Re: [Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance
I would not live in a fool's paradise. Our youth do not care much for History. There is a parallel with the rise of Hitler ie similar conditions in general. Hitler brought strong governance, industry boomed and one section people were becoming prosperous and powerful.Then what happened! We can already see the rabid hindu forces flexing their muscles and telling those who have different views to shut up or go to Pakistan etc.Violence is lip sync condemned, but no action is taken.Somnath Bharati is openly roughed up and even if Principal of Xavier college views were communicated at the wrong time, the issue is not so important as this is a minority institute funded by the government threat being voiced! Implication that educational institutions right to free thinking and free speech has to be curbed/qualified! On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 3:21 AM, roland.francis roland.fran...@ymail.comwrote: Dear Floriano, It's not logical to compare Modi to Hitler as you have done. You may know Modi and think you know what he is likely to do, but you don't know Hitler it seems and what he has done. By such comparisons you trivialize the evil that was Hitler. In a worse case scenario in Goa assuming Parrikar or some other stooge of Modi were to exert long term hostile pressure on Goan Catholics, the community should arise from its long slumber and oppose those hostile forces. You are not an insignificant part of the state population. You know as well as I do that even if half of the Hindus join with the Goan CM Modi stooge, they cannot achieve anything anti Christian. At this moment in time, you like many Christians are just indulging in scare tactics. Roland. Sent from Samsung Mobile
Re: [Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance
From: Marshall Mendonza mmendonz...@gmail.com Date: 22 April 2014 12:04 Subject: [Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance To: goanet goanet@lists.goanet.org Roland Francis: why Modi at all? He is steel beneath the khadi and a person of change. You need that to govern 1.2 billion people or you will get a spineless person like Manmohan Singh who is a brilliant economist but a vacillating politician of the ilk of Narasimha Rao but without his corruption. Any more Singhs or worse and India will not be able to rise from the current corruption morass. He is not unproven and most of all the people seem to want him as their PM. They see the alternatives and shudder more at them than they do at NaMo or what he can possibly bring. Response: Below is an article by Fr Cedric Prakash s.j. who is a Human Rights activist and who has lived in Gujarat and witnessed and experienced the pogrom of 2002 and events thereafter first hand unlike those based overseas in the safe confines of good, civilised and democratic governments. Here are some of his views. COMMENT: Now the Principal of Xavier's College offered his contribution. There are concerned people out there and it seems their fears are well founded. *http://tinyurl.com/mf5wdjo http://tinyurl.com/mf5wdjo * the other side of the argument:- http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/vivianfernandes/1878/65193/why-i-differ-with-fr-frazer-mascarenhas-of-st-xaviers-mumbai.html
[Goanet] Modi must be given a chance
Are the conditions that the Jews faced in Hitler's Germany and Muslims face in Modi's Gujarat very much different, except in degrees and the times? This is what a Muslim doctor has to say: Quote: A Muslim physician in Ahmedabad had his clinic burned down during the riots of 2002. Today the halls leading to his office are filled with tiles depicting Hindu gods and goddesses that he hopes may act as a deterrent during future riots in Gujarat, which he fears is a matter of when, not if. In this election, he will be voting for Modi's BJP when Gujarat heads to the polls on 30 April. I vote for my safety now, he says. I have two children and maybe if Hindus know I am a BJP voter, they will see me as one of the good Muslims. This is the BJP effect: it has convinced many Hindus in India that the rational, forward-thinking, patriotic Muslims are the ones who support Modi and the bad Muslims are those who speak critically of Modi record, including his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The BJP would like voters to believe that its new Muslim supporters have been fully welcomed as equals to the party's predominantly Hindu base. But the reality is quite different. When the cameras and tape recorders are switched off, Muslim supporters of the BJP say they understand that they are an accessory – not a companion – in Modi's efforts to become India's next prime minister. Unquote: For full article, please see below. - [image: Zahir Janmohamed]http://www.theguardian.com/profile/zahir-janmohamed - - Zahir Janmohamedhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/zahir-janmohamed - - theguardian.com http://www.theguardian.com/, Wednesday 23 April 2014 07.01 BST - Jump to comments (100)http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/23/narendra-modi-reaching-out-india-muslim-vote#start-of-comments [image: BJP Leader Narendra Modi Campaigns In Gujarat] 'If Modi is to come to power, it will likely be as part of a coalition. This has forced the BJP to scramble for as many votes as possible.' Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty On an unlit lane in Juhapura, a Muslim neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, the largest city in India's western state of Gujarat, 20-year-old Muslim Faizan Mansuri plays cricket on his smartphone. Juhapura, where I have lived since 2012, has few paved roads or sewage systems and each year about 2,000 children are denied an educationhttp://kafila.org/2013/02/20/prof-vk-tripathi-and-the-fight-for-schools-in-juhapura-zahir-janmohamed/ because of a lack of schools. Once a mixed Hindu and Muslim area in the 1970s, today almost all of us 400,000 residents are Muslim. Faizan, who is voting for the first time, believes this election is about the economy and looking forward: I know about the riotshttp://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/india/, I know about theproblems Muslims facehttp://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/sachar in this country, but I am going to vote for [Narendra] Modi. He is good for the economy and if Modi becomes prime minister, he will be able to improve the economy in time for my graduation in 2016 when I start searching for a job. Faizan's comments would make Modi, the front-running prime ministerial candidate representing the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), drool as he tries to woo India's Muslim vote in this election. In order for any single party to form the government, it needs to secure 272 of the 543 seatshttp://carnegieendowment.org/2013/09/10/how-india-s-parliamentary-elections-work/gmr2 in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament that will select India's next PM. Most argue that the BJP will fall short of this totalhttp://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/03/elections-india?zid=309ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e as no single party has secured a majority of seats since 1989. If Modi is to come to power, it will likely be as part of a coalition. This has forced the BJP to scramble for as many votes as possible, including reaching out to a segment the Hindu nationalist party has often ignored: India's Muslims. India has the world's second largest Muslim populationhttp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/07/worlds-muslim-population-more-widespread-than-you-might-think/ with about 176 million Muslims making up 14% of the population. The election will be largely decided on by the outcome of two states: Uttar Pradesh, which has 200 million residentshttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/indiaatglance.html and 80 seats in the Lok Sabha, with a Muslim population of 18%; and Bihar which has about 100 millionhttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/indiaatglance.html and 40 seats with a Muslim population of 16.5%. The BJP has been in overdrive for the past few months trying to win over these two states and their large Muslim populations. In March, Modi gave a speech in Bihar to a predominantly Muslim audience at which he boasted that Muslims in Gujarat are wealthier and better educated than in any other parts of India. Supporters of Modi even released a
Re: [Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance
floriano lobo wrote: Why waste your breath on the like of spineless guys who also are lacking in grey matter in their heads and who want to test MODI ? Whether there are arseholes like Rahul Gandhi or not and other arseholes who promote this arsehole. --- floriano, There is a way to express the above without resorting to vulgar language. You are a statesman. You should have learnt how to do so by now. Other than that, I totally agree with your view. Mervyn
[Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance
Roland Francis: why Modi at all? He is steel beneath the khadi and a person of change. You need that to govern 1.2 billion people or you will get a spineless person like Manmohan Singh who is a brilliant economist but a vacillating politician of the ilk of Narasimha Rao but without his corruption. Any more Singhs or worse and India will not be able to rise from the current corruption morass. He is not unproven and most of all the people seem to want him as their PM. They see the alternatives and shudder more at them than they do at NaMo or what he can possibly bring. Response: Below is an article by Fr Cedric Prakash s.j. who is a Human Rights activist and who has lived in Gujarat and witnessed and experienced the pogrom of 2002 and events thereafter first hand unlike those based overseas in the safe confines of good, civilised and democratic governments. Here are some of his views. The Signs are Ominous! -Fr. Cedric Prakash sj* Three seemingly unconnected incidents took place in various parts of India recently. On Friday, 18th April, the BJP party leader in Bihar, Giriraj Singh made a categorical statement that “those who opposed Narendra Modi had no place in India. They would have to go to Pakistan after the elections”. Earlier in Visakhapatnam on April 8th, BJP’s senior leader Venkaiah Naidu said that “the BJP would bring in an anti-conversion law to ban religious conversions all over the country if it is voted to power in 2014 elections”. And on April 21st, (Easter Sunday), the International working President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).Dr. Pravin Togadia in a vicious speech in Rajkot (Gujarat) demanded that Muslims vacate houses in the Hindu areas of the city. Targeting a Muslim businessman, Togadia gave him 48 hours to vacate his house “if he does not relent” he told the Hindu mobs “go with stones, tyres and tomatoes to his office” (reported in the Times of India ed. Ahmedabad, pg. 1, April 21st, 2014). Very interestingly last year, on March 21st, 2013, (Easter