big “AANTEL” (bengali word could not find a more appropriate English word..:()
She is talking about freedom of speech, but what she lacks is the normal intelligence to know where the freedom ends. If she thinks there’s no freedom of speech in India then I do not think T Nasreen would have liked to have sought shelter in India. And if any one has to say anything about the controversial paintings of the famous Indian painter I would say the Danish cartoonist has a fatwa on his head which the Indian painter does not have even after painting a deity in nude.
Arnab da
I was about to email you this link in hopes that you would write a post in its context but u already beat me to the punch!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/jandk/Arundhati-s-statement-from-Srinagar-Full-text/618021/H1-Article1-618034.aspx
You missed out Vara Vara Rao
Shoot her Dead!!! …She has martrydom…The secularist/jihadis have the Noble prize….We have her dead and her bloddy mouth shut forever….
Great post… was fuming since yesterday after reading her comments… ur post lightened up my mood.. Thanks GB.. 🙂
We should actually be thankful to her. She has ensured that we shall not face terrorist attacks in near future. I’m sure all terrorist-breeding institutes are thinking “why groom these men for an attack on India when she’s already there?”
Watch out for world cup cricket 2015. You might find some jobless ex-terrorists in a couple of sides that would do rather well.
While there is no denying that the darling of the self appointed intellectual class is desperately hoping for the international publicity -at the expense of the country- that would result from her arrest at this point in time;her “convictions” seem to give way when it comes to courting hardships -especially those like imprisonment.Back in 2002, when the Supreme Court sentenced her to a day’s imprisonment and a fine of a couple of thousand rupees with a three months imprisonment in case of default -for Scandalizing Authority with Malafide Intentions- Ms.Roy had waxed eloquent about how she would stand by her “convictions” and accept the imprisonment.It is a matter of record that her “convictions” did survive the night.
If history is anything to go by, it won’t be long before will see India’s Hannoi Jane claim that the brutal state is denying her rights for her international audience while at the same time explain to the domestic consumption that her statement had been taken “out of context”.
Sometimes I think that Ms. Roy is nothing but a real-life-flesh-and-blood version of an internet troll.
Arnab,
I was expecting a post. A nice one indeed.
What do you have to say about this accusation
“Ms Roy reminded the Kashmiris at the meeting that she was hurt by their slogan – bhooka nanga Hindustan, jaan se pyara Pakistan – saying that the slogan insulted the poor masses of India. But some reports distorted this, and the headlines screamed that she had asked for secession from poverty-stricken India. ”
made by Dawn in the following article
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/03-i-fight-for-the-love-and-pride-of-my-people-arundhati-roy-ss-03
If this is true, does it not seem like the Indian media is deliberately trying to bringing in talk of “Bhookha nanga hindustan” knowing that it would sting and hurt the pride of middle class India.
Here’s her statement has been quite logically countered. have a look.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/clicklit/entry/don-t-pity-us-arundhati-not-yet
@ Harish
Sorry, but sharing the dias with Geelani and finding common cause with his Jihad, is more than enough reason for us to agree that she actually not only intended to insult the poor masses of India, but the very basis of its existence, but uttering or not “bhooka nanga Hindustan, jaan se pyara Pakistan”.
And Harish or whatever your actual name is, please clarify if you agree to the ideological basis for the creation of Pakistan (and by extension islamic Kashmir).
I await your clarification.
Wonder whats her opinion on Pakis army occupation of POK… Why is she silence on that one if she truly sympathizes with Kashmiris?
GB we didnt want an article poking fun at her. she deserves something really scathing & “serious” sounding..i read this one & made more sense.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/clicklit/entry/don-t-pity-us-arundhati-not-yet
i have mailed it to my “liberal-secular” friends (doing my two-bits for country) as well as your article link at the bottom–with title “if you want to have a good laugh, read this”
🙂
KP,
I have written serious posts on Roy like this (https://greatbong.net/2008/12/16/the-algebra-of-infinite-fundamentalism/) in case you have not read it.
& yea GB….by any means…ever watched South Park?..it kicks fcukin ass!! …you’d like it i m sure. They do take care of liberals (US liberals i mean) in exactly the same way they should be…
…please watch if you haven’t
Ignore her. She gets too much attention, and I guess that is what she is seeking. Let her go to hell(the modern day equivalent of which is Pakistan.
Good one GB!
The perfect punishment for Arundhati is to ignore her. Putting her in jail is like adding ghee to the fire – this is precisely what she wants. And I am sure the bleeding hearts in Norway are considering her for the next Nobel
As far as Geelani is concerned – he is over 80. Let him speak / shout / etc. People will tire of protests and get back to their day jobs. No need to overreact one way or the other. Increasingly, I am beginning to think the best antidote to bandhs and strikes is to ignore them – day after day, month after month. Pandering to them makes matters worse, as does stern action of shooting down a couple of protestors
Superb stuff Sir. Loved the satire. U are right she wants GOI to arrest her. Why is everyone giving her so much of importance? If Ms Roy says secede from India let her. Who cares? I am more worried about what the Chinese Pakis are planning in the Himalayas. Media creates controversies for TRP’s / content.
