>From: "gilmen30" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [Goanet] Arundhati Roy - Part I, II, III >Date: Wed, 01 May 2002 09:01:31 -0000 > >My, My, My, What a diatribe against all the minorities in this great >country! I certainly dont want to get into a slanging political and >communal match, but of all the convoluted subjects above, I have >picked only 4 for clarification, so can I ask you Sunila to please >elucidate.... >1.Thousands of Hindus killed in Kashmir everyday? That would make >20,000 in 20 days? Can you provide Govt.of India figures of >civilians, police and paramilitary forces killed over the past 1 year >in the valley, before you make such sweeping allegations. I am not >asking you for their religion.
I will ignore your "20000 in 20 days" because I am sure you know what I meant. I am surprised you are even questioning this ? After all even the UN chief Kofi Anan has spoken against the ethnic cleansing of the Hindus, Budhists and now Shia Muslims from Kashmir. If you want further figures check with the Govt. of India. I told you what I believe is true. >2.Church sponsored terrorism in the North East? I have travelled in >all the 7 states and this is the first time in my life I have heard >this term. Please explain the politics in this region and what the >church has to do with it. And whether it is the Baptists, Catholics >or other sects who are involved. No idea which Christian sect is involved...I am not deeply involved in religious organisations. But again it is funny that you question things which are common knowledge in India and abroad. >3.Richest men in the world are Muslims? What has this got to do with >Arundhati Roy or the Gujerat problem. Maybe Im just too dumb to >understand. Incidentally I said "richest man" and not "men" and the person is Azim Premji, CEO of WIPRO. What has this got to do with Arundhati ? Nothing much except that when she berates India and Indians for atrocities on minorities she forgets that there is a majority that is also suffering out there. And she also conveniently forgets that India is a place where anybody can make it big i.e. whether you are Muslim, Hindu or Christian or any other is not the deciding factor. >4. Church bombings engineered by ISI? Another red herring!! The >Govt.(BJP) has learnt its lessons well from old Indira Gandhi! Blame >the foreign hand for all the ills of this country. First it was the >CIA for the first 45 years after independence, now it is the ISI. >regards---Gilbert. This is a cut and dried case. The bombers were from some Muslim school think tank and admitted the four (I think that was the number) church bombings as being master minded by the ISI. I must say Gilbert that your general knowledge on current affairs could do with some polishing. But I don't blame you. You probably don't know much about this case because it did not make the headlines although the church bombings did. After all speculation on Hindus bombing churches make more sensational news than if they are ISI sponsored. Now, you said my message was a diatribe on minorities. I don't think so. My diatribe was against treating some people different from others. It's almost like in communism "all people are equal but some people are more equal than others". I truly believe that if everyone is treated equally the dividing lines between communities will fade away. That is one of the reasons why there is so much communal harmony in Goa. We all have a common law and most of us are treated on par with each other. Also I had a wishlist of 21 items for Arundhati to notice. Of course, I could come up with quite a few more if I really give it some thought. But then most of us would. You have singled out 4 items for clarification. I don't think the first one that is the killing of Hindus in Kashmir is a diatribe against minorities. After all the Hindus are the minorities in Kashmir. Besides I don't believe that Indian Muslims are killing these Hindus so how can my statement be construed as against minorities? The third one about the richest Indian is also not a diatribe against the minority. It is to show appreciation for my country where no matter who you are, you are generally free to progress. And that is true of all fields of life in India. Remember the number one scientist of India, Abdul Kalaam Azad is a Muslim; until recent a Muslim Moh'd Azaruddhin was captain of the no. 1 sport in India; the no.1 film stars of India are Muslims namely Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan; the no.1 music composer of India is a Muslim called A.R.Rehman; the no.1 Badminton player of India was "Syed Modi" whose murder we still mourn; the current President of India is Christian; the Leader of the Opposition is a Christian. I am proud of my country and proud that people from all walks of life can progress with scant regard to their caste, religion, and origin and that is what I would like highlighted sometime at least instead of the usual nasty stuff that people like to write. Besides the two mentioned above, I can show you 14 items on my wish list which I would not consider in the "diatribe against minorities" basket. If anything some would regard them as a diatribe against the majority. The 14 items are : 1. Wish she would also work towards ending the caste wars in UP and Bihar; 2. Wish she would urge the legislators to remove the perpetuation of the British divide and rule policy by implementing an uniform civil code; 3. Wish she would insist on the removal of special status for the state of Kashmir; 4. Wish she would highlight how India is the only country in the world that