Sunday) in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad, Togadia gave a call to a large gathering for the establishment of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (nation) stating that by 2015, Gujarat would be the first ‘Hindu State’ of the country. Incidentally, Maninagar is the constituency of Narendra Modi, the BJP prime ministerial candidate (who still hopes to swear by the Constitution of India) but till today has had no courage to take on Togadia and to denounce what he has been saying and doing. Though sections of the media make of an animosity between the two, the fact that they have the same mindset and are born to the same ideology, leaves no one in doubt. The three incidents in very different parts of the country have much in common. They primarily reveal the core Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology which has spawned the BJP. It is no secret that the BJP prime ministerial candidate Modi was decided upon by the top brass of the RSS. That the ultimate desire of the RSS is the establishment of a ‘Hindu nation State’ is without a shadow of doubt. Naidu’s comments in Visakhapatnam must be seen in the same context. In 2002, Modi raised the ‘bogey of conversion’ during his election campaign in Gujarat and in 2003, he brought in the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act which must be easily ranked as one of the most draconian laws in the history of any democracy anywhere in the world. The law very blatantly says that “if one wants to change his / her religion, one must first seek the permission of the civil authority (the Collector)”. This law clearly violates Article 25 of the Constitution of India and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Giriraj’s threats are not empty ones. In his ten-year plus rule in Gujarat, Modi has been vindictive and vengeful. This can be exemplified by several instances. In a hard-telling article in Live Mint (19th April, 2014), entitled ‘Narendra Modi critics Expect No Quarter, No Mercy” states “What should we expect from Modi Sarkar? I predict no quarter and no mercy. He will continue his tyrannical (I use the word in a classical sense) ways as he has in Gujarat”. So when Giriraj speaks the obvious, however silly it sounds, he is only manifesting the fascist agenda of those who seek to rule us. One cannot help but be reminded of that immortal poem by the German Bertold Brecht (1898-1956) ‘In Dark Times’.In hope, the struggle will continue indeed; even if the signs are ominous! 21st April, 2014 (* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace) Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052 Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333 Fax: 79 27489018 Email: sjprash...@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in
Re: [Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance
Dear Marshall, Why waste your breath on the like of spineless guys who also are lacking in grey matter in their heads and who want to test MODI ? Tell them that they are resurrecting HITLER in India who will not shoot himself in the head but be shot if he at all becomes the PM. India is not the Nazi land. It never was, And it never will be. Whether there are arseholes like Rahul Gandhi or not and other arseholes who promote this arsehole. Cheers floriano goasuraj 9890470896 www.goasu-raj.org - Original Message - From: Marshall Mendonza mmendonz...@gmail.com To: goanet goanet@lists.goanet.org Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 4:34 PM Subject: [Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance Roland Francis: why Modi at all? He is steel beneath the khadi and a person of change. You need that to govern 1.2 billion people or you will get a spineless person like Manmohan Singh who is a brilliant economist but a vacillating politician of the ilk of Narasimha Rao but without his corruption. Any more Singhs or worse and India will not be able to rise from the current corruption morass. He is not unproven and most of all the people seem to want him as their PM. They see the alternatives and shudder more at them than they do at NaMo or what he can possibly bring. Response: Below is an article by Fr Cedric Prakash s.j. who is a Human Rights activist and who has lived in Gujarat and witnessed and experienced the pogrom of 2002 and events thereafter first hand unlike those based overseas in the safe confines of good, civilised and democratic governments. Here are some of his views. The Signs are Ominous! -Fr. Cedric Prakash sj* Three seemingly unconnected incidents took place in various parts of India recently. On Friday, 18th April, the BJP party leader in Bihar, Giriraj Singh made a categorical statement that “those who opposed Narendra Modi had no place in India. They would have to go to Pakistan after the elections”. Earlier in Visakhapatnam on April 8th, BJP’s senior leader Venkaiah Naidu said that “the BJP would bring in an anti-conversion law to ban religious conversions all over the country if it is voted to power in 2014 elections”. And on April 21st, (Easter Sunday), the International working President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).Dr. Pravin Togadia in a vicious speech in Rajkot (Gujarat) demanded that Muslims vacate houses in the Hindu areas of the city. Targeting a Muslim businessman, Togadia gave him 48 hours to vacate his house “if he does not relent” he told the Hindu mobs “go with stones, tyres and tomatoes to his office” (reported in the Times of India ed. Ahmedabad, pg. 1, April 21st, 2014). Very interestingly last year, on March 21st, 2013, (Easter