On 15/04/2008, Sandeep Heble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Fredrick loses the plot horribly by trying to illustrate how the > Congress Government's decision to grant subsidies to Haj pilgrims > should not be seen as a form of appeasement because the money > eventually ends up into Air India's coffers.
The point I was making was simply this: "appeasement" in India means giving token crumbs of cake to a tiny elite of a community, without making any difference to the community as a whole. For instance, Congress and BJP would both be willing to build allies and cultivate friends among the Muslim community by offering them, say, Haj subsidies, but nothing significant would be done to ameliorate the abysmal situation that the average Muslim lives in here, the country with the second-largest Muslim population in the globe. Among Catholics in Goa, "secularism" for the Congress means offering a few crumbs to a handful of dominant "minority" politicians from Salcete (or elsewhere), while not addressing the legitimate grievances of various sections (including minorities). FN