Arnab, there’s no doubt that Arundhati Roy can say idiotic things, but don’t you think this whole lynch mob thing is getting slightly out of hand? I came back after a long time, and it was a bit of a shock. When did this place become so vicious?
Shattering some Myths on Kashmir
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4504093
Hey Arnab and others, take a look at this “open letter to arundhati roy”. I bet you’d love this – http://blog.fakingnews.com/2010/10/an-open-letter-to-arundhati-roy/
Arnab,
Arundhuti Roy has elite supporters among politicians. There are obviously a few of those in the mainstream Communist parties. However, her support goes right to the top of the ruling party: this is the dirty secret. Allegedly, she is used to test unpalatable positions, perhaps make them more mainstream, before they are floated by the powers that be. Everybody is a winner: she gets the media attention; the ruling party get the votes from locals.
I really stopped having any sympathies with her after her “Gandhian with guns” comment about the Maoists. However, I do think that democracies need a space for such folks: freedom of thought and speech need to protected. Also, her activities can subvert the opposition, by humanizing the enemy (India), giving the government better information about the opposition, and giving both parties certain common intermediaries, biased as they may be.
Also, finally, the middle class have a person/cause who embodies these post-colonial deeply self-loathing “intellectual prostitutes” who sully the corridors of powers. From the PRC supporting Mani Aiyar and the Miliband adoring young prince. Then, perhaps, her activities will reduce the legitimacy of the political leadership behind her.
@Vishesh/@Subhash, thanks for the excellent links.
@ Vasabjit
“…Then, perhaps, her activities will reduce the legitimacy of the political leadership behind her”.
Thats where the people of India come in. This is a crucial time where it needs to be made clear. Those that have a issue with self determination on the basis of religion are free to do Hijrat to Pakistan, as that issue has been settled as per their choice. Thats what is the message that needs to be given to the political leadership.
If the people will, so will the political leadership, irrespective of which party they belong to.
Seems like arundhati spends a lot of time changing her looks…and she has friends in media who takes her pics in interesting ways.
i just searched her and was surprised with her variety of poses and body language..
I guess her main goal is not booker or cooker but salman khan, Ratan Tata types bachelors.but she attracts likes of Rahul Bose…LOL
http://www.google.co.in/images?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=673&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=arundhati+roy&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
absolutely right. please oh please do not arrest her. but can they take away her booker prize? has that ever happened before?
@Harish
I sure was not offended by any slogans chanted by the recent Valley Hurriyat mobs, be it:
– Bhooka nanga Hindustan, Jaan se pyaara Pakistan.
– Gai tumhari mata hai, Hum usko khata hai
– Kaala mooh, Yaak thoo
Why should we get offended? India is a democratic, secular country with free speech, right? 😉
Indian pseudo-secularist thinking does indeed suffer from its ability to comprehend the SARs disease, as highlighted by the two SARs devoted to a deeply anti-Indian agenda:
– S.A.R.Geelani
– Suzanna Arundhati Roy
If Indians live in denial about objectively studying the problem (i.e. delving into the root cause of the two SARs’ anti-Indian hatred), then how can we even hope to fix the problem?
Greatbong,
While I agree to your lampooning of Arundhati Roy we have to remember that the country needs its fair share of people who work for the upliftment of these people and delineate it.No I do not mean armed revolution but there is nothing wrong in ideology.I mean if Kobad Ghandy languishes in Tihar Jail for ideology then how different is he from Liu Xiaobo and how different is India from China.Ironically Laloo Prasad and a million others go scot free and Ramalinga Raju goes out on bail.Surely you will have to accept that inequality exists and driving away these people from their lands in the name of a Vedanta mining project does not sound very correct.I was just doing some reading on Mr Ghandy and came to the conclusion that he has never been involved in violence.If such be the case is he very different from Liu Xiaobo?
Someone has to speak for the people in Midnapore rather than just appeasing the ones at Colaba and Greater Kailash.Or are we feudalistic enough to let Rahul Gandhi and then his son,grandson do it?
PS-Arundhati Roy is a b**** and not worth mentioning.I am talking about people who matter and yes I am not a Maoist supporter and abhor violence.I am just trying to see the other side find what inspired this man to lead such a spartan life and take up such a cause.Maybe you have already read these stuff but FYI-
http://news.rediff.com/special/2009/sep/23/kobad-ghandy-the-gentle-revolutionary.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8270400.stm
http://www.theradicalhumanist.com/index.php?option=com_radical&controller=news&cid=48&Itemid=54
http://www.hindustantimes.com/The-Kobad-Ghandy-I-knew/Article1-456970.aspx
Lovely Post GB!