provides a subsidy for Haj pilgrims - something which is considered unislamic by Saudi Arabia - somethings which Saudi Arabi has urged India to remove but which the Vajpayee govt. did not and instead raised the subsidy; 5. Wish she would be an activist for the 0.8 million Kashmiri Pandits displaced and living in pitiable conditions for the last ten years; 6. Wish she would go deeper into the reasons why Adivasis and Dalits who are certainly not the VHP/Bajrang Dal supporters took part in large numbers in the Gujarat riots; 7. Wish she would work towards removing the slur of harijan from the face of Indians; 8. Wish she would focus on the development of the economy in order to eliminate polticians using communal vote bank politics; 9. Wish she would berate the media for the half truths and the untruths that they print at crucial times e.g. Vajpayees's speech in Goa; 10. Wish she would question the integrity and responsibility of the media in fanning the communal riot flames with biased reporting; 11. Wish she had examined the role of the Congress and others in the mass killings of the Sikhs after Indira Gandhi's assasination; 12. Wish she had got more upset about the normal Muslim community and especally women being so backward; 13. Wish she had shed a tear for the little (harijan) child that was beaten to death because she was so immersed in play that she forgot to bow to the local Thakur; 14. Wish she had written such eloquence when Godhra happened and before the revenge riots followed; So that shows that 2 + 14 = 16 items out of 21 were not a "diatribe against the minorities". Now let me tell you which items I feel can fit into the "diatribe against the minorities" basket : 1.Wish she would reject publicly the Church sponsored terrorism in the North-East; 2. Wish she would denounce the Imam of Jama Masjid for giving a sort of call for civil war to distintegrate the nation; 3. Wish she had decried the press and people who blamed the Hindus for church bombings engineered by the Pakistani ISI; 4. Wish she would get angry about the links SIMI had with Al Qaeeda and denounce them totally; I have no problem with my conscience in mentioning the four above. I truly believe that we should get rid of such evils. Since you are a Christian you focussed on the two Church related ones and then denounced my entire wish list as a diatribe on minorities. This is exactly what I have been trying to point out in my last few messages.... the fact that we only focus on our own communities or issues that affect us only. The whole of India has been burning for the last so many years. But nobody cares. And suddenly there is pandemonium when Gujarat goes up in flames or when a few sporadic incidents affecting Christians occur. Why ? Does that mean only minorities are ill treated in India ? Of course not ! Every community is suffering in it's own way ! And until we address the problem as a whole as human beings in general and not compartmentalise ourselves into Hindus, Muslims, Christians, low caste, high caste, majority, minority, etc. the politicians will continue to divide and rule via vote bank politics. Why did Gujarat go up in flames ? Do you think only Godhra triggered it ? Of course not ! It has been building up for sometime and the build up is connived and plotted by politicians. It is because people allow themselves to be divided into various communal and casteist lines that politicians create riot. Get out of this mould of thinking, view India as a whole, think towards improving each and every person's life in India no matter who they are, focus on improving the economy and becoming rich and we will see a new India emerge. That is what I would like to happen. Not focus on petty things that divide rather than bind. Further for your information, I have more friends from the minorities (i.e. Muslim, Christian and Sikh) rather than the majority (i.e. Hindus)... not deliberately ...just happens to be. And my close relatives (part of my family) are Muslim/Christian. And I never missed Dec 3, St.Francis Xavier's feast at Old Goa while in Goa, and I never missed lighting candles at our street cross before every examination and I still light them everytime I visit Goa. And I love to go to Churches because I find them very tranquil and serene. And I love Jesus and celebrate Christmas with as much pomp as Idd and Diwali. My house has a Christmas tree all lit up and decorated by my son and myself at Christmas and we buy the presents for everyone and the whole works. I am not against minorities at all. I live and breathe the same air as them. We all do. But I do think that we need to broaden our vision. Let's all do it and we will see the difference when the communal and caste lines fade. And my beloved country will be richer in many ways. Jai Hind ! Cheers, Sunila P.S. A.Veronica has been constantly appealing to the Church to intervene in Goan politics. Fortunately there is no "Church" counterpart among Hindus. Unfortunately though, the VHP has been trying to establish themselves as that counterpart. Now ask yourselves how you would feel if a Hindu member of this forum actually appealed to the VHP to intervene directly in Goan politics. Would you not have attacked that person and eaten him up for dinner ? ;-) Yet, nobody said a word to A.Veronica. Maybe because many of us don't bother to read his no paragragh diatribes. But then I saw one comment on his message and it had no mention of a denoucement on the "Church" should intervene appeal. Why do we apply different yardsticks ? Should we not stop that? _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