Sunday) in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad, Togadia gave a call to a large gathering for the establishment of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (nation) stating that by 2015, Gujarat would be the first ‘Hindu State’ of the country. Incidentally, Maninagar is the constituency of Narendra Modi, the BJP prime ministerial candidate (who still hopes to swear by the Constitution of India) but till today has had no courage to take on Togadia and to denounce what he has been saying and doing. Though sections of the media make of an animosity between the two, the fact that they have the same mindset and are born to the same ideology, leaves no one in doubt. The three incidents in very different parts of the country have much in common. They primarily reveal the core Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology which has spawned the BJP. It is no secret that the BJP prime ministerial candidate Modi was decided upon by the top brass of the RSS. That the ultimate desire of the RSS is the establishment of a ‘Hindu nation State’ is without a shadow of doubt. Naidu’s comments in Visakhapatnam must be seen in the same context. In 2002, Modi raised the ‘bogey of conversion’ during his election campaign in Gujarat and in 2003, he brought in the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act which must be easily ranked as one of the most draconian laws in the history of any democracy anywhere in the world. The law very blatantly says that “if one wants to change his / her religion, one must first seek the permission of the civil authority (the Collector)”. This law clearly violates Article 25 of the Constitution of India and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Giriraj’s threats are not empty ones. In his ten-year plus rule in Gujarat, Modi has been vindictive and vengeful. This can be exemplified by several instances. In a hard-telling article in Live Mint (19th April, 2014), entitled ‘Narendra Modi critics Expect No Quarter, No Mercy” states “What should we expect from Modi Sarkar? I predict no quarter and no mercy. He will continue his tyrannical (I use the word in a classical sense) ways as he has in Gujarat”. So when Giriraj speaks the obvious, however silly it sounds, he is only manifesting the fascist agenda of those who seek to rule us. One
Re: [Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance
Dear Floriano, It's not logical to compare Modi to Hitler as you have done. You may know Modi and think you know what he is likely to do, but you don't know Hitler it seems and what he has done. By such comparisons you trivialize the evil that was Hitler. In a worse case scenario in Goa assuming Parrikar or some other stooge of Modi were to exert long term hostile pressure on Goan Catholics, the community should arise from its long slumber and oppose those hostile forces. You are not an insignificant part of the state population. You know as well as I do that even if half of the Hindus join with the Goan CM Modi stooge, they cannot achieve anything anti Christian. At this moment in time, you like many Christians are just indulging in scare tactics. Roland. Sent from Samsung Mobile
[Goanet] Modi Must Be Given A Chance
He has more than three strikes against him. The massacre in Gujarat, followed by the administrative aftermath where he is said to have summarily disgraced upright police and government officers, his uncomfortable coziness with big business at the cost of the poor and vulnerable and to Goans the close ties he has with an inept Parrikar. But any Prime Minister in India is like America's Obama, only one of the many centres of authority. Powerful, but subject to several conflicting pressures. In Modi's case, that will prove to be a good thing if he is tempted to stray from the secular path. In any case he alone even in concert with the BJP is unable to rip apart the democratic fabric of India with the vigilant press the country now has and the level of education and awareness of issues in the overpopulated but powerful urban centers. What of the unlikely event that he succeeds against the forces lined against him once he is the PM? Remember Modi if nothing else, despite his 'chaiwalla' background, is on the political level, a shrewd businessman. He is not likely to want international attention except of the capital attraction type, focused on his actions. What of another Emergency-like scenario that the country went through under Indira Gandhi? For one, many bridges have been crossed since then and for another, any pressures he brings to bear on a common civil code and abolishing of the reservation system together with many other issues that need changing, will take the country faster towards a modern progressive path. The Gujaratis are a homogeneous people relative to the rest of India. His diktats will not be allowed to run unquestioned in a country as diverse as you can imagine as compared to just one state. It just won't happen. With these strikes, why Modi at all? He is steel beneath the khadi and a person of change. You need that to govern 1.2 billion people or you will get a spineless person like Manmohan Singh who is a brilliant economist but a vacillating politician of the ilk of Narasimha Rao but without his corruption. Any more Singhs or worse and India will not be able to rise from the current corruption morass. He is not unproven and most of all the people seem to want him as their PM. They see the alternatives and shudder more at them than they do at NaMo or what he can possibly bring. Roland. Sent from Samsung Mobile