Your Topic Selection is Simply Great !
@ Debu
Pol Pot was a witty, polite and jovial guy who never killed anybody.
But he was responsible for extermianting nearly half of Cambodia, his own people.
Hitler was a vegetarian who never killed anybody either, but we all know what he did.
If you support Kobad Ghandy, and in the same sentence say you do not support “Armed revolution”, then you are either too young and ignorant to know what the Naxal/Maoist ideology stands for; or like Arundhati Roy, you think that the rest of us are dumb morons and just because we are as frustrated and angry with the likes of Rahul Ghandy’s and Laloo Yadav’s, we will be hoodwinked into shooting ourselves in our stomachs.
Violent revolution IS the fundamental to the Naxal movement. Ideologically, they are allowed to make all tactical compromises, but they cannot make a compromise on that.
Read the Upanishads to cleanse your mind and find philosophical clarity.
Spiritual co-existantialism is more sustainable than radical humanism.
Her statement also carries blatant factual errors in case you didn;t notice.
@Vasabjit: Know that you are a social scientist and have really liked some comments from you on the posts on Maoism etc. Really surprised that it needed the Gandhians with guns comments for you to lose respect for Arundhati! That does seem a bit late in the day if you ask me 😀
@GB: Just wondering if the right reaction is to ignore Arundhati. I know you allude to the same when you talk of laughing about her. But note that even you have multiple posts on her and in a way have served her need for eyeballs. Dont know the answer to this but have realised that the burning sense of indignation and hurt I used to feel for the all-too-apparent intellectual dishonesty does nothing else but raise my blood pressure and stress levels.
Then I had this thought that if the freedoms we hold sacred are to remain, we will always have some such people who will try to eat a free lunch. That behavior needs to be criticised if it gains too much traction but otherwise is best left ignored. Then irrational opinions will truly remain marginal.
You guys can ignore her or make fun of her, but just remember that the bodies of your soldiers and police will keep piling up, from North to Central East. By the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. So keep laughing.
@skjit:
So how’s it like, skjit, commenting on an Indian blog? A bit different from the ones originating from your country, no?
@ skjit
Unfortunately, we have to pay that price to hold the honor of freedom, Dharma, and democracy.
Something that your unfortunate ancestors would have cherished, had they not been enslaved by those very beliefs (and ofcoruse the 72 up there in jannat)for which you are will to kill yourself for.
But then again, its never too late to be free and be on the path of Dharma.
Am a fan of GreatBong humour, but how come all we hear about Roy in the post and the comments is her being a bitch, her dramabazi, and all her countless follies? Are we to assume that the issues that she talks about do not exist, or are too uncomfortable for us to discuss?
Kill her, jail her, mock her, and ignore her. She goes away from public memory. After that, what will you, dear reader, do when you think about a Kashmiri woman who got raped and a tribal who took up guns so that he could eat to live?
My great Indian democracy, turn your face away, for you are too busy and happy to look at things and accept them as they are. We have to be a superpower after all.
Jesus, the article is just poking fun at her. Where does it call for her to killed or jailed? What is it with you people and your gigantic persecution complex? Why can’t you handle a little humour?
We’re against fundamentalism and injustice wherever it occurs. Yes, it is absolutely reprehensible when innocents are killed or harmed in Kashmir, and we protest it. But, why can’t you, the Arundhati Roy crowd, do the same when it is Hindus being murdered? Where where you when thousands of Kashmiri Hindus were murdered, when thousands of Kashmiri Hindu women were raped, when hundreds of thousands of them were forced to flee as refugees from their own homeland? Where are the protests for them?
Your position seems more than a little hypocritical when you repeatedly turn a blind eye to injustice when Hindus are the victims.
In Kashmir these days the majority population resides in Jammu..This being the well-to-do Muslims, Hindus recuperating from genocide and religious cleansing, and other Kashmiri Hindu Muslims and Sikhs..The Gujjars and Shias are indifferent to the SUNNI MUSLIM SPLITTISM that is evidenced among the youths only in the VALLEY/VALE OF KASHMIR ….This splittism has lulled after talks being initiated with the concerned parties and after the promise of massive economic packages…THE BIGGES PORTION OF KASHMIR—THE LADAKH area wants to split with Kashmir and merge with India on its own terms….The merger of Ladakhi Hill Council with the BJP is a testimony to that…..Tripartite Kashmir into Jammu,Ladakh and Valley…Abolish Article 370 in Ladakh and Jammu and concentrate on providing jobs and infrastructure in Valley…..They will eventually merge ..Encourage ROMANCE between Kashmiri girls and boys from other states and off-course vice-versa…This can be done by constructing girls only colleges with integrated hostels(many conservative parents donot want to send their girls to co-ed educational institutions) and construct multi-plexes,motorcycle showrooms and strret-food courts and shopping malls nearby..this will eventually lead to intermingling….reserve seats for Kashmiri youths in the best engineering colleges all over the country so that primarily boys(also girls lots of girl engineers in India these days) can taste a bit more progressive and less religiously claustrophobic life in other states..all this can be achieved only after Jammu and Kashmir Railway is linked with Delhi and by extension rest of India…Set-up Islamic charity organizations which welcome the participation of young Kashmiri women in return for educational credits and stipend..plant Muslim boys from rest of India in those orgs and Yalla you have nice intermingling going on..These will make tensions diffuse in a span of few years as it is , it is very difficult almost impossibe for a Kasmiri (especially women) and men from other states to get married with eachother..Compared to that the anti-miscegnation laws in Western countries would look just tame…At a very personal level Kashmiris merge with other states, complete political merger of even the fringe splittists would be around the corner…AND just change those DRACONIAN PROPERTY LAWS…as long as billionaires from rest of India cannot invest in the potential goldmine of Jammu and Kashmir the state will remain economically backwards living on the dole of the State…Just put jobs in the hands of kashmir valley youths which will put a bit if pride in them and then again ask them whether they would really like to hold the gun….If LTTE, Khalsa and ULFA could have been uprooted smal scale splittis can be done away with within a few years if the givernment has the political will…Can Congress show the maturity or should the BJP step in? preferably with Narendra Modi..Word is that he wants to execute a Three Gorges Dam scale project in Gujarat before he leaves the state for national politics
Folks,
Two things rather interesting in the photograph:
A. Roy is either wearing a pair of Rayban or Persol frames. Both expensive and foreign brands from the US and Italy, respectively.
B. My girlfriend noticed that she was wearing ‘Keen’ hiking sandals, which are pretty expensive US shoes.
So much for socialism! We had a word in Bengali: Fraud-ponthi!
VB
so…what’s wrong with wearing sandals…she is a writer in jungle terrain, what’s she supposed to wear…very strange and obtuse connection being made to socialism etc…get a grip fellows.
People like greatbong and Arudhuti are the assholes of society. All say Bangali PODPAKA just like Arundhuti who thinks big of herself. Er moto Bangalee der jonnoi Bangali eto bodnaam.
Such sense comments will again flame the Kashmir. That mad lady should kicked and put behind the bars. She has gone mad. No wonder asshole like great who thinks very big of himself supports that. Such PODPAKA bangalee jonnoi bangalee r eto bodnaam.
Absoluty rite, people like Arundhuti Roy and Greatbong r dirt to the society always spreading poison its bcoz of that type Bengalee’s people hate us. This crap greatbong projects himslf as great. He writes from politics, films to sports totaly a asshole he is. Righty a PODPAKA he is a JACK OF ALL TRADES MASTER OF NONE just like that freak mad looking Arundhuti. People like them should be put in jail.
Such fakes are dirt to the society and to us Bengalees. R kheye dheye kaaz nei khali comments pass kore its called bokachodaa
Dutta, I suggest you enroll in kindergarden again – you clearly haven’t learnt your ABCs well.
I quote a pal’s motto – Laughter destroys the Jungle Tyrant. Ignoring Miss Roy is the best option but laughing at her deluded assertions can be as effective. Now, if only we had sensible rational voices speaking out in the humdrum instead of having our collective psyche held hostage to the opinions of lunatics.
@Rajat and Kaushik
Arundhati Roy – agree, but why Great Bong? The post does not support Arundhati’s whims and fantasies, her crazed ideology?
@ Rahul: I am sorry, the “killing/jailing” sentence used a rhetorical device called anticlimax, which, obviously, is wasted on you. Sorry for inflicting that. And, humor for sure is appreciated, but I hope people are allowed to talk about other things as well, right? But then again, I haven’t checked the Indian Constitution in the last few years, so I am willing to be corrected.
Also, you are correct in assuming that the “Arundhati Roy folks” turn a blind eye to the plights of Kashmiri Hindus. I would agree with you and say all injustice should be avoided, but how does that matter? If somebody is convinced that Arundhati Roy eats nubile Kashmiri Pandit girls for breakfast, who is she to claim that her fight is with injustice and not with social or ethnic groups? (This, btw, was another rhetorical device called reductio ad absurdum, just in case. I never heard from anybody that she is a cannibal, in case you think otherwise).
And if you agree with Roy about fundamentalism and injustice, then just ask her opinion on Kashmiri Hindus. Or invite her to a conference on rehabilitating Kashmiri Hindus. If she starts gnashing her teeth and foaming at the mouth, click a photograph and share as documentary evidence of her being parochial. And God forbid if she agrees with you, because then, horror of horrors, you will be have to face the fact that people, who agree with you on some issues and are perfectly sane, can claim to discern an understandable motivation behind Kashmiri or Maoist violence.
@Vasabjit: But of course! The President of India, who, I hope, still represents the pooerest of the poor in our country, needs to stay in a mud hut to show compassion and solidarity. Whosoever wears expensive clothes doesn’t represent the poor. Nice of you to point out that all major political parties (with their cars, choppers, 5-star conferences) are hypocritical when they speak for the poor.
Btw, I’d show a little more respect to everybody and not judge their beliefs or actions from their shoes, nor their intentions by the coconut oil they use.
@Snaptrix: What other people say is of course lunacy. I was reading Terry eagleton this morning and found something I want to quote. “Ideology, like Halitosis, is what other people have.”
This lady Arundhuti Roy is totaly a freak. Every now and then such Pseudo-intellectuals arrive and try to gain milage giving those comments. What She has done so far. She has totally lost her sense this time, totally mentaly Demented. Is she solving problem or adding fuel to the fire. What She attained so far or done for the people so far. I am also Bengalee and feel ashmed for such Bengalees like Arundhuti Roy. If she continues to do such she should be put on bars without any clarification.
I also agree due to few such Bengalees we all has to suffer. Sob bepare Nak golano ai rob pandit der sobhabe darieyeche. Its a shame of all of us.
I also thing such kind anti-social comments should be protest severly and its best we bengalees protest it more loudly then all will know all bengalees are not same not hypocrts
@ offended bengalis
Arundhati Roy’s father was Bengali, but their parents separated and She was not raised a Bengali. But that should not matter to the custodians of Bengali dignity because everybody knows what the custodians say is always right.
And, of course, we all know that some commentators on this post have brought more glory to India, and to Bengal in particular, by their clear-headed and just attitudes and comments, than Ms. Roy with her damned books, pamphlets, imported shoes, and bloody nosering. Down with her!
@Bongbutsceptic
You are absolutely right 🙂
Arundhati wearing US made shoes, US made shades, taking awards from those damned Capitalists; and then supporting a violent overthrow and elimination of everything and everybody whose products and benefits she avails, is absolutely fine.
She is in good company too.
Mujahideen in Afghanistan fought the Soviets using AK-47s (a gun designed and exported by the Soviets). Al Qaeeda uses SAT-COMs( made and operated by US) for carrying out attacks on US.
If you educate yourself a little bit more, you will learn that this is a modified form of “Taqya”, as prescribed in Islam.
But then, these things might be too hot for “sceptics” like you.
Vis-à-vis comments above on her clothes, etc.: this is a woman who spends at least Rs. 10,000 on her articles of clothing, if not more. Not to mention the expensive Moleskine (sic?) pad. Vanity reveals a lot of things! Come on, are we idiots not to know what champaigne socialism looks like!? She is the new Patti Hearst + Jane Fonda for the Maoists, both children of privilege whose sense of self-importance led them to believing in utopian politics and Messiah complexes… the only difference is that Roy got kidnapped by her own ideology and she possibly fears parachuting into enemy territory. The real question is whether Roy goes to prison or makes aerobics videos in the future.
@vasabjit
your girlfriend is right! here’s the pair of keen hiking sandals that arundhati is wearing. i must say keen footwear looks appealing.
i didn’t notice the moleskine pad. in the outlook article she mentions about the ipod. she has naaaice gadgets too:
and a beautiful working environment (i hope arundhati-haters will agree):
well, she wrote a really good book. but post-booker she strecthed herself a bit. as we say in bangla — ektu bar kheye gechhe, mohila.
vasabjit, you should know that this is “ad hominem” (i had learnt the correct spelling from Thalassa Mikra in the comments section of GB’s blog)
Joghonno,
As a an old debater, I do take your point on a ‘point of personal privilege’. However, given Roy’s heavy dose of self righteousness, and that she is wearing a ‘gamcha’ or indigenous (sic?) towel to show her true Maoist/Khmer Rouge credentials, her clothes become open to scrutiny. Thus, her contradictory wish to exploit capitalist pigs for luxury goods, while attacking them, is open to criticism.
VB
Joghonno,
Sorry, my bad, I misinterpreted your previous comment. My idea about her privileged background is based upon a larger critique of post-colonial elites’ notion of self-importance and self-loathing, with a simultaneous willingness to use the existing social and political structures of domination for their own benefit.
Given this clarification, my previous point also stands, though I think we are in agreement over that. On this note, I would strongly urge you to see the movie, “In which Annie Gives it Those Ones” for an accurate understanding of her world view and notion of Indians. It’s available on Youtube.
“Won’t get fooled again”,
VB
@Vasabjit:
“The real question is whether Roy goes to prison or makes aerobics videos in the future.”
+1
@Vasabjit
>Arundhuti Roy has elite supporters among politicians. There are >obviously a few of those in the mainstream Communist parties. However, >her support goes right to the top of the ruling party: this is the >dirty secret. Allegedly, she is used to test unpalatable positions, >perhaps make them more mainstream, before they are floated by the >powers that be. Everybody is a winner: she gets the media attention; >the ruling party get the votes from locals.
Are you saying that Rahul Gandhi supports her? On what evidence? I would be truly surprised if Kashmir mattered to a more than a tiny fraction of voters outside that state.
Guppy,
The Young Prince and the Queen allegedly support the Maoists, but not because they love the Maoists or their ideology in particular. They support it because the Congress Party has not had grassroots organizations since the late Indira era, not merely in the tribal areas, where the rebellion is mainly located, but just about anywhere.
So, reportedly there’s a complex network of leftists intellectuals, Church based organization, NGOs, and the Congress Party local leadership that back these groups. The other national party that has a local presence in these areas is the BJP/RSS, and it has backed an armed militia that threatened/threatens to convert the area into something like Columbia in the 1980s and 1990s with a trifecta of rightist-tribal para-militaries, state forces, and Maoist-tribal insurgents.
I support no particular political party, but when the Indian Army refuses to indulge in anti-insurgency operations on account of the human toll and the nature of the problem, anyone can smell a rat. The Army was used to combat the Naxals in West Bengal in the late 60s and 70s, and its operations in Kashmir and the North East are not beloved of human rights lovers. Whether such measures were required, given on ground realities, is a different matter of debate. However, it is well known that the Army did not want to be involved in Anti-Maoist operations this time because they do not trust the mainstream politicians, especially in the ruling party itself. Actually, I think, even Chidambaram noted about problems in the Congress Party itself. And, who can overrule a senior cabinet member than someone from the family itself?
To resort to the Bard, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4 (5?)
A word about Kashmir: who cares about Nagaland or Jharkhand either? If national security were left to vote bank politics as you imply, and as some politicians would assert these days, then the first places no one would care for are South Delhi and North Calcutta, but sadly these areas do not want to leave India! Do not worry, there is still an Indian state higher than the self-interested politicos. Rusty, bent, and full of holes as it may be, it still maintains the highest interest of the nation, and does its unpaid and ingrate task of retaining India. 😀
Evergrowing list of Trouble-spots and Trouble-makers for India:
Lalgarh, Kashmir, Pakistan, China ….. … …. India (herself)
Mao-ists, Separatists, ISI-Army, Politicians … “Bivishan”
Kishenji, Geelani, Kiyani, Wen Jijabo …. ….. Arundhati Roy
India’s bad luck getting from bad to worse with each passing day.
good post!!!!
@Greatbong
Islamist SAR Geelani goes to your alma matar and pro Maoist Jadavpur student group supprots him
After the seminar in New Delhi demanding `Azadi` for Kashmir, a similar seminar also titled `Azadi` was organised ar Vivekananda Hall in Jadavpur University today (30th November 2010) by a Maoist student group called UDSF (United Students Democratic Front) with the notorious seccessionist and accused in Parliament Attack case, S.A.R. Geelani as the main speaker. At the outset of the seminar, a speaker Mr. Siddhartha Guha Roy gave a speech in which he harped on the so-called `independent` history of Kashmir and asserted that Kashmir should be separated from India. All over the venue, posters and banners put up by the organisers openly demanded `Azadi` for Kashmir. When a member of the audience Mr. Arun Shaw asked the speaker a question about the role of Shyamaprasad Mukherjee in integrating Kashmir with the rest of India, the Maoist organisers suddenly rushed towards him and started an unprovoked physical attack on him. There soon started a free for all with the organisers using sticks and rods which they had stocked beforehand for an obviously pre-planned attack, to beat up all the patriotic members of the audience mostly ABVP and BJYM activists who had gathered there in large numbers.
In this sudden and brutal attack amidst anti-national slogans and obscenities hurled at the patriotic members of the audience by the organizers among whom were some known notorious Maoists like Debolina Chakraborty, who was recently named by the West Bengal police as a collaborator in the Maoist atrocities in West Bengal, many ABVP and BJYM activists were greviously injured. Two of the activists Neeraj Kumar and Yagnik Agarwal were critically injured and had to be hospitalised while bleeding profusely with wounds on the head. One of them is still admitted to hospital in a critical condition. Others like Amitabha Roy, Tanushree Roy, Gautam Chaudhuri and others were also injured.
After this attack ABVP and BJYM activists organised a road block in front of the University Gate blocking a main arterial road of Kolkata for over an hour in protest against the brutal attack and the anti-national seditious speeches at the seminar. It is significant that members of the public joined the blockade in large numbers when they saw the issue, despite being inconvenienced by the blockade.
ABVP has submitted a police complaint in Jadavpore Police Station demanding the arrest and legal proceedings against the organizers of the seccessionist and seditious seminar along with all those involved in the brutal physical attack including Debolina Chakraborty and her gang.
ABVP demands that the organizers be booked on grounds of sedition as well as grevious assault. ABVP also demands that an enquiry should be conducted against the authorities of Jadavpur University as to how they granted permission to hold an openly anti-national and seditious seminar titled `Azadi` within the University campus, where posters openly advocating `azadi` for Kashmir were allowed to be put up all over the venue and a norious and known anti-national like Geelani, accused in the Parliament attack case and against whom an FIR has already been filed for his seditious speech in the LTG Auditorium, New Delhi on 21st October, was allowed to visit the campus and speak against the unity and integrity of India.
Hi Vasab,
Forget about Arundhati’s hypocrisy. Let me tell you something. Your nationalism won’t save you from certain economic realities, which will increasingly push a good part of the Indian population into the hands of non-State players.
Increased force/army will only aggravate the problem – the CPI Maoist benefitted tremendously from the creation of the Salwa Judum. Sending the army into the heart of India is simply the best case scenario for rebellion – India is not Indonesia that a million communists can be murdered – there are electoral realities and democratic checks and constraints from which rebellion will benefit.
Basically, you guys can make fun of her/talk about her shoes etc. but you’re sending your police and armed forces to death.
Let me give you a clear sentence: The Maoist rebellion and the rebellion in the North are both at least 40 years old, and have withstood terror, army, police, murder, buy-outs – everything – and are stronger than ever. And they will grow – no end in sight. Forget about Arundhati…
@Skjit:
I agree with you completely. The reason for the rebellions can be succinctly summarized as “modernization”, which is ultimately a violent process whether in its socialist or capitalist forms. These struggles have occupied France from 1789 right up to 1871 and beyond, in Russia from the 1890s to the 1990s. Britain solved it by colonization: they sent any willining poor to the colonies in various capacities, where the average life expectancy was 5 years at one point of time. Moreover, millions (not thousands) died of hunger in British villages and disease in the industrial towns during the Industrial Revolution. So, much so that even Benjamin Disraeli, a noted imperialist and no friend of liberals, wrote about it.
The real question is whether modernization, in terms of the entry of market and state forces in susbistence communities, can be avoided? I do not know that answer, but I can sure tell you that violent resistance only makes matters worse for these communities, and even defeats the purpose of the movements because they are captured by elite interests with their own agenda. A cursory study of the Mexican Revolution is needed to understand this.
VB
From Wiki
She then studied architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, where she met her first husband, architect Gerard da Cunha.
Roy met her second husband, filmmaker Pradip Krishen, in 1984, and played a village girl in his award-winning movie Massey Sahib. Until made financially stable by the success of her novel The God of Small Things, she worked various jobs, including running aerobics classes at five-star hotels in New Delhi. Roy is a cousin of prominent media personality Prannoy Roy, the head of the leading Indian TV media group NDTV,.[2]
Sorry typos in my previous post-
Its “alma-mater”
The date of the anti-Indian seminar at Jadavpur was 30, October 2010, not 30 November 2010 (i am yet to have such accurate premonitions:)
The pro-Maoist student group at Jadavpur is USDF, not UDSF.
Hi Vasab,
The first line of your response is basically the content of much of Arundhati Roy’s articles, so at least you two agree on the diagnosis.
The question about whether “modernization” or “capitalism in the periphery” can be avoided or is even desirable depends on further politics – the communist Left would probably argue for capitalism but not at the behest of imperialists, the non-Communist Left of which Roy is a part would question the desirability of capitalism in the periphery in the first place. Hence she poses very piercing questions for communists (“Would you leave the bauxite in the mountains”?).
Anyway – the disconcerting trends I find among much of the urban middle class, and this blog writer and his audience provide a good cross-section, are:
1. An avoidance of the diagnosis – ignoring the economics, which really is the over-arching player
2. Too much attention to the incidental players – specifics about Arundhati, or specific Congress leaders.
Think about it: the current players were infants when these conflicts started, and the conflicts will continue after they die. So aren’t the real causes long-range?
Another thing. I noted in some posts that you mentioned the self-loathing of the postcolonial mind, in reference to Arundhati’s politics. It is not a postcolonial phenomenon at all. Amazingly, the exact same things that are being said about Arundhati were said about Sartre during his support for Algerian independece – the same things about winning the Nobel Prize, the growing royalties from his books, etc. The same things were said about colonial dissidents at numerous points in history. And equally amazingly – none of these criticisms mattered, because history was not being formed in the debates in the cities.
@Rishi Khujur
Thanks for the full details of the Jadavpur University travesty. What can we do to help the injured students?
The media either under-reported the story…
http://sify.com/news/alleged-anti-india-comments-by-professor-spark-trouble-news-national-kk4vuncfifh.html
or completely twisted it around to exonerate USDF and Geelani, and blamed the “usual suspects” for standing up for India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//city/kolkata-/Sangh-bid-to-disrupt-Geelani-speech-at-JU/articleshow/6844207.cms#ixzz13xgtESVJ
or simply trivialised it:
http://www.timesnow.tv/JU-students-disrupt-Geelanis-seminar/articleshow/4357284.cms
For all the Geelani fans
————————
It should be known that Geelani was connected to Afzal Guru, the death penalty convict for attacking Indian parliament, where the police have established that the terrorist and the Professor Geelani was talking over the phone on or before the attack on parliament. The secular mouthpiece, Outlook , ran a story on this where it quotes About Geelani, the Supreme Court has mentioned one thing. Even though he has been acquitted, the court has mentioned that it appears that there was a knowledge on his part about the attack on Parliament. But sufficient evidence is not available… Upholding of the death sentence awarded to Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Mohd Afzal also is a result of good efforts of the investigators
Sorry to be blunt, but I’ve always found JU to be a den of anti-social (a.k.a. Naxalite/Maobadi/secular/liberal/etc etc) activities … but now it has taken a step further by hosting a terrorist acquaintance – not my word, the Supreme Court’s word here. Its sad that the police did not find enough evidence (again stated by the SC in its verdict) Justice Reddi said Geelani’s conduct at the time of attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001 was “disturbing” to note and created a “serious suspicion” about his role as he reportedly approved the terrorist act .
@Skjit,
My apologies for the delayed response:
1. The current middle class in India does not need to be economically self-conscious, in order to be a part of the economic structure that is penetrating and developing/dislocating the subsistence communities.
2. The author points out the problems with Miss Roy because (I believe) he considers here as representing a deeper malaise with post-colonial elites. he has not put it that way in the past, but his posts can be interpreted thusly. In this, I agree with him that Roy and her ilk are just as orientalist and fetishize the “other” as their western counterparts. Roy merely does so by stereotyping them as ‘honest, hard working, and moral’, instead of ‘savage, cruel, or brutish’. Such criticisms were levelled at Nehru and his ilk; Gandhi levelled simillar accusations against Bose. I do not believe in authenticity, but selling the blood and guts of others was not the the business of such leaders. Finally, I shudder to compare the writer of The Nausea and the The Wall, not to mention The Search for a Method and Critique of Dialectical Reason, to one whose claim to fame hinges on a solitary book that set aflame the banalities of an ‘exotic’ social system via soap operatic lust and deceit.
VB
@Skjit
I forgot to add this:
The notion of ‘moral economy’ has been strongly refuted by research that shows that peasants in subsistence economies make rational decisions. Whether they are risk averse or risk accepting, i.e, if they are oriented toward subsistence or profit maximization, depends on whether they calculate on short or medium/long time horizons, which differs on particular issues. Thus, no peasant community is purely subsistence oriented or profit oriented. The foundational book on this is “The Rational Peasant” by Samuel Popkin. You can also check books by Robert Bates.
VB
Greetings Arnab,
A foreword : I wouldn’t attach any labels to my thought process as either pro-india or pro-seccession.Please grant me that luxury before folks cuss me out.
Couple of questions
1. Do you agree that we live in a country where the good and evil exist as black and white? India being the good and people who want seperation from the state as evil.
2. Would looking into the grey areas of both sides, the evil of our ways [i am not aware of it] and the good side of theirs [again i am not aware of it] have any effect on us?
In other words how much would it cause us to listen to what they say. Again by listen i mean not submissively but an active dialog.
I apologize if my questions were puerile but are there any updates on our stand against pakistan?
P.S: I hate being politically correct but i have to do it to shield me from jingoism.
Hi Vasabjit,
The less said about rational choice theory the better. Forget about subsistence economies, the “research” you refer to is severely ideological even in the heartland of capital. I’ll refer to a liberal economist for commentary on how rational choice theory has played out in understanding soaring joblessness:
Of course one can go on for either side but it’s better to put ideological cards on the table first, instead of saying “research has shown”.
And now shes featured on the front page of the NY times. If a person reading the article did not know the history of Kashmir since 1989, they will end up concluding that the Kashmiri Pandits had to flee for their lives from the Indian military.
The usual Roy mixture of omitted facts combined with drippy tales of the humanism of the Kashmiris, and she unsurprisingly fails to mention that it did not extend to their former non co-religionist neighbours.
Kishenji is killed.. poor arun-dirty how she must be feeling n in a state of mourning today, worse than aapla sachin geeting out on 94 again!!!!
have a look at this – Link to aatish taaseer interview slammimg arundhati
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/ataseer/2011/10/aatish-taseer-the-tnb-self-interview